Metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease （MAFLD）， as one of the most common chronic liver diseases in the world， poses a severe challenge to precision diagnosis and treatment due to its complex pathogenesis and highly heterogeneous disease progression. Existing clinical classification systems cannot meet the needs for comprehensively analyzing the complexity of the disease and the heterogeneity of its adverse outcomes. In recent years， data-driven prognostic risk classification methods have gradually emerged， optimizing the ability for predicting adverse outcomes and enhancing the accuracy of identifying different endpoint outcomes. However， such paradigm of “classify first， associate outcomes later” suffers from a “black-box” nature， and there are various indicators for classification， leading to limited stability and generalizability in clinical application. Future research needs to integrate or establish large-scale population cohorts， develop outcome-oriented prognostic risk classification models， incorporate dynamic data， refine classification algorithms， and validate their generalizability across multiple populations， thereby providing reliable support for the precision diagnosis and treatment of MAFLD.

ObjectiveCell adhesion is a critical process that regulates cellular physiological functions. Quantitative characterization of adhesion dynamics is essential for elucidating the intrinsic mechanical mechanisms underlying cellular activities. Although atomic force microscopy-based single-cell force spectroscopy is widely used for single-cell adhesion measurements, it requires complex chemical modifications for preparation of live-cell probes, leading to limitations such as cumbersome operation, low throughput, and potential impacts on cell viability. Fluidic force microscopy, which combines atomic force microscopy with microfluidic probes, is a technique allowing the operation of force-controlled nanopipettes in aqueous environments. By applying negative or positive pressure via a pressure controller, a single living cell can be captured onto or released from the cantilever under physiological conditions. This procedure offers a simple workflow and high assay throughput for single-cell adhesion measurements without the need for chemical functionalization. In this study, fluidic force microscopy-based single-cell force spectroscopy was adopted to achieve long-term quantitative characterization of single-cell adhesion dynamics in a simpler and more efficient manner, comparing the dynamic differences in adhesion establishment between two cell lines with different differentiation levels. MethodsHEK 293T and hTERT RPE-1 cells were non-invasively captured on the cantilever of a fluidic force microscope via its integrated microfluidic system during 40 h of adhesion culture. Cell-substrate detachment assays were performed, and force-distance curves were recorded to extract key mechanical adhesion parameters, including adhesion force, adhesion energy, and maximum detachment distance. These measurements were combined with real-time monitoring of cell spreading area to systematically characterize the dynamic evolution of single-cell adhesion. ResultshTERT RPE-1 cells rapidly entered a stable adhesion phase within 1 h after seeding, with both area-normalized adhesion force and area-normalized adhesion energy reaching peak values. In contrast, HEK 293T cells required 4 h to achieve stable adhesion. Subsequently, the adhesion force, adhesion energy and maximum detachment distance of hTERT RPE-1 and HEK 293T cells stabilized at approximately 240 nN vs. 30 nN, 2.2 pJ vs. 0.12 pJ and 6 μm vs. 4 μm, respectively. hTERT RPE-1 cells reached the peak of area-normalized adhesion parameters earlier than HEK 293T cells, with their peak area-normalized adhesion force and area-normalized adhesion energy being substantially elevated relative to HEK 293T cells. HEK 293T cells presented stronger linear correlations among adhesion energy, maximum detachment distance and adhesion force compared with hTERT RPE-1 cells. For both cell lines, cell spreading area exhibited a weak correlation with adhesion force. Whereas the area-normalized adhesion parameters of HEK 293T cells remained relatively constant throughout the adhesion process, hTERT RPE-1 cells exhibited elevated values in the early phase, followed by a gradual decline. These results indicated distinct dynamic adhesion patterns between the two cell types, with hTERT RPE-1 cells exhibiting stronger adhesion strength and higher adhesion efficiency. ConclusionIn this study, fluidic force microscopy-based single-cell force spectroscopy was successfully applied to perform long-term in situ quantitative measurement of the adhesion dynamics in single adherent cells. The approach revealed divergent adhesion patterns between HEK 293T and hTERT RPE-1 cells, suggesting a close association between cell differentiation and adhesion behaviors. These findings provide quantitative mechanical evidence for further understanding the underlying mechanisms of cell adhesion.

ObjectiveTo explore the ethical issues and coping strategies in the diagnosis and treatment of 46, XY disorders of sex development （46, XY DSD） under a multidisciplinary team （MDT） model， and to deepen the understanding of relevant ethical issues while accumulating experience. MethodsA retrospective collection was conducted on the data of children with 46, XY disorders of sex development under a single-center MDT model from January 2017 to December 2024， and the ethical issues involved in the diagnosis and treatment process were analyzed. ResultsA total of 24 MDT discussion documents involving 20 children were collected， including 17 with female social gender and 3 with male social gender. The age ranged from 0.5 to 15.8 years， with children under 8 years accounting for 75%. The ethical issues primarily involved how to ensure adequate informed consent， whether surgery was necessary and its timing， and whether gender selection is reasonable and its timing. Among the 10 children raised as females who completed the gender role psychological scale assessment， 5 demonstrated masculine tendencies， all of whom had pathogenic genetic variants. Furthermore， only 1 patient changed the social gender to male. ConclusionThe diagnosis and treatment of 46, XY DSD is relatively complex， requiring multidisciplinary collaboration. This process involves numerous ethical issues and necessitates adhering to medical ethical principles. Ensuring adequate informed consent is crucial， especially for younger children. The surgery and its timing selection must adhere to the principles of beneficence， non-maleficence， and leaving room for the future. Gender selection constitutes a focus and challenge in diagnosis and treatment. Psychological scales and genetic etiologies are conducive to judgments regarding gender selection， yet multiple factors in the real world may interfere with the gender selection.

BACKGROUND: Non-invasive computed tomography angiography (CTA)-based fractional flow reserve (CT-FFR) could become a gatekeeper to invasive coronary angiography. Deep learning (DL)-based CT-FFR has shown promise when compared to invasive FFR. To evaluate the performance of a DL-based CT-FFR technique, DeepVessel FFR (DVFFR). METHODS: This retrospective study was designed for iScheMia Assessment based on a Retrospective, single-center Trial of CT-FFR (SMART). Patients suspected of stable coronary artery disease (CAD) and undergoing both CTA and invasive FFR examinations were consecutively selected from the Beijing Anzhen Hospital between January 1, 2016 to December 30, 2018. FFR obtained during invasive coronary angiography was used as the reference standard. DVFFR was calculated blindly using a DL-based CT-FFR approach that utilized the complete tree structure of the coronary arteries. RESULTS: Three hundred and thirty nine patients (60.5 ±10.0 years and 209 men) and 414 vessels with direct invasive FFR were included in the analysis. At per-vessel level, sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of DVFFR were 94.7%, 88.6%, 90.8%, 82.7%, and 96.7%, respectively. The area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC) was 0.95 for DVFFR and 0.56 for CTA-based assessment with a significant difference (P < 0.0001). At patient level, sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, PPV and NPV of DVFFR were 93.8%, 88.0%, 90.3%, 83.0%, and 95.8%, respectively. The computation for DVFFR was fast with the average time of 22.5 ± 1.9 s. CONCLUSIONS The results demonstrate that DVFFR was able to evaluate lesion hemodynamic significance accurately and effectively with improved diagnostic performance over CTA alone. Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a critical disease in which coronary artery luminal narrowing may result in myocardial ischemia. Early and effective assessment of myocardial ischemia is essential for optimal treatment planning so as to improve the quality of life and reduce medical costs.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an acute infectious respiratory disease that has been prevalent since December 2019. Chinese medicine (CM) has demonstrated its unique advantages in the fight against COVID-19 in the areas of disease prevention, improvement of clinical symptoms, and control of disease progression. This review summarized the relevant material components of CM in the treatment of COVID-19 by searching the relevant literature and reports on CM in the treatment of COVID-19 and combining with the physiological and pathological characteristics of the novel coronavirus. On the basis of sorting out experimental methods in vivo and in vitro, the mechanism of herb action was further clarified in terms of inhibiting virus invasion and replication and improving related complications. The aim of the article is to explore the strengths and characteristics of CM in the treatment of COVID-19, and to provide a basis for the research and scientific, standardized treatment of COVID-19 with CM.
Humans ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/pharmacology* ; COVID-19 Drug Treatment ; SARS-CoV-2/drug effects* ; COVID-19/therapy* ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional/methods* ; Antiviral Agents/pharmacology* ; Animals

Cytotoxicity, usually represented by cell viability, is a crucial parameter for evaluating drug safety in vitro. Accurate prediction of cell viability/cytotoxicity could accelerate drug development in the early stage. In this study, by integrating cellular transcriptome and cell viability data using four machine learning algorithms (support vector machine (SVM), random forest (RF), extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), and light gradient boosting machine (LightGBM)) and two ensemble algorithms (voting and stacking), highly accurate prediction models of 50% and 80% cell viability were developed with area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of 0.90 and 0.84, respectively; these models also showed good performance when utilized for diverse cell lines. Concerning the characterization of the employed Feature Genes, the models were interpreted, and the mechanisms of bioactive compounds with a narrow therapeutic index (NTI) can also be analyzed. In summary, the models established in this research exhibit superior capacity to those of previous studies; these models enable accurate high-safety substance screening via cytotoxicity prediction across cell lines. Moreover, for the first time, Cytotoxicity Signature (CTS) genes were identified, which could provide additional clues for further study of mechanisms of action (MOA), especially for NTI compounds.

Drug development encompasses multiple processes, wherein protein subcellular localization is essential. It promotes target identification, treatment development, and the design of drug delivery systems. In this research, a deep learning framework called LocPro is presented for predicting protein subcellular localization. Specifically, LocPro is unique in (a) combining protein representations from the pre-trained large language model (LLM) ESM2 and the expert-driven tool PROFEAT, (b) implementing a hybrid deep neural network architecture that integrates convolutional neural network (CNN), fully connected (FC) layer, and bidirectional long short-term memory (BiLSTM) blocks, and (c) developing a multi-label framework for predicting protein subcellular localization at multiple granularity levels. Additionally, a dataset was curated and divided using a homology-based strategy for training and validation. Comparative analyses show that LocPro outperforms existing methods in sequence-based multi-label protein subcellular localization prediction. The practical utility of this framework is further demonstrated through case studies on drug target subcellular localization. All in all, LocPro serves as a valuable complement to existing protein localization prediction tools. The web server is freely accessible at https://idrblab.org/LocPro/.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical effect and adverse reactions of dapoxetine hydrochloride versus paroxetine in the treatment of primary premature ejaculation by cross-comparison. METHODS: Based on the clinic-visit time, we equally randomized 148 patients with primary premature ejaculation into groups A and B for a cross-comparison test, the former treated with paroxetine at 20 mg once nightly and the latter with dapoxetine hydrochloride at 30 mg on demand, both for 6 successive weeks, during which we observed the therapeutic effects and adverse reactions. Following 4 weeks of drug discontinuance, we administered dapoxetine hydrochloride at 30 mg on demand for group A and paroxetine at 20 mg once nightly for group B, both for another 6 successive weeks, followed by observation and comparison of the therapeutic effects and adverse reactions. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences in the initial characteristics of the two groups of patients (P > 0.05). Compared with the baseline, the mean intra-vaginal ejaculation latency time (IELT) was dramatically improved after treatment in both groups A (4.43 min) and B (7.12 min), increased by 3.99% and 6.72%, respectively (P<0.001). The patients treated with paroxetine showed significantly longer IELT than those taking dapoxetine hydrochloride in both groups (P<0.001). Findings of the Premature Ejaculation Profile (PEP) and spouses' conditions indicated significant improvement after treatment in the average scores of the four indicators of PEP, that is, perceived control over ejaculation, ejaculation-related personal distress, satisfaction with sexual intercourse and ejaculation-related interpersonal difficulty, as well as in the overall experience and partner's satisfaction and orgasm frequency. Adverse reactions to medication were found in 20.8% of the cases in group A and 9.7% in group B, but none was serious. Preference survey following drug withdrawal revealed a preference for paroxetine (61.9%) over dapoxetine (26.8%), and that only a few of the patients thought of the two drugs as comparable or both ineffective. CONCLUSION In term of overall effectiveness, paroxetine was superior to dapoxetine in the treatment of primary premature ejaculation. And the patients obviously preferred the former to the latter, which might be partly attributed to the higher price of dapoxetine.
Humans ; Benzylamines/therapeutic use* ; Male ; Premature Ejaculation/drug therapy* ; Naphthalenes/therapeutic use* ; Paroxetine/therapeutic use* ; Adult ; Treatment Outcome ; Middle Aged ; Young Adult ; Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors/therapeutic use*

Objective To establish a highly sensitive and specific method for detecting human DNA based on real time quantitative PCR(qPCR)technique for the rapid detection of potential DNA con-tamination sources in DNA laboratories.Methods Primers and probes were designed with Primer Ex-pressTM software using the reference sequence of human 18S rRNA gene as a template,and the opti-mal prime-probe combination was screened by matrix method.The PCR products of the target se-quence of human 18S rRNA gene were used to construct the plasmid,and a plasmid standard was used to draw the standard curve of the qPCR system.According to the Minimum Information for Pub-lication of Quantitative Real-time PCR Experiments(MIQE)guidelines,the specificity,sensitivity,re-peatability and application effect of the qPCR system were evaluated.Results The sensitivity of the qPCR system established in this study was 5.3×10-5 ng/μL,which showed good specificity for human DNA samples.The correlation coefficient of the qPCR system was-0.999,and amplification efficiency was 100％.Both the intra-batch and inter-batch variation coefficients were less than 2％.Conclusion The established human DNA detection method based on qPCR technique has good specificity,high sen-sitivity,and robust stability.It can be used for rapid detection of DNA contamination and daily moni-toring of the accumulated human DNA in the laboratory environment.