Group B Streptococcus ( GBS) is a conditional pathogenic bacteria related to late-term abortion, premature delivery, premature rupture of membranes, perinatal infection, neonatal sepsis and other diseases.Prevention and treatment guidelines by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC) suggest that all the pregnant women at 35-37 gestational weeks should screen for GBS .The detection methods for GBS include microbiology , immunology, molecular biology, etc.The appropriate method should be chosen depending on circumstances .Penicillin is recommended for the preventive treatment of GBS , and the treatment for the insensitive should base on the antibiotic susceptibility results .No vaccine against GBS is currently available for clinical use .

ObjectiveTo investigate the effect of nutritional status on the parameters of pulmonary function, respiratory muscle strength and drive in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).MethodsThe nutritional status of 79 COPD patients at stable period was evaluated regularly, and their pulmonary function and parameters of respiratory muscle strength and drive were examined routinely, and the results were compared with 53 healthy subjects (control group) of the same age and gender.ResultsThe indexes of nutritional status in the COPD patients were all obviously lower than those in the control group (P<0.05～0.01). The parameters of pulmonary function including FEV1, FVC, FEV1%, FVC% and FEV1%/FVC% in the control group were all markedly higher than those in the common nutritional status group and bad nutritional status group, and those were higher in the common nutritional status group than in the bad nutritional status group (P<0.05～0.01). The parameters of respiratory muscle strength including maximal mouth inspiratory pressure (Pmip) and maximal mouth expiratory pressure (PmEp) in the control group were obviously higher than those in the common nutritional status group and bad nutritional status group, but the drive parameter of P0.1 was markedly lower than those in the latter two groups, the Pmip and PmEp in the bad nutritional status group were obviously lower than those in the common nutritional status group, but the P0.1 was obviously higher than that in the common nutritional status group (P<0.05～0.01).ConclusionCOPD patients at stable period are often accompanied by malnutrition, and the nutritional status is decisive to the declined degrees of the parameters of pulmonary function, respiratory muscle strength and drive.

Objective To evaluate the effect of alpha-lipon and Chinese medicine on diabetic peripheral neuropathy.Methods Sixty patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy were randomly divided into two groups.The treatment group were treated with alpha-lipon 600 mg/day by intravenous drip and 150 ml Chinese medicine twice daily for two weeks.The control group were treated with alpha-lipon 600 mg daily for two weeks.All patients were evaluated with TSS score and quantitative sensory tests before and after the treatment.Results There were significant differences on the conduction velocities of the tibial nerve((44.36 ±4.05) m/s vs (51.53 ± 4.76) rm/s ; t =9.6 ; P ＜ 0.01),the peroneal nerve ((43.87 ± 3.81) m/s vs (48.46 ±3.91) m/s;t =8.7;P＜0.01) and the sural nerve (42.31 ±5.05) m/s vs (47.76±5.06) m/s;t =7.9;P＜0.01) in the treatment group before and after treatment.For the control group,only significant differences on the conduction velocities of the tibial nerve ((44.78 ± 5.51) m/s vs.(46.18 ± 5.76) m/s ;t =3.5 ;P ＜ 0.01) and the sural nerve (40.76 ±5.86) m/s vs.(43.71 ±5.91) m/s;t =4.2;P ＜0.01) were observed before and after treatment.There was no sigfinicant difference found on the conduction velocities of the peroneal nerve ((44.48 ± 5.21) m/s vs (44.02 ± 5.71) m/s; t =2.7 ; P ＞ 0.05).Compared with the control group,the treatment group had more significant improvement of the conduction velocities of the tibial nerve (t =6.1 ; P ＜0.01),the peroneal nerve(t =4.8 ;P ＜ 0.01) and the sural nerve (t =5.4 ; P ＜ 0.01) after treatment for two weeks.The effective rate was significantly higher in the treatment group than in the control group (80％ (24/31)vs 60％ (18/30) ;x2 =5.01 ;P ＜ 0.05).No patients had severe drug side reaction.Conclusion Treatment of alpha-lipon combined Chinese medicine on patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy is safe and effective.

Since recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) was licensed for growth hormone deficiency(GHD) in 1985,it has been available in short stature associated with Turner syndrome (TS),being born small for gestational age,idiopathic short stature,chronic renal insufficiency in the last 20 years.The overall safety profile of rhGH continues to be favorable,but careful monitoring for the presence of certain conditions is important both during and after therapy.Reasonable indication,time of therapy and dosage are important to obtain the ideal result and save the expense.Besides,the efforts to improve rhGH therapy and increase compliance have also led to the investigation of extended-release rhGH and less invasive administration routes.Recent advances in the treatment of rhGH are reviewed in details.

It has been well established that interactions between CD40 and CD40L,expressed in a variety of cell types including platelets,vascular endothelial cells,and immune cells,are actively involved in the development of glomerulonephritis,lupus nephritis,and the other kidney disease caused by immunological and unimmunological factors,and that tubular cells expression of CD40 was correlated well with the degree of tubulointerstitial inflammation and injury.The development of therapeutic strategies specifically accommodating CD40/CD40L seem promising against renal glomerular disease.The paper reviews the new advances in this

Objective:To further investigate the effects of three kinds of material on the level of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF). Methods:The anterior teeth and the premolar teeth of 30 patients were divided into three groups randomly for Co-Cr alloy PFM, Ti PFM and all ceramic crown. Before tooth preparation, 1, 3 and 6 months after cementation, GCF was collected at the same sites. The levels of AST and ALP were detected by automated chemical analyzer, and analyzed the variation between the pre-restoration and post-restoration. Results:Before tooth preparation and 1 month after cementation, all indexes showed no difference among three groups. The level of GCF, AST and ALP of Co-Cr alloy group showed conspicuous difference with Ti PFM and all ceramic crowns after 3 months and 6 months. However, the levels of GCF, AST and ALP of Ti PFM group showed no difference with all ceramic crowns. Conclusion:Co-Cr based PFM crowns which clinically accepted have lead to changes of the levels of GCF, AST and ALP. Co-Cr based PFM crowns have negative influences on periodontal tissue. The Ti PFM and all ceramic crown may affect periodontium less than the Co-Cr PFM in observation period of this study.

Conotruncal anomaly is composed of a group of complex congenital heart diseases. Cardiac outflow tract (OFT) plays an essential role in the cardiac conotruncal development. Recently, transforming growth factor β/bone morphogenetic protein signaling pathway has become a research hotspot, which is recognized as a important regulation mechanism in many processes of the cardiac development, such as separation of OFT and maturation of septums. In this paper we describe the role of the signaling pathway and its effect on the development of cardiac OFT.

The author first argues that the significance of sectionalizing the medical market is that it is conducive to the discovery of market opportunities; it is conducive to the possession of a greater market share; and it provides a basis for the hospital to identify its target market. Then he sets forth the requirements for sectionalizing the medical market, viz. measurability, accessibility, relative stability, and availability of benefit. Finally he expounds the classification methods when sectionalizing the medical market and the principles for a hospitals selection of a target medical market. These include an appropriate scale and market, a certain purchasing power and endurance, a market not yet completely monopolized by competitors, a market the hospital is capable of managing, a relatively steady social environment, and observance of the procedure for selecting a target medical market.

Several multi-gene assays have been developed to predict the risk of recurrence in patients with early-stage, estrogen receptor (ER) positive breast cancer. Among them, Oncotype DX 21-gene assay is widely applied among node-negative patients because of its unique prediction of therapeutic benefit. Although many retrospective stud-ies have proved its prognostic and predictive value in node-positive population, evidence from large prospective clinical trials remains insufficient. When combined with clinicopathological variables, the assay has been shown to impact adjuvant treatment decision making in a cost-effective manner. This article reviewed the available clinical evidence for the prognostic and predictive value, unique advantages, the effect on treatment decision making, cost-effectiveness and contradictories of 21-gene assay in early-stage luminal breast cancer patients.