Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Corynebacterium ; isolation & purification ; Cross Infection ; epidemiology ; microbiology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique

Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Glucagon ; Glucose Tolerance Test ; Humans ; Liver ; physiopathology ; Liver Cirrhosis ; physiopathology ; Liver Function Tests ; methods ; Male ; Middle Aged

Objective To explore the reaction patterns of impulsiveness and risk-taking decision-making in heroin addicts and their significance.Methods Seventeen heroin addicts(HA group)admitted to Detoxification and Rehabilitation Center of Anhui Province from July 2010 to December 2010 and 18 healthy controls(HC group)recruited at the same period were performed Iowa gambling task(IGT)and Risky-Gains task(RGT),respectively; the different capacities of impulsiveness control and risk-taking decision-making between HA group and HC group were compared.Results As for IGT,decision-making course affected the net scores remarkably in HC group,whereas contrary result was observed in HA group(P＜0.05); no statistical difference between the numbers of low-frequency punishment cards and high-frequency punishment cards which subjects selected was noted in HA group,while statistical difference was observed in HC group(P＜0.05).Furthermore,the difference between the number of low-frequency punishment cards and high-frequency punishment cards in HC group was higher than that in HA group(P＜0.05).In RGT,as compared with risky response rate before punishment,risky response rate after punishment declined notably in HC group,while no significant changes were seen in HA group; risky response rate after reward and after punishment in HA group were significantly higher than those in HC group(P＜0.05).Conclusion As evidence of chronic heroin addicts' behavior,heroin addict exsits impulsiveness and deficit in risk-taking decision-making,which may be one of the causes of generation and maintenance of heroin addiction.

Objective To detect the neuronal network activity of specific brain areas in heroin addicts under craving state induced by heroin related cues with independent component analysis (ICA) of functional MRI (fMRI) data. Methods Fifteen heroin addicts,admitted to our hospital from February 2010 to December 2010, and 15 healthy controls were recruited in the case-control study; they were performed whole brain scan with 3.0Tesla MR scanner when being presented with heroin related cues.ICA was performed on these data and their neuronal network activities were compared. Results As compared with those in the controls,the bilateral prefrontal cortex,the left anterior cingulated cortex,the bilateral posterior cingulated cortex, the left inferior temporal gyrus and the left parietal lobe enjoyed obviously decreased activity, while bilateral nucleus accumbens, the right hippocampus, part of the temporal lobe and the occipital lobe enjoyed significantly increased activity (P＜0.05). Conclusion ICA is an advanced approach to identify fMRI data induced by related cues; the specific neuroanatomy mediated to cue-elicited heroin craving mostly locates in the learn-memory system and reward system,which involves the frontal cortex,the parietal lobe,the anterior eingulate,the posterior cingulate,the hippocampus and the nucleus accumbens.

OBJECTIVETo study the analgesic effect and safety of fentanyl in neonates receiving mechanical ventilation.

METHODSThirty neonates receiving mechanical ventilation between December 2010 and February 2011 were randomized into drug intervention group and control group (n=15 each). In addition to the conventional treatment for both groups, the drug intervention group received fentanyl as the analgesic treatment. Heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure changes, and premature infant pain profile (PIPP) score before treatment and at 30 minutes, 2 hours, and 4 hours after treatment were recorded in both groups. Follow-up visits were performed for these infants after discharge, and the CDCC intellectual development scale for infants was applied to measure mental development index (MDI) and psychomotor development index (PDI) at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months of age.

RESULTSThe respiratory rate and heart rate decreased in the drug intervention group after fentanyl treatment compared with the control group (P<0.05), and the PIPP scores in the drug intervention group was significantly lower than in the control group (P<0.05). The results of follow-up visits showed no significant differences in MDI and PDI at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months of age between the drug intervention and control groups (P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONSFentanyl can relieve the pain response in neonates receiving mechanical ventilation, with no long-term adverse effects on neurodevelopment.

Analgesics, Opioid ; pharmacology ; Child Development ; drug effects ; Female ; Fentanyl ; pharmacology ; Heart Rate ; drug effects ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; Male ; Respiration ; drug effects ; Respiration, Artificial

Objective To investigate the health status and nutrition-related diseases of residents in Pudong New Area,Shanghai and provide information for shaping the relevant national policies and guiding the people''s health dietary.Methods By means of a stratified multi-stage cluster random household sampling survey were performed questionnaire,physical examination and laboratory assay for 737 residents above the age of 15.Results The mean±standard deviation of the men''s height was (168.79±6.81) cm,and the women''s mean height (157.47±6.53) cm.And the rates of malnourishment,overweight,obesity and central obesity were 4.37%,48.91%,14.48% and 49.25%,and the prevalence rate of hypertension was 45.18%.Among residents above 18 years old,the abnormal rate of total cholesterol and triglycerides were 28.69% and 23.50%.Conclusion Nutrition-related chronic diseases will be an important public health problem in Pudong New Area.

With the rising detection rate of strains with extensive drug resistance clinically, there is an increasingly urgent need of novel anti-microbial agents. More and more researchers put emphasis on bacteriophage therapy and have made great progress in this field. A large number of studies showed that some bacteriophages could produce enzymes which killed the host bacteria by degrading polysaccharides in their extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). This review introduces the classification of phage polysaccharide depolymerases and their action mode, the methods to determine whether the phage produces depolymerases, and their applications in anti-bacterial treatment, biofilm degradation and bacterial capsule typing.

BACKGROUNDCarcinoma of unknown primary (CUP) encompasses a heterogeneous group of tumors with varying clinical features. The management of patients of CUP remains a clinical challenge. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical applications of integrated (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG PET/CT) information in patients with CUP, including detecting the occult primary tumor and effecting on disease therapy.

METHODSOne hundred and forty-nine patients with histologically-proven metastases of CUP were included. For all patients, the conventional diagnostic work-up was unsuccessful in localizing the primary site. Whole-body PET/CT images were obtained approximately 60 minutes after intravenous injection of 350 - 425 MBq of (18)F-FDG.

RESULTSIn 24.8% of patients, FDG PET/CT detected primary tumors that were not apparent after conventional workup. In this group of patients, the overall sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy rates of FDG PET/CT in detecting unknown primary tumors were 86.0%, 87.7%, and 87.2%, respectively. FDG PET/CT imaging also led to the detection of previously unrecognized metastases in 29.5% of patients. Forty-seven (31.5%, 47 of 149) patients underwent a change in therapeutic management.

CONCLUSIONSFDG PET/CT is a valuable tool in patients with CUP, because it assisted in detecting unknown primary tumors and previously unrecognized distant metastases, and optimized the management of these patients.

Adult ; Aged ; Carcinoma ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Female ; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; methods ; Radiography ; Reproducibility of Results

The polymyxins are important antimicrobial agents against antibiotic-resistant gram-negative bacilli. In 2020, the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute modified the clinical breakpoints for polymyxin susceptibility test by eliminating the "susceptible" interpretive category, only reporting intermediate (≤2 mg/L) and resistant (≥4 mg/L). However, the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing recommended the use of clinical breakpoints of ≤2 mg/L as susceptible and >2 mg/L as resistant. The first-line laboratorians and clinicians in China have been perplexed by the inconsistence of international polymyxin clinical breakpoints and discouraged by the difficulty of conducting polymyxin susceptibility testing. Therefore, it is urgently needed to make it clear for the laboratorians in China to know how to accurately carry out polymyxin susceptibility testing and standardize the interpretation of susceptibility testing results. To this end, the experts from relevant fields were convened to formulate this consensus statement on the testing and clinical interpretation of polymyxin susceptibility. Relevant recommendations are proposed accordingly for laboratorians and clinicians to streamline their daily work.

Background/Aims: Despite the high efficacy of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs), approximately 1–3% of hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients fail to achieve a sustained virological response. We conducted a nationwide study to investigate risk factors associated with DAA treatment failure. Machine-learning algorithms have been applied to discriminate subjects who may fail to respond to DAA therapy. Methods: We analyzed the Taiwan HCV Registry Program database to explore predictors of DAA failure in HCV patients. Fifty-five host and virological features were assessed using multivariate logistic regression, decision tree, random forest, eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), and artificial neural network. The primary outcome was undetectable HCV RNA at 12 weeks after the end of treatment. Results: The training (n=23,955) and validation (n=10,346) datasets had similar baseline demographics, with an overall DAA failure rate of 1.6% (n=538). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that liver cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, poor DAA adherence, and higher hemoglobin A1c were significantly associated with virological failure. XGBoost outperformed the other algorithms and logistic regression models, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 1.000 in the training dataset and 0.803 in the validation dataset. The top five predictors of treatment failure were HCV RNA, body mass index, α-fetoprotein, platelets, and FIB-4 index. The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the XGBoost model (cutoff value=0.5) were 99.5%, 69.7%, 99.9%, 97.4%, and 99.5%, respectively, for the entire dataset. Conclusions Machine learning algorithms effectively provide risk stratification for DAA failure and additional information on the factors associated with DAA failure.