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Objective To investigate the changes and formation mechanism of plasma endothelial microparticles (EMPs) in patients with acute pancreatitis (AP). Methods Blood samples were collected from 60 patients with AP who were treated in The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University from August 2020 to June 2021, and these patients were divided into mild acute pancreatitis (MAP) group with 23 patients, moderate-severe acute pancreatitis (MSAP) group with 23 patients, and severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) group with 14 patients; 20 individuals who underwent physical examination were enrolled as control group.Differential centrifugation was used to obtain platelet-poor plasma, flow cytometry was used to measure the level of CD31 + CD41 - EMPs, and ELISA was used to measure the levels of endothelin-1(ET-1), von Willebrand factor (vWF), nitric oxide (NO), and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1(VCAM-1).HUVECs were stimulated by the plasma of AP patients, and then flow cytometry and qRT-PCR were used to measure the changes in EMPs, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and mitochondrial membrane potential and the expression of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), intercellular adhesion molecule-1(ICAM-1), VCAM-1, NADPH oxidase, and P-selectin.A one-way analysis of variance was used for comparison of normally distributed continuous data between multiple groups, and the least significant difference t -test was used for further comparison between two groups.The Kruskal-Wallis H test was used for comparison of non-normally distributed continuous data between groups and within each group.The chi-square test was used for comparison of categorical data between groups, and the Pearson correlation test was used for correlation analysis. Results Compared with the control group, the MAP, MSAP, and SAP groups had a significant increase in the level of EMPs (all P < 0.05).Compared with the MAP and MSAP groups, the SAP group had a significant increase in the level of EMPs (both P < 0.05).In the patients with AP, the level of EMPs was negatively correlated with Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation Ⅱ score, Bedside Index for Severity in Acute Pancreatitis, Ranson score, CT score, and C-reactive protein ( r =0.686 2, 0.777 3, 0.713 8, 0.771 8, and 0.473 9, all P < 0.01).Compared with the control group, the MAP, MSAP, and SAP groups had significant increases in the levels of ET-1, vWF, and VCAM-1 and a significant reduction in the level of NO (all P < 0.05).Compared with the control group, the MSAP and SAP groups had the plasma that promoted the release of a large amount of EMPs (both P < 0.05).Compared with the control group, all the other groups, except the MAP group in terms of VCAM-1 and eNOS, had significant increases in the mRNA expression levels of eNOS, iNOS, ICAM-1, P-selectin, VCAM-1, and NADPH oxidase (all P < 0.05).Compared with the HC group, the MAP, MSAP, and SAP groups and the LPS group had a significant increase in the level of ROS and a significant reduction in mitochondrial membrane potential in HUVECs (all P < 0.05). Conclusion There is a significant increase in the plasma level of EMPs in AP patients, which is correlated with the severity of pancreatitis.Meanwhile, the plasma of AP patients can promote the formation of EMPs in HUVECs in vitro, which may be associated with cell oxidative injury.
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Objective To investigate the endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) features of distal biliary stricture (DBS), and to provide a clinical basis for the evaluation of DBS by EUS. Methods Related clinical data were collected from 175 patients with DBS who underwent EUS examination in The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University from April 2016 to March 2020 to analyze their clinical manifestation, laboratory examination results, imaging findings, and EUS findings, and the patients were followed up to summarize the EUS features of DBS. The chi-square test was used for comparison of categorical data between groups, and the t -test was used for comparison of continuous data between groups. Results Among the 175 patients with DBS, 85(48.57%) had benign DBS and 90(51.43%) had malignant DBS. Compared with the patients with benign DBS, the patients with malignant DBS had a significantly longer length of stricture on EUS (14.1±3.0 mm vs 7.9±3.0 mm, t =13.358, P < 0.001) and significantly higher incidence rates of the characteristic changes on EUS such as hypoechoic space-occupying lesions in lumen (57.8% vs 34.1%, χ 2 =9.843, P =0.002), peripheral lymph node enlargement (26.7% vs 12.9%, χ 2 =5.147, P =0.023), and pancreatic duct dilatation (51.1% vs 28.2%, χ 2 =9.532, P =0.002). EUS combined with magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography had a sensitivity of 70.6% in the diagnosis of benign DBS and a sensitivity of 92.2% in the diagnosis of malignant DBS. Conclusion The characteristic EUS features of DBS, such as long length of stricture, hypoechoic lesion, peripheral lymph node enlargement, and pancreatic duct dilatation, may help with the differential diagnosis of DBS in clinical practice.
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Objective:To investigate the clinical and electrophysiological characteristics of tremor in patients with epilepsy, and explore the related factors affecting the occurrence of tremor.Methods:A cross-sectional survey was conducted to collect 80 patients with epilepsy in the Department of Neurology, Xinhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from September 2018 to September 2019. Patients were divided into tremor group and non-tremor group according to clinical evaluation. All patients with epilepsy were evaluated by the Clinical Rating Scale for Tremor and were examined by electromyography (EMG).Results:There were 22 (27.5%, 22/80) patients who were found with tremor by self-reported complaint and (or) physical examination by clinicians, mainly manifested as postural tremor in the upper limbs, and 7.5% (6/80) patients also showed resting tremor. The EMG examination revealed that 51 patients (63.8%, 51/80) had tremor in the upper limbs. The incidence was 2.3 times as much as clinical evaluation. Among them, 42 patients (82.3%, 42/51) manifested postural tremor in upper limbs, 32 patients (62.7%, 32/51) manifested resting tremor. The peak frequency of postural tremor was (7.2±4.1) Hz, and synchronous burst pattern was mainly showed. The peak frequency of resting tremor was (5.3±2.2) Hz, and alternating burst pattern was mainly showed. Multivariate analysis showed that large number of medications and long duration of taking valproate acid were significantly related to the occurrence of tremor in patients with epilepsy.Conclusions:Tremor is mainly manifested as postural tremor in the upper limbs in patients with epilepsy. The EMG is a more sensitive and objective examination, which can detect tremor that was not yet noticed. Large number of medications and long duration of taking valproate acid might be the mainly associated factors for occurrence of tremor in patients with epilepsy.
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Objective To evaluate the olfactory function and its influence factors by using Sniffin ’ Sticks test, and to compare the quality of Parkinson ’s disease (PD) recognition between Sniffin’ Sticks and 16 kinds of odor identification in Sniffin ’ Sticks(SS-16) tests.Methods The Sniffin’Sticks test was used to assess the olfactory function of 68 PD patients and 76 healthy volunteers , and the relationship between smell and age, disease duration, Unified Parkinson’ s Disease Rating Scale score, Hoehn-Yahr (H-Y) rating, and cognitive function level (Montreal Cognitive Assessment) was analyzed.Results (1)The prevalence of olfactory dysfunction in PD group (83.3%) was significantly higher than that in control group (21.2%).The Sniffin’ Sticks test showed that the odor threshold score (6.6 ±3.2, P=0.000), odor discrimination score (6.6 ±3.3, P=0.000), 16 kinds of odor identification score (6.8 ±2.4, P=0.000) in PD group were significantly lower than those in control group.( 2 ) When comparing the PD cases and healthy controls in recognition , the sensitivity and the specificity of the Sniffin ’ Sticks test were 0.897 and 0.737, respectively, similar to the SS-16 test.However, the Sniffin’ Sticks test showed advantage compared with odor threshold and odor discrimination.( 3 ) The olfactory score in PD group was positively correlated with cognitive function (r=0.243, P=0.046), and was unrelated with age, gender, disease duration, and disease severity.The olfactory score in control group was negatively correlated with age (r=-0.270, P=0.018), but positively correlated with cognitive function (r=0.281, P=0.014).Conclusions There is a higher incidence of olfactory dysfunction in PD patients than in control group.Sniffin’ Sticks test is superior to SS-16 test in quantitative and qualitative analysis of olfactory function in PD patients.Two tests both have high sensitivity and specificity in the recognition of PD .
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Objective To examine the relationship between the concentration of 25-hydroxy vitamin D3 [25-(OH) D3] in the serum and the body mass,the severity of obesity,body mass index(BMI),blood lipid,and their predicting role in obesity children.Methods The study recruited 244 subjects,who see the doctor in Wuxi Maternal and Child Health Hospital,Childhood Nutrition Outpatient from Jul.2011 to Feb.2013.The intake dose of vitamin D each day was investigated,and weight,height,BMI,concentration of 25-(OH) D3 in serum,and microelement were also measured.In addition,lipid metabolism of 38 cases with obesity over 3 years old was determined.Results 1.The serum 25-(OH) D3 concentration of obese children was (68.31 ± 23.06) nmol/L.The concentration of 25-(OH) D3 was lowest in the group of obese children over 36 months of age[(55.03 ± 15.18) nmol/L].2.The concentration of 25-(OH) D3 in the group of obese and overweight children was far lower than that of the children in the normal group (F =4.739,P ＜0.05).3.The concentrations of 25-(OH) D3 in the severely obese children was significantly lower than that of the mild and moderate obesity children(F =9.711,P ＜ 0.05).4.There were significantly inverse associations of serum 25-(OH) D3 with weight,weight and height percentage,BMI (r =-0.365,-0.237,-0.175,all P ＜ 0.001).5.There were significantly inverse associations between the concentration of 25-(OH) D3 in serum with weight,triglyceride in obese children more than 3 years old (r =0.476,-0.324,all P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions The decreasing level of 25-hydroxy vitamin D3 in the serum was associated with obesity.The cause of it might be the increase of the obese adipose tissue,vitamin D getting trapped in fat cells,and all these factors can lead to a less serum vitamin D levels.The vitamin D consumption of obese children is higher than that of normal children,and should supply more vitamin D to reach normal 25-(OH) D3 level.
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Objective To derive a questionnaire to assess the risk of developing motor complications through a 3-year prospective investigation on 71 patients of Parkinson' s disease (PD) in the out clinic at our hospital.Methods Three years after the first assessment,71 PD out patients were reassessed using various scales,including Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale,Hoehn-Yahr grade,Mini Mental State Exam,Hamilton Depression Scale and Hamilton Anxiety Scale.Results The incidence of motor complications was 43.6％ (31/71).Logistic regression analysis showed that the prognostic factors for motor fluctuation were age of onset ≤ 54 (OR =6.4,95％ CI 1.7-24.5,P =0.006),the occurrence of swallowing difficulty (OR =3.8,95 ％ CI 1.0-14.1,P =0.04) and depression (OR =4.0,95 ％ CI 1.1-13.7,P =0.03),and the prognostic factors for dyskinesia were age of onset ≤54 (OR =48.5,95％ CI 1.9-121.0,P:0.02),the occurrence of falling (OR =64.1,95％ CI 2.9-142.2,P =0.008) and the daily levodopa dosage ＞ 600 mg(OR =17.5,95％ CI 1.1-276.2,P =0.04).Based on the regression model,the assessment questionnaire for motor complicationsincludes the followings:the questionnaire for motor fluctuations:the age of onset ≤54,2 points; the occurrence of swallowing difficulty,1 point; the occurrence of depression,1 point; the questionnaire for dyskinesia:the onset age ≤54,2 points; the occurrence of falling,3 points; daily levodopa dosage ＞ 600 mg,2 points.In all patients in this study,21.7％ (10/46) was asscssed to a total scorc of 0-1 which is associated with a low risk of motor fluctuation,8/16 had a score of 2 which is associated with intermediate risk and 8/9 got a score of 3-4 associated high risk; 10.2％ (5/49) had a score of 0-2,a low risk of dyskinesia,4/13 had a score of 3-4,a intermediate risk and 7/9 got a score of 5-7 which is associated with a high risk.Conclusions Age onset ≤54,the occurrence of swallowing difficulty,falling and depression,daily levodopa dosage ＞ 600 mg were considered to be the prognostic factors of motor complications in PD.The questionnaire may help to stratify PD patients into low-risk,medium-risk and high-risk groups for motor complications and the higher the score in the questionnaire is related to the higher risk of motor complications.
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Objective To study the antihypertensive efficacy and influence on the blood pressure parameters of nifedipine GITS therapy in patients with subacute cerebral infarction with essential hypertension by ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM).Methods Fifty-one cases of subacute cerebral infarction with essential hypertension were treated with nifedipine GITS for 14 days.ABPM were performed in all cases before and after treatment.The blood pressure parameters of blood pressure variability (BPV),morning blood pressure surge(MBPS),Trough/Peak(T/P),and smoothness index(SI) were analyzed.Results (1) After treatment with nifedipine GITS 30 mg/d for two weeks,the average 24-hour systolic blood pressure (SBP),day-time systolic blood pressure (dSBP),night-time systolic blood pressure (nSBP),24-hour diastolic blood pressure (DBP),day-time diastolic blood pressure (dDBP),night-time diastolic blood pressure (nDBP) significantly decreased((144.70 ± 14.89) mm Hg vs (163.10 ± 16.48) mm Hg,(145.67 ± 15.20) mm Hg vs (164.55 ±16.81) mm Hg,(140.85 ± 19.46) mm Hg vs (156.73 ±20.55) mm Hg,(81.24 ±8.88) mm Hg vs(89.49 ± 10.06) mm Hg,(81.25 ±9.40) mm Hg vs (90.18 ± 10.64) mm Hg,(81.34 ± 12.10) mm Hg vs (86.28 ±12.11) mmHg;t=11.01,11.53,5.29,8.71,7.53,2.31;P＜0.05)).(2) Defining the standard deviation(SD) of average blood pressure as the indexes of BPV,the blood pressure variability of systolic blood pressure(SBPV),day-time systolic blood pressure variability (dSBPV),night-time systolic blood pressure (nSBPV) decreased significantly ((16.52 ± 4.38) mm Hg vs (19.78 ± 6.72) mm Hg,(15.45 ± 4.71)mm Hg vs (17.88 ± 7.25)mm Hg,(14.94 ± 5.89) mm Hg vs (19.17 ± 8.27) mm Hg; t =3.38,2.19,2.99 ;P ＜0.05)) and the diastolic blood pressure didn't change.(3) There was negative correlation between smoothness index (SI) and BPV (r =-0.28 ; P ＜ 0.05).(4) The decreases of morning blood pressure surge (MBPS) of SBP was more significant after treatment ((22.65 ± 12.77) mm Hg) than that before treatment ((31.94 ±16.36) mm Hg).(5) The median of T/P ratio calculated by group methods was 0.721 for SBP and 0.676 for DBP,and it was 0.588 ± 0.360 for SBP and 0.628 ± 0.433 for DBP calculated by individual method.The medians of T/P ratio were above 0.5 by both methods.Conclusion It is of great significance to effectively control blood pressure and BPV in patients with stroke.Nifedipine GITS can constantly release medicine;it can lower the blood pressure,and significantly reduce BPV and MBPS.
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Objective To observe progression of motor symptoms and occurrence of motor complications in parkinsonian patients and investigate the rate of progression of motor symptoms and risk factors of motor complications.Methods One hundred and thirty patients diagnosed with PD in 2007 in Department of Neurology,Xinhua Hospital were followed up for 3 years.The Unified Parkinson' s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) and H-Y staging were used to assess and follow up motor symptoms and occurrence of motor complications,and analyze the rate of progression of motor symptoms and risk factors of motor complications with statistics.Results ( 1 ) Mean annual growth in H-Y staging was 2.5％,and UPDRS motor scores was 3.1％ ; the incidence of dysphagia at endpoint in patients was increased by 23.0％ compared with baseline; incidence of falls was increased by 16.7％;(2)Daily levodopa dose at endpoint ( OR =1.004,95％ CI 1.001—1.006,P =0.008 ) was independent risk factors with dyskinesia; While duration ( OR =1.637,95％ CI 1.083—2.473,P =0.019 ),levodopa treatment duration ( OR =0.698,95％ CI 0.494—0.987,P =0.042 ),daily levodopa dose at haseline ( OR =1.005,95％ CI 1.001—1.010,P =0.016) and at endpoint ( OR =1.014,95 ％ CI 1.001 —1.027,P =0.032 ) were risk factors with motor fluctuations.Conclusions As the disease progresses,motor function in parkinsonian patients gradually worsens,the incidence of swallowing difficulty and of falls is increased,and the incidence of motor complications is increased.The total exposure to levodopa in parkinsonian patients is predictor for motor complications.
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Objective To assess the development,progression and change of nonmotor symptoms in patients with Parkinson' s disease and its impact on patients' quality of life.Methods Eighty-seven consecutive patients with idiopathic Parkinson' s disease were studied.Parkinsonian status was assessed at baseline and 3 years follow-up using Unified Parkinson' s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) part Ⅲ & Ⅳ,Nonmotor Symptoms Questionnaire (NMSQuset),Parkinson-related quality of life (PDQ) scales.Paired ttest,Chi-square test,Spearman rank order correlation and hierarchical regression of the major statistical procedures were employed.Results At 3 years follow-up,compared to baseline,the UPDRS Ⅲ score (22.21 ±11.31 vs 30.49± 11.68),UPDRS Ⅳ score(1.00±1.54 vs 2.94±3.12),NMS score (7.98±3.96 vs 12.35 ± 5.12) and PDQ score (28.11 ± 22.88 vs 36.65 ± 26.95) were significantly higher ( t =- 5.54,- 5.75,- 6.46,- 5.29,all P =0.000,respectively).The aggravation of motor and nonmotor symptoms caused the decline of quality of life.The prevalence of constipation,problem of remembenng thing,nocturia ranked tops,and depression,and anxiety were still in the middle,compared with baseline.The prevalence of pains,sweating,dribbling,sense of incomplete emptying etc were significantly increased during the follow-up,△R2 were 21.6％ and 23.4％ respectively,resulting in the deterioration of quality of life.Conclusions PD nonmotor symptoms appear from the early stage.The motor and nonmotor symptoms aggravate over time.