Ear Diseases ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging

In this study, based on web database, 324 neurotoxic compounds and 234 non-neurotoxic compounds were selected as a data set for neurotoxicity discriminative model. 6 122 molecular descriptors, including charge distribution, physicochemical and geometrical descriptors,were calculated to characterize the molecular structure of neurotoxic compounds. The combination of Cfs Subset Evaluation and Best First-D1-N5 searching was used to select molecular descriptors. A discrimination model with high accuracy was built based on the support vector machine (SVM) approach. Meanwhile, the model accuracy, sensitivity and specificity were all above 80%. Besides, 30 traditional Chinese medicine compositions with neurotoxicity were set as external validation to further verify the model accuracy,with anaccuracy of 73.333%. Using the model, 13 potential neurotoxic compounds were screened from Sophorae subprostrate Radix,4 of them were verified by literatures. The results demonstrated that the discrimination model can be applied to screen neurotoxic compounds from Chinese medicinal materials.
Computer Simulation ; Drug Evaluation, Preclinical ; methods ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; methods ; Models, Theoretical ; Neurotoxins ; analysis ; chemistry ; Reproducibility of Results ; Support Vector Machine

On the basis of web databases, 111 compounds with nephrotoxicity and 90 compounds without nephrotoxicity were collected as data set of nephrotoxicity discrimination model, 39 compounds with tubular necrosis and 39 compounds without tubular necrosis were collected as data set of tubular necrosis discrimination model. The 6 122 molecular descriptors, including physicochemical, charge distribution and geometrical descriptors were calculated to characterize the molecular structure of the above-mentioned compounds. CfsSubsetEval valuation method and BestFirst-D1-N5 searching method were used to select molecular descriptors. Two models with high accuracy were built based on the support vector machine (SVM) approach, respectively. Accuracy, sensitivity, specificity and matthew's correlation coefficient of the two models were all above 70%. By using 22 nephrotoxicity compounds of Chinese medicine, the nephrotoxicity discrimination model was further verified with an accuracy of 72.73%. Using the tubular necrosis discrimination model, 10 potential compounds which can cause tubular necrosis were screened from the positive results of nephrotoxicity discrimination model, 6 of them have been verified by literatures. The results demonstrated that the discrimination models can be applied to screen nephrotoxic compounds from Chinese medicinal materials, and they also offer a new research idea for the further studies on the mechanism of nephrotoxicity.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; toxicity ; Nephrons ; drug effects ; Support Vector Machine ; Toxicity Tests ; instrumentation ; methods

Objective To investigate the effect of Clopidogrel on the plasma endothelin(ET)and calcitonin gene related peptide(CGRP)in patients with unstable angina pectoris(UAP).Methods Patients with UAP were divided into two groups,the regular treated group(n =50)was treated with Isoket and the Dansben group(n =50)was treated with combined Isoket and Clopidogrel.The plasma ET and CGRP were measured before and after treatment by radioimmunoreactive assay.Data were compared between the two groups and also compared with those measured in 20healthy subjects for control.Results ET level was significantly higher and CGRP level was lower in UAP patients than that in healthy subjects(P ＜ 0.05).After Clopidogrel treatment,ET was significantly decreased(P ＜ 0.01)and CGRP increased(P ＜0.05)in combined treatment group compared with patients received lsoket only.Conclusion Clopidogrel was an effective drug for UAP treatment,which could efficiently regulate the ET and CGRP metabolism.

Nicotinic acid could increase high density lipoprotein and reduce serum total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides in human bodies, thus is frequently applied in treating low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and hypertriglyceridemia in clinic. However, according to the findings, nicotinic acid could also cause adverse effects, such as skin flush, beside its curative effects. In this study, bioisosterism, fragment-based search and Lipinski's Rule of Five were used to preliminarily screen out potential TCM ingredients that may have similar pharmacological effects with nicotinic acid from Traditional Chinese medicine database (TCMD). Afterwards, homology modeling and flexible docking were used to further screen out potential nicotinic acid receptor agonists. As a result, eleven candidate compounds were derived from eight commonly used traditional Chinese medicines. Specifically, all of the candidate compounds' interaction with nicotinic acid receptor was similar to nicotinic acid, and their docking scores were all higher than that of nicotinic acid, but their druggability remained to be further studied. Some of the eight source traditional Chinese medicines were used to lower lipid according to literature studies, implying that they may show effect through above means. In summary, this study provides basis and reference for extracting new nicotinic acid receptor agonists from traditional Chinese medicines and improving the medication status of hyperlipidemia.
Drug Evaluation, Preclinical ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Humans ; Models, Molecular ; Molecular Structure ; Nicotinic Acids ; chemistry ; Nicotinic Agonists ; chemistry ; Protein Binding ; Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled ; agonists ; chemistry ; Receptors, Nicotinic ; chemistry

BACKGROUND:How to obtain a sufficient number of cells is one of the key issues in the celltransplantation therapy, and studies have shown that stem cellproliferation can be promoted by reasonable stimulus.
OBJECTIVE:To investigate reduced glutathione effects on biological characteristics of human umbilical cord blood mesenchymal stem cells.
METHODS:The cells were divided into two groups:the control group consisted of the normal human umbilical cord blood mesenchymal stem cells, and in the experimental group, human umbilical cord blood mesenchymal stem cells were treated with 0.15 g/L reduced glutathione.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:At days 5, 7, 9, cells treated with 0.15 g/L reduced glutathione showed higher absorbance values than those in the control group (P<0.05). Flow cytometry showed reduced glutathione had no effects on CD29, CD44, CD45, CD105 expression. Real-time PCR results showed reduced glutathione was capable of promoting extracellular signal-regulated kinase mRNA expression (P<0.05). Findings from this study showed that 0.15 g/L reduced glutathione can promote the proliferation of human umbilical cord blood mesenchymal stem cells.

Objective To evalute and compare the efficacy and safety of epinephrine-saline submu-cosal injection of different concentrations on endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD),and to discuss the best concentration of submucosal injection.Methods A total of 128 patients who underwent ESD were ran-domly assigned to submucosal normal saline injection group (group A,n =32),0.001% epinephrine-saline injection group (group B,n =32),0.002% epinephrine-saline injection group (group C,n =32),and 0.004% epinephrine-saline injection group (group D,n =32).The incidence of bleeding during and after ESD were counted,the blood preasure and heart rate of preoperative and intraoperative,the amount of sub-mucosal injection,the time of operation were observed.Results ESD was successfully performed on all pa-tients.There were no difference in highest blood preasure and fastest heart rate between preoperative and in-traoperative results of each group.No perforation or intraoperative acute massive bleeding occurred.Intraop-erative acute minimal bleeding during ESD occurred in 9 patients in group A and 3 in group B,2 in group C and 2 in group D (P <0.05),but there were no differences among group B,C and D.The amount of submu-cosal injection of group A was(39.5 ±10.8)ml,which was more than that of group B(29.4 ±9.4)ml,group C(27.3 ±8.2)ml and group D(20.4 ±11.8)ml with significant difference.There were no differences a-mong group B,C and D,but there was less in group D than group B.The operation time of group A was(82.3 ±24.78 minutes),which was longer than that of group B (60.7 ±25.35minutes),group C (54.7 ± 31.72minutes)and group D(59.2 ±28.49 minutes),but there was no difference among B,C and D group. Conclusion Epinephrine-saline submucosal injection assiting ESD is safe and effective and reduces the op-eration time and bleeding than normal saline.The increase of the epinephrine-saline concentrations has not been found to be more beneficial.

Objective: To observe the clinical efficacy of tendon-regulating and bone-setting manipulation combined with endurance resistance exercises in treating female with chronic neck pain, and explore the mechanism. Methods: A total of 57 female patients with chronic neck pain who met the inclusion criteria were randomly divided into a manipulation group (29 cases) and a medium-frequency electrotherapy group (28 cases). Patients in both groups received the same endurance exercise therapy, while those in the manipulation group received additional tendon-regulating and bone-setting manipulation, and those in the medium-frequency electrotherapy group received additional medium-frequency electrotherapy. Both groups were treated for 5 weeks. Before and after treatment, the neck function of patients was evaluated by visual analog scale (VAS), Analgesy-Meter, Northwick Park questionnaire (NPQ), root mean square (RMS) and median frequency (MF) of surface electromyography of sternocleidomastoid muscle and posterior cervical extensor muscle, and the patients were followed up at a month after treatment. Results: All patients completed the treatment and were followed up. Compared with the same group before treatment, the VAS scores of both groups decreased, the tenderness values increased, the RMS and MF values increased, and the NPQ scores decreased after treatment (all P<0.05). The improvement of manipulation group was more notable than that of medium-frequency electrotherapy group (all P<0.05). At one-month follow-up, the VAS and NPQ scores of the manipulation group were lower than those before and after treatment, and the VAS and NPQ scores of the medium-frequency electrotherapy group were only lower than those before treatment; the two scores of the manipulation group were lower than those of the medium-frequency electrotherapy group (both P<0.05). Conclusion: Tendon-regulating and bone-setting manipulation combined with endurance resistance exercises can relieve neck pain and cervical dysfunction in female patients with chronic neck pain. The efficacy of this method is more durable and better than that of medium-frequency electrotherapy combined with endurance exercises.

Objective To observe CT features of ovarian thecofibroma and the clinical significance.Methods CT manifestations, clinical data and pathological diagnosis of 12 cases of ovarian thecofibroma proved by pathology were retrospectively analysed.Results The CT manifestation of ovarian thecofibroma was typical,which was showed as following:on one side of the attachment area tumor,single,ovoid or class circular shape,most boundary clear,equal or slightly low density solid masses,internal or boundary ar-ea accompanied by a small amount low density area,mild delay enhancement in solid ingredients or no obvious enhancement.Conclu-sion CT examination is important for qualitative diagnosis of ovarian thecofibroma and finding complications.

Objective To explore the application value of single intensifying screen cassette in examination of Kashin-Beck disease through X-ray photographing.Methods Single intensifying screen cassette and traditional changing bag with exposure conditions were used to check right wrists of 110 children in Kashin-Beck disease areas.The FJ personal dosimeter was used to measure exposure dose.Photo graphing quality and diagnosis effect were assessed.Results The radiation dose of children in single intensifying screen cassette group was (207 ± 39)μsv/h,while in the traditional changing bag group was (1425 ± 63)μsv/h.The difference between the two groups was statistically significant(t =140.16,P ＜ 0.05).The high-quality photograph rate of the two methods was 94.55％ (104/110) and 92.73％ (102/110),respectively,and the difference was not statistically significant(P ＞ 0.05).The good photo rate in the single intensifying screen cassette was 96.36％ (94/110),which was significantly higher than that of the traditional changing bag group[44.55％ (49/110),x2 =70.92,P ＜ 0.01].Conclusions X-ray radiation dose in single intensifying screen cassette group is smaller than that of the traditional changing bag group,and the image quality of the radiograph of the new method is also superior.It has a good practical value in the X-ray examination of Kashin-Beck disease.