Objective To evaluate the clinical significance of serum procalcitonin (PCT)in early diagnosis of pul-monary tuberculosis (PTB)complicated with pulmonary infection.Methods Clinical data of active PTB patients admitted to a hospital between August and December 2013 were collected,patients were divided into bacterial infec-tion group(n=104),fungal infection group(n=37)and control group (n=95)according to whether patients were associated with bacterial infection,fungal infection,and without infection,serum PCT concentrations in three groups were compared,receiver operating characteristic (ROC)curve analysis was conducted.Results The median PCT concentrations in bacterial infection and fungal infection group was 0.44ng/mL and 0.30ng/mL respectively, which was significantly higher than 0.16ng/mL of control group(Z =9.49,3.51 respectively,both P <0.001 ).The area under curve (AUC)was 0.89(0.84-0.93)and 0.69(0.61 -0.77)respectively;cut-off point was 0.31 ng/mL and 0.27 ng/mL respectively;sensitivity was 79.81%(70.57%-86.80%)and 59.46%(42.19%-74.80%)respectively;specificity was 83.16%(73.79%-89.78%)and 73.68%(63.48%-81.95%)respectively.Conclusion PCT level is a valuable predictor for early diagnosis of PTB complicated with pulmonary infection,and can provide reference for the rational use of antimicrobial agents.

ObjectiveTo immunoscreen the mimic peptides of Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigen from phage displayed 12-mer peptide library.MethodsSpecific IgG was purified from sera of patients with TB and used as the target to immunoscreen a phage random peptide library of 12 amino acids.Positive clones which were obtained after three rounds of biopanning were detected by ELISA and sequenced.The diagnostic value of the high frequent positive clones were observed by ELISA.Results After 3 rounds of immunoscreening,the eluted phages were enriched effectively.Six kinds of animo acid sequence were obtained from twelve positive phage clones.Sensitivity of the two high frequent positive clones were 71.4％ (A2)and 55.4％ (A7) respectively.ConclusionThe antigen-mimic peptide was successfully screened from 12 random phage peptide library and the peptides can be recognized by tuberculosis patients' polyclonal antibodies.

Objective To investigate status and risk factors of drug resistance of smear-positive pulmonary tuber-culosis (TB)patients in Hunan Province,and provide reference for the prevention and control of drug-resistant TB. Methods 1 935 Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MT)complex strains identified by 20 TB prevention and control insti-tutes in Hunan Province between 2012 and 2014 were collected and performed drug susceptibility testing,and influ-encing factors associated with drug resistance of TB were analyzed statistically.Results Of 1 935 MT complex strains,1 207 (62.38%)were sensitive to 6 kinds of antituberculosis drugs,728 were drug-resistant strains,overall drug resistance rate was 37.62%;467 (24.13%)were multidrug-resistant (MDR)strains,64 of which were exten-sively drug-resistant (XDR)strains,XDR rate was 3.31 %,resistance rates from high to low were as follows:isoniazid(INH)29.32%,rifampicin(RFP)25.84%,streptomycin(SM)20.73%,thambutol(EMB)9.00%,ofloxa-cin(OFX)7.83%,and kanamycin(KM)2.21 %.Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that patients hav-ing a history of treatment,aged 20-39 and 40-60 years old were risk factors for drug resistance and MDR of pul-monary TB.Among patients who failed in retreatment,OR (95% CI )of resistance to INH,RFP,SM,EMB, OFX,KM,and MDR were 13.5(9.9-18.4),21 .2(15.2-29.5),5.3(3.9-7.2),11 .9(7.6-18.7),7.6(4.6-12.6),7.9(3.6-17.5),and 25.0(17.7-35.1 )respectively;among patients who had recurrence,OR(95% CI ) of resistance to INH,RFP,SM,EMB,OFX,and MDR were 7.4(5.5 -10.0),10.3 (7.4 -14.2),3.5 (2.5 -4.8),7.3(4.5 -11 .9),4.1 (2.5 -6.8),and 12.2(8.7 -17.1 )respectively;among patients who failed in initial treatment,OR (95% CI )of resistance to INH,RFP,SM,EMB,and MDR were 7.6 (4.7 - 12.3 ),9.8 (5.9 -16.0),4.1(2.5-6.8),12.1(6.5-22.7),and 11 .4(6.9-18.9)respectively.Among patients aged 20-39 years old,OR (95% CI )of resistance to INH,RFP,SM,and MDR were 2.5 (1 .8 -3.4),3.6(2.5 -5.2),2.9(2.0-4.1),and 4.1(2.8 -6.1 )respectively;among patients aged 40 -60 years old,the OR (95% CI )of resistance to INH,RFP,SM,and MDR were 2.2(1 .6-3.0),3.1(2.2-4.4),2.3(1 .6-3.2),and 3.3(2.3 -4.7)respectively. Conclusion Drug resistance of smear-positive pulmonary TB patients is serious in Hunan Province,patients receiv-ing anti-tuberculosis treatment and aged between 20-60 years old have high risk for drug resistance and MDR.

Objective:To assess the utility of whole-genome sequencing (WGS) in predicting Mycobacterium tuberculosis resistance to fluoroquinolones (FQs) and to establish a quantitative relationship between resistant gene mutations and resistance levels. Methods:A total of 296 drug-resistant tuberculosis surveillance strains with various resistance profiles, preserved by the National Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory of the Tuberculosis Prevention and Control Center at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention between 2013 and 2020, were included as study subjects. The Sensititre? MYCOTBI microplate method and WGS were used to assess the phenotypic and genotypic drug sensitivity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to ofloxacin and moxifloxacin. Sensitivity, specificity, and concordance (Kappa value) of WGS in predicting fluoroquinolone sensitivity were calculated using phenotypic drug susceptibility testing (DST) results as the gold standard. A summary analysis was conducted on the distribution of drug resistance mutation sites and resistance levels. The paired χ 2 test was used to compare the detection rates between the two methods, with P<0.05 indicating statistical significance. Results:Among the 296 Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains with different resistance profiles, 196 were rifampicin-resistant, 50 were resistant to other drugs, and 50 were fully sensitive. WGS identified 81 strains carrying FQs resistance-related mutations, primarily at gyrA codons 94, 90, and 91. Sensitivity, specificity, and consistency (Kappa value) of WGS in predicting ofloxacin resistance were 86.5%, 98.1%, and 0.87, respectively. For moxifloxacin resistance prediction, these values were 80.0%, 99.5%, and 0.83, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between the phenotypic DST and WGS detection rates for ofloxacin resistance (30.1% vs 27.4%, χ 2=3.06, P=0.08). However, the phenotypic DST detection rate for moxifloxacin resistance (33.8%, 100/296) was significantly higher than that of WGS (27.4%, 81/296) (χ 2=15.43, P<0.01). Analysis of the distribution of resistance mutation sites and resistance levels showed that different mutation sites corresponded to different minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs). Multiple mutation combinations, including gyrA_D94G, gyrA_D94Y, and gyrA_D94N were mainly associated with high-level resistance, while gyrA_D94A, gyrA_A90V, and gyrA_S91P were primarily linked to low-level resistance. Conclusion:WGS demonstrates favorable sensitivity, specificity, and consistency in predicting FQs resistance and can partially predict resistance levels.

Allergic rhinitis （AR）， a common disease in otolaryngology， is intractable with prolonged attack and greatly affects the daily life of patients. Western medicine adopts many therapeutic protocols， such as medication， immunotherapy， and surgery， and also shows disadvantages， including severe side effects and poor long-term curative effect. As reported by modern research， Chinese medicine has the characteristics of good safety， stable curative effect， multi-target and overall regulation， and has unique advantages in the prevention and treatment of AR. With the increasing clinical practice of Chinese medicine in the treatment of AR， scholars have carried out substantial basic research on the regulation of AR signaling pathways by monomers and Chinese medicinal compounds from molecule-cell-biology. To further explain the transduction mechanism of AR signaling pathways， this paper systematically summarized the research progress based on the studies of monomers and Chinese medicinal compounds to provide references for the in-depth research on the intervention of related signaling pathways by Chinese medicine. The conclusions were drawn as follows. The main signaling pathways involved included nuclear factor-kappa B （NF-κB） signaling pathway， TLR signaling pathway， interleukin （IL）-33/growth stimulation expressed gene 2 （ST2） signaling pathway， phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase B （PI3K/Akt） pathway， and mitogen-activated protein kinase （MAPK） pathway. As revealed， the signaling pathways involved in the treatment of AR by Chinese medicine interacted with each other and genes were not independent in exerting the effects. For example， TLR， as the upstream signal， affected the PI3K/Akt and MAPK signaling pathways， and NF-κB was the downstream substrate of PI3K/Akt， TLR， IL-33/ST2， and MAPK signaling pathways. It was found that IL-33/ST2， as a new signaling pathway， was correlated with the severity and prognosis of AR.

Objective:To investigate and analyze the current situation, screening, clinical characteristics, prevention and treatment of bleeding esophageal varices in cirrhotic patients with portal hypertension in Tibet region.Methods:Clinical data of cirrhotic patients with portal hypertension through March 2017 to February 2020 from Tibet region were collected and analyzed retrospectively.Results:511 cases with liver cirrhosis were included in the study, of which 185 cases (36.20%) had compensated cirrhosis and 326 cases (63.80%) had decompensated cirrhosis. Further analysis of the etiological data of liver cirrhosis showed that 306 cases (59.88%) were of chronic hepatitis B, 113 cases (22.11%) of alcoholic liver disease, and 68 cases (13.31%) of chronic hepatitis B combined with alcoholic liver disease. Among patients with compensated liver cirrhosis, 48 cases (25.95%) underwent endoscopic examination of which 33 diagnosed as high-risk variceal bleeding. However, none of these 33 cases had received non-selective β-blocker therapy, and only four patients had received endoscopic variceal banding therapy. Among patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis, 83 cases (25.46%) had a history of upper gastrointestinal bleeding, 297 cases (91.10%) had ascites, 23 cases (7.05%) had hepatic encephalopathy, and 3 cases (0.92%) had hepatorenal syndrome. Among the patients with a history of upper gastrointestinal bleeding, 42 cases (50.60%) had received secondary preventive treatment for bleeding esophageal varices, including 39 cases of endoscopic treatment, 1 case of endoscopic combined drug treatment, 3 cases of interventional treatment, and 2 cases of surgical treatment.Conclusion:Chronic hepatitis B and alcoholic liver diseases are the main causes of liver cirrhosis in Tibet region. Moreover, this region lacks screening, prevention and treatment for bleeding esophageal varices in cirrhotic patients with portal hypertension. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the screening of high-risk groups to prevent and improve the first-time bleeding, and promote multidisciplinary team to prevent and treat re-bleeding.

BACKGROUNDThe Xpert MTB/RIF showed high sensitivity and specificity in previous studies carried out in different epidemiological and geographical settings and patient populations in high-burden tuberculosis (TB) countries. However, there were little data obtained by validation or demonstration study of the assay in China. In this study, the performance of Xpert MTB/RIF was investigated in two county-level laboratories in Hunan Province, China.

METHODSConsecutive patients with suspected pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) and suspicion for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) were enrolled. For each patient suspected to have PTB, three sputum specimens (one spot sputum, one night sputum, and one morning sputum) were collected and each sputum was tested with smear microscopy, Löwenstein-Jensen (LJ) culture, and Xpert MTB/RIF test. For comparison across subgroups and testing methods, 95% confidence intervals were calculated. All analyses were done with SPSS 16.0, and P < 0.05 was regarded as significant.

RESULTSFor case detection, the sensitivity of Xpert MTB/RIF was 100% for smear- and culture-positive TB and 88.6% for smear-negative and culture-positive TB; the overall sensitivity was 94.5% for all culture-positive patients. The specificity was 99.8%. The sensitivity of Xpert MTB/RIF assay was 22.0% in clinical TB patients and the specificity reached 100.0% in the group of patients who are infected with nontuberculous mycobacteria. For the detection of rifampin resistance, the sensitivity of MTB/RIF RIF-resistance detection was 92.9%, and the specificity was 98.7%. Of the 26 Xpert MTB/RIF-positive and RIF-resistant patients confirmed by LJ proportion tests, 20 (76.9%) patients were infected by MDR-TB.

CONCLUSIONSThe Xpert MTB/RIF assay is a highly sensitive and specific method for diagnosis of TB and RIF resistance, which will enable it to have the potential to be used in county-level laboratories and lead to the reduction of the infectious pool and improvements in TB control in China. Further evaluations in county-level laboratories for implementing the assay are still required.

Adult ; Antibiotics, Antitubercular ; therapeutic use ; China ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Rifampin ; therapeutic use ; Tuberculosis ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; Tuberculosis, Multidrug-Resistant ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; Young Adult