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Purpose: Endothelial dysfunction, which was associated with chronic hypothyroidism, was an early event in atherosclerosis. Whether short-term hypothyroidism following thyroxine withdrawal during radioiodine (RAI) therapy was associated with endothelial dysfunction in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) was unclear. Aim of the study is to assess whether short-term hypothyroidism could impair endothelial function in the whole process of RAI therapy. Methods: We recruited fifty-one patients who underwent surgery and would accept RAI therapy for DTC. We analyzed thyroid function, endothelial function and serum lipids levels in patients at three time points: the day before thyroxine withdrawal (P1), the day before RAI administration (P2) and 4–6 weeks after RAI therapy (P3). A high-resolution ultrasound named flow-mediated dilation (FMD) was used to measure endothelial function of the patients. Results: We defined the FMD(%) value decreasing by more than 1% as impaired value. We analyzed the changes of FMD, thyroid hormone and lipids at three time points. FMD (%) was impaired at P2 compared to P1 and was recovered at P3 after restoring LT4 therapy (P1 vs P2 vs P3, 8.05±1.55 vs 7.26±1.50 vs 7.79 ± 1.38, P = 0.438). Among all parameters, the change of LDL cholesterol (ΔLDL) was the only factor correlated negatively with the change of FMD (ΔFMD) throughout the RAI therapy process (P1 − 2, r=-0.326, P = 0.020; P2 − 3, r=-0.306, P = 0.029). Conclusion: Endothelial function was transiently impaired in DTC patients at short-term hypothyroidism state during the RAI therapy, and immediately returned to the same state before RAI therapy after restoring LT4 therapy.

PurposesDistant metastasis from papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC) is extremely rare and the long-term outcome and independent prognostic factors remain unclear.The present study aimed to investigate clinicopathological characteristics and evaluate the long-term outcomes and prognostic factors of PTMC patients with distant metastases (DM) who underwent surgery and radioactive iodine (131I) treatment.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 13,441 patients with thyroid cancer (including 1,697 cases with PTMC) who underwent 131I treatment at our institution between January 2008 and December 2019. PTMC patients with distant metastases with sufficient clinical follow-up data were enrolled in this cohort study. The overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were analyzed by the Kaplan–Meier method and the prognostic factors were assessed by Cox proportional hazards. ResultsThirty-three PTMC patients with DM were enrolled in this study. The median follow-up was 75 months (range: 5–151 months).The 5-year and 10-year OS rates were 96.97% and 81.41%, respectively, and the 5-year and 10-year PFS rates were 90.46% and 69.68%, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that male sex(P=0.005) , radioactive iodine refractory PTMC (P=0.033) and symptomatic DM (P=0.022) were significantly associated with worse 10-year PFS in PTMC patients with DM. No independent predictor related to poor 10-year OS found in the present study.ConclusionsThe prognosis of PTMC patients becomes worse after the development of DM. Male sex, radioactive iodine refractory PTMC and symptomatic DM were identified as independent factors associated with PFS.

We present a 38-year-old man who underwent total thyroidectomy with radical right neck dissection due to papillary thyroid cancer was referred for 131I treatment. The patient was in subclinical hypothyroidism with remarkable stimulated Tg level after 4 weeks of L-thyroxine withdrawal before 131I treatment, which indicated hyperfunctioning metastasis. Posttherapeutic 131I whole-body scan combined with 131I SPECT/CT performed on day 3 after 131I administration revealed an elevated 131I uptake mass in cervicothoracic region. To our surprise, the mass was histologically confirmed to be a retrosternal goiter.

In this paper we study online scheduling problem on m parallel uniform machines with two hierarchies. The objective is to minimize the maximum completion time (makespan). Machines are provided with different capability. The machines with speed s can schedule all jobs, while the other machines with speed 1 can only process partial jobs. Online algorithms for any 0

In this paper, we consider online and semi-online hierarchical scheduling for load balancing on m parallel uniform machines with two hierarchies. There are k machines with speed s and hierarchy 1 which can process all the jobs, while the remaining m−k machines with speed 1 and hierarchy 2 can only process jobs with hierarchy 2. For the model with the objective to maximize the minimum machine completion time, we show that no online algorithm can achieve bounded competitive ratio, i.e., there exists no competitive algorithm. We overcome this barrier by way of fractional assignment, where each job can be arbitrarily split between the machines. We design a best possible algorithm with competitive ratio 2ks+m−kks+m−k for any 0

To investigate the mechanism underlying the protective effects of a traditional Chinese medicinal formula, Baoganning, against liver fibrosis.Male Wistar rats were subjected to injection of carbon tetrachloride- peanut oil mixture and given daily 5% alcoholic beverage, and 2 days after the injection, Baoganning was administered intragastrically at two different doses for 6 weeks. Radioimmunoassay was used to detect serum leptin level, and immunohistochemistry employed to examine the effect of Baoganning on expressions of leptin and its receptor in the liver tissue of the rats.Compared with the normal control group, the rats in the liver fibrosis model group and Baoganning-treated groups showed significantly increased serum leptin levels (P0.01), and the serum leptin level was significantly lower in Baoganning group than in the liver fibrosis model group (P0.01). Baoganning significantly reduced the hepatic expression of leptin and OB-Rb in rats with liver fibrosis in comparison with their expression in the model group (P0.01).Baoganning can effectively ameliorate liver fibrosis in rats possibly through reducing serum leptin level and inhibiting hepatic leptin and its receptor expressions.

In this work, we made progress on the problem that [ symbol: see text] is a Banach algebra under schur product. Our results extend Tonge's results. We also obtained estimates for the norm of the random quadralinear form A:l(r)(M) x l(p)(N) x l(q)(K) x l(s)(H)--C, defined by: A(e(i), e(j), e(k), e(s))=a(ijks), where the (a(ijks))'s are uniformly bounded, independent, mean zero random variables. We proved that under some conditions [ symbol: see text] is not a Banach algebra under schur product.