Objective To explore the clinical characteristics of elderly patients with tuberculous meningitis (TBM) and analyze the causes of misdiagnosis.Methods The clinical data of patients aged 60 years and over with TBM in Beijing Chest Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University from January 2011 to January 2017 were retrospectively analyzed.The clinical characteristics of the elderly patients with TBM were analyzed and compared between misdiagnosis and non-misdiagnosis groups.Results Among 60 elderly patients with TBM,32 cases (53.3%) were misdiagnosed before hospitalization.Among 32 misdiagnosed cases,11 (34.4%) were misdiagnosed as pulmonary infection,6 (18.8%) as infectious diseases with unspecified site,4(12.5%) as upper respiratory tract infections and 3 (9.4%) as cerebral vascular diseases,and so on.The onset time of TBM,fever prevalence and CSF glucose levels were 42.5 (20.3,60.0) d,96.9% (31 cases),1.5(1.1,2.3)mmol/L in misdiagnosis group respectively,and 15.0 (10.0,20.0) d,75.0%(21 cases),2.3(1.4,3.2)mmol/L in non-misdiagnosis group respectively,which was statistically significantly different between the two groups (all P< 0.05).There were no statistically significant differences in age,gender,occupation,residence,complications,comorbidities,radiographic signs between the two groups (all P> 0.05).Conclusions Elderly patients with TBM have atypical clinical manifestations,many comorbidities,and less specific imaging,and especially,the cerebrospinal fluid pathogen sensitivity is low,which may result in higher misdiagnosis rate.

Objective To investigate the effect of tumor length and number of positive lymph nodes and the ratio of positive lymph nodes on survival in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.Methods From July 1995 to July 2005, a total of 6,691 resected lymph nodes were obtained from 526patients who underwent curative resection of the primary tumour with systematic lymphadenectomy. The survivals were analysed by life tables and Kaplan-Meier methods. Results Among patients with regional disease, the number of positive lymph nodes (＞3) was related to an increasing risk. The proportion of positive lymph nodes compared with the number of lymph nodes dissected (20 %) conferred an increased risk. The tumor length (≤5 cm, 5 cm ＜ length ＜ 7 cm, ＞7 cm) was related to an increasing risk (84.74 %, 47.79 %,36.90 %, 35.52 %; 73.41%, 46.29 %, 23.87 %, 20.64 %; 64.44 %, 13.92 %, 0, 0). Conclusion Tumor length,the number of positive lymph nodes, and the ratio of positive lymph nodes are important prognostic factors for survival in patients with esophageal carcinoma. The PTNM classification system for patients with esophageal carcinoma might consider adding number of positive lymph nodes as an important prognostic factor.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the expressions of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and interleukin-8 (IL-8) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma and their association with Epstein-Barr virus latent membrane protein-1 (LMP-1). METHOD: The expressions of MMP-9, IL-8 and LMP-1 were immunohistochemical studied in 53 nasopharyngeal carcinoma sections. We statistically analyzed the correlation of these data and also the relationship between the clinical features and the experimental data of these patients. RESULT: The positive expression rate of MMP-9, IL-8 and LMP-1 were all 66.04% (35/53) and their average expression score were (33.19 +/- 29.73)%, (33.46 +/- 30.23)%, (35.49 +/- 29.63)% respectively. The expressions of MMP-9 and IL-8 both showed positive correlation with the expression of LMP-1 (r = 0.792, 0.786 respectively). The expressions of MMP-9, IL-8 and LMP-1 showed significant relationship with lymph nodes metastasis (P < 0.05), but no-significant association with age, gender, pathological classification, and clinical stage. CONCLUSION The expressions of MMP-9, IL-8 and LMP-1 were significantly associated with neck lymph nodes metastasis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The correlation between LMP-1 and MMP-9, IL-8 showed LMP-1 might enhance neck lymph nodes metastasis by up-regulating the expressions of MMP-9 and IL-8.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Female ; Humans ; Interleukin-8 ; metabolism ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Male ; Matrix Metalloproteinase 9 ; metabolism ; Middle Aged ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Neck ; Prognosis ; Viral Matrix Proteins ; metabolism ; Young Adult

Objective:To improve the evaluation method of hospital beds efficiency based on diagnosis-related groups (DRG), and to provide a basis for hospitals to allocate beds reasonably and improve bed efficiency.Methods:Taking a tertiary hospital in Beijing as the research object, the types of beds were evaluated by the beds utilization matrix with the time consumption index as the X-axis and the bed utilization rate as the Y-axis. The types of beds in the department were divided into efficiency type, pressure type, turnover type, and idle type. The efficiency of medical services and the level of diagnosis and treatment were evaluated by the weight of DRG per bed. The calculation method of theoretical number of beds was improved by incorporating hospital case mix index as a risk adjustment factor into the formula to evaluate the status of beds allocation. Combining the bed type, DRG weight per bed, and bed allocation status, the improvement emphasis and management strategy of bed utilization could be comprehensively analyzed.Results:Among the 24 departments in the hospital, there were 5, 9, 1 and 9 departments being efficiency type, pressure type, turnover type and idle type, respectively. The weight per bed of 11 departments was higher than the average level of the hospital. There were 16, 5, and 3 departments with appropriate, fewer, and excessive beds, respectively.Conclusions:The comprehensive analysis of beds utilization type, allocation status and weight of each bed based on DRG is an effective method to evaluate the efficiency of hospital beds, and can provide decision-making basis for hospital bed resource allocation, hospital operation focus adjustment, and subject development planning.

Background: Antibiotic resistance is a significant public health concern around the globe.Antimicrobial peptides exhibit broad-spectrum and efficient antibacterial activity with an added advantage of low drug resistance. The higher water content and 3D network structure of the hydrogels are beneficial for maintaining antimicrobial peptide activity and help to prevent degradation. The antimicrobial peptide released from hydrogels also hasten the local wound healing by promoting epithelial tissue regeneration and granulation tissue formation. Objective: This study aimed at developing sodium alginate based hydrogel loaded with a novel antimicrobial peptide Chol-37(F34-R) and to investigate the characteristics in vitro and in vivo as an alternative antibacterial wound dressing to treat infectious wounds. Methods: Hydrogels were developed and optimized by varying the concentrations of crosslinkers and subjected to various characterization tests like cross-sectional morphology, swelling index, percent water contents, water retention ratio, drug release and antibacterial activity in vitro, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa infected wound mice model in vivo. Results: The results indicated that the hydrogel C proved superior in terms of cross-sectional morphology having uniformly sized interconnected pores, a good swelling index, with the capacity to retain a higher quantity of water. Furthermore, the optimized hydrogel has been found to exert a significant antimicrobial activity against bacteria and was also found to prevent bacterial infiltration into the wound site due to forming an impermeable barrier between the wound bed and external environment. The optimized hydrogel was found to significantly hasten skin regeneration in animal models when compared to other treatments in addition to strong inhibitory effect on the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines (interleukin-1β and tumor necrosis factor-α). Conclusions Our results suggest that sodium alginate -based hydrogels loaded with Chol-37(F34-R) hold the potential to be used as an alternative to conventional antibiotics in treating infectious skin wounds.

Nano-drug delivery strategies have been highlighted in cancer treatment, and much effort has been made in the optimization of bioavailability, biocompatibility, pharmacokinetics profiles, and in vivo distributions of anticancer nano-drug delivery systems. However, problems still exist in the delicate balance between improved anticancer efficacy and reduced toxicity to normal tissues, and opportunities arise along with the development of smart stimuli-responsive delivery strategies. By on-demand responsiveness towards exogenous or endogenous stimulus, these smart delivery systems hold promise for advanced tumor-specificity as well as controllable release behavior in a spatial-temporal manner. Meanwhile, the blossom of nanotechnology, material sciences, and biomedical sciences has shed light on the diverse modern drug delivery systems with smart characteristics, versatile functions, and modification possibilities. This review summarizes the current progress in various strategies for smart drug delivery systems against malignancies and introduces the representative endogenous and exogenous stimuli-responsive smart delivery systems. It may provide references for researchers in the fields of drug delivery, biomaterials, and nanotechnology.