A special medical device for the treatment of congenital megacolon is designed.This device is made of avirulent and high-intensity plastics.The resultant which formed by up and down curve arm detained lateral anus can spur the up and down leaf of the ring clamp device.Under the continuous pressurized condition,it can clamp the rectum and the downward pull-through colon,then the colon becames necrosis,so that the aim of confluence is achieved.This device is disposable.

BACKGROUND:Transformation growth factor-β(TGF-β) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) are the main regulatory factors in the process of spinal cord injury. There are many researches for TGF-βand BDNF pathogenesis in the spinal cord injury, but the regulation of Ginsenoside Rg1 intervention on TGF-βand BDNF in the spinal cord injury is rarely reported.
OBJECTIVE:To observe the effect of Ginsenoside Rg1 intervention on TGF-βand BDNF expression at themolecular protein levels, and to study the protection effect of Ginsenoside Rg1 on the spinal cord and nerve function after spinal cord injury.
METHODS:Experimental rats were randomly divided into blank control group, model group and Ginsenoside Rg1 group. In the model and Ginsenoside Rg1 groups, spinal cord injury model was established with the impact method in rats. In the Ginsenoside Rg1 group, rats were intraperitoneal y injected with 10 mg/kg Ginsenoside Rg1 24 hours after modeling, once per day, for 14 days. Rats in the blank control and model groups were injected with equal saline.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Compared with the control group, serum malondialdehyde levels increased, the content of superoxide dismutase decreased, TGF-βexpression levels in spinal cord tissue increased, and BDNF expression levels decreased in the model and Ginsenoside Rg1 groups. Compared with the model group, serum malondialdehyde levels decreased, the content of superoxide dismutase increased, TGF-βexpression levels in spinal cord tissue decreased, and BDNF expression levels increased in the Ginsenoside Rg1 group. Ginsenoside Rg1 can protect the injury spinal cord in rats after spinal cord injury.

BACKGROUND:Chinese herb extracts can restore and protect the nervous system of rats through intervention of neural stem cels. OBJECTIVE:To explore the role of ginsenosides Rg1 in the proliferation and protection of neural stem cels. METHOD:Sprague-Dawley rats at pregnant 19 days were dissected to take out fetal rats, and then the hippocampal tissues from fetal rats were isolated to extract neural stem cels. Neural stem cels were co-cultured with DMEM/F12 medium containing 50 g/L ginsenosides Rg1 as intervention group, with DMEM/F12 medium as blank control group, and with DMEM/F12 containing 0.64% phenol as positive control group, respectively. MTT assay was used to detect the proliferation of neural stem cels in each group, and western blot method to detect the protein expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor and transforming growth factor-β in neural stem cels. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Rat neural stem cels were round single cels with clear border at early period after isolation but at 2 days after inoculation, the cels were adherent and aggregated into smal cel spheres. Compared with the blank control group, the proliferative rate of neural stem cels was significantly increased in the ginsenosides Rg1 group (P < 0.05), but decreased in the positive control group (P < 0.05). Compared with the blank control group, in the ginsenosides Rg1 group, the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor was elevated, and the expression of transforming growth factor-β was reduced, indicating ginsenosides Rg1 has a certain effect to promote the proliferation of neural stem cels as wel as to protect the neural stem cels.

Inflammation is the key driver of liver fibrosis progression in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Unfortunately, it is often challenging to assess inflammation in NAFLD due to its dynamic nature and poor correlation with liver biochemical markers. Liver histology keeps its role as the standard tool, yet it is well-known for substantial sampling, intraobserver, and interobserver variability. Serum proinflammatory cytokines and apoptotic markers, namely cytokeratin-18, are well-studied with reasonable accuracy, whereas serum metabolomics and lipidomics have been adopted in some commercially available diagnostic models. Ultrasound and computed tomography imaging techniques are attractive due to their wide availability; yet their accuracies may not be comparable with magnetic resonance imaging-based tools. Machine learning and deep learning models, be they supervised or unsupervised learning, are promising tools to identify various subtypes of NAFLD, including those with dominating liver inflammation, contributing to sustainable care pathways for NAFLD.

Background/Aims: We aimed to determine the association between blood urea level and incident cirrhosis, hepatic decompensation, and hepatocellular carcinoma in chronic liver disease (CLD) patients. Methods: The association between blood urea level and liver fibrosis/liver-related events were evaluated on continuous scale with restricted cubic spline curves based on generalized additive model or Cox proportional hazards models. Then, the above associations were evaluated by urea level within intervals. Results: Among 4,282 patients who had undergone liver stiffness measurement (LSM) by transient elastography, baseline urea level had a U-shaped association with LSM and hepatic decompensation development after a median follow-up of 5.5 years. Compared to patients with urea of 3.6–9.9 mmol/L, those with urea ≤3.5 mmol/L (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 4.15; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.68–10.24) and ≥10 mmol/L (aHR, 5.22; 95% CI, 1.86–14.67) had higher risk of hepatic decompensation. Patients with urea ≤3.5 mmol/L also had higher risk of incident cirrhosis (aHR, 3.24; 95% CI, 1.50–6.98). The association between low urea level and incident cirrhosis and hepatic decompensation was consistently observed in subgroups by age, gender, albumin level, and comorbidities. The U-shaped relationship between urea level and LSM was validated in another population screening study (n=917). Likewise, urea ≤3.5 mmol/L was associated with a higher risk of incident cirrhosis in a territory-wide cohort of 12,476 patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease at a median follow-up of 9.9 years (aHR, 1.27; 95% CI, 1.03–1.57). Conclusions We identified a U-shaped relationship between the urea level and liver fibrosis/incident cirrhosis/hepatic decompensation in patients with CLD.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a common malignant tumor in China. Radiotherapy is the first-line treatment. After appropriate radiotherapy, about 5%-15% patients experience recurrence. In view of the poor efficacy and high incidence of severe late toxicities associated with re-irradiation, salvage surgery by the transnasal endoscopic approach is recommended for recurrent NPC (rNPC). Compared with re-irradiation, endoscopic surgery can better prolong survival, improve the quality of life, and reduce complications and medical expenses of patients with rNPC. However, the complexity of the nasopharyngeal skull base enhances the difficulty and risk of surgery. Expanding the boundary of surgical resection remains a clinical challenge for otolaryngologists. In this regard, to help more advanced patients with rNPC, the surgical innovative system of NPC needs to be established by multi-disciplinary cooperation, involving skull base anatomy-based investigation, appropriate administration of the internal carotid artery (ICA), repair of skull base defect, and establishment of various types of endoscopic endonasal nasopharyngectomy.

For the detection of steatosis, quantitative ultrasound imaging techniques have achieved great progress in past years. Magnetic resonance imaging proton density fat fraction is currently the most accurate test to detect hepatic steatosis. Some blood biomarkers correlate with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, but the accuracy is modest. Regarding liver fibrosis, liver stiffness measurement by transient elastography (TE) has high accuracy and is widely used across the world. Magnetic resonance elastography is marginally better than TE but is limited by its cost and availability. Several blood biomarkers of fibrosis have been used in clinical trials and hold promise for selecting patients for treatment and monitoring treatment response. This article reviews new developments in the non-invasive assessment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Accumulating evidence suggests that various non-invasive tests can be used to diagnose NAFLD, assess its severity, and predict the prognosis. Further studies are needed to determine the role of the tests as monitoring tools. We cannot overemphasize the importance of context in selecting appropriate tests.
Elasticity Imaging Techniques/methods* ; Humans ; Liver/pathology* ; Liver Cirrhosis/pathology* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods* ; Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the efficacy of endoscopic nasopharyngectomy in the management of recurrent nasopharyngeal cancers (NPC) and to identify the prognostic factors.

METHODSBetween January 2006 and March 2014, 71 patients who received endoscopic nasopharyngectomy for recurrent NPC were retrospectively reviewed. The sex and the age of the patients, T stage, and tumor necrosis were recorded. Correlation between clinicopathological features and survival time was analyzed. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to calculate the disease overall survival, disease-specific survival, and disease-free survival rates. Cox multivariate regression analysis and ROC curve analysis were used to determine the predictive value of the parameters.

RESULTSThe median age of 71 patients with recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma was 51.0 years old. Male to female ratio was 2.9:1 (male: 53, female: 18). The lesions were staged as follows (AJCC, 2010, seventh edition): rT1, 27; rT2, 10; rT3, 19 and rT4, 15. All patients underwent successful endoscopic nasopharyngectomy. No patient was transferred to open approach. The mean operative time was 155 minutes. The average blood loss was 450 ml. Three patients needed intraoperative blood transfusion. No serious postoperative complications occurred. Postoperative follow-up time was 5-96 months. During follow-up, 48 cases survived, including that 7 patients survived with disease, 1 patient had pulmonary metastases, and 1 case had cervical lymph node metastasis. Two-year overall survival and disease-free survival rates were 74.0% and 60.5%, respectively. Five-year overall survival and disease-free survival rates were 39.0% and 31.9%, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that tumor necrosis was an independent prognostic factor for survival in recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients (P=0.001).

CONCLUSIONEndoscopic nasopharyngectomy is a safe and effective procedure for the treatment of recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Carcinoma ; Disease-Free Survival ; Endoscopy ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Kaplan-Meier Estimate ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multivariate Analysis ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; pathology ; surgery ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ; diagnosis ; pathology ; surgery ; Neoplasm Staging ; Otorhinolaryngologic Surgical Procedures ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate