Left ventricular and atrial strain imaging with cardiac computed tomography: Validation against echocardiography

BackgroundData on left ventricular (LV) deformation imaging using CT angiography (CTA) are scarce and the feasibility of atrial deformation analysis by CT has not been addressed. We aimed to compare 2D echocardiographic and CT derived LV and left atrial (LA) global longitudinal strain (GLS) obtained by using a novel feature tracking algorithm in patients following transcatheter aortic valve implantation.MethodsTwenty-eight patients were included who underwent retrospectively-gated 256-slice CTA and speckle-tracking echocardiography (STE) on the same day. CT datasets in 10% increments were reconstructed throughout the cardiac cycle. LV GLS and LA global peak reservoir strain (LA GS) was measured.ResultsMedian absolute values for LV GLS were 19.9 [14.8–22.4] vs. 19.9 [16.8–24.7], as measured by CT vs STE, respectively (p = 0.017). We found good inter-modality correlation for LV GLS (ρ = 0.78, p < 0.05) with a mean bias of −1.6. Regarding atrial measurements, the median LA GS was 19.0 [13.5–27.3] for CT vs. 28.0 [17.5–32.6] for STE (p < 0.001) with a mean bias of −5.6 between CT and STE and a correlation coefficient of ρ = 0.87, p < 0.001. CT measurements were highly reproducible: intra-observer intra-class correlation coefficient was 0.96 for LV GLS and 0.95 for LA GS.ConclusionWe detected good correlation between CTA and echocardiography-based LV and LA longitudinal strain parameters. CTA provides accurate strain measurements with high reproducibility. Feature tracking-based deformation analysis could provide a clinically important addition to CT examinations by complementing anatomical information with functional data.     

普通变异型免疫缺陷病合并肝硬化1例并文献复习

目的:讨论普通变异型免疫缺陷病(common variable immunodeficiency disease,CVID)的发病机制、临床表现及治疗方法。方法:报道1例普通变异型免疫缺陷病合并肝硬化患者并复习相关文献。结果:普通变异型免疫缺陷病是临床少见病,易误诊,病因不清,临床表现复杂,部分患者病程中可出现肝功能异常,甚至并发肝硬化。结论:临床反复感染的患者应考虑CVID的可能,须进一步作血浆免疫球蛋白的检测确诊。对已经确诊患者定期补充静脉丙种球蛋白,同时还应定期检查肝功能。     

Measuring the appropriateness of carbamazepine and valproic acid prescribing and utilization using a newly implemented online system in the Tabuk Region of Saudi Arabia

Epilepsy is a common neurologic disorder, which is efficiently treated with carbamazepine and valproic acid. Moreover, Saudi Ministry of Health implemented a new E-system for Poison Control Centers called Awtar to enhance technology utilization in ensuring patients’ satisfaction and to improve treatment outcomes. Therefore, we conducted this study to assess appropriateness of indication of requests and therapeutic levels of carbamazepine and valproic acid in Tabuk area, North West Saudi Arabia. This is a retrospective observational study conducted in Poison Control & Forensic Chemistry Center, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. Patients’ data were obtained for years 2018 and 2019. The blood levels of carbamazepine and valproic acid were measured by Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) Unit. We selected patients treated with either valproic acid or carbamazepine alone without any history of drug allergy. Data of 264 patients were extracted from Awtar E-system. Serum carbamazepine levels were within therapeutic range in 114 patients (75.50%), above-therapeutic range in 13 patients (8.61%) and sub-therapeutic levels in 24 patients (15.89%). Regarding serum valproic acid, it is within therapeutic range in 62 patients (54.87%), above-therapeutic range in 11 patients (9.73%) and sub-therapeutic levels in 40 patients (35.40%). In conclusion, this study gives information about partial appropriateness of usage of carbamazepine and low level of appropriateness of valproic acid. However, more efforts are needed to improve results of appropriateness of indication of antiepileptic drugs.     

Macroporous thin membranes for cell transplant in regenerative medicine

The aim of this paper is to present a method to produce macroporous thin membranes made of poly (ethyl acrylate-co-hydroxyethyl acrylate) copolymer network with varying cross-linking density for cell transplantation and prosthesis fabrication. The manufacture process is based on template techniques and anisotropic pore collapse. Pore collapse was produced by swelling the membrane in acetone and subsequently drying and changing the solvent by water to produce 100 microns thick porous membranes. These very thin membranes are porous enough to hold cells to be transplanted to the organism or to be colonized by ingrowth from neighboring tissues in the organism, and they present sufficient tearing stress to be sutured with surgical thread. The obtained pore morphology was observed by Scanning Electron Microscope, and confocal laser microscopy. Mechanical properties were characterized by stress–strain experiments in tension and tearing strength measurements. Morphology and mechanical properties were related to the different initial thickness of the scaffold and the cross-linking density of the polymer network. Seeding efficiency and proliferation of mesenchymal stem cells inside the pore structure were determined at 2 h, 1, 7, 14 and 21 days from seeding.     

中医药对淋巴管新生与回流功能的作用研究进展＊

淋巴管作为循环系统的重要组成部分之一，具有调节机体体液稳态，协助免疫监视和肠道脂质吸收等重要作用。淋巴管新生是机体生理和病理过程中维持脉管系统结构和功能正常的重要手段，淋巴管新生调控对于防治肿瘤、心血管等诸多疾病有着潜在的临床转化意义；淋巴回流功能则与关节炎症等疾病发病机制关系密切。在循环系统中，相较于中医药调控血管相关疾病的发病机制已取得很大进展，近年来对于淋巴管的研究则明显相对滞后。本文从中医药作用于淋巴管新生及回流功能角度对这一领域的研究进展作一综述，以期为临床上中医药治疗相关疾病提供新的思路与方法。     

Redox active or thiol reactive? Optimization of rapid screens to identify less evident nuisance compounds

Compounds that exhibit assay interference or undesirable mechanisms of bioactivity are routinely encountered in assays at various stages of drug discovery. We observed that assays for the investigation of thiol-reactive and redox-active compounds have not been collected in a comprehensive review. Here, we review these assays and subject them to experimental optimization to improve their reliability. We demonstrate the usefulness of our assay cascade by assaying a library of bioactive compounds, chemical probes, and a set of approved drugs. These high-throughput assays should complement the array of wet-lab and in silico assays during the initial stages of hit discovery campaigns to pursue only hit compounds with tractable mechanisms of action.     

糖尿病前期中医证型及证素特点分析＊

目的 探讨糖尿病前期的中医证型及证素分布特点。方法 检索中国知网、万方及维普三大数据库中收录的自建库以来有关糖尿病前期证型的临床研究文献，对中医证型进行规范整理，建立数据库，提取证素，运用数据挖掘技术中的关联分析、聚类分析探究证素分布规律。结果 共纳入10篇文献，总有效病例1620例，证型经规范处理后整理为18个，主要证型为脾虚痰湿证。共提取证素13个，主要病位证素为脾，主要病性证素为气虚、湿和痰，关联分析显示脾—湿支持度和置信度最高，聚类分析结果可得到3个聚类组。结论 糖尿病前期病位在脾，气虚、脾、痰、湿是常见证素，临床诊治糖尿病前期应注重从脾论治，需辨证施治。