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.

Objective To investigate the differences in subchondral bone mineral density(BMD)between the femoral and tibial sides in patients of knee osteoarthritis(KOA)with normal lines of force and varus.Methods The data of 450 knee joints with a definite diagnosis of KOA were included in this study including weight-bearing full-length X-ray films and quantitative computed tomography(QCT)scans of both lower limbs.Among them,131 were in the normal force line group and 319 were in the knee varus group.The hip-knee-ankle(HKA)angle and BMD of the femoral medial condyle,femoral lateral condyle,tibial medial plateau and tibial lateral plateau were measured.BMD ratio of tibial medial plateau to tibial lateral plateau and the BMD ratio of femoral medial condyle to femoral lateral condyle were calculated.BMD in medial and lateral compartments of the femur and tibia were compared between the two groups,followed by subgroup analyses based on gender and age.Spearman correlation was used to analyze the correlation between the BMD ratio of tibial medial plateau to tibial lateral plateau,the BMD ratio of femoral medial condyle to femoral lateral condyle and the degree of varus in the knee varus group.Results The BMD of the medial femoral condyles and medial tibial platforms were higher in the knee varus group than those in the normal force line group.The BMD of femoral lateral condyle and lateral tibial platform was lower in the knee varus group than that in the normal force line group.The BMD ratio of the medial to lateral tibial plateaus was greater than one in both groups,and the ratio of the knee varus group was greater.The BMD ratio of femoral medial to lateral condyle in the knee varus group was significantly higher than that in the normal force line group.For women,these findings were more pronounced and were independent of age.Correlation analysis showed that the BMD ratio of medial tibial plateau to lateral tibial plateau was negatively correlated with HKA angle(rs=-0.436,P＜0.01),and the BMD ratio of the medial femoral condyle to lateral femoral condyle was also negatively correlated with HKA angle(rs=-0.394,P＜0.01).Conclusion The BMD of medial femoral and tibial compartment is increased and the BMD of lateral compartment is decreased in the genu varus group compared with the normal force line group.

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.