The rate of bone turnover in postmenopausal women accelerates and the newly formed osteoid is poorly mineralized, resulting in the loss of bone mineral content. Meanwhile, the requirement for calcium increases as more bone matrix needs to be mineralized. On the other hand, the reduction of serum estrogen level impairs the absorption of calcium in intestinal tract and the reabsorption in kidney, resulting in the decreased absorption and increased excretion of calcium. Therefore, sufficient calcium intake is critical for maintaining the bone structure in postmenopausal women. The reference intake of calcium differs greatly among different countries. In 2000, China established the adequate intake of calcium for Chinese women aged 50 years and older as 1000 mg/d. Diets provide the optimal source of calcium to prevent osteoporosis. Although calcium supplements have been demonstrated to be beneficial for the bone mineral density in postmenopausal women, its impact on fracture risk and cardiovascular diseases remains controversial. Available evidences suggest that calcium supplements combined with vitamin D are unlikely to increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

Objective To evaluate the effect of flurbiprofen axetil pretreatment on the level of central β-endorphin in a rat model of incisional pain.Methods Fifty-four SPF male healthy Sprague-Dawley rats,aged 6-7 weeks,weighing 180-230 g,were divided into 3 groups (n=18 each) using a random number table:control group (group C),incisional pain group (group Ⅰ) and flurbiprofen axetil pretreatnent group (group FA).At 30 min before the model of incisional pain was established,fat emulsion 1 ml was injected via the caudal vein in group Ⅰ,and flurbiprofen axetil 6 mg/kg (diluted to 1 ml in fat emulsion) was injected via the caudal vein in group FA.The mechanical paw withdrawal threshold (MWT) was measured at 1 day before establishment of the model and 1,6 and 12 h after establishment of the model (T1-3).The rats were sacrificed after measurement of pain threshold at T1-3,and the lumbar enlargement segment of the spinal cord and hypothalamic arcuate nucleus specimens were obtained for determination of β-endorphin content (by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) and β-endorphin expression (by immunohistochemistry).Results Compared with group C,the MWT was significantly decreased at T1-3 in I and FA groups,the content and expression of β-endorphin in the spinal cord were significantly decreased at T2,3,and the content and expression of β-endorphin in the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus were increased at T1 in group Ⅰ,and the content and expression of β-endorphin in the spinal cord and hypothalamic arcuate nucleus were significantly increased at T1-3 in group FA (P＜0.05).Compared with group Ⅰ,the MWT was significantly increased,and the content and expression of β-endorphin in the spinal cord and hypothalamic arcuate nucleus were increased at T1-3 in group FA (P＜0.05).Conclusion The mechanism by which flurbiprofen axetil pretreatment produces analgesic effect may be related to the increased level of central β-endorphine in a rat modal of incisional pain.

Objective To observe the clinical efficacy and adverse reactions of high-dose methylprednisolone pulse treatment on peritumoral edema induced by supratentorial brain tumors.Methods Thirty-five patients with supratentorial brain tumors and peritumoral edema were treated with methylprednisolone pulse therapy before surgery and the edema index of every patient was calculated by MRI examinations before and after methylprednisolone treatment.Results After methylprednisolone pulse therapy, the edema indexes of the light, medium and severe edema patients reduced by 1.79%, 8.81% and 12.02% respectively. The edema indexes of the medium and serious patients were significantly lower than that before treatment ( P<0.01). But the edema index of the light edema patients was not significantly different with that before treatment ( P>0.05).Conclusion High-dose methylprednisolone pulse therapy has an obvious effect on medium and serious peritumoral edema induced by supratentorial brain tumors and has no serious adverse reactions.

Dao-di Herbs is specificity and locality, and its unique phenotypic features is closely related to the growth and development of medicinal plants. In addition to traditional genetic, epigenetic play an important role in formation of Dao-di herbs. This paper introduces the concept of epigenetic and the role of DNA methylation in the gene expression regulation. We further prospects epigenetic mechanism in study of Dao-di herbs formation from specific phenotype and regional analysis. And study on the relationship of epigenetic and Dao-di herbs will provide a basis for quality assessment and identification of Chinese drugs.
DNA Methylation ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; standards ; Epigenesis, Genetic ; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant ; Plants, Medicinal ; genetics

Aneurysm, Dissecting ; therapy ; Aortic Aneurysm ; therapy ; Humans

Objective To examine the application effect of intelligent simulator(SimMan) in comprehensive skill training among doctors and nurses.Methods Totally 168 doctors and nurses were chosen as the training object,6 people (4 doctors and 2 nurses) formed a work team.Comprehensive training course was in accordance with 2010 American Heart Association guidelines for cardiopulmonary resuscitation and emergency cardiovascular care science.Real clinical situation was designed by using the third generation SimMan of Norway laerdal company.Trainees were administered two tests before and after training,in which there were two parts containing specialized operation ability and non-technical ability.Overall qualification rate,average mark and treatment time of qualified teams were compared before and after the training.SPSS 16.0 software was used to analyze the data and P ＜0.05 signifies statistically significance.Results Overall qualification rate,average mark and treatment time of qualified teams were 71.43％,(84.70 ± 3.15),and (449.25 ± 77.0) s respectively before training while 100％,(93.55 ± 3.86) and (323.71 ± 42.26) s after training.There were significant differences in results of two groups before and after training (P =0.002,0.000,0.000).Conclusions Application of the third generation intelligent simulator (SimMan) in comprehensive training will obviously improve training effectiveness and cultivate the non-technical ability.

BACKGROUND: It is proposed that elevated serum homocysteine is an important independent risk factor for ischemic stroke (IS), and 5, 10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) is the key enzyme for homocysteine metabolism. The relationship between genetic mutation of MTHFR and IS remains controversial.OBJECTIVE: To examine the association of hyperhomocysteinemia and two MTHFR gene polymorphisms with IS in Northwest Chinese population.DESIGN: Case-control study.SETTING: Department of Neurology, First Hospital Affiliated to Jilin University, and Department of Neurology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University of Chinese PLA.PARTICIPANTS: Ninety-seven consecutive patients with ischemic stroke (71 males and 26 females) treated between November 2001 and May 2002were recruited, who were diagnosed by CT scan or MRI in the Department of Neurology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University of Chinese PLA. The control group consisted of 94 subjects (58 males and 36 females) without history of ischemic stroke. All the subjects were free of intracranial hemorrhage, cancer, renal dysfunction, and none used multivitamins or estrogen.METHODS: Serum homocysteine was measured by fluorescence polarization immunoassay. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method was employed to detect the genotype at the two sites of C677T and A1298C in MTHFR gene.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Serum homocysteine levels and the genotypic frequency frequencies of the two mutations of MTHFR.RESULTS: The 677T allele frequency was 59.3% in IS patients and 44.7% in the controls, showing significant differences (P=0.006), but no difference in 1298C allele frequency was detected between the two groups (22.7% vs 19.7%, P ＞ 0.05). Homozygous 677TT genotype was closely associated with hyperhomocysteinemie (P ＜ 0.01). In multivariate logistic regression analysis,677T gene mutation and hyperhomocysteinemie were all associated with the IS, with an OR of 1.870 and 1.031 (P＜ 0.05), respectively.CONCLUSION: Hyperhomocysteinemie is a risk factor of IS, and C677T mutation significantly increases homocysteine levels, and serves also as an independent genetic risk factor of IS.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the physicochemical properties and bicompatibility of carbon-nanotubes/hydroxypatite/chitosan scafflod for bone tissue engineering. MethodsMWCNT/n-HA/CS scaffolds wre generated by solution blending and freeze-drying technology.The morphology and composition of the scaffolds were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, after this, the results of which mixed CNTS in scaffolds were evaluated. The effects of MWCNT/n-HA/CS scaffolds on adherence and proliferation of rabbit bone marrow stroma cells were assessed by scaffolds surface seeding methods, and using scanning electron microscopy, MTT assay to observe their adhesion and proliferation on scaffolds.Results MWCNT/n-HA/CS scaffolds showed abundant homogeneous pores with (87.26％) porosity. 66％ fracture strength of the scafflod was improved by MWCNT,and porosity decreased by 3％. Conclusion MWCNT/n-HA/CS scaffold can be prepared with solution blending and freeze drying process, which has fair poriness, good mechanical strength and tissue compatibility and can be applied as a bone graft material.

Background Tear hyperosmosis is considered to be one of the core mechanisms of dry eye.The measurement of tear osmolarity is important in the clinical diagnosis of dry eye.However,relevant study is lack in Chinese population.Objective The aim was to investigate the relation of tear osmolarity and pathogenesis of dry eye and evaluate the diagnosis value of tear hyperosmosis in dry eye.Methods Sixty-one consecutive dry eye patients were enrolled in Affiliated Eye Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University from May to August in 2011,including 30 mild and moderate dry eyes and 31 severe dry eyes,and 30 normal volunteers with matched age and gender were collected simultaneously under the informed consent.The visual acuity,Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) questionnaire,osmotic pressure of tear,tear film breakup time (TFBUT),corneal fluorescein staining,conjunctival lissamine green staining,Shirmer Ⅰ test (S Ⅰ t) without anesthesia and meibomian function were examined in turn in the subjects,and lateral eyes with higher tear osmotic pressure were analyzed.The differences in above indexes among the different groups were statistically compared,and the correlations between the osmotic pressure of tear and clinical parameters were assessed.Results The osmotic pressure of tear was (326.46 ±22.66) mOsm/L in the dry eye group,which was significantly higher than (296.60± 10.81) mOsm/L in the normal control group (P＜0.05),and the OSDI scores,TFBUT,corneal fluorescine scores,conjunctival staining scores and S Ⅰ t values in the dry eye group were remarkably elevated in comparison with the normal control group (all at P＜0.05).The osmotic pressure of tear was (341.90 ± 21.15) mOsm/L in the severe dry eye group,which was significantly higher than (310.50±8.99) mOsm/L in the mild and moderate group (P＜0.017).The area under the curve for tear osmolarity in the dry eye group was 0.916,and cutoff value of sensitivity and specificity in dry eye diagnosis was 308 mOsm/L,with the sensitivity value 0.79 and specificity 1.00.The significant correlations were found between the osmotic pressure of tear and OSDI scores,corneal fluorescine scores,conjunctival staining scores and S Ⅰ t outcomes (r=0.338,0.407,0.246,-0.461,all at P＜0.05).However,the osmotic pressure of tear was not correlated with TFBUT (r=-0.113,P＞0.05).Conclusions Tears osmotic pressure might be a useful indicator for the diagnosis of dry eye and assessment of severity.A combined application of tear osmolarity measurement with other relevant indexes can improve the diagnostic value.

Objective The study was to evaluate DWI for quantifying liver fibrosis. Methods A total of 12 volunteers, 47 patients who had chronic HBV or HCV hepatitis and underwent liver biopsy [Scheuer score for fibrosis(S) and inflammation(G)] were enrolled in this study. They were scanned using a 1.5 T MR unit with b value of 0,250,500,750, 1000 s/mm~2. ADCs at b_(250-1000) and b_(500-1000) were the average ADCs of b=250, 500, 750, 1000 s/mm~2 and b=500, 750, 1000 s/mm~2. The studied the correlation between Scbeuer scores and ADC values, and conducted Mann-Whitney U test and Logistic regression to evaluate ADC for prediction of fibrosis scores. Results The average ADCs were (1.41± 0.11),(1.37±0.09), (1.27±0.05), (1.26±0.04), (1.22±0.06) mm~2/s respectively from SO to S4, stage at b=750 s/mm~2 (F=18.31, P<0.01). With the increase of fibrosis score, the average ADC decreased gradually, the two were better negatively correlated at b_(250-1000)(r=-0.727, P<0.01) than other b values. Using b_(750) and the two combined b values, the found significantly lower ADCs in S2 or greater versus S1 or less and in S3 or greater versus S2 or less fibrosis (P<0.01). The best predictor for S2 or greater was b_(750) with the largest AUC of 0.909, sensitivity of 85.7%, and specificity of 100.0% (ADC ≤1.35×10~(-3) mm~2/s). The best predictor for S3 or greater was b_(250-1000) with the largest AUC of 0.864, sensitivity of 69.6%, and specificity of 95.8% (ADC≤1.53×10~(-3) mm~2/s). Conclusion DWI can be a good predictor for scoring liver fibrosis for S2 or S3 stage above, while b_(750) and the combined b values are suitable for evaluation.