: Bacteroides, as one of the most abundant and diverse genera in the human gut, is regarded as a window into the study of gut microbiota-host interactions. Currently, CRISPR/Cas-based gene editing systems targeting Bacteroides have been widely applied, while the large size of Cas nucleases limits their potential application scenarios (such as in situ gut Bacteroides editing based on phage delivery). Therefore, this study aims to develop a compact and highly efficient genetic editing tool in Bacteroides., We developed a miniaturized CRISPR/Cas gene editing system for human gut Bacteroides. First, the editing capabilities of different miniaturized CRISPR/Cas systems, including AsCas12f, CasΦ2, and ISDge10, were evaluated in Bacteroides fragilis. Subsequently, the editing capability of AsCas12f was assessed across various Bacteroides species, and the size of this system was further optimized. The results demonstrated that the CRISPR/AsCas12f genome editing system exhibited the highest editing efficiency in B. fragilis. The CRISPR/AsCas12f system achieved efficient genome editing in B. fragilis, Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, and Phocaeicola vulgatus. Furthermore, with a repair template of 500 bp homologous arms, the editing efficiency remained as high as 94.7%. In conclusion, CRISPR/AsCas12f can serve as a chassis tool enzyme for the development of Bacteroides-based miniature gene editors and derivative technologies, laying a foundation for the further development of gene editing technology for Bacteroides.
CRISPR-Cas Systems/genetics* ; Gene Editing/methods* ; Bacteroides/genetics* ; Humans ; Gastrointestinal Microbiome/genetics* ; Bacteroides fragilis/genetics*

Objective To elucidate the influence of two procedures aortic root remodeling using a straight tubular artificial vessel while preserving the aortic valve and the Florida sleeve procedure on the biomechanics of the aortic root.Methods Five finite element models of the aortic root were reconstructed using computed tomography angiography images,including two cases of aortic root remodeling(A1 and A2),two cases of the Florida sleeve procedure(B1 and B2),and one control group without aortic root pathology(C).Numerical simulations were performed to obtain the blood flow and pressure distribution result to assess the differences in the hemodynamics of the aortic root.Results There were no significant differences in the peak systolic velocity between the two procedures and the control.However,the flow velocity after aortic root remodeling was smoother,similar to the model of the control group,with a more stable average aortic pressure and wall shear stress.In the Florida sleeve procedure,high-speed blood flow affected the vessel wall,leading to various degrees of wall shear stress and pressure concentrations along the aortic wall.Conclusions After aortic root replacement with valve preservation,blood flow patterns in the reconstructed aortic root depended on postoperative changes in sinus geometry.Both surgical procedures showed favorable blood flow patterns;however,the flow pattern after aortic root remodeling was more stable than that after the Florida sleeve procedure.

Objective:To explore the clinical effects of early rehabilitation treatment after repair surgery of skin and soft tissue defects accompanied by extensor tendon injury on the back of hand.Methods:This study was a retrospective non-randomized controlled study. From February 2015 to February 2023, 24 patients (15 males and 9 females, aged 12-55 years) with skin and soft tissue defects accompanied by extensor tendon injury on the back of hand, who met the inclusion criteria and were repaired with flap transplantation and tendon grafting or tendon anastomosis, were admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Air Force Medical University. According to different intervention time for postoperative rehabilitation treatment of patients, the patients were divided into conventional rehabilitation group and early rehabilitation group, with 12 cases in each group. Patients in early rehabilitation group received rehabilitation treatment immediately after surgery under the rehabilitation guidance of specialized rehabilitation physicians based on the characteristics of different postoperative periods. Patients in conventional rehabilitation group began rehabilitation treatment from the third week after surgery, and their rehabilitation treatment was the same as that of patients in early rehabilitation group from the second week after surgery. The patients in 2 groups were treated in the hospital until the sixth week after surgery. The occurrence of flap vascular crisis and tendon rupture were observed within 6 weeks after surgery. After 6 weeks of surgery, the manual muscle test was used to measure the pinching force between the index finger and thumb, lateral pinching force, three-point pinching force, and grip force of the affected hand; the total action motion method was used to evaluate the finger joint range of motion of the affected hand, and the excellent and good ratio was calculated; the Carroll upper extremity function test was used to score and rate the function of the affected hand.Results:Within 6 weeks after surgery, only 1 patient in conventional rehabilitation group suffered from venous crisis, and the flap survived after the second surgical exploration and anastomosis of blood vessels; there was no occurrence of tendon rupture in patients of 2 groups. After 6 weeks of surgery, there were no statistically significant differences in pinching force between the index finger and thumb, lateral pinching force, three-point pinching force, or grip force of the affected hand between the two groups of patients ( P>0.05); the excellent and good ratio of the finger joint range of motion of the affected hand of patients in early rehabilitation group was 11/12, which was higher than 7/12 in conventional rehabilitation group, but there was no statistically significant difference ( P>0.05); the affected hand function score of patients in early rehabilitation group was 90±6, which was significantly higher than 83±8 in conventional rehabilitation group ( t=2.41, P<0.05); the function rating of the affected hand of patients in early rehabilitation group was obviously better than that in conventional rehabilitation group ( Z=2.04, P<0.05). Conclusions:Early rehabilitation treatment for patients with skin and soft tissue defects accompanied by extensor tendon injury on the back of hand after repair surgery can improve hand function, but it would not increase surgery related complications, which is worthy of clinical promotion and application.

Objective To explore the correlation between the expression level of interferon gamma(IFN-γ)and the severity of patients with septic shock and its prognostic value.Methods The clinical data and serum of 96 septic shock patients admitted to the Department of Critical Care Medicine,the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University from March 2022 to August 2023 were collected,and divided into survival group and death group according to the 28-day outcome;collected at the same time Sera from 30 healthy people undergoing physi-cal examination during the same period served as the control group.The enzyme-linked immunosorbent(ELISA)method was used to detect the expression levels of IFN-γ in the three groups,and the expression levels of IFN-γ and various clinical data between the groups were analyzed.Results The serum IFN-γ expression level of patients with septic shock was lower than that of healthy people undergoing physical examination,212.80(151.11,255.79)ng/L compared with 343.37(314.5,427.95)ng/L,P<0.01.Among the 96 cases of septic shock,There were 54 cases in the survival group and 42 cases in the death group.The clinical data of the two groups were com-pared.The gender,smoking history,SBP,DBP,SI,Lac,IL-6,IFN-γ,PCT,SOFA score,and APACHEⅡscore of the two groups of patients were compared.The difference is statistically significant(P<0.01).Logistic regression analysis showed that decreased expression of Lac,IFN-γ,and APACHEⅡ score were independent risk factors for death in patients with septic shock.[Odds ratio(OR)and 95%confidence interval(95%CI)were 6.491(1.404～30.004)respectively.0.954(0.954～0.999),3.476(1.210～9.984),P<0.05].The Spearman correlation analysis of INF-γ,Lac and APACHEⅡ showed a negative correlation,and the correlation coefficients were-0.38 and-0.35 respectively.Drawing the ROC curves of Lac,IFN-γ,and APACHEII,the AUCs of the three were 0.847,0.869,and 0.833 respectively.The AUC of the three joint predictions was 0.978.The joint prediction value of the three was better than that of a single indicator,P<0.001.Conclusion The decrease in IFN-γ expression level and the severity of septic shock patients have good prognostic value.

Chronic subdural hematoma (CSDH) is a collection of blood, blood clots and their degradation products, encapsulated by membrane and located within dural border cell layer. Pathophysiological processes such as inflammatory responses within hematoma cavity, coagulation abnormalities, and abnormalities in neovascularization play significant roles in CSDH development. High mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) can mediate processes such as inflammation, angiogenesis, and hemostasis, while thrombomodulin (TM) can bind with HMGB1 and rely on thrombin to degrade HMGB1. Current research has confirmed that the expressions of TM, HMGB1, and their downstream related factors are abnormally increased in the hematoma fluid of CSDH; however, the role of TM-thrombin-HMGB1 pathway in CSDH development is not fully clear. This article reviews the role of TM-thrombin-HMGB1 pathway in CSDH development, aiming to provide some references for pathogenesis and new therapeutic targets of CSDH.

Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)polysaccharides are active polysaccharides extracted from Chinese herbal medicines,many of which exhibit specific biological activities.Modern research has revealed that polysaccharide components extracted from plants,animals,and algae have a significant role in improving kidney injury.Currently,drug therapy is the primary treatment for kidney injury,with few reports on the use of TCM polysaccharides.This review explores the therapeutic effects and mechanisms of TCM polysaccharides on diabetic nephropathy,nephritis,kidney stones,hypertension-induced kidney injury,chemical toxin-induced kidney injury,and drug-induced kidney injury.Additionally,it discusses the prospects for the development of TCM polysaccharides in this field to provide a reference for further research.

Objective:To investigate the effect of mild hypothermia on macrophage polarization in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute lung injury (ALI) mice and to clarify its role in lung injury.Methods:According to a random number table method, 18 male C57BL/6 mice were divided into sham operation group (Sham group), ALI normothermic model group (NT group) and ALI mild hypothermia treatment group (HT group), with 6 mice in each group. The ALI model in mice was established by the method of tracheal instillation of LPS, and temperature control was administered at 1 hour after surgery. The anus temperature in NT group was kept at 36-38?℃, while the anus temperature in HT group was kept at 32-34?℃. The target anus temperature in both groups were maintained for 6 hours and then slowly rewarmed to 36-38 ℃. The Sham group was infused with an equal amount of physiological saline through the trachea without temperature control. After 24 hours of modeling, serum was collected and mice were sacrificed to obtain lung tissue. Pathological changes in lung tissue were observed under light microscopy and semi-quantitative lung injury score was performed. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect the serum levels of interleukins (IL-1β, IL-10). Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was used to test the indicators of macrophage polarization, such as the mRNA expressions of CD86, IL-6, CD206 and arginase 1 (Arg1) in the lung tissue. The protein expression of M1 macrophage marker inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and M2 macrophage marker Arg1 were detected by Western blotting.Results:Compared with the Sham group, the NT group appeared significant pulmonary hemorrhage and edema, thickened lung septum, inflammatory cell infiltration, and lung injury score was significantly increased; serum IL-1β level was significantly elevated; IL-10 level was increased without statistical significance; the expressions of CD86 mRNA, IL-6 mRNA and iNOS protein were significantly elevated, and CD206 mRNA was significantly decreased; the mRNA and protein expressions of Arg1 decreased, but there were no significant differences. Compared with the NT group, the pathological injury of lung tissue in HT group was significantly reduced, and the lung injury score was significantly decreased (4.78±0.96 vs. 8.56±1.98, P < 0.01); serum IL-1β level was decreased (ng/L: 13.52±1.95 vs. 27.18±3.87, P < 0.01), and IL-10 level was significantly increased (ng/L: 42.59±15.79 vs. 14.62±4.47, P < 0.01); IL-6 mRNA expression was decreased in lung tissue (2 -ΔΔCt: 3.37±0.92 vs. 10.04±0.91, P < 0.05), the expression of M1 macrophage markers CD86 mRNA and iNOS protein were significantly decreased [CD86 mRNA (2 -ΔΔCt): 0.52±0.16 vs. 1.95±0.33, iNOS protein (iNOS/β-actin): 0.57±0.19 vs. 1.11±0.27, both P < 0.05], the expression of M2 macrophage markers CD206 mRNA, Arg1 mRNA and Arg1 protein were significantly increased [CD206 mRNA (2 -ΔΔCt): 3.99±0.17 vs. 0.34±0.17, Arg1 mRNA (2 -ΔΔCt): 2.33±0.73 vs. 0.94±0.23, Arg1 protein (Arg1/β-actin): 0.96±0.09 vs. 0.31±0.11, all P < 0.05]. Conclusion:Mild hypothermia can alleviate the inflammatory response and protect lung tissue in ALI mice, which may be related to the inhibition of M1 macrophage polarization and promotion of M2 macrophage polarization.

Objective To screen out the biomarkers linked to prognosis of breast invasive carcinoma based on the analysis of transcriptome data by random forest(RF),extreme gradient boosting(XGBoost),light gradient boosting machine(LightGBM),and categorical boosting(CatBoost).Methods We obtained the ex-pression data of breast invasive carcinoma from The Cancer Genome Atlas and employed DESeq2,t-test,and Cox univariate analysis to identify the differentially expressed protein-coding genes associated with survival prog-nosis in human breast invasive carcinoma samples.Furthermore,RF,XGBoost,LightGBM,and CatBoost mod-els were established to mine the protein-coding gene markers related to the prognosis of breast invasive cancer and the model performance was compared.The expression data of breast cancer from the Gene Expression Omnibus was used for validation.Results A total of 151 differentially expressed protein-coding genes related to survival prog-nosis were screened out.The machine learning model established with C3orf80,UGP2,and SPC25 demonstrated the best performance.Conclusions Three protein-coding genes(UGP2,C3orf80,and SPC25)were screened out to identify breast invasive carcinoma.This study provides a new direction for the treatment and diagnosis of breast invasive carcinoma.

Objective:To investigate the role of 20 MHz high-frequency ultrasound in evaluating scar thickness and morphology.Methods:The clinical data of patients with the initial stage of scar formation after burn trauma (<1 month), hypertrophic scar (1-6 months) and atrophic scar (>6 months) treated by the Department of Burn and Cutaneous Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Air Force Medical University from April 2019 to December 2020, were retrospectively analyzed. All patients were evaluated by 20 MHz high-frequency ultrasound, histopathology and Vancouver scar scale (VSS). Three measurement points were randomly selected at the scar during ultrasonic examination, and the average value was recorded as the ultrasonic thickness measurement value. The scar tissue samples were collected from the site of ultrasonic examination, and HE staining and Masson staining were performed. At the same time, scar thickness was evaluated by two physicians using VSS. The difference of scar thickness assessment result among the 3 method in patients at the initial stage of scar formation, hypertrophic scar and atrophic scar was compared. Meanwhile, the relationship between the characteristics of 20 MHz high-frequency ultrasound and histopathology was compared. The measurement data of normal distribution were expressed as Mean±SD. One-way ANOVA was used for comparison among three groups, and SNK- q test was used for pairwise comparison between groups. Counting data were analyzed by Chi-square test. Results:A total of 224 patients were included, including 91 males and 133 females, aged from 1 to 34 years, with an average age of 25.7 years. There were 79 patients at the initial stage of scar formation, 102 at the hypertrophic stage, and 43 at the atrophic stage. (1) In the initial stage of scar formation, the thickness measured by 20 MHz ultrasound was about (2.01±0.68) mm, the thickness evaluated by VSS was (1.72±0.49) mm, and the thickness measured by pathological section was (2.11±0.45) mm. In the hyperplastic scar stage, the thickness measured by 20 MHz ultrasound was (4.11±0.73) mm, the thickness evaluated by VSS was (3.02±0.47) mm, and the thickness measured by pathological section was (4.27±0.44) mm. In the atrophic scar stage, the thickness measured by 20 MHz ultrasound was (1.74±0.64) mm, the thickness measured by VSS was (1.77±0.61) mm, and the thickness measured by pathological section was (1.71±0.67) mm. For scars in the above three periods, there was no statistical significance between scar thickness measured by 20 MHz high-frequency ultrasound and that measured by pathological sections(all P<0.05). In the initial stage of scar formation and hypertrophic stage, the thickness evaluated by VSS was significantly different from that measured by 20 MHz high-frequency ultrasound and pathology (all P<0.05), respectively. (2) Echo intensity was evaluated by ultrasound. In the initial stage of scar formation, the thickness of the epidermis shown by high-frequency ultrasound was close to that of the normal epidermis and presented a high-intensity echo, but there was a strip of echoless or no echo zone of <1 mm between the high-intensity echo epidermis and dermis, which looked like dermal edema. Pathology showed that there were acanthoid changes in the epidermis of the scar at this stage, rich capillaries and a small amount of collagen fibrous tissue in the dermis. In the hyperplastic scar stage, the scar epidermis still showed strong echo, while the dermis showed uneven echo, the superficial dermis showed obvious isoecho, and the deep dermis showed no echo or hypoecho. Pathology showed that the epidermis was thin and smooth, and keratosis was obvious. Collagen fibers parallel to the epidermis could be seen in the superficial layer of the dermis, with regular arrangement. Collagen fibers were increased and thickened in the deep layer of the dermis, in the shape of nodules and swirls. In the atrophic scar stage, the scar epidermis presented a strong echo, and there was no obvious demarcation between the dermis and subcutaneous tissue, presenting a uniform echo. Pathological findings showed that the epidermis became thinner with a "skin nails" -like structure, the junction between the superficial and deep dermis was not obvious, and the collagen fibers were arranged in parallel or oblique direction, and the surface boundary was unclear. Conclusion:20 MHz high-frequency ultrasound is more accurate than VSS in the assessment of thickness of hypertrophic scar, and can reflect the collagen content and moisture ratio in scar. Compared with pathological examination, it has the advantages of non-invasive and fast, and is an effective means to evaluate scar thickness and morphology.