The internal structures of cells as the basic units of life are a major wonder of the microscopic world. Cellular images provide an intriguing window to help explore and understand the composition and function of these structures. Scientific imagery combined with artistic expression can further expand the potential of imaging in educational dissemination and interdisciplinary applications. This study presents an innovative diffusion model-based approach for style transfer in cellular images, combining scientific rigor with artistic expression. By leveraging training-free large-scale pre-trained diffusion models, the proposed method integrates the intricate morphological and textural features of cellular images with diverse artistic styles. Key techniques such as the inversion of denoising diffusion implicit models (DDIMs), adaptive instance normalization (AdaIN), self-attention style injection, and attention temperature scaling ensure the preservation of cellular structures while enhancing visual expressiveness. The results showcase the potential of this strategy for interdisciplinary applications, enriching both the visualization and educational dissemination of cellular imagery through compelling storytelling and aesthetic appeal.
Humans ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted/methods* ; Cells ; Diffusion

Objective:To study the distribution characteristics of natural killer(NK)cells and their subsets in normal peripheral blood in China,and to explore their normal value and significance.Methods:In this study,peripheral blood was collected from 200 healthy adults.Their age range was 18-87 years.All the subjects were divided into 6 age groups:18-30,31-40,41-50,51-60,61-70,and 71-87 years.With CD16,CD56,CD4,CD19,as surface markers,fluid cytology detection tech-niques were used to detect NK cells and the relative and absolute counts.SPSS 27.0 was used for system-atic analysis of the data,and the measurement data were expressed as mean±standard deviations.A t test,variance analysis or rank sum test were performed to compare the differences between the age groups and the sex groups.The significance level was set at α=0.05,and P＜0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results:The range of NK B cells in the 200 healthy adult subjects was(0.46±0.24)× 106/L,that of CD3-CD56+NK cells was(13.14±7.56)× 106/L,that of CD56dimCD16+NK cells was(5.23±3.12)×106/L,that of CD56bright NK cells was(85.61±7.40)× 106/L,and that of NK T cells was(4.16±3.34)×106/L.There were no statistically significant differences in CD3-CD56+NK cells and NK T cells with respect to age(P=0.417,P=0.217).However,there was a decreasing trend in the number of NK B cells and CD56dimCD16+NK cells with increasing age(r=0.234,P＜0.001;r=0.099,P＜0.001),particularly after the age of 50.Conversely,CD56bright NK cells showed an increasing trend with age(r=0.143,P＜0.001).Conclusion:The detection of NK cells and their subsets has significant reference value for the diagnosis,treatment,and prognosis of autoimmune diseases,infectious diseases,and tumors.This study provides a preliminary reference range for clinical detection of NK cell subsets,but further research with a larger sample size and multi-center trials are needed to confirm these findings.

Objective:To evaluate the efficacy of cerebral-placental-uterine ratio(CPUR)in predicting late-on-set fetal growth restriction(FGR).Methods:From May 2020 to May 2021,1255 women with singleton pregnancy who underwent prenatal examinations at the University of Hong Kong Shenzhen Hospital were selected for fetal growth and Doppler measurements at 35-37 +6 weeks of gestation.Pregnant women with birth weight of newbo-rns＜the 10th percentile were the FGR group.The pulsatility index(PI)of uterine artery(UtA),umbilical artery(UA)and fetal middle cerebral artery(MCA)were analyzed separately and in combination.ROC curve was used to analyze the cerebral-placental-uterine ratio(CPUR),cerebral-placental ratio(CPR),cerebral-uterine ratio(C-UtA)for predicting late-onset FGR;and to evaluate the sensitivity,positive and negative predictive value and of CPUR in the prediction of late-onset FGR.Results:The area under the curve(AUC)of CPUR,CPR,C-UtA and mean UtA-PI for FGR grope were 0.88,0.86,0.84 and 0.72.Under certain cut-off values and 87% specificity,the specificity of CPUR,CPR,C-UtA and mean UtA-Pifor predicting FGR group was 43.2%,46.6%,39.8% and 23.9%,respectively.The positive predictive values of CPUR,CPR,C-UtA and mean UtA-PI,UA-PI for predicting FGR group were 90.5%,71.9%,83.3%,63.6%and 5.2%,respectively.Conclusions:CPUR is more effective in predicting late onset FGR than CPR,C-UtA and mean UtA-PI.It can effectively increase the detection rate of fetal growth restrictionand reduce the FGR risk.

Objective:To observe the effects of overexpression of S100A4 protein on retinal capillary cells and retinal ganglion cells (RGC) after retinal ischemia-reperfusion injury (RIRI).Methods:One hundred healthy adult male C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into normal control group (group C), RIRI group, adeno-associated virus (AAV2)-S100A4 green fluorescent protein (GFP) intravitreal injection group (group S), RIRI+AAV2-GFP intravitreal injection group (group GIR), and RIRI+AAV2-S100A4-GFP intravitreal injection group (group SIR), with 20 mice in each group. The RIRI model was established using the high intraocular pressure anterior chamber method in the RIRI, GIR and SIR groups of mice. Eyes were enucleated 3 days after modelling by over anaesthesia. The number of retinal capillary endothelial cells and pericytes in the retinal capillaries of mice in each group was observed by retinal trypsinised sections and hematoxylin-eosin and periodic acid-Schiff staining; immunofluorescence staining was used to observe endothelial cell, pericyte coverage and RGC survival; The relative expression of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), p38 MAPK and nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF2) in retinal tissues was measured by Western blot. One-way analysis of variance was used to compare data between groups.Results:Three days after modeling, the endothelial cell to pericyte ratio in group C was compared with group S and SIR, and the difference was not statistically significant ( F=106.30, P>0.05); the SIR group was compared with group RIRI and GIR, and the difference was statistically significant ( F=106.30, P<0.000 1). Comparison of endothelial cell coverage in each group, the difference was not statistically significant ( F=3.44, P>0.05); compared with the pericyte coverage in group C, the RIRI group and the GIR group were significantly lower, and the difference was statistically significant ( F=62.69, P <0.001). Compared with the RGC survival rate in group C, it was significantly lower in RIRI and GIR groups, and the difference was statistically significant ( F=171.60, P<0.000 1); compared with RIRI and GIR groups, the RGC survival rate in SIR group was significantly higher, and the difference was statistically significant ( F=171.60, P<0.000 1). The relative expression levels of TLR4, p38 and NRF2 proteins were statistically significant among all groups ( F=42.65, 20.78, 11.55; P<0.05). Conclusions:Pericytes are more sensitive to ischemia than endothelial cells after retinal RIRI in mice, and early vascular cell loss is dominated by pericytes rather than endothelial cells. The overexpression of S100A4 protein protects against loss of pericytes and RGC after RIRI by inhibiting the TLR4/p38/NRF2 signaling pathway.

Objective:To analyze the safety and therapeutic efficacy of laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy (LPD) and laparoscopic total pancreatectomy (LTP) in the treatment of pancreatic cancer.Methods:Clinical data of 87 patients with pancreatic head and neck cancer who underwent LPD or LTP in the Department of General Surgery at Peking Union Medical College Hospital from December 2018 to August 2023 were retrospectively analyzed. The surgical approach, operative time, intraoperative blood loss volume, conversion rate to open surgery, perioperative mortality, re-operative rate, rate of major postoperative complications, postoperative hospital stay, number of lymph nodes harvested, tumor pathological stage, R 0 resection rate, initiation of postoperative chemotherapy and survival outcomes were recorded. The follow-up period extended until September 2023. Results:Among the 87 patients, 78(89.7%) underwent LPD and 9(10.3%) underwent LTP. PV-SMV vascular resection and reconstruction was performed in 16 cases (18.4%), and 11 cases totally underwent laparoscopy. Five cases (5.7%) required conversion to open surgery. The mean operative time was 279.8±74.0 minutes, and the mean intraoperative blood loss volume was 520.1±743.2 ml. The overall length of hospital stay was 15.9±6.3 days, with a mean postoperative hospital stay of 11.5±6.0 days. The rate of major postoperative complications was 19.5%, including 4 cases (4.6%) of postoperative bile leakage, 6 cases (6.9%) of postoperative gastric emptying disorders, and 3 cases (3.4%) of postoperative bleeding. There was one case (1.1%) with secondary surgery and one case (1.1%) with perioperative death. Among LPD patients, 5 cases (6.4%) had postoperative grade B or higher pancreatic fistula. Advanced age (≥70 years) did not increase the incidence of perioperative complications. All patients achieved R 0 resection. The mean number of lymph nodes harvested was 25.9±11.4. The median time to initiation of postoperative chemotherapy was 2.13±1.43 months. The median overall survival was 16 months. Conclusions:In a high-volume center for pancreatic diseases, LPD and LTP are safe and feasible for the treatment of pancreatic cancer, which could achieve satisfactory anti-tumor efficacy and improve patients' prognosis.

Background Arsenic, cobalt, barium, and other individual metal exposure have been confirmed to be associated with the incidence of kidney stones. However, there are few studies on the association between mixed metal exposure and kidney stones, especially in occupational groups. Objective To investigate the association between mixed metal exposure and kidney stones in an occupational population from a metal smelting plant. Methods A questionnaire survey was conducted to collect sociodemographic characteristics, medical history, and lifestyle information of 1158 mixed metal-exposed workers in a metal smelting plant in Guangdong Province from July 2021 to January 2022. Midstream morning urine samples were collected from the workers, the concentrations of 18 metals including lithium, vanadium, chromium, manganese, cobalt, nickel, copper, zinc, arsenic, selenium, strontium, molybdenum, cadmium, cesium, barium, tungsten, titanium, and lead were measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, and the urinary mercury levels were measured by cold atomic absorption spectroscopy. Based on predetermined inclusion criteria, a total of 919 mixed metal-exposed workers were included in the study, including 117 workers in the kidney stone group and 802 workers in the non-kidney stone group. With a detection rate of urinary metals greater than 80% as entry criterion, 16 eligible metals were finally included for further analysis. Parametric or non-parametric methods were used to compare the differences between continuous or categorical variables of the non-kidney stone group and the kidney stone group. Logistic regression models were constructed to explore the association between individual metal exposures and kidney stones. Weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression models were used to evaluate the association between mixed metal exposure and kidney stones, as well as the weights of each metal on kidney stones. Then Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) models were used to explore the overall effect of mixed metal exposure on renal calculi and the potential interactions between metals. Results We found that there were significant differences in sex, age, length of service, and body mass Index (BMI) between the non-kidney stone group and the kidney stone group (P<0.05). The urinary concentrations of molybdenum and barium in the kidney stone group were higher than those in the non-kidney stone group, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). The logistic regression models demonstrated that urinary cobalt, arsenic, molybdenum, and barium were positively correlated with the risk of kidney stones (P_trend<0.05). The WQS regression models showed that the mixed exposure to vanadium, cobalt, arsenic, molybdenum, and barium was positively associated with the risk of kidney stones (P<0.05). Among them, molybdenum, arsenic, and barium accounted for 0.391, 0.337, and 0.154, respectively. The BKMR results revealed a positive association between metal mixture exposure and the risk of kidney stones (P<0.05). When other metals were fixed at the 25th, 50th, or 75th percentile, arsenic, molybdenum, cobalt, and barium exhibited significant positive effects on the risk of kidney stones (P<0.05), while vanadium showed a significant negative effect (P<0.05). The interaction analysis demonstrated interactions between barium and cobalt, as well as between vanadium and cobalt (P<0.05). Conclusion In the occupational population of this smelter, occupational mixed metal exposure could increase the risk of kidney stones, and the main metals are molybdenum, arsenic, barium, and cobalt.

Objective:To evaluate the diagnostic performance of radiomics model based on contrast-enhanced ultrasound(CEUS) in predicting pathological complete response(pCR) after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy(nCRT) in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer(LARC).Methods:One hundred and six patients with LARC who underwent total mesorectal excision after nCRT between April 2018 and April 2023 in the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University were retrospectively included, the patients were randomly divided into a training set of 63(14 pCR patients) and a validation set of 43(12 pCR patients) in a 6∶4 ratios. Radiomics features were extracted from the tumors′ region of interest of CEUS images based on PyRadiomics. Intra-class correlation coefficient(ICC), Mann-Whitney U test, and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator(LASSO) algorithms were used to reduce features dimension. Finally, 7 radiomics features relevanted to pCR were selected to construct an ultrasomics model using elastic network regression, based on the R language. A combined model was constructed by jointing clinical feature. The performance of the models was assessed with the area under the ROC curve(AUC). Results:The AUC of the ultrasomics model and the combined model was 0.695(95% CI=0.532-0.859) and 0.726(95% CI=0.584-0.868) respectively in the training set. The AUC of the ultrasomics model and the combined model was 0.763(95% CI=0.625-0.902) and 0.790(95% CI=0.653-0.928) respectively in the validation set. Both univariate and multivariate Logistic regression analyses showed that CA199( P<0.05) and ultrasomics score( P<0.001) could be an independent predictor of pCR after nCRT in patients with LARC. Conclusions:The CEUS-based radiomics scores has certain predictive value for whether LARC patients achieve pCR after nCRT, and may provide a non-invasive imaging biomarker for predicting LARC patients achieve pCR after nCRT.

Objective:To assess the effectiveness and safety of beat chemotherapy in treating non-small cell lung cancer, and to investigate its anti-tumor molecular mechanism.Methods:In this study, we developed a subcutaneous tumor model of lung cancer in mice.The mice were subsequently divided into two groups: the beat chemotherapy group and the placebo group(negative control group).Throughout the treatment period, we monitored the changes in body weight and tumor size of the mice.At the conclusion of the treatment, we collected blood samples from the mice to conduct blood routine and biochemical examinations.Furthermore, we obtained tumor tissues from the mice to perform immunohistochemical staining and sequencing of the transcriptome.Results:The study found that beat chemotherapy could effectively delay the growth of lung cancer.The tumor tissues in the beat chemotherapy group were significantly smaller compared to the placebo group.The results of routine blood and blood biochemistry tests showed that the levels of red blood cells(RBCs), white blood cells(WBCs), alanine aminotransferase(ALT), aspartate aminotransferase(AST)and blood creatinine(Scr)were similar between the placebo group and the beat chemotherapy group.The values for RBCs, WBCs, ALT, AST and Scr in the placebo group were(6.97 ± 0.41)× 10 12/L, (13.26 ± 0.29)× 10 9/L, (33.33 ± 2.51)U/L, (235.33 ± 57.62)U/L and(20.67 ± 2.08)μmol/L, respectively.The corresponding values in the beat chemotherapy group were(6.87 ± 0.66)× 10 12/L, (12.59 ± 2.27)× 10 9/L, (38.67 ± 3.79)U/L, (225.33 ± 6.81)U/L and(20.33 ± 3.79)μmol/L.Statistical analysis showed no significant differences between the two groups( t=0.509, 0.209, 2.032, 0.299, 0.134, P=0.638, 0.845, 0.112, 0.780, 0.900).Furthermore, there were no signs of inflammatory infiltration or pathological changes in the liver, kidney, spleen, and lung tissues of the mice.Transcriptome analysis identified 68 differentially expressed genes, which were mainly associated with signal transduction and immunity.Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG)pathway enrichment analysis revealed the involvement of several signaling pathways, including the transforming growth factor β(TGF-β)signaling pathway, the interleukin-17(IL-17)signaling pathway, and the tumor necrosis factor(TNF)signaling pathway. Conclusions:The use of chemotherapy has been proven to be safe and effective in treating non-small cell lung cancer.It primarily functions by regulating tumor growth through various signaling pathways, including the TGF-β signaling pathway, IL-17 signaling pathway, and TNF.

Objective:To investigate the predictive value of the epithelial cell proliferation(ECP)pathway genes for the prognosis of elderly non-small cell lung cancer patients treated with immunotherapy.Methods:A total of 106 elderly patients aged 70 years and over receiving immunotherapy in the POPLAR and OAK clinical trials were retrospectively analyzed in October 2022.According to the mutation status, patients were divided into an ECP pathway-related gene mutation group(ECP mutation group, n=25)and an ECP pathway-related gene non-mutation group(ECP non-mutation group, n=81). The primary endpoints were overall survival(OS)and progression-free survival(PFS). Differences in survival and efficacy between the two groups were compared, and subgroup analysis was performed on clinical factors and genes involved in the pathway.Pyclone was used to calculate the distribution of major clones and subclones in each patient, and differences in survival were compared.Results:Survival outcomes were worse in the ECP(+ )group than in the ECP(-)group(mOS: 10.9 months vs.17.1 months, HR=1.84, 95% CI: 1.09-3.08, P<0.05; mPFS: 2.8 months vs.4.2 months, HR=1.58, 95% CI: 1.00-2.51, P<0.05). Of all mutations in ECP pathway-related genes, mutations in the RB1 gene had a significant prognostic effect on all patients, with the negative prognostic effect especially prominent in ECP(+ )patients.Compared with ECP(-)patients, ECP(+ )patients had a shorter mOS(6.9 months vs.12.6 months, HR=3.14, 95% CI: 1.10-8.97, P=0.024). Ten patients had clonal mutations and 15 patients had sub-clonal mutations in ECP pathway-related genes and the former had a shorter mPFS than the latter(1.3 months vs.5.3 months, HR=3.23, 95% CI: 1.25-8.37, P=0.011). Conclusions:Gene mutations in the epithelial cell proliferation pathway are a negative prognostic factor in elderly non-small cell lung cancer patients receiving immunotherapy, and mutations located in the clonal cluster have a stronger impact on the prognosis.

Objective:To analyze the disease characteristics and hospitalization burden of elderly inpatients with cerebrovascular disease, so as to provide basis for disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of elderly patients with multiple chronic conditions.Methods:The data of the first page of medical records of elderly inpatients with cerebrovascular disease from 2015 to 2020 in a comprehensive tertiary hospital in Jiangsu Province were retrospectively collected.Descriptive analysis, variance analysis and multiple linear regression analysis were carried out for the research objects using SPSS statistics and Python complex network methods.Results:A total of 14 657 elderly inpatients with cerebrovascular disease were included.From 2015 to 2020, the number of hospitalizations increased from 1 268 to 4 733, the average number of hospitalizations increased from 2.0 to 2.9, the average length of stay decreased from 11.9 days to 9.1 days, and the average number of illnesses increased from 1.9 to 4.9.The five most common comorbidities associated with cerebrovascular diseases were hypertension, diabetes, ischemic heart disease, other types of heart disease and other respiratory diseases.From 2015 to 2020, the average hospitalization costs of elderly cerebrovascular inpatients decreased from 20588.1 Chinese yuan(CYN)to 15580.9 Chinese yuan(CYN). The hospitalization cost was mainly composed of drug cost(46.6%), diagnosis cost(28.2%)and treatment cost(20.2%). There were significant differences in the average hospitalization expenses among patients with different gender, age, number of admissions, length of stay and number of diseases( P<0.05 for all). Gender, age, number of hospitalizations and length of stay had an impact on hospitalization expenses. Conclusions:The number of inpatients, comorbidities, and hospitalized times of elderly patients with cerebrovascular disease showed an increasing trend, while the number of hospitalization days and the average hospitalization cost showed a downward trend.Comorbidities associated with cerebrovascular diseases should be one of the concerns of chronic disease management in the elderly.