Objective:To investigate the difference of curative effect between zero-profile bridge-shaped locking cage (ROI-C) and anterior cage combined with titanium plate fixation in the treatment of two-level and three-level cervical spondylotic myelopathy.Methods:A total of 85 patients (43 males and 42 females), aged 52.3±8.0 years (range from 28 to 66 years) with bi- and three-level cervical spondylotic myelopathy who received surgical treatment from June 2017 to October 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. There were 63 cases of two levels and 22 cases of three levels. 45 cases were treated with zero-profile bridge-shaped locking cage ROI-C (ROI-C group), and 40 cases with anterior cage combined with titanium plate fixation (titanium plate group). The main observation indicators include operation time, intraoperative blood loss, cervical Cobb angle, fusion segment Cobb angle, average intervertebral height, pain visual analogue scale (VAS), Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) Score and neck disability index (NDI).Results:All of 85 patients were followed up for 16.9±2.0 months (range 12 to 22 months). The operation time of two-level ROI-C group was 110.37±8.25 min, which was shorter than 139.5±10.54 min of titanium plate group; the intraoperative blood loss was 15.74±8.10 ml, which was less than 23.71±9.70 ml of titanium plate group; the operation time of three-level ROI-C group was 130.00±5.70 min, which was shorter than 162.83±5.59 min of titanium plate group, while the difference in the intraoperative blood loss between the two groups had no statistical significance. One year after operation, Cobb angle of cervical vertebra in double and three-level ROI-C groups were 15.31°±1.55° and 15.20°±0.42°, respectively, which were largerthan 11.23°±2.03° and 9.20°±1.14° before operation; in titanium plate group, they were 15.89°±1.13° and 16.08°±1.88°, which were higher than 11.25°±2.01° and 9.00°±1.60° before operation, and the differences had statistical significance. The differences between the two groups before operation and 1 year after operation had no statistical significance. One year after operation, the VAS scores of double and three-level ROI-C groups were 1.83±0.66 points and 2.60±0.52 points, respectively, which were less than the preoperative 7.49±0.51 points and 7.60±0.52 points; the titanium plate group was 1.79±0.50 points and 2.41±0.51 points, which were less than the preoperative 7.61±0.63 points and 7.42±0.52 points, and the differences had statistical significance. There was no significant difference between the two groups before operation and 1 year after operation. One year after operation, the JOA scores of double and three-level ROI-C groups were 15.00±0.84 points and 14.70±0.95 points, respectively, which were higher than the preoperative 7.20±0.87 points and 6.60±1.27 points; the scores of titanium plate group were 15.29±0.85 points and 14.83±0.58 points, which were higher than the preoperative 6.89±1.03 points and 6.92±0.67 points, and the differences had statistical significance. The differences between the two groups had no statistical significance. The postoperative JOA improvement rate was excellent. Postoperative dysphagia occurred in 1 case (2.22%, 1/45) in ROI-C group and 8 cases (20.00%, 8/40) in titanium plate group, and the difference in the incidence rate between two groups had statistical significance ( χ2=5.32, P=0.02). Conclusion:Both ROI-C and anterior cage combined with titanium plate fixation in the treatment of double and three-level cervical spondylotic myelopathy can achieve good short-term clinical efficacy, with shorter operation time and lower incidence rate of postoperative dysphagia using ROI-C.

Background: Percutaneous transforaminal endoscopic discectomy (PTED) has been widely used in the treatment of lumbar degenerative diseases. Epidural injection of steroids can reduce the incidence and duration of postoperative pain in a short period of time. Although steroids are widely believed to reduce the effect of surgical trauma, the observation indicators are not uniform, especially the long-term effects, so the problem remains controversial. Therefore, the purpose of this paper was to evaluate the efficacy of epidural steroids following PTED. Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Database from 1980 to June 2021 to identify randomized and non-randomized controlled trials comparing epidural steroids and saline alone following PTED. The primary outcomes included postoperative pain at least 6 months as assessed using a visual analogue scale (VAS) and the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI). The secondary outcomes included length of hospital stay and the time of return to work. Results: A total of 451 patients were included in three randomized and two nonrandomized controlled trials. The primary outcomes, including VAS and ODI scores, did not differ significantly between epidural steroids following PTED and saline alone. There were no significant intergroup differences in length of hospital stay. Epidural steroids were shown to be superior in terms of the time to return to work (P < 0.001). Conclusions Intraoperative epidural steroids did not provide significant benefits, leg pain control, improvement in ODI scores, and length of stay in the hospital, but it can enable the patient to return to work faster.

Objective: To investigate the clinical effect of percutaneous curved vertebroplasty in the treatment of thoracolum-bar osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCFs). Methods: All of 85 patients with single thoracolumbar vertebral OVCFs who met the admission criteria from January 2017 to July 2018 were divided into three groups according to the random dig-its table method. They were treated with percutaneous curved vertebroplasty, routine unipedicular PVP and routine bipedicular PVP respectively. There were 25 patients in the percutaneous curved vertebroplasty group, 6 males and 19 females; aged 56-80 years, with an average age of 70.6±9.7 years. Fracture vertebral body distribution: T₁₀ 2 cases, T₁₁ 4 cases, T₁₂ 3 cases, L₁ 9 cases, L₂ 3 cases, L₃ 1 case, L₄ 1 case and L₅ 2 cases. There were 32 patients in the routine unipedicular PVP group, 6 males and 26 fe-males; aged 58-75 years, with an average age of 69.5±9.3 years. Fracture vertebral body distribution: T₁₀ 2 cases, T₁₁ 4 cases, T₁₂ 5 cases, L₁ 11 cases, L₂ 6 cases, L₃ 1 case, L₄ 1 case and L₅ 2 cases. There were 28 patients in the routine bipedicular PVP group, 5 males and 23 females; aged 59-81 years, with an average age of 69.8±8.8 years. Fracture vertebral body distribution: T₁₀ 2 cases, T₁₁ 4 cases, T₁₂ 4 cases, L₁ 10 cases, L₂ 4 cases, L₃ 1 case, L₄ 1 case and L₅ 2 cases. The operation time, injected cement volume, in-traoperative blood loss were recorded and analyzed. Preoperative, postoperative 1 week and 3 months visual analogue scale scores and oswestry disability index were adopted to value the clinical improvements. Preoperative, postoperative 1 week and 3 months relative vertebral height and kyphosis correction, and the cement leakage rate were measured and analyzed. Results: There was no significant difference in the data of gender, age, VAS scores, ODI and distribution of fracture vertebrae among the three groups (P>0.05), and the baseline data was comparable. The average VAS score in the percutaneous curved vertebroplasty group was 2.3±0.5 at 1 week after surgery, that of the routine unipedicular PVP group was 2.4±0.4 and that of the routine bipe-dicular PVP group was 2.4±0.4; the average ODI in the percutaneous curved vertebroplasty group was 19.8%±3.9%, that of the routine unipedicular PVP group was 20.0%±4.1% and that of the routine bipedicular PVP group was 19.9%±3.8%; they were lower than the preoperative data, which were statistically significant (P<0.001). The average relative vertebral height in the percutaneous curved vertebroplasty group was 48.99%±9.23% at 3 months after surgery, that of the routine unipedicular PVP group was 47.11%±10.12% and that of the routine bipedicular PVP group was 46.71%±11.16%; the average kyphosis cor-rection in the percutaneous curved vertebroplasty group was 6.21%±1.94%, that of the routine unipedicular PVP group was 5.22%±2.07% and that of the routine bipedicular PVP group was 5.97%±2.09%; there was 1 cement leakage case in the per-cutaneous curved vertebroplasty group; those of the routine unipedicular PVP group were 4 cases and those of the routine bipe-dicular PVP group were 6 cases; there was no significant difference among the three groups (P>0.05). Operation time 39.10±2.00 min vs 38.70±1.70 min, injected cement volume 3.60±0.11 ml vs 3.50±0.13 ml and blood loss 5.10±0.30 ml vs 5.00±0.40 ml of the percutaneous curved vertebroplasty group and the routine unipedicular PVP group were less than those of the routine bipedicular PVP group, which were statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclution Percutaneous curved vertebroplasty could achieve satisfactory clinical outcomes for OVCFs, with advantages of less operation time, less blood loss, limited X-ray expo-sure, less injected cement volume, and more balanced augmentation for stabilization of the affected vertebrae and total verte-bral column.

Objective:To investigate the relationship between the methylation of apelin receptor early endogenous ligand ( APELA) gene promoter and preeclampsia. Methods:A systematic review was conducted to evaluate the cg02779075 locus methylation in APELA gene associated with preeclampsia in six previous studies on placenta genome-wide methylation based on the GEO gene expression database from 2007 to 2017. After testing the heterogeneity, the random-effects model was applied for meta-analysis. Placenta samples of 17 preeclamptic patients and 24 healthy gravidas were retrospectively collected in Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital of Fudan University from 2008 to 2010. MassARRAY was used to quantify the methylation level of CpGs, and the expression of APELA gene was determined by qRT-PCR. All data were analyzed by t test or Mann-Whitney U test. Results:(1) Analysis of the six genome-wide methylation studies showed significant heterogeneity ( I2=0.64, P=0.016) and the meta-analysis using random-effects model showed that the methylation of cg02779075 locus in the placenta samples of preeclamptic women was down-regulated significantly ( Pmeta=6.7×10 -6). (2) Placenta tissue analysis revealed that the methylation of CpG1 [0.12 (0.00-0.25) vs 0.21 (0.09-0.33), U=-2.569] and CpG2 [0.07 (0.01-0.14) vs 0.17 (0.09-0.34), U=-4.160] in patients with preeclampsia was significantly reduced compared with those in healthy control (both P<0.05). The expression of APELA gene in the placenta was up-regulated in patients with preeclampsia, but no significant difference was observed between the two groups ( U=0.891, P=0.384). Conclusions:Aberrant methylation of APELA gene promoter was detected in the placentas of patients with preeclampsia.

Objective To investigate high risk human papillomavirus(HR-HPV)prevalence among married women in Beijing and to study the high risk flactors.nethods During March 2007 to September 2008.a total of 6185 married women sampled from 137 communities in 12 districts were screened bv HR-HPV DNA test and cytogical test.The interview was carried out with unified questionnaires.The databage was set up and twice entered in EpiDam 3.0.After checked up,the data were analyzed in SPSS 15.0.Results (1) The HR-HPV infection rate was 9.89%.The HR-HPV infection rate of the city zone,the suburb and the exurb were 9.34%,10.51% and 9.51% (P>0.05).The HR-HPV infection rate of the native and the oudander were 9.53%,11.30% (P<0.05).(2) The age distribution of HR-HPV infection was that the rate was around 10% among 25 to 44 age groups,which was the highest(11.21%) in 30 to 34 age group;then the rate was descended as the age raising,the rate of 50 to 54 age group was the lowest(7.78%).(3) Multiple logistic regression showed that the related risk factors of HR-HPV infection mainly included 1000 RMB and above of family income per person per month.possessing more than 1 sexual partner of her husband,outlander and hish levels of education.(4) The prevalence of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia(CIN)in HR-HPV positive group wag significantly higher than that in HR-HPV negative group(29.76% vs 3.32%,P<0.01).Conclusions(1)The HR-HPV infection rate among aged 25 to 54 years was 9.9% and there was no significant difference in area distribution.(2)The hish risk population which should strengthen screening was the married bearing-age women with high level of family income,outlander,high levels of education and her husband possessing more than 1 sexual partner.(3)HR-HPV infection is the main risk factor for CIN and cervical cancer.while does not provide a causal relationship with them.The high risk population should be checked regularly to understand the development of HR-HPV infection and CIN incidence.