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Background: Lupus enteritis (LE) is prone to incorrect and missed diagnoses. LE primarily occurs during the active stage of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), which often manifests with alterations in peripheral blood cell that may serve as indicators of disease activity and organ damage. This study aims to investigate the alterations and predictive value of routine blood parameters for LE diagnosis. Methods: This exploratory study retrospectively analyzed the medical records of 36 patients with SLE who were admitted to Suining Central Hospital between January 2006 and April 2023. Additionally, a control group consisting of 72 SLE patients without LE, matched for sex and age, was enrolled. A comparison was made between the two groups regarding clinical characteristics and changes in routine blood parameters. Binary logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were conducted to identify independent risk factors and evaluate their diagnostic performance for LE. Results: The LE group exhibited significantly higher neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), along with a lower lymphocyte count (LYM), compared to the control group (p <.05). Binary logistic regression analysis revealed that NLR independently predicted the onset of LE, with an odds ratio of 1.347 and a 95% confidence interval of 1.070–1.696 (p <.01). ROC curve analysis demonstrated that NLR had an area under the curve of 0.68 for diagnosing LE (p <.05). When the cutoff value was set at 2.44, the Youden Index was only 0.31. Conclusion: Significant differences were observed in several routine parameters between patients with LE and the control group, which can be attributed to the occurrence of LE during the active stage of SLE. However, only the NLR emerged as an independent risk factor for LE,and its predicting vulue for was insufficient; no blood routine parameter has been identified as an reliable predictor for LE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The two-year study aimed to explore how students' development of different inquiry abilities actually benefited from the design of technology-infused learning modules. Three learning modules on the topics of seasons, environmental issues and air pollution were developed to facilitate students' inquiry abilities: questioning, planning, analyzing, and modeling. Two classes of seventh graders (13-14 years old) were randomly assigned to an inquiry group (n = 24) and a baseline group (n = 27). The two groups engaged in three technology-infused learning modules and conventional instruction respectively, and took two inquiry ability tests three times throughout two years. The test results showed that the inquiry group performed significantly better than the baseline group with respect to several inquiry sub-abilities. The instructional components of the tasks (i.e., design features) for which students exhibited significant improvements were further analyzed with respect to the task complexity, the function of the prompts, and the types of representations presented in the tasks. These design features identified provided useful insights into future design of technology-infused learning tasks for different inquiry abilities.

Abstract: Highly transparent Tm3Al5O12 (TmAG) ceramics were fabricated by solid-state reaction and vacuum sintering. Densification, microstructure evolution, mechanical, thermal, and optical properties of the TmAG ceramics were investigated. Fully dense TmAG ceramic with average grain size of ∼15μm was obtained by sintering at 1780°C for 20h. The in-line transmittance was 80.5% at 2000nm. The absorption coefficients at 682nm and 785nm were 8.03cm−1 and 8.33cm−1, respectively. The Vickers hardness, the Young modulus, the bending strength, and the fracture toughness values were 15.14GPa, 343GPa, 230MPa, and 2.35MPam1/2, respectively. The thermal conductivity at room temperature was 3.3W/mK and the average linear thermal expansion coefficient from 20°C to 1000°C was 8.915×10−6 K. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Aim: To investigate C-myc, Ki-67, pan-cytokeratin, and vimentin immunohistochemical features of carcinoma ex pleomorphic adenoma (Ca-ex-PA) and pleomorphic adenoma (PA) in the lacrimal gland in order to find some clues in the differential diagnosis between them., Methods: We reviewed microscopic slides and clinical records of 64 cases of PA and 15 cases of Ca-ex-PA in the lacrimal gland. Immunohistochemical antibodies for C-myc, Ki-67, pan-cytokeratin, and vimentin were employed., Results: Median age of PA was 43.2y (from 21 to 75). The 35 patients (54.7%) were male and 29 patients (45.3%) were female. For the PAs, the average positivity of C-myc was 4.6%; the average proliferation index of Ki-67 was 3.2%; pan-cytokeratin was positive in ductal cells, and vimentin was positive in myoepithelial cells. Median age of Ca-ex-PA was 54.3y (from 26 to 76). There were 7 male patients (46.7%) and 8 female patients (53.3%). Among 15 Ca-ex-PAs, there were 6 myoepithelial carcinomas, 4 adenocarcinomas, 3 epithelial-myoepithelial carcinomas, and 2 squamous cell carcinomas. For the Ca-ex-PAs, the average positivity of C-myc was 36.4%; the average proliferation index of Ki-67 was 29.2%; pan-cytokeratin was positive in all cases, and vimentin was positive in myoepithelial carcinomas., Conclusion: PA has a lower positivity of C-myc and Ki-67, while Ca-ex-PA had a higher positivity of these two biomarkers. These four biomarkers as a set could provide valuable clues in the differential diagnosis between Ca-ex-PA and PA. Our results indicate that the activation of C-myc could play an important role in the pathogenesis of Ca-ex-PA and PA.

Aim: To reveal the expression of multidrug-resistance associated proteins: glutathione-S-transferase π (GSTπ), P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and vault protein lung resistance protein (LRP) in retinoblastoma (RB) without any conservative treatment before primary enucleation and to correlate this expression with histopathological tumor features., Methods: A total of 42 specimens of RB undergone primary enucleation were selected for the research. Sections from the formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded specimens were stained with HE and immunohistochemistry to detect the expression of GSTπ, P-gp and LRP., Results: GSTπ was expressed in 39/42 (92.86%) RBs and in 9/9 (100%) well-differentiated RBs. P-gp/GSTπ was found in 30 (71.42%) of 42 RBs. Totally 9 (21.43%) tumors were well differentiated and 33 (78.57%) were poorly differentiated. Totally 15 (35.71%) eyes had optic nerve (ON) tumor invasion, 36 (85.71%) had choroidal tumor invasion, and 14 (33.33%) had simultaneous choroidal and ON invasion. There was no statistically significant relationship between P-gp, GSTπ, LRP positivity and the degree of ocular layer tumor invasion and ON tumor invasion ( P >0.05)., Conclusion: RB intrinsically expresses GSTπ, P-gp and LRP. GSTπ expression is positive in 100% well-differentiation ones, so in which way it is correlated with differentiation. But the other two proteins expressions are not related to tumor differentiation and to the degree of tumor invasion. GSTπ may be a new target of chemotherapy in RB.

Aim: To discuss the prognostic significant of autophagy related proteins (ARPs) in retinoblastoma (RB) and to find the molecular marker to distinguish retinocytoma (RC) and RB by investigating the different expression profiling of microtubule-associated protein light chain 3 (LC3B) and other ARPs in RC and RB., Methods: Specimens with retinocytoma region (RCR) or mainly composed with Flexner-Winterstein rosettes (FWR) were screen out from 219 paraffin-embedded RB samples and respectively taken as RCR group and FWR group. Others were taken as undifferentiated (UD) group. Immunochemistry (IHC) of LC3B and electronic microscopy was used to identify autophagy. The IHC scores of LC3B and other ARPs, such as Beclin, PTEN, p27, p16(INK4a), mTOR and BCL-2 were compared and correlation analysis was applied to find potential proteins which may involve in autophagy regulation. The prognostics significance of LC3B was evaluated by comparing the high risk features (HRFs) in 3 groups of total 219 samples., Results: Twenty-one specimens with RCR and 36 specimens mainly composed with FWR were screen out. RCR cell had a high level of LC3B and lots of autophagic vacuoles. Beclin, PTEN, p27 had positive correlation with LC3, and p16(INK4a) had negative correlation, while the expression of mTOR and BCL-2 in RCR and RB region did not show any difference. Cases with RCR had lower rate of HRFs than undifferentiated cases., Conclusion: ARPs had different expression pattern between RCR and other pathological types of RB, and could be ideal markers to distinguish RC from RB. Our finding indicated cases with RCR had favorable prognosis just like those with FWR.

Aim: To investigate auto-cortex of crystalline lens induced iris neovascularization (INV)., Methods: Thirty-six eyes of 36 guinea-pigs were included and divided into three groups randomly in this cohort study. Group A: the right lens nucleus was extracted and the remaining cortical lens material was aspirated thoroughly. Group B: the lens was removed and 30µL precipitated lens cortex was injected into the anterior chamber again. Group C: aspirated the lens cortex of the left eyes and inject them into the right anterior chambers about 10µL. Clinical changes were followed by slit-lamp examination and photograph. The eye balls were enucleated at the day of 2, 4, 7, 11, 13, 17 after operation. HE was used to detect the pathological changes., Group a: INV had not been observed until the end of empirical study. The stromal layer contained thick wall vessels, without expansion. Group B: All eyes developed INV. Postoperative (po) 7 days; the eyes developed intense and extensive INV. The vessels of iris expanded remarkably and neovascularization was observed erupting from it's lateral wall and stretching towards the anterior surface. Po11 days, INV regressed gradually after lens cortex had been absorbed. Group C: Po four (4) days, new blood vessels liking red line were presented on the anterior surface of the iris and they were not obvious., Conclusion: Anterior chamber inside lens coriaceous can induce iris new blood vessels.

In the title compound, C(21)H(19)N(3)O(4), the central benzene ring makes dihedral angles of 78.54 (6) and 75.30 (6)° with the pyridine and 3-methoxy-phenyl rings, respectively. An intra-molecular N-H⋯N interaction occurs, generating an S(?). The crystal packing shows inter-molecular N-H⋯O hydrogen-bonding inter-actions between the N-H groups and the O atoms of the 3-methoxy-phenyl ring and the carbonyl groups of the amide functions. Inter-molecular C-H⋯O inter-actions are also present.