Objective: To clinically evaluate the efficacy of electrolyzed oxidizing water (EOW) as a root canal irrigation solution on disinfecting bacteria and removing the smear-layer to keep the non-bacterium state in the root canal. Methods: In the first experiment, 108 single-rooted teeth that needed root canal treatment were randomly divided into two groups. EOW was used as the root canal irrigation solution in the experimental group while 30 ml/L H2O2, saline solution, and 75 g/L EDTA solution were used as controls. Bacteriological examinations were conducted from each tooth before and after treatment with the root canal irrigation solutions. In the second experiment, the 20 fresh human extracted teeth were divided into two groups and treated as same as the first experiment in root canal preparation and irrigation. After irrigation, the apical canal wall was observed using SEM. Results: There was no significant difference in bacterial growth and removing the smear layer between the group using EOW and that using saline solution, 30 ml/L H2O2 and 75 g/L EDTA solution. Conclusion:The results indicate EOW is useful as a clinical root canal irrigation solution.

Studying the essence of syndromes (Zheng) in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a fundamental challenge in basic theoretical research of TCM. The relationship between any given syndrome and biochemical indicators is one of the important aspects of the study. As the indexes selected in each study are specific to a particular Western medical disease diagnosis, and the disease factor is inevitably introduced into the study, the effect of disease factor on the index changes cannot be assessed effectively by traditional data processing methods. This is known as "the same syndrome with different reasons", which has resulted in confusion in TCM research. This study aimed at providing a mathematical tool to address this issue. Based on information theory and the residual-split method, the syndrome information, which was covered in the index variation, was quantitatively calculated in this paper as an independent part of the disease factor. A mathematical model capable of objectively assessing and statistically testing the effect of the syndrome factor on the index changes was established. Applying this model to literature data of studies on the relationship between cyclic nucleotides and yang-deficiency syndrome showed following results. First, the values of yang-deficiency syndrome information were negative for cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) while positive for cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) in all included literature. This indicated that the group of yang-deficiency syndrome was correlated with an obvious trend of reduced cAMP levels and increased cGMP levels. Second, the statistical test results of yang-deficiency syndrome information of the two indexes were different among the literature included. The quality of original data was considered as a possible reason. Third, the significant differences between the yang-deficiency group of a specific disease and the normal group may, in some cases, be caused by a disease factor rather than a syndrome factor. The mathematical model provided a reasonable mathematical tool for the analysis of disease factor and syndrome factor in clinical research of TCM, suggesting that the mathematical model may give rise to innovative ideas and methods in the study of syndromes.

Objective:To investigate the clinical significance of changes of platelet count after splenectomy in patients with cirrhosis and portal hypertension.Methods:In this study,from January 2002 to January 2006,the platelet count and liver function in 153 splenomegaly and hypersplenism due to cirrhosis patients who had been carried out splenectomy were selected.The change tendency of platelet count was observed,the relationship of changes of platelet count and liver function was analysed,and compared with patients of spleen trauma.Results:Postoperative platelet count was higher than preoperatively in most patients with cirrhosis,the portion did not elevate,even decreased.The change tendency of platelet count was correlated with the liver function.The change in cirrhosis patients is not more than patients of spleen trauma.Conclusions:The reason of thrombocytopenia in patients with cirrhosis may be correlated with the change of liver function besides the splenomegaly.

Objective To study the proliferation and apoptosis of related proteins in pathological liver tissues of alcohol-induced mice,and establish a model and time-evolution rule of liver cell apoptosis,which can be used to guide the clinical treatment of acute alcoholic liver injury.Methods A total of 30 male KM mice were fed in a clean grade animal room at the Capital Medical University and then randomly (random number) separated into two groups.The 10 mice in the normal group were fed without ethanol,while the other 20 mice in the experimental group were given a one-time grant of 50％ ethanol (12 mL/kg) by gavage.The mice in the experimental group were killed at two time points,6 h for 10 mice and 12 h for the other 10,after the intragastric administration.Hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining was used to observe the morphological changes of liver in mice.The concentrations of T-ERK,p-ERK,PKC,p-PKC and caspase-3 were determined by the Western-blot method.The data were analyzed by Analysis of variance (ANOVA) method using statistical software SPSS 11.5 and criterion P ＜ 0.05 is chosen to determine differences that are statistically significant.Results By observing the behavioral changes and morphological indexes of mice,we confirmed the success of the model for acute alcoholic liver injury.During the process of re-building the model,no mice died.The mice in the experimental group appeared in drunken states,such as sleepiness and slowness of movement.Compared to the normal group,the experimental subgroup at the 6 h point showed no difference statistical significant; while the experimental subgroup at the 12 h point showed obvious histological changes in tissues,including the disorder of hepatic lobule structure and fatty vacuolization of hepatocytes.At the same time,in the experimental subgroup at the 12 h point,both P-ERK and P-PKC significantly decreased [(2.41 ±0.38),(0.97 ±0.25),F=4.82,P＜0.05; (0.16 ±0.00),(0.08 ± 0.01),F =29.63,P ＜ 0.05],but caspase-3 significantly increased [(0.30 ± 0.02),(0.11 ± 0.01),F =34.38,P ＜ 0.05].Conclusions In mice after intragastric administration of large doses of alcohol,the hepatic cell apoptosis appeared mainly after 6 h but before 12 h,therefore 6 ～ 12 h might be the time window to inhibit the cell apoptosis of mice' s acute liver injury from alcohol induction.

Objective To evaluate the influence of cytochrome P450 (CYP2C9 and CYP4F2) polymorphisms on anticoagulant intensity of warfarin after cardiac valve replacement.Methods A total of 136 patients tak ing warfarin after cardiac valve replacement were identified and classified into 4 groups:CYP2C9 wild type group (CYP2C9*1*1),CYP2C9 mutated type group (CYP2C9*3),CYP4F2 rs2108622 wild type group (CC) and CYP4F2 rs2108622 mutated type group (CT or TT).The patients' baseline data,initial dose of warfarin and base INR measurement resuhs were recorded and then the follow-up was conducted.The initial administration of warfarin to INR standard time for the first time,total amount of warfarin and the average daily amount were recorded.Results Patients carrying CYP2C9* 1* 1 had increased time to reach INR target value for the first time (P ＜ 0.05);and the total warfarin doses and average daily dose when INR reached target value were higher than those carrying CYP2C9*3 (P ＜ 0.05).When compared with those in two wild type groups,patients carrying CYP2C9 and CYP4F2 rs2108622 mutated type needed the shortest time when INR reached target value for the first time,and the total warfarin doses and average daily dose when INR first reached target value was the lowest,which showed significant difference (P ＜ 0.05).And when compared with CYP2C9 mutated type group,the INR average time to reach the first target was shortened and the total warfarin dose of patients carrying CYP2C9 and CYP4F2 rs2108622 mutated type was lower (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion The gene polymorphisms of CYP2C9 and CYP4F2 are significant hereditary factors influencing warfarin dose.Detection of CYP2C9 and CYP4F2 genotypes prior to medication and predicating warfarin dosage may result in lower incidence of over-anticoagulation and reduce the dosage-adjusting time of warfarin.

The properties of Chinese materia medica are believed to be the summarization of the effects of biological performance on the various body states. Systemic discussion of chemical-factor elements, body-condition elements, biological-performance elements and their interrelationships is needed for research into the properties of Chinese materia medica. Following the practical characteristics of Chinese medicine, the three-element mathematical model was formed by introducing some mathematical concepts and methods and was used to study the cold or hot property of Chinese medicine, and to investigate the difference in biological performances of the two properties.

Objective To evaluate the tissue motion tracking of mitral annular displaeement(TMAD) method in the assessment of short-term effect of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). Methods Twenty six chronic heart failure (CHF) patients with CRT were detected by TMAD. The maximal displacement of the six points of mitral annulus(DS), the standard deviation of the time to regional peak systolie displacement of the six points (Td-sd) and the maximal temporal difference of any two points(Tds-diff) were compared before and one month after CRT. And the correlation between mean displacement and left ventricular ejection fraetion(LVEF),left ventricular end systolic volume(LVESV), fraction area change (FAC) was analyzed. Results Compared with the pre-operatively, the displacement and the mean displaeement of the six points of mitral annulus were significantly increased(P<0.01),Tds diff and Td-sd were decreased(P<0.05) one month after CRT. TMAD correlated with LVEF,LVESV and FAC (r =0.419, r = 0.529, r = 0.567, P <0.05) one month after CRT. Conclusions TMAD is a new technology to evaluate the short-term effect of CRT.

Objective To determine which parameters of reverse remodeling of left ventricular could become the effective indexes in evaluating the short-term therapeutic effect of cardiac resynchronization therapy(CRT)in heart failure(HF)patients.Methods CRT was performed in 26 HF patients with dysfunctions of wall motion.Serial echocardiography was practiced at baseline,one and three months after CRT.The parameters including left atrial end-diastolic diameter(LADD),left ventrieular end-diastolic diameter(LVDD),end-diastolic volume (LVEDV),end-systolic volume(LVESV),ejection fraction(LVEF)were measured and compared before and after CRT therapy.Results At one and three months after CRT,respectively,CRT was associated with reduced LADD,LVDD,LVEDV,LVESV and improved LVEF and filling time compared with those at baseline.Moreover,all these parameters had better correlations with the activities of these patients.Conclusions LADD,LVDD,LVEDV,LVESV and LVEF could become the effective indexes in evaluating the short-term effect of CRT in HF patients.The reduced diameters and volumes of left atria and left ventricle are more sensitive parameters than the improved LVEF.

Tripterygium glycosides preparation which extracted from the traditional Chinese herb Tripterygium wilfordii (TWHY), was widely used to treat the autoimmune diseases. Previous works demonstrated that TWHF had potent anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive properties. But the different quality and high incident rate of side effects of different manufactures inhibited its clinical application. Since TWHF had been generally known to play a therapeutical effect by synergism of multiple constituents, it was necessary to build the relationship between the HPLC fingerprint and bioactivity so as to ensure the quality safety and efficacy. The HPLC fingerprint showed that description and content of peaks from different manufactures were diverse. Only 11 common peaks were found. In this study, mice spleen cells stimulated by Con A were used to test the proliferation inhibition bioactivity of TWHF preparations, which were incubated with 30, 15, 7.5, 3.75, 1.88 and 0.94 mg x L(-1) TWHF preparations for 48 h. The results showed that mice spleen cells proliferation was inhibited by all TWHF preparations significantly compared with the control group, which suggested the TWHF preparations showed immune suppress activity. The TWHF preparations from 7 manufacture showed different IC50 value, which might belong to different contents which showed in the HPLC fingerprint. Moreover, a relationship between the HPLC fingerprint and the bioactivity were established to identify important constituents by grey relational analysis (GRA). The result showed that all the contents were relative with the IC50, especially No. 5 and 10 peaks, but No. 1 peak, which was proved to be triptolide, had few contribute to the inhibition of mice spleen cells proliferation. The study of relationship between the HPLC fingerprint and the IC50 by GRA could help to investigate mechanism of bioactive and provide an evidence for the quantification of multi-constituents.
Animals ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents ; analysis ; pharmacology ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; pharmacology ; Glycosides ; analysis ; pharmacology ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Spleen ; cytology ; drug effects ; Tripterygium ; chemistry

Objective To assess the short-term effect of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) by speckle tracking strain imaging(STI). Methods Sixteen chronic heart failure patients(CHF) with CRT were enrolled. The time to peak systolic longitudinal strain and the time to peak systolic radial strain were derived from the LV apical views, and the time to peak systolic circumferential strain was derived from the parasternal short axis. The standard deviation for time to peak longitudinal, radial and circumferential strain in the 18 segments (LS-SD18, RS-SD18, CS-SD18) and the maximal temporal difference of any two segments(LS-dif, RS-dif, CS-dif) were calculated as a strain-derived dyssynchrony index. The difference of LS-SDIS, RS-SD18, CS-SD18 between 1 month,3 months after CRT and baseline (△LS-SD18, △RS-SD18, △CS-SD18) was calculated. The correlation between △LS-SD18,ARS-SD18,△CS-SD18 and the reduction of end-systolic volume at follow-up(△ESV%) were analyzed. Results The LS-SD18, RS-SD18,CS-SD18 and RS-dif were decreased significantly 1 month,3 months after CRT.△RS-SD18 was correlated with △ESV% 3 months after CRT(r = 0. 694). Conclusions The strain-derived dyssynchrony index is great significient for short-term effect of CRT.