BACKGROUND: Epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs), which are metabolites of arachidonic acid catalyzed by cytochrome P450 epoxygenase, are degraded into inactive dihydroxyeicosatrienoic acids by soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH). Many studies have revealed that sEH gene deletion exerts protective effects against diabetes. Vascular calcification is a common complication of diabetes, but the potential effects of sEH on diabetic vascular calcification are still unknown. METHODS: The level of aortic calcification in wild-type and Ephx2-/- C57BL/6 diabetic mice induced with streptozotocin was evaluated by measuring the aortic calcium content through alizarin red staining, immunohistochemistry staining, and immunofluorescence staining. Mouse vascular smooth muscle cell lines (MOVAS cells) treated with β-glycerol phosphate (0.01 mol/L) plus advanced glycation end products (50 mg/L) were used to investigate the effects of sEH inhibitors or sEH knockdown and EETs on the calcification of vascular smooth muscle cells, which was detected by Western blotting, alizarin red staining, and Von Kossa staining. RESULTS: sEH gene deletion significantly inhibited diabetic vascular calcification by increasing levels of EETs in the aortas of mice. EETs (especially 11,12-EET and 14,15-EET) efficiently prevented the osteogenic transdifferentiation of MOVAS cells by decreasing nidogen-2 (NID2) expression. Interestingly, suppressing sEH activity by small interfering ribonucleic acid or specific inhibitors did not block osteogenic transdifferentiation of MOVAS cells induced by β-glycerol phosphate and advanced glycation end products. NID2 overexpression significantly abolished the inhibitory effect of sEH gene deletion on diabetic vascular calcification. Moreover, NID2 overexpression mediated by adeno-associated virus 9 vectors markedly increased insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2) and phospho-ERK1/2 expression in MOVAS cells. Overall, sEH gene knockout inhibited diabetic vascular calcification by decreasing aortic NID2 expression and, then, inactivating the downstream IGF2-ERK1/2 signaling pathway. CONCLUSIONS sEH gene deletion markedly inhibited diabetic vascular calcification through repressed osteogenic transdifferentiation of vascular smooth muscle cells mediated by increased aortic EET levels, which was associated with decreased NID2 expression and inactivation of the downstream IGF2-ERK1/2 signaling pathway.
Animals ; Mice ; Vascular Calcification/metabolism* ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Epoxide Hydrolases/metabolism* ; Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental/genetics* ; Male ; Gene Deletion ; MAP Kinase Signaling System/genetics* ; Cell Line ; Immunohistochemistry ; Muscle, Smooth, Vascular/metabolism* ; Signal Transduction/genetics* ; Mice, Knockout

Objective:To compare the efficacy of body posture combined with pharmacotherapy and pharmacotherapy alone in the treatment of chronic subdural hematoma(CSDH).Methods:Firstly, retrospective case series study was conducted. Thirty cases of CSDH that had received body posture combined with pharmacotherapy at Department of Neurosurgery, Huashan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University from December 2016 to October 2020 were studied retrospectively. Twenty-seven patients were male, and 3 patients were female. The age of patients ( M(IQR)) was 66(16) years (range:28 to 84). Nineteen patients had unilateral hematoma, and 11 patients had bilateral hematoma. All patients received pharmacotherapy and body posture therapy that was to raise their lower limbs 20 to 30 cm with leg lift pad and get abdominal compressed with customized abdominal belt in supine position. Patients were required to maintain the body posture as much as possible, with the maximum to 16 to 18 hours per day. Patients with unilateral hematoma should tilt the head to the affected side and avoid tilting it to the opposite side. For patients with bilateral hematoma, there was no need for head lateralization. Patient were treated with oral dexamethasone and atorvastatin simultaneously. The preliminary efficacy of body posture combined with pharmacotherapy was determined by hematoma improvement rate which was analyzed by Clopper-Pearson method. Then, the multi-center, prospective, randomized controlled trial had carried out in 9 medical centers from August 2020 to November 2021. The stratified block randomization method was adopted. Patients were randomized in a ratio of 1∶1 to either receive pharmacotherapy alone(the control group) or body posture combined with pharmacotherapy(the experiment group) for 3 months and followed up for 6 months. Effective treatment was defined as complete absorption of hematoma, or the hematoma volume decreased by more than 10 ml and Markwalder grading scale score had improved by more than 1 point compared to the baseline. The efficacy rate and surgery conversion rate at 3 months and recurrence at 6 months were observed. Comparison between groups was performed with paired sample t test, Mann-Whitney U test, χ2 test, corrected χ2 test, or Fisher exact probability method. Logistic regression was used to compare the effective rate and operation rate between the two groups. Results:In the respective study, 30 patients completed follow-up 13 to 353 days after treatment. At the last follow-up, the incidence of almost complete absorption or significantly absorption of hematoma (hematoma volume was significantly reduced accompanied by symptom improvement) was 93.3%. The 95% CI for the incidence that analyzed by the Clopper-Pearson method was 77.9% to 99.2%. One hundred and six patients were enrolled in the multicenter study. Fifty-five patients underwent body posture combined with pharmacotherapy. The age was 74(17) years (range:26 to 92). Thirty-nine patients were males and 16 were females. Fifty-one patients underwent pharmacotherapy alone. The age was 69(12) years (range:48 to 84). Thirty-seven patients were males and 14 were females. The length of body posture recorded in diary card was (15.7±2.3) hours(range:7.6 to 19.3 hours). The efficacy rate in the body posture combined with pharmacotherapy group and pharmacotherapy alone group were 83.6% (46/55) and 56.9% (29/51), respectively at 3 months. The result of the logistic regression analysis showed that the efficacy of body posture combined with pharmacotherapy group was better than that of pharmacotherapy alone group ( OR=3.88,95% CI:1.57 to 9.58, P=0.003). Surgery rate in the body posture combined with pharmacotherapy group and pharmacotherapy alone group were 5.5% (3/55) and 21.6% (11/51) respectively. The result of Logistic regression showed that the pharmacotherapy alone group was more likely to be converted to surgery ( OR=0.21,95% CI:0.05 to 0.80, P=0.023). At the 6 months, no recurrence of cases was found in the body posture combined with pharmacotherapy group. However, the recurrence rate of pharmacotherapy alone group was 6.3% (3/48), there was no significant difference between the two groups ( P>0.05). Conclusion:The effect of body posture combined with pharmacotherapy for chronic subdural hematoma is better than that of pharmacotherapy alone.

Objective To investigate the abnormal changes characteristics of the degree centrality(DC)of the brain functional network in patients with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo(BPPV)in the classical frequency band(0.010-0.080 Hz),the slow-4 frequency band(0.027-0.073 Hz),and the slow-5 frequency band(0.010-0.027 Hz).Methods Twenty patients with BPPV(BPPV group)and 14 healthy controls(HC)(HC group)were selected.Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging(rs-fMRI)scans were performed,and the clinical data were analyzed.The DC method was used to analyze the changes of centrality of resting state network in patients with BPPV.Results Compared with the HC group,the BPPV group showed an increase in DC in the left caudate nucleus in the classical frequency band(P＜0.05),and a decrease in DC in the right auxiliary motor region in the classical frequency band(P＜0.05);within the slow-4 frequency band,no significant differences were observed in brain regions(P＞0.05);within the slow-5 frequency band,the BPPV group showed an increase in DC in the left thalamus(P＜0.05),while the left anterior cingulate and paracingulate gyrus showed a decrease in DC(P＜0.05).Conclusion Patients with BPPV have spontaneous activity disorders in multiple brain regions at resting states,and these changes show frequency band specificity.

Distinguishing pseudoprogression (PsP) from true progression (TP) in patients with high-grade gliomas after treatment remains a critical challenge, as their appearances on conventional MRI are often similar. Accurate differentiation between the two is of great clinical significance for guiding and adjusting therapeutic strategies. MRI functional imaging can reveal key tissue characteristics such as water molecule diffusion, microvascular perfusion, and metabolic changes within lesions after treatment, thereby providing valuable objective evidences for differentiating PsP from TP. Especially in recent years, the radiomics analysis method based on large-scale MRI image data has further improved the accuracy in distinguishing PsP from TP. This article reviews the research progress on applications of various MRI techniques and combination of radiomics with other artificial intelligence methods in differentiating PsP from TP in high-grade gliomas, aiming to enhance the clinicians' understanding of differential diagnosis of PsP and TP in high-grade gliomas, and offer ideas and directions for emerging MRI application in this field.

Objective To investigate the abnormal changes characteristics of the degree centrality(DC)of the brain functional network in patients with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo(BPPV)in the classical frequency band(0.010-0.080 Hz),the slow-4 frequency band(0.027-0.073 Hz),and the slow-5 frequency band(0.010-0.027 Hz).Methods Twenty patients with BPPV(BPPV group)and 14 healthy controls(HC)(HC group)were selected.Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging(rs-fMRI)scans were performed,and the clinical data were analyzed.The DC method was used to analyze the changes of centrality of resting state network in patients with BPPV.Results Compared with the HC group,the BPPV group showed an increase in DC in the left caudate nucleus in the classical frequency band(P＜0.05),and a decrease in DC in the right auxiliary motor region in the classical frequency band(P＜0.05);within the slow-4 frequency band,no significant differences were observed in brain regions(P＞0.05);within the slow-5 frequency band,the BPPV group showed an increase in DC in the left thalamus(P＜0.05),while the left anterior cingulate and paracingulate gyrus showed a decrease in DC(P＜0.05).Conclusion Patients with BPPV have spontaneous activity disorders in multiple brain regions at resting states,and these changes show frequency band specificity.

Distinguishing pseudoprogression (PsP) from true progression (TP) in patients with high-grade gliomas after treatment remains a critical challenge, as their appearances on conventional MRI are often similar. Accurate differentiation between the two is of great clinical significance for guiding and adjusting therapeutic strategies. MRI functional imaging can reveal key tissue characteristics such as water molecule diffusion, microvascular perfusion, and metabolic changes within lesions after treatment, thereby providing valuable objective evidences for differentiating PsP from TP. Especially in recent years, the radiomics analysis method based on large-scale MRI image data has further improved the accuracy in distinguishing PsP from TP. This article reviews the research progress on applications of various MRI techniques and combination of radiomics with other artificial intelligence methods in differentiating PsP from TP in high-grade gliomas, aiming to enhance the clinicians' understanding of differential diagnosis of PsP and TP in high-grade gliomas, and offer ideas and directions for emerging MRI application in this field.

Objective:To compare the efficacy of body posture combined with pharmacotherapy and pharmacotherapy alone in the treatment of chronic subdural hematoma(CSDH).Methods:Firstly, retrospective case series study was conducted. Thirty cases of CSDH that had received body posture combined with pharmacotherapy at Department of Neurosurgery, Huashan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University from December 2016 to October 2020 were studied retrospectively. Twenty-seven patients were male, and 3 patients were female. The age of patients ( M(IQR)) was 66(16) years (range:28 to 84). Nineteen patients had unilateral hematoma, and 11 patients had bilateral hematoma. All patients received pharmacotherapy and body posture therapy that was to raise their lower limbs 20 to 30 cm with leg lift pad and get abdominal compressed with customized abdominal belt in supine position. Patients were required to maintain the body posture as much as possible, with the maximum to 16 to 18 hours per day. Patients with unilateral hematoma should tilt the head to the affected side and avoid tilting it to the opposite side. For patients with bilateral hematoma, there was no need for head lateralization. Patient were treated with oral dexamethasone and atorvastatin simultaneously. The preliminary efficacy of body posture combined with pharmacotherapy was determined by hematoma improvement rate which was analyzed by Clopper-Pearson method. Then, the multi-center, prospective, randomized controlled trial had carried out in 9 medical centers from August 2020 to November 2021. The stratified block randomization method was adopted. Patients were randomized in a ratio of 1∶1 to either receive pharmacotherapy alone(the control group) or body posture combined with pharmacotherapy(the experiment group) for 3 months and followed up for 6 months. Effective treatment was defined as complete absorption of hematoma, or the hematoma volume decreased by more than 10 ml and Markwalder grading scale score had improved by more than 1 point compared to the baseline. The efficacy rate and surgery conversion rate at 3 months and recurrence at 6 months were observed. Comparison between groups was performed with paired sample t test, Mann-Whitney U test, χ2 test, corrected χ2 test, or Fisher exact probability method. Logistic regression was used to compare the effective rate and operation rate between the two groups. Results:In the respective study, 30 patients completed follow-up 13 to 353 days after treatment. At the last follow-up, the incidence of almost complete absorption or significantly absorption of hematoma (hematoma volume was significantly reduced accompanied by symptom improvement) was 93.3%. The 95% CI for the incidence that analyzed by the Clopper-Pearson method was 77.9% to 99.2%. One hundred and six patients were enrolled in the multicenter study. Fifty-five patients underwent body posture combined with pharmacotherapy. The age was 74(17) years (range:26 to 92). Thirty-nine patients were males and 16 were females. Fifty-one patients underwent pharmacotherapy alone. The age was 69(12) years (range:48 to 84). Thirty-seven patients were males and 14 were females. The length of body posture recorded in diary card was (15.7±2.3) hours(range:7.6 to 19.3 hours). The efficacy rate in the body posture combined with pharmacotherapy group and pharmacotherapy alone group were 83.6% (46/55) and 56.9% (29/51), respectively at 3 months. The result of the logistic regression analysis showed that the efficacy of body posture combined with pharmacotherapy group was better than that of pharmacotherapy alone group ( OR=3.88,95% CI:1.57 to 9.58, P=0.003). Surgery rate in the body posture combined with pharmacotherapy group and pharmacotherapy alone group were 5.5% (3/55) and 21.6% (11/51) respectively. The result of Logistic regression showed that the pharmacotherapy alone group was more likely to be converted to surgery ( OR=0.21,95% CI:0.05 to 0.80, P=0.023). At the 6 months, no recurrence of cases was found in the body posture combined with pharmacotherapy group. However, the recurrence rate of pharmacotherapy alone group was 6.3% (3/48), there was no significant difference between the two groups ( P>0.05). Conclusion:The effect of body posture combined with pharmacotherapy for chronic subdural hematoma is better than that of pharmacotherapy alone.

Objective To construct a prediction model for coronal malalignment of lower limb in middle-aged and young people in China based on body surface big data in order to provide a faster and more accurate tool for predicting the malalignment in clinical practice.Methods A cross-sectional trial was adopted on 915 patients with knee meniscus tears admitted to the Sports Medical Center of our hospital from May 2022 to December 2023.The coronal force line of lower limb was measured,and according to the lower limb force line grading standards,the patients were divided into neutral force line group and malalignment lower limb group,and assigned randomly into training set and validation set in a ratio of 7∶3.Seven indicators,such as gender,age,and body surface big data (including BMI,lower limb length,distance between both knee joints,distance between both ankle joints,and subcutaneous fat thickness)were used to analyze the training set to predict the value of malalignment force line.Logistic regression model and nomogram model were constructed to visualize our prediction model. Then calibration curves,receiver operating characteristic (ROC)curve,and decision curve analysis (DCA)were applied to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of the constructed model.Results In the training set of 640 cases,there were 299 males and 341 females,with a median age of 41 .5 years old,and for the validation set,there are 275 patients,including 128 males and 147 females,with a median age of 41 .0 years old.Significant differences were observed in above mentioned 7 indicators between the 2 groups in the training set (P<0.01 ).Based on the results of multiple logistic regression analysis,a prediction model for malalignment of lower limb was constructed,including BMI (24.31±3.58 kg/m2,OR=1 .12,95％CI:1 .06～1 .19,P<0.001 ),lower limb length[82.00 (78.00～87.00)cm,OR=0.95,95％CI:0.92～0.98,P=0.002],distance between both knee joints[30.00 (16.00～45.25)cm,OR=1 .06,95％CI:1 .05～1 .07,P<0.001],distance between both ankle joint[23.00 (8.00～30.00)mm,OR=0.98,95％CI:0.96～1 .00,P=0.078]and gender[man 299 (46.72％),OR=0.70,95％CI:0.46～1 .06,P=0.089].The area under the subject curve (AUC)value of our constructed model for predicting malalignment of lower limb was 0.808 and 0.770,respectively,in the training and validation sets.Conclusion Based on body surface big data,we primarily construct a prediction model for malalignment of lower limb for middle-aged and young people in China,which shows a good diagnostic performance on malalignment of lower limb.

Objective:To investigate correlation between neutrophil extracellular traps(NETs) formation and T cell subsets in mice with experimental autoimmune thyroiditis(EAT) and the impact of active vitamin D intervention.Methods:Six-week-old female BALB/c mice were randomly divided into Control group, EAT group and 1, 25 dihydroxy vitamin D 3[1, 25(OH) 2D 3] treatment group(VitD group; n=6/group). HE staining was used to observe thyroid pathology. Plasma thyroglobulin antibody(TGAb), thyroid peroxidase antibody(TPOAb), and 1, 25(OH) 2D 3 were measured by ELISA. Peripheral NETs formation, Th1, Th2, and Th17 cell ratio from spleen were measured by flow cytometry. Correlation between NETs formation rate and Th1, Th2, and Th17 cell ratio was analyzed. Results:Compared with Control group, mice in EAT group had significantly increased thyroid inflammation scores, thyroiditis morbidity, TPOAb, TGAb levels, NETs formation rate, Th2(CD4 + IL-4 + or CD4 + IL-13 + )and Th17 cell proportions( P were <0.001, 0.002, 0.007, <0.001, <0.001, 0.003, 0.001, and 0.002, respectively), and significant decreased 1, 25(OH) 2D 3, Th1 cell proportions, Th1/Th2(CD4 + IL-4 + ), Th1/Th2(CD4 + IL-13 + ), and Th1/Th17 ratios( P were 0.010, 0.018, 0.010, 0.005, and 0.007, respectively). Compared with the EAT group, the VitD group had lower thyroid inflammation scores, TPOAb, TGAb levels, NETs formation rate, Th2(CD4 + IL-4 + or CD4 + IL-13 + ) and Th17 cell proportions( P were 0.044, 0.007, <0.001, 0.001, 0.014, 0.008, and 0.001, respectively), and significant higher Th1 cell ratio, Th1/Th2(CD4 + IL-13 + ) and Th1/Th17 ratio( P were 0.011, 0.009, and 0.003, respectively). The Th1/Th2(CD4 + IL-4 + ) was not significantly increased in VitD group compared with EAT group( P=0.174). NETs formation rate was positively correlated with Th2(CD4 + IL-4 + or CD4 + IL-13 + ) and Th17 cell proportion( r were 0.65, 0.59, and 0.61; and P were 0.004, 0.010, and 0.007, respectively), but not with Th1 cell proportion( r=-0.47, P=0.051). Conclusion:EAT mice were more prone to NETs formation. Active vitamin D may relieve immune imbalance with increased Th2 and Th17 cell ratio and decreased Th1 cell ratio by reducing the formation of NETs in EAT mice. Vitamin D played the protective role in thyroid by reducing thyroid pathological damage and thyroid autoantibody levels, and relived overall lymphocyte imbalance.

Objective:To analyze the clinical and molecular genetic characteristics of a Chinese family with congenital cataract-microcornea syndrome.Methods:The method of pedigree investigation was adopted.A Chinese Han family with congenital cataract-microcornea syndrome was recruited in Xiamen Eye Center of Xiamen University.All the family members received detailed ophthalmologic examination including the best corrected visual acuity, intraocular pressure measurement by handheld applanation tonometry, slit lamp biomicroscopy, color fundus photography, B-scan ultrasonography, corneal diameter, anterior segment optical coherence tomography, ultrasound biomicroscopy, corneal endoscopy, and corneal topography.Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral venous blood from some patients and unaffected family members.Targeted high-throughput DNA sequencing was performed on the proband.The sequencing chip contained 188 known pathogenic genes related to lens abnormalities.Suspected pathogenic genes were verified by Sanger sequencing in phenotypically normal family members to identify the co-segregation and the disease-causing gene.Bioinformatics analysis was performed to analyze the pathogenicity of variants by REVEL.Conserved protein domains were analyzed by InterPro.Physicochemical property of the mutant protein was analyzed by ProtParam.The deleteriousness of the protein was predicted by PolyPhen-2.Homology of the variants in pathogenic gene was analyzed by NCBI website to compare the conservation among various species.This study followed the Declaration of Helsinki.The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of Xiamen Eye Center of Xiamen University (No.XMYKZX-LW-2009-003).Written informed consent was obtained from each subject prior to entering the study cohort.Results:There were 39 members of 4 generations in this family including 11 patients with an autosomal dominant inheritance pattern.Clinical features of the patients included congenital cataract and microcornea.No obvious abnormality was found in ophthalmic and general examination.A heterozygous mutation c. 61C>T in the CRYAA gene was found, resulting in the mutation of the amino acid from arginine to tryptophan (p.Arg21Trp) at position 21, consistent with co-segregation.The number of cationic cluster in the mutant protein decreased, and the hydrophilicity and stability were reduced.The variant was predicted to be deleterious and was highly conserved in multiple species. Conclusions:A novel heterozygous mutation c.61C>T p. Arg21Trp in CRYAA gene is considered as the causal gene of this family.It is the first time this variant has been reported in China.