Objective: To observe the efficacy of knee-balancing manipulation plus heat-sensitive moxibustion in treating knee osteoarthritis (KOA) and its impact on the expression of C-telopeptide of type Ⅰ collagen (CTX-Ⅰ), tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase 5b (TRACP-5b), A disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs 4 (ADAMTS-4), and matrix metalloproteinase 3 (MMP-3). Methods: A total of 134 unilateral KOA patients were randomized into a knee-balancing group, a heat-sensitive moxibustion group, and a joint intervention group. The knee-balancing group received knee-balancing Tuina (Chinese therapeutic massage) manipulation for treatment. The heat-sensitive moxibustion group received heat-sensitive moxibustion treatment. The joint intervention group received the heat-sensitive moxibustion in addition to the knee- balancing manipulation. The intervention period lasted for four weeks. After the treatment, and at the 2-week and 6-week follow-ups, the three groups were assessed using the visual analog scale (VAS) for knee joint pain and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities arthritis index (WOMAC), and clinical efficacy was also evaluated. The enzyme- linked immunosorbent assay was adopted to detect the expression levels of serum CTX-Ⅰ, TRACP-5b, ADAMTS-4, and MMP-3. Results: The knee-balancing group had 44 participants, but one dropped out; there was no dropout case among the 44 participants in the heat-sensitive moxibustion group; among the 46 participants in the joint intervention group, two cases dropped out. After the treatment, and at the 2-week and 6-week follow-ups, the total effective rate was found higher in the joint intervention group than in the knee-balancing and heat-sensitive moxibustion groups (P<0.05). Compared with the baseline, the VAS and WOMAC scores and the serum levels of CTX-Ⅰ, TRACP-5b, ADAMTS-4, and MMP-3 decreased significantly in all three groups after treatment and at the 2-week and 6-week follow-ups (P<0.05). At the same three time points, the VAS and WOMAC scores and serum levels of CTX-Ⅰ, TRACP-5b, ADAMTS-4, and MMP-3 were lower in the joint intervention group than in the knee-balancing and heat-sensitive moxibustion groups (P<0.001). Conclusion: Either used alone or combined, the knee-balancing manipulation and heat-sensitive moxibustion therapy can improve the symptoms and down-regulate the serum levels of CTX-Ⅰ, TRACP-5b, ADAMTS-4, and MMP-3 in KOA patients, producing durable efficacy; nevertheless, a more significant efficacy can be achieved by combining the two methods.

AIM: To investigate the effects of angiotensinⅡ receptor type Ⅰ antagonist irbesartan and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor perindopril on the myocardial expression of connexin 43 (CX43), desmin and cardiac troponin T (cTnT) in the pressure overload-induced rat cardiac hypertrophy. METHODS: 40 male adult Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 5 groups (8 animals for each): sham operation group and other four groups with ventricular hypertrophy caused by banding aortic artery. Drugs were given one week after operation as follows: sham operation group, normal saline (2 mL?kg~-1?d~-1 ig) was given; Operative groups: animals with ventricular hypertrophy were treated with normal saline 2 mL?kg~-1?d~-1 ig; Treatment groups: animals with ventricular hypertrophy were treated with perindopril 2 mg?kg~-1?d~-1 ig, irbesartan 20 mg?kg~-1?d~-1 ig or irbesartan 20 mg?kg~-1?d~-1 ig plus perindopril 2 mg?kg~-1?d~-1 ig, respectively. Left ventricular mass index (LVMI), transverse diameter of myocardial cell (TDM), and myocardial expression of CX43, desmin and cTnT by immunohistochemistry were performed at the end of 8 weeks of drug intervention. RESULTS: LVMI, TDM were remarkably decreased after drug intervention, compared to animals of operative group (P

Objective Pathogen and antimicrobial susceptibility in children with bacterial meningitis were reviewed.Methods The positive cultures of cerebrospinal fluid samples or blood samples and its antimicrobial susceptibility were analyzed in 401 patients with the clinical diagnosis of bacterial meningitis.Results 401 cases cerebrospinal fluid samples and blood samples submitted to microbiology laboratory, 97 cases (24%) were microscopically and culturally proven to be bacterial meningitis. The most frequent pathogen was staphylococcus aureus (28%), followed by the streptococcus pneumoniae (19%) and escherichia coli (13%). Pediococci as conditioned pathogen, were found in purulent meningitis patients. One of the isolates of Staphylococcus aureus was simultaneously resistant to both vancomycin and teicoplanin. Three isolates showed simultaneous resistance to imipenem/cilastatin.Conclusions Staphylococcus aureus as the predominant pathogens of pediatric ranks first among pediatric patients of purulent meningitis. Serious drug resistance of isolated pathogenic bacteria and its in antimicrobial susceptibility in the bacterial meningitis should be considered in clinical therapy.

Objective To predict a value of ischemia modified albumin (IMA) levels for assessing secondary cerebral infarction in patients with transient ischemic attack (TIA) in anterior circulation.Methods 105 patients with TIA in anterior circulation admitted to the hospital within 3 hours were retrospectively studied.Combined with ABCD2 score,the correlations of IMA levels at 3 h,6 h and 12 h with secondary cerebral infarction after anterior circulation TIA were analyzed.Results IMA level was 75.28 u/L within 3h after TIA,and the sensitivity and specificity of TIA in anterior circulation were 66.7％ and 76.2％ respectively.In the total of 105 patients,16 cases (15.2％) suffered from secondary cerebral infarction within 7d,and 21 cases (20.0％) within 8～30d.The serum IMA levels were (87.43±19.89)U/L,(63.88±12.51)U/L and (61.21±12.28)U/L at 3h,6h and 12h after TIA,respectively.A simple analysis showed that there was a linear correlation between the IMA level and ABCD2 scores (P=0.000,r=0.666).Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis showed that the increased IMA level within 3h,and moderate to high ABCD2 score were the risk factors for secondary cerebral infarction after TIA in anterior circulation (P=0.012,0.041).Conclusions Early detection of IMA has a clinical value similar to ABCD2 score to predict secondary cerebral infarction in patients with TIA in anterior circulation.

Objective To evaluate the association of magnetic resonance angiography (MRA),diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and the ABCD2 score assessments with secondary cerebral infarction after transient ischemic attack (TIA).Methods Intracranial vascular MRA,cranial DWI and ABCD2 score were retrospectively analyzed in 162 cases with TIA.The impact of TIA on survival time was assessed using the univariate Kaplan-Meier curve by Log-rank test.Hazard ratio (HR) and 95 ％ confidence interval (CI) of secondary cerebral infarction after TIA predicted by MRA,DWI and ABCD2 score were analyzed by Cox multivariable regression.Results Among the 162 patients with first attack of TIA,86 cases (53.1 ％) developed cerebral infarction within 90 d,of which 22 cases (13.6％) developed secondary cerebral infarction within 0 7 d,27 cases (16.7％) within 8～30d and 37 cases (22.8％) within 31-90 d.Single factor analysis by Kaplan-Meier curve showed that moderate to severe intracranial vascular stenosis diagnosed by MRA,positive DWI and moderate to high ABCD2 score were obviously related to cerebral infarction after first attack of TIA (all P＜0.001 or 0.01).Cox multifactor risk model indicated that age ≥70 y,moderate to severe intracranial vascular stenosis,positive DWI,moderate to high ABCD2 score were the risk factors for secondary cerebral infarction within 90 d after TIA (HR=1.782,2.245,1.964,1.204,95％CI:1.171-2.256,1.627 3.097,1.273-3.031,1.050-1.381,respectively,P＜0.05,0.01 or 0.001).Conclusions Intracranial artery stenosis examination may be more valuable than DWI and ABCD2 score in evaluating the outcome of TIA.

AIM: To investigate the correlation between renal transforming growth factor-?1 (TGF-?1) expression and cellular apoptosis, and effect of tea polyphenols (TP) on TGF-?1 expression and apoptosis. METHODS: Four group animals in a rat model of CsA-induced chronic nephrotoxicity were respectively treated by vehicle (olive oil, 0.1 mL?kg~(-1)?d~(-1), sc), TP (80 mg?kg~(-1)?d~(-1), ig), CsA (15 mg?kg~(-1)?d~(-1), sc) and TP (80 mg?kg~(-1)?d~(-1), ig) plus CsA (15 mg?kg~(-1)?d~(-1), sc). At the end of 28th day of treatment, renal creatinine clearance and tissue pathology were analyzed. The TGF-?1 expression was detected by immunohistochemistry and Western blotting. TUNEL assay, apoptosis-related enzymatic activity caspase-3 were also detected. RESULTS: Compared to CsA-treated rats, the animals treated with CsA plus TP showed a significant increase in the renal creatinine clearance (0.12?0.03 vs 0.22?0.02,P

The severity of disease can be used to evaluate the current situation of patients as well as to predict the diseases outcome.In the meantime, the severity among different diseases has been more and more applied in the evaluation of the patients at hospital level.This study collected and summarized different types of international disea-ses grouping tools'characteristics and applications based on the severity of disease, and their suitability and practical values in hospital performance evaluation were compared and analyzed.

This paper uses the data collected from 138,477 patient discharge records of 37 Shanghai tertiary public hospitals in December 2013 and classifies all the records into different groups by using a localized diagnosis re-lated group tool.The coefficient of variation index ( CV) of each group was used to analyze the dispersion of average hospital cost per inpatient day for each group, in order to evaluate the suitability of diagnosis related group systems and to set the coefficients of difficulty ( relative weights) for each disease.The study has found that severity-based di-agnosis related group systems are more suitable and consistent.However, future studies should collect more detailed information on health costs in order to reflect the value of health professionals and technologies and therefore further improve diagnosis related classification and develop new systems that can be adapted to local conditions by applying the weights of different groups.

Objective: To find out the current situation of the reproductive health about countrywomen in west of China,and explore the factor of the reproductive health under social medicine theory framework.Methods: Summarize literature about women reproductive which have been done recently,and do 608 samples survey in Xi'an of Shaanxi,which is about the current situations of social economic,reproductive health,gynecological diseases and mental health.Results: The research clarified the primary connotation about the reproductive health of countrywomen,and identified the current situation of countrywomen reproductive health in Shaanxi province of China.Conclusion: The situation of countrywomen reproductive health is far away from the demand of strategic target of "Everyone enjoys the reproductive care since 2015",and the countrywomen are on the hip in birth control,bearing culture,acquirement of health knowledge and primary diathesis.

Objective: to measure anxiety status and explore integrated factors about anxiety of countrywomen in Shaanxi, then put forward to suggestions for improving women's mental health under the bio - psycho - social medical model. Methods: A cross - sectional survey was adopted. 592 married countrywomen volunteers were selected by cluster random sampling from Chang'an district of Xi'an in Shaanxi province. Self - rating anxiety scale, Self - rating depression scale and Life events scale were used for assessment of mental health of the subjects. Additional, gynecologic examinations were done to measure personal reproductive health status. Results: The facts of mental status of Shaanxi rural women brook no optimism. Among the 592 samples that were investigated in current study, 25. 3% have anxiety symptoms. For the study population, the average total index score of SAS was 34. 34. Further analysis revealed that dysmenorrhea, menarche age and depression are main risk factors influencing women's anxiety status. In addition, married countrywomen's anxiety is related to sexual intercourse satisfaction, uterus motion and per capita health care spending, etc.