Background and objectives: Radiation treatment in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is known to be associated with increased prevalence of carotid stenosis. The objectives of the study was to determine the prevalence of radiation-induced extracranial carotid stenosis, plaque, carotid intima thickness (CIMT) in NPC patients; to explore whether the stenosis is due to direct effect of radiation rather than general tendency to atherosclerosis. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in the University Malaya Medical Centre from July 2011 to February 2012. The study subjects consisted of 47 NPC patients who were treated with radiation, and 47 healthy control. The patients and control had carotid duplex ultrasound and transcranial Doppler (TCD). Results: The mean age of the patients was 55.1 years, the time lapse from radiation was 76.7 ± 95.3 months. Internal carotid artery (ICA) and common carotid artery (CCA) stenosis of ≥50% was seen in 17.0% of patients vs 2.1 % of controls (p = 0.031), with 61.7% of patients and 19.1% of controls having plaque in ICA and CCA (p=0.004). CIMT was increased in 70.2% of patients and 44.7% of controls (p =0.022). Both the patient group and control had similar rate of intracranial stenosis of 12.8% in TCD. Conclusion: Extracranial internal carotid artery is the most common site of stenosis following radiotherapy in NPC. This suggests that local trauma from irradiation is the most important factor in predisposition to atherosclerosis following radiation therapy.

Objective To develop a teaching and examination system based on Delphi for the obstetric nurse. Methods The teaching materials were collected for the obstetric nurse, the teaching and examination mode was analyzed, and Delphi was used for programming and MySQL database was applied to teaching and examination data. Results The system had easy operation, high stability and rapid response to the database, and could meet the requirements for the teaching and examination of the trainee nurse. Conclusion The system realizes informatization and high expansibility of obstetric teaching and examination, and thus is worthy promoting practically.

Objective To explore the nutritional status of hemodialysis patients with different ages, and analyze the reasons of differences of nutritional status. Methods 109 hemodialysis patients were divided into the young-age group (n=26), the middle-age group (n=49) and the old-age group (n=34). The body indices, blood biochemical parameters, dietary assessment, handgrip strength and subjective global assessment were measured. The nutritional indices and relationship were compared among patients in the three groups. Results Leg circumstance, prealbumin, creatinine, handgrip strength and SGA scores were different among the three groups (P<0.05 or P<0.01). And those five factors were all statistically associated with age (P<0.05). Conclusions With the increase of age, the hemodialysis patients' nutritional status has a descending trend. It's necessary for nursing staff to timely monitor and intervene the nutrition of elderly patients so as to prevent the incidence of malnutrition.

BACKGROUNDThe molecular mechanisms underlying the endometriosis are still not completely understood. In order to test the hypothesis that the approaches in phosphoproteomics might contribute to the identification of key biomarkers to assess disease pathogenesis and drug targets, we carried out a phosphoproteomics analysis of human endometrium.

METHODSA large-scale differential phosphoproteome analysis, using peptide enrichment of titanium dioxide purify and sequential elution from immobilized metal affinity chromatography with linear trap quadrupole-tandem mass spectrometry, was performed in endometrium tissues from 8 women with or without endometriosis.

RESULTSThe phosphorylation profiling of endometrium from endometriosis patients had been obtained, and found that identified 516 proteins were modified at phosphorylation level during endometriosis. Gene ontology annotation analysis showed that these proteins were enriched in cellular processes of binding and catalytic activity. Further pathway analysis showed that ribosome pathway and focal adhesion pathway were the top two pathways, which might be deregulated during the development of endometriosis.

CONCLUSIONSThat large-scale phosphoproteome quantification has been successfully identified in endometrium tissues of women with or without endometriosis will provide new insights to understand the molecular mechanisms of the development of endometriosis.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Chromatography, Affinity ; Endometriosis ; metabolism ; Endometrium ; metabolism ; Female ; Humans ; Phosphoproteins ; analysis ; Phosphorylation ; Proteomics ; methods ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry ; Young Adult

Primary angiitis of the central nervous system (PACNS) is a rare vasculitis restricted to the central nervous system without systemic involvement. Delay in diagnosis and treatment is common due to its non-specific symptoms and lack of non-invasive diagnostic tests. Myelopathy can occur in PACNS, during the clinical course of the illness, with or without cerebral symptoms. We describe here a 51 year-old ethnic Chinese woman who presented initially with paraparesis without cerebral symptoms. The diagnosis of PACNS was eventually made from brain biopsy when she subsequently developed cerebral involvement. Despite aggressive treatment, the patient developed progressive neurological deterioration and died. This patient demonstrates the rare occurrence of myelopathy as the sole initial presentation of PACNS.
Central Nervous System ; Spinal Cord Diseases

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the commonest primary cerebral malignancy consisting of 12- 20% of intracranial brain tumours.1 We report here a patient with GBM with very unusual marked and widespread leptomeningeal GBM.

Hyponatraemia with rapid correction of serum sodium may cause an osmotic demyelination syndrome (ODS) with damage to pontine and/or extrapontine areas of the brain. The prognosis of ODS can range from complete recovery to death; at present, our ability to predict clinical outcome is very limited. We describe here a patient with ODS and increased signal intensity in the striatum on diffusion-weighted MRI, with corresponding low apparent diffusion coeffi cient values (indicating restricted water diffusion). This case provides a further example of the typical MRI appearance of extrapontine ODS and suggests the potential value of diffusion-weighted MRI in predicting prognosis in ODS.

Background and objective: Deep tendon reflexes are important physical signs in neurological examination. Despite being an established technique clinically, there is lack of normality data in the healthy population, especially among the elderly. This study aims to determine the range of normality in deep tendon reflexes among the adults. Methods: The study subjects consisted of 176 healthy volunteers. They were examined by trained assessors using standardized protocol. Results: Among the commonly elicited deep tendon reflexes, isolated absent reflexes were found in up to 34.4% (supinator) in the older group, and 12.5% (triceps) in the young adults, significantly higher in the older group. Symmetrical absent reflexes was seen in up to 26.3% of supinator in the older group. Absent reflexes of the entire limbs both sides were however, much less common particularly among young adults, with 6.3% of the older group having absent reflexes in the entire lower limbs, and 2.5% in the entire upper limbs. Isolated asymmetry in reflex was present in up to 17.0% (triceps). However, only 6.3% had asymmetrical reflexes in the contiguous anatomical region. Conclusion: Isolated absent or asymmetry deep tendon reflexes were common particularly in the elderly.

OBJECTIVETo analyze the status of dietary intake of Chinese adults in 2010.

METHODSIn 2010, China Chronic Disease Surveillance was carried out in 31 provinces and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. The survey was undertaken in 162 surveillance sites in the national disease surveillance points system by stratified multi-stage cluster random sampling. The participants were local residents (living in the area for more than 6 months) aged 18 years and above in the surveillance sites. A semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire was used to measure the dietary intake for 97 187 urban and rural adults aged 18 years and above. After complex weighting for the sample, the average daily consumption for major food was analyzed for different genders and regions.

RESULTSAfter complex weighting, the median of cereal, rice and wheat flour intake for Chinese adults was 375.0 g. The median of livestock meat intake was 57.1 g with western areas (85.7 g) much higher than eastern (57.1 g) and central areas (46.2 g) (χ² = 2054.82, P < 0.01). The median of poultry intake was 7.1 g, eastern areas (10.0 g) higher than western and central areas (both 6.7 g) (χ² = 1210.86, P < 0.01). The median of seafood intake was 14.3 g, eastern (15.0 g) much higher than central (14.3 g) and western areas (7.1 g) (χ² = 5603.37, P < 0.01). The median of daily intake for eggs was 21.4 g, western (14.3 g) lower than eastern and central areas (both 21.4 g) (χ² = 1699.11, P < 0.01). The median of dairy product intake was 42.9 g, eastern (57.1 g) higher than western and central areas (both 35.7 g) (χ² = 196.35, P < 0.01). Overall, 52.8% of urban and rural residents did not meet recommended amount of fruit and vegetable intake. The rate of inadequate intake of fruit and vegetable was higher in rural (55.7%) than urban areas (46.1%, χ² = 929.43, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONThe adult intake of cereal category foods tended to decline in 2010, and the intakes of vegetable and fruits, fishery products as well as dairy products were evidently deficient and regionally varied.

Adolescent ; Adult ; China ; Dairy Products ; Edible Grain ; Feeding Behavior ; Female ; Fruit ; Humans ; Male ; Meat ; Middle Aged ; Nutrition Surveys ; Vegetables ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo study the effect of glutamate on the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mRNA and protein in cultured rat astrocytes under hypoxia.

METHODSCultured rat astrocytes were randomly divided control group, glutamate group, hypoxia group and hypoxia+glutamate group. The cells in the control and glutamate groups were cultured under nomoxic condition (95% air and 5% CO(2)), and those in the other two groups under hypoxic condition (94% N(2), 5% CO(2) and 1% O(2)). The total RNA was extracted from the cells at different time points of hypoxic exposure for real-time FQ-PCR and ELISA to detect the expression of VEGF mRNA and protein in cultured astrocytes, respectively.

RESULTSThe expressions of VEGF mRNA and protein underwent no significant changes in the control glutamate groups, but increased obviously in both hypoxia and hypoxia+glutamate groups at 2, 4, 6, 8 and 12 h of hypoxic exposure. At these time points, VEGF expressions at both the mRNA and protein levels were significantly higher in hypoxia+glutamate group than in hypoxia group.

CONCLUSIONGlutamate at 1 micromol/L can further increase the expression of VEGF mRNA and protein in astrocytes exposed to hypoxia, which may result from the adaptive changes of glutamate receptors in hypoxic astrocytes.

Animals ; Animals, Newborn ; Astrocytes ; cytology ; metabolism ; Cell Hypoxia ; Cells, Cultured ; Female ; Glutamic Acid ; pharmacology ; Male ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A ; genetics ; metabolism