Glucocorticoid therapy in pancreatic portal hypertension associated with autoimmune pancreatitis: A case report.

BACKGROUND: Autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) is a chronic form of pancreatitis characterized by diffused enlargement of the pancreas and irregular stenosis of the main pancreatic duct. Some studies have reported that AIP can cause hemorrhage of gastric varices (GV) related to portal hypertension (PH). However, such cases are rare. In addition, the association of PH with AIP is unclear. At the same time, the efficacy and duration of glucocorticoid therapy is also controversial. CASE SUMMARY: In this case, we reported a case of GV in pancreatic PH associated with AIP. Enhanced abdominal computed tomography (CT) suggested splenic vein (SV) and superior mesenteric vein (SMV) thromboses. The patient received a long-term glucocorticoid therapy, that the initial dose of 40 mg is reduced weekly by 5 mg, and then reduced to 5 mg for long-term maintenance. CT and gastroscopic examination after 8 mo of treatment indicated that SV and SMV were recanalized, pancreatic stiffness and swelling were ameliorated, and the GV almost completely disappeared. CONCLUSION: Long-term glucocorticoid therapy can alleviate the development of GV in patients with AIP and has potential reversibility.

The emerging role of the MiR-1272-ADAM9-CDCP1 signaling pathway in the progression of glioma.

Glioma is a primary, malignant, and aggressive brain tumor in adults. To develop new therapeutic strategies for glioma, we must determine its underlying mechanisms. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the potential role of miR-1272-ADAM9-CDCP1 signaling in the progression of glioma. We found that ectopic expression of miR-1272 produced significant inhibitory effects on cell proliferation and migration and was associated with cell cycle G0/G1 arrest in A172 and SHG44 glioma cells. Using the luciferase reporter assay, we identified ADAM9 as a target of miR-1272. The expression of ADAM9 was markedly decreased or increased after overexpression or inhibition, respectively, of miR-1272 in glioma cells. Moreover, overexpression of ADAM9 reversed the inhibitory effects of miR-1272 on glioma cell progression. Furthermore, CDCP1 served as a potential downstream molecule of miR-1272/ADAM9 signaling in glioma and promoted the proliferation and migration of glioma. Results derived from clinical samples and online databases confirmed correlations between the expression of ADAM9 and CDCP1 and both the severity and prognosis of glioma. In conclusion, these results suggest that miR-1272 and CDCP1 may act as novel regulators in glioma. The miR-1272/ADAM9/CDCP1 pathway may serve as a potential candidate pathway for the prevention of glioma.

[Photolysis Mechanism of p-Nitrophenol by Nitrocellulose Membrane in Aqueous Solution].

To investigate the potential application of nitrocellulose membrane (NCM) in water treatment, this study examined the photolysis of p-nitrophenol, with NCM as the source of reactive oxygen species. Effects of solution pH, light conditions, and water dissolved substances on p-nitrophenol photolysis were investigated, and possible mechanisms were discussed. The results demonstrated that the quantum yield for hydroxyl radicals from the NCM was 1.30×10-4, which is approximately 1.86 times higher than that from TiO2. The photolysis rate of p-nitrophenol in the presence of NCM was 0.0055 min-1, which is much higher than that in pure water (9.52×10-4 min-1). This promotion was mainly caused by photo-induced generation of ·OH on NCM surface under light, in which UVA plays an important role in photolysis. The photolysis rate of p-nitrophenol increased with the increase of light intensity and membrane area. Acidic solution (pH=2.0) was preferred for the degradation of p-nitrophenol, with a photolysis rate of 0.0165 min-1; the corresponding degradation of p-nitrophenol exceeded 90% in 120 min. The effects of dissolved substances on photolysis were significantly different. NO3- promoted photolysis by generation of ·OH, and dissolved organic matter decreased photolysis through light attenuation. The intermediate products of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis mainly included phenol, hydroquinone, malonic acid, and oxalic acid, and the possible photolysis pathway was given accordingly.

Conversion therapy and suitable timing for subsequent salvage surgery for initially unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma: What is new?

AIM: To review the conversion therapy for initially unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients and the suitable timing for subsequent salvage surgery. METHODS: A PubMed search was undertaken from 1987 to 2017 to identify articles using the keywords including "unresectable" "hepatocellular carcinoma", "hepatectomy", "conversion therapy", "resection", "salvage surgery" and "downstaging". Additional studies were investigated through a manual search of the references from the articles. The exclusion criteria were duplicates, case reports, case series, videos, contents unrelated to the topic, comments, and editorial essays. The main and widely used conversion therapies and the suitable timing for subsequent salvage surgery were discussed in detail. Two members of our group independently performed the literature search and data extraction. RESULTS: Liver volume measurements [future liver remnant (FLR)/total liver volume or residual liver volume/bodyweight ratio] and function tests (scoring systems and liver stiffness) were often performed in order to justify whether patients were suitable candidates for surgery. Successful conversion therapy was usually defined as downstaging the tumor, increasing FLR and providing subsequent salvage surgery, without increasing complications, morbidity or mortality. The requirements for performing salvage surgery after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization were the achievement of a partial remission in radiology, the disappearance of the portal vein thrombosis, and the lack of extrahepatic metastasis. Patients with a standardized FLR (sFLR) > 20% were good candidates for surgery after portal vein embolization, while other predictive parameters like growth rate, kinetic growth rate were treated as an effective supplementary. There was probably not enough evidence to provide a standard operation time after associating liver partition and portal vein ligation for staged hepatectomy or yttrium-90 microsphere radioembolization. The indications of any combinations of conversion therapies and the subsequent salvage surgery time still need to be carefully and comprehensively evaluated. CONCLUSION: Conversion therapy is recommended for the treatment of initially unresectable HCC, and the suitable subsequent salvage surgery time should be reappraised and is closely related to its previous therapeutic effect.

[Efficacy and safety of Xiyanping injection combined with azithromycin in treating mycoplasma pneumonia of children: Meta-analysis].

To systemically evaluate the safety and efficacy of Xiyanping injection combined with azithromycin in the treatment of mycoplasmal pneumonia in children. PubMed, Wanfang Data, CNKI, VIP and CBM were used to search for the clinical randomized controlled trials on Xiyanping injection combined with azithromycin in the treatment of mycoplasmal pneumonia in children from database establishment to July, 2017. The papers were screened according to the established inclusion and exclusion criteria, and then the quality of the included studies was evaluated to extract valid data for Meta-analysis by using Revman 5.3 software. A total of 31 clinical randomized controlled trials were included, involving 2 881 patients. Meta-analysis showed that as compared with azithromycin alone, the combination of azithromycin with azithromycin had obvious advantages in the total effective rate（OR=5.42,95%CI[3.98,7.38],P<0.000 01）, fever clearance time（MD=-1.29,95%CI[-1.51,-1.08],P<0.000 01）, cough disappearance time （MD=-1.72,95%CI[-1.99,-1.46],P<0.000 01）, lung wet rales disappearance time（MD=-1.51,95%CI[-1.88,-1.14],P<0.000 01）, chest X-ray recovery time（MD=-2.72,95%CI[-3.82,-1.63],P<0.000 01）, shortening the hospital stay（MD=-1.88,95%CI[-2.26,-1.50],P<0.000 01）, reducing the incidence of adverse reactions（MD=0.51,95%CI[0.33,0.79],P=0.002）, and other aspects, with statistically significant difference. Based on the existing evidences, Xiyanping injection combined with azithromycin in the treatment of mycoplasmal pneumonia in children can significantly improve the overall clinical efficiency, shorten the hospital stay and reduce the incidence of adverse reactions. However, the clinical trials of existing small randomized controlled trials have low quality of methodology and require a large sample of high quality clinical trials for further validation.