Objective To compare the cost-effectiveness of telbivudine-based optimization treatment and entecavir monotherapy in patients with HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B (CHB). Methods A Markov model for disease progression of CHB was constructed and cost-effectiveness analysis was conducted to estimate their long-term effects and medical costs. Results There were 36.11 expected life years (ELYs) and 23.08 quality adjusted life years (QALYs) gained from treatment with telbivudine optimization, which were longer than 35.95 ELYs and 23.08 QALYs from entecavir treatment. The total cost of telbivudine optimization was 348 863.62 yuan and that of entecavir treatment 349 279.27 yuan. Each extension of a QALYs required for medical expenses of 15 115.41 yuan in telvivudine optimization, which was cheaper than that in entecavir treatment with 15 225.77 yuan. Conclusions Telbivudine-based optimization treatment shows good cost-effectiveness than entecavir monotherapy. Telbivudine-based optimization treatment can be used as the optimum choice for antiviral therapy in CHB.

Objective To obtain the optimal extraction process of Prunella vulgaris L.Methods With the dependent variables of ethanol concentration,reflux time and solvent fold,and dependent variable of the amount of baicalin,Central Composite Design/Response Surface Method was applied to optimize the reflux extraction process.Predictions were carried out by comparing the observed and predicted values.Results The optimum conditions of extraction process were 45% ethanol,2 hours for reflux,4 fold sovent.Regression coefficients of binomial fitting complex model was 0.9759.Bias between observed values and predicted values was-3.86%.Conclusion The optimum model is simple,precise and highly predictive.

OBJECTIVETo evaluate long-term cost-effectiveness of nucleoside analogues and peg-interferon alfa-2a (peg-IFNa2a) for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) in hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-negative patients.

METHODSA multi-health slate Markov model was developed based on the disease progression pattern to estimate the long-term effect and medical expense of different treatments for HBeAg-negative CHB.Incremental cost-effectiveness analysis was then carried out.

RESULTSIn comparison with no antiretroviral treatment, all of the antiretroviral treatments were capable of prolonging CHB patients' life years.In particular, entecavir plus adefovir dipivoxil combination therapy showed the best 2 year survival, with expected life-years and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) being 19.59 years and 10.12 years, respectively, which were 1.46 years and 1.12 years better than with no antiretroviral treatment. The most cost-effective treatment for HBeAg-negative CHB was lamivudine plus adefovir dipivoxil rescue therapy, as it prolonged survival by 0.95 QALYs with an additional 15459 yuan; the incremental medical cost for gaining 1 QALY was 16273 yuan.

CONCLUSIONAmong the antiretroviral medicines applied as therapy for HBeAg-negative CHB in China, the most effective treatment is entecavir plus adefovir dipivoxil rescue therapy and the most cost-effective treatment is lamivudine plus adefovir dipivoxil rescue therapy.

Adenine ; analogs & derivatives ; Antiviral Agents ; China ; Cost-Benefit Analysis ; Economics, Pharmaceutical ; Guanine ; analogs & derivatives ; Hepatitis B e Antigens ; Hepatitis B, Chronic ; Humans ; Interferon-alpha ; Lamivudine ; Organophosphonates ; Polyethylene Glycols ; Quality-Adjusted Life Years ; Recombinant Proteins

Objective To compare the effect of puncture needles with different diameter on percutaneous biopsy for transplant kidney under ultrasound guidance. Methods A total of 82 cases underwent percutaneous renal biopsy for transplant kidney under ultrasound guidance,and were divided into two groups based on the diameters of puncture needles, Group 18 G (n =31)and Group 16 G (n =51).The effect of biopsy and complications were compared between the two groups. Results Compared with Group18 G,Group16 G used less puncture needles and obtained more glomeruli (both P <0.01).The qualified rate of renal specimens in Group 16 G was significantly higher than that of Group 18 G(P <0.05). There was no significant difference in postoperative complications between the two groups (P >0.05 ).Further stratified comparison was conducted,and the results showed that complications of the two groups were not statistically significant in case of puncture with 2 needles or 3 needles (both P >0.05). Conclusions There is similar safety of 16 G puncture needle and 18 G puncture needle to perform renal biopsies under ultrasound guidance.Under the allowable condition of patients,16 G puncture needle is superior to 18 G puncture needle and realizes high quality of renal specimens.

The cross-fusion research of artificial intelligence technology and spinal surgery represented by machine learning and neural network model is a new research direction and hot issue in the field of artificial intelligence in recent years. The anatomy and disease symptoms of the spine are complex, and the diagnosis and treatment of spinal surgery require rich clinical experience. However, the distribution of medical resources in China is seriously uneven. How to improve the ability of primary medical services so that the most extensive patient groups can benefitis still an urgent problem to be solved. Artificial intelligence is a technical science that researches and develops theories, methods, technologies, and application systems for simulating, extending and expanding human intelligence. With the advent of the era of big data medical technology, artificial intelligence technology may solve this problem by transforming "experts sinking" into "tech sinking" . At present, technologies such as confrontation learning, weakly supervised learning, intensive learning and graph neural networks have become research hotspots in the field of artificial intelligence, and have also played an important role in many fields of clinical medicine. Based on the advantages of deep learning and neural network in disease learning, many spine surgeons combine it with the diagnosis and treatment of cervical spondylosis, low back pain, lumbar degenerative diseases, spinal deformity, spinal tumors, and other spine-related diseases. The rapid location and accurate diagnosis of the disease not only makes it an effective tool for the comprehensive diagnosis of spinal diseases but also provides the basis for the most reasonable treatment options for spinal diseases. In the domestic application of artificial intelligence in the diagnosis and treatment of spinal surgery, it can also solve the problems of difficult diagnosis and complicated treatment of spinal diseases faced by primary doctors, reduce the rate of misdiagnosis and missed diagnosis, and effectively reduce the economic and social burden of spinal diseases. This paper reviews the research progress of artificial intelligence represented by deep learning in the field of diagnosis and treatment of spinal surgery at home and abroad, and the advantages and application prospects of artificial intelligence in the diagnosis and treatment of spinal surgery.

BACKGROUNDDifferentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) is a common primary cancer for spinal metastases (SM). The treatments for DTC spinal metastases (SM) have evolved from simple surgery and radiotherapy to a multidisciplinary comprehensive therapeutic strategy of combined spinal surgery, general surgery, radiotherapy, nuclear medicine and endocrinology. The purpose of this study was to discuss the efficacy and prognosis associated with different surgical treatments of SM patients with DTC.

METHODSA total of 21 consecutive patients with SM of DTC that were treated between 1999 and 2013 were studied. Biopsy was routinely performed to achieve the pathological diagnosis before treatment. Three patients underwent total spondylectomy intralesionally or piecemeally, and 18 had curettage. Postoperative recurrence and survival times were analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier methods.

RESULTSNineteen patients (90%) had an average of 42.7 months (range, 7-170 months) follow-up. The median visual analogue scale for pain reduced from 5 points to 1 point (P < 0.01), and the median Karnofsky performance score increased from 70 to 90 points after surgery (P < 0.01). Seventeen patients with neurological deficits attained improvements after surgeries, of at least one level according to the Frankel classification (P < 0.01). Eight patients with curettage had recurrence. Four patients died of DTC, 12 patients lived with disease, and three patients were disease-free. No significant effects on postoperative recurrence or survival were observed between surgery combined with conservative treatment, total spondylectomy, the number of bone metastases and visceral metastasis.

CONCLUSIONSDTC-SM have a relatively favorable prognosis, and curettage and stabilization can effectively relieve the pain and improve the quality of life and neurological status of the patients. For patients with Tomita scores of ≤3, total spondylectomy may have better clinical outcomes. Comprehensive therapeutic strategies including surgery, radioiodine, external beam radiation therapy and embolization should be considered for most patients.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Spinal Neoplasms ; secondary ; surgery ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; complications ; surgery ; Treatment Outcome