Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of acupoint thread embedding in treating simple obesity and its effect on blood lipids and insulin.Method Eighty patients were randomized into a thread embedding group and an acupuncture group. The acupoint thread embedding was given once every week, while acupuncture was given six times a week, both for 8 weeks in total. The body weight, body mass index (BMI), chest circumference, waist circumference, hip circumference, insulin and blood lipids were observed before and after intervention.Result After intervention, body weight, BMI, waist circumference, waist-hip ratio, fasting insulin level, blood lipids, and insulin resistance dropped significantly in both groups (P<0.05); there were no significant differences between the two groups (P>0.05).Conclusion Acupoint thread embedding can reduce body weight and three circumferences, and modulate glucose and lipid metabolisms, through which approaching weight loss in a healthy way.

Objective To investigate the effect of ulinastatin (UTI) preconditioning combined with ischemic preconditioning (IPC) on hepatic ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury in rats and possible mechanism of action.Methods A total of 50 male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into sham-operation group,IR group,IPC group,UTI group,and UTI-IPC group (UCI group).Blood samples were collected from the inferior vena cava after surgery and liver tissue samples were also collected.The serum levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST),alanine aminotransferase (ALT),and tumor necrosis factor-o (TNF-α),the levels of myeloperoxidase (MPO) and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) in the liver tissue,and wet/dry weight ratio were determined,and pathomorphological changes of the liver tissue were observed under a light microscope.A one-way analysis of variance was used for comparison of continuous data between groups,and the LSD-t-test was used for further comparison between two groups.Results The IR,IPC,UTI,and UCI groups had significantly higher serum levels of ALT,AST,and TNF-α,levels of MPO and NF-κB in the liver tissue,and wet/dry weight ratio than the sham-operation group (all P ＜ 0.05);the IPC,UTI,and UCI groups had significantly lower levels than the IR group (all P ＜ 0.05),the UTI group had significantly lower levels than the IPC group (all P ＜ 0.05),and the UCI group had significantly lower levels than the IPC and UTI groups (all P ＜ 0.05).Liver pathological examination showed that compared with the sham-operation group,the IR,IPC,UTI,and UCI groups had significantly greater liver injury (all P ＜0.05),while the IPC,UTI,and UCI groups had a significantly lower degree of liver injury than the IR group (all P ＜ 0.05),the UTI group had significantly slighter liver injury than the IPC group (P ＜ 0.05),and the UCI group had significantly slighter liver injury than the IPC and UTI groups (both P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion Both UTI and UCI have a protective effect against hepatic IR injury,and the combination of UTI and UCI significantly enhances such protective effect,possibly by inhibiting the expression of NF-κB,reducing the release of TNF-α and MPO,and alleviating liver inflammatory response.

Objective:To investigate the feasibility and clinical value of MRI quantitative evaluation technique in detecting sternocleidomastoid muscle fibrosis in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) after radiotherapy.Methods:From August 2019 to March 2021, 45 patients with clinically confirmed NPC after radiotherapy and 30 healthy controls who underwent physical examination in Lishui Hospital of Zhejiang University were enrolled in our study. According to the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group/European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (RTOG/EORTC) classification criteria of late radiation reactions respectively, the sternocleidomastoid muscle injury in the NPC group was divided into grade Ⅰ, Ⅱ and Ⅲ, which included 8, 32 and 5 patients respectively. All patients underwent T 1 mapping and T 2 mapping imaging of the neck. Firstly, the mapping images of sternocleidomastoid muscle between the two groups were analyzed and compared. Using NUMARIS/4 software of Siemens image post-processing workstation, the region of interest was manually drawn along the edge of sternocleidomastoid muscle at the level of laryngeal chamber in axial mapping diagram. Then, T 1 and T 2 values and the long and short diameters of sternocleidomastoid muscle were measured respectively. Finally, the differences of the parameters between the two groups were compared by independent sample t-test, Spearman rank correlation was used to analyze the relationship between the average T 1 and T 2 values of bilateral sternocleidomastoid muscles and the grade of late radiation injury. Results:Compared with the control group, the shape of sternocleidomastoid muscle in the NPC group was smaller in shape, with irregular edge and uneven increase of T 1 mapping color scale. There was no significant difference in muscle signal in T 2 mapping. The T 1 values of left and right sternocleidomastoid muscles in the NPC group were (1 524.7±97.6) and (1 496.5±93.2) ms respectively, which were significantly higher than those in the normal control group [(1 231.5±85.3) and (1 275.9±90.9) ms] ( P<0.05), and the T 2 values of left and right sternocleidomastoid muscles in the NPC group were (28.4±4.8) and (28.4±3.6) ms respectively, which were lower than those in the normal control group [(30.4±3.5) and (30.4±3.5) ms] ( P<0.05). The long and short diameters of bilateral sternocleidomastoid muscles in the NPC group were shorter than those in the control group ( P<0.05). The average T 1 and T 2 values of bilateral sternocleidomastoid muscles in NPC patients after radiotherapy were (1 510.6±95.4) and (28.4±4.2) ms respectively, The T 1 value was positively correlated with the classification of advanced radiation injury ( r=0.78, P<0.001), and T 2 value was negatively correlated with the level of advanced radiation injury ( r=-0.87, P<0.001). Conclusion:Mapping quantitative evaluation technique can noninvasively and objectively detect and evaluate sternocleidomastoid muscle fibrosis after NPC radiotherapy, which has potential clinical application value.

Objective To establish the pathogenic gene loci on 8q23.3-24.1 and 10p15 in this benigh adult familial myoclonic epilepsy (BAFME) pedigree.Methods After obtaining informed consent, peripheral blood samples were obtained from 7 BAFME patients and 13 control individuals;amplified polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and short tandem repeat (STR) method were employed to conduct linkage analysis;five STRs on chromosomal segments 8q23.3-q24.1 and three STRs on chromosomal segments 10p1 5 were chosen at genetic distances appropriate.Results Negative signal was all obtained for 8q23.3-q24.1 and 10p15 (LOD scores less than-2 for these STRs, respectively;θ=0.0), excluding involvement of these regions in the BAFME pedigree analyzed.Conclusion STR linkage analysis of 8q23.3-q24.1 and 10p 15 does not support linkage to these regions, indicating that the pathogenic gene in the pedigree we studied is not in these chromosome segments.

Objective To investigate the rate of employing angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers (ACEI/ARB) therapy in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in Gansu,Ningxia,Qinghai and Xinjiang provinces from 2001 to 2011,in order to determine the factors affecting the use of ACEI/ARB.Methods The original data of this study were obtained from the China PEACE,a national retrospective study of AMI to evaluate clinical outcome of coronary heart disease from 31 provinces.A part of these data was selected from 8 cooperative hospitals (2 hospitals were tertiary class and 6 hospitals were secondary class) from Gansu,Ningxia,Qinghai and,Xinjiang provinces for further analyses.The clinical data of AMI patients in 2001,2006 and 2011 were collected to analyze the use of ACEI/ARB therapy in each of these years.Binary logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors influencing the use of ACEI/ARB.Results Of 311 eligible patients included,300 were categorized into Class Ⅰ AMI and 11 into Class Ⅱ a AMI according to Chinese guidelines.From 2001 to 2011,there wassignificant change in the use of ACEI/ARB in term of percentage in patients with Class Ⅰ AMI (69.57％,82.19％ and 60.77％,P =0.033),but such change did not occur in patients with Class Ⅱa AMI (40％,0％ and 60％,P =0.525).Among three specific years,the percentage of ACEIs employed was noticeably higher than that of ARBs.Binary logistic regression analysis showed that patients with hypertension (OR =2.3,95％ CI:1.3-4.1),heart failure (OR =1.95,95％ CI:1.7-5.8),smoking indulgence (OR =2.0,95％ CI:1.2-3.6) were more likely to be treated with ACEI/ARB,and patients with prior stroke (OR=0.3,95％CI:0.1-0.8),systolic blood pressure ＜90 mmHg (OR =0.1,95％CI:0-0.5)were less likely to be treated with ACEI/ARB.Conclusiorns In underdeveloped areas such as Gansu,Ningxia,Qinghai and Xinjiang provinces,the overall proportion of rational and necessary use of ACEI/ARB use in patients with AMI during hospitalization is still low.The rational use of ACEI/ARB lags behind the advance of medical condition progress,economic development and information availability,especially in patients with a history of stroke,low blood pressure.Patients with hypertension,heart failure,smoking indulgence were more likely to get ACEI/ARB therapy.The main reasons of this phenomenon were attributed to firstly the thorough understanding of standard medication guide to coronary heart disease to be lacking among some professionals,secondly,the side effects of these drugs to be unnecessary worried about among certain of doctors,and thirdly,low awareness of the pathogenesis of AMI disease and the lack of concerning for patients to be existent.

BACKGROUNDBased on the excellent medical care and management system for Chinese veterans, as well as the detailed medical documentation available, we aim to construct a Chinese Veteran Clinical Research (CVCR) platform on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and carry out studies of the primary disabling NCDs.

METHODSThe Geriatric Neurology Department of Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital and veterans' hospitals serve as the leading and participating units in the platform construction. The fundamental constituents of the platform are veteran communities. Stratified typical cluster sampling is adopted to recruit veteran communities. A cross-sectional study of mental, neurological, and substance use (MNS) disorders are performed in two stages using screening scale such as the Mini-Mental State Examination and Montreal cognitive assessment, followed by systematic neuropsychological assessments to make clinical diagnoses, evaluated disease awareness and care situation.

RESULTSA total of 9 676 among 277 veteran communities from 18 cities are recruited into this platform, yielding a response rate of 83.86%. 8 812 subjects complete the MNS subproject screening and total response rate is 91.70%. The average participant age is (82.01±4.61) years, 69.47% of veterans are 80 years or older. Most participants are male (94.01%), 83.36% of subjects have at least a junior high school degree. The overall health status of veterans is good and stable. The most common NCD are cardiovascular disorders (86.44%), urinary and genital diseases (73.14%), eye and ear problems (66.25%), endocrine (56.56%) and neuro-psychiatric disturbances (50.78%).

CONCLUSIONWe first construct a veterans' comprehensive clinical research platform for the study of NCDs that is primarily composed of highly educated Chinese males of advanced age and utilize this platform to complete a cross-sectional national investigation of MNS disorders among veterans. The good and stable health condition of the veterans could facilitate the long-term follow-up studies of NCDs and provide prospective data to the prevention and management of NCDs.

Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Disease ; Female ; Health Status ; Humans ; Male ; Veterans ; statistics & numerical data