Masking therapy can make patients accustom to tinnitus. This therapy is safe and easy to implement, so that it has become a widely used treatment of curing tinnitus. According to surveys of tinnitus sounds, cicada sound is one of the most usual tinnituses. Meanwhile, we have not hitherto found published papers concerning how to synthesize cicada sound and to use it to ameliorate tinnitus. Inspired by the human acoustics theory, we proposed a method to synthesize medical masking sound and to realize the diversity by illustrating the process of synthesizing various cicada sounds. In addition, energy attenuation problem in spectrum shifting process has been successfully solved. Simulation results indicated that the proposed method achieved decent results and would have practical value for the future applications.
Acoustic Stimulation ; Animals ; Computer Simulation ; Hemiptera ; Humans ; Perceptual Masking ; physiology ; Sound ; Tinnitus ; therapy ; Vocalization, Animal

OBJECTIVETo investigate the pre-post operational change of argyrophilic-nucleolar organizer regions (Ag-NORs) in peripheral T-lymphocyte of patients with gastric carcinoma (GC), and to explore the effect of shenqi fuzheng injection(SFI) on it.

METHODSEighty five patients were divided into two groups according to the operation performed was radical or non-radical, and the two groups were subdivided into two by additional intravenous dripping of SFI was given to them or not. The content of Ag-NORs in peripheral T-lymphocyte in all patients before and after operation as well as in 12 healthy subjects was determined.

RESULTSContent of Ag-NORs in GC patients was significantly lower than that in the healthy subject (P < 0.01), which significantly increased after patients underwent radical operation (P < 0. 01 or P < 0.05), especially in those treated with SFI (P < 0.01). While in patients underwent non-radical operation but not treated with SFI, it showed insignificant change after operation, however it did significantly increase in those treated with SFI (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe immune function of T lymphocyte was low in patients with gastric carcinoma, post-operational adjuvant treatment of SFI can significantly improve the cellular immunity of patients.

Adjuvants, Immunologic ; therapeutic use ; Adult ; Aged ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Injections ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nucleolus Organizer Region ; metabolism ; Phytotherapy ; Silver Staining ; Stomach Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; immunology ; surgery ; T-Lymphocytes ; immunology

Objective To explore the role of adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK), a key regulator of cellular energy metabolism, in vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) migration in response to physiological cyclic stretch. Methods The Flexcell-5000T mechanical loading system was applied with a physiological cyclic stretch at 10% amplitude and 1.25 Hz frequency to primary rat VSMCs, to simulate mechanical stimulation of VSMCs in vivo. The protein expression of p-AMPK in VSMCs was detected by Western blotting, and VSMC migration was detected by wound healing test. Results Compared with the static group, physiological cyclic stretch loading for 24 h significantly decreased the area of wound healing, indicating that physiological cyclic stretch inhibited VSMC migration. The protein expression of p-AMPK in VSMCs was increased significantly after physiological cyclic stretch loading for 3 h, and was decreased significantly after 24 h. Under physiological cyclic stretch loading conditions, incubating AMPK inhibitor could significantly reduce the protein expression of p-AMPK after 3 h, and promote VSMC migration after 24 h; incubating AMPK activator AICAR under static conditions significantly increased the protein expression of p-AMPK after 3 h, and weakened VSMC migration after 24 h. Conclusions Physiological cyclic stretch inhibits VSMC migration by increasing the protein expression of p-AMPK, indicating that VSMC migration regulated by physiological cyclic stretch is of great significance for maintaining vascular homeostasis.

Objective To investigate the synergistic effects of pathologically elevated cyclic stretch and platelet-derived microvesicles (PMVs) on migration of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) and the potential role of calcium in this process. Methods The FX-5000T strain loading system was used to apply cyclic stretch to VSMCs with magnitudes of 5% and 15%, which simulated physiological and hypertensive situation respectively in vitro; wound healing assay was used to analyze VSMCs migration; Ca2+-free medium was used to remove extracellular calcium; 2-APB (an antagonist of IP3R) was used to inhibit the release of intercellular stored calcium; GSK219 (an antagonist of TRPV4) and Nifedipine (an inhibitor of L-type voltage-gated calcium channel) were applied to block the activity of respective calcium channel; thrombin was used to stimulate platelets in vitro which simulated the hypertensive activation of PMVs in vivo. ResultsCompared with 5% cyclic stretch, 15% cyclic stretch significantly promoted VSMC migration. Removal of extracellular calcium inhibited VSMCs migration, but the application of GSK219 and Nifedipine did not affect the migration up-regulated by 15% cyclic stretch; while 2-APB which inhibited the release of intracellular stored calcium could also repress VSMCs migration under 15% cyclic stretch. PMVs further promoted VSMC migration under 15% cyclic stretch condition, and both extracellular calcium and intercellular stored calcium were involved in this process. Conclusions Both intracellular and extracellular calcium play important roles in VSMC migration induced by 15% cyclic stretch, and PMVs synergistically participate in the above process. The study is aimed to provide new mechanobiological insights into the molecular mechanism and clinical targets of vascular remodeling in hypertension.