OBJECTIVE: To explore the effects of Xuezhikang Capsules (ZXKC) and probucol on blood lipids, vascular endothelial functions and redox status in patients with coronary heart disease. METHODS: One hundred and twelve patients with coronary heart disease were randomly divided into XZKC-treated group and probucol-treated group, 56 in each. Before and after 8-week treatment, the blood levels of total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), nitric oxide (NO), endothelin-1 (ET-1), reduced glutathione (GSH) and oxidized glutathione (GSSG) were all measured in both groups. The GSH/GSSG redox potential (Eh) was calculated according to the Nernst equation. RESULTS: In the XZKC-treated group, the blood levels of TC, LDL-C and TG were significantly decreased after 8-week treatment as compared with those before treatment. The blood levels of TC and LDL-C were also significantly decreased in the probucol-treated group as compared with those before treatment. In the XZKC-treated group, the blood levels of ET-1 and GSSG and the GSH/GSSG Eh after treatment were all significantly lower than those before treatment, whereas the blood levels of GSH and NO, the NO/ET-1 ratio, and the GSH/GSSG ratio after treatment were all significantly higher than those before treatment. CONCLUSION: The XZKC or probucol treatment can yield a significant decrease in blood lipids in patients with coronary heart disease. Furthermore, XZKC exerts effective protection on vascular endothelial function, and can make GSH/GSSG redox status shift towards deoxidation.

PurposeThe bone flare phenomena has been well described on bone scintigraphy for efficacy monitoring up to now, but our knowledge has been rarely described on MSCT, the phenomena may be erroneously classiifed as disease progression. This article intends to evaluate the existence and CT features of bone flare phenomena of metastatic bone disease in lung cancer patients treated with ibandronate, to raise awareness of this phenomenon.Materials and Methods The clinical and image data of 45 patients with bone metastases of lung cancer were retrospectively analyzed prior to treatment and 3, 6 months after treatment, the change of CT value and CT features 3 months after treatment between bone flare phenomena group, progressive disease group 1 and progressive disease group 2 were compared.Results The incidence of bone flare phenomena was 6.7% (3/45). 3 months after treatment, CT value of the bone flare phenomena group and progressive disease group 1 changed when compared with before treatment, the differences were statistically signiifcant (t=-5.787 and-2.788,P<0.05) and there was no statistically signiifcant difference (t=1.691,P>0.05) of CT value in the progressive disease group 2 after 3 months' treatment. After 3 months' treatment, the bone flare phenomena group mostly appeared as osteogenic sclerosis of osteolytic lesions, while the cases of progressive disease group mostly appeared as new periosteal reaction of the lesion, or osteogenic/mixed lesion combined with osteolytic damages, the difference between the two groups was statistically signiifcant (χ2=10.139, 8.041 and 4.154,P<0.01,P<0.05). There was no statistically signiifcant difference in increase of density in osteosclerotic lesions (χ2=0.059, P>0.05).Conclusion In patients treated with ibandronate, when there is therapeutic effect evaluation standard of bone metastases (disease progression) and clinical comprehensive curative effect evaluation standard (effective) discordance at 3 months after treatment, it can be interpreted as bone flare phenomena, and the change of CT features contributes to the differential diagnosis of bone flare phenomena with progressive disease.

Objective To explore the changes of plasma redox status in patients with coronary heart disease and its clinical implications. Methods One hundred and forty-four patients suspected with coronary heart disease were divided into three groups according to the results of coronary arteriography. Coronary heart disease group (n= 59, group A), coronary atherosclerosis group (n=53, group B), and normal coronary group (n=32, group C). The plasma glutathione (reduced form GSH and oxidized form GSSG) ,oxidized low density hpoprotein cholesterol(ox-LDL-C) and malondialdehyde (MDA) were measured in all patients. The GSH/GSSG redox potential were calculat-ed according to Nernst equation,and their correlation with the severity of coronary artery stenosis and oxLDL-C was analyzed. Results Along with the severity of coronary artery stenosis (from Group C to Group A), GSH, GSH/ GSSG gradually reduced (respectively (321.27±56.80)μmol/L, (309.52±44.97) μmol/L, ( 285.71±38.38) μmol/L;10.56±1.70,9.86±1.58,8.65±1.18 ;F=29.49 and 26.18,P<0.05), whereas GSH/GSSG redox po-tential gradually increased ( (- 142.23±1.35) mV, (-140.41±1.13) mV, (-136.61±1.21 ) mV;F =20.69,P <0.05 )) and redox status deviated to oxidization. The products of oxidative stress oxLDL-C and MDA also increased significantly along with the severity of coronary artery stenosis (respectively (417.24±126.64 ) μg/L, (557.45±171.85) μg/L, (691.96±203, 56 ) μg/L;(2.39±1.24) μmol/L, (3.25±1.37 ) μmol/L, (4.39± 1.52) μmol/L;F=26.28 and 25.39,P<0.05). GSH/GSSG redox potential was positively correlated with oxLDL-C (r=0.798,P<0.05). Conclusions The imbalance of plasma redox status and deviating to oxidization may be closely related with the development and progress of atherosclerosis.

Background and purpose:At present,there have been many reports on the study of methylation in cervical lesions,however it is still not clinically practical as a diagnostic and shunting index of cervical lesions.In this study,we intended to investigate the early diagnostic value of FAM19A4,PAX1 and miRNA124-2 methylation in promoter region in the progression of cervical lesions.Methods:A total of 129 liquid-based cytology specimens of different grades of cervical lesions diagnosed in the Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from Mar.2020 to Mar.2022.Methylation specific PCR(MSP)was used to detect the methylation changes of FAM19A4,PAX1 and miRNA124-2 genes in different cervical lesions.Receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic value of methylation changes of the three genes in cervical lesions.This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University(No.2023-135-01).Results:All the specimens were collected and divided into 4 groups according to the histological results:42 cases of no intraepithelial lesions or malignant lesions(NILM),28 cases of low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion(LSIL),36 cases of high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion(HSIL),23 cases of squamous cervical cancer(SCC).With the increase in the level of cervical lesions,FAM19A4,PAX1 and miRNA124-2 gene methylation detection rates increased gradually,and the differences were statistically significant(P＜0.05).The methylation detection rates of FAM19A4,PAX1 and miRNA124-2 in HSIL group were 81.2%,80.5%and 71.8%,respectively,and the methylation detection rates of three genes in SCC group were up to 100.0%.Cytological diagnosis of cervical cancer showed the area under curve(AUC)was 0.731,with a sensitivity and a specificity of 65.9%and 80.4%,respectively.When FAM19A4,PAX1 and miRNA124-2 were used alone to diagnose HSIL+(HSIL and SCC),PAX1 methylation had the highest diagnostic efficiency,and the AUC was 0.925,with a sensitivity and a specificity of 92.8%and 87.3%.When the diagnosis was made in pairs,the AUC of FAM19A4 combined with PAX1 in the diagnosis of HSIL+was 0.930,with a sensitivity and a specificity of 95.7%and 87.1%,respectively.The AUC of FAM19A4 combined with miRNA124-2 in the diagnosis of HSIL+was 0.895,with a sensitivity and a specificity of 97.6%and 85.7%,respectively.The AUC of PAX1 combined with miRNA124-2 in the diagnosis of HSIL+was 0.928,with a sensitivity and a specificity of 95.7%and 89.1%,respectively.When the PAX1 and FAM19A4 combined with miRNA124-2 in the diagnosis of HSIL+,the AUC was 0.928,with a sensitivity and a specificity of 100.0%and 81.8%,respectively.Conclusion:The methylation of the promoter regions of the FAM19A4,PAX1 and miRNA124-2 genes demonstrates high sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing cervical lesions,indicating the potential for becoming novel indicators for early diagnosis of cervical lesions.

The overall health condition of patients significantly affects the diagnosis,treatment,and prognosis of endodontic diseases.A systemic consideration of the patient's overall health along with oral conditions holds the utmost importance in determining the necessity and feasibility of endodontic therapy,as well as selecting appropriate therapeutic approaches.This expert consensus is a collaborative effort by specialists from endodontics and clinical physicians across the nation based on the current clinical evidence,aiming to provide general guidance on clinical procedures,improve patient safety and enhance clinical outcomes of endodontic therapy in patients with compromised overall health.

Identification of genetic variants via high-throughput sequencing (HTS) technologies has been essential for both fundamental and clinical studies. However, to what extent the genome sequence composition affects variant calling remains unclear. In this study, we identified 63,897 multi-copy sequences (MCSs) with a minimum length of 300 bp, each of which occurs at least twice in the human genome. The 151,749 genomic loci (multi-copy regions, or MCRs) harboring these MCSs account for 1.98％of the genome and are distributed unevenly across chromosomes. MCRs containing the same MCS tend to be located on the same chromosome. Gene Ontology (GO) anal-yses revealed that 3800 genes whose UTRs or exons overlap with MCRs are enriched for Golgi-related cellular component terms and various enzymatic activities in the GO biological function cat-egory. MCRs are also enriched for loci that are sensitive to neocarzinostatin-induced double-strand breaks. Moreover, genetic variants discovered by genome-wide association studies and recorded indbSNP are significantly underrepresented in MCRs. Using simulated HTS datasets, we show that false variant discovery rates are significantly higher in MCRs than in other genomic regions. These results suggest that extra caution must be taken when identifying genetic variants in the MCRs via HTS technologies.