Objective To investigate the roles of adrenomedullin(ADM) and endothelin-1(ET-1) in left-to-right shunt congenital heart disease(CHD) complicated with congestive heart failure(CHF).Methods Plasma ADM and ET-1 concentrations were measured by radioimmunoassay in heart failure stage and recovery period of 18 infants with left-to-right shunt CHD.Also 20 healthy infants acted as control group were measured.Results Plasma concentrations of ADM and EF-1 were significantly higher in heart failure stage of left-to-right CHD infants than those in their recovery period,and both in their heart failure stage and in their recovery period were higher than that in control group(P

Acute Disease ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents ; therapeutic use ; Budesonide ; therapeutic use ; Child, Preschool ; Graft vs Host Disease ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Intestinal Diseases ; drug therapy ; Male ; Treatment Outcome

BackgroundOur previous study determined that tetrandrine (Tet) has an inhibitory effect on the proliferation of human Tenon capsule fibroblasts ( TCFs ) in vitro,but its mechanism is poorly understood.ObjectiveThis study was to investigate the effect mechanism of Tet on human TCFs.MethodsHuman TCFs were isolated and cultured from scleral tissue of donor using explant technique.The cells were identified by vimentin antibody staining and morphology.The third generation of cells were seeded in the culture plate at the density of 1 × 105 cells/ml.Twenty-four hours after inoculation,the Tet of 1 × 10-5 mol/L was added in the well of culture plate,and the cells cultured only in 1640 medium served as the control group.The apoptosis of the cells was assessed by TUNEL,and the expressions of bax,bel-2,transforming growth factor-β2 (TGF-β2 ) in TCFs were detected using immunochemistry.Results The cultured cells showed the features of the fibroblasts in shape with the positive response for vimentin.A number of TUNEL positive cells were seen in Tet group and no TUNEL positive response was found in control group.The expression levels (A value) of bax,bcl-2 and TGF-~ protein in TCFs were 0.577 ± 0.009,0.430±0.012 and 0.341 ±0.017 in Tet group,and those in control group were 0.320±0.015,0.819±0.021 and 0.624±0.014 respectively,showing statistically significant differences between two groups( t =33.277,-35.356,-28.093,P＜0.01 ).Conclusions Tet suppresses the proliferation of human TCFs through up-regulating the expression of bax and down-regulating the expressions of bcl-2 and TGF-β2 in vitro.

In previous case report entitled "Multidetector CT findings of a congenital coronary sinus anomaly: a report of two cases" by Chou et al. (Korean J Radiol 2008;9:S1-S6), there were mistakes. "The Figure 1A and 1B are the MDCT findings of normal coronary sinus of a normal individual." "The Figure 1C to 1E are the MDCT findings of congenital coronary sinus anomaly in 60-year-old woman with Ebstein's anomaly." "The Figure 2J and 2K are illustration of atresia of the right atrial ostium of the coronary sinus with/without PLSVC"

The effects of ginsenosides on the actions of morphine are summarized. It mainly focuses on the antagonistic effects of ginsenosides on morphine-induced changes of animal behaviors, neural system functions and cell signaling transduction.
Animals ; Behavior, Animal ; drug effects ; Body Weight ; drug effects ; Ginsenosides ; pharmacology ; Mice ; Morphine ; antagonists & inhibitors ; pharmacology ; Morphine Dependence ; Neurotransmitter Agents ; metabolism ; Rats ; Signal Transduction ; drug effects

OBJECTIVETo evaluate clinical efficacy of electroacupuncture at Changqiang (GV 1) and Chengshan (BL 57) 30 min before surgery on postoperative pain and discomforts in patients with mixed hemorrhoids.

METHODSOne hundred and twenty cases of mixed hemorrhoids who received Milligan-Morgan operation were randomly divided into an electroacupuncture group, a sham electroacupuncture group and a blank group, 40 cases in each one. At the same time of basic treatment, the electroacupuncture was applied at Changqiang (GV 1) and Chengshan (BL 57) 30 min before surgery in the electroacupuncture group, while shallow needling without electrical stimulation at sham acupoint (1 cm next to acupoint) was applied 30 min before surgery in the sham electroacupuncture group, while no treatment was given before the surgery in the blank group. The total dose of painkillers in the first 24 h after operation, the number of cases who received additional anesthetic in the operation, the self-score of most severity pain in the first 24 h after operation and sleeping time in the night of surgery were observed.

RESULTSThe differences of the numbers of cases who received additional anesthetic in the operation had no statistical significance among the three groups (all P > 0.05), but compared with the sham electroacupuncture group and blank group, the total dose of painkillers in the first 24 h after operation was reduced in the electroacupuncture group [(2.43 +/- 1.08) tablets vs (3.23 +/- 1.33) tablets, (3.10 +/- 1.22) tablets], and the score of most severity pain was also decreased (6.65 +/- 1.00 vs 7.48 +/- 0.96, 7.25 +/- 1.19), besides, the sleeping time in the night of surgery was increased [(220.63 +/- 85.50) min vs (162.00 +/- 92.69) min, (151.50 +/- 80.01) min, all P < 0.05].

CONCLUSIONThe electroacupuncture at Changqiang (GV 1) and Chengshan (BL 57) 30 min before surgery has effects of preemptive analgesia on postoperative pain for patients with mixed hemorrhoids.

Acupuncture Points ; Adult ; Aged ; Electroacupuncture ; Female ; Hemorrhoids ; surgery ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pain, Postoperative ; therapy ; Young Adult

Objective To investigate symptom characteristics and their their prevalence in terminally ill patients with ovarian carcinoma.Methods A retrospective study was carried out based on clinical data of 98 terminally ill patients with ovarian carcinoma who died in our hospital during January 1995 to December 2004.Fifteen most common symptoms were analyzed with a focus on the followings:symptom incidence,survival time after symptom occurrence,regularity of symptom cluster,and common causes of death.Fifteen symptoms were:pain,cachexia,pleural effusion and ascites,dyspnea,fever,intestinal obstruction,renal failure,bone marrow depression,lung infection,hemorrhage,deep venous thrombosis (DVT),intestinal or pancreatic fistula,mycotic infection,jaundice and emergency conditions.Results (1)The most prevalent symptom was pleural effusion and ascites(63%),followed by pain(60%), cachexia(59%),dyspnea(52%)and intestinal obstruction(49 %).(2)The symptom which lasted longest survival time was mycotic infection(77 days),followed by intestinal or pancreatic fistula(75 days), intestinal obstruction(67 days),pain(60 days)and eachexia(60 days).Symptoms such as bone marrow depression,renal failure,dyspnea and emergency conditions were comparatively critical associated with shorter survival times(14,13,12,7 days,respectively).(3)Terminal symptoms occurred typically in clusters,with 4.9?1.5 symptoms per case.Of 98 cases,84 cases(86%)had 4 or more symptoms,with the median survival time of 63 days from the last day of anti-cancer therapy,and a slow death process.The remaining 14 cases(14%)with 3 or fewer symptoms survived only 25 days,of which 10 cases(71%)died of emergency diseases.The survival time for two groups was significantly different(P

Objective To study the effects of 50 Hz magnetic fields on the in vitro proliferation of human osteosareoma cell line MG-63 with different cell densities.Methods Four different magnetic intensities(1 mT, 2 mT,3 roT,4 mT)were used to stimulate the cells,and the experiment was repeated with different cell densities. The method of MTT was employed to evaluate the level of proliferation.Results Fifty Hz magnetic fields signifi- cantly affected the level of proliferation of human osteosareoma cell line MG-63,and the 2 mT intensity exerted the greatest influence on it.The effects of the magnetic field differed with different cell densities.Conclusion The effect of 50 Hz magnetic fields on the in vitro proliferation of human osteosarcoma cell line MG-63 was not only relat- ed to the magnetic intensity,but also the cell density,

Objective To study the effects of pulsed electromagnetic fields(PEMFs)of 15Hz and lmT on osteoblast differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells.Methods The bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells were isolated and cultured in vitro,the third passage cells were harvested and half of them was exposed to PEMFs,another half exposed to sham PEMFs served as the control.The activity of ALP was measured.And the ex- pression of osteoblast and adipogenesis was measured with the semi-quantitative RT-PCR,adipogenic differentiation was observed with the Oil Red O Staining.Results When compared with the control,PEMFs of 15 Hz and 1 mT significantly increased the activity of ALP(P

OBJECTIVETo investigate the protective effect of hypothermia combined with dexamethasone on spermatogenesis and the expression of intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM1) after testicular torsion-detorsion.

METHODSWe made unilateral testicular torsion models in 100 pubertal male Sprague-Dawley rats by 720 degree torsion of the left testis and then randomly divided them into four groups of equal number to be treated with normal temperature + physiological saline (group A), hypothermia + physiological saline (group B), normal temperature + dexamethasone (group C), and hypothermia + dexamethasone (group D). After 48 hours, we collected the testes, observed pathological changes of the testicular tissue by HE staining under the light microscope, detected the apoptosis of spermatogenic cells by TUNEL, and determined the expression of ICAM1 by Western blot.

RESULTSHE staining showed different degrees of testicular tissue injury in the four groups of rats, most obvious in group A, but mild in the other three. The ICAM1 protein expression was significantly higher in group A (0.68 +/-0. 03) than in B (0. 49 +/- 0. 06, P <0. 05) , C (0. 46 +/- 0. 09, P < 0.05) , and D (0.17 +/- 0.08, P <0.01). The nuclei were deep brown or brown. Lots of apoptotic spermatogenic cells were seen in the torsion testis of group A, with a significantly higher apoptosis index ( [33. 13 +/- 3.21 ]%) than in B ( [ 17. 12 +/-5.23 ]%, P < 0.05), C ([14.13 +/- 2.03]%, P <0.05), and D ([9.05 +/- 1.03]%, P <0.01).

CONCLUSIONHypothermia combined with dexamethasone can protect the testis from injury as well as the reproductive function of the testis after testicular torsion-detorsion and reduce the expression of ICAM1.

Animals ; Dexamethasone ; pharmacology ; Disease Models, Animal ; Hypothermia, Induced ; Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 ; metabolism ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Spermatic Cord Torsion ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Spermatogenesis ; drug effects