Objective To compare the efficacy and survival of patients with malignant obstructive jaundice using either endoscopic self-expandable metallic stents or surgery,and to evaluate the compounding factors influencing prognosis.Methods 56 patients with malignant obstructive jaundice treated with endoscopic self-expandable metallic stents (the endoscopic group) were compared with 90 patients who received surgery (the surgery group) during the same study period.Clinical data and survival of the 2 groups of patients were retrospectively analyzed.Results The success rate was 100％ in the endoscopic group.The serum bilirubin,alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and γ-glutamyl transferase (γ-GT) decreased significantly by using either therapeutic endoscopy or surgery (P＜0.01).There was no significant difference between the two groups in the reduction of serum total bilirubin.The mean survival of the endoscopic and surgery groups were 340 d and 795 d respectively.The accumulative survivals of the endoscopic group at 3,6 and 12 months as evaluated by the Kaplan-Meier method were 82.6 ％,61.1％ and 46.6 ％,respectively,and for the surgery group were 97.0％,90.9 ％ and 65.4％ respectively. There was a significant difference in survival between the two groups (P＜0.01).Survival after therapeutic endoscopy was similar to surgery for patients with metastasis and hilar biliary obstruction.Conclusions Self-expandable metallic stents gave similar palliation in the relief of jaundice in patients with malignant biliary obstruction.The stents had no effect on the primary tumor.Therapeutic endoscopy with self-expandable metallic stents is a safe and effective method for the relief of jaundice in patients with obstructive jaundice caused by non-resectable malignant tumors.

Objective To study the clinical characteristics and the influencing factors of hypertension in IgA nephropathy(IgAN)patients with normal renal function.Methods From 2002 to 2006,a total of 507 idiopathic IgAN patients with normal renal function(eGFR≥90 mL/min)confirmed by renal biopsy were treated in the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University.The patients were divided into a hypertension group(n=93)and a normal group(n=414)according to the BP levels.Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to analyze the relationship between the hypertension and the clinical characteristics.Results We found that 18.3%(93/507)of the IgAN patients had hypertension,with hypertension as the main symptom in some cases.Univariate analysis showed that male sex,older age,higher BMI,elevated level of triglyceride and cholesterol were the clinical risk factors for hypertension in IgAN patients(P

Objective To develop the method for simultaneous identification and quantification of morphine,6-monoactylmorphine,codeine,heroin,ketamine,3,4-Methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA),3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA),amphetamine and methylamphetamine in human plasma.Methods UPLC-MS/MS was adopted to analyze plasma with protein precipitated using 10％ trichloroacetic acid.Plasma samples were separated on ACQUITY UPLC HSS C18 column with aqueous solution (0.01％ formic acid)-methanol (0.01％ formic acid) as the mobile phase,and at a flow rate of 0.3 mL·min-1.The multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode was performed combined with the positive ion mode for quantification in four sections.Results The retention time,the characteristic fragment ions,and the relative abundance ratio of the molecular ion peak could be used to identify these nine compounds sensitively.The liner calibration curve of morphine,codeine,heroin,ketamine,6-monoacetylmorphine,MDA,MDMA,amphetamine and methamphetamine were obtained in the concentration range of 5.00×10-3～5.00 (r=0.9934),1.00× 10-2～ 10.00 (r=0.9905),1.00× 10-2～ 10.00 (r=0.9929),2.50× 10-3 ～2.50 (r=0.9960),5.00× 10-3 ～ 5.00 (r=0.9925),5.00× 10-4 ～ 5.00 (r=0.9910),5.00× 10-4 ～ 5.00 (r=0.9924),5.00× 10-4 ～ 5.00 (r=0.9920) and 5.00×10-4～5.00 μg·mL-1 (r=0.9900) respectively.The lowest detection limit was 1.00,1.00,1.00,0.50,0.50,0.10,0.10,0.10 and 0.10 ng· mL-1 respectively.The relative standard deviation (RSD) of the inter-day and intra-day were less than 18％.The relative recovery was more than 60％,and the RSD were less than 15％.Conclusion The method is accurate,sensitive and suitable for identification and quantification of 9 drugs of opiates,ketamine and amphetamines in human plasma.

AIM: To investigate the differentiation of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) into chondrocytes in vitro and determine factors involving in the differentiation process. METHODS: MSC were separated from iliac bone marrow with lymphocyte separating medium using density centrifugation. Cells were cultured and expanded in medium until reaching required number. MSC was induced to differentiate into chondrocytes by adopting high cell density, supplying growth factor and using micromass culture. Cells were observed by HE staining. Matrix of cartilage was detected by alcian blue and toludine blue and cartilage specific collagen II was detected by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: The structure of the micromass assumed that of cellular cartilage, alcian blue staining were uniformly positive and toludine blue detected diffuse metachromasia substance, cells uniformly expressed collagen Ⅱ. CONCLUSION: High cell density, growth factor and appropriate culture conditions are critical to induce differentiation of MSC into chondrocytes. [

Objective To evaluate the prophylactic effects of propranolol, propranolol plus endoscopic variceal ligation (EVL) and propranolol plus endoscopic sclerotherapy (EVS), and to determine the most effective combination for secondary prevention of esophageal variceal bleeding.Methods After hemostasis, a total of 78 patients with esophageal variceal bleeding were randomly assigned to receive propranolol (propranolol group), propranolol plus EVL (ligation group) or propranolol plus sclerotherapy (EVS group), with 26 in each group.All patients were followed up for 12 months, and the rates of variceal re-bleeding, mortality, portal hypertensive gastropathy (PHG), re-occurrence of esophageal varices and formation of gastric fundus varices were compared among different groups.Results During the 12-month follow-up, the rate of re-bleeding in EVL group (30.77%) was significantly lower than those of the EVS group (42.31%) or propranolol group (53.85%) (P<0.05).The occurrence of PHG and fundal varices in patients of EVL group was similar to that of propranolol group, which were both lower than that of EVS group (P<0.05), but the re-occurrence of esophageal varices in EVL group was significantly higher than that of EVS group (P<0.05).Conclusion EVL plus propranolol might be the most effective therapy for secondary prophylaxis of esophageal variceal bleeding.

Our previous study showed that transmembrane TNF-alpha (TM-TNF-alpha) had broader tumoricidal spectrum than secretory TNF-alpha (s-TNF-alpha). This study examined the difference between the two kinds of TNF-alpha in inducing cells and the relationship between the apoptosis induced by TM-TNF-alpha and the cell cycle. Bioassay was employed to compare the cytotoxic effect of two kinds of TNF-alpha on cell lines L-929 and HepG2. TUNEL was used to detect apoptosis and the TdT and PI co-staining were used for determining the phase of apoptotic cells. Our results showed that TM-TNF-alpha could kill not only s-TNF-sensitive L929 cells but also s-TNF-tolerant HepG2 cells. TM-TNF-alpha predominantly induced apoptosis while s-TNF could induce both apoptosis and necrosis. The apoptosis of L-929 cells induced by TM-TNF-alpha mainly occurred in S phase and the apoptosis of HepG2 predominantly took place in G(1) phase. It is concluded that the cytotoxic effects of the two TNF differ substantially. Since TM-TNF-alpha works locally, mainly induces apoptosis and has broader anti-tumor spectrum, it may be more effective for the treatment of tumor than s-TNF.

This study was aimed to examine the correlation of the cytotoxic effects induced by two types of TNF-α to cell cycle. Hoechst 33342 and PI were used to detect the morphological changes in the cell death induced by the two types of TNF-α. TdT and PI co-staining was performed to determine the phase of cell cycle of apoptotic cells. L929 cells in different phases of cell cycle were further synchronized and their sensitivity to the two types of TNF-α was observed. Our results showed that the apoptosis of HepG2 cells triggered by tm-TNF-α mainly occurred in G(1) phase while in HL-60, Raji and K562 cell lines it mainly took place in S phase. The apoptosis of L929 cells induced by tm-TNF-α mainly occurred in S phase while the apoptosis induced by s-TNF-α mainly appeared in G(1) phase. L929 cells were sensitive to s-TNF-α when synchronized in G(1) phase (cytotoxicity 49.8%) while their sensitivity to tm-TNF-α was highest in S phase (45.7%) and G(1)/S phase (cytotoxicity 40.6%). It was concluded that tm-TNF-α-induced apoptosis of different target cells took place in different phases of cell cycle. The apoptosis of the specific cell line induced by the two types of TNF-α occurred in different phases of cell cycle. The sensitivity of the specific cell line to the two types of TNF-α was correlated with the phase of cell cycle.

Objective To introduce a new modified percutaneous dilational tracheostomy and compare the application effect of percutaneous dilational tracheostomy with modified percutaneous dilational tracheostomy in the treatment of critically ill patients. Methods A total of 60 critically ill patients undergoing tracheotomy were selected , and they were randomly divided into two groups according to the methods of tracheotomy. Sex, age, weight, body mass index, acute physiology and chronic health evaluation, operation time, incision size, intraoperative blood loss, incision healing time, incidences of complications after operation were compared between the two groups. Results There were not statistically significant differences of in sex, age, weight, body mass index, and acute physiology and chronic health evaluation between percutaneous dilational tracheostomy group and modified percutaneous dilational tracheostomy group (P>0.05). Operation time, incision size and intraoperative blood loss of modified percutaneous dilational tracheostomy group was statistically significantly shorter than that of percutaneous dilational tracheostomy group [(5.80 ± 1.19) min vs. (7.65 ± 1.05) min, (8.33 ± 3.30) ml vs. (11.33 ± 4.34) ml, (1.08 ± 2.96) cm vs. (1.27 ± 2.54) cm] (P<0.05). The incision healing time and incidence of complications after operation of percutaneous dilational tracheostomy group had no statistical significance compared with modified percutaneous dilational tracheostomy group (P>0.05). Conclusions The modified percutaneous dilational tracheostomy can save operation time, and reduce intraoperative blood loss, so it can be widely used.

Our previous study showed that transmembrane TNF-α (TM-TNF-α) had broader tumoricidal spectrum than secretory TNF-α (s-TNF-α). This study examined the difference between the two kinds of TNF-α in inducing cells and the relationship between the apoptosis induced by TM-TNF-α and the cell cycle. Bioassay was employed to compare the cytotoxic effect of two kinds of TNF-α on cell lines L-929 and HepG2. TUNEL was used to detect apoptosis and the TdT and PI co-stainin gwere used for determining the phase of apoptotic cells. Our results showed that TM-TNF-α could kill not only s-TNF-sensitive L929 cells but also s-TNF-tolerant HepG2 cells. TM-TNF-α predominantly induced apoptosis while s-TNF could induce both apoptosis and necrosis. The apoptosis of L-929 cells induced by TM-TNF-α mainly occurred in S phase and the apoptosis of HepG2 predominantly took place in G1 phase. It is concluded that the cytotoxic effects of the two TNF differ substantially.Since TM-TNF-α works locally, mainly induces apoptosis and has broader anti-tumor spectrum, it may be more effective for the treatment of tumor than s-TNF.

Objective:To explore the association between chest high resolution CT (HRCT) scoring and prognostic factors of interstitial lung disease (ILD) in patients with anti-melanoma differentiation-associated gene 5 (MDA5) antibody-positive dermatomyositis (DM).Methods:The patients with DM admitted to Kailuan General Hospital between January 2017 and December 2019 were included into the study including 13 patients with positiveanti-MDA5 antibody (7 survivors, 6 deaths) and 18 patients with anti-synthase (ARS)-antibody positive. All patients underwent chest HRCT prior to treatment. The consolidation, ground-glass opacity (GGO) and fibrosis were scored to assess HRCT findings. The clinical manifestations were compared between the two groups. Cox regression analysis adjusted for age and sex was used to determine the prognostic factors for anti-MDA5 antibody-related ILD.Results:Compared with ARS patients, glutamyl transferase (GGT) and ferritin levels were significantly higher in MDA5-ILD patients [70.0(37.0, 122.5) vs 21.0(16.5, 33.5), Z=-3.37, P=0.001; 977.0(502.5, 1 366.0) vs 307.1(72.3, 546.9) , Z=-3.44, P=0.001]. The cumulative survival rate was significantly lower in patients with positive anti-MDA5 antibody than in those with positive anti-ARS antibody (100% vs 70%, P=0.001). The DM complicated with acute/subacute interstitial pneumonia (A/SIP) were found to significantly relate to death. There were no significant differences in chest HRCT scoringbetween the survivors and the deceased patients [ HR=1.08, 95% CI(0.95, 1.23), P=0.229; HR=0.97, 95% CI(0.72, 1.30), P=0.814]. Conclusion:Anti-MDA5 antibody is an important index for early diagnosis of DM complicated with acute/subacute interstitial pneumonia (A/SIP). The chest HRCT scoreis is not associated with the prognosis of anti-MDA5 antibody-related ILD patients.