中药对过敏性紫癜肾炎患儿血浆内皮素和免疫功能的影响

用中药加雷公藤治疗过敏性紫癜肾炎患儿23例，观察其急性期、缓解期的血浆内皮素和免疫功能，并与单纯应用雷公藤的15例比较，结果中药加雷公藤组缓解或血浆内皮素和IGG、IGA均明显低于雷公藤组；T3细胞明显高于雷公藤组；T4/T8比值明显低于雷公藤组。提示中药加用雷公藤比单独使用雷公藤治疗过敏性紫问肾炎更有利于患儿血浆内皮素水平和免疫功能的恢复。     

An investigation of therapeutic antibiotic prescribing for children referred for dental general anaesthesia in three community national health service trusts

OBJECTIVE: To investigate antibiotic prescribing for paediatric dental patients requiring general anaesthesia. DESIGN: A prospective clinical study of children referred for dental treatment under general anaesthesia. METHOD: Information was collected by way of a two-stage questionnaire for children attending three community NHS trusts for dental extractions under general anaesthesia between July 2001 and January 2003. RESULTS: A total of 360 questionnaires were analysed. There was wide variation in the waiting times (0-278 days) between referral and treatment under general anaesthesia. Most children (53%) attended with dento-alveolar abscess, 46% with caries only and 1% for orthodontic extractions. Antibiotics were prescribed to 52% of patients with an abscess and 32% with caries only. Only 16% of patients presented with moderate to severe pain, 5.5% with diffuse swelling and 12% with a raised temperature. Antibiotics were prescribed for patients with diffuse swelling (63%) and raised temperature (50%) but also for patients with pain only (39%) and localised swelling (52%). Amoxicillin was the most frequently prescribed antibiotic (82%), with wide variation in all antibiotic regimens. CONCLUSION: This study provides evidence of inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics to children referred for treatment under general anaesthesia with wide variations in the regimens employed. There was no conclusive evidence that long waiting times for definitive treatment influenced antibiotic prescribing. In some areas the delay for definitive treatment for this group of vulnerable patients was unacceptably long.     

Translation elongation factor eEF1A2 is a potential oncoprotein that is overexpressed in two-thirds of breast tumours

Background  

The tissue-specific translation elongation factor eEF1A2 was recently shown to be a potential oncogene that is overexpressed in ovarian cancer. Although there is no direct evidence for an involvement of eEF1A2 in breast cancer, the genomic region to which EEF1A2 maps, 20q13, is frequently amplified in breast tumours. We therefore sought to establish whether eEF1A2 expression might be upregulated in breast cancer.     

Dynamic nonlinear cochlear model predictions of click-evoked otoacoustic emission suppression

A comprehensive set of results from 2-click suppression experiments on otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) have been presented by Kapadia and Lutman [Kapadia, S., Lutman, M.E., 2000a. Nonlinear temporal interactions in click-evoked otoacoustic emissions. I. Assumed model and polarity-symmetry. Hear. Res. 146, 89-100]. They found that the degree of suppression of an OAE evoked by a test click varied systematically with the timing and the level of a suppressor click, being greatest for suppressor clicks occurring some time before the test click, particularly at lower levels of suppression. Kapadia and Lutman also showed that although the general shape of the graph of suppression against suppressor click timing could be predicted by a static power law model, this did not predict the asymmetry with respect to the timing of the suppressor click. A generalised automatic gain control (AGC) is presented as a simple example of a dynamic nonlinear system. Its steady state nonlinear behaviour, as quantified by its level curve, and its dynamic behaviour, as quantified by its transient response, can be independently set by the feedback gain law and detector time constant, respectively. The previously reported suppression results, with the asymmetry in the timing, are found to be predicted better by such an AGC having a level curve with a slope of about 0.5 dB/dB, and a detector time constant of about twice the period at the characteristic frequency. Although this gives adequate predictions for high suppression levels, it under predicts the suppression and the asymmetry for lower levels. Further research is required to establish whether simple peripheral feedback models can explain OAE suppression of this type.