Statement of the REporting of studies conducted using routinely collected data (RECORD) and evaluating checklist of good research for comparative effectiveness (GRACE) were translated and introduced in this paper. The two evaluation tools would help researchers of Chinese medicine to conduct real world study in future. RECORD statement focus on unique aspects of studies conducted with routinely collected health data and the perceived need for better reporting of methodological issues. Researchers of comparative effectiveness research could refer to GRACE checklist. It was believed that researchers of Chinese medicines who were keen on real world studies would be benefited from the two tools.
Biomedical Research ; Checklist ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional

Objective To study blood lipids levels of patients with ischemic cerebral vascular disease (ICVD).Methods The blood lipids levels were measured in 2886 subjects with ICVD enrolled from 1991 to 2004,in which 1430 subjects from 2000 to 2004 were classified into a sub-group;400 healthy persons receiving physical examination were enrolled as controls.Results The blood TC,TG and LDL-C levels were significantly higher in the sub-group than those in the control group.Both in males and females, the morbidity of abnormal blood lipid metabolism and blood lipids level gradually increased with the age and the lapse of decades.Total cholesterol level of male younger than fifty,averaging (4.43?0.51) mmol/L, increased to (4.96?0.85) mmol/L after fifty years old.The same thing happened to females,from (4.30?0.49) mmol/L to (5.01?0.90) mmol/L.TG and LDL-C increased in patients older than fifty compared with those younger than fifty.In the groups above 50 years old,the blood lipids levels of females were significantly higher than those of males.The morbidity of abnormal blood lipid metabolism of male increased from 24.5% in (1991 to 1994) to 38.1% (2001 to 2004) and of female from 22.3% (1991 to 1994) to 38.5% (2001 to 2004).Conclusions Abnormal blood lipid in Foshan is one of the most important reasons to ICVD.

BACKGROUND: This study was undertaken to measure the concentration of adiponectin (APN) in serum and induced sputum in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD during acute exacerbation (AECOPD) and at stable stage and to determine the role of APN as a marker of inflammation in the pathogenesis of COPD. METHODS: All the patients in this prospective study were enrolled from October 2008 to October 2009, including 30 male AECOPD patients from the emergency department, 30 male stable COPD patients from the department of respiratory diseases, and 30 healthy non-smoking male controls from the department of medical examination. The serum and induced sputum were collected from each patient. All of the patients had normal weight (BMI range 18.5-24.9 kg/m2). Patients with severe bronchial asthma, bronchiectasis or autoimmune disease were excluded. Cell count and classification was performed for the induced sputum. The concentrations of APN, IL-8, IL-6 and TNF-α were measured by ELISA. Pulmonary function was tested among the three groups. Comparisons between the groups were conducted by Student's t test, ANOVA analysis or nonparametric test. Correlation analysis was carried out by Pearson's product-moment correlation coefficient test or Spearman's rank-order correlation coefficient test. RESULTS: The concentrations of APN in the serum or induced sputum in AECOPD patients were significantly higher than those in stable COPD patients or healthy non-smoking controls (P<0.01). The concentration of APN in stable COPD patients was significantly higher than that in healthy non-smoking controls (P<0.01). For the AECOPD patients, APN was positively correlated with IL-8 and TNF-α in the serum and induced sputum (r=0.739, 0.734, 0.852, 0.857 respectively, P<0.05). For the stable COPD patients, APN was also positively correlated with IL-8 and TNF-α in the serum and induced sputum (r=0.751, 0.659, 0.707, 0.867 respectively, P<0.05). In addition, for the AECOPD patients, APN was positively correlated with the percentage of neutrophils in the induced sputum (r=0.439, P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: APN is involved in the process of systematic and airway inflammation of COPD. This process is related to neutrophils in the airway, IL-8 and TNF-α. APN could be used as a new marker for inflammation of COPD.

Objective To study the activation of Janus protein tyrosine kinase (JAK)/signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) signaling pathway and its inhibitor-signal transducer and activator of transcription-1(SOCS-1) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Methods A total of 45 patients with active systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and 30 healthy controls were randomly selected. Western blot was performed to measure the expression of Stat1 protein and phospho-Stat1 protein (an activated form of Stat1 protein) in the monocytes after stimulation with recombinant high mobility group box1 (rHMGB1) at various time points. Expression of Stat1 protein in the skin or lesional skin was also detected. Phasic expressions of SOCS-1 mRNA in the monocytes after rHMGB1 stimulation were detected by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. SOCS-1 gene expression in the skin or lesional skin was also detected. Results The expression level of Stat1 proteins in the monocytes from patients with SLE was higher than that from healthy controls (t=9.16,P＜0.01) and positively correlated with SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI) (r=0.59,P＜0.01). Expression of phospho-Stat1 in the monocytes from SLE patients was time-dependently upregulated after stimulation with rHMGB1 at various time points, while expression of SOCS-1 mRNA remained unchanged(all P＞0.05). Expressions of phospho-Stat1 protein and SOCS-1 mRNA in the monocytes from healthy controls were increased transiently after stimulation with rHMGB1(all P＜0.05). Both expressions of phospho-Stat1 protein and SOCS-1 gene in the lesional skin from patients with SLE were upregulated compared with those in normal skin from healthy controls (all P＜0.01). Conclusion There are hyperactivation of JAK-STAT1 signaling pathway and negative feedback down-regulation of SOCS-1 in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. HMGB-1 may be partly involved in the pathogenesis of SLE by the abnormal mediating function of JAK-STAT1 signal transduction pathway.

Objective To investigate the clinical manifestations, pathologic features, treatment and prognosis of oncogenic osteomalacia (OO). Methods A 17-year-old male patient was admitted.The patient presented with a 4-year history of progressive lower limb weakness, muscle atrophy and joint pain. Lab tests demonstrated hypophosphatemia. Lumbar and pelvic X-ray showed wedging of the lumbar spine and decreased pelvic bone density. Ultrasonography revealed a low-echo and bloodrich mass measuring 15.1 cm× 14.5 cm× 13.2 cm located at the lower pole of left kidney. Computed tomography showed a voluminous enhanced tumor, supplied by the left renal artery, vice renal artery and a branch of the inferior mesenteric artery. A tortuous vein at the lower part of the tumor drained into the left renal vein. A radioactive octreotide scan was used to study an increased radionuclide-uptake lesion which was initially suspected on the CT scan. The patient was preoperatively diagnosed with left malignant kidney tumor and oncogenic osteomalacia. During a left radical nephrectomy performed through a transperitoneal anterior subcostal incision, a round diameter 15 cm tumor covered by twisted veins was found. The patient recovered well postoperatively. Results The histological diagnosis was renal clear cell carcinoma. Immunohistochemical staining detected Vimentin and RCC were positive and Ki-67antigen index was about 2 %. After lesion removal, the paraneoplastic syndrome resolved. At the 11-month follow-up, no recurrence of the disease was observed. Conclusions Oncogenic osteomalacia is rare and OO with renal cell carcinoma has not been reported so far. OO or rickets should be suspected in those patients who presented with metabolic bone disease associated with hypophosphatemia and inappropriate phosphaturia. If OO syndrome was suspected, in addition to past medical history and imaging, a standard meticulous examination should be initiated promptly. Surgical treatment is still necessary once confirmed. And all of them achieved a good prognosis.

This article was aimed to study the quality control of pineapple leaf in order to further develop the appli-cations of pineapple leave as medicinal resources. The tissue structure of pineapple leaf was observed by tissue biop-sy assay. Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) was employed on the qualitative identification of ananasate in the leave. The p-coumaric acid and ananasate were detected with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) assay in the content determination. The results showed that pineapple leaf can be divided into the upper and lower leaf epidermis with stoma under microscope observation. Ananasate of the leave can be indentified clearly by TLC. HPLC method can accurately detect the content of p-coumaric acid and ananasate of pineapple leave. There are different contents of p-coumaric acid and ananasate of pineapple leave in different origins. In Y unnan province, the contents of p-coumaric acid and ananasate of pineapple leave are the highest; while the contents of p-coumaric acid and ananasate in Guangxi province are the lowest. It was concluded that ananasate can be used in the quality identification. The p-coumaric acid and ananasate can be used in the quantitative determination in the better control of the quality of pineapple leaf.

BACKGROUND: As a cytokine highly expressed in internal organs, visfatin could be used as a biomarker of systemic inflammation response for chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, but few studies have reported the use of visfatin in severe pneumonia. The present study was undertaken to determine the plasma levels of visfatin in patients with severe pneumonia. METHODS: A total of 70 patients, including 40 patients with severe pneumonia (group A) and 30 patients with non severe pneumonia (group B) who had been admitted to the ICU from June 2009 to June 2010, were enrolled in this prospective study. And another 30 healthy physical examinees served as healthy controls (group C). Patients were excluded if they suffered from severe diseases of the heart, brain and kidney, cancers, autoimmune diseases, or received special treatment in the latest month. The plasma levels of visfatin, IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-α were measured by ELISA, while the level of CRP was determined by immuneturbidimetry, and the routine blood test was performed. Blood gas analysis and Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) were performed in patients with pneumonia. Comparisons between the groups were conducted by Student's t test, ANOVA or nonparametric test. Correlation analysis was carried out by Pearson's correlation test or Spearman's rank-order correlation test. RESULTS: The plasma level of visfatin in group A was significantly higher than that in groups B and C (P<0.001), and the level of visfatin in group B was significantly higher than that in group C (P<0.001). The plasma level of visfatin was positively correlated with CRP, TNF-α, APACHE II and PMN％ in patients with severe pneumonia (rho=0.653, r=0.554, r=0.558, r=0.484, respectively, P<0.05 for all), while it was negatively correlated with PaO2 and PaO2/FiO2 (rho=?0.422, r=?0.543, respectively, P<0.05 for all). CONCLUSION: Visfatin may be involved in the systematic inflammation response in patients with severe pneumonia as a pro-inflammatory cytokine, and it is valuable in assessing the severity of pneumonia..

OBJECTIVETo estimate disease burden and epidemiological characteristics of acute meningitis/encephalitis, and provide the basis for the disease control strategy development.

METHODSA syndrome surveillance system was established in Guigang city with a population of 5 020 000. For the suspected cases, serum and CSF were collected, and bacterial culture, latex agglutination test, real-time PCR and ELISA tests were carried out. All involved cases were identified to 6 categories according to WHO case definition.

RESULTS1424 suspected cases were evaluated in a surveillance of 30 months, yielding the incidence, mortality and mortality of 11.35/100 000 (1424/12 546 500 person years), 0.43/100 000 (54/12 546 500 person years), 3.79% (54/1424) respectively. A total of 103 and 51 cases were confirmed for JE, bacterial meningitis, with a incidence of 0.82/100 000 (103/12 546 500 person years), 0.41/100 000 (51/12 546 500 person years). 96.10% (99/103) of JE cases and 37.30% (19/51) bacterial meningitis cases occurred in < 10 years old children and < 5 years old children. A clinical misdiagnosis rate of 19.42% (20/103) and 15.69% (8/51) were observed for JE and bacterial meningitis.

CONCLUSIONAcute encephalitis, meningitis syndrome can cause a higher burden of disease, of which the main components of viral encephalitis. Most of syndrome is occurred in summer and autumn, mainly reported in children of younger than 10 years old. A quite misdiagnosis would be made among meningitis and encephalitis syndrome cases.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Encephalitis, Viral ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Meningitis, Bacterial ; epidemiology ; Meningoencephalitis ; epidemiology ; microbiology ; prevention & control ; virology ; Middle Aged ; Seasons ; Young Adult

To study the clinical skills training methods and formulate a training objective for pediatric long-year-program students, to let the students, through three years of training program, reach the clinical ability as a chief resident, with better laboratory research skills, teaching awareness and responsibility, and also with good comprehensive quality and excellent English, and finally become clinical talents with great potential and innovation, this report summarized our study results of training two terms of long-year-program pediatric graduates, who fully meeted the training objectives in the department's practice.