Cognitive impairment in patients with bipolar disorder alone versus those with bipolar disorder comorbid with borderline personality disorder

BACKGROUND Bipolar disorder(BD)is a severe mental illness.BD often coexists with borderline personality disorders,making the condition more complex.AIM To explore the differences in cognitive impairment between patients with BD and those with BD comorbid with borderline personality disorder.METHODS Eighty patients with BD and comorbid borderline personality disorder and 80 patients with BD alone were included in groups A and B,respectively,and 80 healthy volunteers were included as controls.Cognitive function in each group was evaluated using the Chinese version of the repeatable battery for the assess-ment of neuropsychological status(RBANS),the Stroop color-word test,and the Wechsler intelligence scale-revised(WAIS-RC).RESULTS The indices of the RBANS,Stroop color-word test,and WAIS-RC in groups A and B were significantly lower than those of the control group(P<0.05).Group A had significantly longer Stroop color-word test times for single-character,single-color,double-character,and double-color,lower scores of immediate memory,visual breadth,verbal function dimensions and total score of the RBANS,as well as lower scores of verbal IQ,performance IQ,and overall IQ of the WAIS-RC compared with group B(P<0.05).Compared to group B,group A exhibited significantly longer single-character time,single-color time,double-character time,and double-color time in the Stroop color-word test(P<0.05).CONCLUSION The cognitive function of patients with BD complicated with borderline personality disorder is lower than that of patients with BD.

KRAS mutation testing in metastatic colorectal cancer

The KRAS oncogene is mutated in approximately 35%-45% of colorectal cancers, and KRAS mutational status testing has been highlighted in recent years. The most frequent mutations in this gene, point substitutions in codons 12 and 13, were validated as negative predictors of response to anti-epidermal growth factor receptor antibodies. Therefore, determining the KRAS mutational status of tumor samples has become an essential tool for managing patients with colorectal cancers. Currently, a variety of detection methods have been established to analyze the mutation status in the key regions of the KRAS gene; however, several challenges remain related to standardized and uniform testing, including the selection of tumor samples, tumor sample processing and optimal testing methods. Moreover, new testing strategies, in combination with the mutation analysis of BRAF , PIK3CA and loss of PTEN proposed by many researchers and pathologists, should be promoted. In addition, we recommend that microsatellite instability, a prognostic factor, be added to the abovementioned concomitant analysis. This review provides an overview of KRAS biology and the recent advances in KRAS mutation testing. This review also addresses other aspects of status testing for determining the appropriate treatment and offers insight into the potential drawbacks of mutational testing.

Health Evaluation for Hypertensive Population Using Exercise Testing and Health-related Quality of Life Questionnaire

Objectives This study aims to assess the impacts of hypertension on health-related quality of life (HRQOL), as well as cardiovascular functional status (CVFS). Methods An instrument was presented based on WHOQOL-BREF and SP-16 questionnaire and exercise testing. 57 normotensive and 76 hypertensive subjects aged 35-65 year-old participated the health survey using this instrument. Based on the exercise testing results of the two groups, a discriminate function was established and used to investigate cardiovascular risk factors for hypertensive population. Results The results showed that persons with hypertension rated significantly lower scores on physical health (i.e. limitation in performing daily activities and problems with work or mobility) than did normotensives (P < 0.01). The discriminant score obtained from the exercise testing results was capable of reflecting the impacts of hypertension on CVFS. Conclusions The method presented in this paper provides a more powerful tool to estimate the effects of health interventions and medical therapy for hypertensive population than just self-rated HRQOL questionnaire.

Therapeutic efficacy and mechanism of heat-sensitive moxibustion for adjuvant treatment of depression in Parkinson disease

Objective:To observe the clinical efficacy of heat-sensitive moxibustion for adjuvant treatment of depression in Parkinson disease and explore its mechanism.Methods:A total of 80 patients with Parkinson disease coupled with depression were randomized into an observation group and a control group,with 40 cases in each group.The control group was treated with levodopa and benserazide hydrochloride tablets and paroxetine tablets,while the observation group was treated with heat-sensitive moxibustion on the basis of the medications in the control group.The treatment course was 2 months.The Hamilton depression scale-17(HAMD-17),unified Parkinson's disease rating scale(UPDRS)and Parkinson's disease quality of life questionnaire-39(PDQ-39)were scored before and after the treatment,and the efficacy was evaluated after treatment.Levels of patients'serum dopamine(DA),5-hydroxytryptamine(5-HT),tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α)and interleukin-6(IL-6)were detected before and after the treatment.Results:After treatment,the total effective rate of the observation group was higher than that of the control group(P<0.05).The HAMD-17 scores in the two groups decreased significantly after treatment(both P<0.05),and the score in the observation group was obviously lower than that in the control group(P<0.05).The component scores and total scores of UPDRS in both groups decreased significantly(all P<0.05),and the scores in the observation group were lower than those in the control group(all P<0.05).The score of PDQ-39 in the observation group decreased significantly(P<0.05),and was lower than that in the control group(P<0.05).After treatment,the serum DA and 5-HT levels in the observation group increased significantly(both P<0.05)and the TNF-αand IL-6 levels decreased significantly(both P<0.05),which were statistically different from those in the control group(all P<0.05).Conclusion:Heat-sensitive moxibustion has certain auxiliary effect in treating depression in Parkinson disease,significantly improving clinical symptoms and the quality of life,which may be related to the up-regulation of DA and 5-HT levels and down-regulation of TNF-αand IL-6 levels.