Gastro-protecting effect of gefarnate on chronic erosive gastritis with dyspeptic symptoms / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>The role of gastro-protecting agents on symptomatic chronic gastritis is unclear. This multicenter, open, randomized trial was designed to compare the comprehensive effects of gefarnate with sucralfate on erosive gastritis with dyspeptic symptoms.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Totally 253 dyspepsia patients confirmed with erosive gastritis were enrolled from six centers in China. They randomly received either daily 300 mg gefarnate or 3 g sucralfate for six weeks. The primary endpoint was the effective rate of both treatments on endoscopic erosion at week six.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Gefarnate showed an effective rate of 72% and 67% on endoscopic score and dyspeptic symptom release, which is statistically higher than sucralfate (40.1% and 39.3%, P < 0.001, intension-to-treat). For histological improvement, gefarnate showed both effective in decreasing mucosal chronic inflammation (57.7% vs. 24.8%, P < 0.001, intension-to-treat) and active inflammation (36.4% vs. 23.1%, P < 0.05, intension-to-treat) than the control. A significant increase of prostaglandins and decrease of myeloperoxidase in mucosa were observed in gefarnate group. Severity of erosion is non-relevant to symptoms but Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) status does affect the outcome of therapy.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Gefarnate demonstrates an effective outcome on the mucosal inflammation in patients with chronic erosive gastritis. Endoscopic and inflammation score should be the major indexes used in gastritis-related trials.</p>

Estimation on tolerance limits and tolerance interval regarding the disease incubation / 中华流行病学杂志

To estimate the tolerance limit and the tolerance interval of disease incubation,under the theory that the observations(samples)were subject to Poisson distribution,the tolerance limits and tolerance interval of disease incubation were calculated based on beta-distribution with integer parameter.Expressions on the relation were obtained,including the statistics on tolerance limits of both minimum and maximum orders while the tolerance was the difference between minimum and maximum order statistics and the parameters of Poisson distribution on the sample size.Using the incomplete observations as an example,reasonable unit of sample size was considered and chosen.

To develop a model on severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemics to quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of intervention measures / 中华流行病学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To build an epidemic model of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) to be used to quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of intervention measures.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Following the nature of SARS epidemics, an epidemic model of SARS based on SEIR model of infectious disease was built, in which case management group was set up and some parameters related to control measures were included. As an example, data gathered from Beijing was fitted to illustrate its application to quantitatively evaluate the intervention measures.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In the newly developed model of epidemics, parameters related to control measures could easily be modified. When scenario assumption was used, a model on SARS outbreak under various circumstances of intervention measures could be set. Thus, quantitative evaluation of intervention measures could perfectly be caried out. Pilot study revealed that the fitness existed in modeling the outbreak of SARS in Beijing and the intervention measures implemented around April 20, 2003, had major contribution to the control of SARS.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The model of SARS epidemics seemed to be stable and reliable to be used to evaluate the effectiveness of intervention measures implemented during the SARS outbreak in a quantitative way.</p>

Preoperative predictors for nature of duodenal papillary tumors / 第二军医大学学报

Objective:To establish a preoperative forecasting model for the nature of duodenal papillary tumors and to discuss its main predictors.Methods:A case-control study was conducted;the case group included patients with malignant duodenal papillary tumors and the control group included patients with benign duodenal papillary tumors.All the patients were from Changhai Hospital. Data of patients,including the demographic characteristics,clinical symptoms during onset,laboratory findings,and radiological data, were collected by face-to-face interviews or by reviewing the medical history.Chi-square,t-test or ANOVA were employed to performed univariate analysis.All factors with P values less than or equal to 0.25 in the univariate analysis were used as independent variables for multivariate analysis,and a Logistic regression forecasting model for the nature of duodenal papillary tumors was established.Results: Totally 199 patients with pathologically-confirmed duodenal papillary tumors were included in the present study,with 166 in the case group and 33 in the control group.Multivariate analysis showed that hemoglobin(Hb),total bilirubin(Tbil),direct bilirubin(Dbil), aspartate transferase(AST),alkaline phosphatase(AKP),gamma glutamyl transpeptidase(GGT),and carcinoembryonic antigen(CEA) were independent predictors for nature of duodenal papillary tumors,with their odds ratios(95% confidence interval)being 0.981 (0.959,1.003),0.867(0.794,0.948),1.207(1.075,1.355),1.028(1.008,1.048),0.996(0.992,1.000),1.002(1.000,1.004),and 0.974(0.953,0.994),respectively.Conclusion:The Logistic regression model,which takes into consideration of Hb,Tbil,Dbil,AST, AKP,GGT,and CEA,can be used to predict the nature of duodenal papillary tumors,and its clinical value need to be further studied.