Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Facial Paralysis ; therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Young Adult

Objective To explore the gray matter loss of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients by processing the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with computer. Method A voxel-based morphometry (VBM) method was applied in this study. Result Bilateral loss of gray matter in AD patients was found in the entorhinal/ hippocampal/parahippocampal cortex areas, amygdala, the head of the caudate nucleus, middle temporal gyrus, cingulate gyrus, inferior parietal lobule, insula and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Furthermore, area of right pulvinar, cortex of superior temporal gyrus and superior parietal lobule reduced significantly. On the other hand, somatosensory/motor cortex, cerebellum and occipital lobe were relatively intact. Conclusion VBM overcomes the shortcomings of region of interesting(ROI), such as time-consuming, dependence on observer, and poorly reproducible, and can analyze the gray matter loss objectively and automatically and have a good perspective for clinical applications.

Adult ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Knee Joint ; Male ; Mucin-1 ; metabolism ; Neurilemmoma ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; S100 Proteins ; metabolism ; Sarcoma, Synovial ; metabolism ; pathology ; Sweat Glands

OBJECTIVETo investigate the diagnosis and therapy of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients with pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE).

METHODS11 hospitalized cases were reviewed retrospectively in PUMC Hospital during January 1984-July 2001.

RESULTSAll 11 cases were suffered from severe active lupus with PTE. The SLE-DAI (SLE-disease active index) was 21.9 +/- 4.9. 7 cases had first onset of progressive Raynaud phenomenon. Anti-RNP antibody was positive in 73% of the cases. Echocardiogram revealed medium-severe pulmonary hypertension. When PTE was found, while 6 cases had started with smaller to medium dose of prednisone treatment, which was 20-30 mg/d, and other 4 cases received no prednisone. Only 1 received large dose of prednisone and immunosuppressor. Large dosage of prednisone, immunosuppressor with or without anticoagulant were given to those 6 and 4 patients after final diagnosis, respectively. 6 of 7 cases showed relieved Raynaud phenomenon while 4 cases hemoptysis were disappeared, echocardiogram had confirmed that pulmonary artery pressure decreased in 4 cases. [(31.7 +/- 12.4) mmHg]. 5 cases survived, 3 were dead and 3 failed to be followed up.

CONCLUSIONSPatients of SLE with PTE are liable to be misdiagnosed or missed-diagnosed, The risk factors are active-SLE, progressive Raynaud phenomenon, and symptoms of thromboembolism, positive anti-RNP antibody and mild-medium pulmonary artery hypertension. Combined therapy of present available measures like large dose of prednisone, immunosuppressors and anticoagulant are highly recommended.

Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic ; complications ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Male ; Pulmonary Embolism ; diagnosis ; etiology ; therapy ; Retrospective Studies

In order to explore the dormancy physiological and biochemical mechanism of Paris seeds, the seed embryo growth courses, and the dynamic change of 5 enzymes, include SOD, POD, CAT, MDH, G-6-PDH were measured during variable temperature stratification. The results indicated that Paris seeds embryo grew quickly after 40 d in warm-stratification (18 ± 1) °C, at the meantime the metabolic activity was significantly strengthened. These facts showed that Paris seeds turned into physiological after-ripening process. After 60-80 d, the morphological embryo after-ripping process basically completed, and the following cold-stratification (4 ± 1) °C furthered Paris seed to finish physiological after-ripening. After 40 d, the activity of MDH decreased while G-6-PDH increased significantly. This showed that the main respiratory pathway of seed changed from TCA to PPP, which benifited breaking seed dormancy. In the whole period of stratification process, the activity variation of SOD and CAT was insignificantly and the activity of POD was enhanced significantly after shifting the seed in cold stratification process. This showed that SOD, CAT had no direct effects on breaking Paris seed dormancy but keeping the seed vigor, while the POD might involve in the process of Paris seed dormancy breaking.
Germination ; Liliaceae ; chemistry ; embryology ; enzymology ; Plant Proteins ; metabolism ; Seeds ; chemistry ; enzymology ; growth & development ; Temperature

Objective To evaluate the clinical application of hs-cTnT in diagnosis of AMI. Methods The detectable rates of hs-cTnT and con-cTnT from 147 AMI ( including 122 NSTEMI )patients on immediate admission were compared. The related biological markers including hs-cTnT, con-cTnT, CKMB mass and MYO were determined for all samples from 481 patients with chest pain on immediate admission and 4 h, 12 h ,20 h and 28 h after admission. The receiver operating characteristic curve was used to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of all markers. The change rates of hs-cTnT within 4 hours from AMI group, non-AMI heart disease group, AMI related high risk disease group and control group were compared with serial detection. Results The detection rates of hs-cTnT for AMI and NSTEMI patients were 90. 3% and 91.0%, and both were significantly higher than the rates of con-cTnT, which were 61.9% and 60. 6% (x2 =23.08,18. 64,all P＜0. 01 ). Among different makers obtained from different collecting times,hs-cTnT had the highest detection rate. For admission cases, the area under curve of hs-cTnT, con-cTnT,CKMB mass and MYO were 0.935, 0.851, 0.827 and 0.769 respectively, and the differences have statistical significance(Z1 = 3. 13, Z2 = 4. 46, Z3 = 5.62, all P ＜ 0. 05 ). Besides, there was a significant difference between the change rate of hs-cTnT of AMI and other groups (x2=166.09,P＜0. 01).Conclusions In comparison with con-cTnT, hs-cTnT could provide reliable results for earlier diagnosis of AMI, and could also reduce misdiagnosis and missed diagnosis of NSTEMI. Combining single test of hs-cTnT with serial tests was superior to using cut-off value alone in diagnosis. Moreover, it could be helpful to distinguish non-AMI patients from true AMI patients due to the improved detection sensitivity. Because of its good diagnostic performance, hs-cTnT test may limit the application value of some other "early markers".

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) exposure on the behaviors and hippocampal oxidative stress and ATPase in rats and the molecular mechanism of neurobehavioral toxicity of B[a]P.

METHODSA total of 120 male SD rats (21 days old) were randomly and equally assigned to five groups: blank control group, vegetable oil (solvent control) group, and 2.5, 5, and 10 mg/kg B[a]P exposure groups. The rats in B[a]P exposure groups were injected intraperitoneally with B[a]P once a day for 4 consecutive weeks. Then, Morris water maze and shuttle box were used to evaluate the learning and memory abilities of rats; colorimetric assay was used to measure the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase, and Ca(2+)/Mg(2+)-ATPase and the content of malonaldehyde (MDA) in the hippocampus; the concentration of Ca(2+) in the hippocampus was measured by fluorescent labeling.

RESULTSCompared with the blank control group and solvent control group, the B[a]P exposure groups exhibited significant increases in escape latency, active avoidance response latency, and passive avoidance response latency and significant decreases in number of platform crossings and active avoidance response frequency in the last test (P < 0.05 for all comparisons), with a dose-effect relationship. In addition, the B[a]P exposure groups had significantly lower activities of SOD, Na(+)/K(+)-AT-Pase, and Ca(2+)/Mg(2+)-ATPase and significantly higher MDA level and Ca(2+) concentration than the blank control group and solvent control group (P < 0.05 for all comparisons), with a dose-effect relationship.

CONCLUSIONThe neurobehavioral toxicity of B[a]P may be related to increased oxidative stress and decreased activities of Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase and Ca(2+)/Mg(2+)-ATPase in the hippocampus of rats.

Animals ; Benzo(a)pyrene ; toxicity ; Ca(2+) Mg(2+)-ATPase ; metabolism ; Hippocampus ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Male ; Oxidative Stress ; drug effects ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Sodium-Potassium-Exchanging ATPase ; metabolism ; Superoxide Dismutase ; metabolism

This study was purposed to investigate the relationship between tissue factor associated platelet microparticles and thrombosis of patients with lymphoma by detecting the density of platelet microparticles and the tissue factor coagulative activity, and to evaluate the possibility of tissue factor coagulative activity for predication of thrombosis in lymphoma patients. This study was divided into 3 groups: A group including 50 healthy persons who did not take any drugs and had no hypercoagulation diseases; B group including 50 cases of lymphoma without thrombosis, and C group including 8 cases of lymphoma with thrombosis. The plasma was isolated from venous blood by centrifugation. The density of platelet microparticles was detected by flow cytometry; the tissue factor coagulative activity of plasma was measured by chromogenic substrate. The results indicated that compared with group A, the density of platelet microparticles increased in group B. Compared with group B, group C had significantly higher density of platelet microparticles and tissue factor coagulative activity (P < 0.01). It is concluded that the density of tissue factor associated platelet microparticle has predictive value for lymphoma with thrombosis, which can be used as target of clinical test.
Blood Platelets ; pathology ; Case-Control Studies ; Cell-Derived Microparticles ; pathology ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Lymphoma ; complications ; pathology ; Thromboplastin ; metabolism ; Thrombosis ; complications ; pathology

OBJECTIVETo explore stiletto needle and needle-knife for influence of double sufficient weight in treating knee osteoarthritis patients.

METHODSOne hundred and thirteen early and medium term knee osteoarthritis patients were randomly divided into three groups, including stiletto needle group(38 cases), needle-knife group (38 cases) and voltaren group (37 cases). In stiletto needle group, there were 13 males and 25 females with an average of(55.87±7.72) years old, treated by stiletto needle once a week, and 2 weeks were a course; there were 11 males and 27 females in needle-knife group with an average of(57.11±7.07) years old, treated by acupotome once a week, and 2 weeks were a course; there were 12 males and 25 females in voltaren group with an average age of(57.62±8.08) years old, treated by votalin emulsion smearing 3 to 5 cm on painful area of knee joint, three times a day for 2 weeks; 36 patients in normal group, including 11 males and 25 females with a mean age of (55.28±7.55) years old, treated with nothing. Gravitational four lattice used to measure bipedal back and forth load before and after treatment in further observe weight-bearing situation among three groups, d value, which was the distance from center of gravity to original point, was measured as a obvervational index, JOA score was used to evaluate clinical effect.

RESULTSFive patients were fall out, including 2 patients in stiletto needle group, 2 patients in needle-knife group and 1 patient in voltaren group. Other 108 patients were followed-up from 28 to 35 d with an average of 30 d, and without untoward effect. There was significant difference in d value between treatment group and control group at 1 month after treatment(<0.05); there was significant difference in d value among treatment group at 1 month after treatment(>0.05), and d value was decreased before treatment than that of after treatment. There was no significant difference in JOA score among treatment group after treatment at 1 month(<0.05); while had significant difference between groups(>0.05) after treatment at 1 month.

CONCLUSIONSStiletto needle, needle-knife and voltaren for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis at early and middle stage, center of gravity is closer to original point, and weight-bearing is improved. It is a easy method of four lattice to measure change of weight-bearing in KOA patients after treatment.

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the effect of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection following kidney transplantation on long-term renal function and its mechanism.

METHODSNinety-six patients undergoing kidney transplantation between March 2000 and December 2005, who completed a 3-year follow-up investigation, were divided into 3 groups according CMV-pp65 antigenemia and clinical symptoms. Group A consisted of 33 recipients with symptomatic active CMV infection, group B included 33 with asymptomatic active CMV infection and group C included 30 with inactive infection. The relation of CMV infection, transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) mRNA in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and serum creatinine (Scr) were analyzed, and the grafts in 6 cases with renal dysfunction were biopsied.

RESULTSThe expression of TGF-beta1 mRNA in PBMCs was significantly higher in group A than in the other two groups 6 months after the transplantation (P<0.01), while Scr levels showed no significant difference between the 3 groups (P>0.05). Three years later, Scr levels in group A were significantly increased as compared with those in the other two groups (P<0.01), and the rate of renal dysfunction in group A (10/33) was significantly higher than those in group B (3/33) and C(3/30) (P<0.05). In the 16 with renal dysfunction, the expression of TGF-beta1 mRNA in PBMCs significantly higher than that in the other 80 patients with normal renal function (P<0.01). Renal allograft biopsies demonstrated mild or severe interstitial fibrosis, tubular atrophy and mononuclear cell infiltration in the 6 patients with renal graft dysfunction, supporting the diagnosis of chronic allograft nephropathy (CAN).

CONCLUSIONSymptomatic active CMV infection in renal allograft recipients is an important factor contributing to the occurrence of CAN. Monitoring of TGF-beta1 mRNA expression in PBMCs proves useful in identifying patients at risk of CAN.

Adult ; Creatinine ; blood ; Cytomegalovirus Infections ; blood ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Female ; Humans ; Kidney ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; virology ; Kidney Transplantation ; Leukocytes, Mononuclear ; metabolism ; Male ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics ; metabolism ; Transforming Growth Factor beta1 ; genetics ; Transplantation, Homologous