Objective    To evaluate the effect of smoking and drinking status on the prognosis of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Methods    The clinical data of 483 patients with ESCC who underwent surgical treatment in Shannxi Provincial People's Hospital from 2007 to 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. Among them, 352 patients were male and 131 were female, with a median age of 64 (37-80) years. There were 311 smokers and 172 drinkers. The relationship between preoperative drinking or smoking status and the clinicopathological characteristics of patients with ESCC was analyzed. Log-rank method and Cox risk regression were used to conduct univariate and multivariate survival analysis, respectively. Results    The preoperative smoking status was related to the patient's tumor location (P=0.030). Drinking status was associated with tumor location (P=0.001), degree of differentiation (P=0.030), pathological T stage (P=0.024) and pathological N stage (P=0.029). Univariate survival analysis showed that smoking status did not affect the disease-free survival (DFS) (P=0.188) and overall survival (OS) (P=0.127) of patients with ESCC. However, patients who drank alcohol had worse PFS than non-drinking patients (29.37 months vs. 42.87 months, P=0.009). It was further proved that alcohol consumption was an independent risk factor affecting patients' recurrence and metastasis by using multivariate analysis (RR=1.28, P=0.040). Alcohol consumption also reduced the OS of patients by 21.47 months (P=0.014), however, multivariate analysis did not yield significant results. Conclusion    Preoperative drinking status is related to the stage and differentiation of patients with ESCC. It is an independent risk factor affecting the recurrence and metastasis of ESCC.

Objective: To study the effect of p38 mitogen activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK) on the expression of genes related to enamel development in the enamel epithelium and to provide a basis for the study of the molecular mechanism of enamel development. Methods: The p38 MAPK-specific inhibitor SB203580 dissolved in DMSO was added to the culture medium of mouse mandibular molar tooth germs in vitro as experiment group, and mouse mandibular molar tooth germs treated with the same amount of DMSO were used as control group. Western blot was used to detect the protein expression level of phosphorylated p38 (p-p38) in the enamel epithelium. Real-time PCR was used to detect the mRNA expression levels of runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2), osteoblast-specific transcription factor (Osx), ameloblast markers odontogenic ameloblast associated protein (ODAM), amelotin (AMTN), matrix metalloproteinase 20 (MMP20) and kallikrein 4 (KLK4) in the enamel epithelium. Results : Western blot results showed that under the action of the inhibitor SB203580, the phosphorylation level of p38 MAPK in mouse enamel epithelium decreased, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Real-time PCR results showed that the expression levels of the transcription factors Runx2 and Osx and the ameloblast markers ODAM, AMTN, MMP20, and KLK4 in the SB203580 group were lower than those in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Conclusion The p38 MAPK signaling pathway can mediate enamel development by regulating the expression of the transcription factors Runx2 and Osx and the ameloblast markers ODAM, AMTN, MMP20 and KLK4 in the mouse enamel epithelium.

Cardiovascular diseases have become the most common and most prevalent chronic diseases in the elderly.Smoking, hyperlipidemia, diabetes and other high-risk factors participate in the occurrence and development of atherosclerosis by impairing the structure and function of the vascular wall, resulting in the occurrence of arterial stiffness.Pulse wave conduction velocity(PWV) is the rate at which a pulse wave travels from one specific location of the artery to another specific location along the wall of the artery.It is a simple, effective and repeatable noninvasive index for evaluating arterial elasticity and vascular function.PWV is closely related to cardiovascular disease.In recent years, the relationship between PWV and cardiovascular disease has been deeply studied.The relationship between PWV and coronary heart disease, hypertension, cardiac function, atrial fibrillation and pulmonary hypertension is described in this paper.

Objective To improve the diagnosis and treatment of infective endocardits(IE)by exploring the causes,pathogenic microorganism,clinical characteristics and therapeutic results of patients with IE.Methods From January 2006 to January 2016,89 cases with IE in Ganzhou People's Hospital were collected,and the clinical charac-teristics were analyzed retrospectively.Results Among the IE patients,40.5%had congenital heart diseases,33.7%had rheumatic heart diseases,18.0% were post－PCI or operative endocarditis,and patients without basic cardiac diseases accounted for 7.9%.The most common clinical manifestations were fever (86.5%),followed by anemia (85.4%).The blood culture positive rate was 63.4%.Streptococci viridians were the most common causative organ-isms(44.2%),followed by coagulase －negative staphylococci(21.2%).Eighty－six patients received echocardio-graphy examination,vegetation was observed in 61cases (68.5%).The hospital mortality rate was 10.1%,mostly due to refractory congestive heart failure and sepsis.Conclusion Congenital heart disease showed an upward trend, rheumatic heart disease decreased significantly.Intermittent fever,anemia are the main clinical manifestations.Blood culture positive rate is not high,Streptococcus viridians is the most common causative organism.Echocardiography is the main basis for the diagnosis.

Objective To investigate the effects of CNTN-1 on the invasion and migration of human esophageal cancer EC9706 cells and the possible mechanism.Methods The expression of CNTN-1 in human esophageal cancer EC9706 cells was measured by qPCR and Western blot.After transfection with CNTN-1 siRNA or CNTN-1, the cells were divided into control group, scrambled siRNA group, CNTN-1 siRNA group, pcDNA3.1-vector group and pcDNA3.1-CNTN-1 group.Cell proliferation, invasion and migration were respectively analyzed by BrdU assay and Transwell test.The expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 were detected by qPCR and Western blot.Results The mRNA and protein expression of CNTN-1 were significantly upregulated in EC9706 cells.Compared with control, cell proliferation, invasion and migration, as well as the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 were significantly decreased by CNTN-1 siRNA, while they were increased by CNTN-1 overexpression (P<0.05).ConclusionsCNTN-1 can influence the invasion and metastasis of esophageal cancer cells through the regulation of the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9.

Background and purpose: Previous studies have confirmed that the expression of leucine-rich repeat-containing 3B (CLRRC3B) was significantly decreased in different human cancers, which was also associated with the migration and invasion of cancer cells. The aim of this study was to explore the potential mechanism of LRRC3B in the development of esophageal cancer. Methods: The LRRC3B expression was detected in 60 cancer tissues and 60 adjacent non-neoplastic tissues by immunohistochemistry. The mRNA and protein expression of LRRC3B in Eca109 and HEECs were detected using real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RTFQ-PCR) and Western blot, respectively. Eca109 cells with different treatments were divided into three groups:normal group, negative control group (transfected with pCMV6 plasmid), overexpression LRRC3B group (transfected with pCMV6-LRRC3B plasmid). Transwell assay was used to measure the migration and invasion of Eca109 cells in different groups. The protein levels of E-cadherin, N-cadherin, Vimentin and p-Akt were determined by Western blot. Results: The expression of LRRC3B in esophageal cancer tissues was lower than that of non-cancerous tissues, as well as the expression of LRRC3B in Eca109 was decreased compared with that of normal esophageal epithelial cell line HEEC. Overexpression of LRRC3B significantly inhibited Eca109 cells migration and invasion, upregulated the expression of E-cadherin and decreased the expression of N-cadherin and Vimentin. Moreover, overexpression of LRRC3B significantly inhibited the phosphorylation of Akt in Eca109 cells. Conclusion: The expression of LRRC3B was decreased in esophageal cancer. Overexpression of LRRC3B can efficiently inhibit the EMT progression in esophageal cancer cells by suppressing PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.

Objective    To investigate the efficacy of Docetaxel injection and Capecitabine tablets combined with Oxaliplatin injection in chemotherapy for patients after esophageal cancer surgery. Methods    We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 101 patients with esophageal cancer who underwent radical surgery from June 2010 to December 2012, including 58 males and 43 females. According to the different treatment methods they were divided into a study group (58 patients, 32 males and 26 females, postoperatively receiving Docetaxel injection, Capecitabine tablets, Oxaliplatin injection and chemotherapy) and a control group (43 patients, 26 males and 17 females, taking Docetaxel injection and Capecitabine tablets for 4 consecutive courses). We compared the difference in the outcomes between the two groups. Results    There was no significant difference in the level of serum anticancer antigen (CEA), carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA125), carbohydrate antigen 199 (CA199) and squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC) before chemotherapy between two groups (P>0.05). After chemotherapy, the level of serum CEA, CA125, CA199, SCC in the study group was significantly lower than that in the control group (P<0.05). The 1-year survival rate of the study group was 92.59% and the 2-year survival rate was 70.37%, which were not significantly different from those of the control group  (P>0.05). The 3-year survival rate of the study group was significantly higher than that of the control group (57.41 % vs. 32.43%, P<0.05). The mean survival time of the study group was longer than that of the control group (31 months vs. 22 months, P=0.001). Conclusion    Docetaxel injection and Capecitabine tablets combined with Oxaliplatin injection for the treatment of esophageal cancer surgery can significantly reduce levels of tumor markers in serum after esophageal cancer surgery, and is favorable for the long-term survival of patients, but adverse reactions should be noted.

Objective To explore the effect of the combined sequential application of er-lotinib between the chemotherapy periods on the treatment of the patients with advanced non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).Methods 45 patients with advanced NSCLC were collected.The pa-tients with the initial treatment were treated with gemcitabine combined with platinum for chemotherapy,while the patients with retreatment were treated with docetaxel or pemetrexed for chemotherapy.Between the chemotherapy periods,the sequential erlotinib therapy was applied to all the patients.The short-term efficacy and the adverse reactions were evaluated and compared. Results The clinical efficacy of the initial treatment patients and the retreatment patients were 27.6% and 18.8% respectively (P >0.05),and the clinical control rate of the initial treatment patients was significantly higher than that of the retreatment patients (P <0.05).The clinical ef-ficacy of the patients with a history of smoking was significantly lower than that of the patients without a history of smoking (P <0.05).The clinical efficacy of the initial treatment patients with age over 65 years old was significantly higher than that of the initial treatment patients with age less than 65 years old(P <0.05).The clinical efficacy of the initial treatment patients with stage Ⅲ b was significantly higher than that of the initial treatment patients with stage Ⅳ (P <0.05).The clinical efficacy of the retreatment patients with adenocarcinoma pathological type was significantly higher than that of the patients without adenocarcinoma pathological type (P <0 .0 5 ).The main adverse reactions were nausea ,diarrhea ,rash ,vomiting and loss of appetite .
Conclusion The clinical efficacy of the combined sequential application of erlotinib between the chemotherapy periods in the treatment of the patients with advanced NSCLC is not such high. Smoking history,age,tumor stage and pathological type may affect its curative effect.Efficacy of this therapy in controlling the disease progress of the initial treatment patients is significant,the adverse reactions are mild,and the tolerance of the patients for the therapy is higher.

Objective To observe and analyze the curative effects of the combined sequential application of erlotinib between the chemotherapy periods in the treatment of the patients with ad-vanced non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).Methods 45 patients with advanced NSCLC were se-lected as the research objects.The patients of the initial treatment were treated with gemcitabine combined with platinum for chemotherapy and the patients of retreatment were treated with doc-etaxel or pemetrexed for chemotherapy.Between the chemotherapy periods,the sequential erlotinib therapy was applied to all the patients.The short-term curative effects and the adverse reactions were evaluated and compared.Results The clinical efficiency of the initial treatment patients and the retreatment patients were 27.6% and 18.8% respectively.There were no significant differences of short-term curative effects and the clinical efficiency between the initial treatment patients and the retreatment patients (P >0.05),while the clinical control rate of the initial treatment patients was significantly higher than that of the retreatment patients (P <0.05).The clinical efficiency of the patients with a smoking history was significantly lower than that of the patients without smok-ing history(P <0.05).The clinical efficiency of the initial treatment patients with age of 65 years or older was significantly higher than that of the initial treatment patients of age < 6 5 years (P <0.05).The clinical efficiency of the initial treatment patients with stage Ⅲb was signifi-cantly higher than that of the initial treatment patients with stage Ⅳ(P <0.05).The clinical ef-ficiency of the retreatment patients with adenocarcinoma pathological type was significantly higher than that of the patients without adenocarcinoma pathological type (P <0.05).The main adverse reactions of the patients were nausea,diarrhea,rash,vomiting,loss of appetite.Conclusion The clinical efficiency of the combined sequential application of erlotinib between the chemothera-py periods in the treatment of the patients with advanced NSCLC is not high.Smoking history, age,tumor stage,pathological type may affect its curative effect.The effects of this therapy in controlling the disease progress of the initial treatment patients are more significant,the adverse reactions are mild,and the tolerance of the patients for the therapy is higher.

Objective To explore the effect of the combined sequential application of er-lotinib between the chemotherapy periods on the treatment of the patients with advanced non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).Methods 45 patients with advanced NSCLC were collected.The pa-tients with the initial treatment were treated with gemcitabine combined with platinum for chemotherapy,while the patients with retreatment were treated with docetaxel or pemetrexed for chemotherapy.Between the chemotherapy periods,the sequential erlotinib therapy was applied to all the patients.The short-term efficacy and the adverse reactions were evaluated and compared. Results The clinical efficacy of the initial treatment patients and the retreatment patients were 27.6% and 18.8% respectively (P >0.05),and the clinical control rate of the initial treatment patients was significantly higher than that of the retreatment patients (P <0.05).The clinical ef-ficacy of the patients with a history of smoking was significantly lower than that of the patients without a history of smoking (P <0.05).The clinical efficacy of the initial treatment patients with age over 65 years old was significantly higher than that of the initial treatment patients with age less than 65 years old(P <0.05).The clinical efficacy of the initial treatment patients with stage Ⅲ b was significantly higher than that of the initial treatment patients with stage Ⅳ (P <0.05).The clinical efficacy of the retreatment patients with adenocarcinoma pathological type was significantly higher than that of the patients without adenocarcinoma pathological type (P <0 .0 5 ).The main adverse reactions were nausea ,diarrhea ,rash ,vomiting and loss of appetite .
Conclusion The clinical efficacy of the combined sequential application of erlotinib between the chemotherapy periods in the treatment of the patients with advanced NSCLC is not such high. Smoking history,age,tumor stage and pathological type may affect its curative effect.Efficacy of this therapy in controlling the disease progress of the initial treatment patients is significant,the adverse reactions are mild,and the tolerance of the patients for the therapy is higher.