Comparison of gas-liquid chromatography and EMIT assay for serum valproic acid

We describe a simple direct extraction method for the gas-liquid chromatography determination of serum valproic acid. The working range for the assay is 2-180 mg/L and our within-run precision was 5.8 and 4.3% at the 40 and 90 mg/L concentrations respectively. Hemolyzed and lipemic sera as well as samples from patients with hyperbilirubinemia and from patients with decreased renal function were put through the assay and no interfering peaks were noted. Interference occurred when teflon-lined screw caps were used during the extraction step. The method was proven to be accurate by linear regression analysis of samples containing weighed-in amounts of valproic acid. The above assay was compared to an enzyme immunoassay technique (EMIT). The working range for the latter is 10-150 mg/L and the with-run precision was 10.8 and 5.9% and 90 mg/L concentration respectively. Samples were run by both the gas-liquid chromatograph and enzyme immunoassay methods and gave very similar results over the range 16-139 mg/L.     

Physiologic mechanism and preoperative prediction of new-onset dysphagia after laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication

The aim of this study was to determine whether preoperative physiologic factors can account for and be used to predict the development of postoperative dysphagia after laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication. One hundred sixty-three patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease underwent laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication with a median follow-up of 14 months (range 6 to 81 months). Preoperative dysphagia was present in 37% (60 of 163) and was relieved in all but five patients (92%). Female sex (P = 0.01) and the presence of a stricture (P = 0.02) were the only preoperative variables associated with the presence of preoperative dysphagia. Eight percent (8 of 103) of patients without preoperative dysphagia developed new-onset dysphagia, and of these 63% (5 of 8) had a normal lower esophageal sphincter (LES) (pressure >6 mm Hg; length >2 cm; abdominal length >1 cm). New-onset dysphagia was significantly more common in patients with a normal LES (22% [5 of 23] vs. 4% [3 of 80], P = 001). Patients with a normal LES had almost a sixfold increase in the risk of developing dysphagia as those with an abnormal LES (relative risk = 5.8). Only a preoperative normal LES (P = 0.02) or mean LES pressures (P = 0.04) were positively associated with the development of postoperative dysphagia. The severity of this dysphagia also showed a strong positive trend of increasing with mean preoperative LES pressures (P = 0.07). Finally, preoperative LES pressure significantly correlated with postoperative LES pressure (r = 0.48, P = 0.01) and with mean residual LES (nadir) pressure (r = 0.33, P = 0.05) offering insight into the mechanism of this dysphagia. In conclusion, preoperative LES parameters play a role in the development of dysphagia after laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication. Patients with a normal LES or high mean LES pressures are at increased risk for developing this complication and should be informed of this before laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication. Presented at the Forty-Second Annual Meeting of The Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, Atlanta, Ga., May 20–23, 2001.     

中西医结合治疗难治性原发性肾病综合征20例

目的 :探讨难治性原发性肾病综合征 ( PNS)的中西医结合治疗途径。方法 :选择 PNS患者2 0例 ,逐步撤减激素至停用 ,停免疫抑制剂 ,酌情给予降压、利尿、降脂、提高血浆胶体渗透压 ,自拟“健肾汤”、辨证辨病加减 ,治疗前后分别测定 2 4 h尿蛋白定量、血浆白蛋白、胆固醇、Scr(血肌酐 )、Ccr(肌酐清除率 )。结果 :治疗 8周后 2 4 h尿蛋白、血浆胆固醇显著下降 ,血浆白蛋白显著上升 ,肾功能明显改善 ( P<0 .0 1 )。病情完全缓解 40 % ,部分缓解 45 % ,无效 1 5 % ,总有效率 85 %。结论 :中西医结合治疗 PNS取得一定疗效 ,值得临床和实验进一步研究。     

绝经前后T1期乳腺癌患者临床特征的分析

目的:分析T1期(肿瘤直径<2cm)原发性乳腺癌女性患者绝经前后在肿瘤大小、病理分类、淋巴结转移率和数目。方法:常规病理检验以及应用免疫组化、HE法分别测定绝经前乳腺癌患者和绝经后乳腺癌患者者的ER、PR。结果:两组患者在肿瘤大小上无明显差异,但绝经前乳腺癌患者浸润导管癌的百分比为 84. 7%,绝经后乳腺癌患者的浸润导管癌百分比为 62. 2%,经χ2 检验,P<0. 01。两组淋巴结转移率分别为 39. 3%和 25. 5%,经χ2 检验,P<0. 01。两组ER和PR阳性伴淋巴结转移的比例经χ2 检验,P<0. 05。结论:绝经前乳腺癌患者和绝经后乳腺癌患者在病理分类、淋巴结转移率及数目、ER、PR阳性伴淋巴结转移上有显著性差异。对于T1原发性乳腺癌患者不论有无淋巴结转移,均应行癌肿切除伴Ⅰ、Ⅱ级淋巴结清扫。     

从事全胃肠外营养工作的心得

目的:交流从事全胃肠外营养(TPN)工作的心得。方法:查阅近年来相关国内外文献,结合自己的工作实践进行回顾、总结和分析。结果与结论:从事TPN工作的临床药师应不断接受业务教育,凭借专业优势与临床加强联系,善于分析、总结临床信息,推动临床药学发展。     

深圳市南山区医疗机构消毒效果分析

目的:了解南山区各医院及个体诊所卫生消毒状况。方法:对2002~2003年间区属各医院及个体诊所消毒效果的监测结果进行统计分析。结果:2002年与2003年区镇医院消毒效果平均合格率分别为94.4%和97.1%,个体诊所平均合格率分别为87.6%和89.8%。结论:区(镇)医院消毒效果优于个体诊所,空气合格率普遍较低,卫生防疫机构要加大力度进行监督检测,同时加强对医务人员进行消毒知识培训。     

冬凌草单药及与化疗合用治疗食管癌205例

目的:观察冬凌草单药及与化疗合用治疗食管癌的临床疗效.方法:448例患者,均经病理细胞学和X线检查确诊为食管癌.其中早期癌76例,均采用冬凌草单药治疗.晚期癌372例,167例采用冬凌草单药治疗,205例采用冬凌草与化疗合用.结果:用冬凌草单药治疗早期食管癌患者3,5,10,13 a的生存率明显高于未治疗组(98.68% vs 51.52%,84.02% vs 28.62%,63.49% vs 11.45%,50.13% vs 8.59%;P<0.001).对于晚期食管癌,冬凌草联合化疗应用,其总有效率明显高于以PYM(BLM)为基础的单一化疗(66.82% vs 42.85%,P<0.01).冬凌草与化疗合用组与单一化疗对照组相比副作用基本相同,无明显差异(P>0.05).结论:对于早期食管癌患者,冬凌草能控制疾病发展延长生存时间;对于晚期食管癌患者,冬凌草能增强化疗的作用.     

Semmelweis’ present day follow-up: Updating bacterial sampling and enrichment in clinical hygiene

Potentially dangerous antibiotic resistant contaminants have permanently penetrated at least well-off western populations. The danger is so evident that some hospitals have started to refuse accepting patients who carry such bacteria. Sampling and enrichment measures in hygiene monitoring must be updated as they are corner stones in handling the problems and safeguarding the health care units. Their patients, when exposed to microorganisms are strenuous to treat. Sometimes even this fails, if the infections are spreading in weakened patients. The present review summarizes currently used technologies and the abilities of bacteria to avoid detection. Improved protocols on environmental monitoring in healthcare units are required. They should be comparable with contamination control in industries. Actually these measures in health care should be even stricter because human lives are directly endangered as the resistance of especially elderly patients is low.     

The clinical encounter as local moral world: Shifts of assumptions and transformation in relational context

In this study we consider the process of the clinical encounter, and present exemplars of how assumptions of both clinicians and their patients can shift or transform in the course of a diagnostic interview. We examine the process as it is recalled, and further elaborated, in post-diagnostic interviews as part of a collaborative inquiry during reflections with clinicians and patients in the northeastern United States. Rather than treating assumptions by patients and providers as a fixed attribute of an individual, we treat them as occurring between people within a particular social context, the diagnostic interview. We explore the diagnostic interview as a landscape in which assumptions occur (and can shift), navigate the features of this landscape, and suggest that our examination can best be achieved by the systematic comparison of views of the multiple actors in an experience-near manner. We describe what might be gained by this shift in assumptions and how it can make visible what is at stake for clinician and patient in their local moral worlds—for patients, acknowledgment of social suffering, for clinicians how assumptions are a barrier to engagement with minority patients. It is crucial for clinicians to develop this capacity for reflection when navigating the interactions with patients from different cultures, to recognize and transform assumptions, to notice ‘surprises’, and to elicit what really matters to patients in their care.