Objective To investigate the level of serum free fatty acid (FFA )after improving the life style in patients with coronary heart disease complicated metabolic syndrome and the effect of therapeutic life style on traditional risk factors of coronary artery disease.Methods A total of 395 patients with coronary heart disease complicated metabolic syndrome were recruited.Pa-tients were divided into intervention group (group A,conventional drug therapy+ intensive life style intervention,n=97)and non-intervention group (group B,conventional drug therapy,n=38)according to the scores of life style.Serum free fatty acid (FFA) was determined by ELASA.The scores of life style was obtained bylife style questionnaire.Results (1)The serum FFA of pa-tients with coronary heart disease complicated metabolic syndrome were positively related to waist circumference and waist-high-ra-tio.(2)Waist circumference,BMI and FFA of group A were significantly lower than those in group B after therapeutic life style in-tervention(P <0.05).(3)Compared with the baseline,the constitution index and FFA in group A were significantly lower after 6-months therapeutic life style intervention(P <0.05).Conclusion Therapeutic life style can reduce the level of FFA and constitution index of the patients with coronary heart disease complicated metabolic syndrome.

Objective To discuss the feasibility and value of indocyanine green combined with methylene blue in sentinel lymph node biophy (SLNB) for patients with breast cancer.Methods 196 breast cancer patients who received surgery were studied.SLNB was performed by indocyanine green combined with methylene blue .Frozen section was performed,followed by conventional histopathology .The evaluation criterion of Louisvill University on SLNB was adopted to judge the detection rate ,accuracy rate,sensitivity,false negative rate.Results Among the 196 cases,196 cases were detected with SLN ( detection rate was 100.0%).SLN was all stained in 196 cases. Furthermore,56 cases had ALND metastasis,140 cases had no metastasis,and the sensitivity was 91.8%(56/61). The SLN and ALN fully complied with pathological examination in 191 cases,and the accuracy rate was 97.5%(191/196).Five cases were false negative,and the false negative rate was 8.2%(5 /61).No case was false positive.The total SLNs was 705,and average number of detected SLNs was 3.59 pieces(2-6 pieces).The average ALN was 17.66 pieces(12-26 pieces).Conclusion With the advantages of real-time visual,precise positioning,no radio-active pollution and reduce the operation difficulty ,indocyanine green joint methylene blue as lymph tracer shows high detection rate,accuracy when it is used for SLNB in patients with breast cancer ,it is worthy of clinical application.

Objective:To investigate the clinical effect of induced membrane technique combined with staged internal fixation for treatment of infected femoral nonunion.Methods:A retrospective case series study was conducted to analyze the clinical data of 21 patients with infected femoral nonunion treated from January 2016 to December 2018 in 920th Hospital of Joint Logistics Support Force of PLA. There were 13 males and 8 females, with the age of 18-57 years [(38.9±6.7)years]. The duration of nonunion was 7-78 months [(27.1±11.4)months]. All patients were treated by induced membrane technique in two stages. At stage I, the original internal fixation was removed and debrided thoroughly, then the antibiotic-loaded bone cement and locking compression plate (LCP) were placed. The length of bone defect following debridement was 5-15 cm[(7.4±1.9)cm]. At stage II, the bone defect was reconstructed with bone grafts and fixed with the intramedullary nail and/or LCP. The wound condition, white blood cell count, C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) were recorded after stage I surgery and at the last follow-up to measure infection control. The complications and bone healing time were recorded. The bone healing was evaluated by the Paley criteria and the functional recovery of the affected limb was evaluated by the range of motion of the knee at the last follow-up.Results:All patients were followed up for 23-43 months [(31.9±6.7)months]. The infection recurred in 4 patients after stage I surgery, and the wound healed after repeated debridement. There was no infection recurrence after stage II surgery. The white blood cell count, CRP and ESR were (6.1±1.8)×10 9/L, (10.1±3.1)mg/L, (10.2±3.4)mm/h at the last follow-up, significantly decreased from preoperative (15.0±4.8)×10 9/L, (69.8±14.8)mg/L, (66.2±13.2)mm/h ( P<0.05). The incidence of complications was 43%. Besides infection recurrence in 4 patients after stage I surgery, the donor site at the posterior superior iliac spine in 3 patients showed delayed healing, and the limb shortening occurred in 2 patients with the discrepancy of 3 cm and 4 cm. Bony union was observed in all patients within 6-16 months [(8.8±2.7)months]. The results were excellent in 19 patients and good in 2 patients according to the Paley criteria at the last follow-up. The knee range of motion was significantly improved from preoperative 30.0°(15.0°, 110.0°) to 90.0°(61.5°, 120.0°) at the last follow-up ( P<0.05). Conclusion:For infected femoral nonunion, the induced membrane technique combined with staged internal fixation can effectively control infection, achieve bony union, and promote functional recovery.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the CT findings of patients with different clinical types of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). METHODS: A total of 67 patients diagnosed as COVID-19 by nucleic acid testing were collected and divided into 4 groups according to the clinical stages based on . The CT imaging characteristics were analyzed among patients with different clinical types. RESULTS: Among 67 patients, 3(4.5%) were mild, 35 (52.2%) were moderate, 22 (32.8%) were severe, and 7(10.4%) were critical ill. No significant abnormality in chest CT imaging in mild patients. The 35 cases of moderate type included 3 (8.6%) single lesions, the 22 cases of severe cases included 1 (4.5%) single lesion and the rest cases were with multiple lesions. CT images of moderate patients were mainly manifested by solid plaque shadow and halo sign (18/35, 51.4%); while fibrous strip shadow with ground glass shadow was more frequent in severe cases (7/22, 31.8%). Consolidation shadow as the main lesion was observed in 7 cases, and all of them were severe or critical ill patients. CONCLUSIONS CT images of patients with different clinical types of COVID-19 have characteristic manifestations, and solid shadow may predict severe and critical illness.
Betacoronavirus ; isolation & purification ; Coronavirus Infections ; classification ; diagnostic imaging ; Humans ; Lung ; diagnostic imaging ; Pandemics ; classification ; Pneumonia, Viral ; classification ; diagnostic imaging ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the CT findings of patients with different clinical types of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). METHODS: A total of 67 patients diagnosed as COVID-19 by nucleic acid testing were included and divided into 4 groups according to the clinical staging based on . The CT imaging characteristics were analyzed among patients with different clinical types. RESULTS: Among 67 patients, 3 (4.5%) were mild cases, 35 (52.2%) were ordinary cases, 22 (32.8%) were severe cases, and 7 (10.4%) were critically ill. There were no abnormal CT findings in mild cases. In 35 ordinary cases, there were single lesions in 3 cases (8.6%) and multiple lesions in 33 cases (91.4%), while in severe case 1 case had single lesion (4.5%) and 21 had multiple lesions (95.5%). CT images of ordinary patients were mainly manifested as solid plaque shadow and halo sign (18/35, 51.4%); while fibrous strip shadow with ground glass shadow was more frequent in severe cases (7/22, 31.8%). Consolidation shadow as the main lesion was observed in 7 cases, and all of them were severe or critical ill patients. CONCLUSIONS CT images in patients with different clinical types of COVID-19 have characteristic manifestations, and solid shadow may predict severe and critical illness.
Betacoronavirus ; Clinical Laboratory Techniques ; Coronavirus Infections ; diagnosis ; diagnostic imaging ; Humans ; Lung ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Pneumonia, Viral ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Severity of Illness Index ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; methods

Chuanxiong Rhizoma (CX, the dried rhizome of Ligusticum wallichii Franch.), a well-known traditional Chinese medicine, is clinically used for treating cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and hepatobiliary diseases. Cholestatic liver damage is one of the chronic liver diseases with limited effective therapeutic strategies. Currently, little is known about the mechanism links between CX-induced anti-cholestatic action and intercellular communication between cholangiocytes and hepatic stellate cells (HSCs). The study aimed to evaluate the hepatoprotective activity of different CX extracts including the aqueous, alkaloid, phenolic acid and phthalide extracts of CX (CX_AE, CX_AL, CX_PA and CX_PHL) and investigate the intercellular communication-related mechanisms by which the most effective extracts work on cholestatic liver injury. The active compounds of different CX extracts were identified by UPLC-MS/MS. A cholestatic liver injury mouse model induced by bile duct ligation (BDL), and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β)-treated human intrahepatic biliary epithelial cholangiocytes (HIBECs) and HSC cell line (LX-2 cells) were used for in vivo and in vitro studies. Histological and other biological techniques were also applied. The results indicated that CX_AE, CX_AL and CX_PHL significantly reduced ductular reaction (DR) and improved liver fibrosis in the BDL mice. Meanwhile, both CX_AE and CX_PHL suppressed DR in injured HIBECs and reduced collagen contraction force and the expression of fibrosis biomarkers in LX-2 cells treated with TGF-β. CX_PHL suppressed the transcription and transfer of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) and fibronectin (FN) from the 'DR-like' cholangiocytes to activated HSCs. Mechanistically, the inhibition of PAI-1 and FN by CX_PHL was attributed to the untight combination of the acetyltransferase KAT2A and SMAD3, followdd by the suppression of histone 3 lysine 9 acetylation (H3K9ac)-mediated transcription in cholangiocytes. In conclusion, CX_PHL exerts stronger anti-cholestatic activity in vivo and in vitro than other CX extracts, and its protective effect on the intracellular communication between cholangiocytes and HSCs is achieved by reducing KAT2A/H3K9ac-mediated transcription and release of PAI-1 and FN.

Liver fibrosis is a dynamic wound-healing response characterized by the agglutination of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Si-Wu-Tang (SWT), a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formula, is known for treating gynecological diseases and liver fibrosis. Our previous studies demonstrated that long non-coding RNA H19 (H19) was markedly upregulated in fibrotic livers while its deficiency markedly reversed fibrogenesis. However, the mechanisms by which SWT influences H19 remain unclear. Thus, we established a bile duct ligation (BDL)-induced liver fibrosis model to evaluate the hepatoprotective effects of SWT on various cells in the liver. Our results showed that SWT markedly improved ECM deposition and bile duct reactions in the liver. Notably, SWT relieved liver fibrosis by regulating the transcription of genes involved in the cytoskeleton remodeling, primarily in hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), and influencing cytoskeleton-related angiogenesis and hepatocellular injury. This modulation collectively led to reduced ECM deposition. Through extensive bioinformatics analyses, we determined that H19 acted as a miRNA sponge and mainly inhibited miR-200, miR-211, and let7b, thereby regulating the above cellular regulatory pathways. Meanwhile, SWT reversed H19-related miRNAs and signaling pathways, diminishing ECM deposition and liver fibrosis. However, these protective effects of SWT were diminished with the overexpression of H19 in vivo. In conclusion, our study elucidates the underlying mechanisms of SWT from the perspective of H19-related signal networks and proposes a potential SWT-based therapeutic strategy for the treatment of liver fibrosis.
Humans ; RNA, Long Noncoding/genetics* ; Liver Cirrhosis/genetics* ; Liver/metabolism* ; Hepatic Stellate Cells/pathology* ; MicroRNAs/metabolism* ; Extracellular Matrix/metabolism* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal