Thromboelastography (TEG) in normal pregnancy and its diagnostic efficacy in patients with gestational hypertension,gestational diabetes mellitus,or preeclampsia

BackgroundThromboelastography (TEG) provides global assessment of hemostatic function and has been recommended to monitor potential coagulopathies during pregnancy in which hypercoagulable state is favored. In present study, we established the reference intervals (RIs) of the TEG parameters (R, K, MA, and α‐angle) with Chinese pregnant women of third trimester. In addition, we examined the diagnostic efficacies of the TEG parameters in the patients diagnosed of gestational hypertension (GH), gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), or preeclampsia (PE).MethodsWith specified including and excluding criteria, non‐pregnant controls, healthy pregnant women, and pregnant women with GH, GDM, or PE had their venous blood drawn at Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, followed by TEG tests performed in the clinical laboratory.ResultsThe RIs determined with the healthy pregnant women (in third trimester) for R, K, MA, and α‐angle were 4.0‐7.7, 1.2‐3.2, 51.9‐70.1, and 41.4‐74.4, respectively. When compared with the healthy pregnancy group, the K value was significantly decreased in GH patients but increased in PE patients; MA was significantly lower in the PE group. In the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analyses, K value was able to efficiently distinguish normal pregnancy from the GH patients, with an AUC of 0.86 which is far better than those of R (AUC = 0.57) and MA (AUC = 0.56). For the PE patients, the AUC of MA (0.69) was significantly greater than that of R (0.50).ConclusionsThromboelastography may provide more accurate experimental basis for monitoring coagulation functions especially in pregnant women with complications of GH and PE.     

呼吸科住院患者抗生素药物相关腹泻风险预测模型的构建及验证

目的 通过分析呼吸科住院患者抗生素药物相关腹泻的危险因素,建立并验证呼吸科住院患者抗生素药物相关腹泻风险的列线图模型。 方法 纳入2019年1月—9月于北京市某三级甲等医院呼吸科病房住院使用抗生素治疗的患者291例并收集临床资料。应用Logistic回归模型分析呼吸科住院患者抗生素药物相关腹泻的独立危险因素。应用R软件构建预测呼吸科住院患者抗生素药物相关腹泻风险的列线图模型,并进行验证。 结果 Logistic回归分析显示,大便潜血[OR=4.517,95%CI（1.440~14.163）]、体重指数[OR=0.834,95%CI（0.735~0.947）]、血红蛋白浓度[OR=0.970,95%CI（0.946~0.994）]、院前使用抗生素[OR=2.957,95%CI（1.076~8.130）]及使用抗生素种类[OR=2.148,95%CI（1.146~4.026）]是呼吸科住院患者抗生素药物相关腹泻的独立危险因素（P<0.05）。对列线图模型进行验证,ROC曲线显示该模型预测呼吸科住院患者抗生素药物相关腹泻的风险曲线下面积为0.779;校准曲线为斜率接近于1的直线,Hosmer-Lemeshow拟合优度检验（ χ²=1.413,P=0.994）均显示该模型能够较准确地预测呼吸科住院患者抗生素药物相关腹泻的风险。结论 该研究基于大便潜血、院前使用抗生素、体重指数、血红蛋白浓度、使用抗生素种类数这5项抗生素药物相关腹泻发生的独立危险因素,构建的列线图模型具有良好的区分度与准确度,可为临床个体化预测抗生素药物相关腹泻发生风险提供参考。     

Magnetic resonance black-blood thrombus imaging can confirm chronic cerebral venous thrombosis: a case report and literature review

BackgroundCerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) is easily missed or misdiagnosed in clinical settings because of its high variability in terms of symptoms and radiological findings. Herein, we aimed to explore a promising modality for confirming presumed CVT in the hope to uncover its superior diagnostic performance to conventional imaging modalities.Case presentation: The patient complained of intolerable pain in her forehead and left eye. Her lumbar puncture opening pressure was 140 mmH₂O, and her cerebrospinal fluid composition was normal. No marked abnormalities were observed in routine brain images, including non-contrast computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance venography. However, chronic mural thrombi in the lumen of the left cortical veins, transverse/sigmoid sinus, and superior sagittal sinus were identified in magnetic resonance black-blood thrombus imaging (MRBTI) maps.ConclusionsMRBTI can be used to directly and non-invasively visualize thrombi, and may thus be a promising tool over alternative routine techniques for confirming the diagnosis of CVT.     

Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis due to external compression of internal jugular vein

Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) is a special subtype of stroke that may be life-threatening in severe cases. CVST has distinct risk factors and is frequently overlooked because of its initially nonspecific clinical presentation. We herein describe a 72-year-old man who developed CVST in the right lateral sinus. Despite the absence of common risk factors in this patient, he developed external compression of the bilateral internal jugular veins by a lateral mass of the C1 vertebra and expansion of the carotid artery. Because of his elevated D-dimer and fibrinogen concentrations, which are associated with ongoing activation of the coagulation system, the patient underwent treatment with batroxobin combined with anticoagulation. Recanalization of the sinus was achieved, and his high intracranial pressure and papilledema remarkably decreased. We conclude that external compression of the internal jugular veins, which can be identified with three-dimensional computed tomography venography, may be an important risk factor for CVST.     

Clinical outcomes and survival analysis in patients with psycho-cardiological disease: a retrospective analysis of 132 cases

ObjectivesThe deleterious effects of psychological problems on coronary heart disease (CHD) are not satisfactorily explained. We explored influential factors associated with mortality in psycho-cardiological disease in a Chinese sample.MethodsOf 7460 cardiac patients, we selected 132 patients with CHD and mental illness. Follow-up was conducted via telephone. We analyzed clinical characteristics, clinical outcomes, and survival.ResultsThe clinical detection rate of psycho-cardiological disease in the overall patient population was 1.8%. Of these, 113 patients completed follow-up; 18 died owing to cardiovascular diseases during follow-up. Kaplan–Meier analysis showed dysphagia, limb function, self-care ability, percutaneous coronary intervention, low-density lipoprotein, total cholesterol, pro-brain natriuretic peptide and high-sensitivity (hs) troponin T had significant associations with cumulative survival. Cox regression analysis showed total cholesterol (hazard ratio [HR]: 2.765, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.001–7.641), hs troponin T (HR: 4.668, 95% CI: 1.293–16.854), and percutaneous coronary intervention (HR: 3.619, 95% CI: 1.383–9.474) were independently associated with cumulative survival.ConclusionsThe clinical detection rate of psycho-cardiological disease was far lower than expected. Normal total cholesterol and hs troponin T were associated with reduced cardiovascular disease mortality over 2 years. Percutaneous coronary intervention is a prognostic risk factor in patients with psycho-cardiological disease.     

A Comparative Study of Anti-Gastric Cancer Activity Between Aqueous Extract and Ethanol Extract of Folium Cordylines Fruticosae

The active components in Folium Cordylines Fruticosae were extracted by heat reflux method. The solvents used were distilled water and ethanol. The effects of two types of extracts on gastric cancer cells were compared; dry extract yields were calculated, as well as the inhibition rates of gastric cancer MGC-803 cell proliferation and the colony cell counts. The micro-Kjeldahl method was used to measure the cell protein contents and to make a comprehensive comparison. The results showed that the MGC-803 cell inhibition rates of three different concentrations (32.5, 75 and 150 mg/ml) of ethanol extracts increased with the increase of concentration, which was 48.9% at a concentration of 150 mg/ml; aqueous extract of Folium Cordylines Fruticosae had very low inhibitory activity at a low concentration (32.5 mg/ml), which was remained at about 20%. After being affected by two types of extracts, cells had uneven sizes, with very low brightness, while the normal cells presented a uniform full form, with high definition.     

Functional changes in regulatory T cells during an experimental infection with sparganum (plerocercofid of Spirometra mansoni)

Regulatory T (Treg) cells are important in the regulation of immune response, but the exact regulation of Treg‐cell function in vivo is still not well known. In the present study, we investigated the functional activity of CD4⁺ CD25⁺ Treg cells as well as the frequency and number of CD4⁺ CD25⁺ FoxP3⁺ Treg cells in the spleens of experimentally infected mice with a tissue‐migrating parasite, sparganum (plerocercoid of Spirometra mansoni) for 3 weeks. The results demonstrated fluctuations in the Treg‐cell function during the parasite infection, being up‐regulated at day 3, down‐regulated until day 14, and thereafter up‐regulated again at day 21. We also investigated the cytokine‐producing capability of the splenocytes to study the pattern of immune response of the mice to the parasite. The results showed decreased capabilities of interleukin‐2 (IL‐2), interferon‐γ (IFN‐γ) and IL‐17α production, whereas IL‐4‐producing and IL‐10‐producing capabilities were increased along with the parasitic infection. Meanwhile, IL‐6‐producing capability was increased to reach a peak at week 2, and thereafter was decreased to the baseline level. As a regulatory mechanism, we found that Treg‐cell function was attenuated in the presence of the crude extracts of sparganum, but was enhanced in the presence of the excretory–secretory products, suggesting that sparganum products were involved in the triggering and regulation of immune response in the acute and chronic phases, respectively. Results show that Treg cells are central in the immune homeostasis in vivo that is maintained by host–parasite interactions during the parasitic infection.     

Adipose tissue-derived stem cells promote pancreatic cancer cell proliferation and invasion

To explore the effects of adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ADSCs) on the proliferation and invasion of pancreatic cancer cells in vitro and the possible mechanism involved, ADSCs were cocultured with pancreatic cancer cells, and a cell counting kit (CCK-8) was used to detect the proliferation of pancreatic cancer cells. ELISA was used to determine the concentration of stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1) in the supernatants. RT-PCR was performed to detect the expression of the chemokine receptor CXCR4 in pancreatic cancer cells and ADSCs. An in vitro invasion assay was used to measure invasion of pancreatic cancer cells. SDF-1 was detected in the supernatants of ADSCs, but not in pancreatic cancer cells. Higher CXCR4 mRNA levels were detected in the pancreatic cancer cell lines compared with ADSCs (109.3±10.7 and 97.6±7.6 vs 18.3±1.7, respectively; P<0.01). In addition, conditioned medium from ADSCs promoted the proliferation and invasion of pancreatic cancer cells, and AMD3100, a CXCR4 antagonist, significantly downregulated these growth-promoting effects. We conclude that ADSCs can promote the proliferation and invasion of pancreatic cancer cells, which may involve the SDF-1/CXCR4 axis.