不同类型心力衰竭患者心电图QRS波时限与血浆NT-proBNP水平的关系及其临床意义

目的：探讨不同类型心力衰竭患者心电图QRS 波时限与血浆N末端B型利钠肽原（NT-proBNP）水平之间的关系及其临床 意义。方法：选择我院2012 年7 月至2014 年6 月接收的慢性心力衰竭患者300 例,作为研究组,将患者分为收缩性心力衰竭组 （S组）和舒张性心力衰竭组（D组）;另外,选取我院非CHF 患者132 例,作为对照组。测定所有受试者的心电图QRS 波时限,及 血浆中NT-proBNP 水平,分析血浆NT-proBNP 水平与QRS 波时限及NYHA心功能分级关系。结果：与对照组相比,研究组QRS 波时限均延长,血浆NT-proBNP水平显著升高（P<0.05）,其中S 组比D 组明显延长,且S 组血浆NT-proBNP水平高于D 组 （P<0.05）。三组NYHA 分级对比发现,差异均具有统计学意义（P<0.05）;S 组患者血浆NT-proBNP水平与QRS 波时限及NYHA 心功能分级之间呈正相关;D 组患者血浆NT-proBNP水平与QRS 波时限及NYHA心功能分级之间无明显的相关性。结论：临床 上可以将NT-proBNP水平和QRS 波时限结合起来诊断慢性心力衰竭患者的类型,以便于之后的治疗。     

目标教学法在护理教学查房中的应用价值分析

目的:探讨目标教学法在护理教学查房中的临床应用价值,以培养护生的临床思维能力,并且提高实践工作能力。方法:选取我院2014年5月~2014年9月在急诊科实习的护生120人为研究对象,在实习之初,按照随机的原则将其分为观察组与对照组,每组60人。在查房中,观察组实施目标教学法,对照组实施常规护理教学法。实习结束后,调查两组护生对查房时教学与课堂效果的满意程度,记录两组护生病历书写的质量以及在实习结束后,通过考核,统计两组护生的在理论成绩、基础护理成绩、专科护理成绩以及护理综合技能方面的成绩,然后对所得到的数据进行统计,以探讨目标教学法在护理教学查房中的临床应用价值。结果:从查房时教学的满意程度及对课堂效果的满意程度来看,观察组都高于对照组,差异具有统计学意义(P0.05);观察组病历书写优良的人数为48,优良率为80%,高于对照组,差异具有统计学意义(P0.05);观察组护生的理论成绩、基础护理成绩、专科护理成绩及护理综合技能的成绩均高于对照组,差异具有统计学意义(P0.05)。结论:目标教学法是一种科学、合理并且适合时代发展要求的新型教学法,应用于护理教学查房中,能提高护生的主动性,激发护生的学习兴趣,充分发掘其潜能,做到理论与实际的结合,从而提高学习者的自身能力,值得临床推广应用。     

Current views on insect feed and its future

Population growth and the subsequent increased demand for food, along with the rise in cost of feed, have led insect feed to be considered as an alternative to conventional animal feed. Insect feed is a sustainable and nutritious option; however, it does carry the risk of lower microbiological safety than conventional feed. Although there is some hesitancy from farmers in adapting insect feed due to fear of market rejection of insect‐fed animals, surveys seem to show positive attitudes of people towards insect feed when they informed of the benefits. Traditional methods of harvesting insects is not a sustainable method of production, and therefore further research will be needed to access appropriate methods of mass‐producing insects without putting a strain on the natural ecosystem. This review discusses the benefits and risks of using insect feed, its acceptance, type of animals that can be fed by insects, and future directions of insect feed.     

Extreme weather conditions correspond with localised vegetation death at Cradle Mountain,Tasmania

A chance observation of a drought‐related plant mortality event in early 2014 in a normally wet and cool alpine area was matched with local weather data providing a unique insight into this event. The observed plant death was largely indiscriminate in areas that were topographically predisposed to being susceptible to drought. The weather conditions surrounding this event included 5 weeks with very little rain, an extreme heatwave and subsequent brief periods where warm temperatures and dry air combined to produce highly evaporative conditions. Extreme weather conditions such as this are expected to occur with increasing frequency as a result of climate change. Observing and reporting on real‐world examples of how extreme weather events affect native vegetation is integral to improved climate change risk assessment and to inform future management actions.     

Evaluation of method performance for oxidative stress biomarkers in urine and biological variations in urine of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and diabetic nephropathy

Background

Oxidative stress biomarkers such as superoxide dismutase (CuZnSOD), catalase (CAT) and malondialdehyde (MDA) play an important role in the pathogenesis or progression of numerous diseases. Data regarding the biological variation and analytical quality specifications (imprecision, bias and total error) for judging the acceptability of method performance for oxidative stress biomarkers in urine are conspicuously lacking in the literature. Such data are important in setting analytical quality specifications, assessing the utility of population reference intervals (index of individuality) and assessing the significance of changes in serial results from an individual (reference change value; RCV).

Materials and methods

20 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), 20 patients with diabetic nephropathy (DN) and 14 healthy individuals as control were involved in this study. Timed first morning urine samples were taken from patients and healthy groups on the zero, 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 15th and 30th days. Index of individuality and reference change value were calculated from within-subject and between-subject variations. Methods of oxidative stress biomarkers in human blood were adopted in human urine and markers were measured as spectrophotometrically. Also, analytical quality specifications for evaluation of the method performance were established for oxidative stress biomarkers in urine.

Results

Within-subject variations of oxidative stress biomarkers were significantly higher in patients with DN and T2DM compared to healthy subjects. MDA showed low individuality, and within-subject variances of MDA were larger than between-subject variances in all groups. However, CAT and CuZnSOD showed strong individuality, but within-subject variances of them were smaller than between-subject variances in all groups. RCVs of all analytes in diabetic patients were relatively higher, because of high within-subject variation, resulting in a higher RCV. Also, the described methodology achieves these goals, with analytical CVs of < 3.5% for all analytes. Goals for bias and total error were 6.0-7.9% and 12.5-23.3%, respectively.

Conclusions

RCVs concept for predicting the clinical status in diabetic patients represents an optimization of laboratory reporting and could be a valuable tool for clinical decision. Furthermore, for oxidative stress biomarkers’ measurements in urine, the desirable imprecision goals based on biological variation are obtainable by current methodologies.     

57份苎麻种质资源主要农艺性状及纤维品质鉴定评价

对57份苎麻种质的主要农艺性状和纤维品质性状进行了鉴定评价。结果筛选出高产苎麻种质10份(原麻产量≥2000 kg/hm2),纤维品质优良的种质7份(纤维细度≥2000 m/g),鲜皮出麻率≥12.5%的苎麻种质20份,炼折率超过65%的苎麻种质有10份,按照苎麻优异种质评价规范,满足高产和出麻率高2个优良指标的种质7份,满足优质和鲜皮出麻率高2个优良指标的种质1份。     

甘蓝型油菜与蔊菜属间杂种后代的苗期耐湿性综合评价

以生产上应用的耐湿性存在差异的3个甘蓝型油菜品种为对照,采用盆栽模拟湿害胁迫的方法,对15份源自甘蓝型油菜与蔊菜属间杂交获得的遗传稳定的创新种质进行苗期耐湿性鉴定和综合评价。结果显示:(1)湿害抑制根系生长,导致植株变矮,叶片发黄,生物量降低,湿害对根系影响最为严重,其次是植株总生物量积累和地上部分的生长。(2)通过主成分分析和隶属函数法,将全展叶数、绿叶率、苗高、根长、地上部分鲜重、根鲜重、植株总鲜重、地上部分干重、根干重和植株总干重等10个性状指标值转化成单一的综合评价值(D值),客观、科学、准确地对参试的18份材料进行了综合评价,为甘蓝型油菜苗期耐湿性评价提供了方法参考。(3)15份创新种质除绿叶率外的9个测定指标的耐湿性系数均高于对照品种,耐湿性综合评价结果显示,15份创新种质的D值均高于渝黄2号,13份创新种质的D值高于综合抗耐性俱佳的中油821,3份创新种质的D值高于高耐湿品种中双9号,聚类得到的高耐湿类群的7份材料中创新种质占6份(85.71%)。可见,创新种质的耐湿性平均要优于对照品种,说明通过远缘杂交获得的创新种质对甘蓝型油菜的耐湿性有了较为明显的改良和提高。     

Science in Risk Assessment and Policy (SciRAP): An Online Resource for Evaluating and Reporting In Vivo (Eco)Toxicity Studies

(Eco)toxicity studies conducted according to internationally standardized test guidelines are often considered reliable by default and preferred as key evidence in regulatory risk assessment. At the same time regulatory agencies emphasize the use of all relevant (eco)toxicity data in the risk assessment process, including non-standard studies. However, there is a need to facilitate the use of such studies in regulatory risk assessment. Therefore, we propose a framework that facilitates a systematic and transparent evaluation of the reliability and relevance of (eco)toxicity in vivo studies for health and environmental risk assessment. The framework includes specific criteria to guide study evaluation, as well as a color-coding tool developed to aid the application of these criteria. In addition we provide guidance intended for researchers on how to report non-standard studies to ensure that they meet regulatory requirements. The intention of the evaluating and reporting criteria is to increase the usability of all relevant data that may fill information gaps in chemical risk assessments. The framework is publically available online, free of charge, at the Science in Risk Assessment and Policy (SciRAP) website: www.scirap.org. The aim of this article is to present the framework and resources available at the SciRAP website.     

Projecting future expansion of invasive species: comparing and improving methodologies for species distribution modeling

Modeling the distributions of species, especially of invasive species in non‐native ranges, involves multiple challenges. Here, we developed some novel approaches to species distribution modeling aimed at reducing the influences of such challenges and improving the realism of projections. We estimated species–environment relationships for Parthenium hysterophorus L. (Asteraceae) with four modeling methods run with multiple scenarios of (i) sources of occurrences and geographically isolated background ranges for absences, (ii) approaches to drawing background (absence) points, and (iii) alternate sets of predictor variables. We further tested various quantitative metrics of model evaluation against biological insight. Model projections were very sensitive to the choice of training dataset. Model accuracy was much improved using a global dataset for model training, rather than restricting data input to the species’ native range. AUC score was a poor metric for model evaluation and, if used alone, was not a useful criterion for assessing model performance. Projections away from the sampled space (i.e., into areas of potential future invasion) were very different depending on the modeling methods used, raising questions about the reliability of ensemble projections. Generalized linear models gave very unrealistic projections far away from the training region. Models that efficiently fit the dominant pattern, but exclude highly local patterns in the dataset and capture interactions as they appear in data (e.g., boosted regression trees), improved generalization of the models. Biological knowledge of the species and its distribution was important in refining choices about the best set of projections. A post hoc test conducted on a new Parthenium dataset from Nepal validated excellent predictive performance of our ‘best’ model. We showed that vast stretches of currently uninvaded geographic areas on multiple continents harbor highly suitable habitats for parthenium. However, discrepancies between model predictions and parthenium invasion in Australia indicate successful management for this globally significant weed.