ObjectiveTo systematically review the effectiveness and safety of taxanes combined with cisplatin and fluorouracil (TFP) versus cisplatin and fluorouracil (FP) for locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. MethodsDatabases such as The Cochrane Library (Issue 1, 2013), PubMed, EMbase, Web of Science, CBM, CNKI, VIP and WanFang Data were electronically searched to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about taxanes combined with cisplatin and fluorouracil in the treatment of locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma from the date of their establishment to April 1st, 2013. Two reviewers independently screened studies according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracted data and evaluated the methodological quality of included studies. Then meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.2 software. ResultsA total of 7 RCTs involving 2 088 patients were included. The TFP group included 1 051 cases, while the FP group included 1 037 cases. The results of meta-analyses showed that, there were significant differences between the two groups in the 1-year, 2-year, and 3-year overall survival rates (RR=1.12, 95%CI 1.02 to 1.23, P=0.02; RR=1.20, 95%CI 1.11 to 1.29, P < 0.000 01; RR=1.18, 95%CI 1.07 to 1.31, P=0.000 7), the 1-year, 2-year, and 3 year of progressions free survival (RR=1.18, 95%CI 1.08 to 1.28, P=0.000 2; RR=1.20, 95%CI 1.06 to 1.36, P=0.003; RR=1.48, 95%CI 1.25 to 1.74, P < 0.000 01), the complete remission rate (RR=1.67, 95%CI 1.26 to 2.23, P=0.000 4), and the overall response to chemotherapy (RR=1.18, 95%CI 1.11 to 1.27, P < 0.000 01). As for the side effect, the FP group was superior to the TFP group in the neutropenia (RR=1.42, 95%CI 1.24 to 1.63, P < 0.000 01), alopecia (RR=16.09, 95%CI 4.59 to 56.38, P < 0.000 1), and febrile neutropenia (RR=2.21, 95%CI 1.29 to 3.80, P < 0.004). ConclusionThe fluorouracil with cisplatin and fluorouracil for advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma might have better effects, but with higher side effects.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the correlation between the expression of cytokeratin 19 (CK19) and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). MethodsPubMed, EMbase, CJFD, CBM, CNKI, VIP, WanFang Data and The Cochrane Library (Issue 1, 2015) were electronically searched from inception to January 1st 2015 to collect case-control studies about the correlation between CK19 expression and clinical pathogenic features in OSCC. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Then, meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software. ResultsA total of 11 studies were included, involving 612 OSCC cases and 564 normal controls. The results of meta-analysis showed that:The expression levels of CK19 were significantly different between the OSCC group and the control group, between OSCC groups with and without lymph node metastasis, between the high differentiation group and the middle/poor differentiation group, and between the clinical stage I group and the clinical stages Ⅱ to Ⅲ group (all P values≤0.05). However, there were no significant differences in expression levels of CK19 between the male OSCC group and the female OSCC group, and between the carcinoma size T1/T2 group and the T3/T4 group (all P values >0.05). ConclusionCurrent evidence shows that, CK19 expression may be associated with the occurrence, development and transfer of OSCC, and may be positively corrected with tumor malignance. It may be an indicator of poor prognosis and can be considered as a molecular marker of OSCC.
In this study, a closed-loop controller for chest compression which adjusts chest compression depth according to the coronary perfusion pressure (CPP) was proposed. An effective and personalized chest compression method for automatic mechanical compression devices was provided, and the traditional and uniform chest compression standard neglecting individual difference was improved. This study rebuilds Charles F. Babbs human circulation model with CPP simulation module and proposes a closed-loop controller based on a fuzzy control algorithm. The performance of the fuzzy controller was evaluated and compared to that of a traditional PID controller in computer simulation studies. The simulation results demonstrated that the fuzzy closed-loop controller produced shorter regulation time, fewer oscillations and smaller overshoot than those of the traditional PID controller and outperforms the traditional PID controller in CPP regulation and maintenance.
ObjectiveTo investigate the expressions of Patched-1 (Ptch1) and glioma-associated oncogene homologl (Gli1) protein of sonic hedgehog signaling pathway in cholangiocarcinoma tissues, and explore their correlations to the occurrence and development of cholangiocarcinoma. MethodsThe expressions of Ptch1 and Gli1 protein in 62 specimens of cholangiocarcinoma and its bile duct tissues adjacent to cancer were detected by immunohistochemistry, and their positive rate correlated with patients, age, tumor size, differentiation grade, tumor location, lymph node metastasis, TNM stage, operation mode, and postoperative survival time were investigated by statistical analysis. ResultsThe positive rates of Ptch1 and Gli1 protein were significantly higher in cholangiocarcinoma than in tissues adjacent to cancer (74.2% vs. 14.5%, 88.7% vs. 9.7%, P < 0.05). The expressions of Ptch1 and Gli1 protein in cholangiocarcinoma had no correlation to patients age, tumor size, and tumor location (P > 0.05), but were correlated to the operation mode, differentiation grade, lymph node metastasis, TNM stage, and postoperative survival time of patients (P < 0.05). ConclusionsThe elevated expressions of Ptch1 and Gli1 protein of Hh signaling pathway participated in the occurrence and development of cholangiocarcinoma. They may be ideal targets for therapy against cholangiocarcinoma.
ObjectiveTo establish a more accurately method to detect the residue of 1,4-butanediol diglycidyl-ether (BDDE) in the cross-linked sodium hyaluronic gel so as to provide a scientific testing method for the quality control. MethodsThe gas chromatography was used to explore the thermal stability of BDDE, and the residues of BDDE in sodium hyaluronic gel was detected by fluorescence spectrophotometry. The hyaluronidase was added to the BDDE standard solution and the improved fluorescence spectrophotometer was used to detect the BDDE residues in the cross-linked hyaluronic sodium gel. ResultsA good linearity was obtained as y=14.102x+1.103 (R2=0.999 8) for BDDE. BDDE was unstable under high temperature and long storage time. The relevant fluorescence intensity was detected with hyaluronidase solution. After adding hyaluronidase into the BDDE standard solutions, the advanced linearity was obtained as y=14.027x+7.062 (R2=0.999 9). ConclusionFluorescent spectrophotometry is a simple, rapid, and accurate method to analyze BDDE residue of cross-linked sodium hyaluronic gel. Due to the poor thermal stability, all the factors related to temperature must be excluded during the process, including the temperature control of every step. Furthermore, the adding of hyaluronidase in the pre-preparation of cross-linked sodium hyaluronic gel can bring interference. So when using fluorescent spectrophotometry, adjustment must be taken before the calibration curve is preparation.
Sleep stage scoring is a hotspot in the field of medicine and neuroscience. Visual inspection of sleep is laborious and the results may be subjective to different clinicians. Automatic sleep stage classification algorithm can be used to reduce the manual workload. However, there are still limitations when it encounters complicated and changeable clinical cases. The purpose of this paper is to develop an automatic sleep staging algorithm based on the characteristics of actual sleep data. In the proposed improved K-means clustering algorithm, points were selected as the initial centers by using a concept of density to avoid the randomness of the original K-means algorithm. Meanwhile, the cluster centers were updated according to the 'Three-Sigma Rule' during the iteration to abate the influence of the outliers. The proposed method was tested and analyzed on the overnight sleep data of the healthy persons and patients with sleep disorders after continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment. The automatic sleep stage classification results were compared with the visual inspection by qualified clinicians and the averaged accuracy reached 76%. With the analysis of morphological diversity of sleep data, it was proved that the proposed improved K-means algorithm was feasible and valid for clinical practice.
The present study is aimed to investigate the early clinical effects of nano-hydroxyapatite/polyamide 66 intervertebral fusion cage (n-HA/PA66 cage) for the treatment of lumbar degenerative diseases. We selected 27 patients with lumbar degenerative diseases who were managed by posterior decompression or reset operation combined with n-HA/PA66 cage intervertebral fusion and internal fixation from August 2010 to January 2012. The oswestry disability index (ODI), low back and leg pain visual analogue score (VAS), and intervertebral height (IH) were evaluated at preoperation, 1 week postoperation and the last follow-up period, respectively. Intervertebral bony fusion was evaluated at the last follow-up time. The patients were followed up for 12-24 months (averaged 19 months). The ODI, VAS and IH were significantly improved at 1 week postoperation and the last follow-up time compared with those at preoperative period (P<0.05). But there was no significant difference between 1 week postoperative and the last follow-up time (P<0.05). Brantigan's standard was used to evaluate fusion at the last follow-up time. There were 19 patients with grade 5 fusion, 8 with grade 4 fusion, with a fusion rate of 100%, and none with grade 1-3 fusions. There was no cage translocation and internal fixation breakage. These results suggested that n-HA/PA66 cage was an ideal biological material in the posterior lumbar interbody fusion and internal fixation operation for treatment of lumbar degenerative diseases. It can effectively maintain the intervertebral height and keep a high rate of bony fusion. The early clinical effect has been satisfactory.
The purpose of this study is to discuss the feasibility of establishing capsaicin pain model and the possibility to evaluate different degrees of pain by the heart rate variability (HRV). It also aims to investigate the changes of autonomic nervous activity of volunteers during the process of pain caused by capsaicin. A total of 30 volunteers were selected, who were physically and mentally healthy, into the study. To assess the effects of capsaicin on the healthy volunteers, we recorded the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) scores after the capsaicin stimulus. Additionally, the electrocardiogram signals and HRV analysis index before and after stimulating were also recorded, respectively. More specifically, the HRV analysis indexes included the time domain index, the frequency domain index, and the nonlinear analysis index. The results demonstrated that the activity of the autonomic nerves was enhanced in the process of capsaicin stimulus, especially for the sympathetic nerve, which exhibited a significantly differences in HRV. In conclusion, the degree of pain can be reflected by the HRV. It is feasible to establish a capsaicin pain model. And in further experiments, HRV analysis could be used as a reference index for quantitative evaluation of pain.
ObjectiveTo explore the relationship between the oxygen partial pressure of mice hindlimb muscles with normal blood supply or ischemia and expression of HIF-1αprotein, and to provide a theoretical basis for the study of angiogenesis in vitro hypoxia. MethodsMice hind limb ischemia model were established, tissue oxygen tension of gastrocnemius muscle and bone marrow were measured by micro electrode at different time points of ischemia (24 hours, 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, and unoperated as control). Protein level of hypoxia inducible factor-1αand histological examination were performed on gastrocnemius muscle as well. ResultsThe oxygen tension baselines of gastrocnemius muscle and femoral bone marrow was (47.78±4.37) mm Hg and (21±3.40) mm Hg, respectively. Muscle oxygen tension decreased significantly at all time points after modeling (P < 0.05), and reached lowest level in 1 week of ischemia. The inflammatory reaction was most serious and HIF-1αprotein reached highest level at the same time point. With the extension of ischemic time, the tissue oxygen tension recovered while HIF-1αlevel was down-regulated, however, There was no statistical correlation(r=-0.86, P > 0.05). Oxygen tension in bone marrow didn't show any significant change at all time points. ConclusionsThe expression level of HIF-1αprotein in ischemic tissue can reflect the degree of ischemic limb. The concept that physiological oxygen level differs in different tissue is highlighted, and may provide basis for ex vivo hypoxic research.
ObjectiveTo investigate the clinical results of locking-plate with an intramedullary fibular allograft for type C2 proximal humeral fracture fixation. MethodsBetween January 2011 and August 2012, 16 patients with proximal humeral fractures (AO type C2) were treated by locking-plate with an intramedullary fibular allograft. The clinical data were retrospectively analysed. There were 5 males and 11 females with an average age of 64 years (range, 55-70 years). The injury causes were falling injury in 12 cases, traffic accident injury in 3 cases, and sports injury in 1 case. The duration between injury and operation ranged from 2 to 6 days (mean, 4.5 days). The imaging data were used to judge the fracture healing, and to measure the neck-shaft angle and the height of humeral head; the disability of arm, shoulder, and hand (DASH) score, short-form 36 health survey scale (SF-36), and Neer score were used to evaluate the function of the shoulder after surgery. ResultsPrimary healing of incision was obtained in all patients; no complication of vascular and nerve injury occurred. Sixteen cases were followed up 12-24 months (mean, 18 months). All fractures healed at 18-24 weeks (mean, 20 weeks). No complication occurred as follows:re-displacement, necrosis, rejection reaction, and loosening or extraction of screws. At last follow-up, the neck-shaft angle was 126.6-136.9° (mean, 132.5°), showing a little lost when compared with intraoperative angle (130.5-138.0°, 134.0° on average). At 12 months after surgery, the height loss of humeral head was 1.8-4.6 mm (mean, 2.0 mm); the passive anteflexion of the shoulder was 130-160° (mean, 148°); the active anteflexion was 120-145° (mean, 136°); the external rotation was 30-65° (mean, 56°); the internal rotation was 15-25° (mean, 19°). And the DASH score was 2-53 (mean, 12); the SF-36 score was 50-95 (mean, 89). According to Neer score for shoulder function, the results were excellent in 10 cases, good in 4 cases, fair in 1 case, and poor in 1 case, with an excellent and good rate of 87.5%. ConclusionLocking-plate with an intramedullary fibular allograft for type C2 proximal humeral fracture fixation has satisfactory clinical results because of stable fixation, high clinical outcome scores, and low internal fixation failure.