With the rapid increase in health cost and transformation of modern medicine, how to allocate the health care resources rationally and increase the efficiency and equity has become the common issues in all coun-tries. Health Economics, a new discipline, has provided possible answers to the issues and attracted attention from both government and academics. This paper introduces the goals, methods, contents and textbooks in US. universities and puts forwards suggestions for health economics education in China.

Objective To determine the dynamic changes of ileum epidermal growth factor(EGF),transforming growth factor-α(TGF-α)and epithelial growth factor receptor(EGFR)in neonatal rats with intestinal injury and to investigate their role in the neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis(NEC). Methods One-day-old Wistar rat pups were divided into two groups.The rats in the lipopolysaccharide(LPS)-injected group(n=40)received an intraperitoneal injection with 5 mg/kg LPS and those in the control group(n=8)did not.Control group and LPS-injected group at 1,3,6,12 and 24 h following LPS challenge were sacrificed for histological evaluation of NEC and for measurernents of EGF,EGFR,EGFR mRNA and TGF-α mRNA. Results Compared with the control group(0.12 0.17).the LPS-iniected pups showed a significant increase in injury scores at 1,3,6,12 and 24 h(1.28±0.62,1.75±0.74,1.98±0.75,2.85±0.41 and 2.35士0.63,respectively)(P<0.01).EGF protein levels at 1,3,6,12,24 h[(235.9±44.3)pg/mg prot,(231.8±30.0)pg/mg prot,(223.3±48.1)pg/mg prot,(211.7±47.0)pg/mg prot and(221.4±39.0)pg/mgprot,respectively]were significantly lower than that of the control group[(287.7±42.6)pg/mg prot](P<0.05).There was a negative correlation between the EGF levels and the grade of intestinal injury within 24 h(r=1.000,P<0.01).The expression of EGFR protein and mRNA was increased after LPS administration.There was no correlation between the EGFR protein and the grade of intestinal injury(r=0.800,P>0.05).The expression of TGF-α mRNA was significantly up-regulated at 1 and 3 h following LPS injection. Conclusions Reduced levels of EGF may play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of NEC.

This paper reviews studies on the relationship between health insurance and health status both at home and abroad. First, we put forward three viewpoints on their relationship;Second, based on different data, we review the studies from three different perspectives; Third, we review the recent studies at home. The paper draws the conclusion as following:(1) most studies on observational data prove that there is relationship between health in-surance and health status. To establish the causal relationship between them, we must overcome the endogeneity of health insurance. ( 2 ) Different studies have different conclusions, which are caused by different methodology and subjects. (3)The conclusions cannot be generalized to whole populations. Future studies should focus on the effect of different health insurance on different populations.

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition( EMT) refers to the transdifferentiation from epithelial cells to mesenchymal cells. The initial understanding of EMT is originated from the research on embryonic develop-ment,followed by the discovery of EMT phenomenon in physiological and pathological process in multicellular organism. In recent years,the occurrence and development of infiltration and metastasis of tumor cells along with fibrotic diseases that related to EMT are becoming the hot researches nowadays.

Objective The early stage of neonatal sepsis is short of specific clinical manifestations that easy to be misdiagnosed.This study aimed to demonstrate the clinical value of combined markers[proca-icltonin(PCT)and C-reactive protein(CRP)]in the early diagnosis of neonatal hospital-acquired infections by dynamic monitoring of PCT and CRP.Methods The study included 111neonates in the 1st Neonatal Ward of Shengjing Hospital from June 2013to August 2014which were divided into three groups and retro-spectively reviewed,including 37cases of diagnosed sepsis group,42cases of clinical sepsis group,and 32ca-ses of control group(non-sepsis neonates).We measured the serum levels of PCT and CRP in two sepsis group before antibiotic administration,12h and 24h after infection,3d and 7d after infection controlled,and in the control group before antibiotic administration.Results Before antibiotic administration,serum levels of PCT and CRP were significantly higher in two sepsis groups than in the control group(P﹤0.01).In two sepsis groups,PCT reached peak at 12h after infection[(15.00±15.51)ng/ml and(17.93±13.44)ng/ml] and decreased to normal at 3d after infection controlled[(0.49±0.47)ng/ml and(0.42±0.34)ng/ml];CRP reached peak at 24h after infection[(37.53±30.29)mg/L and(32.41±29.33)mg/L]and decreased to normal at 7d after infection controlled[(5.72±2.98)mg/L and(5.06±3.07)mg/L].The optimal cut-off values were PCT﹥2ng/ml and CRP﹥10mg/L(Youden index 76.11%,59.45%),the sensitivity were 88.61%and 75.70% ;specificity were 87.5% and 83.75% ;positive predictive value were 94.59% and 95.65% ;negative predictive value were 75.68%and 46.15%.Receiver operating characteristic area under the curve were 0.964,0.887.Conclusion In early stage of sepsis,both PCT and CRP increase.The optimal cut-off values are CRP﹥10mg/L and PCT﹥2ng/ml.CRP reaches peak at 24h after infection,decrease to normal at 7d after infection controlled,while PCT reaches peak at 12h after infection,decrease to normal at 3d after infection controlled.Combined detection of PCT and CRP can improve the sensitivity and specificity of the early diagnosis of neonatal hospital-acquired infections.

0.05). However, the MDA level in the experimental group was higher than that of the control on day 3 [(55.92?5.53)nmol/mg prot vs (22.52?4.36)nmol/mg prot, P

Objective To investigate the early MRI performance and the evolution of premature infants who developed into periventficular leucomalacia (PVL) eventually.Methods Twelve premature infants diagnosed as PVL by MRI in the department of neonatology in Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University from Jan 2010 to Dec 2013 were selected,all of the cases underwent conventional MRI and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) examination twice,the first examinations were finished in 2 to 7 days (mean 5.5 d) after birth and the second examinations were taken in 17 to 23 days(mean 20.3 d).Results The first examination showed:all cases performed high signal intensity of periventricular matter,including 6 diffuse and symmetrical,3 linear and 3 clustered high signal.However,only 5 of the 12 cases showed slightly high signal on T1 weighted image with low signal on T2 weighted image on conventional MRI,the other 7 cases showed no change;for the reexamination:foci of different numbers and sizes showed up in all cases,with the performance of low signal on T1 weighted image,high signal on T2 weighted image and low signal on DWI correspondingly.Conclusion DWI is superior to conventional MRI in finding and forecasting PVL;diffuse white matter damage have more probability to develop into PVL,severe local white matter damage such as multi-clustered and linear damage also can develop into PVL.

Objective To investigate p16 promoter methylation in premature rats with chronic lung disease induced by hyperoxia. Methods Eighty premature Wistar rats were randomly divided into two groups: hyperoxia group (fraction of inspiratory oxygen) 0. 90 and control group (fraction of inspiratory oxygen 0. 21), 40 rats for each group. Semi-nested methylation specific polymerase chain reaction and methylation specific polymerase chain reaction were applied respectively to detect p16 promoter methylation in lung tissues. Additionally, p16 mRNA and protein expressions in lung tissue were detected by reverse transcription- polymerase chain reaction, Western blot and immunohistochemistry method. Results The methylation was not found in control group by seminested methylation specific polymerase chain reaction and methylation specific polymerase chain reaction, while was found in different aged rats of the hyperoxia group. The methylation detection rate was higher by using the semi-nested methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (52.5%, 21/40) than that by methylation specific polymerase chain reaction (42.5%, 17/40) in the hyperoxia group,but there was no statistically significant difference between the two methods. The p16 mRNA in the hyperoxia group were significantly lower than in the control group at day 7, 14 and 21(1.73 ± 0.40 vs 2.11±0. 37,1.29±0. 19 vs 1.60±0. 27,0. 95±0.25 vs 1.72±0. 34, t=2.19, 2.95 and 10. 43,P＜0. 05). The p16 protein expressions by western blot in the hyperoxia group were significantly lower than in the control group at day 7, 14 and 21 also (88. 1±8. 7 vs 95.0±4.1,65.7±4.5 vs 83. 5±13.6 and 50.4±4.9 vs 86.7±11.9, t=2.27,3.95 and 13.40,P＜0.05). The expression of p16 mRNA (1.06±0.61) and protein (62.32±25.65) in lung tissues of rats with methylation was lower than that without methylation (1.63±0.62 and 94.93±22.21, respectively) (t=2.95, OR=0. 86;t=4.28, OR=0. 85,P＜0.01, respectively). Conclusions Exposure to hyperoxia might induce p16 promoter methylation in lung tissues in premature rats. Methylation risk increases as exposure time extends. p16 promoter methylation induced by hyperoxia might participate in the mechanism of lowering p16 mRNA and protein expression, but might not result in p16 gene silence.

Objective To investigate the expression and significance of Smad4 and Smad7 in newborn rats with hyperoxia-induced chronic lung disease(CLD).Methods Sixty-four newborn Wistar rats 12 h after birth were divided into high-oxygen group (n =32) and air group (n =32,control group) by random number table method.The high-oxygen group was placed in the oxygen glass tank with continuous infusion of oxygen.And 1,3,7,14 d after experiment,tracheal separated,the chest opened to expose heart and lung,slices were Masson staining,undergo dynamic observation of the pulmonary pathological changes under light microscope.Lung fibrosis score was carried out to determine the degree of pulmonary fibrosis,and immunohistochemical technique was used to detect Smad4 and Smad7 protein expression in lung tissue.The expression levels of Smad4 and Smad7 protein in lung tissue were detected with Western blot.Results Compared with the air group,there was statistically significant difference in pulmonary fibrosis score on day 7 (2.67 ± 0.21 vs 0.58 ± 0.17) and day 14 (4.48 ± 0.24 vs 0.63 ± 0.13) in high-oxygen group (P ＜ 0.05) ; Smad4 and Smad7 was main in visible lung epithelial cells and interstitial fibroblasts.Smad4 expression in the high-oxygen group gradually enhanced,compared with the air group (P ＜ 0.05) on day 7 (122.35 ± 10.3 vs 140.08 ±7.77) and day 14(129.7 ± 7.33 vs 144.99 ± 6.49).Smad7 expression in the high-oxygen group first increased and then decreased,expression in the high-oxygen group increased on day 7 (122.35 ± 10.29 vs 130.56 ±9.8),and compared decreased with the air group(P ＜0.05) on day 14(132.16 ±4.38 vs 126.22 ±6.49).Conclusion The newborn rat exposed hyperoxia,the up-regulation of Smad4 protein expression and the down-regulation of Smad7 protein expression are imposible closely related to the happen and development of CLD pulmonary fibrosis.

Objective To explore the incidence rate and high-risk factors for bronchopulmonary dysplasia(BPD) in premature infants of mechanical ventilation.Methods From Jan 2008 to Dec 2009,196 very low birth weight infants with gestational age less than 32 weeks in our NICU were enrolled in the study.61 cases had the histories of mechanical ventilation.The clinical materials of 21 cases with BPD were compared to 41 cases without BPD in retrospective analysis.Results The total incidence of BPD in the very low birth weight infants with gestational age less than 32 weeks was 10.7%,and 34.4% in those infants with mechanical ventilation.The gestational age and birth weight of BPD group were lower than those without BPD,and the rates of premature rupture of fetal membrane and complicated neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (NRDS),postnatal infection,with long time intravenous nutrition in BPD group were higher than those without BPO control (P<0.05).Gender,asphyxia history,the use of pulmonary surfactant (PS),positive end-expiratory pressure,and mean airway pressure were not different significantly between two groups (P>0.05).Peak inspiratory pressure (PIP),the time of mechanical ventilation and oxygen administration were different significantly between two groups (P<0.05).NRDS,postnatal infection,the duration of ventilation,and hyperoxia were the risk factors for BPD,and the regression coefficient were 3.683,1.541,1.188 and 1.647.Conclusion Preventing premature,low birth weight,NRDS,shortening the duration of high peak inspiratory pressure and hyperoxia with mechanical ventilation and the use of the parenteral nutrition,managing the infection of the prenatal and postnatal are the key points of preventing BPD.