Objective To investigate the possible mechanism of recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO) neuroprotection by studying the effect of rhEPO on expressions of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and BCL-2 following focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion in rats. Methods A rat middle cerebral artery occlusion/reperfusion (MCAO/R) model was induced by the intraluminal filament method, and intraperitoneal injection of rhEPO was used for intervention. Histopathological changes were observed by HE staining, and the expressions of MMP-9 and BCL-2 in the cerebral cortex of ischemic side were detected with immunohisto-chemistry. Results HE staining: At all time points, the numbers of surviving nerve cells were significantly higher in the rhEPO group, and their injury degree was significantly lower. MMP-9 immunohistochemistry staining: The positive cells were observed occasionally in the normal control group and the sham-operation group; the MMP-9 positive cells at the ischemic side of brain tissue in a normal saline control group began to appear at 6 hours after reperfusion, it reached the peak at 24 hours and began to decrease at 72 hours; the change trend of MMP-9 positive cells in the rhEPO group was similar to that in the normal saline control group, but it was significantly lower than that in the normal saline control group at the same time points (t were 12. 023 6, 12. 635 0, 12. 779 6, respectively, all P <0. 01). BCL-2 immunohistochemistry staining: No positive cells were found in the normal control group and sham-operation group. The numbers of BCL-2 positive cells reached the peak at the ischemic side of brain tissue in the normal saline control group at 6 hours after reperfusion, it reached the peak at 24 hours and further decreased at 72 hours; the change trend of BCL-2 positive cells in the rhEPO group was similar to that in the normal saline control group, but it was significantly higher than that in the normal saline control group at the same time points (t were 5. 763 1,8. 110 1, and 5. 798 7, respectively, all P <0. 01). Conclusions rhEPO may inhibit cortical neuronal apop-tosis at the ischemic side by inhibiting MMP-9 expression and up-regulating BCL-2 expression so as to play a neuroprotective effect.

Objective To explore the protective effect of erythropoietin(EPO)on inflammatory injury induced by focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion in rats.Methods 54 male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 3 groups:sham operation group,normal saline control group and EPO group.The focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury model was made by suture-occluded method.The content of interleukin-1 β(IL-1β)and the activity of myeloperoxidease(MPO)were measured by radioimmunoassay and chromatoptometry at 6 h,24 h and 48 h reperfusion following ischemia 2 h.The scores of behavior obstacle in rats were assessed at 24 h.Results Compared with the normal saline control group,EPO group got better score of behavior obstacle(all P<0.05).The content of IL-1β and the activity of MPO in brain in the EPO group were significantly lower than those in the normal saline control group(all P<0.01).Compared with two reperfusion groups,the sham operation group had no obvious abnormal change in each measurement item.Conclusion EPO can reduce the content of IL-1β and inhibit the infiltration of leukoeyte,which can provide protective effect on cerebral ischemic-repefusion injury in rats.

Objective To explore the relationship between the MRI enhancement ratios of liver parenchyma in hepatobiliary phase with gadobenate dimeglumine (Gd-BOPTA)and liver function.Methods Fifty-nine patients who underwent Gd-BOPTA-enhanced MRI were retrospectively enrolled in the study.The enhancement ratio of signal to noise ratio and enhancement ratio of the contrast ratio were calculated.The relationships between the enhancement ratio and CTP grading and MELD score were analyzed.Results The signal enhancement ratios in hepatobiliary phase in patients with CTP A classification were higher than those with CTP B classi-fication (P <0.01).Meanwhile,the ratios in patients with MELD scores less than 10 points were higher than those with MELD scores more than 10 points (P <0.01).Conclusion The MR enhancement degree of liver parenchyma in the hepatobiliary phase with Gd-BOPTA may reflect the liver function.

Objective To express recombinant chicken interleukin 2 (IL-2) in Pichia yeast eukaryotic cell expression system for a massive preparation of chicken IL-2. Methods Spleen lymphocytes taken from Xiaoshan chicken were activated by ConA in vitro. Chicken IL-2 gene was amplified and cloned into pPIC9. The pPIC9-IL-2 was transformed into Pichia yeast by electroporation. The recombinants were induced by methanol for the expression of recombinant protein. Results The protein was examined with SDS-PAGE and Western bloting. A specific molecular weight band at about 30 ku appeared. Conclusion The recombinant protein of chicken IL-2 has been expressed in Pichia yeast.

Objective To understand the characteristics on the diversity of HIV subtypes and related transmission in Tianjin.Methods A total of 77 newly diagnosed ART-na(i)ve HIV infectors in 2015 were screened by CD4 +T cell counts ≥200 cells/μl.Viral RNAs were extracted from plasma samples.Reverse transcription PCR and nested PCR were used to analyze the amplification of pol and env gene fragments,sequencing,and related bioinformatics information.Results 46.03％ (29/63),30.16％ (19/63),11.11％ (7/63),4.76％ (3/63) and 7.94％ (5/63) of the individuals were infected under HIV subtypes CRF01_AE,CRF07_BC,B,CRF55_01B and URFs,with sexual transmission as the major mode of infection.CRF01_AE and CRF07_BC strains were predominant in both MSM and HST populations.The patterns of subtype distribution did not show statistical differences other than subtype B and CRF55_01B strain among HSTs.The proportion of CRFs increased significantly to 88.89％.8 new second-generation recombinant forms were identified the first time,including 3 CRF55_01B,2 AE/BC,1 AE/B and 1AE/B/C among MSMs and 1 AE/BC among HSTs.5.3％ of the NNRTI L100I HIV infectors transmitted the drug-resistant-mutation strain.3 linkages related to HIV transmission were confirmed through phylogenetic analysis with Bootstrap ≥98％ of pol and ≥80％of env.Conclusion The increasing complexity of HIV had been noticed in Tianjin,including the prevalence and transmission of second-generation recombinant and drug-resistant strains through different routes of transmission and in different regions.

Objective:To investigate the protective effect of hyperbaric oxygen therapy(HBOT)on myocardial fibrosis and oxidative stress induced by D-galactose(D-gal)in senescent model mice and its possible mechanism.Methods:Three-month-old male Kunming mice(n=27)were randomized into control, D-gal, and D-gal + HBOT groups.The control group received subcutaneous sterilized saline(5 ml · kg -1· d -1)for 8 weeks; the remaining 2 groups received subcutaneous D-gal(200 mg · kg -1· d -1)for 8 weeks. The D-gal + HBOT group underwent HBOT intervention at week 7~8.At the end of the experiment, the histopathological changes were analyzed by hematoxylin-eosin(HE)staining, and the fibrosis changes were analyzed by Masson staining and Sirius red staining.Oxidative stress kit was used to detect catalase(CAT), total superoxide dismutase(T-SOD)activity and malon-di-aldehyde(MDA)content in serum of mice.Western blotting was used to detect the expression levels of the aging-related proteins p53 and p16 in mouse heart tissue, the heart-function-related proteins atrial natriuretic peptide(ANP)and brain natriuretic peptide(BNP), and the oxidative stress-related protein superoxide dismutase 1(SOD1), superoxide dismutase 2(SOD2)and catalase(CAT). Results:Cardiac morphologic staining indicated that as compared with the control group, mice of D-gal group exhibited features of senescence and the increased fibrosis area, and senescence and fibrosis were obviously improved after HBOT intervention as compared with the D-gal group.The findings of the oxidative stress kit measurement indicated that as compared with the control group, the D-gal group had markedly decreased activities of CAT and T-SOD, significantly increased MDA content in the serum.After HBOT treatment, as compared with d-gal group, serum CAT and T-SOD activities were increased, while MDA content was decreased( F=126.85, 32.89, 157.50, all P<0.05).Furthermore, as compared with the control group, the D-gal group had obviously increased contents of p53, p16, ANP and BNP, while the content of CAT, SOD1 and SOD2 were obviously decreased.After HBOT intervention, as compared with the D-gal group, the contents of p53, p16, ANP、BNP were reduced, while the content of CAT, SOD1 and SOD2 were increased( F=36.37, 14.81, 23.28, 58.41, 12.79, 80.08, 6.63, all P<0.05). Conclusions:HBOT intervention could protects against cardiac injury in aging mice, which may be related to attenuating myocardial fibrosis, inducing the expression of antioxidant enzymes, and reducing oxidative stress.

Background: and Purpose Intracranial vertebrobasilar atherosclerotic stenosis (IVBAS) is a major cause of posterior circulation stroke. Some patients suffer from stroke recurrence despite receiving medical treatment. This study aimed to determine the prognostic value of a new score for the posterior communicating artery and the P1 segment of the posterior cerebral artery (PCoA-P1) for predicting stroke recurrence in IVBAS. Methods: We retrospectively enrolled patients with severe IVBAS (70%–99%). According to the number of stroke recurrences, patients were divided into no-recurrence, single-recurrence, and multiple-recurrences groups. We developed a new 5-point grading scale, with the PCoA-P1 score ranging from 0 to 4 based on magnetic resonance angiography, in which primary collaterals were dichotomized into good (2–4 points) and poor (0 or 1 point). Stroke recurrences after the index stroke were recorded. Patients who did not experience stroke recurrence were compared with those who experienced single or multiple stroke recurrences. Results: From January 2012 to December 2019, 176 patients were enrolled, of which 116 (65.9%) had no stroke recurrence, 35 (19.9%) had a single stroke recurrence, and 25 (14.2%) had multiple stroke recurrences. Patients with single stroke recurrence (odds ratio [OR]= 4.134, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.822–9.380, p=0.001) and multiple stroke recurrences (OR=6.894, 95% CI=2.489–19.092, p<0.001) were more likely to have poor primary collaterals than those with no stroke recurrence. Conclusions The new PCoA-P1 score appears to provide improve predictions of stroke recurrence in patients with IVBAS.

Informatization plays an important role in the management of clinical diagnosis and treatment. However, due to the specialty of the discipline, the informatization construction of critical care medicine(CCM)is faced with such problems as the inefficient application of data, the low compliance of diagnosis and treatment operation, and the lack of intelligent quality control tools. The authors discussed the new mode of CCM information management based on data driven. By upgrading clinical information system, establishing single disease control system, introducing comprehensive intelligent analysis platform and building open remote platform, the bottleneck of CCM informatization was broken. The information collection and interaction in ICU was realized, the automatic monitoring and early warning of diagnosis and treatment process was realized, the operation of medical staff according to the guidelines was effectively improved, and the ability of diagnosis and treatment and management efficiency was improved.Furthermore, the homogenization of regional critical medical information could be promoted.

Objective To explore the clinical application value of deep learning image reconstruction(DLIR)-based technique for radiation dose reduction with different noise index(NI)in CT-guided percutaneous transthoracic needle biopsy(PTNB).Methods Thirty-two patients undergoing PTNB were selected,and three sets of CT images with NI of 15,30,and 45 sequentially were obtained after adjusting the puncture needle using the scanning parameters of a small range(40 mm),tube voltage 100 kV,and automatic tube cur-rent modulation(ATCM).Group A was 50％weight of adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction-Veo(ASIR-V)scanned with NI 15,and group B and C were the DLIR-high reconstructed images with NI 30 and NI 45 respectively.The CT value and standard devia-tion(SD)value of paraspinal muscles,subcutaneous fat,and arterial vessels were measured at the puncture center point and its upper and lower 10 mm sclices,respectively,and the signal-to-noise ratio(SNR)and the contrast-to-noise ratio(CNR)were also calculated.Then the images were subjectively scored by two physicians,meanwhile the effective dose(ED)among the three groups was com-pared.Results According to the subjective evaluation,the image quality of group A,B,and C all met the clinical requirement for puncture.The SD and SNR of the images in group B were better than those in groups A and C.The SD and SNR of paraspinal mus-cles and sudcutaneous fat were significantly different between groups A and B,and between groups B and C(P＜0.05),however those of paraspinal muscles and subcutaneous fat between groups A and C were not significant.The differences in ED among the three groups were all statistically significant(P＜0.05).Compared with group A,the ED in groups B and C were reduced by 82.86％and 93.90％respectively,and the ED in group C was reduced by 64.44％compared with group B.Conclusion Increasing the NI combined with the DLIR technique can significantly reduce the radi-ation dose during CT-guided PTNB.

Objective:To discuss the performance of visual score and heart-to-contralateral lung (H/CL) ratio of 99Tc m-pyrophosphate (PYP) SPECT/CT scintigraphy for diagnosing transthyretin-related cardiac amyloidosis (ATTR-CA) by using Meta-analysis. Methods:Relevant studies on 99Tc m-PYP SPECT/CT diagnosis of ATTR-CA published before August 20, 2023 from databases including Pubmed, EMbase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang and China Science and Technology Journal Database (VIP) were retrieved. Articles were screened and indices which reflect the diagnostic efficiency such as sensitivity and specificity were extracted. Forest plots were drawn, and subgroup analysis was performed to analyze the heterogeneity. Results:A total of 160 articles were retrieved, and 11 articles involving 1 802 patients were enrolled, of whom 605 were diagnosed with ATTR-CA. All 11 articles were enrolled when analyzing the diagnostic efficiency of visual score for diagnosing ATTR-CA. After integration, the sensitivity and specificity were 0.95(95% CI: 0.91-0.97) and 0.95(95% CI: 0.90-0.98), respectively. Ten articles (1 611 patients) were enrolled when analyzing the diagnostic efficiency of H/CL ratio for diagnosing ATTR-CA. After integration, the sensitivity and specificity were 0.93(95% CI: 0.82-0.98) and 0.99(95% CI: 0.90-1.00), respectively. Subgroup analysis indicated that lack of uniformity in diagnostic criteria was the primary source of heterogeneity. Conclusion:99Tc m-PYP SPECT/CT scintigraphy exhibits high diagnostic efficiency for ATTR-CA.