Chronic fatigue of the small enterprise workers participating in an occupational health checkup center in southern Taiwan

Purpose  There has been increasing interest in the occupational health of workers in small enterprises, especially in developing countries. This study examines the association between psychosocial job characteristics and fatigue, and attempts to identify risk factors for fatigue among workers of small enterprises in southern Taiwan. Methods  A structured questionnaire was administered to workers receiving regular health examinations between August 2005 and January 2006. The questionnaire collected demographic information and data on working conditions, personal health status and life styles. It also collected information on psychosocial job characteristics, fatigue and psychological distress using three instruments. Results  A total of 647 workers with mean age of 43.7 were completed. Probable fatigue was found in 34.6% of the sample. Fatigue was found by multiple logistic regressions to be associated with the lack of exercise, working in shifts, depression score and lack of social support at workplace. Conclusions  This study found associations between life style, psychosocial job characteristics and fatigue. Because the high prevalence of probable fatigue was found in such small enterprises, the authors suggest that a short interview with some quick questionnaires in health checkup for these small enterprise workers are helpful to early detect psychosocial and fatigue problems.     

Pulmonary arteriovenous fistula in a patient with renal cell carcinoma.

Arteriovenous (AV) fistulas are common in renal cell carcinoma. These are usually small and asymptomatic. Case reports have previously described symptomatic fistulas in primary renal cell tumour or, less commonly, bone metastases. The current study describes a patient with lung metastases from renal cell carcinoma who developed a symptomatic pulmonary AV fistula. The patient presented with debilitating progressive shortness of breath, which resolved after coiling of the pulmonary AV fistula. Supporting radiographs include a unique ventilation-perfusion finding of perfusion tracer in the kidney that is diagnostic of a pulmonary shunt. This is the first report of a pulmonary fistula from renal cell carcinoma. This rare complication of renal cell carcinoma reflects its diverse clinical presentations and unique tumour biology.     

Brain natriuretic peptide enhances the endothelium-independent cAMP and vasorelaxant responses of calcitonin gene-related peptide in rat aorta

Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) causes vasorelaxation in rat aorta involving endothelium/nitric oxide (NO)-dependent elevations of both cAMP and cGMP levels. When endothelium is removed, preincubation with exogenous NO uncovers and potentiates direct (endothelium-independent) cAMP elevations and vasorelaxations caused by CGRP. This enhancing effect of NO potentially involves elevation of cGMP and inhibition of Type III (cGMPinhibitable) phosphodiesterase, causing accumulation of cAMP. However, NO may have other actions. The aim of the present study was to determine if brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), which elevates cGMP levels independent of NO, could enhance cAMP accumulations and vasorelaxations induced by CGRP in rat aortic rings denuded of endothelium. When added separately, neither CGRP (100 nM) nor BNP (10 nM) altered cAMP levels. When added in combination, CGRP (100 nM) and BNP (10 nM) significantly elevated cAMP levels (from control of 0.95 ± 0.08 to 1.53 ± 0.09 pmol/mg protein) at 2 min. BNP (10 nM) elevated cGMP levels 10-fold at 2 min and this response was not altered by co-administration of CGRP (100 nM).Pretreatment with BNP at concentrations as low as 1 nM in endothelium-denuded aortic rings greatly enhanced the direct vasorelaxant effects of CGRP (100 nM) (from control of 0% to 57.6 ± 6.8% relaxation of phenylephrineprecontractions). Our findings indicate that BNP enhances direct (endothelium-independent) cAMP elevations and vasorelaxations caused by CGRP in rat aorta, thus supporting the concept that cGMP inhibits cAMP metabolism and enhances CGRP-induced responses in aortic smooth muscle cells.     

关于单结合胆红素水溶性的研究

目的:进一步研究单结合胆红素(MCB)的水难溶特性及其在病理性胆汁中参与胆红素沉淀和色素性结石形成的作用机制.方法:应用胆红素高效液相色谱分析技术,先从人胆汁中获得结合胆红素,再经分离、制备及纯化得到纯MCB.然后观察其水溶解度并与其它型胆红素比较.结果:在pH7.9,温度37℃接近生理的条件下,MCB的溶解度(558.25±5.96μm)仅为双结合胆红素(DCB)的1/7,比不结合胆红素(UCB)高约44倍并随pH值改变而呈曲线变化.pH7.9时最大;pH4.5时为0;而当pH>9时,反而低于呈离于状态的UCB.结论:MCB虽作为结合型胆红素在胆道生理条件下的不溶性明显高于UCB,但比DCB要低得多;而在胆道病理条件下,其水溶性不但远低于DCB,甚至还不如离子化的UCB,这可能是MCB参与胆红素沉淀及胆色素结石形成的理化基础.     

三个统一:21世纪中医学发展取向的思考

21世纪中医学的发展，面临着理顺民族性表述方式与国际性科学内涵关系的问题，因此必须辩证地把握结构与机能、实证科学手段与人文精神、过程与结果之间的谐调统一，这样既符合中医学术体系特征，又能与当代生命科学研究保持一致。     

Phase II trial of gallium nitrate,amonafide and teniposide in metastatic non-small cell lung cancer

Summary Fifty-five patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were entered into this phase II randomized study for evaluating three new agents: gallium nitrate, amonafide and teniposide. The patients had to have ECOG performance status 0 or 1, no prior chemotherapy, and adequate hematological, hepatic and renal functions. Forty-seven patients were eligible and evaluable. Fourteen were randomized to receive gallium nitrate, 18 to amonafide and 15 to teniposide. Seventy-four percent of eligible patients were male. The majority of patients (89%) had an ECOG performance status 1. ECOG grade 4 toxicity occurred twice in patients on gallium nitrate, seven times on amonafide and 18 times on teniposide. The cause of death was attributed to amonafide in one patient (from sepsis) and to teniposide in two patients (due to infection and leukopenia). There was no objective response in all the patients entered. The overall survival times ranged from 2 weeks to 156 weeks with a median of 23 weeks. There were no survival differences among the three treatment arms. We conclude that gallium nitrate, amonafide and teniposide are inactive in metastatic NSCLC and do not warrant any further testing in this disease.The contents of this study is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Cancer Institute.     

Relationship between Mandarin speech reception thresholds and pure-tone thresholds in the geriatric population.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: In the geriatric population, the reliability of pure-tone threshold (PTT) is sometimes poorer than that in young adults because of various reasons. This study assessed the relationship between Mandarin speech reception thresholds (SRTs) and PTTs in the aged and developed SRT as a measure for corroborating PTT. METHODS: This prospective study enrolled 46 consecutive subjects over 60 years of age. The results of SRT and PTT were collected from one ear randomly selected from each subject. Simple linear and multiple regressions were used to determine the correlation and linear regression coefficients between SRTs and PTTs at various frequencies. RESULTS: In the simple regression analysis, the correlation coefficient was highest at 1000 Hz (r = 0.949) and 500 Hz (r = 0.922), followed by 250 Hz (r = 0.850) and 2000 Hz (r = 0.792). In the multiple regression model with SRT as the dependent variable and PTTs as predictor variables, the resultant multiple correlation coefficient R was 0.967, while R2 was 0.936. In this model, PTTs at the frequencies of 500 Hz and 1000 Hz contributed significantly to the variance in SRTs with p values of 0.029 and < 0.001, respectively. These results demonstrated that the Mandarin SRT is strongly associated with PTTs at the frequencies of 500 Hz and 1000 Hz. CONCLUSION: This study established the agreement between Mandarin SRTs and PTTs in the low tone area of speech frequencies in the geriatric population. In clinical settings, SRT test can be rapidly and easily performed and is relatively inexpensive. It is a vital indicator of the accuracy of PTT measurement.     

心脏创伤35例报告

本文报告心脏创伤３５例。年龄最小７岁，最大６８岁，其中包括心脏刺伤患者１０例，心肌挫伤患者２５例，死亡５例。作者强调快速确定诊断，紧急剖胸心包切开减压和心脏修补止血是心脏刺伤救治成功的关键。同时，对心肌挫伤的临床表现、早期诊断和及时处理等问题进行了讨论。