[The publication of the Medicine News and its influence on the spread of modern-western medicines in China and its role in western medicine communication]

Medicine News, first published in 1880, was the earliest western medicine journal founded in China, playing an important role in the history of Chinese modern journals and the history of western medicine communication. Today, no original copies of this journal survive in China. Quotations, citations and comments of some newspapers and periodicals on it at the time, reveal that the publication aim of this journal was to disseminate knowledge of western medicine to the Chinese people, that its editorial policy was "showing western medicine is superior to traditional Chinese medicine" , and that its communication of western medicine knowledge was also based on this policy. Medicine News reported on an international medical academic conference held in London for the first time, and it is worth mentioning that thousands of people attended the meeting. Medicine News is known to have promoted western medicine communication in China to an advanced and more up-to-date level. At the same time, its editorial policy and strategy had a great influence on the editing and publication of western medicine journals in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China.

Expression of p16, nm23-H1, E-cadherin, and CD44 gene products and their significance in nasopharyngeal carcinoma

OBJECTIVE

The present study was aimed to determine whether p16/MTS1, nm23-H1, E-cadherin, and CD44 proteins were expressed in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and whether those expressions were pathologically significant in the progress of NPC.

METHOD

We examined non-cancerous nasopharyngeal mucosa (20 cases) and NPC (80 cases) using immunohistochemistry with six different types of monoclonal antibodies against p16, nm23-H1, E-cadherin, CD44H, CD44v3, and CD44v6 proteins.

RESULTS

The results showed that 1) the rates of positive p16 protein expression and of preserved E-cadherin protein expression in NPC were significantly lower than those in non-cancerous tissue (P <.01); 2) no significant difference in the rate of positive expression of nm23-H1, CD44H, CD44v3, and CD44v6 proteins were observed between non-cancerous nasopharyngeal mucosa and NPC; 3) no significant difference in the expression of those proteins were found by respective correlation analyses of sex, stage, and size of primary tumor in NPC; and 4) no significant difference in the rates of positive expression of CD44H, CD44v3, and CD44v6 proteins were observed in NPC between with and without lymph node metastasis, indicating that those gene products did not correlate with lymph node metastasis in NPC. However, there were inverse correlations between the expression of p16, nm23-H1, or E-cadherin protein and lymph node metastasis (P <.05), indicating that the expression of p16, nm23-H1, and E-cadherin gene were related to the carcinogenesis and tumor progression of NPC.

CONCLUSION

Detecting the expressions of those gene products may provide clinically valuable information for therapeutic strategy and for predicting the prognosis of patients with NPC.

Bilateral traumatic chylothorax: a complication of fracture-dislocation of the T-spine

Traumatic chylothorax is a rare complication of fracture-dislocation of the thoracic spine. Not treated adequately, it will be associated with high mortality and morbidity. A review of the English literature shows that bilateral traumatic chylothorax is rarely discussed. A case is presented of fracture-dislocation of the third thoracic vertebra combined with bilateral traumatic chylothorax following a motor vehicle accident. The mechanism of injury is described. The management strategies are, initially, conservative treatment including chest tube drainage, NPO with total parenteral nutrition (TPN), followed by medium-chain triglyceride diet. Without improvement, surgical measures such as mediastinal ligation of the thoracic duct should be considered.