BACKGROUND:With the development of modern pathological techniques, the misdiagnosis rate has been reduced remarkably, but special stains are still the most important method for pathological diagnosis. OBJECTIVE:To compare the advantages and disadvantages of different special stains used for observing the structure of human lumbar facet joints. METHODS:The specimens of facet joint cartilage at L4/5 level were collected from patients undergoing lumbar surgery, and then stained with hematoxylin-eosin, safranin O, toluidine blue, Masson, and saranin-O-fast green for structure observation. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The structure of the articular cartilage could be observed clearly through hematoxylin-eosin, toluidine blue, and saranin-O-fast green staining. The cartilage surface, tidemark, and subchondral bone were shown by the hematoxylin-eosin staining, with the presence of violet chondrocyte nuclei. Safranin-O-fast green staining showed the four layers of the cartilage clearly, including the shallow layer (cartilage surface), middle layer (spherical cells arranged in disorder), columnar cell layer (large and multinucleated chondrocytes arranged neatly), tidemark, subchondral bone layer; and the cartilage matrix was reddish uniformly, the subchondral bone was green, and the cartilage and bone tissue showed a striking contrast. The cartilage structure was unclear in toluidine blue staining, with clear nuclei and almost no coloring cytoplasm, but the matrix appeared with slight purplish blue. Safranin O staining showed that the cartilage was red, which had no obvious boundary with the cartilage matrix, and chondrocytes were stained lightly. Masson staining showed clear collagen fibers, but the structures of the cartilage and subchondral were obscure. To conclude, safranin-O-fast green staining can achieve the best results, followed by hematoxylin-eosin staining and Masson staining in turn.

Acupuncture is a promising treatment for relieving pain and improving lower back function in clinical practice. However, evidence from randomized clinical trials (RCTs) remains controversial. Most RCTs conclude that acupuncture procedures for chronic low back pain (CLBP) had no significant difference in efficacy and belonged to placebo. We carefully reviewed and analyzed the methodology and implementation of sham acupuncture in RCTs. Controversial evidence of acupuncture for CLBP is only a microcosm of the evaluation methodological limitation of acupuncture. Inappropriate selection of sham acupuncture controls, rigorous RCT research models, and incorrect interpretation of results may contribute to negative evidence. Evaluating and disregarding the holistic efficacy of acupuncture with an explanatory RCT model based on evaluation drugs may be unwise. Moreover, sham acupuncture is often proven to be non-inert, unreasonable, and with low fidelity. Pitfalls of the explanatory RCT model and sham acupuncture design should be avoided. Establishing a new evaluation system that is in line with the clinical characteristics of acupuncture and obtaining high-quality evidence are difficult but promising tasks.
Acupuncture Therapy ; Chronic Pain/therapy* ; Humans ; Low Back Pain/therapy* ; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic ; Treatment Outcome

Objective To investigate the shear rate and VWF-A1-mediated platelets calcium response. Methods Flou-4 AM was used as the fluorescent indicator of intracellular calcium, and the intracellular calcium concentrations of adherent platelets on VWF-A1 with different concentrations at different shear rates were detected by parallel plate flow chamber system combined with fluorescence microscope. The effect of shear stress and chemical signaling on intensity and speed of calcium response was also analyzed. Results VWF-A1 specifically mediated platelet adhesion and calcium response under flow. The shear rate and molecular concentrations had positive regulation of platelets activation ratio and negative regulation of delay time of calcium response. Compared with static conditions, the activation ratio was increased by 37 times at shear rate of 500 s-1. When the concentration of VWF-A1 was increased from 60 mg/L to 240 mg/L, the delay time of calcium response was shortened by 10 s. Conclusions The shear rate could modulate the calcium response of platelets in cooperation with VWF-A1. The result of this study will be helpful to deepen the understanding about the process of hemostatic reaction of platelet coagulation in bloodstream.

Objective: To study the best time of early feeding in patients with acute oral organophosphorus pesticide poisoning. Methods: A prospective study was conducted on 123 patients with acute oral organophosphorus poisoning admitted from January 2018 to May 2019 in Department of Emergency, the Affiliated Hospital of Binzhou Medical University. The patients were divided into four groups, A(<6 h), B(≥6 h-<12 h), C(≥12 h-<24 h) and D(≥24 h), according to the time of poisoning at the time of admission. All the patients in the four groups were fed immediately upon admission with the same method. The cholinesterase activity at 24, 48, 72, 120 h after poisoning, the incidence of rebound after poisoning, the disappearance time of clinical poisoning symptoms were compared among the four groups. Results: Compared with the other three groups, group A had a statistically significant difference in the cholinesterase activity at 24, 48, 72, 120 h after poisoning (H value was 9.466-24.933, P<0.05 or 0.01). There was no significant difference between the two groups in B, C, D group (P>0.05). The incidence of rebound after poisoning in A, B, C, D group was 3.448%(1/30), 7.407%(2/29), 6.452%(2/33), 6.897%(2/31), respectively, with no statistically significant difference (χ² value was 0.431, P>0.05). Compared with the four groups, the disappearance time of clinical poisoning symptoms in group A was shorter than that in the other three groups, and the difference was statistically significant (H value was18.199, P<0.05). Conclusions The earlier the patients ate, the faster the recovery of cholinesterase activity, the earlier the improvement of poisoning symptoms, and the incidence of gastrointestinal reaction and rebound after poisoning is not increased.The best time for early feeding is less than 6 h after poisoning.

Antrodia cinnamomea is extensively used as a traditional medicine to prevention and treatment of liver cancer. However, its comprehensive chemical fingerprint is uncertain, and the mechanisms, especially the potential therapeutic target for anti-hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are still unclear. Using UPLC‒Q-TOF/MS, 139 chemical components were identified in A. cinnamomea dropping pills (ACDPs). Based on these chemical components, network pharmacology demonstrated that the targets of active components were significantly enriched in the pathways in cancer, which were closely related with cell proliferation regulation. Next, HCC data was downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus database (GEO). The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and DisGeNET were analyzed by bioinformatics, and 79 biomarkers were obtained. Furtherly, nine targets of ACDP active components were revealed, and they were significantly enriched in PI3K/AKT and cell cycle signaling pathways. The affinity between these targets and their corresponding active ingredients was predicted by molecular docking. Finally, in vivo and in vitro experiments showed that ACDPs could reduce the activity of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway and downregulate the expression of cell cycle-related proteins, contributing to the decreased growth of liver cancer. Altogether, PI3K/AKT-cell cycle appears as the significant central node in anti-liver cancer of A. Cinnamomea.