Objective To investigate the protective effect of extracellular ATP on motoneurons of spinal anterior horn from spinal root avulsion induced cell injurey. Methods Thirty-six Wister rats were randomized into 2 groups: single root avulsion and root avulsion with ATP. The left C5-C8 nerve roots were avulsed, the experiment group was gioven extracellular ATP (2 mg/kg) 0.4 ml by intraperitoneal injection and control group physiological saline water was gioven 0.4ml as the same method, all one time daily, contin-ue injection ATP or saline water 2 weeks. At 2,4 and 6 week postoperatively, C5-C8 spinal cord was har-vested after the rats were executed. The change of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and neurofilament protein (NF-200) were observed after histochemistrical examination. Results At 2、4 and 6 week postoperatively, the survival of motorneurons in the spinal anterior was 80.48%, 73.55% and 53.43% in experiment group, was 68.90%、63.58% and 37.72% in control group;compare experiment group with control group, the le-don-induced motomeurons death in the spinal anterior bern was decreased by 11.58%、9.78% and 15.71% respectively (P < 0.01) ; the activity changes of NOS expression rate was 17.85% ,40.20% and 18.03% in experiment group, was 25.53%,53.88% and 25.58% in control group, compare experiment group with con-trol group, the activity changes of NOS expression rate was decreased by 7.68% (P < 0.01), 13.68% and 7.55% (P < 0.05) respectively. The motoneurons expressed NF-200 in the experiment group was larger than the control group, there was significant difference was found between the control group and the experiment group. Conclusion ATP might play certain protective role in survival of motoneurous after spinal root avulsion.

Objective To analyze the DSA manifestations of arteriovenous fistulae in hepatic cancer and to discuss the appropriate method for obstructing the fistulae in order to improve the therapeutic results for hepatic cancer associated with arteriovenous fistulae. Methods The imaging findings in 183 patients of hepatic cancer with urteriovenous fistulae, which were. selected from 637 patients with liver cancer, were retrospectively analyzed. For cases with mild arteriovenous fistulae (n = 89) the tumor-feeding arteries were embolized after iodized oil embolization procedure, while for cases with moderate and severe aneriovenous fistulae (n = 94) the abnormal shunts were obstructed before performing chemoembolization of the tumor in order to ensure that the effective infusion of the drug into the lesion and the sufficient deposit of iodized oil in the tumor could be obtained. Results The tumor-feeding arteries were successfully embolized in all 89 patients with mild arteriovenous fistulae. Of 94 cases with moderate and severe arteriovenous fistulae,excellent deposit of iodized oil was seen in 64 (68.1%), incomplete embolization in 13 (14.83%), poor oil deposit due to over-embolization in 11 (11.7%) and failure to block the fistulae as the fistulae were too large or too diffuse in 6 (6.4%). No serious complications occurred. Conclusion The arteriovenous fistulae accompanied with hepatic cancer can be effectively obstructed in most patients, with resultant clinical improvement of the patients' condition. This therapeutic technique is safe and reliable.

Objective To study the state, feature and risk factors of bacterial infection in patients with liver cirrhosis, find out the influence of infection on prognosis, and provide scientific basis for its prevention and treatment. Methods Three hundred and twenty-three patients with liver cirrhosis were analyzed. The number of the patients with infection, the location of infection, clinical feature as well as the kind of pathogenic bacteria were analyzed. Unconditional Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the risk factors of bacterial infection. Results The overall infection rate was 39.94% (129/323),of which community acquired infection rate and nosocomial infection rate were 22.60% (73/323) and 17.34%(56/323) respectively. The most common location of infection in turn were respiratory tract,gastrointestinal tract, urinary tract,biliary tract and abdominal cavity. The main pathogenic bacteria was Gram-negative bacillus, most of which had drug resistance for cefquinome and quinolones. The risk factors related with bacterial infection included liver cancer, Child-Pugh class B and C grade of liver function, gastrointestinal tract bleeding, diabetes mellitus,invasive operations and the length of staying in hospital. Conclusions The incidence rate of infection in patients with liver cirrhosis is higher. Multiple factors are likely to affect the incidence rate of infection in patients with liver cirrhosis.

We describe a 58-years-old man with a primary nasopharyngeal carcinoma accompanying erythroderma. His first symptoms were systemic scattered erythema and itching for six months. Lower right cervical lymphadenectasis was found by physical examination. A neoplasm in nasopharynx could be seen with nasal endoscope. The pathology of the neoplasm was non-keratinizing carcinoma. This case illustrates that "erythroderma" could be a paraneoplastic effect of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
Carcinoma ; Dermatitis, Exfoliative ; complications ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms ; complications ; Paraneoplastic Endocrine Syndromes ; complications

BACKGROUND: Pedicle screw fixation is the preferred surgical treatment for clinical treatment of lumbar degenerative disease currently. The stability of pedicle screw fixation system can be evaluated from the perspective of biomechanics and finite element method is more and more popular in analyzing stress of pedicle screw fixation of vertebral body for researchers. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the stress and displacement changes of human lumbar spine in bending movement from the biomechanical point of view when unilateral and bilateral pedicle screws are fixed, providing theoretical reference for practical clinical application. METHODS: Three-dimensional models were established based on CT data of the volunteers. The volunteers signed the informed consent. This study was approved by the Hospital Ethics Committee. Abaqus software was used to simulate the actual stress conditions. Finite element analysis of lumbar spine flexion was performed during unilateral and bilateral pedicle screw fixation. The stress and displacement of lumbar vertebra, disc and pedicle screw were observed under two fixation methods. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) Under bilateral fixation, the stress on the left screw was 22.2 MPa, and the stress on the right screw was 21.14 MPa, which was far less than the stress of the screw under unilateral fixation (79.19 MPa). The stress of intervertebral disc in unilateral fixation was 87% larger than that in bilateral fixation; the stress of vertebral body in bilateral fixation was 72% smaller than that in unilateral fixation. (2) From the perspective of displacement, the displacement of screw, lumbar disc and centrum under bilateral fixation were 53%, 55% and 62% smaller than that under unilateral fixation, respectively. (3) Therefore, from the mechanical point of view, bilateral pedicle screw fixation has less stress level, which is friendlier to the human body than unilateral fixation and thus more conducive to the recovery of patients.

Objective To evaluate the association of the size of thyroid nodules and accuracy of fineneedle aspiration cytology in diagnose of thyroid nodules.Methods 691 thyroid nodules in 630 patients pathologically confirmed were retrospectively analyzed in our hospital.All imaging data of preoperative ultrasound-guided FNAC were collected in our review.Yields of FNAC were divided into six levels according to the classification criteria of the Bethesda system(level Ⅰ,insufficient material or nondiagnosed;level Ⅱ,benign ; level Ⅲ,atypical hyperplasia; level Ⅳ,follicular neoplasm ; level Ⅴ,suspicious for malignancy; level Ⅵ,malignant),＞level Ⅳ was the malignant cytologic criteria for diagnosis of thyroid nodules.According to the maximal diameter of thyroid nodules,the nodules were divided into group A(L≤0.5 cm),group B(0.5 cm＜L＜1.0 cm) and group C(L≥1.0 cm).Postoperative pathologic results were taken as the gold standard.Results Of 691 nodules,there were 176(25.47％),298(43.13％) and 217(31.40％) in group A,group B and group C respectively.Among the three groups,accuracy of ultrasound-guided FNAC in group B (90.94 ％) was higher than in group A(80.11％) and group C(83.41 ％),with statistically significant(P ＜0.05).There was not statistically different between group A and group C(P ＞0.05).The specificity,positive predictive value and negative predictive value were not statistically different among three groups(P ＞0.05).Conclusions The size of thyroid nodules was partly associated with accuracy of ultrasound-guided FNAC.

The clinical data of 186 patients with acute gout attack during upper gastrointestinal bleeding were analyzed retrospectively.The ratio of male to female was 1.7∶1, smokers and alcohol drinkers accounted for 66.1% ( 123/186 ) and 62.4% ( 116/186 ) of patients were had underlying diseases.All patients had different degree of joint painful and fever , the blood uric acid levels were higher.Gastroscopic examinations were performed in 166 patients , of whom 88 cases received endoscopic intervention.The symptoms of gout were improved after treatment with dexamethasone and celecoxib ; and the medication did not induce or increase gastrointestinal bleeding.

Objective To investigate the influence of hypoxia-reoxygenation on the myocardin gene expression of cultured rats' vascular smooth muscle cells(SMC).Methods The SMC were isolated from the media of the thoracic aorta vessel of Sprague-Dawley rats,and cultured with attachment-block manner.The morphology and cell counting of the cultured cells under hypoxia conditions were observed and comparedto that under normal culture condition.Total RNA extracted from the cultured cells,the expression of myocardin mRNA in SMC were measured at hypoxia status and at various time after reoxygenation through RT-PCR.Results The rats' vessel SMC was successfully cultured and showed a "peak-valley" shape.Self-made hypoxia equipment can produce a lower oxygen partial pressure without significant variation of pH value which met the experiment requirements in 2 4 hours .However,in the hypoxia conditions,the expression level of myocardin was lowest at the 12th hours,then increased.After 24 hours of hypoxia,the expression levels of myocardin began to increase at the 6th hour of reoxygenation and reached a normal level at the 12th hour of reoxygenation.Conclusions Hypoxia-reoxygenation has an effect on the expression of myodardin gene.

Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of long pulsed Nd:YAG laser in the treatment of onychomycosis.Methods Thirty-five patients with onychomycosis were treated by long pulsed Nd:YAG laser with a wavelength of 1064 nm,power of 30-40 J/cm2,pulse width of 35 milliseconds,diameter of light spot of 4 mm.One treatment session included 4 times of irradiation at an interval of 2 minutes.Patients were treated once a week for 4 weeks followed by once a month for 6 months.Clinical and mycological efficacy was evaluated 9 months after the beginning of treatment.Side effects were recorded and analyzed.Nails were divided into various groups according to causative fungal species,clinical phenotypes,and distribution of affected nails.Data were processed by using SPSS 17.0 software.Chi-square test was performed to compare the response and recurrence rate between these groups.Results A total of 79 nails were treated by long pulsed Nd:YAG laser in this study.At 9 months after the first treatment,clinical response was observed in 67.1％ of these nails,mycological response in 73.4％,and recurrence in 19.0％.The Trichophyton rubrum group showed a better clinical (x2 =10.913,P ＜ 0.05) and mycological response (x2=13.532,P ＜ 0.05),but a lower recurrence/reinfection rate (x2 =10.980,P ＜ 0.05) compared with the other-species group.No significant difference was observed between the Trichophyton rubrum group and Candida albicans group in the clinical and mycological response rate or recurrence/reinfection rate.The clinical response in the distal lateral subungual onychomycosis (DLSO) group was significantly poorer than that in the white superficial onychomycosis (WSO) group (x2 =11.935,P ＜ 0.05),but better than that in the proximal subungual onychomycosis (PSO)/total dystrophic onychomycosis (TDO) group (x2 =17.515,P ＜ 0.05).Increased clinical response rate was observed in the second-fifth finger nail group compared with the thumb nail/second-fifth toe nail group (x2 =13.437,P ＜ 0.05)and hallux nail group (x2 =10.595,P＜ 0.05),while no statistical difference was observed in clinical response rate between the hallux nail group and thumb nail/second-fifth toe nail group (x2 =3.030,P＞ 0.05),or in mycological response rate or recurrence/reinfection rate among the second-fifth finger nail group,thumb nail/second-fifth toe nail group and hallux nail group.There was no obvious adverse reaction but pain during the treatment.Conclusions Long pulsed Nd:YAG laser appears to be an effective and safe approach to the treatment of onychomycosis,and the treatment outcome is affected by clinical types,location,and causative fungal species of onychomycosis.

Aim:To characterize the immune response to YCP, a polysaccharide (PS) isolated from marine filamentous fungus Phoma herbarum YS4108. Methods:YCP was coupled to bovine serum albumin (BSA) to construct three neoglycoproteins which are different in their degrees of substitution (DSs; ≈ 3, ≈ 6, or ≈ 10 mol of BSA carrier/mol of YCP hapten, respectively), and their immunogenicities were evaluated in mice following subcutaneous immunization,respectively. IgG subclasses against the PS and the carrier protein were measured in addition to the total IgG and IgM antibodies for YCP induced by the neoglycoproteins. Results: While unconjugated PS was weakly immunogenic, theneoglycoprotein induced vigorous primary IgM and booster IgG responses to PS and the carrier protein. Interestingly,the IgG subclass distribution was different between PS and the carrier protein; for PS, the IgG response was predominant of IgG2a subclass with approximately low levels of IgG2b and IgG1, while the response to the carrier protein was mainly of the IgG1 subclass with relatively low levels of IgG2a and IgG2b, and the lowest of IgG3. Conclusion:YCP has the potential to elicit preferentially IgG2a as the dominant isotype antibody in mice.