ObjectiveTo observe the therapeutic efficacy of warm needling plus Chinese medicinal fumigation and rehabilitation training in treating post-stroke shoulder pain.MethodSixty eligible patients were randomized into a treatment group (warm needling plus Chinese medicinal fumigation and rehabilitation) and a control group (rehabilitation training), 30 casesin each group. The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Fugl-Meyer Assessment Scale (FMA) and Barthel Index (BI) were respectively used to evaluate pain intensity, upper-limb motor function and activities of daily living, and the clinical efficacies were compared between the two groups.ResultAfter 30-day treatment, the improvements of shoulder pain intensity, upper-limb motor function and activities of daily living in the treatment group were more significant than that in the control group (P<0.05). There were no adverse events happened in the two groups.ConclusionWarm needling plus Chinese medicinal fumigation and rehabilitation training can effectively and safely mitigate shoulder pain, improve upper-limb motor function, and enhance the activities of daily living, and its therapeutic efficacy is superior to that of the control group.

AIMTo investigate the role of serine/threonine protein phosphatases in regulation of cell signal transduction on voltage-dependent sodium channels in rat trigeminal ganglion (TRG) neurons. METHODSWhole-cell patch clamp techniques were used to record the total sodium current (INa-T) and the tetrodotoxin-resistant sodium current (INa-TTX-R) before and after okadaic acid, a potent inhibitor of the serine/threonine protein phosphatases 1 and 2A, perfusion on adult rat TRG neurons. RESULTS1μmol*L-1 okadaic acid inhibited INa-T by (20±13)% (n=9, P<0.05) and INa-TTX-R by (4±3)% (n=6, P<0.05), respectively. The inhibition on INa-T was significantly greater than that on INa-TTX-R (P<0.05). Furthermore, 1μmol*L-1 okadaic acid produced significant 3-4 mV hyperpolarizing shifts in the conductance-voltage curves of INa-T, while it had no effect on that of INa-TTX-R. CONCLUSIONThe serine/threonine protein phosphatases take part in the regulation of total and TTX-R sodium channels on rat TRG neurons. In addition, small-diameter TRG neurons express various voltage-gated sodium channel with different sensitivity to okadaic acid.

Objective To study the influence of sivelestat sodium on platelets activity,injury and count during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB)in dogs.Methods Twelve adult health dogs were randomly divided into control group (group C,n=6)and sivelestat sodium group (group S,n=6). Sivelestat sodium at 15 mg/kg was administrated intravenously before the establishment of CPB and then was maintained intravenously at 10 mg·kg-1·h-1 to the end of CPB in the group S,and the same volume of saline was used in the group S.The levels of neutrophil elastase (NE),malondialdehyde (MDA),granular membrane protein-140 (GMP-140),thromboxaneB2 (TXB2 ),the count of plate-lets and the hematocrit (Hct)were measured before CPB,15 and 45 min after cross-clamping and 30, and 60 min after aortic unclamping in both groups.Results The levels of NE,GMP-140,TXB2 at T2-T5 and MDA at T3-T5 were significantly higher than those at T1 in both groups;moreover the lev-els were significantly lower in group S than group C (P<0.05).The levels of Plt at T2-T5 were sig-nificantly lower than those at T1 in both groups;moreover the levels were significantly higher in group S than group C (P <0.05).Conclusion Sivelestat sodium reduced the levels of plasma NE, MDA,GMP-140,TXB2 inhibited the activation of Plt,and decreased the injury and consumption of Plt,which presents the protective effects for Plt during CPB.

12E7 Antigen ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Antigens, CD ; metabolism ; Biomarkers, Tumor ; metabolism ; Brain Neoplasms ; secondary ; Cell Adhesion Molecules ; metabolism ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Extremities ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence ; Infant ; Ki-67 Antigen ; metabolism ; Male ; Neuroectodermal Tumors, Primitive ; metabolism ; pathology ; Oncogene Proteins, Fusion ; metabolism ; Repressor Proteins ; metabolism ; Sarcoma, Ewing ; metabolism ; pathology ; Sarcoma, Synovial ; diagnosis ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Soft Tissue Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Vimentin ; metabolism ; Young Adult

The effects of ginsenosides on the actions of morphine are summarized. It mainly focuses on the antagonistic effects of ginsenosides on morphine-induced changes of animal behaviors, neural system functions and cell signaling transduction.
Animals ; Behavior, Animal ; drug effects ; Body Weight ; drug effects ; Ginsenosides ; pharmacology ; Mice ; Morphine ; antagonists & inhibitors ; pharmacology ; Morphine Dependence ; Neurotransmitter Agents ; metabolism ; Rats ; Signal Transduction ; drug effects

Adult ; Aged ; Diagnostic Errors ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Necrosis ; Otitis Externa ; diagnosis ; pathology

Objective To evaluate the effects of small interfering RNA (siRNA) against peptidylarginine deiminase 4 (PADI4) gene on apoptosis of fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) from synovium of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).Methods The siRNA targeting PADI4 was constructed and transfected into FLS cells in RA via LipofectamineTM 2000.The expression level of PDAI4 mRNA was detected by using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (real-time PCR).The protein expression of PADI4,CyclinB1 and P21 was detected by Western blotting.The apoptosis of FLS cells in RA was examined by flow cytometry.The levels of IL-1β were detected by ELISA.T-test was used for statistical analysis.Results siRNA-PADI4 efficiently down-regulated the PADI4 expression compared with control group,1.00±0.20 vs 0.38±0.20 (t=9.607,P＜0.01),0.39±0.23(t=8.394,P＜0.01).FCM analysis showed that the percentage of apoptosis cells in PADI4 siRNA group in FLS was (5.4±0.6)％ (t=-19.223,P＜0.01) and (6.1±0.6)％ respectively (t=-24.229,P＜0.01),which was significantly higher than that in the control group in FLS (1.6±0.3)％.The expression of CyclinB1 protein was decreased,and P21 increased.The concentrations of IL-1β in culture medium of the transfected group were (26.8±0.7) ng/ml (t=-10.747,P＜0.01) and (27.7±0.7) ng/ml (t=-10.967,P＜0.01),higher than the control group [(23.9±0.7) ng/ml].Conclusion After being transfected with PADI4 siRNA,the apoptosis of FLS cells in RA is increased.Our results have demonstrated the potential role of CyclinB1 and P21 in PADI4 signaling.

OBJECTIVE To investigate enhanced immune function of methionine encephalin (MENK) and its anti-tumor mechanism in CT26 colon cancer mouse model. METHODS 3×106 CT26 cells were implanted subcutaneously in BALB/c mice. Four days after, MENK was peritoneally administrated at the concentration of 20 mg·kg-1 for 14 d. The percentage of MDSCs in bone marrow, spleen, blood, tumor and liver were detected by flow cytometry. Non- esterified fatty acid (NEFA), triglycerides (TG) and total cholesterol (T-CHO) in liver homogenate were tested by a NEFA test kit, a TG test kit and a T- CHO test kit respectively. qRT- PCR and Western blot were used to measure mRNA and protein levels of inflammation-, glycometabolsim- and lipometabolsim-associated indexes in liver. RESULTS MENK decreased percentages of MDSCs in bone marrow, spleen, blood and tumor in colon cancer mice. MENK-treated mice displayed elevated ratio of CD4+T and CD8+T cells in spleen as well as increased T and B lymphocytes proliferation. Meanwhile, MENK also ameliorated liver damage reflected by lower levels of GPT and GOT in serum and reduced risks of cancer- associated index including inflammation, high lipid and high glucose. Furthermore, MENK lowered down the levels of NEFA, TG and T- CHO in liver homogenate. MENK treatment decreased expression of p- STAT3, increased expression of p-AKT, IRS1 and Glut4 at protein level as well as reduced lipogenesis-associated genes and elevated glycolysis-associated genes in liver of tumor bearing mice. Also, abated expression of genes associated with MDSCs generation (M-CSF, GM-CSF, IL-6, IL-1β) and migration (S100A9, KC) was observed within shrunken subcutaneous tumor by MENK intervention. CONCLUSION MENK has the ability to strength immune function against colon cancer by reducing MDSCs and improving liver metabolism.

To investigate the effect of interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) on I(A) and I(K) currents in cultured murine trigeminal ganglion (TG) neurons, whole-cell patch clamp technique was used to record the I(A) and I(K) currents before and after 20 ng/mL I(L)-1beta perfusion. Our results showed that 20 ng/mL IL-1beta inhibited I(A) currents (18.3 +/- 10.7)% (n=6, P<0.05). I(L)-1beta at 20 ng/mL had no effect on G-V curve of I(A) but moved the H-infinity curve V0.5 from -36.6+/-6.1 mV to -42.4+/-5.2 mV (n=5, P<0.01). However, 20 ng/mL IL-1beta had effect on neither the amplitude nor the G-V curve of I(K). IL-1beta was found to selectively inhibit I(A) current in TG neurons and the effect may contribute to hyperalgesia under various inflammatory conditions.

Objective To evaluate the clinical value of 18floro-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography-CY(~(18)FDG PET-CT)in the diagnosis of lymph node metastasis from advanced esophageal carcinoma. Methods A prospective study is perfonued here to assess whether ~(18)FDG PET-CT can improve the diagnostic accuracy in lymph node metastasis for patients with advanced esophageal carcinoma.Thirty patients had undergone esophagectomy with extensive lymph node dissection.PET-CT findings were compared with that d CT with pathological finding as the final say.Results All patients were operated successfully without peri-operative complications.The pathological examination conformed metastasis in 22 patients and 49 out of 243 excised lymph nodes.In CT analysis,the sensitivity was 40.8%,specificity was 96.9%,with a diagnostic accuracy of 85.6%, The positive and negative predictive value was 76.9%,86.4% respectively;PET-CT resulted in a sensitivity of 93.9%,specificity of 91.2%,accuracy of 91.8%.The positive predictive value was 73.0% and negative predictive value was 98.3%,The difference of sensitivity(P＜0.001),accuracy(P＜0.05)and negative predictive value between the two radiological modalities was statistically significant(P＜0.001).Conclusions With a high sensitivity and accuracy in the diagnosis of lymph node metastasis,PET-CT appears necessary in preoperative examination for advanced esophageal carcinoma in the hope that surgical treatment be guided by the results of PET-CT,especially for the elder patients with poor pulmonary function or heart or brain complications. Moreover,it could be used as the basis of the conformal radiation therapy planning for inoperable patients.