ObjectiveTo explore the role of the Plan-Do-Check-Act （PDCA） cycle process management in improving the operational efficiency of ethics committees. MethodsA retrospective analysis was employed on the operation status of the medical ethics committee of the First Affiliated Hospital in Soochow University before and after the implementation of PDCA cycle management. The changes in the number of ethical review projects， processing duration， review time， opinion conveying duration， frequency of ethical review meetings， attendance rate of ethics committee members at meetings， and external satisfaction evaluation before and after the implementation of PDCA cycle management were compared， analyzing the impact of PDCA cycle management on the operational efficiency of the ethics committee. ResultsSignificant differences were observed in the number of ethical review projects， processing duration， review time， opinion conveying duration， frequency of ethical review meetings， attendance rate of ethics committee members at meetings， and external satisfaction before and after the implementation of PDCA cycle management （P<0.001）. ConclusionPDCA cycle management could effectively identify problems in the operation of ethics committees and contribute to improving their operational efficiency.

Pinelliae Rhizoma (PR), known as Banxia in Chinese, Hange in Japanese, and Banha in Korean, is a renowned herbal medicine in East Asia derived from the dry tuber of Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Breit. (PT). It is extensively utilized in dispensing granules, classical prescriptions, and herbal formulas to treat various conditions, including cough, infection, phlegm, nausea, asthma, and inflammation. Despite numerous studies on PR and its classical prescriptions over recent decades, a comprehensive synthesis of available evidence regarding its multifunctional roles and therapeutic potential is lacking. This review aims to address this gap by examining emerging evidence from metabonomics, preclinical studies, and clinical trials, while exploring potential trends and prospects for future research. A systematic literature search was conducted across six electronic databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, ScienceDirect, Wanfang, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure, to identify relevant articles on PR published until March 2023. PR contains 107 compounds with diverse pharmacological activities, including anti-inflammatory, immune regulatory, anti-viral, anti-cancer, anti-asthma, antitussive and expectorant, antioxidant, anti-obesity, anti-atherosclerosis, anti-microbial, emetic and anti-emetic, anti-convulsant and anti-epileptic, sedative and hypnotic, learning and memory enhancement, and anti-depressant effects. Metabonomic studies suggest that raw PR may exhibit cardiotoxicity and pregnancy toxicity while showing no apparent hepatorenal toxicity. However, limited pharmacokinetic investigations on PR constrain its clinical translation. Furthermore, clinical safety data on PR is scarce, with only four clinical trials assessing its positive effects in pediatric epilepsy, nausea and vomiting, soft tissue injury, and chronic sinus tract. This review aims to enhance understanding of PR and provide valuable information and recommendations for further research and development of herbal medicine.
Humans ; Pinellia/chemistry* ; Animals ; Ethnopharmacology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/chemistry* ; Phytochemicals/chemistry* ; Rhizome/chemistry*

Objective:This study aimed to analyze the advantages, scenarios, and challenges of the domestic AI model DeepSeek in the field of medical research.Methods:Based on the technical characteristics of DeepSeek, combined with hospital deployment cases and literature, research and analysis were conducted.Results:DeepSeek had many advantages in the field of medical research, including facilitating the release of data value, decision-making visualization, ensuring data localization, and high accessibility. It can be applied in scenarios such as the construction of multimodal research databases, literature retrieval and analysis, acceleration of new drug development, research data processing and analysis, academic writing assistance, and research management. However, it also faced challenges such as research integrity, privacy security, the transformation of human-machine collaboration paradigms, and fairness.Conclusions:DeepSeek has broad application prospects in the field of medical research, but it also faces many challenges. These challenges need to be addressed prudently and collaboratively to better leverage the potential of artificial intelligence in medical research.

Objective:This study aimed to analyze the advantages, scenarios, and challenges of the domestic AI model DeepSeek in the field of medical research.Methods:Based on the technical characteristics of DeepSeek, combined with hospital deployment cases and literature, research and analysis were conducted.Results:DeepSeek had many advantages in the field of medical research, including facilitating the release of data value, decision-making visualization, ensuring data localization, and high accessibility. It can be applied in scenarios such as the construction of multimodal research databases, literature retrieval and analysis, acceleration of new drug development, research data processing and analysis, academic writing assistance, and research management. However, it also faced challenges such as research integrity, privacy security, the transformation of human-machine collaboration paradigms, and fairness.Conclusions:DeepSeek has broad application prospects in the field of medical research, but it also faces many challenges. These challenges need to be addressed prudently and collaboratively to better leverage the potential of artificial intelligence in medical research.

Objective To analyze the progress and current status of ethical research in the field of organ donation and transplantation in China by bibliometric analysis.Methods Literature review was conducted from CNKI between January 2000 to December 2023.The number of published articles,the cooperation network of core authors,the cooperation network of publication institutions,the co-occurrence of keywords,the emergent keywords and the clustering of keywords were analyzed by CiteSpace 6.2.6.Results A total of 399 valid articles were obtained.The three peaks in the trend of published articles were affected by current policy events and the development of transplantation technology.From 2000 to 2014,the number of published articles showed an upward trend.At this stage,these studies focused on ethical speculation in the field of organ donation and transplantation.From 2015 to 2023,the number of published articles showed a fluctuating trend.During this stage,these researches highlighted the work system of donation and transplantation and ethical issues in medical practice.Organ donation and ethical review after citizen death became the research frontiers.The co-occurrence knowledge map of authors reflected that the authors mainly served as single nodes,lacking of communication among authors.Twenty-five core authors were identified.Diverse publication institutions were searched including medical departments from colleges and universities,ethics research institutions,organ transplantation departments from hospitals,ethics committees from hospitals and human Organ Procurement Organization(OPO),etc.The First Hospital of Kunming published the largest number of articles.A total of 252 keywords and 13 emergent words were extracted.The keywords with the highest degree of emergency consisted of brain death,organ donation,legislation and ethical review.A total of 14 keyword clusters were generated,including organ transplantation,organ donation,organ donation after citizen's death,ethics,ethical review and medical staff.Conclusions The cooperation among authors and institutions is insufficient in the field of organ donation and transplantation ethics.Multi-center research and cooperation among authors should be strengthened.Extensive efforts should be made to strengthen the exploration and empirical research of ethical issues based on current work system and medical practice,aiming to provide ethical basis and defense for the reform and practice of organ donation and transplantation.

The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway is abnormally activated in lung cancer. However, the anti-lung cancer effect of mTOR inhibitors as monotherapy is modest. Here, we identified that ginsenoside Rh2, an active component of Panax ginseng C. A. Mey., enhanced the anti-cancer effect of the mTOR inhibitor everolimus both in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, ginsenoside Rh2 alleviated the hepatic fat accumulation caused by everolimus in xenograft nude mice models. The combination of everolimus and ginsenoside Rh2 (labeled Eve-Rh2) induced caspase-independent cell death and cytoplasmic vacuolation in lung cancer cells, indicating that Eve-Rh2 prevented tumor progression by triggering paraptosis. Eve-Rh2 up-regulated the expression of c-MYC in cancer cells as well as tumor tissues. The increased c-MYC mediated the accumulation of tribbles homolog 3 (TRIB3)/P62⁺ aggresomes and consequently triggered paraptosis, bypassing the classical c-MYC/MAX pathway. Our study offers a potential effective and safe strategy for the treatment of lung cancer. Moreover, we have identified a new mechanism of TRIB3/P62⁺ aggresomes-triggered paraptosis and revealed a unique function of c-MYC.

Background/Aims: This study aimed to explore the effect of gut microbiota-regulated Kupffer cells (KCs) on colorectal cancer (CRC) liver metastasis. Methods: A series of in vivo and in vitro researches were showed to demonstrate the gut microbiota and its possible mechanism in CRC liver metastasis. Results: Fewer liver metastases were identified in the ampicillin-streptomycin-colistin and colistin groups. Increased proportions of Parabacteroides goldsteinii, Bacteroides vulgatus, Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, and Bacteroides uniforms were observed in the colistin group. The significant expansion of KCs was identified in the ampicillin-streptomycin-colistin and colistin groups. B.vulgatus levels were positively correlated with KC levels. More liver metastases were observed in the vancomycin group. An increased abundance of Parabacteroides distasonis and Proteus mirabilis and an obvious reduction of KCs were noted in the vancomycin group. P. mirabilis levels were negatively related to KC levels. The number of liver metastatic nodules was increased in the P. mirabilis group and decreased in the B. vulgatus group. The number of KCs decreased in the P. mirabilis group and increased in the B. vulgatus group. In vitro, as P. mirabilis or B. vulgatus doses increased, there was an opposite effect on KC proliferation in dose- and time-dependent manners. P. mirabilis induced CT26 cell migration by controlling KC proliferation, whereas B. vulgatus prevented this migration. Conclusions An increased abundance of P. mirabilis and decreased amount of B. vulgatus play key roles in CRC liver metastasis, which might be related to KC reductions in the liver.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic intestinal disease with painful clinical manifestations and high risks of cancerization. With no curative therapy for IBD at present, the development of effective therapeutics is highly advocated. Drug delivery systems have been extensively studied to transmit therapeutics to inflamed colon sites through the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect caused by the inflammation. However, the drug still could not achieve effective concentration value that merely utilized on EPR effect and display better therapeutic efficacy in the inflamed region because of nontargeted drug release. Substantial researches have shown that some specific receptors and cell adhesion molecules highly expresses on the surface of colonic endothelial and/or immune cells when IBD occurs, ligand-modified drug delivery systems targeting such receptors and cell adhesion molecules can specifically deliver drug into inflamed sites and obtain great curative effects. This review introduces the overexpressed receptors and cell adhesion molecules in inflamed colon sites and retrospects the drug delivery systems functionalized by related ligands. Finally, challenges and future directions in this field are presented to advance the development of the receptor-mediated targeted drug delivery systems for the therapy of IBD.

Long-term primary culture of mammalian cells has been always difficult due to unavoidable senescence. Conventional methods for generating immortalized cell lines usually require manipulation of genome which leads to change of important biological and genetic characteristics. Recently, conditional reprogramming (CR) emerges as a novel next generation tool for long-term culture of primary epithelium cells derived from almost all origins without alteration of genetic background of primary cells. CR co-cultures primary cells with inactivated mouse 3T3-J2 fibroblasts in the presence of RHO-related protein kinase (ROCK) inhibitor Y-27632, enabling primary cells to acquire stem-like characteristics while retain their ability to fully differentiate. With only a few years' development, CR shows broad prospects in applications in varied areas including disease modeling, regenerative medicine, drug evaluation, drug discovery as well as precision medicine. This review is thus to comprehensively summarize and assess current progress in understanding mechanism of CR and its wide applications, highlighting the value of CR in both basic and translational researches and discussing the challenges faced with CR.

Objective: The present study was carried out to explore the tone production ability of the Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants (CI) by using an artificial neural network model and to examine the potential contributing factors underlining their tone production performance. The results of this study might provide useful guidelines for post-operative rehabilitation processes of pediatric CI users. Methods: Two hundred and seventy-eight prelingually deafened children who received unilateral CI participated in this study. As controls, 170 similarly-aged children with normal hearing (NH) were recruited. A total of 36 Chinese monosyllabic words were selected as the tone production targets. Vocal production samples were recorded and the fundamental frequency (F0) contour of each syllable was extracted using an auto-correlation algorithm followed by manual correction. An artificial neural network was created in MATLAB to classify the tone production. The relationships between tone production and several demographic factors were evaluated. Results: Pediatric CI users produced Mandarin tones much less accurately than did the NH children (58.8% vs. 91.5% correct). Tremendous variability in tone production performance existed among the CI children. Tones 2 and 3 were produced less accurately than tones 1 and 4 for both groups. For the CI group, all tones when in error tended to be judged as tone 1. The tone production accuracy was negatively correlated with age at implantation and positively correlated with CI use duration with correlation coefficients (r) of -0.215 (P=0.003) and 0.203 (P=0.005), respectively. Age was one of the determinants of tonal ability for NH children. Conclusions For children with severe to profound hearing loss, early implantation and persistent use of CI are beneficial to their tone production development. Artificial neural network is a convenient and reliable assessment tool for the development of tonal ability of hearing-impaired children who are in the rehabilitation processes that focus on speech and language expression.