The clinical data of 19 cases of giant cell arteritis (GCA) including 8 males and 11 females aged 21-92 y (average 62.2 y) from July 2002 to September 2008 were retrospectively reviewed.Among 19 patients,15 first visited the neurology department and 4 the rheumatism department;8 had fever and 16 had headache as primary symptom;the ESR ranged from 20 to 130 mm/1 h (average 71.1 mm/1 h).Fourteen patients were diagnosed as GCA at admission and 18 were treated with steroids hormone and all got remission except 1 death and 2 recurrences.If temporal artery biopsy is not acceptable,integrated analysis of signs,symptoms,laboratory tests,treatment effectiveness and follow-up is important for the correct diagnosis of GCA.

Objectiye To investigate the possible mechanism of sumatriptan in treating migraine.Methods Migraine model rat was electrically stimulated at cerebral dura mater in superior sagittal sinus (SSS) to induce migraine.Each of 10 male SD rats were randomly selected into groups of normal control (no intervention), pseudo-stimulation group ( no electrical stimulation), stimulation group ( no treatment after stimulation), saline group (treated with saline after migraine stimulation ) and sumatriptan group ( treated with sumatriptan after migraine stimulation).The neurons expressing NF-κB in periaqueductal gray matter (PAG) were evaluated in each group by immnunostaining.Results The numbers of NF-κB immunoreactive positive neurons were 179.5 ± 14.9 in sumatriptan group, 497.8 ± 20.6 in saline group,508.7 ± 30.8 in stimulation group, 112.9 ± 10.7 in pseudo-stimulation group and 111.7 ± 15.7 in normal group.The stimulation group was higher than normal group, pseudo-stimulation group and sumatriptan group (F=944.78, P <0.05).Conclusions The NF-κB positive neurons were activated in the PAG by electric stimulation of the dura mater near the SSS.Sumatriptan can reduce the expression of NF-κB protein.

Sixty-two adult rats were employed, 8 of them served as controls and the remainderwere exposed to whole body X-irradiation in a single dose of 500 r. The animals weresacrificed at intervals of 2, 6, 12 hours and 1, 3, 6, 10, 20, 30 days after irradiation.Specimens of the spleen were obtained from both the experimental and control groups forhistological and histochemical examinations. The data indicate that: 1. A marked decrease in the spleen size and in the number of its Malpighian cor-puscles, and a severe destruction of its architecture with an extensive necrosis of lympho-cytes, occurred within 24 hours after irradiation. Regeneration began on the 6th day andthe spleen became almost normal at the end of the 30th day. Among the various cell-types of the spleen, the radiosensitivity was highest in the lymphocytes and lowest in theplasma cells. The reticular cells were apparently injured during the early stage afterirradiation, though they belonged to the radioresistant series. 2. The decrease in staining intensity of both desoxyribose-and ribose nucleic acidsof the spleen started as early as 2 hours after irradiation and continued to reach itsmaximum in a period of 1--3 days. This result was produced not only by the depletionin cell population, but also by the decrease in nucleic acid content of individual cells. 3. A marked increase in the activity of nonspecific alkaline phosphatase and ade-nosine triphosphatase occurred within 24 hours and it returned gradually to normal fromthe 3rd day to the 10th day after irradiation. 4. There was no significant change in the amount of protein-bound SH-groups ofvarious cell-types of the spleen in each post-irradiation period. 5. No difference was found in the changes produced by irradiation between theanimals fed with normal diet and those fed with phospholipides in addition.

AIM AND METHODS: Using Ca 2+ -sensitive fluorescent probe Fura-2,we measured the changes of _i in cultured rat pulmonary artery endothelial cells (PAEC) and porcine pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMC) from normoxic (NC group) or chronic hypoxic group (CH group) when they were exposed to acute hypoxia. RESULTS: The increase in _i in 6th passage of PASMC caused by acute hypoxia in CH group was significantly lower than that in the same passage of NC group (P

Objective To investigate the relationship between protein phosphatase inhibition, tau hyperphosphorylation and neuronal death seen in Alzheimer disease (AD). Methods Co culture of protein phosphatase inhibitor okadaic acid (OA) and neuroblastoma cells (SH SY5Y), by agarose gel electrophoresis to detect DNA fragmentation, and in situ hybridization by TdT mediated biotin labeled dNTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) to further detect the cell apoptosis. Results Incubation of SY5Y cells with 10 nmol/L OA for 24 or 48 hours led to the appearance of DNA fragmentation and a remarkable increase of positive cells from 2 16%?0 94% to 18 05%?3 57% ( P

The properties and functions of mouse pluripotential stem cells (CFU-S) were studied with spleen colony technique and other related methods. The data expressed that there is a linear relationship between the number of transplanted marrow cells and the number of spleen colonies that developed. Among various hematopoietic tissues, bone marrow is the richest source of CFU-S. Spleen and peripheral blood also contain a few of such cells. The percentages of CFU-S in these organs are 0.7%, 0.05% and 0.01% in sequence. No CFU-S can be found in thymus or lymph nodes. Under normal conditions, most of the CFU-S are in G_o phase with a small proportion (6.7%) in S phase.Self-renewing capacity, an important hematopoietic function of CFU-S, was measured by the experiments of single spleen colony retransplantation. The value of the probability of self-renewal, p, is calculated as 0.76. CFU-S has an active ability of migration. It was found that a number of CFU-S either from the marrow cell suspension injected intraperitoneally or from an entire encapsulated spleen which was placed free in the peritoneal cavity after ligation of its blood vessels can penetrate through a lot of barriers to develop spleen colonies in the lethally irradiated mice. A dose of 500～700 rad ?-irradiation apparently stimulates the CFU-S migrating from bone marrow to circulation.

BACKGROUND:The pathogenesis of ligamentum flavum hypertrophy remains poorly understood, and the expression of transforming growth factor beta1 (TGF-β1) is increased notably. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation is associated with tissue degeneration, which may accelerate the progression of ligamentum flavum hypertrophy by upregulating TGF-β1 expression. OBJECTIVE:To clarify the effect and significance of ROS H2O2-mediated up-regulation of TGF-β1 and collagen type Ⅰ in the progress of ligamentum flavum hypertrophy. METHODS:Ligamentum flavum was removed from a case of acquired lumbar disc herniation with normal ligamentum flavum during lumbar posterior decompression surgery, and then separated and cultured in vitro to the 4-6 generations, followed by exposure to H2O2 at various concentrations (0, 50, 100, 150, 200μmol/L) for 72 hours. The mRNA and protein expression levels of TGF-β1 and collagen type Ⅰ were detected by real-time PCR and western blot assay, respectively. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Real-time quantitative PCR showed that the mRNA expression level of TGF-β1 was significantly increased in the 150 and 200μmol/L groups (P<0.05). The mRNA expression level of collagen type Ⅰ was significantly higher in the experimental groups than that in the control group, especially in the 200μmol/L group (P<0.05). Western blot assay revealed that the protein expression levels of TGF-β1 and collagen type Ⅰ were significantly increased in a dose-dependent manner (P<0.05). These findings indicate that H2O2 may accelerate the progression of ligamentum flavum hypertrophy by up-regulating the expression levels of TGF-β1 and collagen type Ⅰ.

Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of acupuncture plus activator method chiropractic technique (AMCT) in treating lumbar facet joint disorders.Method A total of 40 patients with lumbar facet joint disorders were randomized into a treatment group and a control group, 20 cases in each group. The treatment group was intervened by acupuncture plus AMCT, while the control group was treated with AMCT alone. The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) were observed in the two groups before and after 3 treatment sessions, and the clinical efficacies were compared between the two groups.Result The VAS score and JOA score were significantly changed right after the 1st treatment and after 3 treatment sessions in the two groups (P<0.05). Right after the 1st treatment and after 3 treatment sessions, there were statistically significant differences in the VAS score and JOA score between the two groups (P<0.05). The total effective rate was 90.0% in the treatment group versus 60.0% in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). The relapse rate was 22.2% in the treatment group versus 50.0% in the control group 3 months after the treatment, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05).Conclusion Acupuncture plus AMCT is an effective approach in treating lumbar facet joint disorders.

Objective To define the functional mechanisms of two NSAIDs , paracetamol and ibuprofen , in specif-ic brain regions in headache control by observing the distribution of Fos -immunoreactive neurons in trigeminal ganglia and trigeminal nucleus caudalis in conscious rat models of vasculogenic headache .Methods Thirty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into three groups: control group ( saline group ) , acetaminophen group and ibuprofen group .Each rat was given electrical stimulation ( frequency 20 Hz, current 3-5 mA, pulse width 0.25 ms) at 50 minutes after injec-tion .The rats were killed and perfusion fixed after electrical stimulation .Trigeminal ganglia and trigeminal nucleus caudalis of the brains were taken out for paraffin sections and immunohistochemical staining , and Fos-immunoreactive neurons were counted under the Image J system .Results After electrical stimulation , there were significant differences of Fos protein expression in bilateral trigeminal ganglia and spinal trigeminal nucleus caudalis between the saline group and groups of non -steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs , but no significant difference of Fos protein expression in bilateral trigeminal ganglia and spinal trigeminal nucleus caudalis between the acetaminophen group and ibuprofen group .Conclusions The changes of Fos expression in bilateral trigeminal ganglia and spinal trigeminal nucleus caudalis after treatment with NSAIDs suggest that such structures participate in the pain transmission and expression and the pharmacology course of analgesic drugs .