Lysophosphatidylcholine induces cytotoxicity/apoptosis and IL-8 production of human endothelial cells: Related mechanisms.

Increased levels of oxidized low-density lipoprotein oxLDL) are shown to elevate the risk of cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis, thrombosis, stroke, and myocardial infarction. This is possibly due to the toxic effects of oxLDLs on vascular cells. Various oxLDLs including lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) and 7-ketocholesterol injure vascular endothelial cells and stimulate inflammatory reaction.

Cemental tear: clinical characteristics and its predisposing factors.

Introduction: Cemental tears often show characteristics mimicking a periapical or periodontal lesion. This leads to difficulty in the early diagnosis of cemental tears.

Methods: In this multicenter study, 71 teeth with cemental tears being confirmed by direct inspection or histological examination were included.

Viral load in blood is correlated with disease severity of neonatal coxsackievirus B3 infection: early diagnosis and predicting disease severity is possible in severe neonatal enterovirus infection.

We conducted a study during an outbreak of coxsackievirus B3 infection in 2005 and found that viral RNA could be detected in patients' blood specimens soon after the onset of fever, and the level of viral RNA was positively correlated with disease severity. Timely diagnosis is possible in severe neonatal enterovirus infection.

Coxsackievirus B3 in human milk.

Coxsackievirus B3 can cause severe neonatal disease with high mortality. We present the first report of detection of coxsackievirus B3 in the mothers' milk of 2 severely infected neonates by culture and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction is a rapid and sensitive tool to detect coxsackievirus B3 in breast milk within few hours.

Extravasation of calcium gluconate concomitant with osteomyelitis in a neonate.

Extravasation of calcium gluconate is not an uncommon complication in neonatal units, which may result in skin and soft tissue inflammation, injury and even infection. We report an 11-day-old preterm infant who developed osteomyelitis at an infiltrated intravenous site through which calcium gluconate was infused. The patient was initially treated conservatively as a simple calcium-infiltrate.