Intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) is largely attributed to impaired endogenous repair. Nucleus pulposus-derived stem cells (NPSCs) senescence leads to endogenous repair failure. Small extracellular vesicles/exosomes derived from mesenchymal stem cells (mExo) have shown great therapeutic potential in IDD, while whether mExo could alleviate NPSCs senescence and its mechanisms remained unknown. We established a compression-induced NPSCs senescence model and rat IDD models to evaluate the therapeutic efficiency of mExo and investigate the mechanisms. We found that mExo significantly alleviated NPSCs senescence and promoted disc regeneration while knocking down thioredoxin (TXN) impaired the protective effects of mExo. TXN was bound to various endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT) proteins. Autocrine motility factor receptor (AMFR) mediated TXN K63 ubiquitination to promote the binding of TXN on ESCRT proteins and sorting of TXN into mExo. Knocking down exosomal TXN inhibited the transcriptional activity of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF2) and activator protein 1 (AP-1). NRF2 and AP-1 inhibition reduced endogenous TXN production that was promoted by exosomal TXN. Inhibition of NRF2 in vivo diminished the anti-senescence and regenerative effects of mExo. Conclusively, AMFR-mediated TXN ubiquitination promoted the sorting of TXN into mExo, allowing exosomal TXN to promote endogenous TXN production in NPSCs via TXN/NRF2/AP-1 feed-forward circuit to alleviate NPSCs senescence and disc degeneration.

Objective:To investigate the clinical efficacy of extended abdominal wall resec-tion combined with reconstruction for abdominal wall aggressive fibromatosis (AF).Methods:The retrospective and descriptive study was conducted. The clinical data of 70 patients with abdominal wall AF who were admitted to 3 medical centers, including The First Affiliated Hospital of the University of Science and Technology of China, between January 2009 and July 2024 were collected. There were 6 males and 64 females, aged (36±13)years. All patients underwent extended abdominal wall resection combined with abdominal wall reconstruction. Observation indicators: (1) surgical situations; (2) tumor recurrence and postoperative complications. Comparisons of measurement data with skewed distribution between groups was conducted using the Mann-Whitney U test. Comparison of count data between groups was conducted using the chi-square test. Results:(1)Surgical situations. All 70 patients underwent extended abdominal wall resection combined with abdominal wall recons-truction. The operation time was 90(91)minutes and duration of postoperative hospital stay was 10(6)days. Of the 70 patients, 41 patients underwent abdominal wall AF resection plus polypropylene mesh abdominal wall reconstruction, with a defect area of 60(54)cm2. The mesh placement method was uniformly Sublay repair. The remaining 29 patients underwent abdominal wall AF resection plus direct suture repair, with a defect area of 34(31)cm2. There was a significant difference in the abdominal wall defect area between the two groups ( U=291.00, P<0.05). All 70 patients achieved R 0 resection. The distance from surgical margin to tumor edge was 2-3 cm in 39 cases and >3 cm in 31 cases. (2) Tumor recurrence and postoperative complications. All 70 patients were followed up for 78(90)months. During follow-up, 10 patients developed tumor recurrence (5 cases with mesh reinforced abdominal wall reconstruction and 5 cases with direct suture repair). Among them, one case was monitored, one case underwent radiotherapy, and neither received further surgical treatment. The remaining 8 patients underwent repeat R 0 resection, and no further recurrence occurred. There was no significant difference in recurrence rate between the patients with mesh reconstruction and patients with direct suture repair ( χ2=0.06, P>0.05). The postoperative recurrence rate was 9.7%(3/31) in patients with the distance from surgical margin to tumor edge >3 cm, versus 17.9%(7/39) in patients with the distance from surgical margin to tumor edge of 2-3 cm, showing no significant difference between them ( χ2=0.97, P>0.05). Sixty patients had no tumor recurrence. During follow-up, none of the 70 patients developed incisional hernia. Two patients experienced postoperative wound infection, and 6 cases developed postoperative chronic pain. Conclusion:Extended abdominal wall resection combined with reconstruction is safe and feasible for abdominal wall AF.

Objective:To investigate the value of biparametric-MRI (bpMRI) based peritumoral radiomics for preoperative prediction of extraprostatic extension (EPE) in prostate cancer (PCa).Methods:In this cross-sectional study, consecutive bpMRI of patients undergoing prostatectomy for PCa were retrospectively collected from the First Medical Center (center 1) and the Third Medical Center (center 2) of Chinese PLA General Hospital. A total of 274 patients were finally enrolled. Patients at center 1 from January 2020 to December 2022 were randomly divided into a training set (149 cases) and an internal validation set (63 cases) by stratified random sampling. Patients at center 2 from January 2023 to March 2024 were assigned to the external test set (62 cases). Patients were categorized into EPE-positive group and EPE-negative group according to pathological assessment postoperatively. In the training set, there were 49 cases in EPE-positive group and 100 cases in EPE-negative group. In the internal validation set, there were 26 cases in EPE-positive group and 37 cases in EPE-negative group. In the external test set, there were 22 cases in EPE-positive group and 40 cases in EPE-negative group. Axial T 2WI and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) images were manually annotated to obtain index lesion regions of interest (ROIs), with the peritumoral ROIs subsequently delineated by semi-automatic segmentation technique. Radiomics features were extracted from intra-tumoral, peri-tumoral, and intra-tumoral plus peri-tumoral ROIs. The training set data was employed to select and optimize features to build the radiomics models. The logistic regression analysis was used to develop radiomics, clinical, and integrated models. The predictive performance was assessed by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) in the external test set, and compared by the DeLong test. The sensitivity and specificity were compared by the exact McNemar test. Results:In the external test set, the peri-tumoral radiomics model based on bpMRI showed the highest performance in evaluating EPE, with an AUC of 0.739 (95% CI 0.611-0.842), which was identified as the optimal radiomics model. EPE grade ( OR=6.151, 95% CI 3.371-11.226, P<0.001) was incorporated into the clinical model, with an AUC of 0.780 (95% CI 0.657-0.875) in the external test set. The integrated model had an AUC of 0.817 (95% CI 0.698-0.904) in the external test set. There was no statistically significant difference in comparisons of AUCs among the three models (all P>0.05). The sensitivity of the integrated model (68.2%) showed no significant difference from those of the clinical model and the optimal radiomics model (77.3% and 86.4%, respectively; P=0.500 and P=0.289). However, the specificity of the integrated model (85.0%) was significantly higher than those of the clinical model (67.5%, P=0.016) and the optimal radiomics model (50.0%, P<0.001). Conclusion:A bpMRI-based peritumoral radiomics integrating clinical model demonstrates high performance for preoperative prediction of EPE in PCa.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the regulatory effect of electroacupuncture (EA) at "Neiguan" (PC6) on mitochondrial autophagy in rats with myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (MIRI) at different phases (ischemia and reperfusion phases), and to explore the bidirectional regulatory effects of EA at "Neiguan" (PC6) and its potential mechanism. METHODS: Forty-five male SD rats were randomly divided into 6 groups according to the random number table method, namely, sham-operation group (n=9), model-A group (n=6), model-B group (n=9), EA-A1 group (n=6), EA-B1 group (n=6), and EA-B2 group (n=9). Except the rats in the sham-operation group, the MIRI model was established in the other groups with the physical ligation and tube pushing method. In the model-A group, the samples were collected directly after ligation, and in the model-B group, the samples were collected after ligation and reperfusion. In the EA-A1 group, EA was delivered while the ligation was performed, and afterwards, the samples were collected. In the EA-B1 group, while the ligation was performed, EA was operated at the same time, and after reperfusion, the samples were collected. In the EA-B2 group, during ligation and the opening of the left anterior descending branch of the coronary artery, EA was delivered, and after reperfusion, the samples were collected. EA was performed at bilateral "Neiguan" (PC6), with a disperse-dense wave, a frequency of 2 Hz/100 Hz, a current of 1 mA, and a duration of 30 min. HE staining was employed to observe the morphology of cardiomyocytes, TUNEL was adopted to detect the apoptosis of cardiomyocytes, transcriptome sequencing was to detect the differentially expressed genes in the left ventricle, JC-1 flow cytometry was to detect the mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) of cardiomyocytes, Western blot was to detect the protein expression of phosphatase and tensin homolog-induced kinase 1 (Pink1), Parkin and p62 in the left ventricle of rats, and ELISA was to detect the levels of serum creatine kinase isoenzyme (CK-MB) and cardiac troponin I (cTn-I) in the rats. RESULTS: Compared with the sham-operation group, the cardiomyocytes of rats in the model-B group were severely damaged, with disordered arrangement, unclear boundaries, broken muscle fibers, edema and loose distribution; and the cardiomyocytes in the EA-B2 group were slightly damaged, the cell structure was partially unclear, the cells were arranged more regularly, and the intact cardiomyocytes were visible. Compared with the sham-operation group, the apoptosis of cardiomyocytes increased in the model-B group (P<0.001); and when compared with the model-B group, the apoptosis alleviated in the EA-B2 group (P<0.001). The differentially expressed genes among the EA-B2 group, the sham-operation group and the model-B group were closely related to cell autophagy and mitochondrial autophagy. Compared with the sham-operation group, MMP of cardiomyocytes was reduced (P<0.001), the protein expression of Pink1, Parkin, and p62 of the left ventricle and the levels of serum CK-MB and cTn-I were elevated in the model B group (P<0.001). In comparison with model-A group, the MMP of cardiomyocytes and the levels of serum CK-MB and cTn-I were reduced (P<0.001, P<0.05), and the protein expression of Pink1 in the left ventricle rose in the EA-A1 group (P<0.01). Compared with the model-B group, MMP of cardiomyocytes increased (P<0.001), the protein expression of Pink1, Parkin, and p62 of the left ventricle, and the levels of serum CK-MB and cTn-I decreased (P<0.001) in the EA-B1 group and the EA-B2 group. When compared with the EA-A1 group, MMP of cardiomyocytes increased (P<0.001), and the protein expression of Pink1, Parkin, and p62 of the left ventricle, and the levels of serum CK-MB and cTn-I decreased in the EA-B1 group (P<0.01). CONCLUSION EA at "Neiguan" (PC6) can ameliorate MIRI in rats, which may be achieved through the Pink1/Parkin-mediated mitochondrial autophagy pathway. EA can alleviate myocardial injury by enhancing mitochondrial autophagy at the ischemia phase, and it can reduce reperfusion injury by weakening mitochondrial autophagy at the reperfusion phase.
Animals ; Electroacupuncture ; Male ; Myocardial Reperfusion Injury/metabolism* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Rats ; Acupuncture Points ; Autophagy ; Humans ; Mitochondria/genetics*

Objective:To investigate the clinical efficacy of extended abdominal wall resec-tion combined with reconstruction for abdominal wall aggressive fibromatosis (AF).Methods:The retrospective and descriptive study was conducted. The clinical data of 70 patients with abdominal wall AF who were admitted to 3 medical centers, including The First Affiliated Hospital of the University of Science and Technology of China, between January 2009 and July 2024 were collected. There were 6 males and 64 females, aged (36±13)years. All patients underwent extended abdominal wall resection combined with abdominal wall reconstruction. Observation indicators: (1) surgical situations; (2) tumor recurrence and postoperative complications. Comparisons of measurement data with skewed distribution between groups was conducted using the Mann-Whitney U test. Comparison of count data between groups was conducted using the chi-square test. Results:(1)Surgical situations. All 70 patients underwent extended abdominal wall resection combined with abdominal wall recons-truction. The operation time was 90(91)minutes and duration of postoperative hospital stay was 10(6)days. Of the 70 patients, 41 patients underwent abdominal wall AF resection plus polypropylene mesh abdominal wall reconstruction, with a defect area of 60(54)cm2. The mesh placement method was uniformly Sublay repair. The remaining 29 patients underwent abdominal wall AF resection plus direct suture repair, with a defect area of 34(31)cm2. There was a significant difference in the abdominal wall defect area between the two groups ( U=291.00, P<0.05). All 70 patients achieved R 0 resection. The distance from surgical margin to tumor edge was 2-3 cm in 39 cases and >3 cm in 31 cases. (2) Tumor recurrence and postoperative complications. All 70 patients were followed up for 78(90)months. During follow-up, 10 patients developed tumor recurrence (5 cases with mesh reinforced abdominal wall reconstruction and 5 cases with direct suture repair). Among them, one case was monitored, one case underwent radiotherapy, and neither received further surgical treatment. The remaining 8 patients underwent repeat R 0 resection, and no further recurrence occurred. There was no significant difference in recurrence rate between the patients with mesh reconstruction and patients with direct suture repair ( χ2=0.06, P>0.05). The postoperative recurrence rate was 9.7%(3/31) in patients with the distance from surgical margin to tumor edge >3 cm, versus 17.9%(7/39) in patients with the distance from surgical margin to tumor edge of 2-3 cm, showing no significant difference between them ( χ2=0.97, P>0.05). Sixty patients had no tumor recurrence. During follow-up, none of the 70 patients developed incisional hernia. Two patients experienced postoperative wound infection, and 6 cases developed postoperative chronic pain. Conclusion:Extended abdominal wall resection combined with reconstruction is safe and feasible for abdominal wall AF.

Objective:To investigate the value of biparametric-MRI (bpMRI) based peritumoral radiomics for preoperative prediction of extraprostatic extension (EPE) in prostate cancer (PCa).Methods:In this cross-sectional study, consecutive bpMRI of patients undergoing prostatectomy for PCa were retrospectively collected from the First Medical Center (center 1) and the Third Medical Center (center 2) of Chinese PLA General Hospital. A total of 274 patients were finally enrolled. Patients at center 1 from January 2020 to December 2022 were randomly divided into a training set (149 cases) and an internal validation set (63 cases) by stratified random sampling. Patients at center 2 from January 2023 to March 2024 were assigned to the external test set (62 cases). Patients were categorized into EPE-positive group and EPE-negative group according to pathological assessment postoperatively. In the training set, there were 49 cases in EPE-positive group and 100 cases in EPE-negative group. In the internal validation set, there were 26 cases in EPE-positive group and 37 cases in EPE-negative group. In the external test set, there were 22 cases in EPE-positive group and 40 cases in EPE-negative group. Axial T 2WI and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) images were manually annotated to obtain index lesion regions of interest (ROIs), with the peritumoral ROIs subsequently delineated by semi-automatic segmentation technique. Radiomics features were extracted from intra-tumoral, peri-tumoral, and intra-tumoral plus peri-tumoral ROIs. The training set data was employed to select and optimize features to build the radiomics models. The logistic regression analysis was used to develop radiomics, clinical, and integrated models. The predictive performance was assessed by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) in the external test set, and compared by the DeLong test. The sensitivity and specificity were compared by the exact McNemar test. Results:In the external test set, the peri-tumoral radiomics model based on bpMRI showed the highest performance in evaluating EPE, with an AUC of 0.739 (95% CI 0.611-0.842), which was identified as the optimal radiomics model. EPE grade ( OR=6.151, 95% CI 3.371-11.226, P<0.001) was incorporated into the clinical model, with an AUC of 0.780 (95% CI 0.657-0.875) in the external test set. The integrated model had an AUC of 0.817 (95% CI 0.698-0.904) in the external test set. There was no statistically significant difference in comparisons of AUCs among the three models (all P>0.05). The sensitivity of the integrated model (68.2%) showed no significant difference from those of the clinical model and the optimal radiomics model (77.3% and 86.4%, respectively; P=0.500 and P=0.289). However, the specificity of the integrated model (85.0%) was significantly higher than those of the clinical model (67.5%, P=0.016) and the optimal radiomics model (50.0%, P<0.001). Conclusion:A bpMRI-based peritumoral radiomics integrating clinical model demonstrates high performance for preoperative prediction of EPE in PCa.

Objective:To investigate the impact of the interval period between biopsy and MR examination on tumor detection and extraprostatic extension (EPE) assessment for prostate cancer (PCa) using multi-parametric MRI (mpMRI).Methods:The study was cross-sectional and retrospectively included 130 patients with PCa who underwent RP and preoperative systematic biopsies followed by mpMRI between January 2021 and December 2022 in the First Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital. Patients were divided into 3 groups according to interval following biopsy (group A,<3 weeks, 31 cases; group B, 3-6 weeks, 67 cases; group C,>6 weeks, 32 cases). The percentages of hemorrhage volume in the total prostate were drawn on T 1WI and calculated. The junior, senior and expert radiologists independently localized the index lesions and calculated the accuracy for tumor detection, in addition to assessing the probabilities of EPE according to EPE grade. The correlation between the hemorrhage extent and interval was analyzed using the Spearman correlation coefficient. The accuracy for tumor detection was compared using χ2 test among groups. The diagnostic performance of the radiologists for EPE prediction was assessed using the receiver operating characteristic curve, and the differences between the corresponding area under the curve (AUC) were compared using the DeLong test. Results:The percentage of hemorrhage was correlated with the interval between biopsy and MR examination ( r=-0.325, P<0.001). The detection accuracy of junior radiologist was 83.9% (26/31), 76.1% (51/67), and 78.1% (25/32) in group A, B and C, respectively; no differences were observed in the detection accuracy among three groups ( χ2=0.76, P=0.685). The detection accuracy of senior radiologist was 83.9% (26/31), 80.6% (54/67), and 71.9% (23/32) in 3 groups with no differences ( χ2=1.53, P=0.464). The detection accuracy of expert radiologist was 80.6% (25/31), 77.6% (52/67), and 93.8% (30/32) with no differences ( χ2=3.95, P=0.139). The AUC (95% CI) for predicting EPE were 0.830 (0.652-0.940), 0.704 (0.580-0.809), 0.800 (0.621-0.920) in the group A, B and C for junior radiologist; 0.876 (0.708-0.966), 0.768 (0.659-0.863), 0.896 (0.736-0.975) for senior radiologist; and 0.866 (0.695-0.961), 0.813 (0.699-0.895), 0.852 (0.682-0.952) for expert radiologist, respectively. No differences were observed among the subgroups in each radiologist ( P>0.05). Conclusion:The interval period does not significantly affect the detection accuracy and EPE assessment of PCa using mpMRI. There is probably no necessity for prolonged intervals following systematic biopsy to preserve the clarity of MRI interpretation for PCa.

Purpose To explore the diagnostic value of prostate imaging report and data system 2.1(PI-RADS v2.1)combined with prostate-specific antigen density(PSAD)for clinically significant prostate cancer(csPCa)in prostate-specific antigen(PSA)gray area(4-10 ng/ml)based on two-center data.Materials and Methods The clinical and imaging data of patients with PSA gray zone prostate disease who underwent multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging and all pathological data in the First Medical Center(center 1)and the Sixth Medical Center(center 2)of the Chinese PLA General Hospital from January 2017 to May 2022 were retrospectively selected and analyzed.The patients from center 1 were used as the training group(220 cases),and the patients from center 2 were used as the test group(50 cases).Logistic regression was used to determine the independent predictors of csPCa in the training group,and the diagnostic efficacy of multi-parameter combination for csPCa was analyzed,which was further verified in the test group.Results There were significant differences in prostate volume,PSAD and PI-RADS v2.1 scores between the csPCa and non-csPCa groups in the training group(Z=-6.468,6.589,75.676,all P＜0.001).Logistic regression analysis showed that PI-RADS v2.1 score and PSAD were the independent risk factors for csPCa(both P＜0.001).The area under the curve of the Logistic regression model composed of PI-RADS v2.1 and PSAD for predicting csPCa in the PSA gray zone was 0.860(95％CI 0.808-0.903)in the training group and 0.906(95％CI 0.790-0.970)in the test group,respectively.The area under the curve of Logistic regression model was significantly higher than that of PI-RADS v2.1 and PSAD,respectively,with statistically significant difference(both P＜0.05).When the PI-RADS v2.1 score was low or moderate risk and PSAD＜0.15 ng/ml2,csPCa in the training group and the test group was with low detection rate.Conclusion PI-RADS v2.1 score and PSAD may be the independent risk factors for predicting csPCa in the PSA gray zone.The combined application of the two methods is better than the single method in the diagnosis of csPCa in the PSA gray zone,with benefits for clinical biopsy decision-making.

Purpose To explore the additional value of apparent diffusion coefficient(ADC)histogram in predicting extraprostatic extension(EPE)of prostate cancer.Materials and Methods Consecutive patients undergoing multi-parameter MRI and subsequent radical prostatectomy from January 2021 to December 2022 were retrospectively included in this study.Two radiologists independently estimated EPE by using national cancer institute grading system for extraprostatic extension(EPE grade system),with disagreement resolved by discussion.Histogram metrics were derived from three-dimensional volumes of interest encompassing the entire lesion on ADC maps using FireVoxel,obtaining mean ADC,1st,5th,10th,25th,50th,75th,90th,95th and 99th ADC values.The ADC histograms between the groups with and without EPE were compared.Multivariable Logistic regression analysis was used to identify the independent predictive factors of EPE,and a combined model was developed.Receiver operator characteristic curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic performance,and the area under the curve was calculated and compared.Results Thirty-four patients(34％)had pathologic confirmed EPE after radical prostatectomy.ADC histogram parameters showed significant differences between patients with and without EPE(P＜0.05).Multivariate Logistic regression analysis revealed 99th ADC(OR=0.609,P=0.008)and EPE grade system(OR=4.158,P＜0.001)were independent predictors of EPE.For predicting EPE,the area under the curve of 99th ADC,EPE grade system and the combined model were 0.756,0.805 and 0.856,respectively.The area under the curve of 99th ADC and the EPE grade system in identifying EPE showed no significant difference.The diagnostic efficacy of combined model was significantly superior to that of 99th ADC or EPE grading system(Z=2.223,2.208,both P＜0.05).Conclusion The ADC histogram parameters demonstrate additional value for preoperative prediction of EPE.Combining the 99th ADC histogram parameter with the EPE grade system may improve the diagnostic efficacy of EPE.

Objectives:To investigate the effect of fat suppression (FS) T 2WI on the interobserver agreement and diagnostic performance of clear cell likelihood score version 2.0 (ccLS v2.0) for clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). Methods:In this retrospective study, the MR images of 111 patients with pathologically confirmed small renal masses (SRM) from January to December 2021 were analyzed in the First Medical Centre, Chinese PLA General Hospital. Of the 111 SRM, 82 cases were ccRCC and 29 cases were non-ccRCC. Two radiologists independently assessed ccLS scores based on T 2WI signal intensity (hypointense, isointense, hyperintense) and other MRI features (ccLS-T 2WI). After a one-month interval, the ccLS scores were independently evaluated utilizing the frequency-selective saturation FS-T 2WI and other MRI features (ccLS-FS-T 2WI). Fisher′s exact test was used to compare the difference in SRM signal intensity on T 2WI and FS-T 2WI. The weighted Kappa test was performed to assess the interobserver agreement of the two radiologists, and differences in the weighted Kappa coefficients were compared using the Gwet consistency coefficient. Receiver operating characteristic curves were drawn to evaluate the diagnostic performance of ccLS-T 2WI and ccLS-FS-T 2WI in diagnosing ccRCC, and the area under the curve (AUC) was compared utilizing the DeLong test. Results:The signal intensity of 111 SRM on T 2WI and FS-T 2WI had statistically significant difference (χ 2=126.33, P<0.001), consistent in 88 cases (79.3%) and varied in 23 cases (20.7%). The weighted Kappa coefficient of ccLS-T 2WI was 0.57 (95%CI 0.45-0.69) between the two radiologists, and the weighted Kappa coefficient of ccLS-FS-T 2WI was 0.55 (95%CI 0.42-0.67), and the difference was not statistically significant ( t=-0.65, P=0.520). The AUC of ccLS-T 2WI for ccRCC diagnosis was 0.92 (95%CI 0.86-0.97), while the AUC of ccLS-FS-T 2WI for ccRCC diagnosis was 0.91 (95%CI 0.85-0.96), and the difference was not statistically significant ( Z=1.50, P=0.133). Conclusions:The interobserver agreement and diagnostic performance of ccLS v2.0 based on T 2WI and FS-T 2WI sequences for ccRCC are comparable, and FS-T 2WI is applicable for the clinical application of ccLS v2.0.