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A retrospective analysis of 21 cases of Brugada syndrome treated between 1997 and 2004 was conducted to examine the clinical characteristics of these patients and the relations between fever and Brugada syndrome. Of the 21 patients including one female patient, 4 male patents with Brugada syndrome were confirmed to develop ventricular arrhythmias due to febrile disease, suggesting that fever, one of the common causes for triggering cardiac events in Brugada syndrome, should receive due attention in clinical practice.

Objective: To observe the effects of recombinant human interleukin-10 (rhIL-10) on adventitial fibroblast proliferation induced by tumor necrosis factor-alpha TNF-alpha in vitro., Methods: In this controlled study, NIH/3T3 cells cultured in vitro were treated with TNF-alpha and recombinant human interleukin-10 (rhIL-10), respectively, and the cell proliferation was determined by non-radioactive MTS/PES assay. Cell cycle analysis was performed using flow cytometry., Results: Compared with the control cells, TNF-alpha significantly stimulated NIH/3T3 cell proliferation, wherea. rhIL-10 had no such effect. With TNF-alpha stimulation, rhIL-10 at the dose as low as 1 ng/ml inhibited the proliferation of NIH/3T3 cells (P<0.05). The number of cells in G(0)/G(1) phase treated with both TNF-alpha and rhIL-10 was higher than those treated with TNF-alpha alone (P<<0.05), as shown by flow cytometry., Conclusion: rhIL-10 can significantly inhibit the proliferation of adventitial fibroblasts induced by TNF-alpha in vitro.

Objective: To perform PCR-based site-directed mutagenesis of a new SCN5A mutation (K317N) identified in a Chinese family with Brugada syndrome and construct the recombinant expression plasmid pRc/CMV-Hh1 containing the human cardiac sodium channel alpha subunit (hH1), mutant cDNA., Methods: A pair of primers was designed according to the restricted sites Sse 8387I and Age I of the SCN5A sequence with the mismatches introduced into primers. Mutagenesis was performed in a single-step PCR, and the fragments amplified by PCR containing the mutation site were subcloned into the pRc/CMV-hH1 vector., Results: Sequence analysis confirmed the presence of the desired mutation site, and a mutation from K (Lys) to N (Asn) in codon 317 was identified in the SCN5A gene, indicating the successful induction of the mutation at K317N of the SCN5A gene., Conclusion: PCR site-directed mutagenesis is accurate and highly efficient, and the successfully constructed recombinant expression plasmid pRc/CMV-hH1 (K317N) may provide a molecular basis for further functional and genomic investigation of SCN5A.

Objective: To explore the differential diagnosis of early repolarization syndrome (ERS) in patients with ST-segment elevation and its clinical significance., Methods: Five patients with ESR were clinically observed and followed up after discharge from hospital., Results: All the patients complained of chest distress or chest pain, accompanied by ST-segment elevation in the precordial electrocardiogram leads., Conclusion: ESR is often misdiagnosed as acute myocardial infarction, acute coronary syndrome, Brugada syndrome or other diseases that may involve elevated ST-segment, and careful examination of the ECGs, echocardiogram, troponin I and the patients' history of heart diseases may help differentiate ESR from these diseases.

Objective: To develop an efficient and stable enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for detecting urinary aquaporin-2 (AQP2) water channel protein., Methods: Rat AQP2 C-terminal peptides (CELHSPQSLPRGSKA) were synthesized and linked to KLH to prepare rabbit anti-AQP2 polyclonal antibodies, and IgG of the antibodies were labeled with horseradish peroxidase (HRP). Rat models of congestive heart failure (CHF) was established by ligation of the left coronary artery, in which both direct and sandwich ELISA for urinary AQP2 detection were tested., Results: Double antibody sandwich ELISA was able to detect urinary AQP2 as low as 15.625 pmol/ml with intra-and inter-assay coefficients of variance (CVs) of 4.65% and 14.05% respectively. Urinary AQP2 concentration determined by this assay showed significant positive relation to that by Western blot analysis in CHF rats., Conclusion: Double antibody sandwich ELISA was successfully established to detect urine AQP2 in CHF rats, which is more efficient and simpler than Western blot analysis.