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.     

六经气津互化论

气与津皆生于水谷,气生于水,水化于气,津即为水。由于气津互化的密切关系,故任何一方的改变,都会影响到另一方,即所谓水化于气,亦能病气;气生于水,亦能病水。因此,太阳经气可概括为两大功能,即卫外和气化,是由气津互化而体现的;阳明气津之间,表现为相互制约;少阳经的气津互化,关系到少阳气机的条达舒畅及三焦水道的通调运使;太阴脾气的健旺,可使津液化生有源;少阴心肾精血充沛,滋养有时,才可使心肾之气化生有源;而厥阴之气的条达顺畅,又可维持津液代谢的平衡状态。     

胎儿生长迟缓与新生儿胰岛素敏感性变化的相关性

目的探讨胎儿生长迟缓(FGR)与新生儿胰岛素敏感性变化的关系。 方法昆明医学院第一附属医院于2004年4~12月，对72例小于胎龄儿(SGA)和48例适于胎龄儿(AGA)空腹血糖(FPG)、空腹胰岛素(FINS)、C 肽、HDL C、LDL C、TG、非酯化脂肪酸(NEFA)等指标，计算葡萄糖/胰岛素比值(G/I)、胰岛素敏感性指数(ISI)、胰岛素抵抗指数(HOMA IR)、胰岛β细胞功能(HBCI)等，探讨FGR与新生儿胰岛素敏感性变化的关系。 结果(1)SGA组FPG、HDL C低于AGA组，而FINS、LDL C、TG、NEFA高于AGA组(P<001)；(2)SGA组G/I比值、ISI低于AGA组，HOMA IR高于AGA组(P<001)，而HBCI两组相比差异无显著性(P>005)。 结论FGR儿在生命早期存在胰岛素敏感性降低和不同程度的胰岛素抵抗(IR)，而胰岛β细胞功能无明显变化。     

体外诱导条件下大鼠骨髓基质细胞骨钙素和Ⅰ型胶原mRNA的表达

目的　研究体外培养大鼠骨髓基质细胞诱导条件下 ,成骨分化标志骨钙素和 型胶原 m RNA水平的表达。方法　采用成骨诱导剂 (含地塞米松 10 - 8mol/ L、β甘油磷酸钠 10 mm ol/ L和抗坏血酸 AA 5 0μg/ml)对培养状态下的不同代大鼠骨髓基质细胞进行成骨诱导 ,提取 RNA,采用 RT- PCR方法 ,以β-肌动蛋白 c DNA为内参照 ,检测骨钙素和 型胶原 m RNA的表达。结果　与对照组相比 ,接受成骨诱导剂作用的大鼠骨髓基质细胞随诱导时间的延长骨钙素和 型胶原 m RNA出现高表达 ,且维生素 D为诱导骨钙素 m RNA表达的必需成分。结论　体外培养的大鼠骨髓基质细胞保持成骨未分化状态 ,无骨钙素和 型胶原 m RNA的表达 ,诱导后可向成骨分化 ,骨钙素和 型胶原 m RNA表达升高     

Chromogenic ionophore-based methods for spectrophotometric assay of sodium and potassium in serum and plasma

We report spectrophotometric methods for quantifying sodium and potassium in serum and plasma without sample pretreatment or solvent-extraction steps. The methods are based on novel chromogenic ionophores characterized by molecular structures highly preorganized for binding, which result in exceptionally high sensitivity and selectivity (negligible responses to sodium at 80 to 200 mmol/L in the potassium assay and to potassium at 0 to 10 mmol/L in the sodium assay). The within-run imprecisions are comparable with those for ion-selective electrodes (for K, 1.0% at 4.5 mmol/L; for Na, 1.1% at 136 mmol/L); the analytical range is 2-10 mmol/L for potassium, 80-170 mmol/L for sodium. The results for greater than 100 patients' samples correlated well with results obtained with ion-selective electrodes (r = 0.99 for K, 0.97 for Na). The ready-to-use aqueous reagents will be available under the trade name of ChromoLyte for use with Technicon's RA family of clinical analyzers.     

Functional MR of the primary auditory cortex: an analysis of pure tone activation and tone discrimination.

PURPOSETo use functional MR imaging to measure the effect of frequency (pitch), intensity (loudness), and complexity of auditory stimuli on activation in the primary and secondary auditory cortexes.METHODSMultiplanar echo-planar images were acquired in healthy subjects with normal hearing to whom auditory stimuli were presented intermittently. Functional images were processed from the echo-planar images with conventional postprocessing methods. The stimuli included pure tones with a single frequency and intensity, pure tones with the frequency stepped between 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, or 4,000 Hz, and spoken text. The pixels activated by each task in the transverse temporal gyrus (TTG) and the auditory association areas were tabulated.RESULTSThe pure tone task activated the TTG. The 1,000-Hz tone activated significantly more pixels in the TTG than did the 4,000-Hz tone. The 4,000-Hz tone activated pixels primarily in the medial TTG, whereas the 1,000-Hz tone activated more pixels in the lateral TTG. Higher intensity tones activated significantly more pixels than did lower intensity tones at the same frequency. The stepped tones activated more pixels than the pure tones, but the difference was not significant. The text task produced significantly more activation than did the pure tones in the TTG and in the auditory association areas. The more complex tasks (stepped tones and listening to text) tended to activate more pixels in the left hemisphere than in the right, whereas the simpler tasks activated similar numbers of pixels in each hemisphere.CONCLUSIONAuditory stimuli activate the TTG and the association areas. Activation in the primary auditory cortex depends on frequency, intensity, and complexity of the auditory stimulus. Activation of the auditory association areas requires more complex auditory stimuli, such as the stepped tone task or text reading.     

慢性缺氧大鼠肺组织钙调素活性研究

为探讨钙调素在慢性缺氧性肺动脉高压发病中的作用，将４０只Ｗｉｓｔａｒ大鼠随机分为四组，Ｉ组为正常对照组，不接受任何处理。Ⅱ、Ⅲ、Ⅳ组为实验组，分别间断缺氧１、２、３周，而后采用火焰原子吸收分光光度法及磷酸二酯酶法测定四组大鼠肺组织Ｃａ＾２＋含量及ＣａＭ活性。