Purpose To explore the role of translesion synthesis-related gene NmrA like redox sensor 1(NMRAL1)in the development of papillary thyroid carcinoma(PTC).Methods Bioinformatics analysis was em-ployed to investigate the expression of the NMRAL1 gene across various cancer types and its correlation with prognosis.Immunohistochemistry was utilized to analyze the expression pattern of NMRAL1 in PTC and conduct clinicopathological correlation analysis.Additionally,stable cell lines overexpressing NMRAL1 were established in TPC-1 cells.The effects of NMRAL1 overexpression on cell proliferation,migration,and invasion of TPC-1 and Nthy-ori 3-1 cells were assessed using CCK-8 assay,clonogenic assay,Transwell assay,and scratch assay,respectively.Furthermore,RT-qPCR experiments were conducted to investigate the regulatory effect of NMRAL1 on the expression of genes associated with translesion DNA synthesis.Results Bioinformatics analysis revealed that NMRAL1 was highly expressed in all 26 types of tumors compared to normal tissues in the TCGA x GTEx dataset.Patients with high expression of NMRAL1 in thyroid cancer had significantly lower survival rates than those with low expression(P＜0.05).In the immunohisto-chemical validation of 30 PTC samples,NMRAL1 had a positive rate of 73.33％,in PTC tissues,while it was not ex-pressed in adjacent normal thyroid tissues.The staining intensity scores of NMRAL1 in PTC and adjacent tissues exhib-it significant differences(P＜0.000 1).High expression of NMRAL1 was associated with the size of the tumor(P=0.027 4)and lymph node metastasis(P=0.044 1).In vitro functional experiments revealed a significant enhance-ment in both cell proliferation and migration/invasion capacities upon overexpression of NMRAL1(P＜0.05).Moreo-ver,mRNA and protein expression levels of translesion synthesis-related genes were upregulated(P＜0.001).Con-clusion NMRAL1 promotes proliferation and migration of thyroid carcinoma cells,suggesting that this function may be achieved by enhancing DNA damage repair capacity,thereby improving the survival of damaged cells.

The ethical review of clinical research involving mental disorders in the ethical governance of scientific and technological has obvious particularities， especially in the field of artificial intelligence and brain-computer interfaces which are reflected in the impact on mental autonomy， the impaired informed consent ability of participants with severe mental disorders in research， and other aspects. In addition， the stigma of illness， the use of placebo， and psychological assessment methods in clinical research have also drawn attention to the ethical review of psychiatry. In 2020， the Beijing Municipal Health Commission issued the Guidelines for Ethical Review of Clinical Research Involving Mental Disorders （Guidelines）. Shen Yucun’s Psychiatry， compiled in 2023， revised the application of the Guidelines in the context of ethical governance. An analysis was conducted on the purpose and significance of its issuance and revision， its scope of application， the principal responsibility of ethical review in medical and health institutions， and the key content of ethical review in psychiatry， to improve the quality of ethical review in clinical research involving mental disorders and promote the standardized development of clinical research in psychiatry.

Purpose To explore the role of translesion synthesis-related gene NmrA like redox sensor 1(NMRAL1)in the development of papillary thyroid carcinoma(PTC).Methods Bioinformatics analysis was em-ployed to investigate the expression of the NMRAL1 gene across various cancer types and its correlation with prognosis.Immunohistochemistry was utilized to analyze the expression pattern of NMRAL1 in PTC and conduct clinicopathological correlation analysis.Additionally,stable cell lines overexpressing NMRAL1 were established in TPC-1 cells.The effects of NMRAL1 overexpression on cell proliferation,migration,and invasion of TPC-1 and Nthy-ori 3-1 cells were assessed using CCK-8 assay,clonogenic assay,Transwell assay,and scratch assay,respectively.Furthermore,RT-qPCR experiments were conducted to investigate the regulatory effect of NMRAL1 on the expression of genes associated with translesion DNA synthesis.Results Bioinformatics analysis revealed that NMRAL1 was highly expressed in all 26 types of tumors compared to normal tissues in the TCGA x GTEx dataset.Patients with high expression of NMRAL1 in thyroid cancer had significantly lower survival rates than those with low expression(P＜0.05).In the immunohisto-chemical validation of 30 PTC samples,NMRAL1 had a positive rate of 73.33％,in PTC tissues,while it was not ex-pressed in adjacent normal thyroid tissues.The staining intensity scores of NMRAL1 in PTC and adjacent tissues exhib-it significant differences(P＜0.000 1).High expression of NMRAL1 was associated with the size of the tumor(P=0.027 4)and lymph node metastasis(P=0.044 1).In vitro functional experiments revealed a significant enhance-ment in both cell proliferation and migration/invasion capacities upon overexpression of NMRAL1(P＜0.05).Moreo-ver,mRNA and protein expression levels of translesion synthesis-related genes were upregulated(P＜0.001).Con-clusion NMRAL1 promotes proliferation and migration of thyroid carcinoma cells,suggesting that this function may be achieved by enhancing DNA damage repair capacity,thereby improving the survival of damaged cells.

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) has recently been proposed as a key player in the representation of itch stimuli. However, to date, little is known about the contribution of specific ACC interneuron populations to itch processing. Using c-Fos immunolabeling and in vivo Ca²⁺ imaging, we reported that both histamine and chloroquine stimuli-induced acute itch caused a marked enhancement of vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP)-expressing interneuron activity in the ACC. Behavioral data indicated that optogenetic and chemogenetic activation of these neurons reduced scratching responses related to histaminergic and non-histaminergic acute itch. Similar neural activity and modulatory role of these neurons were seen in mice with chronic itch induced by contact dermatitis. Together, this study highlights the importance of ACC VIP⁺ neurons in modulating itch-related affect and behavior, which may help us to develop novel mechanism-based strategies to treat refractory chronic itch in the clinic.
Animals ; Pruritus/physiopathology* ; Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide/metabolism* ; Interneurons/metabolism* ; Gyrus Cinguli/metabolism* ; Mice ; Male ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Histamine ; Chloroquine ; Optogenetics ; Mice, Transgenic

Objective:To construct a prognostic risk model for hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC),and elucidate the immune characteristics and immunotherapy response in patients with different prognostic stratification.Methods:RNA-seq data of TCGA-LIHC and ICGC(LIRI-JP),and gene microarray data of GSE14520 and GSE54236 in hepatocellular carcinoma,as well as clinical informa-tion of the corresponding samples were downloaded.First,screening of differentially expressed genes in tumor and non-tumor tissue samples from TCGA-LIHC,GSE14520 and GSE54236.For the common differential genes,univariate cox regression analysis was per-formed using TCGA-LIHC data to obtain HCC prognosis-related genes.Five genes were randomly selected as a panel,and the optimal prognostic marker panel was screened among 10 000 panels using Lasso-cox regression analysis combined with a five-fold cross-valida-tion method.TCGA-LIHC data were used as training set to construct the prognostic risk model,and ICGC data were used as validation set to test the model performance.Tumor immune dysfunction and exclusion(TIDE)algorithm and Immunophenotypic score(IPS)were used to predict immunotherapy efficacy in patients in different prognostic groups.Results:Overall survival was significantly lon-ger in low-risk group of HCC patients compared with high-risk group.Tumor proliferation rate,Treg and Th2 cell chemotaxis,stromal remodeling,and pro-tumor cytokines were significantly increased in high-risk patients,while NK cells,Th1 cells,effector cells and endothelial cells were significantly increased in low-risk patients.Immune checkpoint analysis showed that PDCD1,CTLA4 and CD276 were up-regulated in high-risk patients,while PDCD1LG2 was upregulated in low-risk patients.TIDE score and IPS results predicted that patients in low-risk group had better efficacy to immunotherapy.Conclusion:This study constructed a prognostic risk model containing three genes,DNASE1L3,RDH16 and DLGAP5,which can effectively predict the prognosis of HCC patients and assist in clinical decision making for individualized immunotherapy.

Mindfulness training has shown beneficial effects on cognitive functions in older adults.Howev-er,the studies on this topic have used different methods and populations,and their results were inconsistent.No sys-tematic review has synthesized and evaluated these findings.This review aims to address this gap by categorizing the studies based on the training methods and cohorts of older adults,and summarizing the effects of mindfulness training on cognitive function.The review finds that mindfulness training had different effects depending on the lev-el of cognitive decline and the training method.Both standardized and unstandardized training methods improved cognitive performance in older adults with normal or subjective cognitive decline.However,the effect of mindful-ness training diminished as cognitive decline worsened,being inconsistent in mild cognitive impairment and non-sig-nificant in dementia.The review also discusses the possible mechanisms and suggested directions for future re-search.

Objective:To investigate the correlation between gender, age, blood collection time, season and changes in cTnT concentration.Methods:In this study, 3548 patients (non-cardiovascular diseases) in Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University were selected from 1 January to 31 December 2019. The basic data of the patients were collected, including gender, age, time of blood collection, medical history, clinical diagnosis, and results of cTnT testing. 1 840 males and 1 708 females were finally enrolled, with an age distribution of 65 (53, 75) years. The distribution of the data was assessed using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) test, where non-normally distributed data were expressed as M( Q1, Q3). The Mann-Whitney U-test was used to compare cTnT concentrations between men and women, and to analyse the influence of gender on cTnT results. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare cTnT levels between gender groups, to analyse the correlation between different times of blood collection, seasons, and other factors and cTnT concentrations. Result:cTnT concentrations increased with age in both males and females over the age of 60 years. cTnT levels were highest in individuals over the age of 90 years (0.028 ng/ml in males and 0.018 ng/ml in females). cTnT levels were higher in males (0.012 ng/ml) than in females (0.009 ng/ml) in all age groups ( H=6.340, P<0.01). The concentrations of cTnT varied at different time points of blood collection. In both males and females, cTnT concentrations reached a maximum at 8:00 and 13:00 (0.013 ng/ml and 0.012 ng/ml, respectively). Analysis of the physiological effect of season on cTnT secretion showed that cTnT levels were generally higher in spring and winter(0.012 ng/ml) than in summer and autumn(0.010 ng/ml). Conclusions:cTnT concentration is influenced by gender, age, time of blood collection and season. When analysing cTnT results in clinical practice, the gender and age of the individual should be taken into account, as well as the time point of blood collection and seasonal factors.

Objective:To explore the differences of gene expression profiles of precursors of exhausted T cells (Tpex) and terminal exhausted T cells (Tex) in the peripheral blood of patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis (ATB).Methods:Twenty-five cases of ATB, 13 cases of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) and 10 health controls were enrolled from January 2021 to October 2022 in the Fifth People′s Hospital of Wuxi. The proportions of Tpex and Tex in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of the three groups were detected by flowcytometry. PBMCs of ATB were separated into Tpex and Tex by fluorescence-activated cell sorting. RNA-sequencing was performed and up-regulated and down-regulated genes were screended. Differently expressed genes were analyzed by gene set enrichment analysis of gene ontology (GO) to find regulatory pathways affecting cell metabolism and function. Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank test, Kruskal-Wallis test and Dunn multiple comparsion test were used for statistical analysis.Results:The proportion of Tpex in ATB group was 2.86%(1.74%), which was lower than 7.93%(6.16%) of Tex, and the difference was statistically significant ( Z=-3.91, P<0.001). The proportions of Tpex and Tex in LTBI group were 9.47%(6.26%) and 7.43%(5.48%), respectively, and the difference was not statistically significant ( Z=-0.93, P=0.345). The proportions of Tpex and Tex in healthy control group were 8.42%(2.69%) and 6.49%(5.14%), respectively, with no statistical significance ( Z=-1.36, P=0.170). There was statistical difference of the proportion of Tpex among the three groups ( H=21.93, P<0.001), and the proportion of Tpex in ATB group was lower than those in LTBI and heathy control groups, and the differences were both statistically significant ( Z=4.16, P<0.001 and Z=3.34, P=0.003, respectively), while the proportions of Tex in these three groups were not statistically different ( H=2.17, P=0.338). Compared with Tex, the gene expressions of memory markers, such as B-cell lymphoma 2 of Tpex were up-regulated, and the gene expressions of exhausted markers, such as lymphocyte activation gene 3 were down-regulated. In terms of cellular metabolism, the gene expressions of mitochondrial protein complex, mitochondrial matrix and oxidative phosphorylation of Tpex were up-regulated, and the gene expressions of glycolysis were down-regulated. The gene expressions of pyruvate metabolism in Tex were up-regulated, and the gene expressions of CD4 + T lymphocyte activation and differentiation and glycolytic process in Tpex were down-regulated. Conclusions:Tpex in ATB express more characteristics of memory cells and less features of exhausted markers compared with Tex, and the function of mitochondria of Tpex preserves well.

Tuberculosis is a worldwide chronic infectious disease that has become a serious threat to human health.Early diagnosis,drug resistance screening and control of disease transmission are key aspects of TB prevention and treatment.However,existing diagnostic techniques and drug sensitivity tests are time-consu-ming and difficult to realize the purpose of early diagnosis and drug resistance screening,which greatly limits the control of disease transmission.Digital polymerase chain reaction(dPCR)is the third generation of poly-merase chain reaction(PCR),which is a quantitative nucleic acid assay with high sensitivity and no calibration curve.This article provides an overview of the principles of dPCR and its application in tuberculosis diagnosis,drug resistance screening and transmission monitoring,compares dPCR with other tuberculosis detection methods,and looks at the challenges and future prospects of dPCR in clinical tuberculosis laboratory applica-tions.

BACKGROUND:Swimming is an important non-pharmacological treatment for knee osteoarthritis,which can effectively alleviate the disease.However,the effect and mechanism of swimming on senile knee osteoarthritis are still unclear. OBJECTIVE:To investigate the effect of swimming exercise on the articular cartilage of aged mice with knee osteoarthritis. METHODS:Six 3-month-old male C57BL/6 mice were selected as the young group,and twelve 18-month-old male C57BL/6 mice were randomized into the aged group and the swimming group,with six mice in each group.Mice in the swimming group received adaptive swimming for 1 week and formal swimming for 8 weeks.After the intervention,stride length analysis and sampling were performed in each group.The total number of leukocytes and lymphocytes in peripheral blood was detected by blood routine examinations.The morphology of the articular cartilage was observed by hematoxylin-eosin and safranin O-fast green staining.Chondrocyte counts and the modified Mankin's score were used to evaluate the degree of articular cartilage damage.The protein and mRNA expressions of type Ⅱ collagen,aggrecan and matrix metalloproteinase 13 in articular cartilage were detected by immunohistochemical staining and RT-qPCR. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Compared with the young group,the mice in the aged group showed significantly decreased stride length(P＜0.05),significantly increased numbers of peripheral leukocytes and lymphocytes(P＜0.05),significantly decreased count of chondrocytes(P＜0.05),significantly increased modified Mankin's score(P＜0.05),significantly decreased protein and mRNA expression of type Ⅱ collagen and aggreca(P＜0.05),and significantly increased matrix metalloproteinase 13 expression(P＜0.05).Moreover,hematoxylin-eosin and safranin O-fast green staining showed the uneven surface of the articular cartilage,abnormal chondrocytes,and proteoglycan loss in the aged group.Compared with the aged group,swimming exercise significantly improved the stride length of mice(P＜0.05),decreased the count of peripheral blood lymphocytes(P＜0.05),increased the count of chondrocytes(P＜0.05),decreased the modified Mankin's score(P＜0.05),increased the protein and mRNA expression of type Ⅱ collagen and aggrecan(P＜0.05),and decreased the expression of matrix metalloproteinase 13(P＜0.05).Hematoxylin-eosin and safranin O-fast green staining showed that the articular surface of mice in the swimming group was smooth,chondrocytes were normal,and proteoglycan loss was less.All these findings indicate that swimming exercise can reduce the number of inflammatory cells in the blood of aged mice,improve articular chondrocytes,matrix composition and cartilage tissue morphology;thus,it has a protective effect on the cartilage of aged mice with knee osteoarthritis.