Objective To determinate the toxic elements in Radix Astragali by ICP-MS. Methods The elements of Cu, As, Cd, Hg, Pb, Al, Cr, Sn, Ba in Radix Astragali were analyzed by ICP-MS. Results There were toxic elements in Radix Astragali. The concentration of Cu, As, Cd, Hg and Pb were not over the limits of Chinese Pharmacopoeia, but the concentration of Al, Cr and Ba were over the levels of other elements obviously. Conclusions There are difference of residues of the 9 kinds of toxic elements. It’s necessary to establish the determination methods of toxic elements (especially Al, Sn, Cr and Ba) in Chinese herbal medicines and the limits of the related toxic elements.

Objective:To analyze the diagnostic value of positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) for mediastinal lymph node metastasis in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients.Methods:A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 120 NSCLC patients admitted to the Suqian Hospital Affiliated to Xuzhou Medical University from July 2017 to June 2021. All patients underwent preoperative chest CT and PET/CT examination ( 18F-FDG imaging agent), and underwent total thoracoscopic lobectomy+ mediastinal lymph node dissection. Using the pathological results obtained from surgery as the gold standard, the diagnostic efficacy of chest CT and PET/CT examination for mediastinal lymph node metastasis in NSCLC patients was analyzed. Results:The surgical pathological results showed that 53 out of 120 patients had lymph node metastasis (33 cases of adenocarcinoma, 17 cases of squamous cell carcinoma, and 3 cases of adenocarcinoma), with 15, 32, and 6 cases of pN1, pN2, and pN3 staging, respectively; Preoperative chest CT examination identified 28 cases of true positive, 52 cases of true negative, 15 cases of false positive, and 25 cases of false negative with mediastinal lymph node metastasis, while PET/CT examination identified 44 cases, 61 cases, 6 cases, and 9 cases, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of PET/CT in diagnosing mediastinal lymph node metastasis were higher than those of chest CT (all P<0.05); The consistency rate between PET/CT examination of lymph node metastasis N stage and surgical N stage [79.25% (42/53)] was higher than that of chest CT examination [45.28% (24/53)] ( P<0.05); The maximum standard uptake value (SUV) of lung cancer primary lesion in patients with mediastinal lymph node metastasis was higher than that in patients without lymph node metastasis ( P<0.05). Conclusions:PET/CT examination has high diagnostic value for mediastinal lymph node metastasis in NSCLC patients, and those who have objections to the results need further thoracoscopic examination to clarify the diagnosis.