Ninty-eight patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus were divided into atherosclerosis(AS) group and non-AS group.Fasting plasma cystatin C level( CysC ) was determined.The results showed that there existed a significant correlation between CysC level and the number of carotid arteries plaque ( r =0.432,P＜0.01 ).CysC was an independent risk factor( OR =2.21,95％ CI 1.88-3.02 ) of carotid artery intimamedia thickening in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Aims To construct the N-terminal Strep-tagged ( NS-tagged) fusion protein expression vector, and to apply the vector to express NS-tagged fusion proteins of Chlamydia RNA polymerase subunit. Meth-ods By using PCR method, NS fusion protein tag and a new multiple cloning sites (MCS) were inserted into pET21c-DH plasmid by primers to replace the original T7 protein tag and MCS. The newly introduced Not I cutting site was chosen for self-ligation of PCR prod-uct. Then, the cyclized PCR product was transformed into DH-5α competent cells. The positive clones were selected by PCR and sequencing. To get NS-tagged fu-sion proteins of chlamydial RNA polymerase subunits, the α, β and β′ subunits were inserted between BamH I and Sal I cutting sites of the newly constructed ex-pression vector. Then, the NS-α, NS-β and NS-β′ ex-pression vectors were transformed into Arctic Express expression cells. The fusion protein expression statuses of transformed cells were identified by Commassie blue staining and Western blot. Results The NS-tagged fusion protein expression vector pET21c-NS-MCS was successfully constructed, and NS-α, NS-β and NS-β′fusion proteins were obtained by using this newly con-structed expression vector. Conclusions In this pro-ject, we constructed an NS-tagged fusion protein ex-pression vector and applied it to express NS-α, NS-βand NS-β′ fusion proteins. Our study can lay a solid foundation for the study of transcriptional regulation of Chlamydia genes.

Objective To review the clinical features of drug-induced liver injury (DILI) in elderly Chinese patients.Methods A literature search was conducted with the key wordsdrug-induced liver injury ordrug-induced liver disease andelderly; four Chinese medical databases were used:including Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM),Chinese Science and Technology Periodical Database (VIP),Wanfang Database and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI),from when the bases established to December 2011.Data from retrieved literatures of retrospective controlled studies of DILI were analyzed by SPSS 14.0 software.Results Five studies met the inclusion criteria,including 275 elderly patients (aged group) and 602 non-elderly patients (non-aged group) with DILL There was no significant difference in gender between the two groups (P ＞ 0.05).Clinical manifestations of jaundice,fatigue,anorexia,and skin itching were more commonly seen in the aged group (P ＜ 0.01).Cholestatic hepatic injury occurred more frequently in the aged group than in the non-aged group [24.9％ (61/245) vs.18.8％ (102/245),P ＜ 0.05],while hepatocellular type occurred more frequently in the non-aged group [64.3％ (350/544) vs.55.1％ (135/245),P ＜ 0.05].More DILI were induced by Chinese herb medicine and cardiovascular drugs in the aged group than in the non-aged group [47.0％ (79/168) vs.35.9％ (93/254) and 8.3％ (14/168) vs 1.2％ (3/259) respectively,P ＜ 0.05].As for the prognosis,there was no significant difference in clinical cure and improvement rate between the two groups [84.4％ (141/167) vs.81.5％ (291/357),P ＞0.05].Conclusion The elderly are more sensitive to the drugs and have a high risk of DILI.Prevention and timely diagnosis and treatment of DILI are particularly important for elderly patients.

Objective To evaluate peak left ventricular(LV) apical rotation velocity during early diastole by speckle tracking echocardiography in normal peopleand patients with myocardial hypertrophy because of hypertension. Methods Two dimensional images of left basal and apical ventricular short axis view were recorded in 20 healthy people and 20 patients with hypertension and left ventricular hypertrophy(LVH). Rotation velocity-time curves of six segments in LV apex and base were obtained using Qlab software. The peak rotation velocity in early diastole of LV apex(A-Vel) and base (B-Vel) were acquired through Excel software. Results In LVH group,A-Vel was significantly decreased(P<0. 05) while B-Vel appeared no difference (P = 0.58) compared with healthy individuals. Conclusions Peak LV apical rotation velocity in early diastole can evaluate the change of LV diastolic function in patients with hypertension and LVH.

Objective To investigate the diagnostic accuracy of 13C urea breath test (13C-UBT)in the diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori (Hp) infection in patients with gastric remnant.Methods A total of 94 gastric remnant patients (gastric remnant group) and 100 non-gastric remnant patients (control group) received 13C-UBT.According to the course of the disease,the gastric remnant group were divided into group 1 (29 cases,≤5 years),group 2 (33 cases,6 to 10 years) and group 3 (32cases,＞10 years).Before surgery,the diagnosis of Hp infection was according to 13C-UBT and gastric mucosa tissue staining.After surgery,the diagnosis was according to gastric mucosa tissue staining.The applying value of 13C-UBT in gastric remnant patients was evaluated.The consistency of results between 13C-UBT and gastric mucosa tissue staining were evaluated by the Kappa test.Results In gastric remnant group,the Hp infection rate after surgery (37.2％) was obviously lower than that before operation (79.8％;x2 =35.058,P＜0.01) and that of control group (77.0％).After surgery,the Hp infection rate of patients with Billroth Ⅱ gastrectomy (24.4％) was lower than that of patients with Billroth Ⅰ gastrectomy (47.2％ ; x2 =5.133,P=0.023).Before surgery,the Hp infection rate of gastric remnant subgroups were similar (P＞0.05).With the extension of the postoperative course,the Hp infection rate gradually decreased in gastric remnant subgroups (group 1:58.6％,group 2:36.4％,group 3:18.8％; x2=7.839,P=0.021).Setting the cut-off point at 2.0‰ in the gastric remnant group and 3.5‰ in the control group,the accuracy rate of diagnosis was the highest (92.6％ and 96.0％).There was good consistency between the results of 13C-UBT and gastric mucosa tissue staining (Kappa =0.84,P＜0.01).Conclusion With suitable operation and standard,13C-UBT may be a easy,safe and effective assay applied in the gastric remnant patients.

Objective To investigate the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and its influencing factors in patients with gastric remnant cancer (GRC).Methods A total of 130 patients received gastrectomy more than 10 years ago because of early gastric cancer.According to the gastric remnant canceration after the surgery,patients were divided into GRC group (80 cases) and gastric remnant group (50 cases).Both the patients of these two groups accepted questionnaires of cancer patients' quality of life questionnaire (QLQ) C30 and gastric cancer specific questionnaire QLQ-STO22,the HRQoL were evaluated.The comparison between two groups with normal distribution of data was aralyzed by t test.Wilcoxon rank sum test was applied for the comparison between two groups with non-normal distribution of data.Optimal scaling regression analysis was used for screening HRQoL related clinical influencing factors.Results All the research objectives finished the questionnaires survey.Compared with health control group,the scores of GRC group were lower,which included quality of life evaluation,physical function,role function,emotional function,cognitive function and social function,and the differences were statistically significant (t =-6.678,-7.111,-10.605,-5.748,-4.765 and-21.170,all P＜0.01).The scores of fatigue,pain,diarrhea,nausea and vomiting,loss of appetite,economic difficulties,dysphagia,abdominal pain,reflux symptoms,diet restricted,anxiety,physical appearance and hair loss were higher,and the differences were significant (t=6.925,4.218,4.728 and Z=-5.236,-7.890,-7.698,-10.058,-3.612,-6.914,-9.711,9.940,-7.987 and-4.966,all P＜0.01).Compared with gastric remnant group,the scores of GRC group were lower,which included quality of life evaluation,physical function,role function,emotional function,cognitive function and social function,and the differences were statistically significant (t=-5.861,-5.821,-7.077,-7.999,-2.808and-5.710,all P＜0.01).However the scores of fatigue,pain,diarrhea,nausea and vomiting,loss of appetite,economic difficulties,dysphagia,diet restricted,anxiety,physical appearance and hair loss were higher,and the differences were significant (t=9.363,6.842 and Z=-2.654,-6.256,-3.266,-4.132,-2.854,-7.996,-4.258 and-2.005,all P＜0.01).Compared with health control group,the score of social function of gastric remnant group was lower and the difference was significant (t =-9.820,P＜ 0.01); the scores of diarrhea,nausea and vomiting,economic difficulties,dysphagia,reflux symptoms,diet restricted,physical appearance and hair loss were higher,the differences were statistical significant (t=3.020 and Z=-1.981,-3.775,-6.505,-6.098,-8.032,-3.369 and-3.147,all P＜0.05) ; the symptom scores of fatigue and pain were lower,the differences were significant (t=-2.890 and-2.439,all P＜0.05).HRQoL of patients was positively correlated with education degree,marital status,family income and the disease course of gastric remnant.Conclusions HRQoL of GRC patients decreased to certain degree.Education degree,marital status,family income and the disease course of gastric remnant were the influential factors of HRQoL in GRC patients.

WHO quality-of-life scales (WHOQOL-BREF) and Eysenck personality questionnaire (EPQ) were used for evaluating the quality-of-life and personality characteristics of 60 outpatients with chronic urticaria.According to statistical correlation analysis, a positive correlation existed between education level and psychological field (P ＜ 0.05).And there were negative correlations between N scale, P scale and psychological field (P ＜ 0.05, P ＜ 0.01).The incidence and incurability of chronic urticaria was more correlated with anxiety and depression.The patients with chronic urticaria were more likely to have a worse quality-of-life than normal population.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of clinical pharmacists on the community hypertension and coronary heart disease management.Methods: The clinical pharmacy service management program for community chronic disease patients was designed, and the medication files of the patients with hypertension and coronary heart disease were established, and then the medication safety cognition and chronic disease medication of the patients were investigated.Pharmaceutical interventions were given twice for the irrational drug use and living habits and the views of pharmacy were put forward.The improvement of medication compliance, pharmaceutical opinion acceptance and blood pressure etc was evaluated, and then the drug cost and the cost of health care products were analyzed and evaluated.Results: The medication and hypertension compliance increased, the patients were satisfied with the clinical pharmacy service, and the acceptance rate of pharmaceutical intervention opinions was improved significantly.The total cost of medication was without significant change, and the cost of health care products decreased significantly.Conclusion: It is an effective way to expand the impact of clinical pharmacy performed by clinical pharmacists on chronic disease medication management in communities, which can improve the rationality and safety of drug use in the patients with chronic diseases and has positive effects in promoting the management of community chronic diseases.

AIM: To clarify the protective effect of long-term administration of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitor fluvastatin on ventricular remodeling after myocardial infarction (MI) in rats and its mechanisms. METHODS: Myocardial infarction were established by ligated left coronary anterior artery in SD rats, 24 hours after the operation, the survival rats were treated by gavage fluvastatin (20 mg?kg~(-1)?d~(-1)) or distilled water for 8 weeks. Doppler echocardiography, homodynamic and cardiac histomorphometry were used to assess the ventricular remodeling and cardiac function. The plasma levels of total cholesterol (Tch), creatinine (Cr), glutamic-oxal (o) acetic transaminase (AST), lipid peroxidation (LPO), glutathione perioxidase (GSH-PX), nitrogen monoxide (NO_2~-/NO_3~-) were detected. RESULTS: The Tch, Cr and AST were not significant difference in groups. Left ventricular end-diastole pressure, right relative weight, left ventricular posterior wall thickness, collagen volume fraction and the lung weight were decreased in AMI+fluvastatin group compared to AMI group (P

AIM: To determine the relevance of NADPH oxidase subunit p22hox and the expression of superoxide anion on ventricular remodeling in myocardial infarction (MI) rats. METHODS: MI of Sprague-Dawley rats were established by left anterior descenting coronary artery ligation. 8 weeks after MI, Doppler echocardiography, hemodynamic study and histomorphometry were performed to analyze the ventricular remodeling. The level of thiobarbituric acid reactive substance in plasma and myocardium were measured, and the distribution of superoxide anion was observed with laser scanning confocal microscope. The expression of p22phox mRNA and protein level was detected by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: The left ventricular remodeling was significant in MI rats, also the level of thiobarbituric acid reactive substance increased in the plasma and non-infarcted myocardium. The expressions of p22-phox mRNA and protein levels, and superoxide anion increased in infarcted and non-infarcted myocardium in MI rats. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that the expression of NADPH oxidase and its derived superoxide anion may take part in left ventricular remodeling through oxidative stresss after MI.