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OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to compare the effect of topical laryngeal lidocaine with intravenous lidocaine before endotracheal intubation on the incidence and severity of postoperative sore throat, hoarseness, and cough. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This prospective randomized controlled study enrolled 144 patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy with endotracheal intubation. The patients were randomized to three groups and received 2% lidocaine by topical laryngeal spray (group T), intravenous 2% lidocaine (group I), and the equivalent volume of intravenous saline (group C) before intubation. The incidence and severity of sore throat, hoarseness, and cough reaction at 0.5, 1, 6, and 24 h after extubation were collected. RESULTS: The incidence of sore throat was significantly lower in group T than in groups I and C (6.4% vs. 37.2% and 86.7%, p < 0.001), respectively at 0.5 h after extubation, and it was significantly lower in group I than that in group C (37.2% vs. 86.7%, p < 0.001). Both the incidence of hoarseness and cough were significantly lower in group T than in group I and in group C (14.9% vs. 97.7% and 97.8%, p < 0.001, and 19.1% vs. 72.0% and 93.3%, p < 0.001), respectively. The severity of sore throat, hoarseness and cough in group T was significantly lower than that in group I and that in group C (p < 0.05), and it was significantly lower in group I than in group C (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Both topical laryngeal lidocaine and intravenous lidocaine before intubation have positive effects on preventing sore throat. Topical laryngeal route was superior to intravenous route. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), as an autoimmune disease, poses a huge social and economic burden worldwide. Although the diagnosis of RA has been gradually improved, there is still a need to discover accurate and rapid biomarkers for diagnosis and therapy with a precise understanding of the disease. This study aimed to screen diagnostic biomarkers and analyze immune infiltration in RA based on weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Firstly, we screened the experimental and validation sets associated with RA from the GEO database. Crossover genes were obtained using differential genes (DEGs) and key modules in WGCNA. Subsequently, the crossover genes were constructed into protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks and screened to obtain hub genes. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve assessment was performed to identify diagnostic biomarkers. In addition, we used the Cibersort algorithm for immuno-infiltration analysis and the DGidb database to search for drugs associated with diagnostic biomarkers. RESULTS: In the end, 377 DEGs were identified, and the enrichment analysis revealed significant associations with the immune system. Blue modules in the WGCNA analysis were positively associated with the disease and were identified as key modules. ROC curves evaluated the four hub genes, which significantly differentiated RA from healthy controls and could be used as diagnostic biomarkers. In further analysis, we found that RA is closely related to immunity, and the search identified multiple drugs that hold promise for treating RA. CONCLUSIONS: BCL2A1, PTGS2, FAS, and LY96 may be used as diagnostic biomarkers, which is significant for diagnosing and treating RA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to evaluate the value of microbial rapid onsite evaluation (M-ROSE) of sepsis, and septic shock caused by pulmonary infection. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Thirty-six patients with sepsis and septic shock due to hospital-acquired pneumonia were analyzed. Accuracy and time were compared with M-ROSE, traditional culture, and next-generation sequencing (NGS). RESULTS: A total of 48 strains of bacteria and 8 strains of fungi were detected by bronchoscopy in 36 patients. The accuracy rate of bacteria and fungi was 95.8% and 100%, respectively. M-ROSE took an average of 0.34±0.01 hours, much faster than NGS (22h±0.01 h, p<0.0001) and traditional culture time (67.50±0.91 h, p<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: M-ROSE may quickly identify common bacteria and fungi, so it may be a useful method for the etiological diagnosis of sepsis and septic shock caused by pulmonary infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ferroptosis is a new form of iron-dependent programmed cell death, characterized by intracellular iron overload and lipid peroxidation. Several studies have revealed that ferroptosis is associated with the occurrence and development of various neurodegenerative diseases (NDs). Therefore, this paper reviews the mechanism and related genes of ferroptosis, focusing on the research of antiferroptosis drugs in NDs to provide theoretical support for future experimental research and clinical application. This work focuses on ferroptosis, and the authors searched the literature on PubMed related to ferroptosis using the keywords "neurodegenerative diseases" and 'neurons". All articles were from August 2022 and earlier, excluding irrelevant or retracted articles, and articles from the last five years were used as the main inclusion criteria. After collection and summary, it was found that ferroptosis in NDs was not only related to iron metabolism, lipid metabolism, and amino acid metabolism but also related to genes such as Nrf2, FSP1, VDACs, and p53. We also summarized drugs that inhibited ferroptosis in NDs and classified them according to their mechanism of action. Ferroptosis was involved in the progression of NDs through its production mechanism and related genes. Targeting ferroptosis might be a new strategy for treating NDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors describe district-specific disability-adjusted life-year (DALY) of lung cancer attributable to ambient particulate matter < 2.5 um in diameter (PM2.5) for Guangzhou city in China, so as to help prioritizing environmental health action from geospatial perspective. Comparative risk assessment and satellite-derived PM2.5 concentrations were used to investigate the spatial-temporal distribution of DALY attributable to ambient PM2.5 for lung cancer. Integrated exposure-response model and kriging model were constructed based on estimated relative risk (RR) from risk assessment. Annual mean PM2.5 increased by 25.9% from 2010 (71.1 ug/m3) to 2013 (89.5 ug/m3). Estimated RRs ranged from 1.37 (95% uncertainty interval [UI]: 1.04 ~ 1.86) to 1.99 (95% UI: 1.12 ~ 3.19) among the districts. For lung cancer, DALY attributable to PM2.5 increased by 26.8% from 2010 to 2013, reaching 43352.7 DALYs (95% UI: 8157.9 ~ 62371.7) in 2013. The paper showed that population residing in highly-polluted and aged districts might suffer a higher relative risk for developing lung cancer. Our validated analysis framework also showed that population suffered from a higher loss of lung cancer DALYs, partly due to the higher PM2.5 exposure in some subareas within the city. We reveal that ambient PM2.5 pollution contributed substantially to lung cancer burden, both locally and sub-locally. These results suggest the need for enhanced environmental health policies in the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: Both cancer and atherosclerosis are the main causes of morbidity and mortality in the world, and some patients even suffer from both of them. Several studies have shown an association between the pathogenesis of cancer and atherosclerosis. It has been reported that miR-126 may participate in the pathological process of cancer and atherosclerosis. Therefore, we aimed to summarize the role of miR-126 in cancer and atherosclerosis respectively, as well as a possible association between them. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this paper, “miR-126” and “microRNA-126” are used as the first group of keywords, “atheromatosis” and “atherosclerosis” are used as the second group of keywords, and “tumor” and “cancer” are used as the third group of keywords. In PubMed, the authors selected one of the first group and the second group of keywords to search the literature related to miR-126 and cancer, and one of the first group and the third group of keywords was selected to search the literature on miR-126 and atherosclerosis. All collected articles are from 2021 and before. Irrelevant, withdrawn and review articles were excluded, and the included literature was mainly in the recent five years. RESULTS: After collection and summary, miR126 is found involved in cell apoptosis, proliferation, angiogenesis, inflammation, and other processes in both cancer and atherosclerosis by negatively targeting PI3K, VEGF, VCAM-1, EGFL7, CXCL12-CXCR4 axis, and LRP6. Moreover, we briefly review the prospects of miR-126 as a biomarker for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and atherosclerosis in clinical applications. CONCLUSIONS: It has been demonstrated that miR-126 can influence cancer and atherosclerosis by affecting the same or different target genes. Therefore, it facilitates our understanding of the common prevention and treatment strategies of cancer and atherosclerosis by regulating the miR126-target genes network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the clinicopathological characteristics, pathological diagnosis of Ewing's sarcoma of the central nervous system. Methods: Six cases of Ewing's sarcoma of the central nervous system diagnosed at the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China from 2015 to 2022 were collected. The clinical manifestations, histological morphology, immunophenotype and molecular genetics of these cases were analyzed. The related literature was reviewed. Results: There were four males and two females, with a male to female ratio of 2∶1. The onset age was 17-40 years, with a median age of 23 years. All 6 tumors were located in the spinal cord (2 cases of cervical vertebra, 1 case of thoracic vertebra, 2 cases of lumbar vertebra, and 1 case of sacral vertebra). The patients' clinical manifestations were mostly lumbago, weakness and numbness of lower limbs/limbs. In 1 case, the tumor recurred and metastasized to the suprasellar region and the third ventricle. Microscopically, the tumor showed diffuse infiltrative growth. In some cases, the tumor was closely related to the spinal meninges. The tumor cells were arranged in sheet, lobular, thin-rope, and nest-like patterns. Homer-Wright rosette was visible. The tumor cells were small to medium in size, and most of them had scant cytoplasm. A few cells had clear cytoplasm. Some areas were rhabdoid. The tumor cell nuclei showed focal mild pleomorphism. The chromatin was uniform and delicate while the nucleoli were not obvious. Mitosis was commonly seen. The tumor was separated by fibrous connective tissue and may be accompanied by mucinous degeneration. Immunohistochemistry showed that all tumors were positive for CD99, NKX2.2, Fli1, ERG. ATRX, H3K27me3, INI1 and BRG1 were all retained. Immunohistochemical stains for EMA, GFAP and Olig2 were negative. The Ki-67 proliferation index was 30%-70%. EWSR1 break-apart FISH test was positive. Conclusions: Ewing's sarcoma is rare in the central nervous system and needs to be distinguished from a variety of neoplasms with primitive undifferentiated small cell morphology. Immunohistochemistry and molecular genetics may be required for a proper diagnosis.

In recent years, the incidence of respiratory diseases has increased year on year. This has become a major global public health issue. To effectively treat respiratory diseases and improve the quality of life and prognosis of patients, the intelligent platform of respiratory therapy was established. Through real-time monitoring patients' important physiological indicators and integrating medical information, visual management, and intelligent decision making can be realized to provide personalized respiratory treatment and rehabilitation programs for critically ill patients. The platform can also provide reliable data support for medical research and further promote the development of the field of respiratory disease treatment. In the future, the platform will continue to improve the level and efficiency of clinical treatment, and truly solve practical problems for patients.

Objective: To investigate the clinicopathological characteristics, pathological diagnosis and prognosis of diffuse midline glioma (DMG) with H3K27 alteration in adults. Methods: Twenty cases of H3K27-altered adult DMG diagnosed in the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University were enrolled from 2017 to 2022. All cases were evaluated by clinical and imaging presentations, HE, immunohistochemical staining and molecular genetics; and the relevant literature was reviewed. Results: The ratio of male to female was 1∶1, and the median age was 53 years (range from 25 to 74 years); the tumors were located in the brainstem (3/20, 15%) and non-brainstem (17/20, 85%; three in thoracolumbar spinal cord and one in pineal region). The clinical manifestations were non-specific, mostly dizziness, headache, blurred vision, memory loss, low back pain, limb sensation and/or movement disorders, etc. Microscopically, the tumors showed infiltrative growth, with WHO grade 2 (3 cases), grade 3 (12 cases), and grade 4 (5 cases). The tumors showed astrocytoma-like and oligdendroglioma-like, pilocytic astrocytoma-like and epithelioid-like patterns. Immunohistochemically, the tumor cells were positive for GFAP, Olig2 and H3K27M, and H3K27me3 expression was variably lost. ATRX expression was lost in four cases, p53 was strongly positive in 11 cases. Ki-67 index was about 5%-70%. Molecular genetics showed p. k27m mutation in exon 1 of H3F3A gene in 20 cases; BRAF mutation in two cases: V600E and L597Q mutation in one case each. Follow up intervals ranged from 1 to 58 months, and the survival time for brainstem (6.0 months) and non-brainstem (30.4 months) tumors was significantly different ( P <0.05). Conclusions: DMG with H3K27 alteration is uncommonly found in adults, mostly occurs in non-brainstem, and can present in adults of all ages. Owing to the wide histomorphologic features, mainly astrocytic differentiation, routine detection of H3K27me3 in midline glioma is recommended. Molecular testing should be performed on any suspected cases to avoid missed diagnosis. Concomitant BRAF L597Q mutation and PPM1D mutation are novel findings. The overall prognosis of this tumor is poor, with tumors located in the brainstem showing worse outcome.

In 2022, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remains rampant across the world. Several remarkable studies concerning pulmonary infectious diseases have been published during this pandemic. This review summarized the representative academic and translational medical progress over the past year (from October 1, 2021, to September 30, 2022), including COVID-19, community/hospital-acquired pneumonia, tuberculosis, and other respiratory viral infections.

Objective: To investigate the effect and molecular mechanism of ultra-conservative long non-coding RNA uc.77 in lung cancer. Methods: Lung cancer tissues and adjacent normal tissues were obtained from 61 patients with lung cancer who were diagnosed with lung cancer and underwent surgery from 2014 to 2016 in the General Hospital of the Southern Theater Command of the People's Liberation Army. Real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the uc.77 relative expressions in normal human bronchial epithelial cells 16HBE, lung cancer cell lines, and 61 pair lung cancer tissues. Uc.77 siRNA was transfected into lung cancer cells to interfere with the expression of uc.77, qRT-PCR was used to verify the interference effect, CCK8 method and clone formation experiment were used to detect cell proliferation ability, flow cytometry was used to detect apoptosis and cell cycle changes. H1299 cells transfected with uc.77 siRNA were injected into the subcutaneous right side of BALB/c nude mice to construct a tumor-bearing model for exploring the role of uc.77 on tumor growth. Western blot and qRT-PCR methods were used to detect the protein and mRNA expressions of p21. Results: The relative expression levels of uc.77 in lung cancer cell lines 95D, H1299, A549, H460, H446 and 16HBE-T were significantly higher than that of 16HBE cells ( P <0.05). The uc.77 RNA expression levels of lung cancer tissues was significantly higher than that of the adjacent normal tissues ( P <0.001). In addition, increased lncRNA uc.77 expression was significantly associated with big tumor size, lymph node metastasis and advanced TNM stage ( P <0.05). After transfection with uc.77 siRNA, the expressions of uc.77 in H1299, 95-D and 16HBE-T cells were reduced ( P <0.05), and the cell proliferation capacities were reduced at 48 hours and 72 hours ( P <0.05). After transfection with uc.77 siRNA-1, the G(0)/G(1) phase cell ratio of H1299 siRNA-1 group [(71.86±3.46)%] was higher than those of H1299-control group [(47.62±5.48)%] and H1299 siRNA-NC group [(61.38±5.62)%, P <0.05], S phase cell ratio of H1299 siRNA-1 group [(14.99±3.61)%] was lower than those of H1299-control group [(34.95±7.05)%] and H1299 siRNA-NC group [(23.75±5.87)%, P <0.05], the apoptosis rate of H1299 siRNA-1 group [(4.90±1.80)%] was higher than those of H1299-control group [(3.30±0.80)%] and H1299 siRNA-NC group [(2.80±1.20)%, P <0.05], the colony formation rate of H1299 siRNA-1 group [(19.20±2.00)%] was lower than those of H1299 control group [(32.60±2.00)%] and H1299 siRNA-NC group [(34.40±1.00)%, P <0.05]. The results of the nude mice tumor formation experiment showed that the tumor volume of the H1299 siRNA-1 group was significantly lower than those of the H1299-control group and the H1299-negative control group ( P <0.05), the average tumor weight of H1299 siRNA-1 group was significantly lower than those of H1299-control group and H1299-negative control group ( P <0.05), tumor cell growth marker Ki-67 in the H1299 siRNA-1 group showed weak positive, and Ki-67 in the H1299-control group and H1299-negative control group showed positive. The result of qRT-PCR analysis showed that the mRNA expression level of p21 in H1299 siRNA-1 group (2.57±0.45) was higher than those in H1299 control group (1.00±0.00, P =0.001) and H1299 siRNA-NC group (1.52±0.37, P =0.009). The result of western blotting analysis also showed that the expression of p21 protein level in H1299 siRNA-1 group increased. Conclusions: The expression of ultraconserved long non-coding RNA uc.77 is elevated in lung cancer cell lines and lung cancer tissues. Silencing the expression of ultraconservative long noncoding RNA uc.77 can inhibit tumor growth, and blocking uc.77 expression may be a potential therapeutic target for lung cancer.

This paper introduced the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-Comparative (QUADAS-C), illustrated the comparison with the QUADAS-2, and using QUADAS-C together with QUADAS-2 to present QUADAS-C results through systematic reviews. Like the domain for QUADAS-2, QUADAS-C retained four domains, including patient selection, index test, reference standard, flow, and timing, and comprised additional questions for each QUADAS-2 part. Unlike the QUADAS-2 tool, the starting question of each domain for QUADAS-C was designed to summarize the risk of biased information captured by QUADAS-2. QUADAS-C only dealt with the risk of bias but did not include the part of concerns regarding applicability. The answers to signaling questions for each domain of QUADAS-C would lead to a 'low''high' or 'unclear' risk of biased judgment for the original study.

Objective: To investigate the clinical, histologic, immunohistochemical (IHC) and molecular genetic features of clear cell carcinoma (CCC) of salivary gland in the head and neck regions. Methods: Seven cases of CCC diagnosed in the Department of Pathology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from 2018 to 2021 were included. The clinical and pathologic data, HE sections and IHC staining were reviewed, and EWSR1 gene translocation was detected by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). The relevant literature was also reviewed. Results: There were five males and two females, with an age range of 32 to 71 years (mean 50 years). The tumors were located in the palate, base of tongue, subglottic, right submaxillary and nasopharynx. Histologically the tumors were composed of sheets, nests, and trabecular of large, monomorphic cells which possessed abundant clear and eosinophilic cytoplasm. The stroma was characterized by abundant hyalinized fibrous strands admixed with cellular fibrous (desmoplastic) tissue. The tumor growth was infiltrative. IHC staining revealed positivity for CKpan and squamous cell immunophenotypic markers (CK5/6, p63 and p40), but negativity for myoepithelial markers (SMA, calponin, GFAP and CD10). The EWSR1 gene translocation was detected by FISH. The prognosis was excellent, with the follow-up periods ranging from 8 months to 33 months. During this period, six patients survived without tumor, only one patient with cervical lymph node metastasis. Conclusions: CCC of salivary gland is rare and needs to be differentiated from various other types of tumors containing clear cells. Awareness of the histopathologic characteristics, and combined with IHC and molecular genetic examination can avoid misdiagnosis. The biological behavior of the tumor is indolent with a good overall prognosis.

Objective: To investigate the clinicopathological features, diagnosis and differential diagnosis of ectopic meningothelial hamartoma (EMH). Methods: Three cases of EMH diagnosed in the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from January 2014 to December 2020 were enrolled. All cases were evaluated by clinical and imaging features, HE and immunohistochemical staining, and the relevant literature was reviewed. Results: There were one male and two female patients, aged 2, 67 and 19 years, respectively. Clinically, they presented as skin masses in the head and face region (two cases) and sacro-coccygeal region (one case). Grossly, the lesions ranged in size from 1.6 cm to 8.9 cm. Microscopically, the lesions were ill-defined, and located in the dermis and subcutis, and showed pseudovascular channels lined by monolayer of cuboidal to flattened epithelium with mild atypia, with variable cystic cavity formation. There was prominent interstitial fibrosis. Concentric, lamellated, onion skin-like arrangement with short spindle or ovoid cells and psammoma bodies were noted. Immunohistochemically, these cells were strongly positive for SSTR2, EMA, vimentin and progesterone receptor. Ki-67 positive index was low, approximately 1%. Conclusions: EMH is uncommon. Definitive diagnosis relies on histopathologic examination. The importance in recognizing the lesions is to differentiate from other more aggressive tumors.