Objective To evaluate the role of transeso phageal echocardiography(TEE) before chemical or electric cardioversion for non-vulvular atrial fibrillation. Methods Forty-three patients, confirmed non-vulvular atrial fibrillation, undertook anticoagulation or anti-platelet therapy and transthoracic echocardiography and TEE less than 24-48 hours prior to cardioversion. Results Two thrombi in the left atrial appendage and three spontaneous echo contrasts in the left atrium were evidenced. After anticoagulation or anti-platelet therapy, 39 patients undertook cardioversion therapy. Among them,31 patients received drug cardioversion,success in 19,and failure in 12;8 patients received electric cardioversion,success in 6,and failure in 2. There were no thromboembolic events during the hospitalization. Conclusions TEE performed before cardioversion for atrial fibrillation is necessary to reduce the risks of thromboembolic events and to guide for anticoagulation therapy.

Objective To evaluate the efficacy of a new micro-bubble contrast agent of C_3F_8 in the opacification of the left ventricle. Methods Seven pigs received a bolus injection of C_3F_8 (0.002) and (0.02) (ml/kg) intravenously. Left ventricular opacification grades and number of endocardial border delineation segments were observed and left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF) were measured using modified Simpson method after each intravenous contrast injection. Heart rate and respiration rate were recorded before and after each injection. Results There was a significant improvement for every measurement of contrast enhancement in each intravenous injection. In addition, part of myocardial tissue could be enhanced after contrast injection. There was no difference in heart rate and respiration rate between pre- and post-injection. Conclusions This new contrast agent is safe and helpful in delineating endocardial border of the left ventricle.

Objective To determine the accuracy and usefulness of dobutamine stress echocardiography(DSE) in detecting restenosis after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Methods DSE was conducted in 47 patients before coronary angiography, 6 months to 18 months after PCI. The standard protocol of DSE was 5,10,20,30 ?g?kg~(-1)?min~(-1) with subsequent incremental increases every 3 minutes to a maximum dose of 40 ?g?kg~(-1)?min~(-1). Consistency of the results was compared between DSE and coronary angiography.Results Compared with coronary angiographic results, DSE had a low sensitivity(64%) but high specificity(86%) for detection of restenosis after PCI. The total accuracy was 72%. Conclusions DSE can assess restenosis after PCI with lower cost and safety.

The most radiation exposure for children arises from the medical process, and due to their characteristics such as relatively immature,organ development,they are more sensitive to the radiation than a-dults,and have higher risk of radiation related diseases,so medical radiation exposure should not be ignored.

Protein arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5) has been implicated as an important regulator of many cellular processes and signaling pathways,including chromatin remodeling,RNA splicing,DNA transcription,and cell proliferation.Therefore,structural and functional studies on PRMT5 are quite important.The full length ofPRMT5 gene was cloned into vector pGEX-4T-1,resulting in only low expression levels in Escherichia coli (E.colO.Here,it was showed that the several N-terminal amino acids deletions could result in a significant increase in the amount of soluble ft"action,while one of them did not affect the protein-arginine methyltransferase activity.And it was also found that the N-terminal 15 amino acids region of PRMT5 may be important for the catalytic activity.

Objective To study the effect of fund support on cited times of Chinese papers on AIDS by controlling the influence of confounding factors.Methods The effect of publication time of fund-supported papers and non fund-supported papers, h-index of authors, IF of journals on accumulated cited times of each academic paper was controlled by propensity score matching.The cited times of matched fund-supported papers and non fund-supported papers were compared by paired t test.Results The balance of confounding factors which were unbalanced before matching was achieved between fund-supported papers and non fund-supported papers after matching.No significant difference was found between fund-supported papers and non fund-supported papers after matching.Conclusion Fund support does not affect the cited times of Chinese papers on AIDS, which shows that fund support can not noticeably improve the academic level and impact of Chinese papers on AIDS.

Objective To evaluate the protective effect of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) against interleukin (IL)-17-induced injury to keratinocytes,and to explore its mechanism.Methods Some cultured HaCaT cells were divided into 3 groups to be treated with IL-17 alone at concentrations of 50,70,90 μg/L,respectively,with those receiving no treatment as the blank control group.Some HaCaT cells were divided into 5 groups:IL-17 group treated with 90 μg/L IL-17 alone,IL-17 + EGCG group treated with 90 μg/L IL-17 and 60 μmol/L EGCG,IL-17 + SP600125 group treated with 90 μg/L IL-17 and SP600125 (a JAK signaling pathway inhibitor),IL-17+ EGCG + anisomycin group treated with 90μg/L IL-17,60xmol/L EGCG and anisomycin (a Janus kinase signaling pathway activator),and blank control group receiving no treatment.After different durations of treatment,CCK-8 assay was performed to evaluate cellular proliferative activity,flow cytometry to detect cell apoptosis,enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to measure expression levels of IL-6,IL-23 and IL-8,and Western-blot analysis to determine protein expressions of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and phosphorylated JNK (P-JNK).Results IL-17 promoted cellular proliferation of HaCaT cells,and the proliferation rate,which was correlated with the concentration of IL-17,reached the maximum in the 90-μg/L IL-17 group (P ＜ 0.05).EGCG at 60 μmol/L significantly inhibited cellular proliferation of,promoted apoptosis in,and reduced IL-6,IL-23 and IL-8 expressions in,HaCaT cells induced by 90 μg/L IL-17 (all P ＜ 0.05).Compared with the IL-17 group,the IL-17 + EGCG group and IL-17 + SP600125 group both showed significantly decreased P-JNK expression,cell proliferation rate and IL-6,IL-23 and IL-8 expression levels (all P ＜ 0.05).However,compared with the IL-17 + EGCG group,the IL-17 + EGCG + anisomycin group showed significantly increased protein expression of P-JNK,cell proliferation rate and IL-6,IL-23 and IL-8 expression levels (all P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion EGCG protected against IL-17-induced injury to HaCaT cells,such as abnormal cell proliferation,apoptosis and inflammatory response,likely by inhibiting the JNK signaling pathway.

Objective To study the risky factors related to postoperative mortality after surgical intervention for intra-ventricular hemorrhage (IVH).Methods The clinical data of 142 IVH patients aged from 19 to 86 years with 77 male and 65 female were collected from 2007 to 2010 for retrospective analysis with SPSS version 13.0 package.Multi-factorial Logistic regression analysis and mono-factorial x2 analysis were used to find out the risk factors related to post-operative death. Results Of 142 patients,48 (33.8％) died.Mono-factorial analysis demonstrated that the risk factors of death after surgical intervention to IVH were elderly age ( ＞ 65 years),history of hypertension,low GGS score,intra-ventricular diffuse bleeding,preoperative obstructive hydrocephalus and coagulation abnormality,postoperative central high pyrexia and central diabetes insipidus,postoperative hemorrhage of alimentary tract,pulmonary infection,and drainage after operation ≥7 days ( P ＜ 0.05 or P ＜ 0.01 ).Multi-factorial Logistic regression analysis,on the other hand,revealed the independent factors associated with postoperative IVH mortality were postoperative central high fever,preoperative obstructive hydrocephalus (P ＜ 0.01 ); drainage after operation ≥7 days,postoperative pulmonary infection,elderly age,low GCS score,intra-ventricular diffuse bleeding and history of hypertension ( P ＜ 0.05 ). Conclusions General condition of patients with IVH and CT findings are likely related to mortality,and active prevention against various complications is the crucial approach to lowering postoperative mortality and improving prognosis.

BACKGROUND:Increasingly studies report that the normal balance of bone metabolism may be destroyed in the case of postmenopausal osteoporosis or osteoarthritis. The concrete metabolic process of bone turnover could be revealed sensitively by measuring the bone turnover markers in the serum or urine.
OBJECTIVE:To study the bone density and bone metabolic index of knee osteoarthritis (KOA) and postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMO), and to discuss the characteristics of bone density and bone metabolic index in KOA and PMO.
METHODS:A total of 248 postmenopausal women were detected for bone mineral density and knee X-ray. Final y 180 patients were included in this study and were divided into three groups:KOA group, PMO group, and control group. The levels of bone turnover markers (bone alkaline phosphatase, bone gla protein, col agen type I cross-linked C-telopeptide, and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase 5b) in serum from the participants were measured. The correlation between bone turnover markers and the disease progression was analyzed by Logistic regression analysis.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The bone mineral density in the KOA group was higher than the control group but col agen type I cross-linked C-telopeptide was lower. The levels of bone gla protein, col agen type I cross-linked C-telopeptide, and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase 5b in serum from PMO group were higher than the control group. The decrease of col agen type I cross-linked C-telopeptide was associated with the incidence of KOA, and the increases of bone gla protein, col agen type I cross-linked C-telopeptide, and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase 5b were associated with the incidence of PMO. The lower bone absorption can be seen in postmenopausal women with KOA. PMO patients showed a higher bone turnover rate. The difference of bone metabolism between patients with KOA and PMO led to negative relationship of bone mineral density. The serum levels of bone gla protein, col agen type I cross-linked C-telopeptide, and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase 5b can assist clinical diagnose and therapeutic effect detection of both KOA and PMO.

Objective To evaluate the left ventricular(LV) torsion and rotation in normal subjects using vector velocity imaging.Methods LV basal and apical short-axis images were captured in 10 healthy individuals to estimate LV torsion and rotation using routine 2-dimensional echocardiography and vector velocity imaging. Results As viewed from LV apex,the systolic basal rotation was clockwise (negative value),and apical rotation was counterclockwise (positive Value). The apical peak systolic rotational velocity was significantly higher than the basal [endo:(150±62)°/s vs (114±65)°/s;epi:(81±40)°/s vs (55±28)°s,respectively,P＜0.01]. The peak systolic endocardial rotational velocity and rotation was significantly higher than epicardial rotational velocity and rotation[basal:(-114±65)°/s vs (-55±28)°/s,(-12±6)°vs (-4±1)°;apical:(150±62)°s vs (81±40)°s,(10±4)°vs(6±2)°,respectivelv,P＜0.05]. There were no significant differences in the time to peak systolic rotational velocity/rotation between basal endocardium/epicardium and apical endocardium/epicardium. Conclusions Vector velocity imaging can assess LV torsion and rotation non-invasively,and normal LV has a kind of characteristic motion of torsion.