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Rapid identification of Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is important in the management of infected patients. Rapid diagnostic tests (RDT) are widely used for this purpose. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical performance of four RSV antigen tests including the BinaxNow RSV Card test, SD Bioline RSV test, BD Veritor RSV test, and Humasis RSV antigen test in comparison with real-time RT-PCR as the reference method. Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from 280 patients with symptoms of lower respiratory tract infection and stored at -80°C. All swabs were tested for RSV using four rapid antigen tests and real time RT-PCR. The sensitivity of the BinaxNow RSV Card test, SD Bioline RSV test, BD Veritor RSV test, and Humasis RSV Antigen tests were 62.5%, 61.3%, 65.0%, and 67.5% for RSV A, and 61.3%, 65.0%, 61.3%, and 67.5% for RSV B compared to real time RT-PCR, respectively. The specificity of BD Veritor RSV test was 95.8% and those of the other three RDTs was 100%. Commercial RSV antigen detection assays are useful tools for the rapid diagnosis of RSV infection. However, confirmatory testing is always recommended. J. Med. Virol. 88:1720-1724, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Background and purpose Although benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS) is known to have good prognosis, patients often manifest neuropsychological impairments. This study aimed to investigate cognitive dysfunctions and their relationship with white matter microstructural changes in BECTS patients. Methods Nineteen BECTS and 25 normal subjects aged 7–16 years were included. Neuropsychological performances were assessed by the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children III, executive function tests, verbal and visuospatial memory tests, the verbal fluency and Boston naming tests. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was performed to measure the fractional anisotropy (FA), axial (AD), radial (RD), and mean diffusivities (MD). The voxel-wise tract-based spatial statistics and region of interest methods were used for DTI, and their correlations with cognitive variables were analyzed. Results Patients with BECTS had lower intelligence quotient (IQ) scores compared with those of the control group. Higher AD and MD values were found in the left superior longitudinal fasciculus, the retrolenticular part of the internal capsule, posterior thalamic radiation, sagittal stratum and the body of the corpus callosum in BECTS patients compared with controls. Lower performances in verbal IQ, freedom from distractibility and processing speed were correlated with higher AD in the left superior fronto-occipital fasciculus, and lower verbal IQ scores were correlated with decreased FA values in the splenium of the corpus callosum in these patients. Conclusions White matter microstructural changes predominantly in the left hemisphere might contribute to their cognitive abnormalities especially verbal IQ in BECTS patients.

Background The objective of our study was to understand the epidemiological and clinical features of respiratory adenoviral infections among children at a single institution over the course of several years. Methods From January 2005 to April 2009, 1836 children (≤15 years old) who had been admitted to Korea University Ansan Hospital were tested for acute respiratory infection. The patients who were positive for an adenovirus infection were enrolled in this study, and their medical records were retrospectively reviewed. Results Adenoviruses were isolated from 310 patients. The male to female ratio was 1.6:1 and mean age was 32 ± 24 months. Children under 5 years of age had the highest prevalence. In 2007, adenovirus infections occurred endemically throughout the year. The clinical diagnoses were primarily upper respiratory tract infections (45.4%), lower respiratory tract infections (48.1%), and neurologic disease (5.2%). Associated symptoms, signs and laboratory findings included fever (91.9%), cough (83.9%), pharyngeal injection (62.3%), rale (32.6%) and elevated C-reactive protein (93.9%). The most common radiologic findings were perihilar and peribronchial infiltrates (42.6%). Co-infections were observed in 29 cases. The mean durations of hospitalization and fever were 6.2 ± 6.5 and 4.8 ± 3.1 days, respectively. The lengths of hospitalization were similar for patients admitted for upper respiratory tract infections with severe morbidity and those admitted for lower respiratory tract infections. No children in the study died. Conclusion Our study demonstrates that respiratory adenovirus infections are an important cause of hospitalization in young children, and contribute to a significant morbidity.

One-pot ketone synthesis has been developed with in situ activation of alkyl halides to alkylzinc halides in the presence of thioesters and Pd-catalyst. The new method provides us with a reliable option for a coupling at a late stage in a convergent synthesis of complex molecules, with use of a near 1:1 molar ratio of coupling partners. First, two facile, orthogonal methods have been developed for preparation of alkylzinc halides: (1) direct insertion of zinc dust to 1°- and 2°-alkyl halides in the presence of LiI in DMI and (2) early transition-metal assisted activation of alkyl halides via a single electron transfer (SET) process. CrCl2 has been found as an unprecedented, inevitable mediator for preparation of alkylzinc halides from alkyl halides, where CrCl2 likely functions to trap R·, generated via a SET process, and transfer it to Zn(II) to form RZnX. In addition to a commonly used CoPc, a new radical initiator NbCpCl4 has been discovered through the study. Second, with use of the two orthogonal met...

A dominant negative form of p63, ΔNp63α, is critical for maintaining the proliferative potential of epidermal stem cells and progenitor cells. The expression of ΔNp63α also confers a selective advantage for cancer cell survival, underscoring the importance of ΔNp63α in both normal and neoplastic stratified epithelia. Regulation of ΔNp63α can be achieved at the transcriptional and post-translational levels, the latter being greatly influenced by external stimuli such as UV irradiation. In this study, we have found that tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), a multifunctional cytokine that has been implicated in epidermal homeostasis during normal and pathophysiologic conditions, also triggers the degradation of ΔNp63α in immortalized keratinocytes and cervical cancer cells. Conversely, downregulation of ΔNp63α sensitized cancer cells to TNF-α-induced apoptosis, suggesting a counteractive interaction between TNF-α and ΔNp63α in the regulation of epithelial cell death. The degradation of ΔNp63α by TNF-α was delayed when cells were treated with nuclear factor-κB inhibitors, whereas the induction of apoptosis by TNF-α was accompanied by the dramatic upregulation of the proapoptotic gene Puma. These observations further elucidate the relationship between TNF-α and ΔNp63α, two well-known mediators of epidermal homeostasis, and further suggest crosstalk between the two molecules in normal and pathophysiologic epidermis.

It is found that the chiral amines (ALK) and (QUI) efficiently promote the asymmetric isomerization of cyclohex-3-enones, available from anisoles, to cyclohex-2-enones.

Organomercurials, which were generated by intra- and inter-molecular mercury(II)-promoted electrophilic additions, have been reductively demercurated in situ efficiently using sodium borohydride in the presence of triethylborane at low temperature. Under these conditions, the frequently accompanying side reactions such as reductive elimination and oxidative demercuration have not been detected. © 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

The previously unknown selective N-demethylation of tertiary aminofumagillols (5a-e) to the corresponding secondary aminofumagillols (7a-e) is effectively accomplished via a non-classical Polonovski type reaction using selenium dioxide (SeO 2 ). Especially, noteworthy is that two epoxy and the α,β-unsaturated ester functionalities in the fumagillol molecules tolerate in this transformation. Aminofumagillol derivatives are valuable antiangiogenesis inhibitors.

We previously reported the synthesis and biological activity of novel substituted pyridines and purines having thiazolidinedione with hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic activities. We now report the synthesis and antidiabetic activity of novel substituted pyrimidines having thiazolidinedione moiety. These compounds (entry No. 5a-i, 10a-d and 16) were evaluated for their glucose and lipid lowering activity in KKA(y) mice. From the results, novel compounds, 5c and 5g, exhibited considerably more potent biological activity than that of the reference compounds, pioglitazone and rosiglitazone, respectively.