OBJECTIVETo compare the clinical curative effect of thoracolumbar burst fracture treated by the posterior unilateral approach corpectomy fusion screw-rod fixation and anterior corpectomy bone fusion screw plate fixation.

METHODSFrom January 2008 to May 2014,36 cases of thoracolumbar burst fracture underwent operation of decompression, fusion, and internal fixation was retrospective analyzed. Among them, 16 patients were treated through posterior approach as posterior group, including 13 males and 3 females aged from 37 to 62 years old; 9 cases caused by falling injury, 3 cases by traffic accident injury,4 cases by heavy aboved;the injury segment was on T₁₂ in 2 cases, L₁ in 5 cases, L₂ in 7 cases, L₃ in 2 cases; according ASIA grade, 3 cases were grade A, 2 cases were grade B, 2 cases were grade C, 5 cases were grade D, 4 cases were grade E; the time between injury and operation ranged from 5 to 15 days. Other 20 patients were treated through anterior-lateral approach as anterior-lateral group, including 15 males and 5 females with age from 27 to 62 years old; 12 cases caused by falling injury, 4 cases by traffic accident injury, 4 cases by heavy aboved; the injury segment was on T₁₂ in 2 cases, L₁, in 7 cases, L₂ in 9 cases, L₃ in 2 cases; for ASIA grade: 4 cases were grade A, 2 cases were grade B, 4 cases were grade C, 6 cases were grade D, 4 cases were grade E; the time between injury and operation ranged from 4 to 12 days. The operation time, bleeding during operation and postoperative drainage volume were observed in two groups,and the changes of nerve function of ASIA grade, clinical efficacy,improved degree of thoracic and lumbar lordosis,and bony fusion were compared between two groups.

RESULTSAll patients were followed up from 12 to 24 months with an average of (15.8 ± 3.3) months. The operation time, bleeding during operation, and postoperative drainage volume had no significant different between two groups (P > 0.05). As compared with preoperative, ASIA grade of two groups at last follow-up had statistically significantly different (P < 0.01), the neural function of two groups after operation was recovered for different extent. The JOA score of two groups was compared between last follow-up and preoperative, the difference had statistically significant (P < 0.01), the two groups showed good clinical effect. The clinical results of ASIA grade, JOA score and RIS had no significant differences between two groups. All patients of two groups were obtained fusion. Thoracic and lumbar lordosis angle improvement degree had no significant difference between two groups ,it bad significant difference had statistical significance compared with preoperative, the two approaches could effectively restore the spinal sequence.

CONCLUSIONFor patients with thoracolumbar burst fracture just treated by anterior decompression and reconstruction of anterior column, according to the degree of operation performer' skill proficiency and the patient' condition to choose, but for patients must performed the spinal canal decompression anterior and posterior, the three column-reconstruction to required anterior-posterior approach, the posterior unilateral approach corpectomy fusion screw-rod fixation obviously shorten operation time, reduce the operation wound, it is worth the clinical promotion.

Adult ; Decompression, Surgical ; methods ; Female ; Humans ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; injuries ; surgery ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pedicle Screws ; Reconstructive Surgical Procedures ; Retrospective Studies ; Spinal Fractures ; surgery ; Spinal Fusion ; methods ; Thoracic Vertebrae ; injuries ; surgery

OBJECTIVETo Assess therapeutic effect of ear point taping and pressing therapy combined with acupoint-injection on residual neuralgia of herpes zoster.

METHODSOne hundred and sixteen cases were randomly divided into a comprehensive group (n = 60) and a medication group (n = 56). The medication group were treated with routine western medicine, and the comprehensive group with ear point taping and pressing therapy combined with acupoint-injection besides the routine western medicine. Auricular points selected for ear point taping and pressing were Shemen, Neifenmi (endorine), Pizhixia (subcortex), Gan (liver), Dan (gallbladder), Fei (lung) and corresponding auricular points to the lesion parts, with the two ears alternatively used, pressing each day; points selected for point-injection of VitB12 were Zusanli (ST 36), Neiguan (PC 6), Quchi (LI 11), Taichong (LR 3). The pain degrees, the time of pain alleviation and pain ceasing of the patient were regularly recorded.

RESULTSThe average time of pain alleviation and pain ceasing of the patient in the comprehensive group were significantly shorter than those in the medication group (P < 0.01). The cured rate and the cured and markedly effective rate were 60.0% and 83.3% in the comprehensive group, and 28.6% and 50.0% in the medication group, with significant difference between the two groups (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONEar point taping and pressing therapy combined with acupoint-injection is effective and safe for treatment of residual neuralgia of herpes zoster.

Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture, Ear ; methods ; Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Injections ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Middle Aged ; Neuralgia, Postherpetic ; therapy

OBJECTIVETo investigate the therapeutic efficacy of interferon (IFN) therapy and risk of long-term administration for chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients who cannot tolerate the standard treatment.

METHODSForty-six CHC patients who had proven intolerant to standard treatments were treated with low-dose IFN (non-pegylated IFN: 60 to 300MIU QOD, or pegylated IFN: 50 to 90 mug/w) plus ribavirin (RBV; 0.6g to 0.9 g/d) for 72 weeks.

RESULTSForty-three (93.5%) of the patients were able to tolerate the long-term treatment with low-dose IFN plus RBV. Only three patients experienced severe side effects (low white blood cell and platelet counts) that required treatment withdrawal. The virology response rates over treatment time were: rapid virologic response (RVR): 10.9%; early virus response (EVR): 30.4%; 24 week virologic response: 45.7%; and, 48 week virologic response: 47.8%. B-sonographic imaging revealed that three patients experienced improved liver morphology through the treatment course. The patients who achieved RVR, EVR, or 24 weeks virologic response also attained higher 48 week virologic response. The 24 week virologic response had the strongest predictive value of good prognosis.

CONCLUSIONSOur study demonstrated that long-term treatment with low-dose interferon plus ribavirin is effective for patients who are otherwise intolerant to standard treatment. In these patients, low-dose IFN plus RBV can obtain a high virologic response rate at 48 week. Furthermore, the 24 week virologic response is sufficiently predictive of treatment success. As with any treatment regimen, it is important for healthcare workers to monitor the disease status and potential side effects throughout the course of therapy.

Adult ; Antiviral Agents ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Hepacivirus ; Hepatitis C, Chronic ; drug therapy ; virology ; Humans ; Interferons ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Treatment Outcome

Objeetive:To study the expression and clinical significance of NF-κ Bp65 protein and selective autophagy adaptor protein SQSTM1/p62 1(p62) in gastric carcinoma and its clinical significance.Methods:NF-κ Bp65 protein and p62 protein were determined in 72 cases of gastric carcinoma by immunohistochemistry PV-9000,and the relationship between them in the occurrence and development of gastric cancer was analyzed.Results:The positive expression of in gastric cancer tissues of NF-κ Bp65 (65.3％) was significantly higher than that of paracancerous gastric tissues (27.8％,P＜0.05);the positive expression rate of p62 (66.7％)was significantly higher than that in paracancerous gastric tissues (30.6％,P＜0.05);The expression of NF-κ Bp65,p62 was significantly correlated with the cancerous tissue differentiation degree,infiltrative depth,and lymph node metastasis (P＜0.05);NF-κ Bp65,p65 expression in the gastric cancer was positively correlated (P＜0.05).Conclusions:p62 and NF-κ Bp65 may be involved in apoptosis and cell proliferation of gastric carcinoma,and play anessential role in carcinogenesis.Detection of the two indexes would be used to assess and predict the prognosis of gastric cancer patients.

OBJECTIVETo explore the effects of surgical procedure combined with the intravascular minimal invasive technique for the treatment of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) of lower extremity.

METHODSAt the curse of disease from six hours to ninety days, one hundred and two patients with DVT including one hundred and three lower extremities had received surgical procedure and intravascular minimal invasive treatment.

RESULTSThere were not procedure-related morbidities in 102 cases, and symptoms disappeared, all procedures were successful based on angiography. The detecting head for the intravascular ultrasound ablation was entered to inferior vena cava (IVC) in 74 cases (78%), Forgarty catheter was entered to IVC in 21 cases (21%), the stenosis in the confluence of the common iliac vein and IVC was dilated by sacculus rotundus catheter in 89 cases (88%), including 9 patients underwent percutaneous transluminal stenting. One hundred and two patients followed up for twenty months, follow-up by angiography showed no restenosis in 91 cases, restenosis in ilio-femoral vein in 1 cases, and thrombus recontouring in 4 cases, as well as 6 cases died caused by primary disease.

CONCLUSIONSurgical procedure combined with the intravascular minimal invasive technique is a safe and effective therapeutic method for DVT.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Angioplasty, Balloon ; Catheter Ablation ; methods ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Lower Extremity ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures ; Stents ; Ultrasonic Therapy ; Venous Thrombosis ; surgery ; therapy

BACKGROUNDThe necrosis of a large number of myocardial cells after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) results in a decrease of cardiac function and ventricle remodeling. Stem cell transplantation could improve cardiac function after AMI, but the involving mechanisms have not been completely understood. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of transplantation of autologous bone marrow mononuclear cells (BM-MNC) and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) via the coronary artery on the ventricle remodeling after AMI as well as the mechanisms of the effects of transplantation of different stem cells on ventricle remodeling.

METHODSA total of 36 male pigs were enrolled in this study, which were divided into 4 groups: control group, simple infarct model group, BM-MNC transplantation group, and MSCs transplantation group. At 90 minutes when a miniature porcine model with AMI was established, transplantation of autologous BM-MNC ((4.7 +/- 1.7) x 10(7)) and MSCs ((6.2 +/- 1.6) x 10(5)) was performed in the coronary artery via a catheter. Ultrasound, electron microscope, immunohistochemical examination and real time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction were used respectively to observe cardiac functions, counts of blood vessels of cardiac muscle, cardiac muscle nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB, myocardial cell apoptosis, and the expression of the mRNA of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) in cardiac muscles. Multivariate Logistic regression was used to analyze the correlation factors of left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (EDD).

RESULTSThe number of blood vessels in the infarct zone and around its border in the BM-MNC transplantation group was more than those in the infarct model group and MSCs group (P = 0.0001) and there was less myocardial cell apoptosis in the stem cell transplantation group than that in the infarct model group (all P < 0.01). The positive rate of NF-kappaB in the stem cell transplantation group was lower than that in the infarct model group (P = 0.001). The gene expression of VEGF in the infarct border zone of the BM-MNC group was higher than that in the MSCs group (P = 0.0001). The gene expression of bFGF in the infarct border zone in the MSCs transplantation group was higher than that in the infarct model group and the BM-MNC group (P = 0.0001). Left ventricular ejection fraction was inversely proportional to the apoptotic rate of myocardial cells and cardiac muscle NF-kappaB but positively correlated with the number of blood vessels and the expression of VEGF and bFGF in the infarct zone and infarct border zone. The Multivariate Logistic regression analysis on the factors influencing the left ventricular end-diastolic diameter after stem cell transplantation showed that the expression of VEGF mRNA in the cardiac muscles in the infarct zone, the number of apoptotic myocardial cells and the expression of NF-kappaB in the infarct border zone were independent factors for predicting the inhibitory effect on the dilation of left ventricular EDD after stem cell transplantation.

CONCLUSIONSTransplantation of autologous BM-MNC and MSCs in pigs can improve the condition of left ventricular remodeling and recover the cardiac functions after AMI. The improvement of cardiac functions is related to the increase of blood vessels, the increased expression of VEGF and bFGF, the reduction of myocardial cell apoptosis, and the decrease of NF-kappaB level in cardiac muscle tissues after stem cell transplantation.

Animals ; Bone Marrow Transplantation ; methods ; Disease Models, Animal ; Heart Function Tests ; Male ; Myocardial Infarction ; physiopathology ; surgery ; Stem Cell Transplantation ; methods ; Swine ; Treatment Outcome ; Ventricular Remodeling

OBJECTIVETo observe the clinical effect of low-dose testosterone undecanoate capsules combined with tadalafil on late-onset hypogonadism (LOH) accompanied with ED.

METHODSNinety cases of LOH accompanied with ED who met the inclusion criteria were randomly divided into a control group and a combination therapy group, the former treated with tadalafil and the latter with low-dose testosterone undecanoate capsules combined with tadalafil. The LOH symptoms, IIEF-5 scores, sexual encounter profile (SEP) scores, prostate volumes, and the levels of total testosterone (TT), free testosterone (FT) and prostatic specific antigen (PSA) were recorded and compared between the two groups before and after treatment.

RESULTSThe IIEF-5 and SEP scores and the TT and FT levels were 20.6 +/- 3.8, 4.02 +/- 1.08, (15.4 +/- 3.4) nmol/L and (0.391 +/- 0.062) nmol/L, respectively, in the combination therapy group after treatment, significantly higher both than 15.7 +/- 3.9, 1.49 +/- 0.82, (10.1 +/- 1.2) nmol/L and (0.200 +/- 0.045) nmol/L before treatment (P < 0.01) and than 8.6 +/- 3.6, 3.50 +/- 1.21, (10.2 +/- 1.2) nmol/L and (0.210 +/- 0.051) nmol/L in the control group after treatment (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONLow-dose testosterone undecanoate capsules combined with tadalafil has a definite clinical effect and no obvious adverse reactions in the treatment of LOH accompanied with ED.

Adult ; Carbolines ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Erectile Dysfunction ; complications ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Hypogonadism ; complications ; drug therapy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Tadalafil ; Testosterone ; administration & dosage ; analogs & derivatives ; therapeutic use ; Treatment Outcome

BACKGROUNDThe brain stem is found to be impaired in multiple system atrophy-cerebellar types (MSA-C). Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is reported as a marker of progressive brain stem dysfunction. Few systematic studies about the sleep disturbances in MSA-C patients combined with or without RBD were reported. This study aimed to explore the polysomnographic (PSG) features of sleep disturbances between MSA-C patients with and without RBD.

METHODSTotally, 46 MSA-C patients (23 with RBD, and 23 without RBD) were enrolled in this study. All patients underwent a structured interview for their demographic data, history of sleep pattern, and movement disorders; and then, overnight video-PSG was performed in each patient. All the records were evaluated by specialists at the Sleep Medicine Clinic for RBD and the Movement Disorder Clinic for MSA-C. The Student's t-test, Mann-Whitney U-test for continuous variables, and the Chi-square test for categorical variables were used in this study.

RESULTSMSA-C patients with RBD had younger visiting age (52.6 ± 7.4 vs. 56.7 ± 6.0 years, P = 0.046) and shorter duration of the disease (12.0 [12.0, 24.0] vs. 24.0 [14.0, 36.0] months, P = 0.009) than MSA-C patients without RBD. MSA-C with RBD had shorter REM sleep latency (111.7 ± 48.2 vs. 157.0 ± 68.8 min, P = 0.042), higher percentage of REM sleep (14.9% ±4.0% vs. 10.0% ± 3.2%, P = 0.019), and lower Stage I (9.5% ±7.2% vs. 15.9% ±8.0%, P = 0.027) than MSA-C without RBD. Moreover, MSA-C patients with RBD had more decreased sleep efficiency (52.4% ±12.6% vs. 65.8% ±15.9%, P = 0.029) than that without RBD.

CONCLUSIONSIn addition to the RBD, MSA-C patients with RBD had other more severe sleep disturbances than those without RBD. The sleep disorders of MSA patients might be associated with the progress of the disease.

Cerebellar Ataxia ; embryology ; physiopathology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multiple System Atrophy ; physiopathology ; Polysomnography ; REM Sleep Behavior Disorder ; physiopathology

Aim To determine the antiviral and anti-inflammatory effects of the recommended prescription for COVID-2019-lung-spleen qi deficiency(4-1)against in vitro infection of SARS-CoV-2 and common coronaviruses.Methods The main chemical substances of 4-1 were analyzed by LC-MS.The toxicity and antiviral effects of of 4-1 were detected by MTT and by CPE assay, respectively.The viral loads in cell supernatant and the expression of inflammatory factors induced by viral infection were determined by qRT-PCR.Results The recommended prescription 4-1 contained 94 chemical compounds, including flavonoids, steroids, sesquiterpenoids, and so on.The range of selection indexes for SARS-CoV-2 and common coronaviruses was 8.44±0.4952.26±2.3.This prescription could inhibit the proliferation of SARS-CoV-2, the expression of ACE2 and S mRNA, and down regulate IL-1α and CCL-5/RANTES at 10, 5, and 2.5 g•L-1 doses.Further, at doses of 20, 10 and 5 g•L-1, it could inhibit the proliferation of three common coronaviruses and suppress the overexpression of IL-6, CXCL-8/IL-8, CXCL-10/IP-10, TNF-α, IFN-α, CCL-2/MCP-1, MIG and CCL-5/RANTES induced by OC43/229E infection.The inhibitory effects were dose-dependent.Conclusions The prescription 4-1 has antiviral and anti-inflammation effects against multiple coronaviruses.This study provides the research basis for the treatment of common respiratory viral infections and emerging infectious diseases such as COVID-19 by using traditional Chinese medicine.