OBJECTIVETo find an appropriate feature representation in the biclustering of symptom-herb relationship in Chinese medicine (CM).

METHODSFour different representation schemes were tested in identifying the complex relationship between symptoms and herbs using a biclustering algorithm on an insomnia data set. These representation schemes were effective count, binary value, relative success ratio, or modified relative success ratio. The comparison of the schemes was made on the number and size of biclusters with respect to different threshold values.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONSThe modified relative success ratio scheme was the most appropriate feature representation among the four tested. Some of the biclusters selected from this representation scheme were known to follow the therapeutic principles of CM, while others may offer clues for further clinical investigations.

Algorithms ; Cluster Analysis ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders ; drug therapy

OBJECTIVETo observe the cytotoxic effect of thermo-chemotherapy with cisplatin on osteosarcoma OS-732 cell line and to explore its mechanism.

METHODSThe osteosarcoma OS-732 cell line was treated with different temperature, cisplatin alone and 43 degrees C +cisplatin for 1 h, respectively and the in vitro cytotoxic effect was observed with MTT assay. The cell cycle and the apoptotic rate were analyzed with flow cytometry (FCM); the cellular apoptosis was observed also with electron microscope.

RESULTThe cytotoxicity index increase markedly as the temperature elevated or the concentration of cisplatin increased. While treated with 43 degrees C hyperthermia and cisplatin simultaneously, the cytotoxicity index increased to 72.37%;the cell cycle of the treated OS-732 cells line was changed with marked increase in S phase and decreasing in G(2)/M phase. The apoptotic rate increased markedly with the highest of 56.47%. Electron microscope showed the characteristic apoptotic alterations.

CONCLUSIONHyperthermia with cisplatin enhance cytotoxicity on osteosarcoma OS-732 cell line and the induced cell apoptosis may be one of the mechanisms of enhanced cytotoxicity by thermo-chemotherapy.

Antineoplastic Agents ; pharmacology ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Bone Neoplasms ; pathology ; therapy ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cisplatin ; pharmacology ; Combined Modality Therapy ; DNA Damage ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Hyperthermia, Induced ; Osteosarcoma ; pathology ; therapy

Chinese medicine (CM) is a discipline with its own distinct methodologies and philosophical principles. The main method of treatment in CM is to use herbal prescriptions. Typically, a number of herbs are combined to form a formula and different formulae are prescribed for different patients. Regularities in the mixture of herbs in the prescriptions are important for both clinical treatment and novel patent medicine development. In this study, we analyze CM formula data using latent tree (LT) models. Interesting regularities are discovered. Those regularities are of interest to students of CM as well as pharmaceutical companies that manufacture medicine using Chinese herbs.
Chemistry, Pharmaceutical ; standards ; Drug Compounding ; standards ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Models, Biological ; Prescription Drugs ; therapeutic use

BACKGROUNDLaparoscopic resection (LAP) for small bowel gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) is not as common as for stomach. This study aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of LAP for small bowel GISTs with systematic review and meta-analysis.

METHODSThe Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Embase, and PubMed databases before December 2016 were comprehensively searched to retrieve comparative trials of LAP and conventional open resection (OPEN) for GISTs of small bowel with a relevance of review object. These researches reported intraoperative and postoperative clinical course (operation time, blood loss, time to first flatus and oral intake, hospital stay, morbidity, and mortality), oncologic outcomes, and long-term survival status.

RESULTSSix studies involving 391 patients were identified. Compared to OPEN, LAP had associated with a shorter operation time (weighted mean difference [WMD] = -27.97 min, 95% confidence interval [CI]: -49.40--6.54, P < 0.01); less intraoperative blood loss (WMD = -0.72 ml; 95% CI: -1.30--0.13, P = 0.02); earlier time to flatus (WMD = -0.83 day; 95% CI: -1.44--0.22, P < 0.01); earlier time to restart oral intake (WMD = -1.95 days; 95% CI: -3.31--0.60, P < 0.01); shorter hospital stay (WMD = -3.00 days; 95% CI: -4.87--1.13, P < 0.01); and a decrease in overall complications (risk ratio = 0.56, 95% CI: 0.33-0.97, P = 0.04). In addition, the tumor recurrence and long-term survival rate showed that there was no significant difference between the two groups of patients.

CONCLUSIONSLAP for small bowel GISTs is a safe and feasible procedure with shorter operation time, less blood loss, less overall complications, and quicker recovery. Besides, tumor recurrence and the long-term survival rate are similar to open approach. Because of the limitations of this study, methodologically high-quality studies are needed for certain appraisal.

OBJECTIVETo explore the effect of Jianpi Tongluo Jiedu Recipe (JTJR) on protein expression levels of COX-2, NF-kappaBp65, Bcl-2, and Bax, mRNA expression levels of COX-2 and Bcl-2, and the apoptotic index (Al) in gastric mucosa of patients with precancerous lesions of gastric cancer (PL-GC).

METHODSTotally 65 PLGC patients were recruited and treated by JTJR (modified by syndrome typing), one dose per day for six successive months. Protein expression levels of COX-2, NF-KBp65, Bcl-2, and Bax were detected in 65 patients using immunohistochemical (IHC) assay before and after treatment. mRNA expression levels of COX-2 and Bcl-2 were detected in 54 patients using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Meanwhile, changes of Al was detected in 65 patients using TdT-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL) fluorescence method.

RESULTSAfter treatment with JTJR, positive protein expression levels of COX-2, NF-KBp65, and Bcl-2 were obviously decreased in the gastric mucosa of PLGC patients (P <0.01), but Bax positive protein expression was found to be higher (P < 0.05). At the same time mRNA expression levels of COX-2 and Bcl-2 were significantly lower after treatment than before treatment (P < 0.05, P < 0.01); Al also increased after treatment (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONJTJR could promote apoptosis possibly via NF-kappaBp65/COX-2, COX-2/Bcl-2, and NF-kappaBp65/Bcl-2 signaling pathways, thereby affecting PLGC patients.

Apoptosis ; Cyclooxygenase 2 ; metabolism ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Gastric Mucosa ; metabolism ; Humans ; NF-kappa B ; metabolism ; Precancerous Conditions ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; metabolism ; Signal Transduction ; Stomach Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; bcl-2-Associated X Protein ; metabolism

The paradigm of a real world study has become the frontiers of clinical researches, especially in the field of Chinese medicine, all over the world in recent years. In this paper, ethical issues which probably exist in real-world studies are raised and reviewed. Moreover, some preliminary solutions to these issues such as protecting subjects during the process of real-world studies and performing ethical review are raised based on recent years' practices to enhance the scientificity and ethical level of real-world studies.
Biomedical Research ; ethics ; methods ; Humans

Data authenticity is the basic requirement of clinical studies. In actual clinical conditions how to establish formatted case report forms (CRF) in line with the requirement for data authenticity is the key to ensure clinical data quality. On the basis of the characteristics of clinical data in actual clinical conditions, we determined elements for establishing formatted case report forms by comparing differences in data characteristics of CRFs in traditional clinical studies and in actual clinical conditions, and then generated formatted case report forms in line with the requirement for data authenticity in actual clinical conditions. The data of formatted CRFs generated in this study could not only meet the requirement for data authenticity of clinical studies in actual clinical conditions, but also comply with data management practices for clinical studies, thus it is deemed as a progress in technical methods.
Electronic Health Records ; standards ; Forms and Records Control ; Humans ; Quality Control

OBJECTIVETo explore the possible correlation between the driver's occupation and male semen quality.

METHODSSemen samples were collected from 1,223 infertile men (78 drivers and 1,145 non-drivers) and 100 normal men, and their liquefaction, sperm density, sperm vitality, sperm motility and sperm shape were analysed.

RESULTSThe abnormal rates of semen quality in sterile male drivers were significantly higher than in non-drivers(P < 0.05) and in normal men(P < 0.01). The semen abnormal rates in drivers with more than 8 years' driving experience were higher than in those with less than 8 years' driving experience(P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONDriving occupation can result in abnormal semen quality.

Adult ; Automobile Driving ; Humans ; Infertility, Male ; etiology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Occupational Diseases ; etiology ; Semen ; cytology ; Sperm Count ; Sperm Motility

OBJECTIVETo explore the most effective herbal combinations commonly used by highly experienced Chinese medicine (CM) physicians for the treatment of insomnia.

METHODSWe collected and analyzed data related to insomnia treatment from the clinics of 7 highly experienced CM physicians in Beijing. The sample included 162 patients and 460 consultations in total. Patient outcomes, such as sleep quality and sleep time per day, were manually collected from the medical records by trained CM clinicians. Three data mining methods, support vector machine (SVM), logistic regression and decision tree, and multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR), were used to determine and confirm the herbal combinations that resulted in positive outcomes in patients suffering from insomnia.

RESULTSResults show that MDR is the most efficient method to predict the effective herbal combinations. Using the MDR model, we identified several combinations of herbs with 100% positive outcomes, such as stir-fried spine date seed, Szechwan lovage rhizome, and prepared thinleaf milkwort root; white peony root, golden thread, and stir-fried spine date seed; and Asiatic cornelian cherry fruit with fresh rehmannia.

CONCLUSIONSResults indicate that herbal combinations are effective treatments for patients with insomnia compared with individual herbs. It is also shown that MDR is a potent data mining method to identify the herbal combination with high rates of positive outcome.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Clinical Competence ; Data Mining ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Middle Aged ; Outpatients ; Physicians ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders ; drug therapy ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo establish a detection method based on gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for concentrations of volatile nitrosamine compounds in urine, and apply it to the test of real samples.

METHODSTarget compounds dichloromethane in urine samples was extracted with dichloromethane through liquid-liquid extraction, then the dichloromethane extract was filtrated, evaporated with nitrogen at 40°C to dryness, and the volume was set with 0.2 ml dichloromethane. Analysis of nine volatile nitroso-compounds were performed with GC-MS under selected ion monitoring mode, external reference method was used for quantification, and the detection limit, repeatability and sensitivity were evaluated. In addition, nine volatile nitroso-compounds of 92 urine samples in a town of Anhui province were measured.

RESULTSA good linear range of 2 - 200 ng/ml (with correlation coefficient 0.9985 - 0.9999) were obtained for the above mentioned nine kinds of analyte, and the lowest examination concentration was 0.05 - 0.50 ng/ml. The addition standard recoveries were 68%-102% with the RSD of 0.4% - 5.5% (n = 3). The detection limits were 0.001 - 0.013 ng/ml urine. The detection rate of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), N-nitrosomethylethylamine (NMEA), N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA), N-nitrosodi-n-propylamine (NDPA), N-nitrosopyrrolidine (NPYR), N-nitrosomorpholine (NMOR), N-nitrosopiperidine (NPIP), N-nitrosodi-n-butylamine (NDBA) and N-nitrosodiphenylamine (NDPhA) were 71% (65), 74% (68), 65% (60), 80% (73), 92% (85), 78% (72), 76% (70), 87% (80), 98% (90), respectively, with the results (0.27 ± 0.12), (0.75 ± 0.29), (0.06 ± 0.02), (0.16 ± 0.07), (23.66 ± 5.18), (1.01 ± 0.35), (0.38 ± 0.11), (2.47 ± 0.52) and (15.13 ± 3.48) nmol/g creatinine.

CONCLUSIONSA gas chromatography-mass spectrometry detect method was developed for low level volatile nitrosamines in urine samples.

Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry ; Humans ; Nitrosamines ; urine ; Urinalysis ; methods ; Volatile Organic Compounds ; urine