Objective To test the reliability and validity of the self-assessed questionnaire of the elderly health care needs.Methods Based on the Zuluaga-Raysmith model, the initial questionnaire was formulated by literature reviewing and interviews.Through Delphi experts consultation, a questionnaire containing 12 factors, 61 items was constructed.A total of 750 elderly residents were investigated to test the reliability and validity of the questionnaire.Results The effective rate of questionnaires was 88.67％ (665/750).The total Cronbach α was 0.871.The test-retest reliability of all the items were all greater than 0.75.The item-level content validity index were all greater than 0.80.The scale-level content validity index was 0.95.14 factors were extracted by exploratory factor analysis, explaining 66.653％ of the total variance.Conclusions The elderly health care needs self-assessed questionnaire is comprehensive with good stability, which can be used in a multi-center, large sample research.The research may help to get a deep understanding of health care needs of the elderly as well as influencing factors.

Objective To investigate the protective effects of simvastatin on cobalt choride ( CoCl2 ) -induced hypoxia and reoxygenation injury on alveolar type Ⅱ cells and the underlying mechanisms.Methods CoCl2 was used to establish the hypoxia and reoxygenation injury model on AT Ⅱ cells.Blank,control and variant doses simvastatin-treated groups ( 5,10,20,30,50,100 μ mol/L) were designed in the present study.The proliferation of AT Ⅱ cells was evaluated by Cell Counting Kit-8 ( CCK-8 ) assay.The percentage of apoptotic cells was assessed by flow cytometry AV/PI double-staining.The protein levels of surfactant protein-C (SP-C) and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in AT Ⅱ cells was determined by Western blot.Results As compared with the control group,pretreatment with low dose (5 - 20 μmol/L),but not high dose simvastatin (50 - 100 μmol/L) markedly reduced A549 cells apoptosis,and increased their proliferation and the protein levels of SPC and PCNAin vitro.The protective effect could be reversed in vitro by L-mevalonate,a simvastatin competitive inhibitor,which indicated that the inhibition of mevalorate pathway was involved in the simvastatin induced AT Ⅱ cells function restoration.Condusion Low doses simvastatin reversed CoCl2-induced hypoxia and reoxygenation injury of AT Ⅱ cells.The inhibition of mevalonate pathway contributed to simvastatin induced AT Ⅱ cells function restoration.

Objective To investigate the clinical efficiency and effects on prognosis of thalidomide for newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM) with or without extramedullary disease.Methods The clinical features and prognostic factors were retrospectively analyzed in 132 patients.Analyze the efficiency of thalidomide and its effects on prognosis of MM patients with or without extramedullary disease.Results The median age of 132 patients was 59 years (28-83 years),52 patients (39.4 ％) had extramellulary multiple myeloma (EM),other 80 patients (60.6 ％) were without EM at diagnosis.The estimate overall survival (OS) of patients with EM was 42.5 months,compared with 54.3 months in those without EM,the difference was statistically significant (P =0.004).Patients accepting thalidomide therapy had a longer estimate OS than those without thalidomide therapy (50.7 months vs 41.2 months,P =0.01).For patients with EM,whether take thalidomide or not have no effect on the prognosis,the difference was not statistically significant (39.7 months vs 38.5 months,P =0.491).While for those without EM,the prognosis for patients who take thalidomide was better than that did not take thalidomide (54.6 months vs 41.2 months,P =0.027).Log-rank univariate analysis showed that accompanied with EM (P =0.004),the proportion of plasma cells≥20 ％ (P =0.02),Hb≤110 g/L (P =0.041),β2-MG ≥ 5.5 mg/L (P =0.018) and without thalidomide therapy (P =0.01) were poor prognostic factors.Multivariate analysis with COX model showed extramedullary disease,β2-MG and the proportion of plasma cells were statistically significant (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion Patients with EM showed aggressive and complicated prognosis.Thalidomide does not improve the prognosis of patients with EM and they may need combination therapy such as bortezomib or autologous hemopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Objective:To investigate the clinical features, treatment strategies, and relative prognostic factors in 66 patients with solitary plasmacytoma (SP). Methods:The data of 644 patients, who were diagnosed with pathologically proven plasmacytoma in Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital between June 2000 and October 2012, were collected. Sixty-six of these patients (10.25%) were evaluated as SP, including 45 solitary bone plasmacytoma (SBP) and 21 extramedullary plasmacytoma (EMP). Results:SBP and EMP were the two clinical subsets of SP revealing the location of the lesion. SBP mostly occurred in the axial skeleton, whereas EMP was most frequently observed in the upper respiratory tract. The differences among tumor size, serum M-protein, and serumβ2-microglobulin exhibited statistical significance. Conclusion:Large tumor size (≥5 cm), positive serum M-protein, and serumβ2-microglobulin were the factors that affected the prognosis of SBP patients. Radiotherapy and serumβ2-microglobulin>3.5 mg/L were the favorable prognostic factors for EMP patients.

ObjectiveWe evaluate our experience of previously blocking both pulmonary artery and veins in true video assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) for the treatment of non-small-cell lung carcinoma ( NSCLC ).MethodsSix patients undergoing lobectomy with previously blocking both pulmonary artery and veins in the VATS in our institution between December 2007 and June 2011 were reviewed.ResultsIn our series,six patients required previously blocking both pulmonary artery and veins in the VATS,The mean occlusion time of PA and PV was (42.0 ± 8.6 ) min and ( 39.3 ± 8.2 ) min,respectively.Four patients required partial PA reconstruction.The mean repair time of the PA was (21.25 ±9.91 ) min.No complications attributable to the technique or mortality were seen.There were no local recurrences on the pulmonary artery.ConclusionIt is feasible and safe that the technology of previously blocking of the pulmonary artery and veins was applied in VATS.This technique can reduce the risk of intraoperative bleeding and the chance of converting to open thoracotomy,and extend the inclusion criteria of VATS lobectomy.

Objective To study the expressions of VEGF-C and CD24 in lung cancer and their clinical significance,and to discuss the relationship between their expressions as well.Methods The methods of RT-PCR and immunohistochemical staining are adopted.The expression levels of VEGF-C,CD24 mRNAs and proteins in 138 primary lung cancer patients'cancer tissues and paracancerous tissues are detected.Results (1) The expression levels of VEGF-C,CD24 mRNA and proteins in lung cancer tissues are all higher than those in paracancerous tissues (P ＜ 0.05).There is evident positive correlativity between the expressions of VEGF-C and CD24 in lung cancer(P ＜ 0.05) (2) The expression levels of VEGF-C,CD24 mRNA and proteins in the metastasis group are all higher than those in the non-metastasis group (P ＜ 0.05).(3) There is evident correlativity between the expression of VEGF-C,CD24 and lymph node metastasis,TNM staging(P ＜ 0.05).(4) The expressions of VEGF-C,CD24 mRNA and proteins are both related to the short-term prognosis of the Stage ⅢA patients.Conclusion VEGF-C and CD24 are both abnormally expressed in lung cancer tissues,which can be used as a marker of lung cancer diagnosis.

OBJECTIVETo explore the role of CXCR4/STAT3 in mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC)-mediated drug resistance of AML cells.

METHODSAML cell lines U937 and KG1a and primary AML cells were co-cultured with MSC from bone marrow of healthy donors. The AML cell lines cultured alone were used as control. Apoptosis induced by mitoxantrone was measured by flow cytometry. Expression of CXCR4 and STAT3 protein were detected by Western blot. After incubated with STAT3 inhibitor Cucurbitacin I or CXCR4 antagonist AMD3100, the apoptosis of AML cells induced by mitoxantrone was evaluated.

RESULTSApoptosis of AML cells (U937 and KG1a) and primary AML cells induced by mitoxantrone significantly decreased in cocultured group than that of control group [U937 cells: (20.08±1.53)% vs (45.33 ± 1.03)% , P=0.004; KG1a cells: (25.60 ± 1.82)% vs (40.33 ± 3.29)% , P=0.020]. Expression of phosphorylated STAT3 and CXCR4 protein in AML cells were upregulated in cocultured group. After addition of Cucurbitacin I into the co-culture system, the apoptosis rate of primary AML cells significantly increased. Similar results of the apoptosis rates were also detected when the inhibitor of CXCR4 AMD3100 was added to overcome the stromal cell-mediated drug resistance. Besides, the expression of p-STAT3 in AML cells after incubated with AMD3100 decreased significantly.

CONCLUSIONSAML cells cocultured with MSC leads to the up-regulation of phosphorylated STAT3 and CXCR4 proteins, which resulted in AML cells resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs. Therefore targeting STAT3 or CXCR4 could be a new therapeutic strategy of AML.

Acute Disease ; Apoptosis ; Coculture Techniques ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm ; Flow Cytometry ; Gene Expression Regulation, Leukemic ; Heterocyclic Compounds ; Humans ; Leukemia ; metabolism ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; cytology ; Receptors, CXCR4 ; metabolism ; STAT3 Transcription Factor ; metabolism ; Signal Transduction ; U937 Cells ; Up-Regulation