Effectiveness of focused extracorporeal shock wave versus manual therapy in postpartum patients with sacroiliac joint dysfunction: a prospective clinical trial.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effectiveness of focused extracorporeal shock wave therapy (FESWT) in treating postpartum sacroiliac joint (SIJ) dysfunction. METHODS: A total of 90 patients with SIJ dysfunction were included and randomly assigned to FESWT, manual therapy (MT), or combination therapy (CT) groups. Pain intensity and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) score were measured upon admission, after 1 and 2 weeks of treatments. The treatment efficacy and adverse events of each group were also assessed. RESULTS: There were no significant differences among three groups regarding clinical data, pain intensity, and ODI score on admission (all P > 0.05). After 1 week of treatment, FESWT exhibited similar pain intensity and lower ODI score (P < 0.001) compared to MT. After 2 weeks of treatment, the pain and ODI in FESWT were similar with MT. The pain in CT was lower than MT after 1 week, but lower than FESWT after 2 weeks. Furthermore, we identified interaction effects between treatment method and duration in relation to pain intensity (Fgroup*time = 5.352, P = 0.001) and ODI score (Fgroup*time = 5.902, P < 0.001). FESWT group exhibited the highest improvement rate of 66.7%, while CT group achieved the highest cure rate of 73.3%. No adverse events were observed in any of the patients during 2 months follow-up period. CONCLUSIONS: Compared to MT, FESWT mainly reduced the ODI score rather than pain after 1 week of treatment. After 2 weeks, the effect of FESWT in relieving the pain was inferior to the MT.

Reduction of 5-fluorouracil-induced toxicity by Sarcodon aspratus polysaccharides in Lewis tumor-bearing mice.

5-Fluorouracil (5-Fu) is an effective anticarcinogenic agent, however, continuous use of 5-Fu may cause severe side effects. The goal of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of Sarcodon aspratus polysaccharides (SATP) in alleviating 5-Fu-induced toxicity in Lewis tumor-bearing mice. Lewis tumor-bearing mice were treated with saline, SATP, 5-Fu or 5-Fu + SATP. The results indicated that compared to the 5-Fu group, the 5-Fu + SATP group showed effective amelioration of the liver, kidney and small intestine injury caused by 5-Fu and decreases in the levels of related biochemical indicators, such as aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and urea nitrogen (BUN). Additionally, the combination therapy enhanced the quality of life and immune organ indexes of mice. Further mechanistic studies indicated that the 5-Fu + SATP group showed a decrease in hepatotoxicity caused by 5-Fu via a reduction in the levels of interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß), an increase in the expression of Bcl-2 and decreases in the expression of p-p38, p-JNK and Bax. Collectively, the results indicated that SATP could significantly alleviate the toxicity of 5-Fu in Lewis tumor-bearing mice and showed the hepatoprotective capability of SATP via its effect on the expression levels of inflammatory factors and components of the MAPK/P38/JNK pathway, which shows that it may be a potential adjuvant for the chemotherapeutic drug 5-Fu in cancer treatment.

[Effect of polysaccharides from Polygonatum sibiricum on lipid-metabolism related mRNA and protein expression in hyperlipidemic mice].

To study the effect of polysaccharides from Polygonatum sibiricum on mRNA and protein expressions of blood lipid metabolism in hyperlipidemic mice. The mice were randomly divided into 6 groups, namely the blank control group, the hyperlipidemia model group, the simvastatin group, and low, middle and high-dose PSP groups (200, 400, 800 mg·kg⁻¹·d⁻¹). Each group of the mice was administrated intragastrically for 14 days, respectively. Subsequently, every group of mice, except for the blank control group, was intraperitoneally injected with 75% fresh egg yolk emulsion for establishing the hyperlipidemic mice model. Upon completion of the administration, the contents of TC, TG, LDL-C and HDL-C in serum of each group were investigated in details. In particular, the mRNA expression levels of PPAR-α, PPAR-ß, PPAR-γ, SREBP-1c, IL-6 and TNF-α of the liver tissues were detected by Real-time PCR, and the protein expression levels (including PPAR-α, PPAR-ß, PPAR-γ, SREBP-1c, IL-6, TNF-α) were examined by Western blot. Consequently, the obtained results showed that the contents of the serum TC, TG, LDL-C of low, middle and high-dose PSP groups significantly decreased compared with those of the hyperlipidemia model group. Simultaneously, there were significant differences between middle-dose and high-dose PSP groups (P<0.01). In striking contrast, the contents of serum HDL-C of low, middle and high-dose PSP groups significantly increased, while obvious differences were also observed between middle-dose and high-dose PSP groups (P<0.01). Moreover, middle-dose and high-dose PSR groups could up-regulate the protein and mRNA expressions of PPAR-α, PPAR-ß (P<0.05) compared with those of the hyperlipidemia model group, and down-regulate the expressions of PPAR-γ,SREBP-1c, IL-6 and TNF-α(P<0.05) compared with those of liver tissues of the hyperlipidemia model group. In conclusion, all of the above results suggested that PSP could inhibit the oxidation of the liver lipid, and regulate the expression levels of the corresponding genes and proteins relating to the lipid metabolism, so as to play a critical role for preventing hyperlipidemia.

[The Effect in Extraction of Different Ratio of Dahuang-Taoren for Ten Kinds of Chemical Constituents from Rhizoma Rhei].

Objective: To investigate the effect of Dahuang-Taoren with different proportion of extraction amount changes of ten kinds of chemical constituents in Rhizoma Rhei. Methods: Uniform method to set different ratio( 1∶ 5,2∶ 5,2∶ 3,1∶ 1,3∶ 2,5∶ 2,5∶ 1),and set the control group ( Dahuang-Taoren( 1 ∶ 0). HPLC was used to determine the content of ten constituents as gallic acid,( +)-catechin,sennoside B,anthraquinones( aloe-emodin,rhein,emodin,chrysophanol,physcion,chrysophanol-1-O-glucoside,emodin major grape glycoside) in different ratio of drug. Different proportions of Dahuang-Taoren on the extraction amount of ten chemical components in Rhizoma Rhei changes were analyzed. . Results: Compared to the control group, Dahuang-Taoren with different ratio( 5∶ 1,5∶ 2,3∶ 2) in a sample with increasing proportion of Taoren,the extraction amount of ten kinds of constituents of Rhizoma Rhei gradually decreased;Dahuang-Taoren with ratio of 1∶ 1,ten kinds of constituents in extraction of total amount arrived minimum value. Dahuang-Taoren with different ratio( 2∶ 3,2∶ 5,1∶ 5) in a sample with increasing proportion of Taoren,the extraction amount of gallic acid,( +) catechin,chrysophanol of Rhizoma Rhei increased significantly. Conclusion: There is obvious change in chemical constituents of the extraction amount of Rhizoma Rhei with the change of the ratio in Dahuang-Taoren, and Dahuang-Taoren with the ratio( 2∶ 3,2∶ 5,1∶ 5),the extraction amount of gallic acid,( +)-catechin,sennoside B,aloe-emodin,emodin,chrysophanol,physcion,chrysophanol-1-O-glucoside are significantly higher than control group.