According to the onset age, a total of 5 674 outpatients with gout admitted in the affiliated hospital of Qingdao University from January 2011 to January 2016 were divided into youth group (≤44 years, n=3 058), middle age group (45~64 years, n=2 101), and elderly group (≥65 years, n=515).Their clinical and biochemical characteristics were analyzed.The results showed that the proportion of gout in the males in three groups was higher than that in the females.The proportions of gout in male youth, middle age, and elderly groups were 98.1%, 93.4%, and 83.1%, respectively.The proportion of gout in females increased with age.The proportion of gout family history in youth group was higher than that in middle age and elderly groups(P<0.05).The proportions of hypertension and impaired fasting glucose(IFG) in elderly group were higher than those in youth and middle age groups (P<0.05), with lower proportions of hypertriglyceride and obesity (P<0.05).The levels of systolic blood pressure, blood urea nitrogen, creatinine in elderly group were increased compared with youth and middle age groups (P<0.05) while the levels of uric acid and triglyceride were decreased (P<0.05), with higher ratio of renal dysfunction (P<0.05).There were no differences in tophus and kidney calculi among three groups (P>0.05).The distributions of the onset joint among three groups revealed statistical difference(P<0.05), but the first plantar toe joint was mostly involved in each group.These results suggest that the clinical characteristics of patients with gout at different onset ages are not identical, should be treated differently.

Objective To detect viable myocardium in patients with old myocardial infarction(OMI) by using quantitative tissue velocity imaging(QTVI) in low dose dobutamine stress test(LDDSE).Methods(Twenty-five) patients with OMI were accepted QTVI examination including 2-chamber,4-chamber apical view.QTVI indices included peak velocity in isovolumic contraction(V_(IVC)),peak velocity in systolic(V_S) and time of isovolumic contraction(T_(IVC)).Results Two hundred segments were divided into the normal(group N,72 segments),viable myocardium(group V,77 segments) and non-viable myocardium(group NV,51 segments).At baseline,compared with group N,V_(IVC),V_S of group V and group NV decreased significantly(P

Objective To evaluate the value of strain rate imaging(SRI)in quantitatively detecting regional function and synchronism of left ventricular(LV)in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy(HCM).Methods Twenty-one patients with HCM were divided into 3 groups by thickness of interventricular septum and left controls(216 segments)were performed echo examination.Tissue velocity imagings of all the patients and controls were accepted in apical four,long axis or two chamber views.The indies included:peak systolic strain rate (SRs),peak early diastolic strain rate(SRe),peak late diastolic strain rate(SRa)and SRe/SRa,time of to peak systolic strain rate(TSSR),coffieient of variation of TssR(CVTSSR),time of to peak early diastolic strain rate (TESR),cofficient of variation of TssR(CVTESR).Results Compared with controls,SRs,SRe and SRe/SRa of the three groups of HCM decreased significantly;SRe of the three groups of HCM decreased in order,NH＞MH＞ SH,but there was no significant difference of SRe/SRa between NH and MH group of HCM;compared with NH and MH,SRe/SRa of SH decreased significantly.Compared with controls,SRa of MH and SH decreased significantly,but there was no difference between NH and controls,and NH＞MH＞SH.Compared with controls,CVTSSR and CVTESR of patients with HCM increased significantly.Conclusions The regional function of LV in patients with HCM damaged with or without hypertrophy;synchronism existed in patients with HCM and all these can be evaluated quantitatively,accurately by SRI.

Objective To investigate whether the sensitivity and specificity of detecting different coronary artery stenosis could be improved by cyclic variation of integrated backscatter(CVIB) under dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE).Methods Thirty-two patients with suspected coronary artery disease underwent DSE before selected coronary angiography.CVIB of the left ventricular myocardial segments supplied by three coronary branches was analyzed at the baseline and the stages of DSE.Results Comparing with the value of baseline and low dose stages,in ischemic myocardium,CVIB decreased under high dose.While in non-ischemic myocardium,CVIB showed no difference at all stages of DSE.Taking CVIB

Objective To explore the value of strain rate and dobutamine stress echocardiography(DSE) in the diagnosis of coronary heart disease. Methods High-dose DSE was performed in 18 patients with coronary heart disease and 10 healthy persons, proved by selected coronary angiography. Ten patients had single coronary lesion, and the other 8 patients had more. By strain rate technology, systolic peak strain rate(SR_ SYS ) was measured in 12 segments of healthy persons and ischemic segments of patients. Results SR_ SYS of healthy subjects enhanced by the increasement of dose of DSE. In patients with single coronary lesion, SR_ SYS enhanced on the first states of baseline, 10 and 20 ?g?kg -1 ?min -1 ,while SR_ SYS changed non-significantly on 30 ?g?kg -1 ?min -1 , and began to decrease on 40 ?g?kg -1 ?min -1 . However in patients with more than one coronary lesions, SR_ SYS of 10 ?g?kg -1 ?min -1 became larger than that of baseline, while SR_ SYS didn't increase any longer on 20 ?g?kg -1 ?min -1 , and fell significantly on 40 ?g?kg -1 ?min -1 . Conclusions Combining stain rate and DSE to quantify local myocardial motion is valuable to offer many important clinic messages, and improves the diagnosis of coronary heart disease.

Objective To evaluate the value of predicting functional improvement of viable myocardium after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty(PTCA) by strain rate imaging(SRI) combining with low-dose dobutamine stress echocardiography(LDDSE).Methods PTCA was performed in 20 patients with old myocardial infarction and 72 segments of resting dyskinetic wall motion at baseline were observed.Peak systolic strain rate(SSR) and systolic peak velocity(Vs) were measured in abnormal walls at baseline and SRI combined with LDDSE one day before PTCA.Increment of SSR and Vs was defined during stress echocardiography(?SSR% and ?V_S%).The follow-up analysis was performed 6 weeks after PTCA.Results The dyskinetic motion of 48/72 segments was improved according to the follow-up echocardiography 6 weeks after PTCA while that of 24/72 segments was not.Considering ?SSR%≥(2.02%),?V_S%≥(8.5%) in 5 ?g?kg~(-1)?min~(-1) stress and ?SSR%≥(24.7%),?V_S%≥(28.5%) in 10 ?g?kg~(-1)?min~(-1)stress as cut-offs for motion improvement of the left ventricular dyskinetic segments,the sensitivities were(93.8%),(89.6%) and(95.8%),(91.7%),respectively.At baseline SSRs of two groups were significantly different while Vs did not have significant difference.Conclusions Combined with LDDSE,SRI can more accuratly predict the motion improvement of viable myocardium than tissue velocity imaging can.

Objective To explore the relationship among left ventricular(LV) peak systolic strain rate,the mitral annular motive amplitude(MAMA) and left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF) in essential hypertension patients with different left ventricular patterns.Methods According to level of LV mass index and relative wall thickness,40 patients with hypertension were divided into patterns of normal geometric LV(LVN) and remodeling LV(LVR),20 normal patients were on control group. The apical views were used to determine MAMA and peak systolic strain rate(SSR).MAMA was determined by anatomic M-mode(AMM) and strain rate imaging was applied for obtaining SSR of LV basal and middle segments.LVEF was determined by Simpson rule.The LV systolic function was evaluated by mean of MAMA,SSR and LVEF. Results In all subjects,mean SSR by strain rate imaging of LV wall correlated negatively with mean MAMA(r=(-0.91),P(0.05)).Conclusions Strain rate imaging provides a sensitive,simple and trust tool to assess globle LV function in patients with essential hypertension.

Objective To evaluate the left ventricular synchronicity in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy(DCM) by real-time three-dimensional echocardiography(RT-3DE).Methods Twenty-eight DCM patients and twenty-nine healthy volunteers were enrolled in this study,and clear full volume pictures were aquired using RT-3DE.The time to minimal systolic volume (Tmsv) of each segment was measured,and a mean value of Tmsv for the same segment in each group(Tmsv') was caculated.The standard deviation (Tmsv-SD) and the maximal difference (Tmsv-Dif) of Tmsv were calculated for basal level,mid level,apical lever,12 segments and 16 segments (Tmsv1-6-SD,Tmsv7-12-SD,Tmsv13-16-SD,Tmsv12-SD,Tmsv16-SD,Tmsv1-6-Dif,Tmsv7-12-Dif,Tmsv13-16-Dif,Tmsv12-Dif,Tmsv16-Dif).Results There were no significant differences among 1-17 Tmsv' within each group.No significant differences were found between two groups for Tmsv' derived from the same segment.All asynchrony indexs of DCM patients were remarkably higher than those of the healthy volunteers (P＜0.01 or P＜0.05),and correlated closely with LVEF determined by RT-3DE (r=-0.576～-0.768,P＜0.01 or P＜0.05) except for those of the mid level(r=-0.402～-0.449,P＞0.05).Conclusions Dyssynchrony exist in globle and each level of DCM patients' left ventricle.RT-3DE is an available technique for left ventricular synchronicity quantification.

Objective To establish a method for the isolation and identification of platelets.Methods 10 healthy volunteers were selected to collect the EDTA anticoagulant venous blood of 3 tubes,each tube was 2 ml,which was divided into the whole blood cell tube,platelet rich plasma (control group),and stepped centrifugal platelet extract (experiment group).Platelet was isolated by simple centrifugation method(PRP) and stepped centrifugal method.The two groups were full blood count and analyzed by microscopic morphology and platelet activity test.Leukocyte specific HGB gene and platelet mitochondrial ND1 gene content was analyzed by real time PCR.Results Platelets were extracted and detected in control group and experimental group.Platelets were found and white blood cells and red blood cells were not remained in experimental group.Platelets and sporadic white blood cells were found in control group.The platelet pick up rate of experiment group was significantly higher than control group,the difference was statistically significant.Experimental gene content HGB of experiment group was significantly lower than control group,the difference was statistically significant (t=-3.281,-2.865,P＜0.05).ND1 gene content of experiment group higher than the control group,the difference was not statistically significant.There was no significant difference for platelet activity test between experimental group and control group (t=-0.046,-0.799,P＞ 0.05).Conclusion A isolation and identification method of stepped centrifugal platelet was established.The method can be used for the study of platelet gene and the functional analysis of platelets.

Objective The aim of this study was to inve-stigate the associations between genetic variants in interleukin (IL)-33 and susceptibility to gout.Methods The genetic distributions of rs3939286 were detected in 1 100 men with gout and 1 227 ethnically matched controls using Taqman allelic discrimination real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR).Hardy-Weinberg was used to verify the representativeness of the samples.Differences in genetic distributions between groups were investigated using x2 tests.The genotypephenotype relationship among gout patients was tested by analysis of variance.Results The frequencies of AA,AG and GG genotypes were1,101 and 998 (0.1％,9.2％ and 90.7％) among gout patients,while they were 1 132 and 1 094 (0.1％,10.7％ and 89.2％) among the controls.There were no significant differences in genetic distributions of IL-33 rs3939286 polymorphism between gout patients and controls (P=0.478 by genotype,x2=1.46,P=0.309 by allele).Conclusion Our results have revealed that the rs3939286 variant in IL-33 gene may be not involved in the development of gout in male gout patients of Shandong.However,further studies in other ethnic groups are needed to confirm the results.