Diagnostic value of a combined serology-based model for minimal hepatic encephalopathy in patients with compensated cirrhosis / 中华检验医学杂志

Objective:To investigate the diagnostic accuracy of serological indicators and evaluate the diagnostic value of a new established combined serological model on identifying the minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE) in patients with compensated cirrhosis.Methods:This prospective multicenter study enrolled 263 compensated cirrhotic patients from 23 hospitals in 15 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities of China between October 2021 and August 2022. Clinical data and laboratory test results were collected, and the model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score was calculated. Ammonia level was corrected to the upper limit of normal (AMM-ULN) by the baseline blood ammonia measurements/upper limit of the normal reference value. MHE was diagnosed by combined abnormal number connection test-A and abnormal digit symbol test as suggested by Guidelines on the management of hepatic encephalopathy in cirrhosis. The patients were randomly divided (7∶3) into training set ( n=185) and validation set ( n=78) based on caret package of R language. Logistic regression was used to establish a combined model of MHE diagnosis. The diagnostic performance was evaluated by the area under the curve (AUC) of receiver operating characteristic curve, Hosmer-Lemeshow test and calibration curve. The internal verification was carried out by the Bootstrap method ( n=200). AUC comparisons were achieved using the Delong test. Results:In the training set, prevalence of MHE was 37.8% (70/185). There were statistically significant differences in AMM-ULN, albumin, platelet, alkaline phosphatase, international normalized ratio, MELD score and education between non-MHE group and MHE group (all P<0.05). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that AMM-ULN [odds ratio ( OR)=1.78, 95% confidence interval ( CI) 1.05-3.14, P=0.038] and MELD score ( OR=1.11, 95% CI 1.04-1.20, P=0.002) were independent risk factors for MHE, and the AUC for predicting MHE were 0.663, 0.625, respectively. Compared with the use of blood AMM-ULN and MELD score alone, the AUC of the combined model of AMM-ULN, MELD score and education exhibited better predictive performance in determining the presence of MHE was 0.755, the specificity and sensitivity was 85.2% and 55.7%, respectively. Hosmer-Lemeshow test and calibration curve showed that the model had good calibration ( P=0.733). The AUC for internal validation of the combined model for diagnosing MHE was 0.752. In the validation set, the AUC of the combined model for diagnosing MHE was 0.794, and Hosmer-Lemeshow test showed good calibration ( P=0.841). Conclusion:Use of the combined model including AMM-ULN, MELD score and education could improve the predictive efficiency of MHE among patients with compensated cirrhosis.

Identification and Genetic Variation Analysis of Wild and Cultivated Germplasm of Angelica sinensis Based on cp DNA / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ObjectiveTo conduct genetic variation analysis of 11 cultivars and 7 wild populations of Angelica sinensis in Gansu province based on the chloroplast gene （cp DNA）， and provide references for germplasm identification and breeding of new cultivars of A. sinensis. MethodThree pairs of cp DNA primers were used for polymerase chain reaction （PCR） amplification and sequencing of A. sinensis samples. MegaX was used to perform statistics on sequence characteristics and calculate mean genetic distances among A. sinensis populations. Unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic means （UPGMA） clustering tree based on genetic distance was constructed by NTSYS 2.10e. DanSP v6 was used to calculate sequence polymorphism and Tajima's D of A. sinensis. PERMUT was used to calculate the population structure of A. sinensis. Arlequin v3.5 was used to perform molecular variation analysis， and PopART1.7 was used to construct TCS haplotype network. ResultThree pairs of cp DNA primers were amplified， sequenced， compared， and combined to give a sequence length of 1 759 bp. One variable site was detected in the wild A. sinensis and 480 variable sites were detected in the cultivated A. sinensis， including 97 singleton variable sites， 383 parsimony informative sites， and 152 insertion-deletion sites. In the three regions of matK， psbA-trnH， and rbcL of cp DNA in the wild and cultivated A. sinensis， matK was the region with the highest polymorphism. Tajima’s D of all the combined sequences of A. sinensis were not significantly negative， but psbA-trnH and rbcL genes of the cultivated A. sinensis were significantly negative， indicating that the A. sinensis followed neutral evolution on a whole， while psbA-trnH and rbcL genes had undergone selection. The degree of genetic differentiation （Fst=0） among wild populations was lower than that among cultivated populations （Fst=0.114 19， P<0.05）. The degree of genetic differentiation between wild and cultivated A. sinensis was relatively high （Fst=0.942 55， P<0.01）. Genetic variation in the cultivated A. sinensis was mainly found within the populations （89%）. UPGMA cluster tree based on genetic distance showed that the wild A. sinensis and the cultivated A. sinensis were clustered into one branch， respectively， with a distant genetic relationship， and the population 3 in the cultivated A. sinensis was far from other cultivated populations. The TCS haplotype network consisted of 15 haplotypes and 4 unknown haplotypes， which was divided into 3 parts， with a large number of variations among each part. Shared haplotypes were only found in the wild or cultivated groups， and there were no shared haplotypes between groups. ConclusionThe genetic diversity of A. sinensis was low at species level， and the population diversity of the wild was lower than that of the cultivated. The degree of genetic differentiation between the wild and the cultivated A. sinensis was high， but that in the wild and the cultivated populations were low. Genetic variation in the cultivated A. sinensis was mainly found within populations.

Genetic Diversity Analysis of Isatis indigotica Germplasm Materials by Chloroplast DNA Variation and ISSR Molecular Marker / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ObjectiveTo analyze the sequence variation and genetic diversity of 47 Isatis indigotica germplasm materials， and carry out the study on the genetic differentiation and structure. MethodGenomic DNA of 47 I. indigotica germplasm materials were extracted by kit extraction method. Two chloroplast DNA （cp DNA） sequences and five inter-simple sequence repeat （ISSR） primers were used for amplification and sequencing. Chromas， Mega 7.0， DanSP5， and GenALEx were used to calibrate， splice， and analyze the sequence characteristics. PERMUT and PopGen 1.31 were used to analyze the genetic diversity parameters and genetic structure， and NTSYS was used to obtain the unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic means（UPGMA） clustering tree plot of 47 I. indigotica germplasm materials. ResultA total of 129 samples from 47 I. indigotica germplasm materials were successfully amplified and sequenced. The length of 2 cp DNA sequences after spliced was 1 412 bp， and there were 377 polymorphic variation loci， and 36 haplotypes. Fu and Li's D* test was significant （P<0.01）. The values of Pi， HS， and HT based on cp DNA were 0.119 89， 0.787， and 0.891， respectively. The genetic differentiation coefficients of gene differentiation coefficient（Gst）， nucleotide differentiation coefficient（Nst）， and fixation index（Fst） were 0.117， 0.468， and 0.488， respectively， and the gene flow （Nm） was 0.615. The mean values of PPB， Shannon information diversity index（I）， Nei's genetic diversity index（H）， and Gst based on ISSR were 78.85%， 0.334 8， 0.218 6， and 0.754 4， respectively， and the Nm value was 0.162 8. ConclusionI. indigotica has high genetic diversity and abundant haplotypes at the species level， with abundant haplotypes. Genetic differentiation among different germplasm materials is obvious， and gene exchange is not frequent. Genetic variation mainly exists among populations. The population has accumulated various low-frequency gene mutations recently， suggesting that it has experienced significant regional expansion in the history.

Genetic Diversity Analysis of Isatis indigotica Germplasm Materials by Chloroplast DNA Variation and ISSR Molecular Marker / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ObjectiveTo analyze the sequence variation and genetic diversity of 47 Isatis indigotica germplasm materials， and carry out the study on the genetic differentiation and structure. MethodGenomic DNA of 47 I. indigotica germplasm materials were extracted by kit extraction method. Two chloroplast DNA （cp DNA） sequences and five inter-simple sequence repeat （ISSR） primers were used for amplification and sequencing. Chromas， Mega 7.0， DanSP5， and GenALEx were used to calibrate， splice， and analyze the sequence characteristics. PERMUT and PopGen 1.31 were used to analyze the genetic diversity parameters and genetic structure， and NTSYS was used to obtain the unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic means（UPGMA） clustering tree plot of 47 I. indigotica germplasm materials. ResultA total of 129 samples from 47 I. indigotica germplasm materials were successfully amplified and sequenced. The length of 2 cp DNA sequences after spliced was 1 412 bp， and there were 377 polymorphic variation loci， and 36 haplotypes. Fu and Li's D* test was significant （P<0.01）. The values of Pi， HS， and HT based on cp DNA were 0.119 89， 0.787， and 0.891， respectively. The genetic differentiation coefficients of gene differentiation coefficient（Gst）， nucleotide differentiation coefficient（Nst）， and fixation index（Fst） were 0.117， 0.468， and 0.488， respectively， and the gene flow （Nm） was 0.615. The mean values of PPB， Shannon information diversity index（I）， Nei's genetic diversity index（H）， and Gst based on ISSR were 78.85%， 0.334 8， 0.218 6， and 0.754 4， respectively， and the Nm value was 0.162 8. ConclusionI. indigotica has high genetic diversity and abundant haplotypes at the species level， with abundant haplotypes. Genetic differentiation among different germplasm materials is obvious， and gene exchange is not frequent. Genetic variation mainly exists among populations. The population has accumulated various low-frequency gene mutations recently， suggesting that it has experienced significant regional expansion in the history.

Research progress of stem cells imaging technology in the diagnosis and treatment of liver diseases / 中华肝胆外科杂志

Liver disease is one of the main causes of human deaths in the world. Orthotopic liver transplantation is the most effective treatment for severe liver diseases, such as liver cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, etc. However, liver transplantation was limited because of donors shortage, and immunological. In recent years, stem cell therapy with the ability of multi-directional differentiation has potential application value in the treatment of patients with liver diseases. However, the mechanisms of stem cell therapy have not yet been fully understood. Stem cells can be detected under in vivo cell imaging. It can noninvasively trace the distribution, migration, proliferation and differentiation of stem cells, and it is an important link to study the mechanism of stem cells in the treatment of liver diseases. Therefore, this review briefly introduces the latest research progress of stem cell in vivo imaging techniques in the field of stem cell diagnosis and treatment of liver diseases.

Progress of T lymphocyte subsets in breast cancer / 肿瘤研究与临床

With the increasing incidence of breast cancer, the relationship between tumor and immune function has attracted more and more attention. This article reviews the relationship between breast cancer and T lymphocyte subsets, in order to explore the changes of immune function before and after operation in breast cancer patients, so as to select appropriate surgical methods, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and immunotherapy for the patients.

Virus shedding patterns in nasopharyngeal and fecal specimens of COVID-19 patients

Diagnosis is the key point for confirmation and treatment of COVID-19. we focused on comparative analysis of virus dynamics between the upper respiratory and feces specimens in the COVID-19 patients. A total of 66 upper respiratory swabs, 51 feces, 56 urine and 56 plasma samples were sequentially collected from 23 patients in a designated hospital. The plasma and urine samples were all negative, except for urine samples from two severe cases at the latest available detection point. Conversely, virus was shed in respiratory swabs and feces samples during the diseased period. Ten of 12 (83.3%) cases were positive for feces samples, while 14 of 21 (66.7%) were positive for respiratory samples. In addition, the median duration of virus shedding was 10.0 days (IQR 8.0 to 17.0) in the upper respiratory swabs, but was 22.0 days (IQR 15.5 to 23.5) for the feces. Notably, at 26 days after discharge, case 3 (a 45-year-old) was detected positive again in the feces samples, but appears to be healthy and negative for respiratory swabs. These results indicated that beside respiratory samples, intestinal samples (e.g. feces) should be recommended for diagnosis of COVID-19, especially before a patient discharge and for monitoring the relapse of discharged patients.

Anti-hypertensive Angiotensin II receptor blockers associated to mitigation of disease severity in elderly COVID-19 patients

BackgroundThe novel coronavirus (CoV) severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-CoV-2 outbreak started at the end of 2019 in Wuhan, China, and spread over 100 countries. SARS-CoV-2 uses the membrane protein Angiotensin I converting enzyme 2(ACE2) as a cell entry receptor. Indeed, it was reported that the balance of Renin-Angiotensin System (RAS), regulated by both ACE and ACE2, was altered in COVID-19 patients. It is controversial, however, whether commonly used anti-hypertensive drugs Angiotensin I converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) and Angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) shall be continued in the confirmed COVID-19 patients. This study was designed to investigate any difference in disease severity between COVID-19 patients with hypertension comorbidity. The included COVID-19 patients used ACEI, ARB, calcium channel blockers (CCB), beta blockers (BB), or thiazide to treat preexisting hypertension prior to the hospital were compared to patients who did not take any of those drugs. MethodsIn this multicentre retrospective study, clinical data of 511 COVID-19 patients were analyzed. Patients were categorized into six sub-groups of hypertension comorbidity based on treatment using one of anti-hypertension drugs (ACEI, ARB, CCB, BB, thiazide), or none. A meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the use of ACEI and ARB associated with pneumonia using published studies. FindingsAmong the elderly (age>65) COVID-19 patients with hypertension comorbidity, the risk of COVID-19-S (severe disease) was significantly decreased in patients who took ARB drugs prior to hospitalization compared to patients who took no drugs (OR=0{middle dot}343, 95% CI 0{middle dot}128-0{middle dot}916, p=0{middle dot}025). The meta-analysis showed that ARB use has positive effects associated with morbidity and mortality of pneumonia. InterpretationElderly (age>65) COVID-19 patients with hypertension comorbidity who are taking ARB anti-hypertension drugs may be less likely to develop severe lung disease compared to patients who take no anti-hypertension drugs. FundingNational Natural Science Foundation of China, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Research in contextO_ST_ABSEvidence before this studyC_ST_ABSWe searched PubMed for articles published up to March 15, 2020 using keywords "2019-nCoV", "SARS-CoV-2", "novel coronavirus", and COVID-19 AND "ARB", and "angiotensin II receptor blocker" for papers published in both English and Chinese. We found three papers: one from our group, published in Science China Life Science that demonstrated an elevated Angiotensin II level in blood samples from COVID-19 patients; another a perspective article in Chinese recommending ACEI and ARBs as potential remedies for SARS-CoV-2 infections; the third a retrospective study in Chinese identifying no significant difference between ACEI/ARB associated with outcomes in 112 COVID-19 patients with CVD comorbidity. The International society of Hypertension stated on March 16th, 2020: "there are no clinical data in human to show that ACE-inhibitors or ARBs either improve or worsen susceptibility to COVID-19 infection nor do they affect the outcomes of those infected". Added value of this studyWe retrospectively reviewed different types of anti-hypertensive drugs taken by COVID-19 patients with hypertension comorbidity prior to entering the hospital. We discovered that ARB hypertensive drugs were associated with a decreased risk of severe disease in elderly (age>65) COVID-19 patients (OR=0{middle dot}343, 95% CI 0{middle dot}128-0{middle dot}916, p=0{middle dot}025), the first evidence of ARBs association to COVID-19 infections in human. We conducted a meta-analysis in the literature and found that ARB has positive effects associated with morbidity and mortality of pneumonia. Implications of all the available evidenceARB drugs are widely used in the population with hypertension. Treatments with ACEI and ARBs should be continuous according to medical guidelines. RCT trials of ARB associated with morbidity and mortality of SARS-CoV-2 infection are recommended in the future.

Epidemiological and clinical features of COVID-19 patients with and without pneumonia in Beijing, China

BackgroundSARS-CoV-2-caused coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is posing a large casualty. The features of COVID-19 patients with and without pneumonia, SARS-CoV-2 transmissibility in asymptomatic carriers, and factors predicting disease progression remain unknown. MethodsWe collected information on clinical characteristics, exposure history, and laboratory examinations of all laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients admitted to PLA General Hospital. Cox regression analysis was applied to identify prognostic factors. The last follow-up was February 18, 2020. ResultsWe characterized 55 consecutive COVID-19 patients. The mean incubation was 8.42 (95% confidence interval [CI], 6.55-10.29) days. The mean SARS-CoV-2-positive duration from first positive test to conversion was 9.71 (95%CI, 8.21-11.22) days. COVID-19 course was approximately 2 weeks. Asymptomatic carriers might transmit SARS-CoV-2. Compared to patients without pneumonia, those with pneumonia were 15 years older and had a higher rate of hypertension, higher frequencies of having a fever and cough, and higher levels of interleukin-6 (14.61 vs. 8.06pg/mL, P=0.040), B lymphocyte proportion (13.0% vs.10.0%, P=0.024), low account (<190/{micro}L) of CD8+ T cells (33.3% vs. 0, P=0.019). Multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that circulating interleukin-6 and lactate independently predicted COVID-19 progression, with a hazard ratio (95%CI) of 1.052 (1.000-1.107) and 1.082 (1.013-1.155), respectively. During disease course, T lymphocytes were generally lower, neutrophils higher, in pneumonia patients than in pneumonia-free patients. CD8+ lymphocytes did not increase at the 20th days after illness onset. ConclusionThe epidemiological features are important for COVID-19 prophylaxis. Circulating interleukin-6 and lactate are independent prognostic factors. CD8+ T cell exhaustion might be critical in the development of COVID-19.

Progress and challenge for asymptomatic infection of 2019-nCoV / 中华临床感染病杂志

By April 28, 2020, the global pandemic of COVID-19 has resulted in over 3 million infections and more than 200, 000 deaths. As the epidemic of COVID-19 has been basically controlled in China, the asymptomatic infection becomes one of most serious challenges for "External defense input, internal defense rebound" currently. Studies have shown that patients with asymptomatic infections are highly contagious in the early stage, most of whom are in the pre-symptomatic stage. Children and pregnant women have a higher incidence of asymptomatic infections, but the impacts are not yet clear. This article reviews the definition, epidemiological characteristics, contagiousness, viral shedding and cause of persistent positive nucleic acid in asymptomatic patients. Active detection of nucleic acids and antibodies and timely diagnosis and treatment of asymptomatic cases are the critical issues for the prevention and control of COVID-19.

Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of 46 corona virus disease 2019 cases in Beijing City / 中华传染病杂志

Objective:To investigate and analyze the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of 46 patients with corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Beijing City.Methods:A retrospective study was conducted to analyze the data of 46 patients with COVID-19 in Beijing from 20th January 2020 to 8th February 2020 at the Fifth Medical Center of the PLA General Hospital in Beijing City. Twelve, 23 and 11 patients were assigned to the mild group, common group and severe group, respectively. The epidemiological history, clinical characteristics, laboratory tests and imaging inspections were analyzed. Statistical analysis used Fisher exact test. If P<0.05, post- hoc test was used for pairwise comparison, and the statistics were corrected by Bonferroni test. Results:Among the 46 patients included in this study, 27 were male and 19 were female. The age range was between 3-79 years old, and the age was (41.8±16.3) years old. The average incubation period was (4.85±3.00) days. A total of 26 cases (56.5%) were clustered patients, and 26 cases had a history of staying in Wuhan, 10 cases had contact with Wuhan personnel. Fever (39 cases, 84.8%), cough (27 cases, 58.7%), and fatigue (25 cases, 54.3%) were the main clinical symptoms for these patients. The decrease in white blood cell counts occurred in 12 patients, four had the decrease in T lymphocyte percentage, 17 had the decrease in CD4 + T lymphocyte counts, seven had the decrease in CD8 + T lymphocyte counts, 21 had the increase level of C reactive protein (45.7%), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) level increased in 32 cases (69.6%), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) increased in 23 cases (50.0%), serum ferritin level increased in 26 cases (56.5%), and blood lactic acid level increased in nine cases. There were statistically significant differences in the proportion of cases with decreased absolute value of CD8 + T lymphocytes and T lymphocytes counts among the mild, common and severe groups (all P<0.05). Comparing the proportion of cases in the three groups with elevated C reactive protein, IL-6, ESR, serum ferritin and blood lactic acid levels, the differences were statistically significant (all P<0.05). The proportion of cases with elevated C reactive protein levels in severe group was higher than those in mild and common groups. The proportion of cases with elevated IL-6, ESR, and serum ferritin levels in severe and common group were higher than those in mild group. The proportion of cases with elevated blood lactic acid levels in severe group was higher than those in mild group. The differences between the above groups were statistically significant (all adjusted P<0.017). Analysis of chest X-rays results showed that 34 patients (73.9%) had inflammation in the lungs. Conclusions:The epidemiological characteristics of patients with COVID-19 in Beijing City are mainly imported cases and clustered cases. The clinical manifestations are mainly fever, fatigue and cough. C reactive protein, IL-6, ESR, serum ferritin and blood lactic acid levels are higher in severe patients.

Research progress of immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome in AIDS / 中华实验和临床病毒学杂志

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is an important challenge to human health. The patients with chronic infection have a gradually decrease of CD4+ T cells and eventually develop into acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Most HIV infected patients have received full virological suppression and immunological restoration due to antiretroviral therapy (ART), which improved their survival rate. After the initiation of ART, some patients get rapidly deteriorating clinical symptoms or even death, even though HIV replication is suppressed and CD4+ T lymphocytes raise, which called immune reconstruction inflammatory syndrome (IRIS). Clinical observations suggest that IRIS may be associated with a serious opportunistic infection and a very late onset of HIV/AIDS, but there are many unknowns from diagnosis to treatment and pathogenesis. This article reviews the incidence, the development of clinical features, related mechanisms and treatment strategies and other aspects of the disease.

Progress and prospects of clinical cell therapy for liver cirrhosis and liver cancer / 中华肝脏病杂志

The treatment options for liver cancer and liver cirrhosis are limited. Cell therapy (immune cells, stem cells) can significantly improve the therapeutic effect by actively regulating body's immunity. In addition, when choosing different methods of cell therapy, clinicians should also fully consider the adverse reactions associated with cell therapy. This article reviews the progress of cells therapy in clinical trials of liver cancer and liver cirrhosis, including therapeutic mechanism, advantages, disadvantages and limitations.

Study on characteristics and prognosis of organ failure in patients with hepatitis B virus-associated acute-on-chronic liver failure / 中华肝脏病杂志

Objective@#To evaluate the incidence, and the characteristics of organ failure in relationship to prognosis in hepatitis B virus-associated acute-on-chronic liver failure (HBV-ACLF) patients using chronic liver failure-sequential organ failure assessment (CLIF-SOFA) score for judgments of clinical treatment and prognosis.@*Methods@#Clinical data of 316 patients who were diagnosed as HBV-ACLF during hospitalization from February 2015 to February 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. Intrahepatic and extrahepatic organ failures were assessed according to CLIF-SOFA score, and the relationship between clinical characteristics and prognosis was analyzed. Continuity variables were analyzed by analysis of variance, or Kruskal-Wallis H test. Comparison of the categorical data were done using χ 2 or Fisher's exact test, and the predictive efficacy of various prognostic scores was compared using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) and Z-test.@*Results@#Of 316 cases (87.3% men) of HBV-ACLF, the mean age was (45 ± 11) years old. 78.8% of patients with underlying liver disease had hepatitis B virus induced cirrhosis. Mortality rates in patients without liver transplantation at 28 days, 90 days and 180 days were 20.5% (63/307), 36.7% (110/300) and 39.2% (116/296), respectively. According to the CLIF-SOFA score, 89.9% (284 patients) had organ failure at baseline, of which 97.5% had liver failure (Total bilirubin ≥ 12 mg/dl) and only 2.5% had coagulation, kidney, circulation or respiratory failure without liver failure. Besides liver failure, the incidence of extrahepatic organ failure was coagulation (23.1%), kidney (5.7%), brain (3.8%), circulation (1.3%) and respiratory failure (0.3%). With increasing number of organ failure, the mortality rate of two and three or more organ failures were 69.6% and 69.2%, respectively, which was significantly higher than that of single organ failure and non-organ failure patients (27% and 6.9%, respectively; P < 0.001). Liver failure with coagulation failure (International normalized ratio≥2.5 or platelet count≤20×109/L) had worst prognosis with a mortality rate of up to 75% at 90 days.@*Conclusion@#According to the CLIF-SOFA score, the main organ failure in patients with HBV-ACLF in China is liver failure. The mortality rate in patients with two or more organ failures is as high as 70% within 3 months. Therefore, timely manner liver transplantation should be considered.

Comparision of the treatment and short-term and one-year prognosis from acute heart failure in tertiary hospitals versus secondary hospitals-findings from Beijing Acute Heart Failure Registry (Beijing AHF Registry) / 中华急诊医学杂志

Objective To assess and compare the incidence,clinical characteristics,treatment,and prognosis of acute heart failure patients from different grades hospitals in Beijing.Methods In this prospective internet prognosis registered study (Beijing AHF Registry),a total of 3 335 consecutive patients admitted to 14 emergency departments in Beijing from January 1st 2011 to September 23rd 2012 were enrolled.According to hospital grade,these patients were divided into two groups,349 patients were from secondary hospitals,and 2 956 patients were from tertiary hospitals.Results Among the 3 335 patients,the medium age was 71 (58,79) years,and male accounted for 53.16％.The most common underlying disease were coronary disease (43.27％),hypertension (17.73％),cardiomyopathy (16.07％) etc.The average treatment time in Emergency Department was 66.82 h.The emergency department mortality rate was 3.81％ (127 cases).The 30-day and 1-year cumulative all-cause mortality were 15.3％ and 32.27％,respectively.The 30-day and 1-year cumulative all-cause readmission were 15.64％ and 46.89％,respectively.Compared with patients in tertiary hospitals,patients in secondary hospitals had more onset acute heart failure patients (63.64％ vs.49.93％),shorter emergency department treatment time (12 h vs.41 h),lower discharge rate (3.43％ vs.37.45％) and emergency department mortality(1.58％ vs.4.09％).Compared with those in tertiary hospitals,1-year cumulative all-cause mortality (25.6％ vs.33.2％),cardiovascular disease mortality (20.2％ vs.26.0％),aggravated heart failure mortality (22.4％ vs.28.8％) were lower in secondary hospitals.Following propensity score matching,compared to tertiary hospitals,patients in secondary hospitals showed lower utilization rate of beta-blockers and ACEFARB (4.51％ vs.28.17％,1.41％ vs.9.58％),except the pironolactone.Conclusion Acute heart failure in emergency department is associated with a high mortality rate and readmission rate.There is still a big gap between guidelines recommend medication current treatments for acute heart failure.

Sonography of hemiplegic stroke survivors with shoulder pain / 中华物理医学与康复杂志

Objective To determine the utility of musculoskeletal ultrasound imaging to support physical findings in different stages of recovery and in recommending treatment regimens.Methods Forty-three hemiplegic stroke survivors with shoulder pain were enrolled.Physical examinations were performed 3 and 6 months after the stroke using a visual analogue scale (VAS),a modified Ashworth scale,measurements of passive range of motion and Brunnstrom staging.This was coupled with sonography of the long head of the biceps,the subscapularis tendon,the supraspinatus tendon,the infraspinatus tendon,the acromioclavicular joint and the subacromial-subdeltoid bursa.Results Three months after the stroke the average VAS score correlated negatively with the average Brunnstrom stage of the shoulders (r=-0.39,P≤0.01),with the range of passive abduction (r=-0.56,P≤ 0.01),the range of passive external rotation (r=-0.36,P≤ 0.02),and the range of passive flexion (r=-0.37,P≤ 0.02).It was positively correlated with abnormal sonographic findings of the long head tendon of the biceps (r=0.32,P≤ 0.04),the subscapularis tendons (r=0.31,P≤0.04) and the supraspinatus tendons (r=0.53,P≤0.01).However,3 months later the VAS results were negatively correlated with Brunnstrom stage (r=-0.45,P ≤ 0.01),range of passive shoulder abduction (r=-0.60,P≤0.01),range of passive external rotation (r=-0.41,P≤0.01),and passive range of flexion (r=-0.52,P≤ 0.01),but positively correlated with spasticity (r=0.34,P≤ 0.03),biceps tendinopathy (r=0.45,P≤0.01),subscapularis tendinopathy (r=0.33,P≤ 0.03) and supraspinatus tendinopathy (r=0.56,P≤ 0.01).Rotator cuff injury was significantly more severe 6 months after stroke than at 3 months.The incidence of pain in the hemiplegic shoulder and abnormal sonographic findings of the biceps tendon and subscapularis tendon were significantly higher at 6 months than at 3 months after the stroke.Supraspinatus tendon problems were notable both at 3 and 6 months.Conclusions Pain in a hemiplegic shoulder is positively correlated with abnormal sonographic findings but negatively correlated with Brunnstrom stages and passive range of motion 3 and 6 months after stroke.Six months after stroke,pain is positively correlated with muscle tone.The tendon at the long head of the biceps and the rotator cuff are vulnerable to injury,especially at 6 months after stroke.

Isolation, cultivation and identification of human skin microvascular endothelial cells / 中国组织工程研究

BACKGROUND:Currently, the enzymatic digestion combined with magnetic activated cel sorting for isolating microvascular endothelial cel s are cumbersome and do harm to cel s. Therefore, how to simplify the isolation and culture of human dermal microvascular endothelial cel s to obtain highly purified endothelial cel s in vitro becomes a hotspot. OBJECTIVE:To explore a simple and effective cultivation method of microvascular endothelial cel s from diabetic patient skins in vitro, and to detect the cel growth. METHODS:Diabetic patients with chronic foot wounds after amputation were enrol ed to col ect the limb proximal skin and topical skin around the wound superficial dermal tissue. Human dermal microvascular endothelial cel s were obtained using adherent method and trypsin method, fol oewd by purified utilizing trypsin digestion and repeated attachment method when passage culture. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Human dermal microvascular endothelial cells were obtained successfully, Primary cultured endothelial cells completely adhered to the wall at 24 hours, entered the logarithmic phase at the 10th day, and the cell concentration reached 80%at the 12th-13th day. While the passage cells grew more actively than primary cells, and fully covered the bottom in a“cobblestone”arrangement after 5-7 days of culture. Immunohistochemical staining showed that cultured cells were positive for FVIII and CD31-associated antigens with 100%positive rate. MTT assay showed that cell growth curves of 2, 4, and 5 generations of dermal microvascular endothelial presented the invertedSshape. These results suggest that abundant highly purified human dermal microvascular endothelial cells can be obtained through the adherent method and a small amount of short-term trypsin method.

The funded projects and related progresses in the field of liver diseases from National Natural Science Foundation of China during 2010 to 2014 / 中华医学科研管理杂志

Objective To analyze the projects funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC) in the field of liver diseases during 2010 to 2014.Methods The projects in the field of liver disease were statistically analyzed regarding the subordinate branches and distribution of the applicants and registered institutions.Results 1.There were 624.4 projects and 321,839,200 yuans annual funded in the field of liver diseases; 2.The percentage of the key/major projects was lower than the average level; 3.Nearly half of the projects funded focus on the liver cancer; 4.19.03％ of registered institution got 80％ of funded projects.Conclusions With the continuous funding aid from NSFC,the fundamental research in this field has progressed significantly,especially in immunology.However,the overall research capacity still need to be further improved and the research direction need to be connected more closely to the clinical requirement to meet the translational medicine demand.

Decrease in γδV 2T cells correlates with severity of liver injury and fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B / 中华肝脏病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the characteristics and clinical significance of changes in gamma delta T cells in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB), including during the immune tolerant (IT) phase and the immune activated (IA) phase.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Flow cytometry was used to analyze the frequencies and absolute numbers of γδT cells and their subsets in peripheral blood and in liver from 80 CHB cases, including 20 IT carriers and 60 IA patients. Blood samples were obtained from all CHB cases and 5 healthy controls (HCs). Liver biopsies were collected from 22 IA patients and 5 IT carriers undergoing diagnosis, and from the 5 HCs.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared to HCs and IT carriers, the IA patients displayed significantly lower levels of peripheral and intrahepatic γδT cells as well as the Vδ2 subsets. The levels of peripheral and intrahepatic VγδT cells were closely associated with the liver histological activity index and serum alanine aminotransferase levels.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>γδT cells, especially the Vδ2 subsets, may play a protective role in decreasing liver damage in CHB patients.</p>

Study of survivin-siRNA combined with the chemotherapy drugs to enhance the breast cancer MCF-7 cells apoptosis and reverse drug resistance / 肿瘤研究与临床

Objective To investigate the effects of siRNA against survivin combined with the neoadjuvant chemotherapy (paclitaxel and epirubicin) on the apoptosis in breast cancer MCF-7 cell and reverse drug resistance.Methods Molecular cloning technique was applied to construct the expression vector of siRNA against survivin,and effectene transfection reagent was used to transfect MCF-7 cell.Survivin expression was detected by qPCR and Western blot methods.The effects of paclitaxel or epirubicin combined with or without siRNA against survivin,on the drug susceptibility of MCF-7 cell were detected by CCK-8 assay and that of including MCF-7 cell apoptosis were detected by flow cytometry.Results Survivin-siRNA-2 effectively inhibited the expression of survivin mRNA (0.30±0.03) and protein (0.37±0.09) (P ＜ 0.05).Both paclitaxel [IR 24,48 h =(38.5±4.0) ％,(41.7±6.3) ％] and epirubicin [IR 24,48 h =(37.0±8.6) ％,(40.6± 12.1) ％] can suppress the proliferation of MCF-7 cell and induce its apoptosis,and siRNA against survivin combined with chemotherapy drugs enhanced both effects significantly[paclitaxel IR 24,48 h =(76.0±2.9) ％,(85.1±4.0) ％; epirubicin IR 24,48 h =(74.6±5.6) ％,(82.5±4.8) ％] (P ＜ 0.05).The inhibition rate of MCF-7 was concentration and time dependent.Conclusions Blocking survivin gene expression by RNAi,and combining with the appropriate chemotherapy can significantly enhance the sensitivity of MCF-7 cell to drugs and cell apoptosis.This technology has important potential clinical value in the therapy of breast cancer.