Objective To detect the levels of plasma N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and investigate its relationship with liver function, ascites and heart structure in patients with liver cirrhosis. Methods The levels of plasma NT-proBNP and various clinical and biochemical parameters were determined in 60 patients with liver cirrhosis and 30 healthy controls. Meanwhile Child-Pugh liver function was classified. All people underwent color Doppler echocardiography. Results The level of plasma NT-proBNP was significantly elevated in patients with liver cirrhosis [(38.63±36.05)pmol/L], compared with that of the controls [(7.50±8.25)pmol/L],P<0.01. There was no significant difference in different Child-Pugh class and aseites amount of liver cirrhosis. E/A < 1 and E wave decelerate time (EDT) was in-creased in liver cirrhosis. Conclusion The levels of plasma NT-proBNP in liver cirrhosis are significantly elevated, and related to early impairment of diastolic function. But it does not correlate with liver function and aseites.

Objective: To describe the differences of plasma folate concentration and prevalence of folate deficiency in genders and ages in Chinese adults aged 35 to 64 years. Methods: By cross-sectional analysis, plasma folate concentration was measured in 2 545 adults including men and women by microbiological assay. Results: (1) Men tended to have lower plasma folate concentration and higher prevalence of folate deficiency(9.70 nmol/L, 31.0%) than did women(14.2 nmol/L, 12.5%, P=0.001). (2) Men in South have significantly higher plasma folate concentration and lower prevalence of folate deficiency than in North. The difference of plasma folate concentration was not evident between urban and rural area, but evident in North between in winter and spring. There were no significant differences of prevalence of folate deficiency for men between urban and rural areas in both regions. For women, the differences of plasma folate concentration in areas were significant, which were higher in South and urban, and lower in North and rural areas. (3) Plasma folate concentration increased with age in Southern men. A similar trend for others was not significant. Conclusion: Men have lower plasma folate concentration and higher prevalence of plasma folate deficiency than do women. The distribution of plasma folate concentrations in urban and rural areas seems different between men and women.

Objective:To evaluate the clinical application of 64-slice spiral computer tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA)in diagnosis of pulmonary embolism(PE).Methods:Sixty-two patients suspected of PE were examined by 64-slice spiral CTPA.The image findings combined with their clinical data were retrospectively analyzed.Results:Twenty-four of the 62 patients were confirmed to have PE by clinical data,laboratory examination and follow-up examination.64-slice spiral CTPA discovered 152 involved branches in the 24 PE patients,including 4 branches in left and right pulmonary trunk,52 in lobar pulmonary arteries,82 in segmental pulmonary arteries,and 14 in subsegmental arteries.Four types of PE were detected in our group,including eccentric filling defect in 58 branches,central filling defect in 49 branches,total occlusion of the pulmonary arteries in 21 branches,and mural embolism of host artery in 24 branches.The diagnosis accuracy of 64-slice spiral CTPA in the present group of patients was 100%,with no missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis.Besides,64-slice spiral CTPA could reflect the location,morphology,involvement and degrees of PE.Conclusion:64-slice spiral CTPA is a rapid,accurate and non-invasive diagnostic approach for PE.It is the first choice in clinical screening of PE and may serve as a gold standard for diagnosis of pulmonary embolism.

Objective To investigate the left ventricular (LV) performance in patients with essential hypertension(EH) by global performance index (GPI) based on three-dimensional speckle tracking imaging (3D-STI).Methods A total of 164 EH patients were enrolled and divided into four subgroups according to LV configuration:LV normal group (LVN,n =67),concentric cardiac remodeling group (CCR,n =49),concentric cardiac hypertrophy group (CCH,n =28) and eccentric cardiac hypertrophy group (ECH,n =20).Thirty age and sex matched healthy volunteers were enrolled as controls.3D-STI was performed to assess LV 3D global strain and LV torsion,then LV systolic dyssynchrony index (SDI) and global performance index (GPI) were calculated.Global strain parameters were investigated among the groups,and correlations with GPI were studied.Results GPI,global longitudinal strain(GLS),global area strain(GAS),global radial strain(GRS) and global 3D strain(G3DS) in EH groups were respectively lower than those in the normal controls,and there were statistical differences among the respective parameters (P ＜0.05,respectively).SDI in group CCH and ECH were significantly higher than that in normal controls (P ＜ 0.05,respectively).In multivariate stepwise regression analysis,GAS was the most influential to GPI.Conclusions GPI based on 3D-STI may accurately reflect LV performance in patients with EH,and has potential applications in clinical practice.

Objective To investigate the clinical value of VVI assessment normal fetal segmental myocardial performance and to establish a nomogram of normal fetus.Methods Digital dynamic fourchamber imaging of 151 healthy fetus(divided 5 groups according to gestation)were collected,then the longitudinal velocity,strain and strain rate of interventricular septal and left lateral wall were measured in systolic and diastolic period respectively.Results Normal systolic and diastolic values for tissue velocitv.strain,and strain rate were established.Tissue velocity was age dependent,whereas strain and strain rate were stable throughout gestation(P＞0.05).Tissue velocity was gradually decreased from the base segment to the apical segment(P＜0.01),whereas strain and strain rate were stable among all segments in every group(P＞0.05).Conclusions Fetal myocardial velocity,strain,and strain rate measuraments are easy to obtain and reproducible,VVI is a novel noninvasive tool to assess quantitatively and objectivelv regional systolic and diastolic function in fetal heart,it is providing another useful modality for evaluating cardiac function.

Objective To observe the long term effects of arthroscopic knee debridement and reconstructing operation for treating osteoarthritis in patients with Kaschin-Beck disease. Methods Thirty-one cases of patients with Kaschin-Beck disease were followed for 6 years after operation of articular clearing by arthroscope. Index of pain, symptoms of self-evaluation, range of motion, walking distance, standing test by affected leg when bending at 30° or 60° were recorded and compared with the preoperative results. Results Twenty-four cases were followed up for 6 years. Six years after operation the pain index(3.38 ± 2.87) was dramatically decreased compared to that before operation (6.88 ± 1.45, t = 5.30, P ＜ 0.05). Patients symptoms markedly improved by subjective self-evaluation was 70.83% (17/24), the effective rate was 100% (24/24). The number of cases that could stand up when leg bending at 30° or 60° were 21,18 cases, respectively, compared with that of preoperative of 14, 11 cases, respectively, the difference was statistically significant(x2 = 5.17,4.27, all P ＜ 0.05). Six years after operation the walking distance(3 cases ＜ 1 km, 11 cases 1 - 5 km and 10 cases ＞ 5 km) were greatly improved compared to the results before operation (12 cases ＜ 1 km, 9 cases 1 - 5 km and 3 cases ＞ 5 km, U = 2.88, P ＜0.05). Six years after operation the knee activity[(132.25 ± 14.52)°] remained at the same level, compared with that of preoperative [(131 .58 ± 14.68) °], the difference was not statistically significant (t = 0.16, P ＞ 0.05) .Conclusions The method of arthroscopic joint debridement to cure Kaschin-Beck disease knee osteoarthritis can significantly reduce pain, improve function and walking distance, with more stable long-term satisfactory outcome.

Objective To investigate the levels of adiponectin and the relation with insulin and tumor necrosis factor(TNF)- ? in patients with cirrhosis. Methods Adiponectin,insulin and TNF-? levels were determined in 73 patients with cirrhosis and 30 healthy controls, and were correlated with various clinical and biochemical parameters. Meanwhile Child-Pugh liver function was classified. Results Adiponectin was significantly elevated in patients with cirrhosis compared with the control. Adiponectin levels in cirrhosis was correlated positively with insulin and negatively with insulin sensitively index,and did not correlate with TNF-? and liver function.Conclusion Serum adiponectin levels in cirrhosis are significantly elevated. Adiponectin levels do not correlate with TNF-? and liver function, but exclusively insulin and insulin sensitivity index.

Objective To investigate the value of 99Tcm-methoxyisobutylisonitrile (MIBI) scintigraphy in assessing the preoperative chemotherapy response and multidrug resistance of osteosarcoma.Methods From January 2007 to October 2008, 12 patients (female:4, male:8; mean age:16.3 years,range:8-27 years) underwent early (10min) and delayed (120 min) 99Tcm-MIBI scintigraphy before and after preoperative chemotherapy.Seven cases had osteosarcoma at the distal femurs, 2 at the proximal tibias, 2 at the upper end of humerus and 1 at the fibula.The tumor-to-background ratio (T/B) and washout rate (WR) were calculated.Tumor necrosis was classified according to Huvos criterion after limb salvage surgery.Immunohistochemical staining for P-glycoprotein(gp) was examined.Spearman correlation analysis and t-test were performed.Results According to Huvos criterion, 7 patients were classified as good responders with more than 90% of tumor cell necrosis and 5 as poor responders with less than 90% of tumor cell necrosis.R value (ratio of early phase T/B after and before chemotherapy) was significantly lower in good responders than that in poor responders (0.473 ± 0.21 vs 0.998 ± 0.06, t= 5.342, P= 0.000 ).R value was significantly correlated with the degree of tumor cell necrosis ( rs=- 0.87, P= 0.000 ).WR was significantly higher in patients with positive P-gp expression than that in patients with negative P-gp expression ((38.36 ±18.64)% vs (6.40±5.87)%, t= -3.278, P=0.008).There was significant correlation between the WR and P-gp expression (rs = 0.91, P= 0.001 ).Conclusion 99Tcm-MIBI scintigraphy is a feasible non-invasive technique to assess the chemotherapy response and to detect P-gp expression of osteosarcoma.

OBJECTIVETo investigate whether AJCC staging system(2010 edition) for gastric cancer has influence on the adoption of adjuvant chemotherapy.

METHODSThis was a cohort study and the data were collected from patients who underwent radical surgery and received adjuvant chemotherapy from January 2004 to December 2009. There were 48 patients with stage II( disease and 95 patients with stage III( disease according to TNM staging(2010 edition). Doublets were defined as 5-fluorouracil or capecitabine plus cisplatin or oxaliplatin, while triplets had epirubicin added. Ninety-six patients received doublet chemotherapy and 47 received triplet. All the patients were followed-up in the outpatient clinic until death or the censor time of May 2011.

RESULTSThe median follow-up time was 48 months in this cohort of 143 patients. The two groups had similar disease-free survival(DFS)(median, 23 months vs. 30 months, P>0.05). The median overall survival was 48 months in both groups. Subgroup analysis by TNM staging(2010 edition) showed that the median DFS of patients with stage III( gastric cancer was 15 months in the doublet group, significantly shorter than that of patients in the triplet group (18 months, P<0.05). However, the difference in overall survival was not statistically significant between the two groups. Patients with stage II( disease had comparable DFS and OS between the two groups(all P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONSTriplets regimens (epirubicin, platins and fluorouracil) show benefit on disease-free survival for the stage III( gastric cancer patients staged by TNM staging 2010 edition.

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; therapeutic use ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Cisplatin ; administration & dosage ; Epirubicin ; administration & dosage ; Female ; Fluorouracil ; administration & dosage ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Staging ; methods ; Postoperative Care ; Prognosis ; Stomach Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; surgery

Chinese traditional patent medicine for promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis(PBCRBS) originated from traditional Chinese medicine theory and had approved efficacy and safety standards. However, its compatibility regularity and anti-thrombotic mechanism is not clear. To analyze the compatibility regularity and anti-thrombotic mechanism of Chinese traditional patent medicine for PBCRBS, a statistical and bioinformatics analysis was carried out using traditional Chinese medicine inheritance support system (TICMISS, V2.0) and ingenuity pathway analysis (IPA). The compatibility regularity analysis shows that the most commonly used herb combinations are Danshen (Salvia miltiorrhiza Bge.), Chuanxiong (Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort.) and Honghua (Carthamustinctorius L.). The anti-thrombotic mechanism analysis reveals that 25 ingredients have an effect on 29 thrombosis related molecules which 23 molecules are related to inflammation response. Furthermore, there are 5 inflammation molecules (NOS2, PTGS2, IL6, TNF, IL1β) served as major targets. At the same time, Danshen, Chuangxiong and Honghua mainly used as sovereign herb or minister herb in the application of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Therefore, Chinese traditional patent medicine for PBCRBS probably has an effect on anti-thrombotic activity through inhibiting the inflammatory response. In summary, the most commonly used herb combinations of Chinese traditional patent medicine for PBCRBS are Danshen, Chuanxiong and Honghua. Inhibiting inflammatory response, especially inflammation related molecules (NOS2, PTGS2, IL6, TNF and IL1β), is probably a new starting point to clarify the anti-thrombotic mechanism of Chinese patent medicine for PBCRBS.
Anti-Inflammatory Agents ; pharmacology ; Carthamus tinctorius ; Computational Biology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Fibrinolytic Agents ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Inflammation ; drug therapy ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional