The treatment of lymphatic malformations (LMs) represents a great clinical challenge. The present study reported on the treatment of 68 infants with cervical macrocystic LMs using surgical resection. The cases were retrospectively analyzed. All patients underwent pre-operative ultrasonography, computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations. The surgery was performed under general anesthesia with endotracheal intubation. Ultrasonograms showed that 24 cases were monolocular, 44 were multilocular, 16 had no echo, 20 had a uniform low-level echo and 32 had a non-uniform low-level echo. CT showed non-enhancing low-attenuating cystic lesions and attenuation values of 10–45 HU. The magnetic resonance images of the LMs showed a low signal intensity on T1-weighted imaging (WI) and a high signal intensity on T2-WI. Complete resection was achieved in 56 patients, subtotal resection in eight and partial resection in four. Two complications were noted, including reversible paresis of the marginal mandibular branch of the facial nerve and a surgical-site infection. One patient in whom partial resection was achieved had recurrence at ~2 months after the surgery. Ultrasonography, CT and MRI clearly demonstrated the size, shape, extent and adjacent structures of LMs, which aided in surgical planning and assessment of potential risks. Surgical excision increased the chances of cure and was relatively safe for infants aged <1 year. Location and extent, rather than age, were determined to be the most important factors for successful surgical treatment.

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Novel protein-like silver-cysteine hybrid nanowires (p-SCNWs) have been synthesized by a green, simple, nontemplate, seedless, and one-step aqueous-phase approach. AgNO3 and l-cysteine were dissolved in distilled water, forming Ag-cysteine precipitates and HNO3. Under vigorous stirring, the pH of the solution was rapidly adjusted to 9.0 by addition of concentrated sodium hydroxide solution, leading to quick dissolution of the Ag-cysteine precipitates and sudden appearance of white precipitates of p-SCNWs. The p-SCNWs are monodispersed nanowires with diameter of 100 nm and length of tens of micrometers, and have abundant carboxyl (-COOH) and amine (-NH2) groups at their surfaces, large amounts of peptide-linkages and S-bonding silver ions (Ag(+)) inside, making them look and act like Ag-hybrid protein nanostructures. The abundant -COOH and -NH2 groups at the surfaces of p-SCNWs have been found to facilitate the reactions between the p-SCNWs and proteins including antibodies. Furthermore, the fact that the p-SCNWs contain large amounts of silver ions enables biofunctionalized p-SCNWs to be excellent signal amplifying chemiluminescence labels for ultrasensitive and highly selective detection of important antigens, such as cancer biomarkers. In this work, the immunoassay of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in human serum was taken as an example to demonstrate the immunoassay applications of antibody-functionalized p-SCNWs. By the novel p-SCNW labels, CEA can be detected in the linear range from 5 to 400 fg/mL with a limit of detection (LOD) of 2.2 fg/mL (at signal-to-noise ratio of 3), which is much lower than that obtained by commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Therefore, the synthesized p-SCNWs are envisioned to be an excellent carrier for proteins and related immunoassay strategy would have promising applications in ultrasensitive clinical screening of cancer biomarkers for early diagnostics of cancers.

Systemic Epstein-Barr virus-positive T-cell lymphoproliferative childhood disease (EBV+ T-LPD) is extremely rare. Primary acute or chronic active Epstein-Barr virus infection triggers EBV+ T-LPD's onset and the disease involves clonal proliferation of infected T-cells with activated cytotoxic phenotype. The adult-onset EBV+ T-LPD (ASEBV+ T-LPD) is even rarer and needs to be extensively studied. Further, according to literature review, it is a challenge to find patients who are immunocompetent and diagnosed with ASEBV+ T-LPD involving gastrointestinal tract. This case report discusses a previously healthy middle aged woman who presented with unique symptoms mimicking inflammatory bowel disease, and required a total colectomy and terminal ileum rectomy, as reveled by endoscopic examinations, due to severe gastrointestinal bleeding. Post-surgery histopathological findings were confirmatory for the diagnosis of ASEBV+ T-LPD (II: Borderline). This patient died 7 months after the diagnosis.

Background: Foreign body (FB) in the pediatric airway is a prevailing and crucial emergency with presenting symptoms often overlapping with other common pediatric conditions. There are limited number of large cohort studies in an Asian population which demonstrate the diversity of symptoms, investigations which will aid in obtaining the diagnosis, and management. Using this large cohort, we aim to evaluate the type and location, clinical presentations and outcomes of medical management related to pediatric airway FB in an Asian society. Methods: This is a retrospective study of all airway FB treated in Kunming Children's Hospital, China from February 2016 to June 2019. Six hundred and thirty-two clinical and operative records of all airway FB were retrieved and reviewed from the hospital's central electronic medical records. A total of 617 patients were included in our study. Results: The age ranged from 4 months to 12 years (mean = 1.74 years). The duration of symptoms ranged from 1 h to 605 days, with the diagnosis established at an average 9.16 days. Almost all had multiple symptoms, most commonly cough (98.5%) followed by noisy breathing (98.2%). Majority of the FBs (95.5%) were organic and the rest inorganic. Of the organic FBs, peanut was the most common (31.6%), followed by walnut (13.3%) and sunflower seeds (9.2%). Comparatively, 80.8% of the organic FBs were retrieved incomplete while 85.7% of the inorganic FBs were completely intact. Multiple FBs were noted in 43.3% of the patients, with 2.4% of them in different locations. Conclusions: Airway FB can be easily missed with resultant delay in diagnosis. In an Asian population, walnut and sunflower/pumpkin seeds feature more prominently compared to Western populations. Sunflower seed FBs tend to present earlier and are found intact in the trachea. Rigid bronchoscopy is the most common technique used to remove such FBs and pulmonary-related complications post-operatively, though rare, are the most common adverse outcomes. Preventive strategies targeting the appropriate age group and this type of FB may be useful in an Asian population.