Assessment of clinical and paraclinical departments of military hospitals based on the Pabon Lasso Model

INTRODUCTION

Today, it is important to use different indices to measure the performance of hospitals. This study aimed to investigate and evaluate the performance indicators of military hospitals and measurement of performance by using the Pabon Lasso model.

METHODS

This was an applied and descriptive-analytical study that was conducted among five military hospitals affiliated to the Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran by using data from 2017 to 2018. Raw data related to performance indicators such as bed occupancy ratio (BOR), average length of stay (ALoS), and bed turnover rate (BTR) were collected by referring to the hospital medical record unit. After comparing performance indicators with the standards of the Ministry of Health, the Pabon Lasso model was used to measure hospitals' performance.

RESULTS

In general, the average BOR and bed turnover interval rate are higher than that of the national standard in all hospitals and are in favorable status. However, the average length of stay in all hospitals was in unfavorable status. Furthermore, one and two hospitals were located in zone 3 in Pabon Lasso graph in the years 2017 and 2018, respectively. Overall, there was no change in the performance of the hospitals in the study time periods.

CONCLUSION

In general, except for the average length of stay indicator, hospitals had a favorable performance level. Therefore, planning to improve performance indicators should be at the top of the programs.

Investigating the New Zealand policy response to methamphetamine-contaminated houses

The contamination of houses from clandestine methamphetamine manufacture emerged as an issue in New Zealand in the early 2000s. This perspective reviews and discusses the series of policies developed to address methamphetamine contamination in New Zealand houses over a 15-year period, ending with the reversal of the established policy approach in 2018. The policies addressing methamphetamine contamination of New Zealand properties were influenced by a range of sources including overseas scientific guidelines, local scientific reviews, public housing agency policies, and the local methamphetamine testing industry. A post-remediation methamphetamine level of 0.5 μg/100 cm² was initially implemented in 2010, leading to the termination of public housing tenancies, suspensions from the public housing list, and financial charges for decontamination on public housing tenants. Subsequent reviews of the policy led to some increase in the thresholds (up to 1.5-3.8 μg/100 cm² ) and the adoption of less punitive sanction processes. A scientific review in 2018 recommended a substantial threshold increase to 15 μg/100 cm² (a 30-fold increase on the 2010 standard), resulting in HNZ initiating a plan to compensate previously sanctioned tenants. Overreliance on the "precautionary principle"; strict interpretation of scientific guidelines; and the public housing agency's "zero tolerance approach" to drug use, contributed to an overly punitive policy approach to methamphetamine contamination in New Zealand that negatively impacted vulnerable public housing tenants, landlords, and property owners. Investigation into the extent that all possible influences had on the development of the policies, as well as the consequences of their implementation, should be undertaken.

[Analysis of patent data of Panax notoginseng and enlightenment of industrial development]

In order to find the trends in Panax notoginseng industries of China, a combination of data analysis and empirical analysis was applied to analyze the application of global P. notoginseng patents, the innovation field, the distribution of patent assets, the patent citation network, the distribution of enterprises, the talent team, the competition and cooperation situation based on the financial big data platform of intellectual property industry. From the perspective of industrial technology hotspots, the clinical application of P. notoginseng is becoming more and more widespread, and its clinical treatment field is further expanding. From the perspective of industrial fields, the P. notoginseng industry has gradually expanded from the traditional Chinese medicine field to food, cosmetics, beverages, tea and other daily consumer goods. From the perspective of patent quality, the average maintenance life of P. notoginseng patents of China is lower than the global level, and the value and quality of patents need to be further improved. And the quality of P. notoginseng of China related patent applications has gradually improved in recent years. We analyzed the technology, capital, and talent issues of P. notoginseng industry of China, and summarized and forecasted the status and trends of P. notoginseng industry development of China. It is considered that scientific and technological innovation has become the core engine for the development of the P. notoginseng industry and intellectual property, especially patent protection, escorted the sustainable development of the P. notoginseng industry. Based on the above analysis, several suggestions were put forward to promote the high-quality development of the P. notoginseng industry. It should strengthen scientific and technological support, especially the need for a large number of high-quality scientific and technological output, expand multi-party cooperation, build a high-level technological innovation platform for the P. notoginseng industry, guide long-term capital to continuously and stably invest, and help the P. notoginseng industry to revitalize.

Developing an Evidence-Based Nursing Handover Standard for a Multi-Site Public Hospital in Switzerland: Protocol for a Web-Based, Modified Delphi Study

BACKGROUND

Poor communication processes create opportunities for errors when caregivers fail to transfer complete and consistent information. Inadequate or nonexistent clinical handovers or failures to transfer information, responsibility, and accountability can have dire consequences for hospitalized patients. Clinical handover is practiced every day, in a multitude of ways, in all health care settings.

OBJECTIVE

The goal of this study is to build a consensus, evidence-based nursing handover standard for inpatients during shift changes or internal transfers between hospital wards. The study will be based on papers published by Slade et al.

METHODS

This protocol describes a modified Delphi data-collection survey involving a targeted panel sample of 300 nurse experts. A multi-round survey will select an anonymous panel from a multi-site public hospital in Switzerland. Each survey stage will be described and will build on the previous one. The study will end with a focus group discussion involving a randomly selected panel to explain why items for the evidence-based clinical nursing handover standard were accepted or not accepted. An item must achieve a consensus of ≥70% for inclusion.

RESULTS

The present study's expected outcome is a consensus-built, evidence-based nursing handover standard for inpatients during shift changes or internal transfers between the wards of a multi-site public hospital in Switzerland.

CONCLUSIONS

This survey will enable us to develop an evidence-based nursing handover standard for use during shift changes and internal inpatient transfers in a multi-site public hospital in Switzerland.

INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID)

DERR1-10.2196/15910.

An Evidence-Based, Nursing Handover Standard for a Multisite Public Hospital in Switzerland: Web-Based, Modified Delphi Study

BACKGROUND

Ineffective communication procedures create openings for errors when health care professionals fail to transfer complete, consistent information. Deficient or absent clinical handovers, or failures to transfer information, responsibility, and accountability, can have severe consequences for hospitalized patients. Clinical handovers are practiced every day, in many ways, in all institutional health care settings.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to design an evidence-based, nursing handover standard for inpatients for use at shift changes or internal transfers between hospital wards.

METHODS

We carried out a modified, multiround, web-based, Delphi data collection survey of an anonymized panel sample of 264 nurse experts working at a multisite public hospital in Switzerland. Each survey round was built on responses from the previous one. The surveys ended with a focus group discussion consisting of a randomly selected panel of participants to explain why items for the evidence-based clinical nursing handover standard were selected or not selected. Items had to achieve a consensus of ≥70% for selection and inclusion.

RESULTS

The study presents the items selected by consensus for an evidence-based nursing handover standard for inpatients for use at shift changes or internal transfers. It also presents the reasons why survey items were or were not included.

CONCLUSIONS

This modified Delphi survey method enabled us to develop a consensus- and evidence-based nursing handover standard now being trialed at shift changes and the internal transfers of inpatients at our multisite public hospital in Switzerland.

Impact of Fragmentation on Commutability of Epstein-Barr Virus and Cytomegalovirus Quantitative Standards

Despite the adaptation of international standards, quantitative viral load testing of transplant-associated viruses continues to be limited by interlaboratory disagreement. Studies have suggested that this disagreement and the poor commutability of standards may, in some cases, be linked to amplicon size and the fragmentation of circulating viral DNA. We evaluated target fragmentation as a cause of noncommutability and pretest fragmentation of quantitative standards as a potential means of increasing commutability and interassay agreement. Forty-two cytomegalovirus (CMV)-positive and 41 Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-positive plasma samples, together with two different quantitative standards for each virus, were tested as unknowns using 10 different quantitative PCR assays at 5 different laboratories. Standards were tested both intact and after intentional fragmentation by ultrasonication. Quantitative agreement between methods was assessed, together with commutability, using multiple statistical approaches. Most assays yielded results within 0.5 log₁₀ IU/ml of the mean for CMV, while for EBV a greater variability of up to 1.5 log₁₀ IU/ml of the mean was shown. Commutability showed marked improvement following fragmentation of both CMV standards but not after fragmentation of the EBV standards. These findings confirm the impact of amplicon size and target fragmentation on commutability for CMV and suggest that for some (but not all) viruses, interlaboratory harmonization can be improved through the use of fragmented quantitative standards.

[Discussion and Suggestion on Revision Basis of YY 0505 Standard]

In order to coordinate with the overall conversion progress of IEC 60601-1, the third edition of the General Standard for Electrical Safety of Medical Electrical Equipment, this paper compares the differences between the two editions in the world and the current edition in China, and analyses the quotation of IEC 60601 series standards, and then discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the conversion of the two editions. Finally, some suggestions for revision of the third edition of the standard are given, which is suitable for China's national conditions.

Comparison of Serologic Assays for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) was detected in humans in 2012. Since then, sporadic outbreaks with primary transmission through dromedary camels to humans and outbreaks in healthcare settings have shown that MERS-CoV continues to pose a threat to human health. Several serologic assays for MERS-CoV have been developed globally. We describe a collaborative study to investigate the comparability of serologic assays for MERS-CoV and assess any benefit associated with the introduction of a standard reference reagent for MERS-CoV serology. Our study findings indicate that, when possible, laboratories should use a testing algorithm including >2 tests to ensure correct diagnosis of MERS-CoV. We also demonstrate that the use of a reference reagent greatly improves the agreement between assays, enabling more consistent and therefore more meaningful comparisons between results.

[Research on grade standard and quality evaluation of Pinelliae Rhizoma for merchandise specification]

The study aims at investigating the grade standard and the quality characteristic of Pinelliae Rhizoma for commodity specification, which provides the reference for its grade standard formulation. 42 Pinelliae Rhizoma simples were collected from 5 medicinal materials markets and 2 producing areas. Based on the previous herbalogical study and market investigation, we combined with the data analysis to select the grading indicators using SPSS software for descriptive statistical analysis, analysis of variance, K-cluster analysis and correlation analysis. According to the actual production condition, we developed the grading standards of Pinelliae Rhizoma. Moreover, we compared the internal indicators(water, total ash, leachate and guanosine) of Pinelliae Rhizoma at various grade levels, and analyzed the correlation between appearance traits and internal indicators. The herbalogical study and market research found that the Pinelliae Rhizoma was better in large, solid and white. The results from descriptive and variance analysis showed that the appearance of Pinelliae Rhizoma was significantly different in weight per grain and grain number of 500 g. Referring to the 2015 Chinese Pharmacopoeia and the production practice, we use the length, weight per grain and grain number of 500 g as the classification index of Pinelliae Rhizoma. The results from correlation analysis showed that there was no significant correlation between the appearance of Pinelliae Rhizoma and the intrinsic quality index. In addition, we found there was no significant difference in the content of the intrinsic index except for the total ash and the extract. The current study established the classification index of the product specification and grade standard of Pinelliae Rhizoma with length, weight per grain and grain number of 500 g as the index, which can provide the basis for the classification of the product specification and grade of Pinelliae Rhizoma market.

[Study on commodity specification and grade standard and quality evaluation of Dipsaci Radix]

Through the records of herbal and market investigations,the samples collected from different market and origin were analyzed,and the appearance character indexes were determined in order to revise the commodity specification and grade standard of Dipsaci Radix combined with production practice. This is also to analyze association of the appearance with quality different of intrinsic components. The investigation results indicated the root's long and thick was better,and atrovirens of fracture surface,there are most of the market is dominated by the ungraded goods. Through principal component analysis,variance analysis and cluster analysis,combining with the feasibility of actual operation and herbal record,the length,middle diameter and phloem color were filtrated and the specification was divided into 2 ranks: the selection and ungraded goods,and the grade was divided into 2 ranks for the selection goods: big,small selected goods. Moreover,there were no significant correlation between the appearance and the intrinsic quality index of Dipsaci Radix,the content of extractum were significantly positive correlation with the moisture,but had extremely negative correlation with the total ash. Multiple comparisons indicated that the content of the moisture,extractum and asperosaponin VI of the selected goods were higher than the ungraded goods,while the total ash content were lower,and they hasn't significant difference. The commodity specification and grade standard of Dipsaci Radix as a basis provide commodity specification and grade standard of communities and standardizing market trade order.

Systems Biology Graphical Notation: Process Description language Level 1 Version 2.0

The Systems Biology Graphical Notation (SBGN) is an international community effort that aims to standardise the visualisation of pathways and networks for readers with diverse scientific backgrounds as well as to support an efficient and accurate exchange of biological knowledge between disparate research communities, industry, and other players in systems biology. SBGN comprises the three languages Entity Relationship, Activity Flow, and Process Description (PD) to cover biological and biochemical systems at distinct levels of detail. PD is closest to metabolic and regulatory pathways found in biological literature and textbooks. Its well-defined semantics offer a superior precision in expressing biological knowledge. PD represents mechanistic and temporal dependencies of biological interactions and transformations as a graph. Its different types of nodes include entity pools (e.g. metabolites, proteins, genes and complexes) and processes (e.g. reactions, associations and influences). The edges describe relationships between the nodes (e.g. consumption, production, stimulation and inhibition). This document details Level 1 Version 2.0 of the PD specification, including several improvements, in particular: 1) the addition of the equivalence operator, subunit, and annotation glyphs, 2) modification to the usage of submaps, and 3) updates to clarify the use of various glyphs (i.e. multimer, empty set, and state variable).

[Clarify some cognitive problems of standardization of acupuncture and moxibustion based on the characteristics of disciplines]

At present, there is still a underrecognition of the standardization work of acupuncture and moxibustion and the confusion of the basic theory. In order to better advance the next step, it is necessary to review the way and clarify the understanding. Based on the definition, principles and methods of standardization, combined with the practice of standardization of acupuncture and moxibustion, this paper analyzes the relationship between standardization and modernization, standardization and individualization diagnosis and treatment, modern standards and traditional classics, as well as standard development and research, it is proposed to base on the development of disciplines, objectively analyze the different needs at home and abroad, as well as scientific research and clinical practice, and clarify the true purpose of standardization of acupuncture and moxibustion. Standard cannot be simply developed on the base of the individual characteristics of acupuncture, and it is not possible to simply develop acupuncture with standardized concepts and methods. It is necessary to return to acupuncture itself and re-examine acupuncture and moxibustion from a standardized perspective, e.g.in-depth analysis and reflection on which characteristics of acupuncture need to be standardized, how to standardize. It is proposed that the scientific research should be organically combined with the development of standards, and drafting should be in compliance with the rules and the quality of the standard should be improved, so as to truly promote the development of the discipline of acupuncture.

[Research progress of pesticide residues in traditional Chinese medicines]

The residue of the pesticides is closely related to the quality and safety of traditional Chinese medicines(TCMs) and has attracted widespread attention at home and abroad.This article analyzed the current status of pesticide residues in TCMs by summarizing the research results of recent years.At the same time,the methods for the detection of pesticide residues in TCMs were summarized,and the domestic and foreign pesticide residue limit standards for TCMs were compared,intending to provide reference and basis for the detection and control of pesticide residues in TCMs.

Development of reference material with assigned value for human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 quantitative PCR in Japan

Quantitative PCR (qPCR) of human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) provirus is used for HTLV-1 testing and for assessment of risk of HTLV-1-related diseases. In this study, a reference material was developed for standardizing HTLV-1 qPCR. Freeze-dried TL-Om1 cells diluted with Jurkat cells were prepared and an assigned value for proviral load (PVL) of 2.71 copies/100 cells was determined by digital PCR. Nine Japanese laboratories using their own methods evaluated the PVLs of this reference material as 1.08-3.49 copies/100 cells. The maximum difference between laboratories was 3.2-fold. Correcting measured PVLs by using a formula incorporating the assigned value of this reference material should minimize such discrepancies.

Development of a Standard for Hospital-Based Palliative Care Consultation Teams in Japan Using a Modified Delphi Method

CONTEXT

Hospital-based palliative care consultation teams (PCCTs) are rapidly being disseminated throughout Japan. The roles of PCCTs have changed during the past decade, particularly with the introduction of a modified national cancer care act to promote early palliative care and integrated oncology and palliative care.

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to develop a consultation team standard for hospital-based palliative care in Japan.

METHODS

We developed a provisional standard based on literature review and used a modified questionnaire-based Delphi method. Our Delphi panel comprises 20 experts selected from all relevant disciplines.

RESULTS

All experts selected responded to the surveys over all rounds, and 14 of the 20 participated in the panel meeting. In the first round, 79 of 109 statements were judged to be appropriate, and 30 of 109 statements led to disagreements. About 16 of those 30 statements underwent minor revision, 1 was divided into two statements, and 13 remained unchanged. We then added six statements based on a discussion among participants and authors. In addition, based on comments from an external reviewer, we revised the standard, resulting in four statements being combined into two for a new total of 114 statements. In the second round, 108 of 114 statements were judged to be appropriate, and in the third round, none of the six controversial statements were judged to be appropriate. The final version comprises 108 statements.

CONCLUSION

We developed a standard for PCCTs in Japanese cancer hospitals. This standard provides a useful guide for clinical activities and a tool to evaluate quality of palliative care.

Developing and validating a checklist for accreditation in leadership and management of hospitals in Iran

INTRODUCTION

In the Iranian Accreditation System, leadership and management standards have been almost ignored and not paid enough and necessary attention to the structural components and the infrastructures standards in management and leadership sections. Governing body, medical staff, chief executive officer (CEO), and nursing management standards are inadequate and lack accountability. These standards could lead to reform and finally provide the context for accomplishment of an appropriate accreditation program.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This is a descriptive, comparative, and qualitative study. It was done in two phases. The first phase included literature review of the standards of the selected countries followed by comparison of the standards of the board of trustees, medical staff, CEOs, and nursing management standards to develop the primary framework for Iranian hospitals. In phase two, the primary framework was validated true three rounds of Delphi technique.

RESULTS

Surveying the accreditation system standards in selected countries included the USA, Egypt, Malaysia, and Iran. It was found that the management and leadership standards were classify as governing body, medical staff, CEOs, and nursing management standards. The result of this study provides a framework for improvement of the Iranian national accreditation program.

CONCLUSION

In regarded to the importance of the leadership and management standards in reform and change and promotion of the health services quality, efficiency, and effectiveness, the results of this study showed that the present standards of the Iranian accreditation assessment system and guidelines lack the necessary infrastructures for implementing a successful national accreditation program.

Balancing sufficiency and impact in reporting standards for mass spectrometry imaging experiments

Reproducibility, or a lack thereof, is an increasingly important topic across many research fields. A key aspect of reproducibility is accurate reporting of both experiments and the resulting data. Herein, we propose a reporting guideline for mass spectrometry imaging (MSI). Previous standards have laid out guidelines sufficient to guarantee a certain quality of reporting; however, they set a high bar and as a consequence can be exhaustive and broad, thus limiting uptake.To help address this lack of uptake, we propose a reporting supplement-Minimum Information About a Mass Spectrometry Imaging Experiment (MIAMSIE)-and its abbreviated reporting standard version, MSIcheck. MIAMSIE is intended to improve author-driven reporting. It is intentionally not exhaustive, but is rather designed for extensibility and could therefore eventually become analogous to existing standards that aim to guarantee reporting quality. Conversely, its abbreviated form MSIcheck is intended as a diagnostic tool focused on key aspects in MSI reporting.We discuss how existing standards influenced MIAMSIE/MSIcheck and how these new approaches could positively impact reporting quality, followed by test implementation of both standards to demonstrate their use. For MIAMSIE, we report on author reviews of four articles and a dataset. For MSIcheck, we show a snapshot review of a one-month subset of the MSI literature that indicated issues with data provision and the reporting of both data analysis steps and calibration settings for MS systems. Although our contribution is MSI specific, we believe the underlying approach could be considered as a general strategy for improving scientific reporting.

When another assessment attempt is bad for progress

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. The history and current practice of resit tests are briefly reviewed. The evidence supporting resits and also the problems associated with resits are evaluated. In addition, the financial implications of resits for both students and institutions are explored, along with the need to ensure assessments establish currency of ability and are a reflection of the long-term capability of students. Although resit outcomes are typically capped at the passing score we argue that they still afford an unfair advantage. We conclude that where resit opportunities are provided then they should have higher pass marks than first sit attempts. However, we recommend that the stress of high stakes exams, and thus resits, should be avoided. Consequently, a case is made for an alternative to resits whereby multiple lower stakes assessment results are aggregated.

[Qualitative characteristics and classification study on commodity specification and grade standard of Panax notoginseng]

Through the markets investigations and literature surveying, this paper investigates and analyzes the qualitative characteristics and commodity condition of Panax notoginseng. And the samples collected from market and origin were analyzed in order to revise the commodity specification and grade standard of P. notoginseng combined with production practice. In this paper, the authors divide the P. notoginseng into 4 commodity specification which are root (including Cunqi and Dongqi ), Rhizome and rootlet according to different parts and harvest time. And the root were divided into 8 grade which are 20, 30, 40, 60, 80, 120, countless and substandard. The density and internal components between the different commodity specification and grade of P. notoginseng were also compared. As well as the effect of different producing area, cultivation years and harvesting time on the commodity specification and grade of P. notoginseng were researched. On this basis, we revise and improve the commodity specification and grade standard of P. notoginseng. Moreover, we suggest the quality control indexes of P. notoginseng should be developed according to the different medicinal part and commodity specification in CHP. In order to guide the standardized production of traditional Chinese medicine and ensure the quality of medicinal materials, the cultivation years and density of each medicinal materials should also be indicated in CHP.

Validation protocols for blood pressure measuring devices in the 21st century

Blood pressure (BP) is a vital sign and the essential measurement for the diagnosis of hypertension. Therefore, its accurate measurement is a key element for the evaluation of many medical conditions and for the reliable diagnosis and efficient treatment of hypertension. In the last 3 decades prestigious organizations, such as the US Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI), the British Hypertension Society, the European Society of Hypertension (ESH) Working Group on BP Monitoring, and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), have developed protocols for clinical validation of BP measuring devices. All these initiatives aim to standardize validation procedures and establish minimum accuracy standards for BP monitors. Unfortunately, only a few of the BP measuring devices available on the market have been subjected to independent validation using one of these protocols. Recently, the AAMI, ESH, and ISO experts agreed to develop a single universally acceptable standard (AAMI/ESH/ISO), which will replace all previous protocols. This major international initiative has been undertaken to best serve the needs of patients with hypertension, a public interested in cardiovascular health, practicing physicians, scientific researchers, regulatory bodies, and manufacturers. There is an urgent need to influence regulatory authorities throughout the world to make it mandatory for all BP measuring devices to have undergone independent validation before approval for marketing. Efforts need to be intensified to improve the accuracy of BP measuring devices, further optimize the validation procedure, and ensure that objective and unbiased validation data become available.

Development and evaluation of armored RNA-based standards for quantification of BCR-ABL1p210/p190 fusion gene transcripts

BACKGROUND

Standards play an important role in detection of the BCR-ABL1 fusion gene (FG) transcript. However, the standards widely used in laboratories are mainly based on plasmids or cDNA, which cannot accurately reflect the process of RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis. Therefore, we aimed to develop armored RNA-based standards for p210 and p190 BCR-ABL1FG transcripts' quantification.

METHODS

Using overlapping polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology, we first linked a segment of the p210 or p190 BCR-ABL1FG transcript with four control genes (CGs; ABL1, BCR, GUSB, and B2M) to form p210FG-CG and p190FG-CG. Subsequently, using armored RNA technology, we prepared p210FG-CG- and p190FG-CG-armored RNAs and the p210FG-CG and p190FG-CG standards, the values of which were assigned by digital PCR (dPCR).

RESULTS

The p210FG-CG and p190FG-CG standards were stable and homogeneous, and were significantly linear with r²  > 0.98. A field trial including 52 laboratories across China showed that the coefficient of variation (CV%) of BCR-ABL1 values among samples was in the range of 58.6%-129.6% for p210 samples and 73.2%-194.0% for p190 samples when using local standards. By contrast, when using the p210FG-CG and p190FG-CG standards, the CV% of BCR-ABL1 values was decreased to 35.6%-124.9% and 36.6%-170.6% for p210 and p190 samples, respectively. In addition, 33.3% (3/9) of the p210 and p190 samples had CV% values <50.0%, whereas 44.4% (4/9) and 77.8% (7/9) of the samples had lower CV% values when using the p210FG-CG and p190FG-CG standards.

CONCLUSION

The overall variability of detection of BCR-ABL1 transcripts decreased significantly when using the p210FG-CG or p190FG-CG standards, especially the p190FG-CG standard.

[Situation analysis and standard formulation of pesticide residues in traditional Chinese medicines]

Chinese Pharmacopoeia provides nine pesticide Maximum Residual Limits(MRLs) of traditional Chinese medicines(TCMs), The number of pesticides used in production are far more than those listed in pharmacopoeia. The lack of the standards make it's hard to reflect the real situation of pesticide residues in TCMs correctly. The paper is aimed to analyze the data of pesticide residues in TCMs from 7 089 items in 140 reports, and judging the exceedance rate of pesticides in TCMs using the MRLs of European pharmacopoeia，which is widely accepted in many countries. The results show that：①Pesticide residues in 18 kinds of TCMs are higher than MRLs，while in 137 kinds are below MRLs, such as Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma, Menthae Haplocalycis Herba and Fritillariae Thunbergii Bulbus. The average exceedance rate of all TCMs is 1.72%. The average exceedance rates of organochlorine, organophosphorus and pyrethroid are 2.26%, 1.51%, 0.37%，respectively. ②The average exceedance rate of pesticides is 2.00%, and the exceedance rate is more than 5%, accounting for 8.33%, the exceedance rate is between 1%-5%, accounting for 18.75%. the exceedance rate is between 0%-1%, accounting for 18.75%. The remaining 29 kinds of pesticides were not exceeded, accounting for 60.42%.Some reports like Greenpeace's organization exaggerated the pesticide residues in TCMs.But the pesticide residue question is still worthy of attention, so we proposed to amend the Chinese Pharmacopoeia pesticide residues standards, to increase the pesticide species of traditional Chinese medicine in production on the basis of retaining the existing types of pesticide residues, to strengthen the system research of pesticide residues in TCMs, providing a basis for making standard and promoting import and export trade in TCMs.

Standardized Preparation for Fecal Microbiota Transplantation in Pigs

The intestine of pigs harbors a mass of microorganisms which are essential for intestinal homeostasis and host health. Intestinal microbial disorders induce enteric inflammation and metabolic dysfunction, thereby causing adverse effects on the growth and health of pigs. In the human medicine, fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), which engrafts the fecal microbiota from a healthy donor into a patient recipient, has shown efficacy in intestinal microbiota restoration. In addition, it has been used widely in therapy for human gastrointestinal diseases, including Clostridium difficile infection, inflammatory bowel diseases, and irritable bowel syndrome. Given that pigs share many similarities with humans, in terms of anatomy, nutritional physiology, and intestinal microbial compositions, FMT may also be used to restore the normal intestinal microbiota of pigs. However, feasible procedures for performing FMT in pigs remains unclear. Here, we summarize a standardized preparation for FMT in pigs by combining the standard methodology for human FMT with pig production. The key issues include the donor selection, fecal material preparation, fecal material transfer, stool bank establishment, and the safety for porcine FMT. Optimal donors should be selected to ensure the efficacy of porcine FMT and reduce the risks of transmitting infectious diseases to recipients during FMT. Preparing for fresh fecal material is highly recommended. Alternatively, frozen fecal suspension can also be prepared as an optimal choice because it is convenient and has similar efficacy. Oral administration of fecal suspension could be an optimal method for porcine fecal material transfer. Furthermore, the dilution ratio of fecal materials and the frequency of fecal material transfer could be adjusted according to practical situations in the pig industry. To meet the potential large-scale requirement in the pig industry, it is important to establish a stool bank to make porcine FMT readily available. Future studies should also focus on providing more robust safety data on FMT to improve the safety and tolerability of the recipient pigs. This standardized preparation for porcine FMT can facilitate the development of microbial targeted therapies and improve the intestinal health of pigs.