OBJECTIVETo observe the effect of Oxymatrine on left cardiac function and ventricular remodeling in rabbits after acute myocardial infarction.

METHODSLigation of the left anterior descending artery was adopted to establish acute myocardial infarction model, forty eight rabbits were randomized into the sham operation group, model group and Oxymatrine group. Eight models were successfully established in each group. the sham operation group and model group were given conventional feed. Oxymatrine were gavage administration 0.5 ml/100 g, once a day, lasted for 4 weeks. Respectively in postoperative week, and three weeks, to observe the Oxymatrine on cardiac output (CO), left ventricular end systolic pressure (LVESP), left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP), left indoor pressure change rate peak (dp/dtmax)), and left ventricular cavity internal diameter (D), ventricular weight index (VWI), ventricular weight (VW).

RESULTSLeft ventricular anterior wall was from red to deep purple, electrocardiogram showed II guide ST-segment camber up ≥ 0.25 mv. Postoperative week in Oxymatrine group compared with model group, LVESP increased significantly (P < 0.01), LVEDP decreased obviously (P < 0.01); After three weeks in Oxymatrine group compared with model group, VW, VWI decreased (P < 0.05), D significantly reduced (P < 0.01); LVESP increased significantly (P < 0.01), LVEDP decreased obviously (P <0.01); dp/dt(max), CO increased (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONAfter acute myocardial infarction in rabbit Oxymatrine can improve the left ventricular reconstruction parameters, increase cardiac output, and improve cardiac function.

Alkaloids ; pharmacology ; Animals ; Cardiac Output ; Heart ; drug effects ; Myocardial Infarction ; pathology ; Quinolizines ; pharmacology ; Rabbits ; Ventricular Remodeling ; drug effects

Objective To investigate the clinical effect of compound Qianglizhenxian pill on epilepsy. Methods 94 patients with epilepsy were treated with compound Qianglizhenxian pill, and every course lasted three months. After treatment, checking patients' electroencephalogram again, evaluating the clinical effect according to degrees and numbers of attack. Results After 12 months of treatment, 90.43% of patients got an obvious improvement, while 6.38% for better, 3.19% for validity and no invalid. Conclusions There is a great improvement for patients with epilepsy after taking the medicine. The effective control rate is 92.62% with no toxication on blood system, liver and kidney.

Adult ; Cranial Fossa, Middle ; anatomy & histology ; surgery ; Ear, Inner ; anatomy & histology ; surgery ; Facial Nerve ; anatomy & histology ; surgery ; Humans ; Male

This paper reported a new type of amylase (neoamylase) secreted by a Bacillus strain ZX99. The enzyme was a kind of ectoenzyme that could catalyze starch into isomalto-oligosaccharide effectively, but could not act on pullulan as substrate. The strain Bacillus ZX99 was mutated by ultraviolet ray and a mutant strain BS3.232 was screened. The activity of the neoamylase produced from BS3.232 increased by 60% over that from ZX99 under the same conditions. The results of thin-layer chromatography of products from starch and pullulan catalyzed by the enzyme demonstrated that the enzyme was different from neopullulanase and can be used to produce isomaltooligosaccharide from starch, including isomaltose, panose, isomaltotriose, isomaltotetose.

The genome of a new SV40 strain(SV-IMB)isolated from a rhesus monkey was completely sequenced and compared with other isolates.The results showed that the whole genome contains 5246bp,and the average identity of SV-IMB was 98.1% as compared to other SV40 isolates.Its regulatory region is composed of a complete enhancer and a defective enhancer.Amino acid changes occurred to some extent in both the large T antigen (T-Ag) and VP1 region.The findings demonstrate that the SV-IMB is a new SV40 isolate.

The present study was undertaken to define whether intracarotid injection of capsaicin induces Fos expression associated with the activation of NOS-containing neurons in brainstem nuclei by combining the immunocytochemical method for Fos with NADPH-d histochemical technique for NOS. The results obtained are as follows: (1) Intracarotid injection of capsaicin caused a significant increase of Fos-like immunoreactive neurons in area postrema (AP), nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS), paragigantocellularis lateralis (PGL) and locus coeruleus (LC), without influence upon the neurons of raphe nuclei (RN) and periaqueductal gray (PAG). (2) NO-containing neurons in PGL and NTS and the double-labeled neurons in PGL were also increased significantly following intracarotid injection of capsaicin. Small numbers of NO-containing neurons were found in LC, but there was no change in the number of NO-containing neurons in RN and PAG. No NADPH-d histochemical activity could be found in AP. (3) The above responses to capsaicin were significantly inhibited by pretreatment with either a capsaicin receptor antagonist ruthenium red or a NMDA receptor antagonist MK-801. The above results indicate that intracarotid injection of capsaicin may activate the neurons in brainstem nuclei involved in cardiovascular regulation, and that NO only plays an indirect role in the modulation of the responses of brainstem nuclei to capsaicin. These effects of capsaicin are mediated by capsaicin receptors with involvement of glutamate.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the correlation between human neutrophil peptide (HNP) and spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) in order to assess the diagnostic value of quantitative measurement of these alpha-defensins.

METHODSSeventy-seven patients with cirrhosis and ascites were divided into two groups according to diagnosis of SBP (n = 45 with SBP and n = 32 without SBP). Twenty-eight healthy individuals were analyzed as controls. HNP was detected by double-antibody sandwich assay. Peripheral white blood cell (WBC) counts, neutrophil ratio, and levels of procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein (CRP) were determined by standard methods. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to compare the diagnostic values of HNP, PCT and CRP in SBP.

RESULTSThere were no significant differences between the three groups (SBP, non-SBP, and healthy controls) for WBC count ((6.01+/-2.25)*109 /L, (4.85+/-1.94)*109 /L, and (5.49+/-1.76)*109 /L; F = 2.91, P more than 0.05) and neutrophil ratio (70.70%+/-10.42%, (68.20%+/-8.97%, and 69.50%+/-8.69%; F = 3.07, P more than 0.05). However, compared to the non-SBP group and the healthy controls, the SBP group showed significantly higher levels of HNP ((9.99+/-3.33) ng/ml and (8.92+/-2.30) ng/ml vs. (17.66+/-6.40) ng/ml; q = 3.20 vs. 3.52, P less than 0.05), serum CRP ((15.08+/-9.95) ng/ml and (5.96+/-2.91) ng/ml vs. (31.32+/-18.65) mg/L; q = 11.03 vs. 3.69, P less than 0.05), and positive rate of PCT (25.0% and 10.0% vs. 62.2%; X2 = 10.41 vs. 15.40, P less than 0.0125). The areas under the curve (AUC) showed the following descending trend: HNP more than PCT more than CRP (0.719, 0.707, and 0.629 respectively). Using cut-off points of 10 ng/ml for HNP, 0.5 ng/ml for PCT, and 8 mg/L for CRP, the respective sensitivities for diagnosis of SBP were 71.1%, 62.2%, and 73.3%, the respective specificities were 71.9%, 75.0%, and 56.3%, and the respective Youden's indexes were 0.430, 0.372, and 0.296.

CONCLUSIONHNP is closely related to SBP and can diagnose SBP as reliably as PCT. CRP may help to diagnose SBP, but the results from routine blood testing did not show sufficient statistical significance for diagnosing SBP.

Adult ; Aged ; Bacterial Infections ; blood ; diagnosis ; C-Reactive Protein ; metabolism ; Calcitonin ; blood ; Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide ; Case-Control Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Peritonitis ; blood ; diagnosis ; microbiology ; Protein Precursors ; blood ; alpha-Defensins ; blood

Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Hepatitis B e Antigens ; blood ; Hepatitis B, Chronic ; blood ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Thymidine ; analogs & derivatives ; therapeutic use ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

Objective To improve the diagnosis and treatment quality of juxtaglomerular cell tumor of the kidney. Methods Three patients(2 females, 1 male) were diagnosed with juxtaglomerular cell tumor of kidney and underwent nephron-sparing surgery. Case 1 was female, 15 years old. She presented with hypertention of 245/135 mm Hg. The serum kalium was 2.5--3.0 mmol/L. Thelaboratory examination suggested that in decubitus and standing position, the plasma renin activity (PRA) was 2.2 and 3.5 μg · L-1 · h-1 , angiotensin Ⅱ (ATⅡ) was 181.2 and 481.4 ng/L; aldosterone(ALD) was 332.4 and 747.9 pmol/L, respectively. Dynamic enhanced CT scanning demonstrated a tumor with the diameter of 1.3 cm in right kidney. Case 2 was male, 39 years old. He presented with hypertention of 180/120 mm Hg. The serum kalium was 2. 7--3.0 mmol/L. In decubitus and standing position, PRAwas8.1 and 9.2 μg·L-1 · h-1, ATⅡ was 198.3 and 279.1 ng/L, ALD was 285.3 and 761.7 pmol/L, respectively. Dynamic enhanced CT scanning showed a tumor with the diameter of 1.2 cm in right kidney. Case 3 was female, 26 years old. She presented with hypertention of 210/120 mm Hg. The serum kalium was 4. 1 mmol/L. In decubitus and standing position, PRA was 0.1 and 0.3 μg · L-1·h-1 , ATⅡ 56.2 and 71.5 ng/L, ALD 321.3 and 421.1 pmol/L, respec tively. On dynamic enhanced CT scanning, a tumor with a diameter of 3.0era was located in left kidney. Results Partial nephrectomy was successfully performed in 3 patients, including 1 (case 2) retroperitoneal laparoscopic surgery. Pathologic examination revealed encapsulated tumors in all cases. Light microscopically, the tumor consisted of clusters of polygonal cells, and the cell had centrally located nuclei and slightly eosinophilic cytoplasm. Thick walled vessels were usually present. The tumors showed positive immunostaining for actin and CD34. Three patients were followed up for 23,4, 26 months respectively and all remained normotensive without any treatment. No recurrence or metastasis occurred. Conclusions Hypertention, increased PRA, secondary aldosteronism, hypokalemia are characteristics for juxtaglomerular cell tumor of the kidney. Dynamic enhanced CT scanning has high sensitivity. Partial nephrectomy or enucleation of tumor are both effective surgical treatment. Retroperitoneal laparoscopic surgery is safe and effective as well.

The theoretical basis of the alcohol precipitation process control was provided, the alcohol precipitation was optimized and the relationship equation was got. The monod glycoside, loganin and paeoniflorin were used as the evaluation indexes to determine the impact factors of alcohol precipitation techniques of Liuwei Dihuang decoction by the Plackett-Burman experimental design and the levels of non-significant factors were identified. Then, Box-Behnken response surface methodology was used to research and discuss the critical process parameters influence the effect of alcohol precipitation and draw interaction between key process parameters and the correlation equation with index components. Through the establishment and solving the quadratic regression model of composite score, the optimum preparation conditions of alcohol precipitation techniques of liuwei were as follows: stirring speed was 580 r x min(-1), standing time was 17 hours, alcohol concentration was 34%, the density of Liuwei Dihuang decoction was 1.13. The response surface methodology for optimized alcohol precipitation techniques of Liuwei Dihuang decoction is. reasonable and feasible.
Chemical Precipitation ; Chemistry, Pharmaceutical ; methods ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Ethanol ; chemistry