Objective To study the effects of calaium channel blocker(CCB) on c-fos expression and nervous function following peripheral nerve injury.Methods Sciatic nerve was crushed with pincers to make the models of sciatic nerve crush injury in rats.The model rats were administered with Flunarizine 1 mg/kg(low dose group),2 mg/kg(high dose group) and normal saline 10 ml/kg(model group) via intraperitoneal injection.The c-fos positive cells at 1st and 4th week and nerve conduction velocity of sciatic nerve,distance between right behind toes were examined at 4th week respectively by immunohistochemical,behavior and electrophysiologic techniques.The results were compared with normal rats.Results(1) The c-fos positive cells were higher significantly in model and Flunarizine low dose groups compared with normal control group(all P0.05).Conclusion The c-fos expression following peripheral nerve injury can be reduced by CCB,which has the protective effect on the damaged peripheral nerve function.

Objective To explore the effects of Nimodipine on oncogene c-fos and c-jun mRNA expressions in dorsal root ganglia of rats following acute sciatic nerve injury.Methods Nimodipine at a dose of 10 mg/kg at 5,15,30,60 and 120 min and at a different dose of 2.5,5 and 10 mg/kg at 60 min was given to each rat through intraperitoneal injection before transection of sciatic nerve.Using reverse transcription PCR(RT-PCR) technique,the c-fos and c-jun mRNA expressions were detected at 5,15,30,60 and 120 min after injection of Nimodipine and following acute sciatic nerve injury.Results Compared with control group,the expressions of c-fos mRNA in injury group were obviously increased at 30,60 and 120 min after injury(all P

Objective To investigate the effects of methycobal on the expression of Caspase-3 in brain tissue after cerebral ischemia reperfusion in rats. Methods Rats were randomly divided into sham-operation group, model control group, nimodipine group and low-dose methycobal group, high-dose methycobal group(n=30 in each group).Rats in the sham-operation group and model control group were administered intragastrically with 0.9% sodium chloride solution, rats in the nimodipine group were treated with 1 mg . kg-1 . d-1 of nimodipine, rats in the low- and high-dose of methycobal groups were given 50 and 100 μg.kg-1 .d-1 of methycobal, respectively. The rat model of cerebral ischemia reperfusion was established by middle cerebral artery occlusion with suture method for 3 h.Neurological deficit scores were evaluated 24 h after reperfusion.The apoptosis of perifocal cortex cells was detected by TUNEL method and the expression of Caspase-3 was analyzed by RT-PCR 6, 12 and 24 h after reperfusion. Results Neurological deficit scores in model control group, nimodipine group, low-dose methycobal group and high-dose methycobal group were 2.70±0.52, 1.30±0.51, 2.20±0.75 and 1.30±0.81, respectively.Compared with model control group, neurological deficit scores were significantly different in the nimodipine group, low-dose methycobal group and high-dose methycobal group(P<0.05 or P<0.01).There were no significant differences between the high-dose methycobal group and nimodipine group ( P>0. 05 ) . There was a significant difference between the high-dose methycobal group and low-dose methycobal group( P<0. 05 ) . The results of apoptosis by TUNEL were as follows: compared with model control group, the apoptosis decreased obvsiouly in the nimodipine group, low-dose methycobal group, and high-dose methycobal group at each time point.There was significant difference between the high-dose methycobal group and nimodipine group at the end of the 24th hours (P<0.01).Compared with low-dose methycobal group, there were significant differences in the high-dose methycobal group at the end of 6th, 12th and 24th hours(P<0.01 or P<0.05).The results of RT-PCR were as follows: there was expression of caspase-3 mRNA in the perifocal cortex of all groups, with weak expression in the sham-operation group.Compared with the sham-operation group, the expression of caspase-3 mRNA was increased significantly in the model control group(P<0.01).The expression of caspase-3 mRNA was reduced significantly in the nimodipine group, the low-dose methycobal group and high-dose methycobal group as compared with model control group at each time point( P<0.05 or P<0.01) , but it was not significantly different in the low-dose methycobal group and high-dose methycobal group as compared with that of the nimodipine group(P>0.05).There were significant differences between the high-dose methycobal group and low-dose methycobal group at the end of 24 h(P<0.05). Conclusion Methycobal can protect the brain cells from injury after cerebral ischemia reperfusion by adjusting the expression of Caspase-3m RNA, and the high-dose methycobal is more effective.

Objective To investigate the effects of dynamic standing bed training on the functional recovery of hemiplegic patients. Methods Sixty hemiplegic patients with Barthel index score of 40 were randomized into a standing rehabilitation group and a control group. The patients in standing rehabilitation group were asked to take part in dynamic standing bed training in addition to drug treatment. Those in the control group were treated with medication only. After 1 to 2 weeks of treatment, the weight-bearing ability of the lower limbs, balance, muscle tone, trunk control and the cardiovascular response were evaluated and compared with those before the treatment. Results The scores of weight-bearing, balance, muscle tone and trunk control of the patients in the standing rehabilitation group were better improved than those in the control group. The changes of blood pressure and pulse of patients were reduced and within the range of safety after 2 weeks of training. Conclusion Dynamic standing bed training is beneficial for the functional recovery of hemiplegic patients. It is safe for the patients in terms of cardiovascular response.

BACKGROUND: There are a lot of researches on the protective action of calcium channel blocker(CCB) on diabetic peripheral neuropathy, but the dosage and the effect on injured nerve need to investigate further in clinical application.OBJECTIVE: To observe the results of electrophysiologic assessment of the effect of CCB flunarizine at different dosages on Bell' s palsy after 1-month treatment.DESIGN: Randomized grouping, blank control and l-month follow up.SETTING: Department of Neurology, First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University.PARTICIPANTS: Totally 35 patients with Bell' s palsy, including 19males and 16 females aged from 16 to 58 and the mean age of 32. 8, were selected from Outpatients of the Department of Neurology, the First Affiliated Hospital to Nanjing Medical University from November 1999 to May 2001. The course of disease was ≤ 3 days. Patients were without any treatment, and all of the facial nerve palsy was complete. According to random samplings, all patients were divided randomly into control group (basic treatment group) with 12 cases and treatment groups with 10 cases in first subgroup and 13 in second subgroup.METHODS: Basic treatment: 1 mg/kg per day prednisone(the maximal dosage ≤ 60 mg/day) was taken once every day and reducing dosage by half every 5 days, with a course of therapy for 15 days. 500 μg methycobal was taken orally three times a day and 25 mg fursulthiamine also orally three times a day. Ultrashort wave physiotherapy was taken once a day for 15 days. On the basis of the basic treatment, patients in the first subgroup accepted 5 mg flunarizine once every night, and 10 mg flunarizine once every night was given to the patients in the second subgroup. The latency and amplitude of Blink response were checked before treatment and after 1-month treatment.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The latency and amplitude of Blink response in every group after 1-month treatment.RESULTS: According to the imagery analysis, 35 patients entered the resulting analysis. Before treatment, the 3 groups of blink responses were all efferential blocking in facioplegic side, and in addition, R1 and R2 all disappeared. After treatment for 1 month, Blink response of R1, R2 appeared. The latency of R1 and R2 in the second treatment group was better than that in control group[ (9. 608 ± 0. 575) ms, (31. 869 ± 2. 934) ms,(11.208±1.490) ms and (37. 583 ±5. 408) ms, P ＜0.01], but there were no differences in this respect between the first treatment group and the control group. The ipsilateral amplitudes of Blind response in the three groups were not different after 1-month treatment.CONCLUSION: After 1-month treatment with flunarizine(10 mg/day),the recovery of facial nerve function can be promoted, but the protective effect of flunarizine(5 mg/day) on peripheral nerve is not superior to that with normal treatment. The mechanism and the proper dosage are not observed further in this study.

Objective To sum up the clinical manifestations and laboratory features for the diagnosis of pediatric tuberculous pleurisy,and to improve the recognition of this disease in early stage.Methods A retrospective study of 113 children diagnosed as tuberculous pleurisy from August 2006 to September 2014 in the Second Department of Respiratory Medicine,Beijing Children's Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University was conducted.Meanwhile,another 113 cases of children with mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia complicated with pleurisy were selected as control group.The general information,clinical symptoms,pleural effusion and imaging features between 2 groups were analyzed and compared by using SPSS 16.0 statistical software.Results The proportion of patients with cough in tuberculous pleurisy group and control group was 47.79％ (54/113 cases) and 99.12％ (112/113 cases) (x2 =76.33,P ＜ 0.01) respectively,and the proportion with severe cough was 3.70％ (2/54 cases) and 97.32％ (109/112 cases) (x2 =144.10,P ＜0.01),while the disease duration was 15.00 (10.00,30.00) days and 10.00 (8.00,14.50) days (W =8 668.00,P ＜ 0.01),respectively,and all the differences between 2 groups were significant.The proportion of patients with low fever,moderate fever,high fever and hyper fever was 8.65％ (9/104 cases),47.12％ (49/104 cases),44.23 ％ (46/104 cases) and 0,respectively in tuberculous pleurisy group,while the proportion was 0.90％ (1/111 cases),18.92％ (21/111 cases),79.28％ (88/111 cases) and0.90％ (1/111 cases) respectively in control group,and the difference between 2 groups was significant(W =9 064.00,P ＜ 0.01).The unilateral effusion ratio in tuberculous pleurisy group and the control group was 94.69％ (107/113 cases) and 71.68％ (81/113 cases),respectively (x2 =21.39,P ＜ 0.01).The monocyte ratio was higher in tuberculous pleurisy group [0.89 (0.76,0.93)] than that in the controlgroup [0.60 (0.30,0.78)] (W =888.50,P ＜ 0.01) and the level of protein in 2 groups was [51.00 (47.35,54.20) g/L] and [42.10 (37.85,46.15) g/L],respectively (W =842.50,P ＜ 0.01).The level of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in tuberculous pleurisy group[553.50 (358.00,749.25) U/L] was lower than that in the control group[1 189.10 (670.95,1 820.00) U/L] (W =2 186.00,P ＜ 0.01),and the differences were significant between 2 groups.In addition to pleural effusion,the high density was the main feature of imaging examination in 2 groups.The proportion of patients with atelectasis was 77.88％ (88/113 cases) and 4.42％ (5/113 cases) (x2 =125.90,P ＜ 0.01),while the proportion of patients with consolidation was 4.42％ (5/113 cases) and 72.57 ％ (82/113 cases),respectively (x2=110.80,P ＜ 0.01).All the differences between 2 groups were significant.The sputum culture-positive rate of mycobacterium tuberculosis was only 1.77％ (2/113 cases) and the other pathogen examinations were negative in tuberculous pleurisy group.Conclusions For patients with unilateral pleural effusion,when the onset only has fever (moderate-high fever),and respiratory symptoms are not clear or symptoms are not proportional to radiographic severity,or when high monocytes proportion (＞ 0.70) in pleural effusion and radiographic evidence of compression atelectasis are observed,tuberculous pleurisy should be considered and further questioning of the predisposing factors,purified protein derivative test should be taken so as to diagnose the tuberculous pleurisy at early stage.

Aim To investigate the analgesic effect of tetrahydropalmatine on Cav1 . 2 expression in the dorsal root ganglion ( DRG) of mice with sciatic nerve chronic constriction injury ( CCI ) -induced neuropathic pain. Methods Forty male C57 BL/6 mice were randomly divided into 5 groups ( n =5 ): sham group ( group S) , CCI group ( group C ) and L-THP group ( group L) . Steady mice models of neuropathic pain were es-tablished by inducing CCI of sciatic nerve. According to development of neuropathic pain in mice, L group was divided into induction period, induction with ma-intenance period and long-term low-dose group. The mice were intraperitoneally administered with 45 mg · kg-1 tetrahydropalmatine in induction ( day 0~5 ) , in-duction with maintenance ( day 0~5 , 14~19 ) period of neuropathic pain state. From the instant after opera-tion, 15 mg · kg-1 tetrahydropalmatine was injected into the long-term low-dose group once per day for 19 days. Then, the behavior changes of mice were moni-tored. Moreover, the threshold of mechanical and ther-mal stimuli was tested. In addition, the expression of Cav1 . 2 protein was detected by Western blot and im-munohistochemical staining. Results The lowest ex-pression of Cav1 . 2 was observed in group C and the highest expression level of Cav1 . 2 was found in group S. Cav1. 2 expression was significantly up-regulated in induction period group, induction with maintenance period group and long-term low-dose group ( P<0. 05 , P<0. 01). Compared with group C, high dose of tet-rahydropalmatine in induction period group, induction with maintenance period group and long-term low-dose group showed reduced mechanical allodynia and ther-mal hyperalgesia induced by nerve injury ( P <0. 05 , P<0. 01). Meanwhile, high dose of tetrahydropalma-tine significantly relieved the mechanical allodynia in induction period group, induction with maintenance period group and thermal hyperalgesia in maintenance period group (P<0. 05). However, there was no ob-vious effect on mechanical allodynia and thermal hyper-algesia induced by nerve injury ( P >0. 05 ) in long-term low-dose group. Conclusions High dose of tet-rahydropalmatine in induction period group, induction with maintenance period group and low-dose among the whole experiment process obviously relieves the neuro-pathic pain induced by nerve injury. The analgesic effect of tetrahydropalmatine on neuropathic pain may be due to the increased expression of Cav1 . 2 protein in DRG neurons.

Objective To study the effect of scalp acupuncture plus facilitation technique on the temporal and spatial parameters of gait in spastic cerebral palsy. Method Thirty eligible patients with spastic cerebral palsy were randomized into a treatment group and a control group based on the inter-group balance in age, palsy type, and the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS), 15 cases in each group. The treatment group was intervened by scalp acupuncture, together with the facilitation technique during the retaining of the needles; the control group was also by scalp acupuncture and facilitation techniques but with over 1 h interval between the two methods. The treatment was given once a day, totally for 3 months. The walking, running, and jumping items (E category) of the Gross Motor Function Measure-66 (GMFM-66), temporal and spatial parameters of gait, and vertical ground reaction force during stance were compared before and after the treatment. Result There were no significant inter-group differences in comparing the rates of E category of the GMFM-66 before the treatment (P>0.05), the rates were significantly changed after the treatment in both groups (P<0.05), and there were significant differences in comparing the rates between the two groups after the intervention (P<0.05);after the intervention, the step length, walking speed, and step frequency were increased significantly in both groups (P<0.05), while the double-stance phase was decreased significantly, and swing phase was increased significantly (P<0.05); after the intervention, the step length, walking speed, and step frequency of the treatment group were significantly better than that of the control group (P<0.05). Conclusion Acupuncture plus facilitation technique can mitigate the spasticity in spastic cerebral palsy, improve the gross motor function, especially the function of standing and walking, enhance the activities, and benefit the improvement of the step length, step width, and walk speed.

OBJECTIVETo screen out serum differential proteins between vinyl chloride monomer (VCM)-exposed workers and healthy controls by proteomics and analyze the functions of differential proteins, and to provide a basis for elucidating the pathogenesis of diseases caused by VCM exposure and searching for the protein biomarkers.

METHODSFasting venous blood was collected from 125 VCM-exposed workers and 40 healthy controls according to accumulated exposure doses. Proteins were precipitated by acetone precipitation. These proteins were identified by 2D-nano LC-ESI-TOF/MS and quantified by isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation. The functions of differential proteins were analyzed by gene ontology.

RESULTSA total of 596 proteins were identified, including 194 quantified proteins. There were 21 differential proteins according to the screening criteria (19 upregulated proteins and 2 downregulated proteins), including complement, apolipoprotein, and glycoprotein. The functions of these differential proteins were binding, enzyme regulator activity, catalytic activity, and transporter activity, and they were involved in the biological processes including immune system process and response to stimulus.

CONCLUSIONThe complement, apolipoprotein, and glycoprotein identified in the proteomics may be related to liver injury caused by VCM exposure, and they could be used as candidate protein biomarkers of diseases caused by VCM exposure.

Biomarkers ; blood ; Blood Proteins ; analysis ; Humans ; Liver ; injuries ; Occupational Exposure ; Proteins ; metabolism ; Proteomics ; Vinyl Chloride ; toxicity