Objective To systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) with different numbers of ports in the treatment of spontaneous pneumothorax. Methods We conducted a comprehensive search of CNKI, PubMed, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, EMbase, Wanfang Data, and the Chinese Medical Journal Full-text Database for clinical controlled trials on VATS with different port numbers for spontaneous pneumothorax, from their inception to March 2023. Two researchers independently screened the literature and assessed its quality.The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) was used to assess the methodological quality of cohort and case-control studies, and the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool was used to evaluate randomized controlled trials (RCT). Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.4.1 software. Results A total of 107 studies were included, comprising 35 RCT, 2 cohort studies, and 70 case-control studies. All cohort and case-control studies included in the analysis had NOS scores≥7. The meta-analysis revealed that compared to two-port VATS (2P-VATS) and three-port VATS (3P-VATS), single-port thoracoscopic surgery (SPTS) was associated with less intraoperative blood loss (SMD=–1.58, 95%CI: –1.93 to –1.22, P<0.001; and SMD=–1.59, 95%CI: –2.03 to –1.14, P<0.001, respectively), shorter postoperative hospital stay (SMD=–1.05, 95%CI: –1.29 to –0.82, P<0.001; and SMD=–1.08, 95%CI: –1.39 to –0.77, P<0.001), shorter duration of postoperative chest tube drainage (SMD=–0.75, 95%CI: –1.00 to –0.50, P<0.001; and SMD=–1.23, 95%CI: –1.72 to –0.75, P<0.001), fewer postoperative complications (OR=0.34, 95%CI: 0.26 to 0.45, P<0.001; and OR=0.47, 95%CI: 0.33 to 0.68, P<0.001), and lower pain scores at 24, 48, and 72 hours after surgery (P<0.05). The operative time for SPTS was shorter than that for 2P-VATS (SMD=–0.53, 95%CI: –0.90 to –0.16, P=0.005) but showed no significant difference compared to 3P-VATS (P=0.21). When comparing 2P-VATS with 3P-VATS, 2P-VATS demonstrated less intraoperative blood loss (SMD=–1.02, 95%CI: –1.81 to –0.22, P=0.01), shorter postoperative hospital stay (SMD=–0.59, 95%CI: –1.11 to –0.06, P=0.03), shorter duration of chest tube drainage (SMD=–0.46, 95%CI: –0.85 to –0.08, P=0.02), fewer postoperative complications (OR=0.36, 95%CI: 0.22 to 0.59, P<0.001), and lower pain scores at 24, 48, and 72 hours after surgery (P≤0.05). Conclusion Both SPTS and 2P-VATS are effective and safe surgical options for spontaneous pneumothorax, deserving further promotion and application in clinical practice. However, due to limitations in the quantity and quality of the included studies, more large-sample, high-quality research is needed to validate these findings.

Objective To systematically evaluate the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in treating esophageal cancer patients of different genders. Methods Computer searches were conducted on PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Embase databases to collect randomized controlled trial (RCT) on ICIs treatment for esophageal cancer patients from the establishment of the databases to January 25, 2024. Two researchers independently screened the literature and extracted data according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The outcome indicators were overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS), and RevMan 5.4 software was used for meta-analysis. The modified Jadad scoring scale was used to evaluate the quality of the included literature. Results A total of 10 RCT involving 5364 esophageal cancer patients were included in this study, with 2684 patients in the trial group and 2680 patients in the control group. The Jadad scores of the included literature were all ≥6 points, indicating high-quality RCT. Meta-analysis results showed that female esophageal cancer patients receiving ICIs treatment [HR=0.72, 95%CI (0.59, 0.87), P<0.001] had a more significant median OS prolongation than male patients [HR=0.73, 95%CI (0.68, 0.78), P<0.001]; while male patients [HR=0.57, 95%CI (0.52, 0.64), P<0.001] had a more significant PFS prolongation than female patients [HR=0.72, 95%CI (0.55, 0.94), P=0.01]. Female patients treated with ICIs alone [HR=0.66, 95%CI (0.50, 0.87), P=0.003] had a more significant median OS prolongation than male patients [HR=0.79, 95%CI (0.72, 0.87), P<0.001]; while male patients receiving ICIs combined with chemotherapy [HR=0.67, 95%CI (0.61, 0.74), P<0.001] had a more significant median OS prolongation than female patients [HR=0.77, 95%CI (0.59, 1.01), P=0.06]. Conclusion Female patients receiving ICIs have a slight advantage in OS compared to male patients, while male patients have an advantage in PFS. Male patients receiving ICIs combined with chemotherapy have better survival benefits than female patients, while female patients using ICIs monotherapy have better survival benefits than male patients.

Cemental tear is a rare and indetectable condition unless obvious clinical signs present with the involvement of surrounding periodontal and periapical tissues. Due to its clinical manifestations similar to common dental issues, such as vertical root fracture, primary endodontic diseases, and periodontal diseases, as well as the low awareness of cemental tear for clinicians, misdiagnosis often occurs. The critical principle for cemental tear treatment is to remove torn fragments, and overlooking fragments leads to futile therapy, which could deteriorate the conditions of the affected teeth. Therefore, accurate diagnosis and subsequent appropriate interventions are vital for managing cemental tear. Novel diagnostic tools, including cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT), microscopes, and enamel matrix derivatives, have improved early detection and management, enhancing tooth retention. The implementation of standardized diagnostic criteria and treatment protocols, combined with improved clinical awareness among dental professionals, serves to mitigate risks of diagnostic errors and suboptimal therapeutic interventions. This expert consensus reviewed the epidemiology, pathogenesis, potential predisposing factors, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, differential diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of cemental tear, aiming to provide a clinical guideline and facilitate clinicians to have a better understanding of cemental tear.
Humans ; Dental Cementum/injuries* ; Consensus ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Cone-Beam Computed Tomography ; Tooth Fractures/therapy*

Objective To investigate the effects of banding width on hemodynamic characteristics of pulmonary artery (PA) by constructing pulmonary artery banding (PAB) models with different widths. Methods Based on clinical practice, with the same banding position and degree, computer-aided design (CAD) was utilized to reconstruct three-dimensional PAB models with different banding widths (2, 3, 4, 5 mm). Hemodynamic characteristics of the models with different banding widths, including pressure, streamlines, energy loss, energy efficiency and blood flow distribution ratio, were compared and analyzed through computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Results The pressure of PA decreased significantly, while the change of banding width had no significant effects on the pressure drop level at banding position. With the increase of banding width, the energy loss decreased, and the energy efficiency showed an upward trend. The blood flow of the left PA raised, and the ratio of blood flow distribution between the left PA and right PA increased, with the maximum reaching up to 2.28 : 1. Conclusions The increase of banding width can reduce the energy loss of PA and improve the energy efficiency of blood flow, but it will lead to the imbalance of blood flow distributions between the left and right lungs. Both the balance of blood flow distribution and the energy loss should be considered in choice for banding width of PAB. The virtual design of PAB surgery based on CAD and CFD will assist individualized banding width selection in future.

Objective    To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of proximal aortic repair (PAR) versus total arch replacement (TAR) for treatment of acute type A aortic dissection (ATAAD). Methods     An electronic search was conducted for clinical controlled studies on PAR versus TAR for patients with ATAAD published in Medline via PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Wanfang Database and CNKI since their inception up to April 30, 2022. The quality of each study included was assessed by 2 evaluators and the necessary data were extracted. STATA 16 software was used to perform statistical analysis of the available data. Results    A total of 28 cohort studies involving 7 923 patients with ATAAD were included in this meta-analysis, of whom 5 710 patients received PAR and 2 213 patients underwent TAR, and 96.43% of the studies (27/28) were rated as high quality. The meta-analysis results showed that: (1) patients who underwent PAR had lower incidences of 30 d mortality [RR=0.62, 95%CI (0.50, 0.77), P<0.001], in-hospital mortality [RR=0.64, 95%CI (0.54, 0.77), P<0.001], and neurologic deficiency after surgery [RR=0.84, 95%CI (0.72, 0.98), P=0.032] than those who received TAR; (2) the cardiopulmonary bypass time [WMD=–52.07, 95%CI (–74.19, –29.94), P<0.001], circulatory arrest time [WMD=–10.14, 95%CI (–15.02, –5.26), P<0.001], and operation time [WMD=–101.68, 95%CI (–178.63, –24.73), P<0.001] were significantly shorter in PAR than those in TAR; (3) there was no statistical difference in mortality after discharge, rate of over 5-year survival, renal failure after surgery and re-intervention, volume of red blood cells transfusion and fresh-frozen plasma transfusion, or hospital stay between two surgical procedures. Conclusion     Compared with TAR, PAR has a shorter operation time and lower early and in-hospital mortality, but there is no difference in long-term outcomes or complications between the two procedures for patients with ATAAD.

Pectus excavatum is a common congenital chest wall deformities in children, presented with abnormal collapse of anterior chest wall. Thoracoscopic Nuss procedure is the present widely utilized clinical approach. Due to implanting a steel bar into the substernal area, operative organ injuries, postoperative pain, bar malposition, incomplete correction as well as risks of bar removal may occur. With the advancement of digital precision medicine and the interdisciplinary research of various disciplines and fields, there are more and more clinical applications and translations of these emerging applications represented by computational biomechanical simulations, three-dimensional printing and the latest absorbable biomaterial. They bring new opportunities and prospects for solving problems in the clinical treatment of PE as well as the improvement and development of patient-specific Nuss procedure planning.

ObjectiveTo assess the anxiety and depression symptoms and sleep quality in patients with menstrual migraine， so as to provide references for the prevention and treatment of menstrual migraine and its comorbidity. MethodsAccording to the diagnostic criteria of the International Classification of Headache Disorder， third edition （ICHD-3）， 501 female migraine patients， including 112 patients with menstrual migraine and 389 patients with non-menstrual migraine， who attended the outpatient clinic of the Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College from February 2019 to February 2020， were selected for the study. The general and clinical data of the patients were collected， meantime， patients were assessed using Hamilton Anxiety Scale （HAMA）， Hamilton Depression Scale-24 item （HAMD-24）， 6-item Headache Impact Test （HIT-6） and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index （PSQI）. ResultsThe detection rates of pure anxiety， pure depression， comorbid anxiety-depression and sleep disorders in patients with menstrual migraine were higher than those in patients with non-menstrual migraine （χ²=4.198， 4.355， 5.236， 8.624， P<0.05 or 0.01）. Patients with menstrual migraine had higher scores of HAMA、HAMD-17、PSQI and HIT-6 than those of non-menstrual migraine patients （Z=-3.550、-2.723、-2.482、-4.717，P<0.05 or 0.01）. Correlation analysis showed that PSQI score of menstrual migraine patients was positively correlated with HAMA score （r=0.338， P<0.01）， HAMD-24 score （r=0.372， P<0.01） and HIT-6 score （r=0.192， P<0.05）. ConclusionCompared with non-menstrual migraine patients， patients with menstrual migraine experience more severe anxiety and depression symptoms and sleep problems and suffer greater negative life impacts. In addition， the influence of anxiety and depression symptoms and headache on daily life is associated with sleep quality.

Objective To investigate the effects of non-Newtonian properties on hemodynamic characteristics of Fontan procedure in computational simulation. Methods A Fontan vascular model was reconstructed based on patient-specific medical images. The boundary conditions were set according to velocity profiles measured by real-time echocardiography. The Newtonian model and two non-Newtonian (Casson and Carreau) models were applied to analyze the hemodynamic parameters, including flow ratio (FR), energy loss (EL), wall shear stress (WSS) as well as non-Newtonian importance factor, so as to compare flow differences between the Newtonian model and non-Newtonian models. Results The rheological models had small effects on the FR. The EL of non-Newtonian models was higher than that of the Newtonian model, and the EL of Casson model was the highest. Flow recirculation and flow disturbance accompanied with low WSS were observed in inferior vena cava (IVC). At low inflow velocity, flow disturbance in IVC of Newtonian model was more obvious. The calculations of non-Newtonian importance factor suggested significant non-Newtonian viscosity in IVC. Conclusions Non-Newtonian viscosity is significant in IVC where low velocity and flow recirculation are observed. Non-Newtonian properties of the blood should be considered in patient-specific hemodynamic simulation of Fontan procedure.

OBJECTIVE：To ex plore the protective effects of Longbie capsule contained serum （called“LBJN”for short ）on the apoptosis of chondrocytes induced by YAP inhibitor verteporfin and its mechanism. METHODS ：Primary human knee osteoarthritis（OA）chondrocytes were extracted by two-step enzymatic digestion ，and then identif ied by toluidine blue staining and type Ⅱ collagen immunofluorescence staining. The effects of 2，5 μmol/L verteporfin alone or combined with 5％LBJN on cell apoptosis were detected by flow cytometry. Solvent control （0.1％ DMSO）and 5％ LBJN were set. Western blot assay was adopted to detect the expression of apoptosis related proteins （YAP，Bcl-2，cleaved-caspase-3） after treated with 0.1％DMSO（solvent control ），2 μmol/L verteporfin，2 μmol/L verteporfin+5％LBJN 和 0（blank control ），2.5％ LBJN and 5％ LBJN for 48 h. The expression of autophagy related proteins （mTOR，Beclin-1，LC3A/B） after treated with 0 （blank control ），2.5％，5％ LBJN for 48 h were det ected by Western blot assay. RESULTS ：The isolated cells accorded with the characteristics of chondrocytes. Compared with 0.1％DMSO， the apoptosis rates of cells were increased significantly after treated with 2，5 μmol/L verteporfin（P＜0.05），and the effects of the two concentrations were similar （P＞0.05）. Compared with verteporfin alone ，2，5 μmol/L verteporfin combined with 5％LBJN could significantly decrease the apoptotic rate of cells （P＜0.05）. Compared with 0.1％DMSO，the protein expression of YAP and Bcl-2 were decreased significantly after treated with 2 μ mol/L verteporfin （P＜0.05）， while the protein expression of cleaved-caspase-3 were increased significantly （P＜0.05）. Compared with 2 μmol/L verteporfin，protein expression of YAP and Bcl-2 were increased significantly after treated with 2 μmol/L verteporfin+5％LBJN（P＜0.05），while the protein expression of cleaved-caspase-3 were decreased significantly （P＜0.05）. Compared with blank control ，the protein expression of YAP ，Bcl-2 and Beclin-1 were increased significantly after treated with 2.5％，5％LBJN（P＜0.05），while protein expression of cleaved-caspase- 3 and mTOR were decreased significantly （P＜0.05）. CONCLUSIONS ：LBJN can block the apoptosis of chondrocytes induced by YAP inhibitor verteporfin ，and its mechanism may be related to regulating the expression of apoptosis related proteins and enhancing autophagy of chondrocytes.