ObjectiveTo evaluate the effectiveness of stone needle thermocompression and massage compared to flurbiprofen gel patch in relieving chronic musculoskeletal pain in the shoulder and back， and to explore the potential mediating mechanism through muscle elasticity. MethodsA total of 120 patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain in the shoulder and back were randomly assigned to either stone needle group or flurbiprofen group， with 60 patients in each. The stone needle group received stone needle thermocompression and massage for 30 minutes， three times per week； the flurbiprofen group received flurbiprofen gel patch twice daily. Both groups were treated for 2 weeks. Pain improvement， as the primary outcome， was assessed using the Global Pain Scale （GPS） at baseline， after 2 weeks of treatment， and again 2 weeks post-treatment. To explore potential mechanisms， a mediator analysis was conducted by measuring changes in superficial and deep muscle elasticity using musculoskeletal ultrasound at baseline and after the 2-week treatment period. ResultsThe stone needle group showed significantly greater pain relief than the flurbiprofen group 2 weeks post-treatment. After adjusting for confounders related to pain duration， the between-group mean difference was -8.8 ［95% CI （-18.2， -0.7）， P＜0.05］. Part of the therapeutic effect was mediated by changes in deep muscle elasticity， with a mediation effect size of -1.5 ［95% CI （-2.0， -0.9）， P = 0.024］， accounting for 17.9% of the total effect. ConclusionStone needle thermocompression and massage can effectively relieve chronic musculoskeletal pain in the shoulder and back， partly through a mediating effect of improved deep muscle elasticity.

ObjectiveTo investigate the association between Eya3 expression and CD8⁺ T cell infiltration levels in the tumor microenvironment， as well as their prognosis in esophageal carcinoma （EC） patients following neoadjuvant chemoradiation （neo-CRT）. MethodsThe pathological specimens before treatment and after surgery and clinical data were collected from 50 patients with EC who received neo-CRT combined with surgery. The correlation between the Eya3 expression and postoperative pathological features， CD8⁺ T cell infiltration levels， disease-free survival（DFS） and overall survival （OS） were analyzed using immunohistochemistry（IHC） and multicolor immunofluorescence staining. ResultsThe rate of pathological complete response （pCR） was higher in patients with low baseline Eya3 expression in the EC before treatment（P=0.001 8）. Both median DFS （37.2 months vs. 15.3 months， HR：2.731，95% CI：1.167-6.394，P=0.021） and median OS （not reached vs. 26.7 months， HR：3.959，95%CI：1.539-10.18，P=0.004 3） are significantly longer for patients with low Eya3 than those with high Eya3. The expression of Eya3 significant negatively correlated with tumor-infiltrating CD8⁺T lymphocytes （ P＜0.001）， GZMB⁺CD8⁺T lymphocytes P=0.002） in surgical pathological specimens . The patients with high CD8⁺T lymphocytes and GZMB⁺CD8⁺T lymphocytes had significantly longer DFS than those with low level. ConclusionPatients with EC who have high expression of Eya3 have a poorer prognosis， and the infiltration levels of CD8⁺T lymphocytes and GZMB⁺CD8⁺T lymphocytes in the tumor microenvironment are lower. This suggests that the expression of Eya3 may affect the tumor immune microenvironment and thereby influence the prognosis of EC patients， and it may become a molecular marker for predicting the prognosis of EC patients..

Debates persist regarding the efficacy and safety of azvudine, particularly its real-world outcomes. This study involved patients aged ≥60 years who were admitted to 25 hospitals in mainland China with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection between December 1, 2022, and February 28, 2023. Efficacy outcomes were all-cause mortality during hospitalization, the proportion of patients discharged with recovery, time to nucleic acid-negative conversion (T _NANC), time to symptom improvement (T _SI), and time of hospital stay (T _HS). Safety was also assessed. Among the 5884 participants identified, 1999 received azvudine, and 1999 matched controls were included after exclusion and propensity score matching. Azvudine recipients exhibited lower all-cause mortality compared with controls in the overall population (13.3% vs. 17.1%, RR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.67-0.90; P = 0.001) and in the severe subgroup (25.7% vs. 33.7%; RR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.66-0.88; P < 0.001). A higher proportion of patients discharged with recovery, and a shorter T _NANC were associated with azvudine recipients, especially in the severe subgroup. The incidence of adverse events in azvudine recipients was comparable to that in the control group (2.3% vs. 1.7%, P = 0.170). In conclusion, azvudine showed efficacy and safety in older patients hospitalized with COVID-19 during the SARS-CoV-2 omicron wave in China.

Objective To examine the effect of patient-centered care services on compliance to treatment among patients with multidrug-resistant (MDR) or rifampicin-resistant (RR) pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB), so as to provide the scientific evidence for promoting the widespread application of the appropriate nursing process of MDR/RR-PTB patients in the hospital. Methods The MDR/RR-PTB patients that were definitely diagnosed at the Sixth People’s Hospital of Nantong City during the period from January 2017 to October 2020 were enrolled. The patients with confirmed diagnosis of MDR/RR-PTB during the period January 2017 to December 2018 served as controls, who were given routine care in the hospital, and those with confirmed diagnosis of MDR/RR-PTB during the period January 2019 to October 2020 served as the care group, who were given patient-centered personalized care services, including one-to-one consultations, periodic group activities, informatization case management, and personal reminder for return visits. The proportion of inclusion into treatment, loss to follow-up, return visits and sputum examinations were compared between the care and control groups. Results A total of 104 MDR/RR-PTB patients were included, including 54 cases in the control group and 50 cases in the care group. There was no significant difference in gender and age distribution between the two groups (χ² = 3.013, 1.336, P > 0.05). The proportion of inclusion into treatment was higher in the care group (100.00%, 50/50) than in the control group (87.04%, 47/54) (P = 0.013), and the proportion of loss to follow-up was lower in the care group (0, 0/43) than in the control group (19.05%, 8/42) (P = 0.002). In addition, the overall proportion of return visits was higher in the care group (93.09%, 377/405) than in the control group (83.56%, 371/444) (χ² = 18.345, P < 0.001), and the proportion of sputum examinations was higher in the care group was (83.70%, 339/405) than in the control group (79.28%, 352/444) (χ² = 2.737, P = 0.098). Conclusion Patient-centered care services facilitate the improvements in the proportion of inclusion into treatment and compliance to treatment and reduction in the proportion of loss to follow-up among MDR/RR-PTB patients, which deserves widespread applications.

Objective To explore the value of transesophageal echocardiography(TEE)for surgical therapy of pediatric atrioventricular valve diseases.Methods Data of 273 children with atrioventricular valve diseases who underwent surgical operation under extracorporeal circulation were retrospectively analyzed.Transthoracic echocardiography(TTE)was performed within 1 week before,while TEE was performed before and after surgical operation.Whether TTE diagnosis should be adjusted were evaluated according to findings of TEE,so were the effects of surgical treatments,and the ultrasonic diagnostic coincidence rate before operation were compared taken surgical findings as standards.Results TEE was successfully completed in all 273 children.The diagnostic coincidence rate of preoperative TTE was 83.88％(229/273).After adjustment or supplement according to TEE in 44 cases(44/273,16.12％),the ultrasonic diagnostic coincidence rate reached 100％(273/273),higher than that of preoperative TTE alone(P＜0.001).Residual shunt was found in 5 cases,while no obvious improvement of valvular regurgitation was noticed in 3 cases with post operative TEE,and after corresponding treatments,re-examination of TEE showed satisfactory efficacy in all the above cases.Conclusion TEE could be used to accurately diagnose pediatric atrioventricular valve diseases before and evaluate the efficacy after surgical treatments,having important clinical application value.

Objective:To explore the clinical application pathway of the CT generative adversarial networks (CTGANs) algorithm in mandibular reconstruction surgery, aiming to provide a valuable reference for this procedure.Methods:A clinical exploratory study was conducted, 27 patients who visited the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Xiangya Hospital of Central South University between January 2022 and January 2024 and required mandibular reconstruction were selected. The cohort included 16 males and 11 females, with the age of (46.6±11.5) years; among them, 7 cases involved mandibular defects crossing the midline. The CTGANs generator produced 100 images, and the mean squared error (MSE) was calculated for differences between any two generated images. Preoperative cone-beam CT data from 5 patients were used to construct a labeled test database, divided into groups: normal maxilla, normal mandible, diseased mandible, and noise (each group containing 70 cross-sectional images). The CTGANs discriminator was used to evaluate the loss values for each group, and one-way ANOVA and intergroup comparisons were performed. Using the self-developed KuYe multioutcome-option-network generation system (KMG) software, the three-dimensional (3D) completion area of the mandible under cone-beam CT was defined for the 27 patients. The CTGANs algorithm was applied to obtain a reference model for the mandible. Virtual surgery was then performed, utilizing the fibular segment to reconstruct the mandible and design the surgical expectation model. The second-generation combined bone-cutting and prebent reconstruction plate positioning method was used to design and 3D print surgical guides, which were subsequently applied in mandibular reconstruction surgery for the 27 patients. Postoperative cone-beam CT was used to compare the morphology of the reconstructed mandible with the surgical expectation model and the mandibular reference model to assess the three-dimensional deviation.Results:The MSE for the CTGANs generator was 2 411.9±833.6 (95% CI: 2 388.7-2 435.1). No significant difference in loss values was found between the normal mandible and diseased mandible groups ( P>0.05), while both groups demonstrated significantly lower loss values than the maxilla and noise groups ( P<0.001). All 27 patients successfully obtained mandibular reference models and surgical expectation models. In total, 14 162 negative deviation points and 15 346 positive deviation points were observed when comparing the reconstructed mandible morphology with the surgical expectation model, with mean deviations of -1.32 mm (95% CI:-1.33- -1.31 mm) and 1.90 mm (95% CI: 1.04-1.06 mm), respectively. Conclusions:The CTGANs algorithm is capable of generating diverse mandibular reference models that reflect the natural anatomical characteristics of the mandible and closely match individual patient morphology, thereby facilitating the design of surgical expectation models. This method shows promise for application in patients with mandibular defects crossing the midline.

Objective To investigate the value of derived neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio(dNLR)as a pre-dictive biomarker for immunotherapy response in advanced non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC).Methods A total of 92 patients with advanced NSCLC who received anti-programmed cell death receptor(PD-1)combined therapy in the hospital from August 2018 to December 2019 were selected as the research objects.Peripheral blood samples were collected within 24 h before immunotherapy,complete blood cell count was measured,and dNLR was calculated.Patients with advanced NSCLC were treated with PD-1 inhibitors or combination regi-mens,and the response to immunotherapy was evaluated by objective response rate(ORR)and disease control rate(DCR).The receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve was used to analyze the predictive value of dN-LR for the diagnosis and response to immunotherapy in advanced NSCLC.Multivariate Logistic regression model was used to analyze the relationship between dNLR and immunotherapy response in advanced NSCLC.Kaplan-Meier survival curve and Log-Rank test were used to analyze the overall survival(OS),progression-free survival(PFS)and disease-specific survival(DSS)of the low dNLR group and the high dNLR group.Re-sults The ORR and DCR of advanced NSCLC patients after immunotherapy were 32.61％and 65.22％,re-spectively,and the PFS and OS were 17.0(8.5,25.5)and 24.0(12.7,36.1)months,respectively.The dNLR of DCR group was lower than that of non-DCR group(P＜0.001).The dNLR of ORR group was lower than that of non-ORR group(P＜0.001).The area under the curve of dNLR for predicting DCR or ORR was 0.897(95％CI 0.829-0.965)and 0.874(95％CI 0.795-0.953),respectively.Multivariate Logistic regres-sion analysis showed that dNLR≥2.28 increased the risk of non-response to immunotherapy,and this inde-pendent relationship still existed after further adjustment for objective confounding factors(P＜0.05).Sur-vival curve results showed that patients with high dNLR had significantly shorter PFS,OS,and DSS(P＜0.05).Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that high dNLR was an independent factor affecting the poor prognosis of patients with advanced NSCLC(P＜0.05).Conclusion High dNLR advanced NSCLC pa-tients are more difficult to benefit from immune therapy,and prognosis is worse.dNLR is promising as a pre-dictive biomarker for immunotherapy response in advanced NSCLC.

Objective:To retrospectively analyze the clinical characteristics and prognosis of 85 newly diagnosed patients with follicular lymphoma (FL), as well as the prognostic value of comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) in patients with FL aged ≥ 60 years old.Methods:The clinical data and prognosis of 85 newly diagnosed FL patients admitted from August 2011 to June 2022 were collected. The clinical features, laboratory indicators, therapeutic efficacy, survival and prognostic factors of patients were statistically analyzed, and the prognosis of patients was stratified using various geriatric assessment tools.Results:① The patients with FL were mostly middle-aged and older, with a median age of 59 (20-87) years, including 41 patients (48.2%) aged ≥60 years. The ratio of male to female was 1∶1.36. Overall, 77.6% of the patients were diagnosed with Ann Arbor stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ, and 17 cases (20.0%) were accompanied by B symptoms. Bone marrow involvement was the most common (34.1%). ②Overall, 71 patients received immunochemotherapy. The overall response rate was 86.6%, and the complete recovery rate was 47.1% of 68 evaluated patients. Disease progression or relapse in the first 2 years was observed in 23.9% of the patient. Overall, 14.1% of the patients died during follow-up. ③Of the 56 patients receiving R-CHOP-like therapies, the 3-year and 5-year progression-free survival (PFS) rates were 85.2% and 72.8%, respectively, and the 3-year and 5-year overall survival (OS) rates were 95.9% and 88.8%, respectively. The univariate analysis showed that age ≥60 years old ( HR=3.430, 95% CI 1.256-9.371, P=0.016), B symptoms ( HR=5.030, 95% CI 1.903-13.294, P=0.016), Prognostic Nutritional Index (PNI) <45.25 ( HR=3.478, 95% CI 1.299-9.310, P=0.013), Follicular Lymphoma International Prognostic Index (FLIPI) high-risk ( HR=2.918, 95% CI 1.074-7.928, P=0.036), and PRIMA-prognostic index (PRIMA-PI) high-risk ( HR=2.745, 95% CI 1.057-7.129, P=0.038) significantly predicted PFS. Moreover, age ≥60 years old and B symptoms were independent risk factors for PFS. Progression of disease within 24 months (POD24) significantly predicted OS in the univariate analysis. Conclusions:FL is more common among middle-aged and older women. Age, B symptoms, PNI score, FLIPI high-risk, PRIMA-PI high-risk, and POD24 influenced PFS and OS. The CGA can be used for treatment selection and risk prognostication in older patients with FL.

Objective:To explore the mediating role of mentoring function between proactive personality and transition shock in new nurses, with the aim of providing reference and basis for managers to develop effective intervention measures for new nurses during their transformational period.Methods:Convenience sampling method was used to select 280 new nurses from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, and a cross-sectional survey was conducted by applying the General Information Questionnaire, Transition Shock Scale, Proactive Personality Scale, and Mentoring Function Scale. The mediating role of mentoring function between new nurses′ proactive personality and transition shock was evaluated by constructing structural equation modelling.Results:265 valid questionnaires were ultimately collected. Among 265 nurses, there were 25 males and 240 females, with an age of (22.88 ± 2.12) years. The score of transition shock, proactive personality, and mentoring function of new nurses were (83.45 ± 18.95), (58.66 ± 9.96) and (81.72 ± 14.46) respectively; transition shock was negatively correlated with proactive personality and mentoring function ( r=-0.379, -0.340, both P<0.01), and proactive personality was positively correlated with mentoring function ( r=0.452, P<0.01); the mediating effect of mentoring function between proactive personality and transition shock was significant (95% CI -0.085 - -0.015, P<0.01), accounting for 29.14% of the total effect. Conclusions:New nurses' transition shock is at a moderately high level, and proactive personality can affect transition shock directly or indirectly through mentoring function. Managers can mitigate new nurses′ transition shock by improving the quality of mentoring.

Natural compounds demonstrate unique therapeutic advantages for cancer treatment, primarily through direct tumor suppression or interference with the tumor microenvironment (TME). Glycyrrhizic acid (GL), a bioactive ingredient derived from the medicinal herb Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch., and its sapogenin glycyrrhetinic acid (GA), have been recognized for their ability to inhibit angiogenesis and remodel the TME. Consequently, the combination of GL with other therapeutic agents offers superior therapeutic benefits. Given GL's amphiphilic structure, self-assembly capability, and liver cancer targeting capacity, various GL-based nanoscale drug delivery systems have been developed. These GL-based nanosystems exhibit angiogenesis suppression and TME regulation properties, synergistically enhancing anti-cancer effects. This review summarizes recent advances in GL-based nanosystems, including polymer-drug micelles, drug-drug assembly nanoparticles (NPs), liposomes, and nanogels, for cancer treatment and tumor postoperative care, providing new insights into the anti-cancer potential of natural compounds. Additionally, the review discusses existing challenges and future perspectives for translating GL-based nanosystems from bench to bedside.
Animals ; Humans ; Antineoplastic Agents/therapeutic use* ; Glycyrrhizic Acid/therapeutic use* ; Liposomes/chemistry* ; Micelles ; Nanoparticles/chemistry* ; Neoplasms/pathology* ; Tumor Microenvironment/drug effects* ; Nanoparticle Drug Delivery System/therapeutic use*