Inflammation and histone modification in chronic pain.

Increasing evidence suggests that epigenetic mechanisms have great potential in the field of pain. The changes and roles of epigenetics of the spinal cord and dorsal root ganglia in the chronic pain process may provide broad insights for future pain management. Pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines released by microglia and astrocytes, as well as blood-derived macrophages, play critical roles in inducing and maintaining chronic pain, while histone modifications may play an important role in inflammatory metabolism.

Advances in the treatment of secondary and tertiary hyperparathyroidism.

Secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) and tertiary hyperparathyroidism (THPT) are common and complicated clinical endocrine diseases. The parathyroid glands maintain endocrine homeostasis by secreting parathyroid hormone to regulate blood calcium levels. However, structural alterations to multiple organs and systems occur throughout the body due to hyperactivity disorder in SHPT and THPT.

Pneumothorax as the initial manifestation of idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome.

We report a case of hypereosinophilic syndrome in a 47-year-old man who had acute pneumothorax as the initial presentation. Peripheral blood eosinophil count increased continuously over a period of 1 month and was associated with pulmonary changes and appearance of skin lesions on the right chest wall. Idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome was confirmed by bone marrow aspiration biopsy and skin lesion biopsy after exclusion of all possible secondary etiologies.

[Surgical treatment of ascending aortic aneurysm by Bentall's procedure: report of 14 cases].

Objective: To review our experience in surgical treatment of ascending aortic aneurysm (AAA) with aortic insufficiency in 14 cases of by Bentall's procedure.

Methods And Results: All the patients underwent replacement of the ascending aorta and aortic valve with composite valved vascular prosthesis and received direct implantation of the aortic graft of the coronary orifices (Bentall's procedure) with satisfactory results. Five patients had ascending aortic dissection and 4 had typical Marfan's syndrome.