Objective To evaluate the influencing factors for postoperative odynophagia in elderly patients undergoing intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) examination for cardiac surgery.Methods A total of 96 patients with intraoperative TEE examination for cardiac surgery was divided into two groups:the elderly group (patients aged ≥65 years,n=60) and the young group (patients aged ＜ 65 years,n =36).Clinical data were retrospectively analyzed.Postoperative odynophagia was assessed by number rating scale (NRS) scores.Characteristics of postoperative odynophagia were compared between the two groups.Influencing factors for postoperative odynophagia were analyzed by multivariable logistic regression analysis.Results The incidence of postoperative odynophagia and the average NRS score were higher in the elderly group thanin the young group [88.3％ vs.66.7％,(2.6±1.7) vs.(1.4±0.9),P＜0.05 or 0.01].Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that preoperative oral lidocaine plasmagel,oropharyngeal mucosal injury and duration of TEE insertion were independent influencing factors for postoperative odynophagia (all P＜0.01).Conclusions The incidence of postoperative odynophagia is higher and the degree of odynophagia is more serious in elderly patients undergoing intraoperative TEE examination for cardiac surgery.Postoperative odynophagia can be relieved by applying the preoperative oral lidocaine plasmagel,reducing oropharyngeal mucosal injury and shortening the duration of TEE insertion.

Objective To investigate the clinic features and risk factors for central nervous system (CNS) infection in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Methods Clinical data of 18 cases of hospitalized lupus patients with CNS infection were analyzed retrospectively.Thirty-three lupus patients without CNS infection were selected as control. Results There were significant differences between the CNS infection group and control group in the dosage of corticosteroid used for pulse therapy (22% vs 3%, P<0.05), the aver-age dosage of corticosteroid used within one year (35±18 vs 24±17, P<0.05), peripheral blood leukocyte count (4.4±3.4 vs 6.7±2.9, P<0.05) and lymphocyte count (0.7±0.6 vs 1.5±0.7, P<0.01), and clinical outcome (mortality rate was 22% vs 0, P<0.05). Conclusion The clinical manifestations of CNS infection may be atypical. Large-dosage corticosteroid therapy, higher daily dosage of corticosteroid used, decreased peripheral lymphocytes and leucocytes counts are risk factors of central nervous system infection in lupus patients.

The levels of plasma immunoreactive atrial natriuretic polypeptide (ir-ANP) were determined by radioimmunoassay in 59 children with congenital heart disease (CHD). It was showed that the ir-ANP levels of the patients with left to right shunt were higher than those of control (P0.05). The iir-ANP levels of patients with HYHA II degree were increased significantly (P

Objective: To study the impression of Chinese people on Chinese urban children, their main source of information about the Chinese people, and the infvuence of age, school, and gender upon their evaluation. Methods: 383 Chinese urban children ranging from 5 to 12 years were interviewed individually or investigated with the questionnaire. Results: Most of the children reported that the Chinese were happy, clean, peaceful, clever, hardworking, kind and nice. However, the urban children's positive impression of the Chinese people was decreased with their growing up. The study also found that children's information on the Chinese people was mainly in order from television, newspapers, books and cartoons, parents, classmates, friends and teachers, and radio, and that the information source became increasingly diversificed with age. No significant difference in gender and between two schools was found. Conclusion: Chinese urban children had a positive impression of Chinese people, and they had a preference and identity for Chinese people . Mass media were the main source of information.

Objective To evaluate the effect of neuromuscular block on the airway sealing pressure of laryngeal mask airway (LMA) i-gel in patients undergoing general anesthesia.Methods Sixty patients scheduled for elective surgery under general anesthesia with LMA i-gel were randomly allocated to one of three groups (n =20 each):control group (group C),rocuronium 0.3 mg/kg group (group R1) and rocuronium 0.6 mg/kg group (group R2).Anesthesia was induced with target-controlled infusion of propofol and remifentanil.The target plasma concentration of propofol was 3.5 μg/ml,and the target effect-site concentration of remifentanil was 3.0 ng/ml.When the patients lost consciousness and after the target plasma and effect-site concentrations were balanced,LMA i-gel was inserted to perform mechanical ventilation.After insertion of LMA i-gel,rocuronium 0.3 and 0.6 mg/kg were injected in R1 and R2 groups,respectively.The airway sealing pressure of LMA i-gel was detected immediately after insertion of LMA i-gel and at 1 min after administration of rocuronium.Results There was no significant difference in the airway sealing pressure of LMA i-gel between groups and within groups(P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion Neuromuscular block has no significant effect on the airway sealing pressure of LMA i-gel in patients undergoing general anesthesia.

Objective To investigate the expression of adenosine receptor (ADOR) subtypes (A2A and A2B subtypes) in the mucosal dendritic cells (DCs) from patients with Crohn's disease and their pathogenic roles.Methods Mucosal DCs (mDCs) were isolated from resected intestine of patients with or without Crohn's disease.Some of the mDCs were cultured in vitro and others were used to extract RNA.The expression of ador-a2a and ador-a2b were detected by real-time qPCR.mDCs in culture were treated with selective ADOR-A2A and ADOR-A2B agonists (CGS 21680 and BAY 60-6583) and then the concentration of IL-1,IL-6 and IL-12 in the medium were measured by ELISA.The binding affinities of ADOR-A2A and ADOR-A2B to adenosine were determined by 3H-adenosine in combination with selective ADOR-A2A and A2B antagonists (SCH58261 and MRS1706).Na(i)ve CD4+ cells were collected from human umbilical cord blood and co-cultured with mDCs treated by different ADOR agonists to observe T cell responses.The production of cytokines in culture was measured by ELISA.The polarization of CD4+ cells was analyzed by intracellular cytokine staining and FACs analysis.Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were treated with IL-4 and GMCSF to induce the expression of monocyte-derived DCs (Mo-DCs).Mo-DCs were treated with different toll-like receptor ligands to investigate their effects on the expression of ador-a2a and adora2b.Moreover,Mo-DCs were treated with LPS and BAY 60-6583 individually or in the combination to stimulate CD4+ cells.Then the production of cytokines and the polarization of CD4+ cells were evaluated.Results Compared with patients without Crohn's disease,patients with Crohn's disease showed no change in the expression of ador-a2a but a significantly increased expression of ador-a2b in mCDs (CD-mDCs),enabling to bind more adenosines.Activated ADOR-A2B signaling pathway induced CD-mDCs to secret more proinflammatory cytokines and to promote polarization of CD4+ cells toward Th1 and Th17 cells.Toll-like receptor ligands,pam3csk4 and LPS could intensively augment the expression of ador-a2b in Mo-DCs.The pathogenicity of Mo-DCs was strengthened upon a combined stimulation with BAY 60-6583 and LPS.Conclusion The significantly increased expression of ador-a2b in mDCs might be involved in the pathogenesis of Crohn's disease by promoting mDCs to secret more pro-inflammatory cytokines and enhancing the polarization of CD4+ cells.Moreover,the expression of ador-a2b in DCs could be regulated by certain toll like receptors.

Objective To compare the levels of serum CEA, NSE and CYFRA21-1 of patients with lung cancer and those with benign lung diseases, and to evaluate the clinical differential diagnostic value of combined detection of serum CEA, NSE and CYFRA21-1 in patients with lung cancer. Methods CEA, NSE and CYFRA21-1 were determined with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 122 patients with lung cancer and 37 patients with benign lung diseases. The data was analyzed by t test. Results The serum levels of CEA(12.95?33.04ng/ml), CYFRA21-1(4.87?0.638ng/ml) in patients with lung cancer were significantly higher than that in those with benign lung diseases (1.92?0.84ng/ml and 4.87?0.638ng/ml, respectively)(P0.05). The levels of serum CEA, NSE and CYFRA21-1 were related to types of pathology. The highest levels of CEA, NSE and CYFRA21-1 appeared in adenocarcinoma, small cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, respectively. The level of serum of NSE (26.05?20.69ng/ml) in patients with small cell carcinoma was significantly higher than that of the patients with benign lung disease, adenocarcinoma (11.26?6.97ng/ml) and squamous cell carcinoma (12.71?7.64ng/ml), respectively (P0.05). Conclusion Combined determination of serum levels of CEA, NSE and CYFRA21-1 is helpful in differential diagnosis of lung cancers.

Rheumatoid arthritis(RA)is a serious autoimmune disease.Type Ⅱ collagen induced murine arthritis(CIA)displays polyarthritis and causes chronic and destructive joint damages,which is similar to RA in many aspects.CIA is widely used for the research on RA pathogenesis and drug discovery.In this review,we discussed the establishment of CIA and the key factors participating in the CIA pathogenesis.

The functional neuroimaging techniques might help to understand cerebral neuronal activities,synaptic transmission,fiber connections and other associated diseases at the molecular level.Since neuroimaging datasets are large,it is important to find some easy and efficient analytical approaches to facilirate the diagnosis and to reveal the pathogenesis for many neurological diseases.Functional imaging techniques are expected to be novel modalities for assessing diagnosis,treatment response and prognosis for neurological diseases.The latest development of analytical approaches for functional neuroimaging based on nuclear medicine is reviewed in this article.