Objective To evaluate the role of procalcitonin (PCT) in the diagnosis and treatment of infective endocarditis (IE).Methods It was a retrospective study of 20 cases diagnosed as IE with positive culture between June 2010 and June 2012 of First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University,Department of Infectious Diseases.Results The concentration of C-Reactive Protein (CRP) and PCT in the dead group recorded on the first day and the fifth day in the treatment was significant higher than the survival group.The decreased degree of CRP and PCT concentration after treatment in the dead group was much deeper than the survival group.Moreover,the concentration of CRP and PCT in Staphylococcus aureus IE and negative bacilli IE were significant higher than Streptococcus viridans IE or Enterococcus faecalis IE,which was commonly above 2 μg/ml level.Conclusions Serum procalcitonin,lined with CRP,has the similar significance in the assessment of infective endocarditis severity,however,PCT is slightly better than CRP in assessing prognosis.The concentration of procalcitonin has implications to the strains of IE pathogen,in the mean time,it' s beneficial to guide the early use of antibiotics.

Objective To evaluate the effect of community systemic management on quality of life in patients with hypertension.Methods A cross-sectional study was used to survey 224 patients with essential hypertension systemically managed in community and 205 non-management patients using the questionnaire including demographic information,behaviour,years of hypertension,treatment,Chinese version SF-36 short form of quality of life and the symptom distress checklist.Student-t test,?2-test,and covariance analysis was used in data analysis.Result The managed patients' mean score of knowledge(6.40?1.31)was significantly higher than that in non-managed patients'(5.02?1.82,t=8.82,P

Objective To explore main influencing factors of quality of life in patients with essential hypertension.Methods 644 patients with essential hypertension were investigated in a cross-sectional study with the questionnaire including demographic information,behaviour,years of hypertension,treatment,Chinese version SF-36 short form of quality of life.Influencing factors was analyzed by variance analysis and stepwise multivariate linear regression.Results Multivariable analysis showed that age,history of mental distress within the last one year,family income,physical exercise,attitude,knowledge,ordinary blood pressure,and community comprehensive management significantly influenced quality of life of patients with hypertension,with their standardized coefficients being-0.204,-0.097,0.102,-0.174,-0.197,0.129,-0.178 and-0.227 respectively.Conclusions To improve hypertension patients' quality of life,it is should be strengthened to control their blood pressure effectively,to enhance their health education and feasible exercise,and to improve their pessimistic attitude with psychological intervention.

Anti-Lipid-Peroxidation of Hovenia dulcis Thunb. in mice was studied. Results showed that H. dulcis Thunb. had the following functions: 1. decrease MAD contents of serum and tissucs of liver and brain. 2. increase SOD activity in tissues of liver, kidney and brain. 3.impart tolerance toward cold and heat, and prolong swimming time of mice. The results indicate tLat H. dulcis Thunb. has function of Anti-Lipid-Peroxidation and may be valuable for the retardation of senility.

AIM To research synergetic analgesic effect of asarum and verapamil. METHODS Acetic acid caused body turning experiment and hot plate induced pain experiment were used to observe analgesic effect, and the influence of action potential of toad sciatic nerve was observed by nerve chamber and multi media MS 302 system. RESULTS Asarum and A V compound has remarkable analgestic effect of pain in mice induced by acetic acid and hot plate. It also inhibited action potential transmission of toad sciatic nerve. Verpamil has faint analgestic effect but was not able to inhibit action potential transmission of toad sciatic nerve. A V compound had greater effect of analgesia and inhibition of nerve action potential transmission than its components asarum and verapamil. CONCLUSION Asarum and aerapamil have analgesia synergism.

Objective To explore the diagnostic value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in detecting small liver metastasis (SLM) from breast cancer. Methods A total of 92 cases diagnosed as breast cancer by surgical pathology and suspected SLM by conventional ultrasonography were included in this study. CEUS was used to check liver lesion in patients. The biopsy operation was used as the gold standard. The coincidence rate of benign and malignant pathology was used to compare the consistency between CEUS and biopsy pathology. Results In 92 cases suspected liver metastases of breast cancer by routine ultrasound, there were 54 cases were diagnosed as benign by pathology, and all 92 cases were diagnosed as benign by CEUS. Thirty-eight cases were diagnosed as metastasis by pathology, in which 36 cases were correctly diagnosed by CEUS. The sensitivity of CEUS for the diagnosis of liver metastases of breast cancer was 94.74%(36/38), specificity was 100%(54/54), positive predictive value (PPV) was 100%(36/36) and negative predictive value (NPV) was 96.43%(54/56). Conclusion CEUS has a higher diagnostic value in SLM of breast cancer, and has clinical practical value.

Aim To evaluate the short-term biocompatibility of a newkind of prosthetic nucleus-Evergel, which is made from the modifiedpolyvinyl alcohol hydrogel. Methods According to China national standardGB/T16886 documents, the toxicity of Evergel prosthetic nucleus materialwas investigated by the cytotoxicity test, sensitization test, haemolysis test,Ames test, mice marrow micronucleus test and chromosome aberration test ofmammalian cell in vitro. Results This material had no cytoxicity, no sen-sitivity, no obvious haemolysis, and no mutagencity in Ames test, micemarrow micronucleus test and chromosome aberration test of mammalian cellin vitro. Conclusion The Evergel prosthetic nucleus has a good biocom-patibility and can be used clinically.

Objective: To examine the reliability and validity of the Columbia suicide screen (CSS) in detecting suicide risk for junior middle school students. Methods: Using convenient sampling, 902 students of a junior middle school were tested with CSS and Beck depression inventory (BDI) .Cronbach's alpha coefficient, parity split-half coefficient and test-retest reliability were examined after two weeks.Content validity was evaluated using specialist analysis and sensibility analysis.The BDI was used to explore the correlative validity.The convergent validity of CSS and another suicide risk screening method was examined. Results: The proportion of students with suicide problem (suicide ideation or suicide attempts), suicide ideation within the previous year and suicide attempts in the past were 14.97%(135/902), 14.19%(128/902)and 3.66%(33/902) respectively.The Cronbach's alpha coefficient and Parity split-half coefficient of CSS were 0.844 and 0.908, respectively.The test-retest reliability of CSS were screening of suicide ideation (ICC=0.897), screening of suicide attempts (ICC=0.798), screening of substance use (ICC=0.882), screening of suicide problem (ICC=0.881), and screening of suicide problem combine depression (ICC=0.829) (P<0.01). Sensibility analysis of CSS showed the cronbach α ranged from 0.834 to 0.845.Correlative validity between CSS and BDI were screening of suicide ideation(ρ=0.238, 0.337, 0.334, 0.599), screening of suicide attempts(ρ=0.122, 0.231, 0.310, 0.221), screening of depression(ρ=0.335, 0.309, 0.196, 0.215), screening of suicide problem(ρ=0.240, 0.328, 0.321, 0.590)and screening of suicide problem combine depression(ρ=0.212, 0.324, 0.320, 0.474)(P<0.01). Convergent validity between CSS and another suicide risk screening method were screening of suicide ideation(ρ=0.468), screening of suicide attempts(ρ=0.349), screening of suicide problem(ρ=0.453), and screening of suicide problem combine depression(ρ=0.469)(P<0.01). Conclusion CSS has good internal consistency reliability, split-half reliability and content validity.Screening of suicide ideation, suicide attempts, suicide problem and suicide problem combine depression have good test-retest reliability, but the correlative validity and convergent validity are not satisfying.These four screening methods can only be used for preliminary screening suicide risk in junior middle school students.

Severe acute pancreatitis-associated acute lung injury (SAP-ALI) is a serious disease associated with high mortality. Emodin has been applied to alleviate SAP-ALI; however, the mechanism remains unclear. We report that the therapeutic role of emodin in attenuating SAP-ALI is partly dependent on an exosomal mechanism. SAP rats had increased levels of plasma exosomes with altered protein contents compared to the sham rats. These infused plasma exosomes tended to accumulate in the lungs and promoted the hyper-activation of alveolar macrophages and inflammatory damage. Conversely, emodin treatment decreased the plasma/pancreatic exosome levels in the SAP rats. Emodin-primed exosomes showed less pro-inflammatory effects in alveolar macrophages and lung tissues than SAP exosomes. In detail, emodin-primed exosomes suppressed the NF-κB pathway to reduce the activation of alveolar macrophage and ameliorate lung inflammation by regulating PPARγ pathway, while these effects were amplified/abolished by PPARγ agonist/antagonist. Blockage of pancreatic acinar cell exosome biogenesis also exhibited suppression of alveolar macrophage activation and reduction of lung inflammation. This study suggests a vital role of exosomes in participating inflammation-associated organ-injury, and indicates emodin can attenuate SAP-ALI by reducing the pancreatic exosome-mediated alveolar macrophage activation.