IVD tests are used to diagnose, screen, and manage diseases. They include analyses of blood and urine for signs of infection and presence of glucose.

Statins (or HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors) are structural analogs of the HMG-CoA enzyme. It shows its pharmaceutical action by inhibiting HMG-CoA reductase, the key enzyme involved in cholesterol synthesis. Statins have been known to have a beneficial effect on cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Its significant anti-inflammatory and plaque-stabilizing effects have added to its larger usage. It also helps decrease oxidative stress and vascular inflammation with increased atherosclerotic lesions. Some of the currently available statins are atorvastatin, lovastatin, rosuvastatin, and simvastatin.

The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases states that fibromyalgia is a condition of unknown etiology. Unlike arthritis, the condition does not cause inflammation of the joints, muscles, or other tissues but leads to their impairment, resulting in chronic pain, muscle tenderness, and fatigue in individuals. There is no particular diagnostic test for fibromyalgia. Physicians perform differential diagnosis to check the presence of the condition in suspected individuals. Women are more susceptible to the condition than men. The condition affects more than five million people aged 18 and above in the US, with women accounting for 80-90% of the total number of affected individuals, as reported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases in 2014. Currently, only three drugs have been approved to treat fibromyalgia in the US. Off-label drugs such as analgesics, antidepressants, sedatives, neuroleptics, and muscle relaxants are used to treat the condition, especially in EMEA and APAC.

Diabetic retinopathy is an eye disorder characterized by the deterioration and impairment of blood vessels in the retina, which is caused by continually high blood glucose levels in people with diabetes. The disorder is of two types: non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy and proliferative retinopathy. The disease can lead to diabetic macular edema, a serious condition that involves fluid leaking from the minute, delicate, and damaged blood vessels located at the back of the eye and accumulating at the macula. The condition results in tissue inflammation and blurry vision. Treatment options depend on the stage of the disease and are designed to slow or stop disease progression. Laser surgeries, injections of corticosteroids or anti-VEGF drugs into the eye, and vitrectomies are the current therapies available in the market.

Monitoring the health of the American people is an essential step in making sound health policy and setting research and program priorities. In a Chartbook and detailed tables, Health, United States provides an annual picture of the health of the entire Nation. Health, United States, 2012 which includes a Special Feature on Emergency Careis the 36th report on the health status of the Nation and is submitted by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to the President and the Congress of the United States in compliance with Section 308 of the Public Health Service Act. This report was compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). Health, United States, 2012: In Brief is provided as a companion to the full report. This short report is intended to focus attention on trends in selected health statistics and to introduce this years special feature on emergency care. Each topic highlighted in In Brief is presented in greater detail in the full report. In Brief contains summary information on the health of the American people, including mortality and life expectancy, morbidity and risk factors such as cigarette smoking and overweight and obesity, access to and utilization of health care, health insurance coverage, supply of health care resources, and health expenditures. An At a Glance table and Highlights summarize some of these key indicators at the national level and are followed by selected charts from Health, United States, 2012 that focus on these topics and provide examples of data contained in the full report.

Human beings are susceptible to various kinds of infection that have adverse effects on their health.

IVD tests help in diagnosing, screening, and managing diseases in humans and animals. The tests are usually performed in a controlled environment.

目的探索鸦葱总黄酮在体内、体外的保肝作用。方法体内实验:ICR小鼠随机分为空白组、模型组、阳性药组、鸦葱总黄酮低、中、高剂量组,采用四氯化碳(CCl4)诱导急性化学性肝损伤模型和卡介苗+脂多糖诱导急性免疫性肝损伤模型,检测各组血清中天门冬氨酸氨基转移酶(aspartate aminotransferase,AST)、谷丙转氨酶(alanine aminotransferase,ALT)、乳酸脱氢酶(lactate dehydrogenase,LDH)含量,光镜下观察肝脏结构变化。体外实验:原位胶原酶消化法提取分离Wistar大鼠肝细胞,采用四氯化碳诱导肝脏细胞损伤,鸦葱黄酮溶液干预培养细胞4 h后检测上清培养液中AST、ALT、LDH、一氧化氮(nitric oxide,NO)、超氧化物歧化酶(superoxide dismutase,SOD)和肝细胞丙二醛(malondialdehyde,MDA)含量。结果在四氯化碳诱导急性化学性肝损伤和卡介苗+脂多糖诱导急性免疫性肝损伤2组模型中,HE肝脏病理切片显示鸦葱总黄酮组的肝损伤明显轻于模型组,模型组AST、ALT、LDH活性均显著高于空白组(P<0.01);阳性药组上述指标活性均显著低于模型组(P<0.01,P<0.05);鸦葱总黄酮低、中、高剂量组上述指标活性均显著低于模型组(P<0.01,P<0.05)。在四氯化碳诱导大鼠肝细胞损伤体外实验中,模型组AST、ALT、LDH、MDA、NO活性均显著高于空白组(P<0.01),SOD活性显著低于空白组(P<0.01);阳性药组AST、ALT、LDH、MDA、NO活性均显著低于模型组(P<0.05,P<0.01),SOD活性均显著高于模型组(P<0.01);鸦葱总黄酮低、中、高剂量组AST、ALT、LDH、MDA、NO活性均显著低于模型组(P<0.05,P<0.01),SOD活性均显著高于模型组(P<0.05,P<0.01)。结论鸦葱总黄酮对四氯化碳诱导的小鼠化学性肝损伤、卡介苗+脂多糖诱导的小鼠免疫性肝损伤和大鼠肝细胞损伤有显著的保护作用,为开发和利用鸦葱资源、研制保肝新药提供了实验依据。

目的探讨米索前列醇的序贯使用对早孕患者血清凋亡因子及远期疗效的影响研究。方法选取辽宁中医药大学附属第四医院计划生育门诊就诊要求终止妊娠的早孕妇女80例,随机数字表达法分为2组,对照组40例,口服米非司酮25 mg后,予以常规米索前列醇600μg,1天4次口服;实验组40例,米索前列醇行序贯给药方式。观察用药7 d后药流效果,检测患者药流前后血清中survivin、caspase-3及性激素水平变化。随访2年,统计用药后妇科炎症、痛经、不孕等副反应的发生率。结果与对照组比较,实验组完全流产率较高(P<0.05);经2年随访,实验组患者药流后药物副反应发生率低于对照组(P<0.05);服药7 d后,与对照组比较,实验组人绒毛膜促性腺激素、孕酮及雌三醇的含量较低(P<0.05);服药7 d后,血清survivin水平降低,caspase-3水平升高,与对照组相比,实验组患者血清中survivin水平较低,caspase-3水平较高(P<0.05)。结论米索前列醇的序贯使用能够提高药流人流的成功率,降低人流术的并发症,可能其与抑制survivin表达,上调caspase-3水平有关。

目的：研究重庆石柱道地中药材味连在不同生长发育期的次生代谢产物积累动态变化规律，为确定最佳采收期，实现该地区味连的GAP种植和质量控制提供理论依据。方法：采集不同生长发育期的4年生味连样品，采用HPLC测定表小檗碱、黄连碱、巴马汀和小檗碱的含量。结果：表小檗碱含量在抽葶开花期的最高(1.82%)，冬季休眠期最低(1.33%)；黄连碱含量在新叶盛发期最高(3.86%)，冬季休眠期最低(2.79%)；巴马汀含量在新叶盛发期最高(2.32%)，冬季休眠期最低(1.69%)；小檗碱含量在新叶缓发期最高(10.89%)，冬季休眠期最低(8.28%)。结论：味连次生代谢产物的含量随植株的生长发育而波动，其中新叶盛发期、新叶缓发期和抽葶开花期的生物碱含量高于根茎充实期和冬季休眠期。最佳采收期应结合产量和次生代谢产物含量综合判断。

目的优选多聚赖氨酸(poly-D-lysine,PDL)在大鼠海马神经元原代培养中的最佳工作浓度。方法颈椎脱臼处死孕18 d的Wistar大鼠3只,取出胚胎并分离脑组织。迅速分离海马组织,胰酶消化,吹打并以合适浓度(30万/3.5 cm皿)接种于0.01、0.05、0.1、0.25、0.5、0.75、1、2 mg/m L的PDL工作浓度包被的培养皿中,采用相差显微镜观察神经元形态,同时采用CCK-8试剂盒进行神经元活性检测。结果神经元接种4 h后贴壁,1 d后突起发生,4 d后与周围神经元形成联系,7 d后成熟并形成网状联系。PDL最佳工作浓度范围位于0.25~0.75 mg/m L,神经元在此浓度范围内生长状态及活性最佳。结论通过实验确定了PDL最佳工作浓度,对于神经元培养有重要意义。

Our specific aims are: a) determine if blood based dipstick test of mitochondrial damage can predict the severity of metabolic failure and brain injury after TBI or TBI with preexisting stress (PTSD+TBI), b) study pyruvate as a countermeasure to mitigate mitochondrial functions in injured brain. Male Sprague Dawley rats with TBI, PTSD and PTSD+TBI were treated with/out pyruvate. We found that even one week after TBI, the metabolic, neurobehavioral parameters and expression of cellular proteins were altered. Blood base dipstick test of PDH enzyme as a biomarker of mitochondrial damage showed a good correlation. Pyruvate treatment showed neuroprotective properties in spite of muscle damage.

The botulinum neurotoxin medical countermeasure model presented here allows users to explore how medical countermeasures (MCM) can impact the course of the disease, mortality, and loss of work. The model is designed to allow users to input information about exposure and countermeasures, run a simulation and display outputs. The parameters describing disease outcomes for untreated patients that underlie the model are taken from AMedP-8(C), while the parameters describing the efficacy of MCM were established specifically for this project using publicly available data from human and animal studies. This stochastic model allows users to input data about each exposed individual including the inhaled dose, pre-exposure vaccine status, and treatment status and timing. After the model is run, the output tab displays the outcome for each individual. The graph tab provides a summary of the results, including the percent of individuals that die, recover, or never develop illness, as well as the time distributions of symptom onset and death. The sample results included in this report demonstrate how MCM can impact the number of casualties, the timing of the disease, and the number of days of work lost. Users of the model can explore additional scenarios by modifying the dose and MCM inputs.

Combination therapy is increasingly utilized for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer. However, co-administration of drugs, particularly agents that are substrates for or inhibitors of p-glycoprotein, can result in increased toxicity. As adverse tissue drug concentrations are not always exposed by plasma drug concentrations, we performed studies in mice to assess both the plasma and tissue levels of the cytotoxics docetaxel and doxorubicin when administered concomitantly with the pglycoprotein substrate/inhibitor lapatinib. Both combinations are currently being investigated in clinical trials. Materials and Methods: Time course plasma and tissue distribution studies of concomitant lapatinib and docetaxel or doxorubicin were conducted in mice. Intravenous chemotherapy was administered one hour after the first intraperitoneal lapatinib dose. Both single and multiple dose lapatinib were evaluated. Samples were collected up to 12 and 48 hrs post docetaxel and doxorubicin administration, respectively, and drug concentrations were determined. Results: In toxicologically significant tissues, combination lapatinib and docetaxel resulted in a 32.8% and 44.6% increase in intestinal docetaxel exposure after single and multiple dose lapatinib, respectively. The causative drug-drug interaction was likely mediated more by competitive inhibition of CYP3A4 metabolism than p-glycoprotein efflux. Conclusion: Our mouse studies of combination dosing demonstrate that lapatinib, when dosed to achieve human equivalent plasma exposure in mice, did not significantly alter the plasma or tissue pharmacokinetics of doxorubicin but did increase exposure to docetaxel in the intestine, likely leading to enhanced toxicity. Thus, caution should be taken when docetaxel and lapatinib are administered together, particularly to patients with compromised CYP3A activity.

The F. tularensis medical countermeasure model presented here allows users to explore how medical countermeasures (MCM) can impact the course of the disease, mortality, and loss of work. The model is designed to allow users to input information about exposure and countermeasures, run a simulation and display outputs. The parameters describing disease outcomes for patients with no MCM that underlie the model are informed by parameters established by Curling et al, while the parameters describing the efficacy of MCM were established specifically for this project using publicly available data from human and animal studies. This stochastic model allows users to input data about each exposed individual including the number of bacteria inhaled, vaccination status, timing and duration of antibiotic post-exposure prophylaxis, and treatment status and timing. After the model is run, the output tab displays the outcome for each individual. The graph tab provides a summary of the results, including the percent of individuals that die, recover, or never develop illness, as well as the time distributions of symptom onset and death. The sample results included in this report demonstrate how MCM can impact the number of casualties, the timing of the disease, and the number of days of work lost. Users of the model can explore additional scenarios by modifying the dose and MCM inputs.