Objective To determinate the toxic elements in Radix Astragali by ICP-MS. Methods The elements of Cu, As, Cd, Hg, Pb, Al, Cr, Sn, Ba in Radix Astragali were analyzed by ICP-MS. Results There were toxic elements in Radix Astragali. The concentration of Cu, As, Cd, Hg and Pb were not over the limits of Chinese Pharmacopoeia, but the concentration of Al, Cr and Ba were over the levels of other elements obviously. Conclusions There are difference of residues of the 9 kinds of toxic elements. It’s necessary to establish the determination methods of toxic elements (especially Al, Sn, Cr and Ba) in Chinese herbal medicines and the limits of the related toxic elements.

Objective To select materials with high quality and safety and evaluate the clinical value of multi-point forming technique in skull repairing. Methods 161 patients suffered from skull defect had been cured in our hospital, within them 43 patients were treated with multi-point forming technique in titanium mesh shaping, 19 patients with traditional handwork shaping, 99 patients with bone-like concrete (acrylate). The following aspects were analyzed and compared: neurosurgeons' shaping workload before operations, operative time, approving scale on shaping and complications after operation. Results Repairing skull by titanium mesh with the technique of multipoint shaping significantly shortened the average operative time to (30 ?6) min, compared with acrylate group (70?18 min) and titanium mesh traditional handwork shaping group (50?11 min) (P

Objective To investigate the effects of low carbohydrate diet in treating non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) patients.Methods 58 male NAFLD patients selected in Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University from September 2010 to October 2012 were divided with random number table into low-carbohydrate diet group (L group,n =31) and medium-carbohydrate diet group (M group,n =27).Waistline,weight,serum glucose level,insulin secretion,glutamic-pyruvic transaminase (ALT),aspartate transaminase (AST)、high-density lipoprotein (HDL),low-density lipoprotein (LDL),total cholesterol (TC),and triglyceride (TG) of the patients were measured.Results Six patients were excluded from this research,2 in L group and 4 in M group.After 6-week's dietary intervention,blood glucose level and insulin secretion were significantly lower in L group than in M group [(4.3±1.4) mol/Lvs.(5.0±0.9) mol/L,P=0.004; (6.1 ±1.5) U/mlvs.(8.9 ± 1.4) U/ml,P =0.001].The levels of ALT and AST in L group were significantly lower than those in Mgroup[(30.23±3.34) U/Lvs.(42.33±4.46) U/L,P=0.003; (31.19±4.13) U/Lvs.(45.21±3.73) U/L,P =0.001].The levels of LDL and TG in L group were also significantly lower than those in M group [(1.13±0.22) mmol/Lvs.(2.71±0.67) mmol/L,P=0.001; (0.99±0.74) mmol/Lvs.(1.42±1.06) mmol/L,P =0.001].Conclusion In NAFLD patients,low-carbohydrate diet can improve blood glucose level,insulin secretion,liver function,and lipid metabolism disorders.

OBJECTIVETo observe the acupoint distribution and clinical efficacy of lumbar disc herniationi (LDH) with different sensitive types.

METHODSEighty patients with LDH were randomly divided into a heat-sensitive moxibustion group (group A), a heat-sensitive acupuncture group (group B), a force-sensitive acupuncture group (group C) and a force-sensitive moxibustion group (group D), 20 cases in each one. In the group A and the group B, moxibustion and acupuncture were applied at two or three heat-sensitive acupoints separately. In the group C and the group D,acupuncture and moxibustion were used at two or three force-sensitive acupoints respectively. The treatment was given once a day, totally 10 times. The distribution law of the heat-sensitive acupoints and the force-sensitive acupoints and the change of M-JOA before and after treatment were recorded in the four groups.

RESULTSThe frequent heat-sensitive acupoints areas of LDH were at Yaoyangguan (GV 3), Dachangshu (BL 25), Zhiyang(GV 9), Guanyuanshu(BL 26) and Weizhong(BL 40). The major force-sensitive acupoints areas were at Shenshu (BL 23), Dachangshu (BL 25), Tianshu (ST 25), Guilai (ST 29) and Weizhong (BL 40). After treatment, the heat-sensitive acupoints in the group A and the group B were all reduced than those before treatment and the force-sensitive acupoints in the group C and the group D were declined as well (P < 0.01, P < 0.05). The M-JOA scores were obviously lower than those before treatment in the four groups (all P < 0.01). The score in the group A was reduced more apparently than that in the group B (P < 0.05). The score in the group C was declined more markedly than that in the group D (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThere are diverse acupoints for LDH patients due to different sensitive types. All forms of stimulation can change the functional state of acupoints. Moxibustion is more suitable for heat-sensitive acupoints and acupuncture is optimal for force-sensitive acupoints.

Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; methods ; Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc Displacement ; therapy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Moxibustion ; methods ; Treatment Outcome

Background and purpose:The morbidity and mortality of lung cancer are currently the highest malignant tumor in China and the world. Most onset age of the illness is after 60 years old. Therefore, surgical resection of lung cancer in the elderly is very worthy of concern. This study aimed to investigate the clinical features, epidemic characteristics and conditions in perioperative period between the elderly and middle-aged patients with lung cancer, and provide the reference for clinical treatment.Methods:Totally 1 019 patients with lung cancer who were admitted to the hospital and accepted the operations in department of thoracic surgery in Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital from Jan. 2007 to Dec. 2012 were analysed retrospectively. The clinical data including gender, pathological type, TNM stage, intraoperative amount of bleeding and post-operative length of hospitalization were compared.Results:There was a signiifcant difference in sexual factors between these two groups (P?0.05), and compared with the middle-aged group, the proportion of male was more higher in the elderly group (76.91%vs 52.81%). Adenocarcinoma was the most common and squamous carcinoma was the next in both two groups. The constituent ratio of the pathlogical type between the elderly group and the middle-aged group was statistically signiifcant (P?0.05). The squamous carcinoma in the elderly group was higher than that in the middle-aged group (37.5%vs 15.6%). On the contrary, adenocarcinoma was more common in the middle-aged group (72.8%vs 50.7%). StagesⅡa,Ⅱb, andⅢa were more common in the elderly group and stagesⅠa, andⅠb were the most clinical stage in the middle-aged group. The clinical stage between two groups was statistically significant (P?0.05).The intraoperative amount of bleeding was higher and the post-operative length of hospitalization was longer in the elderly group, with a signiifcant difference as compared with that in the middle-aged group(P?0.05). And there was a signiifcant difference in incidence of accompanying diseases between the two groups, compared with the middle-aged group, the proportion of accompanying diseases was more higher in the elderly group(58.6%vs42.3%).Conclusion:Elderly patients with lung cancer are more common in males, with adenocarcinoma being the most common. The cancer mostly belongs to a medium or advanced stage. Elderly patients have the trend with more amount of bleeding in operation and lengh of stay.

Objective:To investigate the speech-evoked brainstem response (speech-ABR) of normal young people under different recording periods,which can provide the experimental evidences for researches on the stability of speech-ABR and promote its applications in clinical researches.Methods:40 healthy young people were randomly divided into two groups,which were tested following the same protocol at different time of two months interval.Latencies and amplitudes of the feature peaks in these groups were compared and the rates of appearance (detection rate) of the feature peaks were analyzed statistically.Results:Speech-ABRs were recorded successfully in two groups.The latencies and amplitudes of feature peaks in these groups were not different statistically,and the detection rates of V,A,C and F peaks were higher than others.Conclusion:The speech-ABRs of the two groups are stable,and the V,A,C and F peaks can be used as important indicators of clinical observation,showing that Speech-ABR is a promising tool in the study of Speech perception mechanism.

Objective To study the effect of gambogic acid on apoptosis and autophagy in human hepatoma cells HepG2, and to detect its possible mechanism. Methods After exposure of HepG2 cells to gambogic acid at different concentration for 24 h, cell proliferation rates was determined by MTT assay, apoptosis rate was detected by the flow cytometry (FCM), formation of autophagic vacuoles was observed by the monodansyl cadaverine (MDC) fluorescence staining, expression level of apoptosis-related proteins Bax, bcl-2 and autophagy related protein Beclin 1 was detected by Western blot. Results HepG2 cell growth was inhibited by the gambogic acid dose dependence. After exposure to gambogic acid at 0, 2.0, 4.0 and 8.0 μmol/L for 24 h, cell apoptosis rate was significantly increased to 5.31 %, 29.18 %, 31.50 % and 46.09 %(P <0.05), MDC average fluorescence intensity was also significantly increased to 6.3 ±1.1, 82.6 ±4.5, 132.9±15.7 and 157.7±9.0 (P<0.01). Western blot showed that gambogic acid could promote the expression of apoptosis protein Bax (0.17 ±0.02, 0.75 ±0.06, 0.78 ±0.05, 0.89 ±0.10, P <0.05), and decrease the expression of anti-apoptosis protein bcl-2 (1.18 ±0.04, 0.90 ±0.06, 0.64 ±0.08, 0.57 ±0.05, P <0.05), meanwhile, it could also increase the expression of autophagy related protein Beclin (0.67±0.03, 0.92±0.04, 0.95±0.07, 1.04±0.06, P<0.05). Conclusion Gambogic acid can inhibit the growth of human hepatoma HepG2 cells by inducing apoptosis and autophagic cell death.

Objective: To explore the anti-proliferation and apoptosis-inducing effects of decitabine combined with paclitaxel on paclitaxel-resistant MCF-7 cells. Methods:Cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assays were used to determine the proliferation inhibition of drugs at different concentrations in 24, 48 and 72h. The group was treated with decitabine, paclitaxel and the combination of the two drugs, respectively. The cell apoptosis rate was determined by flow cytometry after the treatment with the drugs at different concentra-tions in 48h. Results:The results of CCK-8 showed the combination group significantly inhibited the cell proliferation when compared with the single drug use group(P<0. 05), and the anti-proliferation value was in a dose-dependent manner in all groups. The apopto-sis values after the treatment with decitabine, paclitaxel and the combination in 48h was(20. 4 ± 1. 98)%,(21. 8 ± 3. 34)% and(70. 8 ± 8. 23)%,respectively. Conclusion:The proliferation inhibition and apoptosis induction are both increased significantly in the com-bination group. Synergistic effect of decitabine and paclitaxel is found in multidrug resistant breast cancer cell line MCF-7 in vitro.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the feasibility and application of enzyme-linked bridging assay(ELBA)method to the pharmacokinetic evaluation of antisense strand siRNA drug. METHODS Antisense strand RNAs were diluted in LNCap cell lysates from 5 to 50 000 pmol·L-1 to construct the quantification curves. We transfected the intact double-strand siRNA at a final concentration 100 nmol·L-1 targeting Polo-like kinase into the LNCap cells and investigated the specificity of ELBA quantitating the siRNA antisense strand in cell supernatant,cell lysates and RNA-induced silencing complex( RlSC). Quantification curves were constructed and validated in biological matrices such as plasma (5-25 000 pmol·L-1 )and multiple tissues(liver,heart,spleen,and kidneys)(3-6250 pmol·L-1 ). The prostate specific membrane antigen aptamer siRNA delivery system with the intact siRNA concentration of 15 nmol·kg-1 was prepared. The siRNAs were delivered into the LNCap xenogrant tumor model in C57 mice by tail vein injection. The concentration of siRNA antisense strand was determined in plasma and tissues 30 min post administration by ELBA. RESULTS The quantitative range of antisense strand siRNA in cell lysates was 5-50 000 pmol·L-1 ,and ELBA method could quantify the siRNA antisense strand concentration from cell lysates and RlSC in LNCap cells transfected with double-strand siRNA. ln addition,ELBA could specifically reflect the single antisense strand concentration instead of intact siRNA double strands in plasma. The quantification range of siRNA antisense strand using ELBA in plasma was 5-25 000 pmol·L-1 and 3-3125 pmol·L-1 in tissues. About 30 min post administration of PSMA aptamer-siRNA,the antisense strand of siRNA was distributed mainly to the tumor,liver,kidneys,blood and spleen in sequence. The distribution profile might be attributed to the target delivery and siRNA pharma-codynamics. CONCLUSION The ELBA method is successfully applied to the siRNA antisense strand pharmacokinetic evaluation,which provides an alternative for pharmacokinetic studies of siRNA-based drugs.

Objective To investigate the alteration of chaperone hsp40 and its effects on the dealyed neuron death in the CAI neurons after transient cerebral ischemia.Method Twenty-minute transient global ischemia rat model was used.Following different repeffusion period,all the 28 wistar rats were divided into sham-operation group ,4-hour recovery group,24-honr recovery group and 72-hour recovery gronp,7 ratsin in each group,Immunochemistry and laser scanning confocal microscopy were used to observe the distributional alteration of hsp40 in the neurons.Differential centrifuge and westemblot analysis were used to analyze the quantitative alteration of hsp40 and its redistribution in the neurons.Results lnanunechemistry and laser scanning confocal microscopy showedthe reduction of hsp40 first in cytosol,then in the nucleus until all the neurons in the CAI region died.Differential centrifuge and westemblot analysis showed the quantity of hsp40 decreased from (1.00_+0.21) to (0.23±0.13)(P<0.01) after 24-hour repeffusion;the quantity of hsp40 in the protein aggregates increased from (1.00±0.18) to(8.61±1.89)(P<0.01) after24-hour reperfusion.Conclusions The reduction of hsp40 in the neurons of hippocampus CA1 region is an important factor resulting in protein aggregates formation.