ObjectiveTo evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of Huaban Jiedu Formulation （化斑解毒方， HJF） in treating psoriasis vulgaris with blood-heat syndrome. MethodsA randomized， double-blind， placebo-controlled study was conducted with 60 patients diagnosed with psoriasis vulgaris of blood-heat syndrome. Patients were randomly assigned to either a treatment group or a control group， with 30 cases in each. The treatment group received HJF granules orally， one dose a day， combined with topical Qingshi Zhiyang Ointment （青石止痒软膏）， while the control group received placebo granules， one dose a day， combined with the same topical ointment. Both groups were topically treated twice daily of 28 days treatment cours. Psoriasis area and severity index （PASI）， visual analogue scale for pruritus （VAS）， traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） syndrome scores， dermatology life quality index （DLQI）， and psoriasis life stress inventory （PLSI） were assessed before treatment and on day 14 and day 28. Response rates for PASI 50 （≥50% reduction） and PASI 75 （≥75% reduction）， as well as overall clinical efficacy， were compared between groups. Serum levels of interleukin-6 （IL-6） and interleukin-17 （IL-17） were measured before and after 28 days of treatment. Adverse reactions during treatment were recorded. ResultsAfter 28 days of treatment， both groups showed significant reductions in PASI total score， lesion area score， erythema， scaling， and infiltration scores， pruritus VAS score， TCM syndrome score， DLQI， PLSI， and serum IL-6 and IL-17 levels （P＜0.05）. Compared to the control group， the treatment group had significantly greater improvements in PASI total score and erythema score， TCM syndrome score， serum IL-6 and IL-17 levels， and PASI 50 response rate after 28 days （P＜0.05）. Between-group comparisons of score differences before and after 28-day treatment revealed that the treatment group showed significantly better improvements in PASI total， lesion area score， erythema score， TCM syndrome score， DLQI， PLSI， and inflammatory markers （P＜0.05 or P＜0.01）. The total effective rate on day 14 and day 28 was 40.00% （12/30） and 83.33% （25/30） in the treatment group， versus 6.90% （2/29） and 41.38% （12/29） in the control group， respectively. The clinical efficacy in the treatment group was significantly superior to that in the control group （P＜0.05）. Mild gastric discomfort occurred in 3 patients in the treatment group and 1 in the control group. ConclusionHJF can effectively improve skin lesions and TCM symptoms relieve pruritus， enhance quality of life， and reduce inflammatory markers IL-6 and IL-17， in patients with blood-heat syndrome of psoriasis vulgaris， with a good safety profile.

ObjectiveIn nature, objects cast shadows due to illumination, forming the basis for stereoscopic perception. Birds need to adapt to changes in lighting (meaning they can recognize stereoscopic shapes even when shadows look different) to accurately perceive different three-dimensional forms. However, how neurons in the key visual brain area in birds handle these lighting changes remains largely unreported. In this study, pigeons (Columba livia) were used as subjects to investigate how neurons in pigeon’s ventrolateral mesopallium (MVL) represent stereoscopic shapes consistently, regardless of changes in lighting. MethodsVisual cognitive training combined with neuronal recording was employed. Pigeons were first trained to discriminate different stereoscopic shapes (concave/convex). We then tested whether and how light luminance angle and surface appearance of the stereoscopic shapes affect their recognition accuracy, and further verify whether the results rely on specify luminance color. Simultaneously, neuronal firing activity of neurons was recorded with multiple electrode array implanted from the MVL during the presentation of difference shapes. The response was finally analyzed how selectively they responded to different stereoscopic shapes and whether their selectivity was affected by the changes of luminance condition (like lighting angle) or surface look. Support vector machine (SVM) models were trained on neuronal population responses recorded under one condition (light luminance angle of 45°) and used to decode responses under other conditions (light luminance angle of 135°, 225°, 315°) to verify the invariance of responses to different luminance conditions. ResultsBehavioral results from 6 pigeons consistently showed that the pigeons could reliably identify the core 3D shape (over 80% accuracy), and this ability wasn’t affected by changes in light angle or surface appearance. Statistical analysis of 88 recorded neurons from 6 pigeons revealed that 83% (73/88) showed strong selectivity for specific 3D shapes (selectivity index>0.3), and responses to convex shapes were consistently stronger than to concave shapes. These shape-selective responses remained stable across changes in light angle and surface appearance. Neural patterns were consistent under both blue and orange lighting. The decoding accuracy achieves above 70%, suggesting stable responses under different conditions (e.g., different lighting angles or surface appearance). ConclusionNeurons in the pigeon MVL maintain a consistent neural encoding pattern for different stereoscopic shapes, unaffected by illumination or surface appearance. This ensures stable object recognition by pigeons in changing visual environments. Our findings provide new physiological evidence for understanding how birds achieve stable perception (“invariant neural representations”) while coping with variations in the visual field.

Objective To investigate the changes of brain deep gray matter nucleus volume and iron content in patients with type 2 dia-betes mellitus(T2DM)based on quantitative MR technology,and their correlation and mediating effect with cognitive impairment.Methods A total of 60 T2DM patients(T2DM group)and 61 healthy controls(HC)(HC group)were prospectively selected.The volume of brain deep gray matter nucleus of 3D-T1 sequence map was measured by artificial intelligence(AI)automatic segmentation technique,the corresponding region of interest(ROI)was manually drawn and quantitative susceptibility mapping(QSM)value was measured on QSM,the cognitive score,QSM value and volume of nucleus were compared by independent sample t test and rank sum test,and the correlation analysis of imaging indexes with differences between the two groups was made.The mediating effect between fasting blood glucose(FBG)and Montreal cognitive assessment(MoCA)score was analyzed.Results The MoCA and mini-mental state examination(MMSE)scores in the T2DM group were lower than those in the HC group(P＜0.05),the volumes of bilateral caudate nucleus,putamen,globus pallidus,thalamus,and right hippocampus in the T2DM group were lower than those in the HC group(P＜0.05),and the QSM values of left caudate nucleus,thalamus and bilateral globus pallidus in the T2DM group were higher than those in the HC group(P＜0.05).In the T2DM group,the volumes of bilateral thalamus and right hippocampus were positively correlated with MoCA score(left thalamus:r=0.326,P=0.012;right thalamus:r=0.373,P=0.004;right hippocampus:r=0.509,P＜0.001),and the QSM value of left thalamus was negatively correlated with MoCA score(r=-0.263,P=0.044).The mediating effect of right hippocampus volume and left thalamus QSM value was significant(P＜0.05),and the direct effect of FBG on cog-nitive score was significant(P＜0.05).Conclusion Brain deep gray matter nucleus atrophy and brain iron deposition are closely related to T2DM and cognitive impairment,and there is a mediating effect.Brain iron deposition will increase the risk of cognitive impairment in T2DM.

OBJECTIVE To explore the distribution of pathogens isolated from the cardiac surgery children with postoperative catheter-related bloodstream infection(CRBSI)and observe the transforming growth factor β1(TGF-β1)gene polymorphisms and the change of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein(hs-CRP),Smad homologue 2 and Smad 3 levels.METHODS A total of 88 children who received peripherally inserted central catheter(PICC)puncture after cardiac surgery and were complicated with postoperative CRBSI in the First People's Hospital of Zunyi from Aug.2019 to Oct.2023 were assigned as the infection group.Meanwhile,110 children who were trea-ted with PICC and did not have postoperative CRBSI were randomly chosen as the non-infection group.The base-line data,TGF-β1 gene polymorphisms and the levels of hs-CRP,Smad 2 and Smad 3 were compared between the two groups.The distribution of the pathogens isolated from the infection group was observed.The values of hs-CRP,Smad 2 and Smad 3 in diagnosis of the postoperative CRBSI in the cardiac surgery children were analyzed by receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curves.RESULTS The proportions of patients with intravenous cathe-ter indwelling no less than 10 days,length of intensive care unit(ICU)stay no less than 5 days,the frequencies of CC genotypes and C allele at TGF-β1+869C/T locus were higher in the infection group than those in the non-infection group(P＜0.05).Acinetobacter baumannii was the predominant species of pathogen isolated from the infection group,accounting for 24.20％.The levels of serum hs-CRP,Smad 2 and Smad 3 of the infection group were(24.65±7.65)mg/L,(13.54±2.45)pg/ml and(13.65±2.65)pg/ml,respectively,higher than those of the non-infection group(all P＜0.001).The area under the curve(AUC)of the joint detection of hs-CRP,Smad 2 and Smad 3 was highest in diagnosis of the postoperative CRBSI in the cardiac surgery children(P＜0.05).CONCLUSIONS A.baumannii is dominant among the pathogens isolated from the cardiac surgery children with postoperative CRBSI.The postoperative CRBSI may be associated with the intravenous catheter in-dwelling time and length of ICU stay.The C allele at TGF-β1+869C/T locus may be the susceptibility gene for the postoperative CRBSI.The joint detection of hs-CRP,Smad 2 and Smad 3 has the highest value in diagnosis of the postoperative CRBSI.

Objective To test the hypothesis that backward crawling and forward crawling share similar inter-joint coordination patterns,thus providing potential evidence for the application of backward crawling in rehabilitation training.Methods The acceleration signals in the X,Y,and Z directions for 9 joints(including bilateral wrists,elbows,shoulders,knees,and hips)in 9 volunteers during forward and backward crawling were collected using a custom signal acquisition system,and the pressure signals were also recorded when the palms contacted the ground.The collected acceleration signals were preprocessed,segmented into cycles,and vectorized.Based on the pressure signals,a single crawling cycle was divided into support phase and swing phase.In addition,principal component analysis was applied to extract inter-joint coordination in limbs at various scales(sagittal,coronal,and transverse planes).Pearson correlation coefficients of inter-joint coordination patterns were compared between forward and backward crawling in support period,swing period,and full cycle.Results The correlation coefficients for coordination patterns in the full cycle at the transverse plane scale were 0.813 5(PC1)and 0.837 5(PC2),and the correlation coefficient of the support period PC2 was 0.901 8.At the sagittal plane scale,the correlation coefficient of the support period PC1 was 0.948 5.Conclusion The study provides preliminary evidence that limb motion coordination patterns during backward crawling are similar to those observed during forward crawling.Future research will further explore the effects of backward crawling on functional rehabilitation in individuals with motor impairments.

This study was aimed at investigating the infection status of orf virus(ORFV)and the genetic evolution characteristics of epidemic ORFV isolates from Anhui province.A total of 303 clinical samples collected from major meat sheep breeding cities in An-hui during 2021-2023 were subjected to ORFV detection with fluorescence quantitative PCR(qPCR).The full-length B2L and F1L genes of ORFV in the positive samples were amplified through conventional PCR and sequenced.Genetic evolution analysis of the B2L and F1L genes was conducted after sequencing.The qPCR results indicated a total ORFV positivity rate in the clinical samples of 48.8%(148/303).Multiple sequence comparisons indicated that the B2L genes of 56 sample isolates shared 96.7%-100.0%DNA and 97.4%-100.0%amino acid sequence identity.Moreover,the F2L genes of 56 sample isolates shared 95.1%-100.0%DNA and 95.0%-100.0%amino acid sequence identity.The genetic evolution tree constructed with the B2L gene DNA sequences indicated sample iso-lates and 21 reference strains located in subgroup 1,and 26 sheep-derived sample isolates and 17 reference strains located in sub-group 2.Among them,the goat-derived sample isolate FY-TYA was located in the same sub-branch as the human-derived reference strain Gansu,whereas the goat-derived sample isolate FY-XQC was located in the same sub-branch as the reference strains China Vaccine and OV-HLJ-04.The genetic evolution tree constructed with the F1L gene DNA sequences showed,the goat sample isolates FY-XQA and FY-XQC were located in the same sub-branch as the sheep-derived reference strain Xinjiang.ORFV infection was rela-tively widespread in the major meat sheep breeding areas of Anhui province,and the DNA and amino acid sequences of the B2L and F1L genes of current circulating ORFV isolates showed different degrees of genetic variation,among which F1L gene had a high de-gree of variation.Furthermore,some goat-derived sample isolates were closely related to human,vaccine,and sheep-derived refer-ence strains.These results may serve as a reference for the prevention and control of ORFV infection in Anhui province.

With the rapid development of minimally invasive techniques in surgery, arti-ficial intelligence (AI), particularly deep learning, is playing an increasingly important role in mini-mally invasive surgery. By automated analysis of surgical videos, AI can efficiently perform key tasks such as instrument recognition, surgical phase identification, action analysis, anatomical structure recognition, intraoperative diagnosis, adverse event monitoring and smart desmoking. These appli-cations provide essential support for real-time monitoring, surgical navigation and skill assessment during surgery. The authors summarize the current research progress of AI in minimally invasive surgery, including its applications in the fields of hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery, as well as gastrointestinal surgery. It also explores the potential of AI in enhancing surgical safety, efficiency and skill assessment. By synthesizing the latest research achievements of AI technology in the field of surgery, as well as analyzing its technical challenges and risks, it aims to provide guidance for future innovations and clinical applications, promoting the advancement and implementation of AI in minimally invasive surgery.

Purpose To investigate the changes in quadriceps femoris microcirculatory perfusion level after low-load blood flow restriction training and its relationship with muscle strength.Materials and Methods Twenty-five healthy subjects were prospectively recruited in the First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University from September to November 2022.A 200 mmHg pressure cuff was applied at the root of the left thigh for blood flow restriction,and the subjects completed regular knee extension training within 4 weeks.Before the first training session and within 24 hours after the last training session,all subjects underwent scanning with the 3.0T MRI intravoxel incoherent motion sequence and the multi-echo steady-state acquisition three-dimentional imaging sequence.After image post-processing,the quadriceps femoris cross-sectional area,perfusion fraction and pseudo-diffusion coefficient were obtained,and the peak torque was measured using an isokinetic dynamometer.The MRI and muscle strength test parameters before and after training were compared,and correlation analyses were performed between the change of peak torque and the change of perfusion fraction,cross-sectional area,and pseudo-diffusion coefficient respectively.Results After low-load blood flow restriction training,the cross-sectional area of the left quadriceps femoris in subjects increased(t=-4.515,P<0.05).Among its components,the cross-sectional area of the left rectus femoris,vastus intermedius and vastus lateralis all increased(t=-3.302,-2.877,-3.207,all P<0.05).The perfusion fraction value of the left quadriceps femoris increased(t=-5.447,P<0.05);the perfusion fraction values of the left rectus femoris,vastus intermedius,vastus lateralis and vastus medialis all increased(t=-5.723,-4.621,-3.767,-4.682,all P<0.05);the muscle strength of the left quadriceps femoris increased(t=-3.983,P<0.05).There was a highly positive correlation between change of perfusion fraction and peak torque of the left quadriceps femoris in subjects(r=0.708,P<0.05).Conclusion After low-load blood flow restriction training,the changes in quadriceps femoris muscle microperfusion quantified by intravoxel incoherent motion are related to muscle strength,which is helpful for formulating rehabilitation training strategies for young patients.

Objective:To evaluate the cumulative live birth rate (CLBR) and cost-effectiveness of fixed versus adjusted follicle-stimulation hormone (FSH) dosages in infertile women with different ovarian responses during their first assisted reproductive technology (ART) cycle.Methods:A retrospective real-world cohort study was conducted on 5 419 infertile women who underwent their first ART treatment at the Department of Reproductive Medicine of the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University between January 2013 and December 2017. All patients received an individualized starting dosage of gonadotropin. Based on whether FSH dosages were adjusted during controlled ovarian stimulation (COS), patients were divided into fixed-dosage group ( n=2 061) and adjusted-dosage group ( n=3 358). Clinical outcomes and FSH cost-effectiveness were compared between the two groups across different ovarian response groups, with CLBR as the primary outcome. Propensity score matching (PSM) and multivariable logistic regression were used to adjust for potential confounders. Results:FSH dosage adjustments were found in 62.0% (3 358/5 419) of cycles during COS. After PSM, baseline characteristics were comparable between the two groups (all P>0.05). After adjusting for confounders using multivariable logistic regression, FSH dosage adjustment was not significantly associated with CLBR ( OR=1.06, 95% CI: 0.94-1.20, P=0.332). Compared with the adjusted-dosage group, the fixed-dosage group showed no significant differences in CLBR in poor-, normal-, and high-responder groups (all P>0.05). The incidence of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) did not differ significantly between the two groups ( P>0.05). In poor-, normal-, and high-responder groups, the total FSH dosages in the fixed-dose group [1 350 (375, 1 825) U, 1 200 (375, 1 500) U and 525 (375, 1 128) U, respectively] were significantly lower than those in the adjusted-dose group [1 875 (1 425, 2 294) U, P=0.001; 1 425 (450, 1 875) U, P<0.001; 600 (375, 1 425) U, P=0.020]. Similarly, average FSH costs in different ovarian response groups in the fixed-dosage group [4 725.0 (1 312.5, 6 387.5) yuan, 4 200.0 (1 312.5, 5 250.0) yuan and 1 837.5 (1 312.5, 3 947.3) yuan, respectively] were significantly lower than those in the adjusted-dosage group [6 562.5 (4 987.5, 8 028.1) yuan, P=0.001; 4 987.5 (1 575.0, 6 562.5) yuan, P<0.001; 2 100.0 (1 312.5, 4 987.5) yuan, P=0.020]. For normal-responders, the FSH cost per high-quality embryo in the fixed-dosage group [1 365.0 (875.0, 2 537.5) yuan] was significantly lower than that in the adjusted-dosage group [2 056.3 (1 268.8, 3 412.5) yuan, P<0.001]. Conclusion:FSH dosage adjustment during COS is not associated with CLBR or the incidence of OHSS. However, the fixed-dose group exhibited lower total FSH dosages and costs across different ovarian response populations. In the context of ART being covered by medical insurance, fixed FSH dosage may represent a more cost-effective ovarian stimulation protocol.

Locally advanced thyroid cancer (LATC) can seriously invade the important organs of the neck, such as the trachea, esophagus and carotid artery, and has a poor prognosis. It is one of the leading causes of death in thyroid cancer. Diagnosis and treatment for LATC often involve multidisciplinary fields, the difficulty and risk of surgical are very high, and high-quality multidisciplinary comprehensive diagnosis and treatment can obtain a better prognosis. In order to realize the proceduralization, standardization and normalization of the LATC diagnosis and treatment model, the seven-step method for diagnosis and treatment of LATC is summarized by our center.