The onset of pregnancy is marked by the formation of a zygote, while the culmination of gestation is manifested by the delivery of a fetus. Meanwhile, a successful pregnancy entails a meticulously coordinated sequence of events from embryo implantation to sustained decidualization of the uterus to placental development and childbirth. The decidual reaction, a pivotal process occurring within the endometrium during pregnancy, is finely regulated by sex steroids and cytokines. Notably, fibroblast growth factors (FGFs), particularly FGF2, play a critical role in this physiological cascade. Dysregulated FGF expression may trigger inadequate decidualization, precipitating a spectrum of adverse pregnancy outcomes, including preeclampsia, recurrent implantation failure, and miscarriage. Furthermore, the human decidua, distinct from most mammalian species and similar to great apes, undergoes regular cycles of formation and shedding, independent of the presence of the embryo in the endometrium. This process is also tightly controlled by various FGFs. In this review, we comprehensively compare diverse research decidualization models, delineate the trend of endometrial FGFs during the menstrual cycle, and provide a synopsis of endometrial diseases triggered by FGF dysregulation.
Humans ; Female ; Pregnancy ; Decidua/physiology* ; Animals ; Endometrium/physiology* ; Fibroblast Growth Factors/metabolism* ; Embryo Implantation ; Menstrual Cycle/physiology*

Invasive fungal infections (IFIs) have become prominent global health threats, escalating the burden on public health systems. The increasing occurrence of invasive fungal infections is due primarily to the extensive application of chemotherapy, immunosuppressive therapies, and broad-spectrum antifungal agents. At present, therapeutic practices utilize multiple categories of antifungal agents, such as azoles, polyenes, echinocandins, and pyrimidine analogs. Nevertheless, the clinical effectiveness of these treatments is progressively weakened by the emergence of drug resistance, thereby substantially restricting their therapeutic utility. Consequently, there is an imperative need to expedite the discovery of novel antifungal agents. This review seeks to present an exhaustive synthesis of novel antifungal drugs and candidate agents that are either under current clinical investigation or anticipated to progress into clinical evaluation. These emerging compounds exhibit unique benefits concerning their modes of action, antimicrobial spectra, and pharmacokinetic characteristics, potentially leading to improved therapeutic outcomes relative to conventional antifungal regimens. It is anticipated that these novel therapeutic agents will furnish innovative treatment modalities and enhance clinical outcomes in managing invasive fungal infections.

Fifteen patients with Crohn′s disease (CD) in remission diagnosed at Shanghai Jing′an District Central Hospital from February 2018 to June 2019, and 26 matched healthy subjects were recruited. All participants underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans of hippocampus. The amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) was calculated to determine differences in the brain. Left hippocampus was selected as seeds for functional connectivity (FC) analysis, and the results were compared between two groups. The relationship between disease duration and ALFF/FC values in abnormal regions were analyzed with Pearson correlation. Compared with the controls, the ALFF of the left hippocampus (voxel size 32) of CD patients decreased [family-wise error correstion(FWE correction), cluster level P<0.05], and the ALFF of the left medial superior frontal gyrus (voxel size 126), left supplementary motor area (voxel size 126) and left anterior cingulate gyrus increased (voxel size 37) (FWE corrected, cluster level P<0.05). Using the left hippocampus as the seed point for the whole brain functional connectivity analysis, CD patients showed increased FC strength with the left superior temporal gyrus, left medial superior frontal gyrus, left inferior frontal gyrus (opercular part), and right supplementary motor area(FEW corrected, cluster level P<0.05). Correlation analysis did not show a significantly differences between ALFF/FC value of altered brain areas and the disease duration. It suggests that there are changes in spontaneous activities and functional connectivity in the left hippocampus in patients with CD.

Objective To evaluate the significance of kidney depth obtained by computed tomography (CT) in measuring glomerular filtration rate (GFR) by Gates method in living kidney transplant donors.Methods Individual kidney depth was compared among the estimates of Tφnnesen,Taylor and Li Qian formulas and CT measurements in 167 living-related kidney transplant donors respectively.While maintaining the active region of interest of kidney and background unchanged in 137 99mTe-DTPA renal dynamic imaging cases,GFR was measured by Gates' method and individual kidney compared among the estimates of Tφnnesen,Taylor and Li Qian formulas and CT measurements.Results Left/right kidney depth obtained by CT,Tφnnesen,Taylor and Li Qian formula was 6.82 ± 0.96/7.02 ± 1.00,5.67 ± 0.58/5.71 ± 0.59,6.43 ± 0.77/6.81 ± 0.72 and 7.03 ± 0.76/7.06 ± 0.70 cm;GFR 45.44 ± 9.04/46.61 ± 9.06,37.54 ± 6.34/37.37 ± 6.02,43.39 ± 7.59/44.62 ± 6.94 and 46.99 ± 8.04/46.70 ± 7.30 ml/min respectively.Individual kidney depth and GFR calculated by Taylor and Li Qian were higher than those of Tφnnesen formula (P＜0.01).Individual kidney depth and GFR calculated by CT were higher than those of Tφnnesen and Taylor formulas (P＜0.01).Left kidney depth and GFR calculated by Li Qian formula were higher than those of CT measurements (P＜0.01).And no significant difference existed in right kidney(P＞0.05).Conclusions Kidney depth measured by CT improves the accuracy of kidney depth estimated by Gates method and optimizes GFR in living donors for renal transplant.

Objective To assess the diagnostic accuracy of solitary pulmonary nodules while selecting different backgrounds in 99 Tcm‐MIBI SPECT/CT examination .Methods Totally 38 suspected solitary pulmonary nodules (SPN) were analyzed retrospectively .The lesions were divided into malignant group and benign group according to the pathological findings . We selected two different backgrounds , contralateral lung field ( DL ) and the contralateral soft tissue (NST) .The maximum counts and the mean counts of lesion to non‐lesion ratio (L/N) were calculated to evaluate diagnostic efficacy using ROC curve . The relationship between lesion size , pathological grading and L/N ratio was analyzed by Spearman correlation analysis . Results With DL and NST as the backgrounds ,the maximum counts and the mean counts of L/N between benign and malignant groups both differed significantly (all P<0 .05) .ROC curve analysis showed as follows :With DL and NST as the backgrounds ,the area under the curve (AUC) of L/DL‐MAX ,L/DL‐MEAN ,L/NST‐MAX ,and L/NST‐MEAN was 0 .73 ,0 .78 ,0 .80 and 0 .86 ,respectively .By pairwise comparison ,there was no significant difference (all P>0 .05) .The size and pathological grading of SPN did not affect 99 Tcm‐MIBI accumulation in the SPN (all P>0 .05) .Conclusion DL and NST both can be used as the background in diagnosis of pulmonary nodules on 99 Tcm‐MIBI SPECT/CT examination .The mean counts of the contralateral tissue used as the background can provide a stable result and a high diagnostic accuracy to assess the SPN .