Drawing on recently published foreign literature, this paper comprehensively analyses the research status of medical tourism from the concept of decision-making factors and risks for tourists, as well as the impacts of medical tourism. For future research, it proposes a greater focus on medical tourists, caregiver-companions and medi-cal tourism facilitators. To promote the development of Chinese medical tourism, a development model must be con-structed, international medical services, consummate policies, and regulations must be in place, and medical tourism personnel must be trained and welcomed.

Objective To evaluate the effect of abdominal fat ratio (AFR,abdominal fat volume to total abdominal volume)at the umbilical level on hepatic CT enhancement in humans.Methods We analyzed data in 87 patients (40 women and 47 men)by Pearson correlation and linear regression analysis to assess the association of patient age and AFR with adjusted maximal hepatic enhancement (aMHE,maximal hepatic enhancement divided by the dose of iodine divided by body weight)by sex.Results aMHE was positively correlated with AFR for both men and women (r=0.48 and 0.46,respectively,both P <0.01)but not patient age.Conclusion Pa-tients with more abdominal fat seem to require relatively less amount of contrast media to get the CT enhanced degree of liver similar to those with less fat.

Objective To develop a method for the determination of berberine hydrochloride,palmatine hydrochloride and jatrorrhizine hydrochloride in Yiqi Zhixue Granules. Methods The samples were extracted by ultrasonication with methanol for 30 min,and an ion pair RP-HPLC method was applied to determine three kinds of alkaloids.The column of C18 with temperature at 30 ℃ was used to separate the target components,the mobile phase consisted of the mixed solution of 0.01 mol/L sodium-heptanesulfonate solution and equal volume of 0.01 mol/L potassium dihydrogen phosphate solution(pH being adjusted at 3.1 with phosphoric acid) combined with acetonitrile(70 ∶ 30),the flow rate was 1.0 mL/min,and the detection wavelength was at 345 nm. Results Three kinds of alkaloids were separated perfectly,the average recoveries(n=6)were 100.95 %(RSD=2.10 % ) for berberine chloride,102.14 %(RSD=2.29 % ) for palmatine chloride,and 100.71 %(RSD=2.65 % ) for jatrorrhizine chloride. Conclusion The developed method is demonstrated to be simple,specific and accurate,which can be used to determine the contents of berberine chloride,palmatine chloride and jatrorrhizine chloride in Yiqi Zhixue Granula,and to control the quality of Folium Mahoniae in Yiqi Zhixue Granules.

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) have shown great efficacy in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with EGFR-mutation positive tumors.However,the response to EGFR-TKI is quite different even in EGFR-mutation positive patients.Besides that,different lesions in same patient can also show different response to EGFR-TKI.These phenomena might be associated with the heterogeneity of EGFR mutations,which involves intratumoral heterogeneity,intertumoral heterogeneity,and the heterogeneity before and after treatment.The article introduces the advance in heterogeneity of EGFR mutations from these three aspects.

Adult ; Female ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Lead ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Occupational Exposure ; prevention & control ; Occupational Health ; Occupational Health Services ; Stearates ; Young Adult

Agglutinins ; immunology ; Anemia, Hemolytic, Autoimmune ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; Infant, Newborn

OBJECTIVETo observe the effect and mechanisim of zoledronate sodium on periprosthetic osteolysis in rat induced by polyethylene particles.

METHODSTotal 30 adult male SD rats, weighting from 250 to 300 g, were selected and randomly divided into three groups: blank control group, model control group and zoledronate sodium group respectively, 10 animals for each group. No treatment was performed in the blank control group. In model control group and zoledronate sodium group, the modle of periprosthetic osteolysis in rats were made by implanting polyethylene particles and titanium rods into their right femurs. After operation, rats in zoledronate sodium group were administered with zoledronate sodium (0.1 mg/kg each week) through subcutaneous injection for 8 weeks, then the blood was obtained and all experimental animals were sacrificed to get the right femur specimens. The femur BMD, IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, serum TRACP5b and CTX-I were detected.

RESULTSCompared with the model control group, the femur BMD was increased, while IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α were all decreased in zoledronate sodium group; the serum TRACP5b and CTX-I level were both reduced in zoledronate sodium group.

CONCLUSIONThe zoledronate sodium could effectively inhibit periprosthetic osteolysis in rats induced by polyethylene particles, which might be realized by inhibiting the activity of osteoclasts and the expression of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α. It provides a new method to treat periprosthetic osteolysis of the artificial joint prosthesis.

Animals ; Bone Density ; drug effects ; Collagen Type I ; analysis ; Cytokines ; analysis ; Diphosphonates ; therapeutic use ; Imidazoles ; therapeutic use ; Joint Prosthesis ; Male ; Osteolysis ; drug therapy ; Peptides ; analysis ; Polyethylene ; pharmacology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

The brown slime inside pipeline of the polluted mineral waters well was analyzed. It was confirmed that the brown slime was a biofilm formed mainly by growth of bacteria contaminant, using microscope analysis. After treated with HCl, the brown crystals and mycelioid matter presented in slimes disappeared. It was verified these were metal deposits. The samples produced Prussia blue deposits by dropping K 4Fe(CN) 6 and HCl, which proved that the metal deposits were iron compound. Also it was believed the biofilm was produced by growth of iron bacteria, mixed with deposits of iron compound. The iron bacteria have been isolated from the slimes and cultured in the laboratory. The colony on agar plate also produced Prussia blue deposits after treated with K 4Fe(CN) 6 and HCl. The cells form of pure culture was the same as that in the samples by electronmicroscope analysis. Therefore, It indicated that the bacteria on biofilm inside pipeline were iron bacteria mainly.

ObjectiveTo evaluate left atrial function in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM)by echocardiography.MethodsThere were 31 patients with DCM and 30 controls in this study.Left atrial diameter (LAD),left ventricular diameter (LVD) were measured by M-mode in parasternal long-axis view.Mitral flow parameters including peak velocities during early diastole (E) and late diastole (A) were measured by pulsed-wave Doppler echocardiography,and the E/A ratio was calculated.Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was measured with Simpson′s method on the 2-chamber (Ap2c) and 4-chamber (Ap4c) views.Strain rate (SR) imaging was performed on all cases.Peak SR was measured at each segment (septal,lateral,posterior,anterior,and inferior walls) and mean peak systolic left atrial SR (mLASRs),mean peak early diastolic left atrial SR (mLASRe) and mean peak atrial systolic left atrial SR (mLASRa) were calculated by averaging the data in all segments.ResultsCompared with controls,LAD and LVD were significantly increased ( P ＜0.01 ),the E/A ratio had no significant changes ( P ＞0.05).LVEF and left atrial fractional shortening (LAFS) turned lower,mLASRs,mLASRe,and mLASRa of DCM decreased significantly ( P ＜ 0.05).mLASRa of DCM correlated positively with LAFS ( r =0.79,P ＜ 0.01 ).ConclusionsThe left atrial function of DCM decreased,including the reservoir,conduit and pump function.Echocardiography could evaluate the left atrial function of DCM quantitatively.

Objective To explore the effect of coronary artery bypass grafting(CABG) on left atrial (LA) function by strain rate imaging(SRI). Methods Twenty-three patients with coronary heart disease who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting were involved. SRI was performed on those patients to evaluate LA function quantitatively at baseline (before CABG),and at 1 week, 1 month and 3 months after CABG. Peak strain rate(SR) was measured at each segment (septal, lateral, posterior, anterior, and inferior walls) and mean peak systolic SR (SRs),peak early diastolic SR (SRe) and peak atrial systolic SR (SRa) were calculated by averaging data in each segment. Results Compared with the baseline,LV pre-systolic volume(LAVp), maximal volume (LAVmax), minimal volume (LAVmin), LV active emptying fraction (LAAEF) and passive empting fraction(LAPEF) had on significant differences at 1 week (P >0.05). LAVp,LAVmin,LAVmax and LAAEF decreased gradually after CABG, LAPEF increased gradually after CABG (P <0.05). Compared with the baseline, the peaks of SR curve showed no significant differences at 1 week (P >0.05). Nevertheless,the peaks of SR were increased at systole and early diastole,decreased at atrial contraction at 1 month (P <0.05). Those changes were turned more significantly at 3 months (P 0.01). Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) both increased at 1 month and 3 months,and its changing rate correlated inversely with the changing rate of SRa respectively (r = -0.751, -0.783,all P<0.01).Conclusions LA function is affected by CABG, presented as reservoir and pump functions decreased and conduit function increased. SRI can evaluate the atrial function quantitatively and monitor the changing of LA function dynamically after CABG.