OBJECTIVETo explore protective effects of acupuncture at "Zusanli" (ST 36) on cerebral tissue in rats with sepsis.

METHODSCecal ligation and puncture (CLP) was applied to duplicate the rat model of sepsis. According to random number table, thirty SD rats were divided into a sepsis model group (group A), a sepsis model plus electroacupuncture (EA) group (group B), and a sepsis model plus non-acupoint EA group (group C), ten rats in each one. EA with the same frequency and intensity at "Zusanli" (ST 36) and non-acupoint (0.5 cm laterally to "Zusanli") for 30 min was applied in the group B and group C, respectively. No treatment was given in the goup A. 6 hours after CLP, blood was acquired from abdominal aorta to measure the levels of neuron specific enolase (NSE). Then the rats were sacrificed by abdominal aorta exsanguination to take their cerebral tissue for measuring the levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-6 (IL-6).

RESULTSSix hours after CLP, the level of NSE was (3.51 +/- 0.39) ng/mL in group B, which was significantly lower than (7.72 +/- 0.64) ng/mL in group A (P<0.05). The level of NSE was (8.02 +/- 0.72) ng/mL in the group C, which had no statistical significance with group A (P>0.05). The levels of TNF-alpha, IL-6 in cerebral tissue in group B were significantly lower than that of group A and C (all P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONEA at "Zusanli" (ST 36) has certain protective effect on septic rat's brain, which has some relationship with decreasing levels of cerebral tissue proinflammatory cytokine and plasma NSE. EA at non-acupoint has no the same action.

Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Animals ; Humans ; Interleukin-6 ; immunology ; Male ; Phosphopyruvate Hydratase ; immunology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Sepsis ; enzymology ; immunology ; therapy ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; immunology

Disinfectants ; analysis ; Disinfection ; Drinking Water ; analysis ; Environmental Monitoring ; methods

Animals ; Apoptosis ; Caspase 3 ; metabolism ; Male ; Myocardium ; pathology ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Time Factors ; Wounds and Injuries ; physiopathology

Carotid Stenosis ; surgery ; Endarterectomy, Carotid ; Humans ; Stents

Common Cold ; drug therapy ; epidemiology ; virology ; Humans ; Rhinovirus ; genetics ; isolation & purification

To explore the effect of Kudiezi injection on renal function in the real world, in order to provide the basis for the clinical medication safety. Patient aged between 18-80 were selected from 18 large hospitals information system (HIS) databases established by clinical research institute for basic traditional Chinese medicine of China academy of Chinese medical sciences. The patients who were treated with Kudiezi injection (24 225 cases) were defined as the exposed group, whereas those who were not treated with Kudiezi injection (14,191 cases) were defined as the non-exposed group. The propensity score method was used to balance the confounding factors. Classic logistic regression, GBM weighted propensity score logistic regression, GBM propensity score weighted logistic regression with covariate and sensitivity analysis were adopted to study the effect of Kudiezi injection on renal function. The results showed no significant difference in the possibility in abnormality in serum creatinine (Scr) (P = 0.940, 0.679, 0.834) and urea nitrogen (BUN) (P = 0, 0.045, 0.164) between both groups. Therefore, the existing data indicated no damage of Kudiezi injection on renal function. Because this study is a retrospective study based on the real world, there may be unknown confounding factors and potential bias. Therefore, further studies shall be conducted to monitor whether Kudiezi injection causes damage on renal function, in order to ensure the clinical medication safety.
Blood Urea Nitrogen ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; adverse effects ; Hospital Information Systems ; Humans ; Injections ; Kidney ; drug effects ; physiology ; Kidney Function Tests ; Logistic Models ; Propensity Score ; Retrospective Studies

Objective To explore the relationship between serum cccDNA and liver damage in the patients with chronic HBV infection.Methods Serum cccDNA,ALT of 156 patients with chronic HBV infection were measured,and pathology of liver tissue in 85 patients was detected.Results The positive rate of Serum cccDNA and ALT had no significant difference(P＞0.05).Between pathology light,medium and severe group,S0_(～1) and S_(2～4) group,G_(0～1) and G_(2～4) group the serum cccDNA mean was significantly different(P＜0.01).The positive rate of serum cccDNA was significantly different between the group of NAASC and ASC,CH,LC,HCC,and the group of ALT ≤40u/Land 40～80,80～400,≥400u/L(P＜0.01).Conclusion Serum cccDNA and liver inflammation,fibrosis and ALT had no relevance,serum cccDNA with at a low level may be non-active,but should be excluded from serious liver diseases.

Data mining, as known as knowledge discovery in databases, is a non-trivial process of revealing the implied, previously unknown and potentially useful information from the massive data. In recently years, the applications of data mining in the field of pharmaceutical research of traditional Chinese medicine have widespread. Especially in the field of the heritage of experiences of na-tional medical masters, data mining plays an important role. In this study, we would expound of the use of methods of data mining in the heritage of experiences of national medical masters, and analyze their advantages and disadvantages, such as association rules, Bayesian networks, neural networks, and decision trees.
Data Mining ; Databases, Pharmaceutical ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Neural Networks (Computer)

Objective To analyze the mammographic features of invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC)compared to those of invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC).Methods Twenty cases with ILC and 95 cases with IDC were retrospectively evaluated by two breast radi-ologists according to the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS)lexicon.The mammographic findings were com-pared between ILC and IDC with the independent samples chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test,as appropriate.Results Mass was the most common finding in both ILCs and IDCs,but less frequent in ILCs (36.4% vs 63.9%,P =0.008).Mass in ILCs was more frequently lobular or irregular shape with spiculated margin.Architectural distortion and focal asymmetry were more frequent in ILCs than in IDCs,however,the differences were no significant.The frequency of calcifications was not significantly different between the two groups.The distributions of calcifications were more regional in ILCs,and more segmental or linear in IDCs (P =0.01).Conclu-sion ILCs are more usually shown as non-mass appearances on mammography.ILCs that appeared as mass are more frequently ir-regular in shape with spiculated margins.

Objective: To explore the effects of Vitamin K2 (VK2) on theaortic artery calciifcation and oxidative stress injury in experimental rats.
Methods: A total of 24 rats were divided into 4 groups:①Control group,②6-week calciifcation group,③12-week calciifcation group and④6-week calciifcation + 6-week VK2 group;n=6 in each group. The arterial calciifcation was induced by warfarin (WFN) treatment. The calcium nodule and deposition in rat’s theaortic artery were detected by Alizarin red staining and o-cresolphthalein complexone method, the reactive oxygen species (ROS) were measured by DHE probe staining and the morphological changes of mitochondria in smooth muscle cells were detected by transmission electron microscopy.
Results: Calciifcation nodule formed in both 6-week and 12-week calciifcation groups, the calciifcation deposition and ROS were higher than Control group,P<0.01. Compared with both calcification groups, the above indexes were decreased in 6-week calciifcation + 6-week VK2 group,P<0.01. Both calciifcation groups showed mitochondria swelling with unclear structure and cytoplasm vacuoles degeneration in vascular smooth muscle cells. The vascular smooth muscle cell volumes were similar between Control group and 6-week calcification + 6-week VK2 group, and no cytoplasm vacuoles degeneration was observed.
Conclusion: Warfarin induced aortic calciifcation is related to oxidative stress injury which may cause the ultra-micro structural damage in smooth muscle cells; VK2 may reduce the oxidative stress injury and improve the condition of vessel calciifcation in experimental rats.