Background and purpose:It was reported that nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT) is closely related with carcinomas. Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most common carcinomas in China. The present study investigated the expression and clinical significance of NFAT isoforms in ESCC. Methods:The expression of NFAT isoforms and the differences in different pathological levels of ESCC were detected in 104 specimens of human ESCC tissues and normal esophageal tissues by immunohistochemistry. Results:This study found that the positive rates of NFAT1 (53.8%), NFAT2 (10.6%), NFAT3 (26.9%), NFAT4 (45.2%) expression were significantly higher in tumor tissues than in adjacent normal esophageal tissues (P<0.001), respectively. The positive rate of NFAT1 expression was significant-ly higher in drinkers (62.3%) than nondrinkers (37.1%, P=0.01), and also higher in patients with lymph node metastasis (68.4% vs 5.5%, P=0.002) and with late stage (58.7% vs 36.2%, P=0.02). Multivariate analysis showed that NFAT1 expression was correlated with lymph node metastasis. The positive rate of NFAT3 was significantly higher in patients with lymph node metastasis (39.4%) than in those without lymph node metastasis (19.7%, P=0.03). Conclusion:These results suggest that the overexpression of NFAT1 and NFAT3 is associated with lymph node metastasis in ESCC.

Objective: To examine the effect of early comprehensive interventions on the physical growth and nerve development among premature infants, so as to provide insights into the follow-up management of premature infants after discharge from hospital. Methods: A total of 130 premature infants delivered in Shaoxing Municipal Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital from 2019 to 2021 were selected and divided into high- and low-risk groups according to gestational age and birth weight, while 306 full-term normal infants in the same hospital during the study period served as controls. All premature infants were given early comprehensive interventions until age of 12 months, including nutritional support and parental guidance of children's feeding and development, and all normal infants received periodical health checkup according to the basic public health service program. All infants received periodical measurements of height, weight and head circumference, and the 12-month intellectual and motor development ability was measured using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development revised in Chinese cities was used to assess. Infants' physical growth, mental development index (MDI) and motor development index (PDI) were compared among groups. Results: There were 130 premature infants with gestational ages of 28 to 36 weeks and birth weight of 1 200 to 3 440 g, including 79 male infants, and there were 80 infants in the low-risk group and 50 infants in the high-risk group. The full-term infants had a gestational age of 37 to 42 weeks, and birth weights of 2 500 to 4 000 g, including 162 male infants. There were significant differences in height (Wald χ2=28.664, P<0.001) and head circumference growth (Wald χ2=19.312, P=0.013) among the three groups as revealed by the generalized estimating equation; however, no significant differences were seen in the 12-month weight (F=0.639, P=0.528), height (F=1.051, P=0.350) or head circumference (F=0.318, P=0.728) among the three groups. The percentages of abnormal MDI were 2.00%, 0 and 1.31% among the high-risk premature infants, low-risk premature infants and full-term infants at ages of 12 months (χ2=1.319, P=0.517), while the percentages of abnormal PDI were 20.00%, 7.50% and 5.56% among the three groups at ages of 12 months (χ2=12.818, P=0.002). Conclusions Following implementation of early comprehensive interventions, the premature infants have favorable physical growth and comparable MDI with full-term infants; however, a high percentage of abnormal PDI is seen in high-risk premature infants. An improvement in the motor development among high-risk premature infants is recommended to be emphasized during the management of premature infants.

Objective To explore the advantages of the bedside DR,taking the quality analysis of the chest image taken from the bedside digital radiography systems (DR) and computed radiography system (CR).Method All of the 900 pieces chest image taken by bedside DR,compared with the 900 pieces CR image randomly chosen.Results Bedside DR could further reduce the rate of the remake and the radiation dose,and provided more excellent image information.Conclusion The chest image taken by bedside DR has obviously advantage than CR.It can play a positive role in the diagnosis and treatment of the critical patient and surgical patient.

Objective To analyze the changes of the intima-media thickness(IMT)of carotid and femoral arteries, serum advanced glycosylation end-products(AGEs),and AGEs soluble receptor(sRAGE)after intensively controlling blood glucose, blood pressure, and lipid. Methods One hundred and thirty-two type 2 diabetic patients were divided into 3 groups and followed for 5 years: 20 patients were treated with intensive control of blood glucose and blood pressure, 80 patients with intensive control of blood glucose, blood pressure, and lipid; and 32 patients with conventional therapy. AGEs, sRAGE, and IMT of carotid and femoral arteries were measured and compared among different groups. Results The IMT of carotid and femoral arteries and serum level of AGEs were significantly decreased after intensive treatment. The ratio of sRAGE and HbA1C(sRAGE/HbA1C)were negatively correlated with the mean of HbA1Cin the past five years(r=-0.417, P＜0.001)and the fluctuation of HbA1C(r=-0.309,P＜0.001). Multinomial regression analysis showed that AGEs were the important risk factors of IMT of femoral artery(β=0.152,P=0.068). Conclusion Intensive treatment is significant in controlling the growing IMT of carotid and femoral arteries, while decreasing serum level of AGEs.

OBJECTIVE: Several cell line studies have demonstrated thioridazine’s anticancer, multidrug resistance-reversing and apoptosis-inducing properties in various tumors. We conducted this nationwide population-based study to investigate the association between thioridazine use and cancer risk among adult patients with schizophrenia. METHODS: Based on the Psychiatric Inpatient Medical Claim of the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan, a total of 185,689 insured psychiatric patients during 2000 to 2005 were identified. After excluding patients with prior history of schizophrenia, only 42,273 newly diagnosed patients were included. Among them, 1,631 patients ever receiving thioridazine for more than 30 days within 6 months were selected and paired with 6,256 randomly selected non-thioridazine controls. These patients were traced till 2012/12/31 to see if they have any malignancy. RESULTS: The incidence rates of hypertension and cerebrovascular disease were higher among cases than among matched controls. The incidence of hyperlipidemia, coronary artery disease and chronic pulmonary disease did not differ between the two groups. By using Cox proportional hazard model for cancer incidence, the crude hazard ratio was significantly higher in age, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, cerebrovascular disease, coronary artery disease and chronic pulmornary disease. However, after adjusting for other covariates, only age and hypertension remained significant. Thioridazine use in adult patients with schizophrenia had no significant association with cancer. CONCLUSION: Despite our finding that thioridazine use had no prevention in cancer in adult patients with schizophrenia. Based on the biological activity, thioridazine is a potential anticancer drug and further investigation in human with cancer is warranted.
Adult* ; Cell Line ; Cerebrovascular Disorders ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Humans ; Hyperlipidemias ; Hypertension ; Incidence ; Inpatients ; Lung Diseases ; National Health Programs ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Schizophrenia ; Taiwan ; Thioridazine*

Objective To investigate the double-lumen endobronchial intubation-related anatomical factors of respiratory tract in adult patients through measurement of the parameters of glottis and left main bronchus using computed tomography(CT). Methods A total of 206 patients of both sexes, aged 20-80 yr, of American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status Ⅰ-Ⅲ, scheduled for elective surgery, were enrolled in this study.The cervical and thoracic CT images were evaluated.The anteroposterior glottic diame-ter(AP-GD), anteroposterior tracheal diameter(AP-TD), transverse tracheal diameter(Tr-TD), left and right main bronchus diameters(LBD and RBD)and length between glottis and carina(G-TL)were measured.Multiple linear regression analyses were performed to detect the correlations between obtained pa-rameters and between obtained parameters and height. Results AP-GD was(19±3)mm, AP-TD(20± 4)mm, Tr-TD(16.6±2.4)mm, LBD(12.3±2.0)mm, RBD(13.7±2.0)mm and G-TL(126± 11)mm.AP-GD, height, AP-TD and Tr-TD were moderately correlated with LBD(r was 0.522, 0.584, 0.648 and 0.606, respectively, P<0.05).AP-TD +Tr-TD+AP-GD+height served as the inde-pendent variable, the fitting curve was confirmed, and the results showed that AP-TD, Tr-TD and height were the affecting factors for LBD, and the degree of correlation with LBD was as follows from high to low:Tr-TD(b′=0.334), AP-TD(b′=0.323), height(b′=0.243). When AP-GD served as the independ-ent variable and curve fitting was performed, there was no significant difference(P>0.05). Conclusion Tr-TD and AP-GD should be considered besides double-lumen endobronchial intubation-related anatomical factors such as LBD and height in adult patients.