Clinical observation of effectiveness in the treatment of senile knee osteoarthritis with the inactivation of myofascial trigger points---108 cases reports / 中国骨伤

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study clinical treatment effects of inactivating myofascial trigger points with needling and muscle stretching for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis(OA).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Retrospective analyses were made to investigate the clinical data of pain clinic outpatient in our hospital from 2010 to 2014, and 108 patients with knee OA, including 35 males and 73 females, were treated with acupuncturing of myofascial trigger points and stretching of muscles and structure around knee. The puncturing of trigger points, and the back and forth movement of needle were required to elicit local twitch response of muscle. After acupuncture treatment, muscle stretch around the knee joint was performed by a therapist. All patients must do homework of self stretching exercise. The extent of stretching should be to gradually increased under a tolerable pain. The ROM and walking pain VAS scores were measured before and after whole therapy and were statistically analyzed during 1 year of follow up.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>All the patients were followed up, and 95 patients had no pain after 1 year. The VAS scores were improved from preoperative severe 7.6±0.5, moderate 4.9±0.7, to mild 1.9±0.6 and painless 0.3±0.2.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The walking pain of knee OA might be alleviated by the acupuncture and stretch to inactivate the myofascial trigger point.</p>

EMG characteristics of lower extremities during movement of white crane spreads its wings in Tai Chi Quan / 医用生物力学

Objective To analyze how the athletes control postural balance through observing their joint angular motion change，center of pressure (COP) change and EMG activities of lower extremities for both athletes and beginners when performing the movement of white crane spreads its wings in Tai Chi Quan. Methods Twenty subjects were divided into 2 groups as 10 athletes and 10 beginners of Tai Chi Quan in each. When performing the movement of white crane spreads its wings, their EMG activities of 10 skeletal muscles, two-dimensional angular motion of 3 large joints in bilateral lower extremities, and COP displacements in lateral and anterior-posterior directions were recorded. Each performing trial took 8 seconds and repeated 5 times. All data were statistically processed for EMG, motion and balance analysis, and the EMG data were normalized to compare the differences between the athletes and beginners of Tai Chi Quan. Results The EMG activities of tibialis anterior(Ta), biceps femur(bF), gluteus medium(Gm) in support leg of athletes were significantly greater than those of the ipsilateral muscles in support leg of beginners, and the same was the EMG activities of gastrocnemius (G) and rectus femur（rF) in virtual leg of athletes compared with the beginners. The maximal average angular motion of 3 large joints and the coxa -joint motion of support leg in athletes were both significantly greater than that in beginners, but the anterior-posterior COP displacement in athletes was significantly smaller than that in beginners. Conclusions When performing the movement of white crane spreads its wings in Tai Chi Quan, athletes could oppose the COP change by enhancing muscle activities to maintain the postural balance, while beginners couldn’t make such active muscle activities against the uncontrolled anterior-posterior COP displacement. This may preliminarily explain the reason why Tai Chi Quan exercise can improve the muscle strength in lower extremities and enhance the ability of postural control.

UbcH10 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma and its clinicopathological significance / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate UbcH10 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma and explore its clinicopathological implications.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We detected UbcH10 mRNA expression using RT-PCR in normal liver cell line, cancer cell lines, surgically removed hepatocellular carcinoma tissue and corresponding adjacent non-tumor tissue and evaluated the clinicopathological significance of UbcH10. Immunohistochemistry was performed to investigate UbcH10 protein expression in hepatocellular carcinoma tissue, the adjacent tissue, and normal liver tissue specimens.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Normal liver cell line L02 showed significantly lower UbcH10 mRNA expression levels than the cancer cell lines BEL-7402, Hep3B, HepG2 and SMMC-7721 (P<0.05). UbcH10 mRNA expression was also was significantly higher in hepatocellular carcinoma tissues than in the corresponding non-tumor tissues (P<0.05). Clinicopathological evaluation suggested that UbcH10 expression was associated with tumor invasion of the portal vein, tumor size, TNM staging, and tumor differentiation (P<0.05). Immunohistochemistry identified stronger UbcH10 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma tissues than in the adjacent tissues and normal liver tissues (68.6%, 28.6%, and 26.7%, respectively).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>UbcH10 is over-expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma and may serve as a novel biomarker as well as a therapeutic target of hepatocellular carcinoma.</p>

Application of a tumor cell vaccine transfected with GM-CSF/IL-2 fusion gene for specific immunotherapy of hepatocellular carcinoma / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To prepare a transgenic tumor cell vaccine transfected the fusion gene of murine granulocyte-monocyte colony stimulating factor (mGM-CSF) and human interleukin-2 (hIL-2) using H22 cells, and explore its specific antitumor immunity against hepatocellular carcinoma.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The eukaryotic vector expressing the fusion gene mGM-CSF/hIL-2 was transfected into H22 cells followed by radiation exposure to construct the tumor cell vaccine, which was used to immunize Balb/c mice by subcutaneous inoculation. The mice inoculated subcutaneously with H22 cells, cells transfected with the empty vector pcDNA(+), or with PBS served as the controls. A week later, H22 cells were injected peritoneally into Balb/c mice for establishing the tumor-bearing model, and their serum levels of interleukin-10 (IL-10) and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) were detected using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with the survival of the mice recorded. The spleen cells were obtained from the mice immunized with the tumor cell vaccine, the tumor-bearing mice and the normal control mice to assess their cytotoxicity against the parental H22 cells in vitro using (51)C(r)-release assay.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The transgenic H22 cell vaccine transfected with mGM-CSF/hIL-2 fusion gene was successfully constructed. The killing rate of H22 cells by the spleen cells from the mice immunized with the transgenic cell vaccine was significantly higher than those by the spleen cells from the tumor-bearing mice or normal control mice (38.3% vs 13.6% and 7.5%, P<0.05). Serum IFN-gamma in the tumor-bearing mice immunized with the transgenic cell vaccine was significantly higher, and serum IL-10 significantly lower than those of the control groups (P<0.01). The survival time of the tumor-bearing mice injected with the transgenic cell vaccine was also significantly prolonged.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Syngeneic tumor cell vaccine genetically modified by mGM-CSF/hIL-2 fusion gene transfection can elicit specific cellular immune response and enhance the host antitumor immune response to extend the survival time of tumor-bearing mice.</p>

Expression of heparanase and nuclear factor kappa B in pancreatic adenocarcinoma / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To detect the expressions of heparanase and nuclear factor kappa B p65 (NF-kappaB p65) in pancreatic adenocarcinomas and analyze their relation to patients' prognosis and the regulatory mechanism of NF-kappaB on heparanase expression.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Heparanase and NF-kappaB p65 proteins in the tumor and adjacent tissues were detected by immunohistochemistry in 48 patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma and analyzed for their clinicopathological significance.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Heparanase and NF-kappaB p65 proteins were found in 30 (62.5%) and 22 (45.9%) tumor specimens, respectively, a rate significantly higher than that in the adjacent tissues. High heparanase expression was closely related to advanced TNM stage (P=0.031), lymph node metastasis (P=0.003) and decreased 3-year postoperative survival (20.0% vs 0%, P=0.001). NF-kappaB p65 expression was associated with lymph node metastasis (P=0.017) and distant metastasis (P=0.031), but had a higher positive rate in heparanase-positive cases than in heparanase-negative cases (P=0.018). Multivariate analysis showed that neither heparanase nor NF-kappaB p65 was the independent prognostic factors.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Heparanase is overexpressed in pancreatic adenocarcinomas in association with decreased postoperative survival. NF-kappaB may up-regulate heparanase expression and promote heparanase-dependent tumor invasion and metastasis.</p>