Preoperative N-terminal Pro-B-type Natriuretic Peptide and High-sensitivity Cardiac Troponin T and Outcomes after Major Noncardiac Surgery: A Prospective Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: Patients undergoing noncardiac surgery have varying risk of cardiovascular complications. This study evaluated preoperative N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T to enhance cardiovascular events prediction for major noncardiac surgery. METHODS: This prospective cohort study included adult patients with cardiovascular disease or risk factors undergoing elective major noncardiac surgery at four hospitals in China. Blood samples were collected within 30 days before surgery for NT-proBNP and high-sensitivity troponin T (hs-TnT) measurements. The primary outcome was a composite of any cardiovascular events within 30 days after surgery. Logistic regression models were used to assess associations, and the predictive performance was evaluated primarily using area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC) and fraction of new predictive information. RESULTS: Between June 2019 and September 2021, a total of 2,833 patients were included, with 435 (15.4%) experiencing the primary outcome. In the logistic regression model that included clinical variables and both biomarkers, the odds ratio for the primary outcome was 1.68 (95% CI, 1.37 to 2.07) when comparing the 75th percentile to the 25th percentile of NT-proBNP distribution, and 1.91 (95% CI, 1.50 to 2.43) for hs-TnT. Each biomarker enhanced model discrimination beyond clinical predictors, with a change in AUC of 0.028 for NT-proBNP and 0.029 for high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T, and a fraction of new information of 0.164 and 0.149, respectively. The model combining both biomarkers demonstrated the best discrimination, with a change in AUC of 0.042 and a fraction of new information of 0.219. CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative NT-proBNP and hs-TnT both improved the prediction for cardiovascular events after noncardiac surgery in addition to clinical evaluation, with their combination providing maximal predictive information.

Postoperative haemoglobin and anaemia-associated ischaemic events after major noncardiac surgery: A sex-stratified cohort study.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To determine the sex-specific associations between postoperative haemoglobin and mortality or complications reflecting ischaemia or inadequate oxygen supply after major noncardiac surgery. DESIGN: A retrospective cohort study with prospective validation. SETTING: A large university hospital health system in China. PATIENTS: Men and women undergoing elective major noncardiac surgery. INTERVENTIONS AND MEASUREMENTS: The primary exposure was nadir haemoglobin within 48 h after surgery. The outcome of interest was a composite of postoperative mortality or ischaemic events including myocardial injury, acute kidney injury and stroke within hospitalisation. MAIN RESULTS: The study included 26,049 patients (15,757 men and 10,292 women). Low postoperative haemoglobin was a strong predictor of the composite outcome in both sexes, with the risk progressively increasing as the nadir haemoglobin concentration dropped below 130 g l-1 in men and 120 g l-1 in women (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.43, 95% CI 1.37-1.50 in men, and OR 1.45, 95% CI 1.35-1.55 in women, per 10 g l-1 decrease in postoperative nadir haemoglobin). Above these sex-specific thresholds, the change of nadir haemoglobin was no longer associated with odds of the composite outcome in either men or women. There was no significant interaction between patient sex and the association between postoperative haemoglobin and the composite outcome (Pinteraction = 0.673). Validation in an external prospective cohort (n = 2120) with systematic postoperative troponin and creatinine measurement confirmed our findings. CONCLUSIONS: Postoperative haemoglobin levels following major noncardiac surgery were nonlinearly associated with ischaemic complications or mortality, without any clinically important interaction with patient sex.

Preoperative risk prediction models for acute kidney injury after noncardiac surgery: an independent external validation cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Numerous models have been developed to predict acute kidney injury (AKI) after noncardiac surgery, yet there is a lack of independent validation and comparison among them. METHODS: We conducted a systematic literature search to review published risk prediction models for AKI after noncardiac surgery. An independent external validation was performed using a retrospective surgical cohort at a large Chinese hospital from January 2019 to October 2022. The cohort included patients undergoing a wide range of noncardiac surgeries with perioperative creatinine measurements. Postoperative AKI was defined according to the Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes creatinine criteria. Model performance was assessed in terms of discrimination (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, AUROC), calibration (calibration plot), and clinical utility (net benefit), before and after model recalibration through intercept and slope updates. A sensitivity analysis was conducted by including patients without postoperative creatinine measurements in the validation cohort and categorising them as non-AKI cases. RESULTS: Nine prediction models were evaluated, each with varying clinical and methodological characteristics, including the types of surgical cohorts used for model development, AKI definitions, and predictors. In the validation cohort involving 13,186 patients, 650 (4.9%) developed AKI. Three models demonstrated fair discrimination (AUROC between 0.71 and 0.75); other models had poor or failed discrimination. All models exhibited some miscalibration; five of the nine models were well-calibrated after intercept and slope updates. Decision curve analysis indicated that the three models with fair discrimination consistently provided a positive net benefit after recalibration. The results were confirmed in the sensitivity analysis. CONCLUSIONS: We identified three models with fair discrimination and potential clinical utility after recalibration for assessing the risk of acute kidney injury after noncardiac surgery.

Measurement and characterization of retinal vascular morphology parameters based on artificial intelligence automated analysis technology / 中华实验眼科杂志

Objective:To analyze retinal vascular parameters and distribution characteristics in Chinese population via the fully automated quantitative measurement of retinal vascular morphological parameters based on artificial intelligence technology.Methods:A cross-sectional study was performed.A total of 1 842 patients without fundus diseases who visited Beijing Tongren Hospital from January 2011 to December 2021 were included.Standardized questionnaires, blood draws and ophthalmologic examinations of enrolled subjects were conducted.Color fundus photographs centered on the optic disk of one eye of patients were collected, and a deep learning-based semantic segmentation network ResNet101-Unet was used to construct a vascular segmentation model for fully automated quantitative measurement of retinal vascular parameters.The main measurement indexes included retinal vascular branching angle, vascular fractal dimension, average vascular caliber, and average vascular tortuosity.To compare different retinal parameters between sexes, the correlation between the above parameters and ocular factors such as best corrected visual acuity, intraocular pressure, and axial length, as well as systemic factors such as sex, age, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular disease was analyzed.This study adhered to the Declaration of Helsinki.The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University (No.20001220). Written informed consent was obtained from each subject.Results:The model established in this study achieved an accuracy over 0.95 for both vascular and optic disk segmentation.The vascular branching angle, vascular fractal dimension, average vascular caliber, and average vascular tortuosity were (51.023±11.623)°, 1.573(1.542, 1.592), 64.124(60.814, 69.053)μm, (0.001 062±0.000 165)°, respectively.Compared with females, males had larger vascular branching angle, smaller average vascular caliber and smaller vascular tortuosity, and the differences were statistically significant (all at P<0.05). The average vascular caliber increased by 1.142 μm in people with cardiovascular disease compared to people without cardiovascular disease ( B=1.142, P=0.029, 95% CI: 0.116-2.167). The average vascular tortuosity was positively correlated with hypertension ( B=3.053×10 -5, P=0.002, 95% CI: 1.167×10 -5-4.934×10 -5) and alcohol consumption ( B=1.036×10 -5, P=0.014, 95% CI: 0.211×10 -5-1.860×10 -5) and negatively correlated with hyperlipidemia ( B=-2.422×10 -5, P=0.015, 95% CI: -4.382×10 -5-0.462×10 -5). For each 1-mm increase in axial length, there was a decrease of 0.004 in vessel fractal dimension ( B=-0.004, P<0.001, 95% CI: -0.006--0.002), a decrease of 0.266 μm in the average vessel caliber ( B=-0.266, P=0.037, 95% CI: -0.516--0.016), and a decrease of -2.45×10 -5° in the average vessel tortuosity ( B=-2.45×10 -5, P<0.001, 95% CI: -0.313×10 -5--0.177×10 -5). For each 1.0 increase in BCVA, there was an increase of 3.992° in the vascular branch angle ( B=3.992, P=0.004, 95% CI: 1.283-6.702), an increase of 0.090 in vascular fractal dimension ( B=0.090, P<0.001, 95% CI: 0.078-0.102) and a decrease of 14.813 μm in the average vascular diameter ( B=-14.813, P<0.001, 95% CI: -16.474--13.153). Conclusions:A model for retinal vascular segmentation is successfully constructed.Retinal vessel parameters are associated with sex, age, systemic diseases, and ocular factors.

Sex-Specific Associations Between Preoperative Hemoglobin and Outcomes After Major Noncardiac Surgery: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: Preoperative anemia is an established risk factor for morbidity and mortality after surgery. Men and women have different hemoglobin concentrations and are at different risks of postoperative complications. However, sex-stratified analysis on the association between preoperative hemoglobin and outcomes after noncardiac surgery has been limited in previous studies. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study of adult patients undergoing elective major noncardiac surgery in a large academic hospital. The primary outcome was a collapsed composite of postoperative mortality or cardiovascular, renal, pulmonary, and infectious complications during hospitalization. Sex-specific univariable associations between preoperative hemoglobin and the composite outcome were visualized using moving-average and cubic-spline smoothing plots. Multivariable regression models adjusting for patient demographics, comorbidities, medication uses, laboratory tests, and anesthesia/surgery features were used to estimate confounder-adjusted associations. Restricted cubic spline and piecewise linear functions were used to assess the possible nonlinear relationships between preoperative hemoglobin and the outcomes. The interaction between patient sex and hemoglobin on outcomes was assessed using a likelihood-ratio test. RESULTS: We included 22,550 patients, with 6.7% (622 of 9268) of women and 9.7% (1293 of 13,282) of men developing the primary outcome. Lower preoperative hemoglobin was associated with a higher incidence of the primary composite outcome in both men and women. Nonlinearity for the association was not statistically significant in either women ( P = .539) or men ( P = .165). The multivariable-adjusted odds ratios per 1 g/dL increase in hemoglobin were 0.93 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.87-0.98; P = .013) for women and 0.94 (95% CI, 0.90-0.97; P < .001) for men, with no interaction by sex ( Pinteraction = .923). No hemoglobin thresholds were confirmed at which the associations with the primary outcome changed significantly. CONCLUSIONS: Low preoperative hemoglobin was associated with a higher risk of complications or mortality after elective noncardiac surgery in both men and women. No differences in the strength of associations between sexes were found. Further studies are needed to assess whether these associations are linear or there are sex-specific thresholds of preoperative hemoglobin concentrations below which postoperative risks begin to increase.

The Role of P53 in Myocardial Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury.

PURPOSE: P53 is one of the key tumor suppressors. In normal cells, p53 is maintained at low levels by the ubiquitination of the ubiquitinated ligase MDM2. In contrast, under stress conditions such as DNA damage and ischemia, the interaction between p53 and MDM2 is blocked and activated by phosphorylation and acetylation, thereby mediating the trans-activation of p53 through its target genes to regulate a variety of cellular responses. Previous studies have shown that the expression of p53 is negligible in normal myocardium, tends to increase in myocardial ischemia and is maximally induced in ischemia-reperfused myocardium, demonstrating a possible key role of p53 in the development of MIRI. In this review, we detail and summarize recent studies on the mechanism of action of p53 in MIRI and describe the therapeutic agents targeting the relevant targets to provide new strategies for the prevention and treatment of MIRI. METHODS: We collected 161 relevant papers mainly from Pubmed and Web of Science (search terms "p53" and "myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury"). After that, we selected pathway studies related to p53 and classified them according to their contents. We eventually analyzed and summarized them. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: In this review, we detail and summarize recent studies on the mechanism of action of p53 in MIRI and validate its status as an important intermediate affecting MIRI. On the one hand, p53 is regulated and modified by multiple factors, especially non-coding RNAs; on the other hand, p53 regulates apoptosis, programmed necrosis, autophagy, iron death and oxidative stress in MIRI through multiple pathways. More importantly, several studies have reported medications targeting p53-related therapeutic targets. These medications are expected to be effective options for the alleviation of MIRI, but further safety and clinical studies are needed to convert them into clinical applications.

Acute Kidney Injury After General Thoracic Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION: The clinical importance of postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients undergoing general thoracic surgery is unclear. We aimed to systematically review the incidence, risk factors, and prognostic implications of AKI as a complication after general thoracic surgery. METHODS: We searched PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library from January 2004 to September 2021. Observational or interventional studies that enrolled ≥50 patients undergoing general thoracic surgery and reported postoperative AKI defined using contemporary consensus criteria were included for meta-analysis. RESULTS: Thirty-seven articles reporting 35 unique cohorts were eligible. In 29 studies that enrolled 58,140 consecutive patients, the pooled incidence of postoperative AKI was 8.0% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 6.2-10.0). The incidence was 3.8 (2.0-6.2) % after sublobar resection, 6.7 (4.1-9.9) % after lobectomy, 12.1 (8.1-16.6) % after bilobectomy/pneumonectomy, and 10.5 (5.6-16.7) % after esophagectomy. Considerable heterogeneity in reported incidences of AKI was observed across studies. Short-term mortality was higher (unadjusted risk ratio: 5.07, 95% CI: 2.99-8.60) and length of hospital stay was longer (weighted mean difference: 3.53, 95% CI: 2.56-4.49, d) in patients with postoperative AKI (11 studies, 28,480 patients). Several risk factors for AKI after thoracic surgery were identified. CONCLUSIONS: AKI occurs frequently after general thoracic surgery and is associated with increased short-term mortality and length of hospital stay. For patients undergoing general thoracic surgery, AKI may be an important postoperative complication that needs early risk evaluation and mitigation.

Comparative study on efficacy and safety of single microneedle radiofrequency versus photodynamic therapy in the treatment of inflammatory lesions of moderate to severe facial acne vulgaris / 中华皮肤科杂志

Objective:To compare the clinical efficacy and safety of single microneedle radiofrequency versus photodynamic therapy in the treatment of inflammatory lesions of moderate and severe facial acne vulgaris.Methods:Sixty patients with moderate to severe facial acne vulgaris were retrospectively collected from Guangzhou Institute of Dermatology between December 2021 and July 2022, including 30 patients who had received single microneedle radiofrequency treatment, and 30 patients who had received photodynamic therapy. There were no significant differences in the age, gender distribution, and severity of acne between the two groups (all P > 0.05). The patients in the microneedle radiofrequency group were treated with single microneedle radiofrequency once every 4 weeks for 2 sessions; those in the photodynamic therapy group received aminolevulinic acid-based photodynamic therapy once every 2 weeks for 3 sessions; patients in both groups were still treated with oral doxycycline for 8 weeks. After 8-week treatment, the efficacy, pain severity and incidence of adverse reactions were compared between the two groups. Statistical analysis was carried out by using chi-square test, two independent samples t-test and Mann-Whitney U test. Results:After 8-week treatment, there was no significant difference in the response rate between the microneedle radiofrequency group (93.33%, 28/30) and photodynamic therapy group (86.67%, 25/30; χ2 = 0.74, P = 0.389). No significant difference was observed in the pain severity score between the microneedle radiofrequency group (4.80 ± 2.08) and photodynamic therapy group (4.13 ± 1.86, t = 1.32, P = 0.194), and there was also no significant difference in the pain degree between the two groups ( Z = -1.13, P = 0.260). In the microneedle radiofrequency group, burning sensation occurred in 3 cases (10.00%), swelling and pain in 4 (13.33%), erythema in 2 (6.67%), and dryness and desquamation in 2 (6.67%), and no reactive acne or hyperpigmentation was observed; in the photodynamic therapy group, burning sensation occurred in 10 cases (33.33%), swelling and pain in 9 (30.00%), erythema in 8 (26.67%), reactive acne in 11 (36.67%), hyperpigmentation in 2 (6.67%), and dryness and desquamation in 11 (36.67%). Compared with the photodynamic therapy group, the microneedle radiofrequency group showed significantly decreased incidence rates of burning sensation, erythema, reactive acne, and dryness and desquamation ( χ2 = 4.81, 4.32, 13.47, 7.95, respectively, all P < 0.05) ; there was no significant difference in the incidence rates of swelling and pain as well as hyperpigmentation between the two groups ( χ2 = 2.46, 2.07, respectively, both P > 0.05) . Conclusion:Single microneedle radiofrequency showed marked efficacy equivalent to that of photodynamic therapy in the treatment of moderate to severe facial acne vulgaris, but higher safety, providing more clinical treatment options for moderate to severe facial acne vulgaris.

Evaluation of plasma exosomal miR-214-3p as a potential biomarker for diagnosis and prognosis of uveal melanoma / 中华实验眼科杂志

Objective:To investigate the differential expression of microRNA (miR)-214-3p in plasma exosomes in different types of uveal melanoma (UM) and evaluate whether miR-214-3p is a potential molecular biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of UM.Methods:Twenty-five UM in situ patients who received the enucleation of eyeball were enrolled at Beijing Tongren Hospital from December 2015 to October 2019, including 10 with epithelioid cell melanoma and 10 with spindle cell melanoma as well as 5 metastatic UM patients (1 with spindle cell-like melanoma and 4 with epithelioid cell-like melanoma) and 10 healthy subjects were enrolled during the same period.Blood sample was collected from all the subjects for the isolation of plasma exosomes.The morphology of exosomes was examined under the electron microscope.The exsomal marker proteins were identified by Western blot.The expression level of miR-214-3p in plasma exosomes was detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR.The differential expression of miR-214-3p among different types of UM patients and healthy controls was compared.The diagnostic and classification performance of exosomal miR-214-3p was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic curve.Written informed consent was obtained from each subject prior to entering the study cohort.This study protocol was approved by an Ethics Committee of Capital Medical Univeristy (No.TRECKY2018-056).Results:The isolated exosomes were hemispherical in shape with a concavity on one side.The diameter of the exosomes was about 100 nm and the particle diameter of vesicles from samples was (82.0±2.7) nm.TSG101 protein was detectable and Calnexin protein was not found in the exosomes.The relative expression levels of plasma exosomal miR-214-3p in healthy control group, in situ UM group and metastatic UM group were 0.86(0.57, 1.49), 0.24(0.10, 0.67), and 0.43(0.23, 0.56), respectively.The miR-214-3p relative expression level in plasma exosomes of in situ UM patients and metastatic UM patients was significantly lower than that of healthy controls, and the differences were statistically significant ( Z=2.62, P<0.01; Z=2.08, P<0.05). The relative expression levels of exosomal miR-214-3p in spindle cell-like UM group and epithelioid cell-like UM group were 0.11(0.07, 0.64) and 0.46(0.14, 0.91), respectively, and no significant difference was found in the expression level of plasma exosomal miR-214-3p among different types of UM (all at P>0.05). The area under the curve of plasma exosomal miR-214-3p for UM diagnosis was 0.795. Conclusions:Plasma exosomal miR-214-3p level is significantly reduced in both in situ UM patients and metastatic UM patients.Plasma exosomal miR-214-3p is a new potential diagnostic biomarker for UM, but the exosomal miR-214-3p appears to not be able to distinguish the types of UM.

Skin microecology in patients with severe atopic dermatitis at acute and remission phases / 中华皮肤科杂志

Objective:To investigate changes in skin microecological structures and functions between acute and remission phases in adult patients with severe atopic dermatitis (AD) .Methods:From October 2019 to November 2020, skin scale specimens were collected from 5 body sites (cheeks, cubital fossa, back of the hand, abdomen, lower limbs) of 4 adult patients with severe AD in the acute and remission phases, who visited the outpatient clinic of Guangzhou Institute of Dermatology. The next-generation high-throughput sequencing was performed for metagenomic sequencing to construct the microbial gene catalogue of these specimens, followed by gene annotation and bioinformatics analysis for each sample.Results:A total of 18 phyla, 37 classes, 73 orders, 142 families, 237 genera, and 331 species were identified in the skin specimens from the 4 patients with severe AD. The patients with AD in the remission phase showed significantly increased diversity of skin microbiota and markedly different relative abundance of skin microorganisms compared with those in the acute phase (both P < 0.05). At the microbial species level, Staphylococcus aureus showed the highest impact on the acute phase of AD, while Staphylococcus epidermidis, Moraxella osloensis, Francisella sp., Staphylococcus cohnii, Staphylococcus warneri, Malassezia globosa and Malassezia restricta were enriched in the remission phase of AD with the absolute value of the common logarithm of the linear discriminant analysis score > 2 (Kruksal-Wallis test, all P < 0.05). As KEGG pathway enrichment analysis showed, the differentially abundant genes were annotated into a total of 355 functional pathways, of which 38 pathways were significantly enriched (all P < 0.05), mainly involving Staphylococcus aureus infection, tryptophan metabolism, histidine metabolism, nitrogen metabolism, metabolism of arginine and proline, biosynthesis and degradation of valine, leucine and isoleucine, fatty acid degradation, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor signaling pathway, etc. Conclusion:The skin microecological structure significantly differed between the acute and remission phases among the patients with severe AD, which may be related to multiple functional pathways, such as Staphylococcus aureus infection, tryptophan metabolism, histidine metabolism and nitrogen metabolism.

A Fluorescent Recombinase Aided Amplification Assay for Detection of Babesia microti

Babesia microti is one of the most common causative agents of babesiosis. A sensitive and rapid detection is necessary for screening potentially infected individuals. In this study, B. microti cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (cox1) was selected as the target gene, multiple primers were designed, and optimized by a recombinase-aided amplification (RAA) assay. The optimal primers and probe were labeled with fluorescein. The sensitivity of fluorescent RAA (fRAA) was evaluated using gradient diluents of the cox1 recombinant plasmid and genomic DNA extracted from whole blood of B. microti infected mice. The specificity of fRAA was assessed by other transfusion transmitted parasites. The analytical sensitivity of the fRAA assay was 10 copies of recombinant plasmid per reaction and 10 fg/µl B. microti genomic DNA. No cross-reaction with any other blood-transmitted parasites was observed. Our results demonstrated that the fRAA assay would be rapid, sensitive, and specific for the detection of B. microti.

Misdiagnosis of Acute Renal Artery Thrombosis as Acute Abdominal Disease:Report of One Case / 中国医学科学院学报

Renal artery thrombosis can cause acute occlusion of unilateral or bilateral renal arteries,and kidney failure would be induced if it is not diagnosed and treated in time.Therefore,rapid and correct treatment is especially important for renal artery thrombosis.Due to the lack of specificity of clinical manifestations,this disease in commonly misdiagnosed or missed and thus has a low early diagnosis rate.Here we report a case of acute renal artery thrombosis to improve the diagnosis and treatment.

[Nucleosides-based identification model for Fritillariae Cirrhosae Bulbus].

A high performance liquid chromatography( HPLC) method was established for the fast,and precise determination of ten nucleosides in Fritillariae Cirrhosae Bulbus and its counterfeits. Then multivariate statistical analyses,such as clustering analysis,principal component analysis( PCA),and Fisher' s linear discriminant analysis( LDA),were conducted to establish a discriminant function model for an integrated analysis. The results indicated that data acquisition time of a single sample was shortened within 16 min by the HPLC method. In the range of 5-1 000 mg·kg~(-1),the mass concentrations of all nucleosides exhibited good linear relationships with the corresponding peak areas( R2> 0. 999). The spiked recoveries were in the range of 93. 83%-108. 9% with RSDs of0. 12%-1. 3%( n = 5). The limit of quantitation( LOQ) was 0. 98-4. 13 mg·kg~(-1). As revealed by the clustering analysis,Fritillariae Cirrhosae Bulbus and the counterfeits could be discriminated into two clusters based on the content of nucleosides. Fisher's LDA could achieve this discrimination,while PCA dimension reduction failed. The accuracy of the discriminant function model established on the screened characteristic indicators reached 97. 5%. The present study proposed a new identification method of Fritillariae Cirrhosae Bulbus with one-dimensional indicators,which is simple,accurate,and reliable. It can provide a scientific basis for further optimizing the identification techniques for Fritillariae Cirrhosae Bulbus and inspiration for quality control strategy development of Chinese medicinal materials.

Pre-operative N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide for prediction of acute kidney injury after noncardiac surgery: A retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is associated with poor outcomes after noncardiac surgery. Whether pre-operative N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) predicts AKI after noncardiac surgery is unclear. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the predictive role of pre-operative NT-proBNP on postoperative AKI. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, China. PATIENTS: Adult patients who had a serum creatinine and NT-proBNP measurement within 30 pre-operative days and at least one serum creatinine measurement within 7 days after noncardiac surgery between February 2008 and May 2018 were identified. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was postoperative AKI, defined by the kidney disease: improving global outcomes creatinine criteria. RESULTS: In all, 6.1% (444 of 7248) of patients developed AKI within 1 week after surgery. Pre-operative NT-proBNP was an independent predictor of AKI after adjustment for clinical variables (OR comparing top to bottom quintiles 2.29, 95% CI, 1.47 to 3.65, P < 0.001 for trend; OR per 1-unit increment in natural log transformed NT-proBNP 1.27, 95% CI, 1.16 to 1.39). Compared with clinical variables alone, the addition of NT-proBNP improved model fit, modestly improved the discrimination (change in area under the curve from 0.764 to 0.773, P = 0.005) and reclassification (continuous net reclassification improvement 0.210, 95% CI, 0.111 to 0.308, improved integrated discrimination 0.0044, 95% CI, 0.0016 to 0.0072) of AKI and non-AKI cases, and achieved higher net benefit in decision curve analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Pre-operative NT-proBNP concentrations provided predictive information for AKI in a cohort of patients undergoing noncardiac surgery, independent of and incremental to conventional risk factors. Prospective studies are required to confirm this finding and examine its clinical impact. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR1900024056. www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=40385.

Review of the risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 transmission.

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, which has lasted for nearly a year, has made people deeply aware of the strong transmissibility and pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 since its outbreak in December 2019. By December 2020, SARS-CoV-2 had infected over 65 million people globally, resulting in more than 1 million deaths. At present, the exact animal origin of SARS-CoV-2 remains unclear and antiviral vaccines are now undergoing clinical trials. Although the social order of human life is gradually returning to normal, new confirmed cases continue to appear worldwide, and the majority of cases are sporadic due to environmental factors and lax self-protective consciousness. This article provides the latest understanding of the epidemiology and risk factors of nosocomial and community transmission of SARS-CoV-2, as well as strategies to diminish the risk of transmission. We believe that our review will help the public correctly understand and cope with SARS-CoV-2.

Assessment of prognostic value of intraoperative oliguria for postoperative acute kidney injury: a retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Oliguria is often viewed as a sign of renal hypoperfusion and an indicator for volume expansion during surgery. However, the prognostic association and the predictive utility of intraoperative oliguria for postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) are unclear. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study on patients undergoing major thoracic surgery in an academic hospital to assess the association of intraoperative oliguria with postoperative AKI and its predictive value. To contextualise our findings, we included our results in a meta-analysis of observational studies on the importance of oliguria during noncardiac surgery. RESULTS: In our cohort study, 3862 patients were included; 205 (5.3%) developed AKI after surgery. Intraoperative urine output of 0.3 ml kg-1 h-1 was the optimal threshold for oliguria in multivariable analysis. Patients with oliguria had an increased risk of AKI (adjusted odds ratio: 2.60; 95% confidence interval: 1.24-5.05). However, intraoperative oliguria had a sensitivity of 5.9%, specificity of 98%, positive likelihood ratio of 2.74, and negative likelihood ratio of 0.96, suggesting poor predictive ability. Moreover, it did not improve upon the predictive performance of a multivariable model, based on discrimination and reclassification indices. Our findings were generally consistent with the results of a systematic review and meta-analysis, including six additional studies. CONCLUSIONS: Intraoperative oliguria has moderate association with, but poor predictive ability for, postoperative AKI. It remains of clinical interest as a risk factor potentially modifiable to interventions.