OBJECTIVE To study the effect of different doses of aspirin on clinical efficacy in acute stage of Kawasaki’s disease, and to explore the optimal dose of aspirin. METHODS A total of 150 patients suffered from Kawasaki’s disease were randomly selected by hospital information system from March to May 2022 for retrospective analysis. According to different doses of aspirin, they were divided into three groups: high dose group(>50 mg·kg−1·d−1), medium dose group(30−50 mg·kg−1·d−1) and low dose group(<30 mg·kg−1·d−1). The antipyretic time, the incidence of non-response to intravenous human immunoglobulin, the improvement of laboratory indexes and prevalence of adverse drug reaction were compared among the three groups. RESULTS There was no significant difference in body temperature recovery among the three groups under different doses of aspirin. There was no significant difference in patients with non-response to intravenous human immunoglobulin among the three groups. Before treatment, there were no significant differences in white blood cell(WBC) count, blood platelet(PLT) count and C-reactive protein(CRP) concentration among the three groups. After treatment, the count of WBC, PLT and CRP in the three groups was significantly improved compared with that before treatment, and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05). However, there was no significant difference in the above indexes among the three groups after treatment. There was a higher incidence of adverse reactions in children treated with medium or high dose aspirin. CONCLUSION Different doses of aspirin combined with intravenous human immunoglobulin have good therapeutic effect on Kawasaki’s disease, but considering the safety and economy of aspirin, low dose administration is recommended.

Objective:To investigate the efficacy and safety of irreversible electroporation in focal ablation of localized prostate cancer.Methods:Clinical data of 128 patients with localized prostate cancer treated with irreversible electroporation from August 2019 to September 2023 at Renji Hospital of Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and Dongfang Hospital of Tongji University, were retrospectively analyzed. The median age was 68 (62, 75) years. The median PSA was 8.64 (5.83, 12.57) ng/ml. Gleason score was 6 in 57 cases, 7 in 39 cases, and greater than 7 in 19 cases. There were 4 cases of T 1c, 69 cases of T 2a, 27 cases of T 2b, and 28 cases of T 2c. No lymph node or distant metastasis was seen in preoperative examination. All patients had no preoperative urinary retention or urinary incontinence. Irreversible electroporation treatment was administered under general anesthesia with patients in the lithotomy position. A transrectal ultrasound probe was used to measure prostate lesion size, determining the type and number of electrode needles. Electrode needles were strategically positioned around the targeted lesion. The distance between each pair of needles used for ablation ranged from 0.5 to 2.0 cm. The system automatically generated treatment parameters, including voltage, current, and the number of pulses, with each pulse cycle lasting approximately 5 minutes. After treatment, the needles were removed, gauze was applied for 1 minute. The urethra was then irrigated with a painless iodine solution diluted 1∶1 with 0.9% saline, followed by the insertion of a urinary catheter. Treatment efficacy and adverse reactions were documented. Biochemical recurrence was defined as a PSA increase of over 2 ng/ml from the post-treatment nadir; imaging recurrence was identified by abnormal lesions on MRI or contrast-enhanced ultrasound. Results:All 128 surgeries were successfully completed. At 6 months postoperatively, 116 cases were followed. Tne median PSA was 1.58 (0.56, .95) ng/ml, which was 82.22% (65.37%, 93.33%) lower than preoperative level( P<0.01). Five patients (4.31%) had biochemical recurrence, and MRI or contrast-enhanced ultrasound examinations were negative, 1 patient underwent radical prostatectomy with pathology of prostate cancer, and the remaining 4 were continued to be followed up. Ninety-eight patients underwent MRI or contrast-enhanced ultrasound review, including 6 patients (6.12%) detected imaging recurrence, of which 2 patients underwent radical prostatectomy with pathology of prostate cancer, and the remaining 4 underwent endocrine therapy. The postoperative continence rate was 98.28%, and 8 patients (6.89%) had complications of class II. Conclusions:Irreversible electroporation for focal treatment of localized prostate cancer has shown favorable results in terms of tumor control, safety and urinary continence.

Immunotherapy combined with effective therapeutics such as chemotherapy and photodynamic therapy have been shown to be a successful strategy to activate anti-tumor immune responses for improved anticancer treatment. However, developing multifunctional biodegradable, biocompatible, low-toxic but highly efficient, and clinically available transformed nano-immunostimulants remains a challenge and is in great demand. Herein, we report and design of a novel carrier-free photo-chemotherapeutic nano-prodrug COS-BA/Ce6 NPs by combining three multifunctional components-a self-assembled natural small molecule betulinic acid (BA), a water-soluble chitosan oligosaccharide (COS), and a low toxic photosensitizer chlorin e6 (Ce6)-to augment the antitumor efficacy of the immune adjuvant anti-PD-L1-mediated cancer immunotherapy. We show that the designed nanodrugs harbored a smart and distinctive "dormancy" characteristic in chemotherapeutic effect with desired lower cytotoxicity, and multiple favorable therapeutic features including improved ¹O₂ generation induced by the reduced energy gap of Ce6, pH-responsiveness, good biodegradability, and biocompatibility, ensuring a highly efficient, synergistic photochemotherapy. Moreover, when combined with anti-PD-L1 therapy, both nano-coassembly based chemotherapy and chemotherapy/photodynamic therapy (PDT) could effectively activate antitumor immunity when treating primary or distant tumors, opening up potentially attractive possibilities for clinical immunotherapy.

Objective:To evaluate incision scars of transaxillary breast augmentation by different methods of scar assessment.Methods:A retrospective study was carried out on 30 patients (age range 20 to 50 years, with mean age of 32 years) who underwent endoscopic assisted transaxillary type Ⅰ dual plane breast implant augmentation by a same surgeon from August 2014 to November 2016. Scars were estimated by 3 methods which included Vancouver Scar Scale (VSS), Visual Assessment Scale (VAS) and patients' questionnaire.Results:VAS score for left side scars ranged from 0 to 8 and the median was 1. VAS score for right side scars ranged from 0 to 8.3 and the median was 1. A total of 48 scars were scored in the 0-2 point range, representing 80% of the 60 total. VSS score for left side scars ranged from 0 to 11.6 and the median was 0.8. VSS score for right side scars ranged from 0 to 11.3 and the median was 1.2. A total of 46 scars were scored in the 0-2 point range, representing 76.7% of the total 60 breats. The scores between VSS and VAS had significant statistical differences ( P<0.001). 80.0% of our patients regarded scars as unconspicuous or basically invisible in our questionnaire. Conclusions:The majority of transaxillary incision scars recover in favorable status with high patients satisfactory rate. VAS is a practical tool for evaluating transaxillary incision scars. The VSS score is not equivalent to the VAS score when grading scars only by photos.

Feature extraction methods and classifier selection are two critical steps in heart sound classification. To capture the pathological features of heart sound signals, this paper introduces a feature extraction method that combines mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC) and power spectral density (PSD). Unlike conventional classifiers, the adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) was chosen as the classifier for this study. In terms of experimental design, we compared different PSDs across various time intervals and frequency ranges, selecting the characteristics with the most effective classification outcomes. We compared four statistical properties, including mean PSD, standard deviation PSD, variance PSD, and median PSD. Through experimental comparisons, we found that combining the features of median PSD and MFCC with heart sound systolic period of 100-300 Hz yielded the best results. The accuracy, precision, sensitivity, specificity, and F1 score were determined to be 96.50%, 99.27%, 93.35%, 99.60%, and 96.35%, respectively. These results demonstrate the algorithm's significant potential for aiding in the diagnosis of congenital heart disease.
Humans ; Heart Sounds ; Neural Networks, Computer ; Algorithms ; Heart Defects, Congenital

Objective To investigate the effect of couch rotation angle on non-coplanar static intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) plan for gastric cancer and to provide a reference for clinical planning. Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on patients who recently underwent postoperative IMRT for gastric cancer. Twenty patients who received radiotherapy in the centre of Radiation Oncology of Huanggang Central Hospital from August 2022 to January 2023 were selected. That were selected to receive a seven-field coplanar static IMRT plan based on a couch rotation angle of 0° as the control group. Then, based on the coplanar IMRT plan, only the couch rotation angle of gantry angles 30° and 330° was changed to 10°, 20°, 30°, 40°, 50°, 60°, 70°, 80°, and 90°, respectively, and nine different non-coplanar plans were established. The homogeneity index (HI), conformity index (CI) of the target volume, and monitor unit (MU), as well as D_mean, V₂₀, and V₃₀ of the left and right kidneys, D_max, D_mean, V₁₀, V₂₀, and V₃₀ of the spinal cord, and D_max, D_mean, V₁₀, V₂₀, V₃₀, and V₄₀ of the small intestine and liver were compared among the 10 plans. The MU and the dosimetric parameters of the target volumes and When the couch rotation angle was 60°, the minimum HI and maximum CI of the target volume were 0.0714±0.0089 and 0.9271±0.0108, respectively, and the minimum MU was 438±26, with the best homogeneity and conformity in the target volume and the shortest machine treatment time (P＜0.05). When the couch rotation angle was 10°, the D_max of the small intestine was lowest, being (4620.73±99.27) cGy. When the couch rotation angle was 60°, the D_mean of the left and right kidneys was lowest, being (1246.30±130.35) cGy and (1001.52±103.33) cGy, respectively; the V₂₀ of the left and right kidneys was lowest, being 22.87±6.29 and 19.69±1.84, respectively; the V₁₀ and V₃₀ of the spinal cord were lowest, being 40.08±4.92 and 1.68±0.34, respectively (P＜0.05). Conclusion The couch rotation angle has some influence on the postoperative treatment planning for patients with gastric cancer. In the design of non-coplanar plan for gastric cancer, the couch rotation angle of 60° contributes to establishing a better radiotherapy plan.

Heart sound analysis is significant for early diagnosis of congenital heart disease. A novel method of heart sound classification was proposed in this paper, in which the traditional mel frequency cepstral coefficient (MFCC) method was improved by using the Fisher discriminant half raised-sine function (F-HRSF) and an integrated decision network was used as classifier. It does not rely on segmentation of the cardiac cycle. Firstly, the heart sound signals were framed and windowed. Then, the features of heart sounds were extracted by using improved MFCC, in which the F-HRSF was used to weight sub-band components of MFCC according to the Fisher discriminant ratio of each sub-band component and the raised half sine function. Three classification networks, convolutional neural network (CNN), long and short-term memory network (LSTM), and gated recurrent unit (GRU) were combined as integrated decision network. Finally, the two-category classification results were obtained through the majority voting algorithm. An accuracy of 92.15%, sensitivity of 91.43%, specificity of 92.83%, corrected accuracy of 92.01%, and F score of 92.13% were achieved using the novel signal processing techniques. It shows that the algorithm has great potential in early diagnosis of congenital heart disease.
Humans ; Heart Sounds ; Algorithms ; Neural Networks, Computer ; Heart Defects, Congenital/diagnosis* ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted

Objective:To investigate the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of pulse oximetry among pediatric healthcare providers in China and analyze the factor influencing the KAP.Methods:A self-developed questionnaire was used for an online research on the KAP of 11 849 pediatric healthcare providers from 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities of China from March 11 to 14, 2022.The factors influencing the KAP of pulse oximetry among pediatric healthcare providers were examined by Logistic regression. Results:The scores of KAP, of pulse oximetry were 5.57±0.96, 11.24±1.25 and 11.19±4.54, respectively.The corresponding scoring rates were 69.61%, 74.95%, and 55.99%, respectively. Logistic regression results showed that the gender and working years of pediatric healthcare providers, the region they were located, and whether their medical institution was equipped with pulse oximeters were the main factors affecting the knowledge score (all P<0.05). Main factors influencing the attitude score of pediatric healthcare providers included their knowledge score, gender, educational background, working years, region, medical institution level, and whether the medical institution was equipped with pulse oximeters (all P<0.05). For the practice score, the main influencing factors were the knowledge score, gender, age, and whether the medi-cal institution was equipped with pulse oximeters (all P<0.05). Conclusions:Chinese pediatric healthcare providers need to further improve their knowledge about and attitudes towards pulse oximetry.Pulse oximeters are evidently under-used.It is urgent to formulate policies or guidelines, strengthen education and training, improve knowledge and attitudes, equip more institutions with pulse oximeters, and popularize their application in medical institutions.

Objective:To develop a model of stellate ganglion block (SGB) in mice and investigate the effect of SGB on cerebral cortical blood flow.Methods:Thirty clean-grade healthy male C57BL/6 mice, aged 8-9 weeks, weighing 23-27 g, were divided into 5 groups ( n=6 each) using a random number table method: control group (group C), left SGB group (group L), left normal saline group (group SL), right SGB group (group R) and right normal saline group (group SR). Group C received no intervention.SGB was performed with 0.25% ropivacaine 0.08 ml via percutaneous posterior approach in L and R groups, while the equal volume of normal saline 0.08 ml was given instead at the location of left and right stellate ganglion in SL and SR groups, respectively.The cerebral cortical blood flow was determined using laser speckle contrast imaging system before SGB (T 0) and at 10, 30, 60, 90 and 120 min after SGB (T 1-5). Results:Mice developed ptosis on the block side, indicating that the model of SGB was successfully developed in L and R groups.There was no significant difference in cerebral cortical blood flow at each time point among C, SL and SR groups ( P>0.05), and cerebral cortical blood flow on the block side decreased at T 1, began to increase at T 2, peaked at T 3, and decreased at T 5 which was still higher than that at T 0 in group L and group R ( P<0.01). Compared with C and SL groups, the left cerebral cortical blood flow was significantly decreased at T 1, 5 and increased at T 2-4 in group L ( P<0.01). Compared with C and SR groups, the right cerebral cortical blood flow was significantly decreased at T 1, 5 and increased at T 2-4 in group R ( P<0.01). There were no significant differences in cerebral cortical blood flow at each time point between group C and group SL and between group C and group RL ( P>0.05). Conclusions:The mouse model of SGB via percutaneous posterior approach is successfully developed.Unilateral SGB can affect cerebral cortical blood flow on the block side, which shows a transitory decrease followed by a sustained significant increase.

Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of simultaneous enhanced accelerated radiation therapy for brain metastases (SMART-Brain) combined with functional area protection. Methods SMART-Brain was planned for 60 patients with multiple brain metastases. Using the whole brain intensity modulation technique, important functional areas such as hippocampus were protected against irradiation by delivering a dose of 30 Gy in 10 fractions. Meanwhile, a high dose of 40 Gy was delivered to brain metastases in 10 fractions. All patients were followed up to evaluate the efficacy, incidence of adverse reactions, median overall survival (OS), and intracranial progression-free survival (IPFS). Results The effective rate was 73.33% (44 cases), the disease control rate was 91.67% (55 cases), median OS was 15.2 months, and IPFS was 12 months. The 1 and 2-year OS was 66.7% and 26.4%, and the 1-year IPFS was 46.7%. The MMSE scores at 1, 3, and 6 months after SMART showed no significant differences compared with baseline scores (P > 0.05). Grade 2 and above inner ear damage such as otitis media, hearing loss, and dizziness was absent. Conclusion Smart-Brain can significantly reduce the treatment time and better protect the organs at risk, and serves as an economical, safe, and effective radiotherapy regimen in areas with limited technical conditions.