BACKGROUND: The effectiveness of femoral nerve block in perioperative analgesia for total knee arthroplasty has been widely recognized, but the need for combined sciatic nerve block remains controversial.OBJECTIVE: To investigate the analgesic effect and rehabilitation training of femoral and sciatic nerve block in the perioperative period of total knee arthroplasty. METHODS: 150 patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty were randomly divided into three groups: general anesthesia, femoral nerve block and femoral and sciatic nerve block groups. The visual analogue scale scores at rest and in activity, range of motion of the knee, postoperative hospitalization time, adverse effects and the Hospital for Special Surgery scores were recorded and compared among groups.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) The order of visual analogue scale scores at rest and in activity at each time point postoperatively was as follows: general anesthesia group > femoral nerve block group > femoral and sciatic nerve block group (P < 0.05). (2) The range of motion of the knee at different time points postoperatively was largest in the femoral nerve block group, followed by the femoral nerve block group, and smallest in the general anesthesia group (P < 0.05). (3) The postoperative hospitalization time in the femoral nerve block and femoral and sciatic nerve block groups was significantly less than that in the general anesthesia group, and the time in the femoral and sciatic nerve block group was significantly less than that in the femoral nerve block group (P < 0.05). (4) The Hospital for Special Surgery scores at 1 month postoperatively in the femoral nerve block and femoral and sciatic nerve block groups were significantly higher than those in the general anesthesia group, and the scores in the femoral and sciatic nerve block group were significantly higher than those in the femoral nerve block group (P < 0.05). But the Hospital for Special Surgery knee scores at 3 and 6 months postoperatively did not differ significantly among groups (P > 0.05). (5) These results indicate that the femoral and sciatic nerve block has better postoperative analgesia effect compared with general anesthesia and femoral nerve block under multimodal analgesia in total knee arthroplasty, which is favorable for early rehabilitative training.

Objective To retrospectively analyze and compare the curative outcome of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) from HLA identical siblings vs intensive immunosuppression therapy (IST) for severe aplastic anemia (SAA).Methods From January 2008 to December 2010,41 patients with severe aplastic anemia were treated with related HSCT (n =14) or IST (n =27) which combined antithymocyte globulin (ATG) with cyclosporine-A (CsA) therapy.Results All the patients receiving HSCT reached complete response.Among the patients receiving IST,21 patients could be responsive to the therapy,and 2 patients died.There was significant difference in the response rate between HSCT group and IST group (100 ％ vs 77.8 ％,P＜0.01 ).Conclusion With the improvement of HSCT technology,the curative outcome of HSCT from HLA identical siblings for SAA is much better than IST.

Objective To analyze the outcome of idarubicin-intensified myeloablastive conditioning regimen in allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (allo-PBSCT) in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Methods From August 2004 to July 2009, 12 patients with MDS were treated with alIo-PBSCT following the idarubicin-intensified conditioning regimen. The conditioning regimen was idarubicin (15 mg/m~2), continuous intravenous infusion for 20 h, days-12 to-10; busulfan (0.8 mg/kg), intravenous infusion every 6 h, days-6 to-4; cyclophosphamide (1.8 g/m~2), intravenous infusion every 6 h, days-3 to-2; cyclosporine A combined with short-term methotrexate was used for the prophylaxes of acute graft versus host disease (aGVHD). Results All twelve patients achieved Trilineage engraftment, and were well tolerated to this regimen. Eight patients survived, and the overall survival was 66.7%, disease-free survival (DFS) 58.3%. Two patients relapsed. OS for neither WHO subgroups nor IPSS subgroups had statistically significant difference. Conclusion Allo-PBSCT with idarubicin-inteusified conditioning regimen is an effective treatment with reduction of the relapse rate for MDS patients.

Objective To investigate the influence of acupuncture therapy on neural stem cell (NCS) proliferation and differentiation in the hippocampus of the senescence-accelerated prone-8 (SAP8) mouse. Methods Twenty-four SAP8 mice were randomly and equally divided into a model group and an acupuncture group. Twelve senescence-accelerated resistant ( SAR1 ) mice served as the control group. Acupuncture was administered at the Baihui (DU20) point to mice in the acupuncture group once daily for 21 consecutive days. Bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) was used to detect the proliferation and differentiation of NCSs in the hippocampus through double-labeled immunofluoresSAR1 group, the positive cells in the SAP8 group were significantly fewer Compared to the SAP8 group, positive cells markers of neuron or glia cell positive cells appeared. Compared to the SAR1 group, the expression of BrdU/GFAP increased in the SAP8 group, and decreased after acupuncture but not significantly. BrdU/S-100 β cells decreased significantly in the SAP8 group, and increased after acupuncture, but again not significantly. Compared to the SAR1 group BrdU/GalC positive cells increased significantly in the SAP8 group and decreased significantly after acupuncture.Conclusions After acupuncture treatment for 21 days, the differentiation of hippocampal NSCs into oligodendrocytes was inhibited, but there was little effect on their differentiating into neurons and immature astrocytes.

The roles of voltage-dependent K(+) channels during activation and damage in alveolar macrophages (AMs) exposed to different silica particles were examined. Rat AMs were collected by means of bronchoalveolar lavage, and were adjusted to 5x10(5)/mL. After AMs were exposed to different concentrations (0, 25, 50, 100, 200 mug/mL) of quartz particles and 100 mug/mL amorphous silica particles for 24 h, the voltage-depended K(+) current in AMs was measured by using patch clamp technique. Meanwhile the leakage of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and the viability of AMs were detected respectively. Patch clamp studies demonstrated that AMs possessed outward delayed and inward rectifying K(+) current. Exposure to quartz particles increased the outward delayed K(+) current but it had no effect on inward rectifier K(+) current in AMs. Neither of the two K(+) channels in AMs was affected by amorphous silica particles. Cytotoxicity test showed that both silica particles could damage AM membrane and result in significant leakage of LDH (P<0.05). MTT studies, however, showed that only quartz particles reduced viability of AMs (P<0.05). It is concluded that quartz particles can activate the outward delayed K(+) channel in AMs, which may act as an activating signal in AMs to initiate an inflammatory response during damage and necrosis in AMs induced by exposure to quartz particle. K(+) channels do not contribute to the membrane damage of AMs.

Objective To explore the influence of montelukast on plasma nitric oxide in preschool children with asthma.Methods Forty-four preschool children with asthma aged 2-5 years who firstly met a criterion of asthma and treated 4 weeks with montelukast were investigated;and nitric oxide levels of plasma were inspected respectively before treatment and after treatment 1 week,4 weeks.Results The level of nitric oxide in the plasma of asthmatic children was obviously higher than that in normal control group(P

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L. ) belongs to Pedaliaceae, and its dry flowers have been used to cure alopecia, frostbite and constipation as a Traditional Chinese Medicine. Interestingly, the Flos Sesamum indicum L. was usually used to cure verruca vulgaris and verruca plana in folk of China, and showed a pleasant result. Previous chemical investigations of this plant mainly concentrate on its seeds, showed the presence of proteins and fat oils, herein we make a systematic chemical research on the dry flowers of this plant. Column chromatography including silica gel, C18 and Sephadex LH-20 were used to separate the chemical constituents and the structures were determined by chemical and spectroscopic methods. Ten compounds were isolated from the 95% ethanol extract of the plant and elucidated as latifonin (1), momor-cerebroside (2), soya-cerebroside II (3), 1-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(2S, 3S, 4R, 5E,9Z)-2-N-(2'-hydroxytetracosanoyl) 1,3,4-trihydroxy-5,9-octadienine (4), 1-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(2S, 3S, 4R, 8Z)-2-N-(2' R) 2'-hydroxytetracosanoyl) 3,4-dihydroxy-8-octadene (5), (2S, 1" S) -aurantiamide acetate (6), benzyl alcohol-O-(2'-O-beta-D-xylopyranosyl, 3'-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside)-beta-D-glucopyranoside (7), beta-sitosterol (8), daucosterol (9) and D-galacititol (10). Among them, 4 is a new compound, and others were isolated from the flowers of the plant for the first time. Compounds 2 to 4 belong to cerebroside, which is rare to be found in land plants and was proved to possess many bioactivities.
Cerebrosides ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Flowers ; chemistry ; Glycolipids ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Molecular Conformation ; Molecular Structure ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Sesamum ; chemistry ; Sitosterols ; chemistry ; isolation & purification

OBJECTIVETo systematically optimize the cultivation conditions of adventitious roots of Pseudostellaria heterophylla.

METHODTissue cultivation technology and ultraviolet spectrophotometry were adopted to observe the effect of inoculum volume, sucrose concentration, inorganic salt concentration, number of cultivation days, gradual scale-up cultivation and bubble different angles of bioreactor on the growth of adventitious roots of P. heterophylla, and determine the content of constituents such as saponin, polysaccharide and amino acid.

RESULTThe propagation multiple of adventitious roots reached the maximum when the inoculum was 6 g in a 1 L culture shake flask. With the increase in sucrose concentration, the dry weight propagation multiples of adventitious roots followed an up and down trend. The inorganic salt concentration in a cultivation dish had a greater effect on the growth of adventitious roots, particularly 3/4 MS was the most favorable for the growth of adventitious roots. The growth curve of P. heterophylla was "S", with the biomass reaching the maximum at the 28th day.

CONCLUSIONThe inoculum volume, sucrose concentration, inorganic salt concentration, gradual scale-up cultivation and angles of bubble bioreactor had a significant effect on the growth of adventitious roots of P. heterophylla. The contents of saponin and amino acid in adventitious roots were higher than that in cultivated P. heterophylla, whereas the polysaccharide content were lower than that in cultivated P. heterophylla.

Amino Acids ; metabolism ; Biomass ; Bioreactors ; Caryophyllaceae ; growth & development ; metabolism ; Plant Roots ; growth & development ; metabolism ; Polysaccharides ; metabolism ; Saponins ; metabolism ; Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet ; Time Factors ; Tissue Culture Techniques ; instrumentation ; methods

To study the effect of Tibetan medicine Zuotai on the activity, protein and mRNA expression of CYP1A2 and NAT2, three different doses (1.2, 3.8 and 12 mg x kg(-1)) of Zuotai were administrated orally to rats once a day or once daily for twelve days, separately. Rats were administrated orally caffeine (CF) on the second day after Zuotai administration, and the urine concentration of CF metabolite 5-acetylamino-6-formylamino-3-methyl-uracil (AFMU), 1-methyluric acid (1U), 1-methylxanthine (1X), 1, 7-dimethylxanthine (17U) at 5 h after study drug administration was determined by RP-HPLC. The activity of CYP1A2 and NAT2 was evaluated by the ratio of metabolites (AFMU+1X+1U)/17U and the ratio of AFMU/(AFMU+1X+1U), respectively. The protein and mRNA expression of CYP1A2 and NAT2 were determined by ELISA and RT-PCR method, respectively. After single administration of Zuotai 3.8 mg x kg(-1) and repeated administration of Zuotai 3.8 and 12 mg x kg(-1), the activity of CYP1A2 and NAT2 decreased significantly compared with control group and there was no significant difference between other dose group and control group. The protein expression of CYP1A2 was significant lower than that in control group after repeated administration of Zuotai 12 mg x kg(-1), and the mRNA expression of CYP1A2 decreased significantly compared with that of control group after single administration of Zuotai 3.8 mg x kg(-1) and repeated admistration of Zuotai 12 mg x kg(-1), separately. The protein expression of NAT2 decreased significantly compared with that of control group after single and repeated administration of Zuotai 3.8 mg x kg(-1), respectively, and the mRNA expression of CYP1A2 decreased significantly compared with control group after single administration of Zuotai 3.8 mg x kg(-1). This study found that Tibetan medicine Zuotai had significant effect on the activity, protein and mRNA expression of CYP1A2 and NAT2.
Administration, Oral ; Animals ; Arylamine N-Acetyltransferase ; genetics ; metabolism ; Caffeine ; metabolism ; urine ; Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A2 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; Female ; Male ; Medicine, Tibetan Traditional ; RNA, Messenger ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Theophylline ; urine ; Uracil ; analogs & derivatives ; urine ; Uric Acid ; analogs & derivatives ; urine ; Xanthines ; urine

Objective：To investigate the mechanism of increased glucose uptake, the expression of myoc ardial glucose transporter1 (GLUT1) was determined after low-flow myocardial is chemia. Methods： An in vivo open-chest canine model of low -flow myocardial ischemia was used to correlate myocardial glucose uptake with the number of GLUT1. The expression of myocardial GLUT1 glucose transporter was determined by semiquantitative Northern blotting and immunoblotting. Res ults： GLUT1 mRNA and GLUT1 polypeptide expression was substantially inc reased in ischemic region from the experimental hearts when compared to normal h earts. There was no significant regional difference in GLUT1 expression in eith er normal or ischemic hearts.Conclusion：Myocardial ischemia ind uces a factor or factors which stimulate GLUT1 expression in ischemic myocardial regions. Enhanced GLUT1 expression may be an important protective mechanism by which myocardial cells enhance glucose uptake and metabolism during low-flow my ocardial ischemia.