Gut-derived fungemia due to Kodamaea ohmeri combined with invasive pulmonary aspergillosis: a case report.

Background: Kodamaea ohmeri is a rare pathogen with high mortality and is found among blood samples in a considerable proportion; however, gastrointestinal infection of K. ohmeri is extremely rare. Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis is also an uncommon fungal; these two fungal infections reported concomitantly are unprecedented.

A CT-derived deep neural network predicts for programmed death ligand-1 expression status in advanced lung adenocarcinomas.

Background: Programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) expression remains a crucial predictor in selecting patients for immunotherapy. The current study aimed to non-invasively predict PD-L1 expression based on chest computed tomography (CT) images in advanced lung adenocarcinomas (LUAD), thus help select optimal patients who can potentially benefit from immunotherapy.

Methods: A total of 127 patients with stage III and IV LUAD were enrolled into this study.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa induces cellular senescence in lung tissue at the early stage of two-hit septic mice.

We presume that severe secondary Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) infection can lead to cellular senescence in lung tissue and thus contribute to high mortality. We established a two-hit mouse model using cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) followed by sublethal PA lung infection. In lung tissue, increased infiltration of inflammatory cells, elevated lung injury and augmented cellular senescence was shown in mice with CLP followed by sublethal PA infection, and these observations reached a higher rank when higher (H) loads PA (PAO1) were administered to CLP mice (CLP + PAO1-H).

Using ROS as a Second Messenger, NADPH Oxidase 2 Mediates Macrophage Senescence via Interaction with NF-B during Infection.

(PA) is one of the most prevalent pathogens that cause nosocomial infection in critical patients. However, the mechanisms underlying macrophage growth status and functional changes during PA infection are yet unknown. In the present study, NADPH oxidase, gp91 (NOX2) mediated macrophage to senescence in a PAO1 colony-dependent manner.

Macrolide-resistant prevalence and clinical aspects in adult patients with community-acquired pneumonia in China: a prospective multicenter surveillance study.

Background: Drug resistant () is a rising issue in the management of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Epidemiological monitoring is essential for identifying resistant patterns of MP isolates against various antibiotics in adult CAP patients.

Methods: This is a prospectively designed multicenter study conducted on adult patients with CAP visiting six teaching hospitals in the cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou between September 2010 and June 2012.

Validity of fractional exhaled nitric oxide and small airway function indices in diagnosis of cough-variant asthma.

Objective: Fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) is a non-invasive method used to reveal the eosinophilic inflammation of airway and to diagnose and manage asthma. The use of FeNO measurement or its combination with the small airway function in differentiating CVA patients from chronic cough patients is unexplored.

Methods: From December 2012 to June 2016, patients with chronic non-productive cough for more than 8 weeks based on physician's opinion were subjected to FeNO, pulmonary function, and bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) tests.

Importance of fractional exhaled nitric oxide in the differentiation of asthma-COPD overlap syndrome, asthma, and COPD.

Background: Fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) is an easy, sensitive, reproducible, and noninvasive marker of eosinophilic airway inflammation. Accordingly, FeNO is extensively used to diagnose and manage asthma. Patients with COPD who share some of the features of asthma have a condition called asthma-COPD overlap syndrome (ACOS).

Importance of fractional exhaled nitric oxide in diagnosis of bronchiectasis accompanied with bronchial asthma.

Background: Fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) measurement is a simple, rapid, highly reproducible, and noninvasive method of airway inflammation assessment. Therefore, FeNO is extensively used for the diagnosis and management of asthma. The feasibility of using FeNO as an alternative to conventional pulmonary function test to differentiate patients with bronchiectasis (BE) and bronchial asthma from those with BE only remains unclear.

A randomized controlled clinical trial of levofloxacin 750 mg versus 500 mg intravenous infusion in the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia.

The objective of this study was to compare the efficacy and safety of levofloxacin 750 mg for 5 days versus 500 mg for 7-14 days intravenous (IV) in the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). This clinical trial was the first of its kind conducted in Chinese people and also in Asian population. A total of 241 were enrolled and randomized to 750 mg group (n = 121) or 500 mg (n = 120) group from 10 study centers.

NF-κB inhibition after cecal ligation and puncture reduces sepsis-associated lung injury without altering bacterial host defense.

Introduction: Since the NF-κB pathway regulates both inflammation and host defense, it is uncertain whether interventions targeting NF-κB would be beneficial in sepsis. Based on the kinetics of the innate immune response, we postulated that selective NF-κB inhibition during a defined time period after the onset of sepsis would reduce acute lung injury without compromising bacterial host defense.

Methods: Mice underwent cecal ligation and puncture (CLP).

Meta-analysis of the adverse effects of long-term azithromycin use in patients with chronic lung diseases.

The adverse effects of azithromycin on the treatment of patients with chronic lung diseases (CLD) were evaluated in the present study. MEDLINE and other databases were searched for relevant articles published until August 2013. Randomized controlled trials that enrolled patients with chronic lung diseases who received long-term azithromycin treatment were selected, and data on microbiological studies and azithromycin-related adverse events were abstracted from articles and analyzed.

Comparison of the lung function change in patients with COPD and bronchial asthma before and after treatment with budesonide/formoterol.

Objective: This study investigated the rapid onset of bronchodilation effect and compared lung function changes following budesonide/formoterol (Symbicort Turbuhaler®) inhalation in Chinese patients with moderate-severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and bronchial asthma.

Methods: In this open-label, parallel-group clinical study, patients eligible for study were divided into COPD group (n=62, mean age 68.16±8.

Pulmonary cryptococcosis in non-AIDS patients.

Objective: To investigate the clinical features, management, and prognosis of pulmonary cryptococcosis in non-acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients.

Method: 24 cases of pulmonary cryptococcosis with accurate pathological diagnosis were retrospectively studied.

Results: 15 male patients and nine female patients were diagnosed at the first affiliated hospital of Sun Yat-sen University from November 1999 to November 2011.

Budesonide/formoterol maintenance and reliever therapy in Chinese patients with asthma.

Background: Many studies have shown the superior efficacy of budesonide (BUD)/formoterol (FORM) maintenance and reliever therapy, but still lack evidence of its efficacy in Chinese asthma patients in a relative large patient-group. We finished this research to compare BUD/FORM maintenance and reliever therapy and high-dose salmeterol (SALM)/fluticasone (FP) maintenance plus an as-needed short-acting β(2)-agonist in Chinese patients with persistent uncontrolled asthma. This was a post hoc analysis based on a 6-month, multicenter, randomized, double-blind study (NCT00242775).

Structure and function of OprD protein in Pseudomonas aeruginosa: from antibiotic resistance to novel therapies.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) is a common pathogen isolated from patients with nosocomial infections. Due to its intrinsic and acquired antimicrobial resistance, limited classes of antibiotics can be used for the treatment of infection with P.

Meta-analysis and systematic review of procalcitonin-guided therapy in respiratory tract infections.

Circulating procalcitonin (PCT) is a biomarker that can be used in diagnosing bacterial infections. We performed a quantitative meta-analysis of available randomized controlled trials to determine whether antibiotic therapy based on PCT measurements alters clinical outcomes and antibiotic use in patients with lower respiratory tract infections. We identified studies through MEDLINE (1996 to 2010), the ISI Web of Knowledge (1996 to 2010), and Ovid.

Bostrycin inhibits proliferation of human lung carcinoma A549 cells via downregulation of the PI3K/Akt pathway.

Background: Bostrycin is a novel compound isolated from marine fungi that inhibits proliferation of many cancer cells. However, the inhibitory effect of bostrycin on lung cancers has not been reported. This study is to investigate the inhibitory effects and mechanism of bostrycin on human lung cancer cells in vitro.

[Impact of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on quality of life and economic burden in Chinese urban areas].

Objective: To assess the impact of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) on the quality of life and economic burden in Chinese urban areas.

Methods: COPD patients (n = 723) were interviewed face-to-face in outpatient departments in 6 large cities in China. The questionnaire included social and demographic information, current health status, quality of life (SGRQ), and medical expenditure on outpatient visit, hospitalization, medicine purchasing in medicine stores in the last 12 months, and other expenditures related with COPD were also collected.

[Effect of leukotriene receptor antagonist on cough variant asthma].

Objective: To study the curative effect of leukotriene receptor antagonist on cough variant asthma (CVA).

Methods: Sixty-four CVA patients received treatment with bricany and montelukas and 68 control patients had bricany treatment for 4 weeks. The recurrence rate was observed in the two groups during the follow-up for 6 months.

[Effects of glucocorticoids on tuberculous pleural effusion: experiment with rats].

Objective: To explore the effects of systemic glucocorticoid treatment on tuberculous pleural effusion.

Methods: Ninety Wistar rats were intrapleurally injected with 0.03 mg of standard human Mycobacterium tuberculosis to establish models of tuberculous pleural effusions and then were randomly divided into 2 equal groups both without anti-tuberculosis treatment: glucocorticoids group (GG) undergoing intramuscular injection of 0.

[The effects and therapeutic duration of oral corticosteroids in patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases].

Objective: To observe the clinical efficacy and therapeutic duration of oral corticosteroids in patients with acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (AECOPD).

Methods: A randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical study was designed. One hundred and thirty hospitalized patients with AECOPD were randomly divided into three groups: group 1 (n = 44) received 30 mg/d of prednisone for 7 days and then placebo for another 7 days; group 2 (n = 43) received 30 mg/d of prednisone for 10 days, then tapered to 15 mg/d for 4 days; group 3 (n = 43) received placebo for 14 days.

Tuberculosis in southern Chinese renal-transplant recipients.

Objectives: To analyze the characteristics of tuberculosis (TB) in Southern Chinese renal transplant recipients, and summarize the corresponding experiences in diagnosis and management.

Method: Retrospectively study 41 documented post-transplant TB cases out of the 2333 patients who received kidney transplantation in the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University between Jan. 1991 and Apr.

Targeting the CD134-CD134L interaction using anti-CD134 and/or rhCD134 fusion protein as a possible strategy to prevent lupus nephritis.

Lupus nephritis (LN) is characterized by an increased upregulation of Th1. This study was undertaken to evaluate the role of CD134 in cytokine production in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from subjects with LN. Percentages of IFN-gamma- (Th1), IL-4-, and IL-10- (Th2) producing cells within the PBMC CD4+ T cell population of LN subjects were found to be higher than those of healthy subjects.