Abstract Background β2-microglobulin has been showing to be vital that associated with brain function and neurological diseases. This study aimed to explore the expressions of β2-microglobulin in blood and urine of the patients with brain injury, and the effect of hyperbaric oxygen therapy on the content of β2-microglobulin. Methods This prospective study included 54 patients with brain injury and 11 healthy controls. The patients were further assigned to two groups: the conscious disturbance group (n = 32) and the non-conscious disturbance group (n = 22) depending on the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS). The patients received routine treatment and two courses of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (2.0ATA, 60 min, once a day, 10 days for a course). In the brain injury group, blood β2-microglobulin (β2MG) and urine β2-microglobulin (β2MU) were detected respectively before and after hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). Consciousness and cognitive scores were performed, correspondingly. Results Compared with those of the control group, levels of β2MG and β2MU in the brain injury group were significantly increased before HBOT (P < 0.05). Whether it was before or after HBOT, β2MG’s content in the conscious disturbance group was higher than that in the non-conscious disturbance group, while β2MU’s content was obviously higher than that of the non-conscious disturbance group only before HBOT (P < 0.05). Besides, the β2MU’s content in the conscious disturbance group was negatively correlated with GCS score (R = -0.351, P < 0.05) and β2MG’s content in the non-conscious disturbance group was positively correlated with the MMSE score grade (R = 0.598, P < 0.05). The ROC curve was used to assess the evaluation of β2MG and β2MU for patients with impaired consciousness with the area under the curve (AUC) of β2MG and β2MU were 0.775 and 0.796, respectively. Conclusion The concentrations of blood β2-microglobulin and urinary β2-microglobulin were significantly increased in patients with brain injury. The concentrations of β2-microglobulin were correlated with the degree of consciousness and cognitive function. The changes tendency of β2-microglobulin may be considered as clinical monitoring index to evaluate the patient’s disturbance of consciousness and cognitive degree, and provide a basis for early assessment of prognosis.

It was hypothesized that hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) could increase bone healing efficiency according to a protocol with a special window of healing time when maxillary sinus lateral augmentation is performed with only xenograft. The histomorphometric efficiency of HBO on the maxillary sinus lateral augmentation was examined by designing five different in vivo healing periods. Five patients receiving maxillary sinus lateral augmentation with xenograft each received a different treatment healing protocol: 6 weeks natural healing (control [Ctl]), 5 weeks with HBO (T1), 6 weeks with HBO (T2), 9 weeks with HBO (T3), and 13 months natural healing (TM). Biopsy samples were harvested, and quantitative histomorphometric analysis was performed regarding key factors BMP-2 and RUNX2. Analysis of variance and Tukey test were used for pairwise comparisons. Time-dependent relationships of the factors' expression densities were conducted using quadratic regression fitting. There were statistically significant differences among the groups, except for T2/T3 and T2/TM for BMP-2 and for T2/T3 and TM/Ctl for RUNX2. Both BMP-2 and RUNX2 showed quadratic trends, presenting an initial upward trend and eventually a downward trend depending on T1, T2, and T3 groups. Early stimulation, achieved by keeping HBO until 6 to 9 weeks after maxillary sinus lateral augmentation with xenograft, seemed to be the time window that benefitted bone healing efficiency the most.

Anti-gamma-aminobutyric acid B receptor (anti-GABA(B)R) encephalitis is a rare type of autoimmune encephalitis (AE). Although it responds well to immunomodulating therapy and has favorable prognosis, anti-GABA(B)R AE has often been misdiagnosed as infectious encephalitis. Herein, we present a case of a 59-year-old female with anti-GABA(B)R AE associated with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) that was once misdiagnosed as infectious encephalitis. Our findings increase the awareness that patients presenting with a clinical trial of cognitive impairment, seizures and SCLC may harbor AE. Our case also highlights the importance of anti-SOX1 antibody in the detection of SCLC.