Aged ; Aneurysm ; Female ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Temporal Arteries ; pathology

Animals ; Apoptosis ; Extremities ; blood supply ; Intestine, Small ; cytology ; pathology ; Ischemic Preconditioning ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Reperfusion Injury ; pathology

BACKGROUND: It has been proved that interleukin-18 (IL-18) involves in the development of acute cerebral infarction (ACI) and is positively correlated with the time of brain stroke onset, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), as well as neurological deficit and low-density value of brain CT.OBJECTIVE: To investigate the dynamic changes of serum IL-18 in the course of ACI.DESIGN: Verification analysis with patients as subjects and healthy volunteers as controls.SETTING: Department of neurology of a municipal hospital.PARTICIPANTS: Totally 46 inpatients (29 males and 17 females) with ACI were randomly selected from the Department of Neurology of People's Hospital, Maoming City, between December 2002 and January 2004.Meanwhile, 40 healthy controls (27 males and 13 females) were recruited from those who came to the hospital for routine physical examination. All the participants signed informed consent.METHODS: Fasting peripheral vein blood of 2 mL was collected from the patients on the 1st, 7rh, 14th and 21st days of ACI onset, and from healthy controls on the day of routine examination. The blood samples were centrifuged at 3 000 r/minute for 15 minutes at 4 ℃, and then the supernatant was collected for detecting IL-18 level by ELISA.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The serum IL-18 level of patients on the 1st, 7th 14th and 21st days of ACI onset and that of healthy controls on the day of routine examination.RFSULTS: Totally 46 patients and 40 healthy controls were enrolled in this study and all data were statistically analyzed. The level of serum IL-18 was significantly higher in the patients with ACI than in normal controls on the 1st and 7th days of onset [(178±41) ng/L, (104±34) ng/L, (65±14) ng/L, P ＜ 0.01],but was similar on the 14th and 21st days [(88±36) ng/L, (72±33) ng/L,(65±14) ng/L, P＞ 0.05]. The level of serum IL-18 in ACI patients was significantly higher on the 1st day than on the 7th, 14th and 21 st days of the onset (P ＜ 0.05-0.01); moreover, it was also significantly higher on the 7th day than on the 21st day of the onset (P ＜ 0.05).CONCLUSION: The level of IL-18 increases obviously on the 1st day of ACI onset, and gradually decreases with the extended course of disease and time of treatment.

Adolescent ; Blood Glucose ; analysis ; Diabetes Complications ; Diabetes Mellitus ; diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma ; complications ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo explore the effect of Qingyi Granule (QYG) on high mobility group box-1 (HMGB1) expressions in liver and renal tissues of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) rats.

METHODSFifty-four Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were divided into the sham-operation (SO) group, the SAP group, and the QYG group according to random digits table. Rats in the SAP group were induced by injecting 5% sodium taurocholate (STC). Liver and renal pathological changes were observed by HE staining. Serum contents of amylase (AMS), MDA, IL-1, and HMGB1 were detected by ELISA. HMGB1 protein expressions in liver and renal tissues were tested by immunohistochemistry. HMGB1 mRNA expressions in liver and renal tissues were detected by reversed transcription PCR.

RESULTSThe pathological scores, serum levels of AMS, MDA, IL-1 and HMGB1, and protein and mRNA HMGB1 expressions in liver and renal tissues were increased more obviously in the SAP group than in the SO group (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). All of them could be down-regulated by QYG intervention, with the most significant effect seen at 72 h (P < 0.05, P < 0.01) in a time-effect relationship.

CONCLUSIONSHMGB1 participated in SAP complicated liver and renal injuries. QYG could effectively inhibit HMGB1 expressions, thereby attenuating SAP complicated liver and renal injuries.

Amylases ; Animals ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; HMGB1 Protein ; metabolism ; Interleukin-1 ; Kidney ; metabolism ; Liver ; metabolism ; Pancreatitis ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; RNA, Messenger ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Taurocholic Acid

Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin ; diagnosis ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Complications ; diagnosis ; Purpura, Thrombocytopenic, Idiopathic ; diagnosis

Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Child ; Female ; Hordeolum ; therapy ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo observe the clinical effect of Chinese medical (CM) syndrome differentiation based Chinese herbs and recombinant human tumor necrosis factor receptor II-antibody fusion protein (etanercept) for treating ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients.

METHODSTotally 35 AS patients were treated with syndrome differentiation based Chinese herbs and etanercept. Reinforcing Shen and strengthening Du channel, activating meridians to stop pain was principle used in syndrome differentiation based treatment. Etanercept was subcutaneously injected, 25 mg each time; twice per week for the first three months and once a week for the latter three months. The clinical efficacy was evaluated after 3 and 6 months of treatment. Meanwhile, ASAS20 and ASAS50 standards arriving rates were also observed. Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI), Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI), visual analog score (VAS) for spine pain, VAS for night pain, patient global assessment (PGA), VAS for physician global assessment, CM syndrome score, finger-ground distance, thoracic activity, tragus-wall distance, lumbar scoliosis, cervical rotation, Schober improved test, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and C-reactive protein (CRP) were observed before treatment, 3 and 6 months after treatment.

RESULTSCompared with before treatment, BASDAI, BASFI, VAS for spine pain, night pain, physician global assessment, PGA, CM syndrome score, finger-ground distance, thoracic activity, tragus-wall distance, lumbar scoliosis, Schober improved test, ESR, and CRP all decreased after 3 and 6 months of treatment, with statistical difference (P < 0.05). Cervical rotation also decreased after 6 months of treatment, with statistical difference (P < 0.05). Compared with 3 months of treatment, total effective rate of CM syndrome, ASAS20 and ASAS50 standards arriving rates increased after 6 months of treatment, with statistical difference (P < 0.05). There were statistical differences in all indices mentioned above between after 3 months of treatment and after 6 months of treatment (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSyndrome differentiation based Chinese herbs combined etanercept could alleviate inflammatory reaction favorably, control the progression of active AS, and improve joint functions.

Disease Progression ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Etanercept ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Pain ; prevention & control ; Pain Management ; Spondylitis, Ankylosing ; drug therapy ; Treatment Outcome

To study the bioactive polypeptides included in Bufo skin and its secretions the plasmid skin cDNA library of adult Japanese toad Bufo japonicus formosus was prepared. The pSD64TR has been used as the vector and the cloning sites are Xho I and EcoR I. To screen cDNAs encoding bioactive components, the plasmid cDNA library was transformed into E. coli DH5 competent cells, and positive colonies were screened by colony PCR (polymerase chain reaction). The suspension of a single colony in LB medium was used as the template, SP6 (the upstream primer of the plasmid cDNA library) and a primer with Xho I site and polyT were used as the primers. As the result, 465 positive colonies out of 1 344 were obtained and their plasmid were collected and sequenced. By homologous analysis, it was found that one of the cDNAs encoding a peptide with high homolog with transgelin-2, which was registered in GenBank (accession number: JX197456), and it was indicated as a partial cDNA sequence with a deletion at the 5' end. The transcript is 997 bp consisting of 31 bp 5', 618 bp 3' untranslated region (UTR) and an open reading frame (ORF) of 348 bp encoding a polypeptide of 115 amino acids. In the putative protein product, there is a calponin homology domain, two cysteine residues for a disulfide bond and three a-helix domains, and five potential phosphorylation sites. The homologous analysis indicates 90% similarity with Xenopus (Silurana) tropicalis and 89% with Xenopus laevis, and 71%-85% with other species.

Objective This study was to investigate the association of certain single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the ER with genetic susceptibility to ISS .Methods Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood of children with ISS (n=355) and of normal growth and development individuals as controls from Jiangxi province (n=345) .The association between the ER gene polymorphisms with the height-related clinical traits was analysed .Results The allele T of rs6557177 is significantly lower in the ISS group than in the control group(P=0 .021 ,OR=0 .624) .The clinical indexes of two kinds of different genotypes were analyzed and compared ,there was no statistical difference(P>0 .05) .Conclusion The allele T of rs6557177 of ER gene is a protection factor of ISS .C gene and T gene grouping clinical parameters (hight ,weight ,IGF-1 ,IGFBP3 ,E2 and BMI) were analyzed and found no statistically significant difference .