Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of Mei mini maze procedure for treating atrial fibrillation (AF) patients with previously failed catheter ablation. Methods: Between August 2010 and May 2016, 48 AF (8 proximal AF, 15 persistent AF and 25 long-standing persistent AF) patients (29 males, 19 females, mean age: (62.5±7.3) years old) with previously 1-3 failed catheter ablation results were treated with Mei mini maze procedure in our department. Under thoracoscopic assistance, the procedure was performed through three ports on left chest wall, pulmonary vein isolation and ablations of the roof and posterior wall of left atrium was made by bipolar radiofrequency ablation. Ganglionic plexus ablation was made by the ablation pen. Left atrial appendage was excluded. Patients were followed at outpatient clinic and per telephone. Electrocardiogram, CT and echocardiography examinations were performed at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months post operation. The success rate of the procedure was analyzed by Kaplan-Meier curves and evaluated by the log-rank test. Results: Mean AF history was (8.1±6.3) years and left atria dimension was (44.1±6.2) mm in this patient cohort. All procedures were performed successfully in these 48 patients. Pericardial adhesions were dissected in 21 patients. Durations of the procedures were (142.3±35.6) minutes.There were no serious complications. The hospital stay was (9.3±1.8) days. Sinus rhythm was documented in 44 patients (91.7%) at discharge. The mean follow-up duration was (28.0±17.2) months. Thirty-eight patients (82.6%) were in sinus rhythm. There was no stroke, thrombus in the left atrium and stenosis of pulmonary vein during the follow-up. Sinus rhythm was achieved in 7 out of 8 paroxysmal AF patients, in 31 out of 38 non-paroxysmal AF patients, and in 13 out of 15 persistent AF patients. Kaplan-Meier curve showed that the success rate in the long-standing persistent AF group was lower than in the other two groups, but there was no statistical difference. Conclusions Mei mini maze procedure has a high success rate for AF patients with previously failed catheter ablation history, which could completely isolate the bilateral pulmonary vein and left atrial posterior wall with good quality and integrity of ablation line, and left atrial appendage is also resected during the procedure.

Objective To evaluate the early stage effects of partial two?stage exchange (PTE) for infection after total hip arthroplasty (THA) in order to improve surgical treatment outcomes. Methods Twelve patients (7 males and 5 females) of infect?ed THA treated by PTE between September 2000 and February 2016 were included with an average of 59 years old (range, 40-74 years old). The femoral stem prosthesis was preserved when we ensured that it was not infected and with well fixation during opera?tion. The acetabular prosthesis was totally replaced. Furthermore, the secondary surgery was performed on patients who were free from infection for at least 3 months. At the follow?up duration, the pelvic X?ray was examined to access the presence of loosening of the prosthesis. The inflammatory index was recorded. Hip function was assessed by the Harris hip score, and the visual analogue score (VAS) and patient's subjective satisfaction were recorded by the questionnaire. Results All of the 12 patients were fol?lowed up for a mean of 33.3 months (range, 24-48 months). We achieved a 92% (11/12) success rate. One patient resuffered infec?tion, which was controlled after the second debridement. The preoperative Harris score of 12 patients was 23-57, with an average of 40.83±10.62. All patients had significant improvement in hip function after PTE. The Harris score reached 59.58±4.34 at one month after surgery, and reached 64.58±9.08 after three months and 86.75±4.58 at the last follow?up. There was significantly dif?ferent when compared with the preoperative Harris score. At the last follow?up, the length difference between the lower limbs was less than 1cm in all patients. Two patients did not complain of pain, while other 10 patients got a VAS score of less than 2 points. The patient's subjective satisfaction rating was 100%. Conclusion PTE could be a valuable alternative treatment for infection af?ter THA. The infection control rate and clinical outcomes are comparable to those of two?stage exchange.

Objective:With the help of SWOT(S: internal strengths, W: internal weaknesses, O: external opportunities, T: external threats)analysis, to explore the internal and external conditions of internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy applied to improve the negative emotions of patients with coronary heart disease, and to propose development strategies.Methods:SWOT analysis was used to analyze and sort out the internal strengths and internal weaknesses, external opportunities and external threats of internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy in improving the negative emotions of patients with coronary heart disease.Results:The internal strengths of internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy in improving the negative emotions of patients with coronary heart disease were significant therapeutic effect, strong operability and high cost-effectiveness. The internal weaknesses included excessive dependence on patients′ treatment enthusiasm, and a lack of psychological training among nurses. The external opportunities included demand support, technical support, and theoretical support. The external threats were the lack of large-scale empirical research and the risk of patient personal information leakage.Conclusions:In the clinical application of internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy to improve the negative emotions of patients with coronary heart disease, both strengths and weaknesses coexist, and opportunities and threats coexist. Only by taking strengths of opportunities to overcome weaknesses, improve the autonomy and enthusiasm of patients in treatment, and increase the psychological training of medical staff, can internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy be further promoted in the clinical application of improving the negative emotions of patients with coronary heart disease.

Objective:To explore the association between the spontaneous neural activity and memory function in depressive patients with different sleep quality.Methods:Totally 58 patients with depressive disorder and 58 gender-, age-, education-matched healthy controls (HC) completed 3.0 T MRI Scanning and clinical assessment including Wechsler memory scale (WMS), 24 Hamilton depression scale(HAMD-24) and Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI). According to the score of PSQI, patients were divided into poor sleep quality group (PS, n=38) and good sleep quality group (GS, n=20). Amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (ALFF) were calculated and compared among three groups.Correlation analyses between the brain activity and the score of WMS were conducted as well. Results:Memory quotient of WMS showed differences among three groups( F=14.163, P<0.01), and the lowest score was found in patients with low sleep quality.The brain areas showed significant differences among three groups located in the left medial superior frontal gyrus (lmSFG, MNI: x=-10, y=30, z=58; K=56), right orbital inferior frontal gyrus (roIFG, MNI: x=26, y=20, z=-26; K=24) and left middle frontal gyrus (lMFG, MNI: x=-40 y=32, z=42; K=25) (voxel size P<0.001, cluster size P<0.05, GRF corrected). Compared with GS group, the ALFF of PS group showed significantly increased in the lmSFG, which was negatively correlated with memory quotient ( r=-0.327, P=0.045) and short term memory( r=-0.388, P=0.016). Compared with HC group, the ALFF of PS group showed increased in the lmSFG and lMFG, GS group showed increased ALFF in the roIFG. Conclusion:The impairment of memory function is more serious in patients with depression of low sleep quality, and the activity of frontal lobe is abnormally increased, which is related to memory function.Their association suggests that poor sleep quality in depressive patients may impair memory function by disrupting neural plasticity and synaptic pruning in the frontal lobes.

Objective: To investigate the clinical and immunological laboratory features, mutations in SH2D1A gene and SAP protein expression in four children of two families with X-linked lymphoproliferative disease type 1(XLP-1). Method: Four patients (Family A including Patient 1 and Patient 2, Family B including Patient 3 and Patient 4) and their maternal relatives were enrolled in this study. The clinical manifestation, EBV infection status and chest CT scan were analyzed. The absolute and relative numbers of lymphocyte subsets, T lymphocyte proliferative response, SAP protein expression were assessed by flow cytometry. Quantification of signal joint TCR rearrangementexcision circle (sjTRECs), CDR3 spectratyping of TCRvβ and gene mutation of SH2D1A were detected by PCR based on genomic DNA or cDNA. Result: Four male patients from two families were diagnosed with XLP-1. The ages of disease onset were more than 1 year, more than 1 year, more than 1 month and 6 months. The ages at diagnosis were nine years and ten months, sixteen years and eight months, fourteen years and ten months, four years and nine months. All patients had recurrent infections and EBV infection. Patients 1, 2, and 3 had agammaglobulinemia and Patient 4 had hypogammaglobulinemia. Chest CT scan showed all patients had atelectasis and pneumonia, and Patient 3 had bronchiectasis. Patient 3 was diagnosised as Burkitt lymphoma. For immunological function, all patients exhibited reduced CD4/CD8 ratios, increased numbers of exhausted T lymphocyte, decreased number of NK cell. The numbers of total B lymphocyte and naïve B lymphocyte were normal, but the number of memory B lymphocyte declined in all cases. Four patients′ copy numbers of sjTRECs were low and CDR3 spectratypings of TCRvβ showed mildly skewed. But their T lymphocyte proliferative response was normal. SAP protein expression in four cases were measured by flow cytometry. Two patients from Family A were absent and two patients from Family B showed decreased values. SH2D1A gene sequence analysis showed that the patients of Family A harbored a nonsense mutation (c.163 C>T; p.R55X) in exon 2. Their mother and two sisters were carriers. A missense mutation of SH2D1A gene (c.278 G>A; p.G93D) in exon 3 was found in the patients of Family B. The mother was carrier. Four patients remain survived, Patient 3 gave up treatment, other three patients received IVIG therapy. Conclusion Four patients with XLP-1 from two families characterized by agammaglobulinemia have an extreme vulnerability to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection. The functions of T cell, B cell and NK cell are impaired at different stages. The detection of SAP protein and SH2D1A gene are the key methods for diagnosis of XLP-1.

Objective    To study the clinical results of Mini Maze procedure in atrial fibrillation patients with impaired left ventricular systolic function. Methods    From June 2010 to December 2017, 86 atrial fibrillation patients with impaired left ventricular systolic function received Mini Maze procedure including 54 males and 32 females, with an average age of 60.7±5.9 years. Among them, 12 were with paroxysmal, 27 were with persistent and 47 were with long-standing persistent atrial fibrillation. The mean atrial fibrillation duration was 6.5±4.8 years. CHA2DS2-VASc score was 2.2±1.1. The mean diameter of left atrium was 46.9±3.8 mm. The mean diameter of left ventricle was 51.7±4.6 mm. The preoperative ejection fraction was 42.2%±4.7%. All patients received Mini Maze procedure after general anesthesia. The ablation included 3 annular ablations and 3 linear ablations. The left atrial appendage was excised by Endo-Gia. Ablation of Marshall ligament and epicardial autonomic ganglions were made by an ablation pen. Results    Eighty-six patients successfully completed the procedure without transition to thoracotomy. There was no death during the perioperative period. Seventy-seven patients (89.5%) maintained sinus rhythm at discharge. Eighty patients were followed up for 27.2±12.1 months and 72 patients maintained sinus rhythm. The overall postoperative left ventricular ejection fraction was 47.1%±6.2%. The ejection fraction of the postoperative sinus rhythm group was 48.2%±5.8%, and the ejection fraction of the non-sinus group was 41.6%±5.8% (P<0.05). Multivariate regression analysis showed a left atrial diameter (HR=1.485, 95%CI 1.157-1.906, P<0.05) and an increase in ejection fraction over 10% (HR=18.800, 95%CI 1.674-189.289, P<0.05) were closely related to postoperative recurrence. Kaplan-Meier curve analysis showed that the recurrence rate of atrial fibrillation was significantly lower in patients with an increase in postoperative ejection fraction over 10% (P<0.05). Conclusion    Mini Maze procedure is safe and effective in the treatment of atrial fibrillation patients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction, which helps to improve left ventricular function to prevent the vicious circle of atrial fibrillation and heart failure.

Objective To determine the effects of resecting the lower half of left stellate ganglion (LSG) on fast ventricular rate (VR) in persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) and its mechanism. Methods Twelve mature healthy male beagle dogs (15–25 kg) were studied. They were randomly divided into two groups (an experimental group and a control group, 6 dogs in each group). The control group were merely performed with rapid left atrial pacing to induce persistent AF. The experimental group were disposed with rapid left atrial pacing and received resection of the lower half of LSG after the persistent AF was documented. Simultaneously the ventricular rates were monitored separately before anesthesia, after anesthesia, 30 minutes and one month after LSG resection. The forward passing effective refractory period (ERP) of the canine atrioventricular node (AVN) was also measured. Results Each dog was documented with persistent AF after 3–6 weeks’ left atrial pacing. After resecting the lower half of LSG for 30 minutes (the control group was only observed for 30 minutes without LSG resection), the average VR of the control group attained 144.5±4.2 beats/min, while that of the experimental group was 121.5±8.7 beats/min (P<0.001). After resecting the lower half of LSG for one month (the control group was observed for one month without LSG resection), the average VR of the control group was 139.2±5.6 beats/min, while that of the experimental group was 106.5±4.9 beats/min (P<0.001). Meantime, the forward passing ERP of AVN of the experimental group was significantly prolonged than that of the control group (265.6±7.8 msvs.251.1±4.6 ms, P=0.003). Conclusion Resection of the lower half of LSG is efficient in reducing VR in canines with persistent AF, one of the mechanisms of which may be prolonging the forward passing ERP of AVN.