Objective This study explored whether EPAS1 gene is involved in the proliferation of pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) during hypoxia when EPAS1 gene expression was interfered by small interfering RNA (siRNA).Methods The rat primary pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells were cultured and identified by immunofluorescence.The specific lipidosomes of EPAS1 siRNA were constructed and transfected into PASMCs,and the best targets were selected from the three interfering targets.The transfected PASMCs were cultured in hypoxia (37℃,5％ CO2,2％ O2) or normoxia (37℃,5％ CO2,20％ O2) for 24h,48h and 72h,respectively.The PASMCs proliferation was detected by CCK-8 assay.The protein expression of EPAS 1 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were determined by Western blotting to investigate the effect of silencing EPAS1 gene expression on the proliferation of PASMCs under hypoxic condition.Results The specific liposomes ofEPAS1 siRNA were successfully constructed and transfected into PASMCs,and the best interfering target were selected from the three interference targets.The proliferation of PASMCs was increased and the protein expression of VEGF was up-regulated in the PASMCs under hypoxic condition.Under hypoxic or normoxic condition,PASMCs proliferation and VEGF protein expression of PASMCs were suppressed by EPAS 1 siRNA.Conclusion EPAS 1 gene might be involved in the proliferation of rat PASMCs by regulating VEGF protein level under hypoxic condition.

BACKGROUND:Stem cel is a kind of pluripotent cels with self-replication ability, which can differentiate into various cels under certain conditions. Furthermore, stem cels are rich in a variety of growth factors, which can induce the generation of vessels and nerves, and improve the blood supply of lower limbs, thereby achieving the treatment and preventions of lower limb ischemia OBJECTIVE:To summarize and compare the recent achievements in the theory and therapeutic efficacy of stem cels from different sources in the treatment of diabetic foot. METHODS:The first and second authors retrieved PubMed, Sciencedirect and Medline databases for relevant articles published from January 2000 to January 2015. The key words were “diabetic foot, pathogenesis, stem cel therapy” in English. Initialy, 186 articles were retrieved, and finaly 44 articles were included in result analysis. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Stem cels can be a new choice for the treatment of diabetic foot. After stem cel therapy, corresponding symptoms have been aleviated, including the generation of new blood vessels and the reshaping of the colateral vessels, the improvement of motor nerve conduction velocity and nerve reflex, the improvement of the sense of skin pain and temperature, and pain relief. It is stil unclear whether alogeneic stem cels are safe or not, but autologous stem cels, especialy bone marrow mesenchymal stem cels, can be better able to repair damaged vessels and nerves and restore the microcirculation of blood supply. Currently, we need to do more basic and clinical researches to solve the folowing problems: to confirm the effectiveness and safety of stem cel therapy for diabetic foot; to identify whether there is a difference in the differentiation and secretory activity between stem cels in diabetic patients and ordinary people; to give ful play to the treatment of diabetic foot.

Objective To investigate the effects of subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) on blood glucose and metabolic parameters in type 2 diabetes (T2DM) . Methods A total of 973 T2DM patients were recruited, and the clinical data, biochemical and thyroid function parameters were measured. One hundred and forty eight T2DM patients were diagnosed as SCH (SCH group) and 152 euthyroid patients were selected as control group (NSCH group) . Results (1) The prevalence of SCH in type 2 diabetes was 15.3% (148/973) . (2) Compared with the NSCH group, the prevalence of overweight/obesity was significantly higher in SCH group (54.1%vs 35.5%,<0.01) as well as hypertension (64.9%vs 52%, <0.05) . There was no significant difference in HbA1c control and prevalence of dyslipidemia and hyperuricemia between two groups. Conclusion SCH may have some adverse effects on blood pressure and BMI in T2DM.

Objective To evaluate the safety and efficacy of transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) in the management of refractory hematuria of prostatic origin (RHPO). Methods This retrospective study from 6 hospitals in china consisted of 31 patients (mean age 75.0±7.5 years, range 58 to 84 years) who underent transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) for RHPO between February 2011 and January 2017. Patients with RHPO who had complete imaging and clinical data were enrolled. Patients with incomplete clinical data, inability to assess hemostasis, and contraindications to TAE were excluded. The cause of RHPO was benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in nine patients, prostate cancer in twelve, transurethral resection of prostate in four, open prostatectomy in two and prostatic sarcoma in four. Superselective arterial embolization, non-superselective arterial embolization or intra-arterial infusion chemotherapy was performed according to the etiology and angiography. Angiographic findings, technical success rate, clinical success rate, complications were recorded. Results Of the 31 patients, 6 patients (19.4％) were with active bleeding, 4 (12.9％) with aneurysm and 27 (87.1％) with abnormal neovascularization on the angiogram. The 31 patients underwent a totle of 37 TAE, the technical success rate was 100.0％(37/37) and the recent hemostasis success rate was 90.3％(28/31). The incidence of mild complications was 38.7％(13/31), there was no serious complication associated with TAE. Conclusion TAE is a safe and effective method for the treatment of refractory hematuria of prostatic origin.

Objective To summarize the MRI characteristics of fat-containing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Methods The retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted.The clinicopathological data of 18 patients with fat-containing HCC who were admitted to the Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital of the Second Military Medical University between January 2015 and April 2016 were collected.All patients underwent MRI examination.Observation indicators:(1) imaging examination;(2) pathological features;(3) treatment and follow-up.Follow-up using outpatient imaging examination was performed to detect tumor recurrence once at 1 month postoperatively and once every 3 months postoperatively up to December 2016.Measurement data with normal distribution were represented as-x±s.Results (1) Imaging examination:plain scans of MRI:of 18 patients,lesions of 9,7 and 2 patients were respectively located in left,right and caudate lobes of liver,and lesions were round-like,with a diameter of 1.6-9.0 cm.Tumors were single,and tumor thrombosis in the hepatic vein was seen in 1 patient.T2WI on fat-suppression of 15 and 3 patients showed respectively high signals and iso-signal;MRI examination showed that out-phase signal on T1WI was variously decreased than in-phase signal,showing focal or diffuse signal decreasing;lipid phase on T1WI showed diffuse distribution in 10 patients,patchy fat-containing regions were scattered within the peritumoral zone in 7 patients,and lipid of 1 patient was located in the central area.Dynamic contrast enhancement MRI showed that fast-in and fast-out,fast-in and slow-out,and slow-in and slow-out types were detected in 16,1 and 1 patients,respectively.Sixteen patients had capsule-like enhancement in delayed phase.Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) showed high signals in 10 patients,slightly high signals in 6 patients and iso-signal in 2 patients.Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value was (1.19± 0.20)×10-3 mm2/s,including (1.37±0.20) × 10-3 mm2/s in lipid-rich type,(1.17±0.13) × 10-3 mm2/s in clear cell type and (1.11±0.17)× 10-3 mm2/s in thick beam type.Of 18 patients,2 were preoperatively misdiagnosed as hepatic angiomyolipoma and 1 as hepatic adenoma.(2) Pathological features:pathological types of 18 patients with fat-containing HCC:5 and 13 patients were respectively in lipid-rich and non-lipid-rich types (4 in clear cell type and 9 in thick beam type);steatosis tumor cells,rich and translucent cytoplasms and large vacuolated lipid droplets were seen under the microscope;steatosis tumor cells were diffused or scattered within the lesions,some of which showed plaque-like performance of different sizes.Degree of microvascular invasion:grade M0,M1 and M2 were found in 12,3 (2 in thick beam type and 1 in clear cell type) and 3 (2 in thick beam type and 1 in lipid-rich type) patients,respectively.(3) Treatment and follow-up:18 patients underwent surgery and were followed up for 6-13 months,with a median time of 8 months.During the follow-up,5 patients in lipid-rich type and 4 in clear cell type had no recurrence;among 9 patients in thick beam type,1 of 4 with microvascular invasion had no recurrence,2 and 1 of 4 with microvascular invasion had respectively recurrence at 3 months postoperatively and 4 months postoperatively,and 5 without microvascular invasion had no recurrence.The lesions of 3 patients with recurrence is single,3 patients received local minimally invasive therapy and continuous follow-up.Conclusion MRI characteristics of fat-containing HCC include that decreased out-phase signal on T1WI compared with in-phase signal,high signal on DWI,low ADC value,fast-in and fast-out enhancement and capsule-like enhancement in delayed phase.

Objective:To investigate the different types of renal artery involvement in Stanford type B aortic dissection (TBAD) and the comparison of clinical effecacy after thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR).Methods:This is a retrospective cohort study included 330 patients with TBAD and renal artery involvement treated with TEVAR from June 2002 to September 2021 in General Hospital of Northern Theater Command of the PLA. According to aortic CTA image, unilateral renal artery involvement conditions were divided into 5 types: the true lumen type (renal artery opening completely from the true lumen), false lumen type (renal artery opening completely from the false lumen), double lumen type (renal artery opening from the true and false double lumen), compression type (renal artery opening connected with the true lumen, but the renal artery opening was extremely squeezed by the inner membrane), open type (renal artery opening with intimal tear). There were seven types of bilateral renal artery involvement: true-true type (true lumen-true lumen type), true and false type (true lumen-false lumen type), true-double type (true lumen-double lumen type), true-opening type (true lumen-opening type), false-false type (false lumen-false lumen type), false-compression type (false lumen-compression type), double-double type (double lumen-double lumen type). The primary observation index of this study was the comparison of postoperative renal function and the incidence of clinical adverse events of different types of renal artery involvement. One-way ANOVA test, Kruskal-Wallis H test and paired sample rank sum test were used to compare postoperative renal function between different types of bilateral renal artery involvement. The Chi-square test or Fisher′s exact probability test were used to compare the near and long term adverse events between different types of bilateral renal artery involvement. Kaplan-Meier method was used to compare the all-cause mortality of patients with severe renal functional injury and non-severe renal functional injury before surgery. Results:The average age of the patients included in this study was (53±11) years, including 276 males (83.6%) and 54 females (16.4%). There were statistical difference in the level of serum creatinine (preoperative: H=18.686, P=0.005, postoperative: H=18.101, P=0.006) and cystatin C (preoperative: H=17.566, P=0.007, postoperative: H=10.433, P=0.016), pre-and post-operative, between the seven groups of TBAD patients with different renal artery involvement types ( P<0.05), and the false-false type group shown the worst kidney function. However, no statistically significant differences were shown when comparing their pre- and post-operative change values ( P>0.05). The 30-day follow-up result showed that there were statistically significant differences in the incidence of postoperative acute kidney injury ( χ2=15.623, P=0.007), aorta-related adverse events ( χ2=15.523, P=0.010), and intraoperative endoleak ( χ2=17.935, P=0.004) among the seven groups, and the false-false group was the highest (2/9, 5/9 and 5/9, respectively). In terms of long-term follow-up results, there were statistically significant differences in all-cause death ( χ2=14.772, P=0.011) and non-aortic death ( χ2=15.589, P=0.008) among the seven groups. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that patients with worse pre-operative renal function showed higher long-term all cause death (17.7% vs. 4.8%, P=0.009). Conclusions:For TBAD patients with renal artery involvement, there were differences in renal function among different types, and TEVAR showed no significant effect on renal function in TBAD patients. The long-term all cause death was higher in patients with worse renal function pre-operative.

With the rapid development of modern biomedicine, subjective factors such as human emotion and disease experience are diluted. Accurate data, programmed diagnosis and treatment process and other objective factors cut off the effective communication between doctors and patients, aggravating the already tense doctor-patient relationship and intensifying various conflicts in the clinic. In order to improve clinical humanistic care, medical and nursing workers have launched reflections and explorations. Narrative medicine is a new form of medical humanistic practice, while parallel chart, as an important way of its practice, records patients’ subjective experiences and painful feelings. It is of great theoretical significance and clinical value to sinicize narrative medicine and construct and promote parallel chart in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) by studying the research progress of parallel chart in China and its application in TCM.

To investigate the chemical constituents of ethyl acetate from Cirsium setosum, fifteen flavonoids were obtained by column chromatography on silica gel, MCI, Sephadex LH-20, and preparative HPLC. Their structures were identified as 4',5,6-trihydroxy-7-methoxyflavone(1), 4',5-dihydroxy-7,8-dimethoxyflavone(2), sorbifolin-6-O-β-glucopyranoside(3), kaempferol-7-O-α-L-rhamnoside(4), kaempferol(5), quercetin-3-O-β-D-glucosyl-7-O-α-L-rhamnoside(6), myricetin(7), myricetin-3-O-β-D-glucoside(8), 5,7- dihydroxy -3',4'- dimethoxyflavone(9), 3',4',5- trihydroxy-3,7-dimethoxyflavone(10), 3',3,4',5-tetrahydroxy-7-methoxyflavone(11), 3'-hydroxy-4',5,7-trimethoxyflavone(12), 7-hydroxy-3',4',5-trimethoxyflavone(13), 4',5-dihydroxy-2',3',7,8-tetramethoxylflavone(14), and 5-hydroxy-2',3',7,8-tetramethoxylflavone(15) by spectroscopic data analysis. All compounds were isolated from this plant for the first time.Compounds(1-15) were evaluated for their hypoglycemic activities by PTP1B enzyme model. Among them, compounds 2, 12, and 14 showed significant PTP1B inhibitory activities with IC₅₀ values of 2.54, 1.85, 2.11 μmol•L⁻¹, respectively.

Objective: To investigate relationship between the clinicopathological features and prognosis of T1 esophageal carcinoma. Methods: Data from 212 T1 primary esophageal cancer patients, who underwent radical surgery in The Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University from Jan 2001 to Dec 2009 were enrolled. There were 148 males and 64 females. There were 91 patients with stage pT1a and 121 patients with stage pT1b. Results: The survival of the 212 patients was 27~108 months, and the median survival was 80.8 months. The 1, 3, and 5 year survival rates of patients with stage T1a were 100%, 97.8% and 94.5%, respectively, and the median survival was 86.8 months. The 1, 3, and 5 year survival rates of patients with stage T1b were 100%, 95.9% and 74.4%, respectively, and the median survival was 76.2 months. The rate of lymph node metastasis in 121 patients with stage T1b was 26.4% (32/121). The lymph node metastasis rates in patients with stage sm1, sm2 and sm3 were 11.6% (3/26), 15.0% (6/40) and 41.8% (23/55), respectively. There was no significant difference in lymph node metastasis between stage sm1 patients and stage sm2 patients (P=0.973). Lymph node metastasis rates in patients with stage sm3 were higher than those in stage sm1 and sm2 (P<0.05). Conclusion Radical resection of esophageal carcinoma with peripheral lymph node dissection is recommended for patients with T1b esophageal carcinoma.