New stand magnifiers do not meet rated levels of performance

A new range of stand magnifiers has been released by the COIL company in the United Kingdom. Examination of these magnifiers reveals that they fail to deliver the rated magnifications labelled prominently on the appliances, as a result of the manufacturer's conformance with the requirements of the German DIN standard and the use of back vertex power (F'_v) rather than equivalent dioptric power (F_m) of the magnifier. In this study we provide information on the optometric parameters of these new stand magnifiers that will assist the more accurate specification of improvements in vision expected from their use.     

Immunity and depression: Insomnia,Retardation, and reduction of natural killer cell activity

Depressed patients show a reduction of natural killer (NK) cell activity which may be associated with specific depressive symptoms. The present study demonstrated that sleep disturbance and retardation, but not other depressive symptoms, were negatively correlated with NK activity in 38 depressed patients. Specific behavioral changes in depression such as sleep disturbance and retardation were found to predict 16% of the variance of cytotoxicity levels in depression.     

Characterization of and human serologic response to proteins in Helicobacter pylori broth culture supernatants with vacuolizing cytotoxin activity.

Helicobacter pylori infection is strongly associated with histologic gastritis and peptic ulcer disease. Broth culture supernatants from a subset of H. pylori strains induce vacuolization in cultured cells, a phenomenon that has been attributed to cytotoxin activity. Concentrated culture supernatants from 15 of 28 (53.6%) H. pylori strains tested induced vacuolization in HeLa cells in titers ranging from 1:10 to 1:180. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and silver staining of supernatants from these 28 strains and 2 control strains demonstrated an 82-kilodalton (kDa) protein band in 3 of 16 supernatants with vacuolizing activity, but in none of 14 supernatants without vacuolizing activity. By immunoblotting with human sera, a 128-kDa band was recognized in all 16 supernatants with vacuolizing activity, compared with 9 of 14 (64%) supernatants without vacuolizing activity (P = 0.014). Serologic recognition of the 128-kDa band in H. pylori culture supernatants was more prevalent among persons infected with vacuolizing H. pylori strains than among persons infected with nonvacuolizing strains, but the difference was not statistically significant (80 versus 45%; P = 0.079); human serologic recognition of the 82-kDa band was less common. The 128-kDa band was recognized by 100% of 31 serum samples from H. pylori-infected patients with duodenal ulcer disease, compared with 60.8% of 74 serum samples from H. pylori-infected persons without peptic ulcer disease (P = 0.0001). These data indicate that antigenic 128- and 82-kDa proteins are present in H. pylori broth culture supernatants with vacuolizing activity and that serologic responses to the 128-kDa protein are more prevalent among H. pylori-infected persons with duodenal ulceration than among infected persons without peptic ulceration.     

Fatal meningoencephalitis due to Bacillus anthracis

Abstract: We report the first case of fatal anthrax meningoencephalitis in Hong Kong over the past 60 years. A 13 year-old boy presented with right lower quadrant pain, diarrhoea and progressive headache. Lumbar puncture yielded gram positive bacilli initially thought to be Bacillus cereus, a contaminant. He was treated with ampicillin and cefotaxime, but died 3 days after hospitalization. The organism isolated from blood and cerebrospinal fluid was later identified as Bacillus anthracis.     

头皮糠疹与巯氧吡啶锌

头皮糠疹是常见病是多发病,临床表现为头皮红斑和脱屑,提示皮损部位表皮结构和功能异常,头皮角质层代谢紊乱,最近对头皮糠疹病因和病理的研究证实马拉色菌,皮脂分泌和个体敏感性是形成上述皮损的3个关键因素,硫氧吡啶锌（PTZ或ZPT）可以有效地杀灭马拉色菌,PTZ的颗粒大小和形状对其在头皮的生物利用度有明显的影响。此外,PTZ的抗菌效果有赖于其分子结构的完整性,在外用制剂中加入附加的游离锌,可以有效防止PTZ解离,从而提高其疗效。     

Almitrine increases the steady-state hypoxic ventilatory response in hypoxic chronic air-flow obstruction

Almitrine, a peripheral chemoreceptor agonist, exerts beneficial effects on blood gases in patients with hypoxic chronic air-flow obstruction, but as these patients exhibit poor ventilatory responses to hypoxia, the mechanism for this improvement is not clear. The effect of a 100-mg dose of almitrine given orally on ventilation and the steady-state hypoxic ventilatory response (HVR) were measured in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled manner in 7 patients with severe hypoxic chronic air-flow obstruction. The isocapnic HVR (delta VE/delta SaO2) was calculated from the changes in ventilation and SaO2 from breathing 60% O2 to breathing air with the addition of CO2 to maintain isocapnia (as estimated from a transcutaneous CO2 electrode). Resting ventilation while breathing air and isocapnic HVR were measured before and 3 h after almitrine or placebo. Almitrine caused no significant change in resting ventilation. There was, however, a large increase in HVR after almitrine (almitrine: -1.5 L/min/%SaO2; range, -0.5 to -3.1; control: -0.4; range, -0.3 to -1.3), but no change after placebo. Almitrine is a powerful stimulant of chemosensitivity and of the hypoxic ventilatory response in chronic hypoxemia, with potential benefit to patients with chronic air-flow obstruction in respiratory failure.     

Prostate cancer detection upon transrectal ultrasound-guided biopsy in relation to digital rectal examination and prostate-specific antigen level: what to expect in the Chinese population?

We investigated the prostate cancer detection rates upon transrectal ultrasound (TRUS)-guided biopsy in relation to digital rectal examination (DRE) and prostate-specific antigen (PSA), and risk factors of prostate cancer detection in the Chinese population. Data from all consecutive Chinese men who underwent first TRUS-guided prostate biopsy from year 2000 to 2013 was retrieved from our database. The prostate cancer detection rates with reference to DRE finding and PSA level of < 4, 4–10, 10.1–20, 20.1–50 and > 50 ng ml⁻¹ were investigated. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to investigate for potential risk factors of prostate cancer detection. A total of 2606 Chinese men were included. In patients with normal DRE, the cancer detection rates were 8.6%, 13.4%, 21.8%, 41.7% and 85.2% in patients with PSA < 4, 4–10, 10.1–20, 20.1–50 and > 50 ng ml⁻¹ respectively. In patients with abnormal DRE, the cancer detection rates were 12.4%, 30.2%, 52.7%, 80.6% and 96.4% in patients with PSA < 4, 4–10, 10.1–20, 20.1–50 and > 50 ng ml⁻¹ respectively. Older age, smaller prostate volume, larger number of biopsy cores, presence of abnormal DRE finding and higher PSA level were associated with increased risk of prostate cancer detection upon multivariate logistic regression analyses (P < 0.001). Chinese men appeared to have lower prostate cancer detection rates when compared to the Western population. Taking the different risk factors into account, an individualized approach to the decision of TRUS-guided biopsy can be adopted.