Objective To investigate the association between gout-related gene polymorphisms and clinical phenotypic heterogeneity among gout patients in the Foshan region,thereby providing a scientific basis for stratified clinical management.Methods A total of 125 gout patients diagnosed at the Foshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine between June 2022 and May 2025 were enrolled in this study.The collected data included demo-graphic characteristics,frequency of gout attacks,presence of tophi,levels of uric acid,creatinine,C-reactive protein(CRP),erythrocyte sedimentation rate(ESR),gout-related genes(ABCG2,SLC2A9,SLC22A12,MTHFR),and joint ultrasound findings.Group comparisons and rank correlation analyses were conducted to explore potential associations between gene polymorphisms and clinical heterogeneity.Results The male-to-female ratio was 11∶1;the mean age was(35.28±2.67)years;the mean disease duration was(6.03±0.68)years;and the mean frequency of acute attacks in the past 12 months was 4(2.0,7.25).Genotype distributions were as follows:ABCG2:wild-type(C/C),23.8%;heterozygous(C/A),53.2%;homozygous(A/A),23%.SLC2A9:wild-type(A/A),24.6%;heterozygous(A/G),50%;homozygous(G/G),25.4%.SLC22A12:wild-type(A/A),4.8%;heterozygous(A/C),31.7%;homozygous(C/C),63.5%.MTHFR:wild-type(C/C),68.3%;heterozygous(C/T),28.6%;homozygous(T/T),3.2%.Rank correlation analysis revealed that SLC2A9 polymorphisms were significantly correlated with tophi formation(ρ=0.193,P=0.031)and crystal deposition on ultrasound(ρ=0.202,P=0.025).SLC22A12 polymorphisms were associated with hypertension(ρ=0.269,P=0.003)and diabetes(ρ=0.200,P=0.026).MTHFR polymorphisms showed a correlation with diabetes(ρ=0.224,P=0.012).Conclusions Polymorphisms in SLC2A9,SLC22A12,and MTHFR are significantly linked to clinical phenotypic heterogeneity among gout patients.Genetic testing could facilitate the early identification of individuals at high risk for complications and support the development of stratified and individualized treatment approaches.

Objective To investigate the association between gout-related gene polymorphisms and clinical phenotypic heterogeneity among gout patients in the Foshan region,thereby providing a scientific basis for stratified clinical management.Methods A total of 125 gout patients diagnosed at the Foshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine between June 2022 and May 2025 were enrolled in this study.The collected data included demo-graphic characteristics,frequency of gout attacks,presence of tophi,levels of uric acid,creatinine,C-reactive protein(CRP),erythrocyte sedimentation rate(ESR),gout-related genes(ABCG2,SLC2A9,SLC22A12,MTHFR),and joint ultrasound findings.Group comparisons and rank correlation analyses were conducted to explore potential associations between gene polymorphisms and clinical heterogeneity.Results The male-to-female ratio was 11∶1;the mean age was(35.28±2.67)years;the mean disease duration was(6.03±0.68)years;and the mean frequency of acute attacks in the past 12 months was 4(2.0,7.25).Genotype distributions were as follows:ABCG2:wild-type(C/C),23.8%;heterozygous(C/A),53.2%;homozygous(A/A),23%.SLC2A9:wild-type(A/A),24.6%;heterozygous(A/G),50%;homozygous(G/G),25.4%.SLC22A12:wild-type(A/A),4.8%;heterozygous(A/C),31.7%;homozygous(C/C),63.5%.MTHFR:wild-type(C/C),68.3%;heterozygous(C/T),28.6%;homozygous(T/T),3.2%.Rank correlation analysis revealed that SLC2A9 polymorphisms were significantly correlated with tophi formation(ρ=0.193,P=0.031)and crystal deposition on ultrasound(ρ=0.202,P=0.025).SLC22A12 polymorphisms were associated with hypertension(ρ=0.269,P=0.003)and diabetes(ρ=0.200,P=0.026).MTHFR polymorphisms showed a correlation with diabetes(ρ=0.224,P=0.012).Conclusions Polymorphisms in SLC2A9,SLC22A12,and MTHFR are significantly linked to clinical phenotypic heterogeneity among gout patients.Genetic testing could facilitate the early identification of individuals at high risk for complications and support the development of stratified and individualized treatment approaches.

Objective:To study the clinical value of serum microRNA-34a (miR-34a) and aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear transcript-like protein 1 (BMAL1) in cervical cancer and their relationship with high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) infection.Methods:The clinical data of 76 patients with cervical cancer and 50 patients with benign cervical diseases in the Affiliated Hospital of Jining Medical University from January to December 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. The expression levels of serum miR-34a and BMAL1 were detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and HR-HPV infection was detected by flow fluorescent hybridization. The patients were followed up until December 2023, and the death and poor prognosis (death, tumor recurrence and progression and severe complications at 1-year of follow-up) were recorded. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to analyze the efficacy of miR-34a, BMAL1 and related indexes in evaluating the poor prognosis in patients with cervical cancer at 1-year. Multivariate Cox regression analysis was used to analyze the independent risk factors for death in patients with cervical cancer. The Kaplan-Meier survival curve was used to analyze the relationship between miR-34a, BMAL1 expression and survival period, and the log-rank test was used for comparison.Results:The expression level of serum miR-34a in patients with cervical cancer was significantly lower than that in patients with benign cervical lesions (0.46 ± 0.08 vs. 0.67 ± 0.11), the expression level of serum BMAL1 was significantly higher than that in patients with benign cervical lesions (0.58 ± 0.07 vs. 0.41 ± 0.07), and there were statistical differences ( t= 12.40 and 13.34, P<0.01). The expression levels of serum miR-34a and BMAL1 in patients with cervical cancer were associated with tumor differentiation, myometrial invasion depth, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis and International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage, and there were statistical differences ( P<0.05 or<0.01); they were not associated with age, menopause and pathological type, and there were no statistical differences ( P>0.05). In patients with cervical cancer, the expression level of miR-34a in patients with HR-HPV positive infection (60 cases) was significantly lower than that in patients with HR-HPV negative infection (16 cases): 0.41 ± 0.07 vs. 0.49 ± 0.08, the expression level of BMAL1 was significantly higher than that in patients with HR-HPV negative infection: 0.65 ± 0.09 vs. 0.53 ± 0.06, and there were statistical differences ( t = 3.68 and 4.24, P<0.05 or<0.01). In patients with benign cervical diseases, there were no statistical differences in the expression levels of miR-34a and BMAL1 between patients with HR-HPV positive infection (7 cases) and patients with HR-HPV negative infection (43 cases) ( P>0.05). ROC curve analysis result showed that miR-34a combined with BMAL1 had the highest sensitivity (90.4%), specificity (89.9%) and area under curve (0.911) in assessing the 1-year poor prognosis in patients with cervical cancer ( P<0.01), and the optimal cutoff values of miR-34a and BMAL1 expression level were ≤0.39 and ≥0.64. Multivariate Cox regression analysis result showed that poor differentiation, myometrial invasion depth ≥1/2, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, FIGO stage Ⅲ+Ⅳ, miR-34a expression level ≤0.46 and BMAL1 expression level ≥0.58 were independent risk factors for death in patients with cervical cancer ( OR = 1.857, 2.125, 2.337, 2.751, 2.457, 3.885 and 3.666; 95% CI 0.845 to 5.788, 0.726 to 5.924, 0.709 to 5.631, 0.693 to 5.727, 0.801 to 5.936, 1.244 to 6.423 and 1.031 to 5.612; P<0.01). Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis result showed that the median survival time in cervical cancer patients with miR-34a expression level ≤0.39 and BMAL1 expression level ≥0.64 (21 cases) was significantly lower than that in the other cervical cancer patients (miR-34a expression level>0.39 or BMAL1 expression level<0.64, 55 cases): (26.4 ± 4.2) months vs. (34.2 ± 5.6) months, log-rank χ2 = 17.12, P<0.05. Conclusions:The expression level of serum miR-34a in patients with cervical cancer is significantly reduced and the expression level of BMAL1 is significantly increased, which is related to the condition, prognosis and HR-HPV infection. It can be used as a marker for the assessment of the condition and prognosis of cervical cancer. The combined detection of the two can significantly improve the sensitivity and specificity in predicting poor prognosis of cervical cancer.

A 65-year-old male patient, who had a history of chronic lymphocytic leukemia for 3 years, presented with erythematous swelling of the right cheek for 20 days and scattered papules on the back and upper extremities for 10 days. Twenty days prior to the presentation, the patient was hospitalized for disseminated herpes zoster. Skin examination showed diffuse dark red swollen plaques in the facial area under the right eyelid as well as on the right auricle and external acoustic meatus, with a sense of infiltration on palpation; scattered brown crusts were left behind at the sites of healed herpes zoster lesions, and scattered depressed scars were observed among these crusts; scattered infiltrative, mung bean- to soybean-sized, light red papules with a smooth surface were seen on the back of the neck, back and upper limbs. Histopathological examination of the facial skin lesions revealed nodular infiltration of epithelioid cells, lymphocytes and many multinucleated giant cells in the dermis and subcutaneous adipose tissue; immunohistochemical staining showed positive staining for CD68, CD20, CD79a, CD3, CD2, CD10, CD5 and Bcl-2, scattered positive staining for Ki-67, and negative staining for CD23, cyclin D1, Bcl-6, multiple myeloma oncogene 1, CD21, CD35 and myeloperoxidase. The patient was diagnosed with Wolf′s isotopic response manifesting as granulomatous inflammation after disseminated herpes zoster. The patient was treated with intravenous drips of methylprednisolone at a dose of 40 mg/d, and the skin lesions were gradually improved and subsided. No recurrence was observed during 4 years of follow-up.

Venous leg ulcer (VLU) is a disease of venous hypertension leading to open skin lesions of lower extremities, which is the terminal stage of chronic venous insufficiency. Considering the high prevalence and recurrence rate, VLU restrain daily activities, impair mental health and even contribute to social isolation of patients. Currently, surgery and compression therapy are wildly used to relieve symptoms and eliminate the etiological factors, however, ulcers remain unhealed even after these treatments in many cases. In this article, we review the clinical progress of treatment for VLU, including the debridement, antibiotics, ulcer dressing, negative pressure wound therapy and skin graft, to provide reference on the therapeutic strategy for different ulcer conditions.

The present study was aimed to evaluate resting-state functional connectivity and topological properties of brain networks in narcolepsy patients compared with healthy controls. Resting-state fMRI was performed in 26 adult narcolepsy patients and 30 matched healthy controls. MRI data were first analyzed by group independent component analysis, then a graph theoretical method was applied to evaluate the topological properties in the whole brain. Small-world network parameters and nodal topological properties were measured. Altered topological properties in brain areas between groups were selected as region-of-interest seeds, then the functional connectivity among these seeds was compared between groups. Partial correlation analysis was performed to evaluate the relationship between the severity of sleepiness and functional connectivity or topological properties in the narcolepsy patients. Twenty-one independent components out of 48 were obtained. Compared with healthy controls, the narcolepsy patients exhibited significantly decreased functional connectivity within the executive and salience networks, along with increased functional connectivity in the bilateral frontal lobes within the executive network. There were no differences in small-world network properties between patients and controls. The altered brain areas in nodal topological properties between groups were mainly in the inferior frontal cortex, basal ganglia, anterior cingulate, sensory cortex, supplementary motor cortex, and visual cortex. In the partial correlation analysis, nodal topological properties in the putamen, anterior cingulate, and sensory cortex as well as functional connectivity between these regions were correlated with the severity of sleepiness (sleep latency, REM sleep latency, and Epworth sleepiness score) among narcolepsy patients. Altered connectivity within the executive and salience networks was found in narcolepsy patients. Functional connection changes between the left frontal cortex and left caudate nucleus may be one of the parameters describing the severity of narcolepsy. Changes in the nodal topological properties in the left putamen and left posterior cingulate, changes in functional connectivity between the left supplementary motor area and right occipital as well as in functional connectivity between the left anterior cingulate gyrus and bilateral postcentral gyrus can be considered as a specific indicator for evaluating the severity of narcolepsy.

Objective To evaluate the clinical effect of endovascular therapy with covered stent in treating aortoiliac occlusive disease. Methods The clinical data of 20 patients with aortoiliac occlusive disease, who received endovascular therapy with covered stent during the period from January 2014 to December 2016, were collected. According to Rutherford standard of clinical symptom classification, gradeⅢ, grade Ⅳ and grade V were seen in 9, 7 and 4 patients respectively. Based on the Trans-Atlantic Society Coalition (TASC) treatment guidelines Ⅱ classification, B type, C type and D type were observed in 4, 7 and 9 patients respectively. The postoperative primary patency and secondary patency of the stent as well as the clinical efficacy were analyzed. Results Endovascular treatment was successfully accomplished in all 20 patients. After the treatment, the clinical symptoms were significantly relieved. Two patients developed complications (10％). One patient developed thrombus at the distal end of stent, which was improved after thrombolytic therapy. Another patient developed hematoma at puncture site, which was absorbed after conservative therapy. No perioperative death occurred. The patients were followed up for 5-37 months, with a mean of (17±10) months. The primary patency rate was 95％ and the secondary patency rate was 100％. Conclusion For the treatment of aortoiliac occlusive disease, endovascular therapy with covered stent has excellent clinical efficacy.

Objective: To analyze the normal value of the iodine content in the left ventricular myocardium of healthy subjects and to observe if there is a segmental differences on iodine distribution by using the second generation dual-source dual-energy computed tomography myocardial first perfusion imaging. Methods: In this retrospective study, 42 healthy subjects, who admitted to our department between January to June 2016, with normal second generation dual-source dual-energy computed tomography and coronary CT angioghphy (CTA), electrocardiogram (ECG) results, normal cardiac, hepatic, renal function, normal myocardial enzymes results were enrolled, data from 38 out of 42 subjects with satisfactory image quality were analyzed using Siemens Dual Energy-Heart PBV image processing software.In accordance with the standards of the American Heart Association myocardial 17 fractionation method, content of iodine was measured at different segmental left ventricular myocardium and aorta (left coronary artery from the opening level). The standardized containing iodine value (nIC) was calculated. Results: The iodine content of left ventricular myocardium in normal subjects was 3.1-7.8 mg/ml.The nIC of myocardium from 1st to 17th segments was 0.28±0.06, 0.31±0.07, 0.30±0.07, 0.30±0.04, 0.28±0.04, 0.29±0.05, 0.29±0.01, 0.30±0.07, 0.31±0.07, 0.27±0.06, 0.28±0.08, 0.28±0.07, 0.29±0.08, 0.31±0.07, 0.27±0.06, 0.29±0.06 and 0.21±0.07, respectively.The nIC of the 17th segment was the lowest and was significantly lower than in other segments (all P<0.05), the nIC was similar among the rest 16 segments (all P>0.05). Conclusion The normal iodine content range in left ventricle myocardium is 3.1-7.8 mg/ml, and the lowest iodine content is detected in the apex and which is significantly lower than the other left ventricular segments.

Purpose To evaluate the clinical value of triple-rule-out (TRO) computed tomographic angiography using adaptive prospective ECG triggering for chest pain patients.Materials and Methods Sixty patients with chest pain were prospectively collected and randomly divided into group A and group B:group A (n=30) performed prospectively gated axial scan and group B (n=30) performed retrospectively gated helical scan.The vascular density,noise and muscle density of the vessels including aorta,pulmonary artery,coronary artery between the two groups were measured and analyzed.The vascular density/noise ratio,contrast noise ratio and effective dose (ED) between the two groups were calculated.The image quality and scanning radiation dose were compared between the two groups.Results There was no significant difference in the image quality of aorta,pulmonary artery and coronary artery between group A and group B (P＞0.05).The ED in group A was lower than that in group B [(5.90±2.10) mSv vs (11.31 ± 2.12) mSv,P＜0.01].Conclusion The technique of TRO computed tomographic angiography triggered by adaptive prospective ECG can significantly reduce the radiation dose while ensuring image quality.