Towards the mechanical characterisation of unruptured intracranial aneurysms: Numerical modelling of interactions between a deformation device and the aneurysm wall

Intracranial aneurysm is a critical pathology related to the arterial wall deterioration. This work is an essential aspect of a large scale project aimed at providing clinicians with a non-invasive patient-specific decision support tool regarding the rupture risk assessment. A machine learning algorithm links the aneurysm shape observed and a database of UIA clinical images associated with in vivo wall mechanical properties and rupture characterisation. The database constitution is derived from a device prototype coupled with medical imaging. It provides the mechanical characterisation of the aneurysm from the wall deformation obtained by inverse analysis based on the variation of luminal volume. Before performing in vivo tests of the device on small animals, a numerical model was built to quantify the device's impact on the aneurysm wall under natural blood flow conditions. As the clinician will never be able to precisely situate the device, several locations were considered. In preparation for the inverse analysis procedure, artery material laws of increasing complexity were studied (linear elastic, hyper elastic Fung-like). Considering all the device locations and material laws, the device induced relative displacements to the Systole peak (worst case scenario with the highest mechanical stimulus linked to the blood flow) ranging from 375 μm to 1.28 mm. The variation of luminal volume associated with the displacements was between 0.95 % and 4.3 % compared to the initial Systole volume of the aneurysm. Significant increase of the relative displacements and volume variations were found with the study of different cardiac cycle moments between the blood flow alone and the device application. For forthcoming animal model studies, Spectral Photon CT Counting, with a minimum spatial resolution of 250 μm, was selected as the clinical imaging technique. Based on this preliminary study, the displacements and associated volume variations (baseline for inverse analyse), should be observable and exploitable.

Exploring the role of histone deacetylase inhibitors in cancer development and therapeutic potential

The process of acetylation and deacetylation of histones within the nucleus operates within a dynamic equilibrium. Histone acetyltransferases (HATs) and histone deacetylases (HDACs) collaboratively and precisely regulate normal gene transcription and expression. Any disorder in the activity of HATs/HDACs can lead to uncontrolled gene expression, consequently resulting in tumorigenesis. Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACIs) have the capacity to block the cell cycle, thereby restraining tumor cell proliferation and tumor growth. Also, HDACIs exhibit a significant capability to diminish the expression of apoptosis protein inhibitors such as Bcl-2 and B-cell lymphoma-extra-large (Bcl-xL), while concurrently up-regulating pro-apoptotic proteins such as Bax, Bad, and Bim. Also, HDACIs demonstrate the ability to inhibit tumor cell angiogenesis. Representing a new category of targeted anti-cancer therapeutics, HDACIs possess the capability to restore the expression of tumor suppressor genes, induce apoptosis, and stimulate cell differentiation. Additionally, they exert anti-cancer effects through diverse pathways both in vivo and in vitro, thereby presenting promising prospects in tumor therapy. This review delves into the involvement of HDACs in cancer pathology and the therapeutic potential of HDACIs as emerging drugs in cancer treatment.

Who Benefited Most from the Internet-Based Conversational Engagement RCT (I-CONECT)? Application of the Personalized Medicine Approach to a Behavioral Intervention Study

BACKGROUND

Many Alzheimer's Disease (AD) clinical trials have failed to demonstrate treatment efficacy on cognition. It is conceivable that a complex disease like AD may not have the same treatment effect due to many heterogeneities of disease processes and individual traits.

OBJECTIVES

We employed an individual-level treatment response (ITR) approach to determine the characteristics of treatment responders and estimated time saved in cognitive decline using the Internet-based Conversational Engagement Clinical Trial (I-CONECT) behavioral intervention study as a model.

DESIGN AND SETTING

I-CONECT is a multi-site, single-blind, randomized controlled trial aimed to improve cognitive functions through frequent conversational interactions via internet/webcam. The experimental group engaged in video chats with study staff 4 times/week for 6 months; the control group received weekly 10-minute check-in phone calls.

PARTICIPANTS

Out of 186 randomized participants, current study used 139 participants with complete information on both baseline and 6-month follow-up (73 with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), 66 with normal cognition; 64 in the experimental group, and 75 in the control group).

MEASUREMENTS

ITR scores were generated for the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) (global cognition, primary outcome) and Category Fluency Animals (CFA) (semantic fluency, secondary outcome) that showed significant efficacy in the trial. ITR scores were generated through 300 iterations of 3-fold cross-validated random forest models. The average treatment difference (ATD) curve and the area between the curves (ABC) were estimated to measure the heterogeneity of treatment responses. Responder traits were identified using SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) and decision tree models. The time saved in cognitive decline was explored to gauge clinical meaningfulness.

RESULTS

ABC statistics showed substantial heterogeneity in treatment response with MoCA but modest heterogeneity in treatment response with CFA. Age, cognitive status, time spent with family and friends, education, and personality were important characteristics that influenced treatment responses. Intervention group participants in the upper 30% of ITR scores demonstrated potential delays of 3 months in semantic fluency (CFA) and 6 months in global cognition (MoCA), assuming a 5-fold faster natural cognitive decline compared to the control group during the post-treatment period.

CONCLUSIONS

ITR-based analyses are valuable in profiling treatment responders for features that can inform future trial design and clinical practice. Reliably measuring time saved in cognitive decline is an area of ongoing research to gain insight into the clinical meaningfulness of treatment.

Favorable Survival after Definitive Ablative RT in Surgically Resectable Pancreatic Cancer Patients

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S)

Surgical resection has been considered the only curative option for patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Ablative RT ≥100Gy BED10 (A-RT) is associated with favorable survival in patients with locally advanced unresectable disease. We sought to evaluate A-RT outcomes in patients with technically resectable disease who did not undergo surgery.

MATERIALS/METHODS

Our prospectively maintained database of patients treated with A-RT was queried for consecutive patients with radiographic T1/T2 resectable PDAC. Patients were treated with a standardized technique within a large academic cancer center regional network. Ablative RT using several hypofractionated regimens was delivered on either standard Linacs with respiratory motion management, CBCT image guidance and selective adaptive replanning or MR-Linac with compression belt and daily on-line adaptive replanning. Freedom from local progression (FFLP), distant metastasis-free and overall survival (DMFS and OS, respectively) were analyzed using the Kaplan Meier estimates.

RESULTS

Between 2016 and 2022, 28 patients (54% male) with radiographically resectable PDAC received definitive A-RT. Median age was 80 (interquartile range, 77-84) years and 23 (82.1%) had KPS of 80 or below. Eighteen patients (64.3%) had T2 cancer, 5 (17.9%) were node positive, and 23 (82.1%) had head location. Median size was 2.6 (range, 1.6-4.0) cm with a median carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) of 160.5 (0-1823) U/mL. Twenty patients (71.4%) received induction chemotherapy for a median of 2.4 (0-6.2) months. RT regimens delivered on conventional Linacs unless otherwise indicated included 75Gy in 25 fractions (n = 15), 67.5Gy in 15 fractions (n = 10), 50Gy in 5 (N = 2, MR Linac), 60Gy in 10 (n = 1). 24-month FFLP and DMFS were 78.8% (52.3-91.7%) and 17.7% (95% CI, 5.8%-34.8%), respectively. 24-month and 48-month rate of OS from A-RT were 49.1% (95% CI, 27.53-67.5%) and 36.3 (95%16.0-57.1%). Grade 3 acute and late GI toxicity was noted in 3 and 1 patients, respectively, including 2 bleeding events treated with transfusions. There were no ≥ grade 4 events.

CONCLUSION

In patients with surgically resectable PDAC we found that definitive A-RT following multiagent induction therapy was associated with oncologic outcomes similar to resection with minimal toxicity.

Genome-wide gene expression responses to experimental manipulation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae repressor activator protein 1 (Rap1) expression level

Precise regulation of transcription in gene expression is critical for all aspects of normal organism form, fitness, and function and even minor alterations in the level, location, and timing of gene expression can result in phenotypic variation within and between species including evolutionary innovations and human disease states. Eukaryotic transcription is regulated by a complex interplay of multiple factors working both at a physical and molecular levels influencing this process. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the TF with the greatest number of putative regulatory targets is the essential gene Repressor Activator Protein 1 (RAP1). While much is known about the roles of Rap1 in gene regulation and numerous cellular processes, the response of Rap1 target genes to systematic titration of RAP1 expression level remains unknown. To fill this knowledge gap, we used a strain with a tetracycline-titratable promoter replacing wild-type regulatory sequences of RAP1 to systematically reduce the expression level of RAP1 and followed this with RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) to measure genome-wide gene expression responses. Previous research indicated that Rap1 plays a significant regulatory role in particular groups of genes including telomere-proximal genes, homothallic mating (HM) loci, glycolytic genes, DNA repair genes, and ribosomal protein genes; therefore, we focused our analyses on these groups and downstream targets to determine how they respond to reductions in RAP1 expression level. Overall, despite being known as both an activator and as a repressor of its target genes, we found that Rap1 acts as an activator for more target genes than as a repressor. Additionally, we found that Rap1 functions as an activator of ribosomal protein genes and a repressor of the silent mating locus genes consistent with predictions from the literature. Unexpectedly, we found that Rap1 functions as a repressor of glycolytic enzyme genes contrary to prior reports of it having the opposite effect. We also compared the expression of RAP1 to five different genes related to DNA repair pathway and found that decreasing RAP1 downregulated four of those five genes. Finally, we found no effect of RAP1 depletion on telomere-proximal genes despite its functioning to silence telomeric repeat-containing RNAs. Together our results enrich our understanding of this important transcriptional regulator. The graphical abstract is provided as a supplementary fig. (S-Fig 1).

Bacterial antibiotic resistance among cancer inpatients in China: 2016-20

BACKGROUND

The incidence of infections among cancer patients is as high as 23.2-33.2% in China. However, the lack of information and data on the number of antibiotics used by cancer patients is an obstacle to implementing antibiotic management plans.

AIM

This study aimed to investigate bacterial infections and antibiotic resistance in Chinese cancer patients to provide a reference for the rational use of antibiotics.

DESIGN

This was a 5-year retrospective study on the antibiotic resistance of cancer patients.

METHODS

In this 5-year surveillance study, we collected bacterial and antibiotic resistance data from 20 provincial cancer diagnosis and treatment centers and three specialized cancer hospitals in China. We analyzed the resistance of common bacteria to antibiotics, compared to common clinical drug-resistant bacteria, evaluated the evolution of critical drug-resistant bacteria and conducted data analysis.

FINDINGS

Between 2016 and 2020, 216 219 bacterial strains were clinically isolated. The resistance trend of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae to amikacin, ciprofloxacin, cefotaxime, piperacillin/tazobactam and imipenem was relatively stable and did not significantly increase over time. The resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains to all antibiotics tested, including imipenem and meropenem, decreased over time. In contrast, the resistance of Acinetobacter baumannii strains to carbapenems increased from 4.7% to 14.7%. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) significantly decreased from 65.2% in 2016 to 48.9% in 2020.

CONCLUSIONS

The bacterial prevalence and antibiotic resistance rates of E. coli, K. pneumoniae, P. aeruginosa, A. baumannii, S. aureus and MRSA were significantly lower than the national average.

Sparse ensemble neural code for a complete vocal repertoire

The categorization of animal vocalizations into distinct behaviorally relevant groups for communication is an essential operation that must be performed by the auditory system. This auditory object recognition is a difficult task that requires selectivity to the group identifying acoustic features and invariance to renditions within each group. We find that small ensembles of auditory neurons in the forebrain of a social songbird can code the bird's entire vocal repertoire (∼10 call types). Ensemble neural discrimination is not, however, correlated with single unit selectivity, but instead with how well the joint single unit tunings to characteristic spectro-temporal modulations span the acoustic subspace optimized for the discrimination of call types. Thus, akin to face recognition in the visual system, call type recognition in the auditory system is based on a sparse code representing a small number of high-level features and not on highly selective grandmother neurons.

Impact of prior failed irrigation and debridement on outcomes of subsequent two-stage revision arthroplasty: a systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed at examining if prior failed debridement, antibiotics, and implant retention (DAIR) for prosthetic joint infection have an impact on the success of subsequent two-stage revision arthroplasty (2SRA).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Search was conducted on PubMed, Embase, and Google Scholar up to 14th April 2022 for studies comparing 2SRA with and without a history of DAIR.

RESULTS

Six retrospective studies were included. The success of 2SRA was defined as either absence of additional surgical intervention for infection or absence of antibiotic suppression or both. We noted no statistically significant difference in the odds of success between failed DAIR and no DAIR group, albeit with an inclination of reduced success with prior failed DAIR (OR 0.63 95% CI 0.33, 1.19 I2=66% p=0.16). Five studies reported adjusted outcomes. The meta-analysis demonstrated no statistically significant difference in the odds of success between failed DAIR and no DAIR groups (OR 0.57 95% CI 0.26, 1.26 I2=66% p=0.17). During sensitivity analysis, the removal of a single study changed the effect size indicating significantly lower success rates in failed DAIR group.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results indicate that patients undergoing 2SRA after failed DAIR may have a non-significant tendency of lower success rates as compared to patients directly undergoing 2SRA. However, current evidence is scarce and fraught with several limitations and there is a need for further research to delineate the impact of failed DAIR on the success of 2SRA.

Current census of oncology critical care medicine in China

OBJECTIVE

The purposes of this survey were to show the current situation of oncology critical care medicine in China by questionnaire, to understand the resource distribution of oncology critical care medicine and to analyze and evaluate the existing resources and reserve capacity of oncology critical care medicine in China.

METHODS

We conducted the survey mainly in the form of an online questionnaire. The Committee of Cancer Critical Care Medicine of the Chinese Anticancer Association (CACA) initiated the survey on 1 November 2017, and 36 member hospitals nationwide participated in the survey. The questionnaire included 10 items: investigator information, hospital information, general information of oncology critical care department, staffing of oncology critical care department, management in oncology critical care department, technical skills in oncology critical care department, patient source in oncology critical care department, equipment configuration in oncology critical care department, special skills in oncology critical care department and summary of the information.

RESULTS

The survey results included information from 28 member units, all of which were tertiary hospitals, distributed in 20 provinces and 4 direct-controlled municipalities. The results are as follows. (i) The total ratio of beds in the oncology critical care department to hospital beds was 1.06%, and the average number of beds in the oncology critical care department was 16.36. (ii) The ratio of physicians in the oncology critical care department to beds was ∼0.62:1, and the ratio of nurses to beds was ∼1.98:1. (iii) According to the census of the population and gross domestic product (GDP) of different regions conducted by the State Statistics Bureau in 2017, the ratio of beds in the oncology critical care department for tumor patients to the population was 4.55 beds per 10 million people, and the ratio of beds in the oncology critical care department to GDP was 8.00 beds per RMB 100 billion, on average. (iv) According to the requirements of the guidelines for the development and management of critical care medicine in China, the facilities in departments of oncology critical care medicine meet the requirements, and the technical skills of medical staff are competent.

CONCLUSION

The development of oncology critical care in China is becoming better, but there is still a certain gap compared with the intensive care unit standards in China and the average level of the nationwide. The development of oncology critical care medicine is urgent.

[Suppression of HMGB1 inhibits neuronal autophagy and apoptosis to improve neurological deficits in rats following intracerebral hemorrhage]

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the effect of suppressing high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) on neuronal autophagy and apoptosis in rats after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) in rats.

METHODS

Rat models of ICH induced by intracerebral striatum injection of 0.2 U/mL collagenase Ⅳ were treated with 1 mg/kg anti-HMGB1 mAb or a control anti-IgG mAb injected via the tail immediately and at 6 h after the operation (n=5). The rats in the sham-operated group (with intracranial injection of 2 μL normal saline) and ICH model group (n=5) were treated with PBS in the same manner after the operation. The neurological deficits of the rats were evaluated using modified neurological severity score (mNSS). TUNEL staining was used to detect apoptosis of the striatal neurons, and the expressions of HMGB1, autophagy-related proteins (Beclin-1, LC3-Ⅱ and LC3-Ⅰ) and apoptosis-related proteins (Bcl-2, Bax and cleaved caspase-3) in the brain tissues surrounding the hematoma were detected using Western blotting. The expression of HMGB1 in the striatum was detected by immunohistochemistry, and serum level of HMGB1 was detected with ELISA.

RESULTS

The rat models of ICH showed significantly increased mNSS (P < 0.05), which was markedly lowered after treatment with anti- HMGB1 mAb (P < 0.05). ICH caused a significant increase of apoptosis of the striatal neurons (P < 0.05), enhanced the expressions of beclin-1, LC3-Ⅱ, Bax and cleaved caspase-3 (P < 0.05), lowered the expressions of LC3-Ⅰ and Bcl-2 (P < 0.05), and increased the content of HMGB1 (P < 0.05). Treatment with anti-HMGB1 mAb obviously lowered the apoptosis rate of the striatal neurons (P < 0.05), decreased the expressions of Beclin-1, LC3-Ⅱ, Bax and cleaved caspase-3 (P < 0.05), increased the expressions of LC3-Ⅰ and Bcl-2 (P < 0.05), and reduced the content of HMGB1 in ICH rats (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Down- regulation of HMGB1 by anti-HMGB1 improves neurological functions of rats after ICH possibly by inhibiting autophagy and apoptosis of the neurons.

Outcomes during delivery hospitalisations with inflammatory bowel disease

OBJECTIVE

To characterise inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) trends and associated risk during delivery hospitalisations.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional.

SETTING

US delivery hospitalisations.

POPULATION

Delivery hospitalisations in the 2000-2018 National Inpatient Sample.

METHODS

This study analysed a nationally representative hospital discharge database based on the presence of IBD. Temporal trends in IBD were analysed using joinpoint regression to estimate the average annual percent change (AAPC). IBD severity was characterised by the presence of diagnoses such as penetrating and stricturing disease and history of bowel resection. Risks for adverse outcomes were analysed based on presence of IBD. Poisson regression models were performed with unadjusted and adjusted risk ratios (aRR) as measures of effect.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE

Prevalence of IBD and associated adverse outcomes.

RESULTS

Of 73 109 790 delivery hospitalisations, 89 965 had a diagnosis of IBD. IBD rose from 0.06% in 2000 to 0.21% in 2018 (AAPC 7.3%, 95% CI 6.7-7.9%). Among deliveries with IBD, IBD severity diagnoses increased from 4.1% to 8.1% from 2000 to 2018. In adjusted analysis, IBD was associated with increased risk for preterm delivery (aRR 1.50, 95% CI 1.47-1.53), severe maternal morbidity (aRR 1.93, 95% CI 1.83-2.04), venous thrombo-embolism (aRR 2.76, 95% CI 2.39-3.18) and surgical injury during caesarean delivery hospitalisation (aRR 5.03, 95% CI 4.76-5.31). In the presence of a severe IBD diagnosis, risk was further increased for all adverse outcomes.

CONCLUSION

IBD is increasing in the obstetric population and is associated with adverse outcomes. Risk is increased in the presence of a severe IBD diagnosis.

TWEETABLE ABSTRACT

Deliveries among women with inflammatory bowel disease are increasing. Disease severity is associated with adverse outcomes.

[Application of totally visceral sac separation in abdominal wall hernia]

To investigate the application of totally visceral sac separation (TVS) in the treatment of ventral hernia, to summarize the operation procedure and to analyze its safety and effectiveness. Twenty-one consecutive primary and secondary ventral hernias cases were repaired using the TVS procedure from December 2019 to December 2020. A large mesh should be placed in retrorectus sublay or underlay preperitoneal using the minimally invasive procedure. The indications for this procedure include umbilical, incisional hernia, linea alba hernia, lumbar hernia, and parastomal hernia. All the operations were successful, of which 2 cases were converted to laparotomy because of the failure of anterior peritoneal cavity construction and the difficulty of anterior defect closure. The mean operation time was 140 mins (70-260 min), postoperative pain was mild, and the mean visual analogue scale(VAS) was 2.5 (1-4) on the first postoperative day. There were no recurrent cases during the follow-up for more than 6 months. TVS procedure is safe and highly reproducible. Without expensive anti-adhesion mesh and fixation tacker, the technology of TVS is a good technique for the surgical treatment of ventral hernia.

The efficacy, challenges, and facilitators of telemedicine in post-treatment cancer survivorship care: an overview of systematic reviews

BACKGROUND

Telemedicine services have been increasingly used to facilitate post-treatment cancer survivorship care, including improving access; monitoring health status, health behaviors, and symptom management; enhancing information exchange; and mitigating the costs of care delivery, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. To inform guidance for the use of telemedicine in the post-COVID era, the aim of this overview of systematic reviews (SRs) was to evaluate the efficacy of, and survivor engagement in, telemedicine interventions in the post-treatment survivorship phase, and to consider implementation barriers and facilitators.

METHODS

PubMed, Cochrane CENTRAL, CINAHL, Embase, and Web of Science databases were searched. SRs that examined the use of telemedicine in the post-treatment phase of cancer survivorship, published between January 2010 and April 2021, were included. Efficacy data were synthesized narratively. Implementation barriers and facilitators were synthesized using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research.

RESULTS

Twenty-nine SRs were included. A substantive body of evidence found telemedicine to benefit the management of psychosocial and physical effects, particularly for improving fatigue and cognitive function. There was a lack of evidence on the use of telemedicine in the prevention and surveillance for recurrences and new cancers as well as management of chronic medical conditions. This overview highlights a range of diverse barriers and facilitators at the patient, health service, and system levels.

CONCLUSIONS

This review highlights the benefits of telemedicine in addressing psychosocial and physical effects, but not in other areas of post-treatment cancer survivorship care. This large review provides practical guidance for use of telemedicine in post-treatment survivorship care.

Hourglass Body Shape Ideal Scale and disordered eating

Disordered eating research has long considered the negative consequences of internalizing sociocultural appearance ideals (e.g., thin ideal, muscular ideal). However, the implications of internalizing a curvy or "hourglass" body shape remains unclear. The Hourglass Body Shape Ideal Scale (HBSIS) is a new self-report questionnaire that was developed and evaluated to appropriately measure the extent women subscribe to an hourglass body shape ideal. The measure was administered to a community and undergraduate sample of women via two separate online studies. Study 1 (N = 916) provided support for the factor structure as well as the convergent and discriminant validity of the HBSIS. The HBSIS was correlated with measures of appearance orientation, overweight preoccupation, and disordered eating. HBSIS was associated with disordered eating even after controlling for age, BMI, thin ideal and muscular ideal internalization. Further, higher HBSIS scores were associated with increased likelihood of having clinical levels of disordered eating symptoms. There were no racial and ethnic group differences on HBSIS. Study 2 (N = 195) replicated the factor structure of Study 1, in addition to its convergent and discriminant validity. The HBSIS allows for more precise examination of appearance-ideal internalization, capturing a unique construct understudied within eating pathology literature.

[Speckle-type POZ protein up-regulates c-Jun protein expression and promotes proliferation and invasion of renal carcinoma cells]

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the effect of speckle-type POZ protein (SPOP) on proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and explore the potential mechanisms.

OBJECTIVE

Renal carcinoma cell lines (786-O, A704, and Caki-2) cultured in vitro were transfected with a SPOP-overexpressing plasmid, and the changes in proliferation of the cells were detected using colony formation and MTT assay; TUNEL assay was used to assess apoptosis of the cells. The changes in migration and invasion abilities of the cells were examined using wound healing assay and Transwell assay. The mRNA and protein levels of SPOP and c-Jun in the transfected cells were measured using real-time PCR and Western blotting.

OBJECTIVE

SPOP over-expression obviously promoted the proliferation, migration and invasion of 786-O, A704 and Caki-2 cells (P < 0.05). Compared with the control cells, 786-o and Caki-2 cells over-expressing SPOP exhibited significantly lowered apoptosis rates (P < 0.05). The results of real-time PCR demonstrated that the transfected cells did not show obvious changes in the mRNA level of c-Jun, but the protein expressions of SPOP and c-jun increased significantly as shown by Western blotting (P < 0.05).

OBJECTIVE

SPOP can promote proliferation, migration, and invasion and suppress apoptosis of renal carcinoma cells possibly by promoting the expression of c-Jun.

Untargeted Metabolomic Profiling of the Correlation Between Prognosis Differences and PD-1 Expression in Sepsis: A Preliminary Study

Objectives: The mortality rate of sepsis remains very high. Metabolomic techniques are playing increasingly important roles in diagnosis and treatment in critical care medicine. The purpose of our research was to use untargeted metabolomics to identify and analyze the common differential metabolites among patients with sepsis with differences in their 7-day prognosis and blood PD-1 expression and analyze their correlations with environmental factors.

Methods: Plasma samples from 18 patients with sepsis were analyzed by untargeted LC-MS metabolomics. Based on the 7-day prognoses of the sepsis patients or their levels of PD-1 expression on the surface of CD4+ T cells in the blood, we divided the patients into two groups. We used a combination of multidimensional and monodimensional methods for statistical analysis. At the same time, the Spearman correlation analysis method was used to analyze the correlation between the differential metabolites and inflammatory factors.

Results: In the positive and negative ionization modes, 16 and 8 differential metabolites were obtained between the 7-day death and survival groups, respectively; 5 and 8 differential metabolites were obtained between the high PD-1 and low PD-1 groups, respectively. We identified three common differential metabolites from the two groups, namely, PC (P-18:0/14:0), 2-ethyl-2-hydroxybutyric acid and glyceraldehyde. Then, we analyzed the correlations between environmental factors and the common differences in metabolites. Among the identified metabolites, 2-ethyl-2-hydroxybutyric acid was positively correlated with the levels of IL-2 and lactic acid (Lac) (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05, respectively).

Conclusions: These three metabolites were identified as common differential metabolites between the 7-day prognosis groups and the PD-1 expression level groups of sepsis patients. They may be involved in regulating the expression of PD-1 on the surface of CD4+ T cells through the action of related environmental factors such as IL-2 or Lac, which in turn affects the 7-day prognosis of sepsis patients.

High-capacity auditory memory for vocal communication in a social songbird

Effective vocal communication often requires the listener to recognize the identity of a vocalizer, and this recognition is dependent on the listener's ability to form auditory memories. We tested the memory capacity of a social songbird, the zebra finch, for vocalizer identities using conditioning experiments and found that male and female zebra finches can remember a large number of vocalizers (mean, 42) based solely on the individual signatures found in their songs and distance calls. These memories were formed within a few trials, were generalized to previously unheard renditions, and were maintained for up to a month. A fast and high-capacity auditory memory for vocalizer identity has not been demonstrated previously in any nonhuman animals and is an important component of vocal communication in social species.

Lung Ultrasound Score in Evaluating the Severity of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pneumonia

The purpose of this study is to observe the potential of lung ultrasound in evaluating the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia. Lung ultrasound was performed in ten zones of the patients' chest walls. The features of the ultrasound images were observed, and a lung ultrasound score (LUS) was recorded. The ultrasound features and scores were compared between the refractory group (PaO₂/FiO₂ ≤ 100 mm Hg or on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) and the non-refractory group. The prediction value of the LUS was studied by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. In total, 7 patients were enrolled in the refractory group and 28 in the non-refractory group. B-line patterns and shred signs were the most common signs in all patients. Patients in the refractory group had significantly more ground-glass signs (median 6 [interquartile range {IQR}, 2.5-6.5] vs. median 0 [IQR, 0-3]), consolidation signs (median 1 [IQR, 1-1.5] vs. median 0 [IQR, 0-3]) and pleural effusions (median 5 [IQR, 1.5-6] vs. median 0 [IQR, 0-0.25]). The LUS was significantly higher in the refractory group (33.00 [IQR 27.50-34.00] vs. 25.50 [IQR 22.75-30.00]). The ROC of the LUS showed a cutoff score of 32 with a specificity of 0.893 and a sensitivity of 0.571 in diagnosing refractory respiratory failure among patients. In COVID-19 patients, lung ultrasound is a promising diagnostic tool in diagnosing patients with refractory pneumonia.

Cerebral Phaeohyphomycosis Due to Cladophialophora Bantiana in a Kidney Transplant Patient

Casestudy: Phaeohyphomycosis is a group of infections caused by pigmented, black, dematiaceous fungi and is responsible for cutaneous, superficial and deep mycoses, disseminated infection and brain abscesses. The primary agents involved include Alternaria spp., Exophiala spp. and Cladophialophora spp. Cerebral phaeohyphomycosis is particularly devastating with mortality rates as high as 70-80%. These fungi are becoming increasingly important opportunistic pathogens in solid organ transplant recipients (SOTR). We report a case of cerebral phaeohyphomycosis in a 65-year-old male with living donor kidney transplant for four years and has been maintained on immunosuppressive therapy with tacrolimus and prednisone. The patient presented with aphasia, frontal headache, loss of peripheral vision of right eye, and mental status change for three months due to several left- sided parieto-occipital brain abscesses. Left occipital abscess resection and parietal partial lobectomy were performed to reduce intracranial hypertension and to remove abscesses. Histopathological evaluation revealed brain abscess with pigmented fungal organisms with elongated, branched and septate. The pus aspirated during surgical excision of brain lesions grew black mold, identified as Cladophialophora bantiana. The patient’s neurological neurological condition had imporved after several weeks of combination antifungal therapy with posaconazole, liposomal amphotericin, and flucytosine. The lesions were initially suspected to be of tuberculous etiology, which was ruled out by histopathological examination. Such diagnostic dilemmas are common in the infection caused by Cladophialophora, which can cause treatment delay and death. Early diagnosis is therefore mandatory for the rapid treatment and survival of patients. As the number of SOTR increases, so does the incidence of fungal infections in that population. Surgery, along with antifungal therapy and a reduction in immunosuppression, are the cornerstones of treatment.

[Efficacy and safety of generic azacitidine in Chinese patients with higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes: a multicenter, prospective, single-arm study]

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy, safety, and pharmacokinetics of the generic azacitidine in Chinese patients with higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes(MDS). Methods: Between October 2013 and 2016, 72 patients were eligible for enrollment at 9 sites from China received generic subcutaneous azacitidine 75 mg·m(-2)·d(-1) for 7 days per 28-day cycle, for ≥6 cycles. Pharmacokinetic blood samples were collected on day 1 of a single-dose. Results: For each patient at cycle 6 or at the time of study discontinuation, whichever came first, the overall response rate, which included complete remission (CR)and partial remission(PR), was 6.9%(5/72), the rate of patients who had the best effect with CR or PR during the treatment was 12.5%(9/72). Patients who were dependent on red-blood-cell transfusions and platelet transfusions at baseline became transfusion independent were 46.3%(19/41)and 41.2% (7/17), respectively. The median time of treatment was 6 cycles, and the median OS was 16.1 months (95%CI 10.9-20.6 months). For 36 patients(50%)received treatment at ≥6 cycles, and the median OS was 22.3 months(95%CI 16.1- not evaluative). Most common grade Ⅲ-Ⅳ hematologic treatment-emergent adverse events were neutropenia(55%), leukopenia(47%), and thrombocytopenia(61%). Pharmacokinetic profiles were similar for generic and original azacitidine in Chinese patients. Conclusion: Generic azacitidine treatment was favorable and safe and can be used as a standard treatment for patients with higher-risk MDS.

Solvent-cast 3D printing of magnesium scaffolds

Biodegradable porous magnesium (Mg) scaffolds are promising for application in the regeneration of critical-sized bone defects. Although additive manufacturing (AM) carries the promise of offering unique opportunities to fabricate porous Mg scaffolds, current attempts to apply the AM approach to fabricating Mg scaffolds have encountered some crucial issues, such as those related to safety in operation and to the difficulties in composition control. In this paper, we present a room-temperature extrusion-based AM method for the fabrication of topologically ordered porous Mg scaffolds. It is composed of three steps, namely (i) preparing a Mg powder loaded ink with desired rheological properties, (ii) solvent-cast 3D printing (SC-3DP) of the ink to form scaffolds with 0 °/ 90 °/ 0 ° layers, and (iii) debinding and sintering to remove the binder in the ink and then get Mg powder particles bonded by applying a liquid-phase sintering strategy. A rheological analysis of the prepared inks with 54, 58 and 62  vol% Mg powder loading was performed to reveal their viscoelastic properties. Thermal-gravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), carbon/sulfur analysis and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) indicated the possibilities of debinding and sintering at one single step for fabricating pure Mg scaffolds with high fidelity and densification. The resulting scaffolds with high porosity contained hierarchical and interconnected pores. This study, for the first time, demonstrated that the SC-3DP technique presents unprecedented possibilities to fabricate Mg-based porous scaffolds that have the potential to be used as a bone-substituting material. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Biodegradable porous magnesium scaffolds are promising for application in the regeneration of critical-sized bone defects. Although additive manufacturing (AM) carries the promise of offering unique opportunities to fabricate porous magnesium scaffolds, current attempts to apply the AM approach to fabricating magnesium scaffolds still have some crucial limitations. This study demonstrated that the solvent-cast 3D printing technique presents unprecedented possibilities to fabricate Mg-based porous scaffolds. The judicious chosen of formulated binder system allowed for the negligible binder residue after debinding and the short-time liquid-phase sintering strategy led to a great success in sintering pure magnesium scaffolds. The resulting scaffolds with hierarchical and interconnected pores have great potential to be used as a bone-substituting material.

Malposition of a nasogastric feeding tube into the right pleural space of a poststroke patient

Nasogastric feeding tube plays an important role in administering enteral feeding and drug delivery for poststroke patients with consciousness disorders or poststroke dysphagia. Nevertheless, placement of nasogastric tubes is not without any risk of potential harm. Inadvertent malposition into the trachea or the distal tracheobronchial tree could induce severe pulmonary complications. As for poststroke patients with long-term dysphoria, such tubes have to be replaced periodically to prevent the overdue service of the tubes. Therefore, the risk of feeding tube misplacement into pulmonary system for these patients is increased. Here, we present a case of a 79-year-old poststroke patient with hydropneumothorax induced by malposition of nasogastric tube into the right pleura after routine replacement, accompanied by acute anterior wall myocardial infarction.

Functionally weighted airway sparing (FWAS): a functional avoidance method for preserving post-treatment ventilation in lung radiotherapy

Recent changes to the guidelines for screening and early diagnosis of lung cancer have increased the interest in preserving post-radiotherapy lung function. Current investigational approaches are based on spatially mapping functional regions and generating regional avoidance plans that preferentially spare highly ventilated/perfused lung. A potentially critical, yet overlooked, aspect of functional avoidance is radiation injury to peripheral airways, which serve as gas conduits to and from functional lung regions. Dose redistribution based solely on regional function may cause irreparable damage to the 'supply chain'. To address this deficiency, we propose the functionally weighted airway sparing (FWAS) method. FWAS (i) maps the bronchial pathways to each functional sub-lobar lung volume; (ii) assigns a weighting factor to each airway based on the relative contribution of the sub-volume to overall lung function; and (iii) creates a treatment plan that aims to preserve these functional pathways. To evaluate it, we used four cases from a retrospective cohort of SAbR patients treated for lung cancer. Each patient's airways were auto-segmented from a diagnostic-quality breath-hold CT using a research virtual bronchoscopy software. A ventilation map was generated from the planning 4DCT to map regional lung function. For each terminal airway, as resolved by the segmentation software, the total ventilation within the sub-lobar volume supported by that airway was estimated and used as a function-based weighting factor. Upstream airways were weighted based on the cumulative volumetric ventilation supported by corresponding downstream airways. Using a previously developed model for airway radiosensitivity, dose constraints were determined for each airway corresponding to a <5% probability of airway collapse. Airway dose constraints, ventilation scores, and clinical dose constraints were input to a swarm optimization-based inverse planning engine to create a 3D conformal SAbR plan (CRT). The FWAS plans were compared to the patients' prescribed CRT clinical plans and the inverse-optimized clinical plans. Depending on the size and location of the tumour, the FWAS plan showed superior preservation of ventilation due to airflow preservation through open pathways (i.e. cumulative ventilation score from the sub-lobar volumes of open pathways). Improvements ranged between 3% and 23%, when comparing to the prescribed clinical plans, and between 3% and 35%, when comparing to the inverse-optimized clinical plans. The three plans satisfied clinical requirements for PTV coverage and OAR dose constraints. These initial results suggest that by sparing pathways to high-functioning lung subregions it is possible to reduce post-SAbR loss of respiratory function.

Hepcidin-regulating Iron-metabolism Genes and Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma: A Pathway Analysis of Genome-wide Association Studies

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a highly lethal cancer, and epidemiological studies have suggested positive associations with iron and red meat intake. Rare mutations in genes involved in the hepcidin-regulating pathway are known to cause iron overload and hemochromatosis. We hypothesize that the hepcidin-regulating pathway as characterized by common variants from genome-wide association studies will be associated with PDAC. Methods: We conducted a large pathway-based meta-analysis of the hepcidin-regulating genes using the summary based adaptive rank truncated product (sARTP) method in 9,253 PDAC cases and 12,525 controls of European descent from the Pancreatic Cancer Cohort (PanScan) and the Pancreatic Cancer Case-Control (PANC4) consortia. Our analysis included 11 hepcidin-regulating genes (BMP2, BMP6, FTH1, FTL, HAMP, HFE, HJV, NRF2, SLC40A1, TFR1, TFR2) and adjacent genomic regions (20 kb upstream and downstream) with a total of 412 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). We also conducted the sARTP with four iron status biomarkers (serum iron, transferrin, transferrin saturation, and ferritin, n = 23,986) using summary statistics from previous GWAS studies (Benyamin, et al. 2014) to examine if the hepcidin-regulating genes were also associated with these iron traits. The sARTP method combines SNP-level associations across variants in a gene or a pathway. Signals from up to five of the most associated SNPs for each gene studied were accumulated. Results: The hepcidin-regulating pathway was significantly associated with PDAC (P-value = 0.002) with the HJV, TFR2, and TFR1 genes contributing the most to the association (gene level P-values = 0.001, 0.014, and 0.019, respectively). The pathway associations were more significant in women than men. This pathway was also significantly associated with the four biomarkers of iron metabolism (P-values &lt;1.5 × 10–7). Conclusions: Our results support that genetic susceptibility related to the hepcidin-regulating pathway is associated with PDAC and a potential role of iron metabolism in pancreatic carcinogenesis. Further studies are needed to evaluate the modifying effect of iron-rich foods and genetic susceptibility of this pathway and PDAC risk.

Plasma fluoroacetic acid concentrations: Symptoms, hematological, and biochemical characteristics in patients with fluoroacetic acid poisoning in the emergency department

Fluoroacetic acid (FAcOH) was once a highly toxic rodenticide widely used in the world. In the past, studies on the toxicity of FAcOH have focused on animal experiments. The toxicity of FAcOH to humans and the changes of FAcOH in plasma have not been studied. Therefore, the present study aimed to describe the changes of plasma FAcOH concentrations, hematological, and biochemical characteristics in patients with FAcOH intoxication. According to clinical symptoms, 68 patients from the emergency department were divided into different groups: convulsion group, unconsciousness group, death group, and control groups. Plasma FAcOH concentrations, hematological, and biochemical parameters were investigated. Results demonstrated that patients in the convulsion group and the unconsciousness group had a significant increase (p < 0.01) in the level of neuron-specific enolase (NSE), creatine kinase MB (CKMB), glucose (GLU), and white blood cell count (WBC) and a significant decrease (p < 0.01) in serum potassium compared with the control group, respectively. Moreover, patients in the death group had a significant increase (p < 0.01) in the level of NSE, CKMB, N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide, GLU, and WBC and a significant decrease (p < 0.01) in serum potassium and total calcium compared with the survival group. The concentrations of FAcOH in plasma in the convulsion group, the unconsciousness group, and the death group were 72.31 ± 42.29, 118.33 ± 55.41, and 163.78 ± 43.32 μg/mL, respectively. These changes and the plasma FAcOH concentrations may increase our understanding of the toxicity of FAcOH to humans and may help doctors to judge the clinical prognosis of patients with FAcOH intoxication.

Prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of Salmonellaisolates from goose farms in Northeast China

BACKGROUND

Salmonella is one of the most important enteric pathogenic bacteria that threatened poultry health.

AIMS

This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of Salmonella isolates in goose farms.

METHODS

A total of 244 cloacal swabs were collected from goose farms to detect Salmonella in Northeast China. Antimicrobial susceptibility, and resistance gene distribution of Salmonella isolates were investigated.

RESULTS

Twenty-one Salmonella isolates were identified. Overall prevalence of Salmonella in the present study was 8.6%. Among the Salmonella isolates, the highest resistance frequencies belonged to amoxicillin (AMX) (85.7%), tetracycline (TET) and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (SXT) (81%), followed by chloramphenicol (CHL) (76.2%), florfenicol (FLO) (71.4%), kanamycin (KAN) (47.6%), and gentamycin (GEN) (38.1%). Meanwhile, only 4.8% of the isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin (CIP) and cefotaxime (CTX). None of the isolates was resistant to cefoperazone (CFP) and colistin B (CLB). Twenty isolates (95%) were simultaneously resistant to at least two antimicrobials. Ten resistance genes were detected among which the bla _TEM-1, cmlA, aac(6')-Ib-cr, sul1, sul2, sul3, and mcr-1.1 were the most prevalent, and presented in all 21 isolates followed by tetB (20/21), qnrB (19/21), and floR (15/21).

CONCLUSION

Results indicated that Salmonella isolates from goose farms in Northeast China exhibited multi-drug resistance (MDR), harboring multiple antimicrobial resistance genes. Our results will be useful to design prevention and therapeutic strategies against Salmonella infection in goose farms.

Therapeutic effects of long-term continuous positive airway pressure treatment on improving leptomeningeal collateral circulation in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome patients

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to use methods of scoring collaterals on CT angiography to analyze changes in collateral circulation in untreated patients with moderate and severe OSAS before and after nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Ninety-eight moderate and severe OSAS patients treated with nasal CPAP and seventy-four controls that weren't treated with CPAP, were involved in this study. Two independent neuroradiologists evaluated intracranial collaterals by using Miteff scale, modified Tan scale. Intracranial collaterals differences were compared between OSAS group (before and after treated) and control group. Correlations between intracranial collaterals and clinical parameters were analyzed.

RESULTS

Compared with pre-therapy of moderate and severe groups, apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), oxygen desaturation index (ODI), epworth sleepness scale (ESS) were lower after treatment. The lowest oxygen saturation, average blood oxygen saturation, Miterff scale, modified Tan scale in moderate and severe groups were significantly increased after treatment. We documented significant decrease of Miterff scale after two years in moderate and severe OSAS group without CPAP therapy (n = 32, p < 0.01). Conversely, mild OSAS group without CPAP therapy did not change Miterff scale after two years (n = 32, p > 0.05). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that AHI had significant impact on Miterff scale and modified Tan scale. Severe OSAS were independently related with Miterff scale (odds ratio 0.343, 95% confidence interval 0.301-0.391, p < 0.01) and modified Tan scale (odds ratio 0.267, 95% confidence interval 0.095-0.754, p = 0.013).

CONCLUSIONS

Long-term CPAP treatment is a viable therapeutic choice for improving leptomeningeal collateral circulation in OSAS patients.

Comprehensive transcriptomic analysis of cell lines as models of primary tumors across 22 tumor types

Cancer cell lines are a cornerstone of cancer research but previous studies have shown that not all cell lines are equal in their ability to model primary tumors. Here we present a comprehensive pan-cancer analysis utilizing transcriptomic profiles from The Cancer Genome Atlas and the Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia to evaluate cell lines as models of primary tumors across 22 tumor types. We perform correlation analysis and gene set enrichment analysis to understand the differences between cell lines and primary tumors. Additionally, we classify cell lines into tumor subtypes in 9 tumor types. We present our pancreatic cancer results as a case study and find that the commonly used cell line MIA PaCa-2 is transcriptionally unrepresentative of primary pancreatic adenocarcinomas. Lastly, we propose a new cell line panel, the TCGA-110-CL, for pan-cancer studies. This study provides a resource to help researchers select more representative cell line models.

Cell lines are used ubiquitously in cancer research but how well they represent the tumor type they were derived from is variable. Here, the authors compare transcriptomic profiles of 22 tumor types and cell lines and propose a new comprehensive cell line panel for pan-cancer studies.

[The development of malnutrition assessment criteria and the analysis of current problems]

It is well known that parenteral and enteral nutrition support is helpful to improve clinical outcomes in patients with malnutrition or nutritional risk, and surgical nutrition has been used in China for 40 years. However, there is still insufficient awareness of malnutrition among clinical workers. There were different opinions from many experts after the publications of the European Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ESPEN) consensus of malnutrition assessment 2015 and ESPEN guidelines on definitions and terminology of clinical nutrition 2017. Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) criteria for the diagnosis of malnutrition has also been published in 2018. Though it is lack of clinical validation, it is a big step forward. In order to achieve better prevention and treatment of malnutrition in clinical work, this present paper analyzes and compares the core contents of malnutrition assessment (diagnosis) in recent years, proposes current practical strategy for Chinese clinical workers, emphasizes that GLIM criteria cannot replace the three steps named "screening-assessment-intervention" .

Comparison of efficacy of HCAG and FLAG re-induction chemotherapy in acute myeloid leukemia patients of low- and intermediate-risk groups

PURPOSE

The aim of the present study was to investigate the efficacy and adverse effects of HCAG and FLAG re-induction chemotherapy in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients of low- and intermediate-risk groups following induction failure.

METHODS

A total of 98 AML patients were enrolled. Among these subjects, 47 patients were treated with HCAG chemotherapy, while 51 patients were treated with FLAG chemotherapy.

RESULT

The complete remission (CR) and overall remission (OFF) were 24% and 38%, respectively in patients with HCAG induction chemotherapy, while the corresponding percentages were 28% and 42% in subject receiving FLAG chemotherapy. The median survival time of progress-free survival (PFS) was 29.8 (95% CI 23.749-35.851) months in the HCAG group and 30.8 (95% CI 21.728-39.872) months in the FLAG group (P = 0.620). A total of 42 patients in the HCAG group suffered from grade 4 hematological toxicity, while this adverse reaction was noted for all patients who were treated with FLAG chemotherapy (P = 0.023). A total of 19 cases indicated apparent nonhematological toxicity in the HCAG group, while only 40 (78.4%) were noted with these adverse reactions in the FLAG group (P = 0.000).

CONCLUSION

The HCAG regimen exhibited a similar effect compared with the FLAG regimen in low- and intermediate-risk groups, although the HCAG regimen significantly decreased the toxicity compared with that noted in the FLAG regimen group.

[Efficacy and safety of IA regimen containing different doses of idarubicin in de-novo acute myeloid leukemia for adult patients]

目的

探讨含不同剂量去甲氧柔红霉素（IDA 8、10、12 mg/m²）的IA方案诱导治疗成人初发急性髓系白血病（AML）（非急性早幼粒细胞白血病）的临床疗效和安全性。

方法

采用多中心、单盲、非随机、临床对照研究，纳入2011年5月至2015年3月苏州大学附属第一医院及其他36家单位收治的1 215例成人初发AML患者，根据诱导化疗方案中IDA的剂量对患者进行分组，分析不同剂量IDA联合阿糖胞苷（100 mg/m²）组成的IA方案在成人初发AML诱导治疗中的完全缓解（CR）率、血液学及非血液学不良事件。

结果

可纳入缓解率分析的AML患者共1 207例，IDA 8 mg/m²、10 mg/m²和12 mg/m²组的CR率分别为73.6%（215/292）、84.1%（662/787）和86.7%（111/128），差异有统计学意义（P<0.001）；以IDA 8 mg/m²组为参照组，在调整了年龄、骨髓原始细胞比例、FAB分型、危险度分层后，IDA 10 mg/m²和IDA 12 mg/m²为影响患者CR的有利因素[OR=0.49（95% CI 0.34~0.70），P<0.001；OR=0.36（95%CI 0.18~0.71），P=0.003]。在中、低危组中三组CR率分别为76.5%（163/213）、86.9%（506/582）和86.1%（68/79），差异有统计学意义（P=0.007）；在调整了年龄、骨髓原始细胞比例、FAB分型因素后，IDA 10 mg/m²为影响患者CR的有利因素[OR=0.47（95% CI 0.31~0.71），P<0.001]。在高危组中，三组CR率分别为50.0%（18/36）、60.6%（43/71）和81.8%（18/22），差异无统计学意义（P=0.089），但在调整了年龄、骨髓原始细胞比例、FAB分型因素后，IDA 12 mg/m²为影响患者CR的有利因素[OR=0.22（95% CI 0.06~0.80），P=0.022]。8 mg/m²、10 mg/m²和12 mg/m²组中性粒细胞≤0.5×10⁹/L的中位持续时间分别为14（11~18）、15（11~20）和18（14~22）d，差异有统计学意义（P=0.012）；三组PLT≤20×10⁹/L的中位持续时间分别为14（7~17）、15（11~20）和17（15~21）d，差异有统计学意义（P=0.001）；三组肺部感染发生率分别为9.8%、13.5%和25.2%，差异有统计学意义（P<0.001）。

结论

在中国成人（18~60岁）初发AML中，建议中、低危组患者采用含IDA 10 mg/m²的IA方案进行诱导治疗；而高危组AML建议选择含IDA 12 mg/m²的IA方案进行诱导治疗。

[Clinical efficacy of ultrasound-guided subacromial drug injection in the treatment of subacromial impingement syndrome]

Objective: To evaluate the clinical effects of ultrasound-guided subacromial injection of two drugs in treatment of subacromial impingement syndrome. Methods: This was a randomized controlled trial study, prospective collection of patients' data who were diagnosed as subacromial impingement syndrome at Orthopedic of Tianjin Fifth Central Hospital from January 2015 to August 2017. To ensure the randomness of the study, patients were randomized into two groups using a random number table. Pain(visual analogue scale(VAS)) and shoulder function (University of California Shoulder Score System(UCLA) and shoulder abduction) were performed before and after each injection.For continuous endings with multiple points in time, firstly, the normality, the homogeneity of variance, and the sphericity test of Mauchly were performed. After the condition was satisfied, the variance analysis of the two-factor repeated measurement data was performed. Results: Fifty-two patients completed the injection within 5 minutes and 41 patients got the final follow-up. Twenty-two patients in the corticosteroid group, 14 males and 8 females, aged (44.7±9.5) years old(range: 35-68 years old). The lesion involved 13 cases of superior shoulder, more than 1 time injection in 4 cases. There were 19 patients in the NSAID group, 7 males and 12 females, aged (37.2±10.1) years old(range: 27-63 years old), 10 cases with lesions involving superior shoulders, and 1 case with more than one injection. (1)VAS score: compared with pre-injection(Corticosteroid group 5.0(4.0-6.0)and NSAIDS group 5.0(4.0-6.0)), both groups showed significant pain relief at 60 minutes(1.0(1.0-2.0)and 1.0(1.0-2.0)) and 6 weeks(1.5(1.0-2.0)and 1.0(1.0-2.0)) after injection(χ²=47.293, 41.173, 45.174, 40.113; P<0.01). (2)UCLA score: compared with pre-injection(30.2±2.5 and 30.5±3.0), UCLA scores improved significantly in both groups at the 6-week after injection(Corticosteroid group: MD=9.727, t=19.218, P<0.001; NSAID Group: MD=9.579, t=11.467, P<0.01). The UCLA score improvement between the two groups was no statistical difference(all P>0.05). (3)shoulder abduction degree: compared with pre-injection(92.7±9.4 and 93.2±11.6), the abduction degree was significantly improved in both groups at 60 minutes(131.8±9.6 and 127.4±16.6) and 6 weeks(115.9±9. 1 and 127.9±14.4) after the injection, but the improvement in each time point has no statistical correlation(MD=4.450, t=1.069, P=0.292). NSAID group had better improvement of shoulder abduction degree than corticosteroid group at the 6 weeks after the injection(MD=-11.986, t=-3.238, P=0.002). Conclusions: Ultrasound-guided subacromial injection can reduce pain in patients with subacromial impingement syndrome.The effect of injection of NSAID drugs is the same as corticosteroid drugs, it can avoid hormone-induced complications and reduce the repeat of the punctures.

Dynamic Handwriting Signal Features Predict Domain Expertise

As commercial pen-centric systems proliferate, they create a parallel need for analytic techniques based on dynamic writing. Within educational applications, recent empirical research has shown that signal-level features of students’ writing, such as stroke distance, pressure and duration, are adapted to conserve total energy expenditure as they consolidate expertise in a domain. The present research examined how accurately three different machine-learning algorithms could automatically classify users’ domain expertise based on signal features of their writing, without any content analysis. Compared with an unguided machine-learning classification accuracy of 71%, hybrid methods using empirical-statistical guidance correctly classified 79–92% of students by their domain expertise level. In addition to improved accuracy, the hybrid approach contributed a causal understanding of prediction success and generalization to new data. These novel findings open up opportunities to design new automated learning analytic systems and student-adaptive educational technologies for the rapidly expanding sector of commercial pen systems.

Automatic segmentation of inorganic nanoparticles in BF TEM micrographs

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) represents a unique and powerful modality for capturing spatial features of nanoparticles, such as size and shape. However, poor statistics arise as a key obstacle, due to the challenge in accurately and automatically segmenting nanoparticles in TEM micrographs. Towards remedying this deficit, we introduce an automatic particle picking device that is based on the concept of variance hybridized mean local thresholding. Validation of this new segmentation model is accomplished by applying a program written in Matlab to a database of 150 bright field TEM micrographs containing approximately 2,000 nanoparticles. We compare the results to global thresholding, local thresholding, and manual segmentation. It is found that this novel automatic particle picking device reduces false positives and false negatives significantly, while increasing the number of individual particles picked on regions of particle overlap.

A study on correlations of procalcitonin and interleukin-6 with viral meningitis

OBJECTIVE

To study the change rules of inflammatory factors in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum of patients with viral meningitis.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

742 patients with suspected viral meningitis admitted to Department of Neurosurgery in our hospital from August 2012 to May 2016 were selected as research objects and retrospectively analyzed. 536 patients were diagnosed with viral meningitis by CSF with the lumbar puncture and brain computed tomography (CT), while the other 206 patients were diagnosed with non-infectious nervous system disease, as the control group. The levels of inflammatory factors interleukin-6 (IL-6) in peripheral blood and procalcitonin (PCT) in cerebrospinal fluid were detected and compared between two groups of patients.

RESULTS

Compared with those in control group, the white blood cell (WBC) count, and levels of serum IL-6 and PCT in cerebrospinal fluid of patients with viral meningitis were all increased (p<0.01). PCT and IL-6 were positively correlated with viral meningitis (r=0.8267, 0.9234). The sensitivity of the two items was 77.81% and 81.32%, respectively, and the specificity was 90.53% and 88.64%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

The levels of inflammatory factors IL-6 and PCT in serum and CSF of patients with viral meningitis are slightly increased. The detection of the expression levels of IL-6 and PCT in patients with viral meningitis is of great significance for the preliminary diagnosis and rehabilitation of viral meningitis.

A nonmyeloablative chimeric mouse model accurately defines microglia and macrophage contribution in glioma

Aims

Resident and peripherally derived glioma associated microglia/macrophages (GAMM) play a key role in driving tumour progression, angiogenesis, invasion and attenuating host immune responses. Differentiating these cells’ origins is challenging and current preclinical models such as irradiation‐based adoptive transfer, parabiosis and transgenic mice have limitations. We aimed to develop a novel nonmyeloablative transplantation (NMT) mouse model that permits high levels of peripheral chimerism without blood‐brain barrier (BBB) damage or brain infiltration prior to tumour implantation.

Methods

NMT dosing was determined in C57BL/6J or Pep3/CD45.1 mice conditioned with concentrations of busulfan ranging from 25 mg/kg to 125 mg/kg. Donor haematopoietic cells labelled with eGFP or CD45.2 were injected via tail vein. Donor chimerism was measured in peripheral blood, bone marrow and spleen using flow cytometry. BBB integrity was assessed with anti‐IgG and anti‐fibrinogen antibodies. Immunocompetent chimerised animals were orthotopically implanted with murine glioma GL‐261 cells. Central and peripheral cell contributions were assessed using immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry. GAMM subpopulation analysis of peripheral cells was performed using Ly6C/MHCII/MerTK/CD64.

Results

NMT achieves >80% haematopoietic chimerism by 12 weeks without BBB damage and normal life span. Bone marrow derived cells (BMDC) and peripheral macrophages accounted for approximately 45% of the GAMM population in GL‐261 implanted tumours. Existing markers such as CD45 high/low proved inaccurate to determine central and peripheral populations while Ly6C/MHCII/MerTK/CD64 reliably differentiated GAMM subpopulations in chimerised and unchimerised mice.

Conclusion

NMT is a powerful method for dissecting tumour microglia and macrophage subpopulations and can guide further investigation of BMDC subsets in glioma and neuro‐inflammatory diseases.