Prediabetes is an abnormal condition between normal glucose metabolism and diabetes mellitus. Impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) is an indicator of high-risk state of prediabetes. Positive interventions of IGT, including life style changes and pharmacological intervention, can effectively postpone and reduce the development of prediabetes into type 2 diabetes mellitus, suggesting that IGT is a key point of diabetes prevention. Currently, pharmacological intervention for prediabetes is still at early stage. In this review, we summarizes recent clinical and preclinical studies on pharmacological intervention for prediabetes, and studies in the development of animal models with IGT and the application of new techniques. We also discuss the prospects of drugs for diabetes prevention, especially with the traditional Chinese medicine.
Animals ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; prevention & control ; Disease Models, Animal ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Glucose Intolerance ; Humans ; Prediabetic State ; drug therapy

Objective To summarize the experience of laparoscopic cholecystectomhy(LC) in the treatment of acute cholecystitis in senile patients. Methods A retrospective review was made on 279 cases of LC in senile patients,involving 263 cases of acute calculous cholecystitis,8 cases of gallbladder adenoma,5 cases of polypoid gallbladder lesions,and 3 cases of acute cholecystitis with unknown causes.Out of the 279 cases,there were 25 cases of gallbladder hydrops accompanying stones impacted in the neck and 23 cases of atrophic cholecystitis. Results The success rate of LC was 87.5%(244/279),and LC was converted to open surgery in 35 cases.No serious complications or fatal cases happened. Conclusions For senile patients,acute cholecystitis is often complicated with other diseases,which increases peri-operative risks.To prevent and minimize the occurrence of complications,strict adherence to surgical indications,proper management of co-morbidities,and broadening indications of conversions to open surgery are all considered essential.

Objective To study the diagnosis and treatment of synchronous gastric cancer and gastric stromal tumor in 18 cases. Methods Clinical data of 18 cases of synchronous occurrence of gastric cancer and gastric stromal tumor from January 1996 to December 2009 were analyzed retrospectively.Results Clinical features of all cases were atypical. There was 1 case diagnosed preoperatively, 3 cases diagnosed intraoperatively and 14 cases diagnosed postoperatively. The mean size of gastric cancer and gastric stromal tumor was (3.3±2.3) cm and (0.9 ±0.5) cm respectively. There were 16 cases of gastric stromal tumor in low risk of malignance and 2 cases in moderate risk of malignance. All cases were operated without complications and the 1-year, 3-year and 5-year overall survival rate was 88.2%, 63.2% and 36. 1% respectively. Conclusions Clinical features of synchronous occurrence of gastric cancer and gastric stromal tumor are atypical, in this series most gastric stromal tumors are in early stage and of low risk of malignance. The prognosis of patients with synchronous occurrence of gastric cancer and gastric stromal tumor mainly depends on gastric cancer.

OBJECTIVEThe aims of Asian Men's Attitudes to Life Events and Sexuality (Asian MALES)-China study were to identify the prevalence of erectile dysfunction (ED) and related health concerns in the general male population in China, and to examine the attitudes and behaviors of men in relation to these health issues.

METHODSA total of 2055 men aged 20-75 years were included in Phase-I MALES study using a standardized questionnaire, and another 225 recruited from the sub-sample of Phase-I MALES participants with reported ED and some ED patients from other sources were involved in Phase-II Asian MALES- China study, with the prevalence of ED and men's associated attitudes as the main measure.

RESULTSThe overall rate of ED in the Asian MALES-China sample was 5.9%. The rate of self-reported ED rose with age increase. A higher rate of ED was reported in men with co-morbid medical conditions and risk factors, including cardiovascular disease, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and depression, and so were the rates of these co-morbid conditions in ED patients. Data from Phase-II Asian MALES-China indicated that among men with reported ED, only 17% would seek treatment.

CONCLUSIONThe rate of ED is high in Chinese men and it is associated with co-morbid conditions. For Chinese men, it is necessary to know more about ED and to seek safe and effective treatment of its symptoms.

Adult ; Age Factors ; Aged ; Attitude to Health ; China ; epidemiology ; Comorbidity ; Erectile Dysfunction ; epidemiology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prevalence ; Risk Factors ; Sexuality ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Objective To investigate the impact of blood glucose level on the recurrence of liver cancer after laparoscopic surgery. Methods The clinical data of 98 patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma from January 2012 to January 2015 were retrospectively analyzed. All patients were treated by laparoscopic radical resection of hepatocellular carcinoma. Patients were divided into elevated blood glucose group (n = 23) and control group (n = 75) according to whether the fasting blood glucose was ≥6.1 mmol/L. The recurrence of liver cancer in 1 year and 2 years after operation was compared. The factors influencing the recurrence of liver cancer were analyzed by univariate and multivariate analysis. Results The recurrence rates were 47.82% and 21.33% respectively in the patients with elevated blood glucose and the control group. The recurrence rates were 73.91% and 36.00%respectively in the 2-year postoperative patients with blood glucose and 1 year and 2 years. The recurrence rate was higher than that of the control group, the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Logistic multivariate analysis showed that fasting blood glucose was high, Child-Pugh grade B, intraoperative blood transfusion, lymphatic invasion, high clinical pathology stage, postoperative alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) high, no postoperative adjuvant therapy (P < 0.05). Conclusion The recurrence rate of patients with elevated liver cancer after laparoscopic surgery is high, and fasting blood glucose is high, Child-Pugh grade is B grade, blood transfusion is high, there is lymphatic invasion, high clinical pathology stage after AFP high, no postoperative adjuvant therapy for its postoperative recurrence of risk factors, should strengthen the monitoring of high-risk patients, reduce postoperative recurrence rate.

To study the contribution of T cell subsets in the pathogenesis of Murine hepatitis virus Type3 (MHV-3) induced chronic viral hepatitis in C3H/Hej mice, ninety C3H/Hej mice were chosen to individually receive 10 plaque forming units (PFU) of MHV-3 intraperitoneally. The changes of virus titer and pathology in liver tissue were examined by standard plaque assay and by the hematoxylin/eosin (HE) staining method from 2 days post MHV-3 infection. The ratios of T cell subsets including CD3+CD4+CD8-, CD3+CD4-CD8+, CD3+CD4-CD8-, CD3+CD4+CD25+, CD3+CD4+CD25- and CD3+CD4-CD25+ T lymphocyte of total T lymphocytes in blood, spleen and liver were examined at 0, 2, 4, 6,8, 10, 12, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40 days post MHV-3 infection by flow cytosorting. We observed that the virus titer raised and showed persistent virus duplications and inflammatory changes in the livers of C3H/Hej mice from 2 days post MHV-3 infection. The double negative T cell (DN Treg cell) and CD4+CD25+ T cell ratios increased significantly from 2 days post MHV-3 infection in C3H/Hej mice, and CD3+CD4+CD8-, CD3+CD4-CD8+, CD3+CD4+CD25- and CD3+CD4-CD25+ T cell ratios decreased accordingly. In conclusion, the changes of virus titer and pathology in the livers of C3H/Hej mice post MHV-3 suggest their contribution to viral persistence. Further characterizations of DN Treg cells are that infection indicates that MHV-3 could induce the chronic inflammation in livers of C3H/Hej mice.The increase of the DN Treg cell and CD4+CD25+ T cell ratios in C3H/Hej mice post MHV-3 infection suggests that DN Treg cells and CD4+CD25+ T cells may both have important suppressive immunomodulation functions in the development of chronic viral hepatitis and have important roles in the virus persistent infection. Further characterizations of DNT cell and CD4+CD25+ T cell are under investigation.

Tobacco smoking is a global healthcare problem that poses a substantial and costly health burden. Nicotine is the major constituent responsible for the addiction to tobacco. Current strategies helping tobacco smokers have limited utility in increasing rates of smoking cessation, consequently indicating the need for alternative therapies. A novel therapeutic method is vaccination against nicotine. Nicotine vaccine can generate specific antibodies that can sequester nicotine from cigarette smoke in the blood, and prevent its access to the brain and minimize positive reinforcing effects, which may help smokers to stop smoking. The vaccine will have great potential for the treatment of nicotine addiction and for relapse prevention. Here we will review the current status of vaccines against nicotine addiction and discuss the problems associated with the development of nicotine vaccines.
Clinical Trials as Topic ; Humans ; Nicotine ; antagonists & inhibitors ; immunology ; Smoking ; immunology ; therapy ; Smoking Cessation ; methods ; Tobacco Use Disorder ; immunology ; therapy ; Vaccination ; methods ; Vaccines ; therapeutic use

AIMTo investigate effects of (-), (+)-7-hydroxy-clausenamide (7-OH-Clau) on basal synaptic transmission in the dentate gyrus of anesthetized rats.

METHODSExtracellular recording of the population spike (PS) of hippocampal dentate gyrus following application of low-frequency stimulation (1/30 Hz, 1.0 mA).

RESULTSFifteen, thirty and sixty minutes after intracerebroventricular (icv) administration of an estimated final brain concentration of 2 x 10(-6) mol.L-1, (-)-7-OH-Clau caused over 30% increase relative to basal PS amplitude before administration, and 27%-41% increase relative to vehicle control (P < 0.05), while (+)-7-OH-Clau exhibited 18%-25% and 11%-20% decrease in the PS amplitude when compared with basal PS amplitude and vehicle control (P < 0.05), respectively.

CONCLUSIONThe basal synaptic transmission in the dentate gyrus of the rat hippocampus can be potentiated by (-)-7-OH-Clau and attenuated by (+)-7-OH-Clau, indicating that there was a stereoselective difference between the two enantiomers in the modulation of synaptic responses and plasticity.

Action Potentials ; drug effects ; Animals ; Dentate Gyrus ; drug effects ; physiology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials ; drug effects ; Injections, Intraventricular ; Lactams ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Lignans ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Male ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Rutaceae ; chemistry ; Stereoisomerism ; Synaptic Transmission ; drug effects

Objective To observe the effects of 630 nm red light and 460 nm blue light emitting diode irradiation on the healing of skin wounds in Japanese big-ear white rabbits. Methods The skin wound model was established with 8 Japanese big-ear white rabbits. Three parts of vulnus in each rabbit were used:two parts of vulnus were irradiated vertically by red and blue LED light,respectively(15 min/time),and the distance between lights and wounds was 15 cm;the 3part of the wound was used as a control. On the 21day of the wounds exposure to light,the number of healing wounds and the percentage of healing area were recorded and the treatment effect of these two light sources was compared. HE staining was used to analyze the newborn tissue structure. Masson staining was used to observe the proliferation of skin collagen fibers. Immuohistochemical staining was used to analyze fibroblast growth factor(FGF),epidermal growth factor(EGF),endothelial growth factor(CD31),proliferating cell nuclear antigen(Ki-67),and inflammatory cytokines(CD68)infiltration in the skin. Results The healing rate in the red light,blue light,and control groups was 50.0%(4/8),25.0%(2/8),and 12.5%(1/8),respectively. Since the 12day after modeling,the healing area percentage in the red light group was significantly higher than those in the blue light and control groups(P<0.05,P<0.01). On the 21day after modeling,the skin thickness of the red light group was(2.95±0.34)mm,which was significantly higher than that in control group [(2.52±0.42)mm;F=3.182,P=0.016)]. The average optical density of collagen fibers was 0.15±0.03 in red light group,which was significantly higher than that of the blue light group(0.09±0.01;F=7.316,P=0.012)and control(0.07±0.01;F=7.316,P=0.003). The results of immunohistochemistry showed the expression levels of EGF,FGF,CD31 antigen,and Ki-67 in the red light group were significantly higher than those in the blue light and control groups,whereas the CD68 expression was significantly lower(P<0.05 or P<0.01). Conclusion LED red light irradiation can promote the healing of skin wounds in Japanese big-ear white rabbits,which may be achieved by the effect of red light irradiation in stimulating the proliferation of skin epidermal cells,vascular endothelial cells,and fiberous tissue.

AIMTo assess the psychometric properties of the Chinese Index of Premature Ejaculation (CIPE).

METHODSThe sexual function of 167 patients with and 114 normal controls without premature ejaculation (PE) were evaluated with CIPE. All subjects were married and had regular sexual activity. The CIPE has 10 questions, focusing on libido, erectile function, ejaculatory latency, sexual satisfaction and difficulty in delaying ejaculation, self-confidence and depression. Each question was responded to on a 5 point Likert-type scale. The individual question score and the total scale score were analyzed between the two groups.

RESULTSThere were no significant differences between the age, duration of marriage and educational level (P> 0.05) of patients with and without PE and normal controls. The mean latency of patients with PE and normal controls were 1.6 +/- 1.2 and 10.2 +/- 9.5 minutes, respectively. Significant differences between patients with (26.7 +/- 4.6) PE and normal controls (41.9 +/- 4.0) were observed on the total score of CIPE (P< 0.01). Using binary logistic regression analysis, PE was significantly related to five questions of the original measure. They are the so-called the CIPE-5 and include: ejaculatory latency, sexual satisfaction of patients and sexual partner, difficulty in delaying ejaculation, anxiety and depression. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis of CIPE-5 questionnaire indicated that the sensitivity and specificity of CIPE were 97.60 % and 94.74 %, respectively. Employing the total score of CIPE-5, patients with PE could be divided into three groups: mild (>15 point) 19.8 %, moderate (10-14 point) 62.8 % and severe (< 9 point) 16.7 %.

CONCLUSIONThe CIPE-5 is a useful method for the evaluation of sexual function of patients with PE and can be used as a clinical endpoint for clinical trials studying the efficacy of pharmacological intervention.

Adult ; Aged ; Algorithms ; China ; Coitus ; Ejaculation ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Orgasm ; physiology ; Penile Erection ; physiology ; Psychometrics ; ROC Curve ; Sexual Dysfunction, Physiological ; classification ; diagnosis ; psychology ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Time Factors