Triplet repeat disorders: discussion of molecular mechanisms

Comparison of the growing number of disorders known to be associated with triplet repeat expansions reveals both common features and a diversity of molecular pathways. Despite significant progress towards the characterization of proteins coded by the mutant genes, the complex nature of these disorders requires identification of all molecular components of the triplet repeat pathways. In this brief review we will discuss recent progress in determining the molecular mechanisms of disorders with unstable trinucleotide mutations. Received 13 January 1999; received after revision 8 March 1999; accepted 9 March 1999     

黄芪、川芎嗪治疗原发性肾病综合征临床分析

对原发性肾病综合征在肾上腺皮质激素治疗过程中辅以黄芪、川芎嗪治疗,结果表明治疗组总有效率83.4％,对照组总有效率56.7％,提示黄芪、川芎嗪联合激素治疗原发性肾病综合征,在提高血浆白蛋白、降低尿蛋白、降血脂、改善血液高凝状态等方面明显优于单用激素治疗组,可迅速缓解临床症状,减少激素用量,提高激素的疗效.     

The outbreak pattern of the SARS cases in Asia

The severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) caused tremendous damage to many Asia countries, especially China. The transmission process and outbreak pattern of SARS is still not well understood. This study aims to find a simple model to describe the outbreak pattern of SARS cases by using SARS case data commonly released by governments. The outbreak pattern of cumulative SARS cases is expected to be a logistic type because the infection will be slowed down due to the increasing control effort by people and/or due to depletion of susceptible individuals. The increase rate of SARS cases is expected to decrease with the cumulative SARS cases, as described by the traditional logistical model, which is widely used in population dynamic studies. The instantaneous rate of increases were significantly and negatively correlated with the cumulative SARS cases in mainland of China (including Beijing, Hebei, Tianjin, Shanxi,the Autonomous Region of Inner Mongolia) and Singapore. The basic reproduction number R0 in Asia ranged from 2.0 to 5.6 (except for Taiwan, China). The R0 of Hebei and Tianjin were much higher than that of Singapore, Hongkong, Beijing, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, indicating SARS virus might have originated differently or new mutations occurred during transmission. We demonstrated that the outbreaks of SARS in many regions of Asia were wall described by the logistic model, and the control measures implemented by governments are effective. The maximum instantaneous rate of increase, basic reproductive number, and maximum cumulative SARS cases were also calculated by using the logistic model.     

Distribution of HIV-1 in the genomes of AIDS patients

The localization of HIV-1 proviruses in compositional DNA fractions from 27 AIDS patients during the chronic phase of the disease with depletion of CD4+ and different levels of viremia showed the following. (1) At low viremia, proviruses are predominantly localized in the GC-richest isochores, which are characterized by an open chromatin structure; this result mimics findings on HIV-1 integration in early infected cells in culture. (2) At higher viremia, an increased distribution of proviruses in GC-poor isochores (which match the GC poorness of HIV-1) was found; this suggests a selection of cells in which the isopycnic localization leads to a higher expression of proviruses and, in turn, to higher viremia. (3) At the highest viremia, integrations in GC-rich isochores are often predominant again, but generally not at the same level as in (1); this may be the consequence of new integrations from the extremely abundant RNA copies.Received 21 November 2003; received after revision 13 January 2004: accepted 15 January 2004     

白斑综合征病毒膜蛋白VP124参与病毒的感染

3种白斑综合征病毒膜蛋白(VP39、VP124和VP187)各自特异性抗血清用于体外中和试验,研究它们是否参与病毒的感染,进一步用定量PCR检测中和试验中病毒的感染情况.结果表明,WSSV的感染能够被抗VP124抗体中和,VP124在病毒的感染中有起作用.     

新生儿捂热综合症的血糖及临床意义探讨

目的:探讨新生儿捂热综合症的血糖及临床意义；方法:回顾性分析32例新生儿捂热综合症的临床资料,跟踪随访患儿预后；结果:新生儿捂热综合症血糖明显增高时死亡率及神经系统后遗症发生率明显增加；结论:新生儿捂热综合症应严密监测血糖,维持内环境的稳定对疾病的恢复是极其重要的.     

Melkersson-Rosenthal综合征3例临床分析

Melkersson-Rosenthal综合征，是一种罕见的神经，皮肤粘膜综合征，临床以间歇性面瘫，再发性唇面肿胀及皱襞舌为三主症，激素治疗有显著疗效，但国内报道极少，早期诊断困难，易被诊，本文报道我院近十年来收治的3例完全型MRS病人及随访资料，结合国内外文献，就其病因，发病机制，临床特征及近年来研究进展进行分析，认为该病发病机理可能与免疫功能异常所致组织炎性肉芽肿有关。     

大众艺术体操锻炼对中年女性预防代谢综合征的作用研究

研究结合中年女性生理特点,通过两年的大众艺术体操锻炼实验,分析健康中年女性的体质指数、心率、血压、血糖、血脂等与代谢综合征密切相关的生理生化指标在实验前后的变化,探讨长期参加大众艺术体操锻炼对代谢综合征的预防作用。结果表明两年的大众艺术体操锻炼使健康中年女性保持原正常的BMI、HR、DBP、BS、TG、TC、HDL-C、LDL-C水平,降低了SBP水平,有效减缓了各项指标向不利于健康方向发展的趋势,对代谢综合征的预防起到一定的作用。     

一种(71,36,11) QR码的快速代数译码算法

在平方剩余(quadratic residue,QR)码的译码过程中,当接收码字中出现的错误个数较多时,未知校正子的计算非常困难,计算量与复杂度都很高,因此增加了解码过程所需要的时间.鉴于此,在(71,36,11)QR码的错误模式权重为4时,通过对牛顿恒等式的数学推导,在不需要计算未知校正子的情况下,导出了其错误位置多项式的系数,简化了(71,36,11)QR码中出现4个错误时的判断条件,并对所有可纠错的错误图案进行了穷举验证.仿真结果表明,提出的算法在解4个错与5个错时,分别提高了56.12％与18.19％的解码效率,验证了算法的正确性与有效性.     

Inhaled and exhaled nitric oxide

Inhaled nitric oxide (NO) is used to treat various cardiopulmonary disorders associated with pulmonary hypertension. The rationale is based on the fact that NO, given by inhalation, only dilates those pulmonary vessels that perfuse well-ventilated lung units. As a result, pulmonary gas exchange is improved while pulmonary vascular resistance is reduced and pulmonary blood flow is increased. Inhaled NO has been succesfully applied to treat persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn, reducing the need for extracorporeal life support. Although pulmonary hypertension and altered vasoreactivity contribute to profound hypoxaemia in adult and paediatric acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), the benefit of inhaled NO still remains to be established in patients with ARDS. ARDS is a complex response of the lung to direct or indirect insults, leading to pulmonary vasoconstriction and various inflammatory responses. Recent randomized trials suggest that inhaled NO only causes a transient improvement in oxygenation. Whether this effect is important in the long-term management of ARDS remains to be established. NO, measured in the exhaled breath, is an elegant and non-invasive means to monitor inflammation of the upper and lower respiratory tract. In the normal upper airways, the bulk of exhaled NO originates from the paranasal sinuses. Exhaled NO is increased in nasal allergy and decreased in cystic fibrosis, nasal polyposis and chronic sinusitis. That NO production is increased in asthmatic airways is also well established. However, several questions still need to be addressed, in particular evaluation of the sensitivity and specificity of the measurement techniques, and assessment of the bronchodilator action of endogenous NO.