The value of metagenomic next-generation sequencing with blood samples for the diagnosis of disseminated tuberculosis.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the clinical value of metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) of blood samples for the identification of disseminated tuberculosis (DTB).

Methods: A total of 48 individuals suspected of DTB were enrolled. All patients underwent mNGS of peripheral blood and conventional microbiological tests.

Clinical Characteristics of Non-B and Non-C Biopsy-Proven Primary Liver Cancers in an HBV- Endemic Area: A Retrospective Study.

Objective: To explore the distribution of probable causes and clinical characteristics of non-B and non-C (NBNC) primary liver cancer (PLC) patients in the HBV-endemic region.

Methods: A total of 86 individuals with biopsy-proven NBNC-PLC were enrolled. NBNC-PLC patients were defined as negative for both anti-HCV antibodies and five serum hepatitis B markers.

Hepatitis B virus infection in patients with Wilson disease: A large retrospective study.

Background: Wilson disease (WD) is the most common genetic metabolic liver disease. Some studies have shown that comorbidities may have important effects on WD. Data on hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in patients with WD are limited.

Amphotericin B May Decrease the Serum Level of Voriconazole: A Case Report and Brief Review of Literature.

Background: Combination therapy with amphotericin B (AmB) and Voriconazole are sometimes used due to reducing AmB-related adverse reactions and improving outcomes. However, there was no report whether AmB would affect the serum level of Voriconazole.

Case Presentation: A patient was in presumption of invasive fungal infection.

Identifying factors affecting the pharmacokinetics of voriconazole in patients with liver dysfunction: A population pharmacokinetic approach.

Voriconazole is a broad-spectrum antifungal agent commonly used to treat invasive fungal infections. Voriconazole has significant intraindividual and interindividual pharmacokinetics variability in different patient populations. Pharmacokinetic data of voriconazole in patients with liver dysfunction were limited.

Discrimination of Two Cultivars of Hance Using an Electronic Nose and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Coupled with Chemometrics.

: Hance is both an herbal medicine and a condiment, and generally has different cultivars such as Zhutou galangal and Fengwo galangal. The appearance of these cultivars is similar, but their chemical composition and quality are different. It is therefore important to discriminate between different plants to ensure the consistency of the efficacy of the medicine.

Cryptococcosis manifesting as isolated biliary infection: Case report and brief review of literature.

Background: Biliary cryptococci infection is rare, which is frequently diagnosed by exploratory laparotomy, preoperative diagnosis is difficult.

Case Presentation: A 14-year-old girl presented with intermittent jaundice for 6 years. She had no pruritus, anorexia, nausea or vomiting, fever, abdominal pain, or clay stools.

Role of autophagy in tumor necrosis factor-α-induced apoptosis of osteoblast cells.

The aim of this study is to investigate the role of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in apoptosis and autophagy of mouse osteoblast MC3T3-E1 cells, as well as the crosstalk between autophagy and apoptosis. Mouse osteoblast MC3T3-E1 cells were cultured in vitro and treated with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), rapamycin, 3-methyl adenine (3-MA) and TNF-α either alone or in combination, respectively. MTT assays were used to monitor the cell viability upon different treatments.

The Role of IL-27 and its Receptor in the Pathogenesis of HIV/AIDS and Anti-viral Immune Response.

Background: Cytokines have been widely demonstrated to involve in the pathogenesis of AIDS and the mechanisms of antiretroviral therapy. Interleukin 27 (IL-27) is a new member of the IL-12 cytokine family and has been shown to interfere HIV-1 virus replication with controversial findings. This study is to investigate the dynamic changes in plasma IL-27 level and cell surface IL-27 receptor expression in HIV/AIDS patients who underwent HAART.

Identification of Chinese Herbal Medicines with Electronic Nose Technology: Applications and Challenges.

This paper provides a review of the most recent works in machine olfaction as applied to the identification of Chinese Herbal Medicines (CHMs). Due to the wide variety of CHMs, the complexity of growing sources and the diverse specifications of herb components, the quality control of CHMs is a challenging issue. Much research has demonstrated that an electronic nose (E-nose) as an advanced machine olfaction system, can overcome this challenge through identification of the complex odors of CHMs.

The role of autophagy in THP-1 macrophages resistance to HIV- vpr-induced apoptosis.

Macrophages are resistant to cell death and are one of HIV reservoirs. HIV viral protein Vpr has the potential to promote infection of and survival of macrophages, which could be a highly significant factor in the development and/or maintenance of macrophage viral reservoirs. However, the impact of vpr on macrophages resistance to apoptosis is yet to be comprehended.

Hepatitis B virus mutation may play a role in hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence: A systematic review and meta-regression analysis.

Background And Aims: A number of studies have confirmed that antiviral therapy with nucleotide analogs (NAs) can improve the prognosis of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after curative therapy. However, what factors affected the prognosis of HBV-HCC after removal of the primary tumor and inhibition of HBV replication? A meta-regression analysis was conducted to explore the prognostic factor for this subgroup of patients.

Methods: MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Cochrane library were searched from January 1995 to February 2014 for clinical trials evaluating the effect of NAs on the prognosis of HBV-HCC after curative therapy.

The immune pathogenesis of immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome associated with highly active antiretroviral therapy in AIDS.

The present study investigated the immunological pathogenesis of immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients undergoing highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). A total of 238 patients with AIDS who received initial HAART were included in this prospective cohort study. Blood samples were collected immediately, at baseline, at week 12, and at week 24 after initial HAART and at the onset of IRIS.

HIV DNA and immune alteration during successful HAART.

Background: Highly Active Antiretroviral therapy (HAART) can effectively reduce the viral load to undetectable levels in most HIV-infected patients. However, some patients may still experience impaired immunologic response associated with increased risk of disease progression and death.

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the impact of the HIV DNA load on the immune alteration during successful HAART.

[Dynamic changes of cellular HIV-1 DNA quantification during highly active antiretroviral therapy in Chinese HIV infected individuals].

Objective: To observe the dynamic changes of 3 types of viral reservoir cells (NK cells, T lymphocytes and monocytes), and its relationship with treatment effect in Chinese HIV-1 infected patients receiving highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) for 2 years.

Methods: A total of 40 chronic HIV-1-infected adults who initiated HAART were enrolled in this study and followed up for 2 years. Peripheral whole blood was obtained from each patient at baseline (0 month), 6, 12, 18 and 24 months.

Identifying risk factors of immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome in AIDS patients receiving highly active anti-retroviral therapy.

Immune reconstitution inflammation syndrome typically occurs within days after patients undergo highly active anti-retroviral therapy and is a big hurdle for effective treatment of AIDS patients. In this study, we monitored immune reconstitution inflammation syndrome occurrence in 238 AIDS patients treated with highly active anti-retroviral therapy. Among them, immune reconstitution inflammation syndrome occurred in 47 cases (19.

Interleukin-21 plays an important role in CD8 T-cell activation and poor outcome in HIV infection.

To present the relationship between high CD8+ T-cell activation and poor outcome in HIV-1 pathogenesis. We hypothesized that the decrease of interleukin-21 (IL-21) levels would lead to alterations in survival of elevated immune activation with disease progress. Fifty-eight HIV-1-seropositive subjects and 21 uninfected healthy control volunteers were recruited in this study.

[Cellular HIV DNA quantitative testing and its significance in Chinese AIDS patients during 48 weeks' highly-active antiretroviral treatment].

Objective: To observe the dynamic changes of peripheral blood T lymphocytes and monocytes, which serve as HIV-1 viral reservoirs, in Chinese HIV-infected patients receiving highly-active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) for 48 weeks and its clinical significance.

Methods: A total of 35 chronic HIV-1 infected adults initial received HAART. The peripheral blood T lymphocyte subsets counts were determined by flux cytometry at week 0, 24 and 48.

The effect of a year of highly active antiretroviral therapy on immune reconstruction and cytokines in HIV/AIDS patients.

To investigate the effect of a year of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) on immune reconstruction and cytokine production in HIV/AIDS patients, 35 AIDS patients were recruited for HAART treatment and 35 healthy volunteers were assigned as controls. The dynamic changes in HIV load, blood T cell subset counts, as well as interleukin (IL)-12, interferon (IFN)-γ, and interferon-inducible protein-10 (IP-10) levels in AIDS patients were evaluated before HAART and at 6 and 12 months after therapy. Our results revealed that HIV virus load in HIV/AIDS patients was reduced below the detectable limit after patients received 6 months of HAART.

IL-21 level in Chinese HIV infected individuals and its dynamics undergoing HAART.

Objective: To investigate the dynamics of interleukin-21(IL-21) cytokine in the Chinese HIV patients undergoing highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAAPT).

Methods: A total of 25 adults with chronic HIV infections, responding to combined highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) guideline criteria were enrolled for a 1-year follow-up. After signing an informed consent, 20 mL blood was collected from each patient at the base line, 6 month and 12 month, respectively.

Prospect of IL-2, IL-7, IL-15 and IL-21 for HIV immune-based therapy.

Although highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) can effectively reduce the HIV replication, complete recovery of CD4(+) T cells does not always occur, even among patients with high virological control. Current researches on γ-chain cytokines have understood the biology and their crucial roles in initiating, maintaining, and regulating the immunologic homeostasis and the inflammatory processes. Due to the multiple functions such as the regulatory and effector cellular function in healthy and disease state, these molecules, their receptors, and their signal transduction pathways are promising candidates for therapeutic interference.

The Vpr gene polymorphism of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 in China and its clinical significance.

Recent studies have explored that mutated Human immunodeficiency virus type 1(HIV-1) Vpr genes likely influence clinical manifestations of HIV infected patients. However, the relationship between the mutation sites on HIV Vpr gene and subsequent function changes is still not clear. In this study we investigated such relationship in analyzing the Vpr genes of HIV-1 viruses isolated from 208 HIV-1 infected patients from different regions in China.

A randomized case-control study of dynamic changes in peripheral blood Th17/Treg cell balance and interleukin-17 levels in highly active antiretroviral-treated HIV type 1/AIDS patients.

Our objective was to dynamically observe changes in peripheral blood Th17, Treg cells, and interleukin (IL)-17 levels in HIV-1/AIDS patients before and after highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). The study design consisted of a randomized case-controlled study. A total of 33 HIV-1/AIDS patients were chosen to receive a HAART regimen and 30 healthy volunteers were assigned as controls.

Prospective observation for seven-year's highly active antiretroviral therapy in Chinese HIV-1 infected patients.

To prospectively observe the efficacy, tolerability, immune reconstitution and toxicity of long-term highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in Chinese patients infected HIV. 437 cases originally received two nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) and one non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) during a mean period of 4.3 years (3.