Objective:To investigate the clinical efficacy of extracorporeal shock wave (ESWT) combined with stretching training in the treatment of chronic plantar fasciitis.Methods:A prospective case-control study was conducted to include the patients with chronic plantar fasciitis who had been admitted to Department of Orthopaedic Trauma, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University from June 2021 to June 2022. A SPSS random number generator was used to randomize the patients into an experimental group (receiving treatment with ESWT combined with stretching training) and a control group (receiving stretching training only). Shear wave elastography (SWE) was used to quantitatively evaluate the elastic modulus of the plantar fascia. The 2 groups were compared in terms of visual analogue scale (VAS) pain score, plantar fascia thickness, and elastic modulus of the plantar fascia in the patients at 12 weeks after treatment; the correlation between VAS pain score and elastic modulus of the plantar fascia was examined using Spearman analysis in the patients at 12 weeks after treatment.Results:This study included a total of 41 patients (52 feet), 20 males and 21 females with an age of (49.9±8.2) years. There were 16 left sides, 14 right sides and 11 bilateral sides affected. The course of the disease was 7.0 (6.0, 12.0) months. The 2 groups were comparable because there were no significant differences in the general data before treatment between them ( P>0.05). The VAS pain score at 12 weeks after treatment for the experimental group was 1.0 (1.0, 2.0) points, significantly lower than that for the control group [3.0 (2.0, 3.0) points] ( P<0.05). The elastic modulus of the plantar fascia at 12 weeks after treatment for the experimental group was (79.48 ± 17.65) kPa, significantly higher than that for the control group [(57.08 ± 14.16) kPa] ( P<0.05). However, there was no statistically significant difference between the 2 groups in the thickness of the plantar fascia at 12 weeks after treatment ( P>0.05). There was a significant correlation between VAS pain score and elastic modulus of the plantar fascia after 12 weeks of treatment ( r = -0.708, P<0.001). Conclusion:In the treatment of chronic plantar fasciitis, combination of ESWT and stretching training is more effective than stretching training only.

Accurate segmentation of retinal blood vessels is of great significance for diagnosing, preventing and detecting eye diseases. In recent years, the U-Net network and its various variants have reached advanced level in the field of medical image segmentation. Most of these networks choose to use simple max pooling to down-sample the intermediate feature layer of the image, which is easy to lose part of the information, so this study proposes a simple and effective new down-sampling method Pixel Fusion-pooling (PF-pooling), which can well fuse the adjacent pixel information of the image. The down-sampling method proposed in this study is a lightweight general module that can be effectively integrated into various network architectures based on convolutional operations. The experimental results on the DRIVE and STARE datasets show that the F₁-score index of the U-Net model using PF-pooling on the STARE dataset improved by 1.98%. The accuracy rate is increased by 0.2%, and the sensitivity is increased by 3.88%. And the generalization of the proposed module is verified by replacing different algorithm models. The results show that PF-pooling has achieved performance improvement in both Dense-UNet and Res-UNet models, and has good universality.
Algorithms ; Retinal Vessels ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted

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.

Objective: To analyze the drug resistance of clinical isolates of Candida tropicalis in patients with infectious diseases, and preliminarily study their molecular characteristics. Methods: 95 strains of Candida tropicalis were isolated from the fungal culture specimens of 87 patients with infectious diseases in Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center from 2012 to 2015. Meanwhile, basic clinical data of patients were collected. The drug resistance of the strains to fungal drugs was analyzed by ATB FUNGUS 3 drug sensitivity test strips. All strains were classified by Multilocus sequence typing(MLST). Then, homology analysis was conducted by MEGA 5.2 software, and the evolutionary tree was mapped by using UPGMA method. Results: Patients distribution of strains was rendered as following: 31 strains from TB patients, 21 strains from HIV/AIDS patients, 19 strains from patients with liver disease, and 24 strains from rare cause infection or fever patients. The drug resistance rate to five antifungal drugs commonly used in clinical (amphotericin B, 5-fluorine cytosine, fluconazole, itraconazole, voriconazole) were 2.11% (2 strains), 0, 26.32% (25 strains), 26.32% (25 strains), and 26.32% (25 strains) respectively. Among the 25 azole-resistant strains: 14 strains were from rare cause infection or fever patients, 8 strains were from HIV/AIDS patients, and 3 strains were from tuberculosis patients. In MLST, 72 sequence types (ST types) were produced, 70 of which were new types. Evolutionary tree analysis showed that 95 strains of clinical strains distribute as three large clusters. 24 azole resistant strains (96.0%) were located in CLUSER Ⅰ. Conclusion The isolated Candida tropicalis were mainly resistant to azole drugs. MLST typing indicates that they was closely related to their genetic background.

Objective To compare the biomechanical characteristics between S2 alar-iliac (S2AI) screw and sacroiliac joint screw in treating unilateral type C sacroiliac joint dislocation. Methods A 25 year-old healthy male adult agreed to take computed tomography scan of the pelvis. The pelvic floor thickness was 1 mm and the image data were saved in DCOM format. A three dimensional finite element model of intact pelvis was reconstructed by Mimics, Geomagic, SolidWorks, and Abaqus softwares. A finite element model of type C unilateral sacroiliac dislocation was established. One S1 vertebral sacroiliac screw of 6.5 mm in diameter (S1 group), one S2AI screw (S2AI group) and one Si vertebra sacroiliac screw + one S2 vertebra sacroiliac screw (S1+S2 group) were placed in the model, respectively. The500 N vertical load on the upper surface of the sacrum was simulated. The displacement value of sacroiliac joint, the displacement of sacrum, the stress value of the internal fixation and surrounding bone, and the stress distribution cloud map were recorded and analyzed. Results The displacement data showed that displacement distribution in the three groups had a consistent trend. In terms of the absolute value of displacement the result was S, group＞S 2AI group＞S1+ S2 group, of which the maximum displacement of sacroiliac joint in S1 groups was 0.87 mm and that of sacrum was 1.6 mm; the maximum displacement of sacroiliac joint in S2 AI group was 0.22 mm, and that of sacrum was 0.24 mm; the maximum displacement of the sacroiliac joint in S1 + S2 group was 0.06 mm, and that of sacrum was0.16 mm. Stress data showed that the stress in the internal fixation was mainly distributed at the sacroiliac joint, and the stress result was S2AI group＞S, group＞S, + S2 group, of which the maximum stress value was 52.8 MPa in S1 group, 62.1 MPa in S2AI group, and 38.2 MPa in S1 + S2 group. The stress around the screws was also concentrated at the sacroiliac joint, and the stress result was S1 group＞S2AI group＞S1 + S2 group, of which the maximum stress value was 56.8 MPa in S1 group, 11.2 MPa in S2AI group, and 5.8 MPa in S1 + S2 group. Conclusions Single S1 screw, single S2 AI screw and S, screws combined S2 screws can be used for the treatment of unilateral C type sacroiliac joint dislocation. Early weight bearing of single S1 screw might lead to the risks of increased sacroiliac joint displacement and internal fixation failure. S2 AI screw fixation and S1 + S2 screw fixation have similar biomechanical strength, allowing early weight-bearing and contributing to better postoperative rehabilitation.

Objective To investigate the clinical value of coplanar template-assisted CT guided radioactive seeds implantation in the treatment of pancreatic carcinoma. Methods A total of 22 advanced pancreatic carcinoma patients underwent CT guided radioactive seeds implantation were retrospectively analyzed.Ten patients were treated with coplanar template-assisted with an average age of(65±10)years(48 to 77 years).Tweleve patients were treated without coplanar template assist with an average age of(68±13) years (47 to 84 years). The preoperative planning designs and postoperative dosimetry verifications were performed for all patients.The dose related parameters including D90,MPD,V100,V150and V200were compared between pre and post operation by t test. The operating time were also evaluated between the two groups. Results Overall the 22 patients were treated successfully without serious surgery-related complications. An average of 26 seeds were implanted in the coplanar template assisted implantation group,and 23 seeds were implanted in the non template-assisted implantation group. Preoperative V100in coplanar template group and non template group were(94.45 ± 1.32)% and(93.27 ± 1.37)% separately. Postoperative V100in both groups were(89.31 ± 2.58)% and(85.25 ± 4.35)% separately. Postoperative D90in both groups were (147.32±7.12)Gy and(149.25±4.86)Gy separately.Postoperative V150in both groups were(57.83±7.74)% and(63.97±7.75)% separately.Preoperative D90in both groups were(152.41±6.78)Gy and(153.30±7.79) Gy separately. Preoperative V150in both groups were(58.61 ± 14.11)% and(62.45 ± 6.49)% separately. Postoperative MPD in both groups were(87.64±10.60)Gy and(87.12±7.66)Gy separately.Postoperative V200in both groups were(34.12±7.67)%,(39.42±7.18)% separately.Preoperative MPD in both groups were (82.12±7.81)Gy and(83.43±4.86)Gy separately.Preoperative V200in both groups were(29.04±10.64)%, (36.11 ± 7.22)% separately. Compared with preoperative plans, the mean value of D90and V100decreased while the mean value of MPD and V200increased in postoperative verifications in both coplanar template assist CT guided radioactive seeds implantation group and non template-assisted group.However,there was no significant difference between pre and post operation except for V100(P<0.05). The operating time of coplanar template assist group and non template-assisted group were(44.3±12.4)min and(60.0±12.8)min respectively. The difference of operating time between two groups were statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion Compared with the treatment without template assist, coplanar template-assisted brachytherapy could be more accurate in preoperative plans optimization,and shorten the operation time and improve the patients'tolerance.

Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of biliary stent loaded with 125I seeds in treatment of hilar cholangiocarcinoma with malignant obstructive jaundice.Methods Totally 43 patients with malignant obstructive jaundice caused by cholangiocarcinoma were included.All the patients underwent percutaneous transhepatic puncture of the left and right side branch of the bile duct.In the hilar stenosis,the biliary stent with 125I seeds were implanted,and the biliary drainage tube had been kept in 3 to 5 days after procedures.The drainage tube was removed and the puncture road was closed after the patency of stents were confirmed by cholangiography.The changes of liver function before and after procedures were recorded,and the survival time was observed.Results Five biliary stents loaded with 125I seeds were implanted in type I (n=5),36 in type Ⅱ (n=18),8 in type Ⅲ (n=4) and 25 in type Ⅳ (n=16).The serum total bilirubin and direct bilirubin of patients before procedures were (145.54 ± 65.35) μmol/L and (124.73 ± 35.04) μmol/L,respectively,and (65.91±29.43)μmol/L and (35.50±15.12)μmol/L respectively after procedures.Compared with preoperative,the total bilirubin,direct bilirubin,alanine aminotransferase,aspartate aminotransferase,alkaline phosphatase,C-reactive protein and gamma glutamic transaminase decreased significantly (all P＜0.05).The lactate dehydrogenase had no significant difference before and after operation (P=1.050).The median survival time was 13 months (3.0 to 22.5 months).The serious complications such as biliary puncture,pancreatitis,severe biliary tract infection or biliary bleeding were not occurred.Conclusion Biliary stent loaded with 125 I seeds is an effective therapy to alleviate symptoms of jaundice and prolong the survival time of patients with malignant obstructive jaundice caused by hilar cholangiocarcinoma.

Objective To evaluated the safety and clinical efficacy of CT-guided percutaneous radioactive 125I seeds implantation in treatment of spinal metastatic tumors.Methods Totally 20 cases (23 lesions) of spinal metastatic tumors with spinal compression and severe back pain were treated by CT-guided percutaneous 125I seeds implantation.Intractable pain and nerve function before and after therapy were evaluated.And the postoperative cumulative local tumors control rates and cumulative survival rates were calculated.Results The median follow-up period was 14 months (range 7-32months).There was no patient lost follow-up.And no severe complication occurred.Intractable pain significantly relieved one month after therapy.The neural retention rate of 12 patients with nerve function impairment was 85.00％ (17/20) and the neural function recovery rate was 30.00％ (6/20) three months after 125 I seeds'implantation.The local tumors control rates in 3-,6-,and 12-month were 100％,100％ and 90％,respectively.The survival rates in 6-and 12-month was 100％and 78.81％,respectively.Conclusion CT-guided percutaneous radioactive 125I seeds implantation for spinal metastatic tumors is safe and feasible.It can relief pain and improve neural function effectively.

Background and aim:α-complex protein-2(αCP2)encoded by the poly(rC)binding protein 2(PCBP2)gene is responsible for the accumulation of type Ⅰ collagen in fibrotic livers.In this study,we silenced the PCBP2 gene using a small interfering RNA(siRNA)to reverse alcohol-and cytokine-induced profibrogenic effects on hepatic stellate cells(HSCs). Methods:Primary rat HSCs and the HSC-T6 cell line were used as fibrogenic models to mimic the initiation and perpetuation stages of fibrogenesis,respectively.We previously found that a PCBP2 siRNA,which efficiently silences expression of αCP2,reduces the stability of type Ⅰ collagen mRNA.We inves-tigated the effects of the PCBP2 siRNA on cell proliferation and migration.Expression of type Ⅰ collagen in HSCs was analyzed by quantitative real-time PCR and western blotting.In addition,we evaluated the effects of the PCBP2 siRNA on apoptosis and the cell cycle. Results:PCBP2 siRNA reversed multiple alcohol-and cytokine-induced profibrogenic effects on primary rat HSCs and HSC-T6 cells.The PCBP2 siRNA also reversed alcohol-and cytokine-induced accumulation of type Ⅰ collagen as well as cell proliferation and migration.Moreover,the combination of LY2109761,a transforming growth factor-β1 inhibitor,and the PCBP2 siRNA exerted a synergistic inhibitive effect on the accumulation of type Ⅰ collagen in HSCs. Conclusions:Silencing of PCBP2 using siRNA could be a potential therapeutic strategy for alcoholic liver fibrosis.

Objective To compare the effect of different gastrointestinal motility drugs on capsule endoscopy. Methods Seventy-one patients with suspected small bowel disease were randomly divided into metoclopramide group (24 patients), mosapride group(25 patients) and control group (22 group). The patients in metoclopramide group swallowed capsule endoscopy immediately after intramuscularly injecting 10 mg metoclopramide, the patients in mosapride group swallowed capsule endoscopy 15 min after taking 5 mg mosapride, and the patients in control group did not take any of the gastrointestinal motility drugs. Three groups had the same bowel preparation before checking. The finishing rate of small bowel examinations, stomach and small intestinal transit time, intestinal cleanliness and the detection rates of lesions in three groups were compared. Results The total small bowel examination finishing rate was 94.4%(67/71). The small bowel examination finishing rate in metoclopramide group, mosapride group, and control group was 95.8%(23/24), 96.0%(24/25), and 90.9% (20/22), and there was no significant difference(P>0.05). The stomach transit time in metoclopramide group, mosapride group and control group was(27.5 ± 20.7), (28.1 ± 20.9) and (52.3 ± 33.5) min. The stomach transit time in metoclopramide group and mosapride group had no significant difference (P>0.05), but it was significantly lower than that in control group (P<0.05). The small intestinal transit time in three groups had no significant difference (P>0.05). The image class scores in metoclopramide group, mosapride group and control group was (2.5 ± 0.4), (2.7 ± 0.4) and (1.7 ± 0.3) scores.The scores in metoclopramide group and mosapride group had no significant difference (P>0.05), but they were significantly higher than that in control group (P<0.05). The detection rate of lesions in metoclopramide group, mosapride group and control group was 45.8%(11/24), 56.0%(14/25) and 18.2%(4/22). The detection rate of lesions in metoclopramide group and mosapride group had no significant difference (P>0.05), but it was significantly higher than that in control group (P<0.05). Conclusions The use of gastrointestinal motility drugs before capsule endoscopy can improve the quality of inspection, and metoclopramide and mosapride shows no significant difference.