[Status of the clopidogrel use in ACS patients and related factors among county hospitals in China].

Objective: To observe the use of clopidogrel and related factors for patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in terms of early use, loading dose, dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) and maintenance dose hospitalized in non-PCI country hospitals in China. Methods: Patients hospitalized for ACS from 101 non-PCI country hospitals across China were recruited prospectively from October 2011 to November 2014. In-hospital clopidogrel use rate, the proportions of early use (within 24 hours), loading dose use (≥300 mg), DAPT (early use combined with aspirin) and maintenance dose use (following dose≥75 mg/d) were analyzed. Generalized estimated equation (GEE) model was used to explore factors associated to in-hospital clopidogrel use and loading dose use in both univariate and multivariate analyses, adjusting for cluster effect. Results: A total of 14 809 ACS patients were included, with an average age of (64.1±11.6) years and 60% (8 888/14 809) were male. The in-hospital clopidogrel use rate was 66.4% (9 828/14 809), which varied across different regions, years and sub-types of ACS (all P<0.05). Among users, the proportions of patients with early use, DAPT and maintenance dose use were 91.3% (8 734/9 562), 89.2% (8 526/9 562) and 95.1% (9 094/9 562), respectively, but the proportion of patients received loading dose was only 41.8% (3 995/9 562). Multivariate analyses showed that patients who admitted to hospital in earlier years and with non-ST elevation ACS, ≥75 years old, female, non-smoking, illiterate, heart rate≥100 beats per minute, atrial fibrillation, not on ECG monitoring, and not using other anti-ACS drugs were less likely to receive clopidogrel (all P<0.05). And those clopidogrel users who with non-ST elevation ACS, ≥75 years old, non-smoking, illiterate, not using other anti-ACS drugs were less likely to receive loading dose (all P<0.05). Conclusion: The use rate of clopidogrel and the loading dose among in-hospital ACS patients are both low and remain to be improved in non-PCI county hospitals in China. Special attention should be paid on non-ST elevation ACS, ≥75 years old, female, and illiterate patients to increase the rational use of clopidogrel and the loading dose.

Diagnostic and prognostic implications of serum miR-101 in osteosarcoma.

Blood-circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) have been reported to be used as potential biomarkers in various cancers. MiR-101 has been found to act as a tumor suppressor in many tumor types, but little is known for osteosarcoma. The purpose of this study was to investigate miR-101 expression in osteosarcoma patients and assess its correlation with clinical features and prognosis. Serum samples from 152 osteosarcoma patients and 70 healthy controls were detected using quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The data showed that miR-101 expression levels were remarkably underexpressed in serum samples from osteosarcoma patients compared to controls, and the post-treatment serum miR-101 expression was significantly higher than that in the pre-treatment expression. Low serum miR-101 expression was positively associated with advanced clinical stage and distant metastasis. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that serum miR-101 could serve as a useful marker for osteosarcoma diagnosis, with a high sensitivity and specificity. Moreover, patients with high miR-101 expression had longer overall survival and recurrence free survival than those with low miR-101 expression. In addition, both univariate and multivariate analyses showed that serum miR-101 downregulation was associated with shorter overall survival and recurrence free survival. Our present results implicated serum miR-101 might be a useful biomarker for the clinical diagnosis and prognosis of osteosarcoma.

The dissemination mode of drug-resistant genes in Enterobacter cloacae.

BACKGROUND: Enterobacter cloacae (E. cloacae) infection has the highest mortality rate among Enterobacter infections. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and the transmission route of the class I integron, qnr genes, and CTX-M ESBLs genes in clinical isolates and to analyse the association between the prevalence of MDR genes and the antibiotic resistance of E. cloacae. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The antibiotic susceptibility was tested the agar dilution method. The class I integron, qnr genes, and CTX-M ESBLs genes were detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The prevalence data were analysed with the Chi-square test. RESULTS: In the 100 clinical isolates, the class I integron-positive rate was 65%, with 12% on chromosome, 15% on plasmids and 38% on both. The positive rate of qnr genes was 37% with plasmid location. The positive rates for qnrA, qnrB and qnrS were 6%, 23% and 8%, respectively. The CTX-M ESBLs-positive rate was 34%. For CTX-M-1 ESBLs, 15% were on chromosome, 6% on plasmids and 4% on both; for CTX-M-9 ESBLs, 1% was on chromosome and 7% on plasmid; for CTX-M-25 ESBLs, 3% were on chromosome and 1% on plasmid. CONCLUSION: Antibiotic resistance genes may be horizontally and vertically disseminated among E. cloacae, which helps multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains of E. cloacae to be successful nosocomial agents.

[Effects of combined transdermal acupoint electric stimulation and isoflurane anesthesia on isoflurane-induced hypotension and tissue oxygen metabolism in patients undergoing craniotomy].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of combined transdermal acupoint electric stimulation and isoflurane anesthesia on isoflurane-induced hypotension and tissue oxygen metabolism in patients undergoing craniotomy. METHODS: Forty-two patients with brain tumor of ASA physical status I or II and scheduled for elective surgery were randomly divided into two groups. The craniotomy was undergoing in Group A with isoflurane anesthesia, while in Group B, with combined transdermal acupoint electric stimulation (TAES) and isoflurane anesthesia. Isoflurane induced hypotension was performed in both groups by augmenting the concentration of isoflurane to lower the mean arterial pressure than before anesthesia for 30%-40% and maintain for 30-45 mins. The tissue oxygen metabolism, blood gas and arterial lactic acid level before, during and after hypotension were monitored by Swan-Ganz floating catheterization. RESULTS: As compared with before hypotension, the pulmonary arterial and mixed with venous blood oxygen saturation lowered and oxygen supply lowered, and oxygen uptake increased significantly in both groups (P < 0.05), but the extent of changes in oxygen metabolic criteria in Group B were all lesser than those in Group A (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Combined acupoint electric stimulation and general anesthesia could maintain the tissue oxygen supply and demand balance better in the isofluraneinduced hypotension process.

Analysis of color-center-related contribution to Bragg grating formation in Ge:SiO 2 fiber based on a local Kramers -Kronig transformation of excess loss spectra.

UV-induced excess losses have been measured at various pulse energy densities and exposure times in germanosilicate optical fiber preform cores. The corresponding refractive-index changes have been determined through a Kramers -Kronig analysis. Because of the nonlinear behavior of the excess losses as a function of both exposure time and fluence per pulse, one should be careful when comparing the refractive-index modulation deduced from such measurements with that obtained from Bragg grating reflectivity. Indeed nonlinear effects such as saturation imply that it is necessary to take into account the local character of the change in absorption to calculate the evolution of the refractive-index modulation accurately as a function of the exposure time. Implications of these results are discussed.