Objective To evaluate the curative effect ofeliminating flatulence and laxative cream on patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma and opioid-associated constipation（OIC）. Methods 120 patients with advanced liver cancer complicated with OIC who were treated at the Third Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University from June 2021 to December 2022 were selected as the study subjects. The patients were divided into a control group（lactulose+conventional treatment）and an experimental group（eliminating flatulence and laxative cream + conventional treatment）using a randomized numerical table method. Two groups were compared in terms of defecation, quality of life, and comprehensive post-treatment evaluation（economic cost, number of occurrences of diarrhea, and whether or not there was a change in the dosage of opioids used）. Results After 28 d of intervention, both groups showed better results in relieving OIC（P<0.05）, and the experimental group was significantly better than the control group in terms of the quality of life of patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma, the economic cost and the number of diarrhea（P<0.05）. Conclusion In the treatment of OIC in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma, constipation could be relieved by using both topicaleliminating flatulence and laxative cream and oral lactulose solution. Among them, antieliminating flatulence and laxative cream was more acceptable to patients and superior in terms of quality of life and economic cost, which could be a better choice for improving patient satisfaction and safety.

Microwave thermotherapy(MWTT),as a treatment for tumors,lacks specificity and requires sensitizers.Most reported microwave sensitizers are single metal-organic frameworks(MOFs),which must be loaded with ionic liquids to enhance the performance in MWTT.Meanwhile,MWTT is rarely combined with other treatment modalities.Here,we synthesized a novel Fe-Cu bimetallic organic framework FeCuMOF(FCM)by applying a hydrothermal method and further modified it with methyl polyethylene glycol(mPEG).The obtained FCM@PEG(FCMP)showed remarkable heating performance under low-power microwave irradiation;it also acted as a novel nanospheres enzyme to catalyze H2O2 decompo-sition,producing abundant reactive oxygen species(ROS)to deplete glutathione(GSH)and prevent ROS clearance from tumor cells during chemodynamic treatment.The FCMP was biodegradable and demonstrated excellent biocompatibility,allowing it to be readily metabolized without causing toxic effects.Finally,it was shown to act as a suitable agent for T2 magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)in vitro and in vivo.This new bimetallic nanostructure could successfully realize two tumor treatment modalities(MWTTand chemodynamic therapy)and dual imaging modes(T2 MRI and microwave thermal imaging).Our findings represent a breakthrough for integrating the diagnosis and treatment of tumors and pro-vides a reference for developing new microwave sensitizers.

Objective: To investigate the clinical outcome and preventive effect of polyetheretherketone(PEEK) rod hybrid surgery on proximal junction failure(PJF) after long-segment fusion of adult spinal deformity. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted to analyze patients with degenerative scoliosis/kyphosis who underwent long-segment decompression and fusion surgery at Department of Orthopedics, Peking University First Hospital from January 2017 to December 2021. A total of 75 patients were included in the study, including 14 males and 61 females, aged (67.2±6.8)years (range:55 to 84 years). According to the operation method chosen by the patients, the patients were divided into PEEK rod hybrid group (20 cases) and traditional titanium rod group (55 cases). The general information of the patients was collected, and the coronal and sagittal parameters of the spine were measured before operation, at 1 month after operation, and at the last follow-up. The clinical effect of surgery was judged by the visual analogue scale (VAS) and Oswestry disability index (ODI). Whether proximal junctional kyphosis (PJK) and PJF occurred during the follow-up and the time of occurrence were recorded. Comparisons between groups were performed using independent sample t test, Mann-Whitney U test, χ² test and Fisher's exact probability method. The data before and after surgery in the same group were compared using the paired sample t test and the Wilcoxon test. Results: There were no significant differences in age, gender, body mass index, bone mineral density, distal instrumented vertebrae, surgical segments, osteotomy method, operation time, and intraoperative bleeding between the two groups (all P>0.05). The follow-up time of the PEEK rod group was shorter(M(IQR)16.5(4.8) vs. 25.0(12.0),Z=-4.230,P<0.01). There were no significant differences in coronal, sagittal parameters, VAS and ODI between the two groups before operation (all P>0.05). Postoperative coronal Cobb angle, pelvic incidence, pelvic tilt, sacral slope, lumbar lordosis, thoracic kyphosis, sagittal vertical axis (SVA), VAS and ODI were significantly improved in both groups(all P<0.05). At the last follow-up, the SVA of the PEEK rod hybrid group was(3.74±2.40)cm, which was significantly lower than that of the titanium rod group (6.28±4.06)cm (t'=-3.318, P=0.002). At the last follow-up, the ODI of the PEEK rod hybrid group was 30.7±6.1, significantly better than the titanium rod group 39.3±17.2(t=-3.203, P=0.046). PJK occurred in 2 patients (10.0%) in the PEEK rod hybrid group, and no PJF phenomenon was observed. In the titanium rod group, 18 patients (32.7%) developed PJK, and 11 patients (20.0%) developed PJF. There was a statistically significant difference in the incidence of PJF between the PEEK rod hybrid group and the titanium rod group (P=0.031). Conclusions: PEEK rod hybrid surgery can achieve good clinical results in the treatment of adult spinal deformities. Compared with traditional titanium rod surgery, it can significantly reduce the incidence of postoperative PJF and improve the clinical function of patients.
Male ; Female ; Animals ; Humans ; Adult ; Retrospective Studies ; Titanium ; Kyphosis/etiology* ; Sacrum ; Osteotomy/adverse effects* ; Spinal Fusion/methods* ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; Treatment Outcome ; Postoperative Complications/epidemiology*

Adult ; Automobiles ; Hearing Loss, High-Frequency ; Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced/etiology* ; Humans ; Male ; Noise, Occupational/adverse effects* ; Occupational Diseases ; Occupational Exposure

Objective:To apply magnetic resonance T₂ mapping and T₁ mapping in diagnosing progressive intervertebral disc degeneration. Methods:Seven New Zealand rabbits modeled with intervertebral disc degeneration underwent sagittal T₁WI, T₂WI, T₂ mapping and T₁ mapping before, and one and three months after modeling. Pfirrmann grade of six intervertebral discs (L₁-S₁) in each rabbit was obtained based on T₂WI and values of T₂ and T₁ based on T₂ mapping and T₁ mapping. They were observed pathologically as progressive or non-progressive intervertebral disc degeneration. The diagnostic efficacy of these imaging markers was compared with receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve according to pathological results. Results:T₂ values of intervertebral discs decreased after degeneration (F = 24.224, P < 0.001), while T₁ values varied little (F = 2.191, P = 0.116). The diagnostic efficacy from more to less ranked as T₂ mapping+T₁ mapping = T₂ mapping > T₁ mapping > Pfirrmann grade. Conclusion:T₂ mapping may differentiate progressive intervertebral disc degeneration from non-progressive for clinic.

Background: Our previous studies have shown that regulatory factor X5 (RFX5), a classical transcription regulator of MHCII genes, was obviously overexpressed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tumors. However, the role of RFX5 in the carcinogenesis and progress of HCC remains unknown. This study aimed to reveal its biological significance and the underlying mechanism in HCC. Methods: RFX5 mRNA expression level and copy number variation in HCC tumors and cell lines were determined by analyzing deposited data sets in the Cancer Genome Atlas and Gene Expression Omnibus database. The biological significance of RFX5 in HCC was investigated by monitoring the colony formation and subcutaneous tumor growth capacity when RFX5 was silenced with lentiviral short hairpin RNA and CRISPR/Cas9 system in HCC cell lines. The downstream gene transcriptionally activated by RFX5 in HCC cells was determined by chromatin immunoprecipitation and luciferase reporter assay. The involvement of tyrosine 3-monooxygenase/tryptophan 5-monooxygenase activation protein theta (YWHAQ) in HCC development was further determined by performing colony formation rescue assay and subcutaneous tumor growth rescue experiment. The association of YWHAQ with recurrence-free survival of patients with HCC was assessed by Kaplan-Meier analysis. Moreover, apoptosis level and the protein level of p53 pathway were determined to reveal the mechanism of RFX5 in driving HCC development. Results: RFX5 was amplified and highly overexpressed in HCC tumor tissues compared with the corresponding non-tumor tissues. The mRNA expression level of RFX5 was significantly correlated with its DNA copy number (r = 0.4, P < 0.001). Functional study demonstrated that RFX5 was required for both clonogenic forming in vitro and subcutaneous tumor growth in vivo of HCC cells. Further study identified YWHAQ, namely 14-3-3 tau, as a key downstream transcriptional target gene of RFX5, which was tightly regulated by RFX5 in HCC. Moreover, overexpression of YWHAQ largely rescued the clonogenic growth of HCC cells that was suppressed by RFX5 knockdown. In addition, overexpression of YWHAQ in primary tumor was linked to poor prognosis of patients with HCC. These results demonstrated that YWHAQ was a downstream effector of RFX5 in HCC. Notably, RFX5-YWHAQ pathway could protect cells from apoptosis by suppressing the p53 and Bax in HCC. Conclusion RFX5 is a putative HCC driver gene that plays an important role in the development and progression of HCC by transactivating YWHAQ and suppressing apoptosis.

Objective: To understand the status, attitude and related risk factors on smoking among 18-65 years old patients with hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or asthma in Beijing. Methods: Data was gathered from the 2014 Beijing Non-communicable and Chronic Disease Surveillance Program. Multiple classified cluster sampling method was used and 19 815 participants aged 18-65 were sampled from 16 districts in Beijing. Results: Among all the 18 405 participants, male hypertensive patients showed a higher rate on current smoking than the other groups (χ(2)=17.695, P<0.001). Male patients with dyslipidemia had higher current smoking rate than the other groups (χ(2)=39.292, P<0.001). However, female patients with COPD or with asthma showed higher rate on current smoking than the other groups (χ(2)=6.276, P=0.012), (χ(2)=8.245, P=0.004). Among the smokers, hypertensive patients presented lower rate (χ(2)=20.487, P<0.001) on intention of smoking concession, than the other groups. Patients with COPD showed greater intention in quitting smoking (χ(2)=6.085, P=0.048), than the other groups. Male patients with diabetes (χ(2)=9.219, P=0.010) or dyslipidemia (χ(2)=13.513, P=0.001) who had stopped smoking tobacco appeared having higher rates in keeping the current status. Results from logistic regression analyses showed that smoking was the risk factor for hypertension (OR=1.17), dyslipidemia (OR=1.25), COPD (OR=1.78), and asthma (OR=1.57). Conclusions: Patients with certain kinds of chronic diseases showed higher rate of current smoking and lower rate of quitting. Cigarette consumption appeared an important risk factor for patients with hypertension, dyslipidemia, COPD, or asthma in Beijing.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Asthma/epidemiology* ; Beijing/epidemiology* ; Chronic Disease/epidemiology* ; Diabetes Mellitus/epidemiology* ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension/epidemiology* ; Intention ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive/epidemiology* ; Risk Factors ; Smokers ; Smoking/psychology* ; Smoking Cessation ; Nicotiana/adverse effects*

Objective: To investigate the relationship of thallium exposure and outcomes of births. Methods: A total of 3 236 mothers who had visited in Ma'anshan Maternal and Child Health-Care Hospital between May 2013 and September 2014 were included in this study and their thallium concentrations measured from samples of maternal and umbilical cord blood by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The results were correlated and evaluated with birth outcomes of the infants, using the multiple linear regression method. Results: The median (P(25)-P(75)) of thallium levels in first trimester, second trimester and umbilical cord blood were 61.7 (50.8-77.0), 60.3 (50.8-75.2) and 38.5 (33.6-44.1) ng/L, respectively. After adjustment for potential confounders, the thallium levels showed an inversely significant association with birth head circumference (unstandardized β coefficient=-0.41, 95%CI: -0.76- -0.06) in the first trimester blood, and associated with reduced birth length (unstandardized β coefficient=-0.65, 95%CI: -1.25- -0.05) in umbilical cord blood. However, there appeared no significantly associations with birth weight, length and head circumference (P>0.05) in second trimester. On stratification by sex, in girls but not in boys, the thallium levels were adversely associated with birth head circumference (unstandardized β coefficient=-0.53, 95%CI: -1.05--0.01) in the first trimester and were associated with decreased birth weight (unstandardized β coefficient=-277.08, 95%CI: -485.13- -69.03) and length (unstandardized β coefficient=-1.39, 95%CI: -2.26- -0.53) in umbilical cord blood thallium. Conclusions: Thallium exposure appeared a gender difference in newborn birth outcomes. In the first trimester, it was negatively associated with the birth head circumference, in the umbilical cord blood, and reduced birth weight and length in girls.
Adult ; Birth Weight ; Environmental Pollutants/blood* ; Female ; Fetal Blood/metabolism* ; Fetus/metabolism* ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Maternal Exposure ; Parturition ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Outcome/epidemiology* ; Thallium/blood*

α-Synuclein (α-Syn) is a small presynaptic protein and its mutant forms (e.g. A53T) are known to be directly associated with Parkinson's disease (PD). Pathophysiological mechanisms underlying α-Syn-mediated neurodegeneration in PD still remain to be explored. However, several studies strongly support that overexpression of mutant α-Syn causes reduced release of dopamine (DA) in the brain, and contributes to motor deficits in PD. Using a favorable genetic model Drosophila larva, we examined whether reduced DA release is enough to induce key PD symptoms (i.e. locomotion deficiency and DA neurodegeneration), mimicking a PD gene α-Syn. In order to reduce DA release, we expressed electrical knockout (EKO) gene in DA neurons, which is known to make neurons hypo-excitable. EKO led to a decrease in a DA neuronal marker signal (i.e., TH – tyrosine hydroxylase) and locomotion deficits in Drosophila larva. In contrast, acute and prolonged exposure to blue light (BL, 470 nm) was sufficient to activate channelrhodopsin 2 (ChR2) and rescue PD symptoms caused by both α-Syn and EKO. We believe this is for the first time to confirm that locomotion defects by a genetic PD factor such as α-Syn can be rescued by increasing DA neuronal excitability with an optogenetic approach. Our findings strongly support that PD is a failure of DA synaptic transmission, which can be rescued by optogenetic activation of ChR2.
alpha-Synuclein* ; Brain ; Dopamine ; Dopaminergic Neurons ; Drosophila ; Drosophila melanogaster ; Larva ; Locomotion ; Models, Genetic ; Neurons ; Optogenetics* ; Parkinson Disease ; Synaptic Transmission ; Tyrosine

Motion acupuncture (MA) refers to a special acupuncture technique where a patient carries out body motions under supervision of doctors with needles inserted and retained in the points. The motions include active movement, allocinesis and load exercise. The technique of MA involves three major procedures,namely target examination (finding target), acupuncture techniques (motion allowed after acupuncture) and motion methods (needle-retaining motion), which are described in detail in this article. The target can be found by examining along meridians, along sinews, along muscles and along fascia. The targets are examined with the techniques of pressing along the points, sliding and pressing, smoothly pushing, grasping, and poking. Common acupuncture needles are used for MA. The needling methods include floating insertion, perpendicular insertion, oblique insertion, single insertion, and multi-insertion. The motions involve the flexion and extension, stretching, and resistance of the affected muscle(s). MA is mainly applied for the treatment of pain and various soft tissue injuries as well as relevant visceral disorders, which shows clinical efficacy.