OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of electro-acupuncture (EA) at Fenglong (GV 16) on body weight, blood lipids, nitric oxide (NO) and endothelin (ET) in rats with hyperlipidemia (HLP). METHODS: Eighty Wistar rats were randomly divided into normal control group (fed normal diet), untreated group (fed a high-fat diet), EA-treated group (fed a high-fat diet plus EA therapy) and pravastatin-treated group (fed a high-fat diet plus pravastatin tablet). There were 20 rats in each group. The body weight and the blood content of total cholesterol (TC), triacylglycerol (TG), high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), NO the and ET of the rats in different groups were measured before experiment and after 30-day treatment. A modified method of cardiac puncture for blood sampling was used for blood collection. RESULTS: Compared with the normal control group, the body weight and the levels of TC, TG, LDL-C and ET in the untreated group were significantly elevated (P<0.01, P<0.05), while the levels of HDL-C and NO were obviously decreased (P<0.05). The body weight and the levels of TC, TG, LDL-C demonstrated significant reduction in pravastatin-treated group and EA-treated group as compared with the untreated group (P<0.01), and the NO content in pravastatin-treated group and EA-treated group was higher than that in the untreated group (P<0.01). Compared with the untreated group, HDL-C level was elevated significantly in pravastatin-treated group, while HDL-C level in EA-treated group was not changed significantly, and there was significant difference in the HDL-C level between pravastatin-treated group and EA-treated group (P<0.01). The level of ET was decreased obviously in pravastatin-treated group (P<0.05), while the level of ET in EA-treated group was not changed significantly (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Both EA therapy and pravastatin have efficient regulation of body weight and the content of TC, TG, LDL-C and NO in HLP rats. To some extent, they are able to regulate the imbalance between ET and NO content under the condition of HLP. Western medicine such as pravastatin can regulate the HDL-C level in HLP rats, while the effect of EA therapy on regulation of the HDL-C level is limited.

To explore the mechanisms of scalp acupuncture in treating cerebral ischemia in rats.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the mechanism of scalp acupuncture (SA) in treating cerebral ischemia. METHODS: Sixty SD rats with middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) were randomized into untreated group and SA-treated group, with another group of 10 SD rats without artery occlusion as sham-operated control. Neurological severity score (NSS), hemetoxylin and eosin (HE) staining and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay were applied to observing the changes of neurofunctional defect, inflammatory infiltration in cerebral tissue and content of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) and IL-10 at 24, 48 and 72 h after ischemia-reperfusion. RESULTS: There existed significant difference in NSS between SA-treated group and untreated group (P<0.01), especially at 72 h after ischemia-reperfusion. The HE staining results of ischemic cerebral tissue showed an apparent reduction of inflamed lesions in SA-treated group as compared with the untreated group (P<0.01), especially at 72 h after ischemia-reperfusion. The content of TNF-alpha and IL-1beta at each phase point after ischemia-reperfusion in SA-treated was decreased as compared with that in the untreated group, and there were differences between SA-treated group and untreated group at 72 h after ischemia-reperfusion (P<0.01). An apparent increase was observed in IL-10 between SA-treated group and untreated group at each phase point after ischemia-reperfusion, and there were significant differences between SA-treated group and untreated group at 48 and 72 h after ischemia-reperfusion (P<0.05, P<0.01). CONCLUSION: Scalp acupuncture can improve neurofunctional rehabilitation, suppress leukocyte infiltration, decrease the content of TNF-alpha and IL-1beta within a certain range and enhance IL-10 expression so as to suppress cytokines-mediated inflammatory reaction and attenuate cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury.

Objective To explore the underlying mechanisms of scalp electroacupuncture (SEA) in treating cerebral ischemia. Methods A total of 70 healthy male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized into a sham operated group, a model group and a scalp electroacupuncture (SEA) group. Cerebral ischemia was induced in rats by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Rats in SEA group were treated with scalp electroacupuncture immediately after the establishment of the cerebral ischemia model by inserting the needles along anterior oblique line of vertex-temporal and posterior oblique line of vertex-temporal, connecting to the Han's Electro-Acupuncture Apparatus. The rats in sham operated group underwent the same operation as that in SEA group but without occlusion. Neurological severity score (NSS) was obtained to evaluate the neurofunctional defect, hemetoxylin and eosin (HE) staining was used to observe the inflammatory infiltration in cerebral tissue, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) to measure the contents of IL-1 beta and IL-10 at various time points. Results SEA group demonstrated significant decline in NSS at 72 h after the operation when compared with that of model group (P < 0. 01 ). An apparent attenuation in in-flammatory infiltration was seen in SEA group comparing with that of model group, especially at 48 h and 72 h after operation (P <0.01 ). Apparent decrease in IL-lbeta in SEA group was observed when comparing with the model group at 72 h (P <0.01 ). Statistically significant increase in IL-10 content was seen in SEA group at 48 h and 72 h after operation comparing with that of model group. Conclusions Scalp electroacupuncture might exert brain pro-tection by suppressing leukocytes infiltration via up-regulation of IL-10 and down-regulation of IL-1 beta expression.

Objective To analyze the pathogen distribution and drug‐resistance characteristics in the patients with lung cancer complicating non‐fermentative bacteria lung infection to provide the basis for clinicians to prevent infection and rationally use anti‐bacterial drugs .Methods The clinically submitted respiratory tract specimens in the patients with lung cancer in our hospital from January 2009 to July 2015 were retrospectively analyzed .The isolated pathogenic bacteria were identified by adopting the France Bio‐plum‐Egyptian company Vitek2‐Compact identification instrument ,the drug sensitivity test was conducted by using the K‐B disk diffusion method .The statistical analysis of data was performed by adopting the WHONET 5 .6 software .Results 176 strains of non‐fermentative bacteria mainly came from sputum ,accounting for 80 .1% ,the detection rate of Pseudomonas aeruginosa was highest ,accounting for 48 .2% ,followed by Acinetobacter baumannii and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia ,accounting for 32 .4% and 16 .5% respectively ;the drug susceptibility test results showed that non‐fermentative bacteria had different degrees of resistance to antibacterial drugs or even multiple drug resistance ,in which the resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to amikacin ,tobramycin and cefoperazone/sulbactam ,the resistance of Acinetobacter baumannii to amikacin ,cefoperazone/sulbactam and the resistance of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia to minocycline ,cotrimoxazole and cefoperazone/sulbactam were less than 30 .0% ,which to other an‐tibacterial drugs were more than 30 .0% .Conclusion Non‐fermentative bacteria are common pathogenic bacteria in hospital infec‐tion ,non‐fermentative bacteria isolated from the patients with lung cancer complicating pulmonary infection have serious resistance to commonly used antibacterial drugs ,therefore clinic should strengthen the monitoring of pathogenic bacteria and drug resistance . Cefoperazone/sulbactam is the first choice for treating these bacterial infections .