Objective To observe the effect of applying nourishing kidney and ventilating lung combined with western medicine in treating cough variant asthma (CVA) patients with kidney yang deficiency. Method Eighty CVA patients with kidney yang deficiency were divided into contrast group and therapeutic group, each group with 40 patients. The patients in contrast group were treated with Aminophylline sustained-release tablet, 0.1～0.2 g, 2 times a day, as well as Ketotifen tablet, 1 mg, 1 time a day, p.o. As for the therapeutic group, the patients were treated with Chinese herbs of nourishing kidney and ventilating lung based on the treatment of contrast group. One course was 4 weeks for the two groups, and the evaluation were carried out in the fifth week. Results After the treatment, CD8+ ascended significantly, and CD4+ and IgE descended significantly compared with the pre-treatment. There were significant differences between two groups (P

Differentiating syndrome factor and forming syndrome type according to symptoms and signs are the rules and processes of syndrome differentiation in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). TCM syndrome differentiation is a nonlinear complex giant system. In order to solve the key problem of determination of diagnosing weight value for syndrome factor differentiation, a new algorithm of double levels of frequency and weight based on the analysis of frequency statistics was applied, and the accurate syndrome differentiation parameters were acquired. Therefore, based on the nonlinear and multivariate analysis, a new algorithm of calculating diagnostics for syndrome factor differentiation was established.

Syndrome factors as refined diagnostic units are the base of syndrome differentiation,each syndrome factor has the relative symptom and sign.By way of epidemiology and documents investigation,as well as algorithm of double levels of frequency and weight,the symptom and sign for the syndrome factor of Qi-deficiency,Blood-deficiency,Yin-deficiency and Yang-deficiency respectively were extracted correctly,and the weight values of symptoms and signs to syndrome factors were established.

BACKGROUND:Pulmonary hypertension stil lacks effective treatment measures. The effects of alprostadil in the treatment of pulmonary hypertension remain controversial. OBJECTIVE:To observe the effect of alprostadil in the treatment of pulmonary hypertension induced by chronic hypoxia. METHODS:24 experimental rats were randomly and evenly divided into control group, model group, and treatment group. The rats of model and treatment groups were fed in the hypoxic box to establish the animal model of pulmonary hypertension, and the rats of control group were fed in the normal air. After pulmonary hypertension induction, rats from the treatment group were intraperitonealy administered alprostadil injection (5 μg/kg per day) for 4 consecutive weeks. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Compared with the model group, the mean pulmonary artery pressure, right ventricular systolic pressure, pulmonary vascular thickness, size of blood vessels and alveolar wal thickness of rats in the treatment group were obviously decreased. The results suggest that alprostadil can decrease pulmonary artery pressure and prevent lung injury.

Objective To illustrate that tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-αt) / nuclear factor of activated T cells pathway is the main function way that mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) inhibit proliferation of pulmonary vascular smooth muscle cells during treating pulmonary hypertension (PH).Methods MSC from human umbilical cord was used to treat PH rat models induced by monocrotaline.Rats were divided into the control group,the PH model group and the MSC group.The general conditions of the rats were observed.Haemodynamics was detected.Pathological sections and immunohistochemistry method were used to detect the lung structure and tissue changes.Changing conditions of TNF-αt/NFAT were detected.Results Compared with rats in the PH model group,the general conditions of the MSC group tended to be normal evidently:the right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP) dropped [(30.37 ±3.13) mmHg vs.(47.90 ± 3.45) mmHg,1 mmHg =0.133 kPa],the aortic pressure (MAoP) increased [(115.03 ± 16.01) mmHg vs.(92.78 ± 16.28 mmHg)],the thickening condition of arterial intima-media was evidently relieved [(17.22 ±1.21)％ vs.(31.68 ±2.26)％],the plasma TNF-α level decreased obviously [(842 ±76) ng/L vs.(245 ±24)ng/L],and the lung tissue TNF-o level decreased (0.172 ±0.024 vs.0.248 ± 0.051),and all the differences were statistically significant (all P ＜ 0.05).The activation of pulmonary artery NFATc2 in the MSC treatment group was apparently inhibited.Conclusions MSC therapy may perform the treating effect in PH by inhibiting the over-proliferation of inflammation related pulmonary vascular smooth muscle cells via TNF-oα/NFAT pathway.

AIM: Although the evidence indicates that extracellular matrix metalloproteinase inducer (EMMPRIN) is closely associated with matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) expression in tumor cells, tumor invasion and metastasis, no direct proof that EMMPRIN regulates MMPs in monocytes, especially in the atherogenic milieu is observed. Here we tested this hypothesis by examining MMP-9 expression in macrophages/foam cells and monocyte migration through EMMPRIN knockdown by siRNA. METHODS: The methods of qPCR and Western blotting were used to detect the suppressions of EMMPRIN mRNA and protein expression in macrophages and foam cells transfected with EMMPRIN-specific siRNA. The protein expression of MMP-9 in macrophages and foam cells was also determined. Monocyte migration after EMMPRIN knockdown was observed by a Transwell assay. RESULTS: EMMPRIN knockdown by siRNA markedly abolished the MMP-9 expression by 50% and 40% in macrophages and foam cells, respectively. Migration induced by chemotactic factor MCP-1 and VEGF was significantly attenuated (P<0.05) in monocytes treated with EMMPRIN-siRNA. CONCLUSION: The protein expression and secretion of MMP-9 are down-regulated by EMMPRIN knockdown during monocyte differentiation into macrophages and foam cells. Moreover, EMMPRIN siRNA treatment also prevents monocyte migration. Thus, EMMPRIN plays a key regulatory role for MMP activity and monocyte migration, making it a potential target for pharmacological intervention of atherosclerosis.

During years of managent practice of postgraduate training,it is found that great attention of leadership is a good foundation,that pre-service training is an essential part,that srtict implementation of the requirements on postgraduate,advisor-responsibility system unified instruction under subject,focusing on process-management of training and exploring actively effective incentive training methods is necessary.

Objective To optimize the parameters for the diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)of the ulnar nerve in elbow.Methods 5 groups of DTI sequences with different b values and numbers of diffusion gradient directions (NDGDs)were used to collect ulnar nerve images from 13 volunteers,and then the diffusion tensor tractography (DTT)was established.The fractional anisotropy (FA),apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC),length of ulnar nerve fiber and DTI image quality were compared under different imaging parameters. Results DTI results for 18 normal ulnar nerves were included in the study.Under different imaging conditions,FAs showed no significant differences.With constant NDGDs,increasing b value decreased both image quality and ADCs of the ulnar nerve.NDGDs had no significant effects on ADCs or image quality.When b=1 000 s/mm2 and NDGDs=20,the length of the ulnar nerve fiber was the longest and DTT had the best subjective scoring in image quality.Conclusion b=1 000 s/mm2 and NDGDs=20 is recommended for DTI of elbow ulnar nerve,so as to obtain high image quality and stable observing targets.

Drug delivery system targeting immune system plays an important role in the treatment of inflammatory diseases.Drug delivery system targeting immune system could target immune cells or immune organs.It could be divided into active targeting mediated by the interaction of ligand-receptor or antigen-antibody and passive targe-ting mediated by pH;particles and so on.This review summarizes new progress for drug delivery system targeting immune system;which provides a theoretical reference for designing the safe and effective drug delivery system and providing efficient and safe treatment for inflammatory diseases.

Objective To investigate the efficacy of sophocarpine in rats with alcoholic liver disease and its effects on the expression of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α,interleukin (IL)-6 and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1.Methods A total of 48 male Sprague-Dawley adult rats were evenly divided into healthy control group,model group,prevention group and treatment group.The rats in the healthy control group were gavaged with 0.9％NaCl every day for 12 weeks.The rats in the model group,prevention group and treatment group were gavaged with alcohol for 12 weeks to establish the model.The prevention group was injected with 20 mg · kg1 · d1 sophocarpine for 12 weeks.Since the fifth week,the treatment group was continuously injected with 20 mg · kg1 · d-1 sophocarpine for eight weeks.The histological changes were evaluated.The serum levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase ( AST ), alkaline phosphatase (AKP),triglyceride (TG) and total cholesterol (TC) were examined.And the expression of TNF-α,IL-6 and TGF-β1 in liver tissue at mRNA and protein level were detected with immunohistochemistry and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay.Comparison among groups was perform with single factor analysis of variance,pairwise comparisons with least significant difference method (LSD method),ranked data with Kruskal-Wallis H-test and multiple pairwise comparison with Nemenyi test.Results Compared with model group,hepatic steatosis and inflammatory cell infiltration were significantly improved in the treatment group and prevention group.The levels of ALT (41.40 U/L± 10.53 U/L and 40.75 U/L±6.94 U/L vs 58.37 U/I±5.35 U/L),AST(121.60 U/L±16.24 U/L and 109.50 U/L±9.23 U/L vs 156.63 U/L±32.47 U/L),AKP(114.88 U/L±40.37 U/L and 112.60 U/L±44.34 U/L vs 161.75 U/L±28.95 U/L),TG (4.19 mmol/L±0.99 mmol/L and 2.69 mmol/L± 1.35 mmol/L vs 4.50 mmol/L±0.99 mmol/L) and TC (1.48 mmol/L±0.28 mmol/L and 1.43 mmol/L±0.19 mmol/L vs 1.67 mmol/L±0.20 mmol/L) significantly decreased and the difference was statistically significant ( all P＜0.05).The expression of TNF-α,IL-6 and TGF-β1 at mRNA and protein level in liver tissue of model group were significantly higher than those of healthy control group,prevention group and treatment group.After treated with sophocarpine,the expression of TNF-α(mRNA:1.36 ± 0.08,1.16 ± 0.05 ; protein:3.38 ％ ± 0.82 ％,1.74 ％ ± 0.65 ％ ),IL-6 (mRNA:1.51 ± 0.05,1.39 ± 0.02; protein:5.89％ ± 0.96％,4.26％ ± 0.53％) and TGF-β1 (mRNA:1.39±0.04,1.37±0.02; protein:4.27％ ±0.97％,2.11％ ±0.83％) of treatment group and prevention group at mRNA and protein level significantly lower than those of model group (mRNA:1.81±0.16,1.95 ±0.13,1.84±0.22; protein:5.82％ ± 1.21％,7.63％ ±1.03％,5.33％± 1.12％) and the difference was statistically significant (all P＜0.01).Conclusion Sophocarpine significantly alleviates alcohol induced liver injury in rats,improves liver steatosis and inflammatory reaction degree,which may be related with the downregulation of TNF-α,TGF-β1 and IL-6 expression in liver tissue of ALD rats.