Hydatidosis is the largest parasific disase in human being. The patients often contract hydatidosis in the childhood. The slow growth of hydatid cysts in the organ involved may lead to a protracted course of disease. In the early stage of the diseases, there are no distinct subjecive symptoms. Early diagnosis is difficult by routine examination. The complications of hydatidosis causing serious damage to the organs may often lead to sudden death. It is essential to make an early and correct diagnosis and give treatment. B-mode ultrasonography not only detects the location, dimension and chracteristics of hydatid cysts but also shows the pathological changes of the various complications caused by hydatidosis and faciliates to select the best program of operation. B-mode ulttasonography is the method of choice in the diagnosis of hydatidosis. In this series of 931 patients with hepatic hydatid disease, the diagnostic accuracy rate of B-mode ultrasonography reached 98. 8%.

Objective To investigate the preventive effect of nano-powder of Wugong-sanqi (NW),the rhizome of Anemone flaccid,on postoperative intestinal adhesion in rats.Methods Fifty SD rats were subjected to operation with Ellis' method for establishing intestinal adhesion models,then randomly divided into 5 groups (n=10),namely model,positive (Dexamethasone,i.m.10 mg/kg),NW high,medium and low dose group (p.o.450,225 and 112 mg/kg,respectively).Another ten normal rats were selected as normal control group.After administration 3 days pre-operation and 7 days post-operation,all of rats were killed,the intestinal adhesion was graded and the tissues were observed by optical microscope.Results NW evidently reduced the severity of postoperative adhesion (P＜0.05 or P＜0.01),compared with model group.The histopathologic changes such as proliferation of fibroblast cells and capillary,interstitial granulomas and inflammatory cells infiltration in intestinal tissues were also improved significantly in NW groups.Conclusion NW could inhibit the formation of postoperative intestinal adhesion effectively.

Craniopharyngiomas develop from remnant epithelial cells of Rathke's pouch in the sella/parasella region with low histological grade. Clinical manifestations are related to visual impairment, increased intracranial pressure, and hypothalamic/pituitary deficiencies, including vision loss, headache, nausea, growth retardation, and hypogonadism. Despite benign epithelial tumors, craniopharyngiomas are adjacent to critical brain structures including hypothalamus, pituitary stalk, chiasma opticum and have recurrence tendency. Treatment-related complications including hypothalamic/pituitary deficiencies, diabetes insipidus, and hypothalamic obesity are major risk factors for reduced quality of survival and throw out a great challenge to the surgical treatment and the postoperative management. Clinical features of one case craniopharyngiomas with manifestation of severe hypopituitarism are described with the aim of exploring effective therapies.

Objective:To analyze the diagnostic value of preoperative electromyography and spasticity assessment for patients with hemifacial spasm, and to define a relationship between intraoperative electrophysiological examination and prognosis in order to provide help for clinical diagnosis and treatment.Methods:Thirty-one patients with hemifacial spasm were selected for the clinical spasticity scoring and divided into a general spasm group ( n=27) and a severe spasm group ( n=4). All received preoperative neurophysiological examination to record their twitch discharge, facial nerve conduction velocity (MCV), lateral spread (LSR) of the spasm, brainstem auditory evoked potential (BAEP), and blink reflex. Electrophysiological monitoring then recorded intraoperative LSR. According to whether the LSR disappeared or not, the patients were divided into the LSR disappearance group (of 15) and the LSR residual group (of 16), and facial muscle activity was recorded again one, three and six months after the operation. Results:Preoperative EMG examination of both groups showed positive LSR and that facial nerve MCV was within the normal range. There were, though, significant differences between the two groups in the twitching discharge by needle electromyography, blink reflex and preoperative BAEP. One week after the operation, one member of the residual group and 3 from the disappearance patients of the former and latter group had recovered in terms of LSR, with 3 and 7 cases significantly relieved, respectively. Two months later, the corresponding figures were 5 and 7, 3 and 6, respectively. Half of a year after the surgery, 5 from the residual group and 12 from the disappearance group had fully recovered in terms of LSR, while 9 and 2 cases were significantly relieved. Altogether, there were significant differences within the two groups in terms of recovery among all the time points, with significantly better recovery in the LSR disappearance group than the LSR residual group at 1 week after operation, while there were no significant differences between the two groups in recovery 3 and 6 months after their operation.Conclusions:Preoperative electromyography can provide objective assessments of the scope, severity, and facial nerve excitability of patients with hemifacial spasm. Real-time intraoperative electrophysiology monitoring can help surgeons to objectively assess the effect of decompression and to find and avoid nerve traction injury in surrounding areas quickly.

Objective:To study the effect of rapamycin on the disorder of CD4 + T cell subsets in Graves′ ophthalmopathy(GO) mice, as well as the ophthalmopathy and hyperthyroidism phenotype, providing new possibilities for the treatment of GO. Methods:6-8 weeks old female Balb/c mice were injected intramuscularly with adenovirus expressing the A-subunit of TSHR(A-sub-Ad) 9 times. Rapamycin was given by embedding in the feed(14 ppm). The animals were euthanized 4 weeks after the final injection to obtain blood, spleen cells, thyroid glands, and orbital tissue. TT 4, thyrotropin receptor antibody(TRAb), thyroid, and orbital pathologic changes were detected, and the CD4 + T cell subgroup was evaluated by flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry. Results:After final immunization, the mice showed characteristics of GO: increased retrobulbar fibrosis and retrobulbar adipogenesis that indicated ophthalmopathy, increased autoantibodies, and serum total thyroxin that indicated hyperthyroidism. After the intervention of rapamycin, retrobulbar fibrosis and retrobulbar adipogenesis were significantly improved, and the incidence of ophthalmopathy was reduced from 80%-90% to 20%. Moreover, the increase of total thyroxin was reduced from 80% to 20%, and the metabolic condition and thyroid pathology were also improved. Flow cytometry of the spleen, immunohistochemistry of the thyroid and orbital tissue revealed that GO mice exhibited Th1 dominance in Th1/Th2 balance and reduction of Treg cells. After the intervention of rapamycin, flow cytometry showed that the ratio of Th1 and Th17 cells decreased and the ratio of Th2 and Treg cells increased. Immunohistochemistry of thyroid and orbital tissues also confirmed improvement of Th1/Th2 cell imbalance and Treg cell reduction.Conclusion:GO mouse model showed a significant imbalance of CD4 + T cell subsets, and rapamycin could not only regulate the disorder of CD4 + T cell subsets in GO mice, but also effectively improve the phenotype of ophthalmopathy and hyperthyroidism. Therefore, the imbalance of CD4 + T cell subsets is one of the etiological intervention targets of GO, and rapamycin is a potential intervention mode of GO, which can be further explored by randomized clinical studies in the future.

【Objective】 To investigate the efficacy and safety of sitagliptin combined with metformin versus glimepiride combined with metformin in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes patients with severe hyperglycaemia. 【Methods】 A randomized controlled and non-inferiority trial was carried out. A total of 129 newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes patients with severe hyperglycaemia [FPG≥200 mg/mL (11.1 mmol/L) and HbA1c≥9.0%] were enrolled and numerally randomly assigned to two groups. The patients received sitagliptin combined with metformin (n=66) or glimepiride combined with metformin (n=63) for 4 weeks and then metformin alone for another 8 weeks. Glycaemic control, weight changes and β-cell insulin secretory capacity were investigated to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of these two treatments. 【Results】 Mean HbA1c reduction was 4.03% in sitagliptin group and 4.13% in glimepiride group after 3 months of treatment. The lower boundary of the two-sided 95% confidence intervals of the mean HbA1c reduction difference between the two groups was -0.648%, which was more than -0.65%, suggesting that the predefined statistical criterion for non-inferiority was achieved. FPG decreased significantly after one month of intervention in both groups (P<0.05). Significant reduction in the time of reaching euglycemia, FPG and weight decrease was observed in sitagliptin group than glimepiride group (P<0.05). The FPG control rate FPG<110 mg/mL (6.1 mmol/L) was higher in sitagliptin group than in glimepiride group (P<0.05). After the 3-month follow-up, FPG, HbA1c and incidence of hypoglycemia showed no significant differences in the two groups, while weight loss and BMI changes showed significant differences in sitagliptin group compared with glimepiride group (P<0.05). No significant differences in β-cell insulin secretory indexes were observed in the two therapy groups (P>0.05). 【Conclusion】 Our study provided evidence that sitagliptin combined with metformin in newly diagnosed diabetes patients with severe hyperglycaemia showed better outcomes in glycaemic remission compared with glimepiride for those who refused insulin injection.

The many-banded krait, Bungarus multicinctus, has been recorded as the animal resource of JinQianBaiHuaShe in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. Characterization of its venoms classified chief phyla of modern animal neurotoxins. However, the evolutionary origin and diversification of its neurotoxins as well as biosynthesis of its active compounds remain largely unknown due to the lack of its high-quality genome. Here, we present the 1.58 Gbp genome of B. multicinctus assembled into 18 chromosomes with contig/scaffold N50 of 7.53 Mbp/149.8 Mbp. Major bungarotoxin-coding genes were clustered within genome by family and found to be associated with ancient local duplications. The truncation of glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor in the 3'-terminal of a LY6E paralog released modern three-finger toxins (3FTxs) from membrane tethering before the Colubroidea divergence. Subsequent expansion and mutations diversified and recruited these 3FTxs. After the cobra/krait divergence, the modern unit-B of β-bungarotoxin emerged with an extra cysteine residue. A subsequent point substitution in unit-A enabled the β-bungarotoxin covalent linkage. The B. multicinctus gene expression, chromatin topological organization, and histone modification characteristics were featured by transcriptome, proteome, chromatin conformation capture sequencing, and ChIP-seq. The results highlighted that venom production was under a sophisticated regulation. Our findings provide new insights into snake neurotoxin research, meanwhile will facilitate antivenom development, toxin-driven drug discovery and the quality control of JinQianBaiHuaShe.