Purpose It is still undetermined about the application of regular ultrasound (US) combined with ultrasonic elastography (UE) in diagnosing superficial lymph nodes disease.Therefore our aim is to evaluate the value of US combined with UE in diagnosing superficial lymph nodes disease.Materials and Methods The ultrasonography and pathological data of 214 patients (with 266 superficial lymph nodes) were analyzed retrospectively.The US and UE data were compared with the pathologic results.Results The elastic classification of reactive hyperplastic and lymphomatous lymph nodes were no greater than grade 3,respectively;that of malignant metastatic lymph nodes was greater than grade 4.The accuracy of UE or US+UE was higher in diagnosing reactive hyperplastic lymph nodes and metastatic lymph nodes' nature compared with US (P＜0.05).The sensitivity and accuracy of US+UE in diagnosing malignant superficial lymph nodes were higher than those of US (90.13％ vs.72.37％;86.09％ vs.68.05％,P＜0.05).Compared with UE alone,those of US+UE were also higher (90.13％ vs.77.63％;86.09％ vs.72.56％,P＜0.05).Conclusion The accuracy of differential diagnosis of benign or malignant superficial lymph nodes can be improved by US+UE method.

Objective To evaluate the clinical value of determination of composition of kidney stones by shap and density and of prediction of the efficacy of extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy (ESWL) by X-rays. Methods The data of 358 patients were analyzed,with 204 male and 154 female and with 276 cases of solitary stones and 82 cases of multiple stones.Determine the composition of kidney stones by shap and density,predict the efficacy of ESWL by X-rays,and choose the appropriate method of treatment.Analyze stone chemical property by Infrared stone composition automatic analyzer to checkout the prediction results before surgeries. Results 339 cases were successful to remove stones after treatment.The prediction results of 308 cases (86.0％) were consistent in stone chemical property,and the preperative prediction results of 339 cases (94.7％) were consistent in ESWL efficacy. Conclusions Determination of composition of kidney stones and prediction of the efficacy of ESWL by X-rays were feasible.

Lin28 is a highly conserved RNA-binding protein, including Lin28a and Lin28b. Lin28 is involved in many physiological processes such as cell differentiation, growth and metabolism. In recent years, it has been found that Lin28 is closely related to the pathogenesis and development of numerous major diseases. The relationships between Lin28 and related diseases such as tumor, cardiovascular disease and diabetes are reviewed in this article.

Objective To investigate the effects of Xinkang recipe on myocardial collagen metabolism in rats with doxorubi-cin-induced heart failure.Methods Male SD rats were randomly divided into sham operation group(sham group),model group, Xinkang group and captopril group.The rat model of heart failure was established by intraperitoneal injection of doxorubi-cin.Distilled water,Xinkang decoction and captopril were respectively administrated to rats by gavage for 35 d.The indexes of ventricular remodeling and cardiac function were measured.Myocardial fibrosis was assessed by Masson's trichrome stai-ning.The expression levels of collagen Ⅰ,collagen Ⅲ,TGF-β1,IκB and p56 were detected in myocardial tissues by Western blotting.Myocardial protein and mRNA levels of matrix metalloproteinase-2(MMP-2),MMP-9,and tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase-1(TIMP-1)and TIMP-2 were detected by Western blotting and RT-qPCR,respectively.Results The expres-sion levels of collagenⅠand collagen Ⅲ protein,the collagen volume fraction(CVF),and the expression levels of TGF-β1 and p56 protein were significantly increased(P< 0.01),and the expression level of IκB protein was significantly decreased in the model group as compared with the sham group(P<0.05 for all).The myocardial protein and mRNA levels of MMP-2,MMP-9, TIMP-1,and TIMP-2 were significantly higher in the model group than in sham group(P<0.05 or P<0.01).The cardiac out-put(CO),left ventricular fractional shortening(FS),and left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF)were significantly lower while the left ventricular end diastolic volume(LVEDV),left ventricular end systolic volume(LVESV),and left ventricular mass index (LVMI)were significantly higher in model group than in sham group(P<0.01).Compared with the model group,the expres-sion levels of collagen Ⅰand collagen Ⅲ protein,the CVF and the TGF-β1 and p56 expression levels were significantly decreased and the IκB protein expression was significantly increased in Xinkang and the captopril groups(P<0.05).The myocardial pro-tein and mRNA levels of MMP-2,MMP-9,TIMP-1,and TIMP-2 were significantly lower in Xinkang and captopril groups than in control group(P<0.05 or P<0.01).CO,FS,and LVEF were significantly higher while LVEDV,LVESV,and LVMI were significantly lower in Xinkang and captopril groups than in model group(P<0.01).Conclusion Xinkang recipe can reduce col-lagen deposition in the myocardia of rats with doxorubicin-induced heart failure,attenuate left ventricular remodeling,and im-prove cardiac function,which is associated with the inhibition of the NF-κB-mediated upregulation of TGF-β1.