中西医结合治疗强直性脊柱炎

目的:观察英平系列中药为主的中西医结合治疗强直性脊柱炎效果。方法:按中医辨证组合使用中成药,结合血疗、钙疗、免疗等治疗患者105例,疗程1年。结果:显效70例(66.67%),有效25例(23.81%),总有效率达90%。结论:辨证组合使用中成药是本治疗方法的特点,符合中医治疗原则,综合治疗更具优势,临床应用效果良好。     

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the incidence of dengue fever in Peru

Dengue virus and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 coexist in dengue-endemic countries; therefore, the adoption of preventive measures is essential to control the spread of both viruses. We conducted an ecological study to compare the temporal patterns of the incidence of dengue before and during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Peru. A time-series analysis comparing the incidence of dengue using a Student's t test with variance correction was performed. Poisson regression was applied to determine the incidence rate ratio (IRR) of dengue before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The incidence of dengue was found to be increased in all endemic regions of Peru during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the highest incidences registered in Ica (IRR = 90.14), Huánuco (IRR = 38.6), and Ucayali (IRR = 23.78), with the exception of Piura (IRR = 0.83). The highest increases in the number of dengue cases per million inhabitants were in Ucayali (393.38), Tumbes (233.19), Ica (166.08), and Loreto (129.93). The gradient of dengue cases was positive in all endemic regions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of dengue cases per million increased during the COVID-19 pandemic throughout Peru and in several endemic regions, with the exception of Piura.     

Intramolecular cross-overs generate deleted mitochondrial DNA molecules in Podospora anserina

The unavoidable senescence process that limits the vegetative growth of Podospora anserina is always associated with an accumulation of various classes of circular, tandemly arranged, defective mitochondrial DNA molecules (senDNAs). The monomers of the senDNAs belonging to the so-called β class share a common core, but differ in both their length and termini. To understand the mechanism leading to their formation, we have determined the junction sequence of 36 senDNA β monomers present in various senescent cultures. In most cases, we observe that: (1) short direct repeats precisely bound the senDNA β termini and (2) one copy of the repeats is retained in the senDNA sequence. Moreover, PCR analysis of the mitochondrial DNA of some of the senescent cultures, has allowed us to detect another genome which is exactly lacking the sequence of the senDNA β found in the culture. These results demonstrate that an intramolecular unequal cross-over occurring between short direct repeats can generate deleted mtDNA molecules in P. anserina. In addition, the polymorphism displayed by one pair of repeats allows us to establish that this cross-over may be associated with a short conversion tract spanning a few (about 15) nucleotides. Received: 16 May / 11 November 1996     

采用简并引物克隆葎草花粉过敏原全长同源cDNA

目的：建立一套稳定可靠的方法，对过敏原性物种中的过敏原同源基因进行快速克隆。方法：在分析生物信息数据库中积累的大量过敏原序列同源性的基础上，设计简并引物，基于高质量Lǘ草花粉RNA，逆转录合成cDNA。采用Touchdown方式在cDNA池中进行选择性PCR扩增。同时借助梯度PCR程序，对引物扩增的简并性作进一步强化，并结合RACE技术获取全长cDNA．进而对Lǘ草花粉中的过敏原同源基因进行克隆。结果：成功地获得3个全长cDNA克隆。序列分析显示．这些基因与已知过敏原的基因序列相似性高达79％-85％，初步认定其为泛过敏原肌球蛋白抑制蛋白(profilin)的同源基因。对比RACE技术获得的相应基因的全长序列发现，这些序列在引物结合处与简并引物序列之间存在4个碱基的差异，提示采用Touchdown方式的梯度PCR程序．可使引物的简并性得到进一步扩展。结论：简并引物与Touchdown梯度PCR相结合的方法．能够对以Lǘ草为代表的基因组未曾深入研究的物种中的过敏原同源基因进行有效克隆.     

The <Emphasis Type="Italic">rpl5</Emphasis>–<Emphasis Type="Italic">rps14</Emphasis> mitochondrial region: a hot spot for DNA rearrangements in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Solanum</Emphasis> spp. somatic hybrids

Southern analysis with rpl5 and rps14 mtDNA gene probes of Solanum tuberosum, S. commersonii and a sample of somatic hybrids detected polymorphisms between parents and the appearance of a novel restriction fragment in various hybrids. In one of them, detailed mtDNA analyses revealed various configurations of the rpl5–rps14 region present at different stoichiometries. Multiple inter-parental recombination events across homologous sequences were assumed to have caused these rearrangements. Sequence similarity searches detected one sequence putatively involved in the recombination upstream of the rpl5 gene. The presence of a second recombinogenic sequence was inferred. We propose two models to explain the mechanism responsible for obtaining the different rpl5–rps14 arrangements shown after somatic hybridization. Variability in the rpl5–rps14 region observed in both the parental species and their somatic hybrids suggests this region is a hot spot for mtDNA rearrangements in Solanum spp.Contribution no. 39 from the Institute of Plant Genetics, Research Division of Portici.Communicated by A. Brennicke     

An improved and highly standardised transformation procedure allows efficient production of single and multiple targeted gene-knockouts in a moss,<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Physcomitrella patens</Emphasis>

The moss Physcomitrella patens is the only land plant known to date with highly efficient homologous recombination in its nuclear DNA, making it a unique model for plant functional genomics approaches. For high-throughput production of knockout plants, a robust transformation system based on polyethylene glycol-mediated transfection of protoplasts was developed and optimised. Both the DNA conformation and pre-culture of plants used for protoplast isolation significantly affected transformation efficiencies. Employing a newly developed PCR high-throughput method, the gene-targeting efficiency in more than 1,000 plants transformed with different cDNA-based knockout constructs was determined and analysed with regard to the length and intron/exon structure of the homologous gene locus. Different targeting constructs, each containing an identical selectable marker gene, were applied as batch DNA in a single transformation experiment and resulted in double-knockout plants. Thus, the fast and efficient generation of multiple targeted gene-knockouts is now feasible in Physcomitrella.Communicated by U. Kück     

An algorithm for the recovery of fetal heart rate series from CTG data

Cardiotocography (simultaneous recording of fetal heart rate (FHR) and uterine contractions) is one of the most used diagnostic techniques to evaluate fetal well-being and to investigate the functional state of the fetal autonomic nervous system. Recently, great interest has been paid to the variability of the FHR, and its frequency analysis, as a base for a more objective analysis of the cardiotocographic (CTG) tracings. FHR signals are unevenly sampled series. To obtain evenly sampled series, cardiotocographs often use zero-order interpolation. Such process is simple and fast but results unsuitable for frequency analyses because it introduces alterations in the FHR power spectrum. An algorithm for the recovery of the true FHR series out of the zero-order interpolated CTG data was developed and evaluated.     

Clinical “case series”: a concept analysis

Objectives

To analyze the concept of “case series” in the medical literature compared with case reports.

Methods

A PubMed search for articles published during 2009 which had “case series” in their title was performed. A total number of 621 articles were retrieved. 586 papers were included in the analysis and 35 were excluded (18 were commentary letters, 5 were not in English, and twelve could not be retrieved by our Library). The number of patients and category of these articles were analyzed.

Results

The median (range) of the number of cases of articles having “case series” in their title was 7 (1–6432) cases. 186/ 586 articles had less than 5 cases (31.7%, 95% CI (28.3–35.1%)). The median (range) of the number of cases of articles having “case report” as their publication type was 4 (1–178) cases. Out of the 219 articles categorized as case reports 114 (52.1%, 95% CI (45.6–58.6%)) had less than five cases.

Conclusions

The concept of “case series” is not well defined in the literature and does not reflect a specific research design. We suggest that a case series should have more than four patients while four paitents or less should be reported individually as case reports.     

基于OK图像采集卡和VTK的医学图像处理系统

目的针对当前医学图像处理的需要,在VTK类库提供的可视化与显示功能的基础上,用VC＋＋2008设计和实现一个可集成于OK图像采集卡的三维可视化系统。方法在VC＋＋2008平台下,结合可视化工具包VTK,对DICOM格式的CT图像序列进行面绘制和体绘制,通过设置虚拟切面的内点和法向量对重建后的三维物体进行切割并获得虚拟切片的信息,在切割的同时可以同步显示出虚拟切片图像。结果实验结果表明,该系统能有效地实现DICOM医学图像的体绘制和表面绘制,并且可以在任意方向切割、旋转、放大与平移三维图像。结论上述系统对增强OK图像采集卡的后处理功能具有重要作用,在理论研究和临床应用上有重要意义和研究价值。