OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical effectiveness and safety of the Chinese medicine (CM) Qixiong Zhongzi Decoction (, QZD) in the treatment of patients with idiopathic asthenozoospermia. METHODS: A total number of 66 patients with idiopathic asthenozoospermia were included and randomly divided into treatment and control groups by SAS-generated code from January 2015 to August 2016, 33 patients in each group. Patients in the treatment group were administered with 150 mL of QZD twice a day, whereas those in the control group were given 1 g of levocarnitine oral liquid twice a day. The two groups received the indicated medication for 12 weeks and were then followed up for 4 weeks. The primary outcome was sperm motility, and the secondary therapeutic indices were sperm volume, density, pregnancy probability, and CM syndrome score. The comparison between groups was carried out at 4, 8 and 12 weeks, respectively. The safety was determined before and after treatment. RESULTS: (1) Drop-off: 5 cases (7.58%) were lost after treatment (2 from the treatment group and 3 from the control group). (2) Primary outcomes: after 8- and 12-week treatment, the progressive sperms in the two groups were significantly higher than the baseline (all P<0.05); however, the treatment group showed greater improvement compared with the control group at 12-week treatment (22.7% ± 9.0% vs. 14.1% ±8.8%, P<0.05). The increasement of non-progressive grade sperms at both groups was observed at 8- and 12-week treatment with statistical difference (all P<0.05), however, the treatment group showed remarkable improvement compared with the control group at 12-week treatment (38.7% ±14.1% vs. 26.2% ±15.4%, P<0.05). (3) Secondary outcomes: no significant statistical differences were found in semen volume and density (4, 8, and 12-week treatment) and pregnancy probability of patients' wives (12-week treatment) between two groups (all P>0.05), however, the CM syndrome score of the treatment group significantly declined compared with baseline level at each time points (all P<0.05). (4) Safety: no obvious side reactions were found during the treatment in both groups. CONCLUSION QZD could improve the progressive and non-progressive grade sperm in the treatment of idiopathic asthenozoospermia. It is safe with no obvious side effects.

BACKGROUND: The clinical trials of new anti-tumor drugs are prospering in China. The acceptance of clinical trials in patients is an important factor affecting the speed and quality of clinical trials. Previous studies have investigated the acceptance of clinical trials in those cancer patients, who have never participated in a trial. This study is designed to investigate and compare the acceptance and related causes of clinical trials in cancer patients who have once participated in a clinical trial or not. METHODS: From June 2018 to April 2019, a standardized questionnaire-based survey was conducted among two groups of cancer patients classified by history of clinical trial participation in Cancer hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science, mainly focusing on their overall acceptance of clinical trials and related considerations, including the role of attending doctors, as well as group differences between the two participants. RESULTS: A total of 538 patients were enrolled with an average age of 53.5 years old, 51.1% of whom were males, and 43.3% of whom have never participated in a clinical trial. Overall, 502 patients (93.3%) were willing to or recommend their relatives or friends to participate in clinical trials, and patients with history of clinical trial participation had higher willingness (96.6% vs 90.8%, P=0.008). Patients were most likely to be motivated by expectation of optimal treatment (100.0% vs 99.3%) for both those who had once participated in a clinical trial or those not, respectively followed by financial burden reduction (56.0%) and recommendation by attending doctor (43.7%). The main reasons for unwillingness-to-participate for those who had once participated in a clinical trial were abandoning other treatment options, divided into control group or additional visits, while for those who had never participated in a clinical trial, ineffective treatment or serious adverse reactions were their main concerns. In the decision-making of clinical trial participation, 88% patients highly valued the role of recommendation by attending doctors. Among patients without trial participation history, 60.9% of those had no unwillingness-to-participate expressed that recommendation by attending doctors would change their decisions. The study also reported patients' preferences for information and access to clinical trials. CONCLUSIONS The acceptance of clinical trials in cancer patients in our hospital is generally high, especially in patients who had a history of trial participation. It's of substantial significance to give full play to the role of doctors in improving the acceptance of clinical trials of cancer patients in China.

The current epidemic situation of corona virus disease-19 (COVID-19) still remained severe. As the National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine is the primary medical care center for COVID-19 inZhejiang Province. Based on the present expert consensus carried out by National Health Commission and National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, our team summarized and established an effective treatment strategy centered on "Four-Anti and Two-Balance" for clinical practice. The "Four-Anti and Two-Balance"strategy included antivirus, anti-shock, anti-hyoxemia, anti-secondary infection, and maintaining of water, electrolyte and acid base balance and microecological balance. Meanwhile, integrated multidisciplinarypersonalized treatment was recommended to improve therapeutic effect. The importance of early viralogical detection, dynamic monitoring of inflammatory indexes and chest radiograph was emphasized in clinical decision-making. Sputum was observed with the highest positive rate of RT-PCR results. Viral nucleic acids could be detected in10% patients'blood samples at acute periodand 50% of patients had positive RT-PCR results in their feces. We also isolated alive viral strains from feces, indicating potential infectiousness of feces.Dynamic cytokine detection was necessary to timely identifyingcytokine storms and application of artificial liver blood purification system. The "Four-Anti and Two-Balance"strategyeffectively increased cure rate and reduced mortality. Early antiviral treatment could alleviate disease severity and prevent illness progression, and we found lopinavir/ritonavir combined with abidol showed antiviraleffects in COVID-19. Shock and hypoxemia were usually caused by cytokine storms. The artificial liver blood purification system could rapidly remove inflammatory mediators and block cytokine storm.Moreover, it also favoredthe balance of fluid, electrolyte and acid-base and thus improved treatment efficacy in critical illness. For cases of severe illness, early and also short periods of moderate glucocorticoid was supported. Patients with oxygenation index below 200 mmHg should be transferred to intensive medical center. Conservative oxygen therapy was preferred and noninvasive ventilation was not recommended. Patients with mechanical ventilation should be strictly supervised with cluster ventilator-associated pneumonia prevention strategies. Antimicrobial prophylaxis should be prescribed rationally and was not recommended except for patients with long course of disease, repeated fever and elevated procalcitonin (PCT), meanwhile secondary fungal infection should be concerned.Some patients with COVID-19 showed intestinal microbialdysbiosis with decreasedprobiotics such as and . Nutritional and gastrointestinal function should be assessed for all patients.Nutritional support and application of prebiotics or probiotics were suggested to regulate the balance of intestinal microbiota and reduce the risk of secondary infection due to bacterial translocation. Anxiety and fear were common in patients with COVID-19. Therefore, we established dynamic assessment and warning for psychological crisis. We also integrated Chinese medicine in treatment to promote disease rehabilitation through classification methods of traditional Chinese medicine. We optimized nursing process for severe patients to promote their rehabilitation. It remained unclear about viral clearance pattern after the SARS-CoV-2 infection. Therefore, two weeks' quarantine for discharged patients was required and a regular following up was also needed.The Zhejiang experience above and suggestions have been implemented in our center and achieved good results. However, since COVID-19 was a newly emerging disease, more work was warranted to improve strategies of prevention, diagnosis and treatment for COVID-19.

PURPOSE: The significance of neuroendocrine differentiation (NED) in gastric carcinoma (GC) is controversial, leading to ambiguous concepts in traditional classifications. This study aimed to determine the prognostic threshold of meaningful NED in GC and clarify its unclear features in existing classifications. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Immunohistochemical staining for synaptophysin, chromogranin A, and neural cell adhesion molecule was performed for 945 GC specimens. Survival analysis was performed using the log-rank test and univariate/multivariate models with percentages of NED (PNED) and demographic and clinicopathological parameters. RESULTS: In total, 275 (29.1%) cases were immunoreactive to at least 1 neuroendocrine (NE) marker. GC-NED was more common in the upper third of the stomach. PNED, and Borrmann's classification and tumor, lymph node, metastasis stages were independent prognostic factors. The cutoff PNED was 10%, beyond which patients had significantly worse outcomes, although the risk did not increase with higher PNED. Tumors with ≥10% NED tended to manifest as Borrmann type III lesion with mixed/diffuse morphology and poorer histological differentiation; the NE components in this population mainly grew in insulae/nests, which differed from the predominant growth pattern (glandular/acinar) in GC with <10% NED. CONCLUSIONS: GC with ≥10% NED should be classified as a distinct subtype because of its worse prognosis, and more attention should be paid to the necessity of additional therapeutics for NE components.
Adenocarcinoma ; Chromogranin A ; Classification ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Lymph Nodes ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules ; Prognosis ; Stomach ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Synaptophysin

AIM:To investigate the effect of 27nt-microRNA (27nt-miRNA) on the expression of smooth muscle 22α protein (SM22α) and the cell viability, migration and phenotypic changes of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs).METHODS:The highly expression plasmids of 27nt-miRNA, and anti-27nt-miRNA and negative control plasmids were constructed, packaged with lentivirus and transfected into the rat primary VSMCs.Platelet-derived growth factor BB (PDGF-BB) was added to induce VSMCs phenotype conversion.The cell viability was measured by MTT assay.The migration ability was detected by scratch assay.The mRNA and protein expression of SM22αwas determined by RT-PCR, immunocytochemical staining and Western blot.RESULTS:Compared with normal group, the cell viability in PDGF-BB group was increased (P<0.05) , the migration ability was increased (P<0.05) and the expression of SM22αat mRNA and protein level was decreased (P<0.05).Compared with negative control lentiviral group, the cell viability in 27ntmiRNA over-expression group was decreased (P<0.05) , the migration ability was decreased (P<0.05) , and the mRNA and protein expression of SM22αwas increased (P<0.05).While in anti-27nt-miRNA group, the cell viability was increased (P<0.05) , the migration ability was increased (P<0.05) , and the mRNA and protein expression of SM22αwas decreased (P<0.05).CONCLUSION:27nt-miRNA significantly increases the expression of SM22α, while inhibits the viability and migration ability of VSMCs, and inhibits its phenotypic shift from contractile to synthetic.

Objective To explore the clinical efficacy of vaginal hysterectomy and uterine scar repair in the treatment of type Ⅱ cesare-an scar pregnancy. Methods A total of 157 patients with type Ⅱ cesarean scar pregnancy (CSP) admitted to our obstetrics and gynecology department of our hospital from July 2016 to July 2017 were selected as research subjects. They were divided into ultrasound curettage group (n =87) and vaginal repair group(n =70) according to different surgical methods. The surgical bleeding volume, operative time, hospital stay and human chorionic gonadotropin (β-HCG) level before and after operation,the time of blood β-HCG returning to normal level,hemoglobin (HB) level before and after operation,menstrual recovery time,stress response, inflammatory response and surgical complications were compared between the two groups. Results The intraoperative blood loss volume, operative time and hospital slay in ultrasound curettage group were lower than those in vaginal repair group,the difference was significant(P ＜0.05). The time of blood β-HCG returning to normal level in vaginal repair group after operation was shorter than that in ultrasound curettage group, the difference was significant (P ＜ 0. 05). There was no significant difference in the HB level between the two groups(P＞0.05). The menstrual recovery time in vaginal repair group was shorter than that in ultrasound curettage group,the difference was significant(P ＜0. 05). The levels of postoperative epinephrine (E) and Cortisol (Cor) in vaginal repair group after operation were lower than those in ultrasound curettage group, while the level of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) was higher than that in ultrasound curettage group,the difference was significant(P ＜0.05). The levels of IL-2, IL-6 and IL-8 in vaginal repair group after operation were lower than those in ultrasound curettage group while the level of C-reactive protein (CRP) was higher than that in ultrasound curettage group,the difference was significant(P ＜0.05). The incidence rate of postoperative complications in ultrasound curettage group was higher than that in vaginal repair group(P ＜0. 05). Conclusion Vaginal repair is more beneficial to shortern the time of blood β-HCG returning to normal level and menstrual recovery time, promote the inflammatory factor and hormone recovery to a normal level, and reduce the incidence of complication.

Objective This retrospective study compared the detection rates of prostate cancer between freehand transperineal biopsy (FTPB) and template-guided transperineal biopsy (TYPB) in the patients with PSA levels ＜ 20 ng/ml.Methods From April 2017 to April 2019,768 patients with PSA levels ＜ 20 ng/ml were included into this study.Of these patients,406 underwent FTPB procedures and 362 underwent TTPB procedures.There were no significant differences of median age [66.00(61.00,70.00)vs.66.00 (61.00,71.25) years],height [170.00 (165.00,172.00) vs.170 (165.00,173.00) cm],weight [70.00 (63.88,75.00) vs.70.00 (63.75,75.00) kg],BMI [24.22 (22.22,25.95) vs.24.22 (22.49,25.82) kg/m2],PSA [8.75 (6.49,12.40) vs.8.69 (6.49,11.96) ng/ml],fPSA [1.18 (0.33,2.15) vs.1.15(0.76,1.88)ng/ml],prostate volume [39.79(25.55,53.94)vs.39.88(24.46,55.11)ml] between two groups.Patients' biopsy results were recorded,the differences of prostate cancer detection rates between these two groups were analyzed,specifically including the cancer with Gleason score ≥ 7 and the anterior zone cancer.Results The total prostate cancer detection rates were 33.7％ (137/406) and 39.0％ (141/362,P =0.134) in FTPB group and TTPB group respectively,and the detection rates of cancer with Gleason score≥7 were 23.9％ (97/406) and 32.0％ (116/362,P =0.012) respectively.The detection rates of anterior zone prostate cancer were 15.5％ (63/406) and 27.3％ (99/362,P ＜0.001).Moreover,in thepatients with PSA ＜ 10 ng/ml,the prostate cancer detection rates were 29.8％ (74/248) and 36.2％ (81/224,P =0.144) respectively,while the detection rates of cancer with Gleason score ≥7 were 19.4％ (48/248) and 29.9％ (67/224,P =0.008) respectively.Conclusions There was no significant difference in the total prostate cancer detection rates between 12-core TTPB group and 20-core FTPB group in the patients with PSA ＜ 20 ng/ml,but for the detection rate of cancer with Gleason score ≥ 7,TTPB group was significantly higher than FTPB group,especially in the patients with PSA ＜ 10 ng/ml.In addition,for anterior zone prostate cancer,the detection rate of TrPB group was also higher than FTPB group.

Objective To evaluate the clinical value of epithelial vessel branch detected by non-magnifying narrow-band imaging ( NM-NBI ) in diagnosis of early esophageal cancer. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on data of 59 patients, who underwent endoscopy with NM-NBI and iodine staining to screen early esophageal cancer in PLA General Hospital from January 2013 to May 2015. The final diagnosis for all lesions were determined by pathology. The diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of NM-NBI and iodine staining for early esophageal cancer were compared. Results The accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of NM-NBI on the epithelial vessel branch in diagnosis of early esophageal cancer were 83. 1％ (49/59), 91. 3％ (21/23) and 77. 8％ (28/36), respectively, and the corresponding statistical values of iodine staining were 55. 9％ ( 33/59) , 95. 7％ ( 22/23) and 30. 6％ ( 11/36), respectively. The accuracy (χ2=1. 45, P=0. 028) and specificity (χ2=21. 4, P=0. 000) of epithelial vessel branch by NM-NBI were significantly higher than those of iodine staining, and there was no significant difference in the sensitivity between the two methods (χ2=22. 3, P=1. 000) . Conclusion The observation of epithelial vessel branch using NM-NBI was useful and reliable in diagnosis of early esophageal cancer with high accuracy and specificity, and can be possible for application in the clinic.

Objective To study the differences of endoscopic submucosal dissection ( ESD ) for colorectal tumors of different diameters. Methods Data of 210 cases which were treated with ESD for colorectal tumors at the Endoscopy Center, the Seventh Medical Center of PLA General Hospital from October 2012 to December 2015 were retrospectively analyzed. The lesions were divided into two groups according to different diameters (≥4. 0 cm group and <4. 0 cm group) for comparative analysis of related factors. Results The mean procedure time of ESD for 210 colorectal tumor cases was 50. 3±42. 7 min and the mean size of lesions was 7. 98 ± 10. 84 cm2 . En bloc resection rate was 91. 4％, R0 resection rate was 90. 5％, and the curative resection rate was 88. 6％. Perforation rate was 5. 2％ (11/210), and the late hemorrhage rate was 0. 5％ (1/210). Compared with lesions < 4. 0 cm, those ≥ 4. 0 cm required longer resection time (79. 63±53. 91 min VS 35. 28±24. 99 min, P<0. 001); and the lesions were mainly located in the rectum ( 61. 97％) . LSTs were mainly mixed granular/nongranular type ( 54. 93％);en bloc resection rate, complete resection rate and curative resection rate of the tumors≥4. 0 cm were all lower than those of tumors < 4. 0 cm. The difference in complete resection rate was statistically significant ( 85. 92％ VS 94. 24％;P=0. 041) . The perforation rate ( 7. 04％) was higher in≥4. 0 cm group, but the difference was not statistically significant. Conclusions ESD of colorectal tumors of diameters ≥ 4. 0 cm requires longer time with higher operation risk. Additionally, physicians should be more careful with non-rectal lesions.