Construction of the Chinese Veteran Clinical Research （CVCR） Platform for the assessment of non-communicable diseases

Background Based on the excellent medical care and management system for Chinese veterans,as well as the detailed medical documentation available,we aim to construct a Chinese Veteran Clinical Research （CVCR） platform on noncommunicable diseases （NCDs） and carry out studies of the primary disabling NCDs.Methods The Geriatric Neurology Department of Chinese People＇s Liberation Army General Hospital and veterans＇ hospitals serve as the leading and participating units in the platform construction.The fundamental constituents of the platform are veteran communities.Stratified typical cluster sampling is adopted to recruit veteran communities.A cross-sectional study of mental,neurological,and substance use （MNS） disorders are performed in two stages using screening scale such as the Mini-Mental State Examination and Montreal cognitive assessment,followed by systematic neuropsychological assessments to make clinical diagnoses,evaluated disease awareness and care situation.Results A total of 9 676 among 277 veteran communities from 18 cities are recruited into this platform,yielding a response rate of 83.86％.8 812 subjects complete the MNS subproject screening and total response rate is 91.70％.The average participant age is （82.01±4.61） years,69.47％ of veterans are 80 years or older.Most participants are male （94.01％）,83.36％ of subjects have at least a junior high school degree.The overall health status of veterans is good and stable.The most common NCD are cardiovascular disorders （86.44％）,urinary and genital diseases （73.14％）,eye and ear problems （66.25％）,endocrine （56.56％） and neuro-psychiatric disturbances （50.78％）.Conclusion We first construct a veterans＇ comprehensive clinical research platform for the study of NCDs that is primarily composed of highly educated Chinese males of advanced age and utilize this platform to complete a cross-sectional national investigation of MNS disorders among veterans.The good and stable health condition of the veterans could facilitate the long-term follow-up studies of NCDs and provide prospective data to the prevention and management of NCDs.     

Beijing launches survey of occupational diseases

Beijing has been conducting a year-long survey on occupational diseases in 12 sectors in the Beijing municipal area, according to the municipal bureau of work safety.     

Applications of bio-techniques on treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

ＡＰＰＬＩＣＡＴＩＯＮＳＯＦＢＩＯ－ＴＥＣＨＮＩＱＵＥＳＯＮＴＲＥＡＴＭＥＮＴＯＦＣＡＲＤＩＯＶＡＳＣＵＬＡＲＤＩＳＥＡＳＥＳＴａｎｇＪｉａｎ汤健，ＺｈｏｕＡｉｒｕ周爱儒ａｎｄＣｈｅｎＧｕａｎｇｈｕｉ陈光慧ＩｎｓｔｉｔｕｔｅｏｆＣａｒｄｉｏｖａｓｃｕ...     

Screening of controls in cass-control study of infectious diseases

Ｓｃｒｅｅｎｉｎｇｏｆｃｏｎｔｒｏｌｓｉｎｃａｓｓ－ｃｏｎｔｒｏｌｓｔｕｄｙｏｆｉｎｆｅｃｔｉｏｕｓｄｉｓｅａｓｅｓＬｉＬｉａｎｇｓｈｏｕ（李良寿）；ＸｕＤｅｚｈｏｎｇ（徐德忠）；ＹａｎＹｏｎｇｐｉｎｇ（阎永平）（ＤｅｐａｒｔｍｅｎｔｏｆＥｐｉｄｅｍ...     

Is criminal violence a non-communicable disease? Exploring the epidemiology of violence in Jamaica

There is a high level of criminal violence that afflicts the Jamaican society. While it is certainly noncommunicable in the context of medicine and public health, the concepts of social contagion and the well-established fact of the intergenerational transfer of effects of trauma raise questions as to whether or not it is non-communicable in a social sense. Historically, scholars have linked Jamaican criminal violence to three main roots: poverty and urban decay, political patronage, garrisonisation and more recently to a fourth, the growth in transnational organized crime (TOC). Traditionally as well, policymakers have brought the three discrete perspectives of criminology, criminal justice and public health to bear on the problem. This paper applies a conceptual framework derived from a combination of epidemiology and the behavioural sciences to argue that a sustainable resolution to this looming and intractable social problem must take the form of a cocktail of policies that encompasses all three approaches at levels ranging from the community to the international.     

Chinese warned of rising rate in hepatitis diseases

Wealthy Chinese are being warned by doctors to note a growing number of hepatitis diseases, as nearly one in every 10 Chinese is a hepatitis B virus carrier. The high incidence of hepatitis is attributed by doctors to an increase in intake of alcohol and animal fat in diet, which has made hepatitis a so-called “Rich man’s disease”, said Prof. FAN Jian-gao, with a hospital affiliated to the Shanghai University of Communications. “Wealth is not to be blamed here, but the lack of knowledg…     

The present status of infectious diseases of laboratory animals in Bangladesh

The commonlaboratory animals in Bangladesh are rabbit,guinea pig,rat&mice.Commoninfectious diseases of rabbitare pasteurellosis,infectious myxomatosis,pneumonia,tyzzer’s disease,nasal catarrh,Conjunctivitis(weepy eye)&abscess formation.Amongthem,laterthree diseases are most commonin most of the animal housesin Bangladesh.Ente-rotoxaemia,primarilya diarrhoeal disease of rabbit caused by Clostridiumspiroformoccurs during4-8weeks of age show-ing clinical signslikelassitude,rough hair coat,peri…     

Application of Gd-DTPA in diseases of the central nervous system.

Patients whose routine MRI were negative but were clinically highly suspected of having intra-cranial or intra-spinal canal space-occupying lesions, and those whose routine MRI were positive but presented difficulties in defining the contour or the nature of the lesion, or difficulty in distinguishing the lesion from the surrounding edema were selected for Gd-DTPA enhancement. Altogether there were 80 cases, in which 51 had intracranial lesions and 29 intraspinal canal lesions. In each patient, Gd-DTPA 0.06-0.1 mmol/kg was injected intravenously 5 minutes before imaging (pituitary microadenoma images were taken immediately and 10 minutes after injection). No patient had contrast media reaction or complications. In cases with hemorrhage, hematoma, edema, cyst and arteriovenous malformation, no marked enhancement was observed after contrast media injection. When difficulty in differential diagnosis between these lesions and tumors occurs, injection of Gd-DTPA is very helpful. Gd-DTPA enhancement is of great benefit in diagnosis of intracranial or intraspinal canal tumors in four ways. 1) It reveals lesions which can not be demonstrated or can not be demonstrated clearly before enhancement, including iso-intensity lesions and small lesions which comprised 13.7% of our cases. 11 cases with equivocal diagnoses before enhancement obtained unequivocal diagnoses after enhancement. 2) It differentiates the tumor from edema more definitely. 3) It helps to distinguish the nature of lesions. 4) It shortens examination time when the T2 weighted image procedure is omitted.

     

Stroke in urban and rural areas of China.

A large-scale population survey was conducted to clarify the degree of harm and feature of distribution of stroke in China. 5 800,000 of a billion people were investigated in 29 provinces and cities excluding Taiwan province. The incidence, prevalence and mortality were standardized by direct method using the world standard population. The incidence of stroke was 109.95 per 100,000 people in 1986 and its 95% CI (confidence interval) 107.25-112.65 per 100,000. The age-standardized incidence was 115.87/100,000. The point prevalence of stroke was 245.49 per 100,000 people on December 31, 1986 and its 95% CI 241.57-249.61 per 100,000, with an age-standardized prevalence of 259.86 per 100,000. The mortality of stroke was 76.78 per 100,000 in 1986 and its 95% CI 74.52-79.04 per 100,000, with an age-standardized mortality of 80.94 per 100,000. There was a tendency for the rates to increase gradually from south to north and to decrease progressively from east to west. The models of linear regression were established between latitude and rates as well as between longitude and rates. The incidence, prevalence and mortality of stroke differed significantly in various topographic areas. They were much higher in cities than in rural areas, and much higher in men than in women. The incidence, prevalence and mortality increased with age, and their relationships fitted in Logistic curve well.

     

Miscellaneous diseases

920748 Magnetic stimulation of motorevoked potential in multiple sclerosis-acomparison with VEP, BAEP and SEP.CUI Liying(崔丽英), et al. Dept Neurol, PUMCHosp, Beijing, 100730. Chin J Neurol & Psy-chiat 1992; 25(3): 130-132. This study consists of 45 patients of MS their     

Burden of injuries and diseases in Yunnan Tin Miners

The burden of injuries is underestimated to an evengreater extent in developing countries than inindustrialized countries. The objective of this paper is toanalyze injuries and diseases in the monitored work place     

The role of Leptotrombidium scutellare in the transmission of human diseases.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the role of Leptotrombidium (L.) scutellare in the transmission of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and tsutsugamushi disease of autumn-type.

METHODS Four criteria were used to ascertain this mite as transmitting vector of disease: (1) epidemiological evidence; (2) natural infection of pathogen; (3) ability to transmit pathogen via biting; (4) ability to transfer pathogen via transovarian route.

RESULTS The results indicated that L. scutellare was the dominant species of chigger mite on rats. Its seasonal distribution was correlated with the incidence of these two diseases. This mite could be naturally infected by HFRS virus (HFRSV) and Rickettsia tsutsugamushi (Rt) and the mite could transmit HFRSV and Rt to vertebrates by biting and to its offspring via transovarian transmission.

CONCLUSIONS These results have proved that L. scutellare can be a transmitting vector of HFRS and tsutsugamushi disease of autumn-type.

     

Immunohistochemical assessments of HLA-DR antigen expression in autoimmune thyroid diseases

40 thyroid specimens from Tru-cut needle biopsy and surgerywere analyzed by APAAP immunohistochemical technique.It was shown thatthe expression of HLA-DR antigen on thyroid follicular cells (TFC) wasinvolved in almost every patient.The degree of DR expression was signifi-cantly higher in autoimmune thyroiditis (AIT) than in Graves' disease (GD)and in nontoxic goiter (NTG),The level of DR expression on TFC not onlycorrelated markedly with degree of MNC infiltration,but more so with degreeof DR expression on intrathyroidal infiltrates,suggesting that aberrant DR ex-pression in vivo may be related to the activation of intrathyroidal T cells.     

Changes of serum cholinesterase isozyme patterns in liver diseases.

A simple method was established for the separation and identification of serum cholinesterase (SChE) isozymes by using gradient polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and densitometric scanning. With this method, SChE isozyme patterns of 39 healthy adults and 232 patients with liver diseases were studied. 9 to 11 bands of SChE were demonstrated in healthy adults. The activities increasing in Band 1 and decreasing or disappearing in Bands 2, 3, 4 and 5 were found in most patients with liver diseases in comparing with the control. It showed that the activity decreasing is correlated closely with the severity of liver diseases.

     

Other cardiovascular diseases

930499 Analysis of the misdiagnoses of obliter-ative pulmonary hypertension.ZHAO Yiju(赵一举),CHENG Xiansheng(程顯声).Cardiovasclnstit & Fuwai Hosp,CAMS,Beijing,100037.Chin J Intern Med 1993;32(4):226—228.In order to reduce the misdiagnostic rate ofobliterative pulmonary hypertension(OPH),theclinical data of 126 cases of OPH were analysedincluding 83 cases of unexplained pulmonary hy-pertension(UPH)and 43 cases of thromboem-bolic pulmonary hypertension(TEPH).The re-sults showed that the misdiagnostic rates of UPHand TEPH were 93.98% and 79.07% respective-ly,with a total misdiagnostic rate of 88.89%.UPH was frequently misdiagnosed as congenitalheart disease(63.86%),valvular heart disease(13.5%)or coronary heart disease(9.64%).