OBJECTIVETo assess the effect and safety of periodontal therapy in relieving the symptoms and clinical signs of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

METHODSThe electronic search was conducted in Medline (OVID, 1950-2010 Sep), EMBASE (1984-2010 Sep), CENTRAL (2010, Issue 3), CBM (1978-2010 Sep) and the Chinese journals on stomatology were hand-searched. Clinical randomized controlled trials as well as clinical controlled trials were selected regarding the targeted issue. Two investigators evaluated the reporting quality and risk of bias of those included trials in accordance with CONSORT statement and Cochrane risk of bias assessment tools, and collected data of included studies in duplicate. Revman 5.0.23 was applied for Meta-analysis.

RESULTSFour trials met the inclusion criteria and a total of 150 patients were enrolled in the trials, one had low risk of bias and others had moderate risk of bias. Meta-analysis showed that pure periodontal therapy could not decrease disease activity score in 28 joints (DAS28) (P=0.06), and there was no statistically significant difference between periodontal therapy with anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) medication and pure anti-TNF-alpha medication (P=0.24). But the subgroup analysis showed that a significantly decreased DAS28 was achieved by periodontal therapy (P=0.03), and the interventions provided a remarkable effect on alleviating clinical signs and erythrocyte sedimentation rate of RA (P<0.05). Results of the symptoms relief differed from the studies. No adverse events were reported.

CONCLUSIONThe evidence available currently indicates that periodontal therapy may play a positive role in remitting the clinical signs and periodontal status of RA except the relief of the symptoms.

Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; Humans ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

Objective To build a knowledge graph;To visualize the knowledge structure relationships and clinical thinking in the treatment of coronary heart disease by renowned TCM doctors;To provide methodological reference for the inheritance of experience of renowned TCM doctors.Methods Medical records about treatment of coronary heart disease by renowned TCM doctors were retrieved from CNKI from the establishment of the database to 30th,Nov.2022.The characteristics of TCM diagnosis and treatment and the characteristics of the theoretical system of syndrome differentiation and treatment in TCM were analyzed.Concept types and relationships between concepts were sorted out and extracted to form a pattern layer of knowledge graph;based on the characteristics of the pattern layer,Python 3.11(PyCharm 2022.3.2)was used to write rules,and knowledge extraction and data import were implemented through the Pandas library,Openpyxl library and Py2neo library,which were stored in the graph database Neo4j-Community-5.2.0 to complete the construction of the knowledge graph.Implementing query application was realized through Cypher language.Results The data of 643 medical cases of 144 renowned TCM doctors were included,which were entered into the Neo4j graph database,forming a knowledge graph consisting of 2 744 nodes and 23 795 relationships under 8 concepts and 10 relationships,to achieve visual presentation and query application of the diagnosis and treatment process of coronary heart disease by renowned TCM doctors.Conclusion The knowledge graph can intuitively display the relationship of diseases-symptoms-syndromes-treatments-prescriptions-medicine in medical records,develop a knowledge system that is easy to retrieve,and improve the accessibility of domain knowledge,which can provide methodological reference for the inheritance of experience of renowned TCM doctors.

Objective:To assess causes for revision total knee arthroplasty (TKA) in China using the data of revision TKA in the past 15 years in our single center andcompare the differences in survival time, operation time and blood loss among different revision reasons.Methods:Data of 337 patients (345 knees) with revision TKAs at our institution from January 2007 to December 2021 (15 years) were retrospectively analyzed. The included population consists of 57 males and 288 females. The causes for first revision TKA were identified and compared according to the time of revision surgery as early (up to 2 years) and late revision (more than 2 years). The reason for revision before 2012 and after 2012 was also compared. Furthermore, the differences of survival time, operation time and blood loss among different revision reasons were compared.Results:The most common reasons for revision of knee joints in 345 cases were periprosthetic infection (133 knees, 38.6%), followed by aseptic loosening (97 knees, 28.1%) and joint instability (35 knees, 10.1%). Early revisions were performed in 171 knees (49.6%), while late revisions were performed in 174 knees (50.4%). Periprosthetic infection (96 knees, 56.1%) and aseptic loosening (86 knees, 49.4%) were the most common reasons for early and late revisions, respectively. There were 59 revisions performed before 2012 and 286 revisions performed after 2012, with periprosthetic infection being the main reason for revision in both groups. The percentage of revisions due to infection decreased from 64.4% before 2012 to 33.2% after 2012, and this difference was statistically significant (χ 2=18.790, P<0.001). The proportion of revisions due to aseptic loosening was 15.3% before 2012, which was significantly lower than the proportion of 30.8% after 2012 (χ 2=5.083, P=0.024). The median survival time of the prostheses in the included patients was 30 months, with shorter survival time observed in patients with stiffness, patellar complications, and periprosthetic infection, and longer survival time observed in patients with polyethylene wear and aseptic loosening. There were significant differences in operation time and blood loss among different reasons for revision ( P<0.001). Conclusion:In our specialized arthroplasty center periprosthesis infection was the most common reason for revision. Periprosthesis infection and aseptic loosening needed to be considered for early or late-stage revision. With the development of technique of total knee arthroplasty, the proportion of periprosthesis infection is decreasing, while the incidence of aseptic loosening is increasing.