Purpose To investigate the clinicopathological features,immunophenotype and prognosis of embryonal sarcoma of the liver(ESL)with emphasis on its diagnosis and differenti-al diagnosis.Methods Four cases of ESL were retrospectively analyzed about the clinicopathological and immunophenotypic profiles with review of the related literatures.Results The 4 ESL patients were 25 to 49 years old,and the male/female ratio was 3:1.All 4 cases were located in the right lobe of liver.CT showed a large round mass with low density or irregular mixed density with clear boundaries.1 case was misdiagnosed as angio-myolipoma,1 case as hepatocellular carcinoma,and the other 2 cases were not definitively diagnosed.The tumor was a large cystic solid mass with extensive hemorrhage and necrosis.Micro-scopically it was composed of myxoid stroma and irregular spin-dle or astroid cells,with multinuclear giant cells or pleomorphic tumor giant cells and characteristic eosinophilic bodies positive for PAS staining.Tumor cells showed hyperchromatic,highly anaplastic nuclei with many mitoses.By immunohistochemistry,the expression of p53,α1-AT and vimentin was detected in all 4 cases,and the proliferation index of Ki67 was 50％-80％.All of the lesions were surgically resected,but two of them died within a year with follow-up.Conclusion ESL is a rare and highly malignant tumor in adults,which is easily misdiagnosed clinically,and the diagnosis depends on pathology.Radical re-section is the key to the treatment for ESL,and preoperative and postoperative combined chemotherapy and radiotherapy should be carried out after surgery.

Objective:To study the clinical manifestations and genetic characteristics of neonatal-onset primary mitochondrial disease (PMD) caused by nuclear gene mutations.Methods:From May 2020 to March 2022, the clinical data, genetic results and follow-up information of neonates with PMD admitted to the Department of Neonatology of our two hospitals were retrospectively analyzed.Results:A total of 4 patients were enrolled, all with hyperlactatemia and metabolic acidosis. In case 1, the fetal cranial MRI showed agenesis of corpus callosum. In case 2, echocardiography after birth indicated hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Whole exome sequencing found the following mutations: EARS2 nuclear gene c.1294C>T and c.971G>T variants, COA6 nuclear gene c.411_412insAAAG variant, ACAD9 nuclear gene c.1278+1G>A and c.895A>T variants, FOXRED1 nuclear gene c.1054C>T and c.3dup variants. Mitochondrial second-generation sequencing and multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification showed no abnormalities. Cases 1 and 3 died during the neonatal period. Case 2 died at 2-year-and-2-month of age. Case 4 was followed up to 1 year of age with developmental delay.Conclusions:The main phenotypes of neonatal-onset PMD caused by nuclear gene mutations are hyperlactatemia, refractory metabolic acidosis and cardiomyopathy, which have a poor prognosis. Proactive genetic tests are helpful for early diagnosis.

Objective:To observe the clinical efficacy of neck Gongfa exercise in intervening people at high risk for cervical spondylosis. Methods:A total of 212 participants from 8 companies at high risk for cervical spondylosis were divided into two groups using the random number table method,with 105 participants in the control group receiving health education and 107 participants in the trial group receiving an additional neck Gongfa exercise.After successive 3-month interventions,the two groups were compared in terms of cervical soft tissue tension and neck disability index(NDI)score.The incidence of cervical spondylosis was observed 3 months later. Results:During the process,10 cases dropped out in the trial group,and the control group had 9 dropout cases.After the intervention,the cervical soft tissue tension value and NDI score improved in both groups(P<0.05)and showed significant differences between the two groups(P<0.05).At the 3-month follow-up,the trial group had a lower incidence rate of cervical spondylosis than the control group(P<0.05). Conclusion:For people at high risk for cervical spondylosis,neck Gongfa exercise can effectively improve cervical soft tissue tension and motor dysfunction and lower the incidence of cervical spondylosis in the short run.

As a representative chemotherapeutic drug, docetaxel (DTX) has been used for breast cancer treatment for decades. However, the poor solubility of DTX limits its efficacy, and the DTX based therapy increases the metastasis risk due to the upregulation of C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4) expression during the treatment. Herein, we conjugated CXCR4 antagonist peptide (CTCE) with DTX (termed CTCE-DTX) as an anti-metastasis agent to treat breast cancer. CTCE-DTX could self-assemble to nanoparticles, targeting CXCR4-upregulated metastatic tumor cells and enhancing the DTX efficacy. Thus, the CTCE-DTX NPs achieved promising efficacy on inhibiting both bone-specific metastasis and lung metastasis of triple-negative breast cancer. Our work provided a rational strategy on designing peptide-drug conjugates with synergistic anti-tumor efficacy.

Objective To investigate the protective effect of artesunate on hypoxic-ischemic brain damage (HIBD) and its mechanism in neonatal rats. Methods 7-day-old neonatal SD rats were randomly divided into sham operation group, model group, artesunate 5 mg/kg group, artesunate 10 mg/kg group, artesunate 20 mg/kg group and dexamethasone 6 mg/kg group, with 18 rats in each group. HIBD models were established in groups except for the sham operation group. The sham operation group only needed to separate the left common carotid artery without ligation and nitrogen-oxygen mixed gas ventilation. Each group was injected with drug intraperitoneally right after surgery and the rats in the sham operation group and the model group were injected with an equal volume of normal saline (once a day for a total of 5 times). One hour after the last injection, the rats in each group were scored for neurological defects. After the rats were sacrificed, the brain water content was measured and the pathological changes of the brain tissues of rats were observed. Terminal-deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated nick end labeling (TUNEL) was used to detect the neuronal cell apoptosis, and ELISA was applied to detect the levels of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α in brain tissues and peripheral blood of each group of rats. Western blot analysis was adopted to detect the protein expression levels of NLR family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3), apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing CARD (ASC) and caspase-1 in the rats brain tissues of each group. Results Compared with the model group, the neurological deficit score was decreased; the pathological damage of brain tissues was relieved; the brain water content was significantly reduced; the apoptosis number of hippocampal neurons was decreased significantly; the levels of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α in brain tissues and peripheral blood were significantly reduced; the protein expression levels of NLRP3, ASC and caspase-1 were significantly lowered in the middle-dose and high-dose artesunate groups and the dexamethasone group. Conclusion Artesunate can improve the neurological function, relieve the brain damage, and alleviate the brain edema in neonatal rats with HIBD. It can protect the HIBD, which may be related to the inhibition of NLRP3 inflammasome activation and reduction of inflammatory cytokine secretion.
Animals ; Rats ; Animals, Newborn ; Artesunate/pharmacology* ; Brain/metabolism* ; Caspases/metabolism* ; Dexamethasone ; Hypoxia-Ischemia, Brain/pathology* ; Inflammasomes ; Interleukin-6/metabolism* ; NLR Family, Pyrin Domain-Containing 3 Protein/metabolism* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha/metabolism* ; Water/metabolism*

Objective:To observe the effect of Yi Jin Jing(Sinew-transforming Qigong Exercises)intervention on anxiety in asymptomatic patients with Corona Virus Disease 2019(COVID-19)infection during quarantine.Methods:A total of 160 asymptomatic patients with COVID-19 infection were stratified by gender and divided into an observation group and a control group by the stratified randomization method,with 80 cases in each group.The control group was given basic nursing in the cabin,and the observation group was given additional Yi Jin Jing exercises once a day,20 min each time,and trained continuously until 1 d before leaving the cabin.The Hamilton anxiety scale(HAMA)score was compared between the two groups.Results:A total of 154 cases were included for data analysis in this study,including 74 cases in the observation group and 80 cases in the control group.After intervention,the HAMA scores in both groups increased(P<0.05),while the score in the observation group was lower than that in the control group(P<0.05).In the control group,the HAMA score of females after intervention was higher than that of males.The scores of mental anxiety and somatic anxiety in both groups were higher than those before intervention,while the score of mental anxiety in the observation group was significantly lower than that in the control(P<0.05).However,there was no statistical difference in the somatic score between the two groups(P>0.05).Conclusion:Patients with COVID-19 infection will get anxious during quarantine.Yi Jin Jing exercise can effectively reduce the aggravation of anxiety in asymptomatic patients with COVID-19 infection during concentrated quarantine.

The article analyzes chief physician SUN Wuquan's empirical characteristics in treating neck-type cervical spondylosis:disease differentiation combined with pattern differentiation,emphasizing the assessment of tendons and bones,with DING's Tuina(Chinese therapeutic massage)manipulations and static Gongfa(Qigong exercise)as the predominant treatment,inherits the academic features of DING's Tuina school,"paying equal attention to tendons and bones,putting function first";thus provides a reference for treating neck-type cervical spondylosis with Tuina therapy.

Objective To analyze the mechanical properties of bone tissue engineering scaffolds with different pore structure and porosity, and improve the mechanical properties of scaffolds by changing pore structure. Methods Square pore, spherical pore and cylindrical pore with different porosities from 55% to 75% were established by SolidWorks software, and the surface-volume ratio of different structures was calculated. The stress distribution and equivalent compression modulus of different scaffolds were obtained by ANSYS Workbench software. According to the stress distribution results, the scaffold with rectangular pore structure and cuboid element structure was improved instead of square pores. Results With the increase of porosity, the surface-volume ratio of the three structures increased. For the same porosity, the surface-volume ratio of square pores and spherical pores was larger, while that of cylindrical pores was the smallest. The modulus and porosity of the three structures were approximately linear. The modulus of the square pore and the cylindrical pore were similar. The stress analysis on the square pore and two improved structures with 60% porosity showed that for the two improve structures, the wall stress on 4 edges parallel to the direction of applied stresses could be reduced by 15%. Conclusions The surface-volume ratio and mechanical property of square pores were more advantageous than spherical pores and cylindrical pores with the same porosity, and the two improved structures could improve the mechanical properties of square pores. The two improved pores enriched the structure of tissue engineering scaffolds. The research findings provide the mechanical references for their clinical application.

Objective: To investigate the feasibility of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA)_AK096792 as a clinical predictor of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in preterm infants. Methods: All the cord blood(2-5 mL) of very low birth weight (VLBW) preterm infants born in Huai′an First Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University were collected from December 1, 2015 to December 1, 2017.Moreover, the peripheral blood(2 mL) of those VLBW infants diagnosed with BPD was also collected.A total of 36 infants with BPD were collected.Another 36 cases of premature children with VLBW were chosen as control group according to random number table.The relative content of lncRNA_AK096792 in cord blood and peripheral blood was detected by using real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR). Additionally, the correlation of lncRNA_AK096792 levels between cord and peripheral blood of BPD infants was analyzed.The sensitivity and specificity of lncRNA_AK096792 for BPD were analyzed by using receiver operating curve test. Results: (1)LncRNA_AK096792 was a common, evolutionarily conserved, non-coding RNA present in both mouse and human.(2) The expression level of lncRNA_AK096792 in peripheral blood was significantly higher than that in cord blood in BPD group[(463.3±352.0)% vs.(50.0±37.5)%], and the difference was significant(P<0.001), and they were highly correlated (r=0.825, P<0.001). (3) The level of lncRNA_AK096792 in cord blood in BPD group was signi-ficantly higher than that in non-BPD group [(484.3±280.5)% vs.(101.2±28.6)%], and the difference was significant(P<0.001). (4)When lncRNA_AK096792 served as a clinical predictor for BPD, the specificity was 83.3%, the sensitivity was 75.6%, and an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.88(P<0.001). Conclusions LncRNA_AK096792 is highly correlated with the development of BPD.The level of lncRNA_AK096792 in umbilical cord blood of premature infants can be used as an early predictive marker for BPD, it calls for further study.

Objective To investigate the effects of ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids(ω-3PUFAs)and ω-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids(ω-6PUFAs)on Toll-like receptor 4(TLR4)/nuclear factor-κB(NF-κB)signaling pathway,and the expressions of tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α),interleukin(IL)-1β and IL-6 in neonatal rats with brain injury induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Methods Ninety-six neonatal rats were divided into control group,ω-3PUFAs group,ω-6PUFAs group,and LPS group by using random number table method. Intraperitoneal injection of LPS was performed in LPS group,ω-6PUFAs group and ω-3PUFAs group to establish models of rat brain injury. The rats in control group received 9 g/L saline. Twelve newborn rats were killed at 1 d or 5 d after intraperito-neal injection in each group for hippocampus selection. Real -time PCR and Western blot were used to detect the mRNA and protein expression levels of TLR4,NF-κB,TNF-α,IL-1β and IL-6. Results One day after mode-ling,TLR4,NF-κB,TNF-α,IL-1β and IL-6 mRNA expressions in ω-3PUFAs group (10. 63 ± 0. 07,5. 86 ± 1. 05,7. 65 ± 2. 29,5. 23 ± 1. 31,3. 36 ± 0. 72)were lower than those in ω-6PUFAs group (18. 83 ± 2. 10,8. 79 ± 2. 08,11. 95 ± 3. 23,10. 97 ± 2. 24,6. 37 ± 1. 17)and LPS group (15. 76 ± 1. 59,7. 13 ± 1. 10,9. 71 ± 2. 14,7. 83 ± 0. 85,4. 78 ± 0. 51),and the differences were all statistically significant(all P＜0. 05);which in ω-6PUFAs group were higher than those in LPS group,and the differences were all significant (all P＜0. 05). TLR4,NF-κB,TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 protein levels in ω-3PUFAs group (1. 57 ± 0. 11,1. 58 ± 0. 09,1. 55 ± 0. 09,1. 63 ± 0. 31,1. 36 ± 0. 12)were lower than those in ω-6PUFAs group (1. 96 ± 0. 17,2. 21 ± 0. 12,1. 95 ± 0. 23,1. 97 ± 0. 24,1. 77 ± 0. 17)and LPS group (1. 73 ± 0. 15,1. 87 ± 0. 10,1. 79 ± 0. 14,1. 83 ± 0. 15,1. 58 ± 0. 11)in 1 d,and the diffe-rences were all significant (all P＜0. 05),and those in ω-6PUFAs group were higher than those in LPS group (all P＜0. 05). Similarly,TLR,NF-κB,TNF-α,IL-1β and IL-6 mRNA and protein expression levels in ω-3PUFAs group (3. 78 ± 0. 88,3. 86 ± 0. 62,6. 26 ± 1. 94,3. 65 ± 1. 44,2. 11 ± 0. 87;1. 15 ± 0. 08,1. 32 ± 0. 10,1. 46 ± 0. 04, 1. 38 ± 0. 14,1. 21 ± 0. 09)were lower than those in ω-6PUFAs group (7. 76 ± 1. 65,5. 51 ± 0. 88,7. 96 ± 2. 13,5. 35 ± 1. 75,4. 88 ± 1. 35;1. 42 ± 0. 15,1. 51 ± 0. 36,1. 65 ± 0. 13,1. 72 ± 0. 23,1. 48 ± 0. 10)and LPS group (6. 21 ± 1. 87, 4. 98 ± 0. 73,7. 11 ± 2. 10,4. 84 ± 1. 75,4. 25 ± 0. 64;1. 35 ± 0. 13,1. 44 ± 0. 22,1. 59 ± 0. 10,1. 61 ± 0. 18,1. 35 ± 0. 07) in 5 d (all P＜0. 05),and which in ω-6PUFAs group were higher than those in LPS group,and the differences were sig-nificant (all P＜0. 05). Conclusion ω-6PUFAs can up-regulate the activity of TLR4,NF-κB,and reduce the re-lease of TNF-α,IL-1β and IL-6;and ω-3PUFAs can down-regulate the activity of TLR4,NF-κB,and reduce the release of TNF-α,IL-1β and IL-6,so it has a neural protective effect in brain injury induced by LPS.