OBJECTIVETo investigate the efficiency of Spanishneedles Herb eye drops in treating perimenopausal xerophthalmia in rabbits.

METHODTotally 36 rabbits (36 right eyes) were ovariectomized, and 2 months later divided into three groups: the experimental group (group A, n = 12) given Spanishneedles Herb eye drops, the control group (group B, n = 12) given PBS and the model group (group C, n = 12) given no drug. The Schirmer I test (SIT), fluorescent (FL), total tear protein, diastase activity, lactoferrin and lysozyme contents and confocal scanning microscopy were performed at before the treatment and at 1 w, 2 w, 1 mo, 2 mo after the treatment.

RESULTBefore the treatment, There was no significant difference in SIT, FL, total tear protein, lysozyme, lactoferrin and amylase activity between two groups. Two months later after the treatment, both the group B and the group A showed differences degrees of changes in SIT, FL, total tear protein, lysozyme, lactoferrin and amylase activity compared with that before the treatment, with statistical differences (P < 0.05); At each time point, both groups revealed statistical differences in SIT, FL, total tear protein, lysozyme, lactoferrin and amylase activity (1 < 0.05). Two months later alter the treatment, densities of basal epithelial cells and inflammatory cells in the group A were (4 122 ±416) cells/mm2 and (339 ± 131) cells/mm2, while that in the group B were (3 343 ± 424) cells/mm2 and (49 ± 17) cells/mm2, with statistical differences between them (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSpanishneedles Herb eye drops could effectively treat perimenopausal xerophthalmia in rabbit caused by sex hormones decline.

Animals ; Asteraceae ; chemistry ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; Female ; Humans ; Ophthalmic Solutions ; administration & dosage ; Perimenopause ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Rabbits ; Tears ; secretion ; Xerophthalmia ; drug therapy ; metabolism

· AIM: This study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of anterior lens capsule inclusion in combined trabeculectomy and cataract surgery in preventing scar formation of the filtering bleb in rabbit model.· METHODS: Twerty-Four eyes (12 rabbits) with glaucoma model were studied, anterior lens capsule inclusion in trabeculectomy with the small-incision cataract surgery were performed on all right eyes (experimental group) and no implants were applicator in trabeculectomy with the small-incision cataract surgery on all left eyes (control group). These operated eyes were followed up from day 1 to 6 months postoperatively. Intraocular pressure (IOP) was measured and filtering blebs were observed after surgery. Other main outcome measures: cornea、conjunctiva、formation of the anterior chamber, anterior chamber depth、inflammatory reaction、achievement ratio of operation and complications were analyzed. On week 1, 2, 4, 12 and 24 after surgery the animal were killed in batch. Tissue was harvested from the bleb area and was made pathological section. HE staining、light microscope and micro photo analysis technique were applied to observe the cytological and histopathologic characteristics of the filtering tunnels.· RESULTS: There were significant differences between the two groups on IOP (1, 2, 4 weeks)、filtration bleb, achievement ratio of operation and complications. In experimental group, at the first month postoperatively, anterior lens capsule absorption started with inflammatory characteristics. The peak of inflammatory reaction occurred 1 week after operation and all the cells in the filtrating tunnel disappeared 6month after surgery. The fibroblast proliferation in control group occurred at I week and the filtrating tunnel closed with angiogenesis at 1 month after surgery. Fibroblast proliferation started 1week after surgery with no statistical difference during the time course (P ＞0.05). Significant statistical differences were observed by comparing the fibro blasts numbers per unit area in the filtrating tunnel in experimental group and those in control groups (P＜0.05).· CONCLUSION: Anterior lens capsule was totally absorbed at 6 months postoperatively. Anterior lens capsule inclusion in trabeculectomy with cataract surgery can possibly control intraocular pressure effectively, long-term sustainability of functional filtration bleb, inhibition of the proliferation of fibroblasts and opening of the filtrating pathway in the experimental animal models were satisfied. Compared to the control group, anterior lens capsule application has less complication.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the clinical effect of spanishneedles leaves on middle and severe xerophthalmia of menopausal females.

METHODThis study was a prospective random controlled trial. Ninty-six menopausal females diagnosed with xerophthalmnia (aged from 40 to 50) were randomly divided into in two groups: group A' the spanishneedles leaves group (n=48) and group B' the control group (n=48). Both groups were treated with Forte eye drops. All patients were detected at 3, 7, 28 h before and after treatment to evaluate subjective symptoms, OSDI and four tear film indicators. Variance analysis and differential analysis on sample average or median were made on both groups before and after treatment.

RESULTThere were no significant difference in symptom and diction indicators between both groups before treatment. For 28 d after treatment, among middle and severe xerophthalmia samples of the spanishneedles leaves group, the mean differences showed significant improvement compared with that before treatment , OSDI and four tear film indicators also showed improvement to varying degrees. For 28 d after treatment, among middle and severe xerophthalmia samples of the vitamin C group, the mean differences showed no significant improvement compared with that before treatment , OSDI and four tear film indicators also showed no remarkable improvement. There were significant differences in OSDI, BUT, SIT, height of tear meniscus and FL between both groups.

CONCLUSIONSpanishneedles leaves can effectively improve symposiums and signs of middle and severe xerophthalmia among menopausal females and thus showing clinical significance to some extent.

Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Menopause ; Middle Aged ; Plant Leaves ; chemistry ; Plants, Medicinal ; Treatment Outcome ; Xerophthalmia ; drug therapy

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the effect of perioperative continuous epidural morphine administration on plasma D-dimer level in patients undergoing total hip replacement.

METHODSForty ASA I-II patients undergoing total hip replacement under epidural anesthesia were randomized into two groups. In one group, the patients were given epidural administration of morphine 15 min before operation at 4 mg (in 10 ml normal saline) and for 48 h after the operation at 80 microg/h, while those in the other group received epidural injection of the same amount of normal saline before operation and 0.15% ropivacaine 2.0 ml/h for 48 h in the same manner after operation. Blood samples were taken before anesthesia (T(0)), at the end of operation (T(1)), and 24 h and 48 h after operation (T(2) and T(3)) for determination of plasma IL-6 and D-dimer levels.

RESULTSIn both groups plasma IL-6 and D-dimer levels showed significant increase at T(1), T(2) and T(3) in comparison with those at T(0), and their levels were significantly lower in morphine group than in ropivacaine group at T(1), T(2) and T(3).

CONCLUSIONEpidural morphine can lower plasma IL-6 and D-dimer levels and correct blood hypercoagulability in patients undergoing total hip replacement.

Aged ; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip ; Female ; Fibrin Fibrinogen Degradation Products ; metabolism ; Humans ; Injections, Epidural ; Interleukin-6 ; blood ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Morphine ; administration & dosage ; Perioperative Care ; Postoperative Period

OBJECTIVETo retrospectively analyze the medical treatment of 332 patients with lower leg fracture in Wenchuan earthquake admitted in West China Hospital.

METHODSFrom May 12, 2008 to June 15, 2008, 332 patients with lower leg fracture injured in Wenchuan earthquake were treated in our hospital. The data on trauma condition and clinical treatment were collected and analyzed.

RESULTSAmong the 332 cases of lower leg fracture, there were 179 cases of open fracture, accounting for 53.9%, in which 91% belonged to Gustilo II or III injury with serious pollution. Many patients had posttraumatic complications, vascular and nerve injury, wound infection or osteofascial compartment syndrome. After medical treatment, blood vessels were reconnected, wound surface was repaired and wound infection was under control.

CONCLUSIONFor the patients with lower leg fracture in earthquake, we followed the principle of "complete debridement - restoring the continuity of bone bracket-timely recovering blood supply of limbs and repairing nerve damage - repair the wound surface at stage I or II " so as to reduce the incidence of amputation and infection.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Child ; China ; Compartment Syndromes ; etiology ; Earthquakes ; Female ; Fracture Healing ; Fractures, Bone ; surgery ; Humans ; Leg ; blood supply ; innervation ; Leg Injuries ; surgery ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies

This study was purposed to construct and identify the short hairpin RNA (shRNA) eukaryotic expression vector for targeting gene mdr-1 which may play an important role in K562/A02. Short hairpin RNA (shRNA) aiming at the target sequence was to synthesized, the 3491-3509, 1539-1557and 3103-3121 nucleotide of mdr-1 mRNA were selected as targets. The selected nucleotides were cloned in the plasmid pGCSilencer-U6-neo-GFP respectively, and the resultant recombinant plasmids were named as pGY1-1, pGY1-2 and pGY1-3. The sequences of the recombinant plasmids were identified by DNA sequencing and PCR electrophoresis. The recombinant plasmids were transfected into the cell line K562/A02 by lipofection. After being transfected for 48 hours, the inhibition of mdr-1 mRNA was detected by real time-PCR, and P-gp expression was detected by Western blot. The results showed that the specific oligonucleotide was cloned into the vector successfully, and the expression of mdr-1 mRNA and P-gp in K562/A02 cells was reduced after transfecting the recombinant plasmid, as compared to the control group. It is concluded that the shRNA eukaryotic expression vector has been successfully established which can inhibit the expression of mdr-1 mRNA, setting up the basis to futher explore the effects of mdr-1 on cell line of K562/A02.
ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Sub-Family B ; ATP-Binding Cassette, Sub-Family B, Member 1 ; genetics ; Drug Resistance, Multiple ; genetics ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm ; genetics ; Gene Expression ; Genetic Vectors ; Humans ; K562 Cells ; Plasmids ; RNA, Small Interfering ; genetics ; Transfection

OBJECTIVETo assess the feasibility of the 10 microg recombination yeast hepatitis B vaccine in the expanded applicable population group aged 5 - 18.

METHODSPeople with both HBsAg and anti-HBs negative were selected to take two-stage clinical experiment and the safety and immunogenicity were observed. Safety observation was conducted in 925 subjects, while 568 for immunogenicity. The observation group (aged 5 - 18) included 493 subjects, and (age > 18) 75 enrolled in control group. For the observation group, there were three sub-groups including a child group (141, aged 5 - 6), early youth group (177, aged 12 - 13), and youth group (175, aged 16 - 18). Both groups were administered with 10 microg recombination yeast hepatitis B vaccines with 3 doses at 0 month, 1st month, 6th month. To assess the immunogenicity, the vaccination reactions were observed during the following 4 weeks in order to assess the vaccine safety. The blood samples were taken during 4 - 6 weeks after fully vaccinated, and then anti-HBs were tested with RIA and analyzed by comparing the positive rate of anti-HBs, the geometric mean titer (GMT) and the protective rate between the two groups.

RESULTSBoth observation and control group didn't show any general reactions, adverse events following immunization (AEFI) or coincidental cases when observed at 0.5 h, 6 h, 24 h, 48 h, 72 h, 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 4 weeks after being vaccinated. The result of serum test showed, the positive rates of child group, early youth group, youth group and control group were respectively 100.00% (141/141), 97.18% (172/177), 98.29% (172/175) and 89.33% (67/75); the GMTs of anti-HBs were respectively 440.28, 875.38, 467.80, 131.06 U/L; the protective rates were respectively 100.00% (141/141), 97.18% (172/177), 97.14% (170/175) and 86.67% (65/75). The positive rate, GMT and protective rate of the experimental group were all higher than that of control group (chi(2)(positive rate) = 12.77, 5.12, 7.99; t(GMT) = 3.89, 4.13, 5.91; chi(2)(protective rate) = 16.81, 8.60, 8.44; P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThis vaccine could be expanded to 5 - 18 year-old population with safety and effectiveness, the positive rate and protective rate of anti-HBs were both higher than that of control group.

Adolescent ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Hepatitis B Antibodies ; blood ; immunology ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; blood ; immunology ; Hepatitis B Vaccines ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; immunology ; Humans ; Male ; Vaccines, Synthetic ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; immunology

This study was purposed to investigate the effect of a hypoxia-inducible factor inhibitor (YC-1) on expression of hypoxia-inducible factor 1alpha (HIF-1alpha) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) as well as induction of apoptosis in leukemic cell lines. RT-PCR was used to determine the levels of HIF-1alpha mRNA and VEGF mRNA in K562, U937 and Jurkat cells. After treatment of U937 cell with 4 micromol/L YC-1, cell apoptosis was assayed by DAPI staining under fluorescent microscope and flow cytometry with Annexin V-FITC/PI staining; the expression levels of HIF-1alpha mRNA and VEGF mRNA were measured with RT-PCR; the expression levels of HIF-1alpha, VEGF, BAX, BCL-2 and caspase-3 proteins were measured by Western blot. The results showed that HIF-1alpha mRNA and VEGF mRNA were expressed in all three leukemia cell lines. After treatment of U937 cell with 4 micromol/L YC-1 for 0, 8, 16 and 24 hours, the changes of morphologic features of U937 cells could be observed under fluorescent microscope and the apoptotic rates significantly increased in time-dependent manner, they were (4.87 +/- 0.70)%, (27.27 +/- 2.00)%, (51.53 +/- 2.81) and (60.5 +/- 3.20)% respectively, the expression levels of VEGF mRNA reduced, while the expression levels of HIF-1alpha mRNA had no obviously changes.Furthermore, the expression of HIF-1alpha, VEGF and BCL-2 decreased, while the expression of BAX and caspase-3 increased, the ratio of BAX/BCL-2 increased in time-dependent manner (r = 0.973, p < 0.01). It is concluded that HIF-1alpha mRNA and VEGF mRNA are all expressed in in K562, U937 and Jurkat cells, YC-1 has significant effect on down-regulating the protein expression of HIF-1alpha and VEGF, and induces the apoptosis in U937. The mechanism of apoptosis in leukemic cells may involve in up-regulating BAX/BCL-2 ratio and expression of protein caspase-3.
Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Cell Hypoxia ; Gene Expression Regulation, Leukemic ; Humans ; Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit ; antagonists & inhibitors ; metabolism ; Indazoles ; pharmacology ; Jurkat Cells ; K562 Cells ; U937 Cells ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A ; metabolism

This study was purposed to investigate the angiogenesis effect of platelet-derived membrane microparticles (PMPs) in chick chorioallantoic membranes (CAM). Thrombin were adopted to activate the platelets and then PMPs were obtained. PMPs were isolated by high speed centrifugation. Flow cytometry (FCM) was adopted to evaluate the efficiency of thrombin to produce PMPs and BCA method was adopted to evaluate the content of PMPs. PMPs were put into CAM and the effects of PMPs on angiogenesis in CAM were observed. The results indicated that after incubation for 72 hours at the concentration of 80 microg/ml PMPs, the vessel nets in a 'spoked-wheel' pattern were shown around mixed fibrous filter membranes, number of vessel ramification was 112.5 +/- 11.31 and ratio of vessel area/CAM area was 6.19 +/- 1.29%, but there were not localized allantoic vessels developing in the control group, the number of vessel ramification and ratio of vessel area/CAM area in control group were 82.6 +/- 8.05 and 1.78 +/- 0.33 respectively, so there was significant difference between PMP and control groups. In above mentioned conditions, the number of vessel ramification and ratio of vessel area/CAM area in VEGF group were 128.4 +/- 10.02 and 7.44 +/- 1.36 respectively, so there was no difference between PMP and VEGF groups. It is concluded that PMPs show promotive effect on the formation of capillaries in chick chorioallantoic membranes.
Animals ; Blood Platelets ; physiology ; Cell-Derived Microparticles ; physiology ; Chick Embryo ; Chorioallantoic Membrane ; blood supply ; Humans ; Neovascularization, Physiologic ; drug effects ; Particle Size

This study was aimed to investigate the effect of platelet-derived microparticles (PMP) on stimulating the proliferation of granulocyte-macrophage progenitors (CFU-GM) from umbilical cord blood. Different concentrations of thrombin were adopted to activate the platelets for releasing PMP. Flow cytometry was adopted to evaluate the efficiencies of different concentrations of thrombin to produce PMP. Umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells (MNC) were obtained from healthy donors and the MNC were isolated by Ficoll density gradient centrifugation. MNC were cultured in 2.7% methylcellulose containing different concentration of PMP and colonies were counted under an inverted microscope after 7 days. The result showed that the release rate of PMP activated by 2.0, 1.5, 1.0 and 0.5 U/ml thrombin were 28.7%, 47.7%, 50.1% and 43.9% respectively. The PMP enhanced colony formation in dose-dependent manner. The number of colonies per 2 x 10(5) MNCs in groups of PMP at different concentrations (10, 50 and 100 microg/ml) were 119.8 +/- 32.2,142.8 +/- 45.2 and 180.8 +/- 85.1 respectively. The number of colonies in the groups of PMP at 100 microg/ml and 50 microg/ml were statistically significant when compared with control group (103.0 +/- 24.8) (P < 0.05). The number of colonies per 2 x 10(5) MNC in the group of PMP (10 microg/ml) was 119.8 +/- 32.2 which was higher than that in control group, but there was no statistical significance between two groups. It is concluded that platelet activated with 1.0 U/ml thrombin can get the best release efficiency of PMP and PMP can enhance the proliferation of granulocyte-macrophage progenitor cells of umbilical cord blood.
Blood Platelets ; metabolism ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Cells, Cultured ; Fetal Blood ; cytology ; Granulocyte Precursor Cells ; drug effects ; Humans ; Macrophages ; drug effects ; Phosphatidylserines ; metabolism ; Platelet Activation ; Platelet Factor 3 ; analysis