OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Mahuang Zhisou Capsule (MHZSC), a compound traditional Chinese herbal medicine, in treatment of acute upper respiratory tract infection of wind-cold syndrome. METHODS: A multi-center, double-blind, double dummy, randomized controlled trial was conducted. A total of 240 patients were randomized into treatment group (120 cases, treated with MHZSC) and control group (120 cases, treated with Mahuang Zhisou Pill). The therapeutic course was 3 days. RESULTS: Seven cases were excluded and three cases lost to follow-up. Two hundred and thirty-three cases entered intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis and 230 cases fitted in per-protocol population set (PPS) analysis. After treatment, the therapeutic effect of upper respiratory tract infection was calculated by ITT and PPS analysis respectively. The significant response rate and total response rate in the treatment group were 78.07% and 98.25% (ITT and PPS), while the significant response rates in the control group were 70.59% (ITT) and 70.69%(PPS), and the total response rates were 95.80% (ITT) and 95.69% (PPS) respectively. There were no significant differences in clinical efficacy between the two groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: MHZSC is effective and safe in treatment of acute upper respiratory tract infection of external wind-cold syndrome.

OBJECTIVETo explore the relationship between expression of coiled-coil domain-containing protein 80(CCDC80) and obesity in serum and adipose tissues.

METHODSA cross-sectional survey was conducted in a hospital in Tangshan in September 2010. 100 people including 78 healthy people and 22 with type-2 diabetes were recruited. Another 36 female patients with benign tumor of Obstetrics and Gynecology were also recruited. Demographic characteristics and serum samples were collected from all subjects, basic biochemical indicators were tested. All subjects were divided into 'Normal Weight' and 'Overweight and Obese' according to their BMI (BMI <24.0 kg/m(2); BMI≥24 kg/m(2)). Serum CCDC80 of the 100 subjects was detected by ELISA. Visceral and subcutaneous fat were derived from the other 36 female subjects, and Real-time PCR was used to detect CCDC80 mRNA expression in adipose tissues. Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression were used to analyze the correlation between serum or adipose CCDC80 expression and waist, BMI, and other biochemical indicators.

RESULTSThe age of 100 subjects was (52.9±8.4) years old. 44% of them were women (44 cases) and 56% of them were men (56 cases). After dividing them into three groups according to their BMI, covariance analysis were conducted, and age and gender were adjusted. The HDL-C level was significantly different among three groups (F = 10.73, P < 0.001): 'Overweight and obese combined with diabetes' group ((0.90±0.06) mmol/L)< 'Overweight and obese' group ((1.14±0.04) mmol/L) < 'Normal weight' group ((1.28±0.05) mmol/L). The adjusted expression of serum CCDC80 of the 100 subjects was (5.84±0.16) pg/ml, (5.81±0.98) pg/ml among men and (5.97±0.89) pg/ml among women, and there was no significant difference (t = -0.812, P = 0.419) between genders. ANOVA revealed that there was no significant differences of the expression of serum CCDC80 among three groups (F = 1.06, P = 0.351), 'Normal weight' group was (5.84±0.16) pg/ml, 'overweight and obese' group was (6.11±0.14) pg/ml, and 'Overweight and obese combined with diabetes' group was (5.84±0.19) pg/ml. The analysis showed that FBG had a negative correlation with serum CCDC80 (R(b) = -0.223, P = 0.026). Multivariate linear regression had a similar result, with 1 mmol/L increase of serum FBG, serum CCDC80 decreases for 0.24 pg/ml (β = -0.24, 95% CI: -0.21--0.02). There was also a negative correlation between serum CCDC80 and FBG in overweight and obese people (R(a) = -0.368, P = 0.013). Besides, CCDC80 mRNA was detected in both subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue of 36 cases, the expression level was 0.06±0.02 for subcutaneous fat, was 0.05±0.04 for visceral fat, and the expression in visceral fat was lower (0.05±0.03) than that in subcutaneous fat (0.06±0.03) (t = 2.50, P = 0.025) among overweight and obese group. There was a negative correlation between waist and visceral CCDC80 mRNA expression (r = -0.472, P = 0.035).

CONCLUSIONThis study suggested that CCDC80 may be involved in energy and insulin metabolism, and plays a protective role in obesity and diabetes.

Adipose Tissue ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; Female ; Glycoproteins ; Humans ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ; Intra-Abdominal Fat ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Obesity ; Overweight ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Serum ; Subcutaneous Fat

Prepulse inhibition (PPI) is suppression of the startle reflex when an intense startling stimulus is preceded by a weaker sensory stimulus (the prepulse). It is an operational measurement of sensorimotor gating mechanism to help human adapt to complex environment. This weak prepulse protect central cognitive processing by damping the effect of intense stimuli. Autistics cannot select out behaviorally important information from a lot of irrelevant resources and reflect abnormal gating mechanism and attentional abnormalities. Previous studies have not made agreement on whether autistic patients demonstrated deficits in PPI, because the results depend on age, sex, severity of the disease as well as the experimental parameters used. Moreover, these studies have not covered whether autistics have suffered deficits in higher-order processing. In this review, the "top-down" modulation of selective attention and subjective emotion are introduced into the PPI experiment. We also introduce fear conditioning and perceived spatial separation paradigm to further explore the interaction between autistic cognitive process and gating mechanism.
Attention ; Autistic Disorder ; Fear ; Humans ; Prepulse Inhibition ; Reflex, Startle

To evaluate the safety and efficacy of andrographolide drop-pill in treatment of acute upper respiratory tract infection with external wind-heat syndrome.

Isolation rearing (IR) enhances aggressive behavior, and the central serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) system has been linked to IR-induced aggression. However, whether the alteration of central serotonin is the cause or consequence of enhanced aggression is still unknown. In the present study, using mice deficient in central serotonin Tph2 and Lmx1b, we examined the association between central serotonin and aggression with or without social isolation. We demonstrated that central serotonergic neurons are critical for the enhanced aggression after IR. 5-HT depletion in wild-type mice increased aggression. On the other hand, application of 5-HT in Lmx1b mice inhibited the enhancement of aggression under social isolation conditions. Dopamine was downregulated in Lmx1b mice. Similar to 5-HT, L-DOPA decreased aggression in Lmx1b mice. Our results link the serotoninergic system directly to aggression and this may have clinical implications for aggression-related human conditions.