To evaluate the significance of plasma ACTH (pACTH), serum cortisol (SC) and urinary free cortisol UFC as well as low or high dose dexamethasone suppression test in Cushing syndrome, the levels of hormones were evaluated in 136 cases of Cushing syndrome. It was found that the levels of SC and UFC were elevated in almost all the 121 patients with Cushing syndrome. The mean levels of pACTH were higher in 86 patients with Cushing disease and lower in 36 cases with adrenocortical tumor or ACTH independent nodular adrenocortical hyperplasia (AINAH) than those in normal subjects. The ACTH levels might be in normal range in many patients with Cushing syndrome, but they were higher in patients with Cushing disease and lower in the patients with adrenocortical tumor or AINAH than those of the high limit at ACTH0am in normal subjects. It was a common feature that the diurnal rhythm of hormone secretion disappeared and the hormone levels were not suppressed by low dose dexamethasone suppression test in the patients with Cushing syndrome. In more than 90% of the patients with adrenocortical tumor or AINAH the levels of SC and UFC were not suppressed by high dose dexamethasone. In 12 of clinically cured patients with Cushing disease the levels of pACTH8am, SC8am and UFC were normal or even low. The pACTH levels were low in two patients with iatrogenic Cushing syndrome. The results suggested that examinations of SC, UFC and low dose dexamethasone suppression test were very important in the diagnosis of Cushing syndrome. The pACTH level was a key parameter to distinguish Cushing disease from adrenocortical tumor or AINAH.

Animals ; Cardiac Electrophysiology ; Heart Atria ; innervation ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Vagus Nerve ; physiology

? AlM: To examine choroidal thickness and its relationship with axial length and spherical equivalent by spectral domain optical coherence tomography ( SD -OCT ) in patients with myopic choroidal neovascularization ( mCNV) .
?METHODS: We prospectively recruited 30 cases of mCNV in Beijing Anzhen Hospital from October 2010 to December 2014. SD-OCT was used to measure choroidal thickness subfoveally and at 1. 5mm superiorly, inferiorly, nasally and temporally ( SFCT, SCT1. 5mm , lCT1. 5mm , NCT1. 5mm , TCT1. 5mm ) . Paired t- test was conducted to assess the difference of spherical equivalent, axial length and choroidal thickness between mCNV group and controls. Logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate the correlation between spherical equivalent, axial length, choroidal thickness and mCNV.
?RESULTS: The difference of spherical equivalent and axial length between mCNV group and controls was not significant (P>0. 05). lnferior was decreased in mCNV group compared with controls (140. 85±33. 46μm vs 168. 95±45. 36μm). The difference was significant (P=0. 008). Logistic regression demonstrated that decreased choroidal thickness ( lCT1. 5mm ) at inferior location was associated with mCNV (OR=2. 12;95%CI 1. 35~3. 28;P=0. 02).
?CONCLUSlON: The decrease of lCT1. 5MM may be one of the risk factors of mCNV.

Our previous research indicated that the Streptomyces pactum Act12 (Act12) had a certain promotional effect on tanshinone accumulation and up-regulated the expression of genes 3-hydroxy-3-methyglutaryl-CoA reductase (HMGR) and 1-deoxy-d-xylulose-5-phosphate reductoisomerase (DXR) in Salvia miltiorrhiza hairy roots. This study focuses on the roles of reactive oxygen species in S. pactum Act12-induced tanshinone production in S. miltiorrhiza hairy roots. The 4% Act12, 4% Act12 + CAT and 4% Act12 + SOD were added to S. miltiorrhiza hairy root and subcultured for 21 days, the dry weight, contents of reactive oxygen species, contents of tanshinones and expression of HMGR and DXR were determined at different harvest-time. The generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in S. miltiorrhiza hairy roots was triggered by 4% Act12 treatment. The relative expressions of genes HMGR and DXR in 4% Act12 treatment were 32.4 and 4.8-fold higher than those in the control. And the total tanshinone in the hairy roots was 10.2 times higher than that of the control. The CAT and SOD could significantly inhibit the ROS accumulation and relative expressions of genes HMGR and DXR in 4% Act12 treatment, which induced the total tanshinone content was decreased by 74.6% comparing with the 4% Act12 treatment. ROS mediated Act12-induced tanshinone production. The Act12 may be via the ROS signal channel to activate the tanshinone biosynthesis pathways. Thereby the tanshinon content in hairy roots was increased.
Aldose-Ketose Isomerases ; genetics ; metabolism ; Diterpenes, Abietane ; biosynthesis ; Plant Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Plant Roots ; enzymology ; genetics ; metabolism ; microbiology ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; metabolism ; Salvia miltiorrhiza ; enzymology ; genetics ; metabolism ; microbiology ; Secondary Metabolism ; Streptomyces ; physiology

Ectopia Cordis ; surgery ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Male

APOBEC3 is a class of cytidine deaminase, which is considered as a new member of the innate immune system, and APOBEC3G belongs to this family. The research about APOBEC3G is a new direction of innate immune defense mechanism against virus. APOBEC3G has the restrictive activity on many viral replications, which deaminates dC to dU in the viral genome and then induces extensive hypermutation. APOBEC3G can also interrupt viral replication at several phases such as reverse transcription, replication, nucleocapsid and so on by non-deamination mechanisms. However, virus can encode viral proteins to counteract the restriction activity of APOBEC3G. Elucidation of the antagonistic interaction between APOBEC3G and the virus will be contributed to development of new antiviral drugs in the future.
APOBEC-3G Deaminase ; Animals ; Cytidine Deaminase ; genetics ; metabolism ; DNA Replication ; Deamination ; HIV-1 ; physiology ; Hepacivirus ; genetics ; physiology ; Hepatitis B virus ; genetics ; physiology ; Humans ; Paramyxoviridae ; genetics ; physiology ; Retroviridae ; physiology ; Virus Replication ; vif Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus ; metabolism

In order to explore the clinical application and mechanism of the ghost points in the treatment of mental diseases, taking "the ghost points" and "mental diseases" as the theme and the key words, the literatures in recent 10 years on the treatment of mental diseases with the ghost points were collected from CNKI and Wanfang database and analyzed. It is discovered that the ghost points can treat schizophrenia, manic-depressive disorder, dementia, stroke, loss of consciousness, insomnia. anxiety, depression and hysteria and the efficacy is favorable. It is believed that the ghost points act on balancing yin and yang, regulating qi and blood, regaining consciousness and tranquilizing the mind and they achieve the very excellent effect on mental diseases. At present, the reports on this aspect are limited. Hence, it is required to promote the study on the clinical application and mechanism of the ghost points so as to enlarge the clinical indications of the ghost points and provide the powerful support on mechanism for the treatment of mental diseases.
Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Humans ; Mental Disorders ; therapy

Acute Disease ; Child ; Cytokines ; blood ; Humans ; Purpura, Thrombocytopenic, Idiopathic ; blood ; immunology

Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of silodosin in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).Methods Randomized controlled trials (RCT) on the efficacy and safety of silodosin for the treatment of BPH were retrieved from Medline (1966-2012),Embase (1988-2012),Cochrane liberary,CMCC (1979-2012),CNK1 (1979-2012) and the quality of the included RCTs were evaluated using Cochrane systematic evaluation to analyze the data statistically using Rev Man 5.1.0 software.Results Six RCTs involving 2543 participants were included for the meta-analysis.Results of analysis showed that silodosin was effective in the treatment of BPH in term of total international prostate symptom score (IPSS) (standard mean difference (SMD) =2.92,95 ％ CI =2.19-3.65,P ＜ 0.05),voiding symptom score (SMD =1.92,95％ CI =1.44-2.39,P ＜0.05),storage symptom score (SMD =0.92,95％ CI=0.60-1.24,P ＜0.05),and maximum flow rate (Qmax) score (SMD =1.56,95％ CI=1.38-1.75,P ＜ 0.05),compared with the placebo.Silodosin 8 mg was more effective than tamsulosin 0.2 mg in term of IPSS-related parameters and Qmax (P ＜ 0.05).Silodosin 8mg and tamsulosin 0.4 mg were similarly effective in all the efficacy analyses.Abnormal ejaculation was less common with tamsulosin 0.2 mg and 0.4mg (P＜0.05); overall adverse events were similar with tamsulosin 0.2 and 0.4 mg (P ＜0.05).Conclusions Silodosin was significantly more effective than placebo and tamsulosin 0.2 mg in improving symptoms and as effective as tamsulosin 0.4 mg.For adverse events,abnormal ejaculation was more common with silodosin.

The endoscopic findings of 884 cases of colonic polyps with different pathological types were retrospectively analyzed.Among all cases,there were 418 cases of tubular adenoma (47.3％ ),92 cases of fluff tubular adenoma ( 10.4％ ),334 cases of inflammatory polyps ( 37.8％ ) and 40 cases of hyperplastic polyps (4.5％ ).There were significant differences in age,location,polyp surface morphology and Yamada grouping among colonic polyps with different pathological types (P ＜0.05).The average age of fluff tubular adenoma group [ (64 ± 12)y] was the highest among all patients; and the average diameter of polyps was the largest [ ( 1.38 ± 1.09 ) cm ],lobulated and mulbenry,polyps were the most common forms; and the majority of fluff tubular adenoma was Yamada type Ⅲ or Ⅳ.The results indicate that fluff tubular adenoma was associated with higher age,larger polyp size,surface morphology and Yamada grouping (P ＜0.05).