OBJECTIVETo investigate the early clinical effects and radiological outcome of dynamic cervical implant (DCI) internal fixation in treating cervical spondylosis, and evaluate its safety and efficiency.

METHODSFrom June 2009 to December 2011, 19 patients with cervical spondylosis correspond to the indication of DCI internal fixation in the study, including 5 cases of cervical spondylotic myelopathy and 14 cases of cervical spondylotic radiculopathy. There were 8 males and 11 females, aged from 35 to 54 years with a mean of 43.2 years. Pathological segments included C3,4 in 1 case, C4,5 in 6, C5,6 in 6, C6,7 in 4, C3,4 and C5,6, C6,7 in 2. All patients were treated with anterior discectomy and decompression and DCI internal fixation, meanwhile, 2 cases of them with anterior cervical corpectomy and fusion plate fixation. Clinical evaluation included Modified Japanese orthopedics association (mJOA), neck disability index (NDI), visual analogue scale (VAS) score and patient satisfaction index (PSI) at pre-operation and final follow-up. Radiographic evaluation included flexion/extension lateral view at operative level and adjacent segment. The adjacent level degeneration was analyzed according to Miyazaki classification on MRI images.

RESULTSAll patients were followed up from 12 to 42 months with an average of 19.8 months. Preoperative mJOA score was 13.6±1.1 and at final follow-up was 16.3±1.2 with improvement rate of 85.0%. Preoperative VAS,NDI was 6.6± 1.4, 17.1±7.4 and at final follow-up was 1.4±0.8, 6.1±3.9, respectively; there was statistical significance in all above-mentioned results between preoperative and final follow-up (P<0.05). Preoperative ROM at operation level was (7.6±1.9)° and final follow-up was (7.8+2.1)°; preoperative ROM at C2-C7 was (38.6±7.2)° and final follow-up was (39.9±6.4)°; there was no statistical significance in all above-mentioned results between preoperative and final follow-up (P>0.05). Preoperative DHI at operation level was (6.3±1.1) mm and final follow-up was (7.1±0.8) mm, there was statistical significance in DHI between preoperative and final follow-up (P<0.05). No heterotopic ossification was found. All patients followed up MRI, degeneration of 3 segments aggravated 1 degree in 38 adjacent segments, without clinical symptom.

CONCLUSIONTreatment of cervical spondylosis with dynamic cervical implant can got satisfactory outcome in early follow-up. Activity of operative segment obtain reservation in some degree. The incidence of adjacent segment degeneration is lower and no adjacent segment disease occur. Nevertheless a longer follow-up time should be needed to assess the long term functionality of the DCI and the influence on adjacent levels.

Adult ; Cervical Vertebrae ; surgery ; Female ; Fracture Fixation, Internal ; methods ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prostheses and Implants ; Range of Motion, Articular ; Spondylosis ; physiopathology ; surgery

AIMTo exploit the characteristic digital criterion for the potential information characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine chromatographic fingerprints, the 37 parameters such as F and I were firstly proposed to disclose the potential information characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine fingerprints.

METHODSThe HPLC fingerprints of the Ginkgo biloba extract (GBE) , Ginkgo leaf extract and diphyridamole injection (GLEDI), Ixeris sonchifolia Hance (ISH) and Ixeris sonchifolia Hance injection (ISHI) were compared each other.

RESULTSAs far as the peak signal intensity, the uniform of peak signal, resolution and the fingerprint information were concerned. The GBE fingerprint was better than the GLEDI's, and the ISH fingerprint was also better than the ISHI's, then GBE fingerprint was close to the ISHI' s.

CONCLUSIONThe 37 parameters such as F and I can be used to objectively, authentically and thoroughly display the potential information characteristics of the traditional Chinese medicine chromatographic fingerprints.

Asteraceae ; chemistry ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Ginkgo biloba ; chemistry ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Plant Leaves ; chemistry

To explore the differences between the qualitative similarity and the quantitative similarity of chromatographic fingerprints of traditional Chinese medicines, the quantitative similarity calculated by vector shadow C%, apparent quantitative similarity R%, quantitative similarity P%, etc. were firstly proposed to disclose the quantitative information characteristics of traditional Chinese medicines fingerprints. The HPLC fingerprints of both the standard Fructus gardeniae and the ten batches of Fructus gardeniae produced in different places were evaluated by the new parameters to obtain good results. The contrasted fingerprint contained 35 peaks while geniposide was selected as the reference peak. The HPLC fingerprint had good precision and reproducibility with the RSD of the relative retention time less than 1.5% and the RSD of the relative peak area within 5%. The qualitative similarity and quantitative similarity between each crude drug and the contrasted fingerprint were quantitatively calculated, the values of C%, P%, etc., were applied in the quality control practice, which had less errors. What is more, this method could be used for the overall quality control of Fructus gardeniae and especially suits for qualitative and quantitative evaluations of the chromatographic fingerprints both in chemical constituent distribution and in contents. The quantitative parameters such as C% and P% can be used to objectively, authentically and thoroughly display the content information characteristics. When they combined with the qualitative similarity, it will be the good method to evaluate the chromatographic fingerprints of traditional Chinese medicines.
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Fruit ; chemistry ; Gardenia ; chemistry ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; methods ; standards ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Quality Control ; Reproducibility of Results

OBJECTIVETo compare the clinical effects between anterior cervical discectomy and fusion(ACDF) combined with anterior cervical corpectomy and fusion(ACCF) and cervical posterior single open-door laminoplasty with mini-titanium plate fixation in treating three-segment cervical spondylotic myelopathy.

METHODSThe clinical data of 63 patients (39 males and 24 females) with three-segment cervical spondylotic myelopathy underwent surgical treatment from March 2014 to March 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. Among them, 43 cases were treated by ACDF combined with ACCF(anterior group), and 20 cases were treated by cervical posterior single open-door laminoplasty with mini-titanium plate fixation(posterior group). Operative time, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative complications were compared between two groups. And according to JOA score to evaluate the clinical effect.

RESULTSAll the patients were follow-up from 16 to 40 months with an average of 25.8 months. Operative time of anterior group and posterior group were (123.70±6.21) min and(118.70±5.41) min, respectively, there was no significant difference between two groups(>0.05). Intraoperative blood loss of anterior group and posterior group were (85.23±7.51) ml and (107.18±9.41) ml, respectively, there was significant difference between two groups(<0.05). In anterior group, axial symptoms occurred in 6 cases, dysphagia in 1 case, and no C₅ nerve root palsy, hoarseness and choking cough were found, the incidence rate of complication was 16.3%(7/43); and in posterior group, axial symptoms occurred in 5 cases, C5 nerve root palsy in 1 case, and no dysphagia, hoarseness and choking cough were found, the incidence rate of complication was 30.0%(6/20); there was significant defference in incidence rate of complication between two group(<0.05). At 1 week after operation and final follow-up, the JOA scores of anterior group were obviously better than that of posterior group(<0.05).

CONCLUSIONSAbove-mintioned two surgical treatment for cervical spondylotic myelopathy can provide instantly stability, the method of ACDF combined with ACCF was obviously better that of the method of cervical posterior single open-door laminoplasty in intraoperative blood loss, the incidence rate of complications, clinical effect.Thus, for the treatment of three-segment cervical spondylotic myelopathy, the method of ACDF combined with ACCF would be firstly chosen.

Objective To explore the value of intra-voxel incoherent motion diffusion weighted imaging(IVIM-DWI)in brain perfusion of early hypertensive patients. Methods Totally 36 hypertensive patients and 14 volunteers were recruited and scanned using routine MRI sequences including axial T2WI, T1WI, T2FLAIR, TOF-MRA and IVIM-DWI sequence. Perfusion-related diffusion coefficient (D*) values and perfusion fraction (f) values in various regions were measured separately.The independent sample t test was used to analyze the data.Results Compared with the volunteers,both D*values and f values in lenticular nucleus,thalamus,superior frontal gyrus,occipital lobe,genu of corpus callosum(CC)and posterior horns of periventricular WM, were found to be lower (P<0.05) in hypertensive patients. For other regions, there were no significant difference(P>0.05).Conclusion IVIM-DWI has the ability to detect subtle brain perfusion abnormalities at early stages of hypertension.It has an important value to the prevention and treatment of hypertensive encephalopathy.

Background: and Purpose This study aimed to construct an optimal dynamic nomogram for predicting malignant brain edema (MBE) in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients after endovascular thrombectomy (ET). Methods: We enrolled AIS patients after ET from May 2017 to April 2021. MBE was defined as a midline shift of >5 mm at the septum pellucidum or pineal gland based on follow-up computed tomography within 5 days after ET. Multivariate logistic regression and LASSO (least absolute shrinkage and selection operator) regression were used to construct the nomogram. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and decisioncurve analysis were used to compare our nomogram with two previous risk models for predicting brain edema after ET. Results: MBE developed in 72 (21.9%) of the 329 eligible patients. Our dynamic web-based nomogram (https://successful.shinyapps.io/DynNomapp/) consisted of five parameters: basal cistern effacement, postoperative National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score, brain atrophy, hypoattenuation area, and stroke etiology. The nomogram showed good discrimination ability, with a C-index (Harrell’s concordance index) of 0.925 (95% confidence interval=0.890–0.961), and good calibration (Hosmer-Lemeshow test, p=0.386). All variables had variance inflation factors of <1.5 and tolerances of >0.7, suggesting no significant collinearity among them. The AUC of our nomogram (0.925) was superior to those of Xiang-liang Chen and colleagues (0.843) and Ming-yang Du and colleagues (0.728). Conclusions Our web-based dynamic nomogram reliably predicted the risk of MBE in AIS patients after ET, and hence is worthy of further evaluation.

OBJECTIVETo establish a detection method based on gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for concentrations of volatile nitrosamine compounds in urine, and apply it to the test of real samples.

METHODSTarget compounds dichloromethane in urine samples was extracted with dichloromethane through liquid-liquid extraction, then the dichloromethane extract was filtrated, evaporated with nitrogen at 40°C to dryness, and the volume was set with 0.2 ml dichloromethane. Analysis of nine volatile nitroso-compounds were performed with GC-MS under selected ion monitoring mode, external reference method was used for quantification, and the detection limit, repeatability and sensitivity were evaluated. In addition, nine volatile nitroso-compounds of 92 urine samples in a town of Anhui province were measured.

RESULTSA good linear range of 2 - 200 ng/ml (with correlation coefficient 0.9985 - 0.9999) were obtained for the above mentioned nine kinds of analyte, and the lowest examination concentration was 0.05 - 0.50 ng/ml. The addition standard recoveries were 68%-102% with the RSD of 0.4% - 5.5% (n = 3). The detection limits were 0.001 - 0.013 ng/ml urine. The detection rate of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), N-nitrosomethylethylamine (NMEA), N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA), N-nitrosodi-n-propylamine (NDPA), N-nitrosopyrrolidine (NPYR), N-nitrosomorpholine (NMOR), N-nitrosopiperidine (NPIP), N-nitrosodi-n-butylamine (NDBA) and N-nitrosodiphenylamine (NDPhA) were 71% (65), 74% (68), 65% (60), 80% (73), 92% (85), 78% (72), 76% (70), 87% (80), 98% (90), respectively, with the results (0.27 ± 0.12), (0.75 ± 0.29), (0.06 ± 0.02), (0.16 ± 0.07), (23.66 ± 5.18), (1.01 ± 0.35), (0.38 ± 0.11), (2.47 ± 0.52) and (15.13 ± 3.48) nmol/g creatinine.

CONCLUSIONSA gas chromatography-mass spectrometry detect method was developed for low level volatile nitrosamines in urine samples.

Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry ; Humans ; Nitrosamines ; urine ; Urinalysis ; methods ; Volatile Organic Compounds ; urine

An HPLC method was established for the simultaneous determination of saikosaponin a, b₂, c, d, e, f of Bupleurum chinense DC. in order to study the content difference of saikosaponins in different producing areas, different harvest time and different processed products of Bupleurum chinense DC. The Agela Venusil MP C₁₈ (4.6 mm×250 mm, 5 μm) column was used with a gradient elution of acetonitrile-water at the wavelength of 210 and 254 nm with the flow rate of 1.0 mL·min^-1 and the column temperature at 30℃. Based on the content of six kinds of saikosaponins, the differences of saikosaponins in four producing areas, eight harvest periods and 11 processing methods of Bupleurum chinense DC. were systematically studied. The results showed that the content of saikosaponins in Bupleurum chinense DC. was higher in May and August of Liaoning, Shaanxi and Gansu, but only in August from Shanxi in the four producing areas. The content of saikosaponins in 11 processed products was as follows:raw product > bran-stir-fried product > stir-fried product > wine-moistened product > turtle blood-stir-fried product > bran-wine-stir-fried product > wine-stir-fried product > vinegar-moistened product > turtle blood-wine-stir-fried product > vinegar-stir-fried product > honey-stir-fried product > honeymoistened product.

Choristoma/surgery* ; Ear Diseases/surgery* ; Eustachian Tube ; Face ; Humans

Background: Accumulating documents have demonstrated that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play critical roles in tumorigenesis. As an lncRNA, nuclear-enriched abundant transcript 1 (NEAT1) has been identified to be involved in the progression of many types of cancers. However, the biological function of NEAT1 in cervical cancer is not fully investigated. The aim of this study was to disclose the specific biological function of lncRNA NEAT1 in cervical cancer progression. Methods: Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was utilized to identify the expression of lncRNA NEAT1 in the cervical cancer tissues and cell lines. All cervical cancer samples used in this study were collected from the Affiliated Suzhou Hospital of Nanjing Medical University between September 2012 and September 2017. The correlation between NEAT1 expression and the overall survival rate of cervical cancer patients was analyzed by Kaplan-Meier analysis. The effects of NEAT1 knockdown or overexpression on cell proliferation were tested by performing MTT assays and colony formation assays. Transwell assays were conducted to detect the migratory ability of cervical cancer cells, in which NEAT1 was silenced or overexpressed. Western blotting was utilized to validate whether NEAT1 promotes cervical cancer progression through activating PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. Results: High expression of NEAT1 predicted poor prognosis of cervical cancer patients (χ = 0.735, P = 0.005). Knockdown of NEAT1 decreased the number of colonies in CaSki cell from 136.667 ± 13.503 to 71.667 ± 7.506 (t = -18.76, P = 0.003) and decreased the number of colonies in HeLa cell from 128.667 ± 13.317 to 65.667 ± 7.024 (t = -5.54, P = 0.031). However, overexpression of NEAT1 increased the number of colonies in SiHa cell from 84.667 ± 12.014 to 150.667 ± 18.037 (t = 7.27, P = 0.018). Knockdown of NEAT1 decreased the migratory number of CaSki cell from 100.333 ± 9.866 to 58.333 ± 5.859 (t = -8.08, P = 0.015) and reduced the migratory number in HeLa cell from 123.667 ± 12.097 to 67.667 ± 7.095 (t = -6.03, P = 0.026). Overexpression of NEAT1 increased the migratory number of SiHa cell from 127.333 ± 16.042 to 231.333 ± 31.786 (t = 4.92, P = 0.039). Conclusion NEAT1 may exert oncogenic function in cervical cancer and serve as a novel therapeutic target for cervical cancer.
Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; Female ; HeLa Cells ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases ; physiology ; RNA, Long Noncoding ; physiology ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms ; genetics