Objective To investigate the clinical value of the ratio of plasma vascular endothelial growth factor level to platelet count (VEGF/PLT) in predicting 28-day prognosis in patients with sepsis.Methods A prospective cohort study was conducted.From September 2009 to March 2013,164 sepsis patients in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Guangdong General Hospital were included for study.Patients with age younger than 18 years old,the illness already reaching final stage of chronic diseases,suffering from two or more organs dysfunction within 3 days,acute pancreatitis without infection,or less than 28 days of expected survival time were excluded.Finally,135 patients were included in the further analysis.Peripheral blood samples were collected at admission.Routine blood tests were done,and then VEGF levels in plasma were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).Acute physiology and chronic health evaluation Ⅱ (APACHE Ⅱ) scores were recorded every day for 7 days.Patients' prognosis was assessed during the following 28 days.The patients were divided into 28-day survival group and non-survival group.Comparison between two groups was done by single factor analysis.Spearman rank correlation was used to analyze the correlation between VEGF levels and PLT.Mutivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the independent risk factor for 28-day prognosis.Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC curve) was plotted,and the effect of related indexes on predicting 28-day survival was evaluated by area under ROC curve (AUC).Results There were no significant differences in VEGF (ng/L:471.73 ± 198.34 vs.383.49 ± 266.54,t=-1.918,P=0.057),PLT (× 109/L:220.40±127.60 vs.246.42± 100.72,t=1.275,P=0.204),leucocyte counts (× 109/L:12.48 ±4.62 vs.13.70 ±5.97,t=1.063,P=0.292),mean arterial pressure [mmHg (1 mmHg=0.133 kPa):86.50 ± 12.04 vs.91.03 t 13.10,t=1.557,P=0.123] and blood lactic acid (mmol/L:1.79 ± 1.30 vs.1.50 ± 0.60,t=-1.768,P=0.079) at admission between the non-survival group (n=42) and survival group (n=93).VEGF/PLT (2.59 ± 1.44 vs.1.73 ± 1.13,t=-3.756,P=0.000) as well as APACHE Ⅱ scores (15.50 ± 4.50 vs.13.28 ± 4.61,t =-2.022,P=0.045) of the non-survival group were significantly higher than those of survival group,and oxygenation index (PaO2/FiO2) of the non-survival group was significantly lower than that of survival group (kPa:32.38 ± 11.12 vs.37.04 ± 10.97,t=2.278,P=0.024).Correlation analysis showed that the concentration of VEGF was positively correlated with PLT (r=0.271,P=0.001).It was shown by multivariate logistic regression analysis that only VEGF/PLT was the independent risk factor in predicting 28-day prognosis in patients with sepsis [odds ratio (OR) was 1.591,95％ confidence interval (95％CI) 1.164-2.175,P=0.004].AUC of VEGF/PLT was 0.704 ± 0.047 (P=0.000,95％CI:0.611-0.797) for predicting 28-day survival.The optimal cut-off point was 1.32,and the sensitivity and specificity were 81.0％ and 48.4％,respectively.Conclusion VEGF/PLT can be used as one of the indicators to predict 28-day survival in patients with sepsis.

Objective:To explore the effect of post-pyloric feeding by spiral nasoenteric tubes on the prognosis of critically ill patients with acute gastrointestinal injury (AGI) grade Ⅱ.Methods:A retrospective study was performed to analyze the clinical data of critically ill adult patients with AGI grade Ⅱ, who were enrolled in three randomized controlled trials conducted by Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital for post-pyloric tube placement between April 2012 and May 2019. Data including demographic characteristics, serological indicators of nutrition, the tube tip position confirmed by abdominal X-ray 24 h after tube insertion, and intensive care unit (ICU), 28-day and hospital mortality were collected. Patients were divided into the post-pyloric feeding group and gastric feeding group according to the tube tip position. Propensity score matching method was used to perform 1:1 matching, and the differences of each index between the two groups were compared after matching. Then the influencing factors of P<0.1 were included in multivariate logistic regression analysis to investigate the potential ICU mortality risk factors of critically ill patients with AGI gradeⅡ. Factors with 0.1 level of significance from the univariate analysis were considered in the multivariate analysis. Results:There were 90 patients in post-pyloric feeding group and 90 patients in the gastric feeding group. Demographics and clinical characteristics of study population were well balanced between the two groups after matching. ICU, 28-day and hospital mortality in the post-pyloric feeding group were significantly lower than those in the gastric feeding group (4.4% vs 15.6%, 14.4% vs 27.8%, 6.7% vs 17.8%, all P < 0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that post-pyloric feeding was an independent protective factor [odds ratio ( OR)=0.295, 95% confidence internal (95% CI): 0.091-0.959, P=0.042] and APACHEⅡ score was an independent risk factor ( OR=1.111, 95% CI: 1.025-1.203, P=0.010) for ICU mortality of critically ill patients with AGI gradeⅡ. Conclusions:Post-pyloric feeding for critically ill patients with AGI grade Ⅱ could decrease ICU mortality and is an independent protective factor against mortality.

To explore the effect of post-pyloric feeding by spiral nasoenteric tubes on ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in neurocritical care patients. Methods A retrospective study was performed to analyze the clinical data of 175 neurocritical care adult patients with mechanical ventilation (MV) more than 48 hours, who were enrolled in three randomized controlled trials (RCT) conducted by Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital for post-pyloric tube placement between April 2012 to March 2019. The following patient clinical data were collected when patients were enrolled: gender, age, neurologic diagnosis, comorbidities, medication, endotracheal reintubation, bronchoscope treatment, the distal site of nasoenteric tubes, and acute physiology and chronic health evaluation Ⅱ(APACHEⅡ) score, sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score, Glasgow coma scale (GCS) score, and acute gastrointestinal injury (AGI) grade assessed. Patients were divided into VAP group and non-VAP group according to the occurrence of VAP, and the differences of each index between the two groups were compared. Then the influencing factors of P < 0.1 were included in multivariate Logistic regression analysis to identify the potential risk factors affecting the incidence of VAP. Furthermore, patients were divided into gastric feeding group and post-pyloric feeding group according to the distal site of nasoenteric tubes, and subgroup analysis was performed to evaluate the variety of VAP in patients with different tube sites and status. Results ① Forty-two patients occurred VAP in 175 MV patients, and the incidence of VAP was 24.0%. ② Univariate analysis showed the P value of post-pyloric feeding, APACHE Ⅱscore, GCS score and bronchoscope treatment were less than 0.1, and post-pyloric feeding and GCS score in VAP group were significantly lower than those in non-VAP group [post-pyloric feeding: 19.0% (8/42) vs. 36.8% (49/133), GCS:5 (3, 7) vs. 6 (4, 9), both P < 0.05]. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis indicated that post-pyloric feeding was independent protective factor [odds ratio (OR) = 0.360, 95% confidence internal (95%CI) = 0.151-0.857, P = 0.021] and bronchoscope treatment was the independent risk factor (OR = 2.210, 95%CI = 1.051-4.647, P = 0.036) for VAP. ③ The incidence of VAP was 28.8% (34/118), 0% (0/4), 8.3% (1/12), 26.7% (4/15), 22.2% (2/9) and 5.9% (1/17) respectively when tube tip in stomach, D1, D2, D3, D4 and jejunum confirmed by abdominal radiography. Post-pyloric feeding in each proportion seemed to present lower VAP rate compared with gastric feeding, however, no significant difference was found (all P > 0.05). ④ The incidence of VAP in post-pyloric feeding group was significantly lower than that in gastric feeding group [14.0% (8/57) vs. 28.8% (34/118), OR = 0.403, 95%CI = 0.173-0.941, P = 0.032]. Lower VAP rate appeared on patients with SOFA < 12 (OR = 0.392, 95%CI = 0.154-0.995, P = 0.044) and AGI grade ≥Ⅱ (OR =0.086, 95%CI = 0.011-0.705, P = 0.006) fed by post-pyloric route according to the result of subgroup analysis stratified by age, gender, APACHEⅡ score, SOFA score and AGI grade. Conclusion Post-pyloric feeding would decrease the incidence of VAP in neurocritical care patients on MV.

Objective:To study and verify the molecular mechanism of Duzhong Pills for osteoporosis (OP) by means of network pharmacology and molecular docking.Methods:The main chemical components of Duzhong Pills were mined by TCMSP database and the related targets were predicted. The potential targets of osteoporosis in GeneCards, DisGeNET and OMIM databases were searched and the common targets of both were obtained. The STRING platform was used for protein interaction analysis and PPI network diagram was made. The common targets were imported into the David database for enrichment analysis of GO and KEGG pathways, and molecular docking of the main components and core targets was performed. Eighteen Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into control group, model group and Duzhong Pills group according to random number table method, with 6 rats in each group. Ovariectomy was used to make osteoporosis model in model group and Duzhong Pills group. Duzhong Pills group was intragaxed with Duzhong Pills extract of 5 g/kg, and control group and model group were intragaxed with normal saline of the same volume, once a day for 8 weeks. Serum levels of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1β were detected by ELISA, and femur PI3K and Akt were detected by Western blot.Results:34 active components were obtained from Duzhong Pills, corresponding to 243 targets, and 1 059 targets for osteoporosis. The core targets included TNF-α, IL-6, AKT1, TP53, IL-1β and others regulated osteoporosis through PI3K-Akt and TNF pathway. The experimental results indicated that compared with model group, the levels of serum TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1β in Duzhong Pills group decreased ( P<0.05), and the expressions of PI3K and Akt in femur decreased ( P<0.05). Conclusion:Through β-sitosterol, quercetin, kaempferol and other active components, Duzhong Pills can act on TNF, IL-6, AKT1, TP53, IL-1β and other targets, regulating PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, TNF signaling pathway and other signaling pathways to play a role in the treatment of osteoporosis.