Objective: To quantitatively study the morphological structure and parameter of right atrial appendage (RAA) by 256-slice spiral CT to provide RAA imaging reference for interventional or surgical therapy in clinical practice. Methods: A total of 200 patients with negative CTA results examined in our hospital were studied including 96 male and 104 female; by age division, Age≤40 years group,n=29, Age (40-60) years group,n=114 and Age>60 years group,n=57. The original scanning data was reconstructed for RAA establishment, indexes of volume, radial lines were measured and compared between different gender and age groups to obtain 95% normal imaging references of RAA. Results:①The volume, height, basilar part circumference, anteroposterior spread of RAA in male were greater than female, allP<0.05; with surface area standardization, the long and short diameter of basilar part, area, circumference in female were greater than male, allP<0.05.②Anteroposterior angle and spread of RAA in Age<40 years group were higher than both Age (40-60) years group and Age>60 years group,P<0.05, the above parameters were similar between Age (40-60) years group and Age>60 years group,P>0.05.③95% normal reference ranges of RAA were as following: volume (4.83-19.97) ml, height (21.46-41.80) mm; basilar part longest diameter (25.89-41.65) mm, short diameter (19.34-36.24) mm, area (459.30-1093.28) mm2, circumference (86.16-147.04) mm; anteroposterior angle (1.67-31.23) °, spread (8.07-34.37) mm. Conclusion: 256-slice CT may quantitatively study the morphological structure and parameter of RAA and establish its 95% normal imaging references for clinical practice.

Objective:To evaluate the relationship betweenparacardial adipose tissue (PAT) volume, body mass index (BMI) and severe coronary artery stenosis in young people by quantitative measurement of 256-slice spiral CT.
Methods: A total of 150 patients younger than 45 years and received coronary angiography (CAG) in our hospital were divided into 2 groups:Lesion group, the patients with severe main coronary branch stenosis and Control group, patients with normal coronary artery. n=75 in each group. The height, body weight and BMI were recorded in all patients;imaging data was uploaded to the workstation to calculate the volumes ofepicardiumadipose tissue (EAT) volume,pericardial outsideadipose tissue volume and PAT volume, the correlation among 3 parameters were analyzed respectively.
Results:Compared with Control group, Lesion group had increased BMI (28.169±2.203) kg/m2 vs (24.960±3.041) kg/m2 and PAT volume (178.676±3.041) ml vs (99.0616±3.041) ml, all P<0.05. Compared with Control group,no matter male or female, Lesion group had larger PAT volume, P<0.01.EAT volume was related to pericardial outside adipose tissue volume (r=0.837, P<0.001) and PAT volume (r=0.971, P<0.001);pericardial outside adipose tissue volume was related to PAT volume (r=0.944, P<0.001).
Conclusion:PAT volume and BMI were obviously correlated to severe coronary artery stenosis in young people.

Objective To investigate the expression levels of telomeric protein TPP1 and POT1mRNA in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and the relations between these gene expression levels and disease activity are explored. Methods TPP1 and POT1 genes were measured using real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in PBMCs. The expression levels of TPP1 and POT1 genes in PBMCs were compared between 48 SLE patients and 30 healthy indivi-duals. Results The expression levels of TPP1 and POT1 in the PBMCs of SLE patients significantly decreased compared to healthy individuals (P<0.01). The expression levels of TPP1 and POT1 were much lower in SLE patients with lupus nephritis than those in patients without lupus nephritis (P<0.01), and in LN patients, the levels of TPP1 and POT1 were negatively correlated with proteinuria. The expression levels of POT1 in active SLE patients was lower than that in inactive SLE patients (P<0.05). The expression levels of POT1 was negatively correlated with serum IgG and SLEDAI scores, but positively correlated with complement C3, but no correlation between ESR, CRP, C4,ANA and the expression levels of TPP1, POT1, SLEDAI scores. Conclusion TPP1 and POT1 genes play a key role in the etiology of SLE, and they are involved in the pathogenesis of lupus nephritis. POT1 is helpful in evaluating SLE disease activity and severity.