Analysis on traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions treating cancer based on traditional Chinese medicine inheritance assistance system and discovery of new prescriptions / 中国中药杂志

Malignant tumor is one of the main causes for death in the world at present as well as a major disease seriously harming human health and life and restricting the social and economic development. There are many kinds of reports about traditional Chinese medicine patent prescriptions, empirical prescriptions and self-made prescriptions treating cancer, and prescription rules were often analyzed based on medication frequency. Such methods were applicable for discovering dominant experience but hard to have an innovative discovery and knowledge. In this paper, based on the traditional Chinese medicine inheritance assistance system, the software integration of mutual information improvement method, complex system entropy clustering and unsupervised entropy-level clustering data mining methods was adopted to analyze the rules of traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions for cancer. Totally 114 prescriptions were selected, the frequency of herbs in prescription was determined, and 85 core combinations and 13 new prescriptions were indentified. The traditional Chinese medicine inheritance assistance system, as a valuable traditional Chinese medicine research-supporting tool, can be used to record, manage, inquire and analyze prescription data.

Effect of BMP-2 and -3 overexpression on osteogenic and chondrogenic differentiation of prenatal mouse intervertebral disc cells in vitro / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effect of recombinant adenovirus-mediated bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-2 and -3 over expressions on chondrogenesis and osteogenesis of prenatal mouse intervertebral disc cells and provide experimental evidences for the application of BMPs in the therapy of disc diseases.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The prenatal mouse intervertebral disc cells were infected with a recombinant adenovirus expressing BMP-2 and BMP-3 for 5-7 days, and the expressions of collagen type I (Col I), collagen type II (Col II), aggrecan, osteocalcin, osteoprotegerin and osteopontin mRNAs were detected with RT-PCR. The expression of cartilage matrix was evaluated with toluidine blue staining, and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity was detected with ALP reading and ALP staining.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>BMP-2 and -3 overexpression did not enhance chondrogenesis and osteogenesis of annulus fibrosus (AF) cells or cause significant increases in the expressions of Col I, Col II or aggrecan mRNA in nucleus pulposus (NP) cells. Adenovirus-mediated overexpression of BMP-2 and BMP-3, however, promoted osteogenesis of NP cells and significantly increased the expression of osteocalcin mRNA; the overexpression of BMP-2, but not BMP-3, enhanced the mRNA expressions of osteoprotegerin and osteopontin. Toluidine blue staining demonstrated that BMP-2 and BMP-3 overexpression did not obviously affect the secretion of cartilage matrix. In NP cells, BMP-2 and -3 overexpression significantly enhanced ALP activity, which was not observed in AF cells.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Adenovirus-mediated BMP-2 and -3 overexpression can promote the osteogenic differentiation of NP cells but can not affect osteogenesis of AF cells or chondrogenesis of NP cells.</p>

Soft tissue reconstruction for secondary deformity after correction of Wassel type IV-D thumb duplication / 中华整形外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate an effective therapeutic method for the secondary deformity after the correction of the Wassel type IV thumb duplication.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>9 cases of Wassel W-D Complex thumb deformities in children with postoperative secondary deformity, including 6 males and 3 female, were treated. The age ranged from 2.0 to 14 years old with an average of 5.3 years old. During the operation, the anatomical structure was dissected to observe the structure and alignment of the flexor tendon as well as anatomical structure of the joint. In the meantime, the flexor pollicis longus tendon was shifted, A2 pulley was reconstructed, joint capsule was released and contracted, the end point of thenar was shifted. Kirschner wires fixation were used for about 4-5 weeks, the brace fixation for about 3 months.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>All the patients had radial side skin contracture of the interphalangeal joint, radial deviation of the thumb tip, radial side contracture and ulnar relaxation of the joint capsule. Flexor hallucis longus tendon was located in front of the radial side of the proximal phalanx, with no wrapped sheath or A2 pulley. Flexor hallucis longus tendon was attached to the thumb tip substrate, of which 1/3 was located in the center and 2/3 in the radial side. The thumb tip rotated about 10 degrees-15 degrees to the radial side. The patients were followed up for 6-38 months, with an average of 24 months. We adopted Tada standard to evaluate the follow-up results as excellent in 7 cases, good in 1 case, poor in 1 case.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Soft tissue reconstruction for the secondary deformity after the correction of the Wassel type IV-D thumb duplication is an effective method. Application of the brace after removal of Kirschner wires has an important role in preventing the secondary deformity.</p>