Accounting for Complexity in Home Telemonitoring: A Need for Context-Centred Evidence

Heart failure represents a significant burden for patients and the Canadian health care system. Home telemonitoring is proposed as an intervention that can improve heart failure outcomes by identifying opportunities for earlier clinical intervention and by providing patients with self-management support between scheduled clinic visits. The objective of this review is to provide clarity with respect to the most recent evidence of the effect of home telemonitoring on heart failure outcomes. Despite some strong evidence that telemonitoring can reduce the risk of mortality and heart failure-related hospitalizations, important inconsistencies exist in the evidence. This article proposes that much of the inconsistency results from differences in the patient population being studied, the type of home telemonitoring intervention, and the implementation setting. Also important is the degree to which intervention fidelity is maintained throughout the course of a study; this is emphasized through a review of the factors that influence the degree to which patients and health care providers use home telemonitoring interventions as intended. In this article we propose that for researchers to produce definitive answers regarding the effect of home telemonitoring on heart failure outcomes, interventions and studies need to be designed and tailored according to the characteristics of the target patient population and the implementation context.     

上海市长宁区25～35岁未育女性的生殖健康知晓现况及保健措施

目的:探讨上海市长宁区25~35岁未育女性的生殖健康知晓现况及保健措施。方法:选取上海市长宁区2014年5月至2016年5月居住的未育女性4089例,采用问卷形式对所有女性的一般情况、避孕、性观念等内容进行调查,将女性卫生保健、性观念/行为等数据详细记录下来,然后对其进行统计分析。结果:受调查的未育女性对女性生殖道生理特点非常了解、一般了解、一知半解、完全不了解的分别有614例(15.3%)、2089例(52.2%)、1113例(27.8%)、187例(4.7%);对常见阴道炎的预防与保健知识非常了解、一般了解、一知半解、完全不了解的分别有318例(7.9%)、1885例(47.1%)、1212例(30.3%)、588例(14.7%);生殖感染发生次数≤1次、2~3次、≥4次的分别有2115例(52.8%)、1478例(36.9%)、410例(10.3%),当生殖道部位出现不适时选择立即就医、自行购药处理和不处理的分别有1201例(30.0%)、2111例(52.7%)、691例(17.3%);每天和性生活前后清洗外阴的分别有3008例(75.1%)、1785例(44.6%),清洗外阴时会用专用清洗液的有2010例(50.3%);有2412例(60.2%)在月经期间有性生活;2706例(32.4%)了解人工流产后1个月内应避免性生活。对于避孕方式的选择,分别有2625例(65.6%)、112例(2.8%)、112例(2.8%)、204例(5.1%)、308例(7.7%)、201例(5.0%)、199例(5.0%)、105例(2.6%)、101例(2.5%)表示会选择男用避孕套、女用避孕套、女性外用避孕药、安全期避孕、短效口服避孕药、长效口服避孕药、宫内节育环、手术结扎、皮下埋植的方法。结论:上海市长宁区25~35岁未育女性的生殖健康知晓现况不容乐观,需要临床积极采取有效的保健措施。     

Inhibition of Notch signalling has ability to alter the proximal and distal TCR signalling events in human CD3+ αβ T-cells

The Notch signalling pathway is an important regulator of T cell function and is known to regulate the effector functions of T cells driven by T cell receptor (TCR). However, the mechanism integrating these pathways in human CD3⁺ αβ T cells is not well understood. The present study was carried out to investigate how Notch and TCR driven signalling are synchronized in human αβ T cells. Differential expression of Notch receptors, ligands, and target genes is observed on human αβ T cells which are upregulated on stimulation with α-CD3/CD28 mAb. Inhibition of Notch signalling by GSI-X inhibited the activation of T cells and affected proximal T cell signalling by regulating CD3-ζ chain expression. Inhibition of Notch signalling decreased the protein expression of CD3-ζ chain and induced expression of E3 ubiquitin ligase (GRAIL) in human αβ T cells. Apart from affecting proximal TCR signalling, Notch signalling also regulated the distal TCR signalling events. In the absence of Notch signalling, α-CD3/CD28 mAb induced activation and IFN-γ production by αβ T cells was down-modulated. The absence of Notch signalling in human αβ T cells inhibited proliferative responses despite strong signalling through TCR and IL-2 receptor. This study shows how Notch signalling cooperates with TCR signalling by regulating CD3-ζ chain expression to support proliferation and activation of human αβ T cells.     

BNP对急性呼吸困难患者的应用价值

目的：通过观察急性呼吸困难患者的血浆B型钠尿肽（BNP）含量变化,探讨BNP在急性呼吸困难患者确定或排除心力衰竭中的诊断价值。方法：收集2006年1月～2007年12月来本院急诊室就诊的急性呼吸困难患者（236人）的资料,分成心源性呼吸困难组和肺源性呼吸困难组进行整理、统计和分析。结果：①心源性呼吸困难组BNP含量426.1（75.9～687.0）ng/L,显著高于肺源性呼吸困难组BNP含量47.2（22.1～101.2）ng/L（P〈0.01）。②由受试者工作特征曲线（ROC）分析显示,BNP在ROC曲线下面积为0.854,95%的可信区间为0.806～0.884;确定诊断临界值（cut-off）为100ng/L;敏感度80.5%,特异度79.3%,正确诊断指数为0.66。结论：BNP可作为急性呼吸困难患者的常规检查项目,便于快速确定心源性或肺源性呼吸困难,及时采取治疗措施。     

Mapping of the hepatitis B virus attachment site by use of infection-inhibiting preS1 lipopeptides and tupaia hepatocytes

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Studies on the early steps in the life cycle of hepatitis B virus have been hampered by the lack of readily available target cells. In this study, we mapped a defined virus attachment site to primary hepatocytes that is essential for infection. METHODS: We used purified virus particles from human carrier plasma as an inoculum and primary cultures of tupaia hepatocytes as susceptible target cells and studied the inhibitory effect of amino-terminally acylated preS1-derived lipopeptides on infection interference. RESULTS: Infectivity of virus could be blocked efficiently in this system by amino-terminally acylated peptides containing amino acids 2-18 from the preS1 domain. The addition of amino acids 28-48 enhanced the inhibitory capacity, whereas amino acids 49-78 did not contribute to inhibition. Myristoylated preS1 peptides 2-48 bound strongly to tupaia hepatocytes but not to nonhepatic cells or rodent hepatocytes and thereby inhibited infection even at concentrations of 1 nmol/L completely. Particles consisting only of the small hepatitis B surface protein-the active component of current hepatitis B vaccines-did not bind at all to tupaia hepatocytes, but the addition of the preS1 domain to the particles allowed binding. CONCLUSIONS: The preS1 sequence 2-48 mediates attachment of the virus to its target cells, whereas the small surface protein seems to be involved in other steps. These findings indicate that the current subunit hepatitis B vaccines may be improved by the addition of distinct preS1 epitopes. Moreover, preS1 lipopeptides are promising candidates for specific antiviral therapy against hepatitis B infections.     

Mitochondrial K<Subscript>ATP</Subscript> channel-dependent and -independent phases of ischemic preconditioning against myocardial infarction in the rat

To obtain insight into the role of the mitochondrial ATP-sensitive K(+) (mitoK(ATP)) channel in ischemic preconditioning (PC), we aimed to clarify the mitoK(ATP) channel-dependent phase of PC in two PC protocols with different intervals between PC ischemia and an index ischemia. The possible contribution of mitoK(ATP) channel opening to protein kinase C activation in PC was also examined by Western blotting. Myocardial infarction was induced by 30-min coronary occlusion/2-h reperfusion in rat hearts in situ, and infarct size was expressed as a percentage of the area at risk (% IS/AR). PC was performed with 2 episodes of 5-min ischemia, and each heart was subjected to 30-min ischemia either 5 min or 20 min after PC. At 5 min after PC, both PKC-delta and -epsilon were translocated and the myocardium was protected against infarction (% IS/AR = 28.3 +/- 2.7 % vs. 72.7 +/- 2.2 in controls p < 0.05). Pretreatment with a selective mitoK(ATP) channel blocker, 5-hydroxydecanoate (5-HD, 10 mg/kg), abolished the cardioprotection but not PKC translocation by PC. At 20 min after PC, PKC translocation remained at the same level as that 5 min after PC, but the anti-infarct tolerance was attenuated (%IS/AR = 43.5 +/- 4.7 %). Injection of 5-HD after PC did not affect anti-infarct tolerance at 5 min after PC but abolished the protection at 20 min after PC without any effects on PKC. These results suggest that the mitoK(ATP) channel plays a role in triggering of PC in a PKC-independent manner and that the role of the mitoK(ATP) channel as a mediator of protection is detectable after, but not before, the PC effect starts to decay without a change in the level of PKC translocation in the rat heart.