AIM: To investigate the action of testosterone on atherosclerosis in a rabbit model. METHODS: 37 male cholesterol-fed rabbits were divided into five groups: castration group: castrated rabbits without exogenous testosterone administration; testosterone Ⅰ group: castrated rabbits with exogenous testosterone 0.25 mg?kg -1?d -1; testosterone Ⅱ group: castrated rabbits with exogenous testosterone 2.5 mg?kg -1?d -1; testosterone Ⅲ group: castrated rabbits with exogenous testosterone 12.5 mg?kg -1?d -1. The sham operation group was also set. Three months later, the levels of testosterone, blood lipids (including TG, HDL-C, LDL-C), PAI activity, nitric oxide (NO) content, endothelin (ET), angiotensin Ⅱ (AngⅡ) in blood were detected. RESULTS: It showed that testosterone in castration group was the lowest. There was no significant difference of TG or LDL-C between castration group and the other four groups. HDL-C in castration group was lower than that in other four groups. NO content of castration group was lower than that in others, but PAI activity, ET and AngⅡ concentration were higher than that in other groups. CONCLUSION: Testosterone is a protective factor against atherosclerosis in male rabbits.

Objective: To quantitatively study the incidental extra-cardiac ifndings (ECFs) by coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) in patients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD) in order to better recognize those lesions in clinical practice.
Methods: A total of 1169 suspected CAD patients received CCTA in our hospital from 2011-06 to 2013-03 and 1030 patients were enrolled in this study. There were 589 in-patients, 441 out-patients and 549 patients≥60 years of age,481 patients < 60 years of age. 3 physicians evaluated the incidental ECFs in the full ifeld of view (FOV) in different window level and window width for lung, mediastinum, thorax and upper abdominal areas. Clinical relevance of ECFs were classiifed by corresponding scores. Score 1, the patients with severe lesion need immediate treatment, score 2, the lesion with clinical and prognostic signiifcance and score 3, the ifnding without clinical signiifcance.
Results: There were 197/1030 (19.1%) patients having 224 ECFs and 27 (2.6%) patients having 2 ECFs; 90/1030 (8.7%) patients having 106 signiifcant lesions including 3 (0.3%) of lung cancer and 8 (0.8%) of pulmonary embolism; 107 patients with 118 lesions without signiifcance. ECFs were found in 114/589 (19.4%) in-patients and in 83/441 (18.8%) out-patients, P>0.05; 76/481 (15.8%) of patients < 60 years of age and 121/549 (22.0%) of patients≥60 years,P<0.05.
Conclusion: Unexpected ECFs detection rate was 19.1% in patients undergoing CCTA without further radiation exposure by reconstruction with the full FOV setting, and 8.7% of ECFs had clinical signiifcance. Radiologists should routinely analyze the extra-cardiac organs in CCTA.

In order to improve the scientific research capability of medical graduates,help them cultivate scientific statistical mind and the ability to resolve actual medical scientific research issues,we made a teaching reform on the teaching objectives,curriculum system,teaching material and informational teaching of Medical Statistics teaching,established a diversified teaching pattern and improved the teaching quality.

Objective To explore the clinical characteristics and diagnosis of Epstein-Barr(EB) virus encephalitis(EBE) in children. Methods The verification of EBE was based on detection of EBV DNA in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) by fluorogenic quantitative PCR(FQ-PCR) and Nest-PCR. The clinical and CSF changes of 27 EBE cases and 26 controls were analyzed and compared. Results EB-DNA in CSF by FQ-PCR of 13 cases of EBE was (2.82?2.03)?10 3copies.There was no significant difference in clinical manifestations between EBE and HSE groups, except that WBC in CSF of EBE was lower than those of HSE.Conclusions EBE is not infrequent, about 10 % of encephalitis in children. EBE is always present independently, which is not a complication of infectious mononucleosis(IM).Detection of EBV-DNA in CSF is a sensitive and specific test for diagnosing of EBE. Early treatment may be beneficial to the prognosis of EBE.

Objective To explore the impacts of intensive nutritional intervention on maternal and infant outcomes in women with gestational diabetes mellitus(GDM). Methods From January 2014 to ecember 2014, a total of 518 women with GDM were stratified by age, height, body mass index (BMI), and were divided into treatment group (n=258) and control group (n=260) according to the random number generated by the computer software. Women in control group underwent conservative treatment while those in treatment group were given intensive nutritional intervention including keeping records of eating habits, measurement of blood glucose and regular follow-up. The incidence of pregnancy-related complications and newborn outcomes in both groups were compared. Results Women of the two groups were similar in basic clinical data. The range of gestational weight gain (GWG) [(12.2 ± 4.7) vs. (13.9 ± 5.0)kg] and birth weight of infants [(3 406.4±495.4) vs. (3 494.9±484.7)g] in the intervention group was significantly lower than those in the control group (P<0.01). The rate of reaching recommended target of GWG was significantly higher in the intervention group (60.9%) than in the control group (51.9%, χ2=4.2, P<0.05). There was a significant reduction in glucose-related parameters in both groups (P<0.01). In the intervention group, fasting blood glucose and postprandial blood glucose were reduced from (5.21 ± 0.71) mmol/L, (6.68 ± 0.90) mmol/L to (4.71 ± 0.73) mmol/L,(6.21 ± 0.71) mmol/L (P<0.01), respectively in comparison with the control group, the intervention group had lower incidence of cesarean section (44.6% vs. 53.8%), postpartum hemorrhage (2.3%vs. 6.2%), polyhydramnios (7.8%vs. 13.5%), neonatal hypoglycemia (3.1%vs. 6.5%) and macrosomia (8.1%vs. 13.8%, P<0.05). Conclusions Strengthening nutritional intervention in women with GDM could increase the rate of reaching recommended target of GWG, improve the glucose-related parameters and reduce the incidence rate of pregnancy complications.

In this study, modification technology by surface coating was used to improve the flowability of powder of Chinese herbs extracts. Seven kinds of powder of Chinese herbs extracts were coated with 1% silica nanoparticles using an under-driven Comil. The powder characteristics tester was used to evaluate the flowability of uncoated and coated powders. Surface morphology and particle size distribution of powders were compared by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and optical microscope. The powder hygroscopicity was also investigated. The results showed that, after modification, angle of repose, angle of spatula, compressibility and adhesiveness extremely decreased, and flowability index substantially increased, the powder flowability was significantly improved, especially Gegen and Dahuang extracts powders. Scanning electron microscopy images showed the distribution of silica nanoparticles on the host drug particle surfaces. There were no remarkable changes in the particle size distribution and hygroscopicity of all powders after coating. Therefore, Comilling for surface coating modification technology was an effective method to improve the flowability of Chinese herbs extracts and suggested a possible way forward to enhance the quality of Chinese drugs pharmaceutics in their study and manufacture.
Chemistry, Pharmaceutical ; methods ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Nanoparticles ; chemistry ; Particle Size ; Powders ; chemistry ; Surface Properties

Animals ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Hydroxylamine ; toxicity ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Spermatozoa ; drug effects ; Testis ; cytology ; drug effects

Objective To study on the effectiveness of endoscopic ultrasonography(EUS)in detec- ting insulinoma preoperatively.Methods Fifteen patients with clinical and biochemical signs of insulinoma were examined by EUS using a radial-scanning ultrasound endoscope and abdominal ultrasonography,CT, DSA prior to surgery.The outcome was evaluated on the basis of surgery and examination of the resected specimens.Results Fifteen patients with 16 lesions of insulinoma were identified by surgery and pathology. The aceuraey of diagnosis with EUS was 13/15(86.7%),and that with B-US,CT,DSA was 3/15(20%), 5/15(33.3%),9/14(64.3%)respectively.In the 14 lesions identified by EUS,10 lesions were depicted to be hypoechogenic,1 lesion was isoechogenic and 3 lesions were hyperechogenie.All 14 lesions were well demarcated and surrounded by normal pancreatic tissue.The minimum size of the lesion visualized by EUS was 0.5cm.Ten lesions were correctly detected by EUS with size of 0.5～2.0cm.EUS missed diagnosis in 2 lesions not for their small size.EUS falsely indicated a 10mm lesion from two lesions inside the head of pancreas.One lesion outside the pancreatic tail and one lesion in the pancreatic head were missed by EUS in another case.Conclusion EUS is superior in assessing the location of pancreatic insulinoma than other ima- ging methods such as B-US,CT,DSA.

Objective To investigate the evaluation of medical doctoral students on medical statistics teaching. Methods An investigation was carried out among doctoral students of 2012 using questionnaires in a medical university. A total of 272 doctoral students were investigated and 266 (97.79%)of them had learned medical statistics before enrollment. Statistical description was used to analyze enumeration data by calculating cases and percentages. Results More than 88.00% of them thought that medical statistics was helpful for their future work. More than 60.00% of them thought that the present teaching contents were appropriate and about 93.00% of them thought that examina-tion mode was appropriate. However,65.00% of them thought that the class hours were not enough and some con-tents should be explained more clearly. Conclusions Both basic statistics methods and advanced statistics methods should be given consideration to. Some frontier or hot knowledge of medi-cal statistics should be arranged and the class hours should be increased to expand the content of teaching.

Objective: To investigate the relationship of clinicopathological characteristics with neoadjuvant chemotherapeutic efficacy and prognosis of inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) patients. Methods: Medical records of 81 patients who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy for IBC in Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital between January 2010 and December 2013, were retrospectively analyzed. Clinicopathological features, response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and prognostic factors were studied by univariate and multivariate analyses. Results: The 3-year overall survival rate (OS) and disease-free survival rate (DFS) of patients were 53.1％ and 37.0％, respectively. The pathologic complete response (pCR) rate of patients after accepting neoadjuvant chemotherapy was 13.6％ (11/81). Statistically significant association was observed between pCR and pathological types in IBC (P<0.05). However,pCR had no benefit in improving the clinical outcomes of IBC patients (P>0.05). Preoperative lymph node stage was an independent prognostic factor of overall survival (OS) and disease- free survival (DFS) in IBC patients (P<0.05). Neoadjuvant chemotherapy and lymph vessel tumor emboli were independent factors of DFS (all P<0.05). Conclusion: Clinicopathological characteristics of IBC patients affected chemosensitivity. We could predict the prognosis of these patients by preoperative lymph node stage and lymph vessel tumor emboli and select chemotherapy to achieve the best curative effect.