Objective To evaluate the radiation impact of a self-developed digital miniature CT on the human body and the environment under simulated scanning conditions, and verify its safety and regulatory compliance. Methods Under typical head scanning conditions with the digital miniature CT (70 kV/10 mA), the equivalent doses received at the body surface sites corresponding to the thyroid, breast, stomach, liver, kidney, and gonads of the phantom were measured without protection and with 0.5 mmPb equivalent protection using LiF (Mg, Cu, P) thermoluminescent dosimeters. The ambient dose equivalent rates at the bed level inside the CT room at different directions and distances from the scanning center were measured using a model AT1121 X/γ dosimeter. The equivalent doses of organs on both sides of the phantom and the ambient equivalent dose rates on the left and right sides of the longitudinal axis of the bed in the CT room were compared. The Mann-Whitney test was used at a significance level of P < 0.05. Results During a single scan of the head with the digital miniature CT, the equivalent doses at the body surface sites corresponding to the thyroid, breast, stomach, liver, kidney, and gonads without protection were 1.04, 0.95, 0.55, 0.57, 0.40, and 0.12 mSv, respectively, which were only 0.84% to 8.24% of the doses inside the irradiation field. With 0.5 mm Pb equivalent protection, the equivalent dose of the thyroid decreased from 8.24 mSv to 3.27 mSv with a reduction of 60.3%, and the doses of the other organs were reduced to 1.5-11.5 μSv with the maximum reduction of 14 times. In the longitudinal axis direction of the CT bed, the ambient dose equivalent rate at a distance of 2 m from the scanning center was reduced to 0.066 mSv/h, which was only 9.6% of the ambient equivalent dose rate at a distance of 50 cm from the scanning center. Conclusion The digital miniature CT has advantages in ensuring patient safety, optimizing imaging quality, and promoting technological development, demonstrating promising application potential. However, the radiation protection of personal and CT room should not be ignored.

ObjectiveThe full name of vertebroplasty is percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP). It is a clinical technique that injects bone cement into the diseased vertebral body to achieve strengthening of the vertebra. The research on the safety and efficacy of bone cement is the basis for clinical application. In this study, vertebroplasty is used to evaluate and compare the safety and efficacy of Tecres and radiopaque bone cement in experimental pigs, and to determine the puncture method suitable for pigs and the pre-clinical evaluation method for the safety and efficacy of bone cement. MethodsTwenty-four experimental pigs (with a body weight of 60-80 kg) were randomly divided into an experimental group (Group A) and a control group (Group B). Group A was the Tecres bone cement group, and Group B was the radiopaque bone cement group, with 12 pigs in each group. Under the monitoring of a C-arm X-ray machine, the materials were implanted into the 1st lumbar vertebra (L1) and 4th lumbar vertebra (L4) of the pigs via percutaneous puncture using the unilateral pedicle approach. The animals were euthanized at 4 weeks and 26 weeks after the operation, respectively. The L4 vertebrae were taken for compressive strength testing, and the L1 vertebrae were taken for hard tissue pathological examination to observe the inflammatory response, bone necrosis, and degree of osseointegration at the implantation site. ResultsThe test results of compressive strength between groups A and B showed no significant difference at 4 weeks and 26 weeks after bone cement implantation (P > 0.05). Observation under an optical microscope (×100) revealed that at 4 weeks postoperatively, both groups A and B showed that the bone cement was surrounded by proliferative fibrous tissue, with lymphocyte infiltration around it. The bone cement was combined with bone tissue, the trabecular arrangement was disordered, and osteoblasts and a small amount of osteoid were formed. At 26 weeks postoperatively, bone cement was visible in both groups A and B. The new bone tissue was mineralized, the trabeculae were fused, the trabecular structure was regular and dense with good continuity, and no obvious inflammatory reaction was observed. ConclusionIn experimental pig vertebrae, there were no significant differences observed in the compressive strength, inflammation response, bone destruction, and integration with the bone between Tecres and non-radiopaque bone cement. Both exhibited good biocompatibility and osteogenic properties. It indicates that using vertebroplasty to evaluate the safety and efficacy of bone cement in pigs is scientifically sound.

Early identification of adolescent depression requires objective biomarkers. This study investigated the functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) activation patterns and mismatch negativity (MMN) characteristics in adolescents with first-episode mild-to-moderate depression. We enrolled 33 patients and 33 matched healthy controls, measuring oxyhemoglobin (Oxy-Hb) concentration in the frontal cortex during verbal fluency tasks via fNIRS, and recording MMN latency/amplitude at Fz/Cz electrodes using event-related potentials (ERP). Compared with healthy controls, the depression group showed significantly prolonged MMN latency [Fz: (227.88 ± 31.08) ms vs. (208.70 ± 25.35) ms, P < 0.01; Cz: (223.73 ± 29.03) ms vs. (204.18 ± 22.43) ms, P < 0.01], and obviously reduced Fz amplitude [(2.42 ± 2.18) μV vs. (5.65 ± 5.59) μV, P = 0.03]. A significant positive correlation was observed between MMN latencies at Fz and Cz electrodes ( P < 0.01). Oxy-Hb in left frontopolar prefrontal channels (CH15/17) was significantly decreased in patient group ( P < 0.05). Our findings suggest that adolescents with depression exhibit hypofunction in the left prefrontal cortex and impaired automatic sensory processing. The combined application of fNIRS and ERP techniques may provide an objective basis for early clinical identification.
Humans ; Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared/methods* ; Adolescent ; Prefrontal Cortex/physiopathology* ; Evoked Potentials/physiology* ; Depression/physiopathology* ; Female ; Male ; Oxyhemoglobins ; Electroencephalography

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the biological effect of medical recombinant human-derived collagen functional dressings in wound healing. METHODS: MTT assay and RTCA assay were used to detect cell toxicity and proliferation. Scratch assay and Transwell cell migration assay were used to detect cell motility and migration ability. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to detect the contents of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), fibroblast growth factor (FGF), and platelet-endothelial cell adhesion molecule (CD31) in the supernatant of four types of cells. After animal surgery, the surgical wound was taken at 1 week, 4 weeks and 13 weeks, respectively, for hematoxylin eosin (HE) staining and immunohistochemistry to observe the inflammatory response and CD31 expression of the wound. RESULTS: Medical recombinant human-derived collagen functional dressing promotes cell proliferation and migration, enhances wound angiogenesis by upregulating the expression of VEGF, FGF, and CD31 in human dermal vascular endothelial cells (HDVEC) and human vascular endothelial cells (HVEC), thereby improving local blood supply to the wound, regulating the inflammatory response of the wound, and accelerating wound healing. CONCLUSION Recombinant type Ⅲ humanized collagen plays an important role in wound healing.
Humans ; Wound Healing/drug effects* ; Recombinant Proteins/pharmacology* ; Animals ; Cell Proliferation ; Cell Movement ; Collagen/pharmacology* ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A/metabolism* ; Bandages ; Platelet Endothelial Cell Adhesion Molecule-1/metabolism* ; Endothelial Cells ; Fibroblast Growth Factors/metabolism*

Objective:To investigate the value of 3D CT reconstruction in diagnosis of chronic lateral ankle instability (CLAI) combined with syndesmotic diastasis (SD).Methods:A retrospective study was conducted to analyze the clinical data of 160 patients with CLAI who had been examined by arthroscopy from January 2018 to September 2022 at Department of Foot and Ankle Surgery, Wuhan Fourth Hospital. There were 64 males and 96 females with an age of (39.8±12.6) years. Eighty-one left and 79 right feet were affected; the time from injury to surgery was (27.3±11.6) months. The patients were divided into a widened interval group and a normal interval group according to the syndesmotic width measured, with 2 mm as a critical value. After preoperative 3D CT reconstruction, the differences in anterior tibiofibular distance, posterior tibiofibular distance, the narrowest tibiofibular distance, fibular translation, fibular rotation, and syndesmotic area (SA) were compared between the 2 groups. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed successively to identify the risk factors. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to identify the best predictive factor and critical value. According to the findings of previous research, the above analyses were repeated to determine the best predictive factor and critical value respectively in the sex subgroup, fibular morphology subgroup and incisura feature subgroup.Results:The binary logistic regression showed that SA was a risk factor for CLAI combined with SD ( OR=1.196, 95% CI: 1.122 to 1.275, P < 0.001). The ROC curve revealed an area under curve of 0.847 and the difference critical value of 22.06 mm 2 that indicated a sensitivity of 80.4% and a specificity of 78.9%, respectively. Subgroup analyses showed that SA was suitable for male and female patients and patients with different fibular morphologies and incisura features but the difference critical values were different. Conclusion:In 3D CT reconstruction, measurement of SA may help the diagnosis of CLAI combined with SD.

Objective:To investigate pathological features and differential diagnosis in the gonads with disorder of sex development.Methods:Thirty-six cases of clinically diagnosed hermaphroditism with gonadal biopsy in the Department of Pathology, the Seventh Medical Center of People′s Liberation Army General Hospital from April 2007 to July 2021, were collected. All biopsy pathological sections were reviewed, and the gonadal cases with abnormal pathological morphology were screened out. The clinical and imaging data and karyotype of these cases were reviewed. Additional immunohistochemical staining was performed and relevant literature was reviewed.Results:Seven cases of ovotesticular disorder of sex development (OTDSD) were identified, which were characterized by the presence of testicular and ovarian differentiation in the same individual. All patients were under 15 years old and presented with abnormal appearance of external genitalia, and the ratio of male to female was 2∶5. Ultrasonography showed testicular structure in all female patients and cryptorchidism in all male patients. The most common karyotype was 46, XX. One case with undifferentiated gonadal tissue (UGT) and one case with streak gonads were screened out. UGT germ cells were neither in seminiferous tubules nor in follicles, but randomly distributed in an ovarial-type interstitial background, sometimes accompanied by immature sex cords. Streak gonads resembled UGT without germ cells. FOXL2 was positive in granulosa cells, but negative in Sertoli cells. SOX9 expression was opposite. OCT4 was weakly positively/negatively expressed in oocytes and positively expressed in the germ nuclei of UGT.Conclusions:Four differentiation patterns need to be identified in the gonadal biopsy: ovarian differentiation, testicular differentiation, undifferentiated gonadal tissue and streak gonad. The positive expression of SOX9 indicates testicular differentiation, while the positive expression of FOXL2 confirms ovarian differentiation, and the expression of both markers in the same tissue indicates ovotestis differentiation. It is very important to identify UGT, because that has a high probability of developing into gonadoblastoma in the future.

Objective:To discuss the effect of the small ubiquitin-like modifier-specific protease 1(SENP-1)/hypoxia-inducible factor 1α(HIF-1α)pathway on chronic intermittent hypoxia(CIH)-induced vascular endothelial injury in the rats,and to clarify the related mechanism.Methods:The SD rats were randomly divided into control group and CIH group,and then the rats in each group were further divided into 2,4,and 6-week subgroups,and there were 8 rats in each subgroup.The rats in CIH group were exposed to CIH in a CIH chamber to induce CIH and create the obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome(OSAHS)models,while the rats in control group were exposed to normoxic conditions.The serum and thoracic aorta tissue of the rats in various groups were collected at each time point.HE staining was used to observe the thoracic aorta vascular injury of the rats in various groups;ELISA method was used to detect the levels of nitric oxide(NO),endothelin-1(ET-1),von Willebrand factor(vWF),and thrombomodulin(TM)in serum of the rats in various groups;Western blotting method was used to detect the expression levels of SENP-1,HIF-1α,and vascular endothelial growth factor A(VEGFA)proteins in thoracic aorta tissue of the rats in various groups.In vitro,the aortic endothelial cells(rAECs)of the rats were cultured and infected with SENP-1 shRNA adenovirus(sh-SENP-1)to construct the cell line with low expression of SENP-1.The CIH was used to induce the vascular endothelial cell injury,and the cells were divided into CIH group,CIH+sh-NC group,and CIH+sh-SENP-1 group;control group was set up separately.CCK-8 method was used to detect the proliferation activities of the cells in various groups;ELISA method was used to detect the activities of lactate dehydrogenase(LDH)in the supernatant and the levels of NO,ET-1,malondialdehyde(MDA),and activities of superoxide dismutase(SOD)in the cells in various groups;flow cytometry was used to detect the apoptotic rates of the cells in various groups;Western blotting method was used to detect the expression levels of SENP-1,HIF-1α,and VEGFA proteins in the cells in various groups.Results:With the extension of CIH induction time,compared with control group,the thoracic aorta endothelium in CIH group gradually became rough and significantly thickened,the level of serum NO of the rats in CIH group was decreased(P＜0.05),and the levels of serum ET-1,vWF,and TM,and the expression levels of SENP-1,HIF-1α,and VEGFA proteins in thoracic aorta tissue were increased(P＜0.05).Compared with control group,the proliferation activity of the cells in CIH group was decreased(P＜0.05),the LDH activity in the supernatant,the levels of ET-1,MDA,and the apoptotic rate in the cells were increased(P＜0.05),while the levels of NO and activity of SOD in the cells were decreased(P＜0.05),and the expression levels of SENP-1,HIF-1α,and VEGFA proteins in the cells were increased(P＜0.05).Compared with CIH group,the proliferation activity of cells in CIH+sh-SENP-1 group was increased(P＜0.05),the activity of LDH in the supernatant,the levels of ET-1,MDA,and the apoptotic rate of the cells were decreased(P＜0.05),while the level of NO and activity of SOD in the cells were increased(P＜0.05),and the expression levels of SENP-1,HIF-1α,and VEGFA proteins were decreased(P＜0.05).Conclusion:The SENP-1/HIF-1α pathway is highly activated in the thoracic aorta injury tissue of the rats induced by CIH.Silencing SENP-1 expression can reduce CIH-induced vascular endothelial cell injury,and its mechanism may be related to downregulating the activation level of SENP-1/HIF-1α pathway.

Objective To investigate the risk factors of internal fixation failure in proximal femoral nail antirotation (PFNA) for treating intertrochanteric fracture.Methods The imageological data of 179 patients with intertrochanteric fracture receiving PFNA internal fixation were analyzed retrospectively.The univariate analysis was adopted to analyze the influence of the gender,degree of osteoporosis,AO/OTA fracture type,top apex distance (TAD),postoperative coxa vara,lateral wall state,fracture reduction situation and screw blade position on the internal fixation failure.The logistic regression model was constructed.The risk factors of internal fixation failure were analyzed.Results Among 179 patients,the internal fixation failure occurred in 16 cases.The univariate analysis showed the AO/OTA fracture type,TAD,postoperative coxa vara,lateral wall state,fracture reduction effect and screw blade location were related with the internal fixation failure (P<0.05).The logistic regression analysis prompted that postoperative coxa vara (OR=6.97,95％CI:2.24-21.68,P=0.001) and the lateral wall breakage (OR=3.08,95％CI:1.03-9.22,P=0.045) were the risk factors of internal fixation failure in femoral intertrochanteric fracture.Conclusion Coxa vara and lateral wall breakage are the risk factors of internal fixation failure in PENA for treating femoral intertrochanteric fracture,and the operation reduction should avoid the coxa vara appearance.

Background::Bladder cancer, characterized by a high potential of tumor recurrence, has high lifelong monitoring and treatment costs. To date, tumor cells with intrinsic softness have been identified to function as cancer stem cells in several cancer types. Nonetheless, the existence of soft tumor cells in bladder tumors remains elusive. Thus, our study aimed to develop a microbarrier microfluidic chip to efficiently isolate deformable tumor cells from distinct types of bladder cancer cells.Methods::The stiffness of bladder cancer cells was determined by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The modified microfluidic chip was utilized to separate soft cells, and the 3D Matrigel culture system was to maintain the softness of tumor cells. Expression patterns of integrin β8 (ITGB8), protein kinase B (AKT), and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) were determined by Western blotting. Double immunostaining was conducted to examine the interaction between F-actin and tripartite motif containing 59 (TRIM59). The stem-cell-like characteristics of soft cells were explored by colony formation assay and in vivo studies upon xenografted tumor models. Results::Using our newly designed microfluidic approach, we identified a small fraction of soft tumor cells in bladder cancer cells. More importantly, the existence of soft tumor cells was confirmed in clinical human bladder cancer specimens, in which the number of soft tumor cells was associated with tumor relapse. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the biomechanical stimuli arising from 3D Matrigel activated the F-actin/ITGB8/TRIM59/AKT/mTOR/glycolysis pathways to enhance the softness and tumorigenic capacity of tumor cells. Simultaneously, we detected a remarkable up-regulation in ITGB8, TRIM59, and phospho-AKT in clinical bladder recurrent tumors compared with their non-recurrent counterparts.Conclusions::The ITGB8/TRIM59/AKT/mTOR/glycolysis axis plays a crucial role in modulating tumor softness and stemness. Meanwhile, the soft tumor cells become more sensitive to chemotherapy after stiffening, that offers new insights for hampering tumor progression and recurrence.

[Objective]To investigate whether severe myelosuppression after chemotherapy is associated with progno-sis in patients with breast cancer.[Methods]Triple negative breast cancer(TNBC)patients who received chemotherapy at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University from May 2,2013 to May 2,2018 were divided into a control group(no/mild myelosuppression)and a case group(severe myelosuppression).In this study,251 patients with TNBC met the inclusion and exclusion criteria,including 125 patients in the control group(20 patients with grade 0 myelosuppression,43 patients with grade I myelosuppression,62 patients with grade Ⅱ myelosuppression),126 patients in the case group(114 patients with grade Ⅲ myelosuppression,12 patients with grade Ⅳ myelosuppression).The general clinicopathologi-cal data of the patients in the two groups,including age,pathological type of tumor,tumor T stage,tumor N stage,tumor Nottingham grade,intravascular cancer thrombus,were analyzed using the χ2 test.The disease-free survival(DFS)and overall survival(OS)of the two groups were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method.A Cox proportional hazards regres-sion model with multiple factors was used to analyze the impact of post-chemotherapy severe myelosuppression on disease-free survival(DFS)and overall survival(OS)in patients with TNBC.[Results]The differences in general clinicopatholog-ic data between the two groups of patients were not statistically significant(all P＞0.05).The 5-year disease-free survival(DFS)rate was significantly lower in the control group compared with the case group(75.2%vs.85.7%,P=0.027).How-ever,there was no statistically significant difference in the 5-year overall survival(OS)rate between the two groups(88.8%vs.95.2%,P=0.057).The analysis of the multifactorial Cox proportional hazards regression model revealed that post-chemotherapy severe myelosuppression was an independent protective factor for disease-free survival(DFS)(HR=0.332,95%CI:0.173-0.638,P=0.001)and overall survival(OS)(HR=0.193,95%CI:0.062-0.602,P=0.005)in TN-BC patients.[Conclusion]Our results show that TNBC patients with severe myelosuppression after chemotherapy have lon-ger disease-free survival(DFS)than those with no/mild myelosuppression,and overall survival(OS)also tend to be pro-longed compared with those with no/mild myelosuppression,and severe myelosuppression after chemotherapy can be used as an independent predictor of a good prognosis in breast cancer.