[Effect of Wei's triple nine needling on eye regulation in patients with presbyopia complicated with visual fatigue of liver depression and spleen deficiency].

OBJECTIVE: To compare the clinical efficacy between Wei's triple nine needling combined with esculin and digitalis glycosides eye drops and esculin and digitalis glycosides eye drops alone for presbyopia complicated with visual fatigue of liver depression and spleen deficiency. METHODS: Forty-six cases (92 eyes) with presbyopia complicated with visual fatigue of liver depression and spleen deficiency were randomly divided into an observation group (23 cases) and a control group (23 cases, 2 cases dropped off). The cases in the observation group were treated with Wei's triple nine needling and esculin and digitalis glycosides eye drops. The acupoints included Shangming (Extra), Chengqi (ST 1), Cuanzhu (BL 2) to Jingming (BL 1), Sizhukong (TE 23) to Taiyang (EX-HN 5), etc; the needling was given once every other day, three times a week, and the eye drops were given one drop each time, three times a day. The cases in the control group were only treated with the eye drops. Both groups were treated for 7 days as one course of treatment, and 2 courses of treatment were given. The visual fatigue core symptoms score, adjustment amplitude, adjustment lag and best average corrected visual acuity were observed in the two groups before treatment, 1 week and 2 weeks into treatment, respectively. RESULTS: Compared before treatment, the visual fatigue core symptoms scores in the two groups were decreased after 1-week and 2-week treatment (P<0.05); in the observation group, the adjustment amplitude was increased after 2-week treatment (P<0.05), while in the control group, the adjustment amplitude was increased after 1-week and 2-week treatment (P<0.05); in the observation group, the adjustment lag was decreased after 1-week and 2-week treatment (P<0.05). After 2-week treatment, the visual fatigue core symptoms score in the observation group was lower than that in the control group, and the adjustment amplitude was higher than that in the control group (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in adjustment lag and best average corrected visual acuity between the two groups after 1-week and 2-week treatment (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Wei's triple nine needling combined with esculin and digitalis glycosides eye drops could improve the visual fatigue and eye regulation ability in patients with presbyopia complicated with visual fatigue of liver depression and spleen deficiency, and the effect is better than esculin and digitalis glycosides eye drops alone.

Characterization of the complete chloroplast genome of Taibaisanqi (Tongoloa silaifolia).

Tongoloa silaifolia, known as a traditional Chinese medicine Taibaisanqi, is a perennial herb of Apiaceae. In this study, the complete chloroplast genome of T. silaifolia was determined through Illumina sequencing method. The chloroplast genome of T. silaifolia was 161,122 bp in length and contained a pair of IR regions (30,824 bp) separated by a small single-copy region (17,553 bp) and a large single-copy region (81,921 bp). This chloroplast genome is encoded with 137 genes including 92 CDS, 37 tRNA genes, and 8 rRNA genes. The overall GC content of T. silaifolia cp genome is 37.7%. By phylogenetic analysis using maximum likelihood method, T. silaifolia showed the closest relationship with Chuanminshen violaceum and Hansenia species.

[Study on serum selenium level of people in service sectors in Taigu County, Shanxi Province].

OBJECTIVE: To detect serum selenium level of people in non-selenium-deficiency region. METHODS: A total of 793 subjects were recruited by random sampling from people engaged in service sectors in Taign county, Shanxi province. Information about gender, age, occupation and educational level were collected and the content of serum selenium was measured by fluorospectrophotometry. All data were statistically analyzed with SPSS software version 13.0. RESULTS: The age distribution for these samples ranged from 20 to 67 years old. Their average serum selenium level and standard deviation (SD) were (0.0913 +/- 0.0186) mcirog/ml, (0.0947 +/- 0.0184) microg/ml and (0.0887 +/- 0.0184) microg/ml for total, male and female, respectively, and the level of male was significantly higher than that of female. There were no significant differences of serum selenium in each group of different ages, occupation, and educational level. Serum selenium in male were significantly higher than in female in both 20-29 years old group and 30-39 years old group, but there were no significant differences in groups older than 40. In 30-39 years old group, male had the highest serum selenium, but female occurred just the opposite. There was a decrease of serum selenium in male older than 40, but a great increase in female. CONCLUSION: The serum selenium level of adults in this area was adequate, but compared with progressed areas in the world, it could be categorized as low-middle level, serum selenium in male of 20-40 years old was significantly higher than in female, but the differences turn to be narrow in people older than 40 years old.

APRIL (TNFSF13) regulates collagen-induced arthritis, IL-17 production and Th2 response.

A proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL or TNFSF13) shares receptors with B-cell activation factor of the TNF family (BAFF) on B and T cells. Although much is known about the function of APRIL in B cells, its role in T cells remains unclear. Blocking both BAFF and APRIL suggested that BAFF and/or APRIL contributed to collagen-induced arthritis (CIA); however, the role of APRIL alone in CIA remained unresolved. We show here that, in vitro, our newly generated APRIL(-/-) mice exhibited increased T-cell proliferation, enhanced Th2 cytokine production under non-polarizing conditions, and augmented IL-13 and IL-17 production under Th2 polarizing conditions. Upon immunization with OVA and aluminum potassium sulfate, APRIL(-/-) mice responded with an increased antigen-specific IgG1 response. We also show that in APRIL(-/-) mice, the incidence of CIA was significantly reduced compared with WT mice in parallel with diminished levels of antigen-specific IgG2a autoantibody and IL-17 production. Our data indicate that APRIL plays an important role in the regulation of cytokine production and that APRIL-triggered signals contribute to arthritis. Blockade of APRIL thus may be a valuable adjunct in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.