[ABSTRACT]OBJECTIVETo study the expressions of 34βE12, Galectin-3 and HBME-1 in thyroid nodules, and to explore its diagnostic value for papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC).METHODSEn VisionTM immunohistochemical technique was used to detect the expression of 34βE12, Galectin-3 and HBME-1 in 352 thyroid lesions. The correlation between the expressions of the 3 protein markers and clinicopathological characteristics was evaluated. The receiver operating characteristic area under the curve (ROC-AUC) and their index for diagnosis evaluation were also calculated.RESULTSThe positive rates of 34βE12, Galectin-3 and HBME-1 in 246 PTC lesions were significantly higher than those in benign nodules (P<0.001). There was no relationship between the expression of the 3 protein markers and clinicopathological characteristics (eg. gender, age, numbers of lesions, tumor size, capsular invasion, lymph node metastasis, TNM staging). The ROC-AUC of 34βE12, Galectin-3 and HBME-1 for diagnosis of PTC was 0.936, 0.915 and 0.898 respectively. The sensitivity of 34βE12, Galectin-3 and HBME-1 for diagnosis of PTC was 94.3%, 95.5% and 91.1% respectively, while the specificity was 81.1%, 71.7% and 83.0% respectively, and the diagnostic accuracy rate was 90.3%, 88.4% and 88.6% respectively.CONCLUSION The expressions of 34βE12, Galectin-3 and HBME-1 are statistically different between PTC and benign lesions, but no associations are found with clinicopathological characteristics, indicating the three protein markers have important diagnostic value for PTC.

Objective:To investigate the positive rates of 2019-nCoV nucleic acid in different specimens from confirmed COVID-19 cases during hospitalization and after discharge.Methods:Patients with confirmed COVID-19 were enrolled from designated hospitals. Nasal swabs, throat swabs, and specimens of stool, urine and blood were collected during hospitalization. After the patients were discharged, nasal swabs, throat swabs and stool specimens were collected during follow-up. Real-time RT-PCR was used to detect 2019-nCoV nucleic acid.Results:This study involved 25 confirmed COVID-19 cases. During hospitalization, all patients tested positive in both nasal and throat swab 2019-nCoV nucleic acid tests, and nine of them (36.00%) were positive in stool specimen test. Urine and blood specimen test results were all negative. Nasal swabs, throat swabs and stool specimens were collected from each patient 7 d and 14 d after discharge. Two patients (8.00%) tested positive for 2019-nCoV nucleic acid again in nasal and throat swab tests on 7 d, while all stool specimen tests were negative. No 2019-nCoV nucleic acid was detected in nasal swabs, throat swabs or stool samples on 14 d.Conclusions:2019-nCoV nucleic acid was detected in stool samples of confirmed COVID-19 cases during hospitalization. Nasal and throat swab nucleic acid tests turned positive again in some patients after discharge.

Objective:To explore the positive rates of 2019-nCoV nucleic acid at different time of courses of COVID-19.Methods:Patients with confirmed COVID-19 were enrolled in this study. Nasal and throat swabs were collected from different courses of disease. Real-time RT-PCR was used to detect 2019-nCoV nucleic acid.Results:From January 23 to February 20, 2020, a total of 120 confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported in Xi’an, and 85 cases(70.83%) were positive in first detection. The COVID-19 cases included consistently nucleic acid positive and intermittently nucleic acid positive patients. 2019-nCoV nucleic acid could be detected in incubation period, and the longest observed duration of nucleic acid positive in this study was 26 days. The positive rate of 2019-nCoV nucleic acid was up to 84.21% on the 6th day, and the positive rate decreased as time passed during the course of COVID-19. Three patients (2.86%) were tested positive for 2019-nCoV nucleic acid again in nasal and throat swabs after discharge.Conclusions:The positive rate of 2019-nCoV nucleic acid was higher in the early stage of disease. 2019-nCoV nucleic acid can be detected in incubation period, and virus shedding may last for a long period.