Study on the value of serum miR-106b for the early diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma

AIM To analyze the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in a population that underwent health checkups and had high serum miR-106b levels. METHODS A total of 335 subjects who underwent checkups in the Digestive and Liver Disease Department of our hospital were randomly selected. RT-PCR was used to detect the level of miR-106b in serum samples. Laboratory and imaging examinations were carried out to confirm the HCC diagnosis in patients who had a > 2-fold change in miR-106b levels. Ultrasound-guided biopsy was also used for HCC diagnosis when necessary. On this basis, the clinical data of these subjects, including history of hepatitis virus infection, obesity, long-term history of alcohol use and stage of HCC, were collected. Then, the impact of these factors on the level of miR1-06b in serum was analyzed. Furthermore, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of miR-106b for HCC. RESULTS A total of 35 subjects had abnormal serum miR-106b levels, of which 20 subjects were diagnosed with HCC. t-test revealed that the difference in serum miR-106b level in terms of sex, age, history of hepatitis virus infection, obesity and long-term history of alcohol use was not statistically significant. However, serum miR-106b levels in patients with advanced HCC (stage. /.) was higher than in patients with early HCC (stage./.), and the difference was statistically significant (P = 0.000). Moreover, the ROC curve revealed that the area under the curve value for miR-106b was 0.885, which shows that serum miR-106b level has a certain clinical value for HCC diagnosis. CONCLUSION The random sampling survey shows that serum miR-106b level is a valuable diagnostic marker for HCC. However, the diagnostic threshold value needs to be further researched.

Characteristics of strong motions and damage implications of M_s6.5 Ludian earthquake on August 3,2014

The Ludian County of Yunnan Province in southwestern China was struck by an Ms6.5 earthquake on August 3, 2014, which was another destructive event following the Ms8.0 Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, Ms7.1 Yushu earthquake in 2010, and Ms7.0 Lushan earthquake in 2013. National Strong-Motion Observation Network System of China collected 74 strong motion recordings, which the maximum peak ground acceleration recorded by the 053LLT station in Longtoushan Town was 949 cm/s2 in E-W component. The observed PGAs and spectral ordinates were compared with ground-motion prediction equation in China and the NGA-West2 developed by Pacific Earthquake Engineering Researcher Center. This earthquake is considered as the first case for testing applicability of NGA-West2 in China. Results indicate that the observed PGAs and the 5 % damped pseudo-response spectral accelerations are significantly lower than the pre- dicted ones. The field survey around some typical strong motion stations verified that the earthquake damage was consistent with the official isoseismal by China Earthquake Administration.

A creatinine-based model for predicting recurrent bleeding after modified percutaneous transhepatic variceal embolization in patients with cirrhosis

Background:Patients who survive initial esophagogastric variceal bleeding(EVB)are at an increased risk of recurrent bleeding and death;however,a reliable predictive model is lacking.We aimed to develop a model for rebleeding prediction in patients with EVB after modified percutaneous transhepatic variceal embolization(PTVE)with cyanoacrylate.Methods:A total of 122 patients with EVB who underwent PTVE from January 2015 to November 2020 were enrolled.Multivariate logistic analyses were conducted to determine independent risk factors for nomogram construction.The discrimination,calibration,and clinical utility of the nomogram were compared with the Model for End-stage Liver Disease score(MELD)and the Child–Pugh model.Risk stratification was performed according to the nomogram.Results:Rebleeding within 3 months of PTVE occurred in 32 patients(26.2%).Independent rebleeding indicators included prior history of endoscopic therapy,Child–Pugh score,partial splenic embolization,and creatinine level.The nomogram incorporating these four predictors achieved excellent calibration and discriminatory abilities,with a concordance index of 0.85,which was confirmed to be 0.83 through bootstrapping validation.The nomogram demonstrated superior discrimination and clinical applicability than the MELD and Child–Pugh models.As shown in the Kaplan–Meier curves,high-risk patients had a high probability of rebleeding(P<0.001).Conclusions:The creatinine-based nomogram had a superior ability to predict rebleeding after PTVE in patients with EVB.Risk stratification may help identify high-risk patients and lead to the earlier implementation of aggressive treatments and formulation of intensive follow-up plans.

Field survey around strong motion stations and its implications on the seismic intensity in the Lushan earthquake on April 20,2013

The Ms7.0 Lushan earthquake on April 20, 2013 is another destructive event in China since the Ms8.0 Wenchuan earthquake in 2008 and Ms7.1 Yushu earth- quake in 2010. A large number of strong motion recordings were accumulated by the National Strong Motion Obser- vation Network System of China. The maximum peak ground acceleration （PGA） at Station 51BXD in Baoxing Country is recorded as -1,005.3 cm/s2, which is even larger than the maximum one in the Wenchuan earthquake. A field survey around three typical strong motion stations confirms that the earthquake damage is consistent with the issued map of macroseismic intensity. For the oscillation period 0.3-1.0 s which is the common natural period range of the Chinese civil building, a comparison shows that the observed response spectrums are considerably smaller than the designed values in the Chinese code and this could be one of the reasons that the macroseismic intensity is lower than what we expected despite the high amplitude of PGAs. The Housner spectral intensities from 16 stations are also basically correlated with their macroseismic intensities, and the empirical distribution of spectral intensities from Lushan and Wenchuan Earthquakes under the Chinese scale is almost identical with those under the European scale.