Lipid extract from completely sporoderm‐broken germinating Ganoderma sinensis spores elicits potent antitumor immune responses in human macrophages

Ganoderma sinensis has been used widely in Oriental countries for the prevention and treatment of various diseases including cancer. Previous studies have shown that the lipid extract from Ganoderma exhibits direct cytotoxicity against tumor cells. Here, it is reported that the lipid extract from germinating G. sinensis spores, at lower concentrations that have no direct tumoricidal activity, induce potent antitumor immune responses in human monocytes/macrophages. Upon stimulation with the lipid extract, monocytes/macrophages exhibited markedly increased production of proinflammatory cytokines and surface expression of costimulatory molecules. Conditioned medium from stimulated cells effectively suppressed the growth of tumor cells. Apparently, the lipid extract triggered macrophage activation via a mechanism different from that associated with LPS. Moreover, it was observed that the lipid extract could partially re‐establish the antitumor activity of the immunosuppressive tumor‐associated macrophages. These results indicated that in addition to its direct tumoricidal activity, the lipid extract from G. sinensis spores could exert antitumor activity by stimulating the activation of human monocytes/macrophages. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Chronic fatigue of the small enterprise workers participating in an occupational health checkup center in southern Taiwan

Purpose  There has been increasing interest in the occupational health of workers in small enterprises, especially in developing countries. This study examines the association between psychosocial job characteristics and fatigue, and attempts to identify risk factors for fatigue among workers of small enterprises in southern Taiwan. Methods  A structured questionnaire was administered to workers receiving regular health examinations between August 2005 and January 2006. The questionnaire collected demographic information and data on working conditions, personal health status and life styles. It also collected information on psychosocial job characteristics, fatigue and psychological distress using three instruments. Results  A total of 647 workers with mean age of 43.7 were completed. Probable fatigue was found in 34.6% of the sample. Fatigue was found by multiple logistic regressions to be associated with the lack of exercise, working in shifts, depression score and lack of social support at workplace. Conclusions  This study found associations between life style, psychosocial job characteristics and fatigue. Because the high prevalence of probable fatigue was found in such small enterprises, the authors suggest that a short interview with some quick questionnaires in health checkup for these small enterprise workers are helpful to early detect psychosocial and fatigue problems.     

赵进喜治疗糖尿病性胃轻瘫经验

北京中医药大学东直门医院主任医师、博士生导师赵进喜教授长期从事中医药治疗糖尿病及其并发症的临床科研工作,积累了丰富经验.笔者有幸随师临证,在此谨对赵教授治疗糖尿病性胃轻瘫(Diabetic gastroparedis,DGP)的经验予以介绍,以飨读者.     

How Should Functionally Equivalent Drugs be Reimbursed?

Statutory reimbursement agencies as well as private insurers throughout member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reimburse the cost of medicines on the basis of criteria that include robust clinical evidence, budget impact analysis, and incremental cost effectiveness. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in the US are no exception to this rule and are, in principle, seeking to maximize benefit for their Medicare enrollees, whilst ensuring reasonable drug outlays for the small number of drugs that they reimburse. This paper provides a retrospective analysis of the way two functionally equivalent drugs are treated for reimbursement purposes by the CMS; the period under consideration was 2001–3. The two drugs, epoetin-α and darbepoetin-α, are used for the treatment of anemia in renal failure and in patients receiving chemotherapy. By reviewing the publicly available pharmacological and clinical data of epoetin-α and darbepoetin-α, the paper confirms the two drugs’ functional equivalence, despite their structural differences. The implications of dose conversion ratios and costs to Medicare are subsequently explored. It is argued that the issue of dose equivalence between epoetin-α and darbepoetin-α has significant implications for patients, practitioners, and payors. A payor’s perspective is adopted in this respect, whereby clinical evidence and pricing data are used simultaneously. Based on the clinical evidence, a dose conversion ratio for epoetin-α:darbepoetin-α is established, which achieves a comparable clinical effect for the two drugs and this is set to be <254IU:1μg. The incremental costs to Medicare are calculated subsequently. The Average Wholesale Price and the Outpatient Prospective Payment System rule that Medicare uses to reimburse providers are used and suggest that treatment of cancer patients with chemotherapy-related anemia with epoetin-α would save Medicare an estimated $US600 million each year. Patients would also benefit significantly in terms of lower co-payments for epoetin-α. The evidence is supportive of the decision made by the CMS to reimburse the two drugs at the rate reflecting the achievement of comparable clinical effects and therefore reducing the pass-through payments for darbepoetin-α to zero for the 2002–3 fiscal year.     

猫颈部食管的交感神经支配—HRP法

用5只猫于左侧颈部食管壁内注入 HRP 溶液,通过 HRP 逆行追踪法研究颈部食管的交感神经支配,结果表明:1.长轴突型交感节前神经元直接分布到食管壁内,其标记细胞位于双侧脊髓的胸1～3节段,以胸2节段最多(占标记细胞总数的66.45％),注射侧占优势。标记细胞主要位于中间带外侧核(约占95.02%),其次为侧索、中介核、前角腹后外侧核。其细胞形态不一,以中小型细胞为主(占标记细胞总数的90.4％)。2.支配颈部食管的交感节后神经元主要位于星状神经节(约占61.99％),余者位于双侧颈前、中和2～5胸交感节内、以小细胞最多。     

Barotrauma in guinea pigs--stimulated tests of diving

For a systematic understanding of the effect of diving on hearing ability and middle and inner ear morphology, we have carried out simulated tests on 65 healthy guinea pigs, under water 60 meters deep, and then decompress rapidly. The tests proved that hearing ability changed most significantly 7 days after diving. After diving, all tympanogram curves, except those in 3 ears, changed to type B. Thirty-nine (37.85%) middle ears had been damaged, 4 (3.88%) had inner ears injured, as seen under light microscope. During decompression, three animals had nystagmus. Screen electronmicroscopy showed hair cell destruction and hair derangement. Transmission electronmicroscopy showed mitochondria damage. The results showed that damages in middle and inner ears were mainly mechanical, sometimes metabolic.     

应用电子计算机计算血液流变学的正常值及分析

为评价血流粘滞诸因素生理与病理的异常,对济南地区338例正常人血液流变学的各项指标进行了检测,统计了血液流变学各项指标的总平均及男女的平均值和正常范围,并计算了血液流变学各项指标间的相关系数。     

Intrathecal morphine for post-thoracotomy pain

We wished to investigate possible differences in the duration of postoperative analgesia and the incidence of respiratory depression after the intrathecal injection in the lumbar area of 10 micrograms/kg morphine in hypobaric and hyperbaric solution for relief of post-thoracotomy pain. Twenty-nine patients received morphine plus dextrose (hyperbaric) and 21 received morphine in preservative-free normal saline. The duration of analgesia was longer with the morphine in the normal saline group than in the hyperbaric group (P less than 0.04). One patient developed delayed respiratory depression. Our data support the use of morphine in normal saline mixtures for greater duration of analgesia after thoracic operations.     

五倍南星膏外敷治疗颌下淋巴结炎26例

自1998年2月-2004年12月共应用五倍南星膏治疗颌下淋巴结炎病人26例，收到良好的临床效果，现报告如下：