Objective To construct intrauterine adhesion (IUA) mouse models induced by two different concentrations of ethanol injury, compare the phenotypes, and optimize a more stable IUA modeling method. Methods Twenty 8-week-old female C57BL/6N mice were randomly divided into two groups: the 95% ethanol injury group and the 50% ethanol injury group. Using a self-control method, the left uterine horn was infused with ethanol to establish the IUA model, while the right uterine horn was infused with saline as the sham operation. Five mice from each group were euthanized on day 7 and 15 after modeling, and uterine tissues were collected. Hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining was used to observe the endometrial pathology, and Masson staining was used to assess the degree of endometrial fibrosis. Quantitative real-time PCR was employed to detect the expression levels of fibrosis markers and pro-inflammatory factors in the uterine tissues. Results Compared to the sham operation, these two ethanol injury led to a significant reduction in elasticity of the uterus, an increase in inflammatory infiltration, and a marked increase in the degree of fibrosis on day 7 after modeling (P<0.05). The 95% ethanol injury group showed a significant decrease in endometrial thickness (P<0.05), whereas no significant change was observed in the 50% ethanol injury group when compared to the sham operation (P>0.05). The expression levels of fibrotic marker molecules collagen type Ⅳ alpha 1 chain (Col4A1), α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), and pro-inflammatory factors tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) were significantly elevated in the 50% ethanol injury group when compared to the sham operation (P<0.05), although there was an increasing trend of the same markers in the 95% ethanol injury group, the differences were not statistically significant (P>0.05). On day 15 after modeling, the histopathological changes in both ethanol injury groups were not significant when compared to the sham operation, the expression levels of Col4A1, TGF-β, TNF-α and IL-1β remained significantly higher in the 50% ethanol injury group (P<0.05), while only IL-1β was significantly elevated in the 95% ethanol injury group (P<0.05). Conclusion Uterine infusion with 95% ethanol results in more marked histopathological changes in the IUA mouse model compared to the 50% ethanol injury group. The 95% ethanol injury model is suitable for histopathological studies. However, the 50% ethanol injury group shows higher expression levels of fibrosis markers and pro-inflammatory factors compared to the 95% ethanol injury group, suggesting that the 50% ethanol injury model is more suitable for molecular pathological study.

The randomized controlled trials (RCTs) regarding acupuncture direction published from January 1st, 2013, to November 7th, 2023 were searched in China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform, and VIP Chinese Journal Database. As a result, 21 RCTs were included. The problems identified included conceptual misunderstandings regarding acupuncture direction, incomplete selection strategies, confounding research factors, and inaccuracies in reporting. Based on the findings, four strategic approaches for enhancing therapeutic efficacy through acupuncture direction were summarized: aligning needle direction with the meridian pathway, directing the needle toward the lesion site, orienting the needle toward adjacent acupoints, and targeting special anatomical structures. Two additional strategies were proposed for optimizing the procedure: simplifying acupuncture operations and directing the needle toward safe anatomical sites. Recommendations were made to improve the rationality of research factor settings and the completeness of acupuncture operation reporting. Furthermore, three methods for reporting acupuncture direction were discussed: reporting the tip-pointed position, reporting the insertion angle and orientation, and reporting azimuth and polar angles, aiming to promote greater standardization and completeness in acupuncture practice and reporting.
Acupuncture Therapy/standards* ; Humans ; Acupuncture Points ; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic ; Meridians

The nasal swab samples of swine influenza(SI)suspected pigs were collected and tested for H3 subtype swine influenza virus(SIV)positive by RT-qPCR.The positive samples were inoc-ulated into SPF chicken embryos for virus isolation.The full genome sequencing and sequence anal-ysis of the isolated H3N2 subtype SIV were conducted,and its pathogenicity was studied.The re-sults showed that a strain of SIV was successfully isolated and identified as H3N2 subtype by RT-PCR,named A/Swine/Yunnan/KM/06/2023(H3N2).The BLSAT results showed that the eight segments of SIV H3N2 KM had the highest homology with eight different strains of swine influ-enza or human influenza viruses,reaching 95.41％-97.49％.The HA and NA segments were de-rived from H3N2 subtype SIV,the NP segment was derived from H1N1 subtype human influenza virus,the M segment was derived from H1N2 subtype SIV,and all other segments were derived from H1N1 subtype SIV.The key receptor sites(190D,223V,226I,228S)of HA protein remained unchanged.The pathogenicity experiment results showed that infected piglets exhibited symptoms such as fever,sneezing,runny nose,the virus could be detoxified to the outside through the nasal cavity,and the lungs had different degrees of lesion.Immunohistochemistry(IHC)showed that the virus could replicate in the lungs.In conclusion,a strain of H3N2 subtype SIV was successfully iso-lated,and the genetic evolution,molecular characteristics and pathogenicity of the virus were stud-ied.It revealed that H3N2 subtype SIV is constantly evolving and had pathogenicity to piglets,pro-viding a reference for monitoring and preventing SIV epidemics in China,and provided a candidate strain for SI vaccine development.

OBJECTIVE: To carry out genetic testing for a child featuring global developmental delay, abnormal liver function, congenital heart disease, and brain malformation. METHODS: Peripheral blood samples of the child and his parents were collected for the extraction of genomic DNA and trio-whole exome sequencing. Candidate variant was verified by Sanger sequencing. RESULTS: Genetic testing revealed that the child has harbored a heterozygous c.2002G>T (p.Glu668Ter) variant of the SMARCA2 gene, which was predicted to be likely pathogenic by bioinformatic analysis. His mother was found to be a low-percentage mosaic for the same variant, with a ratio of 0.054 (246/4549). CONCLUSION The child was diagnosed with Nicolaides-Baraitser syndrome resulting from maternal mosaicism for the SMARCA2 gene variant.
Child ; Female ; Humans ; Mosaicism ; Parents ; Developmental Disabilities ; Mothers

Objective:To summarize the clinical and genetic characteristics of Potocki-Shaffer syndrome (PSS).Methods:A retrospective study was conducted to analyze the clinical data of 1 patient diagnosed with PSS in the Department of Pediatrics of the Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University at February 2021.The data analyzed included clinical manifestations, biochemical tests and gene tests.Meanwhile, studies were retrieved from the China National Knowledge Internet database, Wanfang database, and PubMed database from the establishment of the database to December 2021 by taking " Potocki-Shaffer syndrome" " EXT2 gene" " AlX4 gene" and " PHF21A gene" as key words.Besides, genes were searched from the Online Frontal Analysis Mendelian Inheritance in Man.The clinical and genetic features of PSS patients were summarized. Results:The patient was 5 months and 21 days old, male, who was admitted to the hospital due to excessive growth in body mass for the past 3 months.The patient showed mental and motor retardation, overgrowth, concealed penis, hearing loss, and hypotonia.Whole exon sequencing of this patient revealed heterozygous deletions in the Chr11: 44069455-48188946 region, including the deletions of 3 autosomal dominant genes: EXT2, ALX4, and PHF21A.The patient was diagnosed with PSS.A total of 14 articles published in English were collected, involving this boy and other 35 patients.In these patients, 14 cases had point mutations, and 22 cases had large deletions. PHF21A gene variation was detected in 23 cases (dysgnosia in 22 cases, dyskinesia in 21 cases, language development delay in 18 cases). EXT2 gene variation was observed in 22 cases (exostoses in 13 cases). ALX4 gene variation was found in 19 cases (bilateral parietal foramina in 15 cases). Of 36 cases, 27 cases had craniofacial anomalies. Conclusions:The main clinical symptoms of PSS are language and motor developmental delay, intellectual disability, exostoses, bilateral parietal foramina, and craniofacial anomalies, which are closely related to 3 autosomal dominant genes ALX4, EXT2 and PHF21A.Genetic testing facilitates the clinical diagnosis of PSS, and the mutation types are dominated by point mutations and large deletions.

A 89-year-old female patient presented with skin lesions of the groin, vulva and intergluteal sulcus for 10 months, and blisters for 3 weeks. Skin examination revealed the red-white hyperplastic plaques on the groin, vulva and intergluteal sulcus, on which mung-bean- to pea-sized erosions and blisters scattered, and several similar blisters were scattered on the right axilla and right leg, some of which were broken and covered with crusts. Histopathological examination of the skin lesion on the intergluteal sulcus showed thickened spinous layer without acantholysis, subepidermal fissures and blisters in some areas, focal papillary dermal edema with eosinophil infiltration, and perivascular infiltration composed mainly of lymphocytes in the superficial dermis. Direct immunofluorescence assay showed linear deposition of IgG and C3 at the epidermal basement membrane zone, clustered deposition of IgM in the dermis, but no IgA deposition. Indirect immunofluorescence on salt-split skin revealed that IgG and C3 were deposited on the epidermal side. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) showed that serum levels of anti-BP180 and anti-BP230 antibodies were 26.92 U/ml and 68.17 U/ml respectively, and those of anti-desmoglein 1 (Dsg1) and anti-Dsg3 antibodies were normal. The patient was diagnosed with pemphigoid vegetans. After the treatment with oral methylprednisolone combined with topical halometasone ointment and tacrolimus 0.03% ointment, the skin lesions gradually subsided.

Objective:To detect the genes of common genetic diseases in newborns with the high-throughput sequencing technology based on target gene capture, to study the incidence rate of such diseases, the carrying rate and variant types of pathogenic mutations related to such diseases, and to explore the application value of the high-throughput sequencing technology in screening genetic diseases of newborns.Methods:The heel blood of 1 793 newborns born in Guangdong province from June 2019 to April 2020 were collected, and the exon regions of 138 common genetic disease-related genes in neonates were detected using the high-throughput sequencing technology based on target gene capture.The pathogenicity of the mutations was interpreted according to the " Classification Criteria and Guidelines for Genetic Variation(2017)" , in which known disease and probable disease were considered as positive mutations.The positive mutations were verified by Sanger sequencing technology, and the test results were analyzed with statistical methods.Results:Among the 1 793 newborns, 978 were male and 815 were female.A total of 158 positive cases were screened(8.81%), and 11 positive diseases were detected.Among the positive diseases, there were 41 cases(2.29%)of autosomal recessive deafness type 1A, 40 cases(2.23%)of Gilbert syndrome or Crigler-Najjar syndrome, and 33 cases(1.84%)of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency(1.84%), 19 cases(1.06%)of familial hypercho-lesterolemia, 18 cases(1.00%) of sodium taurocholate cotransporter peptide deficiency disease, 2 cases(0.11%)of mitochondrial non-syndromic deafness, 2 cases(0.11%)of Citrin deficiency, 1 case(0.06%)of holocarboxylase synthase deficiency, 1 case(0.06%)of β-thalassemia and 1 case(0.06%)of metachromatic leukodystrophies.Of all studied cases, 972 carried one or more positive mutations, involving 85 kinds of diseases in total.The diseases with a high carrying rate were Gilbert syndrome or Crigler-Najjar syndrome(359 cases, 20.02%), autosomal recessive deafness type 1A(302 cases, 16.84%), and sodium taurocholate cotransport peptide deficiency disease(291 cases, 16.22%). The high-frequency mutation sites were UGT1A1 gene c. 211G> A, GJB2 gene c .109G> A and SLC10A1 gene c. 800C> T. Conclusions:The common genetic diseases detected in neonates from Guangdong province are autosomal recessive deafness type 1A, Gilbert syndrome or Crigler-Najjar syndrome, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency, familial hypercholesterolemia, and sodium taurocholate cotransport peptide deficiency.There are high-frequency carrying mutation sites in the population.Preliminary genetic screening of common neonatal genetic diseases can accumulate data and experience for the development of newborn genetic screening.

Objective:To investigate the scientific research willingness of nursing undergraduates with senior grades in Beijing and to understand the attitudes of them with scientific research and difficulty in scientific research.Methods:From April to May 2019, this study selected totals of 319 nursing undergraduates with Grade three or four from four medical schools in Beijing as subjects by convenience sampling. The self-designed questionnaire was used to investigate the scientific research willingness, attitude and difficulty among nursing undergraduates.Results:Among 319 nursing undergraduates, 275 (86.21%) nursing undergraduates would like to participate in research projects during the undergraduate level; 270 (84.64%) nursing undergraduates thought it was necessary to carry out nursing research during the undergraduate level. In carrying out or taking part in scientific research, the objective difficulties included lack of guide and help, time and energy as well as academic atmosphere; the subjective difficulties involved the lack of scientific knowledge, difficulties in selecting projects and statistical analysis.Conclusions:Nursing undergraduates have positive attitudes with scientific research, but them meet with many difficulties when carrying out or taking part in scientific research. Research training for nursing undergraduates may help to improve scientific literacy of them and increase their scientific interest.

Objective:To investigate the changes of expressions of NOD-like receptor family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells and downstream factors interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and interleukin-18 (IL-18) in serum in the children with asthma, and to explore their significances on assessing the condition of the children.Methods:A total of 176cases of children with asthma were divided into acute exacerbation group (n=91) , chronic persistent group (n=49) and clinical remission group (n=36) according to the clinical manifestation.During the same period, 60healthy children were selected from the outpatient physical examination center as control group.The pulmonary function of children was checked with lung function instrument.The expression levels of NLRP3, apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a CARD (ASC) and cysteinyl aspartate-specific proteinase-1 (Caspase-1) mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of the subjects in various groups were detected by using real-time quantitative PCR.The serum levels of IL-1βand IL-18of the subjects in various groups were detected by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) .Results:Compared with control group, the forced expiratory volume in 1second percentage of predicted value (FEV1％) and fixed ratio of forced expiratory volume in the first second/forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC) of the children in acute exacerbation, chronic persistent and clinical remission groups were decreased (P＜0.05) ;acute exacerbation group＜chronic persistent group＜clinical remission group, and there were significant differences between various groups (P＜0.05) .The levels of NLRP3, ASC and Caspase-1mRNA in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells and serum levels of IL-1βand IL-18in the children with asthma were higher than those in control group (P＜0.01) .The expression levels of NLRP3, ASC and Caspase-1mRNA in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of the children in acute exacerbation group were higher than those in chronic persistent and clinical remission groups (P＜0.05) , and the expression levels of NLRP3, ASC and Caspase-1mRNA in chronic persistent group were higher than those in clinical remission group (P＜0.05) .Pearson correlation analysis showed that the expression level of NLRP3mRNA in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of asthmatic children was positively correlated with the expression levels of ASC, Caspase-1 mRNA and the serum levels of IL-1βand IL-18 (P＜0.05) , while it was negatively correlated with FEV1％and FEV1/FVC;the expression level of ASC mRNA was positively correlated with the expression level of Caspase-1mRNA and the serum levels of IL-1βand IL-18 (P＜0.05) , while it was negatively correlated with FEV1％and FEV1/FVC (P＜0.05) ;the expression level of Caspase-1 mRNA was positively correlated with the expression level of Caspase-1mRNA and the serum levels of IL-1βand IL-18 (P＜0.05) , while it was negatively correlated with FEV1％and FEV1/FVC (P＜0.05) ;the serum level of IL-1βwas negatively correlated with FEV1％and FEV1/FVC (P＜0.05) , and the serum level of IL-18was negatively correlated with FEV1％and FEV1/FVC (P＜0.05) .Conclusion:The expression levels of NLRP3inflammasome and the downstream factor IL-1βand IL-18in peripheral blood of the children with asthma are increased, and they are related to the clinical stage of the children with asthma.NLRP3inflammasome pathway might promote the pathogenesis of asthma in the children.

Objective: To report on clinical characteristics and genetic findings in 15 Chinese patients with methylmalonic acidemia (MMA). Methods: For the 15 MMA patients detected by tandem mass spectrometry, genetic analysis was carried out in twelve pedigrees. Clinical characteristics, genetic finding, treatment and outcomes were retrospectively analyzed. Results: The main features of the patients included poor feeding, recurrent vomiting, lethargy, seizure and development retardation. Blood propionylcarnitine (except for 3 patients), its ratio with acetylcarnitine, and urine methylmalonic acid were increased in all patients. Twelve patients were diagnosed genetically, which included 7 with MUT variants, 4 with MMACHC variants, and 1 with MMAB variant. Nine MUT variants were detected, among which c. 1159A>C, 753+ 1delGinsTGGTTATTA and c. 504del were novel. Six known pathogenic MMACHC variants and two novel MMAB variants (c.289_290delGG, c. 566G>A) were also detected. Seven patients died of metabolic crises within a year, others had improved effectively following the treatment, but had mild to severe growth delay and/or developmental retardation. Conclusion The clinical manifestation of MMA are complex. Most patients have variants of the MUT and MMACHC genes. High mortality may occur before one year of age.