Objective To investigate the diagnostic value of dual energy CT for small central cervical metastatic lymph nodes in patients with papillary thyroid cancer.Methods The data of 43 patients with thyroid papillary carcinoma confirmed by pathology were retrospectively analyzed.All of the patients underwent dual energy CT scan before operation.The short diameter,iodine concentration and normalized iodine concentration (NIC) of enhanced arterial and venous phases and the slope of the energy spectrum curve were analyzed between metastatic central cervical lymph nodes and non-metastatic lymph nodes.ROC curve was used to analyze the diagnosis efficacy of iodine concentration and NIC for metastatic lymph nodes of thyroid carcinoma.Results Totally there were 119 lymph nodes in 43 patients included 55 thyroid papillary carcinoma metastasis lymph nodes (metastasis group) and 64 non-metastatic lymph nodes (non-metastasis group).There was significant differences of the mean short diameter of the lymph nodes between the two groupos (t=-2.20,P=0.03).In arterial phase,the average iodine concentration of metastasis group and non-metastasis group were (2.93±1.62)mg/ml and (2.17±1.09)mg/ml;the NIC were 0.33±0.21 and 0.19 ± 0.12;and the slope of the energy spectrum curve were 0.79±0.43 and 0.63±0.37 respectively.In venous phase,the average iodine concentration of metastasis group and non-metastasis group were (2.68± 1.54) mg/ml and (2.17 ± 1.01) mg/ml;the NIC were 0.51 ± 0.18 and 0.43 ± 0.15;the slope of the energy spectrum curve were 0.54 ± 0.42 and 0.62 ± 0.39 respectively.The iodine concentration and NIC in both phases and the slope of spectrum curve in arterial phase had statistical differences between the metastasis and non-metastasis groups (all P＜0.05).ROC curve showed that the area under the curve (AUC) of iodine concentration and NIC in the diagnosis of metastatic lymph nodes were 0.62 and 0.73 in arterial phase,respectively.And the AUC of iodine concentration and NIC were 0.61 and 0.63 in venous phase,respectively.Conclusion There are differences of iodine concentration,NIC in arterial and venous phases and curve slope in arterial phase of dual-energy between malignant and benign central cervical lymph nodes in thyroid papillary carcinoma.Dual energy CT technology is helpful in identifying of metastatic from non-metastatic small central cervical lymph nodes.

Objective: To investigate the effects of Helicobacter pylori (H.pylori) on the proliferation of GES-1 cells and the expressions of S100A8 and S100A9 in human gastric epithelial cell line GES-1. Methods: H. pylori were co-cultured with GES-1 cells at different infection plural (muhiplieity of infection (MOI) 50∶1, 100∶1, 200∶1), then the cells and cell culture supernatants were collected. The proliferative activity was detected by cell counting kit 8 (CCK-8) methods. The expression of S100A8 and S100A9 at mRNA level was determined by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The levels of S100A8 and S100A9 proteins and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) in cell culture supernatants were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). T test and Pearson method were performed for statistical analysis. Results: The negative control group was taken as the baseline, the proliferation rates of GES-1 cells of the H. pylori multiplicity 50∶1 group, 100∶1 group and 200∶1 group were (105.51±4.78)%, (168.97±11.29)% and (64.05±10.11)%, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in the proliferation rate of GES-1 cells between H. pylori multiplicity 50∶1 group and negative control group (t=0.69, P=0.51). The proliferation rate of GES-1 cells of the H. pylori multiplicity 100∶1 group was higher than that of the negative control group, and the difference was statistically significant (t=10.63, P<0.01). The proliferation rate of GES-1 in the H. pylori multiplicity 200∶1 group was lower than that of the negative control group, and the difference was statistically significant (t=-5.54, P<0.01). The expression of S100A8 and S100A9 at the mRNA level in the H. pylori multiplicity 200∶1 group was 0.31±0.21 and 8.66±4.08, respectively, which were higher than those of the negative control group (0.06±0.05 and 0.08±0.08), and the differences were statistically significant (t=10.20 and 6.89, both P<0.05). The expressions of S100A8 at the protein level of H. pylori multiplicity 50∶1, 100∶1, and 200∶1 groups were (112.21±1.25) ng/mL, (120.39±1.61) ng/mL and (121.28±0.71) ng/mL, respectively; while the expression of S100A9 at the protein level were (179.43±2.44) ng/mL, (191.47±1.98) ng/mL and (201.80±2.06) ng/mL, respectively; and the expression of TNF-α levels were (285.52±3.64) ng/mL, (320.08±2.28) ng/mL and (350.97±2.90) ng/mL, respectively; which were all higher than those of the negative control group ((76.14±1.30) ng/mL, (161.35±1.31) ng/mL and (270.08±2.96) ng/mL, respectively), and the differences were statistically significant (t_S100A8=35.09, 43.06, 43.92, t_S100A9 = 11.13, 18.54, 24.90, t_TNF-α= 6.34, 20.54, 33.23; all P<0.01). The expressions of S100A8 and S100A9 at the protein level were positively correlated with TNF-α (r=0.92 and 0.95, both P<0.01). Conclusion S100A8 and S100A9 may be involved in the process of H. pylori induced proliferation disorder and inflammation in GES-1 cells.

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is one of the main types of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). It is a chronic, nonspecific, and inflammatory disease of the colon that is prone to repeated attacks and requires long-term maintenance treatment. Its clinical features include: diarrhea, weight loss, abdominal pain, fever, blood in the stool and the risk of cancer. It is currently believed that the pathogenesis of UC is due to environmental factors acting on genetically susceptible individuals, causing abnormal activation of the immune system and destruction of the intestinal mucosal barrier, resulting in inflammatory changes of the colonic mucosa, in which T cells and cytokines secreted by them is the important topics in UC pathogenesis research. Th9 cells are a newly discovered subset of T cells. IL-9 secreted by it has been shown to be involved in a variety of autoimmune disease. Now we will review the differentiation of Th9 cells and the mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of UC.

Objective: To analyze the survival time of people living with HIV/AIDS and related influencing factors in Sichuan province during 1991-2017. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted to analyze the data of 143 988 HIV/AIDS cases. The data were collected from Chinese HIV/AIDS Comprehensive Information Management System. Life table method was used to calculate the survival proportion of the cases, and Cox proportion hazard regression model was used to identify the factors related with survival time. Results: Among 143 988 HIV/AIDS cases a total of 30 420 cases died of AIDS related diseases (21.1%) and the average survival time was 11.51 years (95%CI: 11.39-11.64). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that the influencing factors for the survival of HIV/AIDS cases were gender (male vs. female, HR=1.35, 95%CI: 1.32-1.40), education level (primary school or below vs. junior middle school: HR=1.15, 95%CI: 1.12-1.18), ethnic group (Han vs. other ethnic groups, HR=1.46, 95%CI: 1.41-1.52), occupation (farmer vs. other occupations: HR=1.26, 95%CI: 1.22-1.29), age (≥55 years old vs. 15-24 years old: HR=3.18, 95%CI: 3.02- 3.36), disease phase (AIDS vs. HIV infection: HR=1.44, 95%CI: 1.39-1.48), antiretroviral therapy (ART) (receiving ART vs. receiving no ART: HR=0.20, 95%CI: 0.19-0.20), and CD₄⁺T cell counts at diagnosis (>500 cells/μl vs.<200 cells/μl: HR=0.42, 95%CI: 0.40-0.45). Conclusions The average survival time of HIV/AIDS cases was 11.51 years in Sichuan during 1991- 2017. The risk factors for the survival of the cases were male, education level of primary school or below, Han ethnic group, farmer, old age at diagnosis, disease phase, The protective factors for the survival of HIV/AIDS cases were receiving ART and higher CD₄⁺ T cell counts at diagnosis.