Objective To investigate the effect of estrogen on regression of vascular calcification in rats induced by vitamin D3 plus nicotine.Methods Ninety-six female SD rats were divided randomly into control group (n=24) and calcification group (n=72).Vascular calcification of 72 rats was induced by vitamin D3 and nicotine (VDN).On the day 1,the VDN group rats were injected with vitamin D3(300 000 U/kg,i.m),and were intragastric administrated with nicotine (25 mg/kg),after 9 hours,another dosage of nicotine was given again.After 4 weeks,the VDN group rats were subdivided randomly into 4 groups:VDN group(n=16),Sham operation group (n=16),ovariotomy group (n=16),estrogen group(after ovariotomy,17β-estrogen was subcutaneously injected,50 μg· kg-1· d-1,n=16).Results After 4 weeks,the VDN group showed obvious vascular calcification,and calcium content of the vessel wall was significantly higher than that of control group (P＜0.01).Extensive calcification was witnessed on the aortic tunica media of the VDN group.After 12 and 8 weeks,the calcium content of the vessel wall in each subdivided groups was significantly lower than that at 4 weeks point(P＜0.01),and the lowest calcinm content was in estrogen group,meanwhile the reduction of previously accumulated arterial calcium precipitate in each group was different.Conclusions It is a reversible process that vascular calcification induced by vitamin D plus nicotine in rats.Estrogen can promote the regression of vascular calcification.

National Health Information System is mainly used to support decision-making and to improve the current national health situation.Its importance to display the current national health situation and its problems in developing countries were analyzed with the need to construct its effective evaluation framework system pointed out.Construc-tion of UML-based evaluation framework system for National Health Information System was proposed in order to support decision-making and to provide evidence for the health policy makers by comparing the evaluation frame-work systems for National Health Information System in developing countries .

A national health information system that can provide timely and reliable information plays a very im-portant role in improving public health and health system .However , the system must be assessed at first if it is to be strengthened .The assessment frameworks for the main health information systems in the world were summarized by defining the connotations of national health information system.The advances in assessment of health information systems in China were described with certain suggestions put forward for the research and development of assessment framework for national health information system .

Objective Recent studies have indicated that early brain injury is the leading cause of death in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage ( SAH) .Our study investigated the role of aminoguanidine ( AG) in early brain injury after SAH . Methods Sixty-eight male SD rats were equally randomized into four groups of equal number :control, sham, SAH, and AG.The animals in the sham group were injected with isotonic saline solution , while those of the latter two groups with femoral artery blood ( FAB) and FAB+AG, respectively, into the pre-chiasmatic cistern to induce SAH. At 24 hours after modeling , all the rats were killed for HE staining , obtainment of behavioral neurological assessment ( BNA ) scores by Garcia, measurement of the apoptosis of neurons by TUNEL , and de-termination of the expressions of the iNOS and NSE proteins by West-ern blot. Results The results of HE staining showed the presence of more red blood cells in the subarachnoid cavity of the rats in the SAH group, with a significantly decreased BNA score ( 14.47 ± 0.62) as compared with those in the control (17.94 ±0.24), sham (17.59 ±0.51), and AG group (15.71 ±0.47) (P<0.05). The rate of positive cells was remarkably higher in the SAH group ([42.38 ±2.38]%) than in the control ([6.35 ±0.94]%), sham ([6.85 ±0.69]%), and AG group ([30.48 ±2.89]%) ( P<0.01), with significant differences among the latter three groups (P<0.05).The expressions of iNOS and NSE were markedly higher in the SAH group ([3.86 ±0.07] and [1.59 ±0.06]) than in the control (0 and[0.35 ±0.09]), sham ([2.96 ±0.34] and [0.38 ±0.08]), and AG group ([3.41 ±0.04] and [0.70 ±0.12]) ( P<0.05).Both the expression levels of iNOS and NSE were positively correlated with the rate of positive cells (r=0 .879 and 0.935, P<0.01). Conclusion AG can alleviate early brain injury after SAH in SD rats by improving the neuro-ethologic function , suppressing the apoptosis of neurons , and reducing the expressions of iNOS and NSE .