Objective:To develop a convenient,economical and stable model of acute lung inflammation in mice.Methods:BALB/c mice were inhaled intranasally with 50 ?L of LPS(1 g/L) or sterile PBS,and sacrificed at different time points after being anaesthetized.The bronchoalveolar lavage fluid(BALF) was collected,and the lungs were separated and homogenated or embedded and sliced to 5 ?m sections,which were then stained by HE to determine the severity of inflammation.The inflammatory cell infiltration in bronchoalveolar lavage was counted and IL-1?,the pro-inflammatory cytokine,measured by ELISA in lung homogenate and BALF.Results:The data showed that administration with 50 ?g of LPS(1 g/L) for 2 h resulted in significant inflammation in the lung.LPS mainly stimulated the recruitment of neutrophils within 24 h.And LPS was a quick revulsant of IL-1? production in BALF and in lung tissue between 4 and 24 h.Macrophages and lymphocytes recruited after 1 day,and sustained for at least 3 days.Conclusion:The results indicate that intranasal administration of LPS can induce a rapid and stable acute inflammatory model in mice.

Objective To investigate the regulation of T cells in the process of liver regeneration using a model of mice after 70% liver resection.Methods We performed 70% hepatectomy in T-cell-deficient mice and control mice.The liver mass and body mass ratio, BrdU infiltration level, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA),expression of M phase marker protein p-HDAC3, and serum transaminase levels were measured.Results The recovery of liver mass and body mass ratio of thymus-deficient mice occurred significantly later than that of control mice.The peak time of BrdU infiltration levels and the expression of PCNA and p-HDAC3 in T-cell-deficient mice were later than in control mice, but the degree of liver injury was lower.Conclusion T cells are involved in the regulation of liver regeneration, and the absence of T cells delays the process of liver regeneration.

Objective To investigate the correlation between family cohesion and adaptability and quality of life in patients with enterostomy. Methods Using Chinese version of Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scale (FACESⅡ-CV) and Chinese version of Stoma-Quality of Life (STOMA-QOL-C) to investigate the status of family cohesion and adaptability, family type and their impact on quality of life of 110 patients with enterostomy. Results Scores of family cohesion and adaptability averaged 59.15 ± 11.94, 47.32 ± 9.40,were significantly lower than 63.90 ± 8.00 and 50.90 ± 6.20 in the norm,and the difference was statistically significant (t=-4.171,-3.990, P<0.01).The family cohesion was positively correlated with the score of quality of life, social interaction and psychological burden(r=0.274, 0.284, 0.263, P<0.05), and the family adaptability was positively correlated with the score of quality of life,social interaction and psychological burden(r=0.316, 0.338, 0.228, P<0.05 or 0.01). The balance type family was 30 cases;scores of quality of life averaged 45.10±7.26, the intermediate type family was 50 cases;scores of quality of life averaged 43.48±9.98, the extreme type family was 28 cases;scores of quality of life averaged 43.37 ± 16.68, and difference between the three was no statistically significant(F=0.442, P=0.665). Conclusions In the nursing process of patients with enterostomy, health care workers should pay attention to improve family cohesion and adaptability, as to achieve the purpose of improving the quality of life of the patients.

Objective To explore the effect of improving formative assessment inside classroom in the undergraduate education of anesthesiology by means of mobile application program (APP) based on in-ternet platform. Methods 195 students of the department of Anesthesiology first received conventional method (control group) and then received APP based on internet platform method (experimental group). In the control group, paper cards were used for in-class test and attendance rate was calculated by roll call. The experimental group used mobile APP to scan two-dimensional code for in-class test and calculated attendance rate. Afterwards, the implementation effect of formative assessment in classroom was compared between the two groups. Results The time-consuming of class-room test and score analysis in experimental group were lower than that of the control group (1.2 min/course hour vs. 18 min/course hour,6 min/course hour vs. 56 min/course hour). The attendance rate and score of test had no significant difference (98.3% vs. 100%, 17.2 vs. 17.5). The questionnaire survey showed students were satisfied with the new teaching method (98.5%) because of its convenience (100%), objectivity (97.4%), feasibility (98.5%), less workload (100%), enthusiasm stimulation (97.4%), and better teaching effect (100%) in experimental group. Conclusion The mobile application program (APP) based on internet platform is a convenient, accurate and objective method which has positive effects to improve formative assessment inside classroom in undergraduate education of anesthesiology. It is a new scientific and low-cost teaching method, which deserves further promotion.

Objective To construct a recombinant adenovirus carrying UL138 gene, which was re-lated to the latent infection of human cytomegalovirus, and to investigate the effects of UL138 gene on the functions of THP-1 mononuclear cells. Methods The recombinant adenovirus expressing the UL138 gene was packaged. The titer of the recombinant adenovirus was determined by calculating 50% tissue culture in-fective dose ( TCID50 ) . THP-1 mononuclear cells were infected with the recombinant adenovirus at different multiplicity of infection (MOI) and the optimal MOI was determined (100 PFU/cell) by observing the ex-pression of green fluorescent protein ( GFP ) . Changes in the expression of proinflammatory cytokines by THP-1 mononuclear cells that was induced by overexpressed UL138 were analyzed by quantitative PCR. The expression of chemokines and their receptors were measured by quantitative PCR array. Results The re-combinant adenovirus carrying the UL138 gene was successfully constructed with a titer of 1×1011 PFU/ml. The rate of THP-1 mononuclear cells that was infected with the recombinant adenovirus was 60% at the MOI of 1 ∶ 100. Results of the RT-PCR analysis and Western blot assay further confirmed that the recombinant adenovirus could infect THP-1 mononuclear cells successfully and the expression of UL138 protein increased gradually over time. The overexpressed UL138 in THP-1 mononuclear cells significantly inhibited the expres-sion of IL-18, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-α as indicated by the results of quantitative PCR. Results ob-tained from the quantitative PCR array analysis showed that most of the chemokines and their receptors were downregulated in the transfected THP-1 mononuclear cells except for the chemokines of CCL17, CCL21, CCL2 and XCL2 and the receptors of CCR2, CXCR1, CXCR2, CXCR4 and CX3CR1 which were upregulat-ed. Conclusion We successfully constructed the recombinant adenovirus carrying UL138 gene which could be used to infect THP-1 mononuclear cells. Overexpressed UL138 in THP-1 mononuclear cells significantly affected the functions of THP-1 mononuclear cells.

Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in adult men. Heat shock proteins (HSPs),as molecular chaperones widely involved in the pathogenesis,diagnosis,treatment and prognosis of various cancers,play crucial biological functions in prostate cancer and it can be considered as valuable biomarkers for cancer therapy, such as prostate-specific membrane antigen. As a member of the heat shock protein family, HSP27 is related to prostate cancer castration resistance,and its expression can promote tumor resistance,invasion and bone metastasis,making prostate cancer more invulnerable to treatments. Therefore,targeting HSP27 in prostate cancer can be perceived as one promising cancer treatment strategy. This article reviews the structure and function of HSP27,and its potential role on castration resistance and targeted therapy in order to provide a new theoretical basis for the clinical treatment of prostate cancer.

Objective:To investigate the feasibility of a three-dimensional no new U-Net (3D nnU-Net) deep learning (DL) network for the automatic segmentation of colorectal cancer (CRC) based on abdominal CT images.Methods:This was a cross-sectional study. From January 2018 to May 2023, a total of 2180 primary CRC patients, confirmed by pathology at the Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine (center 1, n=777), Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University (center 2, n=732), and Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital (center 3, n=671), were enrolled in this retrospective study. The baseline abdominal CT examination of each patient was conducted using CT equipment from 7 different models across 4 vendors, at the 3 centers, encompassing both the arterial phase (AP) and venous phase (VP). Two radiologists manually delineated the volume of interest to circumscribe the entire tumors in dual-enhanced phase CT images. The CT data of CRC patients from center 1 and center 3 were merged and divided into a training set ( n=1 159) and a validation set ( n=289) using a weighted random method with a ratio of 4∶1. The patients from center 2 were used as an independent external test set ( n=732). The 3D nnU-Net segmentation model was trained and tested. Using manually annotated label data as the benchmark, segmentation performance of the model was evaluated based on different phases and tumor locations. The segmentation coverage rate (SCR), Dice similarity coefficient (DSC), recall (REC), precision (PRE), F1-score, and 95% Hausdorff distance (HD 95) were calculated. The mean manual segmentation time and the mean automatic time were compared using independent samples t-test. Results:In the independent external test set, the performance of the 3D nnU-Net model based on the AP CT images was superior to that based on the VP CT images. On the AP images, the SCR, DSC, REC, PRE, F1-score, and HD 95 were 0.865, 0.714, 0.716, 0.736, 0.714, and 27.228, respectively; on the VP images, they were 0.834, 0.679, 0.710, 0.675, 0.679, and 29.358, respectively. The model achieved the best performance on right-sided colon cancer, with SCR, DSC, REC, PRE, F1-score, and HD95 on the AP CT images at 0.901, 0.775, 0.780, 0.787, 0.775, and 21.793, respectively. Next were left-sided colon cancer and rectal cancer, while the segmentation performance for transverse colon cancer was the worst (SCR, DSC, REC, PRE, F1-score, and HD 95 were 0.731, 0.631, 0.641, 0.630, 0.631 and 38.721, respectively). The automatic segmentation time on a single phase was (1.0±0.3) min, while the manual segmentation time was (17.5±6.0) min ( t=128.24, P<0.001). Conclusions:After training and validating on a dataset from multiple centers with various CT scanner vendors, the 3D nnU-Net DL model demonstrates the capability to automatically segment CRC based on abdominal CT images, while also showcasing commendable robustness and generalization ability.

Objective:To explore the value of dual-layer detector spectral CT quantitative parameters in evaluating the treatment response of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC).Methods:The study was a cross-sectional study. From May 2021 to March 2023, a total of 52 patients with LARC who received complete nCRT and were pathologically confirmed rectal adenocarcinoma at the Guangdong Province Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine were retrospectively enrolled. Each patient underwent spectral CT examination before and after nCRT, including plain scan, arterial phase (AP), and venous phase (VP) scans. According to the tumor regression grade, the patients were divided into the good response ( n=20) and the poor response group ( n=32). Measurements of the primary tumor′s spectral CT parameters, including effective atomic number (Z eff) at plain scan, iodine concentration (IC), CT values of 40 keV and 100 keV virtual monochromatic image (VMI) at dual-enhanced phases, were taken before and after nCRT. Additionally, the normalized iodine concentration (NIC), spectral curve slope (λHU), and the change rate of the above parameters before and after nCRT were calculated. The independent sample t-test or Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the differences between the two groups. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to assess the efficacy of various metrics in evaluating the tumor treatment response of nCRT. A binary logistic regression analysis of combined parameter results was performed for the parameters with the areas under curve (AUC)>0.75, and the AUC of the combined parameter was evaluated. Results:There were significant differences in NIC AP and λHU VP before nCRT, NIC VP and λHU VP after nCRT, and the change rates of Z eff, NIC AP, NIC VP and λHU AP between the good response group and the poor response group ( P<0.05). The remaining parameters showed no statistically significant difference ( P>0.05). The ROC curve results showed that the AUCs of the above 8 parameters for evaluating tumor treatment response of nCRT were 0.702, 0.655, 0.695, 0.769, 0.738, 0.807, 0.791, and 0.677, respectively. The AUC of the combined model of the three parameters with AUC>0.75 (λHU VP after nCRT, the change rate of NIC AP and NIC VP) was 0.869, with 80.0% sensitivity and 84.4% specificity. Conclusion:The quantitative parameters derived from spectral CT may provide new markers for evaluating the response to nCRT treatment in patients with LARC. The multi-parameter combined model can improve diagnostic efficacy.

Background Preterm birth-related complications are the leading cause of death in newborns and children under the age of 5 years. Maternal heat exposure has been associated with both sleep status during pregnancy and the increased risk of preterm birth. However, whether sleep status could mediate the association between heat exposure and preterm birth remains unclear. Objective To evaluate the association between maternal heat exposure in early pregnancy and preterm birth, and to further explore potential mediation effect of sleep status on the association between heat exposure and preterm birth. Methods A birth cohort was established in Guangzhou Panyu Maternal Child Health Hospital (Guangzhou Panyu District He Xian Memorial Hospital) from 2017 until now. Pregnant women (with gestational age between 8 and 13 weeks) were included in this study when they presented to the hospital for their first prenatal care visit and signed an informed consent. Then they were followed up until delivery. A total of 3 268 pregnant women were included for the final analysis. Questionnaires were distributed to collect the demographic characteristics, lifestyles, and sleep status of pregnant women. Daily meteorological data during the study period were collected from meteorological monitoring stations in Guangzhou and the average ambient mean temperature of four weeks before the survey was calculated and assigned for each pregnancy. The 75th, 80th, 85th, 90th, and 95th percentiles (P₇₅, P₈₀, P₈₅, P₉₀, and P₉₅) of the average ambient temperature of all pregnant women were used as the thresholds to define heat exposure. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the effects of heat exposure in different definitions on preterm birth and sleep status (sleep duration, night sleep timing, and wake up timing). The mediation effects of sleep status on the relationship between heat exposure and preterm birth were also analyzed. Results Among all the included participants, 165 newborns were preterm births with an incidence rate of 5.0%. Heat exposures with thresholds of P₉₀ and P₉₅ increased the risk of preterm birth, with ORs (95%CIs) of 1.66 (1.04-2.57) and 1.90 (1.03-3.33), respectively (P<0.05). Heat exposures with thresholds of P₇₅, P₈₀, P₈₅, P₉₀, and P₉₅ decreased the sleep duration (<9 h vs. ≥9 h, control group: ≥9 h), and the ORs (95%CIs) were 1.51 (1.25-1.83), 1.44 (1.17-1.77), 1.35 (1.08-1.70), 1.43 (1.09-1.87), and 1.45 (1.00-2.13), respectively. Heat exposures with P₇₅ and P₈₀ thresholds resulted in earlier wake up timing (<8: 00 vs. ≥8: 00, control group: <8: 00), with ORs (95%CIs) of 0.77 (0.63-0.93) and 0.76(0.61-0.93), respectively. No significant association was observed between heat exposure and night sleep timing. The mediation analyses showed that under heat exposure with P₉₀ threshold, a statistically significant mediation effect was observed for sleep duration, and the proportion mediated was 6.07% (95%CI: 0.17%-25.00%) (P<0.05). No significant mediation effect was observed for night sleep timing and wake up timing. Conclusion An elevated risk of preterm birth after heat exposure in early pregnancy may be partly mediated through reducing sleep duration.

Metabolic syndrome has become a global epidemic that adversely affects human health. Both genetic and environmental factors contribute to the pathogenesis of metabolic disorders; however, the mechanisms that integrate these cues to regulate metabolic physiology and the development of metabolic disorders remain incompletely defined. Emerging evidence suggests that SWI/SNF chromatin-remodeling complexes are critical for directing metabolic reprogramming and adaptation in response to nutritional and other physiological signals. The ATP-dependent SWI/SNF chromatin-remodeling complexes comprise up to 11 subunits, among which the BAF60 subunit serves as a key link between the core complexes and specific transcriptional factors. The BAF60 subunit has three members, BAF60a, b, and c. The distinct tissue distribution patterns and regulatory mechanisms of BAF60 proteins confer each isoform with specialized functions in different metabolic cell types. In this review, we summarize the emerging roles and mechanisms of BAF60 proteins in the regulation of nutrient sensing and energy metabolism under physiological and disease conditions.
Chromatin Assembly and Disassembly ; DNA-Binding Proteins ; metabolism ; Disease ; Humans ; Metabolism ; Nutrients ; metabolism ; Signal Transduction