ObjectiveTo evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of astragalus injection on the immune function in patients with senile sepsis.Methods Sixty patients with old age sepsis in Critical Care Medicine Department of Guangdong Provincial Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital were enrolled and randomly assigned into control and treatment groups according to the table of random numbers, 30 cases in each group. According to 2012 sepsis guidelines for treatment, including antibacterial drug, mechanical ventilation, visceral function support, etc., the therapy was given to the control group; besides the treatment in the control group, intravenous drip of 60 mL astragalus injection(10 mL per ampoule) in 250 mL 0.9% normal saline was additionally given in the treatment group, once a day for 7 days. Before and after treatment, the immunological indexes, acute physiology and chronic health evaluationⅡ(APACHEⅡ) score, sequential organ failure assessment(SOFA) score, duration of mechanical ventilation and time of stay in intensive care unit(ICU), 28-day mortality and adverse drug reactions were compared between the two groups.Results Before treatment, there were no statistically significant differences in CD3+, CD3+CD4+, CD3+CD8+ and T helper cells /T suppressor cells(Th/Ts)levels between the two groups(allP>0.05), while CD3-NK+ of the control group was significantly higher than that in the treatment group〔(10.47±6.22)% vs. (6.26±4.13)%,P<0.05〕. After treatment in treatment group, CD3+, CD3+CD4+ and CD3-NK+ were increased, CD3+CD8+,Th/Ts were decreased compared with those before treatment; in the control group after treatment, CD3+,CD3+CD8+ and CD3-NK+ were decreased and CD3+CD4+ and Th/Ts increased compared with those before treatment. In the comparisons between the treatment group and control group after treatment, the differences in CD3+, CD3+CD4+ and CD3+CD8+ had statistical significance〔CD3+:(30.30±17.17)% vs.(41.91±22.29)%, CD3+CD4+:(31.54±13.24)% vs.(40.08±15.28)%, CD3+CD8+:(14.25±8.10)% vs.(9.52±9.33)%,allP<0.05〕; while the differences in Th/Ts and CD3-NK+ had no statistical significance(bothP>0.05). After treatment in the treatment group, IgG was increased compared with that in the control group〔IgG(g/L): 13.07±5.43 vs. 10.10±3.96,P<
0.05〕. The differences in IgA, IgM, complement(C3,C4) and total serum complement activity(CH50) in the comparisons between the two groups had no statistical significance after treatment(allP>0.05). The differences in APACHEⅡ score(13.83±6.18 vs. 15.90±7.48), SOFA score(7.38±4.66 vs. 6.89±4.19), time of stay in ICU(day: 11.63±5.13 vs. 13.62±8.08), invasive ventilation time(hour: 155.44±119.68 vs. 224.08±174.15) and noninvasive ventilation time(hour: 55.55±42.24 vs. 98.57±43.17) had no statistical significance in comparisons between the treatment group and control group after treatment(allP>0.05). The difference in 28-day mortality had no statistical significance in comparison between the treatment group and control group〔16.7%(5/30) vs. 20.0%(6/30),P>0.05〕. In 60 cases, there were 2 patients with adverse drug reaction, one diarrhea and another little rashes, the rest of the patients did not appear any drug side effect.ConclusionAstragalus injection combined with conventional western medicine therapy possibly has certain effect on adjustment of disturbance of immunologic functions in old patients with sepsis, and its therapeutic safety is well.

I uptake of thyroid and color Doppler flow imaging (CDFI) of superior thyroid artery (STA) were performed in 20 patients with Graves′ disease (GD) and 19 patients with other causes of hyperthyroidism. Maximum velocity and diameter of STA in patients with GD were much higher than those in non-GD group. CDFI of STA seems to be a useful tool in differential diagnosis of hyperthyoidism.

~(131)I uptake by thyroid were assayed in 64 patients with Graves′ disease (GD) and 69 patients with non-GD hyperthyroidism. GD group had higher rate of ~(131)I uptake than non-GD group at 2, 6 and 24 h, and there was no overlap between the two groups at these 3 time points.~(131)I uptake at 2 and 6 h could differentiate GD fromlow ~(131)I uptakehyperthyroidism.

Carcinoma ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; China ; Humans ; Male ; Oncogene Proteins, Fusion ; genetics ; Prostatic Hyperplasia ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-ets ; genetics ; metabolism ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Serine Endopeptidases ; genetics ; metabolism

Traditional Chinese medicine Polygoni Multiflori Radix is dried roots of Polygonaceae Polygortum multiflorum Thunb. Its clinical application records were first discovered in literatures of the Tang dynasty. The origins, efficacy, toxicity, processing and taboos of Polygoni Multiflori Radix have been discussed in many ancient herb literatures. In recent years, with the increase in the public awareness in health, Polygoni Multiflori Radix admits preparations have been more widely applied in the treatment and prevention of diseases. However, there have been more and more reports about Polygoni Multiflori Radix induced liver injury, the safety of Polygoni Multiflori Radix has increasingly attracted attention of the society. In this paper, the authors summarized and analyzed the toxicity and medication risk factors of Polygoni Multiflori Radix recorded in ancient herb literatures, and proposed that more attention shall be given to the effect of the planting and processing methods on the components and toxicity of Polygoni Multiflori Radix in safety studies, which provides clues for the further studies.
China ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; adverse effects ; history ; History, Ancient ; Humans ; Medicine in Literature ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; history ; Polygonum ; adverse effects ; Risk Assessment

The renal toxicity and mutagenicity of aristolochic acid (AA) as well as its carcinogenicity on upper urinary tract transitional epithelial cells have been widely known. Since 2003, drug regulatory departments have successively cancelled the quality standards for AA-containing medicines such as Aristolochiae Radix, Aristolochiae Manshuriensis Caulis and Aristolchiae Fangchi Radix, and adopted measures for strengthening regulation and revising package insert or quality standards for other AA-containing medicines, including Aristolochia Cinnabarina Radix, Aristolochiae Fructus, Aristolochiae Mollissimae Herba, in order to control its safety risk. In recent years, domestic and foreign studies on AA have mainly involved action mechanism and clinical performance of AA toxicity, early-stage diagnosis and treatment method. In this paper, authors gave a brief summary and evaluation on risk factors for using AA-containing medicines, and offered measures and suggestions for preventing and controlling AA toxicity.
Animals ; Aristolochia ; adverse effects ; chemistry ; Aristolochic Acids ; analysis ; therapeutic use ; toxicity ; Drug Therapy ; Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions ; epidemiology ; etiology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; therapeutic use ; toxicity ; Humans

The adverse reaction monitoring is important in warning the risks of traditional Chinese medicines at an early stage, finding potential quality problems and ensuring the safe clinical medication. In the study, efforts were made to investigate the risk signal mining techniques in line with the characteristics of traditional Chinese medicines, particularly the complexity in component, processing, compatibility, preparation and clinical medication, find early risk signals of traditional Chinese medicines and establish a traditional Chinese medicine safety evaluation system based on adverse reaction risk signals, in order to improve the target studies on traditional Chinese medicine safety, effective and timely control risks and solve the existing frequent safety issue in traditional Chinese medicines.
China ; epidemiology ; Drug Evaluation ; Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions ; epidemiology ; etiology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Product Surveillance, Postmarketing

Post-marketing evaluation is a process which evaluate the risks and benefits of drug clinical application comprehensively and systematically, scientific and systematic results of post-marketing evaluation not only can provide data support for clinical application of traditional Chinese medicine, but also can be a reliable basis for the supervision department to develop risk control measures. With the increasing demands for treatment and prevention of disease, traditional Chinese medicine has been widely used, and security issues are also exposed. How to find risk signal of traditional Chinese medicine in the early stages, carry out targeted evaluation work and control risk timely have become challenges in the development of traditional Chinese medicine industry.
Drug Evaluation ; methods ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional

Objective To detect the relationship between apical rotation and apical myocardial structure.Methods To observe the change of apical rotation,14 mongrel dogs were heated at apexes,and half and three quarter of apical wall thicknesses were destroyed according to their corresponding heating time.Ultrasonic tissue Doppler imaging was used to record the velocities of apical rotation.Computer programming was applied to calculate apical rotation according to the formulas of apical rotation calculation.Apical rotations were compared between before apical heating,half and three quarter of apical wall thicknesses destruction,respectively.Results Compared with the apical rotation before heating,apical rotation after half of apical wall destroyed decreased [(5.2±3.1)°vs (12.4±2.9)°,P＜0.001];but after three quarter of apical wall destroyed,the apical rotation increased [(7.3±3.6)°vs (5.2±3.1)°P＜0.01].Conclusions Outer part of apical myocardium was outer layer myocardium of which the damage leads to the decrease of apical rotation;inner part of apical myocardium was inner layer myocardium of which the damage leads to the increase of apical rotation to some extent.

Objective To explore the diagnostic value of endoscopic ultrasonography(EUS)for the minimal submucosal invasion of early gastrointestinal tumor. Methods A total of 242 patients with early gastrointestinal tumor,who underwent endoscopic submucosal dissection,were retrospectively analyzed. The accuracy of EUS diagnosis was calculated based on postoperative histopathological findings as the golden standard,and influencing factors were also analyzed. Results Overall diagnostic accuracy of EUS for sub-mucosal invasion of early gastrointestinal tumors was 72. 3%(175/ 242),with an overstaging rate of 21. 5%(52/ 242)and an understaging rate of 6. 2%(15/ 242).Tumor size(P = 0. 018)and location(P = 0. 005) had significant effects on the diagnostic accuracy of the minimal submucosal invasion of early gastrointestinal tumor by EUS. The overstaging rate in the lesion length of diameter>3 cm was higher than those of 3 cm or less[27. 0%(33/ 122)VS 15. 8%(19/ 120),P = 0. 807],the overstaging rates of early colonrectal and gastric cancer were also significantly higher than the understaging rate[ Colonrectum:12. 2%(9/ 74)VS 2. 7%(2/ 74),P= 0. 028;Stomach:26. 9%(28/ 104)VS 2. 9%(3/ 104),P = 0. 000]. Conclusion Endoscopic ultrasonography is of diagnostic value for the invasion depth of early cancer in gastrointestinal tract. However,precaution should be taken in large lesions and the tendency of overstaging in gastrointestinal tract.