SPIR扫描在诊断骨胳肌肉系统疾病中的应用

目的：探讨SPIR脂肪抑制技术在骨胳肌肉系统疾病MRI检查中的诊断价值。材料与方法：对36例骨、关节软组织疾病患者行T1W／SE、T2W／FSE及T2W／SPIR序列扫描，并对后两者进行比较。结果：各种病理性积液呈高信号；损伤性骨髓水肿呈高信号；骨折线呈低信号，如骨折断端出血则呈线状高信号；软组织肿瘤囊性部分呈高信号，实质部分呈中等强度信号；软组织炎症性病变为弥漫性高信号；骨病成骨性改变为低信号；骨髓病变为高信号或混杂等高信号；椎管内占位性病变及半月板损伤SPIR显示不清。结论：SPIR能提高正常组织与病变组织间的对比度，清晰地显示病变组织，作为T1W／SE、T2W／FSE序列的辅助检查，有助于提高骨胳肌肉系统疾病的诊断水平。     

补肾聪耳片对卡那霉素致聋豚鼠听毛细胞修复研究

目的 :探讨补肾聪耳片对卡那霉素致豚鼠感音性神经性耳聋的修复和保护作用。方法 :卡那霉素致聋制作动物实验模型 ,用中药制剂补肾聪耳片进行干预 ,通过听力和耳蜗病理实验观察其改善听力和对耳蜗毛细胞的修复作用。结果 :正常对照组和实验组相比各项观察指标 (耳廓听域反射、听性脑干诱发电位、外毛细胞听毛缺失率差别均有统计学意义 (P<0 01) ,超微结构检查发现中药制剂对耳蜗结构有明显的改善。结论 :补肾聪耳片能恢复神经反射的功能 ,改善耳听力 ,促进毛细胞修复。     

The herbal preparation STW5 (lberogast®) has potent and region-specific effects on gastric motility

Functional dyspepsia (FD) is amongst the most common functional gastrointestinal disorders. Symptomatic treatment includes the use of herbal preparations whose effects on gastric motility are unclear. The present study aimed at investigating the effects of STW 5 (Iberogast), a fixed combination of hydroethanolic herbal extracts, on gastric motility in vitro. Muscle strips from guinea-pig gastric fundus, corpus and antrum were set up in organ baths either in circular or longitudinal orientation. Addition of ethanol-free STW 5 to the organ baths (32-512 microg mL(-1)) dose-dependently evoked a sustained and reversible relaxation of circular and longitudinal fundus and corpus muscle strips without changes in phasic activity. In contrast, antral muscle strips responded to STW 5 with a significant increase in the contractile force of phasic contractions without changes in tone. All effects were resistant to tetrodotoxin (0.5 micromol L(-1)), atropine (1 micromol L(-1)), omega-conotoxin GVIA (0.5 micromol L(-1)), capsaicin (1 micromol L(-1)) or L-NAME (100 micromol L(-1)), suggesting that neither nerves nor nitric oxide pathways were involved. These data demonstrate that STW 5 profoundly alters gastric motility in a region-specific but not layer-specific manner and thus implicates Iberogast in the treatment of FD patients suffering from motility disorders with impaired fundus accommodation and/or antral hypomotility.     

牡蛎功能短肽的制备及ACE抑制活性

以新鲜无壳牡蛎为原料,采用酶水解的方法制备牡蛎短肽,经SephadexG 15分离,并用HPLC测定其相对分子质量分布,通过HPLC法定量马尿酸测定各组分的ACE(血管紧张素转化酶)抑制活性。结果表明,牡蛎水解液中相对分子质量较大和较小部分的ACE抑制活性偏低,只有相对分子质量在一定范围内的短肽,对ACE具有较好的抑制作用,质量浓度为0.4mg/mL的牡蛎功能短肽的ACE抑制率为51.4%.     

Factors Affecting Cardiac Catheterization Rates in Elders with Acute Coronary Syndromes

Background: Elder patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) are less likely to receive cardiac catheterization. The reasons for this are unclear.
Objectives: To assess whether elder patients who had a documented history of dementia, lived in extended care facilities, or had do not intubate–do not resuscitate (DNR-DNI) advance directives were less likely to receive cardiac catheterization, despite having ACS with high-risk features.
Methods: This was a medical record review conducted at an urban teaching hospital. DNR-DNI status before hospitalization, extended care facility (nursing home or assisted living) residence, and a previous diagnosis of dementia were obtained from the medical record. Patients 65 years and older who presented to the emergency department with acute myocardial infarction or with unstable angina with ST segment deviation were included. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were performed, and odds ratios (ORs) were reported with their 95% confidence intervals (CIs).
Results: Of the 201 eligible patients, 66 (32.8%) patients did not undergo cardiac catheterization. In the univariate analysis, patients who had dementia, resided in extended care facilities, or were DNR-DNI were less likely to receive cardiac catheterization. Only extended care facility residence (OR, 0.18; 95% CI = 0.04 to 0.83) and DNR-DNI status (OR, 0.19; 95% CI = 0.04 to 0.92) remained significantly associated with decreased cardiac catheterization in the multivariate analysis.
Conclusions: Elder patients with ACS residing in extended care facilities or who are DNR-DNI are less likely to receive cardiac catheterization. Future studies concerning the quality of ACS care for elders should take these variables into account.     

Assessment of functional vision and its rehabilitation

This article, based on a report prepared for the International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO) and the International Society for Low Vision Research and Rehabilitation (ISLRR), explores the assessment of various aspects of visual functioning as needed to document the outcomes of vision rehabilitation. Documenting patient abilities and functional vision (how the person functions) is distinct from the measurement of visual functions (how the eye functions) and also from the assessment of quality of life. All three areas are important, but their assessment should not be mixed. Observation of task performance offers the most objective measure of functional vision, but it is time‐consuming and not feasible for many tasks. Where possible, timing and error rates provide an easy score. Patient response questionnaires provide an alternative. They may save time and can cover a wider area, but the responses are subjective and proper scoring presents problems. Simple Likert scoring still predominates but Rasch analysis, needed to provide better result scales, is gaining ground. Selection of questions is another problem. If the range of difficulties does not match the range of patient abilities, and if the difficulties are not distributed evenly, the results are not optimal. This may be an argument to use different outcome questions for different conditions. Generic questionnaires are appropriate for the assessment of generic quality of life, but not for specific rehabilitation outcomes. Different questionnaires are also needed for screening, intake and outcomes. Intake questions must be relevant to actual needs to allow prioritization of rehabilitation goals; the activity inventory presents a prototype. Outcome questions should be targeted at predefined rehabilitation goals. The Appendix cites some promising examples. The Low Vision Intervention Trial (LOVIT) is an example of a properly designed randomized control study, and has demonstrated the remarkable effectiveness of vision rehabilitation. It is hoped that further similar studies will follow.     

Serum IgA and IgG functional antibodies and their subclasses to Streptococcus pneumoniae capsular antigen found in two aged‐matched cohorts of children with and without otitis media with effusion

Serum IgA and IgG functional antibodies and their subclasses to Streptococcus pneumoniae capsular antigen found in two aged‐matched cohorts of children with and without otitis media with effusion The relationship between acute otitis media and otitis media with effusion (OME) is uncertain and the aetiology of OME is multifactorial. Otitis media with effusion may be an inflammatory condition; both bacteria and viral infections could play a part in this inflammation. The four bacteria Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenza, Staphylococcus aureus and Branhamella catarrhalis cause 60% of the infections whereas S. pneumoniae accounts for up to 35%. IgA provides the dominant surface response to polysaccharide and lipopolysaccharide antigens, of which IgA₂ is the main subclass. Once the mucosa has been breached, most protection is provided by IgG. IgG₂ acts mainly against bacterial capsular antigens. This study looked at two groups of 50 children with and without OME who were aged between 3 and 10 years. The aims were to determine if, firstly, the levels of the serum immunoglobulins were different in the two groups, secondly whether these children made the appropriate antibody response to the capsular antigen to S. pneumoniae (PCP), and finally if there was a delay in the maturity of the IgA response. The total IgG, IgA and all subclass levels were measured using radial immunodiffusion. Levels of functional IgA and IgG were measured using ELISAs (25 patients in each group). The results were analysed with non‐parametric tests. The immunoglobulin levels were within the normal levels for both groups. There were very good correlations between the IgG total anti‐PCP and the IgG₂ anti‐PCP (R > 0.9, p = 0.001). There was a good correlation between the levels of both IgG total and IgG₂ anti‐PCP against IgA total anti‐PCP in both groups (R > 0.85, p > 0.01). This confirms a normal antibody response between both groups of patients. The ages of the controls and patients (50 samples) were correlated with increasing titres of circulating functional antibodies (P = 0.001). This is highly suggestive of a normal age‐related response. In conclusion, the findings were contradictory to our original hypothesis that there is a subtle difference in surface protection between children with and without OME. We believe that a previous history of recurrent acute otitis media is unrelated to the development of OME after 3 years of age.     

Neuroimaging of Focal Cortical Dysplasia

Focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) is a common cause of pharmacoresistant epilepsy that is amenable to surgical resective treatment. The identification of structural FCD by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can contribute to the detection of the epileptogenic zone and improve the outcome of epilepsy surgery. MR epilepsy protocols that include specific T1 and T2 weighted, and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) sequences give complementary information about the characteristic imaging features of FCD; focal cortical thickening, blurring of the gray-white junction, high FLAIR signal, and gyral anatomical abnormalities. Novel imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), magnetization transfer imaging (MTI), and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) can improve the sensitivity of MR to localize the anatomical lesion. Functional/metabolic techniques such as positron emission tomography (PET), ictal subtraction single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), functional MRI (fMRI), and magnetic source imaging (MSI) have the potential to visualize the metabolic, vascular, and epileptogenic properties of the FCD lesion, respectively. Identification of eloquent areas of cortex, to assist in the surgical resection plan, can be obtained non-invasively through the use of fMRI and MSI. Although a significant number of FCD lesions remain unidentified using current neuroimaging techniques, future advances should result in the identification of an increasing number of these cortical malformations.     

保留后方韧带复合体在胸腰椎骨折治疗中的意义

[目的]探讨保留后方韧带复合体在胸腰椎骨折治疗中的意义。[方法]1998～2002年单一节段胸腰椎爆裂骨折治疗中保留后方韧带复合体44例，同期行胸腰椎爆裂骨折治疗切除后方韧带复合体者35例。两种方法分别有15例（定义为A组）和12例（定义为B组）行2次手术取出内固定物，比较AB两组间2次手术前后腰椎功能JOA评分。[结果]2次手术前腰椎功能JOA评分：A组平均24．5分（19～29分）；B组平均22．8分（19～29分），二者无显著性差异（P〉0．05）。2次手术后JOA评分：A组平均24．8分（20～29分），B组平均17．5分（13～26分）。二组有显著性差异（P〈0．05）。[结论]胸腰椎骨折治疗中保留后方韧带复合体，利于术后腰椎功能恢复。     

Clinical efficacy, safety and pharmacokinetic properties of the factor VIII concentrate Haemoctin® SDH in previously treated patients with severe haemophilia A

Clinical efficacy, safety and pharmacokinetic properties of the high-purity double-virus inactivated plasma-derived factor VIII concentrate Haemoctin SDH (pdFVIII) were evaluated in three prospective open-label uncontrolled studies in previously treated patients (PTPs) with severe haemophilia A. The pharmacokinetic properties assessed at baseline and after 3 months of treatment are in accurate accordance with published data and remain unchanged over time (study A, n = 12). Mean terminal elimination half-life was 11.8 and 11.9 h, mean incremental recovery (IU dL(-1)/IU kg(-1)) was 2.3 and 2.0, respectively. Long-term efficacy and safety, in particular the potential immunogenicity, were investigated in a total of 53 PTPs (studies A and B) treated prophylactically and on-demand, as required. PdFVIII has shown to be effective in preventing and controlling bleeding episodes; 23.5% of patients were free of bleeding events. A total of 177 haemorrhages occurred with 74.0% resolving after a single infusion, 87.6% within two infusions. 98.3% of responses reported on haemorrhages were rated as 'excellent' or 'good'. Moreover, 'excellent' haemostatic efficacy has been demonstrated in 10 surgical procedures including general and severe orthopaedic interventions (study C). No complication occurred in any surgery. Few adverse events were reported, one patient developed a high-titre FVIII inhibitor without clinical relevance. In all three studies, over 6 million units were administered in nearly 4300 infusions, approximately 94% units or infusions were given for prophylaxis and only 6% for treatment on-demand. In conclusion, pdFVIII has shown to be effective, safe and well tolerated in long-term prophylaxis and treatment on-demand as well as after minor and major surgical procedures.