Humans ; Immunotherapy ; Neoplasms

Our study aimed to amplify and explain the items of statistical reporting requirements proposed by medical journals, and to improve the statistical reporting quality of medical articles. Statistical reporting requirements were obtained from the reporting standards published by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency of Health Research (EQUATOR) network, and the editorial board of Chinese Medical Journal, etc. The items involved in statistical reporting requirements were summarized as issues of study design, statistical analysis, and interpretation of results. Each item was amplified based on cases of original articles. It is noticeable that the statistical reporting requirements of English medical journals generally referring to guidance documents, including "Recommendations for the conduct, reporting, editing, and publication of scholarly work in medical journals" proposed by the ICMJE, or the statements for different study types published by the EQUATOR network, where the statistical reporting of medical articles had been detailed specified. The statistical reporting requirements of Chinese medical journals, however, were usually stated by the editorial boards. Although the formats and contents of statistical analysis had been regulated, the requirements of Chinese medical journals were to some extent insufficient and should be enhanced in accordance with the international standards. In conclusion, the amplification and explanation of statistical reporting requirements were expected to help investigators understand the requirements for statistical reporting in medical researches, so as to effectively improve the quality of medical articles.
Biomedical Research ; Editorial Policies ; Humans ; Periodicals as Topic/standards* ; Publishing/standards* ; Reference Standards ; Research Design

Colon cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths, while the virtual colonoscopy plays an important role in the early detection of colon cancer. Effective colon segmentation is the basis of virtual colonoscopy. Oral contrast agent can reduce the use of laxatives, but it can to bring some difficulties in the colon segmentation. Because of the partial volume effect, the CT value of air-tagging boundary span a wide range, which are not easily eliminated. We present an effective method of colon segmentation in this paper. Firstly, we used adaptive threshold method to extract air area. Then we segmented tagging region and removed air-tagging boundary by segment region growing method based on statistical information and morphological operation. The experiments showed that the agreement between the results by manual and by orithm segmentation reached 93.4%.
Algorithms ; Colon ; diagnostic imaging ; Colonography, Computed Tomographic ; methods ; Humans ; Pattern Recognition, Automated ; methods ; Radiographic Image Enhancement ; methods ; Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted ; methods

Schizophrenia (MIM 181500) is a complex disorder affecting approximately 1% of the population worldwide. Epidemiologic evidences, together with recent linkage and association studies, have clearly demonstrated the high heritability of schizophrenia (up to 80%). Uncovering the genetic mechanism of schizophrenia has became one of the greatest challenges for both psychiatry and genetics. In recent years, remarkable advances in the genetics of this disorder has been achieved with the rapid growth of human genome information and experiment technologies. Several candidate genes within some of the best-supported linkage regions have been reported and, more importantly, replicated. Moreover, these genes present a significant connection in the signaling pathways implicated in the development of schizophrenia, especially NMDA receptor-mediated glutamate transmission. In this review, we summarize the recent advances in the genetics of schizophrenia, focusing particularly on linkage disequilibrium analysis and the latest understanding of the neurobiology of the disorder.
Acyltransferases ; genetics ; Carrier Proteins ; genetics ; Dysbindin ; Dystrophin-Associated Proteins ; Humans ; Membrane Proteins ; genetics ; Nerve Tissue Proteins ; genetics ; Neuregulin-1 ; Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate ; genetics ; Schizophrenia ; genetics

Resveratrol (RES), a natural polyphenolic phytochemical, has been suggested as a putative anti-aging molecule for the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD) by the activation of sirtuin 1 (Sirt1/Sir2). In this study, we tested the effects of RES and Sirt1/Sir2 on sleep and courtship memory in a Drosophila model by overexpression of amyloid precursor protein (APP), whose duplications and mutations cause familial AD. We found a mild but significant transcriptional increase of Drosophila Sir2 (dSir2) by RES supplementation for up to 17 days in APP flies, but not for 7 days. RES and dSir2 almost completely reversed the sleep and memory deficits in APP flies. We further demonstrated that dSir2 acts as a sleep promotor in Drosophila neurons. Interestingly, RES increased sleep in the absence of dSir2 in dSir2-null mutants, and RES further enhanced sleep when dSir2 was either overexpressed or knocked down in APP flies. Finally, we showed that Aβ aggregates in APP flies were reduced by RES and dSir2, probably via inhibiting Drosophila β-secretase (dBACE). Our data suggest that RES rescues the APP-induced behavioral deficits and Aβ burden largely, but not exclusively, via dSir2.
Animals ; Alzheimer Disease/metabolism* ; Amyloid beta-Peptides ; Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor/metabolism* ; Drosophila/physiology* ; Drosophila Proteins/metabolism* ; Resveratrol/pharmacology* ; Sirtuin 1 ; Sleep

OBJECTIVETo explore the effects of umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells (UCBMC) transplantation on the neuronal apoptosis and the expression of Bcl-2 and Bax proteins in neonatal rats with hypoxic-ischemic brain damage (HIBD).

METHODSSeven-day-old Sprague-Dawley neonatal rats were randomly divided into normal control (N)+normal saline (NS), HIBD+NS, N+UCBMC, and HIBD+UCBMC groups. HIBD model was prepared using the classical Rice-Vannucci method. Twenty-four hours after HIBD, UCBMC were transplanted in the N+UCBMC and HIBD+UCBMC groups. Seven days after transplantation, NeuN/Cleaved-Caspase-3 double immunofluorescence staining and TUNEL methods were used to observe neural apoptosis in the cortex. The expression levels of Bax and Bcl-2 proteins were examined by Western blot analysis.

RESULTSThere were more NeuNcleaved Caspase-3DAPIand TUNELDAPIcells in the HIBD+NS group compared with the N+NS and N+UCBMC groups (P<0.01). There were less NeuNcleaved Caspase-3DAPIand TUNELDAPIcells in the HIBD+UCBMC group compared with the HIBD+NS group (P<0.01). The concentration of Bax protein was higher and that of Bcl-2 proteins was lower in the HIBD+NS group compared with the N+NS and N+UCBMC groups (P<0.01). The concentration of Bax protein in HIBD+UCBMC group was lower than that in the HIBD+NS group (P<0.01). The concentration of Bcl-2 protein was higher compared with the HIBD+NS, N+NS and N+UCBMC groups (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONSUCBMC transplantation via lateral ventricle can upregulate the expression of Bcl-2 protein and down-regulate the expression of Bax protein, thus alleviating brain neural apoptosis in neonatal rats with HIBD.

Animals ; Animals, Newborn ; Apoptosis ; Caspase 3 ; metabolism ; Cord Blood Stem Cell Transplantation ; methods ; Female ; Hypoxia-Ischemia, Brain ; metabolism ; pathology ; therapy ; Male ; Neurons ; pathology ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; analysis ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; bcl-2-Associated X Protein ; analysis

Objective To evaluate the left ventricular diastolic function of patients with normal left ventricular ejection fraction ( LVEF) by echocardiography and real‐time cardiac catheter measurement ,and improve the accuracy and reliability of echocardiographic diagnosis . Methods One hundred and twenty patients with know n or suspected coronary artery disease w ho underwent coronary angiography and left ventricular catheterization were prospectively selected from July 2017 to January 2018 in the Affiliated Hospital of Jiangsu University . According to the left ventricular end diastolic pressure ( LVEDP) real‐time measurement ,the patients were divided into groups of LVEDP ≤15 mm Hg ( 43 cases ) and LVEDP ＞ 15 mm Hg ( 77 cases) . General data were compared and the difference of echocardiographic parameters between the two groups were analyzed ,and the ROC curve of each echocardiographic parameter for diagnosing LVEDP was draw n . Results T he parameters including flow propagation velocity ( VP) ,the ratio of filling fraction of E and A ( E/A) ,early diastolic filling deceleration time ( DT ) ,the duration of mitral A ( A‐dur ,) mitral annulus velocity at the septal side ( e′sep) ,systolic pulmonary venous flow velocity ( PVs) ,diastolic pulmonary venous flow velocity ( PVd ) and PVs/PVd were used to the diagnosis of the increasing of LVEDP ,however their accuracies were low ( AUC between 0 .5～0 .7) . T he parameters including left atrial volume index ( LAVI ) , tricuspid regurgitation ( T Rmax ) ,mitral annulus velocity in lateral wall of left ventricle ( e′lat ) ,average e′,E/e′sep ,E/e′lat ,average E/e′,velocity of pulmonary vein atrial reversal ( PVa) ,pulmonary vein atrial reversal duration ( Pva‐dur) ,the difference between the duration of pulmonary venous A wave and mitral A wave( PvaD‐AD) were also used to the diagnosis of the increasing of LVEDP , but their accuracies were still poor ( AUC between 0 .7～0 .9 ) . According to the real‐time left ventricular pressure measurement and different parameters of echocardiography ,the multivariate regression equation :LVEDP＝ 0 .292 LAVI + 0 .35 PVa + 0 .04 T Rmax + 0 .075 ( PvaD‐AD ) －0 .109 PVs －6 .773 was put forward as a correction standard ,the accuracy of the diagnosis of LVEDP was significantly improved ( AUC ＝0 .922) . Conclusions T he assessment of left ventricular diastolic function needs to be performed comprehensively with multiple parameters . T he multiple regression equation can accurately evaluate left ventricular diastolic function in patients with normal LVEF .

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common chronic liver diseases worldwide nowadays. Given the very complex pathogenesis, there are yet no effective pharmacological agents for the treatment of NAFLD. Accumulating evidence has shown that cholesterol metabolism dysregulation, resulting in excess cholesterol accumulation in the liver and subsequent hepatic inflammation and injury, is one of the most important causes for the occurrence and development of NAFLD. This suggests the application of cholesterol metabolism- targeting therapeutic strategy in NAFLD. This review firstly summarized the pathogenesis of NAFLD, then focused on the regulation of cholesterol metabolism and underlying mechanisms through which excess hepatic cholesterol contributed to NAFLD, and reviewed the research progress on cholesterol-lowering agents aimed at maintaining the cholesterol homeostasis to treat NAFLD, which would provide insights for novel strategies to treat NAFLD in both preclinical studies and clinical settings.

There are three types of adipose tissue: white adipose tissue that stores energy, brown adipose tissue that expends energy, and beige adipose tissue which results from the browning of white adipose tissue. Research has established that adipose tissue is vital for energy metabolism. However, the complex regulatory mechanisms limit the development of effective therapeutic strategies for obesity and related metabolic diseases. This review explores the characteristics and functions of adipose tissue types, emphasizing the role of central hypothalamic nuclei in regulating peripheral adipose tissue function Additionally, it provides a summary and comparison of current research on leveraging brown and beige adipose tissue thermogenesis as a treatment for metabolic diseases, offering insights for the advancement of targeted therapies for obesity and related disorders.

OBJECTIVETo study the epidemiological status on rotavirus diarrhea in Kunming to improve the rotavirus vaccine immunization program.

METHODSA hospital-based sentinel surveillance program for rotavirus was set up among children less than 5 years old with acute diarrhea in Kunming Children's Hospital. Clinical information and fecal specimens were collected and rotavirus were detected by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and/or enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Positive specimens were further serotyped or genotyped by ELISA and/or RT-PCR.

RESULTSDuring the three years of surveillance, 466 specimens were collected. Rotavirus were detected on 246 (52.8%) specimens. 97% of the rotavirus diarrhea cases occurred among children less than 2 years old. There was a peak of admissions for rotavirus diarrhea cases between October and December which accounted for 48% of all the rotavirus hospitalizations each year. Among 204 specimens with G serotyping, the predominant strain was serotype G1 (47.5%) followed by G2 (17.6%), G3 (15.7%), G9 (4.9%) and G4 (1.0%). Mixed infection (2.5%) were rare and 22 specimens (10.8%) remained non-typeable. P genotyping showed P[4], P[8] and P[6] were the most common strains, accounting for 29.3%, 27.6% and 13.8% respectively. P[4]G2 was the most common strain which accounted for 34.1% (14/41) followed by P[8]G1 (29.3%) and P[6]G9 (12.2%). Another 7 uncommon P-G combinations were also identified.

CONCLUSIONRotavirus was the major cause of acute diarrhea in Kunming. An effective rotavirus vaccine for prevention and control of rotavirus diarrhea should be developed.

Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Diarrhea ; virology ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Female ; Genotype ; Hospitals, Pediatric ; statistics & numerical data ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Rotavirus ; classification ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Rotavirus Infections ; epidemiology ; Sentinel Surveillance ; Serotyping