三康胶囊对高原移居者运动后NO乳酸及血氨的影响

目的探讨三康胶囊对高原人体运动后一氧化氮(NO)及其合酶(NOS)、乳酸(BLA)、血氨(Ammo)的影响.方法选择进驻海拔3 700 m高原1年的10名健康青年,口服三康胶囊15 d,在服药前后分别采用功量自行车进行渐增负荷运动,测定其血清 NO、NOS、BLA及Ammo含量.结果服药后较服药前运动后NO水平[(101.02±6.49) Vs (77.10±8.11)]和NOS活性[(71.40±7.23) Vs (56.29±6.28)]均增高, BLA[(7.58±0.79)Vs (6.13±0.74)]和Ammo[(80.11±9.44)Vs (69.38±8.86)]降低,有非常显著性差异(P＜0.01).结论 三康胶囊能增强高原移居者运动后NOS活性,加速乳酸清除,减缓运动疲劳的发生.     

Aberrant crypt focus promotion and glucose intolerance: correlation in the rat across diets differing in fat, n-3 fatty acids and energy

McKeown-Eyssen (Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prevent., 3, 687-695, 1994) and Giovannucci (Cancer Causes Control, 6, 164-179, 1995), noting the striking similarity in lifestyle risk factors for colorectal cancer and insulin resistance, proposed that the hyperinsulinemia, glycemia and hypertriglyceridemia associated with insulin resistance promotes colon cancer. To compare the effect of diet on colon cancer promotion and insulin resistance in the F344 rat, we assessed the effect of fat, n-3 fatty acids and energy in pairwise comparisons on average size of aberrant crypt foci (ACF) and on glucose intolerance in the same animals in a single experiment. Diets high in fat and energy increased and diets with increased n-3 fatty acids and calorie restriction decreased both ACF growth and glucose intolerance compared with control diets. The measures of promotion of colon cancer and insulin resistance were strongly correlated (n = 98, r = 0.67, P < 0.001). In addition, both were highly correlated with daily energy intake (r = 0.62 and 0.66) and were also correlated with basal (post-prandial) insulin, glucose and triglycerides (r = 0.31-0.53, P < 0.01). We concluded that ACF growth and glucose intolerance are correlated for a wide range of diets and that increased circulating energy (glucose and triglycerides) may lead to both colon cancer promotion and insulin resistance.      

Diagnosis and treatment of acromegaly complications

The Pituitary Society in conjunction with the European Neuroendocrine Association held a consensus workshop to develop guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of the co-morbid complications of acromegaly. Fifty nine pituitary specialists (endocrinologists, neurosurgeons and cardiologists) assessed the current published literature on acromegaly complications in light of recent advances in maintaining tight therapeutic control of GH hypersecretion. The impact of elevated GH levels on cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, sleep apnea, colon polyps, bone disease, reproductive disorders, and neuropsychologic complications were considered. Guidelines are proposed for effective management of these complications in the context of overall acromegaly control. When appropriate, requirements for prospective evidence-based studies and surveillance database development are enunciated. Effective management of co-morbid acromegaly complications will lead to improved morbidity and mortality in acromegaly.     

Social support in depression: structural and functional factors,perceived control and help-seeking

Aims.This study examined the associations of social support, loneliness and locus of control with depression and help-seeking in persons with major depression.Methods.Twelve-month help-seeking for emotional problems was assessed in a cross-sectional 2006 Estonian Health Survey. Non-institutionalized individuals aged 18–84 years (n = 6105) were interviewed. A major depressive episode was assessed using the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview. Factors describing social support, social and emotional loneliness and locus of control were assessed, and their associations with depression were analysed. The associations with reported help-seeking behaviour among people identified as having a major depressive episode (n = 343) were explored.Results.Low frequency of contacts with one''s friends and parents, emotional loneliness, external locus of control and emotional dissatisfaction with couple relations were significant factors predicting depression in the multivariate model. External locus of control was associated with help-seeking in the depressed sample. Interactions of emotional loneliness, locus of control and frequency of contacts with parents significantly predicted help-seeking in the depressed sample.Conclusions.Depression is associated with structural and functional factors of social support and locus of control. Help-seeking of depressed persons depends on locus of control, interactions of emotional loneliness, locus of control and contacts with the parental family.Key words: Emotional loneliness, help-seeking, major depression, social support     

Somatostatin analogs as primary medical therapy for acromegaly

Acromegaly is a debilitating disease usually caused by a growth-hormone secreting pituitary adenoma. Therapeutic goals include improvement of symptoms, reduction in tumor mass, biochemical normalization, and preservation of pituitary function. Treatment options include transsphenoidal surgery, radiation, and pharmacotherapy. In view of the good cure rate, surgery remains the therapeutic modality of choice for most patients with microadenomas or well-circumscribed macroadenomas. In contrast, >40% of patients with invasive macroadenomas (who make up the majority of patients with acromegaly) will have residual disease following surgery, and require additional therapeutic intervention. Somatostatin analogs result in biochemical normalization in >60% of non-operated patients, and are well tolerated. Therefore, somatostatin analogs have emerged as a rational first-line treatment for the appropriately selected patient with acromegaly.     

Bladder epithelial cells from patients with interstitial cystitis produce an inhibitor of heparin-binding epidermal growth factor-like growth factor production

PURPOSE: The etiology of interstitial cystitis is unknown. We previously identified an interstitial cystitis urine factor, antiproliferative factor, that inhibits proliferation of bladder epithelial cells in vitro and complex changes in epithelial growth factor levels, including profound decreases in heparin-binding epidermal growth factor-like growth factor (HB-EGF). Bladder and renal pelvic catheterization of patients with interstitial cystitis indicated that the antiproliferative factor is made and/or activated in the distal ureter or bladder. Therefore, we determined whether bladder epithelial cells from interstitial cystitis cases produced the antiproliferative factor and whether purified antiproliferative factor could alter production of growth factors known to be abnormal in interstitial cystitis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Antiproliferative factor activity was determined by 3H-thymidine incorporation into primary bladder epithelial cells. The antiproliferative factor was purified by size fractionation followed by sequential chromatography involving ion exchange, hydrophobic interaction and high performance liquid chromatography. HB-EGF, epidermal growth factor, insulin-like growth factor and insulin-like growth factor binding protein 3 levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: Bladder epithelial cells from patients with interstitial cystitis produced a single antiproliferative factor with the same purification profile as that purified from interstitial cystitis urine. Purified antiproliferative factor specifically inhibited HB-EGF production by bladder epithelial cells in vitro, and the effect of interstitial cystitis urine or purified antiproliferative factor on bladder cell proliferation was inhibited by recombinant human HB-EGF in a dose dependent manner. Similar to urine HB-EGF, serum HB-EGF was also significantly lower in interstitial cystitis cases than in controls. CONCLUSIONS: Bladder epithelial abnormalities in interstitial cystitis may be caused by a negative autocrine growth factor that inhibits cell proliferation by down-regulating HB-EGF production. Furthermore, decreased levels of urine and serum HB-EGF indicate that interstitial cystitis may be a urinary tract manifestation of a systemic disorder.     

Clinical evaluation of the ability of CaviStat in a mint confection to inhibit the development of dental caries in children

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to determine if a sugarless mint containing CaviStat (an arginine bicarbonate calcium carbonate complex) is capable of preventing the development of dental caries in the primary molars and first permanent molars of 10 1/2- to 11-year-old Venezuelan children. METHODS: Two-hundred children were entered into this one-year study who showed the following: (i) age between 10 1/2 and 11 years; (ii) first and second primary molars still present; (iii) sound primary molars or early caries lesions in any of these teeth; and (iv) at least some caries in the primary or permanent teeth as evidence of caries activity. Out of the 200 children initially selected, 195 finished and provided complete data. Children entered into the study were examined and then randomly divided into two groups (A and B), with distribution performed on the basis of the DMFS levels of the first permanent molars. All subjects were examined visually by a single examiner using good artificial light, mirror, and probe. Group A received a sugarless confection containing CaviStat (BasicMints); Group B received a sugarless mint control that contained all ingredients except for the CaviStat. Packaging and appearance of both types of mints were identical, except for their A and B designations. RESULTS: Mean differences in DMFS, defs, and DMFS + defs scores between Groups A and B were determined. In the first permanent molars and some early erupting premolars and second molars, the data showed 75.6% fewer caries in Group A than in Group B children after six months, and 50.7% fewer after 12 months. Corresponding defs scores showed reduced development of dental caries in deciduous molars of 76.7% after six months and 131.3% after 12 months. Combined DMFS and defs scores showed 76.2 and 74.8% fewer caries lesions at six and 12 months, respectively. As exfoliation of primary molars occurred during the study period (approximately equal in the two groups), a proportion correction was made to allow for caries score reductions due to lesions lost because of such exfoliation. When this was done, the results at the end of the study still showed larger caries reductions in Group A than in the Group B subjects, and statistical analyses showed these differences were still highly significant (p < 0.001). Noncavitated caries lesions in the first permanent molars were also determined. These showed once again less caries development in Group A than in Group B subjects, and did so at both six and twelve months (57.0 and 52.4%, respectively). Levels of statistical significance at these times were p = 0.013 and 0.005. CONCLUSION: It was evident from this clinical trial that mint confections containing CaviStat are able to inhibit both caries onset and caries progression. As a result, one can conclude that CaviStat mint confection technology is a simple and economical means for reducing substantially one of the most prevalent diseases in these children.     

Effect of varying sediment and glucose concentrations on the pH and acid production in human salivary sediment mixtures

The centrifugate (i.e. sediment) from paraffin-stimulated whole saliva, was reconstituted in various proportions with the liquid component of saliva. In this system, sediment and glucose concentrations were varied over a wide range, between 0–33.3% (v/v) and 0–30% (w/v) respectively, and pH-time curves for each of 42 combinations of concentrations were determined for a 4-hr period at 37 °C. The characteristics of the resulting pH curves were compared to the corresponding pH curves previously observed in plaque in situ and in the test-tube system of and (1947). In spite of the dissimilarity in the cellular compositions of the different systems, pH curves were remarkably alike when sediment and substrate concentrations and system conditions were comparable. pH-Glucose concentration curves determined at each sediment concentration showed that, when the sediment concentrations were high, the pH-glucose concentration curve was almost identical to the same curve for plaque in situ. If the cell concentration was low, the curves differed in the region of high substrate concentrations. The relationship between pH and titratable acid for the many different combinations of substrate and sediment concentrations was also determined. Between approximately pH 6.7–8.7, the salivary system was poorly buffered and a single curve described this relationship. However, below 6.7, progressively increasing the sediment concentration progressively increased the buffering capacity of the salivary system so that multiple curves were necessary to describe the relationship between pH and titratable acid. The amount of acid necessary to reach a pH below 5.0 was considerably more when the sediment concentration was high than when it was low.