Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of acupuncture at the Foot Shaoyang Meridian and Yin Heel Vessel in treating post-stroke strephenopodia. Method Forty-two eligible subjects were divided into a treatment group of 21 cases and a control group of 21 cases by the random number table. The treatment group was intervened by acupuncture at Yanglingquan (GB34) and Zulinqi (GB41) from the Foot Shaoyang Meridian and Zhaohai (KI6) from the Yin Heel Vessel, while the control group was by acupuncture at conventional acupoints, once a day, 6 d as a treatment course, 5 courses in total. The Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA), Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) and Modified Barthel Index (MBI) were adopted to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy. Result The treatment group was superior to the control group in improving strephenopodia, and recovering the lower-limb motor function and activities of daily living (ADL), and the intra-group and inter-group differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion Compared to the conventional acupuncture, acupuncture by selecting acupoints from the Foot Shaoyang Meridian and Yin Heel Vessel has significant advantages in treating post-stroke strephenopodia.

Objective To characterize the alteration in peripheral blood endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).Methods Venous blood samples were obtained from 82 female patients with SLE aged (35 ± 10) years and 50 healthy female controls aged (35 ± 13) years.ACL 9000 automated coagulation analyzer was used to determine the level of Von Willebrand factor antigen (vWF Ag).Flow cytometry was performed to detect peripheral blood EPCs and circulating endothelial cells (CECs).Analysis of variance was performed to assess the differences in these parameters between patients with active and stable SLE and the controls,and Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to evaluate the relationship between these parameters.Results The number of CD34+ cells,CD133+ cells and CD34+CD133+cells per 200 000 peripheral blood mononuclear cells was 35.4 ± 16.7,86.5 ± 32.1 and 361.3 ± 176.4 in patients with active SLE,significantly higher than that in the patients with stable SLE (17.1 ± 10.9,28.7 ± 21.5,107.2 ±44.3,respectively,all P ＜ 0.01)) and the controls (13.8 ± 9.6,11.2 ± 5.5,92.3 ± 50.5,respectively,all P ＜0.01).The patients with active SLE exhibited an elevated level of vWF Ag (438.9％ ± 205.3％ vs.130.2％ ±51.5％,P ＜ 0.01),an increased number of EPCs (361.3 ± 176.4 vs.107.2 ± 44.3,P ＜ 0.01) but a similar number of CECs (127±51 vs.118 ± 39,P ＞ 0.05) per 200 000 peripheral blood mononuclear cells compared with the healthy controls.No significant differences were observed in these parameters between the patients with stable SLE and the controls (all P ＞ 0.05).The number of EPCs was positively correlated with the level of vWF Ag (r =0.67,P ＜ 0.01),but uncorrelated with the number of CECs (P ＞ 0.05) in patients with active SLE.Conclusions The quantity of EPCs in peripheral blood is closely correlated with the level of the vascular injury marker vWF Ag,hinting that the number of EPCs can serve as a useful marker of disease severity.

Objective To study the mechanism of effects of estrogen receptor (ER) on T and B lymphocytes in patients with SLE and synergistic effect of T and B lymphocytes in the pathogenesis of SLE.Methods Real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR was performed to detect the mRNA expressions of ER-α,interleukin 10 (IL-10) and B lymphocyte stimulator (BLyS) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs)from 40 SLE patients and 40 normal human controls. The clinical and laboratory correlation with the levels of these parameters was analyzed. Results A significant increase was observed in the relative expression levels of ER-α, IL-10 and BLyS mRNA in SLE patients compared with the normal human controls (P ＜ 0.05 or 0.01 ), in active SLE patients compared with inactive SLE patients (P ＜ 0.05 or 0.01 ). Additionally, the mRNA expression levels of the 3 parameters were significantly correlated with the presence of renal damage, proteinuria, arthritis, etc. No statistical difference was observed in the mRNA expression levels of these parameters between female and male patients or between female and male normal controls. Conclusions IL-10 and BLyS appear to be correlated with the disease activity and severity of SLE, and ER-α may play an important role in the action mechanism of T and B lymphocytes in SLE.

Objective To detect the expressions of osteopontin (OPN) and inerleukin-18 in patients with bullous pemphigoid (BP),and to analyze their relationship with clinical and laboratory indices.Methods Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was performed to quantify the serum levels of osteopontin (OPN) and inerleukin (IL)-18 in 30 patients with BP and 30 health controls.Results The serum level of OPN was statistically higher in the patients than in the healthy controls ((8.29 ± 2.76) vs.(3.88 ± 1.41 ) ng/ml,P ＜ 0.01 ),and was positively correlated with the severity of BP (r =0.658,P ＜ 0.01 ) and with some laboratory indices in the patients.Increased serum IL-18 level was observed in patients complicated by cardiovascular diseases compared with those without cardiovascular diseases ((37.49 ± 6.43) vs.(31.10 ± 5.40) pg/ml,P ＜ 0.01).Moreover,the BP patients with diabetes,tumor,hepatic and renal impairment displayed an enhanced level of serum OPN and IL-18 than those without (all P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions OPN may be positively correlated with the severity of BP,while IL-18 may be involved in the development of complications of BP.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the expressions of JMJD3, matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in invasive ductal breast carcinoma, their association with the clinicopathological features of the patients and the effect of JMJD3 overexpression on proliferation and MMP-2 and VEGF expressions in breast cancer cells. METHODS: The protein and mRNA expressions of JMJD3, MMP-2, and VEGF in invasive ductal breast carcinoma and paired adjacent tissues were detected by immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR, respectively, and their correlation with the clinicopathological characteristics of the patients was analyzed. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to evaluate the correlation of JMJD3, MMP-2 and VEGF expression levels with the survival of the patients. In breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells transfected with a JMJD3-expression plasmid, the expression of Ki67 was examined immunohistochemically, the cell proliferation was assessed with CCK8 assay, and the mRNA expressions of MMP-2 and VEGF were detected with RT-PCR. RESULTS: Breast cancer tissues had significantly lower JMJD3 expression and higher MMP-2 and VEGF expressions at both the mRNA and protein levels than the adjacent tissue ( CONCLUSIONS The expressions of JMJD3, MMP-2 and VEGF in invasive ductal breast carcinoma are closely correlated to tumor proliferation, invasion, metastasis and prognosis and can be used for prognostic evaluation of breast cancer.
Breast Neoplasms/genetics* ; Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast/genetics* ; Humans ; Jumonji Domain-Containing Histone Demethylases ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Matrix Metalloproteinase 2 ; Prognosis ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A