Relationship between serum gonadal hormone levels and synkinesis in postmenopausal women and man with idiopathic facial paralysis

ObjectiveTo investigate whether serum gonadal hormone levels are correlated to the development of facial synkinesis following Bell's palsy in postmenopausal women and man.MethodsA total of 149 patients with Bell's palsy were enrolled in this study. All patients were instructed in standard treatment strategy by expert staff from their first visit. The degree of synkinesis was evaluated at 12 months after the onset of facial nerve palsy based on the synkinesis scores of Sunnybrook facial grading system. The patients were divided into two groups by gender.ResultsSerum estradiol levels were significantly higher in patients with facial synkinesis than in patients without facial synkinesis following Bell's palsy in postmenopausal female. Male patients with facial synkinesis following Bell's palsy had a higher serum estradiol and testosterone levels. Baseline ENoG values (OR=11.144, 95% CI=1.001-124.126, p=0.008) and serum estradiol levels (OR=1.145, 95% CI=1.033-1.270, p=0.010) were the two independent predictors for facial synkinesis in postmenopausal female patients. Meanwhile, baseline ENoG values (OR=5.312, 95% CI=0.626-45.069, p=0.035), HbA1c values (OR=27.470, 95% CI=2.001-43.084, p=0.016), serum E2 levels (OR=1.298, 95% CI=1.092-1.542, p=0.003), and serum testosterone levels (OR=1.892, 95% CI=1.309-2.734, p=0.001) were the independent predictors for facial synkinesis in male patients.ConclusionSerum estradiol levels are associated with the development of facial synkinesis following Bell's palsy in postmenopausal female patients. Serum estradiol and testosterone levels are associated with the development of facial synkinesis following Bell's palsy in male patients. Serum gonadal hormone levels might be acted as potential biomarker for predicting facial synkinesis following Bell's palsy.     

Deep Phenotyping and Prediction of Long-term Cardiovascular Disease: Optimized by Machine Learning

BackgroundPrediction of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is important in clinical practice. Machine learning (ML) may offer an improved alternative to current CVD risk stratification in individual patients. We aim to identify important predictors and compare ML models with traditional models according to their prediction performance in a large long-term follow-up cohort.MethodsThe Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study was designed to study the progression of subclinical disease to cardiovascular events over a 25-year follow-up period. All phenotypic variables at visit 1 were obtained. All-cause death, CVD, and coronary heart disease were the outcomes for analysis. The ML framework involved variable selection using the random survival forest (RSF) method, model building, and 5-fold cross-validation. Model performance was evaluated by discrimination using the Harrell concordance index (C-index), accuracy using the Brier score (BS), and interpretability using the number of variables in the model.ResultsOf the 14,842 participants in ARIC, the average age was 54.2 years, with 45.2% male and 26.2% Black participants. Thirty-eight unique variables were selected in the RSF top 20 importance ranking of all 6 outcomes. Aging, hypertension, glucose metabolism, renal function, coagulation, adiposity, and sodium retention dominated the predictions of all outcomes. The ML models outperformed the regression models and established risk scores with a higher C-index, lower BS, and varied interpretability.ConclusionsThe ML framework is useful for identifying important predictors of CVD and for developing models with robust performance compared with existing risk models.     

The potential use of virtual reality in vestibular rehabilitation of motion sickness

ObjectiveMotion sickness (MS) can be triggered by direct or indirect stimuli due to mismatches in the visual-vestibular autonomic pathways. Various studies in the literature have shown that virtual reality technologies can generate provocative stimuli for MS. Therefore, our primary aim is to investigate the usability of virtual reality systems in MS rehabilitationMethods20 normal and 19 MS patients were included. A total of six virtual reality rehabilitation sessions (VRrs) with a game called “Roller Coaster Dreams” playable via PlayStation VR Head Mounted Display were applied thrice a week for 2 weeks, or twice a week for 3 weeks. Participants were evaluated at the pre-rehabilitation phase twice and after third and sixth rehabilitation sessions with the sensory organization test (SOT). The effectiveness of the rehabilitation program was statistically analyzed by comparing the results of SOTs.ResultsAll SOT results of the patient group were compared each other to evaluate the effectiveness of rehabilitation. According to the post-hoc comparisons, a statistically significant difference was found between the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th SOT- Equilibrium Scores; Condition 2 (p = 0.043), Condition 3 (p = 0.006), Condition 4 (p = 0.031), Condition 5 (p = 0.002) and Condition 6 (p = 0.040). There is no difference obtained in Condition 1 (p > 0.05). The Equilibrium Scores of SOT 3rd and SOT 4th were similar and 4th SOT-Equilibrium Scores were the highest among all SOT measurements. The results show that while the first three sessions were accepted as an orientation and adaptation sessions, 4^th, 5^thand 6^th sessions are habilitation sessions.ConclusionsVR proved to be significantly effective and useful for MS rehabilitation. Additionally, observations indicated that using VR makes rehabilitation fun, increases the efficiency of the process, and reduces the risk of inadaptability to exercise.     

肉毒毒素注射引起的不良反应

肉毒毒素注射引起的不良反应,是药物本身的组成成分引起的与用药目的无关的有害反应,与医生注射方式和注射技术无关。尽管肉毒毒素生产厂家的药品说明书上也有提示,但其所提供的信息不够全面,也未必能引起医生的足够重视。目前文献上多为散发病例。为此作者对过去20年有关肉毒毒素注射引起的过敏反应、肉瘤样肉芽肿、眼睑水肿、流感样症状等相关不良反应的临床表现、发病机制与治疗方法进行综述。     

结直肠癌肝转移患者行全腹腔镜与腹腔镜辅助同期切除手术的疗效观察

目的探讨结直肠癌肝转移(CRLM)患者采用全腹腔镜与腹腔镜辅助同期切除术治疗的临床疗效比较。方法选取2010年2月至2015年4月间大连大学附属新华医院收治的68例CRLM同期切除患者,采用随机数表法分为辅助组和全镜组,每组34例。辅助组患者采用腹腔镜结直肠癌(CRC)根治术联合开腹CRLM切除术治疗,全镜组患者采用全腹腔镜切除术治疗,比较两组患者术中术后指标、术后并发症发生率及生存时间。结果两组患者手术时间和术中出血量比较,差异无统计学意义(P> 0.05)。两组患者术后排便时间和住院时间比较,差异无统计学意义(P>0.05)。辅助组患者并发症发生率为44.1%,全镜组为32.4%,差异无统计学意义(P> 0.05)。两组患者无病生存时间和总生存时间比较,差异无统计学意义(P> 0.05)。结论全腹腔镜与腹腔镜辅助同期切除术治疗CRLM患者的安全性及有效性结果接近,临床可根据患者病情合理选择手术方式。     

Characterization of hepatitis B virus infection and viral DNA integration in non-Hodgkin lymphoma

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection has been reported to be associated with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). However, the evidence is limited to the seroepidemiological study. There is a lack of evidence showing the HBV infection and integration in NHL cells. Here, we reported that in the Shanghai area, the positive rates of serum HBsAg (OR: 3.11; 95% CI: 2.20-4.41) and HBeAg (OR: 3.99; 95% CI: 1.73-9.91) were significantly higher in patients with NHL. HBsAg, HBcAg and HBV DNA were detected in 34.4%, 45.2% and 47.0% of the NHL tissues, respectively. Furthermore, by using a high-throughput viral integration detection approach (HIVID), integrated HBV DNA was identified from 50% (6/12) HBV-related NHL tissues. There were a total of 313 HBV integration sites isolated from the NHL tissues, among which four protein-coding genes (FAT2, SETX, ITGA10 and CD63) were interrupted by HBV DNA in their exons. Seven HBV preferential target genes (ANKS1B, HDAC4, EGFLAM, MAN1C1, XKR6, ZBTB38 and CCDC91) showed significantly altered expression levels in NHL, suggesting a potential role of these genes in NHL development. Taken together, HBV integration is a common phenomenon in NHL. This finding opens up a new direction of research into the mechanistic link between HBV infection and NHL.     

活血通络汤治疗痰瘀阻络型缺血性脑卒中临床研究

目的:探讨活血通络汤治疗痰瘀阻络型缺血性脑卒中的临床疗效和安全性。方法:选取82例痰瘀阻络型缺血性卒中患者作为研究对象,按照其治疗方法分为对照组40例和观察组42例,对照组予以常规西药治疗,观察组患者在对照组治疗基础上予以活血通络汤治疗,两组患者均治疗2周,治疗结束后比较两组患者临床疗效、中医症候积分、神经功能、日常生活能力、血液流变学指标水平及不良反应。结果:经治疗2周后,观察组患者临床治疗总有效率为97.62%,显著高于对照组临床总有效率82.50%(P<0.05); 两组患者治疗前中医症候积分、NIHSS及BI评分比较,差异无统计学意义,治疗后两组患者中医症候积分和NIHSS评分均较治疗前下降,而BI评分显著上升,但治疗后观察组患者中医症候积分和NIHSS评分下降和BI评分上升程度均显著高于对照组患者(P<0.05); 两组患者治疗前全血高切黏度、全血低切黏度、纤维蛋白原及血浆黏度水平比较,差异无统计学意义,治疗后两组患者全血高切黏度、全血低切黏度、纤维蛋白原及血浆黏度水平均较治疗前明显下降,但治疗后观察组患者血液流变学指标水平均低于对照组患者,差异有统计学意义(P<0.05); 两组患者均未出现不良事件。结论:活血通络汤可提高痰瘀阻络型缺血性脑卒中患者临床疗效,改善其症状体征、神经功能及血液状态,提高日常活动能力。