OBJECTIVETo evaluate the reliability, validity, and responsiveness of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) clinical outcomes rating scale for heart failure (HF) based on patients' report.

METHODSTCM clinical outcomes rating scale for HF (TCM-HF-PRO) were evaluated based on 340 HF patients' report from multiple centers. The completion of the investigation was recorded. Cronbach's α coefficient and split-half reliability were used for reliability analysis, and factor analysis was used to assess the construct validity of the rating scale. Pearson correlation analysis was then used for criterion validity analysis. Discriminant analysis was used to assess the responsiveness of the scale. All 340 HF patients having complete TCM-HF-PRO data were assigned to the treatment group and the control group by central randomization. The total TCM-HF-PRO scores of the two groups were compared using paired t-test to reflect the longitude responsiveness of the scale before treatment and at week 2 after treatment.

RESULTS(1) The recycling rate of the scale was 100.0%. One of them was not filled completely, which was rejected thereby. So the completion rate was 99.7%. The completion time for TCM-HF-PRO scale ranged 15 to 25 min. (2) The Cronbach's α coefficient of rating scale was 0.903, split-half reliability was 0.844 and 0.849. (3) Confirmatory factor analysis showed that 7 factors and items formed according to maximum load factor basically coincided with the construct of the rating scale, 7 factors accumulated contribution rate was 43.8%. TCM clinical outcomes rating scale for HF based on patients' report was relatively better correlated with the Minnesota living with HF questionnaire (r = 0.726, P < 0.01). (4) Discriminant analysis showed that the rating scale correctly classified more than 78.8% of case studies having confirmed initial differential diagnosis by experts. The total scale of the rating scale decreased more in the two group after treatment, with significant difference as compared with before treatment (P < 0.01.

CONCLUSIONTCM clinical outcomes rating scale for HF based on patients' report had good reliability, validity and responsiveness, hence it could be used to assess clinical efficacy for HF patients.

Diagnosis, Differential ; Discriminant Analysis ; Factor Analysis, Statistical ; Heart Failure ; diagnosis ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; methods ; standards ; Reproducibility of Results ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Objective To evaluate the clinical effect in the treatment of the young patients(≤45 years old) with acute myocardial infarction(AMI)underwent emergent percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty(PTCA) combined with Lipo-PGE_1.Methods 39 patients with AMI(paroxysm within 12 hours),were underwent emergent PTCA(coronary stem performed in some patients),including 18 cases which were treated combined with Lipo-PGE_1 in the mean time.And the clinical efficacy and the results of short-period follow-up were recorded.Results The in- farctive vasculars were re-open in 37 patients(23 cares were routinely placed translunrinal srents),and the successful rate was 94.9 %.Those who also used Lipo-PGE_1 were re-open in 17 patients.The successful rate was 94.4 %,their ST segments on EKG 30 minutes after operations reduced significantly than that of patients who did not use Lipo- PGE_1,their cardial functions were also improved significantly 24 hours after operations and no side effects on blood pressure and heart rate were observed.Conclusion The emergent PTCA combined with Lipo-PGE_1 for acute my- ocardial infarction can protect the cardial function and show a better early therapy effect.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the relationship between cardiac Cerebrovascular disease and serum uric acid(SUA) in the coastal inhabitant, and try to provide base for prevention of the local metabolic disease and cardiac Cerebrovascular disease.

METHODWe got 3111 local people who had participated in the annual physical examination in the perch hospital for the research on the level of SUA and the relative risk factor. According to SUA level we divided the cases into two groups. One is hyperuricemia group and the other is control group.

RESULTS(1)The average SUA level was (380.2-/+62.58) micromol/L in the males, while (290.82-/+60.32) micromlo/L in the female. The sick rate of hyperuricaemia rate, was 21.8% for male, and the 17.6% of female. This disease affected more men than women. It has significant difference (P<0.01); (2)The SUA level of the showed a positive correlation with the indexes of the total cholesterol, the triglyceride, the blood pressure and the body weight index. The SUA level in overweight/obesity people was obviously higher than that of the normal weight people.

CONCLUSIONS(1)The sick rate of hyperuricaemia is high in Zhongshan coastal area, which due to many related factors. As far as, few people know it, so we should adopt the synthesis measure to prevent and control it to reduce the sick rate; (2)the rise of The SUA level possibly becomes one of the independent dangerous and predictive factor for the heart cerebral von disease.

Adult ; Age Distribution ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Case-Control Studies ; Cerebrovascular Disorders ; blood ; epidemiology ; pathology ; China ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Sex Distribution ; Uric Acid ; blood ; Young Adult

Xylitol has attracted much attention because of its many applications tn the food,medicine and chemical industries. However the use has been limited by its high price. This coast is a result of the extensive purification steps needed for the preparation of a pure xylose solution,which is essential for the chemical process. The fermentative process of xylitol is an interesting alternative to conventional chemical process,since it does not require initial xylose purification. The present review describes the advantage of xylitol production by fermentation, xylitol-producting microorganisms, metabolic pathway of xylose in yeasts, detoxification of hemicellulose hydrolysates and fermentative conditions affecting xylitol production.

Objective To investigate the effect of a selective muscarinic receptor antagonist (penehyclidine hydrochloride) in three vessel occlusion model of acute global cerebral ischemia-reperfusion in rats.Method One hundred and forty-four male SD rats were randomly divided into four groups:sham operated group,vehicle treated group (saline 1 ml,i.p.),scopolamine treated group (0.01 mg/kg,i.p.) and penehyclidine hydrochloride treated group (0.01 mg/kg,i.p.) with drugs injected 40 minutes before ischemia respectively.The ischemic duration was 10 minutes.The animals were subjected to motor activity tests (open field activity test,beam-walking test and grip test) at 24 hours or on the 3rd and 7th day after reperfusion.HE staining,TUNEL staining and immunohistochemical reactions of bax and bel-2 were carried out at the time points of 2,12,24 hours,3 and 7 days after reperfusion.TTC staining was carried out in some rats for assessment of infarction volume on the 4th day after reperfusion.Results As compared with the vehicle treated group,both penehyclidine hydrochloride treatment and scopolamine treatment decreased the numbers of apeptotie neurons (P

AX15 is a mutein of naturally occurring human ciliary neurophic factor (hCNTF), with improved biological activity, stability and solubility. AX15 is susceptible to protease degradation when expressed in Pichia pastoris. Amino acid sequencing revealed the degradation was occurred behind position 12 and 13 amino acid residues, which constitute a dibasic site, RR. Based on the substrate specificity of KEX2, a KEX2 resistant mutein of AX15-AX15 (R13K) was constructed, in which RR was replaced by RK. It was demonstrated that the stability of AX15 (R13K) improved significantly, as no degradation was detected even after 120 hours of induction. AX15 (R13K) was purified to homogeneity by ultrafiltration and gel filtration. TF-1 cell survival bioassay showed AX15 (R13K) had equivalent specific activity to AX15. The protease resistant mutein of AX15 may have greater in vivo stability and thus have superior therapeutic potential.
Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Genetic Vectors ; Humans ; Mutant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Mutation ; Peptide Hydrolases ; chemistry ; Pichia ; genetics ; metabolism ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; isolation & purification

OBJECTIVESTo compare the outcomes after liver resection for a single small hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) (≤ 5 cm) between non-cirrhotic patients and cirrhotic patients, and to explore the influence of liver cirrhosis on recurrence and overall survival after liver resection in patients with a single small HCC.

METHODSA consecutive series of 256 patients with a single small HCC undergoing liver resection from April 2001 to October 2009 was retrospectively reviewed. Among the 256 patients, 227 patients were male, and 29 were female. The medium age was 49 years (ranged, 14 - 79 years); 224 (87.5%) patients were positive for hepatitis B surface antigen, 241 (94.1%) patients were with preoperative liver function of Child-Pugh grade A. The entire cohort were divided into non-cirrhosis group (n = 44) and cirrhosis group (n = 212). Univariate analysis and then multivariate analysis were performed to determine the prognostic factors of recurrence and overall survival after liver resection for all patients.

RESULTSThe 1-, 3-, 5-year recurrence-free survival rates after liver resection were 93.0%, 85.3%, and 68.5%, respectively, in non-cirrhosis group, while 81.1%, 58.6%, and 45.0%, respectively, in cirrhosis group. The 1-, 3-, 5-year overall survival rates after liver resection were 100%, 92.5%, and 92.5%, respectively, in non-cirrhosis group, while 93.8%, 78.7%, and 67.8%, respectively, in cirrhosis group. Both the recurrence-free survival and overall survival of non-cirrhosis group were significantly better than those of cirrhosis group (χ(2) = 8.756, P = 0.003; χ(2) = 8.603, P = 0.003). Cirrhosis, absence of tumor capsule, presence of microvascular invasion and moderate/poor tumor differentiation were the independent adverse prognostic factors for recurrence-free survival and overall survival in patients with a single small HCC after liver resection.

CONCLUSIONSCirrhosis is an important adverse prognostic factor for long-term survival in patients with a single small HCC after liver resection. Liver resection resulted in much worse survival for cirrhotic patients compared to non-cirrhotic patients.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; complications ; mortality ; pathology ; Female ; Hepatectomy ; Humans ; Liver Cirrhosis ; complications ; mortality ; pathology ; Liver Neoplasms ; complications ; mortality ; pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multivariate Analysis ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate ; Young Adult

Novel solid lipid nanoparticle (SLN) system is prepared with Compritol ATO 888 and tricaprylic glyceride. DSC, XRD, SAXS and NMR are employed to study the novel carrier property and microstructure. When the peak melting point decreased from 70.8 degrees C to 61.4 degrees C, the enthalpy sharply decreased. It could be concluded that the regular crystal lattices in the novel carriers are broken out for the oil joined in them. Melting behavior is occurred at -17.7 degrees C while novel SLN is composed of oil and solid lipid mixture from the DSC measurement. Most alpha phase and least beta' phase are in the nano carrier system whether drug loading or not from the XRD investigation. There is only 0.1 nm change of long space among the novel SLN made of mixture and the lipid matrix and traditional SLN; therefore, it is impossible of the oil molecular insert into the solid glyceride structure. Since the different melting behavior (DSC measurements) and molecular move state (NMR investigations), two lipid matrix are still in two state of liquid and solid lipid in the novel SLN carrier. Presume the microstructure of the novel SLN prepared by our experiment would be that liquid oil has formed superfine nano accommodation encapsulated with solid lipid, but the whole particle is still in nano size range.
Calorimetry, Differential Scanning ; Caprylates ; chemistry ; Diterpenes ; administration & dosage ; chemistry ; Drug Carriers ; chemistry ; Drug Delivery Systems ; Epoxy Compounds ; administration & dosage ; chemistry ; Fatty Acids ; chemistry ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ; Nanoparticles ; Particle Size ; Phenanthrenes ; administration & dosage ; chemistry ; Triglycerides ; chemistry ; X-Ray Diffraction

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the clinical value of perioperative adjuvant chemotherapy in prevention of tumor recurrence and improvement of patient survival after liver transplantation for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

METHODSTwenty patients with advanced HCC (pTNM stages III and IV a) receiving liver transplantation with preoperative transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) and postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy (ADM+5-Fu+CDDP) were retrospectively reviewed in comparison with 16 patients receiving liver transplantation only for tumor recurrence, cumulative and tumor-free survivals. The feasibility and side-effects of the treatments were also studied.

RESULTSThe recurrence rate was lower in the perioperative treatment group than in non-treatment group (12/20, 60.0% vs 11/16, 87.5%, P<0.05). The 1- and 2-year overall survival rates were 70.8% and 47.1% for the chemotherapy group and 43.8% and 20.5% for the non-chemotherapy group respectively, showing significant differences between them (P<0.05). The 1- and 2-year tumor-free survival rates were 60.6%, 40.5% and 33.6%, 15.6% in the two groups, respectively, with also significant differences (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONSPerioperative adjuvant treatment may significantly decrease the likeliness of tumor recurrence and prolong the survival of patients with advanced HCC after liver transplantation. Chemotherapy with ADM+5-Fu+CDDP can be effective and safe with only mild side-effects.

Adult ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; drug therapy ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Female ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; Liver Transplantation ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ; Perioperative Care ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate ; Treatment Outcome

BACKGROUNDThe goal of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is to restore knee kinematics. Knee prosthesis design plays a very important role in successful restoration. Here, kinematics models of normal and prosthetic knees were created and validated using previously published data.

METHODSComputed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging scans of a healthy, anticorrosive female cadaver were used to establish a model of the entire lower limbs, including the femur, tibia, patella, fibula, distal femur cartilage, and medial and lateral menisci, as well as the anterior cruciate, posterior cruciate, medial collateral, and lateral collateral ligaments. The data from the three-dimensional models of the normal knee joint and a posterior-stabilized (PS) knee prosthesis were imported into finite element analysis software to create the final kinematic model of the TKA prosthesis, which was then validated by comparison with a previous study. The displacement of the medial/lateral femur and the internal rotation angle of the tibia were analyzed during 0-135° flexion.

RESULTSBoth the output data trends and the measured values derived from the normal knee's kinematics model were very close to the results reported in a previous in vivo study, suggesting that this model can be used for further analyses. The PS knee prosthesis underwent an abnormal forward displacement compared with the normal knee and has insufficient, or insufficiently aggressive, "rollback" compared with the lateral femur of the normal knee. In addition, a certain degree of reverse rotation occurs during flexion of the PS knee prosthesis.

CONCLUSIONSThere were still several differences between the kinematics of the PS knee prosthesis and a normal knee, suggesting room for improving the design of the PS knee prosthesis. The abnormal kinematics during early flexion shows that the design of the articular surface played a vital role in improving the kinematics of the PS knee prosthesis.

Adult ; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Knee ; methods ; Biomechanical Phenomena ; Female ; Humans ; Knee Prosthesis