IL-8 is a cytokine which belongs to the chemotactic superfamily.It is one of the major mediators in the inflammatory response.In recent years,it was found that it had multiple functions,such as chemoattractant,potent angiogenic,and so on.The cytokine is believed to play an important role in the pathogenesis of inflammation,tumor progress and immune disease.In this review,the properties of IL-8 and highlight its roles on inflammation and tumor progress were surveied.

OBJECTIVE: To understand the research on the development and application of non-fusion inter-spinous stabilization devices.DATA SOURCES: Using the key terms of "inter-spinous and low back pain", relevant articles on non-fusion inter-spinous stabilization devices and low back pain in English were retrieved from Medline between January 1966 and October 2004 and the Ovid database between January 2003 and June 2007.STUDY SELECTION: Titles and most abstracts of all articles on the types of non-fusion inter-spinous stabilization devices and action mechanisms of non-fusion inter-spinous stabilization devices were selected. Duplicated researches and meta analytic papers were excluded.DATA EXTRACTION: A total of 351 articles met the inclusion criteria and 322 were excluded. Among them, 29 papers were analyzed. The major exclusion factor was duplicate studies.DATA SYNTHESIS: Non-fusion inter-spinous stabilization devices can improve mechanism of low back pain and cause certain effects on the biodynamic environment of degenerative lumbar vertebrae, such as relieving loading of the posterior border of the anulus fibrosus of the intervertebral disc and opening the intervertebral foramen. At present,non-fusion inter-spinous stabilization devices, such as X-STOP, Wallis and DLAM, have been tested for a long time;therefore, the effects of their effectiveness, utility and risk of complications will be proved by clinical experiments as soon as possible.CONCLUSION: Non-fusion inter-spinous stabilization devices have good effects on the treatment of degenerative low back pain originating in the anulus fibrosus of the intervertebral disc and can reduce complications caused by the fusion technique.

It is one of the common problems faced by many medical schools how to carry out the hidden curriculum in humanities education of medical education.This article approaches the composition and connotation of the curriculum in order to improve the relevance and effectiveness of the humanities education of medical education

Objective To study the effects of acute hypervolemic hemodilution (AHH) with hydroxyethly starch 130/0.4 on function of blood clotting in patients undergoing spinal operation. Methods Thirty patients scheduled for spinal operation were randomly divided into AHH group and control group with 15 cases each. Patients in AHH group were performed AHH by transfusing hydroxyethly starch 130/0.4 (15 ml/kg) with 25 ml/min before skin incision, to achieve expansion of 20% to 30%. Patients in control group were transfused routinely. Blood samples were taken from internal jugular vein before anesthesia induction (T0), at 1 h after anesthesia induction (T1) and termination of operation (T2) for determination of hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrit (Hct), platelet (Plt), prothrombin time(PT), partial thromboplastin time ( APTT), thrombin time( TT) and fibrinogen( FIB), at the same time heart rate( HR), mean arterial pressure (MAP) and central venous pressure (CVP) were observed and recorded. Results HR and MAP in both groups had no statistical difference within or between groups (P > 0.05). CVP at T1 and T2 in AHH group [(11.8 ± 1.0,(11.3 ± 1.0) cm H2O (1 cm H2O = 0.098 kPa)]were higher than that at T0 [(6.3 ±0.7) cm H2O]and that in control group ( P < 0.05). Hb and Hct at T1 and T2 in AHH group were lower than that at T0 and that in control group (P< 0.05). Plt and FIB at T1 and T2 in AHH group decreased significantly than that at T0(P<0.05), while there were no statistical difference between two groups(P> 0.05). PT, TT and APTT in both groups had no statistical difference within or between groups (P > 0.05). Conclusion AHH with hydroxyethly starch 130/0.4 has no significant effect on function of blood clotting in patients undergoing spinal operation.

BACKGROUND: It is controversial whether bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells can retain in cardiac injured position, or differentiate into cardiomyocytes or not. OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of recombinant human growth hormone and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) intravenous transplantation on myocardium and angiogenesis in rats with congestive cardiomyopathy. METHODS: BMSCs were collected from rats by density gradient centrifugation and adhesive-screening method. Models of cardiac failure were established using adriamycin induction in the model, cell transplantation, growth hormone and combination groups. Following model establishment, cell transplantation group received BrdU-labeled BMSCs (8×10~(13)/L) via vein. Growth hormone group underwent subcutaneous injection of human growth hormone 2 U/kg per day, for 14 consecutive days. Combination group received injection of human growth hormone and BMSC transplantation. At week 4, samples were collected. Immunohistochemical staining for BrdU+MHC and BrdU+Actin was used to determine homing of BMSCs to evaluate the differentiation of transplanted cells into cardiomyocytes and vascular endothelia cells. Hematoxylin-eosin staining was utilized to detect vascular density. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Compared with the cell transplantation group, positive rate of Brdu immunohistochemistry was increased in the combination group (P < 0.001). The number of cardiomyocytes and vascular endothelia cells was significantly increased following Brdu+MHC and Brdu+Actin staining (P < 0.001). Compared with the model group, total vascular density, microvessel density and capillary density were significantly increased in the growth hormone, cell transplantation and combination groups (P < 0.001). No significant difference was determined among growth hormone, cell transplantation and combination groups (P > 0.05). Intravenous transplantation of BMSCs could repair cardiomyocytes and vascular endothelial cells by homing into the heart. BMSCs could survive in damaged area and differentiate into cardiomyocytes or vascular endothelial cells and increase the vascular density significantly. Growth hormone could improve microenvironment and raise rates of differentiating into cardiomyocytes or vascular endothelial cells.

Objective To evaluate the effect of age on pharmacodynamics of eisatracurium target-controlled infusion(TCI). Methods Forty patients under N_2O-O_2-propofol-fentanyl anesthesia were divided into groups of Ⅰ and Ⅱ with 20 cases each. Under TOF stimulation monitoring, eisatracurium 0. 15 mg/kg was injected and tracheal intubation was performed when TOFr being zero. and the intubation conditions were evaluated. When T1 restored to 50% cisatracurium TCI started to keep TOFr less than 10%. The recovery times of neuromuscular blockade were recorded after stopping infusion. The amount of cisatracurium consumption was calculated. Results Intubation conditions the onset time and recovery index were not significantly different between two groups. The nonresponse period, duration of action, and recovery time were longer in group Ⅰ than those in group B. Cisatracurium consumption was more in group Ⅰ than that in group Ⅱ (P<0.05). Conclusion By TCI,cisatracurium dosage needed for keeping TOFr less than 10% is less,but the recovery process is still longer in the elderly than those in the younger.

Suture was a traditional method for tissue repair. However, sutures used in the closure of surgical wounds can induce inflammation and lead to scarring that appears as crosshatch marks. Threads used for sutures may cause immune response and surgical infection. In this review, we introduce a novel sutureless technique for wound repair, called photochemical tissue bonding (PTB). Absorption of visible light by a photosensitizing dye initiates photochemical reactions leading to covalent protein-protein crosslinks that bridge the wound surfaces, thus producing an immediate seal between the wound surfaces. This technique has been applied in various tissues including skin, cornea, nerve, blood vessels, et al. PTB reduces inflammation resulting in less scarring in skin. PTB dramatically improves the incidences of vascular anastomotic leakage and stricture. In addition, PTB enhances the recovery of nerve function after nerve repair.

Independent component analysis (ICA) aims at decomposing an observed random vector into statistically independent variables. Fast independent component analysis (FastICA) algorithm and its variants are catching more attention because of their simplicity and convergence speed. In this paper, a novel method referred to robust independent component analysis (RobustICA), based on normalized kurtosis and optimal step-size, is analyzed in detail. When applied to fetal electrocardiogram (FECG) extraction and compared with FastICA, it gave decent results and showed prosperous future usages.
Algorithms ; Electrocardiography ; Female ; Fetal Heart ; physiology ; Fetal Monitoring ; Fetus ; Humans ; Pregnancy ; Principal Component Analysis ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted

Objective To investigate the changes in the expression of Egr-1, C-jun and IL-1? mRNA and protein in the lung injured by mechanical ventilation. Methods Forty male SD rats weighing 250-320 g were randomly divided into 5 groups (n = 8 each): group A received no mechanical ventilation; group B-E received mechanical ventilaion for 30 (B), 60 (C), 90 (D) and 120 (E) minutes. The animals were anesthetized with intraperitoneal 3% pentobarbital 35 mg?kg-1 , tracheostomized and mechnically ventilated (VT =42 ml?kg-1 , RR = 40 bpm, I: E = 1:2, FiO2 = 21 % ) . Arterial blood samples were taken for blood gas analysis. The animals were killed at the end of mechanical ventilation in group B-E and after tracheostomy in group A. The lungs were removed for microscopic examination using HE staining. The expression of Egr-1, C-jun and IL-1? mRNA and protein was detected by RT-PCR and immuno-histochemical technique respectively. Results There was no significant difference in PaO2 and SaO2 among the 5 groups while PaCO2 was significantly decreased in group B and C but increased in group E as compared with group A. The expression of Egr-1, C-jun and IL-1? mRNA and protein was significantly increased by mechanical ventilation in a duration - dependent manner. Histological studies demonstrated that the damage to the lung was correlated with the duration of mechanical ventilation in terms of perivascular inflammatouy cell infiltration, exudates and hemorrhage in the alveoli and thickening of alveolar walls. Conclusion The results of our study show that mechanical ventilation activates and upregulates the expression of the early response genes in a duration - dependent manner. The upregulation of the expression of these genes might be involved in the underlying mechanism of lung damage induced by mechanical ventilation.