OBJECTIVETo study the therapeutic state of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) inpatients in 26 level three class A Chinese medicine (CM) hospitals in China.

METHODSThe case report form (CRF) was designed and used in this study. Totally 1 094 AMI patients were recruited from 26 level three class A CM hospitals from January 2006 to December 2006. The onset, the heart function, complications, previous history, and CM syndrome types were observed in AMI patients. Treatment by Western medicine (WM), CM intravenous preparation, CM decoction, and Chinese patent medicine were also observed in AMI patients.

RESULTSBlood stasis syndrome (854 cases, 78.06%) and stagnant phlegm syndrome (470 cases, 42.96%) were dominated in the CM sthenia syndrome. Qi deficiency syndrome (683 cases, 62.43%) and Xin-yin deficiency syndrome (231 cases, 21.12%) were dominated in the CM asthenia syndrome. Totally 355 patients (32.45%) received reperfusion. Of them, 224 (20.48%) received percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The top 5 often used Western drugs covered aspirin (1001 cases, 91.50%), low molecular heparin (917 cases, 83.82%), blood lipids regulators (833 cases, 76.14%), ACEI/ARB (822 cases, 75.14%), and nitrates (773 cases, 70.66%). Totally 946 patients (86.47%) used CM intravenous preparations. The CM intravenous preparations with the use frequency more than 5% were sequenced as Shenmai Injection (520 times, 54.97%), Salvia miltiorrhizae preparations (305 times, 32.24%), sanchi preparations (185 times, 19.56%), Shenfu Injection (68 times, 7.19%), Scutellarin Injection (64 times, 6.77%), and Acanthopanax Injection (29 times, 3.07%). Totally 575 patients (52.56%) used CM decoction. The main therapeutic methods covered activating blood circulation therapy (477 cases), qi benefiting therapy (332 cases), and phlegm resolving therapy (303 cases). Commonly used recipes covered Shengmai Powder, Taohong Siwu Decoction, Gualou Xiebai Baijiu Decoction, Erchen Decoction, and Sijunzi Decoction. Totally 394 patients (36.01%) used Chinese patent medicines.

CONCLUSIONSQi deficiency syndrome and blood stasis syndrome were dominated in AMI patients. Great achievements have taken place in AMI reperfusion treatment and standardized treatment in CM hospitals. CM are extensively used. Clinical studies on treating AMI by CM should be further strengthened.

Aged ; China ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Hospitals ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Middle Aged ; Myocardial Infarction ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Phytotherapy ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo explore the relationship between expression of Fas, bcl-2 and apoptosis of cardiomyocytes in myocardial ischemia in rats.

METHODSMyocardial ischemia was experimentally induced by ligating the left coronary artery. The rate were killed from 10 minutes to 7 days after the operation. Apoptotic myocardial cells were detected by TUNEL method. The expression of Fas and bcl-2 was studied by ABC immunohistochemistry.

RESULTSCardiomyocytic apoptosis appeared from 3 to 36 hours after ischemia. This phenomenon however could not be detected by TUNEL method 7 days after ischemia. The expression of Fas could be detected by ABC immunohistochemistry from 3 hours to 7 days after ischemia, and the expression of bcl-2 from 10 minutes to 7 days. Cardiomyocytic apoptosis and Fas / bcl-2 expression appeared in different regions of myocardium: apoptosis in the ischemic regions, while Fas and bcl-2 expression in regions without obvious ischemia.

CONCLUSIONIn rats, Fas and bcl-2 may not directly regulate apoptosis of cardiomyocytes in case of myocardial ischemia.

Animals ; Apoptosis ; Male ; Myocardial Infarction ; metabolism ; pathology ; Myocytes, Cardiac ; metabolism ; pathology ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; fas Receptor ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo investigate the clinical outcomes of semicircular decompression in treating old thoracolumbar fractures and intractable neuropathic pain.

METHODSFrom September 2009 to September 2013, 21 patients with old thoracolumbar fracture and intractable neuropathic pain were treated with semicircular decompression. Among initial surgery, posterior pedicle screw fixation was used in these patients, with or without laminectomy. All patients were male, range in age from 20 to 28 years old with an average of (25.00±2.38) years. Vertebral body residual bone block resulted in intra-spinal placeholder more than 50%. All patients were complete spinal cord injury (ASIA grade) or cauda equina injury. VAS scores was from 6 to 10 points with the mean of 7.14±0.91. In these patients, MRI, CT, X-rays were performed; denomination and dosage of analgesics were recorded; nerve function and pain status were respectively evaluated by ASIA grade and VAS score before and after operation.

RESULTSAll patients were followed up from 8 to 32 months with an average of (17.29±6.02) months. All bone fragments of spinal canal were removed and spinal cord decompressions were achieved. At final follow-up, VAS scores were from 0 to 8 points with an average of (2.43±2.46) points, and were obviously reduced than peroperative data (P<0.05). Eleven cases of them stopped analgesic intake and 7 cases reduced using. Three patients' symptoms and VAS scores were not improved.

CONCLUSIONOld thoracolumbar fractures and intractable neuropathic pain need receive imaging examination as soon as possible and consider semicircular decompression therapy if bone fragments were in vertebral canal and spinal canal stenosis existed. This therapy can effectively relieve pain and profit nerve functional recovery.

Adult ; Decompression, Surgical ; methods ; Humans ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; injuries ; surgery ; Male ; Neuralgia ; etiology ; surgery ; Pain, Intractable ; etiology ; surgery ; Spinal Fractures ; physiopathology ; surgery ; Thoracic Vertebrae ; injuries ; surgery ; Visual Analog Scale ; Young Adult

BACKGROUND: Three-dimensional finite element analysis has been used by many scholars from department of orthopedics, but the results of postoperative evaluation of hip preserving treatment for osteonecrosis of femoral head are different. OBJECTIVE: To study the biomechanical changes of the femoral head and the biomechanical changes of the proximal femur after greater trochanter bone flap for the treatment of femoral head necrosis using three-dimensional finite element method, and to verify the mechanical safety and effectiveness. METHODS: One case of unilateral femoral head necrosis in ARCOIII stage undergoing parallel vascularized greater trochanter bone flap transplantation was selected. Computed Tomography data of proximal femur were collected before and 6 months after the operation, and preserved in DICOM format. With the aid of computer technology, professional medical modeling software, MIMICS and HYPERMESH, were used to establish the three-dimensional geometric models of the proximal femur. These models were divided into normal group, necrosis group and repair group. Finite element analysis software ANSYS was utilized to simulate human body standing and movement in different situations. The model was divided by free mesh, and given material parameters to establish normal proximal femur, femoral head necrosis and bone defect. Greater trochanter bone flap was applied in repairing three-dimensional finite element model of bone defect. Loads were loaded on different finite element models. The maximum displacement of the femoral head and the stress distribution in the proximal femur of the three groups were observed under different loading models. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) Under the same load, the maximum displacement of the three sets of models was 0.61 mm in the normal group, 0.66 mm in the necrosis group, and 0.61 mm in the repair group, respectively. Maximum Von Mises stress was greater in necrosis model than in the normal molding. The maximum Von Mises stress gradually decreased in the repair model, and was close to normal value. (2) Three groups of models showed stress concentration above the rotor in femoral neck region. The maximum stress in the trochanteric position was higher in necrosis models than in normal models. The maximum stress in this region gradually increased after repair, but was still lower than the failure stress of bone. (3) The results confirm that the maximum stress and the maximum displacement are closer to the normal value after greater trochanter bone flap for treatment of osteonecrosis of the femoral head. The greater trochanter is safe and reliable for repairing bone defect of femoral head.

For diabetes mellitus, little research has been done on the tissue-based or cell-based drug screening model, which has advantages over traditional animal diabetic model in high specificity, high screening volume, low cost and simple manipulation. Considering that the maintenance of complete islet tissue structure is the prerequisite for islet cells to perform their functions normally, an in vitro islet-based drug screening model for diabetes mellitus was established and evaluated. Pancreatic islets were isolated from 3 weeks old mice of either sex by collagenase digestion and density gradient centrifugation as prescribed by Ramanadham S. The volume of 0.1% (W/V) collagenase IV, 0.1% (W/V) Hyaluroridase and 0.1% (W/V) DNase I were 4 times, 2 times and 1 times that of the islets to be digested. And a 2 hours' cold digestion at 4 degrees C was followed by a 10 minutes' warm digestion at 37 degrees C. Under the optimized digestion condition, the islet recovery could be increased by 10%. The isolated islets could survive 6 weeks in vitro and show stable insulin secretion in the first 10 days after inoculation. The obtained islets were cultured in RPMI-1640 medium at 37 degrees C with 5% CO2. Then a diabetic model was established by selecting streptozotocin (STZ) as the evocator and nitric oxide (NO) as the responding index. After 1 day's inoculation, islets culture was treated with STZ, whose concentration ranged from 0 to 5.0 mmol/L. NO was measured by a colorimetric assay at 540nm based on the Griess reaction for 10 min with 0.1 mL Griess reagent and 0.1 mL culture supernatants. Insulin secretion was assayed by RIA methods. Due to the islets-related inoculation variations, NO release and insulin content were both expressed as a percentage of the value recorded in basal experiment which was in the only presence of Krebs culture medium. It was testified that the amount of NO released from islet itself remained steady at 30-35 mmol/L regardless of the changes of STZ concentration from 0 to 5.0 mmol/L. However the NO content in the supernatants of islets culture had close relationship with STZ concentration. This indicated that in this STZ-induced islet diabetic model, NO mainly comes from STZ when it dissolves in water. On the other hand, when STZ changed from 0 to 5.0 mmol/L, the dose-dependent relationship between NO content and insulin secretion showed that the increase of NO came along with the decrease of insulin secretion, which is an important symbol of islet function. As a kind of oxidative free radical, NO is capable of impair islet cells. Thus, NO is a reliable responding index of the model. The optimal STZ concentration in the model is finally determined to be 5.0 mmol/L, under which condition the NO content and insulin secretion is 10.81 times and 0.43 times that in the medium before STZ is added. So if anything is effective in lowering the NO content in the culture, it could protect islets cells from the oxidative attacks of NO. Finally, as an application of the model, the scavenging effect of KOSCr on NO was studied. In a series of KOSCr with different chromium content, all had shown better NO scavenging effects than KOS itself, which could give us an enlightenment of the influence of chromium ion on oligosaccharide. And 1 g/mL KOSCr with 3.519% chromium content can significantly inhibit the NO formation. This has lain a theoretic basis for the research of KOSCr bioactivity and quality control. These results suggested that the STZ-induced diabetic islet model which is impaired by NO free radical can be used effectively, fast and conveniently when screening potential diabetes drugs.
Animals ; Chromium ; pharmacology ; Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental ; metabolism ; Disease Models, Animal ; Female ; In Vitro Techniques ; Insulin ; metabolism ; Islets of Langerhans ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred ICR ; Nitric Oxide ; metabolism ; Streptozocin ; pharmacology

To find novel antihepatitis drugs, a series of nitrate-oleanolic acid (OA) hybrids (10a, 10b, 11a-11e and 12a-12c) were designed and synthesized on the basis of previous studies using OA as lead compound, which is widely found in natural plants and liver-specific metabolism. In the present study, ten novel NO-releasing derivatives of OA were synthesized by connecting nitrate to the OA-3-OH through varying lengths of linkers containing antioxidants which were designed to increase the ability of these target compounds to scavenge free radicals. The structures of these objective compounds were determined by IR, MS, 1H NMR and elemental analysis. Their protective effects on anti-Fas mediated HepG2 cell apoptosis were in vitro evaluated by LDH assay. Compound 12a is the most potent inhibitor. Its effect on anti-Fas mediated HepG2 cell apoptosis and amount of NO-releasing in vitro are similar to those of positive control NCX-1000.
Antioxidants ; chemistry ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Hep G2 Cells ; Humans ; Nitrates ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Nitric Oxide ; metabolism ; Nitric Oxide Donors ; chemistry ; Oleanolic Acid ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Structure-Activity Relationship ; Ursodeoxycholic Acid ; analogs & derivatives ; pharmacology

OBJECTIVETo investigate the expression of guanylin in colorectal cancer.

METHODSThe expression of guanylin was examined by RT-PCR and semiquantitative analysis in 20 cases of colorectal cancer, and its relationship with clinical characteristics was analyzed.

RESULTSThe positive expression of guanylin in normal tissue (80%, 16/20) was significantly higher than that in tumor tissue (35%, 7/20) (P<0.01). The same result was found in the semiquantitative analysis of 14 cases with differential expression. Differential expression of guanylin in colorectal cancer was associate with TNM stage (P<0.05), not with sex, Borrmann type and degree of differentiation (all P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONThere is differential expression of guanylin in colorectal cancer, and this kind of differential expression is associated with tumor TNM stage.

Colorectal Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Hormones ; metabolism ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Natriuretic Peptides ; metabolism ; Neoplasm Staging

OBJECTIVETo develop a new high-throughput screening model for human high-density lipoprotein (HDL) receptor (CD36 and LIMPII analogous-1, CLA-1) agonists using CLA-1-expressing insect cells.

METHODSWith the total RNA of human hepatoma cells BEL-7402 as template, the complementary DNA (cDNA) of CLA-1 was amplified by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Bac-to-Bac baculovirus expression system was used to express CLA-1 in insect cells. CLA-1 cDNA was cloned downstream of polyhedrin promoter of Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus (AcNPV) into donor vector pFastBac1 and recombinant pFastBac1-CLA-1 was transformed into E. coli DH10Bac to transpose CLA-1 cDNA to bacmid DNA. Recombinant bacmid-CLA-1 was transfected into Spodoptera frugiperda Sf9 insect cells to produce recombinant baculovirus particles. Recombinant CLA-1 was expressed on the membrane of Sf9 cells infected with the recombinant baculoviruses. A series of parameters of DiI-lipoprotein binding assays of CLA-1-expressing Sf9 cells in 96-well plates were optimized.

RESULTSWestern blot analysis and DiI-lipoprotein binding assays confirmed that CLA-1 expressed in insect cells had similar immunoreactivity and ligand binding activity as its native counterpart. A reliable and sensitive in vitro cell-based assay was established to assess the activity of CLA-1 and used to screen agonists from different sample libraries.

CONCLUSIONHuman HDL receptor CLA-1 was successfully expressed in Sf9 insect cells and a novel high-throughput screening model for CLA-1 agonists was developed. Utilization of this model allows us to identify potent and selective CLA-1 agonists which might possibly be used as therapeutics for atherosclerosis.

Animals ; Baculoviridae ; genetics ; metabolism ; Biological Assay ; Carbocyanines ; metabolism ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cholesterol, HDL ; metabolism ; DNA, Complementary ; genetics ; metabolism ; Fluorescent Dyes ; metabolism ; Gene Expression ; Humans ; Lipoproteins, HDL ; agonists ; genetics ; metabolism ; Lipoproteins, LDL ; metabolism ; Receptors, Lipoprotein ; agonists ; genetics ; metabolism ; Recombinant Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Scavenger Receptors, Class B ; agonists ; genetics ; metabolism ; Spodoptera ; genetics ; metabolism

Animals ; Cadherins ; metabolism ; Catenins ; metabolism ; Estradiol ; pharmacology ; Estrogen Receptor Modulators ; pharmacology ; Female ; Ovariectomy ; Rats ; Uterus ; drug effects ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo construct the localization system involving anti-TfR monoclonal antibody (McAb) and AFP promoters and assess its effect on human hepatoma cell lines.

METHODSThe conjugate of anti-TfR McAb and polylysine (PLL) was made by SPDP and purified by molecular screen chromatography. DNA blocking test determined that the ratio of one pEBAF/tk to six Ab-PLL was the most suitable to couple them. The pEBAF/tk recombinant plasmid bearing HSV-TK gene was coupled to Ab-PLL by noncovalent bond. The pEBAF/tk was transferred into human hepatoma cell line HepG2, SMMC7721 and pulmonary cancer cell line A549 by receptor-mediated gene delivery (Ab-PLL-DNA) and liposome procedure. The growth inhibitory rates of HepG2, SMMC7721 and A549 cells were measured by MTT assay.

RESULTSThe inhibitory rates of HepG2/tk in 100 mg/L and 1 mg/L of GCV were 60.5% and 24.3%, respectively. The inhibitory rate of GCV to SMMC7721 was 23.2% in 3 days. The pulmonary cancer cell A549, A549/tk (Ab) and A549 /tk (lipo) could not be inhibited by the addition of GCV.

CONCLUSIONThe localization system employed in this paper has high specificity, effectiveness and safety for gene therapy. It would be a promising strategy for gene therapy.

Antibodies, Monoclonal ; therapeutic use ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; therapy ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Ganciclovir ; therapeutic use ; Genetic Therapy ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; therapy ; Receptors, Transferrin ; immunology ; Simplexvirus ; enzymology ; Thymidine Kinase ; genetics ; alpha-Fetoproteins ; genetics