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We assessed the correlation between serum carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA125) and carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD).

Objectives: It has been well documented that the platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) are associated with outcomes for patients with gastric cancer, non-small cell lung cancer and acute heart failure. Inflammation may be the hidden factor that explains the correlation between NLP, PLR, and these diseases. However, to date, the data concerning NLR, PLR, and its association with inflammation are lacking in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), thus, our aim to discuss whether NLR and PLR are associated with RA. Methods: Patients with RA and healthy individuals were included according to the determined criteria, and laboratory indicators were measured. Results: PLR and NLR were significantly higher in RA patients compared with healthy controls (3.20±2.06 vs. 1.56±0.47, P115.7 evaluated RA with a sensitivity of 82.5%, a specificity of 74.8% and area under the curve ( AUC ) of 0.847. Conclusions:Our results suggest that PLR is associated with RA, and PLR may be an underlying indicator indicating the chronic subclinical inflammation in patients with RA.

B ackground: Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) that describes red blood cell volume heterogeneity is a common laboratory test. Our aim was to focus on th e association between RDW and a c ute pancreatitis associated lung injury (APALI). Methodology: A total of 152 acute pancreatitis (AP) patients who conformed to the criteria w ere included in this study. The demographic data, medical histories and laboratory measures was obtained from each patient on admission, further, the medical histories and biological data were analyzed, retrospectively. Results: Increased RDW at admission was observed in patients with APALI compared with the non-APALI groups. Our results exhibited that RDW was an independent risk factor for APALI after adjusting leukocyte, neutrophil percentage, random blood glucose (RBG), total bilirubin (TB) and total bile acid（TBA）(Crude model) (OR=2.671;CI 95% 1.145-6.230; P=0.023), further adjustment based on Crude model for sex and age did not attenuate the significantly high risk of APALI in patients with AP, RWD still remained a ro les as an independent risk factor for APALI (OR=2.653;CI95 % 1.123-6.138; P=0.026). Conclusions: Our study demonstrate that RDW at admission is associated with APALI and should be considered as an underlying risk factor of APALI.

Byline: Zhao-Xia. Zhang, Bao-Qi. Yang, Qing. Yang, Mei. Wu, Guang-Jin. Wang Sir, Drug-induced hypersensitivity syndrome, also known as drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS) syndrome, is a rare, [...]

HLA‐B*35:501 differs from HLA‐B*35:02:01:01 by three nucleotides in exon 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To address the challenges of data labeling difficulties, data privacy, and necessary large amount of labeled data for deep learning methods in diabetic retinopathy (DR) identification, the aim of this study is to develop a source-free domain adaptation (SFDA) method for efficient and effective DR identification from unlabeled data., Methods: A multi-SFDA method was proposed for DR identification. This method integrates multiple source models, which are trained from the same source domain, to generate synthetic pseudo labels for the unlabeled target domain. Besides, a softmax-consistence minimization term is utilized to minimize the intra-class distances between the source and target domains and maximize the inter-class distances. Validation is performed using three color fundus photograph datasets (APTOS2019, DDR, and EyePACS)., Results: The proposed model was evaluated and provided promising results with respectively 0.8917 and 0.9795 F1-scores on referable and normal/abnormal DR identification tasks. It demonstrated effective DR identification through minimizing intra-class distances and maximizing inter-class distances between source and target domains., Conclusion: The multi-SFDA method provides an effective approach to overcome the challenges in DR identification. The method not only addresses difficulties in data labeling and privacy issues, but also reduces the need for large amounts of labeled data required by deep learning methods, making it a practical tool for early detection and preservation of vision in diabetic patients., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: Zhang GH, None; Zhuo GP, None; Zhang ZX, None; Sun B, None; Yang WH, None; Zhang SC, None., (International Journal of Ophthalmology Press.)

Objective: To observe the effects of eye acupuncture on motor evoked potential (MEP) and somatosensory evoked potential (SEP) in the patients with incomplete spinal cord injury so as to evaluate its clinical efficacy., Methods: According to the random number table, 90 patients were divided into exercise therapy group, eye acupuncture group and eye acupuncture combined exercise therapy group (combined treatment group), 30 cases in each. In the exercise therapy group, patients were treated with the routine exercise and occupational therapy. Patients of the eye acupuncture group were treated with eye acupuncture at upper jiao region, lower jiao region, liver region and kidney region bilaterally. Patients of the combined treatment group were given the routine exercise and occupational therapy combined with eye acupuncture. All the treatments were conducted once daily, 7 days as one treatment course for 4 treatment courses. Before treatment and 4 weeks after treatment, the motor function, light touch sensation and pinprick sensation, injury grade and clinical efficacy were assessed separately, using the criteria developed by the American Spinal Injury Association. The modified Barthel index(MBI) was adopted to evaluate the activities of daily livings. By monitoring SEP and MEP, the neurophysiological conditions were assessed for spinal cord injury., Results: The total effective rate was 56.7% (17/30), 66.7% (20/30) and 90.0% (27/30) in the exercise therapy group, the eye acupuncture group and the combined treatment group, respectively. The total effective rate in the combined treatment group was higher than those in the other two groups ( P <0.05). Compared with those before treatment, the scores of motor function, light tough sensation and pinprick sensation were all increased after treatment in three groups ( P <0.05), MBI score was increased in both the exercise therapy group and the combined treatment group ( P <0.05), and the latency of SEP (N11, N20, N23, P38) and the Cortical (hand region), Csp, Cortical (leg region) and Lsp of MEP were all shortened in the three groups separately ( P <0.05). After treatment, compared with the exercise therapy group, the score of motor function was increased ( P <0.05), MBI score decreased ( P <0.05) and MEP latency shortened ( P <0.05) in the eye acupuncture group. After treatment, compared with the exercise therapy group and the eye acupuncture group, the scores of motor function, light touch sensation and pinprick sensation, as well as MBI score were all increased ( P <0.05), and the latency of SEP (N11,N20,N23,P38) and MEP shortened ( P <0.05) in the combined treatment group., Conclusion: In treatment of incomplete spinal cord injury, eye acupuncture combined with exercise therapy can significantly increase the excitability of sensory and motor nerve conduction in the spinal cord and cerebral cortex of patients, effectively promote the recovery of patients' motor and sensory function and improve the activities of daily living.

Objective: To establish an animal model of reflux renal damage through bladder outlet obstruction., Methods: Sixty male C57BL/6 mice aged 6-8 weeks were randomly assigned to a control group, a sham operation group, and a partial bladder outlet obstruction (PBOO) group, with 20 mice in each group. Laparotomy were performed on the PBOO mice under anesthesia in order to separate the bladder necks and to perform guided partial ligation of the bladder neck with a metal rod of 0.3 mm diameter. Mice in the sham operation group had laparotomy and had their bladder necks separated without ligation. The control group did not receive any treatment. 7 days after the surgery, 12 surviving mice were randomly selected from each group to observe the general changes of the bladder, ureter, renal pelvis and kidney. Retrograde urography was performed through the bladder. Kidney tissues were extracted for histopathological analysis. The expression levels of Vimentin, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) were examined with Western blot, immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence staining tests, respectively., Results: Compared with the control and sham operation group, the bladder, ureter, and renal pelvis of the mice in the PBOO group were significantly enlarged, vesicoureteral reflux was more obvious, the kidney volume and mass increased ( P <0.001), and renal parenchyma became thinner ( P <0.000 1). Histopathological staining showed glomerular atrophy, renal tubule expansion, tubulointerstitial inflammatory cell infiltration, glomerular basement membrane hyperplasia and obvious interstitial fibrosis. Western blot, immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry staining showed that the expression levels of Vimentin, PCNA and α-SMA in kidney tissue were elevated ( P <0.000 1)., Conclusion: After PBOO, the bladder, ureter, and kidney of the mice showed obvious morphological alteration and presented reflux renal fibrosis-like damage. This can be used as an animal model to study the pathological alteration mechanism and therapeutic measures of renal fibrosis caused by bladder outlet obstruction., (Copyright© by Editorial Board of Journal of Sichuan University (Medical Sciences).)

To investigate the relationship between a GCKR rs780094 polymorphism and lipid profiles in the Xinjiang Uygur population in China. 980 type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients, 1017 hyperuricemia (HUA) and 1185 healthy controls were included in this study. After genotyping of rs780094 by Sequenom Mass ARRAY system, chi-square test and logistic regression analysis were used for association analysis as well as a genotype-phenotype analysis. We found that the serum concentration of TC (P<0.001) was significantly higher and HDL-C (P<0.001) was lower in T2DM than in control participants. Subjects with HUA had a significantly higher TG (P=0.003) and lower HDL-C (P<0.001) than control participants. Additionally, under the recessive model, rs780094 was shown to be associated with the risk of HUA (P=0.015, OR=1.311), particularly in males (P=0.047, OR=1.330). Subsequent interaction analysis between rs780094 and lipid parameters showed that the TG level was positively correlated with HUA in the rs780094- AA+AG carriers (P=0.005). The TC concentrations showed to be associated with T2DM in the rs780094- AA+AG carriers (P<0.001). The association between lipid parameters and gender showed that significantly higher TG levels (P<0.001) and lower HDL-C levels (P<0.001) were observed in female HUA. Higher LDL-C levels were found in male HUA (P=0.015). Moreover, statistically higher TC levels and lower HDL-C levels were found both in male and female T2DM cases (TC: male: P<0.001, female: P=0.014. HDL-C: male: P<0.001, female: P<0.001.).To conclude, our results demonstrated that different genotypes of rs780094 had different effects on blood lipids in HUA and T2DM patients in a Uygur population. Gender was also one of the factors influencing blood lipid levels., Competing Interests: None., (IJCEP Copyright © 2018.)

Semen cryopreservation is widely used in assisted reproductive technologies, but it reduces sperm quality dramatically. The aim of this study was to develop a model using basal semen quality to predict the outcome of postthaw semen parameters and improve the efficiency of cryopreservation in a human sperm bank. Basal semen parameters of 180 samples were evaluated in the first stage, and a multiple logistic regression analysis involving a backward elimination selection procedure was applied to select independent predictors. After a comprehensive analysis of all results, we developed a new model to assess the freezability of sperm. Progressive motility (PR), straight-line velocity (VSL) and average path velocity (VAP) were included in our model. A greater area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was obtained in our model when compared with other indicators. In the second stage of our study, samples that satisfied the new model were selected to undergo freeze-thawing. Compared with the first stage, the rate of good freezability was increased significantly (94% vs 67%, P = 0.003). By determining basal semen quality, we have developed a new model to improve the efficiency of cryopreservation in a human sperm bank.

Objective: To explore the diagnostic value of R-banding technique (RT), dual-color fluorescence in situ hybridization (D-FISH) and quantitative real-time PCR (RT-PCR) for acute promyelocytic leukemia., Methods: The cytogenetic characteristics and PML/RARα fusion gene in 340 patients with suspectable APL were analyzed by using 3 detection methods. MICM (morphology, immunology, cytogenetic and molecular biology) was used as diagnostic standard of APL, and the diagnostic value of RT, D-FISH and RT-PCR was evaluated by comparing the detection results of RT, D-FISH and RT-PCR as well as their combination., Results: For the diagnosis of APL, the sensitivity of RT, D-FISH and RT-PCR was 81.3% (78/96), 95.0% (91/96) and 96.9% (93/96) respectively. RT failed to detect 18 cases, the results of D-FISH showed 5 cases with false positive and 2 cases with false negative, the RT-PCR showed 4 cases with false positive, 3 cases with false negative. The sensitivity and specificity of combined detection of 3 methods were 99.97% and 100% respectively., Conclusion: The 3 detection methods alone all have certain defects for diagnosis of APL, but their combined detection is helpful to improve the definitive diagnostic rate and can decrease misdiagnosis rate and missed diagnostic rate.

Background: Serum fructosamine (SF) has been considered to be an indicator that estimates glycemic control in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). There is increasing evidence that SF concentration and oxidative stress are significantly elevated in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, the data about SF and its association with kidney function are lacking in nondiabetic individuals without CKD. We included 1891 nondiabetic individuals who had not been diagnosed with CKD to determine the association between SF and kidney function., Material and Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis on the basis of the biochemistry database in nondiabetic individuals without CKD., Results: When eligible participants were stratified in accordance with SF quartiles, from the bottom to the top quartile of SF, a significant decrease of estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was observed in baseline data. SF concentration was negatively associated with estimated GFR (r=-0.066, P=0.004) in the Pearson correlation analysis. Estimated GFR was associated with SF levels independently of glucose (GLU), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), and total protein (TP) in multivariable logistic regression analysis (OR=0.984; CI 95% 0.977-0.991; P<0.001)., Conclusions: We suggest that mild elevation of SF concentration is associated with estimated GFR in nondiabetic individuals without CKD. These findings indicate that SF may underlie CKD in nondiabetic individuals.

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a autoimmune disease, early and accurate detection is vital for effective treatment. Very recently, a large of novel laboratory index were found to diagnose AS. However, the correlation between red blood cell distribution width (RDW) and AS has been poorly discussed in previous study. Then, our aim was to focus on the association between RDW and AS. AS patients without drugs treatments and healthy individuals were incorporated in our study. Laboratory parameters including RDW tests were conducted consecutively on the entire cohort of AS patients and healthy individuals. AS patients with increased RDW showed significant difference compared to healthy individuals (13.66±0.77 vs. 12.77±0.47, P<0.01), similarly, difference of AS patients and heathy individuals stratified by sex was almost the same as that in two groups. Some significantly positive correlation were observed between RDW and CRP, ESR, IgG, BASDAI score in patients with AS (r=0.356, P=0.018; r=0.481, P=0.001; r=0.385, P=0.010; r=0.586, P<0.01), almost identical results were showed when AS patients was stratified by gender. Finally, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves of RDW levels to identify AS patients exhibited a statistically significant level (area under the curve of 0.853; sensitivity of 72.7%, specificity of 81.4%). The results suggested that increased RDW was associated with AS and may be used as a potential marker estimating disease activity of AS.