从武汉抗疫看中医药文化认同与新的医学模式

从武汉抗疫中医药的投入使用情况,反思现代临床和国人所呈现出的中医药文化认同和就医习惯,探索其历史文化根源及社会因素与医学发展的内在关联。回顾历史,中医屡次临危受命,不负重托,如今大疫当前,中医药再次发挥了重要作用。故新时代探讨如何遵循中医药发展规律,传承精华、守正创新,坚持中医药原创优势,形成中医药学科优势整体化呈现的新模式医学,对提升全社会的中医药认知度具有重要意义。     

改进软腭牵拉暴露鼻咽手术治疗腺样体肥大

2013年5月至2014年2月对解放军107医院收治的80例腺样体肥大患者采用吸痰管牵拉软腭暴露鼻咽部,并在70°鼻内镜辅助下行肥大腺样体切除术,效果良好,现报告如下。1资料与方法1.1临床资料本组80例中,男43例,女37例,5~13岁,平均7岁,病程9个月~4年。临床症状均有不同程度夜寐打鼾、张口呼吸,伴有鼻塞。其中     

沙利度胺联合TACE治疗原发性肝癌疗效与安全性的系统评价

目的:系统评价沙利度胺(thalidomide,TLD)联合肝动脉化疗栓塞术(transcatheter arterial chemoembolization,TACE)治疗原发性肝癌(primary hepatic carcinomas,PHC)的疗效和安全性.方法:计算机检索Cochrane Library(2014年第3期)、Web of Science(1986/2014-03)、Pub Med(1966/2014-03)、CNKI(1917/2014-03)、维普(1989/2014-03)、万方数据库(1998/2014-03),收集所有TLD联合TACE治疗PHC的随机对照试验.由两名评价员严格按照纳入标准选择文献,提取资料,并参照Cochrane系统评价的要求,对选择纳入的随机对照试验进行方法学质量评估后,采用Cochrane协作网提供的Rev Man 5.2软件对总有效率、疾病控制率、生活质量KPS评分、不同年限生存率、甲胎蛋白的变化、血管内皮生长因子(vascular endothelial growth factor,VEGF)的变化及不良反应发生率进行Meta分析.结果:最终纳入22项随机对照试验,包括1590例PHC患者,Meta分析结果显示,TLD联合TA C E组治疗P H C的总有效率(R R合并=1.29,95%C I:1.15-1.44)、疾病控制率(R R合并=1.27,95%CI:1.16-1.39)、生活质量KPS评分(MD合并=9.23,95%CI:6.90-11.55)、半年生存率(RR合并=1.10,95%C I:1.01-1.20)、1年生存率(RR合并=1.25,95%C I:1.13-1.39)、2年生存率(RR合并=1.45,95%CI:1.18-1.78)、3年生存率(R R合并=1.7 0,9 5%C I:1.1 6-2.5 0)、V E G F水平的变化(M D合并=-123.64,95%C I:-143.72--103.55)优于单纯TACE组,差异有统计学意义(均P0.05);不良反应发生率:在药物性皮疹发生率方面,TLD联合TACE组明显高于单纯TACE组,差异有统计学意义(RR=4.50,95%CI:2.34-8.64,P0.00001);在减少消化系应发生率(RR=1.08,95%CI:0.93-1.25)、降低骨髓抑制发生率(RR=1.12,95%CI:0.82-1.52)、降低肝功能异常发生率方面(R R=1.00,95%C I:0.72-1.39),T L D联合TA C E组与单纯TA C E组相近似,差异无统计学意义(均P0.05).结论:目前研究显示,与单纯TACE疗法相比,TLD联合TACE治疗PHC在总有效率、疾病控制率、生活质量KPS评分、半年生存率、1、2、3年生存率、降低V E G F方面具有明显的优势,但在安全性方面,TLD联合TACE组在药物性皮疹发生率方面明显高于单纯TACE组,而在消化系反应、骨髓抑制率、肝功能异常方面与单纯TACE组相似.     

Helicobacter pylori induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition in gastric carcinogenesis via the AKT/GSK3β signaling pathway

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a main risk factor for gastric cancer (GC). Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is involved in the development and progression of H. pylori-associated GC. However, the exact molecular mechanism of this process remains unclear. The AKT/GSK3β signaling pathway has been demonstrated to promote EMT in several types of cancer. The present study investigated whether H. pylori infection induced EMT, and promoted the development and metastasis of cancer in the normal gastric mucosa, and whether this process was dependent on AKT activation. The expression levels of the EMT-associated proteins, including E-cadherin and N-cadherin, were determined in 165 gastric mucosal samples of different disease stages by immunohistochemical analysis. The expression levels of E-cadherin, N-cadherin, AKT, phosphorylated (p-)AKT (Ser473), GSK3β and p-GSK3β (Ser9) were further determined in H. pylori-infected Mongolian gerbil gastric tissues and cells co-cultured with H. pylori by immunohistochemical analysis and western blotting. The results indicated that the expression levels of the epithelial marker E-cadherin were decreased, whereas the expression levels of the mesenchymal marker N-cadherin were increased during gastric carcinogenesis. Their expression levels were associated with H. pylori infection. Furthermore, H. pylori infection resulted in downregulation of E-cadherin expression and upregulation of N-cadherin expression in Mongolian gerbils and GES-1 cells. In addition, an investigation of the associated mechanism of action revealed that p-AKT (Ser473) and p-GSK3β (Ser9) were activated in GES-1 cells following co-culture with H. pylori. Furthermore, following pretreatment of the cells with the AKT inhibitor VIII, the expression levels of E-cadherin, N-cadherin, p-AKT and p-GSK3β did not show significant differences between GES-1 cells that were co-cultured with or without H. pylori. The levels of p-AKT and p-GSK3β were increased in H. pylori-infected Mongolian gerbils. In conclusion, the present study demonstrated that H. pylori infection activated AKT and resulted in the phosphorylation and inactivation of GSK3β, which in turn promoted early stage EMT. These effects were AKT-dependent. This mechanism may serve as a prerequisite for GC development.     

HIFα Regulates Developmental Myelination Independent of Autocrine Wnt Signaling

The developing CNS is exposed to physiological hypoxia, under which hypoxia-inducible factor α (HIFα) is stabilized and plays a crucial role in regulating neural development. The cellular and molecular mechanisms of HIFα in developmental myelination remain incompletely understood. A previous concept proposes that HIFα regulates CNS developmental myelination by activating the autocrine Wnt/β-catenin signaling in oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs). Here, by analyzing a battery of genetic mice of both sexes, we presented in vivo evidence supporting an alternative understanding of oligodendroglial HIFα-regulated developmental myelination. At the cellular level, we found that HIFα was required for developmental myelination by transiently controlling upstream OPC differentiation but not downstream oligodendrocyte maturation and that HIFα dysregulation in OPCs but not oligodendrocytes disturbed normal developmental myelination. We demonstrated that HIFα played a minor, if any, role in regulating canonical Wnt signaling in the oligodendroglial lineage or in the CNS. At the molecular level, blocking autocrine Wnt signaling did not affect HIFα-regulated OPC differentiation and myelination. We further identified HIFα–Sox9 regulatory axis as an underlying molecular mechanism in HIFα-regulated OPC differentiation. Our findings support a concept shift in our mechanistic understanding of HIFα-regulated CNS myelination from the previous Wnt-dependent view to a Wnt-independent one and unveil a previously unappreciated HIFα–Sox9 pathway in regulating OPC differentiation.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Promoting disturbed developmental myelination is a promising option in treating diffuse white matter injury, previously called periventricular leukomalacia, a major form of brain injury affecting premature infants. In the developing CNS, hypoxia-inducible factor α (HIFα) is a key regulator that adapts neural cells to physiological and pathologic hypoxic cues. The role and mechanism of HIFα in oligodendroglial myelination, which is severely disturbed in preterm infants affected with diffuse white matter injury, is incompletely understood. Our findings presented here represent a concept shift in our mechanistic understanding of HIFα-regulated developmental myelination and suggest the potential of intervening with an oligodendroglial HIFα-mediated signaling pathway to mitigate disturbed myelination in premature white matter injury.     

Next-generation sequencing through multigene panel testing for the diagnosis of hereditary epidermolysis bullosa in Chinese population

Epidermolysis bullosa (EB) is a heritable blistering disorder. We performed a next-generation sequencing-based multigene panel test and successfully predicted 100% of the EB types, including, 36 EB simplex (EBS), 13 junctional EB (JEB), 86 dystrophic EB (DEB), and 3 Kindler EB. Chinese JEB and recessive DEB (RDEB) patients have relatively mild phenotypes; for severe type separately accounts for 45.5% and 23.8%, respectively. We identified 96 novel and 49 recurrent pathogenic variants in 11 genes, although we failed to detect the second mutation in one JEB and five RDEB patients. We identified one novel p.E475K mosaic mutation in the clinically normal mother of one out of 13 EBS patients with KRT5 mutations, one recurrent p.G2034R mosaic mutation, and one novel p.G2043R mosaic mutation in the clinically normal relatives of two out of 19 dominant DEB patients. This study shows that next-generation technology could be an effective tool in diagnosing EB.     

Steep Decrease of Gender Difference in DSM-IV Alcohol Use Disorder: A Comparison of Two Nation-wide Surveys Conducted 10 Years Apart in Korea

While decreasing trend in gender differences in alcohol use disorders was reported in Western countries, the change in Asian countries is unknown. This study aims to explore the shifts in gender difference in alcohol abuse (AA) and dependence (AD) in Korea. We compared the data from two nation-wide community surveys to evaluate gender differences in lifetime AA and AD by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV). Face-to-face interviews using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) were applied to all subjects in 2001 (n=6,220) and 2011 (n=6,022). Male-to-female ratio of odds was decreased from 6.41 (95% CI, 4.81-8.54) to 4.37 (95% CI, 3.35-5.71) for AA and from 3.75 (95% CI, 2.96-4.75) to 2.40 (95% CI, 1.80-3.19) for AD. Among those aged 18-29, gender gap even became statistically insignificant for AA (OR, 1.59; 95% CI, 0.97-2.63) and AD (OR, 1.18; 95% CI, 0.80-2.41) in 2011. Men generally showed decreased odds for AD (0.55; 95% CI, 0.45-0.67) and women aged 30-39 showed increased odds for AA (2.13; 95% CI 1.18-3.84) in 2011 compared to 2001. Decreased AD in men and increased AA in women seem to contribute to the decrease of gender gap. Increased risk for AA in young women suggests needs for interventions.