Based on the differentiation of deficiency (hyporeactivity) and excess (hyperreactivity) syndromes according to the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) logic, 65 labyrinthine tinnitus cases of the example was classified into three groups, the excess constitutional type (18 cases), the deficiency constitutional type (37 cases) and the intermediate type (10 cases). Acupuncture treatment was carried out under the guidance of the basic principles of "seeking the fundamental of a disease in treatment"based on TCM.
The effect was evaluated using two parameters of subjective tinnitus assessment score in a special questionnaire (STS) and objective tinnitus loudness level in dB SL (OTL). Based on the changes in STS and OTL before and after the end of all therapeutic courses, the gross effective rate (GER) of 65 cases containing effective STS or OTL was 72.3%, while the strict effective rate where both STS and OTL showed effective (BER) was 47.7%. Among the three TCM syndromes differentiation groups, the excess constitutional type had the best therapeutic effect (66.7%of BER), fellows the deficiency constitutional type (48.7%of BER), and the intermediate type was the worst (only 10%of BER). Statistically, there was a significant difference among each syndrome differentiation group (p<0.05).
Meanwhile, the entire GER and BER went down to 55.4%and 38.5%respectively 2 months after the end of treatment to show a decreasing tendency of therapeutic effectiveness compared with those treatment rates immediately after the end of treatment. Especially, GER of the deficiency constitutional type showed a significant decrease (P<0.05).
We concluded that the TCM differentiation of deficiency and excess syndromes is a prerequisite for the determination of a correct acupuncture treatment for labyrinthine tinnitus. Through a thorough analysis and treatment on 65 clinical cases, the tinnitus of the excess constitutional type showed a higher reactivity for the treatment comparing to the other two types, the deficiency and the intermediate.

Traditional Chinese acupuncture was used in four cases of intractable tinnitus associated with presbyacusis, showing greater losses at higher frequencies while lower frequencies were only slightly below the normal threshold on a pure tone audiogram. Further audiologic evaluation by means of a speech discrimination test and short-increment sensitivity index (SISI) showed that cases 1 and 2 were the labyrinthine impairment type, case 3 was the mixed type, and case 4 was the retrolabyrinthine type. However, the etiology and pathogenesis of all patients were diagnosed as constitutional deficiency of kidney essence failing to nourish both the ear and brain, the so-called “sea of marrow” based on TCM differentiation. Following the principle of invigorating kidney essence and nourishing “Kidney Qi, ” acupuncture treatment was given around the ear as well as at distal points on the extremities once a week, with 10 sessions constituting one therapeutic course.
In cases 1, 2 and 3, a temporary minor reduction effect of tinnitus lasting half a day to a few days could usually be achieved by each acupuncture session, and long-term effects, with significant improvement of subjective intensity and loudness of tinnitus (which always dropped to 1/2-1/3 of the pretreatment levels) was possibly obtained after 3-4 treatment sessions. Acupuncture was less effective in case 4, in which some fluctuation of tinnitus loudness values was reported within the period of treatment, but there was no remarkable stable improvement, either in terms of loudness or disturbance of the tinnitus after 10 treatment sessions.
The results indicate that traditional Chinese acupuncture is a recommendable therapy in treating age-related tinnitus, especially the labyrinthine type or mixed type rather than the retrolabyrinthine type.

Cisplatin, a platinum-based chemotherapeutic drug, has been used for over 30 years in a wide variety of cancers with varying degrees of success. In particular, cisplatin has been used to treat late stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) as the standard of care. However, therapeutic outcomes vary from patient to patient. Considerable efforts have been invested to identify biomark-ers that can be used to predict cisplatin sensitivity in NSCLC. Here we reviewed current evidence for cisplatin sensitivity biomarkers in NSCLC. We focused on several key pathways, including nucleotide excision repair, drug transport and metabolism. Both expression and germline DNA variation were evaluated in these key pathways. Current evidence suggests that cisplatin-based treatment could be improved by the use of these biomarkers.

In this review, we advance a new concept in developing vaccines and/or drugs to target specific proteins expressed during the early stage of Bacillus anthracis (an thrax) infection and address existing challenges to this concept. Three proteins (immune inhibitor A, GPR-like spore protease, and alanine racemase) initially identified by proteomics in our laboratory were found to have differential expres sions during anthrax spore germination and early outgrowth. Other studies of different bacillus strains indicate that these three proteins are involved in either germination or cytotoxicity of spores, suggesting that they may serve as potential targets for the design of anti-anthrax vaccines and drugs.

Carcinoma ; diagnostic imaging ; secondary ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms ; pathology ; Pancreatic Neoplasms ; diagnostic imaging ; secondary ; Ultrasonography

AIM: Combine disproportionality analysis with dynamically interactive graphics to understand spontaneously-reported adverse events in pharmacovigilance. METHODS: Four statistical methods, including Reporting Odds Ratio, Proportional Reporting Ratio, Multi-Item Gamma Poisson Shrinker and Bayesian Confidence Propagation Neural Network that are used for computing disproportionality are described. Tree maps and other graphical techniques are used to display the disproportionality results. RESULTS: Spontaneously-reported adverse events in pharmacovigilance are collected from physicians, patients, or the medical literature by regulatory agencies, pharmaceutical companies and device manufacturers to monitor the safety of a product once it reaches the market. In order to identify potential safety-signals, disproportionality analysis methods compare the rate at which a particular event of interest co-occurs with a given drug with the rate this event occurs without the drug in the event database. Tree maps are employed to interactively display the adverse events for particular drugs and compare the adverse events among the drugs. CONCLUSION Interactive graphical displays of disproportionality allow the analyst to quickly identify safety signals and perform additional follow-up analyses. Combining statistical methods with dynamically interactive graphics affords insights into the data inaccessible by traditional analysis methods.
Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Systems ; statistics & numerical data ; Bayes Theorem ; Data Interpretation, Statistical ; Databases, Factual ; Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions ; Humans ; Odds Ratio ; Pharmacovigilance ; Product Surveillance, Postmarketing ; statistics & numerical data

Objective　To explore the role of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in distinguishing malignant from benign pleural disease. Methods　All 64 patients were examined with both computed tomography (CT) and MRI. The morphologic features of pleural lesions and MR signal intensity on T1-weighted, T2-weighted and contrast-enhanced T1-weighted images were evaluated. Results　Mediastinal pleural involvement, circumferential pleural thickening, nodularity, irregularity of pleural contour, and infiltration of the chest wall and/or diaphragm were most suggestive of a malignant cause on CT and MR images. Contrary to what has been reported in the literature, pleural thickness greater than 1?cm either on CT or on MRI did not reveal a significant difference between malignant and benign pleural disease (P>0.05, chi-square test). Using morphologic features in combination with signal intensity features, MRI had a sensitivity of 98% and a specificity of 92% in the detection of pleural malignancy. Conclusions　Compared with those on CT, the morphologic features on MRI allowed a mostly equal and in some cases superior detection and evaluation of the spread of pleural disease. In combination with signal intensity and morphologic features, MRI is very useful in distinguishing malignant from benign pleural disease.

Hemangioblastomas are World Health Organization (WHO) Grade I neoplasms of the hindbrain and spinal cord, whose management can be complicated by preoperative hemorrhage. We report on a case of a young female in extremis with posterior fossa hemorrhage following rupture of a fusiform posterior meningeal artery aneurysm embedded within a medullary hemangioblastoma. We discuss management options, including operative staging and embolization, and review similar cases of hemangioblastoma associated with aneurysm.
Aneurysm* ; Female ; Hemangioblastoma* ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Intracranial Hemorrhages ; Meningeal Arteries* ; Rhombencephalon ; Rupture ; Spinal Cord ; World Health Organization

Minocycline, a tetracycline antibiotic, is now known to protect cells via an anti-inflammatory mechanism. We further explored this effect using an in vitro model of ischemia-like injury to neurons. Coculturing neurons with microglia, the brain's resident immune cell, modestly increased cell death due to oxygen and glucose deprivation (OGD), compared to neurons alone. Treatment of cocultures with minocycline decreased cell death to a level significantly lower than that of neurons alone. Treatment of cocultures with minocycline or inhibitors of various immune mediators, also led to decreased cell death. Importantly, treatment of neuron cultures without added microglia with these same inhibitors of tissue plasminogen activator, matrix metalloproteinases, TNF-alpha and inducible nitric oxide synthase as well as minocycline also led to decreased cell death. Thus, anti-inflammatory treatments appear to be directly protective of neurons from in vitro ischemia.
Cell Death ; Coculture Techniques ; Glucose ; Ischemia ; Matrix Metalloproteinases ; Microglia ; Minocycline ; Neurons ; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II ; Oxygen ; Tetracycline ; Tissue Plasminogen Activator ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha