[Warming Needle Moxibustion Relieves Symptoms of Lumbar Disc Herniation Patients and Upregulates Plasma ß-endorphin].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the effect of warming needle moxibustion of Jiaji (EX-B 2), Huantiao (GB 30), etc. on lumbago and other symptoms of lumbar disc herniation (LDH) patients and changes of plasma ß-endorphin (ß-EP) content. METHODS: A total of 60 LDH patients were equally randomized into warming needle moxibustion group and conventional acupuncture group. Patients of the conventional acupuncture group were treated by puncturing lumbar Jiaji (EX-B 2), Huantiao (GB 30), Weizhong (BL 40), and Yanglingquan (GB 34) with filiform acupuncture needles. Patients of the warming needle moxibustion group were treated by puncturing the same 4 acupoints, and with the acupuncture needle in lumbar EX-B 2 attached an ignited moxa-stick segment. The treatment in both groups lasted for 30 min every time, once every other day for 15 times, with 5 times being a therapeutic course and two days' rest between every two courses. The therapeutic effect was evaluated according to the "Criteria for Evaluating the Therapeutic Effect of Disorders of Traditional Chinese Medicine". The lumbago severity was assessed using visual analogue scale (VAS), and the lumbar functional activity assessed using modified Oswestry dysfunction (in objects-lifting, sitting, standing, walking, sleeping, pain, activity of daily living, social activity, outing, etc.) index (ODI). The plasma ß-EP content was assayed using ELISA. RESULTS: After the treatment, of the two 30 cases in the conventional acupuncture and warming needle moxibustion groups, 8 (26.67%) and 12 (40.00%) were under control, 8 (26.67%) and 10 (33.33%) had a marked improvement, 3 (10.00%) and 4 (13.33%) were effective, and 11 (36.66%) and 4 (13.33%) ineffective, with the effective rates being 63.34% and 86.66%, respectively. The effective rate of the warming needle moxibustion was significantly higher than that of the conventional acupuncture (P<0.05). The VAS scores and ODI values of the two groups were gradually decreased along with the prolongation of treatment, and significantly lower in the warming needle moxibustion group than in the acupuncture group at the 1st, 2nd and 3rd course of treatment (P<0.01). The levels of plasma ß-EP were gradually increased in the two groups at the 1st, 2nd and 3rd course of treatment, and were obviously higher in the warming needle moxibustion group than in the conventional acupuncture group at each of the 3 courses (P<0.01). No obvious adverse reactions were observed in the two groups. CONCLUSION: Warming needle moxibustion has a better therapeutic effect in relieving lumbago and lumbar dysfunction, and can up-regulate blood ß-EP level.

Relationship between survivin expression and recurrence, and prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma.

AIM: To study the expression of the inhibitor of apoptosis protein survivin in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and its correlation with clinicopathological factors, cell proliferation, recurrence and prognosis after hepatectomy. METHODS: Immunohistochemical staining of survivin and Ki-67 was performed by the standard streptavidin-peroxidase technique on paraffin sections of 55 cases of HCC. RESULTS: The positive rate of survivin in HCC was 52.7% (29/55). Significant correlation was found between survivin expression with portal vein thrombi and intrahepatic matastasistic nodes (P < 0.05). The recurrent rate in survivin-positive HCC was significantly higher than that in survivin-negative HCC after hepatectomy, the 1- and 3-year survival rate in patients with survivin-positive tumors was significantly lower than that in patients with survivin-negative tumors (58.62 and 10.34% vs 76.92 and 30.77%, P < 0.05, log-rank test). The proliferation index (Ki-67) in survivin-positive HCC (33.83% +/- 18.90%) was significantly higher than that in survivin-negative HCC (19.60% +/- 19.35%) (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Survivin may play an important role in progression of HCC by promoting cell proliferation, and may be positively correlated with high risk of disease recurrence and poor prognosis in HCC. Its expression may serve as a prognostic factor for patients with HCC after hepatectomy.

[Expression and significance of Skp2 and p27kip1 protein in pathological scar].

OBJECTIVE: To study the expression of Skp2 gene (s-phase kinase associated protein 2) in the pathological scars and its relationship with p27kip1 level and to investigate its role and its probable mechanism in the pathogenesis of abnormal scars. METHODS: Immunohistochemical technique was performed to detect the expression and distribution of Skp2 and p27kip1 protein in hypertrophic scar (42 cases), keloid (18 cases), normal scar (40 cases) and normal skin (50 cases), statistics was used to analyze the data. RESULTS: The positive rate of Skp2 and p27kip1 protein expression was not statistically different between the hypertrophic scar and keloid (P > 0.05), while they were all remarkably significant in comparison between normal scar and abnormal scar (P < 0.05). In pathological scar the protein of Skp2 and p27kip1 showed a strong inverse correlation (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: The result indicated that the expression of Skp2 was increased and it may lead to decrease p27kip1 level in the hypertrophic scar and keloid, Skp2 overexpression might play an important role in the proliferation of fibroblasts and in the pathogenesis of pathological scar by adjusting the regulation of cyclins such as p27kip1.