Pulmonary hypertension is a progressive disease characterized by pulmonary vascular remodeling and eventually develops into right heart failure, which seriously affects the quality of life and safety of patients. Traditional drug therapy can alleviate disease progression, but the prognosis is poor.Mesenchymal stem cells have been shown to be effective in experimental pulmonary hypertension and right heart failure, which is an important research direction in the future.In this paper, the research progress of mesenchymal stem cells in pulmonary hypertension and right heart failure is reviewed.

BACKGROUND: There are many causes of kidney stones, but there is no clear answer to whether kidney anatomy and morphology studies affect the generation of stones. OBJECTIVE: To reconstruct a three-dimensional model of the kidney and to measure and analyze anatomical data related to the etiology of kidney stones. METHODS: Thirty patients with kidney stones treated at Liangxiang Hospital in Fangshan District, Beijing from December 2017 to February 2019 were randomly selected as the study group, and the control group was 30 normal people who underwent physical examination during the same period. After collecting renal CT scan data from two groups of patients, the three-dimensional model of the kidney was reconstructed by image segmentation and fusion using Mimics 16.0. The length and width of the kidney, the length and width of the renal sinus, diameter of the junction between the renal pelvis and ureter, the distance from the upper edge of the kidney to the longitudinal line of the spinous process, the distance from the lower edge of the kidney to the longitudinal line of the spinous process, and the distance from the hilum to the longitudinal line of the spinous process. Multi-parameter Logistic regression analysis was performed on kidney anatomy parameters of patients with kidney stones. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: There were no significant differences in the three-dimensional digital measurement results between patients with kidney stones and healthy people in the following aspects: the length and width of the kidney, length and width of the renal sinus, diameter of the junction between the renal pelvis and ureter, distance from the upper edge of the kidney to the longitudinal line of the spinous process, distance from the lower edge of the kidney to the longitudinal line of the spinous process, and distance from the hilum to the longitudinal line of the spinous process (P > 0.05). Multi-parameter Logistic regression analysis results of the kidney of patients with kidney stones indicated that there was no significant correlation among the length and width of the kidney, length and width of the renal sinus, diameter of the junction between the renal pelvis and ureter, distance from the upper edge of the kidney to the longitudinal line of the spinous process, distance from the lower edge of the kidney to the longitudinal line of the spinous process, and distance from the hilum to the longitudinal line of the spinous process (P > 0.05). These findings reveal that the difference in kidney morphology has nothing to do with the formation of stones.

Background: In China, secondary cytoreductive surgery (SCR) has been widely used in ovarian cancer (OC) over the past two decades. Although Gynecologic Oncology Group-0213 trial did not show its overall survival benefit in first relapsed patients, the questions on patient selection and effect of subsequent targeting therapy are still open. The preliminary data from our pre-SOC1 phase II study showed that selected patients with second relapse who never received SCR at recurrence may still benefit from surgery. Moreover, poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors (PARPi) maintenance now has been a standard care for platinum sensitive relapsed OC. To our knowledge, no published or ongoing trial is trying to answer the question if patient can benefit from a potentially complete resection combined with PARPi maintenance in OC patients with secondary recurrence. Methods SOC-3 is a multi-center, open, randomized, controlled, phase II trial of SCR followed by chemotherapy and niraparib maintenance vs chemotherapy and niraparib maintenance in patients with platinum-sensitive second relapsed OC who never received SCR at recurrence. To guarantee surgical quality, if the sites had no experience of participating in any OC-related surgical trials, the number of recurrent lesions evaluated by central-reviewed positron emission tomography–computed tomography image shouldn't be more than 3. Eligible patients are randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive either SCR followed by 6 cyclesof platinum-based chemotherapy and niraparib maintenance or 6 cycles of platinum-based chemotherapy and niraparib maintenance alone. Patients who undergo at least 4 cycles of chemotherapy and must be, in the opinion of the investigator, without disease progression, will be assigned niraparib maintenance. Major inclusion criteria are secondary relapsed OC with a platinum-free interval of no less than 6 months and a possibly complete resection. Major exclusion criteria are borderline tumors and non-epithelial ovarian malignancies, received debulking surgery at recurrence and impossible to complete resection. The sample size is 96 patients. Primary endpoint is 12-month non-progression rate.

Objective To study the colonization rate and antibiotic resistance of group B Streptococcus (GBS) in gravidas during late pregnancy,and to evaluate the effectiveness of GBS screening in late pregnancy and intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis (IAP) for the prevention of neonatal early-onset GBS disease (EOGBS).Methods A retrospective study was conducted to analyze the colonization rate and antibiotic resistance pattern of GBS in 14 204 gravidas who were screened for GBS at 35-37 gestational weeks during March 2016 to March 2018 in the University of Hongkong-Shenzhen Hospital (HKU-SZH).Differences in the incidence of EOGBS before and after GBS screening and IAP were analyzed using Chi-square or Fisher's exact test.Results Among the 14 204 gravidas,2 027 cases were GBS positive with a colonization rate of 14.27％.Incidence rates of EOGBS before and after GBS screening were 0.6‰ (4/6 356) and 0.07‰ (1/14 403),respectively (Fisher's exact test,P=0.033).GBS isolates were 100％ (2 027/2 027) sensitive to penicillin and vancomycin.Resistance rates to clindamycin and erythromycin were 67.2％(1 363/2 027) and 65.7％ (1 332/2 027),respectively.Conclusions Routine GBS screening in late pregnancy and IAP can significantly decrease the incidence of EOGBS.Penicillin is the optimal choice for prevention and treatment of GBS infection.

Objective To investigate the safety and effectiveness of external cephalic version for breech presentation in singleton term pregnancies. Methods This study retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 195 singleton pregnancies with gestational weeks ≥37 and breech presentation that has received external cephalic version in University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital from January 2014 to December 2016. The success rate of external cephalic version, delivery modes, maternal and neonatal complications and adverse outcomes were analyzed. Results Of the 195 cases, 62.6% (122/195) were successful, among which 107 vaginally delivered and 15 underwent the cesarean section. Maternal and neonatal outcomes of all 195 cases were good. The success rate of external cephalic version in the multipara was higher than that of the primipara [84.5%(71/84) vs 45.9%(51/111), χ2=30.383, P<0.001]. No neonatal asphyxiation or postpartum hemorrhage was reported. Conclusions External cephalic version is an effective and safe method to convert breech presentation and reduce cesarean section rate in the third trimester.

Objective: To investigate the expression of long non-coding RNA NUP50-AS1 (lncRNA NUP50-AS1) in esophageal squamous cell carcinomas (ESCC) tissues and cell lines, and to explore its effect on proliferation, migration and invasion of human esophageal cancer Eca109 cells. Methods: 49 pairs of ESCC tissues and corresponding para-cancerous tissues obtained from the Biological Specimen Base of the Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University during Jan. 2015 to Jan. 2016 were used in this study. qRT-PCR method was applied to detect the expression of NUP50-AS1 in collected tissues samples and five esophageal cancer cell lines (TE1, TE13, Eca109, Kyse150 and Kyse170). ShRNAs were transiently transfected into Eca109 cells to interfere the expression of NUP50AS1 gene, and finally, sh2-NUP50-AS1 was used for the following experiments. The effect of NUP50-AS1 gene knockdown on the proliferation of Eca109 cells was detected by MTS and colony formation assay; the effect of NUP50-AS1 gene knockdown on the migration of Eca109 cells was detected by scratch test, and the effect on cell invasion was detected by Transwell assay. Results: The expression of NUP50-AS1 in ESCC was correlated with the lymphnode metastasis and TNM stage (all P<0.01). The expression of NUP50AS1 in ESCC tissues was significantly higher than that in corresponding normal tissues (2.003±0.870 vs 1.000±0.000, P<0.05). The expression of NUP50-AS1 in five esophageal cancer cell lines was significantly up-regulated (P<0.05), and it had the highest expression in Eca109 cell line. After transfection, sh2-NUP50-AS1 had the highest transfection efficiency, and knocking down NUP50-AS1 gene significantly inhibited the proliferation, invasion and migration of the Eca109 cells. Conclusion: The expression of lncRNA NUP50AS1 in ESCC tissues was significantly higher than that in the para-cancerous tissues, and correlated with the TNM stage and lymphnode metastasis. The down-regulation of NUP50-AS1 inhibited the proliferation, invasion and migration of esophageal cancer cells. The high expression of NUP50-AS1 gene may be closely related to the occurrence and development of ESCC.

We proposed a new deep learning model by analyzing electroencephalogram signals to reduce the complexity of feature extraction and improve the accuracy of recognition of fatigue status of pilots. For one thing, we applied wavelet packet transform to decompose electroencephalogram signals of pilots to extract the δ wave (0.4-3 Hz), θ wave (4-7 Hz), α wave (8-13 Hz) and β wave (14-30 Hz), and the combination of them was used as de-nosing electroencephalogram signals. For another, we proposed a deep contractive auto-encoding network-Softmax model for identifying pilots' fatigue status. Its recognition results were also compared with other models. The experimental results showed that the proposed deep learning model had a nice recognition, and the accuracy of recognition was up to 91.67%. Therefore, recognition of fatigue status of pilots based on deep contractive auto-encoding network is of great significance.

OBJECTIVE: Distal pancreatectomy with splenectomy may be required for optimal cytoreductive surgery in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) metastasized to splenic hilum. This study evaluates the morbidity and treatment outcomes of the uncommon procedure in the management of advanced or recurrent EOC. METHODS: This study recruited 18 patients who underwent distal pancreatectomy with splenectomy during cytoreductive surgery of EOC. Their clinicopathological characteristics and follow-up data were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: All tumors were confirmed as high-grade serous carcinomas. The median diameter of metastatic tumors located in splenic hilum was 3.5 cm (range, 1 to 10 cm). Optimal cytoreduction was achieved in all patients. Eight patients (44.4%) suffered from postoperative complications. The morbidity associated with distal pancreatectomy and splenectomy included pancreatic leakage (22.2%), encapsulated effusion in the left upper quadrant (11.1%), intra-abdominal infection (11.1%), pleural effusion with or without pulmonary atelectasis (11.1%), intestinal obstruction (5.6%), pneumonia (5.6%), postoperative hemorrhage (5.6%), and pancreatic pseudocyst (5.6%). There was no perioperative mortality. The majority of complications were treated successfully with conservative management. During the median follow-up duration of 25 months, nine patients experienced recurrence, and three patients died of the disease. The 2-year progression-free survival and overall survival were 40.2% and 84.8%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The inclusion of distal pancreatectomy with splenectomy as part of cytoreduction for the management of ovarian cancer was associated with high morbidity; however, the majority of complications could be managed with conservative therapy.
Adult ; Aged ; *Cytoreduction Surgical Procedures ; Disease-Free Survival ; Female ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial/mortality/pathology/*surgery ; Ovarian Neoplasms/mortality/pathology/*surgery ; *Pancreatectomy/adverse effects ; Postoperative Complications/epidemiology/therapy ; *Splenectomy/adverse effects ; Splenic Neoplasms/pathology/*secondary/*surgery

Objective The aim of this study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of partial pancreatectomy as part of primary cytoreductive surgery in advanced epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Methods A total of 8 patients were recruited in this study who underwent partial pancreatectomy during the primary cytoreductive surgeries for advanced EOC in Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center from April 2009 to July 2015. Their clinicopathological characteristics, diameter of metastatic tumors, the scope of cytoreductive surgeries, residual diseases after cytoreductive surgeries, postoperative complications and survival situation were retrospective analyzed. Results (1) Clinicopathological characteristics:the median age of these patients was 58 years old(range: 39-63 years old). The median value of preoperative serum CA125 was 1 688 kU/L(range: 119-5 000 kU/L). The median diameter of metastatic tumors involved in pancreatic body or tail was 4.5 cm (range:3-10 cm). All the tumors from the 8 patients were confirmed to be high-grade serous carcinoma. Four patients were staged as International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO)Ⅳ, and the other 4 patients were staged as FIGOⅢc. (2) Tumor metastases and the scope of cytoreductive surgeries:all of these 8 patients had widely disseminated ovarian cancer, with involvement of upper abdominal, middle abdominal and pelvic cavity. Each patient underwent extensive intra-abdominal cytoreductive surgeries, including hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, omentectomy, pelvic periton-ectomy, splenectomy, partial pancreatectomy. Each patient had cytoreductive surgeries of 9.6 different sites on average. Of all 8 patients who underwent partial pancreatectomy, 7 patients had pancreatic tails removed;the other 1 patient had pancreatic body and tail removed. The median volume of blood loss during surgery was 1 350 ml(range:300-3 500 ml), blood transfusion was performed in 7 patients with the median volume of 1 150 ml (range: 500-1 800 ml). (3) Residual diseases after cytoreductive surgeries: optimal cytoreduction was achieved in all patients, with microscopic residual disease in 3 patients, residual tumors diameter < 0.5 cm in 3 patients, and residual tumors diameter between 0.5 and 1 cm in 2 patients. (4) Postoperative complications: 4 patients suffered from complications including pancreatic leakage (2/8), intraperitoneal hemorrhage (1/8) and pancreatic pseudocyst accompanied by infection (1/8). These complications were treated successfully by conservative managements. (5) Survival situation: during the median follow-up duration of 17 months (ranged from 2 to 46 months), 5 patients were still alive until the end of follow-up, including 4 cases under treatment and 1 case survived 29 months without relapse after treatment. Three patients were respectively died in 5, 20 and 46 months after surgery. Conclusion There is a higher risk of postoperative complications of pancreas resection as part of primary cytoreductive surgery in advanced epithelial ovarian cancer, but the resection of pancreatic metastases and part of the pancreas is feasible and necessary.