Predictive Value of Exercise Blood Pressure Changes for Orthostatic Hypotension in Patients With Parkinson’s Disease

Background@#and Purpose Orthostatic hypotension (OH) is common in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Early recognition OH is required with sensitive assessments. The purpose of this study was to determine whether blood pressure (BP) changes during exercise can predict the occurrence of OH in PD. @*Methods@#This prospective cohort study included 80 consecutive patients with PD. All patients agreed to participate in a baseline evaluation and cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET).According to the initial active standing test (AST), those without OH (PD-nonOH) at baseline had their AST results followed up for 6 months. The main outcome was defined as whether patients without OH at baseline would develop OH after 6 months. Logistic regression analysis was applied to identify the relevant variables. A nomogram was constructed based on clinical features and identified variables. The concordance index (C-index) and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) were used to evaluate the accuracy and predictive ability of the nomogram, respectively. @*Results@#CPET results indicated that peak load, peak heart rate, heart rate recovery at 1 min, and systolic BP change (ΔSBP) were lower in those with OH than in the PD-nonOH group (p<0.05) at baseline. Logistic regression analysis indicated that peak load and ΔSBP during CPET had significant effects on OH (p<0.05). Age, sex, peak load, and ΔSBP were used to construct the nomogram model (C-index=0.761). The prediction model had an AUC of 0.782 (95% confidence interval=0.649–0.889) and a specificity and sensitivity of 70.0% and 81.8%, respectively. @*Conclusions@#This study has identified predictive factors for OH development in patients with PD. CPET could be used as a complementary examination to identify patients at a high risk of OH.

Short-term effect of intensity-modulated radiotherapy for children with high-risk neuroblastoma: an analysis of 24 cases / 中国当代儿科杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To study the efficacy and safety of intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) in children with high-risk neuroblastoma (NB).@*METHODS@#A retrospective analysis was performed on the medical data of 24 children with high-risk NB who were diagnosed and treated with IMRT in the Department of Hematology and Oncology, Hunan Provincial People's Hospital, from April 2018 to December 2020. The medical data included age, radiotherapy dose, times of radiotherapy, laboratory examination results, adverse reactions, and survival.@*RESULTS@#All 24 children (14 boys and 10 girls) received IMRT, with a mean age of (65±23) months and a median age of 59 months. The primary tumor was located in the abdomen in 23 children and 1 child had primary tumor in the mediastinum. The median age was 41.5 months at the time of radiotherapy. The radiation dose of radiotherapy ranged from 14.4 to 36.0 Gy, with a mean dose of (22±3) Gy and a daily dose of 1.8-2.0 Gy. The radiotherapy was performed for a total number of 8-20 times, with a mean number of 11.9 times. Among these children, 6 received radiotherapy for the residual or metastatic lesion. Of all the 23 children, 3 experienced cough, 2 experienced diarrhea, and 1 experienced vomiting during radiotherapy. At 2 weeks after radiotherapy, serum creatinine ranged from 2.3 to 70.1 μmol/L and alanine aminotransferase ranged from 9.1 to 65.3 μ/L. Ten children experienced grade Ⅲ bone marrow suppression and 2 experienced grade Ⅳ bone marrow suppression 1 to 2 weeks after radiotherapy. Four children experienced grade Ⅲ bone marrow suppression and 1 experienced grade Ⅳ bone marrow suppression 3 to 4 weeks after radiotherapy. During a median follow-up time of 13.5 months, 23 children (96%) achieved stable disease and 1 died. Up to the follow-up date, second malignant tumor or abnormal organ function was not observed.@*CONCLUSIONS@#IMRT can improve the local control rate of NB. IMRT appears to be safe in the treatment of children with NB.

Immune dysregulation syndrome caused by / 中国当代儿科杂志

A boy, aged 4 years and 6 months, had disease onset of fever, cough, pale complexion, and weakness, with hepatosplenomegaly, lymphadenectasis, and pancytopenia. He had been having repeated respiratory and digestive tract infections. Gene detection showed a pathogenic heterozygous mutation, c.C2147 > T(p.T716M), in the

Clinical effect of multicenter multidisciplinary treatment in children with renal malignant tumors / 中国当代儿科杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To study the long-term clinical effect of multicenter multidisciplinary treatment (MDT) in children with renal malignant tumors.@*METHODS@#A retrospective analysis was performed on the medical data of 55 children with renal malignant tumors who were diagnosed and treated with MDT in 3 hospitals in Hunan Province from January 2015 to January 2020, with GD-WT-2010 and CCCG-WT-2016 for treatment regimens. A Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to analyze the survival of the children.@*RESULTS@#Of the 55 children, 10 had stage I tumor, 14 had stage Ⅱ tumor, 22 had stage Ⅲ tumor, 7 had stage IV tumor, and 2 had stage V tumor. As for pathological type, 47 had FH type and 8 had UFH type. All children underwent complete tumor resection. Of the 55 children, 14 (25%) received preoperative chemotherapy. All children, except 1 child with renal cell carcinoma, received postoperative chemotherapy. Among the 31 children with indication for radiotherapy, 21 (68%) received postoperative radiotherapy. One child died of postoperative metastasis. The incidence rate of FH-type myelosuppression was 94.4%, and the incidence rate of UFH-type myelosuppression was 100%. The median follow-up time was 21 months and the median survival time was 26 months for all children, with an overall survival rate of 98% and an event-free survival rate of 95%.@*CONCLUSIONS@#Multicenter MDT has the advantages of high success rate of operation and good therapeutic effect of chemotherapy in the treatment of children with renal malignant tumors, with myelosuppression as the most common side effects, and radiotherapy is safe and effective with few adverse events. Therefore, MDT has good feasibility, safety, and economy.

Clinical features of neuroblastoma: an analysis of 44 children / 中国当代儿科杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To study the clinical features of neuroblastoma (NB) and the factors influencing survival rate.@*METHODS@#A total of 44 children with NB who were admitted from April 2016 to February 2020 were enrolled as research subjects. A retrospective analysis was performed on their medical data and follow-up data.@*RESULTS@#The common clinical symptoms of these 44 children were fever (10/44, 23%), mass (9/44, 20%), abdominal pain (8/44, 18%), cough (7/44, 16%), pale complexion (3/44, 7%), claudication (2/44, 5%), and abnormal activity (2/44, 5%). According to the INSS stage, 2 children (4%) had stage I NB, 5 children (11%) had stage II NB, 5 children (11%) had stage III NB, and 32 children (73%) had stage IV NB. The mean follow-up time was (15.3±1.5) months, with a recurrence rate of 20% and an overall survival rate of 82%. Among the 44 children, 29 (66%) achieved event-free survival and 7 (16%) had survival with tumor. The univariate analysis showed that a pathological type of NB and an increase in serum neuron-specific enolase (NSE) decreased the overall survival rate of children with NB (P<0.05).@*CONCLUSIONS@#The clinical symptoms of children with NB are not specific at the first visit. Fever, abdominal pain, and mass are common symptoms, and there is a high proportion of children in the advanced stage. The pathological type of NB and an increase in serum NSE may be associated with a reduction in the overall survival rate of children with NB.

Congenital deaf-mutism with pale complexion and anemia for 1 year in a school-aged girl / 中国当代儿科杂志

An 11-year-old girl was found to have pale complexion and anemia with gradual aggravation for one year. She was weak in the past and developed pneumonia in the right middle lung 3-5 times per year, which was improved after anti-infective therapy. She and her mother had congenital deaf-mutism. Physical examination showed the appearance of anemia, without bleeding, jaundice, hepatosplenomegaly, or lymph node enlargement. Routine blood test results showed reductions in all three blood cell lines, normocytic anemia, and megaloblastoid change in granulocytic and erythroid cell lines in bone marrow, with no obvious increase in primitive cells or metastatic tumor cells. Whole exome sequencing indicated the presence of a known pathogenic mutation for Emberger syndrome (ES), c.1084C>T (p.Arg362*) in the GATA2 gene. The girl was finally diagnosed with ES, and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) progressed to acute myeloid leukemia during follow-up. ES is a rare type of MDS with autosomal dominant inheritance in clinical practice, and it is difficult to make a confirmed diagnosis. ES should be considered for children with unexplained lymphedema and congenital deafness, and gene detection should be performed to make a confirmed diagnosis.

Clinical and genetic analyses of juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia / 中国当代儿科杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To study the clinical and genetic features of juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) and the association between genotype and prognosis. Methods The clinical data of 15 children who were diagnosed with JMML were collected. Next-generation sequencing was used to detect common gene mutations of JMML.@*RESULTS@#The male/female ratio was 6.5:1, and the age of onset was 19 months (range 2-67 months). Of the 15 children, 11 (73%) experienced disease onset before the age of 4 years, with abdominal distension and pyrexia as initial symptoms. All children had hepatosplenomegaly and superficial lymphadenectasis, with a number of peripheral blood mononuclear cells of >1.0×10/L and a percentage of juvenile cells of 1%-7% in peripheral blood smear. The percentage of bone marrow blasts + juvenile cells was <20%, and the percentage of monoblasts + promonocytes was 1%-10%. Of the 15 children, 10 (67%) had a higher level of hemoglobin F than the normal level at the corresponding age, with the highest level of 62.5%. All 15 children had the absence of Philadelphia chromosome, and one child had chromosome 7 deletion. All 15 children had a negative result of BCR/ABL fusion gene detection. PTPN11 gene mutation was found in 5 children (33%), NF1 mutation in 4 children (27%), CBL mutation in 3 children (20%), and RAS mutation in 3 children (20%). No children received regular chemotherapy, and one child underwent hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The median follow-up time of 15 children was 18 months (range 1-48 months). Among the 15 children, 8 died (among whom 4 had PTPN11 gene mutation, 3 had NF1 mutation, and 1 had RAS mutation) and 7 survived. The children with PTPN11 mutation had the worst prognosis and the highest mortality rate, and those with CBL or NRAS mutation had a relatively good prognosis. The level of hemoglobin F was negatively correlated with survival time (r=-7.21, P=0.002).@*CONCLUSIONS@#In children with JMML, the type of gene mutation is associated with prognosis. The children with PTPN11 mutation often have a poor prognosis, and those with CBL or NRAS mutation have a relatively good prognosis.

Clinical characteristics and genetic analysis of hereditary spherocytosis caused by mutations of ANK1 and SPTB genes / 中国当代儿科杂志

This study analyzed the clinical features of 5 children with hereditary spherocytosis (HS) and the characteristics of ANK1 and SPTB gene mutations. All 5 children were confirmed with HS by peripheral blood genetic detection. Anemia, jaundice and splenomegaly were observed in all 5 children. Three children had an increase in erythrocyte osmotic fragility. All 5 children had negative results of the Coombs test, glucose 6 phosphate dehydrogenase test, sucrose hemolysis test, acidified-serum hemolysis test and thalassemia gene test. Peripheral blood smear showed an increase in spherocyte count in one child. High-throughput sequencing revealed ANK1 gene mutations in patients 1 to 3, namely c.3398(exon29)delA, c.4306C>T and c.957(exon9)_c.961(exon9)delAATCT, among which c.3398(exon29)delA had not been reported before. Patient 4 had c.318delGExon3 mutation in the SPTB gene. Patient 5 had mutations in the SPTB and SLC4A1 genes, among which c.3484delC in the SPTB gene was a spontaneous mutation; the mutation site of the SLCA4A1 gene was inherited from the father and was a non-pathogenic gene. This study suggests that anemia, jaundice and splenomegaly are major clinical manifestations of HS children. Most children with HS do not have the typical spherocytic changes. Genetic detection may help with the accurate diagnosis of HS.

Comparision of Different Detection Methods for Blood Flow Infection with Cryptococcus Neoformans / 中国实验血液学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To compare the sensitivity and specificity of real-time fluorescent quanttative PCR(FQ-PCR), blood culture and serum capsular antigen test for the detection of blood flow infection with cryptococcus reoformans, so as to provide the experimental evidence for use of FQ-PCR to detect the blood flow infection with cryptococcus neoformans.@*METHODS@#Sixty male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into group A (immune suppression plus infection), group B (immune normal plus infection), group C (immune suppression plus non infection) and group D (normal control). The rats in group A were injected intraperitoneally with cyclophosphamide at D1 of experiment and were injected with suspension of cryptococcus neoformans by tail vein at D4 of experiment; the rats in group B were injected intraperitoneally with saline at D1 and were injected with suspension of cryprococcus neoformans by tail vein at D4; the rats in group C were injected intraperitoneally with cyclophosphamide at D1 and were injected with saline by tail vein at D4; the rats in group D were injected intaperitoneally with saline at D1 and were injected with saline by tail vein at D4.At D 4 after successful extablishment of rat model with infection, the blood samples were collected from ocular veneous plexus at 0, 6, 12, 24, 48 and 72 hours by parity number respectively, then the plasma was extracted, and the blood samples infected at different time were detected by FQ-PCR, and at the same time, the blood culture and serum capsular antigen test were performed. The detected results obtained from above-mentioned 3 kinds of detection methods were compared.@*RESULTS@#The FQ-PCR detection of cryptococcus neoformoms showed that the positive rate detected after 12 hours in A group significantly increased (P<0.05), as compared with B, C and D groups. For the blood samples, the positive rate detected by FQ-PCR was significantly higher than that detected by the blood culture and serum capsular antigen test, moreover the detected results could be quantified, and difference was statistically significant (P<0.05).@*CONCLUSION@#The FQ-PCR system for detection of cryptococcus neoformant can detect the pathogens in blood of infected rats, and its sensitivity is superior to the blood culture and serum capsular antigen test; the FQ-PCR can detect the pathogens in blood of infected rats much more early, as compared with the blood culture and serum capsular antigen test.

Expression of TOPK/PBK in children with malignant lymphoma or reactive lymphoid hyperplasia / 中国当代儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the difference in expression of TOPK/PBK in lymph nodes between children with malignant lymphoma and those with reactive lymphoid hyperplasia.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Eighty children with malignant lymphoma and twenty children with reactive lymphoid hyperplasia were enrolled as subjects. Immunohistochemistry was used to determine the expression of TOPK/PBK in all the subjects. The expression of TOPK/PBK was compared between the two groups.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The TOPK/PBK-positivity rate was significantly higher in children with malignant lymphoma than in those with reactive lymphoid hyperplasia (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the TOPK/PBK-positivity rate between the children with Hodgkin's lymphoma and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). There were significant differences in the TOPK/PBK-positivity rate among children with different pathological types of NHL (P<0.05): the children with lymphoblastic lymphoma showed the highest TOPK/PBK-positivity rate and those with mature B-cell lymphoma and mature T/NK-cell lymphoma had a similar TOPK/PBK-positivity rate.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The expression of TOPK/PBK is up-regulated in the lymph nodes of children with malignant lymphoma. The expression level of TOPK/PBK may be related to the pathological type of NHL.</p>

Clinical data of childhood leukemia in Hunan Province between 2002 and 2005 / 中国当代儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>This study analyzed the clinical data of newly diagnosed childhood leukemia from various hospitals in the cities or counties of Hunan Province between 2002 and 2005 in order to provide references for further epidemiologic survey of childhood leukemia.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The clinical data of children with newly diagnosed leukemia from hospitals of various cities or counties of Hunan Province between 2002 and 2005 were collected and reviewed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There were 803 children with leukemia during 2002-2005. Acute lymphoid leukemia was most commonly seen (597/803, 74.35%), followed by acute non-lymphoid leukemia (192/803, 23.91%) and chronic myelocytic leukemia (14/803, 1.74%). There were no significant differences in the clinical type and the prevalence of leukemia between males and females. The prevalence of newly diagnosed childhood leukemia in the urban area was noticeably higher than that in the rural area (2.02/10(5) vs 1.50/10(5), P < 0.05). 41.79% of children with newly diagnosed leukemia from the urban area received treatments but only 22.80% of patients from the rural area received treatments (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>This study of patients-based hospitals showed some features of the morbidity of childhood leukemia in Hunan Province. It provides references for further epidemiologic investigation of this disease in Hunan Province.</p>