Objective To investigate the diagnostic value of serum ferritin in children with systemic onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis (SO-JIA). Methods Fifty-seven patients with fever of unknown origin (rectal temperature>38.5 ℃ ) over two weeks and hospitalized in our general medicine ward longer than one week were enrolled in this study. Patients were recorded the course of fever, elinieal symptoms and signs including rash and swollen joints/arthralgia, laboratory tests including complete blood cell count, C-reactive protein, erythroeyte sedimentation rate, lactate dehydrogenase and the level of serum ferritin. SPSS 10.0 was used for statistical analysis. Results Two of 57 patients could not be diagnosed before discharge. The other 55 patients whose diagnosis was confirmed were divided into four groups. Twenty-five patients were SO-JIA,12 patients had hematologic or oncological diseases, 12 patients had infectious diseases and 6 patients had other rheumatic diseases. The level of serum ferritin was significantly higher (P<0.01) in SO-JIA group than in other groups. Moreover, the levels of serum ferritin in SO-JIA group were all higher than normal and the levels of serum ferritin in 76% of SO-JIA group were more than five-fold elevation. Four cut-off levels of serum ferritin level for the diagnosis of SO-JIA were selected based on clinical practice and ROC curve. When the cut-off levels of serum ferritin were 328.25, 529.50, 731.05 ng/ml and 1121.10 ng/ml, the sensitivity for the diagnosis were 100%, 88%, 72%, and 64% respectively, the specificity were 77%, 87%, 90% and 100%,respectively. Conclusion Serum ferritin is valuable for the diagnosis of SO-JIA and 529.50 ng/ml may be a good cut-off level

Objective:To evaluate the effectiveness of expiratory muscle training in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.Methods:The randomized controlled trials (RCT) and controlled clinical trials (CCT) on the effect of expiratory muscle training in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were collected using the databases of PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, CNKI, CBM and Wanfang, time is from the construction of the database to November 2019. The literature quality was evaluated and data were extracted from the included literature. Data were analyzed with Revman5.3 software.Results:A total of 8 RCTs and 1 CCT were included. The Meta-analysis showed that Mean difference and its 95% confidence interval of P Imax, P Emax, FEV1, 6MWD and SGRQ score were 0.58 (-1.34, 2.51), 8.11 (-2.64, 18.86), -0.12 (-0.22, -0.01), -16.47(-40.76, 7.82), -1.52 (-3.75, 0.70) (all P>0.05, except for FEV1, P=0.03). Conclusions:In the pulmonary rehabilitation program of COPD patients, EMT combined with IMT does not achieve better results than IMT alone, it is recommended that we can only use IMT instead of EMT combined with IMT, and the same training effect will be achieved with less time and cost.

Objective:To evaluate the effectiveness of inspiratory muscle training in middle-aged and elderly patients with obstructive sleep apnea(OSA).Methods:The randomized controlled trials (RCT) on the effect of inspiratory muscle training in middle-aged and elderly patients with OSA were collected using the databases of PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database and Wanfang database, the time was from the construction of the database to December 2020. The literature quality was evaluated and data were extracted from the included literature. RevMan5.3 software was used to analyze the collected data.Results:A total of 8 RCTs were included. Meta-analysis showed that inspiratory muscle training could reduce apnea hypopnea index(AHI)( P<0.05), Epworth Sleepiness Scale(ESS)( P<0.01) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index(PQSI)( P<0.01), but had no effect on lowest oxygen saturation ( P>0.05). Conclusions:Inspiratory muscle training is a safe and feasible training method that can decrease AHI, ESS and PSQI in middle-aged and elderly patients with OSA.

OBJECTIVETo detect the expression of SCUBE3 in human osteosarcoma cell lines and surgical specimens of osteosarcomas and investigate its association with the patients' prognosis.

METHODSThe expression of SCUBE3 protein was detected in 5 osteosarcoma cell lines using Western blotting. CCK8 assay was used to assess the effect of SCUBE3 suppression mediated by two specific small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) on the proliferation of U2OS osteosarcoma cells, and the cell cycle changes were detected using flow cytometry. Immunohistochemistry was performed to detect the expression of SCUBE3 in 60 osteosarcoma tissues, and Kaplan-Meier method was performed for survival analysis of the patients.

RESULTSCompared with osteoblast hFOB1.19 cells, the osteosarcoma cell lines all showed significantly higher expressions of SCUBE3. In U2OS cells, suppression of SCUBE3 expression by siRNA significantly inhibited the cell proliferation (P<0.05). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis indicated that patients with high SCUBE3 expression had worse prognosis than those with low SCUBE3 expression (P=0.036).

CONCLUSIONSCUBE3 is up-regulated in the 5 osteosarcoma cell lines and in primary osteosarcoma tissues to promote the proliferation of osteosarcoma cells. A high SCUBE3 expression in osteosarcoma tissues is associated with a poor prognosis of the patients, suggesting that SCUBE3 can serve as a potential therapeutic target for osteosarcoma.

Bone Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Calcium-Binding Proteins ; metabolism ; Cell Cycle ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Kaplan-Meier Estimate ; Osteosarcoma ; metabolism ; pathology ; Prognosis ; RNA, Small Interfering ; Up-Regulation