Objective:To investigate whether the nutrition support team (NST) benefits esophageal carcinoma (EC) patients who are concurrently undergoing chemoradiotherapy. Methods: Between June 2012 and December 2013, 40 EC patients undergoing chemoradiotherapy were divided into the NST group and routine treatment (RT) group, with 20 patients in each group. At the end of chemoradiotherapy, the nutritional status, incidence of complications, and completion rates of radiotherapy were evaluated. The length of hospital stay (LOS) and cost were also compared between the two groups. Results:The nutrition and blood parameter values of the NST group were better (P<0.05) than those of the RT group. The incidence of complications was lower in the NST group (P<0.05) than that in the RT group. In addition, all patients in the NST group achieved the treatment plan, whereas five of the patients in the RT group interrupted or delayed the plan (P<0.05). The average LOS decreased by 3.8 d (P<0.05), and the hospitalization costs were reduced to 6300 RMB person-times (P>0.05) for the patients of the NST group. Conclusion: NST could maintain the nutritional status and improve the treatment compliance and tolerance of EC patients undergoing chemoradiotherapy, thereby shortening the LOS time and reducing the costs.

Objective To investigate the myocardial protective effect of Yiqi Yangyin Huoxue Fang (YYHF) in rats with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).Methods Male Wistar rats (aged 12 weeks old, n=60) were chosen and divided randomly into blank group (n=10) and modeling group (n=50).The model of T2DM was induced by high-fat diet and low-dose streptozocin (STZ).After successfully modeling, the modeling group were randomly divided into groups and given orally, respectively, normal saline water (model group), Fufang Danshen Diwan(FDD group, 70 mg/kg), and high-dose, mid-dose and low-dose YYHF(high-dose group, mid-dose group, low-dose group, 55.00 g/kg, 27.50 g/kg, 13.75 g/kg).once a day for 4 weeks.The routine biochemical indexes including blood sugar and blood fat were detected.The myocardial tissue was collected from the anterior left ventricular wall, and then a part of which was prepared to slices for observing myocardial cytomorphologic changes after HE stain by using light microscope, and other part of which was taken for detecting content of nuclear factor of activated T cell 4 (NFAT-4) by using Western Blot, and expression of miR-133a by using real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).Results The levels of blood sugar, glycated serum protein (GSP) and blood fat increased significantly in model group compared with blank group (P<0.05), and decreased significantly in all treatment groups compared with model group (P<0.05).The content of NFAT-4 increased significantly (P<0.05), and expression of miR-133a decreased significantly (P<0.05) in model group compared with blank group.The expression of miR-133a increased significantly (P<0.05 or P<0.01), and content of NFAT-4 decreased significantly (P<0.05 or P<0.01) in all treatment groups compared with model group.YYHF and FDD alleviated myocardial cytomorphologic changes under light microscope.Conclusion YYHF can significantly ameliorate glycolipid metabolism, inhibit cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and protect myocardial cells, which may be related to the regulation of expressions of miR-133a and NFAT-4.