BACKGROUND:Umbilical cord blood transplantation can ameliorate hepatic and immunologic function,repair hepatic injury,and promote hepatic regeneration,however,the differentiation mechanism and biological characteristics remain poorly understood,and the long-term efficiency need to be explored.OBJECTIVE:To investigate the long-term therapeutic efficacy of infusing umbilical cord blood and blood plasma in treating chronic severe hepatitis B patients.METHODS:Totally 50 chronic severe hepatitis B patients received treatment at the Second Xiangya Hospital,Central South University from January 2003 to January 2004 were randomly divided into the treatment and control groups,with 25 cases in each group.All patient were accepted an ordinary synthetic treatment,and the differences between age,pathogenetic condition,medication had no significance.The umbilical cord blood was obtained from healthy full-term spontaneous delivery parturient,centrifugated,remained karyotes and cord plasma,and used within 24 hours.Patients in the treatment group were received umbilical cord blood infusion,200 mL once,1 2 times per week,totally,each patients infused 4-8 times(mean 5 times);those in the control group were infused with adult fresh blood plasma.The changes of hemogram and hepatic function were measured.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:All the patients were followed-up for 1 year.The hemogram and hepatic function indexes were similar in the 2 groups before treatment(P ＞ 0.05).The hemogram index had no obviously difference at 1 year after treatment (P ＞ 0.05),but the alanine aminotransferase and total bilirubin levels were decreased in the treatment compared with the control group(P ＜ 0.05),but the albumin was significantly increased(P ＜ 0.05).Compared with before treatment,the platelet level had no significant changes at 1 year after treatment,but the alanine aminotransferase and total bilirubin levels were deeply decreased(P＜ 0.05),albumin was significantly increased(P ＜ 0.05);the platelet and albumin levels were dramatically decreased in the control group(P ＜ 0.05).It suggested that umbilical cord blood infusion can improve the hepatic function and hemogram;therefore,it can be served as supplementary therapeutic measure for severe hepatitis.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of the therapy mainly for strengthening healthy energy to promote blood circulation in treating diabetic patients with gangrene. METHODS: A series of 112 diabetic patients with gangrene were investigated before and after treatment in the changes of wounds, clinical symptoms and quality of life. RESULTS: Fifty-eight cases were cured, 12 cases showed response, 36 cases improved, and 6 cases failure of treatment. The total obvious effect rate was 62.5% (70/112) and the amputation rate was 8.9% (10/112). The 104 diabetic cases of three-stage gangrene were classified into grade I, II and III. The total effect rates of the diabetic cases of grade I, II and III were 83.3% (30/36), 55.6% (35/63) and 20% (1/5), and the amputation rates were 0%, 12.7% (8/63), and 40% (2/5) respectively. After the treatment, the clinical symptoms, gangrene number, gangrene area and gangrene depth were obviously improved (P<0.05), and the quality of life was obviously improved (P<0.01), especially in physical condition, emotional well-being and therapeutic effects on patients (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Strengthening healthy energy to promote blood circulation is effective in treating diabetic patients with gangrene.

[ ABSTRACT ] AIM: To investigate the expression and clinical significance of bone morphogenetic protein 3 (BMP3) in hilar cholangiocarcinoma tissues.METHODS: Thirty cases of hilar cholangiocarcinoma specimens were col-lected.The expression of BMP3 at mRNA and protein levels in the tumor tissues and paracancerous tissues was detected by real-time PCR and Western blot.The hilar cholangiocarcinoma paraffin-embedded specimens (n=103) were collected. The protein expression of BMP3 was determined by immunohistochemical method, and the relationship of BMP3 protein ex-pression with clinical pathological characteristics was evaluated.RESULTS:In the 30 patients with hilar cholangiocarcino-ma, the expressions of BMP3 protein and mRNA in 22 cases of tumor tissues were significantly decreased compared with the adjacent normal tissues.The results of immunohistochemistry showed that 87 cases were negative and 16 cases were weakly positive in all 103 cases of hilar cholangiocarcinoma.The expression of BMP3 protein was associated with the tumor TNM staging, lymph node metastasis and tumor differentiation (P<0.05).CONCLUSION:BMP3 gene might be inhibited in human hilar cholangiocarcinoma.The down-regulation of BMP3 gene might be associated with the carcinogenesis and devel-opment of hilar cholangiocarcinoma.

Chronic ulcer of the lower extremities amounts for a grave and serious problem for public health. Western medicine focuses on controlling infection, improving blood circulation, surgical debridement, skin grafting, etc, but there are bottlenecks in the treatment. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has a long history and a legacy of sound clinical efficacy in this area. TCM has developed a unique, effective external theory, and a large number of topical prescriptions and external technology. Through this research, a safe and effective treatment protocol of TCM for chronic ulcer of the lower extremities can be formed. To this end, during China's "Eleventh Five-Year" Plan, special research committees and projects on TCM external treatments and external technologies were established. This study on ulcer of the lower extremities constitutes one of the major research topics.

Objective To explore the immune-microenvironment of the retinas at different stages of retinal degeneration in Royal College of Surgeon (RCS) rats. Methods RCS-rdy--P+(RCS) rats at early stage (P20), middle stage (P40) and late stage (P60) were involved,12 rats at each post-natal day,RCS-rdy+-P+rats severed as control. Relative concentrations of rat cytokines in rat retina homogenate were detected by using Bio-Plex Suspension Array System. Relative expressions of interleukin-2 (IL-2),C-C motif ligand 2 (CCL2),chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 9 (CXCL9),CXCL10,CXCL11 and interferon-γ(IFN-γ) mRNA in rat retina were analyzed by real-time PCR. Expressions of IFN-γ and immune cells surface marker CD4,CD8 and CD161 in the retinas were detected by immunohistochemical staining. Percentage of IFN-γ positive T lymphocytes and natural killer(NK) cells in rat retina were analyzed by flow cytometry. The concentrations of IFN-γ in rat retina homogenate were evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ( ELISA ). The use and care of the animals complied with Regulations for the Administration of Affair Concerning Experimental Animals by State Science and Technology Commission. Results Lymphocytes related cytokines and chemokines mRNA expression levels in the RCS rat retinas showed increase trends with the extension of time. The expression levels of IL-2,CCL2,CXCL9,CXCL10,CXCL11 and IFN-γ mRNA in P60 RCS rat retinas were significantly increased than those in the P20 RCS rat retinas and the control rat retinas (all at P<0.05).The positive rates of CD4,CD8 and CD161 cells in the retinas of P60 RCS rats was (9.09±0.89)%, (18.77±0.38)% and (9.41±0.38)% ,respectively. The proportion of IFN-γ positive cells in the retinas of P60 RCS rats was (8.29±0.27)%,which was significantly higher than that of the control rats ([0.28±0.02]%),with a significant difference between them (t=29.03,P=0.00). CD4+,CD8+and CD161+lymphocytes were mainly distributed in the retinas of P60 RCS rats, and the expressions of IFN-γ were co-located with lymphocyte surface markers. There were significant differences in the concentrations of IFN-γ in the retinas of RCS rats and control rats at different day ages (Fgroup=16.49,P<0.01; Ftime=21.05,P<0.01),the concentration of IFN-γ in retinas of P60 RCS rats was significantly higher than that of P20 RCS rats, P40 RCS rats and control rats, and the differences were statistically significant ( all at P<0.05). Conclusions Along with the process of retinal degeneration,immune privilege balance in the retinas is disrupted, the expressions of lymphocytes related chemokines and cytokines are elevated. Lymphocytes infiltration and activation are appeared in the retina highly activated at the late stage of RP, leading to the significant up-regulation of inflammatory cytokine IFN-γ in microenvironment, which indicates that lymphocytes mediated immune response may take part in retinal degeneration.