Arsenic is one of the important metalloid elements, which is widely distributed in nature. Arsenic can cause many health hazards. However, the toxic mechanisms of arsenic have not yet been fully understood. In recent years, many studies have shown that epigenetic regulation and control mechanism is associated with arsenic toxicity. Histone modification is an important epigenetic regulation and control mechanism, changes in its patterns may be one of the mechanisms by which arsenic alters the gene expression. We reviewed the effects of arsenic on regulation of histone methylation, acetylation, phosphorylation and ubiquitination.

Objective To investigate the diagnostic accuracy of serum interleukin-8 (IL-8) in predicting severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) by conducting a Meta-analysis.Methods Publications addressing the diagnostic accuracy of serum IL-8 in the diagnosis of SAP were selected from Pubmed,Embase,Cochrane library,CBM,Wanfang,VIP,and CNKI databases.Data analysis was conducted by STATA 9.2software.Results According to the inclusion criteria,five diagnosis tests were retrieved,including 299 SAP patients and 2956 healthy controls.Meta-analysis results showed that the pooled sensitivities of IL-8 were 65.8％and 70.9％ for days 1 and 2,respectively; the pooled specificities were 66.5％ and 91.3％ for days 1 and 2,respectively; the pooled positive predictive value were 54.7 and 86.2 for days 1 and 2,respectively; the pooled negative predictive value were 75.9 and 80.3 for days 1 and 2,respectively; the area under curve (AUC) were 0.73 (95％ CI:0.21-0.97) and 0.91 (95％ CI:0.85-0.92) for days 1 and 2,respectively; and the diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) were 6.1 (95％ CI:2.8-13.2) and 23.4(95 ％ CI:8.1-63.7) for days 1 and 2,respectively.Conclusions Serum IL-8 on day 1 and 2 seems to perform high accuracy in predicting SAP,but diagnosis accuracy of serum IL-8 on day 1 was superior than that on day 1.Serum IL-8 might be an important tool for early prediction and diagnosis of SAP.

Objective To observe the effect of herbal plaster at acupoints for the excess syndrome of primary dysmenorrhea and its influence on prostaglandins.Methods The patients with of primary dysmenorrhea excess syndrome were randomized into treatment group(33 cases) and control group(31 cases).The former was treated by herbal plaster at acupoints while the latter treated by orally taking Tianqi Tongjing Capsule(Radix Notoginseng for Capsule Dysmenorrhea).Before and after the treatment,the pain scores and the accompanied symptoms were observed;and PGF2? and PGE2 of peripheral blood and renal and hepatic functions were detected.Results After treatment,the pain scores of both groups were significantly decreased(P

Defibrillators, Implantable ; Electric Countershock

Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of electroacupuncture plus needle-cupping in treating lumbar intervertebral disc herniation (LIDH). Method Eighty patients with LIDH were divided into an observation group and a control group by random number table, 40 in each group. The observation group was intervened by electroacupuncture plus needle-cupping, while the control group was by electroacupuncture plus cupping. The clinical efficacy, Modified Japanese Orthopaedic Association Scores (M-JOA) and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) were observed and comparatively analyzed. Result The total effective rate was 95.0% in the observation group, significantly different from that of the control group (P＜0.05); the M-JOA scores increased significantly (P＜0.05) and VAS scores dropped significantly (P＜0.05) in both groups, and the changes of the scores were markedly different between the two groups (P＜0.05), indicating that the improvement in the observation group was more significant. Conclusion Electroacupuncture plus needle-cupping can produce a significant therapeutic efficacy in treating LIDH.

Objective: To evaluate the cytotoxicity of nano-hydroxyapatite. Methods: Mouse lung fibroblast L-929 and primary cultured human periodontal ligament fibroblast-like cells (PDLF) were cultured in the medium of extraction of nano-hydroxyapatite or commerce hydroxyapatite at 100%,50%,10% and 0% (control) respectively.Cell growth was tested by MTT assay and the cell relative growth rate (RGR) was calculated.The cytotoxicity was graded by generally accepted standard.Results: RGR of both cell lines cultured in nano-hydroxyapatite extraction was higher than that in control HA. In 7-day culture the cytotoxicity grade of HA was 1 in 100% of HA extraction medium and 0 in 100% of nano-hydroxyapatite extraction,or in 50% and 10% of nano-hydroxyapatite or control HA extraction medium.Primarily cultured PDLF showed lower RGR than L-929 under the same condition. Conclusion: Nano-HA do not have cytotoxic effect.

【Objective】 To observe the therapeutic effect of focus-locating scalp circum-needling for ischemic stroke (IS) at acute stage. 【Methods】 Sixty-one cases of IS were randomized to two groups: group A (n=31) was treated with acupuncture on homolateral scalp region projected by CT-located focus; group B (n = 30) was treated with acupuncture on conventional scalp regions which were in charge of motor and sensory function. The cases were treated with acupuncture once a day for 30 days. The changes of symptoms and signs and the plasma contents of norepinephrine (NE) and epinephrine (E) were observed before and after treatment. 【Results】 Twenty cases were cured, 10 markedly effective, 1 effective and 0 ineffective in group A; 11 cases were cured, 15 markedly effective, 4 effective and 0 ineffective in group B. The therapeutic effect in group A was better than that in group B (P

Objective To study the expression of RUNX3 mRNA in primary liver cancer (PHC) tissue and its surrounding normal tissue,and its clinical significance.MethodsReverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed to detect the expression of RUNX3 mRNA in tumor and peritumor tissues in 51 patients with PHC.The relationship between RUNX3 mRNA expression and some clinical pathological parameters was analyzed.ResultsThe relative expression values of RUNX3 mRNA in the tumor tissue and the surrounding normal tissue were 0.4509±0.0963 and 0.9147± 0.0222,respectively.The difference was significant (t=33.6087,P＜0.001).The RUNX3 mRNA expression in tumor tissue correlated with some clinical pathological parameters including low tumor differentiation,positive cancer embolus and intrahepatic invasion and metastasis.The RUNX3 mRNA expression was not correlated with other clinicopathological parameters including gender,cancer diameter,cancer location,hemorrhage and necrosis of cancer,and histotype.ConclusionRUNX3 may be a new tumor suppressor gene for PHC.

Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of Wenjing Shexue Recipe ( WSR) in treating polycystic ovarian syndrome ( PCOS) with liver-kidney deficiency, and to explore the possible therapeutic mechanism. Methods Seventy-four PCOS patients were randomized into observation group ( N=38) and control group ( N=36). The observation group was given oral use of WSR and the control group was treated with Ethinylestradiol and Cyproterone Acetate Tablets orally. Both groups received treatment for 6 months, and were followed up for 3 moths after drug withdrawal. After treatment, the therapeulic effect was evaluated , and the changes of body mass index ( BMI) , hairiness. acne, and sexual hormone levels were monitored before and after treatment. Results ( 1) The total effective rate of the observation gorup was 92.11% and that of the control group was 75.00%, the difference being significant ( P<0.05). ( 2) After treatment for 6 months, body mass index (BMI), the scores of hairiness and acne, and serum levels of testosterone (T) and luteotrophic hormone (LH) were decreased in the observation group (P<0.05 compared with those before treatment). The control group had lower scores of hairiness and acne and serum levels of T and LH than those before treatment ( P<0.05) , but BMI showed no obvious decrease (P>0.05) . The results of follow-up showed that BMI, the scores of hairiness and acne, and serum levels of T and LH were still lower in the observation group than those before treatment (P<0.05), but the above indexes except acne scores were increased in the control group (P>0.05 compared with those before treatment) and were higher than those of the observation group (P<0.05). Conclusion WSR exerts better effect for the treatment of PCOS with liver-kidney deficiency than Ethinylestradiol and Cyproterone Acetate Tablets, and the possible mechanism is probably related with the regulation of endocrine disturbance by decreasing serum T and LH levels.

BACKGROUND:The inflammation of osteoarthritis is mediated by chondrocytes and the synovial tissue-secreted cytokines. Articular cartilage and synovial tissue contains a variety of cytokines, which play important regulatory role in the repair of articular cartilage injury.
OBJECTIVE:To analyze the relationship between chondrocytes, synovial tissue-secreted cytokines and osteoarthritis, as wel as the effect of chondrocytes and synovial tissue-secreted cytokines on osteoarthritis.
METHODS:A computer-based search was conducted in Wanfang database (www.wanfangdata.com.cn), PubMed database (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.guv/pubmed) by the first author from 2005 to 2010. The key words were“osteoarthritis, degeneration, cartilage tissue, cytokines”. A total of 146 articles were obtained through computer search, then reading the titles and abstracts for initial screen, 86 articles with the unrelated research purposes were eliminated, 40 articles with the repetitive content were excluded, and final y 21 articles related to the effect of various cytokines in the degenerative cartilage and synovial tissue of the osteoarthritis patients were included for further analysis.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The cytokines mainly refers to the activated immune cel s and some stromal cel-secreted non-specific regulate immune responses and inflammatory responses-mediated smal molecule proteins, including lymphokines produced by the lymphocytes, as wel as the single nuclear factor and other cytokines produced by monocytes macrophages. Synovial cel-secreted cytokines may partial y explain the pathological process of osteoarthritis and play an important role in joint inflammation. Although, more and more scholars have pay attention to the effect of synovial cel s and cartilage cel-secreted cytokines, but mainly studies the effect of exogenous cytokines on chondrocytes or synovial cel s, and the effect of endogenous cytokines in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis has not been extensively studied.