Objective To assess the clinical significance of three different noninvasive airway inflammatory indices in induced sputum and exhaled breath condensate ( EBC ) from persistent asthmatic patients.Methods Moderate and severe asthmatic patients were prescribed inhaled corticosteroids combined with long-acting β2 agonists for a month.The symptom scores and percentage of predicted value of forced expiratory volume in one second ( FEV1 ) ( FEV1% pred) were measured while the concentrations of H2O2,NO3-/NO2-,and cysteinyl-leukotriene E4(LTE4) in induced sputum and EBC were detected before and after therapy.Results A total of twenty-five subjects with moderate and severe asthma were enrolled.By combined therapy for one month the asthma aymptoms relieved and FEV1% pred improved significantly (P<0.01).The concentrations of H2O2,NO3-/NO2- arid LTE4in induced sputum and EBC declined significantly(P<0.01) although the concentrations were still higher than those at normal baseline.More marked reduction of H2O2 and NO3-/NO2- compared to LTE4was observed.It was revealed that the concentrations of H2O2 and NO3-/NO2- but not of LTE4in EBC were negatively correlated with FEV1% pred (P <0.01) and positively with symptom scores.Such correlations were also found in H2O2 in induced sputum with FEV1 % pred and symptom scores as well as NO3-/NO2- in induced sputum with FEV1 % pred.The improvement of FEV1 % pred after treatment was positively correlated with the reduction of H2O2 and NO3-/NO2- both in induced sputum and EBC.Correlation analysis also demonstrated three inflammatory indices were equivalent in induced sputum and EBC( correlation coefficient of H2O2,NO3-/NO2- and LTE4,0.759,0.826 and 0.653,respectively.P < 0.01 ).Conclusions (1) Combined therapy with inhaled corticosteroid plus long-acting β2 agonist significantly improves the clinical symptoms and lung function of patients with moderate and severe asthma companied with marked suppression of airway inflammation.(2) Both of EBC and induced sputum sampling are valuable noninvasive procedures for detecting asthma airway inflammation,however,EBC technique is superior in safety and reproducibility.(3) H2O2 and NO3-/NO2- seem to be more sensitive indices in diagnosis and monitoring asthma compared to LTE4.

The effects of exopolysaccharides from Aphanothece halophytica(.EAH) on immunological function were studied by immunological techniques. The results showed that EAH could not only enhance the mitogenic response of mice's thymus cells, murine bone marrow cells proliferation,murine mixed lymphocyte reaction and the activity of NK cells in mice,but promote the interleukinl(IL-1)production and increase the activity of 1L-2 as well. The study suggests that EAH can improve the immunological function of mice.

Objective To assess the effect of three different liver vascular exclusions on prognosis of patients undergoing hemihepatectomy.Methods Clinical data of 216 patients undergoing hemihepatectomy were analyzed retrospectively.Ninety-eight out of 216 patients received Pringle maneuver during hepatectomy in group A,71 patients of selective liver inflow and outflow vascular exclusions in group B,47 patients using liver hanging maneuver combining with selective liver inflow and outflow vascular exclusions were in group C.Results There was no difference in operation time between the three groups ( t =0.72,0.83,and 0.67,P ＞ 0.05 ).The intraoperative blood loss and transfusion in group B and C were less than that in group A (t =3.72,3.83 and 4.11,4.07,P ＜0.05).Serum albumin level on day 1 and day 3 in group B and C were higher than that in group A (t =3.65,3.77,and 3.90,3.74,P ＜0.05 ).Serum total bilirubin level on day 3 and 5 in group B and C were lower than that in group A ( t =4.13,5.01,and 4.09,3.99,P ＜0.05).Serum alanine aminotransferase on day 1,3 and 5 in group B and C were lower than that in group A ( t =5.36,6.14,and 5.70,7.01,and 4.94,3.98,P ＜ 0.05 ).Postoperative complication rate in group A was higher than that in group B and C ( x2 =13.71 and 23.56,P ＜ 0.05 ).The 3-year survival rate of patients with malignant tumor in the three groups were not significantly different (t =2.38,P ＞ 0.05 ).Conclusions Intraoperative blood loss and transfusion and postoperative complication rate can be reduced,and liver injury can be diminished in hemihepatectomy using selective liver inflow and outflow vascular exclusion alone and or in combination with a liver hanging maneuver.

Objective To explore the expression and clinical significance of Twist. E-cadherin and N-cadherin in gallbladder carcinoma. Methods From 2000 to 2008, in Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, the expression of Twist, E-cadherin and N-cadherin protein were detected in 79 surgically removed gallbladder carcinoma tissue specimens in paraffin blocks and 20 normal gallbladder tissue specimens by tissue microarray technique and immunohistochemistry. Results Compared with normal gallbladder tissues, the expression of Twist and N-cadherin was up-regulated in gallbladder carcinoma tissues and the positive percentage was 68.3％ and 49.4％ respectively, while which both were 1/20 in normal gallbladder tissues. The percentage of high E-cadherin expression in gallbladder carcinoma tissues was only 27.8 ％, which was significantly lower than that in normal gallbladder tissues (20/20;X2 ＝29.31, P＜0. 05). The expression of Twist was correlated with T classification, lymph node metastasis, distant organ metastasis, hepatoduodenal ligament invasion, lymphatic invasion and UICC stage of gallbladder carcinoma (P＜0.05). The expression of E-cadherin was correlated with T classification, distant organ metastasis, hepatoduodenal ligament invasion, differentiation degree and UICC stage of gallbladder carcinoma (P＜0.05). The expression of N-cadherin was only correlated with lymphatic invasion of gallbladder carcinoma (P ＜0.05 ). There was significant negative correlation between Twist and E-cadherin expression (P＜0. 01). All the 79 gallbladder carcinoma patients were followed up after the surgery, the mean follow-up time was 30.6±14.3months. The 3-year survival rates of patients with low or high Twist expressions were 66％ and 7％ respectively,there was significant difference between the two groups(P＜0. 01). The 3-year survival rates of patients with low or high E-cadherin expressions were 25 ％ and 86 ％ respectively, the difference of two groups was significant(P＜0.01). The 3-year survival rates of patients with low or high Ncadherin expressions were 39％ and 41％ respectively, there was no significant difference between the two groups(P＞0.05). The multivariate analysis indicated that the Twist expression was one of independent prognostic factors of gallbladder carcinoma. Conclusion The abnormal expression of Twist and E-cadherin was correlated with the development and progression of gallbladder carcinoma,and Twist expression was one of the independent prognostic factors of gallbladder carcinoma.

Objective To study the epidemiology of mycoplasma pneumonia (MP) infection in children and its relationship to meteorological conditions in Guilin. Methods Total of 1 342 hospitalized children with respiratory tract infections from Janu-ary 2011 to December 2012 were recruited, and the serum levels of mycoplasma pneumoniae antibody Ig (MP-Ig) were measured. Meanwhile, monthly meteorological conditions were collected. The relationships between the MP-Ig detection rates and meteoro-logical conditions were analyzed by multiple linear regression analysis. Results The total detection rate of MP-Ig was 23.2%with positive rates as 5.51%, 28.99%, 37.31%and 44.97%for 0-1, 1-3, 3-6 and>6 year-old groups respectively (P<0.01). The positive rate of female was higher than that of male with signiifcant difference (30.08%vs 19.05%, P<0.01). The positive rate of spring, summer, autumn and winter were 18.89%, 17.39%, 23.83%and 33.05%individually (P<0.01). Negative correlation was found be-tween detection rate of MP-Ig and monthly mean air temperature (P=0.001). Conclusion MP is one of the commonest pathogens of respiratory tract infection in children and mostly seen in elder female children with a higher incidence in winter. The main me-teorological factor is the low temperature that affects MP prevalence.

Objective     To share the clinical experience of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) anatomic basal segmentectomy by single-direction method. Methods     The clinical data of 352 patients who underwent VATS anatomic basal segmentectomy in West China Hospital between April 2015 and April 2021 were retrospectively reviewed, including 96 males and 256 females with a median age of 50 (range, 26-81) years. All basal segmentectomies were performed under thoracoscopy, through the interlobar fissure or inferior pulmonary ligament approach, and following the strategy of single-direction and the method of "stem-branch". Results    All patients underwent basal segmentectomy successfully (49 patients of uniportal procedure, 3 patients of biportal procedure and 300 patients of triportal procedure) without addition of incisions or conversion to thoracotomy and lobectomy. The median operation time was 118 (range, 45-340) min, median intraoperative blood loss was 20 (range, 5-500) mL, median drainage time was 2 (range, 1-22) d and median postoperative hospital stay was 4 (range, 2-24) d. The postoperative complications included pneumonia in 6 patients, prolonged drainage (air leakage duration>5 d or drainage duration>7 d) in 18 patients, cerebral infarction in 1 patient and other complications in 2 patients. All patients were treated well and discharged without main complaints. No perioperative death happened. Conclusion    VATS anatomic basal segmentectomy is feasible and safe. It can be performed in a simple manner following the strategy of single-direction.

As there are a number of ankle arteries and some of them can not be blocked completely under higher pressure from the external inflate cuff, we can not accurately identify the starting point of the pulse wave, so the errors of lower limb systolic blood pressure measurement take place and affect the accuracy of ankle-brachial index in diagnosing vascular disease. In this paper, we constructed delay vectors from the data we already collected from lower limb pulse wave and formed an embedding matrix; thus solving the problem of inadequate sensor dimensions. We extracted a single arterial pulse wave through the blind signal separation on the basis of embedding matrix, and we identified the lower limb systolic blood pressure corresponding to the starting point. Simulation and clinical experiments show the method can be used to separate the wave signals of ankle artery which contains information of systolic blood pressure. It improves the accuracy of lower limb systolic blood pressure measurement and hence provides accurate data for the clinical diagnosis of arterial disease.
Algorithms ; Ankle ; blood supply ; Blood Pressure ; Blood Pressure Determination ; methods ; Brachial Artery ; physiology ; Humans ; Leg ; blood supply ; Pulsatile Flow ; physiology ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted

Objective To study the correlation between serum homocysteine ( Hcy ) level and C677T polymorphism of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase ( MTHFR ) gene C677T polymorphism ( rs1801133) in patients with cerebral infarction, and feature of rs1801133 polymorphism and serum Hcy level in cerebral infarction patients with or without diabetes mellitus.Methods Case-control study.Five hundred and fifty six patients with cerebral infarction admitted to China-Japan Friendship Hospital from January 2014 to January 2015 were included as the case group while 275 subjects from medical examination center without cerebral infarction and diabetes mellitus matched with the case group.MTHFR C677T polymorphism was determined by pyrosequencing and serum Hcy was determined by circulating enzymatic.Chi-square test was used to analyze the distribution of genotype in different group; ANVOA was used to analyze the Hcy level with different genotype in patients with cerebral infarction, and LSD-t was used to pairwise comparison.Results Among the 556 patients with cerebral infarction ,TT genotype were 202 cases (36.33%), CT genotype were 257 cases(46.22%), CC genotype were 97 cases(17.45%).The T allele 44%, higher than the control group T allele frequencies 46.91%(χ2 =23.385,P<0.001).The level of TT genotype serum Hcy level (21.31 ±17.31) μmol/L were higher than CT genotype (14.88 ±7.71) μmol/L(P<0.001)and CC genotype(14.48 ±7.78) μmol/L(P<0.001).There is no significant statistics different in TT genotype frequency between Cerebral infarction patients with diabetes mellitus(36.77%) and without diabetes mellitus(36.44%) (χ2 =0.031,P>0.05), while the level of serum Hcy in Cerebral infarction patients with diabetes mellitus ( 18.16 ±12.90 )μmol/L is lower than Cerebral infarction patients without diabetes mellitus(23.47 ±19.53) μmol/L in TT genotype( F=4.652, P<0.05).Conclusions MTHFR TT genotype was related to serum hyperhomocysteine, and maybe save as the risk of cerebral infarction.The Hcy level in TT genotype cerebral infarction patients with DM is lower than the same genotype patients without DM.(Chin J Lab Med, 2016, 39:205-209 )

Objective To evaluate hepatic vein exclusion (HVE) outside the liver in the resection of giant hepatic hemangioma near the second hepatic hilum. Methods From January 2003 to December 2009, giant hepatic hemangiomas near the second hepatic hilum were resected in 19 cases. Preoperatively 19 cases were divided into two groups: HVE group (9 cases) and IVE group ( 10 cases). Data regarding the intra-operative and postoperative courses of the patients were analyzed. Results There was no difference between the 2 groups regarding the age, sex and tumor size. No damage of hepatic vein was happened in HVE group. Resection of the hemangioma was applied in all cases of HVE group, and 1 case in IVE group had right hemi-hepatectomy. Hepatic veins rupture occurred in 4 cases in IVE group and 2 cases of them had massive bleeding, while in HVE group hepatic veins rupture occurred in 5 cases but no massive bleeding occurred. Intra-operative blood loss was significantly less in HVE group than IVE group. The serum ALT value in postoperative day 1 and total bilirubin in postoperative day 3 in HVE group was significantly lower than that of the IVE group. The mean drainage volume in HVE group was significantly less than that of the IVE group on postoperative day 1 and day 2. The total cost of patient in HVE group were significant less than in IVE group. Conclusions The use of hepatic vein exclusion reduces the risk in the resection of giant hepatic hemangioma near the second hepatic hilum.