Objective To investigate arterial endothelial dysfunction in stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients and the correlation between the degree of endothelial dysfunction and the severity of COPD.Methods Forty stable COPD patients were enrolled in a COPD group and 30 non-COPD individuals in a control group.The endothelium-dependent flow-mediated vasodilatation (FMD) of the brachial artery and serum eNO value were measured in both groups.Forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1)/prediction of FEV1 was determined and expressed as FEV1 (％ pred).Results The mean FMD was significantly lower in the COPD group (11.21±5.19) ％ than in the control group (19.86±5.24)％ (t=6.090,P=0.001).The Pearson's correlation analysis showed FMD was positively correlated with FEV1 (％pred) in COPD patients (r=0.440,P＜0.05).The mean serum eNO level in the COPD group (108.58 ± 42.22) μmol/L was significantly lower than in the control group (151.17 ± 97.40)μmol/L (t =2.242,P =0.039).Conclusions The endothelium-dependent flow-mediated vasodilatation is significantly impaired in stable COPD patients,and the degree of impairment is proportional to the FEV1 (％ prediction of FEV1) in COPD patients.

Objective The objective of this study was to investigate the levels of serum miR-21 and miR-34a in patients with advanced gastric cancer before and after Folfox chemotherapy and its relationship with chemotherapy efficacy.Methods Forty-five patients with advanced gastric cancer who underwent Folfox chemotherapy were enrolled from May 2015 to October 2015.The levels of miR-21 and miR-34a were analyzed by Real-time PCR before and after chemotherapy.The relationship between miR-21 and miR-34a levels and chemotherapy efficacy was analyzed.The predictive values of miR-21 and miR-34a on the efficacy of chemotherapy were evaluated by the receiver operating curve(ROC).Results After chemotherapy,6 cases(13.33%)were relieved,10 cases(22.22%)were stable disease(SD),29 cases(64.44%)were disease progress(PD),the objective response rate(ORR)was 13.33%,the disease control rate(DCR)was 35.56%,the median survival time was 8.1 months.The level of miR-21 was down-regulated and up-regulation for miR-34a after chemotherapy.They were statistically significant(P<0.05).The level of miR-21 in the chemotherapy group was lower than that in the ineffective group,and the level of miR-34a was higher than that of the ineffective group(P<0.05).MiR-21 was negatively correlated with the efficacy of chemotherapy(rs=-0.431,P<0.05),while miR-34a was positively correlated with it(rs=0.504,P<0.05).The median survival time was 7.6 months for low-level patients with miR-21 and 6.0 months for high-level patients.The median survival time of miR-34a patients was 5.5 months,compared with 8.3 months for high-level patients,with a statistically significant difference(P<0.05).The Log-Rank test showed that the median survival of patients with low miR-21 was higher than that of patients with high miR-21(P<0.05).The median survival of patients with high miR-34a was higher than that of patients with low miR-34a(P<0.05).The miR-21 combined with miR-34a in predicting chemotherapy efficacy under the curve(AUC)was 0.865,the sensitivity was 80.9% and the specificity was 89.8%.Conclusion miR-21 and miR-34a are correlated with chemotherapy efficacy median survival time of patients with advanced gastric cancer.