Current Problems of the Diagnostics and Treatment of Sepsis and Burn Injuries: The Modified Pathogenetic Concept

Background: The deep understanding of pathogenesis is a key moment in the formation of the modern strategy of modern medicine. We conducted the thorough analysis of the microscopic processes occurring in the bodies of patients with purulent-septic complications. The modified pathogenetic concept of the diagnostic and treatment model of diseases with septic complications is presented. The obtained information about the mechanisms of origin and development of these diseases is fundamentally important for finding the modern effective methods of treating patients. The aim of the research is to modify treatment tactics for patients with sepsis and burn injuries based on the modified pathogenetic concept using modern diagnostics, i.e. the method of fluorescence spectroscopy (MFS) and biomarkers. Materials and Methods: The proposed modified pathogenetic concept of the diagnostic and treatment model of diseases with purulent-septic complications along with standard methods was used successfully for effective treatment of 15 patients with sepsis and 25 with burn injuries. Results: 3 main scenarios of behaviour of spectral-fluorescence characteristics of patients with sepsis are illustrated. Spectral-fluorescence markers of sepsis were studied, which are informative 24 to 48 hours before the appearance of obvious clinical and laboratory signs of significant changes in the general somatic status of patients. Conclusions: The proposed diagnostic and therapeutic approach is new and fundamentally important for diagnostics and monitoring of the process of treatment of patients with purulent-septic diseases and burn injuries. An in-depth understanding of the dynamics of septic complications and the corresponding changes of the main markers of these diseases during treatment is especially relevant. The use of infusion therapy with solutions of donor albumin as an effective pathogenetic treatment is scientifically justified.

Evaluation of modified hemodilution combined therapy in the treatment of acute ischemic stroke in the elderly

BACKGROUND： Thrombolysis therapy is not suitable for the elderly patients with acute ischemic stroke who delayed to be diagnosed for more than 3 hours, but traditional medicine is also not very ideal. OBJECTIVE： To observe the clinical therapeutic effect of modified hemodilution combined therapy applied in elderly patients with acute cerebral thrombosis and analyze the mechanism of this therapeutic method. DESIGN： 1：1 paired grouping according to gender and controlled observation SETTING： Department of Internal Medicine, Chengzhanyuan District, First Hospital Affiliated to Zhejiang University. PARTICIPANTS： Totally 90 elderly patients with acute ischemic stroke who received the treatment in the Cadre Ward and Mental Ward, Department of Internal Medicine, Chengzhanyuan District, First Hospital Affiliated to Zhejiang University from March 1996 to June 2004 were recruited. They all met the diagnosis criteria revised by the Fourth Academic Conference of National Cerebrovascular Diseases in 1995 and were diagnosed as acute ischemic stroke by skull CT. They were informed of therapeutic plan and detected items. According to 1：1 paired principle in gender, 90 enrolled patients were assigned into treated group （n=45） and control group （n=45）. There were 39 male and 6 female in the treatment group, and they were aged （76±6）years, ranging from 71 to 84 years, and hospitalized at the 14^th to 76^th hours after onset. There were 39 male and 6 female in the control group, and they were aged （76±6）years , ranging from 70 to 82 years, and hospitalized at the 16^th to 72^th hours after onset. METHODS： Therapeutic method： Patients of treated group received modified hemodilution combined therapy. 200 mL whole blood of patients was exchanged with 500 mL dextran-40 （including 20 mL danshen parenteral solution and 32 mg heparin） at the beginning of therapy; From the 2^nd day, compound huangqi tea bag （Huangqi mainly, including danshen, honghua, chuanxiong, shishao and a little acetyl salicylic acid） was made, twice a day, 1 bag once. At the same time, the above-mentioned dextran-40 liquid of 500 mL was intravenously injected, once a day, 14 days in total; On the 6^th day after therapy, the above-mentioned aseptic autoblood stored in refrigerator at 4℃ was transfused back into the patients following pre-treatment of high-concentration oxygenation and ultraviolet irradiation by light quantum instrument. Patients of control group were intravenously injected of 0.4 g venoruton（Traditional Chinese medicine compound parenteral solution for promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis ） and 50 g/L glucose of 500 mL, 75 mg acetosal was taken orally, once a day, 14 days in total. ② Measurement and observation of index： Blood coagulation index, change of platelet aggregation rate and change of hemorrheology of patients in two groups were monitored before and after therapy. The level of blood lipid of patients in two groups was measured with American Beckman automatic biochemistry analyzer. Blood flow rate of middle cerebral artery of resting electrocardiogram were measured with American HP SONOS 2500 sonoscope. Neuro-dysfunction score revised in the national conference （1995） was used to evaluate the recovery of neurological function of the patients in two groups at the 3rd, 5^th, 7^th and 14^th days after therapy. ③Therapeutic effect and adverse effect were observed at the same time. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES ： ① Changes of coagulation index, blood lipid level and hemorheology; ② Blood flow rate of middle cerebral artery and NDS of patients with acute ischemic stroke in two groups; ③Adverse effect of drug. RESULTS： Totally 90 patients were enrolled in the experiment. One patient from treated group died of hyperosmolar nonketotic diabetic coma of complicated diabetes mellitus. One patient from control group died of severe pulmonary infection. The rest 88 patients entered the stage of result analysis. ① Change of coagulation index and platelet aggregation rate： prothrombin time （PT）, activated partial thromboplastin time （APTT） and thrombin time （TT） of patients after therapy were significantly longer than those before therapy in the treated group and those after therapy in control group [After therapy in treated group： （18.4±1.9）, （41.8±2.1）, （19.7±1.7） s, Before therapy in treated group： （13.4±1.3）, （35.8±1.3）, （12.5±0.9） s, After therapy in control group： （16.9±1.5）, （39.1±1.1）, （11.9±2.1） s, P〈 0.05]：Concentration of fibrinogen （Fbg） after therapy was significantly lower than that before therapy in the treated group and that after therapy in control group[After therapy in treated group： （3.4±0.4） g/L; Before therapy in treated group： （4.3±0.7） g/L; After therapy in control group：（4.0±0.6） g/L; P 〈 0.05]. Platelet aggregation rate decreased from （37.92 ±0.85）% before therapy to （26.42±1.01）% after therapy （P 〈 0.01）. ②Change of blood lipid level： Levels of total cholesterol （TC）, triacylglycerol（TG） and low density lipoprotein cholesterol （LDL-C） of patients after therapy were significantly lower than those before therapy in treated group and those after therapy in control group [After therapy in treated group： （5.2±0.9）, （1.9±0.9）, （2.08±1.1） mmol/L, before therapy in treated group： （5.9±1.2）, （2.8±0.9）, （3.94±0.5） mmol/L, After therapy in control group： （6.0±1.1）, （2.6±0.8）, （3.84±0.9） mmol/L, P 〈 0.05]. ③Change of hemorheology index： Hematocrit of patients of treated group was significantly lower after therapy than before therapy [Before therapy： （43.84±4.55）% ;After therapy： （40.48±4.02）%;P 〈 0.05]. Blood flow rate of middle cerebral artery of patients of treated group was significantly lower before therapy than after therapy [（90±1.2）, （97±2.1） cm/s,P〈 0.01]. ⑤NDS of patients in treated group was significantly lower than of control group 14 days after therapy. The total effective rate after therapy was significantly higher in the treated group than in the control group （93%,78%, P 〈 0.05）. ⑥There was no obvious adverse effect. CONCLUSION： Modified hemodilution combined therapy can improve hemorheology, decrease hematocrit, increase blood flow rate of middle cerebral artery, so as to improve the impaired clinical neurological function of elderly patients with acute cerebral thrombosis through anticoagulation and antiplatelet aggregative activity as well as regulating blood lipid.

Genetically modified human umbilical cord blood cells as a promising strategy for treatment of spinal cord injury

Spinal cord injury （SCI） continues to be a pressing health and social problem. The injury leads to neuronal and glial cell death accompanied by degeneration of nerve fibers. There are currently no particularly effective treatments. SCI causes profound disabil- ity of people affected and has attracted increased attention in the international field of neuroregeneration. For the past two decades, much hope has been placed in cell therapies for the restoration of both structure and function of the injured spinal cord. Embryonic and neural stem cells, olfactory ensheathing cells, microglia-like cells, Schwann cells, mesenchymal stem cells.

The clinical study of modified total aortic arch replacement and stent elephant trunk technique treatment for patients with DeBakey Ⅰ thoracic aortic dissection

Objective To summarize the clinical study of modified total aortic arch replacement and stent elephant trunk technique treatment to patients with DeBakey Ⅰ thoracic aortic dissection. Methods From January 2006 to October 2010,101 cases of DeBakeyⅠaortic dissection were treated by modified total arch replacement and stent elephant trunk technique,in which emergencey surgery were performed on 73 cases. There were 76 male and 25

Dynamic Elastic Modulus and Damping Ratio of Lignin-Modified Loess

To effectively improve the poor engineering properties of loess and enhance its seismic performance,the industrial by-product lignin is used as a modified material.Based on lots of dynamic triaxial tests,the dynamic elastic modulus and damping ratio of lignin-modified loess were tested.The effects of lignin content on the dynamic elastic modulus and damping ratio of lignin-modified loess were analyzed.Combined with scanning electron microscopy(SEM)and X-ray diffraction(XRD),the microscopic mechanism of lignin to improve the dynamic properties of loess was studied.The results show that lignin can effectively modify the dynamic deformation of loess under dynamic load.Under the same dynamic stress condition,the dynamic strain of lignin-modified loess is smaller than compacted loess.The dynamic elastic modulus of modified loess with different lignin content are quite different,but both decrease with the increase of dynamic strain.And the dynamic elastic modulus of modified loess is greater than compacted loess.The maximum dynamic elastic modulus of modified loess with a lignin content of 1%are significantly greater than others.Under the same dynamic strain condition,the damping ratio of lignin-modified loess is smaller than compacted loess.Lignin can effectively fill loess pores and cement loess particles.Compared with compacted loess,no new mineral components are generated in the lignin-modified loess.The optimum lignin content of dynamics characteristic of modified loess is present,and the optimum lignin content is 1%.

Formation and Bioactivity of SrTiO_3 Nanotubes on Titanium by Modified Anodization and Hydrothermal Treatment

SrTiO3 nanotube films with good adhesion strengths to Ti substrates were fabricated by using a hybrid approach with a modified anodization and a hydrothermal treatment （HT）. The effect of Sr^2＋ concentration in HT solutions on the morphologies and phase components of the nanotubes were investigated, the SrTiO3 nanotubes formation mechanism was explored, and the adhesion strengths, hydrophilicity and apatite-forming ability of the SrTiO3 nanotubes were also evaluated. The results demonstrated that with increasing the incorporation of Sr^2＋ into the nanotubes, no obvious changes of the lengths and outer diameters of the nanotubes were observed, but the wall thickness and the crystallinity of SrTiO3 in the nanotubes increased. The accumulation of Sr at the inner tube wall indicated that the reaction of Sr^2＋ with TiO2 mainly occurred in the vicinity of internal surfaces of the closely arranged nanotubes. The formation of the SrTiO3 nanotubes could be attributed to an in situ dissolution-recrystallization process. The SrTiO3 nanotubes exhibited good hydrophilicity and bioactivity, and the induced apatite preferred to nucleate on the nanotubes with higher crystallinity and Sr content, indicating a good hio-adaptability of the SrTiO3 nanotubes for orthopedic application.