Carotid endarterectomy (CEA) is the accepted standard therapy for prevention of stroke in patients with high-grade symptomatic and asymptomatic carotid stenoses. In recent years, the endovascular treatment of carotid artery stenosis has been widely used in clinical practice, including balloon angioplasty and stenting. Both single-center and multicenter studies worldwide have demonstrated good therapeutic efficacy, especially in patients with high risk of CEA. The efficacy of carotid angioplasty and stenting with an emboli-protection device are much better. A growing body of evidence has indicated that endovascular treatment may become another important approach after CEA in the treatment of carotid atherosclerotic stenosis.

Objective To compare distribution difference in risk factors of patients with first-ever ischemic stroke (IS) of different age and gender.Methods A total of 1027 patients admitted to the neurological department in Shanghai Renji Hospital with first-ever IS were recruited and divided into young adult group ( ＜ 50 years old),middle-aged group (50-80 years old),and very old group ( ＞ 80 years old)according to their ages.Risk factor analysis included history of smoking,high alcohol consumption,hypertension (HT),diabetes mellitus (DM),heart diseases,atrial fibrillation (AF) and family history of cardiovascular diseases.Results Female patients were globally older than male patients (71.1 vs 65.7,P ＜ 0.001 ) at the first attack of IS and having higher prevalence of DM (26.8％ vs 19.2％,P =0.004 ),heart diseases (28.8％ vs 19.2％,P＜0.001) and AF (7.6％ vs 3.9％,P=0.009).However,female patients were less likely to drink heavily ( 1.0％ vs 31.6％,P ＜0.001 ) or smoke (4.4％ vs 59.9％,P ＜0.001 ) than the male patients.The rates of smoking and heavy drinking in young adult group were higher than that in other two groups.Patients in very old group had higher prevalence of heart diseases and AF but lower proportion of positive family cardiovascular diseases history than patients in other two groups.HT and DM were equally frequent among three groups.In young adult group,female patients were more likely to have heart diseases and family history of heart diseases (P =0.015 and P =0.048).In middle-old group,HT,DM,heart disease and AF were more common in women than in men (P =0.021,P =0.004,P =0.001 and P =0.039).Conclusion There are differences in risk factor distribution in patients with first-ever IS of different age and gender.Therefore,screening and health education should be performed in allusion to different risk factors.

Objective To respectively analyze the patterns and possible predictors of recurrent strokes among patients with initial ischemic stroke.Methods Three hundred and sixty-one patients with recurrent strokes (acute ischemic stroke or intracerebral hemorrhage) after initial ischemic strokes were collected from Jan 2004 to Dec 2009.The data about conventional risk factors such as smoking,heavy alcohol drinking,hypertension,diabetes,hyperlipidemia,heart diseases,head trauma,migraine,family history of cardiovascular disease,and the use of preventive medications were collected and analyzed among patients with different types of recurrent strokes.Results Patients (n =361) were divided into ischemic stroke group (n =321) and hemorrhagic stroke group (n =40) according to the recurrent stroke type.The ischemic stroke group was further divided into the anterior circulation stroke subgroup (n =234),the posterior circulation stroke subgroup (n =75) and watershed cerebral infarction or multiple infarction subgroup (n =12).Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that older age at initial stroke onset (OR =1.036,95 ％ CI 1.006-1.067,P =0.02) and hyperlipidemia (OR =2.253,95 ％ CI 1.092-4.647,P =0.028) were both the independent risk factors for the recurrent ischemic stroke.Comparing the subgroups,multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that atrial fibrillation (OR =4.217,95％ CI 1.489-11.942,P =0.007) was the independent risk factor for the recurrent ischemic stroke in the posterior circulation territory.Conclusion Aging and hyperlipidemia are possible predictors of recurrent ischemic stroke after the initial ischemic stroke which would be useful for individualized secondary prevention of stroke.

Patients with liver cirrhosis have different clinical manifestations and prognoses, and it is necessary to accurately predict the clinical endpoints of liver cirrhosis. Liver pathology can directly display the change in liver structure and thus plays an important role in predicting clinical endpoints. This article summarizes the application of histological staging systems and parameters in predicting clinical endpoints and describes the significance of histological features after etiological treatment in predicting clinical prognosis.

Humans ; Liver Diseases ; Practice Guidelines as Topic ; Prognosis

Various chronic liver diseases may progress to liver fibrosis or liver cirrhosis. Assessment of the degree of liver fibrosis helps with clinical decision-making, prognosis prediction, and evaluation of therapeutic effect, and therefore, accurate diagnosis and evaluation of the degree of liver fibrosis is a research hotspot at present. The advances in the diagnosis of liver fibrosis in recent years include the publication of international consensuses and guidelines, evaluation of the outcome of liver fibrosis after antiviral therapy, development of the diagnosis of liver fibrosis in patients with non-viral hepatitis, and constant update of noninvasive diagnostic techniques.

Liver biopsy has been regarded as the gold standard for the assessment of liver fibrosis regression. In 2017, Liver Research Center, Beijing Friendship Hospital, proposed a new classification called PIR classification for the evaluation of liver fibrosis regression in patients with chronic hepatitis B after antiviral therapy, which was also called “Beijing classification”. This classification is new breakthrough based on conventional staging and grading systems, quantitative assessment methods for liver fibrosis, and the concept of liver biopsy. This article discusses the prospects and shortcomings of PIR classification.

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) has gradually become a common cause of liver cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, and liver-related deaths, and currently no effective therapeutic drugs have been approved for the treatment of NASH. Therefore, there is an urgent need for effective new drugs to improve clinical endpoints and reduce disease burden. The development and progression of NASH are closely associated with metabolism and have strong heterogeneity, and it takes a long time to observe its clinical outcome. These characteristics bring challenges to the research and development of new drugs for NASH. In the process of drug research and development, the selection of treatment endpoints is crucial to the evaluation of drug efficacy, and the basic principle of endpoint selection is whether it can reflect clinical outcome and predict clinical benefit. This article summarizes and discusses the selection of treatment endpoints at different stages of the research and development of new drugs for NASH.

Objective: The cross-sectional study examined associations between gross motor competence and physical fitness in 3-5 years old children. Methods: A convenient sampling method was used to select 201 children aged 3-5 years, to assess gross motor competence, each child accomplished the Test of Gross Motor Development-3(TGMD-3). The level of physical fitness was measured by National Physical Fitness Test, comprising eight different tasks including height, weight, flexibility(sit-and-reach test), balance (walking on a balance beam), explosive force(Standing long jump), strength(Tennis ball throwing), agility(10-shuttle-run test), strength and coordination(Continuous foot jump). Results: With the increase of age, the scores of locomotor skills，object control skills, gross motor competence, height, weight, walking on a balance beam, continuous foot jump, tennis ball throwing and standing long jump were better(P<0.01). Significant differences were not found in the gross motor competence, locomotor skills, 10-shuttle-run test, continuous foot jump, standing long jump and walking on a balance beam(P>0.05). In the object control skills and tennis ball throwing, the boys showed a greater performance(P<0.01). In the sit-and-reach test, girls showed a greater performance(P<0.01). The results revealed a significant relationship between gross motor competence and the following items: 10-shuttle-run test, continuous foot jump, standing long jump, walking on a balance beam, tennis ball throwing(P<0.05). There were no associations among gross motor competence, BMI(r=0.02), sit-and-reach test(r=0.07). There were no associations between gross motor competence and physical fitness in 3-5 years old(r=-0.13-0.21), except for 5 years old children’s object control skills and continuous foot jump(r=0.42). Sex, age, height , BMI (R2=0.05,F=2.62, P>0.05) as well as gross motor competence(△R2=0.04, F=2.00, P>0.05) did not predict physical fitness. Conclusion The results indicated a relationship between motor competence and physical fitness in 3-5 years old. In order to increase the level of physical fitness, the educators should pay attention to the development of children’s gross motor.

Liver cirrhosis is an important stage of the progression of chronic hepatitis B, and it is of great significance to clarify the severity of liver cirrhosis in evaluating prognosis. At present, the clinical staging based on the complications of liver cirrhosis is widely used, but pathological staging still needs to be refined. In the aspect of treatment, liver disease associations updated the guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of chronic hepatitis B in 2015, and the antiviral therapy for hepatitis B cirrhosis has become more active. As for the prognosis, effective antiviral treatment realizes the reversion of early cirrhosis and reduces the incidence of liver-related complications, but the mechanism of reversion awaits further investigation.