Research progress on Pheretima and earthworms with related origin / 中国中药杂志

Through literature analysis of Pheretima and its origin-related earthworm,this study summarized the progress on Pheretima in textual criticism of origin,origin identification,effective components,detection of harmful components,and pharmacological effects,which can lay a basis for further research on Pheretima. Through literature research,the authors found that Pheretima was first recorded in Secret Formulary for Traumatology and Fracture Taught by Immortal written by LIN Daoren in Tang Dynasty rather than the Taiping Holy Prescriptions for Universal Relief in Song Dynasty. The latest techniques for origin identification include microscopic trait identification,DNA barcoding,and HPLC. The main effective components of Pheretima are proteins,polypeptides,enzymes,nucleotides,amino acids,and trace elements. According to recent studies,Pheretima has anti-pulmonary and anti-renal interstitial fibrosis,respiratory syncytial virus-inhibiting,human hypertrophic scar fibroblast proliferation-suppressing,and mouse embryonic fibroblast proliferation-promoting effects. Moreover,Pheretima can prevent colitis-induced colon cancer by inhibiting the activation of COX-2/PGE2/β-catenin signaling pathway. METHODS:: for detecting the harmful components and their residues( organic pollutant polychlorinated biphenyl,heavy metals) and bacteria in Pheretima,have been established. Pheretima,mainly derived from wild earthworms,has remarkable clinical efficacy. However,the wild resource is in short supply and artificial culture is expected to be a promising solution.

Halofuginone ameliorates LPS-induced immune disorder of acute lung injury via CD14/NF-κB pathway / 中国免疫学杂志

Objective:To evaluate the regulatory effectsand underlying mechanism of halofuginone (HF) on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced immune disorder of acute lung injury (ALI) in rat. Methods: Rats were treated with LPS and HF. Subsequently,HE staining was performed for pulmonarypathological lesion,apoptosis bodies were calculated by TUNEL assay,the levels of inflammatory factors were confirmed by ELISA assay and the level of CD14 was measured by flow cytometry. Protein levels were determined by Western blot. Results: Treatment of HF dose-dependently alleviated LPS-induced pulmonary injury and inhibited the formation of apoptosis bodies significantly. Meanwhile,HF notably inhibited inflammation of ALI rats,as demonstrated by decreased IL-1β,IL-6 and IL-18. Furthermore,postconditioning with HF markedly decreased CD14+cells. Moreover,HF dose-dependently attenuated the promotive effects of LPS on CD14,TLR4 and NF-κB p65. Conclusion: HF regulates LPS-induced immune disorder of ALI in rat via CD14/NF-κB pathway.

Can transthoracic Doppler echocardiography be used to detect coronary slow flow phenomenon? / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Coronary slow flow phenomenon (CSFP) is an important, angiographic clinical entity but is lacking non-invasive detecting techniques. This study aimed to elucidate the value of transthoracic Doppler echocardiography (TTDE) in the diagnosis and monitoring of coronary slow flow in left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We consecutively enrolled 27 patients with CSFP in LAD detected by coronary arteriography from August 2009 to April 2010. Thirty-eight patients with angiographically normal coronary flow served as control. Corrected thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) frame count (CTFC) was used to document coronary flow velocities. All subjects underwent TTDE within 24 hours after coronary angiography. LAD flow was detected and the coronary diastolic peak velocities (DPV) and diastolic mean velocities (DMV) were calculated.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Sixty of 65 (92.3%) subjects successfully underwent TTDE. Baseline clinical characteristics were similar between the two groups. Coronary DPV and DMV of LAD were significantly lower in the CSFP group than in the control group ((0.228 ± 0.029) m/s vs. (0.302 ± 0.065) m/s, P = 0.000; (0.176 ± 0.028) m/s vs. (0.226 ± 0.052) m/s, P = 0.000, respectively). There was a high inverse correlation between CTFC and coronary DPV and DMV (r = -0.727, P = 0.000; r = -0.671, P = 0.000, respectively). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve showed that the area under the curve (AUC) was less than one half for coronary DPV (AUC = 0.104) and DMV (AUC = 0.204), respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>In patients with CSFP, there is a high inverse correlation between CTFC and coronary diastolic flow velocities in the LAD coronary artery, as measured by TTDE. The value of TTDE in the monitoring and evaluation of coronary flow in patients with CSFP deserves further investigation.</p>

A study on differences of curative effects of acupuncture and nCPAP for treatment of OSAHS / 中国针灸

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To compare curative effects of acupuncture and nasal continuous positive airway pressure (nCPAP) on obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome(OSAHS), and to explore the characteristics and advantages of acupuncture in treatment of this disease.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Sixty-six cases of OSAHS were randomly divided into an acupuncture group (n = 44) treated by acupuncture at Lianquan (CV 23) and Tianrong (SI 17) etc., and a nCPAP group (n = 22) treated by nCPAP. Indexes of respiration, blood oxygen and sleep were monitored before, during and after treatment.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with those before treatment, no significant differences of these indexes were found in the acupuncture group during treatment (P > 0.05), but hypopnea index (HI), apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), the maximal apnea duration, the maximal hypopnea duration, sleep time spent when SaO2 was below 90% (SaO2 < 90%T) and the microarousal index improved significantly at the end of treatment (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01); while all the indexes improved significantly in the nCPAP group during treatment (P < 0. 01), but the therapeutic effect was not maintained at the end of treatment with no significant difference as compared with those before treatment. The therapeutic effect in the nCPAP group was better than that in the acupuncture group during the treatment (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01), but no significant difference of the therapeutic effect was found between the two groups at the end of treatment (P > 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The therapeutic effect of nCPAP on OSAHS produces during treatment and the therapeutic effect of acupuncture produces after treatment, indicating they possibly have different mechanisms.</p>

Gene Mutation Analysis of A Child with Familial Hypercholesterolemia and His Family / 实用儿科临床杂志

Objective To screen the mutation of certain gene of a 10-years-old boy with multiple xanthomas and very high level of cholesterol who could be diagnosed as homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (FH),to explore the relationship between the genotype and phenotype,and to discuss the molecular pathologic mechanism.Methods The basic information of life styles were asked from the boy and his familial members.The blood was drown to examine the lipid and genes.The boy was examined with electrocardiogram examination,ultrasonography and coronary CT angiography (CTA) to evaluate the degree of atherosclerosis.Peripheral blood DNA of the boy and his parents were extracted by phenol-chloroform method and investigated for mutations of promoter and all 18 exons of low density lipoprotein receptor(LDLR) gene.Screening was carried out by using Touch-down polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and single strand conformation polymorphism(PCR-SSCP),combined with DNA sequence analysis.In addition,the apolipoprotein B100 gene(apoB100) for known mutations (R3500Q) which caused familial defective apoB100 was screened by PCR-DNA sequence analysis.Results 1.The level of cholesterol of his parents were higher than the normal.2.Several clinical manifestations of atherosclerosis were detected from that boy.Increased intima-media thickness and plaques were detected in the common carotid artery.Mitral valve regurgitation was found by echocardiography.Coronary stenosis was confirmed by CTA.3.No mutations R3500Q of apoB100 was observed.4.A homozygous mutation in exon13 of the LDLR gene (D601Y) were identified in the boy and his parents harbour D601Y heterozygous mutation due to a single base pair substitution of G for T in the codon for residue 1864.Conclusions The final diagnosis of the boy with multiple xanthomas was homozygous FH.His disease was caused by D601Y homozygous mutation in exon13 of the LDLR gene inherited from his heterozygous parents.