Objective The aim of this study is to study the musical ability,auditory ability and speech intelli-gibility and their relationship in children with artificial hearing devices,and to provide clinical evidence for the hear-ing and speech rehabilitation for children with hearing loss.Methods A total of 27 children (14 boys and 13 girls) with prelingual sensorineural hearing loss from Zibo participated in this study.Their hearing levels were from mod-erate to profound.Their chronological ages at evaluation ranged from 9 to 95 months with a mean of 42 months. Their chronological ages at intervention ranged from 1 to 72 months with a mean of 26 months.Their hearing ages at evaluation ranged from 1 to 60 months with a mean of 16 months.They all wore bilateral aids.Musical Ears, CAP and SIR were used to evaluate their musical ability,auditory ability and speech intelligibility,respectively.A linear and regression analysis was done in the statistic procedure.Results The means and standard deviations of the scores of musical ability,auditory ability,and speech intelligibility were 27.1±16.7,4.4±1.9,2.8±1.4,respec-tively.The scores of musical ability and auditory ability were significantly correlated (r= 0.856,P<0.001).The scores of musical ability and speech intelligibility were also significantly related (r= 0.827,P<0.001).Conclusion The musical ability is closely related to auditory ability in children with bilateral aided hearing.The musical ability is also closely related to speech ability for this group of children.

Objective To investigation the expressions of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) and its receptors in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and their clinical significances.Methods The serum expression levels of TRAIL in 79 cases of NSCLC and 80 cases of normal subjects were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).The expressions of TRAIL-R2 and TRAIL-R4 in 42 cases of NSCLC and matched normal tissues were detected by immunohistochemistry.The relationships among TRAIL,TRAIL-R2,TRAIL-R4 and clinicopathologic features of NSCLC were analyzed.Results The expression of TRAIL in NSCLC patients was lower than that in normal human [(994.3 ±293.0)ng/ml vs.(1 141.7 ±266.1)ng/ml,t =3.29,P =0.00].The expression of TRAIL was closely correlated with clinical stage (F =2.28,P =0.00) and differentiated degree (t =5.76,P =0.00).The positive expression rate of TRAIL-R2 in NSCLC was 73.8％ (31/42),significantly lower than that in the normal tissue 100.0％ (42/42) (x2 =3.88,P =0.05).The expression of TRAIL-R2 was closely correlated with clinical stage (x2 =27.89,P=0.00) and differentiated degree (x:=9.50,P =0.00).The positive expression rate of TRAIL-R4 in NSCLC was 81.0％ (34/42),significantly higher than that in the normal tissue 50.0％ (21/42) (x2 =7.34,P =0.01).The expression of TRAIL-R4 was also closely correlated with clinical stage (x2 =17.82,P =0.00) and differentiated degree (x2 =4.47,P =0.03).There was a negative correlation between the expression of TRAIL-R2 and TRAIL-R4 in NSCLC (r =-0.67,P=0.01).Conclusion The decrease of TRAIL and TRAIL-R2 and increase of TRAIL-R4 expression may promote the occurrence and development of NSCLC,and they may provide targets for clinical treatment of NSCLC.

BACKGROUND: Alcoholic ketoacidosis (AKA) is known as a benign disease, but the related mortality reported in Korea is high. Acidosis and alcohol change the immunity profile, and these changes can be identified early using the delta neutrophil index (DNI). We aimed to evaluate the use of DNI and other standard laboratory parameters as predictors of prognosis in AKA patients. METHODS: One hundred eighteen males with AKA were evaluated at the Wonju Severance Christian hospital between 2009 and 2014. We performed a retrospective analysis of demographic, clinical, and laboratory parameters data. Receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC) and multivariate Cox regression was used to identify renal survival and mortality. RESULTS: Survival patients had lower initial DNI levels than non-survival patients (4.8±6.4 vs 11.4±12.5, p<0.001). In multivariate-adjusted Cox regression analysis, higher initial increased DNI (HR 1.044, 95% CI 1.003–1.086, p=0.035), and lower initial pH (HR 0.044, 95% CI 0.004–0.452, p=0.008) were risk factors for dialysis during hospitalization. Further, higher initial DNI level (HR 1.037; 95% CI 1.006-1.069; p=0.018), lower initial pH (HR 0.049; 95% CI 0.008–0.312; p=0.001) and lower initial glomerular filtration rate (GFR) (HR 0.981; 95% CI 0.964–0.999; p=0.033) were predictors of mortality. A DNI value of 4.5% was selected as the cut-off value for poor prognosis and Kaplan-Meier plots showed that AKA patients with an initial level DNI ≥4.5% had lower cumulative survival rates than AKA patients with an initial DNI <4.5%. CONCLUSION Increased initial serum DNI levels may help to predict renal survival and prognosis in male AKA patients.

Objective To evaluate preoperative oral carbohydrate in patients receiving LC day surgery.Methods 117 patients undergoing LC day surgery in PLA General Hospital from Oct 2016 to Mar 2017 were evenly divided into three groups.Patients in group A took oral carbohydrate preoperatively,group B by iv glucose,group C by overnight fasting.The preoperative thristy and the indicators of inflammation,heart rate,blood glucose,serum insulin,insulin resistance index postoperatively were collected and compared.Results No patients suffered aspiration.There were no complications above Clavien Ⅰ level.Differences in insulin resistance index,fasting serum insulin were statistically significant between group A and group B (Z =-5.60,-4.78,P ＜ 0.05).That of insulin resistance index,fasting serum insulin and procalcitonin between group A and group C were statistically significant (Z =-2.65,-2.49,-4.02,P ＜0.05).Procalcitonin between group B and group C were statistically different (Z =-2.183,P ＜ 0.05).The preoperative thristy between group A and group B,group C were statistically different (x2 =6.47,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions Preoperative oral carbohydrate intake is safe and feasible with the benefits of improving the quality of life in patients operated on LC day surgery.

Objective:To study the safety and efficacy of a treatment protocol using immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and antiangiogenic targeted drugs (AATDs) in converting 41 patients with initially unresectable to resectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Methods:The data of 41 patients with initially unresectable HCC treated with immunotherapy combined with targeted therapy from December 2018 to April 2021 in Chinese PLA General Hospital were analysed. There were 34 males and 7 females, aged (51.8±10.7) years. The clinical characteristics, conversion to resectable HCC, adverse drug reactions, surgical data and postoperative complications were analysed. Patients were followed-up by outpatients clinics or telephone calls.Results:There were 5 patients with Chinese Liver Cancer Staging (CNLC)-Ⅰb, 4 with CNLC-Ⅱ, 28 with CNLC-Ⅲa and 4 with CNLC-Ⅲb before the treatment protocol. Among them, 28 patients had portal vein tumor thrombosis (PVTT) and 4 had retroperitoneal lymph node metastases. All patients had a mean tumor diameter of (9.16±4.43) cm before and (6.49±4.69) cm after the treatment protocol. The latter was based on the last assessment before hepatectomy. The efficacy of the treatment protocol in converting unresectable to resectable HCC was assessed by the modified Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors after 3-15 cycles (median dose cycles, 5) of protocal therapy: 15 patients achieved a complete response; 15 patients achieved a partial response; 6 patients had a stable disease, and 5 patients had a progressive disease. 21 patients (51.2%) experienced adverse reactions associated with drug treatment, which resolved with symptomatic treatment or brief discontinuation of the therapy. All patients underwent successful hepatectomy. Postoperative complications of grade Ⅱ or higher occurred in 9 patients (22.0%). The cumulative overall survival rates at 6 months, 1 year and 2 years from diagnosis were 100.0%, 92.6% and 64.7% respectively. The cumulative overall survival rates at 6 months, 1 year and 2 years after surgery were 95.1%, 74.7% and 60.8%, and the recurrence-free survival rates at 6 months, 1 year and 2 years after surgery were 87.8%, 56.7% and 48.6%, respectively.Conclusions:This study provided preliminary evidences that surgical resection after immunotherapy combined with targeted therapy in patients with initially unresectable HCC was safe and efficacious.