This article reports a patient with typical Cushing syndrome′s manifestations and extremely low plasma cortisol level, indicating glucocorticoid hypersensitivity syndrome. After treatment with the glucocorticoid receptor antagonist mifepristone, the patient′s Cushing symptoms were significantly relieved, and cortisol levels returned to normal. The aim of this report is to enhance clinical awareness among physicians regarding glucocorticoid hypersensitivity syndrome.

OBJECTIVE To study the differences in toxicity between intravenous(iv)administration and aqueous solution exposure of Dichroa alkali salt(DAS)in zebrafish.METHODS ① Well-devel-oped zebrafish larvae of 2 d post fertilization(2 dpf)were randomly divided into the normal control(no treatment),solvent control(saline,iv),and DAS groups(0.125,0.25,0.50,1.00 and 2.00 mg·kg-1,iv)before being observed for 3 consecutive days after administration.A heart rate of 0 was determined as death of zebrafish,and the mortality rate,maximum non-lethal dose(MNLD),and 10 percent lethal dose(LD10)were calculated.The incidence of venous sinus congestion,pericardial edema,slowing heart rate and blood flow of zebrafish in the 0.50 and 2.00 mg·kg-1 groups were observed and calculated by somatoscopic microscopy at 4 h after drug administration.Zebrafish larvae were iv given DAS at doses of 0.041,0.136,0.412,and 0.452 mg·kg-1 while the malformation phenotypes of zebrafish larvae development were observed under a stereomicroscope for 3 consecutive days,including pericardial edema,abnormal heart rate,slow blood flow,loss of circulation,eye abnormalities,brain malforma-tions,jaw abnormalities,loss/degeneration of the liver,delayed yolk sac absorption,intestinal abnormal-ities,abnormal body coloration,body edema,curvature of the trunk/tail/nodal cord and muscle degener-ation before the incidence was calculated.②Zebrafish larvae were randomly divided into a normal control group and DAS aqueous solution exposure groups at concentrations of 2.5,5.0,10.0,25.0,50.0,75.0,and 100.0 mg·L-1,observed for 3 d until the mortality rate,LD10,and MNLD were calculated.Zebrafish were exposed to DAS aqueous solutions at concentrations of 0.32,1.06,3.20,and 11.00 mg·L-1,and the malformation phenotypes of zebrafish larvae development were observed under a stereomicro-scope for 3 consecutive days to calculate the incidence.RESULTS ① The MNLD and LD10 of DAS iv administered to zebrafish larvae were 0.412 and 0.452 mg·kg-1,respectively.Compared with the solvent control group,4 h after DAS iv administration,the incidence of sinus congestion,slow heart rate and pericardial edema in the 0.50 and 2.00 mg·kg-1 groups significantly increased(P<0.05,P<0.01),so was the incidence of slow blood flow in the 2.00 mg·kg-1 group(P<0.01).The rate of delayed yolk sac absorption was significantly increased in the 0.041,0.136,0.412,and 0.452 mg·kg-1 groups(P<0.05,P<0.01),so was the mortality rate in the 0.452 mg·kg-1 group(P<0.05),with pericardial edema observed in the dead zebrafish.② The MNLD and LD10 of DAS aqueous solution exposure for zebrafish larvae were 3.20 and 11.00 mg·L-1,respectively.Compared with the normal control group,the incidence of decreased heart rate and slow blood flow was significantly increased in the 3.20 and 11.00 mg·L-1 groups(P<0.01),so was the incidence of significantly darkened intestines in the 1.06,3.20,and 11.00 mg·L-1 groups(P<0.01).The incidence of delayed yolk sac absorption was significantly increased in the 0.32,1.06,3.20,and 11.00 mg·L-1 groups(P<0.05,P<0.01),so was the incidence of trunk curvature and lower jaw malformation in the 11.00 mg·L-1 group(P<0.01).CONCLUSION The toxic phenotypes of DAS are different between iv administration and aqueous solution exposure in zebrafish larvae.DAS aqueous solution exposure can not only lead to slow heart rate,slow blood rheology,delayed yolk sac absorption and intestinal blackening,but also induce neurodevelopmental toxicity.However,iv adminis-tration can effectively ward off significant gastrointestinal damage and neurodevelopmental toxicity.

Objective:To evaluate the efficacy and safety of mycophenolate mofetil(MMF) in patients with active moderate to severe thyroid associated ophthalmopathy(TAO) refractory to multiple intravenous glucocorticoid(GC).Methods:Fifty-two patients with active moderate to severe TAO that was refractory to multiple intravenous GC were treated with MMF 0.5g orally, 2/d. To evaluate the overall response rate of TAO patients, the improvement of more than 3 items including clinical disease activity score(CAS), soft tissue involvement, proptosis, diplopia, decrease of eye movements, visual acuity and other improvements were defined as response.Results:After 12 weeks of MMF treatment, the overall response rate of TAO patients was 75.0%, and then increased to 88.5% significantly at the 24th weeks. At the 12th weeks, CAS decreased from(5.06±1.21) to(2.52±1.13), and then continued to decrease to(2.02±0.92) at the 24th week( P<0.05), the response rates were 82.7% and 90.4%, respectively. In addition, after 12 weeks of treatment, 58.1% of patients with diplopia improved significantly, and the response rate was 74.2% at the 24th weeks. Similarly, the degree of proptosis decreased significantly at the 12th and 24th weeks, and the response rates were 53.8% and 69.2%, respectively. No serious adverse events occurred during the treatment. Conclusion:The MMF therapy is efficient and safe for patients with active moderate to severe corticosteroid-resistant TAO.

Objective:To investigate the accuracy of 3.0 T MR in the diagnosis of full thickness tear and partial thickness tear of the supraspinatus-infraspinatus tendon, and to analyze the causes of missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis of the supraspinatus-infraspinatus tendon tear.Methods:The MRI diagnosis report and arthroscopic surgery records of 210 patients with shoulder joint injuries in Peking University Third Hospital were analyzed retrospectively. Taking the results of arthroscopic surgery as the gold standard, the diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive values of 3.0 T MR for full thickness tear and partial thickness tear of the supraspinatus-infraspinatus tendon were calculated, and the reasons of missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis were analyzed.Results:In 210 patients with rotator cuff injury, the diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of MRI for full thickness tear of the supraspinatus-infraspinatus tendon were 81.4% (171/210), 83.1% (98/118), 79.3% (73/92), 83.7% (98/117) and 78.4% (73/93) respectively. The diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of MRI for partial tears of the supraspinatus-infraspinatus tendons were 77.6% (163/210), 65.7% (44/67), 83.2% (119/143), 64.7% (44/68) and 83.8% (119/142) respectively. Among the 44 cases of missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis of the supraspinatus-infraspinatus tendon tear, 21 cases (47.7%) occurred in the junction supraspinatus and infraspinatus tendon-osseous (stop). Among the 7 cases of intra-tendon tear of supraspinatus and infraspinatus muscle, 6 cases were misdiagnosed cases, which was the most easily missed diagnosed type of partial tear. The reason for missed diagnosis was that the signal of partial tear was not high (no fluid signal was shown on T 2WI). Complex laceration was also a type of missed diagnosis in partial tears. Among the 4 cases of superior and inferior surface tendons combined with intra-tendon lacerations, 3 cases were missed diagnosed. Conclusion:3.0 T MR has higher accuracy for the diagnosis of full thickness tear and partial thickness tear of supraspinatus-infraspinatus tendon, but there is still a certain rate of misdiagnosis and missed diagnosis. A full understanding of the causes of misdiagnosis and missed diagnosis of MR in the diagnosis of rotator cuff tears of supraspinatus and infraspinatus tendons is helpful to further improve the accuracy of MR in the diagnosis of supraspinatus and infraspinatus tendon injuries of shoulder joint.

This study was aimed to investigate the association between dyslipidemia and thyroid associated ophthalmopathy (TAO). We evaluated the relationship between dyslipidemia and TAO in 218 patients with Graves′ disease (GD) and found that the serum total cholesterol (TC) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in the GD subjects with TAO (n=110) were significantly increased [(5.32±1.39) mmol/L vs. (3.18±2.12) mmol/L, (2.98±0.75) mmol/L vs. (1.25±0.98) mmol/L] than those in the GD subjects without TAO (n=108). TC and LDL-C were positively correlated with the Clinical disease activity score (CAS) [TC (r=0.7, P=0.03),LDL-C (r=0.82, P=0.03)], and the levels of TC (OR=2.56, P=0.02) and LDL-C(OR=2.01, P=0.015) were positively associated with TAO. These suggested that high serum cholesterol level is a novel risk factor for TAO, and management of blood lipids should be included in the treatment of TAO.

Chemerin is a cytokine that attracts much attention in the reproductive process. This study aimed to explore the effects of chemerin and its receptor chemokine-like receptor 1 (CMKLR1) on the maintenance of early pregnancy. The expression levels of chemerin and CMKLR1 in the decidua tissues of 20 early normal pregnant women and 20 early spontaneous abortion women were examined by Western blot and real-time polymerase chain reaction analyses. CMKLR1 receptor antagonist (α-NETA) was then intrauterinely injected into normal pregnant mice model to assess its effect on the outcome of pregnancy and the phosphorylation rate of ERK1/2 in decidua tissues.We found that the expression level of chemerin in women who had experienced early spontaneous abortion was lower than in those who had experienced normal early pregnancy (P < 0.01); conversely, CMKLR1 expression was higher in the former than in the latter (P < 0.01). In a pregnant-mouse model, the embryo resorption rate of α-NETA group was higher than that in the negative control group (61.5% vs. 10.8%) (P < 0.001). Compared with the control group, ERK1/2 phosphorylation in decidua tissues decreased in the α-NETA-treated group (P < 0.01). These results suggested that the inhibition of the chemerin/CMKLR1 signaling pathway can lead to the abortion of mouse embryos, and that chemerin/CMKLR1 may play an important role in the maintenance of early pregnancy possibly by regulating ERK1/2 phosphorylation.
Adult ; Animals ; Chemokines ; analysis ; metabolism ; Female ; Humans ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ; analysis ; metabolism ; Mice ; Pregnancy ; metabolism ; Pregnancy Rate ; Pregnancy, Animal ; Receptors, Chemokine ; metabolism ; Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled ; metabolism ; Signal Transduction ; Young Adult

Objective To investigate the utilization of ultrasound monitoring the renal blood flow during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).Methods Twentry one cases,who received veinartery ECMO for heart failure,were examinated by bed-side ultrasound before the ECMO initiated,right after the ECMO initiated,each day after the ECMO initiated,and right after the ECMO weaned.The renal interlobar artery peak velocity (Vmax) was measured,and the renal interlobar artery resistant index (RI) was calculated,as well as the values of the serum creatinine (SCr) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) were recorded.All the data were compared.Results Compared to the variables right after the ECMO initiated,thc Vmax incrcascd (P ＜ 0.05) two days after ECMO initiated and right after the ECMO weaned,while RI (P ＜ 0.05),SCr (P ＜ 0.05) and BUN (P ＜ 0.05) decreased,there being significant differences (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions While treating patients with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation,the ultrasound can monitoring the renal blood flow effectively,and provide important parameters for the clinical doctors as the basis of the diagnosis and treatment.

Objective To investigate the early application value of echocardiography (UCG)after orthotopic heart transplantation (OHT). Methods A total of 29 patients were monitored by UCG early after OHT. On the 1st,7th,14th,30th day after operation,the left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVDd)and right ventricular end-diastolic diameter (RVDd),interventricular septal thickness (IVST),left ventricular posterior wall thickness (LVPWT)and the tricuspid regurgitation area (TRA)were measured,and the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF ) and left ventricle Tei index (LV-Tei ) were calculated. The blood pressures (BP),central venous pressure (CVP)of the patients were recorded simultaneously. Results The LVDd were larger on the 7th,14th and 30th day after operation,while the RVDd were smaller,compared with those on the 1st day after operation (all in P<0.05). The IVST,LVPWT were lower on the 1th,14th and 30th day after operation,compared with those on the 7th day after operation (all in P<0.05). The BP,CVP,LV-Tei were all significantly lower on the 1st,14th and 30th day after operation,compared with those on the 7th day after operation (P<0.05 ). There was no significant difference in LVEF between each time points(P>0.05 ).The tricuspid regurgitation was detected in 3-4 d after operation by UCG,and the TRA reached the peak value [(9.2 ±2.5)cm2]in 5-8 d after operation,then gradually decreased to (4.7 ±2.4)cm2 at 1 month after operation. Conclusions Early phase after OHT,the structure and function of transplanted heart can be monitored effectively by echocardiography,and it can timely provide multiple parameters as the basis of diagnosis and treatment for clinical doctors.

The change in serum level of 8-hydroxy-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG),an oxidative stress biomarker,in patients with active Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO) during corticosteroid treatment was observed.The serum level of 8-OHdG was significantly increased in patients with active GO as compared with that of normal controls and patients with Graves' disease (P ＜ 0.05).After systemic corticosteroid treatment,patients with GO showed significantly lowered 8-OHdG level as compared with that before treatment and patients with Graves' disease.These changes in serum 8-OHdG level were accompanied by decreases in clinical activity score (P ＜ 0.05) during corticosteroid treatment.Oxidative stress may play a role in the pathogenesis of GO.Serum 8-OHdG level may be used as an objective and quantitative parameter in patients with GO during immunosuppressive treatment.

To investigate the role played by 8-hydroxy-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) in patients with Graves'ophthalmopathy(GO),and the association between 8-OHdG and the disease activity of GO.Serum levels of 8-OHdG were tested in 48 cases with GO and 30 cases with Graves' disease(GD) without ophthalmopathy.30 healthy subjects participated in this study as controls.8-OHdG was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).Compared with the controls,the mean level of 8-OHdG in GO patients and GD patients was increased significantly [(2.98±1.33),(2.07±1.30) vs(0.72±0.93)ng/ml,P＜0.05].Mean 8-OHdG level in GO patients was markedly higher when compared to GD patients(P＜0.05).Pearson regression analysis showed that elevated levels of 8-OHdG were significantly correlated with the Clinical Activity Score of GO (r =0.54,P＜0.01).The serum level of 8-OHdG in GO patients was raised obviously,it implies that oxidative stress plays an important role in the pathogenesis of GO,and the serum level of 8-OHdG might act as an activity index of GO.