Objective: To examine the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale – Second Edition (Y-BOCS-II). Method: A total of 86 adults with a primary diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), ranging in age from 15 to 78 years, participated in the study. Participants were administered the Y-BOCS-II by a trained clinician who also rated overall illness severity on two additional measures. Patients completed the Obsessive Compulsive Inventory-Revised and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21. Results: Results indicated high internal consistency and fair 1-week test retest reliability. The Y-BOCS-II scales correlated strongly with clinician-rated obsessive-compulsive severity and modestly with self-reported obsessive-compulsive symptom frequency and distress. The relationship between Y-BOCS-II total score and depressive and anxiety symptoms was strong, which may reflect high rates of comorbid conditions in this sample or the linkage between obsessive-compulsive symptom severity and distress. Factor analysis demonstrated a two-factor structure consisting of obsession and compulsion factors, with interference due to obsessions cross-loading. Conclusions: Overall, these results support the use of the Y-BOCS-II among individuals from China. Future study by an independent group is necessary to replicate these findings, as well as investigate interrater reliability and treatment sensitivity.

Abstract: Besides stimulating vasoconstriction, Angiotensin II is also well known in inducing reactive oxygen species and promoting inflammatory phenotype switch via its type 1 receptor. In clinic, Angiotensin II type 1 (AT1) receptor blocker like candesartan has been widely applied as an antihypertensive medication. We previous have demonstrated that a higher dose of candesartan plays a protective role after kidney injury. However, whether candesartan could exhibit anti-inflammatory effects remains unclear. Here, by stimulating isolated human embryonic kidney epithelial cells with tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), we observed the anti-inflammation capacity of candesartan ex vivo. It was found that pre-treat with candesartan significantly suppressed transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) expression after incubation with TNF-α. Surprisingly, silence of angiotensin II type 1 receptor has little effects on reducing TGF-β or IL-6 products. Furthermore, candesartan inhibited TNF-α-induced oxidative stress in the primary cultured tubular epithelial cells. Overall, our data indicates that candesartan suppresses TNF-α-induced inflammatory cytokine production by inhibiting oxidative stress, rather than block AT1 receptor activity.

Recently, a series of studies explored the correlation between the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio and the prognosis of lung cancer. However, the current opinion regarding the prognostic role of the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio in lung cancer is inconsistent. We performed a meta-analysis of published articles to investigate the prognostic value of the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio in lung cancer. The hazard ratio (HR) and its 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated. An elevated neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio predicted worse overall survival, with a pooled HR of 1.243 (95%CI: 1.106-1.397; Pheterogeneity=0.001) from multivariate studies and 1.867 (95%CI: 1.487-2.344; Pheterogeneity=0.047) from univariate studies. Subgroup analysis showed that a high neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio yielded worse overall survival in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (HR=1.192, 95%CI: 1.061-1.399; Pheterogeneity=0.003) as well as small cell lung cancer (SCLC) (HR=1.550, 95% CI: 1.156-2.077; Pheterogeneity=0.625) in multivariate studies. The synthesized evidence from this meta-analysis of published articles demonstrated that an elevated neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio was a predictor of poor overall survival in patients with lung cancer.

Pyrrosia petiolosa (Christ) Ching, Polypodiaceae, is an important medicinal pteridophyte used for the treatment of nephritis and bronchitis, while P. davidii (Giesenhagen. ex Diels) Ching, Polypodiaceae, often substitutes medicinal Pyrrosia in clinic. The present study was aimed to compare the pharmacognosy of P. petiolosa and P. davidii, including plant morphology, microscopic characteristics, physico-chemical parameters, UV and IR spectrum, and HPLC fingerprint. It was revealed that the two herbs had basically similar pharmacognostical characteristics but with certain differences. The present study contributes to the standardization and verification of these medicinal materials.

In order to assess the role of bromination reaction in the oxalic acid-acetone-KBrO3-Ce(IV)-H2SO4 oscillating system, both the effects of oxalic acid and acetone were studied in detail. Based on the experimental data, we propose a new skeleton scheme containing 11 reactions to simulate the oscillating behavior of the system, in which the bromination reaction between acetone and bromine should be considered as another source of Br−.

Se estudian en detalle los efectos del ácido oxálico y de la acetona en la reacción ácido oxálico-acetona-KBrO3-Ce(IV)-H2SO4 con el fin de evaluar el papel de la reacción de bromación el sistema oscilante. Basados en los datos experimentales, proponemos un nuevo esquema que contiene a 11 reacciones para simular el comportamiento oscilante del sistema en el que la reacción de bromación entre acetona y bromo debe ser considerada como otra fuente de Br−.