Acupuncture Therapy ; Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Laryngitis ; therapy

Acupuncture Therapy ; Aged ; Feeding and Eating Disorders ; therapy ; Humans ; Male

BACKGROUND:At present, there was lack of reports on the efficacy of thoracolumbar tuberculosis complicated with severe kyphosis (>90°). Choice of surgical treatment is necessary for patients with severe spinal tuberculosis kyphosis, affected heart and lung function and neurological disorders. OBJECTIVE:To retrospectively analyze the repair effect of I-stage posterior osteotomy orthopedic fixation and II-stage anterior debridement interbody bone grafting fusion in repair of patients with thoracolumbar tuberculosis complicated with severe kyphosis. METHODS:Total y 53 patients with spinal tuberculosis complicated with severe kyphosis were enrol ed. Patients underwent posterior osteotomy orthopedic fixation in the first stage, and underwent anterior debridement interbody bone grafting fusion in the second stage. X-ray, CT, MRI and other imaging examinations were conducted before and after the treatment. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, pain visual analog scale scores, kyphosis and ASIA spinal cord injury classification before and after the treatment were compared and analyzed for clinical evaluation of efficacy. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Al patients had a successful surgery. The operative time was 290 (195-420) minutes, and the intra-operative amount of blood loss was 1800 (1 100-3 300) mL, the average number of fixed segments were 11.8 (9-16). Al these 53 patients were fol owed up for 26-28 months. The erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein of patients after treatment gradual y recovered to normal, and recovered to normal levels at the final fol ow-up. The mean correction of sagittal Cobb angle was 77.92°, the correction rate reached to 74.6%at the final fol ow-up. Til the final fol ow-up, the average loss of corrective angle was 1.35°. The lower back pain and limitation of function obtained varying degrees of al eviating after treatment. The visual analog scale scores in the final fol ow-up were significantly lower than those before treatment (t=19.219, P<0.001). ASIA spinal cord injury scores gradual y increased. Patients recovered the ability to live and work in varying degrees. These results suggest that I-stage posterior osteotomy orthopedic fixation combined with II-stage anterior debridement interbody bone graft fusion is an effective methods for repair of thoracolumbar tuberculosis complicated with severe kyphosis. The lesions of patients with thoracolumbar tuberculosis complicated with severe kyphosis who were enrol ed in this study involve multiple vertebral body, long bone defect, and often need long segmental al ograft bone grafting, with long-time of bone grafting fusion, therefore, zygapophyseal bone grafting fusion should be conducted to increase the stability of posterior bone grafting.

BACKGROUND:There are no systematic and coherent studies on the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway of fluoride-induced osteoblast apoptosis, and the specific pathways to induce apoptosis in osteoblasts by fluorine are stil unclear. OBJECTIVE:To explore the possible pathways of apoptosis in osteoblasts induced by fluoride and its molecular characteristics. METHODS:A fluorosis model of human osteosarcoma cel line Saos-2 was establishedin vitro. After in vitro culture, the cels were treated with sodium fluoride at different concentrations (0, 5, 10, 20, 40, 80 mg/L). Flow cytometry was used to inspect the mitochondrial membrane potential at 24 hours after intervention; 84 apoptosis-related genes were detected by PCR Array; parts of the differentialy expressed genes were verified by western blot method. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: When the concentrations of sodium fluoride were 20, 40 and 80 mg/L, the mitochondrial membrane potentials in osteoblasts were 27.0%, 28.8%, 38.6%, respectively (alP < 0.05). PCR array found 13 genes upregulated and 15 genes down-regulated. Immunoblotting results showed Bim, Caspase 9, Caspase 14, BCL2, BAX expressions enhanced with increasing doses of sodium fluoride; Caspase 3 expression was decreased at the concentration of 5 mg/L, but increased gradualy at over 10 mg/L. Caspase 7 expression had no significant difference. The expression of Caspase 10 decreased with the increasing doses of sodium fluoride. These findings indicate that fluoride may induce apoptosis in osteoblasts through the mitochondrial pathway (including the endoplasmic reticulum stress pathway) and death receptor pathway.

BACKGROUND:Due to the emergence of drug-resistant tuberculosis and mismanagement in tuberculosis patients,the incidence of delayed healing or recurrent after spinal tuberculosis surgery is gradualy increasing,especialy in strongly predisposal children.Therefore,exploring the risk factors of delayed healing orpost-operative recurrence in pediatric patients after spinal tuberculosis surgery,wil have significance in the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis.OBJECTIVE:To analyze the risk factors of delayed healing or post-operative recurrence in pediatric spinal tuberculosis,and evaluate the efficacy of individualized re-operation.METHODS:From June 1998 to June 2013,clinical data of 145 pediatric patients with spinal tuberculosis were reviewed retrospectively,and some cases of delayed healing or post-operative recurrence in spinal tuberculosis were compared with other without delayed healing or post-operative recurrence.The patient's age,gender,nutritional condition,lesion debridement,history of chemotherapy and internal fixation,complicated spinal lesion,scope of lesions,preoperative erythrocyte sedimentation rate ＞60 mm/h,and postoperative complications were analyzed by Logistic regression analysis.The risk factors of delayed healing or post-operative recurrence were analyzed.After re-operation,erythrocyte sedimentation rate,C-reactive protein and imaging studies were detected.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:After surgery,29 cases appeared delayed healing or post-operative recurrence and 12 of them received re-operation.The incidence of delayed healing or post-operative recurrence in pediatric spinal tuberculosis was 20％and the re-operation rate was 8.3％.Logistic regression analysis showed that,nutritional condition,history of chemotherapy,lesion debridement,and scope of lesions were significantly correlated with delayed healing or post-operative recurrence (P＜0.05).While patient's age,gender,history of internal fixation,complicated spinal lesion,preoperative erythrocyte sedimentation rate ＞60 mm/h,and postoperative complications had no correlation with the delayed healing or post-operative recurrence (P ＞0.05).Individualized re-operation can achieve good outcomes.Experimental findings indicate that,the risk factors of delayed healing or post-operative recurrence in pediatric spinal tuberculosis are very complex,enhancing the nutrition,complete debridement of lesions,and receiving chemotherapy can effectively decrease the incidence.According to the initial surgery and patient's conditions,individualized re-operation is the key to the success.

Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Adult ; Facial Pain ; therapy ; Female ; Headache ; therapy ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Toes

Objective To study the prevention and treatment of severe complications of percutaneous radiofrequency ablation(PRFA)for hepatic malignancy. Methods A series of 939 patients with primary hepatic carcinoma or hepatic metastasis confirmed by pathological examinations or clinical manifestations underwent 1098 treatments of PRFA between January 2006 and December 2009. All the patients were followed up to study the short-or long-term complications related to PRFA. Results Complications developed in 9 patients: bile duct injury (4 patients), hemothorax (2 patients), and intra-abdominal hemorrhage (3 patients). The incidence of complication was 0.82% (9/1098) and the complication-related mortality was 11.1% (1/9). Conclusions Although PRFA which is minimally invasive, is a safe and effective treatment, there were still risks for this procedure, especially when the tumor is located at the portahepatic region or the patient has coagulopathy. Some serious complications can be prevented. It is important to observe the strict indications for RFA and to carry out the procedure carefully. Early detection of complication is important.

Cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) systems based on crude cell extracts have been used in protein expression in vitro. With the researchers' endeavor for decades, the CFPS system has been developed as an important research tool in many frontiers of fundamental and applied biology because of its clear genetic background and simplicity to control the reaction. The yield of CFPS systems derived from prokaryote or eukaryote has increased to several grams per liter with constantly decreasing cost. Nowadays grams of protein could be prepared using a large-scale cell-free system. Recently, the advantages on the expression of complicated, toxic and membrane proteins have shown the great potential of the CFPS systems. The rapid progress of this technology made us to believe that it will take an important place in biopharmaceutical industries undoubtedly.
Bioengineering ; trends ; Cell-Free System ; Drug Industry ; trends ; Protein Biosynthesis

Objective To evaluate contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) in diagnosis of small hepatocellular carcinoma (SHCC) ( ≤ 2. 0 cm) with liver cirrhosis after contrast-enhanced CT (CECT) examination. Methods Forty five patients with liver cirrhosis received CECT and CEUS examinations before operation or needle biopsy and the diagnosis was confirmed by pathological examination.CEUS and CECT findings of 51 liver space-occupying lesions from 45 patients were retrospectively analyzed.Results Among all 51 lesions detected CEUS and CECT found 49 and 35, respectively. The typical characteristics of SHCC were "fast-in and fast-out" and "fast-in and slow-out". The sensitivity of CEUS and CECT in diagnosis of SHCC was 88. 9% (32/36) and 69. 4 % (25/36) respectively ( x2 = 3. 02, P =0. 08);the diagnostic accuracy was 84. 3 % (43/51 ) and 56. 9% (29/51 ) respectively ( x2 = 1.46, P =0. 22). Among 16 lesions missed by CECT, 12 were detected by CEUS. Conclusions CEUS and CECT show the similar diagnostic rate for typical SHCC ,however, CEUS is more sensitive for atypical lesions. With high time resolution, CEUS have advantages for follow-up study of benign liver lesions.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the semen quality of cancer patients and search for a better way of sperm cryopreservation for them.

METHODSWe retrospectively analyzed the quality of the semen from 43 cancer patients under cryopreservation in the Sperm Bank of Zhejiang Province, and compared the semen parameters between the cancer patients and 248 normal donors as well as between the testicular cancer cases (n=22) and non-testicular cancer cases (n=21).

RESULTSThe cancer patients exhibited significantly lower semen quality than the normal donors as in sperm concentration (60.90 x 10(6)/ml vs 74.27 x 10(6)/ml), progressive motility (41.07% vs 51.79%), and recovery rate (49.98% vs 57.33%) (all P <0.05). Furthermore, the progressive sperm motility and sperm recovery rate after freezing were significantly decreased in the testicular cancer cases (15.68% and 42.81%) than in the non-testicular cancer cases (28.36% and 57.53%) (both P <0.05).

CONCLUSIONSemen quality declines in cancer patients, and therefore early sperm cryopreservation is essential for them. Due to the poor sperm motility and recovery rate of testicular cancer patients after freezing, further investigation is required on the improvement of sperm cryopreservation methods.

Adult ; Cryopreservation ; methods ; Humans ; Male ; Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal ; Semen ; Semen Analysis ; Semen Preservation ; methods ; Sperm Count ; Sperm Motility ; Testicular Neoplasms