OBJECTIVE: To investigate the features and diagnosis way of small round cell tumor of nasal sinus and bases of skull. METHOD: A retrospective analysis of 123 case with small round cell tumor of nasal sinus and bases of skull were carried out in our hospital in past ten year. Clinical, histological, radiological and immunohistochemical characters of these cases were studied. RESULT: All cases usually complained of nasal obstruction, headache, diplopia, nasal mucus with bleeding, vision or weight loss. Expansible or infiltrative lumps were found in nasal sinus or bases of skull in radiological examination. A lot of small round cells were found in these tumors in histological pathology. At least 5-6 cell, tissue or tumor markers were examined immunohistochemically in most of cases before the final diagnosis were made. In some cases over 20 markers were examined. Five cases were carried out transmission electron microscope examination, special features such as desmosome and myofilament were found. CONCLUSION Clinical symptom, physical signs and radiological finding can supply malignant evidences of these tumors. Histological examination can make certain that they are small round cell tumors, but final diagnosis is still hard to make only by these. Immunohistochemical examination of various markers can tell the original characters of the specimen tissues, it is the key for final diagnosis. Transmission electron microscope examination is another helpful way for diagnosis.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell ; diagnosis ; pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Paranasal Sinus Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; pathology ; Retrospective Studies ; Skull Base Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; pathology ; Young Adult

Objective:To investigate the current status of primiparas′ postpartum fatigue and paternal involvement, and to explore the relationship between primiparas′ postpartum fatigue and paternal involvement, and to provide reference basis for developing targeted intervention measures to alleviate postpartum fatigue of primiparas.Methods:A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 347 primiparas from Affiliated Hospital of Yangzhou University, Yangzhou Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital from September to December 2020 by convenience sampling. The survey instruments included the general information questionnaire, the Parenting Alliance Inventory (PAI), and the Postpartum Fatigue Scale (PFS).Results:The total score of PAI was (86.51 ± 12.07) points, and the level of paternal involvement was high. The total score of PFS was (16.68 ± 4.12) points. 95.97% (333/347) of primiparas had varying degrees of postpartum fatigue. There was a significant negative correlation between paternal involvement and primiparas′ postpartum fatigue ( r=-0.327, P<0.01). The results of multiple stratified regression analysis showed that paternal involvement was included in the influencing factor model of primiparas′ postpartum fatigue, which could independently explain 9.7% variation of primiparas′ postpartum fatigue. Conclusions:The higher level of paternal involvement could predict the lower level of primiparas′ postpartum fatigue. Medical staff should pay attention to the participation level of the spouses of primiparas in childcare, and improve the participation level of the spouses of primiparas in scientific ways to alleviate the postpartum fatigue of primiparas.

Objective:To explore the value of quantitative parameters of cortical and cancellous bone in the first lumbar vertebrae (L1) based on CT spinal bone quantification system for evaluating the severity of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in males.Methods:A total of 88 male patients with COPD diagnosed at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University from August 2021 to December 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. According to the 2023 edition of global initiative for chronic obstructive lung disease (GOLD), the patients were classified as GOLD Ⅰ (29 cases), GOLD Ⅱ (36 cases), and GOLD Ⅲ-Ⅳ (23 cases). And then 29 males with normal lung function during the same period were recruited. People with normal lung function and COPD patients of GOLD Ⅰ-Ⅱ were classified as non-severe COPD group (94 cases), COPD patients of GOLD Ⅲ-Ⅳ were classified into the severe COPD group (23 cases). On the CT images of L1, the CT spine bone quantification system was used to automatically segment cortical and cancellous bone. The total volume, cortical volume, cancellous volume, average cortical thickness, cortical bone average CT value and cancellous bone average CT value of L1 vertebral body were measured using the system respectively. Single factor analysis of variance was used to compare the differences of various parameters among normal lung function and COPD patients with different lung function grades. The efficacy of various parameters in evaluating the severity of COPD were calculated using the receiver operating characteristic curve.Results:The overall differences in L1 vertebral total volume, cancellous volume and cortical bone average CT value among people with normal lung function and COPD patients of GOLD Ⅰ, Ⅱ, and Ⅲ-Ⅳ were statistically significant ( F=3.60, 4.26, 5.39, P=0.016, 0.007, 0.002), and showed a downward trend as the severity of COPD progressed. There were no statistically significant difference in cortical volume, average cortical thickness and cancellous bone average CT value of L1 ( P>0.05). The area under the curve (AUC) for distinguishing severe and non-severe COPD was 0.64 (95%CI 0.54-0.72), 0.65 (95%CI 0.56-0.74) and 0.75 (95%CI 0.66-0.83) for the total vertebral volume, cancellous volume and cortical bone average CT value of L1 respectively. The AUC of cortical bone average CT value was the highest, with a cutoff value of 217 HU/mm 3, a sensitivity of 69.6% and a specificity of 80.9%. Conclusion:Male COPD patients have reduced bone mass compared to the same age male population. The L1 quantitative parameters measured based on the CT spinal bone quantification system can effectively evaluate the severity of lung function in male COPD patients. Among them, the cortical bone average CT value has the highest diagnostic efficacy.

Objective:To investigate the effect of celastrol (CEL) on autophagy and endoplasmic reticulum stress-mediated apoptosis in a mouse model of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).Methods:Eighteen male C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into normal control (NC, n=6), high-fat diet (HFD, n=6) and celastrol group (HFD+CEL, n=6). The normal control group was fed with regular diet, and the high-fat diet and celastrol group were fed with high-fat diet for 12 weeks. After successful modeling, celastrol group were injected with 100 μg?kg -1?d -1 celastrol intraperitoneally for 4 weeks, and NC and HFD group were injected intraperitoneally with the same doses of normal saline. Serum concentrations of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) were measured in mouse after 4-weeks of intervention. HE and Oil Red O staining were used to observe the pathomorphological changes and lipid droplet deposition in mouse liver, and the findings were scored according to NAFLD activity score (NAS). Western blot was used to detect the expression levels of liver microtubule associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3), P62, glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78), protein kinase R-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase (PERK), phosphorylated PERK (p-PERK), activated transcription factor 4 (ATF4), C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP), cleaved Caspase-3(cleaved caspase-3), B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) and Bcl-2 related X protein (Bax).TUNEL staining was used to observe the apoptosis of hepatocytes. One-way analysis of variance was used for the intergroup comparison. Results:Serum levels of ALT (68.71±8.57) U/L, AST (209.63±28.64) U/L, TG (0.97±0.14) mmol/L, TC (4.12±0.64) mmol/L, and LDL -C (0.40±0.06) mmol/L were lower in celastrol group mouse than HFD group [(110.19±10.79) U/L, (399.72±73.47) U/L, (1.44±0.13) mmol/L, (5.65±0.54) mmol /L, (0.61±0.07) mmol/L] ( P<0.05); while the serum HDL-C level (1.29±0.17) mmol/L was higher in celastrol than HFD group (0.72±0.13) mmol/L ( P<0.05). HE and Oil Red O staining showed that lipid deposition and intralobular inflammation were apparent in the liver tissue of HFD group mouse, and the NAS score was significantly increased, while the hepatocyte steatosis and intralobular inflammation were alleviated after celastrol intervention, and the NAS score was decreased significantly ( P<0.05). Compared with HFD group, the ratio of LC3II/I was significantly increased in the liver of celastrol group mouse, and the P62 was significantly decreased ( P<0.05). Meanwhile, the expression level of GRP78, p-PERK/PERK , ATF4, and CHOP was significantly lower in celastrol than HFD group ( P<0.05). In addition, the expressions of cleaved caspase-3 and Bax were significantly lower in celastrol than HFD group, and the expression of Bcl-2 was significantly increased ( P<0.05). At the same time, the apoptosis rate of hepatocytes was also significantly lower in celastrol than HFD group ( P<0.05). Conclusion:Celastrol can effectively alleviate the lipid deposition, protect hepatocytes and delay the progression of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in mouse liver with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. In addition, its mechanism of action may be related to the induction of autophagy, inhibition of endoplasmic reticulum stress PERK/ATF4/CHOP pathway and its mediated apoptosis.

Candida albicans is the most abundant fungal species in oral cavity. As a smart opportunistic pathogen, it increases the virulence by switching its forms from yeasts to hyphae and becomes the major pathogenic agent for oral candidiasis. However, the overuse of current clinical antifungals and lack of new types of drugs highlight the challenges in the antifungal treatments because of the drug resistance and side effects. Anti-virulence strategy is proved as a practical way to develop new types of anti-infective drugs. Here, seven artemisinins, including artemisinin, dihydroartemisinin, artemisinic acid, dihydroartemisinic acid, artesunate, artemether and arteether, were employed to target at the hyphal development, the most important virulence factor of C. albicans. Artemisinins failed to affect the growth, but significantly inhibited the hyphal development of C. albicans, including the clinical azole resistant isolates, and reduced their damage to oral epithelial cells, while arteether showed the strongest activities. The transcriptome suggested that arteether could affect the energy metabolism of C. albicans. Seven artemisinins were then proved to significantly inhibit the productions of ATP and cAMP, while reduced the hyphal inhibition on RAS1 overexpression strain indicating that artemisinins regulated the Ras1-cAMP-Efg1 pathway to inhibit the hyphal development. Importantly, arteether significantly inhibited the fungal burden and infections with no systemic toxicity in the murine oropharyngeal candidiasis models in vivo caused by both fluconazole sensitive and resistant strains. Our results for the first time indicated that artemisinins can be potential antifungal compounds against C. albicans infections by targeting at its hyphal development.
Animals ; Mice ; Candida albicans ; Candidiasis, Oral/drug therapy* ; Antifungal Agents/pharmacology* ; Hyphae ; Artemisinins/pharmacology*