Objective To investigate the clinical diagnostic value of extra-spindle pole-like protein 1(ESPL1)in the progression of hepatitis B virus(HBV)-related liver fibrosis.Methods A total of 228 patients with HBV infection who were admitted to The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University from June 2017 to August 2023 were enrolled.The transient elastography system FibroScan was used to determine liver stiffness measurement(LSM)for all patients,and according to the LSM value,they were divided into non-liver fibrosis group with 80 patients,mild liver fibrosis group with 83 patients,advanced liver fibrosis group with 30 patients,and liver cirrhosis group with 35 patients.ELISA was used to measure the serum level of ESPL1.The Kruskal-Wallis H test was used for comparison of the serum level of ESPL1 between the four groups;the Spearman correlation analysis was used to investigate the correlation between ESPL1 and LSM;the receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve was used to analyze the value of serum ESPL1 in predicting the progression of liver fibrosis.Results The liver cirrhosis group had a significantly higher serum level of ESPL1 than the non-liver fibrosis group and the mild liver fibrosis group(both P<0.05),and the advanced liver fibrosis group and the mild liver fibrosis group had a significantly higher serum level of ESPL1 than the non-liver fibrosis group(both P<0.05).The correlation analysis showed that there was a positive correlation between serum ESPL1 and LSM in the patients with HBV infection and varying degrees of liver fibrosis(r=0.515,P<0.001).Serum ESPL1 had an area under the ROC curve(AUC)of 0.809 in predicting liver cirrhosis and an AUC of 0.638 in predicting advanced liver fibrosis,with a sensitivity of 87.5%and 100%,respectively,and a specificity of 59.7%and 31.3%,respectively.Conclusion There is a certain correlation between serum ESPL1 and HBV-related liver fibrosis,and higher serum ESPL1 may indicate a higher degree of liver fibrosis.Serum ESPL1 is expected to become one of the serum markers for assisting in the diagnosis of liver cirrhosis and an important clinical method for dynamically monitoring the progression of liver fibrosis in patients with HBV infection.

Objective:To explore the methods and clinical effects of reconstructing facial and cervical scars with expanded flaps based on the "MLT" principle.Methods:The study was a retrospective observational study. From January 2019 to May 2022, 74 patients with facial and cervical scars after burn or trauma injuries who met the inclusion criteria were admitted to Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, including 38 males and 36 females, aged from 5 to 58 years, including 24 patients with simple facial involvement, 24 patients with simple cervical involvement, and 26 patients with both facial and cervical involvement, with scar area ranging from 12 to 145 cm2. By following the "MLT" principle (color and texture similar to the face; flap area large enough to reconstruct the entire defect; skin tissue thin enough to transmit the expression, so as to facilitate the shape of the face and five features); in the stage Ⅰ surgery, the skin and soft tissue expanders (hereinafter referred to as the expanders) were implanted, and in the stage Ⅱ surgery, the expander removal+scar resection+flap transplantation to repair the secondary wound was performed, and the wound in the donor area of flap was directly sutured. After operation, silicone gel preparation and laser therapy were used to prevent scar hyperplasia. The expansion ratio and time period of expanders, the occurrence of complications of skin and soft tissue expansion surgery, the type of flap used, and the survival of flap after the stage Ⅱ surgery were observed and recorded. The long-term effect of facial and cervical reconstruction and the recovery of donor area and recipient area of flap were evaluated during the postoperative follow-up after surgery.Results:The expansion ratio of 135 expanders ranged from 1.36 to 3.00 times, and the expansion time period ranged from 6 to 14 months. During skin and soft tissue expansion surgery, 8 patients had poor healing of incisions after expander placement, 7 patients had expander rupture, 5 patients had infection in incisions after expander placement, 3 patients had expander exposure, 2 patients had difficult filling the injection pot, and 1 patient had water leakage from the injection pot. Dorsal shoulder expanded flaps with double blood supply of transverse cervical artery and circumflex scapular artery were used in 8 patients, the expanded flaps of anterior transverse carotid artery perforator were used in 11 patients, the expanded flaps of internal thoracic artery perforator were used in 12 patients, tandem expanded flaps of upper chest and neck were used in 16 patients, dorsal thoracic artery perforator expanded flaps were used in 5 patients, and adjacent rotary propulsive expanded flaps were used in 22 patients. After the stage Ⅱ surgery, the flaps of 71 patients were completely survived. One patient had blood circulation disorder in the flap, and the flap survived after hyperbaric oxygen treatment. Necrosis occurred at the end of the flaps in 2 patients, which healed after dressing change. After the surgery, 42 patients were followed up for 3 to 24 months. The color, texture, and thickness of flaps were good and similar to the surrounding normal skin tissue in the recipient area, the appearance and function of the face and neck were significantly improved, and the wound location in the donor and recipient areas of flaps was concealed with slight scar formation.Conclusions:In the reconstruction of facial and neck scars, by following the "MLT" principle, the expanded flap was carefully designed before surgery, the local aesthetic features within the subunit are reconstructed during the stage Ⅱ surgery, and standard anti-scar treatment measures are actively adopted after surgery. After reconstruction, the color, texture, and thickness of flaps were close to the normal skin in face and neck, and the appearance and function of face and neck are significantly improved, with less linear scars left. It is beneficial to improve the therapeutic effect.

BACKGROUND: Liver biopsy for the diagnosis of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is limited by its inherent invasiveness and possible sampling errors. Some studies have shown that cytokeratin-18 (CK-18) concentrations may be useful in diagnosing NASH, but results across studies have been inconsistent. We aimed to identify the utility of CK-18 M30 concentrations as an alternative to liver biopsy for non-invasive identification of NASH. METHODS: Individual data were collected from 14 registry centers on patients with biopsy-proven non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and in all patients, circulating CK-18 M30 levels were measured. Individuals with a NAFLD activity score (NAS) ≥5 with a score of ≥1 for each of steatosis, ballooning, and lobular inflammation were diagnosed as having definite NASH; individuals with a NAS ≤2 and no fibrosis were diagnosed as having non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFL). RESULTS: A total of 2571 participants were screened, and 1008 (153 with NAFL and 855 with NASH) were finally enrolled. Median CK-18 M30 levels were higher in patients with NASH than in those with NAFL (mean difference 177 U/L; standardized mean difference [SMD]: 0.87 [0.69-1.04]). There was an interaction between CK-18 M30 levels and serum alanine aminotransferase, body mass index (BMI), and hypertension ( P  < 0.001, P  = 0.026 and P  = 0.049, respectively). CK-18 M30 levels were positively associated with histological NAS in most centers. The area under the receiver operating characteristics (AUROC) for NASH was 0.750 (95% confidence intervals: 0.714-0.787), and CK-18 M30 at Youden's index maximum was 275.7 U/L. Both sensitivity (55% [52%-59%]) and positive predictive value (59%) were not ideal. CONCLUSION This large multicenter registry study shows that CK-18 M30 measurement in isolation is of limited value for non-invasively diagnosing NASH.
Humans ; Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease/diagnosis* ; Keratin-18 ; Biomarkers ; Biopsy ; Hepatocytes/pathology* ; Apoptosis ; Liver/pathology*

Objective:To explore the repair methods of complex facial defect wounds involving paranasal sinuses and their clinical effectiveness.Methods:A retrospective observational study was conducted. From January 2020 to May 2022, 5 patients admitted to the Department of Burns and Plastic Surgery of Xiangya Hospital of Central South University and 4 patients admitted to the Department of Burns and Plastic Surgery of Chenzhou First People's Hospital with complex facial defect wounds involving paranasal sinuses met the inclusion criteria, including 6 males and 3 females, aged 35-69 years, including 4 patients with titanium mesh exposure combined with paranasal sinuses injury and 5 patients with tumor involving paranasal sinuses. After an adequate assessment of the damage by a multiple discipline team, titanium mesh removal, paranasal sinus debridement, and paranasal sinus mucosa removal were performed in patients with exposed titanium mesh, and radical tumor resection was performed in patients with tumors, with postoperative skin and soft tissue defects areas of 5.0 cm×2.5 cm to 18.0 cm×7.0 cm, anterior paranasal sinus wall defects/absence areas of 3 cm×2 cm to 6 cm×4 cm, and sinus cavity depths of 1 to 4 cm. Depending on the perforator course of the descending branch of the lateral circumflex femoral artery, the anterolateral femoral chimeric flap or anterolateral femoral myocutaneous flap (with flap area of 9 cm×4 cm to 19 cm×8 cm, muscle size of 5 cm×3 cm×3 cm to 11 cm×6 cm×3 cm) was transplanted to repair the defect, and the donor site wound was sutured directly. The type of tissue flap transplanted, the blood vessel of the recipient area, and the vascular anastomosis way during the operation, the recovery of the donor and recipient areas and the occurrence of complications after operation were observed. The appearance and blood supply of the recipient area and the recurrence of ulcers and tumors were followed up.Results:The anterolateral femoral myocutaneous flap transplantation was performed in 6 patients, and the anterolateral femoral chimeric flap transplantation was performed in 3 patients. The blood vessels in recipient areas were facial arteries and veins in 3 cases and superficial temporal arteries and veins in 6 cases. The superficial temporal arteries and veins were bridged with blood vessels in tissue flaps by flow-through way in 2 patients, and end-to-end anastomosis of blood vessels in donor and recipient areas was performed in 7 patients. After operation, all the tissue flaps survived, and the facial defect wounds were well repaired without cerebrospinal fluid leakage or paranasal sinus secretion leakage, no intracranial infection occurred, and the wounds in donor areas were healed well. Follow-up of 6-35 months after operation showed that all the patients had good blood supply in the recipient area, and the shape was acceptable; 4 patients with exposed titanium mesh had no recurrence of ulceration, and 5 patients with tumor had no local tumor recurrence or metastasis.Conclusions:Based on an adequate assessment of the extent of paranasal sinuses involved in the facial wound and the nature of the defect, good clinical effects can be achieved by using the anterolateral femoral muscle flap or the anterolateral femoral chimeric flap transplantation to repair complex facial defect wounds with open paranasal sinuses.

Objective To investigate the efficacy of entecavir (ETV) versus tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) and the treatment measures for poor response in previously untreated chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with high viral load. Methods A total of 165 CHB patients who received antiviral therapy and met the inclusion criteria in Department of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, from June 2016 to July 2021 were enrolled. The patients enrolled had a baseline HBV DNA level of > 6lg copies/ml and were previously untreated CHB patients who had used ETV or TDF for 48 weeks, and quantitative real-time PCR was used to measure HBV DNA. Virologic response rate was calculated after 48 weeks of treatment; a logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the influencing factors for the response of HBV DNA < 500 copies/mL and HBV DNA < 100 copies /mL at 48 weeks; a stratified analysis was performed to compare the virologic response rate of HBV DNA < 500 copies /ml and HBV DNA < 100 copies/ml after 48 weeks between the patients with different ages, sexes, baseline HBV DNA levels, baseline alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels, types of first-line medication, and HBeAg statuses. The Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparison of non-normally distributed continuous data between two groups, the chi-square test or the Fisher's exact test was used for comparison of categorical data between two groups, and the binary logistic regression model was used for multivariate analysis. Results After 48 weeks of treatment, 85.5% (141/165) of the patients achieved an HBV DNA load of < 500 copies/mL, and 66.1% (109/165) of the patients achieved an HBV DNA load of < 100 copies /mL, with no significant difference in treatment outcome between the ETV group and the TDF group. The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that sex( OR =2.793, 95% CI : 1.197-6.517), baseline HBV DNA( OR =0.369, 95% CI : 0.142-0.959), baseline ALT( OR =4.556, 95% CI : 1.770-11.732), and baseline HBeAg( OR =0.120, 95% CI : 0.033-0.429) were influencing factors for complete virologic response(all P < 0.05). For the patients with normal ALT (≤40 U/L) at baseline, 75.6% (34/45) achieved an HBV DNA load of < 500 copies/mL after 48 weeks of treatment, and 53.3% (24/45) achieved an HBV DNA load of < 100 copies/mL, with no significant difference in treatment outcome between the ETV group and the TDF group. For the patients with abnormal ALT (> 40 U/L) at baseline, 89.2% (107/120) achieved an HBV DNA load of < 500 copies/mL after 48 weeks of treatment, and the proportion of such patients in the TDF group was significantly higher than that in the ETV group (96.1% vs 84.1%, χ 2 =4.386, P =0.036); 70.8% (85/120) achieved an HBV DNA load of < 100 copies/mL, the proportion of such patients was no significant difference between the TDF group and the ETV group (78.4% vs 65.2%). The response of HBV DNA < 100 copies/ml of the normal baseline ALT group and the abnormal baseline ALT group, there were no significant differences between the patients aged≤30 years and aged > 30 years (77.8% vs 47.2%, 85.2% vs 66.7%). For the patients who did not achieve complete virologic response (HBV DNA ≥100 copies/mL) after 48 weeks of treatment, 87.9% (29/33) achieved complete virologic response after the original treatment regimen was prolonged for 48 weeks, and 100% (9/9) of the patients achieved complete virologic response after switching to or adding the first-line nucleos(t)ide analogues (NUCs) without cross-resistance sites with the original regimen for another 48 weeks. Conclusion The patients aged > 30 years should receive antiviral therapy as early as possible, regardless of viral load and ALT level, especially those with a family history of liver cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma; the patients aged ≤30 years who have a normal ALT level and a high viral load should consider initiating antiviral therapy after providing informed consent. For the patients with poor response after 48 weeks of treatment, first-line NUCs without cross-resistance sites with the original regimen should be switched to or added in time.

Objective To investigate the epidemiological features and antiviral response of patients with genotype 6 chronic hepatitis C (CHC) in Guangxi, China. Methods A total of 97 patients with genotype 6 CHC who were admitted to The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University from December 2012 to December 2020 were enrolled, among whom 62 patients were given antiviral therapy. The 62 patients receiving antiviral therapy were divided into interferon group with 22 patients and direct-acting antiviral agent (DAA) group with 40 patients. Related data were collected, including general demographic data, HCV RNA, liver function, routine blood test results, and renal function. The chi-square test was used for comparison of categorical data between groups. Results Among the 97 patients, there were 69 male patients (71.1%) and 28 female patients (28.9%), with a mean age of 41.97±10.12 years, and the patients aged 30-40 years accounted for 47.4% (46/97). Of all 97 patients, 95 (97.9%) had genotype 6a, 1 had genotype 6e, and 1 had genotype 6xa. Among the 65 patients with a definite route of infection, 41 (63.1%) had intravenous drug use, 14 had medical-related operations, 9 had blood transfusion, and 4 had sexual contact as the route of infection. For the interferon group, the rapid virologic response (RVR) rate at week 4 was 81.8% (18/22), the rate of undetectable virus at the time of drug withdrawal (Epoint) was 86.4% (19/22), the rate of sustained virologic response at 12 weeks after drug withdrawal (SVR12) was 81.8%, and the rate of sustained virological response at 24 weeks after drug withdrawal (SVR24) was 81.8%; 1 patient in this group experienced recurrence. All 40 patients in the DAA group were previously untreated patients (33 patients without liver cirrhosis and 7 patients with compensated liver cirrhosis), with an overall RVR rate of 87.5%(35/40), an Epoint rate of 100%, and an SVR12 rate of 100%, and there was no treatment failure or recurrence. Although different DAA regimens had different RVR rates, they all had a SVR12 rate of 100%. The patients with compensated liver cirrhosis and other diseases had a SVR12 rate of 100%. Conclusion Intravenous drug addiction is the main route of infection for patients with genotype 6 CHC in Guangxi, and CHC is more common in men, with genotype 6a as the main subtype. DAA treatment has a higher virologic response rate than interferon treatment, with an SVR12 rate of 100%. There is no significant difference in SVR12 rate between the patients with compensated liver cirrhosis and those without liver cirrhosis.

Current cell-type annotation tools for single-cell RNA sequencing(scRNA-seq)data mainly utilize well-annotated source data to help identify cell types in target data.However,on account of privacy preservation,their requirements for raw source data may not always be satisfied.In this case,achieving feature alignment between source and target data explicitly is impossible.Additionally,these methods are barely able to discover the presence of novel cell types.A subjective threshold is often selected by users to detect novel cells.We propose a universal annotation frame-work for scRNA-seq data called scEMAIL,which automatically detects novel cell types without accessing source data during adaptation.For new cell-type identification,a novel cell-type percep-tion module is designed with three steps.First,an expert ensemble system measures uncertainty of each cell from three complementary aspects.Second,based on this measurement,bimodality tests are applied to detect the presence of new cell types.Third,once assured of their presence,an adap-tive threshold via manifold mixup partitions target cells into"known"and"unknown"groups.Model adaptation is then conducted to alleviate the batch effect.We gather multi-order neighbor-hood messages globally and impose local affinity regularizations on"known"cells.These con-straints mitigate wrong classifications of the source model via reliable self-supervised information of neighbors.scEMAIL is accurate and robust under various scenarios in both simulation and real data.It is also flexible to be applied to challenging single-cell ATAC-seq data without loss of supe-riority.The source code of scEMAIL can be accessed at https://github.com/aster-ww/scEMAIL and https://ngdc.cncb.ac.cn/biocode/tools/BT007335/releases/vl.0.

Objective:To compare the similarities and differences of clinical characteristics of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-negative and HIV-positive patients with talaromycosis marneffei (TSM).Methods:The clinical data of 175 inpatients diagnosed with TSM in First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University from May 2012 to April 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into HIV-positive group and HIV-negative group according to the results of HIV confirmation test. The clinical manifestations, laboratory examination indicators (white blood cell count, hemoglobin, albumin, CD4 + T lymphocyte count and C-reactive protein (CRP)) between the two groups were compared. Mann-Whitney U test and chi-square test were used for statistical analysis. Results:Among 175 TSM patients, 85 were HIV-positive and 90 were HIV-negative patients. The main clinical manifestations of fever and lymphadenopathy in the HIV-positive group and HIV-negative group were 71 (83.53%) cases and 73 (81.11%) cases, 50 (58.82%) cases and 47 (52.22%) cases, respectively, and there were both no statistical differences ( χ2=0.175 and 0.771, respectively, both P>0.05), while respiratory symptoms, weight loss and subcutaneous masses were 62 (72.94%) cases and 81 (90.00%) cases, 73 (85.88%) cases and 56 (62.22%) cases, one (1.18%) case and 16 (17.78%) cases, respectively, the differences were all statistically significant ( χ2=8.514, 12.630 and 13.737, respectively, all P<0.01). Hemoglobin in HIV-positive group and HIV-negative group were 90.50 (77.00, 113.95) g/L and 88.65 (72.85, 99.93) g/L, respectively. The difference was statistically significant ( Z=2.023, P=0.043). The ratios of albumin<30 g/L, CRP>10 mg/L in the two groups were 69.41%(59/85) and 60.00%(54/90), 94.37%(67/71) and 94.19%(81/86), respectively, and the differences were both not statistically significant ( χ2=1.693 and 0, respectively, both P>0.05). The ratios of cases with white blood cell counts >10×10 9/L and CD4 + T lymphocyte count<50/μL in the positive and negative groups were 3.53%(3/85) and 81.11%(73/90), 80.77%(63/78) and 1.75%(1/57), respectively, the differences were both statistically significant ( χ2=107.095 and 82.467, respectively, both P<0.01). Conclusions:In TSM patients, HIV-negative with subcutaneous masses, and increased white blood cell counts are common. Decreased body weight and CD4 + T lymphocyte count<50/μL in HIV-positive patients are more common than HIV-negative patients.

Objective:To investigate and compare the histologic characteristics of adenocarcinomas with mesonephric features located in different parts of the gynecologic tract.Methods:Two cases of mesonephric adenocarcinomas (MA) of the cervix and 5 cases of mesonephric-like adenocarcinomas (MLA) of the uterus and ovary were collected in Women′s Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University from January 2018 to October 2020. Hematoxylin-eosin staining, immunohistochemistry and KRAS mutation testing were performed together with review of literature.Results:MA of the cervix as well as MLA of the uterus and ovary had similar morphologic features, showing an admixture of glandular, tubular, papillary and solid growth patterns. However, both MA cases were located in cervical stroma, which demonstrated residual mesonephric ducts present at the periphery. All four uterine MLA cases extensively involved the endometrium and myometrium. The ovarian MLA case was associated with endometriosis. No residual mesonephric ducts were present in the MLA cases. Immunohistochemically, GATA3 was positive in all seven MA/MLA cases. TTF1 was expressed only in 4/5 MLA cases. ER and PR were negative and p53 was wild-type in all cases. KRAS mutation was detected in all five cases. During the 6-32 months of follow-up, one patient developed recurrence and the others were tumor-free.Conclusions:In the gynecologic tract, both MA in cervix and MLA in uterus and ovary have similar morphologic features, immunohistochemical expression and KRAS mutation. However, distinct from MA that originates from mesonephric remnant, MLA is closely related to Mullerian epithelium.

Objective:To explore the clinical effects of axillary propeller flaps in reconstructing the axillary fold scar contracture.Methods:A retrospective cohort study was conducted. From July 2016 to January 2020, 11 patients with anterior axillary fold or anterior and posterior axillary fold scar contractures after burns were admitted to Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, including 7 males and 4 females, aged 8 to 48 years. The lesions involved unilateral axilla in 9 cases and bilateral axilla in 2 cases, with the joint abduction angle of the affected shoulder ranging from 25 to 100°. The axillary fold contracture scars were excised and released, resulting in wound of 8 cm×5 cm-24 cm×20 cm. According to the condition of the residual normal skin in axilla, 2, 3, and 4-leaf propeller flaps with area of 5 cm×3 cm-24 cm×10 cm were designed to repair the wounds after scar excision and release. The donor site wound was closed by suturing directly, and the residual wound that could not be completely sutured was transplanted with free full-thickness skin grafts from the inner thigh or abdomen. The application of 2, 3, and 4-leaf propeller flaps, the joint abduction angle of the affected shoulder immediately after operation, and the survival of the flaps and skin grafts after operation were recorded. The recurrence of scar contracture, the appearance of the flaps, the joint abduction angle of the affected shoulder, and the functional recovery of the affected shoulder joint and upper arm were observed through a follow-up.Results:Among the 13 axillary propeller flaps transplanted in the 11 patients in this group, there were 9 double-leaf propeller flaps, two 3-leaf propeller flaps, and two 4-leaf propeller flaps. The joint abduction angle of the affected shoulder reached 110-165° immediately after operation. All the flaps survived after operation. Nine flap donor sites were repaired with free skin grafts, with skin grafts survived in 7 flap donor sites after operation. Scar erosion in incision and small area of skin graft necrosis developed in 2 flap donor sites. One of the wounds was debrided and repaired by transplantation of split-thickness skin grafts from inner thigh, and the other wound was healed after dressing changes. A follow-up of 6 to 24 months was conducted after surgery, and all the patients had no recurrence of axillary scar contracture; the color of the flap matched the receiving area; the elasticity of flap was good; the joint abduction angle of the affected shoulder reached 120-165°, and the joint pronation and supination, upper arm lifting and circular rotation of the affected shoulder were all good.Conclusions:Reconstruction of the axillary fold scar contracture with axillary propeller flaps has good result, with better flap appearance and recovery of the shoulder joint activity and upper arm function after operation.