Objective To evaluate the clinical characteristics and risk factors of healthcare-associated urinary tract infection(HA-UTI)due to vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus(VRE),and provide basis for clinical prevention and control.Methods Patients with VRE HA-UTI in a tertiary first-class hospital in Guangdong Province from January 2021 to October 2023 were selected as the VRE group.A 1∶2 case-control study method was conducted to select pa-tients with vancomycin-sensitive Enterococcus(VSE)UTI as the VSE group.Clinical characteristics of two groups of patients were compared and analyzed.Risk factors for VRE HA-UTI were analyzed using univariate regression and logistic multivariate regression.Results A total of 32 patients in the VRE group and 64 patients in the VSE group were included in the analysis.In VRE group,most patients were female(68.75％),aged≥60 years(71.88％),and from intensive care unit(ICU,56.25％).The main detected pathogen was vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium(VREfm,96.87％).The proportion of clinical symptoms such as fever and lumbago as well as the levels of procalcitonin(PCT)and C-reactive protein(CRP)in patients in the VRE group were all higher than those in the VSE group(all P＜0.05).Logistic regression analysis results showed that concomitant pulmonary infection(OR=6.890,95％CI:1.098-43.218,P=0.039),history of hypertension(OR=4.240,95％CJ:1.084-16.581,P=0.038),and cephalosporin antibiotic exposure before infection(OR=4.642,95％CI:1.270-16.967,P=0.020)were independent risk factors for VRE HA-UTI.There were 32 and 64 strains of Enterococcus detected from VRE group and VSE group,respectively.VRE had higher resistance rates to ciprofloxacin,amoxicillin,ampicillin,peni-cillin G,tetracycline,high concentration gentamicin,and levofloxacin than VSE(all P＜0.05).Conclusion Pa-tients with VRE HA-UTI often have multiple underlying diseases and poor nutritional status,and are highly resis-tant to multiple antimicrobial agents.Clinical attention should be focused on patients with concomitant pulmonary infection,history of hypertension,and exposure to cephalosporin antibiotics.

Objective:To compare the efficacy of the detection kit based on MicroDrop microdroplet digital PCR platform that can identify mycoplasma pneumonia and common drug-resistance mutation,and throughout targeted next-generation sequencing(tNGS)in detecting common drug-resistance mutations of mycoplasma pneumonia.Methods:A total of 300 samples of clinical respiratory tract of pneumonia inpatients at Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital between 2023 and 2024 were collected.Both the detection kit for drug-resistance mutation of mycoplasma pneumoniae and the tNGS method were employed to detect drug-resistance mutation genes.For samples with inconsistent results,Sanger sequencing was used for verification.Results:For the 300 samples,the detection rates of positive mycoplasma pneumonia of the detection kit for drug-resistance mutation of mycoplasma pneumoniae and the tNGS method were respectively 87.00%and 78.67%,with a Kappa value of 0.711,indicating a relatively high level of agreement between the two methods.Among 25 samples with inconsistent results,Sanger sequencing was employed for validation.The results revealed that for samples with low-frequency gene mutations,the reagent kit maintained reliable detection capability,whereas tNGS exhibited missed detections.Thus,the reagent kit demonstrates superior performance in detecting low-frequency mutation samples.Conclusion:The detection rate of low-frequency mutation samples by the digital PCR-based mycoplasma pneumoniae drug-resistance mutation detection kit is higher than that of the tNGS method.This approach helps enhance the accuracy of detection results,providing a rapid and precise means of detecting drug-resistance genes for clinical diagnosis and treatment.

Objective To evaluate the clinical characteristics and risk factors of healthcare-associated urinary tract infection(HA-UTI)due to vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus(VRE),and provide basis for clinical prevention and control.Methods Patients with VRE HA-UTI in a tertiary first-class hospital in Guangdong Province from January 2021 to October 2023 were selected as the VRE group.A 1∶2 case-control study method was conducted to select pa-tients with vancomycin-sensitive Enterococcus(VSE)UTI as the VSE group.Clinical characteristics of two groups of patients were compared and analyzed.Risk factors for VRE HA-UTI were analyzed using univariate regression and logistic multivariate regression.Results A total of 32 patients in the VRE group and 64 patients in the VSE group were included in the analysis.In VRE group,most patients were female(68.75％),aged≥60 years(71.88％),and from intensive care unit(ICU,56.25％).The main detected pathogen was vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium(VREfm,96.87％).The proportion of clinical symptoms such as fever and lumbago as well as the levels of procalcitonin(PCT)and C-reactive protein(CRP)in patients in the VRE group were all higher than those in the VSE group(all P＜0.05).Logistic regression analysis results showed that concomitant pulmonary infection(OR=6.890,95％CI:1.098-43.218,P=0.039),history of hypertension(OR=4.240,95％CJ:1.084-16.581,P=0.038),and cephalosporin antibiotic exposure before infection(OR=4.642,95％CI:1.270-16.967,P=0.020)were independent risk factors for VRE HA-UTI.There were 32 and 64 strains of Enterococcus detected from VRE group and VSE group,respectively.VRE had higher resistance rates to ciprofloxacin,amoxicillin,ampicillin,peni-cillin G,tetracycline,high concentration gentamicin,and levofloxacin than VSE(all P＜0.05).Conclusion Pa-tients with VRE HA-UTI often have multiple underlying diseases and poor nutritional status,and are highly resis-tant to multiple antimicrobial agents.Clinical attention should be focused on patients with concomitant pulmonary infection,history of hypertension,and exposure to cephalosporin antibiotics.

Objective:To compare the efficacy of the detection kit based on MicroDrop microdroplet digital PCR platform that can identify mycoplasma pneumonia and common drug-resistance mutation,and throughout targeted next-generation sequencing(tNGS)in detecting common drug-resistance mutations of mycoplasma pneumonia.Methods:A total of 300 samples of clinical respiratory tract of pneumonia inpatients at Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital between 2023 and 2024 were collected.Both the detection kit for drug-resistance mutation of mycoplasma pneumoniae and the tNGS method were employed to detect drug-resistance mutation genes.For samples with inconsistent results,Sanger sequencing was used for verification.Results:For the 300 samples,the detection rates of positive mycoplasma pneumonia of the detection kit for drug-resistance mutation of mycoplasma pneumoniae and the tNGS method were respectively 87.00%and 78.67%,with a Kappa value of 0.711,indicating a relatively high level of agreement between the two methods.Among 25 samples with inconsistent results,Sanger sequencing was employed for validation.The results revealed that for samples with low-frequency gene mutations,the reagent kit maintained reliable detection capability,whereas tNGS exhibited missed detections.Thus,the reagent kit demonstrates superior performance in detecting low-frequency mutation samples.Conclusion:The detection rate of low-frequency mutation samples by the digital PCR-based mycoplasma pneumoniae drug-resistance mutation detection kit is higher than that of the tNGS method.This approach helps enhance the accuracy of detection results,providing a rapid and precise means of detecting drug-resistance genes for clinical diagnosis and treatment.

Objective:To explore the role of information-based points system management platform in enhancing the medical management capabilities of laboratory medicine.Methods:A total of 106 personnel who were on duty from January 2021 to December 2022 in the clinical laboratory of Guangdong Provincial People′s Hospital were selected and divided into 8 professional groups, including 24 in Clinical Routine Lab, 22 in Clinical Biochemistry Lab, 11 in Clinical Immune Lab, 13 in Clinical Microbiology Lab, 10 in Clinical Molecular Lab, 9 in Flow Cytometry Lab, 9 in HuiFu Lab, and 8 in Interdisciplinary Lab. Information-based points system management platform was established by formulating the detailed rules for the assessment of this points system, and the points achieved by the 106 participants in 2021 and 2022 were obtained and analyzed. The points were divided into 6 intervals (<41, 41-45, 46-50, 51-55, 56-60 and>60).Results:The overall medical points of laboratory medicine was significantly higher in 2022 than in 2021 (52.15±5.48 vs 49.81±3.73, P<0.001). In 2022, the number of participants with points between 41-45 and 46-50 intervals was lower than those in 2021; with points 51-55, 56-60 and>60 intervals was higher than those in 2021 (χ2=10.479, P<0.05). In addition, the points of Clinical Molecular, Clinical Microbiology and HuiFu Lab were 57.46±7.40, 52.05±5.43 and 54.98±4.31 respectively, which were significantly higher than those of 2021 (50.16±4.14, 49.10±4.06, 49.23±4.28, respectively;all P<0.05). The number of report revisions has significantly decreased in 2022 (18) compared to that in 2021 (48), clinical communication and various levels of publicity and promotion were significantly increased from 52 and 58 (2021) to 108 and 137 (2022), respectively. Conclusion:The construction and application of the information-based points management system have effectively improved the enthusiasm and subjective initiative of laboratory personnel, enhanced the quality and service capabilities of laboratory medicine, and might serve as an important tool for standardized management of laboratory medicine.

ObjectiveTo study the changes of body composition indexes reflecting muscle condition for stroke hemiplegic patients after isokinetic strength training. MethodsFrom January, 2021 to April, 2022, 30 stroke inpatients with hemiplegia in Beichen Hospital of Nankai University were randomly divided into control group (n = 15) and isokinetic group (n = 15). Both groups accepted routine rehabilitation training, while the isokinetic group accepted isokinetic strength training of shoulder and elbow on the affected side in addition. All patients were tested the lean body mass, affected upper arm muscle circumference, affected upper limb muscle mass, edema index, skeletal muscle index before, and two weeks and four weeks after training. ResultsCompared with the control group, the edema index decreased in isokinetic group after training (t > 2.536, P < 0.05); the affected upper limb muscle mass increased more in the isokinetic group four weeks after training (t = -2.750, P = 0.010). ConclusionIsokinetic training can reduce edema and muscular disuse atrophy of the affected side for stroke patients with hemiplegia.

Objective To evaluate the regulatory role of azithromycin-induced persistent Chlamydia trachomatis (Ct) infection in the apoptosis of Hela229 cells.Methods Hela229 cells were firstly co-cultured with Ct for 22 hours,and then cultured with Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) containing 0.08 mg/L azithromycin for 26 hours to establish a cell model of persistent Ct infection (persistent infection group).These infected Hela229 cells cultured with azithromycin-free DMEM served as a cell model of acute Ct infection (acute infection group).After 48-hour infection with Ct,azithromycin was removed,and infected Hela229 cells in the above 2 groups were successively cultured with DMEM for the resurgence of Ct.Immunofluorescence assay and electron microscopy were performed to verify the persistent Ct infection model.The Hela229 cells in the persistent infection group and acute infection group as well as uninfected Hela229 cells (control group) were treated with staurosporine (STS) for 4 hours to induce the apoptosis,and then cell apoptosis was detected by Hoechst 33258 staining,annexin V/propidium iodide staining and flow cytometry.Results After the treatment with azithromycin,atypical inclusions with aberrant reticulate bodies appeared in the Ct-infected cells.After removing azithromycin,cells were cultured until 96 hours after infection,and infectious elementary bodies reappeared in the Ct inclusions.After the treatment with STS,Hoechst staining showed that there was loose chromatin in the persistently infected cells,while chromatin condensation was observed in the uninfected cells.After 24-hour infection with Ct and 4-hour induction with STS,the apoptosis rate was significantly higher in the persistent infection group (45.567％ ± 2.631％) than in the acute infection group (38.567％ ± 1.701％,t =2.686,P =0.028),but significantly lower in the persistent infection group than in the uninfected group (69.800％ ± 2.835％,t =8.187,P ＜ 0.001).After 48-hour infection with Ct and 4-hour induction with STS,there was a significant difference in the apoptosis rate between the persistent infection group (46.700％ ± 5.257％) and acute infection group (61.767％ ± 1.815％,t =5.781,P ＜ 0.001),as well as between the persistent infection group and the uninfected group (68.667％ ± 3.156％,t =7.421,P ＜ 0.001).Conclusion This study showed that azithromycin-induced persistent Ct infection regulated the apoptosis of host cells,and this effect lasted 48 hours.

Objective     To evaluate a score system to allow stratification of complexity in degenerative mitral valve repair. Methods     We retrospectively reviewed the clinical data of 312 consecutive patients who underwent surgery for mitral valve repair and whose preoperative echocardiography was referable in our hospital from January 2012 to December 2013. A scoring system for surgical complexity was used based mainly on the preoperative echocardiography findings. Complexity of mitral valve repair was scored as 1 to 9, and patients were categorized into 3 groups based on the score for surgical complexity: a simple group (1 point), an intermediate group (2-4 points) and a complex group (≥5 points). There were 86 males and 35 females in the simple group (n=121) with an average age of 51.6±12.6 years, 105 males and 53 females in the intermediate group (n=158) with an average age of 51.1±12.8 years and 25 males and 8 females in the complex group (n=33) with an average age of 49.3±13.0 years. Results     There was significant difference in surgical complexity in different groups. In the simple, intermediate and complex groups, the mean cardiopulmonary bypass time was 111.7±45.5 min, 117.7±40.4 min and 153.4±74.2 min (P<0.001), the mean cross-clamping time was 77.5±33.8 min, 83.2±29.9 min and 108.8±56.2 min (P<0.001), and the mean number of repair techniques utilized was 2.1±0.4, 2.4±0.6 and 2.8±0.8 (P<0.001). However, there was no significant difference in the early and late outcomes in different groups. Conclusion     It is feasible to use echocardiography to quantitatively evaluate the difficulty of mitral valvuloplasty.