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.     

小切口股骨近端解剖钢板治疗股骨转子间骨折

目的 探讨股骨转子间骨折的治疗方法和疗效。方法小切口微创股骨近端解剖钢板内固定治疗股骨转子间骨折17例。结果 随访时间8个月～3年，平均1.6年，优良16例，占94%（16/17）。结论 小切口微创股骨近端解剖钢板内固定治疗股骨转子间骨折具有切口小、出血少等优点，是一种微创手术。     

甲醛对小鼠致突变作用的研究

目的　研究甲醛对小鼠的致突变作用。方法　选择健康昆明种小鼠 5 0只 (雌雄各半 ) ,随机分为 3个剂量组 :甲醛高剂量组 (2 0 0 0mg/kg·bw)、中剂量组 (2 0 0mg/kg·bw)、低剂量组 (0 2 0mg/kg·bw) ,1个阴性对照组 (生理盐水 )和 1个阳性对照组 (环磷酰胺 5 0mg/kg) ,采用腹腔注射染毒 ,每天 1次 ,连续 5d。于第六天处死雌性小鼠进行骨髓细胞微核试验 ,于第三十五天处死雄性小鼠进行精子畸形试验 ,显微镜下观察并计数微核及畸形精子数。结果　甲醛中、高剂量组骨髓细胞微核数显著高于阴性对照组 (P <0 0 5 ;) ,同时低、中、高剂量组精子畸形率显著高于阴性对照组 (P <0 0 1)。结论　甲醛对小鼠具有致突变作用     

Extragastrointestinal stromal tumor possibly originating from the prostate

We report a case of extragastrointestinal stromal tumor possibly originating from the prostate. The patient underwent radical prostatectomy because of no metastatic evidence. No recurrence and metastasis have been found during 14 months of follow up. To our knowledge, this may be the third such case published in a report in terms of pathological type.     

Chronic orchialgia: Consider gabapentin or nortriptyline before considering surgery

OBJECTIVE: To establish if there is a role for gabapentin or nortriptyline in the treatment of chronic orchialgia. METHODS: Twenty-six consecutive patients with chronic orchialgia were seen in the chronic pain clinic by a multidisciplinary team. A pain questionnaire was completed prior to commencing either gabapentin or nortriptyline. They were reviewed at 3 months and a repeat questionnaire completed. A 50% improvement in pain was considered successful. RESULTS: Complete data was available for 19 patients. Overall, 61.5% of patients commenced on gabapentin and 66.6% of patients commenced on nortriptyline had a greater than 50% improvement in pain. Patients with post-vasectomy testicular pain were considered as a subgroup. None of these patients had a greater than 50% improvement in pain. However, 80% of patients in the subgroup with idiopathic chronic orchialgia had a greater than 50% improvement in pain. CONCLUSION: Although this is a small study, it appears that gabapentin and nortriptyline are effective in the treatment of idiopathic chronic orchialgia but not post-vasectomy pain.     

Apolipoprotein E—associated risk for Alzheimer's disease in the African-American population is genotype dependent

As a part of our ongoing study on Alzheimer's disease (AD) in elderly African Americans, we obtained clinical assessment and apolipoprotein E (ApoE) genotype data on 288 individuals (including 60 with AD). The ApoE σ4 allele frequency was significantly increased in AD patients compared with controls. The age-adjusted odds ratio (OR) for AD in σ4 homozygotes was 4.83 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.71–13.64) compared with the σ3/σ3 genotype, but the OR for AD with the σ3/σ4 genotype did not reach significance (1.20; 95% CI, 0.58–2.45). These findings suggest that the association between ApoE σ4 and AD is weaker in African Americans than in whites.     

The dental caries status and dental treatment patterns of 12-year-old children in Hong Kong

A randomly selected sample of 662 12-year-old Hong Kong children, 529 of whom were Southern Chinese and 133 non-Chinese, was clinically examined for dental caries. The DMFT values were 2.76 and 1.66 for the Chinese and non-Chinese children, respectively. The D component for the Chinese children was 2.12, while for the non-Chinese children it was only 0.45. Approximately 24.0% of the Chinese children had attended the dentist because they were in pain. Only 3.8% of the Chinese children had sought orthodontic or preventive treatment, compared with 24.0% of the non-Chinese children. Although these findings indicate the caries experience to be well below the FDI/WHO global goal for the year 2000, there is a great need to increase the level of dental awareness among Chinese children.     

Similar motion of a hand-held object may trigger nonsimilar grip force adjustments.

The tight coupling between load (L) and grip (G) forces during voluntary manipulation of a hand-held object is well established. The current study is to examine grip-load force coupling when motion of the hand with an object was either self-generated (voluntary) or externally generated. Subjects performed similar cyclic movements of different loads at various frequencies with three types of manipulations: 1) voluntary oscillation, 2) oscillating the right arm via the pulley system by the left leg (self-driven oscillation), and 3) oscillating the arm via the pulley system by another person (other-driven oscillation). During the self-generated movements: 1) the grip forces were larger and 2) grip-load force modulation was more pronounced than in the externally generated movements. The G-L adjustments are not completely determined by the mechanics of object motion; nonmechanical factors related to movement performance, for instance perceptual factors, may affect the G-L coupling.