Recommendations for the diagnosis and treatment of connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung disease in China / 中华内科杂志

Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a frequent complication of patients with connective tissue disease (CTD) and significantly affects morbidity and mortality. Disease course may vary from stable or mildly progressive to more severe, with rapid loss of lung function. At present, there are great challenges and poor prognosis in the diagnosis and treatment of CTD-ILD. Based on the evidence and guidelines from China and other countries, experts from the Chinese Rheumatology Association developed standardization of diagnosis and treatment of CTD-ILD. The aim is to strengthen the early identification of, standardize the diagnosis and treatment of CTD-ILD, and delay the progress of the disease.

Detection S100B, P-Tau and Aβ1-42 proteins in the plasma of rheumatoid arthritis patients with mild cognitive impairment / 中华风湿病学杂志

Objective To investigate the plasma protein concentration of S100B protein,hyperphosphorylated tau protein (P-tau) and β-amyloid (Aβ1-42) of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and to provide a reference for clinical diagnosis and prevention of cognitive dysfunction of RA patients.Methods The subjects were consisted of three groups:RA patients with MCI,RA patients with normal cognitive function (NC) and healthy controls.The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA)was used to test patients' cognitive function,generalized anxiety disorder scale-7 (GAD-7) scale and 9-item patient health questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) were used to exclude anxiety and depression of RA patients.The concentration of S100B protein,P-tau protein and Aβ1-42 protein in plasma was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA),and the correlation among the concentration of S100B protein,P-tau protein and MoCA scores was analyzed by Pearson's chi-squared test.Results ① Cognitive scores showed that some RA patients had MCI.② The plasma levels of S100B (F=11.81,P＜0.05),P-tau (F=3.3,P＜0.05) protein in RA patients with MCI were higher than that in NC RA patients and the control group (P＜0.05).③ The clinical index analysis showed that the concentration of C reactive protein (CRP) in RA patients with MCI was higher than that in NC RA patients and healthy control,the difference was statistically significant (t=6.44,P＜0.05).④The levels of plasma P-tau (r=-0.539,P＜0.05),S100B (r=-0.346,P＜0.05),CRP (r=-0.358,P＜0.05) protein were negatively correlated with cognitive scores (P＜0.05).Conclusion CRP,S100B protein and P-tau protein are associated with the pathogenesis of RA patients with MCI.The consequences of plasma concentration test can be com-bined with cognitive assessment questionnaire to provide reference for clinical diagnosis of RA patients with MCI.

Distribution in different Salmonella serovars and integration sites of Salmonella para-typhi C phage SPC-P1 / 北京大学学报(医学版)

Objective:To determine the prevalence of Salmonella paratyphi C phage ( SPC-P1 ) in dif-ferent Salmonella serovars and to identify the integration sites in host genome. Methods: Based on the complete genome of SPC-P1 in S. paratyphi C RKS4594, 6 pairs of primers were designed and used to amplify the fragments of SPC-P1 in 11 S. typhi, 11 S. paratyphi A, 12 S. paratyphi B and 23 S. para-typhi C strains. At the same time, 100 complete genomes of Salmonella including 20 serovars available in National Center for Biotechnology Information ( NCBI) database were downloaded and aligned by Mauve 2. 3. 1 to determine the prevalence of SPC-P1 in these serovars. Primers were designed according to the integration sites of SPC-P1 in the genome of RKS4594 , and used to amplify ten strains having SPC-P1 in the genome. The PCR products were sequenced to investigate the integration sites of SPC-P1. Results:SPC-P1 was widely distributed in S. paratyphi C genome. In the study, 14 strains had all 6 fragments and 2 strains had 3-5 fragments. All the amplified fragments showed expected sizes. In contrast, in the ge-nomes of S. typhi, S. paratyphi A and S. paratyphi B, no or only 1-2 fragments could be amplified, and the sizes were smaller than expected. The results from Mauve showed that only in the genome of S. choleraesuis, which was a close relative of S. paratyphi C, there existed an almost complete genome of SPC-P1. The insertion site of SPC-P1 in all the ten S. paratyphi C strains tested was between pgtE and yfdC genes. Conclusion:SPC-P1 is a unique virulence factor of S. paratyphi C. It may play roles in the host range and pathogenicity of S. paratyphi C.

Establishment and evaluation of classification criteria for early rheumatoid arthritis / 中华风湿病学杂志

Objective To establish new classification criteria for early rheumatoid arthritis (E-RA) based on large samples of early inflammatory arthritis patients and to evaluate the value of this criteria in China.Methods Patients who had arthritic complaints with disease duration less than one year were enrolled.They were divided into RA group and non-RA group according to the clinical diagnosis by experienced rheumatologists.The clinical and laboratory parameters were analyzed and those with high sensitivity or specificity were selected as the new classification criteria.Statistical analysis was carried out by using t test,x2 test and Logistic regression.Results ① A total of 803 patients with early inflammatory arthritis were included in this study.Five hundreds and fourteen patients were diagnosed as early RA and 251 were diagnosed as other rheumatic diseases,and the diagnosis of 38 patients remained unestablished by the end of follow-up.② New E-RA classification criteria were established based on the parameters with high sensitivity and/or specificity.The sensitivity of the new E-RA criteria was 84.4％,which was higher than 1987 ACR criteria (58.0％),while the corresponding specificities were similar,which were 87.4％ and 93.6％ respectively.③ Compared with the complex scoring system of 2010 ACR/EULAR criteria,the E-RA criteria was more simple and practical.The diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of E-RA criteria were higher than those of 2010 ACR/EULAR criteria reported in the literatures.④ New classification criteria based on scoring system using Logistic regression analysis was established.The sensitivity of this criteria was 86.4％,which was higher than 1987 ACR criteria (58.0％).Conclusion The diagnostic value of the E-RA criteria developed in this study for early RA is better than 1987 ACR criteria,and is more simple than 2010 ACR/EULAR criteria.It may be used as a new classification criteria for early RA diagnosis.

Construction and identification of p4CCL20-ZsGreen1-DR eukaryotic expression vector / 中国组织工程研究

BACKGROUND: It is necessary to establish a high throughput screening system for anti -inflammatory drugs for rheumatoid arthritis.OBJECTIVE: To construct an eukaryotic expression vector p4CCL20-ZsGreen1-DR with the NF-kB cis-acting element 4×CCL20motif as an enhancer, SV40 as a promoter, and ZsGreen1-DR as a reporter gene.METHODS: The target fragment SV40 was PCR amplified using PGL2-control plasmid as a template. KpnⅠ/Bam HⅠ restriction sites were introduced into the flank of the target fragment. Then, pSV40-ZsGreen1-DR vector was constructed by cloning the target fragment into pZsGreen1-DR plasmid. Finally, p4CCL20-ZsGreen1-DR plasmid was constructed by cloning the double strand DNA of 4×CCL20 motif (with BglⅡ and EcoRⅠ sticky ends at the 5’ and 3’ terminus, respectively) into the corresponding restriction sites of pSV40-ZsGreen1-DR vector (upstream of SV40 promoter).RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: DNA sequencing demonstrated successful construction of p4CCL20-ZsGreen1-DR plasmid.The construction of p4CCL20-ZsGreeR plasmid might be useful to establish a high throughput screening system for anti -inflammatory drugs.