OBJECTIVETo compare the diagnostic value study the technique of ultrasonography, magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) in common duct stones.

METHODSThree hundreds and eighty-four patients suspected common duct stones from August 2005 to October 2007 were undergone abdominal ultrasonography, MRCP and ERCP.

RESULTSThere was stone in common duct in 370 and no stones in 14 of 384 patients. Ultrasonography indicated stones 268 cases, 8 false positive result was among them. MRCP diagnosed stones in 362 cases and false positive result in 6 cases, ERCP diagnosed stones 370 cases. The diagnostic accuracy of ultrasonography, MRCP and ERCP was 70.3% (260/370), 96.2% (356/370) and 100% respectively.

CONCLUSIONSThe diagnostic accuracy of ultrasonography for common duct stone was little higher, US should be used as a primary checking method. There was higher concordance between MRCP and ERCP for common duct stone. Combination of MRCP and ERCP can improve diagnostic accuracy of common duct stone.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Cholangiopancreatography, Endoscopic Retrograde ; Cholangiopancreatography, Magnetic Resonance ; Choledocholithiasis ; diagnosis ; diagnostic imaging ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Ultrasonography

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the clinical effects of total hip arthroplasty (THA) for Crowe type IV developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) and analyze perioperative complications.

METHODSFrom March 2000 to March 2010, 19 patients (23 hips, of them, 4 patients with bilateral hips) with Crowe type IV DDH underwent THA. There were 5 males and 14 females, with average age of 61.3 years (ranged, 41 to 72 years). All hips were treated with small acetabular components combined with medial protrusion technique in acetabular reconstruction, as well as subtrochanteric shortening osteotomy in femur. Joint function of hips were evaluated according to Harris scoring.

RESULTSAll patients were followed up with an average of 4.2 years (ranged, 1 to 8 years). Postoperative X-ray films showed all acetabular prosthesis were in true acetabulum. No loosening and nonunion were found in all patients. Harris scoring improved from preoperative 34.0 +/- 6.9 to postoperative 85.0 +/- 7.5. Complications occurred in 11 cases in the patients, including femoral split fracture in 3 cases, nerve injury in 3 cases, delayed union in 2 cases, dislocation in 3 cases.

CONCLUSIONTotal hip arthroplasty using small acetabular component, medial protrusion, femoral subtrochanteric shortening osteotomy technique for the Crowe type IV DDH can effectively restore hip function and leg length. But incidence of complications is high. The long-term follow-up is necessary for further study.

Adult ; Aged ; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip ; adverse effects ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hip Dislocation, Congenital ; surgery ; Humans ; Incidence ; Joint Dislocations ; etiology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Postoperative Complications ; epidemiology ; prevention & control

OBJECTIVETo summarize lessons learned from an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in China during the spring of 2004.

METHODSData of SARS cases were officially reported by Beijing Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention (BCDC) and Anhui Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention (APCDC) and results of epidemiological investigations were collected and analyzed.

RESULTSThree generations of 11 cases of SARS were identified during the outbreak. Initial two cases were most likely to be infected in Diarrhea Virus Laboratory of National Institute of Virology, China Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and main mode of transmission was direct contact with SARS patients. Delay in detecting initial case resulted in spread of the illness at hospitals and communities with two generations of secondary cases.

CONCLUSIONSSARS outbreak in 2004 has yielded following lessons for public health globally. (1) Lab bio-safety programs should be made and should be strictly abided by. Studies in highly pathogenic viruses such as SARS coronavirus should be utmost cautious. (2) Management systems of occupational exposure to virus and disease surveillance need to be strengthened to take all risk factors into account so as to detect potential patients with infectious disease as early as possible.

China ; epidemiology ; Disease Outbreaks ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Occupational Exposure ; prevention & control ; Occupational Health ; Retrospective Studies ; Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ; epidemiology ; prevention & control ; transmission

BACKGROUNDMany types of human tumors can suppress the immune system to enhance their survival. Loss or down-regulation of human leukocyte antigens (HLA) class I on tumors is considered to be a major mechanism of tumor immune escape. Our previous studies found that HLA class I on peripheral-blood mononuclear cells was significantly lower in gastric cancer patients. The present study made an analysis of HLA class I expression on peripheral-blood T lymphocytes and NK cells from subjects of Lijiadian village, a village with high-incidence gastrointestinal tumor.

METHODSA total of 181 villagers from Lijiadian village and 153 normal controls from the Department of Health Examination Center were enrolled in this study. Using a multi-tumor markers detection system, these villagers were divided into two groups: high-risk group (tumor markers positive group) and low-risk group (tumor markers negative group). The percentage of T lymphocytes and NK cells and levels of HLA class I on their surface were determined in these subjects by flow cytometry.

RESULTSPercentages of T lymphocytes and NK cells in peripheral-blood mononuclear cells did not vary with age. The expression level of HLA class I on peripheral T lymphocytes and NK cells was not affected by age or gender, but was significantly down-regulated in Lijiadian villagers (P < 0.05), especially on the surface of NK cells (P < 0.01). Compared with the low-risk group, there was a significant reduction of HLA class I on peripheral T lymphocytes (P < 0.05) and NK cells (P < 0.05) in the high-risk group.

CONCLUSIONSHLA class I on peripheral T lymphocytes and NK cells may be involved in tumorigenesis and development of gastrointestinal tumor, and understanding their changes in expression may provide new insights into the mechanism of tumor immunity.

Adult ; Aged ; Biomarkers, Tumor ; analysis ; Down-Regulation ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Neoplasms ; immunology ; Histocompatibility Antigens Class I ; analysis ; Humans ; Killer Cells, Natural ; immunology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; T-Lymphocytes ; immunology

OBJECTIVETo describe the current situation and trends of mean weight and height of the Chinese people.

METHODSSubjects of 71,971 households from 31 provinces were selected by stratified multi-stage cluster random sampling method. Height from 210 136 and weight from 202 749 subjects aged 2-79 years were used to describe their trends of development during 1992-2002. The height of children younger than 3 years of age was measured by infant height bed while the others were measured by metal height pole within 0.1 cm accuracy. Fasting body weight was measured to the nearest 0.1 kg.

RESULTSData on the mean height (cm) of Chinese children aged 2, 6, 11, 17 years were gathered which include: 1) in urban area: boys as 90.1 (2y), 118.4 (6y), 144.9 (11y), 170.2 (17y); girls as: 89.0 (2y), 117.0 (6y), 145.8 (11y), 158.6 (17y); 2) in rural area:boys as 87.6 (2y), 113.1 (6y), 139.2 (11y), 166.3 (17y) while girls as 86.2 (2y), 112.9 (6y), 140.0 (11y), 157.0 (17y). When compared to the results from 1992, the average height increased among all age groups. The values of increase among different groups aged 2-5 years were seen as: 3.6 cm of boys in urban and 3.0 cm of boys in rural areas while 3.8 cm of girls in urban and 3.0 cm of girls in rural areas. Among the aged 6-19 year groups, the average increasing values of height were 3.1 cm, 3.4 cm, 2.8 cm and 3.1 cm of city boys, rural boys, city girls and rural girls, respectively versus adults as 0.7 cm, 0.9 cm, 0.6 cm and 1.0 cm, respectively. The mean weight (kg) of Chinese children aged 2, 6, 11, 17 years were listed as below: boys in urban area: 13.5 (2y), 22.2 (6y), 37.4 (11y), 58.7 (17y); girls in urban area: 12.7 (2y), 21.2 (6y), 36.7 (11y), 51.9 (17y); boys in rural area: 12.8 (2y), 19.4 (6y), 31.9 (11y), 54.9 (17y); girls in rural area: 11.9 (2y), 18.7 (6y), 31.8 (11y), 51.2 (17y). The average weights of all age groups on 2002 were all higher than their same age counterparts in 1992. The average increasing values of weight among children aged 2-5 years were 1.0 kg, 0.6 kg, 0.8 kg and 0.5 kg for city boys, rural boys, city girls and rural girls, respectively. Among the aged 6-19 year groups, they were 2.0 kg, 1.5 kg, 1.4 kg and 1.1 kg, while among the adults aged 20-70 years, they were 3.2 kg, 3.0 kg, 1.6 kg and 2.9 kg, respectively.

CONCLUSIONBoth mean weight and height had a remarkable increase and the physical status improved among all age groups for the last ten years.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Age Distribution ; Aged ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; statistics & numerical data ; Body Height ; Body Weight ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Rural Population ; statistics & numerical data ; Sex Distribution ; Urban Population ; statistics & numerical data ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the efficacy and safety of capecitabine as first-line therapy in patients with advanced and recurrent colorectal cancer.

METHODSFrom December 2000 to November 2001, sixty patients with advanced and recurrent colorectal cancer received first-line capecitabine treatment given at a dose of 1250 mg/m(2) twice daily, on days 1 - 14 every 21 days. At least 2 cycles were administered.

RESULTSThe overall response rate was 23.3% with 14 PR, 24 SD (40.0%) and 15 PD. The median survival time was 14.7 months. The survival rate was 63.9% at 12-months and 33.4% at 24-months. Grade III-IV adverse effects were diarrhea in 4 patients (6.6%), anemia in 2 (3.3%) and hand-foot syndrome (HFS) in 1 (1.7%); Grade I-II adverse effects were hyperpigmentation in 20 (33.3%), HFS in 18 (30.0%) and diarrhea in 10 (16.7%).

CONCLUSIONCapecitabine is an efficacious and better-tolerated alternative treatment for the patients with advanced and recurrent colorectal cancer.

Adult ; Aged ; Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic ; therapeutic use ; Capecitabine ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; mortality ; Deoxycytidine ; adverse effects ; analogs & derivatives ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Fluorouracil ; analogs & derivatives ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Survival Rate

BACKGROUNDThe evaluation of retinal image quality in cataract eyes has gained importance and the clinical modulation transfer functions (MTF) can obtained by aberrometer and double pass (DP) system. This study aimed to compare MTF derived from a ray tracing aberrometer and a DP system in early cataractous and normal eyes.

METHODSThere were 128 subjects with 61 control eyes and 67 eyes with early cataract defined according to the Lens Opacities Classification System III. A laser ray-tracing wavefront aberrometer (iTrace) and a double pass (DP) system (OQAS) assessed ocular MTF for 6.0 mm pupil diameters following dilation. Areas under the MTF (AUMTF) and their correlations were analyzed. Stepwise multiple regression analysis assessed factors affecting the differences between iTrace- and OQAS-derived AUMTF for the early cataract group.

RESULTSFor both early cataract and control groups, iTrace-derived MTFs were higher than OQAS-derived MTFs across a range of spatial frequencies (P < 0.01). No significant difference between the two groups occurred for iTrace-derived AUMTF, but the early cataract group had significantly smaller OQAS-derived AUMTF than did the control group (P < 0.01). AUMTF determined from both the techniques demonstrated significant correlations with nuclear opacities, higher-order aberrations (HOAs), visual acuity, and contrast sensitivity functions, while the OQAS-derived AUMTF also demonstrated significant correlations with age and cortical opacity grade. The factors significantly affecting the difference between iTrace and OQAS AUMTF were root-mean-squared HOAs (standardized beta coefficient = -0.63, P < 0.01) and age (standardized beta coefficient = 0.26, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONSMTFs determined from a iTrace and a DP system (OQAS) differ significantly in early cataractous and normal subjects. Correlations with visual performance were higher for the DP system. OQAS-derived MTF may be useful as an indicator of visual performance in early cataract eyes.

Aberrometry ; methods ; Adult ; Aged ; Cataract ; physiopathology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Visual Acuity ; physiology