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Jennifer Moodie,
Brian C Healy,
Guy J Buckle,
Susan A Gauthier,
Bonnie I Glanz,
Ashish Arora,
Antonia Ceccarelli,
Shahamat Tauhid, Xue-Mei Han,
Arun Venkataraman,
Tanuja Chitnis,
Samia J Khoury,
Charles R G Guttmann,
Howard L Weiner,
Mohit Neema,
Rohit Bakshi
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ABSTRACT: We previously described a composite MRI scale combining T1-lesions, T2-lesions and whole brain atrophy in multiple sclerosis (MS): the magnetic resonance disease severity scale (MRDSS).
Test strength of the MRDSS vs. individual MRI measures for sensitivity to longitudinal change.
We studied 84 MS patients over a 3.2±0.3 year follow-up. Baseline and follow-up T2-lesion volume (T2LV), T1-hypointense lesion volume (T1LV), and brain parenchymal fraction (BPF) were measured. MRDSS was the combination of standardized T2LV, T1/T2 ratio and BPF.
Patients had higher MRDSS at follow-up vs. baseline (p<0.001). BPF decreased (p<0.001), T1/T2 increased (p<0.001), and T2LV was unchanged (p>0.5). Change in MRDSS was larger than the change in MRI subcomponents. While MRDSS showed significant change in relapsing-remitting (RR) (p<0.001) and secondary progressive (SP) phenotypes (p<0.05), BPF and T1/T2 ratio changed only in RRMS (p<0.001). Longitudinal change in MRDSS was significantly different between RRMS and SPMS (p=0.0027); however, change in the individual MRI components did not differ. Evaluation with respect to predicting on-study clinical worsening as measured by EDSS revealed a significant association only for T2LV (p=0.038).
Results suggest improved sensitivity of MRDSS to longitudinal change vs. individual MRI measures. MRDSS has particularly high sensitivity in RRMS.
Journal of the neurological sciences 12/2011; 315(1-2):49-54. · 2.32 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Growing evidence has shown that nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) plays a key role in the initiation and progression of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) pathogenesis. A common polymorphism (-94 insertion/deletion ATTG, rs28362491) in the promoter region of NFKB1 gene was identified as functional. The -94del ATTG allele exhibited loss of binding to nuclear proteins and resulted in reduced promoter activity. We investigated the association between NFKB1 -94 insertion/deletion ATTG polymorphism and risk of SLE. A total of 224 SLE patients and 256 control subjects were genotyped using a polymerase chain reaction-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis strategy and DNA sequencing. We found that the ATTG(1)/ATTG(2) genotype was associated with a significantly decreased risk of SLE (odds ratio=0.52, 95% confidence interval: 0.32-0.87, p=0.012). This finding indicates that the -94 insertion/deletion ATTG polymorphism may play pivotal roles in the development of SLE in the Chinese population. Further studies with larger sample size are warranted to confirm this finding, especially in different populations.
DNA and cell biology 10/2011; 31(4):611-5. · 2.28 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Interleukin-6 (IL-6), identified as a pleiotropic inflammatory cytokine, plays important roles in the acute inflammatory response and in the modulation of the neuroimmune response. To date, large amounts of epidemiological studies have been performed to investigate the association between the IL-6 -174G/C polymorphism and Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk. Inconclusive results, however, have been reported. We aimed to assess the effect of the IL-6 -174G/C polymorphism on AD susceptibility with the use of a meta-analysis. 14 studies involving 3769 cases of AD and 9431 control subjects were identified by a search of Pubmed, Embase and ISI Web of Science databases. Crude odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the IL-6 -174G/C polymorphism and AD risk were computed using fixed- or random-effects model when appropriate. Obvious heterogeneity among studies was detected, and a borderline statistically significant association was observed between the IL-6 -174G/C polymorphism and AD risk in Caucasians (GG vs. CC: OR=1.35, 95%CI, 1.06-1.72; GG/GC vs. CC: OR=1.27, 95%CI, 1.05-1.53, respectively). After exclusion of one study, the heterogeneity disappeared and no significant association was observed between the polymorphism and AD risk. These findings indicate that the IL-6 -174G/C polymorphism may not be an independent risk factor for the development of AD.
Neuroscience Letters 07/2011; 504(1):4-8. · 2.11 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: The aims of this study were to investigate soil microbial community characteristics and their interrelationships with soil geochemistry under different farmlands in Shouguang, China. The traditional dilution plate counts, BIOLOG system, and fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) analyses were used to assess microbial populations, substrate utilization, and fatty acid profiles. The number of aerobic heterotrophic bacteria varied significantly among untilled land, maize, and mungbean fields. The amounts of actinomycetes, fungal fatty acids, and Gram-positive/Gram-negative bacteria ratios varied greatly among celery, tomato, and aubergine fields. In the tomato field, the soil microbial community characteristics were significantly different from other fields. Principal component analysis of BIOLOG and FAME data revealed differences in the catabolic capability and fatty acid profiles of soil microbial communities among different farmlands. Spearman correlation analyses showed that in these sand clay soils of Shouguang, microbial communities in different farmlands were closely correlated with soil geochemical elements, moisture, and organic matter.
Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis 05/2011; 42(9):1008-1026. · 0.51 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: To observe the quality of life in patients with post-traumatic epilepsy and discuss the influencing factors.
We assessed 105 patients with post-traumatic epilepsy and 100 healthy people as control using Quality of Life Scale-31 (QOL-31), Self-rating Depressing Scale (SDS) and Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), and conducted retrospective analysis on the depression, anxiety, site of trauma, control of seizure, EEG and therapeutic compliance.
Patients with post-traumatic epilepsy scored much lower than the control group on QOL-31 (P less than 0.01), but higher than the control group on SDS and SAS (P less than 0.01). Multiple regression analysis indicated that major influencing factors on the quality of life were anxiety, therapeutic compliance, depression, poor control of epileptic seizure and site of trauma.
The quality of life in patients with post-traumatic epilepsy has significantly declined. Doctors should pay attention to psychological and mental problems of patients with epilepsy, such as depression and anxiety, enhancing therapeutic compliance and controlling epileptic seizure, which are the keys to improving prognosis.
Chinese Journal of Traumatology (English Edition) 04/2011; 14(2):100-3.
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ABSTRACT: Soil microbes play a major role in ecological processes and are closely associated with the aboveground plant community. In order to understand the effects of vegetation type on the characteristics of soil microbial communities, the soil microbial communities were assessed by plate counts, phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) and Biolog microplate techniques in five plant communities, i.e., soybean field (SF), artificial turf (AT), artificial shrub (AS), natural shrub (NS), and maize field (MF) in Jinan, Shandong Province, North China. The results showed that plant diversity had little discernible effect on microbial biomass but a positive impact on the evenness of utilized substrates in Biolog microplate. Legumes could significantly enhance the number of cultural microorganisms, microbial biomass, and community catabolic diversity. Except for SF dominated by legumes, the biomass of fungi and the catabolic diversity of microbial community were higher in less disturbed soil beneath NS than in frequently disturbed soils beneath the other vegetation types. These results confirmed that high number of plant species, legumes, and natural vegetation types tend to support soil microbial communities with higher function. The present study also found a significant correlation between the number of cultured bacteria and catabolic diversity of the bacterial community. Different research methods led to varied results in this study. The combination of several approaches is recommended for accurately describing the characteristics of microbial communities in many respects.
Journal of Environmental Sciences 02/2007; 19(10):1228-34. · 1.66 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Evidence from experimental and genetic studies suggest the existence of a potential link between the polymorphisms of human leukocyte antigen class II gene (HLA-DR) and ischemic stroke. This study addressed the association of HLA-DR gene with atherosclerotic cerebral infarction (ACI) in a North Chinese Han population.
The genotyping of HLA-DRB1 was determined by standard techniques based on polymerase chain reaction and sequence-specific oligonucleotides hybridization in a gene chip.
The relative risk (RR) of HLA-DRB1 FNx01 04 and HLA-DRB1 FNx01 03 (17) in patients with ACI and their first-degree relatives were significantly higher than those in the control group (RR=2.56 and 18.77, respectively; P <0.05). In contrast, the RR of HLA-DRB1 FNx01 12 was dramatically reduced in patients with ACI in relation to healthy controls (RR=0.17; P <0.01).
These data indicate that the polymorphisms in HLA-DRB1 may influence the risk of ACI in the North Han population of China. Further studies are necessary to validate the observation in larger samples.
Neurology India 59(4):521-6. · 0.96 Impact Factor
