The welfare and ethics of laboratory animals are the ethical principles and behavioral norms that need to be followed in conducting animal-based scientific research, breeding and managing laboratory animals, and supervising and regulating such activities. The level of protection of laboratory animal welfare and ethics is closely related to the development of science and technology, which has become a widely recognized international consensus. At present, Guangdong Province is accelerating the construction of a high-level science and technology innovation province and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area International Science and Technology Innovation Center. Guangdong Province should rely on its advanced governance capacity in the field of laboratory animal science and technology ethics to promote the high-quality development of its laboratory animal science and technology sector. Based on the management laws, regulations, and institutional mechanisms of laboratory animals in China, this paper explores the optimization of the laboratory animal science and technology ethics governance system, which includes the institutional guarantees, responsibility systems, ethical review and supervision mechanisms, and education and outreach. Through methods such as literature research, questionnaire surveys, and interview investigations, an empirical study of the laboratory animal science and technology ethics governance system in Guangdong Province has been conducted. Analysis of literature and research results shows that Guangdong Province has basically established a laboratory animal management system, collaboration mechanism, supervision mechanism, and education and training system that meet the current requirements of the laboratory animal science and technology ethics governance system in China. However, there are still problems such as an incomplete laboratory animal science and technology ethics supervision mechanism, an underdeveloped operation mechanism of review institutions, insufficient attention paid by laboratory animal units to the ethical review of animal experiments, inconsistent ethical review standards, and a lack of professional ethical education and training for ethics review personnel. Therefore, optimization measures such as improving the laboratory animal science and technology ethics review system, strengthening supervision and inspection, further strengthening the accountability of responsible entities, formulating review norms, and enhancing hierarchical and classified education and training are proposed, to provide a theoretical basis for promoting the normalized and long-term governance of laboratory animal science and technology ethics in Guangdong Province.

Geriatric oral health care encounters significant challenges with the increase in the proportion of older individuals. Age-related changes in the dentition, muscles, and joints result in a decline in objective masticatory function, subjective restoration requirements, and acceptability among the elderly population, with individual variations influenced by systemic health. Considering functional requirements, the adaptability of stomatognathic and systemic health conditions, health economics and other factors, the authors believe that it should not be limited to the conventional "one-to-one" strategy for replacing missing teeth in geriatric prosthodontics. There is an urgent need for a precise and adaptable restoration strategy that is more suitable for older individuals. The proposal of a new concept of functional tooth loss updates the minimal restoration standards for elderly patients and establishes the theory of age-friendly functional restoration. Based on the restoration strategy of functional tooth loss, this paper proposes a new concept termed "age-friendly functional restoration of the stomatognathic system", which integrates treatment considerations including endodontics, periodontology, mucosa, muscles, temporomandibular joint, and systemic health. Efforts should be made in four areas as follows. Firstly, the "assessment of accessible function" should be enhanced by considering the interrelationship between stomatognathic and systemic health. Secondly, the "evaluation of appropriate function" is supposed to be optimised in view of subjective needs and objective evaluation of the stomatognathic system. Moreover, the "formulation of treatment plans" needs to be accomplished with the aid of assistive technologies, such as artificial intelligence, to accurately exert appropriate functional restoration. Lastly, the "management and maintenance of health" is likely to be strengthened through follow-ups, propaganda and education, and preventive healthcare, so as to improve quality of life and ultimately achieve healthy ageing among older individuals.
Humans ; Tooth Loss/therapy* ; Aged ; Stomatognathic System ; Oral Health ; Dental Care for Aged ; Dental Restoration, Permanent/methods*

Objective:To investigate the effects of electroacupuncture on neuroinflammation in rats with postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) by regulating advanced glycation end products (AGE) and its receptor (RAGE) signaling pathway.Methods:Ten healthy male SD rats were randomly selected as the control group, and the remaining 30 SD rats were used to induce PHN model by resin toxin (RTX). Thirty SD rats were randomly divided into model group, positive drug group and electroacupuncture group, with 10 rats in each group. Intervention was conducted on the 7th day of modeling. The electroacupuncture group intervened with "Yanglingquan"(GB34) and "Huantiao"(GB30); the positive drug group was intragastrically administered with pregabalin suspension 27 mg/kg, once a day for 1 week; the control group and model group were not treated. The paw retraction threshold (PWMT) and paw retraction latency (PWTL) were measured before modeling and on the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th days after modeling; histopathological changes of spinal cord were observed by HE staining; the levels of TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 in spinal cord tissue were detected by ELISA; the expressions of AGE-RAGE signaling pathway related proteins in spinal cord was detected by Western blot.Results:Compared with the model group, the degree of atrophy and inflammatory infiltration of spinal cord neurons in the positive drug group and electroacupuncture group were reduced. The PWMT value in the positive drug group increased ( P<0.05), and the PWTL value decreased ( P<0.05); compared with the model group, the levels of TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 in the spinal cord tissue of the electroacupuncture group and the positive drug group decreased ( P<0.05), and the expressions of AGE, RAGE, p-ERK1/2/ERK1/2, JNK, p-NF-κB/NF-κB and AP-1 decreased ( P<0.05); compared with the positive drug group, the levels of TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 in the spinal cord tissue of the electroacupuncture group decreased ( P<0.05), and the protein expressions of AGE, RAGE, p-ERK1/2/ERK1/2, JNK, p-NF-κB/NF-κB and AP-1 decreased ( P<0.05). Conclusion:Electroacupuncture can improve neuroinflammation in PHN rats, the mechanism of which may be related to the regulation of AGE-RAGE mediated pro-inflammatory signaling pathway.

ObjectiveTo observe the clinical efficacy of acupuncture combined with bloodletting and cupping in the treatment of chronic spontaneous urticaria（CSU） and to explore its potential mechanisms of action. MethodsSeventy CSU patients were randomly divided into loratadine group and acupuncture + bloodletting group， with 35 patients in each group. The loratadine group received oral loratadine tablets， 10 mg once daily in the evening. The acupuncture + bloodletting group received acupuncture at Zhongwan （CV 12）， Guanyuan （CV 4）， Tianshu （ST 25）， Zusanli （ST 36）， Sanyinjiao （SP 6）， Xuehai （SP 10）， Quchi （LI 11）， Hegu （LI 4）， Taichong （LR 3）， Baihui （GV 20）， and Shenting （GV 24）， once daily，along with bloodletting and cupping at Dazhui （GV 14） and Geshu （BL 17）， every other day. Both groups were treated for 4 weeks. The 7-day urticaria activity score（UAS7） was assessed before and after the treatment， and levels of serum immunoglobulin E （IgE）， interleukin-4 （IL-4）， interleukin-5 （IL-5）， eosinophil cationic protein （ECP）， plasma tissue factor （TF）， activated factor Ⅶ （FⅦa）， prothrombin fragment 1+2 （F1+2）， D-dimer （D-D） and complement component 5a （C5a） were detected. ResultsA total of 65 patients were included in the final analysis， 32 in the loratadine group and 33 in the acupuncture + bloodletting group. Before treatment， there was no significant difference in UAS7 score， serum IgE， IL-4， IL-5， ECP levels， or plasma TF， FⅦa， F1+2， D-D， C5a levels between groups （P＞ 0.05）. After treatment， both groups showed significant reductions in UAS7 score， serum IgE， IL-4， IL-5， and plasma TF， FⅦa， F1+2， D-D， and C5a levels compared to those before treatment （P＜0.01）. However， after treatment， there was no significant difference in UAS7 score and serum ECP， IgE， IL-4， IL-5 levels between groups （P＞0.05）. The acupuncture + bloodletting group showed lower plasma TF， FⅦa， F1+2， D-D and C5a levels compared to the loratadine group （P＜0.05 or P＜0.01）. ConclusionAcupuncture combined with bloodletting and cupping can effectively improve the skin symptoms of CSU patients and reduce the levels of inflammatory factors. The potential mechanism of action may involve the regulation of the coagulation-complement-mast cell activation axis， thereby inhibiting mast cell degranulation.

Objective To explore the diagnostic value of amide proton transfer weighted imaging(APTWI)in conjunction with prostate-specific antigen density(PSAD)for detecting clinically significant prostate cancer(csPCa)within prostate imaging reporting and data system(PI-RADS)v2.13-5 grade lesions.Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical and imaging data of 88 patients diagnosed with PI-RADS 3-5 grade prostate lesions.There were 59 patients with prostate cancer(PCa)and 29 with benign prostate lesion(BPL).The PCa group was divided into csPCa group(44 cases)and clinically insignificant prostate cancer(ciPCa)group(15 cases)according to Gleason score(GS).Spearman rank correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between APTWI-related parameters and GS in PCa.Comparative analyses were conducted to identify statistical discrepancies in APTWI and prostate-specific antigen(PSA)-related parameters across various groups.Subsequently,both solitary and combined diagnostic models were developed,and the receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve were utilized to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy.Results APTmax and APTmean were moderately positively correlated with GS(r=0.683,r=0.705,respectively),and APTmin was weakly positively correlated with GS(r=0.547).APTWI and PSA-related parameters were significantly higher in the PCa group than in the BPL group,and APTmin had the highest efficacy in diagnosing PCa[area under the curve(AUC)=0.855].APTWI and PSA-related parameters differed among the BPL,ciPCa and csPCa groups(P＜0.05).Among the groups,statistically significant differences were observed in each parameter of APTWI and PSA-related indices between the BPL group and the csPCa group,as well as between the ciPCa group and the csPCa group(P＜0.05).In contrast,only APTmin and PSAD exhibited significant differ-ences between the BPL group and the ciPCa group(P＜0.05).The results of the combined diagnosis showed that APTmin+PSAD had the highest diagnostic efficacy for diagnosing PCa(AUC=0.899),and APTmean+PSAD had the highest diagnostic efficacy for diagnosing csPCa(AUC=0.838).Conclusion In PI-RADS 3-5 grade prostate lesions,APTWI and PSA-related parameters are statisti-cally different in the BPL,ciPCa,and csPCa groups.Notably,the combination of APTmean and PSAD exhibit the highest diagnostic efficacy for csPCa.

Infectious disease animal models serve as indispensable tools for understanding the transmission patterns,pathogenesis,and anti-infective medicine.During the preparation and application of infectious animal disease models,situations inevitably arise that violate animal welfare and ethics,such as animal pain,suffering,and distress.Considering the biosafety factors,animal mortality is still used as the experimental endpoint in most experiments on infectious animals,which poses extremely high requirements for animal welfare and ethics.It is imperative to establish guiding principles or norms for the welfare and ethics of infectious animal experiments.Based on the fundamental principles of the welfare and ethics of experimental animals,this paper explores the special welfare and ethical requirements in infectious animal experiments.It emphasizes that infectious animal experiments should fully consider the balance among the scientific objectives of the research plan,animal welfare and ethics,and occupational health and safety of personnel.Based on literature research and comparative analysis of the welfare and ethical requirements of conventional animal experiments,special welfare and ethics requirements for infectious animal experiments are proposed,including personnel requirements,experimental animal selection standards,living environment management and equipment,special care and veterinary care,and humane endpoints.Personnel are required to undergo effective biosafety training,and sufficient authority should be granted to the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee(IACUC),veterinarians,and veterinary technicians to ensure the implementation of animal welfare and ethics practices.The selection of laboratory animals should fully consider the requirements of research objectives,welfare,ethics,and biosafety,with the susceptibility and body size of laboratory animals being the key concerns in high-level biosafety laboratories.It is also clarified that the humane endpoint is an indispensable element of welfare and ethics in infectious animal experiments.Environmental enrichment and special care are necessary guarantees for achieving animal welfare and ethics.Therefore,this study can serve as a reference for relevant work.

Infectious disease animal models serve as indispensable tools for understanding the transmission patterns,pathogenesis,and anti-infective medicine.During the preparation and application of infectious animal disease models,situations inevitably arise that violate animal welfare and ethics,such as animal pain,suffering,and distress.Considering the biosafety factors,animal mortality is still used as the experimental endpoint in most experiments on infectious animals,which poses extremely high requirements for animal welfare and ethics.It is imperative to establish guiding principles or norms for the welfare and ethics of infectious animal experiments.Based on the fundamental principles of the welfare and ethics of experimental animals,this paper explores the special welfare and ethical requirements in infectious animal experiments.It emphasizes that infectious animal experiments should fully consider the balance among the scientific objectives of the research plan,animal welfare and ethics,and occupational health and safety of personnel.Based on literature research and comparative analysis of the welfare and ethical requirements of conventional animal experiments,special welfare and ethics requirements for infectious animal experiments are proposed,including personnel requirements,experimental animal selection standards,living environment management and equipment,special care and veterinary care,and humane endpoints.Personnel are required to undergo effective biosafety training,and sufficient authority should be granted to the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee(IACUC),veterinarians,and veterinary technicians to ensure the implementation of animal welfare and ethics practices.The selection of laboratory animals should fully consider the requirements of research objectives,welfare,ethics,and biosafety,with the susceptibility and body size of laboratory animals being the key concerns in high-level biosafety laboratories.It is also clarified that the humane endpoint is an indispensable element of welfare and ethics in infectious animal experiments.Environmental enrichment and special care are necessary guarantees for achieving animal welfare and ethics.Therefore,this study can serve as a reference for relevant work.

Objective To explore the diagnostic value of amide proton transfer weighted imaging(APTWI)in conjunction with prostate-specific antigen density(PSAD)for detecting clinically significant prostate cancer(csPCa)within prostate imaging reporting and data system(PI-RADS)v2.13-5 grade lesions.Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical and imaging data of 88 patients diagnosed with PI-RADS 3-5 grade prostate lesions.There were 59 patients with prostate cancer(PCa)and 29 with benign prostate lesion(BPL).The PCa group was divided into csPCa group(44 cases)and clinically insignificant prostate cancer(ciPCa)group(15 cases)according to Gleason score(GS).Spearman rank correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between APTWI-related parameters and GS in PCa.Comparative analyses were conducted to identify statistical discrepancies in APTWI and prostate-specific antigen(PSA)-related parameters across various groups.Subsequently,both solitary and combined diagnostic models were developed,and the receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve were utilized to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy.Results APTmax and APTmean were moderately positively correlated with GS(r=0.683,r=0.705,respectively),and APTmin was weakly positively correlated with GS(r=0.547).APTWI and PSA-related parameters were significantly higher in the PCa group than in the BPL group,and APTmin had the highest efficacy in diagnosing PCa[area under the curve(AUC)=0.855].APTWI and PSA-related parameters differed among the BPL,ciPCa and csPCa groups(P＜0.05).Among the groups,statistically significant differences were observed in each parameter of APTWI and PSA-related indices between the BPL group and the csPCa group,as well as between the ciPCa group and the csPCa group(P＜0.05).In contrast,only APTmin and PSAD exhibited significant differ-ences between the BPL group and the ciPCa group(P＜0.05).The results of the combined diagnosis showed that APTmin+PSAD had the highest diagnostic efficacy for diagnosing PCa(AUC=0.899),and APTmean+PSAD had the highest diagnostic efficacy for diagnosing csPCa(AUC=0.838).Conclusion In PI-RADS 3-5 grade prostate lesions,APTWI and PSA-related parameters are statisti-cally different in the BPL,ciPCa,and csPCa groups.Notably,the combination of APTmean and PSAD exhibit the highest diagnostic efficacy for csPCa.

Objective:To explore the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors combined with adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with phase III gastric cancer and esophagogastric junction cancer.Methods:This study used a retrospective cohort study method based on real-world data. Clinical data of 403 patients with stage III gastric/esophagogastric junction cancer who underwent gastrectomy followed by adjuvant therapy in the Department of Gastric Surgery at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center from January 2020 to December 2023 were retrospectively collected. The study cohort comprised 147 (36.5%) patients with stage IIIA, 130 (32.3%) with stage IIIB, and 126 (31.3%) with stage IIIC gastric/esophagogastric junction cancer. Of them, 15 (3.7%) were HER-2 positive, 25 (6.2%) dMMR, and 22 (5.5%) patients Epstein-Barr virus encoding RNA (EBER) positive. Based on treatment plans, the patients were divided into immune checkpoint inhibitor combined with chemotherapy group (immune therapy group, n=110, 71 males and 39 females, median age 59 years old) and chemotherapy alone group (chemotherapy group, n=293, 186 males and 107 females, median age 60 years old). All patients in the immunotherapy group received immune checkpoint inhibitors targeting the programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) and its ligand (PD-L1). Of them, 85 received pembrolizumab, 10 received sintilimab, 8 received tislelizumab, 4 received camrelizumab, 2 received toripalimab, and 1 received pabocizumab. The adjuvant chemotherapy regimens used among the chemotherapy alone group includes SOX regimen (132 cases), XELOX (102 cases), S-1 monotherapy (44 cases), and other regimens (15 cases). The 3-year DFS rate of the two groups was compared, and subgroup analysis was conducted based on different ages, molecular phenotypes, pTNM staging, extranodal infiltration, and tumor length. Results:The median follow-up was 20.5 months (range 3.1~46.3), with a 3-year overall DFS rate of 61.4% for the entire 403 patients. The 3-year DFS rate for the immunotherapy group was 82.7%, higher than the chemotherapy alone group (58.8%), with a statistically significant difference ( P=0.021). Multivariate analysis showed that postoperative immunotherapy was a protective factor for DFS (HR=0.352, 95%CI: 0.180~0.685). Subgroup analysis showed that stage IIIC (HR=0.416, 95%CI: 0.184~0.940), aged ≥60 years (HR=0.336, 95%CI: 0.121~0.934) and extranodal invasion (HR=0.378, 95%CI: 0.170~0.839) were associated with benefit from the combined immune adjuvant chemotherapy, while no association was observed for MMR, HER-2 or EBER status. Conclusion:Stage III gastric/esophagogastric junction cancer patients may benefite from postoperative immune checkpoint inhibitor combined with adjuvant chemotherapy in real-world settings.

Objective:To explore the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors combined with adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with phase III gastric cancer and esophagogastric junction cancer.Methods:This study used a retrospective cohort study method based on real-world data. Clinical data of 403 patients with stage III gastric/esophagogastric junction cancer who underwent gastrectomy followed by adjuvant therapy in the Department of Gastric Surgery at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center from January 2020 to December 2023 were retrospectively collected. The study cohort comprised 147 (36.5%) patients with stage IIIA, 130 (32.3%) with stage IIIB, and 126 (31.3%) with stage IIIC gastric/esophagogastric junction cancer. Of them, 15 (3.7%) were HER-2 positive, 25 (6.2%) dMMR, and 22 (5.5%) patients Epstein-Barr virus encoding RNA (EBER) positive. Based on treatment plans, the patients were divided into immune checkpoint inhibitor combined with chemotherapy group (immune therapy group, n=110, 71 males and 39 females, median age 59 years old) and chemotherapy alone group (chemotherapy group, n=293, 186 males and 107 females, median age 60 years old). All patients in the immunotherapy group received immune checkpoint inhibitors targeting the programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) and its ligand (PD-L1). Of them, 85 received pembrolizumab, 10 received sintilimab, 8 received tislelizumab, 4 received camrelizumab, 2 received toripalimab, and 1 received pabocizumab. The adjuvant chemotherapy regimens used among the chemotherapy alone group includes SOX regimen (132 cases), XELOX (102 cases), S-1 monotherapy (44 cases), and other regimens (15 cases). The 3-year DFS rate of the two groups was compared, and subgroup analysis was conducted based on different ages, molecular phenotypes, pTNM staging, extranodal infiltration, and tumor length. Results:The median follow-up was 20.5 months (range 3.1~46.3), with a 3-year overall DFS rate of 61.4% for the entire 403 patients. The 3-year DFS rate for the immunotherapy group was 82.7%, higher than the chemotherapy alone group (58.8%), with a statistically significant difference ( P=0.021). Multivariate analysis showed that postoperative immunotherapy was a protective factor for DFS (HR=0.352, 95%CI: 0.180~0.685). Subgroup analysis showed that stage IIIC (HR=0.416, 95%CI: 0.184~0.940), aged ≥60 years (HR=0.336, 95%CI: 0.121~0.934) and extranodal invasion (HR=0.378, 95%CI: 0.170~0.839) were associated with benefit from the combined immune adjuvant chemotherapy, while no association was observed for MMR, HER-2 or EBER status. Conclusion:Stage III gastric/esophagogastric junction cancer patients may benefite from postoperative immune checkpoint inhibitor combined with adjuvant chemotherapy in real-world settings.