Postmenopausal Women With Colles'' Fracture Have Lower Values of Bone Mineral Density Than Controls as Measured by Quantitative Ultrasound and Densitometry

Measurement of ultrasonographic parameters provides information concerning not only bone density but also bone architecture. We investigated the usefulness of ultrasonographic parameters and bone mineral density (BMD) to evaluate the probability of Colles' fracture. Two-hundred eighty-nine postmenopausal women (62.3 +/- 8.7 yr) with (n = 76) and without (n = 213) Colles' fracture were studied. BMD of lumbar spine and proximal femur was evaluated in all women by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and speed of sound (SOS), broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA), and stiffness in the calcaneus were measured by a Sahara ultrasonometer (Hologic). Patients suffering from Colles' fracture had lower values of BMD adjusted by height at the lumbar spine, L2-L4 (0.797 g/cm2 vs 0.860 g/cm2), femoral neck (0.685 g/cm2 vs 0.712 g/cm2 ), SOS (1518 m/sg vs 1525 m/sg), and stiffness (74.6 vs 77.7) (p < 0.05). Nevertheless, BUA values were similar in both groups. After stepwise logistic regression analysis, the area found under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves was 0.60 for L2L4 and 0.63 for a formula combining L2L4 and height. Our data suggest that patients suffering from Colles' fracture have lower values of BMD by DXA, SOS, and stiffness. However, the ability of these techniques to discriminate is low because the values for the area under ROC curve are 0.60 for L2-L4 and 0.63 for a formula derived of the combination of L2-L4 and height.     

Quantitative observation by enzyme cytochemistry of human rectal adenocarcinoma cells killed by LAK cells

Activity of succinic dehydrogenase(SDH)and acid phosphatase(AcPase)of effector-target cells during the process of LAK cells killing HR8348 cells was estimated by enzyme cyto-chemistry technique.SHD positive granules and AePase gray level were assayed with MIAS-300image analyser.The results showed:(1)After cocultivation of effector and target cells for vari-ous times,the activity of AcPase of HR8348 cells was apparently higher than that of the controlgroup,and it increased following prolonged coincubation.SDH activity of target cells increasedmarkedly within 30 and 60 rain cocultivation,but became low after 90 min treatment.(2)Ac-Pase content within LAK cells at 60,90,120,180 and 240 rain cocultivation was significantlyhigher than that of control group(P<0.01).The phenomenon of high AcPase and SDH activitywithin effector-target cells indicates that the function of the two types of cells was in an activestate.At the early stage of effector-target combining,the increase of SDH with HR8348 cellsmay be related to defensive function of the target cells.Higher AcPase activity of target cells in-dicates the activation of lysosomal enzyme which serves as the material basis for autolysis of thecells.     

重视药物利用评价研究,开展药物利用评价活动

药物利用评价是当前医院合理用药的深入发展的重要体现,也是临床药学的重要工作之一。本文论述了药物利用评价的目的、意义、方法和进展,以及药物利用评价在医院药房中的应用,以期引起有关人员的重视。     

Invasive techniques for the diagnosis of respiratory infectious diseases

Conclusion Reviewing the history of diagnostic procedures of causative organisms of respiratory infections, invasive techniques such as the protected specimen catheter (PSB) and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) have become the preferred choices because they have many advantages. These methods cause the patient relatively little discomfort, and permit an early diagnosis since they can easily be performed at the bedside and the causative organism from the disease site is obtained in cultures. These procedures can be used not only in patients with community-acquired lung infections, but also in immunocompromised hosts, including those with blood diseases or following renal transplantation, in patients in intensive care units and in mechanically-ventilated patients so that the cause can be accurately determined and chemotherapy started quickly, resulting in better therapeutic efficacy. Although these invasive procedures are advantageous for the diagnosis of respiratory infections, they also present various problems which remain to be addressed including minimizing contamination and setting diagnostic threshold values. However, the importance of accurately determining the causative organism in respiratory infections should be recognized as the most important factor, and these methods have shown to date to provide the most accurate information to aid in the timely treatment of respiratory infections in a wide variety of patients.     

Developing ‘FOCUS’: A project to promote effective practice in child and adolescent mental health services in the UK

Summary UK health policy requires child and adolescent mental health service providers to demonstrate that their services are effective. The FOCUS project has been developed to improve the availability and accessibility of research evidence and innovation, to support purchasers in the effective commissioning of services and to help providers base service provision on evidence of effectiveness and develop methods of evaluation.     

毛细玻管人体肿瘤干细胞集落形成检测

人癌干细胞集落形成测定常用双层琼脂平皿法。新法系采用园形玻璃毛细管法培养!可 以减少细胞用量及药物消耗。管内径为1.3mm,管长9.75cm,内盛15.000有核细胞/50μl,培养7～ 14天。50例肿瘤活检标本生长成功率为88％,并可供化疗药物敏感性试验用。这种微量化检测具有 独特的优点,便于推广应用。     

Quantitative analysis of the tomographic technetium-99m MIBI (99mTc-MIBI) myocardial bullseye display: Application to diagnosis of coronary artery disease

Summary In this study, the^99mTc-MIBI myocardial bullseye display of 31 healthy persons and 34 patients with myocardial ischemia and 17 patients with myocardial infarction were analyzed quantitatively, and compared with the results of myocardial tomography analysis and qualitative bullseye analysis. The sensitivities of the three methods were 88.2%, 91.2% and 94.1% respectively (P>0.05), and the specificities were 93.5%, 83, 9% and 83.9% respectively (P<0.05). On the other hand, the quantitative analysis obviously outperformed the other two methods in the detection of ischemic segments of myocardhum near infarction zone (P<0.01). The quantitative analysis of^99mTc-MLBI myocardial bullseye (quantitative bullseye) was an objective, specific and sensitive method for diagnosis of coronary artery disease.     

Evaluation by dental students of a communication skills course using professional role-players in a UK school of dentistry

This paper reports student (n = 180) feedback on the role-play teaching methodology used in behavioural sciences teaching at The School of Dentistry in Birmingham (UK). The feedback received on this well-established (since 1995) educational programme was collected via questionnaire (100% response rate), requiring Likert scale and free text responses. Generally students reported that they had enjoyed and valued the session. Over two-thirds (69.7%) of students rated the role-players as 'very real' and over three-quarters (78.9%) rated their feedback as 'very fair'. The data collected from this study will inform future curriculum development. Student feedback was very positive and demonstrated that the cohort (86% of all students studying in years 1, 2 and 3) found the use of professional role-players involved in behavioural sciences teaching to be both acceptable and valuable.     

Developing a Peer Review Process for Web-based Curricula

The World Wide Web creates new challenges and opportunities for medical educators. Prominent among these are the lack of consistent standards by which to evaluate web-based educational tools. We present the instrument that was used to review web-based innovations in medical education submissions to the 2003 Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) national meeting, and discuss the process used by the SGIM web-based clinical curriculum interest group to develop the instrument. The 5 highest-ranked submissions are summarized with commentary from the reviewers.     

惠州市结核病控制项目实施效果评价

目的 总结我市结核病控制项目实施效果和经验。方法 根据全市各县(区)上报的结核病报表和有关总结材料进行分析。结果 在项目实施期间发现涂阳病人7522例，治愈了7303例，涂阳病人登记率从1993年的8．2／10万提高到2001年的39．4／10万，初、复治涂阳病人治愈率从1992年的80．0％和81．8％提高到2001年的98．9％和96．2％。结论 我市结核病控制项目实施效果显，项目所取得的成功经验和技术策略对今后结核病控制可持续发展有着重要的指导作用。