OBJECTIVE:To provide a simple and reliable method to estimate confidence intervals of incremental cost-effectiveness ratios for pharmacoeconomics evaluation in China. METHODS:Through retrieving relevant foreign literature,the idea and mathematical properties of non-parametric Bootstrap method were described and the method for calculating confidence intervals were explained by giving an example. RESULTS&CONCLUSION:Non-parametric Bootstrap method is simple and reliable for the calculation of confidence intervals of pharmacoeconomics. When the distribution of samples is skewed significantly or the sample size is not plenty enough,we still need to be cautious to adopt non-parametric Bootstrap method.

Objective To investigate the effects of hippocampal neurogenesis in spatial learning and memory,especially in spatial long-term memory.Methods Totally 24 wistar rats were randomly divided into two groups:normal control group (NC group,n =12) and irradiation group (IRR group,n =12).We use low-dose irradiation at subgranular zone to inhibit adult hippocampal neurogenesis and new neurons were investigated by 5-Bromo-2-deoxyUridine/neuron specific nuclear protein double-labeling.Four weeks after irradiation,Morris water maze,including navigation test and space exploration assay,was used to detect spatial leaming and memory.Then,in the day 8 and day 15 after the navigation test,space exploration assay was repeated to detect spatial long-term memory.The expression levels of postsynaptic density protein 95 and synaptophysin were evaluated using western blot and real-time quantitative PCR.Results Hippocampal neurogenesis was inhibited by low dose irradiation(2.80 ± 0.44 vs 23.50 ± 1.12,t =20.21,P ＜ 0.01).After the inhibition,the escape latency did not change,while the time spent in target quadrant was significantly declined in the day 2((14.76 ±.2.04) s vs (20.47 ± 1.29) s),day 8((11.95 ± 1.34) s vs (19.52±1.43) s)and day 15((11.79 ±1.35) s vs (21.58 ±1.07) s) after the navigation test (t=2.45,P＜0.05; t =3.76,P＜0.01; t =5.39,P＜0.01).The postsynaptic density protein 95 and synaptophysin expressions were significantly decreased in IRR group.As to the RNA levels,there was also a significant difference between the two groups.Conclusion Hippocampal neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus plays an important role for the formation of spatial long-term memory.

Objective To investigate the common cause,inducement and treatment response in patients with status epileptic(SE) in children,in order to improve the level of prevention and treatment of the disease.Methods Valium and chloral hydrate be used in the patient untreated,followed with luminal.Deparkin injection be used in the patient uncontrolled,followed with syrup.Results Of 21 patients,3 cases with epilepsy hadn′t been treated;6 cases with epilepsy hadn′t been treated regularlly;3 cases with epilepsy place respiratory infection;4 cases were the first attack with no inducement;3 cases were suffering from viral encephalitis.Four cases with epilepsy were died who hadn′t been treated regularly.Deparkin might be helpful in treatment with SE,but poor control in patients with long time attacks.Conclusions The attack and prognosis of SE are closely relative to original sick.It is important to prevent the attack.Early diagnosis is the key factor to improve prognosis.

Objective To investigate the change of wave-front aberrations after Ortho-K contact lens(CL)by day and overnight wear.Design Retrospective case series.Participant 180 eyes of 92 myopic patients wearing Ortho-K CL.Method Wave-front aberra- tions of 180 eyes of 92 myopic patients wearing Ortho-K CL were analyzed.Patients were divided into by day wear and overnight wear groups.Wave-front aberrations were measured with WFA 1000B subjective aberrometer before and 1 month after Ortho-K CL wear. Wave-front aberrations at initial,after one month of CL fitting and without CL were measured in same condition,and RMS values for overall wave-front aberrations and each order of the Zernike aberrations were analyzed with Matlab software.Main Outcome Measures RMS value of Zernike coefficient of each order.Result Compared with initial aberration in wear by day group,total RMS and each or- der aberrations(except 2nd order)with lens fitting significantly increased(P0.05).Compared with initial aberration in overnight wear group,overall wavefront aberrations and the RMS(except 2nd,3rd and 6th order Zernike aberrations)with lens fitting significantly increased(P0.05).Conclusion The high order aberrations with lens fitting and without lens fit- ting increased in each group.The aberration with lens fitting in wear by day group was higher than that in overnight wear group,while the aberration without lens fitting in overnight wear group was higher than that in wear by day group.(Ophthalmol CHN,2007,16: 351-354)

Objective To study chemical ingredients and angiogenesis effects for different compatibility proportions ofDanggui Buxue Decoction.Methods For chemical components, HPLC was performed to study the ingredients (Ferulic Acid, Calycosin-7-glusosido, Calycosin, Formononetin) inDanggui Buxue Decoction. For angiogenesis effects, transgenosis zebrafish model was incubated with different proportions ofDanggui Buxue Decoction.Results With the raise of Astragali Radix content, the synthetic scores of four ingredients in different compatibility proportions increased. When the Astragali Radix content to Angelicae Sinensis Radix content was 8 to 2 and 5 to 1, the scores were the highest. For zebrafish vascular injury model, vessel recoveries in top three were 5:1, 6:1 and 2:1 (Astragali Radix: Angelicae Sinensis Radix).Conclusion From comprehensive analysis of chemical composition and angiogenesis, the best compatibility ratio of Astragali Radix to Angelicae Sinensis Radix is 5:1.

Objective To investigate the effects of rigid gas permeable contact lens (RGPCL) wearing 3 years on ocular surface in keratoconus.Design Retrospective case series.Participants 73 patients with keratoconus.Methods From July 2001 to July 2004,73 patients (142 eyes) wearing RGPCL for more than 3 years were collected in Peking University Optometry & Ophthalmology Center.Be- fore and at 1 year,2 years and 3 years of RGPCL wearing,density and morphologic changes of corneal endothelium were examined with non-contact specular microscope.Eye axial length,central and peripheral thickness of cornea were measured with A-scan pachymeter. All eyes were examined with slit-lamp microscope periodically.Main Outcome Measures Corneal endothelial density and morphology, corneal thickness,eye axial length,ocular surface changes.Results Before and at 1 year,2 years and 3 years of RGPCL wearing,aver- age corneal endothelial density was 2901.92?445.20,2862.78?497.13,2854.71?526.80,3015.61?421.22 (cells/mm~2)without significant difference statistically (F=1.571,P=0.20).Morphologic changes were not significant during 3 years.Eye axial length was 25.15?1.50, 24.93?1.36,24.78?1.25,25.39?1.31 (mm) without significant difference statistically (F=2.218,P=0.10).Corneal central thickness was 489.09?59.64,484.02?60.80,496.61?59.74,487.44?54.25(?m)without significant difference statistically (F=0.991,P=0.40).Peripheral thickness changes were also not significant statistically during 3 years.69 eyes with mild conjunctival congestion,12 eyes with corneal fluorescence stain and 6 eyes with corneal epithelial rough were found with slit-lamp microscope during follow-up.Conclusions For the patients with keratoconus,long term of RGPCL wear will not lead to significant ocular changes or severe ocular complications.

BACKGROUND: Researches suggest that transient ischemic attack (TIA)can induce cognitive dysfunction, and cerebral blood flow and its distribution are hypothesized to be closely related to cognitive activities.OBJECTIVE: To investigate the alteration of cognitive function and provide insights into its relations with cerebral perfusion in TIA patients.DESIGN: A case-control study.SETTING: Departments of Geriatrics, Electrophysiology and Magnetic Resonance of Urumqi General Hospital of Lanzhou Military Area Command of Chinese PLA.PARTICIPANTS: Totally 35 male right-handed TIA patients aged 45-78 years with an average of (68.1±8.4) years were selected from the inpatients and outpatients in the Department of Geriatrics, Urumqi General Hospital of Lanzhou Command of Chinese PLA between January 2002 and June 2003. Another 33 healthy right handed male subjects aged 45-77 years with an average of (67.8±8.6) years coming for physical examination were recruited to serve as the control group.METHODS: Patients and control subjects were tested with event-related potentials (ERPs) and the scale of elderly cognitive function (SECF) to examine the orientation, learning and memory, span, recall 1 (association),long-term memory, naming of animals, calculation, classification, copying,language and recall 2 (relation). According to the T score transformation table, the original scores were transformed into T scores relative to the age to eliminate the impact of age, and also into T'score to eliminate the interference by the patients'education, so that cognitive function of the patients could be evaluated with T'score, and the lower the score, the poorer the cognitive function. Cases in the two groups were all tested, and TIA patients were also examined with magnetic resonance angiography (MRA).MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Results of ERPs, SECF and MRA.RESULTS: Of the 35 TIA patients and 33 control subjects all completed the trial. Examination of ERPs reveled significantly prolonged latency of P300 components of ERP in the TIA group [(336.2±34.2) ms] than that in the control group [(311.3±44.2) ms, P ＜ 0.05]. The scores of span, recall 1,long-term memory, naming of animals, calculation, and recall 2 in SECF in TIA group were all lower than those in control group (39.7±11.9 vs 47.4±12.0; 54.5±14.8 vs 61.8±14.5; 61.1±7.8 vs 64.7±1.7; 59.4±11.0 vs 64.7±8.8; 50.0±14.7 vs 58.1±14.2; 44.6±15.4 vs 53.2±17.8, t=4.151 0-7.292 8, P ＜ 0.05-0.01). MRA identified abnormalities in 33 of the 35 TIA patients (94%), manifested mainly by stenosis and occlusion involving the vertebral artery (54%, 19/35), bilateral anterior, middle and posterior cerebral arteries (40% ,28/70;59% ,41/70;47% ,33/70), basilar artery (5.71%, 2/35) and bilateral internal carotid artery (5.71%, 4/70) respectively.CONCLUSION: TIA patients are characterized by prolonged P300 latency with multiple cognitive impairments especially in memory and cerebral artery stenosis and occlusion as shown by MRA, suggests that TIA patients have persistent low cerebral perfusion and frequently, cognitive dysfunction in the presence of local blood supply disorder in the hemispheres.

A reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and single-strand conformation polymorphisms (SSCP) assay were applied to rapidly detect the molecular variability in CP and SP genes among seven isolates of Rice stripe virus in China. The PCR results showed that the CP gene of JD isolate and SP gene of PJ isolate could not be amplified. SSCP analysis showed that there were completely different electrophoretic pattern of CP gene among six isolates. To SP gene, SSCP results also discovered polymorphisms. There were five patterns among these isolates, and the pattern of YL and BS isolates were same.

Objective To investigate the effect of synthetic small interfering RNA (siRNA) targe- ting plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) on the biological characters of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs).Methods Synthetic siRNA targeting PAI-1 was transfected into HSC-T6 by lipofectamine package.Negative siRNA transfection and no transfection were used as negative control and blank con- trol respectively.After incubation with siRNA,total RNA and protein of HSC-T6 cells were extracted. The expression of PAI-1 gene was detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and immuno- cytofluorescent.The proliferation of HSC-T6 was determined using MTT assay.HSC-T6 cycle and apoptosis were measured by flow cytometry.Content of typeⅠandⅢcollagen in the supernatants were determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay.Results The expressions of PAI-1 mRNA and pro- tein were markedly down-regulated in siRNA-transfected HSC-T6.The proliferation of HSC-T6 was inhibited by transfection of siRNA.The level of typeⅠcollagen in the supernatants decreased by (20.71?8.40)% and (37.97?6.40)%,repectively(F=42.69,P=0.0001) compared to those in the negative control at 48 and 72 hours.The level of typeⅢcollagen decreased by (35.98?4.60)% (F=105.52,P= 0.0001) at 72 hours.Conclusion Inhibition of PA-1 by siRNA may have a potential effect in prevention and treatment of hepatic fibrosis by inhibiting proliferation,promoting apoptosis of stellate cells.Therefore,it decreases the synthesis and the secretions of typeⅠandⅢcollagen.

Objective To investigate the influence of thymosin beta 4 (Tβ4) with two different dosages on the expression of transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) and connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) in rats with renal tubular interstitial fibrosis,and to further estimate the changes of renal tubular interstitial lesions.Methods Rat models of renal tubular interstitial fibrosis were established by unilateral ureteral occlusion (UUO).The male SD rats were randomly divided into 4 groups and 15 rats in each group:sham group,model group,treatment group with 1 mg/L Tβ4 and treatment group with 5 mg/L T34.Rats in sham group and model group were poured into the same amount of saline.The renal function and renal pathological changes were observed after the second week.The mRNA and protein expression of TGF-β and CTGF in renal tissues was tested by in-situ hybridization and Western blotting.Results Compared with that in sham group,the expression of TGF-β mRNA and its protein,CTGF mRNA and its protein was significantly higher in model group (all P ＜ 0.01).Compared with rats of model group,Tβ4 treatment rats had lower mRNA and protein expression of TGF-β and CTGF (all P ＜ 0.01),and the expression in treatment group with 5 mg/L Tβ4 was lower than that in treatment group with 1 mg/L Tβ4 (P ＜ 0.05).And the expression of TGF-β mRNA was positively correlated with CTGF mRNA expression (r=0.697,P ＜ 0.01).The 24 h total urinary protein and the area of renal tubular interstitial lesion in model group were significantly more than those in sham group,and also more than those in Tβ4 treatment group (all P ＜ 0.05).Tβ4 treatment attenuated kidney damage,and the effects in treatment group with 5 mg/L Tβ4 were better than those in treatment group with 1 mg/L Tβ4.No difference in serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen was observed among 4 groups (all P ＞ 0.05).Conclusions Tβ4 treatment can inhibit the renal TGF-β and CTGF expression of rats with tubular interstitial fibrosis in a dose-dependent manner,and play a protective role in kidney.