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Aims: For rare cases when a tumour infiltrates into the hip joint, extra-articular resection is required to obtain a safe margin. Endoprosthetic reconstruction following tumour resection can effectively ensure local control and improve postoperative function. However, maximizing bone preservation without compromising surgical margin remains a challenge for surgeons due to the complexity of the procedure. The purpose of the current study was to report clinical outcomes of patients who underwent extra-articular resection of the hip joint using a custom-made osteotomy guide and 3D-printed endoprosthesis. Methods: We reviewed 15 patients over a five-year period (January 2017 to December 2022) who had undergone extra-articular resection of the hip joint due to malignant tumour using a custom-made osteotomy guide and 3D-printed endoprosthesis. Each of the 15 patients had a single lesion, with six originating from the acetabulum side and nine from the proximal femur. All patients had their posterior column preserved according to the surgical plan. Results: Postoperative pathological assessment revealed a negative surgical margin was achieved in all patients. At final follow-up, 13.3% (2/15) died and no recurrence occurred. The overall survival was 81.7% at five years. None of the patients showed any signs of aseptic loosening, and no wound healing issues were observed. In total, 20% (3/15) developed complications, with two cases of early hip dislocation and one case of deep infection. The cumulative incidence of mechanical and non-mechanical failure in this series was 13.7% and 9.3%, respectively, at five years. In this cohort, the mean time to full weightbearing was 5.89 (SD 0.92) weeks and the mean Musculoskeletal Tumor Society score was 24.1 (SD 4.4). Conclusion: For patients with a hip joint tumour who met the inclusion criteria and were deemed suitable for posterior column preservation, a custom-made osteotomy guide combined with 3D-printed endoprosthesis is worth performing when treating patients who require extra-articular resection of the hip joint, as it can achieve adequate margin for local control, maximize bone preservation to maintain pelvic ring integrity, reduce the risk of complications by simplifying the surgical procedure, and allow for more precise reconstruction for better function. Cite this article: Bone Jt Open 2024;5(11):1027–1036.

Aims: Radiotherapy is a well-known local treatment for spinal metastases. However, in the presence of postoperative systemic therapy, the efficacy of radiotherapy on local control (LC) and overall survival (OS) in patients with spinal metastases remains unknown. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical outcomes of post-surgical radiotherapy for spinal metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, and to identify factors correlated with LC and OS. Methods: A retrospective, single-centre review was conducted of patients with spinal metastases from NSCLC who underwent surgery followed by systemic therapy at our institution from January 2018 to September 2022. Kaplan-Meier analysis and log-rank tests were used to compare the LC and OS between groups. Associated factors for LC and OS were assessed using Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. Results: Overall, 123 patients with 127 spinal metastases from NSCLC who underwent decompression surgery followed by postoperative systemic therapy were included. A total of 43 lesions were treated with stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) after surgery and 84 lesions were not. Survival rate at one, two, and three years was 83.4%, 58.9%, and 48.2%, respectively, and LC rate was 87.8%, 78.8%, and 78.8%, respectively. Histological type was the only significant associated factor for both LC (p = 0.007) and OS (p < 0.001). Treatment with targeted therapy was significantly associated with longer survival (p = 0.039). The risk factors associated with worse survival were abnormal laboratory data (p = 0.021), lesions located in the thoracic spine (p = 0.047), and lumbar spine (p = 0.044). This study also revealed that postoperative radiotherapy had little effect in improving OS or LC. Conclusion: Tumour histological type was significantly associated with the prognosis in spinal NSCLC metastasis patients. In the presence of post-surgical systemic therapy, radiotherapy appeared to be less effective in improving LC, OS, or quality of life in spinal NSCLC metastasis patients. Cite this article: Bone Jt Open 2024;5(4):350–360.

Background Melanotic schwannoma is a rare tumor when it occurs in the sacrum. Though it is mostly classified as benign, the prognosis is unpredictable due to the possibility of recurrence and metastasis. Here, we reported a case of intraosseous of sacrum with good results and reviewed the literature. Case Presentation A 33‐year‐old male patient complained of low back pain and was discovered to have an obstruction at S2. Following the necessary imaging diagnosis, we treated the patient with piecemeal excision in conjunction with extended curettage, and the frozen biopsy revealed that the tumor was melanotic schwannoma. The intraosseous portion of the lesion was curettaged using high‐speed drill to enlarge the edge of curettage, and piecemeal excision for lesion within the sacral canal. After surgery, the patient received total 56Gy radiotherapy and frequent follow‐up. After 15 months follow‐up, there was no evidence of recurrence, and the nerve function was normal. Conclusion Melanotic schwannoma that occurs intraosseous of the sacrum is extremely rare and lacks typical clinical manifestations; however it can be identified through careful pathological and imaging diagnosis. Intralesional extended curettage combined with radiotherapy can achieve a good local control with a satisfactory clinical effect in this rare disease.

A large number of high-sulfur-content carbonate gas reservoirs have been discovered in the northeastern part of the Sichuan Basin, and their reserve accounts for more than half of the total natural gas reserves in the basin. However, sulfur deposition has been a major problem for a long period which is restricting for the efficient development of high-sulfur-content gas reservoirs. In this paper, sulfur deposition experiments in carbonate rock samples were carried out with high-sulfur-content natural gas by the means of micro-CT scanning, scanning electron microscopy, gas chromatograph and energy spectrum analysis. The changes of the microscopic pore structure of the samples and gas composition before and after the experiments were quantitatively obtained, and the 3D visualization of sulfur deposition in reservoir rocks was achieved for the first time. Results show that after sulfur deposition experiment, the total sulfur content in high-sulfur-content gas decreased by 12.58%, and the organic sulfur component decreased by 9.07%. Sulfur particles were mainly deposited in rock pores with a radius of less than 500 μm, resulting in decreases in rock permeability and porosity by 34.40%-67.80% and 3.77%-7.69%, respectively. This study further improved the understanding of the microscopic characteristics of sulfur deposition and provided support for the formulation of production enhancement measures for high-sulfur-content gas reservoirs.

AimsWe aimed to explore the metabolic features of lean nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (Lean-NAFLD) and its association with the risk of incident type 2 diabetes in young and middle-aged people.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective cohort study of 3001 participants who were enrolled in a health check-up program from January 2018 to December 2020 in the Health Management Center of Karamay People’s Hospital. The age, sex, height, weight, body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, waist circumference (WC), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), lipid profiles, serum uric acid and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) of the subjects were collected. The cutoff point of BMI for lean nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is 0.05) and 4.20 (95% CI 1.44-12.22, p

Abstract In recent years, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become the most important chronic liver disease worldwide. The prevalence of NAFLD in China has also increased year by year. This study aimed to detect NAFLD early by developing a nomogram model in Chinese individuals. A total of 8861 subjects who underwent physical examination in Karamay and were 18 to 62 years old were enrolled. Clinical information, laboratory results and ultrasound findings were retrieved. The participants were randomly assigned to the development set (n = 6203) and the validation set (n = 2658). Significant variables independently associated with NAFLD were identified by least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression and the multiple logistic regression model. Six variables were selected to construct the nomogram: age, sex, waist circumference (WC), body mass index (BMI), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), triglycerides and glucose index (TyG). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of the development set and validation set was 0.886 and 0.894, respectively. The calibration curves showed excellent accuracy of the nomogram model. This physical examination and laboratory test-based nomogram can predict the risk of NAFLD intuitively and individually.

Abstract Background The triglyceride glucose index combined with body mass index is a new index that reflects the degree of insulin resistance. In this cross-sectional study, we aimed to explore the predictive value of the triglyceride glucose-body mass index (TyG-BMI) in relation to the occurrence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in the Chinese population with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Methods We selected 826 patients with T2D who were hospitalized at the Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism of Karamay People’s Hospital from September 2016 to October 2018 for this research. The height, weight, fasting blood glucose, serum insulin, and lipid profiles of the subjects were collected. The liver ultrasound showed any degree of echogenic enhancement of liver tissue and the liver appeared brighter than the renal cortex on ultrasound were considered to be NAFLD. The logistic regression analysis was performed to estimate associations between the triglyceride glucose index (TyG), TyG-BMI index, insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR) and the ratio of the triglycerides to high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol with a diagnosis of NAFLD. The receiver operating characteristic curve method was used to analyze its predictive value for NAFLD. Results Results of the logistic regression analysis showed that the odds ratios of NAFLD were 6.535 (3.70–11.53) and 4.868 (2.576–9.200) for the TyG-BMI before and after correction,respectively(P

Photodynamic therapy has been a promising technique for the treatment of tumours. In this manuscript, the authors report on the photoactivation of the osmium peroxo complex and its potential use for chemotherapy and photodynamic therapy under blue light irradiation against tumours in their hypoxic environment.

In recent years, a series of major natural gas exploration discoveries and breakthroughs have been achieved in deep and ultra-deep carbonate gas reservoirs in the Sichuan Basin, and all discovered gas reservoirs are characterized by great burial depth, complex pore structures and high formation temperature and pore pressure. In order to accurately predict the gas flow rate of single well in high temperature and high pressure (HTHP) gas reservoirs and clarify the gas flow characteristics under formation conditions, this paper establishes a productivity simulation experimental device and method based on the formation temperature and pore pressure of carbonate gas reservoirs in the Middle Permian Qixia Formation of northwestern Sichuan Basin and the Upper Sinian Dengying Formation of central Sichuan Basin. Then, the cores of above mentioned gas reservoirs are selected to carry out the productivity simulation experiment under HTHP. Finally, the gas flow characteristics are studied. And the following research results are obtained. First, the newly established productivity simulation experimental device and method suitable for the conditions of 160 °C formation temperature and 100 MPa pore pressure is used to predict the natural gas AOF (absolute open flow) of Well S-1 in the Qixia Formation gas reservoir of northwestern Sichuan Basin. And the prediction result is better accordant with the calculation result of theoretical model, with a relative error of only 2.12%. Second, based on the Klinkenberg permeability under surface conditions, the single-well gas flow rate calculated from the productivity simulation experiment is better accordant with the gas flow rate from field completion testing; while based on the Klinkenberg permeability under formation conditions, the single-well gas flow rate calculated from the productivity simulation experiment is better accordant with the AOF. Third, the change of formation temperature and pore pressure has a significant influence on rock permeability, and the permeability is more sensitive to stress than to temperature. Fourth, to carry out the reservoir stress sensitivity experiment and the productivity simulation experiment, it is required that core samples be recovered to the formation conditions for aging, or the experimental results may have characteristics of strong stress sensitivity and cannot be used for reservoir engineering evaluation directly. In conclusion, the production rate and AOF of HTHP gas wells can be predicted accurately by means of productivity simulation experiment, based on drilling core samples. In addition, the Klinkenberg permeability under formation conditions can be evaluated by using the relational expression between surface or Klinkenberg permeability under formation conditions and single-well gas flow rate, combined with gas well testing data.

Cancer, which presents with high incidence and mortality rates, has become a significant health threat worldwide. However, there is currently no effective solution for rapid screening and high-quality treatment of early-stage cancer patients. Metal-based nanoparticles (MNPs), as a new type of compound with stable properties, convenient synthesis, high efficiency, and few adverse reactions, have become highly competitive tools for early cancer diagnosis. Nevertheless, challenges such as the difference between the microenvironment of detected markers and the real-life body fluids remain in achieving widespread clinical application of MNPs. This review provides a comprehensive review of the research progress made in the field of in vitro cancer diagnosis using metal-based nanoparticles. By delving into the characteristics and advantages of these materials, this paper aims to inspire and guide researchers towards fully exploiting the potential of metal-based nanoparticles in the early diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

In the oil and gas industry, traditional logging mostly deems that oil and gas reservoirs are characterized by high resistivity, whereas the water layer is often by low resistivity. However, a lot of exploration and development practices on shale gas reservoirs in Sichuan Basin, China, prove that it is hard to characterize a functional relation between resistivity and water saturation using the Archie equation. Therefore, to make clear the mechanism to form low resistivity in shale gas reservoirs, the matrix resistivity was calculated through the percolation network simulation based on pore structure characteristics and mineral compositional parameters. Moreover, the resistivity in low-resistivity laminations of shale was measured through the finite element simulation. In addition, the reasons for such low resistivity in shale were analyzed according to the resistivity-forming mechanism, and the effects of penetration degree, width, quantity, and spatial distribution of the laminations on the resistivity were worked out. Those may provide theoretical support for explaining the phenomenon of low-resistivity gas reservoirs.

Currently, intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration is believed to lead to local accumulation of lactic acid in the IVD, a decrease in pH, activation of the inflammatory pathway, and continued destruction of homeostasis of the IVD. To address these issues, the intelligent and accurate release of drugs is particularly important. In this study, acid-sensitive release methacrylated hyaluronic acid (HAMA) microspheres were constructed by using microfluidic technology, which can be used as a targeted drug delivery system for intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD) through Schiff base chemical bonding on the surface of the microspheres to achieve intelligent drug release. Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1 Ra) is a naturally occurring anti-inflammatory antagonist of the interleukin-1 family of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Despite its outstanding broad-spectrum anti-inflammatory effects, IL-1 Ra has a short biological half-life (4-6 h). The slow-release performance of IL-1 Ra can be greatly improved using bovine serum albumin nanoparticles (BNP). In addition, the modified HAMA microspheres exhibited good injectability and porosity, and efficient and uniform loading of nanoparticles was achieved via the Schiff base bond. The inflammatory microenvironment can be significantly reversed by transporting the modified HAMA microspheres-BNPs (Modified MS) to the degenerative nucleus pulposus.

Background: Obesity accelerates the development of lumbar disease and increase the risk during surgery. Unilateral biportal endoscopic discectomy (UBE) is a newly developed minimally invasive technique, which refers to the spinal surgery under unilateral double-channel endoscopic surgery. Therefore, the purpose of this study is whether UBE decompression alone can bring good clinical results to young obese patients with lumbar degenerative diseases., Methods: The patients with lumbar diseases who underwent UBE and open surgery (open discectomy) in our hospital from February 2020 to February 2022 were selected as young (age ≤ 44 years old) and obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m 2 ). The patients were evaluated with VAS, ODI, JOA and modified Macnab score before operation, 1 month, 6 months and 12 months after operation. Nerve root function sensation, muscle strength and tendon reflex were evaluated. The operation time, estimated blood loss, postoperative hospital stay, incidence of postoperative complications and reoperation rate were recorded. MRI quantitative lumbar multifidus muscle (LMM) comparison was performed 12 months after operation., Results: 77 patients were included, and the scores of VAS, ODI and JOA were similar in the two groups during the last follow-up. There were no difference in nerve root function sensation, muscle strength or tendon reflex. However, one month after operation, the VAS back score and ODI improvement in the UBE group were significantly better than those in the open group, which were 2.44 ± 0.97, 33.10 ± 6.78 and 2.93 ± 0.79 and 36.13 ± 5.84, respectively, with a statistically significant difference ( p  = 0.020 and 0.038). According to the modified Macnab criteria, UBE group, the excellent and good rate was 97.2%. The excellent and good rate of open group was 97.6%. The estimated blood loss and postoperative hospital stay in UBE group (36.81 ± 17.81, 3.92 ± 1.32) were significantly better than those in open group (104.88 ± 31.41, 6.41 ± 1.94), with a statistically significant difference ( p  = 0.010). There was no significant difference in operation time between the two groups ( p  = 0.070). The number of complications in UBE group was 2 (5.6%) and open group was 4 (9.8%). The fat infiltration rate of 19.3%+11.0% in UBE group was significantly lower than that of 27.0%±13.9% in open group ( p  = 0.010)., Conclusion: UBE has the advantage of early recovery in the treatment of lumbar degenerative diseases in young obese patients, and reduces the damage to LMM, so it has a good clinical effect., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (© 2024 Ma, Li, Geng, Yan, Jiang, Tu, Chen, Wu and Nong.)

Invasive alien plants (IAPs) pose a significant threat to island biodiversity and severely impact ecosystems. Understanding the species-area relationship and environmental determinants of growth forms for IAP species on subtropical islands is crucial for establishing an IAP's early warning mechanism, enhancing island ecological management, and protecting the ecosystems of Fujian and other subtropical islands. The study identified significant species-area relationships for IAPs and different life-form plants (trees, shrubs, and herbs), with slopes of 0.27, 0.16, 0.15, and 0.24, respectively. The small island effect does not apply to all species. Isolation has little effect on species richness, and the IAPs on Fujian islands do not conform to the isolation effect in island biogeography. Landscape factors are the main determinants of IAPs and different life-form species richness, with area, shape index, and perimeter-area ratio being the three primary landscape factors. These environmental factors are closely related to habitat heterogeneity. Besides landscape factors, different life forms respond differently to environmental factors. Climate drives the species richness distribution of shrubs and herbs, while trees are mainly influenced by human activities. Overall, landscape, human disturbance, and climate jointly drive the distribution of IAPs, with landscape factors being the most significant.

Background: Intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) can lead to disc herniation and spinal instability, sometimes requiring surgical intervention. Currently, estrogen has a potential protective effect on IDD, and estrogen is associated with an increased risk of some cancers, such as breast and endometrial cancer. Therefore, it is important to identify natural compounds that estrogen analogues treat IDD while reducing the risk of tumor development., Objective: This study aims to explore a natural metabolic treatment strategy by targeting CRISP2 with the natural compound Hesperidin to mimic the protective effects of estrogen on IDD and reduce the risk of tumor development., Methods: Microarray data from healthy volunteers and IDD patients were extracted from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, and RNA sequencing and clinical data from various cancer types were analyzed. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified using the Bioconductor Limma package, followed by principal component analysis, volcano plot, and heatmap visualization. Additionally, Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses, CIBERSORT and ssGSEA immune cell infiltration assessments, survival analysis, metabolite enrichment analysis, and molecular docking were performed. Hesperidin's interaction with CRISP2 was further validated through molecular docking and experimental studies., Results: Hesperidin significantly reduced the expression of CRISP2, iNOS, and COX2 in IDD models, decreased reactive oxygen species (ROS) and apoptosis, and diminished inflammatory markers. CIBERSORT and ssGSEA analyses revealed a correlation between CRISP2 and immune cell infiltration. Survival analysis demonstrated that CRISP2 expression levels were associated with patient survival across various cancer types. Hesperidin was found to mimic estrogen's effects on IDD and reduce tumor progression. Cell culture and experimental validation confirmed Hesperidin's protective effects on nucleus pulposus cells (NPCs)., Conclusion: Hesperidin, as a potential natural metabolic regulator, not only has therapeutic effects on IDD but may also synergize with estrogen therapy to promote spinal health without increasing cancer risk. This study presents a new clinical approach for IDD treatment and lays the foundation for further drug development and experimental research., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Zhang, Jiang, Jiang, Xu, Nong, Li and Liu.)

Background: Cryptococcal meningitis (CM) may affect the conversion of lactate to pyruvate in the brain, resulting in abnormal levels of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) throughout the brain. Lactate conversion to pyruvate is mainly caused by lactic dehydrogenase 1 (LDH1), which is composed of four LDHB subunits. However, the underlying mechanism of LDH1 in CM remains unclear., Methods: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from 17 patients was collected, including eight patients with non-infectious diseases of the central nervous system and nine patients with CM. Based on clinical data and laboratory reports, data regarding intracranial pressure, CSF white cell counts, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), adenosine deaminase, glucose, protein, and chloridion were collected. Meanwhile, LDH1, LDH5, lactate, pyruvate, and ATP levels were detected in CSF. Whereafter, the levels of lactate, pyruvate, ATP, and the amplitude and frequency of action potentials in the neurons with low expression of LDHB were explored., Results: Intracranial pressure and white cell count in CSF were significantly increased in patients with CM. In patients with CM, the LDH1, pyruvate, and ATP levels in the CSF were significantly decreased, and the levels of lactate were found to be increased. Furthermore, pyruvate and ATP levels were decreased, while lactate was increased in the neurons with low expression of LDHB. The amplitude and frequency of APs in the neurons with low expression of LDHB were significantly decreased., Conclusion: Reduced levels of LDH1 in the brain of patients with CM may lead to increased lactate levels, decreased pyruvate and ATP levels, and negatively affect neuronal activity., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors state that they have no conflicts of interest. The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Recurrent implantation failure (RIF) presents a significant clinical challenge due to the lack of established diagnostic and therapeutic guidelines. Emerging evidence underscores the crucial role of competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) regulatory networks in non-cancerous female reproductive disorders, yet the intricacies and operational characteristics of these networks in RIF are not fully understood. This study aims to demystify the ceRNA regulatory network and identify potential biomarkers for its diagnosis. We analyzed expression profiles of three RNA types (long noncoding RNAs [lncRNAs], microRNAs [miRNAs], and mRNAs) sourced from the GEO database, leading to the identification of the H19-hsa-miR-301a-3p-GAS1 ceRNA network. This network demonstrates significant diagnostic relevance for RIF. Notably, the H19/GAS1 axis within this ceRNA network, identified through correlation analysis, emerged as a promising diagnostic marker, as evidenced by operating receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Further investigation into the binding potential of miR-301a-3p with H19 and GAS1 revealed a close association of these genes with endometrial disorders and embryo loss, as per the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database. Additionally, our immune infiltration analysis revealed a lower proportion of T cells gamma delta (γδ) in RIF, along with distinct differences in the expression of immune cell type-specific markers between fertile patients and those with RIF. We also observed a correlation between aberrant expression of H19/GAS1 and these immune markers, suggesting that the H19/GAS1 axis might play a role in modifying the immune microenvironment, contributing to the pathogenesis of RIF. In conclusion, the ceRNA-based H19/GAS1 axis holds promise as a novel diagnostic biomarker for RIF, potentially enhancing our understanding of its underlying mechanisms and improving the success rates of implantation., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Fan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Stem color is an important agronomic trait of wax gourds. However, its regulatory genes have not been identified. In this study, 105 inbred lines constructed from two parents (GX-71 and MY-1) were sequenced and quantitative trait loci sequencing was used to mine the genes that regulate stem color in wax gourds. The results identified two quantitative trait loci related to stem color, qSC5 and qSC12 , located on Chr05 (11,134,567-16,459,268) and Chr12 (74,618,168-75,712,335), respectively. The qSC5 had a phenotypic variation rate of 36.9% and a maximum limit of detection of 16.9. And the qSC12 had a phenotypic variation rate of 20.9%, and a maximum limit of detection of 11.2. Bch05G003950 (named BchAPRR2 ) and Bch12G020400 were identified as candidate genes involved in stem color regulation in wax gourds. The chlorophyll content and expression of BchAPRR2 and Bch12G020400 were significantly higher in green-stemmed wax gourds than in white-stemmed ones. Therefore, BchAPRR2 and Bch12G020400 were considered the main and secondary regulatory genes for wax gourd stem color, respectively. Finally, InDel markers closely linked to BchAPRR2 were developed to validate the prediction of wax gourd stem color traits in 55 germplasm lines, with an accuracy of 81.8%. These findings lay the foundation for exploring the genetic regulation of wax gourd stem color and future research on wax gourd breeding.

Air pollution in China has becoming increasingly serious in recent years with frequent incidents of smog. Parts of southwest China still experience high incidents of smog, with PM 2.5 (particulate matter with diameter ≤2.5 μm) being the main contributor. Establishing the spatial distribution of PM 2.5 in Southwest China is important for safeguarding regional human health, environmental quality, and economic development. This study used remote sensing (RS) and geographical information system (GIS) technologies and aerosol optical depth (AOD), digital elevation model (DEM), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), population density, and meteorological data from January to December 2018 for southwest China. PM 2.5 concentrations were estimated using ordinary least squares regression (OLS), geographic weighted regression (GWR) and geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR). The results showed that: (1) Eight influencing factors showed different correlations to PM 2.5 concentrations. However, the R 2 values of the correlations all exceeded 0.3, indicating a moderate degree of correlation or more; (2) The correlation R 2 values between the measured and remote sensed estimated PM 2.5 data by OLS, GWR, and GTWR were 0.554, 0.713, and 0.801, respectively; (3) In general, the spatial distribution of PM 2.5 in southwest of China decreases from the Northeast to Northwest, with moderate concentrations in the Southeast and Southwest; (4) The seasonal average PM 2.5 concentration is high in winter, low in summer, and moderate in spring and autumn, whereas the monthly average shows a "V" -shaped oscillation change., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Most current treatment strategies and investigations on cryptococcal meningitis (CM) focus primarily on the central nervous system (CNS), often overlooking the complex interplay between the CNS and the peripheral system. This study aims to explore the characteristics of central and peripheral metabolism in patients with CM., Methods: Patients diagnosed with CM as per the hospital records of the Fourth People's Hospital of Nanning were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were divided into two groups, non-structural damage of the brain (NSDB) and structural damage of the brain (SDB), according to the presence of brain lesions as detected with imaging. Based on the presence of enlarged cerebral ventricles, the cases in the SDB group were classified into non-ventriculomegaly (NVM) and ventriculomegaly (VM). Various parameters of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and peripheral blood (PB) were analyzed., Results: A significant correlation was detected between CSF and PB parameters. The levels of CSF-adenosine dehydrogenase (ADA), CSF-protein, CSF-glucose, and CSF-chloride ions were significantly correlated with the levels of PB-aminotransferase, PB-bilirubin, PB-creatinine (Cr), PB-urea nitrogen, PB-electrolyte, PB-protein, and PB-lipid. Compared with NSDB, the levels of CSF-glucose were significantly decreased in the SDB group, while the levels of CSF-lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and CSF-protein were significantly increased in the SDB group. In the SDB group, the levels of PB-potassium, PB-hemoglobin(Hb), and PB-albumin were significantly decreased in the patients with VM, while the level of PB-urea nitrogen was significantly increased in these patients., Conclusion: Metabolic and structural alterations in the brain may be associated with peripheral metabolic changes., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background:  The aim of this study is to evaluate the changes in radiologic parameters and clinical outcomes following unilateral biportal endoscopic unilateral laminotomy and bilateral decompression (UBE ULBD) for treatment of central lumbar spinal stenosis., Methods:  Forty-one central lumbar spinal stenosis patients who underwent UBE ULBD were enrolled from April 2021 to February 2023. Visual analog scale (VAS) for back pain and leg pain, Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) score, and the modified MacNab criteria were assessed preoperatively and postoperatively. The preoperative and postoperative cross-sectional area of the spinal canal (CSAC), anteroposterior diameter, horizontal width, and ipsilateral and contralateral lateral recess height were calculated from axial computed tomography (CT) scans. Percentage of facet joint preservation measured on axial CT scans was obtained preoperation and postoperation., Results:  The VAS for back and leg pain improved from 7.24 ± 0.80 and 7.59 ± 0.59 preoperatively to 2.41 ± 0.55 and 2.37 ± 0.62 ( p  < 0.05) postoperatively and 1.37 ± 0.54 and 1.51 ± 0.55 at the last follow-up ( p  < 0.05). For ODI, improvement from 60.37 ± 4.44 preoperatively to 18.90 ± 4.66 ( p  < 0.05) at the last follow-up was observed. CT scans demonstrated that the postoperative CSAC increased significantly from 287.84 ± 87.81 to 232.97 ± 88.42 mm ( p  < 0.05). The mean postoperative anteroposterior diameter and horizontal width increased significantly from 18.01 ± 3.13 and 19.57 ± 3.80 to 22.19 ± 4.56 and 21.04 ± 3.72 mm, respectively ( p  < 0.05). The ipsilateral lateral recess height and contralateral lateral recess height were 3.39 ± 1.12 and 3.20 ± 1.14 mm preoperatively and 4.03 ± 1.37 and 3.83 ± 1.32 mm ( p  < 0.05) postoperatively, with significant differences. The ipsilateral and contralateral facet joint preservations were 88.17 and 93.18%, respectively., Conclusion:  The UBE ULBD surgery is a safe and effective treatment for central lumbar spinal stenosis, associated with significant improvement in clinical outcomes and radiologic parameters. Studies with larger samples and longer follow-up periods are needed for further research., Competing Interests: None declared., (Thieme. All rights reserved.)

Background: Chordoma is a bone tumor that tends to occur in middle-aged and elderly people. It grows relatively slowly but is aggressive. The prognosis of middle-aged and elderly patients with chordoma is quite different from that of young patients with chordoma., Objectives: The purpose of the research was to construct a nomogram to predict the Individualized prognosis of middle-aged and elderly (age greater than or equal to 40 years) patients with chordoma., Methods: In this study, we screened 658 patients diagnosed with chordoma from 1983 to 2015 in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. We determined the independently prognostic factors that affect the survival of patients by univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards model. Based on the independent prognostic factors, we constructed a nomogram to predict the overall survival (OS) rates of middle-aged and elderly patients with chordoma at 3 and 5 years. The validation of this nomogram was completed by evaluating the calibration curve and the C-index., Results: We screened a total of 658 patients and divided them into two cohort. Training cohort had 462 samples and validation cohort had 196 samples. The multivariate Cox proportional hazards model of the training group showed an association of age, tumor size, histology, primary site, surgery, and extent of disease with OS rates. Based on these results, we constructed the corresponding nomogram. The calibration curve and C-index showed the satisfactory ability of the nomogram in terms of predictive ability., Conclusion: Nomogram can be an effective prognostic tool to assess the prognosis of middle-aged and elderly patients with chordoma and can help clinicians in medical decision-making and enable patients to receive more accurate and reasonable treatment., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

The excavation and utilization of dormancy loci in breeding are effective endeavors for enhancing the resistance to pre-harvest sprouting (PHS) of wheat varieties. CH1539 is a wheat breeding line with high-level seed dormancy. To clarify the dormant loci carried by CH1539 and obtain linked molecular markers, in this study, a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from the cross of weak dormant SY95-71 and strong dormant CH1539 was genotyped using the Wheat17K single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array, and a high-density genetic map covering 21 chromosomes and consisting of 2437 SNP markers was constructed. Then, the germination percentage (GP) and germination index (GI) of the seeds from each RIL were estimated. Two QTLs for GP on chromosomes 5A and 6B, and four QTLs for GI on chromosomes 5A, 6B, 6D and 7A were identified. Among them, the QTL on chromosomes 6B controlling both GP and GI, temporarily named QGp/Gi.sxau-6B , is a major QTL for seed dormancy with the maximum phenotypic variance explained of 17.66~34.11%. One PCR-based diagnostic marker Ger6B-3 for QGp/Gi.sxau-6B was developed, and the genetic effect of QGp/Gi.sxau-6B on the RIL population and a set of wheat germplasm comprising 97 accessions was successfully confirmed. QGp/Gi.sxau-6B located in the 28.7~30.9 Mbp physical position is different from all the known dormancy loci on chromosomes 6B, and within the interval, there are 30 high-confidence annotated genes. Our results revealed a novel QTL QGp/Gi.sxau-6B whose CH1539 allele had a strong and broad effect on seed dormancy, which will be useful in further PHS-resistant wheat breeding.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the clinico-ultrasound features of primary squamous cell carcinoma of the thyroid (PSCCT) and secondary SCCT (SSCCT) and evaluate the accuracy of fine needle aspiration (FNA) recommendation for SCCT with American College of Radiology-Thyroid Imaging and Reporting Data System (ACR-TIRADS) and Chinese-TIRADS (C-TIRADS)., Materials and Methods: We retrieved 26 SCCT patients (11 PSCCT, 15 SSCCT) from our hospital's pathology database (5,718 patients with thyroid malignancy) over 23 years. Medical records and ultrasound data of the 26 patients with 27 SCCTs were analyzed retrospectively, and each SCCT focus was categorized based on the two TIRADSs., Results: For 26 patients (21 males, 5 females) with an age range of 42-81 years, rapidly enlarging thyroid/neck nodules (18/26, 69.2%), dysphagia (7/26, 26.9%), hoarseness (6/26, 23.1%), dyspnea (5/26, 19.6%), cough (4/26, 15.4%), neck pain (2/26, 7.7%), B symptoms (2/26, 7.7%), and blood in sputum (1/26, 3.8%) were presented at diagnosis. Five asymptomatic patients (5/26, 19.2%) were detected by ultrasound. Hoarseness was more common in PSCCT (5/11, 45.5%) than in SSCCT (1/15, 6.7%) (P=0.032). For 27 SCCTs with a mean size of 3.7 ± 1.3 cm, the ultrasound features consisted of solid (25/27, 92.6%) or almost completely solid composition (2/27, 7.4%), hypoechoic (17/27, 63%) and very hypoechoic echogenicity (10/27, 37%), irregular/lobulated margin with extra-thyroidal extension (27/27, 100%), taller-than-wide shape (13/27, 48.1%), punctate echogenic foci (6/27, 22.2%), hypervascularity (23/27, 85.2%) and involved neck lymph (13/26, 50.0%). A total of 27 SCCTs were evaluated as high malignancy risk stratification (≥TR4 and 4B) by the two TIRADSs and recommended FNA in 96.3-100% (26/27, 27/27). Pathologically, more than half of PSCCTs (7/12, 58.3%) and a quarter of SSCCTs (4/15, 26.7%) were poorly differentiated, while moderately and well-differentiated grades were observed in 5 PSCCTs and 11 SSCCTs (P=0.007). Thirteen patients (50.0%) underwent surgery with radical operation in 5 cases (5/13, 38.5%)., Conclusion: SCCT is an extremely rare and aggressive malignancy with a male predominance. PSCCT and SSCCT had similar clinical and ultrasound features except for tumor differentiation and the symptom of hoarseness. SCCT showed a high malignancy risk stratification in ACR-TIRADS and C-TIRADS, with a high rate of FNA recommendation., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Zhang, Wei, Nong, Zhang, Zhang and Ye.)

Background:  In this study, we evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of full-endoscopic transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) for treatment of single-level lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis., Methods:  Fifty-three patients were divided into two groups according to the surgical techniques: Full endoscopic (Endo)-TLIF ( n  = 25) and TLIF ( n  = 28). Clinical efficacy was evaluated pre- and postoperatively. The operation time, operative blood loss, postoperative amount of serum creatine phosphokinase (CPK), postoperative drainage volume, postoperative hospital stay time, total cost, and operative complications were also recorded., Results:  Compared with the TLIF group, the Endo-TLIF group had similar intraoperative blood loss, less postoperative increased CPK, less postoperative drainage volume, and shorter postoperative hospital stay, but longer operative time and higher total cost. The postoperative visual analog scale (VAS) scores of back and leg pain and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) scores significantly improved compared with the preoperative scores in both two groups; more significant improvement of postoperative VAS scores of back pain and ODI scores were shown in the Endo-TLIF group at the 1-month follow-up ( p  < 0.05). No difference was found in the intervertebral fusion rate between the two groups., Conclusion:  The Endo-TLIF has similar clinical effect compared with the TLIF for the treatment of lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis. It also has many surgical advantages such as less muscle trauma, less postoperative back pain, and fast functional recovery of the patient. However, steep learning curve, longer operative time, and higher total cost may be the disadvantages that limit this technique. Also, the Endo-TLIF treatment of patients with bilateral lateral recess stenosis is considered a relative contraindication., Competing Interests: None declared., (Thieme. All rights reserved.)

The purpose is to ascertain the clinical impact of Castleman disease (CD) by reassessment of the real-world data from Peking University First Hospital (PKUFH). The results will contribute to the standardization of diagnosis and treatment on CDs. Based on the last 15-year retrospective real-world data from Peking University First Hospital (PKUFH), we reclassified and re-evaluated the clinical and pathological information of patients with pathologically suspected diagnosis of CD. A total of 203 patients were included in our study, in which the diagnosis of CD was confirmed in 189 cases, including 118 patients with unicentric CD (UCD, n = 118, 62.4%) and 71 patients with multicentric CD (MCD, n = 71, 37.6%). A total of 44.1% (n = 52) of UCDs in our cohort were complicated with paraneoplastic pemphigus (PNP). The treatment of UCD is primarily surgical, with a 5-year overall survival (OS) of 88.1%. Patients with PNP had a poorer prognosis than those without PNP (82.9% (95% CI 123-178) vs 92.8% (95% CI 168-196), log-rank p = 0.041). The rate of concurrent systemic symptoms was 74.6% (n = 53), and renal involvement occurred in 49.3% (n = 35) MCD patients. The MCD treatments were mainly chemotherapy regimens, with a 5-year OS of 77.6% (95% CI, 143-213). Patients with UCD demonstrate a better overall prognosis than patients with MCD. But the prognosis of those complicated with PNP was poor. The differential diagnosis of MCD is extensive. MCD treatment in China is heterogeneous. The inaccessibility of anti-IL-6-targeted drugs in China may contribute to the poor prognosis for patients with MCD.A preprint has previously been published (Guo et al. 34)., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Purpose: Apatinib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor targeting vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR)-2. This study was conducted to assess the efficacy and safety of apatinib combined with exemestane in patients with estrogen receptor-positive (ER+)/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HER2-) metastatic breast cancer (MBC)., Methods: This single-center, single-arm phase II study enrolled patients with ER+/HER2- MBC progressed on previous letrozole or anastrozole. Stratified analysis was performed according to the number of chemotherapy regimens for metastatic disease. The primary endpoint was progression free survival (PFS). Secondary endpoints included objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), clinical benefit rate (CBR), overall survival (OS) and toxicity. Patients received apatinib at a starting dose of 500 mg/d and exemestane 25 mg/d on days 1-28 of each 4-week cycle., Results: Thirty patients were enrolled with median four prior anticancer therapies. Eighty percent of patients received chemotherapy for metastatic disease. The median PFS (mPFS) and OS were 5.6 (95%CI: 4.3-6.9) months and 15.7 (95% CI: 9.7-21.7) months, respectively. The ORR, DCR, and CBR were 21.4%, 71.4%, and 46.4%, respectively. Patients with 0-1 line chemotherapy for MBC showed a slightly longer mPFS compared to those with ≥2 lines chemotherapy (mPFS: 6.4 months vs 4.8 months, P  = .090). Most of the AEs were grade 1/2. One patient (3.3%) who suffered bone marrow metastases experienced grade 4 thrombocytopenia, and 14 experienced grade 3 AEs. Fifty percent of patients were given reduced dose for apatinib., Conclusions: Apatinib plus exemestane exhibited objective efficacy in patients with ER+/HER2- MBC who have failed multiple lines of treatment. The AEs of apatinib required close monitoring and most of patients were well tolerated.

Cylindrical vector beam (CVB) has recently gained attention as a promising carrier for signal multiplexing owing to its mode orthogonality. However, the full-duplex multiplexing communication has not been previously explored for the lack of effective technologies to parallelly couple and separate CVB modes. Herein, we present a full-duplex solution for CVB multiplexing communication that utilizes spin-dependent phase modulation metasurfaces. By independently phase-modulating the two spin eigenstates of CVBs with the metasurface via spin-dependent orbital interactions, and loading two binary Dammann vortex gratings, we enabled an independent and reciprocal wave vector manipulation of CVBs for full-duplex (de)multiplexing operation. To demonstrate this concept, we constructed a 16-channel (including 4 CVB modes and 4 wavelengths) full-duplex CVB multiplexing communication system and achieved the bidirectional transmission of 800 Gbit/s quadrature-phase shift-keying (QPSK) signals over a 5 km few-mode fiber. Our results demonstrate the successful multiplexing and demultiplexing of 2 radial CVB modes and 2 azimuthal CVB modes in full-duplex communication with the bit-error-rates approaching 1.87 × 10 -5 .

Introduction: A growing number of Taiwanese teachers are choosing to teach at universities in mainland China, but their jobs are not always stable. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the factors infuencing young teachers from Taiwan to teach in universities in China., Methods: Twenty-seven young teachers from Taiwan with master's or doctoral degrees who were willing to apply to work at universities in China and who were already teaching in China were invited to conduct in-depth interviews to collect research data.The interview data were coded and analyzed according to the Push-Pull-Mooring (PPM) Model., Results and Discussion: The results showed that the understanding of mainland Chinese universities among young Taiwanese teachers is not entirely consistent. Taiwanese teachers who previously studied in mainland China have a more comprehensive understanding of mainland Chinese universities, and some teachers have gained a superfcial understanding through academic exchanges between the two sides and information shared by friends.However,still,7% of the teachers have no understanding at all. Most young Taiwanese teachers indicate that they do not understand the talent recruitment policies of mainland Chinese universities. The push factors that infuence young teachers from Taiwan to teach at mainland universities are: Oversupply of teachers in Taiwan, poor environment for higher education in Taiwan, poor articulation of the cross-strait academic system, and four aspects of teacher retirement and re-employment in Taiwan. The pull factors are: Benefcial policies, salary, living environment, educational advantages and cultural dissemination in 5 areas. Mooring factors are divided into 3 aspects: personal factors, environmental factors and social factors., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Wang, Miao, Ye, Huang, Nong and Nong.)

The treatment of bone defects is a difficult problem in orthopedics. At present, the treatment mainly relies on autologous or allogeneic bone transplantation, which may lead to some complications such as foreign body rejection, local infection, pain, or numbness at the bone donor site. Local injection of conservative therapy to treat bone defects is one of the research hotspots at present. Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) can self-renew, significantly proliferate, and differentiate into various types of cells. Although it has been reported that CK1ε could mediate the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, leading to the development of the diseases, whether CK1ε plays a role in bone regeneration through the Wnt/β-catenin pathway has rarely been reported. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether CK1ε was involved in the osteogenic differentiation (OD) of BMSCs through the Wnt/β-catenin pathway and explore the mechanism. We used quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-qPCR), Western blots, immunofluorescence, alkaline phosphatase, and alizarin red staining to detect the effect of CK1ε on the OD of BMSCs and the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. CK1ε was highly expressed in BMSCs with OD, and our study further demonstrated that CK1ε might promote the OD of BMSCs by activating DLV2 phosphorylation, initiating Wnt signaling downstream, and activating β-catenin nuclear transfer. In addition, by locally injecting a CK1ε-carrying adeno-associated virus (AAV5- CK1ε) into a femoral condyle defect rat model, the overexpression of CK1ε significantly promoted bone repair. Our data show that CK1ε was involved in the regulation of OD by mediating Wnt/β-catenin. This may provide a new strategy for the treatment of bone defects.

Objective: To assess the value of high-frequency ultrasonography in the evaluation of immunoglobulin G4-related submandibular sialadenitis (IgG4-SS)., Methods: Thirty-four submandibular glands in 17 patients with IgG4-SS were retrospectively enrolled, as well as 34 submandibular glands in 17 healthy control subjects. Qualitative ultrasonic features including submandibular gland size, border, echogenicity, and vascularity were reviewed. Two different scoring systems (0-16 and 0-48, respectively) were used for semi-quantitative analysis of imaging features. Comparison of both qualitative and semi-quantitative ultrasonic analysis were made between patients with IgG4-SS and healthy controls. Spearman correlation was used to explore relationships between variables., Results: The submandibular glands with IgG4-SS presented with enlarged size, rough border, increased vascularity, and abnormal echogenicity (All P < .05). The most common echogenicity pattern for IgG-SS was diffuse hypoechoic foci pattern (44.1%), followed by superficial hypoechoic pattern (20.6%), tumor-like pattern (14.7%), and diffuse hypoechogenicity pattern (11.8%). Most IgG4-SS glands presented linear hyperechogenicity in parenchyma (91.2%). Based on both scoring system, scores of IgG4-SS were significantly higher than those of the controls (All P < .05). Association analysis of both scoring systems showed positive correlation of scores with vascularity in the gland parenchyma (All P < .05)., Conclusion: The ultrasonic features of IgG4-SS comprise enlarged gland, rough border, increased vascularity, and abnormal echogenicity, which correlate with its pathological characteristics. The most common echogenicity pattern for IgG4-SS was diffuse hypoechoic foci pattern. Semi-quantitative analysis systems could be useful in the assessment of IgG4-SS. Ultrasound is a potential, valuable, and non-invasive tool for the diagnosis and evaluation of IgG4-SS., (© 2023 American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine.)

Introduction/background: The seed size of wax gourds is an important agronomic trait; however, the associated genes have not yet been reported., Methods: In this study, we used a high-density genetic map constructed based on F 8 recombinant inbred line populations derived from a cross between MY-1 (large seed) and GX-71 (small seed) strains to detect quantitative trait locis (QTLs) for seed-size-related traits in wax gourd over a two-year period., Results: Two stable QTLs ( qSL10 and qSW10 ) for seed length (SL) and seed width (SW) on chromosome 10 were repeatedly detected over two years (2021-2022). qSL10 had a phenotypic variation rate of 75.30% and 80.80% in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Whereas, qSW10 had a phenotypic variation rate of 66.60% and 73.80% in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Further, a single nucleotide polymorphism mutation was found to cause early termination of Bch10G006400 ( BhHLS1 ) translation in GX-71 through sequencing analysis of candidate genes. Based on gene functional annotation and quantitative real-time PCR analyses, BhHLS1 encoded a probable N-acetyltransferase HLS1-like protein and its expression level was significantly different between parents. Therefore, BhHLS1 is a major candidate gene associated with a one-factor polymorphism regulating the SL and SW of wax gourds. Finally, based on variation in the BhHLS1 sequence, a cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence marker was developed for the molecular marker-assisted breeding of wax gourds., Discussion: Overall, this study is of great significance for the genetic improvement of seed size, verification of gene functions, and cultivation of specific germplasm resources for wax gourds., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Yang, Wang, Liu, Nong, Cheng, Su, Bai, Deng, Chen and Liu.)

Background: A significant proportion of septic patients with acute lung injury (ALI) are recognized late due to the absence of an efficient diagnostic test, leading to the postponed treatments and consequently higher mortality. Identifying diagnostic biomarkers may improve screening to identify septic patients at high risk of ALI earlier and provide the potential effective therapeutic drugs. Machine learning represents a powerful approach for making sense of complex gene expression data to find robust ALI diagnostic biomarkers., Methods: The datasets were obtained from GEO and ArrayExpress databases. Following quality control and normalization, the datasets (GSE66890, GSE10474 and GSE32707) were merged as the training set, and four machine learning feature selection methods (Elastic net, SVM, random forest and XGBoost) were applied to construct the diagnostic model. The other datasets were considered as the validation sets. To further evaluate the performance and predictive value of diagnostic model, nomogram, Decision Curve Analysis (DCA) and Clinical Impact Curve (CIC) were constructed. Finally, the potential small molecular compounds interacting with selected features were explored from the CTD database., Results: The results of GSEA showed that immune response and metabolism might play an important role in the pathogenesis of sepsis-induced ALI. Then, 52 genes were identified as putative biomarkers by consensus feature selection from all four methods. Among them, 5 genes (ARHGDIB, ALDH1A1, TACR3, TREM1 and PI3) were selected by all methods and used to predict ALI diagnosis with high accuracy. The external datasets (E-MTAB-5273 and E-MTAB-5274) demonstrated that the diagnostic model had great accuracy with AUC value of 0.725 and 0.833, respectively. In addition, the nomogram, DCA and CIC showed that the diagnostic model had great performance and predictive value. Finally, the small molecular compounds (Curcumin, Tretinoin, Acetaminophen, Estradiol and Dexamethasone) were screened as the potential therapeutic agents for sepsis-induced ALI., Conclusion: This consensus of multiple machine learning algorithms identified 5 genes that were able to distinguish ALI from septic patients. The diagnostic model could identify septic patients at high risk of ALI, and provide potential therapeutic targets for sepsis-induced ALI., (© 2023. BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.)

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection. Cuproptosis is a novel cell death mechanism correlated with various diseases. This study sought to elucidate the role of cuproptosis-related genes (CRGs) in TB., Methods: Based on the GSE83456 dataset, we analyzed the expression profiles of CRGs and immune cell infiltration in TB. Based on CRGs, the molecular clusters and related immune cell infiltration were explored using 92 TB samples. The Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA) algorithm was utilized to identify the co-expression modules and cluster-specific differentially expressed genes. Subsequently, the optimal machine learning model was determined by comparing the performance of the random forest (RF), support vector machine (SVM), generalized linear model (GLM), and eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGB). The predictive performance of the machine learning model was assessed by generating calibration curves and decision curve analysis and validated in an external dataset., Results: 11 CRGs were identified as differentially expressed cuproptosis genes. Significant differences in immune cells were observed in TB patients. Two cuproptosis-related molecular clusters expressed genes were identified. Distinct clusters were identified based on the differential expression of CRGs and immune cells. Besides, significant differences in biological functions and pathway activities were observed between the two clusters. A nomogram was generated to facilitate clinical implementation. Next, calibration curves were generated, and decision curve analysis was conducted to validate the accuracy of our model in predicting TB subtypes. XGB machine learning model yielded the best performance in distinguishing TB patients with different clusters. The top five genes from the XGB model were selected as predictor genes. The XGB model exhibited satisfactory performance during validation in an external dataset. Further analysis revealed that these five model-related genes were significantly associated with latent and active TB., Conclusion: Our study provided hitherto undocumented evidence of the relationship between cuproptosis and TB and established an optimal machine learning model to evaluate the TB subtypes and latent and active TB patients., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Li, Long, Nong, Zheng, Meng and Zhu.)

Context.—: Kikuchi-Fujimoto lymphadenitis, also known as Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease (KFD), is a self-limited lymphoproliferative disease, with no definitive causative agent confirmed by traditional methods., Objectives.—: To further explore the clinicopathologic features of KFD and clarify related pathogenic factors., Design.—: A retrospective analysis was performed in a collection of KFD cases to review the clinical and histopathologic features, and metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) was used in 64 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues from patients with KFD., Results.—: One hundred five of the 170 patients with KFD (61.8%) were female; 10 patients had autoimmune diseases. Four pathologic subtypes were classified: necrotic (45.9%, 78 of 170), phagocytic (32.4%, 55 of 170), proliferative (17.1%, 29 of 170), and xanthomatous (4.7%, 8 of 170). Patients younger than 40 years with unilateral cervical lymphadenopathy and small vessel fibrinous degeneration accounted for significant differences among the 4 pathologic subtypes (P < .05). Among 64 patients with KFD, 9 had detectable bacterial or viral DNA-of 6 bacterial cases, 1 involved Chlamydia psittaci; while of 3 viral cases, 1 involved human beta herpesvirus 6B and 2 involved Epstein-Barr virus. No significant relationships were found between the pathologic subtypes and specific pathogens., Conclusions.—: Only a small proportion of patients with KFD had autoimmune diseases or infections from specific pathogens, suggesting that KFD is likely a reactive lesion of lymph nodes to various circumstances. To our knowledge, this is the first and the largest study to detect pathogens with the use of mNGS on FFPE samples in KFD. Our study also further confirms that mNGS can be used on FFPE samples to detect potentially infectious agents in clinical settings., (© 2023 College of American Pathologists.)

Introduction: The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of percutaneous curved vertebroplasty procedure (PCVP) and bilateral-pedicle-approach percutaneous vertebroplasty (bPVP) for the treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCFs) through a systematic review and meta-analysis of the scientific literature., Methods: A systematic review of the scientific literature in PubMed, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang and other databases was conducted in conjunction with different keywords. Nine studies were included; all but 3 were randomised controlled studies and all were prospective or retrospective cohort studies., Results: We observed statistically significant differences between the PCVP group and the bPCVP group in terms of postoperative visual analogue scale (VAS) scores (mean difference [MD]: -.08; 95% confidence intervals [CI]: -.15 to .00), bone cement leakage rates (OR = .33; 95%CI: .20 to .54), bone cement injection (MD: -1.52; 95%CI: -1.58 to 1.45), operative times (MD: -16.69; 95%CI: -17.40 to -15.99) and intraoperative fluoroscopies (MD: -8.16; 95%CI: -9.56 to -6.67), with the PCVP group being more dominant. There were no statistical differences in postoperative Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) scores (MD: -.72; 95%CI: -2.11 to .67) and overall bone cement distribution rates (MD: 2.14; 95%CI: .99 to 4.65) between the 2 groups., Conclusions: Meta-analysis showed more favourable outcomes in the PCVP group compared to the bPVP group. PCVP might be effective and safe in the treatment of OVCFs because it relieves postoperative patient pain, reduces operative time and cement injection, and decreases the risk of cement leakage and radiation exposure to the surgeon and patient., Competing Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (© The Author(s) 2023.)

Objective: The objective of this study was to systematically evaluate the safety and efficacy of local anesthesia (LA) and general anesthesia (GA) in percutaneous interlaminar endoscopic discectomy (PIED)., Materials and Methods: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, EuropePMC, PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane databases, and CNKI databases for all relevant studies. All statistical analysis was performed using Review Manager version 5.3., Results: A total of 6 articles with 549 study participants were included, with 282 patients in LA group and 267 patients in GA group. The results of the meta-analysis showed that the LA group had significantly better results in hospital stay time (mean difference [MD], -1.68; 95% CI, -3.35 to -0.01) and hospital costs (MD, -0.57, 95% CI, -1.02 to -0.12) compared with the GA group; whereas Oswestry Disability Index (MD, 0.48; 95% CI, -0.07 to 1.04), Visual Analog Scale Scores (MD, -0.05; 95% CI, -0.24 to 0.13), postoperative transient dysesthesia and weakness (odds ratio [OR], 0.83, 95% CI, 0.40 to 1.69), dura and nerve root injury (OR, 0.21, 95% CI, 0.03 to 1.25), operation time (MD, -3.51; 95% CI, -11.5 to 4.48), and willingness rate to receive the same procedure(OR, 0.12, 95% CI, 0.01 to 1.00) showed no significant differences between the 2 groups., Discussion: LA can effectively relieve pain during PIED surgery and ensure the safety of operation without increasing the occurrence of postoperative complications. PIED under LA not only has similar patient satisfaction but also shows obvious advantages in shortening hospital stay and reducing hospital costs compared with GA surgery., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: The incidence of chondrosarcoma is increasing every year, and the treatment and prognosis of patients with high-grade chondrosarcoma are becoming more and more important. Nomogram is a tool that can quickly and easily predict the overall survival of tumor patients. Therefore, the development and validation of a nomogram to predict overall survival in patients with high-grade chondrosarcoma was desired., Methods: We retrospectively collected 396 patients with high-grade chondrosarcoma from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database from 2004 to 2015. Randomly divided into model and validation groups, the best cut-off values for age and tumor size grouping were derived by using X-tile software. Then, independent prognostic factors for high-grade chondrosarcoma were derived by SPSS.26 univariate and multivariate Cox analyses analysis in the model group, and the model was evaluated by using R software, using C-indix and ROC curves, and finally these independent prognostic factors were included in Nomogram., Results: 396 patients were randomly assigned to the modelling group (n = 280) or the validation group (n = 116). Age, tissue-type, tumor size, AJCC stage, regional expansion and surgery were identified as independent prognostic factors ( p < 0.05) which further combined to construct a nomogram. The C-index of internal validation for overall survival(OS) was 0.757, while the C-index of external validation for overall survival(OS) was 0.832. Both internal and external calibration curves show a good agreement between nomogram prediction and actual survival., Conclusion: In this study, we established age, tumour size, AJCC stage, tissue type, surgery and tumor extension as independent prognostic factors for high-grade chondrosarcoma and constructed a nomogram to predict 3- and 5-year survival rates for high-grade chondrosarcoma.

Objective: To investigate the clinicopathological features of blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN)., Methods: A total of 13 cases of BPDCN diagnosed in Peking University First Hospital from January 2013 to March 2022 were collected. The clinical features, histopathological characteristics, immunophenotypes and prognosis of the patients were analyzed retrospectively, and the related literatures was reviewed as well., Results: Among the 13 patients, 11 were male and 2 were female, with a median age of 62 years (ranging from 5 to 78 years). Among them, single organ involvement occurred in 5 cases, all of which presented with skin lesions. Two or more organs were involved in other 8 cases (single organ with bone marrow involved in 3 cases; skin, bone marrow and lymph node involved simultaneously in 3 cases; skin, bone marrow, lymph node and spleen involved simultaneously in 2 cases). Histopathologically, it was characterized by the proliferation of medium to large atypical blastic cells, which infiltrated the whole thickness of dermis. When involved, the bone marrow lesions mainly appeared in a diffuse pattern, while the lymph node structure was usually destroyed, and the red pulp of the affected spleen was diffusely invaded. Immunohistochemical staining showed that all the 13 cases were positive for CD4, CD56, and CD123 (13/13) in varying degrees. All the 9 cases expressed TCL1 (9/9). Variable expression of CD68 (KP1) (8/13), TdT (7/12), CD117 (2/6), and high Ki-67 proliferation index (40%~80%) were showed. The neoplastic cells lacked expressions of CD20, CD3, MPO, CD34, or CD30; EBER in situ hybridization were negative (0/9). After definite diagnosis, 6 cases received chemotherapy, among which 1 received adjuvant radiotherapy, and 2 received subsequent bone marrow transplantation. Another 2 cases only received maintenance treatment. The median follow-up time was 14 months (ranging from 6 to 36 months), 5 patients died of the disease (6 to 18 months), 3 patients survived (7 to 36 months up to now), and the remaining 5 patients lost follow-up., Conclusion: BPDCN is a rare type of malignant lymphohematopoietic tumor with aggressive behavior and poor prognosis. The diagnosis should be made combining clinical features, histopathology, and immunohistochemical phenotype. Attention should be paid to differentiating BPDCN from other neoplasms with blastoid morphology or CD4+CD56+ tumors.

Objective: To analyze the differences and characteristics of microsatellite instability (MSI) in endometrial cancer (EMC), by using colorectal cancer (CRC) as control., Methods: In the study, 228 cases of EMC were collected. For comparative analysis, 770 cases of CRC were collected. Mismatch repair (MMR) expression was detected by immunohistochemistry (IHC), and microsatellite instability (MSI) was analyzed by PCR and capillary electrophoresis fragment analysis (MSI-PCR). MSI-PCR was detected using five mononucleotide repeat markers: BAT-25, BAT-26, NR-21, NR-24, and MONO-27., Results: In EMC, we found 27.19% (62/228) of deficient mismatch repair (dMMR) using IHC, significantly higher than CRC (7.79%, 60/770). Meanwhile, subclonal expression of MMR protein was found in 4 cases of dMMR-EMC and 2 cases of dMMR-CRC. According to the criteria of major micro-satellite shift, we found 16.23% (37/228) of MSI-high (MSI-H), 2.63% (6/228) of MSI-low (MSI-L), and 81.14% (185/228) of microsatellite stability (MSS) in EMC using MSI-PCR. The discor-dance rate between MMR-IHC and MSI-PCR in EMC was 11.84% (27/228). In CRC, we found 8.05% (62/770) of MSI-H, 0.13% (1/770) of MSI-L, and 91.82% (707/770) of MSS. The discordance rate between MMR-IHC and MSI-PCR in CRC was only 0.52% (4/770). However, according to the criteria of minimal microsatellite shift, 12 cases of EMC showed minimal microsatellite shift including 8 cases of dMMR/MSS and 4 cases of dMMR/MSI-L and these cases were ultimately evaluated as dMMR/MSI-H. Then, 21.49% (49/228) of EMC showed MSI-H and the discordance rate MMR-IHC and MSI-PCR in EMC decreased to 6.58% (15/228). No minimal microsatellite shift was found in CRC. Compared with EMC group with major microsatellite shift, cases with minimal microsatellite shift showed younger age, better tumor differentiation, and earlier International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage. There were significant differences in histological variant and FIGO stage between the two groups ( P < 0.001, P =0.006)., Conclusion: EMC was more prone to minimal microsatellite shift, which should not be ignored in the interpretation of MSI-PCR results. The combined detection of MMR-IHC and MSI-PCR is the most sensitive and specific method to capture MSI tumors.

Background: An accurate genotyping analysis is one of the critical prerequisites for patients with colorectal cancer receiving matched therapies. Conventional genotyping analysis is currently used to detect either gene mutations or MSI status, delaying the detection of critical tumor biomarkers and thus the optimal time for treatment. An assay that analyzes both biomarkers in a streamlined process is eagerly needed., Methods: We developed an assay combining Multiplex PCR Amplification, Single-base Extension and capillary electrophoresis (CE) analysis (MASE-CE) for synchronous detection of KRAS/NRAS/BRAF mutations and MSI status. In a 190 colorectal cancer cohort, we identified seven somatic mutations in KRAS, NRAS and BRAF as well as five MSI loci (D2S123/D5S346/D17S250/BAT-25/BAT-26) simultaneously. KRAS/NRAS/BRAF mutations were detected by NGS and MASE-CE, and MSI status were detected by PCR-CE and MASE-CE methods., Results: The MASE-CE method showed high consistency with NGS for mutation detection (Kappa value ≥0.8) and PCR-CE (Kappa value = 0.79). In addition, the limits of detection (LOD) of MASE-CE assay for MSI and somatic mutation were 5% and 2%, respectively., Conclusions: In somatic mutation detection and MSI detection, the LOD of MASE-CE assay was superior to that of qPCR and NGS. MASE-CE assay is a highly sensitive, time-saving and specimen-saving method, which can greatly avoid the cumbersome testing process and provide clinical decision for doctors in time., (© 2022 The Authors. Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Aging is an inevitable biological process, characterized by a general decline in the quality of all physiological functions and reactions involving all organs and tissues of the body. Oxidative stress is considered to be the main cause of aging, which may be caused by active nitrogen substances. ONOO - is one of the important active nitrogen substances. Therefore, detecting the changes of ONOO - in senescent cells is of great significance for the study of senescence. However, the study of ONOO - in senescent cells is not deep enough. Here, we designed and synthesized a fluorescent probe FLASN based on flavonol, which integrates ONOO - detection and aging treatment. Our probe FLASN was prepared by a simple synthesis process and was shown to have excellent spectral characteristics. Meanwhile, the results of bioimaging showed that the probe FLASN could detect endogenous/exogenous ONOO - in cells and in vivo , and could reduce the production of ONOO - in cells and in vivo stimulated by metformin. It is worth noting that for the first time, the change of ONOO - in senescent cells and in vivo was detected, and the therapeutic effect of flavonol on senescent cells and in vivo was confirmed, by using the probe FLASN.

Extracellular matrix (ECM) production and nucleus pulposus (NP) cell migration increase under periodic mechanical stress (PMS), but the underpinning regulatory mechanism remains unclear. This work aimed to examine the regulatory effects of cytoskeleton-lipid raft-integrin α1 signaling in NP cells exposed to PMS. Briefly, In NP cells, cytoskeleton rearrangement, lipid raft aggregation and integrin α1 expression in the stress and control groups were assessed by immunofluorescent staining and immunoblot. In addition, cell migration and ECM gene expression were detected by a scratch test and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT‑PCR), respectively. As a result, PMS up-regulated ECM gene expression and enhanced NP cell migration (both P < 0.05), accompanied by increased integrin α1, lipid raft, caveolin-3, F-actin and β-tubulin amounts. Pretreatment with the lipid raft inhibitor methyl-β-cyclodextrin (MβCD) or small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting caveolin-3 resulted in decreased ECM mRNA synthesis and cell migration induced by PMS (both P < 0.05); meanwhile, integrin α1 expression was also reduced. F-actin and β-tubulin inhibition by cytochalasin D and colchicine, respectively, not only reduced ECM mRNA synthesis and cell migration (both P < 0.05), but also disrupted lipid raft and caveolin-3 amount increases induced by PMS in NP cells. In conclusion, PMS promotes ECM mRNA up-regulation and cell migration through the cytoskeleton-lipid raft-integrin α1 signaling pathway, inhibiting cytoskeleton and lipid rafts could block the cellular effects., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Since entering the post-epidemic era of COVID-19 at the end of 2021, schools have mostly adopted a combined online and offline teaching mode to effectively respond to the normalized epidemic, which has changed the traditional learning mode of students. Based on the study demand-resources (SD-R) model theory, this study developed a research model and proposed six research hypotheses to explore the relationship between Chinese university students' perceived teacher support (PTS), online academic self-efficacy (OAS-E), online academic emotions (OAE), sustainable online learning engagement (SOLE), and online academic persistence (OAP) in the post-epidemic era. In this study, 593 Chinese university students were invited to respond to a questionnaire survey using the convenience sampling method. The results of the study showed that: PTS had a positive effect on OAS-E and OAE; OAS-E had a positive effect on OAE; OAS-E and OAE had a positive effect on the students' SOLE; and SOLE had a positive effect on their OAP. Based on the analysis, it is recommended that teachers provide more support and resources to further enhance students' academic self-efficacy and academic emotions, and thus ensure students' SOLE and OAP., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Ma, Jiang and Nong.)

Objective: Blunting of the sleep-related dip in blood pressure (BP) has been linked to numerous cardiovascular outcomes including myocardial infarction. Blunting of BP dipping occurs during night shift work and previous research suggest that a 60-min or longer on-shift nap is needed to restore normal/healthy BP dipping. We sought to determine the effect of different durations of napping on BP during and following simulated night shifts. We hypothesized that the greatest benefit in terms of restoration of normal BP dipping during night shift work would be observed during a longer duration nap versus a shorter nap opportunity., Methods: We used a randomized crossover laboratory-based study design. Participants consented to complete three separate 72-hr conditions that included a 12-hr simulated night shift. Nap conditions included a 30-min and 2-hr nap compared to a no-nap condition. Ambulatory BP monitoring was assessed hourly and every 10-30 mins during in-lab naps. Blunted BP dipping during in-lab naps was the primary outcome. Goal enrollment of 25 (35 with attrition) provided 80% power to detect a mean difference of 5 mmHg in BP between nap conditions., Results: Of the 58 screened, 28 were consented, and 26 completed all three 72-hr conditions. More than half (53.6%) were female. Mean age was 24.4 years (SD7.2). Most (85.7%) were certified as emergency medical technicians or paramedics. The mean percentage dip in systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) did not differ between the 30-min and 2-hr nap conditions ( p  > 0.05), yet a greater proportion of participants experienced a 10-20% dip in SBP or DBP during the 2-hr nap versus the 30-min nap ( p  < 0.05). For every additional minute of total sleep during the 30-min nap, the percentage of SBP dip improved by 0.60%, and the percentage of DBP dip improved by 0.68% ( p < 0.05). These improvements approximate to a 6% per minute relative advancement toward normal/healthy BP dipping., Conclusions: Restoration of a normal/healthy dip in BP is achievable during short and long duration nap opportunities during simulated night shift work. Our findings support the hypothesis that BP dipping is more common during longer 2-hr versus shorter 30-min naps., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04469803. Registered on 9 July 2020.

CircRNA is a new type of non-coding RNA with a closed loop structure. More and more biological experiments show that circRNA plays important roles in many diseases by regulating the target genes of miRNA. Therefore, correct identification of the potential interaction between circRNA and miRNA not only helps to understand the mechanism of the disease, but also contributes to the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of the disease. In this study, we propose a model (IIMCCMA) by using network embedding and matrix completion to predict the potential interaction of circRNA-miRNA. Firstly, the corresponding adjacency matrix is constructed based on the experimentally verified circRNA-miRNA interaction, circRNA-cancer interaction, and miRNA-cancer interaction. Then, the Gaussian kernel function and the cosine function are used to calculate the circRNA Gaussian interaction profile kernel similarity, circRNA functional similarity, miRNA Gaussian interaction profile kernel similarity, and miRNA functional similarity. In order to reduce the influence of noise and redundant information in known interactions, this model uses network embedding to extract the potential feature vectors of circRNA and miRNA, respectively. Finally, an improved inductive matrix completion algorithm based on the feature vectors of circRNA and miRNA is used to identify potential interactions between circRNAs and miRNAs. The 10-fold cross-validation experiment is utilized to prove the predictive ability of the IIMCCMA. The experimental results show that the AUC value and AUPR value of the IIMCCMA model are higher than other state-of-the-art algorithms. In addition, case studies show that the IIMCCMA model can correctly identify the potential interactions between circRNAs and miRNAs., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Yao, Nong, Qin, Wu and Yao.)