Objective To investigate the value of magnetic resonance imaging of heart in diagnosis of unstable angina pectoris.Methods A total of 24 patients with unstable angina pectoris including 15 male and 9 female confirmed by coronary angiography (CAG) were enrolled.All 24 patients were scanned by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging ( CMR),and then the analyses of the first pass images and the delayed contrast enhancement images were carried out for comparison.The findings of cardiac structure,cardiac function,myocardial ischemia,myocardial necrosis,myocardial edema were taken for answering to the images made by echocardiography (UCG) and coronary angiography (CAG) linked with conventional examinations for the diagnosis of coronary disease.Results Compared with the UCG,CMR provided more detailed information about the right ventricle,and the information about left ventricular structure and function given by UCG was very good consistent with that offered by CMR,and CMR could detect myocardial ischemia,myocardial edema and the myocardial necrosis,which were of good consistency with findings often observed by conventional inspection methods.Conclusions Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) is of high value in diagnosis and evaluation of unstable angina pectoris and is far superior over other conventional methods for examinations of unstable angina pectoris.

Objective To study the changes of serum high mobility group box 1 protein ( HMGB-1 ) in patients with traumatic acute lung injury (ALI) and determine its correlations with MODS,acute physiology and chronic health evaluation ( APACHE Ⅱ ) scores and whether it can predict the incidence of MODS and mortality.Methods Forty cases of ALI were divided into MODS group (n =13) and nonMODS group (n =27) according to the MODS evaluation standard.The serum HMGB-1 was determined in the control group ( 10 healthy persons) and the MODS and non-MODS groups at days 1,4 and 7.The MODS and APACHE Ⅱ scores were also evaluated.Results Between the groups,the HMGB-1 level at days 1,4 and 7 in non-MODS group was higher than that in the control group,while lower than that in MODS group (P＜0.05).Within the non-MODS group,the expression of HMGB-1 showed a high level at day 4 compared with that at day 1 ( P ＜0.01 ) ; the HMGB-1 showed a low level at day 7 with clinical symptom improvement compared with that at day 4,and was even lower than that at day 1 ( P ＜ 0.01 ).Within the MODS group,the serum HMGB-1 level was significantly increased,and continued for several days; the HMGB-1 was decreased slightly at day 7 in comparison with that at day 4,but was still higher than that at day 1.The difference of MODS and APACHE Ⅱ score was significant,with the dynamic change of HMGB-1 level at days 1,4 and 7 after traumatic ALI.The correlative analysis showed that HMGB-1 expression level was remarkably related with MODS score and APACHE Ⅱ score.Conclusions HMGB-1 shows a high expression in patients with traumatic ALI.As a late mediator of inflammation,HMGB-1 usually increases relatively late and lasts for a long duration.HMGB-I level and concurrency MODS are closely related.Routine test of serum HMGB-1 level and joint assessment of MODS and APACHE Ⅱ score are contributive to the prediction of organ dysfunction after traumatic ALI.

Objective To evaluate the value and feasibility of Microsim medical simulation training system in medical students' clinical thinking training. Method 96 students of 5-year program of medicine of Grade 2009 and Grade 2010 were the research object. These students were randomly divided into two groups (group A:After 3 weeks' clinical practice in respiratory medicine, taking 1 week Microsim training. group B: Taking 4 weeks clinical practice in respiratory medicine. Each group has 48 students.). The examination and teaching satisfaction of the two groups were observed after the end of the internship. SPSS 17.0 statistical software was used to analyze the collected data (measurement data matching t test, counting data by chi-square test). Results The Microsim system score: group A was (89.37±7.18), group B was (61.95±15.34). The difference between groups was statistically signifi-cant. The following scores suggested the assessment of students' ability of clinical thinking: ability to analyze problems [group A (89.95±4.02) vs. group B (75.51±6.34)], the ability to deal with the prob-lem [group A (78.81±8.09) vs. group B (59.67±9.33)], treatment scheme [group A (86.74±6.59) vs. group B (70.39±7.05)] and the treatment effect [group A (88.61±8.16) vs. group B (63.54±11.48)]. In these aspects, the two groups had statistically significant difference, but communication [group A (82.47 ±5.23) vs. group B (84.09 ±3.72)] had no statistically significant difference between the two groups. 89.6% (43) of the participants believed that the Microsim medical simulation training system could significantly improve the clinical thinking ability, but only 58.3% (28) of the students believed that the basic theory of knowledge could be consolidated. Conclusion Microsim medical simulation training system can improve the students' ability of clinical thinking and clinical comprehensive treat-ment ability. It can be used as an effective complement to clinical practice teaching.

Objective: To investigate the feasibility of cine three-dimensional (3D) balanced steady-state free precession (b-SSFP) imaging combined with a non-local means (NLM) algorithm for image denoising in evaluating cardiac function in children with repaired tetralogy of Fallot (rTOF). Materials and Methods: Thirty-five patients with rTOF (mean age, 12 years; range, 7–18 years) were enrolled to undergo cardiac cine image acquisition, including two-dimensional (2D) b-SSFP, 3D b-SSFP, and 3D b-SSFP combined with NLM. End-diastolic volume (EDV), end-systolic volume (ESV), stroke volume (SV), and ejection fraction (EF) of the two ventricles were measured and indexed by body surface index. Acquisition time and image quality were recorded and compared among the three imaging sequences. Results: 3D b-SSFP with denoising vs. 2D b-SSFP had high correlation coefficients for EDV, ESV, SV, and EF of the left (0.959– 0.991; p < 0.001) as well as right (0.755–0.965; p < 0.001) ventricular metrics. The image acquisition time ± standard deviation (SD) was 25.1 ± 2.4 seconds for 3D b-SSFP compared with 277.6 ± 0.7 seconds for 2D b-SSFP, indicating a significantly shorter time with the 3D than the 2D sequence (p < 0.001). Image quality score was better with 3D b-SSFP combined with denoising than with 3D b-SSFP (mean ± SD, 3.8 ± 0.6 vs. 3.5 ± 0.6; p = 0.005). Signal-to-noise ratios for blood and myocardium as well as contrast between blood and myocardium were higher for 3D b-SSFP combined with denoising than for 3D b-SSFP (p < 0.05 for all but septal myocardium). Conclusion The 3D b-SSFP sequence can significantly reduce acquisition time compared to the 2D b-SSFP sequence for cine imaging in the evaluation of ventricular function in children with rTOF, and its quality can be further improved by combining it with an NLM denoising method.

Objective: To investigate the feasibility of cine three-dimensional (3D) balanced steady-state free precession (b-SSFP) imaging combined with a non-local means (NLM) algorithm for image denoising in evaluating cardiac function in children with repaired tetralogy of Fallot (rTOF). Materials and Methods: Thirty-five patients with rTOF (mean age, 12 years; range, 7–18 years) were enrolled to undergo cardiac cine image acquisition, including two-dimensional (2D) b-SSFP, 3D b-SSFP, and 3D b-SSFP combined with NLM. End-diastolic volume (EDV), end-systolic volume (ESV), stroke volume (SV), and ejection fraction (EF) of the two ventricles were measured and indexed by body surface index. Acquisition time and image quality were recorded and compared among the three imaging sequences. Results: 3D b-SSFP with denoising vs. 2D b-SSFP had high correlation coefficients for EDV, ESV, SV, and EF of the left (0.959– 0.991; p < 0.001) as well as right (0.755–0.965; p < 0.001) ventricular metrics. The image acquisition time ± standard deviation (SD) was 25.1 ± 2.4 seconds for 3D b-SSFP compared with 277.6 ± 0.7 seconds for 2D b-SSFP, indicating a significantly shorter time with the 3D than the 2D sequence (p < 0.001). Image quality score was better with 3D b-SSFP combined with denoising than with 3D b-SSFP (mean ± SD, 3.8 ± 0.6 vs. 3.5 ± 0.6; p = 0.005). Signal-to-noise ratios for blood and myocardium as well as contrast between blood and myocardium were higher for 3D b-SSFP combined with denoising than for 3D b-SSFP (p < 0.05 for all but septal myocardium). Conclusion The 3D b-SSFP sequence can significantly reduce acquisition time compared to the 2D b-SSFP sequence for cine imaging in the evaluation of ventricular function in children with rTOF, and its quality can be further improved by combining it with an NLM denoising method.

Objective: To analyze the clinical characteristics and prognosis of 34 cases of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with FLT3 internal tandem duplication (FLT3-ITD) and MLL gene rearrangement. Methods: The clinical data of 34 AML patients with FLT3-ITD and MLL gene rearrangement was compared and analyzed for the therapeutic efficacy, prognostic factors when treated with chemotherapy, chemotherapy combined with targeted therapy or allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). Results: Of the thirty-four cases with median age 41 (4-71) years old, 63.6% presented with white blood cells (WBC) greater than 30×10⁹/L, 39.4% greater than 50 × 10⁹/L respectively on admission. M₅ (35.3%) made up the highest proportion. The cytogenetic abnormality reached 61.8%, of which the complex cytogenetic abnormality accounted for 11.8%. Eleven patients (32.35%) had both FLT3-ITD and MLL gene abnormalities. In addition to FLT3 and MLL abnormalities, 23 patients (67.6%) had one or more other gene abnormalities (multiple gene abnormalities). Of the 34 cases, 29.4% patients went into complete remission (CR) after two courses of chemotherapy. 20.6% (7 patients) went into CR after 3 or more courses of chemotherapy. The rate of early relapse in the CR group was 52.9%. Patients with WBC>50×10⁹/L or multiple gene abnormalities had a lower remission rate (7.7%, 5.4%) after two courses of chemotherapy. CR rate for the patients with more than three gene abnormalities was 0. The total 2-year overall survival (OS) in the 34 patients was 28.8% (95% CI 13.5%-46.0%) and the disease-free survival (DFS) was 27.1% (95% CI 12.5%-44.0%). Of the 18 patients treated with chemotherapy alone or chemotherapy combined with targeted therapy, 17 cases died within 2 years and 1 lost follow-up after giving up treatment. For the 16 patients received allo-HSCT, the 3-year OS was 43.4% (95% CI 13.7%-70.4%) and DFS 42.7% (95% CI 13.4%-69.7%). Conclusion AML patients with FLT3-ITD and MLL gene rearrangement often presented with M₅, accompanied by hyperleukocytosis, cytogenetic or multiple gene abnormalities. Those patients were observed to have low response rate and high early relapse when treated with chemotherapy without allo-HSCT. Patients had multiple gene abnormalities may be an important poor prognostic factor. Allo-HSCT is an effective treatment which could significantly improve the prognosis and survival of AML patients with FLT3-ITD and MLL gene abnormalities.

Animals ; Embryonic Stem Cells ; virology ; Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic ; Histone Deacetylase 6 ; Histone Deacetylases ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Infection ; genetics ; pathology ; virology ; Mice ; Mice, Knockout

OBJECTIVE: To assess the practical and health economical values of non-invasive prenatal test (NIPT) in Changsha Municipal Public Welfare Program. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was carried out on 149 165 women undergoing NIPT test from April 9, 2018 to December 31, 2019. For pregnant women with high risks, invasive prenatal diagnosis and follow-up of pregnancy outcome were conducted. The cost-benefit of NIPT for Down syndrome was analyzed. RESULTS: NIPT was carried out for 149 165 pregnant women and succeeded in 148 749 cases (99.72%), for which outcome were available in 148 538 (99.86%). 90% of pregnant women from the region accepted the screening with NIPT. 415 (0.27%) were diagnosed as high risk. Among these, 381 (91.81%) accepted amniocentesis, which led to the diagnosis of 212 cases of trisomy 21 (PPV=85.14%), 41 cases with trisomy 18 (PPV=48.81%) and 10 cases with trisomy 13 (PPV=20.83%). The sensitivity and specificity of NIPT for trisomy 21, trisomy 18 and trisomy 13 were (97.70%, 99.98%), (97.62%, 9.97%) and (100%, 99.97%), respectively. In addition, 213 and 30 cases were diagnosed with sex chromosomal aneuploidies (PPV=46.2%) and other autosomal anomalies (PPV=16.57%), respectively. For Down syndrome screening, the cost and benefit of the project was 120.79 million yuan and 1,056.95 million yuan, respectively. The cost-benefit ratio was 1: 8.75, and safety index was 0.0035. CONCLUSION NIPT is a highly accurate screening test for trisomy 21, which was followed by trisomy 18 and sex chromosomal aneuploidies, while it was less accurate for other autosomal aneuploidies. The application of NIPT screening has a high health economical value.
Aneuploidy ; Cost-Benefit Analysis ; Female ; Humans ; Noninvasive Prenatal Testing ; Pregnancy ; Retrospective Studies ; Trisomy 18 Syndrome/genetics*

Objective To evaluate the ability of the ratio of peripheral blood white blood cell(WBC)counts to platelet counts to predict the onset of radiation-induced thymic lymphoma(TL)in a mouse model.Methods Mice were subjected to fractionated total-body irradiation(TBI)to established a TL model before the changes of the WBC-to-platelet ratio during the development and progression of TL were investigated.Four-week-old male C57BL/6J mice were randomized into the normal(non-irradiation)group and radiation exposure group that was subjected to 1.8 Gy TBI once weekly for four consecutive weeks.The survival and TL-incidence of those two groups were compared within 370 days of TBI.Histomorphology and hematoxylin & eosin(H&E)staining of the thymus were used for definite diagnosis of TL while flow cytometry was adopted to detect the frequency changes of T cells in the thymus,bone marrow and spleen.Peripheral blood(PB)cell counts were measured to analyze the changes of peripheral hemogram during TL pathogenesis.Results No mice in the normal group were diagnosed with TL while 83％of the irradiated mic suffered from TL within 370 days of fractionated TBI(P＜0.0001).Using histopathologic technology,medium-sized tumor cells were observed in the thymus of irradiated mice diagnosed with TL.Cytometric analysis showed decreased frequencies of CD4 mono-positive cells and increased frequencies of CD8 mono-positive cells in the thymus,bone marrow and spleen of mice diagnosed with TL.PB analysis displayed a significant increase in the WBC-to-platelet ratio one week prior to the TL-caused death in the irradiated mice(P＜0.01).Conclusion Elevation of the peripheral blood WBC-to-platelet ratio can help predict the onset of IR-induced TL of mice.

Objective To investigate the value of ultrasound and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in the differential diagnosis of mass-type autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Methods A retrospective analysis was performed for the clinical data, ultrasound findings, and CEUS findings of 11 patients with mass-type AIP who were diagnosed in Tangshan Workers' Hospital from January 2015 to December 2020, and their characteristic manifestations were analyzed and compared with the data of 23 patients with PDCA. The chi-square test was used for comparison of categorical data between two groups. Results For the 11 patients with mass-type AIP, CEUS had a diagnostic accuracy of 63.64%, and all of these patients had hypoechoic single lesions; the patients with clear boundaries, regular morphology, pancreatic duct dilatation or cutoff, and blood flow signal accounted for 54.55%, 63.64%, 18.18%, and 36.36%, respectively, while in the PDCA group, such patients accounted for 30.43%, 34.78%, 78.26%, and 21.74%, respectively, and there was a significant difference in the presence or absence of pancreatic duct dilatation or cutoff between the two groups( χ 2 =11.089, P < 0.05), with no significant differences in the other indices (all P > 0.05). For the 11 patients with mass-type AIP, CEUS showed that 7 patients (63.64%) had hyperenhancement and 4 (36.36%) had iso-enhancement in the arterial phase, and 5 patients (45.45%) had hyperenhancement in the arterial phase and 6 (54.55%) had iso-enhancement in the venous phase; for the 23 patients with PDCA, 22 (95.65%) had hypoenhancement of lesions in both arterial and venous phases, and there were significant differences in the enhancement pattern in arterial and venous phases between the two groups ( χ 2 =30.345 and 30.084, both P < 0.05). Conclusion The enhancement pattern of CEUS and the presence or absence of pancreatic duct dilatation or cutoff have a relatively high value in the differential diagnosis of mass-type AIP and PDCA.