OBJECTIVETo assess the efficacy of Yishen Jiejing Decoction (YJD) in treating poststroke shoulder-hand syndrome (SHS) patients of yin deficiency yang hyperactivity with blood stasis stagnation collaterals syndrome.

METHODSTotally 60 SHS patients of yin deficiency yang hyperactivity with blood stasis stagnation collaterals syndrome were randomly assigned to two groups, the treatment group and the control group, 30 cases in each group. Conventional rehabilitation training and therapeutics were applied in all patients. Besides, patients in the treatment group took 50 mL YJD, twice a day. One month without interruption consisted of one course of treatment. The curative effects of each group were evaluated respectively before treatment and at one month after treatment. The neurologic impairment, TCM syndrome, and the improvement of upper limbs movement were assessed by the neurologic impairment integral, scoring for TCM syndrome diagnostics, Fugl-Meyer Assessment (U-FMA). Adverse reactions were observed at the same time.

RESULTSThe effective rate of stroke was 86.67% and the effective rate of SHS was 90.00% in the treatment group, higher than those of the control group (P < 0.05). Both groups got improvement in neurologic impairment, stroke induced blood stasis syndrome, yin deficiency yang hyperactivity syndrome, and the improvement of upper limbs movement after treatment (all P < 0.05). Besides, all the improvement was obviously superior in the treatment group (P < 0. 05). No adverse reaction occurred during the course of treatment.

CONCLUSIONThe curative effect of YJD combined with conventional rehabilitation training was confirmative and superior to the control group.

Aged ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy ; drug therapy ; etiology ; rehabilitation ; Stroke ; complications ; Treatment Outcome ; Yin Deficiency ; drug therapy ; Yin-Yang

0.05).There was significant difference in the optical density of the 43kDa protein between the patients with OAB and controls(P

An Aspergillus sp. strain F3 was isolated and identified from the rhizosphere soil of mangrove plant, Rhizophora stylosa Griff in Dongzhai harbor mangrove forest conservation in China. In this study, the effects of media salinity and pH on the mycelial biomass and the ability of producing antibacterial metabo- lites from this isolate were carefully analyzed. Results showed that this isolate can grow well on the SDA medium with higher salinity (3%~9%) and higher pH (8~10). Under the modified culturing conditions, this isolate can secret the antibacterial and antitumor metabolites. The extracts of acetic ether were about 448 mg/L of the fermentation broth. The antibacterial activities of the acetic ether extract were analyzed with bacteria and fungus. Results showed this extract can suppress the growth of Staphylococcus aureus、S. epi-dermidis、Sarcina lutea、Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli with MIC of 31.3 ?g/mL, 31.3 ?g/mL, 7.8 ?g/mL, 7.8 ?g/mL and 125.0 ?g/mL, respectively. It can also suppress the growth of Candida albicans with MIC of 125.0 ?g/mL. Further studies uncovered the cytotoxicity of this extract against the tumor cells, such as ECV304, Lovo and HepG2 with IC50 of 3.45 ?g/mL, 4.88 ?g/mL and 14.31 ?g/mL respectively.

Objective: To investigate the effect of taurine on learning and memory impairment, cytokines secretion in rats intrahippocampally injected with ?-amyloid (A?) 1-40. Methods: SD rats were randomly divided into control group, A? injected group, taurine (0.3g/kg?d, 0.6g/kg?d) groups. The rats were fed with taurine for 7 days, and then subjected to bilateral intrahippocampus injection of A?1-40 or vehicle. Two weeks later, all rats performed Morris water maze test. The contents of IL-6, TNF-? were checked by way of radio-immunity assay for hippocampus samples. Results: Compared with A?model group, the escape latency and distance were significantly reduced in taurine (0.6g/kg?d) group; the ratio of swimming distance in the target quadrant to that in the whole pool of the probe trial; the content of cytokines of IL-6 and TNF-?in hippocampus were reduced significantly. Conclusion: Taurine can effectively attenuate the cognitive dysfunction caused by A?1-40 in rats. The reduced cytokines content in hippocampus might contribute to this effect.

Objective To compare genomic expression differences between androgenic complete hydatidiform mole (AnCHM) and normal first trimester villi with similar gestation weeks,and search for potential adjuvant diagnostic molecular markers.Methods Short tandem repeat (STR) detection was used to identify AnCHM,human oligonucleotide array U133 Plus 2.0 was used to measure genomic expression differences between AnCHM and normal villi,and quantitative fluorescent RT-PCR was used to verify array of several genes.Results Nine of 11 histologically diagnosed complete hydatidiform moles were found to be AnCHM by means of STR,and the other 2 were biparental complete hydatidifonn mole (BiCHM). Compared with villi,oligonueleotide array showed 279 genes (0.72%,279/38 500) were over expressed and 1710 genes (4.44%,1710/38 500) under expressed in AnCHM.Bioinformatics analysis found that differentially expressed genes were involved in multiple biological processes and pathways.Changes of imprinting genes,growth hormone genes and chorionie somatomammotropin hormone genes were especially remarkable.Conclusions Pathogenesis of AnCHM is a complex process involving multiple genes and pathways.Altered expression of imprint genes may play important roles in the process.

OBJECTIVE:To study the effects of taurine on oxidative stress and calcium overload induced by cerebral cortex contusion.METHODS:SD rats were randomly divided into normal control group,brain contusion model group,taurine groups(high dose,middle dose and low dose respectively),and nimodipine group.After being fed with corresponding drugs for7days,all rats were subjected to modeling by brain contusion.For intracellular calcium detection,rats were sacrificed2h after modeling,and the brain slices were prepared to fluorescence labeling and confocal microscopy detection.For the detection of oxidative stress,rats were sacrificed24h after modeling,the cortex of contusion side was homogenated and then the activity of superoxide dis?mutase(SOD)and content of malondialdehyde(MDA)were detected through biochemical method.RESULTS:Compared with model group,all taurine groups were shown to have markedly less MDA and intracellular calcium content,and the high dose group had markedly stronger SOD activity.CONCLUSION:Taurine is effective in counteracting the oxidative stress and calcium overload caused by brain contusion.

Bone Marrow Cells ; metabolism ; pathology ; CD28 Antigens ; blood ; metabolism ; CD4 Antigens ; blood ; metabolism ; CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes ; metabolism ; Dendritic Cells, Follicular ; metabolism ; pathology ; Humans ; Immunoblastic Lymphadenopathy ; metabolism ; pathology ; Immunophenotyping ; methods ; Lymphoma, T-Cell ; metabolism ; pathology ; Neprilysin ; blood ; metabolism ; Receptors, Complement 3d ; blood ; metabolism ; fas Receptor ; blood ; metabolism

AIM To investigate the effect and mechanism of Qigui Yishen Decoction (QGYS,Astragali Radix,Angelicae sinensis Radix,Chuanxiong Rhizoma,Achyranthis bidentatae Radix) on regulating the expression of miR-141 in unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) mice with renal fibrosis.METHODS Thirty Balb/c male mice randomly divided into sham-operated group (n =6),UUO group (n =6),Lotensin (50 g/kg) group (n =6),QGYS high dose (50 g/kg) group (n =6),and QGYS low dose (10 g/kg) group (n =6) were conducted UUO surgery to promote kidney fibrosis except the six mice in the sham operation group.After a successive 10-day medication of QGYS and Lotensin to mice by oral gavage on daily basis,all mice were killed to procure renal tissue to observe its morphology and pathology changes by HE staining.The expressions of TGF-β1,ColⅣ,and MMP-9 were analyzed by immunohistochemical method,and the expressions of miR141,TGF-β1 were measured by real-time PCR.RESULTS The obviously pathological injuries including renal interstitial fibrosis were identified by HE staining among the groups intervened with UUO,but the variance in the extent due to different administrations of QGYS and Lotensin was noticed as well (P ＜ 0.05).As compared to the UUO group,high and low dose QGYS groups and Lotensin group achieved an up-regulated expression of TGF-β1 and ColⅣ,and a down-regulated expression of MMP-9 by immunohistochemistry (P ＜ 0.05),and significantly increased Mrna expression of miR-141,and decreased Mrna expression of TGF-β1 by real-time PCR (P ＜ 0.05).CONCLUSION In UUO mouse models,QGYS gives influence to TGF-β1and MMP-9 through inducing miR-141 expression change to decrease abnormal accumulation of ECM,and thus inhibits the progression of renal fibrosis.

OBJECTIVETo reveal the possible role of combined therapy with Chinese drug and narrow broad ultraviolet B (NB-UVB) on keratinocytes apoptosis in skin lesion of psoriasis vulgaris (PV).

METHODSSkin samples were taken from 20 healthy subjects and 30 PV patients before and after they received the combined therapy for 8 weeks. SP immunohistochemical method was used to detect the expressions of Bcl-2, Caspase-3 and survivin in the samples.

RESULTSAs compared with those in the normal skin, expression of Bcl-2 in PV skin was significantly lower (7.50 +/- 2.01 vs. 12.65 +/- 2.83), while expression of Caspase-3 (21.73 +/- 3.70 vs. 8.55 +/- 2.16), and survivin (23.90 +/- 2.82 vs. 7.06 +/- 1.96) were higher (all P < 0.01). After treatment, in skin of PV, Bcl-2 expression increased to 13.63 +/- 2.14, Caspase-3 and survivin decreased to 11.70 +/- 2.44 and 12.46 +/- 1.80, respectively (all P < 0.01), showing a normalizing trend. Moreover, patients' psoriasis area and severity index (PASI) score decreased from 14.24 +/- 3.42 before treatment to 3.52 +/- 1.07 after treatment (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONThe curing effect of the combined therapy with Chinese drug and NB-UVB in treating PV is possibly realized by way of regulating Bcl-2, Caspase-3 and survivin expressions to adjust keratinocyte apoptosis.

Adult ; Case-Control Studies ; Caspase 3 ; metabolism ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins ; metabolism ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Phytotherapy ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; metabolism ; Psoriasis ; metabolism ; therapy ; Skin ; metabolism ; Ultraviolet Therapy ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVEElectrical and structural remodeling are of importance for the occurrence and maintenance of atrial fibrillation. We observed association between atrial connexin protein expression and fibrosis in a canine model of prolonged rapid atrial pacing.

METHODS"J"-type electrodes were placed in the right atrial appendage under the guidance of X-ray in 16 dogs, Animals in model group (n = 8) received fast pacing (400 beats/min) for 10 weeks while animals in control group (n = 8) maintained at sinus rhythm. Limb-lead ECGs were recorded at 2, 4, 6, 8 weeks respectively. Burst stimulation was applied to induce atrial fibrillation in all animals after 10 weeks, animals were sacrificed thereafter and the left atrial tissues were taken for myocardial collagen measurement (Masson staining) and myocardial ultrastructure examination and detection of protein expression of connexin (Cx) 40 and 45 (immune staining). Procollagen type III N-terminal peptide and type IV collagen in serum were also detected by radioimmunoassay.

RESULTSTwo dogs died in model group due to atrial rupture induced cardiac tamponade or lung emboli. Spontaneously atrial fibrillation was not observed in all animals, but two dogs developed atrial flutter and atrial premature beats. Atrial fibrillation was induced by burst stimulation in 4 out of 6 dogs in model group and in none of the dogs in control group. Atrial myocardial collagen volume fraction was significantly increased in model group compared with the control group (P < 0.05). Ultrastructure examination in atrial tissue evidenced disorder, fracture, collagen fiber proliferation, mitochondrial swelling, blurred cristae, and intercalated disc distortion, expansion, part of gap junction disappears in model group. The serum levels of procollagen type III N-terminal peptide and type IV collagen in model group were significantly higher than in the control group (P < 0.05). The protein expression of Cx 40 in atrial myocardium in model group was significantly higher than in control group (P < 0.05), while Cx 45 protein expression was similar between two groups (P > 0.05). The left atrial CVF was positively correlated with Cx 40 (r = 0.671, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONIncreased myocardial fibrosis is positively correlated with upregulation of myocardial Cx 40 protein expression in left atrium in rapid atrial paced canine.

Animals ; Atrial Fibrillation ; metabolism ; pathology ; Cardiac Pacing, Artificial ; Connexins ; metabolism ; Disease Models, Animal ; Dogs ; Fibrosis ; Heart Atria ; Myocardium ; metabolism ; pathology