Animals ; Hyperbaric Oxygenation ; Inflammation ; Interferon-gamma ; metabolism ; Interleukin-6 ; metabolism ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Spinal Cord Injuries ; metabolism ; therapy ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; metabolism

To investigate the feasibility to produce crocetin in tobacco plants.The coding region of zeaxanthin cleavage dioxygenase (CSzCD) gene from Crocus sativus L. was inserted into the downstream of the cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S promoter of a binary vector pBI121, and integrated into the genome of Nicotiana tabacum L. Twenty-one transgenic lines were identified by genomic southern blotting analysis. Western blotting and HPLC analysis of the leaf extracts of transgenic tobacco showed that crocetin was produced in CSzCD gene-transformed plants, while no crocetin was found in the untransformed tobacco.

OBJECTIVETo explore the therapeutic methods of fracture and dislocation of coccyx and evaluate its curative effects.

METHODSFrom May 2002 to March 2010,56 patients with fracture and dislocation of coccyx were divided into surgical treatment group and non-surgical treatment group. There were 7 males and 20 females in surgical treatment group with an average age of (48.1 +/- 0.6) years (ranged, 29 to 62 years), treated with open reduction and mini-plate internal fixation. There were 8 males and 21 females in non-surgical treatment group with an average age of (47.5 +/- 0.9) years (ranged, 19 to 54 years),treated with manipulative reduction. All patients were underwent X-ray examination and were finally diagnosed before treatment. Clinical symptoms and Visual Analogue Scales (VAS) of all patients were statistically analyzed before and after treatment.

RESULTSThere was no significant difference between two groups in gender, age, BMI index and VAS evaluation. All patients were followed up from 12 to 25 months with an average of 17.2 months. In surgical treatment group,there were 26 cases with I/a incision and 1 case with II/a incision; the excellent rate of clinical symptom was respectively 92.6% and 100% at leaving hospital and final follow-up; the improvement rate of VAS was 97.6% and was excellent result;internal fixtures were removed at the 1 to 2 years after treatment and no unwell symptoms occurred; VAS of all patients in the group was 0 point. In non-surgical treatment group,the excellent rate of clinical symptom was respectively 72.4% and 82.8% at leaving hospital and final follow-up; the improvement rate of VAS was 72.1% and was good result. There was significant difference in clinical results between two groups (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe results indicated that fracture and dislocation of coccyx should be treated in time. For the treatment of patients with manipulative reduction failures, instability reduction by X-ray examination and serious rectal irritation, open reduction and mini-plate internal fixation can obtain satisfactory results.

Adult ; Bone Plates ; Coccyx ; surgery ; Female ; Fracture Fixation, Internal ; methods ; Humans ; Joint Dislocations ; surgery ; Male ; Manipulation, Spinal ; Middle Aged ; Spinal Fractures ; surgery

OBJECTIVETo study the autophagy activity between rat bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs) neural differentiation in order to explore the mechanism involve in this process.

METHODSBMSCs were passed by 3 generation, then was induced with the revulsant 2% (DMSO) + 200 µmol/L (BHA), NSE expression was detected by immunocytochemical stain, the mRNA expression of autophagy associated genes L3B, Beclinl, Atg5, Atg7, Atg10 were detected by RT-PCR, the autophagy protein LC3B was examined by Western blot and flow cytometry analysis.

RESULTSBMSCs were passed by 3 generation, the purity of BMSCs could reach more than 90%, the morphology of cells were like fibroblasts, after the revulsant 2% DMSO + 200 µmol/L BRA induced, cells were extended long neurites, like nerve cells, positive rate of NSE staining was (83±5) %, RT-PCR results showed that the expression of autophagy associated genes LC3B, Beclinl, Atg5, Atg7 Atg0 were rised after BMSCs neural differentiation, Western blot analysis showed that the LC3B-II protein expression was increased after neural differentiation and the MFI of L3B was highten by flow cytometry.

CONCLUSIONAutophagy is increased after rat BMSC neural differentiation.

Animals ; Autophagy ; Cell Differentiation ; Cells, Cultured ; Flow Cytometry ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; cytology ; Neurons ; cytology ; Rats

This paper reviews the new progress in the research of fractional carbon dioxide laser in treating hypertrophic scar after burn injury, which remains a challenging problem for burn care surgeons. There have been many traditional therapeutic approaches, such as compression remedy, operation, and so on. However, a satisfactory method is lacking to date. In recent years, the newly developed fractional carbon dioxide laser has been employed to treat different kinds of scars, and it has been proved to be effective in terms of an improvement of scar color, texture, and rigidity. It seems to be a promising method for scar treatment in future.
Burns ; surgery ; Cicatrix ; surgery ; Cicatrix, Hypertrophic ; surgery ; Humans ; Lasers, Gas ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo investigate the anti-inflammatory effect of Herba Siegesbeckiae extracts on mouse rheumatoid arthritis induced by arthrogen-CIA monoclonal antibody.

METHODSThe rheumatoid arthritis was induced by arthrogen-CIA arthritogenic monoclonal antibody in mice. The sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to determine the concentration of IL-1βin mouse serum,and the content of IL-6,IL-17 and MMP-3 in supernatant of tissue homogenate of hind limb below the stifle of mice. One-way ANOVA was used for data analysis.

RESULTSThe toe swelling was attenuated in Siegesbeckiae group than that in model group [(0.218 ± 0.0307)cm(3) compared with (0.2545 ± 0.0179)cm(3), P<0.05]. The serum IL-1β level in Siegesbeckiae group was lower than that in model group [(63.74 ± 21.74)pg/ml compared with (104.96 ± 31.22)pg/ml, P<0.01]. The contents of IL-6, IL-17 and MMP-3 in tissue supernatants of Siegesbeckiae group were all lower than those of model group [(171.10 ± 48.35)pg/ml compared with (249.64 ± 75.08)pg/ml, P<0.05; (115.42 ± 56.52)pg/ml compared with (208.40 ± 88.54)pg/ml, P<0.05;(3660.31 ± 1680.99) pg/ml compared with (5420.79 ± 1201.43)pg/ml, P<0.05, respectively].

CONCLUSIONThe extract of Herba Siegesbeckiae has anti-inflammatory effect on mouse rheumatoid arthritis induced by mixed arthrogen monoclonal antibody.

Animals ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents ; therapeutic use ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; Arthritis, Experimental ; drug therapy ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; chemically induced ; drug therapy ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Interleukin-17 ; metabolism ; Interleukin-1beta ; blood ; Interleukin-6 ; metabolism ; Matrix Metalloproteinase 3 ; metabolism ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C

BACKGROUNDVertebrobasilar artery stenosis is an important cause of ischemic posterior circulation strokes. This study aimed at evaluating the safety and efficacy of treatment including conservative therapy alone and conservative plus endovascular therapy for elderly patients with symptomatic vertebrobasilar artery stenosis.

METHODSPatients older than 60 years with symptomatic vertebrobasilar artery stenosis (> or = 50%) confirmed by cerebral angiography were enrolled. All of them were treated with medical therapy and some with additional stent-assisted angioplasty (the stenting subgroup). Their clinical, imaging, intervention and follow-up data were analyzed.

RESULTSOne hundred and seventeen consecutive elderly patients (100 men, mean age (68.1 +/- 5.1) years) were enrolled and followed up for a mean time of 28.4 months; 81.7% of them were symptomatically resolved or improved; a stroke rate of 5.1% and a stroke-related death rate of 1.7% were found among them during the hospitalization and follow-up. In the stenting subgroup, 78 balloon expandable stents were employed in the 70 patients with a technical success rate of 98.7% and the mean degree of stenosis was significantly reduced from (81.7 +/- 14.3)% before stenting to (8.3 +/- 4.2)% after stenting (P < 0.001). Four (5.7%) periprocedural strokes occurred, of whom two led to death within 30 days after the procedure. During the follow-up (mean 27.7 months), sixty of the surviving 68 patients in the stenting subgroup were symptomatically resolved or improved. Only one (1.5%) posterior circulation stroke occurred, while duplex ultrasound scan of 34 patients demonstrated 10 (29.4%) in-stent restenosis.

CONCLUSIONSAppropriate utilization of conservative therapy alone and conservative plus endovascular therapy may improve short-term clinical outcomes for elderly patients with symptomatic vertebrobasilar artery stenosis. Furthermore, stent-assisted angioplasty is technically feasible and relatively safe in elderly patients.

Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Angioplasty, Balloon ; methods ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prospective Studies ; Stents ; Treatment Outcome ; Vertebrobasilar Insufficiency ; therapy

This study was to establish an iron overload bone marrow (BM) model by co-culturing the mononuclear cells from BM with iron, and investigate its hematopoiesis changes. The iron overload model was set up by adding different concentration of ferric citrate (FAC) into the mononuclear cells from BM and culturing for different time, and the model was confirmed by detecting labile iron pool (LIP). Then the apoptosis of hematopoietic cells, ability of hematopoietic colony forming (CFU-E, BFU-E, CFU-GM and CFU-mix) and percentage of the CD34(+) cells of the BM cells all were determined. The changes of these indexes were tested after the iron-overloaded BM was treated with deferasirox (DFO). The results showed that after BM cells were cultured with FAC at different concentrations for different time, the LIP increased in time-and concentration-dependent manners. The intracellular LIP reached maximum level when cultured at 400 µmol/L of FAC for 24 hours. The detection of BM cell hematopoietic function found that the apoptotic rate of the FAC-treated cells (24.8 ± 2.99%) increased significantly, as compared with normal control (8.9 ± 0.96%)(p < 0.01). The ability of hematopoietic colony forming in FAC-treated cells decreased markedly, as compared with normal control (p < 0.05). The percentage of CD34(+) cells of FAC-treated cells (0.39 ± 0.07%) also decreased significantly, as compared with normal control (0.91 ± 0.12%)(p < 0.01). And these changes could be alleviated by adding DFO. It is concluded that the iron-overloaded model has been set by adding iron into the mononuclear cells from BM in vitro, and the hematopoietic function of iron-overloaded BM is deficient. These changes can be alleviated by removing the excess iron from the BM cells through treating with DFO. These findings would be helpful to further study the mechanism of iron-overload on the hematopoiesis of BM and also useful to find the way to treat iron-overload patients with hematopoietic disorders.
Bone Marrow Cells ; cytology ; Cells, Cultured ; Hematopoiesis ; Hematopoietic Stem Cells ; cytology ; Humans ; Iron ; metabolism ; Iron Overload

OBJECTIVETo assess the association of haptoglobin (HP)1/2 polymorphism with coronary heart disease (CHD) in Chinese Hans.

METHODSOne hundred and eighty-nine CHD patients and 242 healthy controls confirmed with angiography were recruited. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method was utilized to genotype the HP1 and HP2 alleles and genotype frequencies in cases and controls were compared.

RESULTSThe frequency of HP2-2 genotype was significantly higher in CHDs than in controls (0.54 vs.0.35, P = 0.000). The HP2-2 genotype significantly increased the risk for CHD in univariable analysis (OR = 2.166, 95%CI: 1.467-3.196). Multifactor Logistic regression analysis indicated that HP2-2 genotype is an independent risk factor to CHD (P = 0.002; OR = 2.101, 95%CI: 1.311-3.367). Similarly, the HP2 allele frequency in the CHD group was significantly higher than that in the control subjects (0.74 vs.0.61, P = 0.000).

CONCLUSIONThe HP2-2 genotype is associated with CHD in Chinese. HP2-2 genotype may be an independent risk factor to CHD, and HP2 allele may be a genetic susceptibility factor to CHD in Chinese.

Adult ; Aged ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; genetics ; Coronary Disease ; genetics ; Female ; Gene Frequency ; Genotype ; Haptoglobins ; genetics ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Polymorphism, Genetic

To observe the antipyretic effect of Reduning injection (RDN) on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced fever rats and its impact on centric fever medium. Rats were randomly divided into the blank control group, the model group, the Metamizole group, and high and low-dose RDN groups. Except for the blank control group, all of the rats were injected intraperitoneally with LPS (80 microg x kg(-1)) to observe their body temperature changes. The double-antibody sandwich ELSIA method was adopted to determine cAMP content in hypothalamus and MPO in lung tissues of fever peak rats. The high-dose RDN group can obviously reduce the temperature rise in fever rats, and cAMP and MPO content in hypothalamus. RDN showed significant antipyretic effect, which may be related with the reduction of cAMP content in hypothalamus and MPO in lung tissues.
Animals ; Antipyretics ; pharmacology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Fever ; chemically induced ; drug therapy ; Lipopolysaccharides ; Male ; Plants, Medicinal ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley