[Clinical effect of maternal voice stimulation in alleviating procedural pain in hospitalized neonates].

OBJECTIVE: To study the clinical effect of maternal voice stimulation in alleviating procedural pain in neonates during heel blood collection. METHODS: A total of 72 neonates who were admitted to the neonate intensive care unit were randomly divided into an intervention group (n=35) and a control group (n=37). Heel blood collection was performed by the routine method in the control group. The intervention group listened to their mothers' voice from 1 minute before heel blood collection to the end of the procedure. Pain score, incidence of crying, and vital signs were recorded before and after heel blood collection. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the heart rate was significantly reduced, the blood oxygen saturation significantly increased, the incidence of crying and the pain score were significantly reduced in the intervention group during the procedure of heel blood collection (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Maternal voice stimulation helps to reduce procedural pain and maintain stable vital signs in neonates.

[Effect of placement of peripherally inserted central catheter via the upper versus lower extremity veins: a Meta analysis].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of placement of peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) via the upper versus lower extremity veins in neonates through a Meta analysis. METHODS: CNKI, Wanfang Data, VIP Data, CBMdisc, PubMed, Web of Knowledge, Embase, Medline, Cochrane Library and Google Scholar were searched for control studies on the effect of PICC placement via the upper versus lower extremity veins in neonates. RevMan 5.3 was used to perform a Meta analysis of the studies which met the inclusion criteria. RESULTS: A total of 18 studies were included, among which there were 8 randomized controlled trials and 10 cohort studies, with 4 890 subjects in total. Compared with those undergoing PICC placement via the upper extremity veins, the neonates undergoing PICC placement via the lower extremity veins had significantly lower incidence rates of complications (RR=0.83, 95%CI: 0.75-0.92, P<0.05), catheter-related infections (RR=0.77, 95%CI: 0.60-0.99, P<0.05), catheter malposition (RR=0.28, 95%CI: 0.18-0.42, P<0.05), extravasation of the infusate (RR=0.52, 95%CI: 0.40-0.70, P<0.05), and unplanned extubation (RR=0.82, 95%CI: 0.69-0.98, P<0.05). They also had a significantly higher first-attempt success rate of puncture (RR=1.17, 95%CI: 1.05-1.30, P<0.05) and a significantly shorter PICC indwelling time (MD=-0.93, 95%CI: -1.26-0.60, P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The above evidence shows that PICC placement via the lower extremity veins has a better effect than PICC placement via the upper extremity veins in neonates.

Polysaccharide from Gynura divaricata modulates the activities of intestinal disaccharidases in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.

During diabetes, structural and functional changes in the alimentary tract are known to take place resulting in an increased absorption of intestinal glucose and alterations in the activities of brush-border disaccharidases. To elucidate the effect of administrating polysaccharide from Gynura divaricata (PGD) on disaccharidase activities, the specific activities of intestinal disaccharidases, namely sucrase, maltase and lactase, were measured in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Normal control and diabetic rats were treated by oral administration with PGD. Specific activities of intestinal disaccharidases were increased significantly during diabetes, and amelioration of the activities of sucrase and maltase during diabetes was clearly visible by the treatment with PGD. However, the increased activity of lactase during diabetes mellitus was remarkably alleviated by the administration of PGD only in the duodenum. Meanwhile, oral sucrose tolerance tests demonstrated that PGD alleviated the hyperglycaemia during diabetes mellitus, resulting from the amelioration in the activities of intestinal disaccharidases. The present investigation suggests that PGD exerted an anti-diabetic effect partly via inhibiting the increased intestinal disaccharidase activities of diabetic rats. This beneficial influence of administration of PGD on intestinal disaccharidases clearly indicates their helpful role in the management of diabetes.

Cytokine-induced killer cells efficiently kill stem-like cancer cells of nasopharyngeal carcinoma via the NKG2D-ligands recognition.

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are considered to be the root cause for cancer treatment failure. Thus, there remains an urgent need for more potent and safer therapies against CSCs for curing cancer. In this study, the antitumor activity of cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells against putative CSCs of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) was fully evaluated in vitro and in vivo. To visualize putative CSCs in vitro by fluorescence imaging, and image and quantify putative CSCs in tumor xenograft-bearing mice by in vivo bioluminescence imaging, NPC cells were engineered with CSC detector vector encoding GFP and luciferase (Luc) under control of Nanog promoter. Our study reported in vitro intense tumor-killing activity of CIK cells against putative CSCs of NPC, as revealed by percentage analysis of side population cells, tumorsphere formation assay and Nanog-promoter-GFP-Luc reporter gene strategy plus time-lapse recording. Additionally, time-lapse imaging firstly illustrated that GFP-labeled or PKH26-labeled putative CSCs or tumorspheres were usually attacked simultaneously by many CIK cells and finally killed by CIK cells, suggesting the necessity of achieving sufficient effector-to-target ratios. We firstly confirmed that NKG2D blockade by anti-NKG2D antibody significantly but partially abrogated CIK cell-mediated cytolysis against putative CSCs. More importantly, intravenous infusion of CIK cells significantly delayed tumor growth in NOD/SCID mice, accompanied by a remarkable reduction in putative CSC number monitored by whole-body bioluminescence imaging. Taken together, our findings suggest that CIK cells demonstrate the intense tumor-killing activity against putative CSCs of NPC, at least in part, by NKG2D-ligands recognition. These results indicate that CIK cell-based therapeutic strategy against CSCs presents a promising and safe approach for cancer treatment.

Anti-hyperglycemic effects and mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine Huanglian Wan in streptozocin-induced diabetic rats.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Huanglian Wan (HLW) is a prescription of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which has been used to treat diabetes mellitus for thousands of years in China. In this study we provide experimental evidence for the clinical use of HLW in the treatment of diabetes mellitus. MATERIALS AND METHODS: HLW extract was prepared and the main components (namely berberine and catalpol) contained in the extract were assayed with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and diabetic model rats were induced by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ). After grouped randomly, diabetic rats were administered low or high dose of HLW extract, acarbose and vehicle for 33 days, respectively. Body weight, food intake, urine volume, urine sugars, fasting plasma glucose and fasting plasma insulin were monitored to evaluate its antidiabetic effects in diabetic rats. Intestinal mucosa homogenate was prepared and the activities of intestinal disaccharidases were assayed. Moreover, oral sucrose tolerance test (OSTT) was performed and the inhibitory effect of HLW extract on the maltase and sucrase in vitro was evaluated. RESULTS: After the treatment of HLW extract, the body weight and the fasting plasma insulin level were found to be increased while food intake, urine volume, urine sugars and fasting plasma were decreased. OSTT showed that HLW extract could lower the postprandial plasma glucose level of diabetic rats. Furthermore, HLW extract could inhibit the activities of sucrase and maltase in vitro. CONCLUSIONS: According to our present findings, the TCM prescription HLW possessed potent anti-hyperglycemic effect on STZ-induced diabetic rats. And HLW extract exerted anti-hyperglycemic effect partly via inhibiting the increased activities of intestinal disaccharidases and elevating the level of plasma insulin in diabetic rats induced by streptozotocin.