The effects of gastric cancer interstitial fluid on tumors based on traditional Chinese medicine 'phlegm' theory and the investigation on the mechanism through microRNA-21 regulation.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of gastric cancer interstitial fluid (GCIF) on tumors and explore the possible mechanism of Xiaotan Sanjie decoction (XTSJ) on treatment of gastric cancer from the view of regulating microRNA-21 (miR-21) expression. The GCIF was extracted and identified by measuring the levels of interleukin-8 (IL-8), intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) and miR-21. The effects of GCIF on the proliferation of SGC-7901 cells and tumor growing were assessed by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay and subcutaneously transplanted tumor-bearing nude mice model, respectively. Additionally, inhibition effect of XTSJ decoction on proliferation of SGC-7901 cells intervened by GCIF were assessed in vitro and anti-cancer effect of it was further assessed using orthotopic transplanted tumor-bearing nude mice model. The concentration of SGC-7901 gastric cancer cells were dependent on the concentration of the added GCIF. After 72 hours of continuous culture, the interstitial fluid had an obvious proliferative effect on the SGC-7901 tumor cells, which was the most significant in the high concentration group. XTSJ decoction could inhibit the growth-promoting effect (P < 0.01) of GCIF on gastric cancer cells. Intervention of the GCIF might promote the growth (P < 0.05) of the subcutaneously transplanted tumors in nude mice and decrease the net weight of the tumor-bearing nude mice (P < 0.05) after tumor removal. The GCIF was able to up-regulate the expression (P < 0.001) of miR-21 in the subcutaneously transplanted tumors. XTSJ decoction could downregulate the expression (P < 0.05) of miR-21 in SGC-7901 orthotopically transplanted tumors. XTSJ decoction can inhibit the multiplicative effect of GCIF on gastric cancer cells, growth of gastric tumor and promotion effect of GCIF on tumors, probably due to the down-regulating miR-21 expression in tumor tissues.

Some aspects of diabetes care in Chengdu.

The great impact of diabetes mellitus (DM) on the development of China economically and sociomedically was firstly recognized by knowing the overall prevalence of the disease being 0.67% in the whole country from a nationwide cooperative survey in 1980. Shortly after the cooperative survey an epidemiological study carried out in Chengdu yielded a prevalence in DM of 1.12%, which was almost double the overall prevalence and slightly higher than that of Beijing (1.10%)--the highest one among the 14 places in the cooperative study. Increasing prevalence of DM is a general trend. Over the past decade the incidence of diabetes in hospitalized patients at the First University Hospital, WCUMS, increased from 5.7 to 13.54 per thousand. Factors that fluence the increment of prevalence of DM include increase of total calorie intake (2680 kcal/day in 1990--close to the average world level), inappropriate high carbohydrate diet habit, change of life style, e.g. urbanization, mental stress, and ageing of the population. Primary and secondary care conducted in recent decades involve nutritional intervention, education via news media and workshop, foundation of prevention networks and providing better clinical and laboratory services, etc. Future improvement of diabetes care in this region is determined by activation of the public, motivation of the policy makers, more effective education and propagation by an influenced organization, fund support, man power and resources development, and domestic and international communications and collaborations.