Objective To investigate the clinical value of pancreatic amylase (P-AMY) in acute pancreatitis, and perform methodical evaluation on total amylase (α-AMY), P-AMY and lipase.Methods 126 cases of patients with acute pancreatitis, 105 cases of disease controls and 95 healthy controls were involced in the investigation. Hitachi7600 automatic biochemical analyzer was applying to measuring α-AMY, P-AMY and lipase. The upper limit of the reference range of the total amylase, pancreatic amylase and lipase was 216 U/L, 115 U/L and 200 U/L respectively in our laboratory.Results The sensitivity of total amylase, pancreatic amylase, and lipase for the diagnosis of acute pancreatitis was 73.1%, 88.5% and 92.3% respectively;and while the specificity was 70.5%、81.9% and 82.9% respectively. The diagnostic accuracy, determined as the area under the curve, was 0.795 for total amylase, 0.868 for pancreatic amylase, and 0.886 for lipase. There was a significant difference between the total amylase and pancreatic amylase (P=0.045), but no significant difference was found between the pancreatic amylase and lipase (P=0.613) by ROC curve.Conclusion Pancreatic amylase has a higher sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy than α-AMY in acute pancreatitis, and shows a similar diagnostic performance as lipase. Therefore, P-AMY and lipase should be measured in combination in the diagnosis of acute pancreatitis.

BACKGROUND: Neural stem cell transplantation is an emerging therapeutic option in the recovery of neural lesions and neurodegenerative diseases. Neural stem cell culture and differentiation lay a foundation for the further study. OBJECTIVE: To improve the techniques for the isolation, cultivation, differentiation and identification of neural stem cells, and to explore the biological characteristics of cells. METHODS: The neural stem cells from C57BL/6 fetal rats were isolated and cultured in vitro using neurophere culture method followed by morphological and ultrastucture examination. The growth curve and cell cycle of passage 3 cells were drawn and analyzed. Nestin expression was tested by immunofluorescence. Neural stem cells induced in 1% and 10% fetal bovine serum were identified using anti-GFAP, anti-βⅢ-tubulin and anti-MBP by immunofluorescence. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The neurospheres exhibited strong cell proliferation ability. Under transmission electron microscope, there was a high nuclear/cytoplasmic ratio in the neural stem cells, indicating a low differentiation degree. Immunofluorescence analysis revealed that neural stem cells were positive for Nestin. The induced cells were positive for GFAP, βⅢ-tubulin, and MBP, indicating these cells were induced to differentiate into astrocytes, neurons and oligodendrocytes, and there were more neurons in 1% fetal bovine serum than those in 10% fetal bovine serum. In conclusion, we could successfully isolate neural stem cells in C57BL/6 mice, and low concentration of fetal bovine serum contributes to more neurons differentiated from neural stem cells.

Objective To explore the effectiveness of different peak negative pressure ultrasound irradiated microbubble destruction on the control of rat blood brain barrier permeability.Methods Thirty healthy SD rats were divided into 5 groups according to different ultrasound pressure level (62 kPa,86 kPa, 1 81 kPa,324 kPa,708 kPa).After intravenous injection of microbubble,the rats were underwent ultrasonic irradiation for 9 minutes,and the contralateral hemispheres were served as controls.The permeability of blood brain barrier was determined by the quantitative analysis of Evans blue and lanthanum nitrate extravasation.Results Quantitative analysis results revealed a leakage in Evans blue about(4.52 ± 0.1 1 )μg/g and (10.56±0.13)μg/g in group 1 81 kPa and 708 kPa,respectively.A wide endothelial cell gap with lanthanum nitrate trace leaked out was shown at the group of ultrasound pressure of 1 81 kPa,and erythrocytes extravasations were found when ultrasound pressure at 708 kPa.Conclusions The pressure amplitude in microbubble enhanced cavitation can effectively regulate and control blood-brain barrier opening in rats.

Objective To investigate the molecular epidemiology of Staphylococcus aureus in Yanbian area .Methods From March 2011 to June 2012 ,a total of 101 consecutive and non-duplicate strains of Staphylococcus aureus were collected from Yanbian Hospital .Genotypes of SCCmec ,spa,and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) were determined by PCR combined with DNA sequencing analysis .The pvl gene was detected by PCR .Results The most prevalent SCCmec type was type II (65 .0% ,39/60) ,followed by SCCmec type III (26 .7% ,16/60) .A total of 11 Spa types were identified for the MRSA strains ,including t2460 (55 .0% ,33/60) ,t030 (18 .3% ,11/60) ,t002 ,t324 ,and t632 (5 .0% ,3/60 each) .A total of 29 Spa types were identified for MSSA strains ,including t796 (14 .6% ,6/41) ,t309 (9 .8% ,4/41) ,and t126 (7 .3% ,3/41) . The pvl gene was identified in 5 stains .MRSA strains were classified into three types based on multilocus sequence typing (MLST) ,namely ST5 ,ST239 and ST72 .MLST-based MSSA types were more diverse ,including ST5 ,ST 25 ,ST 15 ,ST 59 ,ST 1 ,ST 7 ,ST 45 ,ST 22 ,and ST 188 .Conclusions ST5-MRSA-SCCmecII-t2460 and ST239-MRSA-SCCmecIII-t030 are the most prevalent MRSA clones in Yanbian area .Multiple prevalent MSSA clones are identified.

BACKGROUNDIntravascular microbubble-enhanced acoustic cavitation is capable of disrupting the vascular walls of capillaries and small vessels. This study was designed to investigate the impact of microbubble-enhanced, pulsed and focused ultrasound (MEUS) on the blood perfusion of subcutaneous VX2 tumors in rabbits.

METHODSSubcutaneous VX2 cancers in twenty New Zealand rabbits were treated by combining high-pressure amplitude, pulsed and focused therapeutic ultrasound (TUS) and intravenous microbubble injections. The TUS transducer was operated with a peak negative pressure of 4.6 MPa and a duty cycle of 0.41%. Controls were subcutaneous VX2 cancers treated with TUS or microbubbles only. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and intravenous Evans Blue (EB) perfusion were performed to assess the tumor circulation. The tumor microvascular disruption was assessed by histological examination.

RESULTSCEUS showed that the tumor circulation almost vanished after MEUS treatment. The average peak grayscale value (GSV) of tumor CEUS dropped significantly from 84.1±22.4 to 15.8±10.8 in the MEUS-treated tumors but no significant GSV changes were found in tumors in the two control groups. The mean tumor EB content of the MEUS-treated tumors was significantly lower than that of the controls. Histological examination found scattered tumor microvascular disruption with intercellular edema after MEUS treatment.

CONCLUSIONThe tumor circulation of VX2 cancers can be arrested or significantly reduced by MEUS due to microvascular disruption.

Animals ; Contrast Media ; High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound Ablation ; Liver Neoplasms ; therapy ; Microbubbles ; Rabbits ; Ultrasonic Therapy

OBJECTIVE: To observe the difference for vascular dementia among flipping moxibustion of medicine at acupoints in governor vessel combined with acupuncture, simple medicine and simple acupuncture. METHODS: A total of 120 patients with vascular dementia were randomly assigned into a combination group, a flipping moxibustion group and an acupuncture group, 40 cases in each one, with 2 patients dropping respectively. Flipping moxibustion was used at the acupoints of group A on Monday and at the acupoints of group B on Friday in the flipping moxibustion group. The acupoints of group A were Baihui (GV 20), Dazhui (GV 14), Shenzhu (GV 12), Zhiyang (GV 9), Jizhong (GV 6), Mingmen (GV 4), Yaoyangguan (GV 3), and the acupoints of group B were Fengfu (GV 16), Taodao (GV 13), Shendao (GV 11), Jinsuo (GV 8), Xuanshu (GV 5), Changqiang (GV 1). Acupuncture was used in the acupuncture group at the main acupoints of Baihui (GV 20), Sishencong (EX-HN 1), Neiguan (PC 6), Zusanli (ST 36), Taixi (KI 3) and Xuanzhong (GB 39), matched with the acupoints based on syndrome differentiation, 30 min a time, once a day, continuous 5 times a week. The above two methods were applied in the combination group. All the treaments were for 4 weeks. The indexes were observed before and after treatment, including syndrome differentiationof TCM scale for vascular dementia (SDSVD), simple mental state scale (MMSE), self-care ability of daily life scale (ADL). The clinical effects and safety were evaluated. RESULTS: After treatment, the total effective rate in the combination group was 89.5% (34/38); the rate in the flipping moxibustion group was 65.8% (25/38); the rate in the acupuncture group was 63.2% (24/38). The difference among groups was statistically significant (<0.05). The effect in the combination group was better than those in the flipping moxibustion group and in the acupuncture group (both <0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between the flipping moxibustion group and the acupuncture group (>0.05). The SDSVD scores after treatment were lower and the MMSE and ADL scores after treatment were higher than those before treatment in the three groups (all <0.01), with better results on the above three scores in the combination group than those in the other two groups (<0.05, <0.01), and the differences on the three scores between the flipping moxibustion group and the acupuncture group were not statiatically significant (all >0.05). The treatment in the three groups was safe, without stastical significance (>0.05). CONCLUSION The effect of flipping moxibustion combined with acupuncture for vascular dementia is better than those of simple flipping moxibustion and simple acupuncture. The combination treatment achieves better effect on TCM syndrome, cognitive function and daily activity ability than the other two simple treatment.
Activities of Daily Living ; Acupuncture Points ; Dementia, Vascular ; Humans ; Moxibustion