Objective:To document any effect of repeated high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) using double-cone coils on the lower limb motor function of stroke survivors.Methods:A total of 40 stroke survivors were randomly divided into an rTMS group and a sham stimulation group, each of 20. The rTMS group received rTMS at 10Hz with a double-cone coil, while a coil that produced sound but no magnetic stimulation was used with the sham group. The treatments were administered daily, five times a week, for three weeks. Before as well as after 1, 2 and 3 weeks of treatment, lower limb motor function, balance, and the root mean square (RMS) and median frequency (MF) of the rectus femoris and tibialis anterior muscles were evaluated using the Fugl-Meyer lower extremity assessment (FMA-LE), the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), the Modified Barthel Index (MBI), Brunnstrom staging, the TecnoBody balance assessment system, and surface electromyography.Results:Compared with the sham stimulation group, the BBS score of the rTMS group was significantly higher after 2 weeks of treatment, and both the FMA-LE and BBS scores were significantly higher after 3 weeks. The average Brunnstrom stage in the sham group had increased significantly after 3 weeks, but in the rTMS group it had increased after 2 weeks. By 3 weeks there were no significant differences between the two groups. In terms of movement control, the average motion ellipse area in the rTMS group was significantly smaller than among the sham group after 2 weeks, and after 3 weeks the average motion trajectory length was significantly shorter than in the sham group. The average RMS of the rectus femoris in the rTMS group was significantly higher than the sham group′s average after 3 weeks of treatment, indicating improved muscle activation.Conclusions:High-frequency rTMS using a conical coil can effectively improve the lower limb motor function and balance ability of stroke survivors, demonstrating promising clinical application potential.

Objective:To document any effect of repeated high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) using double-cone coils on the lower limb motor function of stroke survivors.Methods:A total of 40 stroke survivors were randomly divided into an rTMS group and a sham stimulation group, each of 20. The rTMS group received rTMS at 10Hz with a double-cone coil, while a coil that produced sound but no magnetic stimulation was used with the sham group. The treatments were administered daily, five times a week, for three weeks. Before as well as after 1, 2 and 3 weeks of treatment, lower limb motor function, balance, and the root mean square (RMS) and median frequency (MF) of the rectus femoris and tibialis anterior muscles were evaluated using the Fugl-Meyer lower extremity assessment (FMA-LE), the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), the Modified Barthel Index (MBI), Brunnstrom staging, the TecnoBody balance assessment system, and surface electromyography.Results:Compared with the sham stimulation group, the BBS score of the rTMS group was significantly higher after 2 weeks of treatment, and both the FMA-LE and BBS scores were significantly higher after 3 weeks. The average Brunnstrom stage in the sham group had increased significantly after 3 weeks, but in the rTMS group it had increased after 2 weeks. By 3 weeks there were no significant differences between the two groups. In terms of movement control, the average motion ellipse area in the rTMS group was significantly smaller than among the sham group after 2 weeks, and after 3 weeks the average motion trajectory length was significantly shorter than in the sham group. The average RMS of the rectus femoris in the rTMS group was significantly higher than the sham group′s average after 3 weeks of treatment, indicating improved muscle activation.Conclusions:High-frequency rTMS using a conical coil can effectively improve the lower limb motor function and balance ability of stroke survivors, demonstrating promising clinical application potential.

A boy, aged 16 months, attended the hospital due to head and facial erythema for 15 months and vulva erythema for 10 months with aggravation for 5 days. The boy developed perioral and periocular erythema in the neonatal period and had erythema and papules with desquamation and erosion in the neck, armpit, and trigone of vulva in infancy. Blood gas analysis showed metabolic acidosis; the analysis of amino acid and acylcarnitine profiles for inherited metabolic diseases and the analysis of organic acid in urine suggested multiple carboxylase deficiency; genetic testing showed a homozygous mutation of c.1522C>T(p.R508W) in the HLCS gene. Finally the boy was diagnosed with holocarboxylase synthetase deficiency and achieved a good clinical outcome after oral biotin treatment. This article analyzes the clinical data of a child with holocarboxylase synthetase deficiency and summarizes the etiology, diagnosis, and treatment of this child, so as to provide ideas for clinicians to diagnose this rare disease.
Humans ; Male ; Biotin/therapeutic use* ; Holocarboxylase Synthetase Deficiency/drug therapy* ; Homozygote ; Mutation ; Rare Diseases/drug therapy* ; Infant

Objectives: To investigated the safety and efficacy of treating patients with acute non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) and elevated levels of N-terminal pro-hormone B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) with levosimendan within 24 hours of first medical contact (FMC). Methods: This multicenter, open-label, block-randomized controlled trial (NCT03189901) investigated the safety and efficacy of levosimendan as an early management strategy of acute heart failure (EMS-AHF) for patients with NSTEMI and high NT-proBNP levels. This study included 255 patients with NSTEMI and elevated NT-proBNP levels, including 142 males and 113 females with a median age of 65 (58-70) years, and were admitted in the emergency or outpatient departments at 14 medical centers in China between October 2017 and October 2021. The patients were randomly divided into a levosimendan group (n=129) and a control group (n=126). The primary outcome measure was NT-proBNP levels on day 3 of treatment and changes in the NT-proBNP levels from baseline on day 5 after randomization. The secondary outcome measures included the proportion of patients with more than 30% reduction in NT-proBNP levels from baseline, major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) during hospitalization and at 6 months after hospitalization, safety during the treatment, and health economics indices. The measurement data parameters between groups were compared using the t-test or the non-parametric test. The count data parameters were compared between groups using the χ² test. Results: On day 3, the NT-proBNP levels in the levosimendan group were lower than the control group but were statistically insignificant [866 (455, 1 960) vs. 1 118 (459, 2 417) ng/L, Z=-1.25,P=0.21]. However, on day 5, changes in the NT-proBNP levels from baseline in the levosimendan group were significantly higher than the control group [67.6% (33.8%,82.5%)vs.54.8% (7.3%,77.9%), Z=-2.14, P=0.03]. There were no significant differences in the proportion of patients with more than 30% reduction in the NT-proBNP levels on day 5 between the levosimendan and the control groups [77.5% (100/129) vs. 69.0% (87/126), χ²=2.34, P=0.13]. Furthermore, incidences of MACE did not show any significant differences between the two groups during hospitalization [4.7% (6/129) vs. 7.1% (9/126), χ²=0.72, P=0.40] and at 6 months [14.7% (19/129) vs. 12.7% (16/126), χ²=0.22, P=0.64]. Four cardiac deaths were reported in the control group during hospitalization [0 (0/129) vs. 3.2% (4/126), P=0.06]. However, 6-month survival rates were comparable between the two groups (log-rank test, P=0.18). Moreover, adverse events or serious adverse events such as shock, ventricular fibrillation, and ventricular tachycardia were not reported in both the groups during levosimendan treatment (days 0-1). The total cost of hospitalization [34 591.00(15 527.46,59 324.80) vs. 37 144.65(16 066.90,63 919.00)yuan, Z=-0.26, P=0.80] and the total length of hospitalization [9 (8, 12) vs. 10 (7, 13) days, Z=0.72, P=0.72] were lower for patients in the levosimendan group compared to those in the control group, but did not show statistically significant differences. Conclusions: Early administration of levosimendan reduced NT-proBNP levels in NSTEMI patients with elevated NT-proBNP and did not increase the total cost and length of hospitalization, but did not significantly improve MACE during hospitalization or at 6 months.
Male ; Female ; Humans ; Aged ; Natriuretic Peptide, Brain ; Simendan/therapeutic use* ; Non-ST Elevated Myocardial Infarction ; Heart Failure/drug therapy* ; Peptide Fragments ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Biomarkers ; Prognosis

Objective: To investigate the prevalence and risk factors of coronary artery calcification (CAC) on lung cancer screening with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT). Methods: A total of 4 989 asymptomatic subjects (2 542 males and 2 447 females) who underwent LDCT lung cancer screening were recruited at Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences from 2014 to 2017. The visual scoring method was used to assess coronary artery calcification score. χ(2) test or independent t-test was used to compare the difference of CAC positive rate among different groups. Multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze risk factors associated with CAC in the study. Results: Of the 4 989 asymptomatic subjects, CAC occurred in 1 018 cases. The positive rate was 20.4%, of which mild, moderate and severe calcification accounted for 86.3%, 11.4% and 2.3%, respectively. Gender, age, BMI, education level, occupation, smoking history, diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidemia had statistically significant differences in CAC positive rates among groups. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that gender, age, diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and smoking history were risk factors for CAC. Age, diabetes, hypertension and smoking history were statistically significant risk factors between the mild and moderate CAC group. A total of 1 730 coronary arteries in 1 018 CAC positive cases had calcification, CAC positive rate of left anterior descending was the highest(51.3%); 568 cases (55.8%) were single vessel calcification, 450 cases (44.2%) were multiple vessel calcification. Conclusions: LDCT can be used for the 'one-stop' early detection of lung cancer and coronary atherosclerosis. Gender, age, diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and smoking are related risk factors for coronary atherosclerosis.
Male ; Female ; Humans ; Coronary Artery Disease/epidemiology* ; Early Detection of Cancer ; Prevalence ; Lung Neoplasms/epidemiology* ; Vascular Calcification/epidemiology* ; Risk Factors ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed/methods* ; Hypertension ; Hyperlipidemias

OBJECTIVE: To study the long-term clinical effect of multicenter multidisciplinary treatment (MDT) in children with renal malignant tumors. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed on the medical data of 55 children with renal malignant tumors who were diagnosed and treated with MDT in 3 hospitals in Hunan Province from January 2015 to January 2020, with GD-WT-2010 and CCCG-WT-2016 for treatment regimens. A Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to analyze the survival of the children. RESULTS: Of the 55 children, 10 had stage I tumor, 14 had stage Ⅱ tumor, 22 had stage Ⅲ tumor, 7 had stage IV tumor, and 2 had stage V tumor. As for pathological type, 47 had FH type and 8 had UFH type. All children underwent complete tumor resection. Of the 55 children, 14 (25%) received preoperative chemotherapy. All children, except 1 child with renal cell carcinoma, received postoperative chemotherapy. Among the 31 children with indication for radiotherapy, 21 (68%) received postoperative radiotherapy. One child died of postoperative metastasis. The incidence rate of FH-type myelosuppression was 94.4%, and the incidence rate of UFH-type myelosuppression was 100%. The median follow-up time was 21 months and the median survival time was 26 months for all children, with an overall survival rate of 98% and an event-free survival rate of 95%. CONCLUSIONS Multicenter MDT has the advantages of high success rate of operation and good therapeutic effect of chemotherapy in the treatment of children with renal malignant tumors, with myelosuppression as the most common side effects, and radiotherapy is safe and effective with few adverse events. Therefore, MDT has good feasibility, safety, and economy.
Child ; Family ; Humans ; Kidney Neoplasms/therapy* ; Progression-Free Survival ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVE: To analyze gene expression profile of T cell lymphoma Jurkat cell line treated with paclitaxel by computational biology based on next generation sequencing and to explore the possible molecular mechanism of paclitaxel resistance to T cell lymphoma at gene level. METHODS: IC50 of paclitaxel on Jurkat cell line was determined by CCK-8 assay. Gene expression profile of Jurkat cells treated with paclitaxel was acquired by next generation sequencing technology. Gene microarray data related to human T cell lymphoma were screened from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database (including 720 cases of T cell lymphoma and 153 cases of normal tissues). Combined with the sequencing data, differential expression genes (DEGs) were intersected and screened. DAVID database was used for enrichment analysis of GO function and KEGG pathway to determine and visualize functional entries of DEGs, and protein-protein interactions network of DEGs was drawn. The levels of gene expression were detected and verified by RT-qPCR. RESULTS: CCK-8 results showed that the proliferation of Jurkat cells was inhibited by paclitaxel depended on the concentration apparently. Treated by paclitaxel for 48 h, P<0.05 and |log2(FC)|≥1 were used as filter criteria on the results of RNA Sequencing (RNA-Seq) and GeoChip, 351 DEGs were found from Jurkat cells, including 323 up-regulated genes and 28 down-regulated genes. The GO functional annotation and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis showed that the role of paclitaxel was mainly concentrated in protein heterodimerization activity, nucleosome assembly and transcriptional dysregulation in cancer, etc. The results of RT-qPCR were consistent with those of the sequencing analysis, which verified the reliability of this sequencing. CONCLUSION Paclitaxel can affect the proliferation and apoptosis of T-cell lymphoma by up-regulating JUN gene, orphan nuclear receptor NR4A family genes and histone family genes.
Computational Biology ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing ; Humans ; Lymphoma, T-Cell ; Paclitaxel ; Reproducibility of Results

Objective To investigate the effect of Bufalin on aerobic glycolysis in human colorectal cancer cell.Methods The colorectal cancer cells were divided into Bufalin groups and control group.Bufalin groups were treated with Bufalin at various concentrations(5,10,20,40nmol · L-1) for 48 h and control group was given the same dose of complete medium.The level of intracellular ATP level and cell lacate production were determined by Kit.The C-myc and energy metabolism regulator were measured by Western blot.Results Compared with the control group(1.00),4 concentrations (5,10,20,40 nmol · L-1) Bufalin were 91.69％,78.00％,68.55％,54.03％ on the inhibition of human colon cancer cell line HCT116 in ATP level rate;the 4 concentrations Bufalin were 89.04％,77.27％,59.66％,47.52％ to inhibit HCT116 cell junction formation of lactic acid in colorectal cancer cell line rate,the difference was statistically significant (P ＜ 0.05,P ＜ 0.01).Compared with the control group (1.00),the 4 concentrations Bufalin with HCT116 cells C-myc protein colon cancer cell line expression ratio were 0.95,0.84,0.73,0.68;lactate dehydrogenase A (LDH-A) expression ratio were 0.95,0.90,0.79,0.60,the difference was statistically significant (P ＜ 0.05,P ＜ 0.01).Conclusion Bufalin can inhibit the energy metabolism of colorectal cancer cell,which may be related with the down-regulation of C-myc expression.

Ursolic acid (UA) is a sort of pentacyclic triterpenoid carboxylic acid purified from natural plant. UA has a series of biological effects such as sedative, anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-diabetic, antiulcer, etc. It is discovered that UA has a broad-spectrum anti-tumor effect in recent years, which has attracted more and more scholars' attention. This review explained anti-tumor actions of UA, including (1) the protection of cells' DNA from different damages; (2) the anti-tumor cell proliferation by the inhibition of epidermal growth factor receptor/mitogen-activated protein kinase signal or of FoxM1 transcription factors, respectively; (3) antiangiogenesis, (4) the immunological surveillance to tumors; (5) the inhibition of tumor cell migration and invasion; (6) the effect of UA on caspase, cytochromes C, nuclear factor kappa B, cyclooxygenase, tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) or mammalian target of rapamycin signal to induce tumor cell apoptosis respectively, and etc. Moreover, UA has selective toxicity to tumor cells, basically no effect on normal cells. With further studies, UA would be one of the potential anti-tumor agents.
Angiogenesis Inhibitors ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Animals ; Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Humans ; Immunologic Surveillance ; drug effects ; Neoplasms ; blood supply ; drug therapy ; immunology ; pathology ; Triterpenes ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use

Objective To study the damage on organs from salt sensitivity hypertension or non-salt-sensitive hypertension and the selection of drug combination.Methods 120 hypertensive patiems including 60 cases salt-sensitive (SS) and 60 non-salt-sensitive (NSS) groups were selected in our hospital and their salt load tested.These two groups were randomly divided into two groups,each group with 30 patients,one was given felodipine and perindopril and the others were given indapamide sustained release tablets and peridopril to facilitate the 12-week treatment.Before and after the treatment,patients were tested for physiological indicators,such as sitting blood pressure,24-hour ambulatory blood pressure,insulin resistance index,comparing changes of various sub-index etc.Results Significantly different were seen in indices as fasting blood glucose and serum creatinine (P＜ 0.01),fasting insulin,left ventricular mass index,urinary albumin,body mass index,insulin resistance indices,while between the SS group and the NSS group(P＜0.05).In the SS group,when patients with various sub-indicators were using perindopril combined with indapamide treatment,the related detected indicators tended to be normal and with statistically significant differences (P＜0.05).In the NSS group,those related indexes also tended to be more normal when using felodipine combined with perindopril.However,there were statistically significant differences between the two groups (P＜0.05).Conclusion On SS hypertensive patients with target organ damages,perindopril and indapamide seemed to be more effective in NSS patients,indicating that the use of perindopril and felodipine combination,seemed to be more suitable.