In order to study the association of each item of a health examination and lifestyles with health-related quality of life (HRQoL), a cross-sectional survey by a self-administered questionnaire using the 12-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12, version 1) was conducted on 145 government managers that took health examinations in Tongji Hospital, Wuhan, China during 2005. The results showed that the determinations of organic functions including BMI, hemoglobin, blood platelet count, urine protein, urine WBC and lipid metabolism (LDL) were associated with HRQoL. The lifestyle items including age, sex, life satisfaction drinking alcohol and kind of alcohol drunk, drinking tea, sleep quality and adhering to bedtime, working overtime, work stress were associated with HRQoL in the multiple regression models. Sex, age and life satisfaction were the lifestyle items most closely associated with HRQoL, while LDL, hemoglobin and urine protein were the health examination items most closely associated HRQoL. This study revealed that both lifestyle and health examination items were associated with HRQoL.

The volume-time curve change in patients with normal left ventricular (LV) diastolic function and diastolic dysfunction was evaluated by real-time three-dimensional echocardiography (RT3DE). LV diastolic dysfunction was defined by E′<A′ in pulse-wave tissue Doppler for inter-ventricular septal (IVS) of mitral annulus. In 24 patients with LV diastolic dysfunction, including 12 patients with delayed relaxation (delayed relaxation group) and 12 patients with pseudo-normal function (pseudo-normal group) and 24 normal volunteers (control group), data of full-volume image were acquired by real-time three-dimensional echocardiography and subjected to volume-time curve analysis. EDV (end-diastolic volume), ESV (end-systolic volume), LVEF (left ventricular ejection fraction), PER (peak ejection rate), PFR (peak filling rate) from RT3DE were examined in the three groups. Compared to the control group, PFR (diastolic filling index of RT3DE) was significantly reduced in the delayed relaxation group and pseudo-normal group (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in EDV, ESV, LVEF, PER (P>0.05). It is concluded that PFR, as a diastolic filling index of RT3DE, can reflect the early diastolic function and serve as a new non-invasive, quick and accurate tool for clinical assessment of LV diastolic function.

In order to study the expression of interleukin-22 (IL-22) and S100A7, A8, A9 mRNA in the skin lesions of patients with psoriasis vulgaris and their relationship, the biopsies were taken from skin lesions in 35 patients with psoriasis vulgaris and the skin of 16 normal controls, and the expression levels of IL-22 and S100A7, A8 and A9 mRNA were detected by semi-quantitative RT-PCR. The results showed that (1) IL-22 and S100A8, A9 mRNA were positively expressed in the psoriatic skin lesions but negatively expressed in the normal controls; The expression level of S100A7 was (1.133±0.040) in the psoriatic skin lesions, significantly higher than that in the normal controls (0.744±0.037, P<0.01). (2) There were significantly positive correlations between the expression of IL-22/S100A7 mRNA, IL-22/S100A8 mRNA, IL-22/S100A9 mRNA in the psoriasis vulgaris (r₁=0.543, r₂=0.774, r₃=0.621, P<0.01). It was concluded that IL-22 and S100A7, A8, A9 might play important roles in the occurrence and progression of psoriasis.

To establish a simple and reliable animal model of skin photo-damage, 20 mice were treated with 8-MOP and exposed to UVA (UVA 320–400 nm) for 24 h. After irradiation, the structure of the epidermis and dermis, collagen fibers, elastic fibers were observed by using HE staining and Weigert technique and compared with the normal controls. The acanthosis and epidemis proliferation with accompanying hyperkeratosis and parakeratosis were observed. Inflammatory infiltration was noted in the dermis. The elastic fibers became coarse, irregularly arranged and clustered, with their number increased. The collagen fibers showed obvious degeneration and some amorphous materials could also be observed. The blood vessels were irregularly dilated and vascular walls were thickened, with infiltration of inflammatory cells. It is concluded that murine photodamage model can be quickly, conveniently and reliably established by means of 8-MOP/UVA.