Objectives To evaluate the influences of age and sex on dose-response and recovery time course of atracurium. Methods Seventy-two patients (38 men and 34 women), ASA grade I, aged 15 ～ 59 years,scheduled for elective surgery were included in the study. All patients were divided into three groups according to their ages: Group 1, 32 patients aged 15 ～ 29 years; Group 2, 21 patients aged 30 ～ 40 years, and Group 3, 19 patients aged 41 ～ 59 years. General anesthesia was maintained with 60% nitrous oxide in oxygen, thiopentone and fentanyl. Neuromuscular function was assessed by train-of-four(TOF) stimulation of accelerometry and the percentage depression of the first response (T1) of the TOF stimulus was used as the study parameter. The dose-response relations of atracurium were determined by the cumulative dose-response technique. Results As compared to older and female patients, dose-response curves of atracurium in young and male patients were shifted in a parallel fashion to the left. The dose-response relation of atracurium correlated closely with patients′ ages and sexes by multiple linear regression analysis.There were significant differences of ED50、ED90 and ED95, and clinical duration and total duration of action following administration of atracurium of same doses between the three age groups as well as men and women. Conclusions Age and gender could significantly affect the pharmacodynamics of atracurium.

OBJECTIVETo explore the effects of advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP) on expressions of stromal cell-derived factor-1alpha (SDF-1alpha) in ECV304 cells and the signal pathway that mediated the effects.

METHODSAOPP-BSA was made from bovine serum albumin (BSA) and sodium hypochlorite. After treated with AOPP-BSA of different concentrations (50, 100, 200 micromol/L), the expressions of SDF-1alpha mRNA in ECV304 cells were measured by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and the expressions of SDF-1alpha protein and the levels of phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) in ECV304 cells were analyzed by Western blot. In inhibition test, U0126, the special inhibitor of ERK of different concentrations (0.1, 1, 10 rmol/L) were added into ECV304 cells culture media for 1 hour, then the cells were treated with AOPP-BSA for 24 hours, at last the protein levels in supernatant were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

RESULTSAOPP-BSA obviously promoted the expressions of SDF-1alpha mRNA and increased the levels of SDF-1beta protein of ECV304 cells in dose-dependent manner (all P < 0.01), after 15 minutes treated with 200 micromol/L AOPP-BSA, the levels of phosphorylated ERK of ECV304 cells increased significantly (P < 0.01). When the ERK pathway was blocked by U0126, the promoting effects of AOPP-BSA on expressions of SDF-la protein in ECV304 cells were significantly inhibited in dose-dependent manner (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONAOPP induced the expression of SDF-la of ECV304 cells, ERK signal pathway is an important pathway that mediated the effects.

Advanced Oxidation Protein Products ; pharmacology ; Cell Line ; Chemokine CXCL12 ; metabolism ; Extracellular Signal-Regulated MAP Kinases ; metabolism ; Humans ; MAP Kinase Signaling System ; Oxidative Stress ; Phosphorylation ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics

OBJECTIVE To observe both TRPA1 and TRPM8 expressions in synovial tissues of rats with cold hyperalgesia induced by experimental knee osteoarthritis(KOA).METHODS 45 Sprague Dawley male rats,weight ranging from 440 g to 470 g were randomly individed into the model group,model-antagonist and normal group.Paw withdrawal latency (PWL) of five rats from each group was determined one week before modeling,2,4,6 and 8 weeks after modeling,respectively.8 weeks after modeling,the rats were killed and synovial and cartilage tissues from diseased knee were collected,to observe pathological morphology at cartilage tissues and to determine the protein and gene expressions of TRPA1 and TRPM8 at syno-vial tissues.RESULTS KOA rats showed obvious cold hyperalgesia from two weeks after modeling to the latest follow-up,8 weeks after modeling.The abnormally low level of PWL could be increased by TRPA1 and TRPM8 ion channel blocker.CON-CLUSION Up-regulating expressions of TRPA1 and TRPM8 participate in the occurrence mechanism of KOA cold hyperalge-sia.

OBJECTIVETurner's syndrome (TS) is characterized by the absence of an X chromosome or the presence of a structurally abnormal X chromosome in a phenotypic female. It was recently reported that autoimmune thyroiditis (AIT) was found in 38% of white patients with TS, and few studies in this aspect have been conducted in China. The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of AIT among TS patients and risk factors for development of thyroid dysfunction in Chinese children with TS.

METHODSSerum antithyroglobulin antibody (TgAb), thyroperoxidase antibody (TPOAb) and thyroid function (T(3), T(4) and TSH) of 24 children with TS (mean age 12.9 +/- 2.4 years, range 4.8 - 16.8 years) were assessed. Their karyotype distribution was as follows: thirteen patients with 45, XO kayrotype, eight patients with structurally abnormal X chromosome, two with X mosaic kayrotype and one with 46, XX. Techniques including radioimmunoassy and elctro-chemiluminescence immunoassy were used in this study. All TS children were divided into two groups. Group one was thyroid autoantibodies (TAA)-positive group, the levels of TgAb and/or TPOAb in them were higher than the normal levels (TgAb < 30%, TPOAb < 20%), respectively, and the remaining patients were assigned into TAA-negative group.

RESULTSSeven of the 24 (29%) patients had higher levels of TgAb and TPOAb than the normal values (< 30% and < 20%). The level of serum TSH [6.1 (3.6-100.0) mU/L] in TAA-positive group was significantly higher than that [3.9 (1.7-7.9) mU/L] in TAA-negative group (P < 0.05). The frequency of hypothyroidism or subclinical hypothyroidism in TAA-positive group (5/7) was higher than that in TAA-negative group (3/17) (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe positive rate of serum TAA in children with TS was 29%. About 70% TS children with positive serum TAA developed hypothyroidism or subclinical hypothyroidism. The results have provided the basis for regular follow-up assessment of thyroid autoantibodies and thyroid function in children with TS, and these measures are of importance for timely diagnosis of thyroid dysfunction and application of appropriate treatment.

Adolescent ; Age Determination by Skeleton ; Autoantibodies ; blood ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Humans ; Iodide Peroxidase ; immunology ; Thyroid Gland ; physiopathology ; Turner Syndrome ; immunology ; physiopathology

BACKGROUNDThere is few study to determine whether the use of the lightwand technique alone could achieve effective, safe and successful awake endotracheal intubation (ETI), therefore we designed a prospective clinical study to systematically evaluate the feasibility, safety and efficacy of awake ETI using the lightwand alone in patients with difficult airways.

METHODSSeventy adult patients with difficult airways were enrolled in this study. After the desired sedation with fentanyl and midazolam, airway topical anesthesia was performed with 9 ml of 2% lidocaine, which were in order sprayed in three aliquots at 5 minutes intervals into the supraglottic (two doses) and laryngotracheal areas (one dose) using a combined unit of the lightwand and MADgic atomizer. After airway topical anesthesia, awake ETI was performed using a Lightwand. Subjective assessments by patients and operators using the visual analogue scores (VAS), and objective assessments by an independent investigator using patients' tolerance and reaction scores, coughing severity, intubating conditions and cardiovascular variables were taken as the observed parameters.

RESULTSOf 210 airway sprays, 197 (93.8%) were successfully completed on the first attempt. The total time for airway spray was (14.6 +/- 1.5) minutes. During airway topical anesthesia, the average patients' tolerance scores were 1.7 - 2.3. After airway topical anesthesia, the mean VAS for discomfort levels that the patients reported was 6.5. Also airway topical anesthesia procedure was rated as acceptable and no discomfort by 94.3% of patients. The lightwand-guided awake ETI was successfully completed on first attempt within 29 seconds in all patients. During awake ETI, patients' reaction and coughing scores were 1.9 and 1.6, respectively. All patients exhibited excellent or acceptable intubating conditions. Cardiovascular monitoring revealed that changes of systolic blood pressure and heart rate at each stage of airway manipulations were less than 20% of baseline values. The postoperative follow-up showed that 95.7% of patients had no recall or slight memories of all airway instrumentation. The incidence of postoperative mild airway complications was 38.6%.

CONCLUSIONAlone use of the lightwand technique can achieve effective, safe and successful awake ETI in patients with difficult airways.

Adult ; Airway Obstruction ; Anesthetics, Local ; administration & dosage ; Conscious Sedation ; Humans ; Intubation, Intratracheal ; adverse effects ; instrumentation ; methods ; Lidocaine ; administration & dosage ; Middle Aged ; Prospective Studies ; Wakefulness ; Young Adult

Objective To evaluate the role of dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the diagnose of prostatic cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), and to determine the correlation between dynamic MRI findings with angiogenesis.Methods Thirty-two cases of prostatic cancer and 40 cases of BPH underwent dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI.All the patients in this study were diagnosed by histopathology.The results of dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI were evaluated by early-phase enhancement parameters and time-signal intensity curves (SI-T curves), and the curves were classified according to their shapes as type Ⅰ, which had steady enhancement; type Ⅱ, plateau of signal intensity; and type Ⅲ, washout of signal intensity.The pathologic specimens of region of interest (ROI) were obtained, and HE staining, immunohistochemical vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and microvessel density (MVD) measurements were performed.The relationships among dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI features, VEGF, and MVD expression were analyzed.Results In the early-phase enhancement parameters of dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI, onset time,maximum signal intensity, and early-phase enhancement rate differed between prostatic cancer and BPH(P

OBJECTIVE Integral animal experiment was employed to investigate the limonin distribution in different parts of rats?? intestine.METHODS The concentration of limonin in different parts of the intestinal was detected by LC-MS/MS meth-od.After the rats were given the limonin 80 mg/kg ig,the drug concentrations in the duodenum,small intestine and rectum were detected at 2,3,4,6 and 8 h.RESULTS Limonin was highly distributed in different parts of the intestinal tissue.Most of intestinal tissue reached peak concentration at 3~4 h after administration.The drug concentration in the duodenum and rectum was the highest,with duodenum being the second.CONCLUSION Limonin has a wide distribution and high concentration in rat intestine,and it plays a direct role in the treatment of hemorrhoids in intestine.

Objective:To investigate the sleep status of elderly hypertensive patients stratified into the group of high risk or above in a community.Methods:1 606 patients aged over 65 years were selected from the hypertension database of Gumei Community Health Service Center, Minhang District, Shanghai, including 757 males and 849 females.Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was used to investigate the population.Results:43.2% of the patients had sleep disorders.The PSQI score was 7.09±2.95 in the males and 8.07±3.39 in the females (P<0.05).In terms of age, the prevalence of sleep disorders among the group of 65 to 69 years, the group of 70 to 74 years and the group of older than 75 years was 40.1%, 42.6%, and 49.4%, respectively.The percentage of sleep disorders in patients with diabetes and those without diabetes was 45.4% and 42.3% (P<0.05).In characterizing the sleep disorder, 51.2% of the patients had difficulty falling asleep frequently, 54.8 % of them spent more than six hours in bed but most of these patients (over 95%) had a low sleep efficiency, staying awake about one third (35%) of the time in bed.In the treatment of sleep disorders, less than one-third of the patients took sleeping pills, and about 13% of them took sleeping pills regularly.In evaluation of the impact of sleep disorders, nearly 40% of the patients had daytime dysfunction.Conclusions:Among the elderly hypertensive patients stratified into the group of high risk or above, sleep disorders are common.Female, advanced age and diabetes are risk factors to sleep disorders.Which should be paid attention to health workers.

Purpose/Significance The present situation of the talent team construction in the information departments of public hospi-tals of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)in Guangxi is analyzed to provide references for optimizing the talent team construction in this field.Method/Process Taking the personnel in the information departments of secondary and above public TCM hospitals in Guangxi in 2022 as the research objects,statistical methods such as Wilcoxon rank sum test,x2 test and Spearman correlation analysis are used to an-alyze the distribution of the research objects and discuss the existing problems in talent team construction.Result/Conclusion The aver-age number of personnel in the information departments of secondary and above public TCM hospitals in Guangxi is 4.39,accounting for 0.80％of the total number of employees.The overall quantity is insufficient,and the distribution is uneven among regions and hospital levels.The talent structure of tertiary TCM hospitals is relatively better than that of secondary TCM hospitals.

OBJECTIVETo study the effect of Hongjingtian (Gadol) injection on cardiac hemodynamics and myocardial oxygen consumption for analyzing its underlying mechanism in the treatment of coronary heart disease.

METHODA total of 20 dogs anesthetized with pentobarbital sodium (30 mg x kg(-1), i.v.) were evenly randomized into control group, low-dose Gadol (LDG) group, high-dose Gadol (HDG) group and Herbesser Injection group. The blood flow volume (BFV) of the left coronary artery and cardiac output (CO), left ventricular pressure (LVP), maximum ascending rate (dp/dtmax) of LVP, mean arterial pressure (MAP) of the femoral artery, oxygen contents of the coronary artery and coronary vein (venous sinus), oxygen consumption index (OCI), cardiac index (CI), coronary artery resistance (CAR) and total peripheral resistance (TPR) as well as oxygen utilization rate (OUR) were detected respectively.

RESULTAfter venous injection of Gadol, CAR, MAP, TPR, OCI, myocardial oxygen consumption and heart rate lowered significantly (P < 0.05-0.01), while BFV and blood oxygen content of the venous sinus increased considerably (P < 0.05-0.01) in comparison with pre-injection. No significant differences were found in LVP and myocardial contractivity between control group and LDG, and between control and HDG groups respectively.

CONCLUSIONIt showed dilation of the coronary artery and reduction of the cardiac afterload after injection of Gadol. Besides, CO and stroke volume increased considerably and the cardiac effective work was raised without any significant simultaneous increase of both myocardial contractility and LVP. A decrease in the myocardial oxygen consumption and reduction of OCI indicates an improvement of the oxygen supply of the myocardium, and a favorable regulation of the compliance of the cardiac vessels. As a result, the cardiovascular performance was ameliorated. The abovementioned improvement of these indexes may contribute to the therapeutic effect of Gadol in the treatment of coronary heart disease in clinic.

Animals ; Blood Pressure ; drug effects ; Cardiac Output ; drug effects ; Dogs ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Female ; Heart Rate ; drug effects ; Hemodynamics ; drug effects ; Injections, Intravenous ; Male ; Myocardium ; metabolism ; Oxygen ; metabolism ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Random Allocation ; Rhodiola ; chemistry ; Vascular Resistance ; drug effects