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BACKGROUND: Hemoptysis is a common clinical symptom. In the chronic tuberculosis cavity and chronic necrotizing pneumonia cavity, pseudoaneurysms (Pas) easily form and are prone to massive hemoptysis and repeated hemoptysis and can even endanger patient's life. However, it remains to be further analyzed whether Pas of the pulmonary chronic inflammatory cavity selectively affect the peripheral pulmonary branches. This study is based on selective angiography to classify peripheral pulmonary arterial Pas (PAPs) of the pulmonary chronic inflammatory cavity and to determine treatment options for PAPs, thereby guiding individualized clinical treatment. METHODS: Angiographic data of 392 noncancer patients undergoing hemoptysis were retrospectively analyzed. All of the patients underwent pulmonary and selective pulmonary angiography and bronchial and nonbronchial systemic collateral arterial angiography. A total of 9 patients had Pas of the pulmonary chronic inflammatory cavity, and a pseudoaneurysm systemic artery collateral (Pasac), inflow and outflow sections of the parent vessels, and direction of blood flow in the parent vessels were clearly observed with digital subtraction angiography (DSA) and/or C-arm cone-beam flat-panel detector computed tomography angiography (CBCTA). Patients with underlying disease had pulmonary tuberculosis (n=8) or lung abscess (n=1). The angiographic types of Pas were analyzed. RESULTS: Eight patients with chronic pulmonary tuberculosis and 1 patient with a necrotizing pneumonia cavity in the convalescent period were included in the study. Pas of the pulmonary chronic inflammatory cavity presented the following types: (I) pulmonary artery pseudoaneurysm (PAPa) (n=2 cases); (II) body arterial Pa (n=3 cases); and (III) systemic-pulmonary anastomosis Pa. Each type could be divided into two subtypes (n=4 cases). In nine cases, embolization and hemostasis were technically and clinically successful. CONCLUSIONS: Pas of the pulmonary chronic inflammatory cavity are diverse (especially in cases of pulmonary tuberculosis). Angiographic typing plays a guiding role in the selection of an embolization strategy.

Additional file 1: Table S1. 618 selected cancer-related genes.

Additional file 5. R codes used in the study.

Waned vaccine-induced immunity and emerging severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 variants with potential for immune escape pose a major threat to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Here, we showed that humoral immunity components, including anti-S + N, anti-RBD IgG, and neutralizing antibodies (NAbs), gradually waned and decreased the neutralizing capacity against emerging Omicron variants at 3 and 6 months after two inactivated COVID-19 vaccinations. We evaluated two boosting strategies with either a third dose of inactivated vaccine (homologous, I-I-I) or a recombinant subunit vaccine (heterologous, I-I-S). Both strategies induced the production of high levels of NAbs with a broad neutralizing capacity and longer retention. Interestingly, I-I-S induced 3.5-fold to 6.8-fold higher NAb titres than I-I-I, with a broader neutralizing capacity against six variants of concern, including Omicron. Further immunological analysis revealed that the two immunization strategies differ considerably, not only in the magnitude of total NAbs produced, but also in the composite pattern of NAbs and the population of virus-specific CD4+ T cells produced. Additionally, in some cases, heterologous boosted immunity induced the production of more effective epitopes than natural infection. The level of I-I-S-induced NAbs decreased to 48% and 18% at 1 and 3 months after booster vaccination, respectively. Overall, our data provide important evidence for vaccination strategies based on available vaccines and may help guide future global vaccination plans.

Zhuxiang Zhao,1,2 Changbin Jiang,1 Dongxing Zhao,1 Yujun Li,2 Chunxiao Liang,1 Weifeng Liu,2 Shuquan Wei,2 Yumin Zhou,1 Ziwen Zhao,2 Pixin Ran1 1The State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Diseases, The First Affliated Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 2The Pulmonary Medicine,Guangzhou First People’s Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China Abstract: Quantitative computed tomography (CT) measures of emphysema have been shown to be associated with increased mortality in humans, but genetic variants affecting the quantitative parameters of chest CT that measure degree of emphysema have not yet been examined. In this study, using available chest CT data from a total of 344 emphysema patients, we assessed the correlations between five chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) susceptibility variants in the cholinergic receptor nicotinic (CHRN) genes and the degree of emphysema and chest CT manifestations. We verified that most of the parameters were significantly correlated with the degree of emphysema. Compared to rs76071148AA and TT genotype carriers, the rs76071148AT genotype carriers exhibited a decreased probability of having severe emphysema (odds ratio [OR] =0.63, 95% confidence interval [CI] =0.40–0.99), whereas the variant rs8040868C allele was negatively correlated with the emphysema index (P=0.002). Interestingly, further stratification analysis grouped by spirometry-diagnosed COPD status revealed that the variant rs8040868C (CT + CC) genotypes exerted a protective effect against severe emphysema with borderline significance (OR =0.41, 95% CI =0.16–1.05) and affected the mean lung density, emphysema index, ratio of airway wall thickness to airway dimensions (AWT/AD), and AWT grade in spirometry-diagnosed non-COPD subjects. The rs76071148 variant was also significantly associated with AWT/AD and AWT grade in those individuals. In summary, we determined that rs8040868 and rs76071148 are promising indicators of the degree of emphysema and chest CT manifestations, especially in spirometry-diagnosed non-COPD subjects. Keywords: COPD, CHRN variant, CT manifestation, emphysema