The clinical effects of two different methods-high-viscosity cement percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) and low-viscosity cement percutaneous kyphoplasty (PKP) in the treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCFs) were investigated. From June 2010 to August 2013, 98 cases of OVCFs were included in our study. Forty-six patients underwent high-viscosity PVP and 52 patients underwent low-viscosity PKP. The occurrence of cement leakage was observed. Pain relief and functional activity were evaluated using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), respectively. Restoration of the vertebral body height and angle of kyphosis were assessed by comparing preoperative and postoperative measurements of the anterior heights, middle heights and the kyphotic angle of the fractured vertebra. Nine out of the 54 vertebra bodies and 11 out of the 60 vertebra bodies were observed to have cement leakage in the high-viscosity PVP and low-viscosity PKP groups, respectively. The rate of cement leakage, correction of anterior vertebral height and kyphotic angles showed no significant differences between the two groups (P>0.05). Low-viscosity PKP had significant advantage in terms of the restoration of middle vertebral height as compared with the high-viscosity PVP (P<0.05). Both groups showed significant improvements in pain relief and functional capacity status after surgery (P<0.05). It was concluded that high-viscosity PVP and low-viscosity PKP have similar clinical effects in terms of the rate of cement leakage, restoration of the anterior vertebral body height, changes of kyphotic angles, functional activity, and pain relief. Low-viscosity PKP is better than high-viscosity PVP in restoring the height of the middle vertebra.

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Chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis (CMC) is a disorder of recurrent or persistent chronic noninvasive symptomatic infections of the skin, nails and mucous membranes. This disorder is primarily caused by Candida albicans. Many factors, including primary immunodeficiencies, can make a host more susceptible to CMC. Signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) gain-of-function (GOF) mutations are the most common genetic etiologies of CMC. We describe a case of CMC with disseminated Talaromyces marneffei infection caused by a new pathogenic Y287N mutation at amino acid 287 in the coiled-coiled domain of STAT1, which was identified using whole-exome sequencing. Position 287 might be a hot spot for missense mutations because several amino acid substitutions were found there. Flow cytometry suggested that the Y287N mutation might reduce the expression of IL-17 of Th17 cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells stimulated by phorbol myristate acetate and ionomycin. The STAT1 Y287N GOF mutation may be the direct cause of recurrent cutaneous and mucosal candidiasis, including the T. marneffei infection in this patient.

The role of catecholamine (CA) in the pathogenesis and development of macular edema of central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) was studied, and its relations with visual acuity were investigated. Plasma concentrations of epinephrine (E) and norepinephrine (NE) were determined in 30 consecutive eyes with CSC. Central macular thickness analysis was done by RTA and all the data were compared with normal eyes and analyzed with SAS software package. Plasma concentrations of E and NE were increased to (569 +/- 123) ng/L and (721 +/- 104) ng/L respectively in active CSC patients, significantly higher than those in normal subjects (P < 0.01), and decreased to normal in convalescent stage. RTA analysis revealed that the retinal thickness of CSC patients was increased at active and recovery stage as compared with normal subjects; and the plasma concentration of E was significantly correlated with central macular thickness (t = 2.173, P < 0.05). Also, central macular thickness measured by RTA was significantly correlated with the visual acuity (r = -0.8046, P < 0.001) in CSC eyes. RTA analysis might be useful to quantitatively detect and evaluate prognosis in CSC patients. The plasma concentration of E, which was highly correlated with macular edema, might play an important role in the early damage and the pathogenesis of CSC.