Clinical features of human intestinal capillariasis in Taiwan

Human intestinal capillariasis is a rare parasitosis that wasfirst recognized in the Philippines in the 1960 s.Parasitosisis a life threatening disease and has been reported fromThailand,Japan,South of Taiwan (Kaoh-Siung),Korea,Iran,Egypt,Italy and Spain.Its clinical symptoms arecharacterized by chronic diarrhea,abdominal pain,borborygmus,marked weight loss,protein and electrolyteloss and cachexia.Capillariasis may be fatal if earlytreatment is not given.We reported 14 cases living in ruralareas of Taiwan.Three cases had histories of travelling toThailand.They might have been infected in Thailand whilestayed there.Two cases had the diet of raw freshwaterfish before.Three cases received emergency laparotomydue to peritonitis and two cases were found of enteritiscystica profunda.According to the route of transmission,freshwater and brackish-water fish may act as theintermediate host of the parasite.The most simple andconvenient method of diagnosing capillariasis is stoolexamination.Two cases were diagnosed by histology.Mebendazole or albendezole 200 mg orally twice a day for20-30 d is the treatment of choice.All the patients werecured,and relapses were not observed within 12 mo.     

APPLICATION OF ACUPOINT-INJECTION THERAPY TO PAIN SYNDROME: CLINICAL ANALYSIS OF 250 CASES

In this paper,250 cases of headache,shoulder pain,lumbago and leg pain weretreated with 20％Angelicae Sinensis mixed with Vitamine B_(12) point-injection therapy.The total effective rate was 95.2％and in which the cure rate was 53.6％.Authors have found a close correlation between the effectiveness and the duration of disease.     

子宫肌瘤经子宫动脉栓塞术治疗后患者满意度和生活质量调查

目的:评估子宫肌瘤患者经子宫动脉栓塞术(UAE)治疗后临床症状严重程度、健康相关生活质量(HRQOL)的变化及对治疗满意度的调查。设计:对1998～2002年80例经UAE治疗的子宫肌瘤患者进行问卷调查,了解治疗的有效性、治疗前后的临床症状严重程度及HRQOL的变化。主要观察指标:UAE治疗后症状严重程度及HRQOL评分的变化。次要观察指标:患者满意度及子宫体积缩小程度。结果:64例(80.0%)患者完成了问卷,调查时间为UAE后平均32.1月(范围:57.5～6月)。UAE后子宫体积平均缩小26.3%(95%CI19.6～33.0),79例患者中17例(21.5%)于术后平均18.6月…     

Developmental changes of glutamate acid decarboxylase 67 in mouse brain after hypoxia ischemia

Objective To study the developmental changes of glutamic acid decarboxylase-67 (GAD-67, a GABA synthetic enzyme) in normal and hypoxic ischemic (HI) brain. Methods C57/BL6 mice on postnatal day (P) 5, 9, 21 and 60, corresponding developmentally to premature, term, juvenile and adult human brain were investigated by using both Western blot and immunohistochemistry methods either in normal condition or after hypoxic ischemic insult. Results The immunoreactivity of GAD67 was up regulated with brain development and significant difference was seen between mature (P21, P60) and immature (P5, P9) brain. GAD67 immunoreactivity decreased in the ipsilateral hemisphere in all the ages after hypoxia ischemia (HI) insult, but, significant decrease was only seen in the immature brain. Double labeling of GAD67 and cell death marker, TUNEL, in the cortex at 8h post-HI in the P9 mice showed that (15.6±7.0)% TUNEL positive cells were GAD67 positive which was higher than that of P60 mice. Conclusion These data suggest that GABAergic neurons in immature brain were more vulnerable to HI insult than that of mature brain.     

Effect of water restrictions on the physiological parameters,psychological behavior and brain c-Fos expression in rat

1 Introduction Exposure to hostile stressors causes a series of coor- dinated responses in the body, such as alterations of neu- roendocrine secretion, immune reaction and behavioral manifestation to maintain homeostasis stability and sur-vival of the organisms. Stressors are divided into two main categories: physical, or systemic, and psychological, or emotional / processive. Each stressor might activate a spe- cific central pathway to induce a special neuroendocrine response, even cause stre…     

THE EFFECT OF ACUPUNCTURE ON PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF ISCHEMIC ARRHYTHMIA AND THE RELATION BETWEEN EFFECT OF ACUPUNCTURE AND CHOLINERGIC MUSCARINE-LIKE RECEPTORS

For investigating the effect of acupuncture on ischemic arrhythmia and its mech-anism, adult albino rats with ligated anterior descending branch of coronary artery as experimentalmodel were treated with or without acupuncture, and others with imitative operation but without bothcoronary artery ligation and acupuncture treatment were used as control. It was found in acupuncturegroup that the fibrillation-liability of ischemic myocardium was efficiently decreased, the affinity ofAch-M receptors on membranes of ischemic myocardium was markedly increased, and the tolerance ofischemic myocardium to atropine was elevated in the experiment of atropine inducing fibrillation.These results indicate that acupuncture may play a therapeutic role on ischemic arrhythmia throughactivating the activity of muscarine-like receptors of cholinergic nervous system.     

Anesthetics Inhibit Acetylcholine-promoted Guanine Nucleotide Exchange of Heterotrimeric G Proteins of Airway Smooth Muscle

Background: Anesthetics inhibit airway smooth muscle contraction in part by a direct effect on the smooth muscle cell. This study tested the hypothesis that the anesthetics halothane and hexanol, which both relax airway smooth muscle in vitro, inhibit acetylcholine-promoted nucleotide exchange at the [alpha] subunit of the Gq/11 heterotrimeric G protein (G[alpha]q/11; i.e., they inhibit muscarinic receptor-G[alpha]q/11 coupling).

Methods: The effect of halothane (0.38 +/- 0.02 mm) and hexanol (10 mm) on basal and acetylcholine-stimulated G[alpha]q/11 guanosine nucleotide exchange was determined in membranes prepared from porcine tracheal smooth muscle. The nonhydrolyzable, radioactive form of guanosine-5'-triphosphate, [35S]GTP[gamma]S, was used as the reporter for G[alpha]q/11 subunit dissociation from the membrane to soluble fraction, which was immunoprecipitated with rabbit polyclonal anti-G[alpha]q/11 antiserum.

Results: Acetylcholine caused a significant time- and concentration-dependent increase in the magnitude of G[alpha]q/11 nucleotide exchange compared with basal values (i.e., without acetylcholine), reaching a maximal difference at 100 [mu]m (35.9 +/- 2.9 vs. 9.8 +/- 1.2 fmol/mg protein, respectively). Whereas neither anesthetic had an effect on basal G[alpha]q/11 nucleotide exchange, both halothane and hexanol significantly inhibited the increase in G[alpha]q/11 nucleotide exchange produced by 30 [mu]m acetylcholine (by 59% and 68%, respectively).