The accuracy of the detection of prostate cancer is increased through a combination of the three techniques. Moreover, MRS demonstrated higher accuracy compared with T2WI or DWI.

BackgroundDrug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) has emerged as a major challenge toward TB control and prevention. In Lianyungang city, the extent and trend of drug resistant TB is not well known. The objective of the survey was to assess drug resistance pattern of MTB and risk factors for drug resistant TB, including multidrug resistance tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in this area.MethodsWe performed drug susceptibility testing on Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) isolates with first- and second-line anti-tuberculosis drugs of 1012 culture positive TB cases by using the proportion method, who were consecutively enrolled from January 2011 to December 2012 in Lianyungang city, China. The patterns of drug resistance in MTB were investigated and multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the risk factors for drug resistant TB.ResultsAmong the 1012 strains tested, 308 (30.4%) strains were resistant to at least one first-line drug; the prevalence of MDR-TB was 88 (8.7%), 5 (0.5%) strains were found to be extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB). Female gender was a risk factor for MDR-TB (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.763, 95% CI (1.060-2.934). The aged 28–54 years was significantly associated with the risk of MDR-TB with an aOR: 2.224, 95% CI (1.158-4.273) when compared with those 65 years or older. Patients with previous treatment history had a more than 7-fold increased risk of MDR-TB, compared with those never previously treated.ConclusionsThe burden of drug resistant TB cases is sizeable, which highlights an urgent need to reinforce control, detection and treatment strategies for drug resistant TB.

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Telocytes (TCs) are a distinct type of interstitial cells, which are featured with a small cellular body and long and thin elongations called telopodes (Tps). TCs have been widely identified in lots of tissues and organs including heart. Double staining for CD34/PDGFR-β (Platelet-derived growth factor receptor β) or CD34/Vimentin is considered to be critical for TC phenotyping. It has recently been proposed that CD34/PDGFR-α (Platelet-derived growth factor receptor α) is actually a specific marker for TCs including cardiac TCs although the direct evidence is still lacking. Here, we showed that cardiac TCs were double positive for CD34/PDGFR-α in primary culture. CD34/PDGFR-α positive cells (putative cardiac TCs) also existed in mice ventricle and human cardiac valves including mitral valve, tricuspid valve and aortic valve. Over 87% of cells in a TC-enriched culture of rat cardiac interstitial cells were positive for PDGFR-α, while CD34/PDGFR-α double positive cells accounted for 30.25% of the whole cell population. We show that cardiac TCs are double positive for CD34/PDGFR-α. Better understanding of the immunocytochemical phenotypes of cardiac TCs might help using cardiac TCs as a novel source in cardiac repair.

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) represents a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are being recognized as a promising therapeutic approach in protecting against MI. Serum is a rich source of EVs, which transports various microRNAs (miRNAs, miRs). EVs from serum have been shown beneficial for protecting against ischemia-reperfusion injury; however, their roles in AMI are unclear. In addition, whether a miRNA might be responsible for the effects of serum EVs on protecting against AMI is undetermined. Here, we demonstrated that serum EVs significantly reduced cardiomyocytes apoptosis in both cellular and mouse models of AMI, and dramatically attenuated the infarct size in mouse hearts after AMI. Inhibition of miR-21 was shown to reduce the protective effects of serum EVs in inhibiting cardiomyocytes apoptosis. miR-21 was decreased in mouse hearts after AMI, while serum EVs increased that. In addition, the programmed cell death 4 (PDCD4) expression was identified as a target gene of miR-21. Therefore, our study showed the protective effects of serum EVs on AMI, and provided a novel strategy for AMI therapy.