Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a socially detrimental psychiatric disorder, contributing to increased healthcare expenditures and suicide rates. However, no empirical laboratory-based tests are available to support the diagnosis of MDD. In this study, a NMR-based plasma metabonomic method for the diagnosis of MDD was tested. Proton nuclear magnetic resonance ((1)H NMR) spectra of plasma sampled from first-episode drug-naı̈ve depressed patients (n = 58) and healthy controls (n = 42) were recorded and analyzed by orthogonal partial least-squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA). The OPLS-DA score plots of the spectra demonstrated that the depressed patient group was significantly distinguishable from the healthy control group. Moreover, the method accurately diagnosed blinded samples (n = 26) in an independent replication cohort with a sensitivity and specificity of 92.8% and 83.3%, respectively. Taken together, NMR-based plasma metabonomics may offer an accurate empirical laboratory-based method applicable to the diagnosis of MDD.

Background: Combined hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma (cHCC-CC) is an uncommon primary liver malignancy and little known about the clinical and imaging characteristics of cHCC-CC. We aim to define the demographics, imaging features of cHCC-CC on contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) in this study.

No abstract

This study aimed to analyze the influence of the cellular differentiation, the tumor size and the underlying hepatic condition on the enhancement pattern of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) on contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS). 276 patients with single lesion ≤ 5 cm who underwent CEUS exam and were pathologically confirmed as HCC were retrospectively enrolled. Enhancement patterns, washout patterns, wash-in time and washout time were observed and recorded. During the arterial phase, more poorly differentiated HCCs (42.5%) and lesions > 3 cm (35.2%) performed inhomogeneous enhancement (p < 0.05). More well differentiated HCCs (63.4%) performed late washout or no washout while compared with moderately (37.8%) or poorly (24.1%) differentiated HCCs (p < 0.05). Poorly differentiated HCCs showed the shortest washout time (83.0 ± 39.8 s), moderately differentiated HCCs showed the moderate washout time (100.4 ± 52.1 s), and well differentiated HCCs showed the longest washout time (132.3 ± 54.2 s) (p < 0.05). Lesions > 3 cm (97.2 ± 51.3 s) washed out more rapidly than lesions ≤ 3 cm (113.9 ± 53.5 s) (p < 0.05). The dynamic enhancement procedure of HCC was influenced by the cellular differentiation and the tumor size. While, hepatic background showed no influence on the dynamic enhancement of HCC.

No abstract

The epidemiologic characteristics of human papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes vary by age, ethnicity, and geographic location, and the available data on HPV epidemiological characteristics with cytology results in Sichuan province are limited. Our research was conducted from June 2016 to July 2017. A total of 10 953 women getting HPV testing were enrolled. Liquid-based cytological and histological results were collected. The overall HPV infection rate was 24.1% in Sichuan province. The prevalence of high-risk HPV (hrHPV) was 19.9%. For hrHPV genotypes, HPV52 (15.5%) was the most prevalent genotype, followed by HPV16 (13.8%), HPV58 (13.3%), HPV51 (8.6%), HPV39 (8.1%), and HPV68 (7.8%). Among all HPV-positive women with a cytology or histology result, HPV16-positive women have the highest cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 1 (CIN1)+ prevalence (11.1%), followed by HPV18 and HPV33; HPV16-positive women also have the highest CIN2+ prevalence (9.3%), followed by HPV58 and HPV18. To date, this is the largest study done in the Sichuan province for HPV prevalence and subtype distribution with normal and abnormal cytological results. The age-specific prevalence in patients at gynecology clinics and other clinics is different. Besides, patients at the same age also have a different hrHPV prevalence and lrHPV prevalence. Our result revealed that in every 10 HPV16-positive women, there is approximately one women with CIN2, CIN3, or cervical cancer. A higher oncogenic potential of HPV58 than that of HPV52 was observed.

Low pH treatment of influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA) exposes its relatively conserved stalk domain, suggesting a potential immunogen with capability to induce broader immune responses. Here, we describe characterization, immunogenicity, antigenicity, and protective immunity induced by low pH treated inactivated whole viral vaccine in comparison with the untreated vaccine. The acidic pH treated viral vaccine showed high susceptibility to proteolytic cleavage and low hemagglutination activity indicating conformational changes. Immunization of mice with low pH treated viral vaccine induced lower levels of homologous or heterologous virus-specific binding and neutralizing antibodies compared to the untreated vaccine. Also, low pH treated influenza viral antigen showed lower antigenicity compared to the untreated influenza viral antigen. Lower efficacy of cross-protection against heterosubtypic virus was observed in the low-pH treated vaccine group. The results provide evidence that there is a correlation between protective efficacy and the stability of vaccines.

Although PHNET is a very rare liver tumor, it should be considered as a possible differential diagnosis in the management of hepatic tumors. Most PHNETs were hyperechoic or mixed echoic on conventional US, showing similar enhancement patterns to that of hepatocellular carcinoma on CEUS.