OBJECTIVETo observe the effect of Tetramethyl pyrazine (TMP) on the cytokines and inflammatory mediators in the serum and the synovial fluid of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA)rats, and further to investigate its possible mechanisms for treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

METHODSType II CIA rat model was established. Rats in the TMP group were administered with TMP at 50 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg, once daily. Dexamethasone at 2.0 mg/kg was intramuscularly injected to those in the Dexamethasone treated group, once daily. Normal saline at 2 mL/kg was given to those in the normal control group and the model group, once daily. All medication was started from the 7th day, lasting to the 35th day. CIA rats' foot swelling degree was observed. Contents of serum IL-1, IL-6, IL-2, NO and PGE2in the synovial fluid were detected by radioimmunoassay and nitrate reduction method.

RESULTSCompared with the normal group, the foot swelling obviously increased, contents of NO and PGE2 in the synovial fluid were obviously elevated in the model group (P < 0.01). Compared with the model group, the foot swelling could be obviously inhibited by 100 mg/kg TMP and Dexamethasone; serum levels of IL-1 and IL-6 obviously decreased, serum IL-2 level obviously increased, contents of NO and PGE, decreased (P < 0.01). TMP 50 mg/kg could obviously inhibit the foot swelling of CIA rats (P < 0.01). There was no statistical difference in other indices (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSTMP at 100 mg/kg showed obvious inhibition on CIA rats. Its inhibitory effect might be correlated to inhibiting activities of endogenous cytokines and the generation of inflammatory mediators in inflammation local regions, improving contents of anti-inflammation cytokines, and inducing the balance of the inflammatory cytokine network.

Animals ; Arthritis, Experimental ; blood ; metabolism ; Dinoprostone ; metabolism ; Female ; Interleukin-1beta ; blood ; Interleukin-2 ; blood ; Interleukin-6 ; blood ; Male ; Nitric Oxide ; metabolism ; Pyrazines ; pharmacology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Synovial Fluid ; metabolism

Adolescent ; Child ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension ; blood ; Insulin ; blood ; Insulin Resistance ; Male

Objective To discuss the application of C-arm CT scanning technology in performing transcatheter arterial chemoembolization for hepatic cancer.Methods Seventy-seven patients of hepatic cancer were treated with selective transcatheter arterial chemoembolization(TACE),which was followed by C-arm CT scanning to observe the embolization effect.C-arm CT scanning was also performed before TACE in 13 cases.Three-dimension reconstruction of the images was carried out on Integris 3D-RA workstation.The therapeutic results were evaluated.Results The embolization state of both the peripheral margin and the body of the tumor could be clearly displayed on CT scans in all 77 patients.Some tiny liver lesions were also detected in 3cases.Conclusion C-arm CT scanning technology is a newly-developed high-tech examination.This examination is very helpful for making the proper operation scheme and for evaluating the curative effect of intravascular intervention.Compared to the traditional CT scanning,C-arm CT scanning can provide more accurate information and stereoscopic image of the lesions,therefore,the whole course of the interventional procedure can be entirely under the operator's control and the curative effect can be evaluated at any time during the operation.C-arm CT scanning can be effectively employed in interventional therapy for multisystemic disorders.

This study was aimed to analyze the medication and herbal prescription rules in the treatment of nephrotic syndrome (NS) by Prof. Huang Chunlin with Traditional Chinese Medicine Inheritance Support System ( TCMISS ) . Prescriptions used for NS treatment were collected and the data was entered into the TCMISS . The commonly used herbs and herbal prescription rules in NS treatment by Prof. Huang were summarized through the association rules, revised mutual information, complex system entropy cluster and other unsupervised hierarchical clustering methods. The results showed that based on the analysis of 280 prescriptions from 68 patients, the fre-quency of each herb and association rules among herbs included in the database were identified. And the basic NS treatment prescription by Prof. Huang Chunlin and 8 new prescriptions were mined from the database. It was concluded that data mining is of great practical value to the summarization of clinical experiences of well-known TCM doctors.

This study was aimed to observe renoprotective effect and possible mechanism on Y i-Shui Sheng-Xin Yin in spontaneously hypertensive rats. Sixty 12-week male SHR rats were randomly divided into six groups , which were the Y i-Shui She ng-X in Y in low-dose group , middle-dose group , high-dose group , Benazepril group , model group and blank control group , and ten rats for each group . The SHR rats were sacrificed after eight weeks . The urine microalbumin , blood urea nitrogen and cystatin were tested in each rat . The HE and Masson staining method were used to observe changes of renal pathology . Changes of expression of transforming growth factor-β1 ( TGF-β1 ) , connective tissue growth factor ( CTGF ) , FN were detected by immunohistochemistry . The results showed that compared with the blank control group , blood pressure in model group was associated with a significant rise after 8 weeks. Compared with the model group, blood pressure in the Yi-Shui Sheng-Xin Yin middle-dose group, high-dose group and Benazepril group significantly decreased. Compared with the blank control group , urine microalbumin , blood urea nitrogen and cystatin in model group were associated with a significant rise . Compared with the model group , urine microalbumin , blood urea nitrogen and cystatin in the Y i-Shui She ng-X in Y in middle-dose group , high-dose group and Benazepril group significantly decreased . Pathological examinations showed that pathological changes in model group were faster than all drug-groups , appeared pathological changes of glomerular hypertrophy , glomerular basement membrane thickening of heterogeneity and extensive vacuoles degeneration . Immunohistochemical staining showed that compared with the blank control group , expressions of TGF-β1 , CTGF and FN of rat kidney tissue in model group were obviously up-regulated ( P < 0 . 05 ) . Compared with the model group , expressions of TGF-β1 , CTGF and FN in the Y i-Shui She ng-X in Y in , middle-dose group , high-dose group and Benazepril group were down-regulated ( P < 0 . 05 ) . It was concluded that Y i-Shui She ng-X in Y in can reduce SHR rats' early renal glomerulosclerosis and renal interstitial fibrosis , which play roles of delaying the progress of hypertension and protecting kidney . Its mechanism of action may be related to TGF-β1 , CTGF , FN signal pathways .

This study was aimed to analyze the formulas and classify the treatment of chronic kidney disease (CKD) by Dr. Huang Chunlin based on the data mining method. A total of 63 CKD outpatients' medical records by Dr. Huang were collected. And 226 formulas prescribed in the medical records were put in the Traditional Chinese Medicine Inheritance Support System (TCMISS). Data mining techniques were applied in the study of as-sociation rule mining algorithm and complex system entropy cluster, the usage frequency and the correlation of each single Chinese medicinal in order to sort out the prescription pattern of CKD. The results showed that to for-tify the spleen and tonify the kidney were found to be the basic method of CKD treatment . Through the applica-tion of TCMISS, the Chinese medicinals used in Dr. Huang's CKD treatment were Astragalus root, Eucommia, Epimedium, Cuscuta, Agastache, Danshen Root, Ligustrum. It was concluded that the TCMISS is of great value in the summarization of clinical experiences of well-known TCM doctors.

ObjectiveTo identify the framework for assessing health related quality of life(HRQOL) of Kaschin-Beck disease(KBD),in order to reflect the impact of KBD on quality of life in patients with the disease.MethodsQualitative descriptive research was adopted.Semi-open ended questions were developed by using the World Health Organization(WHO) definitions of health and quality of life.Group interview and face to face interviews were conducted on 48 patients with KBD and 29 health care experts on KBD in Linyou and Yongshou counties,Shaanxi province,which were higher prevalence areas of KBD.Content template analysis was conducted and the template was based on the WHOQOL-100's framework.ResultsThe framework of HRQOL for KBD included four domains:physical activity,familial/social support,economic and psychological state.There were also eleven facets which were:pain and discomfort,physical function and activity limitation,diet and sleeping,social relationship,concerns of family responsibilities,social support,economic,housing and the surrounding environment,appearance concerns,mental health,and general state of health.The total entries were 69.ConclusionsThe framework for assessing HRQOL of KBD is established.The framework highlights the impact of KBD on the patients' quality of life with higher specificity.

Objective:To investigate the clinical efficacy of partial excision of nail matrix combined with phenolic ablation in the treatment of ingrowing toenail.Methods:115 patients(148 toenails) with ingrowing toenail treated in the Central hospital of Wuhan from October 2004 to May 2013 were selected for this study.The patients were divided into two groups,53 patients(67 toenails) admitted from October 2004 to December 2007 were considered as the observation group and treated with Partial excision of nail matrix,62 patients(81 toenails) admitted from January 2008 to May 2013 were considered as the control group and treated with Partial excision of nail matrix and phenolic ablation.The bleeding time,pain relief time,healing time,recurrences after one year and satisfaction rate of two groups were compared.Results:The wounds of 148 toenails were healing.The Bleeding time,pain relief time,recurrences after one year in the control group (1.85:±:0.42days,13.25± 2.17hours) were lower than the observation group (2.69± 0.53 days,21.54± 2.56hours),and healing time in the control group (11.32± 2.37days) were longer than the observation group (8.93± 2.06 days)(P＜0.05),the recurrence rate and overall satisfaction rate of observation group and control group were 6.15％,12.5％ and 97.06％,91.07％.Conclusion:Partial excision of nail matrix combined with phenolic ablation was more effective in the treatment of ingrowing toenail than surgical excisional techniques.

The biological activity of ADCC by anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody was determined by BioGlo™ Luciferase Assay System using Jurkat/NFAT-luc+FcγRIIIa cell line as effector cell and WIL2-S cell line as target cell. The developed method was verified for specificity, precision and accuracy. Anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody showed a dose-response mode by the developed method, and the determination result complied with the following four-parameter equation: y = (A-D)/[1 + (X/C)(B)] + D. The optimized parameters of the method were determined including the antibodies diluted concentration (18,000 ng·mL(-1)), dilution rate (1:5), the ratio of effector cell and target cell (6:1), and induction time (6 h). The values of eight independent tests have passed a statistical test for curve regression analysis, linear or parallelism, which showed the method possessed good specificity. Four different dilute groups of recovery rates sample were determined for 3 times, and the result showed mean relative potencies of (44.39±3.93)%, (72.74±2.78)%, (128.28±7.01)% and (168.19±2.70)% respectively, with a variation coefficient of less than 10%, and the recoveries of (88.78±7.85)%, (96.99±3.70)%, (102.63±5.61)% and (112.12±1.80)% respectively. A novel reporter gene method for determination of biological activity of ADCC by anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody was successfully developed, which showed strong specificity, good reproducibility and high accuracy, and might be used routinely.
Antibodies, Monoclonal, Murine-Derived ; pharmacology ; Antibody-Dependent Cell Cytotoxicity ; Antigens, CD20 ; immunology ; Genes, Reporter ; Humans ; Reproducibility of Results ; Rituximab

The cupping spot is considered as one kind of skin change due to cupping treatment. With literature regarding cupping spot, the influencing factors and value of cupping spot in clinical diagnosis and treatment were analyzed, which could make a further exploration on the action mechanism of cupping treatment. The literature showed that the formation of cupping spot was related with cupping temperature, pressure, cup-retaining time, cupping area, individual difference and health condition, etc; cupping spot had the ability to assist diagnosis, prevent disease, cure disease and evaluate clinical efficacy. Previous studies on cupping spot have already made some progress, and played a positive significance on finding cupping rule and studying its mechanism. However, the research for this area is still in the primary stage, which needed deeper study to reveal scientific connotations of cupping spot.
Acupuncture Therapy ; instrumentation ; Humans ; Skin ; anatomy & histology ; blood supply