The blood monocyte to high density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (MHR) is a possible marker of carotid artery plaque.

BACKGROUND: MHR is the ratio of monocyte to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). It has been reported that MHR changes are associated with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease. Carotid plaque is a common vascular lesion of the carotid artery and is a manifestation of atherogenesis. This study investigated the relationships between the MHR and the incidence of carotid plaques. METHODS: The data of 3848 physical examiners were analyzed for retrospective analysis, which included 1428 patients with noncarotid plaque, 1133 patients with single carotid plaque, and 1287 patients with bilateral or multiple carotid plaques. Statistical analysis was performed on SPSS 22.0 0 software and statistical software R and its GAM package. RESULTS: The difference was statistically significant in the levels of MHR, body mass index (BMI), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), blood lipids (HDL-C, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (Tg)), blood glucose (Glu), hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), renal function (urea, creatinine (Crea)), estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), and uric acid (Ua) in the carotid plaque groups (P < 0.001, respectively). There was no significant difference between the sex (P = 0.635) and age (P = 0.063) in the different groups. MHR levels were positively correlated with BMI (r = 0.364, P < 0.001), hs-CRP (r = 0.320, P < 0.001), Tg (r = 0.417, P < 0.001), Crea (r = 0.323, P < 0.001), eGFR (r = - 0.248, P < 0.001), Ua (r = 0.383, P < 0.001) and HbA1c (r = 0.197, P < 0.001). Levels of TC, Glu, and urea were slightly correlated with the MHR level (r = - 0.150, P < 0.001; r = 0.187, P < 0.001; r = 0.137, P < 0.001, respectively). The MHR level increased with elevated severity of carotid plaque in subjects without hypertension or diabetes (P < 0.001). In adjusted models, with the rise of MHR level, the probability of occurrence of carotid plaque had a 1.871-fold (95% CI: 1.015-3.450, P = 0.045) increase; the probability of multiple occurrences of carotid plaques had a 2.896-fold (95% CI: 1.415-5.928, P < 0.001) increase. The GAM curve showed a nonlinear correlation between the normalized MHR and the probability of carotid plaque occurrence. CONCLUSIONS: MHR could be used as a possible marker for plaque formation and severity.

Effect of Leptin Levels of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Diabetic Complications.

PURPOSE: To investigate serum leptin levels in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and the relationship between leptin levels and T2DM complications and prevalence. METHODS: A total of 355 patients, 282 cases with T2DM and 73 normal controls, were recruited at 1st Medical Centre, Chinese PLA General Hospital (Beijing, China) between November 2013 and July 2014. Levels of serum leptin, biochemical markers and sexual hormones were measured, and clinical characteristics were retrieved through the electronic medical record system. RESULTS: Leptin levels in females were higher than that in males. Leptin levels in T2MD patients were positively correlated with body mass index, percent body fat, triglyceride, cystatin C homocysteine and salivary acid, and negatively correlated with glycosylated serum protein and glycosylated albumin levels. Leptin levels in males were positively correlated with systolic pressure and estradiol, and negatively correlated with testosterone and high density lipoprotein cholesterol. Sex (female) was positively correlated with the duration of disease. Leptin levels in T2DM patients with complications such as hypertension, diabetic nephropathy, diabetic peripheral neuropathy and coronary heart disease were higher than that in patients without such complications. Leptin levels in females with diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macroangiopathy were higher than that in patients without such complications, but there was no difference in males. CONCLUSIONS: Leptin has significant gender differences. Leptin levels are related to body mass index, percent body fat and sex hormone level in T2DM patients and may affect short-term blood glucose control in T2DM patients. Leptin levels are related to complications in patients with T2DM and affect the prevalence rates of complications.

Reference Intervals and Regularity Analysis of Biochemical Makers in 3-Year-Old Children.

BACKGROUND: The reference intervals of biochemical markers were significantly affected by age and gender, especially in minors. In recent years, many provinces and regions in China had established reference intervals for children's hematological indicators. Without considering the instruments and reagents, the reference interval will also be affected by the region, economic development, eating habits, and other factors. Therefore, the reference interval of any hematological indicators is not necessarily a fixed range, it changes with certain factors. In our study, we analyzed the changes of biochemical markers in different serum total Ca and 25-OH-D concentrations, and established the reference intervals of biochemical markers in 3-year-old children, explored the change trend of biochemical markers with different serum total Ca and 25-OH-D concentration. METHODS: Data was collected from 226 cases of 3-year-old children for biochemical markers, in the Chinese PLA General Hospital in August 2015. The data were divided into a high-level group (serum total Ca > 2.63 mmol/L and 25-OH-D > 40.81 ng/mL) and a low-level group (serum total Ca < 2.54 mmol/L and 25-OH-D < 32.64 ng/mL) according to serum total Ca and 25-OH-D levels for comparison. The change trend of biochemical markers was compared according to serum total Ca and 25-OH-D level. RESULTS: The Glu levels in boys were significantly higher than that in girls, but CHO and LDL-C in girls were significantly higher than that in boys. The reference intervals of ATL (5.6 - 22.1 U/L), ALB (44.8 - 55.2 g/L), TP (62.7 - 83.1 g/L), ALP (154.4 - 379.7 U/L), GGT (7.2 - 15.9 U/L), Glu (boys: 4.08 - 5.91 mmol/L; girls: 4.05 - 5.37 mmol/L), UREA (2.7 - 6.3 mmol/L), CREA (26.4 - 46.8 µmol/L), UA (182.4 - 400.2 µmol/L), TG (0.43 - 1.67 mmol/L), CHO (boys: 3.19 - 5.96 mmol/L; girls: 3.03 - 6.51 mmol/L), HDL-C (0.98 - 2.24 mmol/L), LDL-C (boys: 1.30 - 3.64 mmol/L; girls: 1.24 - 4.27 mmol/L), total Ca (2.34 - 2.85 mmol/L), PHOS (1.38 - 2.06 mmol/L), Mg (0.83 - 1.06 mmol/L), osteocalcin (41.64 - 91.92 ng/mL), PTH (12.08 - 43.06 pg/mL), 25-OH-D (19.66 - 56.37 ng/mL), ß-CrossLaps (0.82 - 1.88 ng/mL), TP1NP (357.9 - 1025.7 µg/L) were established. ALT, TP, ALB, GGT, Glu, CHO, HDL-C, LDL-C, UREA, CREA, PHOS, Mg, and ALP in high level group were significantly higher than those in low level group. There was no significant difference in TG, UA, TP1NP, osteocalcin, PTH and ß-CrossLaps between high level group and low-level group. With the increase of serum total Ca and 25-OH-D levels, most of the biochemical markers had a gradually increasing trend. However, biochemical markers of bone (TP1NP, osteocalcin, PTH, ß-CrossLaps) showed different trends. CONCLUSIONS: This study established the reference intervals of biochemical markers of 3-year-old children. The changes of serum total Ca and 25-OH-D levels in children reflected the changes of glucose and lipid metabolism, liver and kidney function markers, and indirectly reflected the growth and development of children and various organ functions. Maintaining high levels of serum total Ca and 25-OH-D can promote the growth and development of children.

A Novel Ferroptosis-Related lncRNA Signature for Prognosis Prediction in Patients with Papillary Renal Cell Carcinoma.

PURPOSE: Papillary renal cell carcinoma (PRCC) is a common renal cell carcinoma. Recent studies have reported that ferroptosis is involved in the occurrence and development of tumors. Long non-coding RNAs can be used as independent biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of a variety of tumors. METHODS: Gene expression profile and clinical information of patients with PRCC were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Lasso penalized Cox regression and univariate Cox regression analysis were utilized for model construction. The Kaplan-Meier (K-M) and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted to validate the predictive effect of the prognostic signature. Immune cell infiltration and immune function were compared between the high-risk and low-risk groups. Chemotherapy sensitivity analysis was also performed. RESULTS: We constructed a prognostic signature consisting of 15 ferroptosis-related lncRNAs. The K-M curves validated the fine predictive accuracy of the prognostic signature (p < 0.001). The area under the curve (AUC) of the lncRNA signature was 0.930, exhibiting robust prognostic capacity. The high-risk group had a greater degree of immune cell infiltration than the low-risk group. Significant differences in inflammation promotion, parainflammation, and type I IFN response were noted between the low-risk and high-risk groups (p < 0.01). The expression levels of immune checkpoints including CD80, IDO1, and LAG3 were significantly higher in the high-risk group than in the low-risk group (p < 0.05). Chemotherapy sensitivity analysis showed that MNX1-AS1, ZFAS1, MIR4435-2HG, and ADAMTS9-AS1 were significantly correlated with the sensitivity of some chemotherapy drugs (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: We demonstrated that a ferroptosis-related lncRNA prognostic signature could be a novel biomarker for PRCC.

Preoperative Serum Carcinoembryonic Antigen as a Marker for Predicting the Outcome of Three Cancers.

BACKGROUND: Serum levels of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) are associated with a variety of tumors. OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the prognostic value of pretreatment serum CEA levels in predicting the outcomes of multiple tumors subjected to treatment. METHODS: Prior to therapy, serum samples from 71 prostate, 46 breast, 77 gastric, and 31 pancreatic cancer patients were collected to examine serum CEA levels. The cutoff value for CEA was set as determined by the maximum Youden index. The data were analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier curves generated by the log-rank test and Cox multivariate analysis. RESULTS: The overall survival rate for all the patients was 71.11%. The 3-year survival rate of patients with prostate, breast, gastric, and pancreatic cancers was 81.69%, 95.65%, 54.55%, and 51.61%, respectively. The 3-year survival rate showed significant statistical differences between patients with serum CEA levels <2.885 µg/L and those with serum CEA levels ⩾2.885 µg/L (P < .001). The statistical differences of the 3-year survival rate also existed in the men (P = .010) or women group (P < .001), as well as in the 3 different types of cancer, which include breast cancer (P = .025), gastric cancer (P = .001), and pancreatic cancer (P = .047). CONCLUSIONS: Serum CEA levels can provide additional prognostic information and may be useful in treatment implementation for patients with breast, gastric, or pancreatic cancer.