ObjectiveTo explore the characteristics multi-detector-row computed tomography (MDCT)findings of ACTH-independent macronodular adrenal hyperplasia ( AIMAH ).Methods The un-enhanced and contrast-enhanced MDCT features in 24 patients ( 14 males and 10 females) with clinically confirmed AIMAH were retrospectively assessed for the morphology and enhancement patterns.ResultsThe adrenal glands were involved bilaterally in all of the 24 cases( 100％ ).24 patients had massively enlarged multinodular adrenal glands.Nodules were( 1.79 ± 1.02) cm (0.50 ～ 3.85 cm),which usually distorted and completely obscured the normal adrenal glands.The enlarged adrenal glands were still retained the adreniform contour,showed characteristic ginger-like.22 of the 24 ( 91.7 ％ ) hyperplastic nodular glands demonstrated mild homogeneous enhancement.Calcification was revealed in 1 adrenals ( 1/24,4.2％ ).Conclusion MDCT reveals the characteristic morphology and CT attenuation in AIMAH.Combined with its clinical presentation and biochemical findings,AIMAH is able to be diagnosed with high specificity and accuracy on MDCT.

Cancer is the leading cause of death in children. With the development of family participatory care, it has become a trend to use home chemotherapy for children with cancer in stable stages. Therefore, this article introduces the current situation of home chemotherapy medication safety, elaborates on the influencing factors of family chemotherapy medication safety for cancer children from two aspects including oral chemotherapy and intravenous chemotherapy, and proposes intervention measures to optimize the family chemotherapy medication process for cancer children, improve their home chemotherapy medication ability and effectively ensure the medication safety of cancer children.

Background::Genetic variants of dopaminergic transcription factor-encoding genes are suggested to be Parkinson’s disease (PD) risk factors; however, no comprehensive analyses of these genes in patients with PD have been undertaken. Therefore, we aimed to genetically analyze 16 dopaminergic transcription factor genes in Chinese patients with PD.Methods::Whole-exome sequencing (WES) was performed using a Chinese cohort comprising 1917 unrelated patients with familial or sporadic early-onset PD and 1652 controls. Additionally, whole-genome sequencing (WGS) was performed using another Chinese cohort comprising 1962 unrelated patients with sporadic late-onset PD and 1279 controls.Results::We detected 308 rare and 208 rare protein-altering variants in the WES and WGS cohorts, respectively. Gene-based association analyses of rare variants suggested that MSX1 is enriched in sporadic late-onset PD. However, the significance did not pass the Bonferroni correction. Meanwhile, 72 and 1730 common variants were found in the WES and WGS cohorts, respectively. Unfortunately, single-variant logistic association analyses did not identify significant associations between common variants and PD. Conclusions::Variants of 16 typical dopaminergic transcription factors might not be major genetic risk factors for PD in Chinese patients. However, we highlight the complexity of PD and the need for extensive research elucidating its etiology.

Objective:To analyze the metabolic mechanism of papillary thyroid cancer(PTC) in normal and Hashimoto′s thyroiditis(HT) background, and to explore the relationship between HT and PTC.Methods:This study included a matched sample set collected from Tianjin Medical University General Hospital between January 2018 and January 2019, consisting of PTC and paracancular tissue from 31 cases with coexisting HT(HT group), and 30 cases without(NC group), all confirmed pathologically following thyroidectomy. The ultra-high performance liquid chromatography combined with mixed four-stage poles time-of-flight mass spectrometry(UPLC-Q-TOF-MS) was employed to acquire data from the samples. Metabolite differences between the two groups were compared, aiming to identify distinct metabolic mechanisms of PTC under different backgrounds. Metabolic pathway analysis was conducted using Metabo-Analyst 5.0 to explore relevant metabolic pathways.Results:The HT group and NC group shared 7 common differentially expressed metabolites, including arginine, glutamic acid, cysteine, citric acid, malic acid, uracil, and taurine. Logistic regression model combined with receiver operating characteristic(ROC) analysis of these 7 biomarkers yielded excellent discriminatory capacity for PTC(area under ROC curve of HT group and NC group were 0.867 and 0.973, respectively). The common metabolic pathways were taurine and hypotaurine metabolism, arginine biosynthesis, alanine, aspartic acid and glutamic acid metabolism, arginine and proline metabolism, and glutamine and glutamic acid metabolism. The specific metabolic pathways in HT group were aminoacyl tRNA biosynthesis, glycine, serine, and threonine metabolism.Conclusion:The metabolic profiles of thyroid cancer exhibit significant differences between cases with normal backgrounds and those with HT. The specific pathways for PTC and HT are aminoacyl tRNA biosynthesis and the metabolism of glycine, serine, and threonine.

Periodontitis is the most widespread oral disease and is closely related to the oral microbiota. The oral microbiota is adversely affected by some pharmacologic treatments. Systemic antibiotics are widely used for infectious diseases but can lead to gut dysbiosis, causing negative effects on the human body. Whether systemic antibiotic-induced gut dysbiosis can affect the oral microbiota or even periodontitis has not yet been addressed. In this research, mice were exposed to drinking water containing a cocktail of four antibiotics to explore how systemic antibiotics affect microbiota pathogenicity and oral bone loss. The results demonstrated, for the first time, that gut dysbiosis caused by long-term use of antibiotics can disturb the oral microbiota and aggravate periodontitis. Moreover, the expression of cytokines related to Th17 was increased while transcription factors and cytokines related to Treg were decreased in the periodontal tissue. Fecal microbiota transplantation with normal mice feces restored the gut microbiota and barrier, decreased the pathogenicity of the oral microbiota, reversed the Th17/Treg imbalance in periodontal tissue, and alleviated alveolar bone loss. This study highlights the potential adverse effects of long-term systemic antibiotics-induced gut dysbiosis on the oral microbiota and periodontitis. A Th17/Treg imbalance might be related to this relationship. Importantly, these results reveal that the periodontal condition of patients should be assessed regularly when using systemic antibiotics in clinical practice.
Humans ; Mice ; Animals ; Dysbiosis ; Anti-Bacterial Agents/pharmacology* ; Virulence ; Microbiota ; Periodontitis/chemically induced* ; Cytokines