Objective To investigate the application of video-mediastinoscopic biopsy and treatment for pleural effusion. Methods Thirty-two patients with pleural effusion received mediastinoscopic biopsy or treatment. The patients were maintained at a lateral decubitus. A 2 cm incision was made along the midaxillary line for introducing the mediastinoscope. The pleural fluid was drawn out and exploration with biopsy was conducted under mediastinoscope. For 25 patients with malignant hydrothorax, talcum powder was applied for pleurodesis. Results The operation time was 30~70 min (mean, 42 min). A confirmative diagnosis was obtained by video-mediastinoscopy in all the 32 patients, including adencarcinoma in 22 patients, poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma in 2, invasive thymoma in 1, tuberculosis in 5, and inflammation in 2. All the operations were successful and the patients recovered smoothly without severe postoperative complications. Conclusions Video-mediastinoscopy is one of effective methods for biopsy and treatment of pleural effusion.

Objective To study the application of video-mediastinoscopy in the preoperative staging of lung cancer and the diagnosis and treatment of mediastinal tumors or malignant pleural effusion.Methods Video-mediastinoscopy was performed in 128 cases under general anesthesia and single lumen endotracheal intubation,including 48 cases of cervical mediastinoscopy,33 cases of parasternal mediastinoscopy,and 47 cases of intercostal mediastinoscopy.Results The diagnosis was clarified under video-mediastinoscopy in 125 cases,including 38 cases of adenocarcinoma,33 cases of metastatic squamous cell carcinoma,9 cases of tuberculosis,8 cases of lymph node inflammation,7 cases of small cell carcinoma,6 cases of squamous cell carcinoma of the thymus,5 cases of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma,4 cases of neuroblastoma,4 cases of thymoma,3 cases of pleural mesothelioma,2 cases of Hodgkin's lymphoma,2 cases of neurilemmoma,1 case of sarcoidosis,1 case of hyperplasia of thymus gland,1 case of carcinoid,and 1 case of primitive neuroectodermal tumor.In 1 case,the mediastinal lymph nodes were diagnosed as reactive hyperplasia by video-mediastinoscopy,and then were confirmed as squamous cell carcinoma by postoperative pathological examination.Two cases were confirmatively diagnosed as having lung cancer in the left inferior lobe by brochoscopy, and video-mediastinoscopy revealed the metastasis to right paratracheal lymph nodes.Complications included 1 case of pneumothorax,1 case of hemorrhage,2 cases of recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis,and 2 cases of superficial incision infection. Conclusions Video-mediastinoscopy is not only an important examination for preoperative staging of lung cancer and diagnosis of mediastinal diseases,but also a surgical treatment for mediastinal tumors and malignant pleural effusion.

The number of patients with allergic rhinitis (AR) have been increasing in the world. Establishment of AR model in mice is an important method for the study of this disease. However, there is still no consensus standard for the modeling methods, selection of allergens and adjuvants, and evaluation parameter of AR modeling. Here, we introduce the advancement of AR mouse model in recent years from the above, and provide evidence of references for the standardized process of AR mouse model establishment.

The latest research findings on bidirectional regulation of neuro-immunity through traditional neural circuits shed new light on the theoretical basis of the role of vidian neurectomy (VN). This article aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of VN, including the history of VN, the principle of neuroimmuno-interaction, the applied anatomy of VN as well as the methods of transnasal endoscopic surgery. Additionally, we introduce the concept of the nose-brain axis, which was proposed based on the advancement in the area of neuro-immune interactions.

Purpose: This study aims to comprehensively evaluate the clinical efficacy of chemotherapy or endocrine therapy maintenance in metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients. Materials and Methods: The meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) and propensity score matching of multicenter cohort study evaluated MBC patients who underwent first-line chemotherapy or endocrine therapy maintenance. This study is registered with PROSPERO: CRD42017071858 and ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04258163. Results: A total of 2,867 patients from 15 RCTs and 760 patients from multicenter cohort were included. The results from meta-analysis showed that chemotherapy maintenance improved progression-free survival (PFS) (hazard ratio [HR], 0.63; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.54 to 0.73; p < 0.001; moderate-quality evidence) and overall survival (OS) (HR, 0.87; 95% CI 0.78 to 0.97; p=0.016; high-quality evidence) than observation. In the cohort study, for hormone receptor–positive MBC patients, chemotherapy maintenance improved PFS (HR, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.52 to 0.85; p < 0.001) and OS (HR, 0.55; 95% CI 0.42 to 0.73; p < 0.001) compared with observation, and endocrine therapy maintenance also improved PFS (HR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.53 to 0.80; p < 0.001) and OS (HR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.44 to 0.69; p < 0.001). There were no differences between chemotherapy and endocrine therapy maintenance in PFS and OS (all p > 0.05). Regardless of the continuum or switch maintenance therapy, showed prolonged survival in MBC patients who were response to first-line treatment. Conclusion This study provided evidences for survival benefits of chemotherapy and endocrine therapy maintenance in MBC patients, and there was no difference efficacy between chemotherapy and endocrine therapy maintenance for hormone receptor–positive patients.

Objective : To study the effect of EFHD2 protein deletion in Sertoli cells on Occludin，a component of tight junction protein and the localization and expression of EF-hand domain family member D2 (EFHD2) in mouse testis． Methods : Total RNA and protein were extracted from adult mice's heart ，liver ，spleen ，lung ，kidney， brain and testis tissues．The mRNA and protein levels of EFHD2 in each organ tissue were detected by qRT-PCR and Western blot．Immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry detected the localization and expression of EF- HD2 in testicular tissues．SiRNA interference was used to reduce EFHD2 in Sertoli cells to detect Occludin protein expression. Results : qRT-PCR showed that the expression of EFHD2 was the highest in the testis．Western blot results showed that the expression level increased in testis tissue．Indirect immunofluorescence and immunohisto- chemistry results showed that the protein was mainly distributed in Sertoli cells and co-localized with cytoskeletal Vimentin，indicating that the protein was expressed in Sertoli cells．After the decrease of EFHD2 protein expres- sion，Occludin protein expression also decreased． Conclusion The expression of EFHD2 protein in the testis is relatively high，mainly distributed in Sertoli cells of the testis，co-localized with Vimentin，and can affect the nor- mal expression of tight junction protein Occludin．It is suggested that EFHD2 can promote and maintain the junction structure of Sertoli cells and provide a stable microenvironment for spermatogenesis.