BACKGROUND: Metal implants have been extensively applied in joint arthoplasty, but the stress shielding effect caused by its high elastic modulus results in a series of complications, such as bone resorption, bone atrophy and prosthesis loosening. Carbon fiber-reinforced polyetheretherketone (CF-PEEK) composites are anisotropic and exhibit more advantages used for prosthesis due to its low elastic modulus and high intensity.OBJECTIVE: To investigate the blood compatibility of CF-PEEK composites, and compare the biomechanical properties after arthroplasty between CF-PEEK composites and Co-Cr-Mo used for femoral head prosthesis. METHODS: (1) The blood compatibility of CF-PEEK composites was evaluated through hemolysis test. (2) Femoral samples from eight fresh cadavers were collected and randomly divided into two groups, followed by subjected to CF-PEEK and Co-Cr-Mo prosthesis replacement, respectively. The displacement between the prosthesis and bone was measured under loading 200, 400, 600, 800 and 1000 N, and the torsional strength after arthroplasty was detected.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) The hemolysis rate of the CF-PEEK composites was 3.23% < 5%, which was in line with the national standards for biological evaluation of medical devices. (2) The micromovement in distal prosthesis was significantly less than that of proximal prosthesis under different loads in both two groups (P < 0.05). (3) The torsion angle under different loads in the CF-PEEK group was significantly less than that in the Co-Cr-Mo group (P < 0.05), and the torsion stiffness in the CF-PEEK group was significantly higher than that in the Co-Cr-Mo group (P < 0.05). (4) To conclude,the CF-PEEK composites possess good blood compatibility and stability, which can be used as a prosthesis material.

Objective To observe the therapeutic effect of electronic moxibustion apparatus and stone needle for primary dysmenorrhea disease in 35 cases.Methods 70 patients were randomly divided into the treatment group of 35 cases by random number table ,using electronic moxibustion apparatus and stone needle for treatment;and con-trol group of 35 cases,only using electronic moxibustion apparatus for treatment from 5 days before menstruation ,the treatment was continuous for 5 days,a course including 3 menstruation cycles .The clinical therapeutic effect after one treatment course was observed .Results The curative effects of the two groups were respectively 91.42% and 88.57%(χ2 =0.16,P>0.05);recovery rates of the two groups were respectively 77.14%and 42.85%(χ2 =8.57, P<0.05).The scores of the VAS,CMSS of the treatment group were much lower than those of the control group after treatment (t=2.532,2.137,2.256,P<0.05).Conclusion Electronic moxibustion apparatus and stone needle therapy is an effective method to treat primary dysmenorrhea ,which is a safe and convenient method .

[Abstract ] Objective To compare the accuracy between regular computed tomography colonography (CTC)and dual-energy CTC in lesion detection.Methods Twenty-eight patients with clinical suspicious space occupying lesions of the colon were selected.All patients were underwent dual-energy mode contrast-enhanced CT scan and the data were reconstructed with colonography and dual-energy iodine maps methods.The diameter,enhanced computed tomography (CT)value and iodine value were measured.The results of colonoscopy and pathology were taken as gold standard.The sensitivity, specificity,accuracy,positive predictive value and negative predictive value of regular CTC and dual-energy CTC were compared.Variance analysis was performed for measurement data comparison among groups and chi-square test was used for count data analysis.Results Among 28 patients,colorectal lesions were detected in 24 cases by regular CTC,of which four cases were false-positive and one case was false-negative confirmed by colonoscopy and pathology.Colorectal lesions were detected in 20 cases by dual-energy CTC,of which no false-positive and one case was false negative confirmed by colonoscopy and pathology.The contrast enhanced CT value of polyps,adenoma,adenocarcinoma and stool was (38.54± 6.82),(49.16±7.31 ),(52.61 ±5 .93 )and (34.00±1 .41 )Hu,respectively.The enhanced value of adenoma and adenocarcinoma was significantly higher than that of polyps and stool,the differences were statistically significant among groups (F = 10.760,P = 0.001 ).There was no significant difference between polyps and stool (t=1 .44,P =0.188).The sensitivity of regular CTC and dual-energy CTC in lesion detection was 95 .6% (95 %cofidence interval(CI ):77.9%-99.2%)and 95 .6% (95 %CI :77.9%-99.2%),respectively.The specificity was 42.8% (95 %CI :15 .4%-93.5 %)and 100.0% (95 %CI :47.9%-100.0%).Conclusion Compared with traditional CTC,dual-energy CTC would distinguish lesions from stool,help differentiate between benign and malignant tumors and further increase the accuracy of CTC diagnosis.

For transcriptome analysis,it is critical to precisely define all the transcripts across the whole genome.More and more digital gene expression (DGE) scannings have indicated the presence of huge amount of novel transcripts in addition to the known gene models.However,almost all these studies still depend crucially on existing annotation.Here,we present Gene2DGE,a Perl software package for gene model renewal with DGE data.We applied Gene2DGE to the mouse blastomere transcriptome,and defined 98,532 read-enriched regions (RERs) by read clustering supported by more than four reads for each base pair.Taking advantage of this ab initio method,we refined 2,104 exonic regions (4％ of a total of 48,501 annotated transcribed regions) with remarkable extension into un-annotated regions (＞50 bp).For 5％ of uniquely mapped reads falling within intron regions,we identified 13,291 additional possible exons.As a result,we renewed 4,788 gene models,which account for 39％ of a total of 12,277 transcribed genes.Furthermore,we identified 12,613 intergenic RERs,suggesting the possible presence of novel genes outside the existing gene models.In this study,therefore,we have developed a suitable tool for renewal of known gene models by ab initio prediction in transcriptome dissection.The Gene2DGE package is freely available at http://bighapmap.big.ac.cn/.

Objective To investigate the interventional effect and mechanism of a novel ampe-lopsis hydrogel on dampness-heat accumulation syndrome of gouty arthritis.Methods A total of 90 patients with gouty arthritis who met the diagnostic criteria of western medicine and were differentiated as damp-heat accumulation syndrome of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)were randomly divided into treatment group,control group and blank group,with 30 patients in each group.The blank group was treated with etoricoxib only,the control group was treated with etoricoxib combined with ampelop-sis hydrogel,and the treatment group was treated with etoricoxib combined with external application of ampelopsis hydrogel.The clinical efficacy,time to symptom improvement,safety,comfort,changes in syndrome scores of TCM,serum inflammatory factors[C-reactive protein(CRP),tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α),erythrocyte sedimentation rate(ESR)],NF-κB signaling pathway-related pro-teins,Visual Analogue Scale(VAS)scores for pain,and joint mobility were compared among the three groups before and after treatment.Results The total effective rates in the treatment group and control group were 93.33％and 90.00％,respectively,which were higher than 70.00％in the blank group(P＜0.05).The time for improvement of pain,redness,tenderness,and limited joint mobility in the treatment group was shorter than that in the control group and blank group(P＜0.05).After 7 days of treatment,the TCM syndrome score in the treatment group was lower than that in the con-trol group and blank group,and the levels of serum CRP,TNF-α,and ESR and the expressions of NF-κB signaling pathway-related proteins P50 and P65 in the treatment group and control group were lower than those in the blank group(P＜0.05).After 7 days of treatment,the VAS score in the treatment group was lower than that in the control group and blank group,and the comfort score in the treatment group was higher than that in the control group(P＜0.05).There was no significant differ-ence in the incidence of adverse reactions among the three groups(P＞0.05).Conclusion The effect of ampelopsis hydrogel in treating gouty arthritis is better than that of ampelopsis paste,and its mechanism may be related to the regulation of the NF-κB pathway and inhibition of inflammatory fac-tor expression.The hydrogel is easy to use,hygienic,and comfortable,and is expected to become a safe,effective,and convenient external medicine for gouty arthritis.

Objective To investigate the interventional effect and mechanism of a novel ampe-lopsis hydrogel on dampness-heat accumulation syndrome of gouty arthritis.Methods A total of 90 patients with gouty arthritis who met the diagnostic criteria of western medicine and were differentiated as damp-heat accumulation syndrome of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)were randomly divided into treatment group,control group and blank group,with 30 patients in each group.The blank group was treated with etoricoxib only,the control group was treated with etoricoxib combined with ampelop-sis hydrogel,and the treatment group was treated with etoricoxib combined with external application of ampelopsis hydrogel.The clinical efficacy,time to symptom improvement,safety,comfort,changes in syndrome scores of TCM,serum inflammatory factors[C-reactive protein(CRP),tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α),erythrocyte sedimentation rate(ESR)],NF-κB signaling pathway-related pro-teins,Visual Analogue Scale(VAS)scores for pain,and joint mobility were compared among the three groups before and after treatment.Results The total effective rates in the treatment group and control group were 93.33％and 90.00％,respectively,which were higher than 70.00％in the blank group(P＜0.05).The time for improvement of pain,redness,tenderness,and limited joint mobility in the treatment group was shorter than that in the control group and blank group(P＜0.05).After 7 days of treatment,the TCM syndrome score in the treatment group was lower than that in the con-trol group and blank group,and the levels of serum CRP,TNF-α,and ESR and the expressions of NF-κB signaling pathway-related proteins P50 and P65 in the treatment group and control group were lower than those in the blank group(P＜0.05).After 7 days of treatment,the VAS score in the treatment group was lower than that in the control group and blank group,and the comfort score in the treatment group was higher than that in the control group(P＜0.05).There was no significant differ-ence in the incidence of adverse reactions among the three groups(P＞0.05).Conclusion The effect of ampelopsis hydrogel in treating gouty arthritis is better than that of ampelopsis paste,and its mechanism may be related to the regulation of the NF-κB pathway and inhibition of inflammatory fac-tor expression.The hydrogel is easy to use,hygienic,and comfortable,and is expected to become a safe,effective,and convenient external medicine for gouty arthritis.

Postzygotic mutations are acquired in normal tissues throughout an individual's lifetime and hold clues for identifying mutagenic factors.Here,we investigated postzygotic mutation spectra of healthy individuals using optimized ultra-deep exome sequencing of the time-series samples from the same volunteer as well as the samples from different individuals.In blood,sperm,and muscle cells,we resolved three common types of mutational signatures.Signatures A and B represent clock-like mutational processes,and the polymorphisms of epigenetic regulation genes influence the pro-portion of signature B in mutation profiles.Notably,signature C,characterized by C＞T transitions at GpCpN sites,tends to be a feature of diverse normal tissues.Mutations of this type are likely to occur early during embryonic development,supported by their relatively high allelic frequencies,presence in multiple tissues,and decrease in occurrence with age.Almost none of the public datasets for tumors feature this signature,except for 19.6％of samples of clear cell renal cell carcinoma with increased activation of the hypoxia-inducible factor 1(HIF-1)signaling pathway.Moreover,the accumulation of signature C in the mutation profile was accelerated in a human embryonic stem cell line with drug-induced activation of HIF-1α.Thus,embryonic hypoxia may explain this novel signature across multiple normal tissues.Our study suggests that hypoxic condition in an early stage of embryonic development is a crucial factor inducing C＞T transitions at GpCpN sites;and indi-viduals'genetic background may also influence their postzygotic mutation profiles.

OBJECTIVETo compare the effects between acupuncture with regulating mind and spleen and wes-tern medication for diarrhea irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D).

METHODSEighty-one patients were randomly at the ratio of 2 to 1 assigned into an acupuncture group (54 cases) and a western medication group (27 cases). Acupuncture with regulating mind and spleen was applied in the acupuncture group for 6 weeks at Baihui (GV 20), Yintang (GV 29), Tianshu (ST 25), Zusanli (ST 36), Shangjuxu (ST 37), Sanyinjiao (SP 6), and Taichong (LR 3), once every other day, 3 times a week. Pinaverium bromide tablet was used orally in the western medication group for 6 weeks, 50 mg a time, 3 times a day. IBS symptom severity score (IBS-SSS) were observed before and after 1-week, 6-week treatment. Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) was applied before and after 6-week treatment. Also, clinical efficacy was evaluated in the two groups.

RESULTSThree patients dropped out in the acupuncture group, and 1 in the western medication group. Except abdominal distension score after 1-week treatment in the western medication group, single scores and total scores of IBS-SSS apparently reduced in the two groups after 1-week and 6-week treatment (<0.01,<0.05). After 1-week treatment, the abdominal pain score of the acupuncture group was obviously lower than that of the western medication group (<0.05). After 6-week treatment, with abdominal pain relief advantage, other results including the number of pain days, defecation satisfaction,life disturbance degree and total score of the acupuncture group were obviously lower than those of the wes-tern medication group (<0.01,<0.05). After 6-week treatment, the PSQI score and its change before and after treatment in the acupuncture group were superior to those in the western medication group (both<0.05). The relief rate and relief plus obvious effective rate in the acupuncture group were higher than those in the western medication group[51.0% (26/51) vs 19.2% (5/26),<0.01; 64.7% (33/51) vs 34.6% (9/26),<0.05].

CONCLUSIONSAcupuncture with regulating mind and spleen for diarrhea irritable bowel syndrome can more effectively relieve abdominal pain than pinaverium bromide tablet at the early stage. Its total effect and single effects are better at the later stage on abdominal pain, seizure frequency, defecation satisfaction, life disturbance, and sleep quality.

Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is an emerging tissue ablation technique. Compared with thermal ablation technique such as radiofrequency, IRE can achieve focal ablation in a shorter time without heat sink effect while sparing the tissue scaffold. IRE has been demonstrated to be a feasible therapeutic modality for the liver, pancreatic, and prostatic cancer. In recent years, several studies regarding of catheter-directed IRE for digestive tract, bronchus, urinary tract, and myocardium have been performed, which preliminarily demonstrated the safety and efficacy of IRE for tissue ablation under endoscopic or interventional technique. This study summarized the research progress of catheter-directed IRE for tissue ablation. The critical technique and future direction of catheter-based IRE are prosp.
Catheter Ablation ; Catheters ; Electroporation ; Endoscopy ; Humans