CLUE: COVID‐19 lung ultrasound in emergency department

Lung ultrasound (LUS) plays a critical role in the SARS‐CoV‐2 pandemic. Evidence is mounting on its utility to diagnose, assess the severity and as a triage tool in the ED. Sonographic features correlate well to computed tomography (CT) chest findings and a bedside LUS performed by a trained clinician along with clinical examination, could be an alternative to chest X‐ray and CT chest in these highly infectious patients. In this article, we have described a step‐by‐step approach to LUS in COVID patients and the CLUE (COVID‐19 LUS in the ED) protocol, which involves an anatomical parameter, the severity of lung changes, objectively scored using the validated LUS scoring system and a physiological parameter, oxygen requirement. We believe this CLUE protocol can help risk‐stratify patients presenting to ED with suspected COVID‐19 and aid clinicians in making appropriate disposition decisions.     

甲状腺结节超声造影研究进展

甲状腺的各种肿物统称为甲状腺结节,临床当中诊断甲状腺结节良恶性的主要方式之一为超声造影。本文通过梳理超声造影对甲状腺结节诊断的发展,并将研究超声造影诊断甲状腺结节良恶性的文章进行归纳,分析超声造影在定性法和定量法两方面对甲状腺结节的诊断,总结目前对于甲状腺结节诊断的其他方式,介绍说明超声造影诊断联合应用其他诊断方式(如剪切波弹性成像、CT、MRI)的适用方面和临床效果。     

基于现代医案挖掘中医药治疗慢性阻塞性肺疾病的证治规律

目的 基于文献医案借助中医传承辅助平台（V2.5）挖掘中医药治疗慢性阻塞性肺疾病（COPD）的证治规律，为中医药治疗COPD提供新思路。方法 检索中国知网（CNKI）、万方数据库（WanFang DATA）、维普中文科技期刊数据（VIP）等关于中医治疗COPD的医案，将符合纳入文献的医案整理在单独的Word文档中，经数据规范化后逐一录入中医传承辅助平台（V2.5），借助此软件携带的算法对所纳入COPD医案的“症状、中医证型、中药及中药性味归经”进行频数统计及对纳入医案的“组方规律”进行关联分析并挖掘出治疗COPD潜在的核心药对及新方。结果 共纳入103篇文献，共收集医案126个医案，共131次诊疗。经统计COPD常见的症状有咳嗽、咳痰、胸闷、气喘等；常见的中医证型有痰热壅肺证、痰瘀阻肺、肺脾气虚等；常见的中医治法有清热化痰、培土生金、降逆平喘等；其中治疗COPD的高频中药有半夏、苦杏仁、麻黄、陈皮等；常用药对组合有细辛-半夏、半夏-五味子-甘草等；并挖掘出12首治疗COPD的新方药。结论 中医认为COPD是由外邪、痰、瘀等病理因素相互形成的以咳、痰、喘为主要症状的肺系疾病，其主要的证候有痰热壅肺证、痰瘀阻肺、肺脾气虚等，“扶正祛邪”是其治疗的基本原则，在临床应采用祛痰化瘀，补益肺脾或肺肾的中医治法治疗COPD。     

Long-term follow-up of high-dose treatment with autologous haematopoietic progenitor cell support in 693 patients with follicular lymphoma: an EBMT registry study.

To evaluate the outcome of a large series of patients who received high-dose treatment (HDT) for follicular lymphoma (FL), 693 patients undergoing HDT (total-body irradiation (TBI)-containing regimen: 58%; autologous bone marrow (BM)/peripheral blood progenitor cells (PBPCs): 378/285 patients) were included in the study. A total of 375 patients (54%) developed recurrent lymphoma, 10-year progression-free survival (PFS) being 31%. On multivariate analysis, younger age (P=0.003) and HDT in first complete remission (CR1) (P<0.001) correlated with longer PFS. With a median follow-up of 10.3 years, 330 patients died. Ten-year overall survival (OS) from HDT was 52%. Shorter OS was associated on multivariate analysis with older age (P<0.001), chemoresistant disease (P<0.001), BM+PBPC as source of stem cells (P=0.007) and TBI-containing regimens (P=0.004). Thirty-nine patients developed secondary myelodysplastic syndrome/acute myeloid leukaemia (MDS/AML), in 34 cases having received TBI as the conditioning regimen. The 5-year non-relapse mortality (NRM) was 9%. On multivariate analysis, older age (P<0.001), refractory disease (P<0.001) and TBI (P=0.04) were associated with a higher NRM. This long follow-up study shows a plateau in the PFS curve, suggesting that a selected group of patients might be cured with HDT. On the downside, TBI-containing regimens are associated with a negative impact on survival.     

Hymenolepis diminuta a rare zoonotic infection report of a case

Hymenolepis diminuta a rare zoonotic tapeworm infection is reported in a young child coming from pure vegetarian family.     

Glycemic index,glycemic load,and risk of type 2 diabetes

The possibility that high, long-term intake of carbohydrates that are rapidly absorbed as glucose may increase the risk of type 2 diabetes has been a long-standing controversy. Two main mechanisms have been hypothesized, one mediated by increases in insulin resistance and the other by pancreatic exhaustion as a result of the increased demand for insulin. During the past decade, several lines of evidence have collectively provided strong support for a relation between such diets and diabetes incidence. In animals and in short-term human studies, a high intake of carbohydrates with a high glycemic index (a relative measure of the incremental glucose response per gram of carbohydrate) produced greater insulin resistance than did the intake of low-glycemic-index carbohydrates. In large prospective epidemiologic studies, both the glycemic index and the glycemic load (the glycemic index multiplied by the amount of carbohydrate) of the overall diet have been associated with a greater risk of type 2 diabetes in both men and women. Conversely, a higher intake of cereal fiber has been consistently associated with lower diabetes risk. In diabetic patients, evidence from medium-term studies suggests that replacing high-glycemic-index carbohydrates with a low-glycemic-index forms will improve glycemic control and, among persons treated with insulin, will reduce hypoglycemic episodes. These dietary changes, which can be made by replacing products made with white flour and potatoes with whole-grain, minimally refined cereal products, have also been associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and can be an appropriate component of recommendations for an overall healthy diet.     

The role of nitric oxide in anticonvulsant and proconvulsant effects of morphine in mice

Acute subcutaneous administration of lower doses of morphine (0.5, 1 and 3 mg/kg) increase the threshold of seizures induced by pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) in mice, whereas higher doses of morphine (15, 30 and 60 mg/kg) have proconvulsant effects. The effect of systemic administration of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitors N(G)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) and N(G)-nitro-L-arginine (L-NNA) and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) L-arginine on biphasic effect of morphine was investigated. Acute administration of both L-NAME (1, 3 and 10 mg/kg) and L-NNA (1 and 10 mg/kg) as well as chronic pretreatment with L-NAME (1 and 10 mg/kg, 4 days) dose-dependently inhibited both the anticonvulsant and proconvulsant effects of morphine (1 and 30 mg/kg, respectively). The inhibition was complete for anticonvulsant effect while partial for proconvulsant effect. L-arginine at doses that did not affect seizure threshold per se (acute, 30 and 60 mg/kg; chronic, 60 mg/kg) potentiated both anticonvulsant and proconvulsant properties of less potent doses of morphine (0.5 and 15 mg/kg, respectively). The L-arginine induced potentiation of both phases of morphine effect was blocked by L-NAME (0.5-30 mg/kg). Moreover, low and per se non-effective doses of naloxone (0.1 mg/kg) and L-NAME (0.3, 0.5 or 1 mg/kg) showed additive effects in inhibiting both phases of morphine effects. These results support the involvement of L-arginine/nitric oxide pathway in the modulation of seizure threshold by morphine.     

Are C‐reactive protein and homocysteine cardiovascular risk factors in obese children and adolescents?

Background: Several prospective epidemiological studies have demonstrated that high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and plasma homocysteine (hcy) are predictors of future coronary events among healthy men and women. The aim of the present study was therefore to investigate a possible relationship between hsCRP, hcy levels and body mass index (BMI), relative weight (RW), serum leptin levels, and cardiovascular risk factors in obese children and adolescents.
Methods: The study involved 28 obese children and adolescents (13 girls, 15 boys; BMI>95‰ for age and sex), 4.5–15 years of age (mean 10.7 ± 0.6 years), who attended hospital for a basic obesity check-up. The association between hsCRP, hcy levels and BMI, RW, serum leptin levels, and cardiovascular risk factors such as blood pressure (BP), lipid profile, serum fasting insulin levels, and insulin resistance indexes, was investigated.
Results: Serum hsCRP level was positively correlated with BMI ( r = 0.512, P  < 0.01), RW ( r = 0.438, P  < 0.05), systolic and diastolic BP ( r = 0.498, P  < 0.01), serum leptin levels ( r = 0.457, P  < 0.05), but not with serum lipid, glucose, fasting insulin, plasma hcy levels or insulin resistance indexes. For hcy level, in contrast, no correlation was found with BMI, RW, systolic and diastolic BP, serum lipid levels, leptin, hsCRP, glucose, fasting insulin levels, or insulin resistance indexes.
Conclusions: hsCRP is correlated with BMI, RW, BP and leptin, which are risk factors for coronary heart disease, which supports the relationship between obesity, inflammation and atherosclerosis. hsCRP in childhood obesity might be a useful index to predict possible atherosclerotic events.