Twenty-three patients with pain from osteoporotic vertebral fractures,aged 65-90 yr,weighing 51-78 kg,received an image intensifier-assisted nerve-root block with a 6-8 ml mixture of 0.5 ％ lidocaine,mecobalamine 0.5 mg and betamethasone sodium phosphate injection 5.26 mg in a prone or lateral position.The VAS scores before operation,at 0,1 week,1 and 3 months after operation were 8.6 ± 0.9,1.5 ± 0.7,2.8 ± 0.9,1.6 ± 0.5 and 2.5 ± 0.7,respectively.VAS scores were significantly lower at each time pint after operation than before operation (P ＜ 0.05).According to modified MacNab standard,the effectiveness of treatment was rated as excellent/good in 87％ of the patients.No complication such as bleeding,hematoma,infection,pneumothorax,hemopneumothorax,headache was found during or after operation.Selective nerve-root block is effective in the treatment of pain resulting from osteoporotic vertebral fractures in patients.

Objective To study the characteristic findings of computer tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in hepatobiliary cystadenocarcinoma.Methods CT,MRI and clinical data were analysed retrospectively.Plain,dynamic CT and MRI were performed in all patients.Results There were 8 patients,7 female,1 male,aged 48-74 years,with a median age of 58.Five lesions were in the left liver,and 3 lesions were in the right liver.One lesion was multilocular cysts with septations.Seven lesions were solitary.The lesions showed low or mixed density on plain CT.Two cysts showed evidence of hemorrhage,while 3 cysts showed fluid levels.There were different signal intensities in the cystic wall nodules which could appear as slightly low intensity on T1WI or slightly high intensities on T2WI.The cyst wall and septations appeared as slightly low intensity on T1WI and T2WI.The cystic fluid signal intensity changed with liquid ingredients.The nodularities showed obviously high signal intensity on DWI,and the fluid showed slightly high signal,while the cystic wall and separations showed slightly low signal intensity.On CT and MRI dynamic enhancement scanning,the nodularities showed obvious enhancement on the arterial phase,while the cystic wall and separations showed no enhancement.The nodularities showed persistent enhancement on the portal venous and delayed phases while the cystic wall and separation showed slight enhancement.Conclusions Hepatobiliary cystadenocarcinoma showed characteristic features on MSCT and MRI.MSCT combined with MR is an important method in the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of hepatobiliary cystadenocarcinoma.

OBJECTIVETo investigate osthole effect on femoral tissue resorption activity of rat in vitro.

METHODSSix SD rats weighted (80 ± 5) g were used to isolate and culture femoral tissue (diaphyses and metaphysis) in vitro. The cultured tissue were devided into control group, estradiol group and osthole group. The femoral tissue was treated with final concentration of 1 x 10(-5) mol/L osthole and 1 x 10(-8) mol/L estradiol culture in vitro at 48 hours after cultured. Tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (StrACP) activity, glucose and Lactic acid content, StrACP, MCSF (Macrophage colony stimulating factor) and CTSK (Cathepsin K) mRNA was detected by Real-Time RT-PCR were detected.

RESULTSConcetration of Alkaline phosphatase activity were 2226 and 2498 in 1 x 10(-5) mol/L osthole and 1 x 10(-8) mol/L estradiol respectively. As compared with control group, the activity of StrACP of 1 x 10(-5) mol/L osthole and 1 x 10(-8) mol/L estradiol were inhibited at 6, 9, 12 days (P < 0.05); under treatment of in l x 10(-5) mol/L osthole, the content of Lactic acid were increased and the content of glucose were decreased at 3, 6, 9 days (P < 0.05); StrACP, MCSF and CTSK mRNA expression level were inhibited at 6, 9 days (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONOsthole can inhibit bone resorption and raise the level of nutrition metabolism of femurs tissue.

Acid Phosphatase ; metabolism ; Animals ; Bone Resorption ; prevention & control ; Coumarins ; pharmacology ; Estradiol ; pharmacology ; Femur ; drug effects ; Glucose ; analysis ; Lactic Acid ; analysis ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

A strain KX6,producing thermotolerant endoglucanase,was isolated from compost. The morpholo-gical identification and 16S rRNA sequence analysis showed it belongs to Streptomyces xylophagus. The production and characterization of endoglucanase from Streptomyces xylophagus KX6 was studied. Maximum endoglucanase yield of 0.538 IU/ml was achieved with medium pH8.0,containing CMC2Na 1.0% as carbon resource,soybean meal 1% as nitrogen resource,2% inoculating volume,30% 250 ml triangle flask bulk for medium volume at 40℃ 200r/min shaker for 48h. The endoglucanase exhibited optimum catalytic activity at pH7.0 and 50℃. The enzyme was stable at 50℃,and able to retain 60% of the full activity,when it was incubated at 60℃ for 1h.The enzyme was stable at pH6.0~7.0. All these findings suggest that the enzyme is a thermotolerant neutral endoglucanase.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of total flavonoid extract of Epimedium sagittatum (TFE) on the proliferation and differentiation of newborn rat calvarial osteoblasts (ROB).

METHODTFE was supplemented into the culture medium of ROB at 0. 1, 1, 10 and 100 microg x mL(-1) respectively. The serum of rats administered TFES (SRAT) was also added into the medium in a parallel treatment at 2.5%, 5% and 10% respectively. Their effects on cell proliferation and differentiation was studied by MTT and the analysis of osteogenic differentiation marks.

RESULTTFE had no appreciable and on cell proliferation and differentiation at any concentration. However, 2.5% and 5% SRAT stimulated cell proliferation strongly and, 5% SRAT significantly promoted the maturation and function of osteoblast by improving the alkaline phosphatase activity, osteocalcin secretion, calcium deposition and the number of mineralized nodular structures.

CONCLUSIONThe metabolites of TFE should be the anti-osteoporosis constitutes of Epimedium sagittatum.

Animals ; Calcification, Physiologic ; drug effects ; Calcium ; metabolism ; Cell Differentiation ; drug effects ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Epimedium ; chemistry ; Flavonoids ; blood ; pharmacology ; Osteoblasts ; cytology ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar

Multiplex reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (mRT-PCR) is currently available in virus detection and defined as the simultaneous amplification of two or more DNA/RNA targets in a single reaction vessel. In this study, we attempted to modify the conventional mRT-PCR technique on a basis of GenomeLab Genetic Analysis System (GeXP). Initially, we optimized the analytical validation of the GeXP analyzer and its design of workflow and simultaneously detected eight arboviruses that related to epidemic encephalitis by verifying the specificity of mRT-PCR with Japanese encephalitis virus(JEV) cell cultures and positive strains identified previously and determining the sensitivity with in vitro-transcribed RNA of serial dilutions. The GeXP system after optimization could amplify the specific fragments related to the viruses and exposed specifically a total of 13 target genes out of eight types of arboviruses at the level of 10(2) copies/microL, and the findings suggest that the novel protocol we developed can be high-throughput and highly specific and sensitive as well as quickness in screening of the encephalitis viruses, and is promising in detection of encephalitis-associated viruses for molecular epidemiological studies.
Arboviruses ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Encephalitis Virus, Japanese ; genetics ; Encephalitis Viruses ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; methods ; Sensitivity and Specificity

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Child ; Colles' Fracture ; physiopathology ; therapy ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Manipulation, Orthopedic ; methods ; Middle Aged ; Supination ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

Roscovitine is a specific inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinases (cdks) cdc2/cyclin B, cdk2/cyclin A, cdk2/cyclin E and cdk5/p35. The studies on the enzyme inhibitory properties and cellular effects of roscovitine revealed that it arrests cells in G(2)/M and G(1)/S phase, inhibits the proliferation of mammalian cells and induces cell death. However, the characteristics of cell death and exact mechanism by which this cdk inhibitor kills transformed cells are unknown. We previously investigated that the roscovitine induces apoptotic death of mitotic PC12 cells. The present study was to identify whether the roscovitine-induced death is related with the specific elements of caspases in pathway of apoptosis. The morphological data of caspase-3 immunofluorocytochemistry double staining with hoechst 33342 indicated that apoptotic nuclei were identified as nuclei with chromatin condensation and nuclear fragmentation, and that caspase-3 active p17 subunit co-existed in PC12 cells treated with roscovitine 50 micromol/L for 4 h. The number of the caspase-3 positive cells increased significantly to about 42%, as compared with the normal control (P<0.001). The data of MTT assay showed that the number of viable cells treated by roscovitine (50 micromol/L) alone for 12 h was 29.03%, of the untreated controls. Both a broad-spectrum caspase inhibitor Z-VAD-FMK (50 mumol/L) and a specific caspase-3 inhibitor Z-DEVD-FMK (100 micromol/L) increased viable PC12 cells to 45.16%, (Z-DEVD-FMK) and 58.06%, (Z-VAD-FMK), respectively, in the presence of roscovitine. Non-erythroid a-spectrin is a cytoskeleted protein that is a substrate of caspase-3 cysteine proteases. To confirm the activity of caspase-3 that produced in roscovitine (50 micromol/L for 12 h)-induced PC12 cell death, activated caspase-3 specific 120 kDa spectrin breakdown products (SBDP) were detected by Western bloting using the mouse anti-non-erythroid a-spectrin monoclonal antibody. The mean relative density of bands corresponding to caspase-3 specific SBDP levels were significantly increased in the cytosolic fractions treated with roscovitine, as compared to the normal control (P<0.001). These results indicate that caspase signals, especially caspase-3 signal are necessary for the progression of proliferating PC12 cell apoptotic death evoked by roscovintine.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; physiology ; Caspase 3 ; physiology ; Cyclin-Dependent Kinases ; antagonists & inhibitors ; PC12 Cells ; Protein Kinase Inhibitors ; pharmacology ; Purines ; pharmacology ; Rats

OBJECTIVE To explore the clinical efficacy of using Chaizhi Pinggan decoction to treat functional dyspepsia of liver-stomach disharmony type and its mechanism.METHODS 1 10 patients with functional dyspepsia due to liver-stomach disharmony were selected from March,201 5 to March,201 6 in our hospital and randomly divided into the observation group and the control group,with 55 cases in each group.The control group was given domperidone tablets while the observation group were given Chaizhi Pinggan Decoction.After 4 weeks treatment,changes in clinical symptoms and signs,serum seroto-nin(5 HT) and somatostatin(SS) content in the two groups were detected and compared.The recurrence incidence of the two groups during the three-month follow up were observed.RESULTS Such symptoms as abdominal fullness and distention, hypochondriac pain,prone to sign,poor appetite,nausea,belching and vomiting all decreased significantly(P <0.05~0.01), but the observation group reduced more significantly compared with the control group(P <0.05~0.01).TCM syndrome total scores of both groups decreased significantly after treatment(P <0.01),but the observation group reduced more significantly (P <0.01).The total efficiency of epigastric pain syndrome and postprandial distress syndrome in the observation group were 92.8% and 92.6%,which were much higher than those in the control group72.4% and 69.2%(P <0.05).After treatment both serum 5 HT and SS in the two groups went down significantly(P <0.01),with more decrease in the observation group(P<0.05).During the three-month follow ups,the recurrence rate of the observation group was 3.6%,lower than 12.7% of the control group(P <0.05).CONCLUSION Chaizhi Pinggan Decoction can significantly improve clinical symptoms of pa-tients with functional dyspepsia due to liver and stomach disharmony,whose mechanism might be related to the increase of 5 HT and decrease of SS.

Objective To investigate the effects ofextracellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP)on the expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and the recovery of motor function after spinalcord injury in rats. Methods Six rats were selected as the normal control group randomly from 66adult healthy Wistar rats, and the rest 60 rats were divided into 2 groups after contusion injury wasperformed by the weight drop method with Allen impactor: group A (ATP group) and group B (controlgroup), and every group contained 30 rats. At day 1, 3, 7, 14, and 28 after injury, the rats were killed, andthe expression of GFAP was detected with immunohistochemistry. The expression of GFAP in theadjacent area was semi-quantitatively analyzed with a computer image analysis system; the recovery ofmotor function after spinal cord injury was assessed with improved Tarlov scores. Results Theexpression of GFAP was significantly higher in group A than in Group B after spinal cord injury in rats(P<0.05), and significant difference was also revealed in the expression of GFAP between the 2 groups atday 7, 14 and 28 after injury (P<0.05). At day 14 and 28, Tarlov scores were significantly higher in groupA than in group B (P<0.05). Conclusion Extracellular ATP can promote the expression of GFAP inspinal cord, and may be helpful to the recovery of motor function after spinal cord injury in rats.