[Curative effect of percutaneous microwave ablation therapy on hepatocellular carcinoma survival: a 15-year real-world study].

Objective: To evaluate the long-term efficacy of percutaneous microwave ablation (MWA) therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma. Methods: 2054 cases with Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage 0~B at the Fifth Medical Center of the Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital from January 2006 to September 2020 were retrospectively collected. All patients were followed up for at least 2 years. The primary endpoint of overall survival and secondary endpoints (tumor-related survival, disease-free survival, and postoperative complications) of patients treated with ultrasound-guided percutaneous MWA were analyzed. Kaplan-Meier method was used for stratified survival rate analysis. Fine-and-Gray competing risk model was used to analyze overall survival. Results: A total of 5 503 HCC nodules [mean tumor diameter (2.6±1.6) cm] underwent 3 908 MWAs between January 2006 and September 2020, with a median follow-up time of 45.6 (24.0 -79.2) months.The technical effectiveness rate of 5 375 tumor nodules was 97.5%. The overall survival rates at 5, 10, and 15-years were 61.6%, 38.8%, and 27.0%, respectively. The tumor-specific survival rates were 67.1%, 47.2%, and 37.7%, respectively. The free tumor survival rates were 25.8%, 15.7%, and 9.9%, respectively. The incidence rate of severe complications was 2.8% (108/3 908). Further analysis showed that the technical effectiveness and survival rate over the passing three time periods from January 2006-2010, 2011-2015, and 2016-September 2020 were significantly increased, with P < 0.001, especially for liver cancer 3.1~5.0 cm (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Microwave ablation therapy is a safe and effective method for BCLC stage 0-B, with significantly enhanced technical efficacy and survival rate over time.

[Spatial distribution pattern of local tumor progression analysis after microwave ablation of hepatocellular carcinoma based on three-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging].

Objective: To investigate the spatial distribution pattern of local tumor progression (LTP) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) ≤5 cm after microwave ablation. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on 169 HCCs with matched MRI before and after ablation from December 2009 to December 2019. A tumor MRI was reconstructed using three-dimensional visualization technology. LTP was classified as contact or non-contact, early or late stage, according to whether LTP was in contact with the edge of the ablation zone and the occurrence time (24 months). The tumor-surrounded area was divided into eight quadrants by using the eight-quadrant map method. An analysis was conducted on the spatial correlation between the quadrant where the ablative margin (AM) safety boundary was located and the quadrant where different types of LTP occurred. The t-test, or rank-sum test, was used for the measurement data. 2-test for count data was used to compare the difference between the two groups. Results: The AM quadrant had a distribution of 54.4% LTP, 64.2% early LTP stage, and 69.1% contact LTP, suggesting this quadrant was much more concentrated than the other quadrants (P < 0.001). Additionally, the AM quadrant had only 15.2% of non-contact type LTP and 17.1% of late LTP, which was not significantly different from the average distribution probability of 12.5% (100/8%) among the eight quadrants (P = 0.667, 0.743). 46.6% of early contact type LTP was located at the ablation needle tip, 25.2% at the body, and 28.1% at the caudal, while the location distribution probabilities of non-early contact LTP were 34.8%, 31.8%, and 33.3%, respectively. Conclusion: LTP mostly occurs in areas where the ablation safety boundary is the shortest. However, non-contact LTP and late LTP stages exhibit the feature of uniform distribution. Thus, this type of LPT may result from an inadequate non-ablation safety boundary.

Alterations of the fatty acid composition and lipid metabolome of breast muscle in chickens exposed to dietary mixed edible oils.

The fatty acid composition of chicken's meat is largely influenced by dietary lipids, which are often used as supplements to increase dietary caloric density. The underlying key metabolites and pathways influenced by dietary oils remain poorly known in chickens. The objective of this study was to explore the underlying metabolic mechanisms of how diets supplemented with mixed or a single oil with distinct fatty acid composition influence the fatty acid profile in breast muscle of Qingyuan chickens. Birds were fed a corn-soybean meal diet supplemented with either soybean oil (control, CON) or equal amounts of mixed edible oils (MEO; soybean oil : lard : fish oil : coconut oil = 1 : 1 : 0.5 : 0.5) from 1 to 120 days of age. Growth performance and fatty acid composition of muscle lipids were analysed. LC-MS was applied to investigate the effects of CON v. MEO diets on lipid-related metabolites in the muscle of chickens at day 120. Compared with the CON diet, chickens fed the MEO diet had a lower feed conversion ratio (P < 0.05), higher proportions of lauric acid (C12:0), myristic acid (C14:0), palmitoleic acid (C16:1n-7), oleic acid (C18:1n-9), EPA (C20:5n-3) and DHA (C22:6n-3), and a lower linoleic acid (C18:2n-6) content in breast muscle (P < 0.05). Muscle metabolome profiling showed that the most differentially abundant metabolites are phospholipids, including phosphatidylcholines (PC) and phosphatidylethanolamines (PE), which enriched the glycerophospholipid metabolism (P < 0.05). These key differentially abundant metabolites - PC (14:0/20:4), PC (18:1/14:1), PC (18:0/14:1), PC (18:0/18:4), PC (20:0/18:4), PE (22:0/P-16:0), PE (24:0/20:5), PE (22:2/P-18:1), PE (24:0/18:4) - were closely associated with the contents of C12:0, C14:0, DHA and C18:2n-6 in muscle lipids (P < 0.05). The content of glutathione metabolite was higher with MEO than CON diet (P < 0.05). Based on these results, it can be concluded that the diet supplemented with MEO reduced the feed conversion ratio, enriched the content of n-3 fatty acids and modified the related metabolites (including PC, PE and glutathione) in breast muscle of chickens.

Supersolid behavior in confined geometry.

We have carried out torsional oscillator and heat capacity measurements on solid 4He samples grown within a geometry which restricts the helium to thin (150 microm) cylindrical disks. In contrast with previously reported values from Rittner and Reppy of 20% nonclassical rotational inertia for similar confining dimensions, 0.9% nonclassical rotational inertia (consistent with that found in bulk samples and samples embedded in porous media) was observed in our torsional oscillator cell. In this confined geometry, the heat capacity peak is consistent with that found in bulk solid samples of high crystalline quality.

Heat capacity peak in solid 4He: effects of disorder and 3He impurities.

Heat capacity measurements with significantly improved resolution find the presence of a peak in a solid 4He sample in coexistence with liquid. With improved crystallinity, the peak decreases in height and moves to lower temperature. A hysteretic heat capacity signature consistent with 3He-4He phase separation, not detected in an earlier work is clearly observed.

[Anatomy and clinical application of vascularized tarsal bone flaps].

OBJECTIVE: To provide a series of surgical approaches for treatment of talus neck fracture, ischemic necrosis of talus body, and other bone lesions in ankle and foot. METHODS: The major blood supply to cuboid bone, medial cuneiform bone and navicular bone was observed in 30 adult cadavers, by infiltration of red emulsion via major arteries of the lower limbs. Based on these anatomical investigations, 3 types of vascularized tarsal bone grafting were designed for repair of bone lesions in the area of ankle and foot, and applied in 49 clinical cases, ranging from 10 to 58 years in age, and 43 cases of which were followed up for 4 years and 3 months in average. RESULTS: Primary healing was achieved in 40 cases, and secondary healing achieved after further surgical intervention in other 3 cases. The function of all ankle joints recovered satisfactorily. CONCLUSION: The designed three types of vascularized tarsal bone flaps are easy and reliable for dissection because of their superficial pedicles, and they are available for different clinical cases with various bone lesions in ankle and foot.

[Clinical study on treatment of middle-advanced stage liver cancer by combined treatment of hepatic artery chemoembolization with gan'ai no. I and no. II].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the clinical effect of combined treatment of hepatic artery chemoembolization (HACE) and Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) in treating middle-advanced stage liver cancer. METHODS: Sixty patients with middle-advanced stage liver cancer were randomly divided into two groups. The 30 patients in Group A were treated with combined HACE and Chinese herbal medicine (Gan'ai No. I and No. II) and the other 30 in Group B were treated with HACE alone. All patients were followed up for over 3 years. RESULTS: The 0.5-, 1- and 2-year survival rate in Group A was 76.7%, 56.7% and 30.0% respectively, and those in Group B was 50.0%, 33.3% and 16.7% respectively. The 1- and 2-year recurrence rate in Group A was 43.3%, 66.7% and that in Group B was 66.7%, 90.0% respectively. Moreover, Group A was significantly superior to Group B in tumor shrinking, AFP decreasing and blood leucocyte reducing (P < 0.01), as well as in improving clinical symptoms. CONCLUSION: The combined treatment has obvious effect in treating middle-advanced stage liver cancer.