Establishment of two new predictive models for prostate cancer to determine whether to require prostate biopsy when the PSA level is in the diagnostic gray zone (4-10 ng ml-1) / 亚洲男科学杂志(英文版)

Our goal was to establish two new predictive models of prostate cancer to determine whether to require a prostate biopsy when the prostate-specific antigen level is in the diagnostic gray zone. A retrospective analysis of 197 patients undergoing prostate biopsy with prostate-specific antigens between 4 and 10 ng ml-1 was conducted. Of these, 47 patients were confirmed to have cancer, while the remaining 150 patients were diagnosed with benign prostate disease after examining biopsy pathology. Two multivariate logistic regression models were established including age, prostate volumes, free/total prostate-specific antigen ratio, and prostate-specific antigen density using SPSS 19.0 to obtain the predicted probability and Logit P, and then, two receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were drawn to obtain the best cutoff value for prostate biopsy: one for the group of all the prostate cancers and one for the group of clinically significant prostate cancers. The best cutoff value for prostate biopsy was 0.25 from the multivariate logistic regression ROC curve model of all the prostate cancers, which gave a sensitivity of 75.4% and a specificity of 75.8%. The best cutoff value for prostate biopsy was 0.20 from the multivariate logistic regression model of clinically significant prostate cancers, which gave a sensitivity of 76.7% and a specificity of 80.1%. We identified the best cutoff values for prostate biopsy (0.25 for all prostate cancers and 0.20 for clinically significant prostate cancers) to determine whether to require prostate biopsy when the PSA level is in the diagnostic gray zone.

Explore Regulation Mechanism of “Spleen Qi to Dispersing Essence” on Blood Glucose Homeostasis from Microcirculation of Pancreatic Islet / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Reducing glycemic excursion is of great importance to the successful practice for diabetes intervention and complication prevention. This is also an advantage of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in the treatment of diabetes. More and more studies have shown that the dysfunction of islet microcirculation is the key pathological link for glycemic excursion caused by decrease of islet function. The over-activation of local renin-angiotensin system (RAS) in islet microcirculation is a key ring to the islet decompensation, intimately related to the functionality of islet endocrine cells, and has gradually become the focus in the study of islet functionality. In TCM, it is believed that glycemic excursion in diabetes mellitus is closely related to the incapability of "spleen Qi to dispersing essence". If spleen fails to disperse essence, the essence will be accumulated in the body and become harmful stuffs. The stuffs further break the blood glucose homeostasis, acting as the key pathogenesis of diabetes. By supplementing the "spleen" Qi and promoting the dispersion of nutrient substance (hormone) in "pancreas", the balance between sugar-regulated hormones can be restored and therefore glycemic excursion can be reduced. However, the regulation mechanism of "spleen Qi to dispersing essence" on glycemic excursion remains unclear at present. Based on the previous clinical and scientific work, the following ideas were proposed by the authors:the effects of "spleen Qi to dispersing essence" on the improvement of islet function and the regulation of glycemic excursion may be achieved by promoting islet microcirculation, and its mechanism may be related to inhibiting the activation status of local RAS in islet microcirculation. It is important to note that the mutual antagonistic relationship between the signal pathways of RAS in islet microcirculation is similar to the antagonistic relationship between "spleen Qi to dispersing essence" and spermatozoa in TCM. Thus, the mechanism of "spleen Qi to dispersing essence" on the regulation mechanism of blood glucose fluctuations needs to be further explored from the perspective of the overall regulation of RAS in islet microcirculation, so as to reveal the scientific connotation of TCM on regulating the body's environmental homeostasis and reducing glycemic excursion in diabetic patients.

Effects of 11,12-epoxyeicosatrienoic acid on cardioplegia and reperfusion arrhythmias in the isolated immature rabbit hearts / 中华外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>The aim of the present study was to study the Effects of 11,12-epoxyeicosatrienoic acid (11,12-EET) on cardioplegia and reperfusion arrhythmias in the isolated perfused immature rabbit hearts.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Isolated immature rabbit hearts were randomly divided into two groups: group 1 (St. Thomas No.2 solution control n = 8) and group 2 (St. Thomas No.2 solution plus 11,12-EET n = 8). By means of Langendorff technique, these isolated rabbit hearts underwent (15 degrees C) hypothermia, 2 hours of ischemia after infusion of cardioplegic solution and 1 hour of reperfusion (37 degrees C). The mean times until the cessation of both electrical and mechanical activity were measured after infusion of cardioplegia. The same index until occurrence of both electrical and mechanical activity after reperfusion was observed too. We also measured the arrhythmias score, heart rate, coronary blood flow during the reperfusion and the myocardial water content, myocardial calcium content at the endpoint of the reperfusion period.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The times until electrical [(9.3 +/- 0.9) s vs (13.6 +/- 1.9) s, P < 0.01] and mechanical [(4.5 +/- 1.7) vs (7.3 +/- 2.1) s, P < 0.05] activity arrest were significantly shorter in the group 2 than those in the control group. 11,12-EET also provided significantly better myocardial water content [(84 +/- 4)% vs (90 +/- 5)%, P < 0.01], arrhythmia scores (2.03 +/- 0.83 vs 3.88 +/- 1.25, P < 0.01), coronary blood flow and myocardial calcium content [(3.22 +/- 0.33) micro mol/gram dry weight (gdw) vs (3.97 +/- 0.26) micro mol/gdw, P < 0.01] compared with control. There were no significant changes with heart rate and the mean times until occurrence of both electrical and mechanical activity after reperfusion.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>These data suggest that 11,12-EET added to the cardioplegic solution of St. Thomas No.2 has better cardioplegia effects and lower incidence of reperfusion arrhythmias.</p>