With advances in complex network theory, the thinking and methods regarding complex systems have changed revolutionarily. Network biology and network pharmacology were built by applying network-based approaches in biomedical research. The cardiovascular system may be regarded as a complex network, and cardiovascular diseases may be taken as the damage of structure and function of the cardiovascular network. Although Chinese medicine (CM) is effective in treating cardiovascular diseases, its mechanisms are still unclear. With the guidance of complex network theory, network biology and network pharmacology, network-based approaches could be used in the study of CM in preventing and treating cardiovascular diseases. A new discipline-network cardiovasology of CM was, therefore, developed. In this paper, complex network theory, network biology and network pharmacology were introduced and the connotation of "disease-syndrome-formula-herb" was illustrated from the network angle. Network biology could be used to analyze cardiovascular diseases and syndromes and network pharmacology could be used to analyze CM formulas and herbs. The "network-network"-based approaches could provide a new view for elucidating the mechanisms of CM treatment.

Objective To study the method and clinical results of Infrared Fluoroscopic Navigation Guiding system guided percutaneous vertebroplasty for the treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures.Methods Twenty-two cases with 32 osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures underwent percutaneous vertebroplasty guided by Infrared Fluoroscopic Navigation Guiding system.The fracture segment was within T6-L 4(14 thoracical vertebrae,18 lumbarver vertebrae).The compression ratio was from 20% to 90% in which 5 vertebral bodies were 75%.12 vertebral bodies underwent PVP,and 20 vertebral bodies underwent PKP in which balloon expansion were used in 12 vertebral bodies and sky expansion were used in 8 vertebral bodies.Single vertebral body injection were in 14 cases,two vertebral body injection were in 6 cases,three vertebral body injection were in 2 cases including 18 vertebral bodies injection via unilateral pedicle of vertebral arch and 14 vertebral bodies injection via bilateral pedicle of vertebral arch.Restoration of vertebra height and cement leakage was observed by postoperative X-ray and CT scan.Changes of preoperative and postoperative vertebral body volume measured by CT volumetry was compared.Preoperative and postoperative Vasual analogue scale(VAS)score was compared.Results PVP was successful in 22 cases with 32 vertebral bodies.No nerve and spinal cord damage,lung embolism and heart and brain vessel acute reaction occurred.Operative time was(18.4?4.5)mins per vertebral body.X-ray dosage was(12.2?3.4)dGy per vertebrae.The amount of bone cement was(4.4?2.5)ml per vertebrae.The vertebral body volume was improved from preoperative(22.2?8.6)cm3 to postoperative(24.8?6.9)cm3 with a significant differences(P

Objective To study curative effects of infrared fluoroscopic navigation guided percutaneous vertebroplasty for osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures. Methods A total of 28 cases of osteoporotic vetebral compression fractures(41 vertebrae) underwent infrared fluoroscopic navigation guided percutaneous vertebroplasty.The fracture was located at T_6～L_4 segment,including 16 thoracic vertebrae and 25 lumbar vertebrae.Fluoroscopic images of the spine were obtained,calibrated,and saved after the reference shelf was fixed on the spinous process of fractured vertebrae.The trajectory,a virtual tool corresponding to the tracked tool,was overlaid onto the saved fluoroscopic views in real time.Postoperative X-ray and CT examinations were performed to observe the vertebral body diaplasis as well as the distribution and leakage of bone cement.The vertebral body volume was measured with CT volumetry preoperatively and postoperatively.The visual analogue scale(VAS) scores were compared before and after operation. Results The bone cement was successfully injected in all the 41 vertebrae.Percutaneous vertebroplasty was performed in 13 vertebrae,while percutaneous kyphoplasty was conducted in 28 vertebrae(including balloon expansion in 12 vertebrae and "sky" expansion in 16 vertebrae).Vertebral body injection was performed via unilateral pedicle in 26 vertebrae and via bilateral pedicle in 15 vertebrae.Of the 28 cases,cement injection was carried out in one vertebral body in 17 cases,in two vertebral bodies in 9 cases,and in three bodies in 2 cases.No intraoperative deaths,nerve root or spinal cord injuries,or pulmonary embolism and cardiovascular or cerebrovascular emergencies occurred.The operative time for each vertebra was 7.7～20.7 min(14.2?3.3 min) in percutaneous vertebroplasty and 11.2～32.4 min(21.8?5.4 min) in percutaneous kyphoplasty.The X-ray exposure dose for each vertebra was 5.4～19.6 dGy(12.5?3.6 dGy).The amount of injected cement for each vertebra was 2.2 ～6.8 ml(4.6?1.2 ml).The vertebral volume was elevated from preoperative 21.4?4.6 cm3 to postoperative 25.8?5.4 cm3(t=5.623,P=0.000).The VAS scores decreased from preoperative 7.6?1.2 to postoperative 2.9?0.7(t=12.946,P=0.000).No serious complications or vertebral collapses were found during follow-up examinations for 3~14 months(mean,8 months) in the 28 cases. Conclusions Use of infrared fluoroscopic navigation for guiding percutaneous vertebroplasty is feasible.

[Objective]To study the effect of semi-constrained total elbow arthroplasty in rheumatoid elbow arthritis.[Method]Eighteen semi-constrained total elbow replacements were performed on 22 rheumatoid patients with 28 elbows(Morrey Stage:6 of Ⅲ Stage,17 of Ⅳ Stage,5 of Ⅴ Stage).The elbows were reviewed retrospectively after a followup of mean 26 months(range12~44 months).Mayo Elbow Performance was used to evalue the function of preoperative and postoperative elbow.The curative effect and complications were observed.The statistically significant differences were analyzed.[Result]Elbow arthroplasty was successful in 22 rheumatoid patients with 28 elbows.After 6 weeks function exercise the Mayo Elbow Performance was improved from(31.6?29.2)to(82.1?24.3)with a statistically significant difference(P

Objective To investigate methods and effect of preventing hemorrhoea when superior position sacral tumor was resected.Methods 36 patients with superior position sacral tumor were operated by excision of presacral tumor from May 2000 to May 2007.14 cases were performed with double hypogastric artery ligation.Hy- pogastric arteries were embolismed temporarily through intervention in 7 cases and permanently in 10 cases.Distal end of abdominal aorta was placed with sacculus in advance in 5 cases.Average volume of blood was calculated ac- cording to different methods of preventing blood.Results Blood loss was 500～2000ml(average 1100ml)by hy- pogastric artery ligation.Blood loss was 600～2100ml(average 1200ml)by temporary double hypogastric arterial em- bolism while blood loss was 550～1900ml(average 1150ml)by temporary embolism.Blood loss was 200～1000ml (average 560ml)by placing sacculus in advance at distal end of abdominal aorta.Conclusion Hemorrhoea may be prevented completely through temporarily or temporarily reducing blood supply of pars sacralis when sacral tumor was resected.Especially,it is a best method when distal end of abdominal aorta was placed with sacculus in advance.

Objective To investigate the efficacy and safety of a schedule of 2 cycles' high-dose dexamethasone (HD-DXM) as an initial therapy in adults immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), and compare with conventional dose prednisone therapy. Method A total of 59 newly diagnosed ITP patients were divided into 2 groups randomly. In 30 patients ( Dexamethasone group), oral HD-DXM was administered at 40 mg/d for 4 consecutive days, repeated one week later, and then failed to maintain. In the remaining 29and then gradually tapered. Results For short-term efficacy, after 1 and 2 weeks of treatment, the response rate in Dexamethasone group was significantly higher than that in Prednisone group (50. 0% vs 24. 1%, P ＜0. 01; 73.3% vs 55.2%, P ＜0. 05 ), while 3 weeks later, there was no remarkable difference between the two groups(83.3% vs 68.9%, P ＞ 0. 05 ), though the response rate in Dexamethasone group remained higher. For long-term effect, at the end of the 2nd and 3rd months of follow-up, the relapse rate in Dexamethasone group was significantly lower than that in Prednisone group(24. 0% vs 40. 0%, P ＜ 0. 05;32.0% vs 65. 0%, P ＜ 0. 01 ), while at the end of the 1st month of follow-up, there was no significant difference( 16. 0% vs 20. 0%, P ＞0.05 ). In addition, it's well tolerated and no complications such as severe infection or Cushing syndrome were complained in Dexamethasone group. Conclusion HD-DXM possesses an advantage over conventional dose prednisone therapy in efficacy and safety.

Adult ; Esophagus ; injuries ; Humans ; Male ; Paraquat ; poisoning ; Rupture ; chemically induced

Adult ; Antiphospholipid Syndrome ; complications ; Humans ; Male ; Myocardial Infarction ; complications

Animals ; Cardiovascular System ; metabolism ; GTPase-Activating Proteins ; metabolism ; Humans ; Nerve Tissue Proteins ; metabolism ; Signal Transduction

The prevalence of coronary heart disease (CHD) is increasing, and has been a severe burden on society and family worldwide. New ideas need to be achieved for developing more efficacious and safe therapies to treat CHD. Chinese medicine (CM) uses multicomponent drugs to prevent disease and ameliorate symptoms based on patients' different syndromes. The benefit of CM in CHD has recently been proven by increasing clinical evidence. More importantly, linking CM syndrome differentiation and biomedical diagnosis might provide innovative thinking for treating CHD. According to epidemiological investigations, blood stasis syndrome (BSS) is the major type of syndrome in CHD. Investigating the biomedical mechanisms of BSS of CHD is a topic of CM research. Because the holistic perspective of systems biology is well matched with CM, the application of omics techniques and other integrative approaches appears inherently appropriate. A wide range of omics techniques, including transcriptomics and proteomics, have been used in studies of BSS of CHD to search for a common ground of understanding. These approaches could be useful for understanding BSS of CHD from clinical and biological viewpoints. Nevertheless, current studies mainly contain results from a single approach, and they have not achieved the holistic, systematic and integrative concept of system biology. Therefore, we discuss the progress and challenges in exploring the biomedical mechanisms of BSS of CHD by systems biology approaches. With further development of systems biology, a better platform to study BSS of CHD may be provided, and biomarkers for BSS of CHD and therapeutic targets may be found. The study of BSS of CHD by systems biology approaches will also be beneficial for developing personalized treatment for BSS of CHD patients.
Coronary Disease ; diagnosis ; metabolism ; Humans ; Syndrome ; Systems Biology ; methods