Objective To analyze pharmacologic action features of single Chinese herbal medicine for the treatment of fatty liver based on literature; To provide references for clinical treatment of fatty liver.Methods Animal research literature about single Chinese herbal medicine for the treatment of fatty liver in CNKI, Wanfang database, and VIP from January 2003 to December 2014 was retrieved by computers. The number of single Chinese herbal medicine and the pharmacologic action features of active ingredients (or extracts) were statistically concluded. Results A total of 279 articles were retrieved, including 67 kinds of single Chinese herbal medicine, among which 8 were used to treat AFLD, 45 were used to treat NAFLD, and 14 were used to treat AFLD and NAFLD simultaneously. Pharmacologic action features of the medicine for AFLD mainly included reducing lipid, protecting liver, antioxidation, and anti-inflammation. Pharmacologic action features of the medicine for NAFLD had the effects of improving insulin resistance additionally.Conclusion Chinese herbal medicine for the treatment of AFLD and NAFLD shows significant efficacy, having the features of multiple pathways and liver damage resistance, which provide references for clinical treatment of fatty liver.

This study was aimed to investigate the expression of blood Th17 and CD4(+) CD25(+) regulatory T cells (Treg) in the patients with aplastic anemia (AA). Forty-five patients with AA were enrolled into this study, and were divided into mild aplastic anemia (MAA) group (n = 25) and severe aplastic anemia group (SAA) (n = 20), blood cell count was recorded. 15 healthy donors were enrolled as control. Proportions of blood Th17 and CD4(+) CD25(+) Treg cells were determined by flow cytometry. The serum levels of IL-17, IFN-γ and TNF-α, as well as their concentrations in culture supernatant of phytohemagglutinin (PHA) -stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells, were measured by ELISA. The results showed that the proportions of blood Th17 cells and concentration of blood serum IL-17 and IFN-γ increased in patients with SAA, compared with MAA and normal controls, but CD4(+) CD25(+) Foxp3(+) Treg cells obviously decreased in patients with SAA. The concentrations of IL-17 and IFN-γ significantly increased in culture supernatant of SAA group. Hemoglobin level in the patients with AA negatively correlated with the population of Th17 cells and serum IL-17 level, whereas positively correlated with the expression of CD4(+) CD25(+)Treg cells. It is concluded that the increased response of Th17 cells and deficiency of CD4(+) CD25(+) Treg cells present in severe aplastic anemia. The severity of anemia may be related with the imbalance between Th17 and CD4(+) CD25(+)Treg cell response.
Adult ; Aged ; Anemia, Aplastic ; blood ; metabolism ; Case-Control Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Interferon-gamma ; blood ; Interleukin-17 ; blood ; Leukocytes, Mononuclear ; metabolism ; Male ; Middle Aged ; T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory ; metabolism ; Th17 Cells ; metabolism ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; blood ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo evaluate a facial rhytidectomy technique to reduce the complications of temporal alopecia and incisional scar hyperplasia.

METHODSThe 82 aged patients were divided into 2 groups in random way: group A in 46 with the use of the three-point relief-tension suspension technique and group B in 36 as control. In group A, the two point of every relief-tension suture was located respectively in the subcutis of the hairline and fascia under the incision. The parallel three sutures formed a mechanical plane to make the relief suture more strong and permanent. The temporal alopecia and incisional scar was observed with the follow-ups after the operation.

RESULTSWith the 82 cases of facial rhytidoplasty, the complications of the temporal alopecia and incisional scars in group A were much less than in group B.

CONCLUSIONSThis technique could decrease the complications such as temporal alopecia and incisional scars, and get a good and long term effect of temporal lifting simultaneously.

Adult ; Fasciotomy ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Petrous Bone ; surgery ; Rhytidoplasty ; methods

OBJECTIVETo explore factors influencing the quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) and receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) in rural China.

METHODSIn-depth interviews with 20 PLHA were conducted in March 1999. Participants were recruited from the USAID-funded Longitudinal Enhanced Evaluation of ART Project, which tracks a cohort of eligible PLHA receiving treatment at five collaborating treatment centers in Guangxi Autonomous Region, China. An interview guide (semi-structured with open-ended questions) was developed to provide a qualitative examination of the quality of life of PLHA.

RESULTSParticipants identified that ART affects physical health, including the experience of pain, side effects, and opportunistic infections. ART imposes lifestyle constraints such as reduced mobility due to drug procurement, and social restrictions due to the daily drug regimen. Participants discussed the psychological burden of taking drugs, and the fear of accidental transmission to others, or having their disease status known by others, as well as optimistic feelings about their future due to ART. ART poses a significant drain on individual's economic resources due to related medical costs, and inability to seek seasonal migrant labor due to reduced mobility.

CONCLUSIONWhile China's national free ART program improved the physical health of those surveyed, their social and economic needs were left unaddressed. To improve life outcomes for PLHA, and by extension, the wider Chinese population, quality of life measures should be included when evaluating the success of the ART program.

Adult ; Anti-Retroviral Agents ; therapeutic use ; China ; Female ; HIV Infections ; drug therapy ; psychology ; Humans ; Life Style ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Quality of Life ; Rural Population ; Young Adult

No abstract available.
*Bone Cements ; Extravasation of Diagnostic and Therapeutic Materials/*prevention & control ; Fluoroscopy ; Humans ; Injections ; Kyphoplasty/methods ; *Needles ; Polymethyl Methacrylate/*administration & dosage ; Time Factors ; Vertebroplasty/*methods

Objective To establish information management systems of drinking water defluoridation project in water-related endemic fluorosis areas and investigate the status of drinking water defluoridation project in Liaoning, provide the basis for the development of control measures. Methods Global positioning systems (GPS)and geographic information systems(GIS) were used in the study in August 2006 - July 2008. Water defluoridation projects of 1234 in 48 counties(cities, districts) in drinking water type of fluorosis areas were positioned. Latitude and longitude, water samples, water fluoride content were collected or tested. GIS was used to establish information management system of water defluoridation projects. Results We have established information management system for the facilities of decreasing water fluorine in drinking water type of endemic fluorosis regions in Liaoning. One thousand two hundred and thirty four defluoridation facilities distributed in east longitude between 39.39° - 43.37°,north latitude between 119.25° - 125.50°, and altitude between - 6.60 and 801.14 meter in 48 endemic fluorosis counties in 13 cities. Nine hundred and twenty seven facilities for decreasing fluorine were able to supply water regularly, accounting for 75.1% of investigated projects;29 facilities was .not yet completely rebuilt, accounting for 2.4%;278 facilities(supply water for 344 villages) were out of order or discarded for 22.5% of investigated projects.Water fluorine contents of 63 facilities were greater than 1.2 mg/L, accounting for 6.8% of investigation project.Facilities working regularly and water fluorine was in accord with hygienic standard for drinking water facilities were 70.0%. Conclusions The establishment of Liaoning province defluoridation project information management system in the whole province of drinking water type of fluorosis areas provides scientific basis for accurate decision-making on prevention and control of the disease.

BACKGROUND: Cardiac arrest (CA) is a common and serious event in emergency medicine. Despite recent improvements in resuscitation techniques, the survival rate of patients with CA is unchanged. The present study was undertaken to observe the effect of mild hypothermia (MH) on the reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the effect of neurological function and related mechanisms. METHODS: Sixty-five healthy male Sprague Dawley (SD) adult rats were randomly (random number) divided into 2 groups: blank control group (n=5) and CPR group (n=60). CA was induced by asphyxia. The surviving rats were randomly (random number) divided into two groups: normothermia CPR group (NT) and hypothermia CPR group (HT). Normothermia of 37 °C was maintained in the NT group after return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC), hypothermal intervention of 32 °C was carried out in the HT group for 4 hours immediately after ROSC. Both the NT and HT groups were then randomly divided into 2 subgroups 12 hours and 24 hours after ROSC (NT-12, NT-24, HT-12, HT-24 subgroups). During observation, the neurological deficit scores (NDSs) was recorded, then the bilateral hippocampi were obtained from rats' head, and monoplast suspension of fresh hippocampus tissue was made immediately to determine the level of intracellular ROS by flow cytometry. Transmission electron microscope was used to observe the ultramicro changes of cellular nucleus and mitochondria. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to determine the expression of caspase-3 mRNA, and western-blotting (WB) was used to determine the level of LC3 in frozen hippocampus tissue. Measured data were analyzed with paired sample t test and One-Way ANOVA. RESULTS: Of 60 rats with CA, 44 (73%) were successfully resuscitated and 33 (55%) survived until the end of the experiment. The NDSs of rats in the NT and HT groups were more significantly reduced than those in the BC group (F=8.107, P<0.05), whereas the NDSs of rats in the HT-12 and HT-24 subgroups were significantly increased in comparison with those NDSs of rats in the NT-12 and NT-24 subgroups, respectively (t=9.692, P<0.001; t=14.374, P<0.001). The ROS in hippocampus nerve cells in the NT and HT groups significantly increased compared to the BC group (F=16.824, P<0.05), whereas the ROS in the HT-12 and HT-24 subgroups significantly reduced compared with that ROS in the NT-12 and NT-24 subgroups, respectively (t=9.836, P<0.001;t=7.499, P<0.001). The expression of caspase-3 mRNA in hippocampus nerve cells in the NT and HT groups were significantly increased compared to the BC group (F=24.527, P<0.05), whereas the expression of caspase-3 mRNA in rats of the HT-12 and HT-24 subgroups was significantly reduced compared to the NT-12 and NT-24 subgroups, respectively (t=6.935, P<0.001; t=4.317, P<0.001). The expression of LC3B-II/I in hippocampus nerve cells of rats in the NT and HT groups significantly increased compared to the BC group (F=6.584, P<0.05), whereas the expression of LC3B-II/I in rats of the HT-12 and HT-24 subgroups significantly reduced compared to the NT-12 and NT-24 subgroups, respectively (t=10.836, P<0.001; t=2.653, P=0.02). Ultrastructure damage of nucleus and mitochondria in the NT group was more evident than in the BC group, and eumorphism of nucleus and mitochondria were maintained in rats of the HT group compared with the NT group. CONCLUSION: Mild hypothermia lessened the injury of nerve cells and improved the neurological function of rats that survived from cardiac arrest by reducing the ROS production of nerve cells and inhibiting the expression of caspase-3 mRNA and LC3, leading to cellular apoptosis and massive autophagy in rats that survived from cardiac arrest after CPR.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify novel plasma biomarkers for distinguishing nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients from healthy individuals who have positive Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) viral capsid antigen (VCA-IgA). MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred seventy-four plasma cytokines were analyzed by a Cytokine Array in eight healthy individuals with positive EBV VCA-IgA and eight patients with NPC. Real-time polymerase chain reaction, Western blotting, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and immunohistochemistry were employed to detect the expression levels of macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) and CC chemokine ligand 3 (CCL3) in NPC cell lines and tumor tissues. Plasma MIF and CCL3 were measured by ELISA in 138 NPC patients, 127 EBV VCA-IgA negative (VN) and 100 EBV VCA-IgA positive healthy donors (VP). Plasma EBV VCA-IgA was determined by immunoenzymatic techniques. RESULTS: Thirty-four of the 174 cytokines varied significantly between the VP and NPC group. Plasma MIF and CCL3 were significantly elevated in NPC patients compared with VN and VP. Combination of MIF and CCL3 could be used for the differential diagnosis of NPC from VN cohort (area under the curve [AUC], 0.913; sensitivity, 90.00%; specificity, 80.30%), and combination of MIF, CCL3, and VCA-IgA could be used for the differential diagnosis of NPC from VP cohort (AUC, 0.920; sensitivity, 90.00%; specificity, 84.00%), from (VN+VP) cohort (AUC, 0.961; sensitivity, 90.00%; specificity, 92.00%). Overexpressions of MIF and CCL3 were observed in NPC plasma, NPC cell lines and NPC tissues. CONCLUSION: Plasma MIF, CCL3, and VCA-IgA combination significantly improves the diagnostic specificity of NPC in high-risk individuals.
Biomarkers* ; Blotting, Western ; Capsid* ; Cell Line ; Chemokine CCL3 ; Cohort Studies ; Cytokines ; Diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Herpesvirus 4, Human* ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin A* ; Immunohistochemistry ; Macrophages* ; Plasma* ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Tissue Donors

BACKGROUNDAtopic dermatitis (AD) is an inflammatory skin disease characterized by chronic recurrent dermatitis with profound itching. Most patients have personal and/or family history of atopic diseases. Several criteria have been proposed for the diagnosis of AD. Although the clinical features of childhood AD have been widely studied, there has been less large-scale study on adult/adolescent AD. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical features of adult/adolescent patients with chronic symmetrical eczema/AD and to propose Chinese diagnostic criteria for adult/adolescent AD.

METHODSA hospital-based study was performed. Forty-two dermatological centers participated in this study. Adult and adolescent patients (12 years and over) with chronic symmetrical eczema or AD were included in this study. Questionnaires were completed by both patients and investigators. The valid questionnaires were analyzed using EpiData 3.1 and SPSS 17.0 software.

RESULTSA total of 2662 valid questionnaires were collected (1369 male and 1293 female). Of all 2662 patients, 2062 (77.5%) patients had the disease after 12 years old, while only 600 (22.5%) patients had the disease before 12 years old, suggesting late-onset eczema/AD is common. Two thousand one hundred and thirty-nine (80.4%) patients had the disease for more than 6 months. One thousand one hundred and forty-four (43.0%) patients had a personal and/or family history of atopic diseases. One thousand five hundred and forty-eight (58.2%) patients had an elevated total serum IgE and/or eosinophilia and/or positive allergen-specific IgE. Based on these clinical and laboratory features, we proposed Chinese criteria for adult/adolescent AD. Of all 2662 patients, 60.3% were satisfied with our criteria, while only 48.2% satisfied with Hanifin Rajka criteria and 32.7% satisfied with Williams criteria, suggesting a good sensitivity of our criteria in adult/adolescent AD patients.

CONCLUSIONLate-onset of eczema or AD is common. The clinical manifestations of AD are heterogeneous. We have proposed Chinese diagnostic criteria for adolescent and adult AD, which are simple and sensitive for diagnosis of adult/adolescent AD.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Dermatitis, Atopic ; diagnosis ; immunology ; Eczema ; diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin E ; blood ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of CYP2D610 (c.100 C>T) on plasma trough concentrations of metoprolol and its metabolite α-hydroxy metoprolol, blood pressure and heart rate in patients with coronary artery disease. METHODS: The patients with coronary artery disease taking metoprolol tablets (=128) and those taking metoprolol sustained-release tablets (=126) were genotyped for CYP2D610 using Taqman real-time quantitative PCR. The trough concentrations of metoprolol and α-hydroxy metoprolol were determined with UPLC-MS/MS, and the dose-normalized concentrations (C/D) were compared among the patients with different CYP2D610 genotypes in both groups. Resting blood pressure and heart rate were recorded in all the patients when the concentration of metoprolol reached the steady state and were compared among the patients with different genotypes. RESULTS: In patients taking metoprolol sustained-release tablets, the plasma trough concentration of α-hydroxy metoprolol was significantly associated with the systolic blood pressure (=0.0204). The CYP2D610 poor metabolizers showed a significant association with the C/D of metoprolol and α-hydroxy metoprolol ( < 0.01) in patients receiving metoprolol in both formulations, and in both groups, the C/D of metoprolol was significantly higher in the patients with a TT genotype than in those with a CC or CT genotype ( < 0.01); compared with those with the CT genotype, the patients with the TT genotype had a significantly lower C/D of α-hydroxy metoprolol ( < 0.01). In patients taking metoprolol sustained-release tablets, those with the CT (=0.0281) and TT (=0.0196) genotypes had lower diastolic blood pressure than patients with the CC genotypes, but the systolic blood pressure or heart rate did not differ significantly among them. CONCLUSIONS CYP2D610T allele mutation can reduce the metabolism of metoprolol, increase the C/D of metoprolol and decrease the C/D of α-metoprolol and diastolic blood pressure in patients with coronary artery disease, but CYP2D610 variation does not significantly affect systolic blood pressure or heart rate in the patients when the concentration of metoprolol reaches a steady state.
Adrenergic beta-Antagonists ; Chromatography, Liquid ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Cytochrome P-450 CYP2D6 ; Genotype ; Humans ; Metoprolol ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry