Effect of Serum Ferritin on the Prognosis of Patients with Sepsis: Data from the MIMIC-IV Database.

Background: The present study aimed to investigate the prognostic value of serum ferritin in critically ill patients with sepsis by using the MIMIC-IV database. Methods: Data were extracted from the MIMIC-IV database. Adult patients who met the sepsis-3 criteria and had the test of ferritin were included. Patients were divided into subgroups according to the initial serum ferritin. The association between initial serum ferritin and in-hospital mortality was performed by using Lowessregression, logistic regression, and ROC analysis. Subgroup analysis was used to search for the interacting factors and verify the robustness of the results. Results: Analysis of the 2,451 patients revealed a positive linear relationship between serum ferritin and in-hospital mortality. Patients with high-ferritin had a higher risk of in-hospital mortality, but no significant association was found in the low-ferritin subgroup compared with those whose ferritin was in the normal reference range. Serum ferritin had moderate predictive power for in-hospital mortality (AUC = 0.651), with an optimal cut-off value of 591.5 ng/ml. Ferritin ≥591.5 ng/ml acted as an independent prognostic predictor of in-hospital mortality, which increased the risk of in-hospital mortality by 119%. Our findings were still robust in subgroup analysis, and acute kidney injury and anemia were considered interactive factors. Conclusion: High-level serum ferritin was an independent prognostic marker for the prediction of mortality in patients with sepsis. Further high-quality research is needed to confirm the relationship between ferritin and the prognosis of septic patients.

A propensity score-matching analysis of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker exposure on in-hospital mortality in patients with acute respiratory failure.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To explore the impact of pre-hospital ACEI and ARB exposure on the prognosis of ARF patients. DESIGN: A single-center retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care-III (MIMIC-III) database. PATIENTS: The patients meeting ICD-9 code of acute respiratory failure were enrolled. INTERVENTION: The primary exposure was the pre-hospital exposure of ACEI and ARB. MEASUREMENT AND MAIN RESULTS: The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. Multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine the independent effect of ACEI/ARB exposure on mortality. Propensity score matching (PSM) method was adopted to reduce bias of the confounders. Subgroup analysis and sensitivity analysis were used to test the stability of the conclusion. 5335 adult ARF patients were enrolled. Mortality was significantly decreased in patients with ACEI/ARB exposure before and after PSM, and the adjusted odds ratio (OR) of ACEI/ARB exposure was 0.56 (95% CI 0.43-0.72). In the subgroup analysis, ACEI/ARB lost its protective effect in young subgroup, but no significant interaction was found between ACEI/ARB exposure and age (p = 0.082). The point estimation and lower 95% limit of E-value was 2.97 and 2.12. In sensitivity analysis, ACEI/ARB exposure showed similar effect in ARDS cohort, but no significantly difference was found in the MIMIC-IV database, which may be explained by small sample size of the ACEI/ARB group. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with acute respiratory failure, pre-hospital ACEI/ARB exposure was associated with better outcomes and acted as an independent factor. The relationship between ACEI/ARB and prognosis of ARF is worth investigating further.

Risk Factors for and Clinical Outcomes of Carbapenem-Resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae Nosocomial Infections: A Retrospective Study in a Tertiary Hospital in Beijing, China.

PURPOSE: Carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP) infections have been increasingly reported worldwide. We aimed to identify the risk factors for nosocomial CRKP infections and assess the clinical outcomes. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We conducted a case-control study with data collected from January 2016 to December 2018 in China. Controls were selected at a ratio of 1:1 from patients with nosocomial carbapenem-susceptible Klebsiella pneumonia (CSKP) infections. Risk factors for nosocomial CRKP infections and clinical outcomes were assessed with univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: A total of one hundred forty-two patients with CRKP infections and one hundred forty-two patients with CSKP infections were enrolled in this study. Multivariate analysis showed that exposure to antibiotics within 3 months prior to admission (odds ratio OR, 2.585; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.425-4.691; P=0.002), exposure to carbapenems (OR, 2.532; 95% CI, 1.376-4.660; P=0.003), exposure to fluoroquinolones (OR, 3.309; 95% CI, 1.326-8.257; P=0.010), and the presence of a nasogastric tube (OR, 2.796; 95% CI, 1.369-5.712; P=0.005) were independent risk factors for CRKP infections. The 30-day mortality rate in the CRKP group was 19.7%, while the in-hospital mortality rate was 28.9%. In the CRKP group, a higher creatinine level (OR, 1.009; 95% CI, 1.002-1.016; P = 0.013), being in shock at the time of a positive culture (OR, 4.454; 95% CI, 1.374-14.443; P = 0.013), and co-infection with other resistant bacteria (OR, 4.799; 95% CI, 1.229-18.740; P = 0.024) were independent predictors of in-hospital mortality in patients with CRKP infections. Kaplan-Meier curves showed that the CRKP group had a shorter survival time than the CSKP group. CONCLUSION: Nosocomial CRKP infection was associated with exposure to carbapenems and fluoroquinolones within 3 months prior to hospitalization and the presence of a nasogastric tube. Patients infected with CRKP had higher 30-day and in-hospital mortality rates. A higher creatinine level, shock and co-infection with other resistant bacteria were independent predictors of in-hospital mortality in patients with CRKP infections.

Implantation of Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells into Small Intestinal Submucosa Improves Bile Duct Injury in Rabbits

BACKGROUND@#Bile duct injury (BDI), which may occur during cholecystectomy procedures and living-donor liver transplantation, leads to life-altering complications and significantly increased mortality and morbidity. Tissue engineering, as an emerging method, has shown great potential to treat BDI. Here, we aimed to explore the application of small intestinal submucosa (SIS) matrix composites with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) to treat BDI in a rabbit model. @*METHODS@#Rabbit-derived BMSCs were used as seed cells. Porcine SIS was used as the support material. Five centimetres of the common bile duct was dissected, and 1/3–1/2 of the anterior wall diameter was transversely incised to construct the rabbit BDI model. Then, SIS materials without/with BMSCs were inserted into the common bile duct of the BDI rabbits. After 1, 2, 4, and 8 weeks of implantation, the common bile duct was removed. Haematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining was used to assess pathological alterations in the common bile duct, while immunohistochemical staining and western blotting were used to detect expression of the epithelial cell markers CK19 and E-cadherin. Scanning electron microscopy was used to evaluate BMSC growth. @*RESULTS@#Compared with BMSCs alone, SIS-attached BMSCs had increased growth. HE staining showed that the injured bile duct healed well and that the complex gradually degraded as the time from implantation increased. Immunohistochemical staining and western blotting showed that compared with the control group, the in vivo complex group had significantly elevated expression levels of CK19 and E-cadherin. @*CONCLUSION@#BMSC implantation into SIS could improve BDI in rabbits, which might have clinical value for BDI treatment.

Implantation of Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells into Small Intestinal Submucosa Improves Bile Duct Injury in Rabbits

BACKGROUND@#Bile duct injury (BDI), which may occur during cholecystectomy procedures and living-donor liver transplantation, leads to life-altering complications and significantly increased mortality and morbidity. Tissue engineering, as an emerging method, has shown great potential to treat BDI. Here, we aimed to explore the application of small intestinal submucosa (SIS) matrix composites with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) to treat BDI in a rabbit model. @*METHODS@#Rabbit-derived BMSCs were used as seed cells. Porcine SIS was used as the support material. Five centimetres of the common bile duct was dissected, and 1/3–1/2 of the anterior wall diameter was transversely incised to construct the rabbit BDI model. Then, SIS materials without/with BMSCs were inserted into the common bile duct of the BDI rabbits. After 1, 2, 4, and 8 weeks of implantation, the common bile duct was removed. Haematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining was used to assess pathological alterations in the common bile duct, while immunohistochemical staining and western blotting were used to detect expression of the epithelial cell markers CK19 and E-cadherin. Scanning electron microscopy was used to evaluate BMSC growth. @*RESULTS@#Compared with BMSCs alone, SIS-attached BMSCs had increased growth. HE staining showed that the injured bile duct healed well and that the complex gradually degraded as the time from implantation increased. Immunohistochemical staining and western blotting showed that compared with the control group, the in vivo complex group had significantly elevated expression levels of CK19 and E-cadherin. @*CONCLUSION@#BMSC implantation into SIS could improve BDI in rabbits, which might have clinical value for BDI treatment.

Prokaryotic expression of HPV 16L1 and optimization of expression conditions / 浙江大学学报·医学版

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To construct the HPV16 L1 prokaryotic expression plasmid and to optimize its expression.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A pair of primers was designed according to plasmid sequences of pGEX-KG and the HPV16L1 genes published by GeneBank. The DNA fragment of 1500 bp was amplified by PCR from the HPV recombinant plasmid with HPV16L1 gene, then cloned into pGEX-KG and transformed into the host E.coli strain JM109. The pGEX-KG-HPV16L1 plasmid was taken and transformed into BL21(DE3) for expression. Induced by IPTG at 37 degree, the expression product of HPV16L1 gene was identified by SDS-PAGE and Western blot.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>HPV16L1 fusion protein was expressed successfully in the form of inclusion bodies. The molecular weight was 83 kD. Meanwhile, the optimum condition of HPV16L1 fusion protein expression was induced with 1.0 mmol*L(-1) IPTG for 4 h. The fusion protein reacted specifically with antibodies against HPV16L1.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The prokaryotic expression vector of HPV16L1 gene has been constructed and expressed in E.coli successfully.</p>