Animals ; Hippocampus ; pathology ; physiopathology ; Male ; Motor Activity ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar

OBJECTIVETo observe the therapeutic effect of a drug pair of Radix Astragali and Rehmanniae Radix combined with glucocorticoid (GC) in treating lupus nephritis (LN) patients and its influence on some experimental indices.

METHODSTotally 52 LN patients were randomly assigned to the treatment group (treated by routine Western medicine and a drug pair of Radix Astragali and Rehmanniae Radix, 25 cases) and the control group (treated by Western medicine, mainly by GC and cyclophosphamide, 27 cases). All patients received 6-month therapy. The GC dosage, the withdrawal and reduction dosage of GC, clinical efficacy, systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity index (SLEDAI) score, adverse reactions, and laboratory indicators were recorded.

RESULTS(1) All patients got relieved to some degree with the dosage of GC reduced. The total withdrawal and reduction dosage of GC was slightly higher in the treatment group than in the control group [(50.23 +/- 12.43) mg vs (48.76 +/- 13.61) mg, P > 0.05]. Besides, the prednisone dosage in the treatment group was lower than that in the control group, but without statistical difference (P > 0.05). The ratio of patients in need of adding prednisone for aggravating disease was 24.0%, significantly lower than that in the control group (44.44%, P < 0.05). (2) There was no statistical difference in the SLEDAI score, inflammatory indicators, liver and renal functions, blood electrolytes, blood glucose, blood and urine routines between the two groups (P > 0.05). The 24-h urinary protein count was (1.06 +/- 0.22) g/L in the treatment group, obviously lower than that in the control group (1.43 +/- 0.55 g/L, P < 0.05). (3) There was no statistical difference in the incidence rate of infection, gastrointestinal hemorrhage, psychoneuroses, Cushing's syndrome, cardiovascular anomalies, and femoral head necrosis between the two groups (P > 0.05). But the incidence of adverse reactions such as insomnia, tidal fever, spontaneous sweat, and obesity was less in the treatment group than in the control group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSUsing a drug pair of Radix Astragali and Rehmanniae Radix combined with GC in treating LN could withdraw the dosage of GC and relieve symptoms it induced. It was advantageous in reducing the dosage of GC and stabilizing patients' conditions.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Glucocorticoids ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Lupus Nephritis ; drug therapy ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

Adult ; Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic ; pathology ; Female ; Heart Ventricles ; pathology ; Humans

Objective:To investigate the frequency and severity of systemic adverse reactions in children with allergic rhinitis (AR) undergoing subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT).Methods:The clinical data of 321 children with allergic rhinitis receiving SCIT at Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Changzhou Third People′s Hospital from January 2016 to January 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. There were 180 boys and 141 girls aged 5 to 14 years. Patients were injected subcutaneously with standardized dust mites allergen extract. The onset time, symptoms and signs and treatment of adverse reactions were documented. The relationship of adverse reactions with gender, age, treatment course and dosage of allergen injection were analyzed.Results:Patients received total 13 053 injections, and 115 adverse reactions (0.88%) occurred in 56 cases (17.45%). The incidence of adverse reactions in children aged 5-9 years was higher than in those aged 10-14 years, for both the number of cases and injections (χ2=4.41, P=0.04; χ2=9.13, P<0.01), but no significant differences were observed in gender of patients. The incidence of adverse reactions in the age group 2-3 years was lower than that in age groups<1 year and 1-<2 years in both of cases and injections (χ2=22.86, P<0.01; χ2=6.43, P=0.01; χ2=12.14, P<0.01; χ2=13.74, P<0.01). The incidence of adverse reactions in the high-dosage phase (100 000 SQ-U) was higher than that in the low-dosage phase (<100 000 SQ-U) (χ2=4.35, P=0.04). Conclusions:The study shows that the incidence of adverse reactions in children with allergic rhinitis receiving subcutaneous immunotherapy is less than 1% in the number of injections and most of them are grade Ⅰ adverse reactions. The study also shows that younger age, the early course of treatment and the high dosage of allergens are risk factors for adverse reactions.

Targeting induced local lesions in genomes (TILLING) is a reverse genetics method for functional genomics research.It is possible to screen for point mutations in the populations of EMS mutagenesis with highthroughput and lowcost. EcoTILLING a method based on TILLING ,was developed for detecting multiple types of polymorphisms in germplasm collections,such as single nucleotide polymorphism,small deletion and insertion etc.Rice is a very important food crop and a model plant for genome research also. There are complete genome sequence and a lot of other bioinformatics resources about it.So the markerassisted breeding is becoming more and more important in rice breeding. Some issues based on TILLING about identifying germplasm based on gene sequence,EMS mutagenesis breeding,developing functional marker in rice breeding in future were discussed.

Twenty-three patients with pain from osteoporotic vertebral fractures,aged 65-90 yr,weighing 51-78 kg,received an image intensifier-assisted nerve-root block with a 6-8 ml mixture of 0.5 ％ lidocaine,mecobalamine 0.5 mg and betamethasone sodium phosphate injection 5.26 mg in a prone or lateral position.The VAS scores before operation,at 0,1 week,1 and 3 months after operation were 8.6 ± 0.9,1.5 ± 0.7,2.8 ± 0.9,1.6 ± 0.5 and 2.5 ± 0.7,respectively.VAS scores were significantly lower at each time pint after operation than before operation (P ＜ 0.05).According to modified MacNab standard,the effectiveness of treatment was rated as excellent/good in 87％ of the patients.No complication such as bleeding,hematoma,infection,pneumothorax,hemopneumothorax,headache was found during or after operation.Selective nerve-root block is effective in the treatment of pain resulting from osteoporotic vertebral fractures in patients.

Recently, the immunotherapy has been highlighted among cancer treatments. Cancer-testis antigen (CTA) has been studied in a variety of solid tumors because of its specific expression in tumors, and testis, ovary and placenta tissues, but not in other normal tissues. In order to provide a new approach for multiple myeloma (MM) immunotherapy, we examined the CTA expression in MM cell lines, and primary myeloma cells in patients with MM. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to detect the mRNA expression of MAGE-C1/CT7, SSX1, SSX2 and SSX4 in MM cell lines of RPMI-8226 and U266, and bone marrow (BM) cells of 25 MM patients and 18 healthy volunteers. The results showed that the 4 CTAs were expressed in RPMI-8226 and U266 cell lines. The positive expression rate of MAGE-C1/CT7, SSX1, SSX2 and SSX4 in the BM cells of 25 MM patients was 28% (7/25), 80% (20/25), 40% (10/25) and 68% (17/25), respectively. In contrast, the expression of any member of the CTAs was not detected in BM cells of 18 healthy volunteers. The expression of two or more CTAs was detected in 80% (20/25) MM patients, and that of at least one CTA in 88% (22/25). The mRNA expression levels of SSX1 and SSX4 were significantly higher in patients with MM at stage III than in those at stage I and II (P<0.05). No statistically significant differences were observed in the mRNA expression levels of MAGE-C1/CT7 and SSX2 in further stratified analyses by age, gender, MM types and percentage of MM cells in BM (P>0.05). In conclusion, our present study showed that MAGE-C1/CT7, SSX1, SSX2 and SSX4 were co-expressed in MM cell lines and the primary myeloma cells in MM patients, but not expressed in BM cells of healthy subjects. The mRNA levels of SSX1 and SSX4 are associated with MM clinical stage. This work may provide a new insight into MM immunotherapy in the future.

Calcium hydroxide (CH) is applied to improve disinfection of root canals in most root canal retreatment. This study aimed to analyze the CH removal efficacy using 7 different root preparing files (K file, pre-curved K file, EndoActivator, Ultrasonic file, pre-curved ultrasonic file, F file and needle irrigation alone) with apical transportation. Standardized models of curved canal with such apical transportation or not were set up before applying CH to root canal for 7 days. Seven techniques described above were used for its removal. Then the roots were disassembled and digital photos were taken. The ratio of residual CH in the overall canal surface was calculated using the image analyzer image pro plus 6.0. The data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA with post hoc Tukey test. Results revealed that CH was effectively removed (P<0.05) by using all 6 mechanical methods except irrigation alone. In curved root canals with apical transportation, EndoActivator, pre-curved ultrasonic file and F file were found to be more effective in removing CH than the other four file (P<0.001), while there was no significant difference among EndoActivator, pre-curved ultrasonic file and F file groups (P>0.05). The percentage of residual CH in the canal with apical transportation was higher than that in the canal without apical transportation (P<0.05). In conclusion, CH can be hardly removed completely. Canal with apical transportation will result in insufficient CH removal. EndoActivator, pre-curved ultrasonic file and F file are more effective in the curved root canal with apical transportation.

Objective To assess the diagnostic value of determining infarct core and penumbra using CT perfusion source images (CTP-SI) mismatch model in hemispheric stroke less than 9 hours.Methods "one-stop shop" CT examination including non-contrast enhanced CT (NCCT), CTP, CT angiography (CTA) were performed in 24 patients with symptoms of stroke less than 9 hours.The Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score (ASPECTS) were analyzed on arterial phase CTP-SI and venous phase CTP SI using Wilcoxon rank-sum test, then compared with the follow up imaging ASPECTS using multiple linear regression.Results The median (min-max) scores of ASPECTS on arterial phase CTP-SI, venous phase CTP-SI and follow-up imaging were 9.0 ( 2.0-10.0 ), 9.3 ( 6.5-10.0 ) and 9.0 ( 7.0-10.0 ),respectively. ASPECTS measured on arterial phase CTP-SI significantly differed from the ASPECTS on venous phase CTP-SI ( Z =-2.812, P = 0.005 ).Moreover, the linear regression analysis showed significant correlation between the ASPECTS on venous phase CTP-SI and follow up imaging ASPECTS ( Beta =0.715,P = 0.003 ).Conclusion CTP-SI mismatch model provides a method of choice in predicting penumbra and infarct core in hemispheric stroke.

Objective To discuss the initial expression of serum procalcitonin (PCT) in patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and determine the potential value of PCT to predict the neurological outcome.Methods A retrospective analysis was made on patients admitted due to severe TBI (GCS≤8 points) from July 2011 to August 2012.Mortality and neurological outcome of the survivors were determined using Glasgow outcome scale (GOS) at 6 months after TBI.Results A total of 52 patients (39 males and 13 females),at median age of 38 years (range,15-65 years) were included in the study.Twenty-eight patients had good outcome (GOS of grade Ⅳ-Ⅴ),whereas 24 patients had poor outcome or died (GOS of grade Ⅰ-Ⅲ).Within 24 hours after TBI,serum PCT level was significantly higher in patients with bad outcome compared to those with good outcome (0.778 ng/ml:0.094 ng/ml,P ＜0.01).Enhanced PCT level presented a close correlation with the poor outcome (r =0.657,P ＜0.01).Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was 0.879 [95％ CI (0.757,1.000)].A cutoff value of 0.2 ng/ml had a sensitivity of 100％ and a specificity of 72.2％.Once the PCT level was superior to 4.7 ng/ml,none of the patients regained consciousness.Conclusion PCT is a simple and effective method for prediction of the outcome after severe TBI.