OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effectiveness of Youngswick-Akin osteotomy in the treatment of moderate hallux valgus combined with mild to moderate hallux rigidus. METHODS: The clinical data of 43 patients with moderate hallux valgus combined with mild to moderate hallux rigidus who were admitted between August 2019 and August 2022 and met the selection criteria were retrospectively analyzed. There were 8 males and 35 females. The age ranged from 28 to 77 years, with an average age of 59.0 years. The disease duration ranged from 10 to 35 months, with an average of 20 months. The degree of hallux rigidus included 2 cases of CoughlinⅠ degree, 29 cases of Ⅱ degree, 12 cases of Ⅲ degree. The preoperative hallux valgus angle ranged from 25° to 40°, with an average of 32°. All patients were treated with Youngswick-Akin osteotomy. The first metatarsophalangeal joint space was compared before operation and at 6 months after operation. The American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) score and visual analogue scale (VAS) score were used to evaluate the functional recovery and pain relief of the patients before operation and at 6 and 24 months after operation. According to the severity of hallux rigidus, the patients were divided into mild group (Ⅰ, Ⅱ degree) and moderate group (Ⅲ degree) to compare the prognosis, including the changes of AOFAS score, VAS score, and the first metatarsophalangeal joint space. RESULTS: The operation time was 60-75 minutes (mean, 65 minutes). The intraoperative blood loss was 10-30 mL (mean, 20 mL). Two cases had superficial infection of the incision margin after operation, and healed well after dressing change and antibiotic treatment. The incisions of the other patients healed by first intention, and no medial cutaneous nerve injury of the great toe occurred. All patients were followed up 24-31 months, with an average of 25.8 months. The patient's hallux valgus deformity was corrected without recurrence; no complication such as osteomyelitis and hallux varus occurred. The AOFAS score, VAS score, and the first metatarsophalangeal joint space after operation significantly improved when compared with those before operation, the AOFAS score and VAS score at 24 months after operation further improved when compared with those at 6 months after operation, and the differences were significant ( P<0.05). The change of VAS score in mild group was significantly better than that in moderate group ( P<0.05); but there was no significant difference in the changes of AOFAS score and the first metatarsophalangeal joint space between the two groups ( P>0.05). CONCLUSION Youngswick-Akin osteotomy for moderate valgus deformity with mild to moderate hallux rigidus can achieve good functional recovery, pain relief, and joint space improvement.
Humans ; Osteotomy/methods* ; Hallux Valgus/diagnostic imaging* ; Male ; Female ; Middle Aged ; Hallux Rigidus/diagnostic imaging* ; Retrospective Studies ; Adult ; Aged ; Treatment Outcome ; Metatarsophalangeal Joint/surgery*

This study shows the case of a patient with peroneus brevis tendon rupture in ankle fracture. The patient com-plained of swelling, pain and activity limitation in her right ankle caused by sprain. She was diagnosed with ankle fracture, supina-tion-adduction (Lauge-Hansen typing) by medical history, physical examination and imaging. The peroneus brevis tendon was not-ed complete ruptured when suturing the incision after ORIF, which was then repaired by "8" shaped suture. Based on literature re-view, the injury mechanism of the case may be because of overload inversion force toward to lateral inferior from the fracture of fib-ula on the peroneus brevis tendon. Additional attention should be paid to patients who suffered from an supination-adduction ankle fracture for whether peroneus brevis tendon tears before and during surgery.

The human pharyngeal microbiome, which resides at the juncture of digestive and respi-ratory tracts, may have an active role in the prevention of respiratory tract infections, similar to the actions of the intestinal microbiome against enteric infections. Recent studies have demonstrated that the pharyngeal microbiome comprises an abundance of bacterial species that interacts with the local epithelial and immune cells, and together, they form a unique micro-ecological system. Most of the microbial species in microbiomes are obligate symbionts constantly adapting to their unique surroundings. Indigenous commensal species are capable of both maintaining dominance and evoking host immune responses to eliminate invading species. Temporary damage to the pha-ryngeal microbiome due to the impaired local epithelia is also considered an important predisposing risk factor for infections. Therefore, reinforcement of microbiome homeostasis to prevent invasion of infection-prone species would provide a novel treatment strategy in addition to antibiotic treat-ment and vaccination. Hence continued research efforts on evaluating probiotic treatment and developing appropriate procedures are necessary to both prevent and treat respiratory infections.

As one of the key technologies in biomedical research, DNA sequencing has not only improved its productivity with an exponential growth rate but also been applied to new areas of application over the past few years. This is largely due to the advent of newer generations of sequencing platforms, offering ever-faster and cheaper ways to analyze sequences. In our previous review, we looked into technical characteristics of the next-generation sequencers and provided prospective insights into their future development. In this article, we present a brief overview of the advantages and shortcomings of key commercially available platforms with a focus on their suitability for a broad range of applications.
Animals ; DNA-Binding Proteins ; chemistry ; Epigenomics ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Genomics ; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing ; instrumentation ; methods ; trends ; Humans ; Nanostructures ; RNA, Small Untranslated ; chemistry

OBJECTIVETo develop a simple, cheap and efficient restriction endonucleases fingerprinting-single strand conformation polymorphism(REF-SSCP) method applied to screen for mutations in long segments.

METHODSThe genomic DNA of Cx26 gene segment of the patients with deafness was amplified. The amplification products were screened with SSCP and REF-SSCP technique and DNA sequencing to evaluate and compare the effect on detection of mutations in long segments.

RESULTSNo different band was found in 724 bp segment in SSCP examination. Three kinds of different bands were discovered in REF-SSCP examination and the 79 G -->A mutation detected by DNA sequencing were accorded with the REF-SSCP bands entirely. The rate of detection was 100%.

CONCLUSIONThe present REF-SSCP method is applicable to screen mutations in long segment DNA of mass specimens.

Connexin 26 ; Connexins ; genetics ; DNA Fingerprinting ; methods ; DNA Restriction Enzymes ; Deafness ; genetics ; Genetic Testing ; methods ; Humans ; Mutation ; Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational ; Sensitivity and Specificity