Objective:To assess the relationship between visceral fat area(VFA) and diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) in type 2 diabets mellitues(T2DM) patients.Methods:A total of 2 615 patients with T2DM were enrolled from the National Metabolic Management Center at Ningbo First Hospital between March 2018 and February 2021. The medical history, questionnaire survey, and laboratory parameters were collected, VFA was measured using bioelectrical impedance analysis, DPN was diagnosed based on neurophysiological examination. Patients were divided into four groups by VFA and body mass index as the following: VFA<100 cm 2 and body mass index<24 kg/m 2 group [VA(-)OB(-) group], VFA<100 cm 2 and body mass index≥24 kg/m 2 group [VA(-)OB(+ ) group], VFA≥100 cm 2 and body mass index<24 kg/m 2 group [VA(+ )OB(-) group], and VFA≥100 cm 2 and body mass index≥24 kg/m 2 group [VA(+ )OB(+ ) group]. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was done to determine the relationship between body mass index, VFA and DPN in patients with T2DM. Results:The proportion of DPN in this study was 46.96%. DPN group featured with older age, higher proportion of men, longer duration of disease, higher proportion of smoking, lower diastolic blood pressure, higher HbA 1C level, lower total cholesterol, lower high density lipoprotein-cholesterol, lower low density lipoprotein-cholesterol, higher blood creatinine levels, higher urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio, higher VFA level (all P<0.01). Grouping according to VFA and body mass index, 68.1% in the VA(+ )OB(-) group had DPN, which was highest among the four groups. In multivariable logistic regression analysis, compared with VA(-)OB(-) group, VA(+ )OB(-) group had a significantly higher risk of DPN ( OR=2.234, 95% CI 1.339-3.728, P =0.002), VA(+ )OB(+ ) group took second place ( OR=1.281, 95% CI 1.030-1.592, P =0.026). Conclusions:VFA was associated with DPN in T2DM regardless of body mass index. The VA(+ )OB(-) group has the highest risk of DPN. Therefore, evaluation of visceral adiposity may have important clinical significance for the early screening and prevention of DPN in T2DM.

To explore the relationship between sleep duration and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity(baPWV) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM). A total of 1 755 patients with T2DM received standardized management of metabolic disease from March 1, 2018 to February 29, 2020 were included. All patients were classified into three groups according to the sleep duration: short(≤6 h), medium(>6 h to 8 h) and long(>8 h). Increased arterial stiffness was defined as baPWV≥1 600 cm/s. The prevalence of baPWV≥1 600 cm/s was 39.7%, 30.8% and 38.6% in short, medium and long sleep duration group, respectively( P<0.01). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that patients with long sleep duration( OR=1.317, P<0.05) but not short sleep duration( OR=1.169, P>0.05) had a higher risk for baPWV≥1 600 cm/s compared with the reference group with medium sleep duration. Stratified analyses by sex showed that the OR were 1.735( P<0.05) among female and 1.131( P>0.05) among male respectively for baPWV≥1 600 cm/s in long sleep duration group when compared with medium sleep duration group. Sleep duration>8 h was found to be associated with elevated baPWV in patients with T2DM. There were gender differences in the correlation between long sleep duration and baPWV.

Clinical metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) entails unbiased shotgun sequencing of all microbial and host nucleic acids present in a clinical sample. By analyzing the microbiota diversity, taxonomic, and phylogenetic relationships of clinical specimens, metagenomics related analysis provides an opportunity to investigate substantial biological significance of different microbes. According to the published paper, most studies on mNGS mainly focused on the clinical impact evaluation. However, the studies focused on the analytical performance validation of mNGS before clinical application were rare. Here, a scheme, included intended use, method establishment, assay validation and standard operating protocol, for the laboratory validation of clinical metagenomics sequencing assay was provided by summarizing experiences of clinical laboratory department of Peking Union Medical College Hospital protocol and relevant research. In this scheme, we discussed important topics of mNGS laboratory validation as below: specimen type and pathogen list, bioinformatics pipeline setup, dry lab standard preparation and performance validation, mNGS workflow setup, background nucleotide acid evaluation, wet lab standard preparation and performance validation.

Objective: To explore the association between thyroid hormones and visceral fat area(VFA) in the patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods: A total of 729 patients with type 2 diabetes, who joined National Metabolic Management Center(MMC) through Ningbo First Hospital from March, 2018 to July, 2019, were enrolled in this study. Blood tests were taken to assess their thyroid hormones and biochemical indexes. VFA and subcutaneous fat area(SFA) were obtained through bioelectrical impedance analysis. Statistics were later analyzed by Spearman correlation analysis and multivariate linear regression. Results: Spearman correlation analysis showed that VFA were positively correlated with T₃、FT₃(r=0.225 and 0.211, P<0.01), and VFA were inversely correlated with FT₄(r=-0.112, P<0.01). No correlation was found between VFA and either of T₄ or TSH(P>0.05). Multivariate linear regression analysis indicated that VFA was independently correlated with FT₄ and FT₃(P<0.01). An increment of 1 pmol/L in FT₄ was associated with 1.759 cm² increase in VFA, and increment of 1 pmol/L in FT₃ was associated with 3.256 cm² decrease in VFA. Conclusion VFA in patients with type 2 diabetes are correlated with FT₃ and FT₄.