Objective To evaluate the diagnostic value of cardiac magnetic resonance(CMR)in patients with severe connective tissue disease-associated pulmonary hypertension(CTD-PAH).Methods A total of 48 patients diagnosed with CTD-PAH by right heart catheterization(RHC)in Tianjin Medical University General Hospital from June 2018 to July 2021 were retrospectively included.The parameters of right ventricular(RV)morphology,function and ventricular septum(IVS)were obtained by manual delineation on CMR images and corrected by body surface area.The late gadolinium enhancement(LGE)myocardial mass(MM)and its percentage in left ventricular(LV)MM were manually sketched and calculated on LGE images.The patients were divided into the mild-moderate group and the severe group according to mean pulmonary arterial pressure(mPAP).CMR parameters were compared between the two groups.The diagnostic value of CMR for severe CTD-PAH was analyzed by receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve.Results A total of 48 patients with CTD-PAH were included in this study.The curvature of interventricular septum(CIVS)and RV ejection fraction(EF)were lower in the severe group than those in the mild-moderate group,and the time proportion of IVS deformation,RV end-diastolic volume index(EDVI),RV end-systolic volume index(ESVI)and RV MM were higher than those in the mild-moderate group(P＜0.05).ROC curve analysis showed that RV MM,time proportion of IVS deformation and RV ESVI had better diagnostic efficacy in severe CTD-PAH patients(AUC was 0.792,0.766 and 0.731,respectively).The combined AUC of the three parameters was 0.840,specificity was 85.7%and sensitivity was 79.4%.Conclusion The parameters of RV and IVS measured by CMR can effectively evaluate patients with severe CTD-PAH and directly reflect serverity of cardiac impairment in patients with severe CTD-PAH from the morphological and functional perspective.

Closed-loop hospital management can effectivly cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to ensure the continuity of treatments for hemodialysis patients under closed-loop management and minimize possible medical and infection risks, Huashan Hospital affiliated to Fudan University and 9 hospitals in Shanghai established a hemodialysis alliance in January 2021.The alliance optimized hemodialysis resources within the region through overall planning by preparing sites, materials and personnel shifts in advance, and establishing management systems and work processes to ensure that patients could be quickly and orderly diverted to other blood dialysis centers for uninterrupted high-quality hemodialysis services, in case that some hemodialysis centers in the alliance under closed-loop management.From November 2021 to April 2022, 317 of 1 459 hemodialysis patients in the alliance were diverted to other centers for treatment, accumulating 1 215 times/cases of treatments without obvious adverse reactions. The practice could provide a reference for medical institutions to quickly establish mutual support mode under major public health events.

Objective:To investigate the multilocus sequence typing feature of the virulence-associated genes of Staphylococcus aureus(S. aureus) separated from the clinical specimens of a multi-center cohort children in Guangzhou area. Methods:A total number of 412 Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from 2 059 non-repeated fecal specimens of children by three groups′ researchers in Guangzhou Women and Children′s Medical Center from August 2018 to November 2018. While collecting specimens, patient clinical information is also properly collected and preserved. After extracting the DNA of the strain, the virulence-associated genes were detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), including the staphylococcal enterotoxin (SE) genes ( sea, seb, sec, sed, see) and the Panton-Valentine leucocidin-encoding gene ( pvl).The multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) method was performed to reveal the MLST feature of these genes and the statistical difference were examined by the the χ 2 test. Results:Among the 412 isolates of S. aureus, 256 strains (256/412, 62.1%) contains at least one SE gene. Among the enterotoxin gens, the sec (125/412, 30.3%), seb(98/412, 23.8%)and sea (66/412, 16.0%)genes were the three most prevalent members of SEs. The frequency of pvl gene in Staphylococcus aureus was 18.7%(77/412).Among them, the frequency of Staphylococcus aureus sea gene isolated from patients with gastroenteritis (58/319, 18.2%) was significantly higher than that from the non-gastroenteritis group (8/93, 8.6%)(χ2=4.912, P=0.027). The frequency of Staphylococcus aureus pvl gene isolated from the patients with pneumonia (8/21, 38.1%) was greater than that from the non-pneumonia group (6/47, 12.8%)(χ2=4.252, P=0.039). In addition, the virulence-associated gene of S. aureus was closely related to the specific ST type, 82.4% (28/34) of ST6 carried sea gene, all ST338 and ST59 carried seb gene, 96% (48/50) ST45 carried sec gene, and the pvl gene carrying rate of ST338 was 5/5. Conclusions:The SEA toxin produced by ST6 Staphylococcus aureus may be closely related to the diagnosis of gastroenteritis in children. The frequency of pvl virulence gene in Staphylococcus aureus in children with community-acquired pneumonia was higher than that in the non-pneumonia group, and closely related to the CC59.

Objective:To study the efficacy and safety of CT guided percutaneous transhepatic microwave ablation (PTPMWA) for primary liver cancer (PLC) in liver segment 9.Methods:A retrospective study was conducted on PLC patients between October 2013 and March 2019 at Dongguan People’s Hospital, Southern Medical University. Of 41 patients who entered into the study, there were 36 males and 5 females, with an average age of 59.1 years. These patients were diagnosed to have PLC in segment 9. The surgical related data and follow-up results were collected and analyzed.Results:All patients enrolled in the study completed the treatment procedure. CT scan was performed immediately after ablation which showed that the tumor areas to be completely covered by ablation. The duration of operation ranged from 45 to 260 (mean 91) min. The amount of bleeding during treatment was 1.0 to 5.0 (mean 1.4) ml. The complete response rate was 97.6% (40 patients) and the partial response rate was 2.4% (1 patient). The cumulative survival rates at 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 years were 95.1%, 85.4%, 75.3%, 45.2% and 45.2%, respectively. Only 4 patients (9.8%) developed recurrence after treatment. The timings of recurrence were 1, 6, 13 and 67 months after treatment, respectively. The recurrent lesions were ablated again and complete response was obtained in all patients. There were no serious problems related to complications from ablation. The rate of postoperative complication was 7.3% (3 patients).Conclusion:PTPMWA is a novel treatment for patients with PLC in liver segment 9, the advantages of this treatment include good safety, high efficacy, low complications and local recurrence. The treatment is worthy of further future studies.

Objective To investigate the expressions of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) and PD-L2 and phosphorylated protein kinase B (p-AKT) in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients and their correlations with clinicopathological features and prognosis. Methods A total of 68 paraffin-embedded specimens of DLBCL patients diagnosed in Shanxi Provincial Cancer Hospital with detailed follow-up record from January 2010 to December 2012 were included in the study. The expressions of PD-L1, PD-L2 and p-AKT proteins in DLBCL were detected by using immunohistochemistry (IHC). Results The positive rate of PD-L1 protein in DLBCL patients was 22.1％ (15/68), which was related to germinal center B-cell (GCB) subtype or not (χ2= 5.591, P= 0.018), clinical stage (χ2= 3.969, P= 0.046), international prognostic index (IPI) grades (χ2=4.178, P=0.041) and treatment remission rate (χ2=6.587, P=0.010). The positive rate of PD-L2 protein in DLBCL patients was 14.7％ (10/68), which was related to extranodal metastasis or not (χ2=6.772, P= 0.009). The positive rate of p-AKT for DLBCL patients was 61.8％ (42/68), which was correlated with age (≥60 years old) or not (χ2=6.227, P=0.013), Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) grades (χ2=4.005, P=0.045), B symptoms (χ2=10.187, P=0.001) and treatment remission rate (χ2=4.096, P=0.043). Univariate survival analysis showed that the overall survival (OS) rate and progression free survival (PFS) rate of PD-L1 protein positive expression group were lower than those of PD-L1 protein negative expression group (both P< 0.05). In the patients with non-GCB subtype, OS rate and PFS rate of PD-L1 protein positive expression group were lower than those of PD-L1 protein negative expression group (both P<0.05). p-AKT protein positive expression group had poorer OS rate and PFS rate compared to p-AKT negative expression group (both P< 0.05). Correlation analysis showed that PD-L1 protein expression was correlated with PD-L2 and p-AKT proteins expressions (r= 0.380, P= 0.001;r= 0.273, P= 0.025). The prognosis was worse when p-AKT and PD-L1 proteins was co-expressed (P< 0.05). Multivariate analysis suggested high expressions of PD-L1 and p-AKT proteins were independent prognosis risk factors in DLBCL (both P<0.05). Conclusions The expressions of PD-L1 and p-AKT proteins may be involved in the occurrence and development of DLBCL. Blocking PD-1 and PD-L1 access or combined blocking could provide a promising future for the clinical therapy.

Objective To establish and optimize a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) method for the rapid detection of Escherichia coli and its microbial toxin.Methods The LAMP reaction system and reaction conditions were determined by optimizing LAMP reaction,and the optimized LAMP system was used for the detection.Results Primers targeting shiga toxin (stx) gene and O157 antigen gene rfbe were designed.The established and optimized LAMP amplification system contained 1.2 mmol/L dNTPs,10 mmol/L MgSO4,0.4 mol/L betaine,1 μl 10 × Bst DNA polymerase Buffer,8 U Bst DNA polymerase fragment,2 μl DNA template,and the ratio of inner-primer (FIP and BIP) and outerprimer (F3 and B3) were 8∶ 1.Time and temperature for LAMP was 60 min,60 ℃.The sensitivity was 103 times higher than polymerase chain reaction (PCR),reached 5 × 101 CFU/ml.When LAMP was applied to 19 reference strains,102 EHEC strains,the specification was 100％ while identification rate of rfbe,stx1 and stx2 gene reached 100％,95.2％,92.9％.Conclusions The LAMP method showed a promising prospect for the rapid detection of common nosocomial pathogens microbial toxin.

Objective To investigate the expression level and clinical significance of long non-coding RNA(LncRNA) growth arrest specific gene-antisense 1(GAS8-AS1) in papillary thyroid microcarcinoma(PTMC) patients. Methods We investigated the expression profile of GAS8-AS1 in tissue samples of patients with PTMC as well as nodular goiter(NG) by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction(RT-qPCR). Results GAS8-AS1 in cancer tissue was down-regulated in PTMC patients compared with adjacent thyroid tissue and NG samples(P<0.05). Lower level of GAS8-AS1 was also correlated with central cervical lymph node metastasis(CLNM, P<0.05). The area under the ROC curve for GAS8-AS1 was up to 0.717 3 in CLNM prediction(P<0.05). Conclusion GAS8-AS1 may act as a potential biomarker for PTC diagnosis and CLNM prediction.

Objective To explore the relation of fat cells factor and insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes.Methods 60 patients were divided into obesity group, non-obese group and normal control group.To detect the FINs, FPG, TG, TC, LDL,HDL,APN,CTRP3,leptin and TNF-α, according to the formula of HOMA,to analyze the correlation between indicators.Results 1).Compared with normal control group, DM group significantly decrease serum APN, CTRP3 level, compared with non-obesity group, obesity group APN, CTRP3 level significantly decreased(P<0.05 or P<0.01).The leptin level elevated (P<0.05).2)APN concentration and age, BMI, FPG, TG, TC, LDL, FINs, HOMA-IR has negative correlation;CTRP3 andFPG,FINs, HOMA-negative correlation IR(P<0.05), TG was positively correlated (P<0.05);TNF-α and FPG and positively correlated (P< 0.05).Conclusions T2DM patients` serum APN, CTRP3 and high Leptin levels are closely associated with obesity, HOMA-IR, FPG and TG as an independent factor can be used as a new sensitive index of evaluating the degree of insulin resistance.

OBJECTIVE: To observe the clinical efficacy of sitagliptin plus insulin on patients with brittle diabetes and to determine the effect of the combined therapy on glucagon secretion.
 METHODS: This randomized, double-blinded and placebo-controlled trial included 30 patients with brittle diabetes. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive the treatment of either sitagliptin plus insulin or placebo plus insulin for 12 weeks. The blood glucose, hemoglobin A1c, insulin dose, C-peptide, glucagon, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) and other parameters were determined.
 RESULTS: After 12 weeks of treatment, blood glucose was controlled better by sitagliptin plus insulin (P<0.01). The patients had significantly lower glucose variability indices, lower daily insulin requirement and hemoglobin A1c in the group of sitagliptin plus insulin (P<0.01). After steamed bun test, past-meal GLP-1 levels at 30 min were higher (P<0.01) while GIP levels were lower (P<0.01), with glucagon suppression in the sitagliptin plus insulin group. No significant change was observed at any time point in placebo plus insulin group.
 CONCLUSION Sitagliptin significantly decreases blood glucose level and blood glucose fluctuation, which may contribute to the ability of sitagliptin in decreasing glucagon secretion.
Blood Glucose ; analysis ; C-Peptide ; blood ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 ; drug therapy ; Dipeptidyl-Peptidase IV Inhibitors ; Double-Blind Method ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Gastric Inhibitory Polypeptide ; blood ; Glucagon ; blood ; Glucagon-Like Peptide 1 ; blood ; Glycated Hemoglobin A ; analysis ; Humans ; Hypoglycemic Agents ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; Insulin ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; Sitagliptin Phosphate ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use

Background and objective Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a progressive disorder character-ized by abnormally elevated blood pressure of the pulmonary circulation. Without treatment, PAH progresses rapidly to right ventricular (RV) failure and even death. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) has been an accurate and reproducible tool to assessment of RV morphology and function, which are important factors in the prognosis of patients with PAH. e aim of this study is to investigate acute RV response to inhalation of aerosolized iloprost in patients with PAH using CMRI. Method From March 2012 to March 2014, 48 patients with PAH underwent CMRI before and immediately aer inhalation of iloprost with a single dose of 20 μg over 15 min-20 min. RV function parameters derived from CMRI images were analyzed before and aer iloprost inhalation, including end-diastolic volume (EDV), end-diastolic area (EDA), end-systolic volume (ESV), end-systolic area (ESA), stroke volume (SV), ejection fraction (EF) and cardiac output (CO). Percentage of RV area change was also calculated [%RVAC=(EDA-ESA)/EDA×100%]. Wilcoxon's Sign Rank Test or Paired Samples t-Test was used to compare the dierences of RV function parameters before and aer inhalation. Results Aer iloprost inhalation, all patients showed significant decrease in RV EDV and RV ESV (P=0.007, P<0.001 respectively). Whereas, there were significant increase in RV SV (P=0.014), RV EF (P=0.009) and %RVAC (P=0.006). RV CO had no significant dierence before and aer inhalation (P=0.851). Conclusions Inhalation of iloprost can immediately improve RV function in patients with PAH, and noninvasive evaluation of the acute response with CMRI is feasibility.