Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of methotrexate(MTX)on the hip involve ment in patients with ankylosing spondylitis(AS).Methods Among the AS patients with hip joint involvement admitted to the department from 1999—2002,50 patients were treated with sulfasalazine(SSZ)(control group, CG)and 48 MTX(observation group,OG).One kind of NSAIDs was taken by the patients in both groups as the basic therapy.The treatment was maintained in both groups after being discharged.Patients were followed-up for three years.The observation parameters included symptoms,signs,Bath AS disease activity index(BASDAI), Bath AS functional index(BASFI),hip joint function score,the CT staging of hip joint involvement,serum in- flammation markers,laboratory tests and side effects.The data were analyzed with SPSS10.0 statistics software. Results At the 1st,2nd and 3rd year,44,38 and 32 cases in the OG and 45,38 and 31 cases in the CG were followed up respectively.During the three-year follow-up period,the hip joint function score of the OG was significantly higher than that of the CG(P

Objective T o understand the assessm ent on the criminal responsibility of drug-induced m ental disorders and judicial experts’ opinions. Methods T he judicial experts from institutes of forensic psychi-atry in Shanghai were selected. T hey were asked to finish a self-m ade questionnaire of assessm ent on the criminal responsibility of drug-induced m ental disorders by letters and visits. Results Most of experts knewthe special regulation,“not suitable for evaluation” towards the criminal responsibility of drug-in-duced m ental disorders of the guideline prom ulgated by Ministry of Justice. B efore and after the guide-line was issued, no expert m ade a no-responsibility opinion in such cases. After the guideline was issued, som e experts m ade a full-responsibility or lim ited-responsibility opinion in such cases. T here was a little disagreem ent am ong the experts in the case that the crime was unrelated with m ental sym ptom s or the criminals used drugs even though he knewit could induced insanity. B ut there were still m any obvious disagreem ents am ong experts in the case that crime was related to such sym ptom s and person was no ability to debate. Most experts agreed to settle the disagreem ents with im proved legislative perfection. Conclusion Most experts are not strictly com plying with the assessm ent guidelines during their practice, and there is still an obvious disagreem ent towards the criminal responsibility of drug-induced m ental disorders.

OBJECTIVE: To understand the assessment on the criminal responsibility of drug-induced mental disorders and judicial experts' opinions. METHODS: The judicial experts from institutes of forensic psychiatry in Shanghai were selected. They were asked to finish a self-made questionnaire of assessment on the criminal responsibility of drug-induced mental disorders by letters and visits. RESULTS: Most of experts knew the special regulation, "not suitable for evaluation" towards the criminal responsibility of drug-induced mental disorders of the guideline promulgated by Ministry of Justice. Before and after the guideline was issued, no expert made a no-responsibility opinion in such cases. After the guideline was issued, some experts made a full-responsibility or limited-responsibility opinion in such cases. There was a little disagreement among the experts in the case that the crime was unrelated with mental symptoms or the criminals used drugs even though he knew it could induced insanity. But there were still many obvious disagreements among experts in the case that crime was related to such symptoms and person was no ability to debate. Most experts agreed to settle the disagreements with improved legislative perfection. CONCLUSION Most experts are not strictly complying with the assessment guidelines during their practice, and there is still an obvious disagreement towards the criminal responsibility of drug-induced mental disorders.
China ; Crime/psychology* ; Criminals/psychology* ; Data Collection ; Expert Testimony ; Forensic Psychiatry ; Humans ; Liability, Legal ; Male ; Mental Competency ; Mental Disorders/psychology* ; Psychotic Disorders ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Objective To explore the prevention and treament of the complications for laparoscopic cholecys- teetomy(LC).Methods Clinical datas of 600 eases undergoing LC were collected and analyzed retrospectively.Re- suits Among all the cases,249 cases were diagnosed as cholecystolithiasis,284 cases as gallbladder and 67 cases as chronic cholecystitis.The mean duration of operation was 42min.Conversions to open cholecystectomy were needed in 18 cases(3%).Complications took place in 6 cases(0.5%),involving 2 cases of abdominal bleeding and 1 case of bile leakage.There was no bile duct injury and death.Conclusion Strictly-controlled indications,skilled performance and timely open exploration are very important to prevent and reduce the complications.

Six kinds of saponins (I, II, VII, PA, H) content of 22 samples of Paris polyphylla var. yunnanensis collected from different regions of Yunnan province were determined by HPLC, data was analyzed by SPSS 17. The results showed that the effect of altitude on saponin content was not significant, and the effect of growth area of saponins in P. polyphylla var. yunnanensis was significant, saponin content in sample from west Yunnan was significantly higher than that of samples from other regions.
Altitude ; China ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; Liliaceae ; chemistry ; Saponins ; analysis

BACKGROUNDDifferent strategies for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) may have distinct effects on the immune system. The aim of this research was to investigate changes in the immunological function after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) plus radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in HCC patients.

METHODSA total of 51 consecutive HCC treatment-naïe patients was enrolled in this study and 20 healthy subjects served as controls. The therapeutic strategy was selected according to the tumor stage and general conditions. TACE was performed in 25 cases, TACE plus RFA in 17 and RFA in nine. All the patients underwent routine examinations and peripheral blood was harvested for the detection of lymphocyte subset by flow cytometry 1 day before, and 2 and 4 weeks after the treatment. The serum levels of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), ALT and AST were also measured before and 4 weeks after treatment for the evaluation of therapeutic efficacy and liver function impairment.

RESULTSWhen compared with healthy controls, the CD4/CD8 ratio and the number of B cells and natural killer (NK) cells were significantly decreased in HCC patients before treatment (P < 0.05). When compared with before treatment, the CD4+ cells and CD4/CD8 ratio decreased but CD8+ cells increased in the TACE group (P < 0.05); the CD4/CD8 ratio and NK cells decreased but CD8+ cells increased in the TACE-RFA group (P < 0.05); the CD3+ cells, CD4+ cells, CD4/CD8 ratio and NK cells increased in the RFA group (P < 0.05). Significant differences in the CD3+ cells, CD8+ cells, CD4/CD8 ratio and NK cells were observed among groups (P < 0.05). Moreover, the AFP level decreased and transaminase level increased in all groups (P < 0.05). Differences of pre and post treatment between groups were statistically significant (P = 0.016, 0.025, 0.018 respectively).

CONCLUSIONSImmunity was compromised in HCC patients; TACE and TACE plus RFA lowered immunologic function to a certain extent. RFA improved it accompanied by a protective effect on liver function.

Adult ; Aged ; CD4-CD8 Ratio ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; immunology ; therapy ; Catheter Ablation ; Chemoembolization, Therapeutic ; methods ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Killer Cells, Natural ; immunology ; Liver Neoplasms ; immunology ; therapy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; alpha-Fetoproteins ; biosynthesis

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of a sequence-specific small interfering RNA (siRNA) in suppressing survivin expression and cell proliferation and inducing apoptosis of PC-2 cells.

METHODSThe plasmid expression vector of siRNA targeted against survivin was constructed and transfected into PC-2 cells with Lipofectamine 2000. The changes of survivin expression were detected by semi-quantitative RT-PCR and immunohistochemical SP methods. The effect of siRNA in suppressing the proliferation of PC-2 cells was detected by MTT assay, and its role in inducing PC-2 cell apoptosis evaluated by flow cytometry.

RESULTSThe sequence-specific siRNA effectively suppressed survivin expression at both mRNA and protein levels with inhibition rate of 81.25% at mRNA level and 74.24% at protein level. Survivin expression suppression significantly inhibited the proliferation of PC-2 cells, and at 24 and 48 h after cell seeding, the proliferation inhibition rate was 28.00% and 33.38% respectively; 24, 48 h after the transfection, apoptosis occurred in 8.46% and 7.53% of the cells, respectively.

CONCLUSIONSThe plasmid expression vector for the siRNA against survivin constructed in the study can effectively and specifically suppress survivin expression in PC-2 cells, and blocking survivin expression suppresses PC-2 cell proliferation and induces cell apoptosis. siRNA targeted against survivin has a potential value in gene therapy for pancreatic cancer.

Apoptosis ; genetics ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; Cell Survival ; genetics ; Humans ; Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins ; Microtubule-Associated Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Neoplasm Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Pancreatic Neoplasms ; genetics ; pathology ; RNA Interference ; RNA, Messenger ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; RNA, Small Interfering ; genetics ; Transfection

OBJECTIVETo increase the recovery rate of ethyl acetate after extracting tripterygium wifordii extractum and to decrease product cost.

METHODAfter extracting tripterygium wifordii extractum with ethyl acetate, 3 times saturated salt water was added in it so as to recovery ethyl acetate distilled under normal atmospheric pressure. Ethyl acetate containing salt water was purified through Na2SO4 column.

RESULTEthyl acetate purified could be used repeatedly and the recovery rate was up to 85%.

CONCLUSIONThis method is completely adapted for mass production.

Acetates ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; isolation & purification ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Sodium Chloride ; Technology, Pharmaceutical ; economics ; methods ; Tripterygium ; chemistry

Objective To determine the clinical features,neurophysiological characteristics and cervical magnetic resonance imaging of sensory neumnopathy,and to describe the pathology of skin nerve, sural nerve and spinal dorsal columns.Methods Two patients who died from sensory neuron disease (SND)after infection of digestive tract were discussed including clinical features and ancillary tests which included neurophysiology and pathology of peripheral nerve and spinal dorsal columns.Associated documents are reviewed.Results Early ataxia,widespread sensory symptoms and global loss of deep tendon reflex were the distinctive signs of SND,which was characterized by non-length-dependent abnormalities of sensory nerve action potentials,a hallmark of ganglionopathies.The second patient showed normal cervical magnetic resonance imaging possibly because of short course of disease,while diffuse hyperintensity in the spinal posterior columns of SND was reported.Demyelination of spinal posterior columns and loss of mostly large diameter nerve fibers without regeneration clusters were the main pathological features.Conclusions The distinctive clinical features and neurophysiological characteristics of SND indicate that peripheral sensory nerve fibers are widely damaged.Pathology of spinal posterior columns confirm that central sensory pathway are impaired which allow the localization of the pathologic site to the dorsal root ganglion neurons.Cervical spinal MRI of SND are possibly normal at early phase.

Objective To establish an automatic synthesis method for 11C-carfentanil (CFN) as an novel opiate receptor radioligand and study its biodistribution in rats. Methods 11C-Triflate-CH3 was bubbled into 0.5 mg precursor desmethyl-CFN (which was dissolved in 0.15 ml DMSO) to generate 11C-CFN in a V-tube at room temperature. Sep-Pak C2 column was used for purification of 11C-CFN, which was eluted by 3ml binary system aqueous solution, 10 ml water thrice, and then I ml ethanol. The biodistribution (% ID/g) of 11C-CFN in SD rats was studied. SPSS 13.0 was used for statistical analysis. Non-normal distribution data were analyzed using nonparametric test. Results The synthesis time for 11C-CFN was 20 min (end of bombardment, EOB). The synthesis yield was (35.5 ± 2.2) % on average (n = 12, uncorrected)with the radiochemical purity over 98%. Biodistribution study in rats showed that the tracer had a high brain uptake, rapid blood clearance, and a metabolic pathway via liver and kidney. The highest tracer uptake was in thalamus (4.26 ± 0.89) % ID/g and striatum (4.05 ± 1.08) % ID/g at 5 min after injection, followed by cerebral cortex (2.63±0.89) %ID/g, pons (2.26 ±0.57) % ID/g, hippocampus (2. 17 ±0.55) %ID/g and cerebellum (2. 15 ±0.39) %ID/g. Conclusions The automatic synthesis of 11C-CFN is fast and reliable, and this radioligand can be used for opiate receptor imaging.