Objective:To explore the clinical and electrophysiological characteristics of flail arm syndrome (FAS).Methods:Clinical and electrophysiological data were collected on 13 FAS patients and 31 persons with upper limb onset amyotropic lateral sclerosis (UL-ALS), including the amplitude of compound muscle action potential (CMAP) related to median nerve, ulnar nerve, and axillary nerve motor conduction. A split-hand index (SI) was calculated by dividing the CMAP amplitude of abductor pollicis brevis by that of the abductor digiti minimi. Clinical features, the CMAP amplitudes and SIs were compared between the FAS and UL-ALS patients.Results:Compared with UL-ALS patients, the age at onset among the FAS patients was older (averaging 60.9 years). The development to the second stage was longer (24±6 months). The upper limb reflexes of 15% of the FAS patients had disappeared and those of 77% were weakened, while the lower limb reflexes of 54% of the FAS patients were active and 38% were weakened, significantly different from the UL-ALS patients. However, there were no significant differences in the CMAP amplitudes of the median and ulnar nerves, nor in SI between the FAS and UL-ALS patients. The SIs of the FAS patients with upper motor neuron signs were significantly lower than those of FAS patients without such signs. Among the FAS patients, the average CMAP amplitude of the ulnar nerve was the highest, followed by those of the median and axillary nerves. Among the UL-ALS patients, however, the average CMAP amplitude of the ulnar nerve was not significantly different from that of the axillary nerve.Conclusions:FAS patients with upper motor neuron signs are more likely to have slip hand. The CMAP amplitude of their axillary nerve tends to be lower than that of their median and ulnar nerves. FAS seems to be a special type of ALS.

Purpose: In order to explore the clinical mechanism of Neiguan (PC 6) in the treatment of acute seizure of migraine and the relationship between Neiguan (PC 6) and cerebral blood flow. Methods: Clinically, 30 cases of the patients with acute seizure of migraine (ascending phase) were selected, in TCD abnormality, and divided randomly into the treatment group and control group, 15 cases in each group. In acute seizure of migraine, Neiguan (PC 6)was punctured with electric stimulation on the healthy side of the patients in the treatment group and Xuehai (SP 10) was punctured with electric stimulation on the healthy side of the patients in the control group. TCD was determined in the patients 30 min before and after the treatment. Results and conclusion: After transdermal electric stimulation on Neiguan (PC 6),the velocity of intracranial blood flow was obviously slowed down, indicating that transdermal electric stimulation on Neiguan (PC 6) can effectively relieve the spasm of intracranial blood vessels and also shows its relative specificity.

Objective:To explore the clinical features of recurrence after choledocholithotomy and to analyze the risk factors.Methods:The clinical data of 730 patients with choledocholithiasis who were treated in our hospital from January 2005 to July 2016 were analyzed retrospectively,550 cases who were received choledocholithotomy were defined as laparotomy group,30 cases with laparoscopic common bile duct exploration (LCBDE) were defined as the LCBDE group,and 150 cases with endoscopic sphincterotomy (EST) were defined as EST group.The recurrence rate of the three groups were compared.The patients of three groups were divided into recurrence group (n=227) and non recurrence group (n=503) according to the recurrent situation,then the clinical features and risk factors of recurrent patients were analyzed by univariate and multivariate Logistic regression analysis.Results:The recurrence rate of EST group was 38.67％,which was significantly higher than that of LCBDE group with 26.67％ and the laparotomy group with 29.27％,and there was statistical difference (P＜0.05).The results of univariate analysis showed that there were statistically significant differences in age,history of HBV infection,jaundice,abnormal total bilirubin,peripapillary diverticulum,biliary infection,biliary stricture,papillary stenosis,sphincter of Oddis dysfunction,history of biliary surgery,cholecystectomy,bile duct diameter ≥ 15 mm,bile duct angle ≤120°,operation type,stone quantity ≥ 2 grains,stone diameter ≥ 10 mm,with or without gallstones (P＜0.05).The results of Logistic multivariate regression analysis showed that age,having peripapillary diverticulum,having history of biliary surgery,bile duct diameter ≥ 15 mm,stone quantity ≥ 2grains and EST operation type were the independent risk factors of the recurrence after choledocholithotomy (P＜0.05).Conclusion:There are many risk factors of recurrence after choledocholithotomy,and operation method should be based on the size and the number of the stones,and the constitution of patients.Preventive measures should be strengthened to control the recurrence after choledocholithotomy.

To investigate the neurotoxic effect of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) gp120 on cultured dorsal root ganglion (DRG)neurons in vitro, dissociated and organotypic mouse embryo's DRG cell culture models were established. Both dissociated and organotypic DRG cultures were treated with HIV gp120 in different concentration (250 pmol/L and 1 nmol/L, respectively, 2 times/7 days). For dissociated DRG cultural cells, microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2) immunofluorescent labeling was processed for observing the changes of neuronal cell body and neurites. The change of the ultrastructure in the organotypic cultured DRG was observed by electron microscopy.The difference of the number and length of neurites between the control group and HIV gp120 treated groups were significant (P＜0.001),whereas there was no significant difference in the diameter of neurons between them (P＞0.05). The ultrastructural changes included the decrease or loss of cristae in mitochondria and accumulation of many high densed particles between the microtubules and the neurofilaments by using both the concentrations of HIV gp120 treatment. The present results indicate that HIV gp120 had a directly neurotoxic effect on the cultured DRG neurons, especially more sensitive to mitochondria.

Objective To explore the application of nanodisc in functional and drug discovery research of G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR).Methods The purified recombinant 5-Hydroxytryptamine 2B receptor (5-HT2BR) was reconstituted into nanodisc complex.Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and size exclution chromatography were performed to evaluate the reconstitution reaction,followed by the use of surface plasmon resonance to validate the ligand-binding activity of 5-HT2BR after reconstitution.Results 5-HT2B R was effectively self-assembled into nanodisc while maintained its binding activity toward the antagonist SB204741.Conclusions The presented study provided potential application of 5-HT2B R-nanodisc for the development of subtype-selective drugs against 5-HT2B R and the fundamental of utilizing nanodisc for GPCR structural and functional studies as well as drug discovery.

The present paper is aimed to investigate the effects of pulse electrical stimulation on mutual adhesion of vascular endothelial cell and endothelial progenitor cell (EPC). EPC was induced from periphery blood, labeled with fluorescence dye and then co-cultured with vascular endothelial cell. With a fixed electric voltage and frequency of 5V and 5Hz, respectively, the co-culture system was continually stimulated for 24h under different pulse width, 1, 3, 6 and 9ms. After pulse stimulation, fluorescence intensity of adherent labeled EPC was measured and converted to fluorescence ratio. Compared to that in the control group, fluorescence ratio of 3 ms and 6 ms group were significantly larger, while that in the 9 ms group was lower. The peak fluorescence ratio value was appeared at 6 ms group. It is indicated that suitable pulse electrical stimulation could benefit the adhesion of endothelial cell and EPC. All these results provide a new theoretical basis about why electrical stimulation could contribute to neovascularization.
Adult ; Cell Adhesion ; radiation effects ; Cells, Cultured ; Coculture Techniques ; Electric Stimulation ; Female ; Hematopoietic Stem Cells ; cytology ; radiation effects ; Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells ; cytology ; radiation effects ; Humans ; Male ; Young Adult

Objective To study the effect of scenario case based learning for nurse-patient communicationon empathy of un-dergraduate nursing students. Methods The undergraduate nursing students who had completed the basic nursing courses and the course of"communication in nursing"were enrolled as participants.Seventy-two students recruited in 2013 were assigned as the control group,where only individual guidance was given before taking examination;while eighty-nine students recruited in 2014 as the inter-vention group,where a self-compiled Collection of Scenarios for Nurse-Patient Communication was given when they were preparing for the final examination and the students were required to give their own communication plans based on the scenario cases from the collec-tion.The two groups were compared in view of empathy. Result The intervention group were better in empathy ability assessment, with statistically significant difference (P<0.001). Conclusions The scenario case based learning for nurse-patient communication makes up for the shortcomings of traditional teaching methods.It encourages nursing students to think from the patients'perspective and improves the empathy ability of students.

Due to the virtues of no stutter peaks, low rates of mutation, and short amplicon sizes, insertion/deletion (InDel) polymorphism is an indispensable tool for analyzing degraded DNA samples from crime scenes for human identifications (Wang et al., 2021). Herein, a self-developed panel of 43 InDel loci constructed previously by our group was utilized to evaluate the genetic diversities and explore the genetic background of the Han Chinese from Beijing (HCB) including 301 random healthy individuals. The lengths of amplicons at 43 InDel loci in this panel ranged from 87 to 199 bp, which indicated that the panel could be used as an effective tool to utilize highly degraded DNA samples for human identity testing. The loci in this panel were validated and performed well for forensic degraded DNA samples (Jin et al., 2021). The combined discrimination power (PD) and combined probability of exclusion (PE) values in this panel indicated that the 43 InDel loci could be used as the candidate markers in personal identification and parentage testing of HCB. In addition, population genetic relationships between the HCB and 26 reference populations from five continents based on 19 overlapped InDel loci were displayed by constructing a phylogenetic tree, principal component analysis (PCA), and population genetic structure analysis. The results illustrated that the HCB had closer genetic relationships with the Han populations from Chinese different regions.
Beijing ; China ; Forensic Genetics/methods* ; Gene Frequency ; Genetics, Population ; Humans ; INDEL Mutation ; Phylogeny