ObjectiveTo compare the therapeutic effects of percutaneous cervical discectomy (PCD group),percutaneous cervical disc nucleoplasty(PCN) and the association of them (PCDN) for the treatment of cervical intervertebral disk displacement and instability of cervical vertebral column.Methods From February 2003 to April 2011,171 consecutive patients with cervical disc herniation have presented at the authors' hospital and were retrospectively studied.The average age of patients was 47.8 years(ranged,21-74).Ninety-seven cases were treated with PCD,50 cases with PCN,and the other 24 cases with PCDN.Clinical result and the stability of cervical vertebral column after operation were evaluated and compared among the 3 groups.ResultsAll cases had been followed up for a median of 4.1 years.There was significant difference in the pre- and post-operation the Japanese Orthopaedic Association(JOA) scoring system on within 3groups (PCD:t=21.85,P＜0.05; PCN:t=14.50,P＜0.05; PCDN:t=8.56,P＜0.05).All cases had been successfully operated.There was no significant difference between groups among the 3 groups in terms of the clinical outcomes(The recovery rate of JOA standard evaluation,F=2.19,P=0.12).According to Odom criteria,the excellent and good rate are as follows:81.35％ in PCD,82.44％ in PCN,83.19％ in PCDN,respectively.There was no significant difference between groups among the 3 groups in terms of the clinical success rate (P＞0.05).There was no instability of cervical vertebral column cases in 3 groups after operation(P＞0.05),and no significant difference was found in terms of cervical vertebral column stability in pre- and post-operation in each group.ConclusionAll the three operations including PCN,PCD and PCDN are safe,minimally invasive spine surgery for the treatment of cervical intervertebral disk displacement; they achieve good clinical outcomes and there are no difference on the stability of cervical vertebral column between preoperation and postoperation.

Objective To illustrate the clinical and pathological features of Chinese upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) patients and to investigate the regional difference and the possible prognostic factors.Methods A retrospective study was performed on 2 628 patients from 9 centers of three different regions (Beijing:2 centers with 1 022 cases,Shanghai:1 center with 814 cases,Sichuan:6 center with 792 cases).The median age was 68 (range 20 to 93) and the mean age was 66.3.There were 1 447 male patients (55.1％) and 1 181 female patients (44.9％).The clinical information,pathological outcomes and prognosis were collected and analyzed based on South (Shanghai and Sichuan) and North (Beijing)region.Results The distribution of Ta + T1,T2,T3 and T4 was 914 (34.8％),715 (27.2％),857(32.6％) and 142(5.4％).Patients from North were more likely to be female (55.9％ vs.38.0％,P＜0.001) and suffer from ureteral tumors (43.4％ vs.35.9％,P ＜ 0.001);while in patients from South higher tumor stage(T3 or T4,42.5％ vs.31.0％,P ＜ 0.001),high grade(72.0％ vs.34.0％,P ＜0.001) and larger tumor size [(3.73 ±2.17) cm vs.(3.36 ±2.02) cm,P＜0.001] were more prevalent.Subgroup indicated that female patients in North had obviously lower tumor stage (T3 or T4,27.2％ vs.35.9％,P =0.014),while relatively higher tumor stage were noticed in female patients in South (T3 or T4,48.2％ vs.38.9％,P =0.004).The median follow-up was 41 (1-206) months,and 963 patients (36.6％) died including 815 (31.0％) died from cancer.In North female patients had better 5-year overall survival (75.5％ vs.62.2％,P ＜0.001) and cancer-specific survival (78.3％ vs.65.0％,P＜0.001),but in South gender had no impact on overall survival (58.5％ vs.60.1％,P =0.927) or cancer-specific survival (62.0％ vs.65.8％,P =0.345).Conclusions This study demonstrated that in Chinese patients with UTUC,those from North were featured for lower tumor stage and grade,higher proportion of females and females had better survival.High age,high tumor stage and grade,large tumor diameter,and the presence of lymph node metastasis or lymphovascular invasion were risk factors for poor prognosis in Chinese UTUC patients.

Increased intestinal barrier permeability, leaky gut, has been reported in patients with autism. However, its contribution to the development of autism has not been determined. We selected dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) to disrupt and metformin to repair the intestinal barrier in BTBR T⁺tf/J autistic mice to test this hypothesis. DSS treatment resulted in a decreased affinity for social proximity; however, autistic behaviors in mice were improved after the administration of metformin. We found an increased affinity for social proximity/social memory and decreased repetitive and anxiety-related behaviors. The concentration of lipopolysaccharides in blood decreased after the administration of metformin. The expression levels of the key molecules in the toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)-myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88)-nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) pathway and their downstream inflammatory cytokines in the cerebral cortex were both repressed. Thus, "leaky gut" could be a trigger for the development of autism via activation of the lipopolysaccharide-mediated TLR4-MyD88-NF-κB pathway.
Mice ; Animals ; NF-kappa B ; Myeloid Differentiation Factor 88/metabolism* ; Lipopolysaccharides/pharmacology* ; Toll-Like Receptor 4/metabolism* ; Autistic Disorder/metabolism* ; Signal Transduction/physiology*