Objective To analyze differential metabolites (DMs) in the urine of workers with occupational nickel exposure using non-targeted metabolomics, and to screen differential metabolic pathways. Methods A total of 30 nickel exposed workers were selected as the exposure group, and 30 administrative staff from the same factory were selected as the control group using the judgment sampling method. Urine samples of the individuals from the two groups were collected. The ultra-high performance liquid chromatography with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry and non-targeted metabolomics were used to detect and identify metabolites. The differential metabolic profiles were compared between workers of the two groups, and key differential metabolic pathways and potential biomarkers were screened. The association of DMs and urinary nickel level were evaluated by Spearman correlation coefficients. The sensitivity and specificity of biomarkers were assessed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Results A total of 418 metabolites were identified in the urine of worker in the exposure and control groups. The result of principal component analysis and orthogonal partial least squares analysis showed that there were 128 DMs in the urine of workers in the exposure group compared with the control group. These DMs were mainly enriched in glutathione metabolism, carnitine synthesis, and amino acid and nucleotide metabolism pathways, including glycine and serine metabolism. The result of correlation analysis and ROC curve analysis revealed that 4-methylcatechol, 4-vinylphenol sulfate, 2-hydroxyphenylacetone sulfate, 2-dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid, and decylbenzenesulfonic acid could be the potential biomarkers for nickel exposure (all area under the ROC curve >0.800). Conclusion There were significant differences in the urinary metabolic profiles of workers with occupational nickel exposure. The five DMs including 4-methylcatechol, 4-vinylphenol sulfate, 2-hydroxyphenylacetone sulfate, 2-dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid, and decylbenzenesulfonic acid. These DMs could be potential biomarkers of occupational nickel exposure.

Background/Aims: The accuracy of endosonographers in diagnosing gastric subepithelial lesions (SELs) using endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) is influenced by experience and subjectivity. Artificial intelligence (AI) has achieved remarkable development in this field. This study aimed to develop an AI-based EUS diagnostic model for the diagnosis of SELs, and evaluated its efficacy with external validation. Methods: We developed the EUS-AI model with ResNeSt50 using EUS images from two hospitals to predict the histopathology of the gastric SELs originating from muscularis propria. The diagnostic performance of the model was also validated using EUS images obtained from four other hospitals. Results: A total of 2,057 images from 367 patients (375 SELs) were chosen to build the models, and 914 images from 106 patients (108 SELs) were chosen for external validation. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of the model for differentiating gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) and non-GISTs in the external validation sets by images were 82.01%, 68.22%, 86.77%, 59.86%, and 78.12%, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy in the external validation set by tumors were 83.75%, 71.43%, 89.33%, 60.61%, and 80.56%, respectively. The EUS-AI model showed better performance (especially specificity) than some endosonographers.The model helped improve the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of certain endosonographers. Conclusions We developed an EUS-AI model to classify gastric SELs originating from muscularis propria into GISTs and non-GISTs with good accuracy. The model may help improve the diagnostic performance of endosonographers. Further work is required to develop a multi-modal EUS-AI system.

OBJECTIVES: Major depressive disorder (MDD) patients with anhedonia tend to have a poor prognosis. The underlying imaging basis for anhedonia in MDD remains largely unknown. The relationship between nodal properties and anhedonia in MDD patients need to be further investigated. Herein, this study aims to explore differences of cerebral functional node characteristics in MDD patients with severe anhedonia (MDD-SA) and MDD patients with mild anhedonia (MDD-MA) before and after the antidepressant treatment. METHODS: Ninety participants with current MDD were recruited in this study. 24-Item Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD-24) and Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale (SHAPS) were used to assess the severity of depression and anhedonia at baseline and the end of 6-months treatment. The MDD patients who scored above the 25th percentile on the SHAPS were assigned to an MDD-SA group (n=19), while those who scored below the 25th percentile were assigned to an MDD-MA group (n=18). All patients in the 2 groups received antidepressant treatment. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) images of all the patients were collected at baseline and the end of 6-months treatment. Graph theory was applied to analyze the patients' cerebral functional nodal characteristics, which were measured by efficiency (e_i) and degree (k_i). RESULTS: Repeated measures 2-factor ANCOVA showed significant main effects on group on the e_i and k_i values of left superior frontal gyrus (LSFG) (P=0.003 and P=0.008, respectively), and on the e_i and k_i values of left medial orbital-frontal gyrus (LMOFG) (P=0.004 and P=0.008, respectively). Compared with the MDD-MA group, the significantly higher e_i and k_i values of the LSFG (P=0.015 and P=0.021, respectively), and the significantly higher e_i and k_i values of the LMOFG (P=0.015 and P=0.037, respectively) were observed in the MDD-SA group at baseline. Meanwhile, higher SHAPS scores could result in higher e_i and k_i values of LSFG (P=0.019 and P=0.026, respectively), and higher e_i value of LMOFG (P=0.040) at baseline; higher SHAPS scores could result in higher e_i values of LSFG (P=0.049) at the end of 6-months treatment. The multiple linear regression analysis revealed that sex were negatively correlated with the e_i and k_i values of LSFG (r= -0.014, P=0.004; r=-1.153, P=0.001, respectively). The onset age of MDD was negatively correlated with the k_i value of LSFG (r=-0.420, P=0.034) at the end of 6-months treatment. We also found that SHAPS scores at baseline were positively correlated with the HAMD-24 scores (r=0.387, P=0.022) at the end of 6-months treatment. CONCLUSIONS There are obvious differences in nodal properties between the MDD-SA and the MDD-MA patients, such as the high e_i of LSFG in the MDD-SA patients, which may be associated with the severity of anhedonia. These nodal properties could be potential biomarkers for the prognosis of MDD. The increased e_i and k_i values in the LSFG of MDD-SA patients may underlie a compensatory mechanism or protective mechanism. The mechanism may be an important component of the pathological mechanism of MDD-SA. The poor prognosis in the MDD-SA patients suggests that anhedonia may predict a worse prognosis in MDD patients. Sex and onset age of MDD may affect the nodal properties of LSFG at baseline and the end of 6-months treatment.
Anhedonia ; Antidepressive Agents/therapeutic use* ; Depressive Disorder, Major/drug therapy* ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Prefrontal Cortex

Cachexia is a common complication in patients with lung cancer. It aggravates the toxic and side effects of chemotherapy, hinders the treatment plan, weakens the responsiveness of chemotherapy, reduces the quality of life, increases complications and mortality, and seriously endangers the physical and mental health of patients with lung cancer. The causes and pathogenesis of tumor cachexia are extremely complex, which makes its treatment difficult and complex. Controlling cachexia in lung cancer patients requires many means such as anti-tumor therapy, inhibition of inflammatory response, nutritional support, physical exercise, and relief of symptoms to exert the synergistic effect of multimodal therapy against multiple mechanisms of tumor cachexia. To date, there has been a consensus within the discipline that no single therapy can control the development of cachexia. Some therapies have made some progress, but they need to be implemented in combination with multimodal therapy after fully assessing the individual characteristics of lung cancer patients. This article reviews the application of drug therapy and nutritional support in lung cancer patients, and looks forward to the research direction of cachexia control in lung cancer patients.
.
Cachexia/therapy* ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms/drug therapy* ; Neoplasms/complications* ; Nutritional Support/adverse effects* ; Quality of Life

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; Bortezomib/therapeutic use* ; Dexamethasone ; Humans ; Multiple Myeloma/drug therapy* ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVE: To compare the advantages and disadvantages and application range of three methods for detection of urinary mercury. These methods include alkaline stannous chloride cold atomic absorption spectrometry, acid stannous chloride cold atomic absorption spectrometry and atomic fluorescence spectrometry. METHODS: The detection limits, accuracy and precision in these three methods were compared. RESULTS: The alkaline stannous chloride cold atomic absorption method and acidic stannous chloride cold atomic absorption method had a wide linear range(1.000-10.000 μg/L). The detection limit was high(0.265 and 0.556 μg/L, respectively). The atomic fluorescence spectrometry had the narrowest linear range(0.400-2.000 μg/L) and the lowest detection limit(0.048 μg/L). The average spiked recoveries of the above three methods were 95.93%-101.02%, 92.49%-98.72% and 95.96%-99.57%. The relative standard deviations within and between batches of these three methods were less than 5.00%. The addition recovery of organic mercury by alkaline cold chloride atomic absorption method was 80.91%. The recoveries of inorganic mercury and organic mercury by other methods were close to 100.00%. CONCLUSION: All three methods meet the daily needs of detecting urinary mercury. Among them, alkaline stannous chloride cold atomic absorption method is suitable for promotion in primary laboratories as a preliminary screening method. The atomic fluorescence spectrometry is suitable for the detection of microscale and trace amount of urinary mercury.

Objective: To investigate the feasibility of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA)_AK096792 as a clinical predictor of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in preterm infants. Methods: All the cord blood(2-5 mL) of very low birth weight (VLBW) preterm infants born in Huai′an First Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University were collected from December 1, 2015 to December 1, 2017.Moreover, the peripheral blood(2 mL) of those VLBW infants diagnosed with BPD was also collected.A total of 36 infants with BPD were collected.Another 36 cases of premature children with VLBW were chosen as control group according to random number table.The relative content of lncRNA_AK096792 in cord blood and peripheral blood was detected by using real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR). Additionally, the correlation of lncRNA_AK096792 levels between cord and peripheral blood of BPD infants was analyzed.The sensitivity and specificity of lncRNA_AK096792 for BPD were analyzed by using receiver operating curve test. Results: (1)LncRNA_AK096792 was a common, evolutionarily conserved, non-coding RNA present in both mouse and human.(2) The expression level of lncRNA_AK096792 in peripheral blood was significantly higher than that in cord blood in BPD group[(463.3±352.0)% vs.(50.0±37.5)%], and the difference was significant(P<0.001), and they were highly correlated (r=0.825, P<0.001). (3) The level of lncRNA_AK096792 in cord blood in BPD group was signi-ficantly higher than that in non-BPD group [(484.3±280.5)% vs.(101.2±28.6)%], and the difference was significant(P<0.001). (4)When lncRNA_AK096792 served as a clinical predictor for BPD, the specificity was 83.3%, the sensitivity was 75.6%, and an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.88(P<0.001). Conclusions LncRNA_AK096792 is highly correlated with the development of BPD.The level of lncRNA_AK096792 in umbilical cord blood of premature infants can be used as an early predictive marker for BPD, it calls for further study.

Objective To study the protective effects of human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ucMSCs)against severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) in rats.Methods A total of 135 Sprague-Dawley male rats were randomly divided into Sham group,SAP group and SAP+ucMSCs group (45 each).SAP+ucMSCs group:Severe acute pancreatitis was induced by injecting 5％ sodium taurocholate (0.1ml/100g) into the common bilio-pancreatic duct and then CM-DiI-labeled ucMSCs at 1 × 107cells/kg were injected via the tail vein.All the rats were sacrificed 12,24 and 72 hours after SAP.The 72h death rate was counted.Pathological changes in the pancrease were detected by HE staining and pathological score was graded,ucMSCs colonization was observed by fluorescence microscopy.The serum levels of amylase,lipase,TNF-α,IL-1β,IL-4 and IL-10 were determined by ELISA.Results ucMSCs colonize the injured area of pancreatic tissue,the 72h death rate was reduced,and the serum amylase and lipase were also reduced significantly.Moreover,ucMSCs significantly reduced the pathological score of the pancrea and the level of proinflammatory cytokines (TNF-α and IL-1β),but the levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines were increased (IL-4 and IL-10).Conclusion Transplantation of ucMSCs can reduce the severity of pancreatic injury and inflammation in SAP rats.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the technical level and ability of the detection of free silica in dust in occupational health technical service institutions of Guangdong Province through inter-laboratory comparison. METHODS: The interlaboratory detection of free silica in dust in 55,61,58 and 66 occupational health technical service institutions were carried out and compared in 2012-2015. The results were statistically analyzed by four points robust statistical technique,and the relative deviation between the laboratory test results and the Median of them was used as the auxiliary evaluation index of the laboratory's technical ability. RESULTS: The stable coefficient of variation(CV) of samples with free silica content > 20. 00% was less than 5. 00%,and the stable CV of samples with free silica content ≤20. 00% was more than5. 00%. The qualified rate in 2012-2015 were 89. 09%,81. 97%,77. 59% and 81. 82%,respectively. There was no statistical difference(P > 0. 05) in the annual reference between private and non-private institutions compared to the qualified rate in 2012-2015. There was no statistical difference(P > 0. 05) in the qualified rate of the institutions in the Pearl River Delta region and in the non-triangular regions of the Pearl River Delta in 2012-2015. CONCLUSION: Comparison of the detection technology service ability in the detection of free silica in dust should be conducted to improve its technical service quality.