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Objective: To investigate the clinical, pathologic and radiologic features and molecular alterations in patients with primary cardiac leiomyosarcoma (PCLMS). Methods: Five cases of PCLMS were collected in Beijing Anzhen Hospital from January 2016 to December 2020. The clinical, pathologic and radiologic data, and molecular alterations were analyzed, and the patients were followed up. Results: All five patients were female, and had no history of leiomyosarcoma in other parts of the body. The age of patients ranged from 37 to 62 years (median 47 years). The main clinical symptoms were chest pain and dyspnea, one also presented with palpitation and lower limb weakness and one with dizziness. Two tumors were located in the left atrium, two in the right atrium, and one in the right ventricle, and they maximal diameter ranged from 2.5 to 14.0 cm (mean 6.2 cm). The neoplasms presented as medium-echo masses with a broad base in the echocardiography, and as a low-density, solid mass when detected by contrast-enhanced CT. Histologically, two tumors were well-differentiated and three were moderately and poorly differentiated, and two included extensive, loose myxoid stroma. Immunohistochemical staining showed that PCLMS was positive for SMA, desmin, MDM2, and epidermal growth factor receptor. Fluorescence in situ hybridization showed ALK gene rearrangement in two cases, and COL1A1-PDGFB fusion in three cases. All cases received surgical excision and two cases received chemotherapy. Three patients died within 0-11 months (mean survival of 7.7 months) and two patients were alive. Conclusions: PCLMS is a malignant tumor with a high recurrence rate and poor prognosis. These cases may provide useful information to improve the diagnosis and management of PCLMS.

Objective: To investigate the value of deep learning in classifying non-inflammatory aortic membrane degeneration. Methods: Eighty-nine cases of non-inflammatory aortic media degeneration diagnosed from January to June 2018 were collected at Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University, China and scanned into digital sections. 1 627 hematoxylin and eosin stained photomicrographs were extracted. Combined with the ResNet18-based deep convolution neural network model, 4-category classification of pathological images were performed to diagnose the non-inflammatory aortic lesion. Results: The prediction model of artificial intelligence assisted diagnosis had the best accuracy, sensitivity and precision in identifying lesions with smooth muscle cell nuclei loss, which were 99.39%, 98.36% and 98.36%, respectively. The classification accuracy of elastic fiber fragmentation and/or loss lesions was 98.08%, while that of intralamellar mucoid extracellular matrix accumulation lesions was 96.93%. The overall accuracy of the classification model was 96.32%, and the area under the curve was 0.982. Conclusions: The accuracy of deep learning neural network model in the 4-category classification of non-inflammatory aortic lesionsis confirmed based on digital photomicrographs. This method can effectively improve the diagnostic efficiency of pathologists.

Objective: To analyze the relationship between TNF-α and pulmonary vascular remodeling in order to explore the pathogenesis of CTEPH. Methods: Autologous blood clots were repeatedly injected into the left jugular vein of rats to establish the CTEPH model. Then mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP), histopathology, the plasma level of TNF-α, and the expressions of mRNA and protein of TNF-α in pulmonary artery were measured. Results: In the experiment group, the mPAP and vessel wall area/total area (WA/TA) ratio gradually increased as emblism extended, and increased significantly compared with the sham operation group. The plasma TNF-α concentration in the experimental group increased significantly ( P <0.05). The TNF-α proteins expressed in pulmonary artery in the 1-week, 2-week, and 4-week subgroups of experimental group increased significantly compared with the sham operation group (1.62±0.08 vs 0.85±0.12, P <0.05; 1.85±0.08 vs 0.89±0.13, P <0.05; 1.37±0.12 vs 0.91±0.15, P <0.05, respectively). Immunohistochemical results showed that TNF-α expression was higher in pulmonary artery endothelial cells of the experimental group compared with the sham operation group. The expression of pulmonary artery TNF-α protein was positively related with mPAP ( r =0.605, P <0.01), and with WA/TA ( r =0.629, P <0.01). The expression of serum TNF-α was positively related with that of pulmonary artery TNF-α protein ( r =0.721, P <0.01). Conclusion: A rat model of CTEPH can be established by repeatedly introducing autologous blood clots into the pulmonary artery with injecting TXA. Thrombosis induced higher expression of TNF-α in pulmonary arterial endothelial cells, and released into the blood. TNF-α may play an important role in the development of CTEPH, especially by contributing to vascular remodeling and PH.

Objective: To investigate the clinicopathologic features of cardiac myxofibrosarcomas. Methods: The clinical data, pathomorphologic and immunohistochemical features were evaluated in five cases of cardiac myxofibrosarcoma collected from January 2009 to December 2014, with relevant literature review. Results: Five patients with cardiac myxofibrosarcoma, including four women and one man [age range 39-61 years; mean (50.4±9.0) years] were included. All tumors were broadbased and located mainly in the left atrium, with one case extending through the atrial wall and pericardium to the left lower lung lobe. The morphological grade was low in one case, intermediate in one, and high in three. Using Fédération Nationale des Centres de Lutte Contre le Cancer (FNLCC) grading system, one case was grade 1 and four cases were grade 2. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed diffuse and strong expression for vimentin in all cases. Smooth muscle actin and muscle specific actin were variably expressed. Complete tumor excision was performed in one case, and tumor debulking was performed in the other four cases. Clinical follow-up was available in three cases. One patient with en bloc excision of the tumor mass survived 13 months and the other two with tumor debulking died one month after surgery. Conclusions: The most common location for cardiac myxofibrosarcoma is the left atrium. Some myxofibrosarcoma may be histologically bland and misdiagnosed as myxoma due to histological similarities. Thus caution should be exercised in their microscopic differentiation. Precise imaging, multidisciplinary approach and adequate initial surgery may contribute to improving the clinical outcomes of myxofibrosarcoma.

Objective: To improve the diagnostic accuracy of fetal pulmonary venous abnormalities through the analysis of the fetal pulmonary vein anatomy., Methods: 234 cases of congenital cardiac abnormalities were detected by echocardiography during pregnancy in An Zhen Hospital, Capital Medical University from May 2010 to August 2015. Autopsy was then performed. The type of fetal pulmonary venous malformation, cardiac abnormalities, systemic venous malformations, and other internal organs deformities were documented., Results: There were ninteen cases of pulmonary venous malformations among the 234 cases of fetal congenital heart disease. These included two cases of congenital pulmonary venous hypoplasia (CPVH) or atresia, four cases of partial anomalous pulmonary venous drainage (PAPVD), seven cases of total anomalous pulmonary venous drainage (TAPVD), five cases of atresia of common pulmonary vein (CPV), one case of congenital pulmonary venous hypoplasia with total anomalous pulmonary venous drainage. There were eleven cases with single ventricle, eight cases with right aortic arch, seven cases with single atrium and six cases with pulmonary valve stenosis. Eleven cases had pulmonary hypoplasia and nine cases had abnormal spleen., Conclusions: There are many variations in pulmonary venous abnormalities associated with severe and complex cardiac abnormalities and internal organs malformation. Care should be exercised during autopsy examination to look for all branches of the pulmonary vein.

Objective: To investigate the risk factors on initial surgery in Crohn's disease., Methods: The clinical data of 173 patients with Crohn's disease who were treated during 2010 and 2014 years in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, were analyzed retrospectively. The patients who had received intestinal resection or whose initial symptoms occurred at least 5 years at the end of the follow-up were recruited. Montreal classification was used to evaluate lesion location and disease behavior. The risk factors of the initial surgery were analyzed by using Logistic regression model., Results: Eighty-five patients (49.1%) received intestinal resection in 5 years after the onset of symptoms. The result of univariate analysis showed that the probability of surgical treatment is high in patients who were male and those older than 40 years at diagnosis (P<0.05). Lesions involving upper digestive tract, stenosis and penetrating lesions were also the risk factors on initial surgery in Crohn's disease (P<0.05). The result of multivariate analysis showed the relative risk of initial surgery was increased in male gender (OR=2.02, 95%CI:1.04-3.92) and in those who were older than 40 years at diagnosis (OR=2.34,95%CI:1.05-5.22). However, in patients with Crohn's disease involving colon alone, the relative risk of initial surgery was decreased (OR=0.35, 95%CI:0.13-0.97)., Conclusion: Abdominal pain is the most common clinical presentation in Crohn's disease. Disease behavior and operation is closely related. Older than 40 years at diagnosis and male gender is high risk factor for surgery while colonic lesion alone is protective factor.

Objective: To explore the expression and significance of Eotaxin and RANTES in the rat model of allergic rhinitis (AR)., Method: 20 female SD rats in 6-7 weeks were randomly divided into control group and AR group (n = 10, respectively). AR rat model was made with ovalbumin stimulation. To detect pathological changes in mucosa and chemokine Eotaxin, RANTES in their nasal and lung tissues after execution., Result: Compared with the control group, Lung EOS cell counted higher in AR group and the difference was significant (P < 0.01); the AR rats nasal mucosa and lung tissue of Eotaxin, RANTES expression was significantly increased (P < 0.01)., Conclusion: There exist high expression of Eotaxin, RANTES, infiltration of eosinophils in nasal and lung tissue of model rats with allergic rhinitis, inferring that the upper and lower respiratory tract inflammatory response has obvious consistency.

Objective: To investigate the expression of enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and its association with the prognosis of postoperative patients., Methods: Surgical specimens were obtained from 102 patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma undergoing radical resection in our hospital from 1996 to 2006. Immunochemistry was employed to examine EZH2 protein expressions in the specimens, including 102 carcinoma tissue specimens, 30 adjacent tissue specimens and 30 normal esophageal tissue specimens. The expression levels of EZH2 were analyzed in relation to the clinicopathological parameters of the patients including gender, age, tumor differentiation, TNM, and lymph node metastasis. The postoperative patients were followed up to analyze the association of EZH2 expression with the clinical outcomes., Results: The esophageal squamous cell carcinoma tissue showed a higher EZH2 expression than the adjacent and normal esophageal tissues. EZH2 expression was higher in poorly differentiated carcinoma than in well differentiated tissue, and also higher in cases with lymph node metastasis than those without; the expression was higher in TNM stage II/III patients than in stage I patients but lower than in stage IV patients. The patients with low EZH2 expression was found to have a longer survival time than those with high EZH2 expression (P<0.05)., Conclusion: EZH2 plays an important role in the differentiation and metastasis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, and a high EZH2 expression is associated with a poor outcome in the the postoperative patients.

Objective: To explore the feasibility of treatment of maxillary cyst with only fenestration in nasal bottom by nasal endoscope., Method: Eighteen patients with maxillary cyst manifested with facial swelling or hard palate bulging were diagnosed by CT scan and needle aspiration biopsy, and then underwent cystic fenestration operations with the tooth in cyst kept intact., Result: After over 2 years follow-up with endoscope (partly CT scanned), recurrent infection was not noticed in all cases, contour of maxilla was well preserved with ostium patent and cystic cavity markedly shrinks., Conclusion: Endoscopic fenestration in nasal bottom only is a safe, reliable, and effective procedure in the treatment of maxillary cyst.

Regional ecological security has been paid more and more attention, and it's of special significance to study the ecological security and its driving factors in ecological fragile areas. In this paper, the ecological security and its driving factors in typical fragile regions in Loess Plateau were analyzed at district and county scales. Yulin District and Hengshan County were taken as the cases, and ecological security index system was constructed to assess the security levels of the two regions. By using AHP method, the spatial differentiation of ecological security at different scales was studied, and the results showed that there existed differences among the twelve counties in Yulin District, with the security level being generally higher in southwest and lower in northeast. Similar tendency was observed in Hengshan County, with the security level being lower in north and northeast, and varying among different scales in southwest. Climate and topography were the weak driving forces, while human disturbances had great influence on ecological security.

In recent years, excessive nutrient loss in subsurface drainage from agricultural land is identified as a major source of non-point source pollution, and has been attended globally. This study was conducted to determine the effect of nutrient leaching from paddy field in rice-planting season under different fertilizer application levels on water quality by using Lysimeter experiment. The results showed that the concentration of NH4(+)-N in surface water raised quickly after fertilization, reached the highest in 2 or 3 days with the maximum value of 26.2 mg.L-1, and then, dropped quickly within 7 or 10 days. The concentration of NH4(+)-N in leachate was very low, only accounted for 0.008%-0.074% of total fertilizer applied. The nitrate content in the solution and lossed from leaching increased gradually with fertilizer application rate, with a range from 0 to 7.14 mg.L-1. The nitrate concentration in leachate over the soil profile was characterized by a gradual increase from the top to bottom. Nitrogen was leached away mainly in the form of NO3(-)-N in rice-planting season, and the net NO3(-)-N loss was 3.2-8.3 kg.hm-2, accounted for 1.40%-2.78%. Under the experiment level, nitrogen leaching may lead to a potential pollution of underground water. The concentration of phosphorus in surface water reached the highest in one day after fertilization, after then dropped. The concentration of phosphorus in lower depth was very low, almost not affected by the amount of fertilizer applied. Application of pig manure could increase the transfer of phosphorus.

A new spectrophotometric method has been developed for the highly selective determination of Fe2+ with 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol-6-sulphonic Acid. At pH 4.0, Fe2+ an be selectively determined at the wavelength of 760 nm. The calibration curve is liner in a concentration range of 0-10 micrograms/10 ml, relative coefficient is 0.9997, the apparent molar absorptivity is 1.57 x 104 L.mol-1.cm-1, RSD of within-run and between-day were 1.66% and 2.51%, the average rate of recovery 101.1%. The method has been applied to the direct determination of iron in milk powder, common coexistent substances don't interfere with the determination.

The sequence of the flocculation gene (FLO1G) was determined. The result of sequcencing showed that: the cloned gene contains a large open reading frame (ORF) of 3936 bp and encodes for a protein of 1312 amino acid. According to the result of homologous analysis, the cloned gene is homologous to FLO1 but with 675 bp deletion in the ORF region. The missing part belongs to one of the four repeated sequence family of FLO1. Since the cloned DNA fragment can trigger strong flocculence to non-flocculent strain S. cerevisiae YS58, we concluded that the missing part is not the crutical part for the flocculent ability of the gene.

The partial genomic library of Saccharomyce cerevisiae FL189 possessing strong flocculation ability was constructed using Yeast-E. coli shuttle plasmid YCp50 as vector. Recombinant plasmid containing flocculation gene was obtained by screening the growth of transformants on the selective medium and measurement flocculation, designated as pCF1.pCF1 was introduced into industrial yeast strain PJ208-5-15. Six transformants PJ208-5-15-1(pCF1)-PJ208-5-15-6(pCF1) possessing strong flocculation ability were obtained. The results of Southern blot and restriction endonuclease analysis showed that the insert is about 4.3 kb and could hybridize with the probe (2.6 kb Eco RV fragment of FLO1). Flocculation ability assay indicated that the transformants possess strong flocculation ability. Hence, the gene controlling flocculation phenotype exists in the cloned DNA fragment. The restriction endonuclease analysis and the sequence analysis of the insert DNA fragment are in progress.

Aim: To mimic an important family of selenoenzymes in organism-thyroxine (T4) deiodinases and prepare a selenium-containing abzyme catalyzing deiodination of T4., Methods: A anti-T4 monoclonal antibody was generated by hybridoma methodology and converted into a selenium-containing abzyme by the method of chemical modification. The catalytic activity of the enzyme was measured by RIA method., Results: The abzyme displayed a marked activity of catalyzing deiodination of T4 and a higher specificity to the substrate T4 than that of natural enzyme, and the double reciprocal plots of the initial rates of T3 formation vs. T4 concentration yielded a family of parallel lines. The catalytic activity could be sensitively inhibited by 6-propyl-2-thiouracil (PTU), a competitive inhibitor for dithiothreitol (DTT)., Conclusion: An abzyme with the diodination activity was first prepared and the reaction mechanism of the enzyme was bisubstrate ping-pong one.