OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of early rehabilitation intervention on the incidences of extrauterine growth retardation (EUGR) and early diseases in preterm infants.

METHODSThe appropriate-for-gestational-age preterm infants with a gestational age of <34 weeks and a birth weight of 1 000 to <2 000 g who were admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) within 24 hours after birth were enrolled in a prospective randomized controlled trial. These infants were randomly divided into rehabilitation intervention group and control group. The infants in the rehabilitation intervention group were given early rehabilitation after their vital signs became stable, including oral sensory and muscle strength training and pressure touching of the head, chest, abdomen, extremities, hands, and feet. The primary outcome measures were the time to independent oral feeding, length of hospital stay, and incidence rate of EUGR. The secondary outcome measures were the incidence rates of related diseases in preterm infants, such as apnea, feeding intolerance, and sepsis.

RESULTSA total of 97 preterm infants who met the inclusion criteria and had complete data were enrolled, with 48 in the control group and 49 in the rehabilitation intervention group. The rehabilitation intervention group had a shorter time to independent oral feeding than the control group (P<0.05). Compared with the control group, the rehabilitation intervention group had a shorter length of hospital stay and a lower corrected gestational age at discharge (P<0.05), as well as a lower incidence rate of EUGR (P<0.05). The rehabilitation intervention group ONCLUSIONS: Early rehabilitation intervention for preterm infants in the NICU may reduce the incidence rates of apnea, feeding intolerance, and EUGR and help them to achieve independent oral feeding early.

OBJECTIVETo explore the trend change of the morbidity and mortality of colorectal cancer in China in order to provide reference to the prevention and control of colorectal cancer.

METHODSAccording to the 1-3 volumes of "Pathogenesis and death of malignancies in pilot program city and county of China", "Pathogenesis and death of cancer in China"(2003-2007) and "Registration annual report of tumor in China" published in 2011 and 2012, data of pathogenesis and death of colorectal cancer from 10 tumor registration spots, including Beijing urban, Shanghai urban, Wuhan urban, Harbin urban (defined as city urban), and Hebei Ci County, Jiangsu Qidong District, Zhejiang Jiashan District, Guangxi Fusui County, Fujian Changle District, Henan Lin County (defined as rural district), between 1988 and 2009 were collected. The morbidity and mortality were elucidated with world population standardized rate. Ratio of pathogenesis to death was calculated with crude rate of morbidity and mortality. Data of 22 years were enrolled into the linear regression analysis to calculate the annual change rate of morbidity and mortality statistically.

RESULTS(1) Colon cancer: morbidity presented increasing trend; male morbidity in city urban increased faster; mortality presented increasing trend as well; no significant difference of increasing velocity was observed between city urban and rural district; morbidity and mortality in city urban were higher compared to rural district; morbidity and mortality of males were higher compared to females; except stable Fujian Changle District, ratio of pathogenesis to death presented decreased trend in Shanghai urban and Hebei Ci County, and increased trend in other 7 spots (all P<0.05). (2) Rectal cancer: morbidity presented increasing trend, and its increasing velocity of city urban was faster compared to rural district; mortality presented decreased trend, especially in females, and this trend in rural district was worse compared to city urban; morbidity and mortality of males were higher compared to females, while no significant difference was observed between city urban and rural district; morbidity and mortality of males and females in Zhejiang Jiashan District were all decreased (all P<0.05); except stable Harbin city, ratio of pathogenesis to death presented increased trend in other 9 spots (all P<0.05). (3) Ratio analysis of morbidity and mortality showed that percentage of colon cancer increased gradually in all 10 spots between 1988-2009.

CONCLUSIONSIn the past 2 decades, the overall morbidity and mortality of colorectal cancer are higher in city urban and in male as compared with rural district and female. Colon cancer has higher morbidity than rectal cancer and its morbidity and mortality present increased trend, while morbidity of rectal cancer presents increased trend but its mortality presents decreased trend.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Increased salivary pepsin could indicate an increase in gastro-esophageal reflux, however, previous studies failed to demonstrate a correlation between salivary pepsin concentrations and 24-hour esophageal acid exposure. This study aims to detect the salivary pepsin and to evaluate the relationship between salivary pepsin concentrations and intercellular spaces (IS) in different gastroesophageal reflux disease phenotypes in patients. METHODS: A total of 45 patients and 11 healthy volunteers were included in this study. All subjects underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, 24-hour ambulatory multichannel impedance-pH (MII-pH) monitoring, and salivary sampling at 3-time points during the 24-hour MII-pH monitoring. IS were measured by transmission electron microscopy, and salivary pepsin concentrations were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: The IS measurements were greater in the esophagitis (EE), non-erosive reflux disease (NERD), and hypersensitive esophagus (HO) groups than in the functional heartburn (FH) and healthy volunteer groups, and significant differences were indicated. Patients with NERD and HO had higher average pepsin concentrations compared with FH patients. A weak correlation was determined between IS and salivary pepsin among patients with NERD (r = 0.669, P = 0.035). CONCLUSIONS: We confirmed the presence of a higher level of salivary pepsin in patients with NERD than in patients with FH. Salivary pepsin concentrations correlated with severity of mucosal integrity impairment in the NERD group. We suggest that in patients with NERD, low levels of salivary pepsin can help identify patients with FH, in addition the higher the pepsin concentration, the more likely the severity of dilated IS.
Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Esophagitis ; Esophagus ; Extracellular Space ; Gastroesophageal Reflux* ; Healthy Volunteers ; Heartburn ; Humans ; Microscopy, Electron, Transmission ; Pepsin A* ; Phenotype

PURPOSE: Evidence on the contribution of genes to the hereditary predisposition to pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is limited. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, we hypothesized that single nucleotide variants in vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene may alter gene function and expression and may be associated with PAH risk. Five putatively functional loci (rs699947C>A and rs833061T>C in the promoter, rs3025040C>T, rs10434G>A and rs3025053G>A in the 3'-UTR) in the VEGF gene were genotyped and analyzed in a retrospective study of 587 patients with PAH and 736 healthy subjects from southern China. RESULTS: We found that the rs833061T>C polymorphism was significantly associated with PAH risk, while the other single nucleotide polymorphisms were not. Compared to carriers with TT genotype, those with rs833061C variant genotype (CT/CC) had an increased risk of PAH (odds ratio=1.47, 95% confidence interval=1.18–1.83, p=0.001). Functional assays indicated that CT/CC variant genotype had significantly higher mRNA levels of VEGF in peripheral blood mononuclear cells than TT genotype (p=0.021). Luciferase reporter assay indicated that having a C allele conferred a significantly higher transcription activity than that with a T allele. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that the functional polymorphism rs833061T>C in VEGF gene promoter modulates VEGF expression and may be a valuable biomarker for predicting PAH susceptibility.
Alleles ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group* ; China ; Genotype ; Healthy Volunteers ; Humans ; Hypertension* ; Luciferases ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Retrospective Studies ; RNA, Messenger ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A*

The chemical property of cinnamaldehyde is unstable in vivo, although early experiments have shown its obvious therapeutic effects on viral myocarditis (VMC). To overcome this problem, we used cinnamaldehyde as a leading compound to synthesize derivatives. Five derivatives of cinnamaldehyde were synthesized: 4-methylcinnamaldehyde (1), 4-chlorocinnamaldehyde (2), 4-methoxycinnamaldehyde (3), α-bromo-4-methylcinnamaldehyde (4), and α-bromo-4-chlorocinnamaldehyde (5). Neonatal rat cardiomyocytes and HeLa cells infected by coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) were used to evaluate their antiviral and cytotoxic effects. In vivo BALB/c mice were infected with CVB3 for establishing VMC models. Among the derivatives, compound 4 and 5 inhibited the CVB3 in HeLa cells with the half-maximal inhibitory concentrations values of 11.38 ± 2.22 μM and 2.12 ± 0.37 μM, respectively. The 50% toxic concentrations of compound 4 and 5-treated cells were 39-fold and 87-fold higher than in the cinnamaldehyde group. Compound 4 and 5 effectively reduced the viral titers and cardiac pathological changes in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, compound 4 and 5 significantly inhibited the secretion, mRNA and protein expressions of inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 in CVB3-infected cardiomyocytes, indicating that brominated cinnamaldehyde not only improved the anti-vital activities for VMC, but also had potent anti-inflammatory effects in cardiomyocytes induced by CVB3.
Animals ; Cytokines ; HeLa Cells ; Humans ; Interleukin-6 ; Mice ; Myocarditis* ; Myocytes, Cardiac ; Rats ; RNA, Messenger ; Therapeutic Uses

OBJECTIVETo systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture on diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in the past five years.

METHODSOnline databases, including CNKI, VIP, WANFANG, PubMed, CBM, ScienceDirect OnSite, Cochrane Library, etc. were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of acupuncture for diarrhea-predominant IBS. Retrieval time was from January of 2011 to January of 2016. According to modified Jadad standard, the bias risk and quality assessment of each RCT included were evaluated by two researchers. RevMan 5.3 software was adopted for the meta-analysis.

RESULTSTotally 17 RCTs were included with 1 333 patients. The result of meta-analysis indicated the total effective rate of clinical symptoms improvement in the acupuncture group or acupuncture combined with western medicine group was superior to that in the western medicine group (=3.92, 95%:2.83~5.43,<0.01), and the funnel plot was basically symmetry. The result of meta-analysis showed 3-month recurrence rate:=0.22, 95%:0.12~0.41 (<0.01), indicating the recurrence rate in the acupuncture group was lower than that in the western medicine group in three month.

CONCLUSIONSAcupuncture for diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome is superior to conventional treatment of western medication, which can improve the clinical symptoms and reduce the recurrence rate of patients.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the adverse effects of high-dose methotrexate (HDMTX) therapy, and to provide a theoretical basis for optimizing clinical treatment.

METHODSA retrospective analysis was performed for the clinical data of 120 children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia or non-Hodgkin lymphoma who underwent 601 times of HDMTX therapy. The adverse effects of various systems were analyzed according to the WHO criteria for the classification of adverse effects of anticancer drugs.

RESULTSAlmost all the children experienced bone marrow suppression, and 93.3% had granulocytopenia. The most common adverse effects in the digestive system and urinary system were elevated glutamic-pyruvic transaminase (60.4%) and proteinuria (9.2%) respectively. For skin symptoms, skin erythema had the highest incidence rate (7.2%). The adverse effects in the nervous system (hyperpathia, numbness of extremities, or headache) were only observed in 7 cases. Serious adverse effects were only seen in the blood system and digestive system. Compared with the 3 g/mmethotrexate (MTX) group, the 5 g/mHDMTX group had a significantly higher 24-hour plasma MTX concentration, significant reductions in hemoglobin and platelet count, and significantly higher incidence rates of oral mucositis, proteinuria, and skin symptoms (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONSSerious adverse effects of HDMTX therapy mainly involve the blood system and digestive system, and the adverse effects such as bone marrow suppression, oral mucositis, proteinuria, and skin symptoms occur in a dose-dependent manner.

Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic ; adverse effects ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Female ; Humans ; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin ; drug therapy ; Male ; Methotrexate ; adverse effects ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma ; drug therapy ; Retrospective Studies

This article reported the clinical features of one child with infantile hypophosphatasia (HPP) and his pedigree information. The proband was a 5-month-old boy with multiple skeletal dysplasia (koilosternia, bending deformity of both radii, and knock-knee deformity of both knees), feeding difficulty, reduction in body weight, developmental delay, recurrent pneumonia and respiratory failure, and a significant reduction in blood alkaline phosphatase. Among his parents, sister, uncle, and aunt (other family members did not cooperate with us in the examination), his parents and aunt had a slight reduction in alkaline phosphatase and his aunt had scoliosis; there were no other clinical phenotypes or abnormal laboratory testing results. His ALPL gene mutation came from c.228delG mutation in his mother and c.407G>A compound heterozygous mutation in his father. His aunt carried c.228delG mutation. The c.407G>A mutation had been reported as the pathogenic mutation of HPP, and c.228delG mutation was a novel pathogenic mutation. Hypophosphatasia is caused by ALPL gene mutation, and ALPL gene detection is an effective diagnostic method. This study expands the mutation spectrum of ALPL gene and provides a theoretical basis for genetic diagnosis of this disease.
Alkaline Phosphatase ; genetics ; Carrier Proteins ; chemistry ; Female ; Heterozygote ; Humans ; Hypophosphatasia ; etiology ; genetics ; Infant ; Male ; Mutation ; Pedigree

OBJECTIVETo investigate the relationship between peripheral white blood cell count and early death rate of the patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL).

METHODSThrough retrospective study, the relationship of early death rate in 116 cases newly diagnosed APL patients with maximum of peripheral blood white blood cell count should be analyzed before and after induction therapy as well as in the whole course of disease during the past 8 years.

RESULTSThere was a close relationship between the peripheral white blood cell count and the early death rate in APL patients. Peripheral blood white blood cell count in the early died patients was significantly higher than that of the survival patients (P<0.05). ROC analysis showed that the highest risk threshold of peripheral white cell count was 70×10/L (P<0.05) before treatment, while the highest risk threshold after treatment and in the whole course of disease were 96.4×10/L(P<0.05) and 91.5×10/L(P<0.01) respectively. The dealth rate of patients with highest risk threshold was significantly increased (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe highest peripheral blood white blood cell count closely relates with the early death rate of patients at different time points in the whole course of disease. Control of peripheral white blood cell count may effectively reduce the early death rate of APL patients.

This study is aimed to identify and assess the methodological quality of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) clinical practice guidelines (CPG) in China by using AGREE Ⅱ tool. CNKI, SinoMed, Wanfang, and VIP Chinese databases from database establishment to March 2017 were searched by manual retrieval to collect all the clinical practice guidelines prepared by various associations or organizations, then AGREE Ⅱtool was used to assess them. Data in each CPG were analyzed in terms of six domains, including scope and purpose, participants, rigor, clarity and readability, applicability and editorial independence. A total of 4 CPGs were included. The results showed that the scope and purpose scored 45.8%; the clarity of expression scored 44.75%; the participants scored 31.9%; the rigor scored 18.98%; the applicability scored 7%; and finally the editorial independence scored 1%. It is concluded that the quality of applicability and the editorial independence should attained paid more attention in future development or updating of the guidelines. In addition to strengthening the compliance with international general principles, we should also pay attention to the characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine treatment, especially the related evidences as complementary and alternative treatment for western intervention measures.