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Objective. To compare the clinical efficacies of mediastinoscope-assisted and thoracoscope-assisted esophagectomy. Materials and Methods. Seventy-six patients with esophageal cancer who underwent minimally invasive esophagectomy at the General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University between June 2015 and January 2019 were retrospectively evaluated. Among them, 28 patients underwent mediastinoscope-assisted transhiatal esophagectomy (MATHE), and 48 received thoracoscope-assisted transthoracic esophagectomy (TATTE). The perioperative clinical data and follow-up data of the 2 groups were compared. Results. All operations were successful in both groups. MATHE was favorable in terms of operation time, intraoperative blood loss, drainage volume 3 days after surgery, postoperative hospital stay, and hypoproteinemia ( P < .05). Lymph node dissections were less than those in the TATTE ( P < .05). No significant differences in long-term postoperative complications and survival rate were found between the 2 groups ( P > .05). Conclusion. MATHE has the advantages of minimal trauma, shorter operation time, less intraoperative blood loss, and faster recovery. More adequate tumor clearance in terms of lymph node dissection can be achieved with TATTE. However, the comparison of survival rates between the 2 groups is similar.

ObjectivesClostridium difficile infection is a public health concern. C. difficile was found in healthy human intestine as a member of Clostridium XI. Because soluble fermentable fiber ingestion affects intestinal microbiota, we used fiber-containing diets to determine the intestinal microbial condition that could reduce the presence of Clostridium XI.MethodsNewly weaned male mice were assigned to three published diets: Control AIN-93G purified diet with only poorly fermented cellulose; Control plus 5% purified fermentable fiber inulin; Chow with wheat, soybean and corn that provide a mixture of unpurified dietary fibers. Methods were developed to quantify 24-hour fecal microbial load and microbial DNA density. The relative abundance of bacterial genera and the bacterial diversity were determined through 16S rRNA sequence-based fecal microbiota analysis.ResultsMice adjusted food intake to maintain the same energy intake and body weight under these three moderate-fat (7% w:w) diets. Chow-feeding led to higher food intake but also higher 24-h fecal output. Chow-feeding and 1–8 wk ingestion of inulin-supplemented diet increased daily fecal microbial load and density along with lowering the prevalence of Clostridium XI to undetectable. Clostridium XI remained undetectable until 4 weeks after the termination of inulin-supplemented diet. Fermentable fiber intake did not consistently increase probiotic genera such as Bifidobacterium or Lactobacillus. Chow feeding, but not inulin supplementation, increased the bacterial diversity.ConclusionsIncrease fecal microbial load/density upon fermentable fiber ingestion is associated with a lower and eventually undetectable presence of Clostridium XI. Higher bacterial diversity or abundance of particular genera is not apparently essential. Future studies are needed to see whether this observation can be translated into the reduction of C. difficile at the species level in at-risk populations.

Chlorogenic, ferulic, vanillic, and caffeic acids are phenolic acids found in natural drugs.

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The application of polypropylene (PP) is greatly restricted by its poor lowtemperature tensile properties. In this work, a polypropylene random copolymer (rPP) and polypropylene/ethylene-propylene-diene monomer graft copolymer (gPP) were used to improve the toughening effect of polyolefin elastomer (POE) on PP. The influences of this addition on the phase morphology, crystallization, and rheological and mechanical properties were investigated. The results revealed that rPP both reduced the size of PP spherulites and improved the interfacial cohesion of the PP/POE blend, which endowed the material with greater tensile properties and melt flow rate. The elongation at break of PP/POE/rPP at 23, 0, À20, and À40 C was 400%, 221%, 205%, and 106%, respectively. These represented increases of more than 200% compared with those of PP/POE. The tensile strengths of PP/POE/rPP were 15. 0, 19.1, 21.5, and 27.4 MPa at 23, 0, À20, and À40 C, respectively, which were comparable to those of PP/POE. Finally, the effects of the injection molding process parameters on the mechanical properties and phase morphology of rPPmodified PP/POE blends were studied.