Lumbosacral radiculopathy refers to the pain syndrome caused by inflammation or mechanical compression of the lumbar nerve root, mainly manifested as low back pain, and radiating to the lower limbs in cutaneous mode, which can be accompanied by numbness, paresthesia, tingling, muscle weakness and loss of specific reflexes and other symptoms, which not only bring physical pain and life inconvenience to the patients, but also bring huge economic burden to the social medical care. Selective nerve root block(SNRB), as a safe, effective, low-cost, precise and minimally invasive clinical technique, can accurately intervene in specific nerve roots and quickly relieve pain symptoms by reducing inflammation and improving the surrounding environment of nerves. However, there are still many challenges and controversies in practice, such as precise targeting requirements, drug selection, potential risks and complications, and differences in efficacy among different patient populations. The purpose of this review is to systematically review and analyze the existing research results on SNRB, so as to provide useful reference and guidance for the further development of this field.

Objective:To compare the differences in postoperative healing rates, hearing improvement, and complication rates between endoscopic butterfly inlay cartilage tympanoplasty and underlay cartilage tympanoplasty in Small-to-Medium-Sized Tympanic Membrane Perforations, and to provide clinical basis for indication of the butterfly inlay cartilage tympanoplasty. Methods:This study enrolled patients with chronic suppurative otitis media or traumatic tympanic membrane perforations who were treated at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, between January 2022 and May 2023. Inclusion criteria comprised a dry ear period exceeding 3 months, absence of middle ear or mastoid pathology confirmed by temporal bone CT, and an air-bone gap of less than 40 dB. All surgeries were performed by the same surgeon using tympanoplasty techniques. Based on the surgical approach and perforation size, patients were categorized into four groups: Group A（butterfly cartilage tympanoplasty, perforation ≤3 mm）: 23 cases. Group B（butterfly cartilage tympanoplasty, perforation 3-5 mm）: 17 cases. Group C（full-thickness cartilage underlay tympanoplasty, perforation ≤3 mm）: 12 cases. Group D（full-thickness cartilage underlay tympanoplasty, perforation 3-5 mm）: 22 cases. Data collected included perforation duration, preoperative Eustachian Tube Score（ETS）, pure-tone audiometry, otoscopic findings, and postoperative follow-up data on pure-tone thresholds, otoscopic outcomes, and complications such as graft infection and otorrhea. Results: The mean postoperative follow-up period was 4 months （range: 3-12 months）. A total of 74 patients were enrolled, including 40 undergoing butterfly cartilage tympanoplasty and 34 receiving full-thickness cartilage inlay tympanoplasty. In the <3 mm perforation subgroup, the patients receiving butterfly technique （23 cases） exhibited a postoperative air-bone gap （ABG） improvement of （2.33±8.21） dB, and those receiving the inlay technique （12 cases） showed an ABG improvement of （2.49±7.9） dB, with no statistically significant difference between the two groups （P>0.05）. In the 3-5 mm perforation subgroup, the patients receiving butterfly technique （17 cases） demonstrated an ABG improvement of （8.16±5.69） dB, and those receiving the inlay technique （22 cases） achieved an ABG improvement of （8.08±10.42） dB, which were not significantly different （P>0.05）. Tympanic membrane healing rates across the four subgroups were 95.65%, 94.12%, 100%, and 95.45%, respectively, with no statistically significant differences （P>0.05）. Conclusion:In patients with tympanic membrane perforations ≤3 mm and 3-5 mm, butterfly cartilage tympanoplasty achieves comparable audiological outcomes to full-thickness cartilage underlay tympanoplasty. Compared with the underlay technique, the butterfly method is less invasive, preserves the normal anatomical structure of the tympanic membrane, requires a shorter dry ear period, and yields higher patient satisfaction. Therefore, it can be safely recommended for perforations ≤5 mm that do not require tympanotomy exploration.
Humans ; Tympanic Membrane Perforation/surgery* ; Tympanoplasty/methods* ; Treatment Outcome ; Endoscopy ; Cartilage/transplantation* ; Male ; Female ; Adult ; Middle Aged ; Myringoplasty/methods* ; Otitis Media, Suppurative/surgery* ; Aged

Zuoguiyin， which first recorded in Jingyue Quanshu written by ZHANG Jiebin in the Ming dynasty， was included in the Catalogue of Ancient Famous Classical Formulas（The Second Batch）. This study followed the Principles of Textual Research on Key Information of Ancient Famous Classical Formulas to determine the key information of Zuoguiyin in ancient and modern literature， such as the formula origin， the composition of the formula and the origin of the drugs. It was found that the composition， dosage， preparation and processing methods of Zuoguiyin were basically the same as the original formula. The original dosage of this formula is 41.03 g of Rehmanniae Radix Praeparata（the fresh or dried tuberous roots of Rehmannia glutinosa， processed by wine stewing or wine steaming）， 7.46 g of Dioscoreae Rhizoma（the dried rhizomes of Dioscorea opposita）， 7.46 g of Lycii Fructus（the dried mature fruit of Lycium barbarum）， 3.73 g of Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma Praeparata cum Melle（the dried roots and rhizomes of Glycyrrhiza uralensis， processed by honey-roasted method）， 5.595 g of Poria（the sclerotium of Poria cocos）， 5.595 g of Corni Fructus（the dried mature fruit pulp of Cornus officinalis）. The method of administration is to add 600 mL of water to all the herbs， decoct to 140 mL and take before meals. The function of Zuoguiyin is to nourish Yin and tonify the kidney， and it is often used in the treatment of lumbar soreness and ejaculation， night sweating， dry mouth and throat， thirst and desire to drink， glossy red tongue， thin and rapid pulse， etc. Since ancient times， Zuoguiyin has been used to treat a variety of internal and gynaecological diseases as well as diseases of the nervous， circulatory and reproductive systems that are predominantly caused by kidney Yin deficiency. However， there is not much research on the modern application and therapeutic mechanism of this formula， and there is no standardized preparation in the market， so the degree of development and utilization is not high， and there is still a lot of room for research.

Objective:To compare the efficacy of pedicle screw placement between computer navigation guidance and freehand assistance in the surgical treatment of isthmic spondylolysis at the lumbar vertebrae.Methods:A retrospective study was conducted to analyze the 47 patients with bilateral isthmic spondylolysis at the L 5 vertebra who had been treated at Department of Spinal Surgery, The General Hospital of Xinjiang Military Command from January 2020 to April 2023. All were male patients with an age of (24.0±4.3) years. They were divided into a study group (13 cases subjected to pedicle screw placement assisted by computer navigation guidance) and a control group (34 cases subjected to pedicle screw placement assisted freehandedly). The 2 groups were compared in terms of surgical incision length, intraoperative bleeding, screw placement time, postoperative hospital stay, total hospitalization cost, postoperative complications, rate of screw reposition, angle between pedicle screw and upper endplate, angle between bilateral pedicle screws, and placement accuracy; the visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain, Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score for lumbar spine function, and Oswestry disability index (ODI) were also compared between preoperation, 1-week postoperation, and the last follow-up. Patient satisfaction was assessed according to the modified MacNab criteria, and internal fixation failure and isthmic healing were also evaluated at the last follow-up. Results:There were no statistically significant differences in the preoperative general data between the 2 groups, showing comparability ( P>0.05). The differences were not statistically significant in surgical incision length, intraoperative bleeding, screw placement time, postoperative hospital stay, or postoperative complications ( P>0.05). However, in the study group, the total hospitalization cost was significantly higher than that in the control group, the rate of screw reposition [7.7% (2/26)] significantly lower than that in the study group [26.5% (18/68)], the angle between pedicle screw and upper endplate and the angle between bilateral pedicle screws were both significantly smaller than those in the control group, and the placement accuracy [92.3% (24/26)] was significantly greater than that [70.6% (48/68)] in the control group (all P<0.05). All patients were followed up for 7.0 (5.0, 14.0) months. Patients in both groups showed significant improvements in VAS, JOA score, and ODI at postoperative 1 week and the last follow-up compared with the preoperative values, and the improvements at the last follow-up were significantly larger than those at postoperative 1 week ( P<0.05). According to the modified MacNab criteria at the last follow-up, patient satisfaction was rated as excellent in 10 cases, as good in 2 cases and as moderate in 1 case in the study group while as excellent in 27 cases, as good in 3 cases, as moderate in 3 cases and as poor in 1 case in the control group. In the study group, there were 1 case of internal fixation failure, 1 case of spine cutting-out by titanium cable, and 12 cases of bony healing of the isthmus; in the control group, there were 2 cases of internal fixation failure, 2 cases of spine cutting-out by titanium cable, and 29 cases of bony healing of the isthmus. Conclusions:In the surgical treatment of bilateral isthmic spondylolysis at the L 5 vertebra, computer navigation-guided pedicle screw placement is safe and reliable, showing an advantage of higher accuracy over freehand placement. It deserves clinical promotion due to its satisfactory therapeutic effects.

Objective:To analyze and summarize the key points of design and implementation of new drug clinical trials for ankylosing spondylitis.Methods:The platform for drug clinical trial registration and information published on the official website of center for drug review and evaluation of national medical products administration (CDE) was searched to obtain data and classified statistics was conducted then. The Mean±SD and M ( Q1, Q3) were used for quantitative data for statistical description, and the rate, composition or relative ratio of qualitative data were used for statistical description. Results:A total of 23 clinical trials meeting the requirements were screened, among which 19 were biological products included in nine phase Ⅲ clinical trials. Among the four chemical drugs, two were phase Ⅱ clinical trials. One of the clinical trials on AS adopted the 1966 New York classification criteria, accounting for 4%. Nineteen of the trials adopted the1984 New York classification criteria, accounting for 83%. Three other trials adopted unspecified classification criteria, accounting for 13%. In one of these clinical trials, the age of patients included was older than 16 years old, 9 trials were 18 to 65 years old, 6 were 18 years old but without upper limit. In the definition of active AS, 19 trials took BASDAI≥4 as the cut-off value for active disease, and BASDAI, total back pain, spinal pain and morning stiffness were regarded as active disease in 4.Conclusion:The number of dosestic AS clinical trial projects continnes to rise. The 1984 classification criteria is adopted as the classification criteria in clinical trials. The minimum age in the inclusion criteria is 18 years old, there is no upper limit in age for inclusion. Disease activity can be evaluated by BASDAI score, combined with comprehensive indicators such as night-time back pain, global spinal pain and morning stiffness.

Background::Programmed death 1 (PD-1) blockade plus chemotherapy has become the new first-line standard of care for patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Yet not all NSCLC patients benefit from this regimen. This study aimed to investigate the predictors of PD-1 blockade plus chemotherapy in untreated advanced NSCLC.Methods::We integrated clinical, genomic, and survival data from 287 patients with untreated advanced NSCLC who were enrolled in one of five registered phase 3 trials and received PD-1 blockade plus chemotherapy or chemotherapy alone. We randomly assigned these patients into a discovery cohort ( n = 125), a validation cohort ( n = 82), and a control cohort ( n = 80). The candidate genes that could predict the response to PD-1 blockade plus chemotherapy were identified using data from the discovery cohort and their predictive values were then evaluated in the three cohorts. Immune deconvolution was conducted using transcriptome data of 1014 NSCLC patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas dataset. Results::A genomic variation signature, in which one or more of the 15 candidate genes were altered, was correlated with significantly inferior response rates and survival outcomes in patients treated with first-line PD-1 blockade plus chemotherapy in both discovery and validation cohorts. Its predictive value held in multivariate analyses when adjusted for baseline parameters, programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression level, and tumor mutation burden. Moreover, applying both the 15-gene panel and PD-L1 expression level produced better performance than either alone in predicting benefit from this treatment combination. Immune landscape analyses revealed that tumors with one or more variation in the 15-gene panel were associated with few immune infiltrates, indicating an immune-desert tumor microenvironment.Conclusion::These findings indicate that a 15-gene panel can serve as a negative prediction biomarker for first-line PD-1 blockade plus chemotherapy in patients with advanced NSCLC.

Objective:To compare the efficacy and safety of different dosages of new drugs in the treatment of PsA by using network meta-analysis.Methods:Three medical databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library) were searched for the studies that compared the efficacy and safety of 4 new drugs (secukinumab, ixekizumab, apremilast, tofacitinib) with different dosages in the treatment of PsA. Data from included studies were analyzed by Stata 15.0.Results:A total of 16 RCTs were included. The results of the network meta-analysis showed that: (1) Among the overall patients, in terms of ACR20 response rate, the larger the surface under the cumulative ranking (SUCRA), the more effective it is. Secukinumab 300 mg Q4W(96.1%) had the best efficacy, followed by ixekizumab 80 mg Q4W(79.0%), ixekizumab 80 mg Q2W(75.1%), secukinumab 150 mg Q4W(73.2%), apremilast 30 mg BID(50.6%), apremilast 20 mg BID(38.6%), tofacitinib 5 mg BID(18.1%), tofacitinib 10 mg BID(17.7%) and placebo(2.0%). (2) In terms of PASI75 response rate, the larger the area under the SUCRA curve, the more effective it is. Ixekizumab 80 mg Q4W(96.1%) had the best efficacy, followed by ixekizumab 80 mg Q2W(88.7%), secukinumab 300 mg Q4W(75.6%), secukinumab 150 mg Q4W(63.3%), apremilast 30 mg BID(44.5%), apremilast 20 mg BID(38.4%), tofacitinib 10 mg BID(30.0%), tofacitinib 5 mg BID(12.5%) and placebo(1.0%). (3) Among the overall patients, in terms of safety, the smaller the area under the SUCRA curve, the higher the safety it is. Secukinumab 300 mg Q4W (17.3%) has the best safety. (4) The results of subgroup analysis showed that in terms of ACR20 response rate, ixekizumab 80 mg Q2W(85.3%) had the best efficacy in bDMARDs-na?ve patients, while in bDMARDs-IR patients, secukinumab 300 mg Q4W(83.9%) had the best efficacy.Conclusion:Among all patients, secukinumab 300 mg Q4W is the best in terms of ACR20 response rate and safety, but ixekizumab 80 mg Q4W is more effective in improving PsA lesions comparing yo other drugs.

Previous studies have comprehensively evaluated predictive models related to peripherally inserted central catheter-related venous thrombosis (PICC-RVT) , but have not further elaborated on its application and effect in the tumor patient population. This article reviews the PICC-RVT evaluation tools that are clinically mature and applicable to cancer patients, analyzes the presentation forms, statistical methods, and limitations of different models, in order to provide suggestions and references for model selection by clinical healthcare professionals and the construction of future PICC-RVT prediction models for cancer patients.

BACKGROUND: The fetal growth charts in widest use in China were published by Hadlock >35 years ago and were established on data from several hundred of American pregnant women. After that, >100 fetal growth charts were published around the world. We attempted to assess the impact of applying the long-standing Hadlock charts and other charts in a Chinese population and to compare their ability to predict newborn small for gestational age (SGA). METHODS: For this retrospective observational study, we reviewed all pregnant women ( n  = 106,455) who booked prenatal care with ultrasound measurements for fetal biometry at the Shenzhen Maternity and Child Healthcare Hospital between 2012 and 2019. A fractional polynomial regression model was applied to generate Shenzhen fetal growth chart ranges for head circumference (HC), biparietal diameter (BPD), abdominal circumference (AC), and femur length (FL). The differences between Shenzhen charts and published charts were quantified by calculating the Z -score. The impact of applying these published charts was quantified by calculating the proportions of fetuses with biometric measurements below the 3rd centile of these charts. The sensitivity and area under the receiver operating characteristic curves of published charts to predict neonatal SGA (birthweight <10th centile) were assessed. RESULTS: Following selection, 169,980 scans of fetal biometry contributed by 41,032 pregnancies with reliable gestational age were analyzed. When using Hadlock references (<3rd centile), the proportions of small heads and short femurs were as high as 8.9% and 6.6% in late gestation, respectively. The INTERGROWTH-21st standards matched those of our observed curves better than other charts, in particular for fat-free biometry (HC and FL). When using AC<10th centile, all of these references were poor at predicting neonatal SGA. CONCLUSIONS Applying long-standing Hadlock references could misclassify a large proportion of fetuses as SGA. INTERGROWTH-21st standard appears to be a safe option in China. For fat-based biometry, AC, a reference based on the Chinese population is needed. In addition, when applying published charts, particular care should be taken due to the discrepancy of measurement methods.
Infant, Newborn ; Child ; Female ; Pregnancy ; Humans ; Growth Charts ; Prenatal Care ; Ultrasonography, Prenatal/methods* ; Fetal Development ; Fetal Growth Retardation ; Gestational Age ; Fetus ; China ; Infant, Newborn, Diseases ; Observational Studies as Topic