Research progress on pathogenesis of ischemic stroke and traditional Chinese medicine commonly used for treatment of ischemic stroke / 中国中药杂志

Stroke has become the second leading cause of death in the world, and the most common type is the ischemic stroke. Due to its rapid onset and complex conditions, ischemic stroke is a major neurological disorder that causes disability. Ischemic stroke mainly results from atherosclerosis, and the pathogenesis of ischemic stroke mainly includes energy metabolism disorders in the brain, the toxicity of excitatory amino acids, oxidative/nitrification stress, inflammatory response, apoptosis, and autophagy. With the characteristics of multi-component and multi-target, traditional Chinese medicine could be used to treat ischemic stroke at different stages. This article summarized the latest research progress on the pathogenesis of ischemic stroke and commonly used traditional Chinese medicine for treatment of ischemic stroke in order to provide references for the further research and clinical treatment of ischemic stroke.

The molecular mechanism of stroke treatment by Fufang Longmai Ningfang based on network pharmacology / 药学学报

Stroke is a common disease with complex and diverse clinical manifestations. Fufang Longmai Ningfang has been found to exhibit therapeutic effect on stroke, but its molecular mechanism for treating stroke remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the molecular mechanism of Fufang Longmai Ningfang in the treatment of ischemic stroke by using the method of network pharmacology to define the active ingredients, target and molecular pathway of Fufang Longmai Ningfang. The TCMSP database was used to obtain the potential active components of Fufang Longmai Ningfang in the treatment of stroke. The CNKI database was used to verify the literature. The target was predicted and screened by PharmMapper and UniProt database. The target protein group was collected by TTD database. The Cytoscape software was used to construct a "component-target" network map, "component-target-disease" network map, and "target protein interaction" network map. The EAGLE algorithm was used for cluster analysis, the KEGG database was used for pathway analysis, and the SYBYL software was used for molecular docking for bioactivity verification. We found 39 potential active ingredients and 17 potential effective targets related to stroke. The representative active ingredients were ligustrazine, dioscin, and puerarin, and the related targets were MMP9, NOS3, NOS2, KDR, ALB, IL2, TGFB2, and CPB among others. The study found that carbon metabolism and HIF-1 signaling pathway are the main molecular pathways for treatment of stroke by Fufang Longmai Ningfang. The treatment of ischemic stroke by Fufang Longmai Ningfang may involve reduction of inflammatory response, enhancement of vascular permeability and inhibition of cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury, providing a theoretical basis for their clinical use.

Application of autologous corneal len inlays in correction of hyperopia / 中华实验眼科杂志

Background The safety,effectiveness and predictability of laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) to correct hyperopia are of a widely clinical concern,but the efficacy of LASIK for hyperopic correction is not satisfied in comparison to that of myopia.Objective The aim of this work was to evaluate the safety,effectiveness and predictability of autologous corneal len inlays to correct hyperopia.Methods Autologous corneal len inlays was performed on the left eye of female patient with the diopter of +3.25 DS.This patient was followed-up for 1 month.Cornea compensatory intraocular pressure (IOPcc) and imitation Goldmann IOP (IOPg) were measured,and the corneal thickness and corneal flap were observed using optical coherence topography (OCT).Corneal topography was examined to check the change of corneal curvature.Ocular response analyzer was used to evaluate the shifts of corneal hysteresis (CH) and corneal resistance factor (CRF).Uncorrected and best corrected visual acuity and refraction were compared between before and after operation.Written informed consent was obtained from the patient prior to the operation.Results No intraoperative and postoperative complications were found.Uncorrected distance visual acuity improved one line 1 day and 1 month after surgery,and near visual acuity progressed to J2 and the spherical equivalent (SE) was-0.125 D 1 month after surgery.OCT exhibited that the cornea was clear and transparent,and the graft was centered in the corneal stroma capsular bag without rejection 1 month after surgery.The IOPcc was 12.4 mmHg before operation and 11.9 mmHg 1 month after operation,and IOPg was 11.9 mmHg before operation and 10.7 mmHg 1 month after operation in the operated eye.The CH was 9.7 mmHg before operation and 8.9 mmHg 1 month after operation,and CRF was 10.9 mmHg before operation and 10.3 mmHg 1 month after operation,without remarkble change in the indexes mentioned above.Conclusions Autologous corneal implantation can be used to correct hyperopic eye with good safety,effectiveness and predictability.

Analysis of lymph node dissection patterns in D2 radical gastrectomy by hand-assisted laparoscopic technique / 中华胃肠外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To summarize the experience of lymph node dissection patterns in hand-assisted laparoscopic radical gastrectomy.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>One hundred and eleven patients with gastric carcinoma between December 2010 and September 2012 were operated by hand-assisted laparoscopic system designed by us. Clinical data were analyzed retrospectively. The lymph nodes were dissected from left to right together with total tumor resection(reverse lymph nodes scavenge pattern), then digestive tract was reconstructed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Total gastrectomy, distal gastrectomy and proximal gastrectomy were performed in 57, 46 and 8 cases respectively. Combined cholecystectomy and lateral segment of left liver lobe were needed in 4 and 2 patients respectively, and 1 case underwent combined splenectomy and pancreatic body and tail resection. TNM staging of patients in I(, II(, III(A, III(B, and IIII( were 16, 8, 35, 14, and 38, respectively. Histological type was poorly differentiated in 78 cases, moderate differentiation in 26 cases and good differentiation in 7 cases. The incision length was(6.8±0.3) cm, blood loss was(238.4±113.6) ml, operative time was (171.9±23.3) min, number of removed lymph node was 17.2±5.7, hospital stay was (10.1±3.7) d, postoperative complication rate was 9.0%. One case died during perioperative time.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Hand-assisted laparoscopic D2 radical gastrectomy(reverse lymph nodes scavenge pattern) can avoid the multiple conversion of open-laparoscopic operation model, and is beneficial to the standardization for surgical procedure.</p>

Is prophylactic somatostatin effective to prevent post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography pancreatitis or hyperamylasemia? A randomized, placebo-controlled pilot trial / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Effects of prophylactic somatostatin on post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) pancreatitis (PEP) and hyperamylasemia remain inconclusive. This study aimed to examine whether high-dose, long-term continuous infusion of somatostatin can reduce the incidence of PEP and post-ERCP hyperamylasemia.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>This was a randomized, placebo-controlled pilot trial. One hundred and twenty-four patients scheduled for ERCP from December 2008 to May 2010 randomly received one of the following three interventions: pre-ERCP somatostatin (0.5 mg/h for 24 hours, starting 1 hour prior to ERCP; n = 36), post-ERCP somatostatin (0.5 mg/h for 24 hours, starting 1 hour after ERCP; n = 47), or placebo (saline for 24 hours, starting 1 hour prior to ERCP; n = 41). Serum amylase and lipase concentrations were measured 1 to 3 hours prior to ERCP and 6, 24, and 48 hours after ERCP.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The three groups did not differ in age, gender, medical history, or ERCP procedure (catheterization using contrast or guidewire, pancreatic duct visualization, procedure time, or procedure type). The rate of PEP was 13.7% (17/124) in the overall study sample and 16.7% (6/36), 10.6% (5/47), and 14.6% (6/41) in the pre-ERCP somatostatin, post-ERCP somatostatin, and placebo groups, respectively (P = 0.715). The rate of post-ERCP hyperamylasemia was 19.4% (7/36), 21.3% (10/47), and 46.3% (19/41) in the pre-ERCP somatostatin, post-ERCP somatostatin, and placebo groups, respectively (P = 0.011).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>High-dose, long-term continuous infusion (0.5 mg/h for 24 hours) of somatostatin, performed as either a pre- or post-ERCP, can reduce the incidence of hyperamylasemia, but not PEP.</p>

Hand-assisted laparoscopic radical gastrectomy: comparison between laparoscopic and open approach / 中华胃肠外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the short-term outcomes after hand-assisted laparoscopic radical gastrectomy.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Between June 2010 and May 2011, a series of 15 patients underwent hand-assisted laparoscopic gastrectomy(HG), 16 patients underwent laparoscopic gastrectomy(LP), and 11 patients underwent open gastrectomy(OP). Short-term outcomes included operative time, blood loss, lymph nodes harvested, and the length of incision were collected after operation.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The operative time was 150-200 min in HG, 180-220 min in LP, and 150-200 min in OP respectively. The time of laparoscopic procedure was 18-58 and 70-100 min respectively. The average incision length was 6.8 cm in HG, 5.6 cm in LP, and 13.5 cm in OP. The average number of lymph nodes harvested was 17.6, 15.1 and 16.4 respectively. The average estimated blood loss was 228 ml, 278 ml, and 427 ml respectively. The mean length of hospital stay was 9.9, 10.8, and 12.4 d. No anastomotic leakage, bleeding, or gastric paralysis were found. One wound infection case was found in OP.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Hand-assisted laparoscopic gastrectomy is in concordance with the standardized treatment protocol for gastric cancer. Lymph node dissection is easier by HG, therefore HG can be an alternative for the radical resection of gastric cancer.</p>

Test-retest reliability of Mandarin monosyllable lists: a multi-center study in Chinese dialectal regions / 中华耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To develop 22 Chinese Mandarin monosyllable lists with good psychometrical equivalence. This study was to evaluate the test-retest reliability of these lists when it was used in speech recognition test in normal hearing dialectal speakers.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Seven cities including Dalian, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Fuzhou and Xiamen were selected as testing centers which contain 6 typical Chinese dialectal regions including north of China, East of China, north of Fujian, south of Fujian, Guangdong and mid-south of China. At each center, 22 local normal hearing people were selected to join this study. Every participant was tested by each recognition test of all 22 lists twice in two sessions and same test order respectively. The second run of testing was carried out within 10 days-1 month since first run of testing.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There was a significant correlations between scores obtained at the two sessions (r = 0.682, P < 0.01). Paired student-t test had shown that a gross score of all dialectal participants was significantly higher than that of initial test to retest (P < 0.01). The mean increment of score was (2.7 +/- 10.1)%. A significant difference of test-retest score in 7 sites was 19.8% and it was equal to 5 test items. A one way ANOVA analysis had indicated that there were statistically significant difference between the score improvement of 7 test sites (P < 0.01). Another analysis had shown that there was no significant correlation between test-retest score improvement and intra-session intervals (P = 0.947).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Mandarin monosyllabic recognition test seems to be more stable, and the present study has indicated a systematic differences in Chinese Mandarin monosyllable recognition scores between test and retest. Monosyllable recognition test is not susceptible to memory effect. Pearson's correction analysis is not suitable to evaluation for test-retest reliability.</p>

Effect of acupuncture on target action of ligustrazine in treatment of toxic deafness induced by gentamicin in guinea pigs / 中国针灸

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore an effective method for treating Gentamicin-induced deafness and the mechanism.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Guinea pigs were randomly divided into 5 groups: normal control group (group A), model group (group B), Ligustrazine group (group C), acupuncture group (group D) and Ligustrazine plus acupuncture group (group E). The group C, D and E were treated respectively by simple Ligustrazine, simple acupuncture at "Tinggong" (SI 19), "Yifeng" (TE 17), and "Waiguan" (TE 5), and Ligustrazine plus acupuncture. Ten days later, the auditory brainstem response (ABR) thresholds for the wave III , apoptosis and expressions of Bcl-2 and Bax proteins in the organ of Corti of the guinea pig were detected.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In the group E, the ABR threshold was significantly lower than that in the group C (P<0.05), and apoptotic cells, the expression of Bax protein and the ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 were lower than those in the group C and D in the organ of Corti, and Bcl-2 protein expression was increased.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Acupuncture at "Tinggong" (SI 19), "Yifeng" (TE 17), and "Waiguan" (TE 5) has a certain target-synergistic action on Ligustrazine and can increase therapeutic effect of Ligustrazine on Gentamicin-induced deafness, which are possible related with the inhibition of apoptosis, down-regulation of Bax expression and up-regulation of Bcl-2 expression.</p>

Irinotecan plus fuorouracil/leucovorin (FOLFIRI) as a second line chemotherapy for refractory or metastatic colorectal cancer / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>Irinotecan (CPT-11), a specific inhibitor of topoisomerase I, has been proven to be effective in the treatment of refractory or metastatic colorectal cancer. Furthermore, several first line phase III trials of the combination therapy (FOLFIRI) using CPT-11 and fuorouracil/leucovorin (5-Fu/LV) were reported to have significant improvement in treatment result. Therefore, we designed a multicenter clinical study to observe the overall survival (OS), time to death (TTD), time to progression (TTP), efficacy and safety of FOLFIRI regimen for patients with refractory or metastatic colorectal cancer after first line chemotherapy failure.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Patients with metastatic or refractory colorectal cancer after first line oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy failure were enrolled into this prospective, one arm and open-labeled multicenter study. Irinotecan 180 mg/m2 was administered biweekly on D1, LV 200 mg/m2 by intravenous infusion in 2 hours before bolus intravenous injection of 5-Fu 400 mg/m2, then followed immediately by intravenous infusion of 5-Fu 2.4 g/m2 in 46 hours. OS, TTD, TTP, response rate (RR) and adverse events were assessed according to RSCIST criteria and NCIC-CTG CTCAE (3.0).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Sixty-six patients were valuable for safety assessment and and 61 for efficacy. There was no CR patient in this series. Ten patients had PR, 35 SD (57.4% ) and 16 PD (26.2%) with a response rate of 16.4% (10/61). The median TTP was 5.0 months (1-12 months), median TTD 9.9 months (5-27 months)and median OS 18.2 months (7-33 months). The adverse events including nausea,vomiting, anorexia,diarrhea, leucopenia and cholinergic syndrome were frequent, but usually in I - II degree. The rate of III/IV degree diarrhea and leucopenia was 7.6% and 22.7%, respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The regimen of irinotecan plus fuorouracil/leucovorin (FOLFIRI) is effective and well-tolerated as a second-line chemotherapy and may prolong the overall survival for the patient with refractory or metastatic colorectal cancer.</p>

The effects of Baisong tablet on the behaviors and CRHmRNA expression in the brain of rats following chronic stress / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effects of Baisong tablet on the behaviors and CRHmRNA expression in the chronic stress rats.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Rats were exposed to different ways of chronic stress. Body weight and behaviors were investigated during the whole procedure, the CRHmRNA expressions in the hypothalamus and prefrontal cortex were semiquantified by the RT-PCR method.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>In comparision with the normal group, rats exposed to chronic stress showed decreased body weight and a significant reduction of consumption of sucrose solution, and the duration of immobility during the forced swimming test was increased significantly. The chronic stress rats was in depression of behavior. CRHmRNA expression in the brain of the chronic stress rats was upregulated significantly, while it was downregulated in the groups of Baisong tablet and the group of fluoxetin.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Baisong tablet has the effect of antidepressant, and it may be related to the effect of the downregulated CRHmRNA expression in brain.</p>