Objective To evaluate the effects of inhaled iloprost on pulmonary hypertension after cardiopulmonary bypass in patients with congenital heart disease undergoing surgical correction of anomaly. Methods Fifty-eight patients with congenital heart disease aged 14-60 yr undergoing surgical correction of anomaly under cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) were enrolled in this study. Radial artery was cannulated before induction of anesthesia. A 6-lumen pulmonary catheter was placed via right internal jugular vein after tracheal intubation. Their mean pulmonary arterial pressure was still > 25 mm Hg after operation. ECG, HR, BP, CO, PAP and SpO_2 were continuously monitored. Aerosolized iloprost 10 fig was inhaled via nebulizer after CPB. Hemodynamics were measured before iloprost inhalation (baseline) and at 0, 5, 15, 30 and 60 min after the end of iloprost inhalation. Results There were 28 patients with pulmonary hypertension after CPB among the 58 patients with congenital heart disease. Inhalation of iloprost 10μg significantly decreased mPAP, pulmonary vascular resistance and intrapulmonary shunt as compared with the baseline. Iloprost inhalation could also improve significantly CO and the mixed venous oxygen saturation (SvO_2 ). Conclusion Iloprost inhaled after CPB can effectively reduce pulmonary arterial pressure and pulmonary vascular resistance in patients with congenital heart disease undergoing surgical correction of anomaly and help them wean from CPB.

Objective To investigate the correlation between ICRU reference point dose and dosevolume parameters of organs at risk (OARs) under different bladder and rectal filling status in threedimensional conformal brachytherapy for locally advanced cervical cancer.Methods A total of 31 patients who received magnetic resonance imaging-guided three-dimensional conformal brachytherapy for cervical cancer in 96 fractions were enrolled.The ICRU rectal and bladder reference points were determined in the treatment planning system,and the doses at these points were recorded and compared with the dose-volume parameters of the rectum and bladder.The paired t-test was used to analyze the differences between them.Results Bladder DICRU was lower than bladder D0.1cm3 and D1 cm3 (P=0.000 and 0.000),higher than bladder D5 cm3 and D10cm3 (P=0.000 and 0.000),and similar to bladder D2 cm3 (P=0.345).Under the bladder filling status,bladder DICRU was lower than D2cm3.Rectal DICRU was lower than rectal D0.1 cm3 and D1cm3 (P =0.000 and 0.002),higher than rectal D5 cm3 and D 10 cm3 (P =0.000 and 0.000),and similar to rectal D2cm3 (P=0.058).The ICRU bladder and rectal reference point doses were positively correlated with corresponding D2 cm3.In the case of bladder volume ≥ 200 cm3,the ICRU bladder reference point dose underestimated bladder D2 cm3.In the case of rectal volume ≥ 37 cm3,the ICRU rectal reference point dose overestimated rectal D2 cm3.Conclusions In three-dimensional conformal brachytherapy,it is generally safe to use D2 cm3 as an index to evaluate OARs,but when the bladder or rectum is in an empty status,the ICRU bladder or rectal reference point doses should be considered.

Objective To investigate the dosimetric differences between Utrecht applicator and ring applicator in three-dimensional (3D) conformal brachytherapy for locally advanced cervical cancer.Methods Twenty-five patients with locally advanced cervical cancer were treated with magnetic resonance imaging-guided 3D conformal brachytherapy.Utrecht applicator and ring applicator were used interchangeably for 96 cycles.Patients were divided into two groups according to the type of applicator.Each group received 48 cycles of treatment, in which ring applicator was first applied for 26 cycles and Utrecht applicator was first applied for 22 cycles.High-risk clinical target volume ( HR-CTV) , width, thickness, and D90 at the point A level, D2 cm3 of organs at risk (OARs), V7 Gy , W7 Gy,A, V7 Gy ,A, and W/T7 Gy were evaluated and analyzed using paired t-test.Results There were no significant differences in HR-CTV and the width, thickness, and D90 at the point A level between the Utrecht group and the ring group ( P=0.487;P=0.340;P=0.857;P=0.921);there were no significant differences in D2 cm3 values of bladder, rectum, sigmoid, and bowel between the two groups ( P=0.136;P=0.802;P=0.985;P=0.458);there were no significant differences in V7 Gy and T7 Gy,A between the two groups ( P=0.076;P=0.435) .The Utrecht group had a significantly larger W/T7 Gy,A than the ring group ( P=0.002 ) .Conclusions Utrecht applicator is appropriate for patients with relatively large width and width/thickness ratio of HR-CTV at the point A level.

Bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of jaw(BRONJ)is characterized by impaired osteogenic differentiation of orofacial bone marrow stromal cells(BMSCs).Corin has recently been demonstrated to act as a key regulator in bone development and orthopedic disorders.However,the role of corin in BRONJ-related BMSCs dysfunction remains unclarified.A m6A epitranscriptomic microarray study from our group shows that the CORIN gene is significantly upregulated and m6A hypermethylated during orofacial BMSCs osteogenic differentiation.Corin knockdown inhibits BMSCs osteogenic differentiation,whereas corin overexpression or soluble corin(sCorin)exerts a promotion effect.Furthermore,corin expression is negatively regulated by bisphosphonates(BPs).Corin overexpression or sCorin reverses BPs-impaired BMSCs differentiation ability.Mechanistically,we find altered expression of phos-ERK in corin knockdown/overexpression BMSCs and BMSCs under sCorin stimulation.PD98059(a selective ERK inhibitor)blocks the corin-mediated promotion effect.With regard to the high methylation level of corin during osteogenic differentiation,we apply a non-selective m6A methylase inhibitor,Cycloleucine,which also blocks the corin-mediated promotion effect.Furthermore,we demonstrate that METTL7A modulates corin m6A modification and reverses BPs-impaired BMSCs function,indicating that METTL7A regulates corin expression and thus contributes to orofacial BMSCs differentiation ability.To conclude,our study reveals that corin reverses BPs-induced BMSCs dysfunction,and METTL7A-mediated corin m6A modification underlies corin promotion of osteogenic differentiation via the ERK pathway.We hope this brings new insights into future clinical treatments for BRONJ.

Objective To explore the changes of type H vessel during the low bone mineral density caused by iron accumulation and discuss its clinical meaning.Methods Ten 8-week old male C57BL/6J mice were used for experiments,and randomly divided into two groups:control group and iron group,and 5 mice in each group.In the iron group,0.1 g/kg of iron dextran was injected intraperitoneally once a week for 8 weeks.The control group was injected with the same amount of saline.The femoral and tibial specimens were examined by microscopic CT scan and bone tissue type H vessel immunohistochemical staining.Liver tissue from the two groups were collected for the content of iron by atomic absorption spectroscopy.All experimental data were analyzed with t-test.Results The content of hepatic iron in mice was significantly higher than that in the control group,which indicating that the model was successfully established.The tibia specimens were collected for immunostaining.The vascular area of type H at metaphyseal regions is 11.24％± 1.76％ in iron group and 30.69％±2.78％ in control group,respectively.There is significant difference between the two groups (P＜0.005).The femur specimens were collected for Micro-CT scan,the value of bone mineral density (BMD),bone volume/tissue volume (BV/TV),trabecular thickness (Tb.Th),trabecular number (Tb.N) and trabecular separation (Tb.Sp) was (0.19±0.013) g/cm3,11.92％±1.199％,(35.66±2.684) μm,(2.36±0.429)/mm and (284.41±23.197) μm in iron group and (0.37±0.023) g/cm3,35.76％± 1.336％,(62.05±2.238) μm,(5.68± 1.039)/mm and (163.23± 13.203) μm in control group,respectively.The differences between the two groups were statistically significant (P＜0.05).Conclusion Iron accumulation can lead to low BMD and suppress type H vessel formation in bone,which might provide a new experimental value for mechanism research on osteoporosis caused by iron accumulation.

To fulfill the calibration requirements for absorbed dose to water in external beam radiotherapy,the summary offers a streamlined calibration procedure and recommendations in accordance with TRS-398(version 7)published by International Atomic Energy Agency in 2024.It addresses various considerations for reference measurement conditions in external beam radiotherapy and defines the appropriate scope for ionization chambers.In terms of ionization chamber measurements,it elaborates on the methods for measuring various correction factors and provides a table of beam quality conversion factors.The calibration uncertainty is examined by comparing the contributions of different factors before and after the update.The results demonstrate that using IBA FC65-G ionization chamber to calibrate high-energy photon beams,high-energy electron beams,proton beams and light ion beams results in relative deviations of-0.4％,0.5％,-1.7％and-1.3％as compared with the earlier versions,with relative standard uncertainties of 1.0％,1.1％,1.7％and 2.6％,respectively.The guideline which is tailored to the national radiotherapy dose calibration standards and practices presents an optimized calibration approach for TRS-398,allowing clinicians to conduct absolute dose calibration more efficiently and accurately.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the relationship between hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and risk of pancreatic cancer.

METHODSVarious English and Chinese language literature databases, including PubMed, Web of Knowledge, Embase, Cochrane Library and the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, were searched for case-control studies comparing rates of HBV infection and pancreatic cancer. The RevMan meta analysis software, version 5.0, was used to perform the meta-analysis of the 6 included studies.

RESULTSCompared with the control group, the pancreatic cancer group had a significantly higher rate of positivity for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) (8.87% vs.5.86%, odds ratio (OR) =1.24, 95% confidence interval (CI):1.06 to 1.47, P =0.009) and a lower rate of patients never exposed to HBV (defined as HBsAg(-)/hepatitis B core antibody (anti-HBc)(-) (69.4% vs.77.1%, OR =0.68, 95% CI:0.51 to 0.92, P =0.01). There was no significant difference between the two groups in the rate of hepatitis B e antigen positivity (P =0.55).

CONCLUSIONHBV-infected patients with HBsAg(+) status are at greater risk of developing pancreatic cancer; however, since most of the research studies evaluated were conducted in Asians, the generalizability of this conclusion is unknown.

Hepatitis B ; epidemiology ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; blood ; Hepatitis B virus ; Humans ; Pancreatic Neoplasms ; epidemiology ; virology ; Risk Factors

Objective:To measure the effect of applicator materials on absorbed dose in water from HDR afterloading 192Ir source by using three-dimensional printed holder (3DPH) and synthetic single-crystal diamond detector (SSCDD). Methods:SSCDD and plastic implants were fixed on the 3DPH in turn. The central axis of SSCDD was perpendicular to that of plastic implant needle on the same plane. The actual residence dwell position measured using source position simulator was 248 mm, which was consistent with the maximum response dwell position measured in a point by point way. The materials for measurement included 304 stainless steel, polyphenylene sulfone resins (PPSU), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and 3-D printed polylactic acid (PLA), respectively. The attenuation of absorbed dose in water with different thickness or filling ratio was measured.Results:The linear fitting formula of relative dose varying with thickness (mm) for 304 stainless steel and PPSU materials were y=-0.029 7 x+ 1.000 3 and y=-0.002 3 x + 1.010 2, respectively. And the goodness-of-fits were 0.925 3 and 0.722 2, respectively. The effect on dose of PMMA materials within 10 mm was less than 1%. The linear fitting formula of relative dose varying with filling ratio (%) for PLA materials with 10 mm thickness was y=-0.000 4 x+ 1.024 6, with a goodness-of-fit of 0.854 5. Conclusions:The effect of applicator materials on the absorbed dose arising from afterloading 192Ir source should attract enough attention of both developers and clinical users, especially with regard to high-density materials like 304 stainless steel and new technology materials such as 3D printed polylactic acid.

Objective To report a simple method for determination of dwell position offset of ring applicator using GafchromicTM EBT3 film and ImageJ software. Methods In the dummy plan, this study reconstructed the ring applicator point by point manually according to the MR line marker, the most distal reconstruction point was at the end of marker, set the offset to zero. The first, eleventh, and twenty-third dwell positions were activated with the step length of 2. 5 mm. A setup image was designed to immobilize the ring applicator. The setup image was composed of two perpendicular thin lines and a circular with a diameter of 16 mm. GafchromicTM EBT3 film was fixed behind the setup image by plastic tapes. After irradiation, a ruler was put on the bottom of the irradiated film as a plotting scale. Photos were taken with the help of a vertical camera using a tripod. The file was imported into ImageJ software and the coordinate values were obtained by semi-automatic recognition of the center of exposure area. The test was repeated five times at one week interval to evaluate the uncertainty. For every time, each dwell position was measured five times. Results The angle between the radius of the first dwell position and the x-axis was 43° in the dummy plan, and (46. 8 ± 0. 9)° for actual measurement. The offset was 0. 9 mm for the ring applicator combined with the MR according to calculation. The distances between the first,the eleventh and the twenty-third dwell positions and the center of the ring were ( 12. 9 ± 0. 1 ) mm, ( 12. 5 ± 0. 1 ) mm, (12. 4 ± 0. 1) mm, respectively. Conclusions Using GafchromicTM EBT3 film and the ImageJ software is a simplified method to validate the dwell position offset of the ring applicator.

Objective:To evaluate the changes of right ventricular function in patients with pneumoconiosis in different stages using three-dimensional speckle-tracking imaging (3D-STI) .Methods:In June 2020, 114 pneumoconiosis patients were selected as subjects, including 45 patients in stage Ⅰ pneumoconiosis group, 36 patients in stage Ⅱ pneumoconiosis group and 33 patients in stage Ⅲ pneumoconiosis group. Fifty healthy subjects were enrolled and served as control group. The longitudinal strain (LS) , radial strain (RS) and circumferential strain (CS) of free wall middle and basal segment of right ventricular were collected and compared. The right ventricular global longitudinal strain (GLS) , right ventricular global circumferential strain (GCS) , right ventricular ejection fraction (RVEF) , right ventricular global radial strain (GRS) , the rate of fractional area change (FAC) , the tricuspid valve systolic peak velocity (TVSPV) and the pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) of each subject in the groups were collected and compared by 3D-STI.Results:The LS and RS of the right ventricular basal segment of patients in stage Ⅱ pneumoconiosis group were significantly lower than those of control group ( P<0.0125) . The LS, CS, RS of the right ventricular basal segment and RS of right ventricular middle segment of patients in stage Ⅲ pneumoconiosis group were significantly lower than those of control group ( P<0.0125) . The LS, CS and RS of the right ventricular basal segment of patients in stage Ⅰ pneumoconiosis group were significantly higher than those of stage Ⅲ pneumoconiosis group ( P<0.0125) , and the RS of the right ventricular basal segment of patients in stage Ⅱ pneumoconiosis group was significantly higher than that of stage Ⅲ pneumoconiosis group ( P<0.0125) . The levels of RVEF and GLS of patients in stage Ⅱ and stage Ⅲ pneumoconiosis group were significantly lower than those of control group ( P<0.0125) , while the levels of PASP were significantly higher than that of control group ( P<0.0125) . The levels of FAC and TVSPV of patients in stage Ⅲ pneumoconiosis group were significantly lower than those of control group ( P<0.0125) . The levels of RVEF, GLS and FAC of patients in stage Ⅰ pneumoconiosis group were significantly higher those that of stage Ⅲ pneumoconiosis group ( P<0.0125) , and the PASP level was significantly lower than that of stage Ⅲ pneumoconiosis group ( P<0.0125) . The FAC level of patients in stage Ⅱ pneumoconiosis group was significantly higher than that of stage Ⅲ pneumoconiosis group ( P<0.0125) . Conclusion:Patients with pneumoconiosis could experience a decline in right ventricular function at an early stage. The 3D-STI can accurately detect the GLS, GRS, GCS and hemodynamic changes of the right ventricular and evaluate the right ventricular function comprehensively and objectively. 3D-STI is of great significance for the early detection of right ventricular dysfunction in patients with pneumoconiosis.