New Zealand Emergency Medicine Network: A collaboration for acute care research in New Zealand

The specialty of emergency medicine in Australasia is coming of age. As part of this maturation there is a need for high‐quality evidence to inform practice. This article describes the development of the New Zealand Emergency Medicine Network, a collaboration of committed emergency care researchers who share the vision that New Zealand/Aotearoa will have a world‐leading, patient‐centred emergency care research network, which will improve emergency care for all, so that people coming to any ED in the country will have access to the same world‐class emergency care.     

Loss of function,missense, and intronic variants in NOTCH1 confer different risks for left ventricular outflow tract obstructive heart defects in two European cohorts

Loss of function variants in NOTCH1 cause left ventricular outflow tract obstructive defects (LVOTO). However, the risk conferred by rare and noncoding variants in NOTCH1 for LVOTO remains largely uncharacterized. In a cohort of 49 families affected by hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a severe form of LVOTO, we discovered predicted loss of function NOTCH1 variants in 6% of individuals. Rare or low-frequency missense variants were found in 16% of families. To make a quantitative estimate of the genetic risk posed by variants in NOTCH1 for LVOTO, we studied associations of 400 coding and noncoding variants in NOTCH1 in 1,085 cases and 332,788 controls from the UK Biobank. Two rare intronic variants in strong linkage disequilibrium displayed significant association with risk for LVOTO amongst European-ancestry individuals. This result was replicated in an independent analysis of 210 cases and 68,762 controls of non-European and mixed ancestry. In conclusion, carrying rare predicted loss of function variants in NOTCH1 confer significant risk for LVOTO. In addition, the two intronic variants seem to be associated with an increased risk for these defects. Our approach demonstrates the utility of population-based data sets in quantifying the specific risk of individual variants for disease-related phenotypes.     

含左氧氟沙星及卷曲霉素方案治疗耐多药肺结核近期疗效分析

目的　观察和评价含左氧氟沙星和卷曲霉素联合化疗方案在耐多药肺结核 (MDR PTB)治疗中的疗效。方法　将 177例MDR PTB患者分为治疗组 88例和对照组 89例。化疗方案 :治疗组以左氧氟沙星和卷曲霉素为主 ,联合利福喷汀、异烟肼、对氨基水杨酸钠、吡嗪酰胺 ;对照组用链霉素、乙胺丁醇 ,联用药物同治疗组 ,疗程均为 2 1个月。结果　共有 16 1例患者完成化疗疗程 ,治疗组 82例 ,痰菌阴转率 83% ;对照组 79例 ,痰菌阴转率 5 8% ;痰菌阴转率治疗组明显高于对照组 (P <0 0 1) ;治疗组病灶显效率 5 0 % ,空洞闭合率 6 3% ,治疗组优于对照组 (P <0 0 1) ;治疗组的药物不良反应率为 31% ,对照组为 35 % ,两组比较差异无显著性 (P >0 0 5 )。结论　含左氧氟沙星和卷曲霉素的方案治疗MDR PTB ,有助于痰菌阴转和病变吸收好转 ,药物不良反应低 ,值得在临床上推广应用     

创伤性休克病人的早期急救护理体会

目的:讨论在院前和急诊科对创伤性休克病人施行早期急救护理,对挽救病人的生命及伤情预后有重要的意义.方法:对我科1997年2月至2001年4月27例创伤性休克病人进行早期,快速,积极的补液,输血增加有效循环量,监测生命体征等综合性抢救治疗与护理措施.结果:经早期积极急救护理,26例病人收缩压维持在60mmHg以上,意识清醒,脉搏有力,转入手术室或专科治疗,1例病人伤势严重抢救无效死亡.结论:创伤性休克病人,伤势复杂,死亡率高,伤后早期院前与急诊科的有效救护,是提高抢救成功率的关键.     

自杀行为及其干预的研究进展

自杀已经成为一个世界范围内的重大公共卫生问题。中国的自杀特征具有独特性。自杀行为的发生往往是内在因素与外部因素相互作用的结果，它与社会学、心理学、伦理学、生物学、精神病学等各方面密切相关。自杀原因虽然错综复杂，但我们要提高意识，认识到自杀是一种可以预防的公共卫生问题。     

Long-term results of first-line sequential high-dose carboplatin, etoposide and ifosfamide chemotherapy with peripheral blood stem cell support for patients with advanced testicular germ cell tumor

OBJECTIVE: Standard chemotherapy shows relatively low long-term survival in patients with poor-risk testicular germ cell tumor (GCT). First-line high-dose chemotherapy (HD-CT) may improve the result. High-dose carboplatin, etoposide, ifosfamide chemotherapy followed by autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) was investigated as first-line chemotherapy in patients with advanced testicular GCT. METHODS: Fifty-five previously untreated testicular GCT patients with Indiana 'advanced disease' criteria received three cycles of bleomycin, etoposide and cisplatin (BEP) followed by one cycle of HD-CT plus PBSCT, if elevated serum tumor markers were observed after three cycles of the BEP regimen. RESULTS: Thirty patients were treated with BEP alone, because the tumor marker(s) declined to normal range. Twenty-five patients received BEP and HD-CT. One patient died of rhabdomyolysis due to HD-CT. Three and six (13% and 25%) out of 24 patients treated with BEP and HD-CT achieved marker-negative and marker-positive partial responses, respectively. The other patients achieved no change. Fifteen (63%) are alive and 14 (58%) are free of disease at a median follow-up time of 54 months. Severe toxicity included treatment-related death (4%). CONCLUSIONS: HD-CT with peripheral stem cell support can be successfully applied in a multicenter setting. HD-CT demonstrated modest anticancer activity for Japanese patients with advanced testicular GCT and was well tolerated. This regimen might be examined for further investigation in randomized trials in first-line chemotherapy for patients with poor-risk testicular GCT.