We screened for viral DNA in cerebrospinal fluid samples using next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology to diagnose CNS viral infections. We collected CSF samples from four cases with clinically suspected viral meningoencephalitis. DNA extracted from the samples was analyzed with NGS, and the results were further validated using PCR. Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) was detected in the CSF of two patients, HSV-2 and human herpes virus type 3 (HHV-3, VZV) in the CSF of two other patients separately. The number of unique reads of the identified viral genes ranged from 144 to 44205 (93.51 to 99.57%). The coverage of identified viral genes ranged from 12 to 98% with a depth value of 1.1 to 35, respectively. The results were further confirmed using PCR in three cases. The clinical presentation and outcomes of these four cases were consistent with the diagnostic results of NGS. NGS of CSF samples can be used as a diagnostic assay for CNS viral infection. Its further application for "pan-viral" or even "pan-microbial" screening of CSF might influence the diagnosis of CNS infectious diseases.

Our findings highlight the importance of comprehensive clinical phenotyping of family members to ultimately provide accurate genetic counseling.

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Our results suggest that cucurbitacin B may have a therapeutic value in suppressing the growth of human hepatocellular carcinoma. The mechanism may be attributable to the suppression of STAT3 phosphorylation.

The MAC of intravenous anesthesia with 8% ILE was less than that of inhalation anesthesia with isoflurane vapor in dogs.

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Depression is a major social and health concern, and ketamine exerts a quick, remarkable and persistent anti-depressive effect. microRNAs (miRNAs) show remarkable potential in the treatment of clinical depression. Here, we determined the expression profile of miRNAs in the hippocampus of rats treated with ketamine (15 mg/kg). The results suggest that multiple miRNAs were aberrantly expressed in rat hippocampus after ketamine injection (18 miRNAs were significantly reduced, while 22 miRNAs were significantly increased). Among them, miR-206 was down-regulated in ketamine-treated rats. In both cultured neuronal cells in vitro and hippocampus in vivo, we identified that the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) was a direct target gene of miR-206. Via this target gene, miR-206 strongly modulated the expression of BDNF. Moreover, overexpression of miR-206 significantly attenuated ketamine-induced up-regulation of BDNF. The results indicated that miRNA-206 was involved in novel therapeutic targets for the anti-depressive effect of ketamine.