Observation on therapeutic effect of electroacupuncture therapy for promoting consciousness of patients with coma / 中国针灸

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the promoting consciousness effect of electroacupuncture therapy on the patients with long-term coma caused by severe craniocerebral trauma.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Twenty-nine cases with coma more than 3 weeks and Glasgow Coma Scales (GCS) of 8 or less were divided into an observation group (n=15) and a control group (n=14). They were treated with the same western medicine. In addition to ordinary treatment, the observation group was treated with electroacupuncture at Baihui (GV 20), Shuigou (GV 26), Yongquan (KI 1) etc. for 30 min and the needles were retained for 30 min, once each day.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The average awake time and awake rate were 40.1 days and 73.3% (11/15) respectively in the observation group, which were higher than 51.8 days and 28.6% (4/14) in the control group.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Electroacupuncture therapy combine with western medicine is more effective in improving consciousness of patients in coma caused by severe craniocerebral trauma.</p>

Evaluation of peritumoral brain edema in intracranial meningiomas using CT perfusion imaging / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the perfusion characteristics of the peritumoral brain edema of intracranial meningiomas using 16-slice spiral CT perfusion imaging.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Dynamic contrast-enhanced single-location sequence CT scan was performed in 19 patients with intracranial meningiomas and peritumoral brain edema. The regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF), regional cerebral blood volume (rCBV) and the mean transit time (MTT) were calculated for the peritumoral brain edema and the contralateral white matter and comparatively analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The rCBF and rCBV in the peritumoral brain edema were significantly lower than those of the contralateral white matter in patients with meningiomas (rCBF: 14.26-/+7.44 vs 26.92-/+15.71 ml/100 g tissue.min, P<0.05; rCBV: 0.96-/+0.35 vs 2.47-/+1.69 ml/100 g tissue, P<0.05). But the MTT showed no significant difference between the peritumoral brain edema and the contralateral white matter (P>0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The rCBF and rCBV are significantly lowered in the peritumoral brain edema in comparison with those of the contralateral white matter. Vascular compression by the edema fluid may have a major effect on the tissue blood flow and blood volume.</p>

Melittin inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis of malignant human glioma cells / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the anti-tumor effects of melittin against malignant human glioma cells in vitro.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Two malignant human glioma cell lines (U87 and U251) were treated with melittin at various concentrations, and the cell growth inhibition and apoptosis were evaluated using MTT assay, flow cytometry and agarose gel electrophoresis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Melittin could obviously inhibit the proliferation of the two glioma cell lines (P<0.05). At the concentrations of 1, 10, 20, 40, 80, 160, 200 mg/L, melittin resulted in U87 cell apoptosis rates of 12.80%, 16.92%, 22.69%, 34.05%, 41.82%, 59.87%, and 80.25%, and in U251 cell apoptosis rate of 11.61%, 16.21%, 22.03%, 30.57%, 41.10%, 58.33%, and 79.12%, respectively, showing a dose-dependent effect in its action of inducing cell apoptosis.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Melittin inhibits the proliferation and induces apoptosis of malignant human glioma cell lines in vitro.</p>