OBJECTIVESTo evaluate the feasibility and safety of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS), and to compare surgical results of VATS with standard median sternotomy (MS) and other minimal invasive approaches through various small incisions (SI).

METHODSTotally 111 patients underwent surgery for thymic disorders (maximun diameter ≤ 5 cm, clinical stage I-II for thymic tumors) during March 2010 to June 2012 was retrospectively reviewed. There were 46 male and 65 female patients with a mean age of (51 ± 15) years.Resection via VATS was carried out in 47 patients, via SI in 26 patients, and via MS in 38 patients. Demographic characteristics, operation time, number and cause of conversion, blood loss during operation, duration and amount of chest tube drainage, transfusion, morbidity, and length of hospital stay (LHS) were compared between the three groups.

RESULTSOf the 111 patients, 79 patients had thymic epithelia tumors (stage I 32 patients, stage II 39 patients, stage III 8 patients), 31 patients had benign cysts and 1 patient had tuberculosis.In the VATS group, there were 3 conversions among 38 patients through right-side approach, and 4 conversions among 9 patients through left-side approach. The causes for conversion included dense pleura adhesion, invasion of tumor into adjacent structures (pericardium, lung, or great vessels), and injury of the left inominate vein. There was no significant difference in operative time, blood loss or transfusion during operation, duration or amount of postoperative chest tube drainage among the 3 groups (P > 0.05). Average LHS was significantly shorter in the VATS group (5.7 ± 1.7) days than in the SI group (7.5 ± 2.2) days and the MS group (8.2 ± 1.9) days (F = 3.759, P = 0.002). Total thymectomy was performed in 74 patients, 25 patients (53.2%, 25/47) in VATS group, 11 patients (42.3%, 11/26) in SI group, and 38 patients (100%, 38/38) in MS group. The reset of the patients received tumor resection and partial thymectomy. Among all the subgroups, LHS was the shortest in VATS total thymectomy patients (5.0 ± 1.4) days (F = 5.844, P = 0.001). There was no perioperative mortality. The only major morbidity was a postoperative bleeding necessitating reintervention in SI group.

CONCLUSIONSVATS for benign thymic lesions and early-stage thymic tumors is safe and feasible.It is associated with shorter hospital stay compared with other minimal invasive approaches or standard sternotomy.

Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Thymectomy ; methods ; Thymoma ; surgery ; Thymus Neoplasms ; surgery

OBJECTIVETo explore the clinical application value of Provider-Initiated HIV Testing and Counseling (PITC) by analyzing the positive rate of HIV tests for people in need of PITC and that of routine HIV tests.

METHODSWe retrospectively analyzed the demographic and epidemiologic data about the patients seeking PITC services or undergoing routine HIV tests in Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital between January and December 2013.

RESULTSThe positive rate of initial HIV screening was 1.98% in the PITC group and 0.24% in the routine test group, while that of confirmed HIV was 0. 40% in the former and 0.07% in the latter, both with statistically significant differences between the two groups (P < 0.01). The positive rate of HIV was markedly higher in males than in females, particularly in the PITC group.

CONCLUSIONPITC has a high clinical value in HIV detection for targeted subjects and therefore deserves general application in dermatology.

Counseling ; Dermatology ; Female ; HIV Seropositivity ; diagnosis ; epidemiology ; Humans ; Male ; Mass Screening ; methods ; Retrospective Studies ; Sex Factors

OBJECTIVETo explore the procedures of dynamic infusion cavernosometry and cavernosography (DICC) and their application in the diagnosis and classification of venous erectile dysfunction (VED).

METHODSThis study included 103 ED patients, aged 20 to 43 years, highly suspected of VED, with disease courses of 4 months to 6 years. DICC was performed and analyses were made on the results, especially the parameters of flow-to-maintain (FTM) and pressure decay (PD) in the corpus cavernosum.

RESULTSBased on the parameters of FTM and PD, 21 of the patients were normal, 5 were suspected of VED, 39 had mild VED, 25 had moderate VED, and 13 had severe VED. Penile subcutaneous hematoma was found in 4 of the patients, all recovered after 3 to 5 days, with no other complications.

CONCLUSIONDICC is a reliable, safe and minimally invasive method for the diagnosis and classification of VED.

Diagnostic Techniques, Urological ; adverse effects ; Hematoma ; etiology ; Humans ; Impotence, Vasculogenic ; classification ; diagnosis ; Male ; Penile Diseases ; etiology ; Penis ; blood supply ; diagnostic imaging ; Radiography ; Veins

Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia ; diagnosis ; virology ; DNA, Viral ; isolation & purification ; Female ; Human papillomavirus 16 ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Human papillomavirus 18 ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Humans ; Molecular Diagnostic Techniques ; methods ; Papillomaviridae ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Papillomavirus Infections ; diagnosis ; virology ; RNA, Messenger ; metabolism ; United States ; United States Food and Drug Administration ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; virology

ObjectiveTo investigate the expression of programmed death receptor ligand 1 ( PD-L1 ) of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in patients with hepatic cystic echincccccosis (HCE) and its relation with interferon-γ.MethodsThe clinical data of 63 patients with HCE who were admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University from June 2010 to February 2011 were retrospectively analyzed.All patients were divided into HCE active group (38 patients) and HCE non-active group (25 patients) according to the system established by the World Health Organization's Informal Working Group on Echinocoecosis.Twenty patients with hepatic hemangioma or healthy individuals were recruited in normal control group.The positive rate of PD-L1 expression was detected by flow cytometry and immunocytochemistry.The expression of interferon-γ was detected by enzyme-linked immtmosorbent assay (ELISA).All data were analyzed by the t test,one-way analysis of variance,LSD test and chi-square test.The relationship between the expression of interferon-γ and positive rate of PD-L1 expression was analyzed by the Pearson test.ResultsThe results of flow cytometry showed that the positive rates of PD-L1 expression in the HCE active group,HCE non-active group and normal control group were 12.1％±3.8％,10.9％ ± 2.5％ and 9.1％ ±2.5％,respectively.There was a significant difference in the positive rate of PD-L1 expression between the HCE active group and normal control group (t =3.327,P ＜ 0.05 ).The results of immunohistochemistry showed that the positive rates of PD-LI expression in the HCE active group,HCE non-active group and normal control group were 11.9％ ± 3.4％,i0.6％ ± 2.9％ and 9.5％ ± 3.6％,respectively.There was a significant difference in the positive rate of PD-L1 expression between the HCE active group and normal control group (t =2.470,P ＜ 0.05 ).The expressions of intefferon-γ in the HCE active group,HCE non-active group and normal control group were ( 141 ± 38 ) μμg/L,( 124 ± 32 ) μg/L and ( 105 ± 42 ) μg/L.There wasasignificant difference in the expression of interferon-γ between the HCE active group and normal control group ( t =3.280,P ＜ 0.05).The results of flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry revealed that the positive rate of PD-L1 expression was positively correlated with the expression of interferon-γ( r =0.59,0.61,P ＜ 0.05 ).Conclusion With the help of interferon-γ,PD-L1 may play an important role in promoting the immune.evasion of echinococcus.

Objective To explore the prognostic value of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) for 28-day mortality of elderly patients with non-cardiac critical ill in emergency intensive care unit (EICU). Methods A total of 70 elderly non-cardiac critically ill patients (age≥60 years) in EICU were enrolled, and the blood samples were collected to detect BNP level after the patients' admission to EICU. After 28 days, the mortality was assessed. Results Twenty-two patients (31.4 %) died during 28 days observation, whose BNP levels were significantly higher than that of the survivors [ln BNP: (6.4 ± 1.2) ng/L vs. ( 5. 1 ± 1.5 ) ng/L, P＜ 0. 05] ; BNP level had an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0. 759 (95% CI: 0. 636-0. 882, P＜0.05) for predicting mortality,and the optimal cut point of BNP was 342 ng/L (sensitivity 77.3%, specificity 68.7%).Conclusions BNP level could be a predictor for 28-days mortality for elderly non-cardiac critically ill patients.

Objective To prospectively assess the predictive power of centralization phenomenon in the curative effect of automated PLD.Methods The survey population was consisted of 109 patients with inclusion heraiation demonstrated by CT/MRI,74 men and 35 women with average age of 43.1 years(17～75 years). All were complained of low back pain,with varying degrees of lower extremity pain and altered sensation, lasting for more than 2 months;including one symptomatic disc in 99 patients and two symptomatic discs in 10 patients.Patients were undergone dynamic mechanical spinal test and reported whether the test would aggravate their pain.The assessment included forward flexion,extension,rotation of the trunk to the right and left, rotation to the left with fight extension,rotation to the fight with left extension,and whether straight leg raising in the supine position would aggravate back pain or leg pain.Symptom resposes were categorized into three groups:centralization group(CG),partial-centralization group(PCG)and noncentralization group(NCG). Centralization of pain is the progressive retreat of the most distal extent of the referred or radicular pain toward or to the lumbar midline.Noncentralization of pain is the peripheralization of pain in one or more directions, and no change in the distal-most pain location or intensity.All patients received a single therapy with PLD. Results A follow-up of 109 patients for 3 to 6 months,including 46 cases with 24 as exellent and 22 as good reaching 100% of excellent good rate in CG by MacNab standards;43 cases with 5 as exellent,29 as good,9 as fair and poor,with total effective rate of 79.1% in PCG.Twenty cases of NCG symptoms showed no improvement and therefore surgery was considered.Conclusions Centralization phenomenon occurrence during initial mechanical evaluation is a very accurate predictor for successful PLD outcome.Nonoccurrence of centralization would accurately predict poor PLD outcome and thus helpful as early predictor of the need for surgical treatment.

The deep fermentation technique of Tricholoma matsutake is systemically studied in this paper firstly. The best culture determined by orthogonal test is 3g/L of cornflour, 1g/L of glucose, 1g/L of bean cake flour, 1mL/L of corn steep liquid, 1g/L of KH 2PO 4. The best fermenting condition is: 25℃, rotating speed 160 r/min, pH5.0,inoculating amount 10%, 120mL culture medium per 500mL flask. Under these conditions, the mycelia reach 12.94g/L after fermenting 12d.

0.05).There was significant difference between normal control group and group A and B(P0.05 ).Neuron counting was significantly higher in group B than that in group A 4 weeks after treatment(P