Prenatal stroke suggested by intrauterine ultrasound and confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging.

Cerebral infarction is rare in premature newborns and is most commonly the result of arterial embolization from the placenta. A focal echodense area was identified on prenatal cranial ultrasonography (US) in a premature infant (34 weeks of gestation). After birth, cerebral infarction was confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The clinical findings, imaging findings and pathogenesis are discussed. New diagnostic methods such as MRI show to be a useful approach in the neonatal period facilitating recognition of cerebrovascular accidents also in low-birth-weight infants.     

Nutritional-inflammation status and resistance to erythropoietin therapy in haemodialysis patients.

BACKGROUND: Chronic kidney disease patients who are resistant to erythropoietin (EPO) treatment may suffer from malnutrition and/or inflammation. METHODS: In a cross-sectional study of haemodialysis patients, we investigated the relationship between the natural logarithm of the weekly EPO dose normalized for post-dialysis body weight and outcome measures of nutrition and/or inflammation [BMI, albumin and C reactive protein (CRP)] by means of multiple linear regression analysis. On the basis of the decile distribution of weekly EPO doses, we also evaluated four groups of patients: untreated, hyper-responders, normo-responders and hypo-responders. RESULTS: Six hundred and seventy-seven adult haemodialysis patients were recruited from five Italian centres. BMI and albumin were lower in the hypo-responders than in the other groups (21.3+/-3.8 vs 24.4+/-4.7 kg/m(2), P<0.001; and 3.8+/-0.6 vs 4.1+/-0.4 g/dl, P<0.001), whereas the median CRP level was higher (1.9 vs 0.8 mg/dl, P = 0.004). The median weekly EPO dose ranged from 30 IU/kg/week in the hyper-responsive group to 263 IU/kg/week in the hypo-responsive group. Transferrin saturation linearly decreased from the hyper- to hypo-responsive group (37+/-15 to 25+/-10%, P = 0.003), without any differences in transferrin levels. Ferritin levels were lower in the hypo-responsive than in the other patients (median 318 vs 445 ng/ml, P = 0.01). At multiple linear regression analysis, haemoglobin, BMI, albumin, CRP and serum iron levels were independently associated with the natural logarithm of the weekly EPO dose (R(2) = 0.22). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support a clear association between EPO responsiveness and nutritional and inflammation variables in haemodialysis patients; iron deficiency is still a major cause of hypo-responsiveness.     

Endothelial and smooth muscle properties of coronary and mesenteric resistance arteries in spontaneously hypertensive rats compared to WKY rats

Summary— To investigate if the functional alterations observed in resistance arteries of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) were also present at the coronary level, in vitro experiments were performed in mesenteric resistance arteries (MRA) and in right (RIC) and left interventricular coronary (LIC) arteries taken from 15–25-week-old SHR and age-matched Wistar Kyoto rats WKYs. Using a passive extension protocol, internal diameters corresponding to 100 mmHg intraluminal pressure (D₁₀₀) were determined and vessels were set up to a normalized internal diameter (0.9 D₁₀₀). SHR mesenteric resistance arteries had a significantly smaller diameter compared to WKY arteries, whereas both types of SHR coronary arteries had a greater diameter compared to those of WKY rats. In arteries in the absence of contracting agonist, nitro-L-arginine (NOLA, 100 μM) induced a progressive rise in basal tone, which could be reversed by subsequent addition of L-arginine (100 μM) but not D-arginine (100 μM). When expressed as percent of maximal contractions induced by agonists (noradrenaline, NA [10 μM] in MRA; serotonin, 5-HT [10 μM], in RIC and LIC), these contractions were significantly stronger in WKY compared to SHR coronary and mesenteric resistance arteries. In NA-precontracted MRA and 5HT-precontracted coronary arteries in the presence of indomethacin (10 μM), the magnitude of acetylcholine-induced maximal relaxations (expressed as percent of maximal contractions induced by agonists) was greater in WKY compared to SHR arteries. After a 30-min incubation period, NOLA (100 μM) completely inhibited relaxations induced by acetylcholine (0.01–10 μM) in all types of precontracted arteries. Subsequent additions of sodium nitroprusside, (SNP, 10 μM) induced complete relaxations in all preparations. These results show that a basal release of NO or NO-like compound by endothelial cells is present in isolated mesenteric resistance and coronary arteries of WKY rats and SHRs. The contribution of endothelium-derived relaxing factor-nitric oxide (EDRF-NO) to arterial tone was lower in MRA compared to coronary arteries in both strains and in SHR compared to WKY arteries. In the SHR preparations, the impaired relaxation induced by acetylcholine appeared to be due to a functional alteration of the endothelium in the presence of normal reactivity of the smooth muscle cells.     

麦冬类中药组织切片计算机三维重建图鉴

利用计算机技术实现麦冬类中药组织连续切片三维重建与动态显示,为计算机辅助生药学鉴定和教学提供了新的三维图像技术和研究资料。     

表小檗碱对α受体的作用

表小檗碱(epiberberine,EB)是从湖北产黄连(Coptis chinensis Franch)中提取的一种生物碱,属苯喹嗪类原小檗碱,对其药理作用的研究资料甚少,未见其对α肾上腺素体作用的报道。资料表明,许多原小檗碱类化合物有α受体阻滞作用,为从该类化合物中选择