Investigation on blood lead level of workers in a lead-acid battery factory in Wuhan / 公共卫生与预防医学

Objective To investigate the occupational lead exposure and blood lead levels of workers in a lead-acid battery factory in Wuhan in 2020 and analyze the influencing factors of blood lead, and to provide reference for the blood lead intervention of the workers in the lead-acid battery factory. Methods The blood lead test results of 320 occupational lead-exposed workers in the factory were investigated and the influencing factors were analyzed. Results Among the 320 blood lead samples collected, 4 people had blood lead≥400 μg/L, accounting for 1.25%, and 89 people had blood lead≥200 μg/L, accounting for 27.81%. Among them, there were 235 males with a median blood lead of 155.10 μg/L, and 85 females with a median blood lead of 82.40 μg/L. The Wilcoxon rank sum test results of two independent samples showed that the overall blood lead level of male employees was higher than that of female employees, and the difference was statistically significant (P 50 years old. Using the Bonferroni method to adjust the significance level for pairwise comparison, it was found that there were significant differences in the blood lead concentrations between the group under 40 years old, the group of 40 - 50 years old, and the group of over 50 years old ( P < 0.016 after adjustment). The employees were classified into different workshops, including 38 samples from the administrative workshop , 40 samples from the charging workshop, and 242 samples from the assembly workshop. Using the Bonferroni method to adjust the significance level for pairwise comparison, it was found that the blood lead concentrations in the administrative workshop, the charging workshop, and the assembly workshop were statistically different ( P <0.016 after adjustment). Conclusion The age, gender, and type of work of the employees in the battery factory all have a certain impact on the blood lead level. It is necessary to continuously improve the management of the labor hygiene operation system and strengthen the self-protection level of the workers, and regularly carry out occupational hygiene inspection and health monitoring.

Effect of moxibustion on immune function homeostasis in rats with diarrhea irritable bowel syndrome based on SCF/c-kit signaling pathway / 中国针灸

OBJECTIVE@#To observe the effects of moxibustion on the stem cell factor (SCF)/tyrosine kinase receptor (c-kit) signaling pathway and immune function in rats with diarrhea irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D), and to explore the mechanism of moxibustion for IBS-D.@*METHODS@#Among 52 young rats born from 6 healthy pregnant SPF rats, 12 rats were randomly selected into the normal group, and the remaining 40 rats were treated with the three-factor combination method of maternal separation, acetic acid enema and chronic restraint stress to establish the IBS-D rat model. Thirty-six rats with successful IBS-D model were randomly divided into a model group, a moxibustion group, and a medication group, 12 rats in each group. The rats in the moxibustion group were treated with suspension moxibustion at "Tianshu" (ST 25) and "Shangjuxu" (ST 37); the rats in the medication group were treated with intragastric administration of rifaximin suspension (150 mg/kg). All the treatments were given once a day for 7 consecutive days. The body mass, loose stool rate (LSR), the minimum volume threshold when abdominal withdrawal reflex (AWR) scored 3 were measured before acetic acid enema (35 days old), after modeling (45 days old), and after intervention (53 days old). After intervention (53 days old), HE staining was used to observe the morphology of colon tissue, and spleen and thymus coefficients were measured; ELISA method was used to detect serum inflammatory factors (tumor necrosis factor a [TNF-a], interleukin [IL]-10, IL-8), T-lymphocyte subsets (CD+4, CD+8, CD+45), value of CD+4/CD+8 and immune globulin (IgA, IgG, IgM); real-time PCR method and Western blot method was used to detect the expression of SCF, c-kit mRNA and protein in colon tissue; immunofluorescence staining method were used to detect positive expression of SCF and c-kit.@*RESULTS@#After intervention, compared with the normal group, in the model group, the body mass and the minimum volume threshold when AWR scored 3 were decreased (P<0.01), LSR, spleen and thymus coefficients, serum levels of TNF-α, IL-8, CD+4, CD+45, CD+4/CD+8, IgA, IgG, IgM were increased (P<0.01), serum IL-10 level and protein and mRNA expression of SCF and c-kit in colon tissue were decreased (P<0.01), and the positive expression of SCF and c-kit was decreased (P<0.01). Compared with the model group, in the moxibustion group and the medication group, the body mass and the minimum volume threshold when AWR scored 3 were increased (P<0.01, P<0.05), LSR, spleen and thymus coefficients, serum levels of TNF-α, IL-8, CD+4, CD+8, CD+45, CD+4/CD+8, IgA, IgG, IgM were decreased (P<0.01, P<0.05), serum IL-10 level and protein and mRNA expression of SCF and c-kit in colon tissue were increased (P<0.01), and the positive expression of SCF and c-kit was increased (P<0.01). Compared with the medication group, in the moxibustion group, the level of serum CD+4 was decreased (P<0.05), the value of CD+4/CD+8 was increased (P<0.01), and there was no significant difference in other indexes (P>0.05). The expression of SCF and c-kit mRNA was positively correlated with the minimum volume threshold when AWR scored 3 and IL-10 (P<0.01), and negatively correlated with remaining indexes (P<0.01, P<0.05).@*CONCLUSION@#Moxibustion could reduce visceral hypersensitivity, improve symptoms of abdominal pain and diarrhea in IBS-D rats, and its mechanism may be related to up-regulation of the expression of SCF/c-kit signaling pathway and improvement of IBS-D immune function.

A case of reversible splenial lesion syndrome characterized by increased antithyroid antibodies / 中华神经科杂志

Reversible splenial lesion syndrome (RESLES) is a rare clinical imaging syndrome caused by various etiologies and has no specific clinical manifestations, of which magnetic resonance imaging is characterized by reversible splenial lesion. Its etiology is complex, with infection more common, rare due to thyroid disease.The clinical data of a patient of RESLES with significantly increased anti-thyroid antibody are reported to enrich the etiology and further improve the understanding of the disease.

Application value of metagenomic next-generation sequencing for pathogen detection in childhood agranulocytosis with fever / 中国当代儿科杂志

OBJECTIVES@#To study the application value of metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) for pathogen detection in childhood agranulocytosis with fever.@*METHODS@#A retrospective analysis was performed on the mNGS results of pathogen detection of 116 children with agranulocytosis with fever who were treated from January 2020 to December 2021. Among these children, 38 children with negative mNGS results were enrolled as the negative group, and 78 children with positive results were divided into a bacteria group (n=22), a fungal group (n=23), and a viral group (n=31). Clinical data were compared between groups.@*RESULTS@#For the 116 children with agranulocytosis and fever, the median age was 8 years at diagnosis, the median turnaround time of mNGS results was 2 days, and the positive rate of mNGS testing was 67.2% (78/116). Compared with the negative group, the bacterial group had a higher procalcitonin level (P<0.05), the fungal group had higher level of C-reactive protein and positive rate of (1,3)-β-D glucan test/galactomannan test (P<0.05), and the fungal group had a longer duration of fever (P<0.05). Among the 22 positive microbial culture specimens, 9 (41%) were consistent with the mNGS results. Among the 17 positive blood culture specimens, 8 (47%) were consistent with the mNGS results. Treatment was adjusted for 28 children (36%) with the mNGS results, among whom 26 were cured and discharged.@*CONCLUSIONS@#The mNGS technique has a shorter turnaround time and a higher sensitivity for pathogen detection and can provide evidence for the pathogenic diagnosis of children with agranulocytosis and fever.

Anti-inflammation effect of moxibustion for rats with diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome based on multiple miRNAs regulating NF-κB signal pathway / 中国针灸

OBJECTIVE@#To observe the effect of moxibustion on the regulation of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) and inflammatory factors by multiple microRNAs (miRNAs) in rats with diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D), and to explore the anti-inflammatory mechanism of moxibustion on IBS-D.@*METHODS@#Twelve of 52 newborn rats were randomly selected into a normal group. The remaining rats were made into IBS-D model. A total of 36 rats with successful model were randomly divided into a model group, a medication group and a moxibustion group, 12 rats in each group. The rats in the medication group were intraperitoneally injected with pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC). The rats in the moxibustion group were treated with moxibustion at "Tianshu" (ST 25) and "Shangjuxu" (ST 37) for 20 min each time. All the intervention was given once a day for 7 days. Before and after modeling as well as after intervention, the body mass, loose stool rate and the minimum volume threshold of abdominal withdrawal reflex (AWR) were measured. After intervention, the contents of serum tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-8 were detected by ELISA method; the morphology of colon tissues was observed by HE staining, and the expressions of miR-155, miR-125b, miR-29b, miR-31, miR-18a and NF-κB p65 mRNA in colon tissues were detected by real-time PCR. The expressions of NF-κB p65, TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-8 protein in colon tissues were detected by immunofluorescence.@*RESULTS@#After modeling, the body mass and the minimum volume threshold of AWR in the model group were lower than those in the normal group (P<0.01); the rates of loose stool in the model group were higher than those in the normal group (P<0.01); after intervention, in the model group, the inflammatory infiltration of colon tissues was obvious, and the serum levels of TNF-α, IL-1 β, IL-8 were higher than those in the normal group (P<0.05); the expression of miR-155, miR-125b, miR-29b, miR-31, miR-18a and NF-κB p65 mRNA in colon tissues was higher than that in the normal group (P<0.05); the protein expression of NF-κB p65, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-8 was also higher than that in the normal group (P<0.01). After intervention, the body mass and the minimum volume threshold of AWR in the medication group and the moxibustion group were both higher than those in the model group (P<0.05); the loose stool rate in the medication group and the moxibustion group were lower than those in model group (P<0.05); the inflammatory cells infiltration in the colon tissues was less, the serum levels of TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-8 as well as the protein expression of NF-κB p65, TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-8 in the colon tissues in the medication group and the moxibustion group were lower than those in the model group (P<0.05, P<0.01). The expression of miR-125b, miR-31, miR-18a and NF-κB p65 mRNA in the medication group were lower than those in the model group (P<0.05). The expression of miR-155, miR-125b, miR-29b, miR-31, miR-18a and NF-κB p65 mRNA in the moxibustion group were lower than those in the model group (P<0.05). The miR-155, miR-125b, miR-29b, miR-31, miR-18a were positively correlated with NF-κB p65 mRNA (0<r<1, P<0.01).@*CONCLUSION@#The anti-inflammatory mechanism of moxibustion at "Tianshu" (ST 25) and "Shangjuxu" (ST 37) for IBS-D rats may be related to regulating multiple miRNAs to inhibit NF-κB signal pathway and reduce the expression of inflammatory factors.

Delayed central nervous system damage caused by chlorfenapyr-indoxacarb poisoning: a case report / 中华神经科杂志

Chlorfenapyr and indenocarb are two new insecticides widely used in the world. In recent years, there have been a few cases of human being being poisoned by chlorfenapyr or indenocarb respectively at home and abroad, but no cases of poisoning caused by chlorfenapyr or indenocarb have been reported. A case of delayed central nervous system damage after chlorfenapyr and indoxacarb poisoning was reported for clinical reference.

Study on HPLC fingerprints of Biyuanjing capsules / 药学实践杂志

Objective To establish a HPLC fingerprints of Biyuanjing capsules. Methods The column was Agilent SB-C18(4.6mm×250 mm, 5 µm). The mobile phase was acetonitrile-water with gradient elution at a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min. The detection wavelength was 210 nm. The detection time was 80 min. Results The HPLC fingerprints of Biyuanjing capsules were established. Twenty common peaks were confirmed, of which, 15 peaks were belonging to each crude drug and 5 peaks were identified as chemical components. The overall similarity of the fingerprints of 10 batches of samples was above 90% comparing with the control. Conclusion This method can be used for the quality control of Biyuanjing capsules.

Segmentation method of myocardial perfusion bull-eye for the degree of loss of cardiac ischemia / 生物医学工程学杂志

As one of the non-invasive imaging techniques, myocardial perfusion imaging provides a basis for the diagnosis of myocardial ischemia in coronary heart disease. Aiming at the bull-eye image in myocardial perfusion imaging, this paper proposed a branching structure, which included multi-layer transposed convolution up-sampling concatenate module and four-channel weighted channels attention module, and the output results of the branch structure were fused with the output results of trunk U-Net, to achieve accurate segmentation of the cardiac ischemia missing degree in myocardial perfusion bull-eye image. The experimental results show that the multi-layer transposed convolution up-sampling concatenate module realizes the fusion of different depth feature maps, and effectively reduces the interference of the severe sparse degree which is similar to the missing degree on the segmentation. Four-channel weighted attention module can further improve the ability to distinguish between the two similar degrees and the ability to learn edge details of the targets, and retain more abundant edge details features. The experimental data came from Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin TEDA Hospital, Tianjin First Central Hospital and Third Central Hospital. The Jaccard scores in the self-built dataset was 5.00% higher than that of U-Net. The model presented in this paper is superior to other optimized models based on U-Net, and the subjective evaluation meets the accuracy requirements for clinical diagnosis.

Association of Overlapped and Un-overlapped Comorbidities with COVID-19 Severity and Treatment Outcomes: A Retrospective Cohort Study from Nine Provinces in China / 生物医学与环境科学（英文）

Objective@#Several COVID-19 patients have overlapping comorbidities. The independent role of each component contributing to the risk of COVID-19 is unknown, and how some non-cardiometabolic comorbidities affect the risk of COVID-19 remains unclear.@*Methods@#A retrospective follow-up design was adopted. A total of 1,160 laboratory-confirmed patients were enrolled from nine provinces in China. Data on comorbidities were obtained from the patients' medical records. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to estimate the odds ratio ( @*Results@#Overall, 158 (13.6%) patients were diagnosed with severe illness and 32 (2.7%) had unfavorable outcomes. Hypertension (2.87, 1.30-6.32), type 2 diabetes (T2DM) (3.57, 2.32-5.49), cardiovascular disease (CVD) (3.78, 1.81-7.89), fatty liver disease (7.53, 1.96-28.96), hyperlipidemia (2.15, 1.26-3.67), other lung diseases (6.00, 3.01-11.96), and electrolyte imbalance (10.40, 3.00-26.10) were independently linked to increased odds of being severely ill. T2DM (6.07, 2.89-12.75), CVD (8.47, 6.03-11.89), and electrolyte imbalance (19.44, 11.47-32.96) were also strong predictors of unfavorable outcomes. Women with comorbidities were more likely to have severe disease on admission (5.46, 3.25-9.19), while men with comorbidities were more likely to have unfavorable treatment outcomes (6.58, 1.46-29.64) within two weeks.@*Conclusion@#Besides hypertension, diabetes, and CVD, fatty liver disease, hyperlipidemia, other lung diseases, and electrolyte imbalance were independent risk factors for COVID-19 severity and poor treatment outcome. Women with comorbidities were more likely to have severe disease, while men with comorbidities were more likely to have unfavorable treatment outcomes.

Social cognitive impairment in patients with stroke / 国际脑血管病杂志

In recent 10 years, social neuroscience has developed rapidly, which integrates social psychology, cognitive neuropsychology, and neuroscience, and puts forward the concept of social cognition. Clinical studies have shown that social cognitive impairment is easy to occur after stroke, which seriously affects the neurological rehabilitation and quality of life of patients. This article reviews the concept, mechanism, clinical manifestations, neuropsychological evaluation and intervention measures of social cognitive impairment in stroke patients, hoping to improve neurologists' awareness of the social cognitive impairment in stroke patients, actively prevent the occurrence of social cognitive impairment after stroke, and give corresponding intervention, so as to help patients better adapt to social life.

Effect of warm acupuncture at Yifeng (TE 17) on facial paralysis with periauricular pain during pregnancy / 中国针灸

OBJECTIVE@#To compare the curative effect between the warm acupuncture at Yifeng (TE 17) combined with conventional acupuncture and TDP plus conventional acupuncture on facial paralysis with periauricular pain during pregnancy.@*METHODS@#A total of 68 patients were randomized into an observation group (36 cases, 3 cases dropped off) and a control group (32 cases, 1 case dropped off). First week, TDP light was used on the affected side in the control group, and warm acupuncture at Yinfeng (TE 17) on the affected side was used in the observation group, both once a day. From the second week, both groups were given acupuncture at Chengjiang (CV 24) and the affected side of Cuanzhu (BL 2), Yangbai (GB 14), Taiyang (EX-HN 5), Yingxiang (LI 20), Dicang (ST 4), etc. and electroacupuncture (continuous wave, 2 Hz in frequency) was connected at Cuanzhu (BL 2) and Taiyang (EX-HN 5), Jiache (ST 6) and Dicang (ST 4). Both treatments were given every other day for 4 weeks totally. The visual analogue scale (VAS) score of the periauricular pain degree before treatment and after 1 week of treatment, the House-Brackmann (H-B) facial nerve function grading scale and facial disability index (FDI) score before treatment and after 2, 4 weeks of treatment were compared between the two groups.@*RESULTS@#After 1 week of treatment, the VAS scores of both groups decreased (@*CONCLUSION@#Warm acupuncture at Yinfeng (TE 17) combined with conventional acupuncture can effectively improve the periauricular pain and facial nerve function in patients of facial paralysis with periauricular pain during pregnancy, and the curative effect is better than TDP plus conventional acupuncture.

Enhanced production of bacitracin via energy metabolism engineering in Bacillus licheniformis DW2 / 生物工程学报

Bacitracin is a broad-spectrum cyclic peptide antibiotic, and mainly produced by Bacillus. Energy metabolism plays as a critical role in high-level production of target metabolites. In this study, Bacillus licheniformis DW2, an industrial strain for bacitracin production, was served as the original strain. First, our results confirmed that elimination of cytochrome bd oxidase branch via deleting gene cydB benefited bacitracin synthesis. Bacitracin titer and ATP content were increased by 10.97% and 22.96%, compared with those of original strain, respectively. Then, strengthening cytochrome aa3 oxidase branch via overexpressing gene qoxA was conducive to bacitracin production. Bacitracin titer and ATP content were increased by 18.97% and 34.00%, respectively. In addition, strengthening ADP synthesis supply is also proven as an effective strategy to promote intracellular ATP accumulation, overexpression of adenosine kinase DcK and adenylate kinase AdK could all improve bacitracin titers, among which, dck overexpression strain showed the better performance, and bacitracin titer was increased by 16.78%. Based on the above individual methods, a method of combining the deletion of gene cydB and overexpression of genes qoxA, dck were used to enhance ATP content of cells to 39.54 nmol/L, increased by 49.32% compared to original strain, and bacitracin titer produced by the final strain DW2-CQD (DW2ΔcydB::qoxA::dck) was 954.25 U/mL, increased by 21.66%. The bacitracin titer produced per cell was 2.11 U/CFU, increased by 11.05%. Collectively, this study demonstrates that improving ATP content was an efficient strategy to improve bacitracin production, and a promising strain B. licheniformis DW2-CQD was attained for industrial production of bacitracin.

Study on intention to quit smoking and influencing factors among current smokers aged 15 to 69 years in Gansu Province / 中华疾病控制杂志

Objective To understand the intention to quit smoking and its influencing factors among current smokers in Gansu Province, so as to provide scientific basis for tobacco control. Methods A multi-stage sampling method was used to extract current smokers aged 15-69 years, and a face-to-face survey was conducted using the questionnaire on smoking among residents in China. Intention to quit smoking between current smokers with different characteristics was analyzed. Logistic regression was used to explore influencing factors of intention to quit smoking. Results The intention of current smokers to quit smoking in Gansu Province was 16.4% (95% CI:15.5%-17.3%). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that current smokers who were in rural areas (OR=1.199, 95% CI:1.022-1.408, P=0.026); family smoking prohibited (OR=1.767, 95% CI: 1.273-2.454, P=0.001), medical staff discouraged smoking within 12 months (OR=1.599, 95% CI:1.359-1.842, P<0.001), visited smoking clinics (OR=3.089, 95% CI:2.031-4.698, P＜001), higher educational level of junior high school, senior high school and college or above (OR=1.383, 95% CI:1.101-1.736; OR=1.627, 95% CI:1.252-2.116; OR=1.374, 95% CI:1.009-1.873, all P<0.05), tobacco hazards knowledge with higher scores of 1-, 3- and 5-6 (OR=1.248, 95% CI:1.030-1.514; OR=1.574, 95% CI:1.289-1.922; OR=2.288, 95% CI:1.879-2.786, all P<0.05) were more likely to quit smoking; furthermore, smokers aged 20-, 30- years or smoking 20-, 30- years had a lower chance of quit smoking (all P<0.05). Conclusions The intention of current smokers to quit smoking in Gansu province is generally not high. In the future, knowledge of tobacco hazards should be further promoted, medical staff should provide more smoking cessation services during the treatment process, and more smoking cessation clinics should be established.

Distribution of the septocutaneous perforators in the medial arm and its clinical applications / 中华整形外科杂志

Objective@#To investigate the distribution of the septocutaneous perforators in the medial arm and its clinical applications.@*Methods@#Between March 2014 and August 2018, 39 patients (45 arms) were included in the study. A coordinate system originating at the medial epicondyle was established, with the y-axis running to the axillary apex and expressed in relative value. The y-axis was trisected and each third from proximal to distal were designated as A, B, and C, respectively. Based on this, the medial arm flap was used to reconstruct defects in the head and neck, hand, axilla, elbow and chest wall.@*Results@#An average of 4.6 perforators were identified along the medial intermuscular septum of the arm, located at 0.87±0.08, 0.50±0.09 and 0.20±0.06 on the y-axis, with a prevalence of 95.6%, 100% and 86.7%, respectively. Among the 45 flaps, 30 were used as pedicled distant flaps and 15 as perforator-based propeller flaps, with an average size of 18.7 cm×8.1 cm. The average length of the perforator pedicle was 3.1 cm. One pedicled distant flap developed hematoma after pedicle division but recovered with hematoma removal. One perforator-based propeller flap had partial loss of the distal third, requiring surgical debridement followed by a local flap transfer. Two perforator-based propeller flaps had venous congestion but survived completely with conservative therapy. The remaining flaps healed uneventfully. Donor-site morbidity was minimal. The patients were followed up for 6 months to 3 years (average 12.6 months) with satisfactory aesthetic appearance, greatly improved function and no tumor recurrence.@*Conclusions@#The constant perforators could be found in each third of the medial arm. The perforator-based medial arm flap could be used for various soft-tissue defect reconstructions.

Vein graft bridged free flap for lower extremity trauma reconstruction / 中华整形外科杂志

Objective@#To investigate the efficacy and the technical details of utilizing a long segment of vein graft to bridge the vascular defect when a free flap is used to repair extensive injuries in lower extremities.@*Methods@#For the reconstruction of extensive leg defect caused by serious composite injury, a local flap is unavailable or cannot fulfill the requirements. The main vessels of the leg could be damaged. It is challenging work to find an ideal recipient vessels for a free flap. The saphenous vein was harvested from the contralateral lower extremities and utilized to bridge the vascular gap between the recipient vessels and flap pedicle vessels. A latissimus dorsi myocutaneous or anterolateral thigh free flap was used to reconstruct the leg defect. The distal end of the grafted vein was anastomosed to the superficial femoral artery in an end-to-side fashion, and the proximal end to the artery of flap pedicle in an end-to-end fashion. When a vein insufficiency was present, the proximal and distal ends of the additional grafted vein were anastomosed to the recipient vein and vein of flap pedicle in an end-to-end fashion.@*Results@#From July 2010 to April 2019, 27 patients underwent reconstruction of leg using the above-mentioned method. There were 20 males and 7 females. The patients′ age ranged from 16 to 54 years with an average of 30.6 years. There were 19 latissimus dorsi myocutaneous flaps and eight anterolateral thigh flaps. The grafted saphenous vein was used to bridge the arterial gap in 21 cases and to bridge both the arterial and venous gaps in 6 cases. The length of the grafted vein for arterial and venous defects was ranged from 14 cm to 43 cm (mean, 24.8 cm) and 5 cm to 12 cm (mean, 8.6 cm), respectively. 26 flaps completely survived after surgery. Venous congestion occurred in the remaining one flap and the flap eventually lost. The patient eventually opted for amputation. All patients were followed up for 3 to 14 months with an average of 9 months. Functional and aesthetic outcomes were obtained in both the recipient and donor sites. No obvious edema of lower extremities was observed.@*Conclusions@#For patients with a severe and large soft-tissue defect of the leg, fining an ideal recipient vessels for a free flap is crucial for a successful reconstructive surgery. It is a reliable and an additional option to choose the superficial femoral artery and/ or saphenous vein as the recipient vessels by using the grafted vein to bridge the vascular gaps.

Design and clinical applications of the propeller flaps based on perforators from different branches of the lateral circumflex femoral artery / 中华整形外科杂志

Objective@#To explore the flap design and clinical applications of the propeller flaps based on perforators from different branches of the lateral circumflex femoral artery in defect reconstruction.@*Methods@#Between September 2009 and December 2018, 27 patients with soft tissue defects from lower extremities were involved in this study, including 15 males and 12 females, with an average age of 34.6 years old (range, 3 to 73 years old). Before surgery, the type of the flap to be used was designed preliminarily by evaluating the location, size and shape of the lesion or defect. The perforators of the lateral circumflex femoral artery were explored using an ultrasound Doppler probe, marked on skin. The computed tomographic angiography was also used to get more information of the branches of the lateral circumflex femoral artery when possible. The propeller flaps were divided into typeⅠ, Ⅱ, Ⅲ, and Ⅳ according to the perforators that originated from the transverse, descending, oblique, and rectus femoris branches of the lateral circumflex femoral artery, respectively. The type Ⅱ flap was subdivided into type Ⅱa and type Ⅱb flaps that were based on antegrade and reverse flow from the descending branch. The defects were reconstructed using the perforator propeller flap.@*Results@#Twenty-seven patients underwent reconstruction of defects using the propeller flaps based on perforators from different branches of the lateral circumflex femoral artery including 3 type Ⅰ flap, 12 type Ⅱa, 2 type Ⅱb, 10 type Ⅲ and 3 type Ⅳ. The size, pedicle length and rotation angle of the flaps were 12 cm×6 cm to 30 cm×15 cm, 4 cm to 15 cm, and 60 to 180 degrees, respectively. Total necrosis occurred in one flap and small-sized distal necrosis in another one. Minor complications occurred in two flaps and the remaining propeller flaps survived completely. All patients were followed up from one to 25 months and mean follow-up time was 9.9 months. Tumor recurrence was noticed in one patient. All patients were satisfied with the final functional and aesthetic outcomes.@*Conclusions@#For appropriate cases, reconstruction of defects from the groin to the knee could be achieved by using the propeller flaps based on perforators from different branches of the lateral circumflex femoral artery, with advantages of easy-to-operate and minor donor-site morbidity.

New methods and technologies in the field of perforator flap studies / 中华整形外科杂志

A large number of innovative and new technologies and method in the field of perforator flap were proposed with the hard work of many experts and surgeons. This paper briefly reviewed the following items including the discovery of the perforator flap and its enlightenment to us, three-dimensional visualized anatomy, angiosome and perforasome theories, pre-operative perforator detection techniques, techniques for evaluation of the flap vascular perfusion, the concept of freestyle perforator flap, chimeric flap, flow-through flap technique, new designs of pedicle perforator flap, particularly the propeller and keystone flaps, supramicrosurgery, superthin flap, microdissected thin perforator flap, and microvascular breast reconstruction and lymph node transfer for postmastectomy lymphedema patients. These new technologies and method have greatly improved our understanding of flap surgery and promote the development of the reconstructive surgery. The traditional research focused on investigating the anatomic features of a single flap and strategies for the reconstruction of different defects and organs. Nowadays, the treatment scope of reconstructive surgery is more extensive and has developed to repair various refractory wounds following trauma and oncological resection, nerve injuries, and to reconstruct defect and organ by using the vascularized composite allotransplantation. Researches on the upper limb lymphedema after breast cancer surgery have been highly valued recently. It can be expected that the direction of reconstructive surgery would be transformed from the improvement of theraputic modalities to concentrating on the treatment of diseases, and this undoubtedly conforms to the essence of medicine. The research of perforator flaps will be directed to more precise, minimally invasive, and individualized according to the requirements of evidence-based medicine.

Experience in the treatment of postoperative cerebrospinal fluid leakage followed by surgical management of a spinal meningocele combined with infection / 中华整形外科杂志

A 37-year-old woman presented with a congenital spinal meningocele for 37 years and ruptured for 6 months. She was admitted to the Plastic Surgery Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences in March 2018. The diameter of the lesion was about 10 cm, with purulent secretion and malodor. The superior gluteal artery perforator propeller flap was used to reconstruct the defect after the lesion resection. Part of the wound didn’t heal and cerebrospinal fluid leaked from the wound postoperatively. The wound eventually healed after wound debridement and drainage changing. Cerebrospinal fluid retention under the flap could result in wound dehiscence and cerebrospinal fluid leakage. The author introduced the treatment process and operative method. The preliminary experience in treating cerebrospinal fluid leakage after surgical management of the spinal meningocele was also summarized.

The oblique branch of lateral circumflex femoral artery: alternative vascular pedicle for pedicled anterolateral thigh flaps / 中华整形外科杂志

Objective@#To explore the feasibility and technical points of soft tissue defect reconstruction using the pedicled anterolateral thigh flap based on perforating vessels from the lateral circumflex femoral artery oblique branch.@*Methods@#Between November 2009 and April 2019, 27 pedicled anterolateral thigh flaps were performed to repair the wound of trunk and lower extremity, based on perforating vessels from the lateral circumflex femoral artery oblique branch. 16 flaps were proximally based and 11 were distally based.@*Results@#The proximally based flap ranged from 15 cm×8 cm to 32 cm×12 cm. The mean length of the pedicle was 8.2 cm. The distally based flap ranged from 9 cm×7 cm to 24 cm×8 cm. The mean length of the pedicle was 18.6 cm. All flaps survived after surgery. Venous congestion occurred in one flap and relieved in five days.@*Conclusions@#With oblique branch as the pedicle, the vascular dissection was easy and donor site morbidity was minimized while harvesting the proximally based anterolateral thigh flaps; long pedicle could be obtained, and the reconstructive sphere was extended when using the distally based anterolateral thigh flaps.

Clinical effects of scapular region flaps pedicled with circumflex scapular artery in the reconstruction of axillary burn scar contractures / 中华烧伤杂志

Objective@#To explore the clinical effects of scapular region flaps pedicled with circumflex scapular artery in the reconstruction of axillary burn scar contractures.@*Methods@#From December 2008 to December 2018, 21 patients with axillary burn scar contractures were admitted to our department. There were 12 male patients and 9 female patients, aged 2-48 years, with an average of 17.4 years. According to the characteristics of axillary scar contractures, the patients were divided into type Ⅰ of 5 patients, type Ⅱ of 2 patients, type Ⅲ of 5 patients, and type Ⅳ of 9 patients. The preoperative abduction ranges of shoulder joint were 20-150°, with an average of 68.33°. The wound areas after resection and release of scar contractures ranged from 12 cm×4 cm to 33 cm×11 cm, with an average of 18.13 cm×5.41 cm, and the wounds were repaired with scapular region flaps pedicled with circumflex scapular artery in the areas of 14 cm×5 cm-35 cm×14 cm, with an average of 20.19 cm×7.71 cm. The donor sites of 5 patients were expanded prior to flap repair operation, and the other 16 patients were repaired by direct transfer of flaps. The donor sites were closed directly. The type, number, and transfer way of scapular region flaps were calculated, and the improvement of abduction angle of shoulder joint and condition of the flaps were observed during follow-up after operation.@*Results@#There were 5 ascending scapular flaps, 13 scapular flaps, and 3 parascapular flaps. The flaps were transferred through open wounds in 18 cases, subcutaneous tunnel in 1 case, and trilateral foramia in the remaining 2 cases. All the flaps survived after operation. During follow-up of 3 months to 5 years, with an average of 19.4 months, the abduction angles of shoulder joints were 90-180°, with an average of 137.62°, which showed that the abduction function of shoulder joint improved obviously. The texture of flap was soft, and the color of the flap was close to the surrounding skin. The patients and/or their family members were satisfied with the operation results.@*Conclusions@#The scapular region flap pedicled with circumflex scapular artery has a lot of advantages, including a long vascular pedicle, simple technique for flap harvest, a hidden donor site, and flexible and diverse transfer mode of flap. It is an effective option for clinical reconstruction of severe axillary burn scar contracture.