Objective To study the anatomical variations adjacent to the umbilical portion of the left portal vein (U-point) radiologically and to determine their impact on treatment of hilar cholangiocarcinoma (HCCA).Methods From January 2014 to February 2016,47 consecutive patients who were diagnosed to suffer from Bismuth type Ⅰ,Ⅱ or Ⅲ a HCCA in our institution were retrospectively studied.All these patients underwent enhanced CT examination preoperatively and three-dimensional (3D) models were then reconstructed.Results Any variations of the left biliary system in relation to the U-point were analyzed.The findings showed that:B2 and B3 united above or lateral to the U-point in 31 patients (65.9％);B2 and B3 united medial to the U-point in 4 patients (8.5％);and B4 converged into B3 prior to B2 in 6 patients (12.8％).Rare variations were observed in 6 patients (12.8％).For the confluence patterns of B4:the central type was found in 10 patients (21.3％),the peripheral type in 35 patients (74.5％) and the combined type in 2 patients (4.2％).Analysis of the relationship between B1l and the confluence of B2 and B3 showed the distance to be (31.6 ± 6.2) mm in the above or the lateral patterns and (13.7 ± 4.7) mm in the medial pattern.The difference was significant (P ＜0.05).The distance from B1l to B4 was (7.1 ± 2.0) mm in the central and combined types but (16.4 ±4.0) mm in the peripheral type.The difference was significant (P ＜ 0.05).The left hepatic artery showed variations in the origin and course pattern in 4 (8.5％) and 6 patients (12.8％),respectively.The two-dimensional (2D) and 3D imagings showed excellent consistency in the evaluation of variations of the left biliary system in relation to the U-point and the left hepatic artery.Conclusions It is very important to know the variations of the left biliary and the vascular systems adjacent to the U-point in preoperative evaluating on resectability of HCCA.An accurate assessment could be accomplished using 2D imaging alone.However,3D reconstruction is a useful technique to use in complex case with locally advanced tumors.

Objective To study the cause and management of difficult laparoscopic appendectomy.Method A retrospective analysis of 102 difficult laparoscopic appendectomies was performed. Results The associating factors leading to operative difficulty were as follows:adhesion of peri-appendix in 44 cases,gangrene at root of appendix in 21 cases,special location of appendix in 17 cases,abdominal adhesion in 12 cases,obesity and inflatable intestine in 8 cases. Laparoscopic appendectomy was successfully performed in 96 cases(94.1%,96/102) ,and no intestinal leakage or massive hemorrahge occurred. Conclusions Adhesion of peri-appendix is the most common cause in difficult laparoscopic appendectomy,and gangrene at root of appendix is the most difficult one. Reasonable management for appendix stump contributes to successful operation.

Spinal cord injury is a difficult medical problem and need to be solved urgently.Application of tissue engineering to repair spinal cord injury has gradually become a hot spot.It is important to prevent the development of scar tissue while inducing cells' regeneration by using scaffold.Nanotechnology has improved the performance of scaffold because of its superiority.Nanoscaffold has obvious advantages compared with the traditional scaffolds.New scaffold materials can be obtained by nanotechnology.Nanoscaffold can also serve as a good drug carrier,and it may have beneficial effects on biological behaviors of seed cells on its surface,such as differentiation,proliferation and migration,which may promote tissue regeneration and functional recovery and get good results in repairment of spinal cord injury.This article summarized the research progress in recent years in nano spinal cord engineering scaffolds in order to provide a reference for research in related fields.

MicroRNA (miRNA),sharing the character of regulating the transcriptional level and expression level of mRNAs,is one kind of small non-coded RNAs.At present,innate immune has become one of the hot topics for researchers,and miRNAs as a sort of bioactive substance greatly take part in the whole regulation progress.In detailed,miRNAs can influence the immune state of immune cells during innate immune period and further regulate inflammatory conditions in whole body.By systematically summarizing miRNA function during innate immunity,this present review may provide a reference for peer researchers.

BACKGROUND:The treatment of severe rigid idiopathic scoliosis is the difficulty of clinical treatment. The studies in recent years have shown that the three-stage correction is a safe and effective treatment method. OBJECTIVE:To explore the efficacy of three-stage correction in the treatment of severe rigid scoliosis. METHODS:Retrospective analysis was performed on 10 severe rigid scoliosis patients undergoing three-stage correction, the mean age of the patients was 12 years. The average Cobb angle in the coronal plane was 140° (ranged 110°-180°), the average Cobb angle in the sagittal plane was 75° (ranged 50°-100°). The treatment was divided three stages:anterior release, Halo-plevic traction and third step with posterior osteotomy and fixation. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Al of the patients underwent the surgery safely without severe complications. After anterior release and Halo-plevic traction, the Cobb angle in the coronal plane was 90°, and the mean correction rate was 35.7%;the Cobb angle in the sagittal plane was 50° with correction rate of 33.3%. The mean Cobb angle in the coronal plane was 40° with the correction rate of 71.4%after osteotomy, and the Cobb angle in the sagittal plane was 35° with the correction rate of 53.3%. The results show that three-stage correction is a safe and effective method for the treatment of severe rigid scoliosis.

Hepatobiliary surgery is considered to be technically challenging because of complex intrahepatic and perihilar anatomical structures and variations.Nowadays, three-dimensional imaging technique plays an important role in the time of precise liver surgery.Three-dimensional images depict the spatial location of tumor, and the course, confluence pattern and variation of portal vein, hepatic artery, biliary system and hepatic vein distinctly while showing involved hepatic segments and the relationship with adjacent vessels from omnidirectional view, measuring the length of margin and future remnant liver.With the help of surgical simulation, surgeons can determine the significant vessels preoperatively.The application of three-dimensional imaging technique may improve the resectability and safety of complex hepatobiliary surgery, such as hilar cholangiocarcinoma, centrally located liver tumor, hepatolithiasis and living donor liver transplantation.Meanwhile, three-dimensional visualization facilitates the understanding of two-dimensional images and complicated surgical anatomy for surgeons.

Objective To explore a simple and effective operative procedure for treatment of pa-tellar fractures.Methods The clinical data of 108 patients (including 76 males and 32 females) with patellar fractures were analyzed.The age of the patients ranged from 18 years to 82 years.There were 67 patellar fractures on the right extremities and 41 on the left.Fracture types included transfractures in 43 patients, comminuted fractures in 54, torn fractures in eight and longitudinal fractures in three.Period from injury to operation ranged from 3 hours to 10 days.During operation, the broken patella was exposed for reduction and temporary pliers fixation;then, a five-pointed star woven with two absorbable sutures was placed on the broken patella, two semi-circular sutures around the patellar edge were made with su-tures which were through five points of the five-pointed star.When two sutures were pulled and knotted,the five-pointed star was also stretched to fix the patellar fractures firmly.Models of transverse patellar fractures were made in 20 knee joints of catties, which were divided into two groups randomly.Patellar fractures in Group A were fixed with five-pointed star lattice sutures and those in Group B with AO inten-sion bands.Loading test was performed on quadriceps femoris with materials test system for measuring the width of each fractured patella after the test.Results All patients were followed up for 6-60 months (mean 20 months) , which showed that all patellar fractures were healed.According to Bostman scoring system, the efficacy was excellent in 76 patients and good in 32.The experiment showed no statistical difference in the fracture disjunction distance between two methods (P > 0.05).Conclusion For treatment of patellar fractures, five-pointed star lattice sutures have the advantages of simple operation,reliable fixation, early postoperative exercise, fast recovery, satisfactory outcome and free need of reoper-ation for removing internal fixation.

Objective To investigate the relationship between inflammation and blood coagulation function in the patients with acute exacerbation of chronic cor pulmonale (AECCP) and discuss the potential mechanism and influence on the patients. Methods The present study was based on 30 healthy controls and 141 cases of AECCP in our hospital from January 2011 to June 2014.Levels of white blood cell (WBC), neutrophil (NEUT), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP, Complement 3 (C3), prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), fibrinogen (FIB) and thrombin time (TT) in the patients were determined. Results Compared with the healthy controls, the patients had higher levels of WBC, NEUT, hs-CRP, PT, APTT, FIB, TT (all P < 0.001) and lower level of C3 (P < 0.001). Significant positive correlations were found between the levels of WBC, NEUT and FIB (r = 0.196 and r = 0.199, both P < 0.05); hs-CRP and APTT, FIB(r = 0.234, P < 0.01 and r = 0.466, P < 0.001); C3 and FIB(r = 0.466, P < 0.001), and significant negative correlations were observed between the levels of C3 and PT, APTT, TT (r=-0.258, P<0.01;r=-0.279, P < 0.01 and r = -0.168, P < 0.05, respectively). Compared with the survival patients, the cases of death had higher levels of WBC and NEUT (both P < 0.01). The area under receiver operating characteristic curve of WBC and NEUT, predicting the prognosis, was 0.666 (95% CI 0.552, 0.780; P < 0.01) and 0.695 (95% CI 0.558, 0.801; P = 0.001) respectively. Conclusions Inflammation and blood coagulation function disorder usually coexist in the patients with AECCP, and are closely associated with the severity. Levels of both WBC and NEUT can be used as prognosis predictors for the patients.

Objective:To explore the effect of breast feeding versus mixed feeding on fecal metabolites of infants delivered by cesarean section.Methods:This was a cross-sectional study.Fecal samples were collected from 23 healthy 1-month-old infants delivered by cesarean section from autumn 2021 and winter 2022 in two maternal and infant care facilities in the North and South of Xi′an city.The samples were divided into the breast feeding group (11 cases) and mixed feeding group (12 cases). Fecal metabolites were analyzed by the non-targeted metabolomic approach and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry coupling, and differentially expressed fecal metabolites between groups were screened using the non-parametric Mann- Whitney U test.Metabolic pathways enriched in them were further analyzed. Results:A total of 155 metabolites were characterized, including 57 sugars and sugar derivatives, 34 fatty acids, 25 organic acids, 22 amino acids, 8 esters, 4 nucleosides, 3 vitamins and 2 other substances.The relative contents of the differentially expressed fecal metabolites were measured, and it was found that some types of sugars and sugar derivatives were highly expressed in the fecal samples of breast feeding group, while amino acids, organic acids and fatty acids were highly expressed in those of the mixed feeding group.A total of 28 metabolic pathways enriched in differentially expressed fecal metabolites were obtained.Among them, alanine, aspartic acid and glutamic acid metabolism, valine, leucine and isoleucine metabolism, arginine metabolism and the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle influenced infant health.Conclusions:Feeding methods have an effect on the fecal metabolites in infants delivered by cesarean section born infants, and mixed feeding may speed up the process of TCA cycle and amino acid metabolism in the intestine of infants delivered by cesarean section to a certain extent.

Objective:To investigate the clinical efficacy of external fixators combined with anterolateral thigh musculocutaneous flap for treatment of Gustilo type IIIB/C open tibiofibular fractures.Methods:A retrospective case series study was conducted to analyze clinical data of 15 patients with Gustilo type IIIB/C open tibiofibular fractures admitted to Ruihua Hospital of Soochow University from March 2016 to June 2019. There were 11 males and 4 females, with the age of (48.5±12.6)years (range, 22-67 years). All patients underwent emergency debridement in stage I, the major blood vessels, nerves and tendons were inspected and repaired, and the fracture ends were fixed by external fixator. There were different degrees of wounds necrosis, infection and bone defect after operation. After debridement in stage II, the soft tissue defects with the dimension of 10.0 cm×5.0 cm to 30.0 cm×8.0 cm were repaired with anterolateral thigh musculocutaneous flaps whose areas ranged from 10.5 cm×5.5 cm to 30.5 cm×8.5 cm. All donor areas of the musculocutaneous flaps were sutured directly in stage I. The healing of the donor areas and musculocutaneous flaps were observed within 2 weeks after operation. At the last follow-up, the shape and sensory recovery of the flap, healing of fractures and related complications were observed. The lower extremity functional scale (LEFS) was used to evaluate the injured limb function.Results:All patients were followed-up for 12-32 months [(22.0±5.8)months]. All donor areas were healed by first intention, leaving only linear scars. The musculocutaneous flaps survived completely in all patients. Partial necrosis of large area of musculocutaneous flap occurred in 2 patients, and healed after debridement and skin grafting. Another patient had vascular crisis after musculocutaneous flap operation and survived after the embolized vein repaired by contralateral great saphenous. At the last follow-up, the shape of flap recovered well, and the feeling partially recovered with the two-point discrimination of 18-26 mm. All fractures healed well, and there were no serious infection-related complications such as osteomyelitis. The LEFS score was 47-69 points [(59.0±9.5)points].Conclusion:Theexternal fixator combined with anterolateral thigh musculocutaneous flaps for treatment of Gustilo type IIIB/Copen tibiofibular fractures can better restore the appearance of soft tissue defect of the lower leg, and can effectively reduce the occurrence of severe infection-related complications.