OBJECTIVETo assess the clinical efficacy, safety and compliance of tianwang buxin decoction (TWBXD) combined with dormancy hygiene education (DHE) and TWBXD alone in treatment of sub-healthy insomnia patients of yin deficiency fire excess syndrome.

METHODSThe multi-centered, single blinded randomized clinical trial design was adopted. One hundred and one sub-healthy insomnia subjects of yin deficiency fire excess syndrome were randomly assigned to two groups. The 50 in the treatment group were treated by combined treatment with TWBXD and DHE, while the 51 in the control group were treated with TWBXD alone. The therapeutic efficacy, Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) score, clinical global impression-improvement (CGI) score, quality of life made by WHO (WHOQOL-BREF) score, and safety in the two groups were compared.

RESULTSThe effective rate in the treatment group was 68.08%, lower than that in the control group (75.00%), but the difference between them was statistically insignificant. The PSQI score in the treatment group were reduced from 12.00 +/- 2.25 to 7.55 +/- 2.91 (P < 0.01). It was reduced from 11.68 +/- 2.21 to 7.16 +/- 3.13 in the control group (P < 0.01). The improvement of CGI score and WHOQOL-BREF score was also shown in the two groups after treatment (P < 0.01). No significant difference was shown in each index between the two groups. There was no significant difference in CGI between two weeks after drug withdrawal and by the end of the therapeutic course in the same group (P > 0.05). There was no statistical significance in inter-group comparison (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSignificant effect was achieved by TWBXD combined with DHE and by TWBXD alone. Their efficacies were equivalent, with high compliance and safety.

Aged ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Hygiene ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Middle Aged ; Patient Education as Topic ; Single-Blind Method ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders ; therapy ; Treatment Outcome ; Yin Deficiency ; therapy

Epidemiology is a discipline characterized by complicated theory and practice.How to make the practice course function better is a topic worthy of exploring in educational reform for clinical students.The article explored the‘Student-Dominated’ Model based on ‘Problem-Based Learning ’ and ‘Team Based Learning ’ in teaching process and compared the model with the traditional one ( Teacher-Dominated Model) .Suggestions were given to further improve effectiveness of epidemiology practice courses.

Objective To detect the internal arteriovenous fistulas (AVF) in 73 maintenance hemedialysis patients, as to explore the recirculation, blood flow and cardiac output of the internal AVF and provide basis for the hemodialysis project. Methods Internal AVF of 73 maintenance hemodialysis patients was detected 30 minutes after the initiation and 30 minutes before the end of the hemodialysis. Patients with low blood flow ( AF < 600 ml/min) were followed up. Results Fistula function was successfully monitored in 73patients, in which 1 case ( 1. 4% ) was found to have recirculation rate > 50%. 15 patients (20. 5% ) had AF <600 ml/min and 18 patients (24.7%) had AF > 1 600 ml/min. During 12 months follow up with the 15 patients (AF <600 ml/min), 6 cases (40%) had occlusion, 7 cases (46.7%) maintained unobstructed and 2 cases underwent kidney transplant. There was statistical significance in terms of internal fistula flow, cardiac output, cardiac index and center blood volume between 30 minutes after the initiation and 30 minutes before the end of the hemodialysis. Conclusions AVF detection plays an important role in the monitor of AVF function in hemodialysis patients. The possibility of AVF occlusion increases in patients with lower blood flow. The recirculation rate is low when AVF obtains enough blood flow and the internal fistula interval is not a major factor.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the modulatory effects of morphine on the susceptibility to pentylenetetrazole-induced seizures, and the involvement of endogenous histamine in this process.

METHODSBoth the wild-type (WT) mice and histidine decarboxylase (a key enzyme for histamine biosynthesis) deficient (HDC-KO) mice were subcutaneously injected with different doses of morphine, and 1 hour later the pentylenetetrazole solution (1.5 %) was infused into the tail vein at a constant rate of 0.3 ml/min. The minimal dose of pentylenetetrazole (mg/kg) needed to induce myoclonic jerks and clonus convulsion was recorded as the thresholds of seizures.

RESULTIn WT mice, morphine dose-dependently decreased the thresholds of both myoclonic jerks and clonus convulsion. In HDC-KO mice, morphine at 10 mg/kg only significantly decreased the threshold of myoclonic jerks from (38.6 +/-2.9)mg/kg to (32.5 +/-0.7)mg/kg, but had no significant effect on the threshold of clonus convulsion [from (51.8 +/-2.1)mg/kg to (47.6 +/-1.2)mg/kg]. In addition, the value of decreased myoclonic jerks (15.8 +/-1.4)% and clonus convulsion (8.3 +/-0.9)% thresholds were much lower in HDC-KO mice than in WT mice [(26.1 +/-2.5)% and (20.8 +/-2.4)%, respectively].

CONCLUSIONMorphine can decrease the thresholds of pentylenetetrazole in induction of seizure, and the endogenous histamine may be involved in this process.

Animals ; Disease Susceptibility ; chemically induced ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Histamine ; metabolism ; physiology ; Histidine Decarboxylase ; genetics ; metabolism ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Knockout ; Morphine ; pharmacology ; Myoclonus ; chemically induced ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Narcotics ; pharmacology ; Pentylenetetrazole ; Random Allocation ; Seizures ; chemically induced ; genetics ; physiopathology ; Sensory Thresholds ; drug effects

OBJECTIVETo assess the effect of perioperative glucose-insulin-potassium (GIK) infusions on the prognosis in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting.

METHODSElectronic databases including Cochrane library (Issue 3, 2011), Pubmed, EMbase, Highwire, CBM and CNKI were searched. A meta-analysis of all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing GIK with control in coronary artery bypass grafting was performed. Study selection and meta-analysis were conducted which according to the Cochrane Handbook for systematic reviews. Date were extracted from these trials by 3 reviewers independently and analyzed by RevMan5.0 software.

RESULTSA total of 9 RCTs including 1029 patients were assessed in this study. GIK infusion was associated with significantly fewer perioperative myocardial infarctions (RR = 0.59, 95%CI: 0.38 - 0.91, P = 0.02), less inotropic support requirement (RR = 0.44, 95%CI: 0.35 - 0.56, P < 0.01), and increase the incidence of postoperative atrial fibrillation (RR = 1.23, 95%CI: 1.05 - 1.43, P = 0.009).

CONCLUSIONSGIK significantly reduces myocardial injury and improves cardiac function in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting, but also increases the incidence of postoperative atrial fibrillation.

Coronary Artery Bypass ; Glucose ; administration & dosage ; Humans ; Insulin ; administration & dosage ; Myocardial Infarction ; prevention & control ; Postoperative Period ; Potassium ; administration & dosage ; Prognosis ; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic

With retrieval of MEDLINE database (from Jan 2006 to Dec 2010) and supplementary search on other important literatures, 29 overseas articles that were in accord with inclusive criteria were included. The results showed that the overseas scholars issued the international standard on human acupoint locations and proposed the localization system of animal acupoint model; discovered the new acupoint structure, characteristic of acupoint microcirculation, the states of the diseases could be specifically reflected through acupoint temperature, electric resistance, pressure and pain threshold, and the specific brainstem reaction could be induced by electroacupuncture at acupoints; verified initially the effect on nausea and vomiting with the related acupuncture methods at acupoints and explained the mechanisms on the local analgesia of acupuncture at acupoints; suggested that a further study should be expected on the low electric resistance property of acupoints and the effect specificity in the treatment of disease. Additionally, they were proposed that the domestic study should focus on the symptom treatment, correct application of logic reasoning, the secondary literature study and international exchange and cooperation. It is indicated that the overseas study has made the great progression on the acupoint locations, morphological structure, biological and physical properties, pathological reaction, stimulation effect, therapeutic effect and mechanism, and it provides the references for the domestic study in terms of study clues and methods.
Acupuncture ; trends ; Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; trends ; Humans ; MEDLINE ; Publications

OBJECTIVE Tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is the only approved pharmaco-logical therapy for acute brain ischaemia;however,a major limitation of tPA is the haemorrhagic trans-formation that follows tPA treatment. Here, we determined whether nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN), a key intermediate of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide biosynthesis, affects tPA-induced haemorrhagic transformation. METHODS Middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) was achieved in CD1 mice by introducing a filament to the left MCA for 5 h.When the filament was removed for reperfusion, tPA was infused via the tail vein.A single dose of NMN was injected i.p.(300 mg·kg-1).Mice were killed at 24 h post ischaemia, and their brains were evaluated for brain infarction, oedema, haemoglobin content, apoptosis, neuroinflammation, blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability, the expression of tight junction proteins(TJPs)and the activity/expression of MMPs. RESULTS In the mice infused with tPA at 5 h post ischaemia, there were significant increases in mortality, brain infarction, brain oedema, brain haemoglobin level, neural apoptosis, Iba-1 staining (microglia activation) and myeloperoxidase staining (neutrophil infiltration). All these tPA-induced alterations were significantly prevented by NMN administration. Mechanistically, the delayed tPA treatment increased BBB permeability by down-regulating TJPs, including claudin-1, occludin and zonula occludens-1,and enhancing the activities and protein expression of MMP9 and MMP2. Similarly, NMN administration partly blocked these tPA-induced molecular changes. CONCLUSION Our results demonstrate that NMN ameliorates tPA-induced haemorrhagic transformation in brain ischaemia by maintaining the integrity of the BBB.

To investigate the function of exogenous unsaturated fatty acids in hyposmotic membrane stretch enhancement of muscarinic current (ICCh) in antral circular smooth muscle cells of guinea pig, we recorded the membrane current with the conventional whole cell patch-clamp technique. I(CCh) elicited by 50 micromol/L carbachol (CCh) at the holding potential of 20 mV under isosmotic condition was taken as control. Hyposmotic membrane stretch increased I(CCh) to 226.0+/-21.0%. When the cells were pretreated with 5 micromol/L arachidonic acid (AA), linoleic acid (LA) or oleic acid (OA), I(CCh)was inhibited to 3.8+/-0.6%, 35.2+/-0.8% and 66.6+/-0.6% respectively. Hyposmotic membrane stretch increased I(CCh) to 106.0+/-2.5%, 173.2+/-6.8% and 222.1+/-11.0% of the control respectively. Five micromol/L AA inhibited hyposmotic membrane stretch-enhanced I(CCh) by 51.2+/-3.8%, while the control I(CCh) under isosmotic condition was inhibited by 96.2+/-1.6%. The results suggest that unsaturated fatty acids inhibited I(CCh) and the inhibitory effect is more significant when the unsaturation degree is increased. However, the unsaturated fatty acids are not involved in the increase of I(CCh) induced by hyposmotic membrane stretch.
Animals ; Fatty Acids, Unsaturated ; pharmacology ; Guinea Pigs ; Membrane Potentials ; drug effects ; Myocytes, Smooth Muscle ; cytology ; physiology ; Osmotic Pressure ; Patch-Clamp Techniques ; Pyloric Antrum ; cytology ; physiology ; Receptors, Muscarinic ; physiology ; Sodium Chloride

To construct a TK-/gG- mutant of pseudorabies virus, the gG-detected transfer vector pUSKKBB and genomic DNA of pseudorabies virus TK-/gG-/LacZ+ were co-transfected into IBRS-2 cells. Transfection progeny were plated onto PK-15 cells and incubated for 2 days under methylcellulose. Then the overlay was removed and replaced by 1% low melting point agarose in DMEM supplemented with 150 microg/mL X-gal. After 2 days, white plaques were screened for and purified 4 times. By PCR amplification of gG-deleted gene and LacZ gene, a recombinant virus with TK-/gG- phenotype was confirmed. Sequence of the PCR product revealed that there were 1,176 bp detection in gG gene of the PRV TK-/gG- mutant. Amplifying the gG-deleted gene of different generations of the TK-/gG- mutant showed that the mutant was stable within PK-15 cells. TCID50 assay indicated that the recombinant virus grows well on PK-15 cells. The mice immunized with the TK-/gG- virus showed no sign of abnormality. As a control, all mice inoculated with PRV strain died from the infection. All mice that received TK-/gG- survived after a lethal PRV challenge. However none of the mice injected with phosphate-buffer saline (PBS) survived from the challenge. The above results demonstrated that the recombinant virus could be a candidate marker vaccine strain for eradicating pseudorabies in pig herds.
Animals ; Herpesvirus 1, Suid ; genetics ; pathogenicity ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Mutation ; Pseudorabies Vaccines ; immunology ; Swine ; Thymidine Kinase ; genetics ; Vaccines, Synthetic ; Viral Envelope Proteins ; genetics ; immunology

OBJECTIVETo study the changes in plasma substance P (SP) and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) levels in children with acute asthma before and after gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) treatment.

METHODSSeventy-five children with asthma were randomly assigned to GABA treatment (n=36) and control groups (n=39). Both groups were given conventional treatment for asthma. Besides the conventional treatment, the treatment group was administered with oral GABA (25-30 mg/kg•d). Plasma content of SP and CGRP was measured using ELISA before treatment and after remission.

RESULTSThere were no significant differences in plasma content of SP and CGRP between the GABA treatment and control groups (P＞0.05) before treatment. Plasma content of SP and CGRP in the GABA treatment group was significantly lower than the control group (SP: 57±15 pg/mL vs 127±12 pg/mL; CGRP: 23±10 pg/mL vs 42±8 pg/mL) after remission (P<0.01). Plasma content of SP and CGRP after remission was significantly lower than before treatment (P<0.01) in both groups. There was a significantly positive correlation between plasma SP and CGRP content in asthmatic children (r=0.792, P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONSGABA can significantly decrease plasma levels of SP and CGRP in children suffering from acute asthma.

Asthma ; blood ; drug therapy ; Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide ; blood ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Substance P ; blood ; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use