Effect of Aike Mixture(艾可合剂) on the Inflammatory Infiltration in Patients with Chronic Prostatitis Type Ⅲ A

Objective：To observe the effect of Aike Mixture（艾可合剂,AKM） on prostatic inflammatory infiltration in patients with chronic prostatitis typeⅢA（ⅢA-CP/CPPS） and evaluate its anti-inflammatory action. Methods：A total of 60 patients with 1 A-CP/CPPS suitable to operation and differentiated as Chinese medicine Gan（肝）-qi stagnancy syndrome type were selected.They were assigned with the random number table to two groups equally.Before operation,the patients in the treated group were administered with Proscar combined with AKM,but those in the control group treated with Proscar only.Suprapubic transvesical prostatectomy was performed two weeks later,and prostatic pathological examination was conducted.Results：Grading of inflammatory cell infiltration showed that the mean grade in the treated group was 0.78±0.90 grades,which was sihnificantly lower than that in the control group 1.68±0.87 grades（P〈0.05）.However,the two groups were not different in the grades of fibroblast proliferation（1.50±0.70 grades vs 1.62±0.87 grades,P〉0.05）.Conclusion： AKM could suppress the inflammatory cell infiltration,be an effective and safe remedy for the treatment ofⅢA-CP/ CPPS of Gan-qi stagnancy syndrome type,and worthy for spreading in clinical use.

Imaging and clinical properties of inflammatory demyelinating pseudotumor in the spinal cord

Inflammatory demyelinating pseudotumor usually occurs in the brain and rarely occurs in the spinal cord. On imaging, inflammatory demyelinating pseudotumor appears very similar to intramedullary tumors such as gliomas. It is often misdiagnosed as intramedullary tumor and surgically resected. In view of this, the clinical and magnetic resonance imaging manifestations and the pathological fea- tures of 36 cases of inflammatory demyelinating pseudotumer in the spinal cord were retrospec- tively analyzed and summarized. Most of these cases suffered from acute or subacute onset and exhibited a sensofimotor disorder. Among them, six cases were misdiagnosed as having intrame- dullary gliomas, and inflammatory demyelinating pseudotumor was only identified and pathologically confirmed after surgical resection. Lesions in the cervical and thoracic spinal cord were common. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed edema and space-occupying lesions to varying degrees at the cervical-thoracic junction, with a predominant feature of non-closed rosette-like reinforcement （open-loop sign）. Pathological examination showed perivascular cuffing of predominantly dense lymphocytes, and demyelination was observed in six of the misdiagnosed cases. These re- sults suggest that tumor-like inflammatory demyelinating disease in the spinal cord is a kind of special demyelinating disease that can be categorized as inflammatory pseudotumor. These solitary lesions are easily confused with intramedullary neoplasms. Patchy or non-closed reinforcement （open-ring sign） on magnetic resonance imaging is the predominant property of inflammatory de- myelinating pseudotumor, and inflammatory cell infiltration and demyelination are additional patho- logical properties.

The“two-pronged”nanosystem to precisely improve lipid metabolism and inflammatory microenvironment for atherosclerotic plaque stabilization

The rupture of atherosclerosis(AS)vulnerable plaque is the major cause of fatal arterial thrombosis related diseases.The lipid dysbolism and pro-inflammatory microenvironment are considered two main driving factors for plaque rupture.Herein,a“two-pronged”nanosystem LCS-Se/Res was designed to efficiently stabilize AS plaques,by precisely regulating lipid metabolism and inflammatory microenvironment.LCS-Se/Res was constructed with the core of resveratrol(Res)loaded selenium(Se)nanoparticles(NPs),and the shell(LCS)of targeting peptide(LSIPPKA)modified chitosan(CS).This system was stable in blood circulation.When it arrived at the plaque site,LCS-Se/Res could actively recognize the highly expressed lectin-like oxidized low-density lipoprotein receptor 1(LOX-1)receptor and accumulate there.Thereafter,Res was released from LCS-Se nanocarriers in situ by responding to acidic plaque microenvironment.On the one hand,Res increased autophagy flux in damaged endothelial cells by activating cAMP-PKA-AMPK-SIRT1 signaling pathway to promote lipid degradation.Interestingly,LCS-Se also promoted cholesterol efflux to improve lipid metabolism.On the other hand,fixed-point separated Res and LCS-Se synergistically improved plaque inflammatory microenvironment by reversing macrophage phenotype(M1 to M2)and alleviating plaque oxidative stress.Pharmacodynamics result proved that the plaque vulnerability index(VI)decreased from 1.39±0.282 to 0.108±0.02 after LCS-Se/Res treatment.In short,this study provided a new therapeutic strategy for the atherosclerosis through the two-pronged approach.