Objective To assess the effectiveness of continuous aspiration of subglottic secretions (CASS)in preventing ventilator-associated pneumonia.Methods The relevant randomized controlled trials were searched in the Cochrane Library,Pubmed,CNKI,VIP and Wanfang databases.The experimental group received CASS and the control group did not(NASS group).Two reviewers selected studies according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria,the quality of studies was critically appraised and data were extracted by two reviewers independently.Meta-analysis was conducted by using RevMan 5.2.Results Sixteen randomized controlled trials met the inclusion criteria and enrolled 2 576 patients.According to the meta analysis,compared with NASS,CASS reduced the incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia,shortened the length of stay in the intensive care unit and the duration of mechanical ventilation.There was no effect on hospital mortality.Conclusions Continuous aspiration of subglottic secretions appears effective in preventing ventilator-associated pneumonia,decreasing the duration of intensive care unit length of stay and mechanical ventilation among critically ill patients with mechanical ventilation.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the female sexual dysfunction (FSD) in type 2 diabetes patients, by comparing the sexual function between type 2 diabetic women and non-diabetic women with Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI).

METHODS115 type 2 diabetic women and 107 age-matched non-diabetes women were enrolled with similar backgrounds. Their sexual functions were evaluated with FSFI. Metabolic parameters such as body mass index, blood lipid profile, hemoglobin A1C, plasma glucose were also collected.

RESULTSTotal score of FSFI of the type 2 diabetic women were significantly lower than that of the non-diabetic controls (18.27±8.96 vs. 23.02±5.78, P=0.000). Scores of the FSFI domains (desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction, pain) of the type 2 diabetic group were also lower than those of the control group. According to the FSD criterion (FSFI<25) available in China, the percentage of FSD in the type 2 diabetic group was significantly higher than that of the control group (79.2%vs. 55.0%, P<0.001). These trends seemed more prominent in pre-menopause subgroups. The logistic regression analysis indicated that age and diabetes were independent risk factors of FSD. Body Mass Index (BMI) also had influence in the diabetes group.

CONCLUSIONFindings from this study showed that there are more FDS in Chinese type 2 diabetic women than in their non-diabetic counterparts, especially in pre-menopause participants.

Adult ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; complications ; Female ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Sexual Dysfunction, Physiological ; etiology

OBJECTIVETo verify the regulatory effects of acupuncture on exercise tolerance in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) at stable phase.

METHODSThirty cases of COPD were randomly divided into a treatment group (16 cases) and a placebo group (14 cases). Based on specified aerobic exercise, acupuncture was applied in the treatment group and placebo acupuncture was used in the placebo group. The acupoints included Danzhong (CV 17), Rugen (ST 18), Guanyuan (CV 4), Zhongwan (CV 12), Tianshu (ST 25) and so on. The needle did not penetrate into the skin for the placebo group. The treatment was required for 2 to 3 times per week for totally 5 weeks. The indices of exercise tolerance, including 6-min walking distance (6-MWD), exercise time, maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max) forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1)/forced vital capacity (FVC), maximum ventilatory volume (MVV), St. George respiratory questionnaire (SGRQ) were observed in two groups before and after treatment.

RESULTS(1) Exercise tolerance: the differences of 6-MWD and exercise time were statistically significant between groups, which were more superior in the treatment group (both P<0.01); the VO2max was significantly increased after treatment in the treatment group (P<0.05), but there was no difference between two groups (P>0.05). (2) Pulmonary ventilation function: the differences of FEV1%, FEV1/FVC and MVV% were statistically significant between groups, which were more superior in the treatment group (P<0.05, P<0.01); (3) SGRQ: the SGRQ was significantly improved after treatment in the treatment group (P<0.05), but there was no difference between two groups (P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe acupuncture could improve the exercise tolerance in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at stable phase, and shorten the onset time of aerobic exercise. Besides, acupuncture combined with aerobic exercise could effectively improve the pulmonary function.

Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Aged ; Exercise Tolerance ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive ; physiopathology ; therapy

Objective To extract Xinjiang Uyghur medicine image features and analyze the features; To investigate the image classification effect of the researched features; To find the suitable features for Xinjiang Uyghur medicine image classification; To lay the foundation for content-based medical image retrieval system of Xinjiang Uyghur medicine images.Methods The flowers and leaves of Xinjiang Uyghur medicine were treated as the research objects. First, images were under preprocessing. Then color and textural features were extracted as original features and statistics method was used to analyze the features. Maximum classification distance was used to analyze the main features obtained from image classification. At last, the classification ability of features was evaluated by Bayes discriminant analysis.Results Color and textural features were selected and classified. The correct classification rate of flower images was 85% and the correct classification rate of leaf images was 62%. The classification effect of flower images used by selected features was better than classification effect of original feature.Conclusion Compared with the classification of original features, the classification accuracy of flower medicine is higher through selected features. This research can lay a certain foundation for the further researches on Xinjiang Uyghur medicine images and the improvement of feature extraction methods.

Objective To investigate the distribution status of coal-burning fluorosis (endemic fluorosis) areas in Luoyang and to provide scientifc evidence for making strategies in prevention and control. Methods In 2006, a household per village was chosen to carry the general survey so as of disease condition, living habits and housing structure among 941 coal-burning pollution fluorine sickness natural villages in Yanshi, Mengjin, Xin'an, Luanchuan counties and Geely area which were under the jurisdiction of Luoyang. In the general survey, the sampled village having a population of more than 500 person was considered as a major survey village, and water fluoride, 8 - 12 year-old child fluorine spot on tooth and the urinary fluoride were surveyed. Water fluoride and the child urinary fluoride determination used the fluoride ion selective electrode method, and the children's dental fluorosis used Dean method. Results The endemic fluorosis of Luoyang existed 742 in endemic fluomsis villages, compared with history, a decrease of 199 in number. Ninety-six point seven per cent( 142 543/147 419) of the households were consuming smoke-free coal. Households using intact kitchens accounted for 93.6%( 137 919/147 419). Of which 63.0%(86 889/137 919) of kitchens were mixed up with bedrooms. Total 125 060 people were using coal- fired furnace for heating, of which 87.8%(109 802/125 060) had smoke-free facilities, 12.2%(15 258/125 060) had none. Among 52 endemic villages with population of more than 500 people surveyed, a total of 183 water samples were collected, 2 had water fluoride exceeding 1.0 rag/L, the highest water fluoride being 1.04 rag/L, averaging 0.39 mg/L Sixteen villages had a prevalence rate of dental fluorosis for children less than 30.00%, accounting for 30.8% (16/52), 36 endemic villages the prevalence of dental fluorosis detection rate of more than 30.00%, accounting for 69.2%(36/52). Twenty-thrce villages had a dental fluorosis index greater than 0.6, severe dental fluorosis was not found. Real-time measurement of 1408 urine samples of children aged 8 - 12 showed that urine fluoride highest value 6.88 nag/L, the minimum value of 0.10 mg/L, geometric mean 1.10 mg/L. The prevalence rate of dental fluorosis for children was 36.06%. Conclusions In Luoyang city, numbers of coal-burning endemic fluorosis villages are less than before, children's dental fluorosis has significantly declined, however some people still use kitchens connecting with bedrooms and lack smoke-free facilities, they need to be educated to change lifestyle and improve furnace to reduce soot fluoride pollution.

OBJECTIVETo study the factors of colorectal cancer (CRC) after radical resection to provide data predicting the prognosis of the patients.

METHODS120 cases of CRC were collected in this study. Medical clinical records and 5-year follow-up data were reviewed. Streptavidin-peroxidase immunohistochemical technique was used to detect the expression of p53, C-erbB-2, nm23-H(1) and Ras on formalin-fixed, paraffin embedded sections of CRC from the 120 patients.

RESULTSResults showed that the rates of positive expression of p53, C-erbB-2, Ras and nm23-H(1) were 62.5% (75/120), 25.8% (31/120), 80.0% (96/120) and 60.8% (73/120) respectively in the CRC tissue. All pathological variables and biological markers were analyzed with Cox regression model (alpha = 0.05). Eight distinguished prognostic factors were identified in the univariate analysis as: macroscopic configuration, histology grade, depth of invasion of intestinal, lymph nodes metastasis, Dukes' classification, p53, Ras and nm23-H(1). The results of multivariate analysis (alpha = 0.05) indicated that the independent prognostic factors were Dukes' classification, p53 and nm23-H(1) (P = 0.000), with relative risk of 3.06, 6.02 and 0.40, respectively. A prognostic model: h(t, x) = h(0)(t)exp (-0.9269X(14) + 1.1197X(10) + 1.7948X(11)) was established. Sensitivity, specificity agreement and reliability of the model and Kappa were 79.1%, 83.0%, 80.8% and 0.62, respectively.

CONCLUSIONDukes' classification, p53 and nm23-H(1)seemed to be independent and important prognostic factors. This prognostic model could be used to evaluate the prognosis of patients with CRC by clinicians.

Adult ; Aged ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; surgery ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prognosis ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Receptor, ErbB-2 ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Survival Analysis ; Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 ; biosynthesis ; genetics

To investigate apoptosis of mouse leukemia cell (WEHI-3) induced by econazole and its mechanism, apoptosis induced by econazole was examined by flow cytometry, while free calcium ([Ca(2+)]i) was determined by Fura-2 fluorescein load technique. The protein was isolated from endoplasmic reticulum of WEHI-3 cells, and then the expression of caspase-12 and caspase-7 was evaluated by Western blot. The results showed that WEHI-3 exhibited typical change of apoptosis when it was treated by econazole, [Ca(2+)]i was significantly higher in comparison with the control. The expression of caspase-12 and caspase-7 enhanced as the econazole concentration increased. In conclusion, econazole can induce WEHI-3 cell apoptosis and the caspase-12 plays a key role in this process.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Blotting, Western ; Calcium ; metabolism ; Caspase 12 ; metabolism ; Caspase 7 ; metabolism ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Econazole ; pharmacology ; Flow Cytometry ; Leukemia ; metabolism ; pathology

OBJECTIVETo construct a eukaryotic expression vector encoding the gene of extracellular region of mouse B7-H4, to express it in yeast cell line and to determine its biological activity.

METHODSThe extracellular region of the mouse B7-H4 gene was amplified with Xho I and EcoR I by PCR from a mouse B7-H4 chimeric plasmid. Digested with Xho I and EcoR I, the mB7-H4 gene was inserted into the yeast expression plasmid Ppic9. The DNA sequence was confirmed by double digestion and the Ppic9-mB7-H4 plasmid was transfected into the yeast cells. The expression of mB7-H4 was confirmed by PCR, Western Blot and ELISA analysis, and its biological function was determined.

RESULTPpic9-mB7-H4 transfectants expressed mB7-H4 in yeast cells, and mB7-H4 effectively inhibited the proliferation of T lymphocytes with a fractional inhibition rate of 28.3 % and inhibited IL-2, IL-4, IL-10 and IFN-gamma production with fractional inhibition rates of 68.8%, 78.8%, 67.6% and 77.7%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONThe eukaryotic expression plasmid mouse B7-H4 has been successfully constructed and the expressed products of B7-H4 possess biological activity.

Animals ; B7-1 Antigen ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Mice ; Pichia ; genetics ; metabolism ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; immunology ; T-Lymphocytes ; immunology ; V-Set Domain-Containing T-Cell Activation Inhibitor 1

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the effect of short-term intensive therapy on blood glucose control, BETA-cell function, and blood lipid levels in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic patients.

METHODSOut-patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic patients were enrolled for intensive treatment with sulfonylureas and metformin for 12 weeks, and the therapeutic effect was evaluated.

RESULTSAfter the intensive treatment, FPG, 2 hPG, and HbA1c decreased significantly (P<0.01); HOMA-IR decreased and HOMA-B increased significantly (P<0.01), and TG, CHOL, LDL decreased significantly (P<0.01) after the treatment.

CONCLUSIONShort-term intensive treatment with glimepiride combined with metformin is safe and effective in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic patients with HbA1c>9%.

Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; drug therapy ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Metformin ; therapeutic use ; Sulfonylurea Compounds ; therapeutic use ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo screen for genomic copy number variants (CNVs) in a fetus with cardiac abnormalities and intrauterine growth retardation through single nucleotide polymorphism microarray (SNP array) and karyotyping analysis.

METHODSThe fetus and its parents were subjected to conventional G banding and SNP-array analysis. The results were confirmed with fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH).

RESULTSG-banding analysis showed that the fetus has a karyotype of 47,XX,+mar. The father has a karyotype of 46,XY,t(4;18) (p15.2q11.2), while the mother showed a normal karyotype. SNP-array detected two microduplications at 18p11.32q11.2 (20.5 Mb) and 4p16.3p15.2 (24.7 Mb) in the fetus. The supernumerary marker chromosome carried by the fetus has derived from the balanced translocation carried by its father. The result was confirmed by FISH.

CONCLUSIONBased on the two microduplications, the fetus was diagnosed as Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome in conjunction with Edward syndrome. Verification of the origin of the supernumerary marker chromosome by SNP-array has provided a basis for prenatal genetic diagnosis.

Chromosome Banding ; Female ; Genetic Testing ; Humans ; In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence ; Karyotyping ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Pregnancy ; Prenatal Diagnosis ; Trisomy 18 Syndrome ; genetics ; Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome ; genetics