Acupuncture has become a popular alternative modality in the treatment of back pain. However, few have reported complications related to this treatment modality. This study reports a rare case of septic arthritis of the lumbar facet joints, developing after acupuncture, and its devastating effects upon the patient. A 68-year-old female developed septic arthritis of the lumbar facet joints after acupuncture for symptomatic control of lumbar spondylosis and stenosis while waiting for surgery. Subsequently, successful control of the infection required a total of 4 hospital admissions over a 2-year period, a CT guided spinal biopsy and 6 months of antibiotics.

Objective To investigate the expressions and significance of transforming growth factor-beta 1(TGF?1) and its typeⅡ receptor(TGF?RⅡ) in experimental rat ascending aortic aneurysm of rat model.Methods The rat ascending aortic aneurysm models were made by banding ascending aorta of young Wistar rats.The ascending aortas were taken 4 months after operation.Immunohistochemistry staining and Western blotting were used to investigate the expressions of TGF?1 and TGF?RⅡ.Result Immunohistochemistry staining results showed that TGF?1 expressed in all layers of the aortic aneurysm and the control.TGF?RⅡ was extensively located in the hyperplastic intima and tunica media smooth muscle cells in the aortic aneurysm,while there was only a little positive staining in the control group.Western blotting results indicated that the expression levels of TGF?1 and TGF?RⅡ in the aortic aneurysm were stronger than the control,P

Objective To investigate the role of fibroblasts in nonunion fracture healing using extracorporeal shock wave(ESW) treatment. Methods Thirty healthy rabbits were selected to make the models of non-union fractures of the right tibias, which were then held apart by external fixation. 12 weeks after the operation, hypertrophic non-unions were confirmed in 27 of the rabbits by radiography. These 27 were divided randomly into a treatment group and a control group. The test animals were treated with ESW under general anaesthesia. The two ends of the nonunion fracture were shocked 1 000 times at 0.54 mJ/mm2 and a frequency of 60 times/minute. The nonunions of the control group were treated with external fixations only. Histological examination and transmission electron microscopy(TEM) were conducted after 2 and 6 weeks. Standardized radiographs were taken after 12 weeks of the shock wave treatment. Results ESW induced microfractures, which initiated the healing process of the nonunionfractures. X-rays showed that 8 of the 9 fractures of the treatment group had healed after 12 weeks of EWS treatment, but only 3 of the 9 in the control group had healed. Statistical analysis showed that this difference was significant at the 5% level. After 2 weeks of ESW treatment, TEM showed many collagen fibers around the fibroblasts in the treatment group, with characteristic and periodic transverse lines. This indicated that the fibroblasts had been secreting collagen fibers as osteoblasts. Six weeks later, osteoblasts and fibroblasts had formed bone lacunes, and they had become osteocytes. However osteogenetic activates were not found in the control group. Conclusions Fibroblasts are activated by ESW to better form bone tissue. This process plays an important role in rebuilding broken bones.

A spectrophotometric method for the determination of calcium in milk, hair and urine was developed using metal complezing dye orthocresolphth-alein complexone(OCPC).The organic matter in the tested sample was destroyed by digestion. An aliquot of the digested solution was mixed with color developing reagent, alkaline OCPC, cantaining 8-quinolinol to suppress interference such as magnesium, and the absorbance was measured at 570 nm.The coefficients of variation were 0.87, 3.6 and 1.2% for milk, hair and urine samples; and the analytical recoveries of calcium from milk, hair and urine averaged 100.4, 101.0 and 98.5% respectively. The calcium content of milk and hair determined by this method was closely correlated with that of the ICP-AES method (r =0.994, p

Objective To approach the value of combination mode of different CT post-processing technique in diagnosing rib fine fracture.Methods 98 patients suspected with rib fractures underwent multislice spiral CT(MSCT) scanning,and CT features of rib fractures were observed with the combination of three different images:(A)volume rendering(VR),curved planar reformation(CPR) and axial view;(B)maximum intensity projection(MIP),CPR and sxial view;and(C) VR+MIP,CPR and axial view.The results were respectively recorded.Results 265 rib fine fractures were found among 98 patients.The detecting rate of fine fractures with C group was higher than that with A group (χ~2＝6.67,P＜0.01) and B group (χ~2＝6.75,P＜0.01).Conclusion MSCT four step observation method can improve the detecting rate of rib fine fracture,that is of important clinical value.

Objective To explore coping strategies and influence factors in primary glaucoma patients through describing characteristics of their coping strategies.Methods From November 2007 to June 2008,data were collected from 120 primary glaucoma patients in three hospitals in Guangzhou and Shenzhen.The final sample consisted of 100 patients and the data underwent analysis.Results Among different coping styles of primary glaucoma patients,facing was lower than norm,avoiding and yielding were higher than norm.The factors related to coping style were age,different cohabitant,different economic condition,different occupation,different educational level and health payment mode.Conclusions Primary glaucoma patients usually took avoiding or yielding coping styles.Nurses should help patients with low income and education background to face the disease positively.Besides,fully consideration should be given to patients with different age,at the same time,marriage and family support should also exert active function.

Objective To investigate the relationship between aggrecan and YKL-40 in knee articular cartilage of Sprague-Daw-lay(SD) rats with osteoarthritis (OA) .Methods Fifty-six healthy SD rats were randomly divided into 7 groups ,8 cases per group . The one side of knee joint was randomly selected for performing the anterior cruciate ligment transection (ACLT) and establishing the OA model .The rats in one group were randomly killed on the day of operation and at postoperative 0 ,2 ,4 ,8 ,12 ,16 ,20 weeks . The femoral condyle cartilage samples at different time periods in the operated side were collected for conducting safranin O /fast green staining and HE staining .Meanwhile ,the OA pathological grade was made out according to the modified Mankin scale .The expression of aggrecan and YKL-40 in the cartilage with different stages of OA were analyzed by the immunohistochemistry meth-od ,and the status of expression were measured by average optical density (AOD) .The correlation between aggrecan and YKL-40 was analyzed .Results With the aggravation of OA ,the expression of aggrecan was gradually reduced and the expression of YKL-40 was gradually increased .The differences during the early ,middle and late phases of OA had statistical significance (P<0 .05) . The expression of aggrecan was negatively correlated with the expression of YKL-40(P<0 .05) .Conclusion The level of aggrecan is gradually reduced with the aggravation of OA .Aggrecan is negatively correlated with the YKL-40 level ,which may reflect the dedifferentiation degree of joint chondrocyte to some extent .

Background: There are obvious changes in neuropeptides from plasma and cerebrospinal fluid in patients with vascular dementia (VaD), and regulating the levels of neuropeptides is a key for prevention and treatment of VaD. Objective: To observe the clinical efficacy of moxibustion at head-points in treatment of vascular dementia (VaD), and assess its effects on memory-related neuropeptides. Design, setting, participants and interventions: A total of 65 VaD patients from Acupuncture Hospital, Anhui University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, were randomly divided into moxibustion group (33 cases) and Western medicine group (32 cases). Patients in the moxibustion group were treated with indirect moxibustion with common monkshood cake for 20 min. Patients in the Western medicine group were orally administered piracetam tablets, 0.8 g for three times a day. One treatment course was 4 weeks, and they were treated for 4 treatment courses. Main outcome measures: The scores of Hasegawa's Dementia Scale (HDS), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and Activity of Daily Living Scale (ADL), as well as the levels of learning and memory-related neuropeptides from cerebrospinal fluid such as somatostatin (SS) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) were measured before and after treatment in the two groups. Results: Total response rate was significantly higher in the moxibustion group than in the Western medicine group (P<0.01). There were significant differences in scores of HDS, MMSE and ADL between before and after treatment in the two groups(P<0.05 or P<0.01). After treatment, the scores of HDS, MMSE and ADL in the moxibustion group were more improved as compared with those in the Western medicine group (P<0.05 or P<0.01). The levels of SS and AVP after treatment were higher than those before treatment in the two groups(P<0.01). After treatment, the increased levels of SS and AVP were higher in the moxibustion group than in the Western medicine group (P<0.01). Conclusion: Moxibustion is effective in improving the clinical symptom scores and regulating the levels of neuropeptides associated with learning and memory in VaD patients.

AIM: To study the effect of high fat diet on the expression of sterol regulatory element biding protein-1 (SREBP-1) and transforming growth factor β_1 (TGF-β_1) in renal tubular cells and rosiglitazone intervention. METHODS: Wistar rats were treated with high fat diet and rosiglitazone for 3 months. The serum glucose, serum insulin and serum triglyceride were detected. Oil Red O staining was used to observe the renal lipid deposit and Masson staining was for the detection of ECM accumulation. SREBP-1, TGF-β_1 and FN protein were determined by the methods of immunohistochemistry and Western blotting. SREBP-1 mRNA was detected by in situ hybridization. RESULTS: Rosiglitazone prevented effectively the increase in serum glucose, serum insulin and serum triglyceride resulted from high fat diet. High fat diet led to lipid droplet formation in renal tubular cells and interstitial ECM accumulation, which was decreased by rosiglitazone treatment. Compared to normal rats, SREBP-1 protein and SREBP-1 mRNA showed high expressions in high fat diet rats that were lowered by rosiglitazone. The precursor segment and mature segment of SREBP-1 protein were decreased by 27.39% and 27.32%. Similarly, the high expressions of TGF-β_1 and FN protein in kidney of high fat diet rats were also prevented by rosiglitazone intervention. Compared to high fat diet rats, the expression of TGF-β_1 in rosiglitazone treatment rats was lowered by 19.14%. CONCLUSION: Rosiglitazone prevents effectively the over-expression of SREBP-1 and TGF-β_1 in renal tubular cells, and decreases lipid accumulation and ECM production in rats fed with high fat diet.

significantly increased (all P < 0.01). Following SREBP-1 was down-regulated by siRNA, high glucose-stimulated TGF-β1 and FN protein expressions were decreased by 17.9% and 24.6% ,respectively(all P<0.01).