In order to provide an objective observational index for facial neuritis, the authors monitored the changes of facial far-infrared thermogram in patients with acute facial neuritis.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of articular compression molding techniques in the surgery for acetabular posterior wall fracture. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted of the 28 patients (28 hips) with fracture of acetabular posterior wall plus comminuted compression of articular surface who had been treated using the articular compression molding techniques at Department of Orthopedics, The Hospital of 81 Group Army of PLA from January 2014 to January 2018. They were 25 males and 3 females, aged from 26 to 63 years (average, 49.3 years). The time from injury to surgery ranged from 4 to 12 days (average, 7.8 days). According to the Letournel-Judet classification, all were single element (simple) posterior wall fractures combined with posterior dislocation of the femoral head and articular compression of different degrees; transient sciatic nerve injury was complicated in 12 cases. The posterior hip dislocations were timely and successful reset at emergency treatment. The compression fractures of the posterior wall and hip joint were treated by open reduction and internal fixation via the acetabular posterior (K-L) approach. The articular compression was treated by 4 stabilization techniques: absorbable screwing and blocking technique in 10 cases, indwelling screwing in 12 cases, indwelling Kirschner wiring in 2 cases and die push and squeeze tamping in 4 cases. The operation time, intraoperative bleeding and complications were recorded. The therapeutic efficacy was evaluated by the modified Merle d’Aubigne & Postel scoring criteria at the final follow-up. Results: The operation time lasted from 76 to 118 minutes (average, 94.2 minutes); the intraoperative bleeding ranged from 100 to 320 mL (average,220.8 mL). No incision liquefaction, infection or other complications occurred. The 28 patients were followed up for 10 to 36 months (average, 17.6 months). According to the Matta scoring criteria, 24 cases achieved anatomical reduction but 4 dissatisfactory reduction. By the modified Merle d’Aubigne & Postel scoring criteria at the final follow-up, the efficacy was evaluated as excellent in 26 cases and as good in 2. Heterotopic ossification was observed in 3 cases and microscopic free dense shadow in the joint cavity (about 2 mm in the round ligament) in 3 cases. There were no cases of obvious traumatic arthritis or osteoarthritis, femoral head necrosis, walking pain, lameness or hip abduction weakness. The 12 patients complicated with preoperative transient sciatic nerve injury recovered within 3 months after surgery. Conclusion The articular compression molding techniques can effectively treat severely comminuted articular compression in the acetabular posterior wall fracture and improve reduction of articular surface and hip joint matching, leading to stability and good joint function.

Objective To predict and analyze the physicochemical properties, structural characteristics, and antigenic epitopes of viral protein (VP) VP1 of Coxsackievirus A10 (CV-A10) by bioinformatics methods. Methods The physicochemical properties and structural characteristics of CV-A10 VP1 were predicted by ProtParam, SOPMA, SWISS-MODEL, PDBsum, and ProSA-web. The antigenic epitopes of CV-A10 VP1 were predicted and analyzed by DNAstar, ABCpred, Bepipred 2.0, ElliPro, DiscoTope-2.0, NetMHCpan-4.1, NetMHCIIpan-4.0, Consurf, VaxiJen v.2.0, AllerTOP v.2.0, ToxinPred2, and IEDB immunogenicity. Results Bioinformatics analysis showed that CV-A10 VP1 was a basic, unstable, and hydrophilic protein, of which the secondary structure mainly consisted of random coil. The analysis revealed that CV-A10 VP1 had multiple potential B and T cell antigenic epitopes as well as a dominant antigenic epitope based on the potential epitope. Conclusion CV-A10 VP1 has multiple potential sites that induce specific humoral and cellular immunity, providing important support for its experimental identification, molecular epidemiological studies, and vaccine development.

Objective To investigate the influence of interleukin-6(IL-6) on the expression and function of programmed death-1(PD-1) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by measuring the plasma level of IL-6 and the expression of PD-1 in peripheral blood CD8 + T cells from HCC patients. Methods A total of 44 HCC patients who attended Shaanxi Provincial People's Hospital or The Second Affiliated Hospital of Air Force Medical University & Tangdu Hospital of Fourth Military Medical University from January to September 2019 were enrolled as HCC group, and 19 healthy controls, matched for age and sex, were enrolled as HC group. Peripheral blood was collected, and plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated to separate CD8 + T cells. ELISA was used to measure the plasma level of IL-6, and flow cytometry was used to measure the expression level of PD-1 in CD8 + T cells. The separated CD8 + T cells were stimulated with anti-IL-6 neutralizing antibody for 24 hours; CCK-8 assay was used to measure cell proliferation, ELISA was used to measure the levels of interferon-γ (IFNγ) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα) in supernatant, real-time PCR was used to measure the relative mRNA expression levels of perforin, granzyme B, and granulysin, and Western blot was used to measure the phosphorylation levels of STAT3 and Src. The t -test or the paired t -test was used for comparison of continuous data between two groups, and the chi-square test was used for comparison of categorical data between groups. Results Compared with the HC group, the HCC group had a significant increase in the plasma level of IL-6 (99.67±20.92 pg/mL vs 81.05±16.76 pg/mL, t =3.427, P =0.001 1). There was no significant difference in the percentage of CD3 + CD8 + T cells between the HCC group and the HC group, while there was a significant increase in the percentage of PD-1 + CD8 + cells in HCC patients (3.79%±1.36% vs 2.20%±0.47%, t =5.335, P < 0.000 1). In the patients with HCC, although anti-IL-6 neutralizing antibody for inhibiting IL-6 in CD8 + T cells did not affect cell proliferation, it downregulated the expression of PD-1 (2.67%±0.91% vs 3.33%±1.12%, t =2.177, P =0.035) and increased the secretion of IFNγ (13.50±3.82 pg/mL vs 10.82±1.37 pg/mL, t =3.170, P =0.002 8), and there were also significant increases in the relative mRNA expression levels of perforin and granzyme B ( t =6.161 and 14.140, both P < 0.000 1) and a significant reduction in the level of phosphorylated STAT3 ( P < 0.000 1). Conclusion Anti-IL-6 neutralizing antibody can enhance the function of CD8 + T cells in HCC patients possibly by increasing the levels of perforin and granzyme B, improving the secretion of cytokines, and inhibiting the expression of PD-1.

Objective: To investigate the expression of inhibitory receptor TIGIT gene in peripheral NK cells of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and its clinical significance. Methods: A case control study was conducted of 58 RA patients(30 patients with active RA disease, 28 patients with remission of RA) and 22 healthy controls (HC) in the department of rheumatology and immunology from Affiliated Hospital of Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine during December 2018 to June 2019, the related clinical data were collected. Flow cytometry was used to compare the expression of TIGIT gene on peripheral NK cells. The IFN-γ secretion level of cytokines in peripheral blood was detected by ELISA, and analyzed the correlations between TIGIT gene and disease activity and IFN-γ level. T-test or non-parametric test was used for comparison between the two groups, and Pearson correlation analysis was used for correlation between the two variables. Results: Compared with HC group, the number of NK cells in RA disease group was reduced, which was (13.88±4.56) ×10⁷ cells/L in RA disease group and (25.69± 2.48) ×10⁷ cells/L in HC group (t=-2.036, P=0.041). The percentage of TIGIT gene expression in peripheral blood NK cells was not statistically different between RA disease group (39.73±9.37)% and HC group (45.64±9.91)% (t=-1.241, P=0.218). However, the average fluorescence intensity (MFI) of TIGIT gene expression was decreased, which was (7.21±2.03) in RA group and (9.01±3.29) in HC group (t=-2.947, P=0.004).MFI of TIGIT gene in NK cells of the disease active subgroup was (6.72±2.01), lower than that of the disease remission subgroup (8.75±2.64), (t=-3.316, P=0.002), and MFI of TIGIT gene in NK cells of the disease active subgroup was negatively correlated with DAS28 score (r²=0.649 6, P<0.000 1).The secretion level of IFN-γ cytokine in the RA disease group was (67.13±14.84) pg/ml, higher than that in the HC group (57.21±14.23) pg/ml (t=2.757, P=0.017), and the secretion level of IFN-γ cytokine in the disease active subgroup was negatively correlated with the MFI of TIGIT gene on NK cells (r²=0.662 2, P<0.000 1). Experimental results of peripheral blood mononuclear cell stimulation in the RA disease activity subgroup showed that the secretion level of cytokines IFN-γ was reduced after stimulation compared with that before stimulation (t=11.38, P<0.000 1). Conclusion The abnormal expression of TIGIT gene on peripheral NK cells are observed in patients with RA, which correlate with disease activity and IFN-γ secretion level.