OBJECTIVE To compare the short-term efficacy and safety of small-caliber polyvinyl alcohol （PVA） microsphere-based transcatheter arterial chemoembolization （TACE） versus conventional iodized oil emulsion-based TACE in the treatment of unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC）.METHODS Clinical data of 146 patients with unresectable HCC who underwent TACE at Gansu Provincial Second People’s Hospital （Affiliated Hospital of Northwest Minzu University） from June 1， 2024， to June 30， 2025， were retrospectively collected. According to the treatment strategy， the patients were divided into the control group （conventional iodized oil emulsion-based TACE， n ＝79） and the observation group （small-caliber PVA microsphere-based TACE， n ＝67）. One-to-one propensity score matching （PSM） was performed， and the matched cohort （62 patients in each group） was used for the primary analysis. The objective response rate （ORR） and disease control rate （DCR） at 1 and 3 months post-treatment， serum levels of tumor markers （alpha-fetoprotein， alpha-fetoprotein lectin-binding fraction L3， and protein induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist-Ⅱ） before treatment and at 1 and 3 months post-treatment， the occurrence of adverse events， progression-free survival （PFS）， and overall survival （OS） were compared between the two groups. Sensitivity and interaction analyses were also performed.RESULTS After PSM， the ORRs in the observation group at 1 and 3 months post-treatment were both 59.7%， and the DCRs were 91.9% and 93.5%， respectively， significantly higher than those in the control group （ORRs： 41.9% and 38.7%； DCRs： 77.4% and 75.8%； P ＜0.05）. At 1 and 3 months post-treatment， the serum levels of tumor markers decreased significantly from baseline in both groups， with significantly lower levels in the observation group than in the control group （ P ＜0.05）. No statistically significant differences were observed in the overall incidence of adverse events or the incidence of grade≥3 adverse events between the two groups （ P ＞0.05）. The median PFS was 10.6 months in the control group and 14.3 months in the observation group， with no statistically significant difference [hazard ratio （HR） of 0.69， 95% confidence interval （CI） of 0.44-1.09， P ＝0.111]. During follow-up， 8 and 9 patients died in the control and observation groups， respectively， and the median OS was not reached in either group. The 12-month OS rates were 88.8% and 87.3%， respectively， with no statistically significant difference （HR of 0.88， 95%CI of 0.35-2.24， P ＝0.790）. After adjustment for potential confounding factors in the original cohort， the ORR at 3 months post-treatment remained significantly higher in the observation group than in the control group （adjusted odds ratio of 2.67， 95%CI of 1.28-5.56， P ＝0.009）. Additionally， the interaction between treatment modality and Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer staging had no statistically significant impact on the ORR at 3 months post-treatment （ P ＝0.391）.CONCLUSIONS For patients with unresectable HCC， compared with conventional iodized oil emulsion-based TACE， small-caliber PVA microsphere-based TACE demonstrates superior efficacy in terms of early radiological response and improvement in tumor markers， and the two regimens are comparable in terms of safety.

OBJECTIVE To provide help for further exploring the mechanism of action of traditional Chinese herb by constructing a complex network of traditional Chinese herb-gene-protein,optimizing the mining method of potential associated genes of traditional Chinese herb and improving the mining efficiency of traditional Chinese herb system biology information.METHODS A graph neural network model HERBGAT with an attention mechanism was proposed.A small amount of traditional Chinese herb-related gene data in the public data platform was used as input,and deep mining was performed in the traditional Chinese herb-gene-protein complex net-work to output potential traditional Chinese herb-related genes.The prediction results were analyzed by disease association analysis and KEGG signaling pathway analysis on the bioinformatics platform to clarify their mechanism of action,and the prediction results were verified by the literature retrieval platform.RESULTS The training results showed that the average prediction accuracy of the HERB-GAT model could reach 94%.Compared with the other two advanced complex network mining methods,HERBGAT showed better per-formance in the three indicators of ACC,AUC and AUPR.In the literature verification stage,the model prediction results were verified by TCM clinical literature and modern pharmacology literature,showing the good effect of HERBGAT in practical application.At the end of this paper,taking the HERBGAT model and the improved EMOGI model to explore the mechanism of action of Pinellia ternata in treating lung cancer as an example,199 potential associated genes of Pinellia ternata in treating lung cancer were found,and these potential associated genes were preliminarily analyzed and discussed with the help of bioinformatics methods.CONCLUSION The HERBGAT model can effectively mine potential traditional Chinese herb-associated genes,improve the mining efficiency of traditional Chinese herb-gene-protein complex networks,provide new ideas and references for the optimization of traditional Chinese herb system biology information mining methods,and provide data basis and experimental direction for exploring the mechanism of action of tradi-tional Chinese herb.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the deglycosylation metabolism of dioscin in vivo and the changes of its anti-tumor activi-ty of its deglycosylated metabolites.METHODS An LC-MS/MS analysis method for simultaneous determination of dioscin and its deglycosylation metabolites was established to study the cumulative excretion amount of dioscin and its deglycosylated metabolites in rat feces after oral administration.To mimic its deglycosylation metabolism,HPLC method was applied to investigate the time-dependent changes in the prototype components and metabolites of dioscin after incubation in artificial gastric juice.Solid-phase extraction tech-nology was employed to isolate the product of dioscin following hydrolysis by artificial gastric juice.The cytotoxic effects of this product on human colon cancer cells HCT-116 were assessed using the CCK-8 assay across different hydrolysis time periods.Concurrently,the enzymatic activities of caspase-3 and caspase-9,along with the expression levels of cytochrome C,were measured to elucidate the impact of dioscin post-hydrolysis on the cytotoxicity against HCT-116 cells.RESULTS Dioscin and its series of deglycosylated me-tabolites were detected in rat feces,revealing no significant differences in the cumulative excretion amounts of Polyphyllin Ⅴ and Pro-genin Ⅱ.Dioscin was shown to generate a range of deglycosylated metabolites in artificial gastric juice.Furthermore,dioscin and its deglycosylated metabolites inhibited the proliferation of HCT-116 cells,induced morphological changes,and increased the enzymatic activities of caspase-3 and caspase-9,as well as cytochrome C expression.However,it was observed that the antitumor activity of the deglycosylated metabolites diminished with prolonged hydrolysis time.CONCLUSION The deglycosylation metabolism of dioscin sig-nificantly attenuates its inhibitory effect on the proliferation of HCT-116 cells.Suppressing the acid-mediated or gut microbiota-medi-ated deglycosylation metabolism may be a promising strategy to preserve its antitumor activity.

Objective:To investigate the clinical results of anteriorly displaced orbicularis oculi flap and autologous granular fat injections via sub-brow incision for correction of different degrees of sunken upper eyelid.Methods:From September 2021 to September 2022, a total of 80 patients with upper eyelid skin laxity and sunken upper eyelid were recruited prospectively from the Department of Plastic Surgery, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine. There were 18 males and 62 females, aged 28 to 60 years, with a mean age of (42.7±9.2) years. According to Park's method, 59 patients with grade Ⅰ and grade Ⅱ sunken upper eyelid were treated with eyebrow lifting and orbicularis oculi flap correction, and 21 patients with grade Ⅲ upper eyelid sunken were treated with eyebrow lifting combined with autologous particles fat filling. The patients were followed up for 6 months. The depth of sunken upper eyelid was measured before and after operation. The incidence of adverse reactions and patient satisfaction were recorded.Results:The mean depth of depression measured preoperatively was (6.01±2.25) mm in the grades Ⅰ and Ⅱ sunken upper eyelid, which was improved to (2.00±1.06) mm at the 6-month postoperative follow-up ( P=0.001), and the mean depth of depression was (13.15±1.75) mm in the group of grade Ⅲ, which was improved to (4.15±1.49) mm at the 6-month postoperative follow-up ( P=0.001). After 6-month follow-up, the incidence of complications was 6.3% (5/80) and the satisfaction rate was 90.0% (72/80). Conclusions:Different correction methods should be chosen according to the degree of sunken upper eyelid. Grades Ⅰand Ⅱ sunken upper eyelid are corrected with orbicularis muscle flap through sub-eyebrow incision, and grade Ⅲ is corrected with autologous fat injection. Both the clinical effect and patient satisfaction rate are higher.

Objective To explore the application of low-concentration contrast agent and low tube voltage(dual-low)scanning technology combined with iterative reconstruction technique in computed tomography perfusion(CTP)scanning for patients with acute cerebral infarction(ACI).Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on 120 patients diagnosed with ACI at Gansu Second People's Hospital from December 2018 to December 2022.All patients underwent CTP examination,and according to CTP contrast agent and tube voltage,they were divided into dual-low group(n=64,low-concentration contrast agent with an iodine content of 270 mgI/mL,low tube voltage of 80 kV)and control group(n=56,conventional concentration contrast agent with an iodine content of 350 mgI/mL,standard tube voltage of 120 kV).Images quality was compared between two groups,with the intraclass correlation coefficient used to evaluate the consistency of image quality.The radiation dose,intake of ioversol injection,CT value at M1 segment of the middle cerebral artery,signal-to-noise ratio,and contrast-to-noise ratio were also compared between two groups.Results The difference in CTP image quality between dual-low group and control group was trivial(P>0.05).The dual-low group exhibited lower dose-length product,effective radiation dose,and intake of ioversol injection than control group(P<0.05).No significant differences were observed in CT value at M1 segment of the middle cerebral artery,signal-to-noise ratio or contrast-to-noise ratio between two groups(P>0.05).Conclusion The application of dual-low scanning technology combined with iterative reconstruction algorithm can reduce intake of contrast agent and radiation dose while ensuring CTP images quality in ACI patients.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), as a treasure of the Chinese nation, plays a significant role in maintaining public health. In 2019, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council proposed for the first time the establishment of a TCM registration and evaluation evidence system that integrates TCM theory, "personal experience" and clinical trials (referred to as the "Three-in-One" System) to promote the inheritance and innovation of TCM. Subsequently, the National Medical Products Administration issued several guiding principles to advance the improvement and implementation of this system. Owing to the complexity of its implementation, there are still differing understandings within the TCM industry regarding the positioning of the "Three-in-One" Registration and Evaluation Evidence System, as well as the connotation and value orientation of the "personal experience." To address this, Academician WANG Qi, President of the TCM Association, China International Exchange and Promotion Association for Medical and Healthcare and TCM master, led a group of academicians, TCM masters, TCM pharmacology experts and clinical TCM experts to convene a "Seminar on Promoting the Implementation of the ′Three-in-One′ Registration and Evaluation Evidence System for Chinese Medicinals." Through extensive discussions, an expert consensus was formed, clarifying the different roles of the TCM theory, "personal experience" and clinical trials within the system. It was further emphasized that the "personal experience" is the core of this system, and its data should be derived from clinical practice scenarios. In the future, the improvement of this system will require collaborative efforts across multiple fields to promote the high-quality development of the Chinese medicinal industry.

OBJECTIVE To provide help for further exploring the mechanism of action of traditional Chinese herb by constructing a complex network of traditional Chinese herb-gene-protein,optimizing the mining method of potential associated genes of traditional Chinese herb and improving the mining efficiency of traditional Chinese herb system biology information.METHODS A graph neural network model HERBGAT with an attention mechanism was proposed.A small amount of traditional Chinese herb-related gene data in the public data platform was used as input,and deep mining was performed in the traditional Chinese herb-gene-protein complex net-work to output potential traditional Chinese herb-related genes.The prediction results were analyzed by disease association analysis and KEGG signaling pathway analysis on the bioinformatics platform to clarify their mechanism of action,and the prediction results were verified by the literature retrieval platform.RESULTS The training results showed that the average prediction accuracy of the HERB-GAT model could reach 94%.Compared with the other two advanced complex network mining methods,HERBGAT showed better per-formance in the three indicators of ACC,AUC and AUPR.In the literature verification stage,the model prediction results were verified by TCM clinical literature and modern pharmacology literature,showing the good effect of HERBGAT in practical application.At the end of this paper,taking the HERBGAT model and the improved EMOGI model to explore the mechanism of action of Pinellia ternata in treating lung cancer as an example,199 potential associated genes of Pinellia ternata in treating lung cancer were found,and these potential associated genes were preliminarily analyzed and discussed with the help of bioinformatics methods.CONCLUSION The HERBGAT model can effectively mine potential traditional Chinese herb-associated genes,improve the mining efficiency of traditional Chinese herb-gene-protein complex networks,provide new ideas and references for the optimization of traditional Chinese herb system biology information mining methods,and provide data basis and experimental direction for exploring the mechanism of action of tradi-tional Chinese herb.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the deglycosylation metabolism of dioscin in vivo and the changes of its anti-tumor activi-ty of its deglycosylated metabolites.METHODS An LC-MS/MS analysis method for simultaneous determination of dioscin and its deglycosylation metabolites was established to study the cumulative excretion amount of dioscin and its deglycosylated metabolites in rat feces after oral administration.To mimic its deglycosylation metabolism,HPLC method was applied to investigate the time-dependent changes in the prototype components and metabolites of dioscin after incubation in artificial gastric juice.Solid-phase extraction tech-nology was employed to isolate the product of dioscin following hydrolysis by artificial gastric juice.The cytotoxic effects of this product on human colon cancer cells HCT-116 were assessed using the CCK-8 assay across different hydrolysis time periods.Concurrently,the enzymatic activities of caspase-3 and caspase-9,along with the expression levels of cytochrome C,were measured to elucidate the impact of dioscin post-hydrolysis on the cytotoxicity against HCT-116 cells.RESULTS Dioscin and its series of deglycosylated me-tabolites were detected in rat feces,revealing no significant differences in the cumulative excretion amounts of Polyphyllin Ⅴ and Pro-genin Ⅱ.Dioscin was shown to generate a range of deglycosylated metabolites in artificial gastric juice.Furthermore,dioscin and its deglycosylated metabolites inhibited the proliferation of HCT-116 cells,induced morphological changes,and increased the enzymatic activities of caspase-3 and caspase-9,as well as cytochrome C expression.However,it was observed that the antitumor activity of the deglycosylated metabolites diminished with prolonged hydrolysis time.CONCLUSION The deglycosylation metabolism of dioscin sig-nificantly attenuates its inhibitory effect on the proliferation of HCT-116 cells.Suppressing the acid-mediated or gut microbiota-medi-ated deglycosylation metabolism may be a promising strategy to preserve its antitumor activity.

Objective:To investigate the clinical results of anteriorly displaced orbicularis oculi flap and autologous granular fat injections via sub-brow incision for correction of different degrees of sunken upper eyelid.Methods:From September 2021 to September 2022, a total of 80 patients with upper eyelid skin laxity and sunken upper eyelid were recruited prospectively from the Department of Plastic Surgery, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine. There were 18 males and 62 females, aged 28 to 60 years, with a mean age of (42.7±9.2) years. According to Park's method, 59 patients with grade Ⅰ and grade Ⅱ sunken upper eyelid were treated with eyebrow lifting and orbicularis oculi flap correction, and 21 patients with grade Ⅲ upper eyelid sunken were treated with eyebrow lifting combined with autologous particles fat filling. The patients were followed up for 6 months. The depth of sunken upper eyelid was measured before and after operation. The incidence of adverse reactions and patient satisfaction were recorded.Results:The mean depth of depression measured preoperatively was (6.01±2.25) mm in the grades Ⅰ and Ⅱ sunken upper eyelid, which was improved to (2.00±1.06) mm at the 6-month postoperative follow-up ( P=0.001), and the mean depth of depression was (13.15±1.75) mm in the group of grade Ⅲ, which was improved to (4.15±1.49) mm at the 6-month postoperative follow-up ( P=0.001). After 6-month follow-up, the incidence of complications was 6.3% (5/80) and the satisfaction rate was 90.0% (72/80). Conclusions:Different correction methods should be chosen according to the degree of sunken upper eyelid. Grades Ⅰand Ⅱ sunken upper eyelid are corrected with orbicularis muscle flap through sub-eyebrow incision, and grade Ⅲ is corrected with autologous fat injection. Both the clinical effect and patient satisfaction rate are higher.

Objective To explore the application of low-concentration contrast agent and low tube voltage(dual-low)scanning technology combined with iterative reconstruction technique in computed tomography perfusion(CTP)scanning for patients with acute cerebral infarction(ACI).Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on 120 patients diagnosed with ACI at Gansu Second People's Hospital from December 2018 to December 2022.All patients underwent CTP examination,and according to CTP contrast agent and tube voltage,they were divided into dual-low group(n=64,low-concentration contrast agent with an iodine content of 270 mgI/mL,low tube voltage of 80 kV)and control group(n=56,conventional concentration contrast agent with an iodine content of 350 mgI/mL,standard tube voltage of 120 kV).Images quality was compared between two groups,with the intraclass correlation coefficient used to evaluate the consistency of image quality.The radiation dose,intake of ioversol injection,CT value at M1 segment of the middle cerebral artery,signal-to-noise ratio,and contrast-to-noise ratio were also compared between two groups.Results The difference in CTP image quality between dual-low group and control group was trivial(P>0.05).The dual-low group exhibited lower dose-length product,effective radiation dose,and intake of ioversol injection than control group(P<0.05).No significant differences were observed in CT value at M1 segment of the middle cerebral artery,signal-to-noise ratio or contrast-to-noise ratio between two groups(P>0.05).Conclusion The application of dual-low scanning technology combined with iterative reconstruction algorithm can reduce intake of contrast agent and radiation dose while ensuring CTP images quality in ACI patients.