Objective To investigate and compare the clinical values of serum procalcitonin (PCT)and high sensitivity C-reac-tive protein (hs-CRP)levels for predicting the blood culture positivity in the patients with sepsis.Methods 132 adult patients with sepsis were enrolled in this study.Blood cultures were performed before the antibacterial therapy.The white blood cell (WBC) count,absolute neutrophil count(ANC),levels of PCT and hs-CRP were determined.The application value of PCT and hs-CRP for predicting the positive blood culture results were evaluated.Results The median serum PCT levels in the blood culture positive group and the blood culture negative group were 7.92 ng/mL and 0.95 ng/mL respectively,the difference had statistical signifi-cance(P <0.01).The receiver operating characteristic (ROC)curves showed that PCT had a higher predictive accuracy for blood culture positivity compared with hs-CRP,the area under the curve (AUC)was 0.810(P =0.001)and 0.690(P =0.274),respec-tively.The combined detection of PCT and hs-CRP for predicting the blood culture positive results was similar to the performance of PCT alone,AUC as 0.885 (P =0.001 ).The median cut point of PCT was 0.91 ng/mL,the sensitivity of PCT for predicting blood culture positivity was 90%.This sensitivity remained unchanged when PCT cut point was1.14ng/mL.Using the PCT cut points of 0.91 and 1.14 enabled reducing the submitted blood cultures by 51% and 56% respectively.Conclusion Compared with hs-CRP,serum PCT level could better predict the blood culture positivity in the patients with sepsis.

A new approach based on online coupled liquid chromatography-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry ( LC-GC / MS ) was developed for the rapid determination of 4-( methylnitrosamino )-1-( 3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK) in mainstream cigarette smoke, in which a switching valve was employed to online switching between two-dimensional chromatography. The online LC-GC / MS system used in this study was built by using online gel permeation chromatography-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry except that the micro gel column was replaced by micro alkaline alumina column which was prepared by ourselves before. The NNK in mainstream cigarette smoke was collected by a Cambridge filter pad, then the pad was extracted with dichloromethane, and the extract was quantitatively analyzed by online LC-GC / MS with D4-NNK as an internal standard. Online LC-GC / MS allowed online pretreatment purification, and the sample was subjected to online LC-GC / MS without any prior purification, which reduced human error in analysis process. The injection volume of the present online LC-GC / MS could reach 40 μL, which was 20 times of that of the conventional GC / MS (2. 0 μL of injection volume), and thus significantly improved the sensitivity. Under the optimum conditions, good linearity ( r = 0. 9998) was obtained over the range of 1. 2 - 120 ng / mL. The recoveries at three spiked levels ranged from 93. 9% to 96. 0% , and the limits of detection for qualitative and quantitative detection were 0. 25 ng / mL and 0. 9 ng / mL, respectively. All the results obtained by the present method are comparable to those of standard method recommend by China National Tobacco Company.

Objective To investigate the effect of phlorizin on the apoptosis and oxidative stress of rat cardiomyocytes H9C2 induced by hypoxia/reoxygenation(H/R)and its possible mechanism.Methods H9C2 cells were cultured in vitro.H/R model was established after pretreatment with different doses(16,32,64 μmol/L)of phlorizin or transfection with anti-miR-125a-5p,anti-miR-NC,miR-125a-5p mimics and negative controls.Proliferation was detected by CCK-8,and apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry.The protein expression levels of B lymphoblastoma-2 associated X protein(Bax)and B lymphocytoma-2(Bcl-2)were detected by Western blot assay.The release of lactate dehydrogenase(LDH)and the activity of superoxide dismutase(SOD)were detected by colorimetric method.Real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR(qRT-PCR)was used to detect the expression of miR-125a-5p.Results Compared with the H/R group,inhibition rate,apoptosis rate,Bax protein expression,LDH content and miR-125a-5p expression were decreased after low,medium and high doses of phlorizin treatment(P＜0.05),and SOD activity,Bcl-2 protein expression were increased(P＜0.05).After inhibiting the expression of miR-125a-5p,the inhibition rate,apoptosis rate,Bax protein expression and LDH content of H9C2 cells induced by H/R were decreased(P＜0.05),and SOD activity,Bcl-2 protein expression were increased(P＜0.05).Overexpression of miR-125a-5p reversed the effect of phloridin on H/R-induced proliferation,apoptosis and oxidative stress of H9C2 cells.Conclusion Phlorizin may reduce H/R-induced apoptosis and oxidative stress in H9C2 cells by decreasing the expression of miR-125a-5p.