Child, Preschool ; Chondromatosis, Synovial ; diagnosis ; diagnostic imaging ; surgery ; Diagnostic Errors ; Female ; Humans ; Tibial Fractures ; diagnosis ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

OBJECTIVETo investigate the correlation of the testis volume and reproductive hormone level with the results of testicular sperm aspiration (TESA) in non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) patients, and to explore the cut-off value of the testis volume and reproductive hormone level in predicting the results of TESA so as to provide reliable information for the diagnosis and treatment of NOA.

METHODSWe enlisted 121 NOA patients in this study, divided them into a sperm group and a non-sperm group based on the results of TESA, and measured their testis volumes and reproductive hormone levels.

RESULTSThe left testis volume, the right testis volume, and the levels of prolactin (PRL), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinising hormone (LH), estradiol (E2) and total testosterone (T) in the non-sperm and sperm groups were (7.07 +/- 1.06) ml vs (11.75 +/- 1.38) ml, (7.37 +/- 1.37) ml vs (11.70 +/- 1.98) ml, (12.43 +/- 11.69) ng/ml vs (9.60 +/- 4.55) ng/ml, (15.77 +/- 10.84) mIU/ml vs (8.01 +/- 7.43) mIU/ml, (6.12 +/- 2.92) mIU/ml vs (8.11 +/- 20.11) mIU/ml, (119.36 +/- 43.52) pmol/L vs (141.12 +/- 48.33) pmol/L, and (11.43 +/- 4.05) nmol/L vs (12.46 +/- 4.60) nmol/L, respectively. The mean levels of serum FSH and PRL were significantly higher in the non-sperm than in the sperm group. Although the mean testis volume of the former was less than that of the latter, there were no significant differences between the two groups, and nor were any significant differences in age and the levels of E2 and T. The cut-off value of the testis volume was 9 ml, with sensitivity of 93.8%/89.6% (left/right) and specificity of 100%/94.3% (left/right). The area under curve (AUC) of the left testis volume was 0.984 and that of the right was 0.961, indicating a high diagnostic accuracy. The cut-off value of the serum FSH level was 8.18 mIU/ml, with a sensitivity of 71.2% and a specificity of 75.0%. The AUC of the FSH level was 0.743, suggestive of a moderate diagnostic accuracy.

CONCLUSIONThe testis volume and FSH level are important for predicting the TESA results of NOA patients, and the former has even a higher diagnostic accuracy than the latter.

Adult ; Azoospermia ; pathology ; physiopathology ; Follicle Stimulating Hormone ; analysis ; Humans ; Luteinizing Hormone ; analysis ; Male ; Organ Size ; Sperm Retrieval ; Testis ; anatomy & histology ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo explore the effects of pre-acupuncture and immediate acupuncture on kidney function and oxygen free radical metabolism in rats with simulated weightlessness.

METHODSTwenty male clean-grade Wister rats were randomly divided into a normal control group, a model group, a pre-acupuncture group and an immediate acupuncture group, 5 rats in each one. The rats in the normal control group did not receive any treatment but free activities for 4 weeks. The rats in the rest groups received 4-week tail suspension to establish the model of simulated weightlessness. One week before the tail suspension, the rats in the pre-acupuncture group were treated with electroacupuncture at "Shenshu" (BL 23), "Pishu" (BL 20) and "Sanyinjiao" (SP 6) for 30 min per treatment, once a day for 7 days. The rats in the immediate acupuncture group received tail suspension and acupuncture at the same time; during the tail suspension, the electroacupuncture was applied at "Shenshu" (BL 23), "Pishu" (BL 20) and "Sanyinjiao" (SP 6) for 30 min per treatment, once every other day for 14 days. The colorimetric method was used to measure the content of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) in serum as well as activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) and content of malonaldehyde (MDA) in renal tissue in each group.

RESULTSCompared with the normal control group, the content of BUN in the model group was increased significantly (P<0.01), the activity of SOD and GSH-PX in nephridial tissue was significantly reduced (both P<0.01), and the content of MDA was increased significantly (P<0.05). Compared with the model group, the content of BUN in the pre-acupuncture group and immediate acupuncture group was significantly reduced (P<0.01, P<0.05), the activity of GSH-PX in the pre-acupuncture group was obviously increased (P<0.05) and the content of MDA in the immediate acupuncture group was increased significantly (P<0.01). Compared with the immediate acupuncture group, the content of MDA in the pre-acupuncture group was lower (P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONThe pre-acupuncture and immediate acupuncture both have the capacity to improve the kidney function and anti-oxygen free radical injury in rats with simulated weightlessness, however, the capacity to increase the protection ability of the kidney and eliminate free radical in the pre-acupuncture group is superior to that in the immediate acupuncture group, which is likely to be related with improving antioxidant ability of kidney.

Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Animals ; Antioxidants ; metabolism ; Humans ; Kidney ; metabolism ; Kidney Diseases ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; therapy ; Male ; Malondialdehyde ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; metabolism ; Space Flight ; Superoxide Dismutase ; metabolism ; Weightlessness ; adverse effects

The purpose of this study was to explore the clinical value of the platelet antibody screening and typing in platelets transfusion by using microcolumn gel immunoassay (MGIA). The platelets antigen-antibody reactions including the antibody screen and blood crossmatch were detected by MGIA. The results indicated that the detection of platelet antibody showed positive in 30 cases of aplastic anemia (AA), 11 cases of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), 24 out of 25 cases of leukemia and 1 out of cases of other diseases, while detection of platelet antibody showed negative in 20 normal volunteer donors. The number of platelet antibody crossmatch coincidence in 112 specimens of AA, 42 specimens of MDS and 95 specimens of leukemia were 45, 20 and 40, the coincidence rates were 40.18%, 47.62% and 42.11%. The mean corrected count increment (CCI) in 20 patients received platelet transfusion many times was 18.2 after crossmatch and 4.7 before crossmatch. It is concluded that the positive rate of platelet antibody screening is very high in patients with hematologic malignancies, the coincidence rate of platelet antibody crossmatch in 249 blood samples is between 40% and 48%, and the efficiency of using crossmatched platelets in clinic is enhanced significantly.
Anemia, Aplastic ; immunology ; Antigens, Human Platelet ; immunology ; Blood Grouping and Crossmatching ; Blood Platelets ; immunology ; Hematologic Neoplasms ; immunology ; Humans ; Immunoassay ; methods ; Isoantibodies ; blood ; immunology ; Platelet Transfusion ; methods

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the effectiveness and safety of the combination chemotherapy of capecitabine (X) with fractionated administration of cisplatin (C) in Chinese patients with advanced gastric cancer (AGC).

METHODS141 patients with AGC were enrolled between July 2002 and August 2004. All patients had measurable tumor according to the criteria of RECIST, Karnofsky performance status > or = 60, adequate bone marrow, renal and hepatic functions. Prior radiotherapy or adjuvant chemotherapy was not permitted. Patients received oral administration of capecitabine at a dose of 1000 mg/m(2) twice a day on D1-D14, and intravenous infusion of fractionated cisplatin at a dose of 20 mg/m(2)/day on D1-D5. The regimen was repeated every 3 weeks, totally for 6 cycles.

RESULTSOf the 141 evaluable patients, there were 104 men and 37 women, with a median age of 54 years (range, 23 - 80 years). Metastases before chemotherapy were detected in lymph nodes (46.8%), liver (40.4%), lung (5.7%) and other area (10.6%). The median treatment duration was 6 cycles (range, 3 - 6 cycles). The objective response rate (RR) was 36.2% (51/141). The median follow-up period was 17.5 months. The median time to progress (TTP) was 9.0 months, and the median overall survival (OS) was 12.0 months. The most common treatment-related adverse events (grade 3/4) were: hand-foot syndrome (HFS) (2.1%), leucopenia (0.7%), abnormal alanine transaminase elevation (2.8%). There was no treatment-related death.

CONCLUSIONCapecitabine combined with fractionated cisplatin is highly effective and well tolerated as a first-line treatment for advanced gastric cancer, with comparable results to 5-Fu plus cisplatin combination therapy.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Capecitabine ; Cisplatin ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; Deoxycytidine ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; analogs & derivatives ; Female ; Fluorouracil ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; analogs & derivatives ; Follow-Up Studies ; Foot Dermatoses ; chemically induced ; Hand Dermatoses ; chemically induced ; Humans ; Leukopenia ; chemically induced ; Liver Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; secondary ; Lung Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; secondary ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Staging ; Remission Induction ; Stomach Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Survival Rate ; Vomiting ; chemically induced ; Young Adult

Objective To evaluate the efficacy of flexible ureteroscopy combined with holmium laser lithotripsy for the treatment of subrenal calyx calculus, and comparing with digital flexible ureteroscope and modular flexible ureteroscope with holmium lithotripsy for the difference of the efficacy of the treatment of subrenal calyx calculus. Methods Review of the clinical data of 93 patients with subrenal calyx calculus, of which 48 cases were treated with digital flexible ureteroscope (digital flexible ureteroscope group, DFU group), 45 cases with modular flexible ureteroscope treatment (modular flexible ureteroscope group, MFU group), lithotripsy effect and complications were compared between the two groups. Results The mean operation time, one-session stone-free rate were significantly different between the two groups (P < 0.05). No significant differences in hospital stay, the success rate of looking for calculus, complication and hospitalization expense (P > 0.05). Conclusion With digital flexible ureteroscope and modular flexible ureteroscope treatment of subrenal calyx calculus all are safe and effective. The use of DFU than the use of MFU in the treatment of subrenal calyx calculus operation time is shorter, stone-free rateis higher, the effect is better. There is little difference between their hospitalization expenses, but the use of MFU can reduce the cost of the department.

BACKGROUND: Exosomes have the function of some mesenchymal stem cells. Understanding the substance composition that plays a representative role in mesenchymal stem cell exosomes will provide clues for further exploration of synthetic exosome analogues. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the difference of microRNA expression profiles in exosomes derived from passage 2 and 5 human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUC-MSCs). METHODS: Exosomes in the supernatant of passage 2 and 5 hUC-MSCs were extracted by ultra-high speed centrifugation. The established library was sequenced by using high-throughput sequencing technology. Then we analyzed the sequence results so as to understand the microRNA expression between different groups, and finally did a cluster analysis. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: 427 657 kinds of microRNAs were detected in the exosomes from passage 2 hUC-MSCs, accounting for 68.93% of the total microRNAs detected; and 119283 microRNAs were detected in the exosomes from passage 5 hUC-MSCs, accounting for 19.22% of the total microRNAs detected. There were 73 526 microRNAs shared between the exosomes from passage 2 and passage 5 hUC-MSCs, accounting for 11.85% of the total microRNAs detected. Bioinformatics analysis (cluster analysis) results showed that these miRNAs were likely to be involved in 161 biological processes, including cell repair, immune and anti-aging. The microRNAs in exosomes from passage 2 to passage 5 hUC-MSCs were largely different. Partial miRNAs exhibited significantly reduced copy numbers. The top five microRNAs with a higher amount, including has-miR-146a-5p, has-miR-191-5p, has-miR-493-3p, has-miR-423-5p, and has-miR-134-5p, have the potential to be the component of synthetic exosome analogues.

The drug delivery system with "gatekeeper" is designed to achieve a stable entrapment state of the payload under normal physiological conditions through the gatekeepers. With tumor microenvironment or stimulation of exogenous factors, the gatekeeper is detached or altered to promote the responsive release of the drug. In this paper, we focus on applications of stimuli-responsive linkages and stimuli-responsive groups, and review research progresses of drug delivery system with "gatekeeper" developed over the past 10 years.

In the research on cancer theranostics, most environment-sensitive drug delivery systems can only achieve unidirectional and irreversible responsive changes under pathological conditions, thereby improving the targeting effect and drug release performance of the delivery system. However, such irreversible changes pose potential safety hazards when the dynamically distributed delivery system returns to the blood circulation or transports to the normal physiological environment. Intelligent reversible drug delivery systems can respond to normal physiological and pathological microenvironments to achieve bidirectional and reversible structural changes. This feature will help to precisely control the drug release of the delivery system, prolong the blood circulation time, improve the targeting efficiency, and avoid the potential safety hazards of the irreversible drug delivery system. In this review, we describe the research progress of intelligent reversible drug delivery system from two main aspects: controlled drug release and prolonged blood circulation time/enhanced cellular internalization of drug.

Extracellular acidity has been associated with many pathological states, such as cancer, ischemic stroke, neurotrauma and infection, which makes it an effective target for therapy and diagnosis of such diseases. As a polypeptide vector, pH low insertion peptides (pHLIPs) are endowed with high sensitivity to extracellular acidic environment, which can insert the membrane and deliver payload to pathological cells in a pH dependent manner. Here, theranostic applications of pHLIP in disease, are reviewed in two aspects:pHLIP-mediated single-molecule transporter and nano-sized carrier.