Terahertz(THz)technology,as an emerging tool for characterizing biomacromolecules,has rapidly developed over the past few decades,demonstrating significant application potential in multiple fields.Defensive qi is a vital energy in the human body,responsible for defense functions by warming the skin,regulating the opening and closing of the striae and interstices,and resisting the invasion of external pathogens.Defensive qi is one of the core concepts for disease prevention and health maintenance in traditional Chinese medicine(TCM).However,due to the high abstraction and complexity of TCM theory,the scientific connotation and mechanism of action of defensive qi remained incompletely elucidated.THz waves have the unique physical properties of molecular vibration sensitivity,penetrability,and thermal radiation effects,and are highly sensitive to biological tissues,which make THz technology a promising tool for defensive qi research.By analyzing the characteristics of THz waves,this paper explores the feasibility of applying THz technology to investigate the circulation patterns of defensive qi,the prevention and treatment of disorders related defensive qi,the pathological essence of defensive qi diseases,the material basis of defensive qi,the screening of defensive qi disorders,and the development of novel drugs targeting defensive qi disorders.This approach provides a new perspective and methodology for the research of TCM fundamental theory.

Objective To investigate the methodology,technical considerations,and precautions of transcatheter arterial emboliza-tion(TAE)using medical adhesive as the primary embolic agent for visceral artery aneurysm(VAA).Methods A total of 14 patients with VAA treated with medical adhesive-based TAE were retrospectively analyzed.Among the 14 patients,6 cases were hepatic artery pseudoaneurysms,4 cases were true gastroduodenal aneurysms,3 cases were gastroduodenal pseudoaneurysms,and 1 case was renal artery pseudoaneurysm.Among the 14 patients,medical adhesive alone was used in 12 cases,while the other 2 cases were employed medical adhesive combined with supplemental coil embolization.Follow-up assessments including abdominal computed tomography angiography(CTA)and laboratory tests were conducted at 3,6,and 12 months post-procedure.Results Technical success was achieved in all cases with mean procedure duration of(60.4±8.2)min and average hospital stay of(8.9±2.1)d.No recanalization,aneurysm enlargement,or non-target embolization were observed during follow-up.Conclusion Medical adhesive-based TAE demonstrates high technical success when performed by experienced interventionists,with low complication rate,low recurrence rate,and low pro-cedure-related mortality,representing a cost-effective preferred treatment for VAA.

Objective To investigate the methodology,technical considerations,and precautions of transcatheter arterial emboliza-tion(TAE)using medical adhesive as the primary embolic agent for visceral artery aneurysm(VAA).Methods A total of 14 patients with VAA treated with medical adhesive-based TAE were retrospectively analyzed.Among the 14 patients,6 cases were hepatic artery pseudoaneurysms,4 cases were true gastroduodenal aneurysms,3 cases were gastroduodenal pseudoaneurysms,and 1 case was renal artery pseudoaneurysm.Among the 14 patients,medical adhesive alone was used in 12 cases,while the other 2 cases were employed medical adhesive combined with supplemental coil embolization.Follow-up assessments including abdominal computed tomography angiography(CTA)and laboratory tests were conducted at 3,6,and 12 months post-procedure.Results Technical success was achieved in all cases with mean procedure duration of(60.4±8.2)min and average hospital stay of(8.9±2.1)d.No recanalization,aneurysm enlargement,or non-target embolization were observed during follow-up.Conclusion Medical adhesive-based TAE demonstrates high technical success when performed by experienced interventionists,with low complication rate,low recurrence rate,and low pro-cedure-related mortality,representing a cost-effective preferred treatment for VAA.

Objective To investigate the risk factors of complications after CT-guided percutaneous transthoracic needle biopsy(PTNB)in the plateau environment.Methods A total of 858 patients who underwent CT-guided PTNB were selected,and the clini-cal data of patients,imaging features of lesions,information related to puncture operation,complications,and pathological results were analyzed retrospectively,then the independent risk factors of postoperative pneumothorax and pulmonary hemorrhage were summarized.Results Among 858 patients with lung biopsy,816 cases(95.1％)were successfully sampled,including 203 cases(23.7％)in the pneumothorax and 140 cases(16.3％)in the pulmonary hemorrhage.The statistical analysis results of the pneumo-thorax revealed significant differences in lesion location and lesion size(P＜0.05).The statistical analysis results of the pulmonary hemorrhage showed significant differences in lesion location,lesion size,puncture angle and puncture depth(P＜0.05).Independent risk factors affecting pneumothorax and pulmonary hemorrhage were illustrated in a forest plot.Conclusion Because the oxygen partial pressure and climate temperature are relatively low in the plateau environment,the cardiopulmonary function of patients will be affected by the living environment.Therefore,on the premise of ensuring the success rate of CT-guided PTNB,the optimal path and timing should be selected to reduce the risk of complications.

Objective To investigate the efficacy of CT-guided percutaneous microwave ablation for the treatment of primary hepatocellular carcinoma.Methods A total of 132 patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma were divided into control group and study group(66 cases in each group)according to different treatment plans.The control group received transcatheter arterial chemoembolization(TACE)treatment,while the study group received TACE combined with percutaneous microwave ablation under CT guidance.The changes in serum tumor markers and liver function indicators were observed before and after treatment in the two groups,and the efficacy(short-and long-term)and safety of the two groups were compared.Results The levels of serum carcinoembryonic antigen(CEA),alpha-fetoprotein(AFP),carbohydrate antigen 125(CA125),and carbohydrate antigen 19-9(CA19-9)in both groups decreased significantly after treatment compared to those before treatment,and intergroup comparison showed that the levels of CEA,AFP,CA125,and CA1 9-9 in the study group were significantly lower those after treatment(P＜0.05).Compared with those before treatment,the levels of alanine transaminase(ALT)and aspartate transaminase(AST)were decreased,and the level of albumin(ALB)was increased of both groups after treatment.The intergroup comparison showed that the study groups ALT and AST levels were lower and ALB level was higher(P＜0.05).The total effective rate of the study group was clearly higher than that of the control group(75.76％vs 46.97％,P＜0.05).The 1-year survival rates of the two groups were similar(90.91％vs 81.82％,P＞0.05),however,the 2-year survival rate of the study group was clearly higher than that of the control group(84.85％vs 63.64％,P＜0.05).Conclusion CT-guided percutaneous microwave ablation for the adjuvant TACE treatment of primary hepatocellular carcinoma can effectively reduce tumor burden and lower tumor marker levels,its short-and long-term efficacy is significant,with a low incidence of adverse reactions and good safety.

Objective:To establish a sensitive and rapid nucleic acid detection method for 2019-nCoV that can be promoted in primary laboratories.Methods:The detection method for 2019-nCoV nucleic acid was established based on the Bubble Mediated Nucleic Acid Denaturation (BMD)-PCR technology with 2019-nCoV specific primers and probes. To validate this method, the laboratory-confirmed clinical samples (including 60 positives and 68 negatives of 2019-nCoV) were used and meanwhile the result were compared with the commercialized 2019-nCoV nucleic acid detection kits. The specificity of this method was validated by using 11 respiratory viruses and enteroviruses which cover common genotypes.Results:The BMD-PCR method showed good specificity in the detection of 2019-nCoV nucleic acid. It had no cross-reactivity with 11 common respiratory viruses and enteroviruses, and the limit of detection was less than 600 copies/ml. In addition, the qualitative result of 128 clinical samples were 100% consistent with the commercialized detection kits. Furthermore, the detection time can be shortened to 28 minutes.Conclusions:BMD-PCR for 2019-nCoV nucleic acid rapid detection could quickly diagnose and identify clinical samples, and could meet the current urgent needs of large-scale population and high-throughput screening which has important public health significance.

Objective:To identify 49 Aeromonas caviae strains isolated form foodborne and environmental samples and analyze their virulence and antibiotic resistance. Methods:All strains were identified by VITEK and API 20NE. Two housekeeping genes, gryB and rpoD, were amplified by PCR for phylogenetic analysis. Virulence genes including act, alt, ast, lip, ahp, aerA, hlyA, ompA1 and fla were detected by PCR. In vitro antimicrobial susceptibility of these strains was tested with AST-GN16 kit. Results:Fifty-four Aeromonas caviae/ Aeromonas hydrophila strains were identified by biochemical tests. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that there were 49 Aeromonas caviae strains, four Aeromonas hydrophila strains and one Aeromonas taiwanensis strain. The positive rates of alt, lip, ompA1, fla, act, aerA and hlyA genes were 100.00%, 100.00%, 79.59%, 14.29%, 2.04%, 2.04% and 2.04%, respectively. None of the isolates carried ast or ahp gene. A total of four virulence gene combination patterns were detected, and the predominant pattern was alt/ lip/ ompA1 (32/49). Antibiotic resistance rates of the Aeromonas caviae strains to ampicillin, cefazolin, cefoxitin, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, ceftriaxone, trimethoprim/sulfamet hoxoazole and aztreonam were 79.59%, 14.29%, 10.20%, 6.12%, 4.08%, 4.08% and 2.04%, respectively. All strains were susceptible to piparacillin/tazobactam, imipenem, amikacin, gentamicin, levofloxacin, tigacycline and nitrofurantoin. Two multidrug-resistant strains were detected. Conclusions:Aeromonas caviae/ Aeromonas hydrophila can be effectively identified by the housekeeping genes gyrB and rpoD, and the closely related Aeromonas caviae and Aeromonas taiwanensis strains can be identified by rpoD. All Aeromonas caviae strains carried two or more virulence genes and one strain isolated from environment was positive for seven virulence genes. Aeromonas caviae strains were generally resistant to penicillin, which was mainly relate to the production of β-lactamase. No strain was resistant to carbapenems, aminoglycosides, fluoroquinolones, tetracyclines or furans. Multidrug-resistant strains were observed in food and drinking water.

Objective To analyze the antimicrobial resistance, distribution of resistance genes and staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec ( SCCmec) in 99 strains of mecA gene-positive Staphylococcus epi-dermidis strains isolated from early pregnancy cervical swabs and external environment in Beijing Chaoyang District from 2015 to 2016. Methods Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method was performed to detect the sus-ceptibility of the 99 Staphylococcus epidermidis strains to cefoxitin. Microbroth dilution method was used to test their susceptibility to vancomycin, daptomycin, penicillin, erythromycin, compound sulfamethoxazole, tetracycline, ciprofloxacin, clindamycin, gentamicin and chloramphenicol. PCR was used to detect drug re-sistance genes of ermA, ermB, ermC, msrA, norA1, norA2, sul1, sul2, sul3, aac(6')/aph(2″), ant(4', 4″), ant(6) and tetM and to analyze the SCCmec types ofⅠ, Ⅱ, Ⅲ, Ⅳa, Ⅳb, Ⅳc, Ⅳd and Ⅴ. The results were compared with those of capillary electrophoresis. SPSS was used for data analysis. Results All of the 99 mecA-positive Staphylococcus epidermidis strains were sensitive to vancomycin and 93. 94％ of them were sensitive to datomycin. The resistance rates to penicillin, erythromycin, cefoxitin, compound sulfame-thoxazole, tetracycline, ciprofloxacin, clindamycin, gentamicin and chloramphenicol were 97. 98％, 85. 86％, 79. 80％, 52. 54％, 27. 27％, 43. 43％, 36. 36％, 23. 23％ and 11. 11％. The strains that car-ried the genes of norA1, norA2, ermA, ermB, ermC, msrA, sul1, sul2, sul3, aac(6')/aph(2″), ant(4', 4″), ant(6) and tetM accounted for 100％, 93. 94％, 0. 00％, 3. 03％, 17. 17％, 57. 58％, 50. 51％, 12. 12％, 4. 04％, 30. 30％, 8. 08％, 4. 04％ and 25. 26％, respectively. Among the 99 strains, 5. 05％, 0％, 43. 43％, 10. 10％, 0. 00％, 3. 03％, 3. 03％ and 19. 19％ belonged to SCCmecⅠ, Ⅱ, Ⅲ, Ⅳa,Ⅳb,Ⅳc,Ⅳd andⅤ, respectively, and 4. 04％ (4/99) were positive to two SCCmec types. The types of 12. 12％ (12/99) of the strains were unidentified. Conclusions All of the 99 strains of mecA-positive Staphylococcus epidermidis were sensitive to vancomycin. Among them, the strains carrying multidrug resist-ance genes accounted for 89. 90％. The main mechanisms of resistance to macrolides, sulfonamides and ami-noglycosides in local strains were related to the resistance genes of msrA, sul1 and aac ( 6')/aph ( 2″) . SCCmec Ⅲ was the prevalent type. There were 88. 37％ of SCCmec Ⅲ type strains and 75％ of unknown type strains carrying multiple resistance genes. Apart from that, the isolated strains of other SCCmecⅢtypes all carried multiple resistance genes.

AIM: To explore the effect of microRNA-146a (miR-146a) on apoptosis of human gastric cancer SGC-7901 cells and the underluing mechanism.METHODS: miR-146a mimic (up-regulated miR-146a expression) and miR-146a inhibitor (down-regulated miR-146a expression) were transfected into the SGC-7901 cells by liposome method.At the same time, miRNA nonsense sequence transfection group as the negative control group (NC group) was set up.RT-qPCR was used to evaluate the levels of miR-146a in the SGC-7901 cells after transfection.The effects of miR-146a on the cell apoptosis and growth were assessed by flow cytometry analysis and CCK-8 assay, respectively.The effect of over-expression or knockdown of miR-146a on transforming growth factor-β-activated kinase 1 (TAK1)/ nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) signaling was evaluated by RT-qPCR and Western blot.RESULTS: miR-146a modulated apoptosis of SGC-7901 cells.Over-expression of miR-146a significantly increased apoptosis, whereas knockdown of miR-146a inhibited the apoptosis of SGC-7901 cells.The expression of TAK1 at mRNA and protein levels was significantly decreased when miR-146a mimic was transfected into the SGC-7901 cells (P<0.05).On the contrast, the expression of TAK1 at mRNA and protein were significantly higher in miR-146a inhibitor transfection group than that in NC group (P<0.05), suggesting that miR-146a negatively regulated TAK1 expression.Moreover, knockdown of TAK1 enhanced the apoptosis of SGC-7901 cells (P<0.01), while over-expression of TAK1 inhibited the apoptosis of SGC-7901 cells(P<0.01).Additionally, both over-expression of miR-146a and knockdown of TAK1 led to a prominent increase in the expression of NF-κB inhibitor protein alpha (IκBα) and a significat decrease in B cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) level in the SGC-7901 cells.CONCLUSION: miR-146a significantly promotes apoptosis of SGC-7901 cells by inhibition of NF-κB pathway via targeting TAK1.

Objective To investigate the effect of mentalization based treatment on the negative emotion such as anxiety,depression and chronic drug craving among methamphetamine addicts.Methods Totally 612 methamphetamine addicts in 6 compulsory isolated detoxification center of Liaoning served as the study subjects and randomly divided into the experimental group (mentalization based treatment group) and control group,306 cases in each group.The Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAD,Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Drug Craving Inventory were used to evaluate the anxiety,depression and chronic craving in the two groups.Results The scores of BAI,BDI and Drug Craving Inventory after mentalization base treatment in the experimental group were decreased compared with those of before intervention (P＜0.05).The declining trend of the scores of BAI,BDI and Drug Craving Inventory after intervention in the experimental group were more significant than that in the control group (P＜0.05).Conclusion The mentalization based treatment can improve the negative emotions such as anxiety and depression to some extent,and reduces the chronic drug craving among methamphetamine drug addicts.