Chronic insomnia is a severe disease that seriously influence the human health, and about 10%-15% of the adults suffer from it. No definite conclusion has been made about its etiology up to now, possibly associated with heredity, hormone secretion and living habits. Insomnia not only decreases the patients' quality of life,but also adds burden to society, families and individuals. The diagnosis of chronic insomnia should be based on the patients' sleep history, medication history, psychiatric history and necessary examinations. International diagnosis criteria should be combined if possible. Presently the treatments for chronic insomnia mainly include the OTC medicine, prescription drugs,self-medication with alcoholic beverage, cognitive behavior therapy, melatonin and some traditional herbal therapies. Limited information is available presently about insomnia and a large amount of laboratory and clinical research need to be done to further understand and solve this public problem.

BACKGROUND:Large randomized trials have demonstrated carotid endarterectomy or stenting for symptomatic and asymptomatic extracranial carotid stenosis is effective.
OBJECTIVE:Using the meta analysis method, to evaluate efficacy and safety of carotid stenting and carotid endarterectomy for the treatment of carotid stenosis.
METHODS:Computer-based retrieval of databases both at home and abroad was performed for randomized control ed trials related to carotid stenting and carotid endarterectomy for the treatment of carotid stenosis. According to exclusion criteria, literature screening was done fol owed by quality evaluation. Then, the enrol ed literatures were analyzed by Cochrane col aboration with RevMan5.0 Meta analysis software.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:There were 14 enrol ed studies, including 7 693 patients among whom, 3 835 cases were in stenting group and 3 858 in carotid endarterectomy group. Compared with the carotid endarterectomy group, the stroke event rate within 30 days postoperatively, death and stroke event rate within 30 days postoperatively, myocardial infarction event rate within 1 year postoperatively and non-disabling stroke event rate within 30 days postoperatively were higher in the stenting group (P ≤0.000 1);the myocardial infarction event rate within 30 days postoperatively was lower in the stenting group (P=0.001 0). There were no significant differences in the death event rate and disabled stroke event rate within 30 days postoperatively between the two groups. These two treatments are complementary rather than antagonistic. We should optimize the treatment choice based on the comprehensive analysis of each patient's condition.

Objective To observe the long term effects of arthroscopic knee debridement and reconstructing operation for treating osteoarthritis in patients with Kaschin-Beck disease. Methods Thirty-one cases of patients with Kaschin-Beck disease were followed for 6 years after operation of articular clearing by arthroscope. Index of pain, symptoms of self-evaluation, range of motion, walking distance, standing test by affected leg when bending at 30° or 60° were recorded and compared with the preoperative results. Results Twenty-four cases were followed up for 6 years. Six years after operation the pain index(3.38 ± 2.87) was dramatically decreased compared to that before operation (6.88 ± 1.45, t = 5.30, P ＜ 0.05). Patients symptoms markedly improved by subjective self-evaluation was 70.83% (17/24), the effective rate was 100% (24/24). The number of cases that could stand up when leg bending at 30° or 60° were 21,18 cases, respectively, compared with that of preoperative of 14, 11 cases, respectively, the difference was statistically significant(x2 = 5.17,4.27, all P ＜ 0.05). Six years after operation the walking distance(3 cases ＜ 1 km, 11 cases 1 - 5 km and 10 cases ＞ 5 km) were greatly improved compared to the results before operation (12 cases ＜ 1 km, 9 cases 1 - 5 km and 3 cases ＞ 5 km, U = 2.88, P ＜0.05). Six years after operation the knee activity[(132.25 ± 14.52)°] remained at the same level, compared with that of preoperative [(131 .58 ± 14.68) °], the difference was not statistically significant (t = 0.16, P ＞ 0.05) .Conclusions The method of arthroscopic joint debridement to cure Kaschin-Beck disease knee osteoarthritis can significantly reduce pain, improve function and walking distance, with more stable long-term satisfactory outcome.

Acute Disease ; Animals ; Astrocytes ; metabolism ; pathology ; Cats ; Dimethoate ; analogs & derivatives ; poisoning ; Female ; Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein ; metabolism ; Male ; Poisoning ; metabolism ; pathology

ObjectiveTo study an application of a method of improving the quality of sampling in review to determine the light areas of endemic fluorosis(referred to as endemic fluorosis) in quality control. Methods Of 15 light endemic fluorosis township(town), six were randomly sampled, and the prevalence of dental fluorosis in 22 village primary school children aged 8 to 12 were reviewed to determine the improved quality of sampling in Xuyong county Sichuan province. ResultsSix townships(towns) were selected by simple random sampling from 15 endemic fluorosis townships(towns) for review inspection in Xuyong country. A total of 22 villages were verified, accounting for 22.7％ of the total 97 villages verified. Of the 416 children for review inspection of dental fluorosis, 383 children were positive. The consistent rate of children' s dental fluorosis was 92.07％, and the verification to be slight villages was up to 21 endemic villages, accounting for 95.45％. ConclusionsThe application of a method of improving the quality of sampling can improve the efficiency of quality control, and improve the accuracy. It is a novel quality control method.

OBJECTIVETo summarize the clinical characteristic and outcome of digital gigantism of the foot.

METHODSRetrospectively analyze the clinical documents of cases of digital gigantism of the foot. Twelve 12 cases with 13 feet in this study included 8 male and 4 female with an average 4.6-years-old. All the deformities were found at birth. Multiple toes involved were more than single toe, and tibial toe involved more than fibular. Forefoot was enlarged. All the phalanges involved and partial metatarsal bones were enlarged. Marked increase in subcutaneous fat was found in all cases in the operation which infiltrated interossei and articular capsules. The appearance of the nerves and its branches in the foot were normal and fat infiltrating was not discovered. The operation types included debulking, epiphyseal arrest, amputation, nerve stripping and anastomosis.

RESULTSSeven cases were followed up with mean periods 25.6 months. Functional evaluation according to a criterion formulated by author revealed a result of 2 excellent, 2 good and 3 fair.

CONCLUSIONSDigital gigantism of the foot is an uncommon congenital deformity of the foot characterized by overgrowth of both the soft-tissue and the osseous elements of the enlarged toe and forefoot. Surgical treatment is the unique method, and the goal is to reduce the size of the foot to allow fitting regular shoes and walking readily. There are several types of operations which to be chosen. The indication, the timing of operative intervention and the selection of operation type should be paid more attention.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Foot Deformities, Congenital ; surgery ; Forefoot, Human ; surgery ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Retrospective Studies ; Toes ; abnormalities ; Treatment Outcome

To compare the microcalorimetric fingerprint profiles of Lonicerae japonicae Flos (Lj.F) and Lonicerae Flos (L.F), microcalormietry was applied to find the heat change regularity of Bacillus shigae (B. shigae) metabolism affected by Lj.F and L.F (we choose Lonicera macranthoides Hand.-Mazz in this paper) with different concentrations. The thermogenic curves and thermodynamics parameters were investigated as evaluation index, and then the date of experiment was studied by similarity analysis. All the results indicated that the Lj.F and Lonicera macranthoides Hand.-Mazz (L.m.H-M) significantly impacted the microbial growth and had good similarity in its inhibitory activities. The combination approach of chemical analysis with bioassay was developed and employed to ensure the safety and efficacy of Chinese herbal medicines.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Bacillus ; drug effects ; growth & development ; Calorimetry ; methods ; Chemical Safety ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Flowers ; chemistry ; Lonicera ; chemistry ; classification ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; classification ; Quality Control ; Thermodynamics ; Thermogenesis

OBJECTIVETo compare the efficacy differences between round-sharp needle of new nine-needle and elongated needle for piriformis syndrome, and explore its action mechanism.

METHODSEighty cases were randomly divided into a round-sharp needle of new nine-needle group (round-sharp needle group) and an elongated needle treatment group (elongated needle group), 40 cases in each group. The round-sharp needle group was treated with round-sharp needle (0.60 mm x 125 mm) at three points in piriformis with triple puncture method, while the elongated needle group was treated with elongated needle of ordinary specifications (0.32 mm x 125 mm) at three points in piriformis with triple puncture method. Besides, the two groups were also treated with routine acupuncture at Weizhong (BL 40) and Yanglingquan (GB 34), 3 times every week, 2 weeks as one course of treatment. After one course of treatment, the clinical effect was evaluated and the pain threshold values were measured before and after treatment in the two groups.

RESULTSThe total effective rate in the round-sharp needle group was 92.5% (37/40), which was superior to 77.5% (31/40) in the elongated needle group (P < 0.05). Compared before treatment, the pain threshold values after treatment in two groups were improved significantly (both P < 0.01). The increment of pain threshold value in the round-sharp needle group was higher than that in the elongated needle group (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONRound-sharp needle of new nine-needle is effective in treatment of piriformis syndrome and is better than ordinary elongated needle, which is related to that it can effectively increase pain threshold value of the local tissue.

Acupuncture Therapy ; instrumentation ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Needles ; Piriformis Muscle Syndrome ; therapy ; Punctures ; methods ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo investigate the expression of guanylin in colorectal cancer.

METHODSThe expression of guanylin was examined by RT-PCR and semiquantitative analysis in 20 cases of colorectal cancer, and its relationship with clinical characteristics was analyzed.

RESULTSThe positive expression of guanylin in normal tissue (80%, 16/20) was significantly higher than that in tumor tissue (35%, 7/20) (P<0.01). The same result was found in the semiquantitative analysis of 14 cases with differential expression. Differential expression of guanylin in colorectal cancer was associate with TNM stage (P<0.05), not with sex, Borrmann type and degree of differentiation (all P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONThere is differential expression of guanylin in colorectal cancer, and this kind of differential expression is associated with tumor TNM stage.

Colorectal Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Hormones ; metabolism ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Natriuretic Peptides ; metabolism ; Neoplasm Staging

OBJECTIVETo study the effect and potential mechanism of expression of c-jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) signal pathway on neuron autophagy after diffuse brain injury (DBI).

METHODSMale Sprague Dawley rats (n = 216) were randomly divided into four groups: DBI group (n = 54), SP600125 intervene group (n = 54), DMSO group (n = 54) and sham operation group (n = 54). DBI rat model was established according to the description of Marmarou DBI. At different time points (1, 6, 12, 24, 48 and 72 h) after operation, the histopathologic changes of neurons in cortex were observed by HE staining method; The expression of p-JNK, p-P53, DRAM and Beclin-1 were detected by Western blot and immunohistochemistry.

RESULTSThe results showed that under light microscope degenerated and necrotic neurons were observed to be scattered in cortex at 6 h after operation in DBI group, but these changes were low in SP600125 intervene group. Compared with SP600125 intervene group, the expression of p-JNK in DBI group were enhanced obviously at 6, 12 and 24 h (F = 17.902, P < 0.05); the expression of p-P53 in DBI group were enhanced obviously at 12, 24, 48 and 72 h (F = 7.107, P < 0.05); the expression of DRAM in DBI group were enhanced obviously at 6, 12, 24, 48 and 72 h (F = 15.455, P < 0.05); the expression of Beclin-1 in DBI group were enhanced obviously at 6, 12, 24, 48 and 72 h (F = 11.517, P < 0.05). Compared with DBI group, the expression of p-JNK, p-P53, DRAM and Beclin-1 in DMSO group were similar at 1, 6, 12, 24, 48 and 72 h (F = 1.509, P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSThe present results indicate that SP600125 can dramatically improve trauma brain injury from autophagy after DBI and the molecular mechanism is related to the modulation of JNK signal pathway following DBI, while it measures the neuron autophagy by means of intervening JNK signal pathway.

Animals ; Anthracenes ; pharmacology ; Autophagy ; Brain Injuries ; metabolism ; pathology ; Disease Models, Animal ; JNK Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases ; metabolism ; Male ; Neurons ; pathology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley