Preliminary study on circulating serum levels of tumor necrosis factor—Alpha in patients of tuberculosis

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of several non-infectious and infectious diseases including tuberculosis. In a prospective longitudinal study, TNF-α level in blood was estimated by sandwich ELISA using anti human TNF-α antibody, in 22 patients with active pleuro-pulmonary and lymphnode tuberculosis before and after chemotherapy and 8 healthy controls. Six patients and six controls had detectable levels (> 5 pg/ml) of TNF-α in blood. The mean TNF-α levels in controls and cases before and after treatment were 182.4pg/ml, 896.7 pg/ml and 678.7pg/ml pg/ml respectively. Though not statistically significant, there was a trend towards younger age, shorter duration of symptoms, presence of fever and anorexia, and high ESR, in patient with high serum TNF-α levels.     

Interferences in clinical chemistry analysis

Analyses of body fluids in clinical chemistry laboratory are subject to a number of interferences that affect the analytical accuracy. The interferents arise from exogenous sources like drugs and additives as well as such endogenous sources like lipemia, hemolysis and icteria. Our studies demonstrate matrix interference in the form of analytical blas between serum and aqueous matrix calibrators. The clinical chemist should constantly be aware of this factor. Correction of interferences is recommended as an integral part of the quality assurance program.     

肿瘤坏死因子及其基因工程研究进展

介绍肿瘤坏死因子的结构、性质、生物学效应以及抗肿瘤机制,并介绍了肿瘤坏死因子的基因工程研究进展。     

Tumor Necrosis Factor-Α, Interleukin-6, C-Reactive Protein Levels and Insulin Resistance Associated with Type 2 Diabetes in Abdominal Obesity Women

We aim to investigate the association between elevated tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and high sensitivity-C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in abdominal obesity (AO) women subjects. A total of 428 AO subjects (age 48.4 ± 10.2 years), and 107 non-AO women subjects (age 48.8 ± 11.8 years) were enrolled for the all biochemistry testing, inflammatory cytokines, fasting insulin and Homeostasis Model Assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). Body mass index, waist circumference (WC), blood pressure (BP), plasma glucose (Glu), triglyceride (TG), insulin, HOMA-IR and inflammatory cytokines were significantly higher and lower total antioxidant capacity, HDL-C in AO subjects (p < 0.05). WC was significantly correlated with BP, Glu, TG, LDL-C, insulin, HOMA-IR, TNF-α, IL-6 and negative correlation with HDL-C in AO subjects. Elevation of TNF-α, IL-6, hs-CRP and insulin resistance were significantly associated with T2DM in AO subjects, after adjusting with insulin resistance, increased oxidative stress, elevated TG and reduced HDL-C by using multiple logistic regression analysis. In conclusions, elevation of inflammatory cytokines, oxidative stress and insulin resistance were associated with T2DM in AO women subjects. These inflammatory cytokines are positively associated with T2DM and may have a causal relation with an increased oxidative stress and insulin resistance in these AO women subjects.     

浅谈细胞凋亡

细胞凋亡是指细胞接受某种信号或某种因素刺激后为了维持自身内环境稳定而发生的一种主动性消亡过程。近年来的研究表明细胞凋亡的方式在机体的许多生理病理过程中都起作用，因此细胞凋亡的研究正成为一个国际上研究的新热点。     

Interplay Between Inflammation and Hemostasis in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a global epidemic currently. This study was planned to evaluate markers of inflammation and hemostasis and their possible association, if any, in patients with CAD. The study was carried out in 60 patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and 60 age and gender matched controls. The following parameters were assayed in all study subjects-inflammatory-interleukin (IL)-10, high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, fibrinogen; hemostatic-fibrinogen, fibrin D-dimer and a novel risk factor—homocysteine. Inflammatory markers (hs-CRP, TNF-α and IL-10), fibrinogen, fibrin D-dimer and homocysteine levels were significantly higher in the patients with AMI, as compared with controls. A positive correlation was observed between D-dimer and the inflammatory markers—hs-CRP and TNF-α. Upon multivariate analysis, TNF-α emerged as the best determinant of CAD in our study. Our results indicate that there is a possible interplay of inflammation and hemostasis in CAD, underlining their synergistic role in the pathogenesis of CAD.     

Association of Insulin Resistance with Adipocytokine Levels in Patients with Metabolic Syndrome

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) results from the derangement of adipocyte physiology and carbohydrate metabolism. Obesity and insulin resistance (IR) are integral features of MetS. The adipokine alterations in MetS often correlate with IR and body fat content. High adipose tissue content is associated with a decreased production of adiponectin and excessive production of tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), all of which induce IR. The present study evaluated the adipokine alterations in MetS and their association with IR. The findings of the current study indicate that MetS is associated with significant decrease in adiponectin and increase in TNF-α and IL-6. The present study also found that the adipocyte derived inflammatory adipokines, TNF-α and IL-6 correlate with IR while the anti-inflammatory adipokines, adiponectin does not correlate with the degree and severity of IR.     

针刀为主治疗股骨头缺血性坏死的临床研究进展

股骨头缺血性坏死的发生率越来越高,病因复杂。大多数认为其病因与应力集中于股骨头的内在条件使骨结构破坏,压迫骨内循环系统使血运受阻有关。髋关节腔内压力或股骨上端内压增高致使髋关节周围组织粘连、疤痕、挛缩形成及股骨头囊内压,髓内压升高,引起复杂的临床症状及髋关节功能障碍。总结近十年来国内治疗股骨头缺血性坏死采用针刀疗法的临床进展,肯定小针刀治疗此病的效果,指导临床,造福患者。     

Clinically applicable artificial intelligence algorithm for the diagnosis,evaluation, and monitoring of acute retinal necrosis

The prompt detection and proper evaluation of necrotic retinal region are especially important for the diagnosis and treatment of acute retinal necrosis(ARN). The potential application of artificial intelligence(AI) algorithms in these areas of clinical research has not been reported previously. The present study aims to create a computational algorithm for the automated detection and evaluation of retinal necrosis from retinal fundus photographs. A total of 149 wide-angle fundus photographs from40 eyes of 32 ARN patients were collected, and the U-Net method was used to construct the AI algorithm. Thereby, a novel algorithm based on deep machine learning in detection and evaluation of retinal necrosis was constructed for the first time. This algorithm had an area under the receiver operating curve of 0.92, with 86% sensitivity and 88% specificity in the detection of retinal necrosis. For the purpose of retinal necrosis evaluation, necrotic areas calculated by the AI algorithm were significantly positively correlated with viral load in aqueous humor samples(R2=0.7444, P0.0001) and therapeutic response of ARN(R2=0.999, P0.0001). Therefore, our AI algorithm has a potential application in the clinical aided diagnosis of ARN, evaluation of ARN severity, and treatment response monitoring.     

运动与细胞凋亡

细胞凋亡是由基因调控的细胞死亡过程,它对于多细胞生物的生存和发展以及维持其自身的稳定有极其重要的作用。近几年来,细胞凋亡已成为运动医学界研究的热点。本文通过查阅资料,对各种实验模型中运动或类似运动而引起的细胞凋亡进行总结,试图从中发现运动性与细胞凋亡的关系,以便为运动性疲劳的判断和恢复,运动损伤的尽快修复提供一定的指导。