Objective To discuss CT appearances and diagnosistic value of invasive thymoma.Methods CT findings in 13 cases of invasive thymoma proved by surgery and pathology were retrospectively analysed. Results In 13 cases, invasive thymomas all showed as solf tissue masses in anterier mediastinum on CT, of them, 10 cases were of heterogeneous density and irregular invasion to adjacent organs which the main CT findings were pleural implants in 3, cardiovascular involvement in 9 and abdominal invasion in 1 were found in 11 cases. Conclusion Conventional CT scan plays an important role in diagnosis and differential diagnosis of invasive thymoma.

Objective To construct a cDNA expression library from unfed female tick Haemaphysalis longicornis for screening and cloning potential antigenic genes.Methods Total RNA was isolated from unfed female ticks,mRNA was purified and a library of oligo(dT)-primed cDNA with added directional EcoR Ⅰ/Hind Ⅲ linkers was constructed from the purified mRNA.The constructed cDNA was ligated to the EcoRⅠ/HindⅢ arms of the ?SCREEN vector.Pure phage stocks were harvested by plaque purification and converted to plasmid subclones by plating phage on host strain BM25.8.Recombinant plasmids that were subcloned to E.coli BM25.8 were isolated and transformed into E.coli JM109.Recombinant plasmids abstracted from JM109 were identified by PCR and sequencing.Rusults The recombinant phage DNA was packaged by using phage-marker packaging extracts,resulting in a primary cDNA library with a size of 1.8?106 pfu.Data showed 100% of the library were recombinant and the titer of the amplified library was 2.4?109 pfu/ml.Forty-two clones of encoding immunodominant antigens were obtained from the cDNA library.Sequence analysis revealed 12 unique cDNA sequences and the encoded putative proteins showed similarities to H.longicornis tropomyosin mRNA,Rhipicephalus annulatus unknown larval protein mRNA,chromosome 2R of Drosophila melanogaster,mitochondrial DNA of H.flava,clones HqL09 unkown mRNA and Hq05 mRNA of H.qinghaiensis,and myosin alkali light chain protein mRNA.Conclusion The cDNA expression library from unfed female H.longicornis was successfully constructed and screening of protective genes may provide candidate antigens of the tick.

Objective:To explore the predictive value of peripheral blood neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and serum trimethylamine oxide (TMAO) on in-hospital mortality events in patients with acute myocardial infarction complicated by cardiogenic shock (AMICS) upon admission.Methods:A retrospective collection of medical records of 103 AMICS patients admitted to the Shanxi Yingkang Life General Hospital from January 2018 to June 2023 was conducted. The patients were divided into a survival group ( n=78) and a death group ( n=25) based on whether they experienced in-hospital mortality events. Two groups of peripheral blood NLR, serum TMAO, baseline data, and other laboratory indicators were compared. A logistic regression model was used to analyze the risk factors for in-hospital mortality in AMICS patients and a prediction model was constructed. We established receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves to evaluate the predictive efficacy of peripheral blood NLR, serum TMAO, peripheral blood NLR+ serum TMAO, and predictive model indicators for in-hospital mortality events in AMICS patients. Results:The peripheral blood NLR and serum TMAO levels in the death group were significantly higher than those in the survival group (all P<0.05). The age of the death group was higher than that of the survival group, and the proportion of hypertension, alanine aminotransferase, creatinine, random blood glucose, proportion of patients who did not receive emergency percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) treatment, peak cardiac troponin I, B-type natriuretic peptide, Gensini score of coronary artery disease, and C-reactive protein were all higher than those of the survival group. Systolic blood pressure and platelet count were lower than those of the survival group, heart rate and erythrocyte sedimentation rate were faster than those of the survival group, and the pre hospital time was longer than that of the survival group. The differences were statistically significant (all P<0.05). The results of binary logistic regression analysis showed that after adjusting for confounding factors such as age, male proportion, body mass index, proportion of old myocardial infarction, proportion of hypertension, and proportion of PCI history, advanced age, long pre hospital time, failure to receive emergency PCI, elevated peripheral blood NLR, and elevated serum TMAO were independent risk factors for in-hospital mortality in AMICS patients ( P<0.05). The predictive model was obtained as 0.734×age+ 0.277×pre hospital time+ 2.263×failure to receive emergency PCI+ 0.549×peripheral blood NLR+ 0.608×serum TMAO-26.923. The ROC curve results showed that the area under the curve (AUC) values of peripheral blood NLR, serum TMAO, peripheral blood NLR+ serum TMAO, and predictive model indicators for predicting in-hospital mortality events in AMICS patients were 0.744, 0.781, 0.825, and 0.921, respectively. When the optimal cutoff value was taken, the sensitivities were 0.880, 0.520, 0.680, and 0.880, and the specificities were 0.526, 0.923, 0.872, and 0.821, respectively. Conclusions:Advanced age, long pre hospital duration, failure to undergo emergency PCI, elevated peripheral blood NLR, and elevated serum TMAO are independent risk factors for in-hospital mortality in AMICS patients. Peripheral blood NLR, serum TMAO, peripheral blood NLR+ serum TMAO, and prediction models all have certain predictive value for in-hospital mortality events in AMICS patients. Among them, the sensitivity and specificity of the prediction models are high, and the efficacy is good.