With the significant and continuous growth of the research and application of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) all over the world, the demand for medical information services has been increasing correspondingly. However, the barriers of accessing and utilizing non-English literature, and the barrier of language have blocked English speaking clinicians and researchers of CAM from obtaining high quality and authoritative medical evidence from the non-English medical resources. This article, with introducing the UCLA Information Center for East-West Integrative Medicine, will demonstrate a new collaborative mode of integrative medicine information service between China and the US, and discuss the perceived challenges.
China ; Complementary Therapies ; Information Services ; Information Storage and Retrieval ; Integrative Medicine ; Language ; United States

OBJECTIVE: To profile urinary metabolite variations from 1, 2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH)-induced precancerous colon rats, Jinfu Kang treated rats and healthy controls.

METHODWe used ethyl chloroformate derivatization and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) based metabonomic method to analyze rat urines.

RESULTThe time-dependent variations of metabolite profile showed a progressive deviation of the metabolism in the model group from the initial pattern over time and a systemic recovery of the metabolism in the treatment group, which is consistent with the histological results. The in-depth analysis indicated that the disorder of tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA), tryptophan metabolism, polyamine metabolism and gut flora structure were associated with DMH intervention.

CONCLUSIONMetabolic study revealed that Jinfu Kang can effectively reverse metabolic departures in DMH-induced precancerous colon rat, which is consistent with pathological results.

Animals ; Colonic Neoplasms ; chemically induced ; pathology ; Colonic Polyps ; chemically induced ; drug therapy ; urine ; Dimethylhydrazines ; pharmacology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar

This study was purposed to investigate the change of Th cell subsets in the patients with acute graft-versus host disease (aGVHD) and to explore its role in the pathogenesis of aGVHD after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). 23 patients underwent allo-HSCT were selected for analysis. The aGVHD in patients was diagnosed according to clinical features, and was confirmed by skin biopsy in some patients. The peripheral blood from 23 patients was collected before and after allo-HSCT. The quantitative chenges of Th1 and Th2 cells in peripheral blood samples were detected by using flow cytometry. The results showed that out of 23 patieats the aGVHD occured in 8 patients including 1 case of grade I, 2 case of grade II, 3 cases of grade III; no aGVHD occured in 15 patients. The flow cytometry analysis revealed that the amount of Th1 cells in patients with aGVHD was much higher than that in patients without aGVHD (p < 0.01), the IFN-gamma expression of Th1 cells in patients with aGVHD of grad II - III significantly was higher than that in patients without aGVHD (p < 0.01), meanwhie the IL-4 expression of Th2 cells in patients with aGVHD of grade II - III was significantly lower than that in patients without aGVHD (p < 0.05). Dynamical detection indicated that the Th1 obviously increased before occurrence of aGVHD and before treatment of aGVHD, while the Th1 cells obviously decreased after treatment of aGVHD. The Th1 cells not changed significantly in patients without aGVHD before and after allo-HSCT. It is concluded that Th1 cells obviously increase in patients with aGVHD, this increase is related to aGVHD pathogenesis. Detecting the changes of Th cell subsets in the early stage after allo-HSCT may be contributed to early diagnosis and therapy of aGVHD.
Graft vs Host Disease ; blood ; immunology ; Hematologic Neoplasms ; immunology ; therapy ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation ; adverse effects ; Humans ; Th1 Cells ; immunology ; pathology

The aim of this study was to investigate the genetic polymorphism of Y-chromosome specific short tandem repeat (Y-STR) loci in Zhuang ethnic group of China. Nine Y-STR loci were amplified by single multiplex and the PCR products were detected by using ABI Prism(TM) 3100 DNA Sequencer. The allele frequencies and haplotype frequencies at 9 Y-STR loci were determined in a total of 85 unrelated male individuals from Zhuang ethnic group of China. The results indicated that in the 85 unrelated male individuals, except for the DYS426 locus with a low GD value, the GD values for other 8 Y-STR loci ranged from 0.4387 to 0.8129. A total of 70 haplotypes at 9 Y-STR loci were found, the haplotype diversity was 0.9926. It is concluded that the haplotype polymorphism of 9 Y-STR loci are highly polymorphic in Zhuang ethnic group and also significantly different from our previous reported data of unrelated male individnals in southern Chinese Han population.
Alleles ; China ; ethnology ; Chromosomes, Human, Y ; genetics ; Genetic Loci ; genetics ; Humans ; Male ; Microsatellite Repeats ; genetics ; Polymorphism, Genetic

OBJECTIVETo investigate hereditary susceptibility to coronary heart disease (CHD) in apolipoprotein E(apo E) and apo B polymorphisms of youths.

METHODSPolymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was used to analyze apoE, apoB Xba I, apoB 3' variable number of tandem repeat (VNTR) genotypes for 244 healthy Han students (among them were 109 students with positive CHD family history).

RESULTSThe allele frequencies of apo e4, XbaI x(+), 3'VNTR-B(hypervariable element, HVE>38) in the positive group were obviously higher than those in the negative group(P<0.05), and were significantly correlated with the increase in TC, LDL-C, apoB100 levels (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe alleles for apo e4, XbaI x(+), 3'VNTR-B may be the important genetic markers of Han CHD.

Adolescent ; Alleles ; Apolipoproteins B ; genetics ; Apolipoproteins E ; genetics ; Coronary Disease ; genetics ; Female ; Gene Frequency ; Humans ; Male ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Young Adult

Along with progress of modern science and technology, human is utilizing natural resources and their inherent law more effectively and more efficiently according to their own purposes. Chinese medicine pair (CMP) is relatively fixed combination of two TCMs which was proven to be effective in clinical application. CMP has its inner specification, and it is an intermediate point between single herb and many TCM formulae. With the aid of modern science and technology, and by means of choosing appropriate strategies and approaches, the compatibility rules of CMP might be revealed, which will be significant to develop the compatibility theory of TCM formulae and create modern TCM new drugs.
Animals ; Clinical Trials as Topic ; Drug Interactions ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; methods ; Research Design ; Systems Biology

This study was aimed to develop and establish an efficient method for high through-put automatically extracting genomic DNA from EDTA-anticoagulated whole blood samples, and to utilize this method in routine rSSO HLA genotyping by luminex flow array assay, the genomic DNA was extracted automatically from 400 microl blood samples by using TECAN DNA workstation and 96-well plate with 2 ml volume per well. The yield and purity of each DNA sample was tested by UV-spectrophotometer, the integrity of these DNA samples were run electrophoresis on the agarose gel. Each DNA sample was subjected to PCR amplification and hybridization using One lambda rSSO HLA-A, -B and -DRB1 commercial kit, the fluorescent intensity for positive bead and negative bead hybridized with HLA-A, -B and -DRB1 PCR products were calculated and analyzed. The results showed that the mean yield and purity (A260/A280) of genomic DNA extracted from 400 microl whole blood samples were 3.217+/-0.715 microg and 1.710+/-0.103 respectively. The molecular weight was more than 15 kb in size and the fluorescent intensity for positive bead hybridized with HLA-A, -B and -DRB1 PCR products of each sample was >600 RFU, however, the fluorescent intensity for negative bead for each sample was <50 RFU. It is concluded that the highly qualified genomic DNA can be extracted automatically from blood samples of marrow-donors by using TECAN DNA workstation, and the extracted DNA samples are suitable for high through-put HLA genotyping by luminex flow array assay and other downstream transplant immunological and molecular biological experiments.
Biological Specimen Banks ; Bone Marrow ; DNA ; isolation & purification ; DNA Primers ; Genotype ; HLA Antigens ; genetics ; High-Throughput Screening Assays ; methods ; Humans ; Living Donors ; Nucleic Acid Hybridization ; methods ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; methods

The study was aimed to investigate the mobilization effect of medium dose of granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) in allogeneic peripheral stem cell transplantation and changes of T lymphocyte subgroup in PBMNC before and after mobilization. G-CSF was administered at 600 microg/d (i.e. 300 microg i.v. twice a day) for successive 5 days to 31 matched sibling or unrelated donors for the mobilization. Stem cells were harvested on the fourth day. FACS was used to analyze the NC, MNC and T lymphocyte subgroups. The results showed that the number of NC, MNC, CD34(+) cells and CFU-GM in dose of 600microg/d significantly increased (P < 0.05), compared with 300 microg/d; the time for hematological reconstruction was significantly shortened (P < 0.05); the ratio of adverse effects was not obviously increased (P > 0.05) and the median percentage of CD3(+) lymphocytes before mobilization was 46.96% [(32.36-57.45)%], but 40.94% [(25.31-48.9)%] after mobilization, while the ratio of CD4(+)/CD8(+) did not significantly changed. It is concluded that the administration of G-CSF 600 microg/d in allo-PBSCT has a good effect in the mobilization of PBSC with minor side effects, which can markedly promote hematopoietic reconstitution after transplantation. The relative amount of CD3(+) lymphocytes significantly decreased and the ratio of CD4(+)/CD8(+) remained unchanged, which may lead to alleviation of a GVHD after PBSCT.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Antigens, CD34 ; analysis ; Blood Donors ; Female ; Flow Cytometry ; Graft vs Host Disease ; prevention & control ; Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor ; administration & dosage ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Mobilization ; methods ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation ; methods ; Recombinant Proteins ; T-Lymphocyte Subsets ; cytology ; drug effects ; immunology ; Time Factors

OBJECTIVETo investigate the efficacy and toxicity of methotrexate (MTX) give intravenously in the primary treatment of gestational trophoblastic tumor (GTT).

METHODSA total of 37 patients with low-risk GTT was primarily treated by single MTX in Women's Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University. Data on the patients' age, clinical stage, WHO classification criteria, antecedent pregnancy, presenting level of human chorionic gonadotropin, courses of chemotherapy required to achieve complete remission, and toxicity related to chemotherapy treatments were collected.

RESULTSThirty-seven patients with low-risk GTT totally received 137 cycles of MTX between Oct. 1999 and Sep. 2002, 34 patients (91.9%) achieved complete remission. Twenty-nine patients received multiple courses of MTX, complete remission was induced in 26 patients (89.7%). The complete response rates of I stage and III stage were 100.0% and 70.0% (P = 0.03) respectively in patients who were received multiple courses of MTX. However, eight patients received single course of chemotherapy, 7 patients achieved complete remission, and 1 achieved complete remission after another additional course of MTX was conducted. Grade III side effects (WHO criteria) only appeared in 7 courses (5.1%) during MTX treatment. Follow-up data showed that only one patient with single course of chemotherapy relapsed after 6 months.

CONCLUSIONSingle MTX chemotherapy may be effective and well tolerated for low-risk GTT.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic ; administration & dosage ; Choriocarcinoma ; drug therapy ; Drug Administration Schedule ; Female ; Gestational Trophoblastic Disease ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Methotrexate ; administration & dosage ; Pregnancy ; Uterine Neoplasms ; drug therapy

The objective of this study was to elucidate the correlation of killer immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) gene diversity with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) in the Chinese southern Han population. KIR genotyping of peripheral blood samples from 67 patients with NPC and 77 randomly-selected healthy controls was performed by PCR-SSP, the relative risk (RR) value was calculated by means of Wolf method. The results showed that the KIR2DL3 gene frequency in NPC patient group was significantly lower than that in healthy controls (χ²>3.84, p < 0.05, RR = 0.08), whereas the KIR2DS5 and KIR2DL5B gene frequencies in patient group were significantly higher than those in healthy controls (χ²>3.84, p < 0.05, RR > 1), the other KIR gene frequencies were no statistically different between two groups. It is concluded that the KIR2DL3, KIR2DS5 and KIR2DL5B genes may be correlated with pathogenesis of NPC in the Chinese southern Han population.
Adult ; Aged ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; genetics ; Case-Control Studies ; Female ; Gene Frequency ; Genotype ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms ; genetics ; Receptors, KIR ; genetics ; Receptors, KIR2DL3 ; genetics ; Receptors, KIR2DL5 ; genetics