The paper gives an account of the four systems that are currently used for evaluating hospital quality in America, viz. America's Best Hospitals, Solucient 100 Top Hospitals, International Quality Indicator Project, and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. The "America's Best Hospitals" methodology takes into account three factors, infrastructure, process and outcome. Hospitals are first ranked in specialties, then the index of hospital quality is calculated by means of weighted indexes, and after that the best hospitals are selected according to the specialty rankings and the number of the hospitals. The "Solucient 100 Top Hospitals" methodology selects 100 top hospitals among hospitals of the same size on the basis of hospital quality and safety indexes. The evaluation indexes include eight items, such as index of risk-adjusted mortality rates, index of complications, and disease severity-adjusted average length of hospital stay. The methodologies of "International Quality Indicator Project" and "the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations" are used in many countries to evaluate clinical efficiency and enjoy high reputation in monitoring and promoting medical quality.

Objective To investigate the prevalence and distribution of Yin and Yang deficiency syndrome on different nationalities in different parts of Xinjiang in order to offer epidemiology evidence for the research on the cause of dryness syndrome in northwest China.Methods The questionnaire was designed according to the Chinese medicine theories and the sampling questionnaire investigation in five regions including Hotan Xinjiang and Leshan Sichuan and Shanghai was carried out.Then a computation differentiation of Yin and Yang deficiency syndrome was done for the statistical analysis.Results Totally 5544 questionnaires were accomplished.In the five regions except Urumqi,the incidence of Yin and Yang deficiency syndrome in Xinjiang was higher than that of Shanghai and Sichuan(P

Objective: To study the nature and flavour of LIU Wan-su’ drug application and the tendency of cold or warm in his prescription; analyze LIU Wan-su’s medical sect by the index of prescription metrology. Methods: Combining the traditional documents with prescription metrology, selecting three doctors before or after LIU Wan-su in Jin and Yuan Dynasty as comparison to expose the characteristic of prescription metrology in his prescription. Results: Wen tonic frequency of each prescription on average, LI Dong-yuan(1.10),ZHU Dan-xi(0.97), LIU Wan-su (0.77), ZHANG Zi-he(0.65); Han tonic frequency of each prescription, LI Dong-yuan (1.34),ZHANG Zi-he (1.00), LIU Wan-su (0.94), ZHU Dan-xi(0.80);Cool and warm drug ratio of four sects in Jin and Yuan Dyanstay, ZHU Dan-xi (0.97),LI Dong-yuan(0.83), LIU Wan-su (0.82), ZHNAG Zi-he (0.58).Cool and warm prescription ratio, ZHANG Zi-he(1.50), LIU Wan-su (0.87), LI Dong-yuan(0.76), ZHU Dan-xi (0.50).Conclusion: As the exponent of "theory of fi re and hot", it will be better to classify LIU Wan-su as " Hejian sect" since his drug application was not limited within cold and cool. To some extent, it is more important to judge a Chinese traditional doctor by syndrome identifi cation rather than only by his drug frequency.

Objective To investigate the proliferative inhibition of lens epithelial cell (LEC) by arsenic trioxide (ATO) and rhizoma curcumae (RC), in order to provide scientific basis for pursuing safe and effective natural drugs to prevent and cure after cataract. Design Experimental study. Participants Cultured Bovine LEC in vitro. Methods Changes of cellular form were observed with microscope. Different concentration of ATO (2.5, 5, 10?mol/L) and RC(5, 10, 20mg/ml) were added to the proliferative LEC separately. The effects of proliferative inhibition by ATO and RC on the LEC were measured with methyl thia-zolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay method after 72 hours incubation. Main Outcome Measures Cellular form, Absorbance. Results Under the microscope, good growth and quantity increase were found in proliferative control group. Slowing proliferation,poor growth, and few disintegration were observed in ATO group and RC group. MTT assay: Different concentration of ATO (2.5, 5, 10?mol/L)and RC(5, 10, 20mg/ml) can significantly inhibit the proliferation of LEC and these effects were dose dependent(P

0.05),while the changes in the serum levels of AST and ALT in the recipients in of treatment group were obviously lower(P

Objective:To determine the molecular role of DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) in kidney tumorigenesis. Methods:Tissue samples consisted of 15 cancer tissues and 15 matched adjacent tissues from clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) patients who had undergone nephrectomy in 2012 at the First Affiliated Hospital of Baotou Medical College, Science and Technology University of Inner Mongolia were collected. Real-time PCR, Western blot, combined bisulfite restriction analysis (COBRA) and methylation specific PCR were used in this study. Real-time PCR was used to examine the mRNA expression levels of DNMT. The global methylation level, DNA methylation level, and the expression of the antioncogene RASSF1A in ccRCC tissues were concurrently detected. Results:Both mRNA and protein levels of DNMT3B4, a splice variant of DNMT3B, were elevated in renal cell carcinoma tissue compared with those in con-troll tissue. Additionally, Alu was hypomethylated in ccRCC tissue (0.106±0.04) compared with control tissue (0.115±0.03) (P<0.05). Fur-thermore, the methylation of the promoter for RASSF1A, a tumor-suppressor gene, moderately increased in renal cell carcinoma tis-sue. By contrast, RASF1A expression decreased. Conclusion:DNMT3B4 overexpression may play an important role in human kidney tu-morigenesis via chromosomal instability and the decreased expression of RASSF1A.

Objective To evaluate the security of big animals with a new bioartificial liver system .Methods Six Tibet pigs re-spectively received treatment of hybrid artificial liver and simple bioartificial liver ,observed and recorded the vital signs ,venous pressure ,transmembrane pressure and slurry pot pressure each hour ,and collected blood to make endotoxin and bacterial culture test in the zero hour ,fourth and eighth hour .Results Compared with the zero hour ,venous pressure ,transmembrane pressure ,slur-ry pot pressure were much higher in the fifth hour (P< 0 .05) ,and there were no significant difference in the rest of other time points(P>0 .05) .The mean arterial pressure and respiratory rate in all time point showed no significant changes (P>0 .05) .Com-pared with the zero hour ,the heart rate was much lower in the second hour (P<0 .01) .The values of blood endotoxin were less than 0 .5 EU/mL in the zero hour ,fourth and eighth hour from beginning ,and the bacterial culture test showed no growth of bacteria . Conclusion The experiment of big animals with a new bioartificial liver system was safe ,the efficacy in the treatment of hepatic failure could be assessed further .

Background and purpose:DNMT3B has nearly 40 known splice variants expressed in a tissue-and disease-speciifc manner, but the roles of these splice variants in the cell are still unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of overexpression of DNA methyltransferase 3B4 (DNMT3B4) gene on proliferation of human embryo kidney 293A cells. Methods:293A cells were transfected with plasmid pCMV-DNMT3B4 or pCMV-2B and then treated with G418 to get the stable cell line. The stable cell lines were determined for proliferation level by MTT method, and for cell cycle distribution by lfow cytometry. The expression of p21 was detected by real-time PCR and Western blot. The methylation status of p21 gene promoter was detected by methylation-speciifc PCR (MS-PCR). Results:The absorbance value in DNMT3B4-1 and DNMT3B4-2 clone were (58.92±3.47)%and (68.82±5.64)%as compared to 293A-vector cells using MTT method. DNMT3B4 overexpression signiifcantly decreased cell proliferation (P<0.05). S phase fraction of 293A-vector cells was (40.44±0.91)%. While in DNMT3B4-1 and DNMT3B4-2 clone cells, the S phase fraction was (35.88±2.00)%and (37.00±1.79)%respectively. Overexpression of DNMT3B4 could significantly decrease S phase fraction (P<0.05). The expression of p21 in DNMT3B4 overexpressed cells was increased, but the methylation status of p21 gene promoter was unchanged.Conclusion:Overexpression of DNMT3B4 can inhibit 293A cell proliferation and can facilitate p21 expression.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the signal transduction mechanism of curcumin in inhibiting the proliferation of bovine lens epithelial cell (LEC) induced by recombinant human epidermal growth factor (rhEGF). METHODS: There were three groups in this experiment, which were normal control group, untreated group and curcumin-treated group. Proliferation of LEC was induced by rhEGF (50 microg/L). The concentration of intracellular Ca(2+) ([Ca(2+)](i)) in LEC was measured with Fura-2/AM by spectrofluorimetry. The contents of intracellular cAMP and cGMP were assayed by radioimmunoassay. RESULTS: The [Ca(2+)]i in LEC was obviously increased in the untrated group as compared with that in the normal control group (P<0.01), and the [Ca(2+)](i) in LEC in the curcumin-treated group was highest among three groups (P<0.01). The content of intracellular cAMP in LEC was decreased while the content of intracellular cGMP was obviously increased in the untreated group as compared with those in the normal control group (P<0.01). The content of intracellular cAMP in LEC was higher in the curcumin-treated group than that in the untreated group, while the content of intracellular cGMP was lower than that in the untreated group (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: The antiproliferation effects of curcumin on LEC may relate to the regulations of multiple processes of signal transduction.

Objective To study the influence of tripterygium glycosides (LGTDG)in the bone morphogenetic protein(BMP)signal transduction pathway and BMP-2 expression,and to clarify the mechanism of anti-ankylosing spondylitis (AS)ossification of LGTDG.Methods The in vitro cultured AS fibroblasts were divided into control group and 0.5,1.0,1.5,2.0 mg·L-1 LGTDG groups.The alkaline phosphatase (ALP)activities of the cells and optimal drug concentrations in various groups were detected;CCK-8 assay was used to detect the proliferation rate of the cells in 1.0 mg· L-1 LGTDG group;the biochemical tests were performed to quantitatively detect the BMP-2 expression levels in control group and 1.0 mg· L-1 LGTDG group;Western blotting method was used to determine the BMP-2 and Cbfal protein expressions. Results The ALP activities in LGTDG groups were lower than that in control group,especially in 1.0 mg·L-1 LGTDG group (P<0.01).The CCK-8 assay results showed that the proliferation rate of AS fibroblasts in 1.0 mg·L-1 LGTDG group was significantly low than that in control group(P<0.01),the proliferation rate reached the peak at the 4th day after LGTDG treatment and entered into the plateau phase,then the proliferation rate of the cells was decreased.The biochemical assay and Western blotting results indicated that the protein expression levels of BMP-2 in 1.0 mg·L-1 LGTDG group was significantly lower than that in control group (P<0.01).Conclusion LGTDG can effectively inhibit the BMP-2 expression in AS fibroblasts and delay the cells to differentiate into the osteoblasts and lead to AS ossification by BMP signal transduction pathway.