Objective: This study was designed to investigate the chemotherapy effect of high-dose tamoxifen(TAM) in the patients with multidrug-resistant (MDR-1) non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC). Methods: A total of 108 patients with refractory NSCLC were divided at random into four groups: A,B,C,and D. Each group contained 27 patients. A,B,and C were study group, D was control group. TAM was given from the third day before chemotherapy up to 11 days dose of TAM for group A: 40 mg, tid;group B: 60 mg, tid;group C: 80 mg, tid;group D: Simple chemotherapy. The dosage and schedule of the chemotherapy regimen was just same in every group: VDS 2.5 mg/m2 d1,d8, ADM 30 mg/m2 d2, DDP 80 mg/m2 d4,d5. The therapeutic effect of each group after having been performed 3 cyeles,and treatment rested 30 days was evaluated. Results:The response rates of the A,B,C,and D group were 33.3％ (9/27),48.1％ (13/27),55.6％ (15/27),25.9％ (7/27),respectively. The response rate of group C was the highest and group D was the lowest. Compared group A,B,C with group D,A∶ D P >0.05, the difference did not reach statistical significance;B∶ D P >0.05, the difference did not reach statistical significance;C∶ D P<0.05, the difference reached statistical significance. The major side effect of chemotherapy had not difference in every group. Only four patients of group C with TAM 240 mg/d developed psychiatric symptom, and TAM was abandoned after symptom automatic extinction. Conclusions: High dose TAM can be safely administered and may inhibit MDR-1 function. The dose of TAM become positive correlation to it's effect.

In the research community, resistance to apoptosis is often considered a hallmark of cancer. However, pathologists who diagnose cancer via microscope often see the opposite. Indeed, increased apoptosis and mitosis are usually observed simultaneously in cancerous lesions. Studies have shown that increased apoptosis is associated with cancer aggressiveness and poor clinical outcome. Furthermore, overexpression of Bcl-2, an antiapoptotic protein, is linked with better survival of cancer patients. Conversely, Bax, CD95, Caspase-3, and other apoptosis-inducing proteins have been found to promote carcinogenesis. This notion of the role of apoptosis in cancer is not new; cancer cells were found to be short-lived 88 years ago. Given these observations, resistance to apoptosis should not be considered a hallmark of cancer.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; physiology ; Biomarkers, Tumor ; metabolism ; Carcinogenesis ; metabolism ; Caspase 3 ; metabolism ; Humans ; Lymphoma, B-Cell ; metabolism ; pathology ; Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; metabolism ; Treatment Outcome ; bcl-2-Associated X Protein ; metabolism ; fas Receptor ; metabolism

Recently, compound Ejiao slurry (FFEJJ) had been applied to treat cancer patients in clinic, with obvious curative effect. In this study, data and literatures were collected from the TCM chemical component database to establish the chemical component database of FFEJJ. Afterwards, MetaDrug software was used to predict the targets of FFEJJ and obtain the compound-target network. Next, the compound-target network was compared and analyzed to obtain the "compound-target-tumor target" heterogeneous network. Besides, further analysis was made on gene functions and metabolic pathway. The results indicated that FFEJJ could directly resist tumors by regulating cancer cell differentiation, growth, proliferation and apoptosis, and show an adjuvant therapeutic effect by enriching the blood and increasing the immunity.
Adjuvants, Pharmaceutic ; therapeutic use ; Antineoplastic Agents ; therapeutic use ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Gene Regulatory Networks ; drug effects ; Humans ; Molecular Targeted Therapy ; Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; genetics ; metabolism

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is characterized as a chronic inflammatory disease in joints and concomitant destruction of cartilage and bone. Cartilage extracellular matrix components, such as type II collagen and aggrecan are enzymatically degraded by matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and aggrecanases in RA. Currently, treatments targeting cytokines, including anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) α antibodies, soluble TNF receptor, anti-interleukin (IL)-6 receptor antibody, and IL-1 receptor antagonist, are widely used for treating RA in addition to antiantiinflammatory agents and disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), such as inflmethotrexate, but these treatments have some problems, especially in terms of cost and the increased susceptibility of patients to infection in addition to the existence of low-responders to these treatments. Therefore, therapeutics that can be safely used for an extended period of time would be preferable. Complementary and alternative medicines including traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) have been used for the arthritic diseases through the ages. Recently, there are many reports concerning the anti-arthritic action mechanisms of TCM-based herbal formulas and crude herbal extracts or isolated ingredients. These natural herbal medicines are thought to moderately improve RA, but they exert various actions for the treatment of RA. In this review, the current status of the mechanism exploration of natural compounds and TCM-based herbal formulas are summarized, focusing on the protection of cartilage destruction in arthritic diseases including RA and osteoarthritis.
Animals ; Antirheumatic Agents ; therapeutic use ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; drug therapy ; Biological Products ; therapeutic use ; Cartilage, Articular ; enzymology ; pathology ; Complementary Therapies ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional

The STandards for Reporting Interventions in Clinical Trials Of Moxibustion (STRICTOM), in the form of a checklist and descriptions of checklist items, were designed to improve reporting of moxibustion trials, and thereby facilitating their interpretation and replication. The STRICTOM checklist included 7 items and 16 sub-items. These set out reporting guidelines for the moxibustion rationale, details of moxibustion, treatment regimen, other components of treatment, treatment provider background, control and comparator interventions, and precaution measures. In addition, there were descriptions of each item and examples of good reporting. It is intended that the STRICTOM can be used in conjunction with the main CONSORT Statement, extensions for nonpharmacologic treatment and pragmatic trials, and thereby raise the quality of reporting of clinical trials of moxibustion. Further comments will be solicited from the experts of the CONSORT Group, the STRICTA Group, acupuncture and moxibustion societies, and clinical trial authors for optimizing the STRICTOM.
Clinical Trials as Topic ; methods ; standards ; Humans ; Moxibustion ; methods ; standards ; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic ; Research Design ; standards

Objective To test the antimicrobial susceptibility of Staphylococcus aureus from children with impetigo,and to assess the differences in randomly amplified polymorphic DNA profiles between sensitive and resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains.Methods Secretion specimens were obtained from the impetiginous lesions of 178 children,and subjected to bacterial culture.The susceptibility of 162 Staphylococcus aureus isolates against 21 antibiotics was tested.Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA PCR(RAPD-PCR)was performed to characterize the genotype of Staphylococcus aureus.Results Totally,180 bacterial strains were isolated from 178 children with impetigo in Chengdu,including 162(90.00％)Staphylococcus aureus strains.Of the 162 Staphylococcus aureus strains,148 were methicillin sensitive Staphylococcus aureus(MSSA),14 methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA).The most active antibiotic was minocycline,followed by teicoplanin,quinupristin,vancomycin and nitrofurantoin,while the resistance rate to penicillin was highest,followed by that to erythromycin,clindamycin,compound sulfamethoxazole and tetracycline.All the Staphylococcus aureus isolates were sensitive to fusidic acid,nitrofurantoin,vancomycin,minocycline and teicoplanin.According to RAPD-PCR,the 162 Staphylococcus aureus strains were divided into 8 genotypes,with the three most prevalent genotypes being Ⅲ(31.48％),Ⅱ(26.54％)and Ⅵ(25.93％),which accounted for 65.43％(106/162)in all the strains.The 148 MSSA strains fell into 8 genotypes,with genotype Ⅲ(50 strains,33.78％),Ⅵ(39 strains,26.35％)and Ⅱ(33 strains,22.30％)being the most prevalent genotypes;the 14 MRSA strains fell into 3 genotypes,i.e.,genotype Ⅱ(10 strains,71.43％),Ⅵ(3 strains,21.43％),and Ⅲ(1 strain,7.14％).Conclusions Staphylococcus aureus is the most prevalent pathogenic bacteria in children with impetigo in Chengdu area,which is highly sensitive to minocycline,teicoplanin and quinupristin,and falls into 8 genotypes according to RAPD-PCR with genotype Ⅲ being the most common genotype.

OBJECTIVETo explore the possible action mechanism of Jujingwan on asthenospermia.

METHODSSemen routine analyses and determination of nitric oxide (NO) concentration and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in seminal plasma were performed in 34 cases of asthenospermia. The changes of NO concentration and SOD activity before and after the treatment with Jujingwan were observed.

RESULTSCompared with pre-treatment, there was no significant change in NO concentration, and the activity of SOD decreased significantly after the treatment ([95.97 +/- 20.75] microg/L vs [6.14 +/- 19.99] microg/L). There was negative correlation between NO concentration and SOD activity before the treatment (r = -0.246, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONJujingwan can significantly improve sperm viability in patients with asthenospermia. However, the excellent effects of Jujingwan are not displayed in the changes of NO concentration and SOD activity.

Adult ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nitric Oxide ; metabolism ; Oligospermia ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; Phytotherapy ; Semen ; chemistry ; Sperm Count ; Sperm Motility ; drug effects ; Superoxide Dismutase ; metabolism

Acupuncture Points ; Gastritis, Atrophic ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Health Planning Guidelines ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional

OBJECTIVES: To select a Y-STR marker system with strong haplotype identification ability, appropriate mutation rate and high compatibility and to assess its forensic application. METHODS: The 24 Y-STR loci were tested by self-built fluorescent multiplex system, and the forensic assessment was conducted by 139 pairs of father-son samples collected in Jinan, Shandong province. RESULTS: Totally 176 alleles were identified among the 24 Y-STR loci in the sample of 139 unrelated individuals labeled with father, and the gene diversity （GD） distributed between 0.083 7 （DYS645）-0.966 9 （DYS385a/b）. According to the 24 Y-STR loci, 139 different haplotypes were detected from 139 unrelated male individuals labeled with father in Han population of Shandong province and with no shared haplotype observed. The overall haplotype diversity （HD） was 1 and the discrimination capacity （DC） was 1. A total of 5 one-step mutations events were observed among the 24 Y-STR loci in 139 pairs of father-son. The average mutation rate was 0.001 5 [95% CI （0.000 5, 0.003 5）]. CONCLUSIONS The system of 24 Y-STR loci shows a strong individual recognition ability and low mutation rate in the population in Jinan, Shandong province, and it has good application value in forensic science.
Alleles ; China ; Chromosomes, Human, Y ; Forensic Genetics ; Forensic Sciences ; Genetic Variation ; Genetics, Population ; Haplotypes ; Humans ; Male ; Mutation Rate ; Population Groups