Under the guidance of meridian theory, the acupoints heat-sensitive moxibustion is a treatment method which applies moxa stick to perform mild moxibustion at heat-sensitive acupoints, which can arouse the meridian sensation transmission and promote the movement of meridian qi; consequently, the qi can be extended to the diseases. For its many advantages, such as no direct contact on skin, no injuries, no pains, fewer side effects, easy operating and moderate cost, the acupoints heat-sensitive moxibustion is widely accepted in dermatology, male urology disease, rectum and anus diseases and breast diseases. The application and research status of the acupoints heat-sensitive moxibustion in traditional Chinese surgery in recent years is reviewed, and several problems and suggestions in its clinical application and research are proposed, aiming to provide clinical basis for its further development and clinical application in traditional Chinese surgery.
Acupuncture Points ; Clinical Trials as Topic ; General Surgery ; Humans ; Moxibustion ; Sensation

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of telmisartan on expression of resistin in serum and liver under conditions of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and insulin resistance using a rat model system.

METHODSForty-five male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into a normal control group (NC, n=10), a model control group (MC, n=15), a polyene phosphatidylcholine prevention group (PP, n=10), and a telmisartan prevention group (TP, n=10). The NC group was given a standard diet and the other groups were given a high-fat diet for 16 weeks in order to induce NASH. At the end of week 12, 5 rats in the MC group were sacrificed for pathology confirmation of the NASH model. At the end of week 12, the TP group was given telmisartan (8.0 mg/kg/d) and the PP group was given polyene phosphatidylcholine (8.4 mg/kg/d) for an additional 4 weeks by intragastric administration. At the end of week 16, all rats were sacrificed and body weights recorded. Serum levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), resistin, insulin and fasting blood glucose were measured. The insulin resistance value, HOMA-IR, was assessed by homeostasis mode assessment. Liver expression of the resistin protein was detected by western blotting and of the resistin mRNA was detected by RT-PCR. The F test and LSD test were used for statistical analyses.

RESULTSCompared to the NC group, the body weight and HOMA-IR of rats in the MC group were significantly increased (P<0.01). The levels of serum resistin, and of resistin protein and mRNA in liver, were significantly higher in the MC group than in the NC group of rats (all P less than 0.01). The body weight of rats in the TP group was significantly lower than those in the MC group (P<0.05). The levels of serrn resistin, resistin protein and mRNA in the liver, and insulin resistance were significantly lower in the TP group than in the MC group of rats (all P<0.01). The PP group did not show significant differences in any of these measures, except for loss of body weight (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONTelmisartan elicits preventive and protective effects in a NASH rat model.Telmisartan may improve insulin resistance in NASH rats by decreasing the expression of serum resistin, and liver resistin protein and mRNA.

Alanine Transaminase ; Animals ; Aspartate Aminotransferases ; Benzimidazoles ; Benzoates ; Cholesterol ; Diet, High-Fat ; Disease Models, Animal ; Insulin ; Insulin Resistance ; Male ; Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Resistin ; Triglycerides

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; therapeutic use ; Boronic Acids ; administration & dosage ; Bortezomib ; Humans ; Multiple Myeloma ; drug therapy ; Pyrazines ; administration & dosage

Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute ; drug therapy ; Male ; Middle Aged

BACKGROUNDSignificant efforts have been made to identify factors that differentiate patients treated with novel therapies, such as bortezomib in multiple myeloma (MM). The exact expression pattern and prognostic value of the cancer/testis antigen preferentially expressed antigen of melanoma (PRAME) in MM are unknown and were explored in this study.

METHODSThe transcript level of PRAME was detected in bone marrow specimens from 100 newly diagnosed MM patients using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and the prognostic value of PRAME was determined through retrospective survival analysis. PRAME expression higher than the upper limit of normal bone marrow was defined as PRAME overexpression or PRAME (+).

RESULTSSixty-two patients (62.0%) overexpressed PRAME. PRAME overexpression showed no prognostic significance to either overall survival (n = 100) or progression-free survival (PFS, n = 96, all P > 0.05) of patients. The patients were also categorized according to regimens with or without bortezomib. PRAME overexpression tended to be associated with a lower two-year PFS rate in patients treated with non-bortezomib-containing regimens (53.5% vs. 76.9%, P = 0.071). By contrast, it was not associated with the two-year PFS rate in patients with bortezomib-containing regimens (77.5% vs. 63.9%, P > 0.05). When the patients were categorized into PRAME (+) and PRAME (-) groups, treatment with bortezomibcontaining regimens predicted a higher two-year PFS rate in PRAME (+) patients (77.5% vs. 53.5%, P = 0.027) but showed no significant effect on two-year PFS rate in PRAME (-) patients (63.9% vs. 76.9%, P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONPRAME overexpression might be an adverse prognostic factor of PFS in MM patients treated with non-bortezomib-containing regimens. Bortezomib improves PFS in patients overexpressing PRAME.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Antigens, Neoplasm ; metabolism ; Boronic Acids ; therapeutic use ; Bortezomib ; Disease-Free Survival ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multiple Myeloma ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; mortality ; Pyrazines ; therapeutic use ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo assess the association of polymorphisms of G protein-coupled inwardly-rectifying potassium channels 4 (GIRK4) gene with essential hypertension in ethnic Uygurs from southern Xinjiang.

METHODSA total of 1194 (461 males and 733 females) Uygur residents aged 30 to 70 and with a body mass index (BMI) over 18.5 kg/m(2) were selected from Hetian region. All of the subjects have received questionnaire survey, physical examination, biochemical analysis and blood pressure measurement. They were divided into hypertensive group and normotensive group. Genotyping by the TaqMan polymerase chain reaction method was performed for 4 common single nucleotide polymorphisms (rs4937391, rs2604204, rs6590357 and rs1122149), and a case-control study was carried out.

RESULTSGenotype distributions of rs4937391, rs2604204, rs6590357 and rs1122149 in both groups were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P> 0.05). The average systolic blood pressure of CC genotype of rs11221497 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)[(132.69± 26.9) mmHg)] was higher than the CG genotype [(127.4± 22.7) mmHg] and GG genotype [(121.1± 26.3) mmHg]. There has a significantly difference in average systolic and diastolic blood pressures between CC and GG genotypes (P< 0.05). A case-control association analysis revealed that the rs11221497 SNP was in association with essential hypertension with the dominant model [P< 0.05, OR= 0.67 (0.49-0.93)]. Haplotype analysis indicated that H6(C-G-C-G) was significantly more common in normotensive group than hypertensive group (P= 0.001).

CONCLUSIONThe rs11221497 SNP of the GIRK4 gene is associated with essential hypertension in ethnic Uygur population in Xinjiang.

Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; genetics ; Case-Control Studies ; Essential Hypertension ; Female ; G Protein-Coupled Inwardly-Rectifying Potassium Channels ; genetics ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Humans ; Hypertension ; complications ; genetics ; Male ; Obesity ; complications ; genetics ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide

Rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) are human's closest evolutionary relatives next to Chimpanzees, and they are widely used in biomedical researches. Analyses of the rhesus monkey trasnscriptome and the sequence divergence between monkey and human are of importantce to the development of scientific analyses and to the application and interpretation of the results from animal experiments. In this study, we analyzed the genetic and transcriptional information. Four hundred and one clones were randomly selected from a liver tissue cDNA library of rhesus monkey, and the expressed sequence tags (ESTs) were sequenced. We acquired 393 effective ESTs that were assembled into 221 Unigenes with Phrap software. Alignments of the sequences showed that 188 Unigenes matched with known proteins in Swiss_prot database, of which 16 Unigenes matched the known rhesus proteins, and 171 Unigenes had high homology with human proteins. Then the result of BLASTN comparison showed that 26 of another 33 Unigenes matched the known rhesus genes. Finally, the remaining Unigenes were aligned in dbEST and rhesus genome database, and the results suggested 3 Unigenes be newly discovered ESTs of rhesus.
Animals ; Expressed Sequence Tags ; chemistry ; Gene Library ; Liver ; chemistry ; Macaca mulatta ; genetics ; Sequence Analysis, DNA

This study sought to clone Chinese Banna minipig inbred-line (BMI) alpha1,3-galactosyltransferase (alpha1,3-GT) gene and construct its recombinant eukaryotic expression vector. Total RNA was isolated from BMI liver. Full length cDNA of alpha1,3-GT gene was amplified by RT-PCR and cloned into pMD18-T vector to sequence. Subsequently, alpha1,3-GT gene was inserted into pEGFP-N1 to construct eukaryotic expression vector pEGFP-N1-GT. Then the reconstructed plasmid pEGFP-N1-GT was transiently transfected into human lung cancer cell line A549. The expression of alpha1,3-GT mRNA in transfected cells was detected by RT-PCR. FITC-BS-IB4 lectin was used in the direct immunofluorescence method, which was performed to observe the alpha-Gal synthesis function of BMI alpha1,3-GT in transfected cells. The results showed that full length of BMI alpha1,3-GT cDNA was 1116 bp. BMI alpha1,3-GT cDNA sequence was highly homogenous with those of mouse and bovine, and was exactly the same as the complete sequence of those of swine, pEGFP-N1-GT was confirmed by enzyme digestion and PCR. The expression of alpha1,3-GT mRNA was detected in A549 cells transfected by pEGFP-N1-GT. The expression of alpha-Gal was observed on the membrane of A549 cells transfected by pEGFP-N1-GT. Successful cloning of BMI alpha1,3-GT cDNA and construction of its eukaryotic expression vector have established a foundation for further research and application of BMI alpha1,3-GT in the fields of xenotransplantation and immunological therapy of cancer.
Animals ; Animals, Inbred Strains ; Base Sequence ; China ; Cloning, Molecular ; Galactosyltransferases ; genetics ; metabolism ; Genetic Vectors ; genetics ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Recombinant Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Swine ; Swine, Miniature ; genetics ; Transfection

Mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow of Rhesus monkey (RhBMSCs) were isolated by density gradient centrifugation, purified by adherence separation, and further identified by phenotype and karyotype analysis. Growth characteristics of RhBMSCs were investigated by observation of cell proliferation and detection of apoptosis. Density gradient centrifugation and adherence separation revealed a simple method to obtain fairly pure RhBMSCs. Fusiform was the most common form of cell under observation, and cell karyotype was normal. Phenotyping assay revealed that the RhBMSCs are highly positive (99.2%) for CD29 when compared with the low positive rates (less than 3.2%) for CD34, CD45 and HLA-DR, which indicated a successful isolation of high purity RhBMSCs and a vigorous activity of cells to proliferate. But the proliferation activity of RhBMSCs gradually decreased following the increasing of cell generations. The methods and results of isolation, expansion, identification and growth characteristics of RhBMSCs were discussed in this paper, which may be helpful to understanding the bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells of human, and may serve as the groundwork for orientated differentiation of RhBMSCs and tissue repairment on experimental animal model of rhesus monkey.
Animals ; Bone Marrow Cells ; cytology ; Cell Culture Techniques ; Cell Separation ; Cells, Cultured ; Integrin beta1 ; blood ; Macaca mulatta ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; cytology ; Phenotype

Gene chip has been an important way to detect gene changes of organism in different condition. It is a new tendency to use gene chip to research graft rejection at gene level. Ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) accurs early in organ transplantation. Studying IRI with gene chip is beneficial to understand the mechanism of graft rejection and will provide guidance for surveying and treating graft rejection after organ transplantation.
Animals ; Disease Models, Animal ; Graft Rejection ; genetics ; Mice ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; Rats ; Reperfusion Injury ; genetics ; Transplants