ObjectiveTo observe the effect of transcutaneous acupoint electrical stimulation (TAES) on the ovariangranulosa cell apoptosis-related proteins, Bcl-2 and Bax, as well as the oocyte quality in theolder women with kidney deficiency receiving in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET).MethodSixty-six older women with kidney deficiency who were receiving IVF-ET because of the fallopian tube factor were randomized into a treatment group (intervened by TAES) and a control group (intervened by sham acupuncture), 33 in each group. The kidney-deficiency syndrome score, HCG E2/follicle count per day, excellent follicle rate, excellent embryo rate, and clinical pregnancy rate were observed and compared between the two groups; Western blot was used to detect the expression of protein Bcl-2 and Bax.ResultCompared to the control group, the treatment group had significant improvement in kidney-deficiencysymptoms (P<0.01), significant increases in theHCG E2/follicle count per day, excellent follicle rate, and excellent embryo rate (P<0.05), enhanced expression of Bcl-2 protein (P<0.01), and decreased expression of Bax protein (P<0.01); while there were no significant differences in comparing theretrievedoocyte number and clinical pregnancy rate (P>0.05). The expression of Bcl-2 and Bax proteins were markedlycorrelatedwith IVF-related indexes (P<0.05).ConclusionTAES can improve the kidney-deficiency symptoms and the quality of oocyte and embryo inolder women; this action is possibly related to the regulation of expression of the cell apoptosis-related protein Bcl-2 and Bax, as well as the decrease ofgranulosecell apoptosis.

Objective To analyze the outcomes of radiotherapy for 74 patients with intracranial ger-minoma. Methods Between 1990 and 2007,74 patients with intracranial germinoma(9 pathologically diag-nosed and 65 clinically diagnosed) were treated with radiotherapy in our hospital. The median age at diagno-sis was 15 (range 5-45) years. Radiation treatment fields varied among patients, including craniospinal irra-diation(CSI), whole brain irradiation, whole ventricular irradiation with primary tumor boost, and involved-field irradiation only to the primary tumor plus margin. The dose was 38.5 -50.0 Gy to the tumor,18-25 Gy to the whole brain/ventricular,and 21-25 Gy to the whole spinal cord in fractions of 1.6-2.0 Gy per day,5 fractions per week. Results The median follow-up time was 80(range 12-168) months and the fol-low-up rate was 97%. Fourteen patients had been followed up for over 10 years. The 1-,5- and 10-year o-verall survival rates were 99% ,96% and 93%. The corresponding disease free survival rates were 97%, 90% and 83%, respectively. Relapses occurred in 9 patients. For the 6 patients with in-field relapse, the dose to the tumor was 38.5-40.0 Gy in 3 patients, 41-45 Gy in 2 and 46-50 Gy in 1. Relapse in the spinal cord was found in 3 patients and none of them received spinal irradiation. Twenty-one patients re-quired hormonal replacement therapy because of radiation induced hypofunction of prehypophysis. Conclu-sions Radiotherapy alone is a curative treatment for intracranial germinoma. The proper dose should be de-termined by tumor numbers and the examination of cerebrospinal fluid.

Objective To study the efficacy,late complications and prognostic factors of postopera-tive radiotherapy for bladder cancer: Methods Between July 1995 and January 21307,109 patients with primary bladder cancer who had received adjuvant pelvic radiation therapy were retrospectively analyzed. The age ranged from 41 to 94 (median 68) years. There were 29 patients with T1 disease,60 with T2,17 with T3, 3 with T4, and 7 with positive lymph node. Three-dimensional radiotherapy was given with a median total dose of 49.2 Gy(39.3 -62.2 Gy) in conventional fractionation after surgery. Field-in-field intensity modu-lated radiotherapy was given to 57 patients. Results The total follow-up rate was 98% ,with a median fol-low up time of 36(2-144) months. The 1-,3- and 5-year local control rate was 63% ,47% and 42% ,respec-tively. The 1-,3- and 5-year overall survival rate was 80% ,48% and 37% ,respectively. Among the 109 pa-tients,33 died of tumor progression or metastasis,42 showed local recurrence,and 22 had lymph node metas-tasis. According to the RTOG criteria,grade 1,2,3 and 4 radiation related early urological side effects were 22% ,59% ,12% and 1% ,respectively;The corresponding late urological side effects were 29% ,28% ,2% and 1%, respectively. Two patients underwent whole bladder cystectomy due to the radiation related side effects. Conclusions Postoperative three-dimensional radiotherapy, achieving high response rate with tol-erable side effects, can be offered as an alternative option to the radical cystectomy in the bladder conserving treatment.

Objective To characterize the clinical characteristics of lupus mesenteric vasculitis (LMV). Methods Analyzing the clinical, laboratory and treatment data of LMV patients hospitalized from 2002. 1.1 to 2007. 12. 31 retrospectively. Results (1) The three common manifestations were abdominal pain, diarrhea and vomit with the prevalence rate of 77%, 70% and 67% respectively. (2)The majority of LMV cases were active vital organ (28/30), kidney (24/30) and hematological system (18/30) were the main organs of involvement. Ten patients had hydroureteronephrosis, and 8 patients had intestinal pseudo-obstruction at the same time. (3) Systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity index (SLEDAI) score was ≥10 in 80% (24/30) of patients. The progression of LMV was accompanied with new-onset ieucopenia or worsening leucopenia or hypocomplementemia in 10 cases. (4) Blood antinuclear antibodies were positive in 27 patients detected, and anti-SSA antibody was positive in 15 (56%), anti-U1RNP antibody was positive in 14 (52%). (5) Fourteen cases had bowel wall thickening with target sign or mesenteric vessels with palisade or comb sign in contrast CT scan of abdomen. (6)Twenty-seven cases were treated with orally or intravenous medium to high dose steroid therapy and recovered from LMV. Conclusions (1) Abdominal pain, diarrhea and vomit were frequent manifestations of LMV patients. (2) LMV was one of the serious complications of systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE), and usually accompanied by active SLE in other organs. (3) A drop in the white blood cell count or complement C3 titer might be correlate with the occurrence of LMV. It needs to further investigate the relationship between LMV and the high positive rate of anti-SSA and anti-U1RNP antibody. (4) LMV patients responded well to intravenous high dose methylprednisolone.

Objective To evaluate treatment results and prognostic factors of 47 patients withprimary urethral transitional cell carcinoma treated with post-operative adjuvant radiotherapy. Methods From October 1998 to October 2008, 47 patients with primary urethral transitional cell carcinoma received postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy. Thirty-one patients had stage T_3/T_4 disease, 7 had lymph node metastasis. Thirty-nine patients had G3 tumor, 13 had stump-positive. The median radiotherapy dose was 60 Gy (36-64 Gy). 81% patients (38/47) were treated with regional irradiation. Results The median follow-up time was 21 months (6 -88 months). The follow-up rate was 92%. The median overall survival time was 35 months (5 -88 months). The 2-and 5-year overall survival rates were 57% and 49%, respectively. In univariate analysis, the median overall survival time was better in patients with stage T_1 or T_2 compared with stage T_3 or T_4 tumor (42 months vs. 19 months,Χ~2 =7. 28,P=0. 007), with age of ≤65 years compared with >65 years (28 mouths vs 18 months,Χ~2 =8.23 ,P =0. 004). There was no significantdifference in the long term survival in patients with non-radical surgery compared with radical mastectomy (21 months vs. 20 months, Χ~2 = 0. 90, P = 0. 344). In multivariate analysis, the stage T_3 or T_4 (Χ~2 = 7. 89, P =0. 005), >65 years old (Χ~2 = 4.85, P = 0. 028), renal pelvis involvement (Χ~2= 5.65, P = 0. 018), and tumor located in the mid or inferior segment (Χ~2=6. 08 ,P =0. 014) were factors associated with poorer prognosis. Conclusions Postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy can improve the efficacy of patients with locally advanced urethral transitional cell carcinoma. Advanced T stage and > 65 years age are associated with poorer prognosis.

Objective To analyze the efficacy,late complications and prognostic factors of post-op-erative radiotherapy for cervical cancer. Methods From Nov. 1999 to Feb. 2005,114 patients with cervi-cal cancer received adjuvant pelvic radiotherapy after radical hysterectomy and pelvic lymphadenectomy. The median age was 42.5 (24 to 72) years old. According to the FIGO staging system,6,51,18,26 and 13 pa-tients had stage ⅠA, Ⅰb1, Ⅰb2, ⅡA and ⅡBdisease. The pathological type was squamous cell carcinoma,ade-nocarcinoma, squamous-adenocarcinoma and undifferentiated carcinoma in 92,19,2 and 1 patients, respec-tively. The whole-pelvic external beam irradiation of 50 Gy (40 to 60 Gy) was given with 6 MV or 15 MV X-ray beams using four-field box technique. Eighty-one patients received intravaginal brachytherapy of 16 Gy (4 -30 Gy in 1 -6 fractions) 4 weeks after the beginning of radiotherapy, with the referrence point being at 0.5 cm under the vaginal mucosa. Eighty-seven patients received preoperative and/or concurrent chemother-apy. The survival and independent prognostic factors were analyzed by Log-rank method and Cox model. Results The median follow-up time was 26.0 (5 - 75) months. The overall survival rate, disease-free sur-rival rate and local control rate were 93.1%, 88.1% and 94.6% at 2-year, and 75.7%, 62.3% and 85.6% at 5-year,respectively. The independent prognostic factors were lymph node metastasis and positive surgical margin for overall survival, positive surgical margin for local control, and stage, uterine body invasion and positive surgical margin for disease-free survival. Sixteen patients ( 14% ) had distant metastasis, and the most common sites were the lung,inguinal region,bone,liver and brain. According to RTOG grading sys-tem, the incidence of late gastrointestinal side effects of grade 1,2 and 3 was 11.4%, 11.4% and 3.5%. The corresponding genitourinary side effects were 14.0% ,6.1% and 0.9%, respectively. The incidence of leg lymphedema was 7 % . Conclusions Post - operative radiotherapy can achieve good local control in cervical cancer with acceptable late side effects. Distant metastasis is the main cause of death.

Objective To evaluate the clinical value of susceptibility?weighted imaging(SWI) in detecting intramedullary hemorrhage of traumatic acute spinal cord injury. Methods From October 2012 to December 2014, 37 TSCI (traumatic spinal cord injuries) patients undergone the MRI scans including routine MRI and SWI were enrolled. Further according to ASIA classification standard, all patients were evaluated as ASIA A (n=4), ASIA B (n=4), ASIA C (n=19) and ASIA D (n=10). Referring to axial T2WI images at the same slice, the manifestations of hemorrhage in amplitude image, phase image and SWI were evaluated. At the slice with maximal size of hemorrhage area and its neighboring slices, the hemorrhage regions were manually drawn; and the total area was automatically calculated. The number of hemorrhage lesions was defined as the number of hemorrhage lesions at single slice × slice number. One?way ANOVA was used to compare the differences among different grading ASIA in terms of hemorrhage area and number. Meanwhile, the relations between hemorrhage area and ASIA grade; hemorrhage number and ASIA grade were evaluated by Spearman rank correlation. Results The hemorrhage was detected by SWI in 15 patients, including 4 ASIA A, 4 ASIA B, 7 ASIA C. Hemorrhage represents as isointense in T1WI and a slightly low signal intensity or isointense in the center companied by high intensity at circus in T2WI. In magnitude image and SWI hemorrhage appears as low signal intensity and low signal intensity in the center companied by high intensity at circus in phase image. In detecting the hemorrhage, SWI (98 lesions were detected) was 5.4 times of T2WI (19 lesion were detected). As for the number of hemorrhage, significant differences were found among ASIA grading A, B and C (grading A:22.5 ± 1.3, grading B:19.5 ± 1.3, grading C:4.0 ± 1.1;F=38.720, P<0.01); Further the pairwise comparison showed statistical significance (P<0.05); besides, the number of hemorrhage lesions closely related with the ASIA grade (r=0.864, P<0.01). For the hemorrhage area, the calculated results of grading ASIA A, B and C were (23.5 ± 0.6), (21.8 ± 1.9), (3.9 ± 0.7) mm2, respectively; there were significant differences among the different ASIA grades (F=29.987, P<0.001);furthermore the hemorrhage area also showed closely relation with the ASIA grade (r=0.778, P<0.01). Conclusions SWI is more sensitive in detecting the hemorrhage in traumatic acute spinal cord injury. The more number and area of bleeding area suggest the more severe of the damage level.

Objective To test the level of cell factor interleukin (IL)-21,CXCL13 in the plasma of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA),and to analyze the relationship between Follicular helper T cells(Tfh)and clinic features and discuss the possible immunological pathogenesis of RA.Methods The Tfh cells were obtained from patients and healthy controls (NC) and detected by Flow cytometery.While the levels of IL-21,CXCL13 in patients and NC were measured by ELISA tests.Those analysis were performed by student's t-test,one-way ANOVA,SNK-q test,Chi-square test,Spearman's correlation and multiple linear regression.Results The expression of CD4+CXCR5+ICOS+ cells (Tfh) in PBMCs of RA was significantly higher than normal controls (3.0±1.2 vs 1.1±0.4,P＜0.01).Meanwhile,the three RA groups of patients were divided to low,moderate and high disease activity groups,and the results showed that the expression of Tfh were increased accordingly (1.8±0.7,2.5±0.6,4.0±1.2).The expression of Tfh in the three groups were all significantly higher than that of controls (P＜0.01).There was a positive correlation between Tfh and DAS28,ESR,CRP,TJC,and bone erosion,RF and anti-CCP respectively.The expression of Tfh in those patients who had bone destruction was higher than those with no or mild bone destructions (2.7±1.1vs 3.4±1.3).The expression of Tfh in patients with un-treated RA patients,when compared to those RA patients who were treated appropriately and those who were not treated appropriately,was decreased significantly.The expression of Tfh in appropriately treated RA patients was lower than that without appropriately treatment.The level of IL-21,CXCL13 was decreased in patients with RA in the order of high,moderate,low disease activity and NC.Conclusion The expression of Tfh and the levels of IL-21,CXCL13 are increased significantly,and are closely related to disease activity and bone ersions.The expression of Tfh is decreased after relevant treatment.These results indicate that the abnormality of Tfh may play an important role in the pathogenesis of RA.

?AIM:To compare the coherence and difference on the fundus examination made with two kinds of optical coherence tomography ( OCT): Angio-OCT and fourier domain-optical coherence tomography ( FD-OCT) .?METHODS:Using Angio-OCT and FD-OCT to measure the retinal nerve fiber layer ( RNFL ) thickness, optic parameters, and ganglion cell complexes ( GCC ) thickness from 20 subjects respectively.The coherence was tested with Pearson's correlation coefficient, the difference was tested with paired Student t testing.?RESULTS:The total correlation of the RNFL thickness, optic parameters, GCC thickness made with two kinds of OCT was between 0.7-0.8;the RNFL thickness, optic disk area etc.made with the Angio-OCT were lower than those made with FD-OCT except for the GCC thickness.?CONCLUSION: The results made with two kinds of OCT from the same subject has certain coherence, but cannot be compared directly.

OBJECTIVEThe study was aimed to investigate the inhibitory effect and mechanism of astragaloside IV (ASI) on the activation of microglial cells.

METHODAfter pre-incubated with ASI for 2 h, microglial cells BV-2 were stimulated with interferon-γ (IFN-γ) for 1. 5 h and 24 h, respectively. Secretion of nitric oxide (NO) in the medium was measured by Griess method. Production of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) was detected by ELISA approach. Cellular gene expressions of CD11b, TNF-α, interleukin 1β (IL-1β) and induced nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) were examined by quantitative-PCR analysis. Total and phosphorylation of STAT1, IκB and NF-κB was analyzed by Western blot method.

RESULTASI could significantly inhibit the increased secretion of TNF-α and NO from BV-2 cells upon IFN-γ stimulation (P < 0.001). Further study showed that ASI significantly down-regulated gene expression of IL-1β and TNF-α (P < 0.01, P < 0.05) and exhibited a trend to reduce that of iNOS. IFN-γ and ASI have no obvious effect on gene expression of CD11b. Moreover, ASI inhibited the phosphorylation of STAT1, IκB and NF-κB elicited by IFN-γ stimulation.

CONCLUSIONASI could restrain microglial activation through interfering STAT1/IκB/NF-κB signaling pathway, reducing gene expres- sion of IL-1β and TNF-α, and thus inhibiting the production of proinflammatory mediators such as NO and TNF-α.

Animals ; Astragalus Plant ; chemistry ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; I-kappa B Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Interferon-gamma ; genetics ; metabolism ; Mice ; NF-kappa B ; genetics ; metabolism ; Nitric Oxide ; metabolism ; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II ; genetics ; metabolism ; STAT1 Transcription Factor ; genetics ; metabolism ; Saponins ; pharmacology ; Signal Transduction ; drug effects ; Triterpenes ; pharmacology