N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide(NT-proBNP) with no biological activity is the best cardiac marker in the diagnosis,risk stratification,prognosis and therapeutic monitoring of the patients with cardiac dysfunction,and is one of the natriuretic peptides.In this review,we aim to the latest progress of NT-proBNP study on its change during peri-cardiopulmonary bypass,and its applications in the diagnosis of preoperative cardiac function and in the guidance of heart failure therapy.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the status of hospital infection of elderly in internal medicine,in order to prevent and control hospital infection of them.METHODS A restrospective survey on 157 cases of hospital(infection) of elderly from Aug 2003 to Apr 2005 was conducted in internal medicine.(RESULTS)The results showed that the high risk wards were in geriatrics,neurology,endocrinology and(cardiovascular) departments.The high risk season was in winter.Respiratory tract was the most common(infective) site.Fungi were the main pathogens.CONCLUSIONS The hospital infection of elderly should be(controlled) better,geriatrics department is the key(control) unit.Winter is the key control season.The diagnostic level of clinician about the hospital(infection) of(edlerly) should be enhanced and the antibiotic must be used reasonably.

OBJECTIVE:To study the stability and to predicate the expiration date of betamethasone cream.METHODS:The HPLC method was used to determination the content of betamethasone,the stability test of cream was done by initial mean velocity method and strong light exposure experiment,respectively.RESULTS:The linear concentration range for betametha?sone cream was0.25～8?g/ml(r=0.9991),the average recovery rate was98.56%,RSD=0.78%;The content was highly correlated to temperature,whereas on which the light exposure did little effect.CONCLUSIONS:Betamethasone cream should be stored under room temperature and in a cool place,it is predicted that the expiration date of betamethasone cream is1year.

Objective To investigate the correlation between relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) and tumor character of meningiomas. Methods Thirty-six (GradeⅠ: n=30, GradeⅡ+Ⅲ: n=6) patients with meningioma underwent conventional MR and perfusion weighted imaging (PWI) . The pulse sequence of PWI was single shot GRE-EPI-T2~*WI. The CBV maps were calculated from the original data of perfusion images and the maximum rCBV of meningiomas was acquired from CBV maps through measurement on the region of interest (ROI). The differences of rCBV in tumor and edema between benign and malignant tumors were analyzed. Results The mean rCBV in tumor of benign meningioma (9.78±4.69) was higher than that of malignant ones (3.59±0.28) (t=7.168, P<0.001). The mean rCBV in edema of benign and malignant meningiomas was 3.06±1.76 and 3.58±1.93, respectively (P>0.05). Conclusion CBV map and quantitative study of rCBV are feasible for differential diagnosis of meningiomas and have instructive function for clinical treatment and assessment of prognosis.

Objective To evaluate diagnostic value of diffusion tensor imaging(DTI)in ringlike- enhanced lesions.Methods Nine abscesses,12 glioblastomas,10 metastases confirmed clinically or pathologically underwent conventional MRI and DTI.Average diffusion coefficient(ADC)value,fractional anisotropy(FA)value and maps were calculated in the central portion and peripheral edema of the lesions. Results On DTI,the abscesses displayed as hyperintense signal with hypointense or isointense signal of edema;but glioblastomas and metastases all showed as hypointense signal with isointense or hypointense signal of edema.On ADC map,the abscesses showed as hypointense signal,the mean ADC value was (0.66?0.07)x10~(-3)mm~2/s,The mean ADC value were(2.50?0.11)x10~(-3)mm~2/s and(2.37?0.52)x10~(-3)mm~2/s for the glioblastomas and metastases,respectively,all demonstrated as hyperintense signal with slightly hyperintense signal of edema.The difference between abscess and necrotic tumors was statistically significant(F=108.80,P

To explore the diagnostic values of real-time elastosonography quantitative parameters in uterine fibroids and adenomyoma.The clinical data of 175 cases were analyzed retrospectively.Strain ratios (B/A) of lesion and normal adjacent myometrium were measured and mean B/A was calculated.The average B/A of uterine fibroids and adenomyoma was 3.81 ±0.52 and 1.39 ±0.46 respectively.And there was significant statistic difference (t =2.563,P ＜ 0.05).the accuracy rates of real-time elastosonography in the diagnosis of uterine fibroids and adenomyoma were high at 97.4％ (148/152) and 95.3％ (122/128) respectively.Real-time elastosonography has high diagnostic values for uterine fibroids and adenomyoma.

Objective To evaluate the predictive value of modified early warning score (MEWS) and SMART-COP score on mechanical ventilation in patients with severe influenza A H1N1. Methods Fifty cases diagnosed with severe influenza A H1N1 were retrospectively analyzed. The MEWS and SMART-COP score were calculated. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) was evaluated using ROC curve. MEWS, SMART-COP score and AUC were analyzed by Z test. Results The AUCs of MEWS and SMART-COP score for predicting mechanical ventilation were 0. 923 and 0. 889, respectively, which were not significantly different (Z=0. 548, P =0. 584).Conclusion Both of MEWS and SMART-COP score are predictive factors of mechanical ventilation in the patients with severe influenza A H1N1.

A total of 104 patients with polycystic ovarian changes on ultrasound were divided into polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and polycystic ovaries (PCO) groups according to their clinical symptoms and endocrine examinations.And 40 women with normal ovulation served as the controls.Ovarian volume (OV),ovarian stroma area (SA),ovarian total area (TA) and SA/TA ratio were measured by transvaginal uhrasonography.Their endocrine hormone levels were determined.Patients with PCOS showed significantly higher OV,SA,TA and SA/TA than those of PCO and control groups.SA/TA was positively correlated with testosterone.The median serum levels of anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) and inhibit B in the PCO group were intermediate between those in control and PCOS groups.AMH and inhibin B of PCOS were higher than the PCO and control groups.It indicated that the levels of AMH and inhibit B were associated with the degree of polycystic ovaries and they could be used to differentiate PCOS and PCO.SA/TA is associated with the elevated serum testosterone of PCO.And SA/TA is an important ultrasonic parameter for diagnosing PCOS.

Acute Disease ; Adult ; Humans ; Male ; Occupational Diseases ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Phosphines ; poisoning ; Poisoning ; diagnosis ; therapy

Elemene is a new anticancer drug isolated from a Chinese traditional medicine Curcuma aromatica. In previous work, we discovered that tumor cell vaccine (TCV) treated with oleum Curcuma aromatica or elemene could induce significant immunoprophylactic effect against a variety of aminal tumor strains and the method of preparation of elemene combo-TCV(EC-TCV) already got China's inventive patent. In this paper we further studied the active immunotherapeutic effect and the possible cellular/molecular mechanisms of EC-TCV immunization. The results were as follows:(1) EC-TCV immunization showed significant therapeutic effects (P＜0.05) against murine Ca761 syngeneic mammary carcinoma (H-2k) and HCa-F allogeneic hepatic carcinoma (H-2-) models; (2) The spleen cells of Hca-F EC-TCV immunized mice displayed higher cytotoxicity and IL-12 level while the secretion of IL-10 was decreased (P＜0.05); (3) Similar to heat shock, elemene(E), mitomycin C(MMC) and glutaraldehyde (G) could act alone as stressor, and induce significant changes of the expression of membrane heat shock proteins(HSP70 or/and HSP90) on L615 leukemia and HCa-F hepatoma cells and the EC-TCVs (E+MMC+G treated in combination) showed the highest level of membrane HSPs expression (P＜0.05 or P＜0.01 );(4) The HSP70-peptide complex isolated from HCa-F EC-TCV through ADP-agarose affinity chromatographic system could induce active immunoprotection against lethal dose challenge of HCa-F hepatic cancer cell but could not protect against the cross challenge of lethal dose of L615 leukemia. The results indicated that the immunoprotective effect of EC-TCV was in some extent tumor-specific, MHC-nonrestricted, and HSPs might play an important role in its molecular mechanisms.