Objective To investigate the safety and feasibility of endovascular stent angioplasty in treating symptomatic stenosis of middle cerebral artery.Methods Endovascular angioplasty with coronary stents was performed in 27 patients with symptomatic stenosis of middle cerebral artery.The clinical results were reviewed and analyzed.Results Of the total 27 patients,successful placement of the coronary stents Was achieved in 24.Angiography immediately after the procedure showed that the stenotic degree of the diseased artery was markedly decreased from preoperative (80±19)%to postoperative (8±4)%,the improvement was very obvious.Percutaneous transcatheter angioplasty had to be employed in two cases because of the failure of stent placement.A mean follow-up period of 18 months was carried out.During the following up period no transient cerebral ischemia attack occurred in 25 patients and no newly-developed cerebral infarction in region fed by the responsible vessels occurred either.Re=irrigation cerebral hemorrhage was seen in one patient,which occurred three hours after the placement of the stent.In one case the placed stent fell off and immigrated into the siphon of internal carotid artery,and the displaced stent Was took out later with a catching apparatus.In another case re-stenosis occurred six months after the stenting.Conclusion Percutaneous endovaacular stent angioplasty is a safe and effective treatment for symptomatic stenosis of middle cerebral artery,although its long-term results need to be further evaluated.

Objective:To evaluate the efficacy of artificial liver blood purification system in the treatment of severe and critical patients with corona virus disease 2019(COVID-19), and to observe the dynamic changes of lymphocyte subsets and cytokines after treatment.Methods:A total of six patients with COVID-19 admitted to the ward of public health center of Henan Provincial People′s Hospital from January 31 to February 18, 2020 were enrolled, including three severe cases and three critical cases. The protocals of artificial liver treatment were developed according to the patients′ conditions, and the patients′ epidemiological history, clinical characteristics, and laboratory examination data were retrospectively analyzed. At the same time, dynamic changes of lymphocyte subsets and cytokines were detected before and after artificial liver treatment.Results:By February 24, 2020, two severe patients were discharged after cured, and one case was discharged after improved, with an average stay of 19 days. Two critical patients were still hospitalized and one died. Three severe patients were all treated with hemofiltration, while two critical patients were treated with hemofiltration plus plasma exchange, and one was treated with continuous bedside hemofiltration.Among six patients, the ratio of neutrophils to lymphocytes before treatment were 6.42, 2.63, 15.00, 15.09, 12.04 and 30.41, respectively. After treatment, the ratio of neutrophils to lymphocytes became 4.77, 6.05, 4.86, 5.43, 32.77 and 23.46, respectively.The absolute numbers of lymphocytes in six patients before treatment were low, with a median of 382/μL. After treatment of artificial liver, the absolute numbers of lymphocytes increased, with a median of 476/μL. Cytokines were detected in three critical patients, and the interleukin 6 (IL-6) levels in two cases were 26 042.00 ng/L and 282.03 ng/L, respectively before treatment. After treatment, the levels decreased to 226.85 ng/L and 26.15 ng/L, respectively. IL-6 continued increasing from 30.14 ng/L to 709.25 ng/L in one another critical patient, who eventually died.Conclusions:In severe and critical patients with COVID-19, artificial liver treatment can reduce inflammation and increase the absolute numbers of lymphocytes and the subsets. The IL-6 level may be correlated with disease progression and may be a useful prognostic factor for early identification of severe and critical COVID-19.

Objective:To explore the characteristics of brain dynamic activity in patients with schizophrenia by using functional magnetic resonance imaging(fMRI).Methods:Forty-three patients with schizophrenia and 31 normal controls were recruited and under fMRI scanning.The Positive and Negative Symptom Scale(PANS)was used to assess the severity of clinical symptoms.The DPABI software were used to compute dReHo and dFC.Granger causality analysis was used to calculate the effective connectivity between the significant brain regions of dReHo and the whole brain.Two sample t-test was performed to compare the difference of dReHo and dFC be-tween patients with schizophrenia and normal controls.Results:The dReHo of left postcentral gyrus(LPG)(P＜0.01,cluster-level FWE corrected)in patients with schizophrenia was decreased.The Dfc was increased between left postcentral and left middle frontal gyrus,left superior medial frontal gyrus,right calcarine,left medial cingulum gyrus,right supplementary motor area(P＜0.01,uncorrected).Compared with normal controls,patients with schiz-ophrenia showed decreased effective connectivity from LPG to right putamen.Conclusion:It suggests that the ab-normal functional activity of the postcentral gyrus mightcontribute to the neural physiopathology in patients with schizophrenia.