The diagnostic value of tenascin-C in acute aortic syndrome

OBJECTIVES Misdiagnosis of acute aortic syndrome(AAS)significantly increases mortality.Tenascin-C(TN-C)is an extracellular matrix glycoprotein related to cardiovascular injury.The elevation of TN-C in AAS and whether it can discriminate suddenonset of acute chest pain in Chinese remains unclear.METHODS We measured the plasma concentration of TN-C by ELISA in a cohort of 376 patients with chest or back pain.Measures to discriminate AAS from acute coronary syndrome(ACS)were compared and calculated.RESULTS From October 2016 to September 2021,376 undiagnosed patients with chest or back pain were enrolled.166 of them were finally diagnosed as AAS,100 were ACS and 110 without cardiovascular diseases(NCV).TN-C was significantly elevated in AAS at 18.18 ng/mL(IQR:13.10–27.68)compared with 7.51 ng/mL(IQR:5.67–11.38)in ACS(P<0.001)and 3.68 ng/mL(IQR:2.50–5.29)in NCV(P<0.001).There was no significant difference in TN-C level among the subtypes of AAS.Of the 166 AAS patients,the peaked level of TN-C was at acute stage(P=0.012),then a slight of decrease was observed at subacute stage.The area under receiver operating characteristic curve for AAS patients versus NCV was 0.979(95%CI:0.964-0.994)for TN-C.At a cutoff level of 11.474 ng/mL,TN-C has a sensitivity of 76.0%,specificity of 85.5%,accuracy of 82.0%,positive predictive value(PPV)of 76.0%,negative predictive value(NPV)of 85.5%.Diagnostic performance of TN-C was superior to D-dimer and hs-cTnT.CONCLUSIONS The concentration of serum TN-C in AAS patients was significantly higher than that in ACS patients and NCV.TN-C could be a new biomarker to distinguish AAS patients in the early stage after symptoms onset from other pain diseases.

Fecal microbiota transplantation broadening its application beyond intestinal disorders

Intestinal dysbiosis is now known to be a complication in a myriad of diseases.Fecal microbiota transplantation(FMT),as a microbiota-target therapy,is arguably very effective for curing Clostridium difficile infection and has good outcomes in other intestinal diseases.New insights have raised an interest in FMT for the management of extra-intestinal disorders associated with gut microbiota.This review shows that it is an exciting time in the burgeoning science of FMT application in previously unexpected areas,including metabolic diseases,neuropsychiatric disorders,autoimmune diseases,allergic disorders,and tumors.A randomized controlled trial was conducted on FMT in metabolic syndrome by infusing microbiota from lean donors or from self-collected feces,with the resultant findings showing that the lean donor feces group displayed increased insulin sensitivity,along with increased levels of butyrate-producing intestinal microbiota.Case reports of FMT have also shown favorable outcomes in Parkinson's disease,multiple sclerosis,myoclonus dystonia,chronic fatigue syndrome,and idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura.FMT is a promising approach in the manipulation of the intestinal microbiota and has potential applications in a variety of extra-intestinal conditions associated with intestinal dysbiosis.

Regulation of the serotonin transporter in the pathogenesis of irritable bowel syndrome

Serotonin(5-HT) and the serotonin transporter(SERT) have earned a tremendous amount of attention regarding the pathogenesis of irritable bowel syndrome(IBS). Considering that enteric 5-HT is responsible for the secretion, motility and perception of the bowel, the involvement of altered enteric 5-HT metabolism in the pathogenesis of IBS has been elucidated. Higher 5-HT availability is commonly associated with depressed SERT mR NA in patients with IBS compared with healthy controls. The expression difference of SERT between IBS patients and healthy controls might suggest that SERT plays an essential role in IBS pathogenesis, and SERT was expected to be a novel therapeutic target for IBS. Progress in this area has begun to illuminate the complex regulatory mechanisms of SERT in the etiology of IBS. In this article, current insights regarding the regulation of SERT in IBS are provided, including aspects of SERT gene polymorphisms, microR NAs, immunity and inflammation, gut microbiota, growth factors, among others. Potential SERT-directed therapies for IBS are also described. The potential regulators of SERT are of clinical importance and are important for better understanding IBS pathophysiology and therapeutic strategies.

Clinical features of upper gastrointestinal serrated lesions: An endoscopy database analysis of 98746 patients

AIM To analyse the clinical features of patients with the serrated lesions in the upper gastrointestinal tract(UPGI) tract.METHODS Patients who underwent routine esophagogastroduodenoscopy(EGD) at the Digestive Endoscopy Centre of General Hospital, Tianjin Medical University between january 2011 and December 2015 were consecutively recruited. Patients with UPGI serrated lesions were consecutively identified. The patients' demographics and histopathology were recorded. The colorectal findings for patients who underwent colonoscopy simultaneously or within six months were also extracted from the colonoscopy database. In addition, we analyseddifferences in colorectal neoplasia detection between the study patients and randomly selected patients matched for age and gender who did not exhibit serrated lesions and who also underwent colonoscopy in the same period.RESULTS A total of 21 patients out of 98746 patients(0.02%) who underwent EGD were confirmed to have serrated lesions with predominantly crenated, sawtooth-like configurations. The mean age of the 21 patients was(55.3 ± 17.2) years, and 11 patients were male(52.4%). In terms of the locations of the serrated lesions, 17 were found in the stomach(including 3 in the cardia, 9 in the corpus and 5 in the antrum), 3 were found in the duodenum, and 1 was found in the esophagus. Serrated lesions were found in different mucosal lesions, with 14 lesions were detected in polyps(8 hyperplastic polyps and 6 serrated adenomas with low grade dysplasia), 3 detected in Ménétrier gastropathy, 3 detected in an area of inflammation or ulcer, and 1 detected in the intramucosal carcinoma of the duodenum. In addition, colonoscopy data were available for 18 patients, and a significantly higher colorectal adenoma detection rate was observed in the UPGI serrated lesions group than in the randomly selected age- and gender-matched group without serrated lesions who also underwent colonoscopy in the same period(38.9% vs 11.1%, OR = 5.091, 95%CI: 1.534-16.890, P = 0.010). The detection rate of advanced adenoma was also higher in the UPGI serrated lesions group(22.2% vs 4.2%, OR = 6.571, 95%CI: 1.322-32.660, P = 0.028).CONCLUSION Serrated lesions in the UPGI were detected in various mucosal lesions with different pathological morphologies. Moreover colonoscopy is recommended for the detection of concurrent colorectal adenoma for these patients.

Detection Rate, Distribution, Clinical and Pathological Features of Colorectal Serrated Polyps

Background：Colorectal serrated polyp is considered as histologically heterogeneous lesions with malignant potential in western countries.However,few Asian studies have investigated the comprehensive clinical features of serrated polyps in symptomatic populations.The aim of the study was to evaluate the features of colorectal serrated polyps in a Chinese symptomatic population.Methods：Data from all consecutive symptomatic patients were documented from a large colonoscopy database and were analyzed.Chi-square test or Fisher＇s exact test and logistic regression analysis were used for the data processing.Results：A total of 9191 （31.7%） patients were detected with at least one colorectal polyp.The prevalence of serrated polyps was 0.53% （153/28,981）.The proportions of hyperplastic polyp （HP）,sessile serrated adenoma/polyp （SSA/P）,and traditional serrated adenoma （TSA） of all serrated polyps were 41.2%,7.2%,and 51.6%,respectively,which showed a lower proportion of HP and SSA/P and a higher proportion of TSA.Serrated polyps appeared more in males and elder patients while there was no significant difference in the subtype distribution in gender and age.The proportions of large and proximal serrated polyps were 13.7% （21/153） and 46.4% （71/153）,respectively.In total,98.9% （89/90） serrated adenomas were found with dysplasia.Moreover,14 patients with serrated polyps were found with synchronous advanced colorectal neoplasia,and large serrated polyps （LSPs） （odds ratio：3.446,95% confidence interval：1.010-11.750,P 〈 0.05）,especially large HPs,might have an association with synchronous advanced neoplasia （AN）.Conclusions：The overall detection rate ofcolorectal serrated polyps in Chinese symptomatic patient population was low,and distribution pattern of three subtypes is different from previous reports.Moreover,LSPs,especially large HPs,might be associated with an increased risk of synchronous AN.

Smoldering Multiple Myeloma Arising in Ulcerative Colitis

To the Editor： A 67-year-old man presented with recurrent diarrhea and abdominal pain of increasing severity for 7 months in May 2016. He had mucopurulent stool for about 4-6 times a day, with bellyache, tenesmus, and weight loss. He took a colonoscopy, which showed universal colitis, and a biopsy revealed crypt abscesses and inflammatory cell infiltration and he was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis （UC）. 5-Aminosalicylic acid （mesalazine） was administered, with symptoms remitted after 3 months.