Repeated atrial arrhythmia induced by cochineal red poisoning:A case report

BACKGROUND Cochineal red is an organic compound widely used in food,cosmetics,pharmaceuticals,textiles,and other fields due to its excellent safety profile.Poisoning caused by eating foods containing cochineal red is rare,and repeated atrial arrhythmia due to cochineal red poisoning is even rarer.CASE SUMMARY An 88-year-old Asian female patient was admitted to hospital due to a disturbance of consciousness.Twelve hours prior to presentation,the patient consumed 12 eggs containing cochineal red over a period of 2 h.At presentation,the patient was in a coma and had a score of 6 on the Glasgow Coma Scale(E2+VT+M4).The patient’s skin and mucous membranes were pink.Electrocardiography(ECG)revealed rapid atrial fibrillation without any signs of ischemia.We prescribed cedilan and fluid replacement for arrhythmia correction.Shortly after admission,the atrial fibrillation corrected to a normal sinus rhythm.On the day 2 of admission,the patient had a sudden atrial flutter accompanied by hemodynamic instability and rapidly declining arterial oxygen saturation between 85%and 90%.The sinus rhythm returned to normal after two electrical cardioversions.Six days after admission,the skin color of the patient returned to normal,and the ECG results were normal.The patient was transferred out of the intensive care unit and eventually discharged after 12 d in hospital.At the 2-mo follow-up visit,the patient was in good health with no recurrence of arrhythmia.CONCLUSION Although cochineal red is a safe,natural food additive,excessive consumption or occupational exposure can induce cardiac arrhythmias.

甲状腺相关眼病的影像学检查

甲状腺相关眼病(thyroid associated ophthalmopathy,TAO)是一种自身免疫性眼眶炎症性疾病,影像学检查是其重要的辅助检查手段。通过影像学检查能充分了解眶内病变,鉴别具有相似临床表现的眼眶疾病;同时对TAO分期、辅助诊断压迫性视神经病变(compressive optic neuropathy,CON)也具有重要意义。

肠道菌群与胃肠动力关系的研究进展

胃肠动力障碍性疾病是一类以胃肠动力异常为主要发病机制的临床常见病,包括肠易激综合征、功能性消化不良、糖尿病胃轻瘫等.近十余年来随着微生物测序技术的迅猛发展,人们对肠道菌群的了解日益深入,普遍发现胃肠动力障碍性疾病存在肠道菌群的紊乱.关于肠道菌群与胃肠动力的相关性研究也取得了一些进展,本文就肠道菌群与胃肠动力的关系及二者相互作用的机制作一综述.

Effect of Drying on Particle Size and Sensitivities of Nano hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine

Nano hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine(RDX) was prepared using a bi-directional rotation mill and dried under different conditions(liquid, temperature and drying). It shows that the samples cake seriously and the particles grow up obviously by ordinary drying in different liquids at 70 C, which occurs again after vacuum drying. With the increase of temperature, the degrees of caking and aggregation are enhanced.Well dispersed sample maintaining constant particle size is extracted by supercritical drying, especially freeze drying. Furthermore, the mechanical sensitivities of I-RDX, O-RDX and F-RDX, of which the average sizes are 88.03 mm, 15.32 mm and 0.16 mm, respectively, are evaluated. Compared with I-RDX, the friction, impact and shock sensitivities of O-RDX are slightly lower. However, the friction, impact and shock sensitivities of F-RDX are reduced by 30%, 99.0% and 59.9%, respectively.

Intracellular alpha-fetoprotein mitigates hepatocyte apoptosis and necroptosis by inhibiting endoplasmic reticulum stress

BACKGROUND Endoplasmic reticulum(ER)stress contributes to the pathogenesis of chronic liver diseases,but how hepatocytes respond to ER stress has not been clarified.Alphafetoprotein(AFP)is secreted by hepatoma cells and elevated levels of serum AFP are associated with development of liver malignancies.AIM To investigate whether and how AFP could regulate ER stress and hepatocyte injury.METHODS The distribution of AFP and the degrees of ER stress in liver tissues and liver injury were characterized by histology,immunohistochemistry,and Western blot in biopsied human liver specimens,two mouse models of liver injury and a cellular model.The levels of AFP in sera and the supernatants of cultured cells were quantified by chemiluminescence.RESULTS High levels of intracellular AFP were detected in liver tissues,particularly in the necrotic areas,from patients with chronic liver diseases and mice after carbon tetrachloride(CCl4)administration or induction of ER stress,but not from the controls.The induced intracellular AFP was accompanied by elevated activating transcription factor-6(ATF6)expression and protein kinase R-like ER kinase(PERK)phosphorylation in mouse livers.ER stress induced AFP expression in LO2 cells and decreased their viability.ATF6,but not PERK,silencing mitigated the ER-stress-induced AFP expression in LO2 cells.Conversely,AFP silencing deteriorated the ER stress-mediated LO2 cell injury and CCl4 administration-induced liver damages by increasing levels of cleaved caspase-3,the C/enhancer binding protein homologous protein expression,mixed lineage kinase domain-like pseudokinase and PERK phosphorylation,but decreasing ATF6 expression.CONCLUSION ER stress upregulated intra-hepatocyte AFP expression by activating ATF6 during the process of liver injury and intracellular AFP attenuated hepatocyte apoptosis and necroptosis by alleviating ER stress.

Mechanical-force-promoted peptide assembly: a general method

A general method was developed for promoting peptide assembly and protein polymerization to form nanoscale patterns on various surfaces with an atomic force microscope(AFM) operated in a liquid. By scanning solid surfaces with an AFM tip, we showed that peptide monomers assemble at a higher rate in the tip-scanned area compared to other regions. The promotion is attributed to the mechanical force applied by the scanning tip. This kind of mechanical-force-promoted assembly was also observed with different peptides on various substrates. The force promoting peptide assembly provides a simple and practical solution for preparing and building peptide and protein architectures for future nanodevices.

Circulating Dickkof-1 as a potential biomarker associated with the prognosis of patients with rheumatoid arthritis-associated interstitial lung disease

To the Editor:Interstitial lung disease(ILD)is a common extra-articular manifestation in patients with connective tissue diseases(CTDs),including rheumatoid arthritis(RA),which contributes significantly to the disease burden and excess mortality.[1]It has been well-recognized that RA-associated ILD(RA-ILD)patients have a threefold higher risk of death than RA patients without ILD.[2]However,among approximately 30%of ILD patients,the specific diagnosis cannot be made from clinical findings and high-resolution computed tomography features,resulting in diagnostic and management uncertainty.