[A preliminary epidemiological survey of acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis in Guangzhou during July to September in 1988]

An epidemic of acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis (AHC) occurred in Guangzhou from July to September in 1988. The main clinical symptoms were feeling of foreign, smart pain, discharging ege, facial edema and conjunctival congestion. In some cases there were headache and fever. The patients recovered rapidly. Epidemiologic feature were that the incubation period of AHC is short, rapid spread, wide prevalence and high attack rate. Approximately 490000 cases of AHC are estimated to occur in Guangzhou from July to September in 1988, with the attack rate is about 79.5%. Most patients were 20 to 59 age group (72.3%). The highest age of patient was 79 years old. The lowest age of patient was 6 months old. Both etiologic and serologic studies showed that this outbreak of AHC was caused by EV70, and then developed a mixed epidemic of Cox A24 and EV70.

[Effects of intravenous flecainide acetate in patients with concealed atrioventricular pathway with supraventricular tachycardia]

The acute efficacy and electrophysiologic effects of intravenous flecainide acetate (1.5 mg/kg) on 10 patients with concealed AV pathway with supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) by esophageal programmed electrical stimulation were evaluated. The results showed that: (1) the drug has marked depressing effects on the retrograde accessory pathway conduction and minimal effects on the antegrade AV nodal conduction; (2) there were no effects on the patients with normal sinus node function; (3) the drug has little side effects during the studies; (4) flecainide terminated induced SVT in 9 of 10 cases (90%), and prevented induced SVT in 7 of 9 cases (78%).

Isolation and structural elucidation of a novel type of ganglioside, deaminated neuraminic acid (KDN)-containing glycosphingolipid, from rainbow trout sperm. The first example of the natural occurrence of KDN-ganglioside, (KDN)GM3

Rainbow trout sperm contained almost exclusively monoanionic ganglioside fraction as a major acidic glycosphingolipid. Two monoacidic gangliosides were isolated and purified in this study and designated as sperm ganglioside 1 and 2 (sg-1 and sg-2). The two gangliosides, sg-1 and sg-2, contained the same neutral sugars, galactose and glucose in molar ratio of 1:1 and no GalNAc except for the presence of N-acetyl-neuraminic acid (NeuAc) in sg-1 and deaminated neuraminic acid (KDN; 2-keto-3-deoxy-D-glycero-D-galacto-nononic acid) in sg-2. The complete structures of these gangliosides were determined by a combination of methylation analysis, fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry, 400-MHz one- and two-dimensional 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, fatty acid analysis, and endoglycoceramidase digestion NeuAc alpha 2----3Gal beta 1----4Glc beta 1----Cer sg-1 [(NeuAc)GM3] KDN alpha 2----3Gal beta 1----4Glc beta 1----Cer sg-2 [(KDN)GM3] where, for both sg-1 and sg-2, the ceramide moieties (Cer) were found to be made up of 4-sphingenine and mainly C16:0 fatty acid (palmitate; 95%) with a minor amount of C24:1 fatty acyl chain (nervonate, 5%). The structure of sg-2 is novel and represents the first example of a new class of gangliosides, i.e. KDN-gangliosides.

[Pre- and postoperative splanchnic hemodynamics measured by indocyanine green clearance in patients with portal hypertension]

In this study, plasma indocyanine green clearance (PIGC) and hepatic blood flow (HBF) were measured in patients with portal hypertension before and after pericardial devascularization or side-to-side mesocaval shunt (MS), and the relationship between PIGC and plasma albumin level was investigated. It was found that there was no change in PIGC after the patients underwent pericardial devascularization (portoazygous disconnection). There were a significant decrease of PIGC (averaging 16.28 +/- 8.3%,) and a decrease of HBF (averaging 17.71%, p less than 0.001) after the patients underwent MS. It was also found that there was a positive relationship between PIGC and plasma albumin level in patients with portal hypertension.

[Preventive effect of bombesin on alloxan-induced diabetes in rat]

The effect of bombesin against injury on rat islet B cells was studied in three kinds of experiments: (1). In vivo experiment, it was found that preinjection of bombesin (50 micrograms/kg, sublingual v.) could effectively prevent an increase of plasma glucose and decrease of plasma insulin in diabetic rat induced by alloxan (200 mg/kg, s.c.) (2). In vitro experiment, isolated pancreas perfusion showed that alloxan-induced (14 mmol/L) perfusion fluid inhibition of insulin secretion could be reversed by pretreatment of bombesin (10(-3) mmol/L). (3). Investigation on isolated and incubated islets demonstrated that alloxan induced decrease of insulin and somatostatin secretion and increase of glucagon secretion could be prevented by bombesin. The above-mentioned results suggest that bombesin may play an important role in the regulation of plasma glucose in diabetic rat and have a potent preventive effect against the development of diabetes.

[The investigation of anti-hepatitis A virus antibody rate in Guangzhou population]

The positive rate of Anti-HAV in 1663 general Guangzhou population were investigated by ELISA in 1988. The total positive rate of anti-HAV antibody ways 65.1%. There are great differences between the overall positive rate of anti-HAV antibody and those in different districts and counties. Among them, the highest rate was 90.2%, the lowest was 46.7%. The overall positive rate of anti-HAV antibody of rural population (79.3%) was significant higher than that of urban population (53.9%). The rates in scattered children (46.5%) were higher than in the organized children (20.8%). Among the less than 4 years old children, boys (39.0%) were higher than the girls (13.3%). Among 0-10 years old children, it presented a tendency of anti-HAV antibody rate from 15.4% to 44.4%, it increased rapidly to 29.73% in children aged 0-4. Among 10-49 years old group, the rate was going up with age. The value of the peak of positive rate of Anti-HAV antibody situated on 45-49 years of age, and after fifty the rate slowly decreased.

High-performance self-pumped phase conjugator with a multichannel in KNSBN:Cu crystal

A Cu-doped (0.04 wt. %) (K(0.5)Na(0.5))(0.2)(Sr(0.61) Ba(0.39))(0.9)Nb(2)O(6) crystal produced as much as 68% self-pumped phaseconjugate reflectivity at the laser wavelength lambda = 514.5 nm. We also observed some phenomena that helped us to understand the mechanism for the self-pumped phase-conjugate mirror.

[The partial characterization of neutrophils' and lymphocytes' chemotactic factors from murine anagenic hair bulb extract]

Sephadex G-75 gel filtration of murine anagenic hair bulb extracts (HBE) showed two peaks with chemotactic activity. Peak I (m.w. 63 +/- 4.6 KD) was chemotactic for both neutrophils and lymphocytes, and Peak II (m.w. 47 +/- 5.6 KD) was chemotactic for lymphocytes only. The neutrophil related chemotactic activity was sensitive to treatments by trypsin, pronase, neuraminidase, or heating at 100 degrees C for 10 min. With Peak I, lymphocyte related chemotactic activity was sensitive to treatments by pronase, trypsin or neuraminidase, but was unaffected by heating at 100 degrees C for 10 min. On the other hand, the same aforementioned treatments all individually inactivated the Peak II lymphocyte related chemotactic activity. Intradermal injection of Peak I fractions into guinea pigs induced infiltration of neutrophils and mononuclear cells, and that of Peak II induced the infiltration of mononuclear cells. These findings suggest that normal C3H murine anagenic hair bulb contains three different chemotactic factors related to neutrophils and lymphocytes.

[External counterpulsation in treating angina pectoris evaluated by Tl-201 myocardial perfusion imaging]

Twenty patients with angina pectoris were treated with external counterpulsation (ECP) for 36 hours, and the effects of the therapy were evaluated by comparing the images of thallium-201 myocardial perfusion before and after ECP. Improvement of myocardial perfusion after ECP, evidenced by decrease in area of defects in scintigram, was demonstrated in 15 (75%) cases. The mechanism of the effect of ECP on ischemic myocardium was discussed.

[The contents of gamma-aminobutyric acid and glutamic acid in brain affected by coriaria lactone]

Capillary chromatography was applied to studying the contents of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamic acid (Glu) in brain affected by coriaria lactone. The results showed that there was a significant increase in the content of Glu whereas no significant change in the content of GABA was noted. The precisions for GABA and Glu were 3.3% and 4.98% and the recoveries of them were 80.5% and 85.2%, respectively. Capillary chromatography is a good method for determining the contents of GABA and Glu in brain, which has the characteristics of rapid and high sensitivity.

Extracellular matrix and androgen receptor expression associated with spontaneous transformation of rat prostate fibroblasts

Spontaneous transformation in continuous culture of the androgen-sensitive rat prostate fibroblast cell line, NbF-1, resulted in an aggressively tumorigenic nonmetastatic phenotype that coincided with few gross chromosome abnormalities. This study identified transformation-associated alterations in extracellular matrix and androgen receptor expression in the NbF-1 cell line. Substantial levels of procollagens I, III, and IV and fibronectin mRNAs were detected in nontumorigenic NbF-1 cells. Laminin B1 and B2 mRNAs were also detectable, but at lower levels. Expression of all six extracellular matrix mRNAs was nonuniformly lower in tumorigenic NbF-1 cells. This decrease in expression was greatest for alpha 2 procollagen IV mRNA, which was reduced 17-fold. Proteoglycans and glycosaminoglycans synthesized by the NbF-1 cultures were also characterized. The NbF-1 cell line expressed chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans predominantly, and expression was reduced 5- to 10-fold in tumorigenic cultures. In contrast to the extensive alterations in the extracellular matrix, measurement of high-affinity androgen binding and androgen receptor mRNA levels showed substantial expression of androgen receptors in both NbF-1 cultures. Cultures of early and late passage NbF-1 cells demonstrated a mitogenic response to dihydrotestosterone. These data indicate (a) that alterations in expression of extracellular matrix components may represent early markers for tumorigenic transformation in prostatic mesenchymal cells and (b) that these changes can occur without disrupting androgen receptor expression and androgen sensitivity.

[Effect of human fibroblast derived inhibitor on tumor and transformed cell proliferation and differentiation]

The effect of HFDI (human fibroblast derived inhibitor) on cell growth inhibition and differentiation of J6-1 (leukemia cell line). Namalva (Burkitt's lymphoma cell line), and fresh leukemic bone marrow cell cultures was studied. HFDI was found to inhibit tumor and leukemic cell growth as assayed by 3H-TdR incorporation, cell degeneration and necrosis, and to induce differentiation. We demonstrated that the characteristics of PHA-inhibited lymphocyte transformation were, in fact, identical to those of HFDI-inhibited degeneration and necrosis and HFDI-induced differentiation. It seems that necrosis was related to target cell sensitivity to HFDI.

[Lymphocyte phenotypes and their correlation with clinical features in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)]

Lymphocyte phenotypes of peripheral blood from 32 SLE patients and 30 normal subjects were studied with 13 kinds of monoclonal antibodies using indirect immunofluorescence technique. The results showed that T4+, T8+, T3+ and T11+ cells decreased in active cases of SLE, while Ia+, IL2R1+ and PCA-1+ cells increased, other B-cell phenotypes (B1, B2, B4, IgM, IgG, IgD) showed no significant difference from those of the normal group. Thus, in inactive SLE after therapeutic management, the numbers of T3+, T11+, T4+, Ia+ and IL2R1+ cells no longer show any abnormality, but the numbers of T8+, PCA-1+ cells and the level of serum IgG are still higher than normal. From the above-mentioned results, it was shown that: 1. The key change in active SLE is the abnormality of immunoregulatory T cells, especially T4+ cells; 2. In active SLE, some of the T cells have been activated in vivo and these immunocompetent cells play an important role in immunoglobulin production of B cells; 3. The hyperactivity of humoral immunity is mainly related to the increase of PCA-1+ cells under the regulation of T cells; 4. Both the lymphocyte phenotypes and clinical features of SLE showed heterogeneity.

New tandem-repeating peptide structures in polysialoglycoproteins from the unfertilized eggs of kokanee salmon

New polysialoglycoproteins, designated PSGP(On), were isolated from the fertilized and unfertilized eggs of the kokanee salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka adonis. The polysialylglycan chains consisting of alpha-2,8-linked O-acetylated poly(N-glycolylneuraminyl) chains have recently been characterized. We have now determined the complete amino acid sequence of the tandem-repeating units of PSGP(On) from the unfertilized eggs of kokanee salmon and found that the following two distinct forms are present in PSGP(On) in almost identical amounts: [formula: see text] and [formula: see text] where * denotes the O-glycosylation site and mean value of m, n = about 20. Upon fertilization these high-molecular-weight forms of PSGP(On) were proteolytically cleaved to the corresponding repeating units, low-molecular-weight PSGP(On), by the action of a specific protease (PSGPase) at the position two residues set C-terminally to the Pro residue and N-terminally to the Asp residue, i.e. -Pro-Ser-Xaa-Asp-: [formula: see text] and [formula: see text].

[The partial characterization of neutrophils and lymphocytes chemotactic factors from murine anagenic hair bulb extract]

The murine anagenic ++ hair bulb extract (HBE) showed a chemotactic activity for both neutrophils and lymphocytes in vitro. The activity for both cells was retained after heating at 56 degrees C for 30 min, and dialysis. However, heating at 100 degrees C for 10 min inactivated the chemotactic activity for neutrophils, but not for lymphocytes. Activity for neutrophils was sensitive to degradation by trypsin or pronase but stable to neuraminidase treatment. On the other hand, activity for lymphocytes was not affected by protease treatment, but was reduced by approximately 30% after being treated by neuraminidase. These findings suggest that HBE contains at least two kinds of chemoattractants for neutrophils and lymphocytes.

[Comparative clinical study of rheumatoid arthritis treated by triptolide and an ethyl acetate extract of Tripterygium wilfordii]

It was satisfactory using the ethyl acetate extract of Tripterygium wilfordii (TW) to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The results showed that the ethyl acetate extract of TW was the effective component part of TW. Although the therapeutic effect of 15 cases with RA cured by triptolide was as effective as the ethyl acetate extract of TW, triptolide could impair some patients' hearts. This suggested that triptolide was one of the main effective elements of TW, but it was also one of the main toxic elements. Clinical research indicated that: (1) the effect of TW in treating RA was the synergistic action of elements with triptolide as the main; (2) triptolide may act as a major standard of controlling the quality of the preparation of TW and assure clinical use safely.

[Studies on oncogene and its products of human nasopharyngeal carcinoma]

Oncogene of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) by means of external origin DNA transfection experiment and its gene products by immunohistochemical method have been studied. These DNAs were isolated from human primary poorly differentiated NPC tissues and were transfected into NIH/3T3 mouse fibroblasts to induce the foci of the morphologically transformed cells in the culture, while DNAs of normal placenta tissues failed to do so. The DNAs were extracted from the primary and secondary transformed cells to analyse human sequence with human Alu sequence probe. The human sequence has been detected in the DNAs of the primary and secondary transformed foci cells, while none of the human sequence was detected in the DNAs of the control. The results indicated that human transforming sequences had been integrated into transformed cells. The malignant properties of the transformed foci cells were evidenced by tumorigenic experiment of nude mice. The transformed foci cells were inoculated subcutaneously in the nude mice and induced fibrosarcoma in vivo. The tumorigenic rate was 87.5%. It was further demonstrated that DNAs from human NPC possessed carcinogenicity and induced malignant transformation. The primary result revealed that the transforming gene of NPC may be homologue to Ha-ras oncogene. The expression of Ha-ras gene products-p21 has been studied in human NPC tissues. The primary results showed a positive expression of p21 in human NPC tissues by immunohistochemical method. The positive rate was 90.4%.

Comparison of serum hepatitis B virus replication markers in patients with chronic hepatitis B: studies on HBeAg/anti-HBe system, viral DNA polymerase and HBV-DNA

The detection of HBV-DNA in serum by molecular hybridization is the most sensitive and specific marker or replication and infectivity of hepatitis B virus and currently is proposed as a routine diagnostic technique in the follow-up of HBV-related diseases. Comparing different techniques already described, we found that direct spotting of serum samples on nitrocellulose membranes under vacuum filtration, followed by denaturing and neutralizing washes is more practical, simple, sensible and reproducible. DNA polymerase assay using phosphonoformic acid as specific viral inhibitor has shown 86.8% of concordance with HBV-DNA detection, and so, it is an useful alternative in the follow-up of hepatitis B chronic patients. We found 19.2% HBeAg positive samples with no other markers of viral replication and no anti-HBe positive sample had detectable HBV-DNA. Discordance between the 2 systems have been extensively described, and we confirm this for the first time in our country. Molecular biological techniques are essential to determine the replication status of chronic hepatitis B patients.

[Lichen planus pemphigoides--report of a case and binding sites of circulating anti-basement membrane zone antibodies]

In this paper, we initially report a case which had clinical, histological and immuno-histochemical features consistent with the diagnosis of lichen planus pemphigoides (LPP). We then examined in vitro binding sites of circulating anti-basement membrane zone (BMZ) antibodies (Ab) from the patient using skin substrate separated through the lamina lucida by incubation in 1.0 M NaCl in order to study the localization of the LPP antigen. In indirect immunofluorescence examination, binding of anti-BMZ Ab from this patient was observed along the epidermal side of the separated skin in a linear pattern. When an indirect immunoelectron microscopy was performed on the separated skin, immune-reaction products were localized at basal cells from cytomembrane to hemidesmosomes in a massive and discontinuous fashion. These findings suggest that the binding sites of anti-BMZ Ab in LPP (localization of LPP antigen) are quite different from those of epidermolysis bullosa acquisita Ab, and show an intracellular association with hemidesmosomes in a fashion similar to those of bullous pemphigoid Ab.

[Natural killer (NK) activity of the peripheral blood lymphocytes in cancer patients]

In this paper, the NK activity of peripheral blood lymphocytes from tumor patients by 125I-UdR release test was reported. The results showed significantly lower NK activity in patients with advanced malignant tumor than that in normal controls, and that the impaired NK activity was back to normal level several years after radical operation. In patients with liver cancer, the NK activity could be increased by treatment with specific iRNA. The data suggest that the evaluation NK activity might be valuable for predicting the prognosis of cancer patients.

[Histamine and lung cancer. II. Human lung cancer cell line and histamine]

Using tissue culture and biochemical technique, the effects of autacoid-histamine and histamine H-2 receptor's antagonist-cimetidine on human lung cancer cell line were studied. It was shown that histamine at the concentration of 1.8 x 10(-7) M stimulated proliferation of the lung cancer cells, but histamine at the concentration of 1.8 x 10(-4) M or cimetidine at 1.76 x 10(-7) M inhibited growth of the lung cancer cells. Relation between histamine, histidine decarboxylase, histamine formation capacity and tumor proliferation is discussed.

Beneficial effects of ibuprofen on experimental microvascular free flaps: pharmacologic alteration of the no-reflow phenomenon

Pharmacologic alteration of the no-reflow phenomenon was determined based on increased tolerance to ischemia in ibuprofen-treated free flaps. Sprague-Dawley rats (N = 60) were divided into control (lactated Ringer's) and treated (ibuprofen) groups and subdivided into six groups of ischemia: 1 hour, 6 hours, 8 hours, 10 hours, 12 hours, and 14 hours of ischemia. Fluorescein uptake was measured after 10, 30, and 60 minutes following microrevascularization. Dye elimination studies were done for each ischemia group that demonstrated good fluorescein uptake. All free flaps in the 1-, 6-, and 8-hour groups survived. The ibuprofen-treated 10- and 12-hour flaps all survived, whereas the 10-hour control and 14-hour ibuprofen-treated free flaps failed to survive. Despite high fluorescein uptake, the 14-hour ibuprofen-treated flaps did not eliminate the fluorescein, whereas all surviving free flaps adequately eliminated the fluorescein. Failure to eliminate dye despite adequate uptake suggested a deranged microcirculation with increasing ischemia time. By inhibiting cyclo-oxygenase, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents such as ibuprofen may block the untoward effects mediated by thromboxane A2, such as vasoconstriction, microvasculature thrombus formation, and intravascular sludging. These effects are theorized in part to be responsible for the failure of a free flap to survive despite revascularization.

Comparative cytogenetics of Chinese and Japanese raccoon dogs, Nyctereutes procyonoides

We investigated the relationships between subspecies of Nyctereutes procyonoides from China (2n = 54 + B chromosomes) and Japan (2n = 38 + B chromosomes). The chromosomes of Chinese and Japanese raccoon dogs were compared by means of conventional staining, G- and C-banding, and silver nitrate staining of NORs. Extensive G-banding homologies revealed karyotype evolution through chromosomal fusion. We believe the reduced diploid number in the Japanese raccoon dogs was achieved by fusion of 16 acrocentrics to form eight metacentric and submetacentric elements. Ten pairs of autosomes appeared to be identical in these subspecies and were presumed to have occurred as such in a common ancestor. G-band patterns of the sex chromosomes were similar in the two subspecies, but differences were noted with other banding and staining techniques. B chromosomes were present in varying numbers and sizes in all animals examined, but the morphology of the B chromosomes differed in the two subspecies. It was concluded from chromosomal and paleontological evidence that the two subspecies were derived from a common mainland ancestor and that the Japanese raccoon dogs is a relatively recent form.