Objective To quantify the expressions of collagen metabolic markers carboxy terminal propeptide of type I procollagen(PICP),nitrogen terminal propeptide of type I procollagen (PINP),nitrogen terminal propeptide of typeⅢprocollagen(PⅢNP),type I collagen carboxy terminal telopeptide (ICTP), matrix metalloproteinases(MMPs)and the tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases(TIMPs)in the serum of atrial fibrillation patients by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA),and to discuss the atrial structural remodeling during atrial fibrillation(AF).Methods 71 elderly patients were enrolled,24 patients had permanent AF,24 patients had paroxysmal AF,and 23 patients were in sinus rhythm.The serum levels of all markers were measured by ELISA. Results PICP was increased in permanent AF group versus the paroxysmal AF group and sinus rhythm group by 25.4%and 42.8%(all P<0.05),respectively.PⅢNP was increased in permanent AF group versus the paroxysmal AF group and sinus rhythm group by 17.9a% and 35.6%(all P<0.05),respectively,and was increased in the paroxysmal AF group versus the sinus rhythm group by 15.0%(P<0.05).PINP and ICTP did not differ significantly between the 3 groups(all P >0.05).MMP-1 was significantly increased by 25.6%(P<0.05)in the paroxysmal AF group versus the sinus rhythm group.MMP-2 was also significantly increased in permanent AF group versus the paroxysmal AF group and sinus rhythm group by 54.9%and 37.9%(all P<0.05),respectively.MMP-7,MMp-9 and TIMP-1 did not differ significantly between the 3 groups(P>0.05).TIMP-2was significantly decreased in the permanent AF group and paroxysmal AF group versus the sinus rhythm group by 21.8%and 11.8%(P<0.05),respectively. Conclusions Disturbance in the balance of MMP/TIMP system may perturb the balance of collagen synthesis and degradation during atrial fibrillation.This may be a contributing mechanism to atrial structural remodeling in atrial fibrillation,and may correlate with the initiation and maintenance of AF.

Objective:To explore the association between chest high resolution CT (HRCT) scoring and prognostic factors of interstitial lung disease (ILD) in patients with anti-melanoma differentiation-associated gene 5 (MDA5) antibody-positive dermatomyositis (DM).Methods:The patients with DM admitted to Kailuan General Hospital between January 2017 and December 2019 were included into the study including 13 patients with positiveanti-MDA5 antibody (7 survivors, 6 deaths) and 18 patients with anti-synthase (ARS)-antibody positive. All patients underwent chest HRCT prior to treatment. The consolidation, ground-glass opacity (GGO) and fibrosis were scored to assess HRCT findings. The clinical manifestations were compared between the two groups. Cox regression analysis adjusted for age and sex was used to determine the prognostic factors for anti-MDA5 antibody-related ILD.Results:Compared with ARS patients, glutamyl transferase (GGT) and ferritin levels were significantly higher in MDA5-ILD patients [70.0(37.0, 122.5) vs 21.0(16.5, 33.5), Z=-3.37, P=0.001; 977.0(502.5, 1 366.0) vs 307.1(72.3, 546.9) , Z=-3.44, P=0.001]. The cumulative survival rate was significantly lower in patients with positive anti-MDA5 antibody than in those with positive anti-ARS antibody (100% vs 70%, P=0.001). The DM complicated with acute/subacute interstitial pneumonia (A/SIP) were found to significantly relate to death. There were no significant differences in chest HRCT scoringbetween the survivors and the deceased patients [ HR=1.08, 95% CI(0.95, 1.23), P=0.229; HR=0.97, 95% CI(0.72, 1.30), P=0.814]. Conclusion:Anti-MDA5 antibody is an important index for early diagnosis of DM complicated with acute/subacute interstitial pneumonia (A/SIP). The chest HRCT scoreis is not associated with the prognosis of anti-MDA5 antibody-related ILD patients.

Objective To study the relationship between miR-655 with the clinical features of glioma and its role in diagnosis and prognosis.Methods The tissues and para cancerous tissues of 97 patients with glioma were collected from January 2013 to May 2017 at the Affiliated Hospital of Inner Mongolia Medical Universi-ty.The expression of miR 655 was detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR,and the diagnosis and prognosis of miR-655 in glioma were analyzed.Results The expression of miR-655 in the cancerous tissues was significantly lower than that of the paracancerous tissues of the glioma (P<0.001),which was signifi-cantly related to the size of the tumor (P=0.024) and the WHO grading (P=0.002).COX regression analy-sis showed that the expression of miR-655 (P=0.004)and the degree of tumor resection(P=0.008) were in-dependent risk factors for glioma;ROC analysis showed that the area under the curve of the glioma (AUC) under the miR-655 expression was 0.959 (95% CI:0.936 -0.982);when the expression of miR-655 was 0.755,the sensitivity and specificity of the diagnosis were 89.7% and 88.7% respectively.The Kaplan Meier analysis of the expression of glioma was statistically significant (P=0.004).The lower expression of miR-655 indicated the worse the prognosis of glioma patients,the COX analysis miR-655 was an independent risk factor for the survival of glioma patients.Conclusion miR-655 can be used as a marker of poor prognosis in diagnosis and prognosis.

Objective:To evaluate the clinicopathological features of primary retroperitoneal paragangliomas.Methods:Data of 24 patients with retroperitoneal paragangliomas who underwent surgical treatment in our hospital from Jan 2015 to Dec 2018 was collected and analyzed.Results:Hypertension, abdominal pain/discomfort and headache were the most common complaints while 10 patients were asymptomatic and were diagnosed accidently in routine body examination. Tumor size ranged from 3.4-13.0 cm (6.9±2.5) cm, and all the tumors were located in the vicinity of abdominal aorta and inferior vena cava. All the patients received surgical treatment. Intraoperative blood pressure fluctuations were significantly correlated with prolonged operation time, more blood loss, more blood transfusion and prolonged length of stay (all P<0.05). The median follow-up time was 29 months and 1 patient died from tumor recurrence and progression. The other patients have had a tumor free survival. Conclusions:Surgical resection was the principal treatment of primary paraganglioma. Preoperative assessment was very important for perioperative safety.

Objective:To investigate the pathogeny, diagnosis and treatment of solitary fibrous tumors of the abdomen and pelvis.Methods:Retrospective analysis was made on the clinical data of 12 SFT patients undergoing surgical resection in Peking University International Hospital from Jul 2015 to Jul 2019.Results:All patients underwent radical resection. After operation, complications in clued pelvic hemorrhage in 1 case and ureteral fistula in 1 case, all improved after conservative treatment.According to pathological and immunohistochemical results, 7 cases were MSFT and 5 cases were SFT. All patients were followed up for 2-53 months. 5 cases were recurrent, among which 1 case died of intestinal obstruction caused by tumor compression.Conclusion:The clinical manifestations of solitary fibrous tumors are mostly nonspecific.Imaging examination and puncture pathology are of great significance for preoperative diagnosis. Radical resection is an important means to improve the prognosis of patients.

Objective:To summarize the experience of surgical treatment of pelvic retroperitoneal neoplasms.Methods:A total of 107 patients with pelvic retroperitoneal neoplasms underwent surgical treatment from Apr 2015 to Sep 2020. According to the neoplasm location, size, and the relationship with the surrounding tissues, individualize the surgical plan, analyze the patient's basic condition, bleeding volume, tumor size, whether it is the first operation,or combined organ resection, etc.to find out the relevant factors affecting the surgical complications.Results:The surgical route included anterior approach in 67 cases , sacrococcygeal approach in 21 cases, combined abdominal-sacral approach in 13 cases, and laparoscopy in 5 cases. Twenty-nine patients underwent combined organ resection, postoperative complications occurred in 27 patients including colorectal anastomotic leakage in 6 cases, urinary fistula in 6 cases, delayed pelvic floor healing in 6 cases, rectovaginal fistula in 3 cases, and postoperative bleeding in 2 cases. The statistical analysis show whether or not first operation is related to the occurrence of complications ( χ2=4.79, P<0.05) Conclusion:Pelvic retroperitoneal neoplasms need to be fully prepared before surgery and individualized design. Intraoperative combined bleeding control measures and combined organ resection can effectively increase the resection rate and ensure the safety of surgery.

Objective:To explore the clinical diagnosis and treatment methods and curative effect of retroperitoneal ganglioneuromaMethods:The clinical data of 32 cases of retroperitoneal ganglioneuroma admitted to Peking University International Hospital from Apr 2015 to May 2022 were retrospectively analyzed, and their clinical characteristics, surgical efficacy and prognosis were discussed.Results:Of the 32 patients with retroperitoneal ganglioneuroma, 17 had no obvious clinical symptoms, 7 complained abdominal distension and pain, 6 had lower back pain, and 2 had abdominal mass. Tumors were located near the adrenal and renal regions in 18 cases, on both sides of the spine below the kidneys in 11 cases, and in the pelvis in 3 cases. tumors were single in 28 cases, multiple in 4 cases.Tumors were surrounded by major blood vessels in 12 cases. R 0 or R 1 resection was carried out in 27 cases, and palliative R 2 resection in 5 cases, combined organ resection in 6 cases, and piecemed resection in 8 cases. The maximum tumor diameter was (13.2±4.9)cm, the intraoperative blood loss was 500 (50-6 000 ml), and 6 cases suffered from major postoperative complications. Between patients with tumors encircling and encroaching major blood vessels or not, there were significant differences in age, intraoperative blood loss, R 2 resection rate, and pieceneal resection rate between the two groups ( t=2.44, P=0.021; Z=2.37, P=0.018; χ2=4.57, P=0.033; χ2=11.38, P=0.001). There was no recurrence in patients with R 0 or R 1 resection. Conclusions:The prognosis of complete resection of retroperitoneal ganglioneuroma is good .Major blood vessels encroachment of the tumor often leads to incomplente (R 2) resection.

Objective:To evaluate the value of radiomics based on contrast-enhanced spectral mammography (CESM) of internal and peripheral regions combined with clinical factors in predicting benign and malignant breast lesions of breast imaging reporting and data system category 4 (BI-RADS 4).Methods:A retrospective analysis was performed on the clinical and imaging data of patients with breast lesions who were treated in Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital (Center 1) Affiliated to Qingdao University from July 2017 to July 2020 and in Fudan University Cancer Hospital (Center 2) from June 2019 to July 2020. Center 1 included 835 patients, all female, aged 17-80 (49±12) years, divided into training set (667 cases) and test set (168 cases) according to the "train-test-split" function in Python software at a ratio of 8∶2; and 49 patients were included from Center 2 as external validation set, all female, aged 34-70 (51±8) years. The radiomics features were extracted from the intralesional region (ITR), the perilesional regions of 5, 10 mm (PTR 5 mm, PTR10 mm) and the intra-and perilesional regions of 5, 10 mm (IPTR 5 mm, IPTR 10 mm) and were selected by variance filtering, SelectKBest algorithm, and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator. Then five radiomics signatures were constructed including ITR signature, PTR 5 mm signature, PTR 10 mm signature, IPTR 5 mm signature, IPTR 10 mm signature. In the training set, univariable and multivariable logistic regressions were used to construct nomograms by selecting radiomics signatures and clinical factors with significant difference between benign and malignant BI-RADS type 4 breast lesions. The efficacy of nomogram in predicting benign and malignant BI-RADS 4 breast lesions was evaluated by the receiver operating characteristic curve and area under the curve (AUC). Decision curve and calibration curve were used to evaluate the net benefit and calibration capability of the nomogram.Results:The nomogram included ITR signature, PTR 5 mm signature, PTR 10 mm signature, IPTR 5 mm signature, age, and BI-RADS category 4 subclassification for differentiating malignant and benign BI-RADS category 4 breast lesions and obtained AUCs of 0.94, 0.92, and 0.95 in the training set, test set, and external validation set, respectively. The calibration curve showed good agreement between the predicted probabilities and actual results and the decision curve indicated a good net benefit of the nomogram for predicting malignant BI-RADS 4 lesions in the training set, test set, and external validation set.Conclusion:The nomogram constructed from the radiomics features of the internal and surrounding regions of CESM breast lesions combined with clinical factors is attributed to differentiate benign from malignant BI-RADS category 4 breast lesions.

Objective:To identify the risk factors for functional delayed gastric emptying(FDGE)after retroperitoneal tumor resection.Meth-ods:Sixty-seven patients with postoperative FDGE after retroperitoneal tumor resection from September 2017 to December 2022 admited in Peking University International Hospital were included in the observation group,and 836 normal patients who underwent ret-roperitoneal tumor resection during the same period were included in the control group.Medical histories and clinical treatment data were obtained for each group and compared to identify the risk factors for FDGE after retroperitoneal tumor resection.Results:The overall incid-ence of postoperative FDGE was 7.42%.Factors that were significantly elevated(P<0.05)in the observation group relative to the control group included adverse mental factors(37.31%),preoperative digestive tract obstruction(41.79%),postoperative abdominal cavity complic-ations(79.10%),diabetes(29.86%),average age of(61.85±6.11)years,and blood loss(1 011.94±507.30)mL.Pre-and post-surgery albumin levels[(38.22±3.75)g/L and(30.22±3.36)g/L,respectively]were significantly reduced(P<0.05)in the observation group compared to the control group.Risk factor analyses revealed that advanced age,diabetes,preoperative digestive tract obstruction,intraoperative blood loss,perioperative albumin level,postoperative abdominal cavity complications,and adverse mental factors were correlated with postoperative FDGE.Conclusions:Diverse factors could impact the risk of FDGE after retroperitoneal tumor resection.Patients should be accurately evalu-ated;reasonable and detailed prevention and treatment plans should be developed.

Objective:To investigate the correlation between triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index on admission and unfavorable outcomes of patients with moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (msTBI) at 6 months postinjury.Methods:A retrospective cohort study was conducted to analyze the clinical data of 277 patients with msTBI admitted to Affiliated Jiangyin Hospital of Nantong University from January 2019 to December 2022, including 208 males and 69 females, aged 18-88 years [(57.0±15.1)years]. Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores on admission were 3-8 points in 168 patients and 9-12 points in 109. According to the Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended (GOSE) assessment at 6 months after injury, there were 121 patients with unfavorable outcomes (GOSE≤4 points) and 156 with favorable outcomes (GOSE≥5 points). The following indicators of the patients were recorded, including gender, age, history of diabetes, cause of injury, admission GCS, GCS motor score (GCSM), pupillary light reflex, worst Marshall CT classification within the first 24 hours after admission, admission TyG index, Mean Amplitude of Glycemic Excursions (MAGE) within 24 hours after admission, GCSM decline≥2 points within 72 hours after admission, craniotomy or not after admission, and prognosis, etc. TyG index served as the exposure variable focused in this study, which was calculated with fasting triglycerides and fasting blood glucose within 24 hours after admission. The 6-month prognosis of the patients was designated as the outcome variable of the study. After the patients were divided into different groups according to the three quantiles of the TyG index and unfavorable or favorable outcomes, the univariate analysis was conducted on watch variables, and variables with statistically significant differences were included in directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) for further identification of confounding variables. Factors which were found with no statistical significance in the univariate analysis but might affect insulin resistance after injury according to the authors′ previous researches were also included in the DAGs analysis. Three Logistic regression models were designed (Model 1 without correction, Model 2 with core variables of International Mission for Prognosis and Analysis of Clinical Trials in Traumatic Brain Injury (IMPACT) corrected, and Model 3 with confounding variables screened by DAGs corrected) to analyze whether the TyG index was an independent risk factor for the prognosis of msTBI patients. The optimal Logistic regression model was selected and then restricted cubic spline (RCS) was employed to investigate the relationship between the TyG index and the unfavorable outcomes.Results:The univariate analysis suggested that there were significant differences in gender, history of diabetes, MAGE, GCSM decline, and prognosis among the three quantiles of the TyG index ( P<0.05 or 0.01). Significant differences in age, history of diabetes, GCSM, pupillary light reflex, Marshall CT classification, TyG index, MAGE and GCSM decline were observed between unfavorable and favorable outcome groups ( P<0.05 or 0.01). The results of Logistic regression analysis that identified the confounding variables that influenced the correlation between the TyG index and unfavorable prognosis with DAGs suggested that a high TyG index level was significantly correlated with unfavorable outcomes in msTBI patients. Moreover, Model 3 that was corrected with confounding variables screened by DAGs had an optimal goodness-of-fit and adaptability. Model 3-based further RCS analysis indicated that the risk of unfavorable outcomes following msTBI may increase approximately linearly with the increase in TyG index within a certain range (TyG index<9.79). Conclusions:A high TyG index level on admission is the identified as an independent risk factor for unfavorable outcomes of patients with msTBI at 6 months postinjury. As the TyG index level increases, the risk of unfavorable outcomes also rises and may show a linear increasing trend within a certain range (TyG index<9.79).