Hyperlipidemia is a common clinical disease. In recent years, the incidence of hyperlipidemia increased, and patients gradually increased. Hyperlipidemia easily leads to atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease and other cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and causes crisis to human health. Clinically, Western medicine treatment has a good effect, but also the existence of side effects and even toxic effects, long-term use of drug resistance and other issues. Chinese materia medica (CMM) under the guidance of traditional Chinese medicine theory, with good efficacy and side effects of small features in the clinical dialectical treatment, plays the characteristics of Chinese medicine, and has obvious advantages. In this paper, CMM monomer, single CMM, compound, and integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine in the treatment of hyperlipidemia were reviewed, and Chinese medicine lipid-lowering development prospects and problems were analyzed.

The research on quality control of Chinese materia medica (CMM) has always been the key to the research and development of CMM. The quality standard of CMM determines the safety and effectiveness of CMM. As the effective ingredients of CMM, pharmacological material base is not clear, making it difficult to internationalization of traditional Chinese medicine. Faced with this problem, modern pharmacy research has made a lot of remarkable results. The determination of intrinsic components by high performance liquid chromatography, gas chromatography and so on, from single index to multi-index, combined with fingerprints and pharmacological effects of research have made a lot of progress. Quality markers of the new concept of the proposed quality standards for CMM put forward new requirements, is conducive to the establishment of quality control and quality traceability system of CMM, which brings new hope for the development of CMM industry.

Objective To investigate modified technique of renal transplantation model in rats.Methods Sprague-Dawley rats were selected as donors ( n=21 ) and Wistar rats as recipients ( n=42 ) .Renal allografts of both sides were harvested from the donors for renal transplantation.After resection of left kidney , end-to-end anastomosis of renal arteries between donor and recipient was performed by the assistance of home-made catheter.And end-to-end anastomosis between recipient's renal vein and donor's inferior vena cava was also performed.The donor's ureter with bladder patch was anastomosed to the recipient's bladder.Finally the right kidney was removed , cefminox (10 mg) was injected intraperitoneally , and then the abdominal cavity was closed.The operation data were recorded , including the operation time , artery and vein anastomosis time , cold and warm ischemia time and so on.Living for 3 days after operation was regarded as a success model.The success rate of modeling was calculated and the cause of death was analyzed.Results The operation time of donor was (32.7 ±5.6) min, and repair time for kidney was (4.2 ±1.1) min.The operation time of recipient was (42.3 ±42.3) min, including (10.1 ±3.2) min of the artery anastomosis time , (13.9 ±2.5) min of vein anastomosis time, (6.3 ±1.4) min of urinary tract reconstruction time.Warm ischemia time was (5.4 ± 1.8) s, and cold ischemia time was (56.2 ±7.3) min.In 42 recipient rats, 40 rats were successful modeling and the success rate was 95.2%.Two rats died.One died of artery anastomosis hemorrhage , and the other died of diffuse peritonitis caused by urine leakage.Conclusions Renal transplantation model in rats with modified vascular end-to-end anastomosis has the characters of simple handling , short operation time and high success rate.

OBJECTIVETo explore the relationship and interaction of elevated fasting glucose and hypertension on cardiocerebral vascular disease.

METHODS10 054 males and females were recruited for our cross-sectional study during May 2007 to August 2007. Unconditional logistic regression was used to analysis the relationship between fasting glucose and hypertension on cardiocerebral vascular disease. A product of fasting glucose and hypertension was added to the logistic regression model to evaluate the multiplicative interaction and relative excess risk of interaction (RERI), attributable proportion (AP) of interaction and synergy index (S) was applied to evaluate the additive interaction of the two factors. Bootstrap was used to calculate 95% confidence intervals (CI) of RERI, AP and S.

RESULTSAfter adjusting age, gender, smoking, drinking, body mass index (BMI) and region, the product of fasting glucose and hypertension was not statistically significant, which means there was no multiplicative interaction between the two. But the additive indexes RERI, AP and S with 95%CI of diabetes and hypertension were 0.64 (0.03, 1.25), 0.27 (0.01, 0.47) and 1.83 (1.02, 5.13) respectively, which means significant additive interaction was shown between the two on cardiovascular disease but not no stroke. And there were no additive interaction between impaired fasting glucose on cardiovascular disease or stroke.

CONCLUSIONSHypertension was independently related to cardiovascular disease and stroke in Beijing citizens, and diabetes were independently related to stroke. There was additive interaction between diabetes and hypertension on cardiovascular disease.

Adult ; Aged ; Blood Glucose ; metabolism ; Blood Pressure ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; epidemiology ; Cerebrovascular Disorders ; epidemiology ; China ; epidemiology ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension ; blood ; complications ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Risk Factors

OBJECTIVETo observe the prevalence, awareness, treatment and control rate of hypertension and to evaluate the 10-year absolute risk of coronary heart disease(CHD) and ischemic cardiovascular disease(ICVD) in Chinese cardiovascular physicians.

METHODSA total of 4032 cardiovascular physicians (28 to 79 years old) from 386 hospitals in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities were randomly selected and received an epidemiologic survey of prevalence, awareness, and control of hypertension and evaluations of CHD and ICVD risk.

RESULTSThe prevalence of hypertension in Chinese cardiovascular physicians was 13.1%. The awareness rate of hypertension in Chinese cardiovascular physicians was 81.7%. Hypertension treatment rate was 69.6% and blood pressure control rate was 44.6%. The prevalence of hypertension was higher in male physicians than in female physicians before the age of 55 years old. Ten-year absolute risk of CHD and ICVD was 0.08 and 0.03 in hypertensive physicians compared to 0.03 and 0.01 in non-hypertensive physicians.

CONCLUSIONSThe results show suboptimal awareness, treatment and control rate in Chinese cardiovascular physicians for their own hypertension status.Physicians suffering from hypertension face higher risk for cardiovascular disease. It is therefore necessary to improve the self-monitoring of blood pressure in Chinese cardiovascular physicians.

Adult ; Aged ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; China ; epidemiology ; Coronary Disease ; epidemiology ; Female ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Humans ; Hypertension ; epidemiology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myocardial Ischemia ; epidemiology ; Physicians ; Prevalence ; Risk Factors

Currently, pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) as practiced in many developed countries is different from ours in China. Chinese pediatric emergency medicine is just children's internal medicine and does not include general surgery, ear-nose-throat, etc. If children have an emergency condition that require specialized treatments they need to go to different departments. However in Canada, the pediatric emergency physicians will first treat the patients whatever the condition, then, if it is a complicated sub specialty problem, they will consult the specialist or let the patient see the specialist later. In addition, resuscitation is done in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) in China, but it is done in the emergency room in Canada. This article compares the differences in the pediatric emergency systems in Canada and China and also introduces the international standard system of pediatric triage.
Canada ; Child ; China ; Emergency Medicine ; education ; Humans ; Internship and Residency ; Pediatrics ; education ; Triage

OBJECTIVETo investigate the possibility of transdifferentiation of adipose mesenchymal stem cells (AMSCs) into hepatocytes.

METHODSHuman omentum adipose tissue was dispersed with collagenase I. Cells collected were cultured in a DMEM-F12 medium containing 2% FBS supplemented with 20 ng/ml HGF, 10 ng/ml FGF4, 1xITS and 0.1 micromol/L dexasmison. The cells of the control group were also cultured in the same kind of medium but without any cytokines serving as a control. The expression of hepatic transcriptional factors such as GATA4 and HNF1 were checked by RT-PCR. At the end of the induction, hepatocyte markers were analysed by flow cytometry, and cytokeratin expressions were examined using cyto-immunofluorescence methods.

RESULTSAMSCs grew like fibroblasts and were passaged easily. Most of the third passaged AMSCs were positive against anti-CD29, anti-CD44 antibodies, but negative for the anti-CD34 and anti-CD45 ones. The hepatic transcriptional factor was expressed gradually to higher levels during the induction time. AFP and Alb positive cells were 30.0% and 17.8% of the total cultured cells, and the rate of cells positive to the two markers was 6.9%. The inducted cells were positive for CK18 and CK19 antibodies at the end of the induction. The cells in the control group were negative when checked by these methods.

CONCLUSIONSAMSCs could be directed to differentiate into hepatocytes in vitro by a cytokine cocktail with a low concentration FBS culture system.

Adipocytes ; cytology ; Cell Differentiation ; Cell Transdifferentiation ; Cells, Cultured ; Hepatocytes ; cytology ; Humans ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; cytology

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the effects of rapamycin (RPM)-loaded poly (lactic-co- glycolic) acid (PLGA) nanoparticles (NPs) on the proliferation, distribution of cell cycle, and expression of p27 protein in human umbilical arterial vascular smooth muscle cell (HUASMC) in vitro.

METHODSThe primarily culture model of HUASMC was successfully established by explant-attached method in vitro. The cells were administrated with different doses of RPM, and RPM-PLGA NPs were observed as treat groups compared with PLGA NPs and M231-SMGs medium cultured group. The effect of RPM-PLGA NPs on proliferation of HUASMC was assessed using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) colorimetry method. The influences of RPM-PLGA NPs on the cell cycle and cellular growth kinetics of HUASMCs were tested by flow cytometry. The effect of RPM-PLGA NPs on the expression of p27 protein of HUASMCs was assessed through an immunohistochemical method.

RESULTSCompared with the control group, the proliferation of HUASMCs was inhibited by 50 microg/L and higher concentration of RPM-PLGA NPs in a dose-dependent manner (P < 0.05). The numbers of cells entering cell cycle of S/G2/M phases were significantly lower in RPM-PLGA NPs and RPM treated groups. Histologically, the expression of p27 were up-regulated in 500 microg/L RPM-PLGA NPs and 100 microg/L RPM treated group (all P < 0.01 ) when compared with the control group.

CONCLUSIONSRPM-PLGA NPs has a similar effects as RPM in inhibiting the growth of in vitro cultured HUASMC. It can remarkably suppress the expression of in vitro cultured HUASMC p27 protein, arrest its cell cycle at G1/S phase, and inhibit its proliferation.

Cell Cycle ; drug effects ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Cells, Cultured ; Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p27 ; metabolism ; Drug Carriers ; Humans ; Lactic Acid ; Muscle, Smooth, Vascular ; cytology ; Myocytes, Smooth Muscle ; cytology ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Nanoparticles ; Polyglycolic Acid ; Sirolimus ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; Umbilical Arteries ; cytology

Objective To investigate the correlation between red cell volume distribution width (RDW) and the mortality rate of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) patients after renal transplantation. Methods Clinical data of 106 ARDS patients undergoing renal transplantation were retrospectively analyzed. According to RDW, all patients were assigned into the normal (≤15.0%, n=68) and increasing RDW groups (>15.0%, n=38). Baseline data and the incidence of adverse events were statistically compared between two groups. Kaplan-Meier survival curve was adopted to compare the 50 d-mortality rate between two groups. Cox's proportional hazards regression model was utilized to identify the risk factors of the mortality of ARDS patients. Results Among 106 patients, the 50 d-mortality rate was calculated as 43.4% (46/106). The sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score, serum creatinine, hemoglobin and platelet count significantly differed between two groups (all P<0.05). In the increasing RDW group, the 50 d-mortality rate and the incidence of infectious shock were significantly higher than those in the normal RDW group (both P<0.05). Kaplan-Meier survival curve demonstrated that the 50 d-mortality rate significantly differed between two groups (P<0.01). Cox's proportional hazards regression model univariate analysis revealed that hemoglobin level<100 g/L, serum creatinine>133 μmol/L, platelet count<100×109/L, severe ARDS and RDW>15.0% were the potential risk factors of the 50 d-mortality rate in ARDS patients (all P<0.05). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that severe ARDS [odd ratio (OR)=12.77, 95%confidence interval (CI) 11.63-15.39, P<0.001] and RDW>15.0% (OR=2.01, 95%CI 1.02-3.94, P<0.043) were the independent risk factors of the 50 d-mortality rate in ARDS patients. Conclusions RDW elevation is correlated with the severity of disease and 50 d-mortality rate in ARDS patients following renal transplantation. RDW can serve as a clinical parameter to predict the prognosis of ARDS patients after renal transplantation.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the relationship between marital status and prevalence of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) among Beijing residents.

METHODSFrom May to August 2007, 10 054 residents were interviewed to collect demographic and biochemistry information. Generalized linear mixed model was used to determine the relationship between marital status and prevalence of PAD in terms of OR and corresponding 95% confidence intervals.

RESULTSAfter adjusting the traditional risk factors including age, area, lipid, serum glucose, blood pressure, central obesity, smoking, drinking and physical activities for PAD, relationship between marital status and prevalence of PAD was found both at the female and male groups of those with 45 years or older. Compared with married men, OR and 95% confidence interval of PAD for unmarried men were 1.56 (0.39 - 6.35) and 1.61 (0.77 - 3.35) for those with 45 years younger and older respectively, while compared with married women, OR and 95% confidence interval of PAD for unmarried women were 0.75 (0.22 - 2.57) and 1.78 (1.23 - 2.58) for those with 45 years younger and older respectively. Significant differences (all P < 0.01) were found between married and unmarried women of 45 years or older in terms of age, waist circumstances, systolic blood pressure, fasting glucose, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein and smoking.

CONCLUSIONSPeripheral arterial disease was related to marital status for women of 45 years or older among Beijing residents. Estrogen level and the distribution of other PAD risk factors might contribute to the observed finding.

Adult ; Aged ; Alcohol Drinking ; epidemiology ; Blood Pressure ; Cholesterol ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Lipoproteins, LDL ; Male ; Marital Status ; Middle Aged ; Peripheral Arterial Disease ; epidemiology ; Peripheral Vascular Diseases ; Prevalence ; Risk Factors ; Smoking ; epidemiology