AIM: To investigate the early changes of retinal function in diabetic patients detected by multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG).METHODS: The first-order kernel responses of mfERG were recorded from eyes of 33 normal control subjects,63 diabetic patients without retinopathy and 43 diabetic patients with background retinopathy. The response densities and implicit times of N1 and P1 were compared among the control, diabetic patients without retinopathy and diabetic patients with retinopathy.RESULTS: The response densities of N1 and P1 in central 3 rings were reduced significantly in diabetic eyes with and without retinopathy. And the implicit times of N1 and P1 were delayed significantly only in diabetic eyes with retinopathy.CONCLUSION: mfERG can detect the early changes of retinal function quantitatively in diabetic patients. Analysis of response densities and implicit times of N1 and P1 can reflect the progress of local retinal dysfunction in diabetes.

Mycotic vaginitis is a common and frequently-occurring gynaecopathia and easy to attack repeatedly, so painful to patients. In this study, the authors observed the clinical efficacy of Sophora gel combined with Fluconazole capsules in treating mycotic vaginitis, in order to seek an effective method for treating mycotic vaginitis. Totally 85 patients with mycotic vaginitis treated in our hospital between December 2012 and July 2014 were randomly divided into the treatment group (43 patients) and the control group (42 patients). The treatment group was given vaginally Sophora gel (one piece every night for 14 days) and orally Fluconazole capsules (150 mg, once every three days, four times in total); The control group was only administered with Fluconazole capsules. The total efficacy, cure rate, recurrence rate and clinical symptom improvements of the two groups were observed. The results show that the total efficacy, the cure rate and the recurrence rate of the treatment group vs. the control group were respectively 97.7%, 90.7% and 2.6% vs. 83.3%, 71.4% and 20.0%, with statistical significance in their differences (P < 0.05). The treatment group showed reduced leucorrhea, pruritus vulvae disappearance and earlier mucosal hyperemia disappearance than the control group, with statistical significance in their differences (P < 0.05). In conclusion Sophora gel combined with Fluconazole capsules can improve antifungal activity of drugs, relieve clinical symptoms, shorten the course of disease, enhance the cure rate and reduce the recurrence rate; So this therapy can be widely applied in clinic.
Adult ; Antifungal Agents ; administration & dosage ; Capsules ; administration & dosage ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; Female ; Fluconazole ; administration & dosage ; Humans ; Mycoses ; drug therapy ; Sophora ; chemistry ; Treatment Outcome ; Vaginitis ; drug therapy ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo investigate the etiology of 1977 patients from northern China with acute (ALF), sub-acute (SALF) or acute-on-chronic liver (ACLF) failures.

METHODThe age, gender, etiology, pathogenesis, and prognosis of the 1977 patients with liver failures were retrospectively analyzed.

RESULTSOf the 1977 cases, the three most common causes of ALF were HEV (33.96%) or HBV (13.21%) infections or those caused by medicines (9.43%). The three predominant causes of SALF were medicines (31.53%), HEV (16.22%) or HBV (9.91%) infections, but those of the ACLF were HBV (90.29%) infection, alcoholic hepatopathy (2.65%), and HBV super infected with HEV (2.26%) infections. 90.09% (1781) patients were infected by hepatotropic viruses. Of these 1781 patients, the most common cause of their liver failures was HBV infection (92.93%). In these HBV infected patients, 77.10% were from 26 to 55 years old. From 2005 to 2007, there were 39 patients with alcoholic liver failure. In the past two years, there were 23 patients with drug induced liver failure. The improvement rate of the 1977 patients after their treatments was 35.56%. The improvement rate of HEV infected liver failure was higher than drug induced liver failure (P less than 0.05); no statistical significance was found between other groups (P more than 0.05).

CONCLUSIONDifferent types of liver failure have different predominant causes. HBV infection is the most common cause in our 1977 patients. In the past two years, the number of drug induced liver failures and alcoholic liver failures have been increasing.

Acute Disease ; Adult ; Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury, Chronic ; etiology ; Chronic Disease ; Female ; Hepatitis B ; complications ; Hepatitis E ; complications ; Humans ; Liver Diseases, Alcoholic ; etiology ; Liver Failure ; chemically induced ; classification ; etiology ; virology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies

Glycerol kinase deficiency (GKD), a rare X-linked recessive disorder, is classified into two types: isolated and complex. Complex GKD is an Xp21 contiguous gene deletion involving the glycerol kinase locus together with the adrenal hypoplasia congenita (AHC) or Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) loci or both. Its clinical features depend on the involved loci. GKD can be confirmed by an elevated urinary glycerol concentration tested by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The three cases reported here were all male, presenting symptoms from neonatal period. The predominant clinical profile was characterized by hypoadrenocorticism, glyceroluria and Duchenne muscular dystrophy. After receiving a low fat diet and glucocorticoid replacement, they improved with relieved symptoms of hypoadrenocorticism. But they had significant developmental delays and myasthenia. In the follow-up two of them died of adrenal crisis.
Adrenal Insufficiency ; diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Genetic Diseases, X-Linked ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Glycerol ; urine ; Glycerol Kinase ; deficiency ; Humans ; Infant ; Male

Objective To survey effective treatment strategies for cesarean scar pregnancy (CSP). Methods The clinical data of 78 patients diagnosed with CSP from January 2010 to December 2013 were reviewed. Results Among these patients, 17 patients were first treated at our hospital; of them, 2 were misdiagnosed. The other 61 patients were referred from other hospitals; of them, 21 were initially misdiagnosed. There were 9 patients who were treated with laparotomy, 50 patients with curettage after uterine artery embolization (UAE) with or without local methotrexate (MTX) infusion, 10 patients with dilatation and curettage, 6 patients with transvaginal sonographic guided local intragestational MTX injection, and 3 patients with systemic MTX injection. All patients finally recovered. Patients with excessive vaginal hemorrhage underwent either emergency UAE treatment or laparotomy. These two treatments had similar success rates (81.82%vs. 100%,χ2=0.289,P>0.05). Conclusions The accurate diagnosis of CSP is important. Curettage after UAE with or without local MTX infusion is a safe and effective method.

Objective To probe the clinical research of non-pain catheterization technique used inold male patients. Methods The 60 old male patients needed to leave alone the catheter were divided intothe experimental group and the control group stochastically. Using Shntai anesthetic and lubricant to lubricatethe children aerostat catheter (10Fr, diameter is 4.0mm) for persons in the experimental group, while thecontrol group uses convention paraffin wax oil to lubricate the two-chamber aerostat catheter (16Fr, diameteris 6.4mm). We compared the urine road stimulation symptom, the success ratio of disposable intubations,urethra leaves, urine leaves tube, urine road infection and so on. Results The urine road stimulationsymptom in the experimental group is lower than that in the control group obviously (P＜0.05), while thesuccess ratio of disposable intubations in the experimental group is higher than that in the control group (P＜0.05). In term of these two aspects, there is statistics significance for the two comparing groups. On theother hand, there is no obvious change in urethra leaves, the urine leaves tube and urine road infection, forwhich there is no statistics significance (P＞0.05). Conclusions Using Shutai anesthetic and lubricant tolubricate the children aerostat catheter for old male patients can block the urine road stimulation symptom inperiod of setting the catheter, improve the success ratio of disposable intuhatious, change the ill response ofthe traditional leaving alone catheterization brought for old male patients, and reduce patients' pains.

OBJECTIVETo discuss the treatment of arrhythmia occurs in the process of transcatheter closure of perimembranous ventricular septal defects (VSD) in pediatric patients.

METHODS182 cases (mean age: 6.2 +/- 3.3 years) with membranous VSD underwent transcatheter occlusion procedure. Two different devices were used: the Amplatzer membranous VSD occluder in 81 patients and the domestic-made device in 101 patients. Electrocardiogram of all patients was recorded before and during closure and at one day after the procedure, and Holter monitoring was performed one week after the procedure.

RESULTSPerioperation arrhythmia occurred in thirty-one patients (17%). Second- or third-degree atrioventricular bundle (AVB) was noted during the procedure in four patients. Normal AV conduction recovered spontaneously before the catheters were withdrawn in three cases and another patient underwent surgical repair. In the other twenty-seven patients, arrhythmia was first documented between one day and one week after the procedure. Third-degree AVB was found in three (1.6%) children after the procedure and underwent the temporary pacemaker (TPM) was implanted, two of them recovered to normal sinus rhythm within one week, another patient underwent elective surgery to remove the occluder and repair the defect. Other arrhythmias were: left bundle-branch block (n = 3), right bundle-branch block (n = 12), second-degree AVB (n = 2), sinus tachycardia (n = 6).

CONCLUSIONSIn properly selected cases of perimembranous VSD, the transcatheter closure is safe and effective by using appropriate devices. During and after the procedure, closure of VSD can be associated with some kinds of arrhythmia, such as A-V block, more intensive observation and follow-up were therefore needed.

Adolescent ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; therapy ; Cardiac Catheterization ; adverse effects ; methods ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Heart Septal Defects, Ventricular ; surgery ; Humans ; Male

Baculoviridae ; genetics ; metabolism ; Phylogeny ; Viral Proteins ; chemistry ; classification ; genetics ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo evaluate apoptotic effects of cisplatin and cordycepin as single agent or in combination with cytotoxicity in oral cancer cells.

METHODSThe influences of cisplatin (2.5 μg/mL) and/or cordycepin treatment (10 or 100 μmol/L) to human OC3 oral cancer cell line were investigated by morphological observation for cell death appearance, methylthiazoletetrazolium (MTT) assay for cell viability, flow cytometry assay for cell apoptosis, and Western blotting for apoptotic protein expressions.

RESULTSData demonstrated that co-administration of cisplatin (2.5 μg/mL) and cordycepin (10 or 100 μmol/L) resulted in the enhancement of OC3 cell apoptosis compared to cisplatin or cordycepin alone treatment (24 h), respectively (P <0.05). In flow cytometry assay, percentage of cells arrested at subG1 phase with co-treatment of cordycepin and cisplatin (30%) was significantly higher than cisplatin (5%) or cordycepin (12%) alone group (P <0.05), confirming a synergistically apoptotic effect of cordycepin and cisplatin. In cellular mechanism study, co-treatment of cordycepin and cisplatin induced more stress-activated protein kinase/Jun terminal kinase (JNK), the expressions of caspase-7, and the cleavage of poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) as compared to cisplatin or cordycepin alone treatment (P <0.05).

CONCLUSIONCisplatin and cordycepin possess synergistically apoptotic effect through the activation of JNK/caspase-7/PARP pathway in human OC3 oral cancer cell line.

Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Caspase 7 ; metabolism ; Cell Count ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Shape ; drug effects ; Cell Survival ; drug effects ; Cisplatin ; pharmacology ; Deoxyadenosines ; pharmacology ; Drug Synergism ; G1 Phase ; drug effects ; Humans ; JNK Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases ; metabolism ; Mouth Neoplasms ; pathology ; Phosphorylation ; drug effects ; Poly(ADP-ribose) Polymerases ; metabolism

OBJECTIVEThe purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical significance of THY1 protein expression in epithelial ovarian cancer.

METHODSImmunohistochemistry (IHC) and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling (TUNEL) staining were used to detect the protein expression of THY1, Ki67 and cell apoptosis in 76 epithelial ovarian cancers by tissue microarray. The correlation between THY1 expression and patients' clinical features was analyzed.

RESULTSOf the 76 epithelial ovarian cancer samples, 64 were informative for IHC and TUNEL assays and 42 (65.6%) among them showed down-regulated/loss expression of THY1 protein. A significant positive correlation of THY1 protein expression with clinical stage and distant metastasis was observed in this ovarian cancer cohort (P < 0.05). The more advanced the tumor stage, the more frequency of loss expression of THY1 protein. In addition, the mean positive rate of Ki67 staining in tumors with down-regulated/loss expression of THY1 was 33.7% +/- 3.5%, significantly higher than that in the tumors with normal expression of THY1 (17.3% +/- 6.1%, P = 0.0027). However, no significant correlation was observed between THY1 protein expression and tumor cell apoptosis as well as patients' survival in this series (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONDown-regulated/loss expression of THY1 protein in epithelial ovarian cancer is significantly correlated with cancer cell proliferation and metastasis in the epithelial ovarian cancer, and it may be used as one of the new molecular biomarkers to predict the disease progression in patients.

Adult ; Aged ; Apoptosis ; Cystadenocarcinoma, Mucinous ; metabolism ; pathology ; Cystadenocarcinoma, Serous ; metabolism ; pathology ; Down-Regulation ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Humans ; Ki-67 Antigen ; metabolism ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neoplasm Staging ; Ovarian Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Survival Rate ; Thy-1 Antigens ; metabolism