Sixty lumbar intervertebral disc herniation (LDH) cases were treated with electroacupuncture on such major points as Jiaji ( Ex-B 2) in L4, L5, and S1 and Huantiao (GB 30) as well as adjunctive corresponding points in the affected area plus short-lever micro-adjustment manipulation. Another 60 cases in the control group were treated with tra-ction. After three treatment courses, the former got the effective rate of 93.3%, while the latter only got 77.8%. The two groups have a statistical difference in therapeutic effect (P＜0.05).

AIM: To study the dissolution of ginsenoside Rb1,cinnamic acid and borneol in traditional Chinese medicine Shexiang Baoxin Pill(Moschus,extract of Radix et Rhizoma ginseng,Calculus Bovis artifactus,Cortex Cinnamomi,Styrax,Venenum Bufonis and Borneolum syntheticum). METHODS: The in vitro dissolution of active components in Shexiang Baoxin Pill was performed with paddle method. HPLC was used for determination of ginsenoside Rb1 and cinnamic acid,and GC for borneol. RESULTS: The analytic method above was easy to carry out,the requirement of the specificity,accuracy,precision and stability could meet the needs of experiment well; the dissolution time T50 and Td of ginsenoside Rb1,cinnamic acid and borneol were 30. 90,33. 79 min,29. 73, 37. 11 min and 42. 38,48. 51 min respectively. CONCLUSION: The dissolution rate of three active components from Shexiang Baoxin Pills was fast and the analytic methods established in this study could be used to evaluate the quality of the preparation.

Objective: To observe the clinical efficacy of acupuncture treatment for migraine. Methods: Forty cases were randomly allocated to a treatment group and a control group, 20 cases in each group. Cases in the treatment group were treated with acupuncture, while cases in the control group were treated with oral Sibelium. After that, the changes of cerebral blood flow were observed before and after treatment. Results: There was significant difference in clinical efficacies between two groups (P<0.05). There were also significant differences in arterial blood flow velocities of before and after treatment. Acupuncture can produce substantial differences (P<0.05) in blood flow velocities of vertebral artery (VA), middle cerebral artery (MCA) and anterior cerebral artery (ACA) during an increased flow rate. It can also produce statistical differences in blood flow velocities of VA during a decreased flow rate (P<0.05). Conclusion: Acupuncture can effectively alleviate the pain of migraine sufferers and exert a two-way regulation on the cerebral blood flow.

Objective To observe effect of arginine on wound healing of diabetic rats.Meth- ods Forty male Lewis rats were equally and randomly divided into diabetic group and normal control group.The diabetic group were rendered with diabetic by using intraperitoneal(IP)streptozotocin seven days prior to surgery and underwent a dorsal skin incision with implantation of polyvinyl-alcohol sponges. Either of two groups were subdivided into arginine treatment group and saline treatment group,10 rats in each group,of which the arginine treatment group received arginine at 1 g/kg per day by IP injection, while the saline treatment group received saline injection only.Animals were sacrificed 10 days post wound to observe antibreakage tension,hydroxyproline content and mRNA expression of procollagenⅠandⅢ.Results Diabetic wounds had greatly decreased breaking strengths compared with controls. Arginine significantly enhanced wound breaking strengths,increased wound hydroxyproline levels and ele- vated mRNA for procollagenⅠandⅢin both diabetic and control animals as compared to their saline-trea- ted counterparts.Conclusion Arginine can effectively promote healing of diabetic wounds in rats.

Aim To explore the protective effects and underlying mechanisms of Liu weiwuling Tablets (LW-WL)in concanavalin A (ConA)induced acute immu-nological liver injury in mice.Methods Mice were randomly divided into control,model,Bicyclol,LW-WL low dose (8 g·kg-1 )and LWWL high dose (16 g ·kg-1 )group.The medicattion was performed once daily for seven consecutive days,then the model of im-munological liver injury was prepared by intravenous injection of ConA (15mg·kg-1)in the tail of mice in each group except for the control group one hour after the last treatment.The pathological changes of liver tissues of mice were evaluated by HE staining with, and the levels of alanine amino transferase (ALT),as-partate aminotransferase (AST),and total bilirubin (TBIL)in serum were analyzed by colorimetric meth-od;the level of interleukin 12 (IL-12 ),interferon-γ(IFN-γ),tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α),interleu-kin 4 (IL-4)and interleukin 10 (IL-10)in liver was measured by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR);the changes of Th1 (IFN-γ) and Th2 (IL-4)cells were observed by flow cytometric (FCM)analysis;the expression of Th1/Th2 transcrip-tion factor T-bet/GATA-3 in liver tissue was detected by Western blot.Results Compared with normal con-trol group,the serum ALT,AST and TBIL were signif-icantly increased in model group, the pathological damage of the liver tissue was severe,and the necrosis and apoptosis of hepatic cells were large, which showed that the model was successful .Compared with model group,both low and high dose of LWWL could significantly reduce ALT,AST,TBIL levels in serum induced by ConA;Th1 cells in the spleen decreased, while Th2 cells increased;the expressions of IL-12, IFN-γand TNF-αmRNA were significantly inhibited with IL-4 and IL-10 mRNA expression elevated in mouse liver tissue;the expression of GATA-3 protein was up-regulated,T-bet protein expression showing no significant changes.Conclusion LWWL could regu-late Th1/Th2 balance,thus inhibiting the acute immu-nity hepatic injury induced by ConA.

Objective To study the effect of body fat distribution on weight-losing treatment.Methods 471 simple obesity patients were divided into two groups: visceral fat normal group and visceral fat excess group, which is according to the visceral fat measured by Inbody720 Body Compositions Analysis. An organized program with energy intake controlling and exercise for one month was taken. Body weight of all patients was measured before and after the program.Results After weight-losing treatment, the losing weight of visceral fat normal group was significantly higher than visceral fat excess group (P＜0.01), and this difference is in existence in both gender (P＜0.05 of male, P＜0.01 of female). There were no gender difference in weight-losing (P＞0.05).The higher the BMI was, the more weight-losing was. There was no age difference (P＞0.05). Conclusions The effect of weight-losing is associated with visceral fat and BMI.

China ; epidemiology ; Humans ; Incidence ; Pneumoconiosis ; epidemiology

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the feasibility and safety of laparoscopic and endoscopic cooperative surgery for treating gastric gastrointestinal stromal tumors(GIST).

METHODSRetrospective analysis was performed on the clinical data of 46 patients with gastric GIST undergoing laparoscopic and endoscopic cooperative surgery between June 2009 and June 2011 at the Renji Hospital of Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine.

RESULTSThere were 27 males and 19 females with the mean age of 58.5 years. Thirty-three patients received endoscopy-assisted wedge resection, and 13 cases received laparoscopy-assisted endoscopic resection. All the operations were successful. The mean operative time was (85.5±29.3) min, the mean blood loss was (31.4±12.2) ml, the mean post-operative gastrointestinal functional recovery time was (31.6±14.9) h, and the mean post-operative hospital stay was (5.1±2.9) d. No post-operative complication occurred. NIH risk assessment showed that 34 cases were very low risk and 12 low risk. No recurrence or metastasis was found during the follow-up ranging from 2 to 26 months(median, 12.6 months).

CONCLUSIONLaparoscopic and endoscopic cooperative surgery for gastric GIST is both feasible and safe with minimal invasiveness, fast recovery and satisfactory short-term outcomes.

Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors ; surgery ; Gastroscopy ; Humans ; Laparoscopy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Stomach Neoplasms ; surgery ; Treatment Outcome

This study was aimed to investigate the effects of xenogeneic antigen neu-Fc in combination with the recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) on the regulation of Th1 and Th2 immune response in vitro. The rat neu L2-S2 domain was engineered as a chimeric protein with human IgG Fc. The eukaryotic expression vector was constructed. The recombinant protein was stably expressed in CHO cells and purified by rProtein A Sepharose Fast Flow column. The recombinant protein was identified by SDS-PAGE and Western blot. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNCs) were obtained by means of standard Ficoll separation from the blood of healthy donors. Neu-Fc-induced PBMNC proliferation was tested by MTT. The production of IL-12 and IL-10 was measured by ELISA. The results showed that the level of IL-12 decreased and IL-10 increased after PBMNCs were incubated with MCF-7 cultural supernatant. 10 nmol/L neu-Fc strongly induced the cell proliferation. Compared with neu-Fc or GM-CSF or BCG treatment alone, neu-Fc in combination with GM-CSF and BCG significantly stimulated IL-12 production and inhibited IL-10 production (p < 0.01). It is concluded that the neu-Fc can stimulate the proliferation activity of PBMNCs. neu-Fc, GM-CSF and BCG costimulation efficiently induces Th1 immune response.
Animals ; BCG Vaccine ; immunology ; CHO Cells ; Cricetinae ; Cricetulus ; Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor ; immunology ; Humans ; Interleukin-10 ; metabolism ; Interleukin-12 ; metabolism ; Rats ; Recombinant Proteins ; immunology ; Th1 Cells ; immunology ; Th2 Cells ; immunology

BACKGROUNDHyperparathyroidism (HPT) occurs at an early age and has a high disability rate. Unfortunately, confirmed diagnosis in most patients is done at a very late stage, when the patients have shown typical symptoms and signs, and when treatment does not produce any desirable effect. It has become urgent to find a method that would detect early bone diseases in HPT to obtain time for the ideal treatment. This study evaluated the accuracy of high field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) combined with spiral computed tomography (SCT) scan in detecting early bone diseases in HPT, through imaging techniques and histopathological examinations on an animal model of HPT.

METHODSEighty adult rabbits were randomly divided into two groups with forty in each. The control group was fed normal diet (Ca:P = 1:0.7); the experimental group was fed high phosphate diet (Ca:P = 1:7) for 3, 4, 5, or 6-month intervals to establish the animal model of HPT. The staging and imaging findings of the early bone diseases in HPT were determined by high field MRI and SCT scan at the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th month. Each rabbit was sacrificed after high field MRI and SCT scan, and the parathyroid and bones were removed for pathological examination to evaluate the accuracy of imaging diagnosis.

RESULTSParathyroid histopathological studies revealed hyperplasia, osteoporosis and early cortical bone resorption. The bone diseases in HPT displayed different levels of low signal intensity on T(1)WI and low to intermediate signal intensity on T(2)WI in bone of stage 0, I, II or III, but showed correspondingly absent, probable, osteoporotic and subperiosteal cortical resorption on SCT scan.

CONCLUSIONHigh field MRI combined with SCT scan not only detects early bone diseases in HPT, but also indicates staging, and might be a reliable method of studying early bone diseases in HPT.

Animals ; Bone Diseases ; diagnosis ; pathology ; Calcium ; blood ; Female ; Hyperparathyroidism ; complications ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; methods ; Male ; Osteoporosis ; diagnosis ; Phosphorus ; blood ; Rabbits ; Tomography, Spiral Computed ; methods