OBJECTIVETo observe early rehabilitation of two different acupuncture programs for hemiplegia due to stroke.

METHODSSeventy cases of early hemiplegia due to stroke were randomly divided into a treatment group and a control group. The treatment group were treated by acupuncture at acupoints of both the healthy and affected sides, twice each day, respectively, and the control group by acupuncture at the affected side, once daily. Their therapeutic effects were evaluated by the brief Fugl-Meyer movement scale and the modified Barthel indexes.

RESULTSThe patients with over grade IV for FMA accounted for 68.6% and the good rate for ADL was 74.3% in the treatment group, and 31.4% and 42.8% in the control group, respectively, the therapeutic effect of the treatment group being better than that of the control group (P<0.01 or P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe acupuncture program in which acupoints at both the healthy and affected sides are applied alternately is more beneficial to recovery of motor function and activity daily living (ADL) of the patient with hemiplegia due to stroke.

Activities of Daily Living ; Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Hemiplegia ; therapy ; Humans ; Stroke ; therapy

OBJECTIVETo test the hypothesis that delayed X-irradiation can enhance the functional and structural recovery of the injured spinal cord in rats.

METHODSSeventy Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into two groups, 35 rats in each. The control group sustained a one-minute clip compression (force of clip was 30 g) injury of the spinal cord at the T2 level, without X-irradiation. The experimental group received X-irradiation 14 days after injury. Neurological function was assessed by the modified Tarlov method, including hind limbs movement, inclined plane, and pain withdrawal. These tests were performed in a blinded fashion at 3, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, and 42 days after injury. At 43 days after injury, histological examination of the injured spinal cord was performed following decapitation of the rats.

RESULTSSixty-two rats met the experimental requirements (spinal cord injury was similar), 32 rats in experimental group and 30 rats in control group. Statistically significant difference was observed between the two groups in hind limbs movement and inclined plane (P < 0.01), but not in the pain withdrawal test. The edema and necrosis areas of injured spinal cords in experimental group were less than those in control group, and axons in experimental group were significantly more than those in control group (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONDelayed X-irradiation following spinal cord injury may enhance functional recovery by improving and restoring structural integrity of the injured spinal cord in rats.

Animals ; Axons ; physiology ; radiation effects ; Hindlimb ; Joints ; physiology ; Motor Activity ; Movement ; Radiotherapy ; methods ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Spinal Cord ; physiopathology ; radiation effects ; Spinal Cord Injuries ; radiotherapy ; rehabilitation ; Weight-Bearing ; X-Rays

OBJECTIVETo explore whether X-irradiation can enhance the functional and structural recovery of the injured spinal cord of rats.

METHODSSeventy Sprague-Dawley rats received spinal cord injury by clip compression at the T2 level were randomly divided into two groups. The experimental group received X-irradiation at 14 days after injury, the control group did not receive X-irradiation. The functional tests were performed at day 3, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, and 42 after irradiation including open field movement, inclined plane and pain withdrawal test. All injured rats were sacrificed at 43 days after injury and the injured spinal cords were taken out for histological tests.

RESULTSSixty-two rats met the experimental requirements among 70 injured rats, 32 rats in experimental group and 30 rats in control group. Statistically significant difference was achieved between two groups in open field movement and inclined plane (P < 0.01), but not for the pain withdrawal test. The edema and necrosis area of injured spinal cords of experimental group were less than those in control group, and the number of axons of experimental group were more than those in control group.

CONCLUSIONSX-irradiation can enhance the functional recovery by improving and restoring structural integrity of the injured spinal cord.

Animals ; Axons ; pathology ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Recovery of Function ; Spinal Cord ; pathology ; physiopathology ; radiation effects ; Spinal Cord Injuries ; pathology ; physiopathology ; radiotherapy

Objective To investigate the curative effect of YU Yun pulse-feeling-based acupuncture therapy for the treatment of middle-late liver cancer. Methods A total of 60 middle-late liver cancer patients were divided into control group and treatment group by stratified randomization method,30 cases in each group. The control group was given integrated Chinese and western medicine therapy according to the clinical pathway, including anti-cancer treatment such as vascular interrention,molecular targeted therapy,chemotherapy,radio therapy, and focal ablation therapy,as well as chinese medicine treatment based on disease differentiation and syndrome differentiation. And the treatment group was given YU Yun pulse-feeling-based acupuncture therapy on the basis of treatment for the control group. The two groups received 12-week treatment, and then their curative effects were compared. Results The treatment group had better effect on increasing the survival rate, prolonging survival time, improving the scores of clinical symptoms, stabilizing tumor size, and increasing the scores of Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS)than the control group,the difference being significant (P < 0.05 or P <0.01). Conclusion YU Yun pulse-feeling-based acupuncture therapy exerts certain curative effect for the treatment of middle-late liver cancer.

OBJECTIVETo establish a stable high red fluorescent protein (RFP)-expressing orthotopic transplantation nude mice spontaneous metastasis model of pancreatic cancer.

METHODSStable high RFP-expressing cells SW1990-RFP were injected subcutaneously into mice to establish subcutaneous implantation model. Fluorescent tumor piece from subcutaneous was transplanted into the body of the pancreas to establish surgical orthotopic implantation model. The growth of primary tumor, metastasis and micrometastasis were assessed by whole-body fluorescence imaging system.

RESULTSTwelve RFP orthotopic transplantation nude mice metastasis models of pancreatic cancer were established successfully, the percentage of success rate was 100%. RFP-labeled pancreatic cancer growth could be monitored in real time way. The micrometastasis of primary lesions were detected in early stage with whole-body fluorescence imaging system.

CONCLUSIONSThe RFP orthotopic transplantation nude mice metastasis model of pancreatic cancer is stable and reliable, and can be observed dynamically in vitro in a noninvasive way, with much higher sensitivity and specificity.

Animals ; Disease Models, Animal ; Female ; Luminescent Proteins ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Nude ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Pancreas ; pathology ; Pancreatic Neoplasms ; pathology ; Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays

BACKGROUNDPancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal human cancers with a very low survival rate of 5 years. Conventional cancer treatments including surgery, radiation, chemotherapy or combinations of these show little effect on this disease. Several proteins have been proved critical to the development and the progression of pancreatic cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of resveratrol on apoptosis in pancreatic cancer cells.

METHODSSeveral pancreatic cancer cell lines were screened by resveratrol, and its toxicity was tested by normal pancreatic cells. Western blotting was then performed to analyze the molecular mechanism of resveratrol induced apoptosis of pancreatic cancer cell lines.

RESULTSIn the screened pancreatic cancer cell lines, capan-2 and colo357 showed high sensitivity to resveratrol induced apoptosis. Resveratrol exhibited insignificant toxicity to normal pancreatic cells. In resveratrol sensitive cells, capan-2 and colo357, the activation of caspase-3 was detected and showed significant caspase-3 activation upon resveratrol treatment; p53 and p21 were also detected up-regulated upon resveratrol treatment.

CONCLUSIONResveratrol provides a promising anti-tumor strategy to fight against pancreatic cancer.

Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Blotting, Western ; Caspase 3 ; metabolism ; Cell Survival ; drug effects ; Humans ; Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases ; metabolism ; Pancreatic Neoplasms ; metabolism ; Stilbenes ; pharmacology ; Tumor Cells, Cultured

Objective:To investigate the influence of rosuvastatin combined ticagrelor on therapeutic effect,cardiac func-tion and inflammatory factor levels in patients with acute myocardial infarction(AMI).Methods:A total of 288 AMI pa-tients admitted in our hospital were randomly and equally divided into rosuvastatin group(received rosuvastatin therapy)and combined treatment group(received rosuvastatin combined with ticagrelor).After two-month treatment,therapeu-ticeffect,cardiac function,inflammatory index levels and incidence rate of adverse reaction were compared between two groups.Results:Total effective rate of combined treatment group was significantly higher than that of rosuvastatin group(96.53%v.s 86.81%,P=0.003).Compared with before treatment,there were significant improvements in cardiac function and inflammatory factor levels in two groups after treatment,P=0.001 al.l Compared with rosuvastatin group af-ter treatment,there were significant reductions in left ventricular end-diastolic diameter(LVEDd)[(44.86±5.25)mmv.s(30.94±4.02)mm],left ventricular end-systolic diameter(LVESd)[(28.83±3.02)mmv.s(21.27±2.86)mm],interventricular septal thickness(IVST)[(9.82±1.51)mmv.s(9.09±1.46)mm],levels of interleukin-6(IL-6)[(4.62±0.68)pg/mlv.s(3.85±0.59)pg/ml]and tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α)[(1.25±0.22)pg/mlv.s(0.93±0.18)pg/ml],and significant rise in 6 min walking distance(6MWD)[(398.63±50.58)m v.s(436.35±52.03)m]and LVEF[(54.11±6.32)%v.s(60.24±7.88)%]in combined treatment group,P=0.001 al.l There was no signif-icant difference in total incidence rate of adverse reactions during treatment between two groups,P=0.444.Conclusion:The combination of rosuvastatin and ticagrelor possesses significant therapeutic effect in the treatment of AMI patient.s It can improve cardiac function and reduce levels of inflammatory factors with good safety.

Bacterial biofilms gave rise to persistent infections and multi-organ failure, thereby posing a serious threat to human health. Biofilms were formed by cross-linking of hydrophobic extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), such as proteins, polysaccharides, and eDNA, which were synthesized by bacteria themselves after adhesion and colonization on biological surfaces. They had the characteristics of dense structure, high adhesiveness and low drug permeability, and had been found in many human organs or tissues, such as the brain, heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys, gastrointestinal tract, and skeleton. By releasing pro-inflammatory bacterial metabolites including endotoxins, exotoxins and interleukin, biofilms stimulated the body’s immune system to secrete inflammatory factors. These factors triggered local inflammation and chronic infections. Those were the key reason for the failure of traditional clinical drug therapy for infectious diseases.In order to cope with the increasingly severe drug-resistant infections, it was urgent to develop new therapeutic strategies for bacterial-biofilm eradication and anti-bacterial infections. Based on the nanoscale structure and biocompatible activity, nanobiomaterials had the advantages of specific targeting, intelligent delivery, high drug loading and low toxicity, which could realize efficient intervention and precise treatment of drug-resistant bacterial biofilms. This paper highlighted multiple strategies of biofilms eradication based on nanobiomaterials. For example, nanobiomaterials combined with EPS degrading enzymes could be used for targeted hydrolysis of bacterial biofilms, and effectively increased the drug enrichment within biofilms. By loading quorum sensing inhibitors, nanotechnology was also an effective strategy for eradicating bacterial biofilms and recovering the infectious symptoms. Nanobiomaterials could intervene the bacterial metabolism and break the bacterial survival homeostasis by blocking the uptake of nutrients. Moreover, energy-driven micro-nano robotics had shown excellent performance in active delivery and biofilm eradication. Micro-nano robots could penetrate physiological barriers by exogenous or endogenous driving modes such as by biological or chemical methods, ultrasound, and magnetic field, and deliver drugs to the infection sites accurately. Achieving this using conventional drugs was difficult. Overall, the paper described the biological properties and drug-resistant molecular mechanisms of bacterial biofilms, and highlighted therapeutic strategies from different perspectives by nanobiomaterials, such as dispersing bacterial mature biofilms, blocking quorum sensing, inhibiting bacterial metabolism, and energy driving penetration. In addition, we presented the key challenges still faced by nanobiomaterials in combating bacterial biofilm infections. Firstly, the dense structure of EPS caused biofilms spatial heterogeneity and metabolic heterogeneity, which created exacting requirements for the design, construction and preparation process of nanobiomaterials. Secondly, biofilm disruption carried the risk of spread and infection the pathogenic bacteria, which might lead to other infections. Finally, we emphasized the role of nanobiomaterials in the development trends and translational prospects in biofilm treatment.