OJECTIVETo explore whether different acupuncture signals were afferent to the cerebellar fastigial nucleus (FN) neuron and to find out their corresponding effect features through observing the effect of spontaneous discharge of cerebellar FN neuron by needling at different acupoints.

METHODSTotally 120 male SD rats were anesthetized by 20% urethane and their right cerebellar FN were positioned (AP 11. 6 mm, RL 1. 0 mm, H 5. 6 mm). Extracelluar discharge was recorded by glass microelectrode (AP: -11. 6 mm, R: 1. 0 mm, H: 5.7 -7. 0 mm), using extracellular microelectrode recording method, recording the spontaneous discharge of cerebellar FN neurons as a baseline. Random order of needling at zusanli (ST36), quchi (Lil1), weishu (BL21), and zhongwan (CV12) were compared with the baseline before each acupuncture. Their effects on the discharge of cerebellar FN neurons were observed and compared with baselines.

RESULTSThe frequency of FN neuronal discharge could be elevated by needling at zusanli (ST36), quchi (LiI), weishu (BL21), and zhongwan (CV12) (P <0. 01, P <0. 05). The response rate of needling at Zhongwan (CV12, 56. 00%) was higher than that of needling at Zusanli (ST36), Quchi (Ll1), and Weishu (BL21) (35. 00%, 34. 62%, 36. 63%, respectively) with statistical difference (P <0. 05). The response rate of needling at zhongwan (CV12) was obviously higher than that of needing at other points (F = 2. 101, P < 0. 05).

CONCLUSIONSNeedling at zusanli (ST36 ), quchi (Lil), weishu (BL21), and zhongwan (CV12) could elevate the spontaneous discharge frequency of cerebellar FN neurons. Needling at Zhongwan (CV12) had advantageous roles in regulating cerebellar FN.

Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Animals ; Cerebellar Nuclei ; physiology ; Male ; Microelectrodes ; Neurons ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

OBJECTIVETo explore early clinical effect of acetabular cup in total hip replacement for the treatment of Crowe II developmental dysplasia of hip.

METHODSEighteen patients (18 hips) with Crowe type II developmental dysplasia of hip were treated with total hip replacement from September 2001 to July 2013. Among them,including 13 males and 5 females aged from 42 to 60 years old with an average of 47.6 years old; the courses of diseases ranged from 9 to 22 years with an average of 13.5 years. All the patients had hip joint pain, limb shortening and limited hip function before operation. Harris score of hip joint were used to evaluate recovery of function at 1 day and 12 months after operation. Prosthetic coverage of acetabular cup at 1 week after operation was observed by using radiography.

RESULTSEighteen patients (18 hips) were followed up from 12 to 24 months with an average 17 months. All incisions were healed at stage I. No deep vein thrombosis, hip dislocation, periprosthetic joint infection and prosthesis loosening were occurred. No revision surgery during follow-up period. Prosthetic coverage of acetabular cup was more than 80% at 1 week after operation. Harris score were increased from 42.67 ± 5.06 before operation to 94.79 ± 3.27 at 12 months after operation (t = -45.269, P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONFor type Crowe II developmental dysplasia of hip patients, 15° face-changing acetabular cups in THR could obtain higher actebular component coverage rate and satisfactory early clinical effects.

Acetabulum ; surgery ; Adult ; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip ; instrumentation ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hip Dislocation, Congenital ; surgery ; Hip Joint ; surgery ; Hip Prosthesis ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged

Adult ; Dental Implantation, Endosseous ; instrumentation ; Dental Implants ; Female ; Humans ; Orthodontic Anchorage Procedures ; instrumentation ; Orthodontic Appliance Design

ObjectiveTo analysis the clinical features of thoracic spine and spinal cord injury (SCI) and summarize the inclusive standard of cellular transplant clinical trial for SCI.MethodsThe data of 72 cases with thoracic spine and spinal cord injury from 1990 to 2005 were analyzed retrospectively.ResultsMean follow-up period was 20 months (6～48 months). There was no recovery in 12 spinal cord injury without radiographic abnormality (SCIWORA) patients, but improvement of urine function in 4 cases. 5 cases of 52 fracture-dislocation complete injury were improved to grade B (sense recovery), rate of recovery was 9.6%; recovery rate was 62.5% in incomplete injury. Sense recovery of all cases was better than motor recovery. Partial cases appeared spasm paralysis relief.ConclusionIncidence rate of complete injury is high and recovery is bad in thoracic spine and spinal cord injury. The inclusive standard of cellular transplant clinical trial for SCI is old complete thoracic spinal cord injury without residual compression.

Heat shock protein 27 ( HSP27 ) is an endogenous protein that plays an important role in a great variety of physio-logical and pathological processes. It can express a large number under body stress conditions. Recent studies have shown estro-gen upregulates the expression of HSP27 through a number of ways, playing a perfect “triple protection” role. In the early stage of atherosclerosis, estrogen induces the phosphorylation of HSP27 via PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. Phosphorylation of HSP27 can resist the injury of vascular endothelial cells( VECs) through an antioxidant and anti-apoptotic pathway as well as the inhibition of cytochrome C. In the stage of forming foam cells, estrogen induces the expression and release of HSP27 from mac-rophages by stimulating the estrogen receptor β ( ERβ) , then HSP27 inhibits the LDL uptake and the release of proinflammato-ry cytokine by binding scavenger receptor A ( SR-A) . During the proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells ( VSMCs) , estrogen induces estrogen receptor α ( ERα) and protein phosphatase 2 ( PP2A) to form a complex that enhances the activity of PP2A, then it can lead to the dephosphorylation of HSP27 and finally inhibit cells proliferation and migration. In summary, the anti-atherosclerotic effect of estrogen is closely re-lated to the role of HSP27. Given the side effects of estrogen re-placement therapy( MHT) , regulating HSP27 may provide a no-vel therapy for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular dis-eases in menopausal women clinically.

Objective To determine chromosomal localization of the primary gout susceptibility gene in a pedigree.Methods The clinical data and the peripheral blood samples were collected in the pedigree members and the genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood.A genome-wide screening was performed using 400 micro-satellite DNA markers in this family,and linkage analysis was used to determine the chromosomal location of the primary gout susceptibility gene.Results Linkage analysis showed that the maximum LOD score reached 1.50 at marker D4S1572 (at recombination fraction?=0.00).Conclusion Since D4S1572 is localized at 4q25,the primary gout susceptibility gene of this pedigree is localized at 4q25.

Natural products from plant secondary metabolits are a major source of clinical drugs and industrial chemicals. Salvia miltiorrhiza is one of the most important plants in traditional Chinese medicine. Its dried roots and rhizomes are highly valued for use in the treatment of vascular diseases and for their anti-oxidative activities. Furthermore, S. miltiorrhiza is described as a medicinal model plant mainly due to its biosynthesis of active compounds. Here, we reviewed the research on S. miltiorrhiza in genomics, transcriptomics, biosynthesis of tanshinones and phenolic acids, biotic and abiotic elicitors, and regulation of transcription factors. This will provide a solid foundation for new breeding and synthetic biology approaches to produce and study natural products.

The medicinal fungi, which are of great importance in traditional medicine, are facing the problems of wild resources scarcity and low concentration of bioactive compounds. Velvet family and LaeA global regulator play a vital role in secondary metabolism and developmental programs, which are found in a wide variety of fungi ranging from Chytridiomycota to Basidiomycota. This review elaborates the structures and functions between Velvet family and LaeA protein. The Velvet family which shares the Velvet protein domain, including VeA (Velvet), VelB (Velvet like B), VosA (viability of spores A) and VelC (Velvet like C), acts on the regulation function is secondary metabolism and developmental programs such as asexual and sexual development. Furthermore, the function is affected by environmental factors such as light and temperature. LaeA protein which owns S-adenosylmethionine-dependent methyltransferase domain, coordinately regulates development and secondary metabolism by regulating and modifying the Velvet proteins. The regulation of LaeA is mediated by light receptor proteins. Therefore, clarifying the mechanism of Velvet and LaeA proteins in medicinal fungi will pave the way for nurturing medicinal fungi and improving production of bioactive compounds.
Fungal Proteins ; metabolism ; Fungi ; chemistry ; Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal ; Genes, Regulator ; Protein Structure, Tertiary ; Secondary Metabolism ; Structure-Activity Relationship

OBJECTIVETo analyze the influence of intravesical Pirarubicin (THP) instillation on the prediction results of European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) risk tables and to discuss the efficacy of EORTC risk tables in clinical application.

METHODSWe retrospectively reviewed the clinical data of 389 patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer after TURBT treated with intravesical pirarubicin instillation. According to the EORTC Scoring System, all the cases were divided into low risk group, intermediate risk group and high risk group. The 1-year and 5-year recurrence and progression rates of each group were calculated and compared with the prediction results of the EORTC risk tables.

RESULTSThe 1-year recurrence and progression rates of the low risk group were 8.0% and 0, those of the intermediate risk group were 31.0% and 2.8%, and those of the high risk group were 52.5% and 18.6%, respectively. The 5-year recurrence and progression rates of low risk group were 16.0% and 5.3%, those of the intermediate risk group were 42.6% and 10.7%, and those of the high risk group were 63.9% and 41.9%, respectively. The prediction results of progression rate were similar to that of the EORTC risk tables while the overall recurrence rate was lower.

CONCLUSIONSThe EORTC risk tables can be effectively used to predict the recurrence rate and progression rate of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. However, the EORTC risk tables have a tendency to overestimate the recurrence rate. Intravesical pirarubicin instillation is helpful to reduce the recurrence rate, yet has no obvious influence on the tumor progression.

Administration, Intravesical ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Antineoplastic Agents ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; Disease Progression ; Doxorubicin ; administration & dosage ; analogs & derivatives ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Invasiveness ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Assessment ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; pathology

OBJECTIVETo investigate the value of pretreatment and posttreatment changes of apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs) in predicting response to chemoembolization in liver cancer.

METHODSPatients with liver cancer were examined with diffusion-weighted MRI at two b values (0 and 500 s/mm(2)) before and after chemoemblization. Quantitative ADC maps were calculated using images under b values of 0 and 500 s/mm(2). The mean ADC values of lesions before and after chemoemblization were compared. The correlation of response to chemoembolization with ADC value was analyzed.

RESULTSThe mean value of pretreatment ADC in non-responding lesions were significantly higher than that in the responding lesions (1.687 x 10(-3) mm(2)/s vs. 1.278 x 10(-3) mm(2)/s, P < 0.05). The results of receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis showed that when a threshold ADC value was set on 1.618 x 10(-3) mm(2)/s, the sensitivity and specificity for identification of non-responding lesions were 96.0% and 77.8%, respectively. After transarterial chemoembolization, the responding lesions had a significant increase in ADC values than non-responding lesions (32.6% vs. 5.2%, P = 0.025). The results of ROC analysis indicated that when the changes of ADC value for identification of responding lesions before and after transarterial chemoembolization was > or = 16.2%, the sensitivity and specificity were 72% and 100%, respectively. However, no significant change was observed in normal liver parenchyma and spleen (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONPretreatment mean ADC value can be used to predict the response to chemoembolization, and for selection of therapy in liver cancer. A significant increase in mean ADC can be observed if the lesions responds to chemoembolization.

Adult ; Aged ; Chemoembolization, Therapeutic ; methods ; Cisplatin ; therapeutic use ; Colonic Neoplasms ; pathology ; Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; methods ; Epirubicin ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Iodized Oil ; therapeutic use ; Liver Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; secondary ; therapy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Mitomycin ; therapeutic use ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Stomach Neoplasms ; pathology ; Treatment Outcome