Absence of FGFR3–TACC3 rearrangement in hematological malignancies with numerical chromosomal alteration

FGFR–TACC, found in different tumor types, is characterized by the fusion of a member of fibroblast grown factor receptor (FGFR) tyrosine kinase (TK) family to a member of the transforming acidic coiled-coil (TACC) proteins. Because chromosome numerical alterations, hallmarks of FGFR–TACC fusions are present in many hematological disorders and there are no data on the prevalence, we studied a series of patients with acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome who presented numerical alterations using cytogenetic traditional analysis. None of the analyzed samples showed FGFR3–TACC3 gene fusion, so screening for this mutation at diagnosis is not recommended.     

Acute sensorineural hearing loss in hemodialysis patients

Abstract

Background: Approximately, 30–40% of patients experienced hearing loss under regular hemodialysis.

Objective: This study reviewed our experience on treating acute hearing loss in patients under regular hemodialysis over the past two decades.

Methods: Twenty-six patients having acute hearing loss under hemodialysis were divided into two groups based on their etiologies. Sixteen patients (16 ears) with sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL) were assigned to Group A and 10 patients (13 ears) with endolymphatic hydrops (EH) were assigned to Group B.

Results: No significant difference was noted between Groups A and B, regardless of hemodialysis duration, clinical manifestation, underlying systemic diseases, blood examination, and vestibular test battery. In contrast, serum osmolality was significantly lower in Group B (292?±?11 mOsm/kg) than in Group A (310?±?11 mOsm/kg). Furthermore, Group B (40?±?14?dB) had better mean hearing level than Group A (87?±?21?dB) in the initial audiogram, and a higher hearing improvement rate (69%) than Group A (19%).

Conclusions and significance: Both SSHL and EH are major causes for precipitating acute hearing loss in hemodialysis patients. Compared to SSHL, the less deteriorated MHL and lower serum osmolality in EH provide two clues for differentiating acute hearing loss in hemodialysis patients.     

急性CO中毒迟发性脑病患者早期血浆HMGB1的表达与预后

目的：探讨急性一氧化碳(CO）中毒迟发性脑病患者血浆高迁移率族蛋白B1(HMGB1）的表达与预后。方法回顾性分析2012年1月—2015年1月该院接收的最终确诊为急性CO中毒迟发性脑病患者10例，另选取同时期内急性CO中毒患者10例以及健康体检者10例作为对照组。分别对各组患者的血浆HMGB1水平进行检测。另外，分别采用日常生活能力量表(ADL）、常识-记忆-注意测验(IMCT）、长谷川痴呆量表(HDS）分析急性CO中毒迟发性脑病患者血浆HMGB1水平变化及与量表评分之间的关系。结果 CO中毒迟发性脑病患者急性期血浆HMGB1水平为(14.23±10.32）ng/mL，明显高于恢复期的(7.93±4.99）ng/mL，差异有统计学意义(t=2.653，P<0.05）；CO中毒迟发性脑病组急性期、恢复期血浆HMGBl水平与HDS以及ADL评分呈现显著正相关(r=0.610；r=0.605；r=0.607；r=0.610,P<0.05）。结论HMGBl参与急性CO中毒迟发性脑病的炎症反应前过程，且与HDS以及ADL评分呈正相关。     

脑心通胶囊治疗脑梗死合并心肌缺血的多中心非随机临床对照试验

目的：观察脑心通胶囊（步长制药）治疗脑梗死合并心肌缺血患者的临床疗效。方法选取2013年10月至2014年12月北京21所医院神经内科收治的符合入组条件的急性脑梗死伴心肌缺血患者，非随机分为脑心通组（基础治疗基础上加用步长脑心通胶囊）和对照组（仅基础治疗）。对比分析第4周、8周、12周时2组心电图变化以及使用NIHSS和改良mRankin评估第12周时神经功能变化。结果入组544例，剔除16例（不良事件2例、自动放弃1例、违背规则1例、失访6例、其他6例），实际完成试验528例（包含测量资料缺失病例），其中脑心通组291例，对照组237例。心肌缺血改善的有效率脑心通组和对照组第4周差异无统计学意义（18．1％、14．9％， P ＝0．704）；但第8周（27．7％、14．3％， P ＝0．001）和第12周（31．3％、16．9％，P ＜0．01）差异有统计学意义（ P ＜0．05）。第12周时NIHSS减少≥2分脑心通组（77．7％）明显高于对照组（68．4％）（ P ＜0．05），mRankin 减少≥1分脑心通组（67．7％）显著高于对照组（56．1％）（ P ＜0．05）。多因素分析心电图改善的独立影响因素是脑心通（ P ＝0．005）和第12周时AST的降低（ P ＝00．47）；神经功能改善的影响因素包括脑心通治疗、基线收缩压和肌酐水平、既往心脏病或高脂血症病史。结论脑心通胶囊联合基础治疗对脑梗死合并心肌缺血临床疗效确切。     

Intravenous Thrombolysis Is Safe and Effective for the Cryptogenic Stroke in China: Data From the Thrombolysis Implementation and Monitor of Acute Ischemic Stroke in China (TIMS-China)

Background

The intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) therapy is safe and efficient during the treatment of acute ischemic stroke. Nonetheless, the different outcomes among various stroke subgroups have limited data with regard to the safety and efficacy of cryptogenic stroke (CS). The present study compared the safety and efficacy when IVT with rt-PA was used for the treatment of CS and the other stroke subtypes.

Recipient hypertonic saline infusion prevents cardiac allograft dysfunction

Objective

Hypertonic saline (HTS) has potent immune and vascular effects. We assessed recipient pretreatment with HTS on allograft function in a porcine model of heart transplantation and hypothesized that HTS infusion would limit endothelial and left ventricular (LV) dysfunction following transplantation.

Drug discovery strategies for acute radiation syndrome

Introduction: There are at the minimum two major, quite different approaches to advance drug discovery. The first being the target-based drug discovery (TBDD) approach that is commonly referred to as the molecular approach. The second approach is the phenotype-based drug discovery (PBDD), also known as physiology-based drug discovery or empirical approach.

Area covered: The authors discuss, herein, the need for developing radiation countermeasure agents for various sub-syndromes of acute radiation syndromes (ARS) following TBDD and PBDD approaches. With time and continuous advances in radiation countermeasure drug development research, the expectation is to have multiple radiation countermeasure agents for each sub-syndrome made available to radiation exposed victims.

Expert opinion: The majority of the countermeasures currently being developed for ARS employ the PBDD approach, while the TBDD approach is clearly under-utilized. In the future, an improved drug development strategy might be a ‘hybrid’ strategy that is more reliant on TBDD for the initial drug discovery via large-scale screening of potential candidate agents, while utilizing PBDD for secondary screening of those candidates, followed by tertiary analytics phase in order to pinpoint efficacious candidates that target the specific sub-syndromes of ARS.     

The relationships among monocyte subsets,miRNAs and inflammatory cytokines in patients with acute myocardial infarction

Background

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) causes irreversible myocardial damage and release of inflammatory mediators, including cytokines, chemokines and miRNAs. We aimed to investigate changes in the levels of cytokines (IL-6, TNF-α and IL-10), miRNAs profiles (miR-146 and miR-155) and distribution of different monocyte subsets (CD14++CD16-, CD14++CD16+, CD14+CD16++) in the acute and post-healing phases of AMI.