Objective To evaluate the effect of electroacupuncture on postoperative cognitive func?tion in elderly patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy. Methods Fifty patients of both sexes, aged≥65 yr, of American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status Ⅱ orⅢ, with the educational level≥ the level of primary school, scheduled for elective unilateral carotid endarterectomy, were divided into 2 groups ( n=25 each) using a random number table: control group ( group C) and electroacupuncture group ( group EA). In group EA, electroacupuncture (frequency 2∕100 Hz, intensity 5-12 mA) of Baihui (GV20), Neiguan (PC6) and Zusanli (ST36) was performed throughout surgery starting from 30 min before opera?tion, and then general anesthesia was performed. General anesthesia was performed directly in group C. Before operation ( T0 ) , at the end of operation ( T1 ) and at 24 h after operation ( T2 ) , blood samples were collected from the internal jugular vein for determination of plasma S?100βprotein, tumor necrosis factor?αand brain?derived neurotrophic factor ( BDNF) concentrations by enzyme?linked immunosorbent assay. The cognitive function was assessed using Montreal Cognitive Assessment at T0,2 and at 3 and 7 days after opera?tion ( T3,4 ) . Results Compared with group C, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment scores were significantly increased at T2?4 , the plasma S?100β protein and tumor necrosis factor?α concentrations were significantly decreased at T1,2 , and the plasma BDNF concentrations were significantly increased at T2 in group EA ( P<0?05) . Conclusion Electroacupuncture can improve postoperative cognitive function in the elderly pa?tients undergoing carotid endarterectomy, which may be related to inhibition of inflammatory responses,
promotion of BDNF production and reduction of brain injury.

Objective To observe the effect of heat needle treatment on the inflammatory reaction in the damaged tissues of rats with the third lumbar transverse process syndrome. Methods Ninety Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 6 groups, namely normal group, model group, drug group, heat needle group, conventional acupuncture group and warming acup-moxibustion group, 15 rats in each group. The rat model of the third lumbar syndrome was established by embedding gelatin sponge. Two weeks later, the rats in various groups were given corresponding treatment respectively. Before treatment and on the 7th, 14th and 28th day of treatment, the blood samples were collected from jugular vein, and then the serum inflammatory cytokines of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-6 were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). On the 28th day of treatment, all of the rats were sacrificed, the expression levels of TNF-α, IL-1βand IL-6 mRNA in the muscle tissue were detected by reverse transcription quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), and the pathological changes in local muscle tissue were observed by HE staining method. Results The serum contents of the inflammatory cytokines of TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 in the model group and treatment groups after modeling were significantly higher than those in the normal group (P < 0.05). After treatment, the contents of TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 in various treatment groups were decreased significantly as compared with those in the model group, and the decrease was most obvious in the heat needle group. The expression levels of TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 mRNA in muscle tissues of drug group, heat needle group, conventional acupuncture group and warming acup-moxibustion group were lower than those of the model group (P < 0.05), and the heat needle group had the lowest levels. HE staining results showed that heat needle group had milder inflammatory reaction and better muscle fiber structure than the model group. Conclusion Heat needle treatment can improve the local inflammatory response and promote the repair of tissue damage through decreasing the expression levels of inflammatory cytokines of TNF-α, IL-1βand IL-6.

Objective To observe the difference in treament of thoracolumbar vertebral bodies fractures be- tween AF nail and Dick nail.Methods From March 1998 to March 2007,85 cases of thoracolumbar vertebral bod- ies fractures were followed up.20 cases were fixed with Dick nail,and 65 cases with AF nail.Results The mean,fol- low-up period was 12 months.By comparison of the operating rime,bleeding amount,the recovery rate of vertebral height,the reduction of Cobb angle and capacity of vertebral canal,AF nail was much better than Dick nail.But there was no marked difference in the recover of nerve function.Conclusion AF nail has more power to reduce vertebral height and is easier to set than Dick nail.It will be worthy of more and wider application in basic level hospitals.

A method was developed for the determination of tetrodotoxin in marine organisms by high perfor-mance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry with immunoaffinity column. The samples were extracted with 1% acetic acid methanol solution and diluted with phosphate buffer at pH 7-8. After cleaned up by immuno-affinity column, the samples were analyzed by LC-MS/MS and quantitatively determined by external standard method. The chromatographic separation was performed on an ACQUITY UPLC BEH Amide column with gradient elution by using acetonitrile and 5 mol/L ammonium acetate solution containing 0. 1% formic acid as mobile phase. Detection was carried out by electrospray positive ionization mass spectrometry in the multiple reaction monitoring mode. Linear ranges of TTX was in the range of 0. 3 -20. 0 μg/L with correlation coeffi-cient more than 0. 997. The quantification limit of the method was 0. 3 μg/kg. The recoveries of standard addition for tetrodotoxin were 88. 7%-102. 3%, and the relative standard deviation was 2. 0%-6. 4%. The method could be used to identify and quantify tetrodotoxin in marine organisms with satisfactory reproducibility and sensitivity.

AIM:To investigate the clinical significance of microRNA-26a-5p (miR-26a-5p)-regulated mye-loid cell leukemia-1 (MCL-1) expression in the development of maternal preeclampsia.METHODS:Plasma and placen-tal tissues were collected from 21 cases of normal pregnancy, 13 cases of maternal gestational hypertension, 15 cases of mild preeclampsia and 26 cases of severe preeclampsia.The levels of plasma and placental miR-26a-5p and placental MCL-1 mRNA were detected by real-time PCR.Western blotting analysis was used to determine the protein expression of placen-tal MCL-1.The clinical significance of the above parameters was also analyzed.RESULTS:miR-26a-5p expression gradu-ally increased(P<0.01) in the 4 groups of maternal plasma and placentas with the disease development, and the mRNA expression of MCL-1 was significantly reduced in the placentas (P<0.01), both showing a significant negative correlation (P<0.01).Meanwhile, the expression of miR-26a-5p and MCL-1 protein in the placental tissues was negatively correla-ted (P<0.01).The miR-26a-5p up-regulation in maternal plasma and placental tissues was negatively correlated with ges-tational age, maternal plasma albumin levels and fetal weight, while it was positively correlated with maternal blood pres-sure and urinary protein level (P<0.01), which was in contrary to the down-regulation of placental MCL-1.CONCLU-SION:Up-regulation of miR-26a-5p is involved in the occurrence and development of preeclampsia by down-regulation of MCL-1.

Objective To assess the preoperative detection of hepatic arterial anomalies in patients undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy using multi-slice computed tomographic angiography (MSCTA).Methods Between January 2014 and December 2017,60 patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy were included in this retrospective study.The clinical and imaging data were analyzed.The types of hepatic artery found by preoperative MSCTA based on the Michels classification were compared with the actual hepatic arterial anatomy detected during surgery.Results Hepatic arterial anomalies were detected by MSCTA in 12 of 60 patients (20.0％).Using the Michels classification,there were 3 patients with type Ⅱ (25.0％),6 patients with type Ⅲ (50.0％),1 patient with type Ⅵ (8.3％),and 1 patient with type Ⅸ (8.3％).One patient (8.3％,1/12) had an anomaly which was not included in the Michels typing.All the hepatic arterial anomalies detected by MSCTA corresponded to those found in surgery (12 patients).The rates of accuracy,sensitivity,and specificity of MSCTA were all 100％.Conclusions MSCTA provided a high accuracy in diagnosing hepatic arterial anomalies.MSCTA should be routinely used before pancreaticoduodenectomy.

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the role of serum level of procalcitonin (PCT), C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and white blood cell count (WBC) as predictors in postoperative early infectious complications with fever after posterior lumbar internal fixation (PLIF).

METHODSA retrospective study was conducted from January 2012 to January 2014. Fifty-two patients with fever in the early stage(within 10 days) after the PLIF were collected in the study. They were divided into infection group and non-infection group (group A and group B) according to the results of postoperative blood culture. There were 26 patients in group A and 32 patients in group B. The values of PCT, CRP, ESR, and WBC count were compared and analyzed between two groups.

RESULTSThe values of PCT, CRP, and ESR in group A were higher than those of group B. Meanwhile, CRP and ESR in group B were still higher than the normal range. Among the 26 patients with infections (group A), PCT was superior to CRP and ESR, had a good ability in discriminating different kinds of postoperative infections. The area under the ROC curve of serum PCT levels was the largest (CI 95% was 0.81 to 0.98) in the indexs; and ROC curve of WBC count was no statistically significant. When the cut off points of each predictors were evaluated, the higher sensitive was CRP and reached at 90.27% and the higher specific was ESR and reached at 88.50%.

CONCLUSIONFor the patients with fever at the early stage after the PLIF should be paid attention and reasonable choosing predictors are helpful to identify postoperative infection in the early stage. The CRP and ESR may be influenced by the surgery, and the PCT level is helpful to differentiate infection type.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Blood Sedimentation ; C-Reactive Protein ; analysis ; Calcitonin ; blood ; Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide ; Female ; Fever ; blood ; diagnosis ; Fracture Fixation, Internal ; adverse effects ; Humans ; Infection ; blood ; diagnosis ; Leukocyte Count ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; surgery ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Postoperative Complications ; blood ; diagnosis ; Protein Precursors ; blood

Guanylate binding protein-1(GBP-1) is an interferon-induced protein. To observe its antiviral effect against Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and Coxsackie virus B3 (CVB3), we constructed an eukaryotic expression vector of human GBP-1(hGBP-1). Full-length encoding sequence of hGBP-1 was amplified by long chain RT-PCR and inserted into a pCR2.1 vector, then subcloned into a pCDNA3.1(-) vector. Recombinant hGBP-1 plasmids and pHBV1.3 carrying 1.3-fold genome of HBV were contransfected into HepG2 cells, and inhibition effect of hGBP-1 against HBV replication was observed. Hela cells transfected with recombinant hGBP-1 plasmids were challenged with CVB3, and viral yield in cultures were detected. The results indicated that recombinant eukaryotic expression plasmid of hGBP-1 was constructed successfully and the hGBP-1 gene carried in this plasmid could be efficiently expressed in HepG2 cells and Hela cells. hGBP-1 inhibit CVB3 but not HBV replication in vitro. These results demonstrate that hGBP-1 mediates an antiviral effect against CVB3 but not HBV and perhaps plays an important role in the interferon-mediated antiviral response against CVB3.

To establish a replication cellular model of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and determine its application in antiviral drug evaluation,we constructed an expression plasmid which contained 1.3 copies of the HBV genome,and measured the level of viral replication after transient transfection in Huh7 cells.We then observed the effect of antiviral drug administration.1.3 fold of the HBV(ayw) gene fragment was cloned into pCR2.1 by PCR and restriction endonuclease digestion.The recombinant plasmid was trans ient transfected into Huh7 cells,HBsAg,HBeAg and HBV DNA in supernatant of Huh7 cells were measured by ELISA and real-time PCR respectively; intracellular HBV replicative intermediates and intracellular HBV transcripts were detected by Southern blot and Northern blot respectively.The antiviral effect of adefovir,a novel anti-HBV nucleotide analogue,was evaluated in this cellular model system.The results indicated that a recombinant plasmid of HBV replicon was constructed successfully; the HBV genome carried in plasmid pHBV1.3 could efficiently replicate and be expressed in Huh 7 cells,adefovir could inhibit HBV replication in this cellular model,and the inhibition was dosage-dependent.The conclusion is HBV replicon,which can initiate viral replication efficiently in hepatoma cells,may be a useful tool in the study of HBV replication and antiviral drug.

Objective To investigate the water quality and running status of the dringking water improving project in Xuchang,Pingdingshan and Nanyang,thus to provide basis for scientifically evaluating social effects.Methods Stratified sampling was used in the levels of counties and townships and villages,with the number of checked counties greater than or eaquel to half of the projected counties(13/24),the checked townships more than 40 percent of the projected townships(42/102),the checked villages greater than or eaquel to 30% of the projected villages(56/186).We listened their statement,reviewed the documents,examined carefully the water projects before we made the appraisal.Results More than 95%(129/136)of the projects had water quality reports,among which 90%(122/136)were provided by county level centers for disease prevention and control,75% (102/136) of water samples were collected by centers for disease prevention and control,80%(109/136)ofcounties organized an acceptance check-up group,92%(125/136)projects well preserved water source.Conclusions The dringking water improvement projeets in countryside are basically normal in terms of construction and management,the water supplied is qualified,so the expected goal is achieved.However,duties of each department are not explicit and the communication is inadequate,so collaboration should be reinforced.