Cerebrospinal Fluid Leakage after Surgeries on the Thoracic Spine: A Review of 362 Cases

Panpan Hu,Miao Yu,Xiaoguang Liu,Zhongjun Liu,Liang Jiang, Feng Wei,Zhongqiang Chen 대한척추외과학회 2016 Asian Spine Journal Vol.10 No.3

Study Design: A retrospective clinical review. Purpose: To describe the incidence of cerebrospinal fluid leakage (CSFL) after thoracic decompression and examine the CSFL predisposing clinical factors. Overview of Literature: CSFL is a common complication following thoracic decompression but has not been sufficiently addressed in former studies. Methods: A cohort of 362 cases of thoracic decompression from February of 2005 to June of 2013 was examined. The case medical records were reviewed and the occurrence of CSFL and the related clinical parameters were noted. The incidence of CSFL for the entire cohort and each surgical approach were described. Besides, the relationship between CSFL and other clinical parameters were assessed, of which odds ratio values of all CSFL-associated parameters were calculated using multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results: The incidence of CSFL for the entire cohort was 32.3%. Different surgical approaches had different incidences of CSFL, and circumferential decompression had the highest incidence. Though many different clinical parameters were related to the occurrences of CSFL, being older than 52 years, having ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament or having longer operative segments than 3 vertebrae were significant risk factors for CSFL (p <0.05). Besides, surgeries on the mid-thoracic spine had an increased risk of CSFL (p <0.05). Conclusions: From our analysis, CSFL was a common complication after thoracic decompression with the incidence of up to 32.3%. This study identified the predisposing clinical factors, and spinal surgeons should be aware of these risk factors to reduce its incidence.

Analysis of Global Sagittal Postural Patterns in Asymptomatic Chinese Adults

Panpan Hu,Miao Yu,Zhuoran Sun,Weishi Li,Liang Jiang,Feng Wei,Xiaoguang Liu,Zhongqiang Chen,Zhongjun Liu 대한척추외과학회 2016 Asian Spine Journal Vol.10 No.2

Study Design: A prospective imaging study. Purpose: To characterize the distribution of the global sagittal postural patterns in asymptomatic Chinese adults using Roussouly classification. Overview of Literature: The norms of sagittal parameters in asymptomatic Chinese population have been previously described, but no report described their global sagittal postural patterns as characterized by Roussouly classification. Methods: A cohort of 272 asymptomatic Chinese adults was recruited. Data was assimilated by reviewing the films for each subject. Sagittal parameters were measured and sagittal postural patterns were then determined according to Roussouly classification. The pattern distributions were compared across genders within the study cohort. We also compared the data across different ethnicities from our study and a previous study to further characterize Chinese sagittal postures. Results: The cohort included 161 males and 111 females, with mean age of 23.2±4.4 years. The average descriptive results were as below: pelvic incidence (PI) 46.4°±9.6°, thoracic kyphosis (TK) 24.2°±9.0°, lumbar lordosis (LL) 50.6°±10.6°, sacral slope (SS) 37.2°±7.6°, pelvic tilt (PT) 9.4°±6.8°, spinosacral angle (SSA) 131.1°±7.5° and sagittal vertical axis (SVA) 17.24±32.36 mm. Despite a significant difference between two genders in LL, PI, SSA, and SVA, no difference was found in the distribution of Roussouly types among them. 47.8% of our cohort belonged to Roussouly type 3, while type 1, 2 and 4 comprised 23.2%, 14.0% and 15.1% of the subjects, respectively. Roussouly classification was capable of categorizing sagittal parameters except for the PT. This study also found that 4.4% of the recruited subjects belonged to the C7-anterior subgroup. Conclusions: From a characterization of the sagittal postural patterns of asymptomatic Chinese adults using Roussouly classification, the distribution was similar between Chinese males and females; however, from a cross-study comparison, it was different between asymptomatic Chinese and Caucasian adults, with a higher proportion of Roussouly type 3 in Chinese adults.

Potential rocky desertification simulation for the karst plateau area using CA-Markov model

Panpan Zhang,Yuanman Hu,Duning Xiao,Xiuzhen Li,Jie Yin 인하대학교 정석물류통상연구원 2009 인하대학교 정석물류통상연구원 학술대회 Vol.2009 No.10

It has been recognized that karst rocky desertification is one of the most serious geo-ecological problem in Southwestern China. Understanding the development trend of karst rocky desertification is of fundamental importance in rocky desertification management and control. More attention should be paid to karst areas with potential rocky desertification. In this paper, ARFGIS software was used to discribe the historical and current situation of potential rocky desertification spatial pattern in the middle and lower reaches of houzhai stream, a typical karst plateau area. Remote sensing images from the study area, Remote sensing images from the study area, collected in 1987,1955 and 2004 were used for spatial pattern simulation of potential rocky desertification subdivided into six types: none, extreme slightly, slightly, moderately, severely and extreme severely. The result showed that the potential rocky desertification landscape distributed unevenly; a little more than half of the are showed gradual rocky desertification trend and about 60% of those regions had emarkable rocky desertification trend; Slightly potential rocky desertification was increasing all the time, while the other five types of potential rocky desertification had different change tendencies during different states. Then based on CA-Markov model, the potential rocky desertification spatial pattern was predicted. Verification with investigation based on map in 2004 indicated that 87.2% of the simulation was consistant with real data. therefore the model is robust in prediction potential rocky desertification spatial pattern in this study area.

Segmental Liver Stiffness Evaluated with Magnetic Resonance Elastography Is Responsive to Endovascular Intervention in Patients with Budd-Chiari Syndrome

Peng Xu,Lulu Lyu,Haitao Ge,Muhammad Umair Sami,Panpan Liu,Chunfeng Hu,Kai Xu 대한영상의학회 2019 Korean Journal of Radiology Vol.20 No.5

Objective: To assess segmental liver stiffness (LS) with MRI before and after endovascular intervention in patients with Budd-Chiari syndrome (BCS). Materials and Methods: Twenty-three patients (13 males and 10 females; mean age, 42.6 ± 12.6 years; age range, 31–56 years) with BCS as a primary liver disease were recruited for this study. Two consecutive magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) examinations were performed before the endovascular treatment. Fifteen patients who underwent endovascular intervention treatment also had follow-up MRE scans within three days after the procedure. LS was measured in three liver segments: the right posterior, right anterior, and left medial segments. Inter-reader and inter-exam repeatability were analyzed with intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) and Bland-Altman analysis. Segmental LS and clinical characteristics before and after the intervention were also compared. Results: Within three days of the endovascular intervention, all three segmental LS values decreased: LS of the right posterior segment = 7.23 ± 0.88 kPa (before) vs. 4.94 ± 0.84 kPa (after), LS of the right anterior segment = 7.30 ± 1.06 kPa (before) vs. 4.77 ± 0.85 kPa (after), and LS of the left medial segment = 7.22 ± 0.87 kPa (before) vs. 4.87 ± 0.72 kPa (after) (all p = 0.001). There was a significant correlation between LS changes and venous pressure gradient changes before and after treatments (r = 0.651, p = 0.009). The clinical manifestations of all 15 patients significantly improved after therapy. The MRE repeatability was excellent, with insignificant variations (inter-reader, ICC = 0.839–0.943: inter-examination, ICC = 0.765–0.869). Bland–Altman analysis confirmed excellent agreement (limits of agreement, 13.4–19.4%). Conclusion: Segmental LS measured by MRE is a promising repeatable quantitative biomarker for monitoring the treatment response to minimally invasive endovascular intervention in patients with BCS.

Specific Expression of Interferon-γ Induced by Synergistic Activation Mediator-Derived Systems Activates Innate Immunity and Inhibits Tumorigenesis

( Shuai Liu ),( Xiao Yu ),( Qiankun Wang ),( Zhepeng Liu ),( Qiaoqiao Xiao ),( Panpan Hou ),( Ying Hu ),( Wei Hou ),( Zhanqiu Yang ),( Deyin Guo ),( Shuliang Chen ) 한국미생물생명공학회(구 한국산업미생물학회) 2017 Journal of microbiology and biotechnology Vol.27 No.10

The synergistic activation mediator (SAM) system can robustly activate endogenous gene expression by a single-guide RNA. This transcriptional modulation has been shown to enhance gene promoter activity and leads to epigenetic changes. Human interferon-γ is a common natural glycoprotein involved in antiviral effects and inhibition of cancer cell growth. Large quantities of high-purity interferon-γ are important for medical research and clinical therapy. To investigate the possibility of employing the SAM system to enhance endogenous human interferon-γ with normal function in innate immunity, we designed 10 single-guide RNAs that target 200 bp upstream of the transcription start sites of the interferon-γ genome, which could significantly activate the interferon-γ promoter reporter. We confirmed that the system can effectively and highly activate interferon-γ expression in several humanized cell lines. Moreover, we found that the interferon-γ induced by the SAM system could inhibit tumorigenesis. Taken together, our results reveal that the SAM system can modulate epigenetic traits of non-immune cells through activating interferon-γ expression and triggering JAK-STAT signaling pathways. Thus, this strategy could offer a novel approach to inhibit tumorigenesis without using exogenous interferon-γ.