Protruded lumbar intervertebral nucleus pulposus in a 12-year-old girl who recovered after nonsurgical treatment: a follow-up case report

Restless legs syndrome affects millions, but most healthcare providers don't know it exists. Its sleep-deprived victims are plagued by indescribable crawling sensations in their legs that occur at night and that are only relieved by moving the legs. Many home healthcare clients, already challenged by their primary illness, are also affected by the persistent symptoms of Restless Legs Syndrome. It is important that home care nurses learn about Restless Legs Syndrome-what it is, how to assess it, and what can be done about it.     

Extensive thrombophlebitis with reactive thrombocytosis in a high risk Chinese parturient associated with retained placenta increta: a case report

Forty-three patients with spastic quadriplegia (mean age 7.9 years, range 3.3 to 17.2 years) underwent bone mineral density (BMD) measurement of the lumbar spine and were evaluated between 2.6 and 5.5 years (mean 3.8) later to determine whether this measurement had predicted risk of fracture over the subsequent period of observation. Other potential risk factors that were evaluated include body weight z score, serum vitamin D levels, previous fracture, and hip spica casting. The baseline measurements showed that BMD falls further below normal with increasing age and was more than one standard deviation below age-matched normal mean in 38 of the 43 patients. Fracture rate did not differ between those with low and those with very low spinal BMD. Similarly, serum vitamin D levels and body weight z scores were not predictive of fracture. However, fracture rate was over fourfold greater following spica casting and more than threefold greater following an initial fracture. Fracture rates in the study group were similar to those reported for age- and sex-matched normal children, though generally the location of the fractures and mechanisms of injury differed.     

Isolation and characterization of C-reactive protein (CRP) cDNA and genomic DNA from Xenopus laevis. A species representing an intermediate stage in CRP evolution

C-reactive protein (CRP) is a prototypic acute phase protein in human and rabbit. Although it is structurally and functionally conserved from invertebrate to human, there are species-specific differences in patterns of expression and putative function. To further investigate the biological significance, regulation, and evolution of CRP, we isolated Xenopus CRP and subsequently derived and sequenced corresponding cDNA and the genomic clones. The structure and expression of Xenopus CRP were also compared to those of the other CRPs. Analyses of the amino acid sequence and the nucleotide sequence reveal that the mature Xenopus CRP is a 222-amino acid protein preceded by a 16-residue signal peptide. During development, Xenopus CRP is expressed, only when the liver appears, and therefore is not likely to play a role in early embryonic development. Compared to other species, Xenopus CRP is present at an intermediate low level of < 1 microgram/ml in the normal serum. Unlike human and rabbit CRP, Xenopus CRP is not induced by turpentine or heatshock treatment. The heatshock consensus sequence (Woo, P., Korenberg, J. R., and Whitehead, A. S. (1985) J. Biol. Chem. 265, 4136-4142) are not present in the Xenopus CRP gene. It is suggested that Xenopus CRP represents a transitional period in CRP evolution when host defenses switched from primitive innate immunity to a much more complex immune system. The constitutive functions of CRP gradually became less essential as the result of the development of a complex immune system.     

Neurotoxicity following the ingestion of a Chinese medicinal plant, Alocasia macrorrhiza

1. A case of poisoning due to the raw root tuber of a Chinese medicinal plant, Alocasia macrorrhiza is presented. 2. The patient developed neurological (severe pain and numbness in the perioral area and throat) and gastrointestinal (nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain) symptoms immediately after eating the root tuber. 3. A macrorrhiza has properties and morphology very similar to another medical plant. A. odora. The root tuber of the latter is known to contain a neurotoxin sapotoxin.     

In utero exchange transfusion in homozygous alpha-thalassaemia: a case report

We report a case of homozygous alpha-thalassaemia with hydrops fetalis presenting at 22 weeks of gestation. In utero exchange transfusion was performed with maternal blood at 23 weeks. 25 weeks and 29 weeks of gestation. The fetus was delivered at 29 weeks of gestation without significant neonatal complication. Post-transfusion haemoglobin pattern after transfusion suggested that a total haematocrit of 0.52 may be the desired post-exchange transfusion haematocrit to aim for and the total haematocrit of haemoglobin A and haemoglobin Portland dropped approximately one percent per day.     

安装漏洞补丁鲁大师给微软系统也升级

2009年12月9日,微软向全球Windows用户发布12月份系统安全公告,本次漏洞修复共4个补丁,其中3个补丁针对微软Windows系统。1个补丁针对微软的Office办公软件。都隶属于“严重”和“重要”的安全级别,建议广大用户立即更新,以保证电脑应用的安全性。     

Windows7资源管理器失忆操作技巧

不同的优化技巧和系统设置技巧,对不同的人有着不同的用处,很多人苦心想解决的问题可能对有些朋友压根没用。例如隐私保护,很多朋友电脑就一人用,很少考虑此类问题。     

搜狗浏览器1.4正式版评测

说到目前上网速度最快的浏览器,搜狗浏览器的名字一定会被提及。凭借着＂全网加速＂和＂多任务异步浏览＂这两项业内首创的技术,搜狗浏览器一举成为上网最流畅的浏览器之一。而近日,搜狗浏览器又推出了1.4正式版。新加入了网络收藏夹、Windows7新特性完美支持等功能。笔者有幸在第一时间对这款软件进行深度评测。     

Activating a zymogen without proteolytic processing: mutation of Lys15 and Asn194 activates trypsinogen

The zymogen and mature enzyme forms of trypsin-like serine proteases exhibit a wide range of activities. The prototypical trypsinogen-trypsin system is an example of a minimally active zymogen and a maximally active mature protease. The present work identifies several features of trypsinogen which govern its activity. Our results indicate that rat trypsin is 10(8)-fold more active than rat trypsinogen. Rat trypsinogen appears to be less active than bovine trypsinogen. His40 is believed to be an important determinant of zymogen activity. We are unable to verify this role for His40 in trypsinogen since the mutation of His40 to Phe appears to change the trypsin-substrate interface. Deletion of the N-terminal Ile16 from trypsin is expected to produce a trypsinogen-like protein since the Ile16-Asp194 salt bridge cannot form. Such mutants have higher activity and BPTI affinity than trypsinogen, which indicates that the activation peptide stabilizes the inactive trypsinogen conformation. The mutation of Lys15 to Ala increases the BPTI affinity and activity of trypsinogen to an even greater extent; thus, removal of Lys15 can account for the effect of the loss of the activation peptide. These results suggest that Lys15 is an important determinant of zymogen activity. The mutation of Asp194 to Asn also increases the BPTI affinity and activity of trypsinogen. This result suggests that in addition to stabilizing the active conformation of trypsin via the Ile16-Asp194 salt bridge, Asp194 also maintains the inactive conformation of trypsinogen. A correlation exists between the values of kcat/Km and BPTI affinity of mutant trypsinogens and trypsins. However, the slope of this correlation is 0.64, which indicates that different "active" conformations are involved in BPTI binding and substrate hydrolysis. DeltaI16V17 trypsinogen is the lone outlier; its BPTI affinity is higher than would be expected based on the value of kcat/Km. We show that the rate of BPTI association is slower for DeltaI16V17 trypsinogen than for a mutant trypsinogen with a similar BPTI affinity. This observation suggests that BPTI binds to an "active" trypsinogen conformation that is not kinetically accessible to substrates.