OBJECTlVE To study the reIationship between microRNA(miRNA)-122 and Iiver injury in-duced by anti-tubercuIosis drugs,and to discover the new biomarkers for earIy diagnosis of this type of Iiver injury. METHODS mice were given 2 mL isoniazid oraIIy at 90 mg·kg-1 . BIood and Iiver tissue sampIes were coIIected at 1,3,5,7,14,21 and 28 d after administration of isoniazid. Serum gIutamic-pyruvic transaminase( GPT)and gIutamic-oxaIoacetic transaminase( GOT)IeveIs were determined using an automatic biochemicaI anaIyzer. Cu/ Zn-superoxide dismutase( Cu/ Zn-SOD ) activity and maIondiaIdehyde( mDA)content were detected by biochemicaI method. ReaI-time qPCR was used to measure the expression of miRNA-122. RESULTS GPT and GOT IeveIs were significantIy higher at 14 and 21 d(P﹤0.05)than in the controI. Cu/ Zn-SOD began to decIine whiIe mDA began to increase after 5 d(P﹤0.05). miRNA-122,which progressiveIy decreased after administration,was reduced to the mini-mum 0.58 ±0.02 at 14 d. There were good correIations between miRNA-122 and GPT,Cu/ Zn-SOD, mDA(the correIation coefficients were -0.370,0.268,and -0.298,respectiveIy),but no correIation with GOT was observed. CONCLUSlON The tissue miRNA-122 profiIe can be used as a sensitive marker for anti-tubercuIosis drug-induced Iiver injury,which couId contribute to the earIy diagnosis of Iiver injury.

OBJECTIVETo observe clinical therapeutic effect of needle-sticking method on rheumatoid arthritis (RA) of wind-cold-damp retention type.

METHODSFifty cases of such disease were divided into 2 groups in order of visiting. The treatment group (n = 30) were treated with needle-sticking method, and the control group (n = 20) with routine filiform needle therapy for 2 therapeutic courses. Total cumulative scores, numbers of both the pressure-pain joint and the swollen-distention joint, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), rheumatoid factor (RF), C reaction protein (CRP) before and after treatment were investigated.

RESULTSBoth the needle-sticking method and the filiform needle therapy had an apparent therapeutic effect on RA of wind-cold-damp retention type, and the therapeutic effect for the clinical indexes in the treatment group was better than the control group, with a very significant difference in improvement of RF, the number of pressure-pain joints and the total cumulative scores as the treatment group compared with the control group (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONNeedle-sticking method has definite therapeutic effect on RA of wind-cold-damp retention type with obvious superiority.

Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; methods ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Needles

OBJECTIVETo explore the effects on thyroid function in patients of Hashimoto's thyroiditis treated with aconite cake-separated moxibustion and option the better therapeutic program.

METHODSEighty-five cases were randomly divided into a moxibustion group (42 cases) and a western medication group (43 cases). The moxibustion group was treated by aconite cake-separated moxibustion therapy with acupoints of two groups [(1) Danzhong (CV 17), Zhongwan (CV 12), Guanyuan (CV 4); (2) Dazhui (GV 14), Shenshu (BL 23), Mingmen (GV 4)] alternatively and oral administration of 25 microg Euthyrox everyday. The western medication group was oral administration of 25 microg Euthyrox everyday. Indices of thyroid function before and after treatment and clinical effect were compared between two groups.

RESULTSThe clinical total effective rate and effective rate of thyroid function were 25.0% (10/40), 87.5% (35/40) in moxibustion group respectively, 7.53% (3/40) and 57.5% (23/40) in western medication group, with significant differences between two groups (both P < 0.05). Content of serum free thyroxine index (FT4) increased significantly in the moxibustion group after treatment (P < 0.01); content of serum supersensitive thyrotropin (S-TSH) in the moxibustion group was lower than that of western medication group, and contents of serum FT4 and free triiodothyronine (FT3) were higher than those of western medication group, but with no significant differences (all P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONAconite cake-separated moxibustion at Guanyuan (CV 4) and Mingmen (GV 4) combined with oral administration of Euthyrox can improve clinical symptoms and thyroid function in patients of Hashimoto's thyroiditis, which is better than simple oral administration of Euthyrox.

Aconitum ; chemistry ; Acupuncture Points ; Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Hashimoto Disease ; blood ; physiopathology ; therapy ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Moxibustion ; Thyroid Gland ; physiopathology ; secretion ; Thyroid Hormones ; blood ; Thyrotropin ; blood ; Young Adult

To illustrate the complex fermentation process of submerged culture of Antrodia camphorata ATCC 200183, we observed the morphology change of this filamentous fungus. Then we used two optimization models namely response surface methodology (RSM) and artificial neural network (ANN) to model the fermentation process of Antrodia camphorata. By genetic algorithm (GA), we optimized the inoculum size and medium components for Antrodia camphorata production. The results show that fitness and prediction accuracy of ANN model was higher when compared to those of RSM model. Using GA, we optimized the input space of ANN model, and obtained maximum biomass of 6.2 g/L at the GA-optimized concentrations of spore (1.76x 10(5) /mL) and medium components (glucose, 29.1 g/L; peptone, 9.3 g/L; and soybean flour, 2.8 g/L). The biomass obtained using the ANN-GA designed medium was (6.1+/-0.2) g/L which was in good agreement with the predicted value. The same optimization process may be used to improve the production of mycelia and bioactive metabolites from potent medicinal fungi by changing the fermentation parameters.
Algorithms ; Antrodia ; genetics ; metabolism ; Culture Media ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Fermentation ; Mycelium ; metabolism ; Neural Networks (Computer)

Medicinal animals are important part of Traditional Chinese medicine resources in China. Cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) was selected as the standard DNA barcoding sequence for animal medical materials. In this study, the 51 animal species from 45 animal medical materials in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia were selected and the intra-specific variation and the inter-specific divergence, the barcoding gap, the identification efficiency of their COI sequences were analyzed. The results showed that the inter-specific divergence is higher than intra-specific distance. The barcoding gap existed between inter-specific sequence divergence and intra-specific dis-tance. The identification efficiencies were 100% both at the genus and species level except the Arthropoda. The cluster dendrogram exhibited that different species distinguished from others. Therefore, COI sequence as a bar-code is suitable to identify the species of animal medical materials in Chinese Pharmacopoeia.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effect of Naoxintong capsules on learning and dysmnesia and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) about vascular dementia (VD) in rats. METHODS: The model of vascular dementia rats were built by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO), and then the rats were randomly divided into a Naoxintong group (that was traditional Chinese medicine group,TCM group), a Western medicine group, a model group, a sham operation group, and a normal group. After corresponding treatment, the rat so behaviors were detected by Morris water maze experiment to obtain their performance record of learning and memory. The changes of cell morphology were detected by Nissl stain. The expression of CGRP in the hippocampus was measured with immunohistochemical staining. RESULTS: The masculine cells about CGRP of the TCM group were more than those of the model one (P<0.05). Naoxintong capsules improved the ability of learning and memory in vascular dementia rats, prevented the pyramidal cells on CA1 field in hippocampus from decreasing, increased the number of masculine cells about CGRP, and deceased the gray scale value. CONCLUSION Naoxintong capsules can raise the number of masculine nerve cells of CGRP, protect the pyramidal cells of VD rats, and lessen their learning and dysmnesia, which may be part of the mechanism of improving learning and memory capacity of VD model in rats.
Animals ; Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide ; metabolism ; Dementia, Vascular ; metabolism ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Hippocampus ; cytology ; metabolism ; Male ; Maze Learning ; Pyramidal Cells ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

BACKGROUND: Because of scaphoid irregular shape and the wrist joint and adjacent bones overlap, so the diagnosis and treatment of scaphoid fracture and treatment became so difficult. Which imaging methods hold highest diagnosis rate, and which kind of surgical approaches with less impact on fracture healing are still under discussion.OBJECTIVE: To review the imaging examinations of scaphoid fracture and the research advance in surgical approaches.METHODS: The first author retrieved CJFD and PubMed databases for the literature addressing the imaging examinations and surgical approaches of scaphoid fracture published from 2005 to 2015 with the keywords of "scaphodl bone, fracture, iconography, surgical approach" in Chinese and English, respectively. The old and repetitive articles were excluded, totally 3021 articles were retrieved. In accordance with inclusion and exclusion criteria, finally 24 eligible articles were included for result analysis.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) The wrist joint at positions of pronation 60°, supination 45°, oblique and lateral can reveal the scaphoid from different angles on X-ray, which improves the diagnosis rate. At present, CT is the most reliable method, but there is a lack of quantization parameter for evaluating scaphoid fracture, especially for occult fracture. MRI can completely show the structure of scaphoid, even blood supply. Bone scintigraphy possesses a higher diagnosis rate than X-ray and CT examinations. (2) The surgical approaches of scaphoid fracture include volar, dorsal, radiocarpa approaches, but none is ideal. (3) The ideal surgical approach still needs a in-depth study, which can well reveal the scaphoid, achieve good reduction, reduce the damage to the remaining blood supply, confirm the position of scaphoid benifical for internal fixator implantation, and can be minimally invasive and easy to operate.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the outcome of repairing pelvic autonomic nerve defects with the tissue-engineered nerve, in order to provide a new method and experimental evidence for solving sexual disturbance induced by pelvic autonomic nerve injury after radical resection of rectal carcinoma.

METHODSBone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) were purified with density gradient centrifugation. A 10 mm defect of hypogastric nerve was created in 9 Beagle dogs and the 18 hypogastric nerves were randomly divided into three groups. Group A: nerve defects bridged with copolymer of lactic and glycolic acids (PLGA) tube containing BMSCs and collagen protein sponge. Group B: with PLGA tube only containing collagen protein sponge. Group C: with autologous nerve graft. The effect of nerve recovery was evaluated by morphology, HE staining, neurofilament immunohistochemistry staining, electron microscope scanning and measurement quantity of new axon 12 weeks after the transplantation.

RESULTSTwelve weeks after the transplantation, degradation of PLGA tubes showed in group A and group B. The nerves regenerated through defect area to distal end. The density of regeneration nerve fiber in group A and group C were better than that in group B. The difference was significant between group A or group C and group B (P<0.05), and no significant difference was observed between group A and group C(P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONTissue-engineered nerve, which is constructed by BMSCs mixed with collagen protein sponge and PLGA tube, can be used to bridge and repair the pelvic autonomic nerve defect.

Animals ; Artificial Organs ; Cell Differentiation ; Cells, Cultured ; Dogs ; Male ; Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation ; Motor Neuron Disease ; surgery ; Nerve Regeneration ; Nerve Tissue ; Pelvis ; innervation ; Tissue Engineering ; methods

BACKGROUNDEndometriosis (EM) is a benign gynecologic disease predominantly found in women of reproductive age. However, its pathogenesis is still poorly understood. Our experiment was designed to establish a stable and reliable cultural environment for coculture of endometrium and peritoneum, so as to observe the adhesion/invasion ability of endometrium from patients with or without EM.

METHODSEndometria of secretory phase and peritoneum were sampled from 6 women with endometriois during laparoscopy. Six with ovarian teratoma or simple ovarian cyst were taken as control. We cocultured endometrium and peritoneum into four groups (endometrium from EM cultured with peritoneum from EM, endometrium from control cultured with peritoneum from control, endometrium from EM cultured with peritoneum from non-EM and the endometrium from control cultured with peritoneum from EM) to observe the adhesion/invasion process in gas-liquid surface culture and in-medium culture. Specimens were collected at 1 hour, 6 hours, 12 hours, 24 hours, 2 days, 3 days, 4 days, 5 days, 6 days and 7 days for histology, immunofluorescence and immunohistochemical analysis on cytokeratin 8 (CK8) and CD10.

RESULTSThe gas-liquid surface culture was superior to in-medium culture for the maintenance of tissue morphology and survival of endometrium. CK8 immunoflurescence demonstrated no remarkable difference in adhesion process between patients with and without EM. CD10 immunochemistry manifested frequent invasion of endometrial stromal cells from EM patients into peritoneum of up to 3 days culture, while the endometriotic cells from non-EM patients did not invade into peritoneum.

CONCLUSIONSGas-liquid surface culture is a suitable model for observing the early events in EM lesion formation. Endometrium from patients with EM showed increased invasion capacity during coculture, which might help to explain the etiology of endometriosis.

Cell Adhesion ; physiology ; Endometriosis ; pathology ; Endometrium ; cytology ; Female ; Humans ; Tissue Culture Techniques ; methods