Effects of quality of life on the prognosis of long-term survivors with nasopharyngeal carcinoma / 肿瘤研究与临床

Objective To analyze the effect of quality of life (QOL) on the prognosis of long-term survivors with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Methods A total of 192 NPC patients treated between 1999 and 2000 and with tumor-free survival before July 2003 were enrolled in this study. All patients received QOL measurement between July and August in 2003. Measurement scales included Chinese SF-36 questionnaire and a checklist consisting of fourteen items about self-rating symptoms. The median follow-up time was 7.9S years (range 2.67-9.55 years). The effects of QOL, social demographic and clinical factors on prognosis were analyzed. Results Univariate analysis showed that QOL affected the tumor-free survival and overall survival. Multivariate analysis showed that hypomnesia was an independent prognostic factor of tumor-free survival, while trismus, headache and age were independent prognostic factors of overall survival. The younger and the better QOL had better prognosis. The other sociodemographic and clinical factors had no prognostic value. Conclusion QOL is an important factor affecting the prognosis of long-term survivors with NPC, and it should be routinely evaluated during the follow-up.

Feasibility of the Chinese version of SF-36 health survey questionaire in long-term survivors of nasopharyngeal carcinoma / 中华放射肿瘤学杂志

Objective To evaluate the reliability, validity and feasibility of the Chinese version of SF-36 health survey questionaire in long-term survivors of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Methods A total of 85 long-term NPC survivors completed the Chinese version of SF-36 by either telephone or mail survey. Correlation analysis, reliability analysis and factor analysis were performed to evaluate the reliability and validity of the scale. Results The Chinese version of SF-36 was easy to complete. The split-half reliability was 0. 92 and the Cronbach's α coefficient among domains were all above 0. 70, which showed good reliability and discrimination capacity among domains. All the correlation coefficients between each item and its domain achieved or approached 0. 5, which were greater than those between the item and other domains. These results demonstrated that the Chinese version of SF-36 had good content validity and discriminatory validity. Six principal components were extracted from the scale, which could basically represent eight domains. The cumulative variance was 71.4%. Two common factors were extracted from the eight domains, which accounted for 73.3% of the variance. The Chinese version of SF-36 was able to detect differences in the quality of life between NPC patients and healthy populations. Conclusions The Chinese version of SF-36 has good feasibility, reliability and validity in evaluating the quality of life in long-term NPC survivors.

The microarray study on the stress gene transcription profile in human retina pigment epithelial cells exposed to microwave radiation / 中华预防医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the difference in stress and apoptosis related genes transcription between hTERT-RPE1 cells exposed to simulated microwave radiation and the cells with heat water bath, and the effects of microwave on gene transcription in cultured human retina pigment epithelial cells.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>cDNA microarray technique was used to detect the mRNA isolated from hTERT-RPE1 cells exposed to 2 450 MHz simulated microwave radiation and with heat water bath, respectively.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Among the 97 related aim genes, there were seven genes up-regulating its transcription, i.e., M31166 (2.52fold), L24123 (2.66fold), AF039704 (2.22fold), U67156 (2.07fold), AF040958 (2.13fold), NM-001423 (2.63fold) and NM-005346 (3.68fold). But, no notably down-regulating gene in transcription was detected.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Microwave could induce up-regulating in multiple stress and apoptosis related genes transcription in cultured human retina pigment epithelial cells, hTERT-RPE1 cells. Microwave radiation has unique effect itself in addition to its heat effect.</p>

Research on Main Body Rationality of Medical Consent Right / 中国医学伦理学

The right of informed consent is composed of two closely connected rights-the right to know and the consent right.The right to know is prerequisite and foundation that the consent right depends on,and the consent right is also the value embodiment of the right to know.The main purpose of emphasizing patient's informed consent right lies in through entrust with the medical establishment and the medical staff's corresponding informing obligation,helping patients understand potential risks,cost so that they can make free choice.It can maintain patient's benefit,change patient's weak-trend status.Medical consent right is the patients' right to accept treatment or not and chooses options after they are fully aware of the information about their diagnosis and treatment options.Medical consent as an important right of patients is receiving increasing attention.Based on the achievements of predecessors,this article discusses how to protect patient's right of informed consent better.

Investigations on Air Quality in the Basement of High Sciece-Technologic Buildings / 环境与健康杂志

Objective To investigate air quality in the basements of high science-technologic buildings. Methods Continuous tests of air quality parameters of physics, chemistry and microbiology were conducted in 11 rooms of the basement used for working and living. Results At every test point the average room temperature was 25.5 ℃, the average relative humidity was 78.7 per cent, the average wind velocity was 0.057 m/s. Between the relative humidity and temperature(r=-0.850, P