Objective To study the influence of Annao tablet on the expression of transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-β1) in acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) murine and to explore the interventional mechanism of TGF-β1 on aGVHD. Methods Hematopoietic stem cells of male Balb/c mice were transplanted to female C57BL/6 mice for the development of aGVHD murine model. Recipient mice were divided into Annao group and blank group randomly and respectively administrated with Annao soup (a kind of Chinese herb) and 0.9% sodium chloride intragastrically. Clinical symptom, survival time and body weight were recorded at 14th and 30th day and some sections of liver, small bowel and skin were taken for histological changes. Serum level of TGF-β1 were measured by enzyme-labeled immunosorbent assay (ELISA), splenocyte protein of TGF-β1 by Western Blot and TGF-β1 mRNA by fluorescent quantitation polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results Serum level of TGF-β1 in both groups had no statistical difference (P = 0.305), but it rose to (148.31 ± 7.95) ng/mL at 14th day and (183.48 ± 5.91) ng/mL at 30th day in Annao group, which had significant difference when compared with that in blank group (P = 0.000). IOD/IODβ-actin value of TGF-β1 protein in Annao group was 0.33 ± 0.05 at 14th day and 0.56 ± 0.04 at 30th day, which was higher than that in blank group (P = 0.000) and the expression of TGF-β1 mRNA of splenocyte in Annao group was 1.24 ± 0.04 at 14th day and 2.14 ± 0.33 at 30th day which was much higher than that in blank group (P = 0.000). Conclusion Annao tablet helps to relieve symptoms of acute GVHD by raising serum level of TGF-β1 and intensifying expression of protein of TGF-β1 and its mRNA.

Objective To evaluate the ergotropic effect of bone cement on pedicle screw fixation in treatment of osteopo-rotic thoracolumbar fracture.Methods Fifty-three patients with osteoporotic thoracolumbar fracture, admitted from Jun. 2013 to Dec. 2014, were included for treatment by augmentation of pedicle screw fixation with bone cement. All patients underwent pre-operative examination of bone mineral density with T-score ≤-2.5 and augmentation of pedicle screw fixation with injection of 1.5 ml bone cement in adjacent to fractured vertebra. All patients were treated with anti-osteoporosis therapy pre- and post-operation, ob-served and recorded with basic conditions and complications. At pre-operation, one-week post-operation and last follow-up, pain vi-sual analogue scale (VAS) and neurological function score (ASIA) of all patients were recorded, and the compression rats of anterior and posterior edge of fractured vertebra, and compression rats of spinal canal and Cobb angel of all patients were measured.Results All the 53 patients were successfully undergone operation in about 90-140 min with blood loss of about 150-350 ml. No spinal cord or nerve injury, dural tear and obvious leakage of bone cement and screw loosening occurred during operation. All patients were followed up for 12 to 36 months and the neurological function obviously recovered contrasted with pre-operation. X-ray and CT examination at last follow-up showed good fractures healing, good position and non-loosening of internal fixation device and non-leakage of bone cement. At one week post-operation and last follow-up, VAS, compression rats of anterior edge and posterior edge of fractured vertebra, compression rats of spinal canal and Cobb angel were significantly lower than those at pre-operation (P<0.05), but no significant differences existed on these parameters between 1 week post-operation and last follow-up (P>0.05).Conclusions Augmentation of pedicle screw fixation with bone cement can effectively strengthen the initial stability of pedicle screw in osteo-porosis, restore the height of fractured vertebra and reduce the compression of spinal canal, which will help the correction of spinal kyphosis and neurological function recovery. This method can well maintain long-term stability of internal fixation in osteoporosis and height of fractured vertebra, and significantly reduce the risks of long-term screw loosening and vertebral collapse.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the relationship between hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype, serum viral load and ALT levels, and the factors associated with the viral relapse after IFN treatment in patients with chronic hepatitis C.

METHODSThe HCV RNA levels were determined with Cobas Amplicor Monitor Test, version 2.0, and HCV genotypes were examined by means of PCR products of 5' NTR digested with restriction endonucleases. The patients with chronic hepatitis C were treated with PEG-IFN alpha -2a and Roferon-A for 24 weeks. Those with a viral response after 24 week treatment were followed for an additional 24 weeks. The association of clinical characteristics, such as sex, age, the way of the HCV infection, IFN treatment history and platelet counts, and the HCV genotype, virus load and medicine used for the viral relapse after IFN treatment were analyzed.

RESULTSOf the 208 chronic hepatitis C patients, the ALT levels were not related to HCV RNA levels (r = 0.093, P > 0.05). No difference of ALT levels between HCV genotypes was found, and the HCV RNA load was also of no difference between HCV genotype 1 patients and non 1 patients. Of the 119 patients with viral response after 24 week treatment, 58 cases (48.7%) relapsed after another 24 week's follow-up. Relapse was not significantly related to the clinical characteristics, such as sex, age, mode of the infection, treatment history of IFN, AST/ALT ratio, platelet counts and the baseline viral load. Among patients with genotype 1 virus, the relapse rate was significantly higher than those patients with non-genotype 1 virus (54.5% vs 32.1%, P=0.039). The relapse rate after PEG-IFN alpha -2a treatment was lower than that of Roferon-A treatment (47.0% vs. 52.8%), but not significantly.

CONCLUSIONThe viral relapse of chronic hepatitis C patients after IFN treatment was significantly associated with the genotypes of the HCV.

Antiviral Agents ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Genotype ; Hepacivirus ; genetics ; Hepatitis C, Chronic ; drug therapy ; virology ; Humans ; Interferon-alpha ; therapeutic use ; Male ; Middle Aged ; RNA, Viral ; blood ; Recombinant Proteins ; Recurrence ; Treatment Outcome ; Viral Load

OBJECTIVETo investigate the predictors of IFN therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis C through making the multivariate logistic regression analysis.

METHODSThe patients in the opened, randomized and controlled trial were enrolled into two group, pegasys and Roferon-A group, and were given 24 weeks of pegasys (injection of 180 microg a week), and Roferon-A (injection three times of Roferon-A 3 MU a week) therapy, and followed 24 weeks. The HCV RNA content was determined at the time before, end of treatment and at the followed-up. The association of the response to the treatment with the clinical characteristics including age, gender, way of HCV infection, history of IFN treatment, planet count, AST/ALT ratio, HCV RNA level, HCV genotype and treatment drugs was made trough multivariate logistic regression analysis.

RESULTSThe PP population containing 197 cases was analyzed. After controlling for age, gender, way of HCV infection, history of IFN treatment, planet count, AST/ALT ratio, HCV RNA level and treatment, the HCV genotype was not predictor of the end of treatment viral response (ETVR) to IFN therapy (OR 0.604, 95% CI 0.271-1.349, P = 0.219), but was the independent predictor of sustained viral response (SVR) (OR 0.408, 95% CI 0.189-0.881, P = 0.023). After controlling for other characteristics, the treatment drug was the predictors of ETVR (OR 0.105, 95% CI 0.052-0.212, P < 0.001) and SVR (OR 0.255, 95% CI 0.123-0.529, P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONThe pegasys using and HCV genotype were the independent predictors of the response to antiviral therapy in chronic hepatitis C.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Antiviral Agents ; administration & dosage ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Genotype ; Hepacivirus ; drug effects ; genetics ; Hepatitis C, Chronic ; drug therapy ; virology ; Humans ; Interferon-alpha ; administration & dosage ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Polyethylene Glycols ; administration & dosage ; RNA, Viral ; blood ; Recombinant Proteins

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the efficacy and investigate the influencing factors of the interferon (IFN) retreatment for patients with chronic hepatitis C relapsed after a previous IFN treatment.

METHODSA retrospective study was designed to analyze the retreatment with IFN of 60 relapsed chronic hepatitis C patients. All patients were from a randomized, opened and multi-center clinical trial about the efficacy and security of PEG-IFNalpha-2a compared to CIFNalpha-2a in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C in China. There were 35 patients treated with PEG-IFNalpha-2a and 25 with CIFNalpha-2a. The main parameter to evaluate the efficacy was sustained viral response (SVR) rate. The influence of viral concentration in serum, genotype and drug categories on the responses to IFN were analyzed.

RESULTSFor all the patients, the end of treatment virus response (ETVR) and SVR rates were 55.00% and 35.00% respectively. ETVR rate of PEG-IFNalpha-2a was significantly higher than that of CIFNalpha-2a (74.29% and 28.00% respectively, P < 0.01). SVR rate of PEG-IFNalpha-2a was also markedly higher than that of CIFNalpha-2a (45.71% and 20.00% respectively, P < 0.05). However, there was no significant difference between the high and low viral load groups. Among the patients with genotype 1, ETVR and SVR rates of PEG-IFNalpha-2a (75.00%, 45.83%) were significantly higher than those of CIFNalpha-2a (22.22%, 11.11%), (P < 0.01, P < 0.05 respectively), but in patients with genotype non-1, there were no such differences between the two groups.

CONCLUSIONSome relapsed patients were not responsive to the IFN retreatment. The efficacy of PEG-IFNalpha-2a was superior to CIFNalpha-2a. The conventional IFN was not suggested to be used in the relapsed cases with genotype 1. The viral load was not associated with the efficacy of IFN retreatment.

Adult ; Antiviral Agents ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Hepatitis C, Chronic ; therapy ; Humans ; Interferon-alpha ; therapeutic use ; Interferon-beta ; Interferons ; therapeutic use ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Polyethylene Glycols ; therapeutic use ; Recombinant Proteins ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVETo investigate the influence of HCV genotype on the IFN treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis C.

METHODSThe genotypes of HCV virus were determined in the patients enrolled into the Randomized, opened and controlled trial of Peg-IFN alpha-2a (Pegasys) treatment, controlled with IFN-alpha-2a (Roferon-A), on chronic hepatitis C patients in China. The serum ALT levels and HCV RNA concentration of the patients were detected in the time of before treatment, the end of therapy and follow-up. The influence of HCV genotype on the IFN treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis C was analyzed in intention to treat (ITT) population.

RESULTSThe HCV genotypes of 202 cases were determined. 158 (78.2%) cases infected with genotype 1 HCV and 44 (21.8%) cases with genotype non-1. For overall patients, the viral response at the end of treatment (ETVR) and sustained viral response (SVR) rates were 53.8% and 25.3% respectively in patients with genotype 1 HCV, but in genotype non-1 patients those was 61.4% and 43.2%, and the difference of SVR between genotype 1 and non-1 was significant (P=0.021). After grouped by the used drugs, in the patients given Pegasys treatment, the ETVR rates of patients with genotype 1 and non-1 HCV infection were 76.8% and 81.0%, the difference was not significant (P=0.686), but the difference of SVR rates, which were 35.4% and 66.7%, of the patients was significant (P=0.01). The viral relapse rate of genotype 1 was 55.6%; it was significant higher than that of genotype non-1 (23.5%) (P=0.02). In Roferon-A group, the ETVR and SVR rates of patients with genotype 1 HCV were 29.0% and 14.5%, which were lower, but not significant, than those of patients with genotype non-1 (43.5% and 21.7%). The viral relapse rate of genotype 1 was 72.7% and higher, but not significant, than that of genotype non-1 also (50.0%) (P=0.21).

CONCLUSIONHCV genotype could affects the efficacies, mainly the sustained responses, of IFN treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis C, and the effects of IFN were related to the kinds of drugs and therapeutic course.

Antiviral Agents ; therapeutic use ; Genotype ; Hepacivirus ; classification ; genetics ; Hepatitis C, Chronic ; drug therapy ; virology ; Humans ; Interferon-alpha ; therapeutic use ; Polyethylene Glycols ; therapeutic use ; Recombinant Proteins ; Recurrence

Objective To investigate the treatment with teicoplanin for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ( MRSA ) infection based on a bibiometric approach and to provide reference for relevant studies and clinical medication.Methods The databases of EmBase , PubMed, Web of Science and CNKI were searched.The information of publication year , corresponding author , type of literature , contents and cited fre-quency were analyzed.Results A total 245 papers were included.The first related paper was published in 1992 , and then rose wavelike.The United States possessed the largest amount of reports , followed by China.The main type was basis research ( a total of 133 , accounting for 54%) , including current situation and progress of teicoplanin for the treatment of MRSA infection , clinical manifestations , diagnosis and therapeutic effect, etc.Among them, the article most cited frequency up to 78 times.Conclusion At present , the relevant research literature concen-trated on basic research of MRSA infection , and clinical application calls for further study.

Objective To explore the effect of glycine on serum levels of IL-1 and IL-6 in rats with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) induced by endotoxin and hypoxia. Methods Forty SD rats were randomly assigned into the glycine-treated group and the normal saline (NS) control group. In the glycine-treated group, glycine (1 g/kg) was injected intravenously and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of 2 mg/kg was administrated five minutes later. The control group rats were treated with the same volume of NS as a substitute for glycine. In both groups, 90 minutes after injection of LPS, FiO2 given was reduced from 21% to 5% and ventilation continued for 180 min or until the death of rats. At the end of the experiment, the blood samples and sections of the intestine were obtained immediately. Serum levels of IL-1 and IL-6 were measured using ELISA. The histopathological changes of the small intestine were studied. Results The survival time of the glycine-treated group was significantly longer than that of the control group [(159.25±22.78) min vs (138.75±19.05) min](P<0.01). The injury of the small intestine in the glycine-treated group was markedly alleviated (P<0.01). The levels of IL-1and IL-6 in the glycine-treated group were significantly lower than those in the control group [(149.1±76.1) ng/L vs (472.1±505.6) ng/L, (204.8±163.5) ng/L vs (585.8±574.5) ng/L, respectively] (P<0.01). Conclusions Glycine could reduce the levels of IL-1 and IL-6 and alleviate injuries of the intestine in rats with NEC induced by LPS and hypoxia.

The basic features of glandular and non-glandular trichomes on leaves of Artemisia argyi( germplasms from Qichun,Ningbo,Tangyin,and Anguo,respectively) and related species A. stolonifera were observed by scanning electron microscopy( SEM)and compared. There were significant differences in trichome characteristics of leaves at all parts of A. argyi and A. stolonifera,which were closely related to the difference in chemical components. The length of non-glandular trichomes and size of glandular trichomes on middle leaves were the stablest. A. argyi and A. stolonifera can be distinguished by the density of glandular trichome. Additionally,the four germplasms of A. argyi can be discriminated via the density and curvature of non-glandular trichome. The density of non-glandular trichomes was the highest in A. stolonifera. For A. argyi,the germplasm from Qichun had the highest density of non-glandular trichomes on the abaxial surfaces of upper leaves and that from Ningbo had the largest non-glandular trichome curvature. With regard to the germplasm from Anguo,the T-shaped non-glandular trichomes of long stalks on the adaxial surfaces of the middle leaves were lodging-susceptible,and those with slender heads were wave-like. Statistics results of A. argyi and A. stolonifera are as follows: largest glandular trichomes on the adaxial and abaxial surfaces and highest glandular trichome density on the abaxial surfaces of the lower leaves in A. argyi germplasm from Ningbo,highest density of non-glandular trichomes on the abaxial surfaces of upper leaves in A. stolonifera,and highest density of glandular trichomes and non-glandular trichomes on the adaxial surfaces of the upper leaves in A. argyi germplasm from Qichun. According to the observation result under fluorescence microscope( FM),flavonoids were closely related to the size and density of non-glandular trichomes and size of glandular trichomes. The fluorescence intensity was the strongest and fluorescence area was the largest for flavonoids in A. argyi germplasms from Qichun and Tangyin,while the fluorescence for flavonoids was the weakest in A. stolonifera. It was the first time to observe and analyze the trichome ultrastructure of A. argyi leaves at different positions by SEM and FM. This study clarifies the differences between A. stolonifera and four famous A. argyi germplasms,which provides new evidence for the microscopic identification of A. argyi and its related species and serves as a reference for the study of the relationship of A. argyi structure with its components and functions.
Artemisia ; Flavonoids ; Microscopy, Electron, Scanning ; Plant Leaves ; Trichomes

Volatile oil is the main effective component and an important quality indicator of Artemisia argyi leaves. In this study, 100 germplasm resources of A. argyi were collected from all the related habitats in China. The total volatile oils in A. argyi leaves were extracted by steam distillation and the content was determined by GC-MS. The result demonstrated that the content of total volatile oils was in the range of 0.53%-2.55%, with the average of 1.43%. A total of 39 chemical constituents were identified from the volatile oils, including 13 shared by the 100 germplasm resources. Clustering analysis of the 39 constituents showed that the 100 A. argyi samples were categorized into groups Ⅰ(9), Ⅱ(2), Ⅲ(66) and Ⅳ(23), and group Ⅲ had the most volatile medicinal components, with the highest content. Five principal components(PCs) were extracted from 13 shared constituents, which explained 73.454% of the total variance. PC1, PC2, and PC3 mainly reflected the pharmacological activity of volatile oils and the rest two the aroma information. The volatile oils identified in this study lay a foundation for variety breeding of and rational utilization of volatile oils in A. argyi leaves.
Artemisia ; Distillation ; Oils, Volatile ; Plant Breeding ; Plant Leaves