Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; instrumentation ; methods ; Adult ; Blepharoptosis ; therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Needles

Objective In order to provide scientific evidence for revealing the pathophysiological changes, levels of the humoral and cellular immunity and cytokines in elderly patients with bacterial pneumonia were determined. Methods The changes of immunological markers including IgA, IgG, IgM,C3, C4,T cell subpopulation (CD3 +, CD4 +, CD8 +) and CD4 +/CD8 +, IL 2, IL 6, IL 8, TNF ? were examined for the elderly bacterial pneumonia group(BPG), the aged control group(ACG) and the young control group(YCG). Results The level of CD3 +〔(53 90?7 10)% vs (62 67?6 08)%〕, CD4 +〔(33 85?4 69)% vs (3 57?3 40)%〕, IL 2〔(4 09?0 69) ?g/L vs (6 72?0 52) ?g/L〕 and IL 8〔(0 28?0 07) ?g/L vs (0 39?0 09) ?g/L〕 in ACG were significantly lower than those in YCG. The levels of IgA, IgG, IgM, C3, CD8 +, IL 8〔(0 33?0 08) ?g/L vs (0 28?0 07) ?g/L〕, and TNF ?〔(1 25?0 23) ?g/L vs (1 10?0 20) ?g/L〕in BPG were significantly higher than those in ACG; and in BPG the levels of IgG, IgM, C3, IL 8 and TNF ? were significantly higher than those in YCG. However, the levels of CD3 +, CD4 + and the ratio CD4 +/CD8 +in BPG were markedly lower than those in YCG;the IL 2(2 730?0 612 ?g/L) was much lower than that of ACG〔(6 72?0 52) ?g/L〕 and YCG〔(4 09?0 69) ?g/L〕, respectively. Conclusions The occurrence and the progress of bacterial pneumonia in the elderly are related to the immunological functioning including the excessive humoral immunity, the super activation of complement system, the dysequilibrium of T cellular immunoloregulation network and the super excretion of inflammatory cytokines.

Objective To study the change of maternal serum human chorionic gonadotropin(MShCG) in preterm labor and the relationship between hCG and placental pathological changes. Metheds The preterm labor patients were chosen as the research subjects, the normal late-pregnancy women with the same gestational age were chosen as controls. MShCG level were measured by radioimmunoassy (RIA), placental tissue of preterm labor women was examined histologically. hCG in placental tissue was examined by semiquantiative immunohistochemistry. Results MShCG in preterm labor was significantly higher than that of control P

AIM:To determine terpenelactonesines content in Yinxing Tongzhi Dripping Pills(ginkgoflavone,ginkgolide).METHODS:HPIC with evaporative light scattering detector(ELSD) was established to determine terpenelactones content in Yinxing Tongzhi Dripping Pills..The analysis was carried out on Angilent Hypersil ODS(5 ?m,4 mm?250 mm) column.The mobile phase consisted of THF-MeOH-H_2O(10:20:70).The operating conditions of the ELSD were a nebulizer nitrogen,flow-rate of 2.51 L/min and an evaporator tube temperature of 103(?C).RESULTS:No interference was found in the terpenelactones peak position.The method was simple,with a good linear relationship.The relative standard deviation of reproducibility about BB、GA、GB、GC was 1.33%,(1.79%,)1.92%,1.58% respectively and the average recoveries were 97.0%,96.5%,96.3%,97.6%,respectively.CONCLUSION:The method can be used for quality control.

Objective To study the effect of salmon calcitonin and physical therapy on lumbar spinal ste- nosis.Methods Eighty cases of lumbar spinal stenosis were divided into treatment and control groups.Physical therapy alone was given to the control group,but salmon calcitonin was injected intramuscularly in addition to phys- ical therapy for the patients in the treatment group.Visual analogue scale,range of motion (ROM),pain-free walking distance,tendon reflexes and functional independence measures (FIM) were observed to assess the re- sults.Results The VAS,ROM and walking distance of the treatment group improved more than those of the con- trol group,but the groups' tendon reflexes and FIM were similar.Conclusions Salmon caleitonin can reduce the symptoms of lumbar spinal stenosis,and it has special effects in relieving pain.

Objective To investigate the expression of anti-endothelial cell antibody AECA in the emphysema rats induced by smoking and to analyze the intervention effect of methylprednisolone on it.Methods Thirty-nine rats were randomly divided into the control group,smoking rat emphysema model group (model group) and methylprednisolone intervention group (intervention group).The model group and intervention group conducted the 1-month passive smoking by smog exposure.The intervention group was intraperitoneally injected by methylprednisolone(once daily,6 d per week).After exposing to smog for 90 d,the differences of serum AECA level,IL-8,MMP-9 and TNF-α level in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid(BALF),lung MLI and mean alveolar number (MAN) were compared among groups.Results Compared with the control group and theintervention group,the level of serum AECA in the model group was significantly increased (P＜0.05);Compared with the control group and intervention group,the IL-8,TNF-α and MMP-9 levels of BALF in the model group were also increased(P＜0.05).Conclusion ACEA participates in the smoking induced emphysema formation;methylprednisolone may decrease the level of AECA and cell inflammatory factors and affects the emphysema formation.

BACKGROUND: Runx2 plays a central role in osteogenic differentiation, which is of important significance in new bone formation.OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of Runx2 over-expression on osteogenic differentiation of human umbilical cordblood mesenchymal stem cells.METHODS: Runx2 was generated by RT-PCR and the recombinant adenovirus (pAd-Runx2) was constructed. The viraltiter was determined by air dilution method. After being transfected into human umbilical cord blood mesenchymal stemcells, the green fluorescence was observed under fluorescence microscope. Real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR andwestern blot were used to detect mRNA expression changes of osteogenesis related genes, Runx2, OCN, BMP-2, ALP,in human umbilical cord blood mesenchymal stem cells at 1, 3, 7 and 14 days after transfection.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The recombinant adenovirus was successfully constructed and the titer was1.7×1010 pfu/L. After infection by pAd-Runx2, human umbilical cord blood mesenchymal stem cells expressed greenfluorescence protein clearly under the fluorescence microscope. Cells in the transfected group differentiated intoosteoblast-like cells, and those in the control group stayed the same as pre-infected. The expression of Runx2, OCN,BMP-2 and ALP in the transfected group increased over time to some extent, but these changes were not detected in thecontrol group. These findings indicate that Runx2 over-expression can promote the osteogenic differentiation of humanumbilical cord blood mesenchymal stem cells.

AIM: To investigate the effects of TGF-?_1 and signal protein Smad3 on rat cardiac myocyte hypertrophy.METHODS: The total protein was analyzed by flow cytometry and the ANF mRNA expression was measured by RT-PCR to judge the hypertrophy of cultured neonatal cardiac myocytes.Smad3 mRNA expression in cardiac myocytes was measured by RT-PCR,and the protein expression of Smad3 was analyzed by Western blotting.RESULTS: TGF-?_1 significantly increased the total protein in cardiac myocytes and promoted ANF mRNA expression,compared with control group.In cultured neonatal myocytes,AS-ODN of Smad3 inhibited myocyte hypertrophy induced by TGF-?_1.Smad3 mRNA and protein expression increased at 15 min after incubated with TGF-?_1,reached the peak at 1 h,and declined at 4 h.CONCLUSION: TGF-?_1 and signal protein Smad3 may participate in the progress of rat cardiac myocyte hypertrophy.

Objective To investigate the effect of electro-acupuncture on the spinal nitric oxide (NO)/cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) signal pathway in a rat model of neuropathic pain (NP). Methods Forty-eight pathogen-free male SD rats weighing 190-210 g were randomly divided into 3 groups (n = 16 each):group Ⅰ sham operation (group S); group Ⅱ group NP and group Ⅲ electro-acupuncture + NP (group E). NP was induced by chronic constrictive injury (CCI). Right sciatic nerve was exposed and 4 loose ligatures were placed on the sciatic nerve at 1 mm intervals with 4-0 chromic catgut. In group E Huantiao and Weizhong points on the operated side were stimulated with electric stimulator (frequency 2 Hz, wave length 0.6 ms, starting at a voltage of 1mA and increasing by 1 mA every 10 min) for 30 min once a day at 11-17 d after CCI. Pain threshold to mechanical and thermal nociceptive stimuli was measured before (T0 , baseline) and at 10 and 16 d after CCI (T1, T2). The animals were sacrificed at 17 d after CCI and the lumbar segment (L4-6) was removed for determination of the activities of total NO synthase (tNOS), induced and neural NOS (iNOS, nNOS) (by spectrophotometry), NO content (by nitrate reductase method) and cGMP content (by immuno-histochemistry) in the spinal cord in 8 animals and the expression of iNOS and nNOS in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord (by immuno-histochemistry) in another 8 animals in each group. Results CCI significantly decreased the mechanical and thermal pain threshold at T1 and T2 as compared with the baseline at T0 in group NP and E. Hyperalgesia induced by CCI was significantly attenuated by electro-acupuncture at T2 in group E as compared with group NP.CCI significantly increased tNOS and nNOS activities, NO and cGMP content in the spinal cord and up-regulated nNOS expression in the spinal dorsal horn. Electro-acupuncture significantly attenuated the CCI-induced increases in tNOS and nNOS activities, NO and cGMP content in the spinal cord and nNOS expression in the spinal dorsal horn. There was no significant difference in the iNOS activity among the 3 groups. Conclusion NO-cGMP signal pathway in the spinal cord is involved in the acupuncture analgesia.

Objective To detect the mechanism of serum uric acid (UA) in different types of coronary heart disease (CHD).Methods 88 patients were divided into three groups：the control group，stable angina (SA) group and acute coronary syndrom (ACS) group.The levels of UA，alpha-granule membrane protein 140 (GMP-140)，von Willebrand factor(vWF)，plasminogen activator inhabitor typed (PAI-1)，Thromboxane B_2 (TXB_2) and C-reacting protein(CRP) were measured.Results ①UA and CRP in ACS group were higher than that in SA group and control group [(392.1±68.57) μmol/L and (42.2±39.4) mg/L vs (370.50±58.80) μmol/L and (18.9±17.1) mg/L vs (286.00±65.31) μmol/L and (2.5±0.7) mg/L，P＜0.05)].For UA，there was no difference between ACS and SA group(P＞0.05)；CRP was higher in ACS group than in SA group (P＜0.05).②vWF and TXB_2 were higher in ACS[(1.65±0.48)%，(19.73±18.66)ng/L]and SA group[(1.35±0.49)%，(11.18±10.71) ng/L]than in control group[(1.07±0.26)%，(6.46±5.41) ng/L，P＜0.05]，and those were higher in ACS group than in SA group (P＜0.05).③GMP-140 and PAI-1 were higher in ACS [(13.04±0.99) μg/L and (65.65±14.76) μg/L]and SA group[(12.55±0.74) μg/L and (62.69±12.24) μg/L]than in control group [(12.32±0.29) μg/L，(50.78±13.88) μg/L，P＜0.05].There were no differences between ACS and SA group (P＞0.05).④Comparing hyperuricemia group and non-hyperuricemia group in CHD patients：the CRP(71.3±18.9) mg/L，vWF(1.08±0.52) %，GMP-140(13.57±1.11) μg/L，TXB_2 (57.26±47.84)ng/L，PAI-1 (72.12±9.23) μg/L in ACS group possessing hyperuricemia were higher than non-hyperuricemia group [CRP (20.7±17.9) mg/L，vWF (0.84±0.54) %，GMP-140 (13.23±1.07) μg/L，TXB_2 (26.70 + 23.83) ng/L，PAI-1 (61.30±12.07) μg/L](t=7.394，0.008，0.227，7.605，0.421，P＜0.05)；CRP(31.1±18.9)mg/L and TXB2 (21.54±3.90) ng/L in SA group possessing hyperuricemia group were higher than non-hyperuricemia group[(10.9±10.1)mg/L and (5.02±4.93) ng/L，t=0.494，8.669，P＜0.05].Logistic stepwise regression analysis indicated that the related factors with ACS were UA(OR=1.046)，CRP(OR=7.615)，PAI-1(OR=1.301)，PT(OR=0.300)and TG(OR=2.243) (P＜0.05).Conclusions UA is an important risk factor in CHD patients.UA can induce different types of CHD by damaging blood vessel endothelium function，activating platelet，changing coagulation and causing inflammatory.