Objective To investigate prevalence of associated diseases in patients with gout as well as their diagnoses and treatment. Methods Two hundreds out-patients diagnosed with gout from April to October 2008 were investigated at Peking University People's Hospital, and information collected included their general characteristics, associated diseases, diagnoses and treatment, as well as blood lipid profiles, serum creatinine, uric acid, results of routine urine tests and glomerular filtration rate estimated by MDRD formula in the past three months. Results Among patients with gout, prevalence of associated hypertension, obesity, renal calculi, coronary heart disease, cerebral infarction and diabetes were 54.5% (109/200), 23.2% (42/181), 20.0% (40/200), 12.0% (24/200), 8.0% (16/200) and 7.0% (14/200), respectively, and 53.7% (101/188) of them associated with hypertriglyceridemia, 63.7% (114/179) with impaired renal function and 15.1% (27/179) with chronic kidney disease. In acute attack of gout, 124 (62.0%) of them were treated with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NASID), 72 (36.0%) with colchicines, 12 (6.0%) with corticosteroid and 30 (15.0%) with urate-lowering drugs, respectively, and during its intermittent period, 69. 8% (81/116) of them received urate-lowering therapy with indications generally accepted internationally, but serum level of uric acid could be maintained below 0.06 g/L in only 8.6% (10/116) of them. And 73.8% (48/65) of the patients with no therapy indications also were treated with urate-lowering drugs. Conclusions The most commonly associated diseases in gout patients are hypertension, hyperlipidemia and obesity, followed by renal calculi, chronic kidney disease and coronary heart disease, and so on. At present, oral NSAID is the first choice of drugs for its acute attack. Indications for urate-lowering therapy in this hospital usually are not consistent with those by generally international acceptance, with lower therapeutic effectiveness achieved.

BACKGROUND:Establishment of high-quality finite element model is an important basis of biomechanical analysis. The reports on three-dimensional finite element model of complete adolescent idiopathic scoliosis are less. OBJECTIVE:To set up three-dimensional finite element model of PUMCIId1 adolescent idiopathic scoliosis for building ideal digitization platform for further biomechanical study. METHODS:A 14-year-old female patient with PUMCIId1 adolescent idiopathic scoliosis was included as volunteer for the current study. CT images obtained from CT transverse scanning from T 1 to sacrococcyx were imported into Mimics 16.0 software to form qualified three-dimensional geometric model, including thoracic cage, which was further delivered to Geomagic Studio 11.0 software to build three-dimensional finite element model by a series of modules and optimization of cleaning. The geometric model was imported to ANSYS 14.0 software to build complete three-dimensional finite element adolescent idiopathic scoliosis model by adding ligaments, setting unit type, and defining material properties. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:A complete three-dimensional finite element model of PUMCIId1 adolescent idiopathic scoliosis was built successful y, consisting of 522 887 tetrahedron elements and 730 rod elements, a total of 523 617 units and 159 008 nodes. Three-dimensional finite element model of PUMCIId1 adolescent idiopathic scoliosis was lifelike, and can be used as the reliable digital model for further biomechanical analysis.

Objective The aim of current study is to determine the effect and mechanism of thymic stromal lymphopoietin on apoptosis of mouse nucleus pulposus cells by investigating the apoptotic activity and variation of intracellular phosphorylated protein kinase B (p-Akt),X-linkedinhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP),cysteinyl aspartate specific proteinase-3 (caspase-3),with the treatment of thymic stromal lymphopoietin.Methods Mouse lumbar nucleus pulposus cells were cultured and identified under a fluorescence microscope.Second or third passage cells maintained in monolayers were used for the following experiments.The groups were divided randomly into normal group,TNF-α treated group,TSLP treated group,TSLP+LY94002 treated group and TSLP+Embelin treated group.As a control,normal group was treated with PBS.TNF-α treated group was treated with 500 ng/ml TNF-αt as a positive control.TSLP treated group was treated with 10 ng/ml rhTSLP.TSLP+LY94002 treated group and TSLP+ Embelin treated group were treated with 10 ng/ml TSLP with the pretreatment of different pathway inhibitors for 30 ain in different corresponding experiments,for which 10 μ mol LY294002 or 50 LY294002 responding experimentsreatment of different pathway inhibitors formouse nucleus pulposus cells was detected by FACS.The expression levels of the intracellular p-Akt,XIAP,caspase-3 were investigated by Western blot analysis.Results As the culture cell type Ⅱ collagen staining was positive observed by fluorescence microscopy,we confirmed that the cuhured cells were nucleus pulposus cells.In comparison with negative control,the levels of p-Akt,XIAP in TSLP treated group were elevated (t=9.510,P=0.001;t=8.851,P=0.001).Thecaspase-3 activity were slightly enhanced and the rate of cells apoptosis was no significance.Compared with TSLP treated group,downregulated level of pAkt and XIAPand upregulatedcaspase-3 activity in TSLP+LY294002 treated group were observed (t=8.798,P=0.001;t=7.032,P=0.002;t=5.908,P=0.004).Upregulated caspase-3 activity were also observed in TSLP+ Embelin treated group (t=7.990,P=0.001).Furthermore,significant increased apoptotic cell rate was observed in TSLP+LY294002 or TSLP+Embelin treated groups (t=21.268,P=0.001;t=21.279,P=0.001).Conclusion TSLP may have a potential anti-apoptotic effect on mouse NP cells via upregulating XIAP in PI3K/Akt signaling pathway to restrain the activation of caspase-3.

Objective:To explore the clinical efficacy of posterior short-segment internal fixation for the treatment of brucella spondylitis (BS).Methods:The medical records of 34 patients with BS admitted from January 2014 to June 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. There were 22 males and 12 females; the age was 52.3±10.6 years (range 35-72 years). On the basis of standardized use of antibacterial drugs, the lumbar spine posterior short-segment internal fixation was used. Twenty-nine cases underwent simple internal fixation, and posterolateral bone graft fusion, while 5 cases underwent primary debridement, autologous bone grafting and interbody fusion. Monitor erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), and test tube agglutination test (SAT) were used to assess inflammation control. Imaging examinations of patients before operation, 1 month after operation, 3 months after operation, 6 months after operation, 1 year after operation to the last follow-up were analyzed to evaluate the condition of intervertebral fusion. The clinical efficacy evaluation was based on the pain visual analog scale (VAS), Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score, modified MacNab grading, and American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) grading, as well as surgery-related complications.Results:The operation time of 34 patients was 104.64±16.72 min (range 65-145 min), the average hospital stay was 16.49±7.41 days (range 7-38 d), and the average postoperative follow-up time was 20.2 months (range 12-34 months). At the last follow-up, the ESR and CRP fell to the normal range, and the SAT was negative. At 3 months postoperatively, 11 cases (32.35%) reached Bridwell fusion criteria of grade II, 23 cases (67.65%) of grade III; 3 cases (8.82%) of grade I fusion at 6 months after surgery, 31 cases reached grade II fusion (91.18%); all reached grade I fusion at the last follow-up. After the operation, the symptoms of the waist or lower extremities were significantly relieved. The VAS score was 6.3±1.4 before the operation, 4.1±1.2 at 1 month after the operation, 2.7±1.4 at 3 months after the operation, 1.6±1.0 at 6 months after the operation, and 1.2±0.8 at the last follow-up. The JOA score before surgery was 13.8±2.4, 1 month after surgery 17.6±2.6, 3 months after surgery 21.7±3.1, 6 months after operation 4.9±2.7, and at the last follow-up 25.7±1.8. Compared with the preoperative time nodes of the above indicators, the differences were statistically significant. At the last follow-up, of the 12 patients (2 cases of grade C, 10 cases of grade D) with preoperative neurological dysfunction, 2 cases recovered from grade C to grade D, and 10 cases recovered from grade D to E; the excellent and good rate of modified MacNab grading reached 97.06% (33/34). No extradural hematoma, nerve damage, cerebrospinal fluid leakage and other surgical complications occurred. Only 1 case had wound infection complication, and the prognosis was good after active treatment. There were no recurrences during the follow-up period.Conclusion:On the basis of standardized antimicrobial treatment, posterior lumbar short-segment internal fixation is a safe and effective method for the treatment of BS, and good clinical effects can be obtained.