Objective To explore the feasibility of ultrasonic examination in the strain(S) and strain rate(SR) of carotid artery atheromatous plaque, and the distribution of S and SR of the atherosclerotic plaques. Methods Tissue velocity imaging(TVI) was used in 26 cases of coronary artery disease(CAD),and 35 atherosclerotic plaques in the carotid artery were found.The peak values of displacement, S and SR in different plaque sites were obtained with Q-analysis software. The estimation of S and SR of same sites was acquired in different parametric settings, including S length, S reject and S scale. Results Different parametric settings had no influence upon the estimation of S and SR. However, significant difference of S and SR could be found in different plaque sites, such as the shoulder, the surface of fibrous cap and the base and it was the same case among different acoustic plaque types. S and SR distribution patterns were similar between angina pectoris group and old myocardial infarction group; yet they were significantly different between acute myocardial infarction group and the former two groups. Conclusions TVI technique and ultrasonic Doppler-based strain imaging method could be used in carotid arteries. Strain concentrated mainly on the surface of fibrous cap and the plaque shoulder. SR of plaque shoulder among three acoustic plaque types was different. From the surface to the base axially, S and SR decreased gradually.

BACKGROUND:Tol-like receptor (TLR) and its signaling pathway play an important role in autoimmune diseases, hypersensitivity, inflammation, apoptosis and transplant rejection; however, its effects on immune pathogenesis of Henoeh-Schonlein purpura in children have not been fuly elucidated. OBJECTIVE:To investigate the TLR2 expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cels in children with Henoeh-Schonlein purpura and its correlation with immune response. METHODS: Sixty-four children with Henoeh-Schonlein purpura were divided into two groups: non-renal damage group (n=36) and renal damage group (n=28). Meanwhile, another 30 healthy children subjected to health examination acted as control group. Flow cytometry and florescent quantitative PCR were employed to detect TLR2 protein and mRNA expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cels, respectively. ELISA was used to detect plasma interferon-γ and interleukin-4 levels and transforming growth factor β and interleukin-10 levels secreted from Treg cels. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Levels of interferon-γ and interferon-γ/interleukin-4 in the children with Henoeh-Schonlein purpura were significantly lower than those in the control group (P < 0.05), while the level of interleukin-4 was higher than the control group (P < 0.05). The expression of TLR2 protein and mRNA was significantly higher in the Henoeh-Schonlein purpura children than the healthy children (P < 0.05) and significantly higher in the renal damage group than the non-renal damage group (P < 0.05). Compared with the control group, the levels of interleukin-10 and transforming growth factor β were significantly higher in the children with Henoeh- Schonlein purpura (P < 0.05). These findings indicate that Henoeh-Schonlein purpura children have increased levels of TLR2 protein and mRNA in the peripheral blood mononuclear cels, and exhibit immune imbalance. TLR2 is involved in the pathogenesis of Henoeh-Schonlein purpura, and transforming growth factor β can be used to evaluate Treg immune response and provide reference for diagnosis, treatment of prognosis of Henoeh-Schonlein purpura children.

To investigate the chemical constituents of the endophytic fungus Penicillium sp. FJ-1 of Ceriops tagal, the chemical constituents were isolated by column chromatography on silica gel and Sephadex LH-20. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic analysis. Their antibacterial activity was tested by paper disco diffusion method. Two compounds were isolated and identified as 7-hydroxy-deoxytalaroflavone (1), and deoxytalaroflavone (2). Compound 1 is a new compound, and compounds 1 and 2 showed weak activity against Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Objective To investigate the clinical,endoscopic and pathologic features in the differential diagnosis between Crohn' s disease (CD) and intestinal tuberculosis (ITB).Methods The complete clinical data of 107 patients with CD and 69 patients with ITB in our hospital from January 2011 to January 2012 were retrospectively analyzed.The diagnostic value of the clinical and endoscopic scoring system was evaluated.Results CD occurred mainly in male.The salient features of CD included long duration of disease high incidence of colectomy.Comparing with patients with ITB,patients with CD have more cases of diarrhea,hematochezia,abdominal mass,intestinal obstruction,intestinal hemorrhage,perianal lesions,and extraintestinal manifestations (all P ＜ 0.05).It's more frequent to have positive results of anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae antibody (ASCA),perinuclear antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (pANCA) and fecal occult blood in CD patients,as well as low albumin,high C-reactive protein (CRP),elevated platelet count and hematocrit (P ＜ 0.05 or P ＜ 0.01).The salient features of ITB included low fever,night sweats,active parenteral tuberculosis,increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR),chest X-ray abnormalities,the positive PPD (purified protein derivatives tuberculin) and T-SPOT (P ＜ 0.05 or P ＜0.01).Based on the imaging,CD often involved the small intestine,such as the intestinal stricture and abdominal abscess (P ＜ 0.05),while mesenteric lymphadenopathy was more common in ITB (P ＜ 0.05).The endoscopic examination showed that some patterns of disease involvement such as fissure-shape ulcer [41.12％ (44/107) vs 5.80％ (4/69)],cobblestone sign [15.89％ (17/107) vs 4.35％ (3/69)],lesions over four segment [24.30％ (26/107) vs 7.25％ (5/69)],rectum involvement [17.76％ (19/107) vs 5.80％ (4/69)],ileocecal valve stenosis [21.50％ (23/107) vs 8.70％ (6/69)] and mucosal bridge [5.61％ (6/107) vs 0(0/69)] were more frequent in CD patients than those in ITB patients(P ＜ 0.01 or P ＜0.05).However circular ulcers[37.68％ (26/69) vs 9.35％ (10/107)],rat-bite-like ulcers[24.64％ (17/69) vs 12.15％ (13/107)],persistent open ileocecal valves [39.13％ (27/69) vs 19.63％ (21/107)],tuberous and polypoid lesions [36.23％ (25/69) vs 20.56％ (22/107),37.68％ (26/69) vs 22.43％ (24/107)] were more common in ITB (P ＜ 0.01 or P ＜ 0.05).In terms of pathological findings,certain characteristic features such as transmural inflammation [5.61％ (6/107) vs 0 (0/69)],fissure-liked ulcers [14.02％ (15/107) vs 4.35％ (3/69)],non-caseous granulomas [5.61％ (6/107) vs 0(0/69)],lymphoid hyperplasia [16.82％ (18/107) vs 5.80％ (4/69)] and crypt abscess [9.35％ (10/107) vs 1.45％ (1/69)] were more common in CD than those in ITB(P ＜ 0.05).According to the clinical and endoscopic scoring system,the positive diagnostic rate of CD was 50.47 ％ (54/107)and of ITB was 66.67 ％ (46/69) (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions The differential diagnosis between CD and ITB should be considered carefully based on clinical,endoscopic,pathological characteristics.The clinical and endoscopic scoring system may contribute to distinguish CD and ITB.

Objective To evaluate left ventricular regional volume and function of the patients with myocardial infarction by real-time three-dimensional echocardiography.Methods The study consisted of 24 normal subjects and 27 patients with myocardial infarction.Three-dimensional image data were acquired and were analysed offline.Regional volume curves and regional ejection fraction curves were derived.Regional diastolic volumes,regional systolic volumes and regional ejection fractions were compared respectively between two groups.Results The normal regional volume curves and regional ejection fraction curves were regular parabola.The regional volume increased and ejection fraction decreased in the zones with infarction,and the amplitudes of the regional volume curves and the regional ejection fraction curves decreased.Conclusions Real-time three-dimensional echocardiography can evaluate left ventricular regional volume and regional function objectively.

The article entitled "Differential expression of exosomal miRNAs in osteoblasts in osteoarthritis" published on Journal of Central South University (Medical Science), in Volume 43, Issue 12, 2018 (DOI: 10.11817/j.issn.1672-7347.2018.12.003) may have an unclear risk of bias due to insufficient understanding for some results. Further experimental studies are needed. We all agree to retract this article, and apologize to the Journal and readers for the possible negative impact.

Objective To investigate the distribution and antimicrobial resistance profile of clinical gram-negative bacterial isolates in the First Afifliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University during 2014.Methods Bacteria identiifcation was performed by API system or the VITEK-2 Compact automatic identiifcation system. Disk diffusion susceptibility testing or VITEK-2 Compact automatic identification system was used to determine the susceptibility to antimicrobial agents. All data were analyzed using WHONET 5.6 software.Results Among the total 7 931 clinical isolates in 2014, gram-negative bacteria accounted for 64.2% (5 088/7 931). The top three pathogens wereE. coli,A. baumannii andK. pneumoniae. Notably, during the year 2014, 195 strains of carbapenem-resistantEnterobacteriaceaewere isolated, about 6.9% of all theEnterobacteriaceae isolates. Meanwhile, 613 (66.5%) strains of multiple drug resistantA. baumannii and 197 (28.7%) strains of multiple drug resistantP. aeruginosa were isolated.Conclusion During the year 2014, the resistance of the gram-negative bacteria in this hospital is mainly characterized by carbapenem-resistantEnterobacteriaceae, multiple drug resistant A. baumanniiand multiple drug resistantP. aeruginosa. Surveillance of antimicrobial resistance is beneifcial for rational use of antibiotics.

Objective To investigate the value of shear wave elastography (SWE)on characterizing components and identifying the vulnerability of atherosclerotic plaques in vivo on a rabbit model.Methods The accuracy,as well as the inter-and intra-observer variance of quantifying the Young's modulus by SWE technique was first evaluated with the CIRS? phantoms as the golden standard.Animal model was developed by abdominal aorta endothelium denudation and high-cholesterol diet for 24 weeks on 20 purebred New Zealand rabbits.SWE images of atherosclerotic plaques found in the abdominal aortas were acquired in situ to acquire the Young's modulus.Then the plaques were harvested and matched with the distance between the right renal artery and the plaques recorded during SWE imaging.Histological slices were stained for fat,collagen,smooth muscle cells (SMC)and macrophages by Oil O red,picric Sirius red and anti-α-SMC,anti-RAM-1 1 immunohistology.Vulnerability index was also calculated as the percentage of (macrophage+fat)/(smooth muscle cell+collagen ).The correlation between the Young's modulus and plaque components and vulnerability index was analyzed.The value of SWE on differentiating plaque types was evaluated by ROC analysis.Results High agreement was found between the estimated Young's modulus by SWE and the gold standard.The coefficient of variant of inter-and intra-observer was very low at the range of 1.0%-3.8%.Ten fatty and twenty fibro-fatty plaques were obtained,totally.The maximal and mean Young's moduli of the fatty plaque were (49.90±22.95)kPa and (40.15±22.60)kPa,which were lower than those of the fibro-fatty plaques [(88.49±37.27)kPa and (72.93±29.21)kPa,respectively].The maximal Young's modulus obtained by SWE correlated positively with collagen and SMC (r =0.567 and 0.561,respectively with P <0.001),and negatively with fat and macrophage infiltration (r =-0.542 and-00.482,respectively with P <0.005).The mean Young's modulus also correlated positively with collagen and SMC (r=0.532 and 0.550,respectively with P <0.05),and negatively with fat and macrophage (r=-0.527 and -0.421,respectively with P <0.05).The same inclination could be observed between the minimal Young's modulus and the above components without statistical significance.Both the maximal and the mean Young's modulus correlated negatively with the vulnerable index (r =-0.620 and -0.619, respectively with P <0.001 ).ROC analysis revealed high sensitivity (85%)and specificity (80%)for differentiating fatty plaques from fibro-fatty plaques by Young's modulus.Conclusions SWE can be used for estimation of the Young's modulus of atherosclerotic plaques with high accuracy and reproducibility. Good correlation is evidenced between the Young's modulus and plaque components and vulnerability.Fatty and fibro-fatty plaques can be differentiated by Young's modulus with high sensitivity and specificity.Thus, SWE technique is promising for identifying vulnerable plaques.

Intestinal microflora is an important part of the organ-ism, promoting digestion and absorption of nutrients, maintaining intestinal normal physiological function, regulating immune sys-tem. Intestinal microflora maintains steady state under normal conditions, but intestinal microbiota dysbiosis occurs when surrounding environment c hanges, such as age, diet, obesity and other metabolic diseases as well as antibiotics. Many recent studies have found intestinal flora could cause a variety of disea-ses, and colon cancer is closely related with intestinal microbiota dysbiosis. Some researches suggest improving the intestinal flora dysbiosis can reduce the incidence of colon cancer and inhibit the growth and the worsening of colon cancer. However, under-lying mechanisms remain unknown. So this article summarizes the research progress on the development of colon cancer and in-testinal microbiota dysbiosis, in order to provide reference for re-search on intestinal flora and colon cancer treatment.

Objective To assess the relationships between area strain (AS) and eccentric index (EI) of atherosclerotic plaques as seen by intravascular ultrasonic elastography (IVUSE),and to reveal the effect of EI on the plaques stability.Methods Forty purebred New Zealand rabbits were fed with a high-cholesterol diet;the abdominal aorta endothelium was balloon-injured after 2 weeks;at the end of week 12,2 plaques with moderate echo from each rabbit were chosen for in situ imaging,and 2 consecutive frames near the end-diastole images in situ were used to construct an IVUS elastogram.Results The eccentric plaques showed significantly greater area stain (AS) than the centripetal plaques [4.77(2.92,8.01)% vs 3.27(2.15,4.82)%,P=0.029] with smaller plaque area and plaque burden (P<0.05).The plaque AS was positively correlated with EI (r=0.392,P=0.003).The eccentric plaques showed significantly greater AS in the shoulder than in body [4.98(3.17,8.48)% vs 4.64(2.51,5.92)%,P=0.008].Conclusions The EI is one of influential factors on plaque AS.Eccentric plaques may be more vulnerable than centripetal plaques,especially in the shoulder of eccentric plaques which have greater AS than their body.