Fu's subcutaneous needling (FSN) is a modern approach developed from traditional Chinese acupuncture. It could give some stimulation in the subcutaneous region that has a quick and long-lasting effect on soft tissue injuries and some of the internal medicine diseases. It is a safe approach without adverse reaction. Through analysis of the features and possible mechanism of FSN, it is believed that research on mechanism of FSN is beneficial to the development of modern medicine, especially to pain management.
Acupuncture Analgesia ; instrumentation ; methods ; Acupuncture Points ; Humans ; Pain Management ; instrumentation ; methods

Objective To observe and evaluate the effect of ultrasound guided percutaneous ethanol injection for hyperparathyroidism secondary to chronic renal failure. Methods Fifty-three patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism in Nanjing General Hospital Military Command from January 2011 to May 2013 were treated by percutaneous ethanol injection. The echogenicity, size and blood supply of parathyroid glands were observed by color Doppler ultrasound before and after treatment. Parathyroid hormone (PTH) and volumes of parathyroid glands were analyzed and compared with non-paired t test. Results Before treatment, the parathyroid gland volume was (5.28±0.84) cm3. The enlarged parathyroid glands had homogeneous hypoechogenicity and abundant blood supply, and the PTH was (1041.6±37.1) ng/L. After treatment, the size of solitary parathyroid gland was (3.93±0.67) cm3 which did not change significantly compared with that before treatment. The echogenicity of parathyroid glands enhanced and blood supply decreased after injection ethanol into solitary parathyroid. PTH [(509.2±27.6) ng/L] decreased obviously (t=3.792, P < 0.05). Conclusion Color Doppler ultrasound guided percutaneous injection of ethanol has an important role in the treating of secondary hyperparathyroidism and the curative effect can be observed timely.

Objective To investigate the clinicopathologic and immunohistochemical characteristics of breast carcinosarcoma with osteosarcoma components and its differential diagnosis. Methods The pathologic features and clinical manifestations of the two patients were retrospectively reviewed. Immunohistochemistry was performed and the literature was reviewed. Results Histopathologically, the neoplasm consisted of invasive ductal carcinoma of no special type and poorly ( case 1 ) or well (case 2) differentiated osteosarcomatoid elements. The morphological transition from carcinoma to sarcomatoid elements was seen. Immunohistochemically,the carcinoma cells were positive for CK and EMA , the sarcomatoid elements were stained positive for vimentin, and a few cells of two elements were positive for S-100 protein. Ki-67 and VEGF were over expressed in both elements of Case 1.In case2 Ki-67 expression was low in both elements and VEGF over expression was only seen in sarcomatoid elements. Some of the carcinoma cells were positive for ER. Conclusions Carcinosarcoma of the breast with osteosarcomatoid elements is a rare type of mixed epithelial/mesenchymal metaplastic breast carcinoma. The types and proportion of carcinoma and sarcomatoid elements determine the diagnosis.

Occupational Exposure ; prevention & control ; Risk Assessment ; methods

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; China ; epidemiology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Motor Activity ; Urban Population ; Young Adult

Recently, microRNAs (miRNAs) have been shown to be involved in multiple biological pathways that can influence tumor progression and metastasis and they can serve as prognostic biomarkers in many cancers. The present study examined the prognostic significance of miR-215 in cervical cancer. The paraffin-embedded paired cervical scrape samples and tumor tissue samples from 302 patients with stage II cervical cancer were detected for the expression of miR-215 by using qRT-PCR. A miR-215-based classifier was established by using the Cox regression model. The prognostic and predictive accuracy of this classifier was determined in both the internal testing group of 138 patients, and the external independent group of 280 patients. Moreover, cervical cancer HeLa cells overexpressing miR-215 (HeLa-miR-215) were constructed and subcutaneously injected into the nude mice to examine the effect of miR-215 on tumor growth and metastasis in vivo. The results showed that the expression level of miR-215 was significantly higher in cervical cancer tissues than in paired normal tissues (P<0.0001). When patients were classified into high- and low-risk cancer progression groups according to miR-215 level, the 5-year disease-free survival in high- and low-risk groups were 43% (95% CI: 32.1-51.6) and 67% (95% CI: 48.6-77.3) (hazard ratio [HR] 2.02, 95% CI: 1.16-3.52; P=0.013) respectively. Moreover, the expression level of miR-215 was negatively associated with survival rate in patients at TNM stage T3 (HR: 3.317; 95% CI: 1.18-5.14, P=0.017) and TNM stage T4 (HR: 3.48; 95% CI: 1.49-4.45, P=0.008). Tumor volume in nude mice injected with HeLa-miR-215 cells was significantly larger than that in mice injected with control HeLa cells. It was concluded that the expression level of miR-215 is associated with cervical tumor progression and worse survival rate, suggesting that it may serve as a potential prognostic marker to identify patients at higher risk of recurrence.

Objective To investigate the clinical value of Color Doppler Ultrasound in diagnosis of lymph node diseases. Methods We observed the ultrasound features of the 93 cases of swelled lymph nodes with Color Doppler ultrasound. The ultrasound features included pseudokidney sign, assessment on blood flow distribution, the Doppler resistive Index (RI), maximal flow rate (Vmax),the longitudinal axis compared to the diameter of a node (L/D ratio) . Results Out of 93 cases of clinically confirmed swelled lymph nodes,the concordance rate of Color Doppler Ultrasound was 86%and 88%in diagnosis of malignant lymph node disease and benign lymph node disease, respectively. 4 cases of lymph tuberculosis were misdiagnosed as lymphoma due to the similar ultrasound characteristics found in malignant lymph group,the rate of misdiagnosis was 8%. In the cases of proliferative lymph node diseases with Pseudokidney sign, 93% of the blood flow distribution was classified as grade 0-I. 90% of lymphadenitis were found with Pseudokidney sign,and 95%of those cases with blood flow distribution was classified as grade II-III. Malignant lymph diseases had no Pseudokidney sign, and 86%of blood flow distribution grade was as III. There was statistically significant difference in the L/D ratio and RI between benign lymph group and malignant lymph group (P<0.01) . There was statistically significant difference in Vmax between lymphoproliferative group and other groups (P<0.01) . Conclusions Pathological characteristics on different lymph node disease determin the ultrasound characteristics. Combined clinical data based on Pseudokidney sign, Blood Flow Distribution, RI value,Vmax value and L/D ratio can enhance the accuracy of various lymph node disease diagnosis.

Objective To evaluate the protective effect of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) against interleukin (IL)-17-induced injury to keratinocytes,and to explore its mechanism.Methods Some cultured HaCaT cells were divided into 3 groups to be treated with IL-17 alone at concentrations of 50,70,90 μg/L,respectively,with those receiving no treatment as the blank control group.Some HaCaT cells were divided into 5 groups:IL-17 group treated with 90 μg/L IL-17 alone,IL-17 + EGCG group treated with 90 μg/L IL-17 and 60 μmol/L EGCG,IL-17 + SP600125 group treated with 90 μg/L IL-17 and SP600125 (a JAK signaling pathway inhibitor),IL-17+ EGCG + anisomycin group treated with 90μg/L IL-17,60xmol/L EGCG and anisomycin (a Janus kinase signaling pathway activator),and blank control group receiving no treatment.After different durations of treatment,CCK-8 assay was performed to evaluate cellular proliferative activity,flow cytometry to detect cell apoptosis,enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to measure expression levels of IL-6,IL-23 and IL-8,and Western-blot analysis to determine protein expressions of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and phosphorylated JNK (P-JNK).Results IL-17 promoted cellular proliferation of HaCaT cells,and the proliferation rate,which was correlated with the concentration of IL-17,reached the maximum in the 90-μg/L IL-17 group (P ＜ 0.05).EGCG at 60 μmol/L significantly inhibited cellular proliferation of,promoted apoptosis in,and reduced IL-6,IL-23 and IL-8 expressions in,HaCaT cells induced by 90 μg/L IL-17 (all P ＜ 0.05).Compared with the IL-17 group,the IL-17 + EGCG group and IL-17 + SP600125 group both showed significantly decreased P-JNK expression,cell proliferation rate and IL-6,IL-23 and IL-8 expression levels (all P ＜ 0.05).However,compared with the IL-17 + EGCG group,the IL-17 + EGCG + anisomycin group showed significantly increased protein expression of P-JNK,cell proliferation rate and IL-6,IL-23 and IL-8 expression levels (all P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion EGCG protected against IL-17-induced injury to HaCaT cells,such as abnormal cell proliferation,apoptosis and inflammatory response,likely by inhibiting the JNK signaling pathway.

Objective To observe the effect of leptin on glucose oxidation with increased mRNA expression of complete length long intracellular domain of leptin receptor ( OBRb) in primary cultured skeletal muscle cells. Methods Skeletal muscle cells were isolated from SD sucking rat and cultured in four groups (recombinant transfection, empty plasmid transfection, non-transfection and control).The recombinant with complete length OBRb cDNA or the empty plasmid were introduced into skeletal muscle cells by clonfectin when the cultured cells were 70% conlluency, leptin and regular insulin were applied into wells and incubated for 1 h, then D-[ U-I4C]-glucose was added into wells and incubated for 2 h. The radioactivity of collected 14CO2 was assayed by scintillation. Expression level of OBRb mRNA in transfected cells was assayed by RT-PCR. Results The ratios of OBRb intraceUular domain mRNA and p-actin mRNA in cells transfected with recombinant, transiected with empty plasimd, and non-transfected were 1.22?0.10,0.41?0.08 and 0.49?0.09, respectively.The expression of OBRb intraceUular domain mRNA in cells transfected with recombinants was significantly increased as compared to the other groups of cells (P

Objective To analyze MRI features of breast intraductal papilloma,to improve the acquaintance of this disease.Methods The preoperative MRI images (T2 WI-SPAIR,DWI,ADC,TIC and MIP)of eight patients with breast intraductal papilloma confirmed by surgery were reviewed retrospectively,which were compared with the postoperative pathology.The morphology,distribution, enhanced methods and signal characteristics of the lesion were summarized.Results Of 8 cases,the lession was dormant,and MRI revealed three patterns:the first type was occult papilloma,which presented distention of ducts and no solid nodule in 3 cases (37.5%);the second type showed tiny nodules in bar-like dilatation of ducts in 3 cases (37.5%);and the third type presented small round nodules scattering distribued in terminal ductules in 2 cases (25%).The maximum diameter of nodular lesions was 0.4-1.0 cm(average 0.7 cm).The lesions on T2 WI-SPAIR showed equal signal intensity or mixed signals with isointensity/hypointensity,and dilatation catheter.enhancement. The ADC and TIC value were various,therefore,diagnosis of the tumor should be combined with morphology and associated symptoms. Conclusion At early stage,the occult focus of breast intraductal papilloma can be sensitively detected and localized on MRI.It reveals that MRI has advantage in showing morphology of lesion and functional imaging,which is of important value in clinical diagnosis and early treatment.