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Purpose: Currently, minimally invasive intervention surgery for cervical spondylotic radiculopathy mostly involves the use of cervical dorsal root ganglion (DRG) block or radiofrequency modulation therapy. Here, we proposed a novel transverse ultrasound-guided approach for puncturing the cervical dorsal root ganglion at the level of joint column for radiofrequency treatment. Patients and Methods: A retrospective analysis of the clinical data of 30 patients with cervical spondylotic radiculopathy admitted to the Pain Department of Taihe Hospital Affiliated with Hubei Medical University from January 2021 to March 2024 was performed. During surgery, motor electrical stimulation was used to induce movement in the nerve-innervated area, and the relationship between the puncture needle tip and the cervical DRG position was verified using a C-arm X-ray machine. The numerical rating scale (NRS) was used for preoperative and postoperative pain assessment, clinical treatment effectiveness was evaluated, surgical duration and the associated complications were also recorded. Results: Thirty patients exhibited clear cervical DRG images under ultrasound guidance, and the punctures were successful in all patients. Motor electrical stimulation induced movement in the corresponding nerve innervation area in the range of 0.3– 0.8 mv in all patients. No serious complications occurred during the procedure. Conclusion: The transverse ultrasound-guided approach for puncturing the cervical dorsal root ganglion at the level of joint column for radiofrequency treatment is effective, convenient, and safe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ratiometric fluorescence and colorimetric strategies for detecting activity of butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) in human serum were developed by using g-C3N4 nanosheets, silver ion (Ag+) and o-phenylenediamine (OPD) as chromogenic agents. The oxidation-reduction reaction of OPD and Ag+ generates 2,3-diaminophenazine (oxOPD). Under exciation at 370 nm, g-C3N4 nanosheets and oxOPD emit fluorescence at 440 nm (F440) and 560 nm (F560), respectively. Additionally, oxOPD exhibits quenching ability towards g-C3N4 nanosheets via photoinduced electron transfer (PET) process. Thiocholine (TCh), as a product of BChE-catalyzed hydrolysis reaction of butylthiocholine iodide (BTCh), can coordinate with Ag+ intensively, and consequently diminish the amount of free Ag+ in the testing system. Less amount of free Ag+ leads to less production of oxOPD, resulting in less fluorescence quenching towards g-C3N4 nanosheets as well as less fluorescence emission of oxOPD. Therefore, by using g-C3N4 nanosheets and oxOPD as fluorescence indicators, the intensity ratio of their fluorescence (F440/F560) was calculated and employed to evaluate the activity of BChE. Similarly, the color variation of oxOPD indicated by the absorbance at 420 nm (ΔA420) was monitored for the same purpose. These strategies were validated to be sensitive and selective for detecting BChE activity in human serum, with limits of detection (LODs) of 0.1 U L−1 for ratiometric fluorescence mode and 0.7 U L−1 for colorimetric mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study utilized middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) mouse models and HT‐22 cell oxygen and glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R) models to investigate the therapeutic effects of melatonin on ischemic brain injury. In the experiments, MCAO mice were treated with 5 and 10 mg/kg doses of melatonin, and H‐T22 cells underwent OGD/R treatment and were administered different concentrations of melatonin. The results showed that melatonin significantly reduced ischemic brain area, neural damage, cerebral edema, and neuronal apoptosis in MCAO mice. In the HT‐22 cell model, melatonin also improved cell proliferation ability, reduced apoptosis, and ROS production. Further mechanistic studies found that melatonin exerts protective effects by inhibiting ferroptosis, an iron‐dependent form of regulated cell death, through regulation of the ACSL4/CYP1B1 pathway. In MCAO mice, melatonin decreased lipid peroxidation, ROS production, and ACSL4 protein expression. Overexpression of CYP1B1 increased ACSL4 ubiquitination and degradation, thereby increasing cell tolerance to ferroptosis, reducing ACSL4 protein levels, and decreasing ROS production. CYP1B1 knockdown obtained opposite results. The CYP1B1 metabolite 20‐HETE induces expression of the E3 ubiquitin ligase FBXO10 by activating PKC signaling, which promotes ACSL4 degradation. In the OGD/R cell model, inhibition of CYP1B1 expression reversed the therapeutic effects of melatonin. In summary, this study demonstrates that melatonin protects the brain from ischemic injury by inhibiting ferroptosis through regulation of the ACSL4/CYP1B1 pathway, providing evidence for new therapeutic targets for ischemic brain injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A ratiometric fluorometry based on silicon quantum dots (SiQDs) and gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) is constructed for detecting activity of butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) in human serum. By using thiobutyrylcholine iodide (BTCh) as the substrate of BChE-catalyzed hydrolysis reaction, variation of fluorescence emission from AuNCs is employed as an indicator of BChE activity since one of the hydrolysis products, thiocholine (TCh), would influence the aggregation state of AuNCs and consequently led to the change of fluorescence quantum efficiency of AuNCs. It is interesting that there are two mechanisms working for the fluorescence emission of aggregated AuNCs: aggregation-induced emission enhancement (AIEE) and aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) with the presence of TCh at very low and higher concentration levels, respectively. Although both of these mechanisms can be utilized for sensing BChE, their opposite influence on the fluorescence emission of aggregated AuNCs should be worthy of attention, especially in the process of developing fluorescence methods for detecting trace targets by using AuNCs. In order to eliminate the fluctuation of fluorophotometer, SiQDs is chosen as the fluorophore to develop by ratiometric fluorescence methods in this work. Additionally, obvious aggregation of AuNCs induces significant decrease of inner filter effect (IFE) on the fluorescence emitted from SiQDs, while mild aggregation of AuNCs demonstrates little IFE. The linear ranges for detecting activity of BChE are 0.004 – 0.05 U/L and 0.5 – 20 U/L by ratiometric fluorometry based on the AIEE and ACQ, respectively. The very different responses originated from AIEE and ACQ of AuNCs would respectively make their own contributions to the determination of BChE activities at very low or high levels, which facilitate the developments of enhanced or quenched fluorescence methods. However, the detection of BChE activities at medium levels might suffer from the combination of AIEE and ACQ with ambiguous fractions. Therefore, it must be careful during the processes of developing and applying fluorescence methods based on the AIEE and ACQ of AuNCs, as well as the process of evaluating their analytical performance. [Display omitted] • A ratiometric fluorometry based on SiQDs and AuNCs to detect BChE in human serum. • We find two very different mechanisms, AIEE and ACQ, can work together on AuNCs. • The finding interprets conflicting response signals of fluorescent nanoparticles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The management of thyroid nodules diagnosed as Bethesda III by fine-needle aspiration presents certain challenges, and there is an urgent need for a non-invasive and accurate method for early identification of the benign or malignant nature of Bethesda III nodules. Our objective is to develop and validate a clinical-radiomics nomogram based on preoperative ultrasound (US) images and clinical features, for predicting the malignancy of thyroid nodules with indeterminate cytology (Bethesda III)., Methods: Between June 2017 and June 2022, we conducted a retrospective study on 274 patients with surgically confirmed indeterminate cytology (Bethesda III) across two separate medical centers in Shanghai. The training and internal validation sets were comprised of 136 and 58 patients, respectively, all sourced from Shanghai's Sixth People's Hospital. To facilitate external test, a further 80 patients were selected from Tinglin Hospital. Utilizing preoperative US data, we obtained imaging markers for radiomic features. After feature selection, we developed a comprehensive diagnostic model to evaluate the predictive value for Bethesda III benign and malignant cases. The model's diagnostic accuracy, calibration, and clinical applicability were systematically assessed., Results: The results showed that the prediction model, which integrated US radiomics, and clinical risk features, exhibited superior stability in distinguishing between benign and malignant indeterminate thyroid nodules (Bethesda III). In the external test set, the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.824 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.718-0.929], and the accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, precision, and recall were 0.775, 0.731, 0.796, 0.633, and 0.731, respectively., Conclusions: An integrated model, utilizing US radiomics and clinical risk features, effectively discriminates between benign and malignant indeterminate thyroid nodules (Bethesda III), thereby minimizing the need for unnecessary diagnostic surgeries and subsequent complications., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at https://gs.amegroups.com/article/view/10.21037/gs-24-310/coif). The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (2024 AME Publishing Company. All rights reserved.)