Objective To examine the relative effectiveness of extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) and ultrasound therapy (US) on managing heel pain. Methods Thirty seven patients were divided into 3 groups, two treatment groups (groups 1 and 2) and one control group (group 3).Group 1 received ESWT once a week for 3 consecutive weeks.Parameters were set at a frequency of 4Hz with a total of 1000 impulses, intensity at 0.23 to 0.37mJ/mm 2. Group 2 received continuous ultrasound therapy for 5 minutes in each session, three times a week for three consecutive weeks. Parameters were set at 1MHz, intensity level at 1W/mm 2. Group 3 was the control group and no treatment was given during the study period.The intensity of morning pain on weight bearing, pain triggered by prolonged walking/standing, pain on tension and palpation tests were assessed by use of Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) before and after each treatment session, including the follow up session.In addition, Mayo Clinical Scoring System (MCSS) was used to evaluate the treatment outcomes. Results After 3 weeks of treatment plus 3 weeks follow up,outcome measures had shown statistical significant difference on the intensity of pain on tension test( P =0.037),the intensity of pain on palpation test ( P =0.019) and the maximum duration of prolonged walking or standing ( P =0.002). Conclusion ESWT is more effective and efficient for managing heel pain than ultrasound therapy.

Guidelines as Topic ; Humans ; Medical Oncology ; standards ; Neoplasms

Humans ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ; prevention & control ; therapy ; Rectal Neoplasms ; pathology ; Reoperation

Purpose:To study the therapeutic effects of beta-ultrasound guided percutaneous alternating cryogenic- heating therapy(ACHT) through liver puncture combined with other regional therapy for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. Methods:68 patients with advanced hepatocelluar carcinomas were divided into 4 groups.Group A,17 patients are treated with ACHT plus transcatheter hepatic arterial chemoembolization(TACE).Group B,16 patients were treated with ACHT plus intravenous chemotherapy;GroupC,19 patients were treated with TACE only;GroupD,16 patients were treated with in- travenous chemotherapy only.Results:In ACHT+TACE group,the rate of complete response(CR) plus partial response (PR) was 88.2%,the 0.5-,1-year survival rates were 94.1%,94.1%,the rate of AFP decreased was 84.6%.In ACHT+ ICT group,the rate of complete response(CR) plus partial response(PR) was 87.5%,the 0.5-,1-year survival rates were 87.5%,68.8%,the rate of AFP decreased was 78.6%.In the TACE group,the rate of complete response(CR) plus par- tial response(PR) was 57.6%,the 0.5-,1-year survival rates were78.9%,42.1%,the rate of AFP decreased was 69.2%. In ICT group,the rate of complete response(CR) plus partial response(PR) was 25.0%,the 0.5-,1-year survival rates were 50.0%,18.8%,the rate of AFP decreased was 41.7%.For CR+PR,ACHT+TACE group and ACHT+ICT group were significantly higher than TACE group and ICT group,but significant changes between ACHT+TACE group and ACHT +ICT group were not found.For survival rates,ACHT+TACE group was significantly higher than the other 3 groups, ACHT+ICT group was significantly higher than ICT group.There were no serious side effects after chemotherapy except that 5 patients' leucocytes decreased to degree Ⅲ.The postoperative complications after ACHT included bleeding,hemoglo- binuria and reactive thoracic,which disappeared after short term treated.Conclusions:Alternating cryogenic-heating therapy (ACHT) through liver puncture combined with other regional therapy is effective in treating advanced hepatocellular carci- noma and its side effects and postoperative complications are mild.

Retinopathy of prematurity( ROP),a leading cause of childhood visual impairment,is a vascular proliferative retinopathy in premature infants. Although the hallmark of ROP is abnormal retinal vasculature, a growing body of research in animals and observations in patients support a critical role for the neural retina in the ROP disease process. ROP can affect the foundation of the retina and optical nerve during the development duration in childhood, presenting with abnormalities in electroretinogram and multifocal electroretinogram. In addition,it was found that ROP has different degrees of influence on the development of the dioptric system ,which will result in refractive error as the child progress to adulthood. The relationship of the electrophysiology features or refractive abnormality and ROP was summarized in this article.

Objective To determine the intra-and inter-tester reliability of a dynamometer in assessment of knee joint position senses (JPS).Methods Sixteen healthy volunteers (intra-rater N =6,inter-rater N =10) were examined with regard to intra-and inter-tester reliability of knee JPS by using Biodex System 3 dynamometer,measured by passive replication test,with subjects passively returning to the initial positions at 30°,45° and 60° knee flexion.The absolute error (AE) angle was recorded.Both intra-and inter-tester reliability studies involved two testers.Results The intra-tester reliability of the AE were moderate reliable at 30°,45°and 60° knee flexion,and the values of intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) were 0.728,0.780 and 0.807,respectively.The values of Pearson's correlation coefficients for inter-tester reliability were 0.676,0.610 and 0.705,respectively (P ＜ 0.05).There was no significant difference between the AE values of dominance and non-dominant knees,test and retest,and in the AE values of 30°,45°and 60° knee flexion (P ＞ 0.05).The 95％ confidence upper limits of all subjects' AE values were less than 3°.Conclusion The major findings of this study suggest that the test-retest reliability of the knee JPS were moderate using Biodex System 3 dynamometer,and selecting a target angle of passive replication test can achieve the same purpose in 30° to 60°knee flexion.The clinical significance should be taken into consideration when the AE changes were greater than 3 degrees.

The DegP protein, functioning as both chaperone and protease, plays a critical role in degrading and removing denatured or damaged proteins in the cellular envelope during heat shock and other stresses. So far, several proteins have been identified as its natural targets. A carboxyle-terminal peptide derived from the PapG pilus, one of the in vivo substrates for DegP, has been shown to activate the protease. Nevertheless, neither the details nor the physiological implications of such activation have been studied. The evidence that DegP undergoes conformational changes upon binding the peptide derived from C-terminal sequence of pilus subunit PapG has been presented. It demonstrated that upon binding this peptide, detectable changes can be observed for both secondary and tertiary structures of DegP, as examined by CD spectroscopy. Gel filtration and dynamic light scattering analysis also revealed that the size of DegP becomes smaller to a minor extent. Moreover, both the hydrophobic surfaces and catalytic sites of DegP were found to expose slightly in the presence of the peptide. Upon peptide binding, a less flexible and more rigid conformation of DegP was obtained as analyzed by fluorescence anisotropy. The physiological implications of these observations for DegP are discussed.

Objective To detect the quantity of Th17 cells and expressions of related cytokines including interleukin (IL)-17 and IL-22, in peripheral blood and skin lesions of patients with psoriasis vulgaris, and to analyze their correlation with disease severity and clinical course. Methods Peripheral blood was obtained from 44 patients with progressive psoriasis vulgaris and 28 normal human controls. Three-color flow cytometry was carried out to detect the quantity of Th17 cells, and ELISA to examine the levels of serum IL-17 and -22.Skin samples were obtained from 20 patients with psoriasis vulgaris and 8 normal human controls, and a quantum dot-based double labled immumofluorescence method was used to determine the quantity of Th17 cells.Results The percentage of peripheral blood Th17 cells was higher in patients with psoriasis vulgaris than in normal human controls (4.71% ± 2.55% vs. 0.55% ± 0.39%, P ＜ 0.01 ). Elevated expressions of IL-17 and IL-22 were noted in the patients compared with the normal human controls (24.02 ± 12.31 ng/L vs. 7.16 ±4.04 ng/L, P ＜ 0.05; 18.32 ± 8.14 ng/L vs. 6.52 ± 4.15 ng/L, P ＜ 0.01 ). The percentage of peripheral blood Th17 cells and serum levels of IL-17 and IL-22 were positively correlated with psoriasis area and severity index (r= 0.53, 0.47, 0.53, respectively, all P ＜ 0.01 ), but unrelated to the clinical course of psoriasis (r = 0.09,0.03, 0.19, respectively, all P ＞ 0.05). There was an infiltrate of Th17 cells in psoriatic lesions, which was mainly distributed around the blood vessels in superficial dermis, whereas there were only a small number of CD4+ T cells in the normal control skin with the absence of Th17 cells. Conclusions Th17 cells are involved in the development of psoriasis, and Th17 cell-secreted cytokines, such as IL-17 and IL-22, may serve as a new therapeutic target for psoriasis.

With the development and clinical use of the molecular targeted drugs and individualized treatment,cancer research has been focused on gene targeting diagnosis and treatment.Especially for the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling pathway-related genes,DNA replication-related genes,spindle apparatus format-related genes,cell metabolism-related genes and other molecular targeted detection and treatment,the polymorphism of targeting genes/molecules determines the clinical efficiency of the therapies.

Objective To investigate the prevalence of sick building syndrome (SBS) and explore the related risk factors in the people working in office environment in Beijing. Methods A cross-sectional study design was made in the present paper in April 2009. One hundred and two employees in 16 small and moderate offices in three different buildings in Beijing were investigated with the questionnaire for their subjective symptoms, environmental perceptions, psychosocial information and health situation. The indoor environmental factors of the buildings were monitored based on the standardized procedures at the same time. Generalized linear model and multilevel model were used for the data analysis. Results The prevalence rate of symptoms for sick building syndrome was 67.4%. The prevalence rate of SBS symptoms was positively associated with the self-feelings of the subject to high temperature, insufficient ventilation indoors, work stress, satisfaction for job and health complains, as well as with using photocopier in office by ANOVA(P