Experience in Neurosurgery During the Prevalence of COVID-19.

In order to summarize the experience of neurosurgery in The Third People's Hospital of Hubei Province after the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2019, 28 patients were admitted from January 5, 2020 to February 17, 2020. A series of department formulates and constant improvements were made, including elective operation cancellation, altered conventional outpatient service into online outpatient service, strict control of inter department consultation prevention and entering the department, improvements in operation and treatment processes, and strict ward management. As a result, 1 patient with hypertensive cerebral hemorrhage and deep vein thrombosis of the right lower extremity died suddenly due to pulmonary embolism during anticoagulation treatment. Two patients with deep coma gave up treatment and died. No patient was confirmed to be infected with COVID-19 in hospital. One doctor had a low fever and cough in January, and CT showed a small nodule in the lower left lung. After 2 weeks isolation and oral anti-infective drugs, the chest nodule disappeared. One nurse was isolated as a close contact with infected parents. One nurse was confirmed to be infected with COVID-19 in a mild symptom. She was discharged after being cured in the infected department. In conclusion, measures like sufficient theoretical training and protection upgrading for medical staff, continuous improvement on the understanding of COVID-19 characteristics and transmission routes, formulation of strict department management system, monitoring of patients and their families, could effectively deal with the epidemic situation in the neurosurgery department.

Vagus nerve stimulation affects inflammatory response and anti-apoptosis reactions via regulating miR-210 in epilepsy rat model.

BACKGROUND: Studies have shown that vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) significantly reduces the frequency of seizures. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) in cerebrospinal fluid are expected to become a new biomarker of epilepsy. Therefore, studying the interaction mechanism between the VNS and miRNAs is hopeful of bringing a new therapeutic direction for the treatment of epilepsy. METHODS: Kainic acid was used to induce the Sprague-Dawley rat epilepsy model, and the rats were treated with VNS. The miR-210 expression was determined by quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR). Racine score was adopted to evaluate the performance of behavioral seizures, whereas qRT-PCR and ELISA were employed to test inflammatory factors. Western blotting was implemented to testify the inflammatory and apoptotic proteins. RESULTS: Kainic acid-induced the Sprague-Dawley rat epilepsy model and upregulated the expression of miR-210, inflammatory response, inflammation and apoptosis-related proteins in brain tissues. In addition, compared with the epilepsy model group, miR-210 in the hippocampus of the epilepsy model rats treated with VNS was downregulated, and the expression of apoptosis-related proteins and inflammatory factors was reduced. Moreover, after further inhibiting the expression of miR-210, the inhibition of VNS on epilepsy, inflammation and apoptosis were significantly enhanced. SUMMARY: VNS relieves the inflammatory response and apoptosis of epileptic rats via inhibiting miR-210.