Objective To explore the value of iDose4 iterative reconstruction for coronary CT angiography (CCTA).Methods Totally 124 coronary heart disease patients underwent iDose4 iterative reconstruction and filtered back projection (FBP) reconstruction,of whom,56 ones with BMI not less than 20 kg/m2 were put into No.1 iteration group using 135 kV tube voltage and 68 ones with BMI less than 20 kg/m2 were into No.2 iteration group using 110 kV tube voltage.FBP reconstruction was executed with 110 kV tube voltage.Comparison analyses were carried out on signal noise ratio (SNR),contrast to noise ratio (CNR) and image quality.Results There were significant differences between the values of SNR,radiation dose and image quality in No.1 iteration group and FBP group (P＜0.05).Statistical differences were also found between the values of CNR and radiation dose in No.2 iteration group and FBP group,while there were no obvious differences between the values of SNR and image quality in the above two groups (P＜0.05).Conclusion Low-voltage iDose reconstruction gains advantages in radiation dose and image quality during 64-slice CCTA,and thus is worthy promoting clinically.

OBJECTIVETo study the clinicopathological features and prognosis of renal cell carcinoma with sarcomatoid differentiation (RCCS).

METHODSThe clinical data and pathological materials of 18 RCCS cases were retrospectively reviewed.The follow up data were available in 13 RCCS cases, and were compared with the follow up data of 20 cases of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

RESULTSThe 18 RCCS patients included 14 males and 4 females, and were 49-79 years old (mean age: 62 years old). On gross examination, the tumor size was 3-19 cm in diameter (mean diameter: 9.8 cm). Histologically, all tumors were composed of a mixture of typical RCC with sarcomatoid component, including 9 clear cell RCC, 3 chromophobe RCC and one papillary RCC. The sarcomatoid components included 9 cases of fibrosarcoma, 3 cases of leiomyosarcoma, 5 cases of malignant fibrous histocytoma and one case of undifferentiated sarcoma. Immunohistochemistry showed that the sarcomatoid components were strongly vimentin-positive in 18 cases, and one or more epithelial markers (EMA, AE1/AE3, CK7, CK18) were expressed to varying degrees in 14 cases, but the high-molecular weight keratin 34βE12 was scarcely expressed. The sarcomatoid components presented positive expressions of CAIX in 88.9% (16/18) and CD10 in 72.2% (13/18) cases. Among the 18 RCCS patients, 13 patients were followed-up: 9 patients died in 1-25 months after the surgery, of which 5 cases died of lung or bone metastasis, and 4 patients died of systemic failure. The twenty RCC cases without sarcomatoid differentiation were followed up for 3-65 months after the surgery, and the majority of them was alive uneventfully except for 2 cases who died of lung or bone metastasis of the tumor. The Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the median survival time of the 18 RCCS patients was 8 months, while that of the 20 RCC cases without sarcomatoid differentiation was 62 months (P<0.001).

CONCLUSIONSThe presence of sarcomatoid differentiation in renal cell carcinoma indicates highly aggressive behavior and poor prognosis. The positive expressions of the immune markers CAIX and CD10 may play important roles in the transformation from renal cell carcinoma to sarcomatoid component.

Aged ; Biomarkers, Tumor ; metabolism ; Carcinoma, Renal Cell ; metabolism ; mortality ; pathology ; Female ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Kaplan-Meier Estimate ; Kidney Neoplasms ; metabolism ; mortality ; pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Sarcoma ; metabolism ; mortality ; pathology ; Tumor Burden

Objective:To investigate the clinical effect of arthroscopic debridement combined with high lateral tibial osteotomy and Giebel plate internal fixation in the treatment of varus knee osteoarthritis.Methods:From January 2016 to June 2018, 78 patients (96 knees) with varus knee osteoarthritis in Beijing Delcony Orthopedic hospital were treated by arthroscopic debridement combined with closed lateral tibial osteotomy and Giebel plate internal fixation. The femoral tibial angle (FTA) and hospital for special surgery knee score (HSS) score of knee joint were compared before and after operation.Results:70 patients (86 knees) were followed up for 12 to 28 months, with an average of 22.4 months. Bone healing was achieved at the osteotomy site 8 to 14 weeks after operation. Pain symptoms were relieved or disappeared significantly. The force line of X-ray examination was maintained at the postoperative level. The average knee femoral tibial angle was 187.6°preoperatively and 172.5° postoperatively, which showed significant statistical difference ( P<0.05). HSS knee score criteria: excellent: 70 knees; good: 10 knees; medium: 4 knees; poor: 2 knees. The excellent and good rate was 93.0%. The HSS score increased from (69.0±3.6) before operation to (87.2±8.1) after operation, with significant difference ( P<0.05). Conclusions:Arthroscopic debridement combined with high lateral tibial osteotomy and Giebel plate internal fixation is a very good method for the treatment of varus knee osteoarthritis, which is worthy of further clinical application.

Objective:To assess the applicability of fully automatic pipeline automated testing for internal quality control (automated quality control).Methods:Stability, assay efficiency and implementation costs of 18 biochemical tests, 5 immunoturbidimetric tests and 11 chemical illuminescent tests in the Department of Laboratory Medicine of Peking Union Hospital from January 2019 to July 2022 were evaluated using automated quality control implementation methods. The detailed method is as follows: quality control materials for biochemical, immunoturbidimetric and chemiluminescent tests were stored in the refrigerator in the pipeline which was controlled by the intermediate software, and were automatically retrieved and tested as pre-set followed by documenting and storing. The quality control setup for the biochemical tests included refreshing quality control materials daily and weekly,both of which were paralleled for 3 months. The on-line storage stability of quality control materials in the pipeline was evaluated by comparing the coefficients of variation ( CV) of the quality control results between the two patterns. Effect of automated quality control application was evaluated using 6 indicators, including the results′ variation of automatically performed and manually performed quality controls, the out-of-controlled rate, the consumption of quality control materials, the change of staff workload, the impact on the testing time of the first sample, and the failure rate of automated quality control. Results:(1) Storage stability of quality control materials in the pipeline: under the pattern of weekly refresh of the biochemical quality control materials, except for total carbon dioxide (TCO 2) (the CVs of low and high level quality control were respectively 20.24% and 21.82%) and sodium (the CV of low level quality control was 1.51%) that were greater than the allowable variation set by the laboratory, the CVs of the rest tests meet the lab requirements on the allowable variations. (2) The results′ variation of quality control in automatically performed and manually performed control patterns: in the patterns of daily refresh of biochemical quality control materials and weekly refresh of immunoturbidimetric and chemiluminescent quality control materials, the CVs of both low and high levels of quality control were lower in the automatically performed control pattern than that in manually performed pattern for 8 chemiluminescent items of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, estradiol, follicle stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, serum ferritin, serum folic acid, vitamin B12 and testosterone, 3 immunologic items of complement 3, C reactive protein and immunoglobulin G, and 10 biochemical items of alkaline phosphatase, glucose, calcium, chloride, potassium, lactate dehydrogenase, sodium, urea, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, and adenosine deaminase. The out-of-control rates of biochemistry, immunoturbidimetric and chemiluminescence tests in both quality control patterns conformed with the clinical routine work requirements. (3) Comparison of quality control materials′ consumption: compared with manually performed quality control, weekly consumption of automatically performed chemiluminescent quality control materials decreased 37.5% (from 8 ml to 5 ml); weekly consumption of automatically performed immunoturbidimetric quality control materials decreased 33.3% (from 3 ml to 2 ml). (4)Comparison of staff workload and first sample testing time: compared with manually performed quality control, automatical quality control reduced manual work by about 156 steps per week, and the daily initial testing time was earlier by 15 min on average. The failure rate was 54.5% (37/64) during the early-stage application of the automated quality control which dropped to 10.2% (13/128) in the late-stage. Conclusion:The results of automated quality control detected in the pipeline system meet the quality indicators′ requirements of the laboratory, and the application of automated quality control can improve the quality control, save costs, reduce workload, and improve work efficiency.

Objective To explore the effect and mechanism of miR-208b-3p on energy metabolism in mice with heart failure(HF)induced by transverse aortic constriction(TAC).Methods Twenty-four mice were randomly divided into sham operation group(Sham group,n=6)and surgery group(n=18).TAC was used to establish an HF model in the surgical group,the sham group received the same surgical procedures as TAC,but no ligation of the transverse aortic arc.At the second week after TAC,the surgery group was randomly divided into Antagomir group(n=6),Antagomir-NC group(n=6)and TAC group(n=6).The mice of the Antagomir group and the Antagomir-NC group were injected with miR-208b-3p antagomir reagent(800 μg)and miR-208b-3p antagomir negative control reagent(800 μg),respectively by tail vein,twice a week,for 4 consecutive weeks.Echocardiography was performed at the 6th week after surgery to evaluate the cardiac function.HE staining and Sirius red staining were used to observe myocardial histopathology in mice.ATP assay was employed to detect the ATP level in myocardial tissues.RT-qPCR was applied to detect the expression of miR-208b-3p,mitochondrial genes(ND1,ND2,ND3,ND4,ND4L,ND5,ND6,CO1,CO2,CO3,CYTB,ATP6 and ATP8),POLRMT and 12S rRNA in myocardial tissues.Double luciferase reporter assay was conducted to detect the interaction between miR-208b-3p and the potential target gene POLRMT.Western blotting was utilized to detect the changes in the protein levels of POLRMT and ND1,CO2,CYTB and ATP8 in myocardial tissues.Results The expression of miR-208b-3p was significantly higher in myocardial tissues of the TAC group than the Sham group(P＜0.05).Echocardiography revealed that the ejection fraction,systolic and diastolic functions were significantly improved in the Antagomir group than the TAC group(P＜0.05).Pathological observation showed significantly improved cardiomyocyte hypertrophy,arrangement disorder and myocardial interstititial cell infiltration in the Antagomir group(P＜0.05).Compared with the TAC group,the ATP level was significantly increased(P＜0.05),the expression levels of POLRMT and mitochondrial gene transcripts(12SrRNA and 13 mitochondrial gene-coding polypeptides)were significantly increased(P＜0.05),but there were no changes in SDHA and SDHB levels in the Antagomir group.Double luciferase reporter assay indicated that miR-208b-3p bound to the CDS region of POLRMT.The protein levels of POLRMT,ND1,CO2,CYTB and ATP8 were significantly increased in the myocardial tissues in the Antagomir group than the TAC group(P＜0.05).Conclusion MiR-208b-3p inhibits the expression of mitochondrial genes by targeting POLRMT,aggravates mitochondrial energy metabolism disorder,and deteriorates cardiac insufficiency and ventricular remodeling in HF mice.

Objective Emergency technology research projects have two key aspects,"emergency"and"research",but it is not always clear how to effectively achieve the desired result.Organizations that undertake emergency technology research projects need to develop reasonable project management mechanisms to ensure their successful implementation.In this study,we investigated the current problems faced by those managing emergency technology research projects in the medical field.We researched and analyzed possible measures to improve the efficiency and quality of scientific research management.Methods This study leveraged the author's practical experience to investigate the current status of scientific research management in relevant units.Questionnaire surveys were conducted to ascertain the management aspects that most concern scientific managers and researchers.The problems raised by the survey were categorized and discussed.Results Through the research,we found that(1)at present,there are few management standards for emergency technology research projects;(2)the issue of greatest concern for scientific researchers is administrative approval and project funding;(3)the issue of greatest concern for scientific management personnel is how to meet the management requirements of higher-level units and the needs of scientific researchers under the premise of legal compliance.Conclusions Emergency technology research projects have unique characteristics distinct from those of conventional technology projects.Management optimization can be carried out in terms of project approval,funding use,resource allocation,and safety.This study has provided innovative solutions to improve the management of emergency technology research projects and a useful reference of the experiences of various scientific research units in managing such projects.

Objective:The characteristics of women with false elevated testosterone were analyze and the literature was reviewed to provide reference for clinical laboratory identification of false elevated testosterone.Methods:The characteristics of three patients with false elevated testosterone in Peking Union Medical College Hospital were analyzed retrospectively, and the results of different detection platforms and methods for the determination of testosterone levels were compared. International and domestic literatures related to false elevation of testosterone and detection methods of testosterone were searched for a comprehensive analysis from PUBMED and CNKI.Results:The levels of testosterone in 3 female patients were elevated by immunoassay and normal by mass spectrometry. They were excluded from the diagnosis of hyperandrogenemia. A total of 38 literatures related to testosterone detection were retrieved, of which 9 case reports of pseudohyperandrogenemia, among which 12 cases of pseudohyperandrogenemia were reported in 2 domestic literatures in 2021. All cases were confirmed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Previous studies have clearly indicated that the result of routine immunoassay in clinical laboratory for the determination of female testosterone have poor correlation with the results of LC-MS/MS, with varying degrees of deviation.Conclusions:Immunoassay tests for female testosterone is susceptible to interference and lead to elevated false results. It is suggested that clinical laboratories evaluate the detection methods used and establish a identification program, and confirm samples with suspected pseudoelevated testosterone elevation using other immune platforms or LC-MS/MS.

Sterol C24-methyltransferase (SMT) plays multiple important roles in plant growth and development. SMT1, which belongs to the family of transferases and transforms cycloartenol into 24-methylene cycloartenol, is involved in the biosynthesis of 24-methyl sterols. Here, we report the cloning and characterization of a cDNA encoding a sterol C24-methyltransferase from().(GenBank access number KU885950) is a 1530 bp cDNA with a 1041 bp open reading frame predicted to encode a 346-amino acid, 38.62 kDa protein. The polypeptide encoded by thecDNA was expressed and purified as a recombinant protein from() and showed SMT activity. The expression ofwas highly up-regulated incell suspension cultures treated with methyl jasmonate (MeJA). Tissue expression pattern analysis showed higher expression in the phellem layer compared to the other four organs (leaf, stem, xylem and phloem), which is about ten times that of the lowest expression in leaf. The results are meaningful for the study of sterol biosynthesis ofand will further lay the foundations for the research in regulating both the content of other main compounds and growth and development of

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the development present situation of the department of critical care medicine in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (hereinafter referred to as Inner Mongolia), in order to promote the standardized and homogeneous development of critical care medicine in Inner Mongolia, and also provide a reference for discipline construction and resource allocation. METHODS: A survey study was conducted in comprehensive intensive care unit (ICU) of tertiary and secondary hospitals in Inner Mongolia by online questionnaire survey and telephone data verification. The questionnaire was based on the Guidelines for the Construction and Management of Intensive Care Units (Trial) (hereinafter referred to as the Guidelines) issued by the National Health Commission in 2009 and the development trend of the discipline. The questionnaire covered six aspects, including hospital basic information, ICU basic information, personnel allocation, medical quality management, technical skill and equipment configuration. The questionnaire was distributed in September 2022, and it was filled out by the discipline leaders or department heads of each hospital. RESULTS: As of October 24, 2022, a total of 101 questionnaires had been distributed, 85 questionnaires had been recovered, and the questionnaire recovery rate had reached 84.16%, of which 71 valid questionnaires had been collected in a total of 71 comprehensive ICU. (1) There were noticeable regional differences in the distribution of comprehensive ICU in Inner Mongolia, with a relatively weak distribution in the east and west, and the overall distribution was uneven. The development of critical care medicine in Inner Mongolia was still lacking. (2) Basic information of hospitals: the population and economy restricted the development of ICU. The average number of comprehensive ICU beds in the western region was only half of that in the central region (beds: 39.0 vs. 86.0), and the average number of ICU beds in the eastern region was in the middle (83.6 beds), which was relatively uneven. (3) Basic information of ICU: among the 71 comprehensive ICU surveyed, there were 44 tertiary hospitals and 27 secondary hospitals. The ratio of ICU beds to total beds in tertiary hospitals was significantly lower than that in secondary hospitals [(1.59±0.81)% vs. (2.11±1.07)%, P < 0.05], which were significantly lower than the requirements of the Guidelines of 2%-8%. The utilization rate of ICU in tertiary and secondary hospitals [(63.63±22.40)% and (44.65±20.66)%, P < 0.01] were both lower than the bed utilization rate required by the Guidelines (75% should be appropriate). (4) Staffing of ICU: there were 376 doctors and 1 117 nurses in tertiary hospitals, while secondary hospitals had 122 doctors and 331 nurses. There were significant differences in the composition ratio of the titles of doctors, the degree of doctors, and the titles of nurses between tertiary and secondary hospitals (all P < 0.05). Most of the doctors in tertiary hospitals had intermediate titles (attending physicians accounted for 41.49%), while most of the doctors in secondary hospitals had junior titles (resident physicians accounted for 43.44%). The education level of doctors in tertiary hospitals was generally higher than that in secondary hospitals (doctors: 2.13% vs. 0, masters: 37.24% vs. 8.20%). The proportion of nurses in tertiary hospitals was significantly lower than that in secondary hospitals (17.01% vs. 24.47%). The ratio of ICU doctors/ICU beds [(0.64±0.27)%, (0.59±0.34)%] and ICU nurses/ICU beds [(1.76±0.56)%, (1.51±0.48)%] in tertiary and secondary hospitals all failed to meet the requirements above 0.8 : 1 and 3 : 1 of the Guidelines. (5) Medical quality management of ICU: compared with secondary hospitals, the proportion of one-to-one drug-resistant bacteria care in tertiary hospitals (65.91% vs. 40.74%), multimodal analgesia and sedation (90.91% vs. 66.67%), and personal digital assistant (PDA) barcode scanning (43.18% vs. 14.81%) were significantly higher (all P < 0.05). (6) Technical skills of ICU: in terms of technical skills, the proportion of bronchoscopy, blood purification, jejunal nutrition tube placement and bedside ultrasound projects carried out in tertiary hospitals were higher than those in secondary hospitals (84.09% vs. 48.15%, 88.64% vs. 48.15%, 61.36% vs. 55.56%, 88.64% vs. 70.37%, all P < 0.05). Among them, the placement of jejunal nutrition tube, bedside ultrasound and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation were mainly completed independently in tertiary hospitals, while those in secondary hospitals tended to be completed in cooperation. (7) Equipment configuration of ICU: in terms of basic equipment, the ratio of the total number of ventilators/ICU beds in tertiary and secondary hospitals [0.77% (0.53%, 1.07%), 0.88% (0.63%, 1.38%)], and the ratio of injection pump/ICU beds [1.70% (1.00%, 2.56%), 1.25% (0.75%, 1.88%)] didn't meet the requirements of the Guidelines. The equipment ratio was insuffcient, which means that the basic needs of development had not been met yet. CONCLUSIONS The development of comprehensive ICU in Inner Mongolia has tended to mature, but there is still a certain gap in the development scale, personnel ratio and instruments and equipment compared with the Guidelines. Moreover, the comprehensive ICU appears the characteristics of relatively weak eastern and western regions, and the overall distribution is uneven. Therefore, it is necessary to increase efforts to invest in the construction of the department of critical care medicine.
Humans ; Intensive Care Units ; Critical Care ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Tertiary Care Centers ; China