Adolescent ; Adult ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; therapy ; Chiropractic ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Humans ; Male ; Massage ; Middle Aged ; Young Adult

BACKGROUND:Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) is an important mitogen and an indispensable regulator during normal hair cell development. Extracellular signal regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) is also expressed in mammalian vestibular organs.OBJECTIVE: To investigate the changes of the expression and the distribution of IGF-1, IGF-1 receptor (IGF-1R) and ERK1/2 in guinea pig's vestibular epithelium following gentamycin injury.DESIGN: A randomly controlled study.SETTING: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, General Hospital of Chengdu Military Area Command of Chinese PLA.MATERIALS: Twenty healthy and adult guinea pigs, weighing 300 to 350 g, provided by the Experimental Animal Center,Fourth Military Medical University of Chinese PLA, were randomly divided into four experimental groups and a control group with 4 in each group.METHODS: The experiment was performed at Department of Otorhinolaryngology Research Laboratory of Xijing Hospital,Fourth Military Medical University of Chinese PLA from January 2002 to May 2002. In the experimental groups,gentamycin was intraperitoneally administered daily (80 mg/kg) for 10 consecutive days. For the control group, 1 mL of 0.9% sterile saline was administered in the same way. The guinea pigs, in which unsteady gait or nystagmus appeared,could be involved in the further experiments. Before being sacrificed, the animals' gait, nystagmus and the amount of food-intake were observed every day. The animals were anesthetized deeply with 50 mg/kg pentobarbital 1, 7, 14 or 21days after the last gentamycin administration and then decapitated. Bilateral otic vesicles were harvested and immersed in 4% paraformaldehyde. Then the specimens were decalcified in 10% ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA),thereafter embedded in OCT gel and serially sectioned at a thickness of 10 μm in the cryostat. The behavioral changes of guinea pigs were observed. The morphological changes of vestibular epithelium were examined by hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining. The expression and distribution changes of IGF-1/1R and ERK1/2 were investigated immunohistochemically. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The behavioral, morphological, expression and distribution changes of IGF-1/1R and ERK1/2 of guinea pigs in each group.RESULTS: Twenty involved guinea pigs entered the stage of final analysis. ① All the guinea pigs' vestibular functions were impaired after gentamycin treatment, then partially restored without any pharmaceutical treatment. ②Morphological injury was obvious after gentamycin treatment, and improved 1 week later. ③The expression of IGF-1/1R was low in the control group, and in the 1-day group it increased significantly to its maximum. After that, its expression decreased gradually, but was still higher in the 21-day group than that in the control group. There were significant differences in the expression of IGF-1/1R among different groups (F =51.8,45.7,P ＜ 0.05). The expression changes of IGF-1 and its receptor were similar. ④The expression of ERK1/2 was low in the control group, and increased gradually after gentamycin toxicity. In the 7-day group, the immunoreactivity reached its maximum. Then the levels of ERK1/2 decreased gradually, but were still higher in the 21-day group than that in the control group. There were significant differences in the expression of ERK1/2 among different groups (F =103.7,106.4, P ＜ 0.01), but no significant differences existed in the expression between ERK1 and ERK2 among different groups (P ＞ 0.05).CONCLUSION: The expression of IGF-1/1R and ERK1/2 in vestibular epithelium increased after gentamycin treatment,and IGF-1 may play an important role as an endogenous mitogen through a paracrine or autocrine manner in the early stage of hair cell self-repair of guinea pigs. ERK1/2 may play an important role in signal transduction during vestibular hair cell self-repair after gentamycin toxicity in guinea pigs.

Adolescent ; Female ; Humans ; Hypothyroidism ; etiology ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic ; complications

Objective To study changes and effects of transforming growth factor-?1(TGF- ?1) and its receptorIII (TGF-?1 R III) in children with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). Methods Bone marrow were respectively collected from 28 children with acute idiopathic thrombocytopenic pupura(AITP),16 children with chronic idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura(CITP) and 20 comparably normal children; Percoll density gradient and immunomagnetic beads methods were used to purify megakaryocytes from bone marrow; ABC- ELISA was used to detect TGF - ?1 in bone marrow; in situ hybridization was used to detect TGF-?1 RIIImR-NA expression on megakaryocytes.Results In AITP and CITP group, the levels of TGF-?1 and TGF-?1 RIIImRNA were significant higher than those in control group(P

Objective To evaluate the preoperative diagnosis and treatment of primary non-specific ureteritis,and to better understand this disease.Methods Three cases of primary non-specific ureteritis (1 man and 2 women)were reported.Their age was 28,38,68 years,respectively.One ease was found to have hydronephrosis on B-ultrasound at physical examination with no symptoms,and 2 had abdominal pain. The lesions were detected in lower part of the ureter in 2 cases,and in middle in I.The patients were diag- nosed preoperatively with combined use of MRU and ureteroscopy.Partial resection of the diseased part of the ureter was performed in all the cases.Results Pathological findings confirmed the diagnosis of non-spe- cific ureteritis.Microscopy showed necrotic tissue and inflammatory cell infiltration of ureteral mucosa,dilated and congested blood vessels,hypertrophic muscular layer,and proliferation of fibrous tissue.During the fol- low-up of 2 years,the patients had no symptoms and were free from hydronephrosis.Conclusions The eti- ology of primary non-specific ureteritis is unclear,and no typical symptoms can be found clinically.Combined use of MRU and ureteroscopy is helpful for definite diagnosis of the disease.Partial resection of the diseased part of the ureter has good results.

Adolescent ; Anemia, Aplastic ; complications ; Humans ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute ; etiology ; Male

Objects To analyze the epidemiological characteristics of outbreaks of brucellosis in recent years in Gansu province,in order to provide a scientific basis for prevention and control of this disease.Methods Data of brucellosis cases from 2005 to 2010 in Gansu province were reviewed and retrospectively analyzed; the data included the outbreaks in different times,locations,groups,source of infection,and clinical manifestations.Results There were 8 brucellosis outbreaks among humans and animals in the nine administrative villages,seven townships (towns),six counties (districts) of the whole province in 5 years,a total of 66 of confirmed new cases.The source of infection was mainly the sheep (Small Tailed Han sheep and Cashmere goat),followed by dairy cow.The outbreak time was mainly in the May to August.Occupation distribution:of all the patients found in the past 6 years,farmers were 59 cases,accounting for 89.39％ (59/66); students 4 cases,accounting for 6.06％ (4/66);and herdsman 3 cases,accounting for 4.54％(3/66).Conclusions Brucellosis outbreaks increase significantly in recent years,and the epidemic situation is not optimistic.

Objective To study the different expressions of receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappa B ligang(RANKL) mRNA in spleens of rats fed with diet of low calcium and high fluoride. Methods A 2× 2×2 factorial design was used and the factors were calcium, fluoride and action time. In the design, 40 Wistar rats [average body mass(118.9±13.5)g] were divided into four groups randomly by weight: control with normal diet (0.790%, calcium), low calcium group with low calcium intake(0.063%, calcium), high fluoride group with normal diet and high fluoride intake(100 mg/L, fluoride) and low calcium and high fluoride group with low calcium and high fluoride intake. After 4 and 8 months, 5 rats of each group were sacrificed and total RNA was extracted from spleen. And the expression levels of RANKL mRNA were determined by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Results At time of 4 months, the expression level of RANKL mRNA was 0.13± 0.05,0.13± 0.03,0.17±0.02,0.27± 0.05 and at time of 8 months, it was 0.11 ± 0.01,0.16 ± 0.02,0.16± 0.03,0.36 ± 0.07 in control group, low calcium group, high fluoride group, low calcium with high fluoride group, repectively. The factorial design AVONA showed that low calcium and high fluoride had significant effects on RANKL mRNA expression(F = 40.224,56.679, all P < 0.05) while action time had not(F = 2.850, P > 0.05 ). The interactions of low calcium with high fluoride or high fluoride with action time were signifieant(F = 7.247, 18.789, all P < 0.05) while the interaction of high fluoride with action time was not(F = 1.751, P > 0.05). Conclusions Low calcium alone or high fluoride alone or low calcium with high fluoride or low calcium with action time can increase the the RANKL mRNA expression level. High fluoride does not affect the RANKL mRNA level as the action time is prolonged.

Objective To observe the time-dependent changes of astrocytes and microvessels in the ischemic core and surrounding areas.Methods Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)was measured by HE,and CD31 by immunohistochemistry as markers in post-mortem specimens from ten patients,who died of cerebral infarction.Results Each section of the infarcted brains was divided into four areas (the area 0-3).GFAP expressed a little in area 0 and 1,increased in a time-dependent manner in area 2 and 3;CD31 die not expressed in area 0,expressed a little in the area 1,and increased in area 2 and 3 continuously.Conclusions The proliferation of astrocytes and microvessels may play a significant role in the process of restoration after cerebral infarction.