Purpose To assess the expression of DLL4 in non-small cell lung cancer ( NSCLC) patients and to determine its associa-tion with clinicopathological parameters and prognosis. Methods DLL4 expression was evaluated in NSCLC tissues and adjacent non-cancerous normal lung tissues from 89 patients undergoing surgical treatment by immunohistochemistry. Results DLL4 had high ex-pression in 52 of 89 cases of NSCLC (58. 4%), which was significantly higher than that in adjacent non-cancerous lung tissues (P<0. 05). Moreover, DLL4 overexpression was significantly correlated with TNM stage (P=0. 010 78). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the overall survival times in patients expressing DLL4 in NSCLC were shorter. Conclusion High level of DLL4 expression is significantly correlated with NSCLC progression and unfavorable prognosis. Thus, DLL4 expression may be used as a clinical param-eter for predictive prognostication of NSCLC patients.

OBJECTIVETo compare the clinical efficacy between the combined acupuncture therapy of acupoint injection and fire needling and the oral administration of vitamin C and B2 as well as subcutaneous injection of transfer factor.

METHODSOne hundred and fifty-eight patients of recurrent oral ulcer (ROU) differentiated as heat accumulation in the heart and spleen were randomized into an observation group and a control group, 79 cases in each, one. In the observation group, Xinshu (BL 15), Pishu (BL 20) and Zusanli (ST 36) were selected for acupoint injection of shuang huanglian injection, 1 mL at each point, three times a week, for 2 weeks totally. Additionally, fire needling was applied to the ulcer lesion and peripheral mucosa, once a day, totally for 3 times. In the control group, vitamin C 100 mg and vitamin B2 20 mg were prescribed for oral administration, three times a day; and subcutaneous injection of transfer factor was applied, 2 mL (3 mg), twice a week, for 2 weeks totally. The score of symptoms and physical signs and the visual analogue scale (VAS) were observed before and after treatment, as well as the time of ulcer healing and ulcer recurrence in the patients of the two groups. The clinical efficacy was compared between the two groups.

RESULTSThe total effective rate was 92.4% (73/79) in the observation group, better than 77.2% (61/79) in the control group (P < 0.01). The differences in the score of symptoms and physical signs and VAS score before and after treatment were significant statistically in the observation group and the control group (all P < 0.01). The score of symptoms and physical signs and VAS score after treatment in the observation group were reduced significantly as compared with those in the control group (both P < 0.01). The time of ulcer healing in the observation group was earlier than that in the control group [(3.87 +/- 1.01) d vs. (6.22 +/- 0.53) d, P < 0.01]. The recurrence rate in the observation was lower than that in the control group [22.7% (17/75) vs. 50.0% (36/72), P < 0.01].

CONCLUSIONThe combined therapy of acupoint injection and fire needling achieves the better efficacy on ROU compared with oral administration of vitamin and subcutaneous injection of transfer factor. This therapy has the good and quick effect of analgesia, relieves the relevant symptoms, shortens the time of ulcer healing and reduces the recurrence rate.

Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; instrumentation ; Adult ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; Female ; Heart ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Oral Ulcer ; drug therapy ; physiopathology ; therapy ; Spleen ; physiopathology ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

Objective To investigate the relations and evaluation value of serum thymidine kinase 1 (sTK1) in the treatment of patients withacute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonarydisease (AECOPD). Methods The retrospective treating studies were performed on 104 patients with AECOPD , sTK1 level was de-tected by chemiluminescence dot-blot assay before and after treatment , and the correlation between the expression of sTK1 and CRP after treatment in the two groups was analyzed. Results The levels of sTK1 and CRP in the ef-fective group significantly lowered after treatment (P < 0.05). The expression of sTK1 in the effective group and in the ineffective group after treatment was significantlycorrelated with CRP (P < 0.05). Conclusion sTK1 can be used as a valuable indicator to evaluate the severity of AECOPD and to estimate the efficacy of AECOPD thera-py.

Objective:The decline in nutritional status in patients with severe pneumonia may contribute to an increase in in-hospital mortality. Enteral nutrition support can improve the nutritional status of patients, and is relatively easy to manage, with low cost and fewer serious complications. On the other hand, adverse reactions such as gastric retention and gastric microbiota translocation may increase the incidence of nosocomial pneumonia and increase the uncertainty of patient prognosis. There is no predictive model for in-hospital death in severe pneumonia patients receiving enteral nutrition support. The objective of this study was to investigate the risk factors of in-hospital death in patients with severe pneumonia receiving enteral nutrition support and to establish a prognostic model for such patients.Methods:This was a single-center retrospective study. Patients with severe pneumonia who were hospitalized in Peking Union Medical College Hospital and received enteral nutrition support were included from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2020. The primary endpoints were in-hospital mortality rate and unordered discharge rate. The independent risk factors were determined using univariate and multifactorial logistic regression analysis, the nomogram scoring model was constructed, and the decision curve analysis (DCA) was performed.Results:A total of 632 severe pneumonia patients who received enteral nutrition support were included. Patients were divided into death and survival groups according to the presence or absence of in-hospital death, and 24 parameters were found with significant differences between groups. Nine parameters were independent predictors of mortality, namely the duration of ventilator use, the presence of malignant hyperplasia diseases, the maximal levels of platelet and prothrombin during hospitalization, and the nadir levels of alanine aminotransferase, serum albumin, sodium, potassium, and blood glucose. Based on these variables, a risk prediction scoring model was established (ROC = 0.782; 95% CI: 0.744 to 0.819, concordance index: 0.772). Calibration curves, DCA, and clinical impact curve were plotted to evaluate the goodness of function, accuracy, and applicability of the predictive nomogram, using the training and test sets. Conclusion:This study summarized the clinical characteristics of patients with severe pneumonia receiving enteral nutrition support and developed a scoring model to identify risk factors and establish prognostic models.

Normalizing inflamed soils including reactive oxygen species (ROS), nitric oxide (NO), cell-free DNA, and regulating inflammation-related seeds such as macrophages, neutrophils, fibroblasts, represent a promising strategy to maintain synovial tissue homeostasis for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treatment. Herein, ROS scavenging amphiphilic block copolymer PEGylated bilirubin and NO-scavenging PEGylated o-phenylenediamine were fabricated to self-assemble into a dually responsive nanoparticle loaded with JAK inhibitor notopterol (Not@BR/oPDA-PEG, NBOP NPs). The simultaneous ROS and NO depletion combined with JAK-STAT pathway inhibition could not only promote M2 polarization to reduce further ROS and NO generation, but also decrease cytokines and chemokines to prevent immune cell recruitment. Specifically, NBOP NPs responded to high level ROS and NO, and disintegrated to release notopterol in inflamed joints as the hydrophobic heads BR and oPDA were transformed into hydrophilic ones. The released notopterol could inhibit the JAK-STAT pathway of inflammatory cells to reduce the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines. This strategy represented an effective way to regulate RA soils and seeds through breaking the positive feedback loop of inflammation aggravation, achieving an excellent anti-RA efficacy in a collagen-induced arthritis rat model. Taken together, our work offered a reference to adjust RA soils and seeds for enhanced RA treatment.