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Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy of aligned acupuncture at the muscle regions plus cutaneous needle for post-stroke upper limb spasticity.

Previous studies have shown that miR-203 acts as a tumor-suppressive microRNA in various cancers, but its roles in laryngeal carcinoma are still contradicted. Here, we found that miR-203 inhibited the growth of laryngeal cancer cells and survivin was a direct target of miR-203. Moreover, silencing of survivin recapitulated the effect of miR-203 on cell cycle progression, whereas overexpression of survivin reversed this effect. Additionally, qRT-PCR showed the reciprocal relationship between miR-203 and survivin in laryngeal cancer tissues. These findings indicate that miR-203 inhibits the proliferation of laryngeal carcinoma cells by directly targeting survivin, suggesting its application in anti-cancer therapeutics.

The smooth-and-discontinue(SD) oscillator with time-dependent stiffness was put forward and founded to study dynamic characteristics of beam bridge under moving load. Mid-span deflection of beam bridge under moving load was described as vibration trace. Proper stiffness model function was elected and study nonlinear dynamic behaviors of mid-span deflection when several vehicles pass through bridge successively. The software MATLAB was used to simulate the model and obtain the bifurcation diagrams with parameter of vehicle speed and Poincare sections of the vehicle-bridge coupled system. The result shows the complicated nonlinear dynamics with periodic motion, quasi-periodic motion phenomena and chaos, the occurrence alternatively among these motions.

The system model of flexible suspension bridge under several moving loads was founded according to SD oscillator with time –dependent stiffness. The model was simulated by the software MATLAB and the nonlinear dynamic behaviors of the system with different velocities were analyzed. Bifurcation diagram of the system is obtained with the changing of vehicle speed; meanwhile the phase trajectories and the Poincaré sections are also presented. The result shows the complicated nonlinear dynamics with periodic motion, quasi-periodic phenomena and chaos, the occurrence alternatively among these quasi-period and chaos, which reveals the reason that causes the S-shape deformation of flexible suspension bridge under moving load easily.

1. Heart rate (HR) turbulence describes short-term sinus rhythmic fluctuation after a single premature ventricular beat. Turbulence onset (TO) and turbulence slope (TS) are two essential parameters in HR turbulence. Turbulence onset and TS have been used to evaluate cardiac autonomic nerve function. 2. In the present study, we measured the HR turbulence in dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and determined the possible role of benazepril, an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI), on these parameters. There were three groups: control, DCM and DCM treated with benazepril. The control group consisted of normal subjects with PVB, but no structural heart disease. Ambulatory electrocardiogram, blood pressure and echocardiography were analysed. 3. There was an increase in TO and a decrease in TS in DCM patients. Benazepril treatment (10 mg/day, p.o.) reduced those changes. There were no significant differences in blood pressure and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) between DCM patients and DCM patients treated with benazepril. 4. Linear regression analysis showed that TO was negatively correlated with LVEF, whereas TS was positively correlated with LVEF, in the DCM group. After benazepril treatment, the correlations between TO and TS and LVEF disappeared. 5. It is concluded that the TO and TS of HR turbulence are altered in patients with DCM. These alterations indicate a dysfunction of the autonomic control of cardiac electrophysiology in DCM patients. Although TO and TS are correlated with LVEF in DCM patients, the effect of benazepril in improving HR turbulence parameters is not a result of its action on heart function, which suggests a new beneficial effect of ACEI in the treatment of DCM patients.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the possible stimulating mechanism of Huoxue Bushen Mixture (HXBSM), a traditional Chinese compound medicine, on hair growth of mice via measuring the variance of skin blood vessel neogenesis and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression in the hair follicle. METHODS Hot rosin and paraffin mixture depilation were used to induce C57BL/6 mice hair follicle to enter from telogen into anagen. Ninety C57BL/6 mice were divided into 3 groups randomly: HXBSM group, Yangxue Shengfa Capsule (YXSFC, another traditional Chinese compound medicine) group and untreated group. The mice were fed with corresponding drugs after modeling. The hair growth of the mice was observed every day. Every ten mice out of each group were executed respectively at day 4, 11 and day 17. Skin blood vessel neogenesis was counted through pathological section and VEGF expression in the hair follicle was measured via immunohistochemical method. RESULTS The number of local blood vessel neogenisis in the HXBSM group observed was larger than that in the untreated group at day 4 (P

Background Preoperative jaundice is frequent in gallbladder cancer (GBC) and indicates advanced disease. Resection is rarely recommended to treat advanced GBC. An aggressive surgical approach for advanced GBC remains lacking because of the association of this disease with serious postoperative complications and poor prognosis. This study aims to re-assess the prognostic value of jaundice for the morbidity, mortality, and survival of GBC patients who underwent surgical resection with curative intent. Methods GBC patients who underwent surgical resection with curative intent at a single institution between January 2003 and December 2012 were identified from a prospectively maintained database. Results A total of 192 patients underwent surgical resection with curative intent, of whom 47 had preoperative jaundice and 145 had none. Compared with the non-jaundiced patients, the jaundiced patients had significantly longer operative time (p

BACKGROUND/AIMS To summarize the experience of diagnosis and surgical treatment of mucin-producing bile duct tumors (MPBTs). METHODOLOGY A retrospective analysis was undertaken to determine the radiography characteristics and results of surgical treatment of MPBTs over the past 9 years. Only eight patients underwent such treatment. The detailed data of diagnosis, treatment and prognosis were carefully studied. RESULTS Intermittent jaundice was the most frequently clinical manifestation of MPBTs, with unique characteristics on magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MPCP) when compared with gallbladder carcino-ma, hilar cholangiocarcinoma and distal bile duct can-cer. All the 8 patients with MPBTs received appropriate surgical procedure and were cured. CONCLUSIONS Appropriate diagnosis and curative hepatectomy for MPBTs made it possible to achieve long-term survival.

Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are heterogeneous populations of cells that participate in vasculogenesis and promote tissue regeneration. However the different roles of EPC populations in vasculogenesis and tissue regeneration, as well as their regulation and mechanisms remain elusive. In the present study, we cultured bone marrow (BM)-derived early EPCs (EEPCs) and endothelial outgrowth cells (EOCs), and investigated their roles in liver regeneration and their regulation by the Notch signaling pathway. We found that Notch signaling exhibited different effects on the proliferation and migration of EEPCs and EOCs. Our results also showed that while EEPCs failed to form vessel-like structures in a three dimensional sprouting model in vitro, EOCs could sprout and form endothelial cords, and this was regulated by the Notch signaling. We further showed that, by using a conditional knockout model of RBP-J (the critical transcription factor mediating Notch signaling), Notch signaling differentially regulates EEPCs and EOCs. In a partial hepatectomy (PHx) model, EEPCs Notch-dependently benefitted liver regeneration with respect to liver function and hepatocyte proliferation and apoptosis. In contrast, EOCs appeared not directly involved in the recovery of liver function and the increase of hepatocytes. These data suggested that the RBP-J-mediated Notch signaling differentially regulated the two types of EPCs, which showed different roles in liver regeneration.

BACKGROUND: This study elucidated the relationships between various clinicopathologic factors and the outcome of patients with gallbladder cancer (GBC) treated by surgical resection with curative intent. METHODS: Between January 2003 and January 2011, 76 patients with GBC underwent surgical resection with curative intent at our department. We then conducted a retrospective analysis of clinicopathologic data. Fourteen clinicopathological variables were selected for univariate and multivariate analysis to evaluate their influence on the outcome. RESULTS: The actuarial 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates in the 76 resected cases were 56.6%, 32.7%, and 23.8%, respectively. The univariate analysis revealed that curative resection (P

Objective To explore the mechanisms of the effects of Runing Recipe in anti-invasion and anti-recurrence of breast cancer by experimental research in vitro. Methods SD female rats were randomly divided into Runing Recipe-treated group and its decomposed formulas Kidney-Warming Recipe and Liver-Soothing Recipe-treated groups, tamoxifen (TAM) -treated group, cyclophosphamide (CTX) -treated group, and normal control group to make medicated serums. Methods of matrigel basement membrane and real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction were employed to investigate the gene expressions of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) after MDA-MB-435 cells were treated with the medicated serums. Results The gene expression of VEGF was dropped in CTX-treated, TAM-treated and Liver-Smoothing Recipe-treated groups. The gene expression of TIMP-1 was up-regulated in CTX-treated, Runing Recipe-treated and Kidney-Warming Recipe-treated groups; while MMP-9 was down-regulated in these groups. Conclusion The mechanisms of Runing Recipe in inhibiting the cancer cell invasion may be related to down-regulating the gene expressions of VEGF and MMP-9, and up-regulating the gene expression of TIMP-1.

Since transfection of established tumors with immunostimulatory genes can elicit antitumor immunity, we treat mouse HCC with in vivo transfection of superantigen SEA and/or costimulatory molecule CD80 and evaluated the safety and efficacy.Mice with HCC were treated with lipid-complexed plasmid DNA encoding staphylococcal enterotoxin A and/or CD80. Then the mice were evaluated for tumor regression, systemic immunologic responses, survival times and treatment-associated toxicity.Of all treated mice, the overall response rates (complete or partial remission) for SEA, CD80 and SEA/CD80 treated mice in this study were 65%, 60% and 75% separately, and were significantly higher than that of untreated mice. Most of the treat mice completed the therapy without any significant reaction. CTL activity increased with time of treatment and correlated temporally with an objective tumor response. Also our results indicated that local intratumoral expression of SEA did not lead to detectable deletion or anergy of SEA-reactive spleen T cells. Survival times for hepatoma mice in this study treated by intratumoral injection of SEA, CD80 and SEA/CD80 were prolonged significantly (P0.01) compared with the control mice.