Objective:To assess the value of cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) burden in predicting prognosis in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients with anterior circulation large vessel occlusion (LVO) after endovascular therapy (EVT).Methods:The study was a cross-sectional study. A total of 242 patients with AIS due to anterior circulation LVO received EVT in the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from February 2018 to September 2022. The clinical and imaging data of all patients were analyzed retrospectively. On follow-up MRI within 7 days after EVT, CSVD features [white matter hyperintensity (WMH), lacune, perivascular space, cerebral microbleed, cerebral atrophy] and CSVD burden score (0-5) was evaluated. Modified Rankin scale (mRS) score at 90 days after EVT was assessed. Patients were categorized into a mild burden group (0-1 points) and a moderate-severe burden group (2-5 points) based on CSVD burden score. Meanwhile, patients were categorized into a good prognosis group (0-2 points) and a bad prognosis group (3-6 points) based on mRS score at 90 days after EVT. Mann-Whitney U test and χ2 test were used to compare the difference of clinical and imaging indexes between the 2 groups, and variables with P<0.1 in the univariate analysis were included in the multifactorial logistic regression to screen for independent factors to predict the prognosis. Results:There were 169 patients in the good prognosis group and 73 patients in the bad prognosis group out of 242 patients. Compared with the good prognosis group, age, incidence of hyperlipidemia, baseline National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores, incidence of hemorrhagic conversion, CSVD burden scores, incidence of periventricular WMH scores of 3 and/or deep WMH scores≥2, and incidence of moderate-severe cerebral atrophy of patients in the bad prognosis group were higher, and the incidence of complete recanalization was lower (all P<0.05). Multivariate analysis showed hyperlipemia ( OR=8.438, 95% CI 1.691-42.119, P=0.009), baseline NIHSS score ( OR=1.103, 95% CI 1.047-1.162, P<0.001), complete recanalization ( OR=0.131, 95% CI 0.038-0.454, P=0.001) and hemorrhage transformation ( OR=1.952, 95% CI 1.031-3.697, P=0.040) were independent factors for the prognosis of EVT in patients with LVO AIS. There were 157 cases in the mild burden group and 85 cases in the moderate-severe burden group. The 90-day mRS score was higher in the moderate-severe burden group compared with the mild burden group ( Z=-2.24, P=0.025). Conclusion:CSVD burden has some clinical implications in predicting the prognosis of EVT in patients with anterior circulation LVO AIS.

To study the prognosis-related regulation mechanism of miR-452-5p and its influence on the proliferation and migration of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells, liver hepatocellular carcinoma (LIHC) dataset in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) was used to validate the differential expression of miR-452-5p and perform the Kaplan-Meier analysis of overall survival (OS).Target genes of miR-452-5p from TargetscanHuman and miRDB databases were predictived; and differentially expressed genes(DEGs) and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WCGNA) were completed with GSE14520.Lipofectmine-2000 was used to transfect miR-452-5p mimics, mimics negative control, miR-452-5p inhibitor and inhibitor negative control into Huh7 cells,respectively.The mRNA and protein expression level of RORα in 4 groups were determined by RT-qPCR and Western blot.CCK-8 assay and Transwell assay were conducted to testify the capabilities of proliferation and migration.The regulation between miR-452-5p and RORα was confirmed by the dual luciferase reporter assay.After analysis in the TCGA-LIHC dataset, miR-452-5p had higher expression in HCC tissue than that in normal tissue, which was also associated with a shorter OS.RORα and LAMC1 were discriminated by intersecting of DEGs, WGCNA module genes, and predictive target genes.Survival analysis exhibited that dysregulation of RORα was significantly related to the OS.Overexpression of miR-452-5p in HCC cells suppressed the expression of RORα both in mRNA and protein, and also enhanced the viability and migration of HCC cells.The results of the dual luciferase reporter assay showed that miR-452-5p targeted 3′UTR of RORα.Up-regulated miR-452-5p inhibited the expression of RORα, facilitated the proliferation and migration of HCC cells, and promoted the progression and poor prognosis of HCC.

Objective:To summarize the clinical features and treatment of pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia(PCP) in children with non-human immunodeficiency virus(HIV) infection.Methods:A retrospective study was performed on seven cases of severe PCP children with non-HIV infection who were admitted to PICU of The University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital and PICU of Xianyang Rainbow Hospital from May 1, 2015 to May 1, 2021.The risk factors, clinical manifestations, laboratory results, pulmonary radiological features, treatment and outcomes were observed.Results:Seven children with PCP, including four males and three females, aged from 13 months to 85 months[(42.4±26.8) months], were all associated with underlying diseases, and most of which was hematological malignancies.Six children had a history of using TMP-SMX for PCP prevention, but four of them stopped by themselves and infected PCP in 2 to 4 weeks.All children had hypoxic respiratory failure, whose OI was 30.6±3.4, and presented with fever, dry cough, progressive dyspnea but no lung rales in the early stage.LDH[(745.7±317.0) U/L] and β-D-glucan[(513.8±225.0) pg/mL] increased in all patients.Chest CT showed diffused interstitial changes in bilateral lung fields associated with multiple exudative lesions.Among the anti-Pneumocystis Jirovecii treatment regimens, all cases began the treatment in the first three days during the admission, five cases were treated with intravenous TMP-SMX, and two cases were treated with oral TMP-SMX + caspofungin, with a course of 21 days.All children were also treated with glucocorticoid at the same time.Three days after the treatment of PCP, two children were worsened and one of them died, while another one started to recover on the 6th day of the regimen.The remaining five cases began to show clinical improvement after 3~7 days of PCP treatment.Finally six children were cured and one was died.Conclusion:PCP infection of children without HIV has high risk of destruction in immune system.TMP-SMX can prevent PCP effectively.In the severe PCP cases, early commencement of intravenous TMP-SMX can reduce the mortality rate.In the absence of intravenous TMP-SMX, oral TMP-SMX can be used with caspofungin.

Objective To analyze the mechanical properties of bone tissue engineering scaffolds with different pore structure and porosity, and improve the mechanical properties of scaffolds by changing pore structure. Methods Square pore, spherical pore and cylindrical pore with different porosities from 55% to 75% were established by SolidWorks software, and the surface-volume ratio of different structures was calculated. The stress distribution and equivalent compression modulus of different scaffolds were obtained by ANSYS Workbench software. According to the stress distribution results, the scaffold with rectangular pore structure and cuboid element structure was improved instead of square pores. Results With the increase of porosity, the surface-volume ratio of the three structures increased. For the same porosity, the surface-volume ratio of square pores and spherical pores was larger, while that of cylindrical pores was the smallest. The modulus and porosity of the three structures were approximately linear. The modulus of the square pore and the cylindrical pore were similar. The stress analysis on the square pore and two improved structures with 60% porosity showed that for the two improve structures, the wall stress on 4 edges parallel to the direction of applied stresses could be reduced by 15%. Conclusions The surface-volume ratio and mechanical property of square pores were more advantageous than spherical pores and cylindrical pores with the same porosity, and the two improved structures could improve the mechanical properties of square pores. The two improved pores enriched the structure of tissue engineering scaffolds. The research findings provide the mechanical references for their clinical application.

Objective To evaluate the value of quantitative analysis of dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) and diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) for differentiating malignant from benign orbital lymphoproliferative disorder(OLPD). Methods Forty-three patients with OLPDs(20 patients with benign OLPDs and 23 patients with orbital lymphoma) confirmed by histopathology or clinical follow-up were enrolled in this retrospective study.Quantitative parameters of DCE-MRI including volume transfer constant (Ktrans), flux rate constant (Kep), and extravascular extracellular volume fraction (Ve) and mean apparent diffusion coefficient(ADC)values were obtained. χ2test and t test were used to compare the differences of qualitative and quantitative parameters between two groups. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were used to evaluate the diagnostic ability of each parameter and its combination. Results Malignant group showed significantly lower mean ADC values and higher Kepvalues than benign group [ADC:(0.674±0.126)×10-3mm2/s vs(1.030±0.304)×10-3mm2/s,P<0.001;Kep:(1.299±0.566)/min vs(0.787± 0.311)/min, P= 0.001], while no significant differences was found on Ktrans(P= 0.637) and Ve(P= 0.023). ROC analyses results indicated that,a sensitivity of 95.7%,specificity of 80.0% and area under curve(AUC) of 0.896 could be obtained,when using ADC=0.809×10-3mm2/s as the cut-off value.Setting the Kepvalue of 0.863/min as the cut-off value, a sensitivity of 91.3%, specificity of 75.0% and AUC of 0.848 could be obtained. When combination of mean ADC and Kepwas used, optimal diagnostic performance could be obtained (AUC, 0.926;sensitivity, 91.3%;specificity, 90.0%). Conclusion Mean ADC values and Kepare significant variables in predicting malignant OLPDs. Combination of DWI and DCE-MRI can further improve the diagnostic capability in differentiating malignant from benign OLPDs.

Objective To analyze the clinical characteristics and short-term prognostic factors in acute cerebral infarction patients who underwent recanalization. Methods This retrospective study enrolled 94 cases of acute cerebral ischemic patients in the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University between October 2014 and August 2016. Based on the clinical characteristics of the enrolled patients, a multivariate Logistic regression model was established to analyze the risk factors of unfavorable prognosis. Besides, patients were further divided into good collateral circulation group (1-2) and poor collateral circulation group (3-5) according to the Pial Collateral score, and the prognosis improvement rates between patients recanalized within 4 h and over 4 h were analyzed in each group. Chi-square test or Fisher's exact test was used to analyze statistical difference as indicated. Results By multivariate Logistic regression analysis, age older than 70 years old (OR=2.651, 95％CI: 1.013-6.937)and poor collateral circulation (OR=3.160, 95％CI: 1.113-8.977) were independent risk factors of short-term poor prognosis. In the poor collateral circulation subgroup, patients recanalized within 4 h exerted a relatively better prognosis than patients recanalized over 4 h (42.9％ vs.10.5％, P=0.047). However, the effect of recanalization duration on the prognosis in the good collateral circulation subgroups was not statistically significant (42.9％ vs. 10.5％, P=0.047), however, the effect of recanalization duration on prognosis in patients with good collateral circulation was not statistically significant (58.3％ vs. 37.8％, P=0.117). Conclusions For patients with acute cerebral infarction, age and collateral circulation status may influence the prognosis of recanalization therapy. The treatment time had a significant influence on the prognosis in patients with poor collateral, while it had minimal significance on patients with good collateral.

The human microbiome project (HMP) promoted further understanding of human oral microbes. However, research on the human oral microbiota has not made as much progress as research on the gut microbiota. Currently, the causal relationship between the oral microbiota and oral diseases remains unclear, and little is known about the link between the oral microbiota and human systemic diseases. To further understand the contribution of the oral microbiota in oral diseases and systemic diseases, a Human Oral Microbiome Database (HOMD) was established in the US. The HOMD includes 619 taxa in 13 phyla, and most of the microorganisms are from American populations. Due to individual differences in the microbiome, the HOMD does not reflect the Chinese oral microbial status. Herein, we established a new oral microbiome database-the Oral Microbiome Bank of China (OMBC, http://www.sklod.org/ombc ). Currently, the OMBC includes information on 289 bacterial strains and 720 clinical samples from the Chinese population, along with lab and clinical information. The OMBC is the first curated description of a Chinese-associated microbiome; it provides tools for use in investigating the role of the oral microbiome in health and diseases, and will give the community abundant data and strain information for future oral microbial studies.
China ; Humans ; Microbiota ; Mouth ; microbiology

Objective The goal of this study is to compare the prognosis of recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) thrombolysis for middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion with patients with good and poor cerebral collateral circulation.Methods This retrospective study included 49 patients diagnosed with acute MCA occlusion and treated with rt-PA in the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University between October 1,2014 and February 1,2016.Patients were divided into good collaterals group (n =31) and poor collaterals group (n =18) according to their distribution of leptomeningeal arteries with CTA.Thirty day mortality rate,the incidence of symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage,24h and 30 day Stroke scores with National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) were compared between the two groups.Corrected chi-squared test,Fisher's exact test,or t test was used to statistical analysis as appropriate.Results The 30 day mortality rate of good collaterals group was significantly lower than that of poor collaterals group (0％ vs.16.7％,P ＜ 0.05).There were no significant differences in the incidence of symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage and 24h NIHSS score between the two groups (P ＞ 0.05),however,30 day NIHSS score of good collaterals group was significantly lower than that of poor collaterals group (7.2 ± 3.1 vs.9.6 ± 2.7,P ＜ O.05).Conclusion For patients with MCA occlusion and receiving intravenous thrombolysis,good cerebral collateral circulation may reduce their mortality and improve their clinical outcome after thrombolysis.However,good cerebral collateral circulation does not reduce the risk of symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage in those patients.

Objective To investigate the diagnostic value of conventional MRI combined with DWI in the differential diagnosis of orbital lymphoproliferative disorders (LPD). Methods As a retrospective study, 42 patients were enrolled, including 23 orbital lymphoma and 19 benign orbital LPD confirmed pathologically or clinically. These patients underwent conventional MR, DWI and contrast?enhanced MRI examination of orbit. Qualitative MR imaging features [location, margin, patient ratio of involved quadrants (≥2), signal intensity,“flow void sign”, sinusitis] and quantitative features [ADC and contrast enhanced ratio of the lesion to temporal muscle (CER)] were evaluated. Chi?square test and t test were used for the analysis of qualitative and quantitative features between lymphoma and benign orbital LPD groups, respectively. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was employed to identify the significant variable for predicting malignant LPD. ROC analysis was used to evaluate the ability of the diagnostic models established based on identified variables. Results “Flow void sign”(9 lymphomas and 17 benign LPDs) and sinusitis (5 lymphomas and 13 benign LPDs) were statistically significant (P<0.05). The MR imaging features [location, margin, patient ratio of involved quadrants (≥2), and signal intensity] had no significant difference between the two groups (P>0.05). Both ADC [(0.79±0.09)×10?3 mm2/s of lymphoma, (1.29±0.35)×10?3 mm2/s of benign LPD] and CER (1.43±0.17 of lymphoma, 1.79±0.31 of benign LPD) between the two groups had significant difference (t=-6.630, -8.257;P<0.01). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that ADC value, CER and“flow void sign”were significant variables for predicting malignant orbital LPD (P<0.05). ROC curve showed that ADC value was the most significant single variable in differentiating orbital LPD [threshold value, 0.74 × 10- 3 mm2/s; areas under ROC curve (AUC), 0.97; sensitivity, 87.0%; specificity, 94.7%]. Combination of ADC and CER could further improve the specificity in differentiating benign from malignant orbital LPD (AUC, 0.90;sensitivity, 78.3%;specificity, 100.0%, accuracy 88.1%). Conclusions ADC, CER and“flow void sign”on T2WI were significant variables for predicting malignant orbital LPD. ADC value was the most significant single variable. Combination of ADC and CER could further improve the specificity in differentiating benign from malignant orbital LPD.

Objective To evaluate the diagnostic value of CT and PET-CT characteristics in predicting the presence of epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR) gene mutations in lung adenocarcinomas. Methods One hundred and sixty-eight lung adenocarcinomas cases confirmed by pathology were enrolled in our study. They were divided into EGFR gene mutations group (89 cases) and wild types group (79cases) according to whether EGFR gene mutation occurred. All patients underwent CT examination. Seventy-five patients underwent PET-CT examination, including 37 gene mutationsand 38 wild types.The demographic (the patients' age, the gender and smoking history), CT characteristics(lobulation, cavitation, spiculation, pleural-indentation, air-bronchogram, ground glass opacity/tumor ratio(G/T) and the maximum diameter of tumor(Dmax)) and PET-CT characteristics(the maximum standardized uptake value, (SUVmax))between these two groups were retrospectively compared. The independent sample t test was used to analyze the
difference between these two groups regarding the patients' age,Dmax,SUVmax. The χ2 test was used to demonstrate the difference between these two groups regarding the gender, smoking history and CT features including lobulation, cavitation, spiculation, pleural-indentation, air-bronchogram and G/T.The trend analysis between SUVmax and EGFR gene mutations was performed by usingχ2 test for trend.Results No significant difference was found regarding partial CT characteristics of lesions including lobulation, cavitation, spiculation, pleural-indentation, air-bronchogram (P>0.05),however, the Dmax of EGFR gene mutations group and wild types group were(2.53±1.39),(3.00±1.77)cm, respectively. The amount of G/T>50%in EGFR gene mutations group and wild types group was 21 and 5, respectively. Significant differences were found regarding the G/T and Dmax(χ2=9.538, P<0.05;t=1.974,P<0.05). The SUVmax in EGFR gene mutations group (37 cases) and wild types group (38 cases) were 5.13 ± 4.35 and 9.64 ± 5.12, respectively. Significant difference was found regarding SUVmax(t=4.104, P<0.05). The sensitivity and specificity in predicting EGFR gene mutations were 24%and 93%, respectively, using G/T>50%as diagnostic criterion. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) results indicated Dmax=1.85 cm was the optimal value in predicting EGFR gene mutations, with the sensitivity and specificity of 76% and 42%, respectively. Meanwhile, SUVmax=6.85 was the optimal value, with the sensitivity and specificity of 71% and 73%, respectively. Moreover,χ2 test for trend showed that an obvious trend was found to associate SUVmax with the incidence of EGFR gene mutations (χ2=15.755, P<0.05). Conclusion SUVmax may be helpful in predicting EGFR gene mutations in lung adenocarcinomas with relatively high diagnostic value.