This study aimed to simultaneously determine the contents of astilbin and engeletin in dong medicine "sunl gaems" of Guizhou origin by quantitative analysis of multi-components by single marker (QAMS), with astilbin as the internal standard substance. On UPLC and HPLC chromatograms, different models of instruments were used to investigate relative correction factors (RCF), in order to discuss the interoperability of RCFs established in different chromatographic systems. The engeletin content was calculated based on the established RCFs and compared by the one point external standard method and the external standard working curve method, in order to verify the accuracy of QAMS. According to the result, in different chromatograms, the ratios between RCF and retention time of engeletin and astilbin had a good reproducibility, with RSD between 2.0% and 1.8%, both were less than 3%. The relative differences among results of QAMS, the external standard working curve method of dong medicine "sunl gaems" ranged between 1.6% and 3.9%, with RSD between 2.02%-0.80% in line with relevant requirements and Pearson correlation coefficient at 0.9998 (P <0.01). The findings showed that QAMS was an accurate, reliable and highly reproducible method to determine the contents of astilbin and engeletin in dong medicine "sunl gaems" of Guizhou origin and so could be used to control the inherent quality of the herb.
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; Flavonols ; analysis ; Glycosides ; analysis

OBJECTIVETo compare the therapeutic effects of aspiration via a directional soft tube and conservative treatment in patients with mild hemorrhage in the basal ganglion.

METHODSSeventy-five patients with mild cerebral hemorrhage (10~30 ml) were randomly divided into two groups for aspiration treatment with minimally invasive directional soft tube placement (minimally invasive group, n=36) and conservative treatment (medication group, n=39). The patients in the two groups had comparable mean GCS scores of 11-15 on admission. The clinical outcomes of the patients were compared between the two groups.

RESULTSIn the minimally invasive group, complete removal or absorption of the hematoma occurred within an average of 3.8 days, significantly shortened in comparison with the 24 days in the medication group. The short-term (1 month) follow-up of the patients showed good neurological recovery in 58% of the patients in the minimally invasive group, significantly greater than the rate of 29% in the medication group; 6 months after the treatment, good neurological recovery was achieved in 50% of the patients in the minimally invasive group, but only 16% in the medication. No death occurred in the minimally invasive group, and 2 patients died in the medication group. The cost of hospitalization averaged 5136.3 Yuan in the minimally invasive group and 11843.6 Yuan in the medication group.

CONCLUSIONCompared with conservative treatment, the minimally invasive treatment with soft tube placement can significantly shorten the hospital stay, promote neurological function recovery, lower the mortality rate, and reduce the cost of hospitalization.

Adult ; Aged ; Basal Ganglia Hemorrhage ; etiology ; surgery ; Catheters, Indwelling ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension ; complications ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Suction ; economics ; methods ; Treatment Outcome

Objective To explore the impact and regularity of snail population after changing of water level and to develop effective control and prediction programs. Methods A typical snail habitat closed to Changjiang county in Yueyang city, Hunan province was selected as the survey field.Data on water level and the changing trend of snail population during 2001-2009 including the average water level, maximum and minimum water levels, snail and infected snail densities,proportion of sampling frames with living and infected snails etc. were collected. The distribution of water level and snail indexes were described and a general additive model(GAM)for the relationships between these indexes were also fitted. Results Impacts of the average water level and the watered-out days in current year in the surveyed field on the snail density were statistically significant(P＜0.01), showing a quadratic curve association. The snail density remained at the lowest level when the average water level was at 25.0 m and the surveyed field watered-out days was 120. The average water level in current year and the field watered-out days in the past year showed statistically significant impacts on the infected snail density(P＜0.001), the proportion of sampling frames with infected snails(P＜0.05)and living snails(P value neared 0.05), presented a quadratic curve, a cubic curve or even a more complicated piecewise curve association. Both the infected snail density and the proportion of sampling frames with infected snails remained at the lowest level when the average water level was at 25.0 m and the watered-out days in the past year was 110, while the proportion of sampling frames with living snails kept the lowest level when the average water level was at 25.0 m and the watered-out days in the past year was 160. Conclusion The water level and the field watered-out days affected the development of snail population directly. The changing water level had an impact on snail population change, which mainly presented as nonlinear smooth function relation. Impact of the field watered out days on the infected snail density and the proportion of sampling frames with living snails and infected snails showed a hysteresis effect. The snail density was predicted to be retaining a high level when the water level was 24.0 m and the field watered-out days was 3 months. It had obvious advantages to fit the relationship of the changing water level and the snail indexes with a GAM which could get closer to the reality as well as easier to find and explain the potential associations and regulations.

OBJECTIVETo study the curative effect of leukotriene receptor antagonist on cough variant asthma (CVA).

METHODSSixty-four CVA patients received treatment with bricany and montelukas and 68 control patients had bricany treatment for 4 weeks. The recurrence rate was observed in the two groups during the follow-up for 6 months.

RESULTSThe remission time of two groups were 2.5-/+3.6 and 5.3-/+3.8 days in acute phase, respectively, showing a significant difference between them (P<0.05). The recurrence rate of the two groups within 6 months were 20.09% and 40.87%, respectively, showing also significantly differences (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONLeukotriene receptor antagonist and bricany can effectively control CVA and significantly lower the short-term recurrence rate of CVA.

Adult ; Asthma ; complications ; drug therapy ; Case-Control Studies ; Cough ; complications ; drug therapy ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Leukotriene Antagonists ; adverse effects ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Male ; Receptors, Leukotriene ; metabolism ; Recurrence

OBJECTIVETo search for a better method for frozen shoulder due to cold damp.

METHODSSixty cases of frozen shoulder were randomly divided into an acupuncture-moxibustion group (32 cases) and an acupuncture group (28 cases). Acupuncture was applied mainly at Jianyu (LI 15), Jianliao (TE 14) and Jianzhen (SI 9) in either group. In acupuncture-moxibustion group, moxibustion on tender points was supplemented.

RESULTSIn acupuncture-moxibustion group, 7 cases were cured, 15 cases markedly effective, 9 cases improved and 1 case failed. The cured and markedly effective rate was 68.8% and the effective rate was 96.9%. In acupuncture group, 2 cases were cured, 9 cases markedly effective, 13 cases improved and 4 cases failed. The cured and markedly effective rate was 39.3% and the effective rate was 85.7%. The cured and markedly effective rate in acupuncture-moxibustion group was superior to that in acupuncture group (P < 0.05) and there was no significant difference in the effective rate statistically between two groups (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe clinical efficacy of acupuncture combined with moxibustion on tender points is superior to that of simple acupuncture on frozen shoulder due to cold damp.

Acupuncture Therapy ; methods ; Aged ; Bursitis ; therapy ; Cold Temperature ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Middle Aged ; Moxibustion ; methods

Dengue ; epidemiology ; Dengue Virus ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Evolution, Molecular ; Genes, Viral ; Humans ; Viral Envelope Proteins ; genetics

Objective To evaluate the diagnostic advantage of the ratio of ligamentum flavum(LF) thickness to oblique canal diameter(TODR)measured on CT images in patients with lumbar canal stenosis. Methods Seventy-one patients underwent CT and MRI examinations respectively,and they were divided into two groups,the positive group and negative group,according to the presence or absence of dural sac notch caused by the LF on bilateral parasagittal MR images.Meanwhile,50 volunteers without any symptom in the lumbar region or legs were examined by CT.TODRs were measured at the L3—S1 levels of the inferior margin of the intervertebral disc on transverse CT images,respectively.The results were further analyzed with the positive findings on MR images,clinical symptoms and physical examination,so as to find out the statistical correlation between them.Results LF thickness was(3.01?0.72)mm and TODR was 0.19?0.04 in the negative group,(3.94?0.84)mm and 0.28+0.06 in the positive group,and(3.16? 0.85)mm and 0.19?0.04 in the control group.There was significant difference between positive group and negative group or control group for LF thickness(P0.24, the sensitivity,specificity and positive predictive value were 74.8%,89.6% and 73.6% respectively. Positive correlation existed between LF thickness or TODR and clinical symptom(r=0.72,0.86,P

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effect of ulinastain on the expression of hemeoxy genase-1 (HO-1) in oil acid-induced acute lung injury in rats. METHODS: The animal model of acute lung injury was established by oil acid. Thirty SD rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: the blank control group (A), the acute lung injury group (B) and the acute lung injury group (C) followed by injecting 100 mL/kg ulinastatin. Each group consisted of 10 rats. Group A were given 0.2 mL/kg natural solution through the trial vein; Group B and C were given 0.2 mL/kg oil-acid through trial vein, while group C were injected 100mL/kg ulinastatin by the peritoneal cavity after injecting oil acid. After 4 hours, the rates of respiration were counted and blood samples were cramped out through the heart puncture for blood gas analysis. The expressions of hemeoxygenase-1 and the pathologic construction changes were determined by HE staining in the lower right lung of rats in the 3 groups. RESULTS: The respiration dysfunction caused by oil acid could be prominently improved by ulinastain. There was only a little expression of hemeoxygenase-1 in the lung of Group A, but the expression increased in Group B and significatively increased in Group C. CONCLUSION Ulinastatin may protect the rats from acute lung injury through increasing the expression of HO-1.
Acute Lung Injury ; chemically induced ; metabolism ; Animals ; Glycoproteins ; pharmacology ; Heme Oxygenase (Decyclizing) ; metabolism ; Lung ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Male ; Oleic Acid ; adverse effects ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the application of multi-detector row CT (MDCT) and CT angiography (CTA) for detecting early signs of acute bowel ischemia (ABI) in experimental porcine models.

METHODSTwelve pigs were assigned to four groups with 3 in each group. The digital subtraction angiography of superior mesenteric artery (SMA) and the embolization of branches of SMA with gelatin sponge and blood clot were performed by percutaneous transfemoral artery puncture and catheterization. MDCT pre- and post-contrast scanning in the arterial, venous and delay phase and CTA with three-dimensional reconstruction were carried out at pre-operation, 3 h, 6 h, 9 h, and 12 h after occlusion. The normal mesenteric vascular anatomy, arterial occlusion, mesentery and bowel changes, and dynamic change were evaluated.

RESULTSABI changes were identified pathologically in all the 12 experimental pigs, and the severity of ischemia increased over time after embolization. CTA showed all 57 embolized branches of SMA and 29 of 34 unoccluded arterial branches with 5 false-positive vessel occlusions. The sensitivity and specificity of CTA were 100% and 85.3%, respectively. Thin-slab maximum intensity projection (TSMIP) revealed the disappearance of distal comb-like vessel branches and brush-like vasa recta, which were clearly delineated in the normal bowel segments. Using this criterion, TSMIP correctly defined 23 of 24 ischemic bowel segments and all the 12 normal bowel segments with a sensitivity of 95.8% and a specificity of 100%.

CONCLUSIONSMDCT and CTA reliably define normal and occluded mesenteric vessels in the pig. It can easily detect ischemic bowel segment by identified early changes of ischemia. The early direct ischemic signs are occluded vessels, the disappearance of distal comb-like branches or brush-like vasa recta, and poor bowel enhancement. The early indirect sign is bowel dilatation with fluid collection.

Angiography ; methods ; Animals ; Female ; Intestinal Diseases ; diagnostic imaging ; etiology ; Ischemia ; diagnostic imaging ; etiology ; Mesenteric Arteries ; diagnostic imaging ; Mesenteric Vascular Occlusion ; complications ; diagnostic imaging ; Mesentery ; blood supply ; Swine ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; methods

OBJECTIVETo clone a novel human testis-specific gene TDRG1.

METHODSA new contig of expression sequence tags (ESTs) Hs.180197 was identified from the testis libraries using digital differential display (DDD) to screen the novel human testis-specific gene. To validate the use of bioinformatics approaches in gene discovery, the ESTs Hs.180197, which was predicted to be testis specific, was chosen for further study. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed on different normal tissues to identify the expression of Hs.180197 in human testis. Using bioinformatics methods and IMAGE cloning of this contig, the full-length cDNA sequence of the noval human gene was cloned.

RESULTSThis novel gene was 1197 bp in length, located in chromosome 6p21.1-p21.2. The sequence of the open reading frame was 504-806 bp, as confirmed by RT-PCR and sequencing in human testis. The cDNA encodes a novel protein of 100 amino acids with a theoretical molecular weight of 10 000 and isoelectric point of 6.81. The sequence shares no significant homology with any known protein in the databases. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis of multiple tissues further showed that the novel gene was expressed specifically in adult human testis. Considering a possible relation of this novel gene with the function of human testis, we named this new gene TDRG1 (testis development related gene 1, GenBank accession number: DQ168992).

CONCLUSIONDDD combined with laboratory validation is an efficient method for identifying new human functional genes.

Adult ; Cloning, Molecular ; DNA, Complementary ; genetics ; Databases, Genetic ; Gene Expression Regulation ; Homeodomain Proteins ; genetics ; Humans ; Male ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Organ Specificity ; Proteins ; genetics ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sequence Alignment ; Testis ; metabolism