To against the emergence of drug-resistent candidiasis, the studys of synergism of natural compounds combine with antifungal agents in vitro showed a continuous growth in recent years. The paper reviewed recent progresses to compare the synergetic effect by FICI method, and to conclude the synergetic mechanisms which have been confirmed as a reference for futher study.
Antifungal Agents ; therapeutic use ; Candida albicans ; drug effects ; Drug Combinations ; Drug Resistance, Microbial ; drug effects ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; methods

OBJECTIVETo systematically evaluate acupuncture as a treatment for male infertility.

METHODSWe searched Chi na Biology Medical Database (CBM), Wan Fang Medical Information System, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), VIP Information Resource System (VIP), and PubMed for published literature on acupuncture as a treatment for male infertility on May 1 2014. Based on the Standards for Reporting Interventions in Clinical Trials of Acupuncture (STRICTA), we evaluated the quality of the reports, conducted meta-analysis on the identified studies via RevMan5.2, and assessed the quality of the evidence in the literature by Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE).

RESULTSA total of 12 studies involving 2,177 patients were included, the quality of which was evaluated as mediocre. With regard to the cure rate, acupuncture was comparable to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) (P > 0.05) but better than Western medicine (RR = 4.00, 95% CI 1.63 to 9.82, P < 0.01) while acupuncture + TCM was better than either TCM (RR = 1.77, 95% CI 1.20 to 2.60, P < 0.01) or Western medicine used alone (RR = 2.73, 95% CI 1.51 to 4.93, P < 0.01), and acupuncture + Western medicine was better than Western medicine alone (RR = 1.88, 95% CI 1.17 to 3.02, P = 0.01). The combined use of acupuncture, ear pressure, TCM, and Western medicine showed a higher cure rate than the combination of TCM and Western medicine (RR = 3.45, 95% CI 2.90 to 4.11, P < 0.01). In therapeutic effectiveness, acupuncture was comparable to TCM (P > 0.05) but superior to Western medicine (RR = 1.41, 95% CI 1.12 to 1.71, P < 0.01), acupuncture + TCM was superior to either TCM (RR = 1.14, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.23, P < 0.01) or Western medicine alone (RR = 1.43, 95% CI 1.22 to 1.67, P < 0.01), and acupuncture + Western medicine was superior to Western medicine alone (RR = 1.25, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.49, P = 0.01). In improving sperm concentration, acupuncture was as effective as TCM (P > 0.05) and sham acupuncture (P > 0.05) but outdid Western medicine (RR = 27.00, 95% CI 24.27 to 29.73, P < 0.01) and acupuncture + TCM outdid either TCM (RR = 14.65, 95% CI 7.58 to 21.72, P < 0.01) or Western medicine alone (RR = 1.04, 95% CI--1.43 to 3.51, P > 0.05). In improving grade a sperm, acupuncture exhibited a similar effect to TCM (P > 0.05) and sham acupuncture (P > 0.05), and acupuncture + TCM was more effective than TCM alone (RR = 7.78, 95% CI 3.51 to 12.23, P < 0.01) but equally effective as Western medicine (P > 0.05). In elevating the level of grade a + b sperm, acupuncture + TCM excelled either TCM (RR = 11.00, 95%, CI 3.17 to 18.82, P < 0.01) or Western medicine alone (RR = 12.22, 95% CI 6.87 to 17.57, P < 0. 01), while acupuncture produced a comparable effect with sham acupuncture (P > 0.05). As for the quality of the included studies, only 3 conclusions of the 23 meta-analyses were assessed to be of average quality, while the others of poor or extremely poor quality. Therefore, the recommendation grade of the conclusions was low.

CONCLUSIONFor the treatment of male infertility, acupuncture is reported to be equally effective as TMC and more effective than Western medicine, and its effectiveness is enhanced when applied in combination with either TCM or Western medicine. Acupuncture is distinctively efficacious in improving sperm quality. Nevertheless, the overall quality of the included studies is low.

Acupuncture Therapy ; China ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Infertility, Male ; therapy ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic, recurrent, and inflammatory skin disease. It usually occurs in children with a clinical manifestation of severe itching. In recent years the incidence of AD is slowly increasing, which severely impacts the physical and mental health of children. This article summarizes the epidemiology, influencing factors, and management of this diseases.
Dermatitis, Atopic ; epidemiology ; etiology ; therapy ; Humans ; Prognosis

OBJECTIVETo investigate the aciduric bacteria in different stages of the fissure caries in order to determine potential roles of the microflora in the development of dental caries.

METHODSPlaque samples were taken from 10 incipient carious fissures of the first permanent molars. Plaque samples were also collected from sound fissures of the first permanent molars in 10 other subjects who kept caries free over the past 2 years and from the above 10 subjects. The predominant bacteria were isolated by using both the most probable method in media at pH7.0 and 5.2, and the conventional plating methods. Streptococcus spp. was identified by means of API 20 Strep commercial kit.

RESULTSS. mutans was the predominant aciduric bacteria infissures of caries-free children and more frequently recovered at neutral pH. Whilst, S. sanguis was predominant at pH5.2 in sound and carious of fissures of caries-active children. The proportion of Gram-positive rods at pH5.2 was 82%, significantly greater than that of 61% at pH7.0.

CONCLUSIONThe ecology of plaque is complex and the composition of microflora at each stage of caries could be different. The composition of bacteria was consistent with the changes of local pH in the plaque.

Bacteria ; Child ; Dental Caries ; Dental Plaque ; Humans ; Molar

Objective To understand the carrying condition of the mutation gene of neonatal deafness in Huzhou City and explore the significance of the combination screening of hearing and deafness genes. Methods 2258 newborns who were born in Huzhou maternal and child health care hospital were screened for hearing and deafness and were followed up to the age of 3. Two kinds of complementarity and relativity of screening were analyzed. Early hearing screening was used by transient evoked otoacoustic emission (TEOAE) screening, hearing rescreening was used by TEOAE and autoauditory brainstem response (AABR) . Collected the neonatal umbilical cord blood and detected GJB2, SLC26A4, GJB3, mitochondrial 12SrRNA 4 genes 20 deafness mutations. Results Early hearing screening failed in 550 cases, with a failure rate of 24.36％. Detected in 118 cases of deafness gene carriers, total carrying rate was 5.23％. GJB2, SLC26A4, GJB3 and mitochondrial 12SrRNA gene mutation rate were 3.10％, 1.46％, 0.58％ and 0.09％ respectively. Initial failure rate of mother and child hearing screening was 16.30 ％ (300/1840) . The rate of gene transfer for deafness mutation was 5.65 ％ (104/1840) . Initial failure rate of NICU hearing screening was 59.81 ％ (250/418) . The rate of gene transfer for deafness mutation was 3.35％ (14/418) . The failure rate of initial hearing screening of NICU newborns was higher than that of mother and child (P<0.01) . There was no statistically significant difference in carrying rate between the two groups (P>0.05) . There was no statistical correlation between initial hearing screening andwhether or not to carry deaf mutation gene (P>0.05) . 52 infants were missed in this study. 12 patients were diagnosed with hearing impairment, and the hearing impairment rate was 0.54％. Among them, 9 cases were normal and 3 cases were abnormal. Conclusion Newborns hearing screening by whether or not had nothing to do with deafness gene.Hearing screening with deafness gene screening at the same time can reduce the delay in diagnosis of deafness and drug deafness can also be prevented early.

OBJECTIVETo study lysosomes involvement in the degradation of ricin A chain.

METHODSA lysosome-targeted singal KFERQ was added to the C terminus of rRTA by DNA recombinant technology. A pKK223.3 expression system in E. coli was used to produce recombinant ricine A chain (rRTA) and rRTA-KFERQ. Recombinant proteins were purified by affinity chromatography using Blue-Sepharose 6B. The cytotoxicity of recombinant proteins was measured by the MTT method.

RESULTSRecombinant RTA-KFERQ was 49.87%, 54.18% and 88.68% less cytotoxic than RTA itself on the three cell lines HEPG2, Hela and A549, respectively.

CONCLUSIONLysosomes can degrade, but not completely inactivate RTA in different cells, suggesting cells may have other degradation pathways for RTA.

Chromatography, Affinity ; Escherichia coli ; genetics ; metabolism ; HeLa Cells ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; pathology ; Lysosomes ; metabolism ; Recombinant Proteins ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; metabolism ; Ricin ; genetics ; metabolism ; Tumor Cells, Cultured

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of patients with heat-related il ness, and guide the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of heat-related il ness. METHODS: From June 2013 to August 2013, seventy patients with heat-related illness were treated at Jinshan Hospital of Fudan University, and their epidemiological characteristics, laboratory results, treatment and prognosis were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: In the 70 patients, 18 patients suffered from heat stroke and 52 patients from non-heat stroke. When the environmnent temperature was above 35 °C, the body temperature of the patients began to increase markedly. The patients with heat stroke were significantly older than those with non-heat stroke (P<0.05). The body temperature, heart rate, blood glucose, blood lactate dehydrogenase and blood creatine kinase in the patients with heat stroke were higher than those in the patients with non-heat stroke (P<0.05). Blood lactate dehydrogenase and blood creatine kinase were positively correlated with body temperature (r=0.801). CONCLUSION: When the environmental temperature goes above 35 °C, heat-related illness should be prevented, especially in the elderly. The body temperature, heart rate, blood glucose, blood lactate dehydrogenase and blood creatine kinase in patients with heat stroke are higher than those in patients with non-heat stroke. Blood lactate dehydrogenase and blood creatine kinase are positively correlated with body temperature, but their relationship with heat-related illness awaits further study.

OBJECTIVEThis study explored the dynamic expression of the E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase gene, Arkadia, in response to carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced liver fibrosis in a mouse model and investigated the differential expression that occurs following treatment with the anti-fibrotic bone morphogenetic protein-7 (BMP-7).

METHODSThirty healthy male imprinting control region (ICR) mice were randomly assigned to three groups: normal (control; n = 6), CCl4-induced model group (model; n = 18), and CCl4-induced model with BMP-7 treatment group (treatment; n = 6). The model group was further divided into three subgroups (n = 6 each) for analysis at 4, 8 and 12 weeks after fibrosis induction. Liver fibrosis was induced by hypodermic injections of 60% CCl4 /peanut oil (5 mL/kg) to the hind legs of mice two-times per week in alternating legs for a period of 12 weeks. At week 9, the treatment group of CCl4-induced mice were given an intraperitoneal injection of BMP-7 (300 pg/g) simultaneously with that day's hypodermic injection of 60% CCl4 /peanut oil, and then every other day for a period of four weeks. The pathological changes in liver tissues were observed after staining with hematoxylin-eosin (HE) and Masson's trichrome. Messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein expression of Arkadia in liver were evaluated using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry and Western blotting, respectively.

RESULTSMouse models of liver fibrosis were successfully established by CCl4 exposure. Arkadia, Smad7 and TGF-beta1 mRNA levels were up-regulated in the model group in a time-dependent manner (vs. control group), and BMP-7 treatment led to significant down-regulation of the CCl4-induced expression of the three genes (vs. control group: F = 812.80, 451.46, and 998.96, respectively; P less than 0.01). At week 12, the mRNA levels of Arkadia, Smad7, and TGF-b1 were significantly lower in the BMP-7 treatment group than in the model group (t = 12.108, 18.737, and 16.364, respectively; P less than 0.01). Arkadia, Smad7, and TGF-b1 protein staining was weak in the portal area of control liver tissue. In contrast, the model group showed significantly stronger staining for all three proteins in the portal area and in the cytoplasm of liver cells. The staining of Arkadia, Smad7, and TGF-b1 proteins was significantly lower in the treatment group (vs. control group: F = 8.399, 609.690, and 900.561, respectively; P < 0.01). At week 12, the protein levels of Arkadia, Smad7, and TGF-b1 were significantly lower in the treatment group than in the model group (t = 23.438, 11.667, and 42.889, respectively; P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONArkadia expression gradually increased along with the development of liver fibrosis but was suppressed by treatment with the anti-fibrotic factor, BMP-7.

Animals ; Bone Morphogenetic Protein 7 ; pharmacology ; Liver ; metabolism ; Liver Cirrhosis, Experimental ; metabolism ; prevention & control ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred ICR ; Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases ; metabolism ; Up-Regulation

OBJECTIVETo detect the DNA damage of mice endometrial cells induced by carbon disulfide with single cell gel electrophoresis (SCGE) and explore the mechanism of embryo implantation disorder.

METHODSEndometrial cells, obtained by mechanical scrape, were used to test cell viability by trypan blue. Single cell suspension was exposed to the different concentrations of carbon disulfide (CS(2)) at four dose groups (0, 500, 1000, 2500 micromol/L). DNA damage was detected by SCGE. The SCGE results were analyzed by CASP software.

RESULTSDifferent dosages of CS(2) concentration induced different varying degrees of damage, forming typical normal cell and comet cell images. Compared with the control group, HDNA% decreased by 7.49%, 12.19% and 24.36% respectively, and TDNA%, TL, OTM increased by 7.13, 11.60, 23.18, 3.68, 5.98, 9.62, and 9.16, 16.84, 39.32 times respectively, in the groups of 500, 1000, 2500 micromol/L CS(2) (P < 0.01). Compared with the group of 500, 1000 micromol/L CS(2), TDNA%, TL, CL, TM, OTM in the group of 2500 micromol/L CS(2) increased by 1.98, 0.92, 1.27, 0.52, 0.37 and 0.17, 5.31, 1.90, 2.97, 1.26 times respectively(P < 0.01). Compared with the group of 500 micromol/L CS(2), TDNA%, TL, CL, TM, OTM in the group of 1000 micromol/L CS(2) increased by 0.55, 0.49, 0.16, 1.18, 0.76 times respectively (P < 0.01). The result of regression analysis showed that regression coefficients between HDNA%, TDNA%, TL, TM, OTM and the doses were -13.78, 13.78, 0.05, 4.38 and 3.23 respectively.

CONCLUSIONSCS(2) exposure could induce DNA damage in the endometrial cells of mice at the phase of implantation. The degree of DNA damage increases with the increasing CS(2) concentration. CS(2) might affect the implantation of embryo by doing harm to the endometrial cells.

Animals ; Carbon Disulfide ; toxicity ; Comet Assay ; DNA Damage ; Embryo Implantation ; drug effects ; Endometrium ; cytology ; drug effects ; Female ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred Strains

OBJECTIVETo verify the efficacy of electroacupuncture (EA) and acupoint injection on early postoperative intestinal obstruction and explore its mechanism.

METHODSOne hundred and sixteen cases were divided randomly into two groups. In control group (56 cases), the conventional western medicine was applied, including gastrointestinal decompression, parenteral nutrition (PN), anti-inflammation and supporting therapy. In observation group (60 cases), on the basis of the treatment as control group, EA and acupoint injection with Neostigmine were supplemented. Zusanli (ST 36), Shangjuxu (ST 37)/Xiajuxu (ST 39) and Dachangshu (BL 25) were selected as main points. Before treatment and after 3 days treatment, the levels of plasma interleukint (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and motilin (MOT) were determined.

RESULTSIn observation group, the mean recovery time of bowel sound and the mean frequency of passing gas were less than those in control group (both P < 0.01). After treatment, in either group, the levels of IL-6 and TNF-alpha were down-regulated as compared with those before treatment (all P < 0.01). After treatment, in observation group, IL-6 level was (15.2 +/- 4.1) pg/mL and TNF-alpha level was (18.3 +/- 6.5) pg/mL. They were (35.5 +/- 7.2) pg/mL and (52.7 +/- 12.3) pg/mL respectively in control group, indicating significant difference in statistics between two groups (both P < 0.01). In either group, MOT level increased after treatment as compared with that before treatment (both P < 0 01). After treatment, in observation group, the increase of MOT level was superior to that in control group [(190.7 +/- 48. 5 ) pg/mL vs (114.6 +/- 36.9) pg/mL, P < 0.01].

CONCLUSIONElectroacupuncture and acupoint injection are significantly effective in the treatment of early postoperative intestinal obstruction. This therapy may inhibit the release of inflammatory factors to reduce intestinal wall edema and it may promote MOT secretion to increase intestinal peristalsis. As a result, the recovery of gastrointestinal function is promoted.

Acupuncture Points ; Adult ; Aged ; Cytokines ; blood ; Electroacupuncture ; Female ; Humans ; Inflammation ; therapy ; Injections ; Intestinal Obstruction ; therapy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Motilin ; blood ; Postoperative Complications ; therapy