Purpose To confirm the effects of acupuncture, and Chinese medicines in controlling the withdrawal symptoms from the opium-like drugs. Method 96 heroin-dependent subjects were divided into four groups,which were treated respectively by western medicine (Agroup), acupuncture (B group), Chinese herbs (Cgroup), and acupuncture & Chinese herbs (D group).Before, during and after treatment, the concentration of serum testosterone and prolactin, and immune functions (serum CD3+ 、CD4+ 、CD8+ and CD4+/CD8+ ) were tested.Results After treatment, the concentration of serum testosterone in A and B group were higher than before and during treatment, and in C and D group, during treatment were higher. In the four groups, the concentration of serum prolactin before treatment was the highest. The levels of CD3+、CD4+、 CD8+ and CD4+/CD8+ were lowest before treatment and highest after treatment. Conclusion Acupuncture and Chinese medicines effective in relieving spasm and pain can control the opium-like drug withdrawal symptoms to different degrees, especially acupuncture. However, acupuncture cannot ease the withdrawal symptoms completely. Acupuncture does not strikingly cooperate with the Chinese medicines effective in relieving spasm and pain (including M-receptor antagonists). In detoxification, the Jiaji points are the primary ones and symptom-based points the secondary ones.

Heroin addicts were treated with acupuncture, Chinese herbs, and acupuncture plus Chinese herbs respectively, their effects were compared with that of Western medicine.The scores of withdrawal symptoms were observed continuously for 20 days. The effect of acupuncture was better than that of Western medicine 48 hours after the withdrawal treatment (P＜ 0.05), and better than that of other three methods 72 hours after the withdrawal treatment, (P ＜ 0.01). Acupuncture, Chinese herbs, and acupuncture plus Chinese herbs have the detoxification effects of varying degrees, in particular acupuncture' effect was the best. But all the therapies could not completely improve the withdrawal symptoms in the first 3 days of treatment, and acupuncture plus Chinese herbs had no synergetic effect in treating withdrawal symptoms.

BACKGROUND:Umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cel s are gaining more attention in clinical treatments. Cel viability prior to transplantation has a direct impact on clinical prognosis. Despite trypan blue staining is a widely performed procedure to assess the viability of umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cel s, it cannot reflect the functional capacity of those cel s accurately because of some subjective factors. OBJECTIVE:To explore sensitive and accurate assay for the functions of umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cel s. METHODS:Human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cel s were isolated and cultured in vitro. Cultured umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cel s were preserved in 0.9%saline for 0, 2, 4 and 6 hours at 4 ℃. Various methods (trypan blue staining, AnnexinV-PI, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dutp nick end labeling, cel counting kit-8, live-dead assay, cel adherent assay) were used to determine the viability of post-storage umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cel s, and the results were compared with colony-forming efficiency, a measure of cel function. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cel s cultured in vitro showed a spindle shape and attached growth, the third-generation umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cel s were positive for CD29, CD44, CD105, and negative for CD 34 and CD 45. Umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cel s incubated in the adipogenic and osteogenic medium were both positive. Cel viability measured with trypan blue correlated moderately with colony-forming efficiency, while the percentage of viable cel s measured with other methods correlated better with colony-forming efficiency, among which adherent assay was the most obvious. It is proved that cel adherent assay-measured viability is the most accurate indicator.

BACKGROUND:The viability of human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cel s is often declined with the commonly used transplantation storage solution in clinics, which may influence the therapeutic effects of cel ular transplantation. However, reasons for this are stil unknown. OBJECTIVE:To investigate the role of oxidative stress in the reduction of human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cel s viability in the storage process during clinical transplantation and to observe the effects of radical scavenger on the results. METHODS:Human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cel s were harvested and cultured in normal saline for 0, 2, 4 and 6 hours at room temperature. Intracel ular reactive oxygen levels were detected at those time points. Antioxidant enzyme activities and levels of malondialdehyde were measured to determine the intracel ular oxidative stress levels after storage. Cel adhesion rate changes were retested after adding N-acetyl cysteine to the storage solution. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The reactive oxygen levels in human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cel s were increased significantly after normal saline storage and levels of malondialdehyde were increased in a time-dependent manner. Activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidase were al reduced. Addition of N-acetyl cysteine into the storage medium decreased the reactive oxygen levels and improved the human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cel s viabilities. Experimental findings indicate that, increased reactive oxygen species in human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cel s is one of the reasons for reduced cel viability. Adding the radical scavenger N-acetyl cysteine can improve the storage effects of human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cel s.

Objective To investigate the distribution of androgen receptor (AR) gene CAGrepeats in the Chinese Han nationality and its application in genetic diagnosis for Kennedy's disease (KD). MethodsRT-PCR,denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (DPAGE) and gene sequencing were conducted for AR gene CAG repetition among 100 healthy controls and 28 patients diagnosed as motorneuron diseases,and the number of the repetition was counted. Results The healthy controls had a range of 15-31 times of CAG repetition,with an average of (23 ± 3) times.Among patients with motoneuron disease,3 cases with CAG repetition for more than 40 times (namely,46,47 and 47 times) were diagnosed as KD.The main clinical manifestations included slow progress of limb weakness,primarily in the proximal lower limbs,fatigue accompanied by myalgia,muscle jumping,muscle atrophy,elevated serum creatine kinase (CK) levels,neurogenic damage revealed by electromyogram (EMG) and androgen insensitivity.Conclusions The incidence of KDmay be underestimated in the Chinese population.Performing genetic diagnosis in patients with motor neuron disease for AR gene can improve clinical diagnosis and avoid misdiagnosis.

Objective To study the relationship between level of plasma glucose and cognitive function in patients with Parkinson's disease.Methods Two hundred PD patients were assessed cognitive function using Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE),Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA),Wechsler Intelligence Scale and Wechsler Memory Scale.The patients were divided into cognitive normal group (n=91) and cognitive impairment group (n=109).One hundred twenty-six normal subjects were enrolled as control group (n=126).The levels of fasting plasma glucose (FPG),postprandial plasma glucose (2hPPG),glycosylated hemoglobin (HbAlc) and the prevalence of diabetes mellitus were compared among the groups.The effect of blood glucose level on the cognitive function of PD patients was analyzed by Binary Logistic Regression.Results The levels of FPG,HbAlc and the prevalence of diabetes mellitus [5.19 (0.72),5.7％ (0.5％),14％] were significantly higher than those in the normal control group [4.85(0.79),5.6％ (0.5％),6％] (P＜0.05).The levels of FPG in PD patients with cognitive impairment [5.21 (1.32)] was significantly higher than that in PD patients with cognitive normal group [4.81 (0.95)] (P＜0.05).Although 2hPPG and HbAlc increased slightly in PD patients with cognitive impairment,the difference did not reach an significant level (P＞0.05).Binary Logistic Regression analysis showed that FPG(OR:1.764;95％ CI:0.06-3.244;P=0.068) was not associated with the impaired cognitive function in PD patients.Conclusion The present study has not revealed an association between the incidence of cognitive impairment in patients with PD and plasma glucose level although high plasma glucose may be a high risk factor for PD patients.

Objective To investigate the relationship between platelet-activating factor acetylhydrolase gene Arg92His(4, 275; G→A), Ile198Thr(7, 593; T→C) and Val279Phe(9, 994; G→T) mutation and cerebral artery athero-sclerosis stenosis. Methods Six hundred forty-twopatients with cerebral infarction underwent cerebral digital subtrac-tion angiography (DSA).The patients were then divided into cerebral artery atherosclerosis stenosis (CAAS) group(n=477) and control group(n=81) accroding to the site and severity of their cerebral artery stenosis. Furthermore, the CAAS group were divided into intracranial artery stenosis(ICAS) subgroup(n=251), extracranial artery stenosis(ECAS) subgroup (n=115) and extracranial-intracerebral artery stenosis(ECAS) subgroup(n=111). The distributions of genotype and allele frequencies of Arg92His,Ile198Thr and Val279Phe mutation of platelet-activating factor acetylhydrolase gene were ex-amined and comparied in different groups. Results There were significant differences in the distributions of genotype and allele of Arg92His mutation between ICAS subgroup and control group(42.6% vs. 30.3%;23.3% vs. 16.4%, P <0.05). These associations were not detected in ECAS and IECAS subgroups. There was no significant association be-tween Ile198Thr and Val279Phe and stenosis at any site(P>0.05). The distributions of genotype and allele of Arg92His, Ile198Thr and Val279Phe mutation were no significantly difference between CAAS group and control group (P >0.05). Conclusions Arg92His mutation may be associated with intracranial artery atherosclerotic stenosis.

Objective:To investigate the differences in clinical features and imaging findings of cirrhotic patients with fundic varices between gastroesophageal varices type 2 (GOV2) and isolated fundic varices type 1 (IGV1).Methods:Clinical and imaging data of cirrhotic patients with fundic varices treated in Union Hospital, Tonji Medical Colloge, of Huazhong University of Science and Technology from October 2013 to March 2021 were retrospectively analyzed.Results:A total of 210 patients were enrolled, including 139 patients of GOV2 (GOV2 group) and 71 patients of IGV1 (IGV1 group). Blood routine examination results showed that the median value of hemoglobin in GOV2 group was lower than that in IGV1 group(91.00 g/L VS 112.00 g/L, P<0.05). The incidence of portal hypertensive gastropathy (PHG) in GOV2 group was higher than that in IGV1 group [20.14% (28/139) VS 5.63% (4/71), P<0.05]. The incidence of peptic ulcer was lower in GOV2 group than that in IGV1 group [12.23% (17/139) VS 38.03% (27/71), P<0.05]. The median diameter of portal veins in GOV2 group was larger than that in IGV1 group (15.09 mm VS 12.85 mm, P<0.05), and the volume of gastric fundus varices in GOV2 group was smaller than that in IGV1 group (2.14 mL VS 10.00 mL, P<0.05). The proportion of afferent veins in left gastric vein in GOV2 group was higher than that in IGV1 group [98.43% (125/127) VS 77.78% (42/54), P<0.05], and the median diameter of left gastric vein in GOV2 group was larger than that in IGV1 group (5.58 mm VS 4.53 mm, P<0.05). The efferent vessels mainly included gastrorenal shunt and splenorenal shunt. The incidences of gastrorenal shunt [27.56% (35/127) VS 66.67% (36/54)] and splenirenal shunt [12.60% (16/127) VS 25.93% (14/54)] in GOV2 group were lower than those in IGV1 group ( both P<0.05). The incidences of venae parumbilicales vein [38.58% (49/127) VS 12.96% (7/54)] and retroperitoneal collateral shunt [30.71% (39/127) VS 11.11% (6/54)] in GOV2 group were higher than those in IGV1 group (both P<0.05). Conclusion:There is significant heterogeneity in clinical features and imaging findings between cirrhotic patients complicated with GOV2 and IGV1. Recognizing and understanding the differences between the two types of patients is beneficial to taking appropriate clinical measures and improving patient prognosis.