Acute kidney injury (AKI) is characterized by a rapid decrease in renal function caused by different etiologies and can involve multiple organs and systems. AKI is a potentially reversible disease. However, it can also progress to chronic kidney disease (CKD) without proper treatment. The concept of acute kidney disease (AKD) is recently recommended as a derivative between AKI and CKD. At present, AKI still lacks specific drug treatment; therefore prevention and early diagnosis are crucial in AKI management. Due to the heterogeneity of the pathogenesis, the epidemiological features of AKI vary across nations and regions, so the strategies for prevention and control are different. This papers reports new progress of epidemiological features of AKI in different countries, so as to provide reference for assessing the disease burden and formulating public health policies.
Objective To discuss the correlation between immune status and clinical characteristics in pulmonary cryptococcosis. Methods The clinical data of 32 non-AIDS patients with pulmonary cryptococcosis, diagnosed from August 2001 to October 2017 in Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, were retrospectively analyzed. The enrolled patients were divided into an immune-competent group with 13 cases and an immune-suppressed group with 19 cases. The clinical characteristics were compared between the two groups with different immune status. Results All 32 patients were treated for clinical symptoms. The main symptoms were cough, expectoration, fever, chest tightness, chest pain, and hemoptysis. There were no statistical differences between the two groups. The computed tomography of chest showed that there were 2 patients (6.3%) involving upper lung in the immune-competent group, and 5 patients (15.6%) in the immune-suppressed group. There were 9 patients (28.1%) involving lower lung in the immune-competent group, and 12 patients (37.5%) in the immune-suppressed group. There were 10 patients (31.3%) with nodular masses of lesions in the immune-competent group and none in the immune-suppressed group. There was 1 patient with infiltrating in the immune-competent group and 8 patients in the immune-suppressed group. There were 2 patients with mixed types of lesions in the immune-competent group and 11 patients in the immune-suppressed group. Five patients were complicated with cryptococcal meningitis, and 2 patients with eosinophilia. Conclusions The clinical characteristics of the patients with pulmonary cryptococcosis are not specific in difference immune status. The chest CT shows that the lesions of immune-competent patients are mainly nodular masses type, while lesions of immune-suppressed patients are mainly infiltrating shadow and mixed shadow. The treatment should be chose according to immune status.
Objective To investigate the value of procalcitonin (PCT) at admission for severity stratificaton and prognosis prediction of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), and assess the ability of the combination of PCT and the validated pneumonia risk scores (PSI and CURB-65) for predicting 30-day mortality. Methods A retrospective study was performed in 150 hospitalized CAP patients admitted in the Department of Respiratory Medicine of General Hospital of Tianjin Medical University between March 2015 and March 2016. The primary end point for this study was mortality within 30 days. Sensitivity (SEN), specificity (SPE), positive and negative predictive value (PPV, NPV) of PCT for assessing mortality was calculated and compared to validated pneumonia risk scores. Results In the 150 CAP patients enrolled, there were 77 males and 73 females with an average age of 58.4±16.3 years. Twelve (8%) patients died within 30 days. The non-survivors had significantly higher median PCT level (4.25 ng/mlvs. 0.24 ng/ml) and C-reactive protein (CRP) level (14.60 mg/dlvs. 5.10 mg/dl) compared with the survivors. The median PCT level was significantly higher in the patients with more severe disease assessed by two risk scoring systems. Combination of PCT with risk scores can improve prognostic value for predicting 30-day mortality of CAP. Conclusions The level of PCT at admission is more useful than the traditional biomarkers for the severity stratification and prognosis prediction of CAP. It can well determine patients at low risk of mortality from CAP. There is no advantage of PCT compared to PSI or CURB-65, so we recommend combination of PCT to risk sores to predict 30-day mortality of CAP.
ObjectiveTo evaluate the diagnostic value of monitoring 1,3-beta-D-glucan (G test) in patients with autoimmune disease complicated with invasive fungal disease (IFD). MethodsA retrospective study was performed in hospitalized patients in the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou Universisty who were diagnosed as autoimmune disease with lung infection during the immunosuppressive therapy between January 2014 and January 2016. A total of 372 patients were enrolled in this study. All subjects were classified according to the 2006 diagnostic criteria and treatment of invasive pulmonaary fungal infection, with serum 1,3-β-D-glucan results not included in the diagnosis. There were 18 cases with proven IFD, 35 cases with probable IFD, and 70 ceses with possible IFD. Fifty-three patients with proven IFD or probable IFD were as a case group, and another 249 patients with no evidence for IFD were as a control group. The value of the G test for diagnosis of automimmune disease with IFD was analyzed by ROC curve. ResultsThe serum 1,3-β-D-glucan level was significantly higher in the case group when compared with the control group [median (interquartile range): 135.0 (63.1 to 319.0) pg/ml vs. 75.9 (41.2 to 88.1) pg/ml, P<0.05]. When the cut-off value of serum 1,3-β-D-glucan level was set at 93.8 pg/ml, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value for diagnosis of autoimmune disease with IFD were 0.65 (95% CI 0.56 to 0.73), 0.87 (95% CI 0.83 to 0.92), 0.70 (95% CI 0.64 to 0.81), and 0.83 (95% CI 0.79 to 0.88), respectively. ConclusionThe 1,3-beta-D-glucan test is a valuable method for diagnosis of IFD in patients with autoimmune disease.
Objective To detect expression of miR-483-5p in surem of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and investigate it’s clinical significance for diagnosis of HCC. Methods The rerum samples of 112 patients with HCC (HCC group), 85 patients with chronic viral hepatitis B (CHB group), and 56 healthy people for physical examination (healthy control group) were collected from January 2010 to January 2012 in the First Hospital of Lanzhou University. According to the results of preliminary chip detection of miRCURY LNATM miRNA, the real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR was adopted to quantitate the serum levels of miR-483-5p and miR-500a and the routine electrochemical method was used to detect the serum alpha fetoprotein (AFP) in every group. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was utilized to analyze the diagnostic values of serum miR-483-5p, miR-500a, and AFP for the HCC. Results The serum levels of miR-483-5p and miR-500a in the HCC group were significantly higher than those of the CHB and healthy control groups (both P<0.000 1), which had no significant differences between the CHB group and the healthy control group (P>0.05). The serum miR-483-5p level of the HCC patient decreased markedly at the postoperative 30 d (P<0.000 1) as compared with the preoperative level. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) of miR-483-5p, miR-500a, AFP, or miR-483-5p in combination with AFP for the diagnosis of the HCC was 0.74 (cutoff value=2.842, sensitivity=74% and specificity=66%), 0.66 (cutoff value=1.830, sensitivity=74% and specificity=51%), 0.81 (cutoff value=20 μg/L, sensitivity=78% and specificity=70%), and 0.92 (cutoff value=3.78, sensitivity=81% and specificity=83%), respectively. The AUC values of miR-483-5p in the diagnosis of the HCC patients with positive AFP (AFP>20 μg/L) and negative AFP (0–20 μg/L) were 0.78 and 0.83, respectively. Conclusions Serum miR-483-5p highly expresses in HCC, which has a certain accuracy in diagnosis of HCC, it combined with AFP could further increase its diagnostic value. Serum miR-483-5p might play an important supplemental role in diagnosis of HCC patient with negative AFP.
Objective To discuss the clinical characteristics, mechanism, and treatment of odontoid fracture combined with lower cervical spinal cord injuries without fracture or dislocation. Methods According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 7 male patients aged 37-71 years (mean, 51.4 years), suffered from odontoid fractures combined with lower cervical spinal cord injuries without fracture or dislocation were analyzed retrospectively between June 2007 and October 2015. The trauma causes were traffic accidents in 2 cases, fall in 2 cases, and hit injury in 3 cases. The time from injury to admission was 2 hours to 3 days with an average of 9 hours. According to Anderson-Grauer classification of odontoid fracture, 1 case of type IIA, 3 cases of type IIB, 2 cases of type IIC, and 1 case of shallow type III were found. The cervical spinal cord injuries affected segments included C4, 5 in 1 case, C4–6 in 2 cases, and C5–7 in 4 cases. All the cervical spine had different degenerative changes: 2 of mild, 3 of moderate, and 2 of severe. The lower cervical spinal cord injury was assessed by Sub-axial Injury Classification (SLIC) with scoring of 4-6 (mean, 5.1). The visual analogue scale (VAS) score was used to evaluate the occipital neck pain with scoring of 7.8±1.0; the neurological function was assessed by American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) as grade B in 1 case, grade C in 4 cases, and grade D in 2 cases; and Japanese Orthopedic Association score (JOA) was 9.2±3.9. For the odontoid fractures, 4 cases were fixed with anterior screw while the others were fixed with posterior atlantoaxial fixation and fusion. For the lower cervical spine, 4 cases were carried out with anterior cervical corpectomy and titanium fusion while the others with anterior cervical disecotomy and Cage fusion. Results The operation time was 178-252 minutes (mean, 210.2 minutes); the intraoperative blood loss was 60-140 mL (mean, 96.5 mL) and with no blood transfusion. All incisions healed primarily. All the patients were followed up 12-66 months (mean, 18 months). There was no direct surgical related complications during operation, and all bone grafting got a fusion at 6-9 months (mean, 7.7 months) after operation. There was no inter-fixation failure or loosening. At last follow-up, the VAS score declined to 1.7±0.7 and JOA score improved to 15.1±1.7, showing significant differences when compared with preoperative ones (t=18.064, P=0.000; t=–7.066, P=0.000). The neurological function of ASIA grade were also improved to grade D in 5 cases and grade E in 2 cases, showing significant difference (Z=–2.530, P=0.011). Conclusion Complex forces and degeneration of lower cervical spine were main reasons of odontoid fracture combined with lower cervical spinal cord injuries without fracture or dislocation. The type of odontoid fracture and neurological deficit status of lower cervical spinal cord were important to guide making strategy of one-stage operation with a satisfactory clinic outcome.
Objective To summarize research progress of the mechanism of natural killer cells (NK cells) acted in regulating the T cell immunity in chronic infectious disease. Method Literatures about recent studies concerning how NK cells act as a regulator for T cells in chronic infectious disease were reviewed according to the results obtained from PubMed, Embase, CNKI, CBM, and Wanfang databases. Results NK cells that acted as regulators of T cell immunity could affect T cell immune responses through influencing antigen presentation, secreting cytokine, and presenting lytic activities, thus playing an important role in the immunological therapy of chronic infectious diseases. Conclusion NK cells are critical for T cell immune regulation, which could provide noval strategies for immunological therapy of chronic infectious disease, transplantation-related immune rejection, and autoimmune disease.
Objective To develope a novel rabbit carotid body and carotid common artery model in vivo for the simulation of various intermittent hypoxia ( IH) intensities, IH durations, IH reoxygenation ( ROX) durations and continuous hypoxia ( CH) modes. Methods Forty-five adult New Zealand rabbits ( 2. 5-3. 0 kg) were anesthetized while spontaneous breathing kept intact. The tissue surrounding the right carotid common artery and carotid sinus nerve ( CSN) were cleared and " single" chemoreceptor bundle of the CSN was revealed. Then suction electrodes were placed and CSN afferent activity was monitored and recorded carefully. The right common carotid artery was exposed, cannulated to distal part and its proximal part was ligated. Preparations were challenged by changing the PO2 of the gas mixture equilibrating the perfusate. Alternatively perfusion ( 2 mL/min) of equilibrated perfusate bubbled with normoxia or hypoxia gas mixtures formed IH/ROX cycles in carotid common artery, simulating the pattern of hypoxic episodes seen in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome ( OSAS) , or with continuously perfusing hypoxia perfusate to form CH modes. All the perfusing procedures were regulated by a customized computer-controlled set and monitored using O2 gas analyzer. After the systematic exposures, carotid body, carotid common artery part distal to cannula, and carotid bifurcation were harvested as samples. Results The frequencies and average amplitudes of CSN chemoreceptor bundles afferent activities with normoxia perfusion were ( 0. 17 ±0. 03) impulse/ s and ( 46. 2 ±4. 4) μV, and with hypoxia perfusion were ( 0. 64 ±0. 09) impulse/ s and ( 87. 4 ±6. 6) μV, respectively. PO2 was ( 139 ±1. 5) mm Hg in normoxia perfusate and ( 35. 2 ±1. 3) mm Hg in hypoxia perfusate. Conclusion This new carotid body and carotid common arterymodel is a valuable tool to study neurological and biochemical changes in various IH and CH modes.
Objective To compare the perioperative results between uniportal and three-portal thoracoscopic lobectomy for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods Electronic databases including PubMed, Web of Science, EMbase, CNKI, Wanfang were systematically searched from the establishment of each database until April 2022. Literature screening, data extraction and bias risk assessment were independently conducted by two researchers. All combined results were performed by RevMan 5.3 and Stata 16.0. The quality of the literature and the risk of bias were evaluated using the Cochrane Bias Risk Assessment Tool. Results Eighteen eligible randomized controlled trials (1 597 patients) were identified eventually, including 800 patients undergoing uniportal thoracoscopic lobectomy and 797 patients undergoing three-portal thoracoscopic lobectomy. Meta-analysis results showed that compared to the three-portal approach, uniportal lobectomy took longer operation time (WMD=7.63, 95%CI 2.36 to 12.91, P=0.005) with less intraoperative blood loss (WMD=–28.81, 95%CI –42.54 to –15.08, P<0.001). Furthermore, patients undergoing uniportal lobectomy achieved lower visual analogue score within 24 hours after the operation (WMD=–1.60, 95%CI –2.26 to –0.94, P<0.001), less volume of drainage after the operation (WMD=–25.30, 95%CI –46.22 to –4.37, P=0.020), as well as shorter drainage duration (WMD=–0.36, 95%CI –0.72 to –0.01, P=0.040). Besides, patients undergoing uniportal lobectomy were also observed with shorter length of hospital stay (WMD=–2.28, 95%CI –2.68 to –1.88, P<0.001) and lower incidence of postoperative complications (RR=0.49, 95%CI 0.38 to 0.63, P<0.001). However, the number of lymph nodes harvested during the operation (WMD=–0.01, 95%CI –0.24 to 0.21, P=0.930) was similar between the two groups. Conclusion Both uniportal and three-portal thoracoscopic lobectomy for NSCLC are safe and feasible. The uniportal approach is superior in reducing short-term postoperative pain, postoperative complications and shortening the length of hospital stay.