BACKGROUND: The aging and lesions of the intervertebral disc are closely related to the lack of nutritional blood supply to the disc. Aquaporin plays an important role in the nutritional supply to the intervertebral discs, but the specific mechanism has not been fully defined. OBJECTIVE: To study the mechanism of Yaobishu on degenerated intervertebral disc in rabbits based on the changes of aquaporin (AQP) 1 and AQP3 protein expression. METHODS: Thirty-six New Zealand white rabbits were randomly divided into model group, low-dose Yaobishu group and high-dose Yaobishu group. Animal models of lumbar intervertebral disc prolapse were prepared through an injection of normal saline into L4/5 and L5/6 segments. The model group was intragastrically given normal saline 5 mL/kg per day, the low-dose group was intragastrically given Yaobishu 5 mL/kg per day, and the high-dose group was intragastrically given Yaobishu 10 mL/kg per day, twice a day, for 21 days. After 6 weeks of treatment, the intervertebral discs were taken for anatomical and histological observation using hematoxylin-eosin staining. Expression of AQP1 and AQP3 in the nucleus pulposus at protein and mRNA levels was quantified by RT-PCR and western blot assay. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: In all the three groups, the annulus fibrosus was destroyed, abnormal cartilage tissue appeared, and the nucleus pulposus was reduced in number. Severest degeneration of the intervertebral disc was found in the model group, followed by the low-dose Yaobishu and high-dose Yaobishu groups in turn. The expression of AQP1 and AQP3 mRNA and protein in the high-dose Yaobishu group and low-dose Yaobishu group increased significantly after 6 weeks of treatment (P < 0.05), while the expression in the model group showed no significant difference before and after treatment (P > 0.05). There were significant differences in the expression of AQP1 and AQP3 mRNA and protein among the three groups (P < 0.05). Therefore, Yaobishu may alleviate the degeneration of the rabbit intervertebral disc by increasing the expression of AQP1 and AQP3.

Objective To investigate the bettertherapeutic method and clinical efficacy of discoid meniscus injury under arthroscope.Methods Forty-one patients with discoid meniscus injury were selected as our subjects from Nov.2011 to Feb.2013,who were treated by arthroscopic surgery and performed with meniscus plasty.Thirt-eight patients were received ultra Fast-fix meniscal repair system.Joint function exercises were performed on bed within 1 month after operation.Incomplete weight bearing were performed after 1 month postoperation.After 3 month postoperation,they were permitted for full weight bearing.Results All patients were treated successfully with surgery and no postoperative complications occurred.The patients were followed up from 3.0 to 18.0 months and average was 10.5 months.The preoperative Lysholm scores were(68.28 ±8.04)) lower than that at the postoperation (88.17 ± 7.49)) and the difference were significant (t =11.59,P ＜ 0.05).Furthermore,according to Ikeuchi criterion,the outcomes were 28 cases with excellent,10 cases with good and 3 cases with general rank.Conclusion Discoid meniscus plasty and suture under arthroscope is proved to be a better approach with less trauma,recovery quickly and fewer complications.It should be a preferred method for discoid meniscus injury.

Objective:To explore the surgical techniques in posterolateral mini-incision total hip arthroplasty and clinical effcacy.
Methods:A total of 94 patients (98 hips) had posterolateral mini-incision total hip arthroplasty, from December 2006 to December 2008, and were randomly divided into a posterolateral mini-incision total hip arthroplasty group (Group A) and a conventional group of posterolateral incision for total hip arthroplasty (Group B). Forty-nine patients (50 hips) in Group A had posterolateral small incision total hip arthroplasty [26 males, 23 females, between 37.0 and 95.0 years (average 68.9 years), body mass index (BMI) between 20.3 and 29.7 (average BMI 25.4)]. Forty-ifve patients (48 hips) in Group B had the conventional posterolateral incision [27 males, 18 females, between 45.0 and 92.0 years (average 69.7 years), BMI between 18.7 and 34.1 (average BMI 26.9)]. The incision length, blood loss, drainage, operation time, and postoperative Harris scores were compared between the 2 groups.
Results:The incision length was 6.0~10.5 (average length 7.4) cm, average blood loss was 387.6 (140.0~1000.0) mL, average drainage was 143.1 (63.0~375.0) mL, average blood transfusion was 77.6 (0~400.0) mL, average operation time was 84.6 (63.0~130.0) min, and vitalock abduction angle imaging after the operation was 41.6° (averagely 38.0°~57.0°) in Group A. The incision length was 15.0~23.0 (average length 20.0) cm, average blood loss was 513.1 (210.0~1350.0) mL, average drainage was 152.3 (70.0~520.0) mL, average blood transfusion was 142.2 (0~800.0) mL, average operation time was 84.0 (71.0~115.0) min, and postoperative radiographic acetabular cup abduction angle was 42.3° (37.0°~54.0°) in Group B. The follow-up showed that the prosthesis of the 2 groups was in a good position, Harris score was significantly improved with no complications after total hip arthroplasty in the 2 groups.
Conclusion:With the correct selection of indications and adept operation skills and other circumstances, posterolateral mini-incision total hip arthroplasty may do little damage to the soft tissue with a small scar on the skin. The imaging evaluation after the operation and the Harris score show no difference between the 2 groups. Patients are satisfied with their joint function and postoperative recovery.

Objective To assess the influence of concentrations of sucrose on Streptococcus tautens (S. mutans) gbpC expression. Methods Total RNA was extracted from S. mutans after cultured in 0.5%, 1.0%, 5.0% sucrose and then reversely transcripted to cDNA. By TaqMan RT-RCR technique, we checked gbpC expression. Results Compared with 0.5% sucrose, 1.0% sucrose significantly upregulated gbpC expression(P<0.05); gbpC expression of more-adherent S. mutans strains was higher than that of less-adherent strains, Conclusion The upregulation of gbpC expression by sucrose may be one of the mechanisms underlying the increased adherence; There might be some correlation between gbpC expression andS. mutans adherence.

Objective To explore the curative effect of oral cancer radical surgery plus free anterolateral thigh flap repair and analyze the influence factors of skin flap necrosis.Methods The data of 98 patients who underwent oral cancer radical surgery with concurrent free anterolateral thigh flap repair in our hospital from January 2010 to June 2015 were retrospectively analyzed.The complete survival rate of skin flaps and incidence of complications in all patients were statistically analyzed.The age,diabetes,infection in implanted skin flap area,smoking and mental status,etc.of patients with survived or necrotic skin flaps were compared between patients with survival flaps and patients with flap necrosis,and multivariate Logistic regression analysis was performed.Results Among the 98 cases,86 cases of flaps survived completely and the survival rate was 87.8%.Fifteen cases with the skin flap necrosis,the incidence of complications was 15.3%,including 7 cases of surgi-cal site infection and 5 cases of skin flap necrosis with massive hemorrhage.The donor site incisions of all patients were primary healing and the patients were satisfied with the postoperative appearance.Among the patients with flap necrosis,the incidence rates of ≥60 years old,with diabetes,infection in flap implanted area,smoking and poor mental state (41.7%,41.7%,58.3%,75.0%,83.3%)were higher than those corresponding proportions in the patients with with survival flaps(P <0.05).Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that age,diabe-tes,infection in implanted skin flap area,smoking and poor mental status were the influencing factors for flap necrosis.Conclusion Oral cancer radical surgery with concurrent free anterolateral thigh flap repair has good curative effects.The age,combined with diabetes,smoking,infec-tion in flap implanted area and poor mental state are the risk factors for flap necrosis in patients with oral cancer after flap repair,which should be given intervention to improve the survival rate of skin flap in clinic.

Due to the poor repair and regeneration capacity of articular cartilage, traditional treatment cannot get satisfactory curative effect on it. However, tissue engineering provides a new way for repairing articular cartilage defects. Present research focus has come down to the following issues: the stability of cell characters and phenotypes during mass amplification of seed cells, the control of directional differentiation, the combination of multi-scaffold materials, the synergistic effect of multi-growth factors, the gene transfer technology for maintaining the expression of growth factors, etc. This article reviews the advances in seed cells, scaffold materials, growth factors of articular cartilage tissue engineering, pointing out their advantages and disadvantages as well as the research direction in the future.

Objective To judge injury severity of severe traumatic brain injury (sTBI) by using surface enhanced laser desorption-ionization (SELDI) protein chip technique. Methods Serum sam-ples from sTBI patients were used to detect expression of differential proteins by protein chip CM10 and SELDI to analyze the correlation between expression peak intensity and GCS. Results We obtained 101 protein peaks, with statistical difference upon expression of 27 protein peaks, when negative correla-tion was found between two peaks ( m/z 4 972 and m/z 5 322 ) and GCS score and positive correlation be-tween six peaks (m/z 3 941, m/z 4 295, m/z 8 714, m/z 8 792, m/z 14 020 and m/z 28 148) and GCS score. Conclusion SELDI protein chip technique may become a new and objective detection method in judging injury severity of sTBI.

OBJECTIVETo preliminarily study the effect of fertilizer methods on the yield and quality of Fritillaria ussuriensis.

METHODThrough the investigation of the available nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium in soil fertility of F. ussuriensis planting field as well as the measurement of total nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium contents in bulbus of F. ussuriensis, the balanced fertilization plan for cultivation of F. ussuriensis was made.

RESULTThe optimal fertilizing amount was 13.0 kg x m(-2) pig dung, or 5.5 kg x m(-2) deer dung and 6.5 kg x m(-2) pig dung, or 11.0 kg x m(-2) deer dung.

CONCLUSIONEffective fertilizing may increase significantly the yield and quality of F. ussuriensis.

Objective To determine the effect of moderate hypothermia on coagulation in patients with severe traumatic brain injury (sTBI) and investigate the clinical significance of thrombelastogram (TEG) monitoring.Methods Seventy-five patients with sTBI were randomly assigned to hypothermia group (conventional treatment + moderate hypothermia within 24 hours posttrauma,n =38) and control group (conventional treatment alone,n =38).TEG aided in monitoring coagulation function by measuring clot reaction time (R),clot formation time (K),clotting rate (α),maximal amplitude (MA),and percent fibrinolysis at 30 minutes after MA (LY30).Meantime,the intracranial pressure,vital signs,blood gas values,and blood electrolytes were also measured.Outcome was evaluated by using Glasgow outcome scale (GOS).Results The two groups were similar on admission with respect to R,K,α,MA,and LY30 (P ＞ 0.05),but the coagulation index in hypothermia group was significantly different from that in control group at days 1,2,3 and 7 posttreatment (P ＜ 0.05).Moreover,moderate hypothermia therapy demonstrated decrease of intraeranial pressure (P ＜ 0.01),with no severe complications,low mortality and improved outcome in comparison with control group.Conclusion Moderate hypothermia improves the hypercoagulability in patients with sTBI without increasing the risk of hyperfibrinolysis and protects brain tissue by decreasing intracranial pressure.

OBJECTIVETo assess the suitability of origin habitats of Notopterygium incisum, and provide theoretical basis of screening suitable areas for its large-scale cultivation.

METHODDetailed field survey of N. incisum, spatial databases, and GIS technology were used for the habitats suitability assessment.

RESULTMore than 142 073 km2 in 118 counties of Sichuan, Tibetan, Qinghai and Gansu are the most suitable habitats for N. incisum in which more than 47% of the area is located in sichuan, and more than of 377 000 km2 in 266 counties are relative suitable for N. incisum in Sichuan, Tibetan, Qinghai, Gansu, Yunnan, Xinjiang, etc and 32% of the area is located in Sichuan.

CONCLUSIONAlmost all the most suitable habitats are appropriate for germplasm conservation, wild population protection and regeneration due to the shortage of arable land, fragmentation of these alpine and subalpine ecosystems and sensitiveness of the environment changes. Therefore, large-scale cultivation of N. incisum could be developed in those relative suitable areas abundant in arable lands and labors, especially in moutainous regions with high elevation in the west of Sichuan province, and Qinghai Tibet plateau in the northwest of Sichuan, Southeast of Qinghai and Gansu province.