OBJECTIVE To explore the value of tuberculosis infection T cell spot test(T-SPOT.TB)combined with cytokines interleukin-2(IL-2),interferon-γ(IFN-γ)in differential diagnosis of active tuberculosis(ATB)and non-ATB.METHODS A total of 186 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis(TB)who were treated in Hebei Provincial Chest Hospital from Feb.2021 to Mar.2024 were recruited as the research subjects and were divided in-to the ATB group with 92 cases and the non-ATB group with 94 cases according to the result of sputum culture for MTB,which was taken as the golden standard.The T-SPOT.TB was carried out for all of the subjects.The base-line data were collected from the two groups of patients.The hierarchical regression analysis was performed by setting the T-SPOT.TB,IL-2 and IFN-γ as the dependent variables,clinical symptoms of cough and fever as the independent variables.The impact of the clinical characteristics on T-SPOT.TB,IL-2 and IFN-γ was observed.The value of T-SPOT.TB combined with cytokines IL-2 and IFN-γ in differential diagnosis and ATB and non-ATB was evaluated by means of principal component analysis(PCA)and partial least squares discrimi-nant analysis(PLS-DA).The efficiencies of T-SPOT.TB,IL-2,IFN-γ and prediction model were examined by receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curves.RESULTS There were significant differences in cough,fever,IL-1β,IL-2,IL-6,IL-8 and IFN-γ between the two groups(P＜0.05).There were statistically positive correlations between the clinical symptoms of cough,fever and the T-SPOT.TB,IL-2 and IFN-γ(P＜0.05).The result of PCA model and PLS-DA model showed that there were less significant individual differences between the ATB pa-tients and the non-ATB patients,the two groups could be remarkably clustered and identified.The area under the curve(AUC)of the joint model was highest(0.913)(0.875 to 0.950)(P＜0.05),with the sensitivity 90.24％,the specificity 74.54％.CONCLUSION The T-SPOT.TB combined with IFN-γ and IL-2 shows high sensitivity and specificity in differential diagnosis of ATB and non-ATB and can be used as method for auxiliary diagnosis of ATB,and it has significant clinical value.

Objective:To explore the safety and efficacy of computed tomography (CT) guided percutaneous interstitial brachytherapy in the treatment of recurrent cervical cancer with isolated lesions in the radiated field.Methods:A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 30 patients with recurrent cervical cancer with isolated lesions in the radiated field who underwent CT guided percutaneous interstitial implantation for close range radiation treatment at Zhengzhou University Affiliated Cancer Hospital from March 2023 to August 2024. Under local anesthesia, a needle was implanted into the recurrent tumor in the pelvic or abdominal wall of the patients percutaneously guided by CT. The target area was delineated to ensure full dose coverage. The prescribed dose for high-risk clinical target areas was 600 cGy/time, once a week, followed by close range radiotherapy. The number of implanted needles were recorded, and the target area, radiation dose, and other parameters were evaluated through dose volume parameter maps. The degree of lesion shrinkage and the occurrence of complications during and after treatment were observed.Results:30 patients underwent a total of 72 rounds of brachytherapy with implantation, with a technical success rate of 100% (72/72). 20 cases received 2 treatments, 8 cases received 3 treatments, and 2 cases received 4 treatments; 4 cases used 1needle, 20 cases used 2 needles, 4 cases used 3 needles, and 2 cases used 4 needles. The high-risk clinical target dose D 90 was (718.17±222.61) cGy. The average dose D 2cc of 2 cm 3 surrounding the bladder, rectum, sigmoid colon, and small intestine was (168.29±53.80) cGy, (178.87±105.38) cGy, (136.05±78.06) cGy, and (288.91±117.49) cGy, respectively. The median follow-up time was 11 months. Among the 30 patients, there were 12 cases of complete remission,14 cases of partial remission, 3 cases of stable disease, and 1 case of disease progression, with an objective remission rate of 86.7%. None of the patients experienced significant bleeding or pain during treatment. After treatment, 3 patients with recurrent lymph nodes near the rectum developed grade 1 radiation proctitis, which was remitted after treatment. No significant complications were observed in the remaining patients. Conclusion:CT guided percutaneous brachytherapy is safe and feasible for the recurrence of single lesions in the radiated field of cervical cancer.

OBJECTIVE To explore the value of tuberculosis infection T cell spot test(T-SPOT.TB)combined with cytokines interleukin-2(IL-2),interferon-γ(IFN-γ)in differential diagnosis of active tuberculosis(ATB)and non-ATB.METHODS A total of 186 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis(TB)who were treated in Hebei Provincial Chest Hospital from Feb.2021 to Mar.2024 were recruited as the research subjects and were divided in-to the ATB group with 92 cases and the non-ATB group with 94 cases according to the result of sputum culture for MTB,which was taken as the golden standard.The T-SPOT.TB was carried out for all of the subjects.The base-line data were collected from the two groups of patients.The hierarchical regression analysis was performed by setting the T-SPOT.TB,IL-2 and IFN-γ as the dependent variables,clinical symptoms of cough and fever as the independent variables.The impact of the clinical characteristics on T-SPOT.TB,IL-2 and IFN-γ was observed.The value of T-SPOT.TB combined with cytokines IL-2 and IFN-γ in differential diagnosis and ATB and non-ATB was evaluated by means of principal component analysis(PCA)and partial least squares discrimi-nant analysis(PLS-DA).The efficiencies of T-SPOT.TB,IL-2,IFN-γ and prediction model were examined by receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curves.RESULTS There were significant differences in cough,fever,IL-1β,IL-2,IL-6,IL-8 and IFN-γ between the two groups(P＜0.05).There were statistically positive correlations between the clinical symptoms of cough,fever and the T-SPOT.TB,IL-2 and IFN-γ(P＜0.05).The result of PCA model and PLS-DA model showed that there were less significant individual differences between the ATB pa-tients and the non-ATB patients,the two groups could be remarkably clustered and identified.The area under the curve(AUC)of the joint model was highest(0.913)(0.875 to 0.950)(P＜0.05),with the sensitivity 90.24％,the specificity 74.54％.CONCLUSION The T-SPOT.TB combined with IFN-γ and IL-2 shows high sensitivity and specificity in differential diagnosis of ATB and non-ATB and can be used as method for auxiliary diagnosis of ATB,and it has significant clinical value.

Objective:To explore the safety and efficacy of computed tomography (CT) guided percutaneous interstitial brachytherapy in the treatment of recurrent cervical cancer with isolated lesions in the radiated field.Methods:A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 30 patients with recurrent cervical cancer with isolated lesions in the radiated field who underwent CT guided percutaneous interstitial implantation for close range radiation treatment at Zhengzhou University Affiliated Cancer Hospital from March 2023 to August 2024. Under local anesthesia, a needle was implanted into the recurrent tumor in the pelvic or abdominal wall of the patients percutaneously guided by CT. The target area was delineated to ensure full dose coverage. The prescribed dose for high-risk clinical target areas was 600 cGy/time, once a week, followed by close range radiotherapy. The number of implanted needles were recorded, and the target area, radiation dose, and other parameters were evaluated through dose volume parameter maps. The degree of lesion shrinkage and the occurrence of complications during and after treatment were observed.Results:30 patients underwent a total of 72 rounds of brachytherapy with implantation, with a technical success rate of 100% (72/72). 20 cases received 2 treatments, 8 cases received 3 treatments, and 2 cases received 4 treatments; 4 cases used 1needle, 20 cases used 2 needles, 4 cases used 3 needles, and 2 cases used 4 needles. The high-risk clinical target dose D 90 was (718.17±222.61) cGy. The average dose D 2cc of 2 cm 3 surrounding the bladder, rectum, sigmoid colon, and small intestine was (168.29±53.80) cGy, (178.87±105.38) cGy, (136.05±78.06) cGy, and (288.91±117.49) cGy, respectively. The median follow-up time was 11 months. Among the 30 patients, there were 12 cases of complete remission,14 cases of partial remission, 3 cases of stable disease, and 1 case of disease progression, with an objective remission rate of 86.7%. None of the patients experienced significant bleeding or pain during treatment. After treatment, 3 patients with recurrent lymph nodes near the rectum developed grade 1 radiation proctitis, which was remitted after treatment. No significant complications were observed in the remaining patients. Conclusion:CT guided percutaneous brachytherapy is safe and feasible for the recurrence of single lesions in the radiated field of cervical cancer.

Objective:To investigate the prognosis and the factors that influence it in patients with non-gastric gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) who are at low risk of recurrence.Methods:This was a retrospective cohort study. Clinicopathologic and prognostic data from patients with non-gastric GISTs and at low risk of recurrence (i.e., very low-risk or low-risk according to the 2008 version of the Modified NIH Risk Classification), who attended 18 medical centers in China between January 2000 and June 2023, were collected. We excluded patients with a history of prior malignancy, concurrent primary malignancy, multiple GISTs, and those who had received preoperative imatinib. The study cohort comprised 1,571 patients with GISTs, 370 (23.6%) of whom were at very low-risk and 1,201 (76.4%) at low-risk of recurrence. The cohort included 799 (50.9%) men and 772 (49.1%) women of median age 57 (16–93) years. Patients were followed up to July 2024. The prognosis and its influencing factors were analyzed. Receiver operating characteristic curves for tumor diameter and Ki67 were established, and the sensitivity, specificity, area under the curve (AUC) and optimal cut-off value with 95% confidence intervals were calculated. Propensity score matching was implemented using the 1:1 nearest neighbor matching method with a matching tolerance of 0.02.Results:With a median follow-up of 63 (12–267) months, the 5- and 10-year overall survival (OS) rates of the 1,571 patients were 99.5% and 98.0%, respectively, and the 5- and 10-year disease-free survival (DFS) rates were 96.3% and 94.4%, respectively. During postoperative follow-up, 3.8% (60/1,571) patients had disease recurrence or metastasis, comprising 0.8% (3/370) in the very low-risk group and 4.7% (57/1,201) in the low-risk group. In the low-risk group, recurrence or metastasis occurred in 5.5% (25/457) of patients with duodenal GISTs, 3.9% (25/645) of those with small intestinal GISTs, 9.2% (6/65) of those with rectal GISTs, and 10.0% (1/10) of those with colonic GISTs. Among the 60 patients with metastases, 56.7% (34/60) of the metastases were located in the abdominal cavity, 53.3% (32/60) in the liver, and 3.3% (2/60) in bone. During the follow-up period, 13 patients (0.8%) died of disease. Receiver operating characteristic curves were plotted for tumor diameter and Ki67 and assessed using the Jordon index. This showed that the difference in DFS between the two groups was statistically significant when the cutoff value for tumor diameter was 3.5 cm (AUC 0.731, 95% CI: 0.670–0.793, sensitivity 77.7%, specificity 64.1%). Furthermore, the difference in DFS between the two groups was statistically significant when the cutoff value for Ki67 was 5% (AUC 0.693, 95% CI: 0.624–0.762, sensitivity 60.7%, specificity 65.3%). Multifactorial analysis revealed that tumor diameter ≥3.5 cm, Ki67 ≥5%, and R1 resection were independent risk factors for DFS in patients with non-gastric GISTs at low risk of recurrence (all P<0.05). Furthermore, age >57 years, Ki67 ≥5%, and R1 resection were also independent risk factors for OS in patients with non-gastric GISTs at low risk of recurrence (all P<0.05). We also grouped the patients according to whether they had received postoperative adjuvant treatment with imatinib for 1 or 3 years. This yielded 137 patients in the less than 1-year group, 139 in the 1-year plus group; and 44 in both the less than 3 years and 3-years plus group. After propensity score matching for age, tumor diameter, Ki67, and resection status, the differences in survival between the two groups were not statistically significant (all P>0.05). The 10-year DFS and OS were 87.5% and 95.5%, respectively, in the group treated with imatinib for less than 1 year and 88.5% and 97.8%, respectively, in the group treated for more than 1 year. The 10-year DFS and OS were 89.6% and 92.6%, respectively, in the group treated with imatinib for less than 3 years and 88.0% and 100.0%, respectively, in the group treated with imatinib for more than 3 years. Conclusion:The overall prognosis of primary, non-gastric, low recurrence risk GISTs is relatively favorable; however, recurrences and metastases do occur. Age, tumor diameter, Ki67, and R1 resection may affect the prognosis. For some patients with low risk GISTs, administration of adjuvant therapy with imatinib for an appropriate duration may help prevent recurrence and improve survival.

Objective To screen and verify the genes that play key role in the occurrence and development of esophageal cancer by u-sing bioinformatics and real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR(qRT-PCR)methods to find new markers for diagnosis of esophageal cancer(ESCA).Methods Using the TCGA database and Wayne plot analysis,the cross genes between the differentially expressed genes of ESCA and the genes which have the most significant impacts on disease-free survival(DFS)rate in esophageal cancer patients were preliminarily identified.Following conducting protein-protein interaction(PPI)network analysis on the overlapping genes,GO and KEGG functional analysis was performed to screen the potential key genes as the diagnostic markers of esophageal cancer.qRT-PCR was used to quantitatively analyze the expression of mRNA of the key gene in peripheral blood.Statistical analysis was con-ducted based on the clinico-pathological characteristics of the patients to determine its potential value as a new diagnostic marker for e-sophageal cancer.Results After overlapping of differentially expressed genes of ESCA and disease-free survival genes in the TCGA database,39 upregulated genes and 20 downregulated genes were found to be differentially expressed,all of which affected disease-free survival rate.After conducting PPI network analysis,15 upregulated genes with core interactions were identified,and the downregulat-ed genes did not form any interaction network.Further enrichment analysis of these 15 core interacting genes through GO and KEGG,revealed that fibronectin 1(FN1)may be a potential biomarker for ESCA diagnosis.The qRT-PCR results showed that compared with the healthy control group,the mRNA expression level of FN1 in the peripheral blood of esophageal cancer patients was significantly ele-vated.After analyzing the clinical characteristics of patients,it was found that the patients with poor differentiation and high clinico-pathological staging had significantly increased peripheral blood FN1 mRNA levels.The model with FN1 mRNA expression levels can distinguish esophageal cancer patients from healthy individuals.Conclusion FN1 mRNA may be a potential non-invasive diagnostic biomarker for esophageal cancer.

Objective:To investigate the prognosis and the factors that influence it in patients with non-gastric gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) who are at low risk of recurrence.Methods:This was a retrospective cohort study. Clinicopathologic and prognostic data from patients with non-gastric GISTs and at low risk of recurrence (i.e., very low-risk or low-risk according to the 2008 version of the Modified NIH Risk Classification), who attended 18 medical centers in China between January 2000 and June 2023, were collected. We excluded patients with a history of prior malignancy, concurrent primary malignancy, multiple GISTs, and those who had received preoperative imatinib. The study cohort comprised 1,571 patients with GISTs, 370 (23.6%) of whom were at very low-risk and 1,201 (76.4%) at low-risk of recurrence. The cohort included 799 (50.9%) men and 772 (49.1%) women of median age 57 (16–93) years. Patients were followed up to July 2024. The prognosis and its influencing factors were analyzed. Receiver operating characteristic curves for tumor diameter and Ki67 were established, and the sensitivity, specificity, area under the curve (AUC) and optimal cut-off value with 95% confidence intervals were calculated. Propensity score matching was implemented using the 1:1 nearest neighbor matching method with a matching tolerance of 0.02.Results:With a median follow-up of 63 (12–267) months, the 5- and 10-year overall survival (OS) rates of the 1,571 patients were 99.5% and 98.0%, respectively, and the 5- and 10-year disease-free survival (DFS) rates were 96.3% and 94.4%, respectively. During postoperative follow-up, 3.8% (60/1,571) patients had disease recurrence or metastasis, comprising 0.8% (3/370) in the very low-risk group and 4.7% (57/1,201) in the low-risk group. In the low-risk group, recurrence or metastasis occurred in 5.5% (25/457) of patients with duodenal GISTs, 3.9% (25/645) of those with small intestinal GISTs, 9.2% (6/65) of those with rectal GISTs, and 10.0% (1/10) of those with colonic GISTs. Among the 60 patients with metastases, 56.7% (34/60) of the metastases were located in the abdominal cavity, 53.3% (32/60) in the liver, and 3.3% (2/60) in bone. During the follow-up period, 13 patients (0.8%) died of disease. Receiver operating characteristic curves were plotted for tumor diameter and Ki67 and assessed using the Jordon index. This showed that the difference in DFS between the two groups was statistically significant when the cutoff value for tumor diameter was 3.5 cm (AUC 0.731, 95% CI: 0.670–0.793, sensitivity 77.7%, specificity 64.1%). Furthermore, the difference in DFS between the two groups was statistically significant when the cutoff value for Ki67 was 5% (AUC 0.693, 95% CI: 0.624–0.762, sensitivity 60.7%, specificity 65.3%). Multifactorial analysis revealed that tumor diameter ≥3.5 cm, Ki67 ≥5%, and R1 resection were independent risk factors for DFS in patients with non-gastric GISTs at low risk of recurrence (all P<0.05). Furthermore, age >57 years, Ki67 ≥5%, and R1 resection were also independent risk factors for OS in patients with non-gastric GISTs at low risk of recurrence (all P<0.05). We also grouped the patients according to whether they had received postoperative adjuvant treatment with imatinib for 1 or 3 years. This yielded 137 patients in the less than 1-year group, 139 in the 1-year plus group; and 44 in both the less than 3 years and 3-years plus group. After propensity score matching for age, tumor diameter, Ki67, and resection status, the differences in survival between the two groups were not statistically significant (all P>0.05). The 10-year DFS and OS were 87.5% and 95.5%, respectively, in the group treated with imatinib for less than 1 year and 88.5% and 97.8%, respectively, in the group treated for more than 1 year. The 10-year DFS and OS were 89.6% and 92.6%, respectively, in the group treated with imatinib for less than 3 years and 88.0% and 100.0%, respectively, in the group treated with imatinib for more than 3 years. Conclusion:The overall prognosis of primary, non-gastric, low recurrence risk GISTs is relatively favorable; however, recurrences and metastases do occur. Age, tumor diameter, Ki67, and R1 resection may affect the prognosis. For some patients with low risk GISTs, administration of adjuvant therapy with imatinib for an appropriate duration may help prevent recurrence and improve survival.

Postoperative delirium, one of the common complications in patients with hip fracture, has a high incidence and poor prognosis. As there have been no effective treatments for this complication, early prediction and intervention is the most effective method available to reduce its occurrence. This study reviews the types and characteristics of the patients who suffer from postoperative delirium after hip fracture, as well as the risk factors that have been currently found. The risk prediction models for postoperative delirium are also analyzed and compared in hip fracture patients from the perspectives of cohorts included, research design, model construction and validation methods, model performance, and clinical application. The limitations of existing models are analyzed to foresee the development trend of future delirium prediction models for hip fracture patients. This study aims to help clinical healthcare professionals to identify as soon as possible those who will face a high risk for postoperative delirium after hip fracture surgery and to work out algorithms for targeted prevention and management.

Objective:To study the macrolides resistance of Mycoplasma pneumoniae(MP) in Suzhou area, and try to explore the relationship between drug resistance and refractory Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (RMPP). Methods:From a series of hospitalized children who were diagnosed as Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MPP) from October 2013 to September 2014 in Suzhou area, 48 children were treated with Azithromycin (10 mg/kg, once a day, intravenous drip for 5-7 days), and the clinical symptoms and chest imaging were still progressing so they were clinically diagnosed as RMPP, and 34 children who were successfully treated with macrolides antibiotics (MA) were clinically diagnosed as general MPP (GMPP). MP DNA was extracted from the airway secretion of children in the two groups, and the point mutations of 2063 and 2064 of 23S rRNA were sequenced, and according to the MP 23S rRNA sequencing results, the children were divided into macrolides antibiotic resistant MP group (MRMP) and macrolides antibiotic sensitive MP group (MSMP). The clinical characteristics of the two groups were compared. Results:In the MRMP group, the incidence of RMPP was 62.2% (46/74 cases), while in MSMP group, the incidence of RMPP was 25.0% (2/8 cases). The point mutation of MP 23S rRNA had no significant effect on the occurrence of RMPP ( χ2=2.719, P=0.099). Compared with MRMP group, MSMP group presented shorter fever time and less glucocorticoid use.No significant differences between the two groups were found in chest imaging examination, as well as some laboratory results, including the total number and classification of white blood cell (WBC), C-reactive protein (CRP), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and creatine kinase isoenzyme (CK-MB). Conclusions:The fever duration of MPP lasted more than 1 week, suggesting the possibility of macrolides resistance of MP, but macrolides resistance did not aggravate the occurrence of RMPP.It is unreliable to judge the MRMP by chest imaging features and laboratory results.

Objective:To investigate the asymmetric geometry of middle cerebral artery (MCA) bifurcations and aneurysm formation.Methods:From January 2017 to April 2020, 65 patients with MCA aneurysm underwent 3D-digital subtraction angiography (DSA) in our hospital were recruited in this study; 170 patients without arterial stenosis or cerebral aneurysm at the same time period were selected as normal control group; their corresponding morphological parameters of MCA bifurcations in the imaging data were analyzed. Bifurcation angle was termed as φ1, while small and large lateral angles were termed as φ2 and φ3, respectively. D2, S2, C2, T2 and E2 represented diameter, sectional area, circumference, tortuosity and ellipticity of the branch forming angle φ2 with parent vessel, respectively; whereas D3, S3, C3, T3 and E3 represented diameter, sectional area, circumference, tortuosity and ellipticity of the branch forming angle φ2 with parent vessel on the contralateral branch, respectively. The independent factors affecting the formation of MCA aneurysm were screened by binary Logistic regression, and the predictive value of independent factors affecting the formation of MCA aneurysm was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.Results:(1) The aneurysmal group had significantly larger φ1, significantly smaller φ2 and φ3 than the normal control group ( P<0.05); D3, S3, C3, T2, T3 and E2 in the aneurysmal group were significantly higher/larger than those in the normal control group ( P<0.05). In terms of the symmetry of bilateral branches of blood vessels, the difference of φ3/φ2 ratio between the normal control group and aneurysm group was statistically significant ( P<0.05). (2) Binary Logistic regression results showed that φ2 was the protective factor for aneurysm formation ( OR=0.880, 9 5%CI: 0.844-0.918, P=0.000), while D3 and φ3/φ2 ratio were the risk factors for aneurysm formation ( OR=4.493, 9 5%CI: 1.414-14.278, P=0.011; OR=30.676, 95%CI: 9.884-95.202, P=0.000). (3) The ROC curve showed that the area under the curve of φ2 was the largest, reaching 0.93, and the optimal cut-off point was 104.59°, enjoying sensitivity and specificity of 87.7% and 85.9%, respectively. Conclusion:Normal MCA bifurcations almost show symmetrical morphology, whereas aneurysmal MCA bifurcations show asymmetrical morphology in both lateral angles and daughter branches; φ2 is the best morphological parameter to predict the aneurysm formation of MCA bifurcations.