Platelets are reprogrammed by cancer via a process called education, which favors cancer development. The transcriptional profile of tumor-educated platelets (TEPs) is skewed and therefore practicable for cancer detection. This intercontinental, hospital-based, diagnostic study included 761 treatment-naïve inpatients with histologically confirmed adnexal masses and 167 healthy controls from nine medical centers (China, n = 3; Netherlands, n = 5; Poland, n = 1) between September 2016 and May 2019. The main outcomes were the performance of TEPs and their combination with CA125 in two Chinese (VC1 and VC2) and the European (VC3) validation cohorts collectively and independently. Exploratory outcome was the value of TEPs in public pan-cancer platelet transcriptome datasets. The AUCs for TEPs in the combined validation cohort, VC1, VC2, and VC3 were 0.918 (95% CI 0.889-0.948), 0.923 (0.855-0.990), 0.918 (0.872-0.963), and 0.887 (0.813-0.960), respectively. Combination of TEPs and CA125 demonstrated an AUC of 0.922 (0.889-0.955) in the combined validation cohort; 0.955 (0.912-0.997) in VC1; 0.939 (0.901-0.977) in VC2; 0.917 (0.824-1.000) in VC3. For subgroup analysis, TEPs exhibited an AUC of 0.858, 0.859, and 0.920 to detect early-stage, borderline, non-epithelial diseases and 0.899 to discriminate ovarian cancer from endometriosis. TEPs had robustness, compatibility, and universality for preoperative diagnosis of ovarian cancer since it withstood validations in populations of different ethnicities, heterogeneous histological subtypes, and early-stage ovarian cancer. However, these observations warrant prospective validations in a larger population before clinical utilities.
Humans ; Female ; Blood Platelets/pathology* ; Biomarkers, Tumor/genetics* ; Ovarian Neoplasms/pathology* ; China

This study aimed to investigate the incidence of patent processus vaginalis (PPV) in pediatric patients with a unilateral nonpalpable testis and explore the associated factors. From May 2014 to April 2017, 152 boys who were diagnosed with a unilateral nonpalpable testis and underwent laparoscopy in Shanghai Children's Hospital (Shanghai, China) were included in this study. The data were collected and reviewed, and the results were analyzed regarding the age at operation, side, development, and position of the nonpalpable testis. The mean age of the patients was 2.6 (standard deviation: 2.3) years. The testis was absent in 14 cases, nonviable in 81 cases, and viable in 57 cases. The incidence of PPV was 37.5% (57 of 152) on the ipsilateral side and 16.4% (25 of 152) on the contralateral side. The ipsilateral PPV was more prevalent when the nonpalpable testis occurred on the right side ( P < 0.01). Besides, patients with a viable testis had a greater incidence of ipsilateral PPV than those with a nonviable or absent testis ( P < 0.01). Moreover, this rate was the highest when the testis was in the abdominal cavity and the lowest when the testis was in the scrotum (both P < 0.01). However, the incidence of contralateral PPV was independent of all the factors. In conclusion, in children with a nonpalpable testis, the incidence of an ipsilateral PPV was significantly related to the side, development, and position of the testis, while it was independent of these factors on the contralateral side.
Male ; Child ; Humans ; Infant ; Child, Preschool ; Testis ; China ; Testicular Hydrocele/surgery* ; Laparoscopy ; Scrotum ; Hernia, Inguinal/surgery* ; Cryptorchidism/surgery*

Pulmonary fibrosis is a common pathological change in many chronic lung diseases, and its pathogenesis and characteristics are mainly caused by repeated lung alveolar injury leading to abnormal activation of fibroblasts and the accumulation of large amounts of extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition. Fibroblasts are not only responsible for constituting the interstitial structure of the lung but are also involved in the post-injury repairment in healthy lung tissue. In contrast, fibroblasts show a typical pro-fibrotic metabolic phenotype after differentiation into myofibroblasts during the development of pulmonary fibrosis. To synthesis large amount of collagen, the myofibroblasts have a strong metabolism characteristic of serine/glycine, glutamine, proline, and arginine. At the same time, the myofibroblast get the ability to resist cell apoptosis. As an important cell type for collagen degradation, fibroblasts reuse the amino acids of collagen to maintain cell metabolism. However, the myofibroblasts cannot degrade the ECM due to the suppression of autophagy activity, thus accelerating the progression of pulmonary fibrosis. This review attempts to summarize how amino acid metabolism of fibroblasts influence the pulmonary fibrosis.

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is an enzyme-active pleiotropic cytokine that is expressed in various immune cells and tumor cells. MIF plays diverse roles in inflammation and tumor progression. It acts as a cytokine involved in immune response and inflammatory lesions. Additionally, MIF is closely associated with tumor proliferation, metastasis, and other tumor hallmarks, exerting a multifaceted influence on tumor occurrence and progression. MIF not only functions by being secreted into the extracellular space as a cytokine but can also be localized within the cytoplasm and nucleus, exhibiting diverse biological functions. As MIF in promoting tumor progression becomes increasingly recognized, MIF-based therapeutic strategies have become a hot research topic in oncology. Here, we provide a comprehensive review of MIF with different subcellular localization about their pro-tumoral functions. A better understanding of MIF in tumor biology will bring broader perspectives for the development of novel MIF targeting strategies and give promising direction for future tumor treatments.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between drug treatment and outcomes in patients with late-onset severe pneumonia (LOSP) after allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT). METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the effects of the initiation time of treatment drugs, especially antiviral drugs and glucocorticoids on the clinical outcomes in 82 patients between January 2016 and August 2021 who developed LOSP after allo-SCT in Peking University People's Hospital. Univariate analysis was performed by Mann-Whitney U test and χ² test, and multivariate analysis was performed by Logistic regression. When multiple groups (n>2) were involved in the χ² test, Bonferroni correction was used for the level of significance test. RESULTS: Of all 82 patients in this study, the median onset time of LOSP was 220 d (93-813 d) after transplantation, and the 60-day survival rate was 58.5% (48/82). The median improvement time of the survival patients was 18 d (7-44 d), while the median death time of the died patients was 22 d (2-53 d). Multivariate analysis showed that the initiation time of antiviral drugs from the onset of LOSP (< 10 d vs. ≥10 d, P=0.012), and the initiation time of glucocorticoids from antiviral drugs (< 10 d vs. ≥10 d, P=0.027) were the factors affecting the final outcome of the patients with LOSP at the end of 60 d. According to the above results, LOSP patients were divided into four subgroups: group A (antiviral drugs < 10 d, glucocorticoids ≥10 d), group B (antiviral drugs < 10 d, glucocorticoids < 10 d), group C (antiviral drugs ≥10 d, glucocorticoids ≥10 d) and group D (antiviral drugs ≥10 d, glucocorticoids < 10 d), the 60-day survival rates were 91.7%, 56.8%, 50.0% and 21.4%, respectively. CONCLUSION Our study demonstrated that in patients who developed LOSP after allo-SCT, the initiation time of antiviral drugs and glucocorticoids were associated with the prognosis of LOSP, and the survival rate was highest in patients who received antiviral drugs early and glucocorticoids later. It suggested that for patients with LOSP of unknown etiology should be highly suspicious of the possibility of a secondary hyperimmune response to viral infection.
Antiviral Agents/therapeutic use* ; Glucocorticoids/therapeutic use* ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation/methods* ; Humans ; Pneumonia/etiology* ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Transplantation, Homologous/adverse effects*

Objective    To introduce a modified sutureless technique and its surgical results in the treatment of total anomalous pulmonary venous connection (TAPVC). Methods    Clinical data of 11 patients with TAPVC who underwent the modified sutureless technique treatment from 2014 to 2019 in our center were retrospectively analyzed, including 4 males and 7 females. The median surgical age was 1.4 (0.3, 27.0) months. The median weight was 4.3 (3.5, 8.5) kg. Six (54.5%) patients were of supracardiac subtype, and five (45.5%) patients were of infracardiac subtype. Five (45.5%) patients had preoperative severe pulmonary hypertension, and three (27.3%) patients had preoperative pulmonary vein obstruction. The surgical results were compared with those of 10 patients treated with conventional surgical technique. Results    The median follow-up was 12 (range, 1-65) months. During the follow-up, no death or postoperative pulmonary vein obstruction occurred in the modified sutureless technique group. The perioperative data and relief of re-obstruction were superior in the modified sutureless technique group, but the difference was not statistically significant (P>0.05). The postoperative survival of the the modified sutureless technique group was better than that of the traditional surgery group (P=0.049). Conclusion    The modified sutureless technique which includes partial suture and then incising, and eversion of pulmonary vein incision, is a safe and reliable method for the treatment of TAPVC with satisfactory short-term results.

In the past 37 years, human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) has undergone various major transmission routes in China, with the world most complex co-circulating HIV-1 subtypes, even the prevalence is still low. In response to the first epidemic outbreak of HIV in injecting drug users and the second one by illegal commercial blood collection, China issued the Anti-Drug Law and launched the Blood Donation Act and nationwide nucleic acid testing, which has avoided 98,232 to 211,200 estimated infections and almost ended the blood product-related infection. China has been providing free antiretroviral therapy (ART) since 2003, which covered >80% of the identified patients and achieved a viral suppression rate of 91%. To bend the curve of increasing the disease burden of HIV and finally end the epidemic, China should consider constraining HIV spread through sexual transmission, narrowing the gaps in identifying HIV cases, and the long-term effectiveness and safety of ART in the future.
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/prevention & control* ; China/epidemiology* ; Disease Outbreaks ; HIV Infections/prevention & control* ; Humans ; Prevalence

Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is a chronic, progressive, fatal interstitial lung disease with limited available therapeutic strategies. We recently reported that the protein kinase glycogen synthase kinase-3

We reported a case of a six-year-old boy diagnosed of single ventricle, pulmonary atresia and interrupted inferior vena cava. After modified Blalock-Taussig shunt and bidirectional Glenn procedure, he received the Fontan procedure. The Fontan procedure was done through a unilateral thoracotomy, using an autologous pericardial conduit to connect hepatic vein and azygos vein. The result of short-term follow-up was satisfactory.

Objective    To explore risk factors associated with mortality and restenosis after the surgery for congenital pulmonary venous stenosis (CPVS) combined with congenital heart disease. Methods    From May 2007 to August 2019, 58 patients received surgical relief of CPVS combined with congenital heart disease, including 24 males and 34 females, aged 17.2±26.3 months, weighing 8.8±8.2 kg. Endpoints were death and restenosis, and the risk factors were analyzed. A univariate and multivariate risk analyses were performed. Results    Preoperative pulmonary venous stenosis severity score (PVSSS) was 4.5±2.7. Average pulmonary vein counts with CPVS was 1.9±1.0. There were 2 (3.4%) early deaths. The mean follow-up time was 2-145 (49.8±40.0) months. The 1-, 2-, 3- and 5-year overall survival rates were 86.7%, 81.3%, 78.5% and 73.6%, respectively, and the pulmonary venous restenosis-free rates were 79.6%, 68.5%, 68.5% and 68.5%, respectively. Preterm birth was an independent risk factor for mortality. The pulmonary venous peak flow rate ≥ 1.2 m/s at discharge was an independent risk factor for mortality and restenosis. Conclusion    The prognosis of CPVS is still poor. Postoperative residual stenosis at discharge is an independent risk factor for death and restenosis.