Objective To study the risk factors of pneumonia in the acute stroke patients,and provide support for nursing. Methods 391 acute stroke patients were analysed to investigat the rate of pneumonia and its relation with age,the type and the severity of stroke, the basic disease and the prognosis. Results It was showed that the rate increased in the patients of old age, with severe stroke, and having some basic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, tumor, immunity disease,old stroke. The mortality in the acute stroke patients with pneumonia was higher than the control. Conclusion Controlling the rate of pneumonia can help us to succeed in treating acute stroke patients.

130 mg/dl). Conclusions The fibrinogen level may reduce to 40～130 mg/dl treated with Batroxobin in patients with acute cerebral infarct, but whether it could be regarded as a target level need more studies.

Objective To assess the relationship between maternal plasma tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand ( TRAIL ) before 20 weeks′gestation and hypertensive disorder complicating pregnancy (HDCP);and to evaluate the predictive value of plasma TRAIL for HDCP.Methods A 2-phase screening/validation study was designed.In the screening phase , a nested, case-controlled study was performed , the plasma samples collected before 20 weeks′gestation from 20 women who later developed HDCP and 20 age-and gestation week-matched controls were tested in prospective screening test for protein expression profiling during pregnancy and HDCP.Plasma samples were analyzed by a human protein microarray technology designed to detect 507 proteins simultaneously.Differently expressed proteins′functional annotation and clustering were performed by using of Database for Annotation , Visualization and Integrated Discovery ( DAVID) and Gene Ontology ( GO) database.The TRAIL level of plasma samples obtained before 20 weeks′gestation from 53 women who later developed HDCP and 106 similarly matched controls were further validated by ELISA and 62 clinical risk factors were investigated.Logistic regression and ROC analysis were used to evaluate the relationship between TRAIL and HDCP and its predictive value for HDCP.Results In protein microarray analysis , 23 proteins expressed differently before 20 weeks′gestation between the two groups.Further validation results showed that TRAIL levels in HDCP patients were lower significantly (45.7 ±13.1) pg/ml than those in healthy pregnant controls (51.2 ±14.7)pg/ml, P=0.021.Multiple factor logistic regression analysis of 159 pregnancies showed that three features were finally entering the logistic model, they were:anemia (OR=4.87, 95% CI 1.05-24.26), pre-pregnancy BMI (OR=1.72, 95% CI 1.35 -2.19) and TRAIL (OR=0.96, 95% CI 0.92 -0.99).The predictive accuracy of logistic model was 81.8%.The model significantly increases the predictive value (AUC=0.81, 95%CI 0.73-0.87) compared to TRAIL as independent predictor (AUC=0.59, 95%CI 0.51-0.67).Conclusions Totally 23 proteins were expressed differentially before 20 weeks′gestation in plasma of women who later developed HDCP , confirming that HDCP is a heterogeneous disease with different biological changes.The data suggests that plasma TRAIL levels relate with the development of HDCP and its combination with pre-pregnancy BMI and anemia have a high predictive value for HDCP before 20 weeks′gestation.

Objective To investigate the relationship between serum thyroid hormone level and prognosis after cerebral infarction.Methods Serum thyroid hormone level was determined in 88 patients with partial anteri-or circulation infarction(PACI)and large artery atherosclerotic(LAA)cerebral infarction.After 6-months rehabili-tation,the difference of serum thyroid hormone level was compared among all groups. Results Significant differ-ences of serum free triiodothyronine(FT3)were observed in patients with different prognosis(P < 0.01). Signifi-cant correlation was found between the low level FT3and the good prognosis(P < 0.01). Conclusions The de-crease of serum thyroid hormone level after cerebral infarction is protective,and the FT3level is negatively correlat-ed with the prognosis of patients with cerebral infarction.

Drug adulteration and contamination are serious threats to human health therefore,their accurate monitoring is very important.Allopurinol(Alp)and theophylline(Thp)are commonly used drugs for the treatment of gout and bronchitis,while their isomers hypoxanthine(Hyt)and theobromine(Thm)have no effect and affect the efficacy of the drug.In this work,the drug isomers of Alp/Hyt and Thp/Thm are simply mixed with α-,β-,y-cyclodextrin(CD)and metal ions and separated using trapped ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry(TIMS-MS).TIMS-MS results showed that Alp/Hyt and Thp/Thm iso-mers could interact with CD and metal ions and form corresponding binary or ternary complexes to achieve their TIMS separation.Different metal ions and CDs showed different separation effect for the isomers,among which Alp and Hyt could be successfully distinguished from the complexes of[Alp/Hyt+y-CD+Cu-H]+with separation resolution(Rp-p)of 1.51;whereas Thp and Thm could be baseline separated by[Thp/Thm+y-CD+Ca-H]+with Rp-p of 1.96.Besides,chemical calculations revealed that the complexes were in the inclusion forms,and microscopic interactions were somewhat different,making their mobility separation.Moreover,relative and absolute quantification was investigated with an internal standard to determine the precise isomers content,and good linearity(R2＞0.99)was ob-tained.Finally,the method was applied for the adulteration detection where different drugs and urine were analyzed.In addition,due to the advantages of fast speed,simple operation,high sensitivity,and no chromatographic separation required,the proposed method provides an effective strategy for the drug adulteration detection of isomers.

Objective To investigate the changes of sex hormone and androgen receptor levels and evaluate the relationship of the sex hormones and androgen receptor with coronary heart disease (CHD) in elderly men. Methods A cross-sectional study was performed in 539 elderly men, including 400 healthy people aged 62-92 years and 139 CHD patients aged 60-88 years. The plasma concentrations of total testosterone (TT), free testosterone (FT), dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), estradiol (E2), luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) were measured. The androgen receptor (AR) level was tested by flow cytometry. Results The fluorescence intensity of DHEAS, TT, SHBG, FT and AR were significantly lower in CHD group than in healthy group (P<0.01);however, FSH and E2 in CHD group were higher(P(0.01). Age was negatively correlated with TT(r=-0.28,P<0.01) and FT (r=-0.17,P<0.05), and positively correlated with SHBG(r=0.14,P<0.05) and E2 (r=0.33, P<0.01). AR fluorescence intensity was negatively correlated with systolic blood pressure (r=-0.12,P<0.01). Logistic regression analysis indicated that TT (OR=1.065,9% CI: 1.012～1.121,P<0.05), SHBG(OR=0.994,95% CI:0.990～0.998,P<0.01) and AR (OR=0.971,95%CI:0.956～0.986, P<0.01)were significantly associated with CHD in elderly male patients. Conclusions The levels of DHEAS, TT, SHBG, FT and AR are lower in elderly men with CHD than in elderly healthy men;however, the FSH and E2 concentrations are higher. Low levels of TT, SHBG and AR may be the independent risk factors for CHD in elderly men.

Objective To investigate the distribution characteristics and changing tendency of urinary tract stones.Methods From January 2011 to May 2017,clinical data of 15 269 patients treated in our center was retrospectively reviewed.The stone components were detected by the automatic stone infrared spectroscopy system and the predominant components were recorded.There were 9 019 male patients and 6 250 female patients.The patients were divided into four groups according to their age,including group A ≤ 18 years;group B 19-40 years;group C 41-60 years;and group D ＞ 60 years.Compared the distribution characteristics of urinary tract stones of patient in different groups of sex,age and calendar year.Results Calcium oxalate stones were more prevalent in males than females [6 221 (69.0％)vs.3 582 (57.3％),P ＜ 0.001],but calcium phosphate stones [210 (3.4％) vs.210 (2.3％)],magnesium ammonium phosphate stones [230(3.7％) vs.165 (1.8％)] and carbonate apatite stones [1 328 (21.3％) vs.1 030 (11.4％)] were more common in females than males (P ＜ 0.001,respectively).The proportion of uric acid stones in group D [679(20.7％)] was higher than that in group A [23(9.1％)],group B[260(7.9％)],group C [1 163 (13.8％)] (P ＜0.001,respectively).The peak of carbonate apatite stones was showed in group B [652(19.7％)] (P＜0.001,respectively).Ammonium urate stones [9(3.5％)] and cystine stones [36 (14.2％)] were more frequent in group A(P ＜0.001,respectively).In adults,the percentage of uric acid stones increased with age,such as group B [260(7.9％)],group C [1 163(13.8％)],group D [679 (20.7％)].And the carbonated apatite stones decreased with age,such as group B [652 (19.7％)],group C [1 270(15.1％)],group D [416(12.7％)] (P ＜0.001,respectively).Further analysis showed the proportion of calc ium oxalate (OR =0.944,95 ％ CI 0.927-0.962,P ＜ 0.001),ammonium urate stones (OR =0.854,95％ CI 0.742-0.982,P =0.027) decreased,while calcium phosphate (OR =1.192,95％ CI 1.127-1.261,P ＜0.001),uric acid (OR =1.042,95％ CI 1.015-1.069,P =0.002) and ammonium magnesium phosphate (OR =1.078,95％ CI 1.019-1.141,P =0.009) stones increased with time.Conclusions The distribution of stones was different in genders and age.Calcium oxalate stones were more common in male patients,while ammonium magnesium phosphate and carbonate apatite stones were more common in female patients.Uric acid stones were more frequent in patients older than 60,while carbonate apatite were more frequent in the 19-40 age group.The proportion of calcium oxalate and ammonium urate stones showed a downward trend,whereas calcium phosphate,uric acid and magnesium ammonium phosphate stones increased with time.

Arsenic trioxide (ATO) has been identified as an effective treatment for acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) but is much less effective against solid tumors such as hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In the search for ways to enhance its therapeutic efficacy against solid tumors, we have examined its use in combination with a novel derivative of β-elemene, N-(β-elemene-13-yl)tryptophan methyl ester (ETME). Here we report the effects of the combination on cell viability, apoptosis, the cell cycle and mitochondria membrane potential (MMP) in HCC SMMC-7721 cells. We found that the two compounds acted synergistically to enhance antiproliferative activity and apoptosis. The combination also decreased the MMP, down-regulated Bcl-2 and pro-proteins of the caspase family, and up-regulated Bax and BID, all of which were reversed by the p53 inhibitor, pifithrin-α. In addition, the combination induced cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase and reduced tumor volume and weight in an xenograft model of nude mice. Overall, the results suggest that ETME in combination with ATO may be useful in the treatment of HCC patients particularly those unresponsive to ATO alone.

ObjectiveTo observe the effect of the Fangfeng Tongshengsan on post-chemoembolization syndrome with primary liver cancer or postoperative liver metastases of colorectal cancer. MethodSeventy-two patients suffered from post-chemoembolization syndrome after transcatheter hepatic arterial chemoembolization were randomly divided into 2 groups， including a Fangfeng Tongshengsan group and a control group， with 36 patients in each group. The patients in Fangfeng Tongshengsan group orally took the decoction for consecutive 7 d. The patients in the control group were physically cooled down with alcohol rub bath and ice pack for consecutive 7 d. Furthermore， the difference of fever， Karnofsky performance status （KPS）， pain in the liver region， nausea vomiting， constipation， and liver function between these two groups were observed. ResultCompared with the control group， Fangfeng Tongshengsan significantly relieved fever， reduced the body temperature （P<0.05）， and shortened the duration of fever （P<0.05）， indicating that Fangfeng Tongshengsan remarkably improved the KPS （P<0.05）. Meanwhile， Fangfeng Tongshengsan obviously alleviated nausea， vomiting， and constipation status and shortened the duration time compared with the control group （P<0.05）. In addition， the parameters of liver function including alanine aminotransferase （ALT）， aspartate aminotransferase （AST）， γ-glutamyl transpeptidase （GGT）， and total bilirubin （TBIL） were significantly decreased in the Fangfeng Tongshengsan group （P<0.05）， which indicated that Fangfeng Tongshengsan alleviated liver dysfunction of patients with post-chemoembolization syndrome. ConclusionFangfeng Tongshengsan can be used to treat post-chemoembolization syndrome with primary liver cancer and postoperative liver metastases of colorectal cancer.

We developed a high-efficiency microfluidic chip for extracting exosomes from human plasma. We collected peripheral blood from normal human, designed and fabricated a microfluidic chip based on nanoporous membrane and agarose gel electrophoresis to isolate exosomes. The extracted exosomes were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, nanosight and Western blotting, the morphology, concentration and particle size of exosomes were identified and analyzed. Meanwhile, we used ultracentrifugation and microfluidic chip to isolate exosomes separately. The particle size and concentration of the exosomes extracted by two methods were compared and analyzed, and their respective extraction efficiency was discussed. Finally, the expression level of miRNA-21 in exosomes was analyzed by RT-PCR. The microfluidic chip isolated (in 1 hour) high-purity exosomes with size ranging from 30-200 nm directly from human plasma, allowing downstream exosomal miRNA analysis. By comparing with ultracentrifugation, the isolation yield of microfluidic chip was 3.80 times higher than ultracentrifugation when the volume of plasma sample less than 100 μL. The optimized parameters for exosome isolation by gel electrophoresis microfluidic chip were: voltage: 100 V; concentration of agarose gel: 1.0%; flow rate of injection pump: 0.1 mL/h. The gel electrophoresis microfluidic chips could rapidly and efficiently isolate the exosomes, showing great potential in the research of exosomes and cancer biomarkers.
Exosomes ; Humans ; MicroRNAs/genetics* ; Microfluidics ; Plasma ; Ultracentrifugation