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Objective To examine the clinical effect of simultaneous intervention for heart and lung on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) of stationary phase combined with stable angina pectoris with Qi deficiencyblood stasis-phlegm blockade syndrome.Methods Ninety-six COPD stationary phase combined with stable angina pectoris patients with Qi deficiency-blood stasis-phlegm blockade syndrome were randomized into control group,Juhong [Exocarpium Citri Rubrum] tablet group,the Tongxinluo (通心络) group and the Ju&Tong group,24 cases in each group.The control group was given western medicine routine therapy.In addition to the treatment of the control group,Juhong tablet 3.6 g was given to the Juhong tablet group orally,twice each day;Tongxinluo capsule 1.04 g was given to the Tongxinluo group orally,three times each day;Juhong tablet and Tongxinluo capsule were given to the Ju&Tong group.Each group was treated for 8 weeks.The following intems were compared before and after treatment including the scores of cough,cough up phlegm,dyspnea and St.George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ),anginal attacks,durante dolors,nitroglycerin consumption,pulmonary function [including forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC)],as well as the levels of serum C reactive protein (CRP),interleukin 1β (IL-1β) and interleukin 10 (IL-10).Results After treatment,the scores of cough,cough up phlegm,dyspnea and SGRQ decreased in the Juhong tablet group,the Tongxinluo group and the Ju&Tong group.FEV1 and FVC increased.Anginal attacks,durante dolors,nitroglycerin consumption,as well as the levels of serum CRP,IL-1 βand IL-10 decreased.Moreover,the effect of certain indexes in the Ju&Tong group was superior to those in the Juhong tablet group and the Tongxinluo group (P ＜ 0.05 or P ＜ 0.01).Conclusion Simultaneous intervention for heart and lung might improve clinical symptoms and pulmonary function of COPD stationary phase combined with stable angina pectoris with Qi deficiency-blood stasis-phlegm blockade syndrome patients.Inhibiting chronic persistent inflammation might be one of the important mechanisms.
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Objective To evaluate the serum Krebs von den Lungen (KL)-6 for the diagnosis of interstitial lung disease (ILD) associated with connective tissue diseases (CTD) and its lung-CT subtypes.Methods Seventy-five CTD patients were employed for this study,44 CTD with ILD and 31 ILD without ILD.The 44 CTD patients with ILD were further divided into different subgroups based on lung-CT imaging and clinical indexes.The enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA) was used to measure the serum KL-6 level.For those data that was abnormally distributed,the differences between groups was compared with independent samples nonparametric tests.Results The level of serum KL-6 in the CTD with ILD was significantly higher than that without ILD [(1 118±877) U/ml vs (253±144) U/ml] (Z=-6.047,P＜0.01).By using a criterion of 500 U/ml,our data suggested that the serum KL-6 level was useful for the ILD-CTD diagnosis;the sensitivity,specificity,positive and negative predictive values were 72.7％,87.1％,88.9％ and 69.2％,respectively.The serum KL-6 level,however,showed no statistical differences between ILD subtypes,i.e.,usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP),nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP) and indeterminate [(1 104±843) U/ml,(1 242±1 039) U/ml,(815±400) U/ml,respectively] (x2=0.35,P=0.84).Our data further showed that the KL-6 level was significantly higher in CTD-ILD patients with intensive lung lesions than those with limited lung lesions [(1 910±918) U/ml vs (459±268) U/ml] (Z=-4.364,P＜0.01).In addition,the KL-6 level was significantly higher in active ILDs than in inactive ILDs[(1 478±917) U/ml vs (598±475) U/ml] (Z=-3.915,P＜0.01).Conclusion The serum KL-6 is a valuable biomarker for CTD-ILD diagnosis and even for the assessment of the extent and activity of lung damage.
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Objective To evaluated intra-articular injection of TNF-α inhibitors into the sacroiliac joint as an effective and viable alternative. Methods Sixteen patients with documented ankylosing spondylitis (AS), without steroids or disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) were performed CT-guided intra-articular injections of etanercept (TNF-α antagonist) at week 0, 4 and 8 (25 mg per dose). Similarly, 20 patients with AS in the control group received systemic etanercept therapy at a dose of 50 mg per week for 8 weeks. All patients were followed up clinically and evaluated periodically. Pathological features of sacroiliitis were observed with light microscopy and immunohistochemistry. Expression of cytokines in joint biopsy samples was estimated by RT-PCR. Image changes of sacroiliitis were observed by SPECT/CT and MRI. Ttest, t'tesr and χ2 Fisher's test were selected. Results All the 16 patients who received intra-articular etanercept, the mean value of radiological nuclide decrease of the SIJ ROI (region of interest) in the SPECT improved significantly after 8 weeks treatment [(1.38±0.16 vs 1.45±0.14) P<0.05] . Bone marrow edema and fat deposition in MRI were relieved significantly after 8 weeks (P<0.05). In 8 patients the expression of TNF-α and TGF-β mRNA in joint tissue decreased significantly after 8 weeks [(0.89±0.06, 0.84±0.05) vs (l.08± 0.19, 1.13±0.33) (P<0.05)]. The occurrence of gynonitis, enthesitis, chondritis, subehondral bony plate destruction, bone marrow inflammation and inflammatory cell index also decreased significantly (P<0.05). Participants given intra-articular injection showed significant clinical improvement after 8 weeks and 12 weeks treatment(P<0.01 ) in BASDAI score [(32±13) mm]. Conclusion This study has shown that intra-articular injection of etanercept in SIJ can improve joint function and quality of life. It has a satisfactory safety profile and is cost effective. This mode of treatment is most beneficial in local arthropathy of recent onset and in those patients who do not tolerate systemic etanercept therapy.
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Objective To assess the reliability of auto-shimming line width (LW) and water suppression rate (WS), and the correlation between them. Methods GE Signa Excite HD 3.0T system and eight-channel torso phased-array coils with PRESS sequence were performed in 38 volunteers. Liver spectra were collected with TR of 1500 ms, TE of 30 ms, VOI of 2 cm×2 cm×2 cm, NSA of 64 times. Spectroscopy routine auto-shimming pre-scanning program was executed and the values of LW and WS were recorded. Then another spectroscopy routine auto-shimming pre-scanning program was performed repeatedly and 38 groups of data were obtained totally. Intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC), coefficient of variation (CV) and significance test were conduced on 38 groups of LW and WS data. Spearman rank correlation analysis was used to assess the correlation of LW and WS. Results ①The ICC of LW and WS was 0.862 and 0.961 (both P＜0.0001), respectively, while the value of CV was 0.20, 0.18, 0.09 and 0.08, respectively. Significant difference was not observed; ②The value of correlation coefficient was -0.659, -0.485 (both P＜0.0001), respectively. Conclusion ①The reliability is excellent for in vivo liver 3.0T 1H-MRS and WS appears relatively stable; ②Indexes of LW correlate with WS moderately, and it seems the smaller the value of LW is, the easier to achieve higher WS.
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<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the clinical and imaging characteristics of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and to study their relationship.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Forty-six SARS confirmed patients were admitted to our hospital from February to April, 2003. X-ray examination documents were available in all cases and chest CT scanning was acquired in 6 cases, which were analyzed retrospectively, accompanied by their clinical features.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Fever was found in 97.8% of the patients. Clinical symptoms were mild, but X-ray and CT findings were distinct. CT scanning demonstrated ground glass like lesions and large patchy exudation and consolidation at the early stage in 6 cases. Different findings on radiography and CT were related to the different phases of the disease. After treatment, most lesions were absorbed completely, but slowly in patients with multi-lobe consolidation and/or extensive interstitial infiltration.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Special clinical and imaging findings could be found in SARS cases. The prognosis of SARS patients is related to the degree of lesions detected by radiography and CT.</p>
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Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Diagnostic Imaging , Prognosis , Radiography , Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome , Diagnostic ImagingABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the effects of inhibition of STAT5 gene expression by RNA interference technology on apoptosis of human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line SMMC-7721. Methods Three siRNA eukaryotic expression vectors against STAT5 were constructed and transfected with lipofectamineTM 2000 into SMMC-7721 cells. The changes in STAT5 expression were detected by semi-quantitative RT-PCR and Western blot. Cell apoptosis was assayed by flow cytometry (FCM). Results The sequence-specific siRNA could effectively and specifically inhibit STAT5 gene expression at both mRNA and protein levels. The inhibition rates of STAT5 mRNA expression were 70.43%, 43.02%, and 45.07%, respectively. The inhibition rates of STAT5 protein expression were 67.45%, 37.36%, and 41.86%, respectively. At 48 h after transfection, apoptosis rate was 25.61%. Conclusion siRNA against STAT5 can inhibit STAT5 gene expression in SMMC-7721 cells effectively and specifically and induce apoptosis of SMMC-7721 cells. siRNA targeting STAT5 has a great potential value in gene therapy of hepatocellular carcinoma.