Understanding heart development at a molecular level is a prerequisite for uncovering the causes of congenital heart diseases .Such knowledge can also greatly benefit therapeutic approaches that try to enhance cardiac regeneration or that involve the differentiation of resident cardiac progenitor cells .Wnt proteins have been shown to play multiple roles dur-ing cardiac development .They are extracellular growth factors that activate different intracellular signaling branches .Here, we summarize our current understanding of how these factors affect different aspects of cardiogenesis , from early specifica-tion of cardiac progenitors to later developmental steps , such as remodeling processes .

Objective To explore related factors affecting bone mineral density (BMD) and osteoporosis (OP) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry was used to measure BMD of the femoral neck and the lumbar vertebrae in 220 patients with T2DM. All the patients were divided into three groups:normal bone mass group, decreased bone mass group and OP group according to the value of BMD. The clinical data and biochemical indicators were compared and analyzed between these groups, and the influencing factors of T2DM and OP were explored. Results Compared with normal bone mass group and decreased bone mass group, there were more older patients, longer course of T2DM, lower BMI and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and higher glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) level in OP group. There were significantly higher age, longer course of T2DM, higher level of HbA1c, and lower levels of BMI, HDL-C in decreased bone mass group than those of normal bone mass group (P＜0.05). There were no significant differences in waist-to-hip ratio, systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), postmenopausal women (PMW) ratio, fasting plasma glucose (FPG), 2-h postprandial blood glucose (2hPG), blood phosphorus, calcium, total cholesterol (TC), three acyl glycerin (TG) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) between three groups. The risk factors for T2DM combined with OP were older, female, long duration of T2DM, higher levels of FPG, 2hPG and HbA1c. Conclusion Older and female T2DM patients were high-risk group of OP. The treatment plan should be timely adjusted by regularly monitoring indexes of blood glucose and HbA1c.

Objective To systematically review the efficacy and safety of drug-eluting stent(DES) versus coronary artery bypass grafting(CABG) in the treatment of left anterior descending coronary artery(CAD) stenosis.Methods Literature about the efficacy and safety of DES versus CABG for LAD stenosis was retrieved from digital databases of MEDLINE, EMbase, PubMed, and the Cochrane Library by November 2016.Data extraction and quality assessment of included studies were conducted by two independent reviewers.RevMan 5.3 software was used to perform meta-analysis.Results Ten studies involving 9771 patients were finally included.The results of meta-analysis showed that there was no significant difference in mortality [RR=0.88,95%CI(0.70,1.11),P=0.28],major adverse cardiovascular events[MACE,RR=1.04,95%CI(0.88,1.24),P=0.63] or myocardial infarction [MI,RR=0.92,95%CI(0.56,1.53),P=0.75], but PCI-DES significantly increased the risk of TVR [OR=2.43,95%CI(1.61,3.69),P<0.0001].Conclusion For LAD stenosis, PCI-DES strategy causes as high a rate of mortality, MACE and MI as CABG or DES, but PCI-DES can significantly increase the risk of TVR, so we should be cautious clinically.

Objective To investigate the significance of XAGE-1bmRNA expression in the blood specimens of patients with primary liver cancer, cirrhosis and benign liver diseases and in healthy individuals. Methods Venous blood specimens of patients with primary liver cancer (n= 125), cirrhosis (n= 23), benign liver diseases (n= 34) and healthy individuals (n = 41 ) were collected. XAGE-1b mRNA was detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR. Results The expression levels of XAGE-1b mRNA in patients with primary liver cancer, cirrhosis, benign liver diseases and healthy in dividuals were 3.72 (0.93, 10.2) ×10-5, 0 (0, 0. 56) ×10-5, 0 (0, 0)×10-5, 0 (0, 0) ×10-5, respectively. The XAGE-1b mRNA expression in patients with primary liver cancer was obviously higher than the patients with cirrhosis, benign liver diseases and in healthy individuals. The expression levels for patients with cirrhosis was higher than patients with benign liver diseases and in healthy individuals. The expression levels for patients with benign liver diseases and healthy individuals were similar. With a optimal cut-off value of 8. 385 × 10-7 , the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of XAGE-lb mRNA for diagnosing primary liver cancer were 80. 0%, 89.8%, 90.9% and 77.9% respectively. The positive rates for patients with primary liver cancer and cirrhosis were 80.0% and 30.4% respectively. Conclusion XAGE-lb mRNA can be used as a tumor marker for primary liver cancer. It contributes to the differentiation between primary liver cancer, cirrhosis and benign liver diseases.

Objective In order to study the hemodynamics changes of the Budd Chiari syndrome vascular based on Computer Sim-ulation.Methods Three dimensional reconstruction model is established based on MRA medical images.Then take use of Ansys Fluent software to simulate hemodynamic parameters.Results Budd Chiari syndrome vascular model is established successfully. The hemodynamics changes on/above the vascular confluence of inferior vena cava with three main hepatic veins.Contract to the flow inlet of inferior vena cava,blood pressure becomes larger,the speed becomes slower and shear stress becomes smaller.Conclu-sion The inferior vena venous hemodynamics changes region is almost consistent with inferior vena venous predilection location. The study lays the groundwork for future study of Budd Chiari syndrome negotiations.

Objective:To investigate the diagnostic value of quantitative parameters of synthetic MRI in patients with prostate cancer (PCa).Methods:From April 2018 to April 2019, 25 PCa patients confirmed by whole-mount pathology were prospectively enrolled in Beijing Hospital. All patients underwent prostate MRI examinations including DWI and synthetic MRI. Four kinds of tissue types were identified in pathology, including PCa, stromal hyperplasia (SH), glandular hyperplasia (GH) and prostatitis. According to the pathological results, quantitative parameters including ADC, T 1, T 2 and proton density (PD) values were measured on DWI and synthetic MRI. One-way analysis of variance or Kruskal-Wallis H test was performed to compare the difference of each parameter among PCa, SH or GH in the transitional zone (TZ). The difference of each parameter between PCa and prostatitis in the peripheral zone (PZ) was evaluated by using independent sample t test or Mann-Whitney U test. The diagnostic performance of each parameter in discriminating PCa from other benign conditions was evaluated by using ROC curve. Area under the curve (AUC) of each parameter was compared by using DeLong test. Results:The overall differences of T 1, T 2 PD and ADC values were statistically significant among PCa and other benign conditions. The T 1, T 2 and ADC values of PCa in the TZ were lower than those in the SH ( P=0.041, 0.030,<0.001) and GH (all P<0.001). The PD value of PCa in the TZ was lower than that in the GH ( P=0.040). The differences of T 1, T 2, PD and ADC values between PCa and prostatitis in the PZ were significant ( P<0.05). The AUC of ADC value (0.943) was higher than that of T 1 (0.691, P=0.001), PD (0.555, P=0.002) and T 2 (0.754, P=0.016) values in differentiating PCa from SH. For discriminating PCa and GH, T 1, T 2 and ADC showed similar AUC ( P>0.05), which were higher than AUC of PD value ( P=0.001). For discriminating PCa and prostatitis, T 1, T 2, PD and ADC values showed similar AUC ( P>0.05). Conclusions:Quantitative parameters of synthetic MRI were practical tools for discriminating PCa from other benign pathologies.

To construct a competency model for junior caregivers for the elderly and to provide a reference for the selection, evaluation and training for the junior caregivers for the elderly.
 Methods: Firstly, we drafted the primary competency model for junior caregivers for the elderly through literature review. Then, we used Delphi method to carry out 2 rounds of questionnaire survey for 20 experts to optimize the indicators for primary model. The weight of each indicator is determined by analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and expert sequencing method.
 Results: The effective recovery rates of the two-round questionnaire were 87% and 100%, respectively. The expert authority coefficient was 0.70-0.93, and the average authority coefficient was 0.80. The final version of the competency model for junior caregivers for the elderly included 4 first-grade indexes, 11 second-grade indexes and 37 third-grade indexes.
 Conclusion: The competency model for the junior caregivers for the elderly is reliable and can be used as the reference standard for the selection, evaluation and training for the junior caregivers for the elderly.
Aged ; Caregivers ; standards ; Clinical Competence ; Delphi Technique ; Health Services for the Aged ; standards ; Humans ; Medical Staff, Hospital ; standards ; Reference Standards ; Surveys and Questionnaires

ObjectiveTo analyze the expression of molecular marker affecting the prognosis of acute myeloid leukemia （AML） patients from bioinformatics database， thus providing an experimental basis for further exploration of a novel molecular marker for the prognosis of AML. MethodsThe prognostic data of 179 AML patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas （TCGA） database were examined for differential gene analysis and survival analysis. The bone marrow samples of 74 healthy individuals （HI） and 542 de novo AML patients in the dataset GSE13159 downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus （GEO） database were analyzed to detect the difference in the expression levels of differential target genes. Peripheral blood and bone marrow samples were collected from 18 de novo AML patients and 20 age- and gender-matched healthy controls， and real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR was used to validate the expression levels of the differential genes in the AML patients. ResultsBioinformatics data analysis showed that the optimal cut-off value of Homo sapiens NK2 homeobox 3 （NKX2-3） calculated by R language was 0.051. Survival analysis revealed a statistically poorer overall survival in de novo AML patients with high NKX2-3 expression than in those with low NKX2-3 expression （P = 0.0036）. NKX2-3 was highly expressed in patients with de novo AML than in HI and the difference was statistically significant （P < 0.001）. Real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR verified the expression levels of the NKX2-3 gene in AML patients and confirmed that compared with those in HI， in the de novo AML patients， NKX2-3-1 and NKX2-3-2 were highly expressed and were significantly correlated （P = 0.000， P = 0.000）. ConclusionNKX2-3 is highly expressed in de novo AML patients， and the AML patients with high NKX2-3 expression have poor overal survival. NKX2-3 may be closely related to the clinical outcome and prognosis of AML.

An effective therapeutic regimen for hepatic fibrosis requires a deep understanding of the pathogenesis mechanism. Hepatic fibrosis is characterized by activated hepatic stellate cells (aHSCs) with an excessive production of extracellular matrix. Although promoted activation of HSCs by M2 macrophages has been demonstrated, the molecular mechanism involved remains ambiguous. Herein, we propose that the vitamin D receptor (VDR) involved in macrophage polarization may regulate the communication between macrophages and HSCs by changing the functions of exosomes. We confirm that activating the VDR can inhibit the effect of M2 macrophages on HSC activation. The exosomes derived from M2 macrophages can promote HSC activation, while stimulating VDR alters the protein profiles and reverses their roles in M2 macrophage exosomes. Smooth muscle cell-associated protein 5 (SMAP-5) was found to be the key effector protein in promoting HSC activation by regulating autophagy flux. Building on these results, we show that a combined treatment of a VDR agonist and a macrophage-targeted exosomal secretion inhibitor achieves an excellent anti-hepatic fibrosis effect. In this study, we aim to elucidate the association between VDR and macrophages in HSC activation. The results contribute to our understanding of the pathogenesis mechanism of hepatic fibrosis, and provide potential therapeutic targets for its treatment.
Humans ; Hepatic Stellate Cells/pathology* ; Receptors, Calcitriol ; Liver Cirrhosis/pathology* ; Macrophages/metabolism*

  Objective  To evaluate the clinical and paraclinical features of Chinese patients with anti- LGI1 encephalitis.  Methods  Patients with memory deficits, psychiatric symptoms, seizures or altered level of consciousness, suspicious of encephalitis, at presentation to Peking Union Medical College Hospital were recruited between July 2013 and January 2018, and tested for anti-LGI1 antibodies in their serum and/or cerebrospinal fluid(CSF) samples. Patients with anti-LGI1 antibodies were enrolled. The demographic characteristics, clinical manifestations, laboratory examination results, neuroimaging features, immunotherapy, follow-up practices and outcomes for included patients were registered and analyzed.  Results  The study enrolled 120 patients, of whom 66.7% were male. The median age was 61 years (interquartile range [IQR]: 49-66 years). Seizures(65.0%) were the most common initial symptoms. Most patients developed seizures (95.0%), including faciobrachial dystonic seizures (54.2%), memory deficits (92.5%), and psychiatric symptoms (69.1%). Brain MRI and ¹⁸F-FDG PET / CT showed that the lesions were mainly located in unilateral or bilateral medial temporal lobes, and (or) basal ganglia. Of the patients, 95.0% received intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) or corticosteroids, 47.5% received mycophenolate mofetil as long-term immunotherapy, and no one received second-line immunotherapy. The median follow-up was 34.2 months(IQR: 22.0-45.6 months). 91.2% had a good outcome (modified Rankin Scale score≤2 points). Residual mild memory deficits were present in 47.8% of the patients. Nine deaths were documented. Relapses occurred in 24.8% of the patients in the first year. In total, 24 (20%)cases were young patients(onset age ≤45 years).There were fewer males among the younger patients(37.5% vs. 74.0%, P < 0.01). Besides, there were fewer younger patients with psychiatric symptoms(50.0% vs. 74.0%, P=0.02), hyponatremia(33.3% vs. 68.8%, P < 0.01), and abnormalities on brain ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT(20.8% vs. 47.9%, P=0.02). The relapse-free survival rate was significantly higher in the young patients.  Conclusions  Elderly males were predominant in patients with anti-LGI1 encephalitis. Most patients developed symptoms of limbic encephalitis and/or FDBS during the disease course. Several patients were young adults and lacked typical symptoms. Neuroimaging features were consistent with the involvement of limbic system or basal ganglia. Patients with anti-LGI1 encephalitis respond well to immunotherapy, irrespective of the age.