A quality evaluation of nursing intervention studies in China's Mainland: From 1979 to 2012

Background:The number of papers published in the field of nursing practice has greatly increased in recent years in China's Mainland,yet the quality of these papers is highly variable.There has been no attempt to comprehensively estimate the overall quantity and quality of these papers.Objectives:To systematically retrieve nursing intervention studies published in simplified Chinese from 1979 to 2012,critically appraise their quality,and provide suggestions for future development.Methods:All of the papers were retrieved from China Biology Medicine disc database.The preliminary screening of retrieved publications was performed prior to conducting a rigorous quality evaluation of the remaining publications.10 characteristics would be included in consideration in quality evaluations.Results:69,150 papers were retrieved according to searching strategy.7391 of them were included after preliminary screening and appraised critically.Among the 10 characteristics considered in quality evaluations,the lowest ratings were observed for the factors of“utilisation of blind method”(13 articles),“description of loss of follow-up”(499 articles),“appropriate calculation of sample size”(511 articles)and“randomised assignment of patients to treatments”(652 articles).Conclusions:Chinese papers published in the field of nursing practice have increased over time,but improvements remain needed to ensure that thorough studies with high-quality research methodologies are being performed.Future nursing researchers should not only improve the design of their intervention studies but also clearly describe the methodology they used,especially in group randomisation,blinded research designs,and estimations of required sample sizes.

Effects of velvet antler polypeptide on sexual behavior and testosterone synthesis in aging male mice

Twenty-four-month-old male C57BU6 mice with low serum testosterone levels were used as a late-onset hypogonadism （LOH） animal model for examining the effects of velvet antler polypeptide （VAP） on sexual function and testosterone synthesis. These mice received VAP for 5 consecutive weeks by daily gavage at doses of 100, 200, or 300 mg kg-1 body weight per day （n = 10 mice per dose）. Control animals （n = 10） received the same weight-based volume of vehicle. Sexual behavior and testosterone levels in serum and interstitial tissue of testis were measured after the last administration of VAP. Furthermore, to investigate the mechanisms of how VAP affects sexual behavior and testosterone synthesis in vivo, the expression of steroidogenic acute regulatory protein （STAR）, cytochrome P450 cholesterol side-chain cleavage enzyme （P450scc）, and 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase （3βHSD） in Leydig cells was also measured by immunofluorescence staining and quantitative real-time PCR. As a result, VAP produced a significant improvement in the sexual function of these aging male mice. Serum testosterone level and intratesticular testosterone （ITT） concentration also increased in the VAP-treated groups. The expression of STAR, P450scc, and 3β-HSD was also found to be enhanced in the VAP-treated groups compared with the control group. Our results suggested that VAP was effective in improving sexual function in aging male mice. The effect of velvet antler on sexual function was due to the increased expression of several rate-limiting enzymes of testosterone synthesis （STAR, P450scc, and 3β-HSD） and the following promotion of testosterone syothesis in vivo.

A preliminary observation on efficacy of growth hormone on poor ovarian responders in IVF/ICSI cycles

Objective To determine efficacy of gonadotropin （Gn） co-treated with growth hormone （GH） on poor ovarian response （POR） patients undergoing in vitro fertiliza- tion/intracytoplasmic sperm injection （1VF/ICSI）. Methods A total of 58 IVF/ICSI-embryo transfer （ET） cycles in POR patients were retrospectively identified. The POR criteria were defined by Bologna consensus. The cycles were divided into two groups： Gn co-treated with GH group （GH~ group, 25 cycles） and Gn only group （GH- group, 33 cycles）. Results of lVF/ICSI for these two groups were compared. Results The number of oocyte retrieved and the normal fertilization rate in the two groups were no difference （P〉O.05）. High-quality embryo rate and implantation rate in the GH＋ group were 39.6% and 38.5%, respectively, which were slightly higher than those in the GH group （35.9% and 25.0%）, but no difference was found on these two parameters （P〉0. 05）. Conclusion GH, to some extent, can improve the quality of embryo and the implantation rate. Whether GH co-therapy has a definite role in improving the outcome of POR patients still needs further evaluation.

Anti-Müllerian hormone, antral follicle count and folliclestimulating hormone for predicting the number of oocytes retrieved in IVF/ICSI cycles

Objective To evaluate the efficacy of anti-Müllerian hormone（AMH）, antral follicle count（AFC） and follicle-stimulating hormone（FSH） for predicting the number of oocytes retrieved in in-vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection（IVF/ICSI）cycles.Methods In this retrospective study, a total of 122 infertile women were divided into two groups： group A, 〈35 years（n=71）; group B, ≥35 years（n=51）. AMH and FSH were determined on 2-5 d of the early menstrual cycle. AFC was tested on the second day of the menstrual cycle before the start of stimulation.Results Group B had higher FSH levels compared with group A（8.2±3.5 IU/L vs 6.8±2.4 IU/L, P〈0.05）. However, levels of AMH and AFC in group B were lower than those of group A（AMH： 4.2±3.5 μg/L vs 2.7±2.7 μg/L; AFC： 9.0±3.9 vs 5.4±3.3, P〈0.05）. The number of oocyte retrieved in the two groups was not significantly different（11.5±6.8 vs 9.6±6.9, P〉0.05）. The level of AMH was more strongly correlated with the number of oocytes retrieved than that of AFC or FSH level. The strengths of the correlation degrees were AMH level, AFC, and FSH level in turn（r=0.600, 0.511,-0.369）.Conclusion AMH would be a useful predictor for ovarian response.