Prevalence of mental disorders and their associations with age at diagnosis and time since diagnosis of nasopharyngeal cancer.

Background: Despite advancements in cancer treatment, understanding the long-term mental health implications for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) survivors remains an underexplored area. This study aims to examine the prevalence of mental disorders and their correlations with age at diagnosis and time since diagnosis among NPC survivors.

Methods: A total of 1872 NPC patients were surveyed from September 2020 to June 2021 in this cross-sectional survey.

The differential diagnosis of lung precursor glandular lesions, micro-invasive adenocarcinoma, and invasive adenocarcinoma using low dose spectral computed tomography perfusion imaging.

Background: Few studies about the association between computed tomography (CT) perfusion imaging parameters and invasiveness in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) have been conducted using low dose spectral CT perfusion imaging. The purpose of this study was to investigate application of spectral revolution CT low-dose perfusion imaging in the differential diagnosis of different pathological subtypes of LUAD.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study based on historical data from January 2018 to May 2019 in Peking University Cancer Hospital & Institute.

Optimal selection of b-values for differential diagnosis of mediastinal lymph nodes using diffusion-weighted imaging.

This study proposed to investigate the optimal selection of b-values in diffusion-weighted imaging for distinguishing malignant from benign mediastinal lymph nodes. Diffusion-weighted imaging with six b-values was performed on 35 patients at 1.5 T.

Safety and efficacy of pulse-induced contour cardiac output monitoring in elderly patients with coronary artery disease and severe heart failure at coronary care units.

Background: The optimal treatment for elderly patients with severe heart failure depends on the accurate assessment of their hemodynamic status. Due to its less invasive nature, the safety and efficacy of invasive pulse-induced contour cardiac output (PiCCO)-based hemodynamic monitoring remains uncertain.

Methods: This was a prospective observational study.

Preoperative Patient and Lesion Features Are Valuable for Predicting the Prognosis of Resectable Peripheral Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate the preoperative factors affecting the survival of patients with resectable peripheral non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) to improve the management of NSCLC.

Methods: One hundred ninety-nine patients with peripheral NSCLC diagnosed clinically without lymph node metastasis were enrolled. The preoperative computed tomography characteristics of the tumors were retrospectively analyzed and the preoperative clinical data were collected.

Low-dose spectral CT perfusion imaging of lung cancer quantitative analysis in different pathological subtypes.

Background: To explore the value of the quantitative parameters of low-dose computed tomography (CT) perfusion in the diagnosis of lung cancers of different pathological types.

Methods: Eighty-five patients with lung cancer confirmed by pathology underwent enhanced spectral CT imaging with a General Electric (GE) Revolution Xtream CT scanner, including 7 patients with lung squamous cell carcinoma, 8 patients with small cell carcinoma, 67 patients with lung adenocarcinoma, and 3 patients with other pathologies. The low-dose CT perfusion parameters [blood flow (BF), blood volume (BV), time of arrival (IRF TO), maximum slope of increase (MSI), mean transit time (MTT), positive enhancement integral (PEI), time to peak (TTP) and time to maximum (Tmax)] were calculated and compared among the first three groups.

Is there any correlation between spectral CT imaging parameters and PD-L1 expression of lung adenocarcinoma?

Background: The aim of this study was to explore whether spectral computed tomography (CT) imaging parameters are associated with PD-L1 expression of lung adenocarcinoma.

Methods: Spectral CT imaging parameters (iodine concentrations [IC] of lesion in arterial phase [ICLa] and venous phase [ICLv], normalized IC [NICa/NICv]-normalized to the IC in the aorta, slope of the spectral HU curve [λHUa/λHUv] and enhanced monochromatic CT number [CT40keVa/v, CT70keVa/v] on 40 and 70 keV images) were analyzed in 34 prospectively enrolled lung adenocarcinoma patients with common molecular pathological markers including PD-L1 expression detected with immunohistochemistry. Patients were divided into two groups: positive PD-L1 expression and negative PD-L1 expression groups.

Can spectral computed tomography imaging improve the differentiation between malignant and benign pulmonary lesions manifesting as solitary pure ground glass, mixed ground glass, and solid nodules?

Background: This study quantitatively assessed the efficacy of spectral computed tomography (CT) imaging parameters for differentiating the malignancy and benignity of solitary pulmonary nodules (SPNs) manifesting as ground glass nodules (GGNs) and solid nodules (SNs).

Methods: The study included 114 patients with SPNs (61 GGNs, and 53 SNs) who underwent CT plain and enhanced scans in the arterial (a) and venous (v) phases using the spectral imaging mode. The spectral CT imaging parameters included: iodine concentrations (IC) of lesions in the arterial (ICLa) and venous (ICLv) phases; normalized IC (NICa/NICv, normalized to the IC in the aorta); the slope of the spectral Hounsfield unit (HU) curve (λHUa/λHUv); and monochromatic CT number (CT40keVa/v, CT70keVa/v) enhancement on 40 and 70 keV images.

Conventional MRI to detect the differences between mass-like tuberculosis and lung cancer.

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate differences in the imaging features of mass-like tuberculosis and lung cancer on conventional MR sequences to improve the diagnostic ability for pulmonary masses.

Methods: Thirty patients with suspicious pulmonary lesions were enrolled and diagnosed with tuberculosis by pathology or comprehensive clinical diagnoses. Twenty-six cases of lung cancer were retrospectively analyzed.

Effect of low molecular weight heparin on venous thromboembolism disease in thoracotomy patients with cancer.

Background: Much attention has been given to venous thromboembolism (VTE) disease, and many guidelines for prophylaxis have been published. However, there are few published data on patients who underwent thoracotomy. This study is to compare the effect of low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) combined mechanical approaches with mechanical approaches alone in prevention of VTE in the post thoracotomy cancer patients.

Discrimination of Malignant versus Benign Mediastinal Lymph Nodes Using Diffusion MRI with an IVIM Model.

Objectives: To investigate the value of an intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) diffusion model for discriminating malignant versus benign mediastinal lymph nodes (MLN).

Methods: Thirty-five subjects with enlarged MLN were scanned at 1.5 Tesla.

Multivariate Analysis of Pleural Invasion of Peripheral Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer-Based Computed Tomography Features.

Objective: The aim of this study was to comprehensively analyze computed tomography features to improve the diagnostic accuracy of visceral pleural invasion of peripheral non-small cell lung cancer.

Methods: The computed tomography features of 205 non-small cell lung cancer patients were retrospectively studied. The lesion's relation to the pleura was classified into 5 grades.

Spectral CT in the Demonstration of the Pancreatic Arteries and Their Branches: A Comparison With Conventional CT.

The aim of this study was to investigate the performance of monochromatic images of spectral computed tomographic (CT) in the visualization of the pancreatic arteries compared with polychromatic CT images. We conducted a case-control study in a group of 26 consecutive patients with monochromatic CT and contrasted the results against a control group of 26 consecutive patients with polychromatic CT. The CNR (contrast-to-noise ratio), SIR (signal intensity ratio), SNR (signal to noise ratio), and image noise were measured.

Association between the ABCA1-565C/T gene promoter polymorphism and coronary heart disease severity and cholesterol efflux in the Chinese Han population.

Background: ABCA1 -565C/T gene promoter variants have been associated with the severity of coronary artery disease in Western populations. The purpose of our study was to investigate the association between the -565C/T gene polymorphism and coronary artery disease severity and cholesterol efflux in the Chinese Han population.

Methods: A cohort of 298 acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients and 541 healthy controls was genotyped using the highly sensitive ligase detection reaction.

Diffusion-weighted images (DWI) without ADC values in assessment of small focal nodules in cirrhotic liver.

Objective: To assess if diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) imaging without apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values provides added diagnostic value in combination with conventional MR imaging in the detection and characterization of small nodules in cirrhotic liver.

Methods: Two observers retrospectively and independently analyzed 86 nodules (≤3 cm) certified pathologically in 33 patients with liver cirrhosis, including 48 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) nodules, 13 high-grade dysplastic nodules (HDN), 10 low-grade dysplastic nodules (LDNs) and 15 other benign nodules. All these focal nodules were evaluated with conventional MR images (T1-weighted, T2-weighted and dynamic gadolinium-enhanced images) and breath-hold diffusion-weighted images (DWI) (b=500 s/mm(2)).

Association of glomerular filtration rate with arterial stiffness in Chinese women with normal to mildly impaired renal function.

Objective: Both decreased glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and arterial stiffness were considered as risk factors for atherosclerosis. Previous studies have suggested the association between central arterial stiffness and the degree of GFR loss. Whether decreased GFR contributes to peripheral artery stiffness remains controversial.

[Mesenchymal stem cells release membrane microparticles in the process of apoptosis].

Though mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) have been clinically used to repair a variety of damaged tissues, the underlying mechanisms remain elusively as the majority of the ex vivo expanded MSC die shortly after transplantation. To explore the mechanism in which the death cells play tissue repair effect, apoptosis of rat bone marrow MSC was induced by culturing cells in the conditions of hypoxia or/and serum-free medium, and the subcellular structures in the supernatants were analyzed. The results showed that apoptosis occurred in the presence of either hypoxia or serum-free condition as well, and the apoptotic proportion reached up to (17.

A polymorphism in the ABCG1 promoter is functionally associated with coronary artery disease in a Chinese Han population.

Objective: In this study, we examine the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the human ATP binding cassette transporter G1 (ABCG1) gene with atherosclerotic coronary artery disease (CAD) in a Chinese Han population.

Methods: 1021 patients with CAD and 1013 unaffected control subjects were enrolled. PCR-based ligation detection reaction (PCR-LDR) method was used to genotype four SNPs of ABCG1, three (rs2234714, rs2234715 and rs57137919) in the promoter region and one (rs1044317) in the 3'-untranslated region (UTR).

Early evaluation of cancer response by a new functional biomarker: apparent diffusion coefficient.

Objective: The purpose of this article is to investigate whether apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) might be used as a universal biomarker for response evaluation in different tumors.

Subjects And Methods: Twenty-one patients with lung cancer, 12 patients with esophageal cancer, 19 patients with liver metastases, 24 patients with gastric cancer, and 26 patients with rectal cancer were recruited to the study. Percentage changes in the ADC and changes in the size of responding and nonresponding lesions of different tumors after treatment were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors treated with imatinib mesylate: apparent diffusion coefficient in the evaluation of therapy response in patients.

Purpose: To prospectively investigate the use of the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) as an early response indicator in patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) treated with imatinib mesylate.

Materials And Methods: This study was approved by the institutional review board and written informed consent was obtained from all patients. Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) imaging was performed in 32 patients with GISTs before and 1, 4, and 12 weeks after treatment with a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, imatinib mesylate.

[Association of CT image changes and prognosis in gastrointestinal stromal tumor after targeted therapy].

Objective: To investigate the association between CT image changes and the prognosis in gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) after targeted therapy.

Methods: A total of 35 patients with GIST were treated by imatinib mesylate from April 2003 to June 2008. The longest diameter (LD) and mean enhanced CT values (HU) of tumors were measured on axial images.

[Study of ocular surface electromyography signal analysis].

Objective: Test ocular surface electromyography signal waves and characteristic parameters to provide effective data for the diagnosis and treatment of ocular myopathy.

Methods: Surface electromyography signals tests were performed in 140 normal volunteers and 30 patients with ophthalmoplegia. Surface electrodes were attached to medial canthi, lateral canthi and the middle of frontal bone.

[Mesenchymal stem cells exist in the compact bones from four species of mammals].

The biological properties of cultured mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) have been intensively investigated, while there is still a paucity of information about the definite in vivo sites that harbor these stem cells due to the lack of specific surface markers. Previous data have demonstrated that human and murine MSC can be isolated from the compact bones. To investigate if it is the case for other species, the femurs from Wistar rats, Beagles, C57 mice and New Zealand rabbits were collected, minced and digested with collagenase type I.

[Myocardial involvement in 2494 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus].

Objective: To investigate the clinical characteristics and related pathogenetic factors in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients with myocardial involvement.

Methods: Clinic data and myocardial involvements were analyzed in 2494 SLE patients who admitted to our hospital from 1997 to 2007.

Results: Myocardial involvements were seen in 13 out of 2494 SLE patients (0.