Increased inflammatory biomarkers in hypertensive type 2 diabetic patients: improvement after angiotensin II type 1 receptor blockade

Diabetes and hypertension increasingly are recognized as pro-inflammatory conditions. We tested the hypothesis that in patients with hypertension and type 2 diabetes, blood pressure (BP) reduction with an angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB), valsartan, or with a beta blocker, atenolol, is associated with a decreased inflammatory response. Normotensive subjects and hypertensive patients with type 2 diabetes (40 to 70 years of age) participated in the study. Patients (n = 28) were randomized to double-blind treatment for 1 year with valsartan (80–160 mg) or atenolol (50–100 mg) daily, added to previous therapy. Age-matched controls (n = 12) were also studied. Serum levels of cytokines (IL-6, IL-18), chemokines (MCP-1), and adhesion molecules (sICAM, sE-selectin) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) as indices of systemic and vascular inflammation, before and 1 year after treatment. BP was similarly reduced by valsartan and atenolol. Glycemic control and lipid profiles were comparable in the two groups and did not change significantly with antihypertensive therapy. Serum levels of all inflammatory markers were increased in patients before treatment (by two- to four-fold vs. controls, P < .05). IL-6, IL-18, sICAM, and MCP-1 levels were reduced by valsartan (three-fold, P < .05). Only IL-18 was reduced by atenolol compared with pretreatment levels (P < .05). These data indicate that proinflammatory mediators are significantly increased in hypertensive type 2 diabetic patients and that despite similar BP lowering by valsartan and atenolol and similar glucose levels in both treated groups, global inflammatory status was improved only in the valsartan group. Our findings suggest that antihypertensive treatment, particularly with an ARB, ameliorates inflammatory processes in diabetic hypertensive patients. Such effects, which are independent of BP and glycemic control, may contribute to cardiovascular protection.     

我国医保制度整合的相关问题探讨

针对我国目前医疗保险制度存在碎片化状况,提出了医保制度整合中需要重点关注的几个问题：整合应以总体规划分步实施、立法保障稳步推进、公平优先兼顾效率为原则,分三个步骤进行;在筹资方面,应逐步实现强制参保,以家庭为参保单位,并以法律形式明确各级政府的筹资责任,设置分档次的居民筹资方式及合理的补偿机制;在管理上,应妥善整合经办管理机构,并通过立法明确基金监管和服务质量保障机制,确保监管有效、得力。     

我国药品价格调整政策分析：1997—2011年

目的：为全面认识和分析药品价格管理政策提供技术支持。方法：回顾分析了1997年至2011年7月政府针对药品价格的28次调整规定中所涉及的药品种类,利用EXCEL和SPSS17.0统计分析了各类别对应的药品品种数目、调价频率位于前列的部分药品以及其调价幅度等指标。结果：调价药品品种主要集中于抗菌药物、心血管药物、抗肿瘤药物等临床常用和售价相对较高的药品;调价药品所涉及的剂型和规格也为临床常用剂型规格;调价方式主要以降价为主,也有少部分药物的价格略有提升;大多数药物的降价幅度较大,其中对于仿制药的降幅较单独定价药品要大;对于中成药的调价覆盖面广。结论：政府应加强对中药材价格的监管力度;药品价格政策的制定及实施应全面考虑相关利益团体的综合权益,以保证该项政策进入良性运转的轨道。     

Exploring injury severity measures and in-hospital mortality: A multi-hospital study in Kenya

IntroductionLow- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have a disproportionately high burden of injuries. Most injury severity measures were developed in high-income settings and there have been limited studies on their application and validity in low-resource settings. In this study, we compared the performance of seven injury severity measures: estimated Injury Severity Score (eISS), Glasgow Coma Score (GCS), Mechanism, GCS, Age, Pressure score (MGAP), GCS, Age, Pressure score (GAP), Revised Trauma Score (RTS), Trauma and Injury Severity Score (TRISS) and Kampala Trauma Score (KTS), in predicting in-hospital mortality in a multi-hospital cohort of adult patients in Kenya.MethodsThis study was performed using data from trauma registries implemented in four public hospitals in Kenya. Estimated ISS, MGAP, GAP, RTS, TRISS and KTS were computed according to algorithms described in the literature. All seven measures were compared for discrimination by computing area under curve (AUC) for the receiver operating characteristics (ROC), model fit information using Akaike information criterion (AIC), and model calibration curves. Sensitivity analysis was conducted to include all trauma patients during the study period who had missing information on any of the injury severity measure(s) through multiple imputations.ResultsA total of 16,548 patients were included in the study. Complete data analysis included 14,762 (90.2%) patients for the seven injury severity measures. TRISS (complete case AUC: 0.889, 95% CI: 0.866–0.907) and KTS (complete case AUC: 0.873, 95% CI: 0.852–0.892) demonstrated similarly better discrimination measured by AUC on in-hospital deaths overall in both complete case analysis and multiple imputations. Estimated ISS had lower AUC (0.764, 95% CI: 0.736–0.787) than some injury severity measures. Calibration plots showed eISS and RTS had lower calibration than models from other injury severity measures.ConclusionsThis multi-hospital study in Kenya found statistical significant higher performance of KTS and TRISS than other injury severity measures. The KTS, is however, an easier score to compute as compared to the TRISS and has stable good performance across several hospital settings and robust to missing values. It is therefore a practical and robust option for use in low-resource settings, and is applicable to settings similar to Kenya.     

Construct validity and reliability of the Test Your Memory Chinese version in older neurology outpatient attendees

Background

Early distinguishing the cognitive impairment from healthy population is crucial to delay the progression of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer disease (AD). Test Your Memory (TYM) has been proved to be a valid and reliable screening instrument for AD and MCI. This study aimed to develop a culturally appropriate and functional Standard Mandarin Chinese translation of the TYM, and to evaluate its reliability and validity in detecting AD and MCI in Chinese.

Methods

182 subjects with AD/MCI and 55 healthy controls were recruited to participate in this study, and everyone undergo the test of Standard Mandarin Chinese version of the TYM (TYM-CN), Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE), Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA-BJ), and Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) Scale. Concurrently, all the subjects with AD/MCI received the general physical and neurologic examinations, extensive laboratory tests, and brain computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Of which, 90 subjects were asked to complete the re-test of TYM-CN at 3 weeks after the initial visit. Intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) and Cronbach’s alpha was used to assess the test–retest reliability and the internal consistency. The validity, sensitivity and specificity were also analyzed. One-way analysis of variance, χ² test, correlation analysis, and receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis were employed, as needed.

Results

The total scores of TYM-CN was 43.89?±?3.44, 40.88?±?4.38, and 29.12?±?7.44 (p?<?0.01) for healthy controls group, MCI group, and AD group, respectively. The ICC for 11 items of TYM-CN ranged from 0.863 (copying) to 0.994 (anterograde), and that of the total scale was 0.993, suggesting an excellent reliability. Furthermore, the significant correlation was also found between TYM-CN and MMSE (r?=?0.76), MoCA-BJ (r?=?0.74), and CDR scores (r?=?0.76), indicating a good validity. A TYM-CN scores?≤?39.5 had 95% sensitivity and 95% specificity in differentiating AD from healthy controls, and that?≤?43.5 had 75% sensitivity and 91% specificity in distinguishing MCI from healthy controls, respectively.

Conclusion

The reliability and validity of the TYM-CN are statistically acceptable for the evaluation of cognitive impairment, which may contribute to neuropsychological tests for the diagnosis of AD and MCI from healthy controls in China.