Publications by authors named "Kun-Nan Zhang"

The discrimination of tuberculous meningitis and bacterial meningitis remains difficult at present, even with the introduction of advanced diagnostic tools. This study aims to differentiate these two kinds of meningitis by using the rule of clinical and laboratory features. A prospective observational study was conducted to collect the clinical and laboratory parameters of patients with tuberculous meningitis or bacterial meningitis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Aims: In this study, we conducted a meta-analysis to systematically compare the diagnostic accuracy of IGRAs performed for extrasanguinous body fluids with that performed for blood in the diagnosis of TB.

Main Methods: Multiple English and Chinese databases were searched up to November 2017. Studies that complied with the guidelines for the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies and used QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube and/or T-SPOT.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Association of HLA class II with multiple sclerosis (MS) has been widely studied in both Western and Oriental populations. However, such an association is not well documented in Chinese. The objective of this study was to examine the association between the susceptibility to conventional MS in Southern Chinese with HLA-DRB1,-DPB1 alleles and putative DRB1-DPB1 haplotypes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Baló's concentric sclerosis (BCS) is a rare demyelinating disorder usually considered a variant of multiple sclerosis (MS). However, its pathogenesis and its correlation with MS remains unclear and controversial. This report presents seven Hans Chinese subjects diagnosed as BCS on the basis of the pathognomonic MR (magnetic resonance) findings.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To examine the correlation between multiple sclerosis (MS) in Chinese Southern Han population and the polymorphism of HLA-DRB1 and -DPB1 alleles, and compare it to the reports of Western, Japanese and Northern Chinese populations.

Methods: The HLA-DRB1 and -DPB1 alleles of 26 patients with conventional MS (C-MS), 13 patients with optic-spinal form of MS (OS-MS), and 50 normal controls were determined by sequence-based typing (SBT) method. The frequency of the HLA alleles was compared between the 2 MS subtypes and the MS subtypes and the controls by chi(2) or Fisher exact probability test.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

To investigate the intra- and extracellular levels of various cytokines and chemokines in CSF in chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) and vasculitic neuropathy (VN), 16 cytokines, IL-1beta, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-7, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12 (p70), IL-13, IL-17, IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha, G-CSF, MCP-1 and MIP-1beta, were measured in CSF supernatant by a multiplexed fluorescent bead-based immunoassay and intracellular production of IFN-gamma and IL-4 in CSF CD4+ T cells were simultaneously measured by flow cytometry in 14 patients with CIDP, 8 patients with VN and 25 patients with other noninflammatory neurologic diseases (OND). In the CSF supernatant, a significant increase of IL-17, IL-8 and IL-6, and a significant decrease of IL-4, IL-5 and IL-7 levels were detected in pretreated CIDP as compared with OND. A significant increase of IL-6, IL-8 and IL-10 levels was found in pretreated VN.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF