Objective:To investigate the vaccination status, characteristics and prognosis of patients suffering from a combination of COVID-19 and chronic lymphocytic anemia (CLL) in China.Methods:Clinical data of 328 patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who were first diagnosed with COVID-19 and treated in the Department of Hematology of Jiangsu Provincial People’s Hospital between November 2022 and February 2023 were retrospectively analyzed. Univariate and multivariate analysis of data of patients with severe/critical COVID-19 were conducted by applying the binary logistic regression model.Results:The median age of the CLL patients was 60 (24-87) years. 23.5% (77/328) of these patients suffered from severe/critical COVID-19 infection. Univariate analysis of the data demonstrated that a combination of factors including age >67 years ( OR=2.15, 95% CI 1.24- 3.73, P=0.006), diabetes ( OR=2.09, 95% CI 1.05-4.20, P=0.037), chronic hepatitis B ( OR=2.91, 95% CI 1.30-6.51, P=0.010), CLL progressive ( OR=3.79, 95% CI 1.57-9.15, P=0.003) and CD20 antibody-based treatments within three months prior to the COVID-19 infection ( OR=2.79, 95% CI 1.35-5.77, P=0.006) were the risk factors for severe/critical COVID-19. According to the multivariate analysis, CLL progressive ( OR=2.98, 95% CI 1.10-8.10, P=0.033) was an independent risk factor for severe/critical COVID-19 and administration of the BTK (Bruton tyrosine kinase) inhibitor monotherapy might exert a protective effect and influence a positive outcome of the COVID-19 infection ( OR=0.38, 95% CI 0.16-0.90, P=0.028). Among the 242 patients who were followed up until October 2023, 9.1% (22/242) had multiple subsequent COVID-19 infections (≥3), and 2.1% (5/242) had persistent COVID-19 infections (patients with persistent positive test for the SARS-CoV-2 antigen testing until missing follow-up for any reason). The peak value of the anti-SARS-CoV-2-IgG titres was observed between three and four months post symptom onset (median: 3.511 S/CO vs 1.047 S/CO, P<0.05). The levels of immunoglobulin A gradually decreased following infection with COVID-19, and its trough levels were attained between two to four weeks post infection (median: 0.30 g/L vs 0.74 g/L, P<0.05). According to this study the mortality of patients suffering from a combination of COVID-19 infection and CLL was 2.7% (9/328), and the main reason for their death was respiratory failure and heart failure. Conclusions:A low rate of COVID-19 vaccination and a high rate of severe/critical COVID-19 infection was observed in the CLL patients. CLL progressive was associated with severe/critical COVID-19. Anti-CD20-based treatments received within the past three months might be a risk factor for exacerbation of COVID-19 infection, whereas a monotherapy with BTK inhibitors exert a protective effect and improve outcome of COVID-19 infection.

Objective To observe and compare in-hospital and 1-year survival and prognosis of patients with 4b acute myocardial infarction(AMI)caused by early and late stent thrombosis(ST).Methods A total of 302 patients with 4b acute myocardial infarction caused by ST were enrolled in this study from January 2015 to February 2018.ST patients were confirmed by coronary angiography.These patients were divided into two groups:the early ST group(n=26)and the late ST group(n=276)according to the time of ST occurrence.Endpoint events during hospitalization and one year of follow up were compared between the two groups of patients.The primary endpoint events included cardiac death and recurrent AMI.The secondary endpoint events included target lesion revascularization(TLR),re-stent thrombosis,heart failure and stroke.The incidence of no endpoint events was compared between two groups of patients by Kaplan and Meier survival analysis.Cox regression analysis was used to analyze risk factors for endpoint events in patients with type 4b AMI.Results There was no significant difference in the incidence of the primary endpoint events during hospitalization between the two groups(7.7%vs.3.3%,P=0.243).The incidence of heart failure was higher in the early ST group than that of the late ST group(11.5%vs.1.4%,P=0.016).There was no significant difference in the incidence rates of other secondary endpoint events between the two groups(P＞0.05).After a mean follow-up of 1 year,the incidence rates of primary endpoint events and the secondary eendpoint events were higher in the early ST group(20.0%vs.5.9%,P＜0.05 and 36.0%vs.11.5%,P＜0.01)than that of the late ST group.Kaplan and Meier survival analysis showed that the 1-year cumulative incidences of non-primary(P= 0.022)and non-secondary events(P＜0.001)were lower in the early ST group than those of the late ST group.Cox regression analysis showed that hypertension and history of coronary artery bypass grafting were independent risk factors for primary endpoint events in patients with 4b AMI,and intraoperative implantation of intraaortic balloon pump(IABP)and shortening the time from stent thrombosis to balloon dilation(ST to B)were independent protective factor.Conclusion Early ST patients have similar in-hospital outcomes and poor long-term prognosis compared with late ST induced 4b type AMI patients.Intraoperative implantation of IABP and shortening of ST to B time may improve the prognosis of 4b type AMI patients.

Schizothorax argentatus that only distributes in the Ili River basin in Xinjiang is one of the rare and endangered species of schizothorax in China, thus has high scientific and economic values. In this study, the complete mitochondrial genome sequence of S. argenteus with a length of 16 580 bp was obtained by high-throughput sequencing. The gene compositions and arrangement were similar to those of typical vertebrates. It contained 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, 2 rRNA genes, and a non-coding region (D-loop). The nucleotide compositions were A (30.25%), G (17.28%), C (27.20%), and T (25.27%), respectively, showing obvious AT bias and anti-G bias. Among the tRNA genes, only tRNA-Ser^(GCU) could not form a typical cloverleaf structure due to the lack of dihydrouracil arm. The AT-skew and GC-skew values of the ND6 gene were fluctuating the most, suggesting that the gene may experience different selection and mutation pressures from other genes. The mitochondrial control region of S. argenteus contained three different domains, i.e., termination sequence region (ETAS), central conserved region (CSB-F, CSB-E, CSB-D, and CSB-B), and conserved sequence region (CSB1, CSB2, and CSB3). The conserved sequence fragment TT (AT) nGTG, which was ubiquitous in Cypriniformes, was identified at about 50 bp downstream CSB3. Phylogenetic relationships based on the complete mitochondrial genome sequence of 28 Schizothorax species showed that S. argenteus had differentiated earlier and had a distant relationship with other species, which may be closely related to the geographical location and the hydrological environment where it lives.
Animals ; Genome, Mitochondrial/genetics* ; Phylogeny ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Cyprinidae/genetics* ; RNA, Transfer/genetics* ; DNA, Mitochondrial/genetics* ; Genes, Mitochondrial

Objective:To explore the therapeutic characteristics of population with gout achieving treat-to-target (T2T) indicators through real-world research and evaluate their safety.Methods:A total of 3 287 patients diagnosed with gout by rheumatologists in 21 first-class tertiary hospitals in 10 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions in China from January 2015 to December 2021 were included in this polycentric cross-sectional study. The database included patients′ general information, disease characteristics, and clinical application of traditional Chinese and Western medicine treatment measures. SPSS and Excel software were used for data analysis. Frequency analysis, cluster analysis, and factor analysis were used to summarize the characteristics and rules of treatment measures for patients with gout who achieved the target after treatment. The occurrence of adverse events (AE) was recorded during treatment.Results:After treatment, 691 visits (7%) achieved the serum urate (SUA) target, and the most frequent use of urate-lowering therapy (ULT) was febuxostat, followed by benzbromarone. The most common treatment options were following: GroupⅠ: traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) decoction-TCM external treatment-physical exercise-proprietary Chinese medicine; GroupⅡ: ferulic acid-nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs); Group Ⅲ: allopurinol-sodium bicarbonate-benzbromarone; Group Ⅳ: glucocorticoid-colchicine; Group Ⅴ: febuxostat. A total of 5 898 visits (60%) chieved manifestations of joint pain VAS scores target, and the most frequently used drug to control joint symptoms was NSAIDs. The frequency of use of drugs to control joint symptoms were 2 118 times (usage rate reached 35.9%), while the frequency of ULT were 2 504 times (usage rate reached 42.5%), which was higher than the joint symptom control drug. The most common treatment options were following: Group Ⅰ: proprietary Chinese medicine-TCM decoction-TCM external treatment-physical exercise; Group Ⅱ: NSAIDs-colchicine hormones; Group Ⅲ: allopurinol, Group Ⅳ: benzbromarone; Group Ⅴ: febuxostat. A total of 59 adverse events occurred during treatment.Conclusion:The proportions of gout patients who reach target serum urate level & good control of joint symptoms are both very low, and ULT and anti-inflammatory prescription patterns are very different from international guidelines, so it is necessary to strengthen the standardized management of gout patients. At the same time, life intervention measures account for a certain proportion of the treatment plans for the T2T population, and further exploration is needed.

Objective:To explore the correlation of CD49d expression patterns with molecular genetics and hotspot gene mutants in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.Methods:The expression of CD49d was detected by flow cytometry and grouped into homogeneous, bimodal, negative and positive expression. Panel fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was used for molecular genetics analysis and next-generation sequencing (NGS) was conducted for gene mutation detection.Results:There were 43 patients (23.89% ) with positive CD49d expression, 137 patients (76.11% ) with negative CD49d expression, 96 patients (53.33% ) with homogeneous CD49d expression and 84 patients (46.67% ) with bimodal CD49d expression. Compared with patients in the CD49d negative group, patients in the CD49d positive group had higher Rai stage ( P=0.048) and higher proportion of spleen enlargement ( P=0.030) . Compared with patients with homogeneous expression of CD49d, patients with bimodal expression of CD49d had a higher proportion of spleen enlargement ( P=0.009) . The expression rate of 11q22- in bimodal CD49d - group was significantly higher than that in homogeneous CD49d - group (24.29% vs 10.45% , P=0.043) . The incidence of +12 in homogeneous CD49d group was higher than that in bimodal CD49d group (16.67% vs 5.95% , P=0.035) . The incidence of +12 in homogeneous CD49d + group was higher than that in bimodal CD49d - group (17.24% vs 4.29% , P=0.045) . The incidence of +12 in homogeneous CD49d - group was higher than that in bimodal CD49d - group (16.42% vs 4.29% , P=0.024) . BIRC3 mutation rate in CD49d positive group was higher than that in CD49d negative group (11.63% vs 2.92% , P=0.037) . Conclusion:There were significant correlations between CD49d and 11q22-, +12 and BIRC3 gene mutation. Patients with bimodal CD49d were more correlated with poor prognosis indexes.

Objective:To analyze the differences in immunophenotype, cytogenetics, and molecular biology between typical and atypical immunophenotype chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) , and explore the correlation of cytogenetic anomalies with gene mutations.Methods:This study included 488 patients diagnosed in the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University between November 2014 and May 2021. Of these, 382 patients scored 4-5 points, which was typical CLL (tCLL) , and 106 scored 3 points, which was atypical CLL (aCLL) as per the Royal Marsden Hospital Immunomarker Integral System. Peripheral blood cells were collected for immunophenotype by multiparameter flow cytometry in 488 patients, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was employed to detect cytogenetic anomalies in 359 patients, and gene mutations were detected by next-generation sequencing (NGS) in 330 patients.Results:The positive rates of CD10, CD22, CD49d, CD81, and FMC7 were significantly higher in the aCLL compared with the tCLL group ( P=0.020, P<0.001, P<0.001, P=0.027, and P<0.001, respectively) , while the positive rates of CD5, CD23, CD148, and CD200 were lower in the former compared to the latter ( P<0.001, P=0.017, P=0.041, and P<0.001, respectively) . aCLL exhibited a higher frequency of trisomy 12 and lower frequency of del (13q14) compared to the tCLL group ( P<0.001 and P<0.001, respectively) . Moreover, aCLL patients also showed a higher incidence of NOTCH1 mutations than the tCLL patients ( P=0.038) , while no statistically significant differences in other gene mutations occurred between the two groups. No significant differences in overall survival (OS) and treatment-free survival (TFS) occurred between aCLL and tCLL using Kaplan-Meier analysis ( P>0.05) . Conclusion:aCLL has characteristic immunophenotype, cytogenetic, and somatic mutation that differ from tCLL, and this can provide reliable information for the diagnosis and differential diagnosis between the two groups.

Objective:To investigate the expression characteristics of TRBC1 protein in mature T-cell lymphoma (TCL) , and compare with T-cell receptor (TCR) -Vβ repertoire analysis and TCR gene rearrangement results, to explore the value of TRBC1 in the diagnosis of TCL.Methods:The expression of TRBC1 was detected by multi-parameter flow cytometry in 30 cases of TCL, 40 cases of normal controls and 50 cases of patients without T lymphocyte proliferative diseases (non-TCL) admitted to the Department of Hematology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University. The diagnostic value of TCRVβ repertoire analysis, TCR gene rearrangement and TRBC1 restricted expression detection in TCL was evaluated.Results:The positive rates of CD4 +T and CD8 +T cell subsets TRBC1 in normal control group were (39.6±6.5) % and (39.3±4.4) %. The positive rates of CD4 +T and CD8 +T cell subsets TRBC1 in non-TCL were (39.1±3.8) % and (36.0±8.4) %. All 30 cases of TCL were CD3 +TCRγδ -, and the positive rate of TRBC1 was >92.3% or <12.7%. All cases showed restrictive expression pattern (monoclonal expression) , which was significantly different from those of the normal control and the non-TCL cases ( P<0.001) . In terms of the diagnostic performance of T cell clonality, the sensitivity of TRBC1 was 100%, the positive detection rate of TCR gene rearrangement was 92.8%, and the sensitivity of TCRVβ detection was 94.1%. Kappa test showed high consistency among the three detective methods. Conclusion:Multi-parameter flow cytometry detection of TRBC1 expression level can quickly and efficiently diagnose mature T-cell lymphoma, which has good clinical application value.

Objective:To investigate the significance of 12 inflammatory cytokines in early detection and treatment guidance of hematologic malignant patients with Cytokine release syndrome (CRS) after Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell immunotherapy.Methods:A total of 12 patients, including 6 males and 6 females, aged 53.0 (49.8, 62.5) years old, were treated with CAR-T cell immunotherapy in the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from 2017 to 2020. Cytometric bead array was used to detect the serum levels of IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12P70, IL-17A, IFN-α, IFN-γ, and TNF-α at different time points after cell infusion in all patients receiving CAR-T cell immunotherapy. C-reactive protein (CRP), D-dimer (D-D), serum ferritin (SF), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were measured at the corresponding period. CRS was classified into four grades according to the diagnostic criteria, from 0 to 3. The differences of the above mentioned parameters between the four groups were compared. The Speedman correlation coefficient was used to analyze the correlation between inflammatory cytokine expression levels and CRS grades. Plot the subject′s receiver operating characterist (ROC) curve to determine the sensitivity and specificity of inflammatory cytokines to predict CRS.Results:CRS grading was performed on day 1, 4, 7, and 11 after CAR-T cell infusion in 12 patients. There are 48 cases in total, including 25 cases of CRS grade 0, 6 cases of CRS grade 1, 9 cases of CRS grade 2, and 8 cases of CRS grade 3. The correlation analysis of 48 cases showed that the expression levels of IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-1β, and IL-8 were positively correlated with CRS grade ( P<0.05). The correlation coefficients were 0.384, 0.730, 0.632, 0.341, 0.681, 0.319, and 0.622, respectively. 7 inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-10, IFN-γ, IL-8, IL-2, TNF-α, and IFN-α) were elevated in 12 patients, and the average time to start the rise was 3.4, 5.3, 6.1, 2.9, 4.3, 6.0 and 5.8 days, respectively. The time for CRP, D-D, SF, and LDH to begin to rise were 6.6, 7.6, 8.3 and 7.6 days, which were higher than that of the 7 inflammatory cytokines. After effective treatment, except for IL-6, the remaining 6 inflammatory cytokines (IL-10, IFN-γ, IL-8, IL-2, TNF-α and IFN-α) had their recovery times as 7.8, 3.9, 5.1, 8.0, 6.0, and 2.5 day,respectively, which were lower than that of CRP, D-D, SF, and LDH(9.7, 9.2, 13.7, and 13.8 days, respectively). The ROC showed that IL-6, IL-10, IFN-γ, and IL-8 can serve as biomarkers for diagnosis of CRS with high sensitivity and specificity. Conclusion:The monitoring of 12 inflammatory cytokines play an important role in CRS grading after CAR-T cell immunotherapy, which contributes to the early diagnosis of CRS and the prediction of clinical outcome.

Objective:To investigate the clinical significance of cc-chemokine receptor 7 (CCR7) as a potential diagnostic or differential marker for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).Methods:A total number of 643 patients with B-cell chronic lymphoproliferative diseases (B-CLPD) admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from January 2015 to December 2018 were enrolled. The patients included 327 cases of CLL, 58 cases of mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), 34 cases of follicular lymphoma (FL), 36 cases of marginal zone lymphoma (MZL), 10 cases of hair-cell leukemia or its variants (HCL/HCLV-v), 40 cases of Waldorf′s macroglobulinemia (WM), 48 cases of CD5 +B-cell chronic lymphoproliferative disease unclassified (B-CLPD-U) and 90 cases of CD5 -B-CLPD-U. At the same time, 20 samples from healthy people from the medical examination center of our hospital were used as normal controls. Flow cytometry was used to detect the immune-phenotype and CCR7 expression level in B-CLPD patients, and Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was used to analyze the genomic alterations: the ataxia telangiectasia mutant gene (ATM) deletion, the 13q14 deletion, the P53 deletion and trisomy 12. Sanger sequencing was used to analyze gene mutations of splicing factor 3B subunit 1 (SF3B1), NOTCH1, tumor protein 53 (TP53) and immunoglobulin heavy chain variable region (IGHV). Measurement data were compared by Mann-Whitney test, and the positive rates were compared by chi-square test. The diagnostic value and optimal positive cutoff value of CCR7 were calculated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Results:The positive rates of CCR7 expression in typical CLL and atypical CLL were 90.8% (257/283) and 84.1% (37/44), respectively, and there was no significant difference of the positive rates (χ 2=1.228, P=0.268) between groups. The positive expression rates of CCR7 in CLL, MCL, CD5 +B-CLPD-U, CD5 -B-CLPD-U, FL, WM, HCL/HCL-v and MZL were 89.9% (294/327), 10.3% (6/58), 6.3% (3/48), 8.9% (8/90), 0, 0, 0 and 13.9% (5/36) respectively, and the median mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) was 278 (246, 307), 114 (106, 128), 112 (106, 117), 110 (104, 121), 108 (105, 119), 111 (105, 124), 112 (108, 115) and 109 (105, 120) respectively. Compared with CLL, the positive expression rates of CCR7 in other types of B-CLPDs were lower significantly (χ 2=181.3, 177.8, 232, 164.7, 180.8, 62.6, 129, P<0.01). In addition, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of CCR7 for distinguishing CLL from other types of B-CLPD were 89.9%, 93.0% and 92.3%, respectively. The positive expression rate of CD49d in CCR7 +CLL patients was 13.9%, which was significantly lower than that in CCR7 -CLL patients (42.1%) (χ 2=7.6, P=0.01). The coincidence rate of 13q14 deletion was 50.3% in CCR7 +CLL patients, which was significantly higher than that in CCR7 -CLL patients (20%) (χ 2=6.56, P=0.01). Conclusions:The CC-chemokine receptor 7 (CCR7) antigen is an effective marker for the diagnosis and identification of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The expression level of CCR7 in clinical specimens can distinguish CLL from other pathological subtypes of B-CLPDs.

Objective: To provide an automatic method for segmentation and diameter measurement of type B aortic dissection (TBAD). Materials and Methods: Aortic computed tomography angiographic images from 139 patients with TBAD were consecutively collected. We implemented a deep learning method based on a three-dimensional (3D) deep convolutional neural (CNN) network, which realizes automatic segmentation and measurement of the entire aorta (EA), true lumen (TL), and false lumen (FL). The accuracy, stability, and measurement time were compared between deep learning and manual methods. The intra- and inter-observer reproducibility of the manual method was also evaluated. Results: The mean dice coefficient scores were 0.958, 0.961, and 0.932 for EA, TL, and FL, respectively. There was a linear relationship between the reference standard and measurement by the manual and deep learning method (r = 0.964 and 0.991, respectively). The average measurement error of the deep learning method was less than that of the manual method (EA, 1.64% vs. 4.13%; TL, 2.46% vs. 11.67%; FL, 2.50% vs. 8.02%). Bland-Altman plots revealed that the deviations of the diameters between the deep learning method and the reference standard were -0.042 mm (-3.412 to 3.330 mm), -0.376 mm (-3.328 to 2.577 mm), and 0.026 mm (-3.040 to 3.092 mm) for EA, TL, and FL, respectively. For the manual method, the corresponding deviations were -0.166 mm (-1.419 to 1.086 mm), -0.050 mm (-0.970 to 1.070 mm), and -0.085 mm (-1.010 to 0.084 mm). Intra- and inter-observer differences were found in measurements with the manual method, but not with the deep learning method. The measurement time with the deep learning method was markedly shorter than with the manual method (21.7 ± 1.1 vs. 82.5 ± 16.1 minutes, p < 0.001). Conclusion The performance of efficient segmentation and diameter measurement of TBADs based on the 3D deep CNN was both accurate and stable. This method is promising for evaluating aortic morphology automatically and alleviating the workload of radiologists in the near future.