Objective To investigate the effects of Qiliqiangxin capsule on serum concentration of adiponectin (APN) and heart function in patients with uremia combined with heart failure. Methods Uremia patients combined with heart failure were randomly divided into treatment group and control group , both of which were given anti-failure routine therapy. The patients in treatment group were treated with Qiliqiangxin capsule for 8 weeks and those in control group with placebo. The New York Heart Association (NYHA) heart function classi-fication, left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD), left ventricular end-systolic diameter (LVESD), left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF), and the levels of APN were observed before and after treatment. Results The level of APN in uremic patients combined with heart failure was significantly higher than that in normal subjects. With the increase in the class of NYHA heart function, the serum concentrations of APN increased, but the difference was not significant(P > 0.05). After 8 weeks′ treatment, the effective rate in treatment group was higher than that in control group (P < 0.05). LVEDD and LVESD in both groups decreased significantly. LVEF in both groups increased, but serum concentration of APN decreased significantly. More obvious effects were observed in treatment group (P < 0.05). Conclution Qiliqiangxin capsule could significantly reduce the level of APN and improve heart function in patients with uremia combined with heart failure.

Objective To test the reliability and validity of Chinese version of Stressful Life Events Questionnaire and the influence of preinjury stressful life events on the life quality and mood symptoms of the patents following cerebral concussion.Methods 285 patients with cerebral concussion were assessed by Stressful Life Events Questionnaire(SLESQ),PTSD Checklist civilian version(PCL-C),Thirty-Six-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36),Hamilton Depression Rating Scale(HDRS),Hamilton Anxiety Scale(HAMA) at baseline.The patients had been reassessed with the HDRS,HAMA,SF-36 at 3 months after cerebral concussion.The hierarchical regression analyses were used to determine the influence of Stressful Life Events for the life quality and mood symptoms of the patient with cerebral concussion.Results The incidence of stressful life events was 42.8％.The multiple regression analysis showed the experience of stressful life events were the influence factor of scores on the SF-36,HDRS,HAMA after adjusted by the age,gender,education,income,social support,the scores of anxiety and depression before injury and the R 2 value of SLESQ to SF-36 physical health factor,mental health factor,HDRS,HAMA was 0.064,0.111,0.145,0.028,respectively.Conclusion The history of stressful events is the influence factor of the patient with cerebral concussion to have poor life quality and mood disorder.

Cochlear Implantation ; Cochlear Implants ; Humans

BACKGROUND: Research on seed cells is the most important aspect in the filed of tissue-engineering research, and because of their various ad vantages, bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) have been taken as the ideal bone tissue-engineering seed cells. OBJECTIVE: To observes the growth characteristics of in vitro cultured BMSCs and their osteogenetic characteristics under non-inducing conditions. DESIGN: A single sample experiment.SETTING: Implanting Center of Stomatological Hospital of Fujian Medical University MATERIALS: This experiment was conducted at the Central Laboratory of Stomatological Hospital of Fujian Medical University, between May andDecember 2003. BMSCs are derived from the primary passage to the 3rd passage of in vitro cultured cells from 4 one-year old dogs. METHODS: Under the aseptic conditions, bone marrow puncture was made at bilateral femur trochanter and 5 mL of heparin anticoagulatedbone marrow was obtained. Then it was placed in 50 mL of anti-Dulbecco's modified Eagle's culture medium in centrifuge tube for monocyte isolation. The BMSCs single cells were primarily isolated and placed in culture box for subculture. After 48 hours, culture medium was removed and the medium was cha1ged once every 3 days. Then subculture was carried on continuously to observe BMSCs in morphology under inverted the phase contrast microscope with the assistance of HE staining. The number of cells was counted daily to calculate doubling time and to draw a growth curve. Alkaline phosphatase was detected by using calcium-cobalt method,and chinalizarin staining was used to detect the growth state of calcification tubercle. MAIN UTCOME MEASURES: ①Optical microscopic structure of dog BMSCs; ② The growth curve of dog BMSCs; ③Observation of osteogenetic index- alkaline phosphatase and calcification tubercle. RESULTS: ① Morphological observation indicated that BMSCs were adherent to the walls, clonogenic and appearing fibroblastic phenotype, and they presented morphological changes without exposing to osteogenetic inducer. ② The expression of Alkaline phosphatase in primary cells was stronger, and it was strong in the 1st passage cell, but weak in the 2nd and 3rd passage cells. ③Calcium deposition was observed, which was stronger in primary cells than in subcultured cells. CONCLUSION: ①BMSCs massively proliferated during in vitro culture,capable of differentiating into osteoblasts and considered as the optimal seed cells for bone tissue-engineering reconstruction. ② BMSCs derived from the 3rd passage has osteogenic activity, but the osteogenic activity of the primary cultured cells was stronger than thatr of the subcultured cells.

In this study, we investigated the effect of aspirin on tumor biological effects mediated by hepatocyte growth factor/cellular-mesenchymal-epithelial transition factor (HGF/c-Met) axis, and preliminarily explored the molecular mechanism of inhibiting tumor metastasis by aspirin. The binding of aspirin to c-Met was predicted by molecular docking; cellular thermal shift assay (CETSA) was used to verify the binding of aspirin to c-Met at the cellular level. The inhibitory effect of aspirin on c-Met kinase was detected by kinase activity; Western blot, cell scattering test, cell branching morphogenesis and Transwell test were used to evaluate the cell signal transduction, morphological changes and migration and invasion ability. The results showed that aspirin could effectively inhibit the kinase activity of c-Met with a half inhibitory concentration of 0.95 mmol·L^-1. The results of docking showed that aspirin could bind to the ATP pocket of c-Met protein, and the main binding sites were Tyr1230, Tyr1159 and Met1229. The CETSA test also showed that aspirin could form binding complex with c-Met protein. Western blot results showed that aspirin could inhibit the up-regulation of phosphorylated Met stimulated by HGF in a concentration-dependent manner. The results of cell scattering test showed that aspirin could block HGF/c-Met promoted cell scattering in a concentration dependent manner. Aspirin could almost completely block the biological function mediated by c-Met activation at the concentration of 4 mmol·L^-1, and this effect was independent of HGF. Similarly, the results of MDCK cell branching morphogenesis experiment showed that aspirin could inhibit HGF/c-Met mediated invasive growth in a concentration dependent manner. The results of Transwell test showed that aspirin could block HGF/c-Met mediated cell migration and invasion in a concentration-dependent manner. Aspirin could almost completely block the biological function mediated by c-Met activation at the concentration of 4 mmol·L^-1, and this effect was independent of HGF. The above results indicate that aspirin can bind to c-Met, thereby blocking the biological effects mediated by HGF/c-Met, and inhibiting tumor metastasis. This study revealed the new biological function of aspirin, and provided a new theoretical basis for a comprehensive understanding of the anti-metastatic effect of aspirin.

Adult ; Carcinoma, Papillary ; pathology ; surgery ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Thyroid Gland ; pathology ; surgery ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; pathology ; surgery ; Thyroidectomy ; methods ; Video-Assisted Surgery ; methods ; Young Adult

Background and purpose:Radiotherapy and endocrine therapy are both important parts of adjuvant therapy for breast cancer, yet few studies have been conducted focusing on the interaction between radiation and endocrine therapy. Up to now, no conclusion has been drawn on the timing sequence of adjuvant radiation and endocrine therapy, which is indeed crucial in clinical practice. This study intended primarily to investigate the effect of concurrent or sequential exemestane combined with radiation on radiosensitivity of MCF-7 cells and its possible mechanism,and further to provide rationale for optimal clinical treatment modality.Methods:MCF-7 cells were arranged into three trial groups: the radiation group, exemestane sequenced with radiation group and exemestane followed radiation group. Radiosensitivity was evaluated by clonogenic assay, cell proliferation was measured by MTT assay, the ability to induce cell apoptosis was evaluated by DAPI staining assay, the changes of Bcl-2 and Bax were detected by Western blot.Results:Sensitive enhancement ratios (SER) were 1.51 and 1.37 in the exemestane sequenced with radiation group and exemestane followed radiation group, respectively. Compared with the radiation group, the percentage of cellular proliferation inhibition and apoptosis increased obviously in the exemestane sequenced with radiation group and exemestane followed radiation group. Exemestane combined with radiation made the Bax protein increase obviously and the Bcl-2 protein lowered significantly.Conclusion:Exemestane can enhance the radiosensitivity of MCF-7 cells, whose mechanism might be relevant to the promotion of cellular apoptosis. However,the treatment sequence does not affect the outcome.

Objective To discuss the effect of melatonin on sleep and agitation in patients who had undergone tracheotomy in ICU.Methods Sixty-six tracheotomisd patients of ASA Ⅱ or Ⅲ in ICU were included,age 18-60 years,weaning from mechanical ventilation not receiving continuous sedation.We conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized pilot study comparing melatonin with placebo in such patients.They were allocated into two groups by compute randomiza-tion-melatonin group(n =32)and control group(n = 34).We administered either oral melatonin (3 mg)or placebo at 20∶00 for 7 days.We collected pre-and post-dosage blood samples on days 1 and 3 to confirm drug delivery.The hours of sleep at day and night were assessed by the bedside nurse as the primary outcome.And the secondary outcome included comparison of the incidence of agitation, assessed by score on the Riker Sedation Agitation Scale,and requirement for sedatives or haloperidol to settle agitation.Results Pre-treatment melatonin levels in the two groups were similarly low.Post-treatment,melatonin levels increased significantly in the melatonin group compared with the placebo group (3 233±1 961 )pg/ml versus (3.8 ± 2.2 )pg/ml(P < 0.05 ).And subsequently the observed sleep time in the two groups was (1 1.9±2.0)hours for melatonin vs (7.8±1.6)hours for placebo, respectively (P < 0.01 ).The incidence of agitation was significantly lower in the melatonin group (0% vs 8.8%).Conclusion Melatonin is well absorbed,and a standard dose increases blood levels approximately 1000-fold.Furthermore it would help the tracheotomisd patients sleep and ease agitation in ICU.

Objective To analyze plasma vitamin E and CoQ10 levels in patients with autosomal recessive cerebellar ataxia for finding the evidence of the related pathogenesis research and therapeutic strategies.Methods The plasma vitamin E and CoQ10 levels were detected by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with diode array detector in 123 probands of autosomal recessive cerebellar ataxia pedigrees.Quantitation was performed using vitamin E and CoQ10 external standard and two 5-point calibration curve;clinical manifestations were analyzed simuhaneously.Results Vitamin E and CoQ10 levels of healthy subjects in the plasma were (8.77 ± 2.28) μg/ml and (1.31 ± 0.38) μg/ml,respectively;the plasma vitamin E and CoQ10 levels of patients were (5.61 ± 2.04) μg/ml and (0.79 ± 0.26) μg/ml,respectively,which were significantly lower than those in healthy controls (t =11.87,13.15;all P＜ 0.01).Clinical manifestations were characterized by cerebellar symptoms,and gait instability was usually the first recognized abnormality.Most of early onset occurred before the age of 25 years (111/123);dysarthria and abnormal eye movement were observed,with cerebellar atrophy on MRI;concomitant symptoms were also present.Conclusions HPLC analysis shows that the plasma vitamin E and CoQ10 levels of patients with autosomal recessive cerebellar ataxia are generally lower than those in the healthy controls.Several patients with significant reductions in these two levels have genetic defects.The combination of clinical phenotypes,biochemical indexes and genetic analyses will be helpful for the establishment of diagnosis and specific treatment.