食管癌新辅助放化疗疗效预测分子标志物

局部晚期食管癌单纯手术治疗预后较差,新辅助放化疗并手术治疗的方案可明显延长食管癌患者的总体生存时间.目前,该治疗方案已成为欧美国家及我国对局部晚期食管癌进行规范化治疗的指南.然而,由于只有经新辅助放化疗后获得病理缓解的患者可从中获益,治疗无反应的患者预后可能比单纯手术更差.因此,预测食管癌新辅助放化疗的疗效,区分优势人群和耐受人群,从而实现个体化的治疗极为重要.分子标记物用于预测食管癌新辅助放化疗的疗效研究前景广阔,有望广泛应用于临床实践,指导局部晚期食管癌个体化治疗方案的决策.     

Technical aspects and complications of plasma-exchange

Summary Technical aspects including technology for plasma-exchange, anticoagulation, blood access and blood substitutes are reviewed. The consequences of exchange on the level of various proteins are analyzed considering especially their role in coagulation disorders and immunomodulation. The complications which have been published and those which have been the result of a French inquiry are extensively analyzed. The mortality in this later experience is around 1% represented by non-cardiac pulmonary edema and cardiac circulatory failure. The factors which can reduce hazards are reviewed.     

内毒素致伤大鼠肺组织促炎与抗炎细胞因子mRNA表达的时相性研究

目的 研究不同剂量内毒素致伤大鼠肺组织促炎和抗炎细胞因子mRNA表达的时相性,并探讨这些细胞因子在全身炎症反应失控和急性肺损伤中的可能作用。方法 采用逆转录-聚合酶链反应(RT-PCR)检测不同剂量脂多糖(LPS)致伤大鼠肺组织肿瘤坏死因子-α(TNF-α)、白细胞介素(IL)-1β、IL-6、IL-4、IL-10和IL-13的mRNA表达。结果 随着LPS剂量增加,TNF-α、IL-1β、IL-6、IL-4、IL-10和IL-13的mRNA表达均增强(与生理盐水对照组比较,P均<0.01);LPS≥6 mg/kg组上述细胞因子表达显著高于此剂量以下组(P均<0.01)。表达峰值时间:TNF-α为1 h,IL-6为4 h,其他均在2 h。结论 内毒素致急性肺损伤中,TNF-α是早期表达的促炎细胞因子,而IL-6在炎症进一步发展中发挥作用;抗炎细胞因子IL-4、IL-10、IL-13高表达亦可能促进炎症的放大而不是起保护作用。     

Convergent Validity and Responsiveness of the SULCS

Objective

To evaluate the convergent validity and responsiveness of the Stroke Upper Limb Capacity Scale (SULCS) in comparison to the Arm Motor Ability Test (AMAT), the Box and Blocks Test (BBT), and the upper limb Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA). The SULCS is a relatively new measure that was designed to be easier to score and less time consuming than some existing measures.

A parallel software architecture for building intelligent medical monitors

Intensive care units become more complicated each day as the number of devices developed to monitor various aspects of a patient's status continues to increase. Intelligent monitors attempt to reduce this complexity by interpreting the data and presenting a high level summary to the clinician. We propose an innovative parallel software architecture for constructing intelligent medical monitors: theprocess trellis. The process trellis is an explicitly parallel structure, and therefore can take advantage of the performance gains available from parallel computing hardware. It does not, however, presuppose any expertise in parallel programming on the part of the application programmer. A prototype cardiovascular monitor has been built using this parallel software architecture. Preliminary testing of the monitor has shown that real-time cardiovascular monitoring, including data calculations, symbolic classification, and interpretation can be accomplished in real-time.This paper is a revised version of a paper originally published in the Proceedings of the 13th Annual Symposium on Computer Applications in Medical Care held in Washington, D.C. November 5–9, 1989. (Edited by Lawrence C. Kingsland III).In the past referred to as the process lattice [1].     

脉冲电磁场通过Wntβ-catenin信号通路改善膝骨关节炎大鼠炎症反应的机制

目的:探讨脉冲电磁场通过Wntβ-catenin信号转导机制改善膝骨关节炎大鼠炎症反应的机制。方法:选取90只SD大鼠,均分为正常组、模型组和脉冲电磁场组,除正常组,其余各组均构建膝骨关节炎模型。测定各组大鼠局部皮温、膝关节周径和Lequesne MG评分;采取甲苯胺蓝染色进行Mankins评分;Western Blot检测软骨细胞凋亡调控蛋白Caspase-3和Caspase-8水平;ELISA法测定滑膜IL-1β、MMP-13、TNF-α表达;并检测Wnt和β-catenin mRNA和蛋白表达差异;检测大鼠线粒体膜电位。结果:与正常组相比,模型组大鼠膝关节局部皮温、膝关节周径、Lequesne MG评分、Mankins评分、Wntβ-catenin表达以及滑膜IL-1β、MMP-13、TNF-α水平均上调（P<0.05）;与模型组比较,脉冲电磁场组膝关节周径、Lequesne MG评分,Mankins评分、Wntβ-catenin表达以及滑膜IL-1β、MMP-13、TNF-α水平均下调（P<0.05）。相较于正常组,其余2组的关节软骨线粒体膜电位均有所下调。与模型组相比,脉冲电磁场组线粒体膜电位有所上调,脉冲电磁场组优于模型组。结论:脉冲电磁场能抑制膝骨关节炎模型大鼠炎症反应,有效修复软骨损伤,降低炎症因子表达,抑制Wntβ-catenin信号转导。     

Neo‐adjuvant Capecitabine Chemotherapy in Women with Newly Diagnosed Locally Advanced Breast Cancer in a Resource‐poor Setting (Nigeria): Efficacy and Safety in a Phase II Feasibility Study

The majority of clinical trials of neo‐adjuvant therapy for breast cancer have been conducted in resource‐rich countries. We chose Nigeria, a resource‐poor country, as the major site for a phase II feasibility open‐label multicenter clinical trial designed to evaluate the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of neo‐adjuvant capecitabine in locally advanced breast cancer (LABC). Planned treatment consisted of 24 weeks of capecitabine at a dose of 1,000 mg/m² twice daily (2,000 mg/m² total per day). The primary endpoints were overall, partial, complete clinical response rate (OCR, PCR, CCR) and complete pathologic response (cPR). A total of 16 patients were recruited from August 2007 to April 2010. The study was terminated early as a result of slow accrual. After the first three cycles of therapy, PCR were seen in five of 16 patients (31%; 95% CI 11–59%). Of the remaining 11 patients, eight had no response (NR) or stable disease (SD), and three had progressive disease (PD). Seven patients proceeded with further therapy of which had SD. OCR at the end of eight cycles was 44% (95% CI 20–70%). Clinical response and radiologic response by ultrasonomammography were highly concordant (spearman correlation 0.70). The most common adverse effect was Grade 1 hand–foot syndrome, which was seen in 75% of patients. Despite several limitations, we successfully carried out this phase II feasibility study of neo‐adjuvant capecitabine for LABC in Nigeria. Capecitabine monotherapy showed good overall response rates with minimal toxicity and further studies are warranted.