[Application of ultrasound-guided endoscopic retrograde appendicitis therapy in children with appendix-related chronic abdominal pain]. / è¶ å£°å¼•å¯¼å† é•œä¸‹é€†è¡Œé˜‘å°¾ç‚Žæ²»ç–—æœ¯åœ¨é˜‘å°¾ç›¸å ³æ ¢æ€§è ¹ç—›æ‚£å„¿ä¸­çš„åº”ç”¨ä»·å€¼.

OBJECTIVES: To study the clinical efficacy of ultrasound-guided endoscopic retrograde appendicitis therapy in children with appendix-related chronic abdominal pain. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed on the medical data of 30 children with the chief complaint of chronic abdominal pain who were admitted from August 2019 to May 2021. All the children were found to have inflammation of the appendix or intracavitary stool and fecalith by ultrasound and underwent ultrasound-guided endoscopic retrograde appendicitis therapy. The medical data for analysis included clinical manifestations, endoscopic findings, white blood cell count, neutrophil percentage, length of hospital stay, and cure rate. RESULTS: Among the 30 children with chronic abdominal pain, there were 13 boys (43%) and 17 girls (57%), with a mean age of (9±3) years (range 3-15 years) at diagnosis. The median duration of the disease was 12 months, and the median length of hospital stay was 3 days. The children had a median white blood cell count of 6.7×109/L and a neutrophil percentage of 50%±13%. Fecalith and a large amount of feces were flushed out of the appendix cavity for 21 children (70%) during surgery. The follow-up rate was 97% (29/30), and the median follow-up time was 11 months (range 5-26 months). Of the 29 children, abdominal pain completely disappeared in 27 children (93%). CONCLUSIONS: Ultrasound-guided endoscopic retrograde appendicitis therapy is effective in children with chronic abdominal pain caused by feces or fecalith in the appendix cavity.

Astragaloside IV Alleviates the Experimental DSS-Induced Colitis by Remodeling Macrophage Polarization Through STAT Signaling.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is characterized by chronic and relapsing intestinal inflammation, which currently lacks safe and effective medicine. Some previous studies indicated that Astragaloside IV (AS-IV), a natural saponin extracted from the traditional Chinese medicine herb Ligusticum chuanxiong, alleviates the experimental colitis symptoms in vitro and in vivo. However, the mechanism of AS-IV on IBD remains unclear. Accumulating evidence suggests that M2-polarized intestinal macrophages play a pivotal role in IBD progression. Here, we found that AS-IV attenuated clinical activity of DSS-induced colitis that mimics human IBD and resulted in the phenotypic transition of macrophages from immature pro-inflammatory macrophages to mature pro-resolving macrophages. In vitro, the phenotype changes of macrophages were observed by qRT-PCR after bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) were induced to M1/M2 and incubated with AS-IV, respectively. In addition, AS-IV was effective in inhibiting pro-inflammatory macrophages and promoting the pro-resolving macrophages to ameliorate experimental colitis via the regulation of the STAT signaling pathway. Hence, we propose that AS-IV can ameliorate experimental colitis partially by modulating macrophage phenotype by remodeling the STAT signaling, which seems to have an essential function in the ability of AS-IV to alleviate the pathological progress of IBD.

Increased expression of HSP27 inhibits invasion and metastasis in human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Previous studies have indicated that heat shock protein 27 (HSP27) had high correlation with the development and progression in several tumors. However, the roles of HSP27 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) were uncertain. The aim in this study is to investigate the potential roles of HSP27 in the metastasis of ESCC. The expression of HSP27 in ESCC tissues and four human esophageal cancer cell lines were examined by immunohistochemistry and Western blotting, respectively. Wound healing assays, transwell assays, and in vivo assays were used to identify the differences of metastasis potential between normal and HSP27 overexpressed cells. HSP27 expression was downregulated in cancer tissue compared to the matched normal tissue. And the positive staining was mainly located in the cytoplasm. Statistical analyses showed that the expression of HSP27 in ESCC was significantly correlated with the tumor differentiation (P = 0.023), the patient's TNM stage (P = 0.013), lymph metastasis (P = 0.020), and distant metastasis (P = 0.017). HSP27 expression was significantly lower in highly metastatic cells than the less ones. The metastatic potentials of EC9706-H and EC109-H cells were higher than EC9706-L and EC109-L cells. In vitro and in vivo assays showed that overexpression of HSP27 in highly metastatic cells dramatically decreased their metastatic capacity. This study indicated that the expression level of HSP27 may be inversely correlated with the metastasis behavior of ESCC, and HSP27 may play an important role in this progression. HSP27 may be a potential molecular target for the therapy and prognosis of patients with ESCC.

[Effects of esophageal cancer on the nerve fiber growth and guidance].

OBJECTIVE: To establish the co-culture model of cancer cells and nerve, and to study the influence of esophageal cancer on nerve fibers. METHODS: Mouse dorsal root ganglion (DRG) was cultured in sterile conditions by primary isolation. Co-culture model was established using matrigel matrix-embedded DRG and EC109 (esophageal cancer cell line) transfected with green fluorescent protein. Morphological changes of DRG, number and area of neurites were quantified with microscopy and image analysis. Furthermore, the mRNA expression of nerve growth factor(NGF) and brain derived neurotrophic factor(BDNF) was detected by real-time PCR. RESULTS: In mixture cultivation model of EC109 and DRG cells, directional outgrowth of neurite projecting to EC109 was observed, and the length of neurite was markedly longer in proximal field compared to distal field. The number and area of neurite were 87 and 346 µm(2) in proximal field respectively, and 23 and 141 µm(2) in distal field on the 7th day. The expressions of NGF and BDNF were up-regulated in esophageal cancer cells. CONCLUSIONS: The esophageal cancer may play an important role in nerve fiber growth and guidance, which may be associated with the up-regulation of NGF and BDNF expressions.