[Accurate localization and successful treatment of 23 cases of migrating pharynx and cervical esophageal foreign bodies].

Objective: To explore clinical features, diagnosis, localization, and therapeutic strategy of migratory pharyngeal and cervical esophageal foreign bodies. Methods: A total 23 cases of pharyngeal and cervical esophageal migratory foreign bodies were admitted between January 2015 and December 2021. There were 14 females and 9 males with the age ranged from 35 to 82 (55.0±12.7)years. In all the cases, esophageal CT was taken to confirm the esophageal foreign body. Multiplanar reconstruction (MPR) was performed to locate the foreign body from the horizontal, coronal and sagittal dimensions as well as the corrected reconstructed MPR. According to the location of the foreign body, appropriate surgical method was selected.The symptoms, complications, types of foreign body, positioning, surgical methods, and relevant information were recorded.Data were analyzed using the descriptive method and SPSS 25.0 software. Results: The clinical symptoms of 23 migrating esophageal foreign bodies included pharyngodynia (20/23), foreign body sensation (6/23), hoarsenss (1/23), difficulty in turning neck(1/23), difficulty in opening mouth (1/23), fever (7/23), poor appetite (1/23), and abdominal pain (1/23). The foreign bodies included 19 fish bones, 2 wires, 1 embroidery needle and 1 chicken bone. There were 9 cases (39.1%) of foreign bodies located in extraluminal cervical esophagus, 2 cases (8.7%) of foreign bodies located in the muscular layer of the cervical esophagus and 12 cases (52.2%) of foreign bodies located in pharynx. Twenty-one cases of foreign bodies were removed by cervical lateral incision, in which 11 were removed by cervical lateral incision directly, 10 by the second lateral cervical incision after the foreign bodies were accurately located by MPR and/or corrected MPR, 1 foreign body was removed by incision of the pharyngeal mucosa under suspension laryngoscope, 1 foreign body was removed by tracheoscopy. Compared with patients with intraluminal foreign bodies (n=308) treated in the same period, intake of fishbone [19 (19/23) vs. 133 (82.6% (43.2%, 133/308), OR=7.31] and first visit was more than 24 hours [20(87.0%, 20/23) vs. 77(25.0%, 77/308),OR=17.2] were the significant risk factors of migratory esophageal foreign bodies. Conclusions: MPR and the corrected MPR can accurately locate the migrating pharyngeal and cervical esophageal foreign bodies, by providing more intuitive imaging evidence for doctors, which provide imaging basis for formulation of surgical programs. Foreign bodies in pharyngeal and cervical esophagus need to be treated as soon as possible, otherwise they are easy to migrate, leading lead to serious complications.

Up-regulation of long non-coding RNA SNHG6 predicts poor prognosis in renal cell carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE: We aim to investigate the expression of long non-coding RNA SNHG6 and analyze its clinicopathological significance in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 81 cases of RCC tissues were collected and enrolled. Total RNA was extracted using the TRIzol method followed by qRT-PCR detection of the mRNA level of SNHG6. The x2-test was used to analyze the correlation between SNHG6 expression and clinicopathological variables, including age, gender, TNM stage, Fuhrman grade, tumor size, and overall prognosis. Kaplan-Meier survival curve was plotted to analyze the association between SNHG6 expression and overall survival. Univariate and multivariate analysis were carried out with the Cox proportional hazard analysis. RESULTS: SNHG6 was shown to be markedly upregulated in RCC tissues as compared with normal controls. Elevated SNHG6 was found to significantly correlate with clinical stage, lymph node metastasis, Fuhrman grade, and tumor size (p<0.05). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis exhibited that elevated SNHG6 was remarkably associated with poor overall survival (p<0.001). Moreover, multivariate analysis revealed that SNHG6 expression was an independent prognostic factor in RCC. CONCLUSIONS: We showed that up-regulated SNHG6 was significantly associated with tumor progression and was an independent prognostic factor in RCC, suggesting that SNHG6 can work as a promising prognostic predictor in RCC.

Photon-conversion and sensitization evaluation of Eu³âº in a borate glass system.

Photon conversion is exhibited in a borate (LKZBSB) glass system containing Eu(3+), and the enhanced characteristic emissions of Eu(3+) with the codoping of Ce(3+) have been verified. A large Judd-Ofelt intensity parameter Ω2 of Eu(3+) indicates a high asymmetrical and strong covalent environment around rare-earth (RE) ions in LKZBSB glasses and spontaneous emission probability and a maximum emission cross section of the dominant 5D0→7F2 transition were derived to be 370 s(-1) and 1.28×10(-21) cm2, respectively, revealing the potential UV→visible photon-conversion capacity of Eu(3+). Absolutely quantitative evaluation illustrates that Eu(3+) is a favorable photon-conversion center to achieve high photon-conversion efficiency. The addition of Ce(3+) is beneficial to realizing effective red emission of Eu(3+), which possesses commercial value by decreasing the dopant of expensive europium compounds. As an expectation, this photon-conversion LKZBSB glass system can promote the development of a photon downconversion layer for solar cells, which are particularly used in outer space with intense UV radiation.

Sm3+-doped germanate glass channel waveguide as light source for minimally invasive photodynamic therapy surgery.

In Sm(3+)-doped K(+)-Na(+) ion-exchanged aluminum germanate (NMAG) glass channel waveguide, a clear and compact red amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) trace is observed under the excitation of a 488nm Ar(+) laser. 78% photons of ASE fluorescence in visible region are demonstrated to be located in 600-730nm wavelength range. High-directivity and high-brightness ASE fluorescence of Sm(3+)-doped NMAG glass channel waveguide, which matches the excitation band of most photosensitizers (PS) currently used in photodynamic therapy (PDT) or clinical trials, has promising potential application as an excitation light source for PDT treatment.

Hierarchically structured carbon-based composites: Design, synthesis and their application in electrochemical capacitors.

This feature article provides an overview of the recent research progress on the hierarchically structured carbon-based composites for electrochemical capacitors. The basic principles of electrochemical capacitors, and the design, construction and performance of hierarchically structured carbon-based composites electrode materials with good ions and electron transportation and large specific surface area are discussed. The trend of future development of high-power and large-energy electrochemical capacitors is proposed.

Uptake of toxic heavy metals by rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivated in the agricultural soil near Zhengzhou city, People's Republic of China.

Higher accumulation of toxic heavy metals in rice grown in agricultural soil may lead to health disorder. A field experiment was carried out to investigate uptake and translocation of Cd, Cr, Pb, As, and Hg by different parts of rice plant in various irrigation regions. The results showed the rice grain contained significantly lower amounts of five metals than straw and root in all sampling sites. Rice root accumulated Cd, As, and Hg from the paddy soil. Moreover, the rice plant transported As very weakly, whereas Hg was transported most easily into the straw and grain among studied heavy metals.

31P-NMR studies of metabolite compartmentation in Fasciola hepatica.

Fasciola hepatica, the common liver fluke, is an anaerobic parasitic worm. Possible compartmentation of metabolites between different cell types, metabolic compartments, and free and macromolecule-bound species was investigated using 31P-NMR. A spectrum of the intact worm shows unusual metabolic features, among which are large amounts of glycerolphosphorylcholine, phospholipids mobile on the NMR time-scale, and free cytosolic ADP. Spectra from cells as different as those in oral sucker tissue and eggs showed similar features. Acidosis after serotonin administration was associated with parallel changes in chemical shifts of intracellular Pi and glucose 6-phosphate, suggesting that they are in the same metabolic compartment. Although 13.4 +/- 1.1 mumol/g wet wt. (n = 3) Mg2+ is present in fluke tissue, a considerable fraction is sequestered out of the cytosol. The intracellular free [Mg2+] was independently estimated from the chemical shifts of ATP and ADP as 1.6 +/- 0.5 mM and 2.9 +/- 0.7 mM, respectively. Quantitation of observable phosphate-containing metabolites in whole tissue and in perchlorate extracts demonstrated that 60% of the total ADP and 50% of the total Pi are 'NMR-invisible' in the intact fluke and therefore probably bound to macromolecules in the cells. The apparent ATP/ADP X Pi free concentration ratio is much lower in this anaerobic tissue than in mammalian oxidative tissues.