Background Weifuchun (WFC), a Chinese herbal prescription consisting of Red Ginseng, Isodon amethystoides and Fructus Aurantii, is commonly used in China to treat a variety of chronic stomach disorders. The aim of the paper was to determine the effect of WFC on intestinal microbiota changes in precancerous lesions of gastric cancer (PLGC) patients. Methods PLGC patients of H. pylori negative were randomly divided into two groups and received either WFC tablets for a dose of 1.44 g three times a day or vitacoenzyme (Vit) tablets for a dose of 0.8 g three times a day. All patients were treated for 6 months consecutively. Gastroscopy and histopathology were used to assess the histopathological changes in gastric tissues before and after treatment. 16S rRNA gene sequencing was carried out to assess the effects WFC on intestinal microbiota changes in PLGC patients. Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) analysis was used to assess the sensitivity and specificity of different intestinal microbiota in distinguishing between PLGC patients and healthy control group. Results Gastroscopy and histopathological results indicated that WFC could improve the pathological condition of PLGC patients, especially in the case of atrophy or intestinal metaplasia. The results of 16S rRNA gene sequencing indicated that WFC could regulate microbial diversity, microbial composition, and abundance of the intestinal microbiota of PLGC patients. Following WFC treatment, the relative abundance of Parabacteroides decreased in WFC group when compared with the Vit group. ROC analysis found that the Parabacteroides could effectively distinguish PLGC patients from healthy individuals with sensitivity of 0.79 and specificity of 0.8. Conclusions WFC could slow down the progression of PLGC by regulating intestinal microbiota abundance. Trial registration NCT03814629. Name of registry: Randomized Clinical Trial: Weifuchun Treatment on Precancerous Lesions of Gastric Cancer. Registered 3 August 2018-Retrospectively registered, https://register.clinicaltrials.gov/ NCT03814629.

BackgroundThe goal of the study was to compare surgical rib fixation using claw-type titanium plate with conservative treatment in the management of patients with flail chest.MethodsThe study retrospectively studied 23 patients suffering from flail chest injury, who admitted to our hospital from October, 2010 to February, 2014. The patients received surgical fixation by using claw-type titanium plate (surgical fixation group). A age and sex-matched cohort of 29 patients received conservative treatment and defined as conservative treatment group. Outcome variables included number of cases undergoing mechanical ventilation, ventilation time, time of hospital stay, incidence of respiratory complications, incidence of thoracic deformity and postoperative forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1).ResultsCompared with conservative treatment group, surgical fixation group had fewer cases undergoing mechanical ventilation, shorter ventilation time, shorter hospital stay, lower incidence of respiratory complications and thoracic deformity and improved pulmonary function. Patients undergoing surgery earlier had shorter time of mechanical ventilation.ConclusionsSurgical rib fixation with claw-type titanium plate is a reliable and efficient method in the management of patients with flail chest.

No abstract

Aurones are an important type of flavonoids with broad biological activities and pharmacological effects, such as anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, insect antifeedant etc. They are less common and not widely distributed in nature. The low contents in nature lead to high cost of extraction and separation. In order to extend the compounds diversity and study structure activity relationship, phenoxyacetic acid, 2,3,5-trimethylphenol, 4-chlorol-3,5-dimethylphenol, chloroacetic acid and various aromatic aldehydes are used as starting materials to synthesize three types of aurone derivatives. Their structures were characterized by melting point, 1 H NMR, 13 C NMR, ESI-MS and elemental analysis. Nine of twenty five synthetic compounds 2h～2m, 5a～5c were unreported in the literature. All the target compounds were evaluated for antitumor activities against Hela human cervical carcinoma cell lines by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) method. The results showed that compounds 2b, 5b, 2s and 2g exhibited potentially high activity against Hela human cervical carcinoma cell lines with IC 50 value of 44.3, 31.1, 43.8 and 41.9 μmol/L.