OBJECTIVE: Controversy over the presence of neuronal apoptosis in acute brain injuries has not been resolved due to the lack of direct evidence. In this article, the authors briefly review the current research progress of apoptosis and discuss the relationship between acute brain injuries and neuronal apoptosis.DATA SOURCES: A computer-based retrieval for relevant papers with abstracts indexed in Medline database published in English full text between January 1995 and February 2005 was conducted using the key words of "acute brain injuries" and "Neuronal apoptosis". Related articles in Chinese full text published between January 2000 and December 2004 were also searched in Chinese periodical full text database, Wanfang databases with key words of "acute traumatic brain injury, neuronal apoptosis".STUDY SELECTION: The retrieved articles were first examined to exclude review articles and repetitions, and only randomized and non-randomized controlled experiments or clinical trials on acute traumatic brain injury and neuronal apoptosis were included.DATA EXTRACTION: Altogether 136 articles directly related to acute traumatic brain injury and neuronal apoptosis were collected, among which 19 met the inclusion criteria with the other 117 removed for repetition or irrelevancy.DATA SYNTHESIS: The valid articles were reviewed to identify the factors related to neuronal apoptosis, apoptotic network theory, detection methods of apoptosis, and the relationship between acute traumatic brain injury and neuronal apoptosis as well as the possible mechanisms.CONCLUSION: Neuronal apoptosis occurs after acute traumatic brain injury, which induces intrinsic and extrinsic neuronal environment changes including increased extracellular excitatory amino acid content, massive free radical production and abnormal gene expression. These factors interact with each other and modulate neuronal apoptosis through multiple pathways.

OBJECTIVE: To probe into the progression of biochemical study on caspase-3 and its functions in disorders of center nerve system.DATA SOURCES:The relevant papers were looked up on Medline database from January 1995 to February 2005 with the retrieved words as"caspase-3", "apoptosis", "center nerve system" and "emergency diseases" in combination, limited in English version.STUDY SELECTION: By initial checking,the papers on caspase-3 in molecular biology and randomized control experiments on caspase-3 and the disorders in center nerve system were collected.DATA EXTRACTION: Totally 156 papers were collected directly related to caspase-3 and center nerve system, of which, 25 papers were in conformity with the criteria and 131 papers were exuded because of repeated contents and indirect relation with this paper.DATA SYNTHESIS: To synthesize the relevant information from the retrieved papers and sum up that the activity of caspase-3 is increased after acute cerebral injury, acute spinal injury, cerebral ischemia and cerebral hemorrhage and broadspectrum caspase-3 inhibitor, Z-VAD-fmk can reduce significantly the activity of caspase-3.CONCLUSION: Caspase-3 is the most important protease in cell apoptosis, it is the component in downstream effect of coordination of various apoptotic approaches and is the only way in protease cascade of cell apoptosis. The activated caspase-3 can split the essential and protective enzymes in cell and result in the alternations of apeptosis in morphology and biochemistry. DNA segmentation is the important biochemical property of nerve cell apoptosis at early stage in acute cerebral injury and the formation of it is necessary.

Objective To investigate influences of nasal continuous positive airway pressure to sleep architecture of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and the reason of daytime sleepiness. Methods 34 patients with severe OSAS were monitored with polysomnography (PSG) before and after nCPAP treatment. Results Apnea hypoventilation index (AHI) decreased and the lowest SaO2 increased and sleep architecture was improved in all patients. Conclusion The nCPAP therapy can effectively improve the disturbances of sleep architecture and respiratory parameters.

Objective To investigate the imaging features of surgical complications of Crohn's disease (CD).Methods The retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted.The clinical data of 128 CD patients with surgical complications who were admitted to the Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University from January 2014 to December 2015 were collected.All the patients underwent computed tomography enterography (CTE),magnetic resonance enterography (MRE),magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of anal tube and X-ray examination.The patients underwent surgical therapies after examinations.Observation indicators:(1) clinical characteristics of surgical complications of CD:occurrence of surgical complications of CD,correlation between preoperative complications and Montreal types of CD,(2) diagnostic accuracy of surgical complications and perianal lesions through CTE,MRE and MRI of anal tube,(3) imaging findings of preoperative complications of CD,(4) treatment and follow-up situations.Follow-up using telephone interview and outpatient examination was performed to detect the postoperative recovery and reoperations of patients up to March 2016.Count data were represented as frequency or percentage.The correlation between preoperative complications and Montreal types of CD was represented as the odds ratio (OR) and 95％ confidence interval (CI).The features of diagnostic indexes were described as the sensitivity and specificity.Results (1) Clinical characteristics of preoperative complications of CD:all the 128 patients had preoperative complications,including 71 with anal fistula or anal fistula combined with perianal abscess,26 with intestinal fistula,24 with intestinal obstruction,23 with abdominal abscess,3 with digestive tract perforation,1 with kidney stone and 1 with hydronephrosis.Of 128 patients,12 had intestinal fistula combined with abdominal abscess,1 had intestinal fistula combined with intestinal obstruction,3 had intestinal fistula combined with abdominal abscess and intestinal obstruction,1 had intestinal fistula combined with digestive tract perforation and 1 had intestinal fistula combined with hydronephrosis.There was a correlation between lesion location of CD and type of complications.Thirty-five of 51 patients had strictures or penetrationtype lesions,with a correlation between strictures or penetration-type lesions and ileal CD [OR =6.23,95％ confidence interval (95％ CI):2.86-13.61,P ＜ 0.05].Fifty-six of 77 patients had anal fistula,showing a correlation between combined anal fistula and colonic lesions of CD (OR =6.40,95％ CI:2.92-14.01,P ＜ 0.05).(2) Diagnostic accuracy of CTE,MRE and MRI of anal tube:with intraoperative exploration findings as the standard,the sensitivity and specificity of surgical complications of CD were 84％ and 95％ through CTE or MRE,and the sensitivity and specificity of anal fistula were 100％ and 100％ through MRI of anal tube.(3) Imaging findings of surgical complications of CD.① Of 71 patients with anal fistula,65 had 2 or more internal openings or fistula tract of complex anal fistula.The internal opening was a starting point of the fistula tract,and enhanced scans of MRI displayed punctate,shredded or small round abnormal strengthening signals between under mucous membrane of the anal canal and sphincter.The tubular and striped fistula tract was horizontal or vertical distribution,with a lightly high-high signal on T2 weighted-images (WI).The results of enhanced scans of MRI showed that there was an obvious homogeneous enhancement in the fistula tract or enhancement in the fistula tract wall,and no enhancement in the cavity of fistula tract.MRI findings in 38 patients combined with perianal abscess included a obvious high-signal on T2WI,and enhanced scans of MRI showed circular enhancement and no internal enhancement.② Of 26 patients with intestinal fistula,17 had intestinal fistula,imaging findings included multiple thickened intestinal walls and more obvious enhancement compared with normal intestinal canal.There was gathering and adhesions among intestinal canals,showing mash connections and petal-like changes.Fourteen patients had enterocutaneous fistula (6 combined with intestinal fistula and 1 patient combined with intestinal fistula and intestine-bladder fistula).Four patients had intestine-bladder fistula (2 combined with intestinal fistula and 1 combined with intestinal fistula and enterocutaneous fistula).One patient had intestine-vagina fistula.The results of CTE and MRE examinations showed that thickened intestinal canals and intestinal walls in the lesions,and shadows of intestinal canals communicated with the abdominal,bladder wall and vagina,with a high signal on T2WI and enhancement of intestinal wall by enhanced scan.The partial intestinal canals were physically close to other organs,without a connection between them,and anomalous enhancement or local pneumatosis among the adjacent organs were detected.③ CTE findings of intestinal obstruction included constriction of intestinal canal combined with dilatation of proximal intestinal canal.There were 3 enhancement methods of thickened intestinal wall in 24 patients with intestine obstruction.Imaging findings of 12 patients included enhancement in the intestinal mucosa and no enhancement in the submucosa and muscularis mucosa.Imaging findings of 4 patients included enhancement of intestinal mucosa and muscularis mucosa and no enhancement in the submucosa.Imaging findings of 8 patients included homogenous and heterogeneous enhancements in the intestinal walls.④ Twentythree patients were complicated with abdominal abscess,including 15 combined with intestine fistula.The scans of CTE showed that there was a round-like or oval mass in the abdomen,with a high signal on T2WI,fluid-dominated inflammatory exudation around the mesentery,the enhancement of annular wall of mesentery and no enhancement of pus within the mesentery.⑤ Three patients were combined with digestive tract perforation,including 1 combined with intestine fistula.CTE and X-ray detections showed there was a shadow of free gas in the intestinal mesentery and under abdominal diaphragm.⑥ Two patients were combined with kidney stone and hydronephrosis.X-ray findings of kidney stone included the deposition of multiple and sharp-edged dense shadows within the renal calices.CTE findings of hydronephrosis included inflammatory thickening of ureteric wall with proximal ureter dilatation.(4) Treatment and follow-up situations:128 patients underwent successful operation and were followed up for 4-27 months.Of 10 patients undergoing reoperations due to postoperative complications,MRI detection of 7 patients with recurrence of anal fistula showed fistula tract or abscess located at the previous loci was incompletely healed or progressed,morphous and location of lesions were roughly the same as the preoperative situations.The scans of CTE in 2 patients with anastomotic stricture showed that there were the thickening of intestinal wall and obstruction and dilatation at the proximal anastomotic-site.The enhanced scan of CTE in 1 patient with anastomotic fistula showed that there were irregularly cavity-like lesion beside the metal anastomotic ring,and effusion was seen within the lesions,with an edge enhancement.The other 118 patients recovered well without intestinal fistula or intestinal obstruction on CTE or MRE examination.Conclusions Anal fistula is the most common surgical complication of CD,and intestinal fistula,intestinal obstruction and abdominal abscess are also relatively common.The early postoperative complications consist of the recurrence of anal fistula.Location of lesions in CD is associated with the type of complications.CTE or MRE and anal MRI findings have different imaging characteristics for CD combined with different complications,with a certain value in the assessment of abdominal and perianal complications.

Objective To investigate the testing capabilities of clinical transfusion laboratories in medical institutions in Beijing for the regulatory authorities to formulate administrative policies in this regard.Methods Experts assigned by Beijing Clinical Transfusion Quality Control Center made on-site inspections at the transfusion laboratories in medical institutions using quality control products.They recorded the complete testing process of the operators as well as the instruments,detection reagents in use and the testing results,with statistics and analysis made to the data so collected.Results The pass rate of these on-site inspections was lower than that of the external quality assessment.Some laboratories failed to complete the testing of the quality control products in time and the actual operations in some laboratories were inconsistent to the guidelines.55.9％ of level Ⅰ hospitals and 25.6％ of level Ⅱ hospitals were found with insufficient and inadequate instruments and process layout to meet the needs of clinical blood transfusion.Some of the technicians were found without sufficient trainings in their professional knowledge and basic skills,resulting in their poor competence against emergency cases and weakness in independent problem solving.In addition,the records of detection process and results were found to be substandard.Conclusions Transfusion laboratories in Beijing need to improve their testing capabilities in general.

A total of 58 patients with simple septic shock were recruited from intensive care unit and divided into control group (n =28) and treatment group (n =30) according to treatment modalities.The control group was routinely treated.The treatment group received continuous veno-venous hemofiltration (CVVH) for 10-14 days plus routine measures.After 3 days,the score of acute physiology and chronic health evaluation-Ⅱ (APACHE-Ⅱ) of the treatment group was better than that of the control group (P ＜ 0.01).And sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA),left ventricular end diastolic diameter (LVEDD),left ventricular end systolic diameter (LVEDS) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) improved significantly (P ＜ 0.05).And the relevant blood biochemical parameters improved significantly better than the control group (P ＜ 0.05).In the group CVVH,there were mortality (n =7,23％) and multiple organ failure (MODS) (n =6,20％) ; In the control group,mortality (n =14,50％) and MODS (n =13,46％).The mortality rate had inter-group differences of statistical significance (x2 =4.38,P ＜0.05).Thus early volume resuscitation plus CVVH had excellent curative efficacies for septic shock.

The dynamic changes of immunoreactive dynorphin1-13 (ir-Dyn1-13) contents in 18 burned patients were studied by radioimmunoassay. It was found that ir-Dyn began to increase gradually at the onset of burn and remained at a relatively high levels by the time of preliminary wound healing. Plasma ir-Dyn increased gradually after bum and decreased abruptly before death in one severely burned patient who died of respiratory failure at the third week. The results suggest that Dyn may have a protective effect on the burned patients.

Objective To evaluate the effects of compound glycyrrhizin on the percentage of Th17 cells and expression of interleukin(IL)-17A in peripheral blood of patients with psoriasis vulgaris, and to explore their relationship with therapeutic effects. Methods A total of 30 patients with mild to moderate progressive psoriasis vulgaris were randomly and equally divided into two groups:group 1 treated with compound glycyrrhizin injection, antihistamines and topical drugs, group 2 treated with antihistamines and topical drugs. Twelve healthy human subjects served as the control group. Blood samples were collected from the patients 1 day before start of treatment and after 3 weeks of treatment, and from the control group. Flow cytometry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)were performed to determine the percentage of Th17 cells and expression level of IL-17A respectively in the peripheral blood samples. Results Before the treatment, the percentage of Th17 cells and expression level of IL-17A were both significantly higher in the two patient groups than in the control group (all P<0.05). After the treatment, group 1 showed significant decreases in the percentage of Th17 cells and expression level of IL-17A compared with those before the treatment (both P<0.05), while no significant differences were observed in group 2 between pre-and posttreatment IL-17A expression level or Th17 cell percentage (both P>0.05). Furthermore, both Th17 cell percentage and IL-17A expression were significantly different between the two patient groups after the treatment (both P< 0.05). Conclusion Compound glycyrrhizin may treat psoriasis vulgaris by regulating Th17 cell percentage and IL-17A expression in peripheral blood.

Objective To investigate the correlation between enlarged perivascular space (EPVS) and post-stroke depression (PSD) in patients with ischemic stroke. Methods Consecutive patients with acute cerebral infarction admitted to hospital from March 2010 to March 2014 were enroled prospectively. The patients completed head MRI examination after admission and performed EPVS grading. At 3 months after symptom onset, they performed PSD assessment according to Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD) and Classification and Diagnostic Criteria of Mental Disorders in China, 3rd edition (CCMD-3). The relationship between EPVS and PSD was analyzed. Results A total of 249 patients were enroled; including 62 patients (4. 9% ) experienced PSD at 3 months. There were significant differences in the proportions of the EPVS classification patients of the baseline National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score ( the median [interquartile range]; 4 [3 - 6] vs. 3 [2 - 5]; Z = - 2. 950, P = 0. 003), centrum semiovale (χ2 = 14. 370, P = 0. 001), and periventricular (χ2 = 11. 590, P = 0. 003)between the PSD group and the non-PSD group. Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that centrum semiovale EPVS grade 2 (odds ratio [OR] 3. 89, 95% confidence interval [ CI] 1. 59 - 9. 56) and grade 3 (OR 3. 28, 95% CI 1. 04 - 10. 33) were significantly correlated with PSD; periventricular EPVS grade 2 (OR 0. 72, 95% CI 0. 27 - 1. 91) and grade 3 (OR 2. 24, 95% CI 0. 68 - 7. 37) were not correlated with PSD. Conclusions Centrum semiovale EPVS is independently associated with PSD, and periventricular EPVS is not.

Objective To explore clinical value of serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) rate in early evaluation of imaging tumor efficacy and prognosis of disease control for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) before and after the second course of chemotherapy, and provide the basis for clinical adjustment chemotherapy regimens.Methods Patients in the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University were randomly collected in January 2007-September 2014 during the pathological diagnosis of 130 cases for advanced NSCLC, who had an elevated serum CEA level, including pre-chemotherapy and prochemotherapy, were collected.Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) was used to evaluate efficacy of CEA change in evaluation of early disease control (DC).SPSS 18.0 was used to analyze the relationship between CEA change and prognosis.Results After two chemotherapy cycles, the area under the ROC curve was 70.6％.When the cut-point of the change rates of CEA levels was 2.05％ , the Youden index reaches the maximum.Adenocarcinoma group and squamous cell carcinoma patients after 2 courses of CEA change rate evaluation, which area under the ROC curve was 72.0％ (95％ CI :61.4％ ～ 82.5％), and 70.1％ (95％ CI:45.8％ ～94.5％).Survival was analyzed with the Kaplan-Meier method, which showed the change rates of CEA levels were all the influencing factors of progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with advanced NSCLC(P ＜ 0.05).While the change rates of CEA levels were not predictive overall survival (OS) (P =0.715).Conclusions It prompts effective chemotherapy, and patients have the extended PFS, when CEA levels before and after chemotherapy dropped to a certain degree.