Esophageal chest pain

The unequivocal diagnosis of esophageal chest pain requires the demonstration of simultaneous manometric changes and chest pain. Numerous provocative agents have been used to enhance the diagnostic value of esophageal manometry. Our aims were to: evaluate consecutively a large group of patients with proven noncardiac chest pain and normal baseline manometric studies, using edrophonium chloride, 10 mg, and determine the value of provocative testing in clinical practice. One hundred twenty patients with normal standard baseline esophageal manometries were studied using blinded testing with edrophonium chloride and followed clinically by questionnaire. A positive response of both chest pain and manometric changes was observed in 34%, a negative response in 49%, and an indeterminate response in 17% of patients. Baseline manometric features, including high-amplitude contractions, did not predict the response to edrophonium chloride. Following edrophonium chloride administration, the change in amplitude, duration, and number of repetitive contractions from baseline was significantly greater in positive responders. Edrophonium decreased the velocity of propagated contractions in positive responders (P less than 0.05), but not in nonresponders. Response to edrophonium chloride could not be predicted by patient age, sex, or clinical symptomatology. Seventy percent of patients in both groups had symptoms indistinguishable from ischemic heart disease. After making a specific diagnosis of esophageal chest pain, patients showed a marked clinical improvement, with a significant decrease in physical limitation, emergency room visits, hospital and CCU admissions, and in further cardiac testing. We conclude that provocative testing with edrophonium chloride will make it possible to definitively implicate the esophagus in over 30% of patients with normal baseline manometric findings and noncardiac chest pain.     

Isolated ventricular apical hypoplasia: A report of four cases and literature review

Isolated ventricular apical hypoplasia (IVAH) is a rare congenital cardiac anomaly, with clinical manifestations depending on the age of the patient, ranging from no symptoms in children to congestive heart failure or even malignant tachycardia in adults. Herein, we describe the clinical and anatomical findings in four cases with hypoplasia of the right or left ventricular apex, and we discuss the possible mechanisms and differential diagnosis of this malformation. Echocardiography is a rapidly accessible, low cost, noninvasive technique for the detection and evaluation of IVAH.     

Separating stimulus‐driven and response‐related LRP components with Residue Iteration Decomposition (RIDE)

When the lateralized readiness potential (LRP) is recorded in stimulus–response compatibility (SRC) tasks, two processes may overlap in the LRP, stimulus‐driven response priming and activation based on response selection rules. These overlapping processes are hard to disentangle with standard analytical tools. Here, we show that Residue Iteration Decomposition (RIDE), based on latency variability, separates the overlapping LRP components from a Simon task into stimulus‐driven and response‐related components. SRC affected LRP amplitudes only in the stimulus‐driven component, whereas LRP onsets were affected only in the response‐locked component. Importantly, the compatibility effect in reaction times was more similar to the effect in the onsets of the RIDE‐derived response‐locked LRP component than in the unseparated LRP. Thus, RIDE‐separated LRP components are devoid of distortions inherent to standard LRPs.     

Unusual electrophysiological findings in a Chinese ALS 4 family with SETX-L389S mutation: a three-year follow-up

Journal of Neurology - Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis type 4 (ALS4) is a familial form of ALS caused by mutations in the SETX gene. To date, there are seven unrelated ALS4 families with four...     

在百年学会的关怀下，临床解剖学健康成长

“东风露消息,万物有精神”。今年8月,将在北京召开,中国解剖学会百年庆典暨第36届学术年会,值此百年庆典来临之际,让我们了解一下在学会的关怀和关注下,走过坎坷不平道路的临床解剖学成长过程。1983年,学术期刊《临床应用解剖学杂志》创刊,为半年刊。办刊宗旨是为了加强解剖学基础理论研究与临床实践工作紧密结合。1984年,《临床应用解剖学杂志》由半年刊改为季刊。1988年,《临床应用解剖学杂志》更名为《中国临床解剖学杂志》。2002年,《中国临床解剖学杂志》由季刊改为双月刊。     

Epidemiological,Clinical, Radiological Characteristics and Outcomes of Medical Staff with COVID-19 in Wuhan,China: Analysis of 101 Cases

Objectives: As of 11 Feb 2020, a total of 1,716 medical staff infected with laboratory-confirmed the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2) in China had been reported. The predominant cause of the infection among medical staff remains unclear. We sought to explore the epidemiological, clinical characteristics and prognosis of infected medical staff.Methods: Medical staff who infected with SARS-Cov-2 and admitted to Union Hospital, Wuhan between 16 Jan to 25 Feb, 2020 were included in this single-centered, retrospective study. Data were compared by occupation and analyzed with the Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression methods.Results: A total of 101 medical staff (32 males and 69 females; median age: 33) were included in this study and 74.3% were nurses. A small proportion of the cohort had contact with specimens (3%) as well as patients infected with SARS-Cov-2 in fever clinics (15%) and isolation wards (3%). 80% of medical staff showed abnormal IL-6 levels and 33% had lymphocytopenia. Chest CT mainly manifested as bilateral (62%), septal/subpleural (77%) and groundglass opacities (48%). The major differences between doctors and nurses manifested in laboratory indicators. As of the last observed date, no patient was transferred to intensive care unit or died. Fever (HR=0.57; 95% CI 0.36-0.90) and IL-6 levels greater than 2.9 pg/ml (HR=0.50; 95% CI 0.30-0.86) were unfavorable factors for discharge.Conclusions: Our findings suggested that the infection of medical staff mainly occurred at the early stages of SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Wuhan, and only a small proportion of infection had an exact mode. Meanwhile, medical staff infected with COVID-19 have relatively milder symptoms and favorable clinical course than ordinary patients, which may be partly due to their medical expertise, younger age and less underlying diseases. The potential risk factors of fever and IL-6 levels greater than 2.9 pg/ml could help to identify medical staff with poor prognosis at an early stage.     

大学生言语能力及职业成就的刻板解释偏差

目的考察大学生对言语能力及其职业成就是否存在内隐性别刻板印象。方法运用两个SEB实验设计对85名大学生进行团体施测。结果①1-SEB1与0存在极显著差异(t=3.531,P<0.001),2-SEB1与0存在显著差异(t=-1.979,P<0.05),2-SEB2与0存在显著差异(t=-3.211,P<0.01);②在职业成就上,主语性别和成败表现对被试归因倾向的交互作用显著(F=34.828,P<0.01)。结论大学生具有"女性言语能力很强,但男性言语能力不一定很弱"及"男性在言语能力要求高的职业上成就大于女性"的内隐性别刻板印象。即使在承认女性言语能力很强的基础上,仍存在女性职业成就不如男性的内隐性别刻板观念。