ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the association of bacterial translocation (BT) with cachexia in colonic cancer patients.Methods From September 2015 to May 2017 the clinical data of 292 colon cancer patients were studied at Qingdao Municipal Hospital.The bacteria in peripheral blood and mesenteric lymph nodes were detected by bacterial culture,and the bacterial DNA in peripheral blood was detected by PCR technique to determine the occurrence of bacterial translocation.Intestinal epithelial T-cell subsets and NK cells were evaluated using flow cytometry.Western blot and immunofluorescence were used to check tight junction proteins Occludin,Claudins-2,Zonula occluden-2 in intestinal epithelium.Fluorescence in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry were used to detect the translocated bacteria and endotoxin.Results Compared with noncachectic patients,cachectic patients had a significandy higher BT ratio (27.8％ vs.7.2％,x2 =20.871,P ＜ 0.001).BT in the intestinal mucus layer was associated with lower levels of T-cell subsets and NK cells in the intestinal epithelium in BT(+) patients (CD3 + T:36.69％ ±5.87％ vs.41.63％ ±5.03％,CD4+T:44.08％ ±5.12％ vs.49.58％ ±7.01％,CD8+T:65.68％ ±5.51％ vs.61.43％ ± 5.58％,CD4+ T/CD8+ T:0.71％ ± 0.21％ vs.0.91％ ±0.23％,NK:27.86％ ± 3.93％ vs.34.69％ ± 4.52％,all P ＜ 0.01).Endotoxin was detected within the small intestinal wall in BT(+) patients and claudin-2 expression increased (0.63 ± 0.13 vs.0.21-± 0.06,t =-2.936,P ＜ 0.01),whereas Occludin and Zonula occluden-2 expressions decreased (0.37 ± 0.13 vs.0.84±0.17,0.16±0.07 vs.0.58±0.19,t=2.151,2.111,bothP＜0.05).Conclusions BTmay contribute to the development of colon cancer cacheria,and tight junction could be the gateway of BT.
ABSTRACT
Objective To describe the pathological unit and octagonal en bloc resection for the treatment of ossification ligamentum flavum(OLF)in thoracic spine with spondylotic myelopathy.Methods Ninety-five patients from January 2002 to January 2007 were diagnosed as thoracic OLF,61 males and 34 females with an average age of 53.9 years(range,31-78 years).There were upper thoracic spine OLF in 32 cases,middle thoracic spine OLF in 24 cases and lower thoracic spine OLF in 39 cases.Single-segment OLF was found in 53 cases,double segments OLF was found in 38 cases and three segments OLF was found in 4 cases.CT scan multiplanar co-localized reconstruction was employed to detect the structure of spine with OLF.The Japanese Orthopaedic Association(JOA)lower limb motor function score,sphincter function score and motor function improvement rate were used to evaluate the outcomes.Results CT scan was engaged to observe 141 OLF pathological unite.The OLF pathology unit was defined as all the spine structures between the extension lines of the lower margin of the OLF two adjacent pedicles.Each OLF associates with an OLF pathology unit.The mean follow up duration was 38.3 months(range,24-60 months).Among 86 patients with sensations disturbance before operation,67 totally recovered and 19 relieved after operation.Trunk restrictions in 69 cases before operation were completely recovered after operation.Postoperative JOA sphincter function score was 2.651±0.334,comparing with preoperation score(2.262±0.561),and the difference was statistically significant.Postoperative JOA motor function score was 3.694±0.429,which was significantly increased than preoperative score 1.539±0.873,and motor function recovery rate was 87.57%.There was excellent in 71 cases,good in 17 cases and fair in 5 cases.The excellent and good rate was 94.74%.Conclusion The octagonal en block resection is relative safe for treatment thoracic OLF with myelopathy.Pathological unit of OLF in thoracic spine is more accurate to summarize the pathological contents and features of the OLF and its adjacent structure.
ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the feasibility of reduced radiation dose for CT pulmonary angiography (CTPA) and the possible lowest radiation threshold by a phantom study.Methods The CT value difference between air within the trachea and the extracorporeal background region was measured in132 consecutive patients.A noise-measurement phantom and a pulmonary embolism (PE) phantom were made of phenol-formaldehyde, and both phantoms and a water phantom were scanned with standard and lower radiation doses as follow: 280, 200, 160, 100, 90, 80, 70, 60, 50, 40, 30, 20, 15, and 10 mA respectively, at a fixed voltage of 120 kVp.Standard and soft tissue algorithms were used to reconstruct the images.Three experienced doctors independendy evaluate the image quality and the efficiency of detecting PE of the images with various doses.The Pearson correlation analysis, two-tailed paired t test, ANOVA, and Kappa test were employed for the statistical analysis.Results The CT value difference between air within the trachea and the extracorpereal background region in 132 consecutive patients ranged from 20.00 to 55.00 HU, which had a positive correlation with weight[(64.99±11.86) kg], weight-height ratio [(38.71±6.13) kg/m], and BMI[(23.11±3.38) kg/m2](r=0.228,0.374,0.449 respectively; P <0.01).The image noise level with soft-tissue reconstruction algorithm[(16.55±9.08), (16.42±9.40) HU]was significantly lower than that of the image with standard reconstruction algorithm[(22.43±11.25),(21.99±11.67) HU](F=4.316, P < 0.05).The image noise level with soft-tissue reconstruction algorithm at 100 mA was similar to that of the images with standard reconstruction algorithm at 280 mA, and the signal-w-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) of the image of PE phantom was 23.05 and 20.52 respectively, without any impairment in detectability of embolus.The image noise level with soft-tissue reconstruction algorithm at 60 mA was similar to that of the image with standard reconstruction algorithm at 160 mA, while the SNR and CNR was 18.01 and 15.97 respectively, also with acceptable detectability of embolus.When the tube current was reduced below 30 mA, the image quality decreased significantly, with the SNR and CNR was lower than 12.36 and 10.95 respectively, and the detectability of embolus was degraded.The consistency of the image quality grading by 3 observers was excellent(K=0.807,0.712,0.904 ,respectively; P < 0.01).Conclusions The 100 mA may potentially be the ideal low dose tube current setting, with radiation dose only equal to 36% of 280 mA (standard dose).The 30 mA may possibly be a minimum radiation dose for detecting PE.The soft-tiasue reconstruction algorithm was favorable in preserving the SNR when the radiation dose was reduced.