Acceleration ; Adult ; Humans ; Lower Extremity ; physiology ; Male ; Physical Endurance ; physiology ; Space Flight

This study examined the corneal permeability of topical eye drop solutions added with various corneal penetrating accelerators and gadolinium-diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-DTPA) by nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Twenty-four New Zealand rabbits were randomly divided into 3 groups according to the random digits table: Gd-DTPA group, in which the rabbits received 23.45% Gd-DTPA; hyaluronic acid group, in which 23.45% Gd-DTPA plus 0.2% hyaluronic acid was administered; azone group, in which 23.45% Gd-DTPA with 0.2% azone was given. Fifty microliters of the eye drops was instilled into the conjunctive sac every 5 min, for a total of 6 applications in each group. Contrast medium signals in the cornea, anterior chamber, posterior chamber, and vitreous body were scanned successively by MRI. The morphology and cell density of the corneal endothelium were examined before and 24 h after the treatment. The results showed that the residence time of Gd-DTPA in the conjunctival sac in the hyaluronic acid and azone groups was longer than that in the Gd-DTPA group. The signals in the anterior chamber of the Gd-DTPA and hyaluronic acid groups were increased slightly, and those in the azone group strengthened sharply. The signal intensity continuously rose over 80 min before reaching plateau. The strengthening rate of signals in the anterior chamber was 19.63% in the Gd-DTPA group, 53.42% in the sodium hyaluronate group, and 226.94% in the azone group. No signal was detected in the posterior chamber or vitreous body in all the 3 groups. Corneal morphology and cell density did not show any significant changes after the treatment in all the 3 groups. It was concluded that azone can significantly improve the corneal permeability of drugs that are similar to Gd-DTPA in molecular weight and molecular size, and MRI is a noninvasive technique that can dynamically detect eye drop metabolism in real time.

Acute Disease ; Animals ; Ginkgo biloba ; Glutathione ; analysis ; Lung ; drug effects ; metabolism ; pathology ; Malondialdehyde ; analysis ; Paraquat ; toxicity ; Phytotherapy ; Plant Extracts ; therapeutic use ; Poisoning ; drug therapy ; Rats ; Superoxide Dismutase ; analysis ; Treatment Outcome

To observe normal bone marrow stromal function for supporting hematopoiesis and realize the correlation of bone marrow stromal function in patients with aplastic anemia (AA) and anisodamine therapy, normal human marrow CFU-GM was assayed on bone marrow stromal layer (SL) formed on week 3 culture, and the CFU-GM without SL as a control (100%). Results showed that the production of CFU-GM on the normal SL was significantly higher than that of the control. The production of CFU-GM on the SL of 4 AA patients, who responded to anisodamine, was < 80% of the control, and when 2 of them were reexamined for stromal function after treatment, the number of CFU-GM on SL rose up to 168.8% and 249.2% from 38.7% and 39.7% of the control respectively. While in the rest 6 patients, the number of CFU-GM was > 80% of the control, only one patient was improved by anisodamine therapy. So, normal bone marrow stromal layer can obviously support the growth of granulocyte/macrophage progenitor cells. Anisodamine therapy could be an effective agents for aplastic anemia with stromal dysfunction
Adolescent ; Adult ; Anemia, Aplastic ; drug therapy ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal ; therapeutic use ; Bone Marrow Cells ; cytology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Solanaceous Alkaloids ; therapeutic use ; Statistics as Topic ; Stromal Cells ; physiology

Acute Disease ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Apolipoprotein A-I ; blood ; Apolipoproteins B ; blood ; Cholesterol ; blood ; Cholesterol, HDL ; blood ; Female ; Humans ; Insecticides ; poisoning ; Lipids ; blood ; Lipoproteins ; blood ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Organophosphorus Compounds ; Poisoning ; blood ; Triglycerides ; blood

This study examined the corneal permeability of topical eye drop solutions added with various corneal penetrating accelerators and gadolinium-diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-DTPA) by nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Twenty-four New Zealand rabbits were randomly divided into 3 groups according to the random digits table: Gd-DTPA group, in which the rabbits received 23.45% Gd-DTPA; hyaluronic acid group, in which 23.45% Gd-DTPA plus 0.2% hyaluronic acid was administered; azone group, in which 23.45% Gd-DTPA with 0.2% azone was given. Fifty microliters of the eye drops was instilled into the conjunctive sac every 5 min, for a total of 6 applications in each group. Contrast medium signals in the cornea, anterior chamber, posterior chamber, and vitreous body were scanned successively by MRI. The morphology and cell density of the corneal endothelium were examined before and 24 h after the treatment. The results showed that the residence time of Gd-DTPA in the conjunctival sac in the hyaluronic acid and azone groups was longer than that in the Gd-DTPA group. The signals in the anterior chamber of the Gd-DTPA and hyaluronic acid groups were increased slightly, and those in the azone group strengthened sharply. The signal intensity continuously rose over 80 min before reaching plateau. The strengthening rate of signals in the anterior chamber was 19.63% in the Gd-DTPA group, 53.42% in the sodium hyaluronate group, and 226.94% in the azone group. No signal was detected in the posterior chamber or vitreous body in all the 3 groups. Corneal morphology and cell density did not show any significant changes after the treatment in all the 3 groups. It was concluded that azone can significantly improve the corneal permeability of drugs that are similar to Gd-DTPA in molecular weight and molecular size, and MRI is a noninvasive technique that can dynamically detect eye drop metabolism in real time.
Animals ; Azepines ; administration & dosage ; pharmacokinetics ; Contrast Media ; administration & dosage ; pharmacokinetics ; Cornea ; metabolism ; Female ; Gadolinium DTPA ; administration & dosage ; pharmacokinetics ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Ophthalmic Solutions ; Permeability ; Rabbits

BACKGROUNDEnhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) has been demonstrated to be effective in the treatment of patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). It has been proposed that the beneficial effects of EECP observed in clinical studies may be due to the formation of new blood vessels (angiogenesis) and collateral development. However, there is a relative paucity of basic studies to support the proposed mechanisms.

METHODSTwelve Beagle dogs were anesthetized with 3% sodium pentobarbital, 1 mg/kg intraperitoneal injection and mechanically ventilated for the development of myocardial infarction. After coronary occlusion, all animals were randomly assigned to either EECP or control. EECP was given one hour per day, 5 days a week, for a total of 28 to 30 hours treatment over a 6-week course. Immunohistochemical studies of alpha-actin and von Willebrand factor (vWF) were used to detect newly developed microvessels. Systemic and local vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were identified by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and reverse-transcriptional polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis.

RESULTSThere was a significant increase in the density of microvessels per mm(2) in the infarcted regions of EECP group compared to control group (vWF, 15.2 +/- 6.3 versus 4.9 +/- 2.1, P < 0.05; alpha-actin, 11.8 +/- 5.3 versus 3.4 +/- 1.2, P < 0.05), along with significant increase of positive vWF and alpha-actin stained area. Both immunohistochemical staining and RT-PCR analysis documented a significant increase in VEGF expression. These factors associated with angiogenesis corresponded to improved myocardial perfusion by 99mTc-sestamibi single-photon emission computed tomography.

CONCLUSIONMicrovessel angiogenesis may be a mechanism of action for the improved myocardial perfusion after EECP therapy.

Animals ; Counterpulsation ; Dogs ; Hemodynamics ; Immunohistochemistry ; Male ; Microcirculation ; Myocardial Infarction ; physiopathology ; therapy ; Neovascularization, Physiologic ; RNA, Messenger ; analysis ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A ; blood ; genetics ; Ventricular Function, Left

OBJECTIVETo study the benefit of prophylactic antibiotics (PA) in totally percutaneous aortic endovascular repair (PEVAR) in the catheterization laboratory for reducing stent-graft infection and postimplantation syndrome (PIS).

METHODSThe clinical data were analyzed of patients undergoing thoracic endovascular aortic repairs. The patients were divided into non-PA group and PA group according to the use of prophylactic antibiotics before PEVAR. The diagnosis of infection was made by two senior physicians with reference to Hospital Acquired Infection Diagnostic Criteria Assessment released by the Ministry of Health of China.

RESULTSThe 95 enrolled patients included 35 with PA and 60 without PA group, who were comparable for baseline characteristics. Infection-related deaths occurred in 1 case in non-PA group and retrograde Stanford type A dissection and death occurred in 1 case in PA group (1.67% vs 2.85%, P=1.00). The PA and non-PA groups showed no significant difference in the incidence of postoperative infection (5% vs 2.86%, P=1.000), hospital stay (9.30±7.21 vs 10.06±5.69, P=0.094), infection-related mortality (1.67% vs 0%, P=1.00), or postoperative fever (70.90% vs 91.43%, P=0.20). The body temperature showed significant variations at different time points after procedure (F=19.831, P<0.001) irrelevant to the use of prophylactic antibiotics (F=0.978, P=0.326).

CONCLUSIONThe current data do not support the benefit of PA in reducing postoperative infection and PIS in patients undergoing PEVAR, but the patients without PA may have worse clinical outcomes in the event of postoperative infections.

Anti-Bacterial Agents ; administration & dosage ; Antibiotic Prophylaxis ; Aorta, Thoracic ; surgery ; China ; Endovascular Procedures ; Humans ; Length of Stay ; Postoperative Complications ; prevention & control ; Stents ; Vascular Surgical Procedures

As a new strategy for the application of sacubitril/valsartan (LCZ696) in patients with CKD, much evidence showed that it improved the prognosis of patients with CKD. This review summarizes the efficacy and safety of sacubitril/valsartan in physiology, pathology, pharmacology and clinical application by searching Wanfang, CNKI, PubMed and other databases for related articles on the application of sacubitril/valsartan in CKD patients. Although LBQ657, the active product of sacubitril, has a high drug accumulation in patients with moderate, severe renal injury, and ESRD, it is not cleared in hemodialysis, and has very little eliminated in peritoneal dialysis, which does not affect its safety. Compared with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker drugs, LCZ696 could increase the blood pressure control rate, improve cardiac function, slow down the decline of glomerular filtration rate, and significantly improve cardiovascular outcomes without more adverse events. Sacubitril/valsartan can be used in all levels of CKD patients complicated with hypertension and/or heart failure, with reliable safety and tolerance.

The rate of detection of thyroid nodules and carcinomas has increased with the widespread use of ultrasonography (US), which is the mainstay for the detection and risk stratification of thyroid nodules as well as for providing guidance for their biopsy and nonsurgical treatment. The Korean Society of Thyroid Radiology (KSThR) published their first recommendations for the US-based diagnosis and management of thyroid nodules in 2011. These recommendations have been used as the standard guidelines for the past several years in Korea. Lately, the application of US has been further emphasized for the personalized management of patients with thyroid nodules. The Task Force on Thyroid Nodules of the KSThR has revised the recommendations for the ultrasound diagnosis and imaging-based management of thyroid nodules. The review and recommendations in this report have been based on a comprehensive analysis of the current literature and the consensus of experts.
Ablation Techniques ; Advisory Committees ; Biopsy ; Consensus* ; Diagnosis* ; Humans ; Korea ; Lymph Nodes ; Multidetector Computed Tomography ; Thyroid Gland* ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; Thyroid Nodule* ; Ultrasonography*