China ; Hepatitis, Autoimmune ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Humans

Diagnosis, Differential ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Precancerous Conditions ; diagnosis ; Stomach Neoplasms ; diagnosis

There is an increasing interest and popularity of Chinese herbal medicine worldwide, which is accompanied by increasing concerns about its effectiveness and potential toxicity. Several ingredients, such as polyphenolic compounds berberine, flavonoids, and curcumin, have been studied extensively by using various animal models. Effectiveness of treatment and amelioration of metabolic syndromes, including insulin resistance and dyslipidemia, has been demonstrated. This review summarizes the major checkpoints and contributing factors in regulation of exogenous and endogenous lipid metabolism, with particular emphasis centered on triglyceride-rich and cholesterol-rich lipoproteins. Available experimental evidence demonstrating the lipid-lowering effect of berberine, flavonoids and curcumin in cell culture and animal models is compiled, and the strengths and shortcomings of experimental designs in these studies are discussed.

Acupuncture Therapy ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pain Measurement ; Phantom Limb ; therapy

ObjectiveTo investigate the influence of transverse and longitudinal lower segment caesarean section on the outcome of newborn, postpartum haemorrhage and ratio of complications in placenta previa. MethodsPlacenta previa with lower segment transverse caesarean section( 117 cases) were taken as control group, meanwhile, the lower segment with longitudinal section (142 cases ) as experimental group. Their operational complications, amount of bleeding during and after operation and outcome of the perinatal period were analysed.Results No significant difference in age, parities, gestational weeks, the types of the placenta praevia and the locus of placenta between the two groups were found( P>0.05), while there were significant difference in the amount of bleeding during and after operation, the need of using gauze ribbon to stop bleeding, section splitting and rate of hysterectomy after caesarean section(P<0.01). ConelusionLower segment longitudinal caesarean section in placenta praevia not only shows less bleeding during operation and lower rate of postpartum haemorrhage, but also avoids using gauzes to stop bleeding and causes lower rate of hysterectomy after caesarean section, so it can be the first choice when determining the style of section in placenta praevia.

Objective To investigate the drug induced liver injure(DILI)associated with Chinese herbal medicine and herbal related food supplements.Methods From 1982 to 2005.8.9 consecutive pa- tients were diagnosed as DILI based on their medication history,clinical manifestation,liver function and other laboratory tests.The final retrospection confirmatory diagnosis was made according to the interna- tional scoring system for DILI.Results The 82 DILI patients(28 men,54 females,age ranging from 16 to 81 years old)accounted for 2.2% of hospitalized patients with liver dysfunction.Among those patients with DILI,30.5% was caused by weight reducing drugs or food supplements,12.2% by drugs of derma tology,8.5% by drugs for cardiovascular disease,8.5% by drugs of rheumatology,7.3% by drugs of gynecology,6.1% by drugs for liver disease,6.1% by blood-lipids modulators,3.7% by drugs for thy- roid disease,3.7% by drugs for hyperplasia of mammary glands and 13.4 % by the others.The duration of medication was from 6 clays to 6 months and the incubation period was from 6 days to 3 months.DILI could be classified as acute hepatocellular injury(36.59%),acute cholestasis(39.02%)and mixtures (24.39%).About 10% patients were accompanied by allergic manifestations.All patients recovered rap- idly after stopping the relevant medicine.Conclusion Chinese herbal medicine and herbal related food supplements are a common cause of DILI in China.The awareness and monitoring improving DILI during herbs treatment is a critical issue in daily practice.

Partial immunoactivities of peptidoglycan(PG)isolated from lactic acid bacteria were investigated.PG isolated from strain Z8 and Z17 of lactic acid bacteria respectively,had similar immunoactivities.The phagocytic function of M?(macrophage)increased markedly and serum lysozyme activity was significantly enhanced by injection of PG-extracts on mice.Investigation of immuno-enhancing effects of PG on vaccine of Newcastle disease in chickens showed that the hemagglutination inhibition levels of PG were higher than that of the control and the level was maintained for a longer time as compared to the control.

Objective To evaluate the prognostic value of fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) standardized uptake value (SUV) of positron emission tomography (PET) before radiotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3DCRT). Methods Seventy-three patients with stage Ⅲ NSCLC underwent PET to calculate SUV within 2 weeks before 3DCRT. The a-nalysis was carried out after the irradiation of 60 -66 Gy. The possible prognostic factors were assessed by Cox proportional hazards model. Results The mean SUV for squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma and others were 16.94, 14.40 and 6.33, respectively (F = 0. 51, P = 0. 604). The mean SUV for tumor volume less than and more than 50 cm~3 was 13.81 and 20.18 (F = 7.54, P = 0. 008). In the univariate analysis, a cutoff SUV of 17 and chemotherapy were correlated with the prognosis. In the multivariate analysis, SUV was the only independent prognostic factor (relative risk = 2.61). Conclusions SUV is a prognostic factor in patients with NSCLC treated by 3DCRT, which deserves further studies.