Objective: To observe the therapeutic efficacy and safety of sequential administration of erlotinib following chemotherapy in patients with erlotinib (as second-line treatment)-resistant advanced NSCLC (non-small cell lung cancer). Methods: Thirty stages ?B-? NSCLC patients with gradual progression after erlotinib treatment as second-line therapy were retrospectively reviewed. Of the 30 patinets, 15 patinets (group A) received one cycle of chemotherapy (pemetrexed plus cisplatin) followed by erlotinib, the remaining 15 patinets (group B) received chemotherapy alone (pemetrexed plus cisplatin). The short-term response and side effects were observed and the survival was analyzed. Results: The objective response rates of group A and group B were 13.3% (2/15) and 6.7% (1/15), respectively (P = 1.000), and the disease control rates were 40.0% (6/15) and 20.0% (3/15), respectively (P = 0.426). The median progression-free survival of group A and group B were 6.0 and 4.0 months, respectively (P = 0.001). There were no significant differences in the rates of side effects between the two groups. Conclusion: The administration of erlotinib following chemotherapy may offer benefits to the patients with erlotinib (as second-line treatment)-resistant advanced NSCLC. This treatment is also generally tolerable. Copyright © 2013 by TUMOR.

Adenoma ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Humans ; Keratin-7 ; metabolism ; Kidney Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Kidney Transplantation ; Living Donors ; Male ; Mucin-1 ; metabolism ; Young Adult

Objective To explore the effects of low frequency electric stimulation on the clinical manifes- tation and its influence on the level of plasma Endothelin (ET),atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP),thromboxane B_2 (TXB_2),angiotensinⅡ(AngⅡ),Calcitonin Gene Related Peptide(CGRP) and Neuron-specific Enolase(NSE) and its clinical significance in the patients with vertebrobasilar insufficiency(VBI). Methods One hundred and tewenty cases of VBI patients were randomly divided into two groups:a treatment group and a control group.Both groups received routine drug treatment.The treatment group (n=60) was also treated with low frequency electric stimulation at bilateral mastoid processfes in addition.The improved rate of the clinical symptom,the plasma level of ET,ANP,TXB_2,AngⅡ,GRP and NSE were observed after treatment. Results The patients treated in the treatment group had significantly better outcome than the control group in terms of symptom relief.The effective rate was 87.93% and 67.80% in the treatment group and control group,respectively(P

OBJECTIVE:To observe clinical efficacy and safety of levofloxacin and azithromycin in the treatment of community acquired mycoplasma pneumonia (CAMP).METHODS:A total of 108 patients with CAMP were randomly divided into group A and group B (n=54).Group A received intravenous administration of levofloxacin (0.6 g,qd) and group B intravenous administration of azithromycinin (0.5 g,qd) for 7 days.The clinical efficacy and ADR of 2 groups were observed.RESULTS:The total effective rates of group A and group B were 83% and 56%,there was significant difference between 2 groups (P0.05).CONCLUSION:The clinical efficacy of levofloxacin in the treatment for CAMP is better than that of azithromycin.Levofloxacin and azithromycin have good safety.

Adolescent ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Complement System Proteins ; analysis ; Female ; Humans ; Immunoglobulins ; analysis ; Infant ; Male ; Pneumonia, Mycoplasma ; immunology

1H NMR-based metabolomic approach combined with multivariate statistical analysis was used to evaluate the quality of 21 Farfarae Flos (FF) samples from different growth regions. Principal component analysis showed that wild and cultivated FF could be separated clearly, suggesting a big chemical difference existed between them. Supervised PLS-DA analysis indicated that the wild samples showed higher levels of secondary metabolites, such as bauer-7-ene-3β, 16α-diol, chlorogenic acid, rutin, 7-(3'-ethylcrotonoyloxy)-1α-(2'-methyl-butyryloxy)-3, 14-dehydro-Z-notonipetranone (EMDNT), tussilagone, β-sitosterol and sitosterone. This is consistent with traditional experience that the quality of wild samples are better than that of cultivated ones. The content of pyrrolizidine alkaloids senkirkine also differed greatly among samples from different habitats. The Pearson correlation analysis showed that senkirkine is positively correlated with 4, 5-O-dicaffeoylquinic acid, 3,5-O-dicaffeoylquinic acid, 3,4-O-dicaffeoylquinic acid, rutin, kampferol analogues, to a statistically significant extent. The correlation between the toxic compounds and the bioactive components in FF should be further studied.
Chlorogenic Acid ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Flowers ; chemistry ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ; Metabolomics ; Quinic Acid ; analogs & derivatives ; Rutin ; Sitosterols ; Tussilago ; chemistry

Objective To study the detection rate of early esophageal carcinoma using magnifying endoscopy,and to evaluate the relationship between the imaging patterns of microvasculature change and his- tological diagnosis.Methods Two hundred and fourteen patients with esophageal mucosa roughness,ero- sion,plaque,abnormal color and indentation in conventional endoscopy and 16 healthy volunteers were en- rolled.The magnifying endoscopy images were graded as four patterns by intraepithelial papillary capillary loop(IPCL)changes after iodine dyeing.The biopsies underwent pathologic evaluation.The comparison be- tween the imaging patterns of endoscopy and histological diagnosiswas was evaluated.Results 80.4%(90/ 112)esophagitis was type 2,and 85.7%(12/14)early esophageal carcinoma was type 3 and type 4.The difference was significant between early esophageal carcinoma and normal mueosa(?~2=27.32,P

Objective To investigate the dynamic changes of serum levels of neuron-specific enolase(NSE),endothelin(ET)and calcitonin gene-related peptide(CGRP)and their clinical significance in the elderly patients with acute cerebral infarction.Methods One hundred and twenty elderly patients with acute cerebral infarction(ACI),60 elderly patients with lacunar infarct,60 elderly patients with hypertension and 60 elderly patients with cerebral artherosclerosis were enrolled. The areas of infarction were measured and the venous blood samples at different times were collected after cerebral infarction to determine the concentrations of NSE,ET and CGRP by radioimmunoassay. Results There were dynamic changes of the plasma levels of NSE,ET and CGRP.In the early time the plasma levels of NSE and ET of the elderly patients with acute cerebral infarction were significantly higher than those of the elderly patients with cerebral artherosclerosis,or with hypertension,or with lacunar infarct(P＜0.01,P＜0.01,P＜0.05,respectively),and were gradually declined along with timing.In ACI group,the level of NSE began to increase gradually after 24 hours,reached the highest in 2 days,and decreased to normal after 14 days,but the level of ET was always higher than those in the cerebral artherosclerosis and hypertension groups.The ET levels in lacunar infarct and hypertension groups were also significantly higher than in the cerebral artherosclerosis group(P＜0.01).However,when compared with the cerebral artherosclerosis and hypertension groups,the plasma concentrations of CGRP in cerebral infarction and lacunar infarct groups were obviously lower(P＜0.01),and increased gradually.We also found the larger the infarction area,the lower the level of CGRP.Conclusions The NSE,ET and CGRP concentrations are associated closely with acute cerebral infaction.Monitoring the level of NSE is applicable for early diagnosis of cerebral infarction.

Objective To detect the expressions of miR-155,T helper type 17 (Thl7) cells,and Th17 cellspecific transcription factor RORγt and effector cytokine interleukin (IL)-17 in peripheral blood and skin lesions from,and to evaluate their relationship in,patients with atopic dermatitis (AD).Methods Peripheral blood was obtained from 37 patients with AD and 33 age-and sex-matched healthy controls,and biopsy specimens from the lesional and perilesional skin of five patients with severe AD as well as from the normal skin of five healthy human controls.Real-time fluorescence-based reverse transcription (RT)-PCR was employed to measure the mRNA expression levels of miR-155,RORγt and IL-17 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and skin specimens,flow cytometry to detect the percentage of Th17 cells in PBMCs,enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to determine the plasma concentration of IL-17.Statistical analysis was done using independent sample's t test,one-way analysis of variance followed by the least significant difference test,and linear correlation analysis.Results Compared with the healthy controls,the patients with AD showed a significant increase in Th17 cell percentage (1.78％ ± 0.52％ vs.0.47％ ± 0.15％,P＜ 0.01),mRNA expression levels of miR-155 (5.78 ± 1.78 vs.1.82 ± 0.46,P＜ 0.01),RORγt (6.08 ± 1.04 vs.1.64 ± 0.52,P＜ 0.01) and IL-17 (7.09 ± 1.75 vs.1.71 ± 0.46,P＜ 0.01),as well as in the plasma concentration of IL-17 ((2.51 ± 6.15) pg/ml vs.(11.80 ± 2.24) pg/ml,P＜ 0.01).There was a sequential decrease in the expression levels of miR-155,RORγt and IL-17 mRNA from lesional skin,perilesional skin to normal skin (F =41.803,17.040 and 37.064 respectively,all P ＜ 0.01).The miR-155 mRNA expression level in PBMCs was positively correlated with the SCORing Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD) index,Th17 cell percentage,RORγt and IL-17 mRNA expression levels as well as IL-17 plasma concentration (r =0.405,0.426,0.402,0.410 and 0.408 respectively,all P ＜ 0.05).Similarly,the miR-155 expression level was positively correlated with RORγt and IL-17 mRNA expression levels in lesional and paralesional specimens (r =0.428 and 0.435 respectively,both P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion The up-regulated expression of miR-155,Th17 cells and their effector cytokine IL-17 may be associated with the development of AD.

OBJECTIVETo explore the relationship between nitric oxide (NO) in central nervous system and exercise-induced fatigue stress and to study the effect of L-arginine (L-Arg), as a substrate of nitric oxide, on the exercise capacity and NO content in the exhausted rat brain and blood.

METHODSThrough an implanted cannula, the normal saline or L-Arg was microinjected into rat's intracerebroventrical for consecutive four days. Then an acute exhaustive model (on the speed of 18 m/min, an inclination of 5 degrees) was established with animal treadmill. The time of exercise till exhaustion was recorded, and the total workload was calculated that represented the exercise capacity. Nitrate and nitrite (NO3/NO2-, NOx-) levels in blood, hypothalamus and hippocampus were assayed.

RESULTSBoth the time of exercise till exhaustion and total workload in the LArg group increased respectively by 51.8% and 50.08% (P < 0.05), compared with those in the control. The NOx- content in hypothalamus in the L-Arg group (8.93 +/- 1.83) micromol/g pro was larger than that in the control (4.25 +/- 0.79) micromol/g pro, (P < 0.01). There was no significant difference in NOx- content in brain and hippocampus between the two groups. The total workload was positively correlated with NOx- concentration in hypothalamus (P < 0.01). However, there was no correlation between workload and changes in hippocampus NOx- content at fatigue.

CONCLUSIONIntracerebroventricular microinjection of L-Arg may enhance the exercise capacity and lead to up-regulation of NO by means of L-Arg-NO signal path in the hypothalamus. Hypothalamus may be a key site in brain in the modulation of physiological exercise.

Animals ; Arginine ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; Hippocampus ; metabolism ; Hypothalamus ; metabolism ; Lateral Ventricles ; Male ; Nitric Oxide ; metabolism ; Physical Conditioning, Animal ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley