Treat-to-Target urate-lowering therapy in primary gout patients: A real-world retrospective study at a dedicated gout clinic in China.

BACKGROUND: Gout is the most common inflammatory arthritis affecting 1.1% of the population in mainland China with a higher prevalence in coastal areas. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the study was to investigate the clinical outcomes following urate-lowering therapy (ULT) in a real-world group study of primary gout patients in China. METHODS: Electronic medical records of all the gout patients (n= 1588) that visited the Clinical Medical Center of Gout of the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University from September 2016 to February 2018 were analyzed in this study. The patients were treated with a standard treat-to-target (T2T) ULT strategy according to the 2016 EULAR Guidelines. Clinical data were collected in the first visit and one-month (defined as the baseline of ULT), 7-month, and 13-month follow-ups were completed. RESULTS: Amongst the patients in the study, 92.70% accepted ULT and 82.93% completed ULT for 3 months, 63.54% for 6 months, and 40.49% (n= 643) for 12 months. Further analysis of the 643 patients included the following data: the sUA level reduced at month 7 and reduced further at month 13. The gout flares, patient global pain visual analogue score, and health assessment questionnaire score improved at month 7 but did not improve further at month 13, and the index tophus size did not.

[Vascular smooth muscle cells from human umbilical artery undergo osteoblast differentiation and calcification in vitro].

To research if the vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) from human umbilical artery undergo osteoblast differentiation spontaneously in vitro. The growth curve of vascular smooth muscle cells from human umbilical artery was obtained by MTT method. The course of multicell nodule formation spontaneously by VSMCs was observed morphologically. The apoptosis of VSMCs in the nodules was detected by Hoechst 33258 and TUNEL methods respectively. The expression of alkaline phosphotase in the nodules was detected by immunohistochemical method. And the calcification was studied with transmission electron microscope and by alizarin red S respectively. We found that the umbilical artery smooth muscle cells confluenced after 7 days of passage and exhibited typical "hill and valley" pattern under light microscope. The cells grew into aggregation and formed nodules at the "hill" region with culture-time prolongation. After 4-5 weeks culture, these nodules built up and calcified spontaneously. We also found alkaline phosphotase expression and apoptosis of VSMCs in these nodules at the same time. We conclude that the vascular smooth muscle cells from human umbilical artery just like from aortic artery can undergo osteoblast differentiation spontaneously in vitro, and apoptosis participate this procedure probably.

[Standard operating procedure for Astragalus membranaceus].

In order to ensure the superior quality and safety of the raw materials of the Chinese herbal medicine, a standard operating procedure for astragalus was established on the base of the GAP of the Chinese herbal medicine as well as practice investigation and experiments. This standard operating procedure provides the technical requirements for astragalus's growing, field management, controlling of the diseases and pests, harvesting, processing, packing, storing, transporting and quality monitoring.