Objective: To study the reliability, validity and feasibility of SF-36 Health Survey Scales in elderly living in rural area around Shenzhen of south China. Method: 666 old people aged 60 or above were assessed with SF-36. Split-half reliability, internal consistency, criterion-related validity, discriminant validity and construct validity of the scale were tested. Result: All Cronbach alpha coefficients were 0.8 or above in eight subscales. The internal consistency was good. The split-half reliability of every subscale was preferable and Person correlation coefficients were 0.7 or higher, except that of Mental Health. Good discriminant validity and criterion related validity were obtained. Factor analysis showed two factors, which could account for 63% of total variance. Every subscale held moderate loading in its relevant facto, except that of Role-Emotion.Conclusion:SF-36 was applicable for life quality assessment in country-dwelling elderly population after some item revisions.

BACKGROUND: Short-form-36 health survey(SF-36) has good reliability and validity, which is applicable to assess quality of life (QOL) in European and American population.OBJECTIVE: To study the reliability, validity and feasibility of SF-36 scale in the rural elder and evaluate their QOL.DESIGN: It is a cross-sectional study, all participants are sampled by two-phase random sampling.SETTING: Institute of Epidemiology and Hygienic Statistics, China Union Medical University and institute of epidemiology and hygienic statistics in a university.PARTICIPANTS: Totally 687 old people were randomly selected from six villages in Bao' an District of Shenzhen from May to July 2002. Inclusion criteria: All the people were residents and aged 60 years or above. Exclusion criteria: People with severe auditory or mental obstacles were excluded. Totally 666 questionnaires were valid, among them 264 were male and 402 were female.METHODS: All participants were interviewed face to face with SF-36 questionnaire by trained investigators. The feasibility, reliability and validity were the main measures of SF-36 scale.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Split-half reliability, internal consistency, criterion-related validity, discriminant validity and construct validity.RESULTS: SF-36 scale had a good internal consistency, and all Cronbach' α coefficients were equal or more than 0. 8 in 8 dimensions. The split-half reliability of every dimension was preferable and Pearson correlation coefficients were 0.7 or higher except mental health(MH) . Discriminant validity and criterion related validity were obtained and satisfied. Two factors were got by factor analysis, which could account for 63.14% of total variance. Every dimension held a moderate loading in its relevant factor except role-emotion (RE) dimension(≥0.4).CONCLUSION: SF-36 scale is applicable for QOL assessment in the rural elder after some item revisions. The vulnerable elder should be given more attention and care.

Objective To investigate the influential factors to the prognosis of senile patients with bladder cancer. Methods One hundred and forty-five senile patients with bladder cancer confirmed by pathology from 1998 to 2008 were clinically investigated and analyzed using measuring scales of Functional Living Index-Cancer (FLIC), Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G) and Cancer Rehabilitation Evaluation System short form (CARES-SF). The factors influencing the prognosis were selected and quantified, and the relationship between the factors and prognosis was statistically analyzed. Results By retrospective analysis of clinical data, it was revealed that, suppose every 5 years from 65 were as an age grade, the age-gradient was positively correlated with the survival rates (r=0.687, P

In this study, the vaporization ratio of the 2-mum laser in the prostatic tissue with benign prostatic hyperplasia was examined in vitro, to explore a technique to estimate the clearance rate of prostatic tissue during the transurethral vaporesection of the prostate. A total of 9 fresh prostatic tissue specimens were obtained by open surgery and the wet weight of the prostatic tissue were measured immediately after the sample collection. Under the simulated conditions of transurethral vaporesection of the prostate by 2-mum laser, each prostate gland was completely vaporesected into fragments with a diameter of less than 1.0 cm in vitro. After the vaporesection, the whole fragments of prostatic tissue were collected and measured. Then the lost weight of prostatic tissue, the weight of the collected prostatic tissue and the ratio of the lost weight of prostatic tissue to the wet weight of the prostate glandular organ specimen were calculated. The correlation between the weight of collected prostatic tissue and the weight of the whole glandular organ was analyzed. All the experimental procedures were carried out by one operator. Wet weight of the prostatic gland specimen and the weight of the harvested prostatic tissues after the procedure were recorded. With respect to the wet weight of prostate gland specimen, the percentage of the weight of collected prostatic tissue was (34.45+/-1.51) %, and the percentage of the lost weight of prostatic tissue was (65.55+/-1.51)%. Satisfactory linear relationship was observed between the weight of collected prostatic tissue and the wet weight of prostate gland specimen [y=3.245x-6.475 (t=15.097, P=0.000)]. It is concluded that under the simulated conditions of transurethral vaporesection of the prostate by 2-mum laser, the vaporization ratio of prostatic tissue can be calculated on the basis of the weight of collected prostatic tissue, and thereby the clearance of prostatic tissue during the formal operation by 2-mum laser could be quantitatively determined.

In this study,the vaporization ratio of the 2-μm laser in the prostatic tissue with benign prostatic hyperplasia was examined in vitro,to explore a technique to estimate the clearance rate of prostatic tissue during the transurethral vaporesection of the prostate.A total of 9 fresh prostatic tissue specimens were obtained by open surgery and the wet weight of the prostatic tissue were measured immediately after the sample collection.Under the simulated conditions of transurethral vaporesection of the prostate by 2-μm laser,each prostate gland was completely vaporesected into fragments with a diameter of less than 1.0 cm in vitro.After the vaporesection,the whole fragments of prostatic tissue were collected and measured.Then the lost weight of prostatic tissue,the weight of the collected prostatic tissue and the ratio of the lost weight of prostatic tissue to the wet weight of the prostate glandular organ specimen were calculated.The correlation between the weight of collected prostatic tissue and the weight of the whole glandular organ was analyzed.All the experimental procedures were carried out by one operator.Wet weight of the prostatic gland specimen and the weight of the harvested prostatic tissues after the procedure were recorded.With respect to the wet weight of prostate gland specimen,the percentage of the weight of collected prostatic tissue was(34.45±1.51)%,and the percentage of the lost weight of prostatic tissue was(65.55±1.51)%.Satisfactory linear relationship was observed between the weight of collected prostatic tissue and the wet weight of prostate gland specimen[y=3.245x-6.475(t=15.097,P=0.000)].It is concluded that under the simulated conditions of transurethrai vaporesection of the prostate by 2-μm laser,the vaporization ratio of prostatic tissue can be calculated on the basis of the weight of collected prostatic tissue,and thereby the clearance of prostatic tissue during the formal operation by 2-μm laser could be quantitatively determined.

Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the most common type of lung cancer accounting for 85% of the cases, is often diagnosed at advanced stages owing to the lack of efficient early diagnostic tools. 5-Hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) signatures in circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) that carries the cancer-specific epigenetic patterns may represent the valuable biomarkers for discriminating tumor and healthy individuals, and thus could be potentially useful for NSCLC diagnosis. Here, we employed a sensitive and reliable method to map genome-wide 5hmC in the cfDNA of Chinese NSCLC patients and detected a significant 5hmC gain in both the gene bodies and promoter regions in the blood samples from tumor patients compared with healthy controls. Specifically, we identified six potential biomarkers from 66 patients and 67 healthy controls (mean decrease accuracy >3.2, P < 3.68E-19) using machine-learning-based tumor classifiers with high accuracy. Thus, the unique signature of 5hmC in tumor patient's cfDNA identified in our study may provide valuable information in facilitating the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic modalities for NSCLC.
5-Methylcytosine ; analogs & derivatives ; blood ; Biomarkers, Tumor ; blood ; genetics ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ; blood ; diagnosis ; genetics ; Case-Control Studies ; Circulating Tumor DNA ; blood ; DNA Methylation ; Epigenomics ; Female ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; blood ; diagnosis ; genetics ; Male ; Middle Aged

N-methyladenosine (mA), catalyzed by the methyltransferase complex consisting of Mettl3 and Mettl14, is the most abundant RNA modification in mRNAs and participates in diverse biological processes. However, the roles and precise mechanisms of mA modification in regulating neuronal development and adult neurogenesis remain unclear. Here, we examined the function of Mettl3, the key component of the complex, in neuronal development and adult neurogenesis of mice. We found that the depletion of Mettl3 significantly reduced mA levels in adult neural stem cells (aNSCs) and inhibited the proliferation of aNSCs. Mettl3 depletion not only inhibited neuronal development and skewed the differentiation of aNSCs more toward glial lineage, but also affected the morphological maturation of newborn neurons in the adult brain. mA immunoprecipitation combined with deep sequencing (MeRIP-seq) revealed that mA was predominantly enriched in transcripts related to neurogenesis and neuronal development. Mechanistically, mA was present on the transcripts of histone methyltransferase Ezh2, and its reduction upon Mettl3 knockdown decreased both Ezh2 protein expression and consequent H3K27me3 levels. The defects of neurogenesis and neuronal development induced by Mettl3 depletion could be rescued by Ezh2 overexpression. Collectively, our results uncover a crosstalk between RNA and histone modifications and indicate that Mettl3-mediated mA modification plays an important role in regulating neurogenesis and neuronal development through modulating Ezh2.
Adenosine ; analogs & derivatives ; metabolism ; Adult Stem Cells ; cytology ; metabolism ; Animals ; Brain ; metabolism ; Cell Differentiation ; genetics ; Cell Proliferation ; Enhancer of Zeste Homolog 2 Protein ; metabolism ; Gene Expression Regulation ; Methyltransferases ; metabolism ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Neural Stem Cells ; cytology ; metabolism ; Neurogenesis ; genetics ; Neurons ; cytology ; metabolism ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics ; metabolism