BACKGROUND:The clinical study on the mechanical properties of biomaterials for cruciate ligament reconstruction is of great importance, which can provide a theoretical basis for the clinical development of materials with good structure, biomechanics and compatibility. OBJECTIVE:To analyze the mechanical properties of vascularized patelar tendon graft. METHODS:The anterior cruciate ligaments of the left foreleg from 42 New Zealand white rabbits were cut off. Then, these rabbits were randomly and evenly divided into two groups: experimental group and control group. Rabbits in the experimental group were implanted vascularized patelar tendon graft for anterior cruciate ligament repair. Rabbits in the control group were implanted with autologous non-vascularized patelar tendon graft for anterior cruciate ligament repair. At the 8th, 12th and 16th weeks after implantation, biomechanical properties of specimens from these two groups were detected. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: There was no significant difference on the fracture location at different time points between these two groups; at the 12th and 16th weeks after transplantation, the knee laxity in the experimental group was higher than that in the control group (P < 0.05). At the 8th week after transplantation, there was no significant difference in the knee laxity between these two groups. At the 8th, 12thand 16th weeks after transplantation, the maximum load in the experimental group was higher than that in the control group (P < 0.05). At the 8th, 12th and 16th weeks after transplantation, the stiffness in the experimental group was higher than that in the control group (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the maximum tensile elongation between these two groups at different time points after transplantation. These results demonstrate that vascularized patelar tendon graft has good mechanical properties.

Objective To study the relationship between clinicopathological features and central lymph nodes metastasis in patients with papillary thyroid microcarcinoma(PTMC).Methods From Jan.2013 to Jun.2013,400 cases with PTMC in cN0 stage undergoing thyroidectomy and central neck dissection were collected.Results Univariate analysis showed that the rate of central lymph node metastasis in PTMC was 28.0％,nevertheless,the rate of central lymph node metastasis was 32.5％,42.6％,44.1％,33.3％,and 37.4％ respectively in patients aging below 45 years old,in male patients,in patients with extrathyroidal extension,in patients with tumor diameter larger than 5 mm and in patients with multifocality.Gender,age,extrathyroidal extension,tumor diameter,multifocality of patients had correlation with central lymph node metastasis.Multivariate binary logistic regression analysis revealed that the rate of lymph node metastasis significantly increased in cases of male,ageing below 45 years old,with extrathyroidal extension and multifocality(P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions The treatment for central lymph node metastasis of PTMC should be different considering elements including gender,age,multifocality of the tumor,and extrathyroidal extension.Prophylactic central lymphadenectomy should be performed when the primary lesion was resected.

Objective To evaluate life quality of Graves orbitopathy (GO) patients using Graves orbitopathy quality-of-life questionnaire (GO-QOL) and explore the influence factors of the quality of life of GO patients.Methods This was a cross-sectional study conducted at The Third Affiliated Hospital of Southern Medical University including 145 newly diagnosed GO patients.All the patient answered the GO-QOL and underwent ophthalmic and endocrine assessments.The main outcome measures were the scores on GO-QOL 2 subscales:visual functioning and appearance.Based on the classification in the guideline of European Group on Graves Orbitopathy (EUGOGO),the patients were divided into two groups:mild and moderate to severe groups.Then the scales between these two groups were compared and influencing factors were analyzed.Finally,the floor and ceiling effects were assessed.Results The GO-QOL scores for the subscales of visual functioning and appearance were 70.91±27.83 and 61.29±26.37 respectively in 145 GO patients.Visual functioning and appearance were lower in moderate to severe group (62.71 ±28.77 and 57.52 ± 26.49,respectively) than in mild group (85.58 ± 18.77 and 68.02 ±24.99,respectively).The GO-QOL scores for the visual functioning subscale were significantly correlated with age (P =0.002),clinical active score (P =0.011) and the degree of diplopia (P =0.00,R2=0.373).The GO-QOL scores for the appearance were significantly correlated with sex (P =0.05) and thyroid-stimulating hormone levels (P =0.001,R2 =0.231).No significant ceiling or floor effects were observed for either subscale of the GO-QOL.Conclusions With the aggravation of the disease,the quality of life of GO patients is getting worse and worse.The main influencing factors of the quality of life of GO patients include age,gender,diplopia,clinical active score and thyroid-stimulating hormone levels.Close attention needs to be paid to the quality of life of GO patients.

Objective:To quantify the fat of extraocular muscle in TAO patients with MRI fat-water separation technique.Methods:66 patients (129 eyes) with TAO were included in this study from November 2017 to July 2019. The age, gender, course of disease, disease activity and severity were collected. Fat fraction(FF) of the heaviest inflamed extraocular muscle was used as FFmax, the average FF of each orbital was recorded as FFmean. FF differences between groups of severity and activity were compared, the correlation between FF and clinical characteristics was also analyzed. Meanwhile, the changes of FF in follow-up patients before and after treatment were compared.Results:FFmean and FFmax of mild group were higher than moderate-to-severe as well as sight-threatening group. In male patients, active group′s FFmean and FFmax were lower. FF was different in groups which based on disease course ( P<0.05). Spearman correlation analysis showed a positive correlation between FF and disease course. Besides, there was a negative correlation between FF, disease activity, and disease severity ( P < 0.05). FF increased after treatment(FFmean: 34.03%±6.75% vs 32.26%±6.06%, P=0.040; FFmax: 33.43%±9.44% vs 29.04%±8.45%, P=0.006). Conclusion:MRI fat fraction can quickly and objectively quantify the fat of extraocular muscle, providing a new reference index for TAO′s disease evaluation.

Objective:To analyze the clinical adverse events of the first carbon ion therapy system in radiotherapy for cancer patients in China.Methods:A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical trial monitoring data of the carbon ion therapy system obtained by the Pharmacovigilance Center of Gansu Province. A descriptive study was conducted on the demographic characteristics, radiotherapy techniques, irradiation site and dose parameters, postoperative follow-up, and adverse event information of 46 tumor patients who received carbon ion therapy and participated in the clinical trial in Wuwei Cancer Hospital, Gansu Province from November 2018 to February 2019. Frequency and percentage were used to describe and analyze the occurrence of adverse events after carbon ion therapy for cancer patients in different groups. All subjects who received radiotherapy were grouped according to the treatment dose and fractionation method.Results:The median age of the 46 patients was 47 years old, and the male to female ratio was 30∶16. There were 15, 5, 8, 9, and 9 patients with head and neck, chest, abdomen, pelvic cavity, and limb spinal tumors, respectively. The total duration of radiotherapy was 2-4 weeks for 10-16 times. There were 246 adverse events in 45 cases, with an incidence of 98%. No severe adverse events occurred. The adverse events definitely related to carbon ion devices accounted for 19.1%, and no severe adverse events related to carbon ion devices occurred. According to the evaluation criteria of common terminology criteria for adverse events (CTCAE), the main adverse events were CTCAE grade 2 and below, with only 1 (2%) head and neck tumor patient (nasopharyngeal malignant tumor) experienced CTCAE grade 3 adverse events after treatment. In addition, 43 patients developed acute adverse reactions, with an incidence of 93%, mainly involving the skin, mucosa, eyes, ears, pharynx and esophagus, upper gastrointestinal tract, lower gastrointestinal tract (including pelvic cavity), lung, genitourinary tract, heart, central nervous system and hematology (white blood cells, platelets and neutrophils), etc. Conclusion:The adverse reactions of patients treated with the first carbon ion therapy system are mainly CTCAE grade 2 and below, and the clinical adverse events are mild and controllable.

At present, heavy ion is an ideal radiation for cancer treatment, and carbon ion is used in the treatment of many kinds of cancer due to its higher relative biological effect value. In 2019, Wuwei heavy ion center built the first medical heavy ion accelerator-carbon ion radiotherapy system in China, and obtained the registration license from the National Medical Products Administration, and officially received cancer patients in March 2020. This study introduced the development and application of the first carbon ion radiotherapy system in China.
Carbon ; China ; Heavy Ion Radiotherapy ; Heavy Ions ; Humans ; Neoplasms/radiotherapy*

Objective:We aimed to develop a novel visualized model based on nomogram to predict postoperative overall survival.Methods:This was a multicenter, retrospective, observational cohort study, including participants with histologically confirmed gastric and colorectal cancer who underwent radical surgery from 11 medical centers in China from August 1, 2015 to June 30, 2018. Baseline characteristics, histopathological data and nutritional status, as assessed using Nutrition Risk Screening 2002 (NRS 2002) score and the scored Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment, were collected. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression and Cox regression were used to identify variables to be included in the predictive model. Internal and external validations were performed.Results:There were 681 and 127 patients in the training and validation cohorts, respectively. A total of 188 deaths were observed over a median follow-up period of 59 (range: 58 to 60) months. Two independent predictors of NRS 2002 and Tumor-Node-Metastasis (TNM) stage were identified and incorporated into the prediction nomogram model together with the factor of age. The model's concordance index for 1-, 3- and 5-year overall survival was 0.696, 0.724, and 0.738 in the training cohort and 0.801, 0.812, and 0.793 in the validation cohort, respectively.Conclusions:In this study, a new nomogram prediction model based on NRS 2002 score was developed and validated for predicting the overall postoperative survival of patients with gastric colorectal cancer. This model has good differentiation, calibration and clinical practicability in predicting the long-term survival rate of patients with gastrointestinal cancer after radical surgery.