OBJECTIVETo analyze the causes and explore the measures of prevention and treatment of the cerebrospinal leak after lumbar revision surgery.

METHODSThe clinical data of 24 patients(17.78%) with cerebrospinal leak among 135 cases after lumbar revision surgery from January 2011 to January 2016 was retrospectively studied. Of them, 12 cases due to severe adhesion caused by scar formation; 4 cases due to yellow ligament hyperplasia adhesion with dura mater occurred dural tears when separating adhesion; 2 cases with severe hyperplasia and ossification of lumbar posterior longitudinal ligament occurred dural tears when revealing intervertebral disk; 2 cases due to improper nailing happened dural tears during operation. And the other 4 cases without obvious dural tears in surgery, occurred cerebrospinal leak one to two days after surgery. And the 24 patients were treated with the measures of prevention and treatment preoperatively, intraoperatively, and postoperatively.

RESULTSTwenty-four patients with cerebrospinal leak were cured after treatment and were follow-up for 6 to 30 months. No recurrence of cerebrospinal leake or local and systemic complications were found.

CONCLUSIONSScar formation is the main cause of cerebrospinal leak in lumbar revision surgery. As for lumbar revision surgery, as long as the standard control measures are taken, it can significantly reduce the incidence of cerebrospinal leak, achieve better clinical efficacy, and fundamentally solve the cerebrospinal leak problem that has plagued both doctors and patients for a long time.

Cytokines are believed to be involved in a "vicious circle" of progressive interactions in bone metastasis. Iguratimod is a novel anti-rheumatic drug which is reported to have the capability of anti-cytokines. In this study, a rat model was constructed to investigate the effect of iguratimod on bone metastasis and it was found that iguratimod alleviated cancer-induced bone destruction. To further explore whether an anti-tumor activity of iguratimod contributes to the effect of bone resorption suppression, two human breast cancer cell lines MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 were studied. The effect of iguratimod on tumor proliferation was detected by CCK-8 assay and flow cytometry. The effects of iguratimod on migration and invasion of cancer cells were determined by wound-healing and Transwell assays. Results showed that high dose (30 μg/mL) iguratimod slightly suppressed the proliferation of cancer cells but failed to inhibit their migration and invasion capacity. Interestingly, iguratimod decreased the transcription level of IL-6 in MDA-MB-231 cells in a concentration-dependent manner. Moreover, iguratimod partially impaired NF-κB signaling by suppressing the phosphorylation of NF-κB p65 subunit. Our findings indicated that iguratimod may alleviate bone destruction by partially decreasing the expression of IL-6 in an NF-κB-dependent manner, while it has little effect on the tumor proliferation and invasion.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Bone Neoplasms ; complications ; drug therapy ; pathology ; secondary ; Bone Resorption ; complications ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Breast Neoplasms ; complications ; drug therapy ; genetics ; pathology ; Carcinogenesis ; drug effects ; Cell Movement ; drug effects ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Chromones ; administration & dosage ; Female ; Humans ; Interleukin-6 ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; MCF-7 Cells ; Neoplasm Invasiveness ; genetics ; pathology ; Rats ; Sulfonamides ; administration & dosage ; Transcription Factor RelA ; biosynthesis ; genetics

ABSTRACT:OBJECTIVE To observe the clinical effect and safety of treatment of Gushibao pill on severe kidney circulation deficiency and blood stasis type knee osteoarthritis.METHODS 70 patients with severe knee osteoarthritis were selected for this study,and were divided into the treatment group(38 cases)and the control group(32 cases).Patients of two groups were given health education and basic knee stick therapy treatment.On the basis of basic treatment,patients in the control group were given glucosamine hydrochloride capsules orally and treatment group were give Gubaoshi pill.WOMAC Osteoarthritis In-dex Scale and ISOA knee osteoarthritis severity index scale were used to evaluate the outcomes of two groups.Chinese medi-cine symptom score were used to evaluate the clinical symptoms.ESR,calcitonin(CT)and bone alkaline phosphatase(BALP) were detected before and after treatment.RESULTS Erythrocyte sedimentation rate in the control group significantly de-creased after a course of treatment(P <0.05),and bone alkaline phosphatase and calcitonin showed no significant change(P >0.05).Erythrocyte sedimentation rate decreased significantly in treatment group after treatment(P <0.05),and bone alkaline phosphatase and calcitonin showed no significant change(P >0.05).Scored of symptoms and signs significantly decreased in two groups,and the decreased extent of treatment group was significantly greater than that of the control group(P <0.05). Pain score,WOMAC score and ISOA scores were significantly lower in two groups of patients compared with the condition be-fore treatment(P <0.05).After treatment,pain score,WOMAC score and ISOA scores of treatment group were lower than those of the control group(P <0.05).The total effective rate of treatment group was 97.37%,and was significantly higher than the control group(80.00%).The difference was statistically significant(P <0.05).Two patients had no obvious adverse reactions during treatment.CONCLUSION Gushibao pill can decrease the level of erythrocyte sedimentation rate in patients with severe kidney circulation deficiency and blood stasis knee osteoarthritis.It is effective and safe.

As molecular targets continue to be identified and more targeted inhibitors are developed for personalized treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), multigene mutation determination will be needed for routine oncology practice and for clinical trials. In this study, we evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of multigene mutation testing by using the Snapshot assay in NSCLC. We retrospectively reviewed a cohort of 110 consecutive NSCLC specimens for which epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation testing was performed between November 2011 and December 2011 using Sanger sequencing. Using the Snapshot assay, mutation statuses were detected for EGFR, Kirsten rate sarcoma viral oncogene homolog (KRAS), phosphoinositide-3-kinase catalytic alpha polypeptide (PIK3CA), v-Raf murine sarcoma viral oncogene homolog B1 (BRAF), v-ras neuroblastoma viral oncogene homolog (NRAS), dual specificity mitogen activated protein kinase kinase 1 (MEK1), phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) in patient specimens and cell line DNA. Snapshot data were compared to Sanger sequencing data. Of the 110 samples, 51 (46.4%) harbored at least one mutation. The mutation frequency in adenocarcinoma specimens was 55.6%, and the frequencies of EGFR, KRAS, PIK3CA, PTEN, and MEK1 mutations were 35.5%, 9.1%, 3.6%, 0.9%, and 0.9%, respectively. No mutation was found in the HER2, NRAS, or BRAF genes. Three of the 51 mutant samples harbored double mutations: two PIK3CA mutations coexisted with KRAS or EGFR mutations, and another KRAS mutation coexisted with a PTEN mutation. Among the 110 samples, 47 were surgical specimens, 60 were biopsy specimens, and 3 were cytological specimens; the corresponding mutation frequencies were 51.1%, 41.7%, and 66.7%, respectively (P = 0.532). Compared to Sanger sequencing, Snapshot specificity was 98.4% and sensitivity was 100% (positive predictive value, 97.9%; negative predictive value, 100%). The Snapshot assay is a sensitive and easily customized assay for multigene mutation testing in clinical practice.
Adenocarcinoma ; genetics ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ; genetics ; Class I Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases ; Genes, erbB-1 ; Genes, erbB-2 ; Genes, ras ; Humans ; Mutation ; PTEN Phosphohydrolase ; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins p21(ras) ; Retrospective Studies ; ras Proteins

OBJECTIVESTo evaluate the changes of the position of medulla oblongata and cerebellum following posterior fossa decompression (PFD), and to investigate their influences on the prognosis of the syringomyelia in adolescents with Chiari malformation (CM).

METHODSA retrospective review was performed on all CM patients between September 2006 and September 2011. A subset of 46 patients, including 25 male and 21 female patients, was finally enrolled according to the inclusion criteria. The initial age and duration of follow-up averaged 13.9 years (range, 10-17 years) and 13 months (range, 6-52 months), respectively. On mid-sagittal MRI, the following parameters were evaluated pre- and postoperatively (follow-up ≥ 6 months): the longitudinal and transverse position of bulbopontine sulcus, the fourth ventricle vertex, the lower extreme of cerebella tonsil, the cervico-medullary angle, the maximal syrinx/cord(S/C) ratio and the syrinx length. Changes in these parameters were analysed using the paired samples t test, and for these reaching statistical significances, an additional bivariate correlation analysis was performed to investigate their relation with syrinx resolution.

RESULTSAt the latest follow-up, upward shifting of the bulbopontine sulcus was observed in 31 patients(67.4%), with upward shifting of the lower extreme of cerebella tonsil presenting in 35 patients(76.0%). The maximal S/C ratio and the syrinx length were significantly improved postoperatively (t = 7.114 and 7.816, P = 0.000).Significant resolution of the syrinx was demonstrated in 40 patients(86.9%), and more specifically, the average improvement rates of the maximal S/C ratio and the syrinx length were 32% ± 30%and 43% ± 33%, respectively. In addition, the bivariate correlation analysis revealed that syrinx resolution was significantly correlated with the upward shifting of the bulbopontine sulcus (r = 0.332, P = 0.027) and lower extreme of cerebella (r = 0.298, P = 0.044) .

CONCLUSIONThe upward shifting of the bulbopontine sulcus and the lower extreme of cerebella tonsil might be implicated in the mechanisms of postoperative syrinx resolution.

Adolescent ; Arnold-Chiari Malformation ; complications ; surgery ; Child ; Decompression, Surgical ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Medulla Oblongata ; pathology ; Postoperative Period ; Retrospective Studies ; Syringomyelia ; complications ; surgery ; Treatment Outcome

BACKGROUNDMyocardial apoptosis is involved in the pathogenesis of sepsis-related myocardial depression. However, the underlying mechanism remains unknown. This study investigated the role of mitochondrial damage and mitochondria-induced oxidative stress during cardiac apoptosis in septic rats.

METHODSSeventy-two Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into a control group and septic group receiving lipopolysaccharide injection. Heart tissue was removed and changes in cardiac morphology were observed by light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. In situ apoptosis was examined using terminal transferase-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling assay and nuclear factor-kappa B activation in myocardium by Western blotting to estimate myocardial apoptosis. Appearance of mitochondrial cristae and activation of cytochrome C oxidase were used to evaluate mitochondrial damage. Oxidative stress was assessed by mitochondrial lipid and protein oxidation, and antioxidant defense was assessed by mitochondrial superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase activity.

RESULTSSepsis-induced inflammatory cell infiltration, myocardium degeneration and dropsy were time-dependent. Expanded capillaries were observed in the hearts of infected rats 24 hours post-challenge. Compared with sham-treated rats, the percentage of cell apoptosis increased in a time-dependent manner in hearts from septic rats at 6 hours, 12 hours and 24 hours post-injection (P < 0.05). The expression of nuclear factor-kappa B p65 decreased gradually in the cytosol and increased in the nucleus during sepsis, indicating that septic challenge provoked the progressive activation of nuclear factor-kappa B. Mitochondrial cristae and activation of cytochrome C oxidase increased in a time-dependent manner. Both superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase activities decreased, while mitochondrial lipid and protein oxidation increased between 6 and 24 hours after lipopolysaccharide challenge.

CONCLUSIONSSeptic challenge induced myocardial apoptosis and mitochondrial damage. Furthermore, mitochondrial damage via alteration of defenses against reactive oxygen species might play an important role in myocardial apoptosis during sepsis.

Animals ; Apoptosis ; physiology ; Male ; Mitochondria, Heart ; metabolism ; pathology ; Myocardium ; metabolism ; pathology ; Oxidative Stress ; physiology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Sepsis ; metabolism ; physiopathology

Objective To find out the arsenic pollution in Yangzonghai lake and its influence to the surrounding drinking water source and the local food and to provide a scientific basis for arsenic pollution control,drinking water and food safety. Methods Arsenic monitoring were carried out in 10 points of Yangzonghai lake,45 water sources within 5 km of Yangzonghai lake, and locally produced food. Results From September 2008 to December 2009, the water arsenic concentrations of Yangzonghai lake ranged 0.06 - 0.18 mg/L, the average arsenic concentrations were 0.12 mg/L and 0.10 mg/L for 2008 and 2009, respectively, the value of 2009 was higher, and the difference was statistically significant(t = 3.284, P ＜ 0.05). There were no significant difference in the average of arsenic concentration of Yangzonghai lake between the dry and rainy season in 2009(t = 0.905, P ＞0.05). The arsenic concentrations from the No. 3 spring water ranged from 0.12 - 30.36 mg/L. After a peak value early in October 2008, the No. 3 spring water showed a downward trend month by month. In 2008 the average arsenic concentration was 23.92 mg/L, 2009 was 2.41 mg/L, down 89.92% over the previous year, the difference was statistically significant(t = 9.582, P ＜ 0.05 ). In January and February 2009, the average arsenic concentration (11.96 mg/L) was significantly higher than those of March-December(0.50 mg/L, t = 57.759, P＜ 0.05). In Yangzong town, the arsenic concentration in the drinking water and river met the national drinking water health standards. Among 78 samples monitored of the locally produced food in Yangzong town, 77 passed, with a pass rate of 98.72%. Conclusions Arsenic contamination has been effectively controlled. The drinking water and local food production has not been contaminated by arsenic except aquatic products in Yangzonghai Lake. It is recommended to take effective measures to prevent water contamination.