OBJECTIVETo evaluate the efficacy and safety of percutaneous pedicle screw fixation (PPSF) and open pedicle screw fixation (OPSF) in the treatment of single level of thoracolumbar fracture.

METHODSDatabases including Pubmed, Embasem, CNKI were searched to collect clinical trials of the clinical safety and efficiency of PPSF and OPSF for single level of thoracolumbar unstable fracture, relevant proceedings and references were also retrieved manually. Studies from 1990 to 2014 that met the inclusion and exclusion standards were researched. The data were extracted and the methods from the studies were also evaluated. Data analysis was conducted with the Review Manager 5.3 software. Observation targets included operation time, intraoperative bleeding, postoperative bleeding, hospitalization time, the bed time, postoperative vertebral Cobb angle, vertebral body height, pain score and the length of incision operation.

RESULTSFifteen papers were finally studied, including 2 randomized controlled trials (RCT) and 13 case-control studies, involving 789 patients. Compared with OPSF, the PPSF in treating thoracolumbar fracture had shorter operation time, smaller operation incision, less intraoperative and postoperation bleeding, shorter hospitalization days, fewer pain (P<0.00001), the less improvement in the change of Cobb angle (P=0.0006). There was no significant difference in the improvement of vertebral body height (P=0.36), the bed time from operation to exercise (P=0.38) between OPSF and PPSF.

CONCLUSIONCompared with OPSF, PPSF is better, safer, and has fewer pain. But there is no evidence that the PPSF is better in the recovery of the spinal height, and they have the same effect in the long-term follow-up for thoracolumbar fractures. PPSF brines minimally invasive to patients with better effect. It is worth further study and clinical research.

Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Fracture Fixation, Internal ; methods ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures ; methods ; Pedicle Screws ; Spinal Fractures ; surgery ; Thoracic Vertebrae ; surgery ; Treatment Outcome

Aged ; Humans ; Male ; Palatal Neoplasms ; pathology ; Uvula ; pathology

Based on vector auto-regression (VAR) model, this paper takes advantage of Granger causality test, variance decomposition and impulse response analysis techniques to carry out a comprehensive study of the factors influencing the price of Chinese herbal, including herbal cultivation costs, acreage, natural disasters, the residents' needs and inflation. The study found that there is Granger causality relationship between inflation and herbal prices, cultivation costs and herbal prices. And in the total variance analysis of Chinese herbal and medicine price index, the largest contribution to it is from its own fluctuations, followed by the cultivation costs and inflation.
Agriculture ; economics ; Commerce ; Costs and Cost Analysis ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; economics ; Humans ; Models, Statistical ; Plants, Medicinal ; growth & development ; Regression Analysis

Sepsis remains the leading cause of death in intensive care unit.The pathogenesis of sepsis is extremely complex.Immune dysfunction plays an important role in the occurrence and development of sepsis.Many mechanisms are responsible for sepsis induced immune-suppression,including apoptotic depletion of immune cells,increased T regulatory and myeloid-derived suppressor cells,and cellular exhaustion.The article provided a brief review on the advance of immunologic mechanisms underlying sepsis.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of Qinggan Huoxue Recipe (QGHXR), a compound Chinese herbal medicine, and its decomposed formulas Qinggan Recipe (QGR) and Huoxue Recipe (HXR) on expressions of CD14, Toll like receptor 4 (TLR(4)) and nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) in Kupffer cells. METHODS: The isolated primary rat Kupffer cells were treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) for a certain period of time, a series of concentrations of drug-containing serums of QGHXR and its decomposed formulas were added, the expressions of NF-kappaB, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), CD14, and TLR(4) of the Kupffer cells were detected in different culture conditions by using Western blot, real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and ELISA methods respectively. RESULTS: QGR could down-regulate the expression of membrane receptor CD14, but the expression of NF-kappaB and TNF-alpha were not significantly decreased after QGR treatment. HXR could down-regulate the expression of membrane receptor TLR4 and inhibit the expressions of NF-kappaB and TNF-alpha. QGHXR could down regulate the expressions of membrane receptors CD14 and TLR(4) and inhibit the expressions of NF-kappaB and TNF-alpha. CONCLUSION: QGHXR can protect liver cells by down regulating the expressions of CD14, TLR(4) and NF-kappaB and inhibiting TNF-alpha expression.

Objective Increased renal mast cells have been found in significant correlation with clinicopathological features of diabetic nephropathy ( DN) .However, the exact pathological significance of mast cells still remained to be elucidated.As one of the most abundant serine proteases, tryptase is specifically expressed by mast cells.The study was to observe the expression of tryptase in the urine of patients with diabetic nephropathy and realize the pathological significance of urinary tryptase and renal mast cells in the development of diabetic nephropathy. Methods Urine samples from 103 patients with diabetic nephropathy who were hospitalized at the clinical unit of the nephrology centre of Jingling Hospital from January 2012 to June 2013 were collected.According to concentra-tion of urinary albumin excretion rate, the patients were conducted to early-stage DN group (microalbuminuria,n=10), middle-stage DN group (proteinuria stage, n=31) and end-stage DN group (renal insufficiency stage,n=62).Meanwhile, urine samples from 20 normal persons were taken as the normal control group.Tryptase level in each urine sample was measured by using an ELISA kit.The average tryptase levels were compared among different groups and the correlation between urinary tryptase level and clinical indices was analyzed. Results ①In most cases, tryptase was not detected in the urine samples from normal persons(0.7 ±1.4 ng/mg creati-nine).However, the urinary trypatse level increased significantly with the development of diabetic nephropathy (11.6 ±10.5 ng/mg creatinine for early stage, 29.7 ±19.2 ng/mg creatinine for middle stage, and 44.6 ±43.4 ng/mg creatinine for late stage group).②The urinary tryptase level was found in significant correlation with ser-um creatinine (r=0.325, P<0.01), serum cystatin C (r=0.391, P<0.01), serum urea nitrogen (r=0.27, P<0.01), 24 hour uri-nary protein (r=0.389, P<0.01), urine C3 (r=0.276, P<0.05), urine retinol-binding protein (r=0.365, P<0.01), urine lysozyme (r=0.461, P<0.01), urine N-acetyl-β-glucosaminidase level (r=0.568, P<0.01), urinary kidney injury molecule-1 (r=0.434, P<0.05) and interleukin-18 level (r=0.375, P<0.05).No significant correlation was found between urinary tryptase level and age, gender, fasting blood sugar, postprandial blood sugar, HbA1c, triglyceride, high density lipoprotein or low density lipo-protein. Conclusion Mast cells play an important role in the development of diabetic nephropathy and might be a novel and effective target for the treatment of DN.

Acupuncture Therapy ; Bloodletting ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Facial Muscles ; physiopathology ; Female ; Humans ; Spasm ; physiopathology ; therapy ; Young Adult

Acupuncture Therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Hyperhidrosis ; physiopathology ; therapy ; Sweating ; Young Adult

Animals ; Antigens, CD ; metabolism ; Cell Movement ; Cell Proliferation ; Endoglin ; Genetic Therapy ; Humans ; Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; cytology ; metabolism ; Neoplasms ; pathology ; therapy ; Receptors, Cell Surface ; metabolism ; Thy-1 Antigens ; metabolism ; Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 ; metabolism

Objective To investigate the effect of vitrification on the biomechanics of tendon tissue in rabbit.Methods Two frozen methods were adopted.The first group was treated with Cryoprotective Agent,which was composed of 18.64%DMSO(V/V),13.37% Acetamide(V/V),9.17% 1,2 Propylene glyco(V/V),0.10mmol/LTrehalose and 10% Calf serum.The tendon tissue with three steps of preliminary treatment,preserved in Cryoprotective Agen was conserved in liquid nitrogen(-196℃)for 14 days;The second group treated with 15% DMSO and 10% Calf serum served as control group.Transmission electron microscope was used to observe the Histiooytic shape of tendon.Each group was performed with tendon tensile test,which could detect maximum load,the maximum shifting quantity and Young's Elastic Modulus.Results There was no significant damage in the tissue's micromechanism of vitrified tendon.But in cryopreservation group,the tissue's micromechanism was apparently damaged.There was no significant difference between test group and control group in maximum load(P=0.256).The same was the maximum shifting quantity(P=0.065).There was significant difference between test group and control group in Young's Elastic Modulus(P=0.006).Conclusion The damage of vitrification to tendon is less than that of profound hypothermia preservion,especially to tendon's corpuscular shape,but there is no significant difference between test group and control group in tendon's biomechanics.