Objective: To explore cytokine mechanism of Zhongjiling Tablet therapy to experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis (EAMG). Methods: Lewis rats were immunized with N2-AChR(from Torpedo's electrical organ)in CFA. ELISA were adopted to determine IFN-?,IL-4,TGF-? levels in serum and surpernatant fluids and anti-N2-AChR total IgG,IgG1,IgG2 titers in serum of EAMG on week 7 post immunization and treatment.Results:In serum and surpernatant fluids:IFN-?,IL-4 level in model group were dramatically higher than CEA group ( P

OBJECTIVETo investigate the value of MRI follow-up in pediatric patients with spinal tuberculosis.

METHODSFrom February 2004 to April 2013, MRI imaging data in 21 children with spinal tuberculosis by pathologically and clinically proven were retrospectively analysed. There were 11 males and 10 males, with an average age of 9.4 years old ranging from 2 to 14 years old. Eighteen patients were received conservative treatment, 3 patients were treated by surgical operation. The course of disease ranged from 2 months to 3 years. All cases underwent two or more MRI examinations for follow-up. MRI findings of the first and second examination were comparatively analyzed,including signal changes of vertebral body and intervertebral, paraspinal abscess and the change of kyphosis angle.

RESULTSIn the 21 cases with tuberculosis, 85 vertebral bodies were affected in total, including 10.6%(9/85), 49.4%(42/85) and 40%(34/85) vertebral bodies separately in the cervical,thoracic, lumbosacral spine. Follow-up MRI showed vertebral body shape and signal had no obvious change during or after treatment, 15 cases with vertebral bodies changed flat or cuneate, 10 cases with disc involvement,and intervertebral space became narrowing at different level. Among 13 patients with kyphosis angle greater than 0°, 7 were located on thoracic, 2, 3, 1 were on thoracolumbar, lumbar and cervical spine, respectively. Among 18 cases with conservative treatment,kyphosis angle were 0° on the first and the follow up MRI of 8 patients. One case of mild (<10°) kyphosis,follow-up MRI during therapy showed the angle slightly increased; 5 cases with moderate (10° to 30°), follow-up MRI during therapy showed no obvious change; 4 cases with severe (>30°), follow-up MRI during and after therapy showed kyphosis increased in varying degrees.

CONCLUSIONFollow-up MRI can make a big difference in the spinal tuberculosis of children; it can clearly show the change of the vertebral body and intervertebral space, paraspinal abscess and the kyphosis angle after the treatment,which can provide reference for clinical treatment and estimating prognosis.

Adolescent ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; therapeutic use ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Drug Monitoring ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Radiography ; Retrospective Studies ; Spine ; diagnostic imaging ; Tuberculosis, Spinal ; diagnostic imaging ; drug therapy ; surgery

Objective To investigate the gender differences of coronary heart disease secondary prevention status in patients post percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Methods Patients diagnosed with coronary heart disease from 31 tertiary hospitals were enrolled for a baseline survey. Medical history and laboratory tests were taken. Analysis was done for outpatient or inpatient with the history of at least one PCI treatment. Status of smoking cessation, weight management, blood pressure < 140/90 mm Hg, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) < 100 mg/dL (2.6 mmol/L), and use of antiplatlet drugs, beta-blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) and statins were collected and compared. Results Women (n=1151) accounted for 25.4% of all PCI patients (n=4532). Proportion of female with history of smoking was signiifcantly lower than male, but the proportion of quitting was similar between female and male, 53%(n=98) vs. 53.7%(n=1344), P=0.849. The average body mass index, mean waist circumference and proportion of overweight were higher in man than women, P=0.000. However, the proportion of abdominal obesity in women is higher than men, 75.2%vs. 52.8%, P=0.000. More female were comorbid with hypertension, hyperlipidemia and diabetes than male and the differences were signiifcant, P=0.000. Control rate of blood pressure, LDL-C and fasting glucose were lower in women than in man, the differences were 66.2% vs 73.4% for blood pressure, 47.8%vs. 57.0%for LDL-C and 57.5%vs. 62.7%for fasting glucose, P=0.000. There was no signiifcant difference in medication usage between different genders. Conclusions In patients post pecutaneous coronary intervention, female patients had more risk factors than male while risk factor control rate was lower comparing with male. Medication usage for coronary heart disease secondary prevention was similar between different genders.

Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the approach of the Nuss procedure for the correction of pectus excavatum in children without thoracoscopy.Methods From Oct 2007 and May 2009,48 patients with pectus excavatum underwent Nuss procedure.Among them 22 were done under the thoracoscopic guidance,and the other 26 in a non-thoracoscopic way,in which,a bilateral extrapleural tunnel to the edge of sternum was created using a blunt dissection via a bilateral thoracic skin incision.Without introducing the thoracoscopy into the thoracic cavity,a steel bar was inserted in the entirely extrapleural tunnel and turned as the standard Nuss procedure.Results All 48 patients recovered uneventfully.There were no postoperative deaths and serious complications.A single alloy steel bar(23-40 cm)was used in all patients.In the non-video-assisted extrapleural group(n=26),no pneumothorax occurred,the operating time(after anesthesia)ranged from 24～38 minutes[mean(25.4±2.6)mins],blood loss was minimal(range,5-10 ml),and the hospital stay was ranged from 3-6 days[mean(4.5±1.1)days].In the thoracoscopic group(n=22),the corresponding figures were 40 to 60 minutes[mean(53.5±3.4)mins)],10 to 15ml,5-8days[mean(7.0±2.2)days],respectively.No recurrent of the funnel chest occurred during the 3-18 months(median 10.4 monthes)of follow-up.The bar displacement occurred in 1 case 2 months after operation,which was replaced with satisfied result.Conclusion The non-thoracoscopic approach of the Nuss procedure is a safe and less traumatic procedure for the correction of pectus excavatum.

Objective To use a simple bedside technique to verify the pathophysiological mechanism of pulmonary hypertension (PH) in different races. Method The Valsalva maneuver (VM) was performed in patients referred to a specialty PH clinic. The blood pressure response of patients to VM was in different fashions. The blood pressure (BP) was measured by using cuff and stethoscope. When the cuff was inflated to 15 mmHg above the systolic pressure, sound could be heard by auscultation during VM and when the cuff was deflated the sound disappeared over 3 heart beats which was considered as abnormal BP response, and less than 3 heart beats defined as normal BP response. The right heart catheterization in patients with PH as a part of the standard evaluation. Results This study included 84 patients with a mean age of (63 ± 16) years. Those with abnormal BP response to VM had higher pulmonary artery wedge pressure (PAWP) [(22.5±6.6) vs. (11.9±4.3) mmHg, P ＜0.0001] and lower pulmonary vascular resistance [(5.8 ± 4.0) vs. (8.1 ± 4.6 ) WU, P = 0.01]. Blood pressure response to VM did not correlate with mean pulmonary artery (PA) pressure [(46.2 ± 9.9) vs. (43.4 ±10.4) mmHg, P =0.20] or cardiac index (both 2.4 ± 0.6 L/min/m2). The abnormal BP response to VM had high sensitivity (89.4%), specificity (86.1%) and accuracy (86.9%) for determining PAWP＞ 15 mmHg.Conclusions BP response to Valsalva maneuver provides important information about left heart filling pressures in patients with PH.

We amplified genes encoding UDP-glucose dehydrogenase, ecohasB from Escherichia coli and spyhasB from Streptococcus pyogenes. Both ecohasB and spyhasB were inserted into T7 expression vector pRX2 to construct recombinant plasmids pRXEB and pRXSB, and to express in E. coli BL21(DE3). After nickel column purification of UDP-glucose dehydrogenases, the enzymes were characterized. The optimum reaction condition of spyHasB was at 30 °C and pH 10. The specific activity reached 12.2 U/mg under optimum condition. The optimum reaction condition of ecoHasB was at 30 °C and pH 9. Its specific activity reached 5.55 U/mg under optimum condition. The pmuhasA gene encoding hyaluronic acid synthase was amplified from Pasteurella multocida and ligated with ecohasB and spyhasB to construct the coexpression vectors pBPAEB and pBPASB, respectively. The co-expression vectors were transformed into E. coli BW25113. Hyaluronic acid (HA) was produced by biotransformation and the conditions were optimized. When recombinant strains were used to produce hyaluronic acid, the higher the activity of UDP-glucose dehydrogenase was, the better its stability was, and the higher the HA production could reach. Under the optimal conditions, the yields of HA produced by pBPAEB/BW25113 and pBPASB/BW25113 in shake flasks were 1.52 and 1.70 g/L, respectively, and the production increased more than 2-3 folds as previously reported.
Biotransformation ; Escherichia coli ; enzymology ; Genetic Vectors ; Glucuronosyltransferase ; genetics ; Hyaluronan Synthases ; Hyaluronic Acid ; metabolism ; Pasteurella multocida ; enzymology ; Streptococcus pyogenes ; enzymology ; Uridine Diphosphate Glucose Dehydrogenase ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo compare the difference in the efficacy on low back pain of cold-damp pattern between electric-thermal Bian-stone therapy and moxibustion box therapy.

METHODSForty-one cases of low back pain of cold-damp pattern were randomized into an electric-thermal Bian-stone therapy group (group A, 26 cases) and a box moxibustion therapy group (group B, 15 cases). In the group A, the electric-thermal Bian-stone was placed over Shenshu (BL 23) and Weizhong (BL 40). The temperature of stone was adjusted in accordance with patient's comfort. In the group B, moxibustion box was used over Shenshu (BL 23) and Weizhong (BL 40). The treatment was given once every day or every two days. Ten treatments made one session. The symptom and physical signs score of low back pain and the score of cold-damp syndrome were observed before and after treatment in the patients.

RESULTSThe symptom and physical signs score of low back pain and the score of cold-damp syndrome were all improved in the two groups (all P < 0.01). The changing rate of symptom and physical signs and syndrome were (37.04 +/- 32.68)% and (22.85 +/- 29.95)% in the group A, and were (47.29 +/- 22.08)% and (23.89 +/- 22.53)% in the group B, respectively, without significant difference in comparison between the two groups (all P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe efficacy on low back pain of cold-damp pattern treated with the electric-thermal Bian-stone therapy is similar to that of moxibustion box therapy. This therapy is characterized as more convenient, safer operation and less pollution.

Acupuncture Points ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Low Back Pain ; therapy ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; methods ; Middle Aged ; Moxibustion

Objective To evaluate the dosimetric imnpact of the fixed position of two-degrade collimator in the treatment of breast cancer after radical mastectomy using intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) technique.Methods A total of ten patients with breast cancer were treated with radical mastectomy and radiotherapy sequaciously involving the supraclavicular region and the chest wall.Two different IMRT treatment plans were designed for each patient:0°,40° and two tangential field.There was no restriction on the position of two-degrade collimator(IMRT-1) (P ＞ 0.05).The beam angles and the parameters were as same as IMRT-1,but fixed the position of the two-degrade collimator of 0° and 40° at the inferior border of the supraclavicular (IMRT-2).The dose distribution of target volume and normal tissues,conformal index (CI),and heterogeneous index (HI) were estimated with the dose volume histogram (DVH) for the two intensity modulated modes.Results The CI were 0.79 and 0.73 (Z =-2.316,P＜0.05),and the HI of the IMRT-2 plans was not different from IMRT-1 (P ＞ 0.05).Considering the dose volunes of the ipsilateral lung in two plans,the values of V5,V10,D of IMRT-2 were significantly less than those of IMRT-1 (Z =-2.805,-2.812,-2.521,P ＜ 0.05).Meanwhile,the D of the contralateral lung,D of heart and D of the contralateral breast from the IMRT-2 were all lower than those oflMRT-1 (Z=-2.666,-2.701,-2.310,P＜0.05).There was no significant difference in the values of V20,V30 of the ipsilateral lung,V30 of heart and between IMRT-1 and IMRT-2 (P ＞0.05).Conclusions Compared with IMRT-1,IMRT-2 with fixed position of the two-degrade collimator could significantly reduce the low dose region of the lung and heart.It may be used as an effective alternative for breast cancer after radical mastectomy irradiation.

Pigment epithelium derived factor (PEDF) has been proven to be an effective drug for the treatment of choroidal neovascularization (CNV). However, the lack of ideal administration route is the biggest bottleneck preventing PEDF from wider clinical use. In this study, we developed a novel PEDF-carrying system which employed immuno-nano-liposomes (INLs) under ultrasound exposure. PEDF-loaded INLs were prepared by conjugating nanoliposomes to the peptide ATWLPPR specifically targeting the receptor-2 for vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGFR-2) and reversely encapsuling PEDF. RF/6A cells were incubated with PEDF-loaded INLs. CNV models of BN rats were injected with PEDF-loaded INLs. MTT assay was used to evaluate the cytotoxicity of the INLs on RF/6A cells. Flow cytometry was conducted to detect the apoptotic rate of cells. Laser scanning confocal microscopy was employed to observe the binding and transmitting process of PEDF-loaded INLs and to calculate the area of CNV in the rat model. The results showed that the PEDF-loaded INLs could exclusively bind to CNV but not to the normal choroidal vessels. The CNV area was significantly decreased in PEDF treatment groups in comparison with control group (P<0.05). Moreover, PEDF-loaded INLs exposed under ultrasound were more efficient in reducing the CNV area (P<0.05). It was concluded that INLs in combination with ultrasonic exposure can transmit PEDF into cytoplasma with high specificity and efficiency, which strengthens the inhibitory effects of PEDF on CNV and reduces its side effects. PEDF-loaded INLs possibly represent a new treatment paradigm for patients with ocular neovascularization.

Tezepelumab(AMG 157/MEDI9929)is a human monoclonal antibody against the epithelial cell-derived cytokine thymic stromal lymphopoietin(TSLP).It is primarily used to treat moderate to severe asthma,particularly in patients with a non-eosinophilic inflammatory phenotype,whose asthma remains uncontrolled despite the use of long-acting beta-agonists and moderate to high doses of inhaled glucocorticoids.This article will summarise the mechanism of action,clinical trial efficacy and safety and tolerability of Tezepelumab in order to provide a comprehensive understanding of the drug and inform clinical work.