Objective:To investigate the value of intratumoral and peritumoral radiomics features of multi-parameter MRI in evaluation of the status of human epithelial growth factor receptor 2 in breast cancer.Methods:The clinical, pathological and imaging data of 340 patients with pathologically confirmed breast cancer in Henan Provincial People′s Hospital from September 2019 to December 2020 were retrospectively collected. All patients were female, 48 (42, 55) years old. All patients underwent multi-parameter breast MRI before surgery, including dynamic contrast-enhanced T 1WI (DCE-T 1WI), fat-suppressed T 2WI (T 2WI) and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). The region of interest (ROI) for lesions were manually delineated and the segmented ROIs were zoomed in ring shape by 4 mm to acquire ROI intra and ROI prei, respectively. Then six sets of radiomics features were extracted from ROI intra and ROI prei of DCE-T 1WI, T 2WI and DWI. The cases were divided into a training set (272 cases) and a test set (68 cases) by stratified sampling at a ratio of 4∶1. The Mann-Whitney U test, Select K Best and minimum absolute contraction and selection operator were used for feature selection of the 6 sets of radiomics features. The feature subsets after reduction were used to construct independent and combined radiomics signatures with support vector machine algorithm to predict the HER2 status of breast cancer. Receiver operating characteristic curve was generated and area under curve (AUC) was calculated to compare the prediction performance of different models. Results:Of the 340 patients, 80 were HER2-positive and 260 were HER2-negative. Among the radiomics signatures based on single sequence, the DWI peri showed the best performance in predicting HER2 status of breast cancer, with an AUC of 0.678 for the test set. Among the combination of intratumoral and peritumoral radiomics signatures based on same sequence, the DWI intra+DWI peri had the highest prediction value, achieving an AUC of 0.774 for the testing set. Among the intratumoral or peritumoral radiomics signatures derived from two different sequences, the DCE-T 1WI intra+DWI intra and T 2WI peri+DWI peri showed the best predictive performance, yielding AUC of 0.766 and 0.769 in the testing set, respectively. Among the combination of intratumoral or peritumoral radiomics signatures derived from all 3 sequences or combinations of all features, the DCE-T 1WI intra+T 2WI intra+DWI intra+DCE-T 1WI peri+T 2WI peri+DWI peri obtained the highest prediction efficiency, with an AUC of 0.913 for the testing set. Conclusion:The radiomics features of intratumoral and peritumoral regions based on multi-parameter MRI have a certain value in non-invasive evaluation of HER2 status of breast cancer, which can help clinicians to provide scientific basis for decision-making of targeted therapy in patients with breast cancer.

Ferroptosis is a newly discovered method of programmed cell death. Current studies have shown that activation of ferroptosis-related pathways can inhibit the growth and proliferation of tumor cells and reverse their drug resistance. Oral cancer is a common malignant tumor with a high recurrence rate and high drug resistance. Inducing ferroptosis is a potential treatment strategy. There are still many uncertainties in the application of ferroptosis in the treatment of oral cancer, which need to be further explored. This article systematically introduces the mechanism of ferroptosis and its recent progress in oral cancer treatment to provide new mechanisms and methods for the clinical treatment of oral cancer. Current research shows that the mechanism of ferroptosis is mainly related to amino acid metabolism, Fe2+ metabolism, and lipid metabolism. Ferroptosis in oral cancer cells can reverse drug resistance in cancer cells and improve the activity of immune cells. New drugs, such as curcumin analogs and triptolide, can induce ferroptosis in oral cancer, and the development of nanomaterials has improved the utilization rate of drugs. Inhibiting the expression of the ferroptosis-related factors SLC7A11, NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), and ferritin heavy chain 1 (FTH1) can promote ferroptosis in oral cancer cells. It is a potential target for the clinical treatment of oral cancer, but its translation into clinical practice still needs further research.

OBJECTIVES: At present, there are many reports about the treatment of cricopharyngeal achalasia by injecting botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A) into cricopharyngeal muscle guided by ultrasound, electromyography or CT in China, but there is no report about injecting BTX-A into cricopharyngeal muscle guided by endoscope. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of endoscopic BTX-A injection combined with balloon dilatation in the treatment of cricopharyngeal achalasia after brainstem stroke, and to provide a better method for the treatment of dysphagia after brainstem stroke. METHODS: From June to December 2022, 30 patients with cricopharyngeal achalasia due to brainstem stroke were selected from the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, the First Hospital of Changsha. They were randomly assigned into a control group and a combined group, 15 patients in each group. Patients in both groups were treated with routine rehabilitation therapy, while patients in the control group were treated with balloon dilatation, and patients in the combined group were treated with balloon dilatation and BTX-A injection. Before treatment and after 2 weeks of treatment, the patients were examined by video fluoroscopic swallowing study, Penetration-aspiration Scale (PAS), Dysphagia Outcome Severity Scale (DOSS), and Functional Oral Intake Scale (FOIS) were used to assess the swallowing function. RESULTS: In the combined group, 1 patient withdrew from the treatment because of personal reasons. Two weeks after treatment, the scores of DOSS, PAS, and FOIS in both groups were better than those before treatment (all P<0.01), and the combined group was better than the control group (all P<0.001). The effective rate was 85.7% in the combined group and 66.7% in the control group, with no significant difference between the 2 groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS BTX-A injection combined with balloon dilatation is more effective than balloon dilatation alone in improving swallowing function and is worthy of clinical application.
Humans ; Deglutition Disorders/therapy* ; Esophageal Achalasia/drug therapy* ; Dilatation/adverse effects* ; Botulinum Toxins, Type A/therapeutic use* ; Brain Stem Infarctions/drug therapy* ; Treatment Outcome

Objective:To assess the role of arterial spin labeling (ASL) in detecting the blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability of cerebral infarction lesions in patients with anterior circulation subacute ischemic stroke (SIS), and to evaluate the value of ASL in predicting hemorrhagic transformation (HT) of SIS patients after endovascular recanalization.Methods:A prospective analysis was performed. Patients with anterior circulation SIS who received endovascular treatment (EVT) in our hospital from January 2021 to September 2021 were enrolled. At 24 h before EVT and immediately after EVT, MRI scans of ASL sequences and dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance (DCE) sequence were completed, and Xper CT was performed; accordingly, imaging typing was performed. Head CT scan was performed 24-48 h after EVT to observe HT; according to the presence or absence of HT, these patients were divided into HT group and non-HT group; the relative cerebral blood flow (rCBF) values of ASL sequence parameters, volume transfer constant (K trans) of DCE sequence parameters and the differences of ASL, DCE and Xper CT imaging types between the two groups were compared. The weighted Kappa coefficient was used to test the consistency among ASL, DCE and Xper CT imaging types. Results:Among 22 eligible patients, 5 patients occurred HT (5/22, 22.72%). As compared with those in the non-HT group (1.14±0.04; 0.032[0.024, 0.039]/min), patients in the HT group had significantly higher rCBF value (1.57±0.18) and K trans (0.072[0.0455, 0.117]/min, P<0.05). There were significant differences in the distribution of ASL, DCE and Xper CT imaging types between the two groups ( P<0.05); among them, 4 out of 6 patients with ASL imaging type III, 4 out of 6 patients with DCE imaging type III, and 4 out of 5 patients with Xper CT imaging type III had HT. ASL sequence and DCE sequence had a high consistency in the imaging types (Kappa coefficient=0.941, 95%CI: 0.862-1.020, P<0.001). Conclusion:ASL can effectively evaluate the BBB permeability of cerebral infarction lesions in patients with anterior circulation SIS; patients with ASL imaging type III have a relatively high risk of HT.

Objective:To assess the role of arterial spin labeling (ASL) in detecting the blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability of cerebral infarction lesions in patients with anterior circulation subacute ischemic stroke (SIS), and to evaluate the value of ASL in predicting hemorrhagic transformation (HT) of SIS patients after endovascular recanalization.Methods:A prospective analysis was performed. Patients with anterior circulation SIS who received endovascular treatment (EVT) in our hospital from January 2021 to September 2021 were enrolled. At 24 h before EVT and immediately after EVT, MRI scans of ASL sequences and dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance (DCE) sequence were completed, and Xper CT was performed; accordingly, imaging typing was performed. Head CT scan was performed 24-48 h after EVT to observe HT; according to the presence or absence of HT, these patients were divided into HT group and non-HT group; the relative cerebral blood flow (rCBF) values of ASL sequence parameters, volume transfer constant (K trans) of DCE sequence parameters and the differences of ASL, DCE and Xper CT imaging types between the two groups were compared. The weighted Kappa coefficient was used to test the consistency among ASL, DCE and Xper CT imaging types. Results:Among 22 eligible patients, 5 patients occurred HT (5/22, 22.72%). As compared with those in the non-HT group (1.14±0.04; 0.032[0.024, 0.039]/min), patients in the HT group had significantly higher rCBF value (1.57±0.18) and K trans (0.072[0.0455, 0.117]/min, P<0.05). There were significant differences in the distribution of ASL, DCE and Xper CT imaging types between the two groups ( P<0.05); among them, 4 out of 6 patients with ASL imaging type III, 4 out of 6 patients with DCE imaging type III, and 4 out of 5 patients with Xper CT imaging type III had HT. ASL sequence and DCE sequence had a high consistency in the imaging types (Kappa coefficient=0.941, 95%CI: 0.862-1.020, P<0.001). Conclusion:ASL can effectively evaluate the BBB permeability of cerebral infarction lesions in patients with anterior circulation SIS; patients with ASL imaging type III have a relatively high risk of HT.

Objective : To investigate the expression of brain expressed X-linked gene 1(Bex1) and nuclear factor-kBp65 (NF-kBp65) in tongue squamous cell carcinoma, and its significance. Methods: Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of Bex1 and NF-kBp65 in 60 tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) tissues and adjacent normal tissues, and the relationships between Bex1, NF-kBp65 and the clinicopathological features and prognosis of patients were analyzed. Results : The positive expression rate of Bex1 in TSCC was 48.3% (29/60), which was significantly lower than that in adjacent normal tissues 88.3% (53/60) (x2=22.18, P < 0.01). The positive rate of Bex1 was negatively correlated with TNM stage, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The positive rate of 63.3% (38/60) in TSCC was significantly higher than 20% (12/60) in adjacent normal tissues (x2=23.18, P < 0.01), the positive rate of NF-kBp65 was positively correlated with TNM stage, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). According to the Pearson correlation analysis results, the expression of Bex1 and NF-kBp65 in TSCC tissues was negatively correlated (r=-0.302, P=0.019). Kaplan-Meier survival curves showed that the survival rate of Bex1 positive patients was significantly higher than that of Bex1 negative patients. Conclusion In TSCC tissues, the low positive expression rate of Bex1 and the high positive expression rate of NF-kBp65 may promote tumor invasion and metastasis, and the negative expression of Bex1 may be related to the poor prognosis of patients.

Objective:To explore the value of mammography-based radiomics for preoperative prediction of axillary lymph node metastasis in breast carcinoma.Methods:The clinical and X-ray data of female patients with pathologically confirmed breast cancer in Henan People′s Hospital from June 2013 to July 2017 were analyzed retrospectively. A total of 214 patients, aged 30-85 (53±11) years, were randomly divided into training set ( n=153) and verification set ( n=61) according to the ratio of 3∶1. According to pathological findings of the axillary lymph node metastasis, 99 cases were divided into positive group and 115 cases into negative group. The lesions were segmented and extracted in X-ray images of mediolateral oblique (MLO) and cranial caudal (CC). Three, nine and seven axillary lymph node metastasis related histologic features were selected from the high dimensional features of CC, MLO and CC combined MLO images by lasso regression model. According to the characteristics of imaging and clinical characteristics, the prediction model was constructed. The prediction ability of the model was verified by 10% cross validation. Results:The lymph node in positive group was larger than negative groups, the difference was statistically significant ( t=2.611, P<0.05). In the validation set, the area under curve (AUC) values of CC, MLO, CC combined with MLO images, clinical features and clinical features combined with CC and MLO images were 0.680, 0.723, 0.740, 0.558 and 0.714, respectively. Among them, CC combined with MLO images had the highest prediction efficiency, and AUC values were higher than CC alone, MLO images and CC combined with MLO images. Conclusions:Quantitative radiomics features of breast tumor extracted from digital mammograms are helpful for preoperatively predicting axillary lymph node metastasis. Future larger studies are needed to further evaluate these findings.

Objective:To explore the value of radiomics features extracted from multi-parameter MRI (mp-MRI) in preoperative prediction of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) and non triple negative breast cancer (NTNBC).Methods:The clinical and preoperative-MRI data of 371 patients with breast cancer confirmed by surgical pathology from January 2017 to July 2019 in Henan Provincial People′s Hospital were retrospectively analyzed. Based on the results of immunohistochemistry (IHC) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) from postoperative pathological specimens, the cancer was classified as TNBC and NTNBC. Patients were randomly assigned to a training set ( n=250) and a validation set ( n=121). Quantitative radiomics features were extracted from three-dimensional lesions based on dynamic contrast enhanced-T 1WI (DCE-T 1WI) and fat-suppressed T 2WI sequences, and 32 quantitative radiomics features were selected by Mann-Whitney U test, elastic network, and support vector machine recursive feature elimination. Three radiomics signatures were constructed by using the algorithm of support vector machine based on the quantitative radiomics features extracted from fat-suppressed T 2WI, DCE-T 1WI and the mp-MRI of their combination. The prediction performances were evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and the area under the ROC curve, accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity were calculated. Results:There were 61 patients with TNBC and 310 patients with NTNBC. The clinicopathological characteristics between NTNBC and TNBC were statistically different in the pathological grade (χ2=24.544, P<0.001). Other clinicopathological characteristics (age, maximum diameter of mass, vascular tumor thrombus, axillary lymph nodes) were not statistically differences between NTNBC and TNBC ( P>0.05). The radiomics signature presenting the best performance for predictive TNBC and NTNBC were based on mp-MRI radiomics features. The area under the ROC curve, accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity were 0.91[95% confidence interval (CI) 0.881-0.932], 86.0%, 84.4% and 86.3% in training set, and 0.84 (95%CI 0.807-0.868), 75.2%, 68.7% and 76.1%, in validation set, respectively. Conclusion:Radiomics based on mp-MRI features can be a effectively potential tool for predictive TNBC and NTNBC breast cancer and provide scientific basis for clinicians to make treatment decisions.

Objective: To observe effects of exogenous high mobility group protein box 1 (HMGB1) on angiogenesis in ischemic zone of early scald wounds of rats. Methods: Thirty-six Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into HMGB1 group and simple scald (SS) group according to the random number table, with 18 rats in each group. Comb-like copper mould was placed on the back of rats for 20 s after being immersed in 100 ℃ hot water for 3 to 5 min to make three ischemic zones of wound. Immediately after scald, rats in HMGB1 group were subcutaneously injected with 0.4 μg HMGB1 and 0.1 mL phosphate buffer solution (PBS), and rats in SS group were subcutaneously injected with 0.1 mL PBS from boarders of ischemic zone of scald wound. At post scald hour (PSH) 24, 48, and 72, 6 rats in each group were collected. Protein expressions of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in ischemic zone of wound at PSH 24, 48, and 72 and protein expressions of CD31 in ischemic zone of wound at PSH 48 and 72 were detected by immunohistochemistry. The number of microvessel in CD31 immunohistochemical sections of ischemic zone of wound at PSH 48 and 72 was calculated after observing by the microscope. The mRNA expressions of VEGF and CD31 in ischemic zone of wound were detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction at PSH 24, 48, and 72. Data were processed with analysis of variance of factorial design, t test, and Bonferroni correction. Results: (1) At PSH 24, 48, and 72, protein expressions of VEGF in ischemic zone of wound of rats in HMGB1 group were significantly higher than those of rats in SS group (t=7.496, 4.437, 5.402, P<0.05 or P<0.01). At PSH 48 and 72, protein expressions of CD31 in ischemic zone of wound of rats in HMGB1 group were 0.038 8±0.007 9 and 0.057 7±0.001 2 respectively, significantly higher than 0.013 4±0.004 9 and 0.030 3±0.004 0 of rats in SS group (t=10.257, 15.055, P<0.01). (2) At PSH 48 and 72, the number of microvessel in ischemic zone of wound of rats in HMGB1 group was obviously more than that of rats in SS group (t=3.536, 4.000, P<0.05). (3) At PSH 24, 48, and 72, mRNA expressions of VEGF in ischemic zone of wound of rats in HMGB1 group were significantly higher than those of rats in SS group (t=4.406, 3.821, 3.356, P<0.05). At PSH 24 and 48, mRNA expressions of CD31 in ischemic zone of wound of rats in HMGB1 group were significantly higher than those of rats in SS group (t=4.113, 3.466, P<0.05). At PSH 72, mRNA expressions of CD31 in ischemic zone of wound of rats in 2 groups were close (t=0.010, P>0.05). Conclusions Exogenous HMGB1 can promote angiogenesis in ischemic zone of early scald wounds of rats by increasing expressions of VEGF and CD31.

Objective To investigate the safety of endovascular thrombectomy in acute ischemic stroke patients with pre-existing intracranial aneurysms. Methods Seven patients with acute ischemic stroke combined with intracranial aneurysms, admitted to and received endovascular treatment in our hospital from January 2014 to December 2016, were chosen. The clinical data and safety were analyzed retrospectively. Results All patients with pre-existing intracranial aneurysms suffered acute large artery occlusion achieved successful endovascular re-canalization, and one patient suffered subarachnoid hemorrhage due to the rupture of aneurysm during the procedure. Three patients had grading 2b of Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarction (TICI), and 4 had grading 3 of TICI. Four patients had 0-2 scores of modified Rankin Scale (mRS), one had 3 scores, and two died. Conclusion Endovascular thrombectomy in acute ischemic stroke patients with pre-existing intracranial aneurysms is safe.