Objective:To investigate the efficacy and safety of tocilizumab in the treatment of critically ill children with acute necrotizing encephalopathy (ANE).Methods:It is a retrospective cohort study. The children with ANE admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit of 4 Chinese tertiary hospitals from December 2022 to November 2023 were divided into conventional treatment group and tocilizumab group, and the comparison between groups was performed by using Mann ‐ Whitney U test or Chi-square test. Results:Among 21 cases of severe ANE, there were 11 males with the onset age of 65 (27, 113) months. The duration from onset to PICU admission was 2 (1, 2) days. There were 13 cases of ultra-high fever (greater than 40 ℃), including 18 cases of convulsions, and 19 cases with a GCS score of less than 8 points. The causative agent was novel coronavirus Omicron in 7 cases and influenza A in 14 cases. All cases had central respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation. Of the 21 cases, 18 were shock, 15 were coagulopathy, 10 were kidney injury and 13 were liver dysfunction. Of these hospitalized patients, 8 children with ANE were treated with tocilizumab. Eight cases received continuous blood purification (CBP) treatment, 5 of them were combined with plasmapheresis. Serum cytokine levels were elevated in 21 children with ANE, including (interleukin, IL)-6 and IL-8 (61 (22, 1 513) and 68 (5, 296) ng/L). There were 14 cases (67%) deaths, including 11 cases in the conventional treatment group and 3 cases in the tocilizumab group. There was no significant difference in the mortality rate between the two groups ( P=0.056). Tocilizumab-related rash or other adverse events were not observed. Conclusions:The motality of critically ill ANE patients was high. The combination of Tocilizumab with conventional treatment did not reduce the motality of severe ANE patients, and no adverse reactions of tocilizumab were observed.

Neurofibromatosis type 1（NF1）is one of the most common autosomal dominant disorders. The disease is caused by mutations in the NF1 gene，which can involve multiple systems and have a variety of clinical manifestations，including café au lait macules，lisch nodules，neuroglioma，autism spectrum disorder，learning difficulties，neurofibromas，and skeletal dysplasia，et al.In previous studies on the pathogenesis of NF1，most of them have focused on the regulation of the RAS signaling pathway by neurofibromin. In recent years，researchers start exploring pathways other than RAS signaling to explore the potential functions of neurofibromin. This article reviews the research progress on the pathogenesis of NF1 in recent years，aiming to provide new ideas for treatment.

Hypoxic pulmonary hypertension(HPH)is a kind of chronic high-altitude sickness disease,which is also the initiation link of high-altitude sickness such as pneumocardial disease and high-altitude pulmonary edema.Its main features are persistent vasoconstriction and irreversible remodeling of blood vessels.HPH has greatly impacted the health of people in the plat-eau section.As a typical representative of ethnic medicine,Zang medicine embodies the wisdom of the Zang people in their long-term struggle against diseases.Adapting to local conditions for a long time,Zang medicine has unique advantages in the treatment of HPH.By reviewing the pathogenesis of HPH and the research of single Zang medicine and the complex prescription of Zang medicine in the treatment of HPH,this article aims to provide a theoretical basis for the physiological and pathological research of HPH and to provide a reference for the clinical application of Zang medicine.

Objective:To investigate the etiological distribution of hydronephrosis caused by upper uri-nary tract obstruction in adult patients and to improve the diagnostic accuracy for this condition.Me-thods:The clinical information of adult patients with newly diagnosed hydronephrosis in Upper Urinary Tract Repair Outpatient Clinic of Peking University First Hospital from May 2020 to May 2021 were pro-spectively and continuously collected.Patients with ureteral calculi or upper urinary tract tumor were ex-cluded.A total of 767 patients were involved.The underlying causes of upper urinary tract obstruction were identified by senior urological surgeons according to symptoms,medical history,physical examina-tion,and a range of diagnostic imaging techniques including ultrasound,computed tomography(CT),magnetic resonance imaging(MRI),retrograde pyelography,antegrade pyelography,radionuclide reno-gram and ureteroscopy.Results:Among the 767 patients,359(46.8％)were male and 408(53.2％)were female.The median age of these patients was 37 years(range,14-84 years).Hydronephrosis was observed at left-sided in 357 cases(46.6％),right-sided in 251 cases(32.7％),and bilateral in 159 cases(20.7％).The causes of hydronephrosis were classified as follows:(1)Non-iatrogenic factors were found in 464 cases(60.5％).These included urinary malformations in 355 cases(76.5％),infec-tion in 29 cases(6.3％),pelvic lipomatosis and/or cystitis glandularis in 23 cases(5.0％),ureteral en-dometriosis in 18 cases(3.9％),retroperitoneal fibrosis in 15 cases(3.2％),trauma in 7 cases(1.5％)and other non-iatrogenic factors in 12 cases(2.6％).Some of these patients had multiple non-iatrogenic causes.Among the 355 cases with urinary system malformations,252 cases(71.0％)had ureteropelvic junction obstruction.(2)Iatrogenic ureteral injuries accounted for 210 cases(27.4％),including 112 cases(53.3％)of urological surgical injuries,51 cases(24.3％)of radiotherapy for malignant tumor re-lated injuries,34 cases(16.2％)of gynecological and obstetrical surgical injuries,and 13 cases(6.2％)of general surgical injuries.(3)The cause of hydronephrosis remained unknown in 93 cases(12.1％).Conclusion:Hydronephrosis in adults due to upper urinary tract obstruction has a diverse range of cau-ses,with urinary malformations and iatrogenic ureteral injuries being significant contributors.Urological surgeon involved in upper urinary tract reconstruction should be familiar with these potential causes to fa-cilitate accurate diagnosis and effective treatment.

In November 2023, the seventh National Nucleic Acid Vaccine Conference was held to deeply discuss the immune mechanism, safety risks, advantages, and disadvantages of nucleic acid vaccines, and review the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines developed by nucleic acid vaccine technology. Some prospectives were formed in the meeting that in the post-pandemic era, nucleic acid vaccine technology will play a role in the following areas: dealing with pathogens that are difficult to be prevented by traditional vaccines, promoting the upgrading of traditional live attenuated vaccines, contributing to the development of multivalent and combined vaccines, and rapid response to emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. These views point out the direction for the future development of nucleic acid vaccine technology.

microRNA(miRNA)is a 22nt long sin-gle-stranded non-coding RNA that is involved in a variety of physiological and pathological processes.Bronchial asthma is a heterogeneous disease,and airway inflammation is one of the important mecha-nisms of its pathogenesis.Asthma can be classified into different types based on the different immune mechanisms involved in its pathogenesis,and the mechanism of airway inflammation also varies be-tween different types of asthma.This article reviews the research progress of miRNA in asthma airway inflammation and endotype,and explores the pathogenesis and treatment prospects of miRNA in asthma airway inflammation and endotype.

Objective:To explore the performance and value of urine DNA methylation technology in non-invasive diagnosis of upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC).Methods:A retrospective analysis was conducted on the of 107 patients with UTUC (UTUC group) and 121 patients with benign upper urinary tract diseases (control group) admitted to Sun Yat sen Memorial Hospital and Peking University First Hospital from August 2019 to March 2021. There were 64 males (59.8%) and 43 females (40.2%) in the UTUC group, with the age of (67 ± 10) years old.There were 50 cases (46.7%) of ureteral cancer, 42 cases (39.3%) of renal pelvis cancer, and 15 cases (14.0%) of renal pelvis cancer combined with ureteral cancer.45 cases (42.0%) of non muscular infiltrative UTUC, 51 cases (47.7%) of muscular infiltrative UTUC, and 11 cases (10.3%) of unclear stage.There were 14 cases (13.1%) with low tumor grade and 93 cases (86.9%) with high grade. There were 81 males (66.9%) and 40 females (33.1%) in the control group, with the age of (52 ± 14) years old.There were 104 cases (86.0%) of urinary stones, 13 cases (10.7%) of ureteral stenosis or polyps, and 4 cases (3.3%) of simple hydronephrosis. Sixty cases (56.1%) in the UTUC group and 11 cases (9.1%) in the control group underwent urine cytology examination. Seventy-two cases (67.3%) in the UTUC group and 9 cases (7.4%) in the control group underwent urine in situ fluorescence hybridization (FISH) examination. Quantitative PCR detection based on ONECUT2 and VIM gene methylation was performed on urine sediment samples from both groups. If ≥ 1 gene was positive, it was determined as positive, and if both genes were negative, it was determined as negative. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of urine cytology, FISH, and urine DNA methylation tests were evaluated based on pathological or clinical diagnosis criteria.Results:The overall sensitivity of urine DNA methylation test was 84.1%, specificity was 90.9%, accuracy was 87.7%, positive predictive value was 89.1%, and negative predictive value was 86.6%, respectively. It's sensitivity and accuracy were significantly higher than that of urine cytology (43.3%, P<0.05)(52.1%, P<0.05)and FISH (69.4%, P<0.05)(71.6%, P<0.05). The accuracy was significantly higher than that of urine cytology (52.1%, P<0.05) and FISH (71.6%, P<0.05); There was no statistically significant difference in specificity between urine cytology (100.0%) and FISH (88.9%) ( P>0.05). The results of subgroup analysis showed that the diagnostic sensitivity of urine DNA methylation test for tumors in different locations was 74.0% (37/50 cases) for ureteral cancer, 90.5% (38/42 cases) for renal pelvis cancer, and 100.0% (15/15 cases) for renal pelvis cancer combined with ureteral cancer.The diagnostic specificity for different benign diseases was 92.3% (96/104 cases) for urinary stones, 84.6% (11/13 cases) for ureteral stenosis and polyps, and 75.0% (3/4 cases) for simple hydronephrosis. The diagnostic sensitivity of urine DNA methylation test for low-grade UTUC was 64.3%, significantly higher than that of urine cytology (20.0%) and FISH(36.4%)( P<0.05). The diagnostic sensitivity for high-level UTUC was 87.1%, which was higher than that of urine cytology (48.0%) and FISH (75.4%)( P<0.05). The diagnostic sensitivity for non muscular invasive UTUC was 77.8%, which was significantly higher than that of urine cytology (29.2%) and FISH (64.5%)( P<0.05). The diagnostic sensitivity for myometrial infiltrative UTUC was 88.2%, which was superior to urine cytology (53.6%) and FISH (72.7%)( P<0.05). The sensitivity and specificity of urine DNA methylation test in Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University were 83.0% and 92.0%, respectively.It’s sensitivity and specificity in Peking University First Hospital were 85.2% and 85.7%, respectively. Conclusions:The urine ONECUT2 and VIM gene methylation assay have high sensitivity and accuracy in upper urinary tract urothelial carcinoma, which are superior to urine cytology as well as FISH.

In the past decade, significant progress has been made in the study of epilepsy-causing genetic mutations and the molecular mechanisms of epilepsy clinical manifestations.A growing number of studies have shown that the mechanism of action of pathogenic genes related to clinical symptoms shows significant correlation.In the selection of antiepileptic drugs for patients with different gene mutation, early identification of pathogenic genes has guiding significance for the selection of antiepileptic drugs.This review summairzes common epilepsy pathogenic genes, including ion channels genes, cellular metabolism related genes and cell signaling pathway related genes, and research progress on therapeutic targets corresponding to pathogenic genes in recent years.As research deepens, specific gene defects and their machanisms of action provide a basis for studying new treatment methods.

Background::Gut-resident macrophages (gMacs) supplemented by monocytes-to-gMacs differentiation play a critical role in maintaining intestinal homeostasis. Activating transcription factor 4 (ATF4) is involved in immune cell differentiation. We therefore set out to investigate the role of ATF4-regulated monocytes-to-gMacs differentiation in sepsis-induced intestinal injury.Methods::Sepsis was induced in C57BL/6 wild type (WT) mice and Atf4-knockdown ( Atf4+/-) mice by cecal ligation and puncture or administration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Colon, peripheral blood mononuclear cells, sera, lung, liver, and mesenteric lymph nodes were collected for flow cytometry, hematoxylin and eosin staining, immunohistochemistry, quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, respectively. Results::CD64, CD11b, Ly6C, major histocompatibility complex-II (MHC-II), CX3CR1, Ly6G, and SSC were identified as optimal primary markers for detecting the process of monocytes-to-gMacs differentiation in the colon of WT mice. Monocytes-to-gMacs differentiation was impaired in the colon during sepsis and was associated with decreased expression of ATF4 in P1 (Ly6C hi monocytes), the precursor cells of gMacs. Atf4 knockdown exacerbated the impairment of monocytes-to-gMacs differentiation in response to LPS, resulting in a significant reduction of gMacs in the colon. Furthermore, compared with WT mice, Atf4+/- mice exhibited higher pathology scores, increased expression of inflammatory factor genes ( TNF-α, IL-1β), suppressed expression of CD31 and vascular endothelial-cadherin in the colon, and increased translocation of intestinal bacteria to lymph nodes and lungs following exposure to LPS. However, the aggravation of sepsis-induced intestinal injury resulting from Atf4 knockdown was not caused by the enhanced inflammatory effect of Ly6C hi monocytes and gMacs. Conclusion::ATF4, as a novel regulator of monocytes-to-gMacs differentiation, plays a critical role in protecting mice against sepsis-induced intestinal injury, suggesting that ATF4 might be a potential therapeutic target for sepsis treatment.

Objective:To explore the value of synthetic MRI and dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) in differentiating benign and malignant breast lesions.Methods:Totally 116 patients (female, aged 22-80 years) with suspicious breast lesions found by clinical examination in General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University from September 2020 to March 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. All patients received synthetic MRI and DCE-MRI scans, and the quantitative parameters of synthetic MRI [T 1, T 2, proton density (PD) value before enhancement of breast lesions (T 1pre, T 2pre, PD pre) and T 1, T 2, PD value after enhancement of breast lesions (T 1Gd, T 2Gd, PD Gd)] were measured. The difference before and after enhancement (?T 1, ?T 2, ?PD) and the ratio before and after enhancement(T 1ratio, T 2ratio, PD ratio) were calculated. All lesions were confirmed by biopsy or surgery. Independent sample t test was used to compare the differences of parameters between benign and malignant lesions, and parameters with statistically significant differences were analyzed by multivariate logistic regression to screen out independent predictors for the diagnosis of breast malignant lesions. The efficacy of quantitative parameters alone and in combination with DCE-MRI, was evaluated by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Results:Of 116 patients, 27 patients were benign and 89 patients were malignant. T 2pre, PD pre, T 2Gd, PD Gd, ?T 2, T 1ratio and T 2ratio values of malignant patients were lower than those of benign lesions ( P<0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that T 2pre (OR=0.961,95%CI 0.926-0.993, P=0.022)and PD pre(OR=0.945, 95%CI 0.908-0.979, P=0.003) were independent predictors of breast malignant lesions. The area under ROC curve (AUC) of T 2pre+PD pre in differentiating benign and malignant breast lesions was 0.77, and the accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value were 0.84, 0.87, 0.68, 0.92 and 0.56, respectively. The AUC of T 2pre+PD pre combined with DCE-MRI in differentiating benign and malignant breast lesions was 0.95, indicating the best diagnostic efficiency, and higher than that of DCE-MRI alone (0.92)( Z=2.20, P<0.05). Conclusions:T 2pre and PD pre values of synthetic MRI can be used as reference parameters for differentiating benign and malignant breast lesions. Synthetic MRI combined with DCE-MRI can effectively improve the diagnostic efficiency of breast malignant lesions.