Objective:To observe the clinical effect of liver-regulating and blood-tonifying acupuncture in the treatment of cervical spondylosis of vertebral artery type. Methods:A total of 60 cases meeting the inclusion criteria were randomized into an observation group and a control group, 30 cases in each group. Cases in the observation group received liver-regulating and blood-tonifying acupuncture, in which Jiaji (EX-B 2) points of C3-C7, Ganshu (BL 18) and Geshu (BL 17) were used; cases in the control group received routine acupuncture treatment in which jiaji (EX-B2) points of C3-C7 were used. Both groups received 5 times of treatment in a week with a 2-day rest, symptoms evaluation was done after 4 weeks of treatment, and then therapeutical effect was evaluated. Results:The total effective rate was 90.0% in the observation group, 73.3% in the control group, and inter-group comparison showed a statistical significance (P<0.05). After treatment, the symptoms and signs scores in both groups all substantially dropped, showing statistical significances (both P<0.05); inter-group comparison showed that the improvements in subscales of dizziness, pressing pain along vertebrae and revolve-cervix test in the observation group were superior than those in the control group, showing statistical significances (all P<0.05), while the inter-group comparisons of subscales of headache and vomiting and nause didn't show any statistical significances after treatment (both P>0.05). Conclusion: Liver-regulating and blood-tonifying acupuncture is effective in treating cervical spondylosis of vertebral artery type, and it can significantly improve patients' symptoms and signs.

The reproductive toxicity of environmental endocrine disruptors has attracted substantial attention from researchers in recent years. Bisphenol A (BPA) is among the most prominent environmental estrogens worldwide, demonstrated to be related with the impairment of male reproductive function as well as other health problems, such as diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. BPA acts primarily by mimicking antiandrogenic and estrogenic effects, disturbing the hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular axis and modulating gene expressions and enzyme activities in the hormone biosynthesis affecting steroids or its receptors. BPA is also involved in DNA methylation and the effects of epigenetics, resulting in dyszoospermia, oligoasthenoteratospermia/azoospermia and/or infertility in males. This review addresses the effects of BPA on male reproductive function, focusing on the mechanisms of its toxicity on spermatogenesis, semen quality, and the reproductive system.
Benzhydryl Compounds ; toxicity ; Endocrine Disruptors ; toxicity ; Endocrine System ; drug effects ; Environmental Pollutants ; toxicity ; Estrogens ; toxicity ; Humans ; Infertility, Male ; chemically induced ; Male ; Phenols ; toxicity ; Semen Analysis ; Spermatogenesis ; drug effects

Chronic kidney disease(CKD) is a major global health issue that leads to end-stage renal disease which untreated.The use of stem cell therapy provides a new perspective in this area.Reviewing the experimental studies of stem cell therapy on CKD,many different,and even contradictory reports in this area were found.In this paper,the recent reports,and present several key issues of experimental stem cell treatment on CKD were reviewed,including the source of stem cell,the sort of experimental animal,the time of treatment and other experimental details.Hoping these may lead more understanding in this area.

Objective:To explore the influence of embryonic stem cells-derived neural stem cells on the proliferation and secretion cytokines of bone marrow-derived macrophages. Methods:Mouse bone marrow derived macrophages were isolated and cultured in L929 medium. After macrophages were treated with NSCs supernatant for 3 days,SRB method was used to detect the proliferation of macrophages. The phagocytosis of macrophages were detected by incubating with RFP-Beads for 1 h. Meanwhile,the expression of TNF-α and IL-1β were detected by ELISA. Results:NSCs were successfully induced from ESC. In control group and NSC group, the proliferation rate of macrophages were 100 % and (126. 29 ± 5. 41)%,the phagocytosis rate were (70. 23 ± 2. 57)% and (90. 32 ± 8. 49)%. Compared to the control group,the levels of IL-6,IL-1βin macrophage treated with NSCs decreased (P<0. 05). Conclusion:ESC-derived NSCs can promote the proliferation and phagocytosis of bone marrow-derived macrophage, and suppress the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines.

A case of Schwannoma in the submandibular gland was reported which had been misdiagnosed as pleomorphic adenoma before operation. The tumor was originated from lingual nerve which in turn invaded the Schwann membrane near the submandibular ganglion.
Adenoma, Pleomorphic ; Diagnostic Errors ; Humans ; Neurilemmoma ; diagnosis ; Submandibular Gland ; pathology ; Submandibular Gland Neoplasms ; diagnosis

Based on the analysis of current condition of local medical schools and medi-cal talents demand at the grassroots level,this paper indicates that,taking students’personality development as a breakthrough point,with practice platform construction as main part,supple-mented by multi-knowledge hierarchy and scientific and cultural exposure,backed by workable policy.

Objective To discuss the combined value of gray-scale ultrasound ( GSUS) and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in the diagnosis of benign and malignant thyroid lesions and to explore the optimal diagnostic point of scoring method .Methods Ultrasound images of 178 thyroid lesions confirmed by pathology were synthetically reviewed by scoring 5 GSUS indicators including shape , orientation, interior echogenicity, halo sign, microcalcification and 6 CEUS indicators including relative arrival time of microbubbles in the periphery and interior, peak periphery and interior echogenicity, peripheral ring-enhancement, and homogeneity of enhancement .One positive indicator scored one point .The optimal diagnostic points and their clinical value were explored according to ROC curves .Results Scores of GSUS, CEUS and the combination of GSUS and CEUS were significantly different (Z =10.188,9.843,10.705,all P <0.001). Areas under ROC curves of GSUS, CEUS and the combination of GSUS and CEUS were 0.936, 0.919 and 0.964, respectively.Three or more positive GSUS indicators of five in a thyroid lesion predicted that the thyroid lesion was malignant , with the sensitivity of 79.6% and the specificity of 91.2%.Two or more positive CEUS indicators of six in a thyroid lesion predicted that the thyroid lesion was malignant , with the sensitivity of 91.8% and the specificity of 81.2%.Five or more positive GSUS and CEUS indicators of eleven in a thyroid lesion predicted that the thyroid lesion was malignant , with the sensitivity of 93.6%and the specificity of 92.3%.The areas under the ROC curve of GSUS and CEUS were 0.936 and 0.919.The area under the ROC curve of the combination of GSUS and CEUS was 0.964, larger than the areas under the GSUS ROC curve and the CEUS ROC curve.Conclusion Ultrasound is valuable in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant thyroid lesions , and the combination of GSUS and CEUS is the most valuable with 5 points as the optimal diagnostic scoring method .

Objective To explore the risk factors influencing the prognosis by analyzing clinical data of patients with acute paraquat intoxication, and to assess the prognostic values of acute physiology and chronic health evaluation Ⅱ (APACHE Ⅱ) score, sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score, and Acute Kidney Injury Network (AKIN) stage.Methods The clinical data of patients with acute paraquat intoxication admitted into the First People's Hospital of Xianyang City during October 2005 to May 2015 were retrospectively analyzed.The patients were divided into death group and survival group according to 28-day outcome after poisoning.The gender, age, body weight index, toxin dose, time elapsed from poisoning to gastric lavage, time elapsed from poisoning to hemoperfusion (HP), times of HP treatment, white blood cell count (WBC), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), total bilirubin (TBil), serum creatinine (SCr), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatine kinase (CK) were determined at admission.Arterial partial pressure of oxygen (PaO2), arterial partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PaCO2), arterial lactate (Lac), and APACHE Ⅱ score, SOFA score and AKIN stage were recorded and compared between two groups.The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was plotted for APACHE Ⅱ score, SOFA score and AKIN stage to analyze the prognostic value for patients with acute paraquat intoxication.Results There were 118 cases in total,with 64 survivors and 54 deaths in 28 days, and the fatality rate was 45.76％.Compared with survival group, the toxic dose (mL: 66.29 ± 27.40 vs.29.16 ± 19.40), time elapsed from poisoning to gastric lavage (minutes: 60.37 ± 26.68 vs.41.17± 14.82), WBC count (× 109/L: 16.86±2.77 vs.10.25 ± 2.60), ALT (U/L: 53.94± 10.85 vs.36.40±9.21),SCr (μmol/L: 159.69±42.85 vs.81.73±34.40) at admission as well as Lac (mmol/L: 3.06± 1.33 vs.1.71 ±0.88),APACHE Ⅱ score (6.46±2.38 vs.3.31 ± 1.51), SOFA score (3.31 ± 1.06 vs.2.21±0.76) 48 hours after admission were significantly higher in the death group (all P ＜ 0.01).PaO2 and PaCO2 48 hours after admission were significantly lower in death group than those in the survival group [PaO2 (mmHg, 1 mmHg =0.133 kPa): 64.07± 13.04 vs.75.40 ± 13.27, PaCO2 (mmHg): 26.20 ± 8.89 vs.31.25 ± 6.29, both P ＜ 0.01].There were 18, 15, 11 and 10 patients in AKIN 0, 1, 2, 3 stage 48 hours after admission respectively in death group, and 38, 15, 7, 4 in survival group.The difference between two groups was statistically significant (P ＜ 0.01).There were no statistically significant differences in gender, age, body mass index, time elapsed from poisoning to HP, levels of HP, and AST, TBil, BUN and CK at admission between the two groups.At 48 hours after admission, the area under the ROC curve (AUC) of APACHE Ⅱ score predicting the prognosis of patients with acute paraquat poisoning was 0.875 [95％ confidence interval (95％CI) =0.814-0.935, P =0.000].When the cut-off point of APACHE Ⅱ score was 4, the sensitivity and specificity were 79.6％ and 79.7％, and the best Youden index was 0.593.The AUC of SOFA score was 0.776 (95％CI=0.692-0.859, P =0.000).When the cut-off point of FOFA score was 3, the sensitivity was 72.2％, the specificity 67.2％, and the best Youden index 0.394.The AKIN stage of ROC curve had an area of 0.656 (95％CI =0.556-0.755, P =0.004).When the cut-off point of AKIN stage was 1, the sensitivity was 66.7％, the specificity was 59.4％, and the best Youden index was 0.261.Conclusions Amount of the poison, time elapsed from poisoning to gastric lavage, and WBC, ALT, SCr at admission as well as PaO2, PaCO2 and Lac 48 hours after admission are the risk factors for prediction of the prognosis of acute paraquat intoxication.APACHE Ⅱ score, SOFA score and AKIN stage can be used to assess the prognosis of acute paraquat poisoning, and APACHE Ⅱ score is better than SOFA score and AKIN stage.