OBJECTIVE To investigate the improvement effects and mechanism of astragaloside Ⅳ （AS- Ⅳ ） on lipopolysaccharide （LPS）-induced neuroinflammation. METHODS BV2 cells were divided into control group， LPS group， AS-Ⅳ groups at concentrations of 20 and 40 μmol/L， and dexamethasone group （2 μmol/L）. Except for control group， neuroinflammation model was established with LPS （1 μg/mL） in other groups after medication. The levels of inflammatory factors [interleukin-6 （IL-6）， tumor necrosis factor-α （TNF-α）， and nitric oxide （NO）] in cell supernatant were measured in each group. Mice were randomly divided into normal group， model group， positive control group （Aspirin enteric-coated tablet， 20 mg/kg）， AS-Ⅳ low- and high-dose groups （10， 20 mg/kg）， with 6 mice in each group. Mice in each group were administered the corresponding drug/normal saline via gavage/intraperitoneal injection， once a day， for 14 consecutive days. Except for normal group， other groups were intraperitoneally injected with LPS （250 μg/kg） 1 hour after daily administration of the drug/normal saline to establish neuroinflammation model. Serum levels of IL-6 and TNF-α were measured 2 h after the last medication； histopathological morphology of cerebral tissue in mice were observed； the co-localization of inducible nitric oxide synthase （iNOS）/ionized calcium binding adapter molecule 1 （Iba1） and CD206/Iba1 in the cerebral cortex region of mice was observed； the expressions of proteins related to the nuclear factor-κB （NF-κB）/mitogen-activated protein kinase （MAPK） signaling pathway in brain tissue of mice were also determined， including NF-κB p65， phosphorylated NF-κB p65（p-NF-κB p65）， p38 MAPK， phosphorylated p38 MAPK （p-p38 MAPK）， extracellular signal-regulated kinase （ERK）， and phosphorylated ERK （p-ERK）. RESULTS In the cell experiments， compared with control group， the levels of IL-6， TNF- α and NO in the cell supernatant of the LPS group were increased significantly （P＜0.05）； compared with LPS group， the levels of IL-6， TNF-α and NO were decreased significantly in the administration groups （P＜0.05）. In the animal experiments， compared with the normal group， the serum levels of IL-6 and TNF- α， the number of iNOS/Iba1 co-localization positive cells in the cerebral cortex， and the phosphorylation levels of p38 MAPK， NF- κB p65 and ERK proteins in brain tissue were all significantly increased/elevated in model group （P＜0.05）； the number of CD206/ Iba1 co-localization positive cells in the cerebral cortex region significantly decreased （P＜0.05）. The neurons in the cerebral cortex and the CA3 region of the hippocampus displayed a disordered arrangement. Compared with model group， above quantitative indexes of mice were all reversed significantly in administration groups （P＜0.05）； the neuronal cells in the cerebral cortex and the CA3 region of the hippocampus exhibited a relatively orderly arrangement. CONCLUSIONS AS-Ⅳ may inhibit the activation of the NF-κB/MAPK signaling pathway， promote the M2-type polarization of microglia， and thereby suppress neuroinflammatory responses.

OBJECTIVES: Gastric cancer (GC) is the fifth most common cancer and the third leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide, posing a serious threat to public health. Prognostication of overall survival (OS) in patients undergoing radical gastrectomy remains a clinical priority. Evidence suggests that preoperative nutritional and inflammatory status correlated with postoperative outcomes. This study aims to evaluate the prognostic value of the skeletal muscle index at the third lumbar vertebra (L3-SMI) as a trichotomous variable and to compare the performance of commonly used nutritional and inflammation-related indicators in predicting postoperative survival in GC patients. METHODS: This retrospective study analyzed clinical data of patients who underwent radical gastrectomy with neoadjuvant chemotherapy between 2011 and 2018 at the Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Xiangya Hospital of Central South University. L3-SMI was measured by preoperative CT, and 8 preoperative nutritional/inflammatory indices were calculated from the latest laboratory tests before surgery: neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR), systemic immune-inflammation index (SII), systemic inflammation response index (SIRI), pan-immune-inflammation value (PIV), albumin-globulin ratio (AGR), and prognostic nutritional index (PNI). L3-SMI was categorized into 3 groups using X-tiler software. ROC curves were used to determine optimal cut-off values for the other eight indices. Kaplan-Meier curves and univariate/multivariate Cox proportional hazards models were used to analyze the association between variables and OS. Concordance index (C-index) and subgroup analysis assessed predictive performance and consistency across patient subgroups. RESULTS: A total of 546 patients were included, with a minimum follow-up time of 36 months. Kaplan-Meier and univariate analysis showed that L3-SMI and the 8 indicators were significantly associated with OS (all P<0.01). After adjusting for age, gender, tumor site, differentiation, pTNM stage, type of surgery, anemia, CEA, and AFP, multifactorial Cox analysis revealed that L3-SMI (HR=0.676, 95% CI 0.523 to 0.872), AGR (HR=0.611, 95% CI 0.452 to 0.827), and PNI (HR=0.590, 95% CI 0.418 to 0.833) were independent predictors of OS. The full model confirmed the independent prognostic roles of L3-SMI, AGR, and PNI. Among all indicators, PNI had the highest C-index for 1-year OS prediction (0.632, 95% CI 0.568 to 0.695), while AGR showed the best performance at 3 years (0.585, 95% CI 0.548 to 0.622) and 5 years (0.578, 95% CI 0.542 to 0.613). Subgroup analysis indicated that higher L3-SMI, AGR, and PNI were associated with lower mortality risk in patients aged<65 years, with lower gastric tumors, poor differentiation, stage III pTNM, or who underwent subtotal gastrectomy. CONCLUSIONS Compared with other indicators, preoperative nutritional markers such as L3-SMI, AGR, and PNI demonstrated superior prognostic value for OS in gastric cancer patients undergoing radical gastrectomy. Assessing these indices can help identify patients at high risk of poor prognosis, thereby guiding targeted nutritional interventions and potentially improving survival outcomes.
Humans ; Stomach Neoplasms/mortality* ; Gastrectomy/methods* ; Retrospective Studies ; Female ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prognosis ; Aged ; Adult ; Nutritional Status ; Inflammation ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Preoperative Period ; Survival Rate

Adult-onset leukoencephalopathy with axonal spheroids and pigmented glia(ALSP)is a clinically rare autosomal dominant genetic disease,and its specific pathogenesis is not yet clear.The colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor(CSF1R)is a transmembrane tyrosine kinase receptor on the cell surface and mutations in the gene encoding it have been identified as potential pathogenic factors for ALSP.However,the specific mechanisms by which CSF1R gene mutations lead to the onset of ALSP are still unclear.After reviewing the mutation sites and pathogenic mechanisms of CSF1R in the pathogenesis of ALSP,CSF1R mutations have been shown to cause microglial dysfunction through mechanisms such as dominant-negative effects,loss of function,haploinsufficiency,and gain of function,thereby leading to the onset of ALSP.A deeper understanding of the causes of ALSP will help in exploring potential treatment methods.

The prevention and control requirements for HIV/AIDS vary significantly among different populations,posing substantial challenges to the formulation and implementation of intervention strategies.Dynamically assessing the heterogeneity and disease progression trajectories of various groups is crucial.Latent class growth model(LCGM)serves as a statistical approach that fits a longitudinal data into N subgroups of individual development trajectories,identifying and analyzing the progression paths of different subgroups,thereby offering a novel perspective for disease control strategies.LCGM has shown significant advantages in the application of HIV/AIDS prevention and control,especially in gaining a deeper understanding and analysis of epidemiological characteristics,risk behaviors,psychological research,heterogeneity in testing,and dynamic changes.Summarizing the advantages and limitations of applying LCGM can provide a reliable basis for precise prevention and control of HIV/AIDS.

Background:At present,domestic guidelines and consensus recommend the use of nutritional risk screening 2002(NRS 2002)and patient-generated subjective global assessment(PG-SGA)for nutritional risk screening and assessment of patients with gastrointestinal cancer during the perioperative period.However,PG-SGA has higher professional requirements,complex content and time-consuming.In the current busy situation of medical staff,NRS 2002 is more used for screening alone.Aims:To explore the consistency of NRS 2002 and PG-SGA in the assessment of nutritional status and clinical outcomes in patients with gastrointestinal malignancies,and to explore the accuracy of screening using NRS 2002 alone,so as to provide guidance for the establishment of clinical nutritional screening and assessment standards.Methods:A retrospective analysis was conducted on 157 patients with gastrointestinal malignancies who underwent radical operation in the Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery of Xiangya Hospital,Central South University from January 2020 to October 2022.Nutritional screening and evaluation were performed by NRS 2002 and PG-SGA scales and demographic data and nutrition-related laboratory indicators were collected to observe short-term postoperative clinical outcomes.Results:Patients with nutritional risk or malnutrition had lower body mass index(BMI),lymphocytes and prealbumin(P<0.05).The correlation and consistency of NRS 2002 and PG-SGA scales were good(r=0.728,κ=0.46)and the areas under the curve(AUC)for predicting postoperative complications were 0.691 and 0.702,respectively.In addition,nutritional risk and postoperative complications were significantly increased in patients with malnutrition(P<0.05).Conclusions:Therefore,gastrointestinal surgeons can only use NRS2002 to perform nutritional screening of patients and make corresponding nutritional treatment according to the screening results in the case of busy clinical work.

Objective:To investigate the levels of sex hormone and fertility in female patients after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), as well as their correlation with conditioning regimens, and analyse the effect of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in young women after HSCT.Methods:Retrospective case series study. The clinical data of 147 women who underwent HSCT in the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University from January 2010 to January 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. The sex hormone levels were measured and followed-up, and the survival, menstrual fertility and the use of HRT of the patients were also followed-up. The sex hormone levels were measured after transplantation, and the ovarian function was evaluated. Independent sample t test and χ2 test were used for comparison between the two groups. Results:The median age of the 147 patients was 26 (range, 10-45) years. Of them, 135 patients received allogeneic HSCT and 12 patients received autologous HSCT. Furthermore, 129 patients received myeloablative conditioning, and 18 patients received reduced conditioning dose. The median follow-up time was 50 months (range, 18-134 months). Five patients died of disease recurrence during follow-up. Of the 54 patients with subcutaneous injection of zoladex, three recovered menstruation spontaneously after transplantation, and all of them were myeloablative conditioning patients, one patient gave birth to twins through assisted reproductive technology. Ninety-three patients did not use zoladex before conditioning, two patients with aplastic anemia with non-myeloablative transplantation resumed menstruation spontaneously, and conceived naturally. The level of follicle stimulating hormone after transplantation in patients receiving myeloablative conditioning regimen was significantly higher than that in patients receiving reduced-dose conditioning regimen [(95.28±3.94) U/L vs. (71.85±10.72) U/L, P=0.039]. Among 147 patients, 122 patients developed premature ovarian failure, 83 patients received sex hormone replacement therapy after transplantation, and 76 patients recovered menstruation and improved endocrine function. Conclusions:The incidence of premature ovarian failure is high in female patients after HSCT, and patients have a chance at natural conception. Reducing the dose of conditioning regimen and the application of zoladex before transplantation can reduce ovarian of conditioning drugs. HRT after transplantation can partially improve the endocrine function of patients.

Objective To investigate the clinical features of patients with drug-induced liver injury (DILI). Methods A retrospective analysis was performed for the clinical data of 1 376 patients with DILI who were admitted to 20 hospitals in Shaanxi Province, China, from 2009 to 2019 and were diagnosed with RUCAM scale as the diagnostic criteria, and these patients were analyzed in terms of sex, age, underlying diseases, suspected drugs causing DILI, clinical manifestations, laboratory examination, treatment process, and prognosis. The t -test and Wilcoxon test were used for comparison of continuous data between two groups, the chi-square test was used for comparison of categorical data between groups, and the Kruskal-Wallis H rank sum test was used for comparison of ordered polytomous data between groups. Results Among the 1 376 patients, there were 577(41.93%) male patients and 799 (58.07%) female patients, with a male/female ratio of 0.72:1. As for different age groups, the 40-60 years group had a higher incidence rate and accounted for 44.77%, and there was a significant difference in sex distribution between different age groups ( χ 2 =20.784, P =0.008). As for the three clinical types, there was no significant difference in incidence rate between men and women ( χ 2 =1.409, P =0.494), and there was a significant difference in the distribution of clinical types between different age groups ( χ 2 =47.025, P < 0.001). The top three drugs causing DILI were traditional Chinese medicine (41.13%), antitubercular agents (11.70%), and antipyretic and analgesic drugs (7.27%). Hepatocellular injury type was the main clinical type and accounted for 65.77% (905 cases). The mean length of hospital stay was 15.31 days, mostly 1-4 weeks which accounted for 91.86%. Among these 1376 patients, 45 (3.27%) were cured and 1 322 (96.08%) were improved, suggesting a good overall prognosis. The patients with different clinical types had significantly different prognoses ( H =59.300, P =0.011), and further comparison showed that the patients with hepatocellular injury type and mixed type had a significantly better prognosis than those with cholestasis type ( P < 0.05), while there was no significant difference in prognosis between the patients with hepatocellular injury type and those with mixed type ( P > 0.05). Conclusion There is a high incidence rate of DILI in women and middle-aged and elderly people, and traditional Chinese medicine is the leading cause of DILI. Patients with different clinical types tend to have different prognoses, with a good overall prognosis.

OBJECTIVE To establish the quality standard of Lixieling tablets. METHODS Thin layer chromatography was used to identify Bistortae Rhizoma, Andrographis Herba and Sophorae Flavescentis Radix in Lixieling tablets. The components of andrographolium and matrine were determined by HPLC. RESULTS The thin layer spots of Bistortae Rhizoma, Andrographis Herba and Sophorae Flavescentis Radix were clear, with good separation effect and repeatability. The linear relationship between andrographolide, neoandrographolide, 14-deoxygenated andrographolide, dehydrated andrographolide, sophorine, oxymatrine, sophorine and oxysophorine and their respective concentration ranges was good. The RSDs of instrument precision, repeatability, stability and recovery all met the requirements. CONCLUSION The method is simple and reproducible, and can be used for the quality control of Lixieling tablets.

【Objective】 To explore the characteristics of esophageal motility and reflux of endoscopic-negative heartburn patients based on the Lyon Consensus Diagnostic Criteria and discuss the differential diagnosis value of the mean nocturnal baseline impedance （MNBI） and the postreflux swallow-induced peristaltic wave （PSPW） index for reflux hypersensitivity （RH） and functional heartburn （FH） patients. 【Methods】 We enrolled 132 patients with heartburn as the main symptom who visited the Gastroenterology Department of our hospital from January 2017 to June 2021， including 24 in the non-erosive reflux disease （NERD） group， 24 in the RH group， and 84 in the FH group. All the patients completed gastroscopy， esophageal high-resolution manometry and 24h-pH impedance monitoring. We analyzed and compared the related indexes of esophageal motility and reflux. The receiver operating characteristic （ROC） curve was used to analyze the esophageal proximal MNBI， distal MNBI， and PSPW indexes for the differential diagnosis of RH and FH. 【Results】 The lower esophageal sphincter （LES） average resting pressure， LES residual pressure and intact relaxation pressure （IRP） in NERD were lower than those in RH and FH （P<0.05）. The number of acid reflux， the upright acid exposure time （AET）， the supine position AET， the total AET， and the DeMeester score were higher in NERD than in RH and FH （P<0.05）. The non-acid reflux， distal MNBI and PSPW indexes were lower in NERD than in RH and FH （P<0.05）. The distal MNBI and PSPW indexes were lower in RH than in FH （P<0.05）. However， there was no significant difference in proximal MNBI among the three groups （P>0.05）. When the proximal MNBI， distal MNBI， and PSPW indexes were used alone respectively to diagnose RH， the area under the ROC curve was 0.480， 0.810， 0.682， respectively， with the sensitivities being 87.5%， 100% and 91.7%， and the specificities being 26.2%， 66.7% and 51.2%， respectively. 【Conclusion】 NERD patients have obvious abnormal esophageal dynamics， mainly manifested as LES relaxation， which further aggravates the pathological acid reflux， while patients with RH and FH are mainly exposed to physiological acid or non-acid reflux. In patients with endoscopic negative heartburn， distal MNBI value can improve the clinical diagnosis rate of RH and help distinguish RH from FH.

Abstract: To investigate the changes of cerebral blood flow(CBF) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2 DM) and its correlation with cognitive function and olfactory impairment. Methods: Cognitive function assessment and smell identification test were performed on 83 patients with T2 DM and 62 healthy controls(HC). Three-dimensional pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling(3 D-pcASL) head images were collected from the two groups. CBF values of the cerebral cortex were compared between the patients and HC after the postprocessing. Correlations between the CBF values and cognitive function assessment and between the CBF values and smell identification test scores were analyzed as well. Results: Compared to the HC, Chinese smell identification test(CSIT), montreal cognitive assessment(MoCA), digit span test(DST), verbal fluency test(VFT) scores were lower in T2 DM patients(P<0.05).The CBF of the bilateral middle frontal gyrus in T2 DM patients was higher than that in HC group(P<0.001). The CBF of the bilateral gyrus rectus and olfactory cortex in T2 DM patients was lower than that in HC group(P<0.001). Conclusion The cognitive and olfactory function of patients with T2 DM decreased. Patients with T2 DM have abnormal perfusion in the bilateral middle frontal gyrus, gyrus rectus and olfactory cortex, revealing that CBF changes in these brain regions may be one of the causes for cognitive impairment and olfactory dysfunction in T2 DM.