OBJECTIVETo investigate the association between catecholamine-beta-adrenoceptor (beta-AR)-adenosine 3', 5'-monophosphate (cAMP) system and long-term prognosis in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF).

METHODSThe study population comprised 73 patients with CHF (EF: 23% +/- 10%) with a mean follow-up of 3.8 +/- 1.9 years. Plasma levels of norepinephrine (NE) were measured using high performance lipid chromatography, beta-adrenergic receptor density (Bmax) and the content of cAMP in peripheral lymphocytes were calculated using 3H-dihydroalpneolo as ligand and competitive immunoassay, respectively. Deaths due to cardiovascular events within the follow-up period were registered.

RESULTSThe total mortality was 64.7%, 57.4% of which was for cardiogenic (worsening heart failure: 32.4%; sudden death: 25.0%). In the cardiogenic death group, plasma levels of NE and epinephrine (E) (3.74 nmol/L +/- 0.09 nmol/L and 3.17 nmol/L +/- 1.0 nmol/L) and the contents of peripheral lymphocyte cAMP (3.64 pmol/mg protein +/- 1.4 pmol/mg protein) were significantly increased as compared with the survival group (2.68 nmol/L +/- 0.07 nmol/L, 2.41 nmol/L +/- 0.24 nmol/L and 2.73 pmol/mg protein +/- 0.9 pmol/mg protein, respectively, all P < 0.01). In the sudden death group, plasma levels of NE and E (5.01 nmol/L +/- 0.06 nmol/L and 4.13 nmol/L +/- 0.08 nmol/L) were significantly increased as compared with the worsening heart failure group (2.49 nmol/L +/- 0.07 nmol/L and 2.33 nmol/L +/- 0.8 nmol/L, all P < 0.001) and to the survival group (2.68 nmol/L +/- 0.07 nmol/L and 2.41 nmol/L +/- 0.14 nmol/L, all P < 0.01). The incidences of sudden death were 0%, 75%, and 100% (chi(2) = 16.018, P < 0.01) in patients with plasma NE < 2.5 nmol/L, NE 2.5 nmol/L - 4.5 nmol/L, and NE > 4.5 nmol/L, respectively. In the worsening heart failure group, the content of peripheral lymphocyte cAMP (4.46 pmol/mg protein +/- 0.18 pmol/mg protein) was significantly increased compared with the sudden death group (2.39 pmol/mg protein +/- 0.9 pmol/mg protein, P < 0.001) and to the survival group (2.73 pmol/mg protein +/- 1.1 pmol/mg protein, P < 0.001). The worsening heart failure death occurences were 5.0%, 72.2%, and 100% (chi(2) = 14.26, P < 0.01) in patients with a content of peripheral lymphocyte cAMP < 2.5 nmol/L, cAMP 2.5 nmol/L - 4.5 nmol/L, and cAMP > 4.5 nmol/L, respectively. Bmax in peripheral lymphocyte was not significantly different (P > 0.05) among the sudden death, worsening heart failure, and survival groups in CHF patients.

CONCLUSIONSPlasma levels of catecholamine increase significantly, and Bmax and the contents of cAMP in peripheral lymphocytes decrease significantly in patients with CHF. High plasma catecholamine levels may be associated with sudden death, and high intralymphocyte cAMP content may be associated with worsening heart failure in CHF patients.

Adult ; Aged ; Catecholamines ; blood ; Cyclic AMP ; blood ; Death, Sudden, Cardiac ; Female ; Heart Failure ; blood ; mortality ; Humans ; Lymphocytes ; chemistry ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Receptors, Adrenergic, beta ; blood

Objective To analyze the clinical characteristics in children with digestive tract poison-ing in emergency department and discuss the measures of prevention and treatment. Methods Four hundred and seventy-three cases with digestive tract poisoning who visited the emergency department of Zhengzhou Children′s Hospital were retrospectively analyzed from January 2015 to December 2017. The ages,toxic poi-soning causes,types,clinical features, laboratory examinations, hospitalization expenses and outcomes were analyzed. They were divided into drug poisoning and non-drug poisoning group to compare. Results There were 317 (67. 0%) cases aged 6 days to 3 years old,133 (28. 1%) cases aged 3 to 6 years old,23 cases (4. 9%) >6 years old. The incidence rate was similar in each season but slightly lower in winter. There were 462 (97. 7%) cases of accidental poisoning,of which 377 (79. 7%) cases were mistreated and 85 (18. 0%) cases were mistakenly fed by parents,other 11 (2. 3%) cases were non-accidental poisoning. Three hundreds and thirty-six (71. 0%) cases were drug poisoning,and 137 (29. 0%) cases were non-drug poisoning. Drug poisonings were higher in urban children than in rural children, the difference was statistically significant (χ2 ＝7. 037,P＝0. 008). The percentage of digestive symptoms and blood system symptoms in non-drug poi-soning group were higher than those in drug poisoning group,and the differences were statistically significant (54. 0% vs. 8. 3%,χ2 ＝120. 067,P<0. 001;7. 3% vs. 3. 0%,χ2 ＝4. 491,P ＝0. 034). The percentage of cardiovascular system symptoms and respiratory symptoms in the non-drug poisoning group were lower than that in the drug poisoning group,and the differences were statistically significant (1. 5% vs. 14. 9%, χ2 ＝17. 915,P<0. 001;2. 9% vs. 11. 0%,χ2 ＝8. 050,P＝0. 005). Except for liver function and myocardial en-zyme,the percentage of abnormal laboratory indicators(white blood cells,platelets,blood glucose,lactic acid, electrolyte,coagulation) in non-drug poisoning group were higher than those in the drug poisoning group,and the differences were all statistically significant(all P<0. 05). The hospitalization cost of the non-drug poison-ing group was greater than that of the drug poisoning group,and the difference was statistically significant (Z＝ －12. 444,P<0. 001). Both in the drug-poisoning group and non-drug poisoning group,the cure or im-provement rate of the <6 h treating group were higher than that of the >6h treating group,and the difference was all statistically significant(all P<0. 05). Conclusion Children with acute gastrointestinal poisoning are mostly infants and preschoolers,mainly accidental poisoning,and often taken by mistake. Drug poisonings are mostly found in cities and non-drug poisonings in rural areas. Non-drug poisoning children have more serious damages and higher hospitalization costs than drug poisoning children. Early treatment after poisoning is an important factor to improve cure rate.

OBJECTIVE To establish a method for simultaneous determination of 15 bile acids in Tongren niuhuang qingxin pills， and to determine the contents of 15 batches of samples. METHODS Using dehydrocholic acid as internal standard， the determination was performed by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry （UPLC-MS/MS） method. The determination was performed on Hypersil GOLD C18 column with methanol-0.1% formic acid solution as the mobile phase by gradient elution at the flow rate of 0.2 mL/min. The column temperature was 40 ℃ ， and the sample size was 2 µL. Using heated electrospray ion source， parallel reaction monitoring mode scanning was performed in negative ion mode. SPSS 24.0 software was used for chemical pattern recognition analysis of content determination results. RESULTS The 15 bile acid components had a good linear relationship with peak area （all R2≥0.998 9）； their precision， repeatability and stability were all good （all RSD≤5.49%）； the average recoveries were 93.8%-105.7% （RSD was 0.5%-5.8%）. The average contents of taurocholic acid， 7-oxodeoxycholic acid， 12-dehydrocholic acid， glycocholic acid， 3-oxo-7α， 12α-hydroxy-5β-cholanoic acid， taurochenodeoxycholic acid， 3α-hydroxy- 7-oxo-5β -cholanic acid， hyocholic acid， taurodeoxycholic acid sodium salt hydrate， hyodeoxycholic acid， cholic acid， glycochenodeoxycholic acid， glycodeoxycholic acid， chenodeoxycholic acid and deoxycholic acid were 670.56， 25.97， 10.54， 280.12， 4.04， 29.81， 182.98， 813.55， 120.95， 220.31， 797.37， 18.37， 68.59， 30.13， 59.82 μg/g， respectively. Both cluster analysis and principal component analysis divided 15 batches of Tongren niuhuang qingxin pills into 2 categories， S1-S12 as one category and S13-S15 as the other category. CONCLUSIONS The established method is accurate， sensitive and specific， and can determine many types of bile acids. It also can quickly achieve the quantitative analysis of 15 bile acids in Tongren niuhuang qingxin pills， which is suitable for the quality control of this drug.