Iron metabolism plays a regulatory role in various metabolic diseases, and excessive iron accumulation can increase the risk of metabolic diseases, especially type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Pathological processes such as iron deposition, iron overload, and ferroptosis can activate oxidative stress, lipid peroxidation, autophagy, and other processes, promote the amplification of inflammatory reactions and the reduction of antioxidant capacity, gradually decline the function of pancreatic islet β-cells, thereby promoting the occurrence and development of T2DM. Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is a physiological hormone secreted by intestinal L cells. GLP-1 analogs or GLP-1 receptor agonists can regulate the body's iron metabolism process, inhibit iron deposition, iron overload, and ferroptosis-related inflammatory reactions, promote the proliferation and differentiation of pancreatic islet β-cells, thereby reducing insulin resistance, inhibiting endothelial cell damage, and playing an important role in the prevention and treatmentof T2DM and its complications.

Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of autologous hair follicle stem cell transplantation for hair restoration in patients with alopecia. Methods Ten patients with alopecia, including five with androgenic alopecia and five with seborrheic alopecia, were selected from November 2022 to May 2023. They were treated with autologous hair follicle stem cell transplantation. Data before treatment were used as the control group, and data after treatment were used as the study group. Follow-up was conducted for 3 to 8 months. The FPF scoring system was designed to collect data and evaluate the treatment effect. Results Nine patients had an improvement score of ≥7 points, and one patient had an improvement score of 2 points, with a treatment excellence rate of 90% (9/10). Compared with the total score of (2.81±0.92) points in the control group, the total score of the study group was (9.00±2.21) points, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.001). Conclusion Autologous hair follicle stem cell transplantation for hair restoration is safe and effective, and has a broad range of indications.

Objective:To automatically synthesize Al 18F-fibroblast activation protein inhibitor (FAPI)-74, and explore its value of clinical application. Methods:Al 18F-FAPI-74 was synthesized automatically by the commercial synthesis module CFN-MPS-100, and its yield, radiochemical purity and stability were determined. Sixteen normal Kunming (KM) mice were randomly divided into 4 groups and euthanized at 10, 30, 60 and 90 min after Al 18F-FAPI-74 injection, and the biodistribution was measured. MicroPET/CT dynamic scanning (60 min) was performed in 5 rat pancreatic tumor-bearing BALB/c nude mice to observe the tumor uptake. Al 18F-FAPI-74 PET/CT imaging was performed on 3 volunteers (1 male, 2 females; age: 37, 41, 43 years) to evaluate the clinical application value of Al 18F-FAPI-74. Results:The automated synthesis time of Al 18F-FAPI-74 was about 35 min, with the synthesis yield of (21.34±3.86)% (without attenuation correction, n=5) and the radiochemical purity more than 99%. The radiochemical purity was still more than 96% after placement at 37 ℃ for 6 h. Biodistribution in normal mice and microPET/CT dynamic scanning in tumor-bearing nude mice showed that consistently high uptake in the kidneys and bladder, and the tumor uptake was the highest at 20 min, and the maximum tumor-to-muscle ratio was 3.16±0.01 at 60 min. PET/CT imaging on volunteers showed that there was a small amount of uptake in myocardium, most organs such as the liver and lung had background uptake, and the maximum SUV max of persistent high uptake of tumor was 17.08. Conclusions:Al 18F-FAPI-74 has the advantages of simple synthesis, high yield, stable quality and good imaging performance in mice and volunteers. It is a kind of imaging agent that meets the requirements of clinical diagnosis.

Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is a global epidemic disease caused by hepatitis B virus that can lead to hepatic failure, even liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The occurrence and development of CHB are closely related to the changes in the gut microbiota communities. To explore the relationship between the structure of gut microbiota and liver biochemical indicators, 14 CHB patients (the CHB group) and 11 healthy people (the CN group) were randomly enrolled in this study. Our results demonstrate that CHB caused changes in the gut microbiota communities and biochemical indicators, such as alanine transaminase, total bilirubin and gamma glutamyl transferase. Furthermore, CHB induced imbalance of the gut microbiota. Prevotella, Blautia, Ruminococcus, Eubacterium eligens group, Bacteroides uniformis and Ruminococcus sp. 5_1_39BFAA were associated with the critical biochemical indicators and liver injury, suggesting a new approach to CHB treatment.
Bacteroides ; Eubacterium ; Gastrointestinal Microbiome ; Hepatitis B virus ; Hepatitis B, Chronic ; Humans ; Liver Cirrhosis ; Liver Neoplasms

Objective:To improve the quality of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET images at different acquisition times through deep learning (DL) PET image reconstruction methods. Methods:A total of 45 patients (20 males, 25 females; age (52.0±13.6) years) with malignant tumors and PET/CT scans from September 2020 to October 2020 in the Department of Nuclear Medicine of the First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University were included in this retrospective study. The short acquisition time 30 s/bed PET images from the raw list mode were selected as the input of DL model. DL image reconstruction model, based on the Unet algorithm, was trained to output imitated PET images with full dose standard acquisition time (3 min). The image quality evaluation and quantitative analysis were carried out for four groups of images: DL images, 30 s, 90 s, and 120 s images, respectively. The quality of PET images in four groups was evaluated using the five-point method. Liver background activities, lesions quantification parameters (maximum standardized uptake value (SUV max), mean standardized uptake value (SUV mean), standard deviation (SD), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR)), and first-order texture features (skewness, kurtosis, uniformity, entropy) were measured. Kappa test, χ2 test and one-way analysis of variance (least significant difference t test) were used for data analysis. Results:The image quality scores between four groups were highly consistent ( Kappa=0.799, P<0.001). The number of patients with scores≥3 in DL, 30 s, 90 s and 120 s groups were 6, 4, 7 and 8, respectively ( χ2=125.47, P<0.001). The liver SD of DL group was significantly lower than that of 30 s group (0.26±0.07 vs 0.43±0.11; F=3.58, t=-7.91, P<0.05). The liver SNR of DL group was higher than that of 30 s group (11.04±4.36 vs 5.41±1.41; F=10.22, t=5.40, P<0.05). The liver SD and SNR of DL group were similar to those of 90 s group (0.39±0.16, 8.46±3.34; t values: -0.87 and 2.17, both P>0.05). In 18 tumor lesions with high uptake, SNR and CNR of DL group were significantly higher than those of 30 s group (60.21±29.26 vs 38.38±16.54, 22.26±15.85 vs 15.41±9.51; F values: 13.09 and 7.05; t values: 5.20 and 4.04, both P<0.001). There were statistically significant differences among four groups in the first-order texture features ( F values: 4.30-9.65, all P<0.05), but there was no significant difference between DL group and 120 s group ( t values: from -1.25 to 0.15, all P>0.05). Conclusion:DL reconstruction model can improve the quality of short-frame PET images, which meets the needs of clinical diagnosis, efficacy evaluation and radiomics research.

Objective:To compare four reconstruction algorithms of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT on standardized uptake value (SUV) of pulmonary nodules. Methods:A total of 46 patients (27 males, 19 females; median age: 66 (range: 44-82) years) with solid pulmonary nodules from February 2018 to July 2019 in the First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University who performed 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging were enrolled. All PET/CT images were retrospectively reconstructed by using four algorithms reconstructions including ordered subset expectation maximization (OSEM), OSEM+ time of flight (TOF), OSEM+ TOF+ point spread function (PSF) and block sequential regularized expectation maximization (BSREM) (G1-G4). Nodule and background parameters were analyzed semi-quantitatively and visually. The maximum of SUV(SUV max), mean of SUV(SUV mean) and peak of SUV (SUV peak) were collected by the region of interest (ROI). Nodules were divided into small nodule group (diameter ≤10 mm) and large nodule group (10 mm < diameter ≤30 mm). Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test and Bonferroni method were performed to compare the differences of SUVs between G1-G4, and Spearman correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between the change rate of SUV (%ΔSUV) and the diameter of nodules. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to analyze the diagnostic efficacy of SUV for the differential diagnosis of pulmonary nodules and to get the optimal threshold. Results:There were 114 pulmonary nodules (large nodules, n=55; small nodules, n=59). In visual analysis, the visual detection rates of small nodules in G4 were 55.93%(33/59), 44.07%(26/59), 20.34%(12/59) higher than those in G1-G3. Of 114 pulmonary nodules in 46 patients, there were differences in SUV max and SUV mean between G1-G4 (median SUV max : 2.65-5.29, median SUV mean: 2.05-2.99; H values: 20.628 and 17.749, respectively, both P<0.001), G4 had significant increases compared to G1 in SUV max (median 5.29 and 2.65, P<0.001) and SUV mean (median 2.99 and 2.05, P<0.001). The %ΔSUV max (median: 4.45%-52.96%) and %ΔSUV mean (median: 1.69%-47.56%) were negatively correlated with the diameter of nodules (9.75(6.20, 16.58) mm; r s values: -0.371 to -0.354, -0.371 to -0.320, all P<0.001). In 59 small nodules, G1 significantly increased the SUV max of G4 (median 4.05 and 2.14, H=18.327, P<0.001), while G4 significantly increased the SUV mean of G1 and G3 (median 2.31, 1.26 and 1.53, H=16.808, P<0.05). There was no significant difference in SUVs between G1-G4 in 55 large nodules ( H values: 0.812-7.290, all P>0.05). The optimal threshold values of SUV max in G1-G4 were 4.335, 5.185, 5.410, 5.745 and the area of under curves (AUCs) were 0.747, 0.699, 0.756, 0.778 respectively. The AUC of SUV mean and SUV peak also showed a similar trend. Conclusion:Among the four reconstruction algorithms, BRERM can not only enhance the image quality, but also significantly improve the SUV max and SUV mean of lung nodules diameter below 10 mm, and thus its diagnostic threshold of SUV should be appropriately increased.

Objective:To analyze variant patterns and characteristics of focal physiological uptake (FPU) in the tongue on 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT imaging in patients without a history of oral tumor surgery and radiotherapy. Methods:A total of 6 233 consecutive patients who underwent routine whole-body PET/CT scan between January 2013 and December 2017 in the First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University were investigated retrospectively, and 324 patients with a history of oral surgery and radiotherapy were excluded, the remaining 5 909 patients (3 418 males, 2 491 females, age range: 2-95 (average: 58) years) were enrolled. A part of the patients underwent local PET/CT scan and CT scan with diagnostic dose, covering the oral cavity on mouth-opening position. The morphological characteristics of FPU patterns were analyzed, and the maximum standardized uptake value (SUV max) was measured. Results:Seventy-six FPUs in 76 patients (49 males, 27 females, age range: 40-83 (average 64) years) identified by routine whole-body PET/CT scan were confirmed by clinical examination from a specialist in stomatology or follow-up for more than 6 months. Forty-one of the 76 patients subsequently underwent local PET/CT scan and diagnostic CT scan on mouth-opening position. The incidence of FPU in the tongue was 1.29%(76/5 909). The FPU patterns could be classified into three types: type Ⅰ with FDG uptake involved only anterior part of the tongue body in the midline (near the tip of the tongue), which showed as a " dotted" shape( n=68; 1.15%, 68/5 909); type Ⅱ with FDG uptake involved mainly middle part of the genioglossus muscle, which showed as a " bar-shorted" shape ( n=5; 0.08%, 5/5 909); type Ⅲ with FDG uptake involved large part of the tongue body and the genioglossus, which showed as a " T" shape( n=3; 0.05%, 3/5 909). The SUV max in patients with type Ⅰ and type Ⅱ were 5.53(4.53, 7.30), 19.50(17.10, 22.74) respectively. The SUV max in 3 patients with type Ⅲ were 23.34, 27.50 and 35.14, respectively. Conclusion:In patients without a history of oral tumor surgery and radiotherapy, the FPU in the tongue has its specific pattern, and PET/CT scan on mouth-opening position helps to reveal the detailed features.

Objective:To study the respiratory morbidity and the risk factors of respiratory complications in late-preterm infants.Methods:The data of 959 late-preterm infants in 21 hospitals in Beijing from October 2015 to April 2016 were collected.These infants were divided into the respiratory morbidity group (237 cases) and the control group (722 cases) according to whether they had short-term respiratory morbidity after birth.Clinical data of the two groups were compared.Results:Among the 959 late-preterm babies, 530 were male and 429 were female.Two hundred and thirty-seven cases (24.7%) developed short-term respiratory morbidity after birth.Infectious pneumonia developed in the most cases (81 cases, 8.4%), followed by transient tachypnea (65 cases, 6.8%), amniotic fluid aspiration (51 cases, 5.3%), and respiratory distress syndrome (24 cases, 2.5%) successively.All the infants recovered and discharged.There were no differences between gender and maternal age between 2 groups (all P>0.05). Compared with the control group, more late-preterm infants were delivered by cesarean section (73.4% vs.59.7%, χ2=14.43, P<0.001) and the 1-minute Apgar score was lower [(9.41±1.66) scores vs.(9.83±0.53) scores, t=5.40, P<0.001] in the respiratory morbidity group.The differences were statistically significant.There were more cases with maternal complications in the respiratory morbidity group that in the control group (66.7% vs.58.6%, χ2=4.877, P=0.027), but no difference in various complications between 2 groups was observed ( P>0.05). In the respiratory morbidity group, the most frequent complications were maternal hypertension and preeclampsia (27.8% vs.22.6%, χ2=2.728, P=0.099). There were no differences between 2 groups in gestational age, birth weight and birth length (all P>0.05). There were more infants small for gestational age and large for gestational age in the respiratory morbidity group than in the control group (18.8% vs.14.1%, 6.3% vs.2.4%, χ2=8.960, P=0.011). The duration of hospitalization of the respiratory morbidity group was significantly longer than that of the control group [(9.00±4.42) d vs.(6.82±4.19) d, t=6.676, P<0.001] since the infants with respiratory morbidity needed to be hospita-lized. Conclusions:Respiratory diseases occur in about 1/4 of late-preterm infants.Infants who are delivered by cesarean section and whose mothers are complicated with the maternal hypertension and preeclampsia should be monitored closely.Respiratory support should be provided for infants not appropriate for gestational age who are more likely to suffer from respiratory diseases, so that they can successfully pass through the transition period.

Objective:To compare the incidence of coronary microvascular disease (CMVD) between patients with non-obstructive and obstructive coronary arteries.Methods:We retrospectively analyzed 97 patients with angina pectoris, who underwent the absolute quantitative PET examination of myocardial perfusion and coronary anatomy examination within 90 days. All patients were divided into two groups: non-obstructive group (72 cases, no stenosis ≥50% in all three coronary arteries) and obstructive group (25 cases, at least one coronary stenosis ≥50%; and at least one coronary stenosis<50%). Quantitative parameters derived from PET including rest myocardial blood flow (RMBF), stress myocardial blood flow (SMBF), coronary flow reserve (CFR) and cardiovascular risk factors were compared between the two groups. CMVD was defined as CFR<2.90 and SMBF <2.17 ml·min -1·g -1. Results:Incidence of CMVD was significant higher in the non-obstructive coronary arteries of the obstructive group than in the non-obstructive coronary arteries of non-obstructive group (47.1% (16/34) vs. 25.5% (55/216), χ 2=6.738, P=0.009) while incidence of CMVD was similar between non-obstructive and obstructive patients ((44% (11/25) vs. 33.3% (24/72), χ 2=0.915, P=0.339). RMBF ((0.83±0.14) ml·min -1·g -1 vs. (0.82±0.17) ml·min -1·g -1), SMBF ((2.13±0.60) ml·min -1·g -1 vs. (1.91±0.50) ml·min -1·g -1) and CFR (2.59±0.66 vs. 2.36±0.47) were similar between the two groups (all P>0.05). Conclusions:CMVD can occur in non-obstructive coronary arteries in both patients with non-occlusive coronary arteries and patients with obstructive coronary arteries. Prevalence of CMVD is significantly higher in patients with obstructive coronary arteries than in patients with non-obstructive coronary arteries. The CMVD severity is similar between the two groups.

Microperimetry is a procedure to assess retinal sensitivity while fundus is examined directly.It is a psychophysical method which is rapid,safe and non-invasive.It combines analysis of function and morphology and has an eye tracking system that can improve the fixation stability of patient with eccentric fixation and fixation instable.Microperimetry is supplement to visual function,perimetry,and other visual function parameters.As deepening of research,its clinical application value in ocular fundus diseases including age-related macular degeneration,diabetic retinopathy,retinitis pigmentosa,Stargardt's disease,macular hole,rhegmatogenous retinal detachment and central serous chorioretinopathy needs to be further explored.