Histopathological evaluation of cirrhosis reversal / 中华肝脏病杂志

A normal liver can develop cirrhosis through long-term and repeated stimulation from various etiologies. Histological manifestations like the collapse of hepatic lobular structure (including microvascular structure) and the formation of pseudolobules can lead to portal hypertension and even decompensated cirrhosis. More and more evidence suggests that effective etiological treatment can not only delay but also reverse the progression of cirrhosis. The mechanism of cirrhosis reversal mainly includes the degradation of extracellular matrix, hepatocyte regeneration, and hepatic lobular remodeling. The "gold standard" for the evaluation of cirrhosis reversal at present is still a liver biopsy. Therefore, the histopathological evaluation of cirrhosis reversal is very important for determining the disease's prognosis, efficacy, and mechanism of exploration.

Clinicopathological characteristics of Klinefelter syndrome: a testicular biopsy analysis of 87 cases / 中华病理学杂志

Objective: To investigate the clinicopathological characteristics of testicular biopsies from Klinefelter syndrome (KS) patients. Methods: The testicular biopsy specimens of 87 patients with KS (a total of 107 biopsy specimens) were collected from the Department of Pathology, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing, China from January 2017 to July 2022. All patients were diagnosed as KS by peripheral blood karyotyping analysis. The testicular histopathologic features, testicular volume and hormone levels were evaluated retrospectively. The histopathologic analysis was used to assess the quantity and morphology of Leydig cells, the spermatogenic state of seminiferous tubules, the thickening of the basement membrane of seminiferous tubules and the changes of stroma. Results: Leydig cell proliferative nodules were seen in 95.3% (102/107) of KS testicular biopsy tissues. The eosinophilic inclusion bodies and lipofuscin in Leydig cells were found in 52.3% (56/107) and 57.9% (62/107) of specimens, respectively. The Sertoli cell only seminiferous tubules and the hyalinized tubules were found in 66.4% (71/107) and 76.6% (82/107) of the examined tissues, respectively. The tubules with complete spermatogenic arrest were found in 15.9% (17/107) of specimens, and 5.6% (6/107) of the specimens showed low spermatogenesis or incomplete spermatogenic arrest. In 85.0% (91/107) of the specimens, increased thick-walled small vessels with hyaline degeneration were identified. Conclusions: The most common features of KS testicular specimens are Leydig cell proliferative nodules, hyaline degeneration of seminiferous tubules and proliferation of thick-walled blood vessels. Testicular biopsy specimens of KS are rare. The pathologists can make a tentative diagnosis of KS based on the histological findings, combined with the ultrasound and laboratory results, which is helpful for further diagnosis and treatment of KS.

Clinical analysis of 226 cases of deviated nose with deviated nasal septum treated by endoscopic assisted functional rhinoplasty / 中华耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

Objective: To explore the method and effect of endoscopic assisted functional rhinoplasty for patients with deviated nose and deviated nasal septum, which achieve correction of nasal morphology and ventilation dysfunction. Methods: The clinical data of 226 patients with deviated nose and deviated nasal septum from June 2009 to February 2022 who were treated by endoscopic assisted functional rhinoplasty in the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University were analyzed retrospectively. There were 174 males and 52 females, with the age ranging from 7 to 67 years old. The effect was evaluated by subjective and objective evaluation methods. SPSS 27.0 software was used for statistical analysis. Results: All patients were followed up for 6 to 24 months, 174 cases were cured (174/226, 76.99%), 52 cases were effective (52/226, 23.01%), and the total effective rate was 100% (226/226). The difference between preoperative and postoperative facial appearance deviation was statistically significant ((6.84±2.25)mm vs (1.82±1.05)mm, t=38.94, P<0.001), and the nasal ventilation function of all patients was improved. Conclusions: Endoscopic assisted functional rhinoplasty for the patients with deviated nose combined with deviated nasal septum has the advantages of clear surgical field, fewer complications, and good result. It can achieve the purpose of simultaneous correction of nasal and ventilation dysfunction, which is recommended for popularizing in clinical application.

Advances in the diagnosis and treatment of phosphomannomutase 2 deficiency / 中国当代儿科杂志

Phosphomannomutase 2 deficiency is the most common form of N-glycosylation disorders and is also known as phosphomannomutase 2-congenital disorder of glycosylation (PMM2-CDG). It is an autosomal recessive disease with multi-system involvements and is caused by mutations in the PMM2 gene (OMIM: 601785), with varying severities in individuals. At present, there is still no specific therapy for PMM2-CDG, and early identification, early diagnosis, and early treatment can effectively prolong the life span of pediatric patients. This article reviews the advances in the diagnosis and treatment of PMM2-CDG.

Clinical efficacy and safety of tumor-specific individualized multi-target DC-CIK in the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer / 中国肿瘤生物治疗杂志

@#[摘 要] 目的：评价肿瘤特异性个体化多靶点树突状细胞-细胞因子诱导的杀伤细胞（DC-CIK）治疗晚期非小细胞肺癌（NSCLC）患者的临床疗效和安全性。方法：回顾性分析2019年10月1日至2022年10月31日东部战区总医院生物治疗科行肿瘤特异性个体化多靶点DC-CIK治疗晚期NSCLC患者的临床资料。统计NSCLC患者的临床疗效和不良反应，分析治疗前后血清中肿瘤标志物的变化，FCM检测患者治疗前后的淋巴细胞亚群和各种细胞因子的表达情况，用质谱仪检测治疗前后靶点的变化。结果: 共入组52例晚期NSCLC患者，其中女性21例、男性31例；年龄32~71岁，平均年龄（50.97±10.72）岁，中位年龄47.5岁。经DC-CIK治疗后，CR 0例，PR 0例，SD 27例，PD 25例。与治疗前比较，DC-CIK治疗后：（1）CEA和CYFRA21-1水平无显著改变，CA125水平显著低于治疗前（P<0.01）；（2）治疗后患者淋巴细胞亚群无显著变化；（3）治疗后患者外周血IL-2、IL-4、IFN-γ和TNF-α水平显著升高（均P<0.01），IL-6、IL-10及IL-17水平无明显变化；（4）治疗后靶点数下降明显。DC-CIK治疗过程中无严重不良反应发生。结论: 晚期NSCLC患者行肿瘤特异性个体化多靶点自体DC-CIK治疗是安全的，能使患者产生抗肿瘤免疫反应并得到一定的临床获益。

Multimodal imaging characteristics of retinal diseases associated with COVID-19 / 中华眼底病杂志

Objective:To observe the multimodal imaging features of retinal diseases associated with COVID-19.Methods:A retrospective case study. Sixteen patients (30 eyes) of retinal diseases associated with COVID-19 admitted to the Ophthalmology Department of the Second People's Hospital of Zhengzhou in December 2022 were included in the study. There were 5 males and 11 females, with the mean age of (26.69±9.88) years; 14 patients were bilateral and 2 patients were unilateral. The time of ocular symptoms after the diagnosis of COVID-19 was (2.63±0.89) days. All patients underwent the examinations of best corrtected visual acuity (BCVA), fundus color photography (FP), infrared fundus photography (IR), optical coherence tomography (OCT). Fluorescein fundus angiography (FFA) was performed in 2 patients (4 eyes). There were 20 eyes with acute macular neuroretinopathy (AMN), including 6 eyes with cotton wool spots; 10 eyes with Purtscher-like retinopathy (PLR). The BCVA of the patients was 0.1-1.0. No obvious abnormality was found in anterior segment examination. The features of FP, IR and OCT were analyzed retrospectively.Results:In 20 eyes of AMN, irregular reddish brown lesions in the central or paracentral area of the macula in 14 eyes; FP showed no obvious abnormality in 6 eyes; IR showed irregular map like low reflection in the central or paracentral area of macular in all eyes; OCT showed hyperreflectivity in outer plexiform layer and outer nuclear layer, hyporeflectivity in the ellipsoid zone and photoreceptor layers in all eyes; no abnormal fluorecence was observed in 2 eyes examined by FFA. In 10 eyes with PLR, cotton wool spots and retinal hemorrhage were observed in the posterior pole and/or peripapillary area, and the peripheral retina was generally normal, Purtscher spot was found in 5 eyes and macular edema in 4 eyes; OCT showed strong reflex signal in neuroepithelial layers, edema in neuroepithelial layers in 6 eyes; in the 2 eyes examined by FFA, fluorescein leakage from the retinal vein wall was observed, the posterior pole and peripapillary area retinal arteriole occlusions showed patchy hypofluorescence, the fluorescence was obscured by retinal hemorrhage below at inferior retina.Conclusions:For AMN associated with COVID-19, IR can show the lesion contour, OCT shows lesions in the outer retina. PLR associated with COVID-19 are usually at the posterior pole and/or peripapillary area in FP, OCT shows neurocortical edema.

New Advances, Challenges and Opportunities in Forensic Applications of Microbiomics / 法医学杂志

The succession of microbiota is closely associated with several essential factors, including race, sex, health condition, lifestyle, postmortem interval, etc., and it has great potential application value in forensic medicine. This paper summarizes recent studies on the forensic applications of the microbiome, including individual identification, geographical feature identification, origin identification of the tissue or body fluid, and postmortem interval estimation, and introduces the current machine learning algorithms for microbiology research based on next-generation sequencing data. In addition, the current problems facing forensic microbiomics such as the extraction and preservation of samples, construction of standardization and database, ethical review and practical applicability are discussed. Future multi-omics studies are expected to explore micro ecosystems from a comprehensive and dynamic perspective, to promote the development of forensic microbiomics application.

Novel Variants in the FIG4 Gene Associated With Chinese Sporadic Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis With Slow Progression

Background@#and Purpose Mutations in the FIG4 gene have been linked to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) type 11 in Caucasian populations. The purpose of this study was to identify FIG4 variants in a cohort of 15 familial ALS (FALS) indexes and 275 sporadic ALS (SALS) patients of Han Chinese origin. @*Methods@#All 23 exons of FIG4 were sequenced using targeted next-generation sequencing.An extensive literature review was performed to detect genotype-phenotype associations of FIG4 mutations. @*Results@#No FIG4 variants were identified in the FALS patients. One novel heterozygous missense variant (c.352G>T [p.D118Y]) and one novel heterozygous nonsense variant (c.2158G>T [p.E720X]) in FIG4 were identified in two SALS patients. The p.E720X variant is interpreted as likely pathogenic while the p.D118Y variant is a variant of uncertain significance. The patient carrying the p.E720X mutation developed lower-limb-onset slowly progressive ALS, and survived for 11.5 years. The patient harboring the FIG4 p.D118Y variant also presented with progressive ALS, with the score on the ALS Functional Rating Scale–Revised (ALSFRS-R) decreasing by 0.4 per month. The rate of decrease in the ALSFRS-R scores from symptom onset to diagnosis seemed to be lower in the patients carrying FIG4 variants than the no-FIG4-mutation ALS patients in this study. @*Conclusions@#Our findings suggest that ALS patients carrying FIG4 mutations are not common in the Chinese population and are more likely to exhibit slow progression.

Baricitinib inhibits type Ⅰ IFN-signaling during SARS-CoV-2 infection in vitro / 中国热带医学

@#Abstract: Objective　To explore the antiviral effect of baricitinib in the SARS-CoV-2 infection and influence on cytokine levels. Methods　Calu-3 cells were infected with SARS-CoV-2 at MOI of 0.1, and the levels of inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α and IL-1β), interferon β (IFN-β) and interferon-stimulated gene, IFIT2 in the infected cells were analyzed by qRT-PCR methods. At the same time, Calu-3 cells were infected with SARS-CoV-2 (MOI=0.1) after being treated with baricitinib for 2 hours. Cells were collected at 0, 24, 36, and 48 hours, and analyzed for the mRNA of the above genes in the drug-treated and untreated groups. Results　The mRNA levels of IL-6, TNF-a, IL-1β, IFN-β and IFIT2 in Calu-3 infected by SARS-CoV-2 cells were increased significantly. These cytokines were increased by nearly 100-fold post-infection 48 h compared with the control (P<0.000 1), and continued to increase with the infection time (P<0.001 or P<0.000 1). The increase of IL-8 mRNA level was not as significant as IL-6, TNF-α, IL-8, IL-1β, but it also showed a 2-4 folds increase. Baricitinib does not affect the level of viral RNA in Calu-3 cells after SARS-CoV-2 infection (P>0.05). However, baricitinib can significantly inhibit the up-regulation of IL-6 and TNF-α levels induced by SARS-CoV-2 infection (5.25-fold and 3.90-fold down-regulation, respectively, P<0.01), and has little effect on the levels of IL-8 and IL-1β . In addition, the drug could also significantly down-regulate the increase in IFN-β and IFIT2 levels caused by viral infection (10.51-fold and 90.78-fold down-regulation, respectively, P<0.000 1). Conclusions　Baricitinib inhibits the release of inflammatory cytokines to some extent, but it drastically down-regulates the expression of interferons and interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs), and has limited antiviral effect on SARS-CoV-2. Considering that interferon signal pathways play important roles on viral infection, caution should be exercised when using baricitinib to treat COVID-19 patients.

Meta-analysis of the effects of femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery on corneal endothelial cells / 国际眼科杂志(Guoji Yanke Zazhi)

AIM: To systematically evaluate the effects of femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery and conventional ultrasound cataract surgery(CUCS)on corneal endothelial cells.METHODS: Databases such as PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Embase, CNKI, CBM, VIP and WanFang Data were searched for randomized controlled trials(RCT)from the establishment of the database to November 2021 on the effects of femtosecond laser cataract surgery and conventional ultrasound cataract surgery on corneal endothelial cells. Language is limited to Chinese or English. The literatures were evaluated by the Manual of Systematic Evaluation of Cochrane Interventions and the modified Jadad Scale. Stata 15.0 software was used for statistical analysis.RESULTS: A total of 13 RCT were included, including 1 446 eyes in the FLACS group and 1 472 eyes in the CUCS group. The Meta-analysis results showed that the cumulative dissipated energy(CDE)in FLACS group was obviously lower than that in CUCS group [WMD=-3.84, 95%CI (-6.30, -1.38), P=0.002]. The effective phacoemulsification time(EPT)in the FLACS group was obviously lower than that in the CUCS group [WMD=-3.03, 95%CI(-4.00, -2.05), P&#x003C;0.001]. The density of corneal endothelial cells in both the FLACS group after surgery at 1 and 3mo was higher than that in CUCS group [WMD=121.76, 95%CI(79.31, 164.20), P&#x003C;0.001; WMD=76.04, 95%CI(19.25, 132.82), P=0.009]; The thickness of the central cornea in the CUCS group was significantly thicker than that in the FLACS group at 1wk after the surgery [WMD=-9.89, 95%CI (-18.60, -1.18), P=0.026]; The incidence of postoperative corneal edema in the FLACS group was less than that in the CUCS group [RR=0.46, 95%CI(0.32, 0.66), P&#x003C;0.001]. There were no differences in the percentage of hexagonal cells and coefficient of variation of corneal endothelial cells between the two groups.CONCLUSION: Compared with conventional ultrasound cataract surgery, femtosecond assisted cataract surgery can significantly reduce the phacoemulsification energy and the duration of the phacoemulsification energy, and significantly reduce the loss of corneal endothelial cells in the early postoperative period, while reducing the occurrence of postoperative corneal edema.

Research on the construction of global scientific research progress monitoring system during public health emergencies: Taking the tracking of the latest COVID-19 scientific papers as an example / 中华医学科研管理杂志

Objective:By building a COVID-19 related scientific research progress monitoring system, to mitigate the information needs of different stakeholders such as government decision-makers, enterprises and scientific research institutions, provide reference for global scientific research progress monitoring for possible public health emergencies in the future.Methods:Literature review and expert consultation were adopted to systematically sort out the data sources of journal papers, preprints and other scientific papers, formed their respective monitoring catalogs and determined the tracking path.Results:COVID-19-related papers mainly include journal papers and preprints. The data source monitoring range of journal papers includes the official websites of top journals in biomedical and natural sciences, the database Web of Science and Science Direct, and the monitoring scope of the preprint platform includes medRxiv, bioRxiv, and SSRN, etc. In addition, the virological websites virological and nextstrain should also be monitored.Conclusions:COVID-19-related scientific research progress monitoring system can be used for daily monitoring to provide support for decision-making and deployment of prevention and control work.

Protective effect of Renqing Changjue on acute respiratory distress syndrome in rabbits / 中国药理学与毒理学杂志

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether Renqing Changjue has a protective effect on acute respiratory dis?tress syndrome (ARDS) induced by endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in rabbits. METHODS Thirty-six healthy male New Zealand white rabbits were randomly divided into six groups: normal control group, model group, dexamethasone group, Renqing Changjue high, middle and low dose group, with six rabbits in each group. LPS was used to replicate the ARDS model after five consecutive days of gavage. Arterial pressure, respiratory rate and anal temperature blood were recorded for arterial blood gas analysis at 0, 0.5, 1, 2 and 4 h, respectively. At the end of the four-hour experiment, rab?bits were killed by bloodletting, and the lung tissue was quickly removed to determine the cytokines, SOD, MDA and pathological examination of rabbit lung. RESULTS Renqing Changjue can significantly reduce the pathological changes of lung in ARDS model group. The expression of AQP1 and MPO in rabbit lung was significantly decreased by immuno?histochemistry (P<0.05) ,reduce the lung wet/dry weight ratio, increase the ratio of PaO2/FiO2, inhibit the release of inflammatory factors and scavenge free radicals and antioxidant effects. CONCLUSION Renqing Changjue can effec?tively protect rabbits with acute respiratory distress syndrome induced by LPS, and may protect the lung by inhibiting the release of cytokines and anti-oxidation.

The Policy and Practice of Medical Device Emergency Approval at the Local Level under the Circumstance of COVID-19 Disease / 中国医疗器械杂志

This research analyzed Chinese emergency approval policies and practices of medical devices at the local level under the circumstance of COVID-19 disease. The legal basis and administrative system were clarified, the implementation and characteristics of emergency approval policies were investigated, the products information including total approved number, product type and license's validity period were counted. Advices as enhancing the standardization of emergency approval system, strengthening registration guidance and optimize information disclose and management were provided.

Whole exome sequencing and trio analysis to broaden the variant spectrum of genes in idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism / 亚洲男科学杂志(英文版)

Dozens of genes are associated with idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (IHH) and an oligogenic etiology has been suggested. However, the associated genes may account for only approximately 50% cases. In addition, a genomic systematic pedigree analysis is still lacking. Here, we conducted whole exome sequencing (WES) on 18 unrelated men affected by IHH and their corresponding parents. Notably, one reported and 10 novel variants in eight known IHH causative genes (AXL, CCDC141, CHD7, DMXL2, FGFR1, PNPLA6, POLR3A, and PROKR2), nine variants in nine recently reported candidate genes (DCAF17, DCC, EGF, IGSF10, NOTCH1, PDE3A, RELN, SLIT2, and TRAPPC9), and four variants in four novel candidate genes for IHH (CCDC88C, CDON, GADL1, and SPRED3) were identified in 77.8% (14/18) of IHH cases. Among them, eight (8/18, 44.4%) cases carried more than one variant in IHH-related genes, supporting the oligogenic model. Interestingly, we found that those variants tended to be maternally inherited (maternal with n = 17 vs paternal with n = 7; P = 0.028). Our further retrospective investigation of published reports replicated the maternal bias (maternal with n = 46 vs paternal with n = 28; P = 0.024). Our study extended a variant spectrum for IHH and provided the first evidence that women are probably more tolerant to variants of IHH-related genes than men.

Neurological Diseases Responding Specifically to Traditional Chinese Medicine / 中国实验方剂学杂志

In recent years， the incidence of neurological diseases has been increasing year by year. To give full play to the advantages of traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） in the treatment of neurological disorders， identify the breakthrough point of integrating TCM with western medicine， and further standardize the clinical diagnosis and treatment of TCM， the China Association of Chinese Medicine organized neurologists in TCM and western medicine to carry out in-depth discussion on the neurological diseases responding specifically to TCM and integrated TCM and western medicine， such as stroke， headache， vertigo， multiple sclerosis， and epilepsy， aiming to formulate a well-recognized and integrated treatment protocol for TCM and western medicine and improve the efficacy of neurological disorders. Furthermore， the treatment suggestions of the corresponding diseases in TCM and western medicine were proposed to provide references for clinical practice and scientific research.

New Opportunities and Challenges for Forensic Medicine in the Era of Artificial Intelligence Technology / 法医学杂志

Traditional forensic identification relies on forensic experts to manually extract information and provide identification opinions based on medicine, biology and other fields of knowledge combined with personal work experience, which is not only time-consuming and require great effort, but also affected by subjective factors that are difficult to overcome. In the era of big data, the booming development of artificial intelligence brings new ideas to forensic medicine. In recent years, forensic researchers at home and abroad have conducted many studies based on artificial intelligence technology, such as face recognition, age and gender identification, DNA analysis, postmortem interval estimation, injury and cause of death identification, showing the feasibility and advantages of using artificial intelligence technology to solve forensic identification problems. As a new means of technology that has adapted to the development of the times, artificial intelligence has brought new vitality to forensic medicine, but at the same time also some new challenges. How to deal with these challenges scientifically and form a new mode of 'artificial intelligence plus forensic medicine' with artificial intelligence and forensic medicine developing collaboratively is a new direction for the development of forensic medicine in the era of big data.

Optimized experimental method for determination of hydroxyproline in lung tissue of mice / 医学研究生学报

ObjectiveThere are many methods for the detection of hydroxyproline (HYP), but few of them are suitable for the detection of lung tissue in mice. We intend to establish an accurate and reliable method for measuring HYP levels based on mouse lung tissues to assess the degree of fibrosis development more effectively.MethodsBased on the alkali hydrolysis method, the effects of the concentration of alkali hydrolysate and hydrolysis time on the determination results of HYP level in mice lung tissue were compared; the effects of the changes of experimental conditions on the determination results of HYP standard were compared; and the results of the determination of HYP level in mice lung tissue under dry and wet conditions were compared on the basis of the above experimental results.ResultsThe optimum concentration of alkali hydrolysate is 2 mol/L and the optimum hydrolysis time is 20 min. The optimum pH value of citric acid buffer is 6.0-6.5. The optimum solvent for chloramine T is methanol, the optimum reaction time for chloramine T solution is 15 min, the optimum reaction time for perchloric acid solution is 5 min, and the optimum reaction time for 4-(dimethylamino) benzoyl toluene is 5 min. The optimum condition of aldehyde solution color development is that it is bathed in water at 85 for 3 minutes. Some related reagents are stored in suitable environment after preparation, and the experimental data will not be affected within 7 days. Dry lung tissue of mice can improve the detection level of HYP. The improved experimental protocol was applied to the bleomycin-induced mouse pulmonary fibrosis model, and the HYP measurement results were significantly higher than that of the original protocol.ConclusionAn accurate and reliable method for the determination of hydroxyproline in lung tissue of mice was established.

Research progress in clinical predictors of pathological complete response in locally advanced rectal cancer after neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy / 国际外科学杂志

Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT)+ total mesorectal excision (TME) has become the standard mode of treatment for locally advanced rectal cancer(LARC). However, the sensitivity of different patients to nCRT varies greatly, some patients can get pathological complete response (pCR), and their long-term survival is significantly improved, Some patients'tumors continue to progress, therefore, accurate prediction of whether pCR can be achieved after nCRT is very important for guiding individualized treatment of patients. Current studies have shown that some accessible clinical factors, such as age, pathological types of tumors, TNM staging, circumferential extent of tumor, distance to the anal verge, CEA level, neutrophil lymphocyte ratio, can be used to predict whether pCR can be achieved.This article reviews the progress of clinical predictors of pCR in LARC after nCRT.

Regression of liver fibrosis: evidence and challenges / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

It has been reported that liver fibrosis could be reversed after eliminating liver injuries. This article systematically summarizes the evidence of fibrosis regression based on histology, liver stiffness, and serum biomarkers, and discusses several clinically relevant challenges. Evidence from liver biopsy has been regarded as the gold standard in the assessment of fibrosis regression. Semi-quantitative staging and grading systems are traditionally and routinely used to define regression. Recently, the predominantly regressive, indeterminate, and predominantly progressive score was proposed, based on the regressive features from "hepatic repair complex", to provide additional information regarding the quality of fibrosis. For non-invasive assessment, although liver stiffness and serum biomarkers could be applied to reflect the dynamic changes of liver fibrosis, other confounding factors such as liver inflammation have to be considered. In conclusion, both histology and non-invasive methods can provide evidence regarding fibrosis regression. The predictive value of fibrosis regression in long-term prognosis warrants further investigation.

Effect of Erxian Shengbai Decoction Combined with Huangqi Huanagshan Soup on Leukopenia After Chemotherapy and Regulatory Effect on Immunity / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Objective:To observe the clinical efficacy of Erxian Shengbai decoction combined with Huangqi Huang soup for leucopenia (deficiency of spleen and kidney Qi) after chemotherapy, and to investigate the regulatory effect on immune function and cytokines. Method:One hundred and fifty patients were randomly divided into control group（75 cases） and observation group （75 cases）by random number table. Patients in group got batilol tablets by oral administration for 6 weeks, 60 mg/time, 3 times/day. And the patients at stage Ⅲ or Ⅳ additionally received recombinant human granulocyte colony stimulating factor injection (rhG-CSF) for subcutaneous injection,2-5 μg·kg-1·d-1, until the count of neutrophils recovered to 5.0×109个/L (10.0×109个/L for white blood cell). In the control group shengbaikang granules were taken orally,1 bag/time,3 times/day.Patients in observation group additionally received Erxian Shengbai decoction combined with Huangqi Huangshan soup for 6 weeks, 1 doses/day. Number of peripheral blood leukocytes (WBC) and neutrophils (NEUT), time to recovery, number of infections, duration of using antibiotics, dose and duration of rhG-CSF, red blood cell (RBC) count, hemoglobin (Hb), platelets (PLT) and rate of completed chemotherapy were recorded. Scores of traditional Chinese medicine（TCM）syndrome and karnofsky performance scale (KPS) were graded before and after treatment. Levels of T lymphocyte subsets (CD3+, CD4+, CD8+ and CD4+/CD8+) , natural killer cell (NK), interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were all detected. Result:In the analysis of rank sum test, to the efficacy for leucopenia in observation group was better than that in control group (Z=2.057, P<0.05). Levels of WBC, NEUT, RBC, Hb and PLT were higher than those in control group (P<0.01). Time to recovery, number of infections and duration of using antibiotics, dose and duration of rhG-CSF were all less than those in control group (P<0.01). After treatment, the recovery rate of WBC and NEUT as well as completed chemotherapy were 76.12% (51/67), 73.13% (49/67) and 92.54% (62/67) in observation group, higher than 57.35% (39/68), 52.94% (36/68) and 79.41% (54/68) in control group (P<0.01). Levels of NK, CD3+, CD4+, CD4+/CD8+ and IL-2 were all higher than those in control group (P<0.01), while levels of CD8+ , IL-6 and TNF-α were lower than those in control group (P<0.05). Conclusion:Erxian Shengbai decoction combined with Huangqi Huangshan soup can promote the recovery of WBC and NEUT, stabilize the immune function, regulate cytokines, improve the microenvironment of bone marrow hematopoiesis, improve the completion rate of chemotherapy, reduce the number of infections and the amount of rhG-CSF, relieve clinical symptoms, and stabilize the quality of life in patients with leukopenia after chemotherapy (deficiency of spleen and kidney Qi).