The value of preoperative neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio in predicting the severity of cholecystolithiasis with cholecystitis in elderly patients.

BACKGROUND: This study aims to assess the effectiveness of neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and C-reactive protein (CRP) in diagnosing cholecystolithiasis with cholecystitis in elderly patients. Additionally, the study seeks to determine the predictive value of preoperative NLR in determining the severity of the condition in this population. METHODS: This study is a retrospective cohort study, including 160 elderly patients with cholecystolithiasis with cholecystitis (45 cases of simple cholecystitis, 58 cases of suppurative cholecystitis, 57 cases of gangrenous cholecystitis) and 60 cases of normal gallbladder histology. The study collected clinical data of the patients detected the preoperative CRP content, neutrophil, and lymphocyte levels through blood routine tests, and calculated the NLR value. The diagnostic value of NLR and CRP was determined by using the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (ROC), and the optimal value of preoperative NLR related to the severity of elderly patients with cholecystolithiasis with cholecystitis was identified. RESULTS: This study found that for elderly patients with cholecystolithiasis with cholecystitis, preoperative NLR and CRP levels can be used to distinguish the condition. The critical value for NLR was found to be 2.995 (95% CI, 0.9465-0.9853; P < 0.001) with an area under the ROC curve of 0.9659, while the critical value for CRP was 13.05 (95% CI, 0.9284-0.9830; P < 0.001) with an area under the ROC curve of 0.9557. Both NLR and CRP were found to have equivalent diagnostic abilities. Additionally, the study found that there were significant differences in neutrophil and lymphocyte levels in elderly patients with different severity levels, with NLR increasing as severity increased (P < 0.001). The study identified cut-off values for preoperative NLR that could distinguish Simple cholecystitis and Purulent cholecystitis, as well as Purulent cholecystitis and Gangrenous cholecystitis in elderly patients with cholecystolithiasis, with respective AUCs of 0.8441 (95% CI: 0.7642-0.9239; P < 0.001) and 0.7886(95% CI: 0.7050-0.8721, P < 0.001), sensitivities of 91.38% and 87.72%, and specificities of 73.33% and 63.79%. CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative NLR and CRP values can serve as indicators to detect cholecystolithiasis with cholecystitis in elderly patients. Additionally, NLR has been recognized as a potential tool to differentiate the severity of cholecystolithiasis with cholecystitis in the elderly population.

miR-330-3p alleviates the progression of atherosclerosis by downregulating AQP9.

Atherosclerosis (AS) is the main cause of cardiovascular diseases. However, the role of AQP9 in AS is not well understood. In the present study, we predicted that miR-330-3p might regulate AQP9 in AS through bioinformatics analysis, and we established AS model using ApoE-/- mouse (C57BL/6) with high-fat diet (HFD). Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and Oil red O staining were used to determine atherosclerotic lesions. CCK8 and Ethyny1-2-deoxyuridine (EdU) assays were used to investigate human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) proliferation after treatment with 100 µg/mL ox-LDL. Wound scratch healing and transwell assays were used to measure the cell invasion and migration ability. Flow cytometry assay was used to determine apoptosis and cell cycle. A dual-luciferase reporter assay was performed to investigate the binding of miR-330-3p and AQP9. We identified that the expression of miR-330-3p in AS mice model decreased while the expression level of AQP9 increased. miR-330-3p overexpression or down-regulation of AQP9 could reduce cell apoptosis, promote cell proliferation, and migration after ox-LDL treatment. Dual-luciferase reporter assay result presented that AQP9 was directly inhibited by miR-330-3p. These results suggest that miR-330-3p inhibits AS by regulating AQP9. miR-330-3p/AQP9 axis may be a new therapeutic target for AS.

PAX5/ITGAX Contributed to the Progression of Atherosclerosis by Regulation of B Differentiation via TNF-α Signaling Pathway.

To investigate the effect of paired box protein 5 (PAX5)/integrin subunit alpha X (ITGAX) in atherosclerosis (AS). AS model was established using ApoE-/- mice (C57BL/6). Human vascular smooth muscle cells (HVSMCs) were stimulated with ox-LDL. Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting were used to detect the expression levels of genes and proteins. Reporter constructs and luciferase assays were used to investigate the role of ITGAX and PAX5. Cells proliferation and inflammation factors were detected. The results presented that aortic plaque area, lipid content, serum triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels were significantly increased in the high-fat diet group (p < 0.05). ITGAX was upregulated in atherosclerotic tissues. In addition, ox-LDL treatment induced HVSMCs proliferation, migration, and invasion. Reporter constructs and luciferase assays indicated ITGAX interaction with PAX5. Furthermore, siITGAX and siPAX5 cotransfection restored the rate of HVSMCs in G1 and S and G2/M phases, decreased the content of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-ɑ), interleukin (IL)-6, and IL-8 (p < 0.05). Interestingly, siITGAX and siPAX5 cotransfection also decreased the expression levels of TNF-α, TNF-R1, TNF-R2, CD19, and CD86 (p < 0.05). Our results suggest that ITGAX may be a potential therapeutic target for AS.

Study on the Features of Clinical Imaging Diagnosis of Arteriosclerotic Encephalopathy.

This paper discusses the imaging diagnostic features of arteriosclerotic encephalopathy and combines the spatial context information of local features to study the clinical imaging image copy detection algorithm. Moreover, this paper proposes a clinical imaging copy detection algorithm that combines the BOW model and spatial context embedding and a clinical imaging copy detection algorithm that combines the BOW model and global context verification. In addition, this paper applies the algorithm to the imaging diagnostic features of arteriosclerotic encephalopathy and sets up a controlled experiment to start research. The experimental research shows that the application of imaging diagnosis to the detection of subcortical arteriosclerotic encephalopathy has good clinical effects and rapid remission of patients' symptoms. The effectiveness of this method can be verified by a large number of clinical practices in follow-up studies.

MiR-130a-5p contributed to the progression of endothelial cell injury by regulating FAS.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play critical roles in the development of vascular diseases. However, the effects of miR-130a-5p and its functional targets on atherosclerosis (AS) are still largely unknown. In this regard, our aim is to explore the potentially important role of miR-130a-5p and its target gene during the progression of endothelial cell injury. We first found oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) induced FAS and cell apoptosis in HUVECs. Subsequently, miR-130a-5p expression was verified to be downregulated after ox-LDL treatment and negatively correlated with FAS, and FAS was identified as substantially upregulated in the ox-LDL-treated HUVEC cells. After that, the knockdown of FAS and overexpression of miR-130a-5p together were observed to aggregate ox-LDL-induced reduction of cell viability and apoptosis, cell cycle progression, cell proliferation, cell migration and invasion. In conclusion, we detected that miR-130a-5p contributed to the progression of endothelial cell injury by regulating of FAS, which may provide a new and promising therapeutic target for AS.

Combination of percutaneous radiofrequency ablation with transarterial chemoembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma: observation of clinical effects.

OBJECTIVE: To observe the clinical effect of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) combined with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS: A total of 92 cases of advanced primary liver cancer underwent TACE and RFA treatment from June 2005 to 2011 at the Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical College. A total of 88 cases with complete clinical treatment and follow-up data were divided into two groups: 43 patients treated with TACE (TACE group) and 45 patients that received TACE combined with RFA treatment (TACE + RFA group). After clinical data assessment, tumor size and survival status were not significantly different between the groups as determined by stratified analysis. RESULTS: Before and after surgery, spiral CT radiography and color comparison observed ablation conditions. The tumor necrosis rates after treatment (CR + PR) were 67.4% (29/43) and 91.1% (41/45) for the TACE and combined treatment groups, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). The quality of life was significantly improved for patients undergoing TACE + RFA compared with the control group. Survival duration was not significantly different in patients undergoing TACE + RFA compared with the control group. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, the effect of RFA combined with TACE treatment was better than TACE alone in treating advanced HCC.