OBJECTIVETo analyze the causes of delayed union or nonunion of the ulna after intramedullary nailing in pediatric forearm fractures.

METHODSFrom February 2005 to February 2010,5 patients with forearm fractures who were treated with titanium elastic nailing (TEN) were identified to fulfill the criteria of having developed a delayed union or nonunion of the ulna. The causes of delayed union or nonunion were investigated according to mechanism of injury, fracture location, treatments methods and postoperative management. All patients were male and the age was 3 to 14 years old with an average of 9.4 years. All fractures were located on the mid-third part of forearm. Two cases had a re-fracture. Among them, 3 cases caused by high-energy injury and 2 cases by falling down. Open reduction were performed in 4 cases while the other one was treated with closed reduction. Four patients were immobilized in an above-elbow cast, postoperatively.

RESULTSAll patients were followed up from 7 to 19 months with an average of 11.4 months. There were 4 delayed union and 1 nonunion. Three patients healed after the removal of the nail and avoidance of weight-bearing. Two patients healed by replacing another fixation. No patients had soft-tissue irritation or nail-entry-site infections.. The clinical effect was evaluated according to Daruwalla and Price scores with 3 excellent and 2 good of the results.

CONCLUSIONSUsing titanium elastic nailing for the treatment of pediatric both-bone forearm fractures is a good method. However,strict indication selection should be followed to avoid delayed union or nonunion.

Adolescent ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Fracture Fixation, Intramedullary ; methods ; Fracture Healing ; Humans ; Male ; Radius Fractures ; physiopathology ; surgery ; Retrospective Studies ; Ulna Fractures ; physiopathology ; surgery

Objective To explore the efficacy and method of diazepam in the treatment of stupor state. Methods Other antipsychotic drugs were stopped using patients were made sure to be healthy,inject with diazepam (first day 15～20mg,second day 20～30mg).Then,the similar patients who infused with sulpiride(300- 400mg everyday) were collected during the same period,all the cases were evaluated by SAPS and SANS.Analysis the re- sults by t-test.Results After injecting diazepam,19 patients' stupor state were improved in a short time,and didn't ap- lear adverse reaction.But after using sulpiride,only 2 cases improved,12 cases were better and 5 cases had no change,there were significant difference between two groups during the first week.Conclusion Using diazepam for stupor state is a safe and feasible treatment,with low cost,slight adverse reaction but high efficacy.

Objective To determine the extent and distribution of error in knee joint proprioception and e- valuate the relationship between knee joint proprioception and pain and dysfunction.Methods Twenty-eight knee OA patients (19 female and 9 male) were compared with 27 age-matched healthy adults (20 female and 7 male). Knee joint proprioception was measured with a repositioning test on the Biodex dynamometer.The pain and knee dys- function were assessed with Visual Analogue Scale and Lequesne Index,respectively.Results Knee OA patients produced 79% more proprioception errors than the healthy subjects (P

Candida shehatae xyl1 gene and Pichia stipitis xyl2 gene were amplified by PCR and the xyl1 and xyl2 were both placed under the promoter GAL of vector pYES2 to produce the recombinant expression vector pYES2-P12. Subsequently the pYES2-P12 vector was transformed into S. cerevisiae YS58 by LiAc to produce the recombinant yeast YSS8-12. It was indicate that the recombinant yeast YSS8-12 could converse xylose to ethanol with the xylose consumption rate of 81. 3%.

Objective To prevent the occurrence of postoperative delirium after endoscopic surgery in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Methods A total of 370 BPH patients receiving endoscopic surgery in our hospital were involved in this study. The clinical parameters including age, other systemic diseases, operation method, operation time and postoperative pain were investigated as predictive risk factors. Then the data were dealt by χ~2 test, single factor analysis or multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results Postoperative delirium occurred in 19 cases (5. 1%). Univariate analysis demonstrated that many factors were significantly correlated with the postoperative delirium in elderly patients, such as age (χ~2 = 7. 37, P<0. 05), other systemic diseases (χ~2=10.26, P<0.05), operation time (χ~2 = 19. 87, P<0.05) and postoperative pain (χ~2= 4.99, P<0. 05). The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that age (OR = 5. 38, P< 0.05), other systemic diseases (OR = 4. 97, P<0. 05) and operation time (OR = 6. 53, P<0. 05) were important factors for postoperative delirium. Conclusions Paying more attention to the advanced age, giving sufficient preoperative preparation and reducing operation time may help to prevent postoperative delirium.

OBJECTIVETo observe the effects of subchronic exposure to benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) on the mRNA and protein expression levels of apoptosis-related genes (bax, bcl-2, caspase-3, caspase-6, and caspase-9) and the activities of Caspase-3, Caspase-6, and Caspase-9 in the hippocampal neurons of rats and to investigate the neurotoxic mechanism by which B[a]P induces the apoptosis of neurons.

METHODSFifty-two healthy SD rat were randomly divided into five groups according to preliminary neurobehavioral test results: blank control group, solvent control group, and 1.0, 2.5, and 6.25 mg/kg B[a]P exposure groups; the rats in exposure groups were intraperitoneally injected with B[a]P every other day for 90 days. The Morris water maze was used to test the learning and memory ability of rats; flow cytometry was used to measure the apoptosis ratio of hippocampal neurons; real-time quantitative PCR and Western blot were used to measure the mRNA and protein expression levels of apoptosis-related genes; spectrophotometry was used to measure the activities of their en-coded proteins.

RESULTSCompared with the blank control group, solvent control group, and 1.0 mg/kg B[a]P exposure group, the 2.5 and 6.25 mg/kg B[a]P exposure groups hada significantly longer mean escape latency period (P < 0.05) and a significantly increased number of times of platform crossing (P < 0.05), and the 6.25 mg/kg B[a]P exposure group had significantly lower length and percentage of time spent in the platform quadrant (P < 0.05). The early apoptosis ratio rose as the dose of B[a]P increased (P trend < 0.05); the early apoptosis ratios of 1.0, 2.5, and 6.25 mg/kg B[a]P exposure groups were significantly higher than those of blank control group and solvent control group (P < 0.05). Compared with the blank control group, solvent control group, and 1.0 and 2.5 mg/kg B[a]P exposure groups, the 6.25 mg/kg B[a]P exposure group had significantly increased Bax expression (P < 0.05) and significantly decreased Bcl-2 expression and Bcl-2/Bax ratio (P < 0.05). The 2.5 and 6.25 mg/kg B[a]P exposure groups had significantly higher expression levels of Caspase-3 and Caspase-6 than the blank control group, solvent control group, and 1.0 mg/kg B[a]P exposure group (P < 0.05). The activities of Caspase-3, Caspase-6, and Caspase-9 were significantly higher in the 2.5 and 6.25 mg/kg B[a]P exposure groups than in the blank control group and solvent control group (P < 0.05). There was a positive correlation between the activities of Caspase-3, Caspase-6, and Caspase-9 and early apoptosis ratio of hippocampal neurons in rats (r = 0.793, P = 0.019; r = 0.886, P = 0.006; r = 0.773, P = 0.025). There were no significant differences in the mRNA expression of Bax, Bcl-2, Caspase-3, Caspase-6, and Caspase-9 among these groups (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSubchronic exposure to B[a]P can induce apoptosis of hippocampal neurons; its mechanism may be related to the fact that B[a]P can induce upregulated expression of Bax, inhibit expression of Bcl-2, lead to decrease in Bcl-2/Bax ratio, induce upregulated expression of Caspase-3 and Caspase-6, and cause increase in the activities of Caspase-3, Caspase-6, and Caspase-9.

Animals ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Benzo(a)pyrene ; toxicity ; Caspases ; metabolism ; Hippocampus ; cytology ; drug effects ; Male ; Neurons ; drug effects ; metabolism ; pathology ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; bcl-2-Associated X Protein ; metabolism

This research is to study the relationship between HPLC fingerprints of Moutan Cortex, Paeoniae Radix Rubra and Paeoniae Radix Alba and their activity on lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury. HPLC fingerprints of each extract of Moutan Cortex,Paeoniae Radix Rubra and Paeoniae Radix Alba were established by an optimized HPLC-MS method. The activities of all samples against protein and tumor necrosis a factor were tested by the model of lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury. The possible relationship between HPLC-MS fingerprints and the activitieswere deduced by the Partial least squares regression analysis method. Samples were analyzed by HPLC-MS/MS to identify the major peaks. The results showed that each sample had some effect on acute lung injury. Four components with a lager contribution rate of efficacy were calculated by the research of spectrum-effect relationship. Moutan Cortex exhibited good activity on acute lung injury, and gallic acid, paeoniflorin, galloylpaeoniflorin and paeonol were the main effective components.
Acetophenones ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Acute Lung Injury ; chemically induced ; drug therapy ; Animals ; Bridged Bicyclo Compounds, Heterocyclic ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Gallic Acid ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Glucosides ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Lipopolysaccharides ; pharmacology ; Male ; Monoterpenes ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Paeonia ; chemistry ; Plant Roots ; chemistry ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry ; methods

OBJECTIVETo study the effect of extract of Ginkgo biloba (Egb761) on doxorubicin-associated cardiotoxicity in patients with breast cancer (BC).

METHODSSixty BC patients in stage IV were randomly assigned to two groups, the control group was treated with chemotherapy, using 4 cycles of PA protocol alone and the treated group with the same chemotherapy and Egb761. Changes in electrocardiogram (ECG), myocardial enzyme spectrum (MES) and ultrasono-cardiogram (USCG) before and after treatment were observed.

RESULTSAfter treatment, the incidence of abnormal ECG was lower in the treated group than in the control group (6.7% vs 30.0%); significant differences were found between the two groups in the parameters of MES (P< 0.05); USCG showed significant difference between the two groups in left ventricular diastolic diameter (LVDd), left ventricular systolic diameter (LVDs), ratio of early and late diastolic transmitral peak flow velocity (E/A) and fractional shortening (FS), while there was no significant difference in ejection fraction (EF).

CONCLUSIONEgb761 is an ideal drug for preventing and reducing the acute doxorbincin-induced cardiotoxicity; it could also be helpful for alleviating the chronic cardiotoxicity.

Adult ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; therapeutic use ; Breast Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast ; drug therapy ; Cardiomyopathies ; chemically induced ; physiopathology ; prevention & control ; Doxorubicin ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; Female ; Ginkgo biloba ; chemistry ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Phytotherapy ; Plant Extracts ; therapeutic use ; Treatment Outcome ; Ventricular Dysfunction, Left ; physiopathology ; prevention & control

BACKGROUNDAtrial fibrillation (AF) is accompanied by atrial structural remodeling. Calpain activity is induced during AF. To test a causal relationship between calpain activation and atrial structural changes, N-acetyl-Leu-Leu-Met (ALLM), a calpain inhibitor, was utilized in a canine AF model.

METHODSFifteen dogs were randomly divided into 3 groups: sham-operated group, control group and calpain inhibitor group; each with 5 dogs. Sustained AF was induced by rapid right atrium pacing at 600 beats per minute for 3 weeks. ALLM was administered at a dosage of 1.0 mg x kg(-1) x d(-1) in the calpain inhibitor group. Three weeks later, the proteolysis, protein expression of TnT and myosin, calpain I localization and expression and structural changes were examined in left atrial free walls, right atrial free walls and the interatrial septum respectively. Atrial size and contractile function were also measured by echocardiography.

RESULTSLong-term rapid atrial pacing induced marked structural changes such as enlarged atrial volume, myolysis, degradation of TnT and myosin, accumulation of glycogen and changes in mitochondrial shape and size, which were paralleled by an increase in calpain activity. The positive correlation between calpain activity and the degree of myolysis (r(s) = 0.90 961, P < 0.0001) was demonstrated. In addition to structural abnormalities, pacing-induced atrial contractile dysfunction was observed in this study. The pacing-induced atrial structural alterations and loss of contractility were partially prevented by the calpain inhibitor ALLM.

CONCLUSIONSActivation of calpain represents key features in the progression towards overt structural remodeling. Calpain inhibitor, ALLM, suppressed the increased calpain activity and reversed structural remodeling caused by sustained atrial fibrillation in the present model. Calpain inhibition may therefore provide a possibility for therapeutic intervention in AF.

Animals ; Atrial Fibrillation ; pathology ; Calpain ; antagonists & inhibitors ; Cysteine Proteinase Inhibitors ; pharmacology ; Disease Models, Animal ; Dogs ; Heart Atria ; pathology ; ultrastructure ; Myosins ; analysis ; Troponin T ; analysis

OBJECTIVETo investigate the clinicopathologic features of focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) in patients with refractory epilepsy.

METHODSThe clinical, radiologic and pathologic features of 38 cases of FCD receiving surgical treatment in 2005 were reviewed retrospectively.

RESULTSThe mean age of disease onset was 9.2 years. The disease lasted for 11.9 years on average and often presented as complex partial seizure. Radiologic examination revealed hippocampal sclerosis, or abnormal signals in the grey matter in 21 cases. According to Palmini's classification system, the following pathologic subgroups were identified: FCD type IA (3/38), FCD type IB (20/38), FCD type IIA (5/38) and FCD type IIB (5/38). The remaining 5 cases were classified as mild cortical dysplasia. Topographically, FCD type II was often seen in the extratemporal region (8/10), predominantly in the frontal lobe (5/8). Dual pathology was identified only in cases with FCD type IB. Immunohistochemical study showed that the giant neurons, immature neurons and dysmorphic neurons were strongly positive for NeuN. A small number of balloon cells expressed nestin.

CONCLUSIONSFCD is a common cause of refractory epilepsy. FCD type IB is the predominant pathologic subtype. Associated hippocampal sclerosis is sometimes seen. Clinicopathologic differences between FCD type I and FCD type II are observed.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Antigens, Nuclear ; metabolism ; Cerebral Cortex ; pathology ; ultrastructure ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Epilepsy ; etiology ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Malformations of Cortical Development ; classification ; complications ; metabolism ; pathology ; Microtubule-Associated Proteins ; metabolism ; Nerve Tissue Proteins ; metabolism ; Neurons ; metabolism ; Retrospective Studies ; Young Adult