[Symptomatic survey on pulmonary tuberculosis in Shanghai rural areas]

A study on the discovery of pulmonary tuberculous patients in 72 villages 312,092 population in 9 counties of Shanghai rural areas by symptomatic survey was reported. The survey showed that only 8.21% of the population (25631 cases) had suspected TB symptoms, the discovery rate of > 45 age-group was still around 10%, 233 cases of active PUL TB were discovered after all the suspected subjects were examined, and 71 cases of sputum (+) were identified. For the > 60 age-group the discovery rate of active PUL TB was 64.8% (151/233) and the sputum (+) cases was 66.2% (47/71).

[Azygo-portal disconnection by the abdominal route]

Azygo-portal disconnection by the abdominal route consists of devascularization of the lower oesophagus, cardiac orifice and greater gastric tuberosity by ligation of the varices and section of the oesophagus, combined in every case with truncular vagotomy and gastric bypass. In emergencies the abdominal approach enables the bleeding points to be accurately localized. In the treatment of haemorrhages due to portal hypertension, this technique offers an alternative to porto-caval bypasses when these cannot be performed (thrombosis or portal cavernoma) or when the risk of encephalitis is too high. However, contrary to liver transplantation, it is a palliative technique for cirrhotic patients.

Diagnostic exploration of enlarged peripheral nerves in suspected cases of leprosy. An analysis of 55 cases

In 55 cases presenting with enlarged peripheral nerves without any skin lesions, a rice grain-sized biopsy of the nerve lesion was taken for histopathological examination. As a result definitive diagnoses could be established: leprosy was diagnosed in 32 cases. In 23 cases the cause of nerve enlargement was not leprosy: post-traumatic neuritis 9, cysts 5, hypertrophic neuritis 3, nonspecific 4, neurofibroma 1, and amyloidosis 1. In all of these cases there was a deficit of the nerve function and postoperatively there were no complications. The authors, as a result of this experience, believe that surgical exploration and biopsy is a harmless diagnostic tool for establishing a definitive diagnosis of leprosy in cases presenting with enlarged peripheral nerves without any skin lesions. In 23 out of 55 such cases the nerve enlargement was proved to be other causes than leprosy.

Transgenic indica rice plants

We have established a system to genetically engineer indica rice plants. In order to obtain transgenic plants, genes were introduced into protoplasts isolated from suspension cells of the indica rice var 'IR54' with the aid of polyethylene glycol (PEG). The neo gene was on pKAN and the gusA gene was on pPUR. The promoter for both genes was CaMV35S. Transformed calli were readily recovered from medium supplemented with G-418. In contrast, kanamycin interfered with plant regeneration from protoplast-callus. Transgenic plants were regenerated from calli resistant to G-418 in several separate experiments and grown to maturity in a growth chamber. Southern blot analysis of DNA isolated from leaves of T0 plants verified the presence of the transferred neo and gusA genes in the plant genome. A study of gene expression showed that the CaMV35SgusA gene was active in all of the organs examined. Mendelian inheritance of the introduced gusA gene was observed in progeny obtained by backcrossing the T0 plants to untransformed plants.

Co-transformation of indica rice protoplasts with gusA and neo genes

Protoplasts of the indica rice (Oryza sativa L.) variety, IR54, were transiently transformed with the gusA gene and stably transformed with both the neo and gusA genes. We show that PEG-mediated co-transformation of protoplasts with two genes on separate plasmids coupled with selection on kanamycin is an effective way of transferring foreign gene(s) into the indica rice genome. The efficiency of co-transformation was generally 20-30%, i.e. the frequency of kanamycin-resistant calli having both the neo and gusA active genes. Southern blot analysis using a probe for gusA indicated integration of several copies of the gene, often as head to tail tandem repeats.

Risk factors associated with the prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis among sanitary workers in Shanghai

The association between potential risk factors and the prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis was studied in Shanghai Bureau of Sanitation. The study identified a total of 202 cases among 30,289 subjects, and showed that smoking, in particular heavy smoking, had a strong association with tuberculosis after simultaneous adjustment for other factors. Using a multivariate binomial regression, the factors adjusted included the age, sex, history of contact, area of housing and type of work. The relative risk of heavy smokers compared with nonsmokers was 2.17 (95% confidence interval 1.29-3.63). The study showed that although males and old age were associated with a higher risk of tuberculosis than females and young age respectively, these differences were due to the smoking factor. The study also found that the risk of tuberculosis among the subjects with previous patient contacts was twice as high as that among the non-contacts.

Displacement of mediastinal clips by postoperative mediastinal hemorrhage

We have reported a case in which the separation of radiopaque surgical clips after cardiac operation proved to be a sensitive sign of mediastinal hemorrhage. Echocardiography was done for confirmation.