Objective To explore the effect of enhanced CT and enhanced MRI image fusion technique in making treatment decisions for primary liver cancer (PLC). Methods Clinical data of 55 patients with PLC who were treated in the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University between January 2013 and January 2015 were analyzed retrospectively. There were 42 males and 13 females, aged from 18-84 and with a median age of 52 years old. The informed consents of all patients were obtained and the local ethical committee approval was received. All the patients underwent enhanced CT and gadolinium ethoxybenzyl-diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA) enhanced MRI. CT and MRI images were fused by using flexible registration method based on finite element. Treatment decisions for these patients were discussed and made by HCC multidisciplinary consultation group. Discussion was conducted twice for each patient. The first discussion was based on enhanced CT images and the second was based on fused images. Changes of treatment decisions were observed and analyzed. Results Treatment decisions based on enhanced CT images included radical treatment in 8 cases, palliative surgical treatment in 35 cases and systemic medicine treatment in 12 cases. Treatment decisions based on fused images included radical treatment in 4 cases, palliative surgical treatment in 36 cases and systemic medicine treatment in 15 cases. Compared with those based on enhanced CT images, the conversion rate of radical treatment, palliative surgical treatment and systemic medicine treatment based on fused images was respectively 50%(4/8), 3%(1/35) and 25%(3/12). Conclusions Enhanced CT and Gd-EOB-DTPA enhanced MRI image fusion can change the treatment decisions for some patients with HCC, and it is of certain significance in optimizing the treatment protocols.

Objective To evaluate the effect of conversion from mycophenolic acid (MPA) to mizoribine (MZR) in renal transplant recipients with gastrointestinal tract (GI) symptoms.Methods A total of 355 renal transplant recipients with GI symptoms caused by MPA administration were enrolled from April 2015 to March 2017 in 25 different renal transplant centers in China.The symptomatic improvement of GI before (baseline) and after conversion to MZR (1,2,4 weeks) was assessed by each item of GI symptoms indication.In addition,the efficacy and safety of the conversion therapy during 12 months were determined.Results Patients showed improvement in GI symptoms including diarrhea,abdominal pain,abdominal distention and stomachache after conversion to MZR 1,2,4 weeks (P＜0.05).In patients with different severity of diarrhea,conversion to MZR therapy significantly improved diarrhea (P＜0.05).During 12 months,no patient experienced clinical immune rejection.We did not observe any infections,leucopenia and other serious side effects.Conclusion MZR could markedly improve GI symptoms caused by MPA administration in renal transplant recipients.

In recent years, the genome editing technologies based on the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated protein (CRISPR/Cas) have developed rapidly. The system can use homologous directed recombination (HDR) to achieve precise editing that it medicated, but the efficiency is extremely low, which limits its application in agriculture and biomedical fields. As an emerging genome editing technology, the CRISPR/Cas-mediated DNA base editing technologies can achieve targeted mutations of bases without generating double-strand breaks, and has higher editing efficiency and specificity compared with CRISPR/Cas-mediated HDR editing. At present, cytidine base editors (CBEs) that can mutate C to T, adenine base editors (ABEs) that can mutate A to G, and prime editors (PEs) that enable arbitrary base conversion and precise insertion and deletion of small fragments, have been developed. In addition, glycosylase base editors (GBEs) capable of transitioning from C to G and double base editors capable of editing both A and C simultaneously, have been developed. This review summarizes the development, advances, advantages and limitations of several DNA base editors. The successful applications of DNA base editing technology in biomedicine and agriculture, together with the prospects for further optimization and selection of DNA base editors, are discussed.
Agriculture ; CRISPR-Cas Systems/genetics* ; DNA/genetics* ; Gene Editing ; Technology