Liver cancer stem cell plays an important role in hepatocarcinoma occurrence and metastasis.Presently, the two theories about the source of liver cancer stem cells are mature hepatocytes' dedifferentiation and hepatic stem cells' blocked differentiation.Side population cell sorting and different surface antigen labeling are general sorting methods of hepatocarcinoma stem cells.Targeting the liver cancer stem cells population provides an effective way to the treatments of liver neoplasms.

Objective To summarize and analyze regularities in clinical use of acupoint application for headache. Method Fifth version Chinese Medical Classics database was searched. Thirty-three library-stored ancient books were searched manually. The ancient literature included for the study was sorted out. Descriptive statistical analysis was made of classification, point selection, used medicine, excipients and dosage forms for acupoint application for headache. Result A total of 51 pieces of literature was included. Statistical analysis showed that there were nine kinds of disease names, three types of classification-based treatment, eight acupoints, fifty kinds of medicines, eight hinds of excipients and five kinds of dosage forms. Conclusion Headache is the most basic nomenclature for pains in the head. Classification-based treatment fully embodies the idea of treatment based on disease differentiation mainly in combination with syndrome differentiation. Point Taiyang is the main point for local selection of point. The most frequently selected medicines are those of going through meridians, opening the orifices, unblocking collaterals and having thick smells. Blistering medicines are used cautiously. Scallion juice is most frequently used as excipients. Medicinal cakes are dosage forms most suitable for acupoint application for headache.

Objective To study the effect and safety of endoscopic retrograde appendicitis therapy (ERAT) in treating patients with uncomplicated acute appendicitis. Methods Patients with uncomplicated acute appendicitis were enrolled and divided into ERAT group and LA group received laparoscopic appendectomy. Then compare treat-ment condition, complications and follow-up of the two groups. Results ERAT were completed successfully in all the patients in ERAT group, while one patient underwent a reversion to open appendectomy for technical difficulties in LA group. Mean operative time was (49.7 ± 18.2) min for ERAT group and (68.9 ± 25.9) min for LA group (P <0.05). Fever relief time (1.3 ± 0.5) d, WBC normalization time (2.0 ± 0.9) d, mean bed time (0.1 ± 0.2) d and mean hospital stay (3.3 ± 1.6) d for ERAT group were significantly lower than LA group (P <0.05). 14 patients with intra-luminal appendicoliths (7 of massive appendicoliths, 4 of broken appendicoliths and 3 of broken appendicoliths with luminal stenosis) underwent endoscopic lithotomy successfully in ERAT group, resulting in a success rate of 100.00%. One patient presented perforation after ERAT was cured with conservative treatment. During the follow-up of at least 1/2 year, the rate of recurrence was 10.00% in ERAT group. 1 patient (5.00%) underwent LA at the 5th month after ERAT during the follow-up. Conclusion ERAT is an effective and safe therapy in treating patients with uncomplicated acute appendicitis with advantages of minimal invasiveness and quick recovery. Uncomplicated acute appendicitis with appendicoliths and/or luminal stenosis are the most suitable indications for ERAT.

Objective To study the skills and effects of endoscopic retrograde appendicitis therapy (ERAT) in treating patients with uncomplicated acute appendicitis .Methods We enrolled 21 patients with suspected acute appendicitis who then underwent emergent ERAT between October 2014 and January 2015 .The data of treatment were collected and the operative skills and effects of ERAT were analyzed . Results ERAT was completed successfully in all the patients ,resulting in a success rate of 100% .Mean operation time of ERAT was (49 .7 ± 18 .2) min and mean hospital stay was (3 .3 ± 1 .6)d .Cannulation of the appendix lumen was the most critical step of ERAT ,and cannulation time [(5 .7 ± 4 .9)min , P< 0 .05] was shortened significantly by the use of LoopTip guidewire . Fourteen patients with intraluminal appendicoliths (7 of massive appendicoliths , 4 of sand‐like appendicoliths and 3 of sand‐like appendicoliths with luminal stenosis ) underwent endoscopic lithotomy successfully with balloon or basket ,with the success rate of 100% .One patient who presented perforation after appendicolith removal by basket was cured with conservative treatment .Appendix stent was inserted ,then pulled out after 1 week in 9 patients ,while no complaint or complication of the stent was observed .Operation time of ERAT shortened with the increase of case number .Conclusion ERAT is an effective and safe therapy for treating patients with uncomplicated acute appendicitis .The high success rate and safety of ERAT will be achieved by selecting suitable instruments for cannulation and appendicolith removal ,deciding suitable indications for stenting ,and accumulating of operative cases .

Objective To observe the effects of betulinic acid (BA) on proliferation of human hepatoma stem cell;To discuss its anti-cancer mechanism from the aspects of cell cycle and cell apoptosis. Methods HepG2 stem cells were cultivated in vitro and testified the self-renewal capacity. The effects of BA in concentration of 40, 20, 10, 5, 2.5, 1.25μmol/L on the cell vitality of cultured human liver cancer stem cells for 24 and 48 hours were measured with CCK-8 method. The human hepatoma stem cell line HepG2 was administrated by BA at concentrations of 40, 20, 10, 5μmol/L for 48 hours, and cell cycle and apoptosis rate were measured by flow cytometry. Results BA could inhibit HepG2 stem cell proliferation obviously with dose-effect relationship. BA influenced cell cycle, and induced tumor stem cell apoptosis. 40μmol/L BA blocked cell cycle in S phase, and cell apoptosis rate reached 10.86%. Conclusion BA has obvious inhibitory effects on proliferation of HepG2 liver cancer stem cell, which probably plays a part in anti-cancer by influencing cell cycle and inducing cell apoptosis.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the consistency of HER2 gene status before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer by FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization) and IHC (immunohistochemistry) techniques,and analyze the factor of the difference in the result and the feasibility of HER2 gene tested by FISH in the neoadjuvant chemotherapy breast cancer patients.Methods FISH and IHC for HER2 gene expression status was performed on the archival paraffin-embedded sections of breast cancer tissues before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy from 135 Chinese female patients,x2 test of paired comparison of enumeration data and Kappa analysis were used to compare the difference and consistency of this two techniques.ResultsThe detection rate of HER2 status in punctured cancer tissues before neoadjuvant chemotherapy by FISH and HER2 did not show statistical difference in our research while the opposite result were showed in cancer tissues after neoadjuvant chemotherapy.Moreover,the two techniques of HER2 test were less concordant in patients accepted taxanes neoadjuvant chemotherapy than CAF treatment.ConclusionsThe consistency of FISH and IHC techniques of cancer tissues before neoadjuvant chemotherapy gained advantage compared to the ones after neoadjuvant chemotherapy.Patients received neoadjuvant chemotherapy especially taxanes should take the test of HER2 gene status by FISH technique.

Objective To study the changes of the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values and the association with serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) in prostate cancer patients. Methods Diffusion-weighted echo-planar imaging (EPI) sequences were performed in 47 patients with biopsy proved locally confined prostate cancer,age ranged from 56 to 86 years.t-PSA range,f-PSA range and F/T range in serum of all patients were 1.41-603.16 ng/ml,0.10-12.29 ng/ml and 0.01-0.36,respectively.The patients'clinical staging were 2 cases of stage A,18 cases of stage B and 27 cases of stage C,among which 1 cases were well differentiated (Gleason 2-4), 23 were moderately differentiated (Gleason 5-7) and 23 were poorly differentiated(Gleason 8-10),respectively.Images were obtained with a diffusion factor of 800 s/mm2.According to the pathological results obtained by ultrasound guided systemic biopsy,the locations of the prostate cancerous region were marked as one or more of the sextants.The ADC values of every region and whole gland were measured and analyzed with ROC curve.Correlations between the ADC and t-PSA,f-PSA,F/T ratios were analyzed.Results Acceptable images for ADC measurement were obtained in all cases.The mean ADC values of cancerous and noncancerous regions in 47 prostate patients were(1.29±0.28)×10-3mm2/s and (1.78+0.32)×10-3mm2/s and significant difference was noted in ADC values between cancerous and noncancerous regions(t=13.58,P＜0.01).Negative correlation was found between the ADC values and t-PSA,f-PSA,(γ=-0.353,P＜0.01;γ=-O.401.P＜0.01).There were no significant associations between the ADC values and F/T(γ=-0.123,P＞0.05). Conclusions The ADC values in cancerous regions were negatively correlated with t-PSA,f-PSA. Measurement of ADCs,combined with serum PSA,might be useful to accurate location and preoperative assessment of tumor.

Objective To retrospectively analyze the treatment results and side effects of postoperative chemoradiotherapy and postoperative radiotherapy of thoracic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (EPC) with positive lymph nodes.Methods Three hundred and four patients of thoracic EPC were initially treated with three-field lymphadenectomy, with pathological positive lymph nodes and without distant metastases;and randomly divided into two groups:140 patients of the simple postoperative radiotherapy (RT) and 164 patients of postoperative chemoradiotherapy (CRT).The median total dose was 50 Gy.The regimen of concurrent chemotherapy included cisplatin and taxol, and the intermission was 21 days;the median cycles were 2.35.Results The 3-year overall survival rates were 65.7% of CRT and 52.8% of RT (χ2=6.90,P=0.009), and The 3-year disease-free survival rates were 62.5% of CRT and 52.8% of RT (χ2=4.75,P=0.029).The incidences of the supraclavicular lymph-node metastases were 1.8% and 7.1%(χ2=5.21,P=0.022), respectively;and the incidences of distant metastases were 18.3% and 27.9%(χ2=3.94,P=0.047), respectively;and the incidences of overall metastases and recurrences were 27.4% and 39.3%(χ2=4.80,P=0.028), respectively.Early side effects included granulopenia (96.3% and 32.1%,χ2=140.31,P=0.000), radiation-induced esophagitis (37.2% and 26.4%,χ2=4.01,P=0.045),and gastrointestinal toxicity (23.2% and 5.0%,χ2=19.77,P=0.000).Late side effects were 6.1% and 5.0%(χ2=0.17,P=0.678), respectively.Conclusions Postoperative chemoradiotherapy of thoracic EPC with positive lymph nodes can improve the overall survival and disease-free survival, decrease the incidence of the supraclavicular metastases, the distant metastases, the total metastases and recurrences.More severe early side effects were observed in chemoradiotherapy than in the radiotherapy group,but well tolerated.

Objective:To investigate the site and characteristic ofp53 gene mutations in familial or early-onset breast cancer patients in part population of southern China.Methods:A total of 150 patients with familial and early-onset breast cancer in parts population of southern China were enrolled.Genomic DNA was isolated from each peripheral blood sample,and the entire coding sequence and exon and intron splicing region of p53 gene were amplificated by PCR in the 150 patients.The mutation analysis were detected by denaturing high performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC) and confirmed by DNA sequence analysis.Results:In the 150 patients with familial and early-onset breast cancer,6 mutations including one novel pathogenic mutation 869_888 ins20 (insert mutation) and 5 previously reported pathogenic mutations (deletion mutation 643_660de118 and 4 missense mutation 91G＞A,215C＞G,537T＞G,743G＞A) were identified in p53 gene encoding region in 9 patients of breast cancer.Moreover,one same sense mutation 141G＞A in exon 4,one 16 bases deletion in intron 3,and 9 single nucleotide polymorphisms in p53 gene introns were also identified.The total mutation frequency ofp53 gene in 150 patients with familial breast cancer and early-onset breast cancer from part population of southern China was 6.00％,and the mutation frequency of familial breast cancer and early-onset breast cancer was 6.81％ and 6.25％,respectively.Conclusion:The total mutation frequency ofp53 gene in 150 patients with familial breast cancer and early-onset breast cancer from partpopulation of southern China is higher than the frequency previously reported.The pathogenicity of the novel mutations (insert mutation) 869_888ins20 will be confirmed by function analysis in the future study.The deletion mutation 643_660de118 enriches the p53 gene mutation database among Chinese population,which is probably the specific mutation of breast cancer in Chinese population.

Objective To discuss the feasibility and effectiveness of transcatheter implantation of double-ring aortic valve stent through puncturing the tip of the heart under thoracotomy.Methods A novel double-ring aortic valve stent was independently designed by the authors.Three healthy goats were selected for this study.A small incision on the left anterolateral thoracic wall was made to expose the cardiac apex,than the puncturing of the left ventricular apex was performed to establish the working pathway.Guided by fluoroscopy,along a hard guide wire a double-ring aortic valve stent was inserted through a 22-French sheath to the site above the aortic valve.By utilizing the opened outer ring of the stent,the double-ring aortic valve stent was accurately placed at the bottom of the aortic valve sinus.Then,the balloon was inflated and the stent was released to substitute the original aortic valve of the experimental goat.The experiment results were evaluated immediately after the procedure.Results Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) was successfully accomplished in all the three experimental goats.DSA was performed immediately after the procedure and anatomy evaluation indicated that the position of the implanted artificial aortic valve was satisfactory,which could replace the work of original valve.Conclusion It is technically feasible and clinically effective to use this novel double-ring aortic valve stent to perform TAVI through transapical route by puncturing the left ventricular apex.