OBJECTIVETo study the relationship between 500 kinds of commonly used Chinese herbal medicine and the classification of their efficacies in Chinese Materia Medica in relation to the common diseases listed in Internal Medicine.

METHODSDatabase retrieval frequency of the quantitative statistical method was adopted. First, the 8 980 kinds of Chinese herbal medicine recorded in Chinese Materia Medica were used as the original search objects, and 4 493 kinds which were cited in more than five articles were picked out and then rechecked for further title citations. Second, as judged based on the Criterion, the numbers of articles which included the medicines in the line of standards were examined. As a result, 500 species of Chinese herbal medicine were singled out based on their retrieval frequency and were then used for compilation of the classification statistics according to their efficacy and the common diseases in Internal Medicine.

RESULTSFrom the classification of Chinese medicines, herbs with wide efficiency and a meek nature had higher frequencies, but those which were not appropriate as decoctions had relatively lower frequencies. However, according to the average frequency, the Chinese herbal medicine for nourishing qi and tonifying blood, at 36,346 times and 34,544 times, respectively, were the most commonly used. Analyzed from the frequency of application of the Chinese medicine in the treatment of common diseases, most of the top 10 kinds of Chinese herbal medicine with the highest frequencies generally coincided with the 500 selected medicines. In addition, the Chinese medicines with clear pharmacological efficiency were easily isolated and purified to be made into injections, although other forms are more commonly used.

CONCLUSIONThe results of the research objectively reflected the current applications of Chinese herbal medicine, and could be used as references in teaching, research, clinical applications, and in compiling and increasing the drugs in textbooks and Pharmacopoeia.

Disease ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; utilization ; Research ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the efficacy of salvaged allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) for refractory/recurrent acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

METHODSA total of 45 patients with refractory/recurrent AML were enrolled from September 2006 to April 2010. The median blasts in bone marrow (BM) were 36% (20% to 92%) before conditioning. The donors were identical siblings (6) or unrelated ones (9) or haploidentical family members (30). Conditioning regiments were individualized according to patients' status, the regimen with high-dose cytarabine plus BuCy/CY was mostly used (20). The patients with impaired organ function received above regimen except using fludarabine instead of cyclophosphamide (16). FLAG followed by reduced-intensified BuCy was employed for the recipients with more than 40% blasts in BM (6) to reduce leukemia burden. TBI/CY or TBI/Fludarabine was used for the recipients with extramedullary infiltration of leukemia or multidrug resistant leukemia. G-CSF, MTX, NVT, Vm26, Acla or Thaltipa was added into conditioning regiments according to leukemia character.

RESULTSAll but 2 patients attained durable engraftment. The incidence of grade II to IV aGVHD and cGVHD were 34%, 59.1%, respectively. With median follow-up 30 (0.5 - 57) months, the relapse rate was 29.2%. Twenty-nine of 45 (60.2%) patients remained in complete remission since salvaged HSCT. Three-years disease-free survival and overall survival were 60.2% and 62.6%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONOur results indicated that the combination of salvaged HSCT with prophylactic immunotherapy might be a promising modality for treatment of refractory/recurrent AML, even with high leukemia burden.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation ; methods ; Humans ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute ; mortality ; therapy ; Middle Aged ; Recurrence ; Survival Rate ; Transplantation Conditioning ; methods ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo assess the characteristics and daily treatment compliance of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) patients in China.

METHODSNAFLD adult patients from 21 clinics of 12 cities in China were enrolled in this registry. Physical examination such as demographic characteristics (height, weight, waist circumference measurement), blood pressure and clinical laboratory and ultrasonographic examination of liver were undertaken. Daily practice including life style and medication were recorded and assessed in accordance with 2006 Chinese NAFLD treatment guidelines.

RESULTSA total of 1656 patients were enrolled (1146 male and 510 female), mean of 45.8 ± 12.6 years old, mean duration of NAFLD history was (47.2 ± 47.7) months. 44.9% of NAFLD were suffering from metabolic syndromes. Patients with central obesity have higher incidence of hypertension and lower level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) than those without central obesity, P < 0.05. Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, triglyceride (TG) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in ALT abnormal group were higher than those in ALT normal group (P < 0.05), HDL-C was lower in ALT abnormal group (P < 0.05). Significant differences existed between the BMI, female waist circumference, TG, fast insulin, HOMA index, ALT, AST and HDL-C among subgroups with mild, moderate and severe steatosis. Majority of the patients did not follow recommendations of NAFLD treatment guidelines. Among targeted population only 15.3% of patients used insulin sensitizers and 23.8% took lipid lowering medicine according to the guideline.

CONCLUSIONData indicated that nearly half of NAFLD patients co-morbid with metabolic disorders. Therapy compliance was unsatisfactory and the gap between current practice and Chinese NAFLD treatment guidelines was not optimal.

Adult ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; China ; epidemiology ; Fatty Liver ; diagnosis ; epidemiology ; therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Metabolic Syndrome ; epidemiology ; Middle Aged ; Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease ; Risk Factors ; Waist Circumference

In order to analyze the prognosis and related factors of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), 53 newly diagnosed ALL patients were enrolled in this study. The therapeutic efficacy and prognosis of 53 cases of ALL were analyzed, the remission, relapse, overall survival and event-free survival were studied, and relation between different factors and prognosis of ALL were investigated by comparison of cases in same stage. The results showed that the complete remission was achieved in 36 out of 53 patients, the total remission rate was 67.9%, the total relapse rate was 37.7%, the median relapse duration was 6 months after remission. Median overall survival (OS) and median event-free survival (EFS) time were 4 and 1 months after remission respectively, OS and EFS rate of 18 month was 35.1% and 14.2%. The patients with different gender had significantly different EFS. Age was an independent risk factor of CR rate. White blood cell count and hemoglobin level of newly diagnosed patients were significantly correlated with OS and EFS. Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) at the end of the induction chemotherapy was an independent related factor of OS, the higher ANC, the lower risk of death. The patients with or without chemotherapy related infection had different relapse rate. The patients with bleeding after chemotherapy had lower OS when compared with those without bleeding. Serum glucose level was a significant negative prognostic factor. It is concluded that there is higher relapse rate, poor prognosis in adult ALL in comparison with children. In order to decrease the relapse rate and prolong the EFS, individual therapeutical regimens and prophylaxis of complicating diseases should be applied to ALL patients.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; therapeutic use ; Child ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ; prevention & control ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Prognosis ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the present Chinese body mass index (BMI) criteria with body fat percentage (BF%) in determining obesity in Chinese population.

METHODSA total of 4 907 subjects (age: 20-90 yrs) were enrolled in the baseline survey of a longitudinal epidemiological study, and 2 638 of them were reevaluated in 5.5 years later. The Chinese BMI and WHO BF% were used to define obesity, respectively.

RESULTSThe diagnostic agreement between the Chinese BMI and WHO BF% definitions for obesity was poor for both men (kappa: 0.210, 95% CI: 0.179-0.241) and women (kappa: 0.327, 95% CI: 0.296-0.358). However, BMI had a good correlation with BF% both in men (r: 0.785, P<0.01) and women (r: 0.864, P<0.01). The age and sex-adjusted relative risks (RR) for incidence of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) were significantly higher in subjects with intermediate BF% (BF%:20.1%-25% for men, 30.1%-35% for women) (RR: 2.35, 95% CI: 1.23-4.48) and high BF%(BF%>25% for men and > 35% for women)(RR: 2.89, 95% CI: 1.43-5.81), or in subjects with high BMI (BMI>or=28 kg/m(2)) (RR: 2.46, 95% CI: 1.31-4.63) when compared to those with low BF% (BF%

CONCLUSIONBMI was correlated with BF%. Both BMI and BF% were associated with high risk for T2DM. However, BMI had its limitations in the interpretation of subjects with BMI between 24 and 27.9 kg/m(2).

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Body Mass Index ; China ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Obesity ; physiopathology

To analyze the prognosis and risk factors of acute nonlymphocytic leukemia (ANLL), 94 patients with acute nonlymphocytic leukemia were enrolled in this study, while survival rate and risk factors of prognosis were analyzed. The results indicated that the complete remission (CR) ratio was 51.1%. Overall survival and event-free survival rates of month 6, 12, 18, 24 were 68.6%, 55.8%, 53.8%, 46.4%, 21.3% and 57.9%, 38.6%, 33.3%, 31.6%, 0% respectively. The factors such as age<40 years, WBC<10.0x10(9)/L before chemotherapy, WBC in the period of bone marrow suppression<1.0x10(9)/L, chemotherapy within 1 month after occurrence of leukemia, blood transfusion before chemotherapy of APL had favourable influence on remission and survival rates of ANLL patients. CR1, the time to get CR, length of CR and relapse significantly correlated with prognosis (p<0.05). It is concluded that the individualized therapy concerning the risk factors should be applied to ANLL patients for improving the remission, survival rate and prognosis.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; therapeutic use ; Cytarabine ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Harringtonines ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prognosis ; Tretinoin ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; Young Adult

The clinical throat swab specimen of an imported suspected case of influenza A (H1N1) was detec ted with real-time PCR, RT-PCR and subsequently confirmed by gene sequencing. The presence of influ enza A (H1N1) virus confirmed the first case with A (H1N1) infection in Mainland China.
China ; Humans ; Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype ; classification ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Influenza, Human ; virology ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Phylogeny

BACKGROUNDChromosomal abnormalities have been shown to play an important prognostic role in multiple myeloma (MM). Interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (i-FISH) has been much more effective to identify cytogenetic aberrations in MM than conventional cytogenetic technique (CC). To clearly determine the cytogenetic features of Chinese MM patients and identify their prognostic implications, we designed a multicenter study based on i-FISH including 672 patients from 52 hospitals in China.

METHODSAll 672 patients were systematically screened for the following genomic aberrations: del(13q), IgH rearrangement, del(p53) and 1q21 amplifications.

RESULTSThe analysis showed that the chromosomal changes were detected in 22.1% patients by CC and in 82.3% patients by i-FISH. The most common abnormalities by CC were chromosome 1 aberrations (48.4%), -13/13q- (37.6%), hyperdiploidy (36.6%), hypodiploidy (30.1%) and IgH rearrangements (23.7%). The most frequent abnormalities by FISH was del(13q), which was found in 60.4% patients, whereas IgH rearrangement, 1q21 amplification and p53 deletions were detected in 57.6%, 49.0% and 34.7% cases, respectively. By statistical analysis, -13/13q- by CC was associated with low level of platelet (P = 0.015), hyperdiploidy was associated with low level of serum albumin (P = 0.028), and IgH rearrangement by FISH was associated with high level of β2 microglobulin (P = 0.019). Moreover, 1q21 amplification and del(p53) by FISH conferred a high incidence of progressive disease (PD) after initial therapy. Metaphase detection of IgH rearrangements and chromosome 1 aberrations concurrently was associated with a short progression free survival (PFS) (P = 0.036). No significant prognostic implications of other cytogenetic abnormalities were found associated with overall survival and PFS.

CONCLUSIONSChinese MM patients had similar cytogenetic abnormalities compared with the previous reported studies. However, the prognostic significance of FISH aberrations were not clearly determined and further study is required.

Adult ; China ; Chromosome Aberrations ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 1 ; genetics ; Cytogenetic Analysis ; Female ; Humans ; In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence ; Karyotyping ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multiple Myeloma ; genetics ; pathology

Background:Studies on the association between spicy food intake and cancer risk have reported inconsistent results. We quantitatively assessed this association by conducting a meta-analysis based on evidence from case-control studies.

Methods:PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library were searched for eligible publications. Combined odds ratios (OR s) with their 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated using a random- or fixed-effects model. The methodological quality of the included articles was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa scale (NOS). All data were analyzed using STATA 11.0 software (version 11.0; StataCorp., College Station, TX, USA). Subgroup analyses were also performed with stratification by region, sex, number of cases, cancer subtype, source of the control group, and NOS score.

Results:A total 39 studies from 28 articles fulfilled the inclusion criteria for the meta-analysis (7884 patients with cancer and 10,142 controls). Comparison of the highest versus lowest exposure category in each study revealed a significant OR of 1.76 (95% CI = 1.35-2.29) in spite of significant heterogeneity (P < 0.001). In the subgroup analyses, this positive correlation was still found for gastric cancer, different regions, different numbers of cases, different sources of the control group, and high-quality articles (NOS score of ≥ 7). However, no statistically significant association was observed for women, esophageal cancer, gallbladder cancer, or low-quality articles (NOS score of <7). No evidence of publication bias was found.

Conclusions:Evidence from case-control studies suggested that a higher level of spicy food intake may be associated with an increased incidence of cancer despite significant heterogeneity. More studies are warranted to clarify our understanding of the association between high spicy food intake and the risk of cancer.