Circular RNA are one kind of non-coding RNA, charactered by covalently closed rings. They can influence biological functions such as cell transduction and protein synthesis. They are associated with pathogenesis of many diseases and become a novel family of biomarkers. Now we try to introduce the origin, structure, function of circular RNA and the involved research methodology. Furthermore, we primarily discuss their application in the tuberculosis research.
ObjectiveTo determinate the concentration of isonicotinyl hydrazide (INH) in the hydrothorax and thereby increase the drug concentration of the hydrothorax to enhance the anti-tuberculosis efficacy through experiments. MethodsBetween February and June 2009, we used high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to determinate the concentration of INH in the hydrothorax of tuberculosis (TB) patients. The separation of sample was performed on Agilent ZORBAX SB-C18 (5 μm, 4.6 mm×2.5 mm) column with a fixed sample injection volume of 20 μL. The mobile phase was methanol-water (20︰80) at a flow rate of 1 mL/min. The ultraviolet detective wavelength was set at 254 nm; The column temperature was room temperature. ResultsIn the range of 0.25-10.00 μg/mL (r=0.998 9), moxi-floxacin showed a good linear relation in HPLC. The recoveries of moxi-floxacin at three concentrations (0.5, 5.0, and 10.0 μg/mL) were 97.95%, 100.64%, and 102.84%, respectively, with intra-day relative standard deviation (RSD) at 3.49%, 1.45%, and 2.03%, respectively and intra-day RSD at 3.85%, 5.68%, 4.15%, respectively. ConclusionThe measuring method adopted in the experiment can accurately determinate the concentration of INH in the hydrothorax with high sensitivity and exceptional reproducibility.
ObjectiveThe diagnostic efficacy of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) for tuberculosis was evaluated by systematic review. MethodsData from PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Embase, CMJFD, CNKI and WanFang Data were searched. Literatures on the diagnostic value of lncRNA in tuberculosis from the database establishment to August 20, 2024 were selected, and the quality of literatures was assessed using QUADAS-2 tool. Meta-Disc 1.0 software tested the threshold heterogeneity of the included studies. Stata 18.0 software calculated sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio, diagnostic odds ratio and other effect sizes, and performed subgroup analysis and meta regression to explore the source of heterogeneity. Deeks funnel plot evaluates publication bias. Results A total of 28 case-control studies were included in 14 literatures. The meta-results showed that the combined sensitivity was 0.88 (95%CI 0.81 to 0.93), the specificity was 0.90 (95%CI 0.84 to 0.94), and the PLR was 9.05 (95%CI 5.16 to 15.87). The NLR and DOR were 0.13 (95%CI 0.08 to 0.22) and 67.96 (95%CI 27.27 to 169.39), and the AUC were 0.95 (95%CI 0.93 to 0.97). Subgroup analysis showed that lncRNA was more effective in the diagnosis of tuberculosis when PMBC samples, lncRNA expression was down-regulation, the study sample size was ≤100, there was cut-off value, GAPDH was used as the internal reference, and RNA extraction kit was used. meta regression indicated that lncRNA expression level and sample size were the main sources of heterogeneity. Conclusion LncRNA has high accuracy in the diagnosis of tuberculosis, and is expected to become a new biomarker to assist the diagnosis of tuberculosis.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the status of 3 types of delay (patient delay, diagnostic delay and treatment delay) among tuberculosis (TB) patients in China, to determine their associations with economic factors, and to provide guidance for policies regarding TB control. MethodsThe CNKI, WanFang Data, VIP, PubMed, ScienceDirect and Web of Science databases were searched from January 1st, 2001, to December 31st, 2021, for cross-sectional studies related to the 3 types of delay among TB patients in China. Two reviewers independently screened the literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of the included studies. Meta-analysis was then performed using R 4.1.3 software. ResultsA total of 22 cross-sectional studies involving 9 498 patients were included. The results of the meta-analysis showed that the pooled rates of patient delay, diagnostic delay and treatment delay were 41% (95% CI 34% to 48%), 36% (95% CI 28% to 45%) and 18% (95% CI 10% to 32%), respectively. Family economic status was significantly associated with patient delay (OR=1.32, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.64, P=0.01), diagnostic delay (OR=1.55, 95% CI 1.21 to 1.97, P<0.01) and treatment delay (OR=1.60, 95% CI 0.98 to 2.60, P=0.05). Conclusion The rates of the 3 types of delay in Chinese TB patients are high, and all 3 types of delay are significantly associated with poor family economic status among the patients. Measures should be taken to reduce the incidence of the various types of delays due to the financial burden that is imposed on TB patients.
In this series of 30 patients of intestinal tuberculosis, diagnosis was made by the typical appearance of caseous change of intestines and mesectery, pathological evidence of endoscopic biopsy or biopsy at operation. In 16 patients preoperative chest X-ray showed pulmonary TB lesion. X-ray gastrointestinal exmaination was performed in 24 patients and 20 patients underwent clonic endoscopy,both of them showed abnormal but nonspecific manifestation.Three patients underwent partial resection of small intestine, 20 patients right hemicolectomy, 3 patients subtotal colectomy, 1 patient abdominal resection of rectum, 2 patients partial resection of small bowel and right hemicolectomy and 1 patient partial resection of ileum and right hemicolon and part of rectum. It is believed that intestinal tuberculosis could manifest itself in segmental changes and bridge of mucosa, and should differented from Crohn’s disease. Resection and anastomosis after exploration and postoperative antituberculosis therapy is necssary.
Objective To observe the clinical features and treatment outcomes of presumed tubercular retinal vasculitis. Methods This is a retrospective non-comparative interventional clinical research. A total of nine patients (11 eyes) with major presentation of retinal vasculitis were included in this study. Patients first consulted the eye clinic and were diagnosed presumed tubercular retinal vasculitis. The patients, seven males and two females, aged from 19 to 66 years, with an average of 43.89 years. The time interval from symptoms to diagnosis ranged from two weeks to six months with an average of 76.27 days. Visual acuity, slit lamp ophthalmoscopy, fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA), optical coherence tomography (OCT), hematological and tuberculosis related investigations were examined and analyzed. All patients had standard anti-tuberculosis treatment. Treatment outcomes were followed for six to 37 months with an average of 14.11 months. Results Baseline visual acuity ranged from hand movement to 0.8 with an average of 0.28. Among 11 eyes, six presented mild to moderate vitritis, five presented as retinal vein occlusion with no obvious vitirits. Fundus examination showed six cases with retinal hemorrhage, four cases with macular edema, two with macular epiretinal membrane, and two with vitreous hemorrhage. FFA revealed 11 cases with leakage of vessels, 11 with nonperfusion area, four with macular edema, three with retinal neovascularization, and two with choroidal lesions. OCT of nine eyes suggested six eyes with retinal edema, three with macular edema, three with macular epiretinal membrane. TST of seven patients were all b positive. T-SPOT.TB of four patients were all positive. Three of eight patients who had chest X-ray or chest CT were suggested tuberculosis infection. Four to six weeks after the start of anti-tuberculosis treatment, vitritis, exudates, retinal and macular edema subsided. During follow up, inflammation was stable with no recurrence observed. The visual acuity of last follow-up ranged from 0.15 to 0.8 with an average of 0.51. Conclusions The main presentations of presumed tubercular retinal vasculitis are vitritis, retinal vein occlusion, and retinal hemorrhage. Standard anti-tuberculosis treatment can improve inflammation and retinal hemorrhage.
Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major global public health threat. The World Health Organization (WHO) 2020–2024 global TB reports provide a comprehensive overview of the TB situation from 2019 to 2023. In 2023, TB re-emerged as the world's leading infectious killer, with an estimated 10.8 million new cases. While the growth in the incidence rate slowed, the number of deaths decreased to 1.25 million. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted TB control efforts in 2020–2021. As control measures are gradually restored, a positive trend in TB control is emerging. However, significant regional disparities in incidence persist, with eight high-burden countries, including India and China, accounting for over two-thirds of the global total. In 2023, global treatment coverage for drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) was 44.00% with a treatment success rate of 68.00%; yet, with 400 000 new drug-resistant cases, the control situation remains severe. China has achieved remarkable progress in TB control: new cases fell to 741 000 in 2023 (an incidence of 52 per 100 000); mortality decreased significantly; its share of the global DR-TB burden dropped from 14.00% to 7.30%; and the TB/HIV co-infection rate declined from 1.68% in 2019 to 0.66% in 2023, outperforming the global average. Globally, control measures continue to be optimized: treatment coverage increased from 70.00% in 2019 to 75.00% in 2023, the number of people receiving preventive therapy grew to 4.7 million, and rapid diagnostic coverage reached 48.00%. In China, the number of patients treated recovered to 565 000 in 2023, and rapid diagnostic coverage rose to 74.00%. Although technological innovations have enhanced the efficiency of prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, and management, achieving the 2030 End TB Strategy goals will require strengthening TB management, building primary healthcare capacity, and targeting interventions for high-risk populations, while balancing resource allocation with technological innovation to address the challenges of a heterogeneous global epidemic.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the risk factors of retreatment pulmonary tuberculosis with unfavorable treatment outcome. MethodsWe electronically searched databases including CNKI, VIP, CBM and WanFang Date from inception to November 15th 2015, to collect studies about the risk factors of retreatment pulmonary tuberculosis patients with unfavorable treatment outcome. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Then, meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan 5.3 software. ResultsA total of 13 studies were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that significant association was found between retreatment pulmonary tuberculosis cases with unfavorable treatment outcome and such factors as the standard retreatment regimen (OR=4.98, 95%CI 2.95 to 8.39, P < 0.00001), drug-resistance (OR=4.22, 95%CI 1.85 to 9.63, P=0.0006), multi-drug resistance (OR=7.19, 95%CI 2.51 to 20.58, P=0.0002), status of cavitas (OR=1.80, 95%CI 1.20 to 2.71, P=0.005), TB-diabetes mellitus (OR=2.05, 95%CI 1.30 to 3.22, P=0.002) and high sputum smear load >2+(OR=2.07, 95%CI 1.30 to 3.29, P=0.002) in univariate-analysis, respectively. But, in multivariate-analysis, only TB-diabetes mellitus (OR=3.38, 95%CI 1.56 to 7.29, P=0.002) showed significant association with retreatment pulmonary tuberculosis cases with unfavorable treatment outcome. ConclusionCurrent evidence shows that TB-diabetes mellitus, standard retreatment regimen, drug-resistance, multi-drug resistance, status of cavitas and high sputum smear load >2+ are considered to be the risk factors for retreatment pulmonary tuberculosis cases with unfavorable treatment outcome. Especially, for patients with diabetes, the importance of management need to be reinforced to reduce the failure rate in the retreatment of pulmonary tuberculosis. Due to limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more high quality studies are needed to verify the above conclusion.
Objective To investigate the postoperative treatment of pleuropneumonectomy for tuberculosis destroyed lung in ICU, in order to improve the therapeutical efficacy for these patients. Methods Clinical data of 52 patients who suffered from tuberculosis destroyed lung and underwent pleuropneumonectomy from June 2008 to June 2010 were analyzed retrospectively. All of subjects received routine treatment in ICU after the operation. Meanwhile，appropriate targeting treatments were applied including diagnosis and treatment of postoperative bleeding; application of fiberbronchoscope to aspirate the sputum after the operation,sequential non-invasive ventilation after the invasive ventilation for acute respiratory failure after operation ,etc.Results A total of 52 patients received the pleuropneumonectomy operation. Bleeding occurred in 11 cases after operation and stopped after the integrated therapy. 8 patients suffered from acute respiratory failure and attenuated after sequential ventilation. No patients died for postoperative bleeding or acute respiratory failure. Conclusions Patients who suffered from tuberculosis destroyed lung and received pleuropneumonectomy with postoperative bleeding and acute respiratory failure have a good prognosis after appropriate postoperative treatment in ICU.
ObjectiveTo investigate the diagnostic value of tuberculosis T cell spot test (T-SPOT.TB) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) test in the diagnosis of simple pulmonary nodules in Xinjiang.MethodsA retrospective analysis of 72 patients with asymptomatic simple pulmonary nodules in the Department of Thoracic Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University from October 2017 to July 2019 was performed. According to the pathological results, the patients were divided into a tuberculoma group [n=23, including 14 males and 9 females, aged 37-84 (56.91±12.73) years] and a lung cancer group [n=49, including 31 males and 18 females, aged 34-83 (61.71±10.15) years]. The predictive value of T-SPOT.TB and ESR results for the diagnosis of simple pulmonary nodules was evaluated.ResultsThe positive rate of T-SPOT.TB in the tuberculoma group (69.60%) was higher than that in the lung cancer group (42.90%) (χ2=5.324, P=0.021), with a sensitivity of 69.56% and specificity of 57.14%; the positive ESR was 47.80% in the tuberculoma group and 59.20% in the lung cancer group, and no statistical difference was found between the two groups (χ2=0.981, P=0.322), with a sensitivity of 47.82% and specificity of 40.81%; the area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was 0.618, the 95% confidence interval of AUC was (0.479, 0.758), and the Youden’s index was 0.267 with a sensitivity of 69.60% and specificity of 57.10%. Difference in the T-SPOT.TB and ESR test results was statistically significant (χ2=4.986, P=0.026), but the correlation between the tests was weak with a Pearson contingency coefficient of 0.199. ESR results in patients with different ages were statistically different (χ2=7.343, P=0.025), but the correlation between age and ESR results was weak with a Pearson contingency coefficient of 0.239; T-SPOT.TB results in patients with different ages were not statistically different (χ2=0.865, P=0.649), and the correlation between age and ESR results was weak with a Pearson contingency coefficient of 0.084.ConclusionThe diagnostic value of T-SPOT.TB and ESR tests is small in the diagnosis of simple pulmonary nodules.