Flexible bronchoscopy is useful and safe in retrieving airway foreign bodies in children. With skilled personnel and perfect equipments, flexible bronchoscopy could be considered as the first choice for the removal of airway foreign body.

Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a frequent cause of community-acquired bacterial respiratory infections in children and adults. In the present study, using a proteomic approach, we studied the effects of M. pneumoniae infection on the protein expression profile of A549 human lung carcinoma cells. M. pneumoniae infection induced changes in the expression of cellular proteins, in particular a group of proteins involved in the oxidative stress response, such as glucose-6-phosphate 1-dehydrogenase, NADH dehydrogenase (ubiquinone) Fe-S protein 2, and ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase complex core protein I mitochondrial precursor. The oxidative status of M. pneumoniae-infected cells was evaluated, and the results revealed that M. pneumoniae infection indeed caused generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). It was further shown that M. pneumoniae infection also induced DNA double-strand breaks, as demonstrated by the formation of ␥H2AX foci. On the other hand, an ROS scavenger, N-acetylcysteine, could inhibit the ROS generation, as well as decrease ␥H2AX focus formation. This is the first report showing that M. pneumoniae infection can directly induce DNA damage, at least partially, through the generation of ROS, and thus this report strengthens the powerful application of proteomics in the study of the pathogenesis of M. pneumoniae.Mycoplasma pneumoniae is one of the smallest self-replicating organisms capable of cell-free existence. As a human pathogen, M. pneumoniae is a major cause of community-acquired respiratory infections in children and adults, which can lead to tracheobronchitis and primary atypical pneumonia (17). Besides causing diseases in the respiratory system, M. pneumoniae has been implicated in several extrapulmonary complications arising from infection; for example, it is a factor in the development of arthritis, cardiovascular diseases, and neurotropic infections (32,34).Considerable progress in our understanding of M. pneumoniae pathogenesis has been made over the years. The activation of the host immune response and direct invasion of cells are believed to contribute to this pathogenesis (32, 37). It has been shown that attachment of M. pneumoniae to the respiratory epithelium is a prerequisite for disease (22). The close interaction between M. pneumoniae and host cells protects the bacterium from removal by the host's mucociliary clearance mechanism and allows it to proliferate and produce metabolites, which in turn can cause cytotoxic effects (32, 34). Simultaneously, M. pneumoniae attachment induces the cells' inflammatory reaction and the host's immune response. For example, upregulation of interlukin-2, -4, -5, -6, -10, -12, and -18 and interferon has been detected in bronchoalveolar lavages, blood, and lungs of M. pneumoniae-infected patients (34). Recently, it was found that the M. pneumoniae protein MPN372, which contains key amino acids similar to the pertussis toxin S1 subunit, might be responsible for airway cellular damage and other sequelae associated with M. pneumoniae infections in human...

Using in situ formed metal complexes of [Fe­(bipy)3]2+ or [Ni­(bipy)3]2+ (bipy = 2,2′-bipyridine) as templates, four new Ag–Bi–X (X = I and Br) compounds are first isolated in the metal-complex-decorated heterometallic halobismuthate family, namely [M­(bipy)3]­AgBiI6 (M = Fe (1), Ni (2)), [Fe­(bipy)3]­AgBiBr6 (3), and [Ni­(bipy)3]­AgBiBr6 (4). Compounds 1–4 feature discrete [AgBiX6] n 2n– anions, exhibiting three polymorphisms that may be ascribed to the different stackings and the flexible condensations of [BiX6] octahedrons and [AgX4] tetrahedra/[AgX3] triangles. UV–vis diffuse reflectance analyses reveal that they are narrow band gap semiconductor materials (ca. 1.82–2.13 eV). Intriguingly, the title compounds display excellent photoelectrical switching properties, with photocurrent density following the order 3 > 4 > 2 > 1. In addition, the comparative studies of intermolecular interactions, theoretical band structures, density of states, and effective masses of three polymorphisms have also been investigated.

INTRODUCTION: This study prospectively evaluated the effect of early bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) on refractory Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia with radiologically proven large pulmonary lesions in children. METHODS: A total of 35 children diagnosed as having refractory M. pneumoniae pneumonia with radiologically proven large pulmonary lesions completed the study. According to the time point of BAL, they were divided into 2 groups. In the early BAL group, BAL was performed within 3 d after admission (n ‫؍‬ 22); in the late BAL group, BAL was performed 3 d later after admission (n ‫؍‬ 13). Clinical effects were compared between these 2 groups. RESULTS: After BAL therapy, improvement in clinical symptoms and laboratory findings as well as resolution of pulmonary lesions on radiography were obtained in all subjects. The median fever duration after admission was 4 (2-7) d and 5 (2-10) d (P < .05), and the median hospitalization duration was 7 (5-10) d and 10 (5-14) d (P < .05), respectively, in the early BAL group and the late BAL group. Approximately 7 d after admission, 67% of subjects in the early BAL group showed resolution of atelectasis on x-ray image versus a corresponding rate of 14% in the late BAL group (P < .05). Furthermore, laboratory indices recovered quicker in the early BAL group than in the late BAL group (P < .01). CONCLUSIONS: BAL appeared to be efficacious and well-tolerated treatment for refractory M. pneumoniae pneumonia with radiologically proven large pulmonary lesions, and early application of BAL may be more beneficial.

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