Study of liver cirrhosis over ten consecutive years in Southern China

AIM: To investigate the etiology and complications of liver cirrhosis (LC) in Southern China.

Reinforcing effect of calcium sulfate cement bovine bone morphogenetic protein on vertebral in the rabbit model of osteoporosis

Objective:To observe reinforcing effect of calcium sulfate cement(CSC) bovine bone morphogenetic protein(bBMP) on vertebral in the rabbit model of osteoporosis.Methods:A total of 48 New Zealand white rabbits were randomly divided into group Ⅰ(blank control group),groupⅡ(CSC injection group),group Ⅲ(CSC/bBMP injection group) and control group.White rabbit osteoporosis model was established rapidly by using castration mcthod+methylprcdnisolone candidate.After modeling,groups Ⅱ.Ⅲ were given corresponding vertebral body injection material,and 4 animals were sacrificed respectively at 24 h,6 weeks,12 weeks after vertebral plasty.Tissue pathological status,vertebral mineral density and vertebral body bone mechanical strength were observed.Results:Vertebral body structure form was normal in the groups Ⅱand Ⅲ.Trabecular bone coarsens,connection and repair were observed in micro fracture and bone defects,bone trabecular connectivity was superior to group I significantly;vertebral body compression strength in the group I was on the decline,vertebral compression strength in the groups Ⅱ and Ⅲ was on the rise,the largest vertebra.Postoperative BMC and BMD in groups Ⅱand Ⅲ were incresed,and significantly higher than group I after 6 weeks(P<0.05),BMC and BMD in group Ⅲ after 12 weeks were higher than the other three groups.Conclusion:Compound bBMP CSC has good bone induction.It can improve the three-dimensional construction effect for osteoporosis vertebral trabecula,and can significantly improve the vertebral strength,as a vertebral packing material with good application prospect.

Cytomegalovirus Pneumonia in Patients with Rheumatic Diseases After Immunosuppressive Therapy： A Single Center Study in China

Background： Rheumatic diseases involve multiple organs that are affected by immunological mechanisms.Treatment with corticosteroids and immunosuppressive agents may also increase the frequency of infection.Cytomegalovirus （CMV） is a widespread herpes virus and a well-recognized pathogen, which causes an opportunistic and potentially fatal infection in immunocompromised patients.This retrospective study aimed to investigate the clinical and laboratory characteristics of CMV pneumonia in patients with rheumatic diseases after immunosuppressive therapy in a single center in Shanghai, China.Methods： Eight hundred and thirty-four patients with rheumatic diseases who had undergone CMV-DNA viral load tests were included, and the medical records of 142 patients who were positive for CMV-DNA in plasma samples were evaluated.GraphPad Prism version 5.013 （San Diego, CA, USA） was used to conduct statistical analysis.The correlation between CMV-DNA viral loads and lymphocyte counts was assessed using the Spearman rank correlation coefficient test.Significance between qualitative data was analyzed using Pearson＆#39;s Chi-squared test.The cut-offthresholds for CMV-DNA viral load and lymphocyte count were determined by receiver operating characteristic （ROC） curve analysis.Results： One hundred and forty-two patients had positive CMV viral load tests.Of these 142 patients, 73 patients with CMV pneumonia were regarded as symptomatic, and the other 69 were asymptomatic.The symptomatic group received higher doses ofprednisolone （PSL） and more frequently immunosuppressants than the asymptomatic group （P 〈 0.01）.The symptomatic group had lower lymphocyte counts, especially CD4＋ T-cells, than the asymptomatic group （P 〈 0.01）.By ROC curve analysis, when CD4＋ T-cell count was 〈0.39 ＆#215; 109/L, patients with rheumatic diseases were at high risk for symptomatic CMV infection.The CMV-DNA load was significantly higher in the symptomatic patients than that in asymptomatic patients （P 〈 0.01;threshold viral loads： 1.75 ＆#215; 104 copies/ml）.Seven patients had a fatal outcome, and they had lower peripheral lymphocyte counts （P 〈 0.01）, including CD4＋ and CD8＋ T-cells （P 〈 0.0 l）.Conclusions： When CD4＋ T-cell count is 〈0.39 ＆#215; 109/L, patients are at high risk for pulmonary CMV infection.Patients are prone to be symptomatic with CMV-DNA load 〉1.75 ＆#215; 104 copies/ml.Lymphopenia （especially CD4＋ T-cells）, presence of symptoms, and other infections, especially fungal infection, are significant risk factors for poor outcome, and a higher PSL dosage combined with immunosuppressants may predict CMV pneumonia.

Gut microbiome,cognitive function and brain structure:a multi-omics integration analysis

Background:Microbiome-gut-brain axis may be involved in the progression of age-related cognitive impairment and relevant brain structure changes,but evidence from large human cohorts is lacking.This study was aimed to investigate the associations of gut microbiome with cognitive impairment and brain structure based on multi-omics from three independent populations.Methods:We included 1430 participants from the Guangzhou Nutrition and Health Study(GNHS)with both gut microbiome and cognitive assessment data available as a discovery cohort,of whom 272 individuals provided fecal samples twice before cognitive assessment.We selected 208 individuals with baseline microbiome data for brain magnetic resonance imaging during the follow-up visit.Fecal 16S rRNA and shotgun metagenomic sequencing,tar-geted serum metabolomics,and cytokine measurements were performed in the GNHS.The validation analyses were conducted in an Alzheimer’s disease case-control study(replication study 1,n=90)and another community-based cohort(replication study 2,n=1300)with cross-sectional dataset.Results:We found protective associations of specific gut microbial genera(Odoribacter,Butyricimonas,and Bac-teroides)with cognitive impairment in both the discovery cohort and the replication study 1.Result of Bacteroides was further validated in the replication study 2.Odoribacter was positively associated with hippocampal volume(β,0.16;95%CI 0.06-0.26,P=0.002),which might be mediated by acetic acids.Increased intra-individual alterations in gut microbial composition were found in participants with cognitive impairment.We also identified several serum metabolites and inflammation-associated metagenomic species and pathways linked to impaired cognition.Conclusions:Our findings reveal that specific gut microbial features are closely associated with cognitive impair-ment and decreased hippocampal volume,which may play an important role in dementia development.

Gut microbiota,inflammation,and molecular signatures of host response to infection

Gut microbial dysbiosis has been linked to many noncommunicable diseases.However,little is known about specific gut microbiota composition and its correlated metabolites associated with molecular signatures underlying host response to infection.Here,we describe the construction of a proteomic risk score based on 20 blood proteomic biomarkers,which have recently been identified as molecular signatures predicting the progression of the COVID-19.We demonstrate that in our cohort of 990 healthy individuals without infection,this proteomic risk score is positively associated with proinflammatory cytokines mainly among older,but not younger,individuals.We further discover that a core set of gut microbiota can accurately predict the above proteomic biomarkers among 301 individuals using a machine learning model and that these gut microbiota features are highly correlated with proinflammatory cytokines in another independent set of 366 individuals.Fecal metabolomics analysis suggests potential amino acid-related pathways linking gut microbiota to host metabolism and inflammation.Overall,our multi-omics analyses suggest that gut microbiota composition and function are closely related to inflammation and molecular signatures of host response to infection among healthy individuals.These results may provide novel insights into the cross-talk between gut microbiota and host immune system.