In March 2013, an influenza outbreak caused by the novel avian-origin H7N9 influenza A virus emerged in eastern China and had caused 43 fatalities by 31 July 2013, although the basis for disease pathogenesis still remains unclear. To assess the immunological and viral factors associated with disease severity, viral RNA and inflammatory cytokines were quantified for 18 H7N9 patients in Shanghai, China. Detailed clinical information was collected and clinical laboratory investigations were performed for all patients. H7N9 infection is characterized by high pharyngeal virus load and frequent detection of viral RNA in blood. High pharyngeal virus load persisted through the first 10 days of antiviral therapy in fatal cases. Genetic characterization of the H7N9 virus revealed an Arg292Lys mutation in the neuraminidase gene associated with oseltamivir-resistance. Pronounced lymphopenia and high chemokine and cytokine levels were observed in H7N9-infected patients, particularly in those where disease was fatal. Serum levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-8 and macrophage inflammatory protein-1β in our subjects also correlated positively with pharyngeal virus load. Lymphocyte counts <0.5 × 10(9)  cells/L, and serum IL-6 >97 pg/mL, IL-8 >40 pg/mL and C-reactive protein >90 mg/L were identified as being connected with adverse clinical outcome through univariate logistic analysis. Significant survival differences were also observed between patients with serum C-reactive protein <90 mg/L or creatinine <90 μmol/L and those with higher levels. Our data demonstrated that high viral load, and the resulting intense inflammatory responses, played an important role in H7N9 pathogenesis. Though immunomodulatory treatment has potential benefits, the focus of clinical management should be on preventing the intense cytokine response by early diagnosis and effective antiviral treatment.

A method based on dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction coupled with GC/MS was developed for quantitative analysis of the major organic pollutants listed in the United States Environmental Protection Agency method 8270 and the 15 European-priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in coking wastewater. The major parameters such as extraction solvent, dispersive solvent, solution pH, and extraction time were systematically optimized. The optimum extraction conditions were found to be: 15 μL mixture of 2:1 v/v carbon tetrachloride and chlorobenzene as the extraction solvent, 0.75 mL ACN as the dispersive solvent, solution pH of 8, and extraction time of 2 min. For the major pollutants listed in the United States Environmental Protection Agency 8270, the linear ranges were 0.1 to 100 mg/L, the enrichment factors ranged from 452 to 685, and the relative recoveries ranged from 67.5 to 103.5% with RSDs of 4.0-9.1% (n = 5) at the concentrations of 10 mg/L under the optimum extraction conditions. For the 15 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, the linear ranges were 0.1 to 100 μg/L, the enrichment factors ranged from 645 to 723, and the relative recoveries ranged from 94.5 to 107.6% with RSDs of 4.6-9.0% (n = 5) at the concentrations of 10 μg/L. The usefulness of the developed method was demonstrated by applying it in the analysis of real-world coking wastewater samples.

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BackgroundHydatid disease is a worldwide zoonosis produced by the larval stage of cestodes of the Echinococcus genus. Hydatid disease primarily involves the liver and lungs. The brain is involved in less than 2% of cases. Surgery has long been the only choice for the treatment, but chemotherapy has been successfully replaced surgery in some special cases.Case presentationWe report a rare hydatid disease case which presented with multiple lesions in right frontal lobe, an uncommon site, and in the liver and lungs. A 28-year-old woman presented with 6 months history of recurrent convulsion. Cranial magnetic resonance imaging found multiple lesions in right frontal lobe, so she was hospitalized for surgical treatment and received sodium valproate by oral for controlling epilepsy. Before the operation, other lesions were found in the liver and lungs by computerized tomography scan. There were multiple pulmonary nodules near the pleura and large cyst in the liver. The pathology of liver showed that it may be a hydatid disease. Then, positive serum antibodies for echinococcus antigen further confirmed our diagnosis. Since her central nerve system was involved, she received four pills (800 mg, about 17 mg/kg/day) albendazole treatment for 18 months without operation. Her symptoms abated and a follow-up magnetic resonance imaging showed that the lesion had obviously diminished after treatment. She was recurrence free 2 years after we stopped albendazole treatment.ConclusionsThis case reveals an uncommon pattern of intracranial hydatid disease. Albendazole can be beneficial for some inoperable cerebral hydatid disease patients.

A novel rapid, simple and solvent-free method was developed for determination of the volatile compounds from the flowers of Chimonanthus praecox Link using headspace solidphase microextraction (HS-SPME) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The SPME conditions were firstly optimized and applied to sampling of the volatile compounds emitted from living Chimonanthus praecox L. flowers and excised Chimonanthus praecox L. flowers. Thirty-one compounds emitted from living flowers were identified for the first time, which mainly included 4-methyl-1,3-pentadiene (2.0%), α-phellandrene (4.7%), benzyl methanol (11.1%), trans-linalool oxide (furanyl ring) (5.3%), α-linalool (36.0%), methyl salicylate (24.5%) and acetic acid benzyl ester (5.9%). Comparing the emission from living flowers and excised flowers, twenty-eight compounds were found to be detected in the two emissions, and three compounds, n-pentadecane, n-cetane and n-heptadecane, were only found in the emission from the living flowers, which shows that they might be biomarker compounds.

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Headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was developed for characterization of volatile compounds emitted from two varieties Osmanthus flowers of O. fragrans var. latifolius and O. fragrans var. thunbergii. The SPME parameters were studied, the optimum conditions of a 65 microm carbowax/divinylbenzene (CW/DVB), extraction temperature of 22 degrees C and extraction time of 10 min were obtained and applied to extraction of the volatile emissions. Fourteen compounds released from both varieties of Osmanthus flowers were separated and identified by GC-MS, which mainly included alpha-linalool, beta-linalool, trans-linalool oxide, cis-linalool oxide, alpha-lonone, beta-lonone, capraldehyde and decalactone. By comparing their peak areas, we found that the sums of the fourteen compounds from the two Osmanthus flowers were very close, while the relative contents of individual volatile compounds in the two emissions were very different. The relative content of alpha-linalool and beta-linalool in O. fragrans var. latifolius were 39.46% and 0.51%, while in O. fragrans var. thunbergii were 9.53% and 27.71%. Due to their different relative contents, the two varieties of flower have different fragrances.

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