Instrument separation is a critical complication during root canal therapy, impacting treatment success and long-term tooth preservation. The etiology of instrument separation is multifactorial, involving the intricate anatomy of the root canal system, instrument-related factors, and instrumentation techniques. Instrument separation can hinder thorough cleaning, shaping, and obturation of the root canal, posing challenges to successful treatment outcomes. Although retrieval of separated instrument is often feasible, it carries risks including perforation, excessive removal of tooth structure and root fractures. Effective management of separated instruments requires a comprehensive understanding of the contributing factors, meticulous preoperative assessment, and precise evaluation of the retrieval difficulty. The application of appropriate retrieval techniques is essential to minimize complications and optimize clinical outcomes. The current manuscript provides a framework for understanding the causes, risk factors, and clinical management principles of instrument separation. By integrating effective strategies, endodontists can enhance decision-making, improve endodontic treatment success and ensure the preservation of natural dentition.
Humans ; Root Canal Therapy/adverse effects* ; Consensus ; Root Canal Preparation/adverse effects*

ObjectiveTo investigate the liver histopathological features of HBeAg-negative patients in the indeterminate phase of low-viral-load chronic hepatitis B virus （HBV） infection. MethodsA total of 271 patients with low-viral-load HBeAg-negative chronic HBV infection who underwent liver biopsy in Department of Infectious Diseases， Affiliated Hospital of Yan’an University， from September 2013 to June 2021 were enrolled as subjects， and the degree of liver injury was compared between patients based on age， sex， presence or absence of the family history of hepatitis B， HBsAg， and alanine aminotransferase （ALT） level. The chi-square test was used for comparison of categorical data between two groups. ResultsAmong the 271 patients with HBeAg-negative chronic HBV infection， 86 patients （31.73%） grade≥A2 liver inflammatory activity， 72 （26.57%） had a liver fibrosis stage of ive， and 112 （41.33%） had moderate or severe liver histological injury. The proportion of patients with grade≥A2 liver inflammatory activity in the patients with ALT>20 U/L was significantly higher than that in the patients with ALT≤20 U/L （χ²=3.938， P=0.047）. There were no significant differences in the proportion of patients with grade≥A2 liver inflammatory activity between the patients with different ages， sexes， family history of hepatitis B， HBsAg levels （all P>0.05），there were no significant differences in the proportion of patients with a liver fibrosis stage of ≥F2 between the patients with different ages， sexes， family history of hepatitis B， HBsAg， and ALT levels （all P>0.05）， and the stratified analysis of patients aged≤30 years and patients without the family history of hepatitis B showed no statistical significance between groups （all P>0.05）. There was no significant difference in the degree of liver histological injury between the patients with different ages， sexes， family history of hepatitis B， HBsAg， and ALT levels （all P>0.05）. ConclusionSignificant liver injury is observed in more than 40% of the patients with low-viral-load HBeAg-negative chronic HBV infection， and there is no significant difference in the degree of liver histological injury between the patients with different ages， sexes， family history of hepatitis B， HBsAg， and ALT levels. Even for the patients aged≤30 years who deny the family history of hepatitis B， there is still a considerable proportion of patients with liver injury， which should be taken seriously by clinicians.

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.

BACKGROUND: The beneficial effects of sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) on adverse cardiac outcomes in diabetic patients are well-established. However, the effects of SGLT2i against cancer therapy-related cardiotoxicity remain understudied. We investigated the association between SGLT2i and cardiac outcomes in cancer patients. METHODS: PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library were searched from their inception until September 30, 2024 for studies evaluating the effects of SGLT2i in patients with cancer. The primary outcomes included incident heart failure (HF), HF exacerbation, HF hospitalization, atrial fibrillation/atrial flutter (AF/AFL), myocardial infarction, and all-cause mortality. The secondary outcomes included acute kidney injury and sepsis. Odds ratio (OR) with 95% CI was pooled. RESULTS: Thirteen studies with 85,596 patients were included. Compared to non-SGLT2i use, SGLT2i treatment was associated with lower risks of incident HF (OR = 0.51, 95% CI: 0.32-0.79, P = 0.003), HF exacerbation (OR = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.63-0.87, P < 0.001), AF/AFL (OR = 0.67, 95% CI: 0.55-0.82, P < 0.001), myocardial infarction (OR = 0.61, 95% CI: 0.41-0.90, P = 0.01), and all-cause mortality (OR = 0.44, 95% CI: 0.28-0.69, P < 0.001), but not for HF hospitalization (OR = 0.58, 95% CI: 0.22-1.55, P = 0.28). As for safety outcomes, SGLT2i use was associated with lower risks of acute kidney injury (OR = 0.68, 95% CI: 0.57-0.81, P < 0.001) and sepsis (OR = 0.32, 95% CI: 0.23-0.44, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS SGLT2i were associated with lower risks of incident HF, HF exacerbation, AF/AFL, myocardial infarction, all-cause mortality, acute kidney injury, and sepsis in cancer patients.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of acupuncture on the neurotransmitter levels and gut microbiota in a mouse model of Tourette syndrome (TS). METHODS: Thirty-six male C57/BL6 mice were randomly divided into 4 groups using a random number table method: 3,3'-iminodipropionitrile (IDPN) group, control group, acupuncture group, and tiapride group, with 9 mice in each group. In the IDPN group, acupuncture group, and tiapride group, mice received daily intraperitoneal injections of IDPN (300 mg/kg body weight) for 7 consecutive days to induce stereotyped behaviors. Subsequently, in the acupuncture intervention group, standardized acupuncture treatment was administered for 14 consecutive days to IDPN-induced TS model mice. The selected acupoints included Baihui (DU 20), Yintang (DU 29), Waiguan (SJ 5), and Zulinqi (GB 41). In the tiapride group, mice were administered tiapride (50 mg/kg body weight) via oral gavage daily for 14 consecutive days. The control group, IDPN group, and acupuncture group received the same volume of saline orally for 14 consecutive days. Stereotypic behaviors were quantified through behavioral assessments. Neurotransmitter levels, including dopamine (DA), glutamate (Glu), and aspartate (ASP) in striatal tissue were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Dopamine transporter (DAT) expression levels were additionally quantified through quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Gut microbial composition was analyzed through 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing, while metabolic profiling was conducted using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). RESULTS: Acupuncture administration significantly attenuated stereotypic behaviors, concurrently reducing striatal levels of DA, Glu and ASP concentrations while upregulating DAT expression compared with untreated TS controls (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Comparative analysis identified significant differences in Muribaculaceae (P=0.001), Oscillospiraceae (P=0.049), Desulfovibrionaceae (P=0.001), and Marinifilaceae (P=0.014) following acupuncture intervention. Metabolomic profiling revealed alterations in 7 metabolites and 18 metabolic pathways when compared to the TS mice, which involved various amino acid metabolisms associated with DA, Glu, and ASP. CONCLUSIONS Acupuncture demonstrates significant modulatory effects on both central neurotransmitter systems and gut microbial ecology, thereby highlighting its dual therapeutic potential for TS management through gut-brain axis regulation.
Animals ; Tourette Syndrome/metabolism* ; Gastrointestinal Microbiome ; Neurotransmitter Agents/metabolism* ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Male ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Mice

The prevalence of Class III malocclusion varies among different countries and regions. The populations from Southeast Asian countries (Chinese and Malaysian) showed the highest prevalence rate of 15.8%, which can seriously affect oral function, facial appearance, and mental health. As anterior crossbite tends to worsen with growth, early orthodontic treatment can harness growth potential to normalize maxillofacial development or reduce skeletal malformation severity, thereby reducing the difficulty and shortening the treatment cycle of later-stage treatment. This is beneficial for the physical and mental growth of children. Therefore, early orthodontic treatment for Class III malocclusion is particularly important. Determining the optimal timing for early orthodontic treatment requires a comprehensive assessment of clinical manifestations, dental age, and skeletal age, and can lead to better results with less effort. Currently, standardized treatment guidelines for early orthodontic treatment of Class III malocclusion are lacking. This review provides a comprehensive summary of the etiology, clinical manifestations, classification, and early orthodontic techniques for Class III malocclusion, along with systematic discussions on selecting early treatment plans. The purpose of this expert consensus is to standardize clinical practices and improve the treatment outcomes of Class III malocclusion through early orthodontic treatment.
Humans ; Malocclusion, Angle Class III/classification* ; Orthodontics, Corrective/methods* ; Consensus ; Child

OBJECTIVE: Humans are exposed to complex mixtures of environmental chemicals and other factors that can affect their health. Analysis of these mixture exposures presents several key challenges for environmental epidemiology and risk assessment, including high dimensionality, correlated exposure, and subtle individual effects. METHODS: We proposed a novel statistical approach, the generalized functional linear model (GFLM), to analyze the health effects of exposure mixtures. GFLM treats the effect of mixture exposures as a smooth function by reordering exposures based on specific mechanisms and capturing internal correlations to provide a meaningful estimation and interpretation. The robustness and efficiency was evaluated under various scenarios through extensive simulation studies. RESULTS: We applied the GFLM to two datasets from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). In the first application, we examined the effects of 37 nutrients on BMI (2011-2016 cycles). The GFLM identified a significant mixture effect, with fiber and fat emerging as the nutrients with the greatest negative and positive effects on BMI, respectively. For the second application, we investigated the association between four pre- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and gout risk (2007-2018 cycles). Unlike traditional methods, the GFLM indicated no significant association, demonstrating its robustness to multicollinearity. CONCLUSION GFLM framework is a powerful tool for mixture exposure analysis, offering improved handling of correlated exposures and interpretable results. It demonstrates robust performance across various scenarios and real-world applications, advancing our understanding of complex environmental exposures and their health impacts on environmental epidemiology and toxicology.
Humans ; Environmental Exposure/analysis* ; Linear Models ; Nutrition Surveys ; Environmental Pollutants ; Body Mass Index

Objective:To investigate the differences in clinical outcomes of septic children with varying serum zinc levels,and to analyze the relationship between reduced serum zinc levels and organ dysfunction as well as 28-day mortality in septic children.Methods:This study conducted a retrospective analysis of clinical data from pediatric patients diagnosed with sepsis or septic shock in the Department of critical care medicine of the children's Hospital of Soochow University between January 2017 and December 2022.Clinical characteristics,organ dysfunction,and prognosis were compared between two groups:children with low serum zinc levels and those with normal zinc levels.Results:The serum zinc level of septic children within 24 hours of admission was 9.60(5.52,13.80)μmol/L,with 50.54%(94/186)of the children exhibiting low serum zinc levels(<10.07 μmol/L).Compared to the normal serum zinc group,the low serum zinc group had a significantly lower Pediatric Critical Illness Score(PCIS)[(78.71±9.35)vs.(85.12±8.51),P=0.005]and higher 28-day mortality(46.80%vs.14.13%,P<0.001).The low serum zinc group also had a higher proportion of invasive mechanical ventilation(64.89%vs.47.82%,P=0.019),renal replacement therapy(15.59%vs.3.26%,P=0.003),and use of vasoactive drugs(56.38%vs.30.43%,P<0.001).The rate of underlying conditions in the low serum zinc group was significantly higher than that in the normal serum zinc group(57.44%vs.36.95%,P=0.005).Additionally,the low serum zinc group had a higher incidence of disseminated intravascular coagulation(DIC),respiratory failure,acute kidney injury,shock,and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome(MODS)compared to the normal serum zinc group(P<0.05).Serum zinc levels had predictive value for 28-day mortality in septic children(AUC=0.813;95%CI:0.725～0.902;P<0.001).A serum zinc level of less than 6.950 μmol/L predicted the death of septic children with a sensitivity of 0.618 and a specificity of 0.902.Conclusion:Sepsis in children is commonly associated with low serum zinc levels,especially in those with underlying conditions such as hematologic and oncologic disorders.Sepsis patients hypozincemia with a higher incidence of DIC,respiratory failure,acute kidney injury,shock,and MODS.A serum zinc level below 6.95 μmol/L serves as a significant predictor of 28-day mortality in children with severe sepsis.

As a cheap and effective antibiotic,sulfonamides are often used in animal husbandry.However,their residues in animal-derived foodstuffs will threaten human health.Consequently,a high-performance liquid chromatography(HPLC)method integrated with supramolecular solvent microextraction was successfully established for simultaneous quantification of sulfonamide residues sulfachlorpyridazine,sulfamethoxazole,sulfamethoxypyridazine and sulfadimethoxine in milk matrices.This approach exhibited prominent characteristics of operational simplicity,environmental sustainability,and high extraction efficiency.The supramolecular solvents prepared by tributyl octylphosphine tetrafluoroborate and tetrahydrofuran were employed as extraction solvents.The analytes underwent isolation and concentration via dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction(DLLME)prior to quantitative determination using high-performance liquid chromatography(HPLC).The composition and microscopic morphology of the supramolecular solvent were characterized through a series of analytical techniques,including phase diagram,Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy,scanning electron microscopy,and inverted fluorescence microscopy and so on.The density and pH value of supramolecular solvents were determined.The extraction conditions were optimized through the one-factor experiments.The experimental results demonstrated that under the optimal extraction conditions,the four kinds of sulfonamide antibiotics exhibited excellent linearity within respective detection range(R2 ≥ 0.9998)and the limits of detection(LOD)were 0.67-1.45 μg/L.Compared with literature methods,this approach offered some advantages such as simplicity of operation and less reagent consumption,and could be used for analysis and detection of sulfonamide antibiotic residues in milk samples.The present method provided technical support for food safety regulation and paved a new way for the application of supramolecular solvents in the field of extraction and separation.

Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics of patients with clinical and subclinical Cushing's syndrome caused by primary bilateral macronodular adrenal hyperplasia(PBMAH).Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on the clinical data of 198 patients with Cushing's syndrome caused by PBMAH diagnosed in the First Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital from January 2004 to October 2024.According to clinical manifestations,the patients were classified into clinical type Cushing's syndrome(n=61)and subclinical type Cushing's syndrome(n=137),and the clinical characteristics of the two types were compared.Results The mean age at diagnosis of patients with PBMAH-induced Cushing's syndrome was(53.5±10.4)years,including 118 males and 80 females,with a male-to-female ratio of 1.475:1.Compared with the subclinical type,the clinical type had a higher proportion of females,higher levels of serum cortisol,24-hour urine free cortisol(24 h UFC),and inhibited serum cortisol after low-dose dexamethasone suppression.Additionally,the clinical type had lower plasma ACTH,larger adrenal nodules and a higher risk of surgery(P<0.05)compared with those in subclinical type.The incidences of hypertension,dyslipidemia,obesity,diabetes mellitus,hypokalemia,vitamin D deficiency,osteoporosis,coronary heart disease,and cerebrovascular disease in patients with Cushing's syndrome caused by PBMAH were 87.9%,50.5%,37.1%,36.9%,27.8%,25.9%,18.7%,18.7%and 12.1%,respectively.Among them,compared with subclinical type patients,clinical type patients had higher incidence of hypokalaemia,vitamin D deficiency and osteoporosis(P<0.05),while there were no statistically significant differences in the incidences of other comorbidities between the two types(P>0.05).The results of postoperative follow-up for PBMAH patients showed that the short-term biochemical remission rate of unilateral total adrenalectomy was 41.5%(22/53)and the long-term biochemical remission rate was 32.0%(8/25).The short-term biochemical remission rate of unilateral partial(or nodular)adrenalectomy was 52.9%(9/17),and the long-term biochemical remission rate was 14.3%(1/7).All patients who underwent unilateral total adrenalectomy plus contralateral partial resection developed adrenal insufficiency(3/3),and 1 patient(1/3)relapsed 3.4 years after surgery.Conclusion Clinical and subclinical types of Cushing's syndrome caused by PBMAH have their distinct clinical characteristics.Surgery is an effective treatment for PBMAH,but a certain proportion of patients fail to achieve biochemical remission after non-bilateral total adrenalectomy.