Pathological pain, normally referring to tissue injury-induced inflammatory pain and nerve injury-induced neuropathic pain, is an expression of neural plasticity. Injuries and intense noxious stimuli result in pain hypersensitivity,which is contributed by peripheral sensitization (increased sensitivity of primary sensory nociceptors) and central sensitization (increased sensitivity of spinal dorsal horn and other CNS neurons). Activation of several protein kinases causes both forms of sensitization via posttranslational regulation, such as phosphorylation of key membrane receptors and channels. In particular, activation of multiple signal cascades converge on the activation of MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase).Activation of MAPK family members of ERK and p38 by nociceptive activity, growth factors, and inflammatory mediators in primary sensory and secondary order neurons, not only results in posttranslational modification, but also increases the expression of numerous genes via transcriptional and non-transcriptional regulation. Eventually this activation contributes to the development and maintenance of heightened pain sensitivity following injury.

The pain experience includes a sensory-discriminative and an emotional-affective component. The sensory dimension describes the quality, intensity, and spatio-temporal characteristics of the sensation. The affective dimension refers to the unpleasantness or aversion of sensation. The great progress at the genic, molecular, cellular, and systemic level on the study of the sensory dimension of pain has been made over past four decades. However, to consider only the sensory features of pain, and ignore its motivational and affective properties, is to look at only part of the problem. A line of clinic observations indicate that the patients with chronic pain suffer from much more affective disturbance than pain itself. Obviously, physiological arousal and hypervigilance to pain cause negative affect, such as fear, anxiety, angry, worry, aversion, even tendency of suicide, these negative affective states in turn enhance pain sensation. Therefore, the mechanisms underlying the affective dimension of pain have recently received more attention. In order to deepen and expand our understanding of the nature of pain, this review summarizes the main findings regarding affective component of pain in neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and cell biochemistry

OBJECTIVETo observe the effect of Qianliean Pill (QP) on inflammatory factors such as IL-1β, IL-10, and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) in chronic nonbacterial prostatitis (CNP) model rats, and to explore its therapeutic mechanism.

METHODSCNP rat model was established by castration and estradiol benzoate injection. Totally 50 rats were randomly divided into 5 groups, i.e., the model group, the positive medicine group, the high dose QP group, the medium dose QP group, and the low dose QP group, 10 in each group. Besides, 10 normal rats were recruited as a normal control group. Since the 8th day of castration, Pulean Tablet (PT) at 10. 80 g/kg was administered to rats in the positive medicine group by gastrogavage. QP at 11.00, 5.50, and 2.75 g/kg was administered to rats in high, medium, and low dose QP groups by gastrogavage. Distilled water at 2 mL/100 g was administered to rats in the model group and the normal control group by gastrogavage, once daily for 30 successive days. After 30 days of medication all rats were sacrificed and their prostate tissues were extracted. The prostatic index was calculated. Pathological changes of rat prostate were observed under light microscope. Meanwhile, levels of IL-1β, IL-10, and TNF-α were detected using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay.

RESULTSCompared with the normal control group, the prostate index obviously decreased, levels of IL-1β, TNF-α, and IL-10 in the prostate tissue significantly increased in the model group (P < 0.01). Compared with the model group, the prostate index obviously decreased in high and medium dose QP groups, and the positive medicine group (P < 0.01); levels of IL-1β, TNF-α, and IL-10 obviously decreased in each QP group and the positive medicine group (P < 0.01). Compared with the positive medicine group, the TNF-α level decreased more obviously in the high dose QP group (P < 0.05). Compared with the normal control group, inflammatory reactions occurred obviously in rats' prostate of the model group. Compared with the model group, inflammatory reactions were milder in rats' prostate of each QP group and the positive medicine group, and their degrees were improved to some extent.

CONCLUSIONQP could treat CNP, which might be achieved by regulating local immune state of the prostate, relieving inflammatory reactions of the prostate, and lowering levels of IL-β, TNF-α, and IL-10 in the prostate tissue.

Animals ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Interleukin-10 ; metabolism ; Interleukin-1beta ; metabolism ; Male ; Prostatitis ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; Rats ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; metabolism

Objective To investigate the effect of workplace violence on psychological health in nurse of emergency department.Methods 96 nurses of emergency department from 6 third-grade class-A hospitals in Guangzhou who had experienced workplace violence since the last six months were investigated by means of SCL-90 and self-designed questionnaire according to WHO' definition of workplace violence.Results 42.16％ of workplace violence happened between late night and early dawn.The incidence of psychological violence was 72.55％.The patients and their family were the main troublemakers.The risk factors of violence were:needs not met,dissatisfaction of service,heavy drinking,in sequence.On account of workplace violence,the average score of somatization,compulsion,depression,anxiety,hostility,fear and mental disease was significantly higher than the Chinese norm (t =4.676,3.745,2.892,8.236,2.796,8.012,5.177,23.801;P ＜ 0.01 or P ＜ 0.05 ).Conclusions Workplace violence severely affects psychological health of nurse in emergency department and should be prevented and controlled by effective measures.

This paper introduces the current development and challenges of vision prosthesis.
Prosthesis Design ; Visual Prosthesis

Stem cell marker LIN28, related closely with SOX2 and OCT4, has been studied as a biomarker for the maintainance of pluripotent cells in several malignancies. Our previous study showed that SOX2 and OCT4 were negative predictors for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the predictive value of LIN28 in HCC outcome is still undetermined. We hypothesized that LIN28 may also play a role as a biomarker for HCC. To test this hypothesis, we examined the expression of LIN28 in 129 radically resected HCC tissues using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and analyzed the association of LIN28 expression with clinicopathologic features and prognosis. Our study showed that LIN28 was expressed at a higher frequency in tumor tissues than in non-HCC tissues (45.0% vs. 21.7%, P = 0.020). Moreover, LIN28 expression was significantly increased in cases with large tumor size (P = 0.010). Univariate analysis did not reveal a significant correlation between LIN28 expression and overall survival or recurrence-free survival. For HCC patients who met the Milan criteria, stratified analysis revealed shorter overall survival (P = 0.007) and recurrence-free survival (P < 0.001) in those with detectable LIN28 expression compared to those with no detectable LIN28 expression. Furthermore, multivariate analysis revealed that LIN28 was a negative independent predictor for both overall survival (hazard ratio= 7.093, P = 0.017) and recurrence-free survival (hazard ratio=5.518, P = 0.004) in patients who met the Milan criteria. Taken together, our results suggest that LIN28 identifies low-risk and high-risk subsets of HCC patients meeting the Milan criteria who undergo hepatectomy.
Adult ; Aged ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Disease-Free Survival ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Hepatectomy ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Grading ; Neoplasm Staging ; RNA, Messenger ; metabolism ; RNA-Binding Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Survival Rate ; Tumor Burden

Patients with late-stage cancer commonly have distant lymph node metastasis; however, poor health often contraindicates surgical treatment. Although the quality of life and overall survival for these patients are low, there is neither a consensus nor a guide for treatment. Ablation technique and surrounding tissue damage are two possible reasons for limited study of radiofrequency ablation in patients with superficial distant lymph node metastasis. Here, we report two patients treated successfully with ultrasound-guided radiofrequency ablation for superficial distant lymph node metastasis. In these patients, deionized water was injected to the surrounding tissues of the lymph node to decrease heat injury. Results from these patients suggest that radiofrequency ablation may play an important role in the treatment of patients with distant lymph node metastasis.
Catheter Ablation ; methods ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; surgery ; Female ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; diagnostic imaging ; surgery ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; surgery ; Neoplasm Staging ; Ultrasonography, Interventional ; methods

OBJECTIVETo explore the relationship between polymorphisms of FAS and FASL genes and genetic susceptibility of silicosis.

METHODSA case-control study was conducted. The case group was 183 male patients with silicosis and the control group was 111 male silica-exposed but without silicosis miners. Data on total dust concentrations was collected to estimate cumulative total dust exposure (CTE) of each subject and each person's characteristics and work history were obtained from questionnaire. Polymerase chain reaction re-strained fragment length polymorphism technique (PCR-RFLP) was applied to detect the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of FAS-1377, FAS-670 and FASL-844. Associations between polymorphisms and risk of silicosis and stages, interactions between polymorphisms, between polymorphisms and CTE and smoking and haplotypes were analyzed.

RESULTSThere were no differences in the FAS-1377, FAS-670 and FASL-844 genotypes between the case group and the control group (P > 0.05). No association was observed between FAS-1377, FAS-670 and FASL-844 polymorphisms and silicosis and stages (P > 0.05). The frequencies of FAS-1377G/-670G haplotype in the cases (9.6%) were higher than those in the controls (3.6%) (P < 0.05). No interactions between the polymorphisms of different genes, the gene polymorphism and the total accumulative total dust, the gene polymorphism and smoking were observed (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONFAS-1377, FAS-670 and FASL-844 polymorphisms are not susceptible factors of silicosis. The FAS-1377G/-670G haplotype might be a susceptibility marker of silicosis.

Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Case-Control Studies ; Fas Ligand Protein ; genetics ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Silicosis ; genetics ; fas Receptor ; genetics

This study was aimed to explore whether the conditioned culture medium of human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hUC-MSC) has supportive effects on hematopoiesis in vitro. hUC-MSC were cultured in 75 cm(2) culture flasks at a concentration of 2×10(6) cells per flask. After 48 h, the conditioned culture medium was harvested. CD34(+) cells were isolated with the human cord blood CD34 positive selection kit. The CD34(+) cells were plated in three different culture systems: the culture supernatant from hUC-MSC added into incomplete methylcellulose without recombinant human cytokines as conditioned culture medium; the complete methylcellulose medium with recombinant human cytokines as positive control medium; incomplete methylcellulose adding DMEM/F12 with 10% FBS instead of conditioned culture medium as the negative control medium. After 14 days of culture, colonies containing ≥ 50 cells were scored and types of colonies were classified under inverted microscope. The immunophenotypes of cells which were collected from the colonies were detected by flow cytometry. The results showed that conditioned culture medium of hUC-MSC supported the differentiation of CD34(+) cells into CFU-G (47.67 ± 0.58), CFU-GM (48.67 ± 4.73) and CFU-M (3.00 ± 2.00) in vitro, while the CFU-E, BFU-E or CFU-GEMM were absent. Comparatively, in the positive control medium all kinds of CFU were observed. Interestingly, the percentage of CD45(+)cells of CFU in conditioned culture medium (97.43 ± 2.15)% was more than CD45(+)cells in positive control medium (39.69 ± 0.96)% (P < 0.05). It is concluded that the conditioned culture medium of hUC-MSC has been confirmed to have ability to support hematopoiesis separately in vitro. Besides, it enhances the differentiation of CD34(+) cells into myeloid cells except cells of erythroid lineage.
Antigens, CD34 ; Cell Differentiation ; Cells, Cultured ; Culture Media, Conditioned ; Fetal Blood ; cytology ; Hematopoiesis ; Humans ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; cytology ; Umbilical Cord ; cytology