Personal health records were collected and analyzed for 1804 residents at Dongfeng town,Zhongshan city, Guangdong. One hundred and forty-one of 1804 residents suffered from chronic pharyngitis with a prevalence of 7.8 percent, 11.9 percent in males and 6. 6 percent in females with statistically significant difference (x2 = 12. 076, P ＜ 0. 05 ). Age, body mass index, physical exercise, eating habit,dental caries, oral illness (gingivitis, periondontitis, ondontolith), ear-nose-throat diseases, allergic constitution all were associated with their chronic pharyngitis, which was more prevalent in those of males,with ear-nose-throat diseases, lack of physical exercise, aged less than 24 years and over-intake of sugar.

This study was aimed to provide a reference for the development, registration, and clinical use of hospital traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) preparations, in order to analyze and assess their safety and risk. It also provided a reference for the technical review and supervision of hospital TCM preparations. Through collecting review materials of hospital TCM preparations from 2012 to 2014 in the Sichuan Food and Drug Administration, 21 preparations developed by clinical experiences were screened out. Analysis was made on their ingredients, preparation process and acute toxicity data. The results showed that 98 kinds of Chinese herbal medicines were contained in 21 preparations. The dosages of herbs were in compliance with theChina Pharmacopoeia2010 Edition. Preparation processes of 16 preparations were made by water extraction, grinding and other traditional techniques. The preparation processes of the remaining 5 preparations were involved with alcohol extraction or alcohol precipitation. Acute toxicity test data were obtained with experimental data in mice. Clinical usages of preparation were much lower than MTD or LD50. It was concluded that these hospital TCM preparations developed by clinical experiences were with high safety.

OBJECTIVEWith the purpose of selecting adequate quality and high production of Schizonepeta tenuifolia, the comparative experiments were carried out on different strain of S. tenuifolia in 2007.

METHODThe test fields were divided into blocks randomly, and the agronomy characters were investigated in harvest time; the content of volatile oil was measured by steam distillation and the pulegone were determined by HPLC.

RESULTThe yield of S4 was 18.63% and 29.99% higher than that of CK1 and CK2, respectively. The contents of volatile oil and pulegone were also higher than those of CK and other strains in this test.

CONCLUSIONS4 shows the advantages of high production, strong disease resistance and high active components. S4 would be extended as the good breed in production.

Agriculture ; Breeding ; Lamiaceae ; chemistry ; genetics ; growth & development ; physiology ; Quality Control ; Time Factors ; Volatilization

INTRODUCTION: This technical note describes a new arthroscopic technique to repair the peripheral attachment lesion of the posterior horn of the medial meniscus. The operation was performed under arthroscopy using a standard anterior portal. SURGICAL TECHNIQUE: A FasT-Fix needle was inserted obliquely close to the tibial plateau and the first implant was inserted into the joint capsule depending on its bending angle underneath the meniscus. The second implant was inserted through 1/3 periphery of the meniscus into the meniscocapsular area. The pre-tied self-sliding knot was tensioned to achieve secure fixation of the posterior meniscal peripheral attachment at the original attachment point. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From August 2011 to February 2014, 23 knees were diagnosed as ramp lesion, underwent meniscal repair using FasT-Fix technique. RESULTS: All patients were followed up for average 14 months. The Lysholm score improved from preoperative 64.4+/-4.52 to postoperative 91.2+/-4.60. CONCLUSIONS: We believe that the FasT-Fix technique via the standard anterior portal can be a more convenient and less traumatic alternative for repair of the peripheral attachment lesion of the posterior horn of the medial meniscus in the anterior cruciate ligament deficient knee.
Animals ; Anterior Cruciate Ligament ; Architectural Accessibility ; Arthroscopy ; Horns ; Humans ; Joint Capsule ; Knee ; Menisci, Tibial ; Needles

Objective To explore the association of synovial fluid vasoactive intestinal peptide levels with cartilage damage,radiological changes and symptomatic severity in patients with ankle post-traumatic osteoarthritis. Methods 74 patients with ankle traumatic osteoarthritis undergoing ankle anthroscopic debridement or joint replacement and 69 healthy controls receiving body check were enrolled in the this study. Serum and synovial fluid VIP concentrations were measured by a special radioimmunoassay method. Cartilage degradation biomarker colla-gen type Ⅱ(CTX-II)and inflammatory marker interleukin-6 were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The symptomatic and functional severity was evaluated using Teeny & Wiss and AOFAS ankle-hindfoot rating scale. The radiographic progression of PTAOA was identified according to the modified ankle osteoar-thritis Kellgren-Lawrence (K-L) grading system. The mankin score was used for assessing the histopathological severity for cartilage lesions. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was conducted and the area under curve(AUC)was used to evaluate the diagnostic value of VIP,IL-6 and CTX-II levels for the prediction of the modified K-L grading by comparing with other biomarkers. Results There were no significant differences in serum VIP levels between PTAOA patients and controls. VIP levels in synovial fluid showed a negative correlation with modified ankle K-L grading,Mankin scores,CTX-Ⅱand IL-6. In addition,VIP levels were also positively associated with Teeny&Wiss and AOFAS ankle-hindfoot scores. The AUC area of VIP was similar to CTX-Ⅱat early stage of the disease. Conclusions Synovial fluid VIP levels show an independent and negative correlation with disease severity in patients with PTAOA. Low level of VIP in SF can be used as a potential biomarker for reflecting disease progression.

In this paper, we aim to provide professional guidance to clinicians who are managing patients with chronic liver disease during the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Singapore. We reviewed and summarised the available relevant published data on liver disease in COVID-19 and the advisory statements that were issued by major professional bodies, such as the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and European Association for the Study of the Liver, contextualising the recommendations to our local situation.
COVID-19/epidemiology* ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/therapy* ; Chronic Disease ; Hepatitis B, Chronic/therapy* ; Hepatitis C, Chronic/therapy* ; Humans ; Liver Cirrhosis/therapy* ; Liver Diseases/therapy* ; Liver Neoplasms/therapy* ; Liver Transplantation ; Singapore/epidemiology*

Marsdenia tenacissima injection, a standard Marsdenia tenacissima extract (MTE), has been approved as an adjuvant therapeutic agent for various cancers. Our previous study showed that MTE inhibited the proliferation and metastasis of prostate cancer (PCa) cells. However, the underlying mechanisms and active ingredients of MTE against PCa were not completely understood. This study revealed that MTE induced significant decreases in cell viability and clonal growth in PCa cells. In addition, MTE induced the apoptosis of DU145 cells by reducing the mitochondrial membrane potential and increasing the expression of Cleaved Caspase 3/7, Cyt c, and Bax. In vivo, DU145 xenografted NOD-SCID mice treated with MTE showed significantly decreased tumor size. TUNEL staining and Western blot confirmed the pro-apoptotic effects of MTE. Network pharmacology analysis collected 196 ingredients of MTE linked to 655 potential targets, and 709 PCa-associated targets were retrieved, from which 149 overlapped targets were screened out. Pathway enrichment analysis showed that the HIF-1, PI3K-AKT, and ErbB signaling pathways were closely related to tumor apoptosis. Western blot results confirmed that MTE increased the expression of p-AKT^Ser473 and p-GSK3β^Ser9, and decreased the expression of p-STAT3^Tyr705in vitro and in vivo. A total of 13 compounds in MTE were identified by HPLC-CAD-QTOF-MS/MS and UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS. Molecular docking analysis indicated that six compounds may interact with AKT, GSK3β, and STAT3. In conclusion, MTE induces the endogenous mitochondrial apoptosis of PCa by regulating the AKT/GSK3β/STAT3 signaling axis, resulting in inhibition of PCa growth in vitro and in vivo.
Mice ; Animals ; Male ; Humans ; Mice, Inbred NOD ; Mice, SCID ; Marsdenia ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt ; Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 beta ; Molecular Docking Simulation ; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; Apoptosis ; STAT3 Transcription Factor