[Abstract ] Objective The role of serum Pygo2 expression in children with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD) in the disease process and whether it can be used to evaluate the degree of liver fibrosis still remain unknown .The article aimed to detect Pygo 2 expression in the peripheral blood of children with NAFLD and ana-lyze its relationship with traditional serum hepatic fibrosis index in or-der to evaluate the clinical significance of Pygo 2 measurement in chil-dren with NAFLD . Methods We enrolled 120 cases of childhood obesity and 18 healthy controls in Anhui Provincial Hospital and the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from September 2014 to February 2016.The cases of childhood obesity were di-vided into simple obesity group ( n=44, no diffuse fatty liver under liver ultrasound detection ) , NAFL group ( n=35, diffuse fatty liver with normal liver function under liver ultrasound detection ) and NASH group ( n=41, diffuse fatty liver with abnormal liver function under liver ultrasound detection ) .The peripheral serum was collected from all patients and healthy controls .ELISA was used to detect serum Pygo2 expression and radioimmunoassay was used to detect the serum hyaluronia acid (HA), procollagen type Ⅲ(PCⅢ), pro-collagen type Ⅳ(CⅣ) and laminin(LN) levels.Finally the serum ALT and γ-GT levels were measured with totally automatic enzymat-ic method. Results Pygo2 expression in NAFL group [52.1(12.3)μg/L] and NASH group[78.3(50.0)μg/L] increased signifi-cantly compared with simple obesity group [43.2(18.7)μg/L](P<0.05).Pygo2 expression in NASH group increased significantly compared with control group [41.7(16.8)μg/L] and NAFL group (P<0.001).The serum hepatic fribrosis and inflammation markers ( HA, PC, ALT, C III and IV gamma-GT) levels gradually increased in the obese children .There were statistically positive correla-tions between serum Pygo2 and HA, PCⅢ, CⅣ, ALT or γ-GT (P<0.001).In particular, more significant positive correlations were found between serum Pygo2 and HA, CⅣor γ-GT (r=0.708, P<0.001;r=0.589, P<0.001;r=0.674, P<0.05). Conclusion The degree of liver fibrosis worsens with the increase of Pygo 2 expression and Pygo 2 is in remarkable correlation with conventional he-patic fibrosis serum makers ( HA, C IV) orγ-GT, which shows Pygo 2 expression can be taken as the clinical evaluation index of liver fibrosis in children with NAFLD .

BACKGROUNDTranscatheter occlusion has been applied to treat ostium secundum atrial septal defect (OS ASD) since 1997. During the clinical practice, several postoperative complications including arrhythmia have been reported. This study aimed to evaluate the value of the ratio of atrial septal occluder (ASO) versus atrial septal length (ASL) for predicting arrhythmia occurrence after transcatheter closure in children with OS ASD.

METHODSSix hundred and fifty-one children diagnosed with OS ASD underwent occlusion procedures after completing routine examinations. The onsets and types of arrhythmia both during and after the occlusion procedures were monitored. Treatments were given based on the individual types of arrhythmia. The binary logistic regression analysis and receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve were used in the analysis of value of the ratio of ASO/ASL for predicting postoperative arrhythmia occurrence.

RESULTSTranscather occlusions were conducted in 651 children, among whom 7 children had different types and degrees of arrhythmia, with an incidence of 1.1%. The types of arrhythmia included sinus bradycardia, atrial premature beats, bundle branch block, and different degrees of atrioventricular block. Normal electrocardiograph findings were resumed in these 7 patients following active therapies such as corticoids, nutrition, and surgeries. The binary logistic regression and ROC analysis suggested that the ratio of ASO/ASL exhibited an intermediate predictive value for predicting arrhythmia occurrence after occlusion procedures. A cut-off value of 0.576 in the ratio provided a sensitivity of 87.5% and a specificity of 76.2% with an area under the ROC curve of 0.791 (95% confidence intervals, 0.655-0.926; P < 0.05) in predicting arrhythmia occurrence after the closure procedures.

CONCLUSIONSThe ratio of ASO/ASL might be a useful index for predicting arrhythmia occurrence after closure procedures in children with OS ASD.

Adolescent ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; diagnosis ; Atrial Septum ; surgery ; Cardiac Catheterization ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Echocardiography, Transesophageal ; Female ; Heart Septal Defects, Atrial ; surgery ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Postoperative Complications ; diagnosis ; Septal Occluder Device

Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic/genetics* ; Female ; Genetic Testing ; Humans ; Pregnancy ; Text Messaging