Objective: To improve the understanding of the clinical feature and early diagnosis of relapsing polychondritis(RP). Method: Eleven patients with RP were analyzed retrospectively and the reported literatures were reviewed. Result: Nine cases had initial involvement of auricular cartilage while two polyarthritis. The treatment of 2RP patients with respiralory tract involvement was invalid and 1 patient died. Nine cases were initially misdiagnosed, with a misdiagnosis rate of 81.82%. Conclusion: RP involves cartilage and connective tissue. The prognosis with respiralory tract involvement is poor. RP is a sort of paroxysmal and progressive inflammation involving cartilages all over the body with a variety of clinical manifestations. Early diagnosis of RP is based on full understanding of its clinical features.

Administration, Inhalation ; Adrenergic beta-Agonists ; adverse effects ; Child ; Extremities ; Humans ; Male ; Paralysis ; chemically induced ; Terbutaline ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects

Xanthii Fructus is a traditional medicine for the treatment of nasal diseases in clinic, mainly come from the burs of Xanthium sibiricum with a worldwide distribution. By sorting and studying literature of Chinese medicine and comparing different figures recorded with the morphological description of several species from Xanthium (Asteraceae) in the Flora of China, combining the biological investigation in resource survey, the article pointed out that the burs or the whole herbs of X. mongolicum, as well as X. sibiricum, has been used by the traditional Chinese medicine in ancient time. It provides a reference for further studies in the future.
China ; Herbal Medicine ; history ; History, Ancient ; Medicine in Literature ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; history ; Xanthium ; anatomy & histology ; classification

Down Syndrome ; complications ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Pleural Effusion ; complications ; congenital

Adult ; Arterio-Arterial Fistula ; pathology ; Coronary Vessels ; pathology ; Female ; Humans ; Pulmonary Artery ; pathology

AIM: To study the expression of the VEGF in single and multiple superficial transitional cell bladder carcinoma and their clinical significance. METHODS: Immunohistochemical method was used to study the VEGF in 60 cases of superficial transitional cell bladder carcinoma and in 10 cases of normal bladder tissue as control. RESULTS: High expression of VEGF in bladder carcinoma cell was observed. The expression level of VEGF in multiple superficial transitional cell bladder carcinoma was higher than that in single superficial transitional cell bladder carcinoma. The recurrent rate in the patient with VEGF high expression was more than that in the patient with VEGF low expression. CONCLUSION: The expression level of VEGF was correlated to the biological behavior of superficial transitional cell bladder carcinoma.

Objective To investigate the clinical value of bone scintigraphy for the diagnosis of synovitis, acne, pustulosis, hyperostosis and osteitis (SAPHO) syndrome. Methods The characteristics of SAPHO syndrome on 99Tcm-MDP imaging of 8 cases were retrospectively analyzed. Results The 99TcmMDP bone scan was positive for all patients. Seven cases were found lesions in the costoclavicular region, 3cases involved with unilateral sacroiliac joint, 2 cases involved with spine and 1 patient with extremity. Four lesions were found without relevant clinical symptoms. Conclusion Bone scintigraphy is useful for the diagnosis of SAPHO syndrome, especially for those lesions with no clinical symptoms.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the detection limit of multicolor combinational probe coding real-time PCR (MCPC-PCR) in detection of Salmonella and Staphylococcus aureus suspended in the food samples, and to apply MCPC-PCR to detect the samples of food poisoning.

METHODSSeries concentration of bacterium suspension (10(1) - 10(9) CFU/ml) was prepared by using 22 simulated samples including fresh meat and cakes and then MCPC-PCR was applied to detect Salmonella and Staphylococcus aureus in 22 samples. Enrichment broth of 101 frozen samples and 5 early patients' anal swabs in food poisoning cases were detected after the DNA samples were extracted.

RESULTSThe limits of MCPC-PCR assay in detecting Salmonella and Staphylococcus aureus were about 10(2) copies/test; 101 frozen enrichment broth of samples in food poisoning cases were detected by MCPC-PCR assay, of 23 positive samples, 18 were confirmed by bacteriology techniques; 96 samples detected by MCPC-PCR and bacteriology techniques had the same results, and the coincidence rate was 95.05%. Anal swabs, collected from 5 of early patients in a food poisoning case gave a clue to be Vibrio parahaemolyticus by MCPC-PCR assay and then were perfectly consistent with bacteriology assay.

CONCLUSIONAs a method of high sensitivity and good specificity, MCPC-PCR assay can quickly and conveniently detect multiple pathogens existing in food samples, therefore we recommend it to be used in rapidly screening or simultaneous detection of food-borne diseases.

Bacteriological Techniques ; methods ; Food Contamination ; analysis ; Food Microbiology ; Molecular Probe Techniques ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; methods ; Salmonella ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Staphylococcus aureus ; genetics ; isolation & purification

OBJECTIVETo verify the pharmacological hypothesis of prescriptions by studying the targeted distribution of major components in stewed rhubarb in the rat model with acute pancreatitis (AP).

METHODNormal SD rats (control group, n = 5) and the AP model induced with intraperitoneal cerulein (model group, n = 5) were taken as the experimental objects. Rats of the two groups were orally administered with stewed rhubarb granules (20 g x kg(-1)). Their heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney and pancreas were collected two hours after the administration. Such constituents as emodin, chrysophanol, physcion, rhein and aloe-emodin and their concentrations in each tissue homogenate were detected by high performance liquid chromatography-mass-mass.

RESULTAloe-emodin and physcion in stewed rhubarb whose concentrations in liver and kidney of normal rats were higher than that in pancreatic tissues, while the distribution spectrums and concentrations of the remaining components in pancreatic tissues had no significant difference with that of other organs. The concentrations of emodin, aloe-emodin, rhein and chrysophanol in stewed rhubarb in pancreatic tissues of the AP model group were higher than that in other tissues and organs, while their concentrations in pancreatic, renal and splenic tissues were notably higher than that in the normal group.

CONCLUSIONIn the conditions of AP, effective components in stewed rhubarb show a targeted distribution feature in pancreas, which provides experimental basis for the pharmacological hypothesis of prescriptions.

Acute Disease ; Animals ; Anthraquinones ; pharmacokinetics ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Disease Models, Animal ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacokinetics ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Male ; Organ Specificity ; Pancreatitis ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Rheum ; chemistry

Objective To investigate the effect and mechanism of anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α on the intestinal mucosal permeability in dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) induced colitis mice.Methods Eighteen C57BL/6J mice were evenly divided into healthy control group,model group and anti-TNF-α treated group.The mice of model group and anti-TNF-α treated group were fed with 5％DSS solution for 7 days.The mice of anti-TNF-α treated group were injected anti-TNF-α (5 mg/kg)intraperitoneally on the first and fourth day; control group and model group were substituted with equal volume saline injection.The mice were sacrificed at 7 days after modeling.The disease activity index (DAI) score was evaluated everyday.The intestinal permeability was examined by Evan′s blue (EB) method and FITC-dextran (FITC-D) method.The colon tissue was collected for observation under microscope and histological index (HI).The small intestinal tissues were examined under electron microscope.The 10％ homogenate of colon and intestinal mucosa was prepared,the activity of myeloperoxidase (MPO),the content of TNF-α and epithelial myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) concentration were determined with kits respectively.The expression of MLCK in intestinal mucosa was tested by Western blot assay.Single factor of variance between groups were analyzed.Results Compared with control group,the DAI of model group increased daily.Compared with model group,the DAI of anti-TNF-α treated group improved.In model group,mice intestinal epithelial cells junctional complex shortened and widened and the cell gap expanded.In anti-TNF-α treated group,the connection structure of mice intestinal epithelial cells was tighter.The activity of HI and MPO and the content of TNF-α of model group were higher than those of control group (P ＝ 0.008,0.006 and 0.001,respectively),all of those of anti-TNF-α treated group were lower than those of model group (P=0.004,0.008 and 0.005,respectively).The F value of three groups was 131.98,218.28 and 58.93,respectively.The contents of EB in mice intestinal wall and serum FITC-D of model group were higher than those of control group (P=0.003 and 0.010),and those of anti-TNF-α treated group were lower model group (P＝0.001 and 0.009).The F value of three groups was 69.36 and 17.96.The MLCK concentration in mice intestinal mucosa of model group [(71.10± 7.52) ng/g] was higher than that of control group [(18.56±9.92) ng/g,P＜0.01],that of anti-TNF-α treated group [(37.56±15.84) ng/g] was lower than model group (P=0.008),and the difference among these three groups was statistically significant (F＝ 17.23).The Western blot results indicated the expression of MLCK in intestinal mucosa of model group was higher than that of control group,and that of anti-TNF-α treated group was lower than model group.Conclusions Anti-TNF-α play an important role in improving colitis,and the intestinal mucosal permeability.The mechanism may be related with the regulation of MLCK expression.