Objective To observe the value of nomogram obtained with multivariate logistic regression based on ultrasound for predicting residue of benign thyroid nodules after microwave ablation(MWA).Methods Totally 101 patients with 133 benign thyroid nodules who underwent ultrasound-guided MWA were retrospectively enrolled.The nodules were divided into residual group(n=21)and non-residual group(n=112)according to follow-up results of contrast-enhanced ultrasound(CEUS)1 month after MWA.The ultrasonic performances of nodules before MWA were compared between groups,and those being statistically different were included in a multivariate logistic regression model to identify the independent predictors for residue after MWA,and the model was then visualized as a nomogram.The discrimination of the nomogram for predicting residue after MWA was assessed with receiver operating characteristic curve and area under the curve(AUC),and its calibration was assessed with Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test.Results High ablation risk and nodules volume shown with ultrasound were both independent predictors of residue of benign thyroid nodules after MWA(both P＜0.05),indicating that benign thyroid nodules with high ablation risk(OR=17.637[2.528,123.019])and large volume(OR=1.297[1.155,1.457])had relatively higher risk of residue after MWA.AUC of the nomogram was 0.756 for predicting residue of benign thyroid nodules after MWA,while Hosmer-Lemeshow test showed good fit(P=0.401).Conclusion Benign thyroid nodules with high ablation risk and large volume shown with ultrasound had relatively high risk of residue after MWA,which could be predicted conveniently and effectively with the obtained nomogram.

Objective:To construct a comprehensive and targeted risk assessment index system for central venous catheter (CVC) dysfunction in patients undergoing continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) .Methods:The risk assessment indicators for CVC dysfunction in CRRT patients were determined based on literature review and Delphi expert consultation. From July to September 2023, 19 experts in hemodialysis were selected for expert consultation. Based on expert opinions and screening criteria, corresponding indicators were added, deleted, or modified. After the second round of consultation, the expert opinions tended to be consistent.Results:A total of 17 experts completed two rounds of consultation. In the two rounds of consultation, the effective response rates of the questionnaires were 89.5% (17/19) and 100.0% (19/19), respectively, and the expert authority coefficients were 0.87 and 0.88, respectively. The Kendall harmony coefficients were 0.131 and 0.138 ( P<0.05). The final risk assessment index system included seven primary indicators and 44 secondary indicators. Conclusions:The risk assessment index system for CVC dysfunction in CRRT patients constructed is scientific, reliable, and practical, which can provide reference for clinical medical and nursing staff to improve catheter risk management in CRRT patients.

Background and Aims:Postoperative intra-abdominal infection(PIAI)is a common postoperative complication in abdominal surgery and a challenging issue worldwide,with a treatment failure rate of 68.3％and an in-hospital mortality rate as high as 40.8％.The key to managing this condition is early control of the infection source,debridement and adequate drainage.Delayed control of the infection source is an independent risk factor for predicting treatment failure.Many PIAI lesions are located deep within the abdominal cavity,lacking optimal routes for percutaneous drainage,and the risks and difficulties of reoperation are significant.Thus,controlling the infection source in PIAI is a difficult task.Here,the authors report the management of 4 PIAI patients treated with nephroscopic debridement and catheter irrigation and drainage via the sinus tract,aiming to provide clinical insights and references. Methods:The clinical data of 4 patients undergoing nephroscopic debridement,catheter irrigation and drainage for PIAI from October 2020 to September 2022 in the Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guilin Medical University were retrospectively analyzed.Key techniques of nephroscopic management of PIAI were summarized and contextualized with relevant literature. Results:The 4 PIAI cases included a right-sided retroperitoneal abscess after catheter drainage for severe acute pancreatitis,a hepatic abscess at the liver raw surface after right hemihepatectomy,bile leakage and secondary duodenal fistula after laparoscopic choledocholithotomy and T-tube drainage,and a pancreatic abscess at the pancreatic raw surface after distal pancreatectomy with splenectomy.All patients underwent nephroscopic debridement and catheter irrigation and drainage via the sinus tract:guidewires were inserted into the drainage sinus tract,followed by a minimally invasive expansion drainage kit and nephroscopy;pus was irrigated out,and pus moss was clamped out with foreign body forceps under nephroscopy.Then,irrigation drainage tubes were placed under the guidance of the guidewire,and continuous irrigation and drainage were performed.The 4 patients underwent a total of 5 nephroscopic debridement and catheter irrigation and drainage procedures,with one case requiring two operations.The preoperative catheterization time ranged from 14 to 58 d,with an average of 38.4 d.One patient concurrently underwent choledochoscopy for stone extraction and biliary drainage via the T-tube sinus tract.The operative time ranged from 30 to 115 min,with an average of 67.4 min.Aside from one case of minor intraoperative bleeding,which stopped after injecting diluted norepinephrine solution into the sheath and blocking the sheath,there were no surgical complications in the other three cases.The postoperative drainage tube duration ranged from 7 to 30 d,with an average of 20.75 d.After treatment,all PIAI lesions disappeared,and no recurrence was observed during follow-up,which ranged from 16 to 40 months. Conclusion:Nephroscopic debridement and catheter irrigation and drainage via the sinus tract for PIAI is simple,feasible,and safe,allowing for direct visualization to avoid organ damage.It is effective in removing pus and necrotic tissue,replacing drainage tubes,and can be repeatedly performed with high efficiency and remarkable results.This method is particularly suitable for patients with postoperative abdominal drainage tube obstruction combined with encapsulated intra-abdominal fluid collections.

Age-related macular degeneration(AMD)is a common irreversible blinding eye disease in the elderly char-acterized by choroidal neovascularization in the macular area.Thyroxine and its receptors are significantly expressed in the retina,and free thyroid hormones are closely related to the occurrence and development of AMD.This article summarizes the basic and clinical research progress of thyroxine in AMD,in order to provide scientific theoretical basis for further ex-ploring the pathogenesis of AMD and better prevention and treatment of the disease.

Objective:To explore the significance of CAS-R-2 frameless brain stereotactic apparatus assisted trepanation and drainage in the treatment of hypertensive basal ganglia cerebral hemorrhage.Methods:The clinical data of 60 patients with hypertensive basal ganglia cerebral hemorrhage, who underwent CAS-R-2 frameless brain stereotactic apparatus assisted trepanation and drainage in Beijing Luhe Hospital, Capital Medical University from January 2018 to December 2022, were retrospectively analyzed. The surgical related indexes and adverse reactions were recorded. The patients were followed up for 6 months, and the prognosis was evaluated using the Glasgow outcome score (GOS).Results:A total of 60 cases of CAS-R-2 frameless brain stereotactic apparatus assisted trepanation and drainage were all successfully performed, and the operation time was (53 ± 18) min. There were 2 cases (3.3%) of postoperative puncture path hematoma, which were completely resolved with conservative treatment. The expansion of postoperative intracerebral hematoma was not observed. The drainage tube retention after operation ≤2 d was in 44 cases (73.3%), and the drainage tube retained for 3 to 4 d was in 16 cases (26.7%), all of them had no intracranial infection after operation. Fifteen cases (25.0%) were complicated with severe pneumonia after operation, and 2 cases (3.3%) died due to severe pneumonia combined with multiple organ failure. Follow up at 6 months after operation, 17 cases (28.3%) were good, 19 cases (31.7%) had mild disability, 16 cases (26.7%) had severe disability, 6 cases (10.0%) had vegetative survival status, and 2 cases (3.3%) died.Conclusions:The CAS-R-2 frameless brain stereotactic instrument assisted trepanation and drainage for the treatment of hypertensive basal ganglia cerebral hemorrhage has the characteristics of simple operation, accurate positioning, minimal trauma, and fewer complications. It is a safe and effective method for treating hypertensive basal ganglia cerebral hemorrhage.

Objective By population survey,to explore the epidemiological characteristics of gastric precancerous lesions in Lishui District of Nanjing and provide objective basis for the prevention and treatment of early gastric cancer.Methods From July 2021 to December 2022,21 977 patients who received endoscopy and/or 13C-UBT in Lishui District People's Hospital and 6 medical community units in Nanjing City were retrospectively analyzed for demography characteristics,detection rate of gastric precancerous lesions,and H.Pylori infection rate.Results(1)590 cases of gastric precancerous lesions were detected(detection rate 2.68%);(2)The total detection rate of precancerous lesions and three pathological types in males were all higher than those in females(all P<0.001);(3)The minimum age for the total detection rate of precancerous lesions in males and the mini-mum age for each pathological type were lower than in females(P<0.001,0.009,0.005,0.002);(4)The popu-lation total H.pylori infection rate was 23.10%,the H.pylori infection rate in patients with precancerous lesions was higher than that in non-precancerous lesions(P<0.001),both H.pylori infection rate of male and female in precancerous lesions were all higher than those of non-precancerous lesions of the same sex(all P<0.001),in addition,the H.pylori infection rate of male whether in precancerous or non-precancerous lesions was higher than that of female(all P<0.001);(5)The precancerous lesions detection rate in male,female,and the overall age range of 20～29 to 70～79 years is positively correlated with age growth(P<0.001),and rapidly decreases after the age of 79,the of H.pylori infection rate was also positively correlated with age growth(P<0.001),and the trend of age change(P<0.001)was parallel to the precancerous lesions detection rate.Conclusions The detec-tion rate of gastric precancerous lesions in this region is above the average level in China;the total H.pylori infec-tion rate is at a relatively low level in China;the H.pylori infection rate is parallel to the age trend of the detection rate of gastric precancerous lesions,and increases with age.

Despite significant achievements of deep learning in medical image segmentation,there are challenges for brain tumor segmentation using deep learning,such as insufficient receptive field,excessive redundant information,and information loss.To address these issues,a novel brain tumor segmentation network model(EAU-Net)is proposed based on encoder-decoder structure.EAU-Net incorporates an effective receptive field expansion block and an attention fusion module to minimize the adverse effects caused by insufficient receptive field and excessive redundant information which often occurred in the current brain tumor segmentation network.Additionally,a bottleneck resampling module based on inverted residual structure is introduced to effectively avoid information loss during upsampling and downsampling,while deep convolutions are used to reduce computational complexity.Experimental results on the BraTS2020 dataset reveal that EAU-Net achieves the highest segmentation accuracy,demonstrating its feasibility and effectiveness for brain tumor segmentation.

Due to the nonlinearity of the transfer function in the traditional ray casting algorithm,Nyquist sampling theorem often can't be satisfied,which affects the quality of the generated model.Therefore,a novel ray casting algorithm is proposed for three-dimensional(3D)reconstruction based on improved pre-integration technology.The pre-integration classification technology is introduced into the traditional ray casting algorithm to improve the quality of the reconstructed 3D model by avoiding the maximum Nyquist sampling frequency for any nonlinear transfer function.Then,the pre-integration acceleration operator is used to optimize the calculation methods for opaqueness and color value,thus simplifying the pre-integration synthesis process and shortening the time for 3D model reconstruction.The proposed algorithm speeds up the reconstructions for the synthetic 3D cone and real coronary artery CT image by 22.5%and 23.8%,and additionally decreases mean square error of the generated 3D cone images,while increasing structural similarity index as compared with the traditional ray casting algorithm,which demonstrates that the proposed algorithm can improve both the reconstructed model quality and the reconstruction speed.

Objective To evaluate the dose distribution and execution accuracy of intensity-modulated radiation therapy(IMRT)plans with different minimum segment widths for patients with primary liver cancer,thereby providing reference for the radiotherapy planning.Methods A retrospective study was conducted on 30 patients with primary liver cancer.With the other optimization condition unchanged,5 IMRT plans with minimum segment widths of 0.6,0.8,1.0,1.2 and 1.5 cm were made for each patient,and the dose distribution,execution efficiency and gamma passing rate of the 5 plans were compared.Results The monitor units and delivery time of the 5 plans decreased with increasing minimum segment width,while the gamma passing rates at 3 mm/3%and 2 mm/2%tended to increase,with statistical differences(P<0.05).Conclusion The 5 plans in the study can be used for clinical treatment.While meeting the clinical requirements,reasonably setting the minimum segment width in IMRT plan can reduce monitor units,shorten delivery time,and improve treatment accuracy.

The correlations of global/local properties of brain networks with gambling behavioral scales in depression are explored.The task-state brain functional magnetic resonance imaging data of 24 patients with gambling behavior and depression and 24 healthy controls are analyzed,and preprocessed by SPM software.Graph theory analysis method is used to establish the functional brain networks in which local and global properties are calculated.Two sets of local attribute index including node degree and node efficiency are used to make edge analysis in different depression groups(major,moderate and mild depression groups,with 8 patients in each group)and healthy control group,and the changes in global properties are also discussed.Additionally,the correlations of scoring scale related to gambling behavior with 3 criteria on the global properties(small world attribute,global efficiency and local efficiency)are analyzed.The two-sample t-tests on depression groups and healthy control group confirm the significant connections among brain regions(P＜0.05),and reveal the significant negative correlations between the global brain network attribute indexes and different behavioral scales,which fully verifies the correlation between gambling behavior and depression,and provides the basis for further exploring correlation between the individual behavior attribute and depression,thereby assisting clinical diagnosis and treatment of depression patients.