OBJECTIVE: To develop the quality specification of seeds of Peganum harmala. METHODS: According to the Chinese Pharmacopoeia (2010 Version, Volume 1) and its appendix method, the water, total ash, acid insoluble ash, 50% ethanol extractives, and heavy metal were analyzed for seeds of P. harmala. TLC method was used to separate harmaline (HAL), harmine (HAR) and vasicine (VAS) in seed samples using mixture of ethyl acetate-methanol-ammonia water (10:1.5:0.5) as a developing solvent on high performance silica G pre-coated plate with 254 nm fluorescent (GF254) and to identify them inspected under UV 366 nm, 254 nm, visualized by spraying with both Dragendorff reagent and by bioautographic assay. In the HPLC method, HAL and HAR were separated on a C18 column with acetonitrile-ammonium acetate water (19:81) as the mobile phase and detected at 330 nm. The HPLC fingerprints were performed on the same C18 column and eluted by using a linear gradient of acetonitrile (A) and 0.1 mmol · L-1 ammonium acetate buffer under the flow rate at 0.7 mL · min-1 and detected at 280 nm. RESULTS: In the TLC procedures, 254 and 366 nm fluorescent, Dragendorff reagent, and bioautographic assay for the detection of acetylcholinesterase inhibitor can be used for qualitative identification of the active ingredients. For the HPLC quantitative method, the calibration curve of HAR displayed ideal linearity over the range of 1.97-198.68 μg · mL-1 with average recovery of 99.69% (RSD of 1.89%). HAL displayed ideal linearity over the range of 1.70-345.30 μg · mL-1 with average recovery of 100.66% (RSD of 1.78%). The contents of HAL and HAR in 11 batches of seeds of P. harmala were 3.234% and 3.755%. In the characteristic fingerprints of seeds of P. harmala, four common peaks were identified. CONCLUSION: The results indicated that the water, total ash, acid insoluble ash, and 50% ethanol extractives were not more than 9.0%, 8.0%, 1.0%, and 22.0%, respectively. The heavy metal of plumbum, cadmium, arsenic, mercury, and copper were not more than 5 × 10-6, 3 × 10-6, 2 × 10-6, 2 × 10-6 and 20 × 10-6, respectively. The content limit of the sum of HAL and HAR was not lower than 5.5%. With the peak of HAL as reference peak, the variance of relative retention time of the four common peaks, in the characteristic fingerprints of seeds off. harmala, should be fluctuated in the range of 5% of the specified value. The qualitative and quantitative method established was suitable for the quality evaluation and assessment of seeds of P. harmala.

OBJECTIVETo compare clinical efficacy of Zero-profile implant for anterior cervical discectomy and fusion and conventional titanium plate with cage internal fixation for the treatment of single segmental cervical intervertebral disc herniation.

METHODSFrom August 2011 to March 2014, clinical data of 139 patients with single cervical disc herniation treated with anterior cervical discectomy and interbody fusion with internal fixation were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into two groups according to its operation method. There were 63 patients in group A which performed anterior discectomy and interbody fusion with Zero-profile;76 patients in group B which performed anterior cervical discectomy and cage plate internal fixation. JOA score and Odom functional rating between two groups were compared before and after operation. Videofluorographic swallowing study (VFSS) were used to evaluate thickness of prevertebral soft tissue. Bazaz dysphagia score were used to assess incidence of dysphagia. Postoperative AP X-ray and CT of cervical vertebra at 12 months were applied for evaluating bone graft fusion. Postoperative MRI was applied for evaluating the incidence of adjacent segment degeneration. Blood loss,operative time, preoperative and postoperative JOA score, Odom functional rating and VFSS score, Bazaz score, fusion rate between vertebral bodies and incidence of adjacent segment degeneration were compared between two groups.

RESULTSThere were no statistical meaning between two groups in JOA score, Odom functional rating before and after operation (P > 0.05); and no significant meaning in VFSS score between two groups before operation (P > 0.05); There were no significant difference in operative time and blood loss. There was statistical meaning in VFSS, Bazaz dysphagia score at 2 days, and 6 months after operation (P < 0.05). All patients obtained bone union at 1 year after operation, and no obvious meaning in fusion rate (P > 0.05). Eight patients (12.7%) in group A occurred adjacent segment degeneration and 19 patients (25%) in group B occurred adjacent segment degeneration, and there was significant meaning between two groups (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONBoth of Zero-profile implant for anterior cervical discectomy and fusion and conventional cage internal fixation for the treatment of single segmental cervical intervertebral disc herniation could obtain satisfied clinical results. While Zero-profile implant for anterior cervical discectomy and fusion has advantages of lower incidence of adjacent segment degeneration, and its mid and long term following-up results still further observation.

Adult ; Aged ; Bone Plates ; Case-Control Studies ; Cervical Vertebrae ; surgery ; Diskectomy ; Female ; Fracture Fixation, Internal ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc ; surgery ; Intervertebral Disc Displacement ; surgery ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Spinal Fusion ; Treatment Outcome

Objective:To observe the effect of liver-soothing and mind-regulating acupuncture method on the resting-state electroencephalography (EEG) in rats with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),and to provide evidence for the effect mechanism study and clinical application of acupuncture intervention for PTSD.Methods:Sixty Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into a blank control group,a model group,a grasping group,a paroxetine group and an acupuncture group,with 12 rats in each group.Except for rats in the blank control group,rats in the other groups were subjected to preparing the PTSD models using 'incarceration plus electric shock' method.After interventions,changes in rat behavior of each group were observed;changes in resting-state EEG were collected and analyzed with multichannel EEG acquisition and analysis system,and image analysis and statistical processing were performed.Results:Compared with the blank control group,the average escape latency in the model group was significantly longer (P＜0.05),and the times of crossing the platform and the effective areas were all significantly reduced (P＜0.01).Compared with the grasping group,the average escape latencies in the paroxetine group and acupuncture group were significantly shortened (P＜0.05),and the times of crossing the platform and the effective areas were all significantly increased (P＜0.05).There were no significant differences in the average escape latency,the times of crossing the platform and the effective areas between the acupuncture group and paroxetine group (all P＞0.05).Compared with the blank control group,the α-wave power spectrum value in the model group was significantly decreased,and the power spectrum values of β-wave,δ-wave and a-wave were significantly increased (all P＜0.01);compared with the grasping group,α-wave power spectrum values in the paroxetine group and acupuncture group were significantly increased (both P＜0.01),and the power spectrum values of β-wave,δ-wave and a-wave were decreased significantly (all P＜0.01).The power spectrum values of α-wave,β-wave,δ-wave and (e)-wave of rats in the acupuncture group were not significantly different from those in the paroxetine group (all P＞0.05).Conclusion:Liver-soothing and mind-regulating acupuncture method can significantly improve the abnormal EEG activity in PTSD rats,which may be one mechanism of liver-soothing and mind-regulating acupuncture method in effectively affecting the brain function in PTSD rats.

OBJECTIVETo provide reference for the safe needling depth of Dazhui (GV 14), Jianzhongshu (SI 15), Xuanshu (GV 5) and Mingmen (GV 4) in clinical acupuncture and moxibustion treatment.

METHODSThirty-two adult volunteers were divided into 3 groups, thin person group, moderate person group and fat person group according to Luo's indexes, and computer-aided tomography was used to measure the needling depth of Dazhui (GV 14), Jianzhongshu (SI 15), Xuanshu (GV 5) and Mingmen (GV 4).

RESULTSThe safe depths of perpendicular needling were different for persons of different somatotypes, for example the needling depth for Dazhui (GV 14) was (32.86 +/- 3.96) mm for the thin person group, (37.76 +/- 4.91) mm for the moderate person group, and (47.93 +/- 5.30) mm for the fat person group.

Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Humans ; Moxibustion ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

OBJECTIVETo explore the efficacy and safety of zero-profile implant for anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) in treating single cervical disc herniation.

METHODSFrom August 2011 to June 2012,30 patients with single cervical disc herniation were treated with ACDF using zero-profile implant in one motion segment. There were 18 males and 12 females with a mean age of 55.3 years old (ranged, 36 to 68). Incidence of dysphagia, height of intervertebral space and condition of bone fusion were observed after operation. Spinal nerves function and clinical results were assessed according to Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score, Odom criteria.

RESULTSAll patients were followed up from 12 to 24 months with an average of 15.9 months. The mean intraoperative blood loss was (85.3 +/- 14.2) ml (70 to 120 ml) and operative time was (90.0 +/- 12.8) min (70 to 120 ml). Preoperative, postoperative at 3 months and 1 year, JOA score was 8.72 +/- 2.36 (5.0 to 13.0), 14.72 +/- 1.66 (11.5 to 17.0) and 15.65 +/- 1.03 (13.5 to 17.0), respectively. One year after operation, according Odom criteria to assess, 22 cases got excellent results, 7 good, 1 fair. All dysphagiaes vanished completely at 3 months after operation. The lost height of intervertebral space was (0.34 +/- 0.13) mm (0.1 to 0.6 mm) and (0.39 +/- 0.15) mm (0.2 to 0.7 mm) at 3, 12 months after operation, respectively. All patients obtained bone fusion at 1 year after operation.

CONCLUSIONThe zero-profile implant is a valid alternative to anterior cervical plate in treating single cervical disc herniation with ACDF, it has advantages of convenient procedure, satisfactory effect, lower incidence of postoperative dysphagia, reliable stability and less implant-related complications.

Adult ; Aged ; Cervical Vertebrae ; surgery ; Diskectomy ; adverse effects ; methods ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc Displacement ; surgery ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prostheses and Implants ; Safety ; Spinal Fusion ; adverse effects ; Treatment Outcome

This paper aims to construct a Bayesian(BN) fault diagnosis model of traditional Chinese medicine dry granulation based on the failure model and effect analysis(FMEA), effectively control risk factors and ensure the quality of granules.Firstly, the risk ana-lysis of dry granulation process was carried out with FMEA, and the selected medium and high risk factors were taken as node variables to establish corresponding BN network with causality.According to the mathematical reasoning method of probability theory, the model was accurately inferred and verified by Netica, and the granule nonconformance was used as the evidence for reversed reasoning to determine the most likely cause of the failure that affected the granule quality.The BN fault diagnosis model of traditional Chinese medicine dry gra-nulation was established based on the medium and high risk factors of process, prescription and equipment screened out by FMEA, such as roller pressure, raw material viscosity, clearance between rollers in the paper.The fault diagnosis of traditional Chinese medicine dry granulation process was then carried out according to the model, and the posterior probability of each node under the premise of nonconforming granule quality was obtained.This method could provide strong support for operators to quickly eliminate faults and make decisions, so as to improve the efficiency and accuracy for fault diagnosis and prediction, with innovation in its application.
Bayes Theorem ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Probability

OBJECTIVETo investigate the selective strategy of the internal fixation methods in treating intertrochanteric femoral fracture by comparing the different methods.

METHODSData of 326 cases of intertrochanteric femoral fractures treated with different internal fixation methods were concluded. One hundred and sixty-five cases were treated with the dynamic hip screws (DHS group), 78 male, 87 female, age 38 to 98 years. One hundred and three cases were treated with the anatomical plates of proximal femur (AP group), 48 male, 55 female, age 39 to 89 years. Fifty-eight cases were treated with the fixation expandable proximal femoral nails (PFN group), 31 male, 27 female, age 41 to 92 years. According to Evans classification of intertrochanteric femoral fractures, fractures were divided into type I, II, III, IV and retro-intertrochanteric type. The cases of each type of three groups were DHS(12, 35, 61, 42, 15); AP(9, 23, 38, 25, 8); PFN (6, 13, 21, 13,5). Data of each group was collected for statistical analysis on the following aspects: operation time,blood loss, fluoroscopy exposures, drainage, clinical healing time of fracture, post-operative restored function and the total complications.

RESULTSThe difference of operation time, blood loss, fluoroscopy exposures, drainage, clinical healing time of fracture, post-operative restored function were of statistical significance (P < 0.01). In comparing with group DHS and AP, group PFN was of less operation time, blood loss, drainage, clinical healing time of fracture, but more fluoroscopy exposures, and the post-operative restored function of group PFN was more satisfied. The difference of operative complications were of no statistical significance (P = 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe fixation expandable proximal femoral nail is a good choice for intertrochanteric femoral fracture.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Female ; Fracture Fixation, Internal ; methods ; Fracture Healing ; Hip Fractures ; surgery ; Humans ; Internal Fixators ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting human vascular endothelial growth factor (hVEGF) on A549 cell growth in nude mice and angiogenesis on chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay.

METHODSThree pairs of hVEGF siRNA-plasmid and non-silencing-plasmid were constructed, and transfected into A549 cells through lipofectamine 2000, respectively. The most effective pair of hVEGF siRNA-plasmid was selected by ELISA and real-time RT-PCR. A549 cells transfected with selected hVEGF siRNA- plasmid, A549 cells transfected with non-silencing-plasmid and A549 cells without transfection were inoculated into nude mice, respectively. Chick embryos were randomly divided into four groups and CAM was treated by different solutions for 48 h: culture media DMEM as negative control group,un-transfected A549 cell culture supernatants as positive control group, hVEGF siRNA A549 cell culture supernatants as hVEGF siRNA group and nonsilencing siRNA A549 cell culture supernatants as non-silencing siRNA group. The CAMs were harvested on d12 for microscopic assays.

RESULTCompared with control group, hVEGF siRNA-plasmid induced 48% reduction in hVEGF secretion by A549 cells accompanied by 70% reduction in hVEGF mRNA. Compared with non-silencing siRNA group, the mean tumor volume of murine xenograft was reduced by 58% in hVEGF siRNA group; time for xenografts growing to 50 mm(3)was delayed by 5.4 d. hVEGF contents in xenograft were reduced by 54%; but mean doubling time of tumors and the growth rate of tumors were not significantly reduced. In CAM assays, hVEGF content was zero in negative group, and in hVEGF siRNA group that was 40%-44% of non-silencing siRNA group or positive group; vessels branch points of CAM in hVEGF siRNA group or non-silencing siRNA group or positive group were increased by 45%-55% compared with negative group; total vessel length of CAM in hVEGF siRNA group was increased by 53% compared with negative group, while in non-silencing siRNA group or positive group that was increased by 97% or 99%. Compared with negative control group, the proliferation of microvessels was increased when cell culture supernatant with hVEGF was added in hVEGF siRNA group, significant proliferated vessels were observed in non-silencing siRNA group or positive group.

CONCLUSIONA plasmid-mediated hVEGF siRNA has been constructed and verified, which can effectively downregulate the expression of hVEGF in human A549 cells, resulting in the inhibition of angiogenesis. hVEGF siRNA can delay initial growth of A549 tumor xenograft but not reduce the growth rate.

Adenocarcinoma ; pathology ; Animals ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; Chick Embryo ; Chorioallantoic Membrane ; blood supply ; metabolism ; Female ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; pathology ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Mice, Nude ; Neoplasm Transplantation ; Neovascularization, Physiologic ; RNA Interference ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics ; RNA, Small Interfering ; genetics ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A ; antagonists & inhibitors ; genetics

Child, Preschool ; China ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Nutritional Status ; Rural Population

Cell Line ; Cholesterol ; biosynthesis ; Hepatocytes ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Humans ; Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Synthase ; metabolism ; Lipogenesis ; Quercetin ; pharmacology