Objective To explore the dynamic changes of D-dimers during pregnancy and early puerperium (within 3 days postpartum). Methods A retrospective study was performed among 8 367 healthy women who had term singleton delivery in Women′s Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University from January 2007 to December 2014. D-dimers concentrations during pregnancy and early puerprium of all the cases were collected. Data of 21 065 D-dimers tests were assigned to 5 groups according to the time of sampling, including early pregnancy (≤12 gestation weeks), middle pregnancy (12-28 gestation weeks), late pregnancy (>28 gestation weeks), 1 postpartum (within 48 hours postpartum) and 2 postpartum (48-72 hours postpartum). The D-dimers concentrations in different groups were compared. The effect of delivery mode on D-dimers of early pureperium was analyzed. The correlation between D-dimers and the thromboembolic disease was also explored. In this study, Student′s t-test and Wilcoxon rank sum test were used for statistical analysis. D-dimers concentration≤0.5 mg/L was used as the normal range. Results (1) D-dimers concentrations during pregnancy were higher than the non-pregnant women (P<0.01), but there was no statistical difference between early pregnancy and late pregnancy (P=0.820). D-dimers concentration in the 1 postpartum group was higher than that of early pregnancy group or late pregnancy group (P<0.01). But in the 2 postpartum group, it was lower than early pregnancy, late pregnancy and 1 postpartum groups. (2)D-dimers in cesarean section cases was significantly higher than in vaginal delivery cases in each period of pregnancy and early pueprium.(3)The 95%CI of D-dimers in early pregnancy, late pregnancy, 48 hours after vaginal delivery, 48-72 hours after vaginal delivery, ≤48 hours after cesarean section, 48-72 hours after cesarean section were 0.58-8.28, 0.47-11.52, 1.04-9.59, 0.87-5.22, 1.07-11.58 and 1.00-6.23 mg/L, respectively.(4)In 6 cases with thromboembolic disease, D-dimers was 6.89-19.89 mg/L, with the mean value of 13.66 mg/L. It was significantly higher than normal range. In 3 cases, all after cesarean section, with lower extremity vein thrombosis within 48 hours postpartum, the D-dimers concentrations, 9.77, 8.65 and 6.89 mg/L respectively, were in the 95%CI of the study population after cesarean section. Conclusions D-dimers concentration of 0.5 mg/L is not suitable for venous thromboembolism screening during pregnancy. D-dimers concentration in pregnancy and early puerprium is higher than non-pregnancy. It increases in the very early period postpartum and decreases with time. D-dimers should not be a routine screening test to exclude thromboembolic disease in pregnant women without high risk factors and clinical manifestation of thromboembolic disease.

BACKGROUND:Recently, the clinical repair methods of irregular wound on fingers primarily include local pedicled flap and free mini-flap of upper extremities or lower extremities.
OBJECTIVE:To discuss the application of free mini-flap derived from upper limb in repairing the wound on fingers.
METHODS:From December 2010 to February 2014, 12 patients with irregular wounds on 12 fingers were selected from Department of Traumatic Orthopaedics and Hand Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, China. The size of wounds ranged from 1.5 cm × 2.0 cm to 3.0 cm × 4.5 cm with different degrees of bone or tendon exposure. After the debridement, 12 patients were treated by free mini-flaps of upper limb. The donor sites were directly sutured.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Among the 12 patients, al the wounds at recipient and donor sites were healed at stage I, and the free mini-flags survival completely. Al of patients were fol owed up for 3-6 months (average 4.5 months). Free mini-flags had good appearance and needn’t undergo secondary trimming. The active motion of fingers was improved dominantly. According to the criteria of Hand Surgery Association Society of Chinese Medical Association Society for the function evaluation of upper limb, three cases were excellent, eight were good, and only one was bad. The excellent and good rate was 91%. Free mini-flaps of upper limb are an ideal method for repair of wounds on fingers. It has no injury to normal tissue in hands, donor site is very secluded, and the short-term curative effect is good.

Objective To evaluate the performance of VITEK-2 compact,VITEK MS and Bruker MS on the identification of Corynebacterium.Methods This was a methodological evaluation study.The 40 Corynebacterium from bioMerieux were i-dentified with the three methods respectively.16S rDNA gene sequencing was conducted as reference method.Made a de-scriptive analysis of the identification ability,time and cost.Resulets The accuracy of species level of the three methods was 95.0%,88.9% and 97.5%.The mean time was 5~6 h,2~3 min and 2~3 min.The cost of consumable was 50~70 yuan, 15~25 yuan and 10~20 yuan.Conclution Three methods with high accuracy can meet the requirement of clinical diagno-sis,and the identification ability of VITEK MS on Corynebacterium amycolatum need to be further improved.

BACKGROUND:Pedicle screw is the major instrumentation of surgery in thoracic spine. However, there have been few reports about pedicle morphology relevant to screw insertion tracts, and few reports comparing the normal adolescents and adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients. OBJECTIVE:To compare the morphologic characteristics of the thoracic pedicle with regard to safe thoracic pedicle screw placement in normal adolescents and adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients. METHODS: Thoracic pedicles of thirty-five normal adolescents and thirty-five adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients were measured with three-dimensional reconstruction CT images. Measured parameters include (1) critical distance: the shortest distance from an entry point to the ventral cortex of the lamina. (2) Safe distance: the distance from the entry point to the tangent of the spinal canal at the medial wal of the pedicle. (3) Pedicle screw length. (4) Pedicle width. (5) Pedicle transverse angle. The dangerous area was defined as the distance between the critical distance and the safe distance. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The mean critical distance was (9.2±1.0) mm for the normal adolescents, and (9.4±1.2) mm for the adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients. Safe distances were significantly less in normal adolescents (14.7±0.8) mm than that of the adolescent idiopathic scoliosis group (15.4±1.4) mm (P < 0.001). The dangerous area was (5.4±0.7) mm for the normal adolescents, which was significantly less than that of the adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients (6.0±1.0) mm (P < 0.001). Pedicle screw length was (36.6±4.1) mm for the normal adolescents and (37.1±5.3) mm for the adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients. Pedicle width was (5.8±1.2) mm for the normal adolescents and (5.7±1.7) mm for the adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients. No significant difference in critical distance, pedicle screw length and pedicle width was found between the two groups (P=0.382, 0.135, 0.293). Pedicle transverse angle decreased gradualy from T1 to T12 in both groups. These results verify that pedicle morphology of many parameters is different between normal adolescents and adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients, especialy in the apical area of the thoracic curve.

Objectives To study the performance of different microbial automated inoculation systems and to evaluate the performance of the Probact microbial automated inoculation and incubation system ( Probact system) and its applications in clinical microbiology laboratory.Methods A total of 160 clinical specimens, including respiratory secretions ( n=61 ) , urine ( n=49 ) , and feces ( n=50 ) , that were submitted to the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory in Peking Union Medical College Hospital of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences from February 2015 to April 2015 were evaluated.These specimens were processed with conventional manual method, the Probact automated inoculation system, and PREVI Isola Inoculator.The quantity of bacterial species recovery, number of effectively isolated colonies, total number of colonies recovery per plate, and time of processing the 160 specimens by the three methods were evaluated. Wilcoxon signed-rank test and Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test were used for statistical analysis.Results The Probact system had significantly higher quantity of bacterial species recovery (respiratory specimens 3.41 ±1.40, urine 1.92 ±0.86, and feces 1.16 ±0.79) than those by the Isola Inoculator (respiratory specimens 3.75 ±1.29, urine 2.24 ±0.97, and feces 1.92 ±0.72), (P=0.006, 0.011, <0.001).Compared to the manual method, Probact performed less quantity of bacterial species recovery for respiratory specimens(3.85 ±1.38), but higher in feces(0.80 ±0.81)( P<0.001).There is no significant differences for urine ( 1.84 ±1.23 ) ( P=0.266 ) .As for number of isolated colony, the Probact system ( respiratory specimens 12.16 ±7.72, urine 2.71 ±4.24, and feces 5.40 ±5.04 ) had significant smaller numbers than that of Isola Inoculator (respiratory specimens 16.56 ±5.76, urine 4.35 ± 4.89, and feces 8.40 ±3.70) (P<0.001,0.007,0.003).However, both system had larger numbers of isolated colonies than those by the manual method (respiratory specimens 11.30 ±8.42, urine 2.67 ±4.34, and feces 1.90 ±3.90) and the difference was significant for fecal specimens(P<0.001).Regarding the total number of colonies recovery, larger number was found by Isola Inoculator than that by the Probact system for fecal specimens, however, there were no significant differences for respiratory or urine specimens (P=0.524,0.738).Compared with manual method, the Probact system had significantly more numbers of colonies recovery for respiratory and fecal specimens ( P<0.001 ) . The total time for processing 160 specimens was shortest for manual method (281 min), followed by Probact system (419 min) and Isola Inoculator (495 min) .Conclusions The performance of the Probact system is better than the manual method but no superior to the Isola Inoculator.The Probact system can meet the clinical need in terms of full automation and standardization of specimen inoculation and prevention of bias of processing by laboratory staffs using manual method.

Liver fibrosis can progress to liver cirrhosis and end-stage liver disease, which may lead to poor prognosis. In addition to pathological angiogenesis and hepatic sinusoid remodeling, hepatic lymphangiogenesis also plays an important role in the progression of liver fibrosis. This article briefly describes lymphatic vessel markers and their expression in the liver, introduces the role of lymphangiogenesis in liver fibrosis, and reviews the role of liver macrophages (Kupffer cells) and lymphatic endothelial cells in lymphangiogenesis. It is pointed out lymphangiogenesis may become a potential target for the intervention of liver fibrosis, which plays an important role in the early treatment and reversal of liver fibrosis and the prevention of liver cirrhosis and end-stage liver disease.

Objective To build a supervision mechanism for independent clinical labs (ICL),surveyed the current situation of such novel institutions in China.Methods By way of the nationwide network of clinical labs,ICL in China were surveyed by written questionnaires and spot inspection.Results In the surveyed 38 ICLs,the maximum registered capital was 44 900 thousands,the minimum was 2 000 thousands.The maximum number of employee was 1 105,the minimum was 19.6 labs passed ISO15189 ratification,4 labs passed CAP ratification.17 labs participated in local external quality control,29 labs par-ticipated in national external quality control.Conclusion Although ICL in our country have developed well in the past dec-ade,such vulnerabilities as unbalanced staff ratio,full-range quality control bugs,cutthroat competition,asymmetrical infor-mation disclosure and bio-safety have loomed in the meantime.It is time to formulate a stricter industry access system and appropriate regulatory modes.

Objective:To investigate the correlations between perfused lung volumes, visual scores (using perfusion SPECT/CT) and right-heart catheter (RHC) hemodynamic parameters in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH).Methods:A total of 51 consecutive CTEPH patients (17 males, 34 females, age (59±12) years) in the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University between March 2015 and July 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. All patients underwent lung perfusion SPECT/CT imaging and RHC examinations. Perfused lung volumes were determined using threshold-based (15%-85%) segmentation. Visual semiquantitative scoring in each lung segment was performed using Begic method. RHC hemodynamic parameters including pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP), pulmonary arterial diastolic pressure (PADP), mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP), pulmonary arteriolar wedge pressure (PAWP), pulmonary vessel resistance (PVR), cardiac output (CO), cardiac index (CI) were recorded. Spearman correlation analysis was used to evaluate the correlations between perfused lung volumes, visual scores and hemodynamic parameters.Results:There were significant correlations between perfused lung volumes (30%-70% threshold) and mPAP ( rs values: from -0.414 to -0.302, all P<0.05). Among them, perfused lung volumes under the threshold of 40% and 45% were moderately correlated with mPAP ( rs values: -0.414, -0.412, both P<0.05). Perfused lung volume (40% threshold) was moderately negatively correlated with PASP, PADP ( rs values: -0.402, -0.440, both P<0.05), and slightly negatively correlated with PVR ( rs=-0.352, P<0.05). Visual scores were slightly positively correlated with the PADP ( rs=0.311, P<0.05), while there was no correlation between visual scores and other RHC hemodynamic parameters ( rs values: from -0.201 to 0.275, all P>0.05). Conclusion:Perfused lung volumes based on threshold-based segmentation in lung perfusion SPECT/CT imaging can accurately reflect hemodynamic status and may provide useful information for severity assessment of CTEPH.

Objective To investigate the in vitro antibacterial activity of single cefoperazone,ceftazidime,imipenem,tigecycline and colistin and their combination with sulbactam against clinical isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii (A.baumannii).Methods Twentythree meropenem-resistant A.baumannii strains and 21 meropenem-sensitive strains from the Study for Monitoring Antimicrobial Resistance Trends (SMART) during 2011 and 2012 were collected,and their combination susceptibility tests were performed by the checkerboard dilution method.The fractional inhibitory concentration (FIC) index was calculated to evaluate the combination effect of antibiotics.Results No antagonism effect was observed for all of combinations.The combination of sulbactam with cefoperazone or tigecycline mainly produced synergistic effect on A.baumannii,and the strains with FIC index ≤0.5 accounted for 56.8％ and 50.0％,respectively.The combination of sulbactam with imipenem or colistin showed synergistic or partially synergistic effect on A.baumannii,and the strains with FIC index ＜ 1 accounted for 61.4％ and 52.3％,respectively.However,the combination of sulbactan with ceftazidime didn't show any interation,and the strains with FIC index ≥4 accounted for 63.6％.Conclusion The combination of sulbactam with cefoperazone has the best synergistic effect on A.baumannii,especially on carbapenem-sensitive A.baumannii.The combination of sulbactam with imipenem or tigecycline may enhance the antibacterial activity on carbapenem-resistant A.baumannii.The combination of sulbactam with imipenem or tigecycline may be helpful for the treatment of carbapenem-resistant A.baumannii infection.

Objective To systematic review the influence of case-based payment on inpatient costs since China′s new medical reform. Methods Studies about inpatient costs before and after the implementation of case-based payment were collected. The literature collected underwent a meta-analysis by RevMan 5. 0. Results A total of 11 articles in compliance were included in the study. The meta-analysis of random effect model showed the overall effect size (SMD) was -1. 54 with 95% CI being -1. 79, -1. 29, showing a significant difference (P<0. 05). The subgroup analysis showed that the overall effect size (MD) in the low-cost disease group was -585. 57 yuan with 95% CI being -750. 34, -420. 80, showing a significant difference (P < 0. 05). The overall effect size (MD) in the high-cost disease group was-4 172.65 yuan with 95% CI being -5 368. 21, -2 977. 10, showing a significant difference ( P <0.05). The funnel plot was approximately symmetrical, suggesting a publication bias as less likely in the study. Conclusions The implementation of case-based payment has reduced the inpatient costs to some extent thanks to China′s new healthcare reform. And the effect in the high-cost disease group was more obvious than that in the low-cost disease group.