OBJECTIVETo evaluate the clinical efficacy of Shenfu Injection (SFI), as a adjuvant therapy, in treating patients of ischemic cardiomyopathy with heart insufficiency (ICP-HI).

METHODSOne hundred patients of ICP-HF were equally randomized into two groups, the SFI group and the control group. All received the conventional treatment, but to patients in the SFI group SFI was given additionally via intravenous injection, 60 mL once a day, 10 days each month, the treatment course was 6 months. Changes of cardial functional grading, 6-min walking distance, echocardiographic indices, plasma N terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (pro-BNP) level were observed before and after treatment, and the occurrence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) and mortality in patients were observed as well.

RESULTSAs compared with the conventional treatment alone, additional application of SFI showed a more significant efficacy in improving NYHA functional grade and 6-min walking distance, reducing the diameters of left ventricular at end diastole and systole, increasing left ventricular ejection fraction, and decreasing plasma N terminal pro-BNP level (P <0.05). The occurrence of MACE and the mortality in the SFI group were significantly lower than those in the control group respectively (P <0.05).

CONCLUSIONSBased on the conventional treatment, the adjuvant therapy of SFI could improve the cardiac function, improve the quality of life, ameliorate ventricular reconstruction, and decrease the occurrence of cardiovascular events in patients of ICP-HI.

Aged ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Heart Failure ; complications ; therapy ; Humans ; Injections ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myocardial Ischemia ; complications ; therapy ; Treatment Outcome

Objective To study the renal damage of patients with juvenile primary Sjgren's syndrome (pSS)and its clinical manifestations,pathologic characteristics with biopsy,treatment and prognosis.Methods Ten patients with juvenile pSS complicated with renal impairments were retrospectively analyzed.Data of these 10 patients were compared with those without renal impairments.Results Ten patients complicated with renal impairments in 24 patients with juvenile pSS,9 of them presented with type I renal tubular acidosis(RTA), 5 with hypokalemia paralysis,3 with calcification of the renal tissue,3 with positive urine protein.1 with dia- betes insipidus.There was no significant difference between patients with renal impairments and those without. Three patients underwent kidney biopsy that showed chronic interstitial nephritis(CIN)with extensive lymp- hoplasmie cell infiltration.Two patients had glomerular lesions and one of them was diagnosed as pSS over- laped with systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE).Steroid and immunosuppressive agents had significantly alle- viated symptoms and the hypergammaglobulinemia was significantly improved.Conclusion Renal impairment may be the major complication in juvenile pSS.The major clinical manifestations are RTA and the glomeruli are involved occasionally.Treatment with steroid anti immunnsuppressive agents should be given to those who have evidence of systemic involvement.

This study is to explore new lead compounds by inhibition of Pin1 for anticancer therapy using temperature sensitive mutants. As Pin1 is conserved from yeast to human, we established a high-throughput screening method for Pin1 inhibitors, which employed yeast assay. This method led to the identification of one potent hits, 8-11. In vitro, 8-11 inhibited purified Pin1 enzyme activity with IC50 of (10.40 +/- 1.68) micromol x L(-1), induced G1 phase arrest and apoptosis, showed inhibitory effects on a series of cancer cell proliferation, reduced Cyclin D1 expression, was defined as reciprocally matched for protein-ligand complex in virtual docking analysis and reduced cell migration ability. In vivo, we could observe reduction of tumor volume after treatment with 8-11 in xenograft mice compared with vehicle DMSO treatment. Altogether, these results provide for the first time the involvement of 8-11 in the anticancer activity against Pin1.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Cyclin D1 ; metabolism ; Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor ; methods ; G1 Phase ; High-Throughput Screening Assays ; methods ; Humans ; Mice ; NIMA-Interacting Peptidylprolyl Isomerase ; Neoplasms ; pathology ; Peptidylprolyl Isomerase ; antagonists & inhibitors ; Temperature ; Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays ; Yeasts

OBJECTIVETo study the clinicopathologic features, immunohistochemical findings, diagnosis and differential diagnosis of atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumors (AT/RT) of central nervous system in childhood.

METHODSThe clinicopathologic data, morphologic features and immunophenotypes were reviewed in 6 cases of AT/RT. EnVision method was applied. Antibodies include cytokeratin (CK), epithelial membrane antigen (EMA), vimentin, smooth muscle actin (SMA), muscle specific actin (MSA), glial fibrinary acid protein (GFAP), desmin, placental alkaline phosphatase (PLAP) and INI1.

RESULTSFive of the six cases of AT/RT occurred in infancy and early childhood. Histologically, the predominant component was rhabdoid cells. Cytoplasmic inclusions were present in all cases. Primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET) component was also identified in 5 of the 6 cases studied. Immunohistochemically, the tumor cells were positive for cytokeratin, epithelial membrane antigen and vimentin. The staining for INI1, desmin and PLAP was negative. Smooth muscle actin was expressed in 2 cases and glial fibrillary acidic protein in 5 cases. The proliferative index as demonstrated by Ki-67 staining was high.

CONCLUSIONSAT/RT is not a particularly uncommon malignancy in childhood. The histologic hallmark is the presence of rhabdoid cells with cytoplasmic inclusions. The tumor cells are positive for cytokeratin, epithelial membrane antigen and vimentin, and negative for INI1. Differential diagnosis includes PNET, medulloblastoma and medullomyoblastoma.

Brain Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Child, Preschool ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Keratins ; metabolism ; Male ; Medulloblastoma ; metabolism ; pathology ; Mucin-1 ; metabolism ; Neuroectodermal Tumors, Primitive ; metabolism ; pathology ; Rhabdoid Tumor ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Teratoma ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Vimentin ; metabolism

Cellular senescence is one of the important steps against tumor. This study was to observe the characteristics of boningmycin induced senescence of human tumor cells. MIT method and clone formation assay were used to detect the growth-inhibitory effect. Cellular senescence was detected with senescence-associated beta-galactosidase staining. Cell cycle distribution and accumulation of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) were analyzed with flow cytometry. Protein expression was detected by Western blotting. The results showed that the growth-inhibitory effect of boningmycin was obviously stronger on human oral epithelial carcinoma KB cells than that on non-small cell lung cancer A549 cells. Comparison to the similar action of doxorubicin, that boningmycin induced the features of cellular senescence in both cell lines, its due to the arrest at G2/M phase and an increase of ROS level. The molecular senescence marker P21 increased significantly after boningmycin treatment at a dosage of 0.1 micromol x L(-1), whereas a higher concentration of it induced apoptosis. The results indicated that cellular senescence induced by boningmycin was one of its mechanisms in tumor suppression.
Antibiotics, Antineoplastic ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Bleomycin ; administration & dosage ; analogs & derivatives ; pharmacology ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ; metabolism ; pathology ; Cell Cycle ; drug effects ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Cellular Senescence ; drug effects ; Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p21 ; metabolism ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Doxorubicin ; pharmacology ; Humans ; KB Cells ; Lung Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Poly(ADP-ribose) Polymerases ; metabolism ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; metabolism ; Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the value of adenosine tissue Doppler stress echocardiography on ischemic myocardium.

METHODSRoutine dosage (140 microgxkg(-1)xmin(-1) IV for 6 min) adenosine stress echocardiography was performed on 40 patients with chest pain for diagnosis of coronary artery disease (CAD). The images of left ventricular myocardial motion were acquired by tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) based on traditional 2D stress echocardiography before and 3 min, 6 min after adenosine stress (GE Vivid 7, USA). The myocardial velocity, strain and strain rate in 16 segments were offline measured and analyzed on ECHOPAC software. The results were compared with that of coronary angiography (CAG).

RESULTSCAG identified 18 CAD and 22 non-CAD patients with 159 ischemic segments and 465 non-ischemic segments. Adenosine significantly increased the systolic velocity (Sm), early diastolic velocity (Em), late diastolic velocity (Am), peak systolic strain (Smax), systolic strain rate (SRs), early diastolic strain rate (SRe) and late diastolic strain rate (SRa) both ischemic and non-ischemic segments (all P < 0.05). The baseline Sm and Em in ischemic segments were significant lower than non-ischemic segments [(3.16 +/- 1.20) cm/s vs (4.03 +/- 1.27) cm/s, P < 0.01; (3.75 +/- 1.67) cm/s vs (4.66 +/- 1.70) cm/s, P < 0.05]. At peak stress the differences in Sm and Em were more significant [(3.98 +/- 1.63) cm/s vs (5.07 +/- 1.52) cm/s; (4.51 +/- 2.32) cm/s vs (6.52 +/- 2.56) cm/s; P < 0.01]. The reductions on Smax and Se were more significant in ischemic segments compared those in non-ischemic segments (16.91% +/- 3.35% vs 19.56% +/- 5.47%, P < 0.01 and 9.53% +/- 2.89% vs 13.06% +/- 4.63%, P < 0.001). The biggest area under curve (AUC) in peak stress was seen in Se by ROC curve analysis (AUC = 0.740, with sensitivity 67% and specificity 83%).

CONCLUSIONParameters derived from TDI offer reliable and accurate information on ischemic myocardium during adenosine stress echocardiography.

Adenosine ; Diastole ; Echocardiography, Doppler ; Echocardiography, Stress ; Humans ; Myocardium

This study was aimed to investigate the role of B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL-2) in pathogenesis of hyperleukocytic acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The levels of intracellular BCL-2 in 48 AML patients were detected by flow cytometry (FCM). Serum levels of BCL-2 in 40 AML patients were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The results showed that the serum levels of BCL-2 in hyperleukocytic AML and non-hyperleukocytic AML patients were significantly higher than that in normal controls (P < 0.05), but intracellular BCL-2 levels were not significantly different, as compared with normal controls (P > 0.05). There were no difference of intracellular and serum BCL-2 levels between hyperleukocytic and non-hyperleukocytic AML patients (P > 0.05). The serum and intracellular levels of BCL-2 between hyperleukocytic AML, non-hyperleukocytic AML patients and normal controls were not statistically correlated. It is concluded that leukemic cells in AML patients produce and secrete too much BCL-2, which may be involved in the pathogenesis of leukemia disease. However, the anti-apoptosis effect of BCL-2 has no significant impact on the pathogenesis of hyperleukocytic AML.
Case-Control Studies ; Female ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute ; blood ; pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; blood

objective To understand whether human metapneumovirus(hMPV)is one of the pathogens leading to the children's respiratory infections in Urumqi.Methods A total number of 209 samples were collected in the People's General Hospital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region from November 2006 to April 2007 with Some from the hospitalized children.while the others from outpatient clinic.Specimens included nasopharyngeal aspirates(NPA)and swabs were analyzed.Samples were all tested hMPV M gene by RT-PCR while the two positive PCR amplicons were sequenced and compared with other hMPV in GenBank by Blast and DNAstar.Results Of all the 209 samples.two positive ones were tested.The identities between them were 83.8%.Results from Phylogenetic analysis showed that they might belong to two different clusters.Conclusion hMPV was one of the pathogens leading to the children's respiratory tract infections in Urumqi.with two different hMPV groups existed in the same season.

Objective To evaluate the diagnostic advantage of the ratio of ligamentum flavum(LF) thickness to oblique canal diameter(TODR)measured on CT images in patients with lumbar canal stenosis. Methods Seventy-one patients underwent CT and MRI examinations respectively,and they were divided into two groups,the positive group and negative group,according to the presence or absence of dural sac notch caused by the LF on bilateral parasagittal MR images.Meanwhile,50 volunteers without any symptom in the lumbar region or legs were examined by CT.TODRs were measured at the L3—S1 levels of the inferior margin of the intervertebral disc on transverse CT images,respectively.The results were further analyzed with the positive findings on MR images,clinical symptoms and physical examination,so as to find out the statistical correlation between them.Results LF thickness was(3.01?0.72)mm and TODR was 0.19?0.04 in the negative group,(3.94?0.84)mm and 0.28+0.06 in the positive group,and(3.16? 0.85)mm and 0.19?0.04 in the control group.There was significant difference between positive group and negative group or control group for LF thickness(P0.24, the sensitivity,specificity and positive predictive value were 74.8%,89.6% and 73.6% respectively. Positive correlation existed between LF thickness or TODR and clinical symptom(r=0.72,0.86,P

Objective To explore the risk factors of lung cancer among non -smoking women.Methods A total of 229 new cases of lung cancer among non -smoking women from 2005 to 2008 were collected.The design method of 1 to 2 matching case -control study was used controlling age,sex and smoking conditions.The data was analyzed by univariate and multivariate conditional logistic regression analysis.Results Single factor analysis identified 13 risk factors (all P <0.05).The multivariate conditional logistic regression and factor analysis showed that respiratory disease history,family history of cancer,poor interpersonal relationship,psychological problems,feeling heavy smoke when cooking,consumption of salty and dry food,later menarche and passive smoking were risk factors (OR =24.427,5.539,3.041,2.622,1.856, 1.724,1.565 and 1.598 respectively),high income level and high consumption of vegetables were protective factors (OR =0.650 and 0.683 ).Conclusion respiratory disease history, family history of cancer, poor interpersonal relationship and psychological problems are main risk factors of lung cancer among non -smoking women.