OBJECTIVE: To explore the changes of serum procalcitonin (PCT) level in patients with moderate and severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) after cardiac surgery under cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), and try to find out the best cut-off of PCT to predict the progression to moderate and severe ARDS. METHODS: Medical records of patients undergoing cardiac surgery with CPB in Fujian Provincial Hospital from January 2017 to December 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. Adult patients who were admitted in intensive care unit (ICU) for more than 1 day and had PCT values on the first postoperative day were enrolled. Clinical data such as patient demographics, past history, diagnosis, and New York Heart Association (HYHA) classification, and the operation mode, procedure duration, CPB duration, aortic clamp duration, intraoperative fluid balance, calculation of 24 hours postoperative fluid balance and vasoactive-inotropic score (VIS); 24 hours postoperative C-reactive protein (CRP), N-terminal B-type natriuretic peptide precursor (NT-proBNP) and PCT levels were collected. Two clinicians independently made the diagnosis of ARDS according to the Berlin definition, and the diagnosis was established only in patients with a consistent diagnosis. The differences in each parameter were compared between patients with moderate to severe ARDS and those without or with mild ARDS. Analysis of the ability of PCT to predict moderate to severe ARDS was evaluated by receiver operator characteristic curve (ROC curve). Multivariate Logistic regression was conducted to determine the risk factors of the development of moderate to severe ARDS. RESULTS: 108 patients were finally enrolled, including 37 patients with mild ARDS (34.3%), 35 patients with moderate ARDS (32.4%), 2 patients with severe ARDS (1.9%), and 34 patients without ARDS. Compared with patients with no or mild ARDS, patients with moderate to severe ARDS were older (years old: 58.5±11.1 vs. 52.8±14.8, P < 0.05), with a higher proportion of combined hypertension [45.9% (17/37) vs. 25.4% (18/71), P < 0.05], longer operative time (minutes: 363.2±120.6 vs. 313.5±97.6, P < 0.05), and higher mortality (8.1% vs. 0, P < 0.05), but there were no differences in the VIS score, incidence of acute renal failure (ARF), CPB duration, aortic clamp duration, and intraoperative bleeding, transfusion volume, and fluid balance between the two groups. Serum PCT and NT-proBNP levels in patients with moderate to severe ARDS at postoperative day 1 were significantly higher than those in patients with no or mild ARDS [PCT (μg/L): 16.33 (6.96, 32.56) vs. 2.21 (0.80, 5.76), NT-proBNP (ng/L): 2 405.0 (1 543.0, 6 456.5) vs. 1 680.0 (1 388.0, 4 667.0), both P < 0.05]. ROC curve analysis showed that the area under the curve (AUC) for PCT to predict the occurrence of moderate to severe ARDS was 0.827 [95% confidence interval (95%CI) was 0.739-0.915, P < 0.05]. When PCT cut-off value was 7.165 μg/L, the sensitivity was 75.7% and the specificity was 84.5%, for differentiating patients who developed moderate to severe ARDS from who did not. Multivariate Logistic regression showed that age and the elevated PCT concentration were independent risk factors for the development of moderate to severe ARDS [age: odds ratio (OR) = 1.105, 95%CI was 1.037-1.177, P = 0.002; PCT: OR = 48.286, 95%CI was 10.282-226.753, P < 0.001]. CONCLUSIONS Patients with moderate to severe ARDS undergoing CPB cardiac surgery have a higher serum concentration of PCT than patients with no or mild ARDS. Serum PCT level may be a promising biomarker to predict the development of moderate to severe ARDS, the cut-off value is 7.165 μg/L.
Adult ; Humans ; Cardiopulmonary Bypass ; Procalcitonin ; Retrospective Studies ; Heart ; Respiratory Distress Syndrome

Objective:To observe the effect of interleukin-8 (IL-8) on the adhesion and migration of retinal vascular endothelial cells (RCEC).Methods:A cell experiment. Human RCEC (hRCEC) was divided into normal control group (N group), advanced glycation end product (AGE) treatment group (AGE group), and AGE-induced combined IL-8 antagonist SB225002 treatment group (AGE+SB group). The effect of AGE on IL-8 expression in hRCEC was observed by Western blot. The effect of SB225002 on hRCEC migration was observed by cell scratch assay. The effects of SB225002 on leukocyte adhesion and reactive oxygen species (ROS) on hRCEC were detected by flow cytometry. Student- t test was performed between the two groups. Oneway analysis of variance was performed among the three groups. Results:Compared with group N, the expression level of IL-8 in cells of AGE group was significantly increased, with statistical significance ( t=25.661, P<0.001). Compared with N group and AGE+SB group, cell mobility in AGE group was significantly increased ( F=29.776), leukocyte adhesion number was significantly increased ( F=38.159, 38.556), ROS expression level was significantly increased ( F=22.336), and the differences were statistically significant ( P<0.05). Conclusion:IL-8 antagonist SB225002 may down-regulate hRCEC adhesion and migration by inhibiting ROS expression.

Objective:To observe clinical phenotypes and analyze the pathogenic genes of Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA).Methods:A retrospective clinical study. From 2019 to 2020, 2 patients diagnosed with LCA by genetic testing in Tianjin Medical University Eye Hospital and their 6 unaffected family members were enrolled in the study. Two patients were from 2 unrelated families, both were probands. The patient's medical history was inquired in detail, slit lamp microscopy, ultra-widefield fundus photography, autofluorescence, and flash visual evoked potential (F-VEP) were performed. Peripheral vein blood (3-5 ml) was collected and genomic DNA was extracted from all study subjects. A total of 381 pathogetic genes associated with inherited retinal diseases, were selected by targeted exome sequencing capture strategy. Sanger sequencing was used to verify suspected pathogenic mutations. Candidate pathogenic mutations were identified after bioinformatics analysis. Sanger sequencing, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction and family co-identification were used to confirm the final mutations.Results:Two patients were male, aged 3 and 27 years. One case had vision loss in both eyes, accompanied by nystagmus and acupressure eye sign since childhood. The clinical hallmark of the proband (F1-Ⅱ-3) in F1 includes clearly boundary of optic disc, normal retinal blood vessels and macular fovea. The implied period of the maximum forward wave in both eyes of F-VEP was roughly normal, and its amplitude decreased significantly. The phenotype of the proband (F2-Ⅱ-1) in F2 includes optic nerve head pallor, bone-spicule intraretinal pigmentation, "gold-foil maculopathy" , retina patchy hypo-autofluorescence in both eyes. There was no abnormal phenotype in the eyes of the family members. According to the genetic diagnosis, the proband (F1-Ⅱ-3) carried the GUCY2D gene c.835G>A (p.D279N) (M1) and exon 9-19 deletion (M2) compound heterozygous mutations, in which M1 was derived from healthy mother and M2 was derived from healthy father. The proband (F2-Ⅱ-1) carried CRB1 gene c.1576C>T(R526X) (M3) and c.1522T>C (C508R) (M4) compound heterozygous mutations, in which M3 from the healthy father, M4 from the healthy mother. M2 and M4 were novel mutations. Conclusion:GUCY2D gene mutations lead to LCA1 type in the F1 family, CRB1 gene mutations lead to LCA8 type in the F2 family; there are significant different phenotypes caused by different pathogenic genes.

Objective:To observe the differences of macular microvascular structure between recurrent and non-recurrent macular edema (ME) secondary to central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) after intravitreal injection of ranibizumab (IVR), and to preliminarily analyze the correlation between recurrence and ME.Methods:A prospective clinical observational study. Forty-five patients (45 eyes) diagnosed as CRVO with ME were included in this study in Tianjin Medical University Eye Hospital from January 2020 to December 2021. There were 22 males (22 eyes) and 23 females (23 eyes). All cases were unilateral. The average age was 61.11±10.88 years old. All patients received IVR treatment once a month for 3 consecutive months. ME were regressive after the initial three treatments. The patients were divided into recurrent group (21 cases, 21 eyes) and non-recurrent group (24 cases, 24 eyes) based on ME recurrence at 6 months after ME resolution. All patients underwent best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), intraocular pressure, and optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). OCTA was used to scan the macula in the area of 3 mm×3 mm, and the vessel density (VD) of superficial capillary plexus (SCP), deep capillary plexus (DCP), fovea and parafovea before and after treatment was measured. Foveal retinal thickness, foveal avascular zone (FAZ) area, perimeter of FAZ (PERIM), avascular index of FAZ (AI), VD within 300 μm width of FAZ range (FD-300). Foveal VD included superficial and deep retinal VD (SFVD, DFVD); parafoveal VD included superficial and deep retinal VD (SPFVD, DPFVD). Taking the initial three treatments as the observation time point, the changes of the parameters of the two groups were compared. Comparison between the recurrent and non-recurrent group was performed by two independent sample t-tests. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to measure the area under the curve (AUC) of VD for predicting the recurrence of ME. Results:There were no significant differences in age ( t=1.350), IOP ( t=1.929), SFVD ( t=-1.716), DFVD ( t=-1.143), CRT ( t=-1.207) and AI ( t=1.387) between the recurrent and non-recurrent group ( P>0.05). There were significant differences in times of anti-VEGF therapy ( t=5.912), BCVA ( t=5.003), SVD ( t=-4.617), SPFVD ( t=-4.110), DVD ( t=-5.503), DPFVD ( t=-4.772), FAZ area ( t=2.172), PERIM ( t=2.606) and FD-300 ( t=-3.501) between the recurrent and non-recurrent group ( P<0.05). ROC curve analysis showed that the AUC of DVD in predicting the recurrence of ME was highest, with 0.921, and the threshold was 37.65%. The sensitivity and specificity were 91.7% and 85.7%, respectively. Conclusions:The SVD, SPFVD, DVD, DPFVD and FD-300 in the recurrence group are significantly lower than those in the non-recurrence group, while the FAZ area and PERIM are significantly higher than those in the non-recurrence group. DVD≤37.65% can be used as the best threshold for predicting the recurrence of ME.

Objective:To investigate the association between early central venous pressure (CVP) measurement and mortality in patients with sepsis.Methods:The adult patients with sepsis were identified from the health data of Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care-Ⅲ v1.4 (MIMIC-Ⅲ v1.4). Data of all adult patients with sepsis were collected, including gender, age, comorbidities, length of survival, total length of hospital stay and intensive care unit (ICU) stay, sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score, vital signs, laboratory test results on the first day, vasoactive agents usage, fluid input, urine output and fluid balance on the first day, need for renal replacement therapy and mechanical ventilation, diagnosis of sepsis, and the time and value of the first CVP measurement in the ICU. Patients were divided into early measurement and control groups based on whether or not they had a CVP measurement within the first 6 hours of ICU stay. According to the time of the first CVP measurement, the patients were subdivided into four subgroups: ≤ 3 hours, 4-6 hours, 7-12 hours and no measurement within 12 hours. The primary endpoint was 28-day mortality. The relationship between initial CVP and mortality was analyzed by Lowess smoothing method. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Log-Rank test were performed for univariate analysis. Cox regression analysis was performed for multivariate analysis to estimate the relationship between timeliness of CVP measurement and mortality.Results:A total of 4 733 sepsis patients were enrolled, 1 673 of whom had CVP measured within 6 hours of admission to the ICU, and the other 3 060 patients served as the control group. There were no differences in demographic characteristics and underlying diseases between the two groups, except that the early CVP measurement group had less underlying renal failure compared with control group. The early CVP measurement group had higher lactic acid (Lac) levels and SOFA scores, indicating worse severity of disease as compared with control group. The 28-day mortality in the early CVP measurement group was significantly lower than that in the control group (34.2% vs. 40.7%, P < 0.01). The early CVP measurement group had shorter length of total hospitalization and longer length of ICU stay, higher rate of mechanical ventilation and vasoactive agents dependent, and more fluid input and fluid balanced in the first day of ICU stay compared with control group. Lowess smoothing analysis showed that a "U"-shaped relationship between initial CVP and mortality was identified, suggesting that too high or too low initial CVP was associated with worse survival. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that compared with the patients without early CVP measurement within 12 hours, the cumulative survival rate of patients with CVP measured within 3 hours was significantly higher (66.7% vs. 59.1%; Log-Rank test: χ2 = 15.810, adjusted P < 0.001); while no significant difference was found in patients with CVP measured between 4 hours and 6 hours and between 7 hours and 12 hours compared with the patients without early CVP measurement within 12 hours (64.4%, 60.3% vs. 59.1%; Log-Rank test: χ2 values were 5.630 and 0.100, and adjusted P values were 0.053 and > 0.999, respectively). Cox multivariate analysis showed that the Cox proportional risk model was established by taking patients without CVP measurement within 12 hours as reference, timely CVP measurement after ICU admission was associated with reduced 28-day mortality of patients with sepsis [≤3 hours: hazard ratio ( HR) = 0.65, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) was 0.55-0.77, P < 0.001; 4-6 hours: HR = 0.72, 95% CI was 0.60-0.87, P = 0.001; 7-12 hours: HR = 0.80, 95% CI was 0.66-0.98, P = 0.032] after the confounding variables (gender, age, SOFA score, initial Lac, renal failure, maximal blood glucose and white blood cell count, and minimal platelet count within 24 hours) were adjusted. Conclusions:Early CVP measurement is associated with decreased 28-day mortality in patients with sepsis. CVP should be considered as a valuable and easily accessible safety parameter during early fluid resuscitation.

Objective:To observe the value of optical coherence tomography (OCTA) in distinguishing ischemic and non-ischemic branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO).Methods:A prospective clinical observational study. From January 2020 to January 2021, 44 eyes of 44 patients with BRVO diagnosed in Tianjin Medical University Eye Hospital were included in the study. Among them, there were 24 eyes of 24 males and 20 eyes of 20 females. The macular edema subsided after three consecutive anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) drug treatments. All the affected eyes underwent best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), intraocular pressure, ultra-wide-angle fluorescein fundus angiography (UWFFA), and OCTA examination. According to the results of UWFFA, the affected eyes were divided into ischemic group and non-ischemic group, with 22 eyes in 22 patients. The macular area of the affected eye with an OCTA instrument were scaned in the range of 3 mm× 3 mm to measure the blood flow density (SVD, DVD), foveal blood flow density (SFVD, DFVD), parafoveal blood flow density (SPFVD, DPFVD), affected hemilateral blood flow density (SHVD, DHVD) and affected quadrant blood flow density (SQVD, DQVD) of the superficial capillary layer (SCP) and deep capillary layer (DCP) of the retina, foveal retinal thickness (CRT), fovea avascular zone (FAZ) area, perimeter of FAZ (PERIM), out-of-roundness index (AI), and blood flow density within 300 μm width of FAZ (FD-300). The two-sample independent t test was used to compare the parameters between the ischemic group and the non-ischemic group. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to measure the area under the curve (AUC) of blood flow density to predict ischemic BRVO, determine the critical value for predicting ischemic BRVO and the corresponding sensitivity and specificity, with AUC> 0.9 as the prediction performance was good. Results:The differences of BCVA ( t=1.544), intraocular pressure ( t=-0.404), SFVD ( t=0.444), DFVD ( t=-0.812), CRT ( t=1.082), FAZ area ( t=-0.785), PERIM ( t=-0.685), AI ( t=1.047) of the eyes in the ischemic group and non-ischemic group were not statistically significant ( P>0.05). The differences of age ( t=2.194), SVD ( t=-3.796), SPFVD ( t=-4.181), SHVD ( t=-4.700), SQVD ( t=-3.594), DVD ( t=-2.324), DPFVD ( t=-2.476), DHVD ( t=-2.118), DQVD ( t=-6.529) and FD-300 ( t=-5.116) of the eyes in the ischemic group and non-ischemic group area were statistically significant ( P<0.05). ROC curve analysis results showed that DQVD predicted the AUC of ischemic BRVO the largest (0.917), the best cut-off value was 33.75%, and the sensitivity and specificity were 90.9% and 81.8%, respectively. Conclusion:OCTA can quantitatively assess the microvascular structure of SCP and DCP in the macular area of BRVO eyes, and contribute to distinguish ischemic and non-ischemic BRVO.

Objective:To observe the relationship between the response to anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) drug treatment and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotype in patients with wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD).Methods:A retrospective clinical study. From August 2019 to September 2020, 103 eyes of 103 wAMD patients diagnosed in Tianjin Medical University Eye Hospital were included in the study. Among them, there were 59 males (57.28%, 59/103) and 44 females (42.72%, 44/103); the average age was 68.74±7.74 years. The standard logarithmic visual acuity chart was used to detect the Best Corrected Visual Acuity of the affected eye and converted to the logarithmic minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) visual acuity during statistics. Optical coherence tomography was used to detect the central retinal thickness (CRT) of the affected eye. At the same time, the patient's high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) was tested. All eyes were treated with intravitreal injection of anti-VEGF drugs once a month for 3 months. Before the initial treatment, peripheral venous blood from the patient were collected. Interleukin-8 ( IL-8), complement C3 gene ( C3), complement factor H ( CFH), liver lipase ( LIPC), cholesterol ester transfer protein ( CETP), ATP binding cassette subfamily a member 1 ( ABCA1), lipoprotein lipase ( LPL), fatty acid desaturation gene cluster ( FADS1) SNP. According to gene frequency, genotypes are divided into wild type and mutant type were detected. Qualitative data such as the frequency difference of the genotype distribution in the clinical phenotype and the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium of the genotype distribution were compared with the Chi-square test or Fisher's exact test. Results:There were fewer CRT responders in IL-8 rs4073 mutant (TA+AA) patients than wild-type (TT) [odds ratio ( OR)=0.310, 95% confidence interval ( CI) 0.106-0.910, P<0.05). Among them, after the drug stratification test, the proportion of patients with IL-8 rs4073 locus TT genotype in the conbercept treatment group was less CRT non-responders ( OR=0.179, 95% CI=0.034-0.960, P=0.033). Patients with LIPC rs2043085 mutant (CT+TT) with BCVA increased ≥0.2 logMAR are more likely than wild-type (CC) ( OR=3.031, 95% CI 1.036-8.867, P<0.05); HDL-C level was significantly lower Compared with wild type (CC), the difference was statistically significant ( t=2.448, P=0.016). There was no significant difference in logMAR BCVA and CRT between IL-8 rs4073, LIPC rs2043085 mutant and wild-type patients before treatment ( IL-8 rs4073: Z=-0.198, -1.651; P=0.843, 0.099; LIPC rs2043085: Z=-0.532, -0.152; P=0.595, 0.879). C3 rs 225066, CFH rs800292, CETP rs708272, ABCA1 rs1883025, FADS1 rs174547, LPL rs12678919 have no correlation with anti-VEGF drug treatment response. Conclusions:Patients with wAMD are treated with anti-VEGF drugs. Those with IL-8 rs4073 locus A genotype may be less responsive to CRT. LIPC rs2043085 locus T genotypes may be relatively more responsive to BCVA.

Objective:To investigate the risk factors for anastomotic leakage after laparo-scopic lower anterior resection (LAR) of rectal cancer, and the application value of its risk assess-ment scoring model.Methods:The retrospective case-control study was conducted. The clinico-pathological data of 539 patients who underwent laparoscopic LAR of rectal cancer in 13 medical centers, including 248 cases in Renji Hospital of Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, 35 cases in Ningbo First Hospital, 35 cases in Changzhou Second People's Hospital, 32 cases in the First People's Hospital of Nantong, 32 cases in Linyi People's Hospital, 31 cases in Changzhou Wujin People's Hospital, 28 cases in Jiading District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 27 cases in the First Hospital of Taizhou, 26 cases in Shanghai Pudong Gongli Hospital, 21 cases in the People's Hospital of Rugao, 11 cases in Central Hospital of Fengxian District, 7 cases in Ningbo Hangzhou Bay Hospital and 6 cases in Jiangsu jianhu People's Hospital, from January 2016 to November 2020 were collected. There were 157 males and 382 females, aged (62.7±0.5)years. Observation indicators: (1) follow-up; (2) risk factors for anastomotic leakage after laparoscopic LAR; (3) establishment of risk assessment scoring model for anastomotic leakage after laparoscopic LAR. Follow-up was conducted by outpatient examination or telephone interview. Patients were followed up at 1 week after discharge or 1 month after the operation to detect the anastomotic leakage. Measurement data with normal distribution were represented as Mean± SD, and measurement data with skewed distribution were represented as M(range). Count data were represented as absolute numbers or percentages, and comparison between groups was analyzed using the chi-square test. Univariate analysis was conducted using the chi-square test and multivariate analysis was conducted usong the Logistic regression model. The area under curve of receiver operating characteristic curve was used to estimate the efficiency of detecton methods. The maximum value of the Youden index was defined as the best cut-off value. Results:(1) Follow-up: 539 patients were followed up at postoperative 1 week and 1 month. During the follow-up, 79 patient had anastomotic leakage, with an incidence of 14.66%(79/539). Of the 79 patients, 39 cases were cured after conservative treatment, 40 cases were cured after reoperation (ileostomy or colostomy). (2) Risk factors for anastomotic leakage after laparoscopic LAR. Results of univariate analysis showed that sex, age, body mass index, smoking and/or drinking, tumor diameter, diabetes mellitus, hemoglobin, albumin, grade of American Society of Anesthesio-logists (ASA), neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy, distance from anastomotic level to dentate line, the number of pelvic stapler, reinforced anastomosis, volume of intraoperative blood loss, placement of decompression tube, preservation of left colic artery, operation time and professional doctors were related factors for anastomotic leakage after laparoscopic LAR ( χ2=14.060, 4.387, 5.039, 4.094, 17.488, 33.485, 25.066, 28.959, 34.973, 34.207, 22.076, 13.208, 16.440, 17.708, 17.260, 4.573, 5.919, 5.389, P<0.05). Results of multivariate analysis showed that male, tumor diameter ≥3.5 cm, diabetes mellitus, hemoglobin <90 g/L, albumin <30 g/L, grade of ASA ≥Ⅲ, neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy, distance from anastomotic level to dentate line <1 cm, the number of pelvic stapler ≥3, non-reinforced anastomosis, volume of intraoperative blood loss ≥100 mL and no placement of decom-pression tube were independent risk factors for anastomotic leakage after laparoscopic LAR ( odds ratio=2.864,3.043,12.556,7.178,8.425,12.895,8.987,4.002,3.084,4.393,3.266,3.224,95% confidence interval as 1.279?6.411, 1.404?6.594, 4.469?35.274, 2.648?19.459, 2.471?28.733, 4.027?41.289, 3.702?21.777, 1.746?9.171, 1.365?6.966, 1.914?10.083, 1.434?7.441, 1.321?7.867, P<0.05). (3) Establishment of risk assessment scoring model for anastomotic leakage after laparoscopic LAR. based on the results of univariate analysis, clinicopathological factors with χ2>20, χ2>10 and ≤20 or χ2≤10 were defined as scoring of 3, 2, 1, respectively. The cumulative clinicopatho-logical factors scoring ≥6 was defined as an effective evaluating indicator for postoperative anastomotic leakage. The risk assessment scoring model (6-321) for anastomotic leakage after laparoscopic LAR was established. The cumulative value ≥6 indicated high incidence of anastomotic leakage, and the cumulative value <6 indicated low incidence of anastomotic leakage. Conclusions:Male, tumor diameter ≥3.5 cm, diabetes mellitus, hemoglobin <90 g/L, albumin <30 g/L, grade of ASA ≥Ⅲ, neo-adjuvant chemoradiotherapy, distance from anastomotic level to dentate line <1 cm, the number of pelvic stapler ≥3, non-reinforced anastomosis, volume of intraoperative blood loss ≥100 mL and no placement of decompression tube are independent risk factors for anastomotic leakage after laparoscopic LAR. The risk assessment scoring model (6-321) is established according to the above results.The cumulative value ≥6 indicates high incidence of anastomotic leakage and the cumulative value <6 indicates low incidence of anastomotic leakage.

Objective:To observe the expression of S100A8 in plasma exosomes, microvesicles (MV), plasma and vitreous in patients with diabetic retinopathy (DR), and verify it in a diabetic rat model, and to preliminarily explore its role in the occurrence and development of DR.Methods:A case-control study. From September 2018 to December 2019, a total of 73 patients with type 2 diabetes, hospitalized patients undergoing vitrectomy, and healthy physical examinations in the Tianjin Medical University Eye Hospital were included in the study. Among them, plasma were collected from 32 patients and vitreous fluid were collected from 41 patients, which were divided into plasma sample research cohort and vitreous sample research cohort. The subjects were divided into simple diabetes group (DM group), non-proliferative DR group (NPDR group) and proliferative DR group (PDR group) without fundus changes; healthy subjects were regarded as normal control group (NC group). In the study cohort of vitreous samples, the control group was the vitreous humor of patients with epimacular membrane or macular hole. Plasma exosomes and microvesicles (MVs) were separated using ultracentrifugation. Transmission electron microscopy, nanometer particle size analyzer and Western blot (WB) were used to characterize exosomes and MVs. The mass concentration of S100A8 was determined by enzymelinked immunosorbent assay. Eighteen healthy male Brown Norway rats were divided into normal control group and diabetic group with 9 rats in each group by random number table method. The rats of diabetes group were induced by streptozotocin to establish diabetic model. Five months after modeling, immunohistochemical staining and WB were used to detect the expression of S100A8 in the retina of rats in the normal control group and the diabetes group. t test was used for the comparison of measurement data between the two groups. Single-factor analysis of variance were used for the comparison of multiple groups of measurement data.parison of measurement data between the two groups. Single-factor analysis of variance were used for the comparison of multiple groups of measurement data. Results:Exosomes and MVs with their own characteristics were successfully separated from plasma. The concentrations of plasma exosomes and vitreous S100A8 in the PDR group were higher than those in the NPDR group, DM group, NC group, and the difference was statistically significant ( P=0.039, 0.020, 0.002, 0.002, P<0.000,<0.000). In the plasma sample cohort study, It was not statistically significant that the overall comparison of the S100A8 mass concentrations of plasma and plasma MV in the four groups of subjects ( F=0.283, 0.015; P=0.836, 0.996). Immunohistochemical staining showed that retinal ganglion cells, bipolar cells, cone rod cells and vascular endothelial cells in the diabetic group all expressed S100A8 protein. Compared with the normal control group, the expression level of S100A8 in the retina of the diabetic group increased, and the difference was statistically significant ( t=8.028, P=0.001). Conclusions:The level of S100A8 protein in circulating exosomes increases significantly with the severity of DR in patients with type 2 diabetes. S100A8 may be an influential factor in the inflammatory environment of DR and a potential anti-inflammatory therapeutic target.

Objective: To identify predictors of pulmonary fibrosis development by combining follow-up thin-section CT findings and clinical features in patients discharged after treatment for COVID-19. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study involved 32 confirmed COVID-19 patients who were divided into two groups according to the evidence of fibrosis on their latest follow-up CT imaging. Clinical data and CT imaging features of all the patients in different stages were collected and analyzed for comparison. Results: The latest follow-up CT imaging showed fibrosis in 14 patients (male, 12; female, 2) and no fibrosis in 18 patients (male, 10; female, 8). Compared with the non-fibrosis group, the fibrosis group was older (median age: 54.0 years vs. 37.0 years, p = 0.008), and the median levels of C-reactive protein (53.4 mg/L vs. 10.0 mg/L, p = 0.002) and interleukin-6 (79.7 pg/L vs. 11.2 pg/L, p = 0.04) were also higher. The fibrosis group had a longer-term of hospitalization (19.5 days vs. 10.0 days, p = 0.001), pulsed steroid therapy (11.0 days vs. 5.0 days, p < 0.001), and antiviral therapy (12.0 days vs. 6.5 days, p = 0.012). More patients on the worst-state CT scan had an irregular interface (59.4% vs. 34.4%, p = 0.045) and a parenchymal band (71.9% vs. 28.1%, p < 0.001). On initial CT imaging, the irregular interface (57.1%) and parenchymal band (50.0%) were more common in the fibrosis group. On the worst-state CT imaging, interstitial thickening (78.6%), air bronchogram (57.1%), irregular interface (85.7%), coarse reticular pattern (28.6%), parenchymal band (92.9%), and pleural effusion (42.9%) were more common in the fibrosis group. Conclusion Fibrosis was more likely to develop in patients with severe clinical conditions, especially in patients with highinflammatory indicators. Interstitial thickening, irregular interface, coarse reticular pattern, and parenchymal band manifested in the process of the disease may be predictors of pulmonary fibrosis. Irregular interface and parenchymal band could predict the formation of pulmonary fibrosis early.