Post-stroke hand dysfunction treated with acupuncture at Zhongzhu (TE 3) and Waiguan (TE 5) / 中国针灸

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the curative effects of post-stroke hand dysfunction treated with acupuncture at Zhongzhu (TE 3) and Waiguan (TE 5).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Sixty cases of post-stroke hand dysfunction were randomly divided into an observation group (30 cases) and a control group (30 cases). Routine medicine, physical therapy, occupational therapy and other rehabilitation trainings were applied in both groups; Zhongzhu (TE 3) and Waiguan (TE 5) were punctured in observation group. Scores of nervous functions deficit by the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), hand function, walking ability, activities of daily living (ADL) by Modified Barthel Index Scale were e valuated in both groups before and after treatment.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>After treatment, the scores of hand function, walking ability, ADL and NIHSS were improved in both groups (all P < 0.01), and the hand function, walking ability and ADL in observation group were superior to those in control group (all P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Routine medicine and rehabilitation trainings combined with acupuncture at Zhongzhu (TE 3) and Waiguan (TE 5) to treat post-stroke hand dysfunction can obviously improve the hand dysfunction after stroke, enhance the abilities of walking and daily living, and increase the curative effect.</p>

Correlation of cardiac troponin T gene mutations to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in Chinese patients / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study cardiac troponin T (TNNT2) gene mutations in Chinese patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and analyze the correlation between the genotype and phenotype.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Ninety-five unrelated Chinese patients with HCM and 120 control individuals were screened for TNNT2 gene mutations. Seven exons (8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, and 16) in the functional regions of TNNT2 gene were amplified using PCR and the products were sequenced. The patients with positive results underwent further family screening.</p><p><b>RESULTS AND CONCLUSION</b>This study did not find any HCM-caused mutations in TNNT2 gene, a result different from the reported rates of TNNT2 gene mutation ranging from 10% to 20% in other nations, suggesting that TNNT2 gene is not a susceptible gene for HCM in Chinese population.</p>

Link between cardiac myosin binding protein-C gene mutation of Pro1208fs and Gly507 Arg and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in Chinese patients / 中华心血管病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To detect gene mutations associated with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) in Chinese patients and possible correlations between genotype and phenotype.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Twenty-one unrelated patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy were studied. The clinical data including symptoms, physical examination, echocardiography and electrocardiography were collected. The full ecoding exons of cardiac myosin-binding protein C gene (cMYBPC3) were amplified with PCR and the products were sequenced.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Two mutations were identified in probands from two families. One mutation was frame shift mutation Pro1208fs in the exon 32 of the cMYBPC3 gene. Pro1208fs mutation was identified in a 59 years old female patient with familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Symptom onset was late and a favorable clinical course was evidenced in this patient. Another mutation was missence mutation Gly507Arg in the exon 17 of the MYBPC3 gene identified in a 24 years old male patient. Diffuse thickness of left ventricular wall, impaired diastolic function and enlarged left atria were evidenced in echocardiography. No mutation was identified in the 80 control healthy individuals.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>cMYBPC3 might be the disease-causing genes in Chinese patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.</p>

Clinical observation on Chinese drug acupoint-injection for treatment of acquired abducent paralysis / 中国针灸

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To seek for an effective therapy for abducent paralysis.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Seventy-six cases of abducent paralysis were randomly divided into an acupoint-injection group and a western medicine group. The acupoint-injection group were treated by point-injection therapy, with Jingming (BL 1), Yangbai (GB 14), Sibai (ST 2), Tongziliao (GB 1) on the affected side, and bilateral Ganshu (BL 18) used as basic points and compound Danggui Injection as the principal injected medicine, and in combination with corresponding acupoints and injected medicine according to different syndrome types. The western medicine group were treated with routine western medicine therapy. After treatment for 36 days, the therapeutic effects were recorded and analyzed statistically.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The total effective rate was 94.7% in the acupoint-injection group and 76.3% in the western medicine group with a significant difference between the two groups (P < 0.05); there was a significant difference between the two groups in eyeball moving rate and restoration of cateral rectus (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Chinese drug acupoint-injection therapy has a definite therapeutic effect on acquired abducent paralysis, which is better than that of routine western medicine.</p>

Long term follow-up results of 199 patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy / 中华心血管病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the associations among clinical characteristics and prognosis in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Clinical and follow up data of 234 patients with HCM hospitalized in our institute from June, 1999 to March, 2006 were retrospectively analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>A total of 199 out of 234 patients (85%) were followed up for (31.7 +/- 22.6) months. Twenty-one patients died during follow-up, and HCM-related deaths occurred in 19 patients including 11 (57.9%) patients with cardiac arrest, 7 (36.8%) patients with heart failure, 1 patient with stroke. The non-cardiac deaths were 1 accident death and 1 death due to acute pancreatitis. The survival rates of all followed up patients at 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 years were 96.7%, 94.7%, 94.7%, 93.6% and 89.0%, respectively. Single risk factor analysis indicated that male gender, severe cardiac dysfunction, atrial fibrillation, sustained or non-sustained ventricular tachycardia (SVT or NSVT), left atrial enlargement, left ventricular outflow-track (LVOT) obstruction, family history were correlated with poor prognosis. Multifactor analysis showed SVT or NSVT (RR = 2.234, P < 0.001), NYHA class III - IV (RR = 1.964, P = 0.003) were independent risk factors for death. Among the cardio-cerebral death patients, echocardiography showed 14/19 (73.7%) Maron type III and 1/19 (5.2%) apical myocardial hypertrophy.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>A relative benign long-term prognosis was shown in this group of HCM patients. Patients with apical myocardial hypertrophy, SVT or NSVT, NYHA class III - IV were facing increased risk of deaths.</p>

Assessment of left ventricular systolic synchronicity by real-time three-dimensional echocardiography in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Recent advances in real-time three-dimensional echocardiography (RT3DE) offer the potential to assess the left ventricular (LV) dyssynchrony simultaneously by analyzing the 17 segments time-volume curves. The purpose of this study was to test the feasibility and accuracy of RT3DE for quantitative evaluation of left ventricular systolic synchronicity.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Twenty-four patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and twenty-five healthy volunteers were enrolled in this study. Full volume RT3DE was performed by using Philips IE33 with X3-1 probe. The global and 17-segmental time-volume curves were obtained by the on-line Qlab software (version 4.2). The time to minimal systolic volume in each segment (T(msv)) was taken to derive the following indexes of systolic asynchrony: T(msv) 16-SD, T(msv) 16-Dif, T(msv) 12-SD, T(msv) 12-Dif, T(msv) 6-SD and T(msv) 6-Dif, which meant the standard deviation or the maximal difference of T(msv) among the 16, 12 and 6 segments of the left ventricle respectively. The software also provided with each of the above parameters as a percentage of the cardiac cycle.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>T(msv) 16-SD, T(msv) 12-SD and T(msv) 6-SD were all significantly larger in the DCM group than those of the control group [T(msv) 16-SD: (52.9 +/- 40.6) ms vs (8.8 +/- 6.2) ms; T(msv) 12-SD: (29.5 +/- 30.8) ms vs (6.9 +/- 4.0) ms; T(msv) 6-SD: (28.9 +/- 34.6) ms vs (7.0 +/- 4.7) ms, all P < or = 0.001]. T(msv) 16-Dif, T(msv) 12-Dif and T(msv) 6-Dif were also significantly larger in the DCM group. There were close negative relations between the LVEF determined by RT3DE and each of the indexes of systolic asynchrony, among which the indexes of T(msv)-16-SD% and T(msv)-16-Dif% correlated most closely (r = -0.703 and r = -0.701, respectively). The DCM patients had significantly larger EDV and ESV, with significantly reduced LVEF compared with the healthy subjects.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>RT3DE provides a simple, useful and unique approach to assess the systolic synchronicity of all the left ventricular segments simultaneously.</p>

Chromatin immunoprecipitation and its preliminary application for gene regulation / 中国医学科学院学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To verify the binding of p53 to p21WAF1/CIP1 gene promoter and detect its binding to hsp90 beta gene promoter in vivo.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Chromatin immunoprecipitation and PCR analysis were used to measure specific gene regulation sequence and Western blot analysis to investigate p53 protein.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The p53 binding sequences on the promoters of p21WAF1/CIP1 and hsp90 beta gene were found in the p53 antibody immunoprecipitated DNA fragments and p53 was detected in the immunoprecipitated samples.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>p53 binds to promoters of p21WAF1/CIP1 and hsp90 beta gene in vivo, and regulates the expression of the two genes.</p>

Endovenous laser treatment of 62 patients with primary varicose veins of lower extremities / 中华外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To retrospectively analyze the experiences and results of the treatment on 62 patients with primary varicose of lower extremities with endovenous laser.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>All patients were treated with endovenous laser. The laser treatment could begin when the fiber withdraw with 1 cm/2 s. The laser power was 10 - 12 w with the laser pulse duration and the interval 1 second respectively.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The duration of follow-up varied from 2 months to 8 months. After endovenous treatment, the varicose veins and edema disappeared in all cases. The itching and uncomfortable feeling was dissipated. No morphine-like analgesic has been used and no serious complications occurred.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Endovenous laser treatment of primary varicose of lower extremities is a safe and effective technique.</p>