Clinical value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound versus conventional ultrasound in biopsy of focal liver lesions.

BACKGROUND: Focal liver lesions (FLLs) are a common form of liver disease, and identifying accurate pathological types is required to guide treatment and evaluate prognosis. PURPOSE: To compare and analyze the application effect of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and conventional ultrasound (US) in the clinical diagnosis of focal liver lesions. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed on 682 patients with space-occupying liver lesions admitted to our hospital between December 2015 and August 2021. Of these, 280 underwent CEUS-guided biopsies and 402 underwent conventional US biopsies, with the results of each biopsy subsequently compared between the two groups. The success rate and accuracy of the biopsies and their relationship with different pathological features were also analyzed. RESULTS: The success rate, sensitivity, diagnostic accuracy, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the CEUS group were significantly higher than those of the US group (P < 0.05). Lesion size accuracy in the CEUS group was significantly higher than that in the US group (89.29% vs. 40.55%; P < 0.05). Lesion type accuracy in the CEUS group was significantly higher than that in the US group (86.49% vs. 43.59%), and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The logistic regression analysis indicated that malignant lesions, lesions ≥5 cm, and lesions ≤1 cm were independent factors affecting the success rate of the puncture procedure (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy of lesion size and type in the CEUS group were higher than those in the US group.

Research Note: The structure and diversity of antibiotic resistance genes in animal house environment.

In recent years, a series of public health issues caused by the spread of antibiotic resistance have been widely concerned. The indoor air of livestock and poultry houses is considered to be one of the main sources of environmental contamination of ARGs. This study characterized the micro-organisms and ARGs in the air particulate matter of chicken houses using metagenomics. The study successfully detected 761 different subtypes of resistance genes including aminoglycosides, tetracyclines, MLSB etc., 4 types of mobile genetic elements, and various pathogenic microorganisms from the aerosols in the chicken coop environment. The results showed that the abundance of ARGs in the air of the chicken coop was at a relatively high level, correlation network analysis showed that multiple types of ARGs could promote the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Bortezomib in previously treated phosphatase and tension homology-deficient patients with advanced intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma: An open-label, prospective and single-centre phase II trial.

INTRODUCTION: Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is characterized by a dismal prognosis with limited therapeutic alternatives. To explore phosphatase and tension homolog (PTEN) as a biomarker for proteasome inhibition in ICC, we conducted a phase II trial to assess the second-line efficacy of bortezomib in PTEN-deficient advanced ICC patients. METHODS: A total of 130 patients with advanced ICC in our centre were screened by PTEN immunohistochemical staining between 1 July 2017, and 31 December 2021, and 16 patients were ultimately enrolled and treated with single-agent bortezomib 1.3 mg/m2 on days 1, 4, 8 and 11 of a 21-day cycle. The primary endpoint was the objective response rate (ORR) according to Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors v1.1. RESULTS: The median follow-up was 6.55 months (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.7-19.9 months). Among the 16 enrolled patients, the ORR was 18.75% (3/16) and the disease control rate was 43.75% (7/16). The median progress-free survival was 2.95 months (95% CI: 2.1-5.1 months) and the median overall survival (mOS) was 7.2 months (95% CI: 0.7-21.6 months) in the intent-to-treat-patients. Treatment-related adverse events of any grade were reported in 16 patients, with thrombopenia being the most common toxicity. Patients with PTEN staining scores of 0 were more likely to benefit from bortezomib than those with staining scores > 0. CONCLUSIONS: Bortezomib yielded an encouraging objective response and a favourable OS as a second-line agent in PTEN-deficient ICC patients. Our findings suggest bortezomib as a promising therapeutic option for patients with PTEN-deficient ICC. HIGHLIGHTS: There is a limited strategy for the second-line option of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC). This investigator-initiated phase 2 study evaluated bortezomib in ICC patients with phosphatase and tension homology deficiency. The overall response rate was 18.75% and the overall survival was 7.2 months in the intent-to-treat cohort. These results justify further developing bortezomib in ICC patients with PTEN deficiency.

Exploring the Microbial Community Structure in the Chicken House Environment by Metagenomic Analysis.

The environmental conditions of chicken houses play an important role in the growth and development of these animals. The chicken house is an essential place for the formation of microbial aerosols. Microbial aerosol pollution and transmission can affect human and animal health. In this work, we continuously monitored fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the chicken house environment for four weeks and studied the microbial community structure in the aerosols of the chicken house environment through metagenomic sequencing. Our results found that bacteria, fungi, viruses, and archaea were the main components of PM2.5 in the chicken house environment, accounting for 89.80%, 1.08%, 2.06%, and 0.49%, respectively. Conditional pathogens are a type of bacteria that poses significant harm to animals themselves and to farm workers. We screened ten common conditional pathogens and found that Staphylococcus had the highest relative abundance, while Clostridium contained the most microbial species, up to 456. Basidiomycetes and Ascomycota in fungi showed dramatic changes in relative abundance, and other indexes showed no significant difference. Virulence factors (VF) are also a class of molecules produced by pathogenic microbes that can cause host diseases. The top five virulence factors were found in four groups: FbpABC, HitABC, colibactin, acinetobactin, and capsule, many of which are used for the iron uptake system. In the PM2.5 samples, eight avian viruses were the most significant discoveries, namely Fowl aviadovirus E, Fowl aviadovirus D, Avian leukosis virus, Avian endogenous retrovirus EAV-HP, Avian dependent parvovirus 1, Fowl adenovus, Fowl aviadovirus B, and Avian sarcoma virus. The above results significantly improve our understanding of the microbial composition of PM2.5 in chicken houses, filling a gap on virus composition; they also indicate a potential threat to poultry and to human health. This work provides an important theoretical basis for animal house environmental monitoring and protection.