OBJECTIVETo explore the role of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndrome scores in effectiveness evaluation of clinical studies.

METHODSRandomized controlled trials (RCTs) of TCM published in five journals in 2013 were retrieved, including Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine (JTCM), Chinese Journal of Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine (CJITWM), Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine (CJIM), Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine (ECAM), and American Journal of Chinese Medicine (AJCM). The details of TCM syndrome scores and other relevant factors reported in articles were extracted and analyzed. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square test were used to describe general features of inclusive studies, ratios of reports on CM syndrome scores in each journal, formulated evidence, adopted evaluation rules, important degrees. The difference in the application rate of CM syndrome scores were compared in various diseases, diseases with or without CM syndrome typing, places where clinical studies were implemented, and different journals.

RESULTSA total of 240 RCTs were included, involving 178 published in Chinese version and 62 in English version. CM syndrome scores were used for effectiveness evaluation in 27.1% (65/240) of RCTs, of which, the highest application percentage was 35.3% (18/51) in RCTs published in CJITWM, and the lowest was 0 (0/7) in RCTs published in AJCM. There were 17 methods for grading TCM syndrome scores, of which Guideline for Clinical Research of New Chinese Herbal Medicine was most commonly used. Detailed grading standards for CM syndrome scores were reported in 46 RCTs, and CM syndrome scores were taken as primary or secondary outcomes in 6 RCTs. When describing the percentages of RCTs adopting TCM syndrome score by diseases classification, the lowest was 9.5% (2/21) in mental and behavioral disorders, and the highest was 39.1% (9/23) in endocrine, nutritional, and metabolic diseases. RCTs with TCM syndrome differentiation had a higher percentage of adopting TCM syndrome score than those without TCM syndrome differentiation (P < 0.01). Statistical differences were also found among RCTs published in Chinese core journals (32.0%), domestic science citation index (SCI) journals (28.6%), and overseas SCI journals (4.9%) (χ2 = 12.4593, P < 0.01). For RCTs conducted by Chinese scholars, the percentage of using TCM syndrome score was 32.0% in three journals from China, while 7.1% in two foreign language journals, showing significant difference (χ2 =7.3615, P < 0.01); none of RCTs conducted by foreign scholars used TCM syndrome scores for effectiveness assessment.

CONCLUSIONSThere was a lack of agreeable and universal standards for TCM syndrome scores using in effectiveness evaluation. Therefore, it was not commonly used in domestic CM clinical studies. It was not so favorably agreed in overseas academic circles.

Antigens, CD34 ; metabolism ; Choriocarcinoma ; pathology ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Hemangioma ; metabolism ; pathology ; Humans ; Keratin-18 ; metabolism ; Mesenchymoma ; pathology ; Placenta ; pathology ; Placenta Diseases ; metabolism ; pathology ; Platelet Endothelial Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 ; metabolism ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Complications, Neoplastic ; metabolism ; pathology ; Young Adult

Sepsis caused by complicated intra-abdominal infection has a poor prognosis since the mechanism of sepsis has not been fully clarified .Research about the effect of Receptor of Advanced Glycation Endproducts on sepsis was paid extensive attention . In this paper , the construction and function of RAGE , the relationship between RAGE and inflammation and action of RAGE during sepsis are summarized .

Objective To explore a simple and effective method of culturing primary human bronchial epithelial cells.Methods Bronchial epithelial cells were obtained from human bronchial tissues obtained from lobectomy or pneumectomy.Epithelial cells were isolated by three methods as fellows:1.proteinase XIV digestion with mechanical scraping,2.proteinase XIV digestion with mechanical stripping,and 3.trypsin digestion with mechanical scraping.Subsequently the cells were cultured in serum-free hormone-supplemented DMEM/F12.The quantity,purity and viability of cells isolated by three methods were compared.The cultured cells were identified with cytokeratins AE1/AE3 by immunohistochemistry.Results The quantity of cells [(9.37?1.62)?105] obtained from proteinase XIV digestion with mechanical scraping was significantly higher than that of proteinase XIV digestion with mechanical stripping [(5.20?0.75)?105](P

Objective To understand the infection sources, care seeking behaviour and STD prevention in STD clinic patients. Methods Four hundred and seventy four patients of 3 STD clinics in Shanghai were investigated with questionaires and interviewed. Results 94.1% respondents contracted STDs via sexual contact. 70.3% married females attributed their infection source to their husbands, while more than 80% males and unmarried patients were infected through casual or commercial sex partners. High risk populations were observed among salesclerks, hotel attendants, private businessmen and unemployed, who were liable to contract STD through extramarital sexual contact and had a low rate of condom use. 74.5% of patients who visited the clinics after their symptoms had appeared. 82.7%, 62.2%, 57.1% and 30.0% of patients, whose sex partners were their spouses, lovers, commercial sex workers and casual partners, respectively, promised to encourage their partners for STD check up. Although the care seeking behaviour among females was slightly more active than that among males, postponed treatment seeking behaviour, low rate of simultaneous treatment of both male and female partners and low rate of condom use were observed among total patients. Majority of patients practised unprotected sexual intercourse, 4.2% used condom in commercial sexual activities, only 9.7% used condom even after having contracted the present STDs. Conclusion It is implied that counselling and health education must be strengthened in STD clinics, aiming at improving the awareness of STD prevention, insistently and correctly using condom, carefully choosing sex partners and reducing the number of sex partners, and encouraging the patients to adopt healthier life style.

Objective To investigate induction of the expression of human ?-defensin-2 (hBD-2) mRNA and the changes in activation of I-?B? and NF-?B by IL-1? in the human airway epithelium. Methods Primary human respiratory tract epithelium were stimulated with IL-1? and and/or PDTC. The expression of hBD-2 mRNA was detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The I-?B? protein level in the cytoplasm was determined by Western blot, and the nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-?B) binding activity was analyzed by electrophoretic mobility shift assays. Results The hBD-2 mRNA expression could be detected after 1.5 hours of IL-1? stimulation at concentration of 1?g/L, and the expression of HBD-2 was in a dose dependent manner. Stimulation with IL-1? resulted in a reduction of I-?B? protein levels. The supershifts assays indicated that the p65-p50 heterodimer complexes of NF-?B were involved in the activation of NF-?B. Conclusions I-?B? can induce the expression of HBD-2 mRNA in a dose dependent manner; the p65-p50 heterodimer complexes of NF-?B play an important role in the regulation of hBD-2 gene expression in response to IL-1?.

To study the effects of major components of Maijunan tablets, puerarin (Pue) and rhynchophylline (Rhy) on the transport of hydrochlorothiazide (Hct) Caco-2 cell monolayer model, the transport parameters of Hct, such as apparent permeability coefficient (P(app) (B --> A) and P(app) (A --> B)) and the ratio of P(app) (B --> A) versus P(app) (A --> B), were studied and compared when Hct was used solely and co-used with Pue and/or Rhy. The effects of drug concentrations, conveying times, P-glyprotein (P-gp) inhibitor verapamil and conveying Liq pH values on the transport of Hct in the above conditions were also investigated. The results indicated that the absorption of Hct in Caco-2 cell monolayer model could be a carrier-mediated active transport, along with the excretion action mediated by P-gp. Pue can decrease the excretion action of Hct mediated by P-gp, and Rhy had no significant effect on the transport of Hct. The co-use of Hct, Pue and Rhy enhanced the absorption of Hct. Meanwhile, conveying Liq pH value had significant influence on the transport of Hct. The absorption of Hct at pH 6.0 was higher than that at pH 7.4.

Good clinical practice should be based on evidence. Evidence quality should be based on critical appraisal in evidence based medicine (EBM). Evaluation of evidence quality plays an important role in evidence level clarifying, which is the core of EBM. Different recommendations for clinical practice often derive from evidence levels. Thus evidence quality evaluation is the first and most important step in EBM. There are lots of standards to evaluate evidence quality in the world. However there are two aspects of the evaluation, one is methodological evaluation and the other is reporting evaluation. This article collected a series of standards for clinical trials quality evaluation according to different research designs. It is hoped that the resource and introduction about the quality evaluation of clinical trials be helpful for medical researchers in China. Only being familiar with all kinds of standards of methodology and reporting, researchers could publish high quality scientific papers.
Biomedical Research ; Evidence-Based Medicine ; Guidelines as Topic ; Humans ; Meta-Analysis as Topic ; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic

Objective To investigate the effect of deltaNp63(ΔNp63) silencing on the proliferation of pancreatic cancer PANC1 cells.Methods ΔNp63 mRNA level in 23 pairs of pancreatic cancer and adjacent tissue specimen was detected by real-time PCR, andΔNp63 protein in human normal pancreatic ductal cell line HPDE6-C7 and pancreatic cancer cell line PANC1, CFPAC1 and BXPC3 was detected by Western blot. PANC1 cells were transfectedΔNp63 specific siRNA (ΔNp63-siRNA ) and scramble siRNA ( Con-siRNA ) using liposome, and untransfected cells served as control.ΔNp63 mRNA and protein was detected by real-time PCR and Western blot to validate the silencing ofΔNp63 expression.MTT assay and BrdU method were used to detect the proliferation and DNA synthesis of transfected PANC1 cells.Results TheΔNp63 mRNA expression in pancreatic cancer tissues and matched adjacent normal tissues was 0.99 ± 0.07 and 0.70 ±0.07, respectively.ΔNp63 mRNA expression in pancreatic cancer tissue was significantly up-regulated compared with that in the normal tissue (P=0.0034).TheΔNp63 protein expression in HPDE6-C7, PANC1, CFPAC-1 and BxPC3 cells was 0.97 ±0.09,3.06 ±0.16,2.57 ±0.11 and 2.45 ±0.08, respectively.TheΔNp63 protein level in pancreatic cancer cells were higher than that in HPDE6-C7 cells (P<0.001).ΔNp63 mRNA level in control, Con-siRNA and ΔNp63-siRNA group was 0.97 ±0.07,0.97 ±0.07 and 0.28 ±0.03, respectively, andΔNp63 protein expression level was 0.97 ±0.06,1.00 ±0.10 and 0.26 ±0.03.The expression ofΔNp63 mRNA and protein inΔNp63-siRNA group were significantly down-regulated comparing with those in Con-siRNA group (P<0.01).Significant inhibition on cell proliferation was observed in ΔNp63-siRNA group, which was statistically different from that in control and Con-siRNA group.The A490 value (DNA synthesis) of control, Con-siRNA andΔNp63-siRNA group was 0.55 ±0.04, 0.56 ±0.01 and 0.55 ±0.00 at 24 h after transfection, and 0.84 ±0.05,0.87 ±0.07 and 0.71 ±0.05 at 48 h after transfection.The DNA synthesis inΔNp63-siRNA group was significantly down-regulated compared with that in control and Con-siRNA group (P<0.05).Conclusions Knockdown ofΔNp63 could greatly inhibit the proliferation and DNA synthesis of pancreatic cancer PANC1 cells.

Objective To explore the relationships between the sleep/wake-up patterns and temperament in preterm infants.Methods The developmental characteristics of sleep/wake-up patterns and temperament in preterm infants aged 4 months at corrected gestational age in their own home environments were described.The 23 relatively low-risk preterm infants were enrolled in this study.The sleep/wake-up data was collected with actigraphy.The temperament was assessed by Chinese Infant Temperament Questionnaire.Results Among the 23 infants,there were 13 coordinated difficult(D) type and 10 coordinated easy(E) type.The number of night wake-up in the coordinated D-type preterm infants[(2.78 ±0.01) times] were significantly more than that of coordinated E-type ones[(2.60 ± 0.03) times] (t =3.285,P =0.001).The longest continuous sleep time of coordinated D-type preterm infants [(4.20 ± 1.21) h] was significantly less than that of coordinated E-type ones[(4.41 ± 1.14) h] (t =3.374,P =0.001).There were no significant differences in daytime sleep duration,the number of naps,bedtime,sleep latency,nighttime sleep duration,the 24 hour sleep duration and morning awaking time between the two groups (all P ＞ 0.05).After the sex factor was controlled,there was a positive correlation between emotional nature and sleep latency at night (r =0.599,P =0.032).There was also positive correlation between persistence and the number of naps in daytime (r =0.439,P =0.035).Conclusions Preterm infants with different temperament types have different number of night wake-ups and the longest continuous sleep time.The emotional nature and persistence are associated with sleep latency at night and number of naps in daytime respectively.The parents of preterm infants should change their child rearing behaviors to improve sleep quality of the preterm infants.