Thunder-fire moxibustion combined with mifepristone for ovarian chocolate cyst dysmenorrhea with kidney deficiency and blood stasis: a randomized controlled trial / 中国针灸

OBJECTIVE@#To observe the clinical efficacy of thunder-fire moxibustion combined with mifepristone for ovarian chocolate cyst dysmenorrhea with kidney deficiency and blood stasis.@*METHODS@#Seventy patients were randomly divided into an observation group and a control group, 35 cases in each group. The patients in the the control group were treated with oral administration of mifepristone, 10 mg each time, once a day; based on the treatment of the control group, the patients in the observation group were treated with thunder-fire moxibustion at Guanyuan (CV 4), Zigong (EX-CA 1), Xuehai (SP 10), once every other day. Both the groups were treated for 3 months. The Cox menstrual symptom scale (CMSS) score, the maximum cross-sectional area of ectopic cyst, and the serum levels of transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) and interleukin-17 (IL-17) were observed before and after treatment in the two groups. The clinical efficacy was evaluated.@*RESULTS@#Compared before treatment, the severity scores and duration scores of CMSS as well as the serum levels of TGF-β1 were reduced after treatment in the two groups (@*CONCLUSION@#Thunder-fire moxibustion combined with mifepristone could significantly improve dysmenorrhea symptoms, shorten dysmenorrhea time and promote atrophy of ovarian heterotopic cyst in patients with ovarian chocolate cyst dysmenorrhea of kidney deficiency and blood stasis, and the mechanism may be related to the reduction of serum levels of TGF-β1 and IL-17.

Protein profiles of multinodular hepatocellular carcinoma with multicentric occurrence or with intrahepatic metastasis / 中华肝脏病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze the protein expression profiles of multinodular hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with multicentric occurrence (MO) or with intrahepatic metastasis (IM).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>5 IM and 6 MO patients were divided into groups of IM1, IM2, MO1 and MO2 according to the size of node of HCC. Two dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) and mass spectrum were used to analyze the protein expression profiles. Western blot was used to confirm the results obtained by mass spectrum.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>2-DE of IM1, IM2, MO1 and MO2 indicated that 30 protein dots were differentially expressed in these tumors. By mass spectrum, 25 proteins were identified. Gene ontology classification indicated that these proteins are associated to cell movement, signal transduction, oxidoreduction, lipid metabolism, and amino acid metabolism.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The protein expression profiles of IM is different from that of MO, 2-DE and mass spectrum can be used to identify the molecular markers of IM and MO of HCC.</p>

Comparison of indirect immunofluorescence assay and ELISA for detecting antinuclear antibodies and anti-double-stranded DNA antibodies / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To compare indirect immunofluorescence assay (IIFA) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for detecting antinuclear antibodies (ANA) and anti-double-stranded DNA antibodies (anti-dsDNA).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 125 serum samples were obtained from patients with established or suspected autoimmune disease, and 82 samples were used for ANA detection and 57 for anti-dsDNA detection using both IIFA and ELISA. Fourteen samples were examined for both ANA and anti-dsDNA. In cases where discrepancy occurred in the results by the two methods, extractable nuclear antigens were detected using immunoblotting.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The positivity rate of ANA detected by IIFA and ELISA was significantly different (87.8% and 73.17%, respectively, P<0.01), but the positivity rate of anti-dsDNA was similar between IIFA and ELISA (77.19% and 71.93%, respectively, P>0.05). The percent agreement between the two testing methods with different cutoff values of ANA and anti-dsDNA showed significant differences (P<0.01), and for some uncommon patterns, the percent agreement of the two methods was lowered in ANA detection but remained unchanged for anti-dsDNA with different ANA patterns. High percent agreements of the two methods were obtained with the cutoff ANA titer of 1:100 and the cutoff anti-dsDNA value of weak positivity, but they demonstrated a significant difference in testing low-titer ANA and anti-dsDNA.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>IIFA is more sensitive than ELISA in detecting the total ANA and anti-dsDNA. ELISA prescreening combined with IIFA can obtain the information of the nuclear pattern and allow the observation of the titer alterations. The combination of two or more testing methods can greatly enhance the accuracy of the results.</p>

Comparison between Coulter LH-750 and URIT-12 for measuring hemoglobin concentration / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the feasibility of URIT-12 hemoglobin analyzer for fast measurement of hemoglobin concentration.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Hemoglobin concentration was detected in 100 random blood samples using URIT-12 hemoglobin analyzer and Coulter LH-750 hematology analyzer.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The two analyzers showed good correlation of the results (r=0.994) without significant difference between them (P>0.05). The linear range of URIT-12 hemoglobin analyzer was 46-240 g/L, and in the repeated measurements (20 times) of 3 batches of blood samples with low, moderate and high hemoglobin concentrations, the within-batch coefficient of variation of URIT-12 hemoglobin analyzer, from low to high concentrations, were 2.13%, 2.17%, and 2.33%, respectively. In the measurement of 4 batches of high-fat, high-bilirubin, high-globin and high-white-blood-cell blood samples, the interference rate of the former 3 samples were all less than 4% by the two devices, but that of the fourth sample was 10% by URIT-12 hemoglobin analyzer and 7% by Coulter LH-750 analyzer.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The results detected by URIT-12 hemoglobin analyzer have high accuracy and precision and is easy to operate, fast-testing and portable.</p>