Objective To compare the effects,stress reaction and concentration of ropivacaine in umbilical cord blood of patients who accepted combined spinal epidural analgesia or patient controlled epidural labor analgesia in latent and active phase.Methods After approved by the ethics committee and informed consents from 80 nulliparous parturients who were admitted to Beijing Friendship Hospital,Capital University of Medical Sciences between January to June 2009,and who were term,single,cephalic presentation delivery and ASA Ⅰ-Ⅱ,were divided into two groups randomly:latent phase group (Group L,cervical dilation 0.5-2.5 cm,n=40) and active phase group (Group A,cervical dilation ≥3.0 cm,n =40).Ropivacaine 2 mg and fentanyl 10 μg was administered in subarachnoid space of all patients.Then,patient controlled epidural infusion of 0.1 ％ ropivacaine plus fentanyl 2 μg/ml were administered.Pain scores (visual analogue score,VAS),lower extremity muscle strength,duration of labor,delivery mode,total dosage used,maternal satisfaction,Apgar score (1 min and 5 min) were evaluated; concentration of ropivacaine (high performance liquid chromategraphy) in cord blood,and concentration of cortisol (radioimmunoassay) in maternal venous blood and cord blood were detected.Forty nulliparous parturients without labor analgesia were taken as control group (Group C).Chi-square test and one way analysis of variance was applied for statistical analysis.Results (1) VAS in Group L and Group A were lower than that of Group C when cervix dilated at 7.0-8.0 cm (2.9± 1.4,2.6± 1.5 vs 9.2±0.7,F=201.50,P＜0.01) and fully dilated (4.7±2.2,3.6±2.0 vs 9.1±0.7,F =-62.07,P＜0.01,respectively).(2) Tbe concentration of cortisol in maternal venous blood right after delivery was higher than that before analgesia in all groups,and the change in group C was significantly greater than that in group L and group A [(902±172) μg/L vs (761±125) μg/L and (731±184) μg/L,t =-3.491 and-3.483,all P＜0.01],moreover there was no significant difference between group L and group A (P＞0.05).There were no difference in cortisol concentration of umbilical blood among the three groups [(168±46) μg/L,(159±49) μg/L and (170±86) μg/L,F=0.23,P＞0.05].(3) There was no difference between ropivacaine concentration in umbilical blood of group L and group A [(0.21±0.10) mg/L vs (0.20±0.03) mg/L,t=0.557,P＞0.05].(4) No significant differences was shown among the three groups in the duration of first and second stage of labor,rate of augmentation,neonatal birth weight,Apgar score at 1 min and 5 min (all P＞0.05).Compared with group C,group L and group A had higher rate of vaginal delivery (52.5％ vs 75.0％ and 85.0％,P＜0.05) and lower rate of cesarean section (45.0％ vs 20.0％ and 15.0％,P＜0.05).The duration of analgesia in group L was longer than that in group A [(215±143) min vs (118±50) min,t =3.722,P＜0.01] and the dosage of fentanyl was also higher [(28± 11) μg vs (17±6) μg,t =5.084,P＜0.01].Conclusions Labor analgesia with combined spinal epidural could decrease cesarean section rate and maternal stress reaction without prolonging the duration of labor and inhibiting neonatal stress reaction.Labor analgesia start from latent phase would not increase the concentration of ropivacaine in cord blood.

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the accuracy and clinical significance of clinical complete response (cCR) after neoadjuvant themoradiotherapy for locally advanced rectal cancer.

METHODSLocally advanced rectal cancer patients who received neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy following radical resection were retrospectively assessed for tumor response during 2005 to 2014 from the database of colorectal cancer. The concomitant preoperative chemoradiation consisted of 50 Gy radiation, fractionated within 5 weeks and 5-FU combined with oxaliplatin. Endorectal ultrasound and MRI were applied to preoperative staging, and postoperative gross pathologic inspection was retrospectively employed to evaluate the status of clinical complete response(cCR).

RESULTSA total of 227 patients undergoing radical surgery were enrolled in the study. Complete pathological response (ypT0N0, pCR) was found in 40 patients(17.6%) by postoperative pathologic examination while the rate of node involved in ypT0 patients was 11.1%. The preoperative rectal MRI was more sensitive to correlate ypT0 than endorectal ultrasound and gross pathologic inspection(60.0% vs 19.4% and 17.8%), but the accuracy and specificity showed no significant differences among these three tests. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis revealed preoperative MRI evaluation of cT0 might predict ypT0 independently(OR=4.975, 95% CI: 1.073 to 23.067, P=0.040).

CONCLUSIONIt is difficult to diagnose the primary tumor to be a cCR status based on preoperative MRI, EUS, or ulceration of rectal mucosa, and further to predict pCR. Preoperative MRI is more sensitive. The strategy of "wait and see" for cCR patients after neoadjuvant chemoradiation should be seriously considered in the decision-making before surgery.

Chemoradiotherapy ; Fluorouracil ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Neoadjuvant Therapy ; Neoplasm Staging ; Postoperative Period ; Preoperative Period ; Rectal Neoplasms ; Remission Induction ; Retrospective Studies ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVES: This work aimed to investigate the molecular mechanism of cyclic tensile stress (CTS) stimulating autophagy in human periodontal ligament cells (hPDLCs). METHODS: hPDLCs were isolated and cultured from normal periodontal tissues. hPDLCs were loaded with tensile stress by force four-point bending extender to simulate the autophagy of hPDLCs induced by orthodontic force du-ring orthodontic tooth movement. XMU-MP-1 was used to inhibit the Hippo signaling pathway to explore the role of the Hippo-YAP signaling pathway in activating hPDLC autophagy by tensile stress. The expression levels of autophagy-related genes (Beclin-1, LC3, and p62) in hPDLCs were detected by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Western blot was used to detect the expression levels of autophagy-related proteins (Beclin-1, LC3-Ⅱ/LC3-Ⅰ, and p62) and Hippo-YAP pathway proteins (active-YAP and p-YAP) in hPDLCs. Immunofluorescence was used to locate autophagy-related proteins (LC3-Ⅱand p62) and Hippo-YAP pathway proteins (active-YAP) of hPDLCs. RESULTS: CTS-activated autophagy in hPDLCs and expression of autophagy-related proteins initially increased and then decreased; it began to increase at 30 min, peaked at 3 h, and decreased (P<0.05). CTS increased the expression of active-YAP protein and decreased the expression of p-YAP protein (P<0.05). When XMU-MP-1 inhibited the Hippo-YAP signaling pathway (P<0.05), active-YAP protein was promoted to enter the nucleus and autophagy expression was enhanced (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS The Hippo-YAP signaling pathway is involved in the regulation of autophagy activation in hPDLCs under CTS.
Humans ; Hippo Signaling Pathway ; Periodontal Ligament/metabolism* ; Beclin-1/metabolism* ; Cells, Cultured ; Autophagy