BACKGROUND: High incidence rate in the morning and low incidence rate in the evening is the regularity of stroke; however, there are no clear reports on changes of concentration of plasma endothelins and its relationship with onset of cerebral thrombus.OBJECTIVE: To investigate dynamic regularity of plasma endothelins in patients with acute cerebral thrombus within 24 hours and its correlation with episode.DESIGN: Case-controlled study.SETTING: Center of Radio-immunology and Department of Laboratory of Affiliated Hospital of Medical College of Qingdao University.PARTICIPANTS: Totally 32 patients with cerebral thrombus were selected from Neurological Department of Affiliated Hospital of Medical College of Qingdao University from January 2002 to January 2003. There were 20males and 12 females with mean age of (61.5±4.1) years. Ten patients had history of diabetes mellitus combined with hypertension, 8 had history of hypertension, 1 had history of diabetes mellitus, and 13 did not have history of diabetes mellitus and hypertension. Another 30 healthy subjects were selected from the same hospital including 13 males and 17 females with the mean age of (58.1±6.25) years. Informed consent was obtained from all subjects.METHODS: Radio-immune analysis was used to determine the dynamic changes of plasma-endothelins level in 32 patients with cerebral thrombus and 20 healthy subjects at 2, 8, 14 and 20 o'clock.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: ① Plasma-endothelins level of patients in cerebral thrombus group and control group at the four time points within 24 hours; ② Plasma-endothelins level of patients with or without cerebral thrombus at the four time points within 24 hours.RESULTS: Totally 32 patients with cerebral thrombus and 30 subjects in control group entered the final analysis. ① Plasma-endothelins level in cerebral thrombus group day and night was higher than that in the control group (t=29.1-30.5, P ＜ 0.001). The level was the lowest [(69.96±3.92) ng/L] at 2 o'clock within 24 hours but the highest at 8 o'clock [(78.55±3.80) ng/L,(t=5.67, P ＜ 0.01)]. ② Levels of endothelins in patients with history of hypertension and cerebral thrombus were obviously higher than those in patients without history of hypertension and cerebral thrombus at 2, 8, 14 and 20 o 'clock within 24 hours [(73.28±7.89), (64.52±5.29) ng/L; (82.39±8.62),(75.81±5.14) ng/L; (81.39±8.62), (70.32±5.97) ng/L; (82.47±5.04),(65.27±5.14) ng/L, (t=2.11-5.17, P ＜ 0.05-0.01)].CONCLUSION: Plasma-endothelins level in patients with acute cerebral thrombus has rhythm changes within 24 hours. The changes are high in the morning and low in the evening, and this is accorded with high onset of cerebral thrombus in the morning.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the effect of the timed “up and go” test (TUGT) on measuring functional mobility of stroke patients.MethodsNinety hemiparetic stroke patients participated in this study. The balance, gait speed and disability of patients were measured by Berg balance scale (BBS), maximal gait speed and functional independence measure (FIM) to find out the critical value of TUGT.ResultsA good relationship existed among TUGT and the BBS,gait speed and FIM (r=-0.926—-0.674,P<0.001).The percentage of independent walking of stroke patients whose TUGT scores <10s or>20s were 100% and 8.3%. The optimal cut off values of TUGT to predict the independent walking of patients were 15.2s, and in stroke group sensitivity and specificity of TUGT were 89.4% and 79.1%.Conclusion TUGT is a reliable instrument with adequate concurrent validity to measure the functional mobility of stroke patients.

ObjectiveTo investigate the effect and potential mechanism of Dihuangyin on 2， 4-dinitrochlorobenzene （DNCB） -induced model mice with atopic dermatitis （AD）. MethodA mouse model with AD was established by repeatedly stimulating the back skin of mice with DNCB. After successful modeling， the mice were randomly divided into model group， Runzao group （0.78 g·kg^-1）， and high， medium， and low dose （40.30， 20.15， and 10.08 g·kg^-1） groups of Dihuangyin， with 12 mice in each group， and the blank group consisted of 12 mice， 72 in total. The administration groups were given the corresponding liquid by dose， and the blank group and model group were given the same dose of pure water by intragastric administration， once a day. The skin lesions and scratching times of mice were observed after continuous administration for two weeks. The back skin lesions of mice were stained with hematoxylin-eosin （HE） and toluidine blue to observe the pathology. The contents of serum immunoglobulin E （IgE）， interleukin-4 （IL-4）， interleukin-6 （IL-6）， and interferon-γ （IFN-γ） were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay （ELISA）. The mRNA expression levels of IFN-γ， IL-4， IL-6， Janus kinase 1 （JAK1）， and transcriptional activator 3 （STAT3） in skin lesion tissue were detected by Real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction （Real-time PCR）. The expressions of JAK1， phosphorylation（p）-JAK1， STAT3， and p-STAT3 proteins in skin lesion tissue were detected by Western blot. ResultCompared with the blank group， the back skin of the model group showed large-scale scab， dryness， erosion， hypertrophy with scratching， epidermal hyperplasia with hyperkeratosis and parakeratosis， hyperacanthosis with edema， and a large number of mast cell infiltration in the dermis， some of which were degranulated. The contents of IgE， IL-4， IL-6， and IFN-γ in the serum of mice were significantly increased （P<0.01）， and the protein expression levels of p-JAK1， STAT3， and p-STAT3 and mRNA expressions of IL-4， IL-6， IFN-γ， JAK1， and STAT3 in skin lesion tissue were significantly increased （P<0.01）. Compared with the model group， only a small amount of dryness and desquamation were observed in the back skin of mice in each administration group， and cell edema was reduced. The inflammatory infiltration was significantly reduced， and the number of mast cell infiltration was significantly decreased. The serum IgE， IL-4， IL-6， and IFN-γ of mice were decreased to varying degrees （P<0.05， P<0.01）. The protein expression levels of p-JAK1， STAT3， and p-STAT3 and mRNA expressions of IL-4， IL-6， IFN-γ， JAK1， and STAT3 in skin lesion tissue were significantly decreased， and the effect of high dose group of Dihuangyin was the best （P<0.01）. ConclusionDihuangyin can improve skin lesions and pruritus in mice with AD， and its mechanism may be related to the effective regulation of cytokines on the helper T cells （Th1）/Th2 axis by interfering with the JAK1/STAT3 signaling pathway and affecting skin barrier function.