Objective To research the relationship between flash visual evoked potentials (fVEP)and intracranial pressure (ICP),to evaluate the usefulness of baseline fVEP testing in the diagnosis of increased ICP Methods 22 normal individuals,44 increased intracranial pressure patients and other 35 patients which were measured by lumbar puncture were recorded with fVEP The latency of their waves were compared Results A positive correlationship between elevated intracranial pressure and a latency shift of the P 2,N 2,P 3,N 3 wave of the flash evoked potential is demonstrated( P

Corneal endothelial cell(CEC)is the most critical part for the cornea, of which activity can influence the postoperative vision.It is very important for the clinical cornea preservation considering the function and its self-purification of donor cornea.There are a variety of classical methods, which can significantly prolong the saving time of donor cornea with its good quality of CEC.We reviewed the published papers about present preservation methods of cornea, which can give us many suggestions for the clinical cornea preservation.

Objective To investigate the diagnostic values of model of end-stage with incorporation of serum sodium (MELD-Na) score, chronic liver failure-sequential organ failure assessment (CLIF-SOFA) score and APASL-ACLF research consortium score (AARC-ACLF) for evaluation of prognosis of hepatitis B virus related acute-on-chronic liver failure (HBV-ACLF). Methods A total of 72 consecutive patients with HBV-ACLF were included in the study and divided into two groups (group A and group B) according to the prognosis in three-month. Group A were included 29 patients with stable disease or better after medical treatment at least for 3 months, and group B included 43 patients who were dead after treatment or received liver transplantation as failure of medical treatment. When the patients were diagnosed as ACLF or after admission, the data were collected. Results of the laboratory examination were collected when the international normalized ratio (INR) was minimum. Data of total bilirubin (TBIL), prothrombin time (PT), INR, serum creatinine (Cr), serum sodium (Na), albumin (ALB), MELD-Na, CLIF-SOFA and AARC-ACLF scores were calculated respectively. The comparative analysis was performed. Areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC-ROC) of MELD-Na and CLIF-SOFA scores were used to assess the short-term prognosis in patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure. Results The values of TBIL, INR, MELD-Na, AARC-ACLF and CLIF-SOFA were significantly higher in group B than those in group A (P<0.05). The serum level of Na was significantly lower in group B than that of group A (P<0.05). The area under curve (AUC) values generated by the ROC curves was higher for CLIF-SOFA score (AUC 0.887) than that of MELD-Na score (AUC 0.764) (Z=2.255, P<0.0167). The AUC values generated by the ROC curves showed no significant differences between CLIF-SOFA score and AARC-ACLF score (AUC 0.825) or MELD-Na score and AARC-ACLF score (Z=1.361, 1.127, P>0.0167). The cut-off scores of MELD-Na, CLIF-SOFA and AARC-ACLF were 23.84, 8.50 and 8.50 respectively. Conclusion MELD-Na, CLIF-SOFA and AARC-ACLF scores have appreciable values to evaluate the prognosis in patients with HBV-related ACLF. AARC-ACLF is better than that of MELD-Na and CLIF-SOFA in assessing prognosis of HBV-related ACLF.

Acupuncture Therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Polycystic Ovary Syndrome ; etiology ; therapy

OBJECTIVETo dynamically assess drug targeting of Yougui Pill (YP) and Zuogui Pill (ZP) using infrared thermography.

METHODSIn this self-control experiment, five healthy volunteers were recruited. By using infrared thermography 10 to 11 thermal images of different body locations were taken from each participant after they took warm water, YP, ZP, and their dissembled prescriptions at 30, 70, 100, 130, and 160 min, respectively. The heat values in the lower quadrant abdomen, uterus, Du channel, and Shenque (CV8) were statistically analyzed after scanning for 125 times.

RESULTSAdministration of YP and its disassembled prescriptions enhanced the heat value of the locations of the Du channel and Shenque (CV8), but did no enhance the heat value of the lower quadrant abdomen at 30 min. Administration of ZP and its disassembled prescriptions reduced the heat value in the locations of the lower quadrant abdomen, uterus, Du channel, and Shenque (CV8) at each time point.

CONCLUSIONThe drug targeting of ZP and YP focused on the locations of the Du channel and Shenque (CV8), not on the locations of the lower quadrant abdomen or uterus.

Adult ; Drug Delivery Systems ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; Female ; Humans ; Infrared Rays ; Thermography ; methods ; Young Adult

ObjectiveTo investigate the effect of varied hyperglycemia and durations on preventing peripheral neuropathy (PN) with methylcobal in diabetic rats.Methods80 Sprague Dawley rats were selected and randomly chosen 16 as normal control (NC) group, others 64 animals as diabetic model induced by alloxan. The model rats were evenly divided into relatively good control (GC) group and relatively poor control (PC) group based on levels of hyperglycemia regulated with exogenous insulin. 16 rats of each GC/PC group were intramuscularly injected with methylcobal (500 μg/kg). The sensory nerve conduction velocity (SNCV), motor nerve conduction velocity (MNCV) and evoked potential amplitute (EPA) of sciatic nerve of rats were detected by evoked electromyogram respectively at 2nd, 8th and 12th week after onset of diabetes. Fructosamine in serum was also detected.ResultsThe rats injected with methylcobal had a significantly delayed reduction of SNCV, MNCV and EP in GC group (fructosamine,1.0 mmol/L) than that in PC group (fructosamine, 1.2 mmol/L) ( P<0.05～0.01). Up to 8th week after onset of diabetes, there was no obvious difference in physioelectroparameters between the GC group and NC group. At 12th week after onset of diabetes, physioelectroparameters in the PC group fell to the level of non-methylcobal injected group. No effect of methylcobal on blood glucose revealed in any groups ( P>0.05).ConclusionMethylcobal has a beneficial effect on delaying the onset of diabetic PN, and is of high efficacy with a good control of diabetic state, especially at early stage.

Objective To evaluate the significance of anti-endothelial cell antibody (AECA) and the correlation between AECA and clinical features of Behcet's disease (BD). Methods AECA was detected in 73 BD, 60 SLE, 35 SSc, 30 RA, 62 systemic vasculitis patients and 40 health controls by indirect immunofluorescence analysis in which the endothelial cells from umbilical vein were used as the substrate. Results Higher frequency of AECA was found in BD (54.8%) with the specificity of 87.2%, compared to those in SLE (8%), SSc (9%), RA (10%), systemic vasculitis (27%) and healthy controls (2%, P

Objective To evaluate the safety and efficacy of adefovir dipivoxil made in China for treating hepatitis B e antigen(HBeAg)-positive chronic hepatitis B patients.Methods This was a multicenter,double-blinded,randomized controlled trial.Two hundred and thirty-eight patients with HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B were assigned to receive either adefovir dipivoxil(10 mg/d,120 patients)or placebo(118 patients)for 12 weeks in 5 medical centers in China.Then,both groups of patients entered 36 weeks open-labeled adefovir dipivoxil treatment phase(10 mg/d),The rates of serum HBV DNA clearances,alanine aminotransferase levels(ALT)normalization,HBeAg loss and anti-HBe seroconversion were evaluated respectively during and post the 48-week treatment.Results After 12 weeks of treatment,the rates of serum HBV DNA clearance(real-time fluorescent quanti- tative polymerase chain reaction,the detection limit was 1?10~4 copy per milliliter),ALT normaliza- tion,HBeAg loss and anti-HBe seroconversion of adefovir dipivoxil group were all significantly higher than those of placebo group(50.0% vs 5.1%,35.0% vs 8.5%,12.5% vs 2.5% and 5.8% vs 0, respectively,x~2=59.89,24.52,P0.05).The safety profile of adefovir dipivoxil was similar to that of placebo. Conclusions The safety profile and efficacy of domestic adefovir dipivoxil for treating HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B patients are similar to its counterparts that have been licensed aboard.

BACKGROUND:Prostacyclin (PGI2) and its analogs have been reported to prevent pressure overload-induced cardiac hypertrophy, and to reduce cardiac ischemia/reperfusion injury. However, clinical application of PGI2 is chalenging due to its short half-life (< 2 minutes). Thus, we have generated PGI2 expressing rat endothelial progenitor cel strains (PGI2-EPCs) that constitutively secrete prostacyclin.
OBJECTIVE:To investigate the protective effectof PGI2-EPCs against oxidative stress-induced cardiomyocyte injury.
METHODS:Cultured H9c2 celsin vitrowere assigned into four groups: H9c2 cels treated by H2O2for 4 hours. H9c2 cels were pretreated by conditioned medium (colected form EPCs and PGI2-EPCs or colected form EPCs and PGI2-EPCs mixed with native EPCs) before the addition of H2O2. PBS instead of conditioned mediums served as negative control. The paracrine effect of PGI2-EPCs onin vitro angiogenesis of native EPCs was evaluated. MTT and Hoechst 33342 assays were used to examine the protective effect of conditioned medium on H2O2-induced rat embryonic cardiomyocyte apoptosis and cel viability. Finaly, the effect of conditioned medium on the electric activities of adult cardiomyocyteswas measuredby whole-cel patch clamp techniques.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:When native EPCs mixed with conditioned medium of PGI2-EPCs, the total length of tubes was significantly longer compared with those mixed with CM of EPC. Rat embryonic cardiomyocytes pretreated with conditioned medium of PGI2-EPCs significantly reduced H2O2-induced apoptosis and preserved cel viability compared with pretreatment with EPC-conditioned medium and without pretreatment (P< 0.01). Pretreatment of rat adult cardiomyocyteswith conditioned medium of PGI2-EPCs abolished H2O2-induced early afterdepolarization and shortened H2O2-induced action potential duration prolongation (P< 0.01) towards baseline.Our findings indicate thatPGI2-EPCs protect against oxidative stress-induced cardiomyocyte injury through paracrine action.ThisStudy providesthe groundwork for an innovative cel therapy approach to treat ischemic heart disease.

Objective: To better understand the antagonistic effect of Xiao Long Tong Bi (XLTB), a Chinese herb medicine, on α1-adrenoceptor (α1-AR). Methods: (1) Radio ligand binding assay . Specific　125I-BE2254(2-β(4-hdroxyphenyl)-ethyl amino-methyl-tetralone) binding was measured by incubating membrane of canine cerebral cortex with a single concentration of　125I-BE2254 in the presence of 15 concentrations of XLTB. Half-effectual concentration of inhibition (IC50) and Hill coefficients (nH) were determined by Hill plots. (2) Contractile responses of rat prostate strip in vitro were determined. pKB values for XLTB in competitively inhibiting NE-stimulated contraction of tissues were measured by the method of Ainlakshana. Results: XLTB competitively inhibited binding of　125I-BE2254 to α1-AR in a concentration -dependent manner. IC50 values for XLTB in canine cerebral cortex were (34.0±6.0)　g*L－1, the Hill efficiency value (0.7±0.1) was significantly decreased from unity. Contractile studies showed that XLTB competitively antagonized the NE concentration-response curve with pKB values of (37.0±11.0) g*L－1 or (30.0±8.0) g*L－1 when XLTB concentration was 70 g*L－1 or 170 g*L－1, respectively. The pKB values for XLTB in antagonizing NE-induced contraction of tissues were showed to fit in well with the IC50 values on rat prostate. Conclusion: These results suggest that XLTB appears to be a competitive antagonist for α1-AR.