Silk fibroin-based biomaterials for disc tissue engineering.

Low back pain is the major cause of disability worldwide, and intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD) is one of the most important causes of low back pain. Currently, there is no method to treat IVDD that can reverse or regenerate intervertebral disc (IVD) tissue, but the recent development of disc tissue engineering (DTE) offers a new means of addressing these disadvantages. Among numerous biomaterials for tissue engineering, silk fibroin (SF) is widely used due to its easy availability and excellent physical/chemical properties.

[Preliminary exploration on effect of yiqi wenyang huoxue lishui treatment on neuroendocrine system in patients with congestive heart failure].

Objective: To study the effect of Yiqi Wenyang Huoxue Lishui principle (YWHL, a therapeutic principle with Chinese medicine for reinforcing Qi warming Yang, activating blood circulation and promoting urination) on some neuroendocrine factors in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF).

Methods: Forty-nine patients of CHF with heart function of grade III-IV were randomly divided into 2 groups. The 29 cases in the treated group were treated with YWHL and the 20 cases in the control group treated with captopril.