Objective:To review the experience of closure of the left-main-bronchial stump fistula using endoscopic liner cutter staplers through the right thoracic approach and I stage or staged treatment for the left pyothorax.Methods:6 patients with the left-main-bronchial stump fistula after left pneumonectomy combined with pyothorax were treated by closing the left-main-bronchial stump using endoscopic liner cutter staplers through the right thoracic approach, and pleura was used to cover the distal and proximal incisional margin of the stump respectively. The thoracic T-tube drainage was used in the I stage or staged treatment for the left pyothorax.Results:All patients were survived without recurrence of the bronchopleural fistula. 4 patients were observed to have no recurrence of pyothorax when 1 patient had recurrence of pyothorax and was treated with intermittent T-tube drainage.1 patient operated with left-thoracic fenestration in the past was treated with drainage waiting for secondary operation.Conclusion:The right thoracic approach seemed to be a safer and more effective method than the transsternal transpericardial approach in cases with the left-main-bronchial stump fistula combined with pyothorax. The use of endoscopic liner cutter staplers reduced the risk of bleeding, infection and recurrence of fistula. The T-tube drainage in the I stage or staged treatment for the left pyothorax was considered to be an easier way for treatment.

Digital pulse diagnosis technology based on pulse chart parameters is one of the important achievements of the modernization and intelligent development of TCM diagnosis.Pulse diagnosis instrument collects pulse signals for feature extraction and analysis,which promotes the objectification and digital progress of TCM pulse diagnosis.This article discussed the research and application progress of the digital pulse diagnosis technology from four aspects:sensor types and research achievements of pulse diagnosis instrument,the application of pulse signals analysis method,research and analysis methods for multi-source signal fusion sensors,and the correlation between pulse parameters and cardiovascular disease,so as to provide new research ideas and methods for the further development of digital pulse diagnosis technology.

Objective·To study the differences in the structure and load of hair follicle microbiota in non-lesional areas among patients with moderate-to-severe acne vulgaris and healthy individuals,and to explore the relationship between microorganisms and the severity of acne vulgaris.Method·A cross-sectional study was used.Patients with moderate or severe acne vulgaris(referred to as acne)and healthy volunteers who visited the Department of Dermatology,Renji Hospital,Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine,from August 2022 to August 2023.16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction(qPCR)were performed on the follicular contents from the non-lesional areas of the faces of patients with moderate or severe acne and healthy volunteers to analyze the diversity,species composition,and microbial load differences in hair follicle bacteria in patients with different severity of acne.Results·Ten patients with moderate acne,eleven patients with severe acne,and eleven healthy volunteers were included.There were no statistically differences in general data such as age and gender ratio among the three groups.Bacterial α-diversity was significantly lower in both the moderate and severe acne groups compared to the healthy group(P=0.020,P=0.013).The principal coordinates analysis(PCoA)plot showed that the sample distribution of the healthy group was relatively concentrated,with small differences within the group,and the distribution of samples in the moderate and severe acne groups exhibited a certain trend but was relatively scattered,with differences between the groups.There were differences in the trend distribution of the three sample groups,and there were differences in the microbial community structure between the groups.The results of similarity analysis showed significant differences in β-diversity and low similarity in species composition between the healthy and moderate acne groups(P=0.027)and between the healthy and severe acne groups(P=0.017),and high species similarity between the moderate acne and severe acne groups(P=0.160).The dominant bacterial groups at the phylum level were Actinobacteria,Firmicutes,Proteobacteria,and Bacteroidetes.At the genus level,the dominant bacteria in the healthy group were Propionibacterium and unclassified Actinomycetales,and the dominant bacteria in both acne groups were Staphylococcus and Propionibacterium.Compared to the healthy group,the relative abundance of Staphylococcus species in the hair follicles in non-lesional areas of the moderate and severe acne groups was significantly increased(P=0.010,P=0.019).Compared with the healthy control group,the hair follicle microbiota load in non-lesional areas of both the moderate and severe acne groups was significantly increased(both P=0.001).Compared with the moderate acne group,the bacterial load in the hair follicle samples of the severe acne group was significantly increased(P=0.017).Conclusion·The microbial community structure of hair follicles in non-lesional areas of patients with moderate or severe acne is different from that of healthy individuals,and the microbial diversity in the acne group is significantly reduced.The relative abundance of Staphylococcus species in the hair follicles in non-lesional areas of the moderate or severe acne groups is significantly increased compared to the healthy group.As the severity of acne increases,the bacterial load in hair follicles in non-lesional areas significantly increases.This research suggests that the occurrence and severity of acne may be related to the community structure and load of hair follicle microbiota.

Objective:To compare the phylotypes of Staphylococcus epidermidis (SE) in skin lesions of acne vulgaris patients versus hair follicles of healthy people, and to analyze their roles in the pathogenesis of acne vulgaris. Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted from August 2022 to August 2023. Patients with moderate acne vulgaris, as well as healthy volunteers, were enrolled from the Department of Dermatology, Renji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiaotong University. SE strains were isolated from the pustules of acne vulgaris patients and hair follicles of healthy volunteers. Housekeeping genes were amplified by PCR. Sequencing and multilocus sequence typing were performed to compare the phylotypes and genetic relationships of strains from different sources.Results:The acne group consisted of 28 patients (10 males and 18 females) with the age being 22.6 ± 2.6 years, while the healthy group consisted of 19 volunteers (7 males and 12 females) with the age being 22.4 ± 0.96 years. There were no significant differences in age or gender ratio between the two groups (both P > 0.05). The positive rates of SE in the samples of the acne group and the healthy group were 60.71% (17/28) and 73.68% (14/19), respectively, with no significant difference between the two groups ( P = 0.53). The 144 SE strains from the healthy group could be divided into 10 sequence types (STs), and the most common ST was ST35 (8 cases), followed by ST73 (4 cases), ST193 (2 cases), ST59 (2 cases) and ST540 (2 cases) ; 190 SE strains from the acne group could be divided into 16 STs, and the most common STs were ST59 (6 cases) and ST73 (6 cases), followed by ST802 (3 cases), ST130 (3 cases) and ST35 (2 cases). The positive rate of ST35 was significantly lower in the acne group than in the healthy group ( P = 0.018), while there were no significant differences in the positive rates of other STs between the two groups (all P > 0.05). The evolutionary tree analysis showed that the SE strains were mainly distributed in 3 branches. Most of the SE strains from the healthy group belonged to clade A. The proportion of SE strains in clade A ( M[ Q]) was significantly lower in the acne group (25% [85%]) than in the healthy group (100% [33.33%], P = 0.025), while the proportion of SE strains in clade B was significantly higher in the acne group (14.29% [89.17%]) than in the healthy group (0[0], U = 62, P = 0.010), and there was no significant difference in the proportion of SE strains in clade D between the acne group (0 [57.14%]) and healthy group (0[4.17%], P = 0.420) . Conclusion:The phylotypes of SE strains differed between acne vulgaris patients and healthy controls, possibly associated with the occurrence and development of acne vulgaris.

Objective:To assess the quality of low-keV monoenergetic images using deep learning image reconstruction (DLIR) algorithm combined with dual energy CT (DECT) in gastric cancer and to compare them with images from the conventional adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction (ASiR-V) algorithm.Methods:In this cross-sectional study, DECT images of 31 gastric cancer patients in the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University were prospectively collected from September 2022 to March 2023. The 55 keV monoenergy images were reconstructed using the DLIR algorithm at low-, medium-, and high-intensity levels (DLIR-L, DLIR-M, and DLIR-H) based on arterial phase and venous phase images, respectively. The 70 keV 40% mixing coefficient (ASiR-V40%) images were reconstructed using the ASiR-V algorithm. In the objective evaluation of images, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) for both lesions and muscle were calculated across four sets of reconstructed images. In the subjective evaluation of images, scores were assigned to the overall image quality, lesion visibility, and diagnostic confidence for each set of reconstructed images. Comparisons of SNR and CNR between the 4 groups were made by One-way repeated-measures ANOVA or Friedman′s test. Comparisons of scores were made by Friedman′s test. The P value of pairwise comparison was adjusted using Bonferroni correction methods. Results:In the objective evaluations, CNR lesion, SNR lesion and SNR muscle were highest on the 55 keV DLIR-H images in the arterial and venous phases, and showed a gradually increasing trend on the 70 keV ASiR-V40%, 55 keV DLIR-L, DLIR-M, DLIR-H images ( P<0.05). In subjective evaluations, compared to the 70 keV ASiR-V40% images, overall image quality scores were numerically higher for the 55 keV DLIR-H ( P>0.05), similar or slightly worse for the 55 keV DLIR-M, and significantly lower for the 55 keV DLIR-L ( P<0.05). The lesion visibility and diagnostic confidence on the 55 keV DLIR reconstruction images were higher in both arterial and venous phases than 70 keV ASiR-V40% images ( P<0.05). Conclusions:Compared to the conventional 70 keV ASiR-V40% images, the 55 keV DLIR-H images had higher lesion contrast and diagnostic confidence with lower image noise. The 55 keV DLIR-M images had comparable overall image quality to 70 keV ASiR-V40% images, but the former had higher lesion contrast and diagnostic confidence. The 55 keV DLIR-L was unable to improve image quality to the level of 70 keV ASiR-V40%.