Application value of Qisexingtai hand diagnostic method in diagnosis of coronary artery disease.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of Qisexingtai hand diagnostic method in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease (CAD). METHODS: This was an investigator-initiated, prospective, multi-center, cross-sectional study. All the participants from three hospitals in China had been diagnosed by both Qisexingtai hand diagnostic method and coronary angiography. We compared the two diagnostic methods to calculate the sensitivity, the specificity, the omission diagnostic rate, the mistaken diagnostic rate and accuracy in order to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of Qisexingtai hand diagnostic method for CAD. RESULTS: A total of 326 subjects were enrolled, diagnosed by both Qisexingtai hand diagnostic method and coronary angiography. As a result, there were 166 positive cases according to Qisexingtai hand diagnostic method, and 131 positive cases according to coronary angiography. Compared with the results of coronary angiography, the sensitivity of Qisexingtai hand dia-gnostic method was 80.2%, the specificity was 68.7%, the omission diagnostic rate was 19.8%, the mistaken diagnostic rate was 31.3%, and the accuracy was 73.3%. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was estimated as 0.735 for all, and 0.718, 0.735, 0.783 for the three sub-centers. CONCLUSION: Qisexingtai hand diagnostic method with high accuracy and sensitivity has certain application value in the diagnosis of CAD.

Prognostic significance of systemic immune inflammation index in patients with pancreatic cancer based on propensity score matching analysis / 中华胰腺病杂志

Objective:To investigate the predictive value of systemic immune inflammation index (SII) for the overall survival of patients with pancreatic cancer by propensity score matching analysis.Methods:The clinical data of 457 patients with pancreatic cancer admitted to the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University from August 2000 to December 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. The age, gender, presence of jaundice, pancreatitis and diabetes, serum CA19-9, total bilirubin level, neutrophil count, platelet count, lymphocyte count in blood, presence of radical surgery, tumor TNM stage, tumor location and the like were recorded. The cut-off value of SII was determined by Youden index. The patients were divided into high and low SII groups accroding to the cut-off value. The propensity score matching was applied to reduce the selection bias of patients. Patients were 1∶2 matched and the caliper value was 0.1. The difference on overall survival between the two groups was compared. The prognostic factors were analyzed by univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis. Kaplan-Meier was used to draw the overall survival curve to calculate the cumulative survival rate, and the differences between the curves were analyzed by Log-Rank test.Results:The cut-off value of SII was 765. There were statistically significant differences between the high SII group ( n=125) and the low SII group ( n=332) on the presence or absence of pancreatitis, the level of total bilirubin in blood, radical surgery, and TNM stage before the propensity score matching (all P value <0.05). After propensity score matching, there was no statistically significant difference between the high SII group ( n=113) and the low SII group ( n=182) on all the clinical parameters mentioned above except for CA19-9, indicating that the two groups were comparable. Univariate analysis showed that the level of CA19-9, SII, radical surgery and different TNM stage were all related to the overall survival of pancreatic cancer patients. Multivariate analysis showed that high CA19-9 level, high SII, no radical surgery, and worse TNM stage were independent risk factors for short overall survival, and high SII ( HR=1.882, 95% CI 1.446-2.450, P<0.001) was significantly associated with poor prognosis. The overall survival of patients with high SII was obviously shorter than the low SII group ( P<0.001), and the average survival time of patients with high and low SII were 8.86 and 11.38 months, respectively. Conclusions:SII is of great value in evaluating the overall survival of pancreatic cancer patients. Higher SII is associated with shorter overall survival.

The free radical scavenger, edaravone, ameliorates delayed neuropsychological sequelae after acute carbon monoxide poisoning in rabbits.

BACKGROUND: The mechanism underlying delayed neuropsychological sequelae (DNS) after acute carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning is unclear. There are no effective treatments for DNS. As part of a new generation of antioxidants, edaravone has been reported to improve clinical outcomes in patients exhibiting ischemic strokes. There has been little data about edaravone in relationship to DNS prevention and treatment. We hypothesized that edaravone could ameliorate DNS: Here we test that hypothesis in rabbits METHODS: Rabbits were randomly divided into sham control,DNS group, saline group and edaravone group. DNS model was made by intraperitoneal injection of CO. Normal saline or edaravone (1 mg/kg, twice daily, a total of one course for 14 days) was infused through the ear vein from Day 15 since the DNS model was established. Serum superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and malondialdehyde (MDA) were measured in each group. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) was used to examine regions of the brain for various compounds. The apoptotic index and neuronal density in the hippocampal CA1 area were also investigated. RESULTS: SOD activity decreased significantly and MDA content increased substantially in the DNS group and saline group when compared with the sham control (p < 0.01). Conversely, in the edaravone group, serum SOD activity significantly increased and MDA levels significantly decreased when compared with DNS and saline group (p < 0.01). In the DNS group, the spectra of H1-MRS showed an elevated Cho/Cr and Lac/Cr ratio, and a marked decrease in the NAA/Cr ratio (p < 0.01). Compared with the saline group and DNS group, the NAA/Cr ratio was significantly increased, and the Cho/Cr and Lac/Cr ratio were significantly decreased in the edaravone group (p < 0.01). The apoptotic index in the edaravone group was significantly lower than that of the DNS and saline groups (p < 0.01, respectively), while the neuronal density in edaravone group was significantly higher than that of the DNS and saline group in the hippocampal CA1 area (p < 0.01, respectively). CONCLUSION: Our present research demonstrates that edaravone could ameliorate DNS after acute carbon monoxide poisoning in rabbits. These results suggest free radicals could be involved in the underlying mechanisms of DNS. Furthermore, brain MRS shows promise as a tool for early diagnosis for DNS.