Altering the natural history of disease has been the goal of medical therapy for Crohn's Disease (CD) in recent years. The conventional approach has been thestep-up therapy. With the introduction of biological agents (such as infliximab) , there is growing evidence that the top-down approach is justified in a subgroup of high-risk patients. The new algorithms is not only associated with superior clinical remission rates, but also may have the potential to alter the natural history of the disease, including inducing mucosal healing, reducing the rate of complications, surgeries and mortality. Further study will have to determine which subgroup of patients will benefit most from this early aggressive biological therapy approach.

Abdominal compartment syndrome(ACS)is an important factor contributing to the multiple organ dysfunction syndrome which is commonly seen in patients with severe acute pancreatitis(SAP).As a life-saving procedure,decompressive laparotomy is widely applied to patients with SAP complicated with ACS,especially to patients with edema of the visceral tissues caused by massive fluid resuscitation at the early stage of the disease.However,decompressive laparotomy should be adopted with caution since it is associated with enteroatmospherie fistula,intraabdominal infection,postoperative ileus,third space losses,hypothermia and hemia.Therefore,decompressive laparotomy should only be considered after conservative management had failed.The indications for decompressive laparotomy are as follows:(1)intraabdominal pressure＞25 nnn Hg;(2)adequate ventilation of the patient is difficult;(3)pereutaneous drainage of ascites is not helpful.Timely temporal abdominal closure is helpful in preventing complications.Infected peripanereatie necrosis is the indication for peripancreatic exploration or necroseetomy.A thorough knowledge of decompressive laparotomy is essential for individualized management of patients with SAP complicated with ACS.

With the increasing understanding of the pathogenesis of Crohn's disease and the advent of biological therapy,the therapeutic strategies of Crohn's disease have changed a lot in recent years.In this review,we concerned the progress in the management of active disease,maintenance of medically induced remission,and surgical options of Crohn's disease.The new concept of "top-down" approach to the treatment of Crohn's disease evolved recently was also discussed.

Altering the natural history of disease has been the goal of medical therapy for Crohn's Disease(CD) in recent years.The conventional approach has been the "step-up" therapy.With the introduction of biological agents (such as infliximab),there is growing evidence that the "top-down" approach is justified in a subgroup of high-risk patients.The new algorithms is not only associated with superior clinical remission rates,but also may have the potential to alter the natural history of the disease,including inducing mucosal healing,reducing the rate of complications,surgeries and mortality.Further study will have to determine which subgroup of patients will benefit most from this early aggressive biological therapy approach.

BACKGROUND:Thoracolumbar fracture often accompanies with the injury of adjacent intervertebral disc. Traditional posterior short-segment fixation does not deal with the injured intervertebral disc, which may be the main reason for kyphosis in patients after surgery.
OBJECTIVE:To investigate the effect of injured intervertebral disc on kyphosis angle in patients with single vertebral thoracolumbar fracture after treated with posterior short-segment fixation alone.
METHODS:From January 2009 to June 2014, 40 cases of thoracolumbar fractures were treated in Jinan Central Hospital. They were folowed-up at preoperation, 2 and 12 months after operation and 6 months after internal fixation removal. Data were obtained from X-ray and MRI scanning. According to the preoperative MRI images, cases were assigned to observation group (17 cases) and control group (23 cases) according to injury and non-injury intervertebral disc. Data of vertebral wedge angle, sagittal plane kyphosis, proximal intervertebral disc angle, sagittal index and degeneration classification of proximal intervertebral disc angle from two different groups were analyzed at each folow-up time point (18-30 months, averagely 23.6 months).
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1) Imaging parameters: sagittal plane kyphosis was significantly severer at 6 months than that at 2 months in both groups (P < 0.05). Sagittal plane kyphosis, proximal intervertebral disc angle and sagittal index were greater in the observation group than in the control group at 12 months after surgery and 6 months after fixator removal (P < 0.05). (2) Degeneration classification of proximal intervertebral disc angle: Pearce degeneration grade of proximal intervertebral disc was significantly higher in the observation group than in the control group at 2 months after surgery and 6 months after internal fixation removal (P < 0.05). (3) Results suggested that kyphosis may appear in the patients with thoracolumbar fracture after a posterior short-segment fixation alone, and the injured disc may lead to more severe kyphosis.

Objective To screen out the polymerase chain reaction ( PCR) primers for specifically identifying Pheretima aspergillum (E. Perrier) , so as to establish a rapid and accurate method to identify the origin of Pheretima aspergillum. Methods Four kinds of earthworms recorded in pharmacopoeia and six kinds of their adulterants commonly seen in the market were collected. The 12SrRNA sequences related to earthworm were downloaded from GenBank database. PCR amplification for ten kinds of samples was performed using the universal primers, and then the products were sequenced. According to the differences between the above sequences, three pairs of specific primers in the non-conservative district were designed for identification of Pheretima aspergillum. Results High-specificity PCR amplification for Pheretima aspergillum with 12St/12Stf primer occurred when the annealing temperature was increased to 64℃, and only Pheretima aspergillum had single amplification strip, while no strips were found in the other adulterants under the same condition. The achieved specific primers could be well verified in 15 kinds of medicinal materials of earthworm purchased in the market, which had the same morphological features showed by the traditional identifying method. Conclusion With 12St/12Stf primer as a specific marker, the identifica tion of Pheretima aspergillum is rapid and accurate in related species of Pheretima aspergillum, and avoids the effect of some factors such as integrity of experimental materials and drying process.

Objective To explore the effects of exclusive enteral nutrition (EEN) on the mucosal healing under endoscopy in adults with active Crohn's disease (CD).Methods From August 2011 to August 2012,adults with active CD met the inclusion criteria were prospectively enrolled and treated with EEN for four weeks.CD activity index(CDAI) score,C-reactive protein (CRP) were evaluated once enrolled and by the end of the second and fourth week.Colonoscopy or small intestinal endoscopy examination was conducted once enrolled and by the end of fourth week,and CD simplified endoscopic score (SES-CD) was also caculated.Wilcoxon test was applied to compare the efficacy.Results Eight patients met inclusion criteria and finished the study.Seven cases achieved clinical remission.Compared with those before treatment,both CDAI score and CRP level decreased significantly after treatment (both Z=2.52,both P=0.012).After treatment,two patients achieved mucosal healing and the mucosa of six cases improved.The mucosa healing rate and improvement rate of terminal ileum was higher than that of colon (3/8 vs 1/6; 5/8 vs 3/6).Compared with those before treatment,SES-CD total score and SES-CD score of ileum decreased significantly after treatment (Z=2.23,2.07; P=0.026,0.038).There was no significant difference in SES-CD score of colon before and after treatment (P =0.102).Conclusions EEN could induce clinical remission in adults with active CD,and promote the healing of mucosal ulcer under endoscopy.The healing rate of colon was lower than that of small intestine.

Objective To retrospectively assess the clinical manifestations and treatment of secondary syphilis with ocular impairment as the initial symptom. Methods Clinical data were retrospectively analyzed on secondary syphilis with ocular impairment as the initial symptom collected from September 1998 to October 2008. Results There were 11 syphilitic patients presenting acute ocular impairment as their initial manifestation. Skin eruptions developed simultaneously with ocular impairment in 2 patients, following ocular impairment in 9 patients. All patients were positive for rapid plasma reagent test (RPR) and treponema pallidum haemagglutination assay (TPHA), but negative for HIV. Of these patients, 9 suffered from uveitis (iridocyclitis, choroiditis or panuveitis), 2 from optic neuritis; 3 had unilateral ocular involvement, 8 had bilateral ocular involvement. After treatment with injected penicillin or ceftriaxone sodium, 9 patients experienced complete visual recovery, 2 partial visual recovery. Conclusions Ocular impairment occurs in patients with secondary syphilis at a low incidence, with no characteristic clinical manifestations. For patients who have no response to conventional ocular therapy, ocular syphilis should be considered and serological examination for syphilis is recommended.

Objective To analyze the occurrence of traumatic carotid cavemons fistula (TCCF) resulted from the fracture of basilaris cranii, in order to find out the related factors to outcomes and to discuss the approaches to improving prognosis.Method Data of 312 patients with the fracture of skull base complicatcd with TCCF con-firmed angiography from 1999 to 2005 were analyzed. These patients were classified into patients with disable and patients without disabed. The factors potentially impacting on outcomes were analyzed. Results The overall inci-dence of TCCF in 312 patients with fracture of basilaris cranii was 3.8% .The incideucs of TCCF occurred in pa-tients with the fracture of anterior fossa, middle fossa and posterior fossa accounted for 2.4%, 8.3 % and 1.7 %, respectively. Between two cohorts of patients, there were no difference in age, gender, number of embelization proce-dares performed and the time from injury to appearence of the first symptom except the differencc in time from ap-pearence of the first symptom to the intravascular embohzation performed (P>0.05). Conclusions A relatively high incidence of TCCF occurs in patients with middle fossa fractures, especially those with transverse or oblique fractures. Prompt diagnosis and intervention can not be emphasized in case of patients with TCCF, and non inva-sive techniques for the early detection of TCCF under certain circumstance after brain or facial trauma should be considered so as to avoid a miss in the early diagnosis of middle fossa fracture to ensure favourable outcomes.

Background:As postoperative intra-abdominal septic complications( IASCs)in Crohn’s disease( CD)are difficult to manage,it is of great importance to prevent this condition in CD patients after surgery. Till now,there are no large sample studies on risk factors for postoperative IASCs in CD in China. Aims:To determine the risk factors for postoperative IASCs in CD for guiding the formulation of preventive strategies. Methods:This retrospective study was based on a computerized database of CD patients who had undergone surgery for CD complications between 1999 and 2014 at Nanjing General Hospital of Nanjing Military Command,PLA. Patients were divided into IASCs group and non-IASCs group. Thirty potential variables were selected,and both univariate and multivariate( Logistic regression)analyses were performed to identify the risk factors for IASCs after surgery. Results:Seven hundred and sixteen operations were reviewed,and IASCs occurred in 41 cases(5. 7%). By univariate and multivariate analyses,IASCs were significantly associated with one stage anastomosis(OR=1. 656,95% CI:1261-3. 279),preoperative low albumin level( <30 g/L)(OR=1. 457,95% CI:1. 152-2. 368),preoperative high CRP level( >10 mg/L)(OR=8. 641,95% CI:3. 376-16. 364),preoperative steroids use ≥3 months(OR=3. 785,95% CI:1. 237-4. 671)and presence of intra-abdominal abscess or infection at the time of surgery(OR=1. 784,95% CI:1. 155-3. 826). However,enterostomy(OR =0. 125,95% CI:0. 062-0. 561)and preoperative enteral nutrition ≥ 1 month( OR =0. 147,95% CI:0. 078-0. 781 ) were found to be the independent protective factors. Conclusions:Malnutrition,active CD and preoperative long-term steroids use increase the risk of postoperative IASCs in CD. Patients with these risk factors should not receive immediate surgery. If surgery is inevitable, enterostomy instead of resection and anastomosis should be the first choice. Preoperative enteral nutrition is helpful for reducing the occurrence of IASCs after surgery.