Objective To investigate the utilization of liver enhancement in hepatobiliary phase of gadolinium ethoxybenzyl diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA)-enhanced MRI for liver function evaluation.Methods Fifty-five patients who received enhanced MRI with Gd-EOB-DTPA were retrospectively analyzed.Images were obtained before injection and in hepatobiliary phase (5,10,and 20 minutes after Gd-EOB-DTPA injection).The patients were assigned into two subgroups according to individual liver function (n =35 in Group 1:normal liver and Child-Pugh class A; n =20 in Group 2:Child-Pugh class B and C).The relative liver enhancement (RE) was calculated at different time point.The general data (age,sex) and relevant laboratory results were recorded.Independent sample t-test was conducted to compare the RE between two groups at different time point.ROC curve was used to determine the best time point and RE threshold that can reflect the differences between two groups.Univariate analyses was performed to analyze the relationship between RE at the best time point and laboratory results.Multivariate analyses was performed to screen the independent influencing factor for RE at the best time point.Results The differences of RE between two groups were statistically significant at all time points (P ＜ 0.0001).10 minutes was the best time point for detecting the differences of liver function between two groups.When an RE cutoff value (＞ 1.52) was applied,normal or Child-Pugh class A could be predicted with sensitivity of 74.3％ and specificity of 90％.RE at the best time point was significantly related with total serum bilirubin level (TBil),serum albumin level (Alb) and prothrombin time (PT).And TBil was an independent influencing factor.Conclusion RE can be used to evaluate the liver function,and 10 minutes is the best time point that can be used to differentiate patients with normal or mild liver damage from those with moderate or severe liver damage.

Vertebral artery hypoplasia is a congenital vessel variation. Its incidence is from 1. 9 to 26. 5% . In recent years, studies have shown that vertebral artery hypoplasia may be a potential risk factor for posterior circulation infarction, especialy when it coexists with other cerebrovascular risk factors. Vertebral artery hypoplasia may also cause regional hypoperfusion and complex neurovascular regulation, and it also has a certaln link with migralne.

Objective To evaluate the effect of liver function on liver enhancement in hepatobiliary phase of gadolinium ethoxybenzyl diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid(Gd-EOB-DTPA)-enhanced MRI.Methods Sixty-seven patients who suffered from cirrhosis and received enhanced MRI with Gd-EOB-DTPA were retrospectively analyzed,and divided into three subgroups according to ChildPugh score(45 patients in group A,20 in group B,5 in group C).All the individuals of both groups had MRI before injection,and hepatobiliary phase images were obtained at 5,10,and 20 minutes after bolus administration of Gd-EOB-DTPA.The relative enhancement(RE) was calculated by dividing the signal intensity of liver(SI) at t min after injection(SIt) by precontrast SI(SI0).The total serum bilirubin level(TB),serum albumin level(Alb) and prothrombin time(PT) were recorded.The one-way ANOVA was used to compare the RE among three groups at 5,10 and 20 minutes.SNK was used for further pairwise comparison.The effect of liver function on RE was assessed with the generalized linear model.Pearson correlation coefficients were measured between each biochemical test result(TB,Alb,PT) and RE at different time points.Results The RE at 5,10 and 20 minutes were 1.59±0.20,1.65±0.22,1.69±0.25 of group A; 1.47± 0.14,1.48±0.18,1.50±0.22 of group B,1.35±0.07,1.27±0.06,1.26±0.06 of group C.There were statistically significant differences of RE among groups at 5,10 and 20 minutes(F=5.854,11.207,9.666,P＜0.01).Statistically pairwise comparison differences of RE were found between group A and C at 5,10 and 20 minutes(P＜0.01),between B and C at 10 and 20 minutes(P＜0.05),between A and B at 10 minutes(P＜ 0.05).There were statistically significant differences of TB,Alb and PT among groups(P＜0.01).RE at 10 and 20 minutes had moderate negative correlation with TB(r=-0.483,-0.500; P＜0.01),low negative correlation with PT(r=-0.326,-0.351;P＜0.01) and weak positive correlation with Alb(r=0.290,0.292;P＜0.05).Conclusions There are differences of RE among patients with different liver function,and the RE is associated with TB,Alb and PT.Thus,it may allow us to estimate the liver function.

Objective To purify pre-ribosome and ribosome of mammalian ceils using continuous sucrose density gradient ultracentrifugation.Methods Continuous sucrose density gradient was established by ultracentrifugation,and the continuous sucrose density gradient of 10％-30％ and 10％-45％ were used to extract the pre-ribosome and ribosome in mammalian cells,respectively.The mammalian cell lysis buffer was added to the established continuous sucrose density gradient.Pre-ribosome and ribosome with different sedimentation coefficients were collected and the A260 absorbance of each sample was measured.Proteins of each sample were extracted to detect the large subunit protein,RPL15 by Western Blot.Results Large subunit ribosomal protein RPL15 exists on 60S of the pre-ribosome,and also on 60S,80S and polyribosome of mature ribosome.Conclusions The continuous sucrose density gradient,which is established by the swing-out rotor,can be used to isolate the pre-ribosome and ribosome of mammalian cells rapidly.This method has the advantages of good separation effect and simple operation,which provides a good method for rapid and large amount preparation and separation of various kinds of ribosomes.

Objective To investigate the process that chromosome kinesin KIF4A promote cisplatin resistance in lung cancer cells.Methods Reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) and Western Blot experiments were performed to analyze the expression of KIF4A in lung cancer cells A549 and cisplatin (DDP) resistant cells A549/ DDP.Cell transfection, RNA interference (RNAi) experiments and thiazolyl blue tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assays were carried out to examine cell proliferation of A549 cells with overexpression of exogenous KIF4A and A549/DDP cells with depletion of endogenous KIF4A after cisplatin treatment.Results Expression of KIF4A in A549/DDP cells was higher than that in A549 cells.With overexpression of exogenous KIF4A, A549 cells displayed drug resistance to cisplatin.On the contrary, depletion of endogenous KIF4A in A549/DDP cells resulted in cisplatin sensitivity.Conclusions Chromosome kinesin KIF4A involves in the regulation of cisplatin resistance in lung cancer cells and KIF4A may be a potential and effective new biological target for treatment of lung cancer cisplatin resistance.

Objective To investigate the applied value of 3.0T blood oxygen level dependent(BOLD) MRI in the diagnosis of hepatic warm ischemia-reperfusion injury (WIRI) in rabbits.Method Twenty healthy adult New Zealand white rabbits were randomly divided into two groups by using the stochastic indicator method.In 10 rabbits enrolled in the treatment group,the model of hepatic WIRI after ischemia for 30 min followed by 6-h reperfusion was established,and the remaining 10 rabbits were chosen as the normal control group and were not subjected to any surgery.All the experimental rabbits were scanned by 3.0T MRI and BOLD MRI.T2* values were separatelymeasured by 2 considered radiologists and the R2* values were calculated (R2* =1/T2*).Thereafter,the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to check the consistency.All rabbits were killed after MR examination and routine assays were performed for testing the levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT),aspartate aminotransferase (AST),and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in the ear vein blood serum.The contents of total superoxide dismutase (SOD),malondialdehyde (MDA) and myeloperoxidase (MPO) in liver tissues were determined,and histopathological changes were examined.The correlation between R2 * value and clinical test index was evaluated by Spearman correlation analysis.The R2* value was evaluated by ROC curve.Result ICC =0.87 ＞ 0.75,suggesting that the repeatability of the outcome is good.Compared to the normal control group,R2*value of the warm ischemia-reperfusion injury group was increased (P =0.000).The differences in ALT,AST,LDH,total SOD,MDA and MPO between the two groups were statistically significant (P＜0.01).R2* values were significantly positively correlated with ALT,AST,LDH,MDA and MPO (r＞0.6,P＜0.05),and there was a significantly negative correlation between R2* and total SOD (r=-0.663,P=0.001).The R2* value could efficiently diagnose rabbit hepatic WIRI (AUC =0.99) with the best diagnostic threshold being 116.40 Hz.Conclusion 3.0T BOLD MRI can accurately and non-invasively assess the pathophysiologic changes caused by WIRI.It is of great importance for 3.0T BOLD MRI in dynamically monitoring and evaluating hepatic WIRI.

Surgical resection is the best treatment for hepatocarcinoma. With the rapid development and cooperation of multi-disciplines, the liver surgery gradually towards a precise stage, and accurate evaluation of regional liver function preoperatively is demand for the development of precise liver surgery. Methods to assess function of liver at present include serological liver function and biochemical examination, clinical liver function scoring system, quantitative liver function test and imaging examination. Nuclide imaging technology and liver specificity enhanced MRI contrast agent are expected to achieve to evaluate regional liver function.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; physiopathology ; Contrast Media ; Liver Function Tests ; Liver Neoplasms ; physiopathology ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Sensitivity and Specificity

To report 7 Chinese children with characteristic hyperpigmented macules on the forehead and temples. Among the 7 cases, there were 2 males and 5 females, with the age at onset ranging from 9 to 24 months (12.43 ± 5.32 months), and the disease duration being 1 - 4 months (2.57 ± 1.27 months). Skin examination revealed that the children presented with varying numbers of irregular brown macules and patches scattered on their foreheads and temples, without obvious desquamation. Dermoscopic examination revealed multiple yellowish-brown patches with irregular borders, and linear vessels were observable in some skin lesions. A diagnosis of acquired facial hyperpigmented macules was made in these children. The children received no treatment. After 2 years of follow-up, hyperpigmented macules completely subsided in 2 cases and regressed to varying degrees in 4 cases, while 1 case exhibited no changes in the skin lesions. Considering the literature and the cases discussed in this article, it is hypothesized that acquired facial hyperpigmented macules in young children may represent an independent condition.

Objective:To screen the differentially expressed genes (DEG) related to inflammatory response associated with the prognosis of colon cancer based on the bioinformatics approach, and to construct and validate a prognostic model for colon cancer.Methods:RNA sequencing and clinical data of 472 colon cancer patients and normal colon tissues of 41 healthy people were retrieved from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Gene expression related to prognosis of colon cancer and clinical data were retrieved from the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) database. The retrieval time was all from the establishment of library to November 2022. A total of 200 genes associated with inflammatory response obtained from the Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) database were compared with the RNA sequencing gene dataset of colon cancer and normal colon tissues obtained from the TCGA database, and then DEG associated with inflammatory response were obtained. The prognosis-related DEG in the TCGA database were analyzed by using Cox proportional risk model, and the inflammatory response-related DEG were intersected with the prognosis-related DEG to obtain the prognosis-related inflammatory response-related DEG. The prognostic model of colon cancer was constructed by using LASSO Cox regression. Risk scores were calculated, and colon cancer patients in the TCGA database were divided into two groups of low risk (< the median value) and high risk (≥the median value) according to the median value of risk scores. Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed on patients in both groups, and survival analysis was performed by using Kaplan-Meier method. The efficacy of risk score in predicting the overall survival (OS) of colon cancer patients in the TCGA database was analyzed based on the R software timeROC program package. Clinical data from the ICGC database were applied to externally validate the constructed prognostic model, and patients with colon cancer in the ICGC database were classified into high and low risk groups based on the median risk score of patients with colon cancer in the TCGA database. By using R software, single-sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGESA), immunophenotyping difference analysis, immune microenvironment correlation analysis, and immune checkpoint gene difference analysis of immune cells and immune function were performed for prognosis-related inflammation response-related DEG in the TCGA database.Results:A total of 60 inflammatory response-related DEG and 12 prognosis-related DEG were obtained; and 6 prognosis-related inflammatory response-related DEG (CCL24, GP1BA, SLC4A4, SRI, SPHK1, TIMP1) were obtained by taking the intersection set. LASSO Cox regression analysis showed that a prognostic model for colon cancer was constructed based on 6 prognosis-related inflammatory response-related DEG, and the risk score was calculated as = -0.113×CCL24+0.568×GP1BA+ (-0.375)×SLC4A4+(-0.051)×SRI+0.287×SPHK1+0.345×TIMP1. PCA results showed that patients with colon cancer could be better classified into 2 clusters. The OS in the high-risk group was worse than that in the low-risk group in the TCGA database ( P < 0.001); the area of the curve (AUC) of the prognostic risk score for predicting the OS rates of 1-year, 3-year, 5-year was 0.701, 0.685, and 0.675, respectively. The OS of the low-risk group was better than that of the high-risk group in the ICGC database; AUC of the prognostic risk score for predicting the OS rates of 1-year, 2-year, 3-year was 0.760, 0.788, and 0.743, respectively. ssGSEA analysis showed that the level of immune cell infiltration in the high-risk group in the TCGA database was high, especially the scores of activated dendritic cells, macrophages, neutrophils, plasmacytoid dendritic cells, T helper cells, and follicular helper T cells in the high-risk group were higher than those in the low-risk group, while the score of helper T cells 2 (Th2) in the high-risk group was lower compared with that in the low-risk group (all P < 0.05); in terms of immune function, the high-risk group had higher scores of antigen-presenting cell (APC) co-inhibition, APC co-stimulation, immune checkpoint, human leukocyte antigen (HLA), promotion of inflammation, parainflammation, T-cell stimulation, type Ⅰ interferon (IFN) response, and type ⅡIFN response scores compared with those in the low-risk group (all P < 0.05). The results of immunophenotyping analysis showed that IFN-γ-dominant type (C2) had the highest inflammatory response score, and the differences were statistically significant when compared with trauma healing type (C1) and inflammatory response type (C3), respectively (all P < 0.05). Immune microenvironment stromal cells and immune cells were all positively correlated with prognostic risk scores ( r values were 0.35 and 0.21, respectively, both P < 0.01). The results of immune checkpoint difference analysis showed there was a statistically significant difference in programmed-death receptor ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression level between high-risk group and low-risk group ( P = 0.002), and PD-L1 expression level was positively correlated with prognostic risk score ( r = 0.23, P < 0.01). Conclusions:Inflammatory response-related genes may play an important role in tumor immunity of colon cancer and can be used in the prognostic analysis and immunotherapy of colon cancer patients.

Objective:To explore the characteristics of pyroptosis-related genes in colon cancer cells screened by bioinformatics, and to verify the constructed prognostic model of colon cancer based on differentially expressed pyroptosis-related genes.Methods:Genetic data of RNA sequencing and clinical data of colon cancer patients were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Fifty-two genes associated with pyroptosis were identified by searching the literature and compared with the RNA sequencing gene dataset of colon cancer and normal colon tissues obtained from TCGA database to obtain differentially expressed pyroptosis-related genes in clinical samples. The protein interaction network of differentially expressed pyroptosis-related genes was analyzed by using STRING website and R software. Based on the differential expression of pyroptosis-related genes in clinical samples of TCGA database, colon cancer patients in TCGA database were divided into pyroptosis and non-pyroptosis groups, and genes with significant differential expression between the two groups were screened at P < 0.05 according to gene expression; based on these differentially expressed genes, LASSO Cox regression was used to construct a prognostic model of colon cancer associated with pyroptosis. Patients collected from TCGA database were divided into high risk (≥ median value) and low risk (< median value) groups according to the median value of risk scores calculated by the model, and the overall survival of the two groups was analyzed by Kaplan-Meier survival function. The time ROC package of R software was used to analyze the efficacy of applying risk scores to predict the different survival time of colon cancer patients in TCGA database. Multivariate Cox regression was used to analyze the effects of clinicopathological factors and risk scores calculated by the model on the survival of patients in TCGA database. R software was used to analyze and obtain the differential genes between high and low risk groups of colon cancer patients in TCGA database. R software was used to conduct Gene Ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis and single sample gene set enrichment analysis of immune cells and immune function (ssGESA) for differentially expressed pyroptosis-related genes. Results:Thirty-eight differentially expressed pyroptosis-related genes between colon cancer tissues and normal tissues of clinical samples were obtained based on data of TCGA database. A prognostic model consisting of 13 pyroptosis-related genes was established by applying LASSO Cox regression, the risk score = 0.118×MID2+0.354×IL20RB+0.083×HOXC11+0.011×TMEM88+0.021×SYNGR3+0.246×UPK3B+0.030×EGFL7+0.109×TMPRSS11E+0.138×IFITM10+0.161×RNF207+0.097×LINGO1+0.202×HEYL+0.025×ROBO3. Survival analysis showed that TCGA database had worse overall survival in the high-risk group than in the low-risk group ( P < 0.001). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that the area under the curve of the prognostic model risk score in predicting the survival of colon cancer patients in TCGA database at 1, 3 and 5 years was all > 0.7. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that risk score was an independent influencing factor for survival of colon cancer patients in TCGA database (high risk vs. low risk HR = 3.988, 95% CI 2.865-5.551, P < 0.001). GO and KEGG enrichment analysis showed that the differentially expressed genes between high and low risk groups (SULF1, FBLN2, COL1A1, DES, SFRP2, FNDC1, MYH11, APOE, C3, SPP1, COL1A2, COL10A1, THBS2, AEBP1, CNN1, IGHG1, and SFRP4) were upregulated in the high risk group, which were mainly associated with cellular matrix structural components and extracellular matrix (ECM) receptor interactions. ssGSEA analysis showed that the level of immune cell infiltration was higher in high risk group, especially B cells, macrophages, mast cells, helper T cells, and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes were higher than those in low risk group; for immune function, chemokine receptors, immune checkpoints, human leukocyte antigens, parainflammation, T cell suppression, T-cell stimulation, and type Ⅱ interferon response in high risk group were higher than those in low risk group. Conclusions:The constructed prognostic model of colon cancer based on pyroptosis-related genes is valuable for predicting the prognosis of colon cancer patients. Pyroptosis-related genes may play an important role in tumor immunity of colon cancer and can be used for prognostic analysis of colon cancer patients.