Objective:To investigate the clinical characteristics of left-sided infective endocarditis (IE) without underlying valvular heart diseases (VHD).Methods:This was a retrospective study. Clinical data of 206 patients with left-sided IE (age: (50.4±16.1) years; 144 males (69.9%)) discharged from Shanghai Sixth People′s Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from June 2011 to May 2021 were retrospectively analyzed, including 129 cases with underlying VHD (IE+VHD group) and 77 cases without underlying VHD (IE group). The 6-month survival rate of patients after discharge was analyzed with Kaplan-Meier survival curve; and the 6-month survival rates of the patients with different sizes of endocardial vegetation and different treatment modalities in the IE group were further analyzed with log-rank method.Results:The proportions of patients with age ≥65 years old, arrhythmia and aortic valve involvement, and the in-hospital mortality in the IE group were significantly lower than those in the IE+VHD group ( P<0.05). However, the proportion of patients with fever and speech vague/limb movement disorder/headache, those with mitral valve involvement in the IE group were significantly higher than those in the IE+VHD group ( P<0.05). The median value of C-reactive protein (CRP) in the IE group was significantly higher than that in the IE+VHD group ( P<0.05). Nevertheless, the median value of N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) in the IE group was significantly lower than that in the IE+VHD group ( P<0.05). There were as no significant differences in the positive rates of bacterial/fungal blood cultures and the proportion of patients with mitral and aortic valve involvement of endocardial vegetation between the two groups (all P>0.05). Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis showed that there was no significant difference in 6-month survival rate of patients between the IE group and IE+VHD group (88.7% vs. 93.6%, log-rank χ2=0.887, P=0.346). In the IE group, the 6-month survival rate after discharge in patients with maximum diameter of vegetation ≤10 mm was higher than that in patients with maximum diameter of vegetation >10 mm (96.3% vs. 80.7%, log-rank χ2=4.111, P=0.043). There was no significant difference in 6-month survival rate between patients treated with antibiotics combined with surgery and those treated with antibiotics alone (96.2% vs. 78.6%, log -rank χ 2=2.976, P=0.084). Conclusion:Compared to left-sided IE patients with underlying VHD, patients without underlying VHD are likely to have a younger age, more mitral valve involvement and lower in-hospital mortality; for those patients with maximum diameter of vegetation ≤10 mm there is a higher survival rate, and antibiotics combined with surgery may help to improve the survival rate.

Objective:To compare the clinical manifestations,laboratory results,and imaging features between pyogenic spondylitis(PS) and tuberculous spondylitis(TS).Methods:This was a cross-sectional study. A total of 88 patients with infectious diseases of spine(IDS) admitted to Shanghai Sixth People′s Hospital from January 2021 to December 2023 were analyzed,including 61 PS cases(PS group) and 27 TS cases(TS group). The clinical manifestations,laboratory results,and imaging features were compared between two groups. The factors associated with PS were analyzed by multivariate logistic regression. The diagnostic efficacy for pathogen identification was compared between metagenomics next-generation sequencing(mNGS) and bacterial culture methods in PS and TS patients.Results:Compared with the TS group,the PS group had a higher age-adjusted Charlson comorbidity index(aCCI)[3.0(1.5,4.0) points vs. 2.0(1.0,3.0) points, Z=-2.189, P=0.029],shorter onset time of disease[1.0(0.8,3.0) months vs. 6.0(2.0,12.0) months,Z=-4.353, P<0.001],and higher median blood leukocyte counts and serum ferritin(SF) level(7.2×10 9/L vs. 6.3×10 9/L, Z=-2.652, P=0.008; 571.3 ng/ml vs. 266.0 ng/ml, Z=-4.773, P<0.001). The proportions of lumbar spine involvement,non-collapsed involved vertebrae,and bone bridges formed were all higher in the PS group compared to the TS group[68.8%(99/144) vs. 41.4%(29/70), χ2=14.628, P<0.001; 68.9%(42/61) vs. 18.5%(5/27), χ2=19.055, P<0.001; 41.0%(25/61) vs. 7.4%(2/27), χ2=9.921, P=0.002]. The proportions of thoracic spine involvement,severe vertebral collapse,severe narrowing of the involved intervertebral space,sequestrum,and paravertebral soft tissue calcification were all higher in the TS group compared to the PS group[52.9%(37/70) vs. 18.1%(26/144), χ2=27.463, P<0.001; 55.6%(15/27) vs. 13.1%(8/61), χ2=17.462, P<0.001; 74.1%(20/27) vs. 37.7%(23/61), χ2=9.907, P=0.002; 74.1%(20/27) vs. 18.0%(11/61), χ2=25.761, P<0.001; 51.9%(14/27) vs. 6.6%(4/61), χ2=23.599, P<0.001]. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that a symptom duration<5.5 months( OR=30.644,95% CI: 2.022-464.529, P<0.05) and a leukocyte count>7.35×10 9/L( OR=48.653,95% CI: 2.045-1 157.721, P<0.05) indicated a higher likelihood of PS; while the vertebral collapse indicated a higher likelihood of TS( OR=0.025,95% CI: 0.001-0.638, P<0.05). The most common pathogen in the PS group was Staphylococcus aureus(31 cases,50.8%),followed by Streptococcus species(10 cases,16.4%). The positive rates of mNGS testing in the PS and TS groups were 84.1%(37/44) and 12/13,respectively,which were higher than those of conventional bacterial culture[77.8%(42/54)] and Mycobacteriumtuberculosis culture(2/11). Conclusions:Compared with the TS patients,the PS patients have shorter onset time,higher aCCI scores,higher blood leukocyte counts and SF levels,less vertebral collapse and intervertebral space narrowing,and more bone bridge formation. The TS patients have more dead bones and calcifications. The mNGS has a higher diagnostic efficacy than bacterial cultures for PS and TS.

OBJECTIVE To systematically analyze the functional system and construction requirements for infection prevention and control('infection control system'in short)in medical institutions so as to facilitate the effective,standardized and practical construction of the infection control system.METHODS The questionnaires were de-signed based on the relevant criteria and literatures that were released in China with the combination of expect con-sultant and were distributed to experts or professionals involving multiple fields such as hospital infection manage-ment,clinical medical treatment and information technology.The questionnaires were recycled,summarized and analyzed.RESULTS The list of functions of the infection control system(consultative draft)was formulated after review of literatures and expert consultation,including fundamental functions such as data management,case sur-veillance and intervention feedback as well as the advanced functions like target surveillance,occupational protec-tion and interconnection.The surveyed subjects agreed unanimously after the questionnaire survey that all of the function modules and elements enlisted were important,the average score of importance was more than 4 points,the score of coefficient of variable(CV)for importance of the function modules was less than 0.25,indicating that there was high consistency in the opinions among the surveyed subjects.The element of tracing and epidemiologi-cal survey function was adopted and added according to the feedback suggestions from some of the subjects;two function elements including data query and clinical interaction were revised,and the list of function requirements for the infection control systems was finally defined.CONCLUSION The requirements for functions of the infection control system that are determined in the study can provide important bases and data support for the research and standardized development of future infection control system.

BACKGROUND:Dental follicle cells are widely used in periodontal tissue regeneration engineering because of their excellent characteristics.With the development of biological scaffold materials,their relationship with periodontal tissue regeneration technology is increasingly close.OBJECTIVE:To review the performance of ivory follicle cells under the influence of internal and external biological factors by different experiments,and analyze their effects on the biological characteristics of dental follicle cells with scaffold materials.METHODS:Using"dental follicle cell,scaffolds,material,periodontal tissue regeneration,tissue engineering,review"as English and Chinese key words,the articles published in PubMed,Sciencedirect,and CNKI from 2013 to 2023 were searched,and finally 95 articles were included for analysis and discussion.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1)Dental follicle cells originate from dental follicle tissue,which has certain stem cell differentiation potential.Because of its excellent performance,it is actively used in periodontal tissue regeneration engineering research.(2)The proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of dental follicle cells are affected by many biological factors,and both endogenous and exogenous factors can promote the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of dental follicle cells to a certain extent.(3)3D printing technology and nanotechnology enable researchers to manufacture more suitable scaffold materials.(4)Polymer materials show us their flexibility and plasticity in periodontal tissue regeneration.We can manufacture targeted scaffold materials according to different defect sites to achieve efficient tissue regeneration.The good biocompatibility of inorganic materials makes them widely used in periodontal tissue regeneration engineering.By adjusting the content of nanoscale inorganic materials or improving the performance of scaffolds,scaffolds with better biocompatibility can be prepared.(5)There are many new synthetic(composite)materials,which show us excellent characteristics.However,because the mechanism of biological factors in scaffold materials on dental follicle cells is complicated,and the research on dental follicle cells is mostly concentrated on in vitro culture,so how to make scaffold materials more suitable for the growth and development of dental follicle cells and apply them safely and effectively in clinical treatment is the future research direction.

BACKGROUND:Dental follicle cells are widely used in periodontal tissue regeneration engineering because of their excellent characteristics.With the development of biological scaffold materials,their relationship with periodontal tissue regeneration technology is increasingly close.OBJECTIVE:To review the performance of ivory follicle cells under the influence of internal and external biological factors by different experiments,and analyze their effects on the biological characteristics of dental follicle cells with scaffold materials.METHODS:Using"dental follicle cell,scaffolds,material,periodontal tissue regeneration,tissue engineering,review"as English and Chinese key words,the articles published in PubMed,Sciencedirect,and CNKI from 2013 to 2023 were searched,and finally 95 articles were included for analysis and discussion.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1)Dental follicle cells originate from dental follicle tissue,which has certain stem cell differentiation potential.Because of its excellent performance,it is actively used in periodontal tissue regeneration engineering research.(2)The proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of dental follicle cells are affected by many biological factors,and both endogenous and exogenous factors can promote the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of dental follicle cells to a certain extent.(3)3D printing technology and nanotechnology enable researchers to manufacture more suitable scaffold materials.(4)Polymer materials show us their flexibility and plasticity in periodontal tissue regeneration.We can manufacture targeted scaffold materials according to different defect sites to achieve efficient tissue regeneration.The good biocompatibility of inorganic materials makes them widely used in periodontal tissue regeneration engineering.By adjusting the content of nanoscale inorganic materials or improving the performance of scaffolds,scaffolds with better biocompatibility can be prepared.(5)There are many new synthetic(composite)materials,which show us excellent characteristics.However,because the mechanism of biological factors in scaffold materials on dental follicle cells is complicated,and the research on dental follicle cells is mostly concentrated on in vitro culture,so how to make scaffold materials more suitable for the growth and development of dental follicle cells and apply them safely and effectively in clinical treatment is the future research direction.

OBJECTIVE To systematically analyze the functional system and construction requirements for infection prevention and control('infection control system'in short)in medical institutions so as to facilitate the effective,standardized and practical construction of the infection control system.METHODS The questionnaires were de-signed based on the relevant criteria and literatures that were released in China with the combination of expect con-sultant and were distributed to experts or professionals involving multiple fields such as hospital infection manage-ment,clinical medical treatment and information technology.The questionnaires were recycled,summarized and analyzed.RESULTS The list of functions of the infection control system(consultative draft)was formulated after review of literatures and expert consultation,including fundamental functions such as data management,case sur-veillance and intervention feedback as well as the advanced functions like target surveillance,occupational protec-tion and interconnection.The surveyed subjects agreed unanimously after the questionnaire survey that all of the function modules and elements enlisted were important,the average score of importance was more than 4 points,the score of coefficient of variable(CV)for importance of the function modules was less than 0.25,indicating that there was high consistency in the opinions among the surveyed subjects.The element of tracing and epidemiologi-cal survey function was adopted and added according to the feedback suggestions from some of the subjects;two function elements including data query and clinical interaction were revised,and the list of function requirements for the infection control systems was finally defined.CONCLUSION The requirements for functions of the infection control system that are determined in the study can provide important bases and data support for the research and standardized development of future infection control system.

Objective:To investigate the clinical characteristics of left-sided infective endocarditis (IE) without underlying valvular heart diseases (VHD).Methods:This was a retrospective study. Clinical data of 206 patients with left-sided IE (age: (50.4±16.1) years; 144 males (69.9%)) discharged from Shanghai Sixth People′s Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from June 2011 to May 2021 were retrospectively analyzed, including 129 cases with underlying VHD (IE+VHD group) and 77 cases without underlying VHD (IE group). The 6-month survival rate of patients after discharge was analyzed with Kaplan-Meier survival curve; and the 6-month survival rates of the patients with different sizes of endocardial vegetation and different treatment modalities in the IE group were further analyzed with log-rank method.Results:The proportions of patients with age ≥65 years old, arrhythmia and aortic valve involvement, and the in-hospital mortality in the IE group were significantly lower than those in the IE+VHD group ( P<0.05). However, the proportion of patients with fever and speech vague/limb movement disorder/headache, those with mitral valve involvement in the IE group were significantly higher than those in the IE+VHD group ( P<0.05). The median value of C-reactive protein (CRP) in the IE group was significantly higher than that in the IE+VHD group ( P<0.05). Nevertheless, the median value of N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) in the IE group was significantly lower than that in the IE+VHD group ( P<0.05). There were as no significant differences in the positive rates of bacterial/fungal blood cultures and the proportion of patients with mitral and aortic valve involvement of endocardial vegetation between the two groups (all P>0.05). Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis showed that there was no significant difference in 6-month survival rate of patients between the IE group and IE+VHD group (88.7% vs. 93.6%, log-rank χ2=0.887, P=0.346). In the IE group, the 6-month survival rate after discharge in patients with maximum diameter of vegetation ≤10 mm was higher than that in patients with maximum diameter of vegetation >10 mm (96.3% vs. 80.7%, log-rank χ2=4.111, P=0.043). There was no significant difference in 6-month survival rate between patients treated with antibiotics combined with surgery and those treated with antibiotics alone (96.2% vs. 78.6%, log -rank χ 2=2.976, P=0.084). Conclusion:Compared to left-sided IE patients with underlying VHD, patients without underlying VHD are likely to have a younger age, more mitral valve involvement and lower in-hospital mortality; for those patients with maximum diameter of vegetation ≤10 mm there is a higher survival rate, and antibiotics combined with surgery may help to improve the survival rate.

Objective:To compare the clinical manifestations,laboratory results,and imaging features between pyogenic spondylitis(PS) and tuberculous spondylitis(TS).Methods:This was a cross-sectional study. A total of 88 patients with infectious diseases of spine(IDS) admitted to Shanghai Sixth People′s Hospital from January 2021 to December 2023 were analyzed,including 61 PS cases(PS group) and 27 TS cases(TS group). The clinical manifestations,laboratory results,and imaging features were compared between two groups. The factors associated with PS were analyzed by multivariate logistic regression. The diagnostic efficacy for pathogen identification was compared between metagenomics next-generation sequencing(mNGS) and bacterial culture methods in PS and TS patients.Results:Compared with the TS group,the PS group had a higher age-adjusted Charlson comorbidity index(aCCI)[3.0(1.5,4.0) points vs. 2.0(1.0,3.0) points, Z=-2.189, P=0.029],shorter onset time of disease[1.0(0.8,3.0) months vs. 6.0(2.0,12.0) months,Z=-4.353, P<0.001],and higher median blood leukocyte counts and serum ferritin(SF) level(7.2×10 9/L vs. 6.3×10 9/L, Z=-2.652, P=0.008; 571.3 ng/ml vs. 266.0 ng/ml, Z=-4.773, P<0.001). The proportions of lumbar spine involvement,non-collapsed involved vertebrae,and bone bridges formed were all higher in the PS group compared to the TS group[68.8%(99/144) vs. 41.4%(29/70), χ2=14.628, P<0.001; 68.9%(42/61) vs. 18.5%(5/27), χ2=19.055, P<0.001; 41.0%(25/61) vs. 7.4%(2/27), χ2=9.921, P=0.002]. The proportions of thoracic spine involvement,severe vertebral collapse,severe narrowing of the involved intervertebral space,sequestrum,and paravertebral soft tissue calcification were all higher in the TS group compared to the PS group[52.9%(37/70) vs. 18.1%(26/144), χ2=27.463, P<0.001; 55.6%(15/27) vs. 13.1%(8/61), χ2=17.462, P<0.001; 74.1%(20/27) vs. 37.7%(23/61), χ2=9.907, P=0.002; 74.1%(20/27) vs. 18.0%(11/61), χ2=25.761, P<0.001; 51.9%(14/27) vs. 6.6%(4/61), χ2=23.599, P<0.001]. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that a symptom duration<5.5 months( OR=30.644,95% CI: 2.022-464.529, P<0.05) and a leukocyte count>7.35×10 9/L( OR=48.653,95% CI: 2.045-1 157.721, P<0.05) indicated a higher likelihood of PS; while the vertebral collapse indicated a higher likelihood of TS( OR=0.025,95% CI: 0.001-0.638, P<0.05). The most common pathogen in the PS group was Staphylococcus aureus(31 cases,50.8%),followed by Streptococcus species(10 cases,16.4%). The positive rates of mNGS testing in the PS and TS groups were 84.1%(37/44) and 12/13,respectively,which were higher than those of conventional bacterial culture[77.8%(42/54)] and Mycobacteriumtuberculosis culture(2/11). Conclusions:Compared with the TS patients,the PS patients have shorter onset time,higher aCCI scores,higher blood leukocyte counts and SF levels,less vertebral collapse and intervertebral space narrowing,and more bone bridge formation. The TS patients have more dead bones and calcifications. The mNGS has a higher diagnostic efficacy than bacterial cultures for PS and TS.

Objective:To investigate the relationship between the LAMA2 gene expression and the survival time of cancer patients, tumor microenvironment, tumor immune cell infiltration, and the immunotherapy responsiveness in pan-cancer. Methods:Download the expression data matrix and the clinical data from TCGA and IMvigor210, furthermore analyze the correlation between the expression level of LAMA2 and survival time, tumor microenvironment, and immunotherapy responsiveness by R and perform the gene set enrichment analysis of LAMA2 in pan-cancer to explore the related pathways. The Wilcoxon test was used to compare the expression difference of LAMA2 between tumor tissues and normal tissues. Kaplan-Meier method was used for survival analysis, and univariate COX regression analysis was used to evaluate the risk ratio relationship of LAMA2 in various tumors. Spearman correlation analysis was used to evaluate the correlation between the expression level of LAMA2 and tumor microenvironment immune score, as well as immune cell infiltration. Pearson correlation analysis was used to evaluate the correlation between the immunotherapy responsiveness and the expression level of LAMA2. Results:Compared with normal tissues, the expression level of LAMA2 was significantly decreased in most cancer types. In addition, the up-regulation or down-regulationand of LAMA2 expression may indicate the prognosis of patients. Univariate COX regression analysis showed that LAMA2 was significantly associated with prognosis in bladder cancer, renal papillary cell carcinoma, adrenocortical carcinoma, and so on. LAMA2 expression level was also significantly correlated with tumor microenvironment score, immune score and stromal score. Furthermore, the expression level of LAMA2 was correlated with the infiltration of tumor immune cells, including B cell, CD8 + T cell, regulatory T cell, mast cell, and so on. The results of gene set enrichment analysis show that the LAMA2 was mostly involved in the biological process of ion channels, gene expression, and skeletal muscle movement. LAMA2 expression was also associated with tumor mutation burden, microsatellite instability, and cell programmed death-ligand 1 immunotherapy responsiveness. Conclusions:LAMA2 has predictive value for survival and prognosis of patients in tumors, and is significantly correlated with tumor microenvironment, immune cell infiltration, tumor microenvironment, immunotherapy responsiveness, etc. As a potential tumor marker, LAMA2 provides a new direction for tumor prognosis judgment and treatment selection.

In response to the limitation of some medical image segmentation models for rectal cancer auxiliary diagnosis that are only applicable to single-modality images,a medical image segmentation method based on a cross attention mechanism that is applicable to both CT and MRI modalities is presented.Considering the different feature representations of CT and MRI images,a cross attention mechanism is proposed to unify the feature representations of the two types of images.In view of the small lesions on rectal cancer images,an improved Swin Transformer segmentation network with 3 branches is established,and the cross attention mechanism is incorporated into it,enabling the model to segment lesion areas in both types of images.The proposed method is validated using CT and MRI image data from patients with rectal cancer.Compared with ADDA,CycleGAN,and SIFA methods,the proposed method improves the accuracy by 2.94%,3.05%,0.71%on CT images,and 3.31%,4.55%,1.76%on MRI images,respectively,demonstrating its superior segmentation performance for both types of images.