Humans ; Industry ; Metals ; Occupational Injuries ; United States

BACKGROUND: Ascariasis is one of the most common human parasitic infections worldwide. In some rare cases, ascariasis may cause serious consequences even sudden death. This study was undertaken to review the life-threatening complications of ascariasis in trauma patients reported in the literature. DATA SOURCES: Relevant articles about ascariasis and trauma were searched from Pubmed, Google scholar, Scirus, and Wanfang databases. RESULTS: Twenty-four patients with ascariasis were collected from 21 articles searched. Most of these patients were from tropical and subtropical countries. Of the 24 patients, 12 were children. Their major complications occurred in the airway passage and digestive tract. There were 3 fatal cases in these patients. Twelve of the 24 patients described in 10 articles were reported in the last 10 years. CONCLUSIONS: Early diagnosis and prompt intervention are essential to minimize the high morbidity and mortality of these serious complications in trauma patients. Physicians should be aware of the possibility of Ascaris infection in a trauma patient from endemic area of ascariasis. History of Ascaris infection and routine examination of feces forAscaris eggs may be helpful to make a correct diagnosis.

Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Cell Cycle ; drug effects ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Humans ; K562 Cells ; drug effects ; Phloretin ; pharmacology

Objective To evaluate the effects of different doses of lidocaine on suppressing fentanyl-induced cough and determine a safe suppressing dose.Methods Two hundred patients undergoing general anesthesia were randomized to four groups evenly.The following medications were given within ten seconds:normal saline 10ml (groupⅠ,control group),lidocaine 1 mg/kg (groupⅡ),lidoeaine 1.5 mg/kg(groupⅢ),lidocaine 2mg/kg (groupⅣ).Toxic symptoms of lidocaine were recorded within lmin after the administration of lidocaine,then fentanyl 3?g/ kg was given intravenously within 5 seconds.Cough incidence and cough grade were recorded within 2rain after the administration of fentanyl.Systolic blood pressure (SBP),diastolic blood pressure (DBP),heart rates (HR),and satu- ration of pulse oximeter(SpO2) were recorded during different time points of induction,all recorded data were anal- ysed by the statistical software,P value

Objective To evaluate the safety of surgical procedures for patients after heart valve prosthesis implantation.Methods Clinical data of 12 cases with heart valve prosthesis implantation undergone other surgical treatment from November 1996 to December 2005 were retrospectively analyzed.All the cases had routine oral warfarin with prothrombin time (PT) of 20.0—28.3 s averaged 23.5 s, international normalized ratio (INR) for prothrombin of 1.79—2.23 averaged 1.95 and heart functional class Ⅰ—Ⅲ.Among them,appendectomy was performed in three cases with acute appendicitis,reposition and repair in one with inguinal hernia,radical gastrectomy in two with gastric carcinoma,left hemicolectomy in one,cholecystectomy in three,left femoral head replacement in one,and bilateral high ligation and ablation of great saphenous vein in one.Elective surgical operation was performed in seven cases,and emergency operation in five.In those with elective surgery,warfarin was stopped 2—3 days before operation,while 5—10 mg vitamin K_1 was injected intramuscularly 6—8 hours before emergency surgery with preoperative median PT of 15.1 and 15.3 s and median INR of 1.24 and 1.30,respectively.In operation,5—10 mg vitamin K_1 were injected intravenously into the patients by drip depending on their bleeding on the surface of wound.ECG,blood pressure,hemoglobin and oxygen saturation were routinely monitored for all the cases intraoperatively and postoperatively.For the cases with heart function above class Ⅱ,fluid infusion was adjusted based on intubated central venous pressure,and for those with general anesthesia,analyses of blood gases and electrolyte were monitored routinely in operation.Results OPeration time averaged 20—160 rain in all the 12 patients,with blood loss 5—280 ml in average and without complications of massive hemorrhage,thrombosis and heart failure.Conclusions Surgical operation was safe for patients with heart valve prosthesis implantation,if preoperative PT and INR were adjusted to about 15 s and 1.30,respectively by cessation of warfarin or application of vitamin K_1,combined with careful manipulation and strengthened perioperative management.

AIMTo investigate the effect of 8-opioid receptors in the cardioprotection elicited by ischemic postconditioning and the underlying mechanism.

METHODSThe isolated perfused hearts of male Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to 30 min of global ischemia followed by 120 min of reperfusion. Formazan content of myocardium was measured spectrophotometrically, and the activity of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in the coronary effluent was measured. In isolated ventricular myocytes hypoxic postconditioning was achieved by 3 cycles of 5 min reoxygenation/5 min hypoxia starting at the beginning of reoxygenation, and cell viability was measured.

RESULTSIn the Langendorff perfused rat heart model, ischemic postconditioning (6 cycles of 10 s reperfusion/10 s global ischemia starting at the beginning of reperfusion) increased formazan content, reduced LDH release, improved the recovery of the left ventricular developed pressure, maximal rise/fall rate of left ventricular pressure and rate pressure product (left ventricular developed pressure multiplied by heart rate), attenuated the decrease of coronary flow during reperfusion and increased the isolated cell viability. Pretreatment with naltrindole, an antagonist of delta-opioid receptors and calcium-activated potassium channel (KCa) blocker paxilline attenuated the effect of ischemic/hypoxic postconditioning.

CONCLUSIONThe findings indicate that ischemic postconditioning protects myocardium against ischemia/reperfusion injury via activating delta-opioid receptors and opening KCa.

Animals ; Cell Survival ; In Vitro Techniques ; Ischemic Postconditioning ; Male ; Myocardium ; metabolism ; Myocytes, Cardiac ; cytology ; metabolism ; Potassium Channels, Calcium-Activated ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Receptors, Opioid, delta ; antagonists & inhibitors

The incidence of deacclimatization to high altitude syndrome (DAHAS) prevailed up to 80% in highland troops, and 100% in manual workers, and severe DAHAS could significantly affects patients' health, work and life. So it is imperative to develop effective prevention and treatment measures for DAHAS. The present review analyzes effective prophylactic and therapeutic measures against DAHAS, implemented at our hospital.
Acclimatization ; Altitude ; Altitude Sickness ; prevention & control ; therapy ; Humans

OBJECTIVETo optimize the prescription dose of Mahuang decoction in a multi-target manner, in order to provide reference for the quantitative optimization of the prescription dose of the traditional Chinese medicine compound.

METHODThe number of diaphoretic spots in rats, the tracheal antispasmodic rate in guinea pigs and the writhing times by acetic acid in mice were taken as the indexes for evaluating the diaphoretic, antispasmodic and analgesic effects. According to the experimental results of the 16 orthogonal combination prescriptions, a mathematical dose-effect model was built by support vector regression (SVR) and quadratic response surface regression (RSR) respectively. The multi-target optimization was achieved by elitist non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) and entropy weight TOPSIS method.

RESULTThe optimal dose of Mahuang decoction after being optimized by SVR modeling contained 17.71 g of Ephedrae Herba, 9.57 g of Cinnamomi Ramulus, 11.75 g of Armeniacae Semen Amarum and 4.39 g of Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma Praeparata Cum Melle. The optimized result by RSR modeling contained 13.37 g of Ephedrae Herba, 11.61 g of Cinnamomi Ramulus, 11.98 g of Armeniacae Semen Amarum and 5.67 g of Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma Praeparate Cum Melle. SVR was superior to RSR in both of the forecast capacity and optimization results.

CONCLUSIONSVR-NSGA-II-TOPSIS method could be adopted for the multi-target optimization for the dose of Mahuang decoction and other traditional Chinese medicine compounds. It is proved to be the optimal prescription with the best efficacy, and could provide scientific quantitative basis for determining the dose of traditional Chinese medicine compound prescriptions and developing new traditional Chinese medicines.

Animals ; Cinnamomum ; chemistry ; Drug Compounding ; methods ; Drug Dosage Calculations ; Drug Prescriptions ; Ephedra ; chemistry ; Ephedra sinica ; chemistry ; Glycyrrhiza ; chemistry ; Guinea Pigs ; Mice ; Rats

OBJECTIVETo prove the therapeutic effects of Sihuang powder (composed by four traditional Chinese herbs: root of baikal skullcap, bark of amur corktree, root of sorrel rhubarb, fruit of cape jasmine, which were mixed with wild Chrysanthemum flower solution)in treating acute synovitis in experimental rabbit knee osteoarthritic models induced by papain injection and to explore its mechanism.

METHODSThirty-two New-Zealand white rabbits were divided into 6 groups: blank group, model group, Sihuang powder with high dosage group (2 g/kg), Sihuang powder with low dosage group (1 g/kg), Yingtaiqing group and wild Chrysanthemum flower group. The latter four groups were treated respectively with low and high dose Sihuang powder synovium and cartilage were tested concentrations of nitrogen monoxide (NO) and IL-1 level and then were prepared for pathologic and histologic observation 10 days later. Cartilage pathologic changes were record and synovium pathologic changes were valued by means of Mankin's value system.

RESULTSThe NO concentration of synovium in Sihuang powder with high dosage group was lower than that of model group, and there was significantly differences between the two groups (P < 0.01). The IL-1 level of synovium was failed after treated with Sihuang powder with high dosage (P < 0.05). Sihuang powder with low dosage and Yingtaiqing also could restrain IL-1's release (P < 0.05). In Mankin's value system, Sihuang powder with high dosage almost eliminated inflammatory cells infiltrating in synovium, which was seldom found in other groups. The value of Sihuang powder with high dosage group was the lowest in treatment groups (P < 0.005). Sihuang powder with low dosage group and wild Chrysanthemum flower group also decreased the degree of inflammatory in synovium (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSihuang powder can reduce the concentration of NO and IL-1 and improve inflammatory cell infiltrate in lining cells of synovium. Moreover, it can alleviate swelling and pain of joint, improve joint movement and postpone degeneration of the cartilage.

Acute Disease ; Animals ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Interleukin-1 ; analysis ; Nitric Oxide ; analysis ; Osteoarthritis ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Papain ; toxicity ; Powders ; Rabbits ; Synovitis ; chemically induced ; drug therapy ; pathology

BACKGROUND: The effect of pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide (PACAP) during traumatic brain injury (TBI) and whether it can modulate secondary injury has not been reported previously. The present study evaluated the potential protective effects of ventricular infusion of PACAP in a rat model of TBI. METHODS: Male Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into 3 treatment groups (n=6, each): sham-operated, vehicle (normal saline)+TBI, and PACAP+TBI. Normal saline or PACAP (1g/5L) was administered intracerebroventricularly 20 minutes before TBI. Right parietal cortical contusion was produced via a weight-dropping method. Brains were extracted 24 hours after trauma. Histological changes in brains were examined by HE staining. The numbers of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in blood and the spleen were detected via flow cytometry. RESULTS: In injured brain regions, edema, hemorrhage, inflammatory cell infiltration, and swollen and degenerated neurons were observed under a light microscope, and the neurons were disorderly arrayed in the hippocampi. Compared to the sham group, average CD4+ CD8– lymphocyte counts in blood and the spleen were significantly decreased in rats that received TBI+vehicle, and CD4– CD8+ were increased. In rats administered PACAP prior to TBI, damage was attenuated as evidenced by significantly increased CD4+, and decreased CD8+, T lymphocytes in blood and the spleen. CONCLUSION: Pretreatment with PACAP may protect against TBI by influencing periphery T cellular immune function.