Solenopsis invicta is a kind of invasive pest that causes serious damage to local agriculture, environment, and human health. They attack mainly with venom within stingers. Those who are allergic to the venom would suffer a systemic anaphylaxis, even fatal shock, after being stinged by these ants. Many studies reveal that their venom is mainly composed by water, insoluble alkaloids and trace proteins, within which alkaloids are the main cause of burning sensation and blisters, while allergic reactions are caused by proteins or peptides. The research progress of toxic substances in the venom of Solenopsis invicta as well as the roles and functions of each component were reviewed in this paper.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the diagnostic value of 6 conventional physical examination tests for the diagnosis of supraspinatus tendon tears, and how well they could tell the difference between partial-and full-thickness tears. METHODS: A total of 91 patients with different shoulder symptoms who received shoulder arthroscopic procedure were enrolled in the study from June 2017 to September 2020. The intraoperative findings were compared with the results of the preoperative physical examination of 6 clinical tests, including the Hug-up test, the Jobe test, the 0°abduction test, the drop arm test, the Neer test, and the Hawkins test, to determine the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value, accuracy, positive and negative likelihood ratio of each test. RESULTS: By arthroscopy, a total of 44 full-thickness tears, 34 partial-thickness tears, and 13 intact supraspinatus tendons were found in all 91 cases. The Hug-up and the Jobe tests significantly correlated with the intraoperative findings. The sensitivity of the Hug-up test, the Jobe test, the 0° abduction test, the drop arm test, the Neer test, and the Hawkins test was 0.90, 0.79, 0.64, 0.42, 0.49, 0.24 respectively;the specificity was 0.61, 0.69, 0.54, 0.38, 0.31, 0.77;the positive predictive value was 0.93, 0.94, 0.89, 0.80, 0.81, 0.86;the negative predictive value was 0.50, 0.36, 0.20, 0.10, 0.09, 0.14;the accuracy was 0.86, 0.78, 0.63, 0.42, 0.46, 0.32;the positive likelihood ratio was 2.30, 2.58, 1.39, 0.69, 0.71, 1.06;and the negative likelihood ratio was 0.16, 0.30, 0.67, 1.50, 1.65, 0.98. CONCLUSION The Jobe test and the Hug-up test are both effective at accurately diagnosing supraspinatus tendon tears, the Hug-up test detects supraspinatus tears with a high sensitivity, and similar specificity. The tests assessed in this study are not capable of distinguish between partial-and full thickness supraspinatus tendon tears.
Arthroscopy ; Humans ; Physical Examination/methods* ; Rotator Cuff ; Rotator Cuff Injuries/surgery* ; Tendons

Objective: To explore the heterogeneity and correlation of clinical phenotypes and genotypes in children with disorders of sex development (DSD). Methods: A retrospective study of 1 235 patients with clinically proposed DSD in 36 pediatric medical institutions across the country from January 2017 to May 2021. After capturing 277 DSD-related candidate genes, second-generation sequencing was performed to analyzed the heterogeneity and correlation combined with clinical phenotypes. Results: Among 1 235 children with clinically proposed DSD, 980 were males and 255 were females of social gender at the time of initial diagnosis with the age ranged from 1 day of age to 17.92 years. A total of 443 children with pathogenic variants were detected through molecular genetic studies, with a positive detection rate of 35.9%. The most common clinical phenotypes were micropenis (455 cases), hypospadias (321 cases), and cryptorchidism (172 cases) and common mutations detected were in SRD5A2 gene (80 cases), AR gene (53 cases) and CYP21A2 gene (44 cases). Among them, the SRD5A2 mutation is the most common in children with simple micropenis and simple hypospadias, while the AMH mutation is the most common in children with simple cryptorchidism. Conclusions: The SRD5A2 mutation is the most common genetic variant in Chinese children with DSD, and micropenis, cryptorchidism, and hypospadias are the most common clinical phenotypes. Molecular diagnosis can provide clues about the biological basis of DSD, and can also guide clinicians to perform specific clinical examinations. Target sequence capture probes and next-generation sequencing technology can provide effective and economical genetic diagnosis for children with DSD.
3-Oxo-5-alpha-Steroid 4-Dehydrogenase/genetics* ; Child ; China/epidemiology* ; Cryptorchidism/genetics* ; Disorders of Sex Development/genetics* ; Female ; Genital Diseases, Male ; Genotype ; Humans ; Hypospadias/genetics* ; Male ; Membrane Proteins/genetics* ; Penis/abnormalities* ; Phenotype ; Retrospective Studies ; Steroid 21-Hydroxylase/genetics*

Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is a global epidemic disease caused by hepatitis B virus that can lead to hepatic failure, even liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The occurrence and development of CHB are closely related to the changes in the gut microbiota communities. To explore the relationship between the structure of gut microbiota and liver biochemical indicators, 14 CHB patients (the CHB group) and 11 healthy people (the CN group) were randomly enrolled in this study. Our results demonstrate that CHB caused changes in the gut microbiota communities and biochemical indicators, such as alanine transaminase, total bilirubin and gamma glutamyl transferase. Furthermore, CHB induced imbalance of the gut microbiota. Prevotella, Blautia, Ruminococcus, Eubacterium eligens group, Bacteroides uniformis and Ruminococcus sp. 5_1_39BFAA were associated with the critical biochemical indicators and liver injury, suggesting a new approach to CHB treatment.
Bacteroides ; Eubacterium ; Gastrointestinal Microbiome ; Hepatitis B virus ; Hepatitis B, Chronic ; Humans ; Liver Cirrhosis ; Liver Neoplasms

Purpose: Seroma formation is a common complication in breast cancer patients undergoing mastectomy, and it negatively affects patient recovery after surgery. The present study aimed to evaluate a simple method using fascia suture technique to fix the flap and reduce the incidence of seroma. Methods: A single-center, prospective, randomized controlled trial was carried out among 160 patients who had undergone mastectomy from May 2018 to September 2019. All patients were randomly divided into the fascia suture group (n = 80) or control group (n = 80) and were followed up for at least 3 months for the assessment of immediate and late complications after surgery. Results: No significant differences were observed between the 2 groups with regard to the basic characteristics. Duration of surgery in the fascia suture group was longer by about 6 minutes compared with that in the control group (114.93 ± 13.67 minutes vs. 108.81 ± 15.20 minutes, p = 0.008). The fascia suture group had a shorter duration of drain placement (10.99 ± 3.26 days vs. 13.85 ± 5.37 days, p < 0.001), a smaller volume of the total drainage (460.95 ± 242.92 mL vs. 574.83 ± 285.23 mL, p = 0.007), and the first 3-day drainage (224.96 ± 101.01 mL vs. 272.3 ± 115.47 mL, p = 0.006), compared with the control group. The incidence of seroma formation (G2 or G3) was significantly lower in the fascia suture group compared with the control group (28.8% vs. 12.5%, p = 0.033). Besides, there was no statistical difference between the 2 groups in the assessment of other complications, including postoperative pain, hematoma, surgical site infections, flap necrosis, and skin dimpling (all p > 0.050). Conclusion The fascia suture technique is a simple and effective method for reducing seroma formation and should be used to prevent seroma formation after mastectomy.

Objective: To determine the changes in peripheral plasma concentrations of interleukin-10 (IL-10), interleukin -12 (IL-12) and interfoeron-γ(IFN-γ) in the patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and their correlations with HBV infection stage or HBV DNA load of HBV carriers. Methods: Data of 135 patients with chronic HBV infection from March 2016 to March 2017 were collected, the patients included 32 chronic HBV carriers, 61 with chronic hepatitis and 42 with cirrhosis. Forty healthy subjects served as controls. The concentrations of IL-10, IL-12 and IFN-γ were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Correlation analysis was performed using the Pearson correlation test, which was performed to analyze the correlation between IL-10, IL-12, IFN-γ and HBV infection stage, HBV DNA load of HBV carriers. Results: Compared with those in healthy controls, plasma IL-10 and IL-12 levels in patients with chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis increased significantly (F=22.06, 15.67, P=0.013, 0.021), plasma IL-10 and IL-12 levels in cirrhosis cases were higher than those in chronic hepatitis (all P<0.001), plasma IL-10 and IL-12 levels in chronic hepatitis were higher than those in chronic HBV carriers (all P<0.001). Plasma IFN-γ level in chronic HBV carriers, chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis were significantly higher than those in healthy controls (F=18.36, P=0.017). There were statistically significant differences in IFN-γ levels among the three groups in the chronic HBV carriers, chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis. IL-10, IL-12 and IFN-γ levels of the low, medium and high HBV DNA load groups were statistically significant (all P<0.05). There was no correlation between IL-10 and HBV DNA. IFN-γ, IL-12 and HBV DNA load were negatively correlated. There was no correlation between IL-10 and IFN-γ (r=0.103, P>0.05), IL-12 and IFN-γ were significantly positively correlated (r=0.687, P<0.05). Conclusions IL-10, IL-12 and IFN-γ may play an important role in the chronic HBV infection.

Objective: To explore the improvement rate of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection who received entecavir alone or in combination with anluohuaxianwan for 78 weeks. Methods: Patients with chronic HBV infection were randomly treated with entecavir alone or in combination with anluohuaxian for 78 weeks. Ishak fibrosis score was used for blind interpretation of liver biopsy specimens. The improvement in liver fibrosis condition before and after the treatment was compared. Student's t test and non-parametric test (Mann-Whitney U-Test and Kruskal-Wallis test) were used to analyze the measurement data. The categorical variables were analyzed by Chi-square test method and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was used to test bivariate associations. Results: Liver fibrosis improvement rate after 78 weeks of treatment was 36.53% (80/219) and the progression rate was 23.29% (51/219). The improvement of liver fibrosis was associated to the degree of baseline fibrosis and treatment methods (P < 0.05). The improvement rate of hepatic fibrosis in patients treated with anluohuaxianwan combined with entecavir at baseline F < 3 (54.74%, 52/95) was significantly higher than that in patients treated only with entecavir (33.33%, 16/48), P = 0.016 and the progression rate of hepatic fibrosis (13.68%, 13/95) was lower than that in patients treated alone (18.75%, 9/48), P = 0.466. In patients with baseline F < 3, the proportion of patients with improved and stable liver fibrosis in the combined treatment group (68.1%, 32/47) was higher than that in the treatment group alone (51.7%, 15/29). Conclusion Combined anluohuaxianwan and entecavir treatment can significantly improve the improvement rate of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection. Furthermore, it has the tendency to improve the stability rate and reduce the rate of progression of liver fibrosis.

Background: Few data are available regarding the progression of liver disease and therapeutic efficacy in chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) carriers infected by mother-to-child transmission (MTCT). This study aimed to investigate these two aspects by comparing the adult chronic HBV carriers in MTCT group with those in horizontal transmission group. Methods: The 683 adult chronic HBV patients qualified for liver biopsy including 191 with MTCT and 492 with horizontal transmission entered the multi-center prospective study from October 2013 to May 2016. Biopsy results from 217 patients at baseline and 78 weeks post antiviral therapy were collected. Results: Patients infected by MTCT were more likely to have e antigen positive (68.6% vs. 58.2%, χ² = -2.491, P = 0.012) than those with horizontal transmission. However, in patients with MTCT, levels of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) (P = 0.031), Fibroscan (P = 0.013), N-terminal propeptide of Type III procollagen (PIIINP) (P = 0.014), and Laminin (LN) (P = 0.006) were high, in contrast to the patients with horizontal transmission for whom the levels of albumin (ALB) (P = 0.041), matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP-3) (P = 0.001) were high. The 47.2% of patients with MTCT and 36.8% of those with horizontal transmission had significant liver fibrosis (P = 0.013). Following antiviral therapy for 78 weeks, 21.2% and 38.0% patients with MTCT and horizontal transmission acquired hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) clearance, respectively (P = 0.043), and the virological response rates were 54.7% and 74.1% in the MTCT and horizontal groups, respectively (P = 0.005). MTCT was a risk factor for HBeAg clearance and virological response. Conclusion: Adult patients with MTCT were more prone to severe liver diseases, and the therapeutic efficacy was relatively poor, which underlined the importance of earlier, long-term treatment and interrupting perinatal transmission. Trial Registration NCT01962155; https://clinicaltrials.gov.