OBJECTIVETo study whether acupressure could relieve urinary retention after radical hysterectomy in cervical cancer patients.

METHODSA randomized controlled prospective double-blinded trial was carried out in 107 urinary retention patients undergoing grade III radical hysterectomy. They were assigned to Group A (positive acupoints, 40 cases), Group B (negative acupoints, 32 cases) , and Group C (with no acupoints, 35 cases). All patients received protective 115 000 potassium permanganate sitz bath, 15 - 20 min each time, 3 times per day. Patients in Group A received acupressure at positive points [liniao point and Qihai (RN6)] combined points by syndrome typing [Guanyuan (RN4) , Zhongji (RN3) , Shenshu (BL23) , Zusanli (ST36), Sanyinjiao (SP6), and Taixi (K13)]. Patients in Group B received negative acupressure at sham-acupoints (for adjusting gastrointestinal functions). Patients in Group C only received conventional sitz bath. All medication was performed 3 times per day, 7 days as one therapeutic course, 21 days in total. The residual urine volume was detected. The recovery time for bladder function was recorded. The average residual urine volume was also recorded at day 7, 14, and 21.

RESULTSCompared with Group B and C, the time for ureter retention was shortened for mild and severe CKD patients in Group A (P <0. 01). The residual urine volume was also lessened for mild and severe CKD patients in Group A at day 7, 14, and 21 (P <0.01).

CONCLUSIONCervical cancer patients could relieve urinary retention by self-acupressure after radical hysterectomy.

Acupressure ; Acupuncture Points ; Female ; Humans ; Hysterectomy ; Prospective Studies ; Urinary Bladder ; Urinary Retention ; therapy ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms ; therapy

OBJECTIVETo investigate whether the effect of N-acetyl-seryl-aspartyl-lysyl-proline (AcSDKP) on transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta1) and connective tissues growth factor (CTGF) was involved in AcSDKP's antifibrotic effect on the rats with silicosis.

METHODSRats were divided into 6 groups randomly, 10 rats in each group: Control of silicotic model: 1.0 ml normal sodium and was killed after 4 or 8 weeks; Silicotic model 1: 50 mg/ml silica suspension and was killed after 4 weeks; Silicotic model 2: 50 mg/ml silica suspension and was killed after 8 weeks; Anti-fibrosis treatment of AcSDKP: after each rat was intratracheally instilled with 50 mg/ml silica suspension for 4 weeks, AcSDKP 800 microg/(kg x d) was administered into every rat and rats were killed at the 8 weeks; Preventing fibrosis treatment of AcSDKP: after AcSDKP [800 microg/(kg x d)] was administered into every rat for 48 hours, each rat was intratracheally instilled with 50 mg/ml silica suspension and rats were killed at the 8 weeks. Lung fibrosis in morphology was observed by HE staining. The expressions of TGF-beta1 and CTGF in lung were observed by immunohistochemistry. The mRNA expressions of TGF-beta1 and CTGF in lung were observed by real-time PCR.

RESULTSIn anti-fibrosis treatment of AcSDKP group, protein expression of TGF-beta1 and CTGF were (0.244 +/- 0.016) and (0.241 +/- 0.017) respectively, and significantly lower that those in the silicotic model 1 and 2 groups; mRNA expressions of TGF-beta1 and CTGF decreased, mRNA expressions of CTGF were significantly lower that those in the silicotic model 1 and 2 groups (P < 0.05); In preventing fibrosis treatment of AcSDKP group, protein expression and mRNA expression of TGF-beta1 were significantly lower that those in the silicotic model 2 group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONAcSDKP can decrease the expressions of TGF-beta1 and CTGF in lung tissues of the rats with experimentally induced pulmonary fibrosis.

Animals ; Connective Tissue Growth Factor ; metabolism ; Disease Models, Animal ; Lung ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Male ; Oligopeptides ; pharmacology ; Pulmonary Fibrosis ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Silicosis ; metabolism ; Transforming Growth Factor beta ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo investigate the pathogenesis and treatment of penile necrosis resulting from microwave diathermy following circumcision.

METHODSWe retrospectively analyzed the clinical data about 9 cases of penile necrosis resulting from postoperative microwave diathermy following circumcision. The 9 males, aged 20 - 39 (mean 26) years, underwent traditional circumcision for redundant prepuce or phimosis in other hospitals, followed by microwave diathermy for 30 - 60 minutes daily, which resulted in penile necrosis. With no response to conservative therapy, the patients were referred to our hospital at 3 -30 days postoperatively. Of the 9 patients, 5 presented with dry gangrene and 4 with moist gangrene. Six of the patients underwent partial penectomy, including 1 that received penis lengthening.3 months later, while the other 3 underwent total penectomy for total penile necrosis followed by penile reconstruction 3 months later, with deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) flaps and by implantation of the 12th costal cartilage in 2 cases and with epigastric groin island flaps and by urethroplasty in the other.

RESULTSThe patients were followed up for 2 - 8 years, and all could urinate smoothly in the standing position. Of the 6 men treated by partial penectomy, 1 received penis lengthening and achieved a penile length of 7 cm and 5 had the remaining penile length of 3 -5 cm, 4 with erectile function and the other 2 capable of sexual intercourse. The 3 men treated by total penectomy achieved nearly normal external appearance of the penis, with a finalized length of (11.7 ± 1.3) cm, a circumference of (11.4 ± 2.1) cm, and a normal feel of the skin. Of the 3 cases of penile reconstruction, 2 achieved sufficient erectile hardness of the penis (grade 3) for sexual intercourse, while the other 1 remained impotent.

CONCLUSIONPost-circumcision microwave diathermy may result in penile necrosis, for the management of which, early debridement is necessitated and penile lengthening or reconstruction can be performed according to the severity of the lesion and needs of the patient.

Adult ; Circumcision, Male ; methods ; Coitus ; Costal Cartilage ; transplantation ; Diathermy ; adverse effects ; methods ; Humans ; Male ; Microwaves ; adverse effects ; Penis ; abnormalities ; surgery ; Phimosis ; surgery ; Postoperative Period ; Reconstructive Surgical Procedures ; methods ; Retrospective Studies ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo improve the diagnosis of the testicular tumor.

METHODSFifty-seven cases, including their signs and symptoms, imaging studies, tumor markers and histologic diagnoses, were reviewed.

RESULTS31.3% of the patients failed to go to hospital in time. B mode ultrasound and CDFI had sensitivity of 93.5% and 96.4% respectively. Compared with final diagnoses, 23 from 26 cases (88.5%) were correspondingly diagnosed by intraoperative frozen section examination (FSE), which, however, had no definitive influence on the surgical management. Histologic examination showed 22 patients with seminoma, 9 with embryonal carcinoma, 7 with teratoma, 3 with yolk sac tumor, 9 with combined patterns, 4 with lymphoma, and 3 with other histologic types of tumor.

CONCLUSIONSFor earlier diagnosis, patients testicular self-examination counts for much, and ultrasound and CT should be used before possible histologic examination, while all patients with testicular tumors should have intraoperative FSE, which is very practical in identifying malignant and benign masses, and in choosing between enucleation of the tumor and radical orchiectomy.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Frozen Sections ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Testicular Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color

ITS2 sequence was used as a barcode to identify herbal tea ingredient Plumeria rubra and its adulterants. Genomic DNAs from forty eight samples were extracted, the ITS2 sequences were amplified and sequenced bi-direstionlly, and then assembled and obtained using CodonCode Aligner. The sequences were aligned using ClustalW, the genetic distances were computed by kimura 2-parameter (K2P) model and the Neighbor-joining (NJ) phylogenetic trees were constructed using MEGA5.0. Results showed that the length of ITS2 sequence of P. rubra were 244 bp. The intra-specific genetic distances (0-0. 016 6) were much smaller than inter-specific ones between P. rubra and its adulterants(0.320 8-0.650 4). The NJ tree indicated that P. rubra and its adulterants could be distinguished clearly. Therefore, Using ITS2 barcode can accurately andeffectively distinguish herbal tea ingredient P. rubra from its adulterants, which providesa new molecular method to identify P. rubra and ensure its safety in use.
Apocynaceae ; classification ; genetics ; DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic ; methods ; DNA, Plant ; genetics ; DNA, Ribosomal Spacer ; genetics ; Drug Contamination ; prevention & control ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; classification ; Flowers ; chemistry ; classification ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Phylogeny ; Quality Control

MicroRNAs ( miRNAs) are a class of non-coding , endogenous , single-stranded small RNA mole-cules composed of 19~25 nucleotides .miRNAs are widely involved in the process of human life activities .Recent studies have shown that part of miRNAs regulate the vascular endothelial function and angiogenesis .High expression of miRNA-21 is found to play important roles in the cell proliferation , cell apoptosis , cell growth and death of vascular endothelial cells . This review will focus on the recent progress related to miRNAs in vascular endothelial function and angiogenesis , providing a new insight in cardiovascular disease prevention , clinical diagnosis , prognosis and target therapeutics .

AIM:To investigate whether serum microRNA(miR)-103b plays a critical role in the pathogene-sis of type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM)and pre-diabetic syndrome.METHODS:Bioinformatic analysis was used for iden-tification of miR-103b and its targets,and the results were assessed by real-time PCR and receiver-operating characteristic (ROC)curve analysis in 48 patients with pre-diabetes mellitus(pre-DM),47 patients with noncomplicated diabetes melli-tus(NCDM),and 50 healthy individuals.RESULTS:miR-103b was significantly down-regulated in serum from the pa-tients with pre-DM and NCDM compared with healthy individuals.The ROC curve analysis found that the area under the curve(AUC)of miR-103b was 0.887(95% CI 0.809~0.944).The bioinformatic analysis has demonstrated that miR-103b has a high degree of site conservation among different mammalian species,such as Homo sapiens,Mus musculus,Rat-tus norvegicus,Pongo pygmaeus,Sus scrofa,etc.Fifty-three potential targets of miR-103b were predicted, most of which were involved in MAPK,Wnt,insulin and Ras signaling pathways,and enriched in various biological processes(such as phosphoprotein,DNA regulation transcription,cell growth and proliferation,apoptosis, cell cycle, etc), molecular func-tions(such as protein binding)and cell component(such as filamentous actin).CONCLUSION:Serum miR-103b can be used as an objective complement to traditional diagnosis of pre-diabetes,indicating important implications regarding the distinguish of the undiagnosed cases between diabetes and pre-diabetes by circulating miRNA.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of AcSDKP on platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-induced rat cardiac fibroblasts proliferation and collagen expression and explore the role of extracellular regulated protein kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) pathway on this process.

METHODSMetabolic activity of fibroblasts was determined by CCK-8. Cell cycle was detected by flow cytometry. Expressions of type I and type III collagen were measured by immunocytochemistry and Western blot. Expressions of phospho-ERK1/2 and ERK1/2 were detected by Western blot.

RESULT10(-9) mol/L AcSDKP could significantly inhibit PDGF-induced cardiac fibroblasts proliferation, collagen expression and expressions of phospho-ERK1/2, while the protein levels of ERK1/2 were not significantly affected by AcSDKP.

CONCLUSIONAcSDKP could inhibit PDGF-induced cardiac fibroblasts proliferation and collagen expression through activation of phosphor-ERK1/2 pathway.

Animals ; Cell Proliferation ; Cells, Cultured ; Collagen ; metabolism ; Fibroblasts ; cytology ; metabolism ; Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 1 ; metabolism ; Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 3 ; metabolism ; Myocytes, Cardiac ; cytology ; metabolism ; Oligopeptides ; metabolism ; Phosphorylation ; Platelet-Derived Growth Factor ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Signal Transduction

Objective To report initial experience and the indications of retroperitoneal laparoscop- ic partial nephrectomy.Methods From December 2001 to October 2005,23 patients (including 14 cases of renal cell carcinoma,5 of hamartoma and 4 of duplex kidney) underwent retroperitoneal laparoscopic par- tial nephrectomy.One of the patients had solitary kidney.Results All the operations were successful ex- cept for only 1 requiring conversion to laparoscopic nephrectomy because of bleeding resulting from blocking anterior branch of renal artery.The mean operative time was 121 min (60-240 min),and mean ischemic time was 32 min (20-55 min).The estimated bleeding volume ranged from 100 ml to 300 ml,and no pa- tient needed blood transfusion.Pathology showed negative surgical margins in 14 cases of renal cell carcinoma and confirmed the diagnosis of hamartoma in 5 cases.One patient with duplex kidney required open partial nephrectomy because of renal cystic mass resulting from incomplete resection.Conclusions Retroperito- neal laparoscopic partial nephrectomy offers a new effective and minimally invasive treatment for selected pa- tients with renal mass.The long-term effects of the procedure need further investigation.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) on the proliferation of dermal papilla cells (DPCs) and hair follicle regeneration.

METHODSPRP was prepared using the double-spin method and applied to DPCs. The proliferative effect of activated PRP on DPCs was measured using MTT assay. To understand the influence of activated PRP on the hair-inductive capacity of DPCs, freshly isolated epidermal cells and DPCs of passage 4 were resuspended, mixed with various concentrations of a PRP (0%, 5% or 10%) and were then transferred to a grafting chamber, which was implanted onto the dorsal skin of nude mice. The chambers were removed 1 week after grafting and HF formation was monitored for 4 weeks; the graft site was harvested and processed for histological examination.

RESULTSActivated PRP increased the proliferation benefited the aggregative growth of DPCs. There are significant difference in the yield of hair follicles compared with 10% PRP (344 +/- 27) with 0% PRP (288 +/- 35) in the area of reconstituted skin (P < 0.05). The areas treated with PRP demonstrated an increase in hair follicles density of 19.4%. Ten percent PRP (18 +/- 1) d also can significantly shorten the time of hair formation, compared with 0% PRP (20 +/- 1) d (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSThere is a considerable effect of PRP on the time of hair formation and the yield of hair follicles reconstitution.

Animals ; Cell Proliferation ; Cells, Cultured ; Female ; Hair Follicle ; cytology ; growth & development ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Mice, Nude ; Platelet-Rich Plasma ; Regeneration ; Skin ; cytology ; Skin, Artificial