Chronic Periodontitis ; therapy ; Dental Implantation ; Dental Scaling ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Oral Hygiene ; Periapical Periodontitis ; therapy ; Root Planing ; Tooth Extraction

Nicotinic acid could increase high density lipoprotein and reduce serum total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides in human bodies, thus is frequently applied in treating low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and hypertriglyceridemia in clinic. However, according to the findings, nicotinic acid could also cause adverse effects, such as skin flush, beside its curative effects. In this study, bioisosterism, fragment-based search and Lipinski's Rule of Five were used to preliminarily screen out potential TCM ingredients that may have similar pharmacological effects with nicotinic acid from Traditional Chinese medicine database (TCMD). Afterwards, homology modeling and flexible docking were used to further screen out potential nicotinic acid receptor agonists. As a result, eleven candidate compounds were derived from eight commonly used traditional Chinese medicines. Specifically, all of the candidate compounds' interaction with nicotinic acid receptor was similar to nicotinic acid, and their docking scores were all higher than that of nicotinic acid, but their druggability remained to be further studied. Some of the eight source traditional Chinese medicines were used to lower lipid according to literature studies, implying that they may show effect through above means. In summary, this study provides basis and reference for extracting new nicotinic acid receptor agonists from traditional Chinese medicines and improving the medication status of hyperlipidemia.
Drug Evaluation, Preclinical ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Humans ; Models, Molecular ; Molecular Structure ; Nicotinic Acids ; chemistry ; Nicotinic Agonists ; chemistry ; Protein Binding ; Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled ; agonists ; chemistry ; Receptors, Nicotinic ; chemistry

Objective To establish a method for detecting Aspergillus spp.by Loop-mediated isothermal amplification.Methods Aspergillus spp.specific primers were designed from the relative conservation region of the published sequence of 28S rRNA genes of A.fumigatus (GenBank accession number AY660917),A.terreus (GenBank accession number AF454183),A.flavus (GenBank accession number AF454158),and A.niger (GenBank accession number AF454169).Genomic DNA were extracted from Aspergillus standard strains,clinical control strains and clinical samples,and amplified by LAMP.The amplified results could be read with the naked eye by the coloring effect of fluorescent nucleotide dye without the DNA electrophoresis.Approximately 103 each Aspergillus conidia suspension was added to the serum from healthy volunteers,and detected these simulative clinical samples bv LAMP assay.Results The LAMP and PCR assays obtained positive results for all four Aspergillus species and 8 simulative clinical samples (double samples for each Aspergillus species) including 103 conidia,but negative in the remaining 15 non-Aspergillus species,human total blood genomic DNA,30 clinical serum samples infected with non-Aspergillus and 10 healthy volunteers.The LAMP assay had a minimum detection of 0.05-0.5pg,by means of detect different levels of 500,50,5,0.5,0.05 pg template in each reaction tube.Conclusion The results confirm that LAMP is a simple,rapid,sensitive and specific method,and can be used for detection of Aspergillus strains in clinical and environmental specimens.

Purpose To explore the correlation between fetal cardiac function and interventricular septal thickness in fetuses of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) mothers. Materials and Methods Thirty-nine GDM mothers were involved in the study and divided into group MH (fetuses of GDM mothers with interventricular septal hypertrophy) and group NMH (fetuses of GDM mothers with normal interventricular septal thickness). Ultrasonic cardiogram was performed for both groups to assess such variables as interventricular septum thickness at end diastole (IVSd), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), left ventricular fraction shortening (LVFS), right ventricular fraction shortening (RVFS), the ratio of E and A of mitral flow (E/AMV), the ratio of E and A of tricuspid flow (E/ATV), peak velocity of aortic valve (VPAO), peak velocity of pulmonary valve (VPPA) and myocardial performance index (MPI). The results were further compared with those of control group. Results The VPAO, VPPA, LVEF and LVFS in group NMH were significantly higher than those in control group (P<0.05). The VPAO, VPPA, LVEF, LVFS and RVFS in group MH were significantly higher than those in control group whilst the E/AMV and E/ATV significantly lower than those in control group (P<0.05). The LVEF, LVFS and RVFS in group MH were significantly higher than those in group NMH whilst the E/AMV and E/ATV significantly lower (P<0.05). MPI in group MH was significantly higher than that in group NMH (P<0.05), whilst both were significantly higher than that in control group (P<0.05). The LVEF, LVFS, RVFS, VPAO and VPPA were positively correlated with IVSd (r=0.48, 0.51, 0.45, 0.30, 0.30;P<0.05). Conclusion Cardiac function in fetuses of GDM mothers may be associated with interventricular septal thickness.

Objective To investigate the effects of Shen-fu injection on pulmonary contusion rabbits. Meth-ods Sixteen rabbits were randomly divided into 2 groups: the treatment group (Shen-fu group) and the control group. The animals were induced the pulmonary contusion models. After 60min, the animals in Shen-fu group re-ceived Shen-fu injection received 5 ml/kg, and those in control group 5 ml/kg LRS. The animals were killed six hours later, the right lung tissue wet-to-dry (W/D) ratio and myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity were obtained,the pro-tein expression of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) were also detec-ted. Results The lung tissue W/D, MPO, and the protein expression of NF-κB and ICAM-1 were decreased evi-dently in Shen-fu group (P<0. 01). The morphologic and ultrastructural damages in Shen-fu group were milder than in control group. Conclusion Shen-fu injection is effective on pulmonary contusion rabbits.

Objective To analyse effects of the serum levels of thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPOAb) on antithyroid drugs (ATD) treatment in patients with incipient Graves disease (GD). Methods A total of 121 patients with incipient GD, who were used anti thyroid drugs for 12 months, were included in this study. Patients were dvided into two groups:TPOAb negative group (TPOAb≤35 IU/mL, n=49) and TPOAb positive group (TPOAb>35 IU/mL, n=72). According to the degree of TPOAb drops the TPOAb positive group was sub-divided into low level positive group (35 IU/mL1 000 IU/mL, n=20). The ATD total dosage for 12 months and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), which returned to normal rate after treatment of 3, 6 and 12 months, were compared between groups. Results ATD total dose was lower in TPOAb positive group (1 743.82±265.38) mg than that of negative group (1 889.18 ±125.51) mg. The ATD total dosages were (1 759.71±230.29) mg, (1 793.75±299.02) mg, (1 731.54± 236.44) mg and (1 710.00 ± 290.73) mg for low level TPOAb positive group, medium level TPOAb positive group, high level TPOAb positive group, and very high level TPOAb positive group respectively. The recovering ratio of TSH was significantly higher in TPOAb positive group than that of TPOAb negative group after 3-month treatment (P<0.05). Conclusion TPOAb positive serum can lead to shorten the course of ATD treatment and reduce the total amount of ATD treatment in GD patients.

High price and poor stability of both crocin-1 and crocin-2 reference substance have become obstacles to HPLC assay of Croci Stigma. A new method based on reference extract was proposed. In this study, the reference extract was prepared from gardenia yellow which is cheap and easy to get The content of crocin-1 and crocin-2 in reference extract was determined and factors affecting stability of reference extract were investigated. Twelve batches of Croci Stigma were analyzed with reference extract and reference substance respectively. The results showed no difference. The presented method is feasible for quality control of Croci Stigma and reference extract is suitable to replace reference substances in assay.
Carotenoids ; analysis ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; standards ; Crocus ; chemistry ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; Quality Control ; Reference Standards

Objective To evaluate the predicting value of serum procaleitonin (PCT) in treatment of acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) in elderly patients. Methods A total of 267 elderly patients requiring hospitalization for AECOPD were randomly assigned into 2 groups: standard therapy group (standard group, n= 135) and PCT-guided group(PCT group, n= 132). Standard group received antibiotics according to the guideline of attending physicians and PCT group were treated with antibiotics according to serum PCT levels.Length of hospitalization, clinical efficacy, costs of hospitalization and antibiotics, rate of antibiotics use, hospital mortality, rate of exacerbation and rehospitalization, frequency of exacerbation within 1 year were observed. Results Length of hospitalization, clinical efficacy, hospital mortality, rate of exacerbation and rehospitalization, frequency of exacerbation within 1 year were similar in 2 groups(all P＞0.05);costs of hospitalization and antibiotics, rate of antibiotics use of PCT group[10 882 (3808-16 651)yuan, 6934 (2390-10 660)yuan, 76.5%] were lower than those of standard group[13 637(4650-19 730)yuan, 8589(3144-12 117)yuan, 87.4%] (all P＜0.05). Conclusions PCT guidance offers an advantage over standard therapy in reducing antibiotic use and in lowering the costs of hospitalization in treatment of AECOPD in elderly patients.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the correlations between symptom-based principal factors of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and the effect of traditional Chinese medicine or Western medicine on RA after factor analysis of RA symptoms. METHODS: Four hundred and thirteen RA patients from 9 clinical centers were included in the clinical trial. They were randomly divided into Western medicine (WM) treated group with 204 cases and traditional Chinese medicine (CM) treated group with 209 cases. A complete physical examination and 18 common clinical manifestations were recorded before the randomization and after the treatment. The WM therapy included voltaren extended action tablet, methotrexate and sulfasalazine. The CM therapy included glucosidorum Tripterygll totorum tablet and Yishen Juanbi Tablet. The American College of Rheumatology 20 (ACR20) was used for efficacy evaluation. All data were analyzed on SAS 8.2 statistical package. Eighteen symptoms in the RA patients were analyzed by factor analysis and the relationships between the factors and effects were analyzed with Chi-Square test. RESULTS: Four principal factors were obtained from the analysis results of the 18 symptoms. The factors could represent the symptoms related to joints, cold-syndrome, deficiency syndrome and heat-syndrome in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), respectively. The effect of WM therapy was better than CM therapy. After 12 weeks of treatment, the effect of CM on patients without deficiency-syndrome was better than the patients with deficiency-syndrome. After 24 weeks of treatment, WM therapy showed better effect on patients with cold syndrome than patients without cold syndrome. CONCLUSION: The results based on the factor analysis of RA symptoms are similar to the results of syndrome differentiation of TCM, and the factor-related different categories of symptoms are associated with the curative effect, thus further research on the symptoms is necessary.

Objective:To differentiate human embryonic stem cells ( hESCs ) into keratinocytes ( K-hESCs) and analyse the expression characteristics of biomarkers of K-hESCs.Methods: The hESCs of line H9 were seeded on matrigel in mTeSR1 medium.The hESCs were directly differentiated into kerati-nocytes in epithelial differentiation medium with bone morphogenetic protein 4, retinoic acid and N2 sup-plement.The karyotype of K-hESCs was analyzed, comparing the gene expression differences of K-hESCs with human gingival epithelial cells (HGECs), human immortalized oral epithelial cells (HIOECs) and HaCaT by Real-time PCR.Molecular characteristics of the cell differentiation were observed throughout the process by immunocytochemical techniques.Results:H9-hESCs were successfully differentiated into the cells that exhibited characteristics of keratinocytes in epithelial differentiation medium.The karyotype of K-hESCs was 46, XX; and the keratinocyte gene p63 expression in K-hESCs was significantly lower than that in HaCaT ( P<0.05) , but there was no significant difference of p63 expression in K-hESCs, comparing with that in HGECs and HIOECs ( P >0.05 ) .Conclusion: H9-hESCs could be directly differentiated into K-hESCs.The gene expression of K-hESCs was similar to that of epithelial cells in the early stage of monolayer cells differentiation with high proliferative activity.