Objective To probe into the medical cost and economic losses of childhood asthma. Methods Total 200 of asthmatic children aged 2~16 yrs were diagnosed according to asthma OPD and enrolled in this study from the Affiliated Hospital of Medical College of Qingdao University during 2005—2006. All of them were taken the epidemiologic and economic survey. Results Among them, 184 were from kindergartens, primary or middle schools. There were totally 7 629 days for the asthmatic children absent from class per year because of illness. The overall direct economic loss was RMB 798 467.00 and indirect loss was RMB 210 997.80 yearly. Conclusion Asthma not only brings about great impact on children physical and mental health, but also exerts massive economic loss on the society and families. The whole society and medical workers should pay more attention to it and try to reduce its harm to a relatively low level.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of sublingual immunotherapy with dermatophagoides farina drops on children with allergic rhinitis. METHOD: This was retrospective study analyzing the efficacy of dermatophaguides farinae drops SLIT in 110 patients (aged 4-14 years old) with house dust mites induced allergic rhinitis (without asthma). All the patients were divided into the SLIT group (n = 60) and drug group (n = 50). Patients in SLIT group received sublingual immunotherapy combined with symptomatic medication, and patients in drug group only received symptomatic medication. We recorded and evaluated the total nasal symptom scores (TNSS), total medication scores (TMS) and visual analogue scale (VAS) of the 2 groups at three time points, before the treatment, and the treatment for 1-year and 2-year. RESULT: After 1-year and 2-year treatment, compared with drug group, TMS, TNSS and VAS in SLIT group decreased significantly (P < 0.01). When compared with baseline, we got the similar result as compared with drug group. Besides, the TMS of drug group increased significantly after treatment (P < 0.01). And no significant difference was observed in TNSS and VAS. In addition, there was significant difference in the Proportion of patients withdrawing symptomatic medication in SLIT group and drug group (68.33%,16.00%, respectively; P < 0.01). There were 4 local adverse reactions occurred during the treatment and no serious adverse events occurred. CONCLUSION Sublingual immunotherapy with Dermatophagoides farinae drops showed significant clinical efficacy in children with allergic rhinitis comparing with pharmacotherapy.
Administration, Sublingual ; Adolescent ; Animals ; Antigens, Dermatophagoides ; administration & dosage ; Asthma ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Dermatophagoides farinae ; Humans ; Retrospective Studies ; Rhinitis, Allergic ; drug therapy ; Sublingual Immunotherapy ; Treatment Outcome

Objective: To investigate whether the plasmid ?1neo-hgp100 could be expressed and presented in vitro and could protect the immunized mice from B16F10 challenge in vivo. Methods: ?1neo-hgp100 plasmid was constructed in which the DNA sequence encoding hgp100 CTL epitope inserted into CDR3 of ?1-neo vector. The expression of anti-bodized antigen and IFN-? in supernatant was measured by ELISA respectively after transfection J558L with ?1neo-hgp100 and further co-culture of J588L transfacted with ?1 neo-hgp100 and pmel TCR transgenic T cell. After introspleenic inoculation of ?1neo-hgp100, the protective efficacy of the gene vaccine was observed by means of measuring the tumor area every two days. Results: ?1neo-hgp100 could be expressed and presented in vitro, the immunogenecity of CTL epitope of hgp100 was strong enough and could activate gp100 specific T cell, the mice immunized with the gene vaccine could resist the tumor challenging in vivo. The mean survival time was prolonged to 36 days, compared to control group (P

Objective To investigate the therapeutic effects and mechanism of Okam on asthmatic mice.Methods The mice model of asthma was established with the egg albumen sensitization, and were treated with low and large doses of Okam for four weeks.The pathological changes of lung tissues were observed.Immunohistochemistry was used to determine the contents of matrix metalloproteinases-9(MMP-9) and tissue inhibitor Metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) in the lung tissues.Results Gasp and inflammation in the lung tissues were significantly relieved in the test groups than that in the model group.MMP-9,TIMP-1 and MMP- 9/TIMP-1 ratios were significantly lowered in the test group than that in the model group. Conclusion The marine drug of Okam shows therapeutic effects on mice with asthma,which may be the result of reduced contents of MMP-9 and TIMP-1 in the lung tissues and the correction of the imbalanced MMP-9/TIMP-1 ratio.Okam is likely to be a new choice for the treatment of asthma.

Objective: To observe the effect of tripterygium polyglycosid(TP,雷公藤) on airway inflammation and remodeling in rats with asthma.Methods: Forty rats were randomly divided evenly into negative control group,positive control group,normal dose TP group(TPⅠ group) and small dose TP group(TPⅡgroup).The experimental model was induced by ovalbumin sensitization.Number of cells in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid(BALF) was observed by immunocytochemical staining.The expressions of nuclear factor-?B(NF-?B),matrix metalloproteinases-9(MMP-9) and tissue of inhibitor of metalloproteinases-1(TIMP-1) were detected by immunohistochemistry method.Results: Compared with the negative control group,the counts of lymphocyte,neutrophilic leukocyte,macrophage and eosinocyte in BALF were elevated significantly,positive cell percentages of NF-?B, MMP-9 and TIMP-1 in lung tissues increased greatly in positive control group,the differences being significant(all P

BACKGROUND: Bronchial asthma is one of those diseases that are significantly affected by meteorological factors. There is close relationship between asthma attack and meteorological factor. There have been some studies on the relationship between asthma and meteorological factors at home and abroad, but the results are various due to different area conditions.OBJECTIVE: To analyze the relationship between asthmatic attack and meteorological factors in children in Qingdao city.DESIGN: Observational experiment.SETTING: The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University Medical College.PARTICIPANTS: Altogether 445 inpatient children, 307 males, 138 females, aged ＜ 14 years, who were diagnosed of asthma attack definitely, of the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University Medical University, Qingdao Haici Hospital,Qingdao Children Hospital between January 1st 2000 and December 31st 2004 were retrieved.METHODS: The asthmatic attack time of 445 children patients with asthmatic attack of Qingdao city and concurrent month mean temperature, air pressure, relative humidity, wind speed and other meteorologic al data were collected.Seasonal rhythm of asthmatic attack in children and the relationship between asthmatic attack and meteorological factors were analyzed with circular distribution analysis and linear regression analysis, respectively.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: ①Month attack information of 445 asthma patients. ② Circular distribution analysis results of asthmatic attack time. ③ Linear regression analysis results about the relationship between asthma attack and meteorological factors.RESULTS: ① Data revealed that asthmatic attack in Qingdao city focused on November, December, January and February, which took up 47.9% of total amount in that year. There were 307 male patients (incidence 3.12%)in a year,female patients only 138 cases (incidence 1.51%), which revealed that boys have a higher incidence of asthma attack than girls. ②The peak season of incidence of asthmatic attack was found in winter and peak season for male and female patients was in January and December, respectively (P ＜ 0.05). ③ Higher incidence of asthmatic attack of children was related with higher air pressure, lower temperature, lower relative humidity(r =0.435, -0.320, -0.296, all P ＜ 0.05).CONCLUSION: The incidence of asthma attack presents seasonal rhythm in Qingdao city and it is influenced by climate conditions. Therefore, enough consideration of meteorological factors should be paid on preventive works for asthma.

Myasthenia gravis(MG)is an autoimmune disease, and local or systemic muscle weakness is the main symptom.The main auxiliary tests are serological, pharmacological and electrophysiological tests.Autoantibodies are the most important biomarkers to guide the diagnosis of myasthenia gravis.The clinical features and autoantibodies of myasthenia gravis in children were different from those in adults.Therefore, this paper summarizes the clinical significance of the main autoantibodies acetylcholine receptor(AChR)antibody, muscle specific kinase(MuSK)antibody, low density lipoprotein receptor associated protein 4(LRP-4)antibody and other related antibodies in children with myasthenia gravis, which has certain guiding significance for the diagnosis and individualized treatment of myasthenia gravis.

OBJECTIVETo compare the effects of oblique insertion at anatomical points and conventional acupuncture for sacroiliac joint injury.

METHODSEighty patients were randomly divided into an observation group and a control group, 40 cases in each one. In the observation group, oblique insertion therapy at anatomical points was used, and the 9 points of equal division (anatomical points) marked by palpating the anatomical symbol were treated as the insertion acupoints. In the control group, conventional acupuncture was applied, and perpendicular insertion was adopted at Huantiao (GB 30), Zhibian (BL 54) and Weizhong (BL 40), etc. In the two groups, the! treatment was given once a day and 5 times per week. Ten treatments were made into one course and two courses were required. The clinical effects, the changes of visual analogue scale (VAS) and Oswestry dysfunctional index. (ODI) before and after treatment were observed in the two groups.

RESULTSThe total effective rate of the observation group was 90.0% (36/40), which was better than 72.5% (29/40) of the control group (P < 0.05). After treatment, the results of the VAS and ODI of the two groups were apparently declined (both P < 0.01), and those in the observation group were decreased more obviously (both P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONThe effect of oblique inser-tion at anatomical points for sacroiliac joint injury is superior to that of conventional acupuncture, which can effectively relieve pain and improve the disfunction.

Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Joint Diseases ; physiopathology ; therapy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Sacroiliac Joint ; injuries ; physiopathology ; Young Adult

Objective To explore the effects of interleukin 17 (IL-17) and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25-(OH)2VD3] on the pathogenesis of asthma.Methods Thirty-two Kunming mice were randomly divided into 4 groups:the control group (group A),the asthma group (group B),the 1,25-(OH)2VD3-treated group (group C) and the Dexamethasone-treated group (group D).The allergic mouse models were established by using ovalbumin (OVA).The behavioral changes of mice were observed and the number of leukocytes in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were counted.HE staining was used to measure the histological changes of lung tissue.The levels of IL-17 and IgE in the BALF were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).Results The asthmatic symptoms were more severe in group A than those in the other groups,while they were relieved significantly in group C and group D when treated with 1,25-(OH)2VD3 or Dexamethasone.The number of leukocyte in groups B,C and D [(1.97 ± 0.23) × 108/L,(1.02 ±0.17) × 108/L,(0.95 ±0.14) × 108/L]were higher than those in group A[(0.56 ±0.16) × 108/L] (F =85.58,P ＜ 0.01),and lower in group C and group D than those in group B (all P ＜ 0.01),but there were no significant differences between group C and group D(P ＞0.05).The levels of IgE and IL-17 in group B were significantly higher than those in group A(all P ＜ 0.01).The levels of IgE and IL-17 in group B were significantly lower than those in group C and group D,but higher than those in group A(all P ＜0.01).No significant results were observed between group C and group D (all P ＞ 0.05).Conclusions IL-17 involves in the inflammation process of asthma,which promotes the respiratory inflammation.1,25-(OH)2VD3 may suppress IL-17 expression to relieve the respiratory inflammation in acute asthmatic mice,the effect of which is similar to that of Dexamethasone on asthma.

Objective To evaluate the application value of identification on drown by detection 16SrDNA of the diatoms in rabbits' internal organs in summer month of July and winter month of December in YongJiang River of Ningbo. Methods 60 Rabbits were randomly and medially divided into three groups in summer and winter: drowning group, postmortem immersion group and using only lethal aeroembolism as control group. Specimen including heart, liver, lung and kidney from each rabbit were tested with diatom 16SrDNA PCR method. Results Compared with postmortem immersion group, detection rate of diatom 16SrDNA of heart, liver, lung, renal tissue in drowning group was significantly higher than that in summer month of July (P<0.05), In December, the 16SrDNA of the drowning group was detected in heart and lung tissues, There was no significant difference compared with postmortem immersion group (P>0.05) In summer month of July, detection rate of 16SrDNA of heart, liver, lung, renal tissues in drowning group was significantly higher than that in winter month of December (P<0.05). Diatom 16SrDNA of heart, liver, lung, kidney tissues in air embolism group were not detected In summer month of July and winter month of December. Conclusion With the higher detection rate of diatom 16SrDNA in drowning rabbit in summer, the diatom 16SrDNA PCR method can be used for the diagnosis of drowning in Yongjiang River of Ningbo; while in winter , it should be carefully apllied with the lower detection rate of diatom 16SrDNA.