[Rethinking of surgical indications for pancreatic cystic tumors].

With the progress of imaging technology and the popularization of healthy examination, the detection rate of pancreatic cystic neoplasm(PCN) has increased significantly. PCN has complex disease spectrum, strong heterogeneity, and diverse surgical treatment strategies. Surgical timing and methods directly affect patients' prognosis. Therefore, how to identify malignant tumors and formulate reasonable treatment strategies are the keys to treat PCN. Many guidelines for clinical diagnosis and treatment of PCN have been released, but there are still many disputes about its surgical indications. Hence, fully assessing the surgical indications is of great significance to improve the PCN patients' prognosis. This paper deeply discusses on the surgical indications of PCN by reviewing the current clinical diagnosis, treatment and research progress of PCN, in order to standardize the diagnosis and treatment of PCN.

[Challenges and stratigies of neoadjuvant therapy for pancreatic cancer].

In recent years, more and more attention has been paid on the role of neoadjuvant therapy in the comprehensive treatment of pancreatic cancer. There is increasing evidence indicates that neoadjuvant therapy improves the R0 resection rate and patient's prognosis. However, the indication, therapy selection and efficacy evaluation of neoadjuvant therapy in patients with pancreatic cancer are still controversial, thus its clinical application is not very mature. This article aims to analyze the clinical implementation dilemma of neoadjuvant therapy for pancreatic cancer, and discuss the scientific and reasonable neoadjuvant treatment mode for pancreatic cancer patients.

Genetic diversity and differentiation of the endangered and endemic species Sauvagesia rhodoleuca in China as detected by ISSR analysis.

Sauvagesia rhodoleuca (Ochnaceae) is an endangered plant that is endemic to southern China. The levels of genetic variation and patterns of population structure in S. rhodoleuca were investigated using inter-simple sequence repeat markers. Eleven primers were used to amplify DNA samples from 117 individuals, and a total of 92 loci were detected. Our results indicated that genetic diversity was quite low both at the species level (percentage of polymorphic bands (PPB) = 41.30%, Nei's gene diversity (h) = 0.1331, and Shannon information index (I) = 0.2028) and the population level (PPB = 16.30-28.26%, h = 0.0496-0.1012, and I = 0.0756-0.1508). A high level of genetic differentiation among populations was detected based on Nei's genetic diversity analysis (0.4344) and analysis of molecular variance (47.03%). The low genetic diversity within population and high population differentiation of S. rhodoleuca were assumed to result largely from limited gene flow, genetic drift, inbreeding, and clonal growth. Conservation strategies for this endangered species are proposed based on the genetic data.

Volumetric change of bony cavity and shrinkage speed after marsupialization for odontogenic keratocyst and unicystic ameloblastoma.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of marsupialization treatment for odontogenic keratocyst (OKC) and unicystic ameloblastoma (UA) based on the three-dimensional volumetric change over time, and to determine the difference between OKC and UA in terms of the absolute volume reduction (AVR) and absolute shrinkage speed (ASS), and whether they are correlated with the preoperative volume, time after marsupialization (time between marsupialization and second treatment), and patient age. This was a retrospective cohort study with a sample size of 60 patients: 29 with OKC and 31 with UA. Pre- and post-marsupialization cone beam computed tomography images were analysed using Mimics software. The volume reduction and shrinkage speed were analysed and correlated with the preoperative volume, time after marsupialization, and demographic data. Descriptive univariable and multivariable statistics were computed; significance was set at P ≤ 0.05. The mean percentage volume reduction after marsupialization was 67.6 ± 9.6% for OKC and 63.3 ± 20.1% for UA. There was no significant difference in AVR or ASS between the OKC and UA groups. For OKC and UA, the preoperative volume (both P < 0.001) and time after marsupialization (P = 0.024 and P < 0.001, respectively) were associated with AVR. Moreover, for OKC and UA, the preoperative volume and time after marsupialization were also significantly associated with the ASS (all P < 0.001). For both lesions, patient age was not significantly related to AVR or ASS. Marsupialization appears to be a viable option to decrease the volume of OKC and UA. Age was found not to be associated with the volume reduction of either UA or OKC.

PTENP1 acts as a ceRNA to regulate PTEN by sponging miR-19b and explores the biological role of PTENP1 in breast cancer.

This study aimed to investigate role of long noncoding RNA PTENP1 regulating PTEN expression via miR-19b to affect breast cancer (BC) progression. We measured expressions of PTENP1, miR-19b and PTEN in 65 matched BC cancerous and noncancerous tissues by quantitative real-time fluorescence PCR (qRT-PCR) and investigated the biological effects of PTENP1 in BC MDA-MB-231 cells by several in vitro experiments including CCK8, wound healing, transwell and Annexin V-FITC/PI analysis. Besides, the competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) activity of PTENP1 on miR-19b was detected by luciferase reporter assay, and the expressions of related genes and proteins were determined by western blot assay and qRT-PCR. Increased PTENP1 and PTEN and decreased miR-19b were observed in BC tissues and cell lines. Further, PTENP1 and PTEN are direct targets of miR-19b, and overexpressed PTENP1 in MDA-MB-231 cells could supress cell proliferation, migration and invasion and promote cell apoptosis. Moreover, PTENP1 could upregulate PTEN via its ceRNA interaction on miR-19b, as well as induced the upregulation of p53 and downregulation of p-AKT. Enhanced PTENP1 could inhibit BC cell growth, metastasis and tumourigenicity by inhibiting miR-19b and facilitating PTEN in BC, thereby may represent a novel target for diagnosis and treatment of BC.

Preliminary study on the microbiology of Campylobacter pyloridis and gastric histopathology.

Biopsy samples were taken endoscopically from the antral-mucosa of 693 patients with peptic ulcer and chronic gastritis presenting dyspepsia symptoms. Campylobacter pyloridis cultures were positive in 59 of 98 (60.2%) cases and histopathologically the organisms were found in 411 of 693 cases (59.3%). Pathologically, Campylobacter pyloridis was positive in 273 out of 300 patients with chronic superficial gastritis (91.0%), in 102 of 249 patients with chronic atrophic gastritis (40.9%), in 36 out of 144 patients with chronic atrophic gastritis with intestinalization or dysplasia (25.0%). We found that there was a significant association between the presence of Campylobacter pyloridis and chronic superficial gastritis, also the degree of lymphocyte infiltration showed a strong inverse association with the presence of Campylobacter pyloridis, suggesting that a local immune response might exert an important action in the eradication of this organism. These findings support the view that Campylobacter pyloridis, may be etiologically related to chronic gastritis and peptic ulceration, even though its role still remains to be determined.

[Clinical study on effect of zhuhuang granule no. 2 in treating psoriasis with liver-qi stagnancy].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the efficacy of Zhuhuang Granule No. 2 (ZHG2) in treating psoriasis with Liver-Qi stagnancy. METHODS: Sixty-seven patients were randomly divided into two groups, the 33 patients in the control group were treated with composite indigo capsule and the 34 in the treated group treated with ZHG2, and the clinical effect, changes of main symptoms and local skin lesion after treatment were evaluated. Meanwhile, the plasma levels of substance P (SP) and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) in 15 patients and 13 healthy subjects were measured using radioimmunoassay (RIA). RESULTS: The total effective rate in the treated group and the control group was 97.1% and 78.8% respectively with significant difference, P < 0.05. ZHG2 showed a significant effect in reducing plasma level of SP and VIP in patients of psoriasis with Liver-Qi stagnancy. CONCLUSION: The effect of ZHG2 in treating psoriasis patients with Liver-Qi stagnancy is satisfactory, and worth further studying.

Accuracy of noninvasive quantification of brain NAA concentrations using PRESS sequence: verification in a swine model with external standard.

The metabolite ratios had been employed in the field of MR spectroscopy (MRS) for a long period. The main drawback of metabolite ratio is that ratio results are not comparable with absolute metabolite concentration in vivo. The purpose of this study was to examine the accuracy of noninvasive quantification of brain N-acetylaspartate (NAA) concentrations using previously reported MR external standard method. Eight swine were scanned on a GE 1.5 T scanner with a standard head coil. The external standard method was utilized with a sphere filled with NAA, GABA, glutamine, glutamate, creatine, choline chloride, and myo-inositol. The position resolved spectroscopy (PRESS) sequence was used with TE=135 msec, TR=1500 msec, and 128 scan averages. The analysis of MRS was done with SAGE/IDL program. In vivo NAA concentration was obtained using the equation S=N * e(-TE/T2) * [1-e(-TR/T1). In vitro NAA concentration was measured by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). In the MRS group, the mean concentration of NAA was 10.03 plusmn 0.74 mmol/kg. In the HPLC group, the mean concentration of NAA was 9.22 plusmn 0.55 mmol/kg. There was no significant difference between the two groups (p = 0.46). However, slightly higher value was observed in the MRS group (7/8 swine), compared with HPLC group. The range of differences was between 0.02~2.05 mmol/kg. MRS external reference method could be more accurate than internal reference method. 1H MRS does not distinguish between N-acetyl resonance frequencies and other N-acetylated amino acids.