Objective To study the expression of HER4 in renal cell carcinoma and elucidate therelationship between HER4 expression and the clinical features of renal cell carcinoma. Methods Seventy-five cases of paraffin-embedded tissues from renal eell carcinoma were tested for the expres-sion of HER4 by immunohistochemistry.Forty-six cases were male,29 cases were female,the median age was 49 years old.All of these cases were diagnosed as renal cell carcinoma(51 cases of clear cell carcinoma,1 5 cases of granular cell carcinoma,and 9 cases of papillary adenocarcinoma).The control group was 20 cases of normal renal tissue 5 am away from the tumor.Descriptive analysis was applied to compare the differences used the x2.test.Statistical analysis was done by SPSS 10.0. Results HER4 was overexpressed in 78.7%RCC(9 cases with weak positive,18 cases moderate positive,41 caseS intensive positive and 7 cases negative)cases.The expression of HER4 was negative in all nor-mal tissue.The overexpression of HER4 was correlated with the lymph node metastasis and TNM staging(P<0.05). Conclusions HER4 overexpressionis correlated with Stage of RCC.

Objective To compare the effect of kidney-tonifying blood-activating recipe (KBR) and Aescuven Forte Tablets ( AFT) in improving the sperm quality of varicocele-induced male sterility, thus to optimize the therapeutic therapy for varicocele-induced male sterility. Methods A total of 102 varicocele-induced male sterility with abnormal sperm parameters after conservative treatment were randomized into KBR group (N=53) and AFT group ( N=49) . KBR group was given KBR plus natural vitamin E and AFT group was given AFT plus natural vitamin E, and the treatment lasted for 8 continuous weeks. Before and after treatment, the quality of seminal fluid was analyzed, sperm quantization parameters such as total number of sperm (TNS) , total number of progressive motility sperm ( TNPS) , total number of normal form sperm ( TNNS) and total number of nor mal form and progressive motility sperm ( TNNPS) were observed, and the improvement rate of sperm quantization parameter was compared. Results (1) Before treatment, the differences of TNS, TNPS, TNNS and TNNPS were insignificant between the two groups ( P>0.05) . After treatment, TNNS was not improved in AFT group ( P>0.05) , but TNS, TNPS, TNNPS were much improved in both groups ( P<0.01 compared with those before treatment) . The improvement of KBR group was superior to that of AFT group ( P<0.05) . ( 2) The improvement rate for TNS, TNPS, TNNS, TNNPS was 90.57%, 79.25%, 67.92%, 77.36%in KBR group, and was 75.51%, 73.47%, 28.57%, 61.22% in AFT group respectively. The improvement rate for TNS and TNNS in KBR group was superior to that in AFT group ( P<0.05 or P<0.01) . Conclusion Varicocele-induced male sterility patients usually have the syndrome of kidney deficiency and blood stasis, so KBR, which has the function of tonifying kidney and activating blood, has synergistic action on the effect of AFT in improving sperm quality of varicocele-induced male sterility patients.

OBJECTIVETo observe the clinical efficacy differences between modified lateral position and prone position in patients treated with electroacupuncture (EA) for lumbar herniated disc (LHD).

METHODSSeventy-six patients with LHD were randomly divided into a lateral position group and a prone position group, 38 cases in each one. The acupoint selection and treatment method were identical in the two groups except the position. Mingmen (GV 4), Yaoyangguan (GV 3), Dachangshu (BL 25), Xiaochangshu (BL 27), Zhibian (BL 54) and Huantiao (GB 30) were selected. EA was given three times a week, ten times were taken as one course and totally 20 times were given. The visual analogue scale (VAS) and Japanese orthopaedic association (JOA) scale were taken as efficacy criteria, which were evaluated before and after treatment as well as one month after treatment.

RESULTSAfter treatment, VAS and JOA were significantly improved in the two groups (lateral position group:JOA 10.60±2.60 vs 18.92±3.87, VAS 8.13±0.99 vs 2.34±0.81; prone position group:JOA 10.94±2.06 vs 17.02±3.96, VAS 8.02±1.05 vs 2.86±0.96, all<0.01); the VAS and JOA in the lateral position group were higher than those in the prone position group (both<0.05). One month after treatment, VAS and JOA were significantly improved in the two groups (all<0.01), which was more significant in the lateral position group (both<0.05).

CONCLUSIONSThe treatment position could influence the efficacy of EA for LHD, and lateral position pre-sents certain advantages to prone position group.