[Ginger-separated moxibustion for chronic fatigue syndrome and its effect on intestinal flora].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of ginger-separated moxibustion on fatigue state and intestinal flora in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). METHODS: A total of 62 patients with CFS were randomly divided into an observation group (31 cases, 3 cases dropped off) and a control group (31 cases, 2 cases dropped off). The patients in the control group were treated with normal diet and moderate exercise; on the basis of the control group, the patients in the observation group were treated with ginger-separated moxibustion at Zhongwan (CV 12), Shenque (CV 8) and Guanyuan (CV 4), 30 min each time, once every other day, three times a week. Both groups were intervened for 4 weeks. Before and after treatment, the fatigue scale-14 (FS-14) was used to observe the improvement of fatigue state, and 16S rRNA detection technology was used to detect the distribution of intestinal flora. RESULTS: Compared before treatment, the FS-14 score was reduced after treatment in the observation group (P<0.01), and the reduction in the observation group was larger than that in the control group (P<0.01). The relative abundance of intestinal flora was similar between the observation group and control group at the phylum and genus level before treatment. After treatment, there was no significant change of intestinal flora in the control group. However, the enterobacteriaceae, corynebacterium, erysipelothrix, actinomycetes were increased in the observation group (P<0.05), and actinomycetes, ruminococcus, lactarius had obvious flora advantages compared with the control group (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The ginger-separated moxibustion could significantly improve the fatigue state in CFS patients, which may be related to the regulation of intestinal flora structure and the repair of intestinal barrier.

[Effect of ginger-separated moxibustion on fatigue, sleep quality and depression in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome: a randomized controlled trial].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of ginger-separated moxibustion on fatigue, sleep quality and depression in the patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. METHODS: A total of 62 patients with chronic fatigue syndrome were randomized into an observation group (31 cases, 3 cases dropped off) and a control group (31 cases, 2 cases dropped off). In the control group, the patients had normal diet and proper physical exercise. In the observation group, on the basis of the control group, the ginger-separated moxibustion was added at Zhongwan (CV 12), Shenque (CV 8) and Guanyuan (CV 4), 30 min each time, once every two days, 3 times weekly. Separately, before treatment and after 4 weeks of treatment, the MOS item short form health survey (SF-36), the Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) scale and the self-rating depression scale (SDS) were adopted to evaluate the degrees of fatigue, sleep quality and depression in the patients of the two groups. RESULTS: In the observation group, the score of each item of SF-36, the score of each item of PSQI and SDS score after treatment were all improved significantly as compared with those before treatment respectively (P<0.05, P<0.01). In the control group, the scores of overall health, vitality and mental health in SF-36 and the score of sleep time of PSQI after treatment were improved as compared with those before treatment respectively (P<0.05). After treatment, the score of each item of SF-36, the scores of sleep quality, sleep time, sleep efficiency and sleep disorders of PSQI, as well as SDS score in the observation group were all better than those in the control group respectively (P<0.01, P<0.05). The score of SF-36 was relevant to the scores of PSQI and SDS in the patients of chronic fatigue syndrome (r =0.331, P<0.05; r =-0.706, P<0.01). The improvement value of SF-36 score was closely related to the improvement value of SDS score in the observation group (r =-0.657, P<0.01). CONCLUSION: The ginger-separated moxibustion effectively relieves fatigue and depression condition and improves sleep quality in the patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. The fatigue condition is relevant with sleep quality and depression condition to a certain extent in the patients.

[Clinical and genetic features of Kallmann syndrome: an analysis of 5 cases].

Kallmann syndrome (KS) is a rare pediatric disease with major manifestations of olfactory dysfunction and hypogonadotropic hypogonadism. Five children (4 boys and 1 girl) with KS reported in this article were aged between 6 months and 19 years at the time when they attended the hospital. All the children had the clinical manifestation of hypogonadotropic hypogonadism; in addition, three children had olfactory dysfunction (two were found to have olfactory bulb dysplasia on magnetic resonance imaging), one had cleft lip and palate, and one had micropenis and cryptorchidism with right renal agenesis during infancy. All the five children had normal karyotype and their parents had normal clinical phenotypes. The uncle of one child had underdeveloped secondary sexual characteristics and olfactory disorder since childhood. High-throughput sequencing found two known heterozygous missense mutations in the FGFR1 gene, i.e., c.1097C>T(p.P366L) and c.809G>C(p.G270A), in two children. One child had a novel frameshift mutation, c.1877_1887/p.S627Tfs*6, in the KAL1 gene; this deletion mutation caused a frameshift in base sequence and produced truncated proteins, which led to a significant change in protein structure, and thus it was highly pathogenic. It is concluded that KS has great clinical and genetic heterogeneity and can be accompanied by incomplete dominant inheritance and that gene detection helps with the diagnosis of this disease.

Reduction of Tat-interacting Protein 30 Expression Could be a Prognostic Marker in Bladder Urothelial Cancer.

BACKGROUND: Tat-interacting protein 30 (TIP30) has been reported to be a tumor suppressor, with reduced or absent expression in various tumors. However, its role in bladder urothelial cancer (BUC) has not been investigated. Therefore, herein, we investigated the expression of TIP30 protein in BUC and normal bladder mucosa and the clinical significance of TIP30 expression in the prognosis of BUC. METHODS: We reviewed data from 79 cases of BUC and 15 adjacent tissue samples from 79 patients treated at our institution between 2004 and 2007. TIP30 expression was examined by immunohistochemistry. The relationship between TIP30 expression and tumor stage, histological grade, and survival was analyzed. Differences between groups were evaluated using the t-test or matched-pairs test, and differences in the survival rates were analyzed with the log-rank test. RESULTS: TIP30 protein expression was significantly reduced in BUC tissue (t = -6.91, P < 0.05) compared with normal tissue samples, and in invasive bladder cancer (t = 10.89, P < 0.05) compared with superficial bladder cancer. TIP30 protein expression differed significantly among different differentiated groups classified either according to the World Health Organization (2004, F = 17.48, P < 0.01) or World Health Organization (1973, F = 10.68, P < 0.01). TIP30 protein expression was significantly reduced in high-grade papillary urothelial carcinoma compared with papillary urothelial neoplasm of low malignant potential (P < 0.05) and low-grade papillary urothelial carcinoma (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, TIP30 protein expression was significantly reduced in Grade III BUC, compared with Grade I (P < 0.05) and Grade II (P < 0.05). Patients with low TIP30 expression showed a higher incidence of disease progression than those with high TIP30 expression (t = 2.63, P < 0.05). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed a strong positive relationship between TIP30 expression and overall survival (OS) (χ2 = 17.29, P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: TIP30 expression was associated with clinical tumor stage in BUC, suggesting that it might play an important role in disease progression. Furthermore, TIP30 might predict postoperative OS. Thus, its evaluation might be useful for predicting prognosis.

Expression of transferrin in hematoma brain tissue at different stages after intra cerebral hemorrhage in rats.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the expression of transferrin (Tf) and transferrin receptor (TfR) in hematoma brain tissue at different stage after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) in rats. METHODS: ICH rats model were established by collagenase method, and rats were sacrificed at 24 h, 72 h, 7 d and 14 d after operation. The levels of Tf and TfR in different periods of rats were detected by immunohistochemical method, and correlation between two groups was analyzed. RESULTS: Tf, TfR-positive cells at each time after operation in observation group were significantly higher than that in control group (P < 0.05). Tf, TfR-positive cells began to increase from 24 h after the operation and reached the peak 72 h-7 d after surgery, but then gradually decreased. Tf was mainly expressed in nucleus and cytoplasm of neurons and glial cells around the hematoma, but TfR was mainly expressed in nucleus and cytoplasm of neurons and choroid plexus endothelial cells. Correlation analysis showed that the Tf-positive cell was significantly positively correlated with TfR-positive cell expression (r = 0.447, P = 0.022). CONCLUSIONS: Tf and TfR were important transporters in brain tissue excessive load iron transport after ICH, and detecting the expression levels of the two indicators can provide a reference for prognosis treatment in ICH.

Replication of clinical hepatitis B virus isolate and its application for selecting antiviral agents for chronic hepatitis B patients.

AIM: To establish a cell model harboring replicative clinical hepatitis B virus (HBV) isolates and evaluate its application in individualized selection of anti-HBV agents for chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients. METHODS: The full-length HBV genomic DNA from 8 CHB patients was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). All the patients were treated with lamivudine for at least seven months and finally became resistant to lamivudine. The amplified HBV DNA fragments were inserted into pHY106 vectors by Sap I digestion. The recombinant plasmids containing 1.1 copies of HBV genome were transiently transfected into Huh7 cell line, and the levels of HBsAg, HBeAg and intercellular HBV replicative intermediates were determined by ELISA and Southern blot analysis, respectively, with or without lamivudine and adefovir treatment. The antiviral treatment with adefovir was administered to the patients and analyzed in parallel. RESULTS: A total of 25 independent HBV isolates were obtained from the sera of 8 patients, each patient had at least two isolates. One isolate from each individual was selected and subcloned into pHY106 vector, including 5 isolates with YVDD mutation and 3 isolates with YIDD mutation. All recombinant plasmids harboring HBV isolates were transfected into Huh7 cells. The results indicated that HBV genome carried in HBV replicons of clinical HBV isolates could effectively replicate and express in Huh7 cells. Adefovir, but not lamivudine, inhibited HBV replication both in vitro and in vivo, and in vitro inhibition was dose-dependent. CONCLUSION: The novel method described herein enables individualized selection of anti-HBV agents in clinic and is useful in future studies of antiviral therapy for CHB.

Effects of pentoxifylline on the hepatic content of TGF-beta1 and collagen in Schistosomiasis japonica mice with liver fibrosis.

AIM: To study the effects of pentoxifylline (PTX) on the content of hepatic TGF-beta1, type I and type III collagen in schistosomiasis japonica mice with liver fibrosis and its mechanism of anti-fibrosis. METHODS: Forty mice with schistosomiasis were divided into four groups: one group as control without any treatment, other three were treated with Praziquantel 500 mg/(kg x d)for 2 d, high dose PTX 360 mg/(kg x d) for 8 wk, and low dose PTX 180 mg/(kg x d) for 8 wk respectively. Immunohistochemical technique and multimedia color pathographic analysis system were applied to observe the content change of hepatic TGF-beta1, type I and type III collagen in schistosomiasis japonica mice with liver fibrosis before and after PTX treatment. RESULTS: Effects of PTX on the content change of hepatic TGF-beta1, type I and type III collagen in schistosomiasis japonica mice with liver fibrosis were related to the dosage of PTX, high dose PTX treated group could significantly reduce the content of TGF-beta1 (0.709+/-0.111), type I (0.644+/-0.108) and type III (0.654+/-0.152) collagen compared with those of control group (0.883+/-0.140, 0.771+/-0.156, 0.822+/-0.129) with statistical significance (P<0.05). Low dose PTX could also reduce the hepatic content of TGF-beta1 (0.752+/-0.152), type I (0.733+/-0.117) and type III (0.788+/-0.147) collagen, but without statistical significance (P>0.05). Both high dose and low dose PTX groups have significant differences on the content of TGF-beta1, type I and type III collagen (P<0.05, P<0.05, P<0.01, respectively). CONCLUSION: High dose of PTX treatment could reduce the content of hepatic TGF-beta1, type I and type III collagen significantly in schistosomiasis japonica mice with liver fibrosis, and thus plays its role of antifibrosis.