OBJECTIVETo evaluate the effects of Qingre Liqi Granule (QLG) on clinical therapeutic efficacy, electrogastrogram (EGG) and gastric emptying in patients with functional dyspepsia (FD).

METHODSThirty-two FD patients of dyskinesis type enrolled were treated with QLG by oral taking for 6 days. Scoring on 8 kinds of symptoms, including abdominal distension, abdominal pain, morning gastric fullness, belching, regurgitation, nausea, vomiting, and anorexia, fasting EGG and the gastric emptying determination were performed using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) before and after treatment.

RESULTSThe total and individual scores of clinical symptoms, expect that of vomiting, significantly decreased after treatment (P < 0.05), and the percentage of patients with tachygastria and bradygastria significantly decreased (P<0.01) at the same time. EGG after treatment showed significantly elevated rates of normal slow wave dominant power, and nearly normalized dominant frequency. An increased gastric emptying rate at different phases after 75 min (P < 0.05), and significantly shortened gastric emptying half-time (P < 0.01) were shown meanwhile in gastric emptying detection. The improvement of symptom score and gastric emptying half-time showed significant positive linear correlation (r =0.8929, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONQLG can improve symptoms of FD patients by regulating the rhythm and power of gastric electro-wave, increasing gastric motility and enhancing gastric emptying function.

Adult ; Aged ; Double-Blind Method ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Dyspepsia ; drug therapy ; Electromyography ; drug effects ; Female ; Gastric Emptying ; drug effects ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myoelectric Complex, Migrating ; drug effects ; Phytotherapy ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo summarize characteristics of the point prescriptions for acupuncture treatment of urinary retention from 1994 to 2005.

METHODSReview of literature was made from following five aspects: body acupuncture, scalp acupuncture, ear acupuncture, hand acupuncture and abdomen acupuncture. For the prescriptions of body acupuncture, further analysis was made on single point prescription, distal-proximal point association, superior-inferior point association, point selection according to syndrome differentiation and point selection according to disease differentiation.

CONCLUSIONAcupuncture has affirmative therapeutic effect on urinary retention. However, there are still problems to be resolved in clinical researches at present.

Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; methods ; Humans ; Urinary Retention ; therapy

OBJECTIVETo objectively evaluate the clinical efficacy, safety and technical operating standard of percutem clamp fixation (PCCF), an operation designed by imitating bone setting method of TCM, in treating unstable tibiofibular fracture (UTF).

METHODSA prospective controlled multicentre clinical study was carried out on 200 patients with UTF, they were assigned to the treated group (99 cases) treated with PCCF and the control group (101 cases) treated with unilateral multifunctional external fixator (UMFEF).

RESULTSPCCF showed better effects than UMFEF in reducing the time of fixing operation and healing time; and the immediate effect after removing the fixating apparatus and long-term efficacy as well as safety in the treated group were also superior to those in the control group (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONIt is convenient, safe and effective to treat UTF by fixation with percutem clamp.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Female ; Fibula ; injuries ; Fracture Fixation ; methods ; Fractures, Bone ; therapy ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multiple Trauma ; therapy ; Prospective Studies ; Tibial Fractures ; therapy ; Treatment Outcome

This study aims to investigate the effect of total flavones of Fructus Chorspondiatis (TFFC) on the mRNA and protein expression of collagen type I and III of rat cardiac fibroblasts (CFs) induced by angiotensin II (Ang II), and explore its anti-myocardial fibrosis molecular mechanism. Neonatal rat CFs were prepared from Sprague-Dawley rats (1-3 d after birth). The expression of collagen type I and III mRNA and protein were measured by RT-PCR and Western blotting, respectively. The study showed that stimulation of neonatal rat CFs with 100 nmol.L-1 of Ang II for 72 h resulted in a significant increase of the expression of collagen type I and III mRNA and protein. The changes on the expression level were blocked by TFFC. The results demonstrated that TFFC can inhibit myocardial fibrosis induced by Ang II in rats, which is probably associated with the collagen type I and III mRNA and protein levels up-regulated by Ang II, and TFFC was shown to decrease the expression levels of collagen type I and III mRNA and protein.

The change in plasma ghrelin level after 4-and 12-week adjunctive therapy of rosiglitazones in type 2 diabetic patients inadequately controlled by sulphonylurea alone was observed and the relation between ghrelin and insulin resistance was analysed.The results showed that rosiglitazones significantly increased circulating ghrelin level and obviously decreased insulin resistance index after therapy for 4 and 12 weeks in type 2 diabetic patients.

The continuous cultivation of Rehmannia glutinosa causes the accumulation of phenolic acids in soil. It is supposed to be the reason of the so called "continuously cropping obstacle". In this study, phenolic acids (hydroxybenzoic acid, vanillic acid, eugenol, vanillin and ferulic acid) were degraded by the extracta of all the tested spent mushroom substrate (SMS) and the maximal degradation rate was 75.3%, contributed by extraction of SMS of Pleurotus eryngii. Pot experiment indicated that hydroxybenzoic acid and vanillin in soil were also degraded effectively by SMS of P. eryngii. The employment of SMS enhanced ecophysiology index to near the normal levels, such as crown width, leaves number, leaf length, leaf width and height. At the same time, the fresh and dry weight and total catalpol concentration of tuberous root weight of R. glutinosa was increased to 2.70, 3.66, 2.25 times by employment of SMS, respectively. The increase of bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes numbers in rhizosphere soil were observed after the employment of SMS by microbial counts. The employment of SMS also enhanced the enzyme activity in soils, such as sucrase, cellulase, phosphalase, urease and catelase. These results indicated that the employment of SMS alleviated the continuously cropping obstacle of R. glutinosa in some extent.
Agaricales ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Agriculture ; methods ; Biodegradation, Environmental ; Hydroxybenzoates ; analysis ; metabolism ; Rehmannia ; growth & development ; metabolism ; Soil ; chemistry ; Soil Microbiology

This study aims to investigate the effect of total flavones of Fructus Chorspondiatis (TFFC) on the mRNA and protein expression of collagen type I and III of rat cardiac fibroblasts (CFs) induced by angiotensin II (Ang II), and explore its anti-myocardial fibrosis molecular mechanism. Neonatal rat CFs were prepared from Sprague-Dawley rats (1-3 d after birth). The expression of collagen type I and III mRNA and protein were measured by RT-PCR and Western blotting, respectively. The study showed that stimulation of neonatal rat CFs with 100 nmol.L-1 of Ang II for 72 h resulted in a significant increase of the expression of collagen type I and III mRNA and protein. The changes on the expression level were blocked by TFFC. The results demonstrated that TFFC can inhibit myocardial fibrosis induced by Ang II in rats, which is probably associated with the collagen type I and III mRNA and protein levels up-regulated by Ang II, and TFFC was shown to decrease the expression levels of collagen type I and III mRNA and protein.
Anacardiaceae ; chemistry ; Angiotensin II ; pharmacology ; Animals ; Animals, Newborn ; Cells, Cultured ; Collagen Type I ; genetics ; metabolism ; Collagen Type III ; genetics ; metabolism ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Fibroblasts ; cytology ; metabolism ; Flavones ; administration & dosage ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Fruit ; chemistry ; Myocardium ; cytology ; metabolism ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; RNA, Messenger ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

Objective To investigate DNA methylation markers in the whole blood of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE),in hope to facilitate the evaluation of SLE severity.Methods Whole blood samples were obtained from 58 patients with SLE(including 14 cases of severe SLE,25 moderate SLE,19 inactive SLE)and 50 healthy controls.Bisulphite sequencing was performed to determine the methylation status of interleukin-2 common receptor gamma chain(IL-2RG)promoter region,and real-time reverse transcriptionPCR to quantify the expression level of IL-2RG mRNA,in these subjects.Results The methylation level of IL2RG promoter region was 0.217 ± 0.140,0.325 ± 0.230,0.342 ± 0.085 and 0.175 ± 0.036 in the patients withsevere,moderate and inactive SLE and healthy controls,respectively.A significant increase was observed in the methylation level of IL-2RG promoter region in the patients with inactive SLE compared with the patients with severe SLE and healthy controls(both P ＜ 0.01),and in the patients with SLE compared with the healthy controls(0.263 ± 0.047 vs.0.175 ± 0.036,P ＜ 0.05).The expression level of IL-2RG mRNA was significantly lower in the patients with SLE than in the healthy controls(2.550 ± 0.823 vs.4.293 ± 1.283,P ＜ 0.05).A negative correlation was observed between the expression level of IL-2RG mRNA and methylation level of IL2RG promoter region in 20 patients with SLE(r =-0.44,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion The methylation status of IL2RG promoter region is statistically higher in patients with SLE than in healthy controls,and significantly different between patients with active SLE and those with stable SLE.

Objective To study the differential microRNAs expression between patients with essential hypertension and healthy controls.Methods Whole blood from 15 hypertensive patients and 5 controls healthies were separated into plasma at 3000 rpm for 10 minutes. MicroRNAs were harvested using kit, and stored at -80 ℃.MicroRNAs profiling were performed using Exiqon microRCURYTM LNA microRNAs array, and were quantitative RT-PCR for the differential microRNAs expression. In addition, we used a set of plasma samples from 24 hypertensive patients and 22 healthy donors to independently validate the expression of these signature microRNAs.Results MicroRNAs expression profile was found to be differentially in the essential hypertensive patients compared with the healthy donors. Of 1700 microRNAs detected on the microarray, 46 microRNAs were found to be differentially expressed in the essential hypertensive patient, 27 microRNAs were collected in Sanger microRNAs data-bank, the function of remaining 19 microRNAs were unknown. In the 27 microRNAs, 9 microRNAs were up-regulated in the hypertension patient samples, while 18 known microRNAs were down-regulated. MiR-296-5p(Fold change 0.47,P=0.013) and miR-133b (Fold change 0.57,P=0.033)were consistently down-regulated in the patient plasma, whereas let-7e (Fold change 1.62,P=0.009)and hcmv-miR-UL112(Fold change 2.72,P=0.004), one human cytomegalovirus encoded microRNAs, were up-regulated in the patient samples. The microRNAs expression was independently validated using another sample. We showed that MHC class Ⅰ polypeptide-related chain B(MHC class Ⅰ polypeptide-related chain B,MICB)and Interferon regulatory factor 1(Interferon regulatory factor 1,IRF1) were functional targets of hcmv-miR-UL112 by fluorescent reporter assays.Conclusions The hypertensive patients have distinct microRNAs expression Profile. Hcmv-miR-UL112 may have important implications toward pathogenesis of essential hypertension.

In this paper the contents of rosmarinic acid, salvianolic acid B, crytotanshinone, tanshinone II(A) in samples of different original processed Salvia Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma were determined by HPLC. Different processing methods have varied influences on four active ingredients in Salvia Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma. Sun-drying reduced the content of crytotanshinone, tanshi-none II(A) and rosmarinic acid, integralsamples were better than those cut into segments. Oven dry method had great influence on water--soluble ingredients, high temperature (80-100 degrees C) could easily cause big loss of rosmarinic acid and salvianolic acid B. The role of traditional processing method "fahan: was complicated, the content of rosmarinic acid decreased, crytotanshinone and tanshinone II(A) increased, and salvianolic acid B showed no difference after "fahan". Drying in the shade and oven dry under low temperatrure (40-60 degrees C) were all effective to keep active ingredients of Salvia Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, and, there was no difference between integral samples and samples cut into segments. Therefore, considering comprehensively the content of active ingredients in Salvia Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, and processing costing etc., shade-drying or oven dry underlow temperature (40-60 degrees C) should be the most suitable original processing method.
Chemistry, Pharmaceutical ; methods ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Hot Temperature ; Quality Control ; Rhizome ; chemistry ; Salvia miltiorrhiza ; chemistry ; Temperature