Objective To study the current cases of Keshan disease aims at providing scientific and basic evidence for prevention and control of the disease. Methods In accordance with historical cases, in 2009, an investigation was conducted in the permanent resident population in seriously infected representative villages of landscapes and ways of living such as Xujialeng, Zhuping and some other adjacent villages in Wudu district, Longnan city. People in those areas were examined and carefully observed based on the scheme of Keshan disease surveillance. Then they were enquired about their medical history, given normal clinical examinations and electrocardiogram(ECG) examination, the suspected cases were chest X-rayed. At the same time, some samples of their hair of some children under 12 and adults were collected to be examined for the selenium content. Results Among the total number of 515 subjects, 20 were diagnosed with Keshan disease with a total detection rate of 3.9% (20/515), among whom 13 were potential patients with a detection rate of 2.5%( 13/515), 7 were chronic patients with a detection rate of 1.4%(7/515). In the total number of 515 ECG, 48 were found with abnormal ECG at a detection of 9.3%(48/515). In the 20 patients, the potential patients were mostly featured with incomplete right bundle-branch block(5 cases), complete right bundle-branch block(3 cases), frequent ventricular premature beat (2 cases) and left ventricle high voltage(2 cases), while the chronic patients were mostly featured with incomplete right bundle-branch block(2 cases). Of the 29 chest X-ray films, 17 cases had heart enlargement with a detection rate of 58.6%( 17/29). The selenium content in the hair of 10 adults and 10 children were (0.38±0.09), (0.31±0.12) mg/kg, respectively. Conclusion There are still existing some cases and obvious virulence factors of Keshan disease in Wudu district, Longnan city.

Adult ; Fever ; etiology ; Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage ; etiology ; Humans ; Male ; Polyps ; complications ; Stomach Diseases ; complications

Japan moxibustion methods originate from China and form moxibustion methods with Japanese characteristics and diathermal moxibustion as main, in combination with Japanese practice in development course. In the present paper, diathermal moxibustion and folk traditional moxibustion methods in Japan are introduced and moxibustion methods between China and Japan are preliminarily compared.
Humans ; Japan ; Medicine, East Asian Traditional ; Moxibustion ; methods

Objective To analyze CMV DNA stability of 30 EDTA plasma samples in the order of magnitude between 300 and 100 000 copies/mL over a 21 day period. Methods Thirty plasma samples were grouped into three categories according to the CMV DNA loads , including low CMV DNA contents , intermediate CMV DNA loads and high CMV DNA loads. Ten milliliters of whole blood was freshly collected from each patient. Plasma samples without hemolysis were divided into 1-ml aliquots. One aliquot was processed immediately (Day 0) for baseline PCR assays. The remaining aliquots were then processed after one , two, three, seven, 14 or 21 day of storage at 4℃. Results There was no significant difference between the mean of the difference time point in viral loads following storage at 4 ℃ by paired-samples t test, including Day 1 compared to Day 0 (t = 1.654, P =0.109), Day 2 compared to Day 0 (t = 1.487, P = 0.148), Day 3 compared to Day 0 (t = 1.609, P = 0.118), Day 7 compared to Day 0 (t=0.831, P=0.413), Day 14 compared to Day 0 (t=1.721, P=0.096), and Day 21 compared to Day 0 (t=0.244, P=0.810). Conclusion The concentration of CMV DNA in all samples stored at 4 ℃ for 21 days did not differ significantly from the baseline viral load ,and it was not observed the trend in continued degradation in different time point (Day 1, 2, 3, 7 and 14).

Heart failure has become a global public health problem that seriously threatens human health. Due to "multi-target" effect, traditional Chinese medicine has unique advantages in the treat-ment of heart failure. Astragaloside Ⅳ is one of the main active ingredients of astragalus membrana-ceus.It has the functions of protecting the heart and neovascularization,anti-inflammation,anti-oxida-tion, regulating energy metabolism, neuroprotection and anti-cancer effects. This article reviews the recent progresses of astragaloside Ⅳ in the treatment of heart failure.Data show that astragaloside Ⅳcan inhibit heart fibrosis,attenuate excessively activation of renin-angiotensin system,increase energy metabolism, promote positive inotropic action, inhibit myocardial cell apoptosis, etc, which are all involved in the protective role of astragaloside Ⅳ in rodents or cellular models of heart failure.Astragalo-side Ⅳ may be a potential active ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of heart failure.

Background and purpose:Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is one of the hot studied area in breast cancer research.Our aim was to explore the relationship between the clinical effect,pathological changes and the neoadjuvant chemotherapy containing THP and docetaxel on breast cancer.Methods:The expression of ER, PR and CerbB-2 in breast cancer tissue of patients who had received neoadjuvant chemotherapy were detected by immunohistochemistry method.The relationship of age,ER,PR,CerbB-2,pathological stage and axillary lymph node metastasis with pathological complete response(pCR) was analysed.Results:For the patients after neoadjuvant chemotherapy,the pCR of the positive ER(0%),PR(9.38%) was lower than that of negative ER(20.27),PR(90.63%) respectively.The pCR of the positive CerbB-2(33.33%) was higher than that of negative CerbB-2(9.74%,P

Background Sirius system,a new Scheimpflug camera combined with Placido topography,improved the capability of imaging the anterior eye segment significantly.However,the study of assessing the repeatability and agreement between Sirius and Pentacam is still lack up to now.Objective This study was to evaluate the repeatability and agreement of the anterior ocular segment measuring parameters by Sirius and Pentacam in myopia received laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK).Methods Thirty-five myopic eyes of 35 patients received LASIK were included in School of Optometry and Ophthalmology Eye Hospital from 2010 May through 2010 July.Corneal power flat keratometry (Kf),step keratometry (Ks),mean keratometry (Km),thinnest corneal thickness(TCT),the location of TCT,anterior chamber depth (ACD) and anterior chamber volume (ACV) were measured by Sirius and Pentacam in all the eyes,respectively.The repeatability of the measuring results were evaluated using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and Cronbach's coefficient alpha (CoA),and the agreement of measuring parameters between Sirius and Pentacam was analyzed using Bland-Altman plot.Results Both Sirius and Pentacam demonstrated high intraobserver repeatability,with all ICC and CoA more than 0.90.No significant differences were found in Kf values and Ks values between the two methods (t =-1.533,-1.750,P＞0.05).Km value was (39.14 ± 1.95) D by Sirius measurement,which was sígnificantly higher than (39.05 ± 1.91) D by Pentacam measurement (t =3.572,P =0.001).The TCT was (457.6 ± 40.9) μm by Sirius method,showing a significant reduce in comparison with (465.4±37.5) μm of Pentacam method (t =-6.689,P＜0.001).A positive correlation was seen in the TCT between the two methods (r=0.988,P＜0.001).The Bland-Alrman plots showed the 95％ CI-21 μm to 6 pm in the TCT value between the two devices.Pairwise comparison of the location of TCT measurements showed significant differences between the two devices (t =-4.132,-5.696,P＜0.001),with a good correlation (r=0.751,0.775) and the 95％ CI (-0.36-0.17 mm,-0.35-0.12 mm).A very good agreement was seen in ACD between the two devices (-0.02-0.12 mm),but the agreement result was not very well in the ACV between the two devices with the 95％ CI (-27.70-6.20 mm3).Conclusions Sirius and Pentacam measurements for anterior ocular segment parameters have a very good repeatability in post-LASIK eyes.In addition,good agreement results are exhibited in corneal power,TCT and ACD between Sirius and Pentacam with an acceptable maximal different value between them.Sirius and Pentacam can be used interchangeably in clinical examination.However,the two devices can not interchangeably for ACV measurement and TCT location.

OBJECTIVEDetecting the atrioventricular annular velocity along the long axis of ventricle by tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) is a useful modality to quantitatively assess global myocardial function. The present study was designed to quantitatively assess ventricular function in healthy children by TDI and to evaluate the clinical effect of growth and echocardiographic parameters on TDI velocities during childhood.

METHODSThe study enrolled 242 healthy children aged 3 days to 17 years and they were divided into 8 groups: < 1 month of age group (37 cases), 1 month-of age group (28 cases), 7 months-of age group (21 cases), 1 year-of age group (36 cases), 4 years-of age group (40 cases), 7 years-of age group (26 cases), 10 years-of age group (28 cases) and > or = 13 years of age group (26 cases). Pulsed wave TDI velocities were obtained at the lateral mitral annulus (MA-L), basal septum (MA-S) and lateral tricuspid annulus (TA) during ventricular systole (Sa), early diastole (Ea) and late diastole (Aa), and Ea/Aa and E/Ea were obtained. Conventional echocardiography performed done and the parameters of left ventricular end-diastolic dimension (LVEDD), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), the transmitral and transtricuspid flow E wave and A wave velocities and E/A ratio were obtained. TDI parameters were compared with demographic and echocardiographic variables.

RESULTSSa, Ea and Ea/Aa were the lowest in children < 1 month of age [MA-L: Sa (4.8 +/- 0.7) cm/s, Ea (6.6 +/- 1.1) cm/s; MA-S: Sa (4.1 +/- 0.6) cm/s, Ea (5.0 +/- 0.8) cm/s; TA: Sa (6.2 +/- 1.2) cm/s, Ea (6.4 +/- 1.0) cm/s], and increased with age. The increase was significant from 1 month- to 1 year-of age group 1 year-of age group: MA-L: Sa (8.5 +/- 2.0) cm/s, Ea (16.3 +/- 2.6) cm/s; MA-S: Sa (7.2 +/- 0.8) cm/s, Ea (12.2 +/- 1.6) cm/s; TA: Sa (12.6 +/- 2.3) cm/s, Ea (14.7 +/- 2.6) cm/s. Ea and Sa of TA reached the older children's value earlier than those of the mitral annulus did. Aa increased in the 1 month-of age group compared to < 1 month of age group and remained stable beyond 1 year-of age group. Mitral annulus E/Ea ratio was high among neonates to 7-months-old children (MA-L: 9.2 +/- 2.1, MA-S: 12.1 +/- 2.9), and decreased with age, and there was a significant decrease in 1 year-of age group (MA-L: 5.9 +/- 1.2, MA-S: 7.8 +/- 1.3). In these healthy children, all the above TDI parameters except Aa were influenced by age, body surface area (BSA), LVEDD and heart rate. The influence of age and BSA showed a logarithm model. LVEDD was the main factor that influenced Sa and Ea of MA-L and MA-S, and it was the only single factor that influenced E/Ea ratio at mitral annulus.

CONCLUSIONSThis study demonstrated that the left and right ventricular function developed with age in childhood, and it developed most rapidly during infancy and toddler period. The right ventricular function matured earlier than that of the left ventricle. Cardiac growth, age, and heart rate had important clinical effects on TDI velocities during childhood, and LVEDD had the most important influence on left ventricular systolic and diastolic function.

Adolescent ; Age Factors ; Aging ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Echocardiography, Doppler ; Female ; Heart Rate ; physiology ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Mitral Valve ; diagnostic imaging ; physiology ; Myocardial Contraction ; physiology ; Reference Values ; Tricuspid Valve ; diagnostic imaging ; physiology ; Ventricular Function ; physiology

OBJECTIVETo summarize the clinical application results of the repair soft tissue defect in contralateral leg with a cross-leg soleus muscle flap pedicle transplantation.

METHODSFrom January 2008 to January 2013, 8 patients with soft-tissue defect in lower leg underwent reconstruction with a cross-leg soleus muscle flap pedicle transplantation (without microvascular anastomoses). There were 7 males and 1 female, aged from 20 to 49 years old with an average of 31.8 years. The operative time after injury was from 2 to 8 weeks with the mean of 46 days. The soleus muscle flap was transposed across to the contralateral leg defect area, then immediate to perform the coverage of the muscle flaps by a meshed split-thickness skin graft. The donor site was closed directly.

RESULTSAll the muscle flaps had survived completely. In one case, recipient area edge had a less exudate from drainage hole everyday, the incision spontaneously was healed after 2 week's changing dressing. Follow-up period ranged form 1.5 to 4 years with an average of 2.5 years postoperatively. The tibia and fibula fractures were healed well. A good contour was achieved at the recipient area. According to LEM standard, 2 cases got excellent results, 5 good and 1 fair.

CONCLUSIONSoleus flap pedicle transplantation is very suitable to repair the soft tissue defect of the injuried leg only one main blood vessel, and can reduce the damage of donor area.

Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Leg Injuries ; surgery ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Muscle, Skeletal ; Soft Tissue Injuries ; surgery ; Surgical Flaps

OBJECTIVETo summarize the clinical application result of the selective nerve root blocks in limited operation of the lumbar spine.

METHODSFrom January 2008 to October 2012,68 patients with lumbar spinal canal stenosis with multiple levels were underwent the selective nerve root blocks in limited operation of the lumbar spine,including 47 males and 21 females with an average age of 56 years old ranging from 45 to 80. After never roots blocks,64 cases were positive for limited operation of the lumbar spine; the other 4 cases were negative and abort the operation.

RESULTSThe nerve roots block operation smoothly and no complications related to the nerve roots block occurred. There was no neurologic injury complication in this study. Follow-up period ranged from 16 to 45 months postoperatively (means, 32 months). The recovery effect was calculated with Macnab scores, the result was excellent in 44 cases, good in 18 cases, poor in 1.

CONCLUSIONOperative treatment for lumbar spinal canal stenosis with multiple levels is focused on the areas causing symptomate neural compression rather than prophylactic decompression at areas of nonsymptomatic disease. Application of selective nerve root blocks can accurately judge the responsible vertebral body and pain source and improve the curative effect of limited operation of the lumbar spine

Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Female ; Humans ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; surgery ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nerve Block ; methods ; Spinal Nerve Roots ; Spinal Stenosis ; surgery