The ideal treatment and recovery of osteoarticular injury remain to be resolved. Small intestinal submucosa (SIS), a naturally-occurring decellularized extracellular matrix, has been recognized as an ideal scaffold for tissue engineering and widely used in repairing various tissues and organs. Nowadays its application has also been gradually increased in the field of orthopedics. We reviewed laboratorial studies and clinical trails about the application of SIS in bone and joint repair, aiming to evaluate its effects on the repair of bone, cartilage, meniscus, ligament and tendon. SIS has showed promising results in repairing bone, meniscus, ligament or tendon. However, additional studies will be required to further evaluate its effects on articular cartilage and tendon-bone healing. How to optimize SIS material,is also a focused problem concerned with making SIS a potential therapeutic option with high value for orthopedic tissue repair.
Animals ; Cell- and Tissue-Based Therapy ; Humans ; Intestinal Mucosa ; cytology ; Intestine, Small ; cytology ; Joint Diseases ; physiopathology ; surgery ; therapy ; Tissue Engineering ; instrumentation ; methods ; Tissue Scaffolds ; chemistry

In traditional clinical application, Coptidis Rhizome and Evodiae Fructus have been combined to treat various stomach heat and cold syndromes, gastritis, gastric ulcer and the like. With the application of modem instruments and the development of molecular pharmacologic theory, their chemical constituents and pharmacological effects have been sufficiently studied. In this paper, literatures from Pubmed were adopted, with particular emphasis on findings of international counterparts and studies on compatibility of main chemical components in Coptidis Rhizoma and Evodiae Fructus, in order to elaborate on the scientific comparability of Coptidis Rhizoma and Evodiae Fructus through chemical analysis, and pharmacological and biopharmaceutics studies and introduce the future development trend of the studies.
Animals ; Drug Interactions ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; pharmacology ; Evodia ; chemistry ; Fruit ; chemistry ; Humans ; Ranunculaceae ; chemistry ; Rhizome ; chemistry

Objective To investigate the clinical features,treatment response and prognosis in children with Takayasu′s arteritis(TA) in order to improve the understanding of TA.Methods A retrospective study of 10 children with TA was performed.All of them were admitted and diagnosed in Peking University First Hospital from Jan.1998 to Oct.2008.The clinical features,laboratory tests,imaging modalities,treatment response and prognosis were all collected and evaluated.Results There were 3 boys and 7 girls in the 10 patients with TA,and the ratio of male to female was 12.3.The onset was from 4 months to 9 years old,with average age at 5.5 years old.The average duration of diagnosis was 7.6 months.The incidences of hypertension,vascular bruits,albuminuria,convulsion were present in 100%,100%,70% and 40%,respectively.The clinical types included typeⅡ(60%),type Ⅲ(10%) and type Ⅳ(30%).The acute phase inflammatory indices of activity such as erythrocyte sedimentation rate(ESR),C-reactive protein(CRP) and white blood cell(WBC) were not evidently increased.Tuberculosis infection was found in 6 out of 10 patients and anti-tuberculosis treatment was performed.Six patients were treated with steroids and 3 cases of them were also given immunosuppressives cyclophosphamide or methotrexate.Three of the 10 patients received anti-hypertensive and vasodilator.Two patients received percutaneous translurminal angioplasty and 1 patient received nephrectomy.One patient died of renal failure,heart failure and shock.Conclusions The patients with TA had high prevalence of tuberculosis infection,diagnosis as often late because of lack of specific clinical features at the acute inflammatory period.When organic ischaemia occurred,treatment response was usually unsatisfactory.Patients with multi-systemic and multi-viscera lesions should have comprehensive examination,especially for those with hypertension,pulseless and vascular bruits,in order to rule out TA.Early ultrasonography,computed tomography and magnetic resonnance image methods are valued in eariler diagnosis and they are the key factors to improve prognosis.

Pro-inflammatory macrophages play key regulatory role in the occurrence and development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In this study, we constructed a celastrol (Cel)-loaded polyamide-amine dendrimer (PAMAM) drug delivery system, which could target folate receptor and mitochondria. It could target inflammatory macrophages and realize chemo-photothermal synergistic therapy. Using PAMAM as the nano-carrier, folate receptor-targeting group folic acid (FA) and mitochondria-targeting group IR808 (also known as the photothermal agent) were conjugated with PAMAM through amide reaction, and then complexed with anti-inflammatory drug Cel to prepare the FA-PAMAM-IR808/Cel nanocomplex. In vitro characterization results showed that the drug loading efficiency of the nanocomplex was 50.90%, particle size was between 130 and 160 nm, average potential was between 1.0 and 3.5 mV, the drug release showed pH sensitivity, temperature reached to 42.5 ℃ after near-infrared (NIR) light irradiation for 10 min. In vitro cellular uptake experiments showed that the nanocomplex had obvious folate receptor-targeting and mitochondria-targeting ability. Following irradiation with NIR light, the cytotoxicity and cellular apoptosis enhanced. The secretion of pro-inflammatory factors tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6 and nitric oxide (NO) decreased in a concentration-dependent manner. This study provided insights for the development of novel anti-RA nanomedicines.

Melittin exhibits high antibacterial potency against drug-resistant bacteria. However, the clinical utility of melittin is limited by its serious hemolytic activity. Thus, the need for developing novel melittin analogues with high antimicrobial activity and low hemolytic activity has grown. We designed, synthesized, and evaluated 20 novel melittin analogues with varying hydrophobic, polar or positively charged amino acids. The results showed that 8 compounds had antimicrobial activity (MIC: 1-4 μg·mL^-1) against gram-positive pathogens equal to or better than that of melittin, and 16 compounds had low hemolytic activity (HC₅₀ ≥ 11.9 μg·mL^-1). Compounds 13 (MIC: 2-4 μg·mL^-1) and 15 (MIC: 1-2 μg·mL^-1) showed equal or better antimicrobial activity against both susceptible and resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecium compared to melittin (MIC: 4 μg·mL^-1). Compound 13 (HC₅₀: 24.0 ± 4.3 μg·mL^-1) displayed noticeably decreased hemolytic activity compared to melittin (HC₅₀: 5.3 ± 0.4 μg·mL^-1). This work established a base for further study on the structure-activity relationships and structure-toxicity relationships of melittin.

Objective:To preliminarily study the effect of Louqin Zhisou decoctions with the mechanism of clearing heat and resol-ving phlegm on the blood level of neutrophil elastase ( NE) in the rat model of acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary dis-ease ( AECOPD) . Methods:The rat model of AECOPD was established by passive cigarette smoking, intratracheal instillation of li-popolysacchricle ( LPY) and intranasal instillation of staphylococcus aureus. Totally 60 AECOPD rats were randomly divided into 3 groups, the model control group (n=20), ambrohexel group (n=20), and Louqin Zhisou decoctions group (n=20). NE was detec-ted by ELISA. Results:Compared with that before the treatment, NE in ambrohexel group and Louqin Zhisou decoctions group was de-creased significantly(P<0. 01). Conclusion:Clearing heat and resolving phlegm method probably can decrease NE by reducing air-way mucus hypersecretion and obstruction in AECOPD rats.

Objective:To study the molecular biology mechanisms of Wistar rats after spinal cord injury, and find out key microRNAs. Methods:A total of 15 Wistar rats were divided into control group (n = 3) and spinal cord injury group (n = 12). The latter group was divided into four hours, three days, seven days and 14 days subgroups, with three rats in each subgroup. Microarray 3.0 was used to investigate microRNA expression profiles of Wistar rats with spinal cord injury. Bioinformatics was used to predict microRNAs playing key regulatory roles, and to predict target genes. Reverse transcription real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was applied to detect the expression of miR-20a-3p. Western blotting was employed to detect the signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) 3 level. The correlation between target protein and microRNA expression trend in each group was analyzed. The key microRNA was inhibited in the neurons. The relationship between target protein expression and axon growth was observed with immunofluorescence. Results:In the rats with spinal cord injury, totally 658 microRNAs had changed at least once. In all the altered microRNAs, miR-20a-3p was upregulated obviously. It predicted that the target gene of miR-20a-3p was STAT3 via application of bioinformatics analysis. The expression trend of STAT 3 and miR-20a-3p in spinal cord was opposite. After the inhibition of miR-20a-3p, the expression of STAT3 in neurons was unregulated and axonal growth was extended. Conclusion:The upregulation of miR-20a-3p leads to downregulation of STAT3, and miR-20a-3p is one of the key targets in the treatment of spinal cord injury.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the clinical value of combination of human epididymis protein 4 (HE4), CA125 and the Risk of Ovarian Malignancy Algorithm (ROMA) in diagnosis of ovarian carcinoma.

METHODSTo detect the serum concentration of HE4 using ELISA and CA125 using ECL in patients of ovarian carcinoma group (n = 119), borderline ovarian tumor group (n = 36), benign ovarian neoplasm group (n = 96) and female healthy control group (n = 53). The ROMA based on the serum level of CA125, HE4 and a woman's menopausal status was used to calculate the predicted probability (PP) and diagnostic results of ovarian cancers.

RESULTSThe receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis showed the cut-off value was 67.3 pmol/L (the AUC was 0.906, the sensitivity was 80.7% and specificity was 94.6%). The serum levels of HE4 and CA125 in the ovarian carcinoma group were significantly higher than that in the borderline ovarian tumor group, benign ovarian neoplasm group and female healthy control group (P < 0.01). The serum levels of CA125 and HE4 showed statistically no significant difference between the borderline ovarian tumor group and benign ovarian neoplasm group (P > 0.05). The levels of HE4 and CA125 were reduced significantly in ovarian patients after surgery therapy (P < 0.01). The sensitivity and specificity of HE4 + CA125 combination was 92.7% and 72.5%. The ROMA that can classify patients into high and low risk groups was established as 9.3% in premenopausal and 27.3% in postmenopausal women.

CONCLUSIONSHE4 is a helpful biomarker for ovarian carcinoma diagnosis. Biomarker combination of HE4 and CA125, and applying of the ROMA are helpful to improve the accuracy in diagnosis of ovarian cancers.

Adenocarcinoma, Mucinous ; blood ; diagnosis ; surgery ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Biomarkers, Tumor ; blood ; CA-125 Antigen ; blood ; Cystadenocarcinoma, Serous ; blood ; diagnosis ; surgery ; Cystadenoma, Serous ; blood ; diagnosis ; surgery ; Endometriosis ; blood ; diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Menopause ; Middle Aged ; Ovarian Neoplasms ; blood ; diagnosis ; surgery ; Proteins ; metabolism ; ROC Curve ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Teratoma ; blood ; diagnosis ; surgery ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the effects of arthroscopic debridement for acute gouty arthritis of the ankle.

METHODSForty-one patients with acute gouty arthritis of the ankle were treated under arthroscopy from January 2010 to June 2012. All the patients were male, age in ranging from 28 to 69 years with an average of 43 years. Eighteen patients were in the left ankles and 23 in the right ankles; 12 cases were firstly attack and 29 cases were recurrent attack. Course of disease was from 2 weeks to 30 months. The American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) Ankle-Hindfoot Scale score was used to evaluate the clinical effects. Number of acute attacks of gouty arthritis were observed.

RESULTSAll the patients were followed up at least 12 months. The mean AOFAS Ankle-Hindfoot Scale score increased from 58.44 +/- 9.45 preoperatively to 86.15 +/- 7.36, 83.41 +/- 9.22, 84.10 +/- 8.22 postoperatively at 6, 12, months and the last follow-up respectively. Swelling of the ankle were improved significantly, pain was relieved and the mean number of acute attacks of gouty arthritis decreased significantly.

CONCLUSIONArthroscopy is helpful for the diagnosis of acute gouty arthritis of the ankle and improvement of clinical symptoms and ankle function.

Adult ; Aged ; Ankle Joint ; physiopathology ; surgery ; Arthritis, Gouty ; physiopathology ; surgery ; Arthroscopy ; Debridement ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the performance of computer-assisted imaging system in the detection of cervical squamous intraepithelial lesion and quality-assurance.

METHODSManual PAP screening (n = 140 580) and image-assisted screening (n = 32 885) were compared for the detection rates of squamous cell abnormalities, the atypical squamous cells (ASC) to squamous intraepithelial lesion (SIL) ratio, the positive rates of high risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) test in the case of atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASC-US), and the correlation between cytopathology and histopathology.

RESULTSCompared with manual screening, computer-assisted imaging system showed increased overall positive detection by 0.32%, decreased detection of ASC by 0.21%, increased detection of low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL) by 0.22%, increased detection of high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion or worse (HSIL) by 0.31%, and decreased ASC to SIL ratio from 2.59 to 1.60. Computer-assisted imaging system did not change the HR-HPV positive rate of the patients who were ASC-US, or the coincidence rate between cytopathology and histopathology. Moreover, the productivity of the laboratory operation increased 58.33%.

CONCLUSIONComputer-assisted imaging system significantly increases the overall positive detection rate of cervical SIL, improves accuracy and work efficiency of screening, decreases the ASC/SIL rate, and strengths the quality-assurance of laboratory testing.

Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; pathology ; Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia ; pathology ; Female ; Humans ; Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted ; Papillomaviridae ; isolation & purification ; Papillomavirus Infections ; pathology ; Uterine Cervical Dysplasia ; pathology ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms ; pathology ; Vaginal Smears ; methods