OBJECTIVE: Comorbid pain and depression are common but remain difficult to treat. Electroacupuncture (EA) can effectively improve symptoms of depression and relieve pain, but its neural mechanism remains unclear. Therefore, we used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) to detect cerebral changes after initiating a mouse pain model via constriction of the infraorbital nerve (CION) and then treating these animals with EA. METHODS: Forty male C57BL/6J mice were divided into 4 groups: control, CION model, EA, and sham acupuncture (without needle insertion). EA was performed on the acupoints Baihui (GV20) and Zusanli (ST36) for 20 min, once a day for 10 consecutive days. The mechanical withdrawal threshold was tested 3 days after the surgery and every 3 days after the intervention. The depressive behavior was evaluated with the tail suspension test, open-field test, elevated plus maze (EPM), sucrose preference test, and marble burying test. The rs-fMRI was used to detect the cerebral changes of the functional connectivity (FC) in the mice following EA treatment. RESULTS: Compared with the CION group, the mechanical withdrawal threshold increased in the EA group at the end of the intervention (P < 0.05); the immobility time in tail suspension test decreased (P < 0.05); and the times of the open arm entry and the open arm time in the EPM increased (both P < 0.001). There was no difference in the sucrose preference or marble burying tests (both P > 0.05). The fMRI results showed that EA treatment downregulated the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations and regional homogeneity values, while these indicators were elevated in brain regions including the amygdala, hippocampus and cerebral cortex in the CION model for comorbid pain and depression. Selecting the amygdala as the seed region, we found that the FC was higher in the CION group than in the control group. Meanwhile, EA treatment was able to decrease the FC between the amygdala and other brain regions including the caudate putamen, thalamus, and parts of the cerebral cortex. CONCLUSION EA can downregulate the abnormal activation of neurons in the amygdala and improve its FC with other brain regions, thus exerting analgesic and antidepressant effects. Please cite this article as: Yin X, Zeng XL, Lin JJ, Xu WQ, Cui KY, Guo XT, Li W, Xu SF. Brain functional changes following electroacupuncture in a mouse model of comorbid pain and depression: a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study. J Integr Med. 2025; 23(2): 159-168.
Animals ; Electroacupuncture ; Male ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Depression/diagnostic imaging* ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Brain/diagnostic imaging* ; Disease Models, Animal ; Mice ; Pain/diagnostic imaging* ; Acupuncture Points

Objective:To explore the clinical features and prognosis of patients with primary central nervous system lymphoma(PCNSL).Methods:A retrospective analysis was performed on the relationship between clinical features,treatment regimen and prognosis in 46 newly diagnosed patients with primary central nervous system lymphoma who were diagnosed and treated in The Second Hospital of Lanzhou University from January 2015 to September 2022.Fisher's exact probability method was used to analyze the differences in clinical data of different subgroups.Kaplan-Meier survival curve was used to analyze the overall survival rate and progression-free survival rate of patients with different treatments,and the factors influencing survival were analyzed.Results:Among 46 patients with PCNSL,which pathological type were diffuse large B-cell lymphoma(DLBCL).There were 26(56.5％)cases of male and 20(43.5％)of female,with a median age of 54(17-71)years.In Hans subtypes,14 cases(30.4％)of GCB subtype,32 cases(69.6％)of non-GCB subtype.32 cases(69.6％)of Ki-67 ≥80％.Among 36 patients who completed at least 2 cycles of treatment with follow-up data,the efficacy evaluation was as follows:overall response rate(ORR)was 63.9％,complete response(CR)rate was 47.2％,17 cases of CR,6 cases of PR.The 1-year progression-free survival rate and 1-year overall survival rate was 73.6％and 84.9％,respectively.The 2-year progression-free survival rate and 2-year overall survival rate was 52.2％and 68.9％,respectively.The ORR and CR rate of 17 patients treated with RMT regimen was 76.5％and 52.9％(9 cases CR and 4 cases PR),respectively.Univariate analysis of 3 groups of patients treated with RMT regimen,RM-BTKi regimen,and RM-TT regimen as first-line treament showed that deep brain infiltration was associated with adverse PFS(P=0.032),and treatment regimen was associated with adverse OS in PCNSL patients(P=0.025).Conclusion:Different treatment modalities were independent prognosis predictors for OS,the deep brain infiltration of PCNSL is a poor predictive factor for PFS.Patients with relapse/refractory(R/R)PCNSL have a longer overall survival time because to the novel medication BTKi.They have strong toleration and therapeutic potential as a first-line therapy for high-risk patients.

Objective:To investigate the effect of feeder layer cells expressing interleukin(IL)-21 on the amplification of NK cells in vitro.Methods:The K562 cell line with IL-21 expression on its membrane was constructed by electroporation,and co-cultured with NK cells after inactivation.The proliferation of NK cells was observed.The killing function of the amplified NK cells in vitro was evaluated by the lactate dehydrogenase(LDH)and interferon-γ(IFN-y)release assay.A colorectal cancer xenograft model in NOD/SCID mice was established,and a blank control group,a NK cell group and an amplified NK cell group were set up to detect the tumor killing effect of amplified NK cells in vivo.Results:K562 cells expressing IL-21 on the membrane were successfully constructed by electroporation.After co-culturing with K562 cells expressing IL-21 on the membrane for 17 days,the NK cells increased to 700 times,which showed an enhanced amplification ability compared with control group(P＜0.001).In the tumor cell killing experiment in vitro,there was no significant difference in the killing activity on tumor cells between NK cells and amplified NK cells,and there was also no significant difference in mice in vivo.Conclusion:K562 cells expressing IL-21 on the membrane can significantly increase the amplification ability of NK cells in vitro,but do not affect the killing function of NK cells in vitro and in vivo.It can be used for the subsequent large-scale production of NK cells in vitro.

Purpose::To assess the value of the driving pressure variation rate (ΔP%) in predicting the outcome of weaning from invasive mechanical ventilation in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome.Methods::In this case-control study, a total of 35 patients with moderate-severe acute respiratory distress syndrome were admitted to the intensive care unit between January 2022 and December 2022 and received invasive mechanical ventilation for at least 48 h were enrolled. Patients were divided into successful weaning group and failed weaning group depending on whether they could be removed from ventilator support within 14 days. Outcome measures including driving pressure, PaO 2:FiO 2, and positive end-expiratory pressure, etc. were assessed every 24 h from day 0 to day 14 until successful weaning was achieved. The measurement data of non-normal distribution were presented as median (Q 1, Q 3), and the differences between groups were compared by Wilcoxon rank sum test. And categorical data use the Chi-square test or Fisher's exact test to compare. The predictive value of ΔP% in predicting the outcome of weaning from the ventilator was analyzed using receiver operating characteristic curves. Results::Of the total 35 patients included in the study, 17 were successful vs. 18 failed in weaning from a ventilator after 14 days of mechanical ventilation. The cut-off values of the median ΔP% measured by Operator 1 vs. Operator 2 in the first 4 days were ≥ 4.17% and 4.55%, respectively ( p < 0.001), with the area under curve of 0.804 (sensitivity of 88.2%, specificity of 64.7%) and 0.770 (sensitivity of 88.2%, specificity of 64.7%), respectively. There was a significant difference in mechanical ventilation duration between the successful weaning group and the failure weaning group (8 (6, 13) vs. 12 (7.5, 17.3), p = 0.043). The incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia in the successful weaning group was significantly lower than in the failed weaning group (0.2‰ vs. 2.3‰, p = 0.001). There was a significant difference noted between these 2 groups in the 28-day mortality (11.8% vs. 66.7%, p = 0.003). Conclusion::The median ΔP% in the first 4 days of mechanical ventilation showed good predictive performance in predicting the outcome of weaning from mechanical ventilation within 14 days. Further study is needed to confirm this finding.

AIM:To evaluate the efficacy,safety,and economy of camrelizumab(CAM)combined with platinum-containing chemotherapy(CT)for the first-line treatment of locally advanced/meta-static non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC).METH-ODS:Chinese and English databases such as Pubmed,the Cochrane Library,China Knowledge Network,Wanfang Data,and other related web-sites were systematically searched.After literature screening,quality assessment,and data extraction of the literature according to the inclusion and ex-clusion criteria,two researchers conducted a rapid health technology assessment(HTA).RESULTS:A total of 7 systematic evaluations/Meta-analyses and 17 economics evaluations were included.In terms of effectiveness,compared to docetaxel che-motherapy,CAM+CT significantly prolonged the overall survival(OS),progression-free survival(PFS),and improved the objective remission rate(ORR)of mutation-negative patients with locally ad-vanced/metastatic NSCLC.Compared with CT and pembrolizumab(PEM),CAM+CT significantly pro-longed the PFS,and improved the ORR of mutation-negative patients with locally advanced/metastatic NSCLC.Subgroup analysis showed that CAM+CT significantly prolonged PFS in patients with PD-L1 ≥1％and PD-L1 ≥ 50％compared with CT.Compared with CT,CAM+CT significantly prolonged the OS and PFS of mutation-negative patients with locally advanced/metastatic squamous NSCLC.Compared with sintilimab(SIN),CAM+CT significantly pro-longed the PFS of mutation-negative patients with locally advanced/metastatic squamous NSCLC.Sub-group analysis showed that CAM+CT significantly prolonged OS in patients with PD-L1＜1％com-pared with CT.In terms of safety,CAM+CT was comparable in terms of the occurrence of all grades of adverse events,but the incidence of grade 3 or higher treatment-related adverse events was significantly increased compared with CT and PEM for mutation-negative locally advanced/meta-static NSCLC patients.CAM+CT was significantly in-creased the occurrence of all grades of adverse events compared with CT,but was comparable in terms of the occurrence of grade 3 or higher treat-ment-related adverse events.In terms of economy,CAM+CT has a cost-effectiveness advantage over CT for patients with mutation-negative advanced/metastatic squamous NSCLC.CAM+CT has a cost-effectiveness advantage over CT and PEM+CT;and CAM+CT does not have a cost-effectiveness ad-vantage over SIN+CT for patients with mutation-negative locally advanced/metastatic non-squa-mous NSCLC.CONCLUSION:CAM+CT has good ef-ficacy and cost-effectiveness for the first-line treat-ment of locally advanced/metastatic NSCLC,and the safety aspect is compared with CT,PEM or slightly worse.

This article reported a case of neurodevelopmental disorder accompanied by spastic diplegia and visual impairment with the manifestation of small fetal head circumference. Prenatal ultrasonography performed at 33 +5 weeks of pregnancy revealed small fetal head circumference (-2.61SD) and oligohydramnios. Whole-exome sequencing identified a heterozygous frameshift variation of c.1623_1624insA (p.R542Tfs*30) in the CTNNB1 gene (NM_001904.4) of the fetus. No phenotypic abnormalities or corresponding gene variations were detected in the parents, suggesting it was a de novo variation. Based on the clinical manifestations, the fetus was diagnosed with a neurodevelopmental disorder accompanied by spastic diplegia and visual defects. Following genetic counseling, the pregnant woman chose to terminate the pregnancy.

Objective:To develop and evaluate a medical experience assessment scale for debridement and dressing change in chronic wound patients in China, and to provide a reference for improving hospital service quality.Methods:Based on the framework of hospital consumer assessment of healthcare providers and systems survey (HCAHPS) in the United States, a preliminary draft of the scale was formed through a literature review and qualitative interviews with 12 chronic wound patients (7 males and 5 females aged 58.1±12.3 years). Five experts were invited for content validity testing, and 191 chronic wound patients (111 males and 80 females aged 53.5±19.1 years) were selected to evaluate the internal consistency reliability, half reliability, retest reliability, and structural validity of the scale.Results:The Chronic Wound Patient Debridement and Dressing Experience Scale covered 5 dimensions with 30 sub-items and 2 comprehensive evaluation items, including demand response, good and friendly communication, professional trust, optimization of the medical treatment process, and encouragement of patient participation. The scale Cronbach′s α coefficient was 0.967 and ranged from 0.890 to 0.962 for each dimension. The overall retest reliability of the scale was 0.940 and ranged from 0.895 to 0.940 for each dimension. The overall half reliability of the scale was 0.923 and ranged from 0.834 to 0.935 for each dimension. 5 factors were extracted, with a cumulative variance contribution rate of 82.061%.Conclusions:Based on the HCAHPS framework in the United States, the Chronic Wound Debridement and Dressing Experience Scale developed has high reliability and validity, and can be used to evaluate the dressing change experience of patients with chronic wounds. It has clinical practice significance for dressing change in chronic wounds.

The clinical data of a 64-year-old patient with adrenocortical adenoma complicated with inferior vena cava tumor thrombus(IVCTT) were retrospectively analyzed. The patient was admitted becourse of intermittent dizziness for 4 months. CT examination revealed right adrenal tumor, and IVCTT was found in operation. Adrenal cortical adenoma needs to be distinguished from adrenal cortical carcinoma pathologically. Preoperative color Doppler ultrasonography, CT angiography or inferior vena cava angiography can confirm the diagnosis of IVCTT and tumor thrombus grade, and different surgical methods should be selected according to tumor thrombus grade.

Objective:To investigate the value of a nomogram predicting the outcome of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) based on clinical characteristics and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) of hyperintense lesions.Methods:A case-control study. Consecutive patients, aged 30-88(59±13) years old, with ICH were recruited at the Stroke Center of Zhengzhou People′s Hospital from January 2018 to August 2021. Patients were divided into a group with DWI lesions and a group without DWI lesions depending on whether there were DWI hyperintense lesions distant from the hematoma. Prognosis was evaluated at 90 days via the modified Rankin Scale (mRS). Univariate and multivariable logistic regression models were used to identify independent predictors of a poor ICH outcome (mRS score≥4), and a nomogram model was developed. The performance of the nomogram was validated via the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and a calibration chart.Results:Of the 303 patients included in the study, 24.8% presented with DWI lesions; 17.5% with asymptomatic DWI lesions and 7.3% with symptomatic DWI lesions. Poor outcomes were significantly more frequent in the group with DWI lesions than in the group without DWI lesions ( χ2=21.32, P<0.001). In multivariable regression analysis, age [odds ratio ( OR)=1.032, 95% confidence interval ( CI) 1.002-1.063, P=0.035], hematoma volume ( OR=1.050, 95% CI 1.011-1.090, P=0.012), hematoma location ( OR=3.839, 95% CI 1.248-11.805, P=0.019), DWI lesions ( OR=3.955, 95% CI 1.906-8.206, P<0.001), and baseline NIHSS scores ( OR=1.102, 95% CI 1.038-1.170, P=0.001) were independent predictors of a poor outcome. In subgroup analysis patients with asymptomatic DWI lesions had a 3-fold greater risk of a poor outcome compared to those without DWI lesions ( OR=3.135, 95% CI 1.382-7.112, P=0.006), and patients with symptomatic DWI lesions had a 7-fold greater risk of a poor outcome compared to those without DWI lesions ( OR=7.126, 95% CI 2.279-22.277, P=0.001). A nomogram model was established based on the independent predictors for a poor outcome. The AUC of the nomogram was 0.846 (95% CI 0.795-0.898), and a calibration chart indicated good consistency between values predicted by the nomogram and actual observed values. Conclusions:DWI lesions are an independent risk factor for a poor outcome in patients with ICH-particularly symptomatic DWI lesions. A nomogram model based on clinical characteristics and DWI lesions exhibited good efficacy when predicting the outcome of ICH.

AIM: To explore the key genes and molecular markers involved in the retinoblastoma development through bioinformatics.METHODS: The mRNA microarray datasets from the Gene Expression Omnibus(GEO)database were obtained, and the differentially expressed gene(DEG)between retinoblastoma cell lines and normal retinal pigment epithelial(RPE)cell lines were analyzed through gene ontology(GO)and KEGG enrichment analysis. To screen key genes, establish protein-protein interaction(PPI)network, and use receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve to assess clinical diagnostic efficacy. The RNA expressions of key genes in retinoblastoma cell lines and normal RPE cell lines were compared by qRT-PCR.RESULTS: A total of 121 DEGs were obtained from the retinoblastoma dataset of GSE97508 and GSE110811. KEGG pathway analysis showed that DEG were enriched in phototransduction, cell cycle, and p53 signaling pathways. A total of 9 key genes, including MCM6, DTL, UBE2T, TOP2A, NUSAP1, CENPK, RRM2, RLBP1, and RHO, were obtained from the intersection of PPI network analysis and the top 30 DEG from each dataset. The differentially expressed 9 key genes were verified in GSE24673. ROC analysis showed that the area under the curve(AUC)for UBE2T, RRM2, and RHO was ≥80%, and there was a statistical significance(P>0.05). The mRNA level of UBE2T and RRM2 in retinoblastoma was significantly higher than APRE-19 cell line, while the mRNA level of RHO was significantly lower than that of ARPE-19 cell line.CONCLUSION: UBE2T, RRM2, and RHO may be served as potential molecular markers and potential therapeutic targets for retinoblastoma.