OBJECTIVETo compare the efficacy difference among acupuncture smoothing-liver and regulating-spleen method, regulating Governor Vessel method and oral administration of western medicine for menopausal insomnia.

METHODSOne hundred and fifty-six cases of menopausal insomnia were randomized into a smoothing-liver and regulating-spleen group (group A), a regulating Governor Vessel group (group B) and a medication group (group C), 52 cases in each one. Acupuncture at Zhongwan (CV 12), Daheng (SP 15), Sanyinjiao (SP 6) and Taichong (LR 3), etc. was applied in the group A; acupuncture at Baihui (GV 20), Fengfu (GV 16), Shenting (GV 24) and Yintang (GV 29), etc. was used in the group B; oral administration of estazolam tablets (1 mg each-day) was adapted in the group C, all once a day for totally 30 days. The each item score and total score in Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) were evaluated before and after treatment in each group, also the efficacy in each group was assessed.

RESULTSAfter the treatment, the sleeping rate in the group A and B was significantly higher than that in the group C (both P < 0.05); the total effective rate in the Group A and B was also significantly higher than that in the group C [86.5% (45/52) and 82.7% (43/52) vs 63.5% (33/52), both P < 0.05; the total cured rate in the group A was significantly higher than those in the group B and C [48.1% (25/52) vs 23.1% (12/52) and 25.0% (13/52), both P < 0.05]. Each item score and total score of PSQI were all improved after treatment in the group A and B (P < 0.01, P < 0.05), while only sleeping time, sleeping efficiency and total score were improved in the group C (all P < 0.05). The sleeping quality, sleeping time, sleeping difficulty and daytime dysfunction in the group A were all lower than those in the group C (all P < 0.05). The sleeping quality, sleeping time and daytime dysfunction in the goup B were all lower than those in the group C (all P < 0.05). The total score in the group A was significantly lower than that in the group B and C (both P < 05).

CONCLUSIONAcupuncture has better effect for menopausal insomnia than estazolam. Between the two acupuncture methods, the acupuncture method of smoothing-liver and regulating-spleen has a better effect.

Acupuncture Therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Liver ; physiopathology ; Menopause ; physiology ; Meridians ; Middle Aged ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders ; physiopathology ; therapy ; Spleen ; physiopathology

Hematologic Diseases ; Hemolysis ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn

Rhynchophylla is a Chinese herb commonly used in clinical practice. It's also the primary herb of some famous Chinese herbal compound such as Tianma Gouteng decoction, and Lingyang Gouteng decoction. According the record from many previous materia medica literatures, rhynchophylla should be added later during decoction. Pharmaceutical research showed that rhynchophylla alkaloids were not stable. Which has resulted in many problems in the research and its application. For example, there was not a quantitative determination method in "Chinese Pharmacopoeia" of past and present versions, which seriously impacted its quality control and product application. Firstly, records from previous materia medica literatures and "Chinese Pharmacopoeia" were systematically sorted based on the chemical stability of rhynchophylla. Secondly, pharmaceutical research including chemical compositions and their stability, pharmacological effects, extraction process and quality analysis, was reviewed after reference of literatures published at home and abroad in recent decades. Positive reference and evidence for further research and development of rhynchophylla will be provided in the article.
Animals ; Drug Stability ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Quality Control ; Uncaria ; chemistry

Objective To investigate the effects of atorvastatin on the experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis(EAE)and the underlying mechanism of immunoregulation.Method The Wistar rats were used to establish EAE model.After oral administration of 2, 8 mg? kg~(1)?d~(1)of atorvastatin, the rats were examined for the development of neurological signs, changes of histopathology and the expression of IL-4 and MMP-9.Result Though high dose treatment with atorvastatin, the frequency of EAE attacks degreased from 76.67% to 33.33%(P=0.008);the extent of inflammation degreased from 3.2?1.1 to 1.3?0.4(P=0.01);and the number of MMP-9 positive cells degreased from 37?7 to 26?5(P= 0.001), the expression of IL-4 could be increased from(0.35?0.12)ng/ml to(0.68?0.23)ng/ml (P=0.05).Conclusion Atorvastatin can reduce the inflammation and produce the recover of the neurological harm because of the changes of MMP-9 and IL-4.

Men with non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) can achieve fertility by testicular sperm extraction (TESE) coupled with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), the key to which is the successful retrieval of sperm from the testis. Although improved testicular sperm extraction techniques have increased the chances of sperm retrieval, to predict preoperatively the success of sperm retrieval from NOA patients remains challenging. A non-invasive diagnostic technique predicting the presence of sperm in the testis would be useful for avoiding possible surgical intervention. At present, some preoperative variables, such as serum FSH, inhibin B level, testis volume, genetic analysis, histopathology on diagnostic biopsy, Raman Spectroscopy, and molecular and protein markers, have provided new insights into the chances of successful sperm retrieval in NOA males. This review aims to evaluate the preoperative factors currently available for predicting the outcomes of sperm retrieval from NOA patients.
Azoospermia ; therapy ; Biomarkers ; Biopsy ; Genetic Testing ; Humans ; Inhibins ; blood ; Male ; Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic ; Sperm Retrieval ; Spermatozoa ; cytology ; Testis ; cytology

GJ-4 is crocin enrichments extracted from Gardenia jasminoides J. Ellis, and our previous studies have shown that GJ-4 significantly improved learning and memory impairment induced by Aβ in mice. Herein, a memory deficit model was developed by injecting okadaic acid (OA) into the lateral ventricle of mice, and the neuroprotection and underlying mechanism of GJ-4 on neuronal injury caused by Tau hyperphosphorylation were investigated. The Animal Care & Welfare Committee, Institute of Materia Medica, CAMS & PUMC has approved all procedures (No.00000318). GJ-4 at different doses was intragastric administration to mice for 16 days. Step-down test and Morris water maze test showed that GJ-4 could significantly improve OA-induced memory impairment in mice, and reduced the loss of Nissl bodies in the hippocampus of mice. GJ-4 could also decrease the phosphorylation level of Tau protein at Ser396, Thr231 and Ser404 via increasing protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) activity and inhibiting glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β) activity. Besides, further researches indicated that GJ-4 could inhibit the level of oxidative stress in the brain of OA mice, reduce neuronal apoptosis and inhibit the neuroinflammation mediated by activation of astrocytes in the hippocampus of mice, and eventually achieve its effects in improving learning and memory impairment in mice. According to these findings, we anticipated that GJ-4 might be a potential therapeutic drug for Alzheimer's disease.

To standardize the harvest ways of Dendrobium officinale and improve the quality and yield of D. officinale, a field experiment was carried out to study the effect of two kinds of harvest ways, which were keeping some of the axial shoot and harvesting all of the shoot by the end of the year. Then, the agronomic traits and yield were measured and the contents of polysaccharides and extractum were determined. The results showed that the harvest ways significantly affected the growth of D. officinale. Keeping some of the axial shoot could significantly improved the number of sprout, stem length, internode number and the internodal length, which also triggered increase the weight of fresh stems, leaves and the total of them and dry stems in per unit area, but it could not promote the stem diameter and the polysaccharide content in stems. Keeping some of the axial shoot moderately was conducive to the improvement of the production of medicinal materials in the process of harvesting by promoting the germination and growth of new buds, and to ensure the polysaccharide content by regulating the illumination and the density of cultivation.
Agriculture ; methods ; Dendrobium ; chemistry ; growth & development ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; Plant Leaves ; chemistry ; growth & development ; Plant Stems ; chemistry ; growth & development

OBJECTIVETo investigate the methylation status of zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) gene promoter and its clinical significance in children with stage IV non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and to provide a basis for further etiological study and early diagnosis of this disease.

METHODSFifty-five children with a confirmed diagnosis of stage IV NHL (40 cases of T-NHL and 15 cases of B-NHL) were selected as the case group, and 20 children with diseases other than hematologic malignancies were selected as the control group. Bone marrow samples were collected from these subjects. Methylation-specific PCR (MS-PCR) was applied to evaluate the methylation status of ZO-1 gene promoter, and the integrated optical density (IOD) was determined. RT-PCR was used to measure the mRNA expression of ZO-1.

RESULTSMS-PCR showed that the methylated bands of ZO-1 gene promoter were found in 39 (70.9%) of 55 patients in the case group before treatment, while no ZO-1 gene promoter methylation was detected in the control group. With close tracking of 47 cases in the study group, consisting of 32 cases of T-NHL and 15 cases of B-NHL, the rates of ZO-1 gene promoter methylation prior to treatment were 72% and 67%, respectively, (P>0.572). The cases of T-NHL and B-NHL showed no significant changes in methylation rate in the early and middle phases of chemotherapy (P>0.05), but they showed significant changes in methylation rate in the late phase of chemotherapy (P<0.05). RT-PCR showed that the NHL cases carrying methylated ZO-1 gene had no mRNA expression of ZO-1, while all children in the control group had mRNA expression of ZO-1. There was no linear relationship between the total number of peripheral blood leukocytes and ZO-1 gene IOD (r=0.093, P=0.575); a positive correlation was found between the number of malignant cells in bone marrow and ZO-1 gene IOD (r=0.669, P<0.001).

CONCLUSIONSZO-1 gene shows a hypermethylation status in children with NHL, and the methylation level is positively correlated with the number of malignant cells in bone marrow. ZO-1 may be used as a novel molecular marker in early diagnosis, outcome assessment, prognostic evaluation, and detection of minimal residual disease.

Adolescent ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; DNA Methylation ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin ; genetics ; Male ; Promoter Regions, Genetic ; Zonula Occludens-1 Protein ; genetics

Puerarin (PUE), as an isoflavone component, has a wide range of pharmacological activities, while its poorly aqueous solubility limits the development of solid oral dosage forms. In this study, PUE along with nicotinamide (NIC) were prepared into the coamorphous system by solvent-evaporation method and characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). In addition, its dissolution behavior and solubilization mechanism were also investigated. PUE-NIC coamorphous was a single homogeneous binary system, with a single glass transition temperature at 35.1 ℃. In comparison to crystalline PUE, during the dissolution process, coamorphous PUE-NIC not only exhibited the "liquid-liquid phase separation" (LLPS) phenomenon, but the formation of A_p type complexation (1∶1 and 1∶2) between PUE and NIC molecules was also verified, which significantly improved the solubility of PUE and prolonged the supersaturation time, and would benefit its absorption.

OBJECTIVETo determine if there are excessive risks of malignant tumors or not among workers exposed to asbestos by applying a meta-analysis technique.

METHODSAll data meeting the criteria of cohort studies on cancer mortality of digestive system among workers exposed to asbestos would be incorporated into the meta-analysis. The pooled standardized mortality ratios (SMR) and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for main cancer sites of digestive system were calculated by using two approaches of un-weighted ratio and random effects model. The heterogeneity and its sources of the results were examined with a Q-statistic and Z-score test.

RESULTS69 asbestos-exposed cohorts were summarized. The significantly elevated meta-SMR for all deaths (1.16), all cancers (1.42), cancer of digestive system (1.15) and cancer of stomach (1.20) among workers exposed to chrysotile alone or mixed asbestos were observed (P < 0.01). The stomach cancer SMR was significantly increased in the asbestos cement workers, the screening mine workers and the insulators, (1.27, 1.21 and 2.13 respectively) (P < 0.05). meta-SMR for cancers at other sites of digestive system including esophagus, colon, rectum and liver were not significant.

CONCLUSIONThere are likely excessive risks of cancer of stomach among workers exposed to asbestos. However, there is likely no convincing indication of an etiological association between asbestos exposure and cancers at other sites of digestive system.

Asbestos ; adverse effects ; Carcinogens, Environmental ; adverse effects ; Cohort Studies ; Digestive System Neoplasms ; chemically induced ; mortality ; Humans ; Occupational Exposure ; adverse effects