OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) on the intestinal flora in rats with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and explore its possible mechanism based on the gut-lung axis theory. METHODS: A total of 30 male SD rats of SPF grade were randomly divided into a normal control (NC) group, a model group and an EA group, 10 rats in each one. In the model group and the EA group, COPD model was established by intratracheal instillation of lipopolysaccharide combined with cigarette fumigation. In the EA group, EA was applied at bilateral "Feishu" (BL13) and "Zusanli" (ST36), with disperse-dense waves, in frequency of 4 Hz/20 Hz, current of 1-3 mA, 20 min a time, once a day for 14 days continuously. Before and after modeling, as well as after intervention, body weight was observed; after intervention, the lung function indexes (forced expiratory volume in 0.1 second [FEV_0.1], FEV_0.1/forced vital capacity [FVC]%, forced expiratory volume in 0.3 second [FEV_0.3] and FEV_0.3/FVC%) were measured, serum levels of inflammatory factors (tumor necrosis factor-α[TNF-α], interleukin-6[IL-6], interleukin-1β[IL-1β] and interleukin-10[IL-10]) were detected by ELISA, histopathology of lung and colon tissues was observed by HE staining, the intestinal flora were analyzed by 16S rRNA, and the correlations between lung function and intestinal flora were analyzed. RESULTS: Compared with the NC group, in the COPD group, the body weight and lung function indexes were reduced (P<0.01); the lung and colon tissues were damaged, the mean linear intercept (MLI) of alveolus and inflammatory cell numbers of 100 μm² in lung tissue were increased (P<0.01); the serum levels of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1β were increased (P<0.01, P<0.05), and the serum level of IL-10 was decreased (P<0.01); α-diversity indexes of intestinal flora were increased (P<0.01); the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria and Oscillospira, Bacteroides, Coprococcus was increased (P<0.01), the relative abundance of Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, Tenericutes, TM7 and Lactobacillus, Allobaculum, Bifidobacterium, YRC22 was decreased (P<0.01, P<0.05); 31 different expressed metabolic pathways were identified between the two groups. Compared with the COPD group, in the EA group, the body weight and lung function indexes were increased (P<0.01); the damage of lung and colon tissues was improved, the MLI of alveolus was decreased (P<0.05); the serum levels of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1β were decreased (P<0.05), and the serum level of IL-10 was increased (P<0.05); α-diversity indexes of intestinal flora were decreased (P<0.01); the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria and Oscillospira, Bacteroides, Coprococcus was decreased (P<0.01, P<0.05), the relative abundance of Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, Tenericutes, TM7 and Lactobacillus, Allobaculum, Bifidobacterium, YRC22 was increased (P<0.01); 35 different expressed metabolic pathways were identified between the two groups. The lung function was positive related with Actinobacteria, Tenericutes, TM7 and YRC22, and was negative related with Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria and Oscillospira, Bacteroides, Coprococcus. CONCLUSION EA may ameliorate lung function and tissue injury of COPD by regulating intestinal flora dysbiosis and inflammatory response, suggesting an anti-inflammatory effect mediated via "gut-lung" axis.
Animals ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive/genetics* ; Male ; Electroacupuncture ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Lung/metabolism* ; Gastrointestinal Microbiome ; Humans ; Interleukin-6/immunology* ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha/immunology* ; Intestines/microbiology* ; Interleukin-10/immunology*

To sum up professor Liang Fanrong's clinical experience in treating tinnitus with the theroy of wind.Professor LIANG suggests that pathogenesis of tinnitus is the wind disturbing the ear.Expelling wind and dredging collaterals,harmonizing the middle energizer,and dredging the Governor vessel and brain-strengthening are the basic treatment laws.GB20,SJ17,GB19,SJ21,SI19,GB2,SJ5,SJ3,ST25,RN6,RN12,DU20,DU24,and EX-HN1 compose the foundation of prescription.Selection of acupoints according to syndrome differentiation.Combined with moxibustion treatment.To strengthen the desired sensation with technique of acupuncture manipulation.

Objective:To study the nutritional risk and nutritional support in patients with liver cancer during perioperative period.Methods:In Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical, the clinical data of 507 liver cancer patients who underwent surgery College from January 2019 to January 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. The perioperative nutrition was assessed by nutritional risk screening 2002 (NRS 2002), ≥3 scores was diagnosed nutritional risk, and the nutritional support was counted.Results:Among 507 patients, 82 cases (16.2%) had nutritional risk. There was no statistical difference in rate of nutritional risk between male and female: 15.3% (58/379) vs. 18.8% (24/128), χ2 = 0.838, P>0.05. There was no statistical difference in rate of nutritional risk between primary liver cancer patients and secondary liver cancer patients: 18.0% (63/350) vs. 12.1% (19/157), χ2 = 2.781, P>0.05. The rate of nutritional risk in ≥ 60 years old patients was significantly higher than that in <60 years old patients: 25.9% (62/239) vs. 7.5% (20/268), and there was statistical difference ( χ2 = 31.819, P<0.01). The age, incidence of dystrophy and rate of nutritional support before surgery in patients with nutritional risk were significantly higher than those in patients without nutritional risk: (65.3 ± 12.7) years old vs. (55.9 ± 8.9) years old, 13.4% (11/82) vs. 0 and 24.4% (20/82) vs. 2.6% (11/425), and there were statistical differences ( P<0.01); there were no statistical differences in sex composition, tumor origin, rate of nutritional support after surgery and albumin between patients with nutritional risk and patients without nutritional risk ( P>0.05). Among 31 nutritional support patients before surgery, parenteral nutrition (PN) was in 1 case, enteral nutrition (EN) was in 30 cases; among 453 nutritional support patients after surgery, PN was in 297 cases, EN was in 27 cases, and PN + EN was in 129 cases. Conclusions:The incidence of nutritional risk in patients with liver cancer during perioperative period is high, and especially elderly patients should pay attention to nutritional support. NRS 2002 is a powerful tool and should be recommended to use at patients with liver cancer, and provide the evidence of nutritional therapy.

Basophils, which are considered as redundant relatives of mast cells and the rarest granulocytes in peripheral circulation, have been neglected by researchers in the past decades. Previous studies have revealed their vital roles in allergic diseases and parasitic infections. Intriguingly, recent studies even reported that basophils might be associated with cancer development, as activated basophils synthesize and release a variety of cytokines and chemokines in response to cancers. However, it is still subject to debate whether basophils function as tumor-protecting or tumor-promoting components; the answer may depend on the tumor biology and the microenvironment. Herein, we reviewed the role of basophils in cancers, and highlighted some potential and promising therapeutic strategies.

Objective To investigate the cytidine triphosphate synthetase 1 (CTPS1) expression in pancreatic cancer cell lines and its impaction on prognosis.Methods The GEO profiles database was searched to collect clinical data of 39 patients of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.Kaplan-Meier curve was used to analyze the relationship between the patients' prognosis and the expression of CTPS1.qPCR and Western blot were applied to detect the expression of CTPS1 in 4 pancreatic cancer cell lines.Results The mRNA expression of CTPS1 in Sw1990,BxPC-3,Panc1,and MIA-Capa2 was 1.00) ± 0.20,2.92±0.95,4.29±0.14,and 2.26±0.33 (t=-16.19,-11.45,-8.09,-13.12,P＜0.05) when compared to the normal pancreatic ductal epithelial cell line HPDE of 7.70 ± 0.72.The relative protein expression of CTPS1 in pancreatic cancer cell lines Sw1990,BxPC-3,Panc1,and MIA-Capa2 was 0.40 ± 0.06,0.20±0.09,0.68±0.11,and0.48±0.06 (t=-8.97,-10.5,-4.39,-7.88,P＜0.05) when compared to HPDE of 1.09 ±0.12.The overall survival (OS) in patients with higher CTPS1 expression than adjacent tissue was 28 months (95％ CI:9.2-46.8 months),and that with lower CTPS1 expression was 13 months (95％ CI:8.2-17.8 month),(x2 =4.02,P＜0.05).Conclusions CTPS1 in the pancreatic cancer cell lines are of low expression,and the level is positively related to patients' survival time.

Objective To analyze the difference among the 3 guidehnes used to make surgical decision for branch duct intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (BD-IPMN),then the guidelines were combined with neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) respectively for further analysis.Methods Clinical data of 51 appropriate BD-IPMN patients who underwent surgical resection from January 2008 to December 2015 was retrospectively analyzed.Results The significant difference was exist in the consensus for followup criterion (P ＜ 0.05).The preoperative NLR and PLR were helpful for the differential diagnosis between malignant and benign BD-IPMN,because the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) of NLR and PLR for prediction were 0.686 and 0.692,and the best boundary values were 2.64,92.56 respectively.The consensus combined with PLR could improve the specificity and positive predictive value (PPV),besides,the specificity and PPV could achieve 70.3％,54.2％ respectively while the sensitivity (92.9％) still remained at an ideal level after international consensus guideline combined with PLR.Conclusions NLR ≥ 2.64 and PLR ≥ 92.56 were predictive markers for the presence of BD-IPMN associated invasive tumor.The addition of PLR as a criterion to the international consensus guideline improved the accuracy of international consensus guidelines in estimating invasive BD-IPMN.

Objective To explore the association of ubiquitin-specific proteases 24 (USP24) gene polymorphisms with susceptibility to sporadic Parkinson's disease (PD) in the Han Guangdong population. Methods From August, 2006 to January, 2014, single nucleotide poly-morphisms (SNPs) of rs12138592 and rs6671533 in the intron region of USP24 were genotyped in 200 patients with sporadic PD and 200 healthy controls using the SNaPshot technique. Results There was significant difference in the allele and genotype frequency of rs12138592 between the patients and the controls (P<0.01), and no significant difference was found in the allele and genotype frequency of rs6671533 (P>0.05). Conclusion The SNP of rs12138592 in the intron region of USP24 is associated with the susceptibility to sporadic PD in the Han Guangdong population, and the A allele may contribute a protective roles to PD.

Carcinoma ; secondary ; Carcinoma, Papillary ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; pathology ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; secondary

Objective To analyse the factors that have effects on patients' procalcitonin (PCT)level after gastic surgery and to evaluate PCT as a parameter for detection of infectious complications.Methods A total of 153 patients undergoing gastric surgery were included in the study between Jul 2011 and Jan 2013.Temperature and routine blood samples for determining PCT level,neutrophil ratio,white blood cell count were obtained on postoperative days (POD) 1,3,7.Predictive values for each of the markers were examined.Results Postoperative complication,preoperative infection and surgery type affected the PCT level of patients on POD 1.Meanwhile,the independent factor that had influence on PCT level on POD 3 and 7 was postoperative complication.After excluding those patients with preoperative infection,patients with infectious complication exhibited significantly higher PCT levels (t =2.92,P ＜0.01,t =5.34,P ＜0.01,t =4.03,P ＜0.05) on POD 1,3,7 respectively),neutrophil ratio (on POD 3 and 7) and WBC count (on POD 3) than did those without complication.According to receiver operating characteristic analysis,PCT showed the highest AUC on POD 1,7 (AUC =0.89 and 0.87 respectively).In the patients without complication,the mean PCT value was (0.47 ± 0.97),(0.36 ± 0.50),(0.23 ± 0.24) ng/ml on POD 1,3,7 respectively.The PCT level declined 55％ from POD 1 to POD 3 and from POD 3 to POD 7.Conclusions The serum PCT level of patients without any complication showed a decreasing trend while PCT level of those with infectious complications increased significantly.Continuous monitoring PCT level could serve as a diagnostic tool for the early identification of infectious complication after gastric surgery.

BACKGROUNDA large amount of biomechanical and clinical evidence from previous studies suggest the efficiency of the two different posterior lumber non-fusion methods, interspinous distraction device (ISDD) and facet screw fixation system (FSS), but the biomechanical comparison of ISDD and FSS has not been thoroughly clarified.

METHODSIn the current study, finite element methods were used to investigate the biomechanical comparison of ISDD and FSS. The range of motion (ROM), intradiscal pressure (IDP) and the protective effects gained by maintaining disc heights were evaluated.

RESULTSThe ROM was similar between the two non-fusion methods under static standing, flexion and lateral bending. The FSS appeared to be more effective in resisting extension. At the implanted level L3/4, FSS displayed better results for maintaining and increasing posterior disc heights. At the L4/5 level in extension and lateral bending, FSS was better than ISDD, with comparable results observed in other motions. Comparing the posterior and lateral disc heights, FSS appeared to be more effective than ISDD. FSS also had a minor effect on the inferior adjacent segment than ISDD. FSS was more effective in reducing IDP than ISDD in extension.

CONCLUSIONThrough the finite element analysis study, it can be seen that FSS demonstrates more beneficial biomechanical outcomes than does ISDD, such as being more effective in resisting extension, maintaining and increasing lumbar disc heights and reducing the inferior adjacent IDP in extension.