OBJECTIVETo observe the therapeutic effect and relevant mechanism of shuxuening Injection (SI) in treating patients with active ulcerative colitis (UC).

METHODSTotally 91 patients with active UC were randomly assigned to 2 groups, 44 in the control group and 47 in the treatment group. Patients in the control group received routine treatment, while patients in the treatment group additionally received intravenous injection of SI (15 mL), twice daily for 14 days in total. Colonoscopy was performed before and after treatment. The therapeutic effect was assessed by Mayo scoring system and the grading of activities evaluated by Baron endoscope. Serum levels of IL-6 and TNF-α were detected by ELISA. The activity of SOD was detected by xanthine oxidase method. The content of MDA was detected by thiobarbituricacid (TBA). Besides, 20 healthy subjects were recruited as the healthy control group.

RESULTSTotally 82 patients completed the study (40 in the control group and 42 in the treatment group). There was no statistical difference in serum levels of IL-6, TNF-α, SOD, MDA, the Mayo score and endoscope grading between the two groups before treatment (P >0. 05). Compared with the healthy control group, serum levels of IL-6, TNF-α, MDA significantly increased (P <0.01), and the serum SOD level decreased (P < 0. 05) in the treatment grup and the control group before treatment. Compared with before treatment in the same group, serum levels of IL-6, TNF-α, MDA, the Mayo score and endoscope grading all decreased in the treatment group and the control group after treatment (P <0. 01, P <0. 05). Compared with the control group after treatment, serum levels of IL-6, TNF-α, MDA, the Mayo score and endoscope grading all decreased (P <0.01, P <0.05), the serum SOD level increased (P <0.05) in the treatment group after treatment. The serum SOD level was obviously negative correlated with serum levels of IL-6, TNF-a, Mayo score, and endoscope score (r = -0. 621, -0.638, -0. 509, -0.787, P <0.01). The serum MDA level was obviously positive correlated with serum levels of IL-6, TNF-α, Mayo score, and endoscope score (r =0.711, 0. 882, 0. 525, 0. 639, P <0.01).

CONCLUSIONSI could improve inflammatory injury and clinical symptoms of patients with active UC, and its mechanism might be associated with antioxidant and scavenging oxygen free radicals.

Colitis, Ulcerative ; blood ; drug therapy ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Inflammation ; drug therapy ; Interleukin-6 ; blood ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; blood

Objective To evaluate a new system,Vitek 2 Compact,for identification of bacteria and yeasts.Methods 185 clinical isolates of Peking Union Medical College Hospital,including 69 gram- positive strains,66 gram-negative strains and 50 yeasts,and 50 reference strains in our laboratory,including 25 gram-positive and gram-negative strains respectively,were studied.All the strains were identified by Vitek 2 Compact with GP,GN or YST identification cards.The API method was used as the reference method.Results Among the 93 gram-positive strains,85 strains(91.40%)were correctly identified, including 5 low discrimination identified strains,and 8 strains(8.60%)were correctly identified to the genus level,but misidentified to the species level.About 90% of gram-positive strains were identified within 7 h.Out of 91 gram-negative strains,90 strains(98.90%)were correctly identified,with 5 low discrimination identified strains,only 1 strain(1.1%)was correctly identified to the genus level,but misidentified to the species level.Above 90% of Enterobacteriaceae were identified within 5 h,and over 90% of nonfermenting bacteria were identified within 10 h.In the 50 strains of yeasts,46 strains(92%) were correctly identified,including 8 low discrimination identified strains,and 4 strains(8%)were correctly identified to the genus level,but misidentified to the species level.In all the yeasts,45 strains (90%)were identified in 18.25 h,and another 5 strains(10%)were identified in 18.50 h.Conclusions As Vitek 2 Compact system can give us reliable identification results of clinically relevant bacteria and yeasts,together with its significant reduction of handling time,it will definitely become a powerful tool in clinical microbiology laboratory.

Objective To compare BACTEC Plus aerobic and anaerobic bottles with BacT/ALERT FA aerobic bottles and FN anaerobic bottles in the ability of detecting simulated bacteremia specimens.Methods The 202 pairs of specimens were composed of 5ml sterile blood and defined loads of microorganisms.112 pairs of specimens in them also contained defined doses of antibiotics to simulate the patients undertaking antibiotic therapy.Time-to-detect(TTD)and positive percentages were evaluated in four groups,including aerobic bottles detecting aerobic bacteria,anaerobic bottles detecting anaerobic bacteria and facultative anaerobic bacteria,and aerobic bottles contained antibiotics detecting aerobic bacteria.Results The positive percentages of two kinds of aerobic bottles were both 100%.For the specimens with bacterial concentration of 10~2 and 10~3 CFU/ml,average TTDs of BACTEC Plus aerobic bottles[(13.69?3.74)h,(11.54?2.87)h]were faster than those of BacT/ALERT FA bottles [(16.76?5.62)h,(14.47?4.30)h;t=-5.674,-7.294,P

It is an important task to lab of clinical microbiology to surveille multi-drag or pan-drug resistant strains,such as penicillin-or macrolide-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae,methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA),3rd generation cephalosporin-or quinolone-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa or Acinetobacter baumannii,and so on.We must understand characteristics of these resistant strains to guide doctors' empirical therapy of infective diseases.

Objective To evaluate a new system,Vitek 2 Compact,for antimicrobial susceptibility testing(AST)of gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria.Methods Eighty-nine clinical isolates of Peking Union Medical College Hospital,including 48 gram-negative strains and 41 gram-positive strains,and 66 reference strains kept in our laboratory,including 41 gram-negative strains and 25 gram-positive strains, were studied.The antimicrobial susceptibility of these strains were tested by Vitek 2 Compact with AST- GN09(for gram-negative bacteria),AST-P536(for Staphylococci),AST-P534(for Enterococci and S.agalactiae),and AST-P533(for S.pneumoniae)susceptibility cards.The Etest was used as the reference method for comparision.Thirty-two ESBL-producing strains assessed with the confirmatory tests for ESBLs of CLSI(16 strains of them had been confirmed by PCR amplified and sequencing)were detected for ESBLs by Vitek 2 Compact.Results According to the breakpoints of Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI),for the 1 626 microorganism-antibiotic combinations,Vitek 2 Compact gave 90.83% strains with category agreement(CA),4.91% strains with very major errors(VME),2.09% strains with major errors (ME),6.40% minor errors(MIE).The AST for more than 90% of Enterobacteriaceae,nonfermenting bacteria,micrococci and streptococci were completed within 11h,13h,11h and 12h,respectively.The ESBLs tests for thirty-two strains by V-itek 2 Compact are all positive.Conclusions Vitek 2 Compact system can give rapid,reliable and reproducible result with high sensitivity and specificity in assessment of antimicrobial susceptibility testing for clinically relevant gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria,and would become a powerful tool in clinical microbiology laboratory.

OBJECTIVETo compare the difference in clinical efficacy on lumber disc herniation (LDH) treated with Yaoyangguan (GV 3) between mild moxibustion under thermosensitive condition and that under non-thermo-sensitive condition.

METHODSFifty-seven LDH patients were selected as the study objects. Mild moxibustion at Yaoyangguan (GV 3) was applied for 45 min each time. Additionally, the conventional acupuncture was given, once a day, for 20 days. At the end of treatment, two groups were classified. A thermosensitive acupoint group (thermosensitive group) was composed of the cases with thermo-sensitization at Yaoyangguan (GV 3) and presenting for > or =4 times in the entire treatment. A non-thermosensitive acupoint group (tranquilization group) was composed of the cases without thermo-sensitization or the frequency of thermo-sensitization <4 times in the entire treatment. The modified Japanese orthopedics association scoring system (M-JOA) was adopted to observe the cases before and after treatment and 6 months after treatment in the two groups. The efficacy was compared between the two groups.

RESULTSAfter treatment and in 6 months after treatment, the score of M-JOA was apparently reduced as compared with that before treatment in the two groups (all P<0.05). The score reducing in the thermosensitization group was more obvious than that in the tranquilization group (both P<0.01). After treatment and in 6 months after treatment, the curative rate and remarkably effective rate were 89.7% (26/29) and 79.3% (23/29), which was better than 71.4% (20/28) and 60.7% (17/28, both P<0.05) in the tranquilization group separately.

CONCLUSIONMild moxibustion at acupoint under thermosensitive condition achieves the better short-term and long-term effects as compared with that under non-thermosensitive condition.

Acupuncture Points ; Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc Displacement ; therapy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Moxibustion ; Treatment Outcome

From original concept and literature of acupoint, the concept and clinical significance of ashi method is discussed, which clarifies that the essence of ashi method is to locate the acupoints by patients' sensitivity on force. The clinical application of heat-sensitive moxibustion has illustrated that positioning method of this therapy is based on the appearance of heat-sensitive moxibustion sensation. Although both types are based on patients' feeling, positioning method of heat-sensitive moxibustion stands on a new angle and uses a new method to locate acupoint. Therefore, it is believed that the positioning method of heat-sensitive moxibustion is the inheritance and development of ashi method.
Acupuncture Points ; China ; History, Ancient ; Humans ; Medicine in Literature ; Moxibustion ; history ; methods ; Sensation

AIM: To explore the relationship between the expression of caspase-2 and caspase-3 and the apoptosis in retinal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury of rats, as well as the therapeutic effects of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)on the ischemic and reperfused retina.METHODS: This experiment was conducted at the laboratory of Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University Medical College from February 2007 to July 2007. The models of retinal ischemia/reperfusion injury were made by transiently elevating intraocular pressure. A total of 28 rats were divided into Normal and Operative Groups. Operative group was divided into six subgroups. In each subgroup there were four rats. The left eyes of rats were used for I/R and the right eyes were used for intravitreal injection of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) as treatment group. After reperfusion we divided our subgroups according to the reperfusion time as 1, 6, 12, 24, 48, 72 hours. The retinal ganglion cell number was counted by using optic microscope(BX-51,Olympus). Apoptosis was assessed by the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick-end labelling (TUNEL) method, and the expression of caspase-2,caspase-3 was studied by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and strept avidin-biotin complex (SABC)immunohistochemistry.RESULTS: No positive apoptotic cells were observed in the normal rats' retinae, but there were a significant number of positive apoptosis cells in 6-24 hours after transient ischemia followed by a decrease at 48 hours. The number of apoptotic cells reached a maximum at 24 hours after ischemia .The expression of caspase-2 gradually increased as early as at 6 hours, reached a peak at 24 hours, then decreased between 48 and 72 hours. Similarly, caspase-3 has the same rule with caspsae-2 in the time courses of expression in retinal tissues.BDNF administered before reperfusion inhibited the expression of apoptosis and ameliorated the retinal tissue damage. It also decreased caspase-2 and caspase-3 expression in ischemic/reperfused retina.CONCLUSION: Retinal ischemia-reperfusion can induce apoptosis of cells in the retina. BDNF rescues retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) from retinal ischemia/reperfusion injury through down-regulation of cell apoptosis and caspase-2 and caspase-3 expression. BDNF have a neuroprotective effect on retina.

Objective To investigate the in vitro antimicrobial activity of ampicillin-sulbactam,clindamycin and cefoperazone a- gainst common clinical isolates.Methods MICs of these three antibiotics were determined by E test.Results Ampicillin-sulbae- tam showed inhibition rate of 100% for methicillin susceptible S.aureus (MSSA),E.faecalis,Group A Streptococcus,H. influenzae,penicillin-susceptible S.pneumoniae (PSSP),M.catarrhalis and anaerobes (including 10 strains of Bacteroid spp.,2 strains of P.aches,1 strain of E.lentum,1 strain of Fusobacterium innocuum,and 2 strains of Peptostreptococcus spp.).Ampicillin-sulbactam was active against 86.7% of extended-spectrum?-lactamase non-producing K.pneumoniae (NES- BL-KPN) and 53.3% of non ESBL-producing E.coli (NESBL-ECO).Ampicillin-sulbactam only inhibited 23.3% of A.bau- mannii isolates and 25.0% of E.faecium isolates.For MSSA,anaerobes,PSSP and group A Streptococcus,about 60.0%, 31.2%,30.0% and 10.0% of the isolates were susceptible to clindamycin,respectively.For MSSA,NESBL-ECO and NES- BL-KPN,96.7% to 100% of the isolates were susceptible to cefoperazone.About 40.0% of P.aeruginosa isolates were sus- ceptible to cefoperazone.No A.baumannii isolate was susceptible to cefoperazone.Conclusions The ampicillin-sulbactam has good antimicrobial activity against MSSA,E.faecalis,Group A Streptococcus,NESBL-KPN,H.influenzae,PSSP,M.ca- tarrhalis and anaerobes.In this study,clindamycin is active against 60% of MSSA isolates.Most of other species are relatively resistant to clindamycin.Cefoperazone shows good activity against MSSA,NESBL-ECO,and NESBL-KPN.These three anti- microbial agents can be used as empirical treatment for community-acquired infections.

The effect of 1-deoxynojirimycin(DNJ)on the proliferation of rat mesangial cells was observed and its mechanism was explored.The results showed that DNJ significantly inhibited the proliferation of rat mesangial cells induced by high glucose in time-and dose-dependent manners.DNJ significantly decreased expressions of?-smooth muscle action(?-SMA),integrin?1 mRNA and protein and focal adhesion kinase (FAK)protein stimulated by high glucose in rat mesangial cells(P