Effect of combining batroxobin with acupuncture treatment on hearing recovery in patients with sudden sensorineural hearing loss.

BACKGROUND: The effect of batroxobin on hearing recovery in patients with Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SSNHL) is still controversial, and acupuncture shows auxiliary benefits for SSNHL. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effectiveness of combining acupuncture with batroxobin therapy for patients with SSNHL. MATERIAL AND METHODS: One hundred and fifty-six patients with SSNHL were retrospectively enrolled in this study, and categorized into the control group (only batroxobin treatment) and observation group (batroxobin and acupuncture treatment). Pure Tone Audiograms (PTA) threshold and clinical outcomes of hearing recovery were compared. Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the association between hearing recovery and potential risk factors. RESULTS: Compared to the control group, the observation group had a higher overall effective rate (p = 0.006) and improvement in PTA threshold (p = 0.007). Among SSNHL patients with high-frequency and flat-type hearing loss, observation group demonstrated superior hearing recovery post-treatment compared to the control group (p < 0.05). Additionally, hearing recovery in patient with SSNHL were associated with SSNHL types, disease duration, neutrophil count and acupuncture (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS AND SIGNIFICANCE: Combining batroxobin and acupuncture treatments enhences the improvement of hearing recovery in SSNHL patients compared to only batroxobin treatments, especially high-frequency and flat-type hearing loss.

Application of Somatostatin, Chemotherapy Combined with TAE in Heterogeneous Glucagonoma Presented with Necrolytic Migratory Erythema.

Glucagonoma, a rare neuroendocrine tumor of the pancreas, which is often misdiagnosed because of non-characteristic clinical manifestations. In addition, the treatment has not been well established for this disease so far. We here report a case of glucagonoma previous misdiagnosed as recurrent erythema. In this case, necrolytic migratory erythema was the main clinical manifestation, and he received surgical resection after admission although with liver metastasis. Postoperative pathological results showed that the heterogeneity of proliferative index in primary (Ki-67: 5~10%) and metastatic (Ki-67: 25~30%) tumors were obviously observed. One month postoperatively, abdominal CT and MRI showed multiple liver metastasis (type III) again. Interestingly, the skin rash was obviously improved after treatment with somatostatin combined with chemotherapy (octreotide, temozolomide and capecitabine). Subsequently, the patient received transarterial embolization (TAE). Up to now, no progression was noted for liver metastasis. Due to its rarity, clinical diagnosis is challenging; thus, further understanding of the disease by clinicians is helpful for early diagnosis and treatment, so as to improve the prognosis of patients.

Squid ink polysaccharide prevents chemotherapy induced injury in the testes of reproducing mice.

The present study was conducted to investigate the preventive effects of squid ink polysaccharides (SIP) on the damage of sperm and reproduction induced by cyclophosphamide that is most commonly used for treating clinically cancers. Male Kunming mice exposed to cyclophosphamide were administered with SIP and were sacrificed to determine sperm parameters, testicular antioxidant ability and reproductive capacity. Data indicated that cyclophosphamide caused obvious changes in mice such as significant reduction (P<0.01) of glutathione reductase activity (GR), vitamin C (Vc) content and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) in the testes, as well as elevation (P<0.01) of abnormal rates of sperm and fetus, and a decrease in the total fetal count and average fetal count (P<0.01), were totally alleviated by SIP. From these findings it can be concluded that SIP decreases chemotherapeutic damage to sperm and reproduction in mice induced by cyclophosphamide.

Squid ink polysaccharide reduces cyclophosphamide-induced testicular damage via Nrf2/ARE activation pathway in mice.

OBJECTIVES: Cyclophosphamide (CP) toxicity on testis was hampered by squid ink polysaccharide (SIP) via restoration of antioxidant ability in our previous investigations. This study investigated roles of Nrf2/ARE signal pathway in testis of treated mice. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Male Kunming mice were employed to undergo treatment with SIP and/or CP. Protein levels of Nrf2, keap-1, histone deacetylase 2 (HDAC2), quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO-1), and heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1) and phosphorylation level of protein kinase C (PKC) in testis were evaluated by Western blotting. RESULTS: Data showed that SIP elevated expressions of NQO-1 and HO-1 genes, two downstream target molecules of Nrf2, via activating Nrf2 to play preventive roles on CP-treated testis, and further discovered that upstream regulators of Nrf2, keap-1, HDAC2, and PKC, were concerned with the regulation of Nrf2. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that SIP could effectively weaken CP-associated testicular damage via Nrf2/ARE signal pathway.