Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; China ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive ; epidemiology ; physiopathology ; Risk Factors ; Smoking ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Cardiomyopathies ; Heart Ventricles ; Humans

The purpose of this study was : 1) to develop and test a theoretical model examining relationships among social support( and social network size ), illness demands, marital adjustment, family coping, and an outcome measure of family functioning in response to a mother's breast cancer in the early postdiagnostic phase ; 2) to investigate the sources of functional social support : and 3) to assess characteristics of social support networks for Korean families with breast cancer. This study used a cross-sectional, correlational design with a causal modeling methodology to test the specified relationships in the recursive theoretical model. the convenience sample of this study consisted of 82 married Korean couples with recently diagnosed breast cancer in the child-rearing mother. Six standardized questionnaires were used to measure the theoretical concepts : social support (ISSB), social network(ASSIS), illness demands(DOII), marital adjustment(DAS), family coping(F-COPES), and family functioning(FACESII). The theoretical model was tested on the aggregated couples' data( family data ) and on mothers and fathers data. Path analysis results from the mothers and the fathers revealed different patterns. A core set of predictive variables were identified with three data sets showing consistent effects on family functioning level-marital adjustment and family coping, marital adjustment and family functioning, and family coping and family functioning. Namely, the level of family functioning was directly and positively affected by family coping behavior and the level of marital adjustment ; the level of marital adjustment had a direct positive effect on family coping behavior. In two reduced models from couples' and mothers' data, three sets of predicted relationships were supported, social support and marital adjustment, and s and marital adjustment. The level of social support received had a direct positive effect on both the level of marital adjustment and family coping behavior, and the experienced illness demands had a direct negative effect on the level of marital adjustment. Few significant gender differences were found in terms of 1) actual and perceived network sizes, need for support, and satisfaction with the support received for each type of functional social support, 20 total network size encompassing all types of functional social support, as well as, 3) the amount of functional social support received. These findings may prove useful for health care professionals working with Korean families with breast cancer or other chronic illness.
Adaptation, Psychological ; Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Chronic Disease ; Dataset ; Delivery of Health Care ; Family Characteristics ; Fathers ; Humans ; Models, Theoretical ; Mothers* ; Outcome Assessment (Health Care) ; Surveys and Questionnaires

No abstract available.

Humans ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive ; complications ; etiology ; Smoking ; adverse effects ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary ; complications ; etiology

Asthma ; diagnosis ; prevention & control ; therapy ; Humans

Curcumin is a principal polyphenolic curcuminoid extracted from turmeric rhizome, which has been used for treating inflammation of joints, ulcers, jaundice and other disorders in Asian traditional medicine. In recent years, many studies have indicated that curcumin plays important roles in treatment of liver diseases. Curcumin attenuates liver injury and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease by lowering the release of inflammation cytokines, minimizing oxidative stress, enhancing the sensitivity of insulin and altering lipid metabolism. Curcumin shows potent anti-fibrosis activity, contributing to inhibit the activation of hepatic stellate cells and reduce the deposition of extracellular matrix by its regulation of PPAR-γ, NF-ΚB and TGF-β signaling pathways. Moreover, curcumin exhibits anti-cancer effect by inducing G2/M phase cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in several hepatoma cell lines. However, poor water solubility and low bioavailability of curcumin limit its clinical applications. To overcome its limited systemic bioavailability, many new approaches have been explored to deliver curcumin effectively. This article focuses on advances in the effects of curcumin and its derivatives for treatment of liver injury, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, liver fibrosis and hepatocarcinoma.

Adrenal gland vein sampling is an interventional method to get the blood samples from the adrenal gland vein. The blood is obtained via a catheter which is selectively inserted in the adrenal gland vein. This technique is mainly used to be diagnostic for primary hyperaldosteronism. A full knowledge of the anatomy and variations of the adrenal gland vein, serious preoperative preparation and skilled catheterization manipulation are necessary for obtaining sufficient blood sample and for reducing the occurrence of complications. Providing the physicians with definite diagnostic evidence and being technically feasible, adrenal gland vein sampling should become one of the routine examinations for clarifying the cause of primary hyperaldosteronism.

Objective To carry out the performance evaluation to insure security of inner canister during the design phase, which is the important thin component of the portable sterilizater. Methods The software Mechanica, one of the module of Pro/Engineer was implemented to the flexure analysis of the inner canister. Results The stabilization and strength of inner canister satisfied requirements of the design. Conclusion Not only the security of design data can be proved but the cost and cycle of design can be reduced by using the method of expansion simulation analysis at the same time of the design phase of the equipment.

AIM: To investigate the effect of intravitreal injection of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) drug Bevacizumab on connective tissue growth factor(CTGF) and pigment epithelium derived factor (PEDF) in proliferative membranes in patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR).METHODS: From January 2015 to December 2016, 117 patients (126 eyes) with PDR were analyzed using the case-control study.The selected cases were randomly divided into two groups, respectively, Group A of 60 cases (63 eyes) and Group B of 57 cases (63 eyes).The Group A was treated with vitrectomy alone, while the Group B received intravitreal injection of 0.05mL/1.25mg bevacizumab before vitrectomy.The peeled epiretinal membranes in patients were stained and then the histopathological changes were observed for primitive cells and angiogenesis, the expression of CTGF and PEDF were tested.RESULTS: The expression of CTGF and PEDF in the proliferative membrane of the two groups were expressed in the cytoplasm.The Group A showed positive expression in 38 cases, the positive rate was 60.3%.Compared with Group A, the positive expression rate of CTGF in Group B (92.1%) was significantly higher (P<0.05).The positive expression rates of PEDF in the two groups were 90.5% and 95.2% respectively, and there was no significant difference between the two groups (P>0.05).CONCLUSION: In patients with PDR after intravitreal injection of bevacizumab, the retinal neovascularization is significantly reduced, which is conducive to vitrectomy.The positive expression rate of CTGF significantly increased in patients with PDR after intravitreal injection of bevacizumab, but there was no significant change in the expression of PEDF in the anterior membrane.