Objective To investigate the species of ticks in Suizhou City, Hubei Province, so as to provide insights into management of ticks and tick-borne diseases. Methods During the period between May 2023 and June 2024, livestock breeding farms and vegetation neighboring the place of residence of confirmed and suspected patients with tick-borne disease were selected as sampling points in rural areas from Yindian Township, Gaocheng Township, Wanhe Township, Wushan Township, Xiaolin Township, Xihe Township, Hedian Township and Beijiao Street in Suizhou City, Hubei Province, where confirmed and suspected cases with tick-borne diseases had been reported. The parasitic ticks on the body surface of free-range livestock were captured with tweezers in livestock breeding farms, and free ticks on the vegetation surface were captured with the flagging method. Morphological identification of tick samples was performed under a microscope, and the gender and developmental stage of ticks were determined. One engorged adult tick, 2 to 3 blood-feeding but non-engorged adult ticks, 10 to 15 unfed female ticks, 15 to 20 unfed male ticks, and 30 to 40 tick nymphs or larvae were assigned into a group, respectively. Genomic DNA was extracted from tick samples in each group, and mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene was amplified. Sequence analysis was performed with the DNASTAR software, and phylogenetic analysis was performed using the software MEGA 7.0. In addition, the phylogenetic tree was generated using the maximum likelihood method based on the Kimura 2 parameter model. Results A total of 2 438 ticks were captured from Suizhou City, Hubei Province during the period between May 2023 and June 2024, including 595 free ticks and 1 483 parasitic ticks. Three developmental stages of ticks were captured, including larvae, nymphs, and adults, and 75.18% (1 899/2 438) of captured ticks were adult, in which 79.04% (1 501/1 899) were female. Morphological and molecular biological assays identified one family, three genera and four species of captured ticks, including 2 425 Haemaphysalis longicornis ticks (99.47%) and one H. flava tick (0.04%) of the genus Haemaphysalis, 11 Rhipicephalus microplus ticks (0.45%) of the genus Rhipicephalus, and one Ixodes sinensis tick (0.04%) of the genus Ixodes in the family Ixodidae. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the H. longicornis sequence (SZ49) in this study was clustered with sequences from Yunnan Province (GenBank accession number: MH024510.1), Hebei Province (GenBank accession number: MK450606.1) and Henan Province (GenBank accession number: MZ230645.1) into a clade, and the H. flava sequence (SZ19) in this study was clustered with sequences from Japan (GenBank accession number: MW064044.1), South Korea (GenBank accession number: ON629585.1), and Jiangsu Province (GenBank accession number: PP494741.1) and Hebei Province of China (GenBank accession number: MH520685.1) into a clade, while the R. microplus sequence (SZ8) in this study was clustered with the sequences from India (GenBank accession number: MK621328.1), and Henan Province (GenBank accession number: MT555307.1) and Guizhou Province of China (GenBank accession number: PP446801.1) into a clade. The sequence of I. sinensis (SZ23) in this study had 99.51% homology with that (GenBank accession number: OM368265.1) of ticks sampled from Wuhan City, Hubei Province. Conclusion There are four tick species of H. longicornis, H. flava, R. microplus and I. sinensis in Suizhou City, Hubei Province, and H. longicornis is the dominant species. H. flava is firstly recorded in Suizhou City.

Objective To investigate the infection of Chlamydia pneumoniae and mycoplasma pneumoniae in adults and their association with atherosclerosis,and to provide theoretical guidance for the prevention of such diseases. Methods A case-control study was used to collect 362 patients who were diagnosed with atherosclerosis from January 2019 to December 2021 in Department of Sichuan Bazhong Central Hospital, and 370 cases who were admitted to the hospital during the same period of physical examination without any cardiovascular disease were selected as the control group, and whole blood samples of the two groups of study subjects were collected, and the infection of Chlamydia pneumoniae and mycoplasma pneumoniae was detected by PCR. Results The infection rate of Chlamydia pneumoniae was 35.49%, the infection rate of mycoplasma was 40.37%, and the co-infection rate was 11.37%；The infection rate of Chlamydia pneumoniae in the control group was 12.04%, the infection rate of mycoplasma was 15.83%, and the coinfection rate was 3.14%, and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant ( χ²=10.926, P=0.023). The effects of mycoplasma, chlamydia, and co-infection on atherosclerotic patients have sex differences, mainly manifested as higher infection rates in men; In addition, the effects of mycoplasma, chlamydia, and co-infection on atherosclerosis patients varied by age, mainly in the 55-70 years age group (P<0.05). Multivariate logistic regression results showed that Chlamydia pneumoniae infection was a risk factor for atherosclerosis (OR=1.303, 95%CI: 1.043-1.677) in the whole population, and chlamydia pneumoniae (OR=1.472, 95% CI: 1.037-1.556), mycoplasma (OR=2.003, 95%CI: 1.637-3.842) and co-infection in men (OR=1.937, 95%CI: 1.380-2.184) were risk factors for atherosclerosis, while co-infection in women (OR=1.699, 95%CI: 1.263-1.765) was a risk factor for atherosclerosis. Conclusion Chlamydia pneumoniae and mycoplasma infection are risk factors for atherosclerosis, and their impact on male groups is greater, and more attention needs to be paid to them.

Objective To validate the mechanism of Mori Cortex-Lycii Cortex(MCLC)in intervening acute lung injury(ALI)based on network pharmacology,molecular docking combined with animal experiments.Methods The TCMSP database was used to obtain the active components of MCLC;the SwissTargetPrediction database was used to predict the targets of active components;the GeneCards database and DisGeNET database were used to collect the disease targets of ALI;the key targets were screened by constructing a PPI network,and the key targets were subjected to GO and KEGG pathway enrichment;a drug-component-target-pathway network was constructed using Cytoscape software;AutoDock and PyMOL software were used to validate the molecular docking of some of the compounds and targets;LPS was used to establish a mouse model of ALI for experimental validation,and experimental validation was performed to main targets and pathways.Results Totally 44 active components of MCLC and 138 action targets were obtained;26 potential targets of MCLC intervention in ALI were obtained,mainly TNF,EGFR,NFKB1,MPO,TNFRSF1A,NOX4,etc.,and the key pathways were MAPK signaling pathway,IL-17 signaling pathway,NF-κB signaling pathway,etc.;molecular docking results showed that the core active components of MCLC and the main targets had strong binding activities;animal experiments showed that MCLC at medium and high dosages could effectively improve the lung histopathological damage in ALI mice,decrease the contents of IL-6 and TNF-α in serum(P<0.01),and increase IL-10 content(P<0.01);MCLC inhibited protein expressions of EGFR,PI3K,AKT,NF-κB p65 in lung tissue(P<0.01).Conclusion MCLC may intervene ALI by components such as quercetin and buddleoside,acting on targets including EGFR and TNF,through ulti-pathways of EGFR/PI3K/NF-κB signaling pathway,etc.

Metformin is one of the commonly used hypoglycemic drugs in clinical practice. In addition to hypoglycemia, there are a variety of medical biological values that have been constantly discovered and attracted much attention. In recent years, studies have shown that metformin through activation of AMPK inhibition of sterols regulating element binding protein 1 (SREBP-1) reduce lipid synthesis, in the treatment of liver steatosis, improve insulin sensitivity, prevention Metformin is one of the commonly used hypoglycemic drugs in clinical practice. In addition to hypoglycemia, there are a variety of medical biological values that have been constantly discovered and attracted much attention. In recent years, studies have shown that metformin through activation of AMPK inhibition of sterols regulating element binding protein 1 (SREBP-1) reduce lipid synthesis, in the treatment of liver steatosis, improve insulin sensitivity, prevention of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular dysfunction, tumor, polycystic ovary syndrome and adjuvant therapy of COVID-19 aspects play a role. Therefore, this article reviews the possible mechanism and clinical application of metformin in regulating glucose and lipid metabolism by inhibiting SREBP-1 through activating AMPK.

BACKGROUND: At present, an ultrafine chest tube combined with a traditional thick tube were often used after pulmonary uniportal video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (U-VATS). However, the thick tube was often placed in the incision, which increased the risk of poor wound healing and postoperative pain. The aim of this study is to investigate the feasibility and safety of using two ultrafine chest tubes (10 F pigtail tube) for drainage after pulmonary U-VATS. METHODS: The medical records of patients who underwent pulmonary U-VATS during June 2018 and June 2020 in the department of cardiothoracic surgery of the second affiliated hospital of Soochow university were retrospectively reviewed to compare two different drainage strategies, receiving two 10 F pigtail tubes as chest tube (group A) or one 10 F pigtail tube as lower chest tube combined with one 24 F tube as upper chest tube (group B). RESULTS: 106 patients in group A receiving two 10 F pigtail tubes during June 2019 and June 2020 and 183 patients in group B receiving one 10 F pigtail tube as lower chest tube combined with one 24 F tube as upper chest tube during June 2018 and June 2019 were included. There was no significant difference between two groups in terms of the postoperative thoracic drainage (mL) (1st: 199.54±126.56 vs 203.59±139.32, P=0.84; 2nd: 340.30±205.47 vs 349.74±230.92, P=0.76; 3rd: 435.19±311.51 vs 451.37±317.03, P=0.70; 4th: 492.58±377.33 vs 512.57±382.94, P=0.69; Total: 604.57±547.24 vs 614.64±546.08, P=0.88), drainage time (d) (upper chest tube: 2.54±2.20 vs 3.40±2.07, P=0.21; lower chest tube: (2.24±2.43 vs 3.82±2.12, P=0.10), postoperative hospital stays (d) (6.87±3.17 vs 7.06±3.21, P=0.63), poor wound healing (0 vs 3.28%, P=0.09), replacement of lower chest tube (0.94% vs 2.19%, P=0.66) and the VAS1 (3.00±0.24 vs 2.99±0.15, P=0.63). Notably, there were significant differences between two groups in terms of the VAS₂ (2.28±0.63 vs 2.92±0.59, P<0.01) and VAS₃ (2.50±1.58 vs 2.79±1.53, P=0.02), as well as the frequency of using additional analgesics (25.47% vs 38.25%, P=0.03) and replacement of the upper chest tube (0 vs 4.37%, P=0.03). CONCLUSIONS It's feasible and safe to use two 10 F pigtail tubes for drainage after pulmonary U-VATS, which can achieve less postoperative pain and lower frequency of replacement of the upper chest tube on some specific patients.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the clinical features of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) with T315 I mutation (CML-T315I) and compare the effectiveness of different treatments. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data and outcomes of 19 patients with CML-T315I receiving different treatments. The T315 I mutations in these patients were detected by examination of BCR-ABL kinase domain (KD) mutation by RTQ-PCR and Sanger sequencing. The relapse following the treatments, defined as hematological, cytogenetic and molecular biological recurrences, were analyzed in these patients. RESULTS: Of the 19 patients with CML-T315I, 14 (73.7%) were in CML-CP stage at the initial diagnosis, and 13 (81.2%) were high-risk patients based on the Sokal scores. All the 19 patients were treated with TKI after the initial diagnosis, and during the treatment, 15 (78.9%) patients were found to have additional chromosomal aberrations, and 10 (52.6%) had multiple mutations; 13 (68.4%) of the patients experienced disease progression (accelerated phase/blast crisis) before the detection of T315I mutation, with a median time of 40 months (5-120 months) from the initial diagnosis to the mutation detection. After detection of the mutation, 12 patients were treated with ponatinib and 7 were managed with the conventional chemotherapy regimen, and their overall survival rates at 3 years were 83.3% and 14.2%, respectively ( < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS CML patients resistant to TKI are more likely to have T315I mutations, whose detection rate is significantly higher in the progressive phase than in the chronic phase. These patients often have additional chromosomal aberrations and multiple gene mutations with poor prognoses and a high recurrence rate even after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Long-term maintenance therapy with ponatinib may improve the prognosis and prolong the survival time of the patients.
Drug Resistance, Neoplasm ; Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl ; Humans ; Imidazoles ; Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive ; Mutation ; Pyridazines ; Retrospective Studies

Lung cancer leads to the highest cancer-related morbidity and mortality worldwide. With the development of multi-slice spiral computed tomography technology and the implement of lung cancer screening, more and more lung nodules have been discovered, many of which are multiple pulmonary nodules. These pulmonary nodules are usually diagnosed as multiple primary lung adenocarcinomas from a pathological perspective. For multiple nodules with different imaging features, the preferred treatment methods are different, and the treatment of each lung nodule is still controversial. In recent years, the interactions between multiple lesions and the evolution of the lesions as well as the inter-tumoral and intratumoral homogeneity and heterogeneity of the genomics also arouse attention. Our review gathered the research progress in multiple pulmonary nodules from the points of histopathology, genomics and surgical management.
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Diagnostic Imaging ; Genotype ; Humans ; Multiple Pulmonary Nodules ; diagnostic imaging ; genetics ; therapy

Objective:Previous studies have shown an association between programmed death-ligand 1 expression(PD-L1)in non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC)and clinical factors and that PD-L1 is positively correlated with TNM staging.This study aimed to explore the prognostic significance of PD-L1 and its correlation with the maximum standardized uptake value(SUVmax).Methods:Clinicopath-ological data and the follow-up information of the 122 de novo primary NSCLC patients were analyzed.PD-L1 expression was detected by immunohistochemistry in this 122 surgically resected non-small cell lung carcinoma tissues.Survival outcomes were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method and multivariate Cox proportional hazards model.Correlation between SUVmax and PD-L1 expression was analyzed using Spearman's rank correlation analysis.Results:Multivariate analysis revealed that PD-L1 expression(HR=4.518,95% CI:1.176-17.352,P=0.028)and tumor size(HR=1.404,95%CI:1.020-1.933,P=0.037)were independent risk factors for overall survival(OS) in early NSCLC patients.Sex,age,pathological type,CEA level,and SUVmax group had no obvious effect on OS(P 0.05)in early NSCLC patients.In univariate analyses,sex,pathological type,tumor size,and SUVmax group affected OS in stageⅢ-ⅣNSCLC patients.How-ever,age,CEA level,and PD-L1 expression had no effect on OS.PD-L1 expression was not an independent risk factor for OS in stageⅢ-ⅣNSCLC patients.The SUVmax group had no association with PD-L1 in all patients.Conclusions:PD-L1 expression is an independent risk factor for OS in early NSCLC patients but not in stageⅢ-Ⅳpatients.

Objective To observe the efficacy of mesalazine combined with probiotics in the treatment of ulcerative colitis. Methods 60 patients with ulcerative colitis who were admitted to our hospital from May 2015 to May 2017 were selected randomly. These patients were divided into two groups according to the treatment method: mesalamine com bined with probiotic group(combination therapy group, n=30) and mesalamine alone treatment group (n=30). The clinical symptom score, endoscopic score, serum CRPlevel, clinical efficacy, incidence of adverse reactions and recurrence in both groups were statistically analyzed. Results Compared with those before treatment, the clinical symptom score, en doscopic score and serum CRPlevel were significantly lower in both groups after treatment(P＜0. 05); After treatment, clinical symptom score, endoscopic score and serum CRPlevel were significantly lower in the combination therapy group than those in the treatment alone group(P＜0. 05). The total effective rate in the combination therapy group was 93. 3％(28/30), significantly higher than 63. 3％(19/30) in the treatment alone group(P＜0. 05). The recurrence rate was 13. 3％ (4/30), significantly lower than that of 33. 3％(10/30) in the treatment alone group(P＜0. 05). However, the incidence rates of adverse reactions in the two groups was 6. 7％(2/30) and 10. 0％(3/30) respectively, which were not significantly different(P＞0. 05). Conclusion The efficacy of mesalazine combined with probiotics in the treatment of ulcerative colitis is more significant than that of mesalazine alone. At the same time, it is also more effective in improving the clinical symptoms, reducing the serum CRPlevel and recurrence rate in the patients, and will not increase the patients' adverse reactions to a great extent, so it is worthy of promotion and application in clinical settings.

Objective To summarize our experience with surgical management of renal neoplasm involving inferoir veno cava.Methods We review the data of 115 patients,including 74 male patients and 41 female patients,with renal neoplasm involving venous system between March 1993 and December 2015.The mean age was 52 years old,ranging 22 to 77 years old.The tumor was found in right side in 77 cases and left side in 38 cases.There were 15 patients (13.0％) with renal vein thrombus,38 (33.1％) with infrahepatic thrombus,29 (25.2％) with low retrohepatic thrombus,20 (17.4％) with high retrohepatic thrombus,and 13 (11.3％) with supradiaphragmatic thrombus.The mean age was 52 years old,ranging 22 to 77 years old.The tumor was found in right side in 77 cases and left side in 38 cases.All patients accepted the radical nephrectomy.Primary outcomes were overall survival (OS),and cancer special survival (CSS) in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) estimated by Kaplan-Meier method.Secondary outcome included operative and oncological features,past-operative complications and hospital mortality.Cox proportional hazard model was used to univariate and multivariate analysis for risk factor impacting on OS of RCC patients.Results Complete resections of renal neoplasm with tumor thrombus were achieved in 113 patients (98.3％),2 patients died intraoperatively due to the dropping of thrombus.Postoperative complication rate was 16.8％.Hospital mortality was 2.6％.Mean follow-up interval was 48 months.OS rates at 5-,and 10-year in RCC patients were 66.5％,and 61.8％,respectively.Metastasis was an independent risk factor affecting on OS (P =0.000).However,the level of thrombus was not an risk factor affecting the prognosis.Conclusions Radical resection of renal tumor and caval thrombus is an effective treatment for prolonging survival in patients with RCC extending into venous system.Retrohepatic caval tumor thrombus below or above the main hepatic vein should be dichotomized and managed respectively with diverse techniques.Metastatic rather than the level of thrombus was a risk factor impacting on RCC patient survival.