[Resection and free flap repair of recurrent maxillofacial and paranasal sinus skull base malignant tumor: report of 9 cases].

Objective: To investigate the treatment method and effect of surgical resection and free flap repair of recurrent malignant tumors of maxillofacial paranasal sinus and skull base. Methods: The clinical data of 9 patients with recurrent maxillofacial paranasal sinus and skull base malignant tumors who underwent surgical resection and free flap repair in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery of Shandong Provincial Hospital from August 2009 to May 2019 were analyzed retrospectively, including 5 males and 4 females, aged 32-69 years. There were 4 cases of squamous cell carcinoma, 3 cases of adenoid cystic carcinoma, 1 case of myoepithelial carcinoma and 1 case of malignant fibrous histiocytoma. All patients were repaired with anterolateral femoral flap. The treatment process and postoperative effect were analyzed by descriptive statistics. Results: All patients were followed up from 16 months to 6 years. There were 6 cases of recurrence after operation, including 1 case of local recurrence and 5 cases of skull base and craniocerebral recurrence. The median tumor free survival time of recurrent patients was 35 months. Conclusion: Surgical resection and free flap repair can effectively prolong the life of patients with recurrent maxillofacial paranasal sinus and skull base malignant tumors.

[Skull base aneurysms: a retrospective review of fifteen cases focusing on the involvement of internal carotid artery].

Objective: To explore the diagnosis and clinical features of internal carotid artery aneurysm in the skull base. Methods: The data of 15 patients with internal carotid aneurysms in the skull base diagnosed and treated by digital subtraction angiography (DSA) or CT angiography (CTA) in the Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University from 1995 to 2017 were collected and analyzed. Among the 15 patients, 12 were males, and 3 were females, aging from 17 to 67 years old, with a median age of 44 years. Thirteen patients were diagnosed by DSA; the other two patients were diagnosed by CTA. Thirteen patients were diagnosed with pseudoaneurysm with the first symptom of epistaxis, in which eight patients underwent head trauma and 5 underwent radiotherapy of skull base tumor. The other two patients were diagnosed with true aneurysm presented headache and cranial nerve disorder. All patients were followed up for 2 to 12 years after treatment to see whether they were cured and survived. Results: Among the eight patients with a history of trauma, five patients were cured by embolization, two patients without embolization died of massive epistaxis, one patient died of progressive cerebral infarction after embolization. Among the five patients with radiotherapy of skull base tumor, one patient died of cerebral infarction after embolization, two patients died out of the hospital due to the recurrence of the primary tumor and intracranial invasion, one patient recovered well after embolization and surgical operation, one patient gave up treatment and died of massive hemorrhage out of hospital. In the other two patients with symptom of headache, one received embolization treatment outside the hospital after receiving mistake operation, and another one gave up treatment and died due to personal reasons. In total, four patients died in hospital, four died out of the hospital, and seven patients survived. Conclusions: Internal carotid artery aneurysm is a high-risk disease of anterior and middle skull base. For patients with epistaxis with a history of trauma and radiotherapy or patients with headaches and cranial nerve disorders, the possibility of the internal carotid artery aneurysm should be considered, in which DSA or CTA examination is essentially required for ensured diagnosis and disease evaluation.. The correct diagnosis and treatment by the otolaryngologist are crucial to the prognosis of the patient.

ß4GalT1 promotes inflammation in human osteoarthritic fibroblast-like synoviocytes by enhancing autocrine TNF-α activity.

OBJECTIVE: Synovial inflammation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis (OA), and ß4GalT1 has been reported to be involved in the inflammatory process. The aim of our study was to investigate the role of ß4GalT1 in the progression of inflammation and analyze the association between ß4GalT1 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in human OA fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Primary cultured FLS isolated from OA synovial tissues were cultured, and the levels of ß4GalT1, TNF-α, MMP-3, p/t-ERK, p/t-JNK, and p/t-P38 were analyzed by Western blotting. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was performed to measure the secretion of TNF-α, interleukin (IL)-1ß, and IL-6 in OA-FLS. Immunofluorescence staining was used to examine the co-localization of ß4GalT1 and TNF-α or THY1. RT-PCR was used to detect the transfection efficiency of ß4GalT1. RESULTS: The expression of ß4GalT1 was increased in OA-FLS. ß4GalT1 promoted cell invasion, MMP-3 production, and the secretion of TNF-α, IL-1ß, and IL-6. si-TNF-α attenuated the ß4GalT1-enhanced cell invasion and inflammatory factor secretion in OA-FLS. Furthermore, ß4GalT1 increased autocrine TNF-α signaling in OA-FLS. ß4GalT1 knockdown successfully decreased autocrine TNF-α activity, while ß4GalT1 overexpression increased autocrine TNF-α activity in OA-FLS. Moreover, ß4GalT1 enhanced the ERK, JNK, and P38 MAPK signaling pathways through the induction of autocrine TNF-α signaling in OA-FLS. CONCLUSIONS: ß4GalT1 may promote the inflammatory progression of OA-FLS by enhancing autocrine TNF-α signaling.

Study in Agaricus subgenus Minores and allied clades reveals a new American subgenus and contrasting phylogenetic patterns in Europe and Greater Mekong Subregion.

Within Agaricus subg. Minores, A. sect. Minores remains a little-studied section due generally to its delicate sporocarps often lacking taxonomically relevant morphological characters. To reconstruct the section, using the recent taxonomic system based on divergence times, and to evaluate the species diversity of A. sect. Minores in the Greater Mekong Subregion, 165 specimens were incorporated in phylogenetic analyses. A dated tree based on nuclear ITS, LSU and tef1-α sequence data allowed us to better circumscribe A. subg. Minores and to propose a new subgenus, A. subg. Minoriopsis, which is only known from tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas. A larger tree based on ITS sequences indicated that, with 81 phylogenetic species, the reconstructed section Minores is now one of the largest sections in the genus. Within A. subg. Minores, a new section, A. sect. Leucocarpi, and eleven new species are described from the Greater Mekong Subregion. Thirty-eight species of A. sect. Minores from this region of Asia were distributed in multiple clades that successively diverged over the past 24 million years. In contrast, species reported from Europe mostly grouped in a single non-tropical clade, suggesting a major species diversification following the middle Miocene climatic optimum.

[Clinical analyses of the diagnosis and treatment of invasive fungal rhinosinusitis: report of 14 cases].

OBJECTIVE: Through the retrospective analysis of the clinical data in 14 cases of invasive fungal rhinosinusitis (IFRS), the clinical characteristics, diagnosis and treatment of this disease were evaluated. METHODS: Fourteen clinically confirmed cases of IFRS since January 2008 to October 2015 were evaluated.collected, the clinical features, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis were analyzed to obtain a more comprehensive understanding for clinical reference. Fourteen patients were confirmed by pathological examination as IFRS, including 9 cases of aspergillus, 4 cases of mucor, and 1 case of rhinocerebral zygomycosis; including 5 cases of acute IFRS, 9 cases of chronic IFRS. All patients were treated with endoscopic surgery and intravenous antifungal therapy. RESULTS: Nine cases of chronic IFRS (including 1 case of mucor, 7 cases of aspergillus and 1 case of rhinocerebral zygomycosis) were cured, but the vision loss, diplopia or blindness, hard palate perforation remained. Five cases of acute IFRS included 3 cases of mucor and 2 cases of aspergillus. Among the 3 cases of mucor, 2 cases were died and 1 case was cured. Among the 2 cases of aspergillus, 1 patient was cured and the other patient died of electrolyte disorder after discharge from hospital. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with IFRS usually have diabetes. After the active surgical cleaning of lesion tissue and the systematic antifungal treatment with adequate dosage, these patients would have a better result. IFRS caused by mucor is ofen dangerous.

Pseudogap and proximity effect in the Bi2Te3/Fe1+yTe interfacial superconductor.

In the interfacial superconductor Bi2Te3/Fe1+yTe, two dimensional superconductivity occurs in direct vicinity to the surface state of a topological insulator. If this state were to become involved in superconductivity, under certain conditions a topological superconducting state could be formed, which is of high interest due to the possibility of creating Majorana fermionic states. We report directional point-contact spectroscopy data on the novel Bi2Te3/Fe1+yTe interfacial superconductor for a Bi2Te3 thickness of 9 quintuple layers, bonded by van der Waals epitaxy to a Fe1+yTe film at an atomically sharp interface. Our data show highly unconventional superconductivity, which appears as complex as in the cuprate high temperature superconductors. A very large superconducting twin-gap structure is replaced by a pseudogap above ~12 K which persists up to 40 K. While the larger gap shows unconventional order parameter symmetry and is attributed to a thin FeTe layer in proximity to the interface, the smaller gap is associated with superconductivity induced via the proximity effect in the topological insulator Bi2Te3.

Plasma currents and electron distribution functions under a dc electric field of arbitrary strength.

The currents induced by arbitrarily strong dc electric fields in plasma and the evolution of electron distributions have been studied by Fokker-Planck simulations. We find that the electron distributions evolve distinctly under different fields; especially, the electron distribution is well represented by the sum of a stationary and drifting Maxwellian at the moderate field. A set of hydrodynamiclike equations, similar to Spitzer's but without the weak-field limit, is given for calculating the current. It is more suitable for application in hybrid particle-in-cell simulations and may extend plasma transport theory in models that do not employ a kinetic description of the electrons.

[Study on adductive reaction of Ni[(C4H9O)2PS2]2 with nitrogen base by spectrographic method].

Reactions of Ni[(C4H9O)2PS2]2 (NiL2) with Pyridine, 4-methylpyridine, 3,5-lutidine, 2,4-lutidine and 2,4,6-lutidine have been studied by spectrophotometry in ethanol at 32 degrees C. With B = 2,4-lutidine and 2,4,6-lutidine, the formation of NiL2.B2 only is concluded. For other nitrogen bases(B), the adduct formation of NiL2.B and NiL2.B2 is established, and their adductive equilibrium constants (lg beta n) and molecules (n) have been discussed. All the NiL2.B and NiL2.B2 complexes exhibit virtually the same electronic spectra arising from the five-coordinate NiNS4 and six-coordinate NiN2S4 chromophore respectively. The adductive equilibrium constants (lg beta n) increase with basicity (pKa) of nitrogen bases and can be described by experimental formulas: lg beta 1 = -0.186 + 0.352 pKa; lg beta 2 = 3.16 + 0.083 pKa.