Many apoptosis-related heart diseases such as myocardial infarction, cardiomyopathies, and heart failure severely impair human's health and life. Currently, a key focus for the medical researchers is to find out effective ways to prevent or treat these heart diseases. ARC (apoptosis repressor with caspase recruitment domain) is the first anti-apoptotic protein so far identified to be highly and specifically expressed in the cardiac tissue. ARC could be structurally phosphorylated and involved in various signaling pathways during apoptosis.

Objective To study the effect of different dialysis modalities on pruritus in uremic patients .Methods Patients with maintenance hemodialysis who were suffered with severe cutaneous pruritus were randomly divided into hemodialysis group (HD group) ,hemodialysis combined with hemodiafiltration group (HD+ HDF group) ,hemodialysis and hemodiafiltration combined with hemoperfusion group (HD+ HDF+ HP group) .Plasma P3+ ,parathyroid hormone (PTH) and β2-microglobulin (β2-MG) were measured at pre-dialysis ,1 weeks ,4 weeks and 12 weeks after dialysis ,cutaneous pruritus was scored too .Results Compared with pre-dialysis ,the level of plasma P3+ ,PTH ,β2-MG and the scores of cutaneous pruritus were significantly lower at 4 weeks and 12 weeks after dialysis in HD+ HDF+ HP group (P<0 .05) .The were statistically significant difference in P3+ ,PTH ,β2-MG and cu-taneous pruritus scores among 3 groups after 12 weeks (P<0 .05) .Conclusion HD+ HDF+ HP is superior to HD+ HDF in effi-ciently clear P3+ ,PT H andβ2-M G ,and relief cutaneous pruritus and itching .

Objective To investigate the expression of activator protein-1 (AP-1) in PBMCs from patients with dermatomyositis (DM) and glucocorticoid effect on the expression.Methods PBMCs were isolated from 15 normal human controls and 20 patients (including 12 patients with primary DM who had never received glucocorticoid treatment and 8 patients with recurrent DM who had stopped glucocorticoid treatment for more than 1 month),and classified into two parts:one was cultured in RPMI 1640 medium with dexamethasone of 80 μmol/L and 10％ calf serum for 48 hours,and the other was frozen at -80 ℃ and reserved.Electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) was carried out to detect the activity of AP-1 in these cells.Results The expression (grayscale area) of AP-1 in the PBMCs from the normal controls was 4.93 ± 0.15 mm2.A significant decrease was induced by the treatment with dexamethasone in the expression (grayscale area) of AP-1 from PBMCs of patients with primary DM and those with recurrent DM (5.59 ± 0.39 vs.30.23 ± 0.49 mm2,5.69 ± 0.39 vs.34.79 ± 0.61 mm2,F =13812.64,P ＜ 0.01 ).The activity of AP-1 was statistically higher in the PBMCs from patients with recurrent DM than in those from patients with primary DM before the treatment with dexamethasone (P ＜ 0.01 ).Conclusions The enhanced activity of AP-1 may be an important factor inducing the inflammatory reaction in and recurrence of DM.Glucocorticoids may suppress the AP-1 activity to a certain degree.

OBJECTIVE:To evaluate the effects of minidose aspirin on blood uric acid,creatinine and urea nitrogen in hyperuricemia model mice.METHODS:75 mice were randomly assigned to receive 0.5% CMC-Na(normal control group and hyperuricemia control group)or aspirin(12.5,25,50 mg?kg-1?d-1)q.d for 1 week.Then all the mice except the normal control group were intraperitoneally administered with uric acid to establish hyperuricemia model.1 h later,the blood sample was collected for determination of uric acid,creatinine and urea nitrogen.RESULTS:As compared with hyperuricemia control group,mini-dose aspirin had no apparent effect on creatinine and urea nitrogen,but remarkably increased the level of blood uric acid(P

Objective To investigate the effect of (the transtheoretical model of change,TTM) on the level of self-esteem in children with epilepsy (EP). Methods 65 cases of EP were divided into intervention group with 31 cases and control group with 34 cases by random number table. The two groups were treated with anti EP drug treatment and nursing, the use of the change stage and the Self- Esteem Scale (SES) for the baseline assessment, the intervention group according to the assessment results to develop individual TTM intervention measures, the control group received general health education and psychological care, for a period of 6 months. Two groups of patients were followed up for 6 months after hospital discharge, and the distribution of the changes in the changes of the patients and the change of self-esteem scores were analyzed. Results Before the intervention, two groups in the intention stage, preparation stage, operation stage and maintenance stage self-esteem score comparison, the difference was not statistically significant (P>0.05);6 months after the intervention, the change of phase of self-esteem, the intervention group respectively were (22.61+2.88) points, (22.78+1.56) points, (24.03+1.5) points, (24.39+1.60) points, in the control group were (21.15+2.44) points, (21.39+2.21) points, (22.26+2.33) points, (22.01+2.31) points, with significant differences between the two groups (t=1.12-3.38, P<0.01). Two groups from the former intention phase to maintain the stage of change in the number of children were increased, the intervention group was better than the control group, the difference was statistically significant (χ2=15.00, P<0.01). Conclusions Using TTM as the guidance can improve the self-esteem of children with EP.

OBJECTIVE:To explore the application and feasibility of tracer methodology in the continuous improvement of high-alert medications management in the hospital,and to improve the quality of high-alert medications management and ensure the safety of clinical medication. METHODS:According to the theory and requirements of tracer methodology,a series of interven-tions were applied to the management of high-alert medications in our hospital. The comparisons on the mastery of high-alert medi-cations knowledge,review and evaluation results and the incidence of adverse events were conducted before and after applying trac-er methodology,so as to evaluate the improvement effect of tracer methodology on high-alert medications management. RESULTS:After implementing intervention measures such as the reduction of high-alert medications list and medical staff training about high-alert medications,compared to before management,medical staffs had improved the knowledge level of high-alert medica-tions (the average awareness rate increased from 69.6% to 88.5%);the review and evaluation results had been improved signifi-cantly (the proportion of the terms with qualified level evaluation results or above increased from 66.67% to 88.89%);the inci-dence of adverse events was reduced(from 0.321% to 0.139%). CONCLUSIONS:The tracer methodology has a significant effect on the management of high-alert medications in our hospital. It is feasible and can be widely used in the management of high-alert medications in the hospitals.

OBJECTIVE To provide more evidence for hospital infection control.METHODS To(analyze) the clinical records of the hospital-acquired pneumonia(HAP) of senile patients in department of(neurology) during Jan 2004 to Dec 2005 retrospectively.RESULTS There were 109 person-times(145 cases) senile(patients) with hospital(infection) during the two years.From them 77 cases were hospital-acquired infection,32 cases were ventilator-(associated) pneumonia(VAP),the infection rate was 22.1%.CONCLUSIONS The infection of HAP in department of neurology may induce by several factors.The key point to control HAP is prospective monitoring hospital(infection) in time,and taking effective measures to prevent the hospital infection on the basis of treatment the(underlying) disease.

Objective To detect the mutations in RECQL4 gene in a Chinese patient with Rothmund- Thomson syndrome (RTS). Methods Blood samples were collected from a sporadic patient with RTS, his unaffected parents and 30 unrelated population-matched controls. DNA was extracted, and all the coding sequences of RECQL4 gene were amplified by PCR. Direct sequencing was performed with the amplicons to detect the possible mutations in these subjects. Results Two mutations, i.e., IVS11-1G > A and 3401 A >T, which resulted in a premature termination codon at amino acid 560, were found in the RECQL4 gene of the patient. His father was heterozygous for IVS11-1G > A, and his mother for 3401 A>T. Meanwhile, neither of the two mutations were observed in 30 unrelated normal control individuals. Conclusion Two mutations, including IVS11-1G>A and 3401 A>T are present in the RECQL4 gene of the sporadic patient with RTS.

An inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) or inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) was developed to determine 19 elements in safflower,a traditional Chinese medicinal herb from Xinjiang Autonomous Region and Henan Province of China.Totally 19 elements in safflower included heavy metals,i.e.As,Cd,Cu,Hg and Pb,and wholesome elements,i.e.AI,Ca,Co,Cr,Fe,Mg,Mn,Mo,Ni,P,Se,Sr,V and Zn.The results showed that the concentrations of heavy metals in safflower samples were both low,all of which met the national hygiene standards except for Pb in Xinjiang sample.Meanwhile,the distribution tendency of elements in the two samples was similar,which indicated that the plant might absorb given elements in a proportional way.The method can be used for the quality control of elements in safflower,and it provides a way for the determination of the contents of safflower from Xinjiang and Henan.

The total volatile components were extracted from safflower by ultrasonic-assisted solvent extraction (USE) and their chemical constituents were analyzed by gas chromatographymass spectrometry (GC-MS) to provide scientific basis for the quality control of safflower.Five different solvents (diethyl ether,ethanol,ethyl acetate,dichloromethane and acetone) were used and compared in terms of number of volatile components extracted and the peak areas of these components in TIC.The results showed that USE could be used as an efficient and rapid method for extracting the volatile components from safflower.It also could be found that the number of components in the TIC of ethyl acetate extract was more than that in the TIC of other solvent ones.Meanwhile,the volatile components of safflower from Xinjiang Autonomous Region and Henan Province of China were different in chemical components and relative contents.It could be concluded that both the extraction solvents and geographical origin of safflower are responsible for these differences.The experimental results also indicated that USE/GC-MS is a simple,rapid and effective method to analyze the volatile oil components of safflower.