Objective To compare the degree of atherosclerosis in middle-aged versus elderly patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD),and to explore the relationship between inflammatory molecules in venous blood and atherosclerosis.Methods Totally 87 elderly patients and 64 middleaged patients with CKD were selected.The vein fasting blood samples were taken in the morning.Serum levels of interleukin (IL)-18,IL-6,tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α),high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and ankle-brachial pulse wave conduction velocity (baPWV) was detected.Results Inflammatory molecules such as IL-18,IL-6,TNF-α and hs-CRP levels in venous blood were increased with the severity of CKD in both two groups,and the levels of inflammatory molecules were higher in elderly group than in middle-aged group.There was a signifiant difference in the detection rate of patients with baPWV＞1400 cm/s between elderly group and middle-aged group [30 cases (34.5％) vs.11 cases (17.2％),x2 =5.58,P＜0.05].The prevalence of PWV＞1400 cm/s was higher in patients with hyperlipidemia and hypertension than in patients with diabetes or heart disease (elderly group:100％,100％ vs.45.5％,40％; middle-aged group:80％,100％ vs.28.6％,33.3％,respectively; P＜0.05).The inflammatory protein (IL-18,IL-6,TNF-α and hs-CRP) levels were significantly higher in patients with baPWV＞ 1400 cm/s than those with baPWV ＜ 1400 cm/s (P＜0.05).Conclusions The degree of atherosclerosis is more severe in elderly CKD patients than in middle-aged CKD patients,which needs to be taken seriously enough.

Objective To determine contact allergens and their clinical significance in patients with dermatitis or eczema in Wuxi city.MethodsPatch test was conducted in 1065 patients with a clinical diagnosis of dermatitis or eczema.A statistical analysis was carried out.Results Positive patch test reactions were observed in 83.19％ of the patients,with no statistical differences in the frequency of positive patch test reactions between female and male patients or between patients of different age groups.The most frequent 6 allergens were potassium dichromate,cobalt chloride,nickle sulfate,formaldehyde,carba mix and fragrance mix in these patients.Female patients showed a higher frequency of positive patch test reaction to nickle sulfate and formaldehyde,but a lower frequency to potassium dichromate and carba mix compared with male patients (all P＜ 0.01 ); young,middle-aged,and old patients exhibited an increased frequency of positive reaction to cobaly chloride compared with child patients,while young and middle-aged patients showed a decreased frequency to nickel sulfate compared with child patients (all P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion Potassium dichromate,cobalt chloride,nickle sulfate,formaldehyde,carba mix and fragrance mix are the main allergens causing dermatitis and eczema in Wuxi city.

Hypothyroidism is a common adverse reaction in clinical multi-target tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) and may be used as a predictor of efficacy of TKI drugs.Studies show that hypothyroidism is significantly associated with good prognosis in patients with renal cell carcinoma treated with multi-target TKI,which may be related to inhibition of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor pathway,potential off-target effects and inhibition of cell proliferation.Whereas in the patients with hepatocellular carcinoma who received multi-target TKI therapy,hypothyroidism is an indicator of poor prognosis,which is related to the T3/TR pathway regulating liver cancer growth and invasion.The predictive function and mechanism of thyroid hormone levels in different tumor patients receiving multi-target TKI drugs are different,and further research is still needed.