Deafness ; etiology ; Facial Paralysis ; etiology ; Hematologic Diseases ; etiology ; Humans ; Meningitis ; etiology ; Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome ; complications ; Respiratory Tract Diseases ; etiology ; Urologic Diseases ; etiology

OBJECTIVETo investigate the brain functional laterality in motor areas during motor execution systematically.

METHODSFunctional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was employed combined with right hand sequential finger movement task to investigate brain activation pattern and laterality in 8 right-handed subjects. 3dDeconvolve program of AFNI was used to estimate the hemodynamic response function and to generate activation maps. Then the laterality index (LI) was calculated and tested statistically.

RESULTAll motor areas including the areas which were previously considered to be engage in movement preparation only were activated in movement execution. In the activation map, it appeared left lateralization in cerebra and right lateralization in cerebella. After further statistical test, it was found that in primary motor area (M1), supplementary motor area (SMA) and posterior parietal cortex (PPC), there were left lateralization. While in premotor cortex (PMC), cingulate gyrus and basal ganglia (BG), the lateralization tendency was not obvious. The activation in cerebella is characterized with right lateralization.

CONCLUSIONThough there are tiny differences among subjects, most of the motor areas appear lateralized activation. Past studies only observed laterality in several motor areas. It may be due to the difficulty of the task or the experimental design.

Adult ; Brain ; physiology ; Female ; Functional Laterality ; physiology ; Humans ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Motor Cortex ; physiology

OBJECTIVETo investigate the correlation between different Chinese medicine (CM) syndromes and variations in microcirculation in septic shock patients.

METHODSseventy Septic shock patients were divided into four groups: heat damaging qi-yin group (HDQY, 23 cases); yin exhaustion and yang collapse group (YEYC, 26 cases); excessive heat in Fu organ group (EHFO, 10 cases); and heat damaging nutrient-blood group (HDNB, 11 cases). Sublingual microcirculation parameters were observed by sidestream dark-field (SDF) imaging and scored by Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) and the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA), and parameters of microcirculation perfusion variations and prognoses were analyzed.

RESULTSCompared with those with qi-yin heat damage, perfused vessel density (PVD) in other groups decreased dramatically (P<0.05), and APACHE II scores increased significantly (P<0.05). In addition, the recovery time was prolonged substantially (P<0.05), and the mixed venous oxygen saturation (SVO2) decreased (P<0.05). Blood lactic acid increased significantly (P<0.05), and the mixed SVO decreased (P<0.05), in the YEYC group. Compared with the thermal injury camp blood group, sublingual microcirculation parameter variations showed no obvious difference in the YEYC and EHFO groups (P>0.05). There were significant positive correlations between CM syndromes and APACHE II scoring in different groups (r=0.512, P<0.05). There were negative correlations between PVD and APACHE II scoring (r=-0.378, P=0.043), the proportion of perfused vessels (PPV) and APACHE II scoring (r=-0.472, P=0.008), as well as between the microvascular flow index (MFI) and APACHE II scoring (r=-0.424, P=0.023) in different patients.

CONCLUSIONSublingual microcirculation may serve as a clinical diagnostic parameter of the patient condition, as well as being a prognostic indicator.

Aged ; Dopamine ; therapeutic use ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Female ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Microcirculation ; physiology ; Middle Aged ; Mouth Floor ; blood supply ; physiopathology ; Perfusion ; Shock, Septic ; blood ; drug therapy ; mortality ; physiopathology ; Syndrome

OBJECTIVETo establish fingerprint of Cortex Fraxini and provide reference for quality evaluation of Cortex Fraxini.

METHODChromatographic experiments were performed on Agilent Extend C18 column (4.6 mm x 250 mm, 5 microm), eluted with methanol and water, containing 0.4% acetic acid as the mobile phases in gradient elution. The detection wavelength was 0-60 min, 340 nm; 6-74 min, 254 nm; 74-75 min, 340 nm, and the flow rate was 1.0 mL x min(-1). Forty samples in four varieties of Cortex Fraxini were detected to establish fingerprints, respectively.

RESULTEvery parameter of the method validation complied with related rules and regulations. There were 15 common peaks in the fingerprint of 10 Fraxinus rhynchophylla samples, eleven common peaks in the fingerprint of 10 F. chinensis var. acuminata. samples, and in the fingerprint of 10 F. chinensis samples. Nineteen common peaks in the fingerprint of 10 F. stylosa samples. There were 5 common peaks in the fingerprints of 40 Cortex Fraxini samples. The similarity factors of the 10 samples of every species were all more than 0.96 compared with the control fingerprint. The similarity of the 40 Cortex Fraxini samples was more than 0.90. Four effective constituents and one unknown constituent were found in 40 samples.

CONCLUSIONThe fingerprints of F. rhynchophylla bark, F. chinensis bark, F. chinensis var. acuminata bark, F. stylosa bark and Cortex Fraxini were established. The methodological evaluation showed that the results were in accord with the technology requirements of chromatography fingerprint, and it laid a good foundation for quality control of Cortex Fraxini.

Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry

This study was aimed to explore the effects of interleukin 21 (IL-21) on the anti-leukemia activity of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) induced by dendritic cells (DCs) in vitro. The peripheral mononuclear cells from leukemia patients in complete remission were cultured with the specific cytokines to induce the production of DCs. The DCs loaded with RNA from autologous leukemic cells as antigen, and co-cultured with autologous T lymphocytes to get leukemia specific CTL. The cytotoxic activity of CTL against autologous leukemic cells was measured by LDH release method. The concentration of IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha in the culture supernatant was measured by enzyme immunoassay. The effects of IL-21 on the mature DCs were also studied by the measurement of the phenotype of DC and the allogenic mixed lymphocytic reactions induced by DCs. Experiments were divided into 2 groups: test group in which IL-21 (200 ng/ml) was added in coculture of DC/CTL and control group in which no IL-21 (200 ng/ml) was added. The results showed that when cultured with IL-21, the quantity of CTL increased from (56.73 +/- 10.21)% (control group) to (73.43 +/- 18.01)% (p < 0.01); The concentration of IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha in the culture supernatant increased from (154.91 +/- 67.20) ng/L (control group) to (310.62 +/- 141.15) ng/L (p < 0.01) and from (8.77 +/- 5.09) microg/L (control group) to (15.25 +/- 6.56) microg/L (p < 0.01) respectively. At the effector: target ratio of 20:1, the cytotoxic activity against autologous leukemic cells by CTL increased from (50.22 +/- 5.07)% (control group) to (75.38 +/- 9.47)% (p < 0.01). IL-21 had neither effect on the phenotype (CD1a, CD83, CD86, CD80 and HLA-DR) of mature DCs nor the allogeneic mixed lymphocytic reactions induced by DCs. It is concluded that IL-21 can strengthen the proliferation of CTL, and improve the production of IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha, thus enhance the anti-leukemia activity of CTL. Nevertheless, there is no effect of IL-21 on the function of mature DCs. These data indicate that IL-21 has a potential clinical value in the enhancement of anti-leukemia immunotherapy.
Adult ; CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes ; drug effects ; Cell Proliferation ; Cytotoxicity, Immunologic ; drug effects ; Dendritic Cells ; cytology ; drug effects ; Female ; Humans ; Interferon-gamma ; immunology ; Interleukins ; pharmacology ; K562 Cells ; Leukemia ; drug therapy ; immunology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic ; drug effects ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; immunology ; Young Adult

Objective:To discuss clinical effect of addition and subtraction therapy of Wuhutang combined with Qingjin Jianghuotang to community acquired pneumonia (CAP) in children with syndrome of phlegm heat closing lung, and to study the influence to inflammatory factors. Method:One hundred and forty patients were randomly divided into control group (69 cases) and observation group (71 cases) by random number table. Patients in two group of chidren got comprehensive symptomatic treatment measures of anti-infection, antipyretic, expectorant, antiasthmatic and respiratory support of inflammatory factors. The control group was treated with Lingyang Qingfei granules.1 g/time,3 time/day. Patients in observation group added addition and subtraction therapy of Wuhutang combined with Qingjin Jianghuotang, 1 dose/day. The courses of treatment in two groups were 7 days. And temperature, time of antipyretic, time of complete antipyretic and rate of complete antipyretic at the 7^th day after treatment were recorded. And release time and disappearance time of cough, expectoration, disappearance time of pulmonary rales and treatment failure were also recorded. And before and after treatment, scores of syndrome of phlegm heat closing lung were graded, and levels of serum high sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), procalcitonin (PCT), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were detected. Result:Analyzed by rank sum test, effect in observation group was better than that in control group (Z=2.106, P<0.05), and curative effect of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndrome was also better than that in control group (Z=2.119, P<0.05). Time of antipyretic, time of complete antipyretic, release time and disappearance time of cough and expectoration and disappearance time of pulmonary rales were all shorter than those in control group (P<0.01). Rate of complete antipyretic at the 7^th day after treatment in observation group was 96.92%（63/65） higher than 82.81%（53/64） in control group (χ²=7.085, P<0.05). Failure rate of treatment was 9.23%（6/65） lower than 23.44%（15/64） in control group (χ²=4.775, P<0.05). And major symptom, physical sign score, minor symptom score, the total score of syndrome of phlegm heat closing lung and levels of hs-CRP, PCT, TNF-α and IL-6 were all lower than those in control group (P<0.01). Conclusion:On the basis of comprehensive anti-infection treatment, addition and subtraction therapy of Wuhutang combined with Qingjin Jianghuotang can control the clinical symptoms, and the advantages of rapid onset, rapid symptom regression, short course of disease can be found, and it can also reduce the inflammatory reaction, control the progress of the disease. The complete antipyretic rate, disease efficacy and TCM syndrome efficacy are better.