Objective To investigate the effects of Chinese herb formula Tangtongfang by bathing the affected feet of patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) in the pattern of Qi deficiency and blood stasis. Methods A parallel, randomized, controlled clinical research was performed. 70 diabetics in the inpatient and outpatient divisions of the Department of Endocrinology, Guanganmen Hospital, from January 2005 to October 2007 were investigated. They were divided randomly into two groups, treatment group and control group, 35 cases in each group. Before study, there were no statistic differences between the two groups, including gender, age, course of diabetes mellitus(DM), course of DPN, blood glucose (including fasting blood glucose and postprandial blood glucose), traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) symptom scores and nerve conduction velocity (NCV). The treatment group were treated with Tangtongfang bathing and the control group were treated with warm water bathing. Each group was also administered Vitamin B1 20 mg, t.i.d and Vitamin B6 20 mg, t.i.d respectively. All patients were keeping their routine treatment and diabetic care to control their blood glucose, such as diets, practices and drugs. Clinical symptoms and electrophysiological tests in diabetic peripheral neuropathy syndrome were investigated. The period of treatment was 8 weeks.Results After study, 9 cases retreated from this clinical trial totally, 4 cases in the treatment group whereas 5 in the control group. Among 4 common single symptoms, coolness feeling of the feet of diabetic patients was significantly improved (P<0.05) after bathed with Tangtongfang. The change of TCM symptom scores and tibialis NCV was significantly improved (P＜0.001, P<0.05) in the treatment group. The improvement ratio was 45.2% and 61.3% in the treatment group, while was 10% and 3.3% in the control group. In each group there was no statistical difference between pre-and post-study with blood test, urine test, blood ALT, blood BUN and Cr, ECG examination (P>0.05). No adverse event was observed in each group.Conclusion Tangtongfang bathing improved several symptoms of patients suffering from DPN, especially the symptom of coolness feeling of the patients' feet. No adverse event was observed. This result showed that Tangtongfang bathing was worthy of using as a safe agent in treatment of DPN.

Objective To discuss the clinical efficacy of surgery for chronic subdural hematoma assisted by rigid neuroendoscope and its surgical techniques. Methods Clinical data of 161 patients with chronic subdural hematoma from August 2009 to December 2015 was analyzed retrospectively. 74 of them experienced surgeries assisted by rigid neuroendoscope (endoscope group) and other 87 cases were operated without neuroendoscope (routine group) during the same period. Results Although there were significant difference in operative duration between the two groups, complications, ratio of total removal of hematoma after surgery, postoperative inpatient duration and recurrent rate of hematoma were more advantageous in endoscope group. The operative duration of endoscope group with (112.68 ± 34.86) min was longer than that of routine group with (74.11 ± 28.23) min (t = 7.75, P = 0.000), while the postoperative inpatient duration of endoscope group with (8.23 ± 2.01) d was shorter than that of another group with (10.79 ± 5.02) d (t = -4.12, P = 0.000). There were no surgical associated complications in endoscope group, but 1 patient in routine group experienced intracerebral hematoma of frontal lobe and associated aphemia. Total removal of hematoma was confirmed in endoscope group with 98.65% (73/74), which was higher than that in routine group with 86.21% (75/78) (χ2 = 8.34, P = 0.004). Hematoma recurrence was found in 16 cases of routine group (18.39%), but more superiority in endoscope group with 1.35% (χ2 = 12.29, P = 0.000). Outpatient follow-up was carried out in all patients from 6 to 38 months with an average duration of 30.06 months. In 17 cases with recurrent hematoma during follow-up, 15 of them were cured by a second surgery, and another 2 patients were cured by atorvastatin. Conclusion As a simple, safe and effective technique, the application of rigid neuroendoscope during surgery for chronic subdural hematoma is more advantage than routine surgery. A self-made suction with adjustable soft curved tip is suitable for such procedure.

To study the relationship between changes of microbial ATP in four kinds of murine tissues and the postmortem interval (PMI), healthy SD rats were sacrificed and their muscles, livers, spleens and kidneys were sampled at different postmortem intervals. The concentration of microbial ATP was detected using bioluminescent assay and the data was statistically analyzed. The concentration of microbial ATP in muscle increased with PMI time. The peak appeared at the 7th day after death, and at the 10th day, microbial ATP in muscle tissue increased again. In internal organs, the peaks of microbial ATP were observed at the 8th day after death and the level decreased during 8-10 d. The differences in microbial ATP concentration in liver, spleen and kidney were not statistically significant. During day 0 to day 9 after death, the correlation was best between PMI and microbial ATP in muscle. With PMI as the independent variable, the cubic polynomial regression equation was Y=0.02X(3)-0.166X(2)-0.666X+13.412 (R (2)=0.989, P<0.01). In internal organs, the best correlation was found between PMI and microbial ATP during day 0 to day 10. With PMI as the independent variable, the cubic polynomial regression equation was Y=0.016X(3)-0.127X(2)-0.809X+13.324 (R (2)=0.986, P<0.01). There existed high correlations between PMI and microbial ATP concentration in rat tissues. Since only a small amount of tissue was needed for the detection and the sample was not affected by self-decomposition, the method may extend the time range of PMI estimation.

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of gefitinib retreatment beyond progression(GRBP)in non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC)patients with rare EGFR mutations.Methods We retrospectively analyzed six rare-EGFR-mutation NSCLC patients from Jan 2011 to Dec 2015.Those patients had previous disease control and then disease progression according to Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors version 1.1(RECIST v1.1)after taking oral gefitinib 250 mg once a day.After that,continuing gefitinib was decided by clinicians′ experience at the same treatment option.The primary endpoints were response rate(RR),overall survival(OS),the first and second progression-free survival(PFS-1 and PFS-2).Safety was assessed according to the NCI-CTCAE version 4.0.Results After initial treatment of gefitinib,4 patients achieved partial response(PR)and 2 patients showed stable disease(SD),with RR being 66.7％.The median PFS-1 and PFS-2 were 10 months(95％CI 6.6-13.4)and 9 months(95％CI 6.9-11.1),respectively.The median OS time was 28 months(95％CI 10.4-45.6).The most common treatment-related adverse events were fatigue,diarrhea,rash,itching and elevated transaminases.Conclusion In our study,gefitinib retreatment beyond disease progression is effective with a manageable tolerability profile.

Domain insertions and deletions lead to variations in the domain architectures of the proteins from their common ancestor. In this work, we investigated four groups of the RhoGEF-containing proteins from different organisms with domain architectures RhoGEF-PH-SH3, SH3-RhoGEF-PH, RhoGEF-PH, and SH3-RhoGEF defined in the Pfam database. The phylogenetic trees were constructed using each individual domain and/or the combinations of all the domains. The phylogenetic analysis suggests that RhoGEF-PH-SH3 and SH3-RhoGEF-PH might have evolved from RhoGEF-PH through the insertion of SH3 independently, while SH3-RhoGEF of proteins in fruit fly might have evolved from SH3-RhoGEF-PH by the degeneration of PH domain.

Objective To investigate the clinical diagnosis,treatment and prevention of fallopian tube prolapse(FTP)after hysterectomy.Methods A total of 7949 patients received hysterectomy from 1983 to Aug 2005 in Peking Union Medical College Hospital,including 6229 cases of trans-abdominal hysterectomy(TAH),780 cases of transvaginal hysterectomy(TVH),and 940 cases of laparoscopic assisted vaginal hysterectomy(LAVH).Nine cases(including 1 case from other hospital)of FTP after hysterectomy were analyzed retrospectively for their symptoms,diagnosis and treatment.All of them were diagnosed according to the results of histology and follow-up.Results The overall incidence of FTP after hysterectomy was 0.11%(9/7949).Incidence of FTP after trans-abdominal hysterectomy was 0.08% (5/6229),after vaginal hysterectomy 0.51%(4/780),and after laparoscopic assisted vaginal hysterectomy 0(0/940).There were no symptoms in 3 cases,but the other 6 cases had symptoms.The pelvic examination revealed the typical prolapsed fimbrial end of a fallopian tube in 3 cases and red granulation tissue in the other 6 cases.All of them were excised vaginally and cauterized.The results were confirmed by histological examination.No recurrent cases were reported in follow up.Conclusions FTP is a rare complication after hysterectomy.The prognosis is well after proper diagnosis and treatment.Salpingectomy or fixation of accessories into the pelvic wall and complete peritonealisation at the time of hysterectomy are important methods to prevent FTP after hysterectomy.

To study the relationship between changes of microbial ATP in four kinds of murine tissues and the postmortem interval (PMI),healthy SD rats were sacrificed and their muscles,livers,spleens and kidneys were sampled at different postmortem intervals. The concentration of microbial ATP was detected using bioluminescent assay and the data was statistically analyzed. The concentration of microbial ATP in muscle increased with PMI time. The peak appeared at the 7th day after death,and at the 10th day,microbial ATP in muscle tissue increased again. In internal organs,the peaks of microbial ATP were observed at the 8th day after death and the level decreased during 8-10 d. The differences in microbial ATP concentration in liver,spleen and kidney were not statisticallysignificant. During day 0 to day 9 after death,the correlation was best between PMI and microbial ATP in muscle. With PMI as the independent variable,the cubic polynomial regression equation was Y=0.02X3-0.166X2-0.666X+13.412 (R2=0.989,P＜0.01). In internal organs,the best correlation was found between PMI and microbial ATP during day 0 to day 10. With PMI as the independent variable,the cubic polynomial regression equation was Y=0.016X3-0.127X2-0.809X+13.324 (R2=0.986,P＜0.01). There existed high correlations between PMI and microbial ATP concentration in rat tissues.Since only a small amount of tissue was needed for the detection and the sample was not affected by self-decomposition,the method may extend the time range of PMI estimation.

This study is to establish the fingerprint for Phyllanthus emblica and their tannin parts from different habitats by HPLC for its quality control. The determination was carried out on a Diamonsil C18 (4.6 mm x 250 mm, 5 microm) column, with methanol-0.2% glacial acetic acid as mobile phase with gradient elution at a flow rate of 1 mL x min(-1). The temperature was maintained at 30 degrees C and the detected wavelength is 260 nm, Thirteen chromatographic peaks were extracted as the common peaks of the fingerprint of P. emblica, and eleven as the common peaks of P. emblica tannin parts, and five peaks were identified by comparing with referent samples. The fingerprints of 8 samples were compared and classified by similarity evaluation, cluster analysis and principal component analysis (PCA). The similarity degrees of eight P. emblica were between 0.763 and 0.993, while tannin parts were between 0.903 and 0.991. All the samples of P. emblica and their tannin parts were classified into 3 categories. The method was so highly reproducible, simple and reliable that it could provide basis for quality control and evaluation of P. emblica from different habitats.
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; Medicine, Tibetan Traditional ; Phyllanthus emblica ; chemistry ; classification ; Quality Control ; Tannins ; analysis ; Tibet

OBJECTIVETo explore the clinical effects of colonic dripping with Taihuang liquid (THL) in treating neonatal hyperbilirubinemia (HBE).

METHODSOne hundred and thirty-eight neonates with HBE were randomly assigned to two groups. Conventional treatment and nursing were given to both groups, and THL was given additionally to the observation group by colonic dripping.

RESULTSSignificant differences between the observation group and the control group were shown in frequency of defecation (4.6 +/- 1.3 times/d vs 2.0 +/- 1.1 times/d), daily serum bilirubin reduction (31.5 +/- 10.1 micromol/L vs 23.3 +/- 8.3 micromol/L), and days for normalizing serum bilirubin level (5.6 +/- 3.5 d vs 7.8 +/- 4.1 d, all P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONColonic dripping of THL could promote the excretion of bilirubin, so as to decrease the level of serum bilirubin in neonates with HBE.

Bilirubin ; blood ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; Female ; Humans ; Hyperbilirubinemia, Neonatal ; blood ; drug therapy ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Male

Objective To compare the efficacy of ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration(US-FNA)biopsy in diagnosing solid and complex thyroid nodules with different size. Methods One hundred and seventy-five thyroid FNA biopsies were prospectively performed on 168 patients ranging from 4 to 75 years of age. Sixty-three nodules were surgically excised and the others were clinically followed-up. The cytology diagnoses were categorized into four groups: benign, malignant, suspicious and unsatisfactory. Results There was no significant complication in the all 115 solid and 60 complex thyroid lesions and there were 36and 3 malignant nodules respectively in solid and complex thyroid nodules. The nondiagnostic rates of solid and complex nodules were 7％ and 8％. The accuracy of US-FNA in diagnosing complex thyroid nodules was comparatively equal to that of in solid thyroid nodules. In solid thyroid nodules, the sensitivity and accuracy in ≤1 cm group were similar to that of in ＞1 cm group. Conclusions US-FNA was an accurate and reliable method to diagnose thyroid solid and complex lesions.