OBJECTIVE:To provide reference for medical costs control in China. METHODS:Based on main characteristics of the United States health service system,information asymmetry,principal-agent theory and Freedman’s consumption theory were used to analyze the advantages of restrictive relationship among doctors,hospitals and health insurance institutions in control-ling medical costs and improving the quality of diagnosis and treatment. The growth rate of medical cost,the percentage of drug ex-penditure and other aspects were compared between China and the United States;the effect of restrictive relationship on medical cost control was demonstrated. RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS:In the United States,there are hierarchical medical system and two-way referral system;for-profit hospitals and non-profit hospitals are mutually complementary;different natures of health insur-ance system,different payment methods and strict“commercial bribe”monitoring system are carried out;doctors,hospitals and health insurance restrict each other. Not only there are many advantages in theory,but also in practice the growth rate of medical cost and the percentage of drug expenditure are superior to our country. Finally it controls the rapid growth of medical cost to a cer-tain extent. Combined with our national conditions,learning from the United States experience,restrictive relationship among doc-tors,hospitals and health insurance institutions is established to control the increase of medical cost in China through reducing infor-mation asymmetry and standardizing payment audit;establishing a scientific pattern of mixed payment;strengthening the indirect impact of the health insurance institutions on doctors and hospitals,etc.

The clinical values of acetoacetate ( AcAA ) and β hydroxybutyrate ( βHBA ) determination in classification of type 1 and2 diabetes were explored. 102 normal control subjects,33 cases of type 1 diabetes, and 104cases of type 2 diabetes were enrolled. Serum AcAA, βHBA, fasting plasma glucose ( FPG), C-peptide, and insulin levels were measured. The results showed that serum AcAA, βHBA, total ketone tody (TKB) levels in the diabetic groups were significantly higher than those of the normal group( P＜0. 01 ). AcAA, βHBA, TKB levels in type 1diabetes were higher as compared with those of type 2 diabetes( P＜0.01 ). The AcAA, βHBA, and TKB levels were negatively related with C-peptide and insulin in diabetic patients( P＜0. 01 ). All the type 1 diabetic patient were found to have TKB and lower C-peptide levels. TKB positive and lower C-peptide in type 2 diabetes were found in 47% and 26% respectively. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve suggested that the area under the ROC curve of type 1 and type 2 diabetes was 0.926. The optimal operating point of the total ketone body was 0. 532 mmol/L with higher sensitivity and specificity. Enzymatic determination of acetoacetate and β hydroxybutyrate seems to have important clinical values for classification of type 1 and 2 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE:To provide reference for improving the drug procurement system of public hospitals in China. METH-ODS:The drug collective procurement documents in each province were retrieved after publishing the document [2015] No.7 of the State Council and the document [2015] No.70 of the National Health and Family Planning Commission,the drug bidding data was collected,and form and implementation of drug procurement with target quantity were analyzed. RESULTS:Procurement with tar-get quantity included scattered procurement with target quantity,national centralized procurement with target quantity and provin-cial centralized procurement with target quantity. In scattered procurement with target quantity,actual purchase price was opaque, and the procurement was similar to"second negotiation"in individual province. National centralized procurement with target quanti-ty was implemented well. Provincial centralized procurement with target quantity was not fully implemented,only Shanghai carried out centralized procurement with target quantity,and the pilot had good effects. CONCLUSIONS:In order to promote procurement with target quantity,it's suggested that we should definite"procurement with target quantity"in the governmental document,pub-lish actual procurement price of scattered procurement with target quantity,try to implement centralized procurement with target quantity without quality levels distinguished,improve the centralized procurement with target quantity with quality levels distin-guished and improve supporting measures,such as hospital procurement system,provincial procurement platform, pre-payment mechanism by health-care funds,and so on.

Objective Analyze the application status and existed problems of clinical biobank in China,propose possible application mechanisms for clinical biobank.Methods Through questionnaire survey and case analysis combined with relevant literature reports from home and abroad,conduct qualitative analysis to understand the application status and problems of clinical biobank.Results With the rapid development of biobank,its application rate was far from expected.The construction of clinical database lags behind in China will affect the application of samples.The lag of application mechanism will affect the opening and application of the biobank.Conclusions At the beginning of construction,the clinical biobank should take full account of what and how resources can be used,and establish tailored application mechanism.More attention should be paid to the possible benefit of biobank construction.

Members of genus Acanthamoeba are widely distributed in the environment. Some are pathogenic and cause keratitis and fatal granulomatous amoebic encephalitis. In this study, we isolated an Acanthamoeba CJW/W1 strain from tap water in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China. Its 18S rDNA was sequenced and a phylogenetic tree was constructed. The isolated cysts belonged to morphologic group II. Comparison of 18S rDNA sequences of CJW/W1 strain and other isolates showed high similarity (99.7%) to a clinical isolate Asp, KA/E28. A phylogeny analysis confirmed this isolate belonged to the pathogenic genotype T4, the most common strain associated with Acanthamoeba-related diseases. This is the first report of an Acanthamoeba strain isolated from tap water in Wuxi, China. Acanthamoeba could be a public health threat to the contact lens wearers and, therefore, its prevalence should be monitored.
Acanthamoeba ; China ; DNA, Ribosomal ; Encephalitis ; Genotype ; Keratitis ; Phylogeny ; Prevalence ; Public Health ; Trees ; Viperidae ; Water

Background and Objectives: Angiographic assessment of coronary stenosis severity using quantitative coronary angiography (QCA) is often inconsistent with that based on fractional flow reserve (FFR) or intravascular ultrasound (IVUS). We investigated the incidence of discrepancies between QCA and FFR or IVUS, and the outcomes of FFR- and IVUS-guided strategies in discordant coronary lesions. Methods: This study was a post-hoc analysis of the FLAVOUR study. We used a QCA-derived diameter stenosis (DS) of 60% or greater, the highest tertile, to classify coronary lesions as concordant or discordant with FFR or IVUS criteria for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The patient-oriented composite outcome (POCO) was defined as a composite of death, myocardial infarction, or revascularization at 24 months. Results: The discordance rate between QCA and FFR or IVUS was 30.2% (n=551). The QCAFFR discordance rate was numerically lower than the QCA-IVUS discordance rate (28.2% vs. 32.4%, p=0.050). In 200 patients with ≥60% DS, PCI was deferred according to negative FFR (n=141) and negative IVUS (n=59) (15.3% vs. 6.5%, p<0.001). The POCO incidence was comparable between the FFR- and IVUS-guided deferral strategies (5.9% vs. 3.4%, p=0.479).Conversely, 351 patients with DS <60% underwent PCI according to positive FFR (n=118) and positive IVUS (n=233) (12.8% vs. 25.9%, p<0.001). FFR- and IVUS-guided PCI did not differ in the incidence of POCO (9.5% vs. 6.5%, p=0.294). Conclusions The proportion of QCA-FFR or IVUS discordance was approximately one third for intermediate coronary lesions. FFR- or IVUS-guided strategies for these lesions were comparable with respect to POCO at 24 months.

Background and Objectives: The Fractional Flow Reserve and Intravascular UltrasoundGuided Intervention Strategy for Clinical Outcomes in Patients with Intermediate Stenosis (FLAVOUR) trial demonstrated non-inferiority of fractional flow reserve (FFR)-guided percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) compared with intravascular ultrasound (IVUS)-guided PCI. We sought to investigate the cost-effectiveness of FFR-guided PCI compared to IVUS-guided PCI in Korea. Methods: A 2-part cost-effectiveness model, composed of a short-term decision tree model and a long-term Markov model, was developed for patients who underwent PCI to treat intermediate stenosis (40% to 70% stenosis by visual estimation on coronary angiography).The lifetime healthcare costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) were estimated from the healthcare system perspective. Transition probabilities were mainly referred from the FLAVOUR trial, and healthcare costs were mainly obtained through analysis of Korean National Health Insurance claims data. Health utilities were mainly obtained from the Seattle Angina Questionnaire responses of FLAVOUR trial participants mapped to EQ-5D. Results: From the Korean healthcare system perspective, the base-case analysis showed that FFR-guided PCI was 2,451 U.S. dollar lower in lifetime healthcare costs and 0.178 higher in QALYs compared to IVUS-guided PCI. FFR-guided PCI remained more likely to be cost-effective over a wide range of willingness-to-pay thresholds in the probabilistic sensitivity analysis. Conclusions Based on the results from the FLAVOUR trial, FFR-guided PCI is projected to decrease lifetime healthcare costs and increase QALYs compared with IVUS-guided PCI in intermediate coronary lesion, and it is a dominant strategy in Korea.

Background and Objectives: Angiographic assessment of coronary stenosis severity using quantitative coronary angiography (QCA) is often inconsistent with that based on fractional flow reserve (FFR) or intravascular ultrasound (IVUS). We investigated the incidence of discrepancies between QCA and FFR or IVUS, and the outcomes of FFR- and IVUS-guided strategies in discordant coronary lesions. Methods: This study was a post-hoc analysis of the FLAVOUR study. We used a QCA-derived diameter stenosis (DS) of 60% or greater, the highest tertile, to classify coronary lesions as concordant or discordant with FFR or IVUS criteria for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The patient-oriented composite outcome (POCO) was defined as a composite of death, myocardial infarction, or revascularization at 24 months. Results: The discordance rate between QCA and FFR or IVUS was 30.2% (n=551). The QCAFFR discordance rate was numerically lower than the QCA-IVUS discordance rate (28.2% vs. 32.4%, p=0.050). In 200 patients with ≥60% DS, PCI was deferred according to negative FFR (n=141) and negative IVUS (n=59) (15.3% vs. 6.5%, p<0.001). The POCO incidence was comparable between the FFR- and IVUS-guided deferral strategies (5.9% vs. 3.4%, p=0.479).Conversely, 351 patients with DS <60% underwent PCI according to positive FFR (n=118) and positive IVUS (n=233) (12.8% vs. 25.9%, p<0.001). FFR- and IVUS-guided PCI did not differ in the incidence of POCO (9.5% vs. 6.5%, p=0.294). Conclusions The proportion of QCA-FFR or IVUS discordance was approximately one third for intermediate coronary lesions. FFR- or IVUS-guided strategies for these lesions were comparable with respect to POCO at 24 months.

Background and Objectives: The Fractional Flow Reserve and Intravascular UltrasoundGuided Intervention Strategy for Clinical Outcomes in Patients with Intermediate Stenosis (FLAVOUR) trial demonstrated non-inferiority of fractional flow reserve (FFR)-guided percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) compared with intravascular ultrasound (IVUS)-guided PCI. We sought to investigate the cost-effectiveness of FFR-guided PCI compared to IVUS-guided PCI in Korea. Methods: A 2-part cost-effectiveness model, composed of a short-term decision tree model and a long-term Markov model, was developed for patients who underwent PCI to treat intermediate stenosis (40% to 70% stenosis by visual estimation on coronary angiography).The lifetime healthcare costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) were estimated from the healthcare system perspective. Transition probabilities were mainly referred from the FLAVOUR trial, and healthcare costs were mainly obtained through analysis of Korean National Health Insurance claims data. Health utilities were mainly obtained from the Seattle Angina Questionnaire responses of FLAVOUR trial participants mapped to EQ-5D. Results: From the Korean healthcare system perspective, the base-case analysis showed that FFR-guided PCI was 2,451 U.S. dollar lower in lifetime healthcare costs and 0.178 higher in QALYs compared to IVUS-guided PCI. FFR-guided PCI remained more likely to be cost-effective over a wide range of willingness-to-pay thresholds in the probabilistic sensitivity analysis. Conclusions Based on the results from the FLAVOUR trial, FFR-guided PCI is projected to decrease lifetime healthcare costs and increase QALYs compared with IVUS-guided PCI in intermediate coronary lesion, and it is a dominant strategy in Korea.

Background and Objectives: Angiographic assessment of coronary stenosis severity using quantitative coronary angiography (QCA) is often inconsistent with that based on fractional flow reserve (FFR) or intravascular ultrasound (IVUS). We investigated the incidence of discrepancies between QCA and FFR or IVUS, and the outcomes of FFR- and IVUS-guided strategies in discordant coronary lesions. Methods: This study was a post-hoc analysis of the FLAVOUR study. We used a QCA-derived diameter stenosis (DS) of 60% or greater, the highest tertile, to classify coronary lesions as concordant or discordant with FFR or IVUS criteria for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The patient-oriented composite outcome (POCO) was defined as a composite of death, myocardial infarction, or revascularization at 24 months. Results: The discordance rate between QCA and FFR or IVUS was 30.2% (n=551). The QCAFFR discordance rate was numerically lower than the QCA-IVUS discordance rate (28.2% vs. 32.4%, p=0.050). In 200 patients with ≥60% DS, PCI was deferred according to negative FFR (n=141) and negative IVUS (n=59) (15.3% vs. 6.5%, p<0.001). The POCO incidence was comparable between the FFR- and IVUS-guided deferral strategies (5.9% vs. 3.4%, p=0.479).Conversely, 351 patients with DS <60% underwent PCI according to positive FFR (n=118) and positive IVUS (n=233) (12.8% vs. 25.9%, p<0.001). FFR- and IVUS-guided PCI did not differ in the incidence of POCO (9.5% vs. 6.5%, p=0.294). Conclusions The proportion of QCA-FFR or IVUS discordance was approximately one third for intermediate coronary lesions. FFR- or IVUS-guided strategies for these lesions were comparable with respect to POCO at 24 months.