Analysis of clinical diagnostic characteristics of 26131 patients with pneumoconiosis in Hunan Province / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

Objective: To analyze the clinical diagnostic characteristics of pneumoconiosis patients of migrant workers in Hunan Province, and to provide scientific basis for the prevention and treatment of pneumoconiosis. Methods: In February 2022, through the Hunan Provincial Medical Treatment and Assistance Information Platform for Pneumoconiosis Migrant Workers, the cases of irresponsible subjects with pneumoconiosis that were first diagnosed clinically in Hunan Province from January 2017 to December 2021 were collected, and analyzed their gender, age, length of service, types of pneumoconiosis, stages of pneumoconiosis, and comorbidities. Results: From January 2017 to December 2021, there were a total of 26131 cases of irresponsible pneumoconiosis patients diagnosed clinically in Hunan Province, with males accounting for 99.8% (26072 cases) and an average age of (60.66±8.04) years old. Among the 26131 patients, coal workers' pneumoconiosis and silicosis were the main causes, with 16816 and 9078 cases respectively, accounting for 99.1% of the diagnosed cases. There were 8640 cases (33.1%) of stageⅠpneumoconiosis, 6601 cases (25.2%) of stage Ⅱ pneumoconiosis, and 10890 cases (41.7%) of stage Ⅲ pneumoconiosis. 2051 patients experienced complications. The average age of exposure to dust of 26131 patients was (17.81±9.69) years, and the age of exposure to dust in silicosis patients was (14.60±9.62) years. The working age of coal worker's pneumoconiosis was (19.60±9.26) years. Compared with coal workers' pneumoconiosis patients, silicosis patients had a shorter working time exposed to dust, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05) . Conclusion: Coal workers' pneumoconiosis and silicosis are mainly diagnosed for the first time in migrant workers' pneumoconiosis patients in Hunan Province. Pneumoconiosis patients should be diagnosed in time, which is conducive to treatment and rehabilitation.

Efficacy evaluation of a SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic reagent for total antibody detection / 中国输血杂志

【Objective】 To track and evaluate the clinical diagnostic efficacy of an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). 【Methods】 Total antibody (TAb) specific to SARS-CoV-2 in blood donors were determined using ELISA reagent. TAb positive donors were followed up 1 month after blood donation. SARS-CoV-2 specific IgG, IgM and pseudotype lentivirus based neutralization test (ppNAT) were conducted for TAb positive blood donors and follow-up samples. ppNAT and IgG antibodies simultaneously positive in ppNAT positive samples and its follow-up samples was used as the standard for antibodies validation. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), accuracy and Youden index of SARS-CoV-2 TAb ELISA were analyzed. 【Results】 Among 16 016 blood donors from January 31 to April 28, 2020, 61 donors were diagnosed as TAb positive, 6 cases were positive for ppNAT, in which 2 were positive for both ppNAT and IgG; 4 of 46 TAb positive follow-up samples were positive for ppNAT, in which 2 were positive for IgG simultaneously. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, accuracy, Youden index, false positive rate and false negative rate of SARS-CoV-2 TAb reagent were 100.00%, 99.60%, 3.28%, 100.00%, 99.60%, 99.60%, 0.40% and 0.00%, respectively. 【Conclusion】 SARS-CoV-2 TAb ELISA has high sensitivity and good clinical diagnostic efficacy, but the false positive rate is relatively high in low-risk blood donors. Therefore, ppNAT, IgG and follow-up results should be fully considered in clinical in order to analyze the positive results and determine the infection status more accurately.

Establishment and evaluation of clinical diagnostic scoring system for septic cardiomyopathy / 中华危重病急救医学

Objective:To establish a clinical diagnostic scoring system for septic cardiomyopathy (SCM) and evaluate its diagnostic efficacy.Methods:A prospective cohort study was performed. Patients with sepsis and septic shock admitted to the department of emergency of China Rehabilitation Research Center were enrolled from January 2019 to December 2020. The baseline information, medical history, heart rate (HR), mean arterial pressure (MAP), body temperature and respiratory rate (RR) on admission were recorded. Laboratory indexes such as white blood cell count (WBC), hypersensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), and blood lactic acid (Lac) were measured. Transthoracic echocardiography was conducted within 24 hours and on the 7th after admission. Sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score, acute physiology and chronic health evaluationⅡ(APACHEⅡ), and nutritional risk screening 2002 scale (NRS2002) were also assessed. The patients were divided into two groups according to whether SCM occurred or not. The risk factors of SCM were screened by univariate and multivariate Logistic regression. The cut-off value of continuous index was determined by receiver operator characteristic curve (ROC curve) and discretized concerning clinical data. The regression coefficient β was used to establish the corresponding score, and the clinical diagnostic score system of SCM was established. The diagnostic value of the model was evaluated by ROC curve.Results:In total, 147 patients were enrolled in the study and the incidence of SCM was 28.6% (42/147). Univariate Logistic regression analysis showed the risk factors of SCM included: ① continuous indicators: age, NT-proBNP, RR, MAP, Lac, NRS2002, SOFA, APACHEⅡ; ② discrete indicators: shock, use of vasoactive drugs, history of coronary heart disease, acute kidney injury (AKI). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis after discretization of above continuous index showed that age≥87 years old, NT-proBNP≥3 000 ng/L, RR≥30 times/min, Lac≥3 mmol/L and SOFA≥10 points were independent risk factors for SCM [age ≥87 years: odds ratio ( OR) = 3.491, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) was 1.371-8.893, P = 0.009; NT-proBNP≥3 000 ng/L: OR = 2.708, 95% CI was 1.093-6.711, P = 0.031; RR≥30 times/min: OR = 3.404, 95% CI was 1.356-8.541, P = 0.009; Lac≥3 mmol/L: OR = 3.572, 95% CI was 1.460-8.739, P = 0.005; SOFA≥10 points: OR = 8.693, 95% CI was 2.541-29.742, P = 0.001]. The clinical diagnostic score system of SCM was established successfully, which was composed of age≥87 years old (1 point), NT-proBNP ≥ 3 000 ng/L(1 point), RR≥30 times/min (1 point), Lac≥3.0 mmol/L (1 point), SOFA≥10 points (2 points), and the total score was 6 points. ROC curve analysis showed the cut-off value of the scoring system for diagnosing SCM was 3 points, the area under ROC curve (AUC) was 0.833, 95% CI was 0.755-0.910, P < 0.001, with the sensitivity of 71.4%, and specificity of 86.7%. Conclusion:The clinical diagnostic scoring system has good diagnostic efficacy for SCM and contributes to early identification of SCM for clinicians.

Comprehensive guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer (2018 version) / 中华外科杂志

Pancreatic cancer ranks the fifth leading cause of cancer-related death, while the incidence has increased in the recent years.Although available diagnosis and treatment have failed to significantly improve patients' outcome, some advances have been made along with the understanding of the new concepts from oncology over the past several years.Pancreatic Cancer Committee of Chinese Anti-Cancer Association worked out this latest edition of "The Clinical Practice Guidelines for Pancreatic Cancer(version 2018)" based on current situation to standardize and improve the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer in China.This guideline shows algorithms for the diagnosis involving classification and staging, the systematic treatment including surgical resection, systemic chemotherapy and radiation therapy, and the whole-course management model for patients with pancreatic cancer.Different from previous consensus, this guideline contains the discussions and recommendations of 19 hot-issues in the clinical practice for pancreatic cancer in a question-oriented form, such as selection of biopsy and specimen sites, clinical diagnostic criteria for pancreatic cancer, assessment of resectable pancreatic cancer, indications and methods of preoperative biliary drainage, application of laparoscopic surgery, effect of expanding resection on patients' outcomes, dissection of group 16(th) lymph node in standard pancreaticoduodenectomy, prognostic value of serum tumor markers, and neoadjuvant therapy in patients with resectable pancreatic cancer, etc.This guideline aims to raise a better comprehensive understanding of the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer for specialists, and further improving and standardizing the clinical practice in different medical institutions.

Application and evaluation of Mini-CEX in training clinical diagnostic thinking ability for interns / 中华医学教育探索杂志

Objective To explore the application of mini-clinical evaluation exercise (Mini-CEX) in training the diagnostic thinking ability for clinical interns.Methods 83 interns who came to the First People's Hospital of Lianyungang for clinical practice in June 2015 were divided into the experimental group (45 interns) and the control group (38 interns) according to their schools.The two groups received the same clinical teaching according to internship program of five-year clinical medicine,while the experimental group had to take a weekly Mini-CEX training in chnical sections.The diagnostic thinking ability of the two groups was measured by the Diagnostic Thinking Inventory in Chinese version at the beginning and the end of the internship respectively.SPSS 21.0 was applied to processing the data.Measurement data were expressed as mean plus or minus standard deviation,and t test was used in the comparison between groups.Results At the end of the internship,the total score of diagnostic thinking,the score of knowledge structure in memory and the score of flexibility in thinking of the experimental group were higher than scores at the beginning statistically,and the experimental group had a statistically higher score than the control groups in knowledge structure in memory [(69.36 ± 4.28) vs.(66.95 ± 4.78),P=0.018].Conclusion Mini-CEX training can enhance the clinical diagnostic thinking ability of interns by improving their knowledge structure in memory.

Correlación clínica y anatomopatológica de los tumores palpebrales intervenidos quirúrgicamente en el servicio de oculoplastia / Clinical and anatomopathological correlation of palpebral tumors operated on at the oculoplasty service

OBJETIVO: caracterizar la correlación clínica y anatomopatológica de las lesiones tumorales palpebrales. MÉTODOS: se realizó un estudio descriptivo y retrospectivo en los pacientes con tumores palpebrales intervenidos quirúrgicamente en el Servicio de Cirugía Plástica Ocular del Instituto Cubano de Oftalmología "Ramón Pando Ferrer" en el período de enero a septiembre de 2011. La muestra quedó constituida por 196 pacientes operados de las diferentes tumoraciones palpebrales, quienes cumplieron con los criterios de inclusión. Las variables que se utilizaron fueron: edad, sexo, color de la piel, localización de los tumores palpebrales malignos, calidad de la exéresis quirúrgica y correspondencia entre el diagnóstico clínico y el anatomopatológico. RESULTADOS: el grupo de edad de mayor porcentaje fue el de 65 años y más, con 38 %, así como el sexo femenino con 63 %. Fue mayor el número de pacientes de piel blanca, con 85 %. Coexistió correspondencia clínica y anatomopatológica en el 65 % de los casos con tumoraciones benignas, y en las malignas con el 71 %. En la mayoría de los casos la exéresis de la lesión fue completa. CONCLUSIONES: existe correspondencia entre el diagnóstico clínico y el anatomopatológico de las tumoraciones palpebrales, la cual es superior en los tumores malignos.

OBJECTIVE: to characterize the clinical and pathological correlation of eyelid tumor lesions. METHODS: a retrospective and descriptive study was conducted in patients with eyelid tumors surgically treated at the Ocular Plastic Surgery Department of "Ramón Pando Ferrer" Cuban Institute of Ophthalmology in the period from January to September 2011. The sample consisted of 196 patients operated on from different eyelid tumors , who met the inclusion criteria. The variables used were age, sex, race, location of malignant eyelid tumors, quality of the surgical resection quality and correspondence between the clinical and the pathological diagnoses. RESULTS: the largest age group was the 65 years-old percent and older with 38 %, and females accounted for 63 %. The Caucasian patients represented 85%. There was clinical and pathological correspondence in 65 % of patients with benign tumors and in 71 % of malignancies. Excision of the lesion was complete in most of cases. CONCLUSIONS: there was correspondence between the clinical and the pathological diagnoses of eyelid tumors, being higher in malignant tumors.

Aptámeros: agentes diagnósticos y terapéuticos / Aptamers: diagnostic and therapeutic agents

Los aptámeros son ácidos nucleicos de cadena sencilla, ADN o ARN, que reconocen una gran variedad de moléculas. Cada aptámero posee una estructura tridimensional particular que le permite unirse con afinidad y especificidad altas a la molécula diana. Los aptámeros tienen propiedades de reconocimiento equiparables a las de los anticuerpos; sin embargo, por la naturaleza de su composición tienen ventajas significativas en cuanto a su tamaño, producción y modificación. Estas características los hacen excelentes candidatos para el desarrollo de nuevas plataformas biotecnológicas. Se han identificado aptámeros con propiedades terapéuticas que han sido evaluados exitosamente en modelos animales; entre ellos, algunos se encuentran en fase clínica y uno ya fue aprobado para tratamiento por la FDA (Food and Drug Administration). Todos estos avances ocurridos durante las dos últimas décadas permiten anticipar el protagonismo que tendrán los aptámeros como agentes diagnósticos y terapéuticos en un futuro cercano.

Aptamers are single-stranded DNA or RNA molecules that recognize a variety of target molecules with high levels of affinity and specificity, due to their particular three-dimensional structure. They are similar to antibodies regarding the recognition process. However, they offer significant advantages over antibodies based on their size, ease of production and various chemical modifications. Thus, they are excellent candidates for developing new biotechnological platforms. Up to date, several aptamers with therapeutic properties have been successfully evaluated in animal models and clinical trials. Moreover, one of them has already been approved by the FDA. Advances during the last two decades allow to foresee that aptamers will play a key role as diagnostic and therapeutic agents in the near future.

Comparison of usefulness of clinical diagnostic criteria for hepatocellular carcinoma in a hepatitis B endemic area

BACKGROUND/AIMS: We compared the accuracy and usefulness of clinical diagnostic criteria for hepatocellular carcinoma in a hepatitis B virus (HBV)-endemic area. METHODS: We reviewed the medical records of 355 patients who had undergone liver resection or biopsy at our institution between January 2008 and December 2009. These patients were reevaluated using four noninvasive diagnostic criteria for hepatocellular carcinoma proposed by the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL), the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), the Korean Liver Cancer Study Group and the National Cancer Center (KLCSG/NCC), and National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines. RESULTS: The overall sensitivity was highest using the KLCSG/NCC criteria (79.8%), followed by the AASLD (51.5%), EASL (38.4%), and NCCN (10.1%; P<0.001) criteria, whereas the specificity (84.5-98.3%) and positive predictive value (96.2-98.3%) were similar for all of the criteria. The KLCSG/NCC criteria had an acceptable false-positive rate and the highest sensitivity among all of the patients, including those positive for HBsAg, those without liver cancer, and those with a tumor of at least 2 cm. CONCLUSIONS: The KLCSG/NCC and AASLD criteria exhibited the highest sensitivity, and all four guidelines had a high specificity among all of the patients. Based on the sensitivity and false-positive rate, the KLCSG/NCC criteria was the most useful in the majority of patients. Inclusion of HBV infection in the clinical diagnostic criteria for hepatocellular carcinoma would be reasonable and may lead to an improvement in the sensitivity, with acceptable false-positive rates, in HBV-endemic areas.

Discrepancia entre los diagnósticos clínicos y por autopsia en un hospital pediátrico de tercer nivel / Discrepancy between clinical diagnoses versus autopsy findings in a third-level pediatric hospital

Introducción. La utilidad de la autopsia ha sido reconocida ampliamente para fines de educación médica y en la evaluación de la calidad diagnóstica y terapéutica. Desde 1972 hasta 2002, no se ha demostrado un descenso en el número de discrepancias entre los diagnósticos clínicos y de autopsia. El presente estudio permite determinar la concordancia entre los diagnósticos clínicos y de autopsia en una institución pediátrica de tercer nivel, como una herramienta para mejorar la calidad de atención médica. Los objetivos fueron: 1. Obtener el porcentaje de discordancia entre los diagnósticos clínicos y por autopsia en el Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez en el período de un año. 2. Determinar, de acuerdo a la clasificación de Goldman modificada por Battle, cuáles son las discrepancias más frecuentes. 3. Calcular la posible asociación entre número de ingresos, tiempo de hospitalización, edad del médico tratante y edad del paciente con el grado de discordancia entre los diagnósticos. Material y métodos. Se efectuó un estudio retrospectivo, observacional, comparativo y transversal. Se analizaron todos los casos de autopsia atendidos entre el 1 de enero y el 31 de diciembre de 2004. Las variables estudiadas fueron: edad, género, número de ingresos y su duración, principal servicio tratante, tipo de autopsia, diagnóstico clínico principal, probable causa de muerte clínica y por autopsia. Resultados. En 2004 se registraron 209 defunciones, con 62 autopsias (29.7%). Hubo discrepancia en 15 casos (24.6%), y de acuerdo a los criterios de Goldman modificados por Battle, se encontró error clase I en 5 casos (8.2%) y clase II en 4 casos (6.6%). No hubo diferencias estadísticamente significativas entre los tipos de error cuando se compararon los pacientes por grupo de edad, duración de la hospitalización, número de ingresos y edad del médico tratante. Conclusión. El mayor número de discrepancias entre diagnósticos clínicos y por autopsia se observó en casos con enfermedades infecciosas. Esta discordancia es similar a la reportada en otros sitios del mundo.

Introduction. The autopsy has been recognized as a useful tool for medical education and for quality improvement, evaluating therapeutic and diagnostic measures. In the last 50 years, the autopsy rates have constantly declined. Interestingly, between 1972 and 2002, the discrepancies between clinical diagnoses and autopsy findings haven't diminished, even with all the technological improvements now available. This research enables us to determine the discrepancy rate between our clinical diagnosis and autopsy results, as well as the main diseases that need diagnostic or therapeutic improvements in our hospital. Our objectives were: 1. To obtain the discrepancy rate between clinical diagnoses and autopsy findings. 2. To determine the most frequent type of discrepancy, according with the Goldman criteria, modified by Battle, and 3. To evaluate the possible association of these discrepancies with the number of admissions, length of stay, patient's age and physician's age. Material and methods. A retrospective, observational, comparative and transversal study. Sample: all cases that had an autopsy between January 1st and December 31th 2004. Cases with an incomplete record were excluded. The main variables analyzed were: age, gender, number of admissions and their length of stay, main clinical service, type of autopsy, main clinical and autopsy diagnoses and probable cause of death. Results. In the year 2004 there were 209 deaths registered with 62 autopsies (29.7% rate). We found a discrepancy in the main clinical diagnosis in 15 cases (24.6%); and, according with the Goldman criteria, modified by Battle, we found a class I discrepancy in 5 cases (8.2%) and a class II discrepancy in 4 cases (6.6%). We didn't find significant statistical differences in patients older than a year compared with patients less than 1 year old. There were no significant differences regarding the number of admissions and their length of stay, or variations the artendiag with the attending physician's age. Conclusions. Our main discrepancies were in infectious diseases, similar to other studies. Our discrepancy numbers are similar to others reported in the world. It is important to analyze these cases with the physicians involved, and together learn from our mistakes, working to improve diagnostic and therapeutic measures, and overall, quality of care.

Clinicopathological study of hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer families in China / 中华消化杂志

Objective To study the clinicopathological characteristics of hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) in Chinese population with different criteria and guidelines. Methods Twenty four families fulfilling Amsterdam Criteria (AC), 15 additional families fulfilling Japanese Criteria (JC) and the remaining 19 patients fitting Bethesda Guidelines (BG) were analyzed. Results In the 24 AC families there were 116 malignant tumor patients including 90 colorectal cancer (CRC) subjects and in the 15 JC families there were 54 malignant tumor patients including 33 CRC cases. The two groups displayed similar clinical features. Mean age of first CRC at diagnosis was 46.1 and 51.4 years old, respectively. The proximal colonic cancers accounted for 55.4% versus 44.8%. Synchronous and metachronous multiple CRCs occurred in 25.6% and 18.2% of patients respectively. Totally there were 55 extracolonic tumors in the two groups. Gastric and endometrial carcinomas were two most common extracolonic tumor types in our series. The tumors of the 34 probands showed more frequent exophytic growth pattern, higher occurance of poorly differentiated carcinoma, A / B Dukes stage and more Crohn's like lymphoid reaction ( P