Azvudine and nirmatrelvir/ritonavir (Paxlovid) are recommended for COVID-19 treatment in China, but their safety and efficacy in the elderly population are not fully known. In this multicenter, retrospective, cohort study, we identified 5131 elderly hospitalized COVID-19 patients from 32,864 COVID-19 patients admitted to nine hospitals in Henan Province, China, from December 5, 2022, to January 31, 2023. The primary outcome was all-cause death, and the secondary outcome was composite disease progression. Propensity score matching (PSM) was performed to control for confounding factors, including demographics, vaccination status, comorbidities, and laboratory tests. After 2:1 PSM, 1786 elderly patients receiving azvudine and 893 elderly patients receiving Paxlovid were included. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses revealed that compared with Paxlovid group, azvudine could significantly reduce the risk of all-cause death (log-rank P = 0.002; HR: 0.71, 95% CI: 0.573-0.883, P = 0.002), but there was no difference in composite disease progression (log-rank P = 0.52; HR: 1.05, 95% CI: 0.877-1.260, P = 0.588). Four sensitivity analyses verified the robustness of above results. Subgroup analysis suggested that a greater benefit of azvudine over Paxlovid was observed in elderly patients with primary malignant tumors (P for interaction = 0.005, HR: 0.32, 95% CI: 0.18-0.57) compared to patients without primary malignant tumors. Safety analysis revealed that azvudine treatment had a lower incidence of adverse events and higher lymphocyte levels than Paxlovid treatment. In conclusion, azvudine treatment is not inferior to Paxlovid treatment in terms of all-cause death, composite disease progression and adverse events in elderly hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

To review the clinical characteristics, short-term outcomes, and risk factors of patients with infective endocarditis(IE) who underwent surgical treatment at a single center, and to summarize treatment experience.

Objective To discuss the application value of video health education mode in patient's self-maintenance of totally implantable venous access port(TIVAP).Methods A total of 208 patients,who received implantation of TIVAP at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Naval Military Medical University of China From September 2021 to December 2022,were enrolled in this study.The patients were divided into control group(n=108)and observation group(n=100).Traditional health education was conducted for the patients of the control group,while on the basis of traditional health education an additional video health education based on visual communication theory was carried out for the patients of the observation group.Evaluation of self-care ability(ESCA)was used to evaluate the self-care ability before the intervention and 6 months after the implantation of TIVAP in the two groups.The complications,the incidence of adverse events,and the indwelling duration of the infusion port were compared between the two groups.Results Before intervention,the differences in each dimension score and total score of ESCA table between the two groups were not statistically significant(all P＞0.05).After intervention,the each dimension score and total score of ESCA table in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group(all P＜0.05).After intervention,both the total incidence of complications and the total incidence of adverse events in the observation group were remarkably lower than those in the control group(both P＜0.05),besides,the indwelling duration of the infusion port in the observation group was obviously longer than that in the control group.Conclusion The use of video health education mode can significantly improve the self-care ability of patients carrying a TIVAP,reduce the incidence of complications and adverse events,and extend the effective duration of TIVAP.Therefore,it is an effective health education mode.

Objective:To investigate the predictive value of atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) in the assessment of acute pancreatitis (AP).Methods:598 patients diagnosed with AP admitted to the Affiliated Hospital of Yangzhou University between January 2016 and December 2020 were recruited and divided into severe acute pancreatitis group (SAP group, n=57) and non-severe acute pancreatitis group (non SAP group, n=541) according to the Atlanta Classification (2012 revision). General clinical data and related biochemical indicators of all enrolled patients were collected, and Bedside Index of Acute Pancreatitis Severity (BISAP) score, Ranson score and CT Severity Index (CTSI) score were performed. The risk factors of SAP were analyzed by logistic regression. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to analyze the evaluation value of AIP and various scoring systems on the severity of pancreatitis. Results:The AIP, white blood cell (WBC), neutrophil count (NEUT), fasting blood glucose (FBG), serum total cholesterol (TC) level, proportion of hyperlipidemia, proportion of diabetes, Ranson score, BISAP score, CTSI score of patients in SAP group were higher than those in non SAP group, and the difference was statistically significant (all P<0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that AIP was an independent risk factor for SAP ( P<0.05). ROC curve showed that the are under the curve (AUC) of SAP predicted by AIP was 0.706(95% CI: 0.631-0.782, P<0.001). Conclusions:AIP is an independent risk factor for SAP, which helps to assess the severity of AP.

Objective:To explore the relationships between sarcopenia and the clinical efficacy and prognosis of elderly patients with esophageal cancer who were treated by radical radiotherapy.Methods:The clinicopathological data of 134 elderly patients with esophageal cancer who received radical radiotherapy in Department of Radiotherapy, Affiliated Hospital of Yangzhou University from January 2013 to December 2018 were retrospectively analyzed. The muscle cross-sectional area at the level of the third lumbar vertebra was measured by using computed tomography (CT) images. These patients were divided into sarcopenia group ( n=56) and non-sarcopenia group ( n=78) according to the skeletal muscle index before radiotherapy. The efficacy and incidence of adverse reactions of the two groups were compared. Kaplan-Meier method was used to plot the survival curve, and Cox regression model was used to analyze prognostic factors. Results:There was a significant difference in the objective response rate between the sarcopenia and non-sarcopenia group at 1 month after radiotherapy [53.57% (30/56) vs. 71.79% (56/78) , χ2=4.71, P=0.030]. There was no significant difference in the disease control rate between the two groups [94.64% (53/56) vs. 91.03% (71/78) , χ2=0.21, P=0.651]. There was a significant difference in the total incidence of adverse reactions between the sarcopenia and non-sarcopenia group [67.86% (38/56) vs. 47.44% (37/78) , χ2=5.52, P=0.019]. By the end of the follow-up, the 1-, 3- and 5-year overall survival (OS) rates of 134 elderly patients with esophageal cancer who received radical radiotherapy were 91.0%, 73.1% and 55.2% respectively. The median OS of patients in the sarcopenia and non-sarcopenia group were 14 months and 26 months respectively, with a statistically significant difference ( χ2=9.84, P=0.002) . The median progression-free survival (PFS) of the two groups were 7 months and 18 months respectively, with a statistically significant difference ( χ2=9.91, P=0.002) . Univariate analysis showed that cT stage ( HR=2.45, 95% CI: 1.26-4.74, P=0.008) , cN stage ( HR=1.63, 95% CI: 1.06-2.50, P=0.027) , cTNM stage ( HR=2.04, 95% CI: 1.28-3.27, P=0.003) , body mass index (BMI) ( HR=2.23, 95% CI: 1.01-4.90, P=0.046) , pre-radiotherapy sarcopenia ( HR=2.45, 95% CI: 1.27-4.72, P=0.007) and chemotherapy ( HR=0.30, 95% CI: 0.11-0.83, P=0.020) were prognostic factors for OS; cT stage ( HR=2.27, 95% CI: 1.18-4.39, P=0.015) , cN stage ( HR=1.61, 95% CI: 1.04-2.47, P=0.030) , cTNM stage ( HR=1.90, 95% CI: 1.19-3.02, P=0.007) , BMI ( HR=1.98, 95% CI: 1.06-3.79, P=0.032) , pre-radiotherapy sarcopenia ( HR=1.79, 95% CI: 1.06-3.04, P=0.031) and adverse reactions ( HR=0.60, 95% CI: 0.38-0.97, P=0.037) were prognostic factors for PFS. Multivariate analysis showed that pre-radiotherapy sarcopenia ( HR=1.91, 95% CI: 1.22-3.00, P=0.005) was an independent prognostic factor for OS; BMI ( HR=1.80, 95% CI: 1.03-3.15, P=0.039) and pre-radiotherapy sarcopenia ( HR=2.00, 95% CI: 1.27-3.14, P=0.003) were independent prognostic factors for PFS. Conclusion:Sarcopenia before radiotherapy can be a useful predictor for prognosis in elderly patients with esophageal cancer who received radical radiotherapy, and patients with sarcopenia benefit less from treatment.

The clinical features and laboratory tests results of two cases with Fanconi anemia (FA) who were admitted to the Department of Children′s Hematology and Endocrinology, the Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University in 2017 were analyzed.Sanger sequencing and multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification(MLPA) of FA-related genes was carried out.One case was female, 4 years and 3 months old.The other case was a 6-year-old male.The main manifestations were recurrent fever, asthenia and bleeding points in both legs.The girl had milk coffee spots scattered on her legs and waist, and her left thumb nail was absent.The boy had no obvious physical examination abnormality, but his left atrium and left ventricle were large and segmental myocardial damage could be seen by echocardiography.Bone marrow biopsies of both cases showed hypo-proliferation (40%) or extremely low proliferation (10%), and no megakaryocyte was found.There were no significant abnormalities in chromosome aberration, single cell gel electrophoresis, cluster of differentiation(CD) 41, CD 55, and CD 59 and chromosome karyotype.Gene sequencing revealed that the two children had compound heterozygous mutations of Fanc A gene, which came from parents.The heterozygous mutation of c1838delT was found in the exon 21 of the female child and her father, which resulted in amino acid shift mutation pIi613Tfs*27.The heterozygous deletion mutations in exons 1-3 of Fanc A gene were found in the female child and her mother by the MLPA results.The gene sequencing analysis of the male child and his family members showed the heterozygous mutation of c4124_4125del in the exon 41 of the child and his mother, which resulted in amino acid shift mutation p. T1375Sfs*49.The heterozygous deletion mutations were observed in exons 23-40 of the male child and his father, according to the MLPA results.The main basis of diagnosis of FA is to sequence the related genes of suspected children.The c1838delT is a new mutation of Fanc A gene.

Objective To assess the clinical value of ultrasound shear wave elastography (SWE) guided biopsy for diagnosis of tuberculous peritonitis.Methods Clinical data of 25 tuberculous peritonitis patients who underwent SWE guided biopsy (SWE guided group) and other 25 tuberculous peritonitis patients who underwent conventional ultrasound guided biopsy (conventional ultrasound guided group) were retrospectively analyzed.The successful rate of biopsy and the complication occurrence were compared between the two groups.Results The success rate of SWE guided group was 100％(25/25),and the rate of complication occurrence was 8.00％ (2/25).The successful rate and complication occurrence in conventional ultrasound guided group was 84.00％ (21/25) and 32.00％ (8/25),respectively.There were statistical differences of success rate of biopsy (x2=4.348,P=0.037) and the complication occurrence (x2=4.500,P=0.034) between the two groups.Conclusion Compared with conventional ultrasound,SWE guidance can improve the success rate and reduce the complication occurrence of biopsy.

Previous studies have shown that the sciatic nerve has neurotrophic activity, and nerve regeneration, differentiation, and axon outgrowth can be modulated by different sciatic nerve preparations. However, numerous animals may have to be sacrificed to obtain enough sciatic nerves to make a sciatic nerve preparation. Some studies have demonstrated that the role of sciatic nerve preparations in neural differentiation depends on the neurotrophins that Schwann cells secrete, and these factors are highly conserved among different species. To reduce the use of experimental animals, in this study, we made a leachate by using the sciatic nerve of cattle and explored its effect on neuronal differentiation of rat PC12 cells (a useful model for studying neuronal differentiation). Results showed the neurite outgrowth of PC12 cells treated with the cattle sciatic nerve leachate for 3, 6, and 9 days was significantly improved, and the expressions of β3-tubulin and microtubule-associated protein 2 (two neuron-specific proteins) were increased. Moreover, the ERK1/2 signaling pathway was activated after PC12 cells were incubated with cattle sciatic nerve leachate for 9 days. Thus, a sciatic nerve leachate obtained from cattle can effectively induce neuronal differentiation of rat PC12 cells via ERK1/2 signaling pathway.
Animals ; Axons ; Cattle ; Microtubule-Associated Proteins ; Nerve Growth Factors ; Nerve Regeneration ; Neurites ; Neurons ; PC12 Cells ; Rats ; Schwann Cells ; Sciatic Nerve

Objective To explore the clinical value of CEUS guided biopsy of lymphoma in anterior mediastinum.Methods The data of 36 patients with lymphoma of anterior mediastinum underwent biopsy guided by CEUS and 36 patients by conventional ultrasound retrospectively.The successful rate of biopsy and rate of complication occurence were compared between the CEUS group and conventional ultrasound group.Results The successful rate of biopsy in CEUS group was 100％ (36/36),including 26 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL),10 Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL).The total times of puncture were 60 in 36 patients.The rate of complication occurrence was 11.11 ％ (4/36).The successful rate in conventional ultrasound group was 88.89％ (32/36),including 22 NHL,14 HL.The times of puncture were 91 in 36 patients.The rate of complication occurrence was 41.67％ (15/36).There were significant differences in successful rate and the rate of complication occurrence between two groups (x2 =4.235,8.651,P=0.040,0.003).Conclusion CEUS can reflect the microcirculation of lymphomas in anterior mediastinum,and can guide targeted biopsy.It can improve the successful rate of biopsy and reduce the complications.