Objective To investigate the possible role of interstitial cell of Cajal (ICE)in the pathogenesis of diabetic gastroparesis and the protective effect of"Xiaopi prescription (消痞方)".Methods Fifty healthy male Spregue-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into 5 groups (each n=10):normal, model,and 3 Xiaopi prescription groups:low,middle and high dosages.Diabetes was induced by intravenous injection of alloxan,and equal amount of normal saline was intravenously injected in the normal group.Gastric lavage method was used to administer the traditional Chinese medicine decoction of Xiaopi prescription in corresponding amount (5,10 and 20 g?kg~(-1)?d~(-1)) in respective low,middle and high dosage groups.In the normal control group and diabetic model group,only equal amount of normal saline was administered into the stomach.Gastric emptying rate was measured by method of nutritious semisolid paste;c-kit positive cells of ICC were quantitatively measured with immunohistochemistry assay and computer image analysis system;c-kit mRNA positive cells were quantitatively measured with in situ hybridization and computer image analysis system.Results①Gastric emptying rate:The rate was significantly lower in the model group than that in the normal control group (P0.05),but higher than those in the model group and the low dosage group (all P0.05).②c-kit immmunohistochemistry:c-kit positive cell presented yellow in color,and its membrane was stained yellow,this kind of cells primarily were distributed around the neural plexus in the inter-space between the circular and longitudinal muscular fibers, and around the ganglionic cells forming"sheath-like"structure.The results of numbers of c-kit positive cells in the various groups:the number of the cells in the model group was significantly lower than that in the normal group (P0.05),but the numbers in the former two dosage groups were obviously higher than those in the model group (all P0.05),being significantly lower than that in the normal group,middle and high dosage groups (all P0.05),but obviously higher than those in the model group (all P0.05),being significantly lower than that in the normal,middle and high dosage groups (all P

OBJECTIVETo investigate the proliferation effects of arsenic trioxide (As2O3) on salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma-2 (ACC-2) cells in vitro and to study the role of Survivin on the apoptosis of ACC-2 induced by As2O3.

METHODSACC-2 cells were treated with different concentration of As2O3 for different time. The inhibitory effects on cell's viability were assayed with methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) test. Apoptosis was determined by flow cytometry. The expression of Survivin mRNA and protein were investigated by reverse transcription-polymerase chain raction (RT-PCR) and Western blot analysis respectively.

RESULTSCell viability after As2O3 treatment was markedly suppressed and exhibited as a dose- and time-dependent pattern. The apoptotic index showed the similar trend. The results of RT-PCR revealed gene expression of Survivin was suppressed significantly. Through Western blot analysis, a negative correlation between concentration and amount of protein product of Survivin was determined.

CONCLUSIONAs2O3 might markedly suppressed ACC-2 cell's viability in vitro. The inhibition of Survivin gene expression may play a critical role on ACC-2 cell apoptosis induced by As2O3.

Antineoplastic Agents ; Apoptosis ; Arsenicals ; Carcinoma, Adenoid Cystic ; Humans ; Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins ; Oxides

To investigate the anti-cardiac hypertrophic mechanism of statins, thirty-eight male Wistar rats were randomly allocated to four groups. Rats in model group received nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, N-nitro-L-arginine (L-NNA) 15 mg/(kg.d) by peritoneal injection. Rats in simvastatin treatment groups were given simultaneously L-NNA as those in model group and simvastatin 5 or 30 mg/(kg.d) intragastrically respectively. Rats in control group received the same volume of normal sodium. Left ventricular function, left ventricular mass index (LVMI), the content of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) in plasma and myocardium, myocardial hydroxyproline and heme oxygenase activity were determined after 6 weeks. The results showed that rats in model group developed significant cardiac hypertrophy associated with reduced left ventricular function compared with the control group. However, compared with the model group, L-NNA-induced cardiac hypertrophy of rats was significantly relieved in simvastatin treatment groups, associated with improved left ventricular function, decreased LVMI, lower BNP levels in plasma and myocardium, lower content of myocardial hydroxyproline, and increased myocardial heme oxygenase (HO) activity. In cultured rat neonatal cardiomyocytes, simvastatin (30 or 100 mumol/L) significantly increased heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) mRNA expression, HO activity as well as the production of CO in cardiomyocytes. Cultured with zinc protoporphyrin, a HO inhibitor, or simvastatin alone did not change [(3)H]leucine uptake of cardiomyocytes. However, cocultured with simvastatin significantly inhibited the cardiomyocyte [(3)H]leucine uptake induced by angiotensin II in a concentration-dependent manner. Cotreatment with zinc protoporphyrin significantly abolished the suppressive effect of simvastatin on cardiomyocyte [(3)H]leucine uptake. These data suggest that the activation of HO-1/CO pathway may be one of the important mechanisms by which statins inhibit cardiac hypertrophy caused by hypertension.
Angiotensins ; antagonists & inhibitors ; pharmacology ; Animals ; Carbon Monoxide ; metabolism ; Cardiomegaly ; etiology ; prevention & control ; Cell Enlargement ; drug effects ; Heme Oxygenase-1 ; metabolism ; Hypertension ; complications ; drug therapy ; Male ; Myocytes, Cardiac ; cytology ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Signal Transduction ; drug effects ; Simvastatin ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use

OBJECTIVESTo study the clinical characteristics of hepatic failure with aspergillosis.

METHODSThe data of hepatic failure patients with fungal infection hospitalized in our hospital form January 1985 to June 2006 were collected. This research mainly focused on the clinical characteristics of the patients co-infected with aspergillosis.

RESULTSThe occurrence of aspergillosis was 20.5% (104 cases) among 507 hepatic failure patients with fungal infection. Compared with other fungal infection in hepatic failure patients, the effective rate of antifungal therapy and the improvement rate of underlying disease were worse in patients with aspergillus infection (36.5% vs 57.8%, P = 0.000; 26.0% vs 36.7%, P = 0.049). Aspergillus fumigatus was the most common species among 108 fungal species. The species next to Aspergillus fumigatus were Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus flavus. The mainly infected organ was lung and its clinical manifestation was atypical. Liver function could be improved with effective anti-fungus therapy.

CONCLUSIONSDiagnosis and treatment of aspergillosis is difficult in hepatic failure patients co-infected with aspergillosis. Early and effective antifungal therapy is helpful to the recovery of liver function in the hepatic failure patients suspected with aspergillosis co-infection.

Antifungal Agents ; therapeutic use ; Aspergillosis ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; Aspergillus ; isolation & purification ; Humans ; Liver Failure ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; microbiology

A new hydrophobic absorbent based on homemade highly cross-linked agarose beads was synthesized by immobilizing butyl derivative onto the matrix linkage. The density of ligand was controlled by adjusting the concentration of butanethiol and the synthesis route was optimized by evaluating the purification efficiency of recombinant Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) expressed by Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell line. A high performance absorbent was finally screened out with up to 80% of HBsAg recovery and purification-fold (PF) about 20. Furthermore, the column pressure was about 0.06 MPa under the flow rate of 500cm/h, and no leaked butyl were detected after exposing the gel in common buffers, chaotropic agents, high concentrations of denaturing agents such as guanidine hydrochloride, urea and polar organic solvents. These results demonstrated that the absorbent have high physico-chemical stability, so it was available for the downstream process. Finally, after scaled up to 2L wet gel/batch, the absorbent was applied to the integration of three-step chromatography and obtained the purified CHO-HBsAg with 95% purity by SDS-PAGE and HPLC, which meet the requirements of SFDA. The purification efficiency and the reproducible ability of the absorbents were also evaluated from batch-to-batch. The results demonstrated that the absorbent met the requirement of scalable, reproducible, economic effect as well. This absorbent is a promising alternative exported HIC gel for wildly being used in Chinese pharmaceutical industries.
Animals ; CHO Cells ; Chromatography, Agarose ; methods ; Cricetinae ; Cricetulus ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Humans ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; isolation & purification

OBJECTIVETo explore the role of extrahepatic control on blood flow of hepatic vein and inferior vena cava in hepatectomy, and observe its effect on minimizing hemorrhage.

METHODSFrom 2001 to April 2003, 33 patients who had liver tumors involving segment IV, VII, VIII or half liver underwent major hepatectomies that required exposure of the inferior vena cava and main trunks of hepatic veins, during which the major hepatic veins and inferior vena cava were isolated and taped to control blood flow when necessary.

RESULTSIn 33 attempts, 32 were successful and all tumors were resected successfully. The placement of occlusion tape was unsuccessful in 1 case. 7 cases did not need blood transfusion during operation. The amount of blood transfusion for other cases were form 0 to 1 600 ml. there was no operative mortality.

CONCLUSIONSAppropriate control of main truck of hepatic vein and inferior vena cava is effective in reducing blood loss during hepatectomies. It is also very helpful for performing difficult hepatectomies.

Adult ; Aged ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; surgery ; Female ; Hepatectomy ; adverse effects ; methods ; Hepatic Duct, Common ; surgery ; Hepatic Veins ; surgery ; Humans ; Liver ; blood supply ; pathology ; Liver Cirrhosis ; etiology ; Liver Neoplasms ; surgery ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Treatment Outcome ; Vena Cava, Inferior ; surgery

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the efficacy and safety of the HAA regimen (homoharringtonine, cytarabine and aclarubicin) as induction chemotherapy in de novo acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

METHODSThe efficacy and safety of 236 de novo AML patients who received the HAA regimen as induction chemotherapy were retrospectively analyzed. The complete remission (CR) rate was assayed. Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate overall survival (OS) and relapse free survival (RFS), and the differences were compared by Log-rank test.

RESULTSThe overall CR rate was 78.0%, and 65.7% of the patients attained CR in the first induction cycle. The early death rate was 4.7%. The median followup time was 41(1-161) months. The estimated 5-year OS and 5-year RFS rates were 44.9% and 45.5%, respectively. The CR rates of patients with favorable, intermediate and unfavorable cytogenetics were 92.9%,78.6%and 41.7%, respectively. The 5-year OS of favorable and intermediate group were 61.1% and 45.1%, respectively. The 5- year RFS of favorable and intermediate group were 49.0% and 45.4%, respectively. The median survival time of unfavorable group was only 5 months. The side effects associated with the HAA regimen were tolerable, in which the most common toxicities were myelosuppression and infection.

CONCLUSIONThe HAA regimen is associated with a higher rate of CR and longer survival time and its toxicity could be tolerated.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute ; drug therapy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVECompare drug-eluting stent (DES) to bare-metal stent (BMS) in prognosis on treating diffuse coronary lesions and analysis risk factor of treating complex and diffuse lesions in PCI.

METHODS205 consecutive patients with complex and diffuse coronary lesions enrolled our hospital, who were treated with more than 25 mm long DES or BMS. We exclude unsuccessful operation and location. All patients received medical treatment by guideline, and aspirin 300 mg and clopidogrel 75 mg once daily were continued at 6 months after the procedure. The patients were followed up after 6 months.

RESULTSThe study population were consisted of 205 patients that there were 181 man, and 24 women, who got 382 stents for 227 target lesions in coronary. There were 93.8% C and 6.2% B2 ACC/AHA type lesion. There were 86.8% patients with binary or above vessel treated. The average reference vessel diameter was 2.88 +/- 0.43 mm. The average stent length of per lesion was 40.09 +/- 12.94 mm. There were 54.2% lesions treated with overlapping stent. There were not different between DES and BMS in patients baseline characteristics, but RVD of group DES less than of group BMS (2.80 +/- 0.37 mm, 3.10 +/- 0.48 mm, P = 0.005) in lesion baseline characteristics. After 6 months, restenosis rate in group DES was less than in group BMS (15.4%, 48.4%, P < 0.001). There were obvious superiority TVR of DES than of BMS (11.6%, 38.5%, P < 0.001). The rate of local restenosis in group of DES was higher than that in group of BMS (33.3%, 18.2%, P = 0.029). We analyzed the risk factors for diffuse lesion by a logistic regression model, the significant univariate clinical and angiographic predictors of restenosis were treating with overlapping stent (OR = 2.82, P = 0.017) and drug-eluting stent (OR = 5.71, P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONSWe find that implantation of DES in patients with diffuse lesions in coronary is relatively more safe and associated with more good clinical outcomes, than of BMS.

Aged ; Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Artery Disease ; diagnostic imaging ; therapy ; Coronary Restenosis ; diagnostic imaging ; therapy ; Drug-Eluting Stents ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prognosis ; Stents ; Treatment Outcome

Adult ; Aged ; Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Disease ; therapy ; Coronary Restenosis ; prevention & control ; Drug Delivery Systems ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Metals ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Stents

BACKGROUNDCoronary artery disease (CAD) is generally considered as a disease of middle-aged men. It is widely accepted that the risk for CAD of premenopausal women is low because of hormone protection. Based on our clinical experience, more and more premenopausal women suffer from angina and myocardial infarction without adequate concern. Even now, there are still limited detailed data to describe the characteristics, mechanism and prognosis of premenopausal CAD patients. This article aimed to analyze the clinical and angiographic characteristics of premenopausal women with CAD.

METHODSA total of 565 premenopausal women and 721 postmenopausal women (56 - 60 years old) who underwent coronary angiography for the first time from April 2004 to December 2007 were enrolled. The clinical data and coronary angiographic characteristics (presence, localization, length and severity) were compared between the premenopausal and postmenopausal CAD groups.

RESULTSPremenopausal CAD patients presented less frequently with hypertension, diabetes mellitus and dyslipidemia compared with postmenopausal CAD patients (55.0% vs 66.0%, 15.0% vs 31.5%, 23.9% vs 37.4%, respectively; all P < 0.05). Although we found more frequent involvement of single vessel in premenopausal CAD (43.2% vs 26.9%, P = 0), and triple vessels in postmenopausal (56 - 60 years old) CAD patients (33.8% vs 20.4%, P = 0), much more severe lesions (> or = 90%) at left main (2.9% vs 1.1%, P = 0.048) and proximal left anterior descending artery (LAD) (28.2% vs 16.6%, P = 0) in the premenopausal CAD group were found.

CONCLUSIONPremenopausal women with chest discomfort are always found to have obvious atherosclerosis, more inclined to be located at the left main and proximal LAD, which is a strong predictor of an adverse clinical outcome.

Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Artery Disease ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Diabetes Mellitus ; pathology ; Dyslipidemias ; pathology ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension ; pathology ; Middle Aged ; Postmenopause ; Premenopause