Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) predominantly affects women of childbearing age, but 15-20% of cases are diagnosed during childhood. It is important for physicians to understand the epidemiology and clinical presentation for early detection and diagnosis of this disease in difference races. The aim of this retrospective review was to provide a 20-year experience for initial clinical and laboratory manifestations and outcomes in pediatric-onset SLE (pSLE) in a medical center in Asia. We reviewed medical records between April 1990 and June 2012 of patients with a diagnosis of International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) code 710.0 (SLE), who admitted or received follow-up in the Department of Pediatrics at Chang Chung Memorial Hospital. Patients with a diagnosis of SLE prior to their 18th birthday and followed up at our hospital were eligible for inclusion in this study. Medical records regarding age, gender, date of birth and diagnosis, clinical manifestations at diagnosis, laboratory results, image studies and the classification criteria were reviewed. Patients received regular outpatient department follow-up and laboratory survey every 1-6 months. The study cohort consisted of 189 patients; 164 females (86.87%) and 25 males (13.23%). The overall mean age at pSLE diagnosis was 12.62 ± 2.77 years. The most common clinical symptom was malar rash, followed by arthritis and oral ulcers. There was no significant difference in clinical and laboratory manifestations between females and males. More than half of the patients presented with renal involvement initially. The most common histological finding was Class IV lupus nephritis (LN), especially in males (p = 0.034) and young age. Even with severe LN, the rate of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) was low if adequate treatment was initiated. The 5, 10 and 15-year ESRD-free survival rates were 95.4%, 94.0% and 89.9% in patients with biopsy-proven LN. However, infection was the leading cause of mortality. Therefore, aggressive treatment for major organ involvement is important, but physicians must also be aware of fatal infection. The overall survival rates were 5 years: 93.4% and 10-20 years: 89.6%.

The use of chlorella as an immune stimulant to enhance nonspecific host defense mechanisms or as an antimicrobial to inhibit bacterial growth has been reported. Thus, the aim of the present study was to clarify the effect of recombinant chlorella supplementation on growth performance, meat quality, and the blood profile, excreta microflora, and nutrient digestibility in broilers. A total of 375 one-day-old ROSS 308 broilers (male and female) were allotted to 5 dietary treatments using 5 cages with 15 chicks per cage. Treatments were: 1) NC, basal diet supplemented with 1.0% E. coli fermented liquor (EFL); 2) PC1, 0.2% EFL with chlorella; 3) PC2, 1.0% EFL with chlorella; 4) T1, 0.2% EFL with chlorella (anti-viral); and 5) T2, 1.0% EFL with chlorella (anti-viral). The broilers in the T2 treatment groups showed higher body weight gain (BGW) by 2.55% (P < 0.01) and lower feed conversion ratio (FCR) by 2.75% (P < 0.05) compared with those fed the control NC treatment group. Moreover, the blood contents of blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine, and IgA in the broilers of the T2 treatment group were significantly increased by 28.12, 23.07, and 29.72%, respectively -more than those found in the broilers of the NC treatment group (P < 0.01). In contrast, the LDL/C in the blood from the animals in the T2 treatment group was significantly decreased by 23.23% - more than that in the blood from the NC broilers (P < 0.05). Based on these results, we suggest that the dietary supplementation of broilers with recombinant chlorella could improve their growth performance, increase the concentration of IgA and apparently metabolizable nitrogen in the blood, and decrease ammonia emissions. Therefore, our findings have important implications for the effect of recombinant chlorella supplementation through increasing the concentration of IgA and the level of metabolizable nitrogen.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has accelerated the need for rapid implementation of diagnostic assays for detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) in respiratory specimens. While multiple molecular methods utilize nasopharyngeal specimens, supply chain constraints and need for easier and safer specimen collection warrant alternative specimen types, particularly saliva. Although saliva has been found to be a comparable clinical matrix for detection of SARS-CoV-2, evaluations of diagnostic and analytic performance across platforms for this specimen type are limited. Here, we compared two methods for SARS-CoV-2 detection in saliva: the Roche cobas® 6800/8800 SARS-CoV-2 real-time RT-PCR Test and the Agena Biosciences MassARRAY® SARS-CoV-2 Panel/MassARRAY® System. Overall, both systems had high agreement with one another, and both demonstrated high diagnostic sensitivity and specificity when compared to matched patient upper respiratory specimens. We also evaluated the analytical sensitivity of each platform and determined the limit of detection of the Roche assay was four times lower than that of Agena for saliva specimens (390.6 v. 1,562.5 copies/mL). Furthermore, across individual target components of each assay, T2 and N2 targets had the lowest limits of detection for each platform, respectively. Together, we demonstrate that saliva represents an appropriate specimen for SARS-CoV-2 detection in two technologies that have high agreement and differ in analytical sensitivities overall and across individual component targets. The addition of saliva as an acceptable specimen and understanding the sensitivity for testing on these platforms can further inform public health measures for screening and detection to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Achieving treatment targets has been difficult in treating diabetic patients. This cross-sectional study describes the lipid profiles of patients with diabetes mellitus at a public primary health care centre in Sarawak, Malaysia. The targets for lipid control were based on the International Diabetes Federation recommendation (2002). 1031 patients (98% Type 2 Diabetes) were studied. Fasting lipid profiles were available in 990 (96%) patients. The mean total cholesterol was 5.3 +/- 1.0 mmol/L, Triglycerides 1.90 +/- 1.26 mmol/L, HDL-C 1.28 +/- 0.33 mmol/L and LDL-C 3.2 +/- 0.9 mmol/L. Overall, 22% of patients achieved the treatment target for LDL-C level < 2.6mmol/L. 67% of patients had HDL-C > 1.1 mmol/L and 42% of patients had a target TG level below 1.5 mmol/L. Of the 40% of patients who received lipid-lowering drug, 17% achieved LDL-C target, 50% had LDL-C 2.6-4.4 mmol/ L and 33% have LDL-C > 4.0 mmol/L. For the remaining 60% not receiving any lipid lowering therapy, 68% had LDL-C between 2.6-4.0 mmol/L and 7% had LDL-C level > 4 mmol/L. Dyslipidemia is still under-treated despite the availability of effective pharmacological agents and the greatly increased risk of cardiovascular diseases in diabetic patients.

Purpose To investigate the comparative penetration of 0.3% levofloxacin eye drops into the aqueous humour between cataract patients with or without (control) thin-wall filtering blebs. Methods One drop of 0.3% levofloxacin was administered to the eyes at 30-min intervals for 3.5 h before phacoemulcification for both groups. Aqueous humour samples (0.1-0.2 ml) were aspirated during surgery. The concentration of levofloxacin in the aqueous humour was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. The Student's t-test, Pearson correlation, and v 2 test were used to compare the data of the two groups. A Po0.05 was required for results to be considered statistically significant. Results The levofloxacin concentration in the aqueous humour was significantly increased (Po0.0001) in the bleb (mean þ SD: 3.772.3 lg/ ml) vs control group (0.470.2 lg/ml). Intraocular pressure and the bleb area were not correlated with levofloxacin concentration. Conclusion The presence of thin-wall filtering blebs increases intraocular penetration of topically administered levofloxacin.

No abstract

About 2000 measurements of source positions obtained at 80 MHz with the Culgoora radioheliograph near the peak ofthe solar activity cycle in 1968-71 have been used to determine the regular ionospheric lefraction. Diurnal, seasonal and zenith-angle dependencies of the refraction are deduced and found to be qualitatively consistent with the known gradients in peak electron density. The variability of the refraction from one measurement to the next is found to depend upon the zenith angle and season and to be mainly due to ionospheric disturbances whose presence is not usually revealed by measurements of the Fz critical frequency. A quantitative comparison of the measured values of angular refraction with the Fz critical frequency and its north-south and east-west gradients demonstrates the validity of the theoretical expressions for regular refraction developed by Komesaroff (1960) and yields a value of 190± 12 km for the equivalent thickness of the nocturnal ionosphere. A comparison of the present measurement of the thickness parameter with measurements of the same quantity made during the minimum of solar activity shows that the shape of the Fz layer is not dependent on the solar activity cycle and hence is not a sensitive measure of the gas temperature.

Curves of dry density versus moisture content, as yielded by the standard ASTM compaction tests, usually show a single maximum, but some soils exhibit compaction curves with irregular shapes. This study examines some of the influences of soil preparation on these irregular compaction curves. When a surface tension reducing agent, such as aerosol-AY, is added to the water in soil specimen preparation, the shape of the irregular compaction curve will be altered. This effect is regarded as a verification of the effects of negative pore water pressure on the irregular compaction curve. In repeated compaction tests, it is economical and convenient to reuse the soil specimens. The results of liquid and plastic limit tests reveal approximately the same values in new and reused specimens. However, the reused soil specimens reveal a predominantly higher density in the zone of lower water content in an irregular compaction curve.