AIM: To investigate the effects of agkis-trodon halys venom anti-tumor component (AHVAC-) on the biological behavior of gastric cancer MKN-28 cells. METHODS: Gastric cancer MKN-28 cells were treated with the experimental concentrations (5, 10, 15 μg/mL) of AHAVC- for 24 h. Cell proliferation and toxicity assay (cell counting kit-8, CCK-8) was used to detect the inhibition rates of the cells in different concentrations of AHVAC-. The migration ability of the cells was evaluated by wound-healing and Transwell assay. The apoptosis were observed by laser confocal microscopy with annexin V-mCherry/DAPI double staining, and the apoptosis rates were analyzed by flow cytometry with annexin V-FITC/PI double fluorescence staining. The protein level of Caspease-3 was determined by Western blot. RESULTS: Compared with normal control group, the results of AHVAC- concentration groups showed that with the increase of AHVAC- concentration, the proliferative activity of MN-28 cells decreased gradually (P<0.01), the cell migration ability decreased gradually (P<0.01), and the cell apoptosis rate increased (P<0.05). The expression of apoptosis-related protein Caspease-3 was up-regulated (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: AHVAC- inhibits proliferation and migration of gastric cancer MSN-28 cells and induces apoptosis.

Aim To explore the possibility of resveratrol ( RES) combined with irinotecan ( IRI) in the treatment of colorectal cancer ( CRC ) and the underlying molecular mechanism of RES ameliorating IRI chemoresistance of CRC cells. Methods CRC cells used in this study were HT-29 and RKO cells. The effects of RES, IRI and their combination on the proliferation of CRC cells were analyzed by MTT assay and colony formation assay. The effects of RES,IRI and their combination on the migration of CRC cells were assessed by Wound-healing assay. On this basis,the role of RES in regulating IRI chemoresistance of CRC cells and the underlying molecular mechanisms were further explored. Results The proliferation and migration ability of CRC cells in the RES and IRI combined treatment group were significantly lower than those in the IRI treated group, which showed that RES could enhance the inhibiting effect of IRI on the proliferation and migration of CRC cells, indicating that RES was able to a-meliorate the chemoresistance of CRC cells to IRI. And remarkably lower marker proteins expression levels of EGFR/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway in the RES and IRI combined treatment group was observed. Moreover, both EGFR activator (NSC 228155) and AKT activator (SC79) could reverse the ameliorating effect of RES on IRI chemoresistance of CRC cells, whereas AKT inhibitor (MK2206 ) could partially reverse the effect of NSC 228155. Conclusions RES can inhibit the proliferation and migration of CRC cells by down-regulating EGFR/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway, so as to ameliorate the chemoresistance of CRC cells to IRI, suggesting that RES combined with IRI can be a promising novel treatment for CRC.

Objective: To observe the impact of mind-regulating acupuncture plus donepezil on the cognitive ability, mean cerebral blood flow velocity, event-related potential P300, and activities of daily living (ADL) in the aged patients with Alzheimer disease (AD).Methods: Sixty senile AD patients were divided into a treatment group and a control group following the envelope method for random allocation, with 30 cases in each group. Based on the conventional treatment of the internal medicine, the control group received oral donepezil, and the treatment group received oral donepezil plus mind-regulating acupuncture. After 4-week treatment, the two groups were evaluated by the mini-mental state examination (MMSE), Alzheimer disease assessment scale-cognitive part (ADAS-Cog), and ADL; changes in P300 and the mean cerebral blood flow velocity were also observed.Results: Before treatment, there were no significant differences in the scores of MMSE, ADAS-Cog, or ADL between the two groups (P>0.05). The MMSE score increased after treatment in both groups and was notably higher in the treatment group than in the control group, showing intra-group and inter-group statistical significance (P<0.05). After treatment, the ADAS-Cog and ADL scores dropped in both groups and were markedly lower in the treatment group than in the control group, also showing intra-group and inter-group statistical significance (P<0.05). Compared with the same group before treatment, the latency of P300 was shortened and the amplitude was extended in both groups, all with statistical significance (P<0.05); the latency was shorter and the amplitude was larger in the treatment group than in the control group after treatment, presenting significant between-group differences (P<0.05). The mean blood flow velocity accelerated after the intervention in both groups, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05); the improvement in the treatment group was more notable than that in the control group (P<0.05).Conclusion: Mind-regulating acupuncture plus donepezil can regulate the latency and amplitude of P300, increase cerebral blood flow, and improve the learning and memory abilities of AD patients.

By searching the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of acupuncture and moxibustion from CNKI since its inception date to december 31 of 2019, the development status and hot trend of RCTs of acupuncture and moxibustion in China were summarized. The CiteSpace and VOSviewer software were used to perform keyword co-occurrence analysis, clustering analysis, time-zone analysis and citation-burst analysis, and visual map was drawn. As a result, a total of 60 995 articles were included, which were published in 1027 academic journals with 1787 keywords. The publication date was from 1975 to 2019. During the past 45 years, the publications of RCTs on acupuncture and moxibustion had shown an overall growth trend with characteristics of the times. The RCTs of manual acupuncture ranked the top, and its proportion of publications every 5 years was stable in the past 30 years. Since 1994, the hot words such as electroacupuncture, warming needling, auricular point sticking and various acupoint therapies had emerged; meanwhile, the spectrum of diseases had broadened, and an evolutionary trend corresponding to therapies and disease systems had been formed. In recent decade, the RCTs using moxibustion therapy have increased significantly, and the hot words such as "sub-health" "winter diseases being treated in summer" and "acupoint application/ moxibustion during the dog days" had indicated that acupuncture clinical research was further inclined to the field of chronic disease prevention and health services, which was in line with social development and the needs of the times.
Acupuncture ; Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Moxibustion ; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic

OBJECTIVE: To compare the therapeutic effect of electroacupuncture (EA) combined with donepezil hydrochloride and donepezil hydrochloride alone on improving learning-memory ability in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), and to explore its action mechanism. METHODS: Sixty patients of AD were randomly divided into an observation group and a control group, 30 cases in each group. The patients in the observation group were treated with EA at governor vessel (GV) combined with donepezil hydrochloride. EA was applied at Baihui (GV 20) and Fengfu (GV 16) with dilatational wave (10 Hz/50 Hz of frequency, 0.5 to 5.0 mA of intensity), and the needles were kept for 40 min, EA was given once a day; the donepezil hydrochloride tablet was taken orally, 5 mg, once a day, and after 4 weeks the dosage might be increased to 10 mg per day according to the specific situation. All the treatment was given for 8 weeks. The patients in the control group were only treated with donepezil hydrochloride with the identical procedure as the observation group. The Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) and Alzheimer's disease assessment scale cognitive part (ADAS-Cog) were evaluated before and after treatment; P300 (latency and amplitude of N2 and P3) was detected by EEG/ERP system brain event related potential instrument, and amyloid precursor protein (APP) and β-amyloid protein 1-42 (Aβ) were detected by ELISA. RESULTS: Compared before treatment, the MoCA scores were increased after treatment in the two groups (<0.05), and the MoCA score in the observation group was higher than that in the control group (<0.05). Compared before treatment, the ADAS-Cog scores were decreased after treatment in the two groups (<0.05), and the ADAS-Cog score in the observation group was lower than that in the control group (<0.05). Compared before treatment, the latency of N2 and P3 was shortened and the amplitude was increased after treatment in the two groups (<0.05); after treatment, the latency of N2 and P3 in the observation group was shorter than that in the control group and the amplitude was higher than that in the control group (<0.05). Compared before treatment, the serum levels of APP and Aβ were lower after treatment in the two groups (<0.05), and the serum levels of APP and Aβ in the observation group were lower than those in the control group (<0.05). CONCLUSION EA at Baihui (GV 20) and Fengfu (GV 6) combined with donepezil hydrochloride can effectively reduce the serum levels of APP and Aβ and improve the scores of MoCA and ADAS-Cog and the levels of N2 and P3 of P300 in AD patients, which has superior effect to donepezil hydrochloride alone in improving the learning-memory of AD patients.
Alzheimer Disease ; blood ; therapy ; Amyloid beta-Peptides ; blood ; Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor ; blood ; Cognition ; Donepezil ; therapeutic use ; Electroacupuncture ; Humans ; Learning ; Memory ; Peptide Fragments ; blood

OBJECTIVE: To quantify the relationship between cerebral blood flow velocity and peripheral blood pressure during hypotension period, aiming to predict the brain hypotension before symptomatic occurrence. METHODS: Twenty vasovagal syncope (VVS) patients who had a previous clinical history were selected in groups and 20 pair-matched control subjects underwent 70° tilt-up test. The subjects remained supine for 30 minutes before recordings when Doppler probes, electrodes and Finapres device were prepared. After continuous baseline recordings for 10 min, the subjects underwent head up tilt (HUT) test (70°), and were standing upright for 30 minutes or until syncope was imminent. For ethical reasons, the subjects were turned back to supine position immediately after SBP dropped to ≥20 mmHg, when their consciousness persisted. The point of syncope was synchronized for all the subjects by the point SBP reached the minima. Their beat-to-beat blood pressures (BP) were recorded continuously and bilateral middle cerebral artery (MCA) flow velocities were obtained with two 2 MHz Doppler probes from a transcranial Doppler ultrasonography (TCD) system. A nonlinear dynamic method--multimodal pressure flow (MMPF) analysis was introduced to access cerebral autoregulation during different time intervals. We introduced a new indicator--syncope index (SI), which was extracted from blood flow velocity (BFV) signal to evaluate the variation of cerebral vascular tension, and could reflect the deepness of dicrotic notch in BFV signal. RESULTS: Compared with the syncope index of the baseline value at the beginning of the tilt test, SI in VVS group showed significantly lower when the VVS occurred (0.16±0.10 vs.0.27±0.10,P<0.01),while there was no significant difference in syncope index between the control group at the end of the tilt test and the baseline value at the beginning of the tilt test. For those VVS patients, pulse index and resistance index had no significant change. Syncope index decreased significantly 3 minutes before the point of syncope (0.23±0.07 vs.0.29±0.07,P<0.01). CONCLUSION Dynamic regulation is exhausted when vasovagal syncope occurred. Tension decrease of small vessels could have some relationship with loss of the cerebral autoregulation capability. The proposed syncope index could be a useful parameter in predicting syncope of VVS patients since it decreased significantly up to 3 minutes earlier from the point of syncope.
Blood Pressure ; Heart Rate ; Humans ; Nonlinear Dynamics ; Syncope ; Syncope, Vasovagal ; Tilt-Table Test

Objective To compare the effects of 3D laparoscopic hepatectomy (3D-LH) and open hepatectomy(OH)in glissonian access for hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)on postoperative immunosuppression by analyzing cellular immune function. Methods During January 2014 to December 2017,sixty patients randomly scheduled to undergo hepatectomy were divided into 3D-LH group and OH group,with 30 patients in each group. All patients' peripheral blood was sampled to measure cell-mediated-immunologic markers(CD4+,CD8+T cell) before operation and in the mornings of the 1st,7thday after surgery. The effects of different operative methods on cellular immune function in patients organism were investigated. Results The decreased level in 3D-LH group was less than that in OH group in postoperative 1stday. The improvement in the 3D-LH group was more faster than that in the OH group on postoperative 7thday. There was statistical significance between the two groups(P<0.05), respectively. Conclusion When compared to open hepatectomy ,3D laparoscopy liver resection in glissonian approach for HCC,less effects in cellular immune function.

OBJECTIVETo assess the impact of metabolic syndrome(MS) on Framingham risk score(FRS) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

METHODSThe anthropometric and biochemical data of 1708 patients with T2DM admitted in hospital from May 2008 to April 2013 were retrospectively analyzed, including 902 males and 806 females with a mean age of 57.1±11.8 years (20-79 years). Diagnosis of MS was made according to the criteria of the Adult Treatment Panel Ⅲ Criteria modified for Asians.

RESULTSCompared to non-MS/T2DM patients, MS/T2DM patients had higher waist circumference, body weight, body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, fasting C peptide, total cholesterol, triglyceride, and LDL-C (P<0.05), while lower HDL-C (P<0.01). Both FRS [13.0(10.0, 15.0) vs 11.0(9.0, 13.0) in male,15.0(12.0, 18.0) vs 12.0(6.0, 14.8) in female,P<0.01)] and 10-year cardiovascular risk [12.0%(6.0%, 20.0%) vs 8.0%(5.0%,12.0%) in male,3.0%(1.0%, 6.0%) vs 1.0%(0.0%, 2.8%) in female,P<0.01] were higher in MS/T2DM patients than those in non-MS/T2DM patients.Both FRS and 10-year cardiovascular risk were increased with the components of MS.

CONCLUSIONT2DM patients with MS have more cardiovascular risk factors, higher FRS and 10-year cardiovascular risk.

Objective:To observe the clinical efficacy of acupuncture plus turtle-shell-partitioned moxibustion in treating diarrhea- predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D). Methods:Seventy-six patients were randomized into two groups: 39 cases in the observation group were intervened by acupuncture plus turtle-shell-partitioned moxibustion, while 37 cases in the control group by the same acupuncture treatment, once a day, 10 d as a treatment course, for 2 courses in total. The improvements of symptoms were observed at the end of the intervention in both groups. Results:The total effective rate was 89.7% in the observation group versus 67.6% in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05).Conclusion:Acupuncture plus turtle-shell-partitioned moxibustion can significantly improve the symptoms of IBS-D, and can produce a more significant efficacy than acupuncture alone.

ObjectiveTo explore the effects of epidermal proteins and lamellar bodies on skin barrier in glucocorticoid-dependent dermatitis.MethodsTotally,60 patients with glucocorticoid-dependent dermatitis and 40 normal human controls were eligible for this study.A noninvasive method using TewameterTM was applied to determine transepidermal water loss (TEWL) value in these subjects.Tissue specimens were obtained from the lesions of 13 patients with glucocorticoid-dependent dermatitis and normal skin of 10 human controls.Subsequently,haematoxylin and eosin(HE) staining was performed to observe the histopathological changes,immunohistochemistry to detect the protein expressions of K6,K10,K14,K15,loricrin,filaggrin,involucrin in epidermis,and electron microscopy(EM) to estimate the density of lamellar bodies in tissue specimens.ResultsCompared with the normal controls,the patients displayed an elevated TEWL value (P ＜ 0.05),which suggested an impaired epidermal barrier.Histopathology of lesions revealed nonspecific inflammatorychanges withmarkeddifferencesbetweendifferentclinicaltypesofglucocorticoid-dependentdermatitis.Immunohistochemistry revealed an attenuated expression of K10,K14,loricrin,filaggrin,involucrin and abnormal expression of K15 in lesional epidermis compared with the normal epidermis (all P ＜ 0.05),hinting a suppression of epidermal differentiation and proliferation as well as an impairment of cornified envelope structure.The number and density of lamellar bodies were also reduced in lesional epidermis compared with the control epidermis.ConclusionsCompared with normal skin,the structure of skin barrier is impaired in lesions of glucocorticoid-dependent dermatitis,to restore skin barrier is essential for the treatment of this entity.