Intracranial seminoma is a rare malignant tumor originating from the germ cells,usually occurring in the pineal gland or pituitary gland.In June 2020,the Department of Endocrinology at the First Affiliated Hospital of Army Military Medical University admitted a 20-year-old male patient with an intracranial germ cell tumor and spinal metastases.The patient presented with headache,dizziness,and visual impairment.Enhanced magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)of the head indicated thickening of the pituitary stalk.After multidisciplinary consultation,the patient underwent endonasal transsphenoidal resection of the tumor,with the pathological diagnosis confirming germ cell tumor.The patient received regular radiotherapy postoperatively.One year later,the tumor recurred and metastasized,leading to a second surgery for tumor resection in the thoracic spinal canal,followed by continued chemotherapy.The patient's clinical symptoms,such as headache and visual disturbances,improved,but he continued to experience panhypopituitarism and required long-term hormone replacement therapy.Early diagnosis of intracranial germ cell tumors is challenging,and they are prone to metastasis and highly sensitive to radiotherapy and chemotherapy.Early diagnosis and multidisciplinary comprehensive treatment can help improve the quality of life and prognosis for patients.

Purpose To evaluate the added value of time of flight(TOF)and point spread dispersion(PSF)reconstruction in mediastinal lymph node metastasis of lung cancer in 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging.Materials and Methods Sixty-eight lung cancer patients with mediastinal lymph node metastasis who underwent PET/CT examination in the First People's Hospital of Foshan from March 9,2020 to July 23,2021 were analyzed retrospectively.The different methods,including ordered subsets estimation maximization(OSEM),OSEM+TOF,OSEM+PSF,OSEM+TOF+PSF,were used to reconstruct the images.The resolution of different reconstruction algorithms for mediastinal lymph node metastasis of lung cancer,as well as the differences of signal-to-noise ratio(SNR)and standard uptake value(SUV)were compared,respectively.Results The highest values of SUVmean,SUVmax and SNR were obtained via OSEM+TOF+PSF method,which increased by 21.99%,22.86%and 60.14%,compared with conventional OSEM method(t=28.321,19.11,11.059,all P<0.01).The difference percentage in smaller lesions that diameter≤22 mm was significantly higher than that in larger lesions that diameter>22 mm(24.1%vs.21.1%,25.3%vs.19.3%,70.6%vs.63.3%;Z=-3.658,-4.313,-2.154,all P<0.05),and the difference percentage in low contrast lesions that SNR≤15.31 was significantly higher than that in high contrast lesions that SNR>15.31(23.6%vs.21.4%,25.3%vs.21.1%,85.7%vs.46.0%;Z=-3.519,-2.336,-5.106,all P<0.05).Among the evaluation results of lesion detectability of different reconstruction algorithms,OSEM+TOF+PSF image showed the mediastinal lymph node metastasis most clearly(87.4%of the lesions were clearly existing),which was significantly higher than that of OSEM image(73.1%of lesions were clearly existing)(χ2=11.704,P=0.001),however,the proportion of lesions clearly existing in OSEM+PSF image did not significantly increase compared with OSEM image(73.1%vs.75.8%;χ2=0.361,P=0.548).Conclusion The combination of TOF and PSF can significantly improve the detection ability,SNR and SUV of mediastinal lymph node metastasis of lung cancer,especially in small and low contrast lesions.

Background Fluorine accumulates in the brain tissue after long-term excessive intake and subsequently cause nerve damage and decline of learning and memory ability. Receptor of advanced glycation end-products (RAGE)/p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38MAPK)/nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) signaling pathway is considered to be involved in the associated mechanism. Objective To study the changes of RAGE/ p38MAPK/ NF-κB signaling pathway in rats with subchronic fluorosis, and to explore the protective effects of extract of Ginkgo biloba 761 (EGb761) and RAGE antagonist (FPS-ZM1) on neuromemory ability. Methods Ninety male clean SD rats were divided into 9 groups with 10 rats in each group. The modeling period was 6 months. Control group (C group): free drinking tap water (fluoride content <0.5 mg·L⁻¹), low- and high-dose fluoride groups (LF group, HF group): free drinking tap water with 10 or 50 mg·L⁻¹ fluoride; intervention group of Ginkgo biloba extract (CE, LFE, and HFE groups): on the basis of the C group, LF group, and HF group, 100 mg·kg⁻¹·d⁻¹ EGb761 was given daily via intragastric administration; FPS-ZM1 intervention groups (CF, LFF, and HFF groups): 7 d before the end of modeling, 1 mg·kg⁻¹·d⁻¹ FPS-ZM1 was injected intraperitoneally daily on the basis of the C group, LF group, and HF group. The contents of fluoride in brain and blood of each group were detected. The learning and memory ability was tested by water maze experiment. The histopathologic changes of the hippocampus were detected by Nissl staining. The protein expression levels of RAGE and its ligand high mobility group protein B1 (HMGB1), NF-κB, p38MAPK, phospho-p38MAPK (p-p38MAPK), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in brain tissue were detected by Western blotting. The mRNA expression levels of RAGE, HMGB1, and p38MAPK were detected by quantitative real-time PCR. Results Compared with the C group, the contents of blood fluoride and brain fluoride in the LF and the HF groups were increased (P<0.05). The results of the water maze experiment showed that, compared with the C group, the escape latency time of the LF group and the HF group was longer and the crossing times were reduced; compared with the HF group, the escape latency time of the HFE group and the HFF group was shortened, and the crossing times were increased (P<0.05). The Nissl staining results showed that the number of Nissl body in the HF group decreased compared with the C group; compared with the HF group, the number of Nissl body in the HFE group and the HFF group increased. The Western blotting results showed that compared with the relative protein expression levels of RAGE, HMGB1, NF-κB, p38MAPK, p-p38MAPK, IL-6, and TNF-α in the C group , the levels of above indicators in the HF group and the levels of RAGE, HMGB1, NF-κB, p-p38MAPK, and IL-6 in the LF group were up-regulated (P<0.05); compared with the HF group, the levels of above indicators in the HFE group and the HFF group were all down-regulated (P<0.05); compared with the relative protein expression levels of RAGE and HMGB1 in the LF group, the levels in the LFE group and the LFF group were all down-regulated (P<0.05). The quantitative real-time PCR results showed that compared with the C group, the mRNA expression levels of RAGE and HMGB1 in the LF group and the HF group were up-regulated; compared with the LF group, the mRNA expression levels of RAGE in the LFE group and the LFF group were down-regulated ; compared with the HF group, the mRNA expression levels of RAGE and HMGB1 in the HFE group and the HFF group were down-regulated (P<0.05). Conclusion The central nervous system injury caused by subchronic fluorosis may be related to the activation of RAGE/p38-MAPK/NF-κB signaling pathway, which can impair the learning and memory ability of rats, while EGb761 and FPS-ZM1 may have certain protective effects on the nerve injury.

Objective:To explore the influence of time of flight (TOF) and point spread function (PSF) on PET/CT image quality and standardized uptake value (SUV) based on a phantom study.Methods:PET/CT imaging were performed using Jaszczak phantom and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) body phantom respectively, and conventional clinical imaging protocol (3 min/bed) was used for three consecutive imaging. The ordered subsets expectation maximization (OSEM), OSEM+ TOF, OSEM+ PSF and OSEM+ TOF+ PSF were used to reconstruct the raw data respectively. The differences of image resolution, image uniformity, contrast, signal to noise ratio (SNR) and SUV among different reconstruction algorithms were compared by using one-way analysis of variance and the least significant difference (LSD) t test. The correlations between SNR, mean SUV (SUV mean), maximum SUV (SUV max) and the sphere diameter were analyzed by Pearson correlation analysis. Results:The minimum image resolution for the hot column was 6.4 mm by OSEM and OSEM+ PSF reconstruction, while it was 4.8 mm by OSEM+ TOF and OSEM+ TOF+ PSF reconstruction. The contrast was significantly better by OSEM+ TOF ((78.56±1.21)%) and OSEM+ TOF+ PSF ((78.85±1.17)%) reconstruction than that by OSEM reconstruction ((73.44±1.47)%; F=61.068, t values: 9.503, 10.018, both P<0.001). The maximum and minimum nonuniformity percentages were significantly better for images reconstructed with OSEM+ PSF than those reconstructed with OSEM ( F values: 10.286, 27.630, t values: -2.599, 7.698, both P<0.05). In IEC phantom imaging, the SNR and SUV max of hot sphere were higher by OSEM+ PSF and OSEM+ TOF+ PSF reconstruction than those by OSEM reconstruction (SNR: (98.99±34.76)%, (98.29±28.66)%, (73.64±26.05)%; F=5.712, t values: 3.209, 3.412, both P<0.05; SUV max: 8.96±2.72, 9.28±2.17, 8.01±2.21; F=3.931, t values: 2.154, 2.863, both P<0.05), but there was no significant difference between OSEM+ TOF and OSEM reconstruction ( t values: 0.297, 0.272, both P>0.05). Among the four reconstruction methods, the SNR and SUV mean increased with the increase of the sphere diameter ( r values: 0.913-0.963, all P<0.05), but SUV max in images reconstructed with OSEM+ PSF and OSEM+ TOF+ PSF had no significant correlations with the sphere diameter ( r values: 0.496, 0.614, both P>0.05). Conclusions:Under specific acquisition and reconstruction conditions, TOF mainly improves image resolution and contrast, while PSF mainly improves image uniformity and SNR. The combination of the two method can obtain better image quality and significantly improve the SUV of hot lesions.

Objective:To evaluate the value of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) nerve injury-related proteins levels in predicting postoperative delirium (POD) in patients.Methods:A total of 1 000 patients of both sexes, aged 40-90 yr, of American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status Ⅰ or Ⅱ, with Mini-Mental State Examination score>24 at 1 day before operation, undergoing elective knee/hip arthroplasty under spinal-epidural anesthesia , were enrolled in this study.Cubital venous blood samples were drawn before anesthesia for detection of the concentrations of plasma total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein and triglyceride.CSF 2ml was extracted after successful spinal-epidural anesthesia puncture for measurement of concentrations of α-synuclein (α-syn), β-amyloid protein 1-40 (Aβ 1-40), Aβ 1-42, total-Tau (t-Tau), phosphorylated Tau (p-Tau), progranulin (PGRN) and soluble myeloid cell triggering receptor 2 (sTREM2) (by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay). The Confusion Assessment Method was used at 1, 3 and 7 days after surgery to evaluate the occurrence of POD.The patients were divided into POD group and non-POD group according to whether POD occurred after operation.Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the variables of which P values were less than 0.05 to analyze the risk factors for POD.The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn and area (AUC) under the curve was calculated to evaluate the accuracy of the related risk factors in predicting POD. Results:A total of 964 patients were enrolled in the study, and 108 patients were diagnosed with POD, and the incidence was 11.2%.The results of logistic regression analysis found that age and and increased α-syn in CSF concentration were risk factors for POD, and decreased PGRN in CSF concentration and Aβ 1-42/p-Tau in CSF were the protective factors for POD ( P<0.05). ROC curve analysis showed that α-syn (AUC 0.69, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.634-0.748, sensitivity 57.41%, specificity 82.10%, Youden Index 0.3951), PGRN in CSF concentration (AUC 0.695, 95%CI 0.637-0.750, sensitivity 59.26%, specificity 80.86%, Youden Index 0.4012) and Aβ 1-42/p-Tau in CSF (AUC 0.635, 95%CI 0.574-0.692, sensitivity 93.52%, specificity 30.25%, Youden Index 0.2377) could predict the occurrence of POD. Conclusion:PGRN, α-syn concentration and Aβ 1-42/p-Tau in CSF can predict the occurrence of POD in patients.

Objective:To investigate the relationship between preoperative subjective cognitive decline (SCD) and postoperative delirium (POD) in elderly patients.Methods:A total of 292 elderly patients of both sexes, aged 65-90 yr, weighing 50-90 kg, of American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status Ⅰ-Ⅱ, with Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score>23 and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score > 26 at 1 day before operation, underwent total knee/hip arthroplasty under combined spinal-epidural block in our hospital from January to December 2020, were collected.The development of SCD was evaluated using subjective cognitive decline scale at 1 day before operation.Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was extracted after successful spinal-epidural anesthesia puncture, the concentrations of β-amyloid protein 40 (Aβ 40), Aβ 42, total tau (t-tau) and phosphorylated tau (p-tau) were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.The incidence of POD was evaluated using confusion assessment method during post-anesthesia care unit and at 1-7 days after operation (or before discharge). Patients were divided into POD group and non-POD group according to whether POD occurred within 7 days after operation.The risk factors of which P values were less than 0.05 would enter the logistic regression analysis to stratify the risk factor for incidence of POD. Results:A total of 205 patients were enrolled and 53 patients developed POD (25.8%). The results of logistic regression analysis showed that preoperative SCD, and increased CSF p-tau and t-tau concentrations were risk factors for POD of elderly patients, and increased CSF Aβ 42 concentration and Aβ 40/p-tau, Aβ 40/t-tau, Aβ 42/p-tau and Aβ 42/t-tau were the protective factors for POD in elderly patients ( P<0.05). After correction of the confounding factors such as age, sex, body weight, education, the history of smoking and drinking, hypertension, diabetes and coronary heart disease, family history of dementia, Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI), MMSE and MoCA score at 1 day before operation, duration of surgery, duration of anesthesia, intraoperative volume of infusion and blood loss and postoperative pain score, SCD, and increased CSF p-tau and t-tau concentrations were still the risk factors for POD in elderly patients, and increased CSF Aβ 42 concentration and Aβ 40/p-tau, Aβ 40/t-tau, Aβ 42/p-tau and Aβ 42/t-tau were still the protective factors for POD in elderly patients ( P<0.05). Conclusion:Preoperative SCD is the risk factor for POD in elderly patients.

Objective:To evaluate the relationship between preoperative cerebrospinal fluid/serum albumin ratio (Q-alb) and postoperative delirium (POD) in patients undergoing neuraxial anesthesia.Methods:The patients, aged 40-90 yr, of American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status Ⅰ or Ⅱ, underwent total knee/hip replacement under combined spinal-epidural block in our hospital from January 2018 to December 2020, were collected.After admission to the operating room, venous blood and cerebrospinal fluid samples were collected for determination of cerebrospinal fluid albumin, β-amyloid (Aβ) 1-42, Aβ 1-40, total tau protein (t-Tau), phosphorylated tau protein (p-Tau) and serum albumin levels (by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) and for calculation of Q-alb.When Q-alb was more than 10.2, the patient was considered to have blood-brain barrier disruption.Mini-Mental State Examination scale was used to evaluate the cognitive level on 1 day before surgery. The development of POD was evaluated using Confusion Assessment Method Chinese Reversion and Memorial Delirium Assessment Scale at 1-7 days after surgery.The patients were divided into POD group (P group) and non-POD (NP group) according to whether POD occurred.The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to analyze the accuracy of Q-alb in predicting POD. Results:There were 49 cases in each group.Compared with group NP, concentrations of Aβ 1-42 and Aβ 1-40 were significantly decreased, concentrations of t-Tau and p-Tau albumin were increased, the ratio of Q-alb and blood-brain barrier disruption was increased in group P ( P<0.05). Before and after adjusting for confounding factors, Q-alb, cerebrospinal fluid Aβ 1-42, Aβ 1-40, t-Tau and p-Tau levels were risk factors for POD ( P<0.05). There was a positive linear regression relationship between Q-alb and levels of t-Tau and p-Tauin cerebrospinal fluid (t-Tau: β=0.587, P<0.001; p-Tau: β=0.427, P<0.001), and there was a negative linear regression relationship between Q-alb and levels of Aβ 1-42 and Aβ 1-40 in cerebrospinal fluid (Aβ 1-42: β=-0.762, P<0.001; Aβ 1-40: β=-0.531, P<0.001). There was no linear regression relationship between Q-alb and level of p-Tau in group P ( P=0.121). There was no linear regression relationship between Q-alb and level of Aβ 1-40 in group NP ( P=0.467). The results of ROC curve analysis showed that the area under the curve for Q-alb in predicting POD (95% confidence interval) was 0.827 (0.738-0.896). Conclusion:Preoperative higher Q-alb is the risk factor for POD in patients undergoing neuraxial anesthesia, and is more accurate in predicting POD.

Objective: To analyze the correlation between the Spondyloarthritis Research Consortium of Canada (SPARCC) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sacroiliac joint inflammation score (SPARCC score)/structural score (SSS) and the disease activity as well as the functional indexs. The correlation between the MRI score and inflammatory indicators [erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP)] in patients with active axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) before and after treatment was explored. In addition, the contribution of the two MRI scoring method in evaluating conditions was also explored. Methods: According to the inclusion criteria, 24 patients with active axial SpA were recruited and received the recombinant hauman tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α receptor Ⅱ: IgG Fc fusion protein(rhTNFR:Fc), sulfasalazine and thalidomide for 12 weeks. Subjects were scored at week 0 and 12 by SPARCC/SSS scores. Bath ankylosing spondylitis disease activity index (BASDAI), Assessment of Spondyloarthritis Intemational Society (ASAS)-endorsed disease activity score(ASDAS)-CRP, bath ankylosing spondylitis functional index (BASFI). Bath ankylosing spondylitis metrology index(BASMI), ESR and CRP. The correlation between the SPARCC/SSS scores and that of clinical indicators were analyzed. Paired sample t test, Wilcoxon signedrank test, Spearman correlation analysis and Pearson correlation analysis were used for statistical analysis, and receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was used to evaluate the effectiveness of SPARCC score decline as a response to treatment. Results: ① Compared with baseline, after 12 weeks treatment, SPARCC scores [(15±4) and(33±10)], BASDAI [(3.2±0.9) and (5.2±1.1)], BASFI [(2.3±0.6) and (4.6±1.0)], BASMI [(2.3±0.7) and (4.1±1.1)], ASDAS-CRP scores [(2.0±0.8) and (3.7±0.9)], ESR [(16±12) mm/1 h and (49±26) mm/1 h], CRP [(7.2±2.8) mg/L and (30.4±19.3) mg/L] were significantly decreased (t values were 7.822, 6.950, 10.707, 7.204, 6.281,-4.015 and-4.257, respectively), and the differences were statistically significant (P=0.000). There was no significant difference in SSS scores between baseline [(20±6) and (19±7)] and after 12 weeks treatment (t=-0.761, P=0.455). ② Before treatment, SPARCC score showed positive linear correlation with BASDAI (r=0.630, P=0.001), ASDAS-CRP (r=0.646, P=0.001), CRP (r=0.574, P=0.003) and ESR (r=0.559, P=0.004), and the correlation of the above indexes disappeared after treatment (P>0.05). The association between SPARCC structral scores and the above indicators was not significant before and after treatment. ③ Areas under curve(AUC) of ROC for assessing treatment response by reduced SPARCC scores was 0.809. The cut-off value for response to treatment was 20.5, with the sensitivity of 68.8% and specificity of 75.0%. Conclusion The SPARCC MRI SIJ inflamm-ation score has certain value in evaluating disease activity and efficacy, while the SPARCC SSS is not.

Objective To investigate the differences of acquisition protocols from continuous bed motion (CBM) and step-and-shoot (SS) modes and to observe their effects on image quality and standard uptake value (SUV) in 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT.Methods A total of 30 patients (13 males,17 females;40-71 years) who underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT from June 2017 to September 2017 were selected.Simulated acquisition protocols for a specific range (upper margin of the skull to the lower edge of sciatic bone) were established with CBM and SS modes.The differences between 2 modes for actual length requiring for a specific acquisition range and the differences in CT radiation dose were compared.Real PET/ CT scans were performed using CBM and SS modes consecutively,and the differences in image quality and SUV were compared.Paired t test andx2 test were used to analyze the data.Results For the specific acquisition range,the average acquisition length of CBM was reduced by 6.65％ ((87.11 ± 3.78) vs (93.32 ±6.02) cm;t=-7.737,P＜0.001) and the CT radiation dose was reduced by 6.88％ ((812±170) vs (872±192) mGy · cm;t=-6.432,P＜0.001) for each patient compared with the results of SS.There were no significant differences in maximum SUV (SUVmax) and mean SUV (SUVmean) between SS and CBM in normal tissues including liver,bone and waist muscles (t values:from-1.895 to 0.132,all P＞0.05).The SUVmax of leg muscles at the end of the image was significantly higher in SS than that in CBM (1.24±0.53 vs 1.06±0.42;t=3.450,P＜0.01).There were no statistically significant differences in SUVmax and SUV between SS and CBM in 40 FDG high uptake lesions (t values:0.420 and-0.260,both P＞0.05).There were 73.33％ (22/30) patients had images with overall high quality during SS and the percentage was 80.00％ (24/30) during CBM (x2 =0.373,P＞0.05).The percentage of patients with images of high quality at the end was 16.67％(5/30) during SS,which was significantly less than that during CBM (63.33％,19/30;x2 =13.611,P＜0.001).Conclusions For the specific acquisition range,CBM can reduce unnecessary CT scan range and radiation dose compared with SS.There is no significant difference in image quality and SUV from normal tissue and lesion except for the end of the image.

Objective To explore the quantitative determination of standardized uptake value(SUV)of lumbar vertebra by 99Tcm-methylene diphosphonate(MDP)bone imaging with SPECT/CT.Methods A total of 90 patients(16 males,74 females,age:(60.0±11.2)years)who underwent 99Tcm-MDP bone imaging and local lumbar SPECT/CT imaging from May 2017 to November 2017 were retrospectively analyzed.CT attenuation correction,scatter correction and 3-dimensional ordered subset expectation maximization(3D-OSEM)reconstruction were used.The radioactive counts of lumbar vertebra LL-L4 in patients with high MDP-uptake(including degenerative changes and bone metastases)and patients with non-high MDP-uptake(including osteoporosis and non-osteoporosis)were measured.Basing on that,the radioactivity of unit volume in lumbar and lesion was calculated and converted to SUV.The difference of SUV for lumbar and lesions from different types of patients was analyzed,and the correlation between lumbar SUV and varies of parameters were also analyzed.Data were analyzed by two-sample t test and Pearson correlation analysis.Results The mean SUV(SUVmean)and maximum SUV(SUVmax)of L1-L4 in 54 patients with non-high MDP-uptake were 4.64±1.03 and 7.09±1.61 respectively.They were positively correlated with bone mineral content,CT value and body weight(r values:0.433-0.700,all P<0.05),and negatively correlated with age(r values;-0.514 and -0.456,both P<0.001).The SUVmean and SUVmax of patients with osteoporosis were 3.81±0.76 and 5.86±1.34 respectively,which were significantly lower than those of non-osteoporosis(5.13±0.84 and7.82±1.30;t values:-5.892 and-5.240,both P<0.001).The SUVmean and SUVmax of 37 metastases were 16.40±6.07 and 24.25±11.35 respectively in 16 patients,which were significantly higher than those in patients with degenerative changes(20 patients with 27 lesions;9.30±3.16 and 13.48±5.21;t values:6.074 and 5.083,both P<0.001).Conclusion Based on the specific reconstruction algorithm and correction method,the SUV of lumbar vertebra on 99Tcm-MDP SPECT/CT bone imaging can be obtained,and the bone mineral metabolism can be reflected.