Objective To understand the current status of hypertension in Jingzhuang Town,Yanqing District,Beijing. Method With randomized cluster sampling,3 653 residents aged over 30 yrs old were investigated by a standard questionnaire on hypertension epidemiology.Result The prevalence rate of hypertension in Jingzhuang Town was 33.3%,and increased with the age(P0.05).The main patients were those with degree 1 hypertension(62.8%).There were 37.8%of people with normal blood pressure who had high-normal values,the highest(44.3%)in 60～69 yr group.In population with hypertension,the rate of people taking medication was 24.5%,disease control rate was 8.6%,while in patients aged 30～49 yrs,these rates were 7.1%and 2.9% respectively.Conclusion The prevalence of hypertension in Beijing's suburb was serious with a younger trend.There was a large part of people with high-normal blood oressure.

Administration, Inhalation ; Adrenergic beta-Agonists ; adverse effects ; Child ; Extremities ; Humans ; Male ; Paralysis ; chemically induced ; Terbutaline ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects

Objective To explore impact of high pulmonary blood flow on the content and metabolism of collagen in rats.Methods Thirty-two male SD rats were randomly divided into shunt group and control group.Rats in shunt group were subjected to an abdominal aorta-inferior vena cava shunt to create an animal model of high pulmonary blood flow.In control group,rats experienced the same expe-rimental processes except the shunting procedure.After 4 and 11 weeks of experiment,these changes of pulmonaryartery collagen Ⅰ,collagen Ⅲ,matrix metalloproteinase(MMP-13)and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase(TIMP-1) protein expression of rat were investigated by immunohistochemistry.Results After 4 weeks and 11 weeks of shunt,the collagen Ⅰ,collagen Ⅲ,MMP-13 and TIMP-1 of pulmonary artery in rats of shunt group increased significantly compared with those of control group,respectively(all P

Objective To investigate effects of different doses of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2) on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression in fetal mouse osteoblasts.Methods Calvaria osteoblasts of fetal mice of 19 days were cultured.The effects of rhBMP-2 at different doses and different action times on VEGF expression patterns in fetal mouse osteoblasts were observed with reverse transcrip- tion-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot staining.Results In the present study,RT-PCR detected a steady expression of VEGF mRNA in the control fetal mouse osteoblasts.The levels of VEGF mRNA increased in an apparent biphasic manner with a maximum stimulation (about 2-fold above the control,P＜0.05 ) in both VEGF mRNA species observed at 300 ng/mL of rbBMP-2.After 48 h of rhBMP-2 treatment,the VEGF mRNA levels approached those in the control.The VEGF mRNA levels appeared to be biphasic in rhBMP-2-treated cultures,showing peak induction at 3 and 24 h and remaining elevated at 48 b.Compared with the individual control value at each time point,an apparent maximum increase (about 2.5-fold above the control,P＜0.05) occurred at 6 h.The second peak induction,about 2-fold above that in the control,occurred at about 36 h.Conclusions The expression of VEGF mRNA is steady in the control fetal mouse osteoblasts.RhBMP-2 can promote the expression of VEGF in dose-dependent and time-dependent manners.

ObjectiveTo investigate the rule of changes of the soleus mass and expression of myosin heavy chain (MHC) isoforms mRNA.Methods40 female Wistar rats were divided randomly into the control group and three spinal cord transection (ST) groups, ST7, ST15, and ST30 with 10 animals in each group. Rats in ST groups were subjected to a complete ST between T8 and T10 levels. The right soleus was dissected and weighed at 7, 15, 30 days after ST, and the expression of MHC mRNA isoforms was measured by semi-quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).ResultsThe Absolute and relative soleus masses in three ST groups were lower significantly than those of control group (P<0.05). The soleus mass in ST15 and ST30 groups were lower than that of ST7 group (P<0.05). The soleus of control group predominantly expressed MHC-I and some MHC-IIa, whereas the soleus began to express MHC-IIx and MHC-IIb after ST, except for MHC-I and MHC-IIa. ST induced consistently down-regulation of MHC-I mRNA and up-regulation of MHC-IIx and MHC-IIa at three time points after ST. The level of MHC-IIb mRNA expression was very low at three time points after ST.ConclusionST can influence the soleus mass at early stage after ST. ST induces a shift toward a faster muscle phenotype from slow to fast MHC isoform. MHC demonstrates plasticity in response to decrease neuromuscular activation.

ObjectiveTo observe effect of OT training on patients wearing the upper limd prosthesis. MethodsThe effect of OT to 30 patients with upper arm prosthesis was analyzed using FIM score before and after training. ResultsAfter 1-3-month OT training, the patients' FIM score were improved significantly(P<0.01).Conclusions OT is an effective method on the patients wearing upper arm prosthesis.

To evaluate the cohort study in Chinese medicine research, especially in acupuncture study field. This paper introduced the concepts, methods and applications of cohort study; furthermore, it introduced the applications and progress of cohort study in clinical Chinese medicine research at present. In China, cohort study has been mainly used in Chinese medicine research focusing on tumors, any researches using cohort study in acupuncture were not retrieved. Contrarily, the cohort study has been used earlier and advocated to apply in abroad acupuncture research. As one of methods in classic epidemiological observational studies, cohort study is fit to evaluate clinical researches of Chinese medicine and acu-moxibustion, so it is worthy of being promoted in applications.
Acupuncture Therapy ; China ; Clinical Trials as Topic ; Cohort Studies ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Research Design

Otolaryngology ; Periodicals as Topic

To explore the effect of cerebral function imaging in research on the acupoints specificity. Relevant literatures are retrieved and their results are compared. The results reveals as the follows: (1) Acupuncture can ameliorate cerebral blood flow hypoperfusion in patients with cerebrovascular disease, which maybe one of the mechanisms of acupuncture effect; (2) Acupuncture treatment has selectivity regulation role, which is related to the state of body and brain; (3) Cerebral function imaging can draw a clear distinction between therapeutic effect and placebo effect of acupuncture; (4) The points have specificity on the brain activation, but the outcomes are not exactly the same under different experimental conditions. Cerebral function imaging can be used to exploring acupoints specificity. Due to many interference factors which influence the accuracy of experiment, the subsequent experimental design have to be improved in the days ahead so as to make the results more cogent and rigorous.
Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Brain ; blood supply ; diagnostic imaging ; physiopathology ; Brain Mapping ; Cerebrovascular Circulation ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Radiography

AIMTo explore the possible impact of endogenous hydrogen sulfide (H2S) on the content and metabolism of collagen in rats with high pulmonary blood flow.

METHODSThirty-two male SD rats, weighing 120-140 g, were randomly divided into 4 groups (n = 8), shunt group, shunt + PPG (propargylglycine, an antagonist of endogenous H2S producing enzyme) group, sham group and sham + PPG group. Rats in shunt group and shunt + PPG group were subjected to an abdominal aorta-inferior vena cava shunt to create an animal model of high pulmonary flow. In the sham group and sham + PPG group, rats experienced the same experimental processes except the shunting procedure. After 4 weeks of experiment, lung tissue H2S content of rat was determined by a modified sulfide electrode method. Pulmonary artery collagen I, collagen III, MMP-13 and TIMP-1 protein expressions of rat were investigated by immunohistochemistry.

RESULTSAfter 4 weeks of experiment, lung tissue H2S content increased significantly in rats of shunt group as compared with that of sham group (P < 0.05). Pulmonary artery collagen I and collagen III protein expression increased obviously in rats of shunt group as compared with that of sham group (P < 0.01). After administration of PPG for 4 weeks, lung tissue H2S content decreased significantly in rats of shunt + PPG group as compared with that of shunt group (P < 0.05). In contrast to rats in shunt group, collagen I and collagen III protein expression in pulmonary arteries of shunt + PPG group increased significantly, respectively (P < 0.05). Compared with rats of shunt group, pulmonary artery MMP-13, TIMP-1 and the ratio of MMP-13/TIMP-1 in shunt + PPG group down-regulated significantly (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONEndogenous H2S might play a protective regulatory role in the development of pulmonary hypertension and pulmonary vascular structural remodelling in rats by decreasing the content of pulmonary artery collagen resulting from catabolism of collagen.

Animals ; Collagen ; metabolism ; Hydrogen Sulfide ; metabolism ; Lung ; blood supply ; metabolism ; Male ; Matrix Metalloproteinase 13 ; metabolism ; Pulmonary Artery ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinase-1 ; metabolism