Medicine
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Sarcoidosis is a multi-systemic granulomatous disease. Affected individuals can show spontaneous healing, develop remission with drug treatment within 2 years, or become chronically ill. Our main goal was to identify features that are related to prognosis. ⋯ We built a score-based model where the absence of rheumatological markers (1 point), normal pulmonary functions (2 points), and the presence of early respiratory symptoms manifestations (2 points) were associated with a favorable prognosis. We predicted that a patient with a score of 5 had an 86% (95% confidence interval [CI] 74%-98%) probability of having a favorable prognosis, while those with scores of 4, 3, 2, 1, and 0 had probabilities of 72% (95% CI 59-85%), 52% (95% CI 40-63%), 31% (95% CI 17-44%), 15% (95% CI 2-28%), and 7% (95% CI 0-16%) of having a favorable prognosis, respectively. Thus, our easy-to-compute algorithm can help to predict prognosis of sarcoidosis patients, facilitating their management.
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Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a malignant tumor associated with a high recurrence rate after hepatectomy. Recently, preoperative inflammatory and liver function reserve indices were found to predict increased risk of recurrence and decreased survival in HCC patients. This study aims to evaluate the ability of the γ-glutamyl transpeptidase-to-albumin ratio (GAR) and aspartate aminotransferase-to-lymphocyte ratio (ALRI), individually and in combination, to predict the prognosis of HCC patients after hepatectomy. ⋯ Our data indicate that there is a close association between the clinicopathological characteristics in HCC patients and increased GAR or ALRI. Higher levels of GAR and ALRI could sensitively and specifically predict a poor prognosis in HCC patients after hepatectomy. Furthermore, combined usage of GAR and ALRI could improve the accuracy of this prediction.
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This study aimed to study the effect and mechanism of action of SO2-induced oxidation on human skin keratinocytes. Different concentrations of SO2 derivatives (0, 25, 50, 100, 200, 400, and 800 μM) were used for treating HaCaT keratinocytes for 24 hours. MTT was used to evaluate the effect of each concentration on cell proliferation. ⋯ SO2 derivatives (100, 200, 400, and 800 μM) could inhibit cell proliferation. SO2 derivatives increased the level of ROS, MDA, TNF-α, IL-1β, Nrf2, HO-1, and p-p65/p65 and decreased the levels of SOD, IκB, p-ERK1/2/ERK1/2, and p-p38/p38 compared with the control group, but they had no effect on the levels of caspase-3, Bcl-2, and Bax. SO2 could inhibit the proliferation of human skin keratinocytes and induce oxidative stress and inflammation via the activation of the NF-κB pathway to inhibit the ERK1/2 and p38 pathways.
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We aimed to investigate the correlation of graft flow measurements between transit-time flow measurement (TTFM) during coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery and dynamic cardiac CT after the surgery. Fourteen patients underwent CABG with TTFM and postoperative dynamic cardiac CT; 11 internal thoracic artery (ITA) grafts and 15 saphenous venous grafts (SVGs) were included for analysis. ⋯ TTFM was not significantly correlated with the CT flow of the ITA grafts (r = -0.23, P = .49), but it had a very strong correlation with the CT flow of the SVGs (r = 0.83, P < .01). In patients who underwent CABG surgery, dynamic cardiac CT enabled quantitative evaluation of SVG flow, with good correlation with TTFM.
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Talaromyces marneffei (T marneffei), known as a significant pathogen in patients with AIDS in Southeast Asia, is a dimorphic fungus, which can cause deadly systematic infection in immunocompromised hosts. What is more, the dimorphic phase transition has been reported as a conspicuous process linked with virulence. Interestingly, the yeast form was found in infected individuals, representing the pathogenic phase. However, few researches were found to study the mechanism of dimorphic transition. Thus, a diverse insight into the dimorphic switch mechanism, is urgently needed and we are the first one to research the mechanism of dimorphism. ⋯ The dimorphic transition of T. marneffei was viewed as a pathogenic factor and DEGs were observed. In-depth study of the function and pathway of DEGs revealed that PMAA_012920, PMAA_028730, PMAA_068140, PMAA_092900, PMAA_032350 were most likely acting as the hub-genes and were likely taking effect through regulating energy metabolism.