Clinical characteristics of vascular neuro-ophthalmology in patients with central retinal artery occlusion / 中华眼底病杂志

Objective:To investigate the clinical characteristics of vascular neuro-ophthalmology in patients with central retinal artery occlusion (CRAO).Methods:A single-center, prospective clinical study. From January 2018 to December 2020, 49 eyes of 49 CRAO patients of The Neuro-ophthalmology Department of Xi'an First Hospital were included in the study. Data on patient demographic characteristics, vascular risk factors, disease characteristics, digital subtraction angiography (DSA) imaging characteristics of internal carotid arteries, treatment, treatment-related adverse events, and 1-month follow-up vascular events were collected. All patiens were examined by visual acuity, head CT and or magnetic resonance imaging. At the same time, 35 cases of internal carotid artery vascular DSA were examined; 14 cases of head and neck CT angiography were examined. The anatomical variation of the extracranial segment of the internal carotid artery was divided into tortuous, tortuous, and coiled; the aortic arch was divided into type Ⅰ , type Ⅱ , type Ⅲ, and bovine type. Intravenous thrombolysis, arterial thrombolysis, conservative treatment were performed. The follow-up time was1 month after treatment. Functional vision was defined as vision ≥20/100. Vascular events were strokes, cardiovascular events, deaths and neovascular glaucoma during follow-up.Results:Among 49 eyes of 49 cases, 40 eyes were male (81.6%, 40/49), and 9 eyes were female (18.4%, 9/49); the average age was 60.7±12.9 years. There were 33, 17, and 16 cases with hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and cerebrovascular disease, respectively; 27 and 34 cases had a history of smoking and tooth loss, respectively. Taking antihypertensive, hypoglycemic, antiplatelet aggregation/anticoagulation, and hypolipidemic drugs were 15, 5, 8, and 5 patients, respectively. There were 11 cases of transient amaurosis before the onset, and 17 cases of CRAO after waking up. There were 33 cases (67.3%, 33/49) with infarction of the affected side of the brain tissue. DSA was performed in 35 cases, and the stenosis rate of the internal carotid artery on the affected side was 70%-99% and 100% were 3 (8.6%, 3/35) and 4 (11.4%, 4/35) cases, respectively. The ophthalmic artery on the affected side originated from the external carotid artery in 5 cases (14.3%, 5/35). There were 17 (54.8%, 17/31) and 2 (6.5%, 2/31) cases of tortuousity and kinking in the extracranial segment of the internal carotid artery. There were 15 (42.9%, 15/35), 6(17.1%, 6/35), and 2 (5.7%, 2/35) cases of aortic arch type Ⅱ, type Ⅲ, and bovine type, respectively. Intravenous thrombolysis and arterial thrombolysis were performed in 13 and 29 cases, respectively. Complications occurred in 2 cases during treatment; 3 cases of symptoms fluctuated after treatment, and 10 cases of asymptomatic new infarcts occurred in imaging studies. Forty-eight cases were treated with antiplatelet aggregation/anticoagulation and hypolipidemic treatment. At discharge and 1 month after treatment, the recovery of functional vision was 7 and 17 cases, respectively. One month after treatment, 1 case died because myocardial infarction; 2 cases of neovascular glaucoma occurred.Conclusion:The proportion of CRAO patients with vascular risk factors and internal carotid artery abnormalities on the affected side is relatively high; the prognosis is relatively good after intravenous thrombolysis and/or arterial thrombolysis and secondary stroke prevention.

Functional outcome and recurrence 1 year after first-ever ischemic stroke in non-diabetic patients / 国际脑血管病杂志

Objective:To investigate the risk factors for poor outcome and recurrence at 1 year after first-ever ischemic stroke in non-diabetic patients.Methods:Using Xi'an Stroke Registry Research Database, the clinical data of patients with non-diabetic first-ever ischemic stroke diagnosed in 4 tertiary A hospitals in Xi'an from January to December 2015 were collected. The National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) was used to evaluate the severity of stroke. Prognosis (functional outcome and recurrence) was followed up at 1 year after diagnosis. Functional outcome was assessed using the modified Rankin scale. 0-2 was defined as good outcome and >2 as poor outcome. Recurrence was defined as new focal neurological dysfunction caused by cerebral infarction or cerebral hemorrhage events during follow-up and confirmed by cranial CT or MRI. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to identify the independent influencing factors of clinical outcomes at 1 year. Multivariable Cox proportional hazard model was used to identify the independent influencing factors of recurrence within 1 year. Results:A total of 1 214 non-diabetic patients with first-ever ischemic stroke were included. One year follow-up showed that 210 patients (17.3%) had a poor outcome, 88 (7.2%) of them died, and 47 (3.9%) had recurrence. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that age (odds ratio [ OR] 1.065, 95% confidence interval [ CI] 1.042-1.090; P<0.001), atrial fibrillation ( OR 3.170, 95% CI 1.588-6.327; P=0.001), white blood cell count ( OR 1.106, 95% CI 1.006-1.216; P=0 037), baseline NIHSS score ( OR 1.210, 95% CI 1.147-1.277; P<0.001), and stroke associated-pneumonia (SAP; OR 3.677, 95% CI 1.451-9.316; P=0.006) were independently associated with poor outcomes. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis showed that baseline NIHSS score (hazard ratio [ HR] 1.055, 95% CI 1.003-1.109; P=0.036) and SAP ( HR 7.067, 95% CI 3.154-15.836; P<0.001) were independently associated with recurrence. Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis showed that the 1-year recurrence rate of patients with severe stroke was significantly higher than that of patients with mild to moderate stroke (log-rank test, P<0.001), and the 1-year recurrence rate of patients with SAP was significantly higher than that of patients without SAP (log-rank test, P<0.001). Conclusion:Age, atrial fibrillation, white blood cell count, baseline NIHSS score and SAP are the independent predictors of poor outcomes at 1 year after first-ever ischemic stroke in non-diabetic patients. Baseline NIHSS score and SAP are the independent predictors of recurrence within 1 year after first-ever ischemic stroke in non-diabetic patients.

Use of X-Chromosome Inactivation Pattern to Analyze the Clonality of 14 Female Cases of Kaposi Sarcoma.

BACKGROUND: Kaposi sarcoma (KS) has features of both neoplastic growth and hyperplastic proliferation. It is the most common tumor seen in patients with HIV infection. Whether KS is a real tumor or a benign hyperplastic disease is not known. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Tissues from KS and cutaneous hemangioma lesion DNA were extracted, and then digested with methylation-sensitive restriction endonuclease HpaII. Human androgen receptor gene (HUMARA) was amplified with PCR method and the product was separated on 10% denaturing polyacrylamide gels and stained with ethylene dibromide (EB) to show the polymorphism of HUMARA. Phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK) was amplified and the product was digested by BStXI, agarose gel and EB stained to show the polymorphism of PGK. Finally, we analyzed the clonality of KS. RESULTS: In the 14 patients with KS, heterozygosity of the HUMARA gene was observed in 12 (85.7%) cases. Loss of heterozygosity of HUMARA gene on X-chromosome (without HpaII digestion there were 2 bands, after HpaII digestion there were just 1 of the bands), representing monoclonal origin, was present in 11 cases of Kaposi sarcoma. Heterozygosity of the PGK gene was observed in 5 (35.7%) cases, which all represent monoclonal origin. There was no significant difference according to country, stage, or HIV and HHV-8 (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The current findings suggest that Kaposi sarcoma is a clonal neoplasm, not a reactive proliferation.

The diagnostic value of anti-mutated citrullinated vimentin, anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide and glucose-6-phosphateisomierase for rheumatoid arthritis / 中华风湿病学杂志

Objeictivie To investigate the diagnostic value of anti-mutated citrullinated vimentin (anti-MCV) antibody, anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) antibodies and glucose-6-phospha-teisomerase (GP1) for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods Anti-MCV antibody, GPI and anti-CCP antibody were detected in serum samples of 109 RA patients, 24 non-RA rheumatic diseases patients and 19 healthy blood donors. The sensitivity and specificity of these parameters for the diagnosis of RA were analyzed. Results Both the positive rate and average cut off concentration of anti-MCV and GPI in RA were higher than those of non-RA rheumatic diseases or healthy controls (P<0.05). A significant difference was found between anti-MCV and GPI in RA patients. The most sensitive and specific parameter in RA was anti-MCV (99.1%) and anti-CCP (90.7%) respectively, but, when anti-MCV combined with anti-CCP, or GPI or anti-CCP and GPI, the specificity could be up to 98.1%. Coniclusions Anti-MCV, anti-CCP and GPI alone or in combination may be valuable parameters for the diagnosis of RA.