Chronic liver disease is a general term for a variety of liver diseases， and its prevalence rate is increasing year by year. With the progression of the disease， patients may experience a variety of serious complications and even progress to liver failure. In recent years， a number of studies have revealed the association between ectopically colonized oral bacteria and chronic liver disease and explored their potential value in the diagnosis and treatment of chronic liver disease. This article systematically reviews the association of ectopically colonized oral bacteria with metabolic associated fatty liver disease， liver cirrhosis， and liver cancer and analyzes the mechanism for the influence of ectopically colonized oral bacteria on chronic liver disease， so as to provide a reference for the diagnosis and treatment of chronic liver disease using ectopically colonized oral bacteria.

The expert consensus on the clinical treatment of herpes zoster with fire needling was developed, and the commonly used fire needling treatment scheme verified by clinical research was selected to form a standardized diagnosis and treatment scheme for acute herpes zoster and postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), so as to answer the core problems in clinical application. The consensus focuses on patients with herpes zoster, and forms recommendations for 9 key clinical issues, covering simple fire needling and TCM comprehensive therapy based on fire needling, including fire needling combined with cupping, fire needling combined with Chinese herb, fire needling combined with cupping and Chinese herb, fire needling combined with filiform needling, fire needling combined with moxibustion, and provides specific recommendations and operational guidelines for various therapies.
Humans ; Herpes Zoster/therapy* ; Acupuncture Therapy/instrumentation* ; Consensus ; Clinical Protocols

Objective:To exploring the value of MR neuroimaging for quantitative assessment of the facial nerve and peripheral lymph nodes in patients with acute peripheral facial paralysis. Methods:Based on a prospective experimental design, 32 patients with idiopathic peripheral facial palsy were enrolled in the experiment. Based on MR neuroimaging technology, MR high-resolution thin-layer images of bilateral facial nerves were acquired. The diameters of different segments of the bilateral facial nerve were measured, including the labyrinthine segment, the geniculate ganglion, the horizontal segment, the vertical segment, the stem-mammary foramen segment, the trunk of the parotid segment, the temporal trunk, and the cervical trunk, as well as the quantitative indicators of peri-auricular and parotid lymph nodes（number, length and diameter of the largest lymph nodes）. Differences in quantitative indices of nerve diameter and peripheral lymph nodes between the paraplegic and healthy sides were compared using the paired t-test and Wilcoxon signed rank test. Results:The diameter of geniculate ganglion, mastoid foramen stem, parotid main trunk, temporal facial trunk, and cervical facial trunk were notably increased on the facial paralysis side compared to the contralateral side（P<0.05）. However, no significant differences were observed in the diameter of labyrinthine segment, horizontal segment, or vertical segment compared to the contralateral side. There were significantly more periauricular lymph nodes on the facial paralysis side than the contralateral side（P=0.001）. Conclusion:MR neuroimaging enables the quantitative assessment of structural changes in the facial nerve of patients with acute peripheral facial paralysis, demonstrating nerve enlargement in the geniculate ganglion, stylomastoid foramen segment, main trunk of the parotid segment, temporal facial trunk, and cervical facial trunk. Additionally, an increased number of periauricular lymph nodes is observed on the affected side. These findings may aid clinicians in assessing the efficacy of treatments and predict the prognosis of these patients.
Humans ; Facial Nerve/diagnostic imaging* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods* ; Prospective Studies ; Female ; Male ; Neuroimaging/methods* ; Lymph Nodes/diagnostic imaging* ; Facial Paralysis/diagnostic imaging* ; Adult ; Middle Aged

Gastrointestinal (GI) cancers are a leading cause of cancer morbidity and mortality worldwide. Despite advances in treatment, cancer relapse remains a significant challenge, necessitating novel therapeutic strategies. In this study, we engineered nanobody-based chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) natural killer (NK) cells targeting cadherin 17 (CDH17) for the treatment of GI tumors. In addition, to enhance the efficacy of CAR-NK cells, we also incorporated CV1, a CD47-SIRPα axis inhibitor, to evaluate the anti-tumor effect of this combination. We found that CDH17-CAR-NK cells effectively eliminated GI cancers cells in a CDH17-dependent manner. CDH17-CAR-NK cells also exhibit potent in vivo anti-tumor effects in cancer cell-derived xenograft and patient-derived xenograft mouse models. Additionally, the anti-tumor activity of CDH17-CAR-NK cells is synergistically enhanced by CD47-signal regulatory protein α (SIRPα) axis inhibitor CV1, likely through augmented macrophages activation and an increase in M1-phenotype macrophages in the tumor microenvironment. Collectively, our findings suggest that CDH17-targeting CAR-NK cells are a promising strategy for GI cancers. The combination of CDH17-CAR-NK cells with CV1 emerges as a potential combinatorial approach to overcome the limitations of CAR-NK therapy. Further investigations are warranted to speed up the clinical translation of these findings.

Endotoxins are common exogenous pyrogens. Excessive endotoxins in medical devices and injections can lead to serious consequences such as sepsis, septic shock, and even death. Therefore, endotoxin detection plays a crucial role in medical, pharmaceutical, and food sectors. The wide application of Limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL) has led to a sharp decline in the number of horseshoe crabs. Moreover, the LAL assay has limitations such as interbatch variations and difficulty in quantification. The recombinant factor C (rFC) assay is stable between batches, highly sensitive, and capable of quantitation, and thus it can be used as an alternative for the LAL assay. However, the high cost and complex procedures involved in producing recombinant factor C have limited the widespread application of this method. In order to simplify the preparation and reduce the production cost of recombinant factor C, this study focuses on the production of recombinant factor C based on the baculovirus expression system. Multiple measures such as a high-yield and anti-apoptotic vector qBac-IIIG, the optimal signal peptide, and the optimized codon were used to reach the goal of endotoxin detection with cell supernatant. This method simplifies the steps of protein purification. The sensitivity of the supernatant reached 0.05 EU/mL in a 1-L fermentation system, and 500 000 detecting reactions can be supported per liter of fermentation broth. This study increases the yield and activity of recombinant factor C, simplifies the procedures of protein purification, and reduces the cost, laying a foundation for the promotion and application of recombinant factor C in endotoxin detection.
Animals ; Recombinant Proteins/genetics* ; Horseshoe Crabs/chemistry* ; Baculoviridae/metabolism* ; Endotoxins/analysis* ; Protein C/biosynthesis* ; Genetic Vectors/genetics* ; Arthropod Proteins/genetics* ; Enzyme Precursors ; Serine Endopeptidases

Immune evasion has made ovarian cancer notorious for its refractory features, making the development of immunotherapy highly appealing to ovarian cancer treatment. The immune-stimulating cytokine IL-12 exhibits excellent antitumor activities. However, IL-12 can induce IFN-γ release and subsequently upregulate PDL-1 expression on tumor cells. Therefore, the tumor-targeting folate-modified delivery system F-DPC is constructed for concurrent delivery of IL-12 encoding gene and small molecular PDL-1 inhibitor (iPDL-1) to reduce immune escape and boost anti-tumor immunity. The physicochemical characteristics, gene transfection efficiency of the F-DPC nanoparticles in ovarian cancer cells are analyzed. The immune-modulation effects of combination therapy on different immune cells are also studied. Results show that compared with non-folate-modified vector, folate-modified F-DPC can improve the targeting of ovarian cancer and enhance the transfection efficiency of pIL-12. The underlying anti-tumor mechanisms include the regulation of T cells proliferation and activation, NK activation, macrophage polarization and DC maturation. The F-DPC/pIL-12/iPDL-1 complexes have shown outstanding antitumor effects and low toxicity in peritoneal model of ovarian cancer in mice. Taken together, our work provides new insights into ovarian cancer immunotherapy. Novel F-DPC/pIL-12/iPDL-1 complexes are revealed to exert prominent anti-tumor effect by modulating tumor immune microenvironment and preventing immune escape and might be a promising treatment option for ovarian cancer treatment.

Objective:To analyze the operational efficiency of the oncology department in multi-campus hospital, providing reference for rational resource allocation and efficiency enhancement.Methods:A certaion tertiary grade A Hospital is a multi-campus public hospital with integrated management. This study focused on its oncology department, with 9 wards located in different campus as decision-making units. Data from 2020 to 2022 were extracted from the hospital′s medical records management system, disease diagnosis-related groups management system, and hospital information system. The super-efficiency DEA model and Malmquist index model were used to evaluate efficiency variations of the oncology department in different time slots and decision-making units. Identifying input redundancies and output deficiencies in wards not achieving constant returns to scale through projection value analysis. Selecting the total number of medical staff and the actual total number of bed-days occupied as input indicators, while bed utilization rate, discharge rate, and case mix index as output indicators.Results:From 2020 to 2022, the wards with a DEA super-efficiency value greater than 1 were 0, 2, and 4, respectively, showing a gradual increase in overall efficiency. In 2022, wards S3, S4, S7, and S9 achieved constant returns to scale with super-efficiency values of 1.001, 1.005, 1.113, and 1.112, respectively. The other five wards had zero input redundancy, but some suffered from insufficient outputs. For example, wards S5 and S8 should increase their bed utilization rates by 5% and 4%, respectively. Wards S1 and S8 needed to increase their annual discharge numbers by 24% and 1%, respectively, while wards S2 and S6 should increase their annual case mix index by 21% and 20%, respectively. From 2020 to 2021, the Malmquist index of the oncology department was 0.959, while from 2021 to 2022 it rose to 1.030, and the Malmquist index of each ward was greater than 1.Conclusions:By implementing integrated management across multiple campus, the operational efficiency of the oncology department has been comprehensively improved. The use of the super efficient DEA-Malmquist index model to evaluate the operational efficiency of departments has practical significance.

Objective To develop a 3D V-Net deep learning segmentation model based on multi-center data,and to evaluate its value for automatic segmentation of prostate on T2WI and apparent diffusion coefficient(ADC)maps.Methods Totally 2 894 sets of multi-parametric MRI data of 2 673 patients with clinically suspected prostate cancer from 3 medical centers within 1 month before biopsy were retrospectively collected.Finally 5 974 sets axial images were enrolled,including 3 654 sets of T2WI and 2 320 sets of ADC maps.Prostate contours were manually annotated layer by layer on axial T2WI and ADC maps,and the left-to-right,anterior-to-posterior,superior-to-inferior diameters and volume of prostate were measured and taken as reference standards.The images were divided into training set(n=4 780,including 2 907 sets of T2WI and 1 873 sets of ADC map),verification set(n=601,including 384 sets of T2WI and 217 sets of ADC map)and test set(n=593,including 363 sets of T2WI and 230 sets of ADC map)at the ratio of 8:1:1.After preprocessing and augmentation,3D V-Net was used to construct and train the segmentation model based on training and verification sets,and the segmentation performance of the model was evaluated in test set using Dice similarity coefficient(DSC),Jaccard coefficient(JACARD)and volume similarity(VS),respectively.The parameters measured with the model were compared with the reference standards,and the correlations were explored.Results Compared with the corresponding ADC maps,DSC,JACARD and VS of the model for automatic segmentation of prostate on T2WI in test set were all higher(all P＜0.001).The left-to-right,anterior-to-posterior and superior-to-inferior diameters of prostate measured with the model on both T2WI and ADC maps were all larger than the reference standards(all P＜0.001),while no significant difference of the volume was found(both P＞0.05).All parameters measured with the model on T2WI and ADC maps were positively correlated with reference standards(rs=0.794-0.985).Conclusion 3D V-Net deep learning model could automatically segment prostate on T2WI and ADC maps with high accuracy,and its efficiency based on T2WI was better than that based on ADC maps.

Objective:To evaluate the safety of patients with hepatic adenoma undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) .Methods:A retrospective analysis of the clinical characteristics and prognosis of eight patients with hepatic adenoma who underwent allo-HSCT in the Hematology Department of Peking University People’s Hospital from January 2010 to March 2024 was conducted.Results:Of the eight patients who underwent allo-HSCT with hepatic adenoma, one patient was considered MDS-h transfusion-dependent and seven had aplastic anemia. The median age of the patients was 23 years (13-48 years). The median time from the diagnosis of AA or MDS to transplantation was 14 years (6-24 years), whereas the median time from taking androgens to diagnosing hepatic adenoma was 9 years (5-13 years). Six cases underwent haplo-HSCT, one case underwent matched unrelated donor HSCT, and one case underwent matched related donor HSCT. All patients achieved neutrophil engraftment at a median time of 11.5 days (11-20 days) and PLT engraftment within 60 days at a median of 19 days (10-37 days) after haplo-HSCT. Moreover, seven patients developed CMV anemia after transplantation, three patients had hemorrhagic cystitis, and two patients developed acute GVHD. During and after transplantation, eight patients did not show severe liver function damage or rupture of hepatic adenoma. In relation to imaging size, four patients showed varying degrees of reduction in hepatic adenoma size after transplantation, whereas four patients did not show significant changes in hepatic adenoma size after transplantation. The median follow-up time was 540.5 (30-2 989) days. Of the eight patients, six survived and two died. Furthermore, no direct correlation was observed between death and hepatic adenoma.Conclusion:Patients with hepatic adenomas undergoing allo-HSCT are not contraindications for transplantation, which will not increase transplant-related mortality.