Clinical relevance of gemstone spectral CT in the diagnosis of carotid atherosclerosis.

[This retracts the article DOI: 10.3892/etm.2017.4342.].

[Identification of a new 3.8kb deletional α thalassemia and detection of the deletion fragment].

OBJECTIVE: To report the identification of a novel 3.8-kb deletion that caused α thalassemia and establish the method for detecting the deletion fragment. METHODS: Peripheral blood samples were collected from the proband and his mother for analysis of the hematological parameters and routine test for thalassemia genes. For the sample with an inconsistency between the genotyping results and phenotypic analysis results, a specific gap-PCR was employed to identify the rare or novel mutations. RESULTS: A novel 3814-bp deletion causing α thalassemia was found in the proband and his mother, who had genotypes of -α4.2/-α3.8 and αα/-α3.8, respectively. CONCLUSION: We identified a 3.8-kb deletion in the α-globin gene cluster that caused α thalassemia, and this finding enriches the α thalassemia gene mutation spectrum. Specific gap-PCR offers a convenient and efficient means for for detecting this deletion fragment.

Clinical relevance of gemstone spectral CT in the diagnosis of carotid atherosclerosis.

A variety of imaging methods can be used in the diagnosis of atherosclerotic plaques. In the present study, we investigated the morphology and composition of atherosclerotic plaque associated with ischemic cerebral infarction by comparing gemstone spectral computed tomography (GSCT) and traditional multi-slice CT (MSCT). In total, 200 patients were enrolled and divided into the experimental group (n=100), which underwent GSCT, and the control group (n=100), which underwent MSCT. All the cases were followed up to observe disease outcomes in patients with different atherosclerotic plaque types, and adverse events in carotid artery stenosis or cerebral infarction were recorded. Compared with traditional MSCT, sensitivity (93.2%), specificity (84.5%), and accuracy (91.0%) of GSCT were significantly higher. We found a correlation between vulnerable plaque of carotid atherosclerotic plaque and the occurrence of cerebral infarction. These results suggest the advantages of GSCT in analyzing atherosclerotic plaque and predicting the risk of ischemic cerebral infarction.

[Recent progress in the study on antitumor drugs targeting hypoxia-inducible factor-1].

Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1), as a transcription factor, plays an important role in the adaptation to hypoxic microenvironment within tumors. It can induce a series of genes transcription that participate in angiogenesis, glucose metabolism, cell proliferation, and cell migration/invasion. Thus HIF-1 not only allows cancer cells to survive in hypoxic microenvironment, but also makes the tumor more aggressive. Moreover, HIF-1 also induces tumors to acquire resistance to chemo-/radio-therapy, and is related to poor prognosis. HIF-1 emerges gradually as a potential target to develop new antitumor drugs. This paper reviews recent progress in this field.