To observe the effects of Yiqi Kaimi Recipe (YQKMR), a traditional Chinese compound medicine, on gastrointestinal motility and neuropeptides in rats with colonic slow transit constipation.

OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of Wenshen Jianpi Recipe (WSJPR, a traditional Chinese medicine for warming kidney and invigorating spleen) on chronic wound healing and the mechanism. METHODS: Ninety-six SD rats were randomly divided into 4 groups, with 24 rats in each group, and back wound was made in the rats. For rats in 3 of the 4 groups, hydrocortisone injection was administered to induce chronic wound. Rats in 2 of the 3 groups were treated with WSJPR and Xinpukang Granules (XPKG) respectively, and the rats in the other group were untreated. The rats in the fourth group were taken as control. The wound healing time and the width of new epidermis were observed, and the histomorphological changes and cell cycle of the granulation tissue, and the protein expressions of epidermal growth factor (EGF), transforming growth factor-beta(1) (TGF-beta(1)) and fibronectin (FN) in the granulation tissue were tested with immunohistochemical technique and flow cytometry. RESULTS: The wound healing time of the WSJPR-treated and XPKG-treated groups was (17.0+/-1.9) and (18.8+/-1.9) d respectively, much shorter than that of the untreated and control groups (P<0.05). On the 14th experiment day, the width of new epidermis of the WSJPR-treated and XPKG-treated groups was (3.73+/-0.19) and (3.21+/-0.15) mm respectively, much wider than that of the untreated and control groups (P<0.05). The numbers of angiogenesis, fibroblasts and cells in the S phase in WSJPR-treated and XPKG-treated groups were much higher than those in the untreated and control groups (P<0.05). Compared with the untreated and control groups, the protein expressions of EGF, TGF-beta(1) and FN in WSJPR-treated and XPKG-treated groups were higher (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: WSJPR can enhance the wound healing. It was likely through accelerating the cell proliferation and up-regulating the expressions of EGF, TGF-beta(1) and FN.

Objective To understand the adsorption capability and kinetics of chitosan (CTS) for Pb(II) in water. Methods The spectrophotometry was used to explore the effects of time, temperature, pH value and ion intensity on the adsorption capability of CTS for lead. Results The adsorption speed was faster at the beginning, then to the balance status 80 minutes later. The adsorption rate increased as the temperature increased. pH value could influence the adsorption, the adsorption capacity reached to the maximum when the pH values were 3.6-4.6. The sodium chloride solution showed an inhibitory effect on the adsorption with a dose dependent manner. Conclusion The adsorption is influenced by the effects of time, temperature, pH value, and ion intensity. The apparent energy(?E) is 5.11 kJ/mol.

Objective To translate LARS Score into Chinese and examine the reliability and validity of the LARS Score to predict patient bowel function.Methods A convenience sample of 40 Chinese rectal patients was recruited sequentially from a tertiary first-class hospital in Tianjin.The patients were assessed for bowel function using the LARS Score after anterior resection.Data were collected to conduct reliability tests on test-retest,inter-rater and constant,construction validity.Results The field test demonstrated excellent repeatability with an ICC value of 0.9615 (95％CI 0.9272～0.9796); inter-rater reliability was high with an ICC value of 0.9394 (95％CI 0.8854～0.9680).Content validity was excellent which CVR was 0.90.Constructive validity was good,factor analysis extracted two common factors,which could explain 60.659％ of the total variance,and each item on the corresponding factor had satisfactory factor loading quantity (＞0.4).Conclusions The Chinese version of LARS Score is easy to use and convenient to understand; the evidence collected in this study has shown good reliability and validity of using the LARS Score in assessing bowel function of Chinese rectal cancer patients.

Background: Basic principles of clinical trials of nonpharmacologic treatment are similar to those of pharmacologic treatment, but its some special characteristics should be discussed. Objective: To explore the design characteristics of clinical surgery trial through the example of tunnel thread-drawing therapy for simple anal fistula. Design, setting, participants and interventions: The clinical trial was designed as a prospective, controlled, randomized multicenter trial. The patients came from Longhua Hospital, Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western medicine, and Affiliated Hospital of Jianxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Stratified random was performed according to the subtype of anal fistula including low and high anal fistula. Full analysis set was applied to analyze the baseline data, and per protocol set was used in efficacy and safety analysis. The intervention was tunnel thread-drawing method. Classical therapy of thread-drawing method was employed as positive control. Main outcome measures: The primary outcomes were course of recovery and cure rate. Quality of life score was used as secondary outcome and anal maximum constriction pressure was considered as safety outcome. Results: Optimal efficiency testing method was used to estimate sample size. A total of 244 subjects were recruited and 236 subjects completed the trial. There was no significant difference in the cure rate of the low and high anal fistula between the treatment group and control group. There was a significant difference in the course of recovery in the patients with low and high anal fistula between treatment group and control group (P<0.01). To the patients with low anal fistula, the course of recovery in the treatment group was (22.26+/-8.67) d, and the course of recovery in the control group was (31.41+/-11.39) d. To the patients with high anal fistula, the course of recovery in the treatment group was (24.73+/-8.15) d, and the course of recovery in the control group was (32.20+/-12.60) d. There was no significant difference in the scores of quality of life in the patients with low anal fistula between the treatment group and control group (P>0.05). The trial showed that the tunnel thread-drawing therapy was significantly more effective than classical method for improving the anal sphincter function and patient satisfaction with treatment in the patients with high anal fistula. However the other items of quality of life in the two groups did not show significant difference. There was no any adverse event report in each group. There was no significant difference in the anal maximum constriction pressure in the treatment group before and after the operation. Conclusion: The trial shows that the tunnel thread-drawing therapy for simple anal fistula can shorten the course of recovery and improve the patients' quality of life. The training about surgical intervention and clinical implementation program is important in clinical surgery trial. Blind is absolutely difficult to implement and placebo cannot be used in this kind of trial.

AIM: To investigate the role of nitric oxide synthase (NOS), soluble guanylyl cyclase (sGC) and protein kinase C (PKC) signaling in tumor necrosis factor-? (TNF-?)-induced cardioprotection against hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) injury. METHODS: Neonatal rat ventricular myocytes were pretreated with TNF-? or sodium nitroprusside (SNP) or L-arginine (L-Arg), respectively, for 12 h and then subjected to continuous hypoxia for 12 h, followed by reoxygenation for 6 h. The manganese superoxide dismutase (Mn-SOD) activity of the cells was measured after H/R. Myocyte injury was determined by the release of lactic dehydrogenase (LDH). RESULTS: TNF-? (10~5 (U/L)) significantly increased the Mn-SOD activity and decreased release of LDH from ventricular myocytes. The cardioprotection against H/R injury was induced by the pretreatment with SNP (5 ?mol/L) or L-Arg (5 mmol/L), which was blocked by ODQ (10 ?mol/L), the specific sGC inhibitor, and Chel (5 ?mol/L), the specific PKC inhibitor. Pretreatment with L-NAME (100 ?mol/L), ODQ, Chel, antoxidant 2-MPG (400 ?mol/L) or tyrosine kinase inhibitor genistein (50 ?mol/L) attenuated the increased Mn-SOD activity and reduced LDH level induced by TNF-?. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that NO may play a role in TNF-?-induced cardioprotection, which is mediated by sGC and PKC. [

AIM: To explore the effects and mechanism of interleukin-2 (IL-2) on the positive effect of isoproterenol (ISO) in the isolated rat cardiomyocytes. METHODS: Enzymatically isolated cardiomyocytes were used. Peak twitch amplitude and maximal velocity of shortening/relaxation (?dL/dt_~max ) in the isolated cardiomyocytes were recorded with a microscope coupled to a charge-coupled device camera and [Ca~2+ ]i transients were determined with a fluorometric ratio method by using Fura-2/AM as Ca~2+ indicators. RESULTS: ① ISO increased the peak twitch amplitude and ?dL/dt_~max of the isolated cardiomyocytes. Perfusion for 15 min with IL-2 at 2?103 U/L, which had no effect at all, attenuated the enhancing effect of ISO on the peak twitch amplitude and ?dL/dt_~max . ② ISO increased the [Ca~2+ ]i transients of the single ventricular myocytes in a dose dependent manner and the corresponding EC_~50 values of ISO was (0.12?0.01) ?mol/L. Perfusion for 15 min with IL-2 at 2?103 U/L, which had no effect on the ~[Ca~2+ ]i transient at all, attenuated the enhancing effect of ISO and the corresponding EC_~50 was (0.44?0.06) ?mol/L. ③ The electrically induced [Ca~2+ ]i transient was significantly increased by pretreatment with 20 mg/L cholera toxin for ~12 h. The elevation of the [Ca~2+ ]i transient induced by cholera toxin was significantly attenuated by 2?103 U/L IL-2. ④ Forskolin (1 ?mol/L), the activator of adenyl cyclase, significantly increased the electrically induced [Ca~2+ ]i transient, which was attenuated by IL-2 at 2?103 U/L. CONCLUSION: IL-2 inhibits the positive effect of isoproterenol in the isolated single ventricular myocytes, in which Gs protein and adenyl cyclase are involved. [

AIM: To investigate whether tumor necrosis factor ? (TNF?) pretreatment can inhibit mitochondrial permeability transition pore opening in isolated rat hearts subjected to hypoxia and reoxygenation. METHODS: Isolated perfused rat hearts were subjected to 30 min regional hypoxia (occlusion of left anterior descending artery) and 120 min reoxygenation. The infarct size, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release during reoxygenation and ventricular hemodynamic parameters were measured. RESULTS: Pretreatment with TNF? at concentration of 1?104 U/L for 7 min followed by 10 min washout reduced the infarct size and LDH release, and improved the left ventricular performance (left ventricular developed pressure and rate-pressure product) and left ventricular end-diastolic pressure during hypoxia and reoxygenation. Administration of atractyloside (Atr, an opener of mitochondrial permeability transition pore, 20 ?mol/L) for 20 min (last 5 min of hypoxia and first 15 min of reoxygenation) and paxilline (Pax, a calcium activated potassium channel antagonist, 1 ?mol/L) for 5 min before hypoxia attenuated the reduction of infarct size and LDH release and improved the left ventricular performance induced by TNF?. CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that in the isolated rat heart model, TNF? protects myocardium against hypoxia and reoxygenation injury via inhibiting mitochondrial permeability transition pore opening as well as activating calcium, activated potassium channel.

AIM: To investigate the role of mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU) in the cardioprotection by hypoxic preconditioning (HPC) and its relationship to mitochondrial permeability transition pore (MPTP). METHODS: Intraventricular balloon technique was employed to measure the left ventricular developed pressure (LVDP), the maximum rise/fall rate of left ventricular pressure (?dp/dt_ max ), and the left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) in Langendorff isolated rat heart. The hypoxia was achieved by ligation of left anterior coronary artery for 30 min followed by release of ligation for 120 min as reoxygenation. Hypoxic preconditioning was set as two episodes of 5 min global hypoxia and 5 min reoxygenation. RESULTS: Both HPC and treatment with ruthenium red (5 ?mol/L) during the first 10 min reoxygenation improved recovery of LVDP, ?dp/dt_ max and decreased LVEDP, which was associated with reduced infarct size and lactate dyhydrogenase release. These protective effects were attenuated by treatment with spermine (20 ?mol/L) during the first 10 min reoxygenation. Administration of cyclosporin A (0.2 ?mol/L) during the last 5 min of hypoxia period and first 15 min of reoxygenation period reduced the injury effect by spermine. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that inhibition of MCU is involved in the cardioprotection of HPC via inhibiting MPTP.