Subcutaneous injection of botulinum toxin a is beneficial in postherpetic neuralgia.

Objective: To assess the benefits of subcutaneous injection of botulinum toxin A (BTX-A) for the treatment of postherpetic neuralgia (PHN).

Design: We investigated the therapeutic benefits of BTX-A in subjects with PHN in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Sixty subjects with PHN were randomly and evenly distributed into BTX-A, lidocaine, and placebo groups.

Hepatitis B virus core protein with hot-spot mutations inhibit MxA gene transcription but has no effect on inhibition of virus replication by interferon α.

It has been reported that hepatitis B virus (HBV) core protein (HBc) can inhibit the transcription of human interferon-induced MxA gene. In this study, we investigated whether HBc protein mutations at hot spots (L60V, S87G and I97L) could still inhibit MxA transcription and the potential significance of this inhibition in virus replication in vitro. Our data indicated that the IFN-induced MxA mRNA expression level and MxA promoter activity was significantly down-regulated by mutant protein of HBc(I97L), compared to WT and the other two mutated HBc proteins(L60V or S87G).

The combination of morphine and minocycline may be a good treatment for intractable post-herpetic neuralgia.

Post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN) is a devastating complication of shingles. The treatment of PHN with traditional pharmaceutical agents has various side effects. Therefore, the treatment of intractable PHN is often very time consuming, mainly because the available treatments often lead to intolerable side effects before the efficient dose can be reached.

Increased mRNA expression of interferon-induced Mx1 and immunomodulation following oral administration of IFN-alpha2b-transformed B. longum to mice.

We previously constructed an arabinose-inducible recombinant Bifidobacterium longum that could efficiently express secreted IFN-alpha2b in vitro (Deng et al. in Arch Microbiol 191:681-686, 2009). Here, we investigated the influence of oral pBAD-SPIFN-transformed B.

Percutaneous posterior-lateral lumbar interbody fusion for degenerative disc disease using a B-Twin expandable spinal spacer.

Degenerative disc disease (DDD) causes gradual intervertebral space collapse, concurrent discogenic or facet-induced pain, and possible compression radiculopathy. A new minimal invasion procedure of percutaneous posterior-lateral lumbar interbody fusion (PPLIF) using a B-Twin stand-alone expandable spinal spacer (ESS) was designed to treat this disease and evaluated by follow-up more than 1 year. 12 cases with chronic low back pain and compressive radiculopathy due to DDD refractory were selected to conservative treatment.

Signal peptide of Arabinosidase enhances secretion of interferon-alpha2b protein by Bifidobacteria longum.

Bifidobacteria can potentially be used for gene therapy. Here, we reported that 65% of the total hIFN-alpha2b produced from Bifidobacteria longum transformed with pBAD-SPIFN plasmids encoding a fusion protein of the arabinosidase signal peptide and human IFN-alpha2b (hIFN-alpha2b), was secreted. For B.

Conservative management of pediatric nephrolithiasis caused by melamine-contaminated milk powder.

Objective: In this article we report our experience with the diagnostic screening and management of children with melamine-induced nephrolithiasis.

Methods: A total of 1091 children younger than 4 years who had been exposed to melamine-contaminated formula from September 17 to October 12, 2008, were screened for nephrolithiasis at the department of pediatrics at Shenzhen Nanshan Hospital in China. During the clinical examination, each patient's demographic characteristics were recorded together with the details of his or her milk-consumption profile during the contamination scare and any clinical signs of poisoning.

Minocycline may attenuate postherpetic neuralgia.

Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is a chronic pain syndrome and one of the most common complications of herpes zoster. Although the pathophysiological mechanisms involved in PHN are still largely unknown, it seems reasonable to assume that there are lesions of the peripheral afferent pain pathways and inflammation-induced damage to afferent ganglia in the spinal cord. Growing body of evidence indicates that the glial cells, particularly microglia (CNS macrophages) and astrocytes are activated following peripheral and central noxious insult and their activation is thought to play an important role in central sensitization.

[Study on correlation between HLA-A, B, DR alleles and Duchenne muscular dystrophy].

Objective: To analyze the polymorphism of HLA-A, B and DR alleles of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients in Han nationality of South China and to discuss the role of immune and genetic factors in the pathogenesis of DMD and muscular fiber necrosis.

Methods: Polymerase chain reaction-reverse sequence specific oligonucleotide (PCR-RSSO) and National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) were used to analyze the polymorphism of HLA-A,B and DR alleles of 113 DMD patients and 406 normal controls in Han nationality of South China.

Results: The frequencies of HLA-A24, A30 alleles in DMD group were 11.

[Application of non-invasive hemodynamic monitoring on high-risk surgical patients in the early stages after emergency admission].

Objective: Pulmonary artery (PA) catheterization monitoring (Swan-Ganz) is usually not available to critically high-risk surgical patients before admission to ICU, where action to correct values derived from such monitoring may be too late. To explored the effect of non-invasive monitoring systems that allow hemodynamic monitoring during the early stages after trauma.

Methods: The early temporal hemodynamic patterns after high-risk trauma with non-invasive monitoring systems were evaluated, and compared these to invasive PA monitoring.