AIM:To evaluate therapeutic effect of Zhiqi oral solution on adult periodontitis. METHODS: Supragingival scaling and root planning were carried out in 100 patients with adult periodontitis. Then the patients with periodontitis were divided into two groups randomly. 32 patients in the control group took orally Metronidazole and 68 patients in the experimental group took orally Zhiqi oral solution. The pain reaction, bleeding index, probing depth, plaque index, changes of microorganisms in periodontal pocket and side effect before and after the treatment were observed at a 30 days observation period. RESULTS:Zhiqi oral solution had a therapeutic effect on periodontitis, compared with the control group ( P

OBJECTIVETo explore the indications of arthroscope for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis and investigate the correlation between knee osteoarthritis imaging and effects of arthroscope.

METHODSFrom 2005.8 to 2008.4, 86 patients with knee osteoarthritis underwent arthroscope examination and treatment. Among the patients, 44 patients were male, and 42 patients were female, ranging in age from 46 to 67 years, averaged 56.3 years. Arthrodial cartilage of knee was graded by ICRS MR, and by Kellgern Laqrence X-ray. All the patients were followed up, and the duration ranged from 12 to 30 months. The Lysholm score was evaluated at the follow-up time.

RESULTSAmong 86 knees in 86 cases, cartilage injury degree of knees was graded as follows: grade 4 in 30 cases, grade 3 in 22 cases, grade 2 in 20 cases, grade 1 in 12 cases, grade 0 in 2 cases, mean grade (2.77 +/- 1.138). Postoperative Lysholm score ranged from 59 to 100, averaged (95.17 +/- 7.556), Kendall's correlation coefficient was -0.089, P = 0.317. There was no correlations between cartilage injury degree and Lysholm score. X-ray of knees was graded as follows: grade 4 in 0 cases, grade 3 in 24 cases, grade 2 in 38 cases, grade 1 in 17 cases, grade 0 in 7 cases, mean grade was (2.13 +/- 0.67), the Kendall's correlation coefficient was -0.851 with negative correlations (P = 0.036) between postoperative Lysholm score and K/L grade.

CONCLUSIONThere is no correlation between the grade of knee cartilage injury confirmed by MRI (1.5T) and effects of arthroscopy, and the grade is not a gold standard as an operation indication in arthroscope procedure. The K/L grade in X-ray had important effects.

Aged ; Arthroscopes ; Female ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Osteoarthritis, Knee ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Radiography

AIMThrough studying local regulatory mechanisms in pulmonary arteries (PA) and thoracic aortae (TA) under simulated microgravity (SM), to collect some data for the researches of adaptive mechanisms in pulmonary and systemic arteries and for the mechanisms accounting for orthostatic intolerance after SM.

METHODSCardiopulmonary circulatory function during 7-day 6 degrees head down bed rest (HDT) in male young volunteers was measured with a XXH-2000 pulmonary circulation and cardiac function instrument. - 30 degrees C tail suspended (TS) rats were used as the model to simulate the physiological effects of M. The PA and TA changes of vasoreactivity were respectively observed by vitro vessel rings perfusion.

RESULTSThe changes in volume of PA and pulmonary vein during a cardiac cycle and the preload in left cardiac ventricle in men increased significantly in the initial HDT. The super-regulatory phenomena appeared in both pulmonary and systemic circulation, but earlier and more obviously in pulmonary circulation than systemic circulation during 96-144 h. The dilatory reactivity in TS7 PA increased significantly, tended to decrease in TS14. The dilatory reactivity of TA in TS7 had a significant increase, had a slight increase in TS14. The contractile reactivity of PA decreased slightly in TS7 from CON, and were attenuated significantly in TS14. The contractile reactivity of TA in TS14 decreased significantly. The responsiveness to KCl, phenylephrine and sodium nitroprusside in VEC- removed PA had no differences among all groups.

CONCLUSIONThe differences in changes between pulmonary and systemic arteries under SM could be an important sign of depressed local regulatory function, which might be mainly due to dilatory function in VEC and contribute to the occurrence of orthostatic intolerance after SM.

Animals ; Aorta, Thoracic ; physiology ; Humans ; Male ; Pulmonary Artery ; physiology ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Vascular Resistance ; Weightlessness ; Weightlessness Simulation ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the benefits of post-stenting radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy for unresectable esophageal carcinoma.

METHODSFifty-three patients with unresectable esophageal carcinoma were randomly divided into two groups: patients in group A (n = 27) were treated with stenting alone, and those in group B (n = 26) were treated with stenting followed by radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy. Comparison was made by assessing their survival time, quality of life (QOL), degree of dysphagia, and stenting-related morbidity, respectively.

RESULTSThere was no statistically significant improvement in dysphagia and QOL between the two groups. Although there was no difference in the frequency of stenting-related complications, re-stenosis occurred much less frequently in group B patients (P = 0.007). The mean survival time of patients was 245 +/- 41 days and 262 +/- 43 days in group A and group B, respectively. There was no significant difference between the two groups (P = 0.813).

CONCLUSIONBesides decreased recurrence of stenosis, post-stenting radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy does not provide additional benefits for survival.

Combined Modality Therapy ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; mortality ; therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Stents

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of ischemic postconditioning (IPostC) on pneumocyte apoptosis after lung ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats.

METHODSAdult male SD rats were randomly divided into 3 groups based upon the intervention (n = 8): control group (C), lung ischemic reperfusion group (LIR), LIR+ IPostC group (IPostC). At the end of the experiment, blood specimens drawn from the arteria carotis were tested for the content of malondialdehyde (MDA), the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and myeloperoxidase (MPO); the pneumocyte apoptosis index (AI) was achieved by tennrminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated dUTP nick end abeling (TUNEL); the expression of Bcl-2, Bax protein in lung tissue was accessed by quantitative immunohistochemistry (MHC) and Bcl-2, Bax mRNA by RT-PCR.

RESULTSIPostC could significantly attenuate the MDA level, MPO activity and improve SOD activity in blood serum which was comparable to I/R and significantly reduced the number of TUNEL-positive cells compared with I/R group, expressed as Al (% total nuclei) from (39.0 +/- 3.46) to (8.0 +/- 0.88) (P < 0.01). The protein and mRNA expression of Bcl-2 and Bax showed that IPO significantly attenuated the ischemia/reperfusion-upregulated expression of Bax protein but improved the expression of Bcl-2 that improved the Bcl-2/Bax ratio (P < 0.01) .

CONCLUSIONIPostC may attenuate pneumocyte apoptosis in LIRI by up-regulating expression of Bcl-2/Bax ratio and by inhibiting oxidant generation and neutrophils filtration.

Alveolar Epithelial Cells ; cytology ; Animals ; Apoptosis ; Ischemic Postconditioning ; Lung ; metabolism ; pathology ; Lung Injury ; physiopathology ; Male ; Malondialdehyde ; metabolism ; Peroxidase ; metabolism ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Reperfusion Injury ; physiopathology ; Superoxide Dismutase ; metabolism ; bcl-2-Associated X Protein ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo analyze the indication of arthroscope by examining the correlations between cartilage injury degree confirmed by MRI and postoperative effect.

METHODSFrom Aug. 2005 to April 2008, 87 cases with knee osteoarthritis were treated by arthroscopes including 44 males and 43 females,aged from 16 to 67 years (means 46.3 years). Arthrodial cartilage of knee was graded by ICRS MR, and the therapeutic effect was evaluated by Lysholm scoring.

RESULTSAll 87 knees of 87 cases were followed-up for from 12 to 30 months (averaged 23 months). The cartilage injury degree of knees was graded as follows: grade 4 in 30 cases, grade 3 in 23 cases, grade 2 in 20 cases, grade 1 in 12 cases, grade 0 in 2 cases, means grade (2.770 +/- 1.138). Postoperative Lysholm score was from 59 to 100, means (95.170 +/- 7.556). Coefficient correlation (r) = -0.152, P = 0.159 > 0.05. Although the results had no correlations between cartilage injury degree and Lysholm score, negative correlation tendency existed.

CONCLUSIONThe patients with higher grade of knee cartilage injury degree confirmed by MRI (1.5T) have worse effect after operation, the grade is not a gold standard as a operation indication in arthroscopic procedure.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Arthroscopy ; Cartilage, Articular ; pathology ; Female ; Humans ; Knee Joint ; pathology ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Osteoarthritis, Knee ; pathology ; surgery

The present study aimed to determine the role of tissue injury in migration of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) intravenously transplanted into heart and to establish experimental basis for improving stem cell therapy in its targeting and effectiveness. MSCs were isolated from bone marrow of male Sprague-Dawley rats and purified by density centrifuge and adhered to the culture plate in vitro. Female rats were divided randomly into four groups. Myocardial ischemia (MI) transplanted group received MSCs infusion through tail vein 3 h after MI and compared with sham-operated group or normal group with MSCs infusion, or control group received culture medium infusion. MI was created in female rats by ligating the left anterior descending coronary artery. The heart was harvested 1 week and 8 weeks after transplantation. The characteristics of migration of MSCs to heart were detected with expression of sry gene of Y chromosome by using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Ultrastructural changes of the ischemic myocardium of the recipient rats were observed by transmission electron microscope (TEM). One week or 8 weeks after transplantation, sry positive cells were observed in the cardiac tissue in both of MI transplanted group and sham-operated group, the number of sry positive cells being significantly higher in MI transplanted group (P<0.01). No significant difference was found in the number of sry positive cells between 1 week and 8 weeks after transplantation. No sry positive cells were observed in the hearts of control and normal group. In addition, the ultrastructure of some cells located in the peri-infarct area of MI rats with MSCs transplantation was similar to that of MSCs cultured in vitro. These results indicate that MSCs are capable of migrating towards ischemic myocardium in vivo and the fastigium of migration might appear around 1 week after MI. The tissue injury and its degree play an important role in the migration of MSCs.
Animals ; Cell Movement ; Cell Tracking ; Female ; Male ; Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; cytology ; Myocardial Ischemia ; therapy ; Myocardium ; ultrastructure ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

OBJECTIVETo promote stem cells differentiation into neurons and enhance neuromotor function after brain injury through brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) induction.

METHODSRecombinant adenovirus vector was applied to the transfection of BDNF into human-derived umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (UCMSCs). Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to determine the secretion phase of BDNF. The brain injury model of athymic mice induced by hydraulic pressure percussion was established for transplantation of stem cells into the edge of injury site. Nerve function scores were obtained, and the expression level of transfected and non-transfected BDNF, proportion of neuron specific enolase (NSE) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and the number of apoptosis cells were compared respectively.

RESULTSThe BDNF expression achieved its stabilization at a high level 72 hours after gene transfection. The mouse obtained a better score of nerve function, and the proportion of the NSE-positive cells increased significantly (P<0.05), but GFAP-positive cells decreased in BDNF-UCMSCs group compared with the other two groups (P<0.05). At the site of high expression of BDNF, the number of apoptosis cells decreased markedly.

CONCLUSIONBDNF gene can promote the differentiation of the stem cells into neurons rather than glial cells, and enhance neuromotor function after brain injury.

Adenoviridae ; genetics ; Animals ; Apoptosis ; Brain Injuries ; physiopathology ; therapy ; Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor ; analysis ; genetics ; Cell Differentiation ; Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein ; Humans ; Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; cytology ; Mice ; Nerve Tissue Proteins ; analysis ; Neurons ; cytology ; Phosphopyruvate Hydratase ; analysis ; Transfection

OBJECTIVETo determine whether serum homocysteine and folate levels are correlated with the occurrence of neonatal asphyxia and to study the effects of gender and gestational age on serum homocysteine and folate levels.

METHODSThirty-five neonates with mild asphyxia (19 males and 16 females) and 40 normal neonates (control group,18 males and 22 females) were enrolled in this study. The asphyxia and the control groups consisted of 10 and 11 cases of preterm infants respectively. Serum homocysteine levels were measured using ELASA. Serum folate levels were measured using radioimmunity assay.

RESULTSSerum homocysteine level (14.66+/-2.61 micromol/L vs 7.55+/-0.50 mumol/L; P<0.05) was significantly higher and serum folate level (2.47+/-0.24 ng/mL vs 3.28+/-0.28 ng/mL; P<0.05) was significantly lower in the asphyxia group than that in the control group. There were no significant differences in serum levels of homocysteine and folate between males and females either in the asphyxia group or the control group. The asphyxiated neonates born at premature showed increased serum homocysteine level compared with the full-term neonates with asphyxia (21.25+/-5.01 micromol/L vs 12.34+/-2. 01 micromol/L; P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONSThe increased serum homocysteine level and decreased serum folate level are correlated with the occurrence of neonatal asphyxia. Serum homocysteine and folate levels are not associated with the gender. A more significantly increased serum homocysteine level may be found in asphyxiated neonates born at premature.

Asphyxia Neonatorum ; blood ; Female ; Folic Acid ; blood ; Homocysteine ; blood ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; Male ; Sex Characteristics

This experiment was aimed to mainly observe the effect of Anshen navel plaster on autonomic activities and to compare neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and monoamine neurotransmitter (5-HT) contents change of insomnia rats.The rats were treated by P-chlorophenylalanine (PCPA),which can make healthy rats lose sleep.The rat model of insomnia was prepared by intraperitoneal injection of PCPA.The healthy SD rats were randomly divided into the blank control group,model control group,low dosage of Anshen navel plaster group,high dosage of Anshen navel plaster group and Tongren Anshen pill group according to the random number table.EthoVision were used to record the rat's autonomic activities.Content changes of 5-HT and GABA of rats in each group were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).The results showed that rat's autonomic activities were decreased in the Anshen navel plaster group and Tongren Anshen pill group,which indicated that the Anshen navel plaster had a good sedative effect.Intraperitoneal injection of PCPA can remarkably change rat's serum neurotransmitter expression levels,especially GABA and 5-HT.After the intervention of experimental drugs,compared with the model group,the expression levels of GABA and 5-HT were increased significantly.It was concluded that Anshen navel plaster has obvious sedative effect.It can regulate the contents of sleep factors such as GABA and 5-HT.