OBJECTIVE: To explore the effectiveness of arthroscopic release of elbow joint assisted by medial small incision ulnar nerve release in the treatment of non-traumatic elbow stiffness. METHODS: The clinical data of 15 patients with non-traumatic elbow stiffness treated with arthroscopic release of elbow joint assisted by medial small incision ulnar nerve release between April 2019 and September 2023 were retrospectively analyzed. There were 6 males and 9 females with an average age of 46 years ranging from 34 to 56 years. The causes included rheumatoid arthritis in 3 cases, gouty arthritis in 2 cases, loose bodies in 3 cases, and elbow osteoarthritis in 7 cases. There were 4 cases with ulnar neuritis and 3 cases with synovial osteochondromatosis. The duration of elbow stiffness ranged from 6 to 18 months, with an average of 10 months. The operation time and intraoperative blood loss were recorded. The effectiveness was evaluated by visual analogue scale (VAS) score, range of elbow motion (maximum flexion, maximum extension, and total flexion and extension), Mayo score, and Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) elbow score. RESULTS: The operation time was 60-90 minutes, with an average of 65 minutes, and the intraoperative blood loss was 40-100 mL, with an average of 62 mL. All patients were followed up 13-18 months, with an average of 14 months. There was no complication such as vascular and nerve injury, poor wound healing, collateral ligament injury, elbow joint space narrowing, osteophyte proliferation, or loose body formation around the joint. At last follow-up, the elbow range of motion (maximum flexion, maximum extension, and total flexion and extension), VAS score, and Mayo score significantly improved when compared with those before operation ( P<0.05). The HSS elbow score was 85-95, with an average of 92; 12 cases were excellent, 3 cases were good, and the excellent and good rate was 100%. CONCLUSION Arthroscopic release of elbow joint assisted by medial small incision ulnar nerve release is an effective way to treat non-traumatic elbow stiffness, which has the advantages of small trauma, short operation time, and good effectiveness. It can carry out early elbow rehabilitation training and significantly improve elbow function.
Humans ; Male ; Female ; Arthroscopy/methods* ; Adult ; Middle Aged ; Elbow Joint/physiopathology* ; Retrospective Studies ; Range of Motion, Articular ; Treatment Outcome ; Ulnar Nerve/surgery* ; Operative Time

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness and outcomes of percutaneous ablation guided by ultrasonography (US) and computed tomography (CT) in colorectal liver oligometastases (CLOM). Methods: This study included patients with CLOM treated with percutaneous ablation from January 2008 to January 2021 in this observational study. Only lesions visualized on both CT and US images were further analyzed according to whether patients’ initial ablation treatments utilized US guidance or CT guidance. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate local tumor progression (LTP)–free survival after propensity score matching (PSM). The LTP-free survival and treatment-related outcomes were compared between these two groups. Results: PSM identified 116 patients from each group, with 269 and 238 lesions in the USguided and CT-guided groups, respectively. US-guided ablation had a shorter average procedure time and lower cost than CT-guided ablation (27.54±12.06 minutes vs. 32.70±13.88 minutes, P=0.003; $2,175.13±618.17 vs. $2,455.49±710.25, P=0.002). For patients >60 years of age, the cumulative LTP rate at 1 year was lower in the US-guided group than in the CT-guided group (17.8% vs. 25.1%, P=0.038). For patients with perivascular liver lesions, the cumulative LTP rate at 1 year was lower in the US-guided group (14.4% vs. 28.2%, P=0.040). Conclusion For patients whose age is >60 years or who have perivascular liver lesions, USguided ablation is better than CT-guided ablation, with a shorter treatment time and lower costs when both ablation methods are feasible for patients.

Objective To assess and compare the incidence,clinical characteristics,treatment,and prognosis of acute heart failure patients from different grades hospitals in Beijing.Methods In this prospective internet prognosis registered study (Beijing AHF Registry),a total of 3 335 consecutive patients admitted to 14 emergency departments in Beijing from January 1st 2011 to September 23rd 2012 were enrolled.According to hospital grade,these patients were divided into two groups,349 patients were from secondary hospitals,and 2 956 patients were from tertiary hospitals.Results Among the 3 335 patients,the medium age was 71 (58,79) years,and male accounted for 53.16％.The most common underlying disease were coronary disease (43.27％),hypertension (17.73％),cardiomyopathy (16.07％) etc.The average treatment time in Emergency Department was 66.82 h.The emergency department mortality rate was 3.81％ (127 cases).The 30-day and 1-year cumulative all-cause mortality were 15.3％ and 32.27％,respectively.The 30-day and 1-year cumulative all-cause readmission were 15.64％ and 46.89％,respectively.Compared with patients in tertiary hospitals,patients in secondary hospitals had more onset acute heart failure patients (63.64％ vs.49.93％),shorter emergency department treatment time (12 h vs.41 h),lower discharge rate (3.43％ vs.37.45％) and emergency department mortality(1.58％ vs.4.09％).Compared with those in tertiary hospitals,1-year cumulative all-cause mortality (25.6％ vs.33.2％),cardiovascular disease mortality (20.2％ vs.26.0％),aggravated heart failure mortality (22.4％ vs.28.8％) were lower in secondary hospitals.Following propensity score matching,compared to tertiary hospitals,patients in secondary hospitals showed lower utilization rate of beta-blockers and ACEFARB (4.51％ vs.28.17％,1.41％ vs.9.58％),except the pironolactone.Conclusion Acute heart failure in emergency department is associated with a high mortality rate and readmission rate.There is still a big gap between guidelines recommend medication current treatments for acute heart failure.

Artificial conduits, including ureteral stents and catheters, are used widely as drainage tools in the urinary system. However, various bacteria in the urine and long duration of insertion can arouse the biofilm formation on the pipeline surface, which calls for effective antibacterial strategy. In this article, the mechanism of Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTI) is explained from the perspective of etiology. Then, the biofilm formation conditions and the features of urine are analyzed, the antibacterial agents and approaches suitable for ureteral stents and catheters are introduced and their pros and cons are discussed respectively.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Catheters ; Drainage ; Humans ; Stents ; Urinary Catheterization ; instrumentation ; Urinary Tract Infections

The fourth time national survey of Chinese materia medica (CMM) was used. The quadrat survey contained recording on species and amounts of plants, collection of specimens and CMM. The weight of main medicinal plant was measured. The quadrat numbers were calculated on regions, plant species and sea level of samples from different regions. There were 703 species of medicinal plants. The 143 species of main medicinal plants, which occupied to 74.5% in main medicinal plants in Chongqing, belonged to 71 families and 132 genera. There were 128 species of wild main medicinal plants. The 30 species of main medicinal plants were cultivated (including 15 species of both wild and cultivated medicinal plants). Among them, 14 species were in large-scale cultivation. This investigation helped the understanding of present situation of medicinal species distribution in Chengkou County, the habitats of wild medicinal plants, and the resources reserves, which provided references for the continuous development of Chinese herbal medicine resources.

Objective To observe the transfection efficiency and anti-fibrotic effect of miR-29b transfected by anti-TGF-β Ⅱ R ScFv/Ck/tP fusion protein (new vector) in hepatic stellate cell (HSC),and to provide a new vector in gene therapy for liver fibrosis.Methods The liposome vector,new vector,and lentiviral vector were used as transfection reagents to transfect miR-29b into HSC.Transfection efficiency was observed under fluorescence microscope and flow cytometry.Collagen α1 (Ⅰ) mRNA and protein expression in different groups were analyzed by real-time RT-PCR and Western Blot,respectively.Results Compared to the control,transfection efficiencies in lentiviral vector,new vector,and liposome vector groups were about 70％,58％,and 29％,respectively.Collagen α1 (Ⅰ) mRNA expression in lentiviral vector,new vector,and liposome vector groups was decreased by about 70％,50％,and 38％,respectively ((t =6.316,P ＜0.01 ; t =4.082,P ＜0.01 ; t =3.014,P ＜0.05).Collagen α1(Ⅰ) protein expression in lentiviral vector,new vector,and liposome vector groups was decreased by about 59％,41％,and 27％,respectively (t =4.209,P ＜0.01; t =4.033,P ＜0.01; t =2.842,P ＜0.05).Conclusions The new vector constructed by us has a high transfection efficiency.MiR-29b transfected by the new vector has a good anti-liver fibrosis effect.

Heparinase III is an enzyme that specifically cleaves certain sequences of heparan sulfate. Previous reports showed that this enzyme expressed in Escherichia coli was highly prone to aggregation in inclusion bodies and lacks detectable biological activity. In this paper, we fused a glutathione-S-transferase (GST) tag to the N-terminus of heparinase III gene and expressed the fusion protein in Escherichia coli to develop an expression system of soluble heparinase III. As a result, approximately 80% of the fusion protein was soluble. The protein was then purified to near homogeneity via one-step affinity chromatography. A 199.4-fold purification was achieved and the purified enzyme had a specific activity of 101.7 IU/mg protein. This represented 32.3% recovery of the total activity of recombinant GST-heparinase III. The maximum enzyme production was achieved when bacteria were induced with 0.5 mmol/L isopropyl-beta-D-thiogalactoside at 15 degrees C for 12 h. The enzyme showed maximum activity at 30 degrees C and pH 7.5. And the enzyme activity was stimulated by 1 mmol/L Ca2+ and 150 mmol/L NaCl.
Escherichia coli ; genetics ; metabolism ; Flavobacterium ; enzymology ; genetics ; growth & development ; Glutathione Transferase ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Heparin Lyase ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; isolation & purification

Objective: To investigate the psychosocial characteristics and mind-physique status of pa-tients with gynecological malignant tumors. Methods: Clinical psycho-rating scale [life event scale (LES) and symptom checklist-90 (SCL-90)] was applied to test life events and mind-physique status of 60 cases of pa-tients with gynecological malignant tumor. The results were compared with those of 40 female patients with benign tumors and 40 normal females. Results: The frequency and tension value of total life events and those of negative life events in the malignant cancer group were much higher than those in the benign tumor group and normal group (P<0.05) and no remarkable differences were found in the frequency of positive life events among the three groups. The frequencies of total life events and negative life events were higher in the be-nign tumor group than those in the normal group (P<0.05) but there were no significant differences in the fre-quency of positive life events, total tension value or positive tension value among the three groups. No signifi-cant differences were found in the indices of SCL-90, positive scores and scorns of other factors among the three groups (P>0.05). The scores of somatization, obsession, interpersonal relationship sensitivity, anxiety, hostility, phobia, and paranoia were higher in the malignant tumor group than in the benign tumor group and normal group (P<0.05). The average positive scores and the depression scores in the benign tumor group were higher than those in the normal group (P<0.05), but there was no statistical significance in other indices between the benign tumor group and the normal group (P>0.05). Conclusion: Negative psychosocial factors are closely correlated with the occurrence and growth of gynecological malignant tumors. Active psychological intervention should be performed as eady as possible.