[Clinical treatment of 29 cases of acne of "yin-deficiency-inner heat type" by suspended moxibustion].

Objective: To observe the clinical effect of moxibustion therapy for 29 cases of yin-deficiency type acne.

Methods: In this clinical trial, 56 cases of acne patients with yin-deficiency-inner heat type were enrolled. These patients were randomly divided into moxibustion group (treated by suspended moxibustion, n = 29) and control group (treated by acupuncture, n = 27).

Liquiritigenin attenuates the learning and memory deficits in an amyloid protein precursor transgenic mouse model and the underlying mechanisms.

The present paper is to examine whether liquiritigenin is able to attenuate the Alzheimer's-like learning and memory deficits in a transgenic (Tg) mouse model that over-expresses amyloid protein precursor (APP), and explores the underlying mechanisms. Consistent with our previous observations, we found that treatment with liquiritigenin improved the behavioral performance of Tg mice and it attenuated the protein expression of oligomeric form of amyloid β-peptide (Aβ). Furthermore, treatment with liquiritigenin inhibited astrocytosis in the hippocampus, and it may through its inhibitory activities on Notch-2, an important molecular regulating neural proliferation and differentiation.

Promotion of rat brain-derived progenitor cell neurogenesis by liquiritigenin treatment: underlying mechanisms.

The purpose of the present study was to determine if liquiritigenin, which is a newly discovered estrogen receptor beta (ERbeta) agonist, can induce differentiation of brain-derived progenitor cells from rats and to investigate the mechanisms involved. Treatment of brain-derived progenitor cell cultures with liquiritigenin increased the number of cells that differentiated into neurons; but the treatment did not alter the growth of astrocytes. Furthermore, treatment with liquiritigenin decreased Notch-2 mRNA and protein expression, which could promote the growth of new neurons.

Effects of liquiritigenin treatment on the learning and memory deficits induced by amyloid beta-peptide (25-35) in rats.

Considerable evidence has emerged supporting the neuroprotective and cognition-preserving effects of estrogen, but these benefits are complicated by the evidence that estrogen increases the risk of certain cancers. Selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) that specifically target the brain while avoiding peripheral organs offer a way to allow the application of estrogen treatment to neurodegenerative diseases with fewer undesirable effects. In an attempt to find such estrogen substitutes, liquiritigenin was discovered as a relatively selective estrogen receptor beta (ERbeta) agonist.

[Effect of recombinant microplasmin on acute cerebral infarction in rats].

The effect of recombinant microplasmin (micro-plasmin) on acute cerebral infarction was evaluated in rats, and compared with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA). After the model of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) was established by autologous blood clots, different doses of micro-plasmin (2.5, 5, and 10 mg x kg(-1)) were administered into the thrombus intra-arterial.

[Clinical observation on the regularity of acupuncture-induced body-reduction in excess-heat-type obesity patients ].

Objective: To investigate the regularity of acupuncture of the Stomach Meridian for excess-heat-type obesity.

Methods: Fifty-one patients with gastrointestine excess-heat syndrome were randomly divided into treatment group (n = 25) and control group (n = 26) according to the random number table method. Patients of treatment group were treated mainly with acupuncture of acupoints of the Stomach Meridian as bilateral Liangmen (ST 21), Huaroumen (ST 24), Tianshu (ST 25), Wailing (ST 26), etc.