OBJECTIVETo observe the impacts of acupoint catgut embedding therapy and acupuncture-moxibustion therapy on the long-term efficacy and patient's life quality in the treatment of allergic rhinitis.

METHODSSixty-nine patients were randomized into the combined acupuncture-moxibustion and acupoint catgut embedding therapy group (combined therapy group, 36 cases) and an acupuncture-moxibustion group (33 cases). In the acupuncture-moxibustion group, acupuncture was applied at Yingxiang (LI 20), Shangyingxiang (EX-HN 8), Yintang (GV 29), Shangxing (GV 23), Tongtian (BL 7) and Zusanli (ST 36). Moxibustion was applied at Zusanli (ST 36), Feishu (BL 13), Dazhui (GV 14) and Fengmen (BL 12). In the combined therapy group, on the basis of the treatment as acupuncture-moxibustion group, the catgut embedding therapy was applied at Feishu (BL 13), Fengmen (BL 12), Pishu (BL 20), Shenshu (BL 23), Zhongwan (CV 12) and Qihai (CV 6). The treatment duration was 4 weeks in the two groups. The clinical efficacy of allergic rhinitis and rhinoconjunctivitis quality of life questionnaire (RQLQ) score were observed before and after treatment as well as in the 4-weeks follow-up after the end of treatment respectively.

RESULTSThe markedly effective rate was 72.7% (24/33) in the combined therapy group and 48.4% (15/31) in the acupuncture-moxibustion group after treatment. The efficacy was similar between the two groups (P > 0.05). It was 57.6% (19/33) in the combined therapy group and was 22. 6% (7/31) in the 4-week follow-up after treatment, indicating the long-term efficacy in the combined therapy group was superior to that in the acupuncture-moxibustion group (P<0. 05). Scores of RQLO after treatment and in 4-week follow-up after treatment in both groups were improved as compared with those before treatment (all P < 0.05). In 4-week follow-up, the improvements in sleep and affection in the combined therapy group were superior to the acupuncture-moxibustion group (3.27 +/- 3.23 vs 4.61 +/- 3.56, 3.48 +/- 3.67 vs 5.81 +/- 4.15, both P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe acupoint catgut embedding therapy combined with acupuncture-moxibustion therapy are safe and effective in the treatment of allergic rhinitis and display the more roles in the long-term efficacy.

Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; instrumentation ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Catgut ; utilization ; Child ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Moxibustion ; Quality of Life ; Rhinitis, Allergic ; Rhinitis, Allergic, Perennial ; therapy ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo observe the effect of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatment according to syndrome differentiation on acute radio-reaction (ARR) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients.

METHODSOne hundred and ninety-five NPC patients who received radiotherapy (RT) for the first time were randomly assigned to two groups: the control group (89 cases) was treated by RT alone for 7 weeks and the treatment group (106 cases) was treated by RT combined with oral taking TCM from starting of RT till 5 weeks after RT. The overall changes in total ARR score and ARR in different locations were observed weekly and compared.

RESULTSThe total ARR score in the treatment group was significantly lower than that in the control group (P<0.05). And the ARR scores of different organs, including skin, oropharyngeal mucosa, salivary glands, larynx, car, upper digestive tract, and central nervous system, in the treatment group were all lower than those of the corresponding organs in the control group. In addition, the ARR scores in both groups showed an ascending trend in the first 7 weeks and a descending trend from the 8th to the 10th week after beginning RT.

CONCLUSIONTCM treatment could relieve the ARR in the NPC patients without any affection on the efficacy of RT.

Adult ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; drug therapy ; radiotherapy ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Middle Aged ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; radiotherapy ; Phytotherapy ; Radiation Injuries ; diagnosis ; prevention & control ; Syndrome ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of lymphadenectomy adjacent to inferior mesenteric artery root on the prognosis of rectal cancer.

METHODSClinicopathological data of 260 cases with rectal cancer undergone radical operation were analyzed retrospectively. The patients were divided into two groups. Group D(2): the lymph nodes adjacent to mesenteric artery root were not excised (n=188). Group D(3): the lymph nodes adjacent to mesenteric artery root were excised (n=72). Prognosis of two groups was compared during the follow-up period.

RESULTSIn group D(2), the 1-, 3-, 5-year total survival rates (TS) were 97.3%, 87.2% and 77.1%, and tumor-free survival rates (TFS) were 93.1%, 83.0% and 76.8% respectively. In group D(3 ), the 1-, 3-, 5-year total survival rates (TS) were 94.4%, 79.2% and 73.6%, and tumor-free survival rates (TFS) were 86.1%, 76.4% and 71.0% respectively. The differences of TS and TFS between two groups were not significant according to Kaplan-Meier analysis (P>0.05). Multivariate analysis revealed that the excision of lymph nodes adjacent to mesenteric artery root was not statistically correlated with the recurrence, metastasis and survival time after radical operation of rectal cancer.

CONCLUSIONExcision of lymph nodes adjacent to inferior mesenteric artery root has no significant impact on prognosis and it is unnecessary in the radical operation of rectal cancer.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Female ; Humans ; Lymph Node Excision ; methods ; mortality ; Lymph Nodes ; surgery ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Male ; Mesenteric Artery, Inferior ; surgery ; Middle Aged ; Prognosis ; Rectal Neoplasms ; mortality ; pathology ; surgery ; Survival Rate ; Treatment Outcome

AIM:To observe whether selective inhibition of endothelin receptor A(ETRA)improves white matter lesions(WMLs),and explore the mechanism.METHODS:Sprague-Dawley rats(n=33)were randomly divided into sham operation group(n=9),treatment group[stroke-prone renovascular hypertensive rats-modified 2 vessel occlu-sion(RHRSP-modified 2VO)+ambrisentan(n=12)]and placebo group[RHRSP-modified 2VO +vehicle(n =12)].Drug and vehicle administration was performed from 17th to 20th week and monitoring of systolic arterial pressure was performed weekly.Morris water maze test was conducted to evaluate the function of cognition.The protein levels of en-dothelin-1(ET-1)in the cortex,corpus callosum and caudate putamen were quantitatively analyzed respectively.The se-verity of WMLs and the relationship between ET-1 and vessels were observed by the method of histopathology.RESULTS:The difference of systolic arterial pressure between treatment group and placebo group was not significant.The animals in treatment group exhibited shorter escape latency(P<0.05),more times of crossing platform(P<0.05), lower level of ET-1 in corpus callosum and caudate putamen(P<0.05),respectively,improved WMLs severity(P<0.05)and lower binding level of ET-1 to vessels compared with the placebo group.CONCLUSION: Selective inhibition of endothelin receptor A improves the severity of WMLs and ameliorates the cognitive function.

To investigate the effects of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitor simvastatin (SV) on proliferation, apoptosis and the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in human acute monocytic leukemia cell line SHI-1. SHI-1 cells were incubated with different concentrations of SV (5, 10, 15 µmol/L). Otherwise, SHI-1 cells without any treatment were used as control. Cells in different groups were collected at 24, 48 and 72 h after incubation for further detection. MTT method was used to assay the growth inhibition rate and flow cytometry was used to detect the early stage apoptosis ratio. The human PI3K-AKT Signaling Pathway RT(2) Profiler(TM) PCR Array was used to detect the expression of 84 genes involved in PI3K-AKT signaling. The results indicated that the SV inhibited the proliferation and inducted the apoptosis of SHI-1 cells in time- and dose-dependent manners significantly. The growth inhibition rates of SHI-1 cells treated with 15 µmol/L SV for 24, 48 and 72 h were 26.82, 47.09 and 63.92, respectively; and their early stage apoptosis ratios were 5.75, 13.25 and 15.59, respectively. Compared with the control group, expression levels of 39 genes were changed in the group of 15 µmol/L SV at 48 h, among them 26 genes were down-regulated and 13 genes were up-regulated. It is concluded that the SV can inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis of SHI-1 cells, and the mechanism may be associated with the changes of gene expression level in PI3K-AKT signaling pathway regulated by SV.
Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Down-Regulation ; Gene Expression Regulation, Leukemic ; Humans ; Leukemia, Monocytic, Acute ; metabolism ; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases ; metabolism ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt ; metabolism ; Signal Transduction ; drug effects ; Simvastatin ; pharmacology

OBJECTIVETo analyze the clinical characteristics of 267 cases with occupational chronic carbon disulfide (CS(2)) poisoning and to provide the basis for revising the items of periodical medical examination of workers occupationally exposed to CS(2).

METHODSThe subjects of present study were 267 patients with mild CS(2) poisoning diagnosed according to "Diagnostic Criteria of Occupational Chronic Carbon Disulfide Poisoning (GBZ4-2002)" from April in 2006 to May in 2010. All patients were from the same chemical fiber factory. When a subject was diagnosed as patient with CS(2) poisoning, who should interview with questionnaire which included the illness and occupational history, symptoms, individual habits. The physical examination, nervous test, cardiovascular test, biochemical test and electromyogram were performed.

RESULTSThe rate of decreased motor conduction velocity was 87.3% (233/267 roots). The highest detection rate of slowing conduction velocity was the common peroneal motor nerve which was 48.6% (138/248 roots) and the second was median motor nerve with delay rate of 37% (155/419 roots). The main symptoms of the patients were neurasthenia, numbness and paresthesia. The rates of abnormal achilles tendon reflex and knee jerk reflex in patients were were 79.4% and 49.8%, respectively. The detected rates of patients with ST-segment changes and hypertension were 19.1% and 27.5%, respectively. The rates of hypertension, systolic pressure and diastolic pressure were 27.3%, 22.5% and 21.1%, respectively. The rates of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), triglycerides (TG) and low density lipoprotein (LDL) were high. The detected rates of urine acid, indirect bilirubin and total bilirubin in male patients were higher than those in female patients. In addition, the abnormal detected rate of urea nitrogen and indirect bilirubin increased with exposure years.

CONCLUSIONOccupational chronic CS(2) poisoning mainly affects the nervous system, as well as liver and kidney function. Detecting the median and common peroneal motor nerve conduction velocities could be the screening indicators for the peripheral nerve injury induced by CS(2) in the occupational exposure population during the periodical occupational medical examinations.

Adult ; Aged ; Carbon Disulfide ; poisoning ; Chemical Industry ; Female ; Humans ; Kidney ; drug effects ; physiopathology ; Liver ; drug effects ; physiopathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multiphasic Screening ; Nervous System ; drug effects ; physiopathology ; Neural Conduction ; Occupational Exposure

Objective To investigate the effect of clopidogrel on platelet function and inflammation factor in treatment of severe carotid artery stenosis after stent-assisted angioplasty.Methods Patients (120 cases) with severe carotid artery stenosis after stent-assisted angioplasty were chosen and divided into two groups,the control group were given atorvastatin combined with aspirin,and the observation group were given atorvastatin combined with chlorine.The serum coagulants DD level,FIB level,inflammation factor P-chosen element level and restenosis event incidence of two groups were observed.Results D-double polymer of two groups had no significant difference;After surgery,the D-double polymer and FIB level of two groups were all higher (P ＜ 0.05).After surgery for 24 h,the D-double polymer and FIB level of observation group were higher,after 3 months of surgery,the D-double polymer and FIB level had no significant differences compared with before surgery,which were all in normal level.After 24 h,1 month,3 months of surgery,the D-double polymer and FIB level of observation group were all lower than control group (P ＜ 0.05).Before treatment,the P-chosen selectin of two groups had no significant differences,which were all decreased after surgery,and the observation group was lower than control group (P ＜ 0.05);The restenosis event of observation group was lower than control group (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion Clopidogrel could control the platelet aggregation of severe carotid stenosis after surgery to prevent the thrombogenesis and decrease the restriction incidence,while control the inflammation factor expression to prevent the atherosclerosis.

BACKGROUNDChromosomal abnormalities have been shown to play an important prognostic role in multiple myeloma (MM). Interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (i-FISH) has been much more effective to identify cytogenetic aberrations in MM than conventional cytogenetic technique (CC). To clearly determine the cytogenetic features of Chinese MM patients and identify their prognostic implications, we designed a multicenter study based on i-FISH including 672 patients from 52 hospitals in China.

METHODSAll 672 patients were systematically screened for the following genomic aberrations: del(13q), IgH rearrangement, del(p53) and 1q21 amplifications.

RESULTSThe analysis showed that the chromosomal changes were detected in 22.1% patients by CC and in 82.3% patients by i-FISH. The most common abnormalities by CC were chromosome 1 aberrations (48.4%), -13/13q- (37.6%), hyperdiploidy (36.6%), hypodiploidy (30.1%) and IgH rearrangements (23.7%). The most frequent abnormalities by FISH was del(13q), which was found in 60.4% patients, whereas IgH rearrangement, 1q21 amplification and p53 deletions were detected in 57.6%, 49.0% and 34.7% cases, respectively. By statistical analysis, -13/13q- by CC was associated with low level of platelet (P = 0.015), hyperdiploidy was associated with low level of serum albumin (P = 0.028), and IgH rearrangement by FISH was associated with high level of β2 microglobulin (P = 0.019). Moreover, 1q21 amplification and del(p53) by FISH conferred a high incidence of progressive disease (PD) after initial therapy. Metaphase detection of IgH rearrangements and chromosome 1 aberrations concurrently was associated with a short progression free survival (PFS) (P = 0.036). No significant prognostic implications of other cytogenetic abnormalities were found associated with overall survival and PFS.

CONCLUSIONSChinese MM patients had similar cytogenetic abnormalities compared with the previous reported studies. However, the prognostic significance of FISH aberrations were not clearly determined and further study is required.

Adult ; China ; Chromosome Aberrations ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 1 ; genetics ; Cytogenetic Analysis ; Female ; Humans ; In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence ; Karyotyping ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multiple Myeloma ; genetics ; pathology

BACKGROUNDThe genome of the severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) includes sequences encoding the putative protein X4 (ORF8, ORF7a), consisting of 122 amino acids. The deduced sequence contains a probable cleaved signal peptide sequence and a C-terminal transmembrane helix, indicating that protein X4 is likely to be a type I membrane protein. This study was conducted to demonstrate whether the protein X4 was expressed and its essential function in the process of SARS-CoV infection.

METHODSThe prokaryotic and eukaryotic protein X4-expressing plasmids were constructed. Recombinant soluble protein X4 was purified from E. coli using ion exchange chromatography, and the preparation was injected into chicken for rising specific polyclonal antibodies. The expression of protein X4 in SARS-CoV-infected Vero E6 cells and lung tissues from patients with SARS was performed using immunofluorescence assay and immunohistochemistry technique. The preliminary function of protein X4 was evaluated by treatment with and over-expression of protein X4 in cell lines. Western blot was employed to evaluate the expression of protein X4 in SARS-CoV particles.

RESULTSWe expressed and purified soluble recombinant protein X4 from E.coli, and generated specific antibodies against protein X4. Western blot proved that the protein X4 was not assembled in the SARS-CoV particles. Indirect immunofluorescence assays revealed that the expression of protein X4 was detected at 8 hours after infection in SARS-CoV-infected Vero E6 cells. It was also detected in the lung tissues from patients with SARS. Treatment with and overexpression of protein X4 inhibited the growth of Balb/c 3T3 cells as determined by cell counting and MTT assays.

CONCLUSIONThe results provide the evidence of protein X4 expression following SARS-CoV infection, and may facilitate further investigation of the immunopathological mechanism of SARS.

Amino Acid Sequence ; Animals ; BALB 3T3 Cells ; Cercopithecus aethiops ; Growth Inhibitors ; analysis ; physiology ; HeLa Cells ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Lung ; chemistry ; Mice ; Molecular Sequence Data ; SARS Virus ; chemistry ; Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ; metabolism ; Vero Cells ; Viral Structural Proteins ; analysis ; physiology

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the expression of CD319 and CD269 in plasma cells of patients with multiple myeloma (MM) and the feasibility of using CD319 instead of CD38 as a gating antigen in immunophenotyping and minimal residual disease (MRD) monitoring. METHODS: The expression levels of CD319 and CD269 antigens in clonal bone marrow plasma cells of 387 patients were detected by CD38/CD138 gating strategy with 8-color flow cytometry, and the stability of antigens was also analyzed, and the sensitivity and correlation of two different gating strategies employing CD319/CD138 and CD38/CD138 were compared as well. The control group consisted of 53 cases with non-malignant blood disease matched by age and sex. RESULTS: Monoclonal plasma cells were detected in 303 of 387 MM patients, among which 277 cases (91.42%) were positive for CD269, and all cases were positive for CD319 (100%). In newly diagnosed MM (NDMM) and recurrent refractory MM (RRMM) patients, the expression levels of CD269 were 97.53% (0-99.92%) and 94.96% (0.22%-99.99%), respectively, while levels of CD319 were 99.90% (87.77%-100%) and 99.78% (63.12%-100%), respectively. The expression levels of CD269 and CD319 in the control group were 97.00% (77.00%-100%) and 100% (89.00%-100%), respectively. There were no significant differences in the expression levels of CD269 and CD319 among NDMM, RRMM and the control group. Patients acquiring therapeutic effects were divided into complete remission (CR) group, very good partial response (VGPR) group and partial response (PR) group. Gating with CD38/CD138, median MRD values were 0.76% (0-1.88%), 0.77% (0-4.96%) and 1.75% (0.09%-10.90%) in the three groups, respectively, while gating with CD319/CD138, median MRD values were 0.57% (0.18%-1.96%), 1.07% (0.12%-4.85%) and 1.77% (0.08%-8.22%), respectively. There was no significant difference in MRD level by the two gating strategies, but a good correlation between the two (r=0.808, P<0.05). In addition, in 4 patients treated by CD38 monoclonal antibody (DARA), the expression level of CD38 was observed to be down-regulated or even negative after treatment. When the MRD level was very low, CD38/CD138 gating resulted in false MRD CONCLUSION CD319 and CD269 express stably and continuously in plasma cells of MM patients at different disease stages. CD319 can be used as an alternative of CD38 for immunophenotyping and MRD detection, especially for MRD detection after DARA treatment, while CD269 is suitable for detection before BCMA-CAR-T treatment.
Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Immunophenotyping ; Multiple Myeloma ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ; Neoplasm, Residual ; Plasma Cells