Clinical efficacy of da Vinci Xi robotic surgical system assisted pylorus and vagus preser-ving partial gastrectomy for early gastric cancer / 中华消化外科杂志

Objective:To investigate the clinical efficacy of da Vinci Xi robotic surgical system assisted pylorus and vagus preserving partial gastrectomy (RaPPG) for early gastric cancer.Methods:The retrospective cohort study was conducted. The clinicopathological data of 40 patients with early gastric cancer who were admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University from December 2020 to November 2022 were collected. There were 26 males and 14 females, aged (64±8)years. Of the 40 patients, 19 patients undergoing da Vinci Xi RaPPG were divided into the robotic assisted group, and 21 patients undergoing laparoscopic assisted pylorus and vagus preserving partial gastrectomy (PPG) were divided into the laparoscopic control group. Observation indicators: (1) surgical situations; (2) postoperative complications; (3) follow-up. Measurement data with normal distribution were represented as Mean± SD, and comparison between groups was conducted using the independent t test. Measurement data with skewed distribution were represented as M( Q1, Q3) or M(range), and comparison between groups was conducted using the Mann-Whitney U test. Count data were described as absolute numbers, and comparison between groups was conducted using the chi-square test or Fisher exact probability. Comparison of ordinal data was conducted using the rank sum test. Results:(1) Surgical situations. All patients in the two groups underwent surgery successfully, without conversion to laparotomy. The operation time, volume of intraoperative blood loss, time to postoperative first flatus, time to postoperative first liquid food intake, time to post-operative drainage tube removal, duration of postoperative hospital stay, tumor diameter, distance from distal resection margin to tumor were (298±52)minutes, 10(10, 10)mL, 3.0(3.0, 3.0)days, 3.0(3.0,4.0)days, 6.0(6.0,8.0)days, 7.0(6.0,8.0)days, (2.3±0.7)cm, 3.0(2.0,3.0)cm in patients of the robotic assisted group, versus (236±37)minutes, 25(15,50)mL, 5.0(4.0,5.0)days, 6.0(5.5,7.0)days, 8.0(8.0,9.5)days, 8.0(7.5,9.5)days, (2.9±1.1)cm ,2.0(1.5,2.0)cm in patients of the laparoscopic control group, showing significant differences in the above indicators between the two groups ( t=4.41, Z=-3.38, -4.75, -4.38, -2.98, -2.58, t=-2.10, Z=-3.03, P<0.05). (2) Postoperative complications. Cases with postoperative complications, cases with delayed gastric emptying, cases with acid regurgita-tion, cases with atelectasis, cases with infection of incision, cases with hyperamylasemia, cases with uroschesis were 6, 1, 1, 0, 1, 3, 0 in patients of the robotic assisted group. The above indicators were 20, 4, 3, 2, 1, 9, 1 in patients of the laparoscopic control group. There was a significant difference in the postoperative complications between the two groups ( χ2=17.77, P<0.05). (3) Follow-up. Of the 40 patients, 34 patients were followed up. There were 16 patients in the robotic assisted group who were followed up for 9(range, 6-18)months, and there were 18 patients in the laparoscopic control group who were followed up for 16(range, 9-23)months. During the follow-up period, all patients had good anastomosis healing, pyloric contraction function, and gastric emptying function. Conclusions:da Vinci Xi RaPPG is safe and feasible for the treatment of early gastric cancer. Compared with laparoscopic assisted PPG, treatment of gastric cancer with da Vinci Xi RaPPG can significantly reduce the volume of intraoperative blood loss, shorten the time to postoperative first flatus, time to postoperative first liquid food intake, time to postoperative drainage tube removal, duration of postoperative hospital stay, benefit the distance from distal resection margin to tumor, and reduce the incidence of postoperative complications.

Analysis of HIV-1 genetic subtype and pretreatment drug resistance among men who have sex with men infected with HIV-1 from 19 cities of 6 provinces in China / 中华流行病学杂志

Objective: To investigate the distribution of HIV-1 genetic subtypes and pretreatment drug resistance (PDR) among men who have sex with men (MSM) from 19 cities of 6 provinces in China. Methods: From April to November 2019, 574 plasma samples of ART-naive HIV-1 infected MSM were collected from 19 cities in Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong provinces, total ribonucleic acid (RNA) was extracted and amplified the HIV-1 pol gene region by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) after reverse transcription. Then sequences were used to construct a phylogenetic tree to determine genetic subtypes and submitted to the Stanford drug resistance database for drug resistance analysis. Results: A total of 479 samples were successfully amplified by PCR. The HIV-1 genetic subtypes included CRF01_AE, CRF07_BC, B, CRF55_01B, CRF59_01B, CRF65_cpx, CRF103_01B, CRF67_01B, CRF68_01B and unrecognized subtype, which accounted for 43.4%, 36.3%, 6.3%, 5.9%, 0.8%, 0.8%, 0.4%, 0.4%, 0.2% and 5.5%, respectively. The distribution of genetic subtypes among provinces is statistically different (χ2=44.141, P<0.001). The overall PDR rate was 4.6% (22/479), the drug resistance rate of non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, and protease inhibitors were 3.5% (17/479), 0.8% (4/479) and 0.2% (1/479), respectively. The PDR rate of recent infections was significantly higher than that of long-term infections (χ2=4.634, P=0.031). Conclusions: The HIV-1 genetic subtypes among MSM infected with HIV-1 from 19 cities of 6 provinces in China are diverse, and the distribution of subtypes is different among provinces. The overall PDR rate is low, while the PDR rate of recent infections was significantly higher than that of long-term infections, suggesting the surveillance of PDR in recent infections should be strengthened.

Da Vinci robot-assisted pylorus and vagus nerve-preserving partial gastrectomy for gastric cancer / 中华胃肠外科杂志

Objective: To investigate the safety and feasibility of Da Vinci robot-assisted pylorus and vagus nerve-preserving partial gastrectomy for gastric cancer. Methods: In this study, descriptive case series method was used to retrospectively analyze the data of 3 patients with gastric cancer who underwent Da Vinci robot-assisted pylorus and vagus nerve-preserving partial gastrectomy in the First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University from December 2020 to February 2021. The linear layout was adopted for the setting of trocar, and the co-axial direction was the line connecting the umbilicus and splenic hilum. The inferior pyloric arteries and veins need to be preserved. The center was the bifurcation of the right gastroepiploic vessel and the inferior pyloric vessel. Dissection and exposure were performed from the upper, lower, right and left sides, and ventral and dorsal sides to complete the dissection of the inferior pyloric lymph nodes. The superior border of the pancreas was treated by the right diaphragmatic crus approach, the left retroperitoneal approach and the esophageal approach to determine the distribution of the posterior vagal trunk and its branches, and to determine the anatomical relationship with the left gastric artery. The left gastric artery was cut off while the celiac branch of vagus nerve and cardia branch of left gastric artery were preserved. Lymph node dissection was performed on the lateral side of nerve fibers around the blood vessels. Result: All the 3 patients successfully completed the robotic surgery without conversion to laparoscopy or laparotomy. The operation time was (340.0±26.4) (300-390) minutes, the intraoperative blood loss was (13.3±3.3) (10-20) ml, the number of dissected lymph nodes was 26.7±3.9 (19-32), the length of pylorus canal preserved was (3.3±0.3) (3-4) cm, the distal margin was (2.3±0.3) (2-3) cm, and the proximal margin was (3.0±0.6) (2-4) cm. No postoperative complications occurred in all the 3 patients. The first flatus time was 2-3 days after operation, and the postoperative hospital stay was 6-7 days. The operation cost of the 3 patients was (40±7) (33-53) thousand yuan. Conclusion: Da Vinci robot-assisted pylorus and vagus nerve-preserving partial gastrectomy is safe and feasible.

Research on entity relationship extraction of Chinese medical literature and application in diabetes medical literature / 生物医学工程学杂志

The medical literature contains a wealth of valuable medical knowledge. At present, the research on extraction of entity relationship in medical literature has made great progress, but with the exponential increase in the number of medical literature, the annotation of medical text has become a big problem. In order to solve the problem of manual annotation time such as consuming and heavy workload, a remote monitoring annotation method is proposed, but this method will introduce a lot of noise. In this paper, a novel neural network structure based on convolutional neural network is proposed, which can solve a large number of noise problems. The model can use the multi-window convolutional neural network to automatically extract sentence features. After the sentence vectors are obtained, the sentences that are effective to the real relationship are selected through the attention mechanism. In particular, an entity type (ET) embedding method is proposed for relationship classification by adding entity type characteristics. The attention mechanism at sentence level is proposed for relation extraction in allusion to the unavoidable labeling errors in training texts. We conducted an experiment using 968 medical references on diabetes, and the results showed that compared with the baseline model, the present model achieved good results in the medical literature, and F1-score reached 93.15%. Finally, the extracted 11 types of relationships were stored as triples, and these triples were used to create a medical map of complex relationships with 33 347 nodes and 43 686 relationship edges. Experimental results show that the algorithm used in this paper is superior to the optimal reference system for relationship extraction.

Iodine-125 radioactive particles antagonize hyperprogressive disease following immunotherapy: A case report.

RATIONALE: Increasing evidence has shown that immune checkpoint inhibitors are associated with hyperprogressive disease (HPD). HPD usually resulted in dramatically reduced survival duration, which limited the opportunity to administer other therapies. PATIENT CONCERNS: A heavily pretreated lung adenocarcinoma patient experienced rapid progression of rib metastasis soon after immune checkpoint inhibitor -based combination therapy. DIAGNOSES: On the basis of radiographic and pathological findings, the patient was diagnosed with HPD. INTERVENTIONS: We treated the patient with iodine-125 radioactive particle implantation to the metastatic lesions in the chest wall. OUTCOMES: The metastatic lesions shrank significantly 1 month later. LESSONS: Early detection and adequate treatment are essential for prolonged survival when HPD occurs.

Esophago-tracheobronchial fistula following treatment of anlotinib in advanced squamous cell lung cancer: Two case reports.

RATIONALE: Anlotinib, a novel orally administered multitargeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor, inhibiting tumor angiogenesis and growth, significantly prolonged overall survival, and progression-free survival with a manageable safety profile as a third-line therapy among refractory advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients in ALTER 0303 trail (NCT02388919). PATIENT CONCERNS: Two squamous cell lung cancer patients with mediastinal metastasis undergoing the treatment of anlotinib developed clinical symptom of cough, which was worse upon ingestion. DIAGNOSES: On the basis of patients' clinical symptoms and radiographic findings, they were diagnosed with acquired esophago-tracheobronchial fistula. INTERVENTIONS: We treated them with fully covered self-expandable metallic stents. OUTCOMES: The clinical symptom of cough was immediately relieved after palliative treatment. Both patients elected to discontinue anlotinib treatment. LESSONS: These 2 cases imply that a close follow-up schedule for esophago-tracheobronchial fistula should be established when squamous cell lung cancer patients with mediastinal metastasis are undergoing anlotinib therapy. Early detection and adequate treatment are essential for patient symptom relief and survival.

Beneficial effect of cod-derived polypeptides (CDPs) on wound healing in a rat model of skin incisions / 中华医学美学美容杂志

Objective To investigate the wound-healing process in a rat model of skin full-thickness incisions and to detect related possible mechanism.Methods Twenty-four female rats were selected and the dorsal skin of rats was used as the experimental area.A cutaneous excision (6 mm diameter) was made on the back of each animal,close to the cervical area.The dorsal skin of every rat was allocated to three groups which were treated with physiological saline,human recombinant epidermal growth factor (rhEGF),and CDPs,respectively.After making a rat model of skin incisions,we observed the wound healing process,took photos of the wounds under a digital microscope,and use sulfuric graph paper to record the size of every wound.At the 3rd,6th,9th,12th day after modeling,6 rats were killed,and mRNA expression of K10,K14,and EGF was detected in the skin tissues using a RT-PCR technique.Results At the 6th and 12th day after modeling,there were significant differences between the experimental group and the blank control group (P＜0.05).The gene expression of EGF,K-14 in the third day and that of EGF,K-10 and K-14 in the 6th and 12th day were upregulated compared with control group,and there were significant differences between them (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions CDPs have a beneficial effect on the acceleration of skin wound healing,possibly due to increasing keratinocyte proliferation and up-regulating the expression of K10,K14 and EGF genes.

Clinical efficacy of surgical treatment for stage Ⅳ gastric cancer after conversion therapy / 中华消化外科杂志

Objective To investigate the clinical efficacy of surgical treatment for stage Ⅳ gastric cancer after conversion therapy.Methods The retrospective cohort study was conducted.The clinicopathological data of 50 stage Ⅳ gastric cancer patients who were admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University between January 2012 and June 2016 were collected.All the 50 patients who were diagnosed with single distal metastasis underwent chemotherapy.After chemotherapy,21 patients with operation indication receiving gastrectomy (R0 or R1 resection) were allocated into the conversion surgery group and 29 without operation indication continuing to chemotherapy were allocated into the chenotherapy group.Patients received S-1 + oxaliplatin or S-1 + docetaxel regimen.Patients underwent open distal or total gastrectomy.Observation indicators:(1) response assessment of chemotherapy (complete remission,partial remission,stable disease and progressive disease),grading of of adverse reactions;(2) intra-and post-operative situations of conversion surgery group:operation procedures,intraoperative situations (operation time,volume of blood loss,number of lymph node dissected and surgical margin) and postoperative situations (complications and duration of hospital stay);(3)comparison of follow-up and survival between the 2 groups;(4) prognostic factors analysis affecting stage Ⅳ gastric cancer patients.Follow-up using outpatient examination,correspondence and telephone interview was performed to detect postoperative survival of patients up to September 2016.Survival time was from operation to the last follow-up or death.Measurement data with normal distribution were represented as x±s.Comparison of count data and univariate analysis were done using the chi-square test.Ordinal data were analyzed by the nonparametric test.The survival rate was calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method,and the Log-rank test was used for survival analysis.Multivariate analysis was done using the COX regression model.Results (1) Response assessment of chemotherapy:of 50 patients,24 received S-1 + oxaliplatin regimen and 26 received S-1 + docetaxel regimen.Twenty-one patients in the conversion surgery group underwent chemotherapy,with negative peritoneal metastasis,N2 and below of lymph node metastasis (No.16 lymph node disappeared or reduced),invasive depth ＜T4b and narrowing or disappeared hepatic metastasis.A median preoperative chemotherapy cycle was 4.2 cycles (range,2.0-9.0 cycles).Chemotherapy reaction of 21 patients:15 had partial remission and 6 had stable disease.Twenty-nine patients without operation indication in the chemotherapy group didn't receive surgery.The median cycle of first-line chemotherapy was 5.5 cycles (range,2.0-10.0 cycles).Chemotherapy reaction of 29 patients:13 had partial remission,11 had stable disease and 5 patient had progressive disease.Chemotherapy adverse reactions of 50 patients:26 had reduced white blood cells (WBCs),including 6 with grade Ⅲ-Ⅳ of adverse reactions;29 had reduced neutrophils,including 12 with grade Ⅲ-Ⅳ of adverse reactions;18 had anemia,including 6 with grade Ⅲ-Ⅳ of adverse reactions;12 had reduced platelets,including 2 with grade Ⅲ-Ⅳ of adverse reactions;27 had apositia,including 5 with grade Ⅲ-Ⅳ of adverse reactions;7 had stomatitis;9 had diarrhea;3 had elevated serum creatinin;4 had hand-foot syndrome;3 had abnormal sensory nerve.There was no chemotherapy-related death.(2) Intra-and post-operative situations of conversion surgery group:of 21 patients in the conversion surgery group,8 underwent radical total gastrectomy + D3 lymph node dissection,6 underwent radical distal gastrectomy + D3 lymph node dissection and 7 underwent radical distal gastrectomy + D2 lymph node dissection (including 4 combined with resection of hepatic metastatic tumors and 1 combined with radiofrequency ablation of hepatic metastatic tumor).Operation time,volume of blood loss,number of lymph node dissected and recovery time of gastrointestinal function of 21 patients were (216±31)minutes,(128±52)mL,31±8 and (3.0± 0.7)days,respectively.There were 17 patients receiving R0 resection and 4 receiving R1 resection (3 with positive gastric margin and 1 with positive hepatic margin).There was no death.Seven of 21 patients with complications were cured by conservative treatment,including 2 with pancreatic fistula,1 with intra-abdominal hemorrhage,1 with intestinal obstruction,1 with pneumonia,1 with intra-abdominal infection and 1 with wound infection.Duration of hospital stay of 21 patients was (13.0±3.0) days.(3) Comparison of follow-up and survival between the 2 groups:50 patients were followed up for 6-46 months,with a median time of 24 months.The 3-year cumulative survival rates in the conversion surgery and chemotherapy groups were respectively 33.3％ and 6.9％,with a statistically significant difference between the 2 groups (x2 =7.678,P＜0.05).Results of further analysis showed that R0 resection of 17 patients and R1 resection of 4 patients in the conversion surgery group were respecgtively (25.3±2.8)months and (8.3±0.9)months,with a statistically significant difference between the 2 groups (X2=16.242,P＜0.05).(4) Prognostic factors analysis affecting stage Ⅳ gastric cancer patients:results of univariate analysis showed that T stage,N stage,response assessment of chemotherapy,surgery after chemotherapy and degree of tumor radical resection were related factors affecting prognosis of stage Ⅳ gastric cancer patients (X2 =5.288,12.645,25.581,8.372,12.001,P＜0.05).Results of multivariate analysis showed that R1 resection after conversion therapy was an independent risk factor affecting prognosis of stage Ⅳ gastric cancer patients (HR=14.021,95％ confidence interval:1.928-10.938,P＜0.05).Conclusion Radical resection after conversion therapy can increase survival rate of stage Ⅳ gastric cancer patients,and R1 resection after conversion therapy is an independent risk factor affecting poor prognosis of stage Ⅳ gastric cancer patients.

Strategies of diagnosis and treatment for peritoneal metastasis of gastric cancer / 中华胃肠外科杂志

Peritoneal metastasis of gastric cancer is the main cause of death in gastric cancer patients. Peritoneal metastasis of gastric cancer is difficult to diagnose in its early stage due to lack of obvious clinical signs and symptoms, and poor treatment outcomes and prognosis are often associated with late stage peritoneal metastasis. Therefore, it is crucial to utilize effective early diagnostic tools and to improve the long-term outcomes and the prognosis of patients with advanced gastric cancer. Recently, systemic chemotherapy and intraperitoneal chemotherapy are the first line therapy, and cytoreductive operation plus abdominal cavity thermochemotherapy may be the best method in the treatment of peritoneal metastasis. However, conversion therapy has been gradually incorporated into the treatment of peritoneal metastasis of gastric cancer because of the better efficacy and the higher survival.

Risk patterns of subsequent primary cancers following esophagectomy in early-stage thoracic esophageal squamous cell cancer patients.

AIMS AND BACKGROUND: Subsequent primary cancers (SPCs) have been demonstrated to be the major causes of death among patients with thoracic esophageal squamous cell cancer (ESCC) negative for lymph node involvement. We designed this study to investigate clinical characteristics and risk patterns of SPCs following esophagectomy in patients with early-stage thoracic ESCC. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed clinical factors in 512 patients with early-stage thoracic ESCC collected from 3 independent hospitals over a 10-year interval. RESULTS: The overall standard incidence rate (SIR) of SPCs was 3.84 (95% confidence interval 2.98-4.95). The most common SPCs were head and neck cancers, lung cancer, and stomach cancer. The risk patterns of SPCs varied across organs. A 3-phase risk pattern with a U-shaped curve between 2 rising phases was seen for head and neck cancers, while for the other cancers, the risk patterns all displayed as an approximately linear upward trend. It was further noted that sex, smoking habits, and cancer histories among first-degree relatives were 3 significant independent risk factors in the development of SPCs. CONCLUSIONS: We observed significant associations between early-stage ESCC and SPCs arising from anatomically adjacent sites. The different risk patterns of SPCs indicated that follow-up strategies should be established accordingly in different organs at different times, with particularly close follow-up for head and neck cancers in the first 5 years and beyond 15 years after diagnosis of ESCC.

Roles of atypical chemokine receptors in progression and metastasis of tumor / 中国病理生理杂志

[ ABSTRACT] Chemokines and their receptors have been implicated mostly in tumor progression and metastasis. Atypical chemokine receptors ( ACKRs) comprise a group of 7-transmembrane domain proteins structurally similar to G pro-tein-coupled receptors.However, ACKRs do not induce classical signaling via the typical G protein-mediated pathways. ACKRs efficiently internalize the cognate chemokine ligands and act as scavengers instead.ACJRs are composed of at least 3 members of chemokine receptors: Duffy antigen receptor for chemokines ( DARC, also known as ACKR1 ) , D6 ( also known as ACKR2) and ChemoCentryx chemokine receptor (CCX-CKR, also known as ACKR4).These receptors bind to and/or internalize their chemoattractant ligands without activating signal transduction cascades leading to cell migration.In this review, we summarize the recent progress regarding the roles of ACKRs in the progression and metastasis of tumor.

Risk of dementia after anaesthesia and surgery.

BACKGROUND: The potential relationship between anaesthesia, surgery and onset of dementia remains elusive. AIMS: To determine whether the risk of dementia increases after surgery with anaesthesia, and to evaluate possible associations among age, mode of anaesthesia, type of surgery and risk of dementia. METHOD: The study cohort comprised patients aged 50 years and older who were anaesthetised for the first time since 1995 between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2007, and a control group of randomly selected patients matched for age and gender. Patients were followed until 31 December 2010 to identify the emergence of dementia. RESULTS: Relative to the control group, patients who underwent anaesthesia and surgery exhibited an increased risk of dementia (hazard ratio = 1.99) and a reduced mean interval to dementia diagnosis. The risk of dementia increased in patients who received intravenous or intramuscular anaesthesia, regional anaesthesia and general anaesthesia. CONCLUSIONS: The results of our nationwide, population-based study suggest that patients who undergo anaesthesia and surgery may be at increased risk of dementia.

[Molecular investigation of a possible case of HIV transmission after a blood transfusion].

OBJECTIVE: A molecular technique based on quasispecies analysis for tracing postexposure HIV transmission was applied in an investigation of a possible case of HIV transmission after blood transfusion. METHODS: Sixteen plasma specimens were collected from 3 HIV infections (T1-T3) involved in a possible HIV transmission chain and 13 HIV/AIDS (C1-C13) controls. The RNAs were extracted and then amplified by RT-PCR, the PCR products were cloned and sequenced.BioEdit 6.0.7 and MEGA 4.0 software were used to analyze gene sequences, calculate gene dispersion ratio and construct phylogenetic tree. RESULTS: The sequences of 13 specimens were successfully obtained.The HIV strains from T1, T2 and T3 were CRF07_BC recombinants, those from 5 out of the 6 controls lived in the same city with T2 and T3 were CRF07_BC recombinants as well, while those from 4 controls living in the same city with T1 were CRF01_AE recombinants. Compared with the clone sequences from T1, the mean gene dispersion ratio of T2 was the least (2.0%), followed by C12 (2.8%) , T3 (2.9%) and others. The phylogenetic tree showed that all clones from T1, T2, T3 and C12 might cluster together,and implied that the direction of HIV transmission was from T3 to T2, and then to T1. CONCLUSION: The results support the possible epidemiological clue that HIV was transmitted from T3 to T2, and then to T1, indicating that molecular epidemiological investigation could provide more direct evidence for tracing postexposure HIV transmission.

Clinical analysis of 29 cases with neuroendocrine neoplasm in the digestive system / 中华胃肠外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the diagnosis and treatment of neuroendocrine neoplasm (NEN) in the digestive system.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Clinical data of 29 patients with NEN from January 2000 to December 2012 in The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University were analyzed retrospectively and the prognosis was evaluated according to the new WHO classification.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There were 19 males and 10 females and the average age was 46.5 years. All the patients had no clinical manifestations of carcinoid syndrome, and they all received surgical treatment. Two cases were gastric neuroendocrine carcinoma(NEC), who received radical total gastrectomy and distal gastric resection respectively. Three cases had neoplasm in the duodenum, including 2 NEC and 1 neuroendocrine tumor(NET), and they all underwent Whipple's procedure. Two cases were small intestine NEC, who received partial small intestine resection. Three cases had neoplasm in the appendix, including 1 NEC treated with right hemicolectomy and 2 NET with appendectomy. One case was ascending colon NEC, who received right hemicolectomy. Eighteen cases had neoplasm in the rectum, including 4 NEC treated with low anterior resection and abdominoperineal resection respectively, and 14 cases of NET underwent low anterior resection, local resection, and endoscopic resection respectively. The 1- and 3- year survival rates of 13 NEC cases were 38.4% and 7.7% respectively. The 5-year survival rate of 16 NET cases was 81.3%.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>NEN of digestive system is located mainly in the rectum and the clinical symptom is unspecific. Radical resection of NEN is the preferred treatment. The prognosis of NEC is poor, and that of NET is better.</p>

Molecular investigation of a possible case of HIV transmission after a blood transfusion / 中华预防医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>A molecular technique based on quasispecies analysis for tracing postexposure HIV transmission was applied in an investigation of a possible case of HIV transmission after blood transfusion.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Sixteen plasma specimens were collected from 3 HIV infections (T1-T3) involved in a possible HIV transmission chain and 13 HIV/AIDS (C1-C13) controls. The RNAs were extracted and then amplified by RT-PCR, the PCR products were cloned and sequenced.BioEdit 6.0.7 and MEGA 4.0 software were used to analyze gene sequences, calculate gene dispersion ratio and construct phylogenetic tree.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The sequences of 13 specimens were successfully obtained.The HIV strains from T1, T2 and T3 were CRF07_BC recombinants, those from 5 out of the 6 controls lived in the same city with T2 and T3 were CRF07_BC recombinants as well, while those from 4 controls living in the same city with T1 were CRF01_AE recombinants. Compared with the clone sequences from T1, the mean gene dispersion ratio of T2 was the least (2.0%), followed by C12 (2.8%) , T3 (2.9%) and others. The phylogenetic tree showed that all clones from T1, T2, T3 and C12 might cluster together,and implied that the direction of HIV transmission was from T3 to T2, and then to T1.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The results support the possible epidemiological clue that HIV was transmitted from T3 to T2, and then to T1, indicating that molecular epidemiological investigation could provide more direct evidence for tracing postexposure HIV transmission.</p>

Risk of dementia in patients with insomnia and long-term use of hypnotics: a population-based retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Hypnotics have been reported to be associated with dementia. However, the relationship between insomnia, hypnotics and dementia is still controversial. We sought to examine the risk of dementia in patients with long-term insomnia and the contribution of hypnotics. METHODS: Data was collected from Taiwan's Longitudinal Health Insurance Database. The study cohort comprised all patients aged 50 years or older with a first diagnosis of insomnia from 2002 to 2007. The comparison cohort consisted of randomly selected patients matched by age and gender. Each patient was individually tracked for 3 years from their insomnia index date to identify whether the patient had a first diagnosis of dementia. Cox regression was used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS: We identified 5693 subjects with long-term insomnia and 28,465 individuals without. After adjusting for hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, and stroke, those with long-term insomnia had significantly higher risks of dementia (HR, 2.34; 95% CI, 1.92-2.85). Patients with long-term insomnia and aged 50 to 65 years had a higher increased risk of dementia (HR, 5.22; 95% CI, 2.62-10.41) than those older than 65 years (HR, 2.33; 95% CI, 1.90-2.88). The use of hypnotics with a longer half-life and at a higher prescribed dose predicted a greater increased risk of dementia. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with long-term use of hypnotics have more than a 2-fold increased risk of dementia, especially those aged 50 to 65 years. In addition, the dosage and half-lives of the hypnotics used should be considered, because greater exposure to these medications leads to a higher risk of developing dementia.

[Comparison of three HIV antibody confirmatory assay kits in confirming early HIV infection].

OBJECTIVE: This study was to compare the performance of three HIV antibody confirmatory assay kits in confirming early HIV infection. METHODS: Five HIV antibody-positive plasma specimens were ten-fold serially diluted and then detected by ELISA. The above diluted specimens were detected with the following three HIV antibody confirmatory assay kits to analyze their sensitivity, including Wantai-RIBA (Recombinant immunoblot assay, Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy, China), MP-WB (HIV Blot 2.2 WB, MP Biomedicals Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Singapore) and INNO-LIA (INNO-LIA(TM) HIV I/II Score, Innogenetics N.V., Belgium), respectively. These kits were further used to detect 48 ELISA-reactive specimens from 11 sets of HIV seroconversion specimens (a total of 48 samples) which were previously detected as HIV antibody-positive by ELISA. RESULTS: When 5 samples were diluted to 100 fold, Wantai-RIBA still can detect them positive. Among the 48 HIV antibody-positive specimens detected with ELISA, the confirmation positive rate for Wantai-RIBA, MP-WB and INNO-LIA were 97.92% (47/48), 81.25% (39/48) and 91.67% (44/48), respectively. There was statistically significant difference between the confirmatory results of Wantai-RIBA and MP-WB (χ(2) = 6.13, P < 0.05), as well as between those of INNO-LIA and MP-WB (χ(2) = 5.48, P < 0.05); however, there was no statistically significant difference between those of Wantai-RIBA and INNO-LIA (χ(2) = 1.33, P > 0.05). For other six HIV seroconversion panels containing indeterminate specimens, the average seroconversion period of time for Wantai-RIBA, MP-WB and INNO-LIA were 0.7, 13.3 and 3.7 days, respectively. CONCLUSION: Compared with MP-WB, Wantai-RIBA and INNO-LIA could reduce the window period to confirm early HIV infection.

Clinical applications of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography in carcinoma of unknown primary.

BACKGROUND: Carcinoma of unknown primary (CUP) encompasses a heterogeneous group of tumors with varying clinical features. The management of patients of CUP remains a clinical challenge. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical applications of integrated (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG PET/CT) information in patients with CUP, including detecting the occult primary tumor and effecting on disease therapy. METHODS: One hundred and forty-nine patients with histologically-proven metastases of CUP were included. For all patients, the conventional diagnostic work-up was unsuccessful in localizing the primary site. Whole-body PET/CT images were obtained approximately 60 minutes after intravenous injection of 350 - 425 MBq of (18)F-FDG. RESULTS: In 24.8% of patients, FDG PET/CT detected primary tumors that were not apparent after conventional workup. In this group of patients, the overall sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy rates of FDG PET/CT in detecting unknown primary tumors were 86.0%, 87.7%, and 87.2%, respectively. FDG PET/CT imaging also led to the detection of previously unrecognized metastases in 29.5% of patients. Forty-seven (31.5%, 47 of 149) patients underwent a change in therapeutic management. CONCLUSIONS: FDG PET/CT is a valuable tool in patients with CUP, because it assisted in detecting unknown primary tumors and previously unrecognized distant metastases, and optimized the management of these patients.