ObjectiveBy studying acupuncture at Neiguan (PC6), Shuigou (GV26), and Baihui (GV20) in septic shock patients, to observe the effect of acupuncture on T cell subsets, vital signs, white blood cell (WBC) count, and procalcitonin (PCT) level in septicshock patients.MethodSixty patients were randomized into a treatment group and a control group. The control group was intervened by symptomatic managements including supplementing blood volume, anti-inflammation, nutrition support, and organ protection, and the treatment group was by acupuncture at Neiguan, Shuigou, and Baihui in addition to the intervention given to the control group. The T cell subsets contents were detected before and after intervention, and serum PCT level, APACHEⅡscore, vital signs, and WBC count were determined on day 1, 3, 5, and 7.ResultIn the treatment group, T cell subsets including CD3﹢, CD4﹢, and CD4﹢/CD8﹢increased significantly after intervention (P<0.01,P<0.05), while CD8﹢dropped significantly afterintervention (P<0.05), and the changes in the treatment group were all markedly superior to that in the control group (P<0.05). The decrease of PCT level in the treatment group was more significant than that in the control group after treatment, the PCTlevel dropped significantly on the 5th day in the treatment group compared to that before treatment, and the inter-group difference was statistically significant after the 3rd day (P<0.01); the APACHEⅡscore in the treatment group was different from that in the control group after 3 d treatment, and the score was significantly changed in the treatment group after 5 d treatment (P<0.05); the body temperature, heart rate, inspiration, WBC count all showed decrease or improvement, and the improvements of vitalsigns in the treatment group were more significant than that in the control group (P<0.01,P<0.05).ConclusionAcupuncture at Baihui, Shuigou, and Neiguan can improve the immune function of septic shock patients, and its treatment effect is confirmed.

Purpose To evaluated the effect of ureteral stent placement before flexible ureteroscopic lithotripsy(FURL).Methods A systematic search of PubMed,Cochrane Library,Embase,Scopus,VIP,CNKI,Wanfang database from databases establishment to February 2017 was performed to identify all clinical trials on the effect of ureteral stenting before flexible ureteroscopic lithotripsy.The outcomes included stone-free rate,mean operative time,success rate of ureteral access sheath placement and postoperative complications.RevMan 5.3 software was used to complete the Meta statistical analysis.Results Three randomized and four non-randomized studies were analyzed,which consisted of 1 176 patients including 788 cases in experimental group,388 cases in control group.Meta-analysis showed significant differences between experimental group and control group in stone-free rate (OR =1.88,95％ CI 1.30-2.71,P ＜ 0.001).There was no statistically significant difference in mean operative time between experimental group and control group (WMD =-0.99,95 ％ CI-10.63-8.65,P =0.84).The success rate of ureteral access sheath placement was significantly higher in experimental group than that in the control group (OR =8.24,95％ CI 3.17-21.45,P ＜ 0.001).In term of postoperative complications,two groups had significant differences (OR =0.57,95 ％ CI 0.33-0.99,P =0.04).Conclusions Preoperative ureteral stenting can increase the stone-free rate and the success rate of ureteral access sheath placement,and reduce complications of FURL.There is no statistically significant difference in mean operative time.

Objective: To investigate the prognostic utility of radiomics features extracted from 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT combined with clinical factors and metabolic parameters in predicting progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in individuals diagnosed with extranodal nasal-type NK/T cell lymphoma (ENKTCL). Materials and Methods: A total of 126 adults with ENKTCL who underwent 18 F-FDG PET/CT examination before treatment were retrospectively included and randomly divided into training (n = 88) and validation cohorts (n = 38) at a ratio of 7:3.Least absolute shrinkage and selection operation Cox regression analysis was used to select the best radiomics features and calculate each patient’s radiomics scores (RadPFS and RadOS). Kaplan–Meier curve and Log-rank test were used to compare survival between patient groups risk-stratified by the radiomics scores. Various models to predict PFS and OS were constructed, including clinical, metabolic, clinical + metabolic, and clinical + metabolic + radiomics models. The discriminative ability of each model was evaluated using Harrell’s C index. The performance of each model in predicting PFS and OS for 1-, 3-, and 5-years was evaluated using the time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Results: Kaplan–Meier curve analysis demonstrated that the radiomics scores effectively identified high- and low-risk patients (all P < 0.05). Multivariable Cox analysis showed that the Ann Arbor stage, maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), and RadPFS were independent risk factors associated with PFS. Further, β2-microglobulin, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status score, SUVmax, and RadOS were independent risk factors for OS. The clinical + metabolic + radiomics model exhibited the greatest discriminative ability for both PFS (Harrell’s C-index: 0.805 in the validation cohort) and OS (Harrell’s C-index: 0.833 in the validation cohort). The time-dependent ROC analysis indicated that the clinical + metabolic + radiomics model had the best predictive performance. Conclusion The PET/CT-based clinical + metabolic + radiomics model can enhance prognostication among patients with ENKTCL and may be a non-invasive and efficient risk stratification tool for clinical practice.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of arterial stiffness on prognosis in patients with chronic kidney disease(CKD)stages 3-5(pre-dialysis).METHODS: 141 patients suffered from chronic kidney disease(CKD)stages 3-5 pre-dialysis were enrolled in this study between April 2006 and November 2010.Automatic pulse wave velocity(PWV)measuring system was used to examine carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity(CFPWV).According to CFPWV level,we divided the patients into elevated CFPWV group(CFPWV ≥12 m/s)and the normal group(CFPWV<12 m/s).Patients were followed up for the occurrence of cardiovascular event,cardiovascular death and all-cause death.Kaplan-Meier methods were used for survival analysis and Cox's proportional hazard regression model were used to analyze risk factors.RESULTS: Two groups were followed-up(93.72±47.93)months.The incidences of cardiac-cerebral vascular event,cardiac-cerebral vascular death and all-cause death were higher in high CFPWV level groups(62.2%vs.21.6%,56.7%vs.15.7%,64.4%vs.19.6%,P<0.05).The level of CFPWV was higher in patients with cardiac-cerebral vascular event,cardiac-cerebral vascular death and all-cause death than those without those events[(15.31±3.41)m/s vs.(12.08±2.94)m/s,(15.66±3.40)m/s vs.(12.14±2.88)m/s,(15.38±3.38)m/s vs.(11.97±2.87)m/s,P<0.01].Kaplan-Meier curve for overall survivals and cardiac-cerebral vascular event free survivals showed a significant distinct between high and normal CFPWV level groups,suggesting that the incidence of cardiac-cerebral vascular events,cardiac-cerebral vascular mortality and all-cause mortality were significantly higher in high CFPWV level group than in normal CFPWV group(P=0.000).Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that increased CFPWV and commencing dialysis were the independent risk factors for cardiac-cerebral vascular event,increased CFPWV and CRP and decreased ALB and commencing dialysis were the independent risk factors for cardiac-cerebral vascular mortality and all-cause mortality(P<0.05).CONCLUSION: The levels of CFPWV in pre-dialysis chronic kidney disease(CKD)stage 3-5 patients increases significantly.The incidence of cardiac-cerebral vascular events,cardiac-cerebral vascular mortality and all-cause mortality are significantly higher in elevated CFPWV group than those of normal group in patients with CKD G3-5.The elevated CFPWV is one of independent risk factors of cardiac-cerebral vascular event,cardiac-cerebral vascular mortality and all-cause mortality in patients with pre-dialysis chronic kidney disease.

Objective: To analyze the clinical epidemiological characteristics including composition of pathogens , clinical characteristics, and disease prognosis acute bacterial meningitis (ABM) in Chinese children. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on the clinical and laboratory data of 1 610 children <15 years of age with ABM in 33 tertiary hospitals in China from January 2019 to December 2020. Patients were divided into different groups according to age,<28 days group, 28 days to <3 months group, 3 months to <1 year group, 1-<5 years of age group, 5-<15 years of age group; etiology confirmed group and clinically diagnosed group according to etiology diagnosis. Non-numeric variables were analyzed with the Chi-square test or Fisher's exact test, while non-normal distrituction numeric variables were compared with nonparametric test. Results: Among 1 610 children with ABM, 955 were male and 650 were female (5 cases were not provided with gender information), and the age of onset was 1.5 (0.5, 5.5) months. There were 588 cases age from <28 days, 462 cases age from 28 days to <3 months, 302 cases age from 3 months to <1 year of age group, 156 cases in the 1-<5 years of age and 101 cases in the 5-<15 years of age. The detection rates were 38.8% (95/245) and 31.5% (70/222) of Escherichia coli and 27.8% (68/245) and 35.1% (78/222) of Streptococcus agalactiae in infants younger than 28 days of age and 28 days to 3 months of age; the detection rates of Streptococcus pneumonia, Escherichia coli, and Streptococcus agalactiae were 34.3% (61/178), 14.0% (25/178) and 13.5% (24/178) in the 3 months of age to <1 year of age group; the dominant pathogens were Streptococcus pneumoniae and the detection rate were 67.9% (74/109) and 44.4% (16/36) in the 1-<5 years of age and 5-<15 years of age . There were 9.7% (19/195) strains of Escherichia coli producing ultra-broad-spectrum β-lactamases. The positive rates of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) culture and blood culture were 32.2% (515/1 598) and 25.0% (400/1 598), while 38.2% (126/330)and 25.3% (21/83) in CSF metagenomics next generation sequencing and Streptococcus pneumoniae antigen detection. There were 4.3% (32/790) cases of which CSF white blood cell counts were normal in etiology confirmed group. Among 1 610 children with ABM, main intracranial imaging complications were subdural effusion and (or) empyema in 349 cases (21.7%), hydrocephalus in 233 cases (14.5%), brain abscess in 178 cases (11.1%), and other cerebrovascular diseases, including encephalomalacia, cerebral infarction, and encephalatrophy, in 174 cases (10.8%). Among the 166 cases (10.3%) with unfavorable outcome, 32 cases (2.0%) died among whom 24 cases died before 1 year of age, and 37 cases (2.3%) had recurrence among whom 25 cases had recurrence within 3 weeks. The incidences of subdural effusion and (or) empyema, brain abscess and ependymitis in the etiology confirmed group were significantly higher than those in the clinically diagnosed group (26.2% (207/790) vs. 17.3% (142/820), 13.0% (103/790) vs. 9.1% (75/820), 4.6% (36/790) vs. 2.7% (22/820), χ²=18.71, 6.20, 4.07, all P<0.05), but there was no significant difference in the unfavorable outcomes, mortility, and recurrence between these 2 groups (all P>0.05). Conclusions: The onset age of ABM in children is usually within 1 year of age, especially <3 months. The common pathogens in infants <3 months of age are Escherichia coli and Streptococcus agalactiae, and the dominant pathogen in infant ≥3 months is Streptococcus pneumoniae. Subdural effusion and (or) empyema and hydrocephalus are common complications. ABM should not be excluded even if CSF white blood cell counts is within normal range. Standardized bacteriological examination should be paid more attention to increase the pathogenic detection rate. Non-culture CSF detection methods may facilitate the pathogenic diagnosis.
Adolescent ; Brain Abscess ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Escherichia coli ; Female ; Humans ; Hydrocephalus ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Meningitis, Bacterial/epidemiology* ; Retrospective Studies ; Streptococcus agalactiae ; Streptococcus pneumoniae ; Subdural Effusion ; beta-Lactamases