Protective effect of ultrafiltered XinMaiJia extract against H2O2-induced injury in human umbilical vein endothelial cells through NHE1 downregulation.

We examined the protective effects of ultrafiltered XinMaiJia (XMJ) extract in a hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced injury model in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and determined the corresponding changes in the Na(+)-H(+) exchanger (NHE1) protein content and NHE1 gene expression. H2O2-induced HUVECs were treated with different concentrations of XMJ extract and the corresponding changes in morphology, activity, membrane permeability, biochemical indicators, cytokine concentration, NHE1 protein content, and NHE1 gene expression were determined. H2O2 significantly promoted HUVEC injury, whereas ultrafiltered XMJ extract significantly improved the morphological changes in injured HUVECs, increased their activity, and decreased NHE1 gene and protein expression, as well as limited the decrease in membrane permeability and expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1, vascular cell adhesion molecule-1, interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6, and nuclear factor-kB. Ultrafiltered XMJ extract inhibited H2O2-induced HUVEC injury by inhibiting NHE1 activity.

Resistance to lipopolysaccharide-induced endotoxic shock in heterozygous Zfp191 gene-knockout mice.

Zinc finger protein 191, ZNF24 and Zfp191 in both humans and mice belong to the SCAN domain subfamily of Krüppel-like zinc finger transcription factors. Previous studies have suggested that Zfp191 is a pleiotropic factor involved in embryonic development, hematopoiesis and tumorigenesis. However, little is known about its target genes or its role in other physiological and pathological processes. We have identified the putative target genes of Zfp191, using an in silico genome-wide scan. Three hundred and fifty-five putative target genes were identified, which were enriched into the pathways of immune response according to the pathway analysis. These targets indicated that Zfp191 may function as a mediator of the immune response. This was verified in mice heterozygous for Zfp191 (Zfp191(+/-)) using a lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced endotoxic shock model. After LPS injection, Zfp191(+/-) mice produced significantly less IL-1ß and IL-6 compared to wild-type mice and were resistant to LPS-induced endotoxic shock. The loss of Zfp191 may suppress systemic inflammation by reducing these cytokine levels during LPS-induced endotoxic shock.

Anatomic segmental hepatic resection is superior to wedge resection as an oncologic operation for colorectal liver metastases.

Hepatic wedge resection for colorectal liver metastasis has been reported to have a high incidence of positive surgical margins. Anatomic segmental resection is now widely practiced, although there are few data comparing segmental and wedge resection in terms of tumor clearance or long-term outcome. There were 267 patients who underwent liver resection for metastatic colorectal cancer between July 1985 and October 1998 at our institution who had either a wedge (n = 119) or segmental (n = 148) resection. Patient, tumor, and treatment data were compared, actuarial survival was determined, and prognostic factors were analyzed. Anatomic segmental resection was associated with similar blood loss, operative time, and complications as wedge resection. Segmental resection had a significantly lower rate of positive margins (2% vs. 16%) compared to wedge hepatectomy (P <0.001). On univariate analysis, segmentectomy resulted in longer survival with a median of 53 months vs. 38 months for wedge hepatectomy (P = 0.015). Preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen level, positive margin of resection, and the presence of extrahepatic disease independently predicted survival on multivariate analysis. Anatomic segmental resection is a safe procedure and is superior to wedge resection as an oncologic operation for colorectal liver metastasis because it results in better tumor clearance and improved survival.

Electrophysiologic follow-up in dogs receiving intracoronary ethyl alcohol injection.

96% ethyl alcohol was injected into a diagonal branch of the left anterior descending coronary artery of 10 out of 12 anesthetized dogs, and saline solution was injected in the remaining 2. After chest closure, the dogs were subjected to ambulatory monitoring (H) during days 1, 2, 3 and 7. The electrophysiologic study (EPS) and signal-averaged electrocardiography. (SA-ECG) were performed before the injection and again at day 7 after injection. H failed in one dog which died of ventricular fibrillation. In the other 9 dogs that received alcohol injection, H showed frequent ventricular premature and ventricular tachycardia (VT) after injection; six of the 9 dogs sustained VT, which was not inducible by EPS. VT was not found in 2 control dogs receiving saline solution injection. The SA-ECG showed no ventricular late potentials in dogs receiving alcohol injection. Post-ablation ventricular arrhythmia (including VT) occurred after intracoronary ethyl alcohol injection in all dogs. Arrhythmogenicity markedly declined during the first 3 days and almost completely disappeared on day 7 after ablation. There was no evidence in favor of reentry as the mechanism of these arrhythmias. Enhanced automaticity was considered as the mechanism for ventricular arrhythmia.

Transcoronary chemical ablation of ventricular tachycardia.

Transcoronary chemical ablation of ventricular tachycardia was recently performed in one patient with refractory ventricular tachycardia in our hospital. The procedure was successful. The arrhythmia was cured and no recurrence occurred in a 24-month period. The clinical application and mechanism of transcoronary chemical ablation were discussed.

Transcoronary ethanol ablation of experimental ventricular tachycardia after epicardial ice mapping and localizing.

Thirty-seven reproducible ventricular tachycardias (VTs) were induced in 19 dogs after the onset of myocardial infarction. The site of origin of VT was localized in 19 (59%) of 32 VTs by ice epicardial mapping. After 0.3-1.2 ml of 95% ethanol was injected into a small coronary artery supplying the arrhythmogenic area, VT was no longer inducible in 10 of 14 dogs. Intramyocardial ethanol (1-3 ml) was injected into the site of origin of VT in 9 dogs including 4 with VTs reinduced after intracoronary ethanol. Six of these VTs were not reinduced. Thus, the total efficacy rate was 84%. In 7 dogs, after injection of 0.4-1.2 ml (mean 0.5 ml) of 95% ethanol into a small normal coronary artery, the extent of the changes in ECG, CK-MB and pathology was found to be related to the size of myocardial damage and to the dose of ethanol. The smaller the dose of ethanol was given and the more distal the branch of coronary artery into which the ethanol was injected, the smaller the myocardial damage was. The data demonstrated that intracoronary or intramyocardial injection of ethanol may ablate the experimental VT induced by programmed heart stimulation in dogs after myocardial infarction, indicating that this approach may be useful and meaningful in some selected instances. However, it is necessary to limit the myocardial damage as far as possible.

Medical prevention of space motion sickness--animal model of therapeutic effect of a new medicine on motion sickness.

Space motion sickness (MS) is one of the most important problems in the field of space medicine. In order to prevent space MS, a new medicine, PMPA, has been prepared by means of synthesizing in our laboratory. The purposes of this study were to set up animal models of PMPA against MS, and to observe its effects on anti-MS, and to prove its function of antagonism to choline. Eight cats, forty rabbits and two hundred and ten rats were selected as animal subjects. The parallel swing stimulus, a method causing the reversal syndromes and tests of anti-choline function were used in our experiments. The results are as follows: (1) The score of MS symptoms in cats with PMPA or scopolamine (SCOP) is significantly lower than that in cats with placebo (p<0.01), while the incidences of efficiency and prevention of PMPA (87.5%, 75%) are higher than those of SCOP (75.0%, 50%) in cats. (2) PMPA of 1.6 mg/kg or 0.8 mg/kg could antagonize the reversal syndromes and repress reversal rotation significantly in rabbits like SCOP in comparison with placebo (p<0.01). (3) PMPA could inhibit tremor evoked by oxotremorine or by nicotine-procaine in rats like SCOP, and play an important role in the antagonism to central M-choline and N-choline receptors. The animal experiments demonstrate that PMPA is an effective medicine against MS with antagonism function to choline.

Benchmarking the clinical orthodontic evidence on Medline.

The purpose of this study was to identify and quantify the availability of orthodontic literature for evidence-based clinical decision-making (ie, sound clinical studies of etiology, diagnosis, treatment, or prognosis meeting basic methodologic criteria for direct clinical use). This is a first step toward developing online decision analysis systems. A search strategy based on Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) for orthodontics was developed to examine MEDLINE using the Ovid Web Gateway search engine. Sensitive and specific methodologic search filters were then employed to identify the 4 categories of information. The results were then subdivided by year to identify trends and sorted to identify source of publications. In the period 1990 to 1998, the MEDLINE searches identified 6938 English-language articles about orthodontics. The mean number of articles (+/-SD) per year ranged from 42+/-25 for specific searches to 314+/-214 for sensitive searches. The number of articles identified by the specific or sensitive searches increased 14% to 21% annually. When subdivided by clinical category, the mean numbers of articles per year for specific and sensitive searches were respectively: etiology 19+/-15 and 91+/-37, diagnosis 11+/-5 and 80+/-35, therapy 3+/-1 and 50+/-23, and prognosis 10+/-7 and 93+/-33. Five dental journals accounted for nearly half of these publications. These results provide several key findings: (1) there is a substantial literature of clinically relevant information in orthodontics upon which to base clinical decisions; (2) the information appears to be balanced between etiology, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis; (3) approximately 45% of the articles reside in 5 journals, whereas the remainder reside in approximately 66 other journals, making it difficult to stay current; (4) the number of articles is increasing significantly each year; (5) to stay current, one would need to read between 1 and 6 articles per week, 52 weeks per year; (6) these trends suggest the need for computer-based clinical knowledge systems; and (7) the methods used here can be immediately employed to identify the best and most current clinical orthodontic evidence.

[Electrophysiologic study of concealed accessory A-V pathway].

The presence of concealed accessory A-V pathways (CAP) was demonstrated in 14 out of 18 (78%) patients with supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) and narrow QRS complexes. Such a high percentage of CAP mediated AVRT is a quite unique finding. The importance of a standard programmed electrical stimulation protocol in documenting CAP is emphasized. Careful atrial mapping and premature ventricular stimulation during SVT are very helpful for diagnosis and localization of CAP. We considered that a V-A interval of 75 ms or more on intracardiac electrogram or a R-P interval of 85 ms or more on esophageal electrogram is a good criterion for AVRT utilizing an accessory pathway.

[Pacemaker syndrome: a report of 6 cases].

Six patients suspected to have "pacemaker syndrome" were studied with hemodynamic and electrophysiologic methods. Symptoms appeared after implantation of ventricular pacemaker (VVI). Mile symptoms such as dizziness and fatigue and severe symptom of heart failure were noted. The results of the study suggested that cardiac output decreases due to loss of atrial contribution to ventricular filling and also as a result of increase of systemic venous pressure. If the patient has V-A conduction, cardiac output will decrease further. Restoration of atrioventricular synchronization is essential in the treatment of the pacemaker syndrome.

[Electrophysiologic effects of intravenous propafenone].

The electrophysiological effects of intravenous propafenone were studied with programmed electrical stimulation in 31 patients. Among them 29 cases with SVT (including WPW syndrome in 11, paroxysmal AF or Af in 3) and the other two cases were studied for other reasons. The results showed that: (1) Propafenone has significant effects on each part of the special conduction tissues of the heart as well as the accessory pathway. (2) It is an effective drug for treating AVNRT and the tachycardias associated with WPW syndrome. (3) There were no effects on sinus node function in all except one patient whose SNRT was prolonged to 2020 ms. (4) Neither blood pressure dropping nor other side effects were found during the studies.

[Variations of EGG in subjects under vestibular stimulation].

Objective. To investigate the patterns of electrogastrogram [correction of electrogastrogragm] (EGG) before, during and after vestibular stimulation. Method. 25 subjects were stimulated by Coriolis acceleration and 28 by Coriolis [correction of corolis] stimulation. Result. Dysrythmia of EGG and increase of tachygastria were recorded in all subjects during the stimulation. The period dominant frequency (PDF) of EGG shifted from 2.40-3.70 cpm to 3.70-10.00 cpm during Coriolis stimulus in subjects with nausea. Conclusion. It suggests that PDF could be a parameter in reflecting the level of motion sickness.