[Quality of life and its influencing factors of advanced schistosomiasis patients in Qingpu District, Shanghai].

OBJECTIVE: To assess the quality of life (QOL) of advanced schistosomiasis patients, and understand its influencing factors. METHODS: A questionnaire survey was carried out by using WHOQOL-BREF, and the information of demography, family, illness, health status, and health service was collected. RESULTS: Among the 217 advanced patients, the average age was (75.33 ± 6.94) years, the ratio of male to female was 2:5, 89.86% of them were farmers, 75.58% were illiterate or semi-illiterate, and 88.94% belonged to the splenomegaly type. Totally 61.29% of the cases had the scores over average for the overall QOL, but the scores for the health and well-being were lower. There were a significant difference among the average scores of different domains of QOL (χ2 = 23.46, P < 0.01). Both the year of being diagnosed and clinical classification was not associated with the scores of QOL. Regularly taking physical activities was significantly associated with each of all the 4 domains. The factors such as onset of acute disease in 2 weeks, taking therapeutic pills daily, marital status, age, etc. impacted the specific domains of QOL. The overall QOL and the 4 domains of the patients were at medium level; meanwhile, the score of physiological domain was lower than the scores of the other 3 domains. CONCLUSIONS: The QOL(s) of advanced schistosomiasis patients in Qingpu District are relatively good. It is important to provide effective community health services and encourage the patients to take part in tempered sports or physical activities in order to keep their normal activities of daily living.

[Simulation experiment of survival and reproduction of artificially imported Oncomelania snails in Qingpu District, Shanghai].

OBJECTIVE: To understand the survival of imported Oncomelania snails in new environments with different densities in waterway net region, Qingpu District, Shanghai. METHODS: The snails collected from Guichi, Anhui Province were put into the ponds of 4 square meters and each had 25, 50, 100, 200, 400 and 800 pairs of snails, respectively. During the next 2 years, the temperature, humidity, the activities of snails and their second birth snails were investigated each day. All the data were analyzed statistically. RESULTS: The highest number of snails appeared from May to June on the surface of soils in different densities. The average numbers of snails were 2.0%-12.7% of whole put in snails, and the numbers of offspring were less than 2% of the whole put in snails. CONCLUSION: The survival and reproduction of artificially imported Oncomelania snails from Guichi, Anhui Province is not good in Qingpu District, Shanghai.

[Clinical observation on the prevention and treatment of perioperative delayed cerebrovasospasm in patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage by the comprehensive protocol of integrative medicine].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the efficacy and safety of the comprehensive protocol of integrative medicine in preventing and treating perioperative delayed cerebrovasospasm (DCVS) in patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH). METHODS: Using a prospective randomized controlled trial design, 63 aSAH inpatients were assigned to the treatment group (31 cases, 24 treated by intervention treatment and 7 by craniotomy) and the control group (32 cases, 26 treated by intervention treatment and 6 by craniotomy). All patients were treated with basic therapy and nimodipine. Those in the treatment group additionally took naomai jiejing decoction No. 1 and No. 2. The incidence and the mortality of DCVS, re-bleeding, hydrocephalus were compared on the 180th day. The middle cerebral artery mean flow velocity (Vm), PI value, linde-gard index on day 1, 3, 7, and 14 were compared. The Chinese medicine syndrome score, NIHSS, and revised Rankin questionnaire on day 1, 14, and 180 were compared. RESULTS: The DCVS occurred in 9 cases (29. 0%) of the treatment group and 17 patients (53.1%) of the control group, showing statistical difference (P < 0.05). The occurrence of re-hemorrhage was obviously lower in the treatment than in the control group (3.2% vs. 6.2%), showing statistical difference (P < 0. 05). There was no statistical difference in the mortality (6.4% vs. 9.4%) or the occurrence of hydrocephalus (29.0% vs 25.0%, P > 0.05). The Vm, PI, and linde-gard index on day 7, the Vm and linde-gard index on day 14 were obviously lower in the treatment group than in the control group (P < 0.05). The Chinese medicine syndrome score and NIHSS on day 14 and 180 were lower in the treatment group than in the control group, showing statistical difference (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The comprehensive protocol of integrative medicine could reduce the incidence of aSAH patients' DCVS, the Chinese medicine syndrome score and NIHSS, and improve their clinical symptoms.

[Preliminary observation on survival and reproduction of imported Oncomelania snails in water network regions: a simulated experiment].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the survival and reproduction of exotic imported Oncomelania snails in water network regions. METHODS: During a period between May 22, 2008 and August 7, 2009, a study pilot was established in a historical snail habitat in Qingpu District of Shanghai City. A total of 12 soil samples were collected from Qingpu, Jinshan and Songjiang districts and placed in the study area. Active marked adults snails without infections (with a female/male ratio of 1) were placed on soil surface, and the activity, survival and reproduction of snails on soil surface were observed. The temperature during the period of the study was recorded. RESULTS: During the experiment period, the highest temperature was 39 degrees C, the lowest was -3 degrees C, and the average was 20 degrees C. The activity of snails reduced significantly on the soil surface at high temperature in summer and low temperature in winter. There were 91 old snails (5.2%) that moved on soil surface in March and 73 (12.2% ) in June, 2009. A total of 26 and 59 offspring snails were found respectively in April and June, 2009, with average density of 2.17 snails/m2 (26/12) and 4.92 snails/m2 (59/12) respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The exotic imported snails can survive and reproduce in water network regions. Further monitoring should be strengthened on the imported snails in these regions.

The chinese (cantonese) montreal cognitive assessment in patients with subcortical ischemic vascular dementia.

BACKGROUND: Subcortical ischemic vascular dementia (SIVD) has been proposed as the most frequent subtype of vascular cognitive impairment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Chinese (Cantonese) Montreal Cognitive Assessment (CC-MoCA) in patients with SIVD in the Guangdong Province of China. METHODS: 71 SIVD patients and 60 matched controls were recruited for the CC-MoCA, Mini Mental State Examination and executive clock drawing tasks. Receiver-operating characteristic curve analyses were performed to determine optimal sensitivity and specificity of the CC-MoCA total score in differentiating mild vascular dementia (VaD) patients from moderate VaD patients and controls. RESULTS: The mean CC-MoCA scores of the controls, and mild and moderate VaD patients were 25.2 ± 3.8, 16.4 ± 3.7, and 10.0 ± 5.1, respectively. In our study, the optimal cutoff value for the CC-MoCA to be able to differentiate patients with mild VaD from controls is 21/22, and 13/14 to differentiate mild VaD from moderate VaD. CONCLUSION: The CC-MoCA is a useful cognitive screening instrument in SIVD patients.