Biomedical Research ; Publishing

Medical university staff evaluation is a substantial branch of education administration for medical university. Output number of research papers as a direct index reflecting the achievements in academic research, plays an important role in academic research evaluation. Another index, influence of the research paper, is an indirect index for academic research evaluation. This paper mainly introduced some commonly used indexes in evaluation of academic research papers currently, and analyzed the applicability and limitation of each index. The author regards that academic research evaluation in education administration, which is mainly based on evaluation of academic research papers, should combine the evaluation of journals where the papers are published with peer review of the papers, and integrate qualitative evaluation with quantitative evaluation, for the purpose of setting up an objective academic research evaluation system for medical university staff.

Wrist-ankle acupuncture is a type of special acupuncture therapy, featured by simple operation, swift efficiency, and few adverse effects. In the recent years, ankle-wrist acupuncture has become more and more popularized in clinic. By retrieving the relevant medical literatures from VIP, CNKI, and Wan Fang databases, this manuscript was to analyze the history of wrist-ankle acupuncture and to review it from both mechanism and clinical reports. Meanwhile, this article also pointed out the existing problems in the research of wrist-ankle acupuncture during the recent years, and expected further standardization and studies.

Objective To determine whether the level of serum C-reactive protein(CLIP) had prognestie val-ue in patients with congestive heart failure(CHF). Methods Serum CRP was measured by enzyme-linked immuno-assay. Results CRP concentration was ( 8.66±4.38 ) mg/L in CHF patients and (1.12±0.87)mg/L in controls( P<0.01). In patients with LVEF ≤35% and > 35%, CRP was ( 11.92±4.55 ) mg/L and ( 5.88±1.92) mg/L( P<0.01 ). In patients with heart function class Ⅰ,Ⅱ,Ⅲ and Ⅳ, CRP was ( 3.92±0.79 ) mg/L, (5.03±1.55 ) mg/L,(8.94±2.97)mg/L, ( 12.21±4.43 ) mg/L, respectively. A negative correlation was observed between serum C RP concentration and LVEF in patients with CHF( r=-0.502,P<0.01 ). According to the concentration of CLIP,83 pa-tients with CRP≥10mg/L had mortality of 32.50% ,109 patients with CRP<10mg/L and ≥5mg/L had mortality of 10.48%,and 150 patients with CRP < 5mg/L had mortality of 2.76%. Conclusion This study shows that serum CRP is increased and has prognostic value in patients with CHF,that the level of CRP is parallel to the severity of CHF.

The incidence of thyroid dysfunction has increased year by year; the degree of public concern about thyroid disease also has been growing; the accuracy and comparability of results given by thyroid hormone assays from clinical laboratories face new challenges .This paper reviewed the clinical significance and measurements of thyroid hormones , also summarized the outcome of IFCC Working Group on Standardization of Thyroid Function Tests .It is expected to bring manufacturers′and clinical laboratories′attention to the importance of standardization/harmonization; and they could collaborate with each other .

Objective To assess the feasibility and safety of modified laparoscopic totally extraperitoneal(TEP)hernia repair.Methods From January to August 2007,a total of 31 patients with hernia were treated with modified TEP hernia repair under general anesthesia in our hospital.During the operation,the anterior peritoneal space was separated,and then a domestic single balloon catheter was inserted into the extraperitoneal space to expand the latter.The mesh was not fixed during the operation.Results All the operations were successfully completed with a mean operation time of(69.8?21.8)minutes,mean blood loss of(7.6?4.2)ml,and mean postoperative hospital stay of(2.6?1.3)d.Five cases developed laceration of the peritoneum during the operation,and 2 had scrotal hydrocele after the operation.The patients were followed up for 1-7 months [mean,(4.2?2.4)months],no recurrence or chronic pain at operative area were found during this period.Conclusions Modified TEP is feasible for hernia repair.The method is a safe and tension-free technique with a low rate of postoperative chronic pain at the operation region.

Index Medicus/MEDLINE/PubMed published by U. S. National Library of Medicine (NLM) is the most important and commonly used biomedical literature retrieval system in the world. According to the"List of Journals Indexed in Index Medicus (2004)", 4,098 journals are indexed for Index Medicus, including 70 journals from mainland China and Hong Kong and 9 journals from Taiwan. Journal of Chinese Integrative Medicine established in May, 2003 is indexed in Index Medicus in 2004. This article outlines the critical elements of journal selection for Index Medicus/MEDLINE and the journal selection process for indexing at NLM, and introduces some measures for the Journal of Chinese Integrative Medicine being indexed in Index Medicus/MEDLINE.

Study was carried on pentobarbital anesthetized cats to investi-gate the effect of clonidine on arrhythmias induced by coronary occlusion. Clonidine 15???g/kg iv 15min prior to ligation of left anterior descending coronary artery significantly reduced the frequenecy of arrhythmias: the ventricular premature bats ( phase Ia, VPB from 80% in controls to 20%,P

Background: Pre-exam anxiety syndrome is a common condition occurring in pre-exam students and directly affects their examination performance and physical state. Wrist-ankle acupuncture has significant therapeutic effects in treating mental disorders and may also relieve the symptoms of pre-exam anxiety syndrome. Objective: To assess the therapeutic effect of wrist-ankle acupuncture on pre-exam anxiety syndrome. Design, setting, participants and interventions: A total of 60 students who met the inclusion criteria of pre-exam anxiety syndrome were enrolled from a university in Shanghai and they were randomly divided into treatment group and control group. There were 30 cases in each group, and no case failed to follow-up. In the treatment group, wrist-ankle acupuncture was adopted to point upper 1 bilaterally (impression between flexor carpi ulnaris tendon and ulnar margin), and there was no requirement for Deqi (arrival of qi). In the control group, sham acupuncture was adopted. The treatment was applied 3 times totally in both groups one week before the exam, once every other day, each time with the needles retained for 30 min. Main outcome measures: The therapeutic effects were compared between two groups. Before and after 3 treatments, Sarason Test Anxiety Scale (TAS) and Expectation and Treatment Credibility Scale (ETCS) were measured and evaluated. Results: The therapeutic effect experienced by the treatment group was better than that of the control group (P<0.05). There were no statistically significant differences in TAS and ETCS before treatment between the two groups. The scores of TAS after treatment in two groups were higher than those before treatment (P<0.05, P<0.01). There were statistical differences in TAS absolute difference and TAS relative difference between the two groups and the treatment group had better results (P<0.05, P<0.01). After treatment, patients in the treatment group had higher scores in ETCS than those in the control group (P<0.05, P<0.01). No adverse reaction was reported. Conclusion: Wrist-ankle acupuncture can relieve the symptoms of pre-exam anxiety syndrome significantly, and this therapy is highly safe.

Purpose To investigate the expression of IMP3 and its relationship with clinicopathological characteristics in breast cancer.Methods By the tissue microarray technique and immunohistochemical EliVision two-step method, expression of IMP3 was detected in 214 cases of breast carcinoma.Results Of the 214 breast cancer cases,IMP3 expression was seen in 31(14.49%). IMP3 expression in the tumor cells was positively correlated with histological grade (P=0.005), proliferative index labeled by Ki-67 (P=0.033) and triple negative phenotype (P<0.001). There were no associations between IMP3 expression and age, tumor size, lymph node metastases, pTNM stage or p53 expression (P>0.05).Conclusions Expression of IMP3 is correlated with higher histologic grade, higher proliferative activity and triple negative breast carcinoma.Our findings indicate that IMP3 plays an important role in breast cancer progression, and IMP3 could be an adjuvant diagnostic marker in triple negative breast carcinoma.