Climacteric ; Depression ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Phytotherapy ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders ; Syndrome

OBJECTIVETo explore the significance of pelvic hemodynamics as an index in evaluating efficacy of TCM treatment for chronic pelvic inflammation (CPI).

METHODSSixty patients with CPI received treatment with Penyanping, a self-formulated TCM recipe, for 30 days, and the changes of pelvic hemodynamic indexes in them were measured before and after treatment within the 3 - 7 days after menstruation using color Doppler.

RESULTSImprovement of pelvic hemodynamics indexes were shown after treatment in ovarian left arteriopalmus index, bilateral resistance index, maximal speed of left arterial blood flow and score of time-velocity, as compared with those before treatment, the difference was significant respectively (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONPelvic hemodynamic indexes could be taken as one of the objective parameters for evaluating efficacy of TCM treatment of CPI according to principle of activating blood circulation to remove stasis, clearing heat and detoxifying.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Hemodynamics ; drug effects ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Middle Aged ; Pelvic Inflammatory Disease ; drug therapy ; physiopathology ; Pelvis ; blood supply ; diagnostic imaging ; Phytotherapy ; Time Factors ; Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color

BACKGROUNDRegulatory T-cells (Treg) play key roles in suppressing cell-mediated immunity in cancer patients. Little is known about perioperative Treg fluctuations in nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Video-assisted thoracoscopic (VATS) lobectomy, as a minimal invasive procedure for treating NSCLC, may have relatively less impact on the patient's immune system. This study aimed to observe perioperative dynamics of circulating Treg and natural killer (NK) cell levels in NSCLC patients who underwent major lobectomy by VATS or thoracotomy.

METHODSTotally, 98 consecutive patients with stage I NSCLC were recruited and assigned into VATS or thoracotomy groups. Peripheral blood samples were taken on 1-day prior to operation, postoperative days (PODs) 1, 3, 7, 30, and 90. Circulating Treg and NK cell counts were assayed by flow cytometry, defined as CD4 + CD25 + CD127 low cells in CD4 + lymphocytes and CD56 + 16 + CD3- cells within CD45 + leukocytes respectively. With SPSS software version 21.0 (SPSS Inc., USA), differences between VATS and thoracotomy groups were determined by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and differences between preoperative baseline and PODs in each group were evaluated by one-way ANOVA Dunnett t-test.

RESULTSIn both groups, postoperative Treg percentages were lower than preoperative status. No statistical difference was found between VATS and thoracotomy groups on PODs 1, 3, 7, and 30. On POD 90, Treg percentage in VATS group was significantly lower than in thoracotomy group (5.26 ± 2.75 vs. 6.99 ± 3.60, P = 0.012). However, a higher level of NK was found on all PODs except on POD 90 in VATS group, comparing to thoracotomy group.

CONCLUSIONSLower Treg level on POD 90 and higher NK levels on PODs 1, 3, 7, 30 in VATS group might imply better preserved cell-mediated immune function in NSCLC patients, than those in thoracotomy group.

Aged ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ; immunology ; surgery ; Female ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Killer Cells, Natural ; immunology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Postoperative Period ; T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory ; immunology ; Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted ; methods ; Thoracotomy ; methods

OBJECTIVETo find out a set of practical,objective, and quantitative laboratory indices of climacteric syndrome (CS) patients of Shen deficiency syndrome (SDS), thus studying the essence of SDS from the perspective of laboratory medicine.

METHODSRecruited were 40 CS patients of SDS (or of SDS as main syndrome) as the SDS group, while another 40 healthy subjects were recruited as the control group. Their serum samples were collected. Serum levels of total triiodothyronine (TT3), total thyroxine (TT4), free triiodothyronine (FT3), free thyroxine (FT4), thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), testosterone (TESTO), estradiol (E2), prolactin (PRL), progesterone (PROG), cortisol (CORT), immunoglobulin M (IgM), immunoglobulin G (lgG), Complement 3 (C3), complement hemolysis 50% (CH50), angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE), aldosterone (ALD), serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and bone Gla-protein (BGP) were measured by automatic electrochemical luminescence assay analyzer, automatic chemiluminescence assay analyzer, automatic biochemistry analyzer, and automatic enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) analyzer. The correlation between syndrome types and laboratory indices were judged by gradual discriminant analyses.

RESULTS(1) Compared with the control group,serum levels of CORT, TESTO, E2, TT3, FT3, FT4, TSH, C3, CH50, ALP, and BGP significantly decreased in the SDS group (P < 0.01, P < 0. 05), while FSH, LH, and ACE significantly increased (P < 0.05). (2) The index with stronger capacity for diagnosing CS patients of SDS was ranked from high to low as CH50, PROG, TSH, TESTO, BGP, CORT, and C3, with their contribution rate of the discriminant function being 95.9%. (3) Discriminant analysis equation of CS patients of SDS was Y = -25.904 - 0.468CH50 + 0.002PROG + 0.182TSH + 9.690TESTO + 1.015BGP + 0.016CORT + 33.581 C3.

CONCLUSIONS(1) CS patients of SDS were closely correlated with thyroid hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, renin-renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system,the immune function, and bone formation, and etc. (2) CH50 might be of a high sensibility marker for diagnosing CS patients of SDS. (3) Discriminant analysis equations of laboratory medicine index may be used in preliminary diagnosis and auxiliary certificate of CS patients of SDS.

Case-Control Studies ; Climacteric ; metabolism ; Discriminant Analysis ; Estradiol ; blood ; Female ; Follicle Stimulating Hormone ; blood ; Humans ; Hydrocortisone ; blood ; Luteinizing Hormone ; blood ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; methods ; Middle Aged ; Pituitary-Adrenal System ; Progesterone ; metabolism ; Prolactin ; blood ; Renin-Angiotensin System ; Testosterone ; blood ; Thyrotropin ; blood ; Thyroxine ; blood ; Triiodothyronine ; blood