ABSTRACT
Objective@#To explore the characteristics of postural blood pressure changes in elderly inpatients and the related factors of orthostatic hypotension (OH).@*Methods@#This study was a clinical case control study. Two hundred and sixty-six elderly patients (≥60 years old), who were hospitalized between April 2016 and November 2017 in Geriatric Department of Peking University First Hospital, were included. They were divided into direct standing group and indirect standing group. Direct standing group involved 102 patients, they changed posture from supine directly to standing position, and the blood pressures at the moments of supine, immediately after standing and the first, second, and third minute after standing were recorded by continuous noninvasive arterial pressure (CNAP) system. Indirect standing group involved 164 patients, and they changed posture from supine to sitting for 3 minutes, and then changed to standing position. Blood pressures at the moments of supine, immediately after sitting, the third minute after sitting, immediately after standing and the third minute after standing was recorded by CNAP. Blood pressure changes after different postural changes mode and the rates of OH were compared. The related factors of OH was analyzed by binary logistic regression analysis.@*Results@#The lowest systolic blood pressures (SBP) mostly occurred immediately after postural change: immediately after standing for direct standing group (86.3%(88/102)), and immediately after sitting for indirect standing group (59.1%(97/164)). The lowest diastolic blood pressures (DBP) mostly occurred immediately after standing in the two groups: 87.3%(89/102) for direct standing group and 43.3% (71/164) for indirect standing group. The maximum SBP drop (SBP of supine minus the lowest SBP during postural changes) of direct standing group was significantly higher than indirect standing group (median 20.5(14.0, 29.3) vs. 18.0(11.0, 26.0) mmHg (1 mmHg=0.133 kPa, P<0.05). The rates of OH occurred immediately and within 3 minutes from supine to standing position were significantly higher in direct standing group than in indirect standing group (65.7% (67/102) vs. 43.9% (72/164), and 70.6% (72/102) vs. 49.4% (81/164), both P<0.05). Binary logistic regression analysis showed that brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity was positively associated with OH after a transition from supine to standing position (immediately and within 3 minutes, OR=1.002 (95%CI 1.000-1.004), 1.003 (95%CI 1.001-1.006), P=0.014, 0.006) in direct standing group.@*Conclusions@#OH is common in elderly hospitalized patients. The most obvious blood pressure changes are likely to occur immediately after position changes. Adding a sitting position during the transition of supine to standing position may decrease the amplitude of SBP drop. Brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity is associated with OH after the transition from the supine to standing position in the elderly inpatients.
ABSTRACT
Objective To evaluate the clinical performance of AQT90 FLEX,a novel time-resolved fluorescence based point-of-care test (POCT) for quantification of D-dimer in elderly patients.Methods The method from Quantitative D-dimer assay (WS/T 477-2015) for testing equipment performance was used as a reference to evaluate the clinical performance of AQT90 FLEX.The correlation was compared between testing results of D-dimer using the AQT90 immune-assay analyzer and those using the ACL TOP coagulation analyzer.Results At high concentration of D-dimer,the within-run precision coefficient of variation (CV)was 2.619％,and at low concentration of D-dimer,the within-run precision CV was 2.767％.The pollution-carrying rate was 0.12％.The measured data from AQT90 and ACL TOP had a correlation coefficient of r =0.9491 (P ＜ 0.01).The equation of the line of best fit for D-dimer with which all AQT90 results can be adapted to the ACL TOP was:AQT90 =2.52 ACL TOP + 0.15.The number from the equation was slightly greater in female than that in male,and it was also increased in elderly.Conclusions The AQT90 FLEX had rational precision and linearity in determination of concentration.There was a high agreement between the testing results from AQT90 and those from ACL TOP.It was recommended to use a slope of 2.52 and an intercept of 0.15 to adjust the D-dimer values of the ACL TOP to the AQT90 FLEX assay systems.POCT for D-dimer by AQT90 FLEX raises feasibility for use in elderly patients.
ABSTRACT
Objective To find out evidence for the identification of the aerial roots of Ficus microcarpa Linn. f. and F. altissima Bl.. Methods The fresh aerial roots of the two kinds of plants were collected. The appearance traits were observed by stereoscopy. The velamen surface, cross section of root tip, cross section of the posterior root and powder of two kinds of aerial roots were observed under microscope. Results The number of aerial roots of F. microcarpa Linn. f. was more than that of F. altissima Bl., while the diameter was less than that of F. altissima Bl.. Differences were shown in primary xylems of the transverse section of root tip and posterior root of the two kinds of aerial roots, there were 5-7 vascular bundles in F. microcarpa Linn. f. and 7-10 vascular bundles in F. altissima Bl.. As for the powder, the powder of F. microcarpa Linn. f. was yellowish brown, while that of F. altissima Bl. was reddish brown; F. altissima Bl. had more fibers and longer diameter than F. microcarpa Linn. f. and had cluster crystals in order. Conclusion The appearance and microstructure features showed by the results can be used to distinguish the aerial roots of F. microcarpa Linn. f. and F. altissima Bl..