Objective To evaluate the test-retest and inter-rater reliability of the hand-held pressure algometer as a measuring instrument of pressure pain threshold(PPT).Method A total of 37 healthy subjects were recruited for reliability test.Three raters measured the PPT at 12 body sites of the subjects.Each rater conducted three trials on each site.In the validity test,10 patients with active trigger points in the upper trapezius were recruited and measured by one rater using the pressure algometer for PPT,the visual analogue scale(VAS)was also used to evaluate the pain intensity induced by the trigger point.The intraclass correlation coefficient and Spearman correlation coefficient were calculated to reflect the reliability and validity.Results The test-retest and inter-rater reliabilities were both high(ICC＞0.95),with the measurements by one rater were more reliable than measurements by multiple raters.The inter-rater reliability of PPT measurement obtained by using the mean value of 3 trials was higher than any of the 3 trials alone.The PPT values of the trigger points were higher than those of the normal points,and there was a significantly negative correlation between the PPT values of the trigger points and the VAS scores.Conclusion The intra-and inter-rater PPT measurements in healthy subjects obtained with the hand-held pressure algometer were highly reliable.The algometer was valid for quantifying myofascial trigger point sensitivity.

Objective: To explore the clinical characteristics of ST elevation and non-ST elevation acute myocardial infarction (AMI) related with left circumflex artery (LCX) occlusion. Methods: Clinical data of 86 consecutively enrolled patients with LCX occlusion -related AMI undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) were retrospectively analyzed. According to manifestations of electrocardiography, the patients were divided into ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) group (n=32) and non STEMI (NSTEMI) group (n=54). Clinical features and prognosis were compared between two groups. Results: Compared with NSTEMI group, there were significant increase in serum level of creatinine [(80±23) μmmol/L vs. (100±30) μmmol/L], in rates of intra-aortic balloon counterpulsation （IABP）support (3.7% vs. 18.8%), usage of invasive respiratory machine (1.9% vs. 15.6%), ischemic mitral reflux (13.0% vs. 40.6%), complete atrioventricular block (0 vs. 9.4%), proportion of left coronary artery dominant type (7.4% vs. 28.1%) and left ventricular end-diastolic diameter [LVEDd,（46±4）mm vs.（48±5）mm?]; And significant decrease in percentage of triple-vessel coronary disease (72.2% vs. 46.9%) in STEMI group, P<0.05 or <0.01. There was no significant difference in mortality rate during admission (3.1% vs. 0, P>0.05) between STEMI group and NSTEMI group. Conclusions: Compared with patients with NSTEMI, patients with STEMI have poorer heart function in patients with left circumflex artery occlusion, which may be related to more left coronary dominance.

This article was aimed to study the quality control of pineapple leaf in order to further develop the appli-cations of pineapple leave as medicinal resources. The tissue structure of pineapple leaf was observed by tissue biop-sy assay. Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) was employed on the qualitative identification of ananasate in the leave. The p-coumaric acid and ananasate were detected with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) assay in the content determination. The results showed that pineapple leaf can be divided into the upper and lower leaf epidermis with stoma under microscope observation. Ananasate of the leave can be indentified clearly by TLC. HPLC method can accurately detect the content of p-coumaric acid and ananasate of pineapple leave. There are different contents of p-coumaric acid and ananasate of pineapple leave in different origins. In Y unnan province, the contents of p-coumaric acid and ananasate of pineapple leave are the highest; while the contents of p-coumaric acid and ananasate in Guangxi province are the lowest. It was concluded that ananasate can be used in the quality identification. The p-coumaric acid and ananasate can be used in the quantitative determination in the better control of the quality of pineapple leaf.

Objective To study the role of human MutS homolog 2 (hMSH2), a newly identified protein ligand that was recognized by Vγ9δ2 T cells , in innate anti-gastric carcinoma immunity .Methods Flow cytometry and laser confocal microscopy were used to identify hMSH 2 that ectopically expressed on gas-tric carcinoma cell line 803.An anti-hMSH2 antibody was used to block hMSH2 to evaluate its effects on the cytotoxicity of Vγ9δ2 T cells and their cytokines secretion .Subcellular distribution of hMSH 2 in gastric car-cinoma tissues was examined by tissue microarray immunohistochemistry analysis .Results Ectopic mem-brane expression of hMSH 2 was observed on 803 cells at a relatively high level .Vγ9δ2 T cells blocked with specific anti-hMSH2 antibody showed a decreased cytotoxicity and a reduced IFN-γbut an increased TNF-αsecretion.Ectopic expression of hMSH2 was found in various types of gastric carcinoma tissues at different stages.Enhanced expression of hMSH2 was detected in specimens collected from patients with chronic super-ficial gastritis.Conclusion Ectopically expressed hMSH2 served as a stress-induced endogenous ligand which could promote the cytotoxicity of Vγ9δ2 T cells against gastric carcinoma cells and enhance their IFN-γsecretion.hMSH2 played an essential role in innate anti-gastric carcinoma immunity .

Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of domestic Sirolimus-eluting stents (Firebird) and imported Zotalimus-eluting stents ( Resolute) in the treatment of patients with unprotected left main coronary artery disease ( ULMCA) . Methods We retrospectively enrolled 76 patients with ULMCA treated by percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) under the guidance of IVUS in our hospital. According to the different stents used in the procedure, the patients were divided into two groups: Domestic Sirolimus-Eluting Stents group (Firebird group, n = 42) and Imported Zotarolimus-Eluting Stents group (Resolute group, n = 34) . We analyzed the baseline characteristics, coronary artery lesion characteristics, stenting strategies and any changes in left ventricular ejection fraction ( LVEF) in both groups and investigated the long-term clinical outcomes. Results There were no significant differences in the baseline characteristics, the SYNTAX scores of the coronary artery lesion and the rate of complete revascularization between the two groups. Compared with that in Firebird group, there were more cases involving the distal left main (79. 4% vs. 45. 2% , P ﹤ 0. 05) and more patients using two stents strategies (29. 4% vs. 7. 1% , P ﹤ 0. 05) in the Resolute group. The change in LVEF post-PCI had no difference between the two groups. The patients were followed up for a mean of (23. 3 ± 10. 7) months. During the follow-up period, the occurrence of MACCE had no significant difference between the two groups. In the Firebird group, there were one sudden cardiac death, one nonfatal myocardial infarction, one stroke and five patients with recurrence of angina pectoris. In the Resolute group there were one sudden cardiac death, one target lesion revascularization and four patients with recurrence of angina pectoris. Conclusions Compared with the imported Zotalimus-Eluting Stents, the domestic Sirolimus-Eluting Stents are safe and effective in the treatment of patients with unprotected left main lesions under the guidance of IVUS. The two kinds of stent showed similar long-term clinical outcomes.

OBJECTIVETo establish a RP-HPLC method for simultaneous determination of thymine, hypoxanthine and uracil contents in medical pipefish.

METHODSamples were extracted with distilled water by ultrasonic wave and separated on Waters C18 column eluted with a mobile phase of 0.05 mol x L(-1) KFI2PO4-acetonitrile (97:3). The flow rate was 0.6 mL x min(-1). The determination wavelength was 260 nm and the column temperature was set at 40 degrees C.

RESULTThe method had good linearity in the range of 0.033-0.660 (r = 0.9996), 0.620-12.400 (r = 0.9999), 0.048-0.960 microg (r = 0.9995), with average recoveries of 98.67% (RSD 1.6%), 99.03% (RSD 0.74%), 98.65% (RSD 1.8%), for thymine, hypoxanthine and uracil respectively.

CONCLUSIONThe simultaneous determination method of thymine, hypoxanthine and uracil in medical pipefish is established by RP-HPLC for the first time. The contents of the three constituents in different kinds of medical pipefish are significantly different. The method is simple, rapid and sensitive, and can be used for control the quality of medical pipefish.

Animals ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Hypoxanthine ; analysis ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Smegmamorpha ; Thymine ; analysis ; Uracil ; analysis

The lack of effective in vitro infection model for hepatitis E virus (HEV) has greatly hindered the quantitative analysis of neutralizing titers of anti-HEV antibodies and human sera, thus impeding further studies of HEV-stimulated antibody responses and the immunological mechanisms. In order to improve this situation, the infection of HepG2 cells that are inefficient for HEV replication was continuously monitored until the viral load reached the limit of detection on day 13, the results of which confirmed the feasibility of using this cell line to establish the infection model. Then, neutralization assays of five anti-HEV murine monoclonal antibodies and serum samples collected from four HEV vaccine recipients (collected before and after vaccination) were performed by 96 multi-channel parallel infections, nucleic acid extraction, and qPCR. The results showed that the cell model can be applied for quantitative evaluation of the neutralizing capacity of different antibodies and antiserum samples from HEV vaccine recipients. In this study, we have successfully established a high-throughput in vitro HEV replication model, which will prove to be useful for the evaluation of HEV vaccines and studies of HEV epitopes.
Animals ; Antibodies, Viral ; analysis ; immunology ; Hepatitis Antibodies ; analysis ; immunology ; Hepatitis E ; immunology ; virology ; Hepatitis E virus ; chemistry ; immunology ; physiology ; High-Throughput Screening Assays ; methods ; Humans ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Neutralization Tests ; methods ; Virus Replication