BACKGROUND:Intraarticular hyaluronic acid (HA)has been used as one common method in the treatment of osteoarthritis. But its application in treating Kashin-Beck disease (KBD) is generalizing. The effect of HA on chondrocyte metabolism in KBD patients remains unclear.OBJECTIVE:To investigate the effects of HA on the synthesis of collagen Ⅱ and aggrecan in KBD chondrocytes cultured in vitro to understand its clinical treatment for KBD.DESIGN,TIME AND SETTING:Comparative observation. The experiment was performed in the Laboratory Center of Biomedicine and Endemic Disease Laboratory of College of Medicine,Xi'an Jiaotong University from September 2006 to January 2009.MATERIALS:Samples of KBD were from cartilage and corpus liberum excised from 6 KBD patients undergoing knee joint operation,and normal samples of fresh knee cartilages were provided by 6 people undergoing amputation or death by accident METHODS:Chondrocytes of KBD and normal control were separated and cultured in vitro. Varying dosages of HA (100,500 gm/L) were administered to normal and KBD chondrocytes cultured in vitro for 6 days. Negative control was not treated with HA.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:Effects of HA on collagen Ⅱ and aggrecan mRNA expression in KBD patients and normal people by RT-PCR.RESULTS:Compared with normal control group,the mRNA level of collagen Ⅱ and aggrecan were lower in KBD (P＜0.05).After administration of HA (100,500 mg/L) the mRNA level of collagen Ⅱ and aggrecan were significantly increased,and the effects of 500 mg/L was more significant.CONCLUSION:HA can increase the collagen Ⅱ and aggrecan mRNA level of KBD chondrocytes cultured in vitro. In particular,500 mg/L HA significantly promoted chondrocyte metabolism compared with 100 mg/L HA.

Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of Bushen-Qingxin decoction for the patients with premature ovarian failure (POF) with kidney deficiency type. Methods A total of 120 POF patients were randomly divided into the observation group and the control group. The observation group were treated with Bushen-Qingxin decoction. The control group were treated with hormone replacement therapy (HRT). After continuous treatment for 3 courses, the clinical efficacy, clinical symptoms and the levels of estrogen (E2), luteotropic hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) were comparedbefore and after treatment. Results The total effective rate in the observation group was 86.7% (52/60), and the control group was 60.0% (36/60). The difference was statistically significant (x2=9.588, P=0.002) between two groups. The symptoms aversion to cold, and cold limbs, depressed mood, night sweats were improved significantly better than those in the control group(x2=16.464,16.214,11.525,9.938,P<0.001).After treatment,the serum E2(88.32 ± 9.35 pmol/L vs. 62.10 ± 7.22 pmol/L, t=17.848) in the observation group was significantly higher than this in the control group,while the serum FSH(32.33 ± 4.60 U/L vs.46.82 ± 5.47 U/L,t=15.704),LH(24.80 ± 3.37 U/L vs.32.16 ± 4.02 U/L, t=10.868) in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group (P<0.01). In the follow-up of 3 months, the recurrence rate in the observation group was 3.8% (2/52), but 16.7% (6/36) in the control group. The difference was statistically significant between two groups (x2=4.231, P=0.040).Conclusions The Bushen-Qingxin decocation can significantly improve the clinical symptoms and restore ovarian function.The Bushen-Qingxin decocation is an effective method for the treatment of premature ovarian failure.

Objective:To observe any effect of virtual reality (VR) training on the cognitive functioning and functional fitness of nursing home residents with subjective cognitive decline (SCD).Methods:Fifty-six of such residents were randomly divided into an observation group and a control group, each of 28. Both groups received health education and routine care, but the observation group was additionally provided with 45 minutes of VR training three times a week for 6 months. The training included Baduanjin, magic, flying bird, supermarket shopping, gravity ball and gym episodes. Both groups′ cognition was evaluated using the subjective cognitive decline questionnaire (SCD-Q), the Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA), the Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test (second edition) (RBMT-Ⅱ), a digit symbol substitution test (DSST), an animal fluency test (AFT) and trail-making test A-B (TMT A-B). Functional fitness was quantified using the 8-foot up-and-go test (8UGT), a 30-second arm curl test (30sACT), a 30-second chair stand test (30sCST), a back scratching test (BST), the sit-and-reach test (CSRT) and a 2-minute step test (2MST) before and after the 6-month intervention.Results:After the intervention, the average SCD-Q, MoCA, RBMT-Ⅱ, DSST, TMT-A, and TMT-B scores of the observation group were significantly better than before the intervention, and significantly better than the control group′s averages. And except for the back scratching their functional results were also significantly better, on average, than those of the control group.Conclusions:VR training can effectively improve the cognition and functional fitness of nur-sing home residents with SCD. Such training is worthy of promotion and wider application in nursing homes.