As one of the risk factors for atherosclerosis,human cytomegalovirus infection has received increasing attention,while cytomegalovirus infection of vascular endothelial cells is considered as the initial stage of causing atherosclerosis.Therefore,elucidating the mechanism of human cytomegalovirus infection of vascular endothelial cells will help further confirm the viral and etiological theories of atherosclerosis,and may block its occurrence and development from the initial stage of infection.

All kinds of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) differed from each other with different chemical components and properties. Owing to poor conditions and technologies, and the lack of scientific preservation, most TCMs will easily become mouldy during the processes of growth, harvest, handling, translation and especially storage, which will not only influence the quality, safety and efficacy of TCMs, but also cause serious waste and economic losses, and even do great harm to human health. The process of storage is closely related to the qualities of TCMs with many interference factors. Therefore, scientific preservation of TCM during storage is crucial to prevent them from being mouldy. This review analyzed the important harm of mouldy TCMs, summarized the internal and external factors of resulting in TCMs to become mouldy. Based on the above discussion, together with the characteristics and limitations of current TCM preservation techniques, we prospect novel, scientific and reasonable preservation techniques, expecting to provide references for scientific preservation of TCMs to avoid becoming mouldy and guarantee their qualities.
Drug Contamination ; prevention & control ; Drug Storage ; methods ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Fungi ; growth & development ; isolation & purification ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; microbiology

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the effectiveness of manual therapy and traction for lumbar disc herniation and analyze the current status of this kind of randomized clinical trial (RCT).

METHODSDatabase of CNKI, VIP, WANFANG, PubMed and OVID were searched. Some relevant journals were manually retrieved. A total of 2 874 literatures on manual therapy and traction for lumbar disc herniation were collected, of which 17 articles met the inclusion criteria. The Jadad score scale was used to evaluate the quality,and RevMan5.0 was used for meta-analysis of literatures.

RESULTSThe results of the meta-analysis of all trials involved were as followed:the combined effect of the effective rate was RR = 1.10, 95% CI [1.06, 1.14], the combined effect of the cure rate was RR = 1.36, 95% CI [1.21,1.52], the combined effect of the VAS was RR = 1.37, 95% CI [1.28, 1.45], the combined effect of the JOA was RR = 4.75, 95% CI [4.40, 5.09].

CONCLUSIONThe overall quality of the current RCT researches about manual therapy for lumbar disc herniation was lower,and did not support the conclusion that manual therapy was more effective than traction for lumbar disc herniation.

Humans ; Intervertebral Disc Displacement ; surgery ; therapy ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; surgery ; Musculoskeletal Manipulations ; methods ; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic ; Traction ; methods

OBJECTIVETo examine the effect of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) deficiency in brain on spatial learning and memory in rats.

METHODSSprague Dawley rats were fed with an n-3 fatty acid deficient diet for two generations to induce DHA depletion in brain. DHA in seven brain regions was analyzed using the gas-liquid chromatography. Morris water maze (MWM) was employed as an assessing index of spatial learning and memory in the n-3 fatty acid deficient adult rats of second generation.

RESULTSFeeding an n-3 deficient diet for two generations depleted DHA differently by 39%-63% in the seven brain regions including cerebellum, medulla, hypothalamus, striatum, hippocampus, cortex and midbrain. The MWM test showed that the n-3 deficient rats took a longer time and swam a longer distance to find the escape platform than the n-3 Adq group.

CONCLUSIONThe spatial learning and memory in adult rats are partially impaired by brain DHA depletion.

Animals ; Brain ; metabolism ; Docosahexaenoic Acids ; metabolism ; Maze Learning ; physiology ; Memory ; physiology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

OBJECTIVE The aim was to explore the clinical experiences and access the auditory performance and speech intelligibility of cochlear implantation in patients with inner ear malformations. METHODS Among 700 patients who received multi-channel cochlear implantation from 1997 to 2007 in Beijing Tongren Hospital, 108 patients were diagnosed with malformed inner ear. A retrospective study was performed about the surgical characteristics and the mapping characteristics after implantation. The long term follow-up of the rehabilitative efficacy will also be presented. RESULTS ①All patients restituted auditory after operation. ②After the regular rehabilitation, the long term follow-up of the auditory performance and speech intelligibility were very positive. Everyone has shown improved listening and communication skills evaluated by Categories of Auditory Performance and Speech Intelligibility Rating. ③Most of the children are studying or working and are actively involved in their local communities. CONCLUSION The cochlear implantation can be performed safely in patients with malformed inner ear. The results suggest that cochlear implantation could also provides long-term benefits to those malformed inner ear cases.

OBJECTIVETo detect the effects of lumbar vertebrae Gucuofeng on the substance P content of hypothalamus and dorsal root ganglia in rat models.

METHODSA hundred and twenty SPF level SD male rats with the weight of 350 to 450 g were randomly divided into rotary fixation group (RF group), simple fixation group (SF group) and sham-operation group (Sham group). The external link fixation system was implanted into the L4-L6 of rats in RF group and SF group; and in RF group, that the L5 spinous process was rotated to the right resulted in L4, L5, L6 spinous process not collinear; in SF group, the external link fixation system was simply implanted and not rotated. The rats of Sham group were not implanted the external link fixation system and only open and suture. The substance P content of hypothalamus and dorsal root ganglia were detected at 1, 4, 8, 12 weeks after operation.

RESULTSSubstance P content of hypothalamus in RF group and SF group was lower than Sham group at 1, 4, 8 weeks after operation (P<0.05). Substance P content of dorsal root ganglia was higher than Sham group at 1, 4, 8, 12 weeks after operation (P<0.05). There was no significant differences in the substance P content of hypothalamus among three groups at 12 weeks after operation (P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONLumbar vertebrae Gucuofeng can inhibit the analgesic activity of substance P in hypothalamus and promote the synthesis and transmission of substance P in dorsal root ganglia, so as to cause or aggravate the pain.

Animals ; Disease Models, Animal ; Ganglia, Spinal ; chemistry ; Hypothalamus ; chemistry ; Joint Dislocations ; metabolism ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; injuries ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Substance P ; analysis ; physiology

OBJECTIVETo investigate whole blood viscosity changes at different time points in rats model with lumbar vertebrae semidislocation, study Shi's theroy of qi and blood and "Gucuofeng and Jinchucao" [symbols: see text], also reveal pathological physiology characteristics of spinal disorder.

METHODSThirty-six SPF male rats weighted 350 to 450 g were randomly divided into rotatory fixation group (RF group), simple fixation group (SF group) and Sham group (Sham group), 12 rats in each group. Exterior vertebrae implanted through L4-L6 segments of lumbar vertebrae in RF and SF group were connected fixed device. In RF group, L5 spinous process were rotated to right, and caused L5 spinous process was non collinear with L4 and L6; in SF group, external fixed device were simple connected without rotation. At 1, 4, 8 and 12 weeks after fixation, whole blood viscosity changes were tested.

RESULTSAt 4 and 8 weeks after fixation, high (150/s), medium (60/s) and lower (10/s) shear rate in RF and SF group were higher than that of Sham group (P<0.05). At 1 and 12 weeks, there was no sigificant differences among three groups in whole blood viscosity (P>0.05).

CONCLUSION"Gucuofeng and Jinchucao" [symbols: see text] vertebrae could raise whole blood viscosity, increase degree of bloos stasis and induce or aggravate spinal disorder in further.

Animals ; Blood Viscosity ; Disease Models, Animal ; Joint Dislocations ; surgery ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; injuries ; surgery ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Time Factors

Objective To evaluate calcium deficiency and demand in pre-puberty twins and to analyze the heritability of serum bone alkaline phosphatase(BALP).Methods A total of 73 pairs of twins aged 9-16 years were examined by BALP test.Microsatellite polymorphism Was used To diagnose the zygosity of twins,while both intraclass correlation coefficient method and Christian formula were perfortled to investigate heritability of serum BALP.Results The results of zygosity diagnosis displayed that 34 pairs of twins were monozygotic(MZ)twins and 39 pairs were dizygotic(DZ)twins.97.9％of the subjects appeared unusual in the activity of BALP,with activity of BALP>250 U/L in 43.1％of subjects and 200-250 U/L in 54.8％of the subjects.The intake of calcium Was unsatisfied in 48.4％of the boys and 39.0％in girls.Less than 10.0％ of the Sllbiects were satisfied with the intake of calcium in each age group while over 45.0％of the snbjects in 10-13 age group were deficient in calcium.Differences between the means of BALP in different sex groups(t=1.633,P=0.105)and different age groups(F=0.323,P=0.924)were not statistically significant.Heritability analysis displayed that intra-class variation.Inter-class variation.Intra-class correlation coefficient were 191.54,1462.22,0.77 in MZ twins,and those were 491.03,1475.57,0.50 in DZ twins respectively with the heritability of BALP activity as 0.54.Conclusion Calcium deficiency Is commonplace in pre-puberty twins.Our data showed that the BALP activity was influenced both by genetic(54％)and environmental(46％)factors.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the reliability of the spine stiffness test system (SSTS) by animal experiments.

METHODSA hundred SD male rats with weight body of 350-450 g were divided randomly into 5 groups according to feeding time of 1, 2, 4, 8,12 weeks. The externally linked fixation systems were implanted into all rats in L4, L5, and L6. At the end of every feeding time, the stiffness of the fixed segment was measured by SSTS, and the relationship between linking time and the stiffness were observed. The parameters of pressure sensor of SSTS were demarcated before measuring the stiffness in order to ensure the accuracy of SSTS.

RESULTSThe actual error of the spine stiffness test system was less than 0.04%. Its reliability was good, ICC = 0.948 (P < 0.01). And the stiffness of the fixed segment increased with linking times.

CONCLUSIONThe accuracy and reliability of SSTS were good. Its operating system was very simple to manipulate. And SSTS may accurately collect pressure load and infinitesimal displacement of the spinal motion segment. In order to fit more spinal injuries models, SSTS needs improvements in fixed accessories, measurement range, disturbance variable, and so on.

Animals ; Biomechanical Phenomena ; Male ; Pressure ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Reproducibility of Results ; Spine ; physiology

Chlamydophila psittaci/genetics* ; Humans ; Pneumonia ; Psittacosis/diagnosis*