Objective:To summarize the clinical characteristics of patients with acute pancreatitis (AP) in plateau areas, and screen potential biomarkers for the pathogenesis of AP at high altitudes by metabolomics.Methods:A total of 42 patients with AP admitted to the Department of Gastroenterology in Lhasa People's Hospital from December 2023 to May 2024 were prospectively enrolled (AP group), and 33 healthy controls (Control group) were included during the same period. Demographic and clinical data were collected, and serum non-targeted metabolomics was performed based on ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry techniques. The serum metabolites map was evaluated by using principal component analysis, and a regression model with orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) was constructed to evaluate the explanatory power ( R2) and predictive power ( Q2) of these metabolites. The OPLS-DA-based dimensionality reduction was applied to compute variable importance in projection (VIP), while fold change (FC) values were used to assess the difference of metabolites between groups. A bidirectional clustering heat map was generated for samples and differential metabolites to evaluate sample similarity within groups. Additionally, a volcano plot was created to visualize differential metabolites, and the top five up-regulated and down-regulated metabolites distinguishing AP from healthy controls were selected. The receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was drawn, and the area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity and specificity based on ROC analysis were calculated to evaluate the differential power of differential metabolites. Results:The majority of participants were Tibetans in both the AP group (37 cases, 88.1%) and the control group (27 cases, 81.8%). The average age of AP patients was (50.45±17.85) years old, and the male to female ratio was 1.1∶1.0. The leading etiology was biliary disease (33 cases, 78.6%), and most patients encountered moderately severe disease (26 cases, 61.9%). The incidence of local complications was 83.3%, mainly thoracoabdominal effusion and peripancreatic effusion (30 cases, 71.4%). The incidence of systemic complications was 59.5%, mainly systemic inflammatory response syndrome (22 cases, 52.4%) and respiratory failure (15 cases, 35.7%). Principal component analysis showed significant differences in serum metabolites between groups. OPLS-DA showed that these metabolites effectively distinguished AP patients from healthy controls: R2=0.992 and Q2=0.913 in the positive ion mode, R2=0.983 and Q2=0.914 in the negative ion mode. There were 450 up-regulated and 366 down-regulated differential metabolites in AP group, respectively. Among them, gamma-glutamylleucine, cortisone, 4(15)-Copaen-11-ol, mytiloxanthin, and indole-3-glycol aldehyde were the top five up-regulated metabolites, while N-Acetyltryptophan, kynurenic acid, deoxyuridine monophosphate, pseudouridine, and farnesyl acetate were the top five down-regulated metabolites. ROC analysis of these markers showed that all AUC values were >0.8, with all P values <0.001, with both sensitivity and specificity exceeding 80%. Among them, N-Acetyltryptophan and farnesyl acetate possessed the best differential performance. Conclusions:Biliary causes are most frequent among AP patients in plateau area. The disease severity is mainly moderately severe, accompanied by high incidences of local and systemic complications. Some amino acids and prenol lipids could significantly distinguish AP patients from healthy controls, and might be involved in the pathogenesis of AP at high altitudes.

Objective:To summarize the clinical characteristics of patients with acute pancreatitis (AP) in plateau areas, and screen potential biomarkers for the pathogenesis of AP at high altitudes by metabolomics.Methods:A total of 42 patients with AP admitted to the Department of Gastroenterology in Lhasa People's Hospital from December 2023 to May 2024 were prospectively enrolled (AP group), and 33 healthy controls (Control group) were included during the same period. Demographic and clinical data were collected, and serum non-targeted metabolomics was performed based on ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry techniques. The serum metabolites map was evaluated by using principal component analysis, and a regression model with orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) was constructed to evaluate the explanatory power ( R2) and predictive power ( Q2) of these metabolites. The OPLS-DA-based dimensionality reduction was applied to compute variable importance in projection (VIP), while fold change (FC) values were used to assess the difference of metabolites between groups. A bidirectional clustering heat map was generated for samples and differential metabolites to evaluate sample similarity within groups. Additionally, a volcano plot was created to visualize differential metabolites, and the top five up-regulated and down-regulated metabolites distinguishing AP from healthy controls were selected. The receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was drawn, and the area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity and specificity based on ROC analysis were calculated to evaluate the differential power of differential metabolites. Results:The majority of participants were Tibetans in both the AP group (37 cases, 88.1%) and the control group (27 cases, 81.8%). The average age of AP patients was (50.45±17.85) years old, and the male to female ratio was 1.1∶1.0. The leading etiology was biliary disease (33 cases, 78.6%), and most patients encountered moderately severe disease (26 cases, 61.9%). The incidence of local complications was 83.3%, mainly thoracoabdominal effusion and peripancreatic effusion (30 cases, 71.4%). The incidence of systemic complications was 59.5%, mainly systemic inflammatory response syndrome (22 cases, 52.4%) and respiratory failure (15 cases, 35.7%). Principal component analysis showed significant differences in serum metabolites between groups. OPLS-DA showed that these metabolites effectively distinguished AP patients from healthy controls: R2=0.992 and Q2=0.913 in the positive ion mode, R2=0.983 and Q2=0.914 in the negative ion mode. There were 450 up-regulated and 366 down-regulated differential metabolites in AP group, respectively. Among them, gamma-glutamylleucine, cortisone, 4(15)-Copaen-11-ol, mytiloxanthin, and indole-3-glycol aldehyde were the top five up-regulated metabolites, while N-Acetyltryptophan, kynurenic acid, deoxyuridine monophosphate, pseudouridine, and farnesyl acetate were the top five down-regulated metabolites. ROC analysis of these markers showed that all AUC values were >0.8, with all P values <0.001, with both sensitivity and specificity exceeding 80%. Among them, N-Acetyltryptophan and farnesyl acetate possessed the best differential performance. Conclusions:Biliary causes are most frequent among AP patients in plateau area. The disease severity is mainly moderately severe, accompanied by high incidences of local and systemic complications. Some amino acids and prenol lipids could significantly distinguish AP patients from healthy controls, and might be involved in the pathogenesis of AP at high altitudes.

Objective To summarize the clinical characteristics,treatment outcomes,and prognostic factors of children with non-metastatic Ewing's sarcoma(ES).Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 41 children with non-metastatic ES diagnosed and treated at the Shanghai Children's Medical Center,Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from January 2010 to December 2018.All patients underwent chemotherapy based on the RMS-2009 protocol of the center,and local treatment such as surgery and/or radiotherapy was performed according to risk grouping.The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate the overall survival(OS)and event-free survival(EFS)rates.Univariate prognostic analysis was performed using the log-rank test,and multivariate analysis was conducted with Cox regression.Results Of the 41 children,21 were male and 20 were female.The median age at diagnosis was 7.7 years(range:1.2-14.6 years).The median follow-up time for patients with event-free survival was 68.1 months(range:8.1-151.7 months).As of the last follow-up,33 patients were in complete remission,and the overall 5-year EFS and OS rates were(78±6)％and(82±6)％,respectively.Univariate analysis by the log-rank test showed that a tumor diameter ≥8 cm,time from diagnosis to start of local treatment ≥16 weeks,and incomplete surgical resection were associated with poor prognosis(P＜0.05).Multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that incomplete surgical resection(HR=8.381,95％CI:1.681-41.801,P=0.010)was an independent risk factor for poor prognosis in children with ES.Secondary tumors occurred in 2 cases.Conclusions A comprehensive treatment strategy incorporating chemotherapy,surgery,and radiotherapy can improve the prognosis of children with ES.Poor prognosis is associated with an initial tumor diameter ≥8 cm,while complete surgical resection and early initiation of local treatment can improve outcomes.[Chinese Journal of Contemporary Pediatrics,2024,26(4):365-370]

Objective Current data are insufficient for comparisons of effectiveness between percutaneous coronary intervention(PCI)and coronary artery bypass grafting(CABG)among patients with coronary artery disease(CAD)and left ventricular dysfunction.Methods A total of 905 CAD patients with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF≤35％)in single center of China who underwent either PCI or CABG were enrolled in a real-world cohort study.Clinical outcomes included short-and long-term all-cause mortality,rates of heart failure(HF)hospitalization and repeat revascularization.Propensity score matching was used to balance the 2 cohorts.Results PCI was associated with lower 30-day mortality rate(HR 0.29,95％CI 0.09-0.88,P=0.029).At a mean follow-up of 4.5 years,PCI and CABG had similar all-cause death(HR 1.00,95％CI 0.67-1.50,P=0.990)and HF hospitalization(HR 0.81,95％CI 0.40-1.64,P=0.561),but PCI had higher risk of repeat revascularization(HR 14.46,95％CI 3.43-60.98,P＜0.001).PCI was associated with more significant LVEF improvement than CABG(P=0.031 for interaction).Conclusions CAD patients with reduced LVEF who underwent PCI had lower short-term mortality rate and more LVEF improvement but higher risk of repeat revascularization during follow-up than patients who underwent CABG.PCI showed comparable long-term survival and HF hospitalization risk.

Acupuncture and moxibustion has certain advantages in the treatment of post-stroke spastic paralysis，but the treatment methods and diagnosis and treatment ideas are complicated. This paper sortes out the representative contemporary acupuncture and moxibustion schools in the treatment of post-stroke spastic paralysis, analyzes their academic origins，summarizes and compares the theory，acupoint selection and technique characteristics of different schools in the diagnosis and treatment of this disease，so as to provide some references for guiding optimal treatment schemes selection in clinic.
Humans ; Moxibustion ; Muscle Spasticity/therapy* ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Schools ; Acupuncture Points ; Stroke/therapy*

Objective To explore the factors that affect the excretion rate of methotrexate and the occurrence of adverse reactions in high-dose methotrexate chemotherapy for osteosarcoma patients.Methods Retrospectively analyzed methotrexate excretion,liver injury,kidney injury,bone marrow suppression and other adverse drug reactions in 97 high-dose methotrexate chemotherapy cycles of 28 patients with osteosarcoma.The concentration of methotrexate in the blood at 0,24,48,72 h and the level of white protein in the blood were also analyzed.Results When the peak concentration of methotrexate(0h,Cmax)≥700 μmol·L-1 the risk of excretion delay increases:the incidence was 23.21％in group with Cmax ≥ 700 μmol·L-1,and it was 5.00％in group with Cmax＜700 μmol·L-1,(P＜0.05),but when the peak concentration was≥1 000 μmol·L-1,the risk of delayed excretion did not increase further:the incidence was 16.00％in group with Cmax 1 000 μmol·L-1,and it was 15.49％in group with Cmax＜1 000 μmol·L-1,(P＞0.05).Methotrexate blood Cmax has no significant correlation with the occurrence of important adverse reactions such as liver injury and bone marrow suppression.There was significant correlation between low serum albumin level and bone marrow suppression in patients.The average albumin level in group with bone marrow suppression was(39.1±3.4)g·L-1,which in without bone marrow suppression group was(41.2±4.0)g·L-1(P＜0.05).Conclusion During high-dose methotrexate chemotherapy in patients with osteosarcoma,delayed excretion and adverse reactions should not be prevented by lowering the peak concentration.The albumin level of patients is an important factor affecting the occurrence of bone marrow suppression.

COVID-19/epidemiology* ; Humans ; Mental Health ; Pandemics ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVES: The epidemic of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) among men who have sex with men (MSM) is severe in China. And MSM has now become a key population for the infection and transmission of AIDS. At present, the bottleneck of AIDS prevention and control among MSM population is low rate of continuous condom use and high incidence of unsafe sexual behavior. Inductive summarization of the literature revealed that the most critical reason for low rate of continuous condom use among the MSM population was condom-related stigma. Although many studies mentioned condom-related stigma among MSM populations, there has been no any definition of MSM-related condom stigma and no measurement for it. Therefore, the paper aims to explore barriers to condom use among MSM, then construct the conceptual and operational definition of "MSM-related condom stigma" through Meta synthesis and concept synthesis, and provide a new perspective for AIDS prevention and control among MSM. METHODS: Based on evidence-based method, "PICoS" framework and Meta-synthesis was used to include the literatures. Then, we used synthesized qualitative evidence from included studies to construct the concept and operational definition of MSM-related condom stigma by the means of thematic analysis and concept synthesis. RESULTS: According to the results of the concept synthesis, MSM-related condom stigma refers to any taboos or misbeliefs about condom use or feeling ashamed or embarrassed to talk about using condoms which perceived by individuals at the individual, interpersonal, and social levels.It was demonstrated through 4 sub-themes at operational level: a symbol of distrust, a symbol of HIV/sexual transmitted infections (STIs) prevention, a symbol of an embarrassing topic, and a symbol of violating the traditional cognition of sexual intercourse. According to the Social-ecological Model (SEM), a symbol of distrust refers to that the MSM population believes that not using condoms represents mutual trust between sexual partners, while using condoms is difficult to express intimacy, trust and loyalty between sexual partners. A symbol of HIV/STIs prevention at the interpersonal level refers to that the MSM population believes that condom use is a "symbol" for the prevention or infection of AIDS; on the one hand, if someone proposes to use condoms, he may be considered infected with HIV or have unsafe sex experiences, thus, making it difficult to propose condom use; on the other hand, if they believe that sexual partners are "AIDS free" (often a wrong perception, such as sexual partners may have the risk of AIDS infection although they do not have AIDS), it is considered that condom use is completely unnecessary. The environmental level includes a symbol of an embarrassing topic and a symbol of violating the traditional cognition of sexual intercourse. A symbol of an embarrassing topic refers to the MSM population feels shame about topics related to sexual behavior and is embarrassed to carry/buy/propose condom use or be ashamed to engage in conversations about whether to use condoms during sexual behavior. And a symbol of violating the traditional cognition of sexual intercourse: The MSM population have limitations in their perception of "sex" or "sexual behavior" and believe that real sex (behavior) is unobstructed contact between the bodies and exchange between all body fluids. CONCLUSIONS The concept of MSM-related condom stigma is proposed for the first time, and its operational definition is given. The concept includes 3 levels and 4 dimensions. It is helpful to understand MSM people's attitude and cognition towards condoms, and adds indicators with cultural sensitivity and behavioral sensitivity to the behavioral intervention for AIDS in the future.
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/prevention & control* ; Coitus ; Condoms ; HIV Infections/prevention & control* ; Homosexuality, Male ; Humans ; Male ; Sexual Partners ; Sexual and Gender Minorities

Objective To investigate the epidemiological characteristics and identify the risk factors of Giardia lamblia infections among patients with colorectal cancer in Henan Province. Methods A cross-sectional study was performed for questionnaire surveys among colorectal cancer patients in Henan Cancer Hospital during the period from March to July, 2021. Patients’ stool samples were collected, and the triosephosphate isomerase (tpi) gene of G. lamblia was amplified in stool samples using nested PCR assay to characterize the parasite genotype. Univariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression analyses were employed to identify the risk factors of G. lamblia infections among colorectal cancer patients. Results A total of 307 colorectal cancer patients were investigated, including 176 males (57.3%) and 131 females (42.7%). PCR assay detected 8.1% [95% confidential interval (CI): (0.056, 0.117)] prevalence of G. lamblia infections among the study subjects, and there was no significant difference in the prevalence between men [9.1%, 95% CI: (0.057, 0.143)] and women [6.9%, 95% CI: (0.037, 0.125)] (χ² = 0.495, P = 0.482). In addition, there was no age-specific prevalence of G. lamblia infections among the participants (χ² = 1.534, P = 0.675). Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified use of septic tanks [odds ratio (OR) = 3.336, 95% CI: (1.201, 9.267)], daily use of well water [OR = 3.042, 95% CI: (1.093, 8.465)] and raising livestock [OR = 3.740, 95% CI: (1.154, 12.121)] as risk factors of G. lamblia infections among colorectal cancer patients, and the prevalence of abdominal pain was significantly greater in colorectal cancer patients with G. lamblia infections than in those without infections (P = 0.017). Among the 25 patients with G. lamblia infections, assemblage A was characterized in 24 (96.0%) cases and assemblage B in one case (4.0%). Conclusions The prevalence of G. lamblia is high among colorectal cancer patients in Henan Province, and assemblage A is the dominant genotype of G. lamblia. Use of septic tanks, daily use of well water and raising livestock are risk factors of G. lamblia infections among patients with colorectal cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the application effect of sequential autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (Auto-HSCT) with lenalidomide, bortezomib and dexamethasone (RVD) in the treatment of multiple myeloma (MM) evaluated by propensity score matching. METHODS: The clinical data of 49 MM patients treated with RVD scheme and followed-up for 36 months in the hospital from January 2015 to January 2021 were retrospectively analyzed and included in the control group, the clinical data of 54 MM patients who received RVD scheme and sequential Auto-HSCT scheme and completed 36 months of follow-up in the hospital during the same period were collected and included in the observation group. PSM method (1∶1, caliper value=0.01) was used to match the control group with the observation group based on baseline data and laboratory indexes, covariate equilibrium samples were obtained between groups (40 cases in each group). The clinical efficacy of patients in the two groups after 18 weeks of treatment was compared; the incidence of toxic and side effects during treatment of patients in the two groups was compared; the survival of patients in the two groups was compared after 36 months of follow-up. RESULTS: The ORR and DCR in the observation group were higher than those in the control group, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). Compared the incidence of fatigue, rash, thrombocytopenia, anemia and nausea of patients in the two groups, there was no statistical significant difference (P>0.05). After 36 months of follow-up (no loss during follow-up), 4 cases died from illness in the observation group, with a survival rate of 90% and an average survival time of 35.61 (95% CI: 35541-35.685) months, 10 cases died from illness in the control group, with a survival rate of 75% and an average survival time of 34.70 (95% CI: 34.559-34.832) months, the survival rate of the observation group was higher than that of the control group, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). CONCLUSION Sequential Auto-HSCT with RVD regimen in the treatment of MM can improve the short-term efficacy and increase the survival rate of patients, which will not increase toxic and side effects and has high safety.
Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols/therapeutic use* ; Bortezomib/therapeutic use* ; Dexamethasone ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation/adverse effects* ; Humans ; Multiple Myeloma/drug therapy* ; Propensity Score ; Retrospective Studies ; Transplantation, Autologous/methods* ; Treatment Outcome