OBJECTIVETo probe factors of influencing therapeutic effects of acupuncture in the patient of insomnia.

METHODSAccording to scores of degrees of anxiety and depression, 52 cases of insomnia were divided into 3 groups, group I (mild or less degree) and group II (moderate degree) and group II (serious degree). The Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) were compared before and after treatment in the 3 groups, and between two groups after treatment. Results There were significant differences in the therapeutic effect as the groups I, II compared with the group III (P < 0.01). The total sleep quality in the group I was better than that in the group II (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe degree of anxiety and depression in the patient of insomnia is one of important factors influencing therapeutic effect of acupuncture on insomnia.

Acupuncture Therapy ; Anxiety ; Depression ; Depressive Disorder ; Humans ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders

OBJECTIVETo study the content variation of triptolide in medicinal material of Tripterygium and provide theoretical basis for the hereditary improvement, the gathering and process, the quality evaluation and the provenance division in medicinal material of Tripterygium.

METHODHPLC method was used to determine the content of triptolide.

RESULTThe relations between triptolide and germplasm, growth year, gathering season were found out basically.

CONCLUSIONThe triptolide contents in xylem are affected by hereditary factors remarkably. While the triptolide contents in phloem are not affected obviously. The accumulation of triptolide needs the certain growth years. However when growth is beyond certain years, the triptolide content decreases with the disintegration of secondary metabolism in xylem. The triptolide in xylem is highest in winter and decreasing in growing season. The triptolide in phloem is less affected by the season.

Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Diterpenes ; analysis ; metabolism ; Ecosystem ; Epoxy Compounds ; analysis ; metabolism ; Phenanthrenes ; analysis ; metabolism ; Plant Roots ; anatomy & histology ; chemistry ; Plants, Medicinal ; anatomy & histology ; chemistry ; growth & development ; Seasons ; Species Specificity ; Time Factors ; Tripterygium ; anatomy & histology ; chemistry ; growth & development ; Xylem ; chemistry

OBJECTIVETo analyze the characteristics of emergency facial trauma in children and mother's cognition on it.

METHODSDescriptive analysis was undertaken for 216 children with maxillofacial trauma. The analysis included age distributions of the children, reasons and places for the trauma, and positions and severity degrees of the trauma. The questionnaires were carried out for the patients' mothers, to understand the cognition degrees and prognosis factors.

RESULTSMost of the patients with facial trauma were aged 1-6, with the male and female ratio of 1.4:1. Falls were the leading cause for the maxillofacial injuries(83.33%). The most common types of injury were the soft tissue injuries (63.43%) and the teeth injuries (31.94%), the jaw fractures were least. 50.00% accidents occurred at home. 97.22% mothers had no knowledge of the facial injuries in children. 69.44% mothers thought it avoidable. It were relevant between mothers' educations and injuries times (chi2 = 18.16, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONMothers lack the knowledge is one of the most important reasons for the maxillofacial injuries in children. Propaganda should be increased among them to reduce risks of maxillofacial injuries.

Child ; Child, Preschool ; Cognition ; Facial Injuries ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Maxillofacial Injuries ; Parents ; Skull Fractures ; Soft Tissue Injuries ; Tooth Injuries

Hemorrhage ; etiology ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Mouth Diseases ; etiology ; Vitamin K Deficiency ; complications ; diagnosis

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the relationship between children's temperament and dental fear.

METHODS254 children(aged 4-6 years) during first dental treatment took part in the investigation. Their parents answered the Chinese preschool children's temperament scales (CPTS). The Frankl method was used to classify the degree of the children's dental fear. The K independent samples test and One-way ANOVA test were performed to find the differences of the type of temperament and the scores of temperament dimension among three groups.

RESULTSAmong the 254 children(aged 4-6 years), 104 had no fear, 80 had fear and 70 had extreme fear. The incidence of dental fear in children was 59.06%. There were no statistical differences (P > 0.05) of dental fear between boys and girls. There were statistically significant differences for the type of temperament among no fear group, fear group and extreme fear group. The scores of adaptability and quality of mood were higher in the extreme fear group and fear group than that in the no fear group. The differences in scores of adaptability and quality of mood was statistically significant between the extreme fear group and no fear group. But the scores of other seven temperament dimensions had no statistical significant differences among three groups.

CONCLUSIONChildren's dental fear is correlated to their temperaments. The tendencies of negative mood and slow adaptability should be considered that the patients were at risk of developing dental fear problem.

Child ; Child Behavior ; Child, Preschool ; Dental Anxiety ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Temperament

OBJECTIVEThe aim of the study is to evaluate the left ventricular (LV) dyssynchrony in chronic heart failure (HF) patients with normal and wide QRS duration.

METHODSTime to peak velocity at peak systolic and early diastolic phase (Ts and Te) were determined in 12 segments of LV by echocardiography (GE Vivid 7) in 54 HF patients (28 with wide and 26 with normal QRS duration) and 15 normal controls to evaluate LV systolic and diastolic dyssynchrony. The risk factors related to LV dyssynchrony were also evaluated.

RESULTSLV end systolic and diastolic volumes were significantly larger and 12 segmental mean Ts and maximal Te difference (Te-diff) were significantly higher in HF patients with wide QRS duration than HF patients with normal QRS duration. Using mean Ts >or= 182 ms as the cut-off value, systolic dyssynchrony was present in 46% HF patients with normal QRS and 71% HF patients with wide QRS. Using Te-diff >or= 79 ms as the cut-off value, diastolic dyssynchrony was seen in 58% HF patients with normal QRS and 89% HF patients with wide QRS. Combined systolic and diastolic dyssynchrony was seen in 31% HF patients with normal QRS and in 64% HF patients with wide QRS. Systolic dyssynchrony was significantly correlated to LV end systolic volume and diastolic dyssynchrony was correlated to end diastolic volume.

CONCLUSIONPercentage of LV dyssynchrony was significantly higher in HF patients with wide QRS, especially in HF patients with increased LV end systolic and diastolic volume.

Adult ; Aged ; Case-Control Studies ; Echocardiography, Doppler, Pulsed ; Female ; Heart Failure ; diagnostic imaging ; physiopathology ; Heart Ventricles ; diagnostic imaging ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Ventricular Dysfunction, Left ; diagnostic imaging ; physiopathology

OBJECTIVETo discuss possible relationships between class III malocclusion and perioral forces by measuring the pressure from the lips and the tongue of children with class III malocclusion.

METHODSThirty-one children with class III malocclusion were investigated and their perioral forces were measured at rest and during swallowing under natural head position by a custom-made miniperioral force computer measuring system.

RESULTSThe resting pressures exerted on the labial side and palatine side of the upper left incisor, as well as the labial side and lingual side of the lower left incisor, were 0 g/cm(2), 0 g/cm(2), 0.57 g/cm(2) and 0.23 g/cm(2), respectively. Correspondingly, the swallowing forces were 2.87 g/cm(2), 5.97 g/cm(2), 4.09 g/cm(2) and 7.89 g/cm(2), respectively. No statistical difference between muscular pressure and gender existed. During swallowing, the lingual forces were significantly higher than the labial forces (P<0.01), however, at rest there was no significantly different force between these two sides. Compared to the normal occlusion patients, children with class III malocclusion had lower perioral forces. The upper labial resting forces (P<0.01), the lower labial resting forces (P<0.05) and all the swallowing pressures from the lips and the tongue (P<0.01) showed statistical differences between the two different occlusion conditions. Meanwhile, no significant difference was found for the resting pressure from the tongue between class III malocclusion and normal occlusion.

CONCLUSIONPatients with class III malocclusion have lower perioral forces and this muscle hypofunction may be secondary to the spatial relations of the jaws. The findings support the spatial matrix hypothesis.

Bite Force ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Dental Stress Analysis ; methods ; Female ; Humans ; Lip ; physiopathology ; Male ; Malocclusion, Angle Class III ; physiopathology ; Muscle Contraction ; Muscle, Skeletal ; physiopathology ; Pressure ; Tongue ; physiopathology

Aiming at raising awareness of preventing adverse effects of acupuncture in clinical practices, such cases were studied from the angle of therapy methods, the factors of patients constitution and practitioners. The findings showed that adverse physical and chemical effects of acupuncture increased in modern times because of multifactorial reasons, for instance, the introduction of modern medicine, the differences of individual constitution and the practitioners. This suggests that to decrease adverse cases acupuncture practitioners should be an expert not only in traditional Chinese medicine, but also in western medicine, such as anatomy, and pharmacology.
Acupuncture Therapy ; adverse effects ; methods ; Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Practice Patterns, Physicians'

Actins ; metabolism ; Animals ; Brain ; cytology ; metabolism ; Cell Culture Techniques ; methods ; Cells, Cultured ; Immunohistochemistry ; Pericytes ; cytology ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Receptor, Platelet-Derived Growth Factor beta ; metabolism ; Staining and Labeling

BACKGROUNDMany epidemiological and experimental evidences prove that cervical cancers are strongly associated with genital high-risk types of human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV16 is present in 50% of the tumor specimens. Thus, it is important to develop vaccines against HPV16 and cervical cancer. The authors studied the expression of the HPV16 L1DeltaCE7N fusion protein in E. coli and observed its immunogenicity.

METHODSThe fragment of HPV16 L1DeltaC gene and the E7N gene were amplified by PCR separately; the fusion gene named L1DeltaCE7N was generated by fusing E7N to the C terminal of L1DeltaC then the chimeric gene was cloned into prokaryotic expression vector pGEX-2T and expressed in E. coli strain JM109. The L1DeltaCE7N protein expressed were detected by Western blot. Finally its immunogenicity was characterized in immunized mice.

RESULTSIt was proved that the sequence and open reading frame of fusion gene L1DeltaE7N was correct by sequencing; SDA-PAGE gel analysis showed that HPV16 L1/E7 fusion protein was highly expressed in E. coli; the protein was expressed as soluble form and the molecular weight was about 85 x 10(3). The fusion protein could be purified by affinity chromatography and gel filtration. The ELISA result indicated that L1/E7 could elicit specific antibodies against L1 and E7 in immunized mice. In vivo tumor protection test indicated that tumor formation was retarded or prevented in the mice after vaccination with L1/E7, when C57 BL/6 mice were challenged by syngeneic HVP16E6 and E7 transformed tumor cells.

CONCLUSIONHPV16L1/E7 fusion protein was expressed in E. coli, it can be a candidate for prophylactic and therapeutic vaccine for HPV16-associated infection and tumors.

Animals ; Blotting, Western ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Escherichia coli ; genetics ; Female ; Humans ; Immunization ; methods ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Neoplasm Transplantation ; Neoplasms, Experimental ; immunology ; pathology ; prevention & control ; Oncogene Proteins, Fusion ; genetics ; immunology ; metabolism ; Oncogene Proteins, Viral ; genetics ; immunology ; metabolism ; Papillomaviridae ; genetics ; immunology ; metabolism ; Papillomavirus Infections ; immunology ; pathology ; prevention & control ; Papillomavirus Vaccines ; administration & dosage ; immunology ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins ; immunology ; metabolism ; ultrastructure