BACKGROUND: Posttraumatic stress disorder(PTSD) arises as a delayed and /or protracted response to a stressful event or situation of an exceptionally threatening or catastrophic nature. There have been reports about natural disasters causing PTSD, but there have been few reports about PTSDcaused by technological disasters. Our study investigated the mental status of those survivors after a serious explosion.OBJECTIVE: To investigate the characteristics and the factors of impact of PTSD caused by technological disasters.DESIGN: A case controlled study of the survivors of a momentous explosion.SETTING: A provincial mental health center.PARTICIPANTS: A serious explosion happened in Urumqi on September 8, 2000. Twenty-eight survivors(as the study group) who were still hospitalized for treatment 3 -5 months after the accident were involved in this study. And in the control group were 30 normal persons whose general demographic data were the same as those patients.METHODS: A psychiatrist told the subjects the following: The objective and meaning of the test, and explained the self-making questionnaire about their general condition, symptom checklist (SCL-90), self-rating anxiety scale (SAS), self-rating depression scale(SDS), cornell medical index(CMI), the questionnaire on dealing styles, the questionnaire on social support, and others-evaluating scale, incident effect scale(IES); a list of stress reaction symptoms.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:Main resulta:①Clinical feature of PTSD caused by the technological disaster.②the related factors to PTSD in the technologal disaster.Secondary results: Comparison of the results between the two groups in IES, CMI, SDS and SAS.RESULTS: A total of 22(79% ) survivors met the criteria as PTSD. There were significant differences in all the assessments(IES, CMI, SDS, SAS,SCL-90) between the study group and the control group (t =3.62-8.17, P ＜ 0.01 ) . The diagnosis of PTSD was positively correlated with the level of traumatic exposure( r = 0. 420, P ＜ 0. 05), and negatively correlated with the degree of satisfaction with the post-event solutions( r = 0. 420, P＜ 0.05), positively correlated with IES scoring and the level of heart pain ( r = 0. 389 - 0. 665, P ＜ 0. 01 ) . The total scores of IES were positively correlated with the level of exposure ( r = 0. 478, P ＜ 0.05 ).CONCLUSION: The incidence of PTSD after explosion was high, and its occurrence was related with the degree of exposure in the event and that of the satisfaction with the post-event solutions.

Asthma ; drug therapy ; immunology ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Major Histocompatibility Complex ; genetics ; immunology ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Phytotherapy

Adolescent ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Cochlear Implantation ; Cochlear Implants ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male

Objective To improve the prognosis and radical resection of the extended pancreaticoduodenectomy for patients with pancreatic cancer in the ucinate process involving mesentery mot. Methods From Jan. 2004 to Dec. 2007, a total of 23 ( 14 male and 9 female, aged between 30 and 72 years old) patients with pancreatic cancer in the ucinate process involving mesentery root were treated in our department. Curative resection was performed for all patients by the extended pancreaticoduodenectomy with superior mesenteric artery (SMA) isolation and mesentery root resection. The surgical procedure, the safety and prognosis were analyzed retrospectively. Results 12 patients underwent the procedure, among them 11 also underwent combined SMV partial resection and reconstruction. The operation time was (4.2 ± 1.1 ) hours, and the blood loss was ( 1 635 ± 1 362) ml with the blood transfusion of ( 1 609 ± 1 462 ) ml. There was no operation related death in this case series, and mild to severe diarrhea occurred in 6 cases. The post-operative stay ranged 9 to 30 days. The pathological examination showed that the tumor size was (5.3 ± 1.4) cm. 13 patients (57%) had one or more lymph nodes metastasis. 20 patients (87%) had nerve involvement. Among 11 patients with SMV partial resection and reconstruction, 10 patients had endangium involvement. 22 patients had negative surgical margins for all specimens. Rapid intra-operative frozen pathological examination showed negative surgical margins in one patient, however, post-operative paraffin section pathological examination revealed nerve involvement between SMA and celiac trunk. After a follow-up of 5 to 42 months, liver metastasis occurred in 4 patients, and local recurrence occurred in 3 patients. The 1-year and 2-year accumulated survival rates were 77.2% and 42.5%, respectively. Conclusions Isolation SMA and the mesentery resection in extended pancreaticodudenectomy were safe and useful. Using this modified technique, Radical operation resection could be achieved in the treatment of pancreatic cancer in uncinate process.

Objective:To observe the clinical efficacy of Ba-pulling and Qian-traction manipulation with neck suspension and movement for acute cervical radiculopathy. Methods: A total of 85 patients who met the inclusion criteria were randomized into an observation group and a control group by random numbers, with 43 cases in the observation group and 42 cases in the control group. The observation group was treated with Ba-pulling and Qian-traction manipulation with neck suspension and movement;while the control group was treated with Bashen-pulling and stretching manipulation in a supine position. The treatment was performed once a day, 10 times as a treatment course. The therapeutic efficacy was evaluated after 1 treatment course, and the changes in the scores of visual analog scale (VAS) and neck disability index (NDI) were observed. Results: The total effective rate was 97.7% in the observation group, and 83.3% in the control group, and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant (P＜0.05). After treatment, the VAS and NDI scores of both groups were significantly decreased (both P＜0.01), and the differences in the VAS and NDI scores between the two groups were statistically significant (both P＜0.01). Conclusion: Both Ba-pulling and Qian-traction manipulation with neck suspension and movement and Bashen-pulling and stretching manipulation in a supine position can relieve pain and improve cervical function in patients with acute cervical radiculopathy, and Ba-pulling and Qian-traction manipulation with neck suspension and movement can produce more significant efficacy than Bashen-pulling and stretching manipulation in a supine position.

Objective To investigate the dynamic changes of interleukin-1 receptor-associated kinases (IRAK-4) in hypoxic neurons and explore their role in regulation of inflammatory reaction. Methods The B35 cells exposed to hypoxia of 3% O2,5% CO2 and 92% N2 were cultured for 1,3,6, 12,24,48,72 and 96 hours respectively. Then, mRNA and protein expressions of IRAK-4 were detected by RT-PCR and Western blot, the expression of IRAK-4 in the cells were observed by laser scanning con-focal microscope (LSCM), and the concentration of IL-6 was measured by ELISA method. Results After hypoxia, the mRNA and protein expressions of IRAK-4 were increased at one hour, reached the peak at six hours (P<0.05), kept at a high level at 12 hours (P<0.05) , but decreased gradually to the normal oxygen level at 24 hours (P < 0.05) and to below the normal oxygen level at 48 hours (P < 0.05). Immunofluorescence results showed that the fluorescence intensity of IRAK-4 was gradually increased with time. The changes of IL-6 in the supernatant were positively correlated with protein expression of IRAK-4 (r =0.84, P < 0.05 ). Conclusions Hypoxia can increase the expression of IRAK-4 at transcription and translation levels in a certain period of time, which may participate in down-stream inflammatory reaction and lead to increase of IL-6 expression.

To explore a new method to identify Moutan Cortex to guarantee its safe use, internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) sequence was used to identify Moutan Cortex and its adulterants. DNA was extracted and target fragments were amplified. Sequences were analyzed and assembled by CodonCode Aligner V3.7.1. Genetic distances were computed and phylogenetic tree was constructed based on kimura 2-parameter (K2P) model by MEGA 5.0. The length of the 20 ITS2 sequences of Moutan Cortex from nine different places is 227 bp, and no variation site was detected. The maximum inter-specificK2P distance of Moutan Cortex is 0, the minimum intra-specific K2P distance is 0.041, the average intra-specific K2P distance is 0.222. According to NJ analysis, Moutan Cortex from different places can get together as one branch with bootstrap support values 99%, which indicates Moutan Cortex can be easily distinguished from its adulterants. Using ITS2 sequence can accurately identify Moutan Cortex and its adulterants, it is an effective supplementary to traditional identification methods.
Base Sequence ; China ; DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic ; methods ; DNA, Plant ; genetics ; DNA, Ribosomal Spacer ; genetics ; Drug Contamination ; prevention & control ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; classification ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Paeonia ; classification ; genetics ; Phylogeny ; Quality Control

In chronic kidney disease (CKD), inflammatory responses during the progression of renal tissue and tissue injury related causes its progression to end-state renal disease. Among them, nuclear factor (nuclear factor, NF)-kappaB signaling pathway by regulating the corresponding nuclear expression of target gene transcription, as well as affecting the synthesis of inflammatory mediators, induction of inflammation lead to kidney damage and renal fibrosis. Some single herbs and their extracts (such as Astragali Radix, Scutellariae Radix, Ginkgo Folium) and some traditional Chinese medicine (such as Danggui Buxue decoction, Qilian decoction) can reduce the inflammatory damage induced by renal tissue NF-kappaB signaling pathway and delay the progression of CKD.
Animals ; Humans ; Kidney ; drug effects ; pathology ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; methods ; NF-kappa B ; metabolism ; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Signal Transduction ; drug effects

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects and mechanisms of cordycepin,an effective component of cordyceps militaris, on renal interstitial fibrosis (RIF) and its related eIF2α/TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway.

METHODFirstly, 15 C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into 3 groups,the control group (Group A), the model group (Group B) and the cordycepin-treated group (Group C). After renal interstitial fibrotic model was successfully established by unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO), the mice in Group C were intraperitoneally administrated with cordycepin(5 mg x kg(-1) d(-1)) and the ones in Group A and B were administrated with physiological saline for 5 days. At the end of the study, the obstructed kidneys were collected and detected for the pathological changes of RIF, and the mRNA expressions of collagen type I (Col I) and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) in the kidney by Northern blot. Secondly, after renal tubular epithelial (NRK-52E) cells cultured in vitro were exposed to transforming growth factor (TGF) -β with or without cordycepin, the mRNA expressions of Col I and collagen type IV( Col IV) by Northern blot, and the protein expressions of eukaryotic initiation factor 2α (eIF2α), phosphorylated eIF2α ( p-eIF2α), Smad2/3 and phosphorylated Smad2/3 (p-Smad2/3) were tested by Western blot.

RESULTIn vivo, cordycepin alleviated RIF in model mice, including improving fibrotic pathological characteristics and mRNA expressions of Col I and α-SMA. In vitro, cordycepin induced the high expression of p-elF2α, and inhibited the expressions of p-Smad2/3, Col I and Col IV induced by TGF-β in NRK-52E cells.

CONCLUSIONCordycepin attenuates RIF in vivo and in vitro, probably by inducing the phosphorylation of eIF2α, suppressing the expression of p-Smad2/3, a key signaling molecule in TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway, and reducing the expressions of collagens and α-SMA in the kidney.

Actins ; analysis ; Animals ; Deoxyadenosines ; pharmacology ; Fibrosis ; Kidney ; drug effects ; pathology ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Phosphorylation ; Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases ; physiology ; Signal Transduction ; drug effects ; Smad Proteins ; physiology ; Transforming Growth Factor beta ; antagonists & inhibitors ; physiology

OBJECTIVETo explore the effects and molecular mechanisms of rhein on reducing starvation-induced autophagic protein expression in renal tubular epithelial ( NRK-52E) cells.

METHODHank's balanced salt solution (HBSS) was used to induce NRK-52E cells to be in the state of starvation. After the intervention of HBSS for 0, 0.5,1, 2 and 6 hours, firstly, the protein expression of microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3(LC3 I/II), which is a key protein in autophagy, was detected. Secondly, the protein expressions of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and phosphorylated-mTOR Ser2448 (p-mTOR S2448) were examined. And then, after the co-treatment of rhein (5 mg x L(-1)) and HBSS (1 mL) without or with mTOR inhibitor, rapamycin (100 nmol x L(-1)), the protein expressions of LC3 I/II, mTOR and p-mTOR S2448 were tested, respectively.

RESULTHBSS could induce the up-regulation of LC3 II and the down-regulation of p-mTOR S2448 at protein expression level in NRK-52E cells. The co-treatment of rhein and HBSS could reversely regulate the protein expressions of LC3 II and p-mTOR S2448 in NRK-52E cells significantly. The co-treatment of rapamycin, rhein and HBSS could recover the level of LC3 II protein expression in HBSS-intervened NRK-52E cells.

CONCLUSIONHBSS induces autophagy in renal tubular epithelial cells by inhibiting mTOR signaling pathway activation. Rhein reduces the autophagic protein expression in renal tubular epithelial cells through regulating mTOR signaling pathway activation, which is the possible effects and molecular mechanisms.

Animals ; Anthraquinones ; pharmacology ; Autophagy ; drug effects ; Cells, Cultured ; Epithelial Cells ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Isotonic Solutions ; pharmacology ; Kidney Tubules ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Microtubule-Associated Proteins ; genetics ; Rats ; Signal Transduction ; drug effects ; TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases ; antagonists & inhibitors ; genetics ; physiology