Microplastics(MPs)and nanoplastics(NPs)have become hazardous materials due to the massive amount of plastic waste and disposable masks,but their specific health effects remain uncertain.In this study,fluorescence-labeled polystyrene NPs(PS-NPs)were injected into the circulatory systems of mice to determine the distribution and potential toxic effects of NPs in vivo.Interestingly,whole-body imaging found that PS-NPs accumulated in the testes of mice.Therefore,the toxic effects of PS-NPs on the reproduction systems and the spermatocytes cell line of male mice,and their mechanisms,were investigated.After oral exposure to PS-NPs,their spermatogenesis was affected and the spermatogenic cells were damaged.The spermatocyte cell line GC-2 was exposed to PS-NPs and analyzed using RNA sequencing(RNA-seq)to determine the toxic mechanisms;a ferroptosis pathway was found after PS-NP exposure.The phenomena and indicators of ferroptosis were then determined and verified by ferroptosis inhibitor ferrostatin-1(Fer-1),and it was also found that nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2(Nrf2)played an important role in spermatogenic cell ferroptosis induced by PS-NPs.Finally,it was confirmed in vivo that this mechanism of Nrf2 played a protective role in PS-NPs-induced male reproductive toxicity.This study demonstrated that PS-NPs induce male reproductive dysfunction in mice by causing spermatogenic cell ferroptosis dependent on Nrf2.

We report the diagnosis and treatment of a rare case of epidural analgesia failure followed by postpartum subdural hematoma. The patient underwent vaginal delivery under epidural analgesia at 32 +6 gestational weeks due to threatened premature labor, during which an unexpected dural rupture occurred. She gave no history of headache and there was no obvious abnormality during the pregnancy. However, on postpartum day 4, the patient complained of headache that could not be relieved when supine, but without any other neurological symptoms. A prompt cranial CT examination showed a left frontotemporal subdural hematoma. After conservative management with intravenous drip of mannitol, re-examination of cranial CT showed that the left frontotemporal subdural hematoma was mostly absorbed and the patient was discharged on postpartum day 18. The patient was healthy during follow up. Intracranial subdural hematoma after dural puncture is a rare and serious complication that requires early recognition and treatment.

OBJECTIVE：To establish the fingerprint of Fritillariae thunbergii formula granules and determine the contents of 3 components. METHODS ：HPLC method was used. Using peiminine as reference ，HPLC fingerprints of 13 batches of F. thunbergii formula granules were drawn with Similarity Evaluation System of TCM Chromatogram Fingerprint （2012 edition）. Similarity evaluation and common peak identification were conducted. The contents of peimisine ，peimine and peiminine in F. thunbergii formula granules were determined by the same HPLC method. The quality difference of samples were compared among different manufacturers. RESULTS ：There were 5 common peaks in 13 batches of F. thunbergii formula granules ，and the similarity was 0.669-0.971. Three common peaks of peimisine ，peimine and peiminine were identified. The linear ranges of peimisine ，peimine and peiminine were 30.00-180.00 μg/mL（r＝0.999 9），79.58-477.50 μg/mL（r＝0.999 6）and 97.33-584.00 μg/mL（r＝0.999 4）， respectively. RSDs of precision ，stability（24 h）and reproducibility tests were all lower than 3％. The average recoveries were 95.82％（RSD＝1.17％，n＝6），99.00％（RSD＝1.96％，n＝6）and 95.39％（RSD＝2.00％，n＝6），respectively. In the 13 batches of samples ，the content of peimisine ，peimine and peiminine were 0.17-1.02 mg/g，0.52-2.26 mg/g，and 0.70-3.50 mg/g， respectively. Their average total content was 3.62 mg/g. The average total content of manufacturer C and A was higher （5.02 mg/g and 4.61 mg/g），followed by manufacturer E and B （3.48 mg/g and 3.02 mg/g）；the lowest was manufacturer D（only 1.87 mg/g）. CONCLUSIONS：Established fingerpri nt and content determination method is simple ，feasible and reproducible ，which can be used for the quality evaluation of F. thunbergii formula granules. There are some differences in content among different manufacturers.

We report the induced labor of conjoined twins in the second trimester in a woman with a history of two previous cesarean sections, the last one of which was performed in 2017. This 25-year-old patient was found to have thoracolumbar conjoined fetuses with one heart and polyhydramnios through the routine ultrasound examination at 19 +5 gestational weeks and was admitted at 20 +1 gestational weeks. After a full assessment of the fetal and maternal condition through multidisciplinary consultation, it was determined to attempt a vaginal delivery as no absolute contraindication for induction of labor. The patient was given 300 mg mifepristone orally plus an amniotic cavity injection of 100 mg ethacridine lactate. Regular contractions occurred 28 hours after medication. The patient delivered a pair of dead female conjoined twins at 20 +6 gestational weeks following successful induction of labor, with an assisted vaginal breech delivery. There was no soft tissue damage in the birth canal, and the estimated blood loss was 150 ml. Pathological examination and autopsy showed thoracolumbar conjoined deformity twins with a common heart and liver. Adequate prenatal evaluation, a detailed understanding of the indications for induction of labor and vaginal delivery, closed monitoring during labor, and preparation for emergency cesarean section, are essential safety measures for induced labor of conjoined twins in women with a scarred uterus in the second trimester.

Objectives:To examine the prognosis factors of recurrence of esophageal carcinoma within 6 months after neoadjuvant therapy followd by surgery.Methods:The clinical data of 187 patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma who underwent neoadjuvant therapy followed by curative esophagectomy between January 2018 and April 2020 at Department of Thoracic Surgery, Shanghai Chest Hospital were analyzed retrospectively. There were 160 males and 27 females, aging (63.0±7.1) years (range:43 to 76 years). The t test, χ 2 test and rank-sum test were used for univariate analysis of the prognosis factors for recurrence within 6 months postoperative, while the Logistic regression was used for multivariate analysis. Results:There were 30 patients (16.0%) developed recurrence within 6 months after operation, including local recurrence in 1 case, regional recurrence in 11 cases, hematogenous recurrence in 13 cases, and combined recurrence in 5 cases. Univariate analysis suggested that there was a significant difference in T staging of tumor before neoadjuvant therapy (cT), tumor regression grade, circumferential resection margin, pathological T stage (ypT) and pathological N stage (ypN) between the recurrence patients and non-recurrence patients (all P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis suggested that the cT3-4 ( OR=2.701, 95% CI: 1.161 to 6.329, P=0.021) and ypN(+)( OR=1.654, 95% CI: 1.045 to 2.591, P=0.032) were the independent prognosis factors for recurrence within 6 months. Conclusion:The combination of neoadjuvant therapy and surgery is not effective in reducing early postoperative recurrence in patients who have invaded the epineurium before treatment, and still have positive lymph nodes after neoadjuvant therapy.

Objectives:To examine the prognosis factors of recurrence of esophageal carcinoma within 6 months after neoadjuvant therapy followd by surgery.Methods:The clinical data of 187 patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma who underwent neoadjuvant therapy followed by curative esophagectomy between January 2018 and April 2020 at Department of Thoracic Surgery, Shanghai Chest Hospital were analyzed retrospectively. There were 160 males and 27 females, aging (63.0±7.1) years (range:43 to 76 years). The t test, χ 2 test and rank-sum test were used for univariate analysis of the prognosis factors for recurrence within 6 months postoperative, while the Logistic regression was used for multivariate analysis. Results:There were 30 patients (16.0%) developed recurrence within 6 months after operation, including local recurrence in 1 case, regional recurrence in 11 cases, hematogenous recurrence in 13 cases, and combined recurrence in 5 cases. Univariate analysis suggested that there was a significant difference in T staging of tumor before neoadjuvant therapy (cT), tumor regression grade, circumferential resection margin, pathological T stage (ypT) and pathological N stage (ypN) between the recurrence patients and non-recurrence patients (all P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis suggested that the cT3-4 ( OR=2.701, 95% CI: 1.161 to 6.329, P=0.021) and ypN(+)( OR=1.654, 95% CI: 1.045 to 2.591, P=0.032) were the independent prognosis factors for recurrence within 6 months. Conclusion:The combination of neoadjuvant therapy and surgery is not effective in reducing early postoperative recurrence in patients who have invaded the epineurium before treatment, and still have positive lymph nodes after neoadjuvant therapy.

Objective:To examine the preliminary clinical efficacy of Chinese magnetic sphincter augmentation (MSA) in the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).Methods:According to the enrollment criteria for the MSA developed by ShengJieKang Co. and Shanghai Chest Hospital (SS-MSA) clinical trial, a total of 19 GERD patients were treated with SS-MSA from August 2018 to January 2020 at Department of Thoracic Surgery, Shanghai Chest Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The majority of registered cases were male patients with age of (32.2±7.3) years (range: 22 to 50 years), height of (170.7±6.2) cm (range: 160 to 179 cm) and weight of (65.2±10.3) kg (range: 47.5 to 90.0 kg). SS-MSA was implanted via laparoscopy. The major evaluation indexs of postoperative efficacy were the total time of acid exposure within 24 hours and the total number of reflux. Secondary efficacy indicators included: (1) evaluation of the average daily dose of proton pump inhibitor medications; (2) the score of GERD health related quality of life questionnaire (GERD-Q) before and after MSA implantation. Paired design t-test was used to evaluate the efficacy of the SS-MSA. Results:A total of 19 patients underwent SS-MSA surgery successfully. The history of the GERD were 19 (54) months ( M( QR)). The operation time was 63 (22) minutes and the in-hospital stay was 3 (2) days. No obvious surgical complications occurred. Postoperative adverse events included 14 cases with mild to moderate dysphagia exited after surgery, gradually eased within 1 to 3 months, 1 case with the removal of the device after 1 month of severe swallowing difficulties, 1 case of diarrhea. No corrosion, perforation, displacement occurred. The GERD-Q score (11.0(4.5) vs. 6(1.0), t=4.274, P=0.013), 24-hour acid exposure time (6.2(4.8)% vs. 0.1(0.9)%, t=5.814, P=0.004), and Demeester score (23.72(16.20) vs. 0.96(3.10), t=6.678, P=0.003) were significantly decreased 1 year after surgery( n=5). Proton pump inhibitor reuse rates were 6/18, 5/15, 3/10, and 1/5 in 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after the operation, respectively. Conclusions:SS-MSA implantation is feasible and safe with short hospital stay and rare perioperative complications. The preliminary results is good after 1 year follow-up. It could be expected to be an ideal substitutive for future GERD treatment.

Objective:To examine the preliminary clinical efficacy of Chinese magnetic sphincter augmentation (MSA) in the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).Methods:According to the enrollment criteria for the MSA developed by ShengJieKang Co. and Shanghai Chest Hospital (SS-MSA) clinical trial, a total of 19 GERD patients were treated with SS-MSA from August 2018 to January 2020 at Department of Thoracic Surgery, Shanghai Chest Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The majority of registered cases were male patients with age of (32.2±7.3) years (range: 22 to 50 years), height of (170.7±6.2) cm (range: 160 to 179 cm) and weight of (65.2±10.3) kg (range: 47.5 to 90.0 kg). SS-MSA was implanted via laparoscopy. The major evaluation indexs of postoperative efficacy were the total time of acid exposure within 24 hours and the total number of reflux. Secondary efficacy indicators included: (1) evaluation of the average daily dose of proton pump inhibitor medications; (2) the score of GERD health related quality of life questionnaire (GERD-Q) before and after MSA implantation. Paired design t-test was used to evaluate the efficacy of the SS-MSA. Results:A total of 19 patients underwent SS-MSA surgery successfully. The history of the GERD were 19 (54) months ( M( QR)). The operation time was 63 (22) minutes and the in-hospital stay was 3 (2) days. No obvious surgical complications occurred. Postoperative adverse events included 14 cases with mild to moderate dysphagia exited after surgery, gradually eased within 1 to 3 months, 1 case with the removal of the device after 1 month of severe swallowing difficulties, 1 case of diarrhea. No corrosion, perforation, displacement occurred. The GERD-Q score (11.0(4.5) vs. 6(1.0), t=4.274, P=0.013), 24-hour acid exposure time (6.2(4.8)% vs. 0.1(0.9)%, t=5.814, P=0.004), and Demeester score (23.72(16.20) vs. 0.96(3.10), t=6.678, P=0.003) were significantly decreased 1 year after surgery( n=5). Proton pump inhibitor reuse rates were 6/18, 5/15, 3/10, and 1/5 in 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after the operation, respectively. Conclusions:SS-MSA implantation is feasible and safe with short hospital stay and rare perioperative complications. The preliminary results is good after 1 year follow-up. It could be expected to be an ideal substitutive for future GERD treatment.

Objective:To investigate the clinical characteristics of pediatric methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection and the antibiotic sensitivity of the isolates. Methods:The clinical data of children with MRSA infection and antibiotic sensitivity of the isolates from 11 children′s hospitals in Infectious Diseases Surveillance of Paediatrics (ISPED) group of China between January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2018 were collected retrospectively. The children′s general condition, high-risk factors, antimicrobial therapy and prognosis, differences in clinical disease and laboratory test results between different age groups, and differences of antibiotic sensitivity between community-acquired (CA)-MRSA and hospital-acquired (HA)-MRSA were analyzed. The t test and Wilcoxon rank sum test were used for statistical analysis of the quantitative data and Chi-square test were used for comparison of rates. Results:Among the 452 patients, 264 were males and 188 were females, aged from 2 days to 17 years. There were 233 cases (51.5%) in the ≤1 year old group, 79 cases (17.5%) in the>1-3 years old group, 29 cases (6.4%) in the >3-5 years old group, 65 cases (14.4%) in the >5-10 years old group, and 46 cases (10.2%) in the>10 years old group. The main distributions of onset seasons were 55 cases (12.2%) in December, 47 cases (10.4%) in February, 46 cases (10.2%) in November, 45 cases (10.0%) in January, 40 cases (8.8%) in March. There were 335 cases (74.1%) CA-MRSA and 117 (25.9%) cases HA-MRSA. Among all cases, 174 cases (38.5%) had basic diseases or long-term use of hormone and immunosuppressive drugs. During the period of hospitalization, 209 cases (46.2%) received medical interventions. There were 182 patients (40.3%) had used antibiotics (β-lactams, glycopeptides, macrolides, carbapenems, oxazolones, sulfonamides etc) 3 months before admission. The most common clinical disease was pneumonia (203 cases), followed by skin soft-tissue infection (133 cases), sepsis (92 cases), deep tissue abscess (42 cases), osteomyelitis (40 cases), and septic arthritis (26 cases), suppurative meningitis (10 cases). The proportion of pneumonia in the ≤1 year old group was higher than the >1-3 years old group,>3-5 years old group,>5-10 years old group,>10 years old group (57.5% (134/233) vs. 30.4% (24/79), 31.0% (9/29), 38.5% (25/65), 23.9% (11/46), χ 2=17.374, 7.293, 7.410, 17.373, all P<0.01) The proportion of skin and soft tissue infections caused by CA-MRSA infection was higher than HA-MRSA (33.4% (112/335) vs. 17.9% (21/117), χ 2=10.010, P=0.002), and the proportion of pneumonia caused by HA-MRSA infection was higher than CA-MRSA (53.0% (62/117) vs. 42.1% (141/335), χ 2=4.166, P=0.041). The first white blood cell count of the ≤1 year old group was higher than that children > 1 year old ((15±8)×10 9/L vs. (13±7)×10 9/L, t=2.697, P=0.007), while the C-reactive protein of the ≤1 year old group was lower than the 1-3 years old group,>5-10 years old group,>10 years old group (8.00 (0.04-194.00) vs.17.00 (0.50-316.00), 15.20 (0.23-312.00), 21.79(0.13-219.00) mg/L, Z=3.207, 2.044, 2.513, all P<0.05), there were no significant differences in procalcitonin (PCT) between different age groups (all P>0.05). After the treatment, 131 cases were cured, 278 cases were improved, 21 cases were not cured, 12 cases died, and 10 cases were abandoned. The 452 MRSA isolates were all sensitive to vancomycin (100.0%), linezolid (100.0%), 100.0% resistant to penicillin, highly resistant to erythromycin (85.0%, 375/441), clindamycin (67.7%, 294/434), less resistant to sulfonamides (5.9%, 23/391), levofloxacin (4.5%, 19/423), gentamicin (3.2%, 14/438), rifampicin (1.8%, 8/440), minocycline (1.1%, 1/91). The antimicrobial resistance rates were not significantly different between the CA-MRSA and HA-MRSA groups (all P>0.05). Conclusions:The infection of MRSA is mainly found in infants under 3 years old. The prevalent seasons are winter and spring, and MRSA is mainly acquired in the community. The main clinical diseases are pneumonia, skin soft-tissue infection and sepsis. No MRSA isolate is resistant to vancomycin, linezolid. MRSA isolates are generally sensitive to sulfonamides, levofloxacin, gentamicin, rifampicin, minocycline, and were highly resistant to erythromycin and clindamycin. To achieve better prognosis. clinicians should initiate anti-infective treatment for children with MRSA infection according to the clinical characteristics of patients and drug sensitivity of the isolates timely and effectively.

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have shown that induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) could be differentiated into mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) with notable advantages over iPSCs per se. In order to promote the application of iPSC-MSCs for osteoregenerative medicine, the present study aimed to assess the ability of murine iPSC-MSCs to differentiate into osteoblast phenotype. METHODS: Osteogenic differentiation medium, blending mouse osteoblast-conditioned medium (CM) with basic medium (BM) at ratio 3:7, 5:5 and 7:3, were administered to iPSC-MSCs, respectively. After 14 days, differentiation was evaluated by lineage-specific morphology, histological stain, quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and immunostaining. RESULTS: The osteogenesis-related genes, alp, runx2, col1 and ocn expressions suggest that culture medium consisting of CM:BM at the ratio of 3:7 enhanced the osteogenic differentiation more than other concentrations that were tested. In addition, the alkaline phosphatase activity and osteogenic marker Runx2 expression demonstrate that the combination of CM and BM significantly enhanced the osteogenic differentiation of iPSC-MSCs. CONCLUSION: In summary, this study has shown that osteoblast-derived CM can dramatically enhance osteogenic differentiation of iPSC-MSCs toward osteoblasts. Results from this work will contribute to optimize the osteogenic induction conditions of iPSC-MSCs and will assist in the potential application of iPSC-MSCs for bone tissue engineering.
Alkaline Phosphatase ; Animals ; Bone and Bones ; Culture Media, Conditioned ; Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; Mice ; Osteoblasts ; Phenotype