Objective: To investigate the changes of alpha adrenergic receptors (α-AR) mRNA expression in heart and mesenteric artery in autonomic dysreflexia (AD) rats after spinal cord transection, so as to explore the possible mechanism of AD. Methods: The spinal cord of rats was exposed and the fourth thoracic spinal cord was transected; 4 weeks later, rats' rectum was stimulated by self-made catheter and those with a mean arterial blood pressure increased by more than 15 mmHg (1 mmHg=0.133 kPa) were chosen as AD group (n=16). Heart and mesenteric arteries along with their branches were harvested. mRNA expression of α1A-, α1B-, α1D-, α2A-, α2B- and α2C-AR was quantified by real time PCR and the result was compared with that in sham-operated group (the fourth thoracic spinal cord was exposed but not transected). Results: Compared with sham-opera ted group, rats in AD group had a lower expression of α1A-AR mRNA (P<0.05) and α1B-AR mRNA (P<0.01) in their heart, but the expression of α1D-AR mRNA had no obvious change. Also, rats in AD group had a higer expression of α1A-, α1D-, α2B-AR mRNA (all P<0.01) and α2C-AR mRNA (P<0.05) in their mesentric artery, but α1B- and α2A-AR mRNA expression had no obvious change. Conclusion: AD may occur in the chronic stage of spinal cord transection in rats. The abnormal expression of α1A- and α1B-AR mRNA in the heart and α1A-, α1D-, α2B- and α2C-AR mRNA in the mesenteric artery may be related to AD.

Colorectal Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; pathology ; therapy ; Humans ; Pathology, Clinical ; organization & administration ; standards

Objective: By observing the differences in Western Ontario and McMaster Universities osteoarthritis index (WOMAC) and visual analog scale (VAS) scores in moxibustion treatment for moderate-to-severe primary knee osteoarthritis (KOA) with moxa of different storage years (3-year moxa and 1-year moxa from Qichun, Huanggang City, Hubei Province, China) through a randomized clinical trial, to objectively evaluate the differences in therapeutic efficacy of moxibustion with moxa of different storage years. Methods: A total of 63 patients with moderate-to-severe KOA who met the inclusion criteria were randomized into moxibustion group 1 and moxibustion group 2 by central randomization method, with 32 cases in moxibustion group 1 and 31 cases in moxibustion group 2. Moxibustion group 1 was treated with moxa stored for 3 years, and moxibustion group 2 was treated with moxa stored for 1 year. Dubi (ST 35), Neixiyan (EX-LE 4) and Heding (EX-LE 2) were selected in both groups, and the treatment lasted 20 min per time, 3 times a week. The immediate efficacy was compared after 6 times of treatment, and long-term efficacy was compared at follow-up 4 weeks after the end of treatment. Results: During the treatment, there were 2 dropouts in moxibustion group 1, and 1 dropout in moxibustion group 2. The total effective rate in the two groups was 83.3％ and 60.0％, respectively. Followed up at 4 weeks after the end of treatment, the total effective rate in the two groups was 80.0％ and 66.7％, respectively. There were no statistical differences between the two groups (both P>0.05). After treatment and 4 weeks after the end of treatment, the WOMAC and VAS scores in both groups decreased significantly compared with those before treatment (all P<0.01); the scores of stiffness item of WOMAC in moxibustion group 1 were lower than those in moxibustion group 2 (both P<0.05); there were no statistical differences in the scores of pain item and dysfunction item of WOMAC, and VAS scores between the two groups (all P>0.05). Conclusion: Moxibustion with moxa of different storage years (stored for 3 years and 1 year) both can improve the pain, stiffness and motor function in patients with moderate-to-severe KOA. While moxa stored for 3 years has a better therapeutic efficacy in improving stiffness of the knee joint than that stored for 1 year.

All the examination results of anesthesia interns from 1996 to 2003 were analyzed.The content and criteria of examination in anesthesia intern which was formulated by our university was evaluated.The cause of deficiency reflected by examination results and problems existing in education were analyzed to improve clinic training for anesthesia intern and cultivate excellent anesthesia specialist.

OBJECTIVETo explore an effective method for increasing therapeutic effect on chronic prostatitis.

METHODSEighty-two cases of chronic prostatitis were randomly divided into two groups. The western medicine group of 42 cases were treated with routine western medicine combined with retention enteroclysis of 30 g Danshen (Red Sage Root) decoction; the warming needle moxibustion plus western medicine group of 40 cases were treated with the western medicine of the western medicine group plus warming needle moxibustion at Guanyuan (CV 4), Qihai (CV 6) and Zhongji (CV 3), etc.

RESULTSIn the warming needle moxibustion plus western medicine grbup, 20 cases were cured, 12 cases were markedly effective, 5 cases were effective and 3 cases were ineffective, the total effective rate being 92. 5%; and in the western medicine group, the corresponding figures were 13, 10, 7, 12 cases and 71.4%, with a significant difference between the two groups in the total effective rate (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONWarming needle moxibustion can increase the therapeutic effect on chronic prostatitis.

Adult ; Chronic Disease ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Moxibustion ; methods ; Prostatitis ; therapy ; Salvia miltiorrhiza

Objective Acrysof IQ Restor multifocal toric intraocular lens ( IOL) is a new product , which allows a single sur-gical procedure for presbyopia correction and corneal astigmatism management .This study was to evaluate the early clinical effects of phacoemulsification cataract surgery with implantation of a diffractive multifocal toric IOL . Methods We retrospectively analyzed 7 cases (9 eyes) of corneal astigmatism ≥1.0 diopter (D) treated by phacoemulsification with implantation of an Acrysof IQ Restor toric IOL.The patients were followed up for 3 months for observation of uncorrected distance visual acuity ( UDVA) , best corrected distance visual acuity ( CDVA) , uncorrected near visual acuity ( UNVA ) , best corrected near visual acuity ( CNVA ) , spherical equivalent (SE) refraction, focal depth, residual astigmatism, rotational stability of the IOL, contrast sensitivity (CS), and spectacle independ-ence preoperatively and at 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months after operation . Results At 3 months after surgery , the UDVA ( log-MAR), CDVA, UNVA, and CNVA were 0.07 ±0.10, 0.02 ±0.11, 0.12 ±0.06, and 0.08 ±0.07, respectively, with an SE re-fraction within ±0.50 D of the attempted spherical correction in 8 eyes (88.9%) and a focal depth of (5.32 ±1.78) D.The residual astigmatism at 3 months was significantly reduced as compared with the baseline ([0.25 ±0.28] vs [1.55 ±0.39] D, P<0.05), but showed no statistically significant differences from the preoperative an-ticipated residual astigmatism (P>0.05).At 3 months, the mean IOL axis rotation was (3.11 ±1.61)°and CS was remarkably im-proved ( P<0 .05 ) , while CS with or without glare was not significantly different from that at 1 month at all spatial frequencies ( P>0.05) except at 18.0 cpd (P<0.05). Conclusion Implantation of the Acrysof IQ Restor multifocal toric IOL provides excellent overall quality of vision, spectacle independence, visual quality, and rotational stability for patients with cataract and corneal astigmatism.

Objective To explore the killing effect of dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma on tumor cells and to analyze the DBD-induced apoptosis mechanism.Methods Thiazolyl blue tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay method was used to detect the killing effect of low temperature plasma on the cytotoxicity of normal spleen leukocytes and acute promyelocytic leukemia cells (LT-12) at different doses.The changes of reactive oxygen species (ROS) level were measured after plasma treatment.The cell apoptosis rate was detected by Annexin V/PI double staining at different doses.The expression of apoptosis-related genes and proteins was detected by qRT-PCR and Western Blot.Results MTT results showed that the killing effect of plasma treatment was dose-dependent and time-dependent.The cell survival rate after 8 hours of treatment decreased from 98％ to 63％ with the dose increasing from 30 s to 240 s.The survival rate decreased from 78％ (2 h) to 39％ (24 h) after the treatment with a same dose (e.g.240 s).Annexin V/PI double staining results demonstrated that the plasma effect can induce apoptosis,and the apoptosis rate was not only positively correlated with the plasma dose,but also with the post-plasma time.The longer the post-plasma time,the higher was the apoptosis rate.The apoptotic rate of the 60 s dose treatment after 12 h was 48％ that increased to 55.3％ with the dose of 120 s.The production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) detected by flow cytometry also showed a time correlation of the plasma treatment.After the plasma treatment,the ROS level immediately increased to 1.24 times,and sharply increased to 5.39 times after 20 h post-plasma.The experimental results of qRT-PCR and Western blot showed that the expression of the genes and proteins of Caspase family and Bcl-2 family was very active at 8 to 12 h post-plasma treatment.Conclusions Low-temperature plasma can effectively kill tumor cells,and apoptosis is the main mechanism of death.The molecular mechanism of apoptosis of tumor cells induced by low temperature plasma was preliminary confirmed.

An oxygen-tolerant denitrifying strain designated as H1 was screened by the procedures of shallow shaking and continuous aeration cultures.With the aid of an nnrS-gfp fusion responsive to nitric oxide (NO)and acetylene inhibition-GC procedure,it was shown that strain H1 was able to produce NO and N_2O but not N_2 under denitrifying conditions.Denitrifying processes were thus determined as NO_3~-→NO_2~-→NO→N_2O,with N_2O as the end product.Strain H1 could denitrify under shallow shaking conditions as well as in the initial atmospheric oxygen concentration ranging from 0～21%.Denitrification processed normally under continuous aeration at the rate of 2 L air per min in a 150 mL medium,but stopped under high aeration rate as 5 L air per min.16S rRNA gene sequence revealed that strain H1 shared 98% similarity to its closet relative Ralstonia taiwanensis,the genus where denitrifying bacteria are frequently found.

Theaflavins are a class of natural products extracted from black tea or green tea, with significant anti-tumor effects on gastric cancer, liver cancer, breast cancer and other tumors. Theaflavins were once considered as the new products for anticancer therapy. However, the anti-tumor mechanism of theaflavins involves a variety of biological processes, and the regulation is complex. Therefore, this article summarizes the role of theaflavins in promoting tumor cell apoptosis, inducing tumor cell mitotic arrest and regulating tumor immunity, and reviews the inhibition of tumorigenesis and growth through MAPK, PI3K/AKT, Hedgehog, NF-κB, JAK/STAT and Wnt/β-Catenin signal pathways, in order to provide new ideas for cancer treatment and anti-cancer drug development.

OBJECTIVETo explore the inhibition and molecular mechanism of icaritin (ICT) combined doxorubicin (DOX) on human osteosarcoma MG-63 cells in vitro.

METHODSThe control group, ICT groups (10, 20, 40, 80, and 160 µmol/L), DOX groups (1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 µg/mL), and combination groups (20 µmol/ L ICT +1 µg/mL DOX, 20 µmol/L ICT +2 µg/mL DOX, 20 µmol/L ICT +4 µg/mL DOX, 40 µmol/L ICT +1 µg/mL DOX, 40 µmol/L ICT +2 µg/mL DOX, 40 µmol/L ICT +4 µg/mL DOX, 80 µmol/L ICT +1 µg/mL DOX, 80 µmol/L ICT +2 µg/mL DOX, 80 µmol/L ICT +4 µg/mL DOX) were set up. Human osteosarcoma MG-63 cells were respectively cultured and their effects on morphological changes were observed using inverted phase contrast microscope after 24-and 48-h intervention. The cell proliferation inhibition rate of each group was de- termined using CCK-8, and IC50 calculated. The MG-63 apoptosis rate was detected using Annexin V-FITC/ PI double dye flow cytometry. Expression levels of bcl-2, caspase-3, and p21 were detected using RT-PCR.

RESULTSICT and DOX could obviously inhibit the proliferation of MG-63 cell. Along with ICT concentration increasing from 10 µmol/L to 160 µmol/L, the cell proliferation inhibition rate also increased gradually from 9.67% ± 3.62% to 89.18% ± 9.66%. The IC50 was 46.93 µmol/L and 3.87 µg/mL respectively. ICT and DOX could cause either early or late stage apoptosis, down-regulate Bcl-2 gene expression, and up-regulate gene expressions of Caspase-3 and p21 respectively (P < 0.05). Aforesaid changes were more obviously seen in combination groups than in lCT groups and DOX groups (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONCT combined DOX had additive or synergistic inhibition effect for the proliferation of osteosarcoma MG-63 cells, which might be related with regulating gene expressions of bcl-2, caspase-3, and p21.

Apoptosis ; Bone Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Caspase 3 ; metabolism ; Cell Line, Tumor ; drug effects ; Cell Proliferation ; Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p21 ; metabolism ; Down-Regulation ; Doxorubicin ; pharmacology ; Drug Synergism ; Flavonoids ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Osteosarcoma ; metabolism ; pathology ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; metabolism