Rockall score in predicting outcomes of elderly patients with acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding

AIM: To validate the clinical Rockall score in predicting outcomes (rebleeding, surgery and mortality) in elderly patients with acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding (AUGIB). METHODS: A retrospective analysis was undertaken in 341 patients admitted to the emergency room and Intensive Care Unit of Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University with non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding. The Rockall scores were calculated, and the association between clinical Rockall scores and patient outcomes (rebleeding, surgery and mortality) was assessed. Based on the Rockall scores, patients were divided into three risk categories: low risk ≤ 3, moderate risk 3-4, high risk ≥ 4, and the percentages of rebleeding/death/surgery in each risk category were compared. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was calculated to assess the validity of the Rockall system in predicting rebleeding, surgery and mortality of patients with AUGIB. RESULTS: A positive linear correlation between clinical Rockall scores and patient outcomes in terms of rebleeding, surgery and mortality was observed (r =0.962, 0.955 and 0.946, respectively, P = 0.001). High clinical Rockall scores > 3 were associated with adverse outcomes (rebleeding, surgery and death). There was a significant correlation between high Rockall scores and the occurrence of rebleeding, surgery and mortality in the entire patient population (χ 2 = 49.29, 23.10 and 27.64, respectively, P = 0.001). For rebleeding, the area under the ROC curve was 0.788 (95%CI: 0.726-0.849, P = 0.001); For surgery, the area under the ROC curve was 0.752 (95%CI: 0.679-0.825, P = 0.001) and for mortality, the area under the ROC curve was 0.787 (95%CI: 0.716-0.859, P = 0.001). CONCLUSION: The Rockall score is clinically useful, rapid and accurate in predicting rebleeding, surgery and mortality outcomes in elderly patients with AUGIB.

Studies on Mutual Relationship between Anti-HBx and sFas, IL-10 or IL-12 in Sera of Cases with Chronic Hepatitis B Infection

Objective To study the mutual relationship between anti-HBx and IL-10, IL-12 or soluble Fas(s Fas) in sera of patients with chronic HBV infection and to explore the importance of anti-HBx detection as well as its role in the development of chronic HBV infection.Methods Total of 90 cases with chronic HBV infection were randomly selected, including 10 of asymptomatic carriers(ASC), 28 of chronic hepatitis B(CHB), 26 of liver cirrhosis(LC) and 26 patients of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC). Their clinical data and blood samples were collected, and serum was prepared and stored at-73℃. Anti-HBx was detected with an indirect ELISA established in our earlier research, and levels of IL-10, IL-12 and Fas were determined with commercial double-antibody sandwich ELISA kits. The mutual relationship between anti-HBx and IL-10, IL-12 or s Fas in serum were analyzed with the software SPSS 20.0. Results All levels of IL-10, IL-12 and s Fas in peripheral blood showed a rising trend with development of chronic HBV infection. The levels of IL-10 in ASC, CHB, LC and HCC groups were 13.93 ± 14.40 ng/L, 39.38 ± 20.77 ng/L, 69.06 ± 46.37 ng/L and 62.82 ± 23.42 ng/L, respectively, levels of IL-12 in the 4 groups were 15.64 ± 23.04 ng/L, 68.50 ± 23.14 ng/L, 76.83 ± 12.82 ng/L and 83.74 ± 24.88 ng/L, respectively, and levels of s Fas were 58.17 ± 77.42 ng/L, 179.88 ± 104.36 ng/L, 249.22 ± 107.80 ng/L and 252.98 ± 87.65 ng/L, respectively. Twenty-seven out of 90 patients showed a positive result for anti-HBx detection, including 1 in ASC, 4 in CHB, 12 in LC and 10 in HCC group. The levels of IL-10, IL-12 and sF as were higher in anti-HBx positive group than in negative group. Statistical analysis demonstrated significant differences of IL-10 and IL-12 between the two groups(P < 0.05), but the differences of s Fas had no statistical significance(P = 0.094). Conclusions Anti-HBx antibody is not protective, and is closely related to IL-10, IL-12 and s Fas. It may be an important serum indicator for aggravation from chronic hepatitis B to liver cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with chronic HBV infection.

Identification of the novel N-phenylbenzenesulfonamide derivatives as potent HIV inhibitors

Searching for more safe and effective agents for HIV treatments is still an urgent topic worldwide.Based on our continuous modifications on the benzophenone derivatives as HIV-1 reverse transcriptase（RT）inhibitors,a new template bearing N-phenylbenzenesulfonamide（PBSA） structure was designed to enhance the interactions with HIV-1 RT.In this manuscript,a series of PBSA derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for their anti-HIV-1 activity.The preliminary test showed that these compounds were potent to inhibit wild-type HIV-1 with EC_（50） values ranging of 0.105-14.531 μmol/L.In particular,compound 13 f not only has high anti-HIV-1 activity（0.108 μmol/L）,but also possesses low toxicity with a Tl value of 1816.6.Furthermore,the major interactions of the inhibitor 13 f with HIV-1 RT were also investigated using the molecular modelling.Our discovered structure-activity relationships（SARs） of these analogues may serve as an important clue for further optimizations.