超声造影在肝癌介入治疗后疗效评价中的应用

目的:探讨实时灰阶超声造影(contrast-enhanced grey-scale ultrasonography,CE-US)在肝癌介入治疗后疗效评价中的应用价值。方法:经肘前浅静脉团注超声对比剂SonoVue,观察各时相病灶的强化特点,并与治疗前CE-US、治疗后CT、MRI图像及随访结果进行比较,综合判断介入治疗效果。结果:CE-US可以清晰地显示病灶内有无局部或整体强化,能准确评价肝癌介入治疗后疗效。结论:CE-US在评价肝癌介入疗效时具有重要的临床价值。     

Recent Ⅳ-drug users with chronic hepatitis C can be efficiently treated with daily high dose induction therapy using consensus interferon:An open-label pilot study

INTRODUCTION Under physiological conditions, interferon-α (IFN-α) is a key cytokine produced by virtually all cells in the mammalian organism in response to a variety of bacterial and viral stimuli. In response to viral infection, IFN-α produced by the infected target cells induces a number of cellular genes involved in inhibition of viral replication. In addition, IFN-α is secreted by stimulated NK-cells and T-cells and exerts a multitude of immune stimulatory effects of innate a…     

Preference awareness education as stress management training for academic staff

This paper describes a response directed stress management intervention (SMI) in the form of a Jungian based preference awareness education (PAE). It uses the Insights System of personality types to increase awareness of behaviour and communication preferences of self and different others. Eighteen self‐recruited academic employees participated for 7 weeks and received feedback about work preferences and personality type. The aim was to reduce perceptions of stress and interpersonal stress and to increase feelings of job satisfaction and interpersonal satisfaction. The data were analysed using two‐tailed t‐tests. No significant findings were observed for the total sample after training, however, interesting results were found for certain sub‐sample groups. Extravert‐thinking types, reported decreased stress levels (p > 0.018), and participants suffering high stress/interpersonal stress pre‐PAE, reported decreased stress levels (p > 0.010–0.018). Participants suffering low job/interpersonal satisfaction pre‐PAE, reported increased job satisfaction (p > 0.015–0.016). These results suggest that individuals who report high levels of stress and dissatisfaction are most likely to benefit from this type of intervention. Future PAE research might: (a) use pilot studies to meet the intervention preferences of employees that are reluctant to participate in SMIs; (b) include a wait‐list control group; use: (c) a follow up education/measures; (d) and organizational level (stressor directed) SMIs at the same time as response directed initiatives. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Complete response, as determined by prostate-specific antigen level, to chlormadinone acetate withdrawal persisting longer than 2 years in patients with advanced prostate cancer: Two case reports

Antiandrogen withdrawal syndrome (AWS) is a well-established phenomenon in prostate cancer. However, responses to AWS are usually of limited duration, and a complete response (CR) is extremely rare. We present two patients who exhibited a chemical CR for more than 2 years after the discontinuation of steroidal antiandrogen chlormadinone acetate use. Whether patients who respond to antiandrogen withdrawal include a group of patients with a better prognosis remains uncertain. However, considering that the usual survival period of patients with hormone-resistant prostate cancer is approximately 12 months, both of the patients reported here, who are present in excellent physical condition, exhibiting an improved quality of life, and attending their hospital as outpatients, obviously acquired a prolonged survival because of AWS.     

Development of the Qualeffo–31, an osteoporosis-specific quality-of-life questionnaire

Introduction Vertebral deformities are a common consequence of osteoporosis and are known to decrease quality of life. The Qualeffo–41 is a quality-of-life questionnaire especially developed for measuring quality of life in patients with vertebral deformities. It consists of 41 questions arranged in five domains: pain, physical function, social function, general health perception, and mental function. The objectives of this study were: (1) to develop a shorter version of the Qualeffo–41 by removing redundant questions; and (2) to investigate the scale characteristics, reliability, and validity of this shorter version. Methods The study was performed using data from the Qualeffo validation study and the Multiple Outcomes of Raloxifene Evaluation (MORE) study. The analyses were performed in patients with vertebral deformities (n=579). Factor analysis on polychoric correlations and an item response theory (IRT) model, i.e., the generalized partial credit model (GPCM), were used to create a shorter version of Qualeffo–41. Using GPCM, scoring weights were computed for all items. Results Three items were removed from the data set because of too many missing values. Factor analysis identified three instead of five domains: (1) pain, (2) physical function, and (3) mental function. Five items had factor loadings <0.4 and were not included in the GPCM. After excluding several items, the domains pain (four items), physical function (18 items), and mental function (nine items) showed a good, reasonable, and excellent fit, respectively. This indicates that the mental function domain and the pain domain are more unidimensional than the physical function domain. All three domains showed a very high correlation (r ≥0.95) with the corresponding domains of the Qualeffo–41. Conclusions Qualeffo–31 was developed, consisting of three domains with a reasonable to excellent fit to the GPCM. Although the fit to the GPCM supports the construct validity of the Qualeffo–31, validation in a new study should be performed before using it in practice.     

Progression-free interval in ovarian cancer and predictive value of an ex vivo chemoresponse assay

The study objective was to determine the effectiveness of a phenotypic chemoresponse assay in predicting response to chemotherapy measured by progression-free interval (PFI) in a retrospective series of ovarian cancer patients whose tumor specimens had been tested with the ChemoFx assay. A statistically significant correlation between assay prediction of response and PFI was observed in 256 cases with an exact or partial match between drug(s) assayed and received. In 135 cases with an exact match, the hazard ratio for progression of the resistant group was 2.9 (confidence interval [CI]: 1.4-6.3; P < 0.01) compared to the sensitive group and 1.7 (CI: 1.2-2.5) for the intermediate compared to the sensitive group. The median PFI for patients treated with drugs assayed as resistant was 9 months, 14 months for those with drugs assayed as intermediately sensitive, and PFI had not been achieved for those with drugs assayed as sensitive. These data indicate that the ChemoFx assay is predictive of PFI in ovarian cancer. As the majority of ovarian cancers display different degrees of response to different chemotherapy agents ex vivo, the incorporation of assay information into treatment selection has the potential to improve clinical outcomes in ovarian cancer patients.     

Relationship of early life stress and psychological functioning to adult C-reactive protein in the coronary artery risk development in young adults study.

BACKGROUND: Low socioeconomic status (SES) and a harsh family environment in childhood have been linked to mental and physical health disorders in adulthood. The objective of the present investigation was to evaluate a developmental model of pathways that may help explain these links and to relate them to C-reactive protein (CRP) in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) dataset. METHODS: Participants (n = 3248) in the CARDIA study, age 32 to 47 years, completed measures of childhood SES (CSES), early family environment (risky families [RF]), adult psychosocial functioning (PsyF, a latent factor measured by depression, mastery, and positive and negative social contacts), body mass index (BMI), and C-reactive protein. RESULTS: Structural equation modeling indicated that CSES and RF are associated with C-reactive protein via their association with PsyF (standardized path coefficients: CSES to RF, RF to PsyF, PsyF to CRP, CSES to CRP, all p < .05), with good overall model fit. The association between PsyF and CRP was partially mediated by BMI (PsyF to BMI, BMI to CRP, both p < .05). CONCLUSIONS: Low childhood SES and a harsh early family environment appear to be related to elevated C-reactive protein in adulthood through pathways involving psychosocial dysfunction and high body mass index.     

慢性应激对大鼠血管平滑肌细胞的效应及与焦虑行为的关系

目的探讨慢性精神应激对血管平滑肌细胞的影响及与焦虑行为的关系。方法将38只SD大鼠按照随机数字表随机分为精神应激组(30只)和对照组(8只)。对应激组采用限制应激和饮水冲突应激,持续2个月;分别于应激前、应激后1,2个月用空场实验和高架十字迷宫实验观察大鼠焦虑水平,计算出中央格爬行次数、外周格爬行次数、开放臂进入次数及停留时间、闭合臂进入次数及停留时间。以免疫组化方法测定主动脉血管局部增殖细胞核抗原(PCNA)表达,并用苏木素-伊红染色法观察主动脉结构变化。结果(1)与对照组比较,应激1个月后,应激组大鼠在开放臂的次数和时间、闭合臂的次数少(P<0·05),闭合臂的时间多(均P<0·01);应激2个月后,应激组大鼠在外周格爬行的个数和闭合臂时间多(P<0·01),开放臂时间少(P<0·01)。(2)应激组大鼠主动脉失去原有的正常结构,中层血管平滑肌细胞排列紊乱,数目增多。(3)应激组大鼠血管壁PCNA表达的阳性细胞数为(16485±10694)个/MM2,对照组大鼠为(4012±2256)个/MM2,T=4·359,P<0·01。(4)中度焦虑组大鼠PCNA表达与大鼠焦虑呈正相关(PEARSON相关系数为0·718,P=0·004)。结论大鼠中度焦虑时,其血管平滑肌细胞增殖率与焦虑情绪呈正相关。     

抑郁患者血清皮质醇与血压在应激前后的变化

目的研究抑郁患者血清皮质醇浓度、血压在应激前后的变化以及它们之间的关系。方法分别在安静状态、心理应激状态和心理应激后 (恢复状态 )测量抑郁组和对照组的血清皮质醇浓度、血压 ,比较两组上述指标的差异 ,以及心理应激前后的变化。心理应激以规定时间内的计算试验模拟 ,血清皮质醇以酶联免疫试验检测 ,血压为常规检测。结果 1.皮质醇 :抑郁组在安静状态、应激状态、恢复状态的皮质醇浓度显著高于对照组 (P <0 .0 5 ) ,抑郁组应激前后皮质醇浓度的波动显著小于对照组 (P <0 .0 5 )。2 .收缩压 :安静状态和恢复状态时抑郁组的收缩压显著高于对照组 (P <0 .0 5 ) ,应激状态时两组无统计学差异 ;应激前后收缩压的波动两组无统计学差异。 3 .舒张压 :抑郁组在安静状态时舒张压显著高于对照组(P <0 .0 5 ) ,在应激状态和恢复状态时两组无统计学差异 ;应激前后舒张压的波动两组无统计学差异。结论抑郁患者存在基础血压升高 ,此现象可能与抑郁患者血清皮质醇浓度升高有关。     

质子磁共振波谱对创伤后应激障碍患者海马神经元异常的诊断价值

目的 探讨质子磁共振波谱（1HMRS）在诊断创伤后应激障碍（post traumatic stress disorder，PTSD）患者海马神经元异常中的价值。方法 对19例PTSD患者及19例健康对照组行常规MRI和1HMRS检查。结果 PTSD患者MRI检查未出现信号的异常。19例患者两侧海马均显示NAA／Cr明显减低，与健康对照组相比，差异有统计学意义（P〈0．01）；而患者两侧海马的Cho／Cr与健康对照组相比，差异无统计学意义（P〉0．05）。结论 1HMRS揭示了PTSD时海马存在着神经元的丢失或功能紊乱，而这些改变是构成PTSD的神经生物学基础之一。