OBJECTIVETo evaluate the short effect and safety of the acupoint application of dog days for allergic rhinitis.

METHODSTwo hundred and forty-nine patients were randomly divided into an application group (166 cases) and a placebo group (83 cases). On the first day of the first dog days, the first day of the second of the three ten-day periods of the hot season and the first day of the last of the three ten-day periods of the hot season, acupoint application was adopted mainly at Dazhui (GV 14), Feishu (BL 13), Pishu (BL 20) and Shenshu (BL 23) in the application group. The plaster was made of Chinese herbs, including Baijiezi (semen brassicae), Xixin (asarum), Yanhusuo (corydalis tuber) and Gansui (euphorbia kansui). Buckwheat plaster without medical ingredient was used in the placebo group. The application was pasted for 2-6 h every time. On the first three days of all the three periods of dog days, treatment was used continuously. The whole period of dog days was made into one course. The changes of symptom and syndrome scores, visual analogue scale (VAS) for symptom before and after treatment and the adverse reaction with the condition disposed were observed in the two groups.

RESULTSAfter treatment, the symptom and syndrome scores and VAS for symptom were improved compared with those before treatment in the two groups (all P < 0.05), and the improvements of the application group were more obvious than those of the placebo group (all P < 0.05). The short effective rate of the application group was 68.1% (113/166), which was better than 48.2% (40/83) of the placebo group (P < 0.05). The adverse reaction rates were 4.2% (7/166), 2.4% (2/83) respectively, with no statistical significance between the two groups (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe dog days plaster achieves obvious effect with good safety for allergic rhinitis.

Acupuncture Points ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Rhinitis, Allergic ; drug therapy ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

Objective To investigate the immunomodulatory effects of heme oxygenase-1 ( HO-1) modified rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells ( BM-MSCs) on lymphocytes .Methods Rat BM-MSCs were cultured and identified in vitro.HO-1 gene was transduced into BM-MSCs via recombinant adenovirus (rAdV) to construct HO-1/BM MSCs, which were then co-cultured with rat spleen lymphocytes .The cellu-lar activity of lymphocytes was detected by using MTT method .The cell cycle distributions were analyzed by propidium iodide staining and flow cytometry .ELISA was used to detect the level of cytokines in the super-natant of cultured cells .The expression of lymphocyte activation markers , CD25 and CD71, were measured by using fluorescence labeled antibodies and flow cytometry .Results Compared with the control group , the lymphocytes co-cultured with HO-1/BM MSCs showed a suppressed proliferation and cell cycle progression . HO-1/BM MSCs inhibited the secretion of IL-2, TNF-αand IFN-γ, but enhanced the secretion of IL-10 in lymphocytes.Furthermore, the expression of CD25 and CD71 were also down-regulated by HO-1/BM MSCs. Conclusion Compared with BM MSCs , HO-1/BM MSCs show higher immunosuppressive effects on lym-phocytes .

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Tanreqing Injection, a compound traditional Chinese herbal medicine, for community-acquired pneumonia.

Objective To investigate the clinical efficacy of dog days' acupoint application in treating allergic rhinitis and assess its safety.Methods Two hundred and forty-nine patients were randomly allocated to a dog days' acupoint application group of 166 cases and a placebo group of 83 cases. The two groups were received treatment at the first day of the first, second and last periods of the hot season The dog days' acupoint application group received acupoint application of Chinese herbal medicine and the placebo group, acupoint application of non-medicinal placebo. In the two groups, the symptoms and signs were scored and the VAS score was recorded before and after treatment and during the follow-up period, and adverse reactions and relapses were observed and the clinical therapeutic effect of acupoint application and its safety were assessed after treatment and during the follow-up period.Results The total efficacy rate was 69.8% in the dog days' acupoint application group and 44.4% in the placebo group. The therapeutic effect was significantly better in the dog days' acupoint application group than in the placebo group (P<0.01). The totalefficacy rate was 89.4% at the 6-month follow-up and 90.7% at the 12-month follow-up in the dog days' acupoint application group and 4.9% and 1.2% in the placebo group. The long-term therapeutic effect was significantly better in the dog days' acupoint application group than in the placebo group (P<0.01). In the dog days' acupoint application group, the symptom score, the sign score and the VAS score were significantly lower after treatment and during the follow-up period than before treatment (bothP<0.01). In the placebo group, those scores only had significant pre-/post-treatment differences (P<0.01). There were statistically significant differences in the symptom score, the sign score and the VAS score between the two groups at different times. The adverse reaction rate was 4.3% in the dog days' acupoint application group and 2.5% in the placebo group; there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups (P>0.05). The relapse rate was 46,6% at the 6-month follow-up and 62.1% at the 12-month follow-up in the dog days' acupoint application group and 85.2% and 95.1% in the placebo group; there were statistically significant differences between the two groups (P<0.01).Conclusions Dog days' acupoint application has better short-term and long-term therapeutic effect on allergic rhinitis with a low relapse rate and high safety.

Objective To investigate the correlation between helicobacter pylori infection and pathological characteristics of gastric mucosal in the elderly.Methods Retrospective analysis was conducted in 278 patients with benign upper gastrointestinal disease from January 2014 to June 2014.The patients were examined by endoscopy and 13C-UBT,and divided into elderly group (aged 60 years and over,n=111) and non-elderly group (aged＜60 years,n=167).The relationships between Hp infection and pathological changes in gastric mucosal tissue (severe chronic inflammation,neutrophil infiltration,lymph follicles,gastric gland atrophy,intestinal metaplasia) were analyzed.Results There was no significant difference in helicobacter pylori infection rate between the elderly group and non-elderly group [27.0％ (30/111) vs.36.5％ (61/167),P＞0.05].The rate of gastric gland atrophy was higher in elderly group than in non-elderly group [13.5％ (15/111) vs.6.0％ (10/167),P=0.028].The rates of severe chronic inflammation,neutrophil infiltration,lymph follicles,gland atrophy and intestinal metaplasia were 73.6％,70.3％,14.3％,18.7％,29.7％ in patients with helicobacter pylori infection,which were higher than those in patients without helicobacter pylori infection (19.8％,3.2％,0.5％,4.3％,8.6％,respectively,all P=0.000).Removing the factor of Hp infection,the rates of glands atrophy and intestinal metaplasia were higher in elderly group than in non-elderly group (8.6％ vs.0.9％,43.3％ vs.23.0％,P=0.013 and 0.045).Conclusions Helicobacter pylori infection correlates with severe chronic gastric mucosal inflammation,neutrophil infiltration,lymph follicles formation.Gland atrophy and intestinal metaplasia are related to the Hp infection,and age is also their influencing factor.

Objective To evaluate the relationship between intestinal metaplasia (IM) and helicobacter pylori infection in elderly patients with chronic gastritis. Methods The patients over 60 years old and diagnosed as chronic gastritis by endoscopy from January 2008 to December 2009 were divided into two groups by pathological appearance. One group was chronic gastritis with IM (IM group), the other was chronic gastritis without IM (NIM group). The infection of helicobacter pylori, activity of inflammation, atrophy of gland, and folliculus lymphaticus in gastric mucosa were observed. Results The infection of helicobacter pylori, infiltration of neutrophil and atrophy ratio of gland were significantly higher in IM group than in NIM group (52.7% vs. 37.3%, 35.5% vs.24.0 %, 36.6 % vs. 3.5%, x2 = 10. 677, 7.641, 95. 606; P = 0. 001, 0. 006, 0. 000, respectively).There was no statistical difference in presentation of folliculus lymphaticus between IM group and NIM group (x2 = 0.003, P=0. 957). The infiltration of neutrophil and presentation of folliculus lymphaticus were significantly higher in helicobacter pylori positive patients than in helicobacter pylori negative patients (45.8% vs. 14.8%, 42.6% vs. 4.2%, both P=0.000). Conclusions The appearance of IM seems to be related with helicobacter pylori infection, activity inflammation and atrophy of gland. The presentation of folliculus lymphaticus seems to be closely related with helicobacter pylori infection. The eradication treatment of helicobacter pylori infection in the elderly chronic gastritis patients should be strengthened.

OBJECTIVE:To study the relation of glycyrrhizic glycoside on hepatitis B virus(HBV)replication in vitro.METHODS:2.2.15cell line was used and treated with glycyrrhizic glycoside,the contents of HBsAg and HBeAg in the su?pernatant of cell culture with different concentrations of glycyrrhizic glycoside were quantified.RESULTS:The inhibitory rates of glycyrrhizic glycoside on HBsAg were83.8%,71.0%,62.1%,52.0%and29.7%respectively at the concentrations of800,400,200,100and50?g/ml respectively.CONCLUSION:Glycyrrhizic glycoside does not promote HBV replication in vitro experiment.

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of new drugs of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for acute upper respiratory tract infection (common cold).

Objective To establish method of constructing lentiviral vectors to express microRNA (miRNA) ''tough decoy''(TuD)and to detect the effects of the TuD on cellular endogenous miRNA level and cellular phenotypes. Methods Two-step cloning strategy was utilized to first generate a universal miRNA TuD frame vector,followed by con-structing the TuD expression vector specially targeting miR-203. The package of the recombinant lentivirus was per-formed in 293T cells. Then the rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells(BM-MSCs)were infected by the miR-203 TuD expression lentivirus. The pSIH1-H1-copGFP vector was also packaged and the BM-MSCs infected by this lentivirus were served as control. Endogenous miR-203 level in BM-MSCs was measured by quantitative RT-PCR,and cellular vi-ability and apoptosis were detected by CCK-8 test and Annexin V-PI staining respectively. Results The miR-203 TuD expression vector was successfully constructed and inserted sequence was validated. At the 3rd,6th and 9th days after in-fected by the miR-203 TuD expression lentivirus,rat BM-MSCs exhibited a repressed endogenous miR-203 level. The miR-203 TuD also promoted viability and inhibited apoptosis of BM-MSCs. All these differences between miR-203 TuD group and control group were statistically significant. Conclusion The two-step cloning method for the construction of miRNA TuD expression vector is simple and efficient. The miRNA TuD can effectively suppress the level of the target miRNA and affect cellular phenotypes.

Objective To investigate the gene defects of a pedigree with inherited coagulation factor Ⅺ (FⅪ) deficiency by analyzing its phenotype and molecular genetic characteristics. Methods A pedigree with inherited FⅪ deficiency was enrolled in this study. The activated partial thromboplastin time (APTF), prothrombin time (PT), FⅪ activity (FⅪ: C) and FⅪ antigen (FⅪ: Ag) were determined for phenotype diagnosis. Fifteen exons and their flanks of F11 gene from the proband's genomic DNA were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and the PCR products were directly sequenced to analyze the F11 gene mutation. The PCR products amplified from genomic DNA from the proband, her parents and 100 healthy donors were digested with restriction enzyme BssSI to exclude gene polymorphism and confirm the mutation site. The cleavage site in the signal peptide was predicted by the SignalP software. Results The values of APTT, PT, FⅪ: C and FⅪ: Ag of the proband were 69.5 s, 12.3 s, 2.6% and 2.5%, respectively, indicating that this case was cross-reacting material (CRM) negative. The same values of healthy controls were 35 s, 13 s, 100% and 100%, respectively. As compared with Genbank AY191837 sequence, four variants in F11 exons were found. G3733C heterozygous mutation in exon 2 causod Gly to Arg substitution at-1 amino acid position in signal peptide (G-1R). The G3733C mutation in exon 2 introduced a new BssSI enzyme digestion site. Further analysis of the 100 randomly collected DNA samples from the normal population excluded the possibility of G3733C as a polymorphism. CI6642T heterozygous mutation in exon 8 introduced a premature stop codon at 263 amino acid position (Q263Term). Conclusions G-1R mutation and Q263Term compound heterozygous mutation in F11 gene are the mechanism of FⅪ deficiency for the proband. G-1R mutation is a novel F11 gene mutation causing inherited FⅪ deficiency.