Objective To study the relationship of levels of acetylcholine receptor antibody (AChRAb) and thyroid antibodies in patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) and thyroidism. Methods Thyroid function of FT3, FT4 and TSH, and thyroid antibodies including TSH receptor antibody ( TRAb), thyroid globulin antibody (TGAb) and thyroid microsome antibody (TMAb) were detected in 100 patients with MG and 100 healthy controls. Among them, 32 patients were further tested for AChRAb. The relationship between AChRAb and each of TRAb, TGAb and TMAb was analyzed along with their relevant clinical characteristics. Results Of 100 patients with MG, 12 cases ( 12% ) were hyperthyroidism and 4 cases (4%) were hypothyroidism, and 71 cases (71%) were thyroid antibodies positive. The percent of thyroid antibodies positive cases was significantly higher than that of thyroidism cases (χ2=4. 788, P < 0. 05 ). Analysis on AChRAb and TRAb in 32 AChRAb tested cases demonstrated a linear correlation (r= 0. 609, P = 0. 0002). Conclusions The incidence of thyroid antibody positive in MG cases is significantly higher than incidence of hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism in MG. AChRAb and TRAb has a linear correlation.

The serum vitamin A, vitamin E and some related indexes were determined in 90 primigravidas of the 2nd and the 3rd trimesters, their newborns and 30 non-pregnant women. The mean serum VA and VE contents of non-pregnant women were 39.9 ?g/dl and 10.3 ?g/ml respectively. Both the contents increased progressively with the advancement of pregnancy. The serum VA levels of pregnant women in the 2nd and the 3rd trimesters were 1.7 and 1.8 times as much as those of non-pregnant women respectively, and the serum VE levels were 1.2 and 1.8 times. The cord blood VA and VE levels were 22.3 ?g/dl and 3.36 ?g/ml respectively and both were lower than those of their mothers significantly. The colostrum VA content of these pregnant women was also determined and the mean VA content of colostrum was 117.8

Objective To evaluate the relationship of peripheral blood Th17 and regulatory T (Treg) cells with disease activity in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc).Methods This study recruited 21 patients with active SSc,24 patients with inactive SSc and 24 normal human controls with informed consent.Peripheral blood samples were obtained from these subjects.Flow cytometry was used to detect the percentages of Th17 and Treg cells in peripheral blood CD4+ cells,a fluorescence-based quantitative PCR to determine the levels of interleukin (IL)-17A,retinoid-related orphan receptor gamma t (RoRγt),forkhead box P3 (FoxP3) mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PMBCs),and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay to measure the serum level of IL-17.Results Increased percentage of Th17 cells in peripheral blood CD4+ cells was observed in patients with active SSc compared with those with inactive SSc and normal human controls (2.34％ ± 1.19％vs.0.68％ ± 0.39％ and 0.57％ ± 0.49％,respectively,both P ＜ 0.05).No statistical difference was noted in the percentage of Treg cells in CD4+ cells or the mRNA expression levels of FoxP3 between the patients with active SSc,inactive SSc and normal human controls (all P ＞ 0.05).There was a significant increase in the mRNA expression of IL-17A,RoRγt in PBMCs and serum levels of IL-17 in patients with active SSc compared with patients with inactive SSc and normal human controls ( 11.73 ± 0.80 vs.9.77 ± 1.30 and 10.79 ± 0.74,respectively,both P ＜ 0.05; 18.48 ± 1.09 vs.15.89 ± 1.48 and 17.77 ± 1.64,respectively,both P ＜ 0.05; 53.60± 9.90 pg/ml vs.15.18 ± 3.24 pg/ml and 15.53 ± 4.12 pg/ml,respectively,both P ＜ 0.05).The percentage of Th17 cells in CD4+ cells and serum IL-17 levels were both positively correlated with disease activity in patients with active SSc (r =0.675,0.644,respectively,both P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions Th17 cells are highly proliferative in patients with active SSc,which may be closely correlated with the activity of SSc.

The basic mechanical properties of a Radial Shock Wave Therapy Equipment (RSWTE) were experimentally studied in this paper. The output energy of the RSWTE working on the operation frequency of 10 Hz was measured by dynamic pressure transducer under the conditions of different operation pressure. The results showed that both operation pressure and operation frequency have effects on the output energy of the equipment. The output energy increases with the increase of operation pressure, and the magnitude of increased energy decreases with higher operation of frequency. With the increase of operation frequency, the output energy rises up in condition of lower operation pressure and drops off in condition of higher operation pressure. The accurate medical treatment should be selected with the optimized energy and condition according to the treatment requirement to different illness in clinical medical applications.
Equipment Design ; High-Energy Shock Waves ; Physical Therapy Modalities ; instrumentation ; Pressure

Objective To investigate features of skin lesions of patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc),and to analyze the relationship of skin manifestations with clinical classification,autoantibodies and internal organ involvement.Methods Clinical data were collected from 120 patients with SSc in Department of Dermatology of Zhongshan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University and Department of Scleroderma of Shanghai TCM-integrated Hospital between 2012 and 2014,and analyzed retrospectively.Results Among the 120 patients with SSc,118 (98.3％) had Raynaud's phenomenon,116 (96.7％) had skin sclerosis,including 101 (84.2％) with sclerosis of skin over the dorsum of fingers,90 (75％) had swollen skin,including 84 (70％)with swollen fingers,77 (64.2％) had poikiloderma,75 (62.5％) had thinned lip,74 (61.7％) had telangiectasia,63 (52.5％) had radial furrowing around the mouth,57 (47.5％) had mask-like face,49 (40.8％) had hyperplasia of nail cuticle,35 (29.2％) had petechiae of the nailfolds,25 (20.8％) had depressed fingertip,24 (20.0％) had atrophy of the finger pulp,24 (20.0％) had distal finger shortening,and 15 (12.5％) had fingertip ulcer.Anti-Scl-70 antibody and anti-centromere antibody (ACA) were positive in 42 (35.0％) and 31 (25.8％) patients respectively.The incidence of swollen fingers,fingertip ulcer,atrophy of the finger pulp was significantly higher in the anti-Scl-70 antibodypositive group than in the-negative group(P ＜ 0.05),and the incidence of sclerosis of skin over the dorsum of fingers,poikiloderma,fingertip ulcer and atrophy of the finger pulp was all significantly higher in the antiScl-70 antibody-positive group than in the ACA-positive group (P ＜ 0.05).The main internal organ involvement included interstitial lung disease (50％,44/88),cardiac involvement (47.8％,55/115),pulmonary arterial hypertension (35.7％,41/115),esophageal involvement (28.3％,34/120) and kidney involvement (9.2％,11/120).Patients with diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (dcSSc) showed significantly higher incidence of cardiac involvement and poikiloderma compared with those with limited cutaneous systemic sclerosis (lcSSc) (P ＜ 0.01).Swollen fingers,sclerosis of skin over the dorsum of fingers,poikiloderma,telangiectasia,lip thinning,and radial furrowing around the mouth most commonly occurred in patients with early SSc,and swollen fingers and sclerosis of skin over the dorsum of fingers were highly correlated with the occurrence of pulmonary arterial hypertension.Telangiectasia,depressed fingertip and fingertip ulcer were significantly correlated with the occurrence of interstitial lung disease,and atrophy of the finger pulp was significantly correlated with the occurrence of cardiac involvement (both P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions Raynaud's phenomenon,swollen fingers,sclerosis of skin over the dorsum of fingers,poikiloderma,telangiectasia,lip thinning and radial furrowing around the mouth can be helpful for the early diagnosis of SSc.Pulmonary arterial hypertension commonly occurs in the early stage of SSc.Depressed fingertip and fingertip ulcer indicate the occurrence of interstitial lung disease,and the atrophy of the finger pulp indicates cardiac involvement.