Comparison of efficacy between endoscope-assisted anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) and open ACDF in the treatment of single-segment cervical spondylotic myelopathy.

BACKGROUND: In this study, we compared the clinical efficacy of endoscope-assisted anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) with open ACDF in the treatment of single-segment cervical spondylotic myelopathy. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed on 52 patients with single-segment cervical spondylotic myelopathy between June 2021 and February 2022, including 33 males and 19 females, with a mean age of 58.42 ± 9.26) years. Among them, 28 patients were treated with endoscope-assisted ACDF (Group A), including 2 cases of C4/5 segment, 16 cases of C5/6 segment, and 10 cases of C6/7 segment; 24 patients were treated with open ACDF (Group B), including 4 cases of C4/5 segment, 11 cases of C5/6 segment, and 9 cases of C6/7 segment. The operation time, intraoperative blood loss, hospital stay, and complications were recorded and compared between the two groups. The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and the Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score were used for clinical evaluation during the follow-up in the 1st month and 3rd month after surgery, and at the final follow-up. RESULTS: The 52 patients were followed up on average for 13.04 months (12-17 months). The operation time in Group A and Group B was (105.18 + 8.66) minutes and (81.88 + 6.05) minutes, the intraoperative blood loss was (84.29 + 13.45) mL and (112.92 + 17.81) mL, and the hospital stay was (6.75 + 1.29) days and (7.63 + 1.41) days, respectively. The difference between the two groups was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The VAS and JOA scores in the 1st month and the 3rd month after surgery and the last follow-up significantly improved in both groups compared with those before surgery (P < 0.05). The VAS and JOA scores of Group A in the 1st month, 3rd month after surgery, and the last follow-up were better than those in Group B (P < 0.05). The complication rate in Group A was 7% (2/28), which was not significantly different from the 17% (4/24) in Group B (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Both endoscope-assisted ACDF and open ACDF can achieve satisfactory clinical efficacy in the treatment of single-segment cervical spondylotic myelopathy. Although the operation time of endoscope-assisted ACDF is prolonged, it has the advantages of clear vision, thorough decompression, less blood loss, and reduced risk of nerve damage, and is worthy of clinical promotion and application.

Bibliometric analysis: Research trends of acupuncture treatment to cognitive impairment in recent 15 years.

Objectives: Acupuncture therapy has been used for cognitive impairment-related diseases, however, there are still few studies on the overall trend of acupuncture therapy on cognitive impairment based on bibliometric analysis. The purpose of this study was to explore the research trend of the impact of acupuncture on cognitive impairment in the past 15 years, analyze the research trends and hotspots, and provide new ideas and theoretical basis for future research directions. Methods: From the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC), the relevant literature on the treatment of cognitive impairment with acupuncture from 2007 to 2022 was retrieved. Then, based on the CiteSpace and VOSviewer software of the Java platform, the cooperation between countries and institutions in this field, the co-citation of journals and documents, and the cooperation between authors and authors, etc. were analyzed. In addition, the co-occurrence and burst analysis of keywords are also carried out, and a visual knowledge map is drawn. Results: As of August 08, 2022, a total of 394 records related to the treatment of cognitive impairment with acupuncture were identified. The analysis results show: The number and rate of annual publications have steadily increased, with some fluctuations from year to year. The countries that contribute the most to this field are China and the USA. Among them, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine and Capital Medical University are tied for first place in terms of the number of published papers. Tao Jing is the most prolific author and the number one cited author. Conclusions: The number of publications on acupuncture for cognitive impairment is expected to increase rapidly in future research, suggesting a bright future for the field. Future research hotspots will focus on pain, injury, protocol, diagnosis, guidelines, etc. It is also necessary to strengthen cross-regional and cross-country cooperation among various academic groups.

Oncogenic miRNA-1908 targets HDAC10 and promotes the aggressive phenotype of cervical cancer cell.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have vital functions in tumorigenesis and cancer progression. The significance of miR-1908 in cervical cancer has not been determined. We revealed that miR-1908 was notably upregulated in cervical cancer. Upregulation of miR-1908 increased cervical carcinoma cell growth and invasion. Downregulation of miR-1908 caused the opposite effects. We confirmed that histone deacetylase 10 (HDAC10) was a potential target of miR-1908 using bioinformatics analysis and luciferase reporter gene assays. Western blot analysis showed that miR-1908 regulated the expression of HDAC10 by binding its 3'-UTR. In addition, ectopic expression of HDAC10 partially reversed the promoting effects of miR-1908. In conclusion, our findings indicated that miR-1908 targets HDAC10 in cervical cancer and regulates aggressive cervical cancer cell phenotypes.

The complete mitochondrial genome of the Metriaclima zebra.

Cichlid fish from East Africa are remarkable for phenotypic and behavioral diversity on a backdrop of genomic similarity. Metriaclima zebra is a member of the Cichlidae family. Here, we reported the complete mitogenome sequence of M. zebra, which was 16 582 bp and contained 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes and 1 non-coding control region. A phylogenetic tree was constructed based on complete mitogenomes of M. zebra and 11 closely related Cichlidae species to approve the accuracy. The complete mitochondrial genome of the M. zebra would provide more information for the research of M. zebra and the evolution of Cichlidae family.

[Introduction of fluorescence molecular imaging technology and its development].

In vivo fluorescence molecular imaging plays a more and more important role in the observation of diseases, drug research and biology research because of its low cost, simplicity and no ionizing radiation to biological tissue. Herein, the most important parts of the optical fluorescence molecular imaging and their advances are summarized, including fluorescent molecular probes, imaging systems and reconstruction algorithms. The application and development trend of this technology are also introduced in this paper.