OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the effects of bis (2-butoxyethyl) phthalate (BBOP) on the onset of male puberty by affecting Leydig cell development in rats. METHODS: Thirty 35-day-old male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly allocated to five groups mg/kg bw per day that were gavaged for 21 days with BBOP at 0, 10, 100, 250, or 500 mg/kg bw per day. The hormone profiles; Leydig cell morphological metrics; mRNA and protein levels; oxidative stress; and AKT, mTOR, ERK1/2, and GSK3β pathways were assessed. RESULTS: BBOP at 250 and/or 500 mg/kg bw per day decreased serum testosterone, luteinizing hormone, and follicle-stimulating hormone levels mg/kg bw per day (P < 0.05). BBOP at 500 mg/kg bw per day decreased Leydig cell number mg/kg bw per day and downregulated Cyp11a1, Insl3, Hsd11b1, and Dhh in the testes, and Lhb and Fshb mRNAs in the pituitary gland (P < 0.05). The malondialdehyde content in the testis significantly increased, while Sod1 and Sod2 mRNAs were markedly down-regulated, by BBOP treatment at 250-500 mg/kg bw per day (P < 0.05). Furthermore, BBOP at 500 mg/kg bw per day decreased AKT1/AKT2, mTOR, and ERK1/2 phosphorylation, and GSK3β and SIRT1 levels mg/kg bw per day (P < 0.05). Finally, BBOP at 100 or 500 μmol/L induced ROS and apoptosis in Leydig cells after 24 h of treatment in vitro (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: BBOP delays puberty onset by increasing oxidative stress and apoptosis in Leydig cells in rats. UNLABELLED The graphical abstract is available on the website www.besjournal.com.
Rats ; Male ; Animals ; Leydig Cells/metabolism* ; Testosterone ; Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 beta/pharmacology* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Sexual Maturation ; Testis ; Oxidative Stress ; TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases/metabolism* ; Apoptosis

Objective: To evaluate the efficiency of internal carotid artery (ICA) embolization technology in endoscopic salvage surgery for recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma (rNPC) invading the ICA. Methods: From January 2016 to March 2021, 83 patients with rNPC who invaded the ICA and underwent endoscopic extended nasopharyngectomy were retrospectively collected from the Eye & ENT Hospital in Fudan University, including 60 males and 23 females. The age of the patients ranged from 27 to 77 years. The standard of ICA invasion was that the distance from the lesion to the ICA on enhanced MRI was ≤ 1.8 mm. The clinical characteristics, ICA management strategy and survival prognosis of patients were analyzed, and the effectiveness of ICA embolization was evaluated. Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate the survival rate and Log-rank test was used to compare the difference. Results: In 83 patients with rNPC, there were 13 patients with rT2, 38 patients with rT3, 32 patients with rT4, and 16 patients had lymph node metastasis. A total of 37 patients (44.6%) underwent ICA coil embolization before surgery, of which 2 cases underwent external carotid-middle cerebral artery artery bypass grafting and ICA embolization due to positive balloon occlusion test (BOT). Patients with positive surgical margin accounted for 24.1% (20/83). Among them, patients with rT4 and patients without ICA embolization had a higher positive rate of surgical margin (P value was 0.001, 0.043, respectively). The 3-year overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS) rate of all patients was 46.5% and 26.7%, respectively. In addition, the 3-year OS and PFS of patients with ICA embolization was significantly higher than those without ICA embolization, respectively (69.1% vs 27.8%, P=0.003; 33.9% vs 18.9%, P=0.018). Only 2 patients (2/37, 5.4%) had cerebral infarction complications after coil embolization of the affected ICA due to negative BOT. Conclusion: Preoperative ICA embolization can be used to treat patients with rNPC invading the ICA, improve the total removal rate and survival rate of patients, which is an effective salvage treatment.
Humans ; Male ; Female ; Adult ; Middle Aged ; Aged ; Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma ; Salvage Therapy ; Retrospective Studies ; Carotid Artery, Internal ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local/surgery* ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms/pathology*

Electronic sports (E-sports) are series of competitive activities different from the traditional physical sports, and E-sports athlete is becoming a new profession. Along with the fast development of E-sports industry, the number of E-sports athletes increased tremendously. The early retirement of some top-ranking athletes caused by occupational injuries has aroused the societal attentions on the health problems of E-sports athletes. Facing special occupational exposure, E-sports athletes encounter different health issues comparing to the counterparts of their ages. It is necessary to scientifically identify their health hazards and common health issues, in order to conduct effective health management for this particular professional group. This review summarized global literature on health issues and health management on E-sports athletes. The research on their health issues were mainly descriptive and there was a paucity on interventional research and health management. These provide references and directions on the future health services and research on E-sports athletes.
Athletes ; Athletic Injuries/prevention & control* ; Electronics ; Humans ; Occupational Injuries ; Sports

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility of the endoscopic transnasal approach (ETA) and to analyze the outcomes and factors of this surgical technique in the management of the tumor invading the anterior skull base. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on 42 patients (31 males and 11 females, with mean age of 49 years) with sinonasal tumor invading the anterior skull base, who underwent ETA from June 2015 to April 2019 in Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital of Fudan University. Pathologically, there were 15 cases of squamous carcinoma (14 patients with T4bN0M0 and 1 patient with T4bN1M0) and 27 of olfactory neuroblastomas with Kadish stage C. Anterior skull base reconstruction was performed using the vascular pedicled nasoseptal mucoperiosteal flap and fascia lata. Brain non-contrast-enhanced CT was performed on the first postoperative day to exclude massive pneumocephalus, relevant brain edema and subarachnoid hemorrhage. Sinonasal contrast-enhanced MR was performed to assess the extent of the tumor removal. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to calculate the overall survival (OS) and Cox multivariate regression analysis was used to determine the prognostic factors. Results: The mean duration of the surgery was 452 minutes. Total resection was performed in 36 patients (85.7%), subtotal resection in 2 patients (4.8%) with orbital involvement, partial resection in one patient (2.4%) with injury of the internal carotid artery. One patient (2.4%) underwent the second resection because of the tumor residual, two patients (4.8%) with unsure tumor residual. Mean follow-up was 20 months, with 17 months of median follow-up. One-, two-and three-year overall survival was 86.5%, 76.9% and 64.5%, respectively. For squamous carcinoma, one-, two-and three-year overall survival was 86.2%, 86.2% and 57.4%, respectively. For olfactory neuroblastomas, One-, two-and three-year overall survival was 86.9%, 75.3% and 67.8%, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that tumor residual (P=0.001) and recurrence (P<0.01) were independent prognostic factors for survival. Conclusions: The ETA is safe and feasible in selected patients with sinonasal tumor invading the anterior skull base. Tumor residual and recurrence are independent prognostic factors for survival.
Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nasal Cavity ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ; Nose Neoplasms/surgery* ; Retrospective Studies ; Skull Base/surgery* ; Skull Base Neoplasms/surgery*

OBJECTIVES: To study the effect of glucose metabolism disorders on the short-term prognosis in neonates with asphyxia. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed on the medical data of the neonates with asphyxia who were admitted to 52 hospitals in Hubei Province of China from January to December, 2018 and had blood glucose data within 12 hours after birth. Their blood glucose data at 1, 2, 6, and 12 hours after birth (with an allowable time error of 0.5 hour) were recorded. According to the presence or absence of brain injury and/or death during hospitalization, the neonates were divided into a poor prognosis group with 693 neonates and a good prognosis group with 779 neonates. The two groups were compared in the incidence of glucose metabolism disorders within 12 hours after birth and short-term prognosis. RESULTS: Compared with the good prognosis group, the poor prognosis group had a significantly higher proportion of neonates from secondary hospitals (48.5% vs 42.6%, CONCLUSIONS Recurrent hyperglycemia in neonates with asphyxia may suggest poor short-term prognosis, and it is necessary to strengthen the early monitoring and management of the nervous system in such neonates.
Asphyxia ; Asphyxia Neonatorum/epidemiology* ; Humans ; Hyperglycemia ; Infant, Newborn ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the current status of antibiotic use for very and extremely low birth weight (VLBW/ELBW) infants in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) of Hunan Province. METHODS: The use of antibiotics was investigated in multiple level 3 NICUs of Hunan Province for VLBW and ELBW infants born between January, 2017 and December, 2017. RESULTS: The clinical data of 1 442 VLBW/ELBW infants were collected from 24 NICUs in 2017. The median antibiotic use duration was 17 days (range: 0-86 days), accounting for 53.0% of the total length of hospital stay. The highest duration of antibiotic use was up to 91.4% of the total length of hospital stay, with the lowest at 14.6%. In 16 out of 24 NICUs, the antibiotic use duration was accounted for more than 50.0% of the hospitalization days. There were 113 cases with positive bacterial culture grown in blood or cerebrospinal fluid, making the positive rate of overall bacterial culture as 7.84%. The positive rate of bacterial culture in different NICUs was significantly different from 0% to 14.9%. The common isolated bacterial pathogens Klebsiella pneumoniae was 29 cases (25.7%); Escherichia coli 12 cases (10.6%); Staphylococcus aureus 3 cases (2.7%). The most commonly used antibiotics were third-generation of cephalosporins, accounting for 41.00% of the total antibiotics, followed by penicillins, accounting for 32.10%, and followed by carbapenems, accounting for 13.15%. The proportion of antibiotic use time was negatively correlated with birth weight Z-score and the change in weight Z-score between birth and hospital discharge (r=-0.095, -0.151 respectively, P<0.01), positively correlated with death/withdrawal of care (r=0.196, P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS Antibiotics used for VLBW/ELBW infants in NICUs of Hunan Province are obviously prolonged in many NICUs. The proportion of routine use of third-generation of cephalosporins and carbapenems antibiotics is high among the NICUs.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Birth Weight ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Extremely Low Birth Weight ; Infant, Newborn ; Intensive Care Units, Neonatal ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the efficacy and safety of decitabine combined with half-course pre-excitation for the treatment of elderly patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). METHODS: 44 cases of newly diagnosed elderly AML admitted in our hospital from January 2016 to December 2017 were selected for the retrospective analysis. The patients were randomly divided into 2 groups: pre-excitation therapy group as control and combined therapy group. The 22 patients in pre-excitation therapy group reccived the routine complete course pre-excitation treatment, 22 patients in combined therapy group received the desitabine combined the half course pre-excitation treatment. The therapentic efficacy and adverse reactions during treatment were compared between 2 groups. All patients were followed-up and the survival rate at 6,12 and 24 months was compared between 2 groups. RESULTS: The remission rate(RR) in the combined therapy group was 72.73%, and that in the control group was 50.00%, with significant statistically difference (P<0.05). The median survival time in combined therapy group (17.82±4.19 months) and control group (12.43±3.71 months) was statistically significant (P<0.05). The rate of adverse reactions of digestive tract in combined therapy group was 40.91%, which was higher than that in control group (18.18%), and the difference of two groups was statistically significant (P<0.05). The incidence of adverse reactions in blood system and bone marrow suppression in combined therapy group was 9.09% and 68.18%, which were lower than those in control group (27.27% and 95.45%), with statistically significant differences (P<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of liver dysfunction, cardiac insufficiency and hair loss between the two groups (P>0.05). The incidence of pulmonary infection, intestinal infection and other complications in combined therapy group was 13.64%, which was lower than that in control group 31.82%, and the difference of two groups was statistically significant (P<0.05). No serious complications such as arteriovenous thrombosis occurred in either group, and no patients died during chemotherapy. CONCLUSION Combination of disitamine and half-course prestimulation treatmentis is a safe and effective and elderly patients with AML shown a good tolerance.
Aged ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; Azacitidine ; Decitabine ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute ; drug therapy ; Retrospective Studies ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the predictive effect of platelet activation index expression before and after adenosine bisphosphate activation on bleeding risk in patients with primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). METHODS: Eighty-nine patients with ITP admitted in our hospital from January 2017 to October 2018 were selected and inrolled in ITP group, the bleeding scoreing and grading were performed by using the ITP-BAT for ITP patients, then 89 ITP patients were divided into 4 subgroups: nothing bleeding symptom group, mild bleeding symprom group, mode rate bleeding symptom group and severe bleeding symptom group according to bleeding scores and grades obtained from ITP-BAT detection. At the same time, 22 persons underwent the health physical examination were selected and enrolled in control group. The adenosine diphosphate (ADP) was used as activator for all patients and controls. The flow cytonetry was used to analyze the expression of platelet membranc glyco protein (GPⅠb, GPⅡb /Ⅲ a) and P-selectin before and after ADP activation, the multiple linear person's correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation of bleeding degree of ITP patients before and after ADP acbivation with the expression levels of GPⅠb, GPⅡb/Ⅲa and P-selectin. RESULTS: After the ADP activation, the expression level of GPⅠb significantly decreased, while the expression levels of GPⅠb, GPⅡb/Ⅲ a and P-selectin significantly increased in control group, nothing bleeding symptom group and mild bleeding symptom group; but the expression level of GPⅠb significantly increased, while the expression level of GPⅡb/Ⅲ a significantly decreased in moderate and severe bleeding symptom group, the both differences were statistically significant (P＜0.05). however, the expression level of P-selectin in moderate and severe bleeding symptom groups before and after ADP activation was not statistivally significant (P＞0.05). Before ADP activation, the expression level of GPⅠb in ITP subgroups was lower than that in control group, the expression level of GPⅡb/Ⅲ a in ITP subgroups was higher than that in control group, the expression level of P-selectin in moderate and severe bleeding symptom groups was higher than that in control group (P＜0.05). After ADP activation, the expression levels of GPⅠb and P-selectin in ITP subgroups both were lower than those in control group, the expression level of GPⅡb/Ⅲa in ITP subgroups was higher than that in control group (P＜0.05). The comparison among ITP subgroups showed that before ADP activation, the expression level of GPⅠb in moderate and severe bleeding symptom groups was lower than that in nothing bleeding symotom and mild bleeding symptom groups, while the expression levels of GPⅡb/Ⅲa and P-selectin were higher than those in nothing bleeding symptom and mild bleeding symptom groups (P＜0.05), however, after ADP activation, the expression level of GPⅠb in moderate and severe bleeding symptom groups was higher than that in nothing bleeding symptom and mild bleeding symptom groups, while the expression levels of GPⅡb/Ⅲ a and P-selection in moderate and severe bleeding symptom groups were lower than those in nothing and mild bleeding symptom groups (P＜0.05). The correlation analysis showed that before ADP activation, the expression levels of GPⅠb and GPⅡb/Ⅲa positivdy correlated with the bleeding risk (r=0.483, 0.504), and the P-selectin not correlated with the bleeding risk (r=0.000); however, after ADP activation, the expression level of GPⅠb and GPⅡb/Ⅲ a negatively correlated with the bleeding risk (r=-0.627, -0.406, -0.108). CONCLUSION The expression level of platelet activation indicators before and after ADP activation is of certain value for prevention of bleeding risk in ITP patients and can be used as a reference indicator for the treatment and efficacy evaluation.
Adenosine ; Blood Platelets ; Humans ; P-Selectin ; Platelet Activation ; Platelet Count ; Purpura, Thrombocytopenic, Idiopathic

The College of Life Sciences (CLS) remains one of the most prestigious-and the oldest-colleges in Zhejiang University. This special issue, which includes 16 reviews contributed by our alumni and faculties, is dedicated to mark the 90th Anniversary of CLS. The reviews provide a glimpse of current progresses in the areas of life sciences such as biochemical processes and their association with diseases (Ding et al., 2019; Hu et al., 2019; Jin et al., 2019; Nie and Yi, 2019), cancer biology (Feng, 2019; Huang et al., 2019; Leonard and Zhang, 2019; Zhu F et al., 2019), plant and environmental microbiology (Li et al., 2019; Yang et al., 2019; Zhu XR et al., 2019), cell cycle (Gao and Liu, 2019; Zhang et al., 2019), RNA biology (Gudenas et al., 2019; Luo et al., 2019), and protein structural biology (Yang and Tang, 2019).

Background: The predominant method for Manske type IIIB and IV thumb hypoplasia is pollicization. However, for those who are not willing to sacrifice the index finger, a method that could reconstruct a functionally capable and aesthetically acceptable thumb remains desirable. This study aimed to investigate and assess the functional and radiographic outcomes of utilizing a reversed vascularized second metatarsal composite flap for thumb reconstruction as a new alternative. Methods: From May 2014 to January 2017, 15 patients with Manske type IIIB or IV thumb hypoplasia who were admitted to the Department of Hand Surgery, Beijing Jishuitan Hospital were included in this study. An osteocutaneous flap containing a section of second metatarsal and its distal head was transferred in reversed position to reconstruct carpometacarpal joint. The donor site was reconstructed by a split half of the third metatarsal. Various functional reconstructions were commenced at second stage. The reconstructed thumbs were evaluated using the Kapandji score, pinch force, and the capacities of performing daily activities through a detailed questionnaire. Results: Among these 15 patients (seven type IIIB and eight type IV), there were ten boys and five girls with median age of 4.2 years (range: 2.0-7.0 years). There were seven right, three left, and five bilateral thumbs for whom only the right thumb received surgery. There were 14 metatarsal flaps survived (14/15). With an average follow-up of 19.2 months, the reconstructed thumbs had acceptable functional and aesthetic outcomes and the donor foot presented in decent appearance without signs of impaired function. All 15 children have improved the Kapandji score (from 0 to an average of 6.7), pinch force (from 0 to an average of 1.5 kg), with ability of grip and pen holding. X-ray indicated continuous bone growth. Patients and parents had good acceptance of the new thumb. Conclusions Reconstruction of an unstable hypoplastic thumb (Manske type IIIB and IV) with use of a vascularized metatarsal is an effective strategy. It offers an alternative solution for parents insisting on saving the thumb.