Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of acupuncture at the Foot Shaoyang Meridian and Yin Heel Vessel in treating post-stroke strephenopodia. Method Forty-two eligible subjects were divided into a treatment group of 21 cases and a control group of 21 cases by the random number table. The treatment group was intervened by acupuncture at Yanglingquan (GB34) and Zulinqi (GB41) from the Foot Shaoyang Meridian and Zhaohai (KI6) from the Yin Heel Vessel, while the control group was by acupuncture at conventional acupoints, once a day, 6 d as a treatment course, 5 courses in total. The Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA), Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) and Modified Barthel Index (MBI) were adopted to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy. Result The treatment group was superior to the control group in improving strephenopodia, and recovering the lower-limb motor function and activities of daily living (ADL), and the intra-group and inter-group differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion Compared to the conventional acupuncture, acupuncture by selecting acupoints from the Foot Shaoyang Meridian and Yin Heel Vessel has significant advantages in treating post-stroke strephenopodia.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the efficacy of Fuhuang Tablets in treating internal hemorrhoid hemorrhage and discussing the design and quality control of clinical trials of traditional Chinese medicine. METHODS: According to two-center, randomized, blinded and controlled study, 144 patients with internal hemorrhoids were divided into 2 groups. Seventy-two patients were treated with Fuhuang Tablets (4 tablets t.i.d. per os) and the other 72 patients were treated with Zhining Tablets (4 tablets t.i.d. per os). Symptoms and signs of the patients were recorded and evaluated at the third and seventh day of treatment respectively. RESULTS: At the third day of treatment, the overall response rates of Fuhuang Tablets-treated group and Zhining Tablets-treated group were 58.57% and 27.78% respectively, with statistic difference between the two groups (P<0.05). At the seventh day of treatment, the overall response rates of Fuhuang Tablets-treated group and Zhining Tablets-treated group were 91.43% and 81.94% respectively, with no statistic difference between the two groups. The laboratory test results and life signs of the 144 patients were normal before and after the treatment. CONCLUSION: Fuhuang Tablets are effective and safe in treating internal hemorrhoid hemorrhage.

Objective To evaluate the clinical value of prone flexed posture lumber CT/MRI examination for lumber disc herniation. Methods Supine posture CT/MRI (SPCT/MRI) and prone flexed posture CT/MRI (PFPCT/MRI) examinations were performed on 1200 patients with lumber disc herniation.The imaging findings on SPCT/MRI and PFPCT/MRI of each case were compared. According to the CT/MRI diagnostic criteria for encapsulated lumber disc herniation ( HLDH ), adhered lumber disc herniation (ALDH) and ruptured lumber disc herniation ( RLDH), the 1200 cases were divided into three groups. On the basis of PFPCT/MRI findings, 868 cases were selected for percutaneous lumbar diskectomy (PLD) with half to twelve years follow up. Treatment effects of PLD on HLDH, ALDH and RLDH were analyzed with x2test. Results Among 249 ALDH cases diagnosed by SPCT/MRI 35 were identified as HLDH by PFPCT/MRI. Among 163 RLDH cases diagnosed by SPCT/MRI, 9 HLDH and 17 ALDH were identified by PFPCT/MRI. In 868 cases treated with PLD, the effective rate of HLDH ( n = 832), ALDH ( n = 25 ), RLDH ( n =11 ) were 825/832 (99. 2% ), 13/25, and 1/11 respectively. The effective rate of HLDH is significantly different from that of ALDH and RLDH ( x2 = 369. 69, P ＜ 0. 01 ). Conclusion PFPCT/MRI may change the grouping result of lumber disc herniation made by SPCT/MRI and can be used to objectively select patients for PLD.

A novel 2-( 2’-hydroxy-5’-chlorophenyl )-6-chloro-4 ( 3 H )-quinazolinone ( ELF-97 )-based fluorescent probe (P1) for hydrogen peroxide was prepared from 5-chlorosalicylaldehyde, 4-(bromomethyl) phenylboronic acid and 2-amino-5-chlorobenzamide, and its structure was characterized by 1 H NMR, 13 C NMR and HRMS. Weak fluorescence intensity was observed at 425nm when the solution of probe P1 was excited by 360 nm UV light. After addition of H2 O2 , however, emission peak at 425 nm disappeared while strong peak emission at 515 nm appeared with the same excitation wavelength ( 360 nm ) . The fluorescence intensity at 515 nm was dependent on the concentration of H2 O2 in the linear response range of 5-45 μmol/L. The detection limit of H2O2 was 0. 1 μmol/L (S/N=3) and the recovery rates of added H2O2 in milk were in the range of 94 . 0%-106 . 0%. Probe P1 was potential to become a useful tool for rapid detection of hydrogen peroxide.

Objective The aim of this report was to study the early and mid-term outcome in hospital and follow-up mortality, predictors for late pulmonary stenosis (PAS) and insufficiency of neo-aortic valve (neo-AVI) in patients with transposition of great arteries (TGA) and Taussig-Bing malformation undergoing arterial switch operation ( ASO ). Methods Between January 2004 and December 2007, 169 patients (129 male, 40 female; mean age of [(11.71 ± 26.3 ) months] with TGA or Taussig-Bing malformation underwent ASO. The patients were divided into Group Ⅰ (n = 56 ): TGA with intact ventricular septum and Group Ⅱ ( n = 113 ): TGA with ventricular septal defect (VSD). All patients were followed up in out-patient department by ultrasonic cardiogram. The mean follow-up periods was (27.66 ± 14.6 ) months. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to find out the risk factors. Results The overall hospital mortality was 11.24% (19/169)and there was no significant difference between the two Groups. With the improving of perioperative management, the hospital mortality decreased from 16.67% in 2004 to 3.92% in 2007. The overall actuarial survival at 1-, 3- and 5-year follow-up was 94.00%,91.33%, and 91.33%, respectively. The multivariate analysis revealed that age above 6 months was a strong predictor for poor postoperative survival. Predictors for neo-AVI were: combined with VSD, age > 6 months and postoperative neo-AVI Z-score > 1. Predictors for moderate to severe PAS were age ＜ 1 months and pulmonary artery plasty with an unstretchable patch. Conclusion ASO remains the optimal choice for treating various forms of TGA with an acceptable early and mid-term outcome regarding overall survival rate. Patients with TGA should be treated as early as possible. Age >6 months is a predictor for poor postoperative survival and neo-AVI. Mismatch between the neo-aortic root and distal aorta may induce neo-AVI. Unstretchable patch in pulmonary artery plasty may induce PAS.

Objective To investigate the expression profile of human genes in response to acute sodium arsenite treatment by cDNA microarray. Methods The RNA was purified from the L-02 cells without and with arsenite sodium induction for 2 hours, 15 hours and 24 hours, respectively. Results The hybridization patterns were different between every interval of arsenite induction. Expression of hCYR61 increased after 2 hours' induction, but decreased after 15 hours and 24 hours. Expression of metallothionein Ⅳ and Ⅲ elevated at the whole induction phase. HSP86 was up-regulated after 15 hours and 24 hours' induction, but it did not alter at two hours' induction. Conclusion When exposed to arsenite, the cells are under a meet-an-emergency situation to synthesize the most necessary protein and inhibit synthesis of unessential proteins.

Gluconobacter oxydans converts glucose to gluconic acid and subsequently to 5-keto-D-gluconic acid (5-KGA), a precursor of industrially important L(+)-tartaric acid. To increase the yield of 5-KGA, fermentation conditions of 5-KGA production was optimized. Under the optimum medium and culture conditions in the shake flask, the highest 5-KGA production reached 19.7 g/L, increased by 43.8% after optimization. In a 5-L bioreactor, the pH was controlled at 5.5 and dissolved oxygen (DO) at 15%, 5-KGA production reached 46.0 g/L, raised at least 1.3 times than in the shake flask. Glucose feeding fermentation process was further developed, and the highest 5-KGA production of 75.5 g/L with 70% of yield was obtained, 32.0% higher than the highest reported value. Therefore, this newly developed fermentation process provided a practical and effective alternative for the commercial production of 5-KGA, and further of L(+)-tartaric acid.
Bioreactors ; Fermentation ; Gluconates ; metabolism ; Gluconobacter oxydans ; metabolism ; Glucose ; metabolism ; Industrial Microbiology ; Tartrates ; metabolism

Objective To explore the influencing factors of high risk osteoporosis (OP) population. Methods Using multi-stage cluster sampling method, 1 district was selected from each of the 6 cities randomly, then 3 communities were selected from each district randomly. Questionnaire investigation and physical examination were applied to community residents aged 40-69 years old. The questionnaire mainly included basic information, OP risk assessment (using the 1 minute test method developed by the International OP Foundation), health status and lifestyle information (recent 12 months). The relationship between high-risk groups and influencing factors was analyzed by unconditional logistic regression. Results Totally 6577 valid questionnaires were collected, 2069 were male (31.46％) and 4508 were female (68.54％). A total of 166 cases (2.52％) were found as self-reported OP patients at the age of 40-69, self-reported rate of male (1.55％) was lower than that of female (2.97％) (χ2=11.719, P<0.01), the rate was higher among people aged 60-69 years than people aged 40-49 (χ2=44.766, P<0.01);3400 cases (52.28％) were found as high-risk individuals,there were more male at higher risk than female (OR=1.845). Among different age groups, the 50-59 and 60-69 years age groups had more high risk people than that of 40-49 years group (with OR=2.171 and OR=2.854 respectively). Comparative analysis was also conducted for the following factors: degree of education [college or above (OR=0.517) compared with primary school or junior middle school], occupation [compared with civil servants, technical management personnel (OR=2.289), business services (OR=2.224), farming/forestry/fishing (OR=2.258) and production/transportation staff (OR=2.552)], self-reported history of chronic disease (OR=1.596), fracture (OR=4.061), body pain (OR=2.286) and foot cramps (OR=1.923), as well as calcium/vitamin D intake (OR=1.357), increased sunlight (OR=1.256), daily walking steps>5000 (OR=1.336) and BMI>24.00 (OR=1.322), they were all related to a increased proportion of high risk population. Conclusion The proportion of OP high-risk groups is higher among people aged 40-69. Gender, age, cultural level, occupation, bad health status and lifestyle changes are closely related to higher OP risk. Community residents OP screening should be continued to further study the risk factors of OP.

Objective To detect the expression level of Taurine up?regulated gene 1( TUG1) in the re?nal cell carcinoma and paired paracancerous normal tissues,then explore the relationships between the expression level of TUG1 and clinical characteristics.Methods RNA was Extacted from the resected renal cell carcinoma tissues and paired paracancerous normal tissues of 46 patients respectively,by reverse transcription to get cDNA, the expression level of the TUG1 was detected by RT?qPCR, the relationship between the expression level of TUG1 and the clinicopathological characteristics was analyzed by statistically software. Results The expression of TUG1 in renal cell carcinoma was obviously lower than that in paired paracancerous normal tissues(0.533±0. 027 vs. 1.000±0.298,t=-3.350,P<0.01).The△CT value of Tug1 in 46 cases of renal cell carcinoma after log?arithmic transformation,the minimum value was -5.535,maximum was 3.085,average value was -0.908,with the average of -0.908 as a dividing line,46 cases of renal cell carcinoma with 25 cases (54.34%) were down regulated the expression.The expression level of TUG1 of patients with renal carcinoma have no significant corre?lation with age,sex,type of renal cell carcinoma,TNM staging and UICC/AJCC staging(P>0.05).Conclusion The expression of TUG1 in renal cell carcinoma tissues are down?regulated,which also suggest that it may be re?lated to the tumorigenesis and development of renal cell carcinoma.

BACKGROUND:Tissue-engineered transplantation technique has become an ideal therapeutic regimen for degenerative disc diseases through reconstituting the biological functions of the degenerated intervertebral discs.
OBJECTIVE:To construct a novel tissue-engineered annular fibrosus scaffold.
METHODS:Konjac glucomannan, nano-hydroxyapatite and colagen were used to fabricate a new tissue-engineered annular fibrosus scaffold by wet spinning, chemical crosslinking, and freeze drying methods. Afterwards, X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectrometer were used to analyze the scaffold qualitative components, physico-chemical property, biomechanical performance and cytocompatibility.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The bionic scaffold had a three-dimensional porous structure, with the average pore size of (425.8±47.3) μm, the average porosity of (73.4±5.6)%, and the water absorption of (718.6±24.3)%. In addition, the compressive strength of the scaffold was similar with that of the natural annular fibrosus. More importantly, the scaffold had good biocompatibility without cytotoxicity. These results show that the tissue-engineered annular fibrosus scaffold constructed by konjac glucomannan, nano-hydroxyapatite and colagen has proper three-dimensional porous structure, biocompatibility, porosity, water absorption and biomechanical strength.