Objective: To investigate the prevalence of human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV) infection among blood donors in Hunan Province from 2022 to 2024. Methods: A total of 1 830 342 blood donors from 14 prefecture-level blood centers in Hunan Province over the past three years were screened for anti-HTLV-Ⅰ/Ⅱ using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Initially reactive samples were further tested with Line Immunoassay (LIA )/MP-Western blot and RT-PCR nucleic acid test for confirmation. Blood donors confirmed positive for HTLV were tracked and followed up. Results: From 2022 to 2024, the initial ELISA reactive rate for anti-HTLV-I/II among blood donors in Hunan Province was 1.36 per 10 000 (249/1 830 342). The confirmed positive rate was 0.20 per 10 000 (37/1 830 342), accounting for 14.86% of the initially reactive donors. The follow-up success rate for confirmed HTLV-positive blood donors was only 18.92%, while that for HTLV-indeterminate donors was 54.17%. Conclusion: The confirmed HTLV infection rates in Yueyang, Loudi, Shaoyang, Yiyang, and Zhuzhou cities were higher than the provincial (0.20 per 10 000). Chenzhou, Yongzhou, Zhangjiajie, and Xiangxi were identified as low prevalence areas, with an infection rate of 0. The overall follow-up success rate was low, indicating significant difficulties and bottlenecks in follow-up work. The comprehensive screening for HTLV and follow-up studies in Hunan provide valuable data to further improve blood safety testing strategies and risk warning mechanisms.

Objective To clarify the risk factors of diaphragmatic dysfunction (DD) after cardiac surgery with extracorporeal circulation. Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on the data of patients who underwent cardiac surgery with extracorporeal circulation in the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery of Peking University People's Hospital from January 2023 to March 2024. Patients were divided into two groups according to the results of bedside diaphragm ultrasound: a DD group and a control group. The preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative indicators of the patients were compared and analyzed, and independent risk factors for DD were screened using multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results A total of 281 patients were included, with 32 patients in the DD group, including 23 males and 9 females, with an average age of (64.0±13.5) years. There were 249 patients in the control group, including 189 males and 60 females, with an average age of (58.0±11.2) years. The body mass index of the DD group was lower than that of the control group [(18.4±1.5) kg/m2 vs. (21.9±1.8) kg/m2, P=0.004], and the prevalence of hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart failure, and renal insufficiency was higher in the DD group (P<0.05). There was no statistical difference in intraoperative indicators (operation method, extracorporeal circulation time, aortic clamping time, and intraoperative nasopharyngeal temperature) between the two groups (P>0.05). In terms of postoperative aspects, the peak postoperative blood glucose in the DD group was significantly higher than that in the control group (P=0.001), and the proportion of patients requiring continuous renal replacement therapy was significantly higher than that in the control group (P=0.001). The postoperative reintubation rate, tracheotomy rate, mechanical ventilation time, and intensive care unit stay time in the DD group were higher or longer than those in the control group (P<0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that low body mass index [OR=0.72, 95%CI (0.41, 0.88), P=0.011], preoperative dialysis [OR=2.51, 95%CI (1.89, 4.14), P=0.027], low left ventricular ejection fraction [OR=0.88, 95%CI (0.71, 0.93), P=0.046], and postoperative hyperglycemia [OR=3.27, 95%CI (2.58, 5.32), P=0.009] were independent risk factors for DD. Conclusion The incidence of DD is relatively high after cardiac surgery, and low body mass index, preoperative renal insufficiency requiring dialysis, low left ventricular ejection fraction, and postoperative hyperglycemia are risk factors for DD.

Background::Carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) and diameter, stiffness, and wave reflections, are independent and important clinical biomarkers and risk predictors for cardiovascular diseases. The purpose of the present study was to establish nationwide reference values of carotid properties for healthy Chinese adults and to explore potential clinical determinants.Methods::A total of 3053 healthy Han Chinese adults (1922 women) aged 18-79 years were enrolled at 28 collaborating tertiary centers throughout China between April 2021 and July 2022. The real-time tracking of common carotid artery walls was achieved by the radio frequency (RF) ultrasound system. The IMT, diameter, compliance coefficient, β stiffness, local pulse wave velocity (PWV), local systolic blood pressure, augmented pressure (AP), and augmentation index (AIx) were then automatically measured and reported. Data were stratified by age groups and sex. The relationships between age and carotid property parameters were analyzed by Jonckheere-Terpstra test and simple linear regressions. The major clinical determinants of carotid properties were identified by Pearson’s correlation, multiple linear regression, and analyses of covariance.Results::All the parameters of carotid properties demonstrated significantly age-related trajectories. Women showed thinner IMT, smaller carotid diameter, larger AP, and AIx than men. The β stiffness and PWV were significantly higher in men than women before forties, but the differences reversed after that. The increase rate of carotid IMT (5.5 μm/year in women and 5.8 μm/year in men) and diameter (0.03 mm/year in both men and women) were similar between men and women. For the stiffness and wave reflections, women showed significantly larger age-related variations than men as demonstrated by steeper regression slopes (all P for age by sex interaction <0.05). The blood pressures, body mass index (BMI), and triglyceride levels were identified as major clinical determinants of carotid properties with adjustment of age and sex. Conclusions::The age- and sex-specific reference values of carotid properties measured by RF ultrasound for healthy Chinese adults were established. The blood pressures, BMI, and triglyceride levels should be considered for clinical application of corresponding reference values.

Once ischemic stroke occurs,severely insufficient blood supply causes massive neuronal apoptosis and necrosis,leading to the release of damage-associated molecular patterns(DAMPs)that exacerbate neuroinflammation and worsen brain damage.As the resident efferocytes in central nervous system,microglia possess the capability to phagocytose and eliminate ap-optotic cells by efferocytosis before necrosis occurs,thereby mit-igating the release of DAMPs and the accumulation of cellular debris.This process is crucial for neuroinflammation reduction and neurorestoration.Hence,a comprehensive understanding of the regulatory mechanism of microglial efferocytosis post-ische-mia,as well as its impact on neuroinflammation and cerebral damage,has the potential to advance diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for ischemic stroke.Here,we outline the molecular mechanisms and signaling pathways involved in microglial effero-cytosis following ischemic stroke,and summarize the research progress on drugs targeting microglial efferocytosis to enhance stroke prognosis.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the regulatory effects of biofilm associated non-coding small RNA(sRNA)00085 on the survival and environmental fitness of Listeria monocytogenes.Homologous recombination technology was used to construct a deletion mutant strain(△sRNA 00085)and a complementary strain(C △sRNA 00085)of the sRNA00085 target gene.The differences in biological characteristics were compared among the standard strain,△sRNA 00085,and C△sRNA 00085.The deletion of sRNA00085 led to a significant decrease in biofilm formation capacity and sensitivity to several antibiotics,including penicillin,piperacillin,doxycycline,tetracycline,vancomycin,and cotrimoxazole.However,only the minimum inhibitory concentration(MIC)of tetracycline exhibited a significant decrease in △sRNA00085.Meanwhile,the decreased biofilm formation and antibiotic resistance of the sRNA00085 mutant were restored in the C△sRNA00085 strain.Furthermore,we investigated the transcription levels of tetracycline resistance-related genes in L.monocytogenes.Down-regu-lated transcription of the tetS gene but no significant difference in transcription of the tetA gene were observed in △sRNA 00085 compared with the standard strain and C△sRNA00085.Moreover,the elimination of sRNA00085 did not affect bacterial growth ability or sensitivity to disinfectants.These findings highlight that sRNA00085 plays an important role in the environ-mental adaptability of L.monocytogenes by affecting bacterial biofilm formation and resistance.

This study aims to investigate the function of lmo2363 gene in stress resistance of Liste-ria monocytogenes strain LM83-1.In this study,the lmo2363 gene deletion strain and complement-ation strain of Listeria monocytogenes were constructed using overlapping extended PCR and ho-mologous recombination techniques,and the growth ability,stress survival rate and biofilm forma-tion ability of wild,deletion strain and complementation strain were compared under different stress environments.lmo2363 gene deletion strain and complementation strain of Listeria monocy-togenes were successfully constructed in this experiment.The growth curves showed that the growth capacity of the deletion strain was weaker than the wild strain LM83-1 under 4 ℃,7％NaCl,10％NaCl,3.5％ethanol,4.0％ethanol and pH5 stress(P＜0.001).The results of stress survival test showed that the survival rate of the deletion strain was significantly lower than the wild strain after 1 h treatment with pH3 and 10 mmol/L H2 O2 stress(P＜0.010).The biofilm forming ability of the deletion strain was decreased compared with that of the wild strain(P＜0.050).This study confirmed that lmo2363 gene mediated the adaptation of LM to low temperature,high osmotic pressure,ethanol and acid stress environment and affected the formation of LM bio-film.This study laid a foundation for further exploring the function of lmo2363 gene in the stress resistance process of Listeria monocytogenes.

Objective:To analyze the prognostic nutritional index(PNI),controlling nutritional status(CONUT)and fibrinogen/albumin ratio(FAR)levels in elderly patients with multiple myeloma(MM)and their prognostic impact.Methods:The clinical data of 74 elderly MM patients diagnosed in Gansu Provincial Hospital from January 2020 to July 2022 were retrospectively analyzed.The optimal cut-off values for PNI,CONUT score and FAR were obtained by receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve,which were used for grouping patients.The correlation of above three indexes with clinical parameters such as sex,serum calcium(Ca),β2-microglobulin(β2-MG),serum creatinine(Cr)in elderly MM patients were analyzed.The survival rates of patients with different levels of each index were compared.Univariate and multivariate analysis of the impact of clinical indicators on the prognosis of patients were performed.Results:The optimal cut-off values for PNI,CONUT score and FAR were 39.775,3.5 and 0.175,respectively,according to which the patients were divided into high and low group.Statistical analysis showed that there were significant differences in albumin level among different groups(all P＜0.05).In addition,there was a significant difference in hemoglobin between high-PNI group and low-PNI group(P＜0.05),while in sex distribution between high-FAR and low-FAR group(P＜0.05).The survival rate of elderly MM patients with increased PNI,decreased CONUT score and FAR was higher(all P＜0.05).Univariate and multivariate analysis showed that β2-MG,Cr,PNI,CONUT score and FAR were independent prognostic factors for elderly MM patients.Conclusion:PNI,CONUT score and FAR are related to some clinical indicators of elderly MM patients,and have an impact on the prognosis.

Objective:To analyze the clinical characteristics and prognosis of patients with CD5+diffuse large B-cell lymphoma(DLBCL).Methods:The clinical data of 161 newly treated DLBCL patients in Gansu Provincial Hospital from January 2013 to January 2020 were retrospectively analyzed.According to CD5 expression,the patients were divided into CD5+group and CD5-group.The clinical characteristics and prognosis of the two groups were statistically analyzed.Results:The median age of patients in CD5+group was 62 years,which was higher than 56 years in CD5-group(P=0.048).The proportion of women in CD5+group was 62.96％,which was significantly higher than 41.79％in CD5-group(P=0.043).The proportion of patients with IPI score＞2 in CD5+group was 62.96％,which was higher than 40.30％in CD5-group(P=0.031).Survival analysis showed that the median overall survival and progression-free survival time of patients in CD5+group were 27(3-77)and 31(3-76)months,respectively,which were both shorter than 30(5-84)and 32.5(4-83)months in CD5-group(P=0.047,P=0.026).Univariate analysis showed that advanced age,positive CD5 expression,triple or double hit at initial diagnosis,high IPI score and no use of rituximab during chemotherapy were risk factors for the prognosis of DLBCL patients.Further Cox multivariate regression analysis showed that these factors were also independent risk factors except for advanced age.Conclusion:CD5+DLBCL patients have a worse prognosis than CD5-DLBCL patients.Such patients are more common in females,with advanced age and high IPI score,which is a special subtype of DLBCL.

Objective:To analyze the clinical characteristics and occurrence of thrombotic/bleeding events of patients with myeloproliferative neoplasm(MPN),and explore the main influencing factors,and create a risk prediction.Methods:The clinical data of 126 MPN patients with BCR-ABL fusion gene negative in the Department of Hematology of Gansu Provincial Hospital from January 2016 to September 2021 were collected,and their clinical characteristics,occurrence of thrombotic/bleeding events and main influencing factors were analyzed and summarized retrospectively.Then,a risk prediction model for thrombotic/bleeding events in MPN patients was constructed.Results:Among 126 MPN patients,50 patients(39.7％)had experienced thrombotic/bleeding events,including 44 patients(34.9％)with thrombotic events and 6 patients(4.8％)with bleeding events.Among thrombotic diseases,cerebral thrombosis was the most common(23/44,52.3％),followed by 9 cases of limb artery thrombosis mainly characterized by finger and toe tip artery ischemia,occlusion and gangrene(9/44,20.5％).Bleeding events included intracerebral hemorrhage and gastrointestinal hemorrhage.Univariate analysis showed that hypertension,hyperhomocysteinemia,white blood cell(WBC)≥10 × 109/L,hematocrit(HCT)≥49％,platelet(PLT)≥600 × 109/L and JAK2V617F gene mutation were risk factors for thrombotic/bleeding events in MPN patients,while CALR gene mutation was a protective factor.Multivariate analysis showed that hypertension and PLT ≥ 600 × 109/L were independent risk factors for thrombotic/bleeding events in MPN patients.The goodness of fit of the constructed risk prediction model was 0.872,and the area under the ROC curve was 0.838.The model was validated with clinical data,the sensitivity,specificity and accuracy was 78.85％,87.83％and 84.13％,respectively.Conclusion:The risk of thrombotic/bleeding events in MPN patients with high WBC count,hypertension and hyperhomocysteinemia is higher.Controlling hypertension and hyperhomocysteinemia and reducing WBC and PLT counts are helpful to prevent thrombotic/bleeding events and improve the life quality of patients.

Objective:To investigate the repeatability of corneal topographic parameters with the Pentacam HR in patients with keratoconus of different severity.Methods:A diagnostic test study was performed.A total of 120 eyes from 98 patients with subclinical keratoconus or keratoconus were enrolled at Henan Eye Hospital from January 2019 to March 2022.The patients were divided into subclinical keratoconus group, mild keratoconus group, moderate keratoconus group and severe keratoconus group, with 30 eyes in each group.An additional 30 eyes of 30 subjects undergoing refractive surgery were selected as a control group.Three consecutive Pentacam HR measurements were performed by the same clinician.The recordings included a total of 53 parameters in anterior corneal surface, posterior corneal surface, thickness, composite index, and corneal densitometry.The within-subject standard deviation (Sw), repeatability limit ( r) and tolerance index (TI) were calculated to evaluate the repeatability of the parameters between different groups.This study adhered to the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Ethics Committee of Henan Eye Hospital (No.HNEECKY-2019[5]).All subjects were informed of the purpose and significance of the study and signed an informed consent form before enrollment. Results:Compared with the control group, the TI of the subclinical, mild, moderate and severe keratoconus groups were 54.71%(29/53), 66.04%(35/53), 90.57%(48/53) and 94.34%(50/53), respectively, higher than 0.31.The steep keratometry (Ks), the maximum keratometry (Kmax) of the anterior corneal surface, the anterior corneal radius of curvature, the flat keratometry (Kf) of the posterior corneal surface, the posterior corneal radius of curvature (PRC), the thinnest corneal thickness (TCT), the average densitometry for the anterior 120 μm in the 0-2 mm area (A.0-2 mm), average densitometry for the anterior 120 μm in the 2-6 mm area (A.2-6 mm), average densitometry for the central tissue in the 0-2 mm area (C.2-6 mm), average densitometry for the total cornea in the 0-2 mm area (T.0-2 mm) and average densitometry for the total cornea in the 2-6 mm area (T.2-6 mm) showed good repeatability in the subclinical and mild keratoconus groups (TI<0.31).Kmax Zonal Mean 3 mm, posterior corneal surface mean keratometry, central keratoconus index showed good repeatability in subclinical, mild and moderate keratoconus groups.Kmax Zonal Mean 4 mm and Kmax Zonal Mean 5 mm showed good repeatability in all groups (TI<0.31).Conclusions:For patients with subclinical and mild keratoconus, Kf of the posterior corneal surface, PRC and TCT are recommended to monitor disease progression.To monitor the condition of patients with moderate and severe keratoconus, we may focus on the detection of Kmax Zonal Mean 4 mm and Kmax Zonal Mean 5 mm.