Objective To discuss the impact of repeated contrast media exposure on renal function in patients who received coronary angiography ( CAG) or percutaneous coronary intervention ( PCI) within 1 week after CTA of coronary ateries. Methods A total of 258 patients who received CAG or PCI after coronary CTA were divided into the study group ( n=132, patients had CAG/PCI within 1 week after CTA) and the control group ( n=126, patients had CAG/PCI 1-2 weeks after CTA). Serum creatinine, cystatin C and estimated GFR were tested before and on day 1, 2 and 3 after procedures. The occurance of contrast-induced nephropathy ( CIN ) was recorded. Resu1ts The baseline clinical characteristics of the patients between the two groups had no significant difference. Preoperative and postoperative serum creatinine, cystatin C and eGFR values on day 1, 2 and 3 had no significant difference between the two groups (all P﹥0. 05). There was no significant difference in the incidence of CIN between two groups (5. 3% in the study group vs. 4. 8% in the control group, P﹥0. 05 ) . Conc1usions It is safe and feasible for patients with eGFR≥60 ml/( min?1. 73 m2 ) to undergo CAG or PCI within 1 week after coronary CTA.

OBJECTIVETo explore the relation of the anogenital distance (AGD) with cryptorchidism in male newborns.

METHODSThis study included 350 male infants delivered in two community hospitals between September 2013 and September 2014. Within 24 hours after birth, a pediatric surgeon measured the AGD of the neonates and determined whether they had cryptorchidism. According to the testicular position, we divided the undescended testes into three types: upper scrotal, inguinal, and non-palpable.

RESULTSTotally 39 cases of cryptorchidism were found in the 350 newborns. The AGD of the cryptorchidism infants was significantly shorter than that of the normal neonates ([2.01 ± 0.22] vs [2.35 ± 0.19] cm, P < 0.01), and statistically significant differences remained even when preterm and low birth-weight infants were excluded ([2.32 ± 0.14] vs [2.06 ± 0.19] cm; (2.37 ± 0.17) cm vs (2.12 ± 0.12) cm, all P < 0.01). The newborns with higher-position cryptorchidism had a shorter AGD, though with no significant difference (F = 0.434, P > 0.05). No significant differences were observed in the AGD between unilateral and bilateral cryptorchidism ([1.96 ± 0.13] vs [2.02 ± 0.17] cm, P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONShorter AGD is associated with a higher incidence of cryptorchidism in male newborns. AGD could serve as a potential biomarker for disruption of androgen action during the male programming window period.

Androgens ; physiology ; Cryptorchidism ; diagnosis ; Humans ; Infant, Low Birth Weight ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; Male ; Perineum ; abnormalities

OBJECTIVEImprovement in lung function was reported after acupuncture treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but little is known about the underlying mechanisms. Because an immune response imbalance could be seen in COPD, we hypothesize that electroacupuncture (EA) may play a role in regulating inflammatory cytokines and contribute to lung protection in a rat model of smoke-induced COPD.

METHODSA COPD model using male Sprague-Dawley rats exposed to cigarette smoke was established. The rats were randomly divided into four groups (control, sham, COPD, and COPD plus EA), and COPD model was evaluated by measuring pulmonary pathological changes and lung function. EA was applied to the acupuncture point Zusanli (ST36) for 30 min/d for 14 d in sham and COPD rats. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) was used to measure levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and malonaldehyde (MDA).

RESULTSCompared with the control rats, COPD rats had significant changes in lung resistance (RL) and lung compliance (CL) (both P<0.01), bronchi and bronchiole airway obstruction (P<0.01), and levels of MDA, TNF-α, and IL-1β (P<0.01). There were no significant differences between the control and the sham groups. Compared with the COPD rats, the COPD plus EA rats had decreased RL and increased CL (both P<0.05), and reduced bronchi and bronchiole airway obstruction (P<0.05, P<0.01, respectively), while levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, and MDA in BALF were lowered (P<0.05 and P<0.01, respectively). However, TNF-α and IL-1β levels of the EA group rats remained higher than those of the control group (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONEA at ST36 can reduce lung injury in a COPD rat model, and beneficial effects may be related to down-regulation of inflammatory cytokines. The anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects may prolong the clinical benefit of EA.

Acupuncture Points ; Animals ; Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid ; immunology ; Disease Models, Animal ; Electroacupuncture ; Humans ; Interleukin-1beta ; immunology ; Male ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive ; etiology ; immunology ; therapy ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Smoking ; adverse effects ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; immunology

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the expression of cannabinoid receptor I (CB1R) during mice skin incised wound healing course and time-dependent changes of CB1R in wound age determination. METHODS: The changes of CBIR expression in skin incised wound were detected by immunohistochemistry and Western blotting. RESULTS: The control group showed a low expression of CB1R detected mainly in epidermis, hair follicles, sebaceous gland and dermomuscular layer. CB1R expression was undetectable in neutrophils in the wound specimens from 6h to 12h post-injury. CB1R positive cells were mostly mononuclear cells (MNCs) and fibroblastic cells (FBCs) from 1 d to 5 d post-injury. CB1R positive cells were mostly FBCs from 7 d to 14d post-injury. The ratio of the CB1R positive cells increased gradually in the wound specimens from 6 h to 3 d post-injury, reached peak level at 5 d, and then decreased gradually from 7d to 14 d post-injury. The positive bands of CB1R were observed in all time points of the wound healing course by Western blotting. The expression peak showed at 5 d post-injury. CONCLUSION CB1R is activated during the wound healing course. The expression of CB1R is found in mononuclear cells, which could be involved in inflammation reaction. CBIR is observed in fibroblastic cells, which could participate in the wound healing. CB1R may be a potentially useful marker for determination of wound healing age.
Animals ; Blotting, Western ; Disease Models, Animal ; Fibroblasts/metabolism* ; Forensic Pathology ; Immunohistochemistry ; Male ; Mice ; Monocytes/metabolism* ; Random Allocation ; Receptor, Cannabinoid, CB1/metabolism* ; Skin/metabolism* ; Staining and Labeling ; Time Factors ; Wound Healing ; Wounds and Injuries/pathology*

Measurement of platelet-associated imunoglobulin (PAIg) has frequently been applied for the diagnosis of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) and other immune thrombocytopenias. In the present study, a flow cytometry (FCM) analysis has been used to detect and characterize PAIg in 47 patients with ITP and Evans' syndrome, 13 patients with non-immune thrombocytopenia, 10 patients with autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) whose platelet counts were in normal range, and 31 healthy volunteers. With FCM measurement, mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) of platelets from patients with ITP and Evans' syndrome (2.26 +/- 2.29) was significantly higher than those from non-immune thrombocytopenia (0.33 +/- 0.39), AIHA (0.17 +/- 0.07) and control subjects (0.25 +/- 0.15) (P < 0.01). Meanwhile, the percentage of positive platelets of patients with ITP and Evans' syndrome [(44.1 +/- 29.0)%] was also higher than those of non-immune thrombocytopenia [(17.5 +/- 9.4)%], AIHA [(10.7 +/- 7.5)%] and control subjects [(16.6 +/- 8.4)%] (P < 0.01). In addition, some peak shape abnormality appeared (double peaks and peak tail) in the histogram of fluorescence intensity (log) of 11 patients (23.4%) with ITP and Evans' syndrome either alone or accompanied with quantitative alteration of MFI and/or positive platelet percentage. In seven cases, the peak shape abnormality was the unique characteristic that could be detected and have never been seen in normal platelets. This phenotypic alteration perhaps reflects the existence of different platelet populations and could be of diagnostic value. Totally, the positive result of FCM measurement in patients with ITP and Evans' syndrome was 87.2%, slightly higher than 83.0% positive rate with ELISA method, without statistical difference. The correspondent rate of the results of these two analytical settings was 85.1%. This study shows that FCM assay is a rapid and sensitive method for the measurement of PAIg and seems to be suitable as a novel routine diagnostic technique of immune thrombocytopenia.

OBJECTIVETo analyze the correlation of Chinese medicine syndrome evolvement and cardiovascular: events in patients with stable coronary heart disease (CHD).

METHODSThis prospective cohort study investigated and: collected the clinical information of patients with stable CHD and observed the syndrome type at the baseline and 6-month at follow-up, as well as the cardiovascular events during the 6-month and 12-month follow-up. The patients were divided into the event group and the non-event group. The interaction and the impact of syndrome evolvement on cardiovascular events were examined through multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR) analysis and the results were verified by Chi-square test.

RESULTSTotally 1,333 of 1,503 stable CHD patients enrolled met the inclusion criteria: of MDR analysis. Among them, 959 (71.9%) cases were males and 374 (28.1%) cases were females. Thirty seven cases had cardiovascular events during 6 to 12 months after the study began. The results of the MDR analysis and verification using Chi-square test showed that the development of cardiovascular events was positively correlated with interaction between blood stasis and toxic syndrome at the baseline, blood stasis at the baseline and qi deficiency at the 6-month follow-up, toxic syndrome at the baseline and qi deficiency at the 6-month follow-up, toxic syndrome at the base line and blood stasis at the 6-month follow-up, qi deficiency and blood stasis at the 6-month follow-up (P<0.05 for all).

CONCLUSIONSBlood stasis, toxic syndrome and qi deficiency are important factors of stable CHD. There: are positive correlation between cardiovascular events and syndrome evolution from blood stasis to qi deficiency, from toxic syndrome to qi deficiency and from toxic syndrome to blood stasis, indicating the pathogenesis of toxin consuming qi, toxin leading to blood-stasis in stable CHD patients prone to recurrent cardiovascular events.

Aged ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; etiology ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Disease ; complications ; physiopathology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Middle Aged ; Multifactor Dimensionality Reduction ; Syndrome

AIMTo study the clinical effects of a disposable circumcision device in treatment of male patients of different ages with either phimosis or excess foreskin.

METHODSOne thousand two hundred patients between the age of 5 and 95 years underwent circumcision using this procedure in the 2-year period between October 2005 and September 2007. Of these cases, 904 had excess foreskin and 296 were cases of phimosis.

RESULTSIn 96.33% of the cases the incision healed, leaving a minimal amount of the inner foreskin with no scarring and producing good cosmetic results. There were no incidents of device dislocation or damage to the frenulum. The average operative time was 2.5 min for excess foreskin, and 3.5 min for phimosis. During the 7 days of wearing the device, mild to moderate edema occurred in 10.08% of cases with excess foreskin and in 2.58% of those with phimosis. Edema in the frenulum was seen in 1.67% of patients, and only 0.67% had an infection of the incision. A total of 86.25% of patients reported pain due to penile erection. After removal of the device, 0.58% of the cases had minimal bleeding around the incision, and 2.42% had wound dehiscence.

CONCLUSIONThe new device can be applied to an overwhelming majority of patients with phimosis and excess foreskin. This technique is relatively simple to perform, and patients who underwent this surgery had very few complications. Antibiotics were not required and patients reported less pain than those who were circumcised using conventional methods. Circumcision with this device requires minimal tissue manipulation, and is quicker and safer than circumcision using conventional techniques.

Adolescent ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Circumcision, Male ; methods ; Humans ; Male ; Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures ; Pain, Postoperative

Aim To investigate the expression of CAR-MA3, NF-κB in hepatocellular carcinoma tissues and the underlying mechanism of sodium aescinate in inhib-iting the proliferation of human hepatocellular carcino-ma cells. Methods The expression of CARMA3 and NF-κB in HCC tissues were detected by tissue microar-ray immunohistochemistry. MTT was used to determine the effect of sodium aescinate on the proliferation of HCC cells. Cell apoptosis was detected by flow cytom-etry. The expression of CARMA3, NF-κB protein in HepG2 and Hep3B cells treated with sodium aescinate was detected by Western blot and cell immunofluores-cence. Results Tissue microarray analysis showed that the expression of CARMA3 in HCC was up-regulated compared with the adjacent adjacent liver tissues, and the histopathological differentiation, TNM stage, tumor volume and prognosis were correlated. Sodium aesci-nate in 40 μmol·L-1concentration ( IC50) inhibited the growth of HCC cell lines, promoting its apoptosis, but without toxic effects on normal liver cells. Western blot and cell immunofluorescence detection of sodium aescinate could significantly inhibit the expression of CARMA3 and NF-κB. Conclusion Sodium aescinate can effectively inhibit the proliferation of HCC cells by inhibiting the activation of CARMA3/NF-κB signaling in HCC.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the structural characteristics of the cerebral small vessels with an unknown type of pathological lesion (UTPL). METHODS: Contents of beta-amyloid, alpha-actin and collagen IV in cerebral small vessels with UTPL were studied by Congo red staining, immunohistochemical staining and computer image analysis. RESULTS: The low expression levels of alpha-actin and collagen IV (P<0.05) were observed in tunica media of the vessels with UTPL, and no positive expression of beta-amyloid (P>0.05) was observed in these vessel walls. The expressions of proteins mentioned above in UTPL were different from those of cerebral amyloid angiopathy(CAA) and hyaline arteriolosclerosis. CONCLUSION UTPL was different from CAA or hyaline arteriolosclerosis in pathologic feature.
Actins/metabolism* ; Amyloid beta-Peptides/metabolism* ; Autopsy ; Blood Vessels/ultrastructure* ; Brain/pathology* ; Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy/pathology* ; Collagen Type IV/metabolism* ; Humans ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Immunohistochemistry ; Staining and Labeling ; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage/pathology*

OBJECTIVE: To establish a new animal model of grading skeletal muscle contusions that could be controllable and repetitive. METHODS: The rats' gastrocnemius was injured by a new weight-dropping device designed. The force acting on gastrocnemius with a comparatively constant duration and inducing elastic deformation of the gastrocnemius was expressed with velocity (v) and deformation (DF). Instant velocity was changed to create gastrocnemius contusions. Pathological changes of gastrocnemius were graded by the gross and histological examinations of 39 rats. RESULTS: At low level of impact (v: 2 m/s, DF: 5.5 mm), mild injuries were detected in epimysium and superficial layer of gastrocnemius. At moderate level of impact (v: 2.5 m/s, DF: 6.5 mm), the injuries were observed in epimysium and whole gastrocnemius. At high level of impact (v: 3 m/s, DF: 7.5 mm), severe injuries were seen deeper to soleus with more extensive skeletal muscle damage. CONCLUSION Grading of skeletal muscle blunt force contusion is created by parameter of velocity and muscle deformation. The model could be used for further research on skeletal muscle contusions.
Animals ; Contusions/classification* ; Disease Models, Animal ; Forensic Pathology ; Male ; Muscle, Skeletal/injuries* ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Wounds, Nonpenetrating