[An anti-scald device for warm needling].

Warm needling, i.e. acupuncture with the needle warmed by burning moxa stick or cone, is frequently employed in the treatment of cold and dampness type disorders. During treatment, accidental skin scald may occur if the burning moxa drops on the skin due to slight changes in patient's body position. Thus, we designed and developed an anti-scald device for warm needling which is suitable for any part of the body. This device is made up of two parts, a stainless steel-grid moxa cartridge (including half cylinder, hinge shaft, lug, limit bar, clamping arm, connecting arm, torsion spring, heat insulation pad, through holes) and a clamp holder which is in an integrated structure. The grid moxa cartridge can be used to wrap the burning mugwort cone in all directions to prevent the ignited moxa-cone from falling and skin scalding, and effectively collect the burned moxa ash. At the same time, the clamp holder can be used to help fix the moxa-cone to increase the stability of warm needling operation. The device is convenient to operate and novel in design, can effectively reduce the occurrence of scald accidents in clinical treatment, save time and manpower, and has both economic and ecological benefits, being helpful to the promotion and use of warm needling.

Pigment epithelium-derived factor is an intrinsic antifibrosis factor targeting hepatic stellate cells.

The liver is the major site of pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) synthesis. Recent evidence suggests a protective role of PEDF in liver cirrhosis. In the present study, immunohistochemical analyses revealed lower PEDF levels in liver tissues of patients with cirrhosis and in animals with chemically induced liver fibrosis. Delivery of the PEDF gene into liver cells produced local PEDF synthesis and ameliorated liver fibrosis in animals treated with either carbon tetrachloride or thioacetamide. In addition, suppression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma expression, as well as nuclear translocation of nuclear factor-kappa B was found in hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) from fibrotic livers, and both changes were reversed by PEDF gene delivery. In culture-activated HSCs, PEDF, through the induction of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma, reduced the activity of nuclear factor-kappa B and prevented the nuclear localization of JunD. In conclusion, our observations that PEDF levels are reduced during liver cirrhosis and that PEDF gene delivery ameliorates cirrhosis suggest that PEDF is an intrinsic protector against liver cirrhosis. Direct inactivation of HSCs and the induction of apoptosis of activated HSCs may be two of the mechanisms by which PEDF suppresses liver cirrhosis.

Retinal protection from acute glaucoma-induced ischemia-reperfusion injury through pharmacologic induction of heme oxygenase-1.

PURPOSE: To investigate the protective effects of cobalt protoporphyrin (CoPP), a potent heme oxygenase (HO)-1 inducer, in a rat model of ischemia-reperfusion injury and to document the possible antiapoptotic and anti-inflammatory mechanisms underlying the protection. METHODS: Rats pretreated with intraperitoneal injection of CoPP (5 mg/kg) were subjected to retinal ischemia by increases in intraocular pressure to 130 mm Hg for 60 minutes. The protective effects of CoPP were evaluated by determining the morphology of the retina, counting the survival of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), and measuring apoptosis in retinal layers. In addition, expressions of HO-1, caspase-3, p53, Bcl-xL, monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1, and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) were documented by Western blot analysis. Detection of HO-1, NF-kappaB, and CD68 protein in the retina was performed by immunohistochemistry or immunofluorescence. RESULTS: Pharmacologic induction of HO-1 by CoPP led to HO-1 expression in the full retinal layer. HO-1 overexpression alleviated apoptosis in the retina, preserved RGCs, and attenuated the reduction of inner retinal thickness after ischemia-reperfusion injury. Concurrently, overexpression of HO-1 was associated with inhibition of caspase-3, p53, NF-kappaB, and iNOS and with increased expression of Bcl-xL. Meanwhile, the anti-inflammatory effect of HO-1 was related to reduction in the recruitment of macrophage infiltration in the retina through the suppression of MCP-1. These beneficial effects of HO-1 induced by CoPP were diminished by the HO-1 inhibitor ZnPP. CONCLUSIONS: Overexpression of HO-1 by pharmacologic induction protected the retina from subsequent cellular damage caused by ischemia-reperfusion injury through antiapoptotic and anti-inflammatory effects.

Damage formation and repair efficiency in the p53 gene of cell lines and blood lymphocytes assayed by multiplex long quantitative polymerase chain reaction.

We examined ultraviolet (UV) irradiation and cisplatin treatment damage formation and repair efficiency in the p53 tumor suppressor gene of various cultured cell lines and lymphocytes using a nonradioactive multiplex long quantitative polymerase chain reaction (QPCR) assay, which amplified a 7-kb fragment of the target gene and a 500-bp fragment of the template control to successfully increase the sensitivity and reliability of the assay. The multiplex long QPCR detected a lesion frequency of 0.63 lesions/10kb/10J/m(2) in the p53 gene of fibroblast cells. In addition, the multiplex long QPCR assay detected pronounced differences in the repair of UV damage in the p53 gene among repair-proficient CRL-1475 cells and repair-deficient XP-A and XP-C cells. The multiplex long QPCR assay was also evaluated as a sensitive assay for the detection of DNA damage induced by cisplatin. The data indicated that the lesion frequency in the p53 gene was 1.27-1.75 times higher in the H23 cisplatin-sensitive cell than in the H1435 cisplatin-resistant cell at the IC(70) dose. After 8-h and 24-h repair periods, only 13 and 75% of cisplatin-induced damage had been removed in the H23 cells, whereas these values were 92 and 100% in the H1435 cells. In addition, our data indicate that multiplex long QPCR is a sensitive method for validly estimating repair in freshly isolated lymphocytes. The results suggest that the current protocol of the multiplex long QPCR method can be used to assess the damage formation and repair efficiency of various agents at biologically relevant doses and to allow a more precise determination of gene-specific repair in disease susceptibility and drug resistance in epidemiological studies.