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<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the regulating effect of thyroid pathway on electroacupuncture (EA) for mammary gland hyperplasia (MGH) so as to provide new research ideas for the mechanism of EA for MGH and to provide the evidence for clinical application.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Sixty adult female SD rats were randomly divided into a blank group, a model group, an EA group, an EA with thyroidectomy group, an EA with sham operation group, 12 rats in each one. Except the blank group, the MGH model was established. Thyroid ablation was performed in the EA with thyroidectomy group, and sham operation was used in the EA with sham operation group, exposing thyroid without excision, 1 day after model establishment. EA was applied in the EA, the EA with thyroidectomy, and the EA with sham operation groups on the 4th day after model establishment, and not used in the other groups, but catching, routine disinfection and fixation were all the same as the above groups. The acupoints in the group A were bilateral "Tianzong" (SI 11), "Ganshu" (BL 18) and "Zusanli" (ST 36); and those in the group B were bilateral "Wuyi" (ST 15), "Hegu" (LI 4) and "Danzhong" (CV 17). The two groups of points were alternately used. EA, continuous wave, 2 Hz and 1 mA, was connected at "Tianzong" (SI 11) and "Ganshu" (BL 18), "Wuyi" (ST 15) and "Hegu" (LI 4) at the same side, 2 pairs EA a time, 20 min a time, once a day. All the intervention was given for 4 courses, 5 times as 1 course with 2 days between courses. After intervention, the height and diameter of the rat papilla were measured. Estrogen (E) and progestational hormone (P) in the serum were detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and the contents and protein expression of estrogen receptor α (ERα) and progesterone receptor (PR) in the mammary glands were detected by immunofluorescence and Western-blot.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>(1) The height and diameter of papilla in the model group increased compared with those in the blank group (both <0.01). The height and diameter of papilla in the EA, EA with sham operation groups reduced compared with those in the model group (all <0.01). Those in the EA with thyroidectomy group were lower than those in the model group, without statistical significance (both >0.05). (2) Compared with the blank group, E increased and P decreased in the model group (both <0.01). Compared with the model group, E decreased and P increased in the EA and EA with sham operation groups (all <0.01). The contents of E and P had no statistical significance between the model and the EA with thyroidectomy groups (both >0.05). (3) Compared with the blank group, the ERα content and protein expression increased and the PR content and protein expression decreased in the model group (all <0.01). Compared with the model group, the ERα content and protein expression decreased and the PR content and protein expression increased in the EA and EA with sham operation groups (all <0.01). The ERα and PR content and protein expression had no statistical significance between the model and the EA with thyroidectomy groups (all >0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The effect of EA for MGH may be closely related to the regulation of thyroid.</p>
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Objective To investigate the in vitro antibacterial activity of single cefoperazone,ceftazidime,imipenem,tigecycline and colistin and their combination with sulbactam against clinical isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii (A.baumannii).Methods Twentythree meropenem-resistant A.baumannii strains and 21 meropenem-sensitive strains from the Study for Monitoring Antimicrobial Resistance Trends (SMART) during 2011 and 2012 were collected,and their combination susceptibility tests were performed by the checkerboard dilution method.The fractional inhibitory concentration (FIC) index was calculated to evaluate the combination effect of antibiotics.Results No antagonism effect was observed for all of combinations.The combination of sulbactam with cefoperazone or tigecycline mainly produced synergistic effect on A.baumannii,and the strains with FIC index ≤0.5 accounted for 56.8％ and 50.0％,respectively.The combination of sulbactam with imipenem or colistin showed synergistic or partially synergistic effect on A.baumannii,and the strains with FIC index ＜ 1 accounted for 61.4％ and 52.3％,respectively.However,the combination of sulbactan with ceftazidime didn't show any interation,and the strains with FIC index ≥4 accounted for 63.6％.Conclusion The combination of sulbactam with cefoperazone has the best synergistic effect on A.baumannii,especially on carbapenem-sensitive A.baumannii.The combination of sulbactam with imipenem or tigecycline may enhance the antibacterial activity on carbapenem-resistant A.baumannii.The combination of sulbactam with imipenem or tigecycline may be helpful for the treatment of carbapenem-resistant A.baumannii infection.
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Objectives To study the performance of different microbial automated inoculation systems and to evaluate the performance of the Probact microbial automated inoculation and incubation system ( Probact system) and its applications in clinical microbiology laboratory.Methods A total of 160 clinical specimens, including respiratory secretions ( n=61 ) , urine ( n=49 ) , and feces ( n=50 ) , that were submitted to the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory in Peking Union Medical College Hospital of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences from February 2015 to April 2015 were evaluated.These specimens were processed with conventional manual method, the Probact automated inoculation system, and PREVI Isola Inoculator.The quantity of bacterial species recovery, number of effectively isolated colonies, total number of colonies recovery per plate, and time of processing the 160 specimens by the three methods were evaluated. Wilcoxon signed-rank test and Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test were used for statistical analysis.Results The Probact system had significantly higher quantity of bacterial species recovery (respiratory specimens 3.41 ±1.40, urine 1.92 ±0.86, and feces 1.16 ±0.79) than those by the Isola Inoculator (respiratory specimens 3.75 ±1.29, urine 2.24 ±0.97, and feces 1.92 ±0.72), (P=0.006, 0.011, <0.001).Compared to the manual method, Probact performed less quantity of bacterial species recovery for respiratory specimens(3.85 ±1.38), but higher in feces(0.80 ±0.81)( P<0.001).There is no significant differences for urine ( 1.84 ±1.23 ) ( P=0.266 ) .As for number of isolated colony, the Probact system ( respiratory specimens 12.16 ±7.72, urine 2.71 ±4.24, and feces 5.40 ±5.04 ) had significant smaller numbers than that of Isola Inoculator (respiratory specimens 16.56 ±5.76, urine 4.35 ± 4.89, and feces 8.40 ±3.70) (P<0.001,0.007,0.003).However, both system had larger numbers of isolated colonies than those by the manual method (respiratory specimens 11.30 ±8.42, urine 2.67 ±4.34, and feces 1.90 ±3.90) and the difference was significant for fecal specimens(P<0.001).Regarding the total number of colonies recovery, larger number was found by Isola Inoculator than that by the Probact system for fecal specimens, however, there were no significant differences for respiratory or urine specimens (P=0.524,0.738).Compared with manual method, the Probact system had significantly more numbers of colonies recovery for respiratory and fecal specimens ( P<0.001 ) . The total time for processing 160 specimens was shortest for manual method (281 min), followed by Probact system (419 min) and Isola Inoculator (495 min) .Conclusions The performance of the Probact system is better than the manual method but no superior to the Isola Inoculator.The Probact system can meet the clinical need in terms of full automation and standardization of specimen inoculation and prevention of bias of processing by laboratory staffs using manual method.
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Objective To evaluate the performance of VITEK-2 compact,VITEK MS and Bruker MS on the identification of Corynebacterium.Methods This was a methodological evaluation study.The 40 Corynebacterium from bioMerieux were i-dentified with the three methods respectively.16S rDNA gene sequencing was conducted as reference method.Made a de-scriptive analysis of the identification ability,time and cost.Resulets The accuracy of species level of the three methods was 95.0%,88.9% and 97.5%.The mean time was 5~6 h,2~3 min and 2~3 min.The cost of consumable was 50~70 yuan, 15~25 yuan and 10~20 yuan.Conclution Three methods with high accuracy can meet the requirement of clinical diagno-sis,and the identification ability of VITEK MS on Corynebacterium amycolatum need to be further improved.
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Objective To build a supervision mechanism for independent clinical labs (ICL),surveyed the current situation of such novel institutions in China.Methods By way of the nationwide network of clinical labs,ICL in China were surveyed by written questionnaires and spot inspection.Results In the surveyed 38 ICLs,the maximum registered capital was 44 900 thousands,the minimum was 2 000 thousands.The maximum number of employee was 1 105,the minimum was 19.6 labs passed ISO15189 ratification,4 labs passed CAP ratification.17 labs participated in local external quality control,29 labs par-ticipated in national external quality control.Conclusion Although ICL in our country have developed well in the past dec-ade,such vulnerabilities as unbalanced staff ratio,full-range quality control bugs,cutthroat competition,asymmetrical infor-mation disclosure and bio-safety have loomed in the meantime.It is time to formulate a stricter industry access system and appropriate regulatory modes.