Systemic and cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers for tuberculous meningitis identification and treatment monitoring.

IMPORTANCE: Tuberculous meningitis is a life-threatening infection with high mortality and disability rates. Current diagnostic methods using cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples have limited sensitivity and lack predictive biomarkers for evaluating prognosis. This study's findings reveal excessive activation of the immune response during tuberculous meningitis (TBM) infection. Notably, a strong negative correlation was observed between CSF levels of monokine induced by interferon-γ (MIG) and the CSF/blood glucose ratio in TBM patients. MIG also exhibited the highest area under the curve with high sensitivity and specificity. This study suggests that MIG may serve as a novel biomarker for differentiating TBM infection in CSF or serum, potentially leading to improved diagnostic accuracy and better patient outcomes.

[Application of CD138 Immunomagnetic Bead Sorting Combined with Fluorescence in Situ Hybridization in Multiple Myeloma].

OBJECTIVE: To compare the effects of direct fluorescence in situ hybridization (D-FISH) detection without sorting and CD138 immunomagnetic bead sorting technology combined with FISH (MACS-FISH) on cytogenetic analysis of patients with multiple myeloma (MM). METHODS: FISH test results of 229 patients with initial MM were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into two groups, 140 patients were tested with D-FISH and 89 patients with MACS-FISH. The combination probe was designed as P53, D13S319, RB1, 1q21, and IgH. Cytogenetic detection results were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: The total detection rate of cytogenetic abnormalities in D-FISH group was 52.9%, and that in MACS-FISH group was 79.8%. There was a significant difference in the cytogenetic abnormality rate between the two groups (P=0.020). The abnormal genes with the highest detection rate in the two groups were 1q21 and IgH, respectively, while the lowest was P53. There was no significant difference in the percentage of P53 positive cells (positive rate) between the two groups, while D13S319, RB1, 1q21, and IgH showed significant difference in positive cell rate (P=0.0002, P<0.0001, P=0.0033, P=0.0032). There was no significant correlation between the proportion of plasma cells (PC) detected by bone marrow morphology and cytogenetic abnormality rate in the D-FISH group, while there was a correlation between the proportion of PC detected by flow cytometry and cytogenetic abnormality rate (r=0.364). The PC proportion detected by bone marrow morphology and flow cytometry in the MACS-FISH group had no correlation with the cytogenetic abnormality rate and positive cell rate of the 5 genes mentioned above. Additionally, the PC proportion detected by bone marrow morphology and flow cytometry showed significant difference (P<0.0001). CONCLUSION: CD138 immunomagnetic bead sorting combined with FISH technology can significantly improve the abnormality detection rate of MM cytogenetics.

High-sensitivity C-reactive protein as a predictive factor of acute kidney injury following aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage: a prospective observational study.

BACKGROUND: High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) is a well-recognized biomarker of neurologic complications and clinical outcome of stroke patients. However, whether hs-CRP can predict the occurrence of acute kidney injury (AKI) in aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) patients is still unclear. The objective of this study was to assess the feasibility of using serum hs-CRP level to predict the occurrence of AKI in aSAH patients. METHODS: One hundred sixty-four aSAH patients were enrolled into a prospective observational study. AKI was diagnosed using the modified Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) standard. The relationship between serum hs-CRP level at admission and occurrence of AKI was analyzed. RESULTS: AKI occurred in 17 patients (10.4%) in this cohort. Patients with AKI had significantly higher hs-CRP levels than those without. The mortality of the AKI group tends to be higher than that of the non-AKI group, but the difference was not statistically significant (4/17 (23.5%) vs. 13/147 (8.8%), P = 0.081). After adjusting for possible confounding factors including World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies grade, diabetes, and serum creatinine, multivariate analysis revealed that serum hs-CRP level and antibiotic therapy were both significant factors independently associated with AKI following aSAH (serum hs-CRP: OR = 1.2, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.1-1.3, P = 0.003; antibiotic therapy: OR = 5.8, 95%CI = 1.6-20.7, P = 0.007). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that hs-CRP had a sensitivity of 76.5% and a specificity of 64.6% for predicting the development of AKI on the basis of the best thresholds. The post hoc log-rank test revealed that patients having serum hs-CRP level > 6.6 mg/L had a significantly higher AKI rate than patients having serum hs-CRP level ≤ 6.6 mg/L (P = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Serum hs-CRP level might be helpful as a predictor for the development of AKI in aSAH patients. Delayed cerebral ischemia occurrence rate and mortality of patients with AKI tend to be higher than those of patients without in this cohort; however, they were not significantly different.

Incidence and clinical features of hyperlipidemic acute pancreatitis from Guangdong, China: a retrospective multicenter study.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the clinical features and incidence trends of hyperlipidemic acute pancreatitis (HLAP) of multicenter studies in Guangdong, China, for 15 years. METHODS: The medical records of 1582 patients with acute pancreatitis who were admitted to 4 general hospitals of Guangdong from January 1990 to December 2005 were reviewed. The inpatient medical and radiologic records were reviewed to determine clinical features, severity, complications, mortality, and recurrence rate. RESULTS: A total of 7.8% (123/1582) patients met the HLAP criteria. Incidence of HLAP was approximately 2.6 times increased during 15 years (3.4% in 1990-1994, 5.9% in 1995-1999, and 8.9% in 2000-2005, respectively) and ranged from 3.3% to 15.5% in 4 hospitals across Guangdong. A history of diabetes was present in 31.7% and alcohol use in 18.7%. The mean (SD) triglyceride levels were 13.6 (7.2) mmol/L. Amylase was elevated higher than normal in 81.2% but only 2 times normal in 17.1% and 3 times normal in 37.6%. The frequency of severe acute pancreatitis, organ dysfunction, rate of recurrence, and mortality of HLAP was significantly higher than biliary-induced pancreatitis. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of HLAP had significantly increased during the past 15 years with a clear geographic variation and remarkable severity and recurrent trend.

[HIV-1 subtype and the distribution in Yunnan province].

OBJECTIVE: To understanding the genetic subtype and its population and regional distribution of HIV-1 strains circulating in Yunnan province. METHODS: 788 plasma specimens collected in 2008-2009 from 15 distracts of Yunnan, were enrolled. Viral RNA were extracted and subjected to RT-PCR. 1584 bp full length gag gene, 3147 bp full length pol gene and 558 bp env (C2V3) fragment were amplified and directly sequenced. Full length gag and pol genes were connected together as a complete genetic region (location on HXB2: 790 - 5096) for genotyping. RESULTS: Of the 788 plasma specimens, a total number of 1728 genomic sequences including 599 gag, 564 pol and 525 env (C2V3) were successfully amplified and sequenced, with genotype of 617 samples identified. The subtypes of HIV-1 strains circulated in Yunnan were with the order of constituent ratio CRF08_BC (50.2%), CRF01_AE (25.0%), unknown recombinant forms (10.2%), CRF07_BC (9.2%), subtype C (2.9%) and subtype B (B') (2.4%). The distributions of subtypes showed significant regional differences and could be roughly divided into two forms:the CRF08_BC predominant areas represented by Lincang and Kunming, and the areas with CRF08_BC together with CRF01_AE coexistence, represented by Dehong and Xishuangbanna. The unknown recombinant forms accounted for more HIV infection in ethnic minorities (17.0%) than in ethnic Han (6.7%, P < 0.01). The distribution of subtypes varied significantly in the two primary routes of transmission for those infected through heterosexual contact. CRF08_BC and CRF01_AE were the dominant subtypes, accounting for 52.7% and 29.1% respectively. However, in IDUs, CRF08_BC strains accounted for half of the infection, while only 4.5% of the infections were caused by CRF01_AE, CRF07_BC while the unique recombinant forms were responsible for 15.5% infections. Of the 63 unknown recombinant forms, most (74.6%) were B (B') recombinant with C, while 25% were mosaic B and/or C fragments on the bases of CRF01_AE genome. CONCLUSION: The subtypes of HIV-1 strains circulated in Yunnan were complicated under the significant differences of regions, ethnics or routes of transmission.