Physicians' estimates of disability vs patients' reports of pain

The author analyzed data from a survey of 119 chronic rheumatoid arthritis patients in an attempt to correlate a functional index scored by physicians and the levels of pain reported by the patients. A close correlation was found between the two ratings, except for patients who reported very severe pain. This suggests that in most cases a physician can, by interpreting the patient's reported leyel of pain in light of the medical history and physical examination, accurately assess the patient's level of functional activity.     

缺血性脑白质病变的诊断和治疗

目的探讨缺血性脑白质病变的诊断分型及针对性治疗。方法回顾性分析180例缺血性脑白质病变患者的完整影像学资料、临床表现、实验室检查及治疗效果。根据影像学检查和临床表现将缺血性脑白质病变分成轻、中、重三型,然后分别进行针对性治疗,并做对比观察、随访、统计。结果不同类型的缺血性脑白质病变经以下针对性治疗:改变生活习惯,基础疾病治疗,康复治疗,前瞻性预防脑梗死及脑出血用药。治疗组患者的影像学病变范围、临床症状以及预后,明显优于未经针对性治疗组。结论不同类型的缺血性脑白质病变患者应分别进行及早的干预和针对性治疗。     

重组人白介素-2抑制小鼠LA795肺腺癌高转移株肺转移的研究

目的探讨不同剂量的重组人白介素-2抑制LA795肺腺癌高转移株皮下肿瘤生长及肺转移的作用.方法皮下接种LA795肺腺癌高转移株于T739同系小鼠,腹腔注射不同剂量的重组人白介素-2,观察抑制肿瘤生长及肺转移的作用.结果rhIL-2 1.5×105U/d能明显地抑制肿瘤生长.肿瘤体积,瘤体湿重以及肺转移结节数较对照组小和少,抑制率分别达66.03%、76.03%、97.54%(P＜0.01).小剂量rhIL-2 2.6×103U/d,抑制肿瘤生长的抑制率仅为5.13%(P＞0.05),而对肺转移有68.75%的抑制率(P＜0.01).结论大剂量的rhIL-2仅能有效地抑制LA795肺腺癌的肺转移,且能较好地抑制肿瘤生长.小剂量的rhIL-2仅对LA795肺腺癌转移有一定的抑制作用.因此rhIL-2治疗肿瘤应使用大剂量.     

The effects of superovulatory doses of clomiphene citrate on spontaneous luteinizing hormone peaks in regularly ovulating women

The effects of superovulatory doses of clomiphene citrate (150 mg orally every day for 5 days) on normal spontaneous menstrual cycles were studied in 16 women. Eight-eight percent of treatment cycles had clearly defined, timely luteinizing hormone (LH) peaks indistinguishable from those observed in normal cycles. Eight percent of treatment cycles did not have clearly defined LH peaks but were ovulatory. One cycle (4%) was anovulatory. Treated cycles were 2.1 days longer than previous control cycles (p less than 0.005). The follicular phase was significantly longer than control cycles (p less than 0.025) whereas the luteal phase was not (p greater than 0.05). There was a direct positive correlation between previous menstrual cycle length and follicular phase length in the treated cycle (r = 0.730, 0.01 less than p less than 0.05). The conclusion was that 96% of menstrual cycles of normally ovulating women remained ovulatory when the women were given superovulatory doses of clomiphene and that 88% of the cycles had clearly defined LH peaks.     

Functional and phenotypic characteristics of bovine natural cytotoxic cells

Bovine natural cytotoxic (NC) cell activity of peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL) was studied in a chromium release assay, using xenogeneic tumor cells (YAC-1, P815) and herpes virus-infected bovine fibroblasts. The activity pattern resembled that of murine natural killer cells, in that YAC-1 cells were readily lysed, whereas P815 cells were resistant. However, 10-16 h of incubation were usually required to give appreciable cell lysis. Low, but consistent NC-activity was expressed against virus-infected fibroblasts. Using various biophysical and biochemical cell-separation methods, it was found that the effector cell active against both the xenogeneic tumor cells and virus-infected fibroblast belonged to the mononuclear phagocyte system. The indications are that at least two subpopulations of the blood monocytes, differing perhaps in maturation or clonal derivation, express NC-activity.     

Left ventricular global longitudinal strain imaging in identifying subclinical myocardial dysfunction among covid-19 survivors

BackgroundCovid-19 is multi-system viral infection caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus. Apart from having acute severe respiratory illness causing high mortality, the disease also has a variety of cardiovascular manifestations contributing to morbidity as well as mortality. Cardiac dysfunction and myocarditis are well established complications of Covid-19 as evident in multiple studies after the Covid-19 pandemic. However it is not sufficiently studied in Indian patients either by Echocardiography or by any other imaging modalities like cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).MethodologyIn this study, we analysed the severity of Left ventricular(LV) dysfunction in Covid-19 survivors. A total of 100 consecutive patients of Covid-19 after one month of discharge who had no underlying cardiovascular diseases underwent echocardiography and global longitudinal strain (GLS) imaging. This study cohort included patients with mild 42 (42%),moderate 46(46%) and severe 12(12%) Covid-19 disease as defined by computerised tomography (CT) severity score.ResultWe observed that total 36(36%) patients had reduced ejection fraction(EF) which included 11 patients having EF <40% and remaining 25(25%) having EF 40–50% (p<0.002). Also 22 (22%) patients had abnormal global longitudinal strain (GLS) values with normal ejection fraction which is suggestive of subclinical myocarditis. We observed LV dysfunction in 7(19.5%) patients who had severe Covid-19 while mild to moderate LV dysfunction observed in 29(80.5%) non critical patients.ConclusionIn conclusion our study demonstrates that myocardial dysfunction is common in covid-19 regardless of disease severity. 2D-echocardiography with GLS is likely to detect early LV dysfunction among these patients.