Case report: Experience and insights on the treatment of two cases of cryptococcal meningitis during the later stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the late stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, there's an increasing trend in opportunistic infections, including bacterial and fungal infections. This study discusses the treatment process of two cases of cryptococcal meningitis during the COVID-19 pandemic. It highlights the importance of laboratory testing for these co-infections and stresses the need for vigilance, early diagnosis, and proactive treatment to improve patient outcomes in the post-pandemic era.

Lung cancer patient with Tropheryma whipplei and Nocardia co-infection.

A 34-year-old male presented with lung shadow and was asymptomatic during medical examination. The patient had a prior history of thyroid tumors. Imaging manifestation showed a nodule in the medial segment of the right middle lobe, with partial obstruction of the distal bronchus within the lesion. Ground-glass and inflammatory nodules were observed in the anterior segment of the right upper lobe, as well as chronic inflammatory changes in the lower lobe of the right lung. Lung histopathological examination suggested invasive adenocarcinoma. A morphological examination of the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid revealed the presence of Tropheryma whipplei (TW) and Nocardia. Although TW infection has been reported in cancer patients, co-infection with Nocardia is a unique occurrence in this case. Opportunistic pathogens are common in immunocompromised patients but in this case, the patient was a young adult with normal immunity and an early-stage tumor with TW and Nocardia co-infection. We demonstrated the presence of rare microorganisms through imaging findings, combined with different staining methods of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and lung tissue sections and evaluation of morphological characteristics. The aim of the present study was to provide early diagnosis and treatment of patients by improving microbial morphological detection.

Case report: Application of morphology in the diagnosis of siderosis in a patient with tuberculosis infection.

A 49-year-old male who had been working in welding for more than 30 years was admitted to the hospital for a medical checkup that revealed a lung shadow without specific symptoms such as coughing and sputum. Imaging studies showed diffuse ground-glass changes in both lungs, wall cavities with wall nodules, multiple peripheral nodules, and some nodules with calcification. The patient has been engaged in welding work for more than 30 years and exposed to iron dust. Lung tissue biopsy, routine morphological and pathological fluid basis examination of alveolar lavage fluid, can be considered as pulmonary iron particles, which can be regarded as iron dust lung. Acid-fast bacilli were detected in both fibrobronchoscopic brush extract and alveolar lavage fluid acid-fast staining. As the pathological examination revealed granulomatous inflammation showed caseation necrosis, the patient was judged to have concomitant pulmonary TB. After the diagnosis was made, the patient was no longer exposed to dust and was treated with appropriate anti- tuberculosis (TB) therapy. Lung lesions caused by welding have been reported, but the simultaneous finding of siderosis with pulmonary TB is specific to the case presented here. By describing the imaging features, combining different staining methods of alveolar lavage fluid and pathological examination of lung tissue, we showed various morphological manifestations of this case, aiming at improving the morphological diagnosis level of laboratory physicians and enabling patients to be diagnosed and treated early.

[Initial research on FTIR spectroscopy of lyophilized serum from colorectal cancer patients].

In the present paper, lyophilized sera from 31 patients with colorectal cancer, 8 patients with enteritis and 10 healthy controls were measured using Nicolet Nexus-670 Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometer, and the spectral features were investigated and comparison among three groups was made. The result showed that (1) there are 11 peaks of absorption in the spectrum of lyophilized sera, the wavenumber of the ninth peak moved to 1 249 cm(-1) in the colorectal cancer group and significant difference was observed with the control group (Z = -2.051, P < 0.05); Five ratios of absorbance were calculated and no significant difference was observed among three groups; (2) spectrum in the region of 1 700-1 000 cm(-1) was analysed with the method of hierarchical cluster analysis and showed only partial success in distinguishing the three groups; (2) spectrum of amide I peptide (1 700-1 600 cm(-1)) was deconvolved to get the percentage composition of protein secondary structures, and no significant difference was observed among three groups. The results provide a preliminary theoretical basic for using FTIR spectrum of lyophilized serum for the early diagnosis of colorectal cancer.