ObjectiveTo evaluate whether AN69 ST membrane would prolong filter lifetime in continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) without anticoagulation in patients with high risk of bleeding.Methods A single-center, prospective, randomized, double-blind control trial with crossover design was conducted. From March 1st to December 31st in 2013, patients who were admitted to Department of Critical Care Medicine of the Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University meeting CRRT treatment indications, but could not receive systemic anticoagulation because of high risk of bleeding were studied. The selected patients were randomly divided into two groups according to a random number table, and four filters consisting of two AN69 ST100 membrane filters (A) and two traditional AN69 M100 membrane filters (B) were used for them. GroupⅠ with the filter order of A-B-A-B, and groupⅡ with the order of B-A-B-A. The clinical data of patients was recorded in detail, and conventional AN69 ST and AN69 membrane filter lifetime, their influence on coagulability, and the incidence of bleeding complications were compared.Results Seventeen patients were enrolled, with 10 in groupⅠ, and 7 in groupⅡ. The basic medical characteristics including gender, age, acute physiology and chronic health evaluationⅡ (APAECHⅡ) score, sequential organ failure score (SOFA), Acute Renal Injury Network (AKIN) stage, activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), prothrombin time (PT), international normalized ratio (INR), platelet count (PLT), and use of mechanical ventilation were not significantly different between two groups. But the use of vasoactive drug was more frequent in groupⅡcompared with that of groupⅠ[100.0% (7/7) vs. 30.0% (3/10),χ2 = 8.330,P = 0.010]. AN69 ST filter lifetime (n =34) was (15.92±2.10) hours, there was no statistically significant difference compared with that of AN69 membrane (t = 0.088,P = 0.942), filter lifetime of which (n = 34) was (16.12±1.38) hours. It was also found by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis that there was no significant difference between the two membrane filter lifetime (χ2=1.589,P =0.208). Logistic regression analysis showed that the life of the first filter was not correlated with coagulation indicators, including APTT, PT, INR, and PLT [APTT: odds ratio (OR) = 0.977, 95% confidence interval (95%CI) = 0.892-1.071, P = 0.623; PT:OR = 1.001, 95%CI = 0.901-1.109,P = 0.988; INR:OR = 1.078, 95%CI = 0.348-3.340,P = 0.896;PLT:OR = 0.996, 95%CI = 0.974-1.019,P = 0.735]. The application rate of vasoactive drugs, which was different between two groups for basic medical indications showed no effect on filter life time (OR = 2.541, 95%CI = 0.239-26.955,P = 0.439). Reasons of clotting in filters were also analyzed, and it was found that blood coagulation in the filter ranked the top (88.2%), and the other reasons were catheter-related problems, death, and unscheduled transport. No difference in blood coagulation function was found in both groups after treatment for 12 hours, and there was no bleeding complication.ConclusionDuring the CRRT without systemic anticoagulant, both surface-treatment with polyethyleneimine AN69 and AN69 ST membrane cannot prolong filter lifetime.

Objective To evaluate the accuracy of color Doppler in predicting acute kidney injury ( AKI) . Methods Patients of both sexes with AKI risk factors not diagnosed with AKI, aged ≥18 yr, were enrolled in this study. Within 1 h after inclusion, the renal blood flow ( RBF) grade was monitored u-sing color Doppler, and renal resistive index ( RRI) value of renal interlobar artery was monitored at the level of renal interlobar or arcuate arteries, and corrected RRI value was calculated. The development of AKI was recorded within 24 h through measuring serum creatinine and urine volume, and the receiver oper-ating characteristic curve was plotted. Results Thirty-eight patients were included in non-AKI group and 40 ones in AKI group. Compared with non-AKI group, RBF grade was significantly decreased, RRI value was increased ( P<0. 05) , and no significant change was found in the corrected RRI value in AKI group ( P>0. 05) . The area under the curve of RBF grade and RRI value in predicting AKI occurred within 24 h and 95％ confidence interval were 0. 659 ( 0. 561-0. 747) and 0. 669 ( 0. 572-0. 756) , respectively. Con-clusion Color Doppler has a certain value in predicting AKI within 24 h.

Objective:To test the effectiveness of electrical stimulation of the median nerve (MNES) for relieving post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) and explore the possible mechanism.Methods:Thirty patients with PSCI were randomly divided into a routine treatment group (the control group) and an MNES group, each of 15. Both groups were given routine rehabilitation treatment, including cognitive rehabilitation training, medications and acupuncture. The MNES group additionally received 30 minutes of MNES on their right hands every day, five times a week for six weeks. One electrode was positioned over the median nerve 2cm up from the rasceta of the right wrist. The other was on the muscles of the thenar eminence. Forty seconds of stimulation were applied with intervals of 20 seconds, for 30 min daily. Before and after 3 and 6 weeks of treatment, both groups were evaluated using the mini-mental state examination (MMSE), the Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA), the modified Barthel index (MBI) and the Fugl-Meyer assessment (FMA). In another 15 patients oxyhemoglobin levels in the brain before and during the MNES were observed using near-infrared spectroscopy.Results:After 3 weeks of treatment, a significant improvement was observed in the average MMSE, FMA and MBI scores of both groups, and the average MoCA score of the observation group. Three weeks later, the average MMSE, FMA, MBI and MoCA scores of both groups had improved significantly compared with before the treatment, with the average MMSE and MoCA improvements in the MNES group significantly greater than the control group′s averages. After 6 weeks of treatment the significant improvements persisted in both groups. Both group′s average FMA scores had also improved significantly, as had the average MBI score of the control group. After 6 weeks of treatment, the observation group′s average time orientation, location orientation, language instant memory, attention, calculation and short-term memory in MMSE had all improved significantly along with visual space capacity, executive capacity, attention, language, orientation and memory in MoCA. The spectroscopic results showed significantly improved oxyhemoglobin concentration in the bilateral frontal lobes after the MNES.Conclusions:Electrical stimulation of the median nerve can help to improve cognition after a stroke. It increases oxyhemoglobin concentration in the bilateral frontal lobes.