Based on vector auto-regression (VAR) model, this paper takes advantage of Granger causality test, variance decomposition and impulse response analysis techniques to carry out a comprehensive study of the factors influencing the price of Chinese herbal, including herbal cultivation costs, acreage, natural disasters, the residents' needs and inflation. The study found that there is Granger causality relationship between inflation and herbal prices, cultivation costs and herbal prices. And in the total variance analysis of Chinese herbal and medicine price index, the largest contribution to it is from its own fluctuations, followed by the cultivation costs and inflation.
Agriculture ; economics ; Commerce ; Costs and Cost Analysis ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; economics ; Humans ; Models, Statistical ; Plants, Medicinal ; growth & development ; Regression Analysis

Compared with proinflammatory processes in the development of type 2 diabetes,our knowledge on anti-inflammatory cytokines is rather limited.Anti-inflammatory cytokines such as adiponectin,interleukin 1 receptor antagonist(IL-1RA),transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1),growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15),omentin,and secreted frizzled-related protein 5 (SFRP5) are strongly associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes:Adiponectin and omentin levels decreased before type 2 diabetes,in contrast,concentrations of IL-1RA,TGF-β1,GDF-15 are increased.Change of SFRP5 levels in impaired glucose tolerance and type 2 diabetes remains controversial.This paper will summarize and recommend studies that investigated associations between circulating levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines and type 2 diabetes.

Objective To build high availability cluster using VMware to improve availability of hospital information system.Methods Virtual machines were installed in VMware server to act as backup servers.High availability software continuously detected status of physical servers using heartbeat signals.Results When physical servers failed,high availability cluster switched services automatically.The business switched to virtual machine quickly and smoothly.Conclusion High availability cluster based on VMware can improve HIS availability and lower implementation costs effectively.

Objective To investigate the delivery mode of pregnant women with prior cesarean section in Northern China,and their clinical characteristics.Methods A multi-center observational study of 1 068 women who had prior cesarean delivery in 24 medical centers in Northern China was conducted between December 2013 and May 2014.The clinical data,including general condition,antenatal examination results,delivery mode,and maternal and fetal outcomes,were collected and compared between vaginal delivery and cesarean section.Mann-Whitney U test and Chi-square test were used for statistical analysis.Results The median age of the 1 068 women were 32 years (range,18-45 years).Thirty-seven (3.5％) had a history of prior vaginal delivery.There were seven twin pregnancies and all delivered by cesarean section.Thirty-five women had suspected uterine rupture and underwent cesarean section,but were confirmed without uterine rupture during the operation.There was no maternal and fetal/neonatal death.Of the 1 068 women,43(4.0％) had successful vaginal birth and 1 025 (96.0％) underwent repeat cesarean sections.Compared with cesarean section group,vaginal delivery group tended to have a greater thickness of the lower uterine segment in the third trimester as shown by ultrasound [(3.3 ± 0.9) vs (2.9± 1.1) mm,Z=-2.240,P=0.025],a higher percentage of prior vaginal delivery [16.2％(6/37) vs 4.6％(31/673),x2=9.570,P=0.009],a lower rate of regular antenatal examination [58A％(25/43) vs 73.2％(742/1 0t3),x2=4.737,P=0.026],a shorter hospital stay[(3.7±2.4) vs (5.9±3.8) d,Z=-6.043,P=0.000],and lower 1-min Apgar score (9.1 ±2.2 vs 9.9±3.9,Z=-2.410,P=0.016),but without difference in the 5-min Apgar score (9.9±0.4 vs 9.6± 1.3,Z=-0.947,P=0.344).Conclusions Rate of vaginal delivery for women with prior cesarean section in Northern China is low.Vaginal birth with prior cesarean section is relatively safe,especially for those with a previous history of vaginal delivery.

Objective To improve the diagnosis and treatment of sliding hernia of adult urinary bladder. Methods Clinical data of 32 cases of adult sliding hernia of the bladder from 1984 to 2009 were analyzed retrospectively. Discomfort was complained in all the 32 patients along with palpable mass. Twentynine cases suffered from urgency of micturition, ascheturesis and dysuria, 15 cases had interruption of urination. The mass was saddle-shaped in 29 cases, when the bladder was filling. In all the 32 cases of hernia block were in a sense of fluctuations and flat on percussion. In 26 cases the bladder appeared a dumbbell-shaped image on cystography. By B-ultrasonic examination an opaque dark area of fluid was detected in 29 cases when there was retention of urine. Results Preoperatively 29 cases were diagnosed of bladder sliding hernia, 3 cases with misdiagnosis ( misdiagnosis rate of 9.4% ). 32 cases were cured by surgical treatment. The prolapsed portion of the bladder including stones in 2 cases were resected. 32 cases were followed up from 1 to 5 years without recurrence. Conclusions Once the sliding hernia of the bladder is diagnosed, patient should receive surgery. Intraoperatively the key of preventing inadvertent cut or missed diagnosis is familiar with pathological anatomy and careful exploration.

OBJECTIVEWe used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to explore the effects of noxious coldness and non-noxious warmth on the magnitude of cerebral cortex activation during intraoral stimulation with water.

METHODSSix male and female subjects were subjected to whole-brain fMRI during the phasic delivery of non-noxious hot (23 °C) and no- xious cold (4 °C) water intraoral stimulation. A block-design blood oxygenation level-dependent fMRI scan covering the entire brain was also carried out.

RESULTSThe activated cortical areas were as follows: left pre-/post-central gyrus, insula/operculum, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), orbital frontal cortex (OFC), midbrain red nucleus, and thalamus. The activated cortical areas under cold condition were as follows: left occipital lobe, premotor cortex/Brodmann area (BA) 6, right motor language area BA44, lingual gyrus, parietal lobule (BA7, 40), and primary somatosensory cortex S I. Comparisons of the regional cerebral blood flow response magnitude were made among stereotactically concordant brain regions that showed significant responses under the two conditions of this study. Compared with non-noxious warmth, more regions were activated in noxious coldness, and the magnitude of activation in areas produced after non-noxious warm stimulation significantly increased. However, ACC only significantly increased the magnitude of activation under noxious coldness stimulation.

CONCLUSIONResults suggested that a similar network of regions was activated common to the perception of pain and no-pain produced by either non-noxious warmth or noxious coldness stimulation. Non-noxious warmth also activated more brain regions and significantly increased the response magnitude of cerebral-cortex activation compared with noxious coldness. Noxious coldness stimulation further significantly increased the magnitude of activation in ACC areas compared with noxious warmth.

Objective To analyze the negative experience from medical practice of medical students by Balint group case study,and to explore new approach for training doctor-patient communication skills.Methods 10 times of Balint group activities were held in Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University,with one case each time.Grounded theory approach were applied for analyzing discussion record.Results The cases were occurred in doctor-patient interaction,teamwork,conflict between one's personal life and vocational development planning.Trigger events involved doctor-patient conflict,conflict of values,decision making problem while conffronted with incurable patients,role ambiguity,unfair treatment.Topics of discussion included emotional experience with patients,career development orientation,medical teamwork,clinical education of medical student.Conclusion Through practice of Balint group,medical students in teaching hospital can improve their awareness of complicating psycho-social problem of patients and themselves,as well as handling it.And it can improve the professional identity,professional growth and professional self-identity.

Background Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is an infectious disease caused by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) is an effective treatment for AIDS,but it cannot completely eliminate the viral load in the body for the existence of HIV reservoir.Previous studies demonstrated that HIV could be detected in tears of virus load negative AIDS patients who received effective HAART,suggesting that lacrimal gland is another member of HIV reservoirs.Objective The aim of this study was to explore whether lacrimal gland has a molecular basis of HIV infection and the mechanism of lacrimal gland infection of HIV.Methods Fourteen specimens of lacrimal gland were collected during the surgery from 14 patients with lacrimal gland diseases in Peking Union Medical College Hospital from November 2013 to December 2015,including 13 non-HIV-infected patients and 1 HIV-infected patient.In 13 non-HIV infected patients,lacrimal glands prolapse was in 12 patients with the normal pathological tissue structure and dacryoadenitis was in 1 patient with the histopathological diagnosis of interstitial lymphoid tissue hyperplasia.The clinical manifestation of HIV-infected patient was dacryoadenitis with the histopathological diagnosis of interstitial lymphoid tissue hyperplasia.The paraffin sections of 12 non-HIV-infected specimens and 1 HIV-infected specimen were prepared,and the expressions of CD4,C-X-C chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) and C-C chemokine receptor type 5 (CCR5) in lacrimal gland specimens were detected by immunohistochemistry and verified in 1 specimen of non-HIV-infected specimen by immunofluorescence technology.Results Immunohistochemistry showed that CD4 was suspiciously positive expression in non-HIV-infected specimens with the strong background staining.CXCR4 was positively expressed in cytoplasm and nuclei of most lacrimal epithelial cells of lacrimal gland epithelial cells in each specimen,and CCR5 was focally expressed in few lacrimal gland epithelial cells in each specimen.In addition,CD4,CXCR4 and CCR5 were positively expressed in intercellular scattered lymphocytes on the specimens.Immunofluorescence assay showed that CD4,CXCR4 and CCR5 were expressed in the specimens with the red fluorescence,with the linear-and patchy-like distribution mainly in cellular membrane for CD4 or spot-like distribution for CXCR4 and CCR5 in the cytoplasm.Conclusions HIV receptor CD4 and accessory receptor CXCR4,CCR5 are positively expressed in the lacrimal gland epithelial cells,which is the molecular basis of HIV infection and become a potential HIV reservoir preventing HIV eradication.

Objective To evaluate the value of endothelial function of brachial artery in predicting coronary artery disease in elderly patients. Methods Flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD)and nitroglycerin mediated dilation (NMD) were measured by high-frequency ultrasound in 98 patients with coronary artery disease and 37 controls. All the subjects were diagnosed by coronary arteriography. They were divided into coronary artery blockages ＜ 50% subgroup, 50%-75%subgroup, ＞75% subgroup or coronary blockages in 0, 1, 2, 3 branch (es) subgroups. The correlations between FMD or NMD and the pathological extent or branches of coronary artery were studied and the predictive value of FMD and NMD were analyzed with ROC curve. Results In coronary artery disease group, FMD and NMD were significantly decreased as compared with the control group. They were closely related with coronary artery disease (r= -0. 54, -0. 52, P＜0.01), and were weakly correlated with severity and range of coronary arterial lesion (P＜0. 01).With ROC curve analysis, FMD and NMD could be used to predict coronary artery disease.Conclusions Endothelial function can be used as an index to predict coronary artery disease.

To investigate the effects of didannsine(ddI)on the morphological alterations of dorsal root ganglion(DRG)neurons,dissoci-ated DRG cells from rat embryo were studied.DRG cells were cultured for 3 days and then treated with ddI for additional 3 claysin differ-ent concentrations(1μg/ml,5 μg/ml,10μg/ml and 20 μg/ml,respectively).Afarthat,DRG cells were processedformicrotubule as-soeiated protein 2(MAP2)labeling and observed under confocal laser scanning microscopy(CLSM).The results showed that both thenumber and length of neurites of the DRG cells after exposed to ddl significantly down-regulated in a dose-dependentmanner compared withcontrol group,thus suggesting that ddI may have inhibitory effects on neufite regeneration and outgrowth in dissociated DRG cultures.