The serum activities of 3 cytokines (TNF,IL-1 and IL-6) were observed in 23 patients admitted within 4 days of onset of acute pancreatitis (AP). The results showed that the serum level of 3 cytokines raised in all of the AP patients, significant difference between TNF and IL-1 was abserved at admission and IL-6 did after one week of admission, suggesting that proper cytokine criteria are useful in predicting severity of the disease but the relationship between cytokines and MOF had not established.
Objective To investigate and analyze the past and on-going pro-poor programs related to health equity, and the relevant policies, documents, interventions measures, etc. to improve the China prisoners’ accessibility and utilization of tuberculosis (TB) control services in TB control programs, then evaluate their impacts and influences to provide evidences and suggestions for the further work of TB prevention and treatment. Methods Retrieve published documents about TB prevention and treatment of transient population dating from 1998 to 2008 from MEDLINE, PubMed, CNKI, CBMdisc CDDB and VIP with computers. Simultaneously, a series of interviews was conducted after we got the agreement of the interview people by using non-probability statistics methods. Results A total of 23 documents were retrieved, and they were consonant with the criteria, among which 8 were published and 5 were policy documents. The study on the second document showed the measures that presently applied on TB patients among prisoners in China: find patients through surveys, inspect every prisons and patients going to visit doctors with symptoms; concerning differences between various groups of prisoners, the measure of “classify and instruction, enroll together and treat” was applied; carry out health education in the prisons and so on. After the implement of various measures, the knowledge awareness, discovery rate, accomplishment ratio, cure rate and so on were all improved. The results of the qualitative interviews showed: the TB patients and the doubts among prisoners could be well gotten together and isolated to receive DOTS; doctors were able to receive trainings on TB treatment and take appointment with certificate. Conclusion According to the results of qualitative interviews, the published and the secondary documents, it could be seen that DOTS are well implemented with remarkable effects.
Objective To construct a multi-dimensional risk assessment system and scale for the prevention and control risk of respiratory infectious diseases in general hospitals, and make evaluation and early warning. Methods Through the collection of relevant literature on the prevention and control of respiratory infectious diseases during the period from January 1st, 2020 to December 31st, 2022, the articles related to the risk assessment of respiratory infectious diseases such as severe acute respiratory syndrome, COVID-19 and influenza A (H1N1) were screened, and the Delphi method was used to evaluate the articles and establish an indicator system. The normalized weight and combined weight of each item were calculated by analytic hierarchy process. The technique for order preference by similarity to the ideal solution method was used to calculate the risk composite index of 38 clinical departments in a tertiary general hospital in Jiangxi Province in December 2022. Results A total of 16 experts were included, including 4 with senior titles, 8 with associate senior titles, and 4 with intermediate titles. After two rounds of Delphi consult, a total of 4 first-level indicators, 11 second-level indicators, and 38 third-level indicators of risk assessment for the prevention and control of respiratory infectious diseases were determined. The reliability and validity of the scale were good. The top three items with the largest combined weights in the scale were spread by aerosol, spread by respiratory droplet, and commonly used instruments (inspection instruments and monitoring equipment). After a comprehensive analysis on the 38 departments, the top 10 departments in the risk index were the departments of medical imaging, pediatrics, ultrasound, cardiac and vascular surgery, infection, emergency, respiratory and critical care, general medicine, otolaryngology and neck surgery, stomatology, and obstetrics. Conclusions This study constructed the risk assessment scale of respiratory infectious diseases in general hospitals, and the scale has good reliability and validity. The use of this scale for risk assessment of general hospitals can provide a theoretical basis for the risk characteristics of prevention and control of respiratory infectious diseases in general hospitals.
In order to better incorporate patient input in clinical trials, the US Food and Drug Administration has included "patient-focused drug development" in the selection and development of clinical outcome assessments, and formulated a series of guidelines. Based on the third guiding principle, "Selecting, Developing, or Modifying Fit-for-Purpose Clinical Outcome Assessments", this article summarizes the clinical outcome assessments from five aspects: concept, development process, scoring mechanism, interference factors and sensitivity, and introduces four different types of clinical outcome assessments, providing new ideas for "patient-focused drug development" efficacy evaluation in clinical trials.
Objective To determine the influence of combinative assessment of 64 multi-slice spiral computer tomography (MSCT) and serum amyloid A protein (SAA) on the selection of operative procedures of upper rectal cancer in multi-disciplinary team. Methods Prospectively enrolled 110 patients, who were diagnosed definitely as upper rectal cancer (distance of tumor to the dentate line gt;7 cm) at West China Hospital of Sichuan University from August 2007 to October 2008, randomly assigned into two groups. In one group named MSCT+SAA group, both MSCT and SAA combinative assessment were made for the preoperative evaluation. In another group named MSCT group, only MSCT was made preoperatively. Then, the pooled data were analyzed for the correlative relationship between the choice of surgery strategy and clinicopathologic factors. Furthermore, the preoperative staging and predicted operative procedures were compared with postoperative pathologic staging and practical operative procedures, respectively. Results According to the criteria, 106 patients with upper rectal cancer were randomly assigned into MSCT+SAA group (n=52) and MSCT group (n=54). The baseline characteristics of two groups were statistically identical. When analyzing the proportion of multiple clinicopathologic factors in different operative procedures of upper rectal cancer, there were statistical differences in the preoperative N staging (P=0.003), M staging (P=0.022), TNM staging (P=0.003), serum level of SAA (P=0.005) and general category of tumor (P=0.027). For MSCT+SAA group the accuracies of preoperative staging T, N, M and TNM were 84.6%, 86.5%, 100% and 86.5%, respectively; For MSCT group the corresponding rates were 83.3%, 2.9%, 100% and 64.8%, respectively. There were statistically significant differences accuracies of preoperative N staging and TNM staging (P=0.005, P=0.009, respectively) in two groups. There was a statistically significant difference of the accuracy of prediction to operative procedures in two groups (96.2% vs. 81.5%, P=0.017). Conclusion Combinative assessment of 64 MSCT and SAA could improve the accuracy of preoperative staging, and thus provide higher predictive coincidence rate to operative procedures for surgeon.
ObjectiveTo investigate the methodological and reporting quality of clinical trials involving Xiaoyao San for chronic fatigue syndrome. MethodsWe searched PubMed, CBM, CNKI, VIP and WanFang Data to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about Xiaoyao San for chronic fatigue syndrome. The methodological and reporting quality of included RCTs was respectively evaluated according to the assessment tool of risk of bias of the Cochrane Handbook 5.1.0 and the CONSORT 2010 statement, combined with complementary assessment by the characteristic indicators of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The methodological and reporting quality of included case series study was respectively assessed by the methods recommended by the Britain's National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) and the STROBE statement. ResultsA total of 27 clinical trials were included, involving 11 RCTs and 16 case series studies. According to the assessment tool of risk of bias of the Cochrane Handbook, 54.5% of the RCTs performed proper random method, 9.1% conducted allocation concealment and blinding, 72.7% selected intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis without the report of loss to follow-up, and no RCT existed selective reports. Corresponding to the characteristic indicators of TCM, 54.5% of the RCTs did not conduct TCM syndrome diagnosis, the curative effect standard of TCM syndrome was discrepant, and no RCT was multi-center study. The CONSORT 2010 statement indicated that no RCT explained sample size estimation, implementation details of randomization, flow diagram of participant, use of ITT and clinical trial registration. According to the items recommended by Britain's NICE, 6.25% of the case series studies were multi-center, 81.25% did not report clear inclusion and exclusion criteria, and no case series study performed continuous patient recruitment and stratification analysis of outcome. The STROBE statement indicated that no case series study reported research design, sample size, flow chart, bias, limitations and generalizability. ConclusionThe quality of clinical trials about Xiaoyao San for chronic fatigue syndrome is still low in methodological and reporting aspects. It is suggested that the future clinical trials should be conducted with references of CONSORT statement and STROBE statement, to propel the modernization and internationalization of TCM.
This paper used the application of health technology assessment (HTA) in medical insurance directory adjustment as an example, introduced NICE’s HTA in UK from seeking legislative support for HTA, established the system of HTA, improved the process of HTA and increasing awareness of using HTA among decision-maker, and provided suggestions for the development and advancement of HTA in China.
Critical flicker fusion frequency (CFF) is a dynamic visual function test that measures the minimum frequency at which a flicker source is perceived by the visual system as continuous light. The measurement method is convenient, the inspection time is short, and it can be effectively evaluated in the case of refractive interstitial opacity. Although CFF has many advantages, its application in the field of ophthalmology has not received sufficient attention. The pathway of CFF involves the pathway from the retina to the lateral geniculate body to the primary visual cortex, where the macrocellular pathway is sensitive to temporal resolution and responsible for transmitting rapidly changing information. Its measurements typically use red, green, or yellow light as a flashing light source to detect the functional integrity of the macular region. As a subjective test, the results of CFF can be affected by a variety of factors, such as drug use, fatigue, and luminous intensity. In order to improve the repeatability of the measurement, it is necessary to follow standardized measurement steps. CFF has important application value in the diagnosis of optic nerve diseases. It can assist in diagnosing the presence of optic neuropathy, evaluating the conduction function of the optic nerve, and monitoring the progression of the disease and the effect of treatment. As a convenient and efficient visual function evaluation tool, CFF has great potential in the diagnosis of optic nerve diseases and visual function monitoring. In view of its application prospects in the field of ophthalmology, this study calls for more attention and support from ophthalmologists, and carry out related basic and clinical research to further explore the application value of CFF in different disease conditions.
It has been absent from an accepted criteria for normalization and quality control of the thoracic surgery until now. The ideal assessing instrument which will be used to evaluate the technical skills and surgical procedures should present a few vital characterizations below: objectivity, speciality in the content, detailed structure, and quantifiability. Objective structured assessment of technical skills (OSATS) has developed as a reliable method of surgical skills measurement. This article focuses on the history of OSATS and its prospect in the thoracic surgery area by reviewing relevant literatures.
Objective To determine the influence of combinative assessment of transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) and serum amyloid A protein (SAA) on the assessment of preoperative staging selection of operative procedures in the middle and lower rectal cancer. Methods Prospectively enrolled 130 patients, who diagnosed definitely as middle and lower rectal cancer at West China Hospital of Sichuan University from June 2008 to February 2009 were randomly assigned into two groups with 65 participants, respectively. In one group named TRUS combined SAA group, both TRUS and SAA combinative assessment were made for the preoperative evaluation. In another group named TRUS group, only the preoperative TRUS was made. The preoperative staging and predicted operative procedures were compared with postoperative pathologic staging and practical operation program, respectively.Results Of 118 patients with rectal cancer were actually included into TRUS combined SAA group (n=59) and TRUS group (n=59). The baselines of characteristics of two groups were basically identical. For TRUS combined SAA group， the accuracies of preoperative T and N staging were 79.7% (47/59) and 77.8% (42/54) respectively; For TRUS group the corresponding rates were 86.4% (51/59) and 57.7% (30/52), respectively. There was no statistically significant difference of the accuracy of preoperative T staging （P=0.609） while preoperative N staging had statistical difference (P=0.027) between two groups. There was a statistically significant difference of the accuracy of prediction to operative procedures in two groups 〔96.6% (57/59) vs. 83.1% (49/59), P=0.015〕. The preoperative T staging was related to the selection of operative procedures (P=0.037) when analyzing the relationship between the operative procedures and the multiple clinicopathological factors in middle and lower rectal cancer. ConclusionCombinative assessment of TRUS and SAA could improve the accuracy of preoperative staging in middle and lower rectal cancer, thus provide higher predictive coincidence rate to operative procedures for surgeon.