AIM: To observe the effect of L arginine on blood pressure (BP) in stress rats. METHODS: Thirty rats were divided into three groups. L ARG+stress group: L arginine was added in drinking water and electric stimulus were given intermittently in rat foot plate for 15 days; stress group: electric stimulus was given as above; control group: no stress. The BP levels of tail artery were measured per two days, and the concentrations of nitric oxide (NO) of plasma were detected on 15th day. RESULTS: There were significantly differences on BP between control group and stress group in the 9th,11th,13th,15th day(P

Objective To investigate the relationship between spontaneous hemorrhagic transformation and prognosis after cerebral infarction.Methods Three hundred and thirty-seven cases with acute ischemic stroke at the Brain Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University from Nov.2011 to Jul.2012 were selected as our subjects.All the relevant clinic and laboratory examination data which influencing spontaneous hemorrhagic transformation were collected.Brain CT or MRI within 3 d after admission or when neurological deficit deterioration happened was performed.Based on brain CT scan or MRI,patients were divided into hemorrhagic transformation(HT) group or non-HT(NHT) group.All cases were followed up for 3 month.Results All of 337 patients,44 cases occurred in spontaneous hemorrhagic transformation,accounting for 13.1％.The mortality rate was 6.8％ (3 cases) in 3 months followed-up at HT group,and the death/disability rate was 47.7％ (21 cases).Meanwhile,the mortality rate was 7.5％ (21 cases) in 3 months followed-up at NHT group,and the death/ disability rate was 35.5％ (104 cases).There was no significant difference between the two groups(x2 =3.10,P =0.376).Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that age (OR =1.054,95 ％ CI 1.021-1.087),gender(OR =2.131,95％ CI 1.151-3.945) and the national institutes of health stroke scale(OR =1.275,95％ CI 1.174-1.384) were independent predictors of death/dependence at 3 months after ischemic stroke attacked.Conclusion Spontaneous hemorrhagic transformation is not the risk factor of death/dependence on 3 month after symptom onset for ischemic stroke patients.Spontaneous hemorrhagic transformation should be detected as early as possible and adjusted therapy scheme in time,which will help in terms of prognosis.

Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide.Its characteristics are chronic neurodegenerative disease of the optic nerve,such as apoptosis of retinal ganglion cells,progressive loss of optic nerve axons and visual fields defects.The elevated intraocular pressure and vascular insufficiency are considered as the major risk factors,and the other factors include the glutamate excitotoxicity,nitric oxide increasing and oxidative stress.In recent years,the immune system changes were found to be participated in the pathogenesis of glaucoma and its damages of optic nerve.The main findings are the autoantibodies of heat shock protein,the elevation of tumor necrosis factor and other proinflammatory cytokines in periphery blood and aqueous humor.The immunological advance of autoantibody,cellular immunity and cytokines in the glaucoma and its neuronal damage were reviewed.

Objective To investigate the application value of nutritional support therapy after resection of esophageal cancer.Methods The clinical data of 125 patients with esophageal cancer who were admitted to the Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University between May and November 2013 were retrospectively analyzed.According to the Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS 2002), 58 patients with scores of NRS 2002 ≥3 were allocated to the A group including 43 receiving nutritional support therapy in the A1 group and 15 receiving no nutritional support therapy in the A2 group;67 patients with scores of NRS 2002 ＜ 3 were allocated to the B group including 29 receiving nutritional support therapy in the B1 group and 38 receiving no nutritional support therapy in the B2 group.The NRS 2002 was used as a screening tool of nutritional risk within 48 hours after admission.There was nutritional risk in patients with scores of NRS 2002 ≥ 3 and no nutritional risk in patients with scores of NRS 2002 ＜ 3.Patients and their families would choose whether or not underwent nutritional support therapy after the risks being informed.Parenteral nutritional support therapy used any 2 kinds of intravenously infusions of glucose, fat emulsion and amino acid, and enteral nutritional support therapy included tube feeding enteral nutrition or oral nutriments.The calories ≥ 10 kcal/(kg · d) were offered for more than 5 days.The incidence of malnutrition in patients with nutritional risk was calculated, and the level of serum Alb and prealbumin before operation, at postoperative day 3 and day 7, postoperative recovery time of gastrointestinal function and duration of hospital stay were detected.Count data were analyzed using the chi-square test.Measurement data with normal distribution were presented as-x ± s.Comparison among groups was analyzed using the LSD-t test, and repeated measures data were analyzed by the repeated measures ANOVA.Results Of 58 patients in the A group, 51 patients were complicated with malnutrition with a incidence of 87.9％, and nutritional support therapy in 43 patients was well tolerated without abdominal pain, distension and diarrhea.The level of serum Alb before operation, at postoperative day 3 and day 7 were (29.4 ± 1.7) g/L, (29.8 ± 1.5) g/L, (32.2 ± 2.3) g/L in the A1 group, (28.5±1.9)g/L, (27.0±1.8)g/L, (28.3 ±1.7)g/L in the A2 group, (35.8±1.3)g/L, (36.0± 1.4) g/L, (37.4 ± 2.1) g/L in the B1 group and (34.5 ± 1.3) g/L, (35.3 ± 1.7) g/L, (36.3 ± 1.5) g/L in the B2 group, showing a significant difference in the changing trends between the A1 and A2 groups (F =2.541, P ＜0.05) and no significant difference between the B1 and B2 groups (F =0.734, P ＞ 0.05).The number of patients with level of prealbumin ＜2.5 g/L and ≥2.5 g/L before operation, at postoperative day 3 and day 7 were 17 and 26, 13 and 30, 10 and 33 in the A1 group, 6 and 9, 9 and 6, 10 and 5 in the A2 group, 5 and 24, 6 and 23, 7 and 22 in the B1 group and 7 and 31, 9 and 29, 13 and 25 in the B2 group, with a significant difference between the A1 and A2 groups (x2 =4.183, P ＜ 0.05) and no significant difference between the B1 and B2 groups (x2 =0.795, P ＞ 0.05).The postoperative recovery time of gastrointestinal function and duration of hospital stay were (3.2 ± 0.8) days and (11.6 ± 1.1) days in the A1 group, (3.8 ± 1.0) days and (15.5 ± 2.7) days in the A2 group, (2.7 ± 1.0) days and (10.6 ± 2.6) days in the B1 group and (3.2 ± 0.8) days and (11.3 ±1.5) days in the B2 group, with significant differences between the A1 and A2 groups (t =0.921, 3.005, P ＜0.05) and no significant difference between the B1 and B2 groups (t =0.927, 0.440, P ＞ 0.05).Conclusions Application of NRS 2002 for evaluating nutritional status and guiding nutritional support therapy in patients with esophageal cancer is accurate and trusted.The postoperative nutritional support therapy should be selectively and reasonably applied to patients with nutritional risk, and it can improve the nutritional status of patients with esophageal cancer, enhance postoperative recovery and reduce duration of hospital stay.

Objective: To observe the efficacy and safty of intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) plus concomitant and adjuvant chemotherapy of temozolomide (TMZ) for glioma patients with postoperative residual. The target dose distribution and the dose to organs at risk were analyzed by dosiology of radiotherapy. Methods: Twenty-one glioma patients with postoperative tumor residual were enrolled between April 2008 and June 2009, including 10 cases of grade II and 11 cases of grade III-IV within the WHO 2000 classification. All patients received IMRT with a total dosage of 59.92-64.20 Gy/ 28-30 fx and concomitant chemotherapy (oral TMZ 50-75 mg·m-1·d -1), followed by 6 cycles of adjuvant TMZ (150-200 mg·m -1·d-1, in a 28-d cycle) 4 weeks after IMRT. Results: There were 2 cases of complete response (CR), 17cases of partial response (PR), and 2 cases of stable disease (SD), and the overall response rate (CR+PR) was 90.5%. The overall response rates of patients with grade II and III-IV were 100% (10/10) and 81.8% (9/11), respectively. The one-year progression-free survival rate was 80.9% and the overall survival rate was 85.7%, which were both 100% in grade II, whereas 72.7% and 81.8% in grade III-IV, respectively. The dose of each critical organ in IMRT was obviously lower than the minimum tolerance dose in conventional radiation therapy, and the radiation-related toxicities were mild. All patients in this study could tolerate the regimen. Conclusion: IMRT combined with concomitant and adjuvant TMZ chemotherapy for gliomas has a higher short-term efficacy with less side effects, meanwhile the IMRT for protection of vital organs around the target has certain advantages.

Objective To investigate effects of cerebral isehemic preconditioning on neurological function,in- farct volume,and the expression of caspase-3 in brain issue after brain ischemia again,and to investigate the brain protection mechanism produced by cerebral ischemia preconditioning.Methods 48 healthy male Sprague-Dawley (SD)rats(weighted 200～250g)were randomly divided into 2 groups:ischemia group(n=24),ischemia precondi- tioning group(namely preconditioning group,n=24).Each group was divided into 4 subgroups according to 6h,1d, 2d,4d after ischemia again.Results At the same point of time after ischemia,neurological deficit in preconditioning group was much less than that in ischemia group,the difference was significant(P

Objective To test and evaluate the geometric accuracy of delineation of organs at risk ( OARs) in head and neck cancer using an atlas?based autosegmentation ( ABAS) software. Methods The atlases for the ABAS software was generated using images from 40 patients with head and neck cancer undergoing intensity?modulated radiotherapy. The software was tested in 40 new patients. Automatic delineation of OARs was carried out on computed tomography images by single?( one to one ) and multi?template ( ten to one) approaches. In order to evaluate the feasibility of the automatic delineation in clinical application, differences in volume (ΔV%), position (Δx,Δy, andΔz), conformability (sensitivity ( Se ), specificity ( Sp ) , and dice similarity coefficient ( DSC) ) , and delineation time were assessed between the automatic and manual delineation. The comparison between the two automatic delineation approaches was made by paried t test. Results For all OARs, the multi?template automatic delineation achieved a significantly smaller mean ΔV% value and a significantly larger mean DSC value than the single?template automatic delineation (-0.02%± 0?29% vs. -0.16%± 0?41%, P<0?05;0.74± 0?16 vs. 0.68± 0?20, P<0?05);the position differences between two automatic delineation approaches were less than 0?4 cm in all three directions except for the temporal lobe, lower jaw, and spinal cord;in the receiver operating characteristic curve defined by Se versus 1-Sp , the data points were all within the first quadrant except for the optic nerve and chiasm;automatic delineation saved 42%?72% of time compared with manual delineation. Conclusions The ABAS software achieves satisfactory results of automatic delineation for most of OARs in patients with head and neck cancer. The multi?template automatic delineation, particularly, has better outcomes than the single?template one. In addition, it greatly shortens the time the clinicians spend on delineation of OARs.

BACKGROUND:Basic fibroblast growth factor is a pluripotent cytokine that can promote the proliferation of mesodermal and neuroectodermal cells.
OBJECTIVE:To observe the effect of basic fibroblast growth factor in human periodontal ligament cells cultured in vitro.
METHODS:Human periodontal ligament cells at passage 5 were inoculated into the 96-wel plates at the density of 1×108/L, and were randomly divided into four groups. The cells were cultured inα-MEM containing 15%fetal bovine serum and 0, 1, 10, 100μg/L basic fibroblast growth factor, respectively. At 1, 3, 5, 7 days of the culture, the cellproliferation was determined, and the activity of alkaline phosphates was detected at 1 and 7 days.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:There were significant differences in the proliferation of human periodontal ligament cells among the four groups (F=6.586, P=0.024). As the increase of the basic fibroblast growth factor concentrations, the absorbance value was gradual y increased and reached the peak in 100μg/L basic fibroblast growth factor group (P<0.05). The alkaline phosphatase activity in basic fibroblast growth factor groups was lower than that of the control group (P=0.000), the higher the concentration was, the lower activity was (P<0.05). Results show that basic fibroblast growth factor can promote the proliferation of human periodontal ligament cells and inhibit the activity of alkaline phosphatase, and the effect is concentration-dependent.

Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy of facial acupoint catgut embedding therapy in the treatment of skin aging.Methods The sixty patients with facial skin aging were randomly divided into catgut embedding group and sham embedding group,30 cases each.Catgut embedding group received catgut embedding therapy; the control group also received acupuncture but not the filling line.Two groups were operated 2 times,once every 21 days,a total of 42 days.The facial skin aging were evaluated and analyzed using VISIA and CK complexion analysis system.Results In catgut embedding group,wrinkles,pores,texture,moisture and elasticity were improved signficantly (P＜0.05).Ultraviolet,pigmentation,telangiectasia and melasma were not obviously improved.There was no significant change in the sham embedding group.Conclusions Facial acupoint catgut embedding therapy is an effective method for the treatment of skin aging with no significant side effects.

Information of metabolic enzymes and transporters, physiological parameters of animals and demography of Chinese people were integrated to establish a digital liver model (DLM) based on metabolism and transporter and coded with VBA. Clearance and drug-drug interaction (DDI) of candidate drugs in animal and human could be predicted based on the pharmacokinetic data obtained from in vitro and in vivo experiments. Pravastatin and pitavastatin were selected as the samples to examine this model, where their clearance and their DDI with cyclosporine were predicted. The results showed that the predicted values of median parameters in same species were within twofold of observed values for 83.3% (5/6). The program's successful prediction in DDI tendency might indicate its application in optimizing the dosage regimen and reducing the risk of clinical trial.