Background The Da Vinci system is a newly developed device for colorectal surgery.With advanced stereoscopic vision,lack of tremor,and the ability to rotate the instruments surgeons find that robotic systems are ideal laparoscopic tools.Since conventional laparoscopic total mesorectal excision is a challenging procedure,we have sought to assess the utility of the Da Vinci robotic system in anterior resections for rectal cancer.Methods Between November 2010 and December 2011,a total of 22 patients affected by rectal cancer were operated on with robotic technique,using the Da Vinci robot.Data regarding the outcome and pathology reports were prospectively collected in a dedicated database.Results There were no conversions to open surgery and no postoperative mortality of any patient.Mean operative time was (220±46) minutes (range,152-286 minutes).The median number of lymph nodes harvested was (14.6±6.5) (range,8-32),and the circumferential margin was negative in all cases.The distal margin was (2.6±1.2) cm (range,1.0-5.5 cm).The mean length of hospital stay was (7.8+2.6) days (range,7.0-13.0 days).Macroscopic grading of the specimen was complete in 19 cases and neady complete in three patients.Conclusions Robotic anterior resection for rectal surgery is safe and feasible in experienced hands.Outcome and pathology findings are comparable with those observed in open and laparoscopy procedures.This technique may facilitate minimally invasive radical rectal surgery.

This study aimed to examine the biocompatibility of calcium titanate (CaTiO3) coating prepared by a simplified technique in an attempt to assess the potential of CaTiO3 coating as an alternative to current implant coating materials.CaTiO3-coated titanium screws were implanted with hydroxyapatite (HA)-coated or uncoated titanium screws into medial and lateral femoral condyles of 48 New Zealand white rabbits.Imaging,histomorphometric and biomechanical analyses were employed to evaluate the osseointegration and biocompatibility 12 weeks after the implantation.Histology and scanning electron microscopy revealed that bone tissues surrounding the screws coated with CaTiO3 were fully regenerated and they were also.well integrated with the screws.An interfacial fibrous membrane layer,which was found in the HA coating group,was not noticeable between the bone tissues and CaTiO3-coated screws.X-ray imaging analysis showed in the CaTiO3 coating group,there was a dense and tight binding between implants and the bone tissues;no radiation translucent zone was found surrounding the implants as well as no detachment of the coating and femoral condyle fracture.In contrast,uncoated screws exhibited a fibrous membrane layer,as evidenced by the detection of a radiation translucent zone between the implants and the bone tissues.Additionally,biomechanical testing revealed that the binding strength of CaTiO3 coating with bone tissues was significantly higher than that of uncoated titanium screws,and was comparable to that of HA coating.The study demonstrated that CaTiO3 coating in situ to titanium screws possesses great biocompatibility and osseointegration comparable to HA coating.

OBJECTIVETo study the effects of aromatase on breast cancer proliferation and invasive ability, so as to detect the relationship between in situ estrogen levels and molecular biological characteristics of breast cancer.

METHODSBy immunohistochemistry staining, the expression of aromatase, matrix metalloproteinases 2 (MMP2) and matrix metalloproteinases (MMP 9) in the primary breast cancers were detected, the associations between aromatase and MMPs as well as clinical-pathological factors were analyzed.

RESULTSThe positive rates of aromatase were 25.0% (+) and 29.9% (++). Aromatase status was associated with MMP2, MMP9 and co-expression of MMP2 and MMP9 (P < 0.05), but not associated with tumor size, ER/PR status, menopausal status and tumor grade (P > 0.05). In the postmenopausal patients there was a relationship between aromatase and tumor size (P < 0.05), but not in the premenopausal patients (P > 0.05); there was a relationship between aromatase and co-expression of MMP2/MMP9 in the patients with ER and/or PR positive (P < 0.05), but not in the patients with ER and PR negative (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSIn the breast cancer in situ estrogen produced by tumor aromatase may promote the cancer cells proliferation and invasiveness and maybe through ER pathway especially in the postmenopausal patients.

Adult ; Aged ; Aromatase ; metabolism ; Breast Neoplasms ; enzymology ; metabolism ; pathology ; Female ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Matrix Metalloproteinase 2 ; metabolism ; Matrix Metalloproteinase 9 ; metabolism ; Middle Aged ; Receptors, Estrogen ; metabolism ; Receptors, Progesterone ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo assess the clinical features of aspergillosis and its diagnosis, prophylaxis and treatment in patients after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT), and to improve the prognosis of the recipients.

METHODSMedical records of consecutive patients who underwent OLT in our liver transplant center from May 2002 to May 2004 were analyzed retrospectively. Those with aspergillus infection complications were studied in detail regarding their infected organs, related factors, treatments and prognoses.

RESULTS17 out of 207 recipients of OLT were detected with aspergillosis. The incidence was 8.21 percent. 5 patients infected with superficial aspergillus survived. Of the 12 cases with deep aspergillus infection, 3 with infection limited to the sites of their incisions survived, 2 of the 3 patients with infection in their lungs, and 1 of the 2 patients with it in their livers died, and 4 recipients with multi-organ aspergillus infection died. Among the 7 cases that died, 5 had severe hepatitis, 1 had post-hepatitis liver cirrhosis and 1 had primary liver carcinoma.

CONCLUSIONSLong-term (> or = 3 weeks) broad-spectrum antibiotics and immunosupression were involved in aspergillus infection in our OLT patients. Patients with chronic severe hepatitis had a higher risk of having aspergillus infection. Amphotericin B is still the best choice for treating aspergillosis. Prophylactic administration of anti-fungal medicine, surveillance of fungal infections as a routine, and treatment of the infection in time may help to improve the prognosis of OLT recipients with aspergillosis.

Adult ; Aged ; Amphotericin B ; therapeutic use ; Antifungal Agents ; therapeutic use ; Aspergillosis ; drug therapy ; epidemiology ; etiology ; China ; epidemiology ; Female ; Hepatitis B, Chronic ; complications ; Humans ; Incidence ; Liver Cirrhosis ; surgery ; virology ; Liver Neoplasms ; etiology ; surgery ; Liver Transplantation ; adverse effects ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors

OBJECTIVETo investigate the clinical response, pathological complete response (pCR), tumor resection rate and safety of neoadjuvant chemotherapy with docetaxel and epirubicin (ET) for locally advanced breast cancer (LABC).

METHODSFrom March to December 2001, 40 women with LABC, aged from 28-67 (medium 48) years were alloted. Twenty patients had clinical stage IIIa disease, 15 had stage IIIb disease and 5 stage IV patients who had ipsilateral sura-clavicular metastasis. The dose was: epirubicin (E) 60 mg/m2, docetaxel (T) 75 mg/m2 every 3 weeks, with G-CSF given preventively. After 2 cycles of ET, a pilot clinical response evaluation was performed by investigators for each patient to decide if she should receive another 1-2 cycles of ET before surgery or radiation therapy.

RESULTSThirty-eight patients received 2-3 cycles of ET regimen. The pCR, clinical complete response (cCR) and clinical partial response (cPR) rates were 15.0%, 20.0% and 52.5%, respectively. Tumor resection rate in this group was 92.5%. Incidence of III/IV Grade neutropenia was 8.4%/14.0% of cycles, and 3 patients suffered from neutropenia with fever. Non-hematological adverse events were alopecia, nausea, vomiting, fluid retention, myalgia, arthralgia and nail disorders, which were mild to moderate.

CONCLUSIONNeo-adjuvant chemotherapy with a combination of docetaxel and epirubicin is effective and well tolerated by women with locally advanced breast cancer.

Adult ; Aged ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Breast Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; surgery ; Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast ; drug therapy ; surgery ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Drug Administration Schedule ; Epirubicin ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neutropenia ; chemically induced ; Paclitaxel ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; Remission Induction

BACKGROUNDThe Da Vinci system is a newly developed device for colorectal surgery. With advanced stereoscopic vision, lack of tremor, and the ability to rotate the instruments surgeons find that robotic systems are ideal laparoscopic tools. Since conventional laparoscopic total mesorectal excision is a challenging procedure, we have sought to assess the utility of the Da Vinci robotic system in anterior resections for rectal cancer.

METHODSBetween November 2010 and December 2011, a total of 22 patients affected by rectal cancer were operated on with robotic technique, using the Da Vinci robot. Data regarding the outcome and pathology reports were prospectively collected in a dedicated database.

RESULTSThere were no conversions to open surgery and no postoperative mortality of any patient. Mean operative time was (220 ± 46) minutes (range, 152 - 286 minutes). The median number of lymph nodes harvested was (14.6 ± 6.5) (range, 8 - 32), and the circumferential margin was negative in all cases. The distal margin was (2.6 ± 1.2) cm (range, 1.0 - 5.5 cm). The mean length of hospital stay was (7.8 ± 2.6) days (range, 7.0 - 13.0 days). Macroscopic grading of the specimen was complete in 19 cases and nearly complete in three patients.

CONCLUSIONSRobotic anterior resection for rectal surgery is safe and feasible in experienced hands. Outcome and pathology findings are comparable with those observed in open and laparoscopy procedures. This technique may facilitate minimally invasive radical rectal surgery.

Aged ; Digestive System Surgical Procedures ; instrumentation ; methods ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prospective Studies ; Rectal Neoplasms ; surgery ; Rectum ; surgery ; Robotics ; methods ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo explore the correlations of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) with the clinicopathological characteristics, prognostic events, and survival outcomes in esophageal cancer (EC) patients.

METHODSThe PubMed, Web of Science, Embase database and Cochrane database were searched for studies reporting the outcomes of interest. The studies were selected according to established inclusion/exclusion criteria. Meta-analysis of the studies was performed using Review Manager 5.3 and Stata12.0 software with the odds ratio (OR), risk ratio (RR) , hazard ratio (HR) , and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) as the effect indexes.

RESULTSNineteen studies involving a total of 1766 patients were included in the analysis. Significant correlations of CTCs and DTCs were found with the clinicopathological parameters including the tumor stage (OR=1.95), depth of invasion (OR=1.99), lymph node metastasis (OR=2.44), distal metastasis (OR=5.98), histological differentiation (OR=1.67) and lymphovascular invasion (OR=4.48). CTCs and DTCs were also correlated with the prognostic events including relapse (RR=6.86) and metastasis (RR=3.22) and with the survival outcomes including the overall survival (OS) overall analysis (HR=3.46) and disease-free survival/progression-free survival (DFS/PFS) overall analysis (HR=3.00).

CONCLUSIONCTCs and DTCs are significantly associated with an advanced tumor stage, depth of tumor invasion, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis before therapy, differentiation, lymphovascular invasion, relapse and metastasis in patients with EC. They are also significantly correlated with a poorer survival for OS and DFS/PFS to serve as clinical and prognostic predictors in patients with EC.

Disease-Free Survival ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; Humans ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ; Neoplastic Cells, Circulating ; Odds Ratio ; Prognosis ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Survival Analysis

Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a childhood-onset condition that primarily affects physical co-ordination.In China, DCD is not well recognized and is under-treated.Knowledge of the evaluation and intervention of DCD among physiotherapists (PT) is limited.In 2020, the Academy of Pediatric Physical Therapy of the American Physical Therapy Association published the Physical Therapy Management of Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder: An Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guideline.From the perspective of PT, this review aims to make a comprehensive interpretation of the recommendations in the guideline regarding the physical examination and evaluation, physiotherapy planning and implementation, and family education of children at risk or diagnosed with DCD.This article aims to make DCD get more attention from domestic PT through the interpretation of the latest guidelines, and strengthen the knowledge of physiotherapy assessment and management in children with DCD to guide the clinical practice.

Objective To investigate the feasibility of the CT texture analysis (CTTA)in differentiating autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP)from pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).Methods 25 patients with AIP and 31 patients with PDAC who confirmed by pathological or clinical underwent pretreatment three-phase contrast-enhanced CT were enrolled.Histogram parameters (mean CT values,median CT values,25 th,75 th percentile CT values,skewness,kurtosis,entropy and uniformity)were derived from CT images through texture analysis.The differences of histogram parameters between AIP and PDAC groups were compared.ROC and AUC were used to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of histogram parameters in differentiating AIP from PDAC.Results The values for mean CT values,median CT values,25 th,75 th percentile CT values and uniformity of AIP were significantly higher than those of PDAC group,while the values for entropy of AIP were significantly lower than those of PDAC group in arterial phase,portal phase,and delay phases (all P＜0.05). There were no significant differences in kurtosis and skewness between AIP and PDAC groups (all P＞0.05).The uniformity in portal phase achieved the optimal diagnostic accuracy in differentiating AIP from PDAC (AUC＝0.973 ),the cutoff value was 0.797,the corresponding sensitivity and specificity were 92% and 9 6.8%,respectively.Conclusion CTTA can be used as a quantitative analysis method for differential diagnosis between AIP and PDAC,providing a reference for clinicians to select therapeutic schedules.

Objective:To evaluate the influence of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection on T cell senescence and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients.Methods:It was a single center cross sectional study. Patients aged over 18 years old and received hemodialysis for at least 6 months at the Blood Purification Centre of the Department of Nephrology of Zhongshan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University from January 2021 to April 2021 were enrolled. Demographic, hematological, nutritional and inflammatory markers were obtained. Anti-CMV-IgM and IgG antibodies were detected using the Roche Elecsys assay. CD28 - T cell was evaluated by flow cytometry. Mann-Whitney U test or Kruskal-Wallis H test was used for anti-CMV-IgG comparison among groups. Spearman correlation and linear regression were used to assess the relationship between anti-CMV-IgG and CD28 - T cell compartment. Logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between anti-CMV-IgG and CVD. Results:A total of 438 MHD patients (270 men and 168 women) were enrolled in the study. The median age was 62 (51, 70) years. The median time on hemodialysis was 57 (21, 100) months. The primary diseases included chronic glomerulonephritis [213 cases (48.6%)], diabetic nephropathy [82 cases (18.7%)], polycystic kidney disease [34 cases (7.8%)], hypertensive renal disease [34 cases (7.8%)], etc. Of these patients, 430 (98.2%) were seropositive for anti-CMV-IgG, 206 (47.0%) had anti-CMV-IgG titers exceeding the upper limit of 500 U/ml. Patients aged over 70 years old were 100% seropositive for anti-CMV-IgG. Patients on HD for more than 5 years had a higher seropositive rate of 99.1% than those with shorter HD duration, although these results were not statistically significant. Spearman correlation analysis showed that the anti-CMV-IgG titers in MHD patients were positively correlated with the proportion of CD4 + CD28 - T cells and CD8 + CD28 - T cells ( r=0.316, P<0.001; r=0.272, P<0.001). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that after adjusting for age and gender, lg[CD4 + CD28 - T cells(%)] and lg[CD8 + CD28 - T cells(%)] were positively correlated with lg[anti-CMV-IgG titers (U/ml)], respectively ( β=0.455, t=8.315, P<0.001; β=0.412, t=7.282, P<0.001). In analyzing the relationship between anti-CMV-IgG titers and CVD, patients were divided into six groups according to age and anti-CMV-IgG level. Group 1 included young patients with a lower anti-CMV-IgG titers (age ≤55 years old, anti-CMV-IgG <400 U/ml); Group 2 included young patients with a higher anti-CMV-IgG titers (age≤55 years old, anti-CMV-IgG ≥400 U/ml); Group 3 included middle-aged patients with a lower anti-CMV-IgG titers (5565 years old, anti-CMV-IgG<400 U/ml); Group 6 included old aged patients with a higher anti-CMV-IgG titers (age>65 years old, anti-CMV-IgG≥400 U/ml). The incidence of CVD was significantly different among the six groups ( χ2=18.780, P=0.002) and patients aged over 55 years old with higher anti-CMV-IgG level had a higher CVD incidence compared with group 1 ( P<0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that increased age ( OR=1.020, 95% CI 1.002-1.038, P=0.033), male ( OR=1.855, 95% CI 1.161-2.965, P=0.010), history of diabetes ( OR=1.867, 95% CI 1.145-3.046, P=0.012), increased lg[NT-proBNP(μg/L)] ( OR=2.848, 95% CI 1.816-4.467, P<0.001) and lg[anti-CMV-IgG (U/ml)] ( OR=3.183, 95% CI 1.582- 6.405, P=0.001) were independent factors associated with CVD in MHD patients. Conclusions:CMV infection is extremely common in MHD patients. Increased anti-CMV-IgG is related to T cell senescence and CVD complications in MHD patients.