OBJECTIVETo determine the recognition of healthy medical students on deqi after acupuncture, reveal the qualitative and quantitative rules of deqi and understand whether these rules are the factors of the clinical application of acupuncture therapy.

METHODSThe class questionnaires were used for the investigation study on the understanding of deqi after acupuncture at Hegu (LI 4) or Zusanli (ST 36) in 86 healthy students in the clinical medicine class.

RESULTS(1) Deqi was a kind of complicated compound feelings, with many sensation qualities such as distending pain, distension and pain. (2) Deqi was a kind of mild and moderate sensations. In 10-score credit sys tem of Massachusetts General Hospital acupuncture sensation scale (MASS), the scores of distending pain (4.69 +/- 2.83), distension (4.39 +/- 2.91) and soreness and distension (3.93 +/- 2.93) were around 5 (moderate degree), the scores of stabbing pain (1.89 +/- 2.02) were around 2 (mild degree). (3) The differences in the quantitative scores were significant for stabbing pain, distending pain, distention, soreness and distention and the others before and after treatment (all P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONDeqi of acupuncture is the mild and moderate complicated sensations manifested as distension, soreness, pain and numbness. As the invasive therapy, the filiform needle puncture will bring a certain psychological impacts on the receptors. The subjective sensation is possibly the factor for the patients' selection of acupuncture treatment.

Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; instrumentation ; methods ; Adult ; China ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Needles ; Qi ; Schools, Medical ; Sensation ; Young Adult

Objective To evaluate neurofunctional and radiographic results of transpedicular screw fixation reduction and anterior column fixation with use of screw-red system in treatment of multiple segment lumbar pedicle and vertebral body fractures combined with spondylolisthesis. Methods A consecutive series of 12 patients with unstable multiple segment lumbar pedicle fracture, vertebral body fracture, spondylolisthesis and neurologic deficit were managed with posterior transpedicular screw fixation including fractured pedicle and anterior screw-rod fixation instrumentation from January 2002 to December 2007. Results Patients were followed up for 24-30 months (mean 26 months). All the patients with incomplete neurologic deficits got improvement by at least one Frankel grade. Transpedicular screw brought satisfactory reduction. At the time of the latest follow-up, no screw breakage occurred. Con-clusions Excellent reduction of unstable multiple segment lumbar pedicle fractures combined with spon-dylolisthesis can attain better reduction and maintenance by means of selective pedicle screw fixation via fractured pedicle and anterior screw-rod instrument.

The volatile components of roots and stems of Zanthoxylum nitidum were investigated by supercritical fluid carbon dioxide extraction (SFE-CO2) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC-MS). Thirty-one and fifty-one compounds were identified in the supercritical extracts from roots and stems of Z. nitidum, respectively, and total twenty-seven compounds were the common constituents. Among them, the major constituents in root and stem supercritical extracts were spathulenol (18.49 and 26.18%), n-hexadecanoic acid (14.24% and 12.79%), ar-tumerone (6.95% and 8.88%), oleic acid (8.39% and 5.71%) and hexanoic acid (4.39% and 7.78%). The in-vitro MTT assay showed that the volatile components of roots and stems of Z. nitidum did not exhibited any cytotoxic activity against human cancer Huh-7 and normal IEC-6 cells. These results indicated the same nature of the volatile constituents in the root and stem of Z. nitidum. This investigation may provide further evidence for expansion of medicinal parts of Z. nitidum.
Animals ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Survival ; drug effects ; Chromatography, Supercritical Fluid ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; toxicity ; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry ; methods ; Humans ; Mice ; Plant Roots ; chemistry ; Plant Stems ; chemistry ; Zanthoxylum ; chemistry

Objective To determine the incidence and risk factors of iatrogenic retinal breaks in eyes undergoing pars plana vit- rectomy for idiopathic macular pucker.Design Retrospective case series.Participant 88 consecutive vitrectomies performed on eyes with idiopathic macular pucker.Method Consecutive vitrectomies performed on eyes with idiopathic macular pucker at Beijing Tongren Eye Center between 2002 and 2006 were retrospectively reviewed.Cases with iatrogenic retinal breaks were recorded and analyzed. Main Outcome Measure Number and location of retinal breaks,and anatomic outcome after surgical managements.Result A total of 88 consecutive vitrectomies were included in the study.Of the 88 eyes,8 eyes had 14 iatrogenic retinal breaks detected,with an aver- age incidence of 9.1%.Peripheral retinal breaks(8.0%)were more common than posterior retinal breaks(1.1%).All peripheral retinal breaks occurred around the selerotomy sites(100%)and the quadrant of predominant hand was involved most commonly(62%).Most of the breaks(88%)were detected during the surgery.All eyes with iatrogenic retinal breaks obtained anatomic retinal reattachment (100%).Conclusion Despite improvements in instrumentation and surgical techniques,iatrogenic retinal break continues to be an im- portant complication of pars plana vitrectomy in eyes with idiopathic macular pucker.This complication tends to occur more commonly at peripheral retina and is mainly selerotomy-related.

Objective To study whether the human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (HBMSCs) can repair damaged neural cells induced by okadaic acid (OA).Methods Neuroblastoma cell line SH-SY5Y cells were used to incubate with 20nmol/L okadaic acid for 24h,establishing Alzheimer's Disease cell model;Three groups were set up:normal group,okadaic acid-damaged (OA-damaged) group,hBMSCs-treatment group.The cells were injured for 24h with 20nmol/L OA in OA-damaged group,and treated with conditioned medium obtaining hBMSCs for 24h after 24h OA injury in the treatment group.Then CCK-8 was used for detecting cell vitality,immune fluorescence dyed microtubules and micro filaments for determining the dendritic cell length and fluorescence intensity,in addition,Western blotting for analyzing the protein level of phosphorylated tau and total tau proteins.Results Okadaic acid damaged SH-SY5Y cells,contributed to shrinkage,collapse,cavitation of the SH-SY5Y cell body,dendritic shortening and fracture,and irregular arrangement of microtubule microfilaments;while BMSCs conditioned medium made SHSYSY cell body become round and longer,dendrites restored,and microtubules and microfilaments arranged regularly,fluorescence intensity enhanced.Meanwhile,it also down-regulated the level of OA-induced tau phosphorylation.Conclusion hBMSCs have repair effects on the neural cell damage induced by okadaic acid.

OBJECTIVESTo understand the epidemiological characteristics of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreaks in some areas of Guangdong province and to provide scientific basis for prevention and control measures against it.

METHODSStandardized questionnaire was used on individual cases. Data on the epidemiological characteristics as time, place, persons and aggregation status of SARS cases, development of the epidemics, were analyzed with software EPI 6.0.

RESULTSThe incidence of SARS in Guangdong province was 1.72/100,000 with case fatality rate as 3.64%. Most cases of SARS occurred between the last ten days of January and the first ten days of February with the peak (61.88% of the patients) occurred in the first ten days of February. As to the distribution of place, Pearl river delta region-economically developed with great number of mobile population-was heavily affected areas (account for 96.66% of the total patients). The majority of patients were young adults and medical staff seemed to be the most affected subgroup (account for 24.9% of the patients in total). Family and hospital aggregation of patients comprised the another two important characteristics of SARS (account for 37.1% of the total patients).

CONCLUSIONCurrent knowledge on SARS suggested that it was an air-borne infectious disease with human beings served as the source of infection. The incubation period of the disease was from 1 to 12 days with a median of 4 days. Respiratory secretions and close contact contributed to person-to-person transmission. Most cases were distributed in Pearl river delta region, an area famous for its economic development and heavy flow of mobile population.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; China ; epidemiology ; Contact Tracing ; Disease Outbreaks ; Family Health ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ; epidemiology ; mortality ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Child ; China ; Humans ; Living Donors ; Lung Injury ; therapy ; Lung Transplantation ; methods ; Male

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the experience of surgical treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis with endobronchial tuberculosis.

METHODSThe clinical data of 85 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis and endobronchial tuberculosis undergoing surgical resection from 1967 to 2004 were reviewed retrospectively. Forty-five cases were bronchial stenosis. Four cases were tracheal stenosis. Sixteen cases underwent right upper lobectomy. One case underwent right upper and middle lobectomy. Three cases underwent right middle lobectomy. Five cases underwent right middle and lower lobectomy. Two cases underwent right lower lobectomy. Twelve cases underwent left upper lobectomy. Four cases underwent left lower lobectomy. Eight cases were assisted with sleeve lobectomy. Six cases underwent right pneumonectomy (with partial tracheal resection and tracheal reconstruction in 3 cases). Thirty cases underwent left pneumonectomy. One case underwent left lower lobectomy who underwent left upper lobectomy 2 years ago. Four cases were assisted with sleeve pneumonectomy. Three cases underwent tracheal segment resection and tracheal reconstruction. One case underwent left upper bronchial and pulmonary artery sleeve resection. One case underwent biopsy.

RESULTSNo surgical mortality occurred. There was 1 case of bronchopleural fistula and 1 case of empyema in the 35 cases (without sleeve lobectomy) who underwent lobectomy. There were 3 cases of bronchopleural fistula and 4 cases of empyema in the 33 cases (without sleeve pneumonectomy) who underwent pneumonectomy (P < 0.05). There were 5 cases of atelectasis in the 35 cases who underwent lobectomy and 3 cases of atelectasis in the 8 cases who underwent sleeve lobectomy (P < 0.01). In the follow-up of 3 to 10 years, 1 case died due to acute respiratory distress syndrome 7 years postoperatively.

CONCLUSIONSIt is important to resect all the tissue which has been infected. With the routine anti-tuberculosis chemotherapy during the perioperative period, the effect of surgical treatment is superior to others. Fewer pneumonectomy is also important.

Adult ; Aged ; Bronchi ; surgery ; Bronchial Diseases ; surgery ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pneumonectomy ; methods ; Retrospective Studies ; Trachea ; surgery ; Tuberculosis ; surgery ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary ; surgery

This paper reviewed the advances on effective constituents and biological activities of coumarins in recent ten years. Coumarins are a group of important natural compounds, and have been found to have multi-biological activities such as anti-HIV, anti-tumor, anti-hypertension, anti-arrhythmia, anti-osteoporosis, assuaging pain, preventing asthma and antisepsis. Therefore, further investigation should emphasize on improving techniques for extraction and separation, searching the effective precursory compound, and synthesizing and screening out courmarin derivatives with high activity and low toxicity.
Animals ; Anti-Arrhythmia Agents ; pharmacology ; Anti-HIV Agents ; pharmacology ; Antihypertensive Agents ; pharmacology ; Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic ; pharmacology ; Coumarins ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry

OBJECTIVETo investigate the lead and cadmium pollution in edible mushrooms sold in Beijing.

METHODS146 samples of 14 species were collected form 25 markets during the period of Mar. through May, 2007 in Beijing. The pollution of lead and cadmium were analyzed respectively according to the standard of GB/T5009. 12-2003 and GB 7096-2003.

RESULTSThe content of lead and cadmium in edible mushrooms was ND--1.592 mg/kg, ND--0.550 mg/kg, respectively, both lower than the allowable content prescribed by The National Ministry of Health.

CONCLUSIONThe contents of lead and cadmium in the mushrooms marketed in Beijing are in safe ranges. It is worthy of mentioning the variation coefficients of heavy metal concentrations existing in edible mushrooms.

Agaricales ; Cadmium ; analysis ; China ; Food Contamination ; statistics & numerical data ; Food Inspection ; Lead ; analysis