听性脑干反应和听觉相关电位测试对聋儿听力的评估

目的:探讨听性脑干反应(ABR)和40 Hz听觉相关电位(40Hz AERP)测试的相关性及对聋儿听力评估的重要性。方法:对401例6岁以下聋儿行ABR和40Hz AERP测试并比较。结果:ABR测试无反应者为589耳(73.4％),40 Hz AERP测试无反应者为311耳(19.4％),前者明显高于后者(P<0.01)。两种测试中有残余听力的耳数随阈值的升高,检出率亦升高,结论:ABR测试只反映高频听阈,无反应率高,而40 Hz AERP可显示低、中频的听阈,无反应率低。两种测试应同时进行,可全面了解聋儿的听力损失情况。同时因聋儿多为重度聋,更应及早选配助听器。     

卵巢低反应患者大剂量超排卵的助孕结局

在辅助生殖助孕中通常采用控制性卵巢刺激(controlled ovarian hyperstimulation, COS),以获得适当数量的卵子用于体外受精,既希望获得理想的辅助生殖助孕成功率,又能降低卵巢过度刺激并发症.COS中约有9%~24%[1,2]的卵巢低反应发生率.卵巢低反应者获得有效卵子数少、可移植胚胎数少或无胚胎移植、取消治疗周期率高,累计成功率更低等,导致较差的治疗结局,是辅助生殖助孕中面临的棘手问题.针对卵巢低反应者,大多数辅助生殖中心仍会采用增加促性腺激素(Gn)的起始和(或)总用量以期获得提高助孕结局的目的.而大剂量Gn是否为改善低反应患者助孕结局的有效策略却仍存在争议.     

Sympathetic skin response in patients with myasthenia gravis★ A comparative analysis

BACKGROUND: The examination of sympathetic skin response is an important index for assessing the autonomic nerve function, and patients with myasthenia gravis are always accompanied by dysautonomia. Therefore, it will be important to know whether sympathetic skin response can be used as the index for the clinical evaluation of myasthenia gravis. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the diagnostic value of sympathetic skin response in the damage of autonomic nerve function of patients with myasthenia gravis. DESIGN: A case-controlled comparative observation. SETTING: Department of Neurology and Room of Nerve Electromyogram, the Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty outpatients or inpatients with myasthenia gravis were selected from the Department of Neurology, the Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College from May 2006 to May 2007, including 9 males and 21 females, aged 8–72 years with a mean age of (28±5) years old. They were all accorded with the diagnostic standards of myasthenia gravis, accompanied by different severity of autonomic nerve symptoms, including poor skin nutrition, sweating of hands and feet, pyknocardia, persistent hypotension, abdominal pain, constipation, etc. They all had not taken any drug affecting the autonomic nerve function before the examination. Informed consents were obtained from all the patients. Meanwhile, 30 healthy physical examinees were enrolled as the normal control group, including 10 males and 20 females, aged 10–75 years with a mean age of (31±5) years old. Approval was obtained from the hospital ethic committee. METHODS: After admission, the patients were examined with sympathetic skin response using DANTEC keypoint 2.0 electromyography evoked potential apparatus (Danmark). The changes of the latency and wave amplitude of sympathetic skin response were observed. The subjects in the normal control group were examined with the same methods at physical examination. Abnormality was judged by the disappearance of wave form, latency longer than that in the normal control group by Mean±2.5SD, or wave amplitude lower than the average value in the normal control group by 50%. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The results of the latency and wave amplitude of sympathetic skin response were compared between the patients with myasthenia gravis and normal controls. RESULTS: All the 30 patients with myasthenia gravis and 30 healthy physical examinees were involved in the final analysis of results. There were no significant differences between the left and right upper and lower limbs in both the myasthenia gravis group and normal control group (P > 0.05). In the myasthenia gravis group, the abnormal rate of sympathetic skin response was 37% (11/30), the latency was prolonged and the wave amplitude was decreased as compared with those in the normal control group, and there were significant differences (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Sympathetic skin response can be used as an electrophysiological index for judging the damages of autonomic nerve function in patients with myasthenia gravis.     

Workshop on Late Renal Allograft Dysfunction

Despite continued improvement in incidence of acute immune injury and short-term graft survival, late allograft dysfunction remains a significant problem in the renal transplant population. Recent reports suggest that rates of renal function decline are quite varied in the overall recipient population, and that individual rates for many recipients may not change substantially over time. Moreover, analyses also reveal distinct predictive factors for both early and late functional decline. Long-term outcome studies for renal transplantation, however, might be significantly limited by incomplete data sets for assessing clinical endpoints. In view of the heterogeneous factors that may cause progressive allograft injury, more routine biopsy sampling would allow a more complete characterization of induced injuries. Elucidating mechanisms of renal fibrosis in response to injury, in experimental systems and humans, is also an important goal in better understanding chronic allograft damage. Regulation of cell senescence genes and epithelial to mesenchymal transition, studied in other models of renal fibrosis, are likely relevant to studies of renal allograft dysfunction. Recent technical advances in analyzing biological samples may play a pivotal role in identifying and validating surrogate markers of allograft function for future interventional trials in transplantation.     

认知矫正治疗前后慢性精神分裂症患者功能磁共振成像的对照研究

目的 探讨认知矫正治疗对精神分裂症患者工作记忆相关脑区活动的影响.方法 对10例病情稳定的慢性精神分裂症患者进行为期6个月的认知矫正治疗,分别于治疗前后进行韦克斯勒记忆量表(WMS)测查及功能磁共振成像(fMRI)测量.结果 (1)WMS测查:治疗后再认[(8.11±4.34)分]和再生[(10.22±3.35)分]以及Benton错误[(3.75±2.92)分]均较治疗前[分别为(5.78±2.95)分、(8.56±3.21)分和(8.00±6.28)分]改善,均P＜0.05.(2)fMRI:治疗前后的反应时和正确率比较,差异无统计学意义(P＞0.05).治疗后在高负荷条件下,背侧前额叶皮质(DLPFC)区域(Brodmann46区)的激活范围(x,y,z=-51,36,15;k=40,t=7.21)小于治疗前的激活范围(x,y,z=-48,24,24,k=154,t=12.72),治疗前后DLPFC区域激活(x,y,z=-24,36,18,k=12,t=3.75)的差异有统计学意义(P＜0.005);在低负荷条件下,治疗前后DLPFC区域激活的差异无统计学意义(P＞0.05).结论 认知矫正治疗能改善精神分裂症患者工作记忆相关脑区的活动.     

急性脑梗死诱发全身炎症反应综合征致多器官功能障碍综合征的临床研究

目的　探讨急性脑梗死 (ACI)诱发全身炎症反应综合征 (SIRS)致多器官功能障碍综合征(MODS)的发病机制 ,以及血清肿瘤坏死因子 (TNF α)、白细胞介素 (IL 1) β含量变化在ACI诱发SIRS发生、发展并向MODS转化的临床意义。方法　 6 8例ACI患者根据病情变化分为 3组 ,其中单纯性ACI(SACI组 ) 36例 ,ACI致SIRS(SIRS组 ) 32例 ,ACI致SIRS后发展为MODS(MODS组 ) 2 4例 ;应用酶联免疫吸附法 (ELISA法 )分别测定患者不同病程中血清TNF α、IL 1β值 ,并与对照组 (为 2 8名同期健康体检者 )比较。 结果　 (1) 6 8例ACI中 4 7.0 6 %发生SIRS;SIRS时 75 %发生MODS。 (2 )血清TNF α、IL 1β的含量MODS 组 >SIRS组 >SACI组 >对照组 ,各组间比较 ,差异具有极显著性 (均P <0 0 1)。MODS重症者 (积分≥ 9分 )血清TNF α、IL 1β含量高于轻症者 (积分 <9分 ) (均P <0 0 1) ;MODS死亡者血清TNF α、IL 1β含量高于存活者 (均 P <0 0 1)。结论　 (1)ACI后出现SIRS可导致MODS的发生。 (2 )患者血清TNF α、IL 1β水平异常变化可作为判断ACI致SIRS、MODS病情进展、预后及转归的一项指标     

Effects of purine analogues on spontaneous alternation in mice

The Y-maze was used to examine the effects of purines acting at A₁ and A₂ adenosine receptors upon spontaneous alternation, a model of working memory, in mice. In support of previous work, scopolamine produced a loss of spontaneous alternation behaviour to the 0.5 chance level. The A₁ receptor selective agonist N6-cyclopentyladenosine (CPA) did not change spontaneous alternation behaviour alone, but it prevented the decrease of spontaneous alternation scores produced by scopolamine. The A₁ receptor selective antagonist 1,3-dipropyl-8-cyclopentylxanthine (CPX) blocked the effect of CPA in combination with scopolamine but had no effect alone. The A₂ receptor selective agonist (N6-[2-(3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-2-(2-methylphenyl)ethyl]adenosine (DPMA), and the A₂ receptor selective antagonist 3,7-dimethyl-1-propargylxanthine (DMPX) had no effect of alternation behaviour alone and did not modify the effect of scopolamine. The results indicate the ability of A₁ but not A₂ receptor activation to modify working memory deficits induced by scopolamine, but suggest that endogenous adenosine does not normally participate in working memory processes.     

A comparison of the effects of scopolamine and diazepam on acquisition and retention of inhibitory avoidance in mice

Administration of either the muscarinic antagonist scopolamine or the benzodiazepine diazepam prior to training produced a dose-dependent impairment in the retention of one-trial inhibitory avoidance training in mice. To investigate the nature of this drug effect, the effects of scopolamine and diazepam were subsequently assessed on both acquisition and retention of inhibitory avoidance using a multiple-trial, training-to-criterion procedure. The training was conducted using either continuous trials in which the mouse was free to shuttle back and forth between shock and safe compartments or discrete trials in which the mouse was moved from the shock compartment of the safe compartment at the start of each trial. In either case, training continued until the mouse refrained from crossing into the shock compartment for a specified length of time on a single trial. Scopolamine (1.0 mg/kg) administered before training significantly increased the number of trials required to attain criterion, but did not affect retention when these mice were tested 2, 16, or 28 days later. In contrast, diazepam (1.0 mg/kg) did not significantly alter the number of trials necessary to reach criterion, but impaired retention of the inhibitory response in mice trained using discrete trials. The differences in the amnestic effects of scopolamine and diazepam revealed by this detailed analysis suggest that diazepam does not impair inhibitory avoidance performance through an effect on cholinergic function.     

Effects of iomeprol,a new nonionic contrast medium,vis a vis iopamidol and nitroglycerin,on coronary diameter and blood flow in chronically instrumented dogs

The effects of an intracoronary administration of iomeprol, a new nonionic tri-iodinated water-soluble contrast medium, on coronary circulation were compared to those of iopamidol and those of nitroglycerin in 6 chronically instrumented conscious dogs. A pair of 10 MHz piezoelectric crystals and an electromagnetic flow probe were placed on the left circumflex coronary artery (LCCA) to measure the epicardial coronary diameter (CD) and coronary blood flow (CBF). Polyethylene tubing for drug administration was inserted into the LCCA proximal to the sonomicrometers. Iomeprol at the dose of 1 ml and 3 ml/min for 1 min significantly increased CD by 0.6±0.1% and 1.4±0.3%, respectively and CBF by 44.5±9% and 70±10%, respectively. Iopamidol at the same rates also significantly increased CD by 0.8±0.1% and 1.5±0.3% and CBF by 50±11% and 82±14%, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between iomeprol-and iopamidol-induced increases in CD and CBF. However, the duration of the increase in CD was significantly shorter (p<0.05) after iomeprol than after iopamidol. Nitroglycerin (10 μg/kg) significantly increased CD by 4.5±1% and CBF by 105±10%. The increases in CD and CBF in response to iopamidol and iomeprol were significantly smaller (p<0.01) than to nitroglycerin. We conclude that vasodilating effects of iomeprol and iopamidol on the large epicardial coronary artery and coronary blood flow are comparable in conscious dogs and significantly lower than after nitroglycerin in the doses used by us. This study was supported by a grant from the EI-ZA1 Pharmaceutical Co., Tokyo, Japan.     

Assessment of the Severity of Asthma in a Family Practice

The objective of this study was to evaluate clinical history and self-perception of severity as predictors of asthma severity. A short-term longitudinal study was conducted in a family practice in Melbourne, Australia, utilizing peak flow monitoring, medication diary, and self-administered asthma severity questionnaire. Seventy-two asthmatic subjects with a positive bronchodilator or exercise test, aged between 6 and 79 years, were studied. Symptom and treatment items were correlated with peak flow variability and minimal peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR). An asthma severity scale was generated using the partial credit version of Item Response Theory and the participants' severity scores were validated against lung function tests and medication usage. Quantitative modeling procedures were used to investigate the interrelationships of factors associated with peak flow variability. Severity scores demonstrated significant relationships with peak flow variability (partial r = 0.34) and treatment items. Self-perceived severity of asthma in the preceding 2 weeks showed significant association with peak flow variability (partial rho = 0.46) and minimal PEFR (rho = -0.41). The severity module of the Monash Respiratory Questionnaire is a valid and reliable instrument. The most important symptoms appear to be the frequency of use of bronchodilator and frequency of nocturnal attacks. A carefully structured clinical history in conjunction with the peak flow criteria of variability and minimal peak flow rate would be appropriate in the evaluation of asthma severity. Patients' self-perception of the severity of their asthma needs further evaluation.