Animals ; Atherosclerosis ; diet therapy ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Plaque, Atherosclerotic ; drug therapy

Adolescent ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Intensive Care Units, Pediatric ; statistics & numerical data ; Lung Diseases ; epidemiology ; mortality ; physiopathology ; Male ; Prognosis ; Prospective Studies ; Respiratory Function Tests ; Survival Rate

ObjectiveTo explore the effect of metalloproteinases (MMPs) inhibitor on expression of MMP-3 in degenerated lumbar intervertebral disc.MethodsThe animal model of degenerated lumbar intervertebral disc was established with rats. The 32 rats were randomly divided into the experimental group and control group with 16 animals in each group. From the fourth week after operation, the animals of the experimental group were injected with tetracycline 25 mg per day, those of the control group with saline. Two weeks late, the tissue of degenerated lumbar intervertebral disc was taken and the expression of MMP-3 was tested by immumohistochemistry and Western-bloting.ResultsThe expression of MMP-3 in the experimental group decreased and significantly different from the control group ( P<0.05).ConclusionMMPs inhibitor can decrease expression of MMP-3 in degenerated lumbar intervertebral disc.

As an important part of Chinese medicinal materials, uncommon-territorial herbs are also the most complex parts in the herbal medicine markets. Through years of investigation on the key markets of Chinese herbal medicine, the meaning of uncommon-territorial herbs, their historical evolution, origin and characteristics were clarified in this paper, and some countermeasures were put forward for its development.
Biological Evolution ; China ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; history ; Herbal Medicine ; history ; History, 20th Century ; History, 21st Century ; History, Ancient ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; history ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; growth & development

Adolescent ; Asthma ; drug therapy ; genetics ; immunology ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Gene Expression Regulation ; drug effects ; Glucocorticoids ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin E ; blood ; Infant ; Interleukin-12 ; genetics ; Interleukin-13 ; genetics ; Male ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics ; metabolism ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the outcome of total knee arthroplasty with or without resurfacing of the patella with particular attention to knee score, knee function score and incidence of postoperative anterior knee pain, providing the basis for the choice of surgical procedure.

METHODSCNKI, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Highwire and other databases were searched for the randomized controlled trials relevant to the patellar with or without replacement in total knee replacement arthroplasty between 1998 and 2010, evaluating of the methodological quality of included studies and extracting valid data.

RESULTSThe 80 citations were identified as related to patellar resurfacing during total knee arthroplasty, 13 articles meet all inclusion criteria for this study. The incidence of postoperative anterior knee pain is greater in knees without replaced patellas (RR = 0.78, 95%CI: 0.61 - 0.99, P = 0.04). No differences are observed between the 2 groups for knee score and knee function score. Knee score (WMD = -0.49, 95%CI: -1.79 - 0.81, P = 0.46), knee function score (WMD = 1.10, 95%CI: -1.77 - 3.98, P = 0.45).

CONCLUSIONSThe patella replacement can significantly reduce the incidence of postoperative anterior knee pain. There is no difference in the knee score and knee function score between two groups.

Arthroplasty, Replacement, Knee ; adverse effects ; methods ; Humans ; Knee Joint ; physiopathology ; Pain, Postoperative ; etiology ; Patella ; surgery ; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic

OBJECTIVETo investigate the expression of extracellular matrix metalloproteinase induced (EMMPRIN) in the interface tissue, and explore the role of EMMPRIN in the aseptic loosening of prostheses.

METHODSImmunohistochemistry was performed to characterize the EMMPRIN-expressing cells at sites of interface tissue around aseptic loosened hip prostheses in 16 cases. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed to study the existence of EMMPRIN mRNA in interface tissue samples. And it was followed up by computer assisted image analysis in order to detect the A values of their expression. Synovium of hip joint of 8 femoral neck fracture were in control group.

RESULTSStrong immunostaining of EMMPRIN was found in the macrophages and fibroblasts of lining-like layers and vascular endothelium of synovial membrane-like interface tissue around loosened prostheses. Expression of EMMPRIN was significantly higher in interface tissue than the control synovium (z=-3.252, P=0.001). RT-PCR of interface tissue samples disclosed the presence of EMMPRIN mRNA of 14 cases. In interface tissue, the A value of EMMPRIN increased significantly compared to control synovium (P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONOver-expression of EMMPRIN up-regulates the production of matrix metalloproteinase (MMPs) in the interface tissue. And it can promote the bone destruction around prostheses. Thereby it may be one of methods to prevent and treat aseptic loosening of prostheses by repression the biology activity of EMMPRIN.

Adult ; Aged ; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip ; Basigin ; genetics ; physiology ; Female ; Hip Prosthesis ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Male ; Matrix Metalloproteinases ; metabolism ; Middle Aged ; Osteolysis ; physiopathology ; Prosthesis Failure ; RNA, Messenger ; metabolism ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Synovial Membrane ; metabolism

Adult ; Cartilage Diseases ; diagnosis ; etiology ; Female ; Humans ; Knee Joint ; surgery ; Menisci, Tibial ; surgery

To investigate the resources of medicinal plant, such as wild Apocynum, supervised classification based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and texture feature were used to monitor wild medicinal plants from image captured by ZY-3 and World-view-2 and compare which satellite Image are more appropriate to monitor the wild medicinal plants. The research results shows that: for more complex growth conditions wild medicinal plants Apocynum, high-resolution images Worldview-2 is more suitable for its remote identification, the low-resolution satellite ZY-3 can only recognizes the wild medicinal plants which distributed intensively. If the study target distribution is more intensive and larger scale, and cultivated type medicinal plants, the use of satellite ZY-3 in low resolution remote sensing data to identify the target can be a good choice, it is not necessary to buy high-resolution data, in order to avoid waste of expenditure, for the scattered distribution, the high-resolution satellite imagery data may be indispensable to identify targets.
Apocynum ; chemistry ; growth & development ; China ; Conservation of Natural Resources ; Geographic Information Systems ; Plant Dispersal ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; growth & development ; Remote Sensing Technology ; methods

OBJECTIVETo study the changes in circulating VEGF and endostatin (ES) levels during chemotherapy for patients with breast cancer, and their correlation with efficacy of chemotherapy.

METHODS40 breast cancer patients with metastases were included in this study. They received TAC/TEC, CAF/CEF, NP, CAP, CMF, TFP, TA or TC regime chemotherapy, respectively. Totally 120 serum samples were collected from the patients at three time points: before chemotherapy, the end of 1 and 5-6 chemotherapy cycles, and analyzed for VEGF and ES levels using ELISA. Tumor agiogenesis activity was evaluated by serum soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM - 1) measured by ELISA as a surrogate marker.

RESULTS(1) Before chemotherapy, the median level of VEGF in patients with breast cancer was 496.6 pg/ml, 4.7 times higher than that of healthy controls (P <0.001). The median level of ES was 95.5 ng/ml, 18.3% lower than that of healthy controls (P = 0.183). VCAM-1 was 1077.1 ng/ml and higher than that of controls (P <0.001). The serum VEGF levels correlated with VCAM-1 levels, tumor staging and metastatic sites (P <0.05). (2) At the end of 1 cycle of chemotherapy, the serum VEGF level (median 524.8 pg/ml) was higher than the pretreatment values (P = 0.047), whereas the levels of ES and VCAM-1 were not significantly altered (110.5 ng/ml, P = 0.055; and 975.6 ng/ml, P = 0.27). (3) At the end of 5-6 cycles, the changes in VEGF correlated with the response to chemotherapy. Serum VEGF levels in 27 patients with chemotherapy-responsive and stable disease showed a significant decrease (median 287.4 pg/ml) , but not observed in 13 patients with progressive disease. VCAM-1 also showed a treatment-related change like VEGF. However, chemotherapy might only have a minor effect on ES, because there was no significant difference in the ES levels among 5-6 cycle patients, 1 cycle patients and healthy controls, and neither between therapy-responsive patients.

CONCLUSIONIntensive chemotherapy for breast cancer results in a significant decrease of serum VEGF level, which might be an indicator of the controlled disease status, and following the treatment-induced response or stabilization, the tumor angiogenesis seems to change into an anti-angiogenesis direction.

Adult ; Aged ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; therapeutic use ; Bone Neoplasms ; blood ; drug therapy ; secondary ; Breast Neoplasms ; blood ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast ; blood ; drug therapy ; secondary ; Endostatins ; blood ; Female ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; blood ; drug therapy ; secondary ; Lung Neoplasms ; blood ; drug therapy ; secondary ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Staging ; Remission Induction ; Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 ; blood ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A ; blood