Objective To explore the effect of endothelin (ET)、nitric oxide (NO) in plasma on retinopathy in the pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH). Methods The level of ET and NO in plasma of 75 cases of in-patient women with PIH and 20 cases of women with the full terms and normal pregnancy before and after delivery was determined by radioimmunoassay. The retinopathy of the patients with PIH before and after delivery was detected by appointed doctor. The levels of ET and NO in both groups were compared and the relationship between ET and NO in plasma and the retinopathy before and after the delivery was detected. Results The levels of ET [(145.00?54.41) ng/L] in serious PIH patients were much higher than that in the control [(81.50?43.80) ng/L], the minor [(85.30?33.33) ng/L] and middling PIH group [(90.20?39.25) ng/L]. The levels of ET in plasma before and after pregnancy were not changed in PIH patients [(118.70?33.44) ng/L], but were higher than that in the control group. The levels of plasma NO in serious [(87.56?35.58) ng/L] and middling [(78.11?28.96) ng/L] PIH group were both higher than that in the control group [(46.70?32.64) ng/L], and the levels in minor[(52.56?28.35) ng/L] and middling PIH group were lower than that in the serious PIH group. The level of NO in plasma of PIH patients after the delivery was much lower than that before the delivery, while higher than that in the control. The positive correlation between levels of ET and NO and retinopathy was found in PIH patients. Conclusions The levels of plasma ET and NO in PIH patients are related to the extent of the disease, and the level of ET in plasma is highly related to the retinopathy in PIH patients. ET and NO might be played an important role in pathogenesis of retinopathy and ET might be a good index in reflecting the rank of retinopathy in PIH.

For comprehensive ability's cultivation of clinical graduate students,this article presents new and feasible methods in placing emphasis on cultivating teaching ability,in order to improve clinical graduate student's teaching ability.It also provides feasible experience and lessons for many other medical schools on graduate cultivating and management.

Aneurysm, Dissecting ; etiology ; Aortic Aneurysm ; complications ; Aortic Rupture ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Sinus of Valsalva ; Ventricular Septum

The determination of plasma factor Ⅷ related antigen (ⅧR:Ag) is a new method to estimate the function of blood coagulation introduced only recently. The concentration of this substance of 50 patients ill with chronic renal failure, neoplastic diseases, diabetes mellitus, (all these diseases were complicated with vascular changes) and 60 normal persons were determined.The data obtained showed that the concentration of plasma factor Ⅷ related antigen was significantly increased in all the 50 patients in comparing with the normal, and the increase was most marked in those patients with malignant diseases. The clinical significance of this phenomenon was discussed and it was suggested that the increase of this plasma factor Ⅷ related antigen might reflect the severity of the damage of the vascular endothelial cells in these patients.

Objective To investigate the risk factors related to mortality in human avian influenza A (H7N9)cases in Hangzhou.Methods The clinical and epidemiological data of 61 H7N9 patients whose diagnoses were confirmed by laboratory tests between 1st March,2013 and 2nd March,2014 in Hangzhou were collected.Descriptive analysis and univariate analysis were used to analyze the demographic,clinical and epidemiological characteristics and treatment outcomes.Patients were classified into improvement group and death group according to treatment outcomes,and risk factors for death were explored.Chi square test and t test were used for statistical analysis.Results A total of 61 patients were included in this study,among which 20(32.8%)patients died.The ratio of men to women for death attributed to H7N9 infection was three to one.The mean age of patients in death group was (63.6 ±3.8)years,which was older than that in improvement group ([55 .4±2.2]years,t =1 .97,P =0.05 ).The univariate analysis showed that the risk factors of mortality included over 60 years (χ2 =5 .16,P =0.02;OR =3.65 ,95 %CI :1 .19-11 .13 ),low education level (χ2 = 5 .42,P =0.02;OR =4.20,95 %CI :1 .24 - 14.00 ), chronic diseases (χ2 =4.67,P =0.03;OR=3.81 ,95 %CI :1 .12-12.69),bad hand hygiene (χ2 =4.05 , P =0.04;OR=4.67,95 %CI :1 .04 -11 .56 ),C-reactive protein (CRP)≥120 mg/L (χ2 =4.04,P =0.04;OR=6.00,95 %CI :1 .04-35 .33),increased initial neutrophil count (χ2 =3.90,P =0.05 ;OR=4.58,95 %CI :1 .01 -34.22)and decreased initial lymphocyte count (χ2 =7.12,P =0.01 ;OR =7.53, 95 %CI :1 .63 - 24.51 ).Conclusion Over 60 years,low education level,chronic diseases,bad hand hygiene,CRP≥ 120 mg/L,increased initial neutrophil count and decreased initial lymphocyte count are identified as risk factors for death in H7N9 cases in Hangzhou.

Polysaccharides widely exist in animals, plants, microorganisms, and possess various biological activities including anti-tumor, anti-virus, anti-oxidant and immunomodulatory. Polysaccharides shows notable anti-tumor activity and less toxicity, and becomes a hotspot in the studies of anti-tumor drugs. Therefore, there is huge potential for developing polysaccharides into a novel antitumor medicine. This article summarized polysaccharides derived from animals, plants, microorganisms which have significant antitumor effect in the latest 5 years; findings indicate that polysaccharides show the anti-tumor effect directly by inducing tumor cell apoptosis and indirectly as an immunoenhancement. This article also looks into the future of studies on anti-tumor activity of polysaccharides.
Animals ; Antineoplastic Agents ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Humans ; Immunity ; drug effects ; Immunologic Factors ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; immunology ; metabolism ; Polysaccharides ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Signal Transduction ; drug effects

Even though the relationship between antiarrhythmic drug usage and subsequent prostate cancer (PCa) risk has recently been highlighted, relevant findings in the previous literature are still inconsistent. In addition, very few studies have attempted to investigate the association between sodium channel blockers or potassium channel blockers for arrhythmia and the subsequent PCa risk. Therefore, this cohort study aimed to find the relationship between antiarrhythmic drug usage and the subsequent PCa risk using a population-based dataset. The data used in this study were derived from the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2005, Taiwan, China. We respectively identified 9988 sodium channel blocker users, 3663 potassium channel blocker users, 65 966 beta-blocker users, 23 366 calcium channel blockers users, and 7031 digoxin users as the study cohorts. The matched comparison cohorts (one comparison subject for each antiarrhythmic drug user) were selected from the same dataset. Each patient was tracked for a 5-year period to define those who were subsequently diagnosed with PCa. After adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, comorbidities, and age, Cox proportional hazard regressions found that the hazard ratio (HR) of subsequent PCa for sodium channel blocker users was 1.12 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.84-1.50), for potassium channel blocker users was 0.89 (95% CI: 0.59-1.34), for beta-blocker users was 1.08 (95% CI: 0.96-1.22), for calcium channel blocker users was 1.14 (95% CI: 0.95-1.36), and for digoxin users was 0.89 (95% CI: 0.67-1.18), compared to their matched nonusers. We concluded that there were no statistical associations between different types of antiarrhythmic drug usage and subsequent PCa risk.

Prior studies suggested that the use of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in patients with prostate cancer (PC) might cause the impairment of cognitive function which is one of the common symptoms of dementia; however, the association between ADT and cognitive impairment still remains controversial. This retrospective cohort study aimed to investigate the relationship between ADT and subsequent risk of dementia using a population-based dataset. Data for this study were taken from the Taiwan (China)Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2005. We included 755 PC patients who received ADT in the study cohort and 559 PC patients who did not receive ADT in the comparison cohort. Each patient was individually tracked for a 5-year period to define those who subsequently received a diagnosis of dementia. Results show that the incidence rates of dementia per 100 person-years were 2.35 (95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 1.82-2.98) and 1.85 (95% CI: 1.35-2.48) for PC patients who received ADT and those who did not receive ADT, respectively. The adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for dementia for PC patients who received ADT was 1.21 (95% CI: 0.82-1.78, P = 0.333) compared to those who did not receive ADT. In addition, the adjusted HRs for dementia for PC patients receiving ADT with gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists and without GnRH agonists were 1.39 (95% CI: 0.80-2.40, P = 0.240) and 1.13 (95% CI: 0.75-1.71, P = 0.564), respectively, compared to PC patients not receiving ADT. We concluded that there was no difference in the risk of subsequent dementia between PC patients who did and those who did not receive ADT.

Objective To investigate the relationship between single nucleotide polymorphism of vitamin D receptor (VDR) genes and osteoporosis in Chinese Northern Han patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods Patients with acute exacerbation COPD were enrolled and divided into osteoporosis and non-osteoporosis groups. Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood of the subjects. UCSC genome browser and haploview 4.2 software were used to screen the tag single nucleotide polymorphism (tagSNPs) of VDR gene. The selected tagSNPs of VDR gene were genotyped by Sequenom MassARRAY SNP platform. Logistic regression was used to analyze the OR values and confidence intervals (CI) of each tagSNP in the codominant, dominant and recessive genetic models, and assess the relationship between single nucleotide polymorphisms in VDR gene and osteoporosis in COPD patients. Results A total of 379 COPD patients were enrolled. The group of osteoporosis and non-osteoporosis differed significantly in gender, age, alcohol assumption, peripheral platelet counts, serum phosphorus and serum creatinine levels (P<0.05). Finally, 17 tagSNPs of VDR gene (rs2238140 G/A, rs2228570 G/A, rs2408877 A/T, rs12721370 C/A, rs7299460 T/C, rs2239184 G/A, rs2239186 A/G, rs7136534 C/T, rs12721364 G/A, rs2853561 C/T, rs7965943 T/G, rs11168287 G/A, rs11608702 T/A, rs2239179 T/C, rs2189480 T/G, rs59707231 T/A, rs2853559 C/T) were filtered out for association analysis. Patients of rs2853561 carrying T/C and T/T genotypes had a lower risk of developing osteoporosis than those carrying C/C genotype in COPD patients (in dominant mode: T/C+T/T vs. C/C, OR=0.34, 95%CI 0.18-0.63, P=0.0003539) with statistical significance. Conclusions The present study has revealed significant relationship between rs2853561 of VDR gene and osteoporosis in patients with COPD. Further studies are needed to discover the mechanism of VDR gene polymorphism in the pathogenesis of osteoporosis in COPD.

Objective To explore the risk factors of osteoporosis and the relation with pulmonary dysfunction in elderly patients with chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD). Methods One hundred and eighty patients (82 females and 98 males) with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive lung disease (AECOPD) from March 2006 to June 2008 were selected in the study. The bone mineral density (BMD) of lumbar vertebrae and hip joint were determined by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry(DEXA). All the patients were divided into two COPD groups with and without osteoporsis. The smoking history, incidence of vertebral fractures, glucocorticosteroid using condition and so on were recorded. The pulmonary function, 6-minute walk distance(6MWD), body mass index (BMI) and serum albumin concentration were evaluated. Results The mean age of all patients was (72±7)years, and the average smoking amount was (59±27)pack years. The ratio of forced expiratory volume in 1 second to forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC) was(36.46±9.8)%, and 30% of the patients had inhaled or oral glucocorticoids for more than 3 months. The BMD measurement results showed that BMD of 95% patients(171 cases) was lower than the normal level, and 119 cases (66%) had osteoporosis, including 61 males and 58 females (62%vs. 70%, x2 = 1.435, P=0.33), and 52 cases had (29%) osteopenia. Linear correlation analysis showed that BMI, 6MWD, RV% and FVC% had positive correlation with osteoporosis (r=0.362, 0.635, 0.688, 0.973;all P<0.05).Conclusions The prevalence of osteoporosis is high in elderly patients with moderate or severe COPD, and enough attention and active intervention shoule be paid.