OBJECTIVE: Several epidemiological observational studies have related particulate matter (PM) exposure to Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but many confounding factors make it difficult to draw causal links from observational studies. The objective of this study was to explore the causal association between PM _2.5 exposure, its absorbance, and IBD. METHODS: We assessed the association of PM _2.5 and PM _2.5 absorbance with the two primary forms of IBD (Crohn's disease [CD] and ulcerative colitis [UC]) using Mendelian randomization (MR) to explore the causal relationship. We conducted two-sample MR analyses with aggregated data from the UK Biobank genome-wide association study. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms linked with PM _2.5 concentrations or their absorbance were used as instrumental variables (IVs). We used inverse variance weighting (IVW) as the primary analytical approach and four other standard methods as supplementary analyses for quality control. RESULTS: The results of MR demonstrated that PM _2.5 had an adverse influence on UC risk (odds ratio [ OR] = 1.010; 95% confidence interval [ CI] = 1.001-1.019, P = 0.020). Meanwhile, the results of IVW showed that PM _2.5 absorbance was also causally associated with UC ( OR = 1.012; 95% CI = 1.004-1.019, P = 0.002). We observed no causal relationship between PM _2.5, PM _2.5 absorbance, and CD. The results of sensitivity analysis indicated the absence of heterogeneity or pleiotropy, ensuring the reliability of MR results. CONCLUSION Based on two-sample MR analyses, there are potential positive causal relationships between PM _2.5, PM _2.5 absorbance, and UC.
Humans ; Mendelian Randomization Analysis ; Particulate Matter/analysis* ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases/genetics* ; Air Pollutants/analysis* ; Crohn Disease/genetics* ; Colitis, Ulcerative/genetics* ; Genome-Wide Association Study ; Risk Factors ; Environmental Exposure

Objective To evaluate the impact of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)syndromes on percutaneous microwave ablation(MWA)treatment in patients with colorectal cancer liver metastases(CRLM)and to construct a multidimensional prediction model prognostic based on TCM syndrome classification.Methods Clinical data were collected from 86 CRLM patients who underwent MWA at Zhongshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine between October 2012 and October 2023.The clinical information covered TCM syndrome types of qi-blood deficiency and spleen-kidney yang deficiency,tumor characteristics,and treatment parameters.Logistic regression was used to screen feature variables for constructing the prognostic predication model,and cross validation was performed to evaluate the prognostic predictive performance.Results(1)Among the 86 CRLM patients,31(36.05%)had spleen-kidney yang deficiency syndrome,while 55(63.95%)had qi-blood deficiency syndrome.(2)Compared to the patients with spleen-kidney yang deficiency syndrome,patients with qi-blood deficiency syndrome exhibited significantly long progression-free survival(PFS)and high progression-free survival rate(P＜0.01),while no significant differences were presented in the incidences of postoperative adverse events such as pain,fever,infection,liver function impairment,or ascites/pleural effusion among the patients with the two syndrome types(P＞0.05).(3)Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that TCM syndrome type,maximum diameter of metastatic liver tumor,timing of liver metastasis,and Ki-67 expression rate of primary tumors were the independent prognostic factors for 1-year PFS(P＜0.05 or P＜0.01).(4)The constructed model demonstrated high predictive accuracy for PFS,with an area under the receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve(AUC)of 0.905(95%CI:0.830-0.980).Conclusion TCM syndromes have significant influence on the prognosis of CRLM patients undergoing MWA,and the patients with qi-blood deficiency syndrome have favorable prognosis.This study pioneers a multidimensional prognostic prediction model integrating TCM syndromes for MWA-treated CRLM patients,highlighting the unique value of TCM syndromes in assessing disease progression and predicting prognosis.

Microglia are the primary immune cells in the central nervous system.The activation is of microg-lia crucial in neurological injury and neurodegenerative diseases.In recent years,research on microglia-targeted therapies has gained increasing attention.Microglia replacement therapy has shown promising results in treating various neurological diseases.This therapy involves the forced removal of dysfunctional microglia and their replacement with fully differentiated microglia through drug or gene targeting.This article discusses the potential pathophysiological mechanisms and effective therapeutic strategies of microglia replacement therapy in neurological diseases,including Alzheimer's disease and stroke.Moreover,it serves as a reference for the in-depth study of neurobiological mechanisms and treatment of neurological dis-eases.

Objective:To summarize the clinical characteristics, prognostic factors and treatment outcomes of childhood aggressive mature B-cell lymphoma after liver transplantation.Methods:This retrospective study included 18 children with newly diagnosed aggressive mature B-cell lymphoma after liver transplantation and treated from June 2018 to June 2022 in the Department of Hematology and Oncology of Shanghai Children′s Medical Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. Clinical characteristics, treatment and outcomes of patients at last evaluation were analyzed. Overall survival (OS) and event free survival (EFS) rates were calculated by Kaplan-Meier method and Log-Rank analysis was performed to find factors of poor prognosis.Results:Among all 18 patients, there were 6 males and 12 females, and the age of onset was 40 (35, 54) months. The interval from transplant to tumor diagnosis was 21 (17, 35) months and 5 patients had early onset disease (<1 year since transplant). Seventeen patients had abdominal lesions. Diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal masses were the main clinical manifestations. All patients were Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) related posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorders (PTLD). One patient received individualized therapy due to critical sick at diagnosis, and the remaining 17 patients received CP (cyclophosphamide, methylprednisolone plus rituximab) and (or) modified EPOCH (prednisone, etoposide, doxorubicin, vincristine, cyclophosphamide plus rituximab) regimens. Of all 18 patients, 15 cases got complete response, 2 cases got partial response, 1 patient died of severe infection. The 2-year OS and EFS rates of 18 patients were (94±5)% and (83±8)%, respectively. None of age, gender or early onset disease had effect on OS and EFS rates in univariate analysis (all P>0.05). Conclusions:The symptoms of PTLD were atypical. Close surveillance of EBV-DNA for patients after liver transplantation was crucial to early stage PTLD diagnosis. CP or modified EPOCH regimen was efficient for pediatric patients with aggressive mature B cell lymphoma after liver transplantation.

Intracerebral hemorrhage is the bleeding caused by spontaneous non-traumatic rupture of blood vessels in brain parenchyma. It has high disability rate and mortality. A series of injuries after intracerebral hemorrhage will lead to neuronal apoptosis. If apoptotic neurons are not cleared in time, intracellular toxic substances will be released, thereby further aggravating the inflammatory reaction. Therefore, the timely clearance of apoptotic cells is of great significance to the brain homeostasis after intracerebral hemorrhage. At the same time, a large number of phagocytic "eat me" signal phosphatidylserine (PS) will appear on the surface of apoptotic neurons. Microglia, as resident macrophages in the brain, have a variety of PS receptors on their surface, which promote the phagocytosis of apoptotic neurons by microglia and reduce the occurrence of local inflammatory responses.

BACKGROUND: Controversy exists as to the optimal treatment approach for ostial left anterior descending (LAD) or ostial left circumflex artery (LCx) lesions. Drug-coated balloons (DCB) may overcome some of the limitations of drug-eluting stents (DES). Therefore, we investigated the security and feasibility of the DCB policy in patients with ostial LAD or ostial LCx lesions, and compared it with the conventional DES-only strategy. METHODS: We retrospectively enrolled patients with de novo ostial lesions in the LAD or LCx who underwent interventional treatment. They were categorized into two groups based on their treatment approach: the DCB group and the DES group. The treatment strategies in the DCB group involved the use of either DCB-only or hybrid strategies, whereas the DES group utilized crossover or precise stenting techniques. Two-year target lesion revascularization was the primary endpoint, while the rates of major adverse cardiovascular events, cardiac death, target vessel myocardial infarction, and vessel thrombosis were the secondary endpoints. Using propensity score matching, we assembled a cohort with comparable baseline characteristics. To ensure result analysis reliability, we conducted sensitivity analyses, including interaction, and stratified analyses. RESULTS: Among the 397 eligible patients, 6.25% of patients who were planned to undergo DCB underwent DES. A total of 108 patients in each group had comparable propensity scores and were included in the analysis. Two-year target lesion revascularization occurred in 5 patients (4.90%) and 16 patients (16.33%) in the DCB group and the DES group, respectively (odds ratio = 0.264, 95% CI: 0.093-0.752, P = 0.008). Compared with the DES group, the DCB group demonstrated a lower major adverse cardiovascular events rate (7.84% vs. 19.39%, P = 0.017). However, differences with regard to cardiac death, non-periprocedural target vessel myocardial infarction, and definite or probable vessel thrombosis between the groups were non-significant. CONCLUSIONS The utilization of the DCB approach signifies an innovative and discretionary strategy for managing isolated ostial lesions in the LAD or LCx. Nevertheless, a future randomized trial investigating the feasibility and safety of DCB compared to the DES-only strategy specifically for de novo ostial lesions in the LAD or LCx is highly warranted.

The disability and mortality rate of patients with intracerebral hemorrhage are very high. At present, there is no effective treatment to improve the outcome of patients with intracerebral hemorrhage. Mechanical compression of hematoma and release of toxic products are the main causes of primary and secondary brain injury in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage, while safe and effective acceleration of hematoma regression is the key strategy to improve the neurological deficit in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage. Microglia/macrophages are the main phagocytic system that mediates hematoma clearance and are mainly polarized into M1 and M2 phenotypes. Cell surface receptors and possible signal transduction pathways play an important role in regulating the endogenous hematoma regression mediated by microglia/macrophages, and may become a new target for clinical treatment of intracerebral hemorrhage and improvement of the outcomes of patients in the future.

Objective:To explore the application effect of the "combination of virtuality and actuality" practical teaching on Medical Imaging Equipment. Methods:The 2018 medical imaging technology students of Qiqihar Medical University were taken as the observation group, and the study adopted teaching method of "combination of virtuality and reality" in the practical teaching of Medical Imaging Equipment, including in-kind visit teaching (8 learning hours), experimental box circuit measurement teaching (20 learning hours) and virtual simulation teaching (16 learning hours). Besides, the 2017 medical imaging major students (control group) did not conduct virtual simulation teaching. The teaching effect and student achievement were compared between the two groups, and SPSS 17.0 was used to conduct t test and chi-square test. Results:There was significantly improvement in the practical performance of the students in the observation group compared with the control group ( t=6.44, P=0.007); the teaching satisfaction of the two groups was significantly improved ( χ2=5.25, P=0.022), and the teaching satisfaction degree was 100%. Conclusion:The teaching method of "combination of virtuality and reality" can effectively improve students' hands-on ability, strengthens their cognition of abstract principles, and solves the problems of equipment failure analysis, disassembly and installation of large-scale equipment that cannot be completed in physical teaching.

Objective To investigate the clinical effects of subemergency treatment of femoral intertrochanteric fractures in elderly patients.Methods From June 2013 through February 2014,47 patients older than 65 years were treated for femoral intertrochanteric fracture at our department and completed full follow-ups.Of them,20 received subemergency operation.They were 9 men and 11 women,with an average age of 72.2 ± 4.8 years.By the Evans-Jensen classification,there were 2 cases of type Ⅰ,5 of type Ⅱ,5 of type Ⅲ,5 of type Ⅳ,and 3 of type Ⅴ.The time from injury to surgery ranged from 0.5 to 1.7 days (average,0.8 days).The other 27 patients underwent selective operation.They were 11 men and 16 women,with an average age of 74.9 ± 5.7 years.By the Evans-Jensen classification,there were 3 cases of type Ⅰ,6 of type Ⅱ,6 of type Ⅲ,7 of type Ⅳ,and 5 of type Ⅴ.The time from injury to surgery ranged from 2 to 5 days (average,3.4 days).We compared the 2 groups in terms of in-hospital complications,fracture healing time,length of hospital stay,and hip scores at the last follow-up.Results All the patients were followed up for 12 to 15 months (mean,13.4 months).The rate of in-hospital complications in the subemergency operation group (35.0％,7/20) was significantly lower than that in the selective operation group (51.9％,14/27),and the length of hospital stay in the former (12.1 ± 1.6 days) was significantly shorter than in the latter (16.1 ± 1.8 days) (P ＜ 0.05).There was no significant difference between the 2 groups in fracture healing time (13.1 ± 1.8 weeks versus 13.6 ± 1.2 weeks) (P ＞ 0.05).According to the hip scores at the last follow-up,the subemergency operation group had 16 excellent,2 good,one fair and one poor cases (with an excellent to good rate of 90.0％) while the selective operation group had 21 excellent,2 good,2 fair and 2 poor cases (with an excellent to good rate of 85.2％),showing no significant difference between groups (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion Subemergency operation can reduce not only in-hospital complications but also length of hospital stay for old patients with femoral intertrochanteric fracture.

In order to explore tick proteins as potential targets for further developing vaccine against ticks, the total proteins of unfed female Dermacentor silvarum were screened with anti-D. silvarum serum produced from rabbits. The results of western blot showed that 3 antigenic proteins of about 100, 68, and 52 kDa were detected by polyclonal antibodies, which means that they probably have immunogenicity. Then, unfed female tick proteins were separated by 12% SDS-PAGE, and target proteins (100, 68, and 52 kDa) were cut and analyzed by LC-MS/MS, respectively. The comparative results of peptide sequences showed that they might be vitellogenin (Vg), heat shock protein 60 (Hsp60), and fructose-1, 6-bisphosphate aldolase (FBA), respectively. These data will lay the foundation for the further validation of antigenic proteins to prevent infestation and diseases transmitted by D. silvarum.
Animals ; Antigens/*chemistry/immunology ; Arthropod Proteins/*chemistry/immunology ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Female ; Ixodidae/*chemistry/immunology ; Molecular Weight ; Rabbits ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry