concern in breast cancer involves changes in weight which may adversely affect the prognosis of patients. This study intended to evaluate weight changed uring chemotherapy and its association with prognostic outcome measured as event-free survival (EFS)among breast cancer patients. A total of63 women diagnosed with breast cancer and have been treated by anthracycline-based chemotherapy between 2005 and 2011were included.A weight change (WC) was calculated based on relative percentage of weight changes from baseline to post-chemotherapy and categorized into either weight change (WC >5%) or stable (±5% WC).Survival probabilities were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier (SPSS 20). Upon treatment completion, 42.9% of the women experienced weight changes. A small weight reduction was observed (61.1 ± 11.6kg to 60.2 ± 11.9kg; -0.8 ± 4.0kg; p=0.106). The median EFS of women who experienced weight change was shorter (median 61.0 months) compared to those who maintained their weight (median 89.0 months) (p=0.044). In this study, weight changes during breast cancer chemotherapy were associated with poorer prognosis in comparison to women who maintained their weight.

Objective: To study clinical significance of endogenous vitamin C 、 E in patients With hypertension and stroke. Methods: The serum vitamin C、 E, Malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD) were determined by ultraviolet spectrophotometry in patients with hypertension (23 cases)、 hypertensive cerebral hemorrhage (CH, 30 cases)、 ischemic cerebrovascular disorders (IC, 25 cases) and control groups (20 cases). Results: Compared with control group, at acute stage of stroke, the Vit C、 E and SOD levels significantly reduced (P＜0. 01), the MDA level significantly increased (P＜0.01); at convalescent stage, the Vit C、 E gradually recover to normal, the SOD still reduced (P＜0.05), the MDA still incresed (P＜0.05). Conclusion: The endogenous Vit C、 E have significant change in patients with acute stage of stroke, it gradually recovers to normal in convalescent stage. Meanwhile the SOD and MDA change accordingly.

Objective To investigate the application effect of quality control management in the prevention of indwelling catheter associated urinary tract infection in intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Methods Cases of patients stayed in the department of ICU undergoing indwelling catheter over 10 d were selected by using time stage sampling method. Totally 136 cases of patients were selected from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012, as the control group. A total of 145 cases of patients were selected from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013, as the performance group. Cases in performance group were taken standardized training and quantify the performance appraisal on the basis of measures in the control group. The urine routine was tested and bacterial was cultured at indwelling catheter 3 d, 7 d and 10 d, respectively. The indwelling catheter associated urinary tract infections of the two groups were compared. Results After the implementation of the performance appraisal management, the incidences of indwelling catheter associated urinary tract infection at 3 d, 7 d and 10 d were 4.8%(7/145), 19.3% (28/145) and 32.4% (47/145), respectively. Within each quarter, the incidence of indwelling catheter associated urinary tract infection was rising with indwelling catheter time prolonged. And the incidences of the first and second quarter were higher than three and four quarter. The incidences of indwelling catheter associated urinary tract infections at 3 d, 7 d and 10 d in the performance group were lower than the control group, the differences were statistically significant (χ2=4.494, 30.660 and 49.307, P < 0.05). Conclusions Standardized training of nursing staff in ICU and implementation of performance appraisal management could effectively improve the enthusiasm and sense of responsibility of the nurses, and effectively reduce the incidence of indwelling catheter associated urinary tract infection.

Objective To investigate the relationship between CD+3CD28+T cell value and chemotherapeutic efficacy in patients with advanced digestive cancer. Methods 38 digestive cancer patients with distant metastatic lesion were included.10 healthy persons were as control group. The absolute counts of CD+3CD28+T cell were measured with flow eytometry in these patients before chemotherapy. All patients received chemotherapy, gastric cancer: DCF regimen (docetaxel plus tegafur and cisplatin, one cycle), colorectal cancer:. Folfox regimen (L-OHP plus tegafur, two cycles), esophageal cancer: mitomycin plus tegafur and cisplatin (two cycles), gallbladder or pancreatic cancer: gemzar plus tegafur and cisplatin (one cycle). According to WHO standard, the chemotherapeutic efficacy was determined, 38 patients were divided into three groups: CR+PR (complete remission plus partial remission), SD (stable of disease) and PD (progress of disease) group. Statistical analysis was used upon all data. Results There was no significant difference in value of CD+3CD28+ T cell between CR+PR group and control group (P=0.549). The value of CD+3CD28+ T cell in SD group and PD group were significantly decreased (P=0.002, P=0.000). The value of CD+3CD28+T cell in CR+PR group was more than that in PD group (P =0.001), while in SD group was more than in PD group (P = 0.044). Conclusion The efficacy is poor, if the value of CD+3CD28+ T cell in patients with advanced digestive cancer is less than that of in healthy persons in peripheral blood. Therefore, the value of CD+3CD28+ T cell is important for the early prediction of the efficacy before chemotherapy.

Objectives: This paper mainly intended to review the experiences and challenges encountered particularly in mental health issues and to additionally analyze the methodologies used in studies involving HIV/AIDS informal caregivers. Methods: Four electronic databases; Science Direct, EBSCOhost, Ovid and Springer Link were searched for articles published in the past 10 years (2002 – 2012). Only full-text English articles related to research on care giving of HIV-infected adult patients were selected. Results: Twenty two out of 293 articles (7.5%) were reviewed, involving 2,765 caregivers in the USA (n=1,610), Africa (n=253), Asia (n=838) and Oceania (n=64) regions. A variety of age categories was involved in care giving with the youngest carer being 12 years old and the oldest, 60 years on average. Females and whites appeared to be dominant and 603 caregivers themselves were HIVpositive. The main outcomes measured were care giving burden, challenges and coping. Stress and depression, stigma and discrimination, insufficient support, role overload and extreme poverty were the main challenges experienced in care giving. Both qualitative (n=11) and quantitative (n=9) were the equally preferred types of study. Purposive sampling emerged as the most preferred sampling technique. Various instruments were utilized, but the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was the most popular particularly in quantitative studies. Conclusion: A variety of life aspects were negatively affected in the process of care giving for HIV/AIDS patients and studies of such nature commonly focused on caregivers’ psychosocial burden.

This research is to investigate study the flavonoids from stems of Nelumbo nucifera and the cytotoxic activities of iso- lated compounds. The constituents were separated by column chromatography,and their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic data analyses. The isolated compounds were evaluated for cytoxic activities by MTT method. Twelve compounds were isolated and identified as rhamnazin-3-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (1), luteolin-3', 4'-dimethylether-7-O-beta-D-glucoside (2), kaempferol-3-O-beta-D-xylopyranosyl-(1-->2)-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (3), quercetin-3,3'-di-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (4), 1, 8-dihydroxy-3,7-dimethoxyxanthone (5), isorhamnetin-3-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside(6) , kaempferol(7), isorhamnetin (8), quercetin(9), astragalin(10), hyperoside (11) and 1-hy- droxy-3,7,8-trimethoxyxanthone(12). All compounds were isolated from stems of this plant for the first time, and compounds 1-5 were firstly isolated from the family nelumbonaceae. Compounds 24 and 6 showed significant cytotoxic activities against BEL-7402 carcinoma cell lines at a concentration of 1 x 10(-5) mol x L(-1) with the inhibitory rate of 67.36%, 53.25%, 57.78%, 60.13% and 52.11%, respectively.
Cell Line, Tumor ; Flavonoids ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Nelumbo ; chemistry ; Plant Extracts ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Plant Stems ; chemistry

The educational needs of epilepsy family caregivers vary depending on their relationship to the patients, their role in providing care and their emotional needs. Carers often have lack of confidence in their ability to seek information, resulting in barriers to receive information. Various educational programmes / materials about epilepsy were designed to improve the awareness, knowledge and attitudes (AKA) of patients and their families. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the feasibility, acceptability and practicality of Animated Epilepsy Educational Video (AnEEV) and AKA of family caregivers (FCGs). This part of a randomized, controlled study included a sample of 32 epilepsy FCGs who were recruited from the Neurology and Paediatric Clinics of Hospital Sultanah Nur Zahirah (HSNZ), Kuala Terengganu. Descriptive statistics were employed for data analyses (SPSS 17.0). Most were women (59.46%), married (65.6%), earning between RM1001 - RM2000 (34.4%), receiving secondary level education (65.6%) and were patients’ parents (65.6%). The AnEEV was highly acceptable (97.0%), easy to understand (90.9%), attractive (93.9%) and useful (87.9%). Almost all carers recommended AnEEV to other carers (97.0%) and were hoping to receive such educational materials in the future (93.9%). The Total AKA score was generally good (median=125.0; range=75.0-155.0) with awareness being moderate (median=30.0; range=0.0-50.0), knowledge was good (median=60.0; range=40.0-75.0) and attitudes were positive (median=35.0; range=10.0-40.0). The overall outcomes signified that AnEEV were well-received by the family caregivers and these favourable findings suggested that AnEEV could help in improving AKA for carers, which could ultimately assist epilepsy treatment, management and rehabilitation process

Inappropriate use of medicine could lead to harmful effects on the user. In some cases it results in unnecessary adverse drug reactions and drug interactions. Knowledge about possible side effect and drug interaction may ensure better self-medication practices. This study aimed to explore the prevalence of self-medication practices among undergraduate students of a public university in Terengganu, Malaysia, and to identify the most common group of medicine used. Knowledge on adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and drug interactions was also explored. A structured questionnaire asking about self-medication, therapeutic classes, knowledge of ADRs and drug interactions was administered to 363 final year students of UniSZA. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 20.0. Nearly half (46.6%) practised self-medication in the previous week and about 84.0% were aware of ADRs and drug interactions. Pain relievers were the most common group of medicines consumed (63.4%). Self-medication practices were moderately common among the undergraduates and they were aware of ADRs and drugs interactions. More awareness should be given to the students for continuous safe self-medication.

Objectives: Accurate medical information is essential among health care professionals to aid dissemination of information to the public. This study aimed to determine the level of knowledge about breast cancer and to identify related factors among undergraduate health sciences students in a public university in Terengganu, Malaysia. Methods: The respondents included students aged 18 years old or older who were enrolled in nursing, medical laboratory technician (MLT) and radiography diploma programmes. A Breast Cancer and Chemotherapy Questionnaire (BCCQ) was administered; higher scores on it indicated better knowledge. The reliability and validity of the BCCQ was considered adequate. Descriptive statistics, independent t test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multiple logistic regressions were employed (SPSS 16). Results: A total of 239 respondents participated (mean age = 19.8 ± 0.1 years; females = 83.7%). The knowledge level was moderate. Females, nursing, and final-year students possessed significantly better knowledge. After adjusting for covariates, significant factors determining good breast cancer knowledge include being in the nursing discipline and years of study. Conclusion: This study has generally ascertained that knowledge related to breast cancer and chemotherapy among this sample population remains moderate and is not uniformly disseminated. An increase in knowledge is required to ensure an optimal level of knowledge, particularly for the junior students and those from courses other than nursing.

Background The primary reason to trabeculectomy failure is fibrosis of conjunctiva and episclera because of progressive fibroblast proliferation and collagen deposition of the filtration bleb.Conventional methods of inhibiting bleb scarring was intraoperative application of mitomycin C (MMC),but many complications occured after surgery.Researches showed that bevacizumab was an antifibrotic agent,and whether it can suppress scarring of filtering bleb after trabeculectomy is concerned.Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the antifibrotic efficacy of bevacizumab after trabeculectomy in rabbits.Methods Forty New Zealand rabbits were randomly divided into four groups.Trabeculectomy was performed on the right eyes of each rabbits.The rabbits received subconjunctival injection of 0.05 ml bevacizumab (25 mg/ml) at the end of operation in the bevacizumab single injection group.The same dose of bevacizumab was respectively injected at the end of operation as well as 3 days and 7 days after operation in the bevacizumab repitition injection group,and 0.05 ml normal saline solution was used in the same way in the normal saline group.In the MMC group,MMC cotton patch with 0.2 mg/ml was placed under the Tenon caplsule and scleral flap for 3 minutes during operation.The intraocular pressure (IOP),bleb area and shape were evaluated during the 28-day period.The animals were sacrificed on postoperative day 14 and 28,respectively for the histopathologic examination of bleb.The expression of CD31 in the bleb was detected by immunohistochemistry for the calculation of microvessels.All experiments were performed in accordance with the ethics code for animal experimentation and approved by the Institutional Review Board of Tianjin Eye Hospital.Results No significant difference was found in the postoperative IOP among the groups (F =0.88,P =0.47).Compared with the bevacizumab single injection group,MMC group and normal saline group,the shape of bleb was higher and much diffuse with sparse vessels 7 days after operation in the bevacizumab repitition injection group.The survival time of bleb was 27 days,19 days and 13 days in the bevacizumab repitition injection group,the bevacizumab single injection group,MMC group and normal saline group,respectively.The percentage of collagen deposition area was (49.18±1.54)％,(26.41±1.23)％,(50.68±1.87)％ and (70.63±1.81)％ at day 14 postoperative in the bevacizumab single injection group,bevacizumab repitition injection group,MMC group and normal saline group,respectively,with the largest area in the normal saline group,and percentage of collagen deposition area was significantly reduced in the bevacizumab repitition injection group compared with the bevacizumab single injection group (all at P＜0.05).The percentage of collagen deposition area was (66.82±1.53)％ at day 28 postoperative in the bevacizumab repitition injection group,while complete scarring was seen in other 3 groups.The number of microvessels was least at postoperative day 14 in the bevacizumab repitition injection group compared with the bevacizumab single injection group,MMC group and normal saline group (all at P ＜ 0.05).The number of microvessels was more in postoperative day 28 in the bevacizumab repitition injection group (3.51 ±0.31) compared with other groups (all at P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions Subconjunctival injection of bevacizumab following trabeculectomy can improve the successful rate of surgery by remaining the survival time of filtering bleb,inhibiting the bleb scarring in rabbits.