Background and aims: To develop a validated gastrooesophageal disease (GERD) symptom questionnaire for the Chinese population. Methods: One hundred Chinese patients with GERD and 101 healthy Chinese controls were presented with a 20-item GERD questionnaire in the Chinese language (Chinese GERDQ). Quality of life in GERD patients was assessed by SF-36. A standard dose of proton pump inhibitors for 4 weeks was prescribed to 35 patients with newly diagnosed GERD. The Chinese GERDQ was performed before, 4 weeks and 8 weeks after treatment. Concept, content, construct, discriminant validity and reliability of the questionnaire were assessed.Results: Seven items were selected by logistic regression to account for most of the differences between controls and GERD patients with a good reproducibility and internal consistency. A cut-off score of equal or greater than 12 was determined to discriminate between controls and GERD patients with a sensitivity of 82% and a specificity of 84%. The Chinese GERDQ correlated negatively with five domains of the SF-36 and discriminated between GERD patients who reported symptomatic improvement during proton pump inhibitor treatment and symptoms deterioration upon withdrawal of proton pump inhibitor treatment. Conclusions: The Chinese GERDQ could be used in epidemiological studies to assess the frequency and severity of GERD in patient populations and in interventional studies of GERD.

Ni-, Co-, and Pt-promoted MoVNbOx mixed metal oxide catalysts were prepared by impregnation method. The physicochemical properties of the catalysts showed that the BET surface area of the promoted catalysts was lower when compared to the unpromoted catalysts due to the filling of open pores by the promoters. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis indicated that the main reflections were consistent with the tetragonal rutile structure. Three crystalline phases of (V 0.07 Mo 0.93 ) 5 O 14 , (Nb 0.09 Mo 0.91 )O 2.80 , and Mo 4 O 11 could also be observed. Induced Coupled PlasmaOptical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES) displayed the loss of metal promoters, mainly due to sublimation during calcination with Pt-MoVNbOx. Temperature Programmed Reduction (H 2 -TPR) exhibited high reducibility for samples loaded with 10 -3 wt% promoter. The level of reduction declines with increased loads, suggesting a stronger oxygen bond in the promoted metal oxide catalysts.