Functional constipation (FC) is a common functional bowel disorder disease that affects life quality of a large number of people. This study aimed to explore the impact of different intensities of electro-acupuncture (EA) treatment for FC patients. Totally, 111 patients with FC meeting the Rome III criteria were randomly assigned to different intensities of EA groups (low and high intensity of EA groups) and medicine-controlled (MC) group. In EA groups, patients were treated with EA at quchi (LI11) and shangjuxu (ST37) bilaterally for 4 weeks, 5 times/week in the first 2 weeks, and 3 times/week in the last 2 weeks. In MC group, 5 mg mosapride citrate was administered orally 3 times/day for 4 weeks. Spontaneous bowel movement frequency each day was recorded using a constipation diary. Self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) and self-rating depression scale (SDS) were used to assess the patients' psychological state. Cortisol (CORT), substance P (SP), and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) were evaluated at baseline and at the end of 4 weeks after treatment. As compared with the baseline, there was statistically significant increase in stool frequency every week (P<0.01), but there was no statistically significant difference among the three groups. As compared with the baseline, after 4 weeks of EA therapy, the scores of SDS and serum levels of CORT were decreased significantly in low intensity of EA group (P<0.01), and the serum levels of SP and VIP were increased significantly (P<0.05); the scores of SAS and SDS and serum levels of CORT were decreased significantly in high intensity of EA group (P<0.05), and the serum levels of SP and VIP were increased significantly (P<0.05); the serum levels of CORT and VIP were increased significantly in MC group (P<0.05). As compared with MC group, after 4 weeks of treatment, the serum levels of SP were signifcicantly increased in low intensity of EA group (P<0.01). Low and high intensities of EA could increase the stool frequency, improve the FC patient's anxiety and depression, reduce the serum levels of CORT, and increase the serum levels of SP and VIP effectively. It is concluded that both low and high intensities of EA are effective for FC patients, but there is no significant difference between the low and high intensities of EA.

Many studies have shown that the incidence of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is increasing with an annual of 2％ to 5％.As the same with type 2 diabetes mellitus,T1DM is also a risk factor for stroke.Although some T1DM studies have taken stroke as a component of the composite endpoint of cardiovascular events,a few studies have focused on the risk of stroke in patients with T1DM.Recent studies have shown that the risk of stroke in patients with T1DM is significantly higher than those without diabetes mellitus,especially in the population under the age of 50.In addition,the T1DM patients died of the risk of stroke are 3 to 4 times higher than the general population.This article reviews the relationship between T1DM and stroke.

Effective prevention is the best approach for reducing the burden of stroke.The reduction of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol with statins may decrease the risks of patients with the first ever stroke and ischemic stroke or recurrent stroke in patients with transient ischemic attack.In stroke prevention,the treatment of statins has become the most important advance following aspirin and antihypertensive treatment.This article reviews the roles of statins in the prevention of stroke.

Public hospital reform pilots have been initiated recently and it is necessary to clarify some key issues. To this end, thispaper touches upon six fundamental issues, discussing the generality and value for the existence of public hospitals, differences between reforms of public hospital and those of state-owned enterprise, the public financing for and regulation on public hospitals, relationship with the private sector, as well as service and function positioning of public hospitals.

Growth patterns of trichome and contaminative bacteria in Spirulina sp. liquid culture were observed, and it was found that the number of neutral and alkalophilic bacteria was always 105～106 times of that of Spirulina sp. trichome. It would be very difficult to get real pure Spirulina sp. strain by classical methods of dilution plate, capillary and single trichome selecting methods. A great deal of contaminative bacteria was washed out by two pretreatment processes. Low speed centrifugation was designed to wash the strains which usually deposit at bottom, and filtration method was designed to treat the strains usually floating at surface. Sandwich plate and dilution plate were designed for the purification of the mobile strains and non-mobile strains, respectively. A lot of strains were purified by the above processes and pure single trichome formed pure colonies on plates.

The method of multiplex PCR was set up to identify two or three transgenes in one reaction such as uidA and bar; uidA and IDx5 or uidA, bar and 1Dx5 genes. Three sets of primer pairs which was specific to each of these three genes respectively were designed and synthesized. Recombinant plasmids pAHC25 and p1Dx5 harboring uidA + bar and 1Dx5 gene separately were used as template DNA in the process of optimizing an multiplex PCR reaction. The optimal annealing temperature for uidA and bar MPCR is range from 57. 1℃-62. 3℃ , for uidA and 1Dx5 is range from 60℃ to 60. 6℃ , and for uidA、bar and 1Dx5 range from 57. 0℃-58. 4℃. The amount of template for MPCR is twice as much as that for simplex PCR, while the concentration of primers is the same with simplex one. Less than 50bp MPCR products can be separated clearly by 10% non-denaturalized polyacrylamid gel electrophoresis. Fourteen transgenic wheat lines were tested by multiplex and simplex PCR respectively, which shows the same results and hence presents that MPCR is the reliable, rapid and high-effective approach to detect foreign genes from transgenic plant.

Objective To analyze clinical diagnosis and management of 5 patients with actinomycete keratitis.Design Retro- spective case series.Participants 5 patients (5 eyes) with actinomycete keratitis.Methods The clinical features and microbiologic da- ta of 5 culture-proven cases of actinomycete keratitis recorded between October 2004 to March 2006 were analyzed.Main Outcome Measures clinical characteristics,isolations identification,drug susceptibility test and treatments.Results All patients were males and farmers.Of the 5 cases presented in this study,4 cases were followed by minor trauma as a predominant risk factor,and were pre- sented by a chronic progressive corneal ulcer with a wreath pattern of infiltrate.The diagnosis of all cases was based on laboratory in- vestigations,by which 4 cases of nocardia and one case of streptomyce were identified.A variable drug sensitivities were presented in nocardia isolates,which including TMP-SMZ,amicasin,gentamicin and fluorine-quinolones.Conclusions Nocardia keratitis is mainly followed by a minor trauma.It is identified predominantly by laboratory investigations.Tropical and systemically sensitive biotic are the initial choice,while debridement and amnionic transplantation could be an effective alternative.

OBJECTIVETo study the correlation between hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) expression as well as fibrosis staging in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and pericarcinomatous tissues.

METHODSThe patterns of HBsAg and HCV in 100 cases of HCC and their surrounding liver tissues were studied on paraffin-embeded sections with immunohistochemistry technique, and liver tissues were also staged.

RESULTSHBV, HCV virus infection were positively correlated with the fibrotic staging (r(s) = 0.32, P = 0.001). HBsAg and HCV were detected both in HCC and pericarcinomatous tissues. The positive rate of HBsAg in Pericarcinomatous Tissues (79%) was higher than that of in HCC tissues (23%). HCV expressions in HCC (15%) and pericarcinomatous tissues (23%) showed no significant differences.

CONCLUSIONThe fibrotic degree in the tissues of liver cancer with previous virus infection was obviously higher than that without virus infection. Viral infection seemed to be one of the reasons causing liver cancer while perennial virusemia would aggravate pathological changes of the liver tissue.

Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; pathology ; virology ; Hepacivirus ; isolation & purification ; Hepatitis B ; complications ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; isolation & purification ; Hepatitis B virus ; isolation & purification ; Hepatitis C ; complications ; Hepatitis C Antigens ; genetics ; Humans ; Liver ; pathology ; Liver Cirrhosis ; pathology ; Liver Neoplasms ; pathology ; virology ; Precancerous Conditions ; pathology ; virology ; Risk Factors

OBJECTIVETo study the correlation between HBsAg and HCV in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) pericarcinomatous tissues and serum liver fibrosis markers.

METHODSThe patterns of HBsAg and HCV in 100 cases of HCC and their surrounding liver tissues were studied with paraffin sections using immunohistochemistry techniques. Hyaluronic acid (HA), procollagen III peptide (PIIIP), collagen IV (CIV), and laminin (LN) were detected by radioimmunoassay.

RESULTSThe levels of HA, PIIIP, CIV and LN in the HBV and HCV coinfection group were the highest among the four groups. The levels of HA, PIIIP, CIV and LN in the groups not infected by HBV and HCV were the lowest among the four groups. HBV and HCV expressions were positively correlated with HA, LN and CIV and their Spearman's rank correlation coefficients were 0.60, 0.45, 0.46, respectively (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONLiver cancer development follows a sequential trend of chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, and liver cancer. In the tissues of liver cancer with virus infection background, the serum marker level of hepatic fibrosis is obviously higher than those without virus infection background. On the one hand, virus infection is one of the reasons causing liver cancer; and on the other hand, longstanding viremia will aggravate pathological changes of liver tissues. Therefore antivirus treatment of hepatitis is of significance for the prognosis of liver cancer.

Adult ; Aged ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; complications ; virology ; Collagen Type IV ; metabolism ; Female ; Hepacivirus ; immunology ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; metabolism ; Hepatitis B virus ; immunology ; Hepatitis C Antigens ; metabolism ; Humans ; Hyaluronic Acid ; metabolism ; Laminin ; metabolism ; Liver Cirrhosis ; complications ; virology ; Liver Neoplasms ; complications ; virology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Procollagen ; metabolism

Pituitary metastasis from renal cell carcinoma is rare and has never been reported for renal cell carcinoma primarily treated with sorafenib. Herein, we present a case of an advanced clear-cell renal cell carcinoma in which pituitary metastasis progressed but extracerebral metastases showed partial response to sorafenib treatment.
Antineoplastic Agents ; therapeutic use ; Carcinoma, Renal Cell ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Humans ; Kidney Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Niacinamide ; analogs & derivatives ; therapeutic use ; Phenylurea Compounds ; therapeutic use ; Pituitary Neoplasms ; radiotherapy ; secondary ; Radiotherapy, Conformal