Limbus-based versus Fornix-based conjunctival flap in filtering surgery

Summary A randomized prospective study was performed to compare the results of filtering surgery using a Limbusbased versus a Fornix-based conjunctival flap. The wound closure of the Fornix-based flap was performed using a running 10/0 nylon suture at the limbus. No statistical significant difference of IOP regulation was found between the two groups. There was a tendency of reduced occurrence of shallow anterior chamber and of less vascularized filtering blebs in the Fornix-based technique.     

Addition of sufentanil to bupivacaine in caudal block effect on stress responses in children

BACKGROUND: The aim of the present randomized study was to determine the effect of adding sufentanil to bupivacaine, compared with bupivacaine alone in caudal block, on the surgical stress response in children. METHODS: The children were premedicated with midazolam 0.5 mg/kg. All children received induction with nitrous oxide and sevoflurane. Anesthesia was maintained with the same volatile agents in the both groups. The children were randomly allocated to two groups. Group I received bupivacaine alone (n = 17) and group II received bupivacaine + sufentanil (n = 16). Caudal block was performed with 0.25% bupivacaine 2 mg/kg (group I) or 0.25% bupivacaine 2 mg/kg with sufentanil 0.5 microg/kg (group II) after induction of anesthesia. Blood samples were obtained after induction of anesthesia (T(0)) to measure baseline concentrations of cortisol, prolactin, glucose and insulin. Additional samples were obtained 30 min after the start of surgery (T(1)), and 60 min after the end of surgery (T(2)). RESULTS: All of the basal values (T(0)) were within the normal ranges of the authors' laboratory for children of this age group and there were no differences between the groups (P > 0.05). In both groups, glucose concentration increased at T(1), compared with T(0) and T(2) (P < 0.05). The glucose concentration was unchanged at T(2) compared with T(0) in both group (P > 0.05). In both groups, prolactin concentration increased at T(1), compared with T(0) and decreased at T(2), compared with T(1) (P < 0.05). Cortisol decreased at T(1) and T(2), compared with T(0) in both groups. (P < 0.05). Insulin concentration remained unchanged at T(0) and T(2), but increased slightly at T(1) in both groups (P > 0.05). There were no significant differences in plasma prolactin, cortisol, glucose and insulin levels between the two groups at T(1) and T(2) (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: There is no advantage in adding 0.5 microg/kg sufentanil to bupivacaine over bupivacaine alone in the caudal block, with regard to the surgical stress response in children.     

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.