OBJECTIVETo study the distribution laws of the Chinese medicine syndrome patterns and its correlated symptoms in patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), and the possible correlation between Chinese medicine syndrome patterns and PCOS associated parameters, thus to provide a guidance for selecting proper indices in curative effectiveness assessment.

METHODSUsing clinical epidemiological methods and mathematical statistics, the Chinese medicine syndrome patterns were studied in 228 PCOS patients. The distribution features of Chinese medicine syndrome patterns were summarized.

RESULTSShen-deficiency blood-stasis syndrome was the most frequently seen in PCOS patients, followed by Pi-deficiency phlegm-dampness syndrome, Pi-Shen yang-deficiency syndrome, and Shen-yin deficiency syndrome. Positive correlation existed between serum levels of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and Pi-Shen yang-deficiency syndrome. Positive correlation existed between fasting blood sugar (FBS), waist to hip ratio (WHR), body mass index (BMI), fasting insulin (FIN), and Hirsutism score and Pi-deficiency phlegm-dampness syndrome. Positive correlation existed between serum levels of prolactin (PRL), estradiol (E2 ) and qi stagnancy and blood stasis syndrome. Positive correlation existed between serum progesterone (PRG) level, FSH, FIN, BMI, acne score and Gan stagnancy and blood heat syndrome. Positive correlation existed between luteinizing hormone (LH) and Shen-deficiency blood-stasis syndrome. Besides, LH/FSH >3 was possibly more frequently seen in Pi-deficiency phlegm-dampness syndrome and Pi-Shen yang-deficiency syndrome. Family heritability could be seen in each syndrome patterns. Among them, female heritability was more often seen in Shen-deficiency blood-stasis syndrome, while male heritability was more often seen in Shen-yin deficiency syndrome.

CONCLUSIONSShen-deficiency blood-stasis syndrome, Pi-deficiency phlegm-dampness syndrome, Pi-Shen yang-deficiency syndrome, and Shen-yin deficiency syndrome were most frequently seen in PCOS patients. The sex hormones (including 6 items), FBS, FIN, WHR and BMI, etc. were correlated with each Chinese medicine syndrome pattern to various extents, which could be taken as reference in Chinese medicine syndrome differentiation.

Adult ; Body Mass Index ; Female ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Polycystic Ovary Syndrome ; diagnosis

OBJECTIVEIn order to provide scientific basis for introduction breeding and production regionalization of Panax notoginseng, the environment of producing area, agronomic traits and medicinal material output were investigated.

METHODUsing field survey sampling at harvest time, agronomic traits indicators of leaf segment, stem segment and roots segment etc. of commodity P. notoginseng, longitude and latitude, elevation, soil type, landform of producing area were measured and observed.

RESULTThe P. notogiseng cultivation was expanding from traditional area like Wenshang to new areas as Honghe, Kunming, Qujing at large scale. Comparing with traditional cultivated fields, the elevation of new fields, which are red soil of moderate or low mountain slopes and gentle hills between 1 800-2 130 m, increases markedly. The agronomic traits of new cultivated fields such as plant height, stem diameter, the ground and underground biomass were better than those of traditional cultivated fields in varying degree. Furthermore, the root weight, taproot weight, taproot length and other agronomic index augmented more than 20%. Comparison among different cultivated fields showed P. notoginseng of Honghe Shiping Niujie, Kunming Shilin Guishan, Honghe Jiangshui Guanting etc. had better agronomic traits, the plant were thick and tall, the taproot and the top of reed were large, the number of root was more. Inversely, P. notoginseng of Kunming Guandu Xiaoshao, Guangxi Jingxi Lutong, Wenshang Yanshan Jiangna were thin and small. Cluster analysis showed that cultivated fields of P. notoginseng which was across clustered by traditional and new cultivated fields can be divided into three groups, including a high-yielding region insist of three new cultivated fields Honghe Shiping Niujie, Kunming Shilin Guishan, Honghe Jiangshui Guanting and one traditional cultivated field Wenshan Yanshan Jiangna. Correlation analysis indicated that the size and weight of taproot and top of reed were significantly positive correlated with plant height, stem diameter, leaf size, leaf weight and stem weight. Regression analysis pointed out that stem diameter, leaf width, leaf length/width, leaf weight were the main factors affecting the dry weight of taproot, and the main factors influencing the dry weight of top of reed were plant height, petiole, leaf length, leaf width and other agronomic traits.

CONCLUSIONFrom agronomic traits, P. notoginseng in new cultivated fields were more robust than that in traditional fields, but besides the length of taproot, the difference of rest agronomic traits didn't reach the significant level. It is suggested that, in the west and the north of traditional area, the red soil land of moderate or low mountain slopes and gentle hills where the elevation is between 1 800-2 130 m is suitable for cultivating P. notoginseng. Honghe Shiping Niujie, Honghe Jianshui Guanting, Kuming Shilin Gongshan can be used as vital development area for commodity P. notoginseng.

Agriculture ; methods ; Breeding ; China ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; Panax notoginseng ; chemistry ; classification ; genetics ; growth & development ; Quality Control ; Quantitative Trait Loci ; Soil ; chemistry

OBJECTIVEIn order to improve the irrigation for Panax notginseng growing seedlings, different mulching ways were carried out to investigate the effects of double mulching.

METHODField experiment was applied to study soil moisture, soil temperature and bulk density of different mulching ways while the germination rate and seedlings growth also were investigated.

RESULTCompared with the traditional single mulching with pine leaves or straw, double mulching using plastic film combined with pine leaves or straw could reduce 2/3 volumes of irrigation at the early seedling time Double mulching treatments didn't need to irrigate for 40 days from seeding to germination, and kept soil moisture and temperature steady at whole seedling time about 30% and 9.0-16.6 degrees C, respectively. The steady soil moisture and temperature benefited to resist late spring cold and germinate earlier while kept germination regularly, higher rate and seedlings quality. In contrast, single mulching using pine leaves or straw had poor soil moisture and temperature preserving, needed to irrigate every 12-day, meanwhile dropped the germination and booming time 14 days and 24-26 days, respectively, reduced germination rate about 11.3%-8.7%. However, single pine leaves mulching was better than straw mulching. In addition, though better effects of soil moisture and temperature preserving as well as earlier and higher rate of germination with single plastic films mulching had, some disadvantages had also been observed, such as daily soil temperature changed greatly, seedling bed soil hardened easily, more moss and weeds resulted difficulty in later management.

CONCLUSIONTo the purpose of saving water and labor as well as getting higher germination rate and seedlings quality, double mulching using plastic films combined pine leaves at the early time and single mulching removing plastic films at the later time is suggested to apply in the growing seedlings of P. notoginseng.

Agriculture ; methods ; China ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; Fertilizers ; analysis ; Panax notoginseng ; chemistry ; growth & development ; Quality Control ; Seedlings ; chemistry ; growth & development ; Soil ; chemistry

OBJECTIVETo study molecular epidemiology of norovirus (NV) infections, stool specimens collected from children with acute diarrhea were tested by TaqMan real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for the viral specific nucleic acid segments.

METHODSFecal samples from a total of 1260 children who had watery diarrhea seen from December 2006 to December 2007 in Guangzhou were analyzed by real-time RT-PCR. The primers and probes used for rapid detection and typing of NV strain target NV sequences were at the ORF1-ORF2 junction, a highly conserved region of the NoV genome. The positive specimens were determined by nested PCR and sequenced.

RESULTSTotally 257 specimens were positive for NV with a positive rate of 20.40%. Shedding of NV type GI was detected in 6.90%, type GII in 16.98% respectively, while the positive number of mixed infection with GI and GII was 44. Of the NV strains that were cloned and sequenced, GI was GI-3, GI-2 and GI-4 detected in positive specimens respectively; meanwhile, GII-4 was most commonly seen in genome II, followed by GII-3 and GII-7. In addition, the average age of children infected with NV was less than 2 years. An epidemic occurred during the winter and early spring (December through the next March).

CONCLUSIONNV was one of the important pathogens for acute diarrhea among children in Guangzhou, which suggested GII-4 was the prevalent strain.

Caliciviridae Infections ; epidemiology ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Diarrhea ; epidemiology ; etiology ; virology ; Feces ; virology ; Humans ; Infant ; Molecular Epidemiology ; Norovirus ; classification ; genetics ; RNA, Viral ; genetics ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction

BACKGROUND: Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUC-MSCs) have low immunogenicity and it is unclear whether insulin producing cells (IPCs) that differentiate from hUC-MSCs have low immunogenicity. OBJECTIVE:To investigate the immunogenicity of IPCs differentiating from hUC-MSCs in vitro and after IPCs transplantation into the host. METHODS: (1) The hUC-MSCs were induced to differentiate into IPCs according to the modified scheme. Flow cytometry assay was used to detect the immunophenotype and apoptotic rate of IPCs in a cytotoxicity test. (2) Cell counting kit-8 was used to detect the proliferative capacity of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells in the one-way mixed lymphocyte assay. (3) The IPCs were then transplanted into the abdominal cavity and left renal capsule of mice, and then the infiltration of immune cells was detected by flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The IPCs highly expressed HLA-ABC and lowly expressed HLA-DR, CD40 and CD80. The apoptosis rate of IPCs increased with the increase of pre-sensitized splenocytes in the cytotoxicity test. In the one-way mixed lymphocyte assay, IPCs inhibited the proliferation of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells when the target ratio was 10:1 and 50:1. After IPCs transplantation, the number of lymphocytes was increased in the transplanted site. In summary, our results show that IPCs that differentiate from hUC-MSCs maintain low immunogenicity in vitro,but have some immunogenicity after transplantation into the host due to microenvironment changes.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the clinical characteristics and diagnosis of mucopolysaccharidosis VII.

METHODThe clinical and biochemical features of an infant with mucopolysaccharidosis VII confirmed by enzyme assay were analyzed.

RESULTThe 2 month-old male infant showed hydrops fetalis, mental retardation, coarse face, corneal clouding, hepatosplenomegaly, hernias, Alder-Reilly granules in the leucocytes and decreased platelet (32 × 10(9)/L). The biochemical markers showed urinary glycosaminoglycans (GAG) (532.8 mg/L, controls < 70.0 mg/L). The ratio of GAG/creatinine was 161.3 (controls: 26.2 ± 11.7). Serum chitotriosidase activity was 315.8 nmol/(ml·h) [control < 53 nmol/(ml·h)]. Beta-glucuronidase activity was deficient in isolated leukocytes.

CONCLUSIONSevere form of mucopolysaccharidosis VII exhibited characteristics of hydrops fetalis, hepatosplenomegaly, coarse face, thrombocytopenia and Alder-Reilly granules in the leucocytes. The measurements of GAG in urinary and beta glucuronidase in leucocytes are critical to diagnosis and deferential diagnosis.

Glucuronidase ; metabolism ; Glycosaminoglycans ; urine ; Humans ; Infant ; Leukocytes ; enzymology ; Male ; Mucopolysaccharidosis VII

A series of adefovir mono-L-amino acid esters, mono non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs carboxylic ester prodrugs with more potent anti-HBV activity and lower nephrotoxicity were designed and synthesized. Adefovir bis (L-amino acid) ester was used as lead compound, according to pathological and pharmacological findings that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can effectively inhibit the organic anion transporter 1 (hOAT1)-mediated adefovir phosphonic acid pairs of anion transport across tubular basement membrane thereby reducing the nephrotoxicity of adefovir. Flatten design principle was used to introducing non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs structural fragments to design and synthesize target adefovir mixture ester prodrugs. HepG2 2.2.15 cell line was used as in vitro anti-HBV activity evaluation model. Five compounds exhibited antiviral activity, and compound 18 showed the most potent anti-HBV activity and relatively high selective index (EC50 3.92 micromol L(-1), SI 9.97). HK-2 cell line was used as in vitro model to evaluate nephrotoxicity. Results suggested the target compounds have lower cytotoxicity than the positive control. Moreover, by analyzing the primary structure and activity relationship of these compounds, it could suggest that mono-L-amino acid ester, mono non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs carboxylic ester prodrugs strategy has significant potential in the acyclic nucleoside phosphonates prodrug design.
Adenine ; analogs & derivatives ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Amino Acids ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Antiviral Agents ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Carboxylic Acids ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Cell Survival ; drug effects ; Drug Design ; Hep G2 Cells ; drug effects ; Humans ; Kidney Tubules, Proximal ; cytology ; metabolism ; L-Lactate Dehydrogenase ; metabolism ; Molecular Structure ; Organophosphonates ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Prodrugs ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; pharmacology

Objective To investigate the epidemiological characteristics of obesity and how they related to chronic diseases among middle aged and elderly men in urban Shanghai.Methods A cross-sectional analysis was conducted using data from a baseline survey from an on-going cohort study of 61 500 men between 40-74 of age in urban Shanghai.Study subjects were recruited from 8 communities of an urban district in Shanghai during 2002 to 2006.General obesity was measured by body mass index (BMI≥28) and,central obesity by waist to hip ratio (WHR≥0.9).Unconditional logistic regression model was used to estimate the odds ratio and 95% confidence interval of chronic diseases associated with obesity after adjustment for potential confounding factors.Results The aged-adjusted prevalence rates of overweight,overall obesity and central obesity were 36.8%,7.7% and 49.7% respectively.In this population,66.7% subjects had ever been diagnosed with one or more kinds of chronic diseases,in which hypertension ranked first with an age-adjusted prevalence rate of 26.5%.After mutual adjustment for WHR and BMI,obesity (BMI≥28) appeared to be associated with increased prevalence rates of hypertension,coronary heart disease,gallstone,urinary tract calculus and stroke comparing to men having normal BMI (18.5≤BMI＜24) with ORs ranged from 1.16 to 3.13.However,to the lowest quartile,the ORs associated with the highest WHR were between 1.20 and 1.69 for these 5 diseases.All P values for trend tests were less than 0.05.WHR was positively associated with diabetes,with OR as 2.40 (95% CI:2.14-2.70) for the highest quartile comparing to the lowest quartile.BMI was unrelated to the diabetes prevalence.Prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease decreased with increasing BMI,but increased with WHR.The corresponding OR was 0.87 (95% CI:0.77-0.98)for the obese men compared to those with normal BMI while 1.26(95%CI:1.14-1.40) for the subjects with the highest WHR comparing to those with the lowest WHR.Conclusion The prevalence rates of hypertension,gallstone,urinary tract calculus,cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases were higher in obesity men.Central obesity seemed to be related to high prevalence of diabetes.

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the efficacy and safety of balloon dilation (BD) with gastroscope in treatment of esophageal stricture in children.

METHODSBD was performed in 12 children aged 5 - 59 months, average age 26 months, course of disease was 2 - 26 months, with esophageal stricture, 7 cases with anastomotic strictures secondary to surgical repair of esophageal atresia, 3 with congenital esophageal stenosis, 2 with corrosive esophageal strictures. All procedures were performed under tracheal intubation and intravenous anesthesia using the 3rd grade controlled radial expansion (CRE) esophagus-balloon with gastroscope. Firstly the balloon was inserted into the esophagus through mouth, then put in the gastroscope. Under the direct guidance of gastroscope the balloon was positioned across the stricture, then the balloon was filled with saline to get needed pressure and maintained for 3 minutes. The procedure was repeated 3 times at an interval of 3 minutes. The abdominal pain, melena and vomiting were observed, as well as the diet taken thereafter, the size of the stricture and the nutrition status were observed for 3 to 12 months after the dilation.

RESULTSTwenty-two dilations were performed in 12 cases, 19 succeeded, 3 cases developed complication during the dilation, the total success rate was 86%. The procedure failed in 3 cases and succeeded in 9 cases, the effective rate was 75%. Follow-up and repeated gastroscopy were performed within 3 to 12 months after the dilation, the diameter of the stricture was 9-13 mm, compared with 2-8 mm before the dilation. Eight of the children could take solid food and nutritional status was improved.

CONCLUSIONSBD with the 3rd grade CRE esophagus-balloon under gastroscopy is a simple and effective method to treat esophagus stricture in children, especially for anastomotic strictures secondary to surgical repair of esophageal atresia.

Catheterization ; methods ; Child, Preschool ; Esophageal Stenosis ; therapy ; Gastroscopes ; Humans ; Infant ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo analyze the effectiveness of Chinese medicine and integrated Chinese and Western medicine for influenza A (H1N1) in the fever clinics and its relevant expenditure.

METHODSA prospective survey on the clinical epidemic observation and follow-up was conducted from July 2009 to October 2009 with a self-developed questionnaire whose contents including the clinical data of the confirmed 149 H1N1 cases and their relevant therapeutic expenditure. The patients were assigned to the Chinese medicine group (22 cases treated by Chinese medicine alone) and integrative medicine group (124 cases treated by both Chinese medicine and Western medicine). The data were processed with descriptive analysis, t test and χ (2), and sum-rank test.

RESULTSThe proportion of clinical recovery of Chinese medicine group (81.8%) was higher than that of integrative medicine group (54.8%) with statistical significance (P=0.02). The average fever durations in both groups were 3.5 to 4 days, showing no significant difference (P=0.86). In the comparisons of average cost of Chinese herbs, drugs, therapies, and total cost, those of the Chinese medicine group were lower than those in the integrative group (P=0.01, P=0.00, P=0.00, P=0.00).

CONCLUSIONSThe H1N1 patients in the fever clinic who received Chinese medicine treatment had a higher clinical recovery proportion than those who received integrated Chinese and Western medicine treatment with lower medical cost. However, due to small sample size of the Chinese medicine group in the study, the conclusion needs further confirmation by studies with large sample size.

Adult ; Costs and Cost Analysis ; Female ; Fever ; economics ; therapy ; virology ; Health Expenditures ; Hospitals ; Humans ; Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype ; physiology ; Influenza, Human ; economics ; therapy ; virology ; Integrative Medicine ; economics ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; economics ; Time Factors ; Treatment Outcome