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BACKGROUND PURPOSE: Rituximab (RTX),an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody can effectively treat minimal change disease (MCD),with low toxicity and a reduced steroid dosage. The optimal dosage of RTX for treating MCD remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of an ultra-low-dose regimen of RTX (100 mg per week for 4 weeks) for treating MCD. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed clinical data from 31 patients with MCD who received RTX. Seventeen patients received ultra-low-dose RTX (ULD-RTX) therapy, and 14 patients received standard-dose RTX (SD-RTX) therapy (500 mg weekly for 4 weeks). All patients were followed up for at least 6 months. RESULTS: Both groups showed significant increases in the serum albumin levels and notable decreases in the urinary protein levels in the 1st and 6th months after RTX therapy. There were no significant differences in the plasma albumin or urinary protein levels between the groups (p > 0.05). B-cell depletion was observed in all patients after 1 month of RTX administration. At 6 months after RTX treatment, the remission rate was 93% in the SD-RTX group and 88% in the ULD-RTX group (p > 0.05). The ULD-RTX therapy incurred lower costs than did the SD-RTX therapy. One patient in the SD-RTX group developed community-acquired pneumonia. CONCLUSION: Ultra-low-dose RTX is effective at inducing remission in patients with MCD at a lower cost.

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Dried blood spot (DBS) based PCR was considered an inexpensive and feasible method for detecting pathogens in the blood. The DBS carrier filter paper and PCR kits are crucial for accurate diagnosis. We evaluated 4 types of filter papers and 20 PCR kits for DBS samples. The PCR detecting Plasmodium results showed that the minimum detection limit of the 4 filter papers was 1 × 102 parasites/µL, and the positive rates of 20 PCR kits ranged from 0% to 100%. PCR results were satisfactory for detecting Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum) and Plasmodium. vivax (P. vivax) in archived DBS samples and Babesia gibsoni (B. gibsoni) in fresh pet DBS samples. Our results provided a useful reference for the detection of blood pathogens with DBS samples and direct PCR, especially for screening the cost-efficacy combination of filter paper and PCR kit in resource-limited areas.

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The aim of this study was to describe radiography, computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings of enzootic nasal tumors in goats infected with enzootic nasal tumor viruses. Five of six goats with a mean age of 2 years, showed clinical signs of respiratory disease. Head radiographs showed increased density of the unilateral or bilateral nasal cavity in four goats, and a CT scan showed that the space-occupying lesion of the nasal cavity originated from the ethmoid bone and was enhanced homogeneously postcontrast in all goats. The nasal concha was destroyed and the paranasal sinus mucosa was thickened and filled with fluid in some goats. On MRI, the mass exhibited equal or slightly higher signal intensity on T2 weighted images, equal signal intensity on T1 weighted images, a high signal on fluid-attenuated inversion recovery images and heterogeneous enhancement postcontrast. After dissection, histopathological examination of the mass and virus genome detection of the nasal secretions confirmed that the intranasal mass was a low-grade adenocarcinoma and that the goats were infected with enzootic nasal tumor virus type 2. In conclusion, CT and MRI have high diagnostic values for enzootic nasal tumors because they match the postmortem findings and are more accurate than radiography.

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Intrauterine hypoxia (IUH) affects the growth and development of offspring. It remains unclear that how long the impact of IUH on cognitive function lasts and whether sexual differences exist. Spermidine (SPD) has shown to improve cognition, but its effect on the cognitive function of IUH offspring remains unknown. In the present study we investigated the influence of IUH on body weight and neurological, motor and cognitive function and the expression of APP, BACE1 and Tau5 proteins in brain tissues in 2- and 4-month-old IUH rat offspring, as well as the effects of SPD intervention on these parameters. IUH rat model was established by treating pregnant rats with intermittent hypoxia on gestational days 15-21, meanwhile pregnant rats were administered SPD (5 mg·kg-1·d-1;ip) for 7 days. Neurological deficits were assessed in the Longa scoring test; motor and cognitive functions were evaluated in coat hanger test and active avoidance test, respectively. We found that IUH decreased the body weight of rats in both sexes but merely impaired motor and cognitive function in female rats without changing neurological function in the rat offspring of either sex at 2 months of age. For 4-month-old offspring, IUH decreased body weight in males and impaired neurological function and increased cognitive function in both sexes. IUH did not affect APP, BACE1 or Tau5 protein expression in either the hippocampus or cortex of all offspring; however, it increased the cortical Tau5 level in 2-month-old female offspring. Surprisingly, SPD intervention prevented weight loss. SPD intervention reversed the motor and cognitive decline caused by IUH in 2-month-old female rat offspring. Taken together, IUH-induced cognitive decline in rat offspring is sex-dependent during puberty and can be recovered in adult rats. SPD intervention improves IUH-induced cognitive and neural function decline.

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OBJECTIVE@#To detect the serum level of soluble chemokines CXCL9 and CXCL10 in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and to analyze their correlation with bone erosion, as well as the clinical significance in RA.@*METHODS@#In the study, 105 cases of RA patients, 90 osteoarthritis (OA) patients and 25 healthy controls in Peking University People's Hospital were included. All the clinical information of the patients was collected, and the serum CXCL9 and CXCL10 levels of both patients and healthy controls were measured by enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA). CXCL9 and CXCL10 levels among different groups were compared. The correlation between serum levels with clinical/laboratory parameters and the occurrence of bone erosion in RA were analyzed. Independent sample t test, Chi square test, Mann-Whitney U test, Spearman's rank correlation and Logistic regression were used for statistical analysis.@*RESULTS@#The levels of CXCL9 and CXCL10 were significantly higher in the RA patients [250.02 (126.98, 484.29) ng/L, 108.43 (55.16, 197.17) ng/L] than in the OA patients [165.05 (75.89, 266.37) ng/L, 69.00 (33.25, 104.74) ng/L] and the health controls [79.47 (38.22, 140.63) ng/L, 55.44 (18.76, 95.86) ng/L] (all P < 0.01). Spearman's correlation analysis showed that the level of serum CXCL9 was positively correlated with swollen joints (SJC), rheumatoid factor (RF) and disease activity score 28 (DAS28) (r=0.302, 0.285, 0.289; P=0.009, 0.015, 0.013). The level of serum CXCL10 was positively correlated with tender joints (TJC), SJC, C-reactive protein (CRP), immunoglobulin (Ig) A, IgM, RF, anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody (ACPA), and DAS28 (r=0.339, 0.402, 0.269, 0.266, 0.345, 0.570, 0.540, 0.364; P=0.010, 0.002, 0.043, 0.045, 0.009, < 0.001, < 0.001, 0.006). Serum CXCL9 and CXCL10 levels in the RA patients with bone erosion were extremely higher than those without bone erosion [306.84 (234.02, 460.55) ng/L vs. 149.90 (75.88, 257.72) ng/L, 153.74 (89.50, 209.59) ng/L vs. 54.53 (26.30, 83.69) ng/L, respectively] (all P < 0.01). Logistic regression analysis showed that disease duration, DAS28 and serum level of CXCL9 were correlated with bone erosion in the RA patients (P < 0.05).@*CONCLUSION@#Serum levels of CXCL9 and CXCL10 were remarkably elevated in patients with RA, and correlated with disease activities and occurrence of bone erosion. Chemokines CXCL9 and CXCL10 might be involved in the pathogenesis and bone destruction in RA.

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Organic pesticides are one of the main environmental pollutants, and how to reduce their environmental risks is an important issue. In this contribution, we disclose the molecular basis for the resistance of American sloughgrass to aryloxyphenoxypropionic acid pesticides using site-directed mutagenesis and molecular modeling and then construct an effective screening model. The results indicated that the target-site mutation (Trp-1999-Leu) in acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase (ACCase) can affect the effectiveness of the pesticides (clodinafop, fenoxaprop, cyhalofop, and metamifop), and the plant resistance to fenoxaprop, clodinafop, cyhalofop, and metamifop was found to be 564, 19.5, 10, and 0.19 times, respectively. The established computational models (i.e. wild-type/mutant ACCase models) could be used for rational screening and evaluation of the resistance to pesticides. The resistance induced by target gene mutation can markedly reduce the bioreactivity of the ACCase-clodinafop/fenoxaprop adducts, and the magnitudes are 10 and 102, respectively. Such event will seriously aggravate environmental pollution. However, the biological issue has no distinct effect on cyhalofop (RI＝10), and meanwhile it may markedly increase the bioefficacy of metamifop (RI＝0.19). We could selectively adopt the two chemicals so as to decrease the residual pesticides in the environment. Significantly, research findings from the computational screening models were found to be negatively correlated with the resistance level derived from the bioassay testing, suggesting that the screening models can be used to guide the usage of pesticides. Obviously, this story may shed novel insight on the reduction of environmental risks of pesticides and other organic pollutants.

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<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the quality of life of arthritis patients in China.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Patients (n = 1 344) were selected by stratified random sampling according to the economic conditions and the ranking of hospitals, and asked to complete the arthritic self-reported questionnaire of quality of life.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The scores of quality of life were not different between male arthritis and female arthritis in different age groups (P > 0.05). The lower scores of quality of life were reported more often among the women older than 65 years. Those of lower educational level and lower income got fewer scores. Compared to the married and unmarried patients, the divorcees and those who were bereft of their spouses gained low scores (t = 9.310, P = 0.001). Among different occupation groups, the labors and farmers also got lower scores than others (P < 0.05). On the other hand, if the arthritis with better physical conditions, it was more possible that the scores were higher, but to pressed pain index, there were no different scores shown between the second and third grade (mean difference = 4.910, P = 0.765), and to joint swell index, there are no different scores between either the 0 and 1 grade (mean difference = 16.308, P = 0.079) or the 2 and 3 grade (mean difference = 6.643, P = 0.533).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>To improve the quality of life of all arthritis patients, enhancing the quality of medical technology and enriching the medical knowledge are evidently necessary. However, it is also important to prefect social security system, to improve the country education and pay attention to life of elderly in order to improve the quality of life of all arthritis patients.</p>

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Objective To determine the status of false-positive report of congenital syphilis (CS),to analyze the possible causes of mis-diagnosis.Methods Basic information on CS in Shanghai in the past five years was collected.We identified infants diagnosed with CS and followed up the sero- logical reactivity of those patients and their mothers.The serological reactivity[rapid plasmin reagin (RPR)and treponema palidum hemagglutination assay(TPPA)]of infants was followed-up for up to 24 months,or until both antibodies turned to negative.The medical history of the mothers was col- lected,and their sera were examined for syphilitic antibodies.Results Total 99 infants diagnosed with CS were recruited. The major diagnostic method was treponemal antibody detection.Only 31.3% of the 99 infants exhibited clinical symptoms or syphilis-like symptoms at delivery.The cumu- lative RPR loss rates of the infants were 44.2%,64.0%,72.7%,83.9% and 87.1% at 1-3,3-6,6- 12,12-18 and 18-24 months after birth,respectively.The cumulative TPPA loss rates were 1.1%, 18.6%,44.6%,66.7% and 74.4% for 1-3,3-6,6-12,12-18 and 18-24 months after birth,respec- tively.TPPA remained positive in all mothers with syphilis.Conclusion The diagnosis of congenital syphilis determined solely by the positive tests of RPR and TPPA is unreliable and can be misdiagno- sis.The diagnosis and management of congenital syphilis should be urgently improved,and that the profes- sional health institutions should perform and closely monitor the quality controls in the diagnosis of CS and standardize the intervention strategy of maternal syphilis.