Treatment of MDA5-positive dermatomyositis complicated by gangrenous cholecystitis with tofacitinib

BackgroudDermatomyositis is a diffuse skeletal myositis disease with a variety of causes.The onset is mainly related to humoral immune abnormalities.Some therapeutic drugs,such as hormones and immunosu -ppressants,have poor therapeutic effects.In recent years, tofacitinib has been reported to be effective in the treatment of dermatomyositis.But there are many reports about the treatment of autoimmune diseases and infectious diseases with tofacitinib.Case presentationWe report a case of MDA5 antibody-positive dermatomyositis that was relieved after treatment with tofacitinib,during which gallbladder gangrene and suppurative cholecystitis occurred.After cholecystectomy,we continued to use tofacitinib and achieved good therapeutic effect. ConclusionsTofacitinib is effective in the treatment of MDA5 antibody-positive dermatomyositis,but the risk of infection is increased.It can still be used after infection control.A close follow-up should be performed during the use of tofacitinib.

Microwave ablation of breast pseudoaneurysm

Breast pseudoaneurysm is a very rare complication. In this study, we report a patient with huge breast pseudoaneurysm after ultrasound-guided vacuum-assisted biopsy (UGVAB) of breast nodules. In treatment, we used microwave ablation to treat the pseudoaneurysm, and then used UGVAB again to eliminate the complicated hematoma. The patients obtained good therapeutic effect. From this case, we experience that, before the interventional operations for breast nodules, the systematic ultrasound examination should be performed. In the needle entering channel, the obvious blood vessels should be avoided to reduce the unnecessary vascular injury. When the pseudoaneurysm occurs, the patient’s condition, pseudoaneurysm situation and hematoma size should be comprehensively considered, combined with the multidisciplinary consultation, for selecting the best treatment strategy. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.38.1.4930 How to cite this:Cai Z, Ning R, Dong W, Zhang Y. Microwave ablation of breast pseudoaneurysm. Pak J Med Sci. 2022;38(1):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.38.1.4930 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Vitritis and retinal vasculitis caused by pseudorabies virus

Pseudorabies virus (PRV) is a herpesvirus of swine. PRV is also called suid herpesvirus 1 and is a member of the Alphaherpesvirinae subfamily within the family Herpesviridae. The number of PRV cases worldwide is small, but in susceptible individuals, infection with this virus has a poor prognosis. Therefore, it is urgent to improve our understanding of this disease in clinical practice to avoid misdiagnosis and to identify optimal treatments. We report a patient with PRV infection who was admitted to hospital with viral encephalitis and subsequently developed intraocular infection. Because to the lack of relevant clinical experience in the treatment of this disease, we carried out experimental treatment with good therapeutic effect. This case provides a basis for clinical diagnosis and treatment of patients with PRV.

Feline Eosinophilic Keratitis—A Review

Eosinophilic keratitis is a disease occurring in cats, horses and rabbits. Its clinical signs include blepharo-spasm, discharge, chemosis, conjunctival hyperaemia and the presence of corneal ulceration. The typical signs of the disease are white to pink plaques on the cornea accompanied with keratitis. The diagnosis of the disease has to be confirmed with cytology examination and the presence of eosinophils and mast cells in the specimen. Local application of corticosteroids and cyclosporine has good therapeutic effect and has been recommended in all affected species. In samples collected from cats, the presence of feline herpes virus DNA has been reported. Eosinophilic keratitis might be caused by an aberrant immune response or reaction to unknown allergic stimuli. The primary cause of the disease is currently unknown.

Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacological Activities of Berberine in Diabetes Mellitus Treatment

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has good clinical application prospects in diabetes treatment. In addition, TCM is less toxic and/or has fewer side effects and provides various therapeutic effects. Berberine (BBR) is isolated as the main component in many TCM kinds (e.g., Rhizoma Coptidis and Berberidis Cortex). Furthermore, BBR can reduce blood sugar and blood fat, alleviate inflammation, and improve the state of patients. Based on the recent study results of BBR in diabetes treatment, the BBR pharmacokinetics and mechanism on diabetes are mainly studied, and the specific molecular mechanism of related experimental BBR is systematically summarized and analyzed. Clinical studies have proved that BBR has a good therapeutic effect on diabetes, suggesting that BBR may be a promising drug candidate for diabetes. More detailed BBR mechanisms and pathways of BBR need to be studied further in depth, which will help understand the BBR pharmacology in diabetes treatment.

Treatment of Recurrent Undifferentiated Pleomorphic Sarcoma of Infratemporal Fossa by Surgery Combined With Carbon Ion Radiotherapy: One Case Report

We retrospectively analyzed the diagnosis and treatment process of one patient with recurrent undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS) of infratemporal fossa and made a definite diagnosis by combining the imaging and pathological examination results. After treatment failure with 2 cycles of chemotherapy and several surgeries, UPS was eventually treated by surgery + carbon ion radiotherapy, and MRI reexamination showed no relapse. Head and neck UPS is located deeply, easily recurs after operation, and difficult to be resected completely by surgery, with a gradually shortened interval of relapse over the number of surgeries, which becomes a treatment challenge. After the last surgery, the patient received carbon ion radiotherapy, with a good therapeutic effect, and no sign of relapse just before sending this article. Based on the above advantages, we have concluded that surgery + carbon ion radiotherapy is a new effective pathway to treat head and neck UPS.

Application of Nano-Drug Delivery System Based on Cascade Technology in Cancer Treatment

In the current cancer treatment, various combination therapies have been widely used, such as photodynamic therapy (PDT) combined with chemokinetic therapy (CDT). However, due to the complexity of the tumor microenvironment (TME) and the limitations of treatment, the efficacy of current treatment options for some cancers is unsatisfactory. Nowadays, cascade technology has been used in cancer treatment and achieved good therapeutic effect. Cascade technology based on nanotechnology can trigger cascade reactions under specific tumor conditions to achieve precise positioning and controlled release, or amplify the efficacy of each drug to improve anticancer efficacy and reduce side effects. Compared with the traditional treatment, the application of cascade technology has achieved the controllability, specificity, and effectiveness of cancer treatment. This paper reviews the application of cascade technology in drug delivery, targeting, and release via nano-drug delivery systems in recent years, and introduces their application in reactive oxygen species (ROS)-induced cancer treatment. Finally, we briefly describe the current challenges and prospects of cascade technology in cancer treatment in the future.

Boston Ivy-Inspired Disc-Like Adhesive Microparticles for Drug Delivery

Microparticles with strong adherence are expected as efficient drug delivery vehicles. Herein, we presented an ingenious hydrogel microparticle recapitulating the adhesion mechanism of Boston ivy tendrils adhesive discs (AD) for durable drug delivery. The particles were achieved by replicating a silica colloidal crystal aggregates assembled in a droplet template after rapid solvent extraction. Due to their unique shape, the nanostructure, and the sticky hydrogel component, such novel microparticles exhibited prominent adhesive property to the wet tissue environment. It was demonstrated that the bioinspired microcarriers loading with dexamethasone had a good therapeutic effect for ulcerative colitis due to the strong adhesion ability for prolonging the maintenance of drug availability. These virtues make the biomimetic microparticles potentially ideal for many practical clinical applications, such as drug delivery, bioimaging, and biodiagnostics.

Study on Potential of Meridian Acupoints of Traditional Chinese Medicine

In recent years, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has attracted more and more attention due to its good therapeutic effect, low cost, and convenience. This research is also a part of the goal of the modernization of TCM. Based on the meridian electric potential acquisition system independently developed by our project team, in this paper, we designed the human body's meridian electric potential acquisition scheme. We use principal component analysis (PCA) to prove that the meridional potential signal is derived from the ECG signal. Then, Inception ResNet V2 was used to classify acupoints and nonacupoints. Finally, the classification accuracy rate reached 86.59045265, and the F1 score = 0.72161642. This shows that acupoints and nonacupoints can be distinguished by their surface potential.

Near Infrared Photothermal Conversion Materials: Mechanism, Preparation and Photothermal Cancer Therapy Applications

Photothermal therapy (PTT) has been widely applied in cancer therapy as a result of its non-invasive, localized treatment and good therapeutic effect. In general, the final therapeutic effect of PTT...