Objective To investigate the effects of remote limb ischemic preconditioning (RLIP) on the lung injury in patients undergoing abdominal aortic aneurysm repair.Methods Sixty-two ASA Ⅱ or Ⅲ patients of both sexes,aged 54-72 yr,with body mass index 21-36 kg/m2,undergoing elective abdominal aortic aneurysm repair,were randomly divided to 2 groups ( n =31 each):control group (group C) and RLIP group.RLIP consisted of two 5-min cycles of left upper limb ischemia induced by a blood pressure cuff placed on the left upper arm and inflated to 200 mm Hg,with an intervening 5 min of reperfusion,during which time the cuff was deflated.RLIP was performed after anesthesia induction and before the start of surgery.Arterial and venous blood samples were taken at 10 min after intubation (T0),and 30 min and 4,8,12 and 24 h after aortic unclamping (T1-5) for blood gas analysis and determination of the concentrations of serum interleukin (IL)-6,tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α,and plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity.The alveolar-arterial oxygen pressure difference (PA-aO2 ) and respiratory index (RI) were calculated.The peak airway pressure (Ppeak),plat airway pressure (Pplat) and positive end expiratory pressure (PEEP) were recorded at the same time points mentioned above to calculate dynamic lung compliance (Cd) and static lung compliance (Cs).The incidence of hypoxemia,extubation time and duration of stay in intensive care unit (IGU) were also recorded.Results Compared with group C,PA-aO2,RI and the concentration of IL-6 were significantly decreased at T3-5,Cs,Cd and SOD activity were significantly increased at T2-5,and the concentrations of TNF-α and MDA were significantly decreased at T2-5 in group RLIP ( P ＜ 0.05).Compared with group C,the incidence of hypoxemia was significantly decreased,and extubation time and duration of stay in ICU were significantly shortened in group RLIP ( P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion RLIP can reduce the lung injury through inhibition of the inflammatory response and lipid peroxidation in patients undergoing abdominal aortic aneurysm repair.

Objective To evaluate the role of necroptosis in intestinal ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury in rats.Methods Thirty-two healthy male Sprague-Dawley rats,weighing 200-220 g,were randomly assigned into 4 groups (n =.8 each) using a random number table:sham operation group (Sham group),I/R group,necroptosis inhibitor necrostatin-1 group (Nec-1 group) and solvent dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) group (group DMSO).Intestinal I/R injury was produced by clamping the superior mesenteric artery for 1 h followed by 24 h reperfusion in rats anesthetized with chloral hydrate.Necrostatin-1 1.0 mg/kg was administered intraperitoneally at 30 min before occlusion in Nec-1 group,while the equal volume of DMSO was given instead in group DMSO.The rats were sacrificed at 24 h of reperfusion and the intestinal tissues were removed for microscopic examination.Intestinal damage was assessed and scored according to Chiu.Blood samples were taken for determination of serum diamine oxidase (DAO) activity.The expression of activitied caspase-3 and receptor-interacting protein 1 (RIP1) in intestinal tissues was detected using Western blot.Results Compared with Sham group,Chiu's score,serum DAO activity,and the expression of activitied caspase-3 and RIP1 was up-regulated in I/R,DMSO and Nec-1 groups.Compared with I/R and DMSO groups,Chiu's score and DAO activity were significantly decreased,the expression of RIP1 was down-regulated,and no significant change was found in the expression of activitied caspase3 in group Nec-1.Conclusion Necroptosis is involved in intestinal I/R injury in rats.

Objective To study the clinical outcomes of robotic extended thymectomy and thoracoscopic extended thymectomy for thymoma patients with myasthenia gravis compared with conventional median sternotomy extended thymectomy.Methods The clinical data of thymoma patients with myasthenia gravis treated by extended thymectomy between June 2013 and June 2016 were retrospectively reviewed.The clinical outcome parameters were compared according to surgical approach.Results 41 thymoma patients with myasthenia gravis,8 cases underwent robotic extended thymecotmy,11 cases underwent thoracoscopic extended thymectomy and 20 underwent median sternotomy extended thymectomy.The resected extension included tumor,thymus tissue and adipose tissue in anterior mediastinum.There were no significant differences between robotic group and thoracoscopic group regarding operative time,blood loss,chest tube duration,hospital stay,postoperative complications and postoperative myasthenic crisis (P ＞ 0.05).The blood loss of robotic group and thoracoscopic group was significantly lower than that in median sternotomy group(P ＜ 0.05).The chest tube duration of thoracoscopic group was significantly shorter than that in median sternotomy group(P ＜0.05).The effective rates of MG after extended thymectomy in robotic group,thoracoscopic group and sternotomy group was 65.0％ 、69.2％ 、62.5％ respectively and there was no significant difference (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion Robotic thymectomy and thoracoscopic thymecotomy are both minimal invasive surgery approach with less bleeding for thymoma patients with myasthenia gravis.The clinical outcomes of robotic thymectomy and thoracoscopic thymecotomy are similar.

Objective:To observe the effect of Ba Duan Jin(Eight-brocade Exercise)plus Tuina(Chinese therapeutic massage)in treating primary dysmenorrhea due to cold-induced blood stasis in female college students and on the score of fatigue scale-14(FS-14). Methods:Seventy-two female college students with primary dysmenorrhea due to cold-induced blood stasis were randomized into a Tuina group and a joint group,with 36 cases in each group.The Tuina group only received Tuina manipulations.In the joint group,besides the same Tuina manipulations,patients practiced Ba Duan Jin.For both groups,the once-daily intervention was conducted from 6 d before the menstrual period until menstrual day 1 for 3 menstrual cycles.Changes in the scores of COX menstrual symptom scale(CMSS),visual analog scale(VAS),and FS-14 after the intervention were observed.Clinical efficacy was also estimated. Results:During the process,1 case dropped out in the Tuina group,and 35 cases completed the intervention;2 cases dropped out in the joint group,and 34 cases completed the intervention.The total effective rate was 94.1%in the joint group,higher than 88.6%in the Tuina group(P<0.05).After treatment,the symptom duration and intensity scores in the scores of CMSS,VAS,and FS-14 declined in both groups(P<0.05 or P<0.01);the CMSS symptom duration score and FS-14 score were lower in the joint group than in the Tuina group(P<0.05). Conclusion:Tuina manipulations alone or combined with Ba Duan Jin practice can effectively treat primary dysmenorrhea due to cold-induced blood stasis in female college students;when combined with Ba Duan Jin practice,Tuina manipulations can more significantly improve pain duration and fatigue,suggesting the advantages of combining Tuina Gongfa and manipulations.

Objective To assess the performance of PET-CT in pulmonary carcinoid and to evaluate the efficacy of lymph node metastasis.Methods We retrospectively collected the data of 33 patients with primary pulmonary carcinoid in our center between November 2008 and March 2017.The results of PET-CT were analysed and the relationship among pathological sub-type, tumor size and SUVmax was compared.Results Thirty-three patients had a diagnosis of carcinoid tumor, typical in 10 patients and atypical in 23 patients.The major axis of the tumor was positively correlated with the SUVmax value (P<0.001), and the mean SUVmax of the atypical carcinoid was higher than that of the typical carcinoid(11.27 vs 3.54).The major axis of the tumor was controlled.One-way covariance analysis suggested that the pathological subtype was related to SUVmax(P=0.012).Overall, PET-CT had a sensitivity of 66.7％(95％CI: 12.5％-98.2％) and specificity of 90.9％(95％CI:83. 0％-95.5％).Conclusion Atypical carcinoids showed higher SUVmax than typical carcinoids, but the PET-CT perform-ance of lung carcinoids is not specific.There was a high specificity in evaluating lymph node metastasis.

Objective To analyze the clinic-pathological data and peritubular capillary (PTC) injuries of malignant nephrosclerosis (MN) patients and their correlations with the long term renal survival.Methods This was a retrospective cohort study of 52 MN patients in Peking Union Medical College Hospital from January 2003 to March 2012.Their clinical data and renal biopsy samples were carefully studied.CD34 staining was performed to evaluate the PTC area,using Benign nephrosclerosis (BN,n=17) patients and glomerular minimal lesions (GML,n=19) patients as controls.Multivariate Cox proportional hazard model was used to identify the potential independent risk factors for long term renal survival.Results Fifty-two MN patients were enrolled.The sex ratio of male to female was 12:1 and the average age was (34.0±8.2) years.The maximum blood pressure (SBP/DBP) was (230.4 ± 25.0)/(156.4 ± 20.6) mmHg,companied with significant loss of eGFR and proteinuria.Glomerular sclerosis index,tubular atrophy and interstitial fibrosis correlated with eGFR and proteinuria (P ＜ 0.05).After aggressive treatment,BP control rate improved significantly (76.9％ vs 3.7％,P ＜0.01),Scr [(376.4±263.8) μmol/L vs (486.8±375.7) μmol/L,Wilcoxon test,P＜ 0.01] and proteinuria [(1.10±0.70) g/24 h vs (2.04± 1.26) g/24 h,P ＜ 0.01,n=21] also improved.PTC area in MN patients was significantly lower than those in BN patients and GML patients,and it correlated well with Scr (r=-0.553,P=0.001) and eGFR (r=0.476,P=0.004).The median follow-up time was 74 months,the cumulative renal survival rate at 1 year,5 year and 10 year was 90％,64％ and 23％,respectively.Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the patients with higher PTC area had longer renal survival time [(114.8± 12.4) months vs (63.0±8.3) months, x2=5.312,P ＜ 0.05].Univariate Cox proportional hazard model found that unsatisfied BP control,eGFR ＜ 30 ml · min-1 · (1.73 m2)-1 upon discharge,lower PTC area,severer tubular-interstitial damage and anemia were associated with poor renal outcome.Multivariate Cox model showed that unsatisfied BP control (RR=3.89,95％ CI 1.75-8.65,P=0.001),eGFR ＜ 30 ml · min-1 · (1.73 m2)-1 upon discharge (RR=4.27,95％ CI 1.40-13.09,P=0.011) were independent risk factors for long-term renal survival.Conclusions The correlation between PTC area and renal functions in MN patients are much better than that of classic vascular changes.Unsatisfied BP control and eGFR ＜ 30 ml · min-1 · (1.73 m2)-1 upon discharge are independent risk factors for long-term renal survival.

BACKGROUND: Bronchopulmonary carcinoid (BPC) is a rare neuroendocrine tumor, the clinical studies on treatment and prognostic factors of BPC are somewhat controversial. Our purpose was to evaluate the clinical efficacy of surgery on BPC, and to analyze the prognostic factors affecting the survival of BPC. METHODS: We retrospectively collected the clinical data of patients with BPC admitted to the Chinese PLA General Hospital between January 2000 and December 2017. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate the survival rate of patients and to map the survival curve. Then the effects of different factors like pathological classification, gender, age, on prognosis were compared by univariate analysis and multivariate analysis was made by Cox proportional hazard model. RESULTS: A total of 98 patients had a diagnosis of BPC were included in the study. There were 41 patients with typical carcinoid (TC) and 57 patients with atypical carcinoid (AC). The 1-yr, 5-yr, and 10-yr overall survival rates of BPC were 96.9%, 80.0% and 73.6%, respectively. Univariate analysis showed age (P=0.000,1), smoking history (P=0.005), pathological subtype (P<0.000,1), T stage (P=0.000,2), TNM stage (P<0.000,1) were the prognostic factors. Multivariate analysis showed that age (P=0.005) and tumor stage (P=0.017) were independent prognostic factors. CONCLUSIONS BPC occurred more in middle-aged men. Surgery is the main treatment for lung cancer, and the overall prognosis is good. Age and TNM stage were independent risk factors for long-term survival after lung cancer surgery.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the differences in the expression profiles of circular RNA (circRNA) between luminal breast cancer cells and normal breast cells.

METHODSTotal RNA extracted from luminal breast cancer cells MCF7 and normal breast cells MCF10A was digested with Rnase R to remove linear RNAs and enrich circRNAs. The enriched circRNAs were amplified and transcribed into fluorescent cRNAs using a random priming method, and were hybridized onto the circRNA hybridization array. The circRNA expression profiles of MCF7 and MCF10A cells were analyzed using Agilent Feature Extraction software. Quantile normalization and subsequent data processing were performed, and volcano plot filtering and hierarchical clustering were utilized to analyze the circRNA expression patterns. The expressions of 3 circRNAs with significant log fold changes were validated using qPCR.

RESULTSThe hybridization array data revealed significant differences in the circRNA expression profiles between MCF7 and MCF10A cells. Compared with those of MCF10A cells, the 12910 circRNAs expressed in MCF7 cells showed 5964 up-regulated, 81 consistently regulated, and 6865 down-regulated circRNAs; 343 circRNAs showed a log fold change by more than 2 folds, among which 213 circRNAs were up-regulated and 130 were down-regulated. Nine circRNAs showed differential expressions by more than 2 folds, including 8 up-regulated ones, namely hsa_circRNA_061260 (6.02 folds), hsa_circRNA_103933 (5.96 folds), hsa_circRNA_005239 (5.84 folds), hsa_circRNA_100689 (5.69 folds), hsa_circRNA_004087 (5.60 folds), hsa_circRNA_104420 (5.25 folds), hsa_circRNA_104421 (5.13 folds) and hsa_circRNA_101222 (5.03 folds); only one circRNA was down-regulated, namely hsa_circRNA_104864 (5.09 folds). The expressions of hsa_circRNA_100689, hsa_circRNA_005239 and hsa_circRNA_104864 were further validated by qPCR, which yielded consistent results with the microarray data.

CONCLUSIONSThe circRNA expression profiles differ significantly between luminal breast cancer cells and normal breast cells. These differentially expressed circRNAs may serve as potential novel targets for the diagnosis of luminal breast cancer.

Objective To explore the ef fi cacy and safety of long-term use of low dose glucocorticoids in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Methods Fifty ARDS patients were randomly divided into two groups. The control group(25 patients)received non-invasive or invasive mechanical ventilation,antibiotics and support treatments. The glucocorticoids group(25 patients)received the same treatments plus long-term use of low dose glucocorticoids. Results The mortality in glucocorticoids group(32％(8/25))was much lower than that in the control group(60％(15/25))(P < 0.05). The ventilator-free days and organ failure-free days within 28d in glucocorticoids group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P < 0.05). The oxygenation index and the serum IL-8 levels in glucocorticoids group at 14d and 28d were higher than those in the control group(P<0.05). Compared to the control group ,long-term use of low dose glucocorticoids in ARDS did not increase fasting blood-glucose at 7d,gastrointestinal bleeding and hospital infections within 28d. Conclusions Long-term use of low dose glucocorticoids in ARDS could reduce the serum IL-8 levels and improve the prognosis.