Objective:To investigate the clinicopathological characteristics, treatments, and survival of patients with esophageal adeno-squamous carcinoma (EASC). Methods:A total of 494 patients with EASC were selected from the clinical information databases of 500, 000 cases with esophageal and gastric cardiac carcinomas in the Henan Key Laboratory for Esophageal Cancer Research. Among the 494 EASC cases, 361 were males with an average age of 61.47 ± 8.32 years, and 133 were females with an average age of 65.56 ± 8.06 years. SPSS 21.0 software was applied to determine the statistical differences among the different groups. A life-table method was also used to calculate the five-year survival rate. A linear regression model was used to analyze the correlation of changes at different peri-ods. Results:The incidence of EASC in our database was 0.196%(494/251707). EASC occurred predominantly in male patients (male:female=2.71:1.00). The peak age was within 60-69 years in both males and females (39.6%vs. 40.6%). Notably, the incidence of male patients showed a downward trend (R2=0.063), whereas that of female patients showed an upward trend (R2=0.004). The prevalence of EASC was obviously higher in low-incidence areas for esophageal cancer than in high-incidence areas (53.1%vs. 46.9%, P<0.001). Ac-cording to the TNM staging criteria for esophageal cancer, phases II and III patients comprised the majority of cases, which accounted for 40.8%(173/424). The positive lymph node metastasis rate was 47.0%(206/438), and the number of positive lymph node metasta-ses ranged within 1-2 (48.5%, 100/206). In addition, preoperative biopsy was performed in 467 cases, and more than half of the pa-tients (53.96%, 252/467) were diagnosed before the operation. Surgical resection was the predominant treatment method for EASC (88.8%, 419/472). Only 1.9%patients (9/472) underwent radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The five-year survival rate of male patients who were neither smoking nor drinking of alcohol was higher than that of male smokers (26.5%vs. 12.1%). In patients with stagesⅠ,Ⅱ, andⅢ+Ⅳcarcinomas with surgery as lone treatment, the three-year survival rates were 64.7%, 50.9%, and 48.5%, respectively. Correspondingly, these rates were 51.7%, 47.8%, and 33.1%after adjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Conclusion:EASC is a rare type of esophageal malignant tumor. The preoperative biopsy pathological diagnosis has high misdiagnosis rate. Smoking and drinking of alcohol can influence the prognosis of patients. In EASC patients, lymph node metastasis easily occurs, and a simple surgery is bet-ter than other cancer treatments.

Objective:To elucidate the factors influencing the differences in the survival rates of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) patients between the rural and urban regions in China. Methods:A total of 36,723 ESCC patients derived from the clinical data-bases containing 500,000 esophageal and gastric cardia carcinoma cases (1973-2015) of the Henan Key Laboratory for Esophageal Can-cer Research of the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhengzhou University, were analyzed. Of these patients, 33,625 were from the rural re-gions (91.6%), comprising 20,906 male patients with an average age of 58.98 ± 8.71 years and 12,719 females with an average age of 59.59 ± 8.53 years. The remaining 3,098 were from the urban regions and composed of 2,089 male patients with an average age of 60.84±9.10 years and 1,009 females with an average age of 62.46 ± 9.14 years. All the patients underwent radical esophagectomy, de-tailed histopathological diagnosis, and TNM staging. Chi square test, Kaplan-Meier, Log-rank, and Cox proportional hazards regression model were used to analyze the differences between ESCC patients from rural regions and those from urban regions and among the risk factors in prognosis. Results:Kaplan-Meier and Log-rank analysis results showed that the ESCC patients from the rural regions had significantly higher overall survival than the urban patients (χ2=12.971, P=0.000). Further analysis showed that rural patients≥50 years old and diagnosed with stage IIa and IIb (middle stage) ESCC had higher survival rates than urban patients in males and females (male:χ2=16.188, P<0.001;female:χ2=5.019, P=0.025). However, the survival rates of rural and urban patients with stage 0,Ⅰa,Ⅰb (early stage) and Ⅲa, Ⅲc, and Ⅳ (late stage) were similar (P>0.05). The results of Cox proportional hazards regression model analysis showed that age, gender, and TNM stages were independent risk factors for rural and urban ESCC patients. When the rural and urban ESCC patients were both considered, the Cox proportional hazards regression model analysis results showed that male ESCC patients≥50 years old, urban residence, and TNM stages were independent risk factors. Conclusion:Rural ESCC patients have significantly high-er overall survival than urban patients. Male, age of≥50 years old, urban residence, and TNM stages were independent risk factors for ESCC patient survival.

Doxorubicin (Dox) is widely used to the treatment of cancer, however, it could cause damage to gastric mucosa. To investigate the protective effects and related mechanisms of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) and vitamin C (VC) on Dox-induced gastric mucosal injury, we presented the survey of the 4 groups of the rats with different conditions. The results showed Dox treatment significantly induced GES-1 apoptosis, but preconditioning in GES-1 cells with VC or CoQ10 significantly inhibited the Dox-induced decrease and other harm effects, including the expression and of IκKβ, IκBα, NF-κB/p65 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) in GES-1 cells. Moreover, high-throughput sequencing results showed Dox treatment increased the number of harmful gut microbes, and CoQ10 and VC treatment inhibited this effect. CoQ10 and VC treatment inhibits Dox-induced gastric mucosal injury by inhibiting the activation of the IkKB/IκBα/NF-κB/p65/TNF-α pathway, promoting anti-inflammatory effects of gastric tissue and regulating the composition of the intestinal flora.

Doxorubicin (Dox) is widely used to the treatment of cancer, however, it could cause damage to gastric mucosa. To investigate the protective effects and related mechanisms of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) and vitamin C (VC) on Dox-induced gastric mucosal injury, we presented the survey of the 4 groups of the rats with different conditions. The results showed Dox treatment significantly induced GES-1 apoptosis, but preconditioning in GES-1 cells with VC or CoQ10 significantly inhibited the Dox-induced decrease and other harm effects, including the expression and of IκKβ, IκBα, NF-κB/p65 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) in GES-1 cells. Moreover, high-throughput sequencing results showed Dox treatment increased the number of harmful gut microbes, and CoQ10 and VC treatment inhibited this effect. CoQ10 and VC treatment inhibits Dox-induced gastric mucosal injury by inhibiting the activation of the IkKB/IκBα/NF-κB/p65/TNF-α pathway, promoting anti-inflammatory effects of gastric tissue and regulating the composition of the intestinal flora.

AIM: To compare the effective optical zone(EOZ)and corneal high order aberrations(HOAs)after small incision lenticule extraction(SMILE)among low, moderate, and high myopic patients.METHODS:A total of 134 patients who had undergone SMILE at the Second People's Hospital of Foshan from February 2019 to February 2021 were recruited, with all right eyes enrolled. The patients were divided into low myopia group(SE >-3.00 D), moderate myopia group(-6.00 D< SE ≤-3.00 D), and high myopia group(SE ≤-6.00 D)according to the spherical equivalent(SE). The total HOA(tHOA), spherical aberration, coma, and EOZ were measured by Pentacam preoperatively and 1 mo postoperatively, and differences in tHOA, spherical aberration, coma, and EOZ among the three groups were analyzed.RESULTS: EOZ was smaller than programmed EOZ in all groups at 1 mo after SMILE. With the increase in corrected refractive error, the EOZ decreased further(P<0.05); The tHOA, spherical aberration, and coma were significantly higher than their corresponding preoperative values in all groups at 1 mo after surgery, and there were statistical differences in the spherical aberration of all the groups at 1 mo after surgery(P<0.05), except for that of the mild myopia group(P>0.05). The tHOA, spherical aberration and coma increased with corrected refractive errors; the difference in tHOA and spherical aberration was statistically significant among the three groups(all P<0.05). Coma in the high myopia group was significantly greater than that in the moderate myopia group and the mild myopia group(P<0.05). In addition, the coma in the moderate myopia group and the mild myopia group was not statistically significant(P>0.05).CONCLUSION: With the increase of the refractive power corrected by surgery, the postoperative EOZ reduced more after surgery, and the HOA of the cornea is increased; corneal HOA increases at 1 mo after SMILE.

Objective To investigate the impact of Yanghe-patch acupoint in the treatment of impaired glucose tolerance(IGT)with Yang-deficiency constitution and its influence on serum metabolites.Methods The study enrolled a total of 63 patients with IGT were randomly selected and stratified into two groups:The control group(32 cases)and the treatment group(31 cases)at Ningbo Municipal Hospital of TCM Affliated to Zhejiang Chinese Medical University from October 2022 to January 2024,blood glucose,blood lipids,tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α),Yang-deficiency body mass score,and infrared thermal imaging temperature before and after treatment were compared between two groups.Furthermore,29 healthy individuals were selected as healthy negative controls,and their serum metabolites were analyzed by using liquid chromatograph-mass spectrometer(LC-MS)among three groups.Principal component analysis and orthogonal projections to latent structures-discriminate analysis were employed to identify characteristic differential metabolites.Additionally,key metabolic pathways were screened through network analysis by using MetaboAnalyst software.Results The treatment group after Yanghe-patch showed significant reductions in fasting blood glucose,glycosylated hemoglobin,triglycerides,low-density lipopro-tein and TNF-α levels(P＜0.05).Additionally,Yang-deficiency constitution conversion points significantly decreased within the treatment group(P＜0.05),while there were significant increases in the temperatures of Ren channel,Du channel,middle-Jiao and lower-Jiao(P＜0.05).However,there was a notable decrease in upper-Jiao temperature(P＜0.05).Metabolomics analysis identified varying levels of serum metabolites in IGT patients with Yang-deficiency constitution,such as 4-acetylaminobutyric acid,3-dehydrocholic acid,citric acid,and cystine etc.16 metabolites.Treatment group exhibited distinct expression patterns for 16 metabolites(including diaminoheptadecic acid,acetyl-L-carnitine and monobutyl phthalate etc.).The analysis by MetaboAnalyst shows that Yang-deficiency constitution with IGT was linked to dysregulation in the tricarboxylic acid cycle,aminoacyl bioanabolic pathway,and Gly-Ser-Thr metabolic axis.Additionally,Yanghe-patch intervention affects the glycine,serine and threonine(Gly-Ser-Thr)metabolic axis and sphingolipid metabolism.Conclusion The application of Yanghe-patch on acupoints shows potential in alleviating chronic systemic inflammation and improving symptoms associated with Yang-deficiency constitution in individuals with IGT.Metabolomics analysis has revealed a range of metabolites involved in their mechanism,among which the Gly-Ser-Thr metabolic pathway is considered crucial for regulating the constitution of Yang-deficiency constitution in individuals with IGT.

To investigate the expression and significance of cell surface receptor signaling lymphocyte activation molecule family member 7 (SLAMF7) in normal intestinal tissues and intestinal inflammatory tissues of mice.