OBJECTIVETo observe the clinical efficacy difference on vegetative state in children between acupoint injection combined with plum-blossom needle and western medication based on basic treatment.

METHODSForty-eight children of vegetative state were randomized into an observation group and a control group, 24 cases in each one. On the basis of the treatment of transcranial magnetic stimulation apparatus, balancing treatment apparatus and massage, the acupoint injection and tapping method with plum-blossom needle were adopted in the observation group, in which Xingnaojing injection, mouse nerve growth factor (mNGF) injection, monosialotetrahexosylganglioside sodium injection (MSI), compound Danshen injection were divided in 6 pairs and were injected respectively in Baihui (GV 20), Yongquan (KI 1), Fengfu (GV 16), Yamen (GV 15) and the others, 0.5 mL in each acupoint, once a day for continuous 10 days. Additionally, the tapping method with plum-blossom needle was used on the Governor Vessel and Jiaji (EX-B 2) on the back. In the control group, the intravenous infusion was adopted with citicoline sodium injection, mannitol injection and dexamethasone injection. The treatment was given once a day, 20 days of treatment made one session and totally 3 sessions were required in the two groups. The clinical efficacy, the vegetative state score and the mean curing time were observed after 20 days, 40 days and 60 days of treatment between the two groups.

RESULTSThe effective rates were 58.3% (14/24), 70.8% (17/24) and 79.2% (19/24) in 20 days, 40 days and 60 days of treatment in the observation group and 20.8% (5/24), 45.8% (11/24) and 58.3% (14/24) in the control group respectively. The efficacy in the observation group was superior to those in the control group (P < 0.01, P < 0.05). The vegetative state score was improved apparently after 20 days, 40 days and 60 days of treatment as compared with those before treatment separately (all P < 0.05). It was improved obviously at the each time point after treatment in the observation group as compared with that in the control group (3.34 +/- 2.41 vs 2.64 +/- 11.56, 6.20 +/- 1.46 vs 4.34 +/- 1.64, 11.26 +/- 2.63 vs 8.75 +/- 2.18, all P < 0.05). The mean curing time was (45.67 +/- 16.24) days in the observation group, which was shorter apparently than that of (55.34 +/- 4.57) days in the control group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONBased on basic treatment acupoint injection combined with tapping method of plum-blossom needle achieve the reliable efficacy on vegetative state in children.

Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; instrumentation ; Animals ; Child, Preschool ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Mice ; Nerve Growth Factor ; administration & dosage ; Persistent Vegetative State ; drug therapy ; therapy ; Phenanthrolines ; administration & dosage ; Treatment Outcome

Objectives To search for the relationship between HP and lesions of gastric mucosa of children.Methods Four hundred and fifty-eight bioptic specimens-from eastrie mueosa in children were strained with hematoxylin-eosin(HE)and Warthin-Starry for light microscopic study.Results HP was detected in 152 specimens. HP deteetable rate-in specimens with normal mucosa was 1. 1%, in compari-on with 42.3% in those with chronic superficial gastritis and 14. 3% in those with chronic atrophic gastrins .Specimens with chronic active gastritls, mostry manitesting local active lesions,had HP detectable rate of as high as 80.2%、69. 7% of the specimene with HP were found to have obvious lymph follicles reaction within lamina propria in their gastric mucosa.Conclusions There is a close relationship between HP infection and Pediatric chronic gastritis(especially chronic active gastritis). Histopathologically, HP-associated gastritis is characterized by chronic and local active inflamations, and tbe formation of lymph follicles within lamina propria.

China ; Gastroesophageal Reflux ; therapy ; Humans ; Integrative Medicine ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; methods

ObjectiveTo evaluate the applicability of modified formulas based on plasma creatinine levels in Chinese patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). MethodsA total of 327 CKD patients were investigated. Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was estimated with Chinese equations and Ruijin equation. The accuracy of estimated GFR was compared with 99mTc-DTPA-GFR (sGFR) in CKD patients. ResultsBland-Ahman analysis demonstrated that Ruijin equation was more consistent with sGFR than the other equations. But all the equations were not well consistent with sGFR. Linear regression showed that the slopes of Ruijin equation and MDRD-1 equation were closer to the identical line. 15%, 30% and 50% accuracy of Ruijin equation were higher than the other equations. But 30% accuracy of Ruijin equation was still less than 70%. When the accuracy of estimated GFRs was compared with sGFR in different stages of CKD, GFR estimated by Ruijin equation showed good results. ConclusionsWhen plasma creatinine is checked with enzymatic method, modified GFR estimation equations may show great bias in Chinese CKD patients. More clinical trails should be carried out to evaluate and identify the application of modified GFR estimation equations in Chinese patients with CKD.

Objective To explore the prenatal genetic diagnosis for classic phenylketonuria (PKU) families.Methods Probands and their family members from three classic PKU families were analyzed by combining linkage analysis through short tandem repeats (STR) polymorphism and PCR-sequencing for the exons within mutation hot spot of phenylalanine hydroxylase gene.Results Linkage analysis found uninformative for Family 1,while 100 % confirmative information was obtained from Family 2 and 3.Sequencing showed compound heterozygous mutations of phenylalanine hydroxylase gene for all of the three probands.Five mutations were detected,namely Y166X,R243Q,R413P,EX6-96A ＞ G and IVS11-1G＞ C,and IVS11-1G ＞ C was a novel identified muntation.Information from linkage analysis and mutation screening showed clearly that the fetus of Family 1 and 2 were affected,while normal for Family 3.Conclusions For those PKU families,reliable service of prenatal genetic diagnosis could be provided by combining linkage analysis with mutation screening of phenylalanine hydroxylase gene.

AIM: To determine the association between subfoveal choroidal thickness before therapy and therapeutic activity in diabetic macular edema.
METHODS: The current study was a retrospective study, which included 32 patients ( 32 eyes ) diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy and macular edema. All the patients were firstly treated with intravitreal injections of ranibizumab. Main outcome measures were included the subfoveal choroidal thickness, central macular thickness and best-corrected visual acuity ( BCVA) at preoperation and postoperative visit at 3mo.
RESULTS: After 3 monthly intravitreal injections of ranibizumab, the BCVA was significantly higher than that before therapy and accompanied with significantly reduced thickness of subfoveal choroid and central fovea of macula. Spearman analysis was revealed that a greater baseline subfoveal choroidal thickness was associated with a better BCVA (rs=0. 544, P=0. 036).
CONCLUSION:In the therapy of intravitreal injections of ranibizumab on diabetic macular edema, there seems to be a better BCVA in the patients with a greater baseline subfoveal choroidal thickness. Therefore, baseline subfoveal choroidal thickness may be a useful predictor for the therapy of diabetic macular edema.

Objective To evaluate the performance of actinic keratosis (AK) tissue as a culture model for the study of interference in transduction pathway,and to explore the mechanism underlying the p53 regulation though TGFβ1/Smads pathway by using the tissue culture model.Methods Twenty-five skin samples from the lesions of patients with AK were cultured,and divided into 5 groups to be treated with TGFβ1 of 10 μg/L for 24 and 48 hours,the tran sforming growth factor (TGF) β1 receptor kinase inhibitor SB431542 of 10 μmol/L for 24 and 48 hours,respectively,or remain untreated.Real time PCR and Western blot were performed to quantify the mRNA expression of p53 and protein expression of p53 and phosphorylated Smad2 in these tissue specimens respectively.Results A significant elevation was observed in the expressions of p53 mRNA ( 13.4968 ± 0.9903 vs.1,P ＜ 0.05) and phosphorylated Smad2 (0.700 ± 0.023 vs.1,P ＜ 0.05) in AK tissues after treatment with TGFβ1 for 24 hours,and in the expressions of p53 mRNA (13.3882 ± 1.6772 vs.1,P ＜ 0.05) and protein (1.009 ± 0.001 vs.0.512 ± 0.005,P ＜ 0.05) after treatment with TGFβ1 for 48 hours,compared with the untreated AK tissues.No significant differences were observed in the expression of p53 protein between the AK tissues treated with TGFβ1 for 24 hours and 48 hours (P ＞ 0.05).SB431542 induced a statistical reduction in the level of phosphorylated Smad2 at 48 hours (0.116 ± 0.003 vs.0.306 ± 0.023,P ＜ 0.05),but no significant changes were observed in the expression of p53 mRNA or protein after SB431542 treatment for 24 or 48 hours.Conclusions AK tissue cultures can serve as a model for the study of interference in signal transduction pathway.TGFβ1 might regulate the expression of p53 protien through Smads pathway in AK.

ObjectiveTo explore the effects of epidermal proteins and lamellar bodies on skin barrier in glucocorticoid-dependent dermatitis.MethodsTotally,60 patients with glucocorticoid-dependent dermatitis and 40 normal human controls were eligible for this study.A noninvasive method using TewameterTM was applied to determine transepidermal water loss (TEWL) value in these subjects.Tissue specimens were obtained from the lesions of 13 patients with glucocorticoid-dependent dermatitis and normal skin of 10 human controls.Subsequently,haematoxylin and eosin(HE) staining was performed to observe the histopathological changes,immunohistochemistry to detect the protein expressions of K6,K10,K14,K15,loricrin,filaggrin,involucrin in epidermis,and electron microscopy(EM) to estimate the density of lamellar bodies in tissue specimens.ResultsCompared with the normal controls,the patients displayed an elevated TEWL value (P ＜ 0.05),which suggested an impaired epidermal barrier.Histopathology of lesions revealed nonspecific inflammatorychanges withmarkeddifferencesbetweendifferentclinicaltypesofglucocorticoid-dependentdermatitis.Immunohistochemistry revealed an attenuated expression of K10,K14,loricrin,filaggrin,involucrin and abnormal expression of K15 in lesional epidermis compared with the normal epidermis (all P ＜ 0.05),hinting a suppression of epidermal differentiation and proliferation as well as an impairment of cornified envelope structure.The number and density of lamellar bodies were also reduced in lesional epidermis compared with the control epidermis.ConclusionsCompared with normal skin,the structure of skin barrier is impaired in lesions of glucocorticoid-dependent dermatitis,to restore skin barrier is essential for the treatment of this entity.

Objective To investigate the feasibility of labeling mice spleen lymphocytes with superparamagnetic iron oxide(SPIO)and in vitro MR imaging of the labeled cells.Methods Spleen lymphocytes of 5 mice were isolated and then labeled with SPIO of 100,50,25,15,10,5 μg/ml,which was previously prepared with PLL.Prussian blue staining was performed to show the intracellular iron.Cell viability was compared among fresh,labeled and unlabeled cells.Different concentrations of mice spleen lymphocytes were screened using 3.0 T MR on T2WI,T2 * WI and SWI sequences in vitro.Cell viability was compared using independent-sample t test between groups.The MRI values among different groups were compared using one-way ANOVA.Results SPIO prepared with PLL could successfully label mice spleen lymphocytes,the optimum concentration of SPIO was 5 μg/ml.The Prussian blue staining showed intracellular blue spots and a labeling efficiency of(93.6 ± 2.1)％.Three groups of fresh,labeled and unlabeled cells showed a Trypan blue staining result of(94.8 ± 3.1)％,(88.7 ± 2.7)％,and(88.9 ±3.2)％,respectively; no statistically significant difference was found in cell viability between labeled and unlabeled lymphocytes(t =0.281,P ＞ 0.05); however,the cell viability of fresh cells were statistically significant higher than the labeled and unlabeled lymphocytes(t =8.125 and 7.253 respectively,P ＜0.05for all).Among the T2 WI,T2 * WI and SWI sequences under the same concentrations of cells,the SWI sequence was the most sensitive.Conclusions The mice spleen lymphocytes can be effectively labeled with SPIO with no impact on cell viability,and MR can be used to track these labeled cells in vitro.The SWI sequence is the most sensitive.

Objective To detect the expression and function of cysteinyl leukotriene receptors (CysLTRs)in keratinocytes.Methods Human keratinocytes were isolated from the tissue of foreskin by digestion with dispase Ⅱ and trypsin,and subjected to primary culture.By using confocal laser scanning microscopy and reverse transcriptase PCR,the localization and expression of CysLTRs were studied in kemtinocytes.respectively.Some primarily cultured keratinocytes were pretreated with leukotriene D4 (30 nmoi/L),MK571(300 nmol/L),and BAYu9773 for 5 minutes followed by the detection of intmcellular calcium level using the Ca2+ indicator dye Fura-2/AM as well as cell proliferation bv MTT assay.Results The expressions of CysLTR1 and CysLTR2 were observed in cultured keratinocytes,and they were mainly located on cell membrane,partly in cytoplasm and nuclei.Compared with non.stimulated cells,a significant increase Was noted in the expression of CysLTRs,especially in the nuclei of keratinocytes stimulated by LTD4(P＜0.05),together with an elevation in intracellular calcium level(42.27±3.00 mmol/L,P＜0.01)and acceleration in cell proliferation (P＜0.01).However,both MK571 and BAYu9773 could completely block the effect of LTD4 on intmcellular calcium level and cell proliferation.and there was no significant difference in the blocking effect between MK571 and BAYu9773.Conclusions Functional CysLTRs are expressed in human keratinocytes.and they carl increase the intracellular calcium level in,and cell proliferation of,keratinocytes.