Biliary fibrosis (BF) is the result of pathological repair of bile tract injury, characterized by thickening and sclerosis of the bile duct wall and progressive stricture of the lumen, which may ultimately lead to serious adverse outcomes such as biliary obstruction, biliary cirrhosis, liver failure, and hepatobiliary malignancies. Current research describes BF as a pathological feature of certain bile tract diseases, lacking a systematic summary of its etiology, pathophysiology, molecular mechanisms, and treatment. BF is a common but easily neglected disease state in biliary system, which may promote the development and progression of hepatobiliary diseases through abnormal repair mechanism after pathological biliary tract injury. Based on the latest research progress from both domestic and international perspectives, the authors review the concept, clinical manifestation, etiology, pathogenesis, and therapeutic strategies of BF to provide a reference for clinical physicians.

Using prostate-specific antigen (PSA) for prostate cancer (PCa) screening led to overinvestigation and overdiagnosis of indolent PCa. We aimed to investigate the value of prostate health index (PHI) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) prostate in an Asian PCa screening program. Men aged 50-75 years were prospectively recruited from a community-based PSA screening program. Men with PSA 4.0-10.0 ng ml -1 had PHI result analyzed. MRI prostate was offered to men with PSA 4.0-50.0 ng ml -1 . A systematic prostate biopsy was offered to men with PSA 4.0-9.9 ng ml -1 and PHI ≥35, or PSA 10.0-50.0 ng ml -1 . Additional targeted prostate biopsy was offered if they had PI-RADS score ≥3. Clinically significant PCa (csPCa) was defined as the International Society of Urological Pathology (ISUP) grade group (GG) ≥2 or ISUP GG 1 with involvement of ≥30% of total systematic cores. In total, 12.8% (196/1536) men had PSA ≥4.0 ng ml -1 . Among 194 men with PSA 4.0-50.0 ng ml -1 , 187 (96.4%) received MRI prostate. Among them, 28.3% (53/187) had PI-RADS ≥3 lesions. Moreover, 7.0% (107/1536) men were indicated for biopsy and 94.4% (101/107) men received biopsy. Among the men received biopsy, PCa, ISUP GG ≥2 PCa, and csPCa was diagnosed in 42 (41.6%), 24 (23.8%), and 34 (33.7%) men, respectively. Compared with PSA/PHI pathway in men with PSA 4.0-50.0 ng ml -1 , additional MRI increased diagnoses of PCa, ISUP GG ≥2 PCa, and csPCa by 21.2% (from 33 to 40), 22.2% (from 18 to 22), and 18.5% (from 27 to 32), respectively. The benefit of additional MRI was only observed in PSA 4.0-10.0 ng ml -1 , and the number of MRI needed to diagnose one additional ISUP GG ≥2 PCa was 20 in PHI ≥35 and 94 in PHI <35. Among them, 45.4% (89/196) men with PSA ≥4.0 ng ml -1 avoided unnecessary biopsy with the use of PHI and MRI. A screening algorithm with PSA, PHI, and MRI could effectively diagnose csPCa while reducing unnecessary biopsies. The benefit of MRI prostate was mainly observed in PSA 4.0-9.9 ng ml -1 and PHI ≥35 group. PHI was an important risk stratification step for PCa screening.
Humans ; Male ; Early Detection of Cancer/methods* ; East Asian People ; Image-Guided Biopsy/methods* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods* ; Prostate/pathology* ; Prostate-Specific Antigen ; Prostatic Neoplasms/pathology* ; Retrospective Studies ; Middle Aged ; Aged

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) was the primary source of medical treatment for the people inhabiting East Asia for thousands of years. These ancient practices have incorporated a wide variety of materia medica including plants, animals and minerals. As modern sciences, including natural products chemistry, emerged, there became increasing efforts to explore the chemistry of this materia medica to find molecules responsible for their traditional use. Insects, including beetles have played an important role in TCM. In our survey of texts and review articles on TCM materia medica, we found 48 species of beetles from 34 genera in 14 different families that are used in TCM. This review covers the chemistry known from the beetles used in TCM, or in cases where a species used in these practices has not been chemically studied, we discuss the chemistry of closely related beetles. We also found several documented uses of beetles in Traditional Korean Medicine (TKM), and included them where appropriate. There are 129 chemical constituents of beetles discussed.

Introduction: Both short and long PFNA are employed to treat intertrochanteric fractures. Controversy exists in the choice between the two nails as each implant has specific characteristics and theoretical advantages. This retrospective study seeks to examine the operative complication rates and clinical outcomes of short versus long (Proximal Femoral Nail Antirotation) PFNA in the treatment of intertrochanteric fractures. Materials and methods: Between July 2011 and February 2015, 155 patients underwent PFNA insertion. The decision on whether to use a short or long PFNA nail, locked or unlocked, was determined by the attending operating surgeon. Visual Analogue Pain Score (VAS) Harris Hip Scores (HHS), Short-form 36 Health Questionnaire (SF-36) and Parker Mobility Scores (PMS) were collected at six weeks, six months and one year post-operatively. Results: A total of 137 (88.4%) patients were successfully followed-up. Forty-two (30.7%) patients received a short PFNA. The patients were similar in baseline characteristics of age, gender, and comorbidities. Operative time was significantly longer in the short PFNA group (62 ±17 mins) versus the long PFNA group (56±17). While the patients in both groups achieved improvement in all outcome measures, there was no significant difference between the groups in terms of HHS (61.0 ±16.0 vs 63.0 ±16.8, p=0.443), PMS (2.3±1.5 vs 2.7±2.1, p=0.545) and VAS (1.7±2.9 vs 1.8 ±2.2 p=0.454). There were 3 (7.1%) and 7 (7.4%) complications in the short versus long PFNA group, respectively. Conclusion: Both short and long PFNA had similar clinical outcomes and complication rates in the treatment of intertrochanteric fractures in an Asian population.

Introduction: Distal radius fracture (DRF) is the most common orthopaedic injury with a reported incidence of 17.5%. It is commonly seen in young males and elderly females. Over the last two decades, there is an increasing tendency to treat DRF surgically by open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) with plate and screws owing to improved device design, better fixation and operative technique. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the demographic characteristics, type and method of fixation, and outcome in all surgically treated DRF cases from 2014 to 2018 in a university hospital. Materials and methods: A retrospective review of all surgically treated DRF cases with one year follow-up in a tertiary hospital in Malaysia was done. Patients who left the follow-up clinic before one-year post-surgery or before fracture union were excluded. A total of 82 patients with 88 DRF were finally included into the study and outcome in terms of union time and need of multiple surgeries were analysed along with the predictors. Results: In this study, mean age of the patient was 46.2 years. Motor vehicle accident was the commonest cause of the fracture and AO Type C fracture was the commonest fracture type. Seventeen (19.3%) out of 88 fractures were compound fracture. Open reduction and internal fixation with volar plate was the most common surgical technique done in this series (93.2%). Three (3.5%) out of 88 fractures required multiple surgeries and eighty-three (94.3%) DRF cases were united before nine months of the surgery in this study. There was statistically significant association between clinical type of the fracture and the union time (p-value <0.05). Conclusion: There was a 1.7:1 male-female ratio with AOC fracture being the most common type of fracture. The most common method of fixation was ORIF with volar locked plate. Patients with closed fractures have a higher rate of union compared to open fractures at nine months.

INTRODUCTION: Frontline healthcare workers (HCWs) exposed to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are at risk of psychological distress. This study evaluates the psychological impact of COVID-19 pandemic on HCWs in a national paediatric referral centre. METHODS: This was a survey-based study that collected demographic, work environment and mental health data from paediatric HCWs in the emergency, intensive care and infectious disease units. Psychological impact was measured using the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale-21. Multivariate regression analysis was performed to identify risk factors associated with psychological distress. RESULTS: The survey achieved a response rate of 93.9% (430 of 458). Of the 430 respondents, symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress were reported in 168 (39.1%), 205 (47.7%) and 106 (24.7%), respectively. Depression was reported in the mild (47, 10.9%), moderate (76, 17.7%), severe (23, 5.3%) and extremely severe (22, 5.1%) categories. Anxiety (205, 47.7%) and stress (106, 24.7%) were reported in the mild category only. Collectively, regression analysis identified female sex, a perceived lack of choice in work scope/environment, lack of protection from COVID-19, lack of access to physical activities and rest, the need to perform additional tasks, and the experience of stigma from the community as risk factors for poor psychological outcome. CONCLUSION A high prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress was reported among frontline paediatric HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Personal psychoneuroimmunity and organisational prevention measures can be implemented to lessen psychiatric symptoms. At the national level, involving mental health professionals to plan and coordinate psychological intervention for the country should be considered.
Adult ; Anxiety/etiology* ; COVID-19/psychology* ; Depression/etiology* ; Female ; Health Surveys ; Hospitals, Pediatric ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multivariate Analysis ; Occupational Diseases/etiology* ; Pandemics ; Personnel, Hospital/psychology* ; Prevalence ; Risk Factors ; Self Report ; Severity of Illness Index ; Singapore/epidemiology* ; Stress, Psychological/etiology*

Various methods have been developed for rapid and high throughput full genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2. Here, we described a protocol for targeted multiplex full genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 genomic RNA directly extracted from human nasopharyngeal swabs using the Ion Personal Genome Machine (PGM). This protocol involves concomitant amplification of 237 gene fragments encompassing the SARS-CoV-2 genome to increase the abundance and yield of viral specific sequencing reads. Five complete and one near-complete genome sequences of SARS-CoV-2 were generated with a single Ion PGM sequencing run. The sequence coverage analysis revealed two amplicons (positions 13 751-13 965 and 23 941-24 106), which consistently gave low sequencing read coverage in all isolates except 4Apr20-64Hu. We analyzed the potential primer binding sites within these low covered regions and noted that the 4Apr20-64-Hu possess C at positions 13 730 and 23 929, whereas the other isolates possess T at these positions. The genome nucleotide variations observed suggest that the naturally occurring variations present in the actively circulating SARS-CoV-2 strains affected the performance of the target enrichment panel of the Ion AmpliSeq™ SARS CoV 2 Research Panel. The possible impact of other genome nucleotide variations warrants further investigation, and an improved version of the Ion AmpliSeq™ SARS CoV 2 Research Panel, hence, should be considered.