AIM: To discuss the clinical applications of methods to localize nasal cut ends and the effects of Z-plasty in the surgeries for lower eyelid longitudinal laceration combined with lower lacrimal canaliculi disruption.
METHODS: From September, 2010 to October, 2013, a total of 37 patients ( 37 eyes ) with lower eyelid longitudinal laceration combined with lower lacrimal canaliculi disruption were operated for anastomosis of lacrimal canaliculi disruption and suture of lower eyelid longitudinal. Different methods to search for the nasal cut ends of lacerated lacrimal canaliculi, such as “under a microscope directly”, “guided by probing needle” and“pigtail curved probe”. Then, to repair lower eyelid longitudinal laceration with Z-plasty transposition flaps. Follow up was 3mo~2a after operation.
RESULTS: All nasal cut ends could be found successfully on 37 patients;Lacrimal duct unobstructed in 31 patients (83. 8%), improved in 5 patients (13. 5%), invalid in 1 patient (2. 7%),the overall successful rate was 97. 3%; the eyelids repair was satisfactory, small scars, the appearance and function was normal.
CONCLUSION: The nasal cut ends can be found successfully by “directly under a microscope”, “guided by probing needle” and“pigtail curved probe”;the effect of silicone drainage tube used as lacrimal canaliculi bracket is satisfactory; most patients gained excellent recovery for both appearance and function after Z-plasty.

In order to summarize and perfect the basic skill practicing method in acupuncture teaching and form a characteristic teaching, the research on skill training and technique improving of acupuncture and tuina major was carried out. The undergraduate students in acupuncture and tuina major from College of Acupuncture-Moxibustion and Tuina were randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group. Students from both groups received the basic courses of acupuncture-moxibustion and tuina as requested in the syllabus and the special teaching was added to the experimental group, namely "three practice" (strength practice, coordination practice, targeted practice of acupuncture basic skills) and "three enlightenment" (technique enlightenment, mind and qi enlightenment, efficacy enlightenment). During and after the courses, the teaching effectiveness was evaluated on the basis of needling manipulation. The peacetime score in the experimental group was superior to that in the control group (38.03 +/- 1.14 vs 33.25 +/- 1.31, P < 0.05), the total score in the experimental group was superior to that in the control group (84.03 +/- 6.30 vs 78.05 +/- 6.55, P < 0.05). The special teaching method of "three practice" and "three enlightenment" can improve the effect of skill training teaching method. It highlights the unique feature of central plains by integrating the essence of Shaolin internal qigong and Chen-style Taiji, it can also provide new ideas for the practical teaching of TCM professional courses and the construction of characteristic professionals.
Acupuncture ; education ; manpower ; Acupuncture Therapy ; methods ; Humans ; Students ; Teaching

Ferulic acid (FA) was loaded into liposomes via calcium acetate gradient with (80.2 +/- 5.2)% entrapment efficiency. The average sizes of blank liposome and FA liposome were about 155 nm and 154 nm, respectively. The zeta potential of blank liposome and FA liposome were (13.14 +/- 1.67) mV and (4.12 +/- 0.05) mV, respectively. Unilamellar vesicles were present in freeze-fracture electron microscopy. In the pharmacodynamic studies, the protective effect of liposomal ferulic acid on tBHP-challenged U937 cells was measured with the morphology of cell injury, mitochondrial transmembrane potential alternation and cell viability assay used as index. The results of MTT assay, microscopy indicated that FA liposomes exhibited greater antioxidant activity than FA solution on U937 cell.
Antioxidants ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; Cholesterol ; chemistry ; Coumaric Acids ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; Drug Carriers ; Humans ; Liposomes ; chemistry ; Membrane Potentials ; drug effects ; Mitochondria ; physiology ; Particle Size ; U937 Cells

pH and temperature sensitive biodegradable block copolymers are some macromolecules connected by biodegradable materials and pH sensitive monomers according to a certain sequence, or biodegradable polyesters polymerized themselves. On the basis of pertinent documents, the development of pH and temperature sensitive biodegradable block copolymers was introduced, involving their mechanism of action and potential application. PH and temperature sensitive biodegradable block copolymers could control the drug release rate freely, avoiding burst effect. Besides, the biocompatibility of these biodegradable materials is also excellent. So the use of pH and temperature sensitive biodegradable block copolymers as biodegradable drug delivery devices has attracted considerable interest in the intelligent drug delivery system.
Biocompatible Materials ; chemistry ; Drug Delivery Systems ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Lactates ; chemistry ; Lactic Acid ; chemistry ; Polyesters ; chemistry ; Polyethylene Glycols ; chemistry ; Polyglactin 910 ; chemistry ; Polyglycolic Acid ; chemistry ; Polymers ; chemistry ; Temperature

The dialysis method was employed to prepare blank and doxorubicin (DOX) loaded micelles formed by temperature- and pH- sensitive polyhistidine-co-polyDL-lactide-co-glycolide-co-polyethyleneglycol-co-polyDL-lactide-co-glycolide-co-polyhistidine (PHis-b-PLGA-b-PEG-b-PLGA-b-PHis). The critical micelle concentrations (CMC) of the copolymers were measured with Pyrene Fluorescent Probe Technique. The temperature- and pH- sensitive properties of the blank micelles solution were investigated by optical transmittance measurement. The morphology and diameter of DOX micelles were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS). The entrapment rate and drug-loading rate were determined with dialysis method. The in vitro release study was further performed to examine the temperature- and pH-responsive drug release behavior from DOX-loaded micelles. The results indicated that the CMC, entrapment efficiency and drug-loaded amount of the micelles were 7.5 x 10(-3) g x L(-1), 85.2 +/- 3.1% and 10.4 +/- 4.5%, respectively. The DOX micelle was globular-shaped with a mean diameter of 91.1 +/- 15.8 nm. The transmittance of micelle solution consistently increased with the increasing temperature or decreasing pH. In comparison to the drug release profile at physiological conditions (37 degrees C, pH 7.4), the DOX-loaded micelles showed faster drug release rate at higher temperature (41 degrees C), lower pH (pH 7.0, pH 6.5, pH 5.0) or higher temperature and lower pH (41 degrees C, pH 5.0). This indicated that the micelles showed a temperature and pH-triggered drug release pattern. Base on the above results, it can be concluded that PHis-b-PLGA-b-PEG-b-PLGA-b-PHis block copolymer micelles which respond to temperature and pH stimuli are promising smart carriers for anti-tumor drugs with the advantages of temperature- and pH- triggered drug release.
Antibiotics, Antineoplastic ; administration & dosage ; chemistry ; Doxorubicin ; administration & dosage ; chemistry ; Drug Carriers ; Drug Compounding ; Histidine ; chemistry ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Micelles ; Particle Size ; Polyethylene Glycols ; chemistry ; Polyglactin 910 ; chemistry ; Polymers ; chemistry ; Temperature

The discovery, sorting and identification methods as well as targeted drug delivery systems for cancer stem cells (CSCs) have been reviewed by consulting the recent research papers. CSCs have been believed to be responsible for the occurrence and development of chemo-resistance, leading to the failure of chemotherapy. Much progress has been made in the approaches for CSCs targeting drug delivery systems. The understanding and targeted drug delivery systems for CSCs are promising to provide an alternative for cancer therapy.
Animals ; Antineoplastic Agents ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Drug Delivery Systems ; methods ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Neoplastic Stem Cells ; drug effects ; pathology ; Signal Transduction ; drug effects ; Wnt Signaling Pathway ; drug effects

Recently the use of peptides in bee venom (PBV) for cancer therapy has attracted considerable attention. In this study, the sterically stabilized liposomal PBV (PBV-SL) was prepared using soybean phosphatidylcholine, cholesterol, and cholesterol-PEG-COOH. The humanized antihepatoma disulfide-stabilized Fv (hdscFv25) was coupled to sterically stabilized liposomes using the N-hydroxysuccinimide ester method. The hdscFv25-immunoliposomes (SIL[hdscFv25]) were immunoreactive as determined by ELISA assay. SIL[hdscFv25] showed higher tumor cells selectivity. PBV-SIL[hdscFv25] can kill SMMC-7721 cells in vitro with higher efficiency than non-targeted liposomes. Whereas cytotoxicties were compared for Hela cells, no significant differences was observed between PBV-SIL[hdscFv25] and PBV-SL. Sterically stabilized immunoliposomal peptides in bee venom could be one drug targeting delivery system.
Antineoplastic Agents ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; Bee Venoms ; chemistry ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; pathology ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Survival ; drug effects ; Cholesterol ; chemistry ; Drug Delivery Systems ; HeLa Cells ; Humans ; Immunoconjugates ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Liposomes ; chemistry ; Liver Neoplasms ; pathology ; Melitten ; administration & dosage ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Peptides ; administration & dosage ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Recombinant Proteins ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology

Dendrimers are hyperbranched, monodisperse and three dimensional macromolecules, which consist of an apolar core and polar shell have been referred to as "unimolecular micelles". This paper briefly describes the development and structural characteristics of dendrimers and also explains the feature of dendrimers as drug carrier and the dendrimer-drug interactions in details. Recently, dendrimers, which have attracted increasing attention for their applications in many fields such as drug targeted delivery systems and gene transfection, are becoming potential novel carriers.
Dendrimers ; chemistry ; Drug Delivery Systems ; Drug Design ; Polyamines ; chemistry

In this study, wheat germ agglutinin (WGA), tomato lectin (TL) and asparagus pea lectin (AL) were covalently coupled to conventional poly lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) nanoparticles using a carbodiimide method to take the bioadhesive properties. The influences of the amounts of activating agents and lectins, as well as the activating time and incubating time on the effect of lectin conjugating were investigated to optimize the preparation conditions. The mean diameters of the performed nanoparticles with or without lectin conjugation ranged from (140.7 +/- 5.7) nm to (245.6 +/- 18.3) nm. The yields of lectin conjugating and the lectin surface concentrations on nanoparticles were determined by Lowry's methods, and were calculated to be (18.97 +/- 2.9)% - (20.15 +/- 2.4)% and (9.46 +/- 1.45)--(10.05 +/- 1.19) microg x mg(-1), respectively. The in vitro bioadhesive activities of nanoparticles were evaluated by pig gastric mucin (PM) binding experiments. After incubation at room temperature for 60 min, the equilibria of binding between nanoparticles and PM reached. The percentages of the bulk PM which had interacted with different lectin-conjugated PLGA nanoparticles were 15.5%, 12.1% and 11.8%, respectively. The conjugation of lectin enhanced the interaction about 2.4 - 3.2 fold compared with that of the non-conjugated one. A mathematical model was used based on the Langmuir equation, and the rate constants of interaction (k) were calculated to be 2.373 x 10(-3), 1.536 x 10(-3) and 1.714 x 10(-3) (microg x min/mL)(-1), respectively. These interactions could be competitively inhibited by their corresponding sugars of lectins. The results suggested that lectin-conjugated PLGA nanoparticles greatly promoted the interaction with PM in vitro compared with the conventional PLGA nanoparticles, thus would improve the bioadhesion on gastrointestinal mucosa after oral administration resulting in a prolonged residence time in the gastrointestinal tract.
Adhesiveness ; Drug Carriers ; Drug Compounding ; Drug Delivery Systems ; Gastric Mucins ; metabolism ; Lactic Acid ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Nanoparticles ; Plant Lectins ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Polyglycolic Acid ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Protein Binding ; Wheat Germ Agglutinins ; chemistry ; metabolism

BACKGROUNDTo date murine models of permanent focal cerebral ischemia have not been well characterized. The purposes of this paper were to compare three different permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAo) models with or without craniectomy, and to identify an ideal mouse model of permanent focal cerebral ischemia.

METHODSExperiments were performed on 45 healthy adult male Kunming mice, weighing 28 to 42 g. The animals were randomly assigned to three groups (n = 15 in every group) based on surgical procedure: MCAo via the external carotid artery (ECA), MCAo via the common carotid artery (CCA), and direct ligation of the middle cerebral artery (MCA). Each day post-ischemia, the animals were scored using an eight-grade neurological function scale, and mortality was also recorded. Seven days post-ischemia, the brains were removed for lesion size determination using triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining. Correlation analysis of lesion volume and neurological score was carried out.

RESULTSMortality in the group receiving direct MCA ligation was lowest among the three groups, and there was a significant difference between the direct MCA ligation group and the two intraluminal occlusion groups (P < 0.05). In all groups, neurological scores gradually increased with prolongation of ischemic duration, peaking after two days, then gradually decreasing. In the direct MCA ligation group, however, neurological scores were relatively stable. There was a significant correlation between infarct volume and neurological score 7 days after MCAo in every group (all r > 0.7, P < 0.05), suggesting good reproducibility of lesion volume in the three groups, but the infarct volume was more constant in the direct MCA ligation group.

CONCLUSIONThe direct ligation model of MCAo provides an optimal means of studying permanent focal cerebral ischemia, and is preferable to the models using intraluminal sutures.

Animals ; Brain Ischemia ; Disease Models, Animal ; Ligation ; Male ; Mice ; Middle Cerebral Artery ; surgery ; Random Allocation ; Reproducibility of Results