Purpose To compare the value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), contrast-enhanced CT (CECT) and contrast-enhanced MRI (CEMRI) in the diagnosis of renal space-occupying lesions. Materials and Methods Seventy-eight patients whose 80 kidney space-occupying lesions were conifrmed by traditional ultrasound underwent CEUS examination. Among those patients, 39 patients also underwent CECT, 28 had CEMRI, and 5 had CECT and CEMRI examination together. Taken pathologic findings as gold standard, the value of conventional ultrasound, CEUS, CECT and CEMRI was compared in the diagnosis of renal space-occupying lesions. Results Among 80 renal masses, 57 lesions were malignant and the rest 23 lesions were benign. The diagnostic sensitivity, speciifcity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value were 93.0%, 69.6%, 88.3%, 80.0%for CEUS;those for CECT were 96.4%, 72.7%, 90.0%, 88.9%respectively;and for CEMRI were 86.4%, 66.7%, 90.5%, 57.1%respectively;and the diagnostic value among the three means showed no difference (P>0.05). Conclusion CEUS, CECT and CEMRI are all effective in the diagnosis of renal space-occupying lesions, We may select suitable examination means for patients according to their features. A combination of these techniques provides more information for the diagnosis of renal space-occupying lesions.

OBJECTIVETo screen out serum differential proteins between vinyl chloride monomer (VCM)-exposed workers and healthy controls by proteomics and analyze the functions of differential proteins, and to provide a basis for elucidating the pathogenesis of diseases caused by VCM exposure and searching for the protein biomarkers.

METHODSFasting venous blood was collected from 125 VCM-exposed workers and 40 healthy controls according to accumulated exposure doses. Proteins were precipitated by acetone precipitation. These proteins were identified by 2D-nano LC-ESI-TOF/MS and quantified by isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation. The functions of differential proteins were analyzed by gene ontology.

RESULTSA total of 596 proteins were identified, including 194 quantified proteins. There were 21 differential proteins according to the screening criteria (19 upregulated proteins and 2 downregulated proteins), including complement, apolipoprotein, and glycoprotein. The functions of these differential proteins were binding, enzyme regulator activity, catalytic activity, and transporter activity, and they were involved in the biological processes including immune system process and response to stimulus.

CONCLUSIONThe complement, apolipoprotein, and glycoprotein identified in the proteomics may be related to liver injury caused by VCM exposure, and they could be used as candidate protein biomarkers of diseases caused by VCM exposure.

Biomarkers ; blood ; Blood Proteins ; analysis ; Humans ; Liver ; injuries ; Occupational Exposure ; Proteins ; metabolism ; Proteomics ; Vinyl Chloride ; toxicity