To introduce the application of Stata software to heterogeneity test in meta-analysis.A data set was set up according to the example in the study,and the corresponding commands of the methods in Stata 9 software were applied to test the example.The methods used were Q-test and Ⅰ2statistic attached to the fixed effect model forest plot,H statistic and Galbraith plot.The existence of the heterogeneity among studies could he detected hy Q-test and H statistic and the degree of the heterogeneity could be detected by,Ⅰ2 statistic.The outliers which were the sources of the heterogeneity could be spotted from the Galbraith plot.Heterogeneity test in Meta-analysis can be completed by the four methods in Stata software simply and quickly.H and Ⅰ2 statistics are more robust,and the outliers of the heterogeneity can be clearly seen in the Galbraith plot among the four methods.

Background Corneal neovascularization (CNV) is an important cause of visual impairment and graft rejection after allograft corneal transplantation in inflammatory corneal diseases. The mechanisms and therapy relating to CNV are intensely investigated at all times. Objective This study was to evaluate the effect of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) on CNV induced by alkali cauterization and its mechanism. Methods The animal models of corneal neovasculation were induced in the right eyes in 72 Sprayue-Dawley rats by putting a piece of 3 mmfilter paper with 1 mol/L NaOH at the center of the cornea for 30 seconds. The rats were then divided randomly into the 0.02 mg EPA treatment group (24 rats) ,0.03 mg EPA treatment group (24 rats) ,model group (24 rats) and normal group (6 rats). EPA of 0.04 ml with doses of 0.02 mg or 0. 03 mg or saline solution of 0. 04 ml was injected subconjunctivally in model rats and immediately after cauterization. The presence of CNV and corneal edema were observed daily by slit lamp biomicroscope. 1,4,7 and 14 days after operation, corneal histopathological examination was performed by hematoxylin and eosin staining. The vascular endothelial cells were stained with CD34 by immunohistochemistry,and the expression of IL-1α,IL-6 mRNA and the nuclear factor-κBp65 ( NF-κBp65 ) proteins was measured by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot analysis. The use of animals complied with the Regulations for the Administration of Affair Concerning Experimental Animals by Hebei Province( version 1998 ). Results Under the slit lamp, CNV grew slowly from days 2-4 with obvious corneal edema and defect of epithelium. Larger CNV area and less edema were seen from days 7-10. Maximal vessel growth was observed 14 days after injury with thinner vessels in the model group. Histological examination showed that part of the corneal epithelium was damaged;serious corneal edema, more inflammatory cells and a lot of CNV in the stroma were presented in the model group. However, repairing of the corneal epithelium without CNV ,light corneal edema and less inflammatory cells were found in both the 0. 02 mg EPA and 0. 03 mg EPA treatment groups 7 days after alkali cauterization. The relative area of CNV in the 0. 02 mg EPA treatment group was ( 15.80±6.43 )% and ( 11.06±2. 14)% ,and that in the 0. 03 mg EPA treatment group was (16. 10±7.41 )% and (11.06±2. 51 )%, showing significant reduction in comparison with the model group [ (84. 74±7.77)% and (89.63±7.50) % ] 7 days and 14 days after operation ( P＜0. 05 ). Stronger expression of CD34 in the vascular endothelial cells of the cornea stroma was observed in the model group and an absence of CD34 was observed in the EPA-treated groups on the 7th day. RT-PCR revealed that the expression of IL-1α mRNA and IL-6 mRNA was lower in the EPA treatment groups than the model group ( P＜0. 05 ), and Western blot analysis showed that the expression of NF-κB/p65 in the corneas in the EPA treatment groups was significantly lower than that in the model group on the 4th day after operation (P＜0.05).Conclusion Topical application of EPA suppresses CNV induced by alkali burn possibly by inhibiting the expression of NF-κB,IL-1α and IL-6.

OBJECTIVETo assess the relationship between myocardial regional perfusion using second harmonic myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) by venous injection of Levovist and coronary artery stenosis detected by coronary angiography to determine whe ther MCE can be used to detect coronary artery disease (CAD) and its sensitivity and specificity for detecting CAD.

METHODSThirty-six patients who underwent coronary artery angiography and MCE formed the study groups. Ten myocardial segments (5 each in the apical two- and four-chamber views) from the images were scored for detecting myocardial perfusion as follows: 1, normal perfusion; 2, decreased perfusion; and 3, perfusion defect. The arteries were classified as normal or diseased. The diseased arteries were classified into three groups according to the perfusion scores.

RESULTSThere were significant differences in coronary diameter stenosis among the different perfusion score groups (P < 0.001). There were 10 total occluded arteries, and the myocardial perfusion scores were different because of different collateral circulation. In the normal perfusion group (Group A), the coronary diameter stenosis was 65% +/- 12%, and the myocardial perfusion score index was 1 +/- 0.00. In the decreased perfusion group (Group B), the average coronary diameter stenosis was 82% +/- 8%, and the myocardial perfusion score was 1.93 +/- 0.16. The diameter stenosis was less than 85% in 63% of the coronary arteries (including diameter stenosis < or = 75% in 12% of the vessels). The diameter stenosis was 85%-90% in 22% of the coronary arteries and > 90% in 15% of the arteries. In the perfusion defect group (Group C), the average diameter stenosis was 90% +/- 6%, and the myocardial perfusion score index was 2.89 +/- 0.24. The diameter stenosis was > or = 85% in 94% of the coronary arteries, and the diameter stenosis was < 85% and > 75% only in 6% of the coronary arteries. The overall sensitivity and specificity of MCE in identifying angiographic coronary diameter stenosis was 67% and 100%, respectively. The false negative rate was 32.6% for the 108 coronary arteries. Further subdivided analysis showed the sensitivities in Groups A, B and C were 0, 100%, and 100%, respectively. The sensitivity increased with increased lumen diameter stenosis of coronary arteries.

CONCLUSIONSThere is a close relationship between coronary artery stenosis and MCE perfusion scores. MCE with venous injection of new generation contrast can define the presence of CAD and lesion graded classifications. Some disagreements between perfusion score and coronary diameter of stenosis may indicate other factors such as different collateral circulation, which should be further investigated. As artery stenosis increases, the sensitivity of MCE is increased.

Adult ; Aged ; Coronary Circulation ; Coronary Disease ; diagnostic imaging ; Echocardiography ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Sensitivity and Specificity

OBJECTIVETo compare the effect of autograft, cage and autograft plus internal fixation with plate on maintenance of disc height and recovery of spinal cord function.

METHODSFrom March 1998 to June 2004, 117 cervical spondylotic patients who received anterior fusion surgery were reviewed. There were 65 males and 52 females with an average age of 57 years (range from 31 to 72 years). One level was involved in 91 patients, and two levels in 26. Fusion methods included autogenous tri-cortical iliac bone grafting alone in 31 patients, cage with autograft bone in 38 and autogenous tri-cortical iliac bone grafting combined with self-locking plate in 49. The measured fusion length was determined as the distance from the midpoint between the anterior and posterior aspects of the superior endplate of the top level of the fusion to the midpoint of the inferior endplate of the bottom level of the bottom level of the fusion. JOA rating criteria was used for cord function evaluation. One-way variation analysis was used to compare the disc height loss and cord function among the 3 groups.

RESULTSAll patients were followed-up for an average period of 23 months (range, 13 to 59 months). At final follow- up, disc height loss averaged 1.94 mm in autogenous tri-cortical iliac bone grafting group, greater than that in the other two groups (1.48 mm in cage group and 1.25 mm in instrumented group) with statistical significance. Recovery of spinal cord function was satisfactory in all groups at one year postoperatively with no statistical difference. Three implants failure occurred in self-locking plate group and was salvaged with uneventful recovery.

CONCLUSIONSIn anterior cervical fusion surgery, maintenance of disc height could be achieved by proper application of cage or internal fixation with plate.

Adult ; Aged ; Bone Plates ; Cervical Vertebrae ; pathology ; surgery ; Decompression, Surgical ; instrumentation ; methods ; Female ; Humans ; Ilium ; transplantation ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Spinal Fusion ; instrumentation ; methods ; Spinal Osteophytosis ; surgery ; Transplantation, Autologous ; Treatment Outcome

Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a rare and distinct variant of DLBCL. It is classified as a unique subtype of DLBCL in the 2008 WHO classification of lymphomas. No standard and effective therapeutic regi-men is available for ALK+DLBCL because it shows a more aggressive clinical course and frequent relapse. Therefore, a standardized and individualized treatment is needed to benefit more patients diagnosed with ALK+DLBCL through a multiple disciplinary team. This arti-cle presents a case of an ALK+DLBCL patient who relapsed after transplantation and was successfully treated with the ALK kinase inhibi-tor Crizotinib.

OBJECTIVETo analyze the trends of food consumption among Chinese residents aged from 18 to 59 years old in 9 provinces (autonomous region) from 1989 to 2006.

METHODSThe paper was based on data collected in 1991, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2004 and 2006 China Health and Nutrition Survey of Chinese residents of 24 h in three consecutive day dietary recall data. The healthy residents aged 18 - 59 years with twenty-four-hour dietary recall data were selected as study subjects. The sample sizes of these seven surveys were 5766, 7296, 7019, 7599, 8143, 7168 and 6827, respectively. The trends of their food consumption in each year were analyzed through Kruskal-wallis method.

RESULTSThe intake of cereals decreased significantly from (528.5 ± 192.9) g/d in 1989 to (427.7 ± 173.8) g/d in 2006 (χ(2) = 2833.13, P < 0.01). The minor variation of soybean food intake was observed. The average intake was (22.3 ± 39.4) g/d in 1989 and (18.9 ± 30.5) g/d in 2006 which was still at a low level. The trend of vegetables intake showed a small decrease. It was (374.5 ± 205.9) g/d in males and (346.4 ± 187.6) g/d in females in 2006, respectively. Both quantity and rate of fruits consumption showed an increase trend. Its consumption rate reached at 22.5% (741/3296) in males and 27.7% (1004/3619) in females in 2006, respectively. The average intake increased from (122.4 ± 126.9) g/d in 1989 to (228.5 ± 267.3) g/d in 2006 (χ(2) = 539.66, P < 0.01). At the same time, the daily intake of meat and egg showed a large increase, the average meat intake increased from (97.0 ± 111.5) g/d in males and (80.2 ± 97.0) g/d in females in 1989 to (141.5 ± 125.2) g/d in males and (118.4 ± 111.8) g/d in females in 2006, respectively. The oil consumption showed a significant increase. The average intake increased from (30.4 ± 37.9) g/d in 1989 to (42.8 ± 32.3) g/d in 2006 (χ(2) = 1646.94, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONSThere have been noticeable changes in the Chinese dietary pattern in the past 17 years. Some changes would be helpful for nutritional improvement in Chinese people, but it also caused some adverse effects on health because of improper food consumption.

Adolescent ; Adult ; China ; Diet ; statistics & numerical data ; trends ; Dietary Fats ; Energy Intake ; Feeding Behavior ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Meat ; Middle Aged ; Nutrition Surveys ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo analyze the status and trend of dietary fiber intake and its food sources among Chinese residents aged 18 - 45 years old in 9 provinces (autonomous region), from 1989 to 2006.

METHODSTwenty-four-hour dietary recall data of three consecutive days from China Health and Nutrition Survey (1989, 1991, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2004 and 2006) were used. And the 18 - 45 years old subjects with complete information on dietary survey were included. The sample size of these 7 surveys were 5597, 5596, 5323, 5485, 5308, 4144 and 3889, respectively. The trends of dietary fiber intake and food sources by time and sex were studied.

RESULTSFrom 1989 to 2000, the total of daily dietary fiber intake of 18 - 45 years old healthy residents decreased from 15.1 g/d to 11.6 g/d, insoluble dietary fiber intake decreased from 22.6 g/d to 17.8 g/d. In villages, from 1989 to 2000, the insoluble dietary fiber intake decreased 5.1 g/d in males and 5.2 g/d in females(13.2, 11.8 g in 2000, respectively;18.3, 17.0 g in 1989, respectively). In 2006, the insoluble dietary intake was 12.6 g/d in males and 11.2 g/d in females in villages. In cities, from 1989 to 2006, the insoluble dietary fiber intake was 9.4 - 11.8 g/d in males and 8.3 - 10.8 g/d in females. The total dietary fiber intake was 15.7 - 17.6 g/d in males and 13.5 - 16.4 g/d in females. The difference of insoluble and total dietary fiber intake between city and village was decreasing. In 2006, 70.6% (8.4/11.9) insoluble dietary fiber came from vegetables ((4.1 ± 3.1) g/d), wheat flour and its products ((2.6 ± 3.6) g/d), rice and its products ((1.7 ± 1.3) g/d).

CONCLUSIONDietary fiber intake among Chinese aged 18 - 45 in 9 provinces (autonomous region) decreased from 1989 to 2006. Vegetables, wheat flour, rice and their products were the major food sources of insoluble dietary fiber.

Adolescent ; Adult ; China ; Dietary Fiber ; Feeding Behavior ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nutrition Surveys ; Young Adult

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of combined fine-needle aspiration (FNA) with core needle biopsy (CNB) in thyroid nodules. Methods: FNA and CNB were performed simultaneously on 703 nodules. We compared the proportions of inconclusive results and the diagnostic performance for malignancy among FNA, CNB, and combined FNA/CNB for different nodule sizes. Results: Combined FNA/CNB showed lower proportions of inconclusive results than CNB for all nodules (2.8% vs. 5.7%, P<0.001), nodules ≤1.0 cm (4.9% vs. 7.3%, P=0.063), nodules >1.0 cm (2.0% vs. 5.0 %, P<0.001), nodules ≤1.5 cm (3.8% vs. 7.9 %, P<0.001), and nodules >1.5 cm (2.1% vs. 3.9 %, P=0.016). The sensitivity of combined FNA/CNB in predicting malignancy was significantly higher than that of CNB (89.0% vs. 80.0%, P<0.001) and FNA (89.0% vs. 58.1%, P<0.001) for all nodules. Within American College of Radiology Thyroid and Imaging Reporting and Data System grades 4-5, in the subgroup of nodules ≤1.5 cm, combined FNA/ CNB showed the best sensitivity in predicting malignancy (91.4%), significantly higher than that of CNB (81.0%, P<0.001) and FNA (57.8%, P<0.001). However, in the subgroup of nodules >1.5 cm, the difference between combined FNA/CNB and CNB was not significant (84.2% vs. 78.9%, P=0.500). Conclusion Regardless of nodule size, combined FNA/CNB tended to yield lower proportions of inconclusive results than CNB or FNA alone and exhibited higher performance in diagnosing malignancy. The combined FNA/CNB technique may be a more valuable diagnostic method for nodules ≤1.5 cm and nodules with a risk of malignancy than CNB and FNA alone.

UNLABELLEDOCTOBER: To explore the effects of the glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) liraglutide on the penile erectile function of rats with diabetic erectile dysfunction (DED) by observing the impact of liraglutide on the expression of eNOS in the corpus cavernosum of diabetic rats.

METHODSWe randomly divided 30 six-week-old male SD rats into a normal control (n = 10) and an experimental group (n = 20) , established models of diabetes mellitus (DM) in the experimental rats, and subdivided them into a DM (n = 8) and a GLP-1 group (n = 8) to receive intramuscular injection of normal saline and liraglutide at 5 mg per kg of the body weight per day, respectively. After 12 weeks of intervention, we obtained the levels of FPG, FINS, TG, TC, HDL-C, LDL-C, testosterone, and IL-6 and the indexes of Homa-IR and Homa-β, detected the expressions of Akt/p-Akt and eNOS/p-eNOS in the corpus cavernosum by Western blot, and compared the erectile function between different groups.

RESULTSThe frequency and rate of penile erection were significantly lower in the DM group than in the GLP-1 and normal control groups (P < 0.05) and also lower in the GLP-1 group than in the normal controls (P < 0.05). Immunofluorescence staining showed the expression of eNOS mainly in the cytoplasm of the cavernosal vessels and sinusoidal endothelial cells, markedly lower in the DM and GLP-1 groups than in the normal rats (P < 0.05), but higher in the GLP-1 than in the DM group (P < 0.05). The level of eNOS/p-eNOS in the penile tissue was significantly decreased in the DM and GLP-1 groups in comparison with the normal controls (P < 0.01 or P < 0.05), while that of p-eNOS was markedly increased in the GLP-1 group as compared with the DM group (P < 0.05). No statistically significant differences were observed in the Akt level among the three groups of animals (P > 0.05). The expression of p-Akt was remarkably reduced in the DM and GLP-1 groups in comparison with the control rats (P < 0.01 or P < 0.05), but higher in the GLP-1 than in the DM group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONGLP-1 can protect the function of endothelial cells in the corpus cavernosum and improve the erectile function of DED rats by regulating the Akt/ eNOS signaling pathway, which indicates that GLP-1 could be an important option for the treatment and prevention of DED.

Animals ; Blotting, Western ; Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental ; Erectile Dysfunction ; drug therapy ; enzymology ; Hypoglycemic Agents ; pharmacology ; Liraglutide ; pharmacology ; Male ; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III ; metabolism ; Penile Erection ; drug effects ; Penis ; drug effects ; enzymology ; physiopathology ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Testosterone ; blood

Objective To analyze the status of anemia among children under 5 years of age in the economically less developed rural areas from 6 western provinces of China in 2009. Methods 8141 study subjects were from the program-‘Study on Appropriate Technology of Children Under-nutrition Improvement in Poor Rural Areas'. Results In 2009, the prevalence of anemia among children under 5 years of age in the above said rural areas from 6 western provinces was 24.1％. The prevalence of anemia among male children was much higher than that among female children. The peak of anemia prevalence( 38.5％ ) was among children of 6-11 months. The prevalence of anemia decreased along with the increase of age. Conclusion Results from the study demonstrated that anemia among the preschool children was a public health problem in poor rural areas of western China, Improving the knowledge on reasonable feeding seemed a better way for the prevention and control of anemia plus providing complementary nutrients sprinkle to the affected children.