Objective To summarize the causes of death and to analyze the risk factors in a surgical intensive care unit (SICU).Methods The relevant information of patients died in the SICU of Xijing Hospital of Fourth Military Medical University in past 15 years (from December 1999 to February 2015) was retrospectively analyzed.The gender,age, reason and date of hospitalization, date of transfer SICU, past medical history, whether or not admitted directly from emergency department, or transferred from other department, operated or not, date of death, the main cause of death, acute physiology and chronic health evaluation Ⅱ (APACHE Ⅱ) score, the history of undergoing mechanical ventilation, continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT), or antifungal therapy, as well as the ratio of the patients with body temperature higher than 39 ℃, white blood cell (WBC) count higher than 10 × 109/L, platelet (PLT) count below 100 × 109/L, albumin (Alb) below 35 g/L of two periods, namely from December 1999 to July 2007 (the first period),and from August 2007 to February 2015 (the second period) were compared.The above parameters were compared with those of 201 survivors in SICU, and the risk factors leading to death were analyzed by logistic regression.Results From December 1999 to February 2015, 4 317 patients were taken care of in the SICU.Among them, the number of death was 186, and the mortality rate was 4.3％.In the first time period (from December 1999 to July 2007), the total number of patients was 1 356, and the number of death were 109 (the mortality rate was 8.0％).In the second period, i.e.from August 2007 to February 2015, the number of SICU patients was 2 961, and 77 died (the mortality rate was 2.6％).The difference of mortality rate between the two periods was statistically significant (x2 =66.707, P =0.001).The death rate of patients transferred directly from emergency department in tle first period was 79.8％ (87/109), and it was lower in the second period (51.9％, 40/77, x2 =16.181, P =0.001).The death rate of the patients with blood Alb below 35 g/L in the second period (59.7％, 46/77) was higher than that of the first period (41.3％, 45/109, x2 =6.151, P =0.017).The top three causes of death from December 1999 to February 2015 were sepsis (38.2％), trauma (16.7％), and operation for cancer (14.0％).In the first period, the top three causes of death were sepsis (35.8％), trauma (22.0％),and operation for cancer (13.8％).In the second period, the top three causes of death were sepsis (41.6％), damage of the central nervous system (16.9％), and operation for cancer (14.3％).Top three reasons for SICU admission were trauma (29.03％), abdominal pain (20.97％) and other reasons (18.82％).Top three departments from which the patients were transferred were the emergency department (19.35％), orthopedics department (17.20％), and hepatobiliary department (16.13％).Logistic regression analysis showed that age [odds ratio (OR) =2.025, 95％ confidence interval (95％CI) =1.500-2.734, P =0.000], mechanical ventilation (OR =3.514, 95％CI =1.701-7.259, P =0.001), CRRT (OR =5.604,95％CI =3.003-10.459, P =0.000), body temperature higher than 39 ℃ (OR =1.992, 95％CI =1.052-3.771, P =0.034) were the risk factors of death in SICU patients.Conclusion Sepsis and severe trauma are the leading causes of death in severe SICU patients, to whom with risk factors of death enough attention should be given.

Objective To investigate the clinical features of internal carotid steal syndrome. Methods The clinical manifestations, CT or MRI, digital subtraction angiography, and blood flow compensation in 6 patients with internal carotid steal syndrome were analyzed. Results Of the 6 patients, 2 had unilateral internal carotid artery stenosis, 4 had severe stenosis (in which 2 were on the left side, 1 was on the right side, and 1 was on both sides). The clinical manifestations of the patients with internal carotid steal syndrome were watershed infarction and transient ischemic attack. Four patients had posterior circulation ischemia and 2 had anterior circulation ischemia. Digital subtraction angiography demonstrated that collateral circulation was established in all the 6 patients. The anterior communicating artery, posterior communicating artery, and pial artery were the common compensatory vessels. Conclusions Internal carotid artery steal syndrome can be presented as anterior or posterior circulation ischemia, and the collateral circulation plays an important role in the compensation.

Objective To investigate the accuracy of the plasma DNA concentration in evaluating the prognosis in patients with sepsis.Methods One hundred and sixty patients with sepsis were enrolled as the sepsis group (group SE).Another 109 patients without sepsis hospitalized during the same period served as the control group (group C).The venous blood sample was taken on admission for determination of plasma DNA concentration by polymerase chain reaction,C reactive protein (CRP) concentration by ELISA.APACHE Ⅱ score and SOFA score were evaluated at 24 h after admission.The 160 patients with sepsis were divided into two groups according to the result of prognosis:survival group ( n =103) and death group ( n =57).Results Compared with group C,the plasma DNA concentration,CRP concentration,APACHE Ⅱ score and SOFA score were significantly increased in group SE (P＜0.05).Compared with survival group,the plasma DNA concentration,APACHEⅡ score and SOFA score were significantly increased in death group ( P ＜ 0.05).The areas under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves of the plasma DNA concentration was significantly larger than those of APACHE Ⅱ score and SOFA score (0.81(95％ CI,0.74-0.88) versus 0.68(95％ CI,0.60-0.77),or 0.72(95％ CI,0.63-0.82)).Conclusion The plasma DNA concentration can accurately evaluate the prognosis in patients with sepsis.As compared with the plasma CRP concentration,APACHE Ⅱ score and SOFA score,the plasma DNA concentration is more accurate to evaluate the prognosis in patients with sepsis.

Actins ; metabolism ; Adult ; Breast Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Calcium-Binding Proteins ; metabolism ; Cell Differentiation ; Desmin ; metabolism ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Fibroadenoma ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Hamartoma ; pathology ; Humans ; Hyperplasia ; Leiomyoma ; pathology ; Microfilament Proteins ; metabolism ; Muscle, Smooth ; pathology ; Phyllodes Tumor ; pathology

Aged ; Female ; Hodgkin Disease ; diagnosis ; pathology ; Humans ; Reed-Sternberg Cells ; pathology

OBJECTIVETo compare the therapeutic effects of acupuncture and Motilium on diabetic gastroparesis (DGP).

METHODSSeventy-two cases of DGP were randomly divided into a treatment group and a control group. The treatment group were treated with needling method for harmonizing spleen-stomach as main, with Quchi (LI 11), Hegu (LI 4), Zhongwan (CV 12), Zusanli (ST 36), Fenglong (ST 40), Yinlingquan (SP 9), Sanyinjiao (SP 6), Xuehai (SP 10), Diji (SP 8), and others selected, twice each day, 10 days constituting one course, with an in terval of 2 days; the control group were treated with oral administration of Motilium 10 mg, 3 times each day, 30 min before meals.

RESULTSThe total effective rate of 91.7% in the treatment group was better than 77.8% in the control group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe therapeutic effect of the needling method for harmonizing spleen-stomach on diabetic gastroparesis is better than that of Motilium.

Acupuncture Therapy ; methods ; Adult ; Diabetes Complications ; therapy ; Female ; Gastroparesis ; therapy ; Humans ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Middle Aged ; Spleen ; physiopathology ; Stomach ; physiopathology

Objective To investigate the factors affecting the isolation of fastidious bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae from lower respiratory tract specimens in children.Methods A total of 210 lower respiratory tract specimens from children were collected and inoculated on both blood agar plate and chocolate agar plate 0.5 h,2 h,6 h,12 h,and 24 h after collection.The effect of specimen turnaround time,transport medium,and inoculation medium on the isolation of fastidious bacteria was studied.Results The results of 200 qualified specimens showed that the isolation of S.pneumoniae and H.influenzae significantly decreased with the increasing of specimen turnaround time (P＜0.05),but no significant difference was observed between 0.5 h and 2 h timepoints.The isolation of fastidious bacteria in semi-solid medium was non-significantly higher than the other two transport medium (P＞0.05).No significant difference was found in the isolation and growth ofS.pneumoniae and H.influenzae on different inoculation media (P＞0.05).Conclusions The appropriate specimen turnaround time,transport medium,and inoculation medium are important for improving the isolation of fastidious bacteria from lower respiratory tract in children.

Adenocarcinoma, Mucinous ; pathology ; Aged ; Appendectomy ; methods ; Appendiceal Neoplasms ; pathology ; surgery ; Appendicitis ; pathology ; Appendix ; pathology ; Carcinoid Tumor ; pathology ; surgery ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male

This paper introduced an experimental study of polylacticacid (PLA) nanoparticles of lipophilic anti-cancer herb drug using a precipitation method. Cucurbitacins (Cu) and Curcuminoids (Cur) were selected to be model drugs. They had similar solubility but their incorporation effects were significantly different: the average drug entrapment ratio, the average drug loading and the average drug recovery were 38.53%, 2.21% and 27.02% respectively; while those of Cur-PLA-NP were 94.36%, 14.35% and 91.23% respectively. To analyse the reason, drug incorporation process was investigated. By measuring solvent evaporation rate, ratio of drug PLA precipitates, drug distribution in system and entrapping ratio at different time of preparation, we found the difference of precipitation velocity of drug was the main reason. We also concluded that not all lipophilic drug can be well entrapped into PLA nanoparticle by nanoprecipitation method. The drug incorporation depended on the interations among drug, PLA and organic solvents, in addition to the solubility of the drug.
Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic ; chemistry ; Chemical Precipitation ; Cucurbitacins ; chemistry ; Curcumin ; chemistry ; Drug Compounding ; methods ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Lactic Acid ; chemistry ; Nanoparticles ; Nanotechnology ; methods ; Particle Size ; Polyesters ; Polymers ; chemistry

ObjectiveTo know about the correlation analysis of the physical and mental status of organ transplanted patients' family members during the patients' rehabilitation period and the long term survival of the transplanted organs.MethodsA total of 600 organ transplanted patients' family members were investigated by Zung self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) and simple coping style questionnaire.The results underwent subsequent analysis.ResultsAnxious state of organ transplanted patients' family members was more severe than that of domestic norm (P<0.01).There were some differences in terms of anxious state of family members with different genders,education backgrounds,income and the resource of medical expenditure (P<0.05).Family members most took positive coping styles,whereas fewer adopted negative coping styles (P<0.01).Positive coping styles were negatively correlated with the anxiety of family members (P<0.01) and positively correlated with long term survival of transplanted organ(P<0.05).However,negative coping styles of family members were significantly positively correlated with their anxiety (P<0.05) and were negatively correlated with long term survival of transplanted organ.ConclusionsThe anxiety generally exists in organ transplanted patients' family members.There are differences in terms of anxious state among family members of different genders,different education backgrounds,income or with the resource of medical expenditure.The more they adopt positive coping styles,the lower anxiety level they show and the longer the transplanted organ survive.Conversely,the more they adopt negative coping styles,the higher anxious level they show and the shorter the transplanted organ survive.