Objective:To investigate the value of the ratio of heparin binding protein (HBP) to albumin (ALB) in diagnosis and predict the severity of Kawasaki disease shock syndrome (KDSS).Methods:This study was a retrospective study. Pediatric patients with Kawasaki disease (KD) admitted to the Children's Intensive Care Unit and department of Pediatric Emergency Center of Hunan Children's Hospital from January 2019 to May 2022 were enrolled. The HBP/ALB ratio was calculated according to HBP and serum ALB. The children were divided into three groups (low, medium, and high ratio groups) according to the median and upper and lower quartiles of the HBP/ALB ratio. The differences of each index among the three groups were compared. The receiver operating characteristic curves were drawn to evaluate the clinical value of the HBP/ALB ratio in diagnosis of KDSS and the severity of the disease.Results:A total of 111 cases were included in this study, including 28 cases in the low ratio group, 56 cases in the medium ratio group, and 27 cases in the high ratio group. There were 24 cases with coronary artery damage, 87 cases without coronary artery damage, 27 cases with abnormal ECG findings, and 17 children with KDSS (including 5 cases in the medium ratio group, and 12 cases in the high ratio group). The incidence of KDSS, coronary involvement, and abnormal electrocardiogram proportions in the high ratio group were significantly higher than those in the other two groups. Compared with low and medium ratio groups, the levels of cardiac troponin I, N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide, lactate, stroke output variation, trends in thoracic fluid content, white blood cell count, C-reactive protein, procalcitonin, and D-dimer levels were higher in the high ratio group, while ALB and blood sodium levels were lower in the high ratio group (all P<0.05). There was no significant difference in above indicators between the low and medium ratio groups (all P>0.05). The HBP/ALB ratio had a higher area under the curve, sensitivity, and specificity (0.942, 0.882, and 0.883, respectively) in predicting KDSS compared to HBP alone (0.776, 0.842, and 0.670, respectively). Conclusion:The HBP/ALB ratio could reflect the severity of children with KD and has certain clinical value for prognostic evaluation.

Objective:To evaluate the efficacy and safety of hypomethylating agents (HMA) in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) .Methods:A total of 409 MDS patients from 45 hospitals in Zhejiang province who received at least four consecutive cycles of HMA monotherapy as initial therapy were enrolled to evaluate the efficacy and safety of HMA. Mann-Whitney U or Chi-square tests were used to compare the differences in the clinical data. Logistic regression and Cox regression were used to analyze the factors affecting efficacy and survival. Kaplan-Meier was used for survival analysis. Results:Patients received HMA treatment for a median of 6 cycles (range, 4-25 cycles) . The complete remission (CR) rate was 33.98% and the overall response rate (ORR) was 77.02%. Multivariate analysis revealed that complex karyotype ( P=0.02, OR=0.39, 95% CI 0.18-0.84) was an independent favorable factor for CR rate. TP53 mutation ( P=0.02, OR=0.22, 95% CI 0.06-0.77) was a predictive factor for a higher ORR. The median OS for the HMA-treated patients was 25.67 (95% CI 21.14-30.19) months. HMA response ( P=0.036, HR=0.47, 95% CI 0.23-0.95) was an independent favorable prognostic factor, whereas complex karyotype ( P=0.024, HR=2.14, 95% CI 1.10-4.15) , leukemia transformation ( P<0.001, HR=2.839, 95% CI 1.64-4.92) , and TP53 mutation ( P=0.012, HR=2.19, 95% CI 1.19-4.07) were independent adverse prognostic factors. There was no significant difference in efficacy and survival between the reduced and standard doses of HMA. The CR rate and ORR of MDS patients treated with decitabine and azacitidine were not significantly different. The median OS of patients treated with decitabine was longer compared with that of patients treated with azacitidine (29.53 months vs 20.17 months, P=0.007) . The incidence of bone marrow suppression and pneumonia in the decitabine group was higher compared with that in the azacitidine group. Conclusion:Continuous and regular use of appropriate doses of hypomethylating agents may benefit MDS patients to the greatest extent if it is tolerated.

Objective:To analyze the characteristics of child cases admitted to accidental injury and provide reliable basis for the prevention of accidental injury.Methods:The clinical data of children admitted to Hunan Children′s Hospital aged 0-18 due to accidental injuries from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. The type of accidental injury and characteristic factors such as prognosis, gender, age, time, and location of the child were analyzed.Results:A total of 9 049 children with accidental injury were admitted, accounting for 3.72%(9 049/33 697) of the total number of hospitalized children. The top three types of accidental injuries were falls/drop (3 695 cases), foreign bodies/suffocation (2 639 cases) and traffic accidents (1 165 cases), accounting for 82.87%(7 499/9 049). There were 8 760 cases (96.81%) of improvement and recovery, 178 cases (1.97%) of disability, and 111 cases (1.23%) of unhealed/dead. Among the accidental injuries, 5 833 cases (64.46%) were boys and 3 216 cases (35.54%) were girls, and the incidence ratio was 1.81∶1. There was significant difference between boys and girls in the composition ratio of the type of accidental injury such as falls/falls, foreign bodies/suffocation, poisoning, sharp object injury, drowning ( χ2 values were 3.90-20.56, all P<0.05). Among the accidental injuries, the children aged 1 to<3 years had higher accidental injuries than the other age groups (3 263 cases, accounting for 36.06%), and the composition ratio of accidental injuries in different age groups was different ( χ2 values were 12.98-573.97, all P<0.05). Among the accidental injuries, the accidental injuries occurred in the second quarter and the third quarter were higher than those in the other two quarters (4 892 cases, accounting for 54.06%), and the composition ratio of accidental injuries such as falls/falls, foreign bodies/suffocation, burn and scald, drowning occurred in different quarters was different ( χ2 values were 10.79-18.88, all P<0.05). In the case of accidental injuries, the family was the most likely place of accidental injury, with different types of accidental injuries occurring in different places ( χ2 values were 10.08-2 186.54, all P<0.05). Conclusions:Children′s unintentional injuries are most likely to occur in boys aged 1-<3 years, and fall/fall is the main injury type. Traffic accidents are the most important unintentional injury type leading to children′s unhealed/dead. Different injury types were related to child gender, age, quarter, and place of occurrence.Due to the differences in the occurrence mechanism and injury mode of accidental injuries in different countries and regions, and the majority of accidental injuries can be prevented, targeted preventive measures should be taken according to the characteristics of children′s accidental injuries in different regions, and a comprehensive prevention system for children′s accidental injuries should be constructed to ensure children′s safety.

Objective:To explore the clinical value of serum insulin combined with cardiac-related markers in evaluating the severity of sepsis associated encephalopathy (SAE).Methods:The clinical data of 130 children with sepsis who admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit of Hunan Children's Hospital from January 2018 to December 2021 were analyzed retrospectively, and the differences of serum insulin and cardiac-related markers in children with sepsis and SAE were compared.Results:The levels of serum insulin, creatine kinase isoenzyme, hypersensitive troponin T, and N-terminal cerebral urine peptide in the SAE group were significantly higher than those in the non-SAE group ( P<0.05), but there was no significant difference in heart rate and lactic acid ( P>0.05). The levels of serum insulin, creatine kinase isoenzyme, hypersensitive troponin T, N-terminal cerebral urine peptide and lactic acid in the death group were significantly higher than those in the survival group ( P<0.05), while the heart rate was not significantly different ( P>0.05). The area under ROC curve of serum insulin, creatine kinase isoenzyme, hypersensitive troponin T, and N-terminal cerebral urine peptide in predicting SAE were 0.841, 0.599, 0.700, and 0.667, respectively; in terms of judging the prognosis of sepsis, the area under ROC curve were 0.647, 0.669, 0.645, and 0.683, respectively; and in terms of judging the prognosis of children with SAE, the areas under the ROC curve were 0.509, 0.682, 0.666 and 0.555, respectively. Binary logistic regression equation was established with serum insulin, creatine kinase isoenzyme, hypersensitive troponin T, and N-terminal cerebral urine peptide: Y=8.153×NT-proBNP+1.704×CTnT-hs+27.121×insulin+0.946×CK-MB+1.573. The area under the ROC curve of the new variable Y in predicting sepsis SAE, evaluating the prognosis of sepsis, and predicting the prognosis of children with sepsis and SAE was 0.890, 0.756, and 0.729, respectively. Conclusions:Serum insulin, creatine kinase isoenzyme, hypersensitive troponin T, and N-terminal cerebral urine peptide can be used alone to determine the severity of sepsis and sepsis in children with SAE. The combined value of the four indicators is obviously better than that of the single indicator. The combined application of the four indicators may better evaluate the severity of sepsis and SAE.

Objective:To investigate the clinical characteristics of patients with rheumatic diseases and abnormal liver function, as well as determine the proportion and severity of liver function abnormalities.Methods:Cross-sectional study. Data were collected from patients registered in the Chinese Rheumatism Date Center from 2011 to 2021. The rheumatic diseases analyzed in this study were rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Sjogren syndrome (SS), ankylosing spondylitis (AS), and gout. Patient data, including demographic characteristics [ such as age, sex, body mass index,(BMI), and smoking history], liver function test results [including alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase(ALP), and total bilirubin], and use of anti-rheumatic immune drugs and liver-protective drugs, were collected and compared between groups with normal and abnormal liver functions. In addition, the proportions of abnormal liver function were compared between sex and age groups.Results:A total of 116 308 patients were included in this study, including 49 659 with RA, 17 597 with SLE, 9 039 with SS, 11 321 with AS, and 28 692 with gout. The lowest proportion of liver function abnormalities was observed in patients with RA[11.02% (5 470/49 659)], followed by those with SS[17.97% (1 624/9 039)] and AS [18.22% (2 063/11 321) ], whereas patients with SLE [21.14% (3 720/17 597) ] and gout [28.73% (8 242/28 692)] exhibited the highest proportion of these abnormalities. Elevated ALT, mostly classified as grade 1, was the most commonly noted liver function abnormality, whereas elevated ALP was the least common. Some patients who took liver-protective drugs had normal liver function, with the lowest percentage observed in patients with gout [7.45% (36/483) ] and ranging from 21.7% to 30.34% in patients with RA, SLE, SS, and AS. The proportion of liver function abnormalities was higher in males than in females for all disease types [RA: 13.8%(1 368/9 906) vs. 10.3%(4 102/39 753); SLE: 33.6% (479/1 424) vs. 20.0% (3 241/16 173); SS: 25.4%(111/437) vs. 17.6%(1 513/8 602); AS: 20.1%(1 629/8 119) vs. 13.6% (434/3 202); and gout: 29.3% (8 033/27 394) vs. 16.1% (209/1 298)]. In RA, SLE, and AS, the proportions of liver function abnormalities were similar across all age groups. In SS, the proportion of liver function abnormalities increased with age [<40 years: 14.9%(294/1 979); 40-59 years: 18.1%(858/4 741); ≥60 years: 20.4%(472/2 319)], whereas a reversal of this trend was observed in gout [<40 years: 34.9%(4 294/12 320); 40-59 years: 25.5%(2 905/11 398);≥60 years: 21.0%(1 042/4 971)].Conclusions:The proportions of combined liver function abnormalities in patients with rheumatologic diseases were high, and the utilization rates of liver-protective drugs were low. It is necessary to pay more attention to monitoring patients′ liver function, timely administer liver-protective drugs, and optimize liver-protective regimens during the treatment of rheumatic diseases.

Tumor-targeted immunotherapy is a remarkable breakthrough, offering the inimitable advantage of specific tumoricidal effects with reduced immune-associated cytotoxicity. However, existing platforms suffer from low efficacy, inability to induce strong immunogenic cell death (ICD), and restrained capacity of transforming immune-deserted tumors into immune-cultivated ones. Here, an innovative platform, perfluorooctyl bromide (PFOB) nanoemulsions holding MnO₂ nanoparticles (MBP), was developed to orchestrate cancer immunotherapy, serving as a theranostic nanoagent for MRI/CT dual-modality imaging and advanced ICD. By simultaneously depleting the GSH and eliciting the ICD effect via high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) therapy, the MBP nanomedicine can regulate the tumor immune microenvironment by inducing maturation of dendritic cells (DCs) and facilitating the activation of CD8⁺ and CD4⁺ T cells. The synergistic GSH depletion and HIFU ablation also amplify the inhibition of tumor growth and lung metastasis. Together, these findings inaugurate a new strategy of tumor-targeted immunotherapy, realizing a novel therapeutics paradigm with great clinical significance.

Objective:To study the clinical features of children with pertussis and the risk factors of severe pertussis.Methods:A retrospective analysis was performed based on clinical data and laboratory examination results of hospitalized children with pertussis who admitted to the intensive care unit, respiratory department, and emergency general department at Hunan Children′s Hospital from January 2019 to March 2020.According to the age, the patients were divided into age ≤3 months group( n=58)and age >3 months group( n=64). According to sputum culture, 63 cases were divided into negative sputum culture group and 59 cases were positive sputum culture group.The patients were also divided into vaccinated group( n=19)and unvaccinated group( n=103). Severe disease was seen in 28 cases, and the other 94 cases had the modest disease.The clinical characteristics between two groups were compared, and the risk factors of severe pertussis pneumonia were analyzed. Results:The hospitalization days in age ≤3 months group was higher than that in age >3 months group.It was also found that shortness of breath, apnea, cyanosis after coughing, heart rate decline were more common in age ≤3 months group than those in age >3 months group( P<0.05). The incidences of respiratory failure and heart failure in positive sputum culture group were higher than those in negative sputum culture group.Clinical characteristics such as hospitalization days, hospitalization expenses, peak white blood cell count, peak lymphocyte count, and incidence of bacterial infection were higher in severe pertussis group than those in non-severe pertussis group( P<0.05). Four patients were treated with exchange blood transfusion, and one patient died.Logistic regression analysis revealed that fever, wheezing, cyanosis after coughing and white blood cell count>20×10 9/L were risk factors for severe pertussis.White blood cell count of 20×10 9/L and lymphocyte count of 14×10 9/L had the highest sensitivity and specificity in predicting severe pertussis(0.71, 0.78; 0.54, 0.79). Conclusion:The younger the children are, the more likely they have shortness of breath, apnea, cyanosis, heart rate falls, and the longer the hospital stay.Bacterial infection will aggravate pertussis.Patients with fever, wheezing, cyanosis after coughing, and white blood cell count>20×10 9/L are more likely to develop severe pertussis.The white blood cell count >20×10 9/L and the lymphocyte count >14×10 9/L are associated with severe pertussis.

Objective:To explore the application value of heparin-binding protein (HBP) in the early diagnosis and assessment of severe adenovirus pneumonia.Methods:A total of 90 children diagnosed with adenovirus pneumonia admitted in the Department 1 of Emergency and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit 1 in Hunan Children′s Hospital from January 2019 to March 2020 were recruited.HBP levels in children with adenovirus pneumonia were detected.The correlation between HBP with white blood cell count (WBC), neutrophil ratio (N), C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6(IL-6) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) were examined.Receiver operating characteristic(ROC) curve analysis was conducted to explore the value of HBP in the early diagnosis and assessment of severe adenovirus pneumonia.Children with adenovirus pneumonia were divided into severe adenovirus pneumonia group (severe group) and non-severe adenovirus pneumonia group (non-severe group) according to their severity.Those in the severe group were further divided into bronchiolitis obliterans(BO) group and non-BO group according to the occurrence of BO.Results:(1) The HBP level in children with adenovirus pneumonia was (49.47±34.19) μg/L, which was significantly higher in the severe group than that of non-severe group[(82.88±44.02) μg/L vs.(35.15±13.08) μg/L, t=15.349, P<0.05]. Children in the severe group were significantly younger, and they had a significantly longer length of stay, lower Pediatric Critical Illness Scores (PCIS), and higher inflammatory markers like HBP, WBC, N, CRP, IL-6, and ESR compared with those of the non-severe group (all P<0.05). No significant difference in the procalcitonin (PCT) level was detected between groups.(2) The HBP was positively correlated with inflammatory markers like WBC ( r=0.38, P<0.05), N ( r=0.26, P<0.05), CRP ( r=0.47, P<0.05), IL-6 ( r=0.76, P<0.05), and ESR ( r=0.35, P<0.05). However, HBP did not have a significant correlation with PCT ( r=0.097, P>0.05). (3) In the severe group, the HBP level of the children with invasive mechanical ventilation, oxygenation index(P/F index)≤ 200 mmHg (1 mmHg=0.133 kPa) and BO was significantly higher than that of the non-invasive mechanical ventilation, P/F index> 200 mmHg and non-BO (all P<0.05). (4) The area under the ROC curve of HBP, WBC, N, CRP, ESR and IL-6 in predicting the severity of adenovirus pneumonia were 0.915, 0.748, 0.770, 0.740, 0.820 and 0.798, respectively.When the cut-off value of HBP was 45 μg/L, the sensitivity and specificity of HBP were 81.48% and 85.71%, respectively. Conclusions:As an inflammatory mediator, HBP is involved in the inflammatory response of the body.It may be a useful new marker for the early diagnosis of severe adenovirus infection, which also has a certain value in the evaluation of the severity and prognosis of the disease.The findings provide a basis for early clinical intervention and treatment of adenovirus infection in children.

Objective To observe the phosphorylation levels of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 5 (ERK5) in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients and the effects of ERK5 selective inhibitor XMD8-92 on human platelet activation in vitro,and to explore its mechanism.Methods Western blot was applied to detect the phosphorylation levels of ERK5,Akt473 and Akt308 in AMI patients (n =34) and stable angina patients (n =33,control).The effects of different concentration of XMD8-92 on human platelet aggregation induced by collagen was tested by aggregometer in vitro.The release of ATP was measured simultaneously by luciferase detection.The effects of XMD8-92 on integrin aIIbβ3 were detected by platelet spreading on immobilized fibrinogen and clot retraction.The effects of XMD8-92 on phosphorylation levels of Akt473,Akt308 PTEN370 and ERK5 were detected by Western blot.Results The levels of phosphor-Akt473,Akt308 and phosphor-ERK5 were significantly higher in AMI patients than that in control group (P＜0.05).ERK5 inhibitor XMD8-92 diminished collagen-induced platelet aggregation,ATP secretion,the average area of platelet spreading on immobilized fibrinogen and the clot retraction extent.The levels of phosphor-Akt (Ser-473/Thr-308) and phosphor-PTEN (Ser370) were significantly down-regulated in the presence of XMD8-92.Conclusions ERK5 plays a role in platelet activation in AMI process.It regulates platelet activation by regulating PTEN and Akt phosphorylation.Its specific inhibitor is hoped to be new antithrombotic drug.

Objective: To assess the efficiency and safety of low-dose decitabine in patients with lower-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) to couple with the clinical significance of MDS-related gene mutations. Methods: This study was done in 4 institutions in Zhejiang Province. A total of 62 newly diagnosed patients with lower-risk MDS were assigned to two groups of decitabine (12 mg·m^-2·d^-1 for 5 consecutive days) and best supportive care (BSC) . Their bone marrow samples were subject to examinations of MDS-related 15 gene mutations. The primary endpoints were the proportion of patients who achieved overall response (ORR) after at least two cycles and progression-free survival (PFS) , and their relevances to the gene mutations. Results: Of 62 enrolled patients, and 51 cases were included in the final analysis. 16 of 24 patients (66.7%) in decitabine group achieved ORR versus 8 of 27 (29.6%) in BSC group (χ²=6.996, P=0.008) ; PFS prolongation of decitabine versus BSC was statistically significant (not reached vs 13.7 months, P=0.037) . Among 51 patients, at least one gene mutation was identified in 20 patients (39.2%) , including 4 single SF3B1 mutation. PFS in cases with gene mutations (not including single SF3B1 mutation) was significantly shorter than of no gene mutation (9.2 months vs 18.5 months, P=0.008) , but not for ORR (37.5% vs 58.1%, P=0.181) . Among 16 patients with mutated genes, ORR in decitabine and BSC groups were 75% (6/8) and 0 (0/8) , respectively. The most adverse events in decitabine group were grade 3 to 4 neutropenia (45.8%) and grade 3 to 4 infections (33.3%) . Conclusion This preliminary study showed that low-dose decitabine produced promising results with an acceptable safety in lower-risk MDS patients, especially for those with mutated genes. Further study targeting poor prognostic lower-risk MDS patients should be warranted.