This study was conducted to assess the effects of over ten years of antihyper-uricemic follow-up therapy on 65 patients out of 118 cases of primary gout. It was found that reduced tophaceous deposition correlated with normalization of the serum uric acid concentration. The patients with lower mean uric acid concentrations were more likely to have a reduction in tophi. There was a lack of correlation between mean serum uric acid concentrations and radiographic changes of gout. Although treatment allowed better control of the disease in general, serum uric acid concentration alone may not provide an effective means of monitoring the progression of the disease. In this series,antihyperuricemic agents were generally well tolerated. Gastrointestinal upset was seen in 13 of the 65 cases (20%),mild leukopenia in 6 patients. skin rash in 2 and herpes simplex in 1. No patient was withdrawn from the therapy owing to the untoward side effects.

Objective To investigate reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) characteristics of childhood hypopigmented lichen striatus.Methods RCM was performed to image skin lesions and perilesional normal skin in 11 children with hypopigmented lichen striatus.Then,confocal microscopic findings of the skin lesions were compared with pathological findings.Results Histopathological examination of the skin lesions showed mild intercellular and intracellular edema,thickening of prickle cell layer to different extent,local liquefaction degeneration of basal cells,and perivascular infiltration of plenty of lymphocytes and a few melanophages in the superficial dermis.RCM horizontal images showed multifocal liquefaction degeneration of basal cells,which caused indistinct dermo-epidermal junction,incomplete or unclear dermal papillary rings,infiltration of many highly refractive melanophages and slightly to moderately refractive inflammatory cells in papillary and superficial dermis.Conclusion RCM characteristics can serve as strong evidences for the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of childhood hypopigmented lichen striatus.

Objective To analyze and compare reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) features between Paget's disease and eczema on the scrotum.Methods RCM was performed to image scrotal lesions of 5 male patients with suspected Paget's disease and 5 male patients with eczema.Then,the scrotal lesions were resected and subjected to histopathological examination,and a comparison was conducted between the confocal microscopic and pathological findings.Results RCM imaging for the 5 cases of Paget's disease showed disorganized epidermal structure,absence of normal honeycomb structures,single or clustered pagetoid cells in the prickle cell layer.RCM imaging for the 5 cases of eczema showed intercellular edema in the prickle cell layer,reticular degeneration of blisters in all the cases,and pustule formation in some cases.Conclusion RCM features are obviously different between Paget's disease of the scrotum and scrotal eczema,so RCM imaging can facilitate the early diagnosis of Paget's disease.

Objective To investigate the clinical and reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) characteristics of hypopigmentation induced by local glucocorticoid injection.Methods A retrospective study was carried out on 26 cases of hypopigmentation induced by local glucocorticoid injection.The clinical manifestations,RCM characteristics and treatment outcomes of hypopigmentation induced by local glucocorticoid injection were analyzed in these cases.Results Of the 26 patients,22 were female and 4 were male.Lesions were round or oval,pale white or white patches with obscure boundaries.Different degrees of localized skin atrophy occurred in 15 patients,and subcutaneous venous networks were observed in 8 of the 15 patients.RCM imaging of lesions in the 26 cases showed different degrees of epidermal thinning in the areas of hypopigmentation,shortening or disappearance of trochanterellus,and decreased number or disappearance of chromocytes in the basal layer,which were totally different from RCM characteristics of vitiligo lesions.Conclusion Hypopigmentation induced by local glucocorticoid injection is a kind of depigmentation disease complicated by skin atrophy with definite inducements,and RCM is of great value to its diagnosis.

Purpose: Most lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) patients are diagnosed at the advanced stage and have poor prognosis. DNA methylation plays an important role in the prognosis prediction of cancers. The objective of this study was to identify new DNA methylation sites as biomarkers for LUAD prognosis. Materials and Methods: We downloaded DNA methylation data from The Cancer Genome Atlas data portal. Cox proportional hazard regression model and random survival forest algorithm were applied to identify the DNA-methylation sites. Methylation of sites were validated in the Gene Expression Omnibus cohorts. Function annotation were done to explore the biological function of DNA methylated sites signature. Results: Six DNA methylation sites were identified as prognosis signature. The signature yielded acceptable discrimination between the high-risk group and low-risk group. The discrimination effect of this DNA methylation signature for the OS was obvious, with a median OS of 21.89 months vs. 17.74 months for high-risk vs. low-risk groups. This prognostic prediction model was validated by the test group and GEO dataset. The predictive survival value was higher for the prognostic prediction model than that for the tumor node metastasis stage. Adjuvant hemotherapy could not affect the prediction of the signature. Functional analysis indicated that these signature genes were involved in protein binding and cytoplasm. Conclusion We identified the prognostic signature for LUAD by combining six DNA methylation sites. This could service as potential robust and specificity signature in the prognosis prediction of LUAD.

Objective: Several COVID-19 patients have overlapping comorbidities. The independent role of each component contributing to the risk of COVID-19 is unknown, and how some non-cardiometabolic comorbidities affect the risk of COVID-19 remains unclear. Methods: A retrospective follow-up design was adopted. A total of 1,160 laboratory-confirmed patients were enrolled from nine provinces in China. Data on comorbidities were obtained from the patients' medical records. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to estimate the odds ratio ( Results: Overall, 158 (13.6%) patients were diagnosed with severe illness and 32 (2.7%) had unfavorable outcomes. Hypertension (2.87, 1.30-6.32), type 2 diabetes (T2DM) (3.57, 2.32-5.49), cardiovascular disease (CVD) (3.78, 1.81-7.89), fatty liver disease (7.53, 1.96-28.96), hyperlipidemia (2.15, 1.26-3.67), other lung diseases (6.00, 3.01-11.96), and electrolyte imbalance (10.40, 3.00-26.10) were independently linked to increased odds of being severely ill. T2DM (6.07, 2.89-12.75), CVD (8.47, 6.03-11.89), and electrolyte imbalance (19.44, 11.47-32.96) were also strong predictors of unfavorable outcomes. Women with comorbidities were more likely to have severe disease on admission (5.46, 3.25-9.19), while men with comorbidities were more likely to have unfavorable treatment outcomes (6.58, 1.46-29.64) within two weeks. Conclusion Besides hypertension, diabetes, and CVD, fatty liver disease, hyperlipidemia, other lung diseases, and electrolyte imbalance were independent risk factors for COVID-19 severity and poor treatment outcome. Women with comorbidities were more likely to have severe disease, while men with comorbidities were more likely to have unfavorable treatment outcomes.
Adult ; Aged ; COVID-19/virology* ; China/epidemiology* ; Comorbidity ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Severity of Illness Index ; Treatment Outcome