To summary and analyze the prescription rules of Professor Chen Baogui, a famous traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) doctor, for treating epigastric fullness. Professor Chen Baogui's prescriptions for treating epigastric fullness were collected and the treatment data were input into traditional Chinese medicine inheritance support system (TCMISS) to analyze the rules of the prescriptions by using data mining methods. Based on the screened 214 cases, the treatment experience of Professor Chen Baogui for treating epigastric fullness was summarized and analyzed. It was found that Professor Chen gave priority to recuperation of Qi activity. The results of four properties and five tastes showed Professor Chen's medication compatibility rules: one was simultaneous use of cold and warm drugs, and the other was simultaneous use of pungent drugs for dispersion and bitter drugs for purgation. In drug use, the basic prescriptions had the efficacy of promoting Qi circulation and regulating viscera function, additionally with the drugs with functions of eliminating digestion and inducing stagnation, activating blood circulation to dissipate blood stasis, replenishing Qi and nourishing Yin, tranquilizing mind, strengthening muscles and bones according to the TCM syndrome type. The clinical experience of Professor Chen for treating epigastric fullness was objectively summarized with the help of TCMISS, which was significant for analyzing and inheriting academic thinking and medication experience from famous TCM doctors.
Data Mining ; Digestion ; drug effects ; Drug Prescriptions ; standards ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Stomach ; drug effects

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the impact of the factors of perceived male infertility on men's penile erectile function.

METHODSUsing the 5-item version of the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5), we investigated the penile erectile function among 245 infertile men (infertility group) and another 52 males having physical checkup for planned conception (checkup group), the former further divided into four subgroups according to the factors of infertility: male factor, female factor, bilateral factor, and unknown factor. We compared the total and item scores of IIEF-5 among different groups.

RESULTSMild or mild-moderate ED was found in 50.61% of the infertile men, with a total IIEF-5 score of 21.24 +/- 2.58. The total and item scores of IIEF-5 were markedly higher in the male factor than in the female factor subgroup (P < 0.01), but with no significant difference between the male factor subgroup and the bilateral and unknown factor subgroups (P > 0.05), except the score on confidence. The scores were significantly lower in the bilateral and unknown factor subgroups than in the female factor subgroup (P < 0.05), with no remarkable difference between the former two. In the infertility group, the total and item scores of IIEF-5 were markedly higher in those with education above high school than in those with high school or lower education (P < 0.01), but not correlated with age and infertility duration. After adjustment for education background, the total IIEF-5 score and the scores on confidence and satisfaction were significantly lower in the infertility than in the checkup group (P < 0.05), and 15.38% of the men in the latter group had mild ED, dramatically lower than in the former (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONPerceived infertility may cause ED in males, and a higher incidence rate is associated with lower education background of the men.

Adult ; Erectile Dysfunction ; epidemiology ; Humans ; Infertility, Male ; physiopathology ; Male ; Penile Erection ; Penis ; physiopathology ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo observe the changes in the expressions of somatomedins in the prostate epithelial cells in anoxic condition.

METHODSWe cultured prostate epithelial cell line RWPE-1 in vitro. At 4, 8, 12, 24, 48 hours after seeding of the cells, we determined the gene and protein expressions of the epidermal growth factor (EGF), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta), insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the prostate epithelial cells by RT-PCR and ELISA, respectively.

RESULTSWith the increase of time, the expressions of the EGF, bFGF, TGF-beta, IGF-1 and VEGF genes were obviously up-regulated, more significantly in the anoxic than in the normoxic prostate epithelial cells. Take FGF mRNA, its expression level was 0.14 +/- 0.01 in the anoxic and 0. 12 +/- 0.01 in the normoxic prostate epithelial cells at 8 hours (P = 0.01), but increased to 0.29 +/- 0.01 and 0.14 +/- 0.01, respectively, at 48 hours (P < 0.001). The expression of the TGF-beta protein was also more significantly increased in the anoxic than in the normoxic prostate epithelial cells, 0.32 +/- 0.01 versus 0.26 +/- 0.01 at 4 hours (P = 0.017) and 1.56 +/- 0.13 versus 0.87 +/- 0.06 at 48 hours (P < 0.001). The other 4 somatomedins showed no significant differences in their protein expressions between anoxic and normoxic conditions.

CONCLUSIONAnoxia can up-regulate the gene expressions of somatomedins and increase the secretion of TGF-beta in prostate epithelial cells.

Cell Hypoxia ; Cell Line ; Epithelial Cells ; metabolism ; Gene Expression Regulation ; Humans ; Male ; Prostate ; cytology ; Somatomedins ; metabolism ; Transforming Growth Factor beta ; metabolism ; Up-Regulation

This study was purposed to investigate the inhibitory effect of macrocalin A (MA) on proteasome of multiple myeloma U266 cells in vitro and molecular mechanism of MA-inducing apoptosis. U266 cells in vitro were incubated with different concentrations (2, 4, 8 µg/mL) of MA, the Hochest staining and Annexin-V/PI double staining were used to detect the apoptosis of U266 cells. The expressions of protein β1, β1i, β2, β2i, β5, β5i, ubiquitous, 19S subunit S6', and BAD,BCL-2, FAS, FAS-L,MAPK, PARP, Pro-caspase 3, cleaved-caspase 3 were detected by Western blot technique. The results showed that along with time prolonging and dose increasing of MA, the small and compact fluorescent particles were observed in cytoplasm and nucleus of U266 cells stained with Hoechst 33258, the Annexin V(+)/PI(-) cells and the total apoptosis cells (Annexin V(+)/PI(-) and Annexin V(+)/PI(+)) increased. MA could elevate the ubiquitylation level in U266 cells, suppress the expression of β1i,β2, β5i and 19S subunit S6', meanwhile the expression of BCJ-2, MAPK, PARP and pro-caspase 3 were down-regulated along with increasing of drug concentrations, but the expressions of BAD, FAS, FAS-L cleaved-caspase 3 were enhanced. It is concluded that MA can inhibit the effect of proteasome, and the mitochondrial pathway and death receptor pathway may play important roles in apoptosis of U266 cells induced by MA.
Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Diterpenes ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Multiple Myeloma ; pathology ; Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex ; metabolism ; Proteasome Inhibitors ; pharmacology

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC) on coagulation function, deep venous hemodynamics and prevention of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) of lower limbs in patients after rectal cancer resection.

METHODSA total of 120 patients undergoing rectal cancer resection were randomly divided into non-IPC group (control group, n=60) and IPC group (n=60). The control group received routine treatment after resection and the IPC group received IPC based on the routine treatments. Prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), fibrinogen (FIB), international normalized ratio (INR) and volume of D-dimer (D-D) were detected before operation and 1-, 3-, 5- and 7-day after operation. Meanwhile, blood flow velocity and caliber of external iliac vein, femoral vein and popliteal vein were examined by color Doppler ultrasound, then the average blood flow velocity and blood flow volume were calculated.

RESULTSIncidence of lower limb DVT was 13.3% (8/60) and 1.7% (1/60) in control group and IPC group respectively with significant difference (P<0.05). The differences in PT, APTT and INR were not significant (P>0.05) at 1-day after operation as compared to the preoperative level, while FIB and D-D both increased (P<0.05), all presented no significant difference among the two groups (P>0.05). PT shortened gradually (P<0.05), APTT and INR did not change significantly (P>0.05), FIB and D-D increased gradually (P<0.05), and no significant differences were found between the two groups at the same time point (all P>0.05). All the above parameters in the control group were significantly lower than those in IPC group (all P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONSIPC can improve hemodynamics indexes of deep veins of lower limb in patients after rectal cancer operation, and prevent the lower limb DVT. IPC is a safe, simple and convenient physical therapy.

Aged ; Female ; Femoral Vein ; physiology ; Hemodynamics ; physiology ; Humans ; Intermittent Pneumatic Compression Devices ; Lower Extremity ; blood supply ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Postoperative Care ; Postoperative Complications ; prevention & control ; Rectal Neoplasms ; surgery ; Venous Thrombosis ; etiology ; prevention & control

OBJECTIVETo explore the impact of IFN-γ + 874 polymorphisms on the outcome in HLA matched sibling HSCT.

METHODSWe used PCR-sequence-specific primer analysis (PCR-SSP) to analyze the polymorphisms of IFN-γ + 874 T/A in 80 recipient and donor pairs from October 2005 to March 2008.

RESULTSRecipients having donors who possessed IFN-γ + 874 A/A genotype had significantly earlier neutrophil recovery compared with those having donors with non-A/A genotype (15 (11 - 27) days vs 18 (12 - 30) days, P = 0.029). And IFN-γ + 874 A/A in both recipients and donors further facilitated neutrophil recovery compared with others (13 (11 - 25) days and 19 (12 - 31) days, P = 0.019). Besides, IFN-γ + 874 A/A in recipients increased the probability of grade II-IV acute graft versus disease (aGVHD) and cytomegalovirus viraemia compared with IFN-γ + 874 T/A or T/T genotype (20% vs 4% P = 0.041, 43.6% vs 16.0% P = 0.032), which lead to increased 5-year transplant-related mortality (TRM) (33.7% ± 6.8% vs 12.0% ± 6.5%, P = 0.050) and decreased 5-year event free survival (EFS) \[(58.2 ± 6.7)% vs (84.0 ± 7.3)%, P = 0.032\] compared with the latter. IFN-γ + 874 A/A in both recipients and donors also significantly increased the probability of grade II-IV aGVHD and cytomegalovirus viraemia compared with the other (21.7% vs 5.9%, P = 0.050; 45.7% vs 20.6%, P = 0.020), which caused increased 5-year TRM \[(31.6 ± 7.5)% vs (13.6 ± 6.5)%, P = 0.048\] and decreased 5-year EFS \[(56.8 ± 7.3)% vs (79.4 ± 6.9)%, P = 0.037\] compared with the other.

CONCLUSIONIn HLA-matched sibling HSCT setting, the presence of IFN-γ + 874 T allele in recipients or in both recipients and donors significantly decreased the risk of grade II-IV aGVHD and CMV infection and increased EFS. While IFN-γ + 874 A/A in donors or in both recipients and donors was associated with shorter duration to neutrophil recovery.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Alleles ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Genotype ; HLA Antigens ; immunology ; Hematologic Diseases ; genetics ; therapy ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation ; Humans ; Interferon-gamma ; genetics ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Siblings ; Tissue Donors ; Transplantation, Homologous ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

Animals ; Antigens, CD20 ; metabolism ; Brain Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Disease Models, Animal ; Female ; Humans ; Ki-67 Antigen ; metabolism ; Leukocyte Common Antigens ; metabolism ; Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse ; immunology ; pathology ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Mice, Nude ; Neoplasm Transplantation

This study was purposed to investigate the effect of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) on proliferation of peripheral blood T lymphocytes, and to evaluate the regulatory role of PGE2 on immunological balance between Th1/Th2 and Tc1/Tc2 lymphocytes. The peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNC) were stimulated by anti-human CD3 monoclonal antibody (mAb) and anti-human CD28 mAb, and were cultured in the presence of different concentration of PGE2 for 120 hours. The proliferation of peripheral blood T lymphocytes was assayed according to the manufacture protocol of BrdU Kit; the IFN-gamma and IL-4 levels in supernatants cultured for 24, 48, 72 and 120 hours were detected by ELISA; the ratios of CD4+IL-4+ T cells/CD4+ IFN-gamma+ T cells and CD8+IL-4+ T cell/CD8+IFN-gamma+ T cells were determined by flow cytometry. The cells cultured without PGE2 were used as control. The results indicated that (1) with the raising of concentration of PGE2, the inhibitory rate of T cell proliferation in vitro significantly increased (p=0.001). There was significant positive correlation between inhibitory rate of T cells and PGE2 concentration (correlation coefficient=0.889, p=0.000). (2) the difference between the IFN-gamma concentrations in supernatant cultured for 120 and 72 hours in test groups had no statistical significance (p=0.917). The IFN-gamma concentration increased continually with prolonging of culture time in control group (p=0.046). The IFN-gamma concentrations produced at different times in test group were significantly lower compared with those in control group (p<0.05). The IL-4 concentrations produced at different time had no significant change in test groups (p=0.400). The IL-4 concentration in 24 hours in control group was significantly higher than that at 48, 72 and 120 hours in control group (p=0.007, 0.003 and 0.002). After cultured for 24 hours the IL-4 concentration in test group was significantly lower than that in control group (p=0.037), but after cultured for 48, 72 and 120 hours, the IL-4 concentration in test group did not show statistical difference in comparison with control group (p>0.05). (3) the proportions of CD4+IFN-gamma+T cells in test group and in control group had no significant difference (p=0.767). The proportion of CD4+IL-4+T cells in test group was slightly higher than that in control group (p=0.051). The ratio of CD4+IL-4+T cells to CD4+IFN-gamma+ T cells in test group was significantly higher than that in control group (p=0.011). The proportions of CD8+IFN-gamma+ T cells in test group and in control group had no statistical difference (p=0.441). The proportion of CD8+IL-4+T cells in test group was significantly higher than that in control group (p=0.015). The ratio of CD8+IL-4+ T cells to CD8+IFN-gamma+ T cells in test group were obviously higher than that in control group(p=0.038). It is concluded that the PGE2 inhibits the proliferation of T lymphocytes in vitro. PGE2 influences the production of IFN-gamma and IL-4, and significantly influences peak appearance of IFN-gamma produced by T lymphocyte. PGE2 can continuously inhibit the production of IFN-gamma, but its continuous effect on IL-4 is no significant. PGE2 enhances the ratio of CD4+IL-4+T lymphocytes to CD4+IFN-gamma+T lymphocytes and the ratio of CD8+IL-4+T lymphocytes to CD8+IFN-gamma+T lymphocytes, and regulates development of T cells toward Th2/Tc2 cells.
Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Dinoprostone ; pharmacology ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Lymphocyte Activation ; drug effects ; Lymphocyte Count ; T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic ; drug effects ; immunology ; Th1 Cells ; drug effects ; immunology ; Th2 Cells ; drug effects ; immunology

OBJECTIVETo study whether N, N'-di-(m-methylphenyi)-3,6-dimethyl-1,4-dihydro-1,2,4,5-tetrazine-1,4-dicarboamide (ZGDHu-1) inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis in human lung carcinoma cell line EBC-1 cells and its molecular mechanism.

METHODSDifferent concentrations of ZGDHu-1 and different times of culture were used to treat EBC-1 cells in vitro. The inhibition of proliferation was measured by BrdU-ELISA. Cell apoptosis was detected by Annexin V/PI staining and cellular DNA fragmentation ELISA. Phosphorylated p38MAPK and STAT3 were examined by flow cytometry. The protein expressions of bcl-2, bax, p53, Fas, and caspase-3 were detected by Western blot analysis.

RESULTSZGDHu-1 inhibited EBC-1 cell proliferation within a certain range of treating times and does, with a 24 h IC(50) of (295 ± 25) ng/ml, 48 h of (112 ± 8) ng/ml and 72 h of (23 ± 2) ng/ml. The EBC-1 cell apoptosis was confirmed by Annexin V/PI labeling and cellular DNA fragmentation ELISA in a dose-related manner. When EBC-1 cells were treated with 50, 200, and 500 ng/ml ZGDHu-1 for 48 h, the expression rates of phosphor-p38MAPK protein were 67.4%, 88.2%, 91.1%, respectively, and that of the control was 10.6%. That of STAT3 protein were 56.5%, 43.6% and 34.6%, respectively, and that of the control was 89.1%. The expression of bax, p53 and Fas protein was significantly increased, that of bcl-2 was not changed, and that of caspase-3 was significantly decreased by the ZGDHu-1 treatment.

CONCLUSIONZGDHu-1 can inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis in EBC-1 cells. The mitochondrial pathway mediated by Fas may be one of its mechanisms. The apoptosis of EBC-1 cells may associate with up-regulation of phosphor-p38MAPK and down-regulation of phosphor-STAT3 in the cells.

Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; metabolism ; pathology ; Caspase 3 ; metabolism ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; DNA Fragmentation ; Heterocyclic Compounds, 1-Ring ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; metabolism ; STAT3 Transcription Factor ; metabolism ; Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 ; metabolism ; bcl-2-Associated X Protein ; metabolism ; fas Receptor ; metabolism ; p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases ; metabolism

The aim of this study is to assess the status of treatment of chronic prostatitis (CP) in Chinese men. A population-based cross-sectional survey was performed, in which 15 000 men aged between 15 and 60 years were randomly selected to receive a questionnaire designed to assess National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptoms Index (NIH-CPSI) status, therapeutic efficacy and 28 other items. A total of 12 743 men (84.95%) completed the questionnaire, of whom 1 071 (8.4%) were identified as having prostatitis-like symptoms and 517 (4.5%) were diagnosed with CP according to NIH-CPSI criteria and prostatitis-like symptomatology. Of the CP patients, 372 (65%) underwent long-term routine treatment 12 times per year. Additionally, 217 (72.8%) patients received antibiotic therapy and 215 (79.3%) men showed therapeutic effects. The treatment cost USD 1 151 (8 059 yuan) per person per year on average. Most CP patients received routine treatment, in most cases with antibiotics. Treatment was costly and most CP patients were not satisfied with its effectiveness. Antibacterial treatment might have been effective primarily in patients with bacterial disease.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; therapeutic use ; Bacterial Infections ; complications ; drug therapy ; epidemiology ; China ; epidemiology ; Chronic Disease ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prevalence ; Prostatitis ; drug therapy ; epidemiology ; microbiology ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult