OBJECTIVETo investigate the clinical efficacy of Ginkgo biloba injection combined with traditional therapy in the treatment of explosive deafness.

METHODSFifty-six (98 ears) participants who were all coal miners were selected. These patients were diagnosed with explosive deafness. and admitted to the otolaryngology department of our hospital from May 2010 to October 2013. They were.equally divided into control group and treatment group according to the therapeutic method. The patients in the control group only received traditional therapy, such as hyperbaric oxygen, while the patients in the treatment group were given Ginkgo biloba injection in addition to the therapy for the control group. The improvement in hearing was recorded and compared between the two groups.

RESULTSThe rate of improvement in tinnitus symptom in the treatment group was 78.0% (32/41), significantly higher than that in the control group (55.6%, 25/45) (χ2=4.857, P<0.05); compared with the treatment group (93.5%, 43/46), the control group had a significant lower overall response rate at 76.9% (40/52) (χ2=5.160, P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONCompared with traditional therapy alone, combined ginkgo biloba extract injection and traditional therapy can significantly improve tinnitus symptom and overall response rate in the treatment of explosive deafness in coal miners, which suggests that the combination therapy is worthy of clinical application.

Coal Mining ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Deafness ; drug therapy ; Explosions ; Ginkgo biloba ; chemistry ; Hearing Tests ; Humans ; Injections ; Noise, Occupational ; adverse effects ; Oxygen ; therapeutic use ; Phytotherapy ; Plant Extracts ; therapeutic use ; Tinnitus ; drug therapy

BACKGROUND:At present, an increasing number of bone graft materials are inactivated using peracetic acid-ethanol solution, but there is no report on whether virus inactivation using peracetic acid-ethanol solution has effects on osteogenic induction of demineralized bone matrix. OBJECTIVE: To explore the effects of virus inactivation using peracetic acid-ethanol solution on the osteogenic activity of demineralized bone matrix. METHODS: Long bones of Sprauge-Dawley rats were selected to make demineralized bone matrix meal. A part of bone meal was placed into gelatin capsules and sterilized by60Coγ irradiation as control group; another part of bone meal was placed into gelatin capsules folowing virus inactivation using peracetic acid-ethanol solution, and then sterilized using60Coγ as experimental group. After that,40 Sprauge-Dawley rats were enroled, and gelatin capsules in the experimental and control groups were respectively implanted into the bilateral psoas muscles of the lumbar spine. At 2, 4, 6, 8 weeks after implantation, the bone grafts were removed for gross and histological observations. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:At 8 weeks after implantation, the bone mass in the experimental group was not intact in shape with scattered particles, and under light microscope, a few of osteoblasts and new vessels were seen; the bone mass in the control group had hard texture and complete morphology, and under light microscope, mature bone trabeculae wrapped with osteoblasts and new vessels were visible and there were ful of fat cels and bone marrow cells between the bone trabeculae. The number of new microvessels in the experimental group was lower than that in the control group at different time (P < 0.001); at 8 weeks after implantation, the calcium content, alkaline phosphatase content, inorganic phosphorus content and new bone growth rate were all lower in the experimental group than the control group (P < 0.001). These findings indicate that peracetic acid-ethanol for virus inactivation has some negative effects on the osteogenic induction of demineralized bone matrix.

Objective To evaluate the prognostic value of enhanced CURB and CURB-65 score in patients with community acquired pneumonia.Methods A retrospective study was conducted among 555 patients with community-acquired pneumonia recruited.According to the patient's 28 day outcome, they were divided into effective group(n=510, 57 cured and 453 improved) and ineffective group(n=45, 30 did not improve and 15 died).The prognosis of the two groups was evaluated using the enhanced CURB and CURB-65 score, the sensitivity and specificity of the two scoring methods were compared.Results Compared with the ineffective group, the age, length of hospital stay and the prevalence of the complications of chronic diseases were significantly lower than the effective group(P<0.05).The score of enhanced CURB and CURB-65 of ineffective group were significantly higher than the effective group(P<0.05).The sensitivity of enhanced CURB score was significantly higher than that of CURB-65 (P<0.05) while its specificity was significantly lower than that of CURB-65(P<0.05).Conclusion The CURB and CURB-65 score in community acquired pneumonia can effectively assess the severity of the disease and thus guide the treatment of patients with community acquired pneumonia.

The prevalence of burnout amongst primary care physicians (PCPs) in Singapore is likely to be high. The resilient PCP is less likely to suffer from burnout and might recover faster from this condition. Mindfulness and self-compassionate practices are evidence-based skill sets that can enhance PCP resilience in the face of high work-stress. This article briefly explores the evidence base for mindfulness and self-compassionate practices, and details some simple examples of these practices that the reader can attempt.

The prevalence of burnout amongst primary care physicians (PCPs) in Singapore is likely to be high. Burnout has a negative impact on sleep quality, and poor sleep quality in turn feeds into burnout resulting in a vicious perpetuating cycle. Evidenced-based behavioural strategies can be useful to help improve sleep quality, which in turn contributes to the amelioration of burnout. This article details some of the evidence-based behavioural strategies that PCPs can use to improve their own sleep quality if used consistently.

Objective To control the quality of Danlong Kangchi Capsules, fully extract efficiency ingredients and ensure the therapeutic effect by studying the extraction process of the capsule. Methods With the extracting quantity of tanshinoneⅡA, ginsenoside Rb1 and Rg1, Icariin and extract ratio as indexes, the better process parameters with ethanol or water extracting were selected by simple factor test and orthogonal test to Danlong Kangchi Capsules. Results The herbs such as root of red-rooted salvia were extracted by 75% ethanol as a solvent, reflux extracting two times, adding 8 times and 6 times solvent volume respectively, extracting 1.5 and 1.0 hour respectively. Dregs after ethanol extracting and the herbs such as herba Epimedii were decocted by waters soaking 0.5 hour, extracting two times, adding 12 times and 10 times solvent volume respectively, extracting 2.0 and 1.5 hours respectively. Conclusions Extracting processes were validated to be stable and feasible.

Given the stressful demands of their work, primary care physicians are susceptible to experiencing burnout. Evidence-based strategies to effectively manage emotions at work are essential to preventing physician burnout. This article details the role of emotional regulation in a physician’s workplace, a model for understanding the processes underlying emotion regulation, and the theorised pathways to emotion dysregulation. Finally, this article provides strategies to assist the physician in practicing regular adaptive emotion regulation so as to reduce burnout.

ObjectiveTo study the method about language rehabilitation for Broca aphasis with bucco-facial apraxia in hemiplebies after stroke.Methods55 patients in hemiplegies after stroke who were diagnoised Broca aphasia with bucco-facial-apraxia by Chinese standard language test of aphasia and apraxia test,were randomly divided into two groups:treatment group(30 cases) and control group(25 cases). The trainning about language rehabilitation and occupational therapy(OT)to bucco-facial-apraxia were given in the treatment group, while in the control group the language rehabilitation training were given only. Evaluation was done in pre-treatment and post-treatment respectively.ResultsThe improvement of bucco-facial-apraxia and language expression function(repetition,speech and speech-reading) of treatment group were significant than that of control group (P<0.05).Conclusions The OT for bucco-facial-apraxia may obviously improved bucco-facial-apraxia and language expression function on training of language rehabilitation for Broca aphasia with bucco-facial-apraxia.

Objective To explore the effects of combining tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-αt) inhibitor with adenosine A2b receptor antagonist CVT-6883 on asthmatic lung irflammation in mice.Methods A total of 40 female Balb/c mice were evenly randomized into 5 groups,including normal control group,asthma group,CVT-6883 group,CVT-6883 + etanercept group,and etanercept group.The pathological changes in the lungs were determined and the number of white blood cells(WBC) and eosinophil(EOS) in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid(BALF) was counted by cell count in each group.The levels of TNF-α in BALF were evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).The expression of adenosine A2b receptor mRNA in the lung tissues were measured by reverse transcriptionpolymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).Results 1.The lung tissue in asthma group,dyed by HE,was found to have a large number of airway inflammatory cell infiltration,thickening of the bronchial mucosa,the alveolar septa widened and fracture.In the CVT-6883,CVT-6883 + etanercept and etanercept group,the pathological changes were relieved.2.The WBC and EOS counts in BALF of the asthma group[(413.8 ±5.8)/L,(139.3 ± 1.4)/L] were higher than those of the normal control group [(24.0 ± 1.3)/L,(1.8 ± 0.1)/L,P ＜ 0.05].The WBC and EOS counts of the CVT-6883 group[(111.5 ±3.8)/L,(3.3 ±0.1)/L],the etanercept group + the CVT-6883 group[(173.8 ±3.9)/L,(10.4 ± 0.2)/L],and the etanercept group[(138.4 ± 3.0)/L,(4.1 ± 0.1)/L] were lower than those of the asthma group (P ＜0.05).3.Compared with the control group(100.4 ± 5.7) ng/L,the TNF-α concentration of the asthma group (145.2 ± 8.8) ng/L was significantly higher (P ＜ 0.05) ; the TNF-α concentration of CVT-6883 group (130.9 ± 5.9) ng/L,CVT-6883 + etanercept group(115.7 ± 8.2) ng/L and the etanercept group(122.0 ± 8.7) ng/L,were significantly decreased compared with asthma group (P ＜ 0.05).4.In asthma group (8.9 ± 1.1) compared with the control group(0.6 ± 0.2),the A2bAR (adenosine A2b receptor) mRNA expression was upregulated (P ＜ 0.05) ; CVT-6883 group(1.6 ±0,3),CVT-6883 + etanercept group(2.5 ±0.6) and the etanercept group(5.3 ±0.4),the A2bAR(adenosine A2b receptor) mRNA expression was significantly decreased compared with asthma group (all P ＜0,05).Conclusion Combination of TNF-α inhibitor with adenosine A2b receptor antagonist can reduce asthmatic lung inflammation.

Dust ; prevention & control ; Germany ; Humans ; Metallurgy ; Occupational Exposure ; prevention & control ; Occupational Health ; Population Surveillance ; Silicon ; adverse effects