OBJECTIVETo compare the effects between moxibustion at Guanyuan (CV 4), Shenshu (BL 23), Zusanli (ST 36) and western medication on immune function in children with cerebral palsy.

METHODSA total of 230 children with cerebral palsy were randomly divided into an observation group and a control group, 115 cases in each one. Patients in the observation group were treated with warm moxibustion at Guanyuan (CV 4), Shenshu (BL 23) and Zusanli (ST 36). Patients in the control group were treated with oral administration of pidotimod 10 mL every time. The treatment was given once a day, and 30 days were considered as one session for total 90 days. The changes of T-lymphoctyte subgroups, serum immunoglobulin and development quotient were compared 30 days, 60 days and 90 days into treatment respectively; also the occurrence rate.of disease was observed during 6-month and 12-month follow-up visit.

RESULTSThe T-lymphoctyte subgroups (CD3+, CD4+, CD4+/CD8+), serum immunoglobulin (IgG, IgA) and development quotient were significantly improved 30 days, 60 days and 90 days into treatment (P < 0.01, P < 0.05). Regarding the changes of CD3+, CD4+, CD4+/CD4+, IgG, IgA and development quotient, the control group was superior to the observation group 30 days into treatment (all P < 0.05), and the control group was similar to the observation group 60 days into treatment (all P > 0.05), and the observation group was superior to the control group 90 days into treatment (all P < 0.05). There was no significant difference of CD8+ and IgM before and after treatment in two groups (all P > 0.05). The rate of adverse events was 7.0% (8/115) in the observation group, which was lower than 23.5% (27/115) in the control group (P < 0.01); during 6-month and 12-month follow-up visit, the occurrence rate of disease in the observation group was lower than that in the control group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONMoxibustion at Guanyuan (CV 4), Shenshu (BL 23) and Zusanli (ST 36) can improve immune function of children with cerebral palsy, which is superior to pidotimod.

Acupuncture Points ; Cerebral Palsy ; immunology ; therapy ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin A ; immunology ; Immunoglobulin G ; immunology ; Infant ; Male ; Moxibustion ; T-Lymphocyte Subsets ; immunology ; Treatment Outcome

Objective To observe the effects of nerve growth factor (NGF) on the early treatment of pe- ripheral nerve injuries.Methods From April 2004 to October 2005,48 cases with peripheral nerve injury were randomly divided into therapeutic and control groups which were treated with NGF and Vitamin B12 for four weeks respectively.The changes in pain,numbness as well as neurophysiology in the two groups were assessed and compared. Results Compared with the control group,symptoms of pain and numbness in the therapeutic group were significantly alleviated (P＜0.05),the number of regenerative nerves was greater (P＜0.01),latent periods for the recovered sensory and motorial potentials of the regenerative nerves shorter,amplitudes significantly higher (P＜0.05 ),and side effects fewer.Conclusion NGF is safe and effective for early treatment of peripheral nerve injuries.

Big Data is a new conception after scholars have proposed the conception of Web2.0 and cloud computing.This paper focuses on traditional Chinese medical researchers in order to meet the challenges of big data era.It is suggested that TCM scientific researchers should establish the idea of lifelong learning,and emphasize information literacy,in order to grasp for the latest medical researching information to make effective contributions to research innovation and human health.

Objective To investigate the relationship between androgen receptor CAG-gene polymorphism and androgen in male with salt sensitive hypertension.Methods Through the oral saline loading test and furosemide volume method male hypertension group were divided into salt-sensitive (SS group) and salt-insensitive (SR group).The samples from 161 males were selected in the study,including salt sensitive hypertension patients (SS group,61/161),salt-insensitive hypertension patients (SR group,40/161) and age-matched healthy samples (control group,60/161).All samples were sequenced with an analysis method (CAG) n repeated polymorphism,and determinated of total testosterone (TT) and free testosterone (FT) level in serum by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay.Results The number of CAG repeats was 14～34,average 22.4± 2.7.The CAG repeats of SS,SR and control group were 23.5±3.75,22.3±3.17 and 21.8±2.95,respectively.There were significant differences among the three groups (t=2.627～ 3.257,all P＜0.05).The level of TT and FT in SS and SR group were decreased compared with that of control group.At the same time,the level of SS group was lower,and there were significant differences among the three groups (t=2.524～ 3.826,all P＜0.05).Conclusion The androgen receptor gene repeat length and androgen levels are associated with male hypertension,especially salt-sensitive hypertension.Long (CAG) n repeat polymorphism maybe a genetic factor in the pathogenesis of hypertension.Plasma androgen levels may be used as a predictor of male salt sensitive hypertension.

This article proposes the "Efficacy Theory" hypothesis of the traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs): TCMs take effects and weaken toxicities through the additive effects of numerous effective forms (including their constituents or/and metabolites) on a same target, the synergistic effects based on the overall action of the additive effects on individual targets and their toxicities scattering effects. A TCM may include approximately 1000 constituents and each constituent may produce about 100 metabolites in vivo after oral administration. Numerous effective forms of incalculable constituents and their metabolites could work like a "army group" together. When the quantity of a specific target molecule is larger than the pharmaceutical molecules, the molecules of different kinds of effective forms could combine with the target molecules successively, to exert the additive effects. When the target molecules are mostly occupied ("target most spaces occupied"), this TCM begins to work. The additive effects maybe exert not only in concentration but also in a time order way, which gives a sustained efficacy of TCM. The additive effects and the toxicities scattering effects are resulted from the same effective groups and not identical toxic groups among different effective form molecules. The "toxicities scattering effect" can be used to explain the non-toxic TCMs, but not fit for toxic TCMs. The efficacy theory showed that the variety of constituents and metabolites may participate in the process of pharmacodynamic actions, including the additive effects, synergy effects and toxicities scattering effects, which may be useful for explaining and developing the characteristic advantage of the TCMs. The questions we need to study or confirm are as follows: What are the TCMs' pharmacodynamic substance basis and mechanism made up of Why are toxicities of most TCMs' smaller How is the TCMs' "Efficacy Theory" which reflects characteristic advantage of TCMs applied in the research and development of new drugs.
Animals ; Drug Therapy ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Pharmaceutical Preparations ; chemistry

Recently, the immunotherapy has been highlighted among cancer treatments. Cancer-testis antigen (CTA) has been studied in a variety of solid tumors because of its specific expression in tumors, and testis, ovary and placenta tissues, but not in other normal tissues. In order to provide a new approach for multiple myeloma (MM) immunotherapy, we examined the CTA expression in MM cell lines, and primary myeloma cells in patients with MM. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to detect the mRNA expression of MAGE-C1/CT7, SSX1, SSX2 and SSX4 in MM cell lines of RPMI-8226 and U266, and bone marrow (BM) cells of 25 MM patients and 18 healthy volunteers. The results showed that the 4 CTAs were expressed in RPMI-8226 and U266 cell lines. The positive expression rate of MAGE-C1/CT7, SSX1, SSX2 and SSX4 in the BM cells of 25 MM patients was 28% (7/25), 80% (20/25), 40% (10/25) and 68% (17/25), respectively. In contrast, the expression of any member of the CTAs was not detected in BM cells of 18 healthy volunteers. The expression of two or more CTAs was detected in 80% (20/25) MM patients, and that of at least one CTA in 88% (22/25). The mRNA expression levels of SSX1 and SSX4 were significantly higher in patients with MM at stage III than in those at stage I and II (P<0.05). No statistically significant differences were observed in the mRNA expression levels of MAGE-C1/CT7 and SSX2 in further stratified analyses by age, gender, MM types and percentage of MM cells in BM (P>0.05). In conclusion, our present study showed that MAGE-C1/CT7, SSX1, SSX2 and SSX4 were co-expressed in MM cell lines and the primary myeloma cells in MM patients, but not expressed in BM cells of healthy subjects. The mRNA levels of SSX1 and SSX4 are associated with MM clinical stage. This work may provide a new insight into MM immunotherapy in the future.

Objective To optimize and simplify the survey method of Oncomelania hupensis snail in marshland endemic re?gion of schistosomiasis and increase the precision,efficiency and economy of the snail survey. Methods A quadrate experimen?tal field was selected as the subject of 50 m×50 m size in Chayegang marshland near Henghu farm in the Poyang Lake region and a whole?covered method was adopted to survey the snails. The simple random sampling,systematic sampling and stratified ran?dom sampling methods were applied to calculate the minimum sample size,relative sampling error and absolute sampling error. Results The minimum sample sizes of the simple random sampling,systematic sampling and stratified random sampling meth?ods were 300,300 and 225,respectively. The relative sampling errors of three methods were all less than 15%. The absolute sampling errors were 0.221 7,0.302 4 and 0.047 8,respectively. Conclusion The spatial stratified sampling with altitude as the stratum variable is an efficient approach of lower cost and higher precision for the snail survey.

Objective To quantitatively analyze the value of color Doppler twinkling artifact and CT in distinguishing urinary stone composition of uric acid from that of cystine,and to assess the ability of color Doppler twinkling artifact and CT to diagnose urinary stone composition of uric acid.Methods Artificial stones made of uric acid and cystihe were inserted in porcine kidneys respectively.Color Doppler ultrasound and CT scanning were performed in vitro and twinkling artifact videos were recorded.The CT attenuation value,the width and length of twinkling artifact (TAW,TAL) were measured.The color pixels representing twinkling artifact intensity (TAI) were calculated.The differences between artificial cystine and artificial uric acid stones in TAW,TAL,TAI and CT attenuation value were compared.The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to assess the ability of TAW,TAL,TAI and CT attenuation value to diagnose urinary stone composition of uric acid.Results The TAW [(4.16 ± 1.54)mm vs (4.97 ± 1.93)mm],TAL[(3.75 ± 1.05)mm vs (5.12 ± 2.51)mm] and TAI [(3 005.50 ± 812.33) vs (5 433.86±2 505.81)] of artificial cystine stones were less than those of artificial uric acid stones while the CT attenuation value of artificial cystine stones [(573.75 ± 110.10)HU vs (364.09 ± 67.28)HU] were greater (P ＜0.05).The ROC curve was displayed to diagnose urinary stone composition of uric acid,and the area under curve of CT attenuation value was bigger than that of TAI (0.936 vs 0.817,Z =2.308,P =0.021).Combination of color Doppler twinkling artifact and CT value would dramatically increase the diagnostic accuracy to 98％.Conclusions Both color Doppler ultrasound and CT were reliable examinations for distinguishing urinary stone composition of cystine from that of uric acid.Combination of color Doppler ultrasound and CT would be good references to diagnose urinary stone composition of uric acid.

Objective To investigate the diagnostic value of twinkling artifact in urinary calcium stones.Methods Calcium oxalate monohydrate,hydroxyapatite and whitlockite stone phantoms were prepared and embedded in porcine kidneys for ultrasound scanning.The length and width of twinkling artifact were measured.The intensity of twinkling artifact and the contrast-to-noise ratio (C/N ratio) of acoustic shadowing were recorded and all the data was analyzed statistically.Results All the stone phantoms generated twinkling artifact and acoustic shadowing.The difference of the intensity,length and width of twinkling artifact and the C/N ratio of acoustic shadowing had statistically significant each composition (P ＜0.01).There was no overlap between 95％ confidence interval of the intensity of twinkling artifact for any two compositions,and any two compositions of stones could be differentiated by the intensity of twinkling artifact (P ＜0.05).The C/N ratio of acoustic shadowing of calcium oxalate monohydrate and whitlockite stone phantoms were higher than those of hydroxyapatite ones (P ＜0.05).The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve displayed that the cutoff value of 1 127 of the intensity of twinkling artifact could be used to diagnose hydroxyapatite stones.The sensitivity,specificity,positive predictive value (PPV),negative predictive value (NPV) and area under the curve (AUC) were 74 ％,68 ％,69.8％,72.3％ and 0.743 respectively.Conclusions Twinkling artifact could be used to differentiate the calcium stones,which will be helpful for clinical treatment.

To develop an analytic method for qualitative and quantitative analysis of dodecatetraenamides A, B in 42 samples of two official species of Asari Radix et Rhizoma( ARR) (37 samples of Asarum heterotropoides var. mandshuricum with different collection time and 5 samples of Asarum sieboldiivar. seoulense). The HPLC-IT-TOF-MS/MS methods for the qualitative and UPLC-PDA methods for the quantitative analysis were established. Dodecatetraenamides A, B were identified by comparing the retention time, UV absorption spectrum and quasi-molecular ion peak [ M + H]+ with the reference compound using HPLC-IT-TOF-MS/MS. The content of dodecatetraenamides A and B in ARR were determined by UPLC-PDA. The separation was successfully carried out on a ACQUITY UPLC BEH C18 (2.1 mm x 100 mm, 1.7 µm) column eluted with mobile phases of water (A) and acetonitrile (B) in gradient program (0-3 min, 35% B; 3-5 min, 35%-36% B; 5-6 min, 36%-43% B; 6 min-11 min 43% B; 11-12 min, 43%-100% B). The column temperature was 45 °C, and the detection wavelength was set at 254 nm. The flow rate was 0.6 mL · min(-1). On one level mass spectrometry scanning, the results showed that the quasi-molecular ion [M + H] + of both dodecatetraenamides A and B were m/z 248.20. The quantitative method with UPLC-PDA has made the baseline separation of the constituents, which were reported as mixtures in the most literatures. The average recovery of dodecatetraenamides A and B were 97.90% and 99.86%, the relative standard deviation were 0.4% and 1.1%, respectively. The contents of dodecatetraenamides A, B in all ARR samples was in the range of 0.11-3.89 and 0.24-6.65 mg · g(-1). Their contents reduced with the extension of storage time. Compared with the samples of 2013, the average content of the two constituents in the samples collected in year 2002-2003 reduced 34% and 36%, respectively (P < 0.05). Compared the A. sieboldii var. seoulense and A. heterotropoides var. mandshuricum with the same collective time and production area, the average contents of the two constituents in latter were up to (1.59 ± 0.75) mg · g(-1) and (2.90 ± 1.17) mg · g(-1), respectively, significantly higher than that in A. sieboldii var. seoulense (dodecatetraenamide A were (0.78 ± 0.52) mg · g(-1), dodecatetraenamide B were (1.69 ± 0.83) mg · g(-1)) (P < 0.05). The content of the dodecatetraenamide A in overground part was in the range of 0.11-0.33 mg · g(-1), dodecatetraenamide B was 0. 24-0.60 mg · g(-1), which were much lower than that of the underground part of ARR (dodecatetraenamide A was in the range of 0.73-3.89 mg · g(-1), dodecatetraenamide B was 2.11-6.24 mg · g(-1)). The method was certified to be simple, accurate and reliable and could be used for qualitative and quantitative analysis of dodecatetraenamide A and B in different species of ARR, also can be used for the comprehensive quality control of traditional Chinese medicine, Asari Radix et Rhizoma.
Amides ; chemistry ; Asarum ; chemistry ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Mass Spectrometry ; Molecular Structure ; Rhizome ; chemistry