ObjectiveThe exacerbating trend of global population aging poses profound socioeconomic and public health challenges, making the comprehensive elucidation of biological aging mechanisms and the discovery of effective anti-aging interventions an urgent priority in the life sciences. Based on our previous serum metabolomics findings that dimethylglycine, an intermediate metabolite of amino acid metabolism naturally present in the human body, was significantly enriched in the serum of longevity families, this study aimed to systematically investigate the anti-aging effects of dimethylglycine both in living organisms and in controlled laboratory environments, and to preliminarily elucidate its underlying molecular mechanisms. While existing literature indicates that dimethylglycine possesses antioxidant and immunomodulatory properties, its direct anti-aging efficacy and the specific molecular pathways through which it operates remain largely unexplored. MethodsTo comprehensively evaluate the anti-aging properties of dimethylglycine, we utilized replicative senescent human embryonic lung fibroblasts, specifically the WI-38 cell line, as an experimental model in a controlled laboratory environment. Cell viability and safety were thoroughly assessed using Cell Counting Kit-8 and lactate dehydrogenase release assays across various concentrations of dimethylglycine. The impact of dimethylglycine on cellular senescence phenotypes, oxidative stress, and proliferative capacity was evaluated via senescence-associated beta-galactosidase staining, reactive oxygen species fluorescence detection, and 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine incorporation assays. Furthermore, the molecular alterations of senescence-associated secretory phenotype factors and core senescence signaling pathways were quantified using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction for the messenger RNA levels of interleukin-6, interleukin-8, p21, and matrix metalloproteinase-1, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the measurement of p16 and p21 protein expression levels. For the living organism model, the wild-type nematode Caenorhabditis elegans was used to evaluate systemic physiological effects. We conducted a comprehensive lifespan analysis at 20°C, heat stress resistance survival assays at 35℃, senescence-associated beta-galactosidase staining, lipofuscin accumulation tracking, intracellular reactive oxygen species measurement, and Oil Red O staining to ascertain systemic lipid accumulation. Additionally, network pharmacology bioinformatics tools, including PharmMapper and STRING databases, and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analysis were utilized to predict target pathways, alongside highly detailed molecular docking simulations utilizing SwissDock and Protein-Ligand Interaction Profiler to examine interactions with the cytochrome P450 family 2 subfamily C member 9 protein. ResultsThe experimental outcomes robustly demonstrate the potent anti-aging capabilities of dimethylglycine. At the cellular level, toxicity analyses firmly confirmed that dimethylglycine is highly safe; continuous treatment with 50 mol/L and 70 mol/L of dimethylglycine for 5 d did not induce any cellular membrane damage or cytotoxicity, but rather actively promoted cellular proliferation. Utilizing the optimal standardized concentration of 50 mol/L, dimethylglycine treatment significantly ameliorated senescent phenotypic markers in human embryonic lung fibroblasts, which was evidenced by a drastic and highly significant reduction in the senescence-associated beta-galactosidase positive cell percentage (P<0.000 1) and intracellular reactive oxygen species levels (P<0.000 1), alongside a marked increase in the 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine-positive proliferation rate (P=0.003 5). On a molecular expression scale, dimethylglycine significantly downregulated the messenger RNA expression of multiple core senescence-associated secretory phenotype inflammatory factors, including interleukin-6, interleukin-8, p21, and matrix metalloproteinase-1. Concurrently, it effectively suppressed the protein expression of critical cell cycle arrest markers, diminishing p16 protein levels by 57.3% (P=0.000 4) and p21 protein levels by 27.2% (P=0.000 7). In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans animal model, dimethylglycine significantly extended the mean lifespan from 20.402 d to an impressive 23.066 d (P<0.000 1) and notably enhanced overall survival rates under severe heat stress environmental conditions (P=0.017). Furthermore, systemic dimethylglycine intervention significantly mitigated age-related physiological decline by decreasing bodily lipofuscin accumulation (P<0.000 1), significantly reducing senescence-associated beta-galactosidase activity, lowering systemic reactive oxygen species fluorescence (P=0.008), and effectively alleviating overall fat accumulation (P<0.000 1). Mechanistically, extensive network pharmacology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analyses strongly revealed that the potential targets of dimethylglycine are significantly enriched in fundamental drug metabolism and oxidative stress response pathways. Precision molecular docking simulations conclusively demonstrated that dimethylglycine forms highly stable structural interactions with the cytochrome P450 family 2 subfamily C member 9 protein, specifically highlighting the definitive formation of 5 stable hydrogen bonds involving serine 365, leucine 366, and serine 429 residues, as well as two critical salt bridge formations with arginine 97 and histidine 368 residues. It is additionally predicted to interact favorably with glutathione S-transferase family proteins. ConclusionDimethylglycine exhibits a profoundly significant and multifaceted anti-aging activity at both the cellular and entire living animal levels. By powerfully alleviating oxidative stress, heavily suppressing the core p16 and p21-dependent cellular senescence signaling pathways, and substantially mitigating the detrimental senescence-associated secretory phenotype, dimethylglycine effectively delays fundamental cellular senescence processes and drastically extends whole-organism lifespan. The biological mechanisms driving these robust protective effects are highly likely closely associated with its direct stable interactions with crucial metabolic and detoxifying enzyme systems, such as cytochrome P450 family 2 subfamily C member 9 and glutathione S-transferase family proteins, thereby systemically improving metabolic dysregulation and restoring critical redox homeostasis. This comprehensive study provides highly solid experimental evidence supporting dimethylglycine as a highly potent and safe potential anti-aging intervention agent, while simultaneously offering a clear molecular mechanistic explanation for the previously documented high abundance of dimethylglycine observed within exceptionally long-lived human populations.

Objective: To explore the diagnosis, surgical management and outcome of jugular foramen chondrosarcoma (CSA). Methods: Fifteen patients with jugular foramen CSA hospitalized in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery of Chinese PLA General Hospital from December 2002 to February 2020 were retrospectively collected,of whom 2 were male and 13 were female, aging from 22 to 61 years old. The clinical symptoms and signs, imaging features, differential diagnosis, surgical approaches, function of facial nerve and cranial nerves IX to XII, and surgical outcomes were analyzed. Results: Patients with jugular foramen CSA mainly presented with facial paralysis, hearing loss, hoarseness, cough, tinnitus and local mass. Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) could provide important information for diagnosis. CT showed irregular destruction on bone margin of the jugular foramen. MR demonstrated iso or hypointense on T1WI, hyperintense on T2WI and heterogeneous contrast-enhancement. Surgical approaches were chosen upon the sizes and scopes of the tumors. Inferior temporal fossa A approach was adopted in 12 cases, inferior temporal fossa B approach in 2 cases and mastoid combined parotid approach in 1 case. Five patients with facial nerve involved received great auricular nerve graft. The House Brackmann (H-B) grading scale was used to evaluate the facial nerve function. Preoperative facial nerve function ranked grade Ⅴ in 4 cases and grade Ⅵ in 1 case. Postoperative facial nerve function improved to grade Ⅲ in 2 cases and grade Ⅵ in 3 cases. Five patients presented with cranial nerves Ⅸ and Ⅹ palsies. Hoarseness and cough of 2 cases improved after operation, while the other 3 cases did not. All the patients were diagnosed CSA by histopathology and immunohistochemistry, with immunohistochemical staining showing vimentin and S-100 positive, but cytokeratin negative in tumor cells. All patients survived during 28 to 234 months' follow-up. Two patients suffered from tumor recurrence 7 years after surgery and received revision surgery. No complications such as cerebrospinal fluid leakage and intracranial infection occurred after operation. Conclusions: Jugular foramen CSA lacks characteristic symptoms or signs. Imaging is helpful to differential diagnosis. Surgery is the primary treatment of jugular foramen CSA. Patients with facial paralysis should receive surgery in time as to restore the facial nerve. Long-term follow-up is necessary after surgery in case of recurrence.
Humans ; Male ; Female ; Young Adult ; Adult ; Middle Aged ; Facial Paralysis/etiology* ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Jugular Foramina ; Retrospective Studies ; Cough ; Hoarseness ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ; Chondrosarcoma/surgery*

Humans ; Aortic Valve/surgery* ; Aortic Valve Stenosis/surgery* ; Calcinosis/surgery* ; Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement ; Heart Valve Prosthesis

Humans ; Aortic Valve/surgery* ; Aortic Valve Stenosis/surgery* ; Calcinosis/surgery* ; Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement ; Heart Valve Prosthesis

Objective:To evaluate the efficacy and safety of adalimumab (ADA) in the treatment of Crohn′s disease (CD), and to analyze the predictive factors of ADA efficacy.Methods:From January 2020 to December 2020, 49 CD patients treated with ADA at the Department of Gastroenterology, Tenth People′s Hospital of Tongji University of Shanghai were enrolled. The clinical data before treatment were collected. During 12 weeks of ADA treatment, the patients were followed up every 2 weeks, the laboratory examinations were conducted every 4 weeks, and colonoscopy examination was rechecked at the 12th week. The improvement of the main symptoms of patients was assessed at 2nd, 4th, and 6th week during ADA treatment. At the 12th week after ADA treatment, the clinical response (Crohn′s disease activity index (CDAI) score decreased ≥70 points from baseline), clinical remission (CDAI score < 150 points), endoscopic response (simple endoscopic score for Crohn′s disease (SES-CD) decreased >50% from baseline) and endoscopic remission (SES-CD ≤2 points or Rutgeerts score ≤1 point), closure of anal fistula of CD patients complicated with anal fistula and occurrence of adverse reactions during treatment were recorded. The predictive factors of clinical remission of CD patients after ADA treatment for 12 weeks were analyzed. The Mann-Whitney U test and binary logistic regression analysis were used for statistical analysis. Results:The main symptom improved rates of 49 CD patients received ADA treatment at 2nd, 4th and 6th week were 75.5% (37/49), 95.9% (47/49) and 98.0% (48/49), respectively, and the main symptom improved time was 14.0 d (7.0 d, 17.0 d). After ADA treatment for 12 weeks, the clinical remission rate was 55.1% (27/49), the clinical response rate was 73.5% (36/49), the endoscopic remission rate was 43.3% (13/30), the endoscopic response rate was 55.6% (15/27), the anal fistula closure rate was 7/18, and the overall incidence of adverse reactions was 24.5% (12/49). The baseline of fecal calprotectin (FC) level of patients in the clinical remission group (27 cases) was lower than that of the patients in the active disease group (22 cases) (111.0 μg/g, 26.3 μg/g to 125.6 μg/g vs. 540.5 μg/g, 420.2 μg/g to 866.9 μg/g), and the difference was statistically significant ( Z=-4.44, P<0.001). The results of binary logistic regression analysis showed that baseline FC level was an independent predictive factor of clinical remission in CD patients treated with ADA for 12 weeks ( OR=1.08, 95%confidence interval 1.02 to 1.14, P=0.013). When the baseline FC cut-off value was 172.39 g/g, the sensitivity and specificity of it in predicting clinical remission in CD patients treated with ADA for 12 weeks were 81.48% and 90.91%, and the area under the receiver operator characteristic curve was 0.87 ( P<0.001). Conclusions:ADA is safe and effective in the treatment of CD. The baseline FC level is an independent predictive factor of clinical remission in CD patients treated with ADA for 12 weeks.

Objective:To investigate the frequency of myeloid dendritic cells (mDC) and plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) in peripheral blood of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and their relationship with renal injury.Methods:The frequency of peripheral mDC and pDC in 102 SLE patients and 10 healthy controls were detected by flow cytometry. The quantitative data were expressed by [ M( P25, P75)]. The measurement data of the two groups with non-normal distribution was analyzed by Mann Whitney U test. The correlation between the two groups was analyzed by Spearman rank correlation analysis and multiple linear regression. Results:The frequency of pDC [14.00%(7.92%, 19.65%) vs 24.55%(19.68%, 32.90%), Z=-3.163, P<0.01] and mDC [21.25%(13.28%, 32.83%) vs 34.85%(24.58%, 41.93%), Z=-2.607, P<0.01] in the peripheral blood of 102 patients with SLE were significantly lower than those of healthy controls. The frequency of pDC [9.09%(7.31%, 17.38%) vs 24.55%(19.68%, 32.90%), Z=-3.033, P=<0.01] and mDC [9.40%(7.88%, 21.60%) vs 34.85%(24.58%, 41.93%), Z=-3.231, P<0.01] in 12 patients with newly diagnosed SLE were also significantly lower than those in healthy controls. After adjustedfor confounding factors, multivariate analysis showed that SLEDAI level was the main factor influencing the frequency of pDC ( P=0.019) and mDC ( P<0.01). In addition, pDC[8.02%(2.25%, 9.97%) vs 16.70%(11.80%, 24.60%), Z=-2.490, P=0.015] and mDC[8.80%(5.99%, 12.80%) vs 20.20%(11.20%, 42.80%), Z=-2.226, P=0.029] in patients with active LN were also significantly lower than that of patients with stable LN. The mDC frequency was positively correlated with the levels of complement C3 ( r=0.455, P<0.01) and C4 ( r= 0.289, P, P<0.01). Conclusion:The frequency of mDC and pDC in SLE patients is significantly abnormal, which is closely related to disease activity. In addition, pDC and mDC may be involved in the occurrence and development of LN.

BACKGROUND: MAVERIC (Mitral Valve Repair Clinical Trial) validates the safety and efficacy of the ARTO system. We here report the first two successful cases of utilizing the ARTO system in patients with symptomatic heart failure (HF) with functional mitral regurgitation (FMR) in Asia. METHODS: Two patients, aged 70 and 63, had severe HF with FMR. Transesophageal echocardiography confirmed that the left ventricular ejection fractions were less than 50% with severe mitral regurgitation (MR) in both patients. Optimizing drug treatment could not mitigate their symptoms. Therefore, we used the ARTO system to repair the mitral valve for these patients on March 5 and 6, 2019, respectively. RESULTS: Mitral valve repairs using the ARTO system were successfully performed under general anaesthesia for these two patients. MR was decreased immediately after the procedures in both patients. The 30-day and 3-month transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) revealed a moderate to severe MR in both patients, and the New York Heart Association (NYHA) scales were also partially improved. CONCLUSION The first two cases in Asia indicate that the ARTO system is feasible for patients with heart failure with FMR, and the patient selection appears to be crucial.

Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are genomic transcripts that do not encode proteins.They are also closely associated with tumor initiation and progression,as they play regulatory roles in gene transcription,post-transcription,and translation.Moreover,ncRNAs may enter circulatory system in the form of microvesicles or exosomes,or in combination with protein.The circulating ncRNAs are stable and widely existed in body fluids such as blood and urine.Certain circulating ncRNAs are differentially expressed in tumors,suggesting that they have potential value as novel tumor biomarkers.This article briefly reviews the progress of circulating microRNA (miRNA),long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) and circular RNA (circRNA) as breast cancer biomarkers,and discusses the clinical value of circulating ncRNA as a novel biomarker for breast cancer diagnosis and prognosis.