不同时期COPD患者血清DcR3、Survivin表达水平及临床意义

目的 探讨不同时期慢性阻塞性肺疾病(COPD)患者血清诱饵受体3(DcR3)、凋亡抑制蛋白(Survivin)表达水平及临床意义。方法 选取2018年9月—2019年12月本院收治的92名COPD患者为研究对象,其中稳定型COPD 50例,急性加重期COPD 42例;同期本院健康体检者88例为对照组。测定各组研究对象血清DcR3、Survivin水平及肺功能指标。 与对照组[DcR3(106.54±48.35)pg/mL,Survivin(98.85±26.59)pg/mL]比较,稳定期组和急性加重期组血清DcR3[(395.23±123.85)pg/mL,(1 248.81±213.59)pg/mL]、Survivin [(267.54±84.69)pg/mL,(1 233.95±307.26)pg/mL]水平升高;与稳定期组比较,急性加重期组血清DcR3、Survivin水平升高。与对照组比较,稳定期组和急性加重期组FEV1%、FEV1 /FVC、DLCO%水平降低(P<0.001);与稳定期组比较,急性加重期组FEV1%、FEV1 /FVC、DLCO%水平降低(P<0.001)。随着低氧血症严重程度的增加,COPD患者血清DcR3、Survivin水平逐渐增加(P<0.001)。多因素logistics回归分析显示,高水平DcR3、Survivin、IL-12、hs-CRP为COPD病情的危险因素(P<0.001)。DcR3、Survivin与FEV、FEV1 /FVC呈负相关,与IL-12、TNF-α、hs-CRP呈正相关(P<0.001)。 COPD稳定期、急性加重期患者血清DcR3、Survivin表达水平升高,且DcR3、Survivin与COPD病情严重程度呈正相关。     

Justifying Clinical Deception: Some Amendments to Brummett and Salter

In Abram Brummett and Erica K. Salter's excellent paper, “Mapping the Moral Terrain of Clinical Deception,” they rightly note that it is sometimes ethically appropriate for health care professionals to deceive patients and families. However, they also note that because doing so violates a prima facie duty of honesty, the ethical burden of proof falls upon the deceiver. Hence, they also provide a sophisticated framework for determining whether any given case is warranted. I applaud their overall approach but also critique some of their claims, in particular, their conclusion that lies of commission require greater justification than those of omission and their conflation of the principles of beneficence and nonmaleficence. I also urge them to give greater attention to how power asymmetries should be accounted for and to the impact such deceptive choices might have on the clinician's character.     

Pure laparoscopic living donor liver transplantation: Dreams come true

Minimally invasive approaches are increasingly being applied in surgeries and have recently been used in living donor hepatectomy. We have developed a safe and reproducible method for minimally invasive living donor liver transplantation, which consists of pure laparoscopic explant hepatectomy and pure laparoscopic implantation of the graft, which was inserted through a suprapubic incision. Pure laparoscopic explant hepatectomy without liver fragmentation was performed in a 60-year-old man with alcoholic liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The explanted liver was retrieved through a suprapubic incision. A modified right liver graft, procured from his 24-year-old son using the pure laparoscopic method, was inserted through a suprapubic incision, and implantation was performed intracorporeally throughout the procedure. The time required to remove the liver was 369 min, and the total operative time was 960 min. No complications occurred during or after the surgery. The patient recovered well, and his hospital stay was of 11 days. Pure laparoscopic living donor liver transplantation from explant hepatectomy to implantation was performed successfully. It is a feasible procedure when performed by a highly experienced surgeon and transplantation team. Further studies with larger sample sizes are needed to confirm its safety and feasibility.

     

Risk as a pattern over time: Delineation of time-dependent risk factors in biological,psychological, and social variables in cancer patients

Background

Survival in cancer patients is associated with a multitude of biological, social, and psychological factors. Although it is well established that all these factors add to overall mortality, it is not well understood how the predictive power of these parameters changes in a comprehensive model and over time.

Methods

Patients who attended the authors’ outpatient clinic were invited to participate. The authors followed 5180 mixed cancer patients (51.1% female; mean age, 59.1 years [SD = 13.8]) for up to 16 years and analyzed biological (age, sex, cancer site, anemia), psychological (anxiety, depression), and social variables (marital status, education, employment status) potentially predicting overall survival in a Cox proportional hazards model.

Results

The median survival time for the entire sample was 4.3 years (95% confidence interval, 4.0–4.7). The overall survival probabilities for 1 and 10 years were 76.8% and 38.0%, respectively. Following an empirical approach, the authors split the time interval into five periods: acute, subacute, short-term, medium-term, and long-term. A complex pattern of variables predicted overall survival differently in the five periods. Biological parameters were important throughout most of the time, social parameters were either time-independent predictors or tended to be more important in the longer term. Of the psychological parameters, only depression was a significant predictor and lost its predictive power in the long-term.

Conclusions

The findings of this study allow the development of comprehensive patient-specific models of risk and resilience factors addressing biopsychosocial needs of cancer patients, paving the way for a personalized treatment plan that goes beyond biomedical cancer care.     

注意缺陷多动障碍患儿血清25（OH）D及微量元素表达水平及临床意义

目的 探究注意缺陷多动障碍(ADHD)患儿血清25羟基维生素D[25(OH)D]、微量元素表达水平及临床意义。方法 选取2019年4月至2020年11月本院诊治的84例ADHD患儿进行研究(ADHD组),依据ADHD分型标准将患儿分为注意缺陷为主型组(28例)、多动为主型组(33例)、混合型组(23例),并选取同期84例体检健康儿童进行对照研究(对照组)。采用高效液相色谱-串联质谱法检测所有受试儿童血清25(OH)D水平；检测血清铁(Fe)、磷(P)、镁(Mg)、钙(Ca)、铜(Cu)、锌(Zn)、铅(Pb)水平；Pearson法分析ADHD患儿血清25(OH)D水平与Cu、Zn、Pb水平的相关性；Logistic回归分析ADHD发生的影响因素；受试者工作特征(ROC)曲线分析血清25(OH)D、Zn、Pb水平对ADHD的诊断价值。结果 ADHD组血清25(OH)D、Cu、Zn水平均显著低于对照组(P<0.05),Pb水平显著高于对照组(P<0.05)；注意缺陷为主型组、多动为主型组、混合型组患儿血清25(OH)D、Fe、P、Mg、Ca、Cu、Zn、Pb水平比较,差异无统计学意义(P>0.05)；ADHD患儿血清25(OH)D水平与Cu、Zn水平均呈正相关(P<0.05),与Pb水平呈负相关(P<0.05)；25(OH)D、Zn是影响ADHD发生的保护因素(P＜0.05),Pb是影响ADHD发生的危险因素(P＜0.05)；血清25(OH)D、Zn、Pb水平诊断ADHD的曲线下面积(AUC)分别为0.773、0.770、0.772,截断值分别为21.01 ng/mL、16.05 μmol/L、50.69 μg/L,相应灵敏度分别为82.1%、77.4%、63.1%,特异度分别为67.9%、71.4%、88.1%；三者联合诊断ADHD的AUC为0.883,其灵敏度、特异度分别为81.0%、81.0%。结论 ADHD患儿血清25(OH)D、Cu、Zn水平降低,Pb水平升高,25(OH)D、微量元素水平与ADHD患儿类型无关,25(OH)D、Zn、Pb联合有助于临床筛查ADHD患儿。     

Outcomes of Fluoroscopy-Guided Percutaneous High Ligation of the Great Saphenous Vein Combined With Foam Sclerotherapy for Symptomatic Great Saphenous Veins

PurposeTo evaluate the effectiveness and safety of fluoroscopy-guided percutaneous high ligation (FPHL) combined with fluoroscopy-guided foam sclerotherapy (FGFS) to treat varicose veins of the great saphenous veins (GSVs).Materials and MethodsThis was a retrospective study of 113 patients (mean age, 62.1 ± 10.8 years; 60 men) with varicose veins of the GSVs (133 limbs) that were treated with FPHL combined with FGFS between April 1 and October 31, 2019. Demographic and clinical data were collected from these patients before the FPHL procedure, after which FGFS was performed. The preterminal GSV was ligated percutaneously by a percutaneously-positioned polypropylene ligature under fluoroscopic guidance. The outcome of ligation was confirmed by venography. Then, foam sclerotherapy was performed under fluoroscopy. At 1-year follow-up, GSV occlusion was evaluated by ultrasound. The venous clinical severity scores (VCSSs) were compared between the preoperative and 1-year follow-up periods.ResultsThe technical success rate was 100% (133 limbs). Complete 12-month follow-up was available for 112 limbs (84.2%) and 103 of these limbs (92.0%) remained occluded during this period. The VCSS improved from 4.71 ± 2.15 to 0.74 ± 0.60 (V = 6328, P < .001). During follow-up, there were 16 limbs with thrombophlebitis and 38 limbs with saphenous junction pain; these events were alleviated within 2 weeks of the procedure. There was no deep venous thrombosis or other severe adverse events.ConclusionsFPHL combined with FGFS to treat varicose veins in the GSVs achieved an occlusion rate of 92% and improved the clinical symptoms within 1 year; this minimally-invasive procedure was safe and effective.     

The role of conventional radiography to assess the outcome of oncologic skeletal reconstructions of lower limbs aided by vascularized fibular autograft

IntroductionVascularized fibular autografts (VFA) are used in the oncologic skeletal reconstructions of long bones, alone or combined with massive bone allografts (MBA). Data regarding the role of imaging in assessing these complex skeletal reconstructions are lacking, and have mainly focused on Computed Tomography (CT). Our aim was to evaluate if early conventional radiography (CR) findings are correlated with the outcome of these skeletal reconstructions.Materials and methodsAll consecutive patients who underwent oncologic resection of lower limbs long bones followed by VFA reconstruction were included in this single-center retrospective study. We compared the CR obtained immediately after surgery with the CR at the 6-month control, as well as the CR at 6 months with the CT at 6 months when available. The following scores were assigned to the VFA: 0 (unchanged), 1 (osteopenia-cortical bone thinning), 2 (increase in bone density-cortical thickening). We then investigated whether this score correlated with the implant outcome within 12 months (optimal integration, suboptimal integration, integration requiring further surgery or lack of integration) using Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses, considering the occurrence of integration and the duration time before the surgical removal of the whole bone reconstruction.ResultsForty-five patients were included (32 men [71.1%], mean age 14.6 years), 26 affected by osteosarcoma, 14 by Ewing sarcoma, 3 by adamantinoma and 2 operated for the failure of previous reconstructions for bone sarcoma. VFA changes on 6-month CR were significantly associated with optimal integration of the implants (log-rank P = 0.0137, multivariate Hazard ratio = 7.62, 95% confidence interval = 1.13–51.25). None of the other clinical and surgical features were associated with the implant outcome. The findings on 6-month CR and CT follow-up were not significantly different. CT at 6 months was available in 36 patients (80.0%).ConclusionThe assessment of VFA morphological changes on CR performed at 6 months can predict the outcome of the skeletal implant. This data should be considered for clinical decision-making, selecting patients requiring additional images (CT), and possible subsequent revision surgical procedures.