Three-Layer thought is an important proposition in Chinese traditional philosophy. This thought embodies the Chinese people's cosmology and methodology and exerts a far-reaching influence on various aspects of Chinese culture. The embodiment of Three-Layer thought in the theory and practice of acupuncture and moxibustion from naming of acupoints, principles of treatment, needling instruments, prescription of acupoints as well as needling techniques is elaborated and briefly analyzed. Thus it illustrates the comprehensive application of Three-Layer thought in acupuncture and moxibustion through the history and the significance of Chinese traditional philosophy in the science of acupuncture and moxibustion.
Acupuncture ; history ; instrumentation ; methods ; China ; Culture ; History, Ancient ; Humans ; Medicine in Literature ; Moxibustion ; history ; instrumentation ; methods

Cerebellar Neoplasms ; genetics ; Chromosome Aberrations ; Genes, myc ; Genes, p16 ; Genes, p53 ; Humans ; Medulloblastoma ; genetics ; Mutation ; Neuroectodermal Tumors, Primitive ; genetics ; Supratentorial Neoplasms ; genetics

The recombinant protein drug usually has a short half-life after intravenous (IV) or subcutaneous (SC) administration. The methods of prolonging the half-life of recombinant protein drug in common use are mainly based on three principles: 1 Amplifying the molecule weight of protein drug; 2 Making use of drug balance in the blood; 3 Reducing Immunogenicity. Three methods were focused on: Analog construction, PEGylation and Albumin fusion technology. The characteristics, half-life and immunogenicity problem of their products in the market and under development are summarized.

Objective To explore the role of mouse dermis-derived mesenchymal stem cells (mdMSC) on skin repair. Methods mdMSC and human dermal fibroblasts were isolated and identified. Human dermal fibroblasts were cultured alone or eoeultured with mdMSC in Transwell chambers with the density ratio of human dermal fibroblasts to mdMSC being 2/5, 1/1, and 2/1. On day 4 and 8 of culture, the expression levels of hydroxyproline and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) 1 were measured in the supematant of monoculture and coculture by alkaline hydrolysis and ELISA respectively. Results The level of hydro-xyproline was significantly higher in the supematants of coculture system with a density ratio of 2/5 and 1/1 than that in monoculture supematants of human dermal fibroblasts on day 8 (both P < 0.05). Elevated level of TGF-betal was observed in all coculture supematants on day 8 (all P < 0.01) and in the supernatants of coculture system with a density ratio of 1/1 on day 4 (P < 0.05). There was no significant correlation between the expression level of TGF-betal and hydroxyproline in the coculture supernatants (r = 0.108, P ＞ 0.05). Conclusion In vitro coculture with mdMSC can increase the production of hydroxyproline and TGF-betal by fibroblasts, which may be a mechanism underlying the facilitation of skin repair by mdMSC.

Hepatitis B is a serious infectious disease worldwide, and hepatitis B virus (HBV) is the direct cause of this disease. In recent years, as an essential part of its evolutionary process, HBV mutation has been extensively studied domestically and globally. However, the study on the conserved sequences in HBV sequences is still in its infancy. In this study, we applied multiple EM for motif elicitation (MEME) algorithm to discover HBV motif and proposed a new metric, conservative index (CI), to carry out phylogenetic analysis based on HBV sequences. Then, the constructed phylogenetic tree was subjected to reliability assessment. The results demonstrated that the new metric CI combined with the MEME algorithm can effectively help to discover motifs in HBV sequences and construct a phylogenetic tree based on them and to analyze the evolutionary relationship between HBV sequences; in addition, the possible ancestral sequences of samples may be obtained by conservative analysis. The proposed method is valuable for the exploratory study on large HBV sequence data sets.
Computational Biology ; Conserved Sequence ; Evolution, Molecular ; Hepatitis B virus ; genetics ; Humans ; Nucleotide Motifs ; Phylogeny ; Reproducibility of Results

Objective To compare the safety and efficacy of ibutilide and amiodarone in converting post-coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) new-onset atrial fibrillation (AF) to sinus rhythm. Methods This study was a prospective, singleblinded, randomized clinical trial. Totally 100 patients who met the inclusion criteria were enrolled and were intravenously treated with ibutilide (group A) or amiodarone (group B). In group A, Ibutilide was administered at a dose of 1 mg in 10 min, which was repeated after an interval of another 10 min if the arrhythmia was not converted; ibutilide was not given anymore no matter the conversion was achieved or not. In group B, amiodarone was administered at a dose of 5 mg/kg for the first 30 min, followed by 1 200 mg in the next 24 h; amiodarone was not given anymore no matter the conversion was achieved or not. Immediate conversion rate, conversion time and post-operative recurrence rate within 30 days were compared between the two groups. Results No severe adverse reactions were observed in both groups. The immediate conversion rate of group A was significantly higher than that of group B (82% vs 58% , P<0.01) , and the conversion time was significantly shorter than that of group B (66 min vs 660 min, P<0.01). The post-operative recurrence rates were not significantly different between the two groups within 30 days after operation (7.3% vs 6.9%, P>0.05). Conclusion Ibutilide and amiodarone are both safe in converting post-CABG new-onset AF to sinus rhythm, and ibutilide is more effective, more rapid in functioning and with a higher efficacy.

Objective: To develop a novel regulable sutureless aortic arch prosthesis and to apply it in an animal experimental study. Methods: The arch skeleton of the prosthesis was made of tandem Z-shape NiTiNOL wire; the branch skeleton was made of laser-cut NiTiNOL tube; and the whole skeleton was coated with thin ePTFE film. The blood vessel was anastomosed by direct ligature, needing no manual suturing. The prosthesis was applied in swine aortic arch operations under the bypass condition. The practicality for surgery and the feasibility of anastomosis of the prosthesis were assessed. Results: Aortic arch operations were successfully performed in 6 of the 8 experimental animals. The prostheses were easy to use, and the mean bypass time was only 10 min. The blood loss of the anastomoses was less than 100 ml within 8 h postoperatively in 5 animals; one had more blood loss due to prosthesis mismatch. Conclusion: The novel regulable sutureless aortic arch prosthesis has satisfactory practicality for surgery and reliable anastomosis, making it promising in future clinical application.

Objective: To evaluate the role of amiodarone in preventing atrial fibrillation after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Methods: Totally 184 patients receiving CABG under cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) were randomly divided into amiodarone group (n=94) and placebo group (n=90), and patients in each group were further divided into ≥ 60 years and < 60 years subgroups. Patients in amiodarone group received routine drugs + amiodarone and those in placebo group received routine drugs + placebo. Results: The overall incidence of postoperative AF (paroxysmal and persistent) was significantly higher in the placebo group compared with the amiodarone group (32. 2% vs 6. 4%, P<0. 01, OR=7.0). The incidences of postoperative AF were similar in patients aged <60 years between the placebo group and the amiodarone group, but were significantly different in patients aged ≥ 60 (P<0.05 or P<0.01). The postoperative AF incidence was significantly different between 2 age subgroups (P<0.05 or P<0.01) in the placebo group, but not in amiodarone group. Conclusion: Amiodarone can effectively prevent post-operative AF, especially for patients aged ≥ 60 years. Amiodarone should be recommended to patients receiving CABG who aged ≥ 60 years.

Objective To explore the effect of state of the ankle on peak torque of knee flexors and extensors. Methods 18 adults in community over 65 years old were included. Their peak torque with knee flexion and extension was measured under 4 kinds of action of ankle. Results There was significant difference in peak torque neither flexion nor extension among 4 kinds of action of ankle (P>0.05). Conclusion It is unimportant of the state of ankle for knee training.

Objective To evaluate the role of contrast-enhanced color Doppler ultrasonography with Levovist in the diagnosis of liver tumors.Methods One hundred and twenty-five patients with 126 hepatic solid lesions were examined by conventional color Doppler and contrast enhanced ultrasonography.All hepatic lesions were confirmed by pathology.Of these,79 cases with hepatocellular carcinoma,4 cases with metastatic liver carcinoma,13 cases with hemangioma,7 cases with inflammatory pseudotumor of liver,7 cases with focal nodule hyperplasia,and 15 cases with other benign lesions.The Levovist with a concentration of 400 mg/ml was injected into an antecubital vein within approximately 2 minutes.Results All hepatic solid lesions with blood supply were differently enhanced by contrast-ultrasonography (I～IV grades).The color flow signals with grade III and grade IV were detected in one malignant lesion before contrast-enhancement and in 41 malignant lesions ( 49.4%) after contrast-enhancement.The color flow signals were detected by contrast-enhanced sonography in 26 malignant lesions ( 92.8%) with no color Doppler signals and in 33 benign lesions ( 76.7%).The mean resistive index of liver cancer group was much higher than that of benign lesion group before and after contrast-enhancement.The accuracy rate for diagnosing liver tumors was raised from 66.7% (84/126) in pre-enhancement to 94.4% (119/126) in post-enhancement.Conclusions The contrast-enhanced color Doppler ultrasonography is very useful in the differential diagnosis of liver tumors.