Objectives To observe the changes of the detrusor excitability and contractility and to study the mechanism of the unstable bladder. Methods Detrusor strips were obtained from prostectomy patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia. According to the results of urodynamic examination, patients were divided into detrusor instability (DI) and detrusor stability group(DS). Test of mechanical tension and stimulations with electricity and carbachol were performed on the excitability and contractility of the detrusor strips from 8 patients selected from each of the groups in vitro . Results The minimum tension of the detrusor strips when contraction occurred in DI and DS was (0 324?0 132)g and (0 822?0 216)g, respectively. There was significant difference between DI and DS ( P

Objective To define the assessment dimensions of community-based elderly care service.Methods Firstly 11 assessment dimensions of elderly care service needs were teased out through literature review and group discussion, these were illness, self-care ability, vision, risk of falls, willingness/information self-expression ability, the comprehension in others' willingness/information, depression, anxiety, family care ability, self-desires for old-age support, family-desires for old-age support.Then 37 experts were invited to reconfirm and empower theose assessment dimensions with two rounds of Delphi method.Results Results showed that the enthusiasm and authority degree of experts were favorable in two rounds, and the results from the second round showed strong opinion coordination.Finally, 12 assessment dimensions were confirmed, in which financial situation of the aged added and used for reference.After weight calculation, illness was weighted the highest (0.11), while vision and the degree of anxiety were weighted lowest in 11 dimensions (0.07).Conclusion The reliability of the assessment dimensions of the aged service needs is high.This study had positive significance on the solution of the dilemma in elderly care at the present stage.

Objective: This systematic review examined whether radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a safe treatment modality for benign thyroid nodules (BTNs). Data Sources: PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library database were searched for articles that (a) targeted human beings and (b) had a study population with BTNs that were confirmed by fine?needle aspiration cytology and/or core needle biopsy. Study Selection: Thirty?two studies relating to 3409 patients were included in this systematic review. Results: Based on literatures, no deaths were associated with the procedure, serious complications were rare, and RFA appears to be a safe and well?tolerated treatment modality. However, a broad spectrum of complications offers insights into some undesirable complications, such as track needle seeding and Horner syndrome. Conclusions: RFA appears to be a safe and well?tolerated treatment modality for BTNs. More research is needed to characterize the complications of RFA for thyroid nodules.

At present time, the widely used hepatitis B virus( HBV) vaccines consist of only the small hepatitis B surface antigen expressed in yeast or CHO cells. The frequency of non-responders to these vaccines has increased the demand for a more immunogenic vaccine. Some studies have suggested that the addition of preS region to the vaccine will improve its efficacy. However, the large protein (L) containing the whole preS region can not be effectively expressed in vitro. To overcome this problem, two chimeric contructs, SS1, surface gene containing preS1 region at C-terminus and SS2, surface gene containing preS2 region at C-terminus, were constructed and effectively expressed in our previous studies. Here we further constructed an expression vector containing both SS1 and SS2 expression cassettes by separation and ligation the SS2 cassette to a linearized SS1 expression vector pAO815-SS1. The recombinant vector was transformed into Pichia pastoris GS115 by electroporation. A high-level expression strain (GS115-SS1S2) was established by primary screening for His+ transformants and further analysis for induction products. ELISA results demonstrated that the expressed protein had S, preS1 and preS2 antigenicities simultaneously. Western blotting showed that the product can bind to all of the three antibodies, anti-S, anti-preS1 and anti-preS2. The expression protein was present in the form of particles of 20-35 nm diameter and the yield of recombinant particles reached 300-600 mg/L by fermentation. The SS1 and SS2 polypeptides kept intact in purified particles, suggesting that the stability of preS region has been significantly improved.
Animals ; CHO Cells ; Cricetinae ; Cricetulus ; Epitopes ; genetics ; immunology ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; genetics ; immunology ; Hepatitis B Vaccines ; immunology ; Peptide Fragments ; genetics ; immunology ; Pichia ; genetics ; Protein Precursors ; genetics ; immunology ; Vaccines, Synthetic ; immunology

OBJECTIVETo explore the possibility of clinical evaluation of cardiac function by CHM T3002 non-invasive hemodynamic monitor.

METHODSA total of 26 patients admitted to Zhongshan Hospital in Shanghai were enrolled, including 11 cardiac insufficiency patients and 15 control. Each subject was tested by non-invasive cardiac hemodynamic monitor immediately after echocardiography. Linear regression analysis and Bland-Altman consistency analysis were used in the analysis of relevance and consistency between two different methods.

RESULTSLinear correlation was shown on LVEF, SV, SVI, CO, CI, EDV, LVET and PEP/LVET, but not on PEP, between the two methods. Moreover, the consistency of the two methods was highly confirmed on LVEF and LVET, less on SV, SVI, CO, CI and EDV, while awfully weak on PEP and PEP/LVET.

CONCLUSIONCHM T3002 non-invasive hemodynamic monitor may be useful in assessing patients' cardiac function, however, it can not replace cardiac echocardiography.

Adult ; Aged ; Case-Control Studies ; Echocardiography ; instrumentation ; Equipment Design ; Female ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Monitoring, Physiologic ; instrumentation

A fetal/maternal multi-parameter monitor is introduced here in the paper. It can monitor the vital signs of a fetus and his/her mother in a same screen synchronously. It is more useful in obstetric clinics. Its other functions include management of patient file, computer-assistant analyses.
Adult ; Automatic Data Processing ; instrumentation ; Electrocardiography, Ambulatory ; instrumentation ; Equipment Design ; Female ; Fetal Monitoring ; instrumentation ; Heart Rate, Fetal ; Humans ; Microcomputers ; Monitoring, Ambulatory ; instrumentation ; Pregnancy ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Software

OBJECTIVETo explore the relationship between CCAAT/enhancer binding protein alpha (C/EBPalpha) gene mutations and the development of acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

METHODSThe whole coding region of C/EBPalpha gene were screened in 48 cases of AML and 11 normal subjects by PCR-single strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) and sequencing.

RESULTSC/EBPalpha mutations were detected in 5 of 48 AML patients. Four duplications and 1 deletion were confirmed by DNA sequencing. All of those are newly identified mutations.

CONCLUSIONSDifferent mutation types of C/EBPalpha gene exist in a small number of patients with AML and might be related to the pathogenesis of some leukemias.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; CCAAT-Enhancer-Binding Protein-alpha ; genetics ; Child ; Female ; Humans ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute ; genetics ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Mutation

OBJECTIVESTo investigate the techniques of posterior lumbar interbody fusion and pedicle screws in the treatment of degenerative scoliosis and evaluate their clinical significance.

METHODSTwenty five patients with degenerative scoliosis were treated operatively during 1997 - 2002. Among the 25 patients, 13 patients were treated with Brantigan I/F carbon cages in 28 intervertebral spaces, 7 patients were treated with Prospace cages in 15 spaces, 1 patient was treated with CONTACT cages in 2 spaces. The correcting effects, complications and follow-up results were analyzed retrospectively.

RESULTSThe average correction rate of scoliosis was 59% and the rate of pain relief was 88%. There was a case of pseudoarthritis and a case of embolism. During follow-up, correction rate and height of disc spaces were not lost nor shift of interbody cages.

CONCLUSIONPosterior pedicle screws combined with interbody fusion is a safe and effective treatment for degenerative scoliosis.

Adult ; Aged ; Bone Screws ; Female ; Humans ; Internal Fixators ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Scoliosis ; surgery ; Spinal Fusion

OBJECTIVETo assess the reliability and validity of Chinese version of the Abbreviated Burn Specific Health Scale (BSHS-A).

METHODSBSHS-A was translated into Chinese and revised. Eighty-two former burn patients discharged from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical College, and now in rehabilitation stage, were surveyed with the Chinese version of BSHS-A according to the simple random sampling. The psychometric properties of the scale, including internal consistency, test-retest reliability, content validity and discriminant validity, were analyzed.

RESULTSOne hundred and sixty-seven scales were sent to 82 participants and all of them were completed and returned. The rate of eligible questionnaire was 98.2% after eliminating 3 ineligible questionnaires. The Crobach's alpha coefficient of total score of questionnaire was 0.97, and in all domains and sub-domains ranged from 0.83 to 0.96. The test-retest coefficients from 20 participants retested within one week were between 0.74 and 0.98 (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). Forty-eight participants surveyed within 6 months after burn were divided into mild/moderate burn group and severe burn group. The total scores of questionnaire, scores in all domains and sub-domains of patients in the latter group were lower than those in the former group (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONSThe Chinese version of BSHS-A shows satisfactory reliability and validity, and it can be used to investigate quality of life of Chinese burn patients in rehabilitation stage.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Burns ; rehabilitation ; Female ; Humans ; Injury Severity Score ; Male ; Quality of Life ; Reproducibility of Results ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Young Adult

Objective To identify the pathogenic genes and mutations in a family with Usher syndrome type 2.Methods A three-generation family including 7 individuals was enrolled in this study.There were 2 male patients and 5 unaffected individuals.All participants was underwent related ophthalmologic examination,including best corrected visual acuity,slit-lamp,indirect ophthalmoscopy,electroretinogram (ERG),optical coherence tomography and visual field test.DNA was extracted from 3 ml peripheral venous blood of all participants.A total of 136 hereditary retinal disease target genes were screened and the DNA sequence was performed by Next-generation sequence analysis.Then the suspected mutations compared with databases to identify the suspected mutations,which should be verified with non-affected family members and 100 normal subjects by PCR and Sanger sequence.Results The sequence result showed that 2 patients,the proband and his brother,carried complex heterozygous mutations in the USH2A gene:c.5459T＞C (p.M1820T) in exon 27,c.802G ＞A (p.G268R) in exon 5 and c.1190T＞A (p.I397K) in exon 7.The c.5459T ＞ C and c.1190T ＞A mutations in USH2A have not been reported in the literature and database.Although their mother carried c.5459T＞C (p.M1820T) and c.802G＞A (p.G268R),and their father carried c.1190T＞A (p.I397K) heterozygous mutations,the parents did not present phenotype.These mutations were not detected in other normal family members.The result was supported by co-segregation analysis.Conclusion The heterozygous mutations c.5459T＞C (p.M1820T),c.1190T＞A (p.I397K) and c.802G＞A (p.G268R) in USH2A gene cause Usher syndrome in this family.