Objective:To evaluate the efficacy and safety of laparoscopic hepatectomy (LH) versus open hepatectomy (OH) for malignant liver tumors in unfavorable regions using propensity score matching (PSM) analysis.Methods:Clinical data of 181 patients with malignant liver tumors in unfavorable regions undergoing hepatic resection at the Department of Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Jinhua Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, between January 2013 and February 2019, including 130 males and 51 females, aged (56.4±12.5) years. Patients were divided into two groups according to surgical approach: the OH group ( n=128) and LH group ( n=53). Clinical parameters including age, gender, hepatitis B history, operative time, and postoperative complications were recorded. PSM (1∶1 nearest neighbor matching with a caliper width of 0.04) was performed using surgical approach as the dependent variable and covariates as independent variables. Survival analysis was conducted via the Kaplan-Meier method, with intergroup survival rates were compared using log-rank tests. Results:Prior to PSM, significant intergroup differences were observed in age, hepatitis B status, cirrhosis, and microvascular invasion (all P<0.05). After PSM, 74 patients (37 per group) achieved balance in baseline characteristics (all P>0.05). Post-PSM analysis revealed significantly shorter postoperative hospitalization in LH group compared to that in OH group [9(7, 10) d vs. 11(10, 13) d, P<0.05]. No perioperative mortality occurred in either group. The OH group exhibited a higher postoperative complication rate than the LH group did [37.8% (14/37) vs. 16.2% (6/37), χ2=4.39, P=0.036]. No significant differences were observed in cumulative recurrence-free survival ( χ2=0.44, P=0.508) or overall survival ( χ2<0.01, P=0.997) between groups. Conclusion:For malignant liver tumors in unfavorable regions, LH compared favourable open surgery, regarding the reduced invasiveness, shorter hospitalization, and lower complication rates, while maintaining comparable oncological outcomes. LH represents a safe and feasible surgical approach in selected cases.

Objective:To evaluate the efficacy and safety of laparoscopic hepatectomy (LH) versus open hepatectomy (OH) for malignant liver tumors in unfavorable regions using propensity score matching (PSM) analysis.Methods:Clinical data of 181 patients with malignant liver tumors in unfavorable regions undergoing hepatic resection at the Department of Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Jinhua Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, between January 2013 and February 2019, including 130 males and 51 females, aged (56.4±12.5) years. Patients were divided into two groups according to surgical approach: the OH group ( n=128) and LH group ( n=53). Clinical parameters including age, gender, hepatitis B history, operative time, and postoperative complications were recorded. PSM (1∶1 nearest neighbor matching with a caliper width of 0.04) was performed using surgical approach as the dependent variable and covariates as independent variables. Survival analysis was conducted via the Kaplan-Meier method, with intergroup survival rates were compared using log-rank tests. Results:Prior to PSM, significant intergroup differences were observed in age, hepatitis B status, cirrhosis, and microvascular invasion (all P<0.05). After PSM, 74 patients (37 per group) achieved balance in baseline characteristics (all P>0.05). Post-PSM analysis revealed significantly shorter postoperative hospitalization in LH group compared to that in OH group [9(7, 10) d vs. 11(10, 13) d, P<0.05]. No perioperative mortality occurred in either group. The OH group exhibited a higher postoperative complication rate than the LH group did [37.8% (14/37) vs. 16.2% (6/37), χ2=4.39, P=0.036]. No significant differences were observed in cumulative recurrence-free survival ( χ2=0.44, P=0.508) or overall survival ( χ2<0.01, P=0.997) between groups. Conclusion:For malignant liver tumors in unfavorable regions, LH compared favourable open surgery, regarding the reduced invasiveness, shorter hospitalization, and lower complication rates, while maintaining comparable oncological outcomes. LH represents a safe and feasible surgical approach in selected cases.

Objective: The current meta-analysis aimed at updating evidence regarding the therapeutic potential of probiotics against autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptoms and identifying outcome confounders. Methods: Following PRISMA guidelines, randomized placebo-controlled trials retrieved from PubMed, Embase, Cochrane CENTRAL, and ScienceDirect were analyzed for effect size of primary outcomes (i.e., overall behavioral symptom changes) expressed as standardized mean difference (SMD) and odds ratios (ORs) for continuous and categorical variables, respectively, with 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: Meta-analysis of eight studies (465 participants, mean age: 6.03, range: 1.5−45, female: 17.4%) revealed total ASD symptom improvements in the probiotic group compared to placebos (SMD: −0.19, 95% CI: −0.38 to −0.01, p = 0.04, I2 = 0%, eight studies, 465 participants, certainty of evidence [COE]: low). Subgroup analyses showed probiotics-associated improvements only in studies recruiting predominantly preschool children (SMD: −0.30, 95% CI:−0.59 to −0.01, p = 0.04, three studies, 191 participants) or those using probiotics for over three months (SMD:−0.39, 95% CI: −0.73 to −0.06, p = 0.04, three studies, 144 participants) without difference between multipleand single-strain probiotics. No difference was noted in overall dropouts between individuals treated with probiotics and those taking placebos (OR: 0.98, p = 0.94, eight studies, I2 = 0%, 464 participants, COE: low). Despite a low risk of bias in most studies, COE was deemed low from limited trials and inconsistencies on sensitivity analysis. Conclusion The current study showed an association between probiotics use and an improvement in ASD symptoms, mainly in those aged below six or over three-month treatments. More large-scale investigations are warranted to support our findings.

Objective:To explore prognostic factors of intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm of the bile duct (IPMN-B) patients.Methods:Clinical data on 227 patients with IPMN-B between 2004 and 2015 were retrospectively collected from the surveillance, epidemiology, and end results (SEER) database. There were 126 male and 101 female patients with the age at diagnosis of 69(58, 77) years old. IPMN-B patients were divided into two groups based on whether surgical treatment was performed. There were 129 patients in the surgery group and 98 patients in the non-surgery group. The survival analyses were assessed by Kaplan-Meier analyses and log-rank test was used to compared survival rate. The univariate and multivariate Cox analyses were applied to find independent prognostic factors of the survival in IPMN-B patients.Results:The tumor size of 227 IPMN-B patients from the SEER database was 25(18.5, 45.0) mm. The differences of tumor size, grade of defferentiation, American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage, T stage, M stage chemotherapy were statistically significant respectively in surgery group and non-surgery group (all P<0.05). The median overall survival time (OS) of patients with IPMN-B was 14 months and the overall 1-year survival was 53.4%. The median overall survival time of IPMN-B patients in surgery group was 27 months, which was better than 5 months of patients in non-surgery group, and the difference was statistically significant ( P<0.001). Univariate Cox analysis found AJCC stage, T stage, N stage, M stage and surgery were prognostic factors in patients with IPMN-B. Multivariate Cox analysis showed that M1 stage ( HR=2.125, 95% CI: 1.472-3.066, P<0.001) was independent risk factor of prognosis while surgery ( HR=2.983, 95% CI: 2.106-4.224, P<0.001) was independent protective factor of prognosis. Conclusion:The AJCC staging system is an important predictor for evaluating the prognosis of IPMN-B patients. Surgery could significantly improve the prognosis of patients with IPMN-B.

Objective:To investiagte the ability of albumin-indocyanine green (ALICE) score, albumin-bilirubin (ALBI) score and Child-Pugh score in predicting postoperative liver failure (PHLF) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, and to determine the clinical value of ALICE score.Methods:The clinical data of 397 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma who underwent hepatectomy in the Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Jinhua Hospital Affiliated to Zhejiang University from June 2015 to June 2021 were retrospectively analyzed, including 350 males and 47 females, aged (58.9±11.2) years. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were used to analyze the risk factors of PHLF. The predictive ability of ALICE score for PHLF was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, and compared with ALBI score and Child-Pugh score.Results:There were 74 patients with PHLF and 323 patients without PHLF. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that Child-Pugh score ( OR=1.630, 95% CI: 1.251-2.486, P=0.034), ALBI score ( OR=1.863, 95% CI: 1.028-3.119, P=0.049) and ALICE score ( OR=1.759, 95% CI: 1.216-3.078, P=0.038) were independent risk factors for PHLF in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, and the risk of PHLF increased with the increase of grade. The area under the ROC curve of ALICE score predicting PHLF in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma was 0.613 (95% CI: 0.564-0.662), the area under the ALBI score was 0.612 (95% CI: 0.563-0.661), and the area under the Child-Pugh score was 0.555 (95% CI: 0.505-0.605). The ALICE score was better than the Child-Pugh score, and the difference was statistically significant ( z=2.04, P=0.041). In small liver resection patients, ALICE score was better than Child-Pugh score ( z=2.61, P=0.009). There was no significant difference betwenn ALICE score and ALBI score ( z=0.06, P=0.954). Conclusion:ALICE score can predict the occurrence of PHLF in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, especially in patients with small liver resection, its value is similar to ALBI score, but better than Child-Pugh score.

ObjectiveTo investigate the feasibility and efficacy of using the hepatoduodenal ligament tension-reduced operation (tension-reduced operation in short) for iatrogenic bile duct injury where the bile duct was severely defective. MethodsBetween March 2006 and May 2009, the authors treated 6 patients with iatrogenic bile duct injury (Bismuth type Ⅱ : 5 patients and type Ⅲ : 1 patient). A no. 7 black silk thread was used to hold the hilar plate tissues and the seromuscular layer of the bulbous part of the duodenum closer together and knots were tied. This method brought the porta hepatis and the duodenal bulb closer together and the hepatoduodenal ligament was shortened. An end to end anastomosis could then be made between the two broken ends of the defective bile duct without tension. ResultsSix patients suffered from bile duct injury and they recovered fully after the tensionreduced operation. There was no complication on follow-up. ConclusionsThe tension-reduced operation was efficacious in the treatment of iatrogenic bile duct injury. This technique should be popularized and more widely used.

To investigate the relationship of bcl-2, p53, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) to cell proliferation, apoptosis and pathological parameters, the patterns of cell growth and turnover in renal cell carcinoma (RCC), formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue blocks from 34 patients with RCC were examined. Cell proliferation activity was detected by PCNA immunostaining and the proliferation index (PI) was expressed as a percentage of the PCNA-positive cells in the tumor cells. Apoptosis was detected by terminal deoxy- nucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL), and the apoptotic index (AI) was expressed as a percentage of the TUNEL-positive cells in the tumor cells. Expressions of bcl-2 and p53 were assessed immunohistochemically. Our results showed that the PI ranged from 6.0% to 24.0% (median 12.3%) and the AI from 2.0% to 8.0% (median 5.4%) in RCC. The expression of the bcl-2 protein was demonstrated in 15 cases (44.1%); the expression of the p53 protein, however, was seen in only 3 case. bcl-2 positivity was not associated with PI or AI or any pathological parameters. There were close associations between PI and tumor grade and stage, and a significant relationship between AI and the tumor grade of RCC, Our study suggests that bcl-2 positivity was not associated with PI or AI or any pathological parameters. There are close associations between PI and AI and tumor grade and stage of RCC. Active cell proliferation may be accompanied by frequent apoptosis in RCC.
Adult ; Aged ; Apoptosis ; physiology ; Carcinoma, Renal Cell ; metabolism ; pathology ; Cell Division ; Female ; Humans ; Kidney Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Tumor Cells, Cultured ; Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 ; biosynthesis ; genetics