Objective:To explore the characteristics and changes of cardiac injury with age in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and its clinical significance.Methods:A prospective cohort study was conducted. The 215 patients diagnosed with DMD in West China Second Hospital from January 2019 to November 2022 and aged from 6 to 18 years were enrolled. Their clinical data, myocardial injury markers, routine electrocardiogram, cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) and echocardiography were collected. The patients were divided into five age groups: 6-<8, 8-<10, 10-<12, 12-<14 and 14-18 years of age, and matched with healthy boys respectively. Independent sample t test or Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the clinical data and CMR indexes between DMD patients and controls in all age subgroups, and to compare the value of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) measured by echocardiography and CMR in each subgroup of DMD patitents. Pearson correlation analysis or Spearman correlation analysis was used to explore the relation between the CMR indexes and age in DMD patients. Results:A total of 215 patients with DMD (all male) and 122 healthy boys were included in the study. There were 75 DMD patients and 23 controls in 6-<8 years of age group, 77 DMD and 28 controls in 8-<10 years of age group, 39 DMD and 23 controls in 10-<12 years of age group, 10 DMD and 31 controls in the 12-<14 years of age group, and 14 DMD and 17 controls in 14-18 years of age group. In the DMD patients, the older the age, the lower the levels of creatine kinase (CK) and creatine kinase isoenzyme (CK-MB). In the 6-<8 years of age group, the CK level was 10 760 (7 800, 15 757) U/L, while in the group of 14-18 years of age, it was 2 369 (1 480, 6 944) U/L. As for CK-MB, it was (189±17) μg/L in the 6-<8 years of age group and (62±16) μg/L in the 14-18 years of age group. Cardiac troponin I remained unchanged in <12 years of age groups, but significantly increased in 12-<14 years of age group, reaching the highest value of 0.112 (0.006, 0.085) μg/L. In the DMD patients, the older the age, the higher the proportion of abnormal electrocardiogram (ECG). In the 6-<8 years of age group, the proportion is 29.3% (22/75), while in the 14-18 years of age group, it was 10/14. Correlation analysis showed that the left ventricular end-diastolic volume index was positively related with age ( r=0.18, P=0.015), and the left ventricular stroke volume index and cardiac output index were negatively related with age ( r=-0.34 and -0.31, respectively, both P<0.001). In the DMD patients, the older the age, the lower LVEF, with the LVEF decreasing to (49.3±3.1)% in the 14-18 years of age group. The LVEF of DMD cases was significantly lower than that of controls in the age subgroups of 8-<10, 10-<12, 12-<14 and 14-18 years of age groups ((57.9±5.2) % vs. (63.6±0.8)%, 60.7% (55.9%, 61.9%) vs. 63.7% (60.2%, 66.0%), 57.1% (51.8%, 63.4%) vs. 62.1 % (59.5%, 64.5)%, (49.3±3.1) % vs. (61.6±1.3)%, respectively; all P<0.01). In the DMD patients, the older the age, the higher the proportion of positive late gadolinium enhancement (LGE). In the 6-<8 years of age group, it was 22% (11/51), in the 12-<14 years of age group, it was 13/14, and in the 14-18 years of age group, all DMD showed positive LGE. The value of LVEF of DMD cases measured by echocardiography was significantly higher than that measured by CMR in 6-<8 years of age group and 8-<10 years of age group (63.2% (60.1%, 66.4%) vs. 59.1 % (55.4%, 62.9%), and (62.8±5.2) % vs. (57.9±5.2)%, all P<0.001). Conclusion:DMD patients develop cardiac injury in the early stage of the disease, and the incidence of cardiac damage gradually increases with both age and the progression of disease.

Humans ; Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne/epidemiology* ; Prevalence ; Myocardium

Objective:To evaluate the diagnostic value of serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels and multi-parameter magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) in patients with granulomatous prostatitis after intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) therapy.Methods:The medical records of eight patients with pathologically proven granulomatous prostatitis in Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University from January, 2015 to June, 2020, were enrolled and analyzed in this retrospective study. All 8 patients (ages 47-76, mean 63.6) underwent pelvic mpMRI and serum tPSA levels before TURBT, which showed the results of tPSA, f/t and mpMRI were normal before TURBT (0.45-3.62 ng/ml, 0.20-0.51 and normal signal intensities on T1WI and T2WI, respectively). All patients underwent intravesical BCG therapy after post-TURBT 4-6-weeks’ intravesical gemcitabine therapy as a result of pathologically proven middle and high risk NMIBC via cystoscopy.Results:The results of tPSA levels in all 8 patients were elevated after intravesical BCG therapy after 9-15 months (mean 10.5 months), with 4 patients above 4 (6.77-12.89)ng/ml and 4 patients within the normal ranges(2.02-2.68)ng/ml, and f/t levels decreased to lower than 0.16 (0.09-0.15)in all patients. The mpMRI abnormal signals in all patients were all located in the peripheral zone of prostate. All nodular lesions of prostate mpMRI showed lower signal intensity (SI) on T2WI, higher SI on DWI and lower SI on ADC after BCG therapy. All patients underwent prostate biopsy for abnormal signal on prostate mpMRI. The biopsy pathologic results of all patients were granulomatous prostatitis.Conclusions:When elevated PSA and abnormal signals on prostate mpMRI after intravesical BCG therapy occurred, prostate biopsy may not be required for secondary granulomatous prostatitis patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer in combination of clinical history.

Objective: To determine whether T1 mapping could monitor the dynamic changes of injury in myocardial infarction (MI) and be histologically validated. Materials and Methods: In 22 pigs, MI was induced by ligating the left anterior descending artery and they underwent serial cardiovascular magnetic resonance examinations with modified Look-Locker inversion T1 mapping and extracellular volume (ECV) computation in acute (within 24 hours, n = 22), subacute (7 days, n = 13), and chronic (3 months, n = 7) phases of MI. Masson’s trichrome staining was performed for histological ECV calculation. Myocardial native T1 and ECV were obtained by region of interest measurement in infarcted, peri-infarct, and remote myocardium. Results: Native T1 and ECV in peri-infarct myocardium differed from remote myocardium in acute (1181 ± 62 ms vs. 1113 ± 64 ms, p = 0.002; 24 ± 4% vs. 19 ± 4%, p = 0.031) and subacute phases (1264 ± 41 ms vs. 1171 ± 56 ms, p < 0.001; 27 ± 4% vs. 22 ± 2%, p = 0.009) but not in chronic phase (1157 ± 57 ms vs. 1120 ± 54 ms, p = 0.934; 23 ± 2% vs. 20 ± 1%, p = 0.109). From acute to chronic MI, infarcted native T1 peaked in subacute phase (1275 ± 63 ms vs. 1637 ± 123 ms vs. 1471 ± 98 ms, p < 0.001), while ECV progressively increased with time (35 ± 7% vs. 46 ± 6% vs. 52 ± 4%,p < 0.001). Native T1 correlated well with histological findings (R2 = 0.65 to 0.89, all p < 0.001) so did ECV (R2 = 0.73 to 0.94, all p < 0.001). Conclusion T1 mapping allows the quantitative assessment of injury in MI and the noninvasive monitoring of tissue injury evolution, which correlates well with histological findings.

Objective: To determine whether T1 mapping could monitor the dynamic changes of injury in myocardial infarction (MI) and be histologically validated. Materials and Methods: In 22 pigs, MI was induced by ligating the left anterior descending artery and they underwent serial cardiovascular magnetic resonance examinations with modified Look-Locker inversion T1 mapping and extracellular volume (ECV) computation in acute (within 24 hours, n = 22), subacute (7 days, n = 13), and chronic (3 months, n = 7) phases of MI. Masson’s trichrome staining was performed for histological ECV calculation. Myocardial native T1 and ECV were obtained by region of interest measurement in infarcted, peri-infarct, and remote myocardium. Results: Native T1 and ECV in peri-infarct myocardium differed from remote myocardium in acute (1181 ± 62 ms vs. 1113 ± 64 ms, p = 0.002; 24 ± 4% vs. 19 ± 4%, p = 0.031) and subacute phases (1264 ± 41 ms vs. 1171 ± 56 ms, p < 0.001; 27 ± 4% vs. 22 ± 2%, p = 0.009) but not in chronic phase (1157 ± 57 ms vs. 1120 ± 54 ms, p = 0.934; 23 ± 2% vs. 20 ± 1%, p = 0.109). From acute to chronic MI, infarcted native T1 peaked in subacute phase (1275 ± 63 ms vs. 1637 ± 123 ms vs. 1471 ± 98 ms, p < 0.001), while ECV progressively increased with time (35 ± 7% vs. 46 ± 6% vs. 52 ± 4%,p < 0.001). Native T1 correlated well with histological findings (R2 = 0.65 to 0.89, all p < 0.001) so did ECV (R2 = 0.73 to 0.94, all p < 0.001). Conclusion T1 mapping allows the quantitative assessment of injury in MI and the noninvasive monitoring of tissue injury evolution, which correlates well with histological findings.

Objective:To investigate the feasibility of absolute ethanol in the treatment of brain arteriovenous malformation (bAVM).Methods:The clinical data of 25 patients with bAVM treated with absolute ethanol in the specialty of intracranial vascular malformations in Henan Provincial People′s Hospital from September 2018 to May 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. There were 14 males and 11 females, aged 7-62 years, with a median age of 26 years. Among the 25 patients, 18 cases had ruptured bAVM, 7 cases had unruptured bAVM. Spezler-Martin grade<Ⅲ were found in 14 cases, Ⅲ grade in 7 cases, and >Ⅲ grade in 4 cases. The clinical effect and perioperative complications were observed.Results:Among 25 patients, the overall technical success rate was 96.0% (24/25), one of which the target lesion with anhydrous ethanol could not be ablated. The overall complication rate was 28.0% (7/25) with no death. All complications were ischemic, and the incidence of severe complications was 12.0% (3/25). Twenty-five patients were followed up 3 months after the operation, 4 of which had mild complications, 2 recovered completely and 2 made reasonable recovery. In the 3 patients with severe complications, 2 patients made reasonable recovery and 1 patient had significant improvement. The modified rankin scale (MRS) score of all patients with complications was ≤2, and the remaining 18 patients had no new onset clinical symptoms. Thirteen patients were followed up by DSA and MRI. DSA showed no recurrence in the lesions ablated by absolute ethanol. In 2 patients with partial residual malformation after operation, the residual deformities disappeared completely at the time of reexamination. MRI showed that brain edema disappeared in all patients.Conclusions:The ablation of absolute ethanol in bAVM has a high operation success rate, definite clinical effect and low recurrence rate of postoperative bAVM. It can be used as an exploratory treatment.

Objective:To investigate the value and molecular mechanism of gastric cancer stem cells in invasion and metastasis of gastric cancer.Methods:Gastric cancer stem cells were isolated by spheroid culture method, and the biological characteristics were identified. The role of gastric cancer stem cells in multidrug resistance, invasion and metastasis was analyzed. The important molecules involved in the biological behavior of gastric cancer stem cells were identified by gene chip. Screening of the signaling pathway revealed that anthrax toxin receptor 2 (ANTXR2)plays an important role in invasion, metastasis, glomerization and tumor formation.Results:Sox2 and Bmi1 expression in SGC7901 and MGC803 cells were significantly higher than monolayer culture cells (15.39±3.23). Oct4 express increased to (4.19±0.62). The expression levels of the dry-related genes Bmi1, Sox2 and Oct4 in SGC7901-SC cells were (3.29±0.52), (3.12±0.49), (2.58±0.35), respectively, which were higher than those of SGC7901-MN cells, Bmi1, Sox2 and Oct4, respectively. The differences were statistically significant ( t=5.392, 7.316, 6.449, all P<0.05) for (1.41±0.39), (2.04±0.33), (1.39±0.32); in primary cells XN0422-SC and in SGC7901-SC cells, miR-638 was in high expression (0.69±0.11), and miR-181b and miR-181a in low expression (0.12±0.05) and (0.15±0.07). ANTXR2 expression in SGC7901-SC cells was higher than that in SGC7901-MN cells ( t=6.216, P<0.05). The ANTXR2 positive cells in SGC7901-SC was 85.48%. The proportion of ANTXR2 positive cells in SGC7901 was 4.98%. Gastric cancer cells XN0422 and SGC7901 were affected by PLVT713, and ANTXR2 expression protein decreased. Conclusion:ANTXR effects a regulatory role by activating the Src/ERk signaling pathway, which can be used to predict the biological beharious of gastric cancer.

Objective To quantitative evaluate the myocardial microcirculation dysfunction in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD),and to provide the imaging characteristic for early detection myocardial dysfunction and microcirculation damage in the ESRD patients after dialysis therapy.Methods Sixty-seven patients with ESRD and 1 9 healthy subj ects were enrolled in our study, and the ESRD patients were divided into two groups including patients with preserved systolic function (n=51,EF≥50%)and patients with impaired systolic function (n=16,EF＜50%).The LV regional myocardial perfusion parameters were analyzed including upslope, time to maximum signal intensity (TTM)and max signal intensity (Max SI).Those continuous variables were compared using one-way analysis of variance (A N OVA )in all three groups.Results Compared with the controls and the ESRD patients with preserved EF,the ESRD patients with impaired EF had a significantly lower SV and markedly increased LV mass (all P＜0.001).For the fist-pass perfusion analysis,first-pass perfusion Max SI of all segments were significantly reduced in the ESRD patients with preserved/impaired EF compared with the normal subjects (all P＜0.05).Compared with the ESRD patients with preserved EF and controls,the ESRD patients with impaired EF had lower upslope in the basal segment (P＜0.05).And the ESRD patients with preserved/impaired EF had shorter TTM in the apical segment than that in normal controls (P＜0.01).Conclusion The CMR first-pass perfusion can detect the myocardial deformation and dysfunction in ESRD patients,the Max SI may be more valuable to early detect myocardial microcirculation dysfunction.

Objective To evaluate the feasibility of transvenous embolization treatment for cerebral arteriovenous malformations(bAVM). Methods From November 2016 to April 2017, the information of 6 patients with brain arteriovenous malformation in our center accepting the intravenous radical embolization were collected, who were ruptured bAVM, bAVM with a single drainage vein, not suitable for surgery confirmed by neurosurgeon consultation or explicitly refused craniotomy. The modified Rankin Scale score of five patients were smaller than three before treatment.The location of draining vein flowing venous sinus was shown by rotational DSA and 3D reconstructed images.A liquid embolic agent was injected via Sonic catheter to completely embolism the brain arteriovenous malformation under controlling blood pressure and blocking the blood provisionally.The perioperative complications and modified Rankin Scale score were observed and recorded 30 days after treatment. Results The transvenous embolization treatment was successfully performed in six patients with 7 embolization procedures.There were no definite operation-related complications. the mRS of all cases were ≤1 within 30 days after operation. Conclusion The embolization technique via the internal jugular vein is feasible for bAVM patients with a single drainage vein,while the long-term outcome need more evaluations.

Objective To evaluate the complications of the Pipeline embolization device in treating complex cerebral aneurysm. Methods Consecutive data of 53 patients who suffered from complex cerebral aneurysm and underwent Pipeline device treatment were retrospectively collected and analyzed. Clinical and imaging data including aneurysm location, type, size and the using of coils, were recorded to investigate the complications. Results Pipeline embolization device was successfully implanted, and 27 patients were combined with coils. Five complications occurred in the 1-month perioperative stage, of which, 1 was disable and 1 was fatal. Two non-disability complications occurred in the later stage beyond 1 month, of which, 1 was cerebral infraction and 1 was intraparenchymal hemorrhage. The Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that the posterior circulation location, types, large size and the using of coils were not statistically significant risk factors for complications. The median imaging follow-up for 43 patients with 58 aneurysms was 6 months, the complete and sub-complete occlusion rate of aneurysms was 74.1％ (43 / 58) and 3 non-symptomatic stenosis occurred in the patients with Pipeline embolization device. Conclusions The occlusion rate of Pipeline embolization device in treating Chinese complex cerebral aneurysm is high , but another further research should be done for the mechanism and the prevention methods of the complications.