ObjectiveTo observe the effect of acupuncture and Chinese medication in improving the quality of life in post-menopausal women.MethodThe menopause Rating Scale (MRS) was adopted to evaluate the quality of life in post-menopausal women. Thirty post-menopausal women of MRS≥20 were randomized into an acupuncture group and a Chinese medication group to respectively receive 4-week treatment. They were scored again by using MRS at the end of intervention and during the follow-up study to compare with the pre-treatment scores.ResultThe decrease of MRS score was more significant in the acupuncture group than that in the Chinese medication group, and the intra-group comparisons between pre-treatment and post-treatment scores showed significant differences (P<0.001), and the intra-group comparisons also showed differences between pre-treatment and follow-up results (P<0.05).ConclusionThe effect of acupuncture in improving the quality of life in post-menopausal women is more significant than that of Chinese medication.

Chemokine CXCL9/Mig (monokine induced by IFN-?) belongs to the subfamily of chemotactic cytokines known as CXC-chemokines. In vivo CXCL9 is mainly induced by IFN-? in macrophages and primary glial cells. In vitro, CXCL9 can be secreted by cells such as macrophages, microvascular endothelial cells and neutrophils, in response to the synergy of IFN-? and TLR(toll-like receptor) ligands. CXCL9 is a chemoattractant for activated T lymphocytes, tumor-infiltrating T-lymphocytes, but not for neutrophils or monocytes. The receptor specific for CXCL9 is CXCR3, a G protein-coupled protein which has seven transmembrane domain. The structure and the chemical characterization of CXCL9, as well as its effects on autoimmune deseases, allograft rejection, cancer therapy were reviewed.

Objective To investigate the role of antisense RNA of plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI 1) in regulating the expression of PAI 1 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in aorta endothelial cells (EC) cultured in vitro. Methods The second extron of PAI 1 was amplified by polymerase chain reaction(PCR) and the product was inserted into eukaryotic cell expression vector pcDNA3.1(-) to construct PAI 1 antisence RNA recombinant plasmid. The recombinant plasmid was transfected into EC and the PAI 1 expression was detected by immunohistochemistry, Westernblot and ELISA. The effects of PAI 1 variation on VEGF were examined by immunofluorescence method. Results PAI 1 antigen was the lowest (0 017 ng/ml) in cells and the immunofluorescence representing the expression of VEGF in the cytoplasm showed the weakest at the third day after transfection. At the fifth day, PAI 1 antigen increased to 0 093 ng/ml with VEGF expression increased correspondingly. At the seventh day, PAI 1 antigen(0 143 ng/ml) and VEGF increased closed to normal level. Conclusions PAI 1 antisense RNA blocked the translation of PAI 1 proteins effectively and inhibited the expression of VEGF in aorta endothelial cells.

Adult ; Cryptococcosis ; Cryptococcus neoformans ; Humans ; Lung Diseases, Fungal ; Male

Objective To study the clinical,pathological characteristics and diagnosis of multiple system atrophy(MSA).Methods Among 4 cases of MSA,2 of them were from clinical data,the other 2were frum pathological data.Two cases verified by autopsy were investigated using Hematoxylin-eosi,Kltiver.Barrera and Gallvas-Braak silver staining and confirmed by immunohistochemistry using ubiquitin,α-synuclein staining.Results All 4 patients were male.aged 51-76.Case No.1 wag diagnosed as Parkinson's svndrome.Case No.2 was diagnosed as spinal ataxia cerebella,and the other two eases were diagnosed as MSA.The following changes were found by pathological studies.Macroscopic atrophies were presented in pens and cerebella.as well as putamen,globus pallidus and substantia nigra.Cerebral ventricles were dilated.Neuronal lOSS and gliosis could be seen at cerebral cortex.nigrostriatal.globus pallidus,pontine nuclei,subslantia innominata,inferior olives,doral motor nucleus of vagus,cerebellum antl intermediolateral column of the spinal cord.In the white matter of these regions cytoplasmic inclusions bodies were extensively present in oligodendrocytes.Conclusions Olivopontocerebellar atrophy mainly shows the,clinical symptoms of pens,cerebellum,and autonomic nerves damage;Shy-Drager syndrome presents mainly with the erecting hypotenstion symptom,while striatonigral degeneration mainly involves extrapyramidal system.As these three diseases share the common basic pathological changes,they are preferred to be classified as the subtype of MSA.

Objective To investigate the efficacy of autologous peripheral hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in the treatment of adult dermatomyositis. Methods A 21-year-old patient with dermatomyositis received autologous peripheral hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and was followed up for 6 years. Autologous peripheral hematopoietic stem cells were mobilized by recombinant human granulocyte colony stimulating factor (rhG-CSF) before the transplantation, and the conditioning regimens consisted of cyclophosphamide,methylprednisolone and cyclosporin. Rabbit anti-human T lymphocyte immunoglobulin began to be applied on day 3 after retransfer of stem cells. The improvement in symptoms, physical signs and biochemical indicators was observed, and hematopoietic restructuration and immunity resurrection were evaluated after the transplantation. Results After the transplantation, skin eruption greatly improved and gradually subsided. The muscle force of extremities restored from level Ⅳ before transplantation to level Ⅴ. The level of creatine kinase declined sharply after transplantation, but gradually returned to previous level. Leucocyte count began to decrease on the day of retransfer, and returned to the normal level on day 8. Immune function remained normal before and after the transplantation. Conclusion Autologous peripheral hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is an alternative treatment for severe and refractory dermatomyositis.

Object To investigate the application of cell immobilization culture to producing ginkgolides in Ginkgo biloba L. Methods To immobilize the cells by polyaminoresin foam as support materials, and determine the effects of different factors. Results The results showed that 71% of immobilization ratio and 22 mg/cm 3 of cell density were obtained using P29 of high density, small bore diameter with pieces of 0.5 cm ? 0.5 cm ? 0.5 cm, 0.72 g of support matrices per bottle in 65 mL of MS medium solution supplemented with 2,4-D 8.0 mg/L+KT 0.04 mg/L+NAA 0.4 mg/L and the incoulum quantity was 200 g/L. Conclusion It shows that present method has some advantages, such as simpleness, low cost, high immobilization ratio.

Objective To investigate the hypothesis that food allergy in infants may be associated with variation in their intestinal microflora. The formation of intestinal microflora in healthy infants and changes in food allergic infants were detected.Methods 16S rRNA gene sequences specific for bifidobacterium, lactobacillus and escherichia coli in fecal were quantitatively detected by real-time PCR. The three fecal floras were assessed in 71 healthy infants and 100 infants with food allergy. Results After birth,there were bifidobacteria colonized in infantile intestine,then the number increased rapidly up to 5 times at the sixth month, which was always the preponderant flora. Lactobacilli was also presented in infantile intestine 1 month after birth and augment gradually. The number of Escherichia coli was less than bifidobacteria and lactobacilli and appeared to decline during the early infants. The number of bifidobacteria and lactobacilli in the infants with food allergy were markedly less than that in the healthy infants, but escherichia coli was significantly more than that in the healthy infants.Conclusions During the first year of life,the intestinal microflora in infants is in a developing process. Compared with the healthy infants,bifidobacteria and lactobacilli decrease, but escherichia coli increase in the food allergic infants.These results indicate that the probiotics may be benefit to the prevention and treatment of food allergy.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Deafness ; diagnosis ; etiology ; psychology ; Diagnostic Errors ; Female ; Hearing Loss, Sudden ; diagnosis ; Humans ; Male

Objective To estimate the venous thromboembolism (VTE) risk and prevention in critically ill patients admitted to ICU and discuss the appropriate strategy for prevention.Methods A total of 276 critically ill patients staying longer than 48 hours in ICU were enrolled for a retrospective single-center study.VTE risk assessment,methods for mechanical and pharmacological prophylaxis and demographic data were recorded.Simplified Caprini scores for VTE risk were counted in the first day and 7th day after admission to ICU,and were compared among internal medicine,surgery and trauma subgroups.Relationship between VTE risk and the clinic index was analyzed by Pearson test and Spearman test with SPSS 17.0 software.The prophylaxis strategy applied to patients without low risk of VTE was explored.Results Simplified Caprini scores were (8.71 ± 4.90) and (9.24-± 5.30) on the first day and the 7th day after admission respectively.Simplified Caprini score was significantly related to APACHE Ⅱ score (r =0.397,P =0.027).Meanwhile,simplified Caprini score in surgical and traumatic patients was higher than that in medical ill patients (14.02 ±2.01),(14.5 ± 1.29) vs.(6.55 ±3.98),P ＜0.01.The total rate of early prophylaxis measures used with mechanical prevention (13.43％) and pharmacological prophylaxis (5.22％) was only 18.28％ within 48 hours after admissioin of patients with highest riskof VTE.Even on the 7th day after admission to ICU,the total rate of prophylaxis measure employed with mechanical prevention (11.92％) and pharmacological prophylaxis (11.56％) for VTE was 25.83％.Conclusions Critically ill patients in ICU were subjected to extremely high risk of VTE.The VTE risk related closely to the severity of critically illness existed throughout the whole period of the ICU stay.Constant assessment for VTE risk and bleeding risk should be made with frequent assessment for critically ill patients.