Objective: 18F-N-(2-(Diethylamino)ethyl)-5-(2-(2-(2-fluoroethoxy)ethoxy)ethoxy) picolinamide ( 18F-PFPN) is a novel positron emission tomography (PET) probe designed to specifically targets melanin. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic feasibility of 18F-PFPN in patients with ocular or orbital melanoma. Materials and Methods: Three patients with pathologically confirmed ocular or orbital melanoma (one male, two females; age 41–59 years) were retrospectively reviewed. Each patient underwent comprehensive 18F-PFPN and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose ( 18F-FDG) PET scans. The maximum standardized uptake value (SUV max) of the lesion and the interference caused by background tissue were compared between 18F-PFPN and 18F-FDG PET imaging. In addition, the effect of intrinsic pigments in the uvea and retina on the interpretation of the results was examined. The contralateral non-tumorous eye of each patient served as a control. Results: All primary tumors (3/3) were detected using 18F-PFPN PET, while only two primary tumors were detected using 18F-FDG PET. Within each lesion, the SUV max of 18F-PFPN was 2.6 to 8.3 times higher than that of 18F-FDG. Regarding the quality of PET imaging, the physiological uptake of 18F-FDG PET in the brain and periocular tissues limited the imaging of tumors. However, 18F-PFPN PET minimized this interference. Notably, intrinsic pigments in the uvea and retina did not cause abnormal concentrations of 18F-PFPN, as no anomalous uptake of 18F-PFPN was detected in the healthy contralateral eyes. Conclusion Compared to 18F-FDG, 18F-PFPN demonstrated higher detection rates for ocular and orbital melanomas with minimal interference from surrounding tissues. This suggests that 18F-PFPN could be a promising clinical diagnostic tool for distinguishing malignant melanoma from benign pigmentation in ocular and orbital melanomas.

Objective: 18F-N-(2-(Diethylamino)ethyl)-5-(2-(2-(2-fluoroethoxy)ethoxy)ethoxy) picolinamide ( 18F-PFPN) is a novel positron emission tomography (PET) probe designed to specifically targets melanin. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic feasibility of 18F-PFPN in patients with ocular or orbital melanoma. Materials and Methods: Three patients with pathologically confirmed ocular or orbital melanoma (one male, two females; age 41–59 years) were retrospectively reviewed. Each patient underwent comprehensive 18F-PFPN and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose ( 18F-FDG) PET scans. The maximum standardized uptake value (SUV max) of the lesion and the interference caused by background tissue were compared between 18F-PFPN and 18F-FDG PET imaging. In addition, the effect of intrinsic pigments in the uvea and retina on the interpretation of the results was examined. The contralateral non-tumorous eye of each patient served as a control. Results: All primary tumors (3/3) were detected using 18F-PFPN PET, while only two primary tumors were detected using 18F-FDG PET. Within each lesion, the SUV max of 18F-PFPN was 2.6 to 8.3 times higher than that of 18F-FDG. Regarding the quality of PET imaging, the physiological uptake of 18F-FDG PET in the brain and periocular tissues limited the imaging of tumors. However, 18F-PFPN PET minimized this interference. Notably, intrinsic pigments in the uvea and retina did not cause abnormal concentrations of 18F-PFPN, as no anomalous uptake of 18F-PFPN was detected in the healthy contralateral eyes. Conclusion Compared to 18F-FDG, 18F-PFPN demonstrated higher detection rates for ocular and orbital melanomas with minimal interference from surrounding tissues. This suggests that 18F-PFPN could be a promising clinical diagnostic tool for distinguishing malignant melanoma from benign pigmentation in ocular and orbital melanomas.

Objective: 18F-N-(2-(Diethylamino)ethyl)-5-(2-(2-(2-fluoroethoxy)ethoxy)ethoxy) picolinamide ( 18F-PFPN) is a novel positron emission tomography (PET) probe designed to specifically targets melanin. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic feasibility of 18F-PFPN in patients with ocular or orbital melanoma. Materials and Methods: Three patients with pathologically confirmed ocular or orbital melanoma (one male, two females; age 41–59 years) were retrospectively reviewed. Each patient underwent comprehensive 18F-PFPN and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose ( 18F-FDG) PET scans. The maximum standardized uptake value (SUV max) of the lesion and the interference caused by background tissue were compared between 18F-PFPN and 18F-FDG PET imaging. In addition, the effect of intrinsic pigments in the uvea and retina on the interpretation of the results was examined. The contralateral non-tumorous eye of each patient served as a control. Results: All primary tumors (3/3) were detected using 18F-PFPN PET, while only two primary tumors were detected using 18F-FDG PET. Within each lesion, the SUV max of 18F-PFPN was 2.6 to 8.3 times higher than that of 18F-FDG. Regarding the quality of PET imaging, the physiological uptake of 18F-FDG PET in the brain and periocular tissues limited the imaging of tumors. However, 18F-PFPN PET minimized this interference. Notably, intrinsic pigments in the uvea and retina did not cause abnormal concentrations of 18F-PFPN, as no anomalous uptake of 18F-PFPN was detected in the healthy contralateral eyes. Conclusion Compared to 18F-FDG, 18F-PFPN demonstrated higher detection rates for ocular and orbital melanomas with minimal interference from surrounding tissues. This suggests that 18F-PFPN could be a promising clinical diagnostic tool for distinguishing malignant melanoma from benign pigmentation in ocular and orbital melanomas.

Objective: 18F-N-(2-(Diethylamino)ethyl)-5-(2-(2-(2-fluoroethoxy)ethoxy)ethoxy) picolinamide ( 18F-PFPN) is a novel positron emission tomography (PET) probe designed to specifically targets melanin. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic feasibility of 18F-PFPN in patients with ocular or orbital melanoma. Materials and Methods: Three patients with pathologically confirmed ocular or orbital melanoma (one male, two females; age 41–59 years) were retrospectively reviewed. Each patient underwent comprehensive 18F-PFPN and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose ( 18F-FDG) PET scans. The maximum standardized uptake value (SUV max) of the lesion and the interference caused by background tissue were compared between 18F-PFPN and 18F-FDG PET imaging. In addition, the effect of intrinsic pigments in the uvea and retina on the interpretation of the results was examined. The contralateral non-tumorous eye of each patient served as a control. Results: All primary tumors (3/3) were detected using 18F-PFPN PET, while only two primary tumors were detected using 18F-FDG PET. Within each lesion, the SUV max of 18F-PFPN was 2.6 to 8.3 times higher than that of 18F-FDG. Regarding the quality of PET imaging, the physiological uptake of 18F-FDG PET in the brain and periocular tissues limited the imaging of tumors. However, 18F-PFPN PET minimized this interference. Notably, intrinsic pigments in the uvea and retina did not cause abnormal concentrations of 18F-PFPN, as no anomalous uptake of 18F-PFPN was detected in the healthy contralateral eyes. Conclusion Compared to 18F-FDG, 18F-PFPN demonstrated higher detection rates for ocular and orbital melanomas with minimal interference from surrounding tissues. This suggests that 18F-PFPN could be a promising clinical diagnostic tool for distinguishing malignant melanoma from benign pigmentation in ocular and orbital melanomas.

OBJECTIVEGene therapy has been becoming one of the most attractive medical areas. But the using of gene therapy in plastic surgery is relatively scarce. Our purpose was to investigate the effect of naked plasmid encoding Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor on the viability of the random skin flap by directly injected subcutaneously.

METHODS30 female Sprague-Dawley rats randomly divided into three groups. A random dorsal skin flap of 3 cm x 9 cm was elevated in each of the rats. And 1 ml double-distilled water solution was injected subcutaneously, which was only water in group 1 during the operation, 200 micrograms VEGF cDNA plasmid in group 2 during the operation, 200 micrograms pcDNA3.1/zeo(+)--VEGF in group 3, 24 hours before the operation, respectively. 7 days after the operation, all the animals were sacrificed by overdose anesthetic. The survival tissue was measured with planimetry. Two samples were harvested from each group for pathological check and immunohistochemical test.

RESULTSImmunohistochemical staining demonstrated that there was human VEGF deposited around the capillary in the flaps treated with VEGF gene. The flaps treated with VEGF gene had a larger percentage of survival skin (group 1 = 47% +/- 5.4%, group 2 = 65.4% +/- 6.3%, group 3 = 72.3% +/- 8.5%, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONVEGF gene directly injected into subcutaneous can express VEGF. It makes the gene therapy simple and practical and will be promising future in the tissue transplantation.

Animals ; Endothelial Growth Factors ; genetics ; Female ; Genetic Therapy ; Injections, Subcutaneous ; Lymphokines ; genetics ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Surgical Flaps ; physiology ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors

Objective:To compare the therapeutic efficacy between femoral neck system (FNS) and cannulated compression screws (CCS) in the fixation of femoral neck fractures in the elderly patients aged 65 to 75 years old.Methods:A retrospective study was conducted to analyze the data of 39 patients aged 65 to 75 years old who had been treated for femoral neck fractures at Department of Trauma Surgery, Hospital Affiliated to Qingdao University from January 2015 to September 2022. The patients were divided into 2 groups according to their internal fixation methods. In the FNS group of 18 cases subjected to FNS fixation, there were 8 male and 10 females with an age of (71.1±2.8) years. In the CCS group of 21 cases subjected to CCS fixation, there were 7 males and 14 females with an age of (70.1±2.9) years. The 2 groups were compared in terms of intraoperative fluoroscopy frequency, surgical time, intraoperative bleeding, hospitalization costs, fracture healing time, internal fixation failure, and Harris hip score, changes in neck shaft angle, and femoral neck shortening at 1 year after surgery.Results:The differences were not statistically significant in the preoperative general data or follow-up time between the 2 groups, indicating comparability ( P>0.05). In the FNS group, the intraoperative fluoroscopy frequency [(15.1±2.3) times] was significantly lower than that in the CCS group [(19.5±3.5) times], the surgical time [(49.2±5.2) minutes] was significantly shorter than that in CCS group [(62.4±11.2) minutes], and the intraoperative bleeding [(74.2±15.6) mL] and hospitalization costs [(39,928.7±1,438.3) yuan] were significantly higher than those in the CCS group [(53.1±17.3) mL and (23,527.9±2,126.3) yuan] (all P<0.05). The difference in fracture healing time was not statistically significant between the 2 groups ( P>0.05). In the FNS group, the decreased neck shaft angle (2.65°±1.66°) and femoral neck shortening (3.9±1.3 mm) were significantly smaller than those in the CCS group [4.18°±2.13° and (6.3±2.5) mm] at 1 year after surgery, and the Harris hip score [(82.2±7.2) points] was significantly higher than that in the CCS group [(76.4±5.9) points] (all P<0.05). Internal fixation failure occurred in 1 case in the FNS group and in 4 cases in the CCS group, respectively, showing no statistically significant difference ( P>0.05). Conclusions:Compared with CCS fixation, FNS fixation may lead to better therapeutic efficacy in patients with femoral neck fracture aged 65 to 75 years old. However, the risk of internal fixation failure should also be taken into consideration.

Objective To compare the clinical outcomes between open reduction and fixation with cannulated screws via the modified Burks-Schaffer approach versus arthroscopic EndoButton plating for avulsion fracture of the tibial attachment of the posterior cruciate ligament(PCL).Methods From February 2013 to August 2017,41 patients with acute displaced avulsion fracture of the tibial PCL attachment were treated operatively at Department of Trauma Surgery,The Affiliated Hospital to Qingdao University.They were 24 men and 17 women,aged from 18 to 65 years (average,39 years).The lefi knee was injured in 22cases and the right knee in 19.They were divided into 2 groups according to their different fixation methods.The open reduction and fixation group (23 cases) received open reduction and fixation with cannulated screws via the modified Burks-Schaffer approach while the arthroscopic group (18 cases) arthroscopic Endobutton plating.The 2 groups were compared in terms of operation time,bleeding,objective knee scores and knee range of motion (ROM) after operation.Results All the 41 patients were followed up from 23 to 40months (average,27.2 months).Their follow-up revealed no incision infection,malunion,nonunion or loosening of the implants.Their knee X-ray films at the final follow-ups showed bony union of all the avulsion fractures.There were significant differences between the open reduction and fixation group and the arthroscopic group in operation time (52.6±7.3 min versus 86.8±9.2 min) and bleeding (63.9±12.7 mL versus 19.7 ± 10.2 mL) (P ＜ 0.05).There was no significant difference in the objective knee scores or knee ROM between the 2 groups (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusions Both open reduction and cannulated screw fixation via the modified Burks-Schaffer approach and arthroscopic EndoButton plating can achieve satisfactory clinical outcomes in the treatment of avulsion fracture of the tibial PCL attachment.Although the 2 methods make no significant differences in stability of the knee joint or in clinical scores,the latter leads to less bleeding and the former shorter operation time.

Clopidogrel was believed to be superior to aspirin by the well-known CAPRIE trial. However, no other large clinical trials demonstrated the same results, but all focused on the combination use of clopidogrel with aspirin, and combination therapy in CREDO was called the "Emperor's New Clothes". However, no one overturned the results of these clinical trials by quantitatively analyzing them. We reviewed ten large-scale clinical trials about clopidogrel. On the basis of results of CAPRIE, CREDO and CHARISMA trials, we re-estimated their minimal sample sizes and their powers by three well-established statistical methodologies. From the results of CAPRIE, we inferred that the minimal sample size should be 85 086 or 84 968 but its power was only 30.70%. A huge gap existed. The same was also true of CREDO and CHARISMA trials. Moreover, in CAPRIE trial, 0 was included in the 95% confidence interval and 1 was included in the 95% confidence interval for the relative risk. There were some paradoxical data in CAPRIE trial. We are led to conclude that the results in CAPRIE, CREDO, and from the subgroup analysis in CHARISMA trials were questionable. These results failed to demonstrate that clopidogrel was superior to aspirin or that clopidogrel used in combination with aspirin was better than aspirin alone. The cost-effectiveness analyses by some previous studies were not reliable.

Clopidogrel was believed to be superior to aspirin by the well-known CAPRIE trial. However, no other large clinical trials demonstrated the same results, but all focused on the combina-tion use of clopidogrel with aspirin, and combination therapy in CREDO was called the "Emperor's New Clothes". However, no one overturned the results of these clinical trials by quantitatively ana-lyzing them. We reviewed ten large-scale clinical trials about clopidogrel. On the basis of results of CAPRIE, CREDO and CHARISMA trials, we re-estimated their minimal sample sizes and their powers by three well-established statistical methodologies. From the results of CAPRIE, we inferred that the minimal sample size should be 85 086 or 84 968 but its power was only 30.70%. A huge gap existed. The same was also true of CREDO and CHARISMA trials. Moreover, in CAPRIE trial, 0 was included in the 95% confidence interval and 1 was included in the 95% confidence interval for the relative risk. There were some paradoxical data in CAPRIE trial. We are led to conclude that the results in CAPRIE, CREDO, and from the subgroup analysis in CHARISMA trials were questionable. These results failed to demonstrate that clopidogrel was superior to aspirin or that clopidogrel used in combination with aspirin was better than aspirin alone. The cost-effectiveness analyses by some pre-vious studies were not reliable.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the damage mechanism of pathogenic E.coli on mouse brain microvascular endothelial cells(BMEC cells)and mouse alveolar macrophages(MH-S cells),as well as the lung and brain of healthy mice.In this study,BMEC cells and MH-S cells were infected with pathogenic E.coli strains,and cell morphological changes were observed.Plate counting method was used to detect the adhesion and invasion ability of the strains to cells and the number of bacteria in the lungs and brains of mice.RT-qPCR was used to detect the ex-pression of TNF-α,IL-1β and IL-6 genes in cells and mouse organs at different time periods.West-ern blot was used to detect the expression of p-NF-κB,p-JAK2 and p-STAT3 proteins related to inflammation in cells and mouse organs after infection.The results showed that the cell culture medium of the infection group was turbid,the cell vision became dark and blurred,some cells shrank and died,and more fragments were produced.The adhesion rate and invasion rate of BMEC cells at 3 h were significantly lower than those at 6 h(P＜0.050),and the adhesion rate and inva-sion rate of MH-S cells at 3 h were significantly higher than those at 6 h(P＜0.010).Infected mice had a large area of swelling and bleeding in the brain,and the lungs had different degrees of swell-ing and bleeding.The bacterial load in the brain and lung was the highest at 12 h.Compared with the control group,the mRNA expression levels of IL-1β,IL-6 and TNF-α in the infection group were significantly increased at 3 h and 6 h(P＜0.050),and the mRNA expression levels of inflam-matory factors in BMEC cells and MH-S cells were the highest at 6 and 3 h,respectively.The mR-NA expression of inflammatory factors in the brain and lung of infected mice showed a trend of in-creasing first and then decreasing with time,with the highest expression at 12 h after infection.The expression levels of p-NF-κB protein in BMEC cells,MH-S cells,lung and brain tissues of mice in the infection group were significantly higher than those in the control group(P＜0.001),and the expression levels of p-JAK2 protein and p-STAT3 protein were significantly lower than those in the control group(P＜0.050).The above results showed that pathogenic E.coli could adhere and invade BMEC cells and MH-S cells,colonize in lung and brain tissues of mice,promote the expres-sion of NF-κB protein in cells and tissues,inhibit the expression of JAK2 protein and STAT3 pro-tein,and then stimulate cells and tissues to produce inflammatory response.