Ectopic thyroid mass in the left lateral neck and anterior mediastinum: a case report

INTRODUCTION: Ectopic thyroid is characterized by the presence of thyroid tissue in a site other than in its usual pretracheal region. It is a rare condition among the thyroid diseases. Dural ectopic thyroid present in the cervical and anterior mediastinal has not been reported. CASE PRESENTATION: A 45-year-old Chinese woman presented with a nonfunctional ectopic thyroid located both in the cervical and anterior mediastinum. The ectopic thyroid was removed under video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery using a transverse neck incision and her postoperative period has been uneventful thus far. CONCLUSIONS: Ectopic thyroid is a rare condition among the thyroid diseases, and its location in the anterior mediastinum is even more uncommon. Less than 15 cases have been reported in the last four decades. This is the first case of ectopic thyroid to appear in both the cervical and anterior mediastinum at same time. Masses in the anterior mediastinal are usually thymoma, lymphoma, pheochromocytoma and germ cell tumors. Ectopic thyroid in this area is quite rare so this case enhances our understanding of the diagnosis of mediastinal masses

How to make full use of dental pulp stem cells: an optimized cell culture method based on explant technology

Introduction:Dental pulp stem cells from humans possess self-renewal and versatile differentiation abilities. These cells, known as DPSC, are promising for tissue engineering due to their outstanding biological characteristics and ease of access without significant donor site trauma. Existing methods for isolating DPSC mainly include enzyme digestion and explant techniques. Compared with the enzymatic digestion technique, the outgrowth method is less prone to cell damage and loss during the operation, which is essential for DPSC with fewer tissue sources.Methods:In order to maximize the amount of stem cells harvested while reducing the cost of DPSC culture, the feasibility of the optimized explant technique was evaluated in this experiment. Cell morphology, minimum cell emergence time, the total amount of cells harvested, cell survival, and proliferative and differentiation capacity of DPSC obtained with different numbers of explant attachments (A1-A5) were evaluated.Results:There was a reduction in the survival rate of the cells in groups A2-A5, and the amount of harvested DPSC decreased in A3-A5 groups, but the DPSC harvested in groups A1-A4 had similar proliferative and differentiation abilities. However, starting from group A5, the survival rate, proliferation and differentiation ability of DPSC decreased significantly, and the adipogenic trend of the cells became more apparent, indicating that the cells had begun to enter the senescence state.Discussion:The results of our study demonstrated that the DPSC obtained by the optimized explant method up to 4 times had reliable biological properties and is available for tissue engineering

Propofol EC50 for inducing loss of consciousness in patients under combined epidural-general anesthesia or general anesthesia alone: a randomized double-blind study

BackgroundCombined epidural-general anesthesia (GA + EA) has been recommended as a preferred technique for both thoracic and abdominal surgery. The epidural anesthesia on the general anesthetic (GA) requirements has not been well investigated. Therefore, we conducted the present study to explore the predicted effect-site concentration of propofol (Ceprop) required for achieving the loss of consciousness (LOC) in 50% of patients (EC50) with or without epidural anesthesia.MethodsSixty patients scheduled for gastrectomy were randomized into the GA + EA group or GA alone group to receive general anesthesia alone. Ropivacaine 0.375% was used for epidural anesthesia to achieve a sensory level of T4 or above prior to the induction of general anesthesia. The EC50 of predicted Ceprop for LOC was determined by the up–down sequential method. The consumption of anesthetics, emergence time from anesthesia, and postoperative outcomes were also recorded and compared.ResultsThe EC50 of predicted Ceprop for LOC was lower in the GA + EA group than in the GA alone group [2.97 (95% CI: 2.63–3.31) vs. 3.36 (95% CI: 3.19–3.53) μg mL−1, (p = 0.036)]. The consumption of anesthetics was lower in the GA + EA group than in the GA alone group (propofol: 0.11 ± 0.02 vs. 0.13 ± 0.02 mg kg−1 min−1, p = 0.014; remifentanil: 0.08 ± 0.03 vs. 0.14 ± 0.04 μg kg−1 min−1, p < 0.001). The emergence time was shorter in the GA + EA group than in the GA alone group (16.0 vs. 20.5 min, p = 0.013).ConclusionConcomitant epidural anesthesia reduced by 15% the EC50 of predicted Ceprop for LOC, decreased the consumptions of propofol and remifentanil during maintenance of anesthesia, and fastened recovery from anesthesia.Clinical trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov, identifier: NCT05124704

Effect of neonatal and adult sepsis on inflammation-related diseases in multiple physiological systems: a Mendelian randomization study

BackgroundLong-term impact of sepsis on whole body systems is not well investigated. The aim of the study was to explore the potential association of neonatal/adult sepsis with several inflammation-related diseases in multiple physiological systems.MethodsInstrumental variables for neonatal and adult sepsis were collected from the public genome-wide association studies, which must satisfy the correlation, exclusivity and independence assumptions. Mendelian randomization methods (including random-effect inverse-variance weighted, MR-PRESSO, weighted median and MR-Egger) were used to determine the genetic association of neonatal/adult sepsis with asthma, allergy, rheumatoid arthritis, body mass index/obesity, type 1/type 2 diabetes and intelligence/dementia. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to assess heterogeneity and horizontal pleiotropy. The study was performed by TwoSampleMR in R software.ResultsThe inverse-variance weighted method reported that neonatal sepsis was related to the decreased level of body mass index (OR = 0.988, 95%CI = 0.980 ~ 0.997, P = 0.007), and adult sepsis was related to the decreased risk of obesity (OR = 0.785, 95%CI = 0.655 ~ 0.940, P = 0.009). These results were supported by the other Mendelian randomization methods. In addition, the study did not find any association of neonatal/adult sepsis with the other inflammation-related diseases. No heterogeneity and horizontal pleiotropy were found using sensitivity analyses.ConclusionSepsis had the potential to reduce the risk of obesity or body mass index level at a genetic level, both in neonates and in adults

Finding the best predictive model for hypertensive depression in older adults based on machine learning and metabolomics research

ObjectiveDepression is a common comorbidity in hypertensive older adults, yet depression is more difficult to diagnose correctly. Our goal is to find predictive models of depression in hypertensive patients using a combination of various machine learning (ML) methods and metabolomics.MethodsMethods We recruited 379 elderly people aged ≥65 years from the Chinese community. Plasma samples were collected and assayed by gas chromatography/liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/LC-MS). Orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA), volcano diagrams and thermograms were used to distinguish metabolites. The attribute discriminators CfsSubsetEval combined with search method BestFirst in WEKA software was used to find the best predicted metabolite combinations, and then 24 classification methods with 10-fold cross-validation were used for prediction.Results34 individuals were considered hypertensive combined with depression according to our criteria, and 34 subjects with hypertension only were matched according to age and sex. 19 metabolites by GC-MS and 65 metabolites by LC-MS contributed significantly to the differentiation between the depressed and non-depressed cohorts, with a VIP value of more than 1 and a P value of less than 0.05. There were multiple metabolic pathway alterations. The metabolite combinations screened with WEKA for optimal diagnostic value included 12 metabolites. The machine learning methods with AUC values greater than 0.9 were bayesNet and random forests, and their other evaluation measures are also better.ConclusionAltered metabolites and metabolic pathways are present in older adults with hypertension combined with depression. Methods using metabolomics and machine learning performed quite well in predicting depression in hypertensive older adults, contributing to further clinical research

Activated mouse CD4+Foxp3−CD4^+Foxp3^− T cells facilitate melanoma metastasis via Qa-1-dependent suppression of NK-cell cytotoxicity

The regulatory activities of mouse $CD^4+Foxp3^+$ T cells on various immune cells, including NK cells, have been well documented. Under some conditions, conventional $CD4^+Foxp3^−$ T cells in the periphery are able to acquire inhibitory function on other T cells, but their roles in controlling innate immune cells are poorly defined. As a potential cellular therapy for cancer, ex vivo activated $CD4^+Foxp3^−$ effector T cells are often infused back in vivo to suppress tumor growth and metastasis. Whether such activated T cells could affect NK-cell control of tumorigenesis is unclear. In the present study, we found that mitogen-activated $CD4^+Foxp3^−$ T cells exhibited potent suppressor function on NK-cell proliferation and cytotoxicity in vitro, and notably facilitated B16 melanoma metastasis in vivo. Suppression of NK cells by activated $CD4^+Foxp3^−$ T cells is cell-cell contact dependent and is mediated by Qa-1:NKG2A interaction, as administration of antibodies blocking either Qa-1 or NKG2A could completely reverse this suppression, and significantly inhibited otherwise facilitated melanoma metastasis. Moreover, activated $CD4^+Foxp3^−$ cells from Qa-1 knockout mice completely lost the suppressor activity on NK cells, and failed to facilitate melanoma metastasis when transferred in vivo. Taken together, our findings indicate that innate anti-tumor response is counter regulated by the activation of adaptive immunity, a phenomenon we term as “activation-induced inhibition”. Thus, the regulatory role of activated $CD4^+Foxp3^−$ T cells in NK-cell activity must be taken into consideration in the future design of cancer therapies

Discovery of potential biomarkers for osteoporosis using LC/GC−MS metabolomic methods

PurposeFor early diagnosis of osteoporosis (OP), plasma metabolomics of OP was studied by untargeted LC/GC−MS in a Chinese elderly population to find possible diagnostic biomarkers.MethodsA total of 379 Chinese community-dwelling older adults aged ≥65 years were recruited for this study. The BMD of the calcaneus was measured using quantitative ultrasound (QUS), and a T value ≤-2.5 was defined as OP. Twenty-nine men and 47 women with OP were screened, and 29 men and 36 women were matched according to age and BMI as normal controls using propensity matching. Plasma from these participants was first analyzed by untargeted LC/GC−MS, followed by FC and P values to screen for differential metabolites and heatmaps and box plots to differentiate metabolites between groups. Finally, metabolic pathway enrichment analysis of differential metabolites was performed based on KEGG, and pathways with P ≤ 0.05 were selected as enrichment pathways.ResultsWe screened metabolites with FC>1.2 or FC<1/1.2 and P<0.05 and found 33 differential metabolites in elderly men and 30 differential metabolites in elderly women that could be potential biomarkers for OP. 2-Aminomuconic acid semialdehyde (AUC=0.72, 95% CI 0.582-0.857, P=0.004) is highly likely to be a biomarker for screening OP in older men. Tetradecanedioic acid (AUC=0.70, 95% CI 0.575-0.818, P=0.004) is highly likely to be a biomarker for screening OP in older women.ConclusionThese findings can be applied to clinical work through further validation studies. This study also shows that metabolomic analysis has great potential for application in the early diagnosis and recurrence monitoring of OP in elderly individuals

Optimize Parallel Data Access In Big Data Processing

Recent years the Hadoop Distributed File System(HDFS) has been deployed as the bedrock for many parallel big data processing systems, such as graph processing systems, MPI-based parallel programs and scala/java-based Spark frameworks, which can efficiently support iterative and interactive data analysis in memory. The first part of my dissertation mainly focuses on studying parallel data accession distributed file systems, e.g, HDFS. Since the distributed I/O resources and global data distribution are often not taken into consideration, the data requests from parallel processes/executors will unfortunately be served in a remoter imbalanced fashion on the storage servers. In order to address these problems, we develop I/O middleware systems and matching-based algorithms to map parallel data requests to storage servers such that local and balanced data access can be achieved. The last part of my dissertation presents our plans to improve the performance of interactive data access in big data analysis. Specifically, most interactive analysis programs will scan through the entire data set regardless of which data is actually required. We plan to develop a content-aware method to quickly access required data without this laborious scanning process