Effects of acupuncture on spontaneous discharges of nerve cells in ventromedial neucleus of hypothalamus (VNH) and levels of monoamine neurotransmitters in rats of obesity were observed. Results indicated that levels of tyrosine (Tyr) and dopamine f DA) were decreased, and the levels of 5 -hydroxytryptamine (5 - HT) and 5 - hydroxyindole acetic acid (5 - HIAA) increased in VNH; The frequency of spontaneous discharges of nerve cells in VNH lowered significantly in the obesity group as compared with those in the normal group; When acupuncture attained effect of weight reduction, the frequency of spontaneous discharges of nerve cells in the VMH increased obviously; the levels of Tyr, DA, tryptamine , and 5 - HT/5 - HIAA increased, and 5 - HT level decreased in VMH tissue. It is suggested that the benign regulative action of acupuncture on VNH is possibly one of the crucial factors for acupuncture in reducing body weight.

Objective To investigate the serum adiponectin levels and TNF-? levels in women with gestational diabetes and to study their clinical significance.Methods Plasma concentration of adiponectin,tumor necrosis factor alpha and correlate parameters were measured in 50 patients with gestational diabetes(GDM)and 36 pregnant women with normal glucose tolerance(NGT).Radio immunoassay was used to measure the adiponectin,TNF-? level was measured by ELISA.Serum insulin level was measured by Electrochemiluminescent immunoassays fasting glucose levels by glucose oxidase method.Results GDM patients had significantly lower concentrations of adiponectin(10.3?(2.4) mg/L) and elevated levels of TNF-?(4.6?(1.5)?g/L) in comparison to NGT women.In GDM group TNF-? level was correlated positively with serum insulin level,glucose level.Concentration of adiponectin was negatively correlated with corresponding parameters.Conclusion Elevated level of TNF-? and decreased adiponectin concentration may not simply reflect maternal adiposity and insulin resistant state,but may contribute to the impaired glucose metabolism during pregnancy and forecast the risk of metabolism syndrome.

The fasting blood sugar (FBS), blood insulin (INS), insulin sensitivity index (ISI) and resistant hormone of INS in 46 patients with NIDDM were observed before and after the treatment. It was showed that the good effect was achieved in the cases by acupuncture and moxibustion, while the contents of FBS and INS in plasma were all decreased and ISI was increased in the cases treated by acupuncture and moxibustion, the degree of decrease of FBS and INS, and increase of ISI being closely related to therapeutic effect. The level of resistant hormone of INS and lipid in patients tend to normal level. Acupuncture and moxibustion had a good regulatory effect on the function of endocrine,sugar and lipid metabolism. It suggests that IR can be corrected by acupuncture and moxibustion,which is a key to therapeutic effect.

Better therapeutic effects have been achieved in the treatment of 112 simple obesity cases,mainly with acupuncture therapy plus auxiliary treatment of acupuncture weight loss apparatus. The results showed that the effective rate was 85% in 112 cases by one course of the treatments, 92% in 84 cases by two courses of the treatments, and 98% in 43 cases by three courses of the treatments. The therapeutic effect in combination with acupuncture apparatus was better in long courses of the treatment than in the short courses of the treatments, in male than in female, in young age than in old age, in mild case than in severe condition, in short duration than in long duration, in excessive pattern than in deficient pattern, in those without complications than in those with complications, and in those without family history than in those with family history, indicating that early treatment and prolonged treatment can enhance the therapeutic effects in weight loss by acupuncture.

Objective To explore the cell frequency , phenotypes and in vitro cytotoxic effects of circulating CD56+T cells in the patients with chronic HCV infection .Methods Peripheral blood mononu-clear cells (PBMCs) were isolated from 33 patients with HCV chronic infection and 21 healthy subjects. Multi-color flow cytometry was used to analyze cell frequency , expressions of activating receptors ( NKG2C, CD16 and NKp46) and inhibitory receptors (NKG2A and CD158a) on CD56+T cells.The functional mark-er for cytotoxic effects (CD107a) on circulating CD56+T cells and their cytokines expression (IFN-γand TNF-α) with or without stimulation of K 562 human Leukemia cell line were also analyzed .Then the correla-tions among the expressing levels of CD 107 a, IFN-γand TNF-αwere investigated .Results The frequency of CD56+T cells in periphery lymphocytes were significantly decreased in the patients with chronic HCV in -fection as compared with that in healthy controls ( P=0.018 ).The expressions of activating receptors (NKG2C, CD16 and NKp46) on CD56+T cells from HCV infected patients were decreased (P=0.015 for NKG2C, P=0.036 for CD16 and P=0.001 for NKp46), while there was no significant change in the ex-pressions of inhibitory receptors (P>0.05 for both CD158a and NKG2A).The concentrations of IFN-γand TNF-αsecreted by CD56+T cells in the patients with chronic HCV infection were significantly decreased with or without K562 stimulation (P<0.0001).However, in the presence of K562 cells CD107a expression on CD56+T cells were sharply decreased in the patients (P<0.0001).In absence of K562 cells, there was no significant change in CD107a expression on CD56+T cells from patients and healthy controls (P>0.05). The expressions of CD107a, IFN-γand TNF-αwere closely related under the stimulation of K562(r>0.80, P<0.0001).Conclusion The frequency of CD56+T cells was reduced in patients with chronic HCV infec-tion.Moreover, cytotoxic effects and cytokines production mediated by CD 56+T cells were also significantly impaired, indicating that the dysfunction of circulating CD 56+T cells might be associated with the persist-ence of chronic HCV infection .

OBJECTIVE To determine the drug resistance phenotype and genotype of plasmid-mediated AmpC ?-lactamase in Klebsiella pneumoniae isolated from Harbin.METHODS Isolates of K.pneumoniae with an inhibition ring to cefoxitin of ≤18 mm diameter were used.Antimicrobial susceptibilities were determined by disc diffusion method.AmpC genes were detected by PCR with six pairs of primers.RESULTS Sixty-three isolates had an inhibition ring to cefoxitin of ≤18 mm diameter and 26(11.3%)were detected to be AmpC-producing in a total of 231 clinical isolates of K.pneumoniae.Seventy-six percent,70.2%,53.8%,50.5%,57.7%,38.5% and 7.7% of AmpC-producers were resistant to cefoxitin,cefotaxime,ceftazidime,amoxicillin/clavulanic cid,ciprofloxacin,amikacin and imipenem,respectively.ACT,DHA and CIT types of AmpC beta-lactamase were detected in 13,8 and 5 isolates,respectively.No ACC,MOX and FOX were detected.CONCLUSIONS The AmpC ?-lactamase in Harbin is mainly in the types of ACT,DHA and CIT.AmpC-producing K.pneumoniae shows decreased susceptibilities to cefoxitin and third generation cephalosporins.

OBJECTIVE To explore the risk factors of gas gangrene after open trauma for its early diagnosis and precaution.METHODS The data of 42 patients with gas gangrene after open trauma from Aug 2003 to Aug 2008,were collected.The risk factors of gas gangrene after open trauma had been retrospectively analyzed from the cause of the injuries,the distribution of latent period,wound,systemic symptoms,laboratory examination and treatment.RESULTS Gas gangrene after injury was related with open wounds for various reasons.Latent period of gas gangrene was 24-72 h.Early risk factors of gas gangrene among them mainly included degloved or avulsed skin-injury(100%),musce trauma(100.00%),contaminated wound and retained foreign bodies(95.24%),weak pulse of peripheral artery(95.24%),nervous injury(90.48%),and lower temperature of skin aound the wound(83.33%).There were obviously systemic symptoms in infective stage but in early stage were not.CONCLUSIONS Gas gangrene is extremely rare in injury patients but it is life-threatening.So more attention should be paid to the risk factors in order to decrease the incidence of gas gangrene after trauma.Improving the prognosis of patients;the wounded locations should be effectively treated early so as to improve the prognosis.

BACKGROUND: The abnormality of the function of arcuate nucleus may be an important factor of obesity. It has been known that the mechanisms of acupuncture in treating obesity are related to nervous and neurohumoral regulation. What is the regulating effect of acupuncture on the function of arcuate nucleus?OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of acupuncture on the function of arcuate nucleus of obese rats, and further investigate central nervous functional mechanism of reducing weight by acupuncture.DESIGN: Randomized controlled study based on the experimental animals.SETTING: Acupuncture institute in second clinical medical college of a university of traditional Chinese medicine, and a population management college.MATERIALS: This experiment was carried out in the Acupuncture Institute of Second Clinical Medical College, Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine between April and October 2002. One-month old male SD rats just in ablactation were selected.METHODS: Rats fed with ordinary wholesome rat-feed were in the normal group. The successfully established experimental obese rats models were randomly divided as control group and acupuncture group with 12 rats in each group. Rats in the acupuncture group were given acupuncture treatment for 14 days, and rats in the normal and control groups were put into rat fixation-machine for 15 minutes every day, lasting for 14 days. Body mass, Lee' s index, body lipid, level of central and peripheral leptin and insulin(INS) as well as the frequency of spontaneous discharge of nerve cell in the arcuate nucleus(ARC) of hypothalamus in obese rats were observed with nervous electrophysiological and nervous biochemical technology before and after acupuncture.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: ① Effect of acupuncture on obesity index, fat contents of pericardium, kidney and epididymis of experimental obese rats. ② Effect of acupuncture on the frequency of spontaneous discharge of ARC nerve cell of hypothalamus in obese rats. ③ Effect of acupuncture on the contents of hypothalamic and serum leptin and INS of rats in each groups. ④ Correlation of the frequency of spontaneous discharge of ARC nerve cell of hypothalamus with the level of hypothalamic leptin and INS.RESULTS: The body mass[(517.74±29.35) g], Lee' s index (319.85 ± 3.96) and body fat content of obesity rats [ (13.88 ± 1.32) g] were all significantly higher than those in the normal rats, the differences were significant(P ＜ 0.01); the frequency of spontaneous discharge of nerve cell in ARC of hypothalamus in obese rats [ (3.12 ± 1.92) Hz] were all markedly lower than those of the normal rats[ (8.99 ± 2.71 ) Hz], the differences were significant (P ＜ 0.01 ); the frequency of spontaneous discharge of nerve cell in ARC was negatively correlated with body mass, Lee' s index and body lipid( r = -0. 592, -0. 672, -0. 521 ) . Acupuncture significantly increased the frequency of spontaneous discharge of nerve cell in ARC of hypothalamus in obese rats [(9.75 ±2.02) Hz] as compared with the control group, the differences were significant( P ＜ 0. 01 ).CONCLUSION: The good regulating effect of acupuncture on the function of arcuate nucleus of hypothalamus might be one of mechanisms in the antiobesity of acupuncture.

Objective To evaluate the quality of domestic hepatitis C diagnostic reagents objectively,and to build up the quality control systems for assessment of hepatitis Cdiagnostic reagents.Methods4080 serum samples from blood donors were collected and detected with EIA kits.146anti-HCV positive and negative samples were selected and tested repeatedly by two different imported ( Murex and Ortho) and domestic anti-HCV EIA kits(InTec,ZHONGSHAN BIO-TECH,WANTAI and KHB),then confirmed by CHIRON RIBA HCV 3.0 and PCR qualitative reagents.The samples were tested by nucleic acid quantitative assay and the RNA positive samples were detected by genotyping reagents.ResultsThe quality control systems of diagnostic reagents of anti-HCV and HCV RNA were constructed.Each quality control system was consisted of 50 samples,including 20 anti-HCV/HCV RNA positive,20 anti-HCV/HCV RNA negative and 10 diluted specimens for sensitivity evaluation.The positive samples with dominant HCV genotypes in China contained strong,moderate and weak positive samples.The negative samples involved those S/CO value ( signal-to-cutoff ratios ) close to threshold.Conclusion The quality control systems established in this study are suitable for assessment of the new and improved domestic hepatitis C diagnostic reagents.

Objective To comparatively analyze serum levels of zinc , iron, magnesium, calcium, copper and phosphorus and their relationships with serum albumin and circulating HCV viral load in patients with chronic HCV infection , subjects with spontaneously resolved HCV infection and healthy subjects . Methods Serum levels of the six trace elements in patients with chronic HCV infection (n=59), subjects with spontaneously resolved HCV infection (n=65) and healthy subjects (n=48) were measured by a flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer and then a comparative analysis was performed to analyze the differences among the three groups .The relationships of the six trace elements with serum albumin and HCV viral load were analyzed among patients with chronic HCV infection .Results Compared with healthy subjects , the levels of serum zinc were significantly decreased , but serum levels of iron , copper , phosphorus were signifi-cantly increased in patients with chronic HCV infection .There was a significant positive correlation between the levels of zinc(r=0.4022, P=0.0016)and albumin in patients with chronic HCV infection with ALT no less than 40 IU/L, whereas negative correlations were presented between trace elements of iron ( r=-0.3001, P=0.0209), copper (r=-0.3856, P=0.0036), phosphorus (r=-0.3600, P=0.0075) and serum albumin.The circulating HCV viral load was negatively correlated with serum zinc (r=-0.4367, P=0.0005), but positively correlated with serum copper (r=0.3328, P=0.0139).The serum levels of six trace elements showed no significant differences between healthy subjects and spontaneous resolvers of HCV infection.Moreover, no significant differences of serum calcium and magnesium were found among the three groups.Conclusion Chronic HCV infection can induce abnormal serum levels of zinc , iron, copper and phosphorus and the abnormal serum levels of trace elements were closely related with liver function and HCV viral load.With the spontaneous clearance of HCV infection , the serum levels of trace elements could restore to normal .