OBJECTIVETo investigate the dosage-efficacy/toxicity relationship of prepared rhubarb, in order to explore the bidirectional effects in hepatoprotection and hepatotoxicity of prepared rhubarb and the objective authenticity for attenuating toxicity by processing.

METHODNormal and pathological animals were adopted simultaneous to investigate the effect of total extracts from prepared rhubarb within a high dose range (2.0, 5.4, 14.7, 40.0 g x kg(-1) x d(-1)) on normal state, biochemical index and histopathology of experimental animals. The factor analytic approach was used to analyze the dosage-efficacy/toxicity relationship of prepared rhubarb.

RESULTThe factor analytic approach was used to extract two common factors from the nine biochemical indexes. The firs common factor was mainly dominated by HA, LN and TGF-β1, and could be explained as fibrotic factors. The second common factor was mainly dominated by ALT, AST and ALP, and could be explained as cellular factor. The results of the factor analysis suggested that prepared rhubarb showed significant bidirectional effects in hepatoprotection and hepatotoxicity, which could protect liver in CC14 injured chronic hepatic injury, but had a certain hepatotoxic effect to normal animals. The pathological examination showed consistent results with the factor analysis. Under comparable dosages, prepared rhubarb showed a stronger liver protecting effect than crude rhubarb, with a lower toxicity.

CONCLUSIONAlthough prepared rhubarb has a certain hepatotoxic effect to normal animals, it has also a significant therapeutic effect to animals with liver injury. The results proved the symptom-based prescription theory and the scientificity of the symptom-based medication. The symptom-based prescription theory is important to correctly realize the dosage-efficacy/toxicity relationship of traditional Chinese medicines and guide the symptom-based medication.

Animals ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Drug Prescriptions ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; toxicity ; Female ; Fibrosis ; Liver ; drug effects ; metabolism ; pathology ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Rheum ; chemistry ; Toxicity Tests

OBJECTIVETo study the clinicopathological characteristics of papillary cystadenoma of the epididymis.

METHODSUsing routine pathology and immunohistochemistry, we observed the surgically obtained samples from 2 cases of papillary cystadenoma of the epididymis, analyzed their pathological features and clinical presentations, and reviewed the related literature.

RESULTSThe 2 patients were both adult males. The tumors typically manifested as painless swelling in the epididymis, with occasionally dull pain and tenesmus in 1 of the cases. Pathologically, the lesions exhibited three morphological features, i. e., dilated ducts and small cysts surrounded by fibrous connective tissue, adenoid papillary hyperplasia into the cysts embraced by fibrovascular stroma, and acidophil substance present in the cysts. Immunohistochemistry showed that the tumors were strongly positive for CK8/18, CK7, and EMA, but negative for CK20, CEA, MC, Calretenin, P53, P63, SMA, VHL, and CD10, with the positive rate of Ki-67 <1%. Follow-up visits revealed good prognosis in both cases.

CONCLUSIONPapillary cystadenoma of the epididymis is a rare benign tumor in the male urogenital system, which may be accompanied by the VHL syndrome. Surgery is the first choice for its treatment.

Adult ; Cystadenoma, Papillary ; chemistry ; pathology ; Epididymis ; Genital Neoplasms, Male ; chemistry ; pathology ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Male ; von Hippel-Lindau Disease

Adrenal Gland Neoplasms ; surgery ; Adrenalectomy ; methods ; Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Kidney ; abnormalities ; Laparoscopy ; Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 2a ; surgery ; Pheochromocytoma ; surgery

BACKGROUND:It is unclear whether short-term high-intensity interval training (HIT) can be used to protect against myocardium injury after acute myocardial infarction, as wel as the underlying mechanism.
OBJECTIVE:To observe the effects of short-term HIT on the ventricular remodeling and mitochondrial content after acute myocardial infarction, and the biological effect of mitochondrial biogenesis and autophagy in this process.
METHODS:Male Sprague-Dawley rats were modeled into acute myocardial infarction by ligating coronary artery. One week later, HIT was performed:each interval consisted of 4-minute high-intensity running (80%of maximal oxygen consumption) and 3-minute active recovery (40%of maximal oxygen consumption), for 4 consecutive weeks of 5 days each week, repeated 7 cycles.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Four-week HIT after acute myocardial infarction could markedly enhance left ventricular pump function and mitochondrial content, improve mitochondrial membrane potential and ATP synthetic activity, inhibit mitochondrial reactive oxygen species generation, up-regulate PGC-1α/Tfam induced mitochondrial biogenesis and Bnip3/Beclin-1 induced autophagy. These results indicate that short-term HIT can improve normal mitochondrial content after acute myocardial infarction, which in turn ameliorates myocardial systolic property and energy metabolism. As a cardiac rehabilitation method, HIT exhibits fine timeliness.

Purpose To investigate the clinicopathological and immunohistochemical features of primary small cell carcinoma of the cervix ( SCCC) and its prognosis. Methods 18 cases of primary cervical small cell carcinoma were evaluated by histopathology, in si-tu hybridization and immunohistochemistry and relevant literatures were reviewed. Results The age of the patients ranged from 30 to 69 years ( mean age, 40 years) . Major clinical manifestation was irregular colporrhagia. Colposcopy often revealed a cervical mass or cervical erosion. Microscopically, the tumor cells were small and round and arranged in a solid distribution. The cell had little cyto-plasm and increased karyoplasmic ratio with deeply stained granular chromatin and increased pathological mitosis. Immunohistochemi-cally, the tumor cells were often positive for CKpan, variable positive for Syn, NES, CgA, CD56 and p16. HPV 16/18 were positive in 4 cases. Conclusion SCCC is a neuroendocrine tumor of high malignancy and poor prognosis with a possible pathogenesis of HPV 16/18 infection. CKpan, Syn, CgA, NSE and CD56 are useful markers for the diagnosis of SCCC.

Objective To investigated the different effect of moderate-intensity continuous training (MCT) and high-intensity interval exercise training (HIT) on ventricular remodeling and mitochondrial homeostasis after acute myocardial infarction (AMI).Methods The AMI rat model was achieved by ligating coronary artery.The AMI and sham operation rats were randomly (random number) divided into four groups:sham operation group (Sham),AMI control group (AMI),AMI MCT group (AMI + M),and AMI HIT group (AMI + H).Animals in the AMI + M and AMI + H groups underwent 4 weeks MCT and HIT respectively.Five weeks after AMI,hemodynamic changes,mitochondrial bioenergetics,and PINK1,Beclinl,Mfn2,Drp1,Tfam,COXⅣ,PGC-1α were detected.Results Comparing with AMI group,in AMI + M and AMI + H groups,Beclin1,PINK1,Mfn2 and PGC-1α expression elevated significantly (P ＜0.05 or P ＜0.01),whereas ROS generation and Drp1 expression showed dramatic decrease (P ＜ 0.05 or P＜0.01).In addition,in AMI + H group,±dp/dt max,mitochondrial membrane potential,ATP synthesis activity,Tfam and COXⅣ expression improved significantly (P ＜ 0.05).Comparing with AMI + M group,in AMI + H group,± dp/dt max,PGC-1α,Tfam and COX Ⅳ expression improved significantly (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions HIT is superior to MCT for ameliorating ventricular remodeling and mitochondrial homeostasis after AMI.

Objective To study the techniques of the treatment for epidermoid with endoscope-as- sisted microneurosurgery.Methods The suboccipital,infratemporal transtentorial approach and endoscope- assisted microneurosurgery were used.Results Total resection was achieved in 10 cases,and subtotal resec- tion was made only in 2, and had no complications of all.Conclusion Endoscope-assisted microneuro- surgery can increase the total-resection rate for tumors,and reduce complications.

Objective The purpose of this study is to determine whether the quantitative parameters of salivary gland scintigraphy are useful in the diagnosis of Sjgren's syndrome(SS).Method Forty patients with SS and 29 control subjects underwent salivary gland scintigraphy.Two indices,uptake ratio and maximum se- cretion were mearsured.The optimal cut-points of both indices were derived from receiver operative character- istic curve(ROC).The diagnostic value of the indices was assessed by the area under ROC curve(AUC~(ROC)). Results The optimal cut-point of uptake ratio was 5.5～5.7.The optimal cut-point of maximum secretion was 0.20.The sensitivities of both indices were 86.2%～89.7%.The specificity of uptake ratio was 63.4%～65.9%. The specificity of maximum secretion was 82.9%～85.4%.The AUC\+\{RoC\} of uptake ratio was 0.780/0,776.The AUC\+\{ROC\} of maximum secretion was 0.905/0,899.Conclusion The quantitative parameters of salivary gland scintigraphy may be useful in the diagnosis of Sj(?)gren syndrome.

Objective To observe the expression of matrix metalloproteinases(MMP)-1,MMP-3 and iNOS in cartilage of experimental rabbit osteoarthritis at different time intervals after anterior cruciate ligament transection(ACLT)operation.The aim of this study is to provide the theoritical evidence for using ACLT rabbit model in Osteoarthritis(OA)research.Methods Unilateral ACLT was performed on 27 randomly selected while rabbits and underwent unilateral arthrotomy was performed on the other 9 white rabbits as the control group.Nine randomly selected white rabbits in experimental group were killed and 3 white rabbits in the control group at 4th,8th and 12th week respectively.Cartilage degradation of femoral condyles was evaluated macr-oscopically,mRNA expression level and protein expression level of MMP-1,MMP-3 and iNOS was measured by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR)and immunohistochemistry respectively.Results Forepart OA cartilage degradation was observed at the 4th week and became more severe at the 8th week after ACLF.Afterpart cartilage degradation was evident at the 12th week after ACLT while cartilage still remained normal in the control group,mRNA expression level and protein expression level of MMP-1.MMP-3 and iNOS were increased at the 4th week and became higher gradually at the 8th,12th week after ACLT compared with the control group.Expression distribution of MMP-1,MMP-3 and iNOS bad different patterns respectively.Conclusion It is suggested that the process of OA cartilage degradation can be simulated by ACLT model and MMP-1,MMP-3 and iNOS may be good markers in therapeutical research of OA.

Recently traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)-induced liver injury has been an unresolved critical issue which impacts TCM clinical safety. The premise and key step to reduce or avoid drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is to identify the drug source of liver injury in early stage. Then the timely withdrawal of drug and treatment can be done. However, the current diagnosis of DILI is primarily governed by exclusive method relying on administering history supplied by patients and experience judgment from doctors, which lacks objective and reliable diagnostic indices. It is obvious that diagnosis of TCM-induced liver injury is especially difficult due to the complicated composition of TCM medication, as well the frequent combination of Chinese and Western drugs in clinic. In this paper, we proposed construction of research pattern and method for objective identification of TCM-related DILI based on translational toxicology, which utilizes clinical specimen to find specific biomarkers and characteristic blood-entering constituents, as well the clinical biochemistry and liver biopsy. With integration of diagnosis marker database, bibliographic database, medical record database and clinical specimen database, an integrative diagnosis database for TCM-related DILI can be established, which would make a transformation of clinical identification pattern for TCM-induced liver injury from subjective and exclusive to objective and index-supporting mode. This would be helpful to improve rational uses of TCM and promote sustainable development of TCM industry.
Animals ; Biomarkers, Pharmacological ; metabolism ; Biopsy ; methods ; Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury ; diagnosis ; metabolism ; pathology ; Early Diagnosis ; Humans ; Liver ; drug effects ; pathology ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; adverse effects ; Rats