OBJECTIVETo compare the efficacy among acupuncture based on "jin" theory, regular acupuncture and western medication.

METHODSA total of 95 cases, by using incomplete randomization method, were divided into a "jin" theory acupuncture group (32 cases), a regular acupuncture group (31 cases) and a medication group (32 cases). Patients in the "jin" theory acupuncture group were treated with acupuncture based on "jin" theory which included the "gather" and "knot" points on the affected side: positive reacted points, Fengchi (GB 20), Tianrong (SI 17), Tianyou (TE16) and Yiming (EX-HN14) as the main acupoints, while the Ermen (TE 21), Tinggong (SI 19) and Tinghui (GB 2) and zhigou (TE 6) as the auxiliary acpoints; the treatment was given once a day. Patients in the regular acupuncture group were treated with regular acupuncture at Tinggong (SI 19), Tin- ghui (GB 2) and Ermen (TE 21) and other matched acupoints based on syndrome differentiation, once a day. Pa- tients in the medication group were treated with oral administration of betahistine mesylate, three times a day. Ten days of treatment were taken as one session in three groups, and totally 2 sessions were given. Visual analogue scale (VAS), tinnitus handicap inventory (THD), and tinnitus severity assessment scale (TSIS) were evaluated before and after treatment; also the clinical efficacy was compared among three groups.

RESULTSThere are 5 drop-out cases du- ring the study. After the treatment, the VAS, THI and TSIS were improved in three groups (all P < 0.05); the VAS, THI and TSIS in the "jin" theory acupuncture group were lower than those in the regular acupuncture group and medication group (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). The total effective rate was 90.0% (27/30), 80.0% (24/30) and 63.3% (19/30), which was higher in the "jin" theory acupuncture group (P < 0.05, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONThe acupuncture based on "jin" theory is superior to regular acupuncture and western medication for cervical tinnitus.

Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neck Pain ; complications ; Tinnitus ; etiology ; therapy ; Treatment Outcome

Objective To propose a modified graph cut algorithm under the elliptical shape constraint to segment the ultrasonogram of cervical lymph nodes. Methods Since cervical lymph nodes were usually oval-shaped, the prior of the elliptical shape information, which was expressed as a distance function, was used to constrain the cut cost of the graph cut algorithm. The initially segmented contour was fitted with an ellipse to get the constraint. Then a certain segmentation was obtained by minimizing the cut cost function constrained with the elliptical prior. This procedure was iterated until it to be convergent. Results Under the same user input, this algorithm successfully segmented nodes on the low contrast ultrasonograms, while the traditional graph cut approach failed. For 20 ultrasonograms, with the average minimum Euclidean distance (AMINDIST) measure and the Hausdorff distance measure, these two distances between contours manually delineated by the radiologist and those segmented by this algorithm were far less than the distances resulted from the traditional graph cut algorithm. Conclusion It is indicated that utilizing the elliptical shape constraint prior can obviously improve the graph cut algorithm for segmenting cervical nodes on ultrasonograms.

Hearing Tests ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Neonatal Screening

Prognosis and treatment of primary Sj?gren′s syndrome with renal tubular acidosis

Gout ; therapy ; Humans ; Integrative Medicine

Objective To observe the effect of iodine deficiency and hypothyroidism on the protein expressions of CREB in the entorhinal cortex of pups.Methods Twenty-eight female Wistar clean rats after pregnancy were randomly divided into control group,hypothyroid 1,2 group and iodine deficient group(7 in each group).From GD6 till PN28,iodine-deficient group was administered with iodine-deficient diet [iodine content:(14.11 ?1.96) ng/g] and tap water;hypothyroid 1 and 2 group were administered with 5 mg/L and 15 mg/L PTU in the drinking water and fed with normal diet [iodine content:(470.50?46.52) ng/g].Control group received tap water and normal diet during the experiment.Five pups from each group were sacrificed and intracardiac perfused at PN7,PN14,PN21,PN28 and PN42.Brains were removed,fixed and sectioned coronally.All sections were observed and were analyzed for the protein expression of CREB by immunohistochemistry in the entorhinal cortex.Results At PN7,there was no significant difference in the expression of Ng in all four groups.At PN14 and PN21,the expression of CREB in the entorhinal cortex in hypothyroid 1,2 group and iodine deficient group were significantly lower than those of controls(P

Objective To study the HLA-DR gene frequency in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients and its relationship with renal involvement and AN As profile. Mefliods HLA-DRB1 genotype frequency assigned by PCR amplification with sequences-specific primers (PCR-SSP) in 89 Chinese patients with SLE and 106 ethnically and geographically matched controls. Results HLA-DR2 and DR9 were significantly more frequent in SLE patient group (0.36/0.20, RR= 2.36, P

Objective To study the clinical manifestation,treatment and prognosis of patients with primary Sjgren′s syndrome and renal tubular acidosis.Methods Sixty patients who were diagnosed as pSS complicated with RTA during the last 13 years were retrospectively analyzed and followed up for 7 5 years on average.Results Distal renal tubular acidosis ( n =53,83 3%) was much more frequeut than the proximal one ( n =7,11 7%).Hypokalemic paralysis,diabetes insipitus,and calcification of the renal tissue appeared in 49 patients (92 4%).Glomerular lesions were found in 12 of the 15 patients who underwent kidney biopsy.Renal insufficiency was developed subsequently in 4 out of 5 patients with glomerular sclerosis.Abnormal serum creatinine was detected in 11 patients (18 3%),and in 7 of them it persisted 11 5 years on average after the onset of RTA.Two of them died from renal failure and 1 received hemodialysis.Hypergammaglobulinemia was more obvious in the patients with renal insufficiency than those without ( P

Objective Apuinic/apyrimidic endonuclease/redox effector factor-1(APE1/Ref-1,abbreviated as APE1) is a major member of the base excision repair(BER) pathway involved in oxidative DNA damage repair.To knock down APE1 gene expression in HOS cells with pSilence APE1,and explore its effect in combination with 252Cf neutron ray radiotherapy.Methods The constructed APE1 siRNA expression vector pSilence APE1 was transfected into HOS cells by SuperFect Transfection liposome,and it was used to knock down the expression of APE1.The HOS cells and transfected HOS cells were respectively irradiated by 252Cf neutron ray,then the cell survival(D0),DNA single strand breaks(SSB) and cell apoptosis were determined by clone formation assay,alkaline comet assay and flow cytometer.Results The cell-survival curve was plotted by clone formation assay,the D0 value was 2.80 vs.1.89 and Dq value was 2.66 vs.2.00 for the control and transfected HOS cells,respectively,after being irradiated by 252Cf neutron ray.The tail moments at 2,5 and 10 Gy were 6.664?0.648 vs.7.997?0.542,20.322?1.433 vs.25.238?1.185 and 33.909?1.245 vs.39.191?1.052,respectively,for the control and transfected HOS cells,and the cell apoptosis rate at 2,5 and 10 Gy was 4.00 vs.5.68,5.91 vs.7.55 and 9.63 vs.13.51,respectively,for the control and transfected HOS cells.All these findings showed significant difference between the two groups(P

Objective: To investigate the effect of retinoic acid on the differentiation and development of B lymphocytes, and explore the mechanism of vitaminA in increasing the production of antibodies. Method: In vitro cultured cells from children’s normal mesentery lymph nodes, before and after administration of retinoic acid or retinoic acid antagonist, the changes of cell surface markers were analyzed by flowcytometry to observe the differentiation and maturation of B cells. Results: During culture in vitro, the percent of mature CD19+IgM+ B cells increased and relatively immature CD19+IgM- B cells decreased gradually, and the changes were especially obvious at 48 h. The administration of retinoic acid further increased the percent of CD19+IgM+ B cells, and the enhancement was markedly at 24 and 48 h (P