Objective To evaluate the clinical value of CT/MR-contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) image fusion in immediate assessment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)ablation.Methods Patients diagnosed with HCC to receive ablation therapy were randomly divided into two groups.The ablation for each patient was performed according to their pre-ablation plan.Immediate assessments for the ablation were performed using CT/MR-CEUS image fusion (IF group)and CEUS (CEUS group)separately and whether the need for additional ablations was decided and performed during the therapy.The therapy efficacy was evaluated with enhanced CT or MR 1 month after each complete ablation treatment.Results There were 101 patients with 131 nodules in IF group,and 15.1% of the nodules needed additional ablation according the immediate assessment during the therapy.The complete ablation rate of IF group was 99.2%(125/126).On the other hand,there were 93 patients with 122 nodules in CEUS group,and 4.2% of the nodules needed additional ablation according the immediate assessment during the therapy.The complete ablation rate of CEUS group was 94.2% (113/120).IF group has significantly higher additional ablation rate and complete ablation rate than CEUS group (P <0.05).Conclusions CT/MR-CEUS image fusion can further improve ablation efficacy with accurate intraoperative evaluation and guidance of additional ablation compared with CEUS.

The aim was to study the roles of extracellular regulated protein kinases (ERK) and telomerase activity in drug resistance of human leukemia and ovarian carcinoma cells. Flow cytometry was used to analyze apoptosis rate. Telomere repeat amplification protocol (TRAP) and bioluminescence analysis method were used for detection of telomerase activity. The phosphorylated ERK(1/2) protein expression was observed by Western blot method. The results showed that the specific inhibitor PD98059 of ERK kinase 1 (MEK(1)) enhanced the sensitivity of HL-60/E6 leukemia cell lines to harringtonine (HRT) or COC1/DDP ovarian carcinoma cell lines to cis-dichlorodiamine platinum (DDP). Both PD98059 and chemotherapy drugs HRT and DDP reduced the phosphorylated ERK(1) and ERK(2) protein expression level, and down-regulated the telomerase activity. The sole action of each was inferior to the combination action of PD98059 and HRT or DDP. In conclusion, ERK and telomerase serve a function to some extent in drug resistance of leukemia and ovarian carcinoma cells. The inhibition of ERK signal transduction pathways led to reduction of phosphorylated ERK(1) and ERK(2) protein expression level, and successionally down-regulated the telomerase activity. The final result was to enhance the sensitivity of HL-60/E6 to HRT or COC1/DDP to DDP.
Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm ; Enzyme Inhibitors ; pharmacology ; Female ; Flavonoids ; pharmacology ; HL-60 Cells ; Humans ; Leukemia ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases ; analysis ; antagonists & inhibitors ; Ovarian Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Telomerase ; metabolism

Protein succinylation is a biochemical reaction in which a succinyl group (-CO-CH2-CH2-CO-) is attached to the lysine residue of a protein molecule. Lysine succinylation plays important regulatory roles in living cells. However, studies in this field are limited by the difficulty in experi-mentally identifying the substrate site specificity of lysine succinylation. To facilitate this process, several tools have been proposed for the computational identification of succinylated lysine sites. In this study, we developed an approach to investigate the substrate specificity of lysine succinylated sites based on amino acid composition. Using experimentally verified lysine succinylated sites col-lected from public resources, the significant differences in position-specific amino acid composition between succinylated and non-succinylated sites were represented using the Two Sample Logo pro-gram. These findings enabled the adoption of an effective machine learning method, support vector machine, to train a predictive model with not only the amino acid composition, but also the com-position of k-spaced amino acid pairs. After the selection of the best model using a ten-fold cross-validation approach, the selected model significantly outperformed existing tools based on an inde-pendent dataset manually extracted from published research articles. Finally, the selected model was used to develop a web-based tool, SuccSite, to aid the study of protein succinylation. Two pro-teins were used as case studies on the website to demonstrate the effective prediction of succinyla-tion sites. We will regularly update SuccSite by integrating more experimental datasets. SuccSite is freely accessible at http://csb.cse.yzu.edu.tw/SuccSite/.

Adult ; Antiviral Agents ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Female ; Hepatitis B e Antigens ; Hepatitis B, Chronic ; drug therapy ; immunology ; Humans ; Interferon-alpha ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; Male ; Nucleotides ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; Polyethylene Glycols ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; Recombinant Proteins ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo search for a new method for urethra reconstruction using autologous buccal mucosal graft while lacking of local skin.

METHODSSince 1998, a total of 25 patients with complex hypospadias have been treated using buccal mucosal grafts for urethral reconstruction. The reconstructed urethra was anastomosed with the meatus half year later.

RESULTSAll the reconstructed urethra survived without contracture or stricture except one infection, which healed with no adverse consequence.

CONCLUSIONThe key points for operation success is rich capillary network, thick epidermis and thin lamina propria of the buccal mucosa. Buccal mucosa is an excellent tissue for urethral reconstruction.

Capillaries ; anatomy & histology ; Contracture ; Epidermis ; anatomy & histology ; Humans ; Hypospadias ; surgery ; Male ; Mouth Mucosa ; anatomy & histology ; transplantation ; Mucous Membrane ; Urethra ; surgery ; Urologic Surgical Procedures, Male ; methods

OBJECTIVETo introduce the clinical application of the upper lip scar tissue flap in correcting secondary nasal deformities of unilateral cleft lip.

METHODSTwo types of the upper lip scar tissue flap were developed in correcting nasal deformities with Millard's technique.

RESULTSThe procedure was performed on 51 patients. All the scar tissue flaps survived completely. The deformities were better corrected than before.

CONCLUSIONThe scar tissue flap has adequate blood supply. This procedure is routinely combined with other commonly used techniques to correct secondary deformities of cleft lip. It is particularly applicable for repairing the nasal deformity when usable tissue is not enough.

Child ; Cicatrix ; surgery ; Cleft Lip ; surgery ; Humans ; Nose Deformities, Acquired ; etiology ; surgery ; Rhinoplasty ; methods ; Surgical Flaps ; blood supply ; surgery

Congchi Decoction in Zhouhou Beiji Fang is a prescription commonly used in treating light exterior wind-cold syndrome.Fistular Onion Stalk in the prescription has the effects in inducing sweat and dispelling exogenous evils and accelerating Yang Qi,and has been recorded in many medical books. In addition to be used to treat light exterior wind-cold syndrome,Fistular Onion Stalk is also used extensively and uniquely to treat restlessness after cholera,febrile disease,thoracic obstruction,Yin-Yang toxin syndrome,consumptive disease,bellyache due to spleen Qi deficiency according to Zhouhou Beiji Fang. However,there is still lack of the research on whether Fistular Onion Stalk is derived from shallot or scallion. The authors analyzed the sources of Fistular Onion Stalk in the prescription of Congchi Decoction by consulting ancient books,and studying the plant morphology of shallot,the characteristic and effect of Fistular Onion Stalk and the historical physicians' clinical application of Fistular Onion Stalk,the completion and popularity of Zhouhou Beiji Fang,the ratio of water to medicine of Congchi Decoction and the chemical ingredients of Fistular Onion Stalk. Finally,the authors concluded that Fistular Onion Stalk in the Congchi Decoction refers to Scallion bulbs.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Onions ; chemistry ; Yin-Yang

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a leading cause of liver disease worldwide. The estimated global incidence of NAFLD is 47 cases per 1,000 population and is higher among males than females. The estimated global prevalence of NAFLD among adults is 32% and is higher among males (40%) compared to females (26%). The global prevalence of NAFLD has increased over time, from 26% in studies from 2005 or earlier to 38% in studies from 2016 or beyond. The prevalence of NAFLD varies substantially by world region, contributed by differing rates of obesity, and genetic and socioeconomic factors. The prevalence of NAFLD exceeds 40% in the Americas and South-East Asia. The prevalence of NAFLD is projected to increase significantly in multiple world regions by 2030 if current trends are left unchecked. In this review, we discuss trends in the global incidence and prevalence of NAFLD and discuss future projections.

OBJECTIVETo establish a sensitive and effective method for detection of immunoglobulin and T-cell receptor (Ig/TCR) gene rearrangement,and to explore its role in diagnosis and differential diagnosis of lymphoproliferative disorders.

METHODSFifty-eight lymphoid tissue samples from 54 patients with lymphoproliferations were evaluated by the novel BIOMED-2 multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for antigen receptor genes rearrangement.

RESULTSMultiplex PCR demonstrated monoclonal Ig/TCR gene rearrangements in 22 of 25 (88.0%) B-cell malignancies and 8 of 15 (53.3%) T-cell malignancies. Among 17 benign lymphoproliferations confirmed histopathologically, polyclonal rearrangements were detected in 14 cases (82.4%). In total, the clonality analysis and the final clinico-histopathological diagnosis were concordant in 77.2%. Combination detection of Iglambda and TCR delta gene rearrangements did not increase the detection rate of monoclonal rearrangement of Ig/TCR, but might help to the detection of Iglambda+ or TCR delta+ lymphomas.

CONCLUSIONThe novel BIOMED-2 multiplex PCR strategy is a rapid, reliable and sensitive approach to detecting clonality in suspected lymphoproliferations, especially in atypical cases.

Female ; Gene Rearrangement, B-Lymphocyte, Light Chain ; Gene Rearrangement, T-Lymphocyte ; Humans ; Lymphoproliferative Disorders ; diagnosis ; genetics ; Male ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; methods ; Sensitivity and Specificity

According to the notice on revision of the instructions for traditional Chinese medicine injections(TCMIs) issued by the National Medical Products Administration(NMPA) from January 2006 to May 2020, the revised contents in the instructions for 29 varieties involved in the notice were sorted out, and the existing problems in the instructions for TCMIs were analyzed, so as to provide the basis for dynamic revision of the instructions. It was found that the revised items of instructions for 29 varieties all involved adverse reactions, contraindications and precautions, and warnings were added for 82.76% of 29 TCMIs preparations, indicating that all the revised contents were related to safety issues. In addition, 33.33% of the drugs risks mentioned in the precautions were not indicated in the adverse reactions; 82.76% instructions did not indicate drug interactions; 17.24% instructions lacked medication notes for special populations; 48.28% instructions did not indicate traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) syndromes of the main disease; 44.83% instructions did not indicate the type and stage of indication; and 86.21% instructions did not indicate the course of treatment. It could be concluded that the instructions for TCMIs have known risks of drugs that are not fully reflected in adverse reactions and the effective information is not comprehensive. The risk control measures proposed in the precautions need to have aftereffect evaluation and there is a lack of drug interactions and medications for special populations. As an important part of the full life-cycle management of drugs, the revision of instructions for TCMIs should be continuously improved to provide the basis for safe and reasonable application of TCMIs. Based on the above problems, it is proposed that the marketing license holder as the main body of the revision of instructions should actively carry out post-marketing basic and clinical research in accordance with the characteristics of TCM, combine the updated research with the guidance of TCM theory and improve the revision level of instructions for TCMIs to provide the basis for post-marketing evaluation.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Humans ; Injections ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Syndrome