Acupuncture Points ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Coma ; drug therapy ; etiology ; therapy ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Craniocerebral Trauma ; complications ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; Electroacupuncture ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Young Adult

Abducens Nerve Diseases ; therapy ; Acupuncture Points ; Adult ; Aged ; Electroacupuncture ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Paralysis ; therapy ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

·AlM: To investigate pathogeny and effects of surgery on paralytic strabismus.
· METHODS: A retrospective study was done in 46 patients with paralytic strabismus who underwent squint correction in our hospital from June 2010 to June 2013. Among 26 horizontal strabismus, the cases of extra rectus palsy was 16, internal rectus palsy was 10.Among all20 vertical strabismus, the cases of superior oblique palsy, superior rectus palsy, inferior rectus palsy, double elevator palsy counted for 7, 8, 2 and 3, respectively. Pathogenesis: trauma was 19 cases, followed by 10 cases that the causes could not be identified.Nine was congen ital paralytic strabismus, 8 o ccurred after nose or brain surgery. The surgery methods included rectus muscle recession, rectus muscle resection, partial rectus muscle transposition, Jensen procedure, inferior oblique myectomy and anterior transposition of inferior oblique. Statistical software SPSS10.0 was used in chi-square test between two groups, while the situation of paralysis eye movements improved by two methods in the horizontal strabismus group was compared with t test.
· RESULTS: Among all horizontal strabismus the rate of cure, improvement and inefficiency was 20 ( 77%) , 5 ( 19%) and 1 ( 4%) , respectively. Among vertical strabismus the ratio of cure, improvement and inefficiency was 15 (75%), 3 (15%) and 2 (10%).There was no significantly difference between the two groups ( P >0.05 ). The movements of paralytic eyes were improved. Two procedures used in horizontal strabismus, can improve paralysis eye movements were 3.76 ±0.91, 3.72 ±0.84mm, with no significant difference (P=0.93) statistically.
· CONCLUSlON: Paralytic strabismus in adults had complicated conditions. Choosing different operation methods in treating paralytic strabismus according to the degree of paralysis can result in satisfactory cosmetically alignment of the eyes and modify head position and diplopia.

Objective To analyze the sensitivity of clinical isolates of Candida albicans to flucona- zole,to detect mutations in their ERG11 genes,and to investigate the correlation between ERG11 gene mutation and resistance to fluconazole.Methods Candida albicans was identified from clinical isolates of Candida spp..The sensitivity to fluconazole was detected in vitro by microdilution-basesd method and Rosco tablets method.Three pairs of primers were designed to amplify three fragments of ERG11 gene(483 bps, from 295 bp to777 bp;482bps,from 723 bp to 1204 bp;489 bps,from 1179 bp to 1667 bp)after the extracting of genomic DNA.PCR products were sequenced.Results Eighty clinical isolates of Candida spp.were collected,which included 52 isolates of Candida albicans,all of which were sensitive to flucona- zole.Nineteen mutations were detected in ERG11 gene of 5 fluconazole-sensitive clinical isolates.Of the 19 mutations,14 were samesense mutations,and the remaing 5 missense mutations(T495A,A530C, G640A,A945C and G1609A),resulting in amino acid substitution D116E,K128T,E165K,E266D and V488I,respectively in lanosterol 14 alpha-demethylase.E165K was a novel mutation.Conclusions The clinical isolates of Candida albicans were highly sensitive to fluconazole;E165K and V488I might not lead to the resistance of Candida albicans to fluconazole.

Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics of acute inhalational metallic nickel poisoning and its treatment effect.Methods Data including epidemiology,clinical features,laboratory tests,imaging examinations,therapy protocol as well as prognosis were collected and analyzed.Results Thoracic CT scan of all patients demonstrated as bilateral diffuse infiltration.Nickel concentration in both blood and urine were high in all patients and the concentration was positively associated with poisoning severity.All 4 patients received glucocorticoid treatment,2 of whom with acute respiratory distress syndrome were admitted to ICU to initiate mechanical ventilation and were given sodium dimercaptopropanesulfonate.All patients survived to hospital discharge.Conclusions Acute inhalational metallic nickel poisoning is uncommon and early symptoms are inconclusive.The blood and urine nickel concentration is helpful to judge the severity of the disease.Pulmonary diffuse infiltration is the main clinical feature.Glucocorticoid,chelation therapy as well as symptomatic treatment are effective therapies to relief disease severity.

The paper is to establish a method for simultaneous determination of 5 kinds of alkaloids in ephedra and poppy which are in Kechuanning tablets. Solid-phase extraction (SPE) was adopted in pretreatment, and a UPLC method with 2 different wavelengths had been developed: 210 nm for the detection of morphine, codeine phosphate, ephedrine hydrochloride and pseudoephedrine hydrochloride, and 251 nm for papaverine hydrochloride. The column used was Acquity UPLC BEH C18 (100 mm x 2.1 mm ID, 1.7 microm) with linear gradient elution using acetonitrile and 0.1% phosphoric acid. The flow rate was 0.4 mL.min-1, and the column temperature was 30 degrees C. The linear response range was 0.375 0 - 12.50 microg.mL-1 for morphine, 0.064 32 - 2.144 microg.mL-1 for codeine phosphate, 0.030 06 - 1.002 microg.mL-1 for papaverine hydrochloride, 1.126 - 37.52 microg.mL-1 for ephedrine hydrochloride, 0.287 8 - 9.592 microg.mL-1 for pseudoephedrine hydrochloride (r = 0.999 7). The average recoveries of these compounds were 99.26%, 100.6%, 95.29%, 100.1% and 97.48%, respectively. This is a more reasonable and credible method of quality control for Kechuanning tablets.
Alkaloids ; analysis ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Codeine ; analysis ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Ephedra ; chemistry ; Ephedrine ; analysis ; Morphine ; analysis ; Papaver ; chemistry ; Papaverine ; analysis ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Pseudoephedrine ; analysis ; Quality Control ; Solid Phase Extraction ; Tablets

BACKGROUNDThe classification of Alzheimer's disease (AD) from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been challenged by lack of effective and reliable biomarkers due to inter-subject variability. This article presents a classification method for AD based on kernel density estimation (KDE) of local features.

METHODSFirst, a large number of local features were extracted from stable image blobs to represent various anatomical patterns for potential effective biomarkers. Based on distinctive descriptors and locations, the local features were robustly clustered to identify correspondences of the same underlying patterns. Then, the KDE was used to estimate distribution parameters of the correspondences by weighting contributions according to their distances. Thus, biomarkers could be reliably quantified by reducing the effects of further away correspondences which were more likely noises from inter-subject variability. Finally, the Bayes classifier was applied on the distribution parameters for the classification of AD.

RESULTSExperiments were performed on different divisions of a publicly available database to investigate the accuracy and the effects of age and AD severity. Our method achieved an equal error classification rate of 0.85 for subject aged 60 - 80 years exhibiting mild AD and outperformed a recent local feature-based work regardless of both effects.

CONCLUSIONSWe proposed a volumetric brain MRI classification method for neurodegenerative disease based on statistics of local features using KDE. The method may be potentially useful for the computer-aided diagnosis in clinical settings.

Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Alzheimer Disease ; classification ; pathology ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; methods ; Middle Aged

OBJECTIVETo investigate the chemical constituents from flowers of Sesamum indicum.

METHODColumn chromatography with silica gel, C18 and Sephadex LH -20 as packing materials was used to separate the chemical constituents, and the structures were determined by chemical and spectroscopic methods.

RESULTSix flavones were isolated and elucidated as apigenin (1), ladanetin (2), ladanetin-6-O-beta-D-glucoside (3), apigenin-7-O-glucuronic acid (4), pedalitin (5), and pedalitin-6-O-glucoside (6).

CONCLUSIONAll of the compounds were isolated from this plant for the first time.

Apigenin ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Flavones ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Flowers ; chemistry ; Molecular Structure ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Sesamum ; chemistry

The vitamin K epoxide reductase complex subunit 1 (VKORC1), the rate-limiting enzyme for vitamin K recycling, is significantly down-regulated in the kidneys of urolithiasis patients. This study searched for direct evidence to define the inhibitory activity of VKORC1 against calcium oxalate (CaOx) crystal formation. In the experiment of VKORC1 overexpression, HK-2 cells were transfected with the pFLAG-CMV-7.1-VKORC1 plasmid as a pFLAG-CMV-7.1-VKORC1 transfection group or the pFLAG-CMV-7.1 plasmid as a pFLAG-CMV-7.1 control group. In the experiment of VKORC1 knockdown, HK-2 cells were transfected with the PGPU6/GFP/Neo-VKORC1shRNA-2 as a PGPU6/GFP/Neo-VKORC1shRNA-2 transfection group or the PGPU6/GFP/Neo-shRNA-NC plasmid as a PGPU6/GFP/Neo-shRNA-NC control group. The expression of VKORC1 in HK-2 cells was detected by real-time quantitative PCR and Western blotting. The CaOx crystal formation was observed under the laser-scanning confocal microscope. It was found that the expression levels of VKORC1 mRNA and protein were significantly higher in the pFLAG-CMV-7.1-VKORC1 transfection group than in the pFLAG-CMV-7.1 control group (P<0.01). The number of CaOx crystals in HK-2 cells incubated in fluorescently labeled CaOx monohydrate (COM) crystal medium for 48 h was 14±4 per field (100×) in the pFLAG-CMV-7.1-VKORC1 transfection group and 26±5 per field (100×) in the pFLAG-CMV-7.1 control group respectively under the laser-scanning confocal microscope. The amount of CaOx crystal aggregation and formation in the pFLAG-CMV-7.1-VKORC1 transfection group was significantly reduced as compared with the pFLAG-CMV-7.1 control group (P<0.05). The expression levels of VKORC1 mRNA and protein were significantly lower in the PGPU6/GFP/Neo-VKORC1shRNA-2 transfection group than in the PGPU6/GFP/Neo-shRNA-NC control group (P<0.05). The number of CaOx crystals in HK-2 cells incubated in fluorescently labeled COM crystal medium was 65±11 per field (100×) in the PGPU6/GFP/Neo-VKORC1shRNA-2 transfection group and 24±6 per field (100×) in the PGPU6/GFP/Neo-shRNA-NC control group respectively under the laser-scanning confocal microscope. The amount of CaOx crystal aggregation and formation in the PGPU6/GFP/Neo-VKORC1shRNA-2 transfection group was significantly increased as compared with the PGPU6/GFP/Neo-shRNA-NC control group (P<0.05). These findings suggested that the VKORC1 protein could inhibit CaOx salt crystallization, adhesion and aggregation. This research would help us to understand the mechanisms involving the interaction between crystallization and epithelial cells and the formation of CaOx.