Platelets in Early Antibody-Mediated Rejection of Renal Transplants

Antibody-mediated rejection is a major complication in renal transplantation. The pathologic manifestations of acute antibody-mediated rejection that has progressed to functional impairment of a renal transplant have been defined in clinical biopsy specimens. However, the initial stages of the process are difficult to resolve with the unavoidable variables of clinical studies. We devised a model of renal transplantation to elucidate the initial stages of humoral rejection. Kidneys were orthotopically allografted to immunodeficient mice. After perioperative inflammation subsided, donor-specific alloantibodies were passively transferred to the recipient. Within 1 hour after a single transfer of antibodies, C4d was deposited diffusely on capillaries, and von Willebrand factor released from endothelial cells coated intravascular platelet aggregates. Platelet-transported inflammatory mediators platelet factor 4 and serotonin accumulated in the graft at 100- to 1000-fold higher concentrations compared with other platelet-transported chemokines. Activated platelets that expressed P-selectin attached to vascular endothelium and macrophages. These intragraft inflammatory changes were accompanied by evidence of acute endothelial injury. Repeated transfers of alloantibodies over 1 week sustained high levels of platelet factor 4 and serotonin. Platelet depletion decreased platelet mediators and altered the accumulation of macrophages. These data indicate that platelets augment early inflammation in response to donor-specific antibodies and that platelet-derived mediators may be markers of evolving alloantibody responses.     

Cardiac Denervation for Arrhythmia Treatment with Transesophageal Ultrasonic Strategy in Canine Models

Stellate ganglion (SG) modification has been investigated for arrhythmia treatment. In this study, transesophageal SG imaging and intervention were explored using a homemade 30F integrated focused ultrasonic catheter in healthy mongrel canines in vivo. Anatomic details of SGs were ultrasonically imaged and evaluated. SG had a heterogeneous echoic structure and characteristic profiles sketched by hyper-echoic outlines in an ultrasonogram. Left SGs in the experimental group were successfully ablated through the esophagus under ultrasonic guidance provided by the catheter itself. Two weeks after the ablation, the QT and QTc of the experimental group decreased compared with those of the sham group and at baseline (both p values < 0.001). Histologic examination revealed that left SGs were destroyed. No major complications were observed. This approach may be further explored as a method for ganglia remodeling evaluation and as a strategy of ganglia modification for arrhythmia and for other diseases.     

Impact of sampling rate on statistical significance for single subject fMRI connectivity analysis

A typical time series in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) exhibits autocorrelation, that is, the samples of the time series are dependent. In addition, temporal filtering, one of the crucial steps in preprocessing of functional magnetic resonance images, induces its own autocorrelation. While performing connectivity analysis in fMRI, the impact of the autocorrelation is largely ignored. Recently, autocorrelation has been addressed by variance correction approaches, which are sensitive to the sampling rate. In this article, we aim to investigate the impact of the sampling rate on the variance correction approaches. Toward this end, we first derived a generalized expression for the variance of the sample Pearson correlation coefficient (SPCC) in terms of the sampling rate and the filter cutoff frequency, in addition to the autocorrelation and cross‐covariance functions of the time series. Through simulations, we illustrated the importance of the variance correction for a fixed sampling rate. Using the real resting state fMRI data sets, we demonstrated that the data sets with higher sampling rates were more prone to false positives, in agreement with the existing empirical reports. We further demonstrated with single subject results that for the data sets with higher sampling rates, the variance correction strategy restored the integrity of true connectivity.     

新生儿肺部超声在早产儿肺部感染评价中的价值

目的 探讨新生儿肺部超声在早产儿肺部感染评价中的价值。 方法 选取肺部感染早产儿80例为观察组，无肺部感染的早产儿80例为对照组，均给予新生儿肺部超声检查，比较2组肺部超声评分、氧合指数、呼吸指数，比较观察组不同病情、预后患儿肺部超声评分、氧合指数、呼吸指数,分析肺部超声评分和氧合指数、呼吸指数的相关性。 结果 观察组肺部超声评分、氧合指数低于对照组，呼吸指数高于对照组，差异有统计学意义（P＜0.05）。观察组极危重患儿肺部超声评分、氧合指数低于危重和非危重患儿，呼吸指数高于危重和非危重患儿，危重患儿肺部超声评分、氧合指数低于非危重患儿，呼吸指数高于非危重患儿，差异有统计学意义（P＜0.05）。肺部超声评分与呼吸指数呈负相关（r=-0.455，P＜0.05），与氧合指数呈正相关（r=0.470，P＜0.05）。观察组死亡患儿肺部超声评分、氧合指数低于存活患儿，呼吸指数高于存活患儿，差异有统计学意义（P＜0.05）。肺部超声评分预测患儿预后的ROC曲线下面积为0.874，高于呼吸指数和氧合指数（P＜0.05），其截断值为20分时，敏感度和特异度为88.50%和75.00%。 结论 新生儿肺部超声在早产儿肺部感染评价中有较好的效果，值得临床使用。     

Cardiovascular effects and mechanisms of sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors

Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2 inhibitors) are a new type of drug for the treatment of diabetes, and they have been proven to have a good hypoglycemic effect. Several lines of clinical evidence have shown that SGLT2 inhibitors can significantly reduce the risks of atherosclerosis, hospitalization for heart failure, cardiovascular death, and all-cause mortality and delay the progression of chronic kidney disease. Because of the protective effects of SGLT2 inhibitors on the heart and kidney, they are being studied for the treatment of heart failure and chronic kidney disease in patients without diabetes. Therefore, it is necessary for cardiologists, patients with diabetes, and nephrologists to fully understand this type of drug. In this review, we summarize the following three aspects of SGLT2 inhibitors: the recent clinical evidence of their cardiovascular benefits, their mechanisms of action, and their safety.     

Traumatic axonal injury of the cingulum in patients with mild traumatic brain injury: a diffusion tensor tractography study

The cingulum, connecting the orbitofrontal cortex to the medial temporal lobe, involves in diverse cognition functions including attention, memory, and motivation. To investigate the relationship between the cingulum injury and cognitive impairment in patients with chronic mild traumatic brain injury, we evaluated the integrity between the anterior cingulum and the basal forebrain using diffusion tensor tractography in 73 patients with chronic mild traumatic brain injury(39 males, 34 females, age 43.29 ± 11.42 years) and40 healthy controls(22 males, 18 females, age 40.11 ± 16.81 years). The patients were divided into three subgroups based on the integrity between the anterior cingulum and the basal forebrain on diffusion tensor tractography: subgroup A(n = 19 patients)-both sides of the anterior cingulum were intact; subgroup B(n= 36 patients)-either side of the anterior cingulum was intact; and subgroup C(18 patients)-both sides of the anterior cingulum were discontinued. There were significant differences in total Memory Assessment Scale score between subgroups A and B and between subgroups A and C. There were no significant differences in diffusion tensor tractography parameters(fractional anisotropy, apparent diffusion coefficient, and fiber volume) between patients and controls. These findings suggest that the integrity between the anterior cingulum and the basal forebrain, but not diffusion tensor tractography parameter, can be used to predict the cognitive function of patients with chronic mild traumatic brain injury. This study was approved by Yeungnam University Hospital Institutional Review Board(approval No. YUMC-2014-01-425-010) on August 16, 2017.     

上海市黄浦区社会办医疗美容机构《医疗美容管理办法》知晓情况调查

目的了解上海市黄浦区社会办医疗美容机构的管理人员和医师对《医疗美容管理办法》相关内容的掌握情况,发现存在的问题并提出改善建议.方法采用现场调查与现场问卷调查相结合的方式,对在上海市黄浦区开展医疗美容科目的所有社会办医疗机构(共计38家)进行全覆盖现场调查,并对其中的管理人员41人、相关医师31人进行问卷调查.结果38家社会办医疗美容机构中,美容外科和美容皮肤科的开展率较高,分别为96.8%和97.2%,而美容牙科开展率为52.4%,美容中医科开展率最低(25.0%).管理人员关于非主诊医师可在主诊医师指导下工作的知晓率仅68.3%.关于美容外科、皮肤科、中医科、牙科主诊医师应具备的工作年限,管理人员答对率为90.2%,医师答对率为72.0%,二者有显著性差异(P<0.05).结论社会办医疗美容机构中的二级科目设置需进一步优化,以减少资源空置.应加强对医疗机构管理人员和医师的法律培训,改变经营模式,制定明确的准入与退出机制,从而减少违法违规行为的发生.