Objective • To examine quality of life and its influencing factors in patients over 12 months after diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods • A total of 111 patients included in the study completed the self-reported measures. Quality of life was measured using Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Lung. Other measures included socio-demographic characteristics, disease- and treatment-related information, and emotional feelings. Results • The factors influencing the quality of life of NSCLC patients were investigated from two approaches: treatment and subjective feeling. Univariate Logistic regression analysis found the risk factors for low quality of life included sense of low self-esteem and loneliness, bone metastasis, pathological type, chemotherapy cycle, age, cohabitant type and financial burden. Conclusion • The factors associated with quality of life in lung cancer patients are diverse and extensive, and it warrants attention on psychological support and symptom management for these patients.

Objective • To observe the short-term clinical efficacy of adjunctive Er,Cr:YSGG laser application following subgingival scaling in patients with severe periodontitis. Methods • In this parallel control design clinical trial, 46 patients with severe periodontitis were selected. Baseline examination was performed 2 weeks after supragingival scaling. Then the patients were randomly divided into the test group and the control group, with 23 cases in each group. After ultrasonic subgingival scaling, sites with probing depth (PD) ≥ 5 mm of patients in two groups received subgingival debridement with Er,Cr:YSGG laser and hand curettes, receptively. The changes in plaque index (PLI), PD, clinical attachment level (CAL), the percentage of bleeding on probing (BOP) positive sites, and the degree of subjective pain during treatment with visual analogue scale(VAS)were compared between two groups at baseline, 6 weeks after treatment, and 3 months after treatment. Results • For sites with PD ≥ 5 mm, PLI, PD, CAL, and the percentage of BOP positive sites significantly reduced for both groups at 6 weeks and 3 months after treatment compared with baseline (all P=0.000). For sites with 5 mm ≤ PD ≤ 6 mm, the CAL of the test group was significantly lower compared with the control group at 6 weeks after treatment (P=0.036). For sites with PD ≥ 7 mm, the PDs of the test group were significantly lower compared with the control group at 6 weeks and 3 months after treatment (P=0.002, P=0.039). The PD reduction between baseline and 6 weeks after treatment was greater in the test group compared with the control group (P=0.015). The CAL of the test group was lower compared with the control group at 6 weeks after treatment (P=0.011). The VAS of the test group was significantly lower than that of the control group (P=0.005). Conclusion • Adjunctive Er,Cr:YSGG laser application following subgingival scaling can achieve similar short-term clinical efficacy compared with traditional hand curettes. Er,Cr:YSGG laser may be beneficial particularly on the reduction of PD and regain of CAL in deep pockets on a short-term basis, which can make the patients more comfortable. Subgingival scaling with adjunctive Er,Cr:YSGG laser application can be an effective way for the non-surgical periodontal therapy.

Objective: To investigate therapeutic effect of gastrin on steroid-associated osteonecrosis (SAON) in rat model. Methods: Twenty-four SD rats were randomly divided into three groups i.e. normal control group (normal group), SAON control group (SAON group) and SAON treatment group (treatment group). SAON group and treatment group were intravenously injected with lipopolysaccharide 1 time per day (600 μg/kg) for 2 d and meanwhile intramuscularly injected with methylprednisolone 1 time per day (50 mg/kg) for 3 d. Normal group was injected with normal saline of the same volumns. After steroid injections, treatment group was injected with gastrin 1 time per day (800 μg/kg) for 14 d, while SAON group was injected with normal saline of the same volumns. After the treatment, bone trabeculas below femoral head growth plate were dissected in the rats for bone histology. Hematoxylin-eosin (H-E) staining, immunohistochemistry, fluorescence staining and Goldner's trichrome staining were applied in this study. Results: SAON model in rats was successfully established. The result of H-E staining showed that compared with SAON group, thrombus area, number and area of fat cells in the bone marrows of treatment group obviously decreased (all P<0.05). Immunohistochemistry showed that osteogenic transcription factor (Sp7) positive cells in treatment group were more than those in SAON group (P<0.01). Compared with SAON group, osteoid length and area (Goldner's trichrome staining), and bone formation rate and bone mineralization deposition rate (fluorescence staining) all significantly increased in treatment group (all P<0.01). Conclusion: Gastrin can effectively treat SAON in rats by suppressing thrombus and lipid formation and enhancing boneformation.

The treatment and signaling pathway regulation effects of kidney- tonifying traditional Chinese medicine on osteoporosis have been widely studied, but without a systematic summary currently. This review comprehensively collected and analyzed the traditional Chinese medicine on the treatment and signaling pathway regulation of osteoporosis in recent ten years, such as Epimedium, Drynariae Rhizoma, Cnidium, Eucommia, Psoralen and Dipsacus. Based on the existing findings, we concluded the following conclusions: (1) kidney-tonifying traditional Chinese medicine treats osteoporosis mainly through BMP-Smads, Wnt/β-catenin, MAPK, PI3K/AKT signaling pathway to promote osteoblast bone formation and through OPG/RANKL/RANK, estrogen, CTSK signaling pathway to inhibit osteo?clasts of bone resorption. ① Epimedium, Drynariae Rhizoma, Cnidium and Psoralen up-regulate the key proteins and genes of BMP-Smads and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathways to promote bone formation.② Epimedium, Drynariae Rhizoma, Cnidium, Eucommia, Psoralen, Dipsacusinhibit the bone resorption by mediating the OPG/RANKL/RANK signaling pathway. (2) Kidney-tonifying traditional Chinese medicine prevent and treat osteoporosis through a variety of ways: Icariin, Naringin, Osthol, Psoralen can regulate BMP-Smads, Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway to promote bone formation, but also activate OPG/RANKL/RANK, CTSK and other signaling pathway to inhibit bone resorption. (3) The crosstalk of the signaling pathways and the animal experiments of the traditional Chinese medicine on the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis as well as their multi-target mechanism and comprehensive regulation need further clarification.

Objective To observe the behavior changes and synaptic reconstruction of brain and the impact of gastrodin in rats with epilepysy induced by pentylenetetrazole.Methods Fifty Wistar rats in growth(50-70 g) were randomly divided into 5 groups:control group,Pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) group,gastrodin high dose group,gastrodin low dose group and sodium valproate group,each group had 10 rats.According to Racine classification,the behavior changes of rats and the frequency were recorded.Conventional method was adopt to perfuse cordis, fix and extract the brain,and the immunohistochemistry was used to detect synaptophysin(P38) expression in the temporal lobe and hippocampus of the brain after 4 weeks.Results 1.Four weeks after pentylenetetrazole ignited the growth period rats,the attack-level of each experimental group through comparison with each other,there was statistically significant difference(?2=35.83 P0.05).Conclusions There are mossy fiber sprouting and the formation of synaptic reconstruction in temporal lobe and hippocampus of the growth period rats repea-tedly ignited by pentylenetetrazole.Gastrodin may play a role in the formation of antiepileptic obviously,and through decreasing the expression of P38,which can inhibit the formation of synaptic reconstruction,as control seizures indirectly.

OBJECTIVETo establish a method for studying efficacious materials of traditional Chinese medicines from an overall perspective.

METHODCarthamus tinctorius was taken the example. Its major components were depleted by preparing liquid chromatography. Afterwards, the samples with major components depleted were evaluated for their antioxidant effect, so as to compare and analyze the major efficacious materials of C. tinctorius with antioxidant activity and the contributions.

RESULTSeven major components were depleted from C. tinctorius samples, and six of them were identified with MS data and control comparison. After all of the samples including depleted materials are compared and evaluated for their antioxidant effect, the findings showed that hydroxysafflor yellow A, anhydrosafflor yellow B and 6-hydroxykaempferol-3, 6-di-O-glucoside-7-O-glucuronide were the major efficacious materials.

CONCLUSIONThis study explored a novel and effective method for studying efficacious materials of traditional Chinese medicines. Through this method, we could explain the direct and indirect contributions of different components to the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicines, and make the efficacious material expression of traditional Chinese medicines clearer.

Alkalies ; chemistry ; Antioxidants ; chemistry ; Carthamus tinctorius ; chemistry ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Glucosides ; chemistry ; Mass Spectrometry

To develop a cell-penetrating chimeric apoptotic peptide AVPI-LMWP/DNA co-delivery system for cancer therapy, we prepared the AVPI-LMWP/pTRAIL self-assembled complexes containing a therapeutic combination of peptide drug AVPI and DNA drug TRAIL. The chimeric apoptotic peptide AVPI-LMWP was synthesized using the standard solid-phase synthesis. The cationic AVPI-LMWP could condense pTRAIL by electrostatic interaction. The physical-chemical properties of the AVPI-LMWP/pTRAIL complexes were characterized. The cellular uptake efficiency and the inhibitory activity of the AVPI-LMWP/pTRAIL complexes on tumor cell were also performed. The results showed that the AVPI-LMWP/pTRAIL complexes were successfully prepared by co-incubation. With the increase of mass ratio (AVPI-LMWP/DNA), the particle size was decreased and the zeta potential had few change. Agarose gel electrophoresis showed that AVPI-LMWP could fully bind and condense pTRAIL at a mass ratio above 15:1. Cellular uptake efficiency was improved along with the increased ratio of W(AVPI-LMWP)/WpTRAIL. The in vitro cytotoxicity experiments demonstrated that the AVPI-LMWP/pTRAIL (W:W = 20:1) complexes was significantly more effective than the pTRAIL, AVPI-LMWP alone or LMWP/pTRAIL complexes on inhibition of HeLa cell growth. Our studies indicated that the AVPI-LMWP/pTRAIL co-delivery system could deliver plasmid into HeLa cell and induce tumor cell apoptosis efficiently, which showed its potential in cancer therapy using combination of apoptoic peptide and gene drugs.
Antineoplastic Agents ; chemistry ; Cell-Penetrating Peptides ; chemistry ; DNA ; chemistry ; Drug Delivery Systems ; HeLa Cells ; Humans ; Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; Particle Size ; Plasmids

OBJECTIVE: To develop a multiplex allele-specific PCR (AS-PCR) assay with three-color fluorescence labeling for mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) SNP typing. METHODS: Based on the principle of AS-PCR, the primer sets were designed for 20 SNP located on the coding region of mtDNA and divided into 2 groups labeled with FAM and HEX fluorescence, respectively. A primer set included two forward (reverse) allelic specific primers with different sizes and a generic reverse (forward) primer. Blood samples from 200 unrelated individuals were analyzed by AS-PCR and capillary electrophoresis. Three random samples at least for each SNP site were examined and verified by direct sequencing. The haplotype frequency was investigated. RESULTS: Distinct electropherograms of 200 blood samples were obtained successfully. The typing results of direct sequencing were identical to those obtained from AS-PCR. The minimum detectable DNA concentration was 0.2 pg under the system of 10 microL. The sensitivity of the DNA concentrations ranged from 0.5 to 5 pg. The 200 individuals were assigned into 15 haplotype, and the haplotype diversity was 0.906 0. CONCLUSION AS-PCR is a simple, rapid and efficient method for mtDNA SNP typing, and can be applied to forensic practice.
Alleles ; DNA ; DNA Primers ; DNA, Mitochondrial/analysis* ; Electrophoresis, Capillary ; Haplotypes ; Humans ; Mitochondria ; Polymerase Chain Reaction/methods* ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Sequence Analysis, DNA

Objective: To investigate the mechanisms of electroacupuncture (EA) at Zusanli (ST 36), Liangmen (ST 21) and Sanyinjiao (SP 6) in intervening diabetic gastroparesis (DGP) based on calcium-activated chloride channel. Methods: Forty Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into four groups, including a normal control group (group A), a model group (group B), an EA group (group C) and a metoclopramide group (group D), with 10 rats in each group. A single intraperitoneal injection of 2％ streptozotocin (STZ) combined with 8-week high-glucose high-fat diet was used to establish a DGP rat model. After intervention, gastrointestinal propulsive rate was observed; the expression level of transmembrane protein 16A (TMEM16A) was examined by immunohistochemistry; the Ca2+ concentration in interstitial cells of Cajal (ICCs) was detected by immunofluorescence; and whole-cell patch-clamp technique was applied to detect the current intensity of calcium-activated chloride channel (ICaCC) in ICCs in gastric antrum. Results: After modeling, the blood glucose levels in group B, group C and group D were significantly increased compared with group A (all P<0.01); after intervention, compared with group B, the blood glucose levels in group C and group D were significantly decreased (P<0.05, P<0.01); the intra-group comparison of blood glucose level between after modeling and after intervention found significant difference only in group C (P<0.01). The gastrointestinal propulsive rates in group B, group C and group D were significantly different from that in group A (P<0.01 or P<0.05); the gastrointestinal propulsive rates were markedly higher in group C and group D than in group B (P<0.01, P<0.01). The expressions of TMEM16A in group B and group C were decreased compared with group A (P<0.01, P<0.05); the expressions of TMEM16A in group C and group D were increased compared with group B (P<0.01, P<0.05). The fluorescence intensity of Ca2+ was significantly lower in group B than in group A (P<0.01); the fluorescence intensity of Ca2+ was significantly higher in group C and group D than in group B (P<0.01, P<0.05). ICaCC in ICCs in group B was significantly decreased compared with group A; ICaCC in group C and group D were increased compared with group B. Conclusion: EA at Zusanli (ST 36), Liangmen (ST 21) and Sanyinjiao (SP 6) can significantly improve gastrointestinal motility in DGP rats by up-regulating the ICaCC in ICCs.

Objective: To study the clinical efficacy of Jinghuang tablet (Rhubarb extract tablet, RET) in treating simple obesity. Methods: Four hundred and seventy-two simple obesity patients were randomly divided into 3 pairs of groups: (1) RET-2 treated group (50 cases): treated with RET vs western drug fenfluramine control group (50 cases). (2) RET treated group vs Chinese patent drug Xiaopangmei (XPM) control group with 50 cases randomly divided into each. (3) RET-1 treated group with 137 cases vs blank control of 135 cases. The aim was to observe markedly effective rate, effective rate and side-effect of RET group and fenfluramine and XPM control groups. At the same time, the slimming efficacy of RET-1 treated group and the blank control group were observed. Results: The slimming effective rate of RET is similar to that of fenfluramine (P<0.05), and better than domestically well accepted slimming Chinese patent drug XPM (P<0.05). In comparing RET-1 group with blank control group, the difference of weight loss of the 2 groups after 1 week treatment was 0.93 kg on average, which was significant. Conclusion: The efficacy of RET in treating simple obesity was similar to that of fenfluramine, but the side-effect was obviously less than that of fenfluramine, while the markedly effective rate and effective rate in slimming were significantly better than that of XPM.