OBJECTIVE: To explore the displacement and pressure distribution of American Chiropractic in a model of third lumbar syndrome based on finite element analysis. METHODS: On March 2021, CT and MRI images of a 23-year-old male patient with right third lumbar syndrome were selected. A 3D stl model was established using Mimics and CATIA, and the data was imported into Hypermesh, Abaqus & ANSYS. The elastic modulus and Poisson's ratio of the affected side material were adjusted to establish its finite element model. Based on the comparison of the operating positions and routines of the American Chiropractic and the lumbar spine oblique pull method, but with differences in the focus and direction of force, the experimental group simulated the American Chiropractic with the healthy side (left side) lying position of the model. The upper endplate of L₃ and the lower part below L₃ twisted accordingly with the body position, we applied a vertical forward thrust of 246 N to the plane formed by the L₄, L₅ spinous processes and L₄ upper articular processes;The control group simulates the oblique pull method of the lumbar spine, requiring the model to lie on the healthy side (left side), fix the upper endplate of L₄, and perform a horizontal rotation along the longitudinal axis of L₃ vertebral body. At this time, the contact force in the upward direction is also set to 246 N. Compare the displacement and stress differences between the L₁-L₅ intervertebral bodies, intervertebral discs, articular processes, and transverse process muscles in two intervention models. RESULTS: ① Under safe load conditions, a test force of 246 N was applied to the model, and the maximum vertebral displacement occurred on the right side of the L₃ vertebral body (1.197 mm) after manual intervention in the control group. The vertebral displacement between L₁-L₅ induced by manual intervention in the experimental group was smaller than that of the control group's manual intervention (P<0.05). ② The maximum vertebral body stress occurred on the right side of the L₃ vertebral body after manual intervention in the control group (98.425 MPa). The stress on each vertebral body formed by the experimental group's manual intervention was lower than that of the control group's manual intervention (P<0.05). ③The maximum intervertebral disc stress occurred on the right side of the L_2,3 intervertebral disc (6.282 MPa) after manual intervention in the control group. ④ The maximum joint process stress occurred on the right side of the L₄ upper joint process after manual intervention in the experimental group (1.587 MPa). The joint process stress on the left side below L₁ and the left side above and below L₂ induced by manual intervention in the experimental group was lower than that of the control group (P<0.05). ⑤The maximum stress on the intertransverse process muscle was observed at the right lateral L₃ process end (31.960 MPa) of L_3,4 in the control group after manual intervention. The stress on the L_2,3 and L_4,5 segments of the intertransverse process muscle induced by manual intervention in the experimental group was lower than that of the control group's manual intervention (P<0.05). CONCLUSION The mechanical feedback of the L₁-L₅ vertebral body, the lower left side of the articular process L₁, the upper and lower left side of the articular process L₂, and the L_2,3 and L_4,5 segments of the transverse process muscle in the model indicates that performing American Chiropractic for the treatment of third lumbar transverse process syndrome can accurately hit the target pain point and allow the patient's tissue to form a low stress and low tension state after manual operation, thereby reducing the possibility of tissue damage caused by hypertonia after intervertebral joint movement, making it relatively safe. The application of American Chiropractic will be a new supplement to the traditional treatment plan for third lumbar transverse process syndrome.
Humans ; Finite Element Analysis ; Male ; Lumbar Vertebrae/physiopathology* ; Biomechanical Phenomena ; Young Adult ; Manipulation, Chiropractic ; Adult ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging

The ocular bioavailability of traditional ophthalmic preparations is relatively low, and it is difficult to have a satisfactory therapeutic effect on ocular diseases, which is mainly due to the difficulty of traditional ophthalmic preparations to pass through many physiological barriers in the eye and the short residence time of the preparations in the eye. In order to improve the ocular bioavailability of drugs and reduce the adverse drug reaction to ocular tissues, some novel drug delivery systems, such as nanoparticles, microspheres, and in situ gels, have been employed to develop ophthalmic preparations, and have attracted increasing attention of researchers. In terms of the rapid development of ocular drug delivery systems, recent advances in ocular drug delivery systems are summarized in this paper. Firstly, ocular structure and physiological barriers which restrict drugs into the eye are introduced. Secondly, novel ocular drug delivery systems, including nanoparticles, liposomes, lipid nanoparticles, microspheres, and in situ gels are introduced. Finally, the future prospects and crucial problems of ocular drug delivery systems in clinical treatment are focused on.

SARS-CoV-2 has posed a significant threat to a subset of the patient population.The occurrence of hematological malignancies and tumor treatment can lead to immunosuppression in patients,which significantly increases the risk of serious complications,severe incidence and mortality after SARS-CoV-2 infection.The treatment of a patient with follicular lymphoma infected with SARS-CoV-2 was described in detail.The patient remained positive for RT-PCR tests during the hospitalization for nearly 90 days.After undergoing 5 rounds of antiviral treatment,along with glucocorticoid anti-inflammatory therapy,low-molecular-weight heparin for anticoagulation,antibiotics for infection control,and respiratory support through the use of a ventilator,the patient eventually obtained negative result of the RT-PCR test.Subsequently,the patient was successfully weaned from mechanical ventilation and discharged.By summarizing the treatment process of this case,we hoped to provide reference and experience for future clinical diagnosis and treatment.

Aim To prepare prostate cancer exosomes containing melittin and observe their uptake by prostate cancer cells. Methods Cells treated with starvation for different time were screened for exosome extraction. Exosomes from PC-3 cells were extracted by ultracentrifugation, and the extracted particles were examined by transmission electron microscopy, nanoparticle tracking analyzer(NTA), and Western blot. Melittin exosome system was prepared by repeated freeze-thaw method, incubation at room temperature as well as electroporation, and the size of encapsulation efficiency was measured by centrifugation. A high-performance liquid chromatography(HPLC)method was applied to assay the content of melittin exosomes(exo-mel). Fluorescence inverted microscopy was employed to evaluate the uptake of melittin exosomes by PC-3 cells, DU145 cells as well as LNCaP cells. Results The results of starvation treatment showed that 24 h starvation treatment was the optimal time point. TEM results showed that the exosomes were round or oval in shape with a distinct membranous structure, and the diameter was around 100 nm. The reagent protein concentration for NTA analysis of exosomes was 0.222 g·L-1. The results of Western blot for the marker proteins of exosomes showed that Alix and CD63 were positively expressed, which indicated that the exosomes could be obtained by starvation culture of PC-3 cells and ultracentrifugation. The results of entrapment efficiency showed that the entrapment efficiency of electroporation method was 17.51% ± 2.39%, that of repeated freeze-thaw method was 11.46% ± 1.02%, and that of room temperature incubation method was 3.93% ± 2.44%. The encapsulation efficiency of electroporation was the highest with significant difference(P<0.05). The uptake assay showed that PC-3 cells could efficiently take up exo-mel in a time-dependent manner, and DU145 cells and LNCaP cells also could take up exo-mel over time. Conclusions Exosomes can be accessed by starvation treatment and high-speed centrifugation, and the prostate cancer melittin exosome system prepared by electroporation method could be taken up by prostate cancer cells.

Objective:To study the efficacy and safety of laparoscopic surgery in treatment of recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma.Methods:The clinical data of 58 patients with recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma who underwent surgical treatment from January 2010 to January 2018 at Hunan Provincial People’s Hospital were retrospectively analyzed. There were 50 males and 8 females, ranging in age from 28 to 78 (53.0±10.8) years old. Patients were divided into laparoscopic group ( n=27) and laparotomy group ( n=31) according to different surgical procedures. The differences in operative time, intraoperative blood loss, hospital stay, postoperative anal exhaustion time, postoperative complications and prognosis between the two groups were compared. Results:The intraoperative blood loss of laparoscopy group and laparotomy group were 100.0(50.0, 400.0) ml vs 300.0(100.0, 500.0) ml, the postoperative anal exhaustion time were (2.7±0.6) d vs (3.3±0.6) d, the hospital stay were (14.8±3.8) d vs (21.4±6.3) d, and these differences were statistically significant (all P<0.05). The operative time of the two groups were (243.4±27.2) min vs (217.5±34.7) min, with no statistical significance ( t=0.59, P=0.344). There were no significant differences between the two groups in postoperative complications (bile leakage, abdominal infection, hemorrhage, pleural effusion and hepatic encephalopathy) (all P>0.05); thetumor free survival, 1-year, and 3-year overall survival rates of the two groups were also not significantly different (both P>0.05). Conclusion:Laparoscopic surgery is safe and effective in the treatment of recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma, and its prognosis is similar to laparotomy, its complications are not significantly increased, which is worthy of promotion in clinic.

Objective: To explore the association between sleep duration and the risk of frailty among the elderly over 80 years old in China. Methods: Using the data from five surveys of the China Elderly Health Influencing Factors Follow-up Survey (CLHLS) (2005, 2008-2009, 2011-2012, 2014, and 2017-2018), 7 024 elderly people aged 80 years and above were selected as the study subjects. Questionnaires and physical examinations were used to collect information on sleep time, general demographic characteristics, functional status, physical signs, and illness. The frailty state was evaluated based on a frailty index that included 39 variables. The Cox proportional risk regression model was used to analyze the correlation between sleep time and the risk of frailty occurrence. A restricted cubic spline function was used to analyze the dose-response relationship between sleep time and the risk of frailty occurrence. The likelihood ratio test was used to analyze the interaction between age, gender, sleep quality, cognitive impairment, and sleep duration. Results: The age M (Q₁, Q₃) of 7 024 subjects was 87 (82, 92) years old, with a total of 3 435 (48.9%) patients experiencing frailty. The results of restricted cubic spline function analysis showed that there was an approximate U-shaped relationship between sleep time and the risk of frailty. When sleep time was 6.5-8.5 hours, the elderly had the lowest risk of frailty; Multivariate Cox proportional risk regression model analysis showed that compared to 6.5-8.5 hours of sleep, long sleep duration (>8.5 hours) increased the risk of frailty by 13% (HR: 1.13; 95%CI: 1.04-1.22). Conclusion: There is a nonlinear association between sleep time and the risk of frailty in the elderly.
Aged ; Humans ; Aged, 80 and over ; Frailty/epidemiology* ; Sleep Duration ; Prospective Studies ; Sleep/physiology* ; China/epidemiology*

Objective: To investigate the clinicopathological features, diagnosis and differential diagnosis of breast myofibroblastoma. Methods: The clinicopathological data and prognostic information of 15 patients with breast myofibroblastoma diagnosed at the Department of Pathology of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China from 2014 to 2022 were collected. Their clinical characteristics, histological subtypes, immunophenotypes and molecular characteristics were analyzed. Results: There were 12 female and 3 male patients, ranging in age from 18 to 78 years, with a median and average age of 52 years. There were 6 cases in the left breast and 9 cases in the right breast, including 12 cases in outer upper quadrant, 2 cases in inner upper quadrant and 1 case in outer lower quadrant. Most of the cases showed a well-defined nodule grossly, including pushing growth under the microscope in 13 cases, being completely separated from the surrounding breast tissue in 1 case, and infiltrating growth in 1 case. Among them, 12 cases were classic subtype and composed of occasional spindle cells with varying intervals of collagen fiber bundles; eight cases had a small amount of fat; one case had focal cartilage differentiation; one case was epithelioid subtype, in which epithelioid tumor cells were scattered in single filing or small clusters; one case was schwannoma-like subtype, and the tumor cells were arranged in a significant palisade shape, resembling schwannoma, and one case was invasive leiomyoma-like subtype, in which the tumor cells had eosinophilic cytoplasm and were arranged in bundles, and infiltrating into the surrounding mammary lobules like leiomyoma. Immunohistochemical studies showed that the tumor cells expressed desmin (14/15) and CD34 (14/15), as well as ER (15/15) and PR (15/15). Three cases with histologic subtypes of epithelioid subtype, schwannoma-like subtype and infiltrating leiomyoma-like subtype showed RB1 negative immunohistochemistry. Then FISH was performed to detect RB1/13q14 gene deletion, and identified RB1 gene deletion in all three cases. Fifteen cases were followed up for 2-100 months, and no recurrence was noted. Conclusions: Myofibroblastoma is a rare benign mesenchymal tumor of the breast. In addition to the classic type, there are many histological variants, among which the epithelioid subtype is easily confused with invasive lobular carcinoma. The schwannoma-like subtype is similar to schwannoma, while the invasive subtype is easily misdiagnosed as fibromatosis-like or spindle cell metaplastic carcinoma. Therefore, it is important to recognize the various histological subtypes and clinicopathological features of the tumor for making correct pathological diagnosis and rational clinical treatment.
Female ; Humans ; Male ; Antigens, CD34 ; Biomarkers, Tumor/analysis* ; Leiomyoma/pathology* ; Neoplasms, Muscle Tissue/pathology* ; Neurilemmoma ; Adolescent ; Young Adult ; Adult ; Middle Aged ; Aged

Background::At present, a large number of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients are undiagnosed in China. Thus, this study aimed to develop a simple prediction model as a screening tool to identify patients at risk for COPD.Methods::The study was based on the data of 22,943 subjects aged 30 to 79 years and enrolled in the second resurvey of China Kadoorie Biobank during 2012 and 2013 in China. We stepwisely selected the predictors using logistic regression model. Then we tested the model validity through P-P graph, area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC), ten-fold cross validation and an external validation in a sample of 3492 individuals from the Enjoying Breathing Program in China.Results::The final prediction model involved 14 independent variables, including age, sex, location (urban/rural), region, educational background, smoking status, smoking amount (pack-years), years of exposure to air pollution by cooking fuel, family history of COPD, history of tuberculosis, body mass index, shortness of breath, sputum and wheeze. The model showed an area under curve (AUC) of 0.72 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.72-0.73) for detecting undiagnosed COPD patients, with the cutoff of predicted probability of COPD=0.22, presenting a sensitivity of 70.13% and a specificity of 62.25%. The AUROC value for screening undiagnosed patients with clinically significant COPD was 0.68 (95% CI: 0.66-0.69). Moreover, the ten-fold cross validation reported an AUC of 0.72 (95% CI: 0.71-0.73), and the external validation presented an AUC of 0.69 (95% CI: 0.68-0.71).Conclusion::This prediction model can serve as a first-stage screening tool for undiagnosed COPD patients in primary care settings.

Objective:To observe the effect of oral-facial muscle training applying virtual reality technology (VR) and of action observation therapy on the salivation of children with cerebral palsy (CP).Methods:Sixty CP children with uncontrolled salivation were randomly divided into a control group and an observation group, each of 30. In addition to conventional rehabilitation treatment, the control group received routine tongue muscle training, buccal lip muscle training, ice stimulation, and Masako swallowing training. The observation group received oral-facial muscle training based on action observation therapy in a virtual environment. Both groups were trained 30min per day, 5 times a week for 3 weeks. Before and after the treatment, drooling (DDSS) and swallowing function scores were evaluated. Integrated surface electromyography (iEMG) of the buccinator and orbicularis oris muscles was also performed.Results:After treatment, a significant decrease was observed in the average DDSS and the swallowing function scores of both the control and observation groups, along with a significant increase in the average root mean square values of the buccinator and orbicularis oris iEMGs of both groups. However, the average DDSS score of the observation group was significantly lower than that of the control group, while the average iEMG readings were significantly better.Conclusion:VR-based action observation oral-facial muscle training is a more effective supplement to conventional rehabilitation treatment than conventional oral-facial muscle training in improving the salivation of children with CP.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether skin tests are suitable to predict the allergy reactions induced by Chinese herbal injections (CHIs). METHODS: The skin tests including skin prick tests (SPT), intradermal tests (IDT) and provocation tests including subcutaneous tests and intravenous tests were administered to 249 healthy subjects and 180 allergic patients for 3 CHIs, including ginkgolide injection, diterpene ginkgolide meglumine injection and Salvianolate lyophilized injection. The results of the provocation tests were used as the "gold standard" to determine the sensitivity and specificity of the skin tests. RESULTS: The results did not show any significant differences between the healthy and allergy groups in both skin tests and provocation tests (P>0.05). The specificities of SPT and IDT were 0.976 and 0.797, respectively, and the sensitivities of both SPT and IDT were 0. CONCLUSION Skin tests are insufficient to predict the likelihood of allergic reactions resulting from CHIs. (ChiCTR-CPC-15006921).
China ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Intradermal Tests ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Skin Tests