Efficacy and safety of herbal medicines for idiopathic Parkinson's disease: a systematic review.

The objective of this study is to assess the efficacy and safety of herbal medicines (HMs), as a monotherapy or adjunct therapy, compared to placebo or conventional approaches in the treatment of idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD). We conducted a systematic review of randomized controlled trials from both conventional and alternative medicine sources. Outcome measures were overall improvement, quality of life, reduction of levodopa dose, and adverse events. Nine studies were included, each testing a different HM. Six of the trials had limited internal validity due to major flaws in design, including the lack of proper randomization; insufficient blinding; unclear inclusive criteria in terms of diagnostic criteria, baseline staging, and duration of disease; lack of proper sample size calculation; and insufficient data analysis. Imbalances in gender and ethnicity among the patients in the included trials were observed. No major adverse events emerged, and no specific pattern was detected from the trials describing such data. In addition to major methodological defects, heterogeneity in (1) HM tested, (2) control treatment, and (3) outcome measure hindered in-depth data analysis and synthesis. Current evidence is insufficient to evaluate the efficacy and safety of various HMs. Further studies with improved trial design and reporting, with assessment on cost-effectiveness, quality of life, and qualitative data are warranted.     

Cross-cultural invariance of the Academic Expectations Stress Inventory: Adolescent samples from Canada and Singapore

We provide further evidence for the two-factor structure of the 9-item Academic Expectations Stress Inventory (AESI) using confirmatory factor analysis on a sample of 289 Canadian adolescents and 310 Singaporean adolescents. Examination of measurement invariance tests the assumption that the model underlying a set of scores is directly comparable across groups. This study also examined the cross-cultural validity of the AESI using multigroup confirmatory factor analysis across both the Canadian and Singaporean adolescent samples. The results suggested cross-cultural invariance of form, factor loadings, and factor variances and covariances of the AESI across both samples. Evidence of AESI's convergent and discriminant validity was also reported. Findings from t-tests revealed that Singaporean adolescents reported a significantly higher level of academic stress arising from self expectations, other expectations, and overall academic stress, compared to Canadian adolescents. Also, a larger cross-cultural effect was associated with academic stress arising from other expectations compared with academic stress arising from self expectations.     

Changes in T .lymphocyte subsets after severe traumatic brain inJury

BACKGROUND： Besides local changes of cranial parenchymal cells, hemorrhage, etc., severe traumatic brain injuries also cause the changes of total body fluid and various functions, and the changes of lymphocytes and T lymphocyte subsets should be paid more attention to. OBJECTIVE： To reveal the changing laws of T lymphocyte subsets after severe traumatic brain injury, and compare with mild to moderate brain injury. DESIGN： A comparative observation. SETTINGS： Department of Neurosurgery, Longgang District Buji People＇s Hospital of Shenzhen City; Central Laboratory of Shenzhen Hospital of Prevention and Cure for Chronic Disease. PARTICIPANTS： All the subjects were selected from the Department of Neurosurgery, Longgang District Buji People＇s Hospital of Shenzhen City from August 2002 to August 2005. Thirty patients with severe brain injury, whose Glasgow coma score （GCS） was ≤ 8 points, were taken as the experimental group, including 21 males and 9 females, aging 16 - 62 years. Meanwhile, 30 patients with mild traumatic brain injury were taken as the control group （GCS ranged 14- 15 points）, including 18 males and 12 females, aging 15 -58 years. All the subjects were in admission at 6 hours after injury, without disease of major organs before injury Informed consents were obtained from all the patients or their relatives. METHODS： （1） The T lymphocytes and the subsets in peripheral blood were detected with immunofluorescent tricolor flow cytometry at l, 3, 7 and 14 days after injury in both groups. （2） The conditions of pulmonary infections were observed at 4 days after injury. The differences of measurement data were compared with the t test. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES： Changes of T lymphocytes subsets at 1 - 14 days after severe and mild or moderate traumatic injury. RESULTS： Finally, 28 and 25 patients with mild to moderate traumatic brain injury, whereas 25 and 21 patients with severe traumatic brain injury were analyzed at 7 and 14 days respectively, and the missed ones died due to the development of disease. （1） Changes of T lymphocyte subsets： At 1 and 3 days after injury, CD3, CD4, CD8, CD4/CD8 began to decrease, whereas CD8 increased in the experimental group, which were very significantly different from those in the control group （t =2.77 - 3.26, P 〈 0.01）, and began to recover at 7 days, which were significantly different from those in the control group （t = 2.06 - 2.24, P 〈 0.05）, and generally recovered to the normal levels at 14 days （P 〉 0.05）. （2） Conditions of pulmonary infections： At 4 days after injury, the rate of pulmonary infection was significantly different between the experimental group and control group [73% （22/30）, 0, x2=37.29, P 〈 0.01]. CONCLUSION： Patients with severe traumatic brain injury suffer from damages of cellular immune function at early period （within 7 days）, and they are easily to be accompanied by pulmonary infections.     

Uncooked rice of relatively low gelatinization degree resulted in lower metabolic glucose and insulin responses compared with cooked rice in female college students

Cooking processes that gelatinize granules or disrupt structure might increase the glucose and insulin responses because a disruption of the structure of starch by gelatinization increases its availability for digestion and absorption in the small intestine. We hypothesized that the uncooked form of rice, which has a relatively low degree of gelatinization even though in powder form, would result in lower metabolic glucose and insulin responses compared with cooked rice (CR). To assess the effects of the gelatinization of rice on metabolic response of glucose and insulin, we investigated the glucose and insulin responses to 3 rice meals of different gelatinization degree in female college students (n = 12): CR (76.9% gelatinized), uncooked rice powder (UP; 3.5% gelatinized), and uncooked freeze-dried rice powder (UFP; 5.4% gelatinized). Uncooked rice powders (UP and UFP) induced lower glucose and insulin responses compared with CR. The relatively low gelatinization degree of UPs resulted in low metabolic responses in terms of the glycemic index (CR: 72.4% vs UP: 49.7%, UFP: 59.8%) and insulin index (CR: 94.8% vs UP: 74.4%, UFP: 68.0%). In summary, UPs that were less gelatinized than CR induced low postprandial glucose and insulin responses.     

香菇多糖注射液对慢性乙型肝炎外周血单个核细胞膜IL—2受体表达的影响

The effects of lentinan on peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) expression of IL-2 receptor in patients with chronic hepatitis B in vitro and in vivo were studied. The expression percentage of IL-2 receptor in 44 patients with chronic hepatitis before treatment was 36.74 +/- 7.74, which was lower than healthy subjects, and was 48.92 +/- 3.79 after 2 months treatment of lentinan, which was approximated the normal control. PBMC from 30 patients with chronic hepatitis B were cultured in vitro with or without lentinan. The percentage of expression IL-2 receptor was 12.81 +/- 2.62 without lentinan and was 35.70 +/- 4.87 in the presence of lentinan. The concentration of lentinan stimulating expression of IL-2 receptor was between 0.2 to 200 g.ml-1. The results suggest that lentinan stimulates expression of IL-2 receptor on PBMC, which is associated with the therapeutic effectiveness of lentinan treatment.     

PTCA及支架植入术治疗心肌梗死并重症泵功能衰竭近期效果观察

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the short-term therapeutic effect of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) with stent implantation in the treatment of myocardial infarction with severe pump failure. METHODS: The clinical data of 73 patients receiving PTCA and stent implantation for myocardial infarction with severity pump failure were analyzed and grouped according the occurrence of complications, degree of the vascular lesions and the complexity of the surgical procedures. Preoperative and postoperative ventricular ejection fractions (LVEF) were compared in each case. RESULTS: The degree of vascular lesions and surgical complexity were not shown to relate to the occurrence of the complications. Except in cases complicated by chronic renal dysfunction, significant improvement was achieved in the patients 7 d after the operation (P<0.05), regardless of different degrees of vascular lesions and surgical complexity. CONCLUSION: PTCA with stent implantation is effective to improve the short-term cardiac function of patients with myocardial infarction and severe pump failure.     

Influence of TAT-peptide polymerization on properties and transfection activity of TAT/DNA polyplexes.

Use of bioactive cationic peptides as gene carriers is limited by instability of their DNA complexes in vivo and by the loss of their biological activity due to undesired interactions of their bioactive parts with the DNA. To overcome the two major limitations, biodegradable high-molecular-weight form of TAT peptide (POLYTAT) sensitive to cellular redox-potential gradients was synthesized in this study by oxidative polycondensation. Physicochemical and transfection properties of DNA polyplexes based on POLYTAT were investigated and compared with polyplexes based on TAT polymer prepared by in situ template-assisted polymerization. Physicochemical properties of TAT-based polyplexes were affected by the molecular weight and method of polymerization of the TAT peptide. All TAT-based DNA polyplexes exhibited reduced cytotoxicity when compared with control polyethylenimine (PEI) polyplexes. Polyplexes based on both high-molecular-weight TAT polypeptides exhibited increased transfection efficiency compared to control TAT peptide but lower than that of PEI polyplexes. The evidence shows that transfection activity of TAT-based polyplexes is strongly dependent on the presence of chloroquine and therefore suggests that TAT polyplexes are internalized by an endocytosis. Overall, high-molecular-weight reducible polycations based on bioactive peptides has the potential as versatile carriers of nucleic acids that display low cytotoxicity and can prove to be especially beneficial in cases that require surface presentation of membrane-active or cell-specific targeting peptides.     

老年性痴呆的病理特征与防治对策

老年痴呆症的发生与AB以及Tau蛋白的错误折叠密切相关，是蛋白质折叠相关的疾病，早期诊断是预防老年痴呆症的首要任务，而综合治疗是人类对抗老年痴呆症的必然举措。     

短暂性脑缺血发作患者血浆中TXB2和PGF1α含量检测

本文用放射免疫法测定47例短暂性脑缺血发作(TIA)患者血浆中血栓素B_2(TXB_2)和6酮-前列腺F_(1α)(PGF_(1α))的含量。结果发现TIA患者血浆中TXB_2含量增高,PGF_(1α)降低;头颅CT或MRI示有小灶性梗塞者及TIA发作持续时间长于30min者TXB_2升高和PGF_(1α)降低更显著。治疗3个月后,血浆PGF_(1α)显著增高。TXB_2和PGF_(1α)在体内的失平衡是急性脑血管疾病发病的重要机理之一。     

水稻亚种间杂种优势利用研究

本试验探讨了华南双季稻区利用亚种同杂种优势的特点和问题,结果表明:当前,两系亚种问杂种一代主要存在的问题是结实率低和谷草比低;籼粳交杂种易受环境条件的影响;每穗实粒数和单株有效穗数是决定单株产量的重要因子;每穗实粒数增加的关键在于结实率的提高,本文还就提高结实率和谷草比等问题提出了意见。