Objective To investigate the evaluation of virtual touch tissue quantification(VTQ)in differential diagnosis of thyroid benign and malignant nodules and its influence factors.Methods 127 patients with thyroid lesions and its adjacent normal thyroid tissue at the same depth were examined with VTQ.Test results were performed by shear wave velocity value (SWV) on the long axis dimension of the nodules.The maximum(Vmax),minimum(Vmin) value of SWV of thyroid lesions and the SWV(Vn) value of surrounding normal tissue were recorded.The mean value of SWV (Vm) and the ratio of Vm and Vn (Vm/n) were calculated.SWV value of benign and malignant nodules and different pathological types of nodules were analyzed.Receiver-operating characteristic curve(ROC) was drawn to assess the diagnostic efficiency.Results The Vmax,Vmin,Vm,Vm/n of malignant lesions [(4.61 ± 2.65) m/s,(2.74 ± 2.23) m/s,(2.99 ± 0.82)m/s,(1.69 ± 1.07)m/s,respectively] were obviously higher than that of benign nodules [(2.78 ± 0.96)m/s,(1.75 ± 0.60)m/s,(2.31 ± 0.38)m/s,(0.94 ± 0.23)m/s,respectively,P ＜0.01].The SWV value of thyroid papillary carcinoma was higher than that of nodular goiter,thyroid adenoma and Hashimoto's thyroiditis(P ＜0.05).The SWV value of Hashimoto's thyroiditis was higher than that of thyroid adenoma and nodular goiter (P ＜ 0.05).No significant differences of SWV value were found between thyroid adenoma and nodular goiter (P ＞ 0.05).Contrast the area under the receiver-operating curves above four groups of different SWV values,the results showed that Vm had the highest diagnostic value in diagnosis of benign and malignant thyroid nodules.When the best cut-off point of Vm was 2.48 m/s,the diagnostic value was highest and the sensitivity and specificity were 97％ and 81 ％.Conclusions VTQ could be used to quantify and evaluate the hardness of thyroid nodules and provided important value for the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant thyroid nodules.

ObjectiveTo analyze the epidemiological characteristics of influenza virus in severe acute respiratory tract infection (SARI) cases in Jingzhou City, so as to provide a scientific basis for the formulation of influenza prevention and control policies in Jingzhou City. MethodsSARI surveillance was carried out in two sentinel hospitals in Jingzhou City from 2018 to 2023. Respiratory tract samples were collected from cases and influenza virus nucleic acid was measured using real-time fluorescent polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). ResultsA total of 2 603 SARI samples were tested from 2018 to 2023, and 338 samples were positive for influenza virus nucleic acid, with a detection rate of 12.99%. The highest positive detection rate was 20.22% in 2019, followed by 14.29% in 2022, and the lowest detection rate was 7.75% in 2020. There were significant differences for the positive detection rates of influenza in each monitoring year (χ²=30.386, P<0.001). There were epidemic peaks in the five surveillance years from 2018 to 2023 except 2020. There were winter epidemic peaks during 2018‒2019 and 2021‒2022, and an obvious summer epidemic peak was also observed from 2019 to 2022. H1N1, H3N2, B-Victoria and B-Yamagata were alternately prevalent in the six surveillance years. In 2019, H1N1, H3N2 and B-Victoria were alternately prevalent with time progress, in 2021 only B-Victoria was prevalent, and in 2022 H3N2 and B-Victoria were prevalent. There was no statistically significant difference for the positive detection rates of influenza virus between different genders (χ²=0.178, P=0.673). Among the four age groups, the positive rate of influenza virus in the age group of 15‒<25 years old was the highest (40.91%), followed by the age group of 25‒<60 years old (21.31%). There were statistically significant differences for the positive rates of influenza virus among different age groups (χ²=24.496, P<0.001). ConclusionThe surveillance of SARI cases in Jingzhou City could serve as an effective supplement to the surveillance of ILI in sentinel hospitals. It is suggested to expand the surveillance scope, strengthen public education and outreach on the prevention and control of respiratory diseases, thereby providing a scientific basis for influenza prevention and control.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effect of carvacrol on the biological behavior of leukemia cells and its regulation to circ-0008717/miR-217 molecular axis. METHODS: Human acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells Molt-4 were cultured in vitro, and different concentrations of carvacrol were added to the cells. si-NC and si-circ-0008717 were transfected into Molt-4 cells (si-NC group, si-circ-0008717 group). pcDNA, pcDNA-circ-0008717, anti-miR-NC, anti-miR-217 were transfected into Molt-4 cells and then added to carvacrol-treated cells (carvacrol+pcDNA group, carvacrol+pcDNA-circ-0008717 group, carvacrol+anti-miR-NC group, carvacrol+anti-miR-217 group). MTT, plate clone formation experiment, and flow cytometry were used to detect the viability of the cell, colony formation number, and apoptosis rate of cells, respectively. The RT-qPCR method was used to detect the expression levels of circ-0008717 and miR-217. The dual luciferase reporter gene experiment was used to detect the targeting relationship between circ-0008717 and miR-217. RESULTS: After carvacrol treatment, the cell viability decreased significantly (r=-0.9405), expression level of circ-0008717 decreased (r=-0.9117), colonies formed number decreased (r=-0.9256), while the cell apoptosis rate increased (r= 0.8464), and the expression level of miR-217 increased (r=0.9468). Compared with the si-NC group, the expression level of miR-217 in si-circ-0008717 group increased (P＜0.001), the cell apoptosis rate increased (P＜0.001), while cell viability decreased (P＜0001), the number of colonies formed decreased (P＜0.001). Compared with the carvacrol+pcDNA group, the cell viability of the carvacrol+pcDNA-circ-0008717 group increased (P＜0.001), the number of colonies formed increased (P＜0.001), while the cell apoptosis rate decreased (P＜0.001). circ-0008717 could target miR-217. The cell viability of the carvacrol+anti-miR-217 group increased (P＜0.001), and the number of colonies formed increased (P＜0.001), while the cell apoptosis rate decreased (P＜0001) as compared with the carvacrol+anti-miR-NC group. CONCLUSION Carvacrol can promote the expression of miR-217 by down-regulating the expression of circ-0008717, thereby reducing the proliferation and cloning ability of leukemia cells and promoting cell apoptosis.
Antagomirs ; Apoptosis ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; Cymenes ; Humans ; Leukemia ; MicroRNAs/genetics*

OBJECTIVE: To detect the expression of multiple myeloma-associated antigen (MMSA)-8 and MMSA-1 in bone marrow mononuclear cells of patients with acute myeloid leukemia, and explore their roles in acute myeloid leukemia. METHODS: A total of 83 patients with M2 acute myeloid leukemia in our hospital from January 2019 to January 2020 were selected as research group, during the same period, 15 patients diagnosed iron deficiency anemia were selected as control group. Real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR was used to detect the levels of MMSA-8 and MMSA-1 in bone marrow mononuclear cells. Patients in the research group were divided into remission and non remission according to the clinical curative effect, and were divided into good prognosis, medium prognosis, and poor prognosis according to the prognosis. The relationship between MMSA-8, MMSA-1 and clinical efficacy, prognosis was analyzed. In addition, the general data of patients in the research group were collected, including white blood cell count (WBC), hemoglobin (Hb), platelet count (PLT), and percentage of bone marrow progenitor cells at admission. Pearson method was used to analyze the correlation between MMSA-8, MMSA-1 and clinical data, and MMSA-8 and MMSA-1. RESULTS: The analysis results about mRNA levels of MMSA-8 and MMSA-1 in bone marrow mononuclear cells of patients showed that patients in the research group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P<0.05); In the research group, patients without remission were also significantly higher than those with remission, as well as those with medium and poor prognosis than with good prognosis, while only mRNA level of MMSA-1 in patients with poor prognosis was significantly higher than those with medium prognosis (P<0.05). Pearson analysis showed that MMSA-8, MMSA-1 were positively correlated with WBC (r=0.468, r=0.516), and MMSA-8 was positively correlated with MMSA-1 (r=0.318). CONCLUSION The levels of MMSA-8 and MMSA-1 in bone marrow mononuclear cells of patients with M2 acute myeloid leukemia are increased, which are closely related to the occurrence and development of the disease, and have certain value for the prognosis.
Bone Marrow ; Humans ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute/genetics* ; Multiple Myeloma/genetics* ; Prognosis ; RNA, Messenger

ObjectiveTo investigate the expression of growth factor receptor-bound protein-2 (Grb2), matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP-3), and MMP-9 in cholangiocarcinoma and its significance. MethodsThe expression of Grb2, MMP-3, and MMP-9 in cholangiocarcinoma tissues of 47 cases and normal tissues was measured using immunohistochemistry, and the correlations of Grb2 expression with clinical pathology and MMP-3 and MMP-9 expression were analyzed. Comparison of continuous data was made using t test, and the correlation of Grb2 expression with MMP-3 and MMP-9 expression was analyzed using the multivariate linear regression model. ResultsThe expression of Grb2 in cholangiocarcinoma tissues was significantly higher than that in normal bile duct tissues (t=5935, P＜0.001); the expression of Grb2 in cholangiocarcinoma tissues and normal bile duct tissues showed no significant correlation with age, sex, and differentiation level; the expression of Grb2 in cholangiocarcinoma tissues with lymph node or distant metastasis was significantly higher than that in cholangiocarcinoma tissues without metastasis (t=3.882, P=0.003). The expression of Grb2 was positively correlated with the expression of MMP-3 and MMP-9 (r2=0.3667, P=0.018; r2=0.5133, P=0.007). ConclusionThe expression of Grb2 in cholangiocarcinoma tissues is higher than that in normal bile duct tissues, and it is closely related to the invasion and metastasis of carcinoma. Further study shows that the expression of Grb2 is positively correlated with the expression of MMP-3 and MMP-9.

In this paper, we analyzed medical records of 40 patients with coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19), in order to explore the clinical efficacy of Matrine and Sodium Chloride Injection in the treatment of COVID-19. The investigation was based on the results of a previous animal test, which was aimed to investigate and confirme the clinical efficacy of Matrine and Sodium Chloride Injection in the treatment of COVID-19. The animal test demonstrated that Matrine and Sodium Chloride Injection has a significant therapeutic effect on the human coronavirus pneumonia for the model mice. The lung inhibition index reached up to 86.86%. The evaluation was conducted on 40 confirmed cases of COVID-19 treated at Jingzhou Hospital of Infectious Disease(Chest Hospital) of Hubei Pro-vince from January 30~(th) to March 21~(th), 2020. In these cases, patients were treated with other integrated Chinese and Western medicines regimens in the recommended Matrine and Sodium Chloride Injection diagnosis and treatment regimen. The clinical manifestations, laboratory data, nucleic acid clearance time, and imaging data were compared and analyzed before and after treatment. After administration with Matrine and Sodium Chloride Injection, the clinical symptoms of 40 cases were alleviated markedly, and their blood analysis and biochemical indexes returned to normal. The lung CT showed more than 50% of lesion absorption rate, and the viral nucleic acid test showed the average clearance time of patients was 16.6 days, and the average length of hospital stay was 25.9 days. After administration with Matrine and Sodium Chloride Injection, the symptoms of cough and fatigue were alleviated significantly, and the appetite was significantly improved compared with before, especially for patients with gastrointestinal symptoms. Additionally, laboratory indicators, especially absolute value and ratio of lymphocytes and CRP were significantly alleviated. According to the chest CT for short-term review, the absorption of lung lesions was faster than before, especially for grid-like and fibrotic lesions. Compared with antiviral drugs, such as Abidol and Kriging, the nucleic acid clearance time was significantly shorter than the cases treated with Matrine and Sodium Chloride Injection. The clinical effective rate of 40 cases was 100.0%. We believed that Matrine and Sodium Chloride Injection have a good clinical effect in the treatment of COVID-19, and suggested increasing the clinical application and further conducting large-sample-size cli-nical verification.
Alkaloids ; Animals ; Betacoronavirus ; Coronavirus Infections ; Disease Models, Animal ; Mice ; Pandemics ; Pneumonia, Viral ; Quinolizines ; Sodium Chloride ; Treatment Outcome

Objective To summarize the sonographic characteristics of high frequency ultrasound and elastography of thyroid microcarcinoma(TMC),and to analyze the causes of misdiagnosis.Methods The preoperative ultrasonic data of 245 suspicious TMCs in 202 patients,as confirmed by operation pathology,were retrospectively analyzed.Results Preoperative ultrasonography accurately diagnosed 221 TMCs,the diagnosis rate was 90.2％,and the misdiagnosis rate was 9.8％.Among the missed diagnosed lesions,18 lesions were nodular goiter,others were 3 nodular goiter with focal papillary hyperplasia of follicular epithelium,2 nodular goiter with adenomatous hyperplasia,1 focal lymphocytic thyroiditis,respectively.The thyroid lesions≤0.5 cm in diameter were more easily to misdiagnose.According to the importance of the ultrasonographic features of TMC,the order were aspect ratio (A/T) ≥ 1,irregular-shape,microcalcifications,low or very-low echo.Based on the above corresponding characteristics and considering other features together,the diagnostic accuracy rate were 94.1 ％,93.9％,92.4％ and 90.5％,respectively.Less blood supply and ill-defined boundary were the secondary sonographic signs of TMC.The elastographic scores of TMC were most showed 4 to 5 points.Diagnosis of TMC relied on elastography alone is less effective,but when elastograph diagnosis based on high frequency ultrasound,the diagnostic accuracy is much higher,especially when there is no calcification in the lesions.Conclusions High-frequency ultrasound has a very important value in the diagnosis of TMC,while elastography has certain assistant value on the basis of high-frequency ultrasonic diagnosis.

To study the current situation and affecting factors of bilingual teaching for Neurology,we investigated the students of a five-year medical undergraduade in clinical medicine with a questionaire.It will provide the data and reference to effectively improve bilingual teaching program for Neurology.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the clinico-pathologic features, treatment and prognosis of Castleman disease.

METHODSThe clinico-pathologic data of 16 patients diagnosed as Castleman disease from January 2002 to December 2014 were analyzed retrospectively.

RESULTSThe median age was 28.5 (7-73)years old. There were 14 unicentric cases, 92.8% (13/14) of which was diagnosed as hyaline-vascular type. Two multicentric cases was diagnosed as plasmatcyic type. All the patients were treated by surgical resection and their median follow-up was 55.5 (2-150)months. As a result, 13 unicentric cases achieved sustained remission, 1 unicentric case with plasmatocytic type relapsed at 60th month after surgical resection.

CONCLUSIONClinical subtype and histopathogenic type are the dominating progonostic factors in Castleman patients. The clinical presentation of unicentric disease has been found to be benigns and the surgical resection can be used as first-line treatment method in clinic. The clinical presentation of multicentric disease may be stable or advanced, and the prognosis of advanced cases is poor as there are no effective treatments.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Castleman Disease ; Child ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVE: To detect the levels of Treg, Th17, Th9 cells and expression of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), interleukin-17 (IL-17) and interleukin-9 (IL-9) in peripheral blood of patients with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) and to explore its role in the pathogenesis of ITP. METHODS: Fifty-four patients with ITP (ITP group) and 40 healthy volunteers (control group) were selected in our hospital. The of Treg, Th17 and Th9 cells in peripheral blood of 2 groups were measured by flow cytometry, and the expression of cytokines, such as TGF-β, IL-17 and IL-9 in the peripheral blood of 2 groups were detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). RESULTS: The level of Treg cells in the peripheral blood of the ITP group was significantly decreased in comparison with the control group, while the levels of Th17 and Th9 cells significantly increased in comparison with the control group (all P<0.01). The expression of cytokine such as TGF-β in the peripheral blood of the case group significantly decreased in comparison with the control group, while the expression levels of IL-17 and IL-9 significantly increased in comparison with the control group (P<0.01). The results of Pearson correlation analysis showed that there was a positive correlation between the level of Treg cells and platelet count (PLT) in peripheral blood of the ITP group (r=0.35, P<0.05), and there were negative correlation between the level rate of Th17, Th9 cells and Plt count (r=-0.37, -0.43, P<0.05); there was a positive correlation between the expression of the TGF-β in the ITP group and Plt count (r=0.46, P<0.05), while the expression of IL-17 and IL-9 showed negative correlation with PLT (r=-0.48, -0.54, P<0.05). CONCLUSION The percentage of Treg, Th17 and Th9 cells in the peripheral blood of patients with ITP is abnormal, and the expression of TGF-β, IL-17 and IL-9 also is abnormal, which may play an important role in the pathogenesis of ITP.
Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Interleukin-17 ; Interleukin-9 ; Purpura, Thrombocytopenic, Idiopathic ; T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer ; T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory ; Transforming Growth Factor beta