Objective To compare the clinical efficacy of endoscopic variceal ligation versus pericardial devascularization in the treatment of portal hypertension.Methods The clinical data of 101 cirrhotic patients with gastroesophageal varices and variceal hemorrhage from January 2010 to January 2012 were analyzed.Fifty-three patients received endoscopic variceal ligation,and forty-eight patients received pericardial devascularization.Postoperative changes in liver function and hypersplenism were compared between the two groups.The rate of rehaemorrhagia and incidence of postoperative complications after surgery were compared as well.Continuous data were expressed as mean ±SD,and categori-cal data were expressed as number of cases or percentage.Comparison of continuous data between the two groups was made by independent-samples t test,and comparison of categorical data was made by chi-square test.Results After surgery,the variceal ligation group showed no significant changes in liver reserve function,while the albumin level was significantly decreased in the pericardial devascularization group (t=2.512,P<0.05).There were no significant changes in the counts of white blood cells and platelets in the endoscopic variceal ligation group after surgery (P>0.05),but significant increases in the counts of white blood cells and platelets were detected in the pericardial devascular-ization group (P<0.05).The rates of postoperative haemorrhage in the two groups were:3 months,7.5%vs 6.2%(χ2 =0.066,P>0.05), 6 months,7.5%vs 8.3%(χ2 =0.021,P>0.05),and 1 year,9.4%vs 8.3%(χ2 =0.038,P>0.05).The incidence rates of postopera-tive complications in the two groups were 24.5%and 50%,respectively (χ2 =7.040,P<0.05).Conclusion Compared with pericardial devascularization,endoscopic variceal ligation causes fewer microlesions,preserves liver function,and leads to a lower incidence of postopera-tive complications.However,if hypersplenism is observed in the cirrhotic patients with gastroesophageal varices and variceal hemorrhage,peri-cardial devascularization can be used to control the hypersplenism and prevent esophageal hemorrhage.

BACKGROUND:As a kind of stressor, exercise-induced fatigue surely can lead to the material and functional changes of certain nerve nucleus within brain.It is still uncertain on what kind of nucleus closely relate to exer-cise-induced fatigue and what materials induce the functional or/and structural changes of tired central nerve.OBJECTIVE:To study the relationship between nitric oxide synthase (NOS) in ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus(VMH),dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus(DMH) and exercise-induced fatigue.DESIGN:Randomized controlled study.MATERIALS:The experiment was completed in the Department of Human Anatomy of North University of China and Shanxi Medical University during October 2003 to January 2004.Twenty male Wister rats of clean class were selected.INTERVENTIONS:The rats were randomly divided into experimental group and control group with each of 10 rats.The rats in experimental group were made exercise-induced fatigue animal model by doing heavy load swimming until they were exhausted for 4 consecutive weeks. After the model was built,ABC immunohistochemical method was used to observe the expression of neuronal NOS (nNOS) in neurons of VMH ,and DMH and image analysis and statistic process were conducted.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:Number of nNOS positive cells in per unit visual field; Area and gray of positive substance.RESULTS:The number of nNOS positive cells in VMH of fatigue group was (25.25±7.35)/visual field which was much greater than that of control group (9.70±3.20)/visual field(P＜ 0.001).The area of nNOS positive substance was (3 867.75±1 940.41)μm2/visual field which was greater than that of control group(750.13±579.88)μm2/visual field(P ＜ 0.001). The number of nNOS positive cells in DMH of fatigue group was (30.25±7.87) /visual field which was much greater than that of control group (14.00±4.99) /visual field. And the area of nNOS positive substance was (4 512.06±1 243.93) μm2/visual field that was much greater than that of control group(782.46±711.46)μm2/visual field(P ＜ 0.001).CONCLUSION:The nNOS positive neurons in VMH and DMH neurons are closely related to the occurrence of central exercise-induced fatigue.Nitric oxide may play an important role in regulation of VMH and DMH to stress caused by fatigue.

Objective To analyze the changes of distribution and drug resistance of isolated pathogens for ventilator-associated-pneumonia (VAP) in seven intensive care units from January 2013 to December 2015,so that provides information for clinical antibiotic treatment.Methods Collected the patient records diagnosed with VAP to get the distribution and drug resistance of isolated pathogens for VAP in ICU from January 2013 to December 2015.Compared the distribution of isolated pathogens for VAP among three year with Chi-square tests,and compared the drug resistance of main isolated pathogens with Nonparametric tests.Results 177 patients were diagnosed with VAP from January 2013 to December 2015.A total of 192 strains of pathogens were isolated from the VAP patients in ICU.Among which the gram-negative bacteria were dominant.It took up 90.6％.There was no significant statistical difference for the distribution of pathogens (x2 =2.372,P=0.668＞0.05).Analyzed the drug resistance rate and trends for the primary pathogens like Acinetobacter Bauman,Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus,among which,the drug resistance of Acinetobacter Bauman from 2013 to 2015 made statistical difference.Conclusion The major pathogen isolated from VAP patients was gram-negative bacteria from January 2013 to December 2015,especially for Acinetobacter Bauman.Drug resistance of Acinetobacter Bauman was serious.Should administrated appropriate to treat the VAP infection resulted from Acinetobacter Bauman.

Objective To assess the role of health education in outcomes of diabetes mellitus among high-risk populations.Methods The community physicians who participated this investigation received standardized training,and 307 community residents at high risk of developing diabetes obtained three-month intense health education and nine-month follow-up study.Paired t-test,and Analysis of Variance were used for data analysis.Results After systematic health education,professional level of community physicians was improved.Cognitive level of health knowledge was also significantly improved (5.5 vs 12.6,t=-28.511,P＜0.05).In addition,health knowledge of variant age (F=4.036,P＜0.05),education level (F=15.27,P＜0.05) and occupation (F=9.80,P＜0.05) subgroups was significantly increased.In comparison with baselines,the scores of each age subgroups (F=0.204,P＞0.05) showed no significant differences,although scores of different education level (F=4.71,P＜0.05) and occupation (F=4.87,P＜0.05) subgroups were significantly different.The risk factors of diabetes were effectively controlled.Conclusions Health education should be the key to health management of diabetes,which plays important roles in improving cognitive level of health knowledge among populations at high risk of developing diabetes and reducing the incidence of this condition.

Objective To investigate the change of serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in cerebral infarction before and af-ter rehabilitation. Methods Forty-eight patients with first cerebral infarction were enrolled from June, 2014 to August, 2016 in Beijing Bo'ai Hospital. Level of serum VEGF was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) before and six weeks after rehabilitation. The level of serum VEGF of 33 normal subjects was compared with the patients'. Results The level of serum VEGF was higher in the pa-tients group than in the control group before and six weeks after rehabilitation (t>2.540, P<0.05). The level of VEGF was higher in the large area infarction group (>4 cm) than in the small area infarction group (≤4 cm) (t=4.436, P<0.05), and was higher in the short course (less than one month) infarction group than in the long course (more than one month) group (t=2.316, P<0.05). Conclusion VEGF can be main-tained in high level after rehabilitation.

Immunosuppressants, which are commonly used for liver transplantation, mainly included calcineurin inhibitors, such as ciclosporin (CsA) and tacrolimus (FK506); glucocorticoid drugs, such as prednisone and prednisolone; cytotoxic drugs, such as azathioprine, mycophenolate mofetil and cyclophosphamide; mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors, such as sirolimus and everolimus; antibody drugs, such as polyclonal or monoclonal antibodies and interleukin (IL)-2 receptor antibodies, etc. Although many categories of immunosuppressants are available, FK506 is the most commonly adopted in liver transplant recipients. However, FK506 can provoke significant adverse effects in the late stage of liver transplantation, especially severe infection and nephrotoxicity. Consequently, it is an urgent task and research hot spot to develop new immunosuppressants with strong immune tolerance and mild adverse effects in clinical practice. In this article, the research progress on immunosuppressants and the research and development status of new immunosuppressants for liver transplantation were reviewed.

NESCA, a newly discovered signaling adapter protein in the NGF-pathway, contains a RUN domain at its N-terminus. Here we report the crystal structure of the NESCA RUN domain determined at 2.0-Å resolution. The overall fold of the NESCA RUN domain comprises nine helices, resembling the RUN domain of RPIPx and the RUN1 domain of Rab6IP1. However, compared to the other RUN domains, the RUN domain of NESCA has significantly different surface electrostatic distributions at the putative GTPase-interacting interface. We demonstrate that the RUN domain of NESCA can bind H-Ras, a downstream signaling molecule of TrkA, with high affinity. Moreover, NESCA RUN can directly interact with TrkA. These results provide new insights into how NESCA participates in the NGF-TrkA signaling pathway.
Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing ; chemistry ; genetics ; metabolism ; Amino Acid Sequence ; Binding Sites ; Crystallography, X-Ray ; Gene Expression ; Humans ; Models, Molecular ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Nerve Growth Factor ; chemistry ; genetics ; metabolism ; Oncogene Protein p21(ras) ; chemistry ; genetics ; metabolism ; Protein Binding ; Protein Structure, Tertiary ; Receptor, trkA ; chemistry ; genetics ; metabolism ; Recombinant Proteins ; chemistry ; genetics ; metabolism ; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid ; Signal Transduction ; rab GTP-Binding Proteins ; chemistry

Objective To analyze the image quality of coronary arteries by dual-source computed tomography (DSCT) in children with congenital heart disease(CHD). Methods Image quality of coronary arteries were scored by two radiologists with an ordinal grading system. Score 3 or 4 was considered to be good image quality and diagnostic. Score differences among 3 groups of various baseline heart rate levels, 3 groups of various age levels and 4 coronary branches were analyzed by using ANOVA. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to test the effects of age, heart rate, tube voltage, tube current, pitch, contrast volume, contrast injection rate on the coronary image scores. Results A total of 72 consecutive patients were enrolled. 71.2% (205/288) of coronary artery branches was good enough for diagnosis. Image quality of left main coronary artery (LM, score 3.64±0.49), left anterior descending (LAD, score 2.97±0.40), right coronary artery (RCA, score of 2.82±0.70), left circumflex (LCX, score 2.76±0.73) were in a descending order (F=29.00, P<0.01). Image scores of age groups of 0--1 years old (2.80±0.65), >1--3 years old (2.81±0.74), >3--14 years old (3.58±0.52) were in an ascending order (F= 20.16,P<0.01). Image scores of heart rate groups of<100 bpm (3.54±0.56),100--150 bpm (2.86± 0.70) and >150 bpm (2.81±0.63) were in a descending order (F=16.72, P<0.01). Multiple linearregression analysis demonstrated that multiple impact factors affected image quality of LM, LAD, LCX and RCA. Age(r=0.013 ,P<0.01)and contrast volume(r=0.292, P<0.01)had positive correlation with LM score. Age(r=0.509, P<0.01) and voltage (r=0.292, P=0.011) had positive correlation with LAD score. Heart rate(r= -0.179, P<0.05) had negative correlation with LAD score. Age (r=0.063, P< 0.01) had negative correlation with LCX score. Age (r=0.486,P<0.01) and voltage (r=0.220, P<0.05) had positive correlation with RCA score. Conclusions Dual-source CT could clearly shows coronary arteries of children with CHD over the age of 3 or with heart rate less than 100 bpm. Limitations of Dual-source CT coronary angiography for CHD children included young age and fast heart rate.

Bonding of brackets to dental fluorosis has always been a difficult problem for clinicians. At present, clinical research has adopted several methods to facilitate bracket bonding, including prolonging etching time, enamel microabrasion, enamel ground, using adhesion promoter and laser etching. Prolonging etching time is suitable for mild-to-moderate dental fluorosis with easy chair-side operation; however, over-etching may cause severe tooth damage. Microabrasion can be applied to mild dental fluorosis while removing pigment deposition simultaneously; however, rubber dam protection is needed. Enamel ground can improve the bond strength to all kinds of dental fluorosis at the price of removing a relatively large amount of superficial enamel. Adhesion promoters might improve the bond strength of moderate to severe dental fluorosis; however, the current results conflict with one another. This needs further verification using larger-sample clinical trials. Laser etching has no effect on improving bond strength; however, it can remove pigment without destroying tooth enamel, which is worth further modification and enhancement.

Background and objective Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is a new development in the treatment of lung cancer. In recent years, cetuximab and celecoxib have been commonly used in this procedure. This study aims to explore the effect of cetuximab combined with celecoxib on apoptosis and KDR and AQP1 expression in lung cancer A549 cells. Method The cells were cultured in RPMI-1640 and then divided into four groups: control group, 1 nmol/L cetuximab group, 25 μmol/ L celecoxib group, and 1 nmol/L cetuximab+25 μmol/L celecoxib group. The treatment time was 48 h. The mRNA and protein expression levels of KDR and AQP1 were detected by RT-PCR and Western blot, respectively. The apoptosis, proliferation, and invasive ability of A549 cells before and after transfection were examined using flow cytometry, MTT, and transwell methods. Results Cetuximab and celecoxib inhibited the growth of A549 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Their combination produced a greater growth inhibition than when either was used alone (P<0.01). Cetuximab and celecoxib both induced the apoptosis of A549 cells, and their combination produced a higher apoptosis rate (P<0.01). Cetuximab in combination with celecoxib also induced G1 phase arrest and downregulated the expression of KDR and AQP1 in A549 cells (P<0.05). As a result, the invasion ability of the A549 cells was significantly decreased. Conclusion Cetuximab in combination with celecoxib can synergistically inhibit the growth of A549 cells and downregulate the expression of KDR and AQP1 in A549 cells. The combination of cetuximab and celecoxib is a potential strategy for lung cancer therapy.