Atherosclerosis(AS) is an important pathological feature of cardiovascular diseases such as myocardial infarction,stroke and other highly fatal diseases. Phlegm and dampness are considered to be an important pathogenesis of AS,which is difficult to heal and can cause complications. The establishment of an animal model with AS and phlegm-dampness syndrome,which could reflect the features of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM),and objective evaluation system are an important element of modern integrated TCM and western medicine research on cardiovascular diseases. It is of great significance for TCM to prevent and treat cardiovascular diseases. This article summarizes the scientific connotations of traditional Chinese and western medicine for AS and phlegm-dampness syndrome,comprehensively summarizes the current status of construction and evaluation in experimental animal model,analyzes the problems of current model,and discusses the factors of model construction and evaluation. Our aim is to establish normalized and standardized animal model with AS of phlegm-dampness syndrome.

Objective To establish an animal model of dampness-syndrome in mice (single model) and evaluate its characteristics of dampness-syndrome. The above-mentioned mice with dampness syndrome were used to construct mice model of ischemic stroke (double model) and observe the effect of dampness-pathogenic on the outcome of stroke. Methods Healthy C57BL/6J male mice were randomly divided into dampness-syndrome (including sham-surgery group and ischemic stroke group,with 10 mice in each group) and non dampness-syndrome groups (including sham-surgery group and ischemic stroke group,with 10 mice in each group). The dampness-syndrome group was fed with high-fat diet and the non dampness-syndrome group was fed with normal diet for 12 weeks. After the mice model of dampness-syndrome was successfully established,transient middle cerebral artery occlusion/reperfusion (tMCAO/R) surgery was used to replicate an ischemic stroke mice model. Evaluation indicators for dampness-syndrome mice model:the general status including body weight,morphology,posture,activity status,and physical characteristics,the histopathological observation of the aorta (oil red O staining,Masson-trichrome staining) and liver (HE staining,oil red O staining),electron microscopic observation of the tongue tissue (scanning electron microscopy,electron microscopy),blood lipid levels[total cholesterol(TC),triglycerides(TG)]and liver coefficient. Evaluation indicators for ischemic stroke mice model:neurological function score and the cerebral infarction volume ratio. Results Compared with the non dampness-syndrome group,the mice in the dampness-syndrome group showed an increased in body weight,poor hair color,sparse hair,fatigue and laziness,mental atrophy,anorexia and lethargy. It was observed that the aortic lumen was narrowed,the intima was significantly thickened,lipid plaque deposition was increased,and foam cells were visible. A large amount of red lipid droplets appeared in liver cells. There were obvious lipid infiltration and diffuse steatosis. Increased keratosis of the mucosal layer of tongue tissue,the thicker stratum corneum,lipofuscin,and bacteria on the tongue surface were found. Serum TG and TC levels significantly increased(P<0.01),and the liver coefficient significantly decreased (P<0.001). Compared with non dampness-syndrome group (sham-surgery group),neurological function score and the cerebral infarction volume ratio in dampness-syndrome ischemic stroke group obviously increased (P<0.001). Conclusion High-fat feeding for 12 weeks combined with tMCAO/R modeling can successfully establish a mice model with dampness-syndrome ischemic stroke,and the neurological function score and cerebral infarction volume in the dampness-syndrome ischemic stroke group was more severe than that in the non dampness-syndrome ischemic stroke group.

[Objective]To investigate the protective effect of Zhuangtongyin on the Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion(MCAO)model by modulating ferroptosis through the Nrf2-SCL7A11/xCT-Gpx4 pathway and its underlying mechanism.[Methods]C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into Sham operation group(Sham),model group(MCAO),low-dose Zhuangtongyin group(ZTY-L),high-dose Zhuangtongyin group(ZTY-H),with 5 mice in each group.The MCAO group was modelled by silica gel embolization,the middle cerebral artery of mice was embolized for 1h,then the silica gel was pulled out and reperfusion was performed after 72 h;and the other operations in the Sham group were the same as those in the MCAO group except that the thread plug was not inserted.The neural function of mice was evaluated by Zea-Longa method.TTC staining was used to evaluate the volume of cerebral infarction.The level of brain injury was evaluated by HE staining and Nissl staining.Prussian blue staining and the expression of iron transport-related carrier receptors TfR1 and DMT1 on mRNA level was detected by qPCR to evaluate the iron ion deposition level in mice brain.The expression of lipid peroxidation-related gene ACSL4 on mRNA level was detected by qPCR,and the content of 4-HNE was detected by ELISA kit to evaluate the lipid peroxidation level of mice brain.The expressions of ferroptosis marker PTGS2 mRNA level was detected by qPCR.The expressions of Nrf2,SCL7A11/xCT,Gpx4 in mice brain tissue were detected by Western-blot and immunofluorescence.[Results]Zhuangtongyin improved the nerve function of mice after MCAO(P＜0.05)and the cerebral infarction volume of mice(P＜0.05)and alleviate the pathological injury of cerebral cortex cells after MCAO operation.Zhuangtongyin attenuated the accumulation of trivalent iron ions in the brain tissue of mice following MCAO.Additionally,Zhuangtongyin downregulated the expression of TfR1 and DMT1 mRNA(P＜0.001),a transporter associated with cellular iron ion uptake,in the brains of post-MCAO mice.Furthermore,Zhuangtongyin reduced levels of lipid peroxidation product 4-HNE(P＜0.001)and suppressed ACSL4 mRNA expression in brain tissue post-MCAO(P＜0.001).Besides,Zhuangtongyin downregulated the expression of PTGS2 mRNA(P＜0.001),in the brains of post-MCAO mice.Zhuangtongyin increased the expression of nrf2 into the nucleus(P＜0.001),and increased the expression of xCT and Gpx4 in neurons after MCAO(P＜0.001).[Conclusion]Zhuangtongyin can enhance the nerve function and reduce cerebral infarction volume in MCAO/R mice,alleviate the pathological damage of cerebral cortex cells,and modulate the expression of key signaling molecules in the Nrf2-SCL7A11/xCT-Gpx4 pathway.Therefore,it is suggested that the mechanism by which Zhuangtongyin improves MCAO/R injury in mice may involve regulating ferroptosis through the Nrf2-SCL7A11/xCT-GPX4 pathway.

Objective:To evaluate the efficacy and safety of hippocampal avoidance whole-brain irradiation with simultaneous integrated boost in the treatment of brain metastases of lung cancer.Methods:Forty lung cancer patients with brain metastases who received whole-brain radiotherapy with simultaneous integrated boost and hippocampal avoidance in Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences from 2014 to 2020 were enrolled in this study. Brain MRI, survival follow-up and evaluation of side effects were performed before radiotherapy and at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after radiotherapy, respectively. Overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS) and changes in cognitive function were analyzed. Continuous data were described as Mean ± SD. Categorical data were described by frequency and composition ratio or percentage. Survival analysis was conducted by Kaplan-Meier method. Influencing factors of survival were identified by univariate and multivariate Cox's regression analyses.Results:A total of 40 patients were enrolled in the study. The median follow-up time was 14.2 months and the median OS, PFS and intracranial PFS of all patients were 14.8 months, 6.7 months and 14.8 months, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that male gender and newly diagnosed stage Ⅳ disease were associated with worse OS and PFS, respectively. The Hopkins verbal learning test-revised (HVLT-R) scores at baseline and 1, 3 and 6 months after radiotherapy were 21.94±2.99, 20.88±3.12, 20.03±3.14, and 19.78±2.98, respectively. The HVLT-R score at 6 months after radiotherapy was decreased by approximately 9.8% compared with the baseline. No grade 3 or above toxic and side effect occurred in the entire cohort.Conclusion:Hippocampal avoidance whole-brain irradiation with simultaneous integrated boost is a safe and effective treatment for brain metastases of lung cancer, which is expected to reduce the impact of radiotherapy on cognitive function.

Objective:To evaluate the prognostic value of pretreatment systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in non-metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).Methods:We retrospectively collected the data of 839 patients with non-metastatic NPC from National Cancer Center/National Clinical Research Center for Cancer/Cancer Hospital and Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center between January 2007 and October 2015. All patients received intensity modulated radiation based treatment. Optimal cutoff value of SII and LDH were determined by X-title software. The association between SII, LDH and clinical prognosis of non-metastatic NPC patients were analyzed. Kaplan-Meier method was used for survival analysis, and Log rank test was used for comparison of survival rates between groups. Propensity score matching (PSM) analysis was carried out to minimize the effects of confounding factors. The risk stratification model of prognosis by combining N stage, SII and LDH was constructed to compare the prognosis of patients in high risk group, middle risk group and low risk group, and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to evaluate its prognostic value.Results:The optimal cutoff value of SII is 447.2×10 9/L for predicting the 5-year overall survival (OS) of NPC patients, and the best cutoff value of LDH is 198.9 U/L. The proportion of patients with stage T3-4 and stage III-IVB in high SII group was higher than that in low SII group ( P<0.001). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that N stage, SII and LDH were independent factors of OS, progression-free survival (PFS) and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) of NPC patients (N stage, HR=1.705, 95% CI: 1.247-2.332; HR=1.755, 95% CI: 1.342-2.295; HR=2.161, 95% CI: 1.515-3.082. SII, HR=1.525, 95% CI: 1.097-2.119; HR=1.518, 95% CI: 1.150-2.004; HR=1.837, 95% CI: 1.272-2.653. LDH, HR=2.041, 95% CI: 1.403-2.968; HR=1.725, 95% CI: 1.233-2.414; HR=2.492, 95% CI: 1.690-3.672, respectively). After PSM, SII was still an independent prognostic factor of OS, PFS and DMFS in NPC patients ( HR=1.52, 95% CI: 1.09-2.12; HR=1.52, 95% CI: 1.15-2.00; HR=1.82, 95% CI: 1.26-2.63, respectively). Combined with N 2-3 stage, SII (>447.2×10 9/L), and LDH (>198.9 U/L), patients were divided into high-(3 risk factors), intermediate- (2 risk factors) and low-risk (0-1 risk factors) groups. The 5-year OS rates of patients in low-, intermediate- and high-risk groups were 86.1%, 79.8% and 41.2% respectively, the 5-year PFS rates were 80.7%, 70.2% and 33.9% respectively, and the 5-year DMFS rates were 88.9%, 79.2% and 47.5% respectively. There were significant differences in OS, PFS and DMFS among these three groups ( P<0.001). Distant metastasis was the main failure pattern in low-, intermediate- and high-risk groups, and the highest rate of distant metastasis was 83.3% (15/31) in high-risk group. ROC curve of the risk stratification model for predicting 5-year OS of NPC patients is 0.610, which is higher than TNM stage (0.609), SII (0.574) and LDH (0.558). Conclusions:Pretreatment SII and LDH are significantly correlated with the prognosis of patients with non-metastatic NPC. The combination of SII, LDH and N stage can stratify the prognostic risk of NPC patients. The risk stratification model can enhance the accuracy of prognosis.

Objective:To evaluate the prognostic value of pretreatment systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in non-metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).Methods:We retrospectively collected the data of 839 patients with non-metastatic NPC from National Cancer Center/National Clinical Research Center for Cancer/Cancer Hospital and Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center between January 2007 and October 2015. All patients received intensity modulated radiation based treatment. Optimal cutoff value of SII and LDH were determined by X-title software. The association between SII, LDH and clinical prognosis of non-metastatic NPC patients were analyzed. Kaplan-Meier method was used for survival analysis, and Log rank test was used for comparison of survival rates between groups. Propensity score matching (PSM) analysis was carried out to minimize the effects of confounding factors. The risk stratification model of prognosis by combining N stage, SII and LDH was constructed to compare the prognosis of patients in high risk group, middle risk group and low risk group, and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to evaluate its prognostic value.Results:The optimal cutoff value of SII is 447.2×10 9/L for predicting the 5-year overall survival (OS) of NPC patients, and the best cutoff value of LDH is 198.9 U/L. The proportion of patients with stage T3-4 and stage III-IVB in high SII group was higher than that in low SII group ( P<0.001). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that N stage, SII and LDH were independent factors of OS, progression-free survival (PFS) and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) of NPC patients (N stage, HR=1.705, 95% CI: 1.247-2.332; HR=1.755, 95% CI: 1.342-2.295; HR=2.161, 95% CI: 1.515-3.082. SII, HR=1.525, 95% CI: 1.097-2.119; HR=1.518, 95% CI: 1.150-2.004; HR=1.837, 95% CI: 1.272-2.653. LDH, HR=2.041, 95% CI: 1.403-2.968; HR=1.725, 95% CI: 1.233-2.414; HR=2.492, 95% CI: 1.690-3.672, respectively). After PSM, SII was still an independent prognostic factor of OS, PFS and DMFS in NPC patients ( HR=1.52, 95% CI: 1.09-2.12; HR=1.52, 95% CI: 1.15-2.00; HR=1.82, 95% CI: 1.26-2.63, respectively). Combined with N 2-3 stage, SII (>447.2×10 9/L), and LDH (>198.9 U/L), patients were divided into high-(3 risk factors), intermediate- (2 risk factors) and low-risk (0-1 risk factors) groups. The 5-year OS rates of patients in low-, intermediate- and high-risk groups were 86.1%, 79.8% and 41.2% respectively, the 5-year PFS rates were 80.7%, 70.2% and 33.9% respectively, and the 5-year DMFS rates were 88.9%, 79.2% and 47.5% respectively. There were significant differences in OS, PFS and DMFS among these three groups ( P<0.001). Distant metastasis was the main failure pattern in low-, intermediate- and high-risk groups, and the highest rate of distant metastasis was 83.3% (15/31) in high-risk group. ROC curve of the risk stratification model for predicting 5-year OS of NPC patients is 0.610, which is higher than TNM stage (0.609), SII (0.574) and LDH (0.558). Conclusions:Pretreatment SII and LDH are significantly correlated with the prognosis of patients with non-metastatic NPC. The combination of SII, LDH and N stage can stratify the prognostic risk of NPC patients. The risk stratification model can enhance the accuracy of prognosis.

Rapid development of high-throughput technologies has permitted the identification of an increasing number of disease-associated genes (DAGs), which are important for understanding disease initiation and developing precision therapeutics. However, DAGs often contain large amounts of redundant or false positive information, leading to difficulties in quantifying and prioritizing potential relationships between these DAGs and human diseases. In this study, a network-oriented gene entropy approach (NOGEA) is proposed for accurately inferring master genes that contribute to specific diseases by quantitatively calculating their perturbation abilities on directed disease-specific gene networks. In addition, we confirmed that the master genes identified by NOGEA have a high reliability for predicting disease-specific initiation events and progression risk. Master genes may also be used to extract the underlying information of different diseases, thus revealing mechanisms of disease comorbidity. More importantly, approved therapeutic targets are topologically localized in a small neighborhood of master genes in the interactome network, which provides a new way for predicting drug-disease associations. Through this method, 11 old drugs were newly identified and predicted to be effective for treating pancreatic cancer and then validated by in vitro experiments. Collectively, the NOGEA was useful for identifying master genes that control disease initiation and co-occurrence, thus providing a valuable strategy for drug efficacy screening and re-positioning. NOGEA codes are publicly available at https://github.com/guozihuaa/NOGEA.

Objective Comparation of the effects of intravenous lidocaine and dexmedetomidine on coughing during extubation after endoscopic thyroidectomy. Methods 60 patients who underwent endoscopic thyroidectomy were randomly divided into group L, group D and group C, each group included 20 cases. Group L were given a loading lidocaine 1.5 mg/kg over 10 minutes before anesthesia induction, followed by a continuous intravenous lidocaine 1.5 mg/ (kg·h) until 30 min before the end of surgery. Group D were given a loading dexmedetomidine 0.5μg/kg over 10 minutes before anesthesia induction, followed by a continuous intravenous dexmedetomidine 0.4 μg/ (kg · h) until 30 min before the end of surgery. Group C were given intravenous infusion of equal volume normal saline. The incidence and severity of coughing were recorded within 2 minutes after extubation. Hemodynamic variables were measured at T0 (before anaesthesia induction) , T1 (immediately after extubation) , and T2 (5 min after extubation). The volume of drainage was recorded within 24 hours after surgery. Results The incidence and grade of cough were significantly lower in group L and group D than in group C (P < 0.05). Compared with group L and group D, MAP and HR were significantly increased in group C at T1 and T2 (P < 0.05). Compared with group C, the volume of drainage was significantly reduced in group L and group D within 24 hours after surgery (P < 0.05).Conclusion Intravenous lidocaine and dexmedetomidine can effectively inhibit coughing during extubation period after endoscopic thyroidectomy, and there is no significant difference between the two treatments.

Objective To explore the impact of arterial injury on distal limb blood supply in lower limb trauma. Meth?ods Retrospective analysis of 93 patients with different levels of lower limb arterial injury admitted to our hospital from June 2014 to August 2017. There were 84 males and 9 females aged 43.54±9.90 years (ranging 25-65 years). Revascularization was performed through open reduction. Patients were divided into three groups according to their arterial injury locations. Proximal ves?sels were along the superficial femoral artery, from its beginning to the point where it was divided into the descending genicular ar?tery and direct periosteal branches. Intermediate vessels were from the dividing point on the superficial femoral artery to the popli?teal artery before it was divided into the medial inferior genicular artery. Distal vessels were from the dividing point on the poplite?al artery to the distal end of the peroneal artery. The duration from injury to revascularization in the three groups were 13.67±5.99 h, 11.15±4.43 h, and 11.92±5.48 h, respectively. There was no significant difference between groups (F=1.564, P=0.215). ISS in the three groups were 13.00±3.74, 12.77±3.81, and 11.50±3.99, respectively. There was no significant difference between groups (F=1.445, P=0.241). The following items were compared among the three groups, postoperative creatine kinase, arterial blood lac?tate and limb compartment cut. Results Creatine kinase of the intermediate vascular group was 8 743.15±6 968.48 u/L, proximal vascular group 1 467.67±1 810.27 u/L, distal vascular group 2 893.51±1 304.56 u/L. The data of intermediate vascular group were higher than those of proximal and distal vascular groups with significant difference among the groups (F=22.587,P=0.000). The lactate of the intermediate vascular group was 3.20 ± 1.51 mmol/L, proximal vascular group 1.63 ± 0.46 mmol/L, distal vascular group 1.85±0.69 mmol/L with significant difference among the groups (F=20.612,P=0.000). The compartment cut of the intermedi?ate vascular group was incised in 24, but not in 15. The proximal vascular group was not incised in 18, while 15 was incised and 21 not incised in distal vascular group. The rates of compartment cut were 61.5%, 0 and 41.7%, respectively with significant differ? ences (χ2=19.156, P=0.000). Conclusion In lower limb injuries, the intermediate vascular (from the superficial femoral artery after it is divided into the descending genicular artery and direct periosteal branches to the popliteal artery before it is divided into the medial inferior genicular artery) injury leads to the most severe distal limb ischemia.

Objective: The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the prognostic significance of pretreatment Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio(NLR) in locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC) patients treated with thoracic radiotherapy. Methods: We retrospectively analyze 420 patients who received thoracic radiotherapy alone, sequential chemoraiotherapy or concurrent chemoradiotherapy for locally advanced stage NSCLC from January 2007 to December 2010 of our hospital. The patients were divided into two groups (high NLR group and low NLR group) with appropriate cutoff point using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve method. The survival curve was established by Kaplan-Meier method. The Log-rank test was used to compare the survival of the two NLR groups and the multivariate analysis was carried out by Cox regression model. Results: Among the 420 patients, 99 received radiotherapy alone, 139 received sequential chemoradiotherapy and 182 received concurrent chemoradiotherapy. 345 patients died and 75 were still alive. The median follow-up time was 5.2 years and the median overall survival was 22 months. The cut-off value of pretreatment NLR was 2.1. The 5-year PFS and OS rates in high NLR group and low NLR group were 10.6% vs 15.7% (P=0.033) and 15.5% vs 22.7% (P=0.012). Multivariate analysis confirmed that pretreatment NLR (hazard ratio 1.06, P=0.041) was independent prognostic factor of OS. Conclusions Our study revealed that the pretreatment NLR is the independent prognostic factor of OS in patients with locally advanced stage NSCLC treated with thoracic radiotherapy. However, NLR is still greatly influenced by patient′s condition and treatment which needs further research.