BACKGROUND:Animal studies have shown that cauda equina compression can induce apoptosis of lumbosacral spinal cord anterior horn motor neurons.
OBJECTIVE:To explore the pathological change in lumbosacral spinal cord after acute cauda equina compression in dogs.
METHODS:A total of 27 dogs were randomly divided into nine groups, with three dogs in each group. There were one normal control group, seven experimental groups and one sham surgery group. In the experimental group, an empty water sac was implanted above epidural fat below L6 vertebral plate. Compression was given by injecting water at 4, 8, 12, 24, 48, 72 and 168 hours. In the sham surgery group, an empty water sac was implanted, but compression was not given. At the time of compression, the spinal cord sent out by cauda equina nerve and adjacent to the head end was subjected to histopathological examination.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1) Results of light microscope:at 4-48 hours of compression, spinal cord anterior horn motor neurons did not alter. At 72 hours, motor neurons became smal , cel membrane shrank and separated from surrounding tissues. Cel s were homogenous and darkly stained. At 168 hours, motor neurons disappeared, but spinal cord sections of the adjacent head end did not shown abnormal motor neurons in the spinal cord anterior horn. (2) Results of electron microscope:at 12 hours, spinal cord tissue began to swel , and the swel ing aggravated with prolonged time of compression. The swel ing of glial cel s was apparent. At 168 hours, myelin sheath structure dissolved;axons showed vacuolization;axoplasm spil ed, and exhibited inflammatory injury-like changes. (3) Apoptotic results of spinal cord anterior horn motor neurons:apoptosis appeared at 12 hours of compression, became increased, and showed an increased trend at 168 hours.

BACKGROUND:Cauda equina syndrome often induces skin hypoesthesia in the perineal area, poor urine-stool control, and impairs male function. After peripheral nerve fiber injury, apoptosis of neurons appeared. This is associated with the nature of the injury, the types of neurons, the species of animals, the age, and the distance between neurons. OBJECTIVE:To explore the motor neuron apoptosis and expression of apoptosis-associated protein in the anterior horn of the spinal cord after acute cauda equina compression. METHODS:A total of 27 canines were randomly divided into three groups. In the compression and control groups, models of cauda equina compression were established. In the normal group, no models were established. Compression group received water sac compression for 4, 8, 12, 24, 48, 72 and 168 hours, with three models in each group. In the control group, only water sac was implanted, but water was not injected. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase TdT-mediated biotin dUTP nick end-labeling assay was used to detect the apoptosis of neurons in the anterior horn of the spinal cord. Bcl-2, Bax and Caspase-3 protein expressions were measured by immunohistochemical staining (strept avidin-biotin complex). Gray values of positive cels of Bax, Bcl-2 and Caspase-3 protein expressions were detected using Qwin550Cw image colection and analysis system. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The apoptosis of motor neuron occurred in the compression groups. At 12 hours of compression, positive cels were detected, and the number of positive cels reached a peak at 72 hours. Bax and Bcl-2 protein expression was smal in the normal group. Caspase-3 protein expression was not detected in the normal and control groups. Bax and Bcl-2 protein expression was significantly increased at 8 hours, peaked at 72 hours and reduced to a normal level at 168 hours. The increased range of Bax protein expression was bigger than that of Bcl-2. Caspase-3 protein began to express at 12 hours, peaked at 72 hours and reduced to a low level at 168 hours. Bax and Caspase-3 protein expression peaked at 72 hours, and Bcl-2 protein expression was not obviously increased. These findings verified that after acute cauda equina compression, the apoptosis of neurons occurred in the anterior horn of the spinal cord. Bax and Bcl-2 protein expression showed an antagonistic action. In the Bax/Bcl-2 complex, Bax protein in a high expression promoted apoptosis, induced Caspase-3 protein expression, and neuronal apoptosis.

Objective To investigate the effects of different extracts of pericarpium citri reticulatae (PCR) and pogostemon cablin benth (PCB) on the contraction of gastrointestinal smooth muscle and the level of gastrointestinal hormones in rat model of gastrointestinal motility disorder. Methods Seventy Wistar rats were randomly divided into groups of control, model, water extractive of PCR, hesperidin, water extractive of PCB, water extractive of PCB plus volatile oil and patchouli alcohol, ten rats in each group. Except the control group, the rest groups were established gastrointestinal motor disorder model via limb ischemia-reperfusion (LIR). After modeling rats of groups were intervened with corresponding extracts. The effects of different extracts on contraction amplitude of corpora ventriculi and small intestine smooth muscle were observed. The levels of gastrointestinal hormones including motilin (MOT), gastrin (GAS), cholecystokinin (CCK) and somatostatin (SS) were detected by radioimmunoassay. Results The contraction amplitudes of corpora ventriculi and small intestine smooth muscle were decreased (P<0.05), the serum level of GAS and plasma level of MOT were also significantly decreased, while CCK and SS levels in the gastric antrum were significantly increased in model group than those of the control group (P < 0.05). Water extractive of PCR, hesperidin, water extractive of PCB and water extractive of PCB +patchouli oil can increase the contraction amplitudes of corpora ventriculi and small intestine smooth muscle, increase the serum level of GAS and reduce levels of CCK and SS in the gastric antrum (P<0.05), whereas showed no influence in the plasma level of MOT (P>0.05)]. Compared with model group, patchouli alcohol showed no influence in the contraction of gastrointestinal smooth muscle and levels of MOT, GAS, CCK and SS (P>0.05). In the aspect of regulating the contraction of gastrointestinal smooth muscle and the level of GAS, CCK and SS, the pharmacological effect of PCR water extract was better than that of hesperidin (P<0.05), while water extractive of PCB+volatile oil was better than that of water extractive of PCB (P < 0.05). Conclusion The active ingredients of PCR and PCB have variant regulative effects on the contraction of gastrointestinal smooth muscle and the serum level of GAS, CCK and SS in the gastric antrum in rat model of gastrointestinal motility disorder.

OBJECTIVETo analyze the association between hypertension and tobacco exposure Luoping county of Yunnan province and estimate the direct cost attributable to hypertension .

METHODSUsing Probability proportional to size (PPS) sampling method, 5000 rural residents aged over 18 years were selected from 12 townships in Luoping county, Yunnan province in April 2011, from which 4611 subjects completed the survey. Self-designed questionnaires were used to collect general information, smoking status, costs for outpatient consultation, inpatient, treatment, medication, travel, accommodation and extra-nutrition caused by hypertension as well as the information of health-related behavior. Their height, weight, waist circumference, hip circumference and blood pressure were measured. The direct economic burden of hypertension was calculated. Chi-square (χ(2)) test was used to compare gender differences of hypertension prevalence, smoking and passive smoking. And t test was used to compare the differences of direct economic burden of hypertension among different gender, smoking and passive smoking status. Multivariable logistic regression model was used to analyze the influence factors of hypertension.

RESULTSAmong the 4611 subjects, the age was (46.90 ± 16.74) years old. Male accounted for 49.8% (2294/4611) and female 50.2% (2317/4611) . The smoking rate was higher in males (75.7% (1736/2294)) than in females(1.6% (38/2317)) (χ(2) = 2669.21, P < 0.01). The passive smoking rate was lower in males (10.0% (230/2294)) than in females (46.2% (1070/2317)) (χ(2) = 744.27, P < 0.05). Non-tobacco exposure rate in males (14.3% (328/1537)) was lower than in females (52.2% (1209/1537)) (χ(2) = 744.37, P < 0.05) . The risk of hypertension in smokers and passive smokers were higher than those without tobacco exposure, OR (95%CI) was 1.41 (1.15-1.71) (P < 0.05) and 1.31 (1.07-1.63) (P < 0.05) respectively. The per capita direct cost of hypertension was (3444.09 ± 3067.83) Yuan. Of this, tobacco exposure (4552.46 ± 3189.05) Yuan was higher than non-tobacco exposure (1907.71 ± 1383.94) Yuan (t = -3.81, P < 0.05) . Moreover, smokers were (6951.71 ± 3422.87) Yuan higher than passive smokers (3128.09 ± 2083.17) Yuan (t = 3.19, P < 0.05) and males (5827.39 ± 3240.50) Yuan were higher than females (2633.03 ± 2569.01) Yuan (t = 3.22, P < 0.05) . The total direct costs of hypertension attributable to smoking and SHS was 41 million and 38 million, respectively.

CONCLUSIONBoth smoking and SHS had significant impact on prevalence and economic burden of hypertension in Luoping county. Implementing effective strategies to control tobacco exposure is useful to reduce the economic burden of hypertension in the study region.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; China ; epidemiology ; Cost of Illness ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension ; economics ; epidemiology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Rural Population ; Tobacco Smoke Pollution ; economics ; statistics & numerical data ; Young Adult

BACKGROUNDDiabetes mellitus plays an important role in cancer prevalence and outcomes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of DM on stages and outcomes among patients with colorectal cancer.

METHODSThe study enrolled 945 patients who were diagnosed as having colorectal carcinoma from August 1994 to December 2002. In the cohort, 26 patients were diagnosed as having DM. With a median follow-up of 45.8 months, differences in overall survival and disease-free survival between the diabetes and non-diabetes groups were analyzed.

RESULTSKaplan and Meier analysis showed that there were no significant differences between the two groups in overall survival rates at 3 years or 5 years. At 5 years, patients with DM, compared with patients without diabetes, experienced a significantly lower disease-free survival rate (34.2% diabetics vs. 55.1% non-diabetics; P = 0.025).

CONCLUSIONSDM was associated with an increased risk of recurrence in patients with colorectal cancer.

Adult ; Aged ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; mortality ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; mortality ; Disease-Free Survival ; Female ; Humans ; Kaplan-Meier Estimate ; Male ; Middle Aged

OBJECTIVETo explore the method of digestive tract reconstruction and postoperative management in the upper abdominal multivisceral transplantation (MVT).

METHODSThe data of a pancreatic cancer patient with multiple liver metastases, undergone the first upper abdominal MVT in Asia on May 2004, was investigated retrospectively.

RESULTSDuring the operation, liver, gall bladder, pancreas, duodenum, part of jejunum, total stomach, greater and lesser omentum, and spleen were all resected from the recipient. Roux-en-Y procedure was adopted for the reconstruction of digestive tract, including closing the proximal end of donor duodenum, anastomosing recipient jejunum with horizontal part of donor duodenum, transecting the jejunum 35 cm from the anastomosis, end-to-side anastomosing the distal cut end of jejunum with the end of esophagus, and end-to-side anastomosing proximal cut jejunum with jejunum 50 cm away from esophageal anastomosis. Drainage tube was left inside duodenum and jejunum stoma was made for nutrient canal.The endocrine of pancreas was suppressed by the use of somatostatin postoperatively. Removing of nasogastric tube and duodenum draining tube were delayed. Bowel function recovered 4 days postoperatively and gradually resumed ordinary diet. One month after operation, the patient had no other complications except diarrhea.

CONCLUSIONThe success of upper abdominal MVT supplies precious experience in digestive tract construction and postoperative management.

Adult ; Digestive System Surgical Procedures ; methods ; Duodenum ; surgery ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; surgery ; Humans ; Jejunum ; surgery ; Liver ; surgery ; Organ Transplantation ; Pancreatic Neoplasms ; surgery ; Reconstructive Surgical Procedures ; methods ; Stomach ; surgery

OBJECTIVETo confirm the existence of Amur-like viruses in Apodemus peninsulae in China, and to understand the molecular characteristics of these viruses.

METHODSTotal RNA was extracted from lungs of A. peninsulae captured in Jilin of Northeast China with Trizol reagent. Complete S and partial M segments of Amur virus were amplified and sequenced. Phylogenetic analyses on multiple nucleotide sequences were performed with the Clustal method and DNASTAR software.

RESULTS383 bp cDNA of M segment and 1696 bp of S segment of Amur like virus were recovered from lung tissue of A. peninsulae, named JilinAP06. The full-length of its S gene comprised of 1696 nucleotides with ORF including 1287 nucleotides and encoding a protein which comprised 429 amino acids. The phylogenetic analysis of this sample with other hantaviruses revealed that the complete S and partial M segment sequence of JilinAP06 both were closely related to those Amur viruses such as AP63, AP61, AP1371 and AP1168 found in A. peninsulae from Far East region of Russia and B78 strain, Liu strain and H5 strain, which were all from Chinese patients. The complete S and partial M segment sequence of JilinAP06 had only 81.0% identities with the nucleotide sequences of HV prototype 76-118 strain.

CONCLUSIONAmur-like viruses did exist in A. peninsulae from Northeasern China while A. peninsulae might be the natural reservoir of Amur-like viruses in China and was the important infectious source to HFRS patients which were caused by Amur-like viruses.

Animals ; China ; Hantavirus ; classification ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome ; virology ; Humans ; Lung ; virology ; Murinae ; virology ; Open Reading Frames ; genetics ; Phylogeny ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction

Betacoronavirus ; Coronavirus ; Coronavirus Infections ; prevention & control ; Humans ; Infection Control ; Pandemics ; prevention & control ; Pneumonia, Viral ; prevention & control

Hyperuricemia/gout is a common metabolic disease in China, which is a serious threat to people′s health. In clinical practice, the standardization of prevention and diagnosis and the rate of treat-to-target need to be improved. There is still a lack of education for the patients about the understanding of clinical guidelines, the disease knowledge and the importance of cooperating with doctors to carry out diagnosis and treatment. From the most concerned issues of the patients, we established the hyperuricemia/gout patient practice guideline working group with multidisciplinary physicians and patients. Seventeen opinions, as the hyperuricemia/gout patient practice guidelines, are proposed in accordance with the relevant principles of the "WHO guidelines development manual" , and with the international normative process, aiming to improve the patients compliance, improve the level of health management of the disease.

Objective To explore the candidate genes that play significant roles in the interconnection between abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). Methods We used the Biomedical Discovery Support System (BITOLA) to screen out the candidate intermediate molecular (CIM) "Gene or Gene Product" that are related to AAA and DM. The dataset of GSE13760, GSE7084, GSE57691, GSE47472 were used to analyze the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of AAA and DM compared to the healthy status. We used the online tool of Venny 2.1 assisted by manual checking to identify the overlapped DEGs with the CIMs. The Human eFP Browser was applied to examine the tissue specific expression levels of the detected genes in order to recognize strong expressed genes in both human artery and pancreatic tissue. Results There were 86 CIMs suggested by the closed BITOLA system. Among all the DEGs of AAA and DM, 8 genes in GSE7084 (ISG20, ITGAX, DSTN, CCL5, CCR5, AGTR1, CD19, CD44) and 2 genes in GSE13760 (PSMD12, FAS) were found to be overlapped with the 86 CIMs. By manual checking and comparing with tissue-specific gene data through Human eFP Browser, the gene PSMD12 (proteasome 26S subunit, non-ATPase 12) was recognized to be strongly expressed in both the aorta and pancreatic tissue. Conclusion We proposed a hypothesis through text mining that PSMD12 might be involved or potentially involved in the interconnection between AAA and DM, which may provide a new clue for studies on novel therapeutic strategies for the two diseases.