BACKGROUND:Degenerative scoliosis is defined as a condition that occurs in adulthood with a coronal cobb angle of the spine>10° accompanied by sagittal deformity and rotational subluxation,which often produces symptoms of spinal cord and nerve compression,such as lumbar pain,lower limb pain,numbness,weakness,and neurogenic claudication.The finite element method is a mechanical analysis technique for computer modelling,which can be used for spinal mechanics research by building digital models that can realistically restore the human spine model and design modifications. OBJECTIVE:To review the application of finite element method in the etiology and treatment of degenerative scoliosis. METHODS:The literature databases CNKI,PubMed,and Web of Science were searched for articles on the application of finite element method in degenerative scoliosis published before October 2023.Search terms were"finite element analysis,biomechanics,stress analysis,degenerative scoliosis,adult spinal deformity"in Chinese and English.Fifty-four papers were finally included. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1)The biomechanical findings from the degenerative scoliosis model constructed using the finite element method were identical to those from the in vivo experimental studies,which proves that the finite element method has a high practical value in degenerative scoliosis.(2)The study of the etiology and treatment of degenerative scoliosis by the finite element method is conducive to the prevention of the occurrence of the scoliosis,slowing down the progress of the scoliosis,the development of a more appropriate treatment plan,the reduction of complications,and the promotion of the patients'surgical operation.(3)The finite element method has gradually evolved from a single bony structure to the inclusion of soft tissues such as muscle ligaments,and the small sample content is increasingly unable to meet the research needs.(4)The finite element method has much room for exploration in degenerative scoliosis.

Objective : To investigate the diagnostic value of linear array endoscopic ultrasonography ( EUS) for common bile duct microlithiasis． Methods : Data of patients who attended in the hospital and diagnosed as common bile duct microlithiasis and biliary sludge by EUS were selected．A total of 85 patients with magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography ( MRCP) examination and ERCP treatment during hospitalization were enrolled．The results of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography / endoscopic sphincterotomy ( ERCP / EST) were the gold standard for diagnosis．The results of EUS，MRCP，and diagnostic ERCP were compared with the gold standard， and the sensitivity，specificity，positive predictive value，negative predictive value，and diagnostic accuracy of the three methods were calculated，respectively．The chi-square test was used for comparison of the above indices． Results : Of all 85 patients，63 had positive EUS results，among whom 5 had false positive results; 22 had negative EUS results，among whom 1 had false negative results．Of all 85 patients，49 had positive MRCP results，among whom 4 had false positive results; 36 had negative MRCP results，among whom 14 had false negative results．Of all 85 patients，59 had positive diagnostic ERCP results，among whom 10 had false positive results; 26 had negative diagnostic ERCP results，among whom 10 had false negative results．The sensitivity，specificity，positive predictive value( PPV) ，negative predictive value ( NPV) ，and accuracy of EUS in diagnosing common bile duct microlithia- sis were 98. 3% ，80. 8% ，92. 1% ，95. 4% and 92. 9% ，respectively． For MRCP，these values were 76. 3% ， 84. 6% ，91. 8% ，61. 1% and 78. 8% ，respectively．For diagnostic ERCP，these values were 83. 1% ，61. 5% ， 83. 1% ，61. 5% and 76. 5% ，respectively．The EUS group had a significantly higher accuracy than the MRCP group ( χ2 = 6. 986，P ＜0. 05) and diagnostic ERCP group ( χ2 = 8. 900，P ＜0. 05) ．The areas under the ROC curves ( AUC) and 95% CI of EUS group，MRCP group and diagnostic ERCP were 0. 895 ( 95% CI: 0. 802 - 0. 988，P＜0. 001) ，0. 804 ( 95% CI: 0. 702 －0. 907，P ＜0. 001) and 0. 723 ( 95% CI: 0. 598 －0. 848，P = 0. 001) ，respectively． Conclusion EUS has a high diagnostic value in the diagnosis of common bile duct microli- thiasis and thus can be used as the preferred examination before therapeutic ERCP．

OBJECTIVES: To identify potential plasma lipidomic biomarkers that distinguish non-metastatic medulloblastoma (nmMB) from metastatic medulloblastoma (mMB) in children. METHODS: In this prospective study, 17 children with mMB and 20 matched children with nmMB were enrolled. Plasma samples were analyzed using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Lipid metabolites were evaluated for their associations and diagnostic performance. RESULTS: Orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis based on lipid profiles clearly separated nmMB from mMB, and 14 differential lipids were identified, including DG(18:2/20:4/0:0) and SM(d18:1/20:0). Receiver operating characteristic analysis showed nine metabolites with area under the curve greater than 0.7. Differential lipids were enriched in sphingolipid, glycerophospholipid, and arachidonic acid metabolism, suggesting an association with the metastatic phenotype. CONCLUSIONS Plasma lipidomics provides a new approach to identify mMB, and the identified lipid metabolites may support early diagnosis and treatment, prognostic assessment, and selection of therapeutic targets for metastatic medulloblastoma.
Humans ; Medulloblastoma/diagnosis* ; Lipidomics ; Child ; Male ; Female ; Child, Preschool ; Cerebellar Neoplasms/blood* ; Biomarkers, Tumor/blood* ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prospective Studies ; Adolescent ; Lipids/blood*

BACKGROUND:The highest incidence of spinal fracture is in the thoracolumbar segment,and its symptoms are back pain,posterior convexity deformity,activity limitation,or with spinal cord nerve injury causing lower limb pain,numbness,and even paraplegia and other complications.The finite element method is a digital computer modeling technique,which can simulate the physical model and carry out force analysis realistically.OBJECTIVE:To review the application of finite element method in thoracolumbar spine fractures.METHODS:We searched the Chinese and English literature databases PubMed,Web of Science,and CNKI for relevant literature on the application of the finite element analysis method in spinal thoracolumbar fracture published before March 2024.The search terms in Chinese and English were:finite element analysis methods,biomechanical phenomena,stress analysis,thoracolumbar fractures,spinal fractures.Finally,55 papers were included.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1)The exploration of thoracolumbar fractures caused by different etiologies(osteoporotic,traumatic,and pathological)through the finite element method is conducive to a deeper understanding of the biomechanics of various types of thoracolumbar fractures,and to improve the individualized and fine-tuned treatment of thoracolumbar fractures.(2)The finite element analysis of a single sample or a small number of samples has the chance,and a larger number of samples are required for the future finite element analysis to reduce the chance caused by the sample.(3)The rigid structure of bones alone cannot meet the biomechanical working conditions of the integrity of the physical object,and future finite element models need to incorporate all the structures of the physical object(e.g.,soft tissues,such as muscles and ligaments)as far as possible.(4)The finite element method has been used in more studies on osteoporotic and traumatic thoracolumbar spine fractures,which will need to be more in-depth in the future,and less in the field of pathologic thoracolumbar fractures,which has a wider scope for future research.

Objective To investigate the impact of county-level"Unified ECG Network"construction on the treatment efficiency and clinical outcomes of patients with acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction(STEMI).Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of STEMI patients from Beichuan County and Yanting County in Mianyang City,and Jiange County in Guangyuan City,Sichuan Province,during the 18 months before(128 cases)and 18 months after(187 cases)the establishment of the"Unified ECG Network."Differences in demographic characteristics,treatment efficiency,therapeutic methods,and clinical outcomes between the two groups were compared.Results There was no statistically significant difference in general demographic characteristics between the two groups(all P＞0.05).Compared with the pre-construction group,the post-construction group showed significantly shorter times in initial ECG completion[5(3,7)min vs.6(4,8)min],initial ECG diagnosis[3(2,4)min vs.5(2,6)min],first medical contact to preliminary diagnosis[10(9,12)min vs.13(11,15)min],network hospital door-in-door-out time[21(19,23)min vs.26(23,30)min],and first medical contact to wire-crossing time[(94.82±11.87)min vs.(107.97±18.39)min](allP＜0.001).The proportion of patients bypassing the emergency department and coronary care unit significantly increased(64.17％vs.32.81％,P＜0.001).The proportion of patients undergoing emergency percutaneous coronary intervention significantly increased(72.73％vs.51.56％,P＜0.001),while the proportions of thrombolytic therapy and non-reperfusion therapy significantly decreased(both P＜0.05).Additionally,in-hospital mortality rate,Killip class≥Ⅱ proportion,incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events,and average length of hospital stay were all significantly reduced(all P＜0.05).There were no statistically significant differences among the three county-level chest pain centers in terms of major treatment efficiency,therapeutic strategies,or clinical outcomes(all P＞0.05).Conclusions The construction of the county-level"Unified ECG Network"can significantly improve the treatment efficiency of STEMI patients,optimize reperfusion therapy strategies,improve clinical outcomes,and demonstrate substantial clinical promotion value.

Objective To investigate the impact of county-level"Unified ECG Network"construction on the treatment efficiency and clinical outcomes of patients with acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction(STEMI).Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of STEMI patients from Beichuan County and Yanting County in Mianyang City,and Jiange County in Guangyuan City,Sichuan Province,during the 18 months before(128 cases)and 18 months after(187 cases)the establishment of the"Unified ECG Network."Differences in demographic characteristics,treatment efficiency,therapeutic methods,and clinical outcomes between the two groups were compared.Results There was no statistically significant difference in general demographic characteristics between the two groups(all P＞0.05).Compared with the pre-construction group,the post-construction group showed significantly shorter times in initial ECG completion[5(3,7)min vs.6(4,8)min],initial ECG diagnosis[3(2,4)min vs.5(2,6)min],first medical contact to preliminary diagnosis[10(9,12)min vs.13(11,15)min],network hospital door-in-door-out time[21(19,23)min vs.26(23,30)min],and first medical contact to wire-crossing time[(94.82±11.87)min vs.(107.97±18.39)min](allP＜0.001).The proportion of patients bypassing the emergency department and coronary care unit significantly increased(64.17％vs.32.81％,P＜0.001).The proportion of patients undergoing emergency percutaneous coronary intervention significantly increased(72.73％vs.51.56％,P＜0.001),while the proportions of thrombolytic therapy and non-reperfusion therapy significantly decreased(both P＜0.05).Additionally,in-hospital mortality rate,Killip class≥Ⅱ proportion,incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events,and average length of hospital stay were all significantly reduced(all P＜0.05).There were no statistically significant differences among the three county-level chest pain centers in terms of major treatment efficiency,therapeutic strategies,or clinical outcomes(all P＞0.05).Conclusions The construction of the county-level"Unified ECG Network"can significantly improve the treatment efficiency of STEMI patients,optimize reperfusion therapy strategies,improve clinical outcomes,and demonstrate substantial clinical promotion value.

BACKGROUND:The highest incidence of spinal fracture is in the thoracolumbar segment,and its symptoms are back pain,posterior convexity deformity,activity limitation,or with spinal cord nerve injury causing lower limb pain,numbness,and even paraplegia and other complications.The finite element method is a digital computer modeling technique,which can simulate the physical model and carry out force analysis realistically.OBJECTIVE:To review the application of finite element method in thoracolumbar spine fractures.METHODS:We searched the Chinese and English literature databases PubMed,Web of Science,and CNKI for relevant literature on the application of the finite element analysis method in spinal thoracolumbar fracture published before March 2024.The search terms in Chinese and English were:finite element analysis methods,biomechanical phenomena,stress analysis,thoracolumbar fractures,spinal fractures.Finally,55 papers were included.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1)The exploration of thoracolumbar fractures caused by different etiologies(osteoporotic,traumatic,and pathological)through the finite element method is conducive to a deeper understanding of the biomechanics of various types of thoracolumbar fractures,and to improve the individualized and fine-tuned treatment of thoracolumbar fractures.(2)The finite element analysis of a single sample or a small number of samples has the chance,and a larger number of samples are required for the future finite element analysis to reduce the chance caused by the sample.(3)The rigid structure of bones alone cannot meet the biomechanical working conditions of the integrity of the physical object,and future finite element models need to incorporate all the structures of the physical object(e.g.,soft tissues,such as muscles and ligaments)as far as possible.(4)The finite element method has been used in more studies on osteoporotic and traumatic thoracolumbar spine fractures,which will need to be more in-depth in the future,and less in the field of pathologic thoracolumbar fractures,which has a wider scope for future research.

This study aimed to investigate the therapeutic effects of Morinda officinalis iridoid glycosides (MOIG) on bone loss of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) rats, and the mechanism of osteoclast function and activity induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). RA rats were established by injecting bovin type II collagen. The Bio-ethic Committee of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University approved all experimental protocols associated with this study (IACUC-20180410-03). The collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) rats were administered drug by gavage for 8 weeks; the femoral trabecular micro-structure changes were observed in CIA rats by micro-CT; the LPS-induced osteoclasts model further observed the effect and mechanism of anti-inflammatory osteoporosis in vitro. The results indicated that MOIG could markedly increase bone mineral density (BMD) in CIA rats, improve trabecular micro-structure. In vitro studies demonstrated that MOIG could significantly inhibit osteoclastogensis and differentiation, suppress tartrate resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) activity, F-actin ring formation, TNF receptor associated factor 6 (TRAF6) recruitment, and inhibitor of nuclear factor kappa-Bα (IκBα) degradation as well as p65 phosphorylation, thereby repressing nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) signaling pathway activation. Subsequently, MOIG effectively inhibited osteoclast nuclear factor of activated T-cells c1 (NFATc1) and cellular oncogene Fos (c-Fos) expression, as well as bone resorption related protein activity including matrix metalloprotein 9 (MMP-9) and cathepsin K (CtsK). Meanwhile, MOIG also repressed the phosphorylation expression of Janus activating kinase 2 (JAK2) and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), thereby inhibiting JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway activation. Moreover, further studies found that MOIG could suppress glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β) activity, and GSK-3β gene silencing could markedly inhibit oetsoclast F-actin ring formation as well as the phosphorylation expression of p65 and STAT3. Of note, compared with GSK-3β gene silencing group, there was no significant difference in the group treated with both MOIG with GSK-3β gene silencing simultaneously. Thus, the results suggested that MOIG may inhibit NF-κB signaling pathway and JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway activation via regulating GSK-3β, thereby alleviating bone destruction in RA.

Currently,human health due to corona virus disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic has been seriously threatened.The coronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2)spike(S)protein plays a crucial role in virus transmission and several S-based therapeutic approaches have been approved for the treatment of COVID-19.However,the efficacy is compromised by the SARS-CoV-2 evolvement and mutation.Here we report the SARS-CoV-2 S protein receptor-binding domain(RBD)inhibitor licorice-saponin A3(A3)could widely inhibit RBD of SARS-CoV-2 variants,including Beta,Delta,and Omicron BA.1,XBB and BQ1.1.Furthermore,A3 could potently inhibit SARS-CoV-2 Omicron virus in Vero E6 cells,with EC50 of 1.016 pM.The mechanism was related to binding with Y453 of RBD deter-mined by hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry(HDX-MS)analysis combined with quan-tum mechanics/molecular mechanics(QM/MM)simulations.Interestingly,phosphoproteomics analysis and multi fluorescent immunohistochemistry(mIHC)respectively indicated that A3 also inhibits host inflammation by directly modulating the JNK and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase(MAPK)path-ways and rebalancing the corresponding immune dysregulation.This work supports A3 as a promising broad-spectrum small molecule drug candidate for COVID-19.

ObjectiveTo investigate the difference in the level of biliary calprotectin between patients with cholangiocarcinoma and those with choledocholithiasis. MethodsClinical data and bile samples were collected from 34 patients with cholangiocarcinoma and 78 patients with choledocholithiasis who were diagnosed and treated with endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography in The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University from May 2021 to September 2022. Fluorescence lateral flow immunoassay was used to measure the levels of calprotectin， hemoglobin， and lactoferrin in bile. The Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparison of continuous data between two groups， and the chi-square test was used for comparison of categorical data between two groups； the Spearman correlation test was used for correlation analysis； the DeLong test was used for comparison of the area under the ROC curve （AUC）. ResultsCompared with the choledocholithiasis group， the cholangiocarcinoma group had significant increases in the levels of calprotectin ［4 795.50 （2 286.79‍ ‍—‍ ‍20 179.73） ng/mL vs 411.16 （67.03‍ ‍—‍ ‍1 991.88） ng/mL， Z=5.572， P<0.001］ and fluoride ［115.70 （109.10‍ — ‍125.50） mmol/L vs 106.60 （98.60‍ ‍—‍ ‍114.40） mmol/L， Z=2.702， P=0.007］. The patients with cholangiocarcinoma were further divided into high cholangiocarcinoma group and low cholangiocarcinoma group， and there was no significant difference between the two groups in the level of calprotectin ［3 867.71 （2 235.66‍ — ‍26 407.40） ng/mL vs 4 795.50 （2 361.15‍ — ‍13 070.53） ng/mL， Z=0.129， P>0.05］. Biliary calprotectin level was correlated with white blood cell count， hemoglobin concentration， and lactoferrin concentration in bile （r=0.316， 0.353， and 0.464， all P<0.05）. The ROC curve analysis showed that biliary calprotectin （with a sensitivity of 79.4% and a specificity of 75.6%）， blood CA19-9 （with a sensitivity of 82.4% and a specificity of 78.2%）， and their combination （with a sensitivity of 88.2% and a specificity of 73.1%） had good sensitivity and specificity in the diagnosis of cholangiocarcinoma. ConclusionThere is an increase in the level of biliary calprotectin in patients with cholangiocarcinoma， and therefore， it might become a biomarker for the diagnosis of cholangiocarcinoma.