Purpose To explore the value of contrast-enhanced CT habitat imaging(HI)in preoperative non-invasive visualization for predicting pathological grading of clear cell renal carcinoma(ccRCC).Materials and Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on enhanced CT images and clinical data from 240 patients with pathologically confirmed ccRCC at Xijing Hospital,the Fourth Military Medical University from January 2020 to December 2023.All patients were randomly divided into training and test sets at a 7:3 ratio and classified into low-grade group(International Society of Urological Pathology Ⅰ-Ⅱ)and high-grade group(International Society of Urological Pathology Ⅲ-Ⅳ)based on postoperative pathology.Using wash-in and wash-out parametric maps,the tumors were segmented into three perfusion-based habitat subregions(low,medium and high)via K-means clustering,and the volume fraction of each subregion was calculated.Predictive factors were selected from habitat features and clinical variables(including sex,age,tumor size,etc.)using Logistic regression.Three models were constructed:a clinical model,a habitat imaging model and a combined clinical-habitat model.Model performance was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic curve,calibration curve and decision curve analysis.Results Habitat 3 exhibited higher wash-in and wash-out gradients compared to Habitats 1 and 2,indicating hyper perfusion.Its proportion was significantly higher in the low-grade group than in the high-grade group(Z=-7.71,-5.11,both P<0.01).Multivariate Logistic regression identified hypertension,maximum tumor diameter and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio as independent risk factors for high-grade ccRCC,while the proportion of Habitat 3 was a protective factor(OR=0.297,95％CI 0.184-0.479).The combined clinical-habitat model demonstrated the highest predictive performance[area under the curve(AUC)=0.938],significantly outperforming the clinical model(AUC=0.801,Z=-3.832,P<0.01)and the habitat imaging model(AUC=0.895,Z=-2.157,P=0.031).Conclusion The clinical-habitat imaging model achieves the highest predictive performance for ccRCC pathological grading.Contrast-enhanced CT habitat imaging provides significant incremental value in predicting ccRCC pathological grading,showing potential to guide precision medicine in clinical practice.

Renal cell carcinoma is one of the most common malignant tumors of the urinary system.Radiomics,as a non-invasive and efficient diagnostic method,can extract high-throughput imaging features imperceptible to the human eye,offering new possibilities for precise diagnosis and evaluation of renal cell carcinoma.However,radiomics often treats the entire tumor as a homogeneous region,overlooking intratumoral heterogeneity and exhibiting poor biological interpretability.As an emerging imaging technology based on biological contexts,habitat imaging utilizes quantitative imaging biomarkers to delineate distinct spatial regions with similar biological characteristics within a tumor,thereby visualizing and quantifying intratumoral heterogeneity.This article reviews and prospects the advances and future directions of radiomics and habitat imaging in renal cell carcinoma.

Purpose To explore the value of contrast-enhanced CT habitat imaging(HI)in preoperative non-invasive visualization for predicting pathological grading of clear cell renal carcinoma(ccRCC).Materials and Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on enhanced CT images and clinical data from 240 patients with pathologically confirmed ccRCC at Xijing Hospital,the Fourth Military Medical University from January 2020 to December 2023.All patients were randomly divided into training and test sets at a 7:3 ratio and classified into low-grade group(International Society of Urological Pathology Ⅰ-Ⅱ)and high-grade group(International Society of Urological Pathology Ⅲ-Ⅳ)based on postoperative pathology.Using wash-in and wash-out parametric maps,the tumors were segmented into three perfusion-based habitat subregions(low,medium and high)via K-means clustering,and the volume fraction of each subregion was calculated.Predictive factors were selected from habitat features and clinical variables(including sex,age,tumor size,etc.)using Logistic regression.Three models were constructed:a clinical model,a habitat imaging model and a combined clinical-habitat model.Model performance was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic curve,calibration curve and decision curve analysis.Results Habitat 3 exhibited higher wash-in and wash-out gradients compared to Habitats 1 and 2,indicating hyper perfusion.Its proportion was significantly higher in the low-grade group than in the high-grade group(Z=-7.71,-5.11,both P<0.01).Multivariate Logistic regression identified hypertension,maximum tumor diameter and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio as independent risk factors for high-grade ccRCC,while the proportion of Habitat 3 was a protective factor(OR=0.297,95％CI 0.184-0.479).The combined clinical-habitat model demonstrated the highest predictive performance[area under the curve(AUC)=0.938],significantly outperforming the clinical model(AUC=0.801,Z=-3.832,P<0.01)and the habitat imaging model(AUC=0.895,Z=-2.157,P=0.031).Conclusion The clinical-habitat imaging model achieves the highest predictive performance for ccRCC pathological grading.Contrast-enhanced CT habitat imaging provides significant incremental value in predicting ccRCC pathological grading,showing potential to guide precision medicine in clinical practice.

Renal cell carcinoma is one of the most common malignant tumors of the urinary system.Radiomics,as a non-invasive and efficient diagnostic method,can extract high-throughput imaging features imperceptible to the human eye,offering new possibilities for precise diagnosis and evaluation of renal cell carcinoma.However,radiomics often treats the entire tumor as a homogeneous region,overlooking intratumoral heterogeneity and exhibiting poor biological interpretability.As an emerging imaging technology based on biological contexts,habitat imaging utilizes quantitative imaging biomarkers to delineate distinct spatial regions with similar biological characteristics within a tumor,thereby visualizing and quantifying intratumoral heterogeneity.This article reviews and prospects the advances and future directions of radiomics and habitat imaging in renal cell carcinoma.

Programmed cell death-1 (PD-1)/programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) blocking therapy has become a major pillar of cancer immunotherapy. Compared with antibodies targeting, small-molecule checkpoint inhibitors which have favorable pharmacokinetics are urgently needed. Here we identified berberine (BBR), a proven anti-inflammation drug, as a negative regulator of PD-L1 from a set of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) chemical monomers. BBR enhanced the sensitivity of tumour cells to co-cultured T-cells by decreasing the level of PD-L1 in cancer cells. In addition, BBR exerted its antitumor effect in Lewis tumor xenograft mice through enhancing tumor-infiltrating T-cell immunity and attenuating the activation of immunosuppressive myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) and regulatory T-cells (Tregs). BBR triggered PD-L1 degradation through ubiquitin (Ub)/proteasome-dependent pathway. Remarkably, BBR selectively bound to the glutamic acid 76 of constitutive photomorphogenic-9 signalosome 5 (CSN5) and inhibited PD-1/PD-L1 axis through its deubiquitination activity, resulting in ubiquitination and degradation of PD-L1. Our data reveals a previously unrecognized antitumor mechanism of BBR, suggesting BBR is small-molecule immune checkpoint inhibitor for cancer treatment.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of CYP2C19 genetic polymorphism on the plasma concentration of voriconazole in patients with hematological disease and the value of serial monitoring plasma concentrations in the treatment and prevention of invasive fungal disease (IFD). Methods: From January 2016 to December 2016, 65 hematological patients who received voriconazole intravenous administration for the treatment of invasive fungal disease were enrolled in this study. The population CYP2C19 polymorphism of voriconazole were performed using PCR-Pyrosequencing. The trough plasma concentrations of vriconazole (C_trough) was detected by ultra performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Results: Based on the genotype analysis, 65 subjects were identified as extensive metabolizers’ group (30 cases) and poor metabolizers’ group (35 cases). The C_trough of the 65 patients were detected for 169 times totally, and there was a significant difference of C_trough values between the two groups [0.98(0.38-2.08) mg/L vs 2.19(1.53-4.27) mg/L, z=10.286, P<0.001]. The medium of C_trough in 65 hematological patients were described. Lack of response to therapy was more frequent in patients with voriconazole levels <1.5 mg/L (50.0%) than in those with voriconazole levels >1.5 mg/L (20.5%) (P=0.052). And the risk of adverse events was more frequent in patients with voriconazole levels >5.5 mg/L (80.0%) than in those with voriconazole levels ≤5.5 mg/L (8.3%) (χ²=11.689, P=0.020). Conclusion Patients with CYP2C19 wild-type phenotype are extensive metabolizers, their C_trough of voriconazole are significantly lower than patients with CYP2C19 non-wild-type phenotype (poor metabolizers). Appropriate concentrations of vriconazole can improve the efficacy and safety during treatment.

Objective: PLASMIC score was evaluated its value in differential diagnosis between the patients with thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) and those with disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) . Method: Twenty-four patients with TTP and 41 cases with DIC were retrospectively analyzed in this study. The platelet count, average red blood cell volume, indirect bilirubin, creatinine and prothrombin time international normalised ratio were collected, and then PLASMIC scores were calculated. Results: According to the risk classification of PLASMIC score, three (12.5%) TTP patients had moderate risk, and the rest 21 (87.5%) cases had high risk. In DIC patients, 92.7% cases were in low risk group, 4.9% at moderate risk, and only one case had high risk. Of these 65 patients, the sensitivity and the specificity to TTP of the high risk of the scoring system were 87.5% and 97.6%, respectively. Conclusion The patients with high risk of PLASMIC score correlated well with clinical TTP diagnosis. The scoring system showed to be an excellent diagnostic model to distinguish TTP patients from those with DIC.

Objective To investigate the efficacy and safety of perioperative use of different hemostatic drugs in elderly patients undergoing transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP).Methods A total of 480 elderly patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) admitted to the Departments of Urology and Gerontology of our hospital from January 2010 to October 2014 were selected and randomly divided into 6 groups (n =80,each).Patients in all groups were given preoperative oral finasteride for 1 week,with each of the non-control groups receiving perioperative heamocoagulase agkistrodon,mangabeys hemocoagulase,reptilase,ethylenediamine diaceturate,or dicynone + paraaminomethyl benzoic acid (PAMBA).Intraoperative bleeding,perioperative hematocrit,hemoglobin change,continuous bladder irrigation time,adverse reactions and other clinical parameters were recorded.Results Operations went smoothly with all patients.Changes in perioperative blood routine indexes,coagulation function,intraoperative bleeding volume and continuous bladder irrigation time had significant differences between the control group and the groups treated with hemostatic drugs (all P＜0.05).No significant differences in perioperative blood routine indexes,coagulation function,intraoperative bleeding volume and continuous bladder irrigation time were found between groups treated with heamocoagulase agkistrodon,mangabeys hemocoagulase and reptilase,or between groups treated with ethylenediamine diaceturate and dicynone+PAMBA (all P＞ 0.05).There were significant differences in the perioperative blood routine indexes,coagulation function,intraoperative bleeding volume and continuous bladder irrigation time between the groups with and without blood coagulation enzymes (all P ＜0.05).Fibrinolytic responses occurred in 2 patients in the heamocoagulase agkistrodon group and were mitigated after drug withdrawal and fibrinogen infusion.Conclusions A reasonable perioperative dose of a hemostatic drug has good clinical effects in elderly patients undergoing TURP.Hemostatic drugs such as blood coagulation enzymes have certain advantages including safety over other types of hemostatic drugs,but their doses should not be too large.

OBJECTIVEDiagnosis and prenatal diagnosis to a family of hemoglobin variant with α-thalassemia.

METHODSWhole blood cell analysis, hemoglobin analysis by capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE), Gap-PCR, polymerase chain reaction-reverse dot blot (PCR-RDB) assay and DNA sequencing.

RESULTSHb Zurich Albisrieden with α°-thalassemia lead to severe anemia. The genotype of fetus is also Hb Zurich Albisrieden with α°-thalassemia.

CONCLUSIONAbnormal hemoglobin with α-thalassemia may lead to severe anemia, Prenatal diagnosis of thalassemia has the vital significance for eugenic birth.

Adult ; Base Sequence ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Fetal Diseases ; blood ; diagnosis ; genetics ; Hemoglobins, Abnormal ; genetics ; metabolism ; Humans ; Male ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Pregnancy ; Prenatal Diagnosis ; Young Adult ; alpha-Thalassemia ; blood ; diagnosis ; embryology ; genetics

Objective To investigate the effect of telmisartan and irbesartan on PPARα transcriptional activity, and to clarify their molecular mechanisms in improving glucose and lipid metabolism. Methods The structural expression vectors, including pCMV-PPARα, pGL3-PPRE and the internal control vector pRL-TK, were transiently eo-transfected into COS-7 cells using SuperFect, the cells were eontinously cultured with various concentrations of telmisartan and irbesartan, and then the PPRE controlled luciferase activity was determined by using a dual-luciferase reporter gene assay system. PPARα mRNA and protein expression levels were detected by RT-PCR and Western blot after 3T3-L1 adipoeytes were treated with various concentrations of telmisartan or irbesartan. Results (1) Both telmisartan and irbesartan stimulated PPARα transcriptional activity in concentration-and time-dependent manners in cultured COS-7 cells with the maximal effect at 60 h, with the results increased by 3.8 and 2.6 folds respectively at the concentration of 100 μmol/L compared with control group (both P<0.01). (2) The PPARγ antagonist GW9662 did not inhibit fenofibrate, telmisartan and irbesartan-stimulated PPARα transcriptional activities. (3) Both telmisartan and irbesartan increased PPARα mRNA and protein expression levels in a dose-dependent manner in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Conclusion Angiotensin type 1 receptor blockers, telmisartan and irbesartan, can both increase PPARα transcriptional activity, which may contribute to their metabolic effects.