Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a kind of non-coding RNA (ncRNA) with covalent closed-loop structure. They have attracted more and more attention because of their high stability, evolutionary conservatism, and tissue expression specificity. It has shown that circRNAs are involved in the development of a variety of diseases including malignant tumors recently. Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a malignant tumor that occurs in the nasopharynx and has a unique ethnic and geographical distribution in South China and Southeast Asia. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection is closely related to the development of NPC. Radiotherapy and chemotherapy are the mainstays of treatment for NPC. But tumor recurrence or distant metastasis is the leading cause of death in patients with NPC. Several studies have shown that circRNAs, as gene expression regulators, play an important role in NPC and affect the progression of NPC. This review mainly summarized the research status of abnormally expressed circRNAs in NPC and EBV-encoded circRNAs. We also discussed the possibility of circRNAs as a therapeutic target, diagnostic and prognostic marker for NPC.

Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS), the first-line treatment of basal cell carcinoma (BCC), can help realize a complete histological examination of tumor borders during operation, thereby reserve as many normal tissues as possible, and reduce the recurrence rate. Skin imaging techniques can be used to describe the tumor edge of BCC before operation, so as to realize the marking of surgical margins by using non-invasive technologies before operation, improve the first-time success rate of MMS, reduce the cost of multi-stage MMS operation, and reduce the recurrence rate. This review summarizes the progress in the application of skin imaging techniques in determining surgical margins of BCC.

Objective:To compare the aortic remodeling of the Fabulous stent system and standard thoracic aortic endovascular repair (TEVAR) on distal aorta type B aortic dissection (TBAD). Methods:The prospective data collected between Dec 2017 and Oct 2019 from 134 patients with type B aortic dissection (TBAD) who underwent treatment with the "Fabulous" stent system, and retrospective data from 159 TBAD patients receiving standard TEVAR from corresponding multicenter. By using propensity score matching analysis, we compared the prognosis and aortic remodeling outcomes in patients undergoing Fabulous and standard TEVAR treatments during a 1-year postoperative follow-up.Results:In this study, 62 patients in Fabulous group and 62 patients in standard TEVAR were included.There were no significant statistical differences in baseline characteristics between the two groups. In terms of aortic remodeling in bare stent region, Fabulous group had better change trends of diameter of true lumen [10.6 (4.4, 14.5) mm vs. 4.7 (0.9, 10.7) mm, P=0.001] and false lumen [-24.2 (-30.5, -4.9) mm vs. 0.7 (-11.8, 2.3) mm, P<0.001] than those in the standard TEVAR group. The rate of complete false lumen thrombosis was also higher in the Fabulous group (62.9% vs. 37.1%, P=0.042). Conclusion:The Fabulous stent system, when compared to standard TEVAR surgery, demonstrates good aortic remodeling outcomes in the distal aorta.

Objective:To evaluate the feasibility of measuring pulmonary venous blood flow spectrum by transesophageal ultrasound in assessing intraoperative left atrial pressure (LAP) in pediatric patients with complex congenital heart disease.Methods:Twenty-five pediatric patients with complex congenital heart disease of either sex, aged < 3 yr, of American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status Ⅲ or Ⅳ, with New York Heart Association class Ⅲ or Ⅳ, undergoing surgery with general anesthesia and requiring LAP monitoring during surgery, were selected.Transesophageal echocardiography was used to record the left pulmonary venous blood flow spectrum during surgery.S wave velocity (PV S), D wave velocity (PV D), AR wave velocity (PV AR), and deceleration time of pulmonary venous diastolic flow (DT D) were measured at 15 min after termination of CPB.The ratio of S wave peak velocity to D wave peak velocity (S/D ratio) was calculated.Measurement was carried out for 3 consecutive cardiac cycles, and the average value was calculated.The LAP was simultaneously measured through the left atrial piezometer.Pearson correlation analysis was performed between PV S, PV D, PV AR, DT D, S/D ratio and LAP. Results:PV S, PV D, PV AR and S/D ratio had no correlation with LAP ( r=-0.06, 0.21, 0.19, -0.38, respectively, P>0.05), while DT D was negatively correlated with LAP ( r=-0.84, P<0.05). Conclusions:DT D measured by transesophageal ultrasound can be used to evaluate intraoperative LAP in pediatric patients with complex congenital heart disease.

Objective:To evaluate the auxiliary diagnosis value of bacterial culture, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and serum anti-pertussis toxin immunoglobulin G (AntiPT-IgG) level detection in suspected pertussis.Methods:A total of 110 suspected cases of pertussis treated in the Department of Pediatrics of Wuhu No.1 People′s Hospital from June 2018 to May 2019 were recruited for the study.The nasopharyngeal swabs of all cases were collected for Bordetella pertussis culture and specific nucleic acid PCR detection.Serum samples of 78 cases were collected for the detection of AntiPT-IgG level by enzyme linked immunosorbent assays.Results:The positive rates of bacterial culture group and PCR group were 21.8% and 30.0%, respectively, with no statistically significant difference ( χ2=1.198, P>0.05). The culture positive rate of cases with the duration of cough<2 weeks was 32.1%, which was signi-ficantly higher than that of cases with the duration of cough about 2-4 weeks (14.3%) or >4 weeks (9.1%) ( χ2=6.522, P<0.05). The PCR positive rate of cases with the duration of cough <2 weeks was 39.6%, which was also significantly higher than that of cases with the duration of cough about 2-4 weeks (25.7%) or > 4 weeks (13.6%) ( χ2=6.126, P<0.05). The mean value for serum AntiPT-IgG level of 78 cases was (75.727±78.454) IU/mL, the median AntiPT-IgG levels of cases with the duration of cough<2 weeks and about 2-4 weeks were 5.909 IU/mL and 20.948 IU/mL, respectively, and the positive rates were 14.7% and 38.1%, respectively.The AntiPT-IgG level of cases with the duration of cough> 4 weeks and that at convalescent stage were (79.281±68.254) IU/mL and (107.242±75.750) IU/mL, and the positive rates were 39.1% and 57.1%, respectively. Conclusions:In the vaccine era, the results of pathogenic and serological tests should be combined to assist the clinical diagnosis of pertussis.The positive rate of bacterial culture and specific nucleic acid pathogen detection in children with cough duration less than 2 weeks is high, and the serological diagnosis is more effective after the duration of cough is over 4 weeks.

Objective: To determine the effects of ginsenoside rg3 on the body weight of C57BL/6J obese mice and to investigate its underlying weight loss mechanisms with a focus on white fat browning-related factors. Methods: Eight-week-old C57BL/6J male mice were fed a high-fat diet for 12 successive weeks to construct the obese model. C57BL/6J male mice were fed a standard chow diet to construct normal control group. After 8 weeks of intervention with ginsenoside rg3, the food intake, body weight, body fat mass, blood sugar, and lipid profiles of the mice in each group were detected. Hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining was used to observe the histological morphology of the adipose tissues. Real-time poly-merase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blotting (WB) were applied to detect the gene and protein expression levels of peroxisome proliferators-activated receptor gama (PPARγ), Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator -1alpha (PGC-1α), PR domain containing 16 (PRDM16), and uncoupling protein 1 (UCP-1).Results: Compared to normal control group mice, the body weight, food intake, body fat composition, and blood lipid levels of model group mice increased significantly. After 8 weeks of intervention with ginsenoside rg3, body weight, body fat composition, food intake, and blood lipid profiles decreased. HE staining showed that ginsenoside rg3 can improve white adipocyte hypertrophy to a certain extent. RT-PCR and WB demonstrated that ginsenoside rg3 can increase the mRNA and protein expression levels of PPARγ, PGC-1α, PRDM16, and UCP-1 in the adipose tissues of obese mice. Conclusion: The weight reduction effect of ginsenoside rg3 may be related to the promotion of white fat browning.

Objective::To explore the clinical efficacy of modified Sanzi Yangqintang combined with colon hydrotherapy in the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) with phlegm-dampness. Method::Totally 100 patients with NAFLD were selected and randomly divided into treatment group (50 cases) and control group (50 cases). Both groups were orally given silybin and glycyrrhizic acid diamine capsules.The treatment group was also added with modified Sanzi Yangqintang and colon hydrotherapy.The treatment lasted for 7 days.The control group was also added with saline colon hydrotherapy.Main traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndrome scores and liver function indexes before and after treatment [alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), γ-glutamate transpeptidase (GGT)], blood lipid routine [cholesterol (TCH), triglyceride (TG)], inflammatory factors [interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)], FibroScan measurement [liver stiffness measurement (LSM), controlled attenuation parameters (CAP)], uric acid and body weight changes were observed.Adverse reactions were observed, and the patient's medication safety was evaluated. Result::TCM syndrome score, liver enzyme index, blood lipid index, inflammatory factor index, FibroScan CAP, uric acid and body weight of the two groups were significantly reduced than those before treatment(P<0.05, P<0.01) .There was no significant difference in liver enzymes, TCH, IL-6 and LSM between treatment group and control group.And TCM syndrome scores, UA, TNF-α, FibroScan CAP decreased were significantly different from control group (P<0.05). Conclusion::Modified Sanzi Yangqintang combined with colon hydrotherapy can not only alleviate NAFLD with phlegm-dampness symptoms, but also significantly reduce triglyceride, tumor necrosis factor and FibroScan CAP and body mass, with certain clinical efficacy in a short term.