BACKGROUND: Inflammation plays a critical role in severe cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) pathogenesis, but the benefits of anti-inflammatory therapies remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate the association between steroid therapy combined with anticoagulation and the prognosis of acute/subacute severe CVT patients. METHODS: A prospective cohort study enrolled patients with acute/subacute severe CVT at Xuanwu Hospital (July 2020-January 2024). Patients were allocated into steroid and non-steroid groups based on the treatment they received. Functional outcomes (modified Rankin scale [mRS]) were evaluated at admission, discharge, and 6 months after discharge. Serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) IL-6, and intracranial pressure were measured at admission and discharge in the steroid group. Fundoscopic Frisén grades were assessed at admission and 6 months after discharge. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were used to evaluat associations between steroid use and favorable outcomes (mRS ≤2) at the 6-month follow-up. Paired tests assessed changes in hs-CRP and other variables before and after treatment, and Spearman's correlations were used to analyze relationships between these changes and functional improvements. RESULTS: A total of 107 and 58 patients in the steroid and non-steroid groups, respectively, were included in the analysis. Compared with the non-steroid group, the steroid group had a higher likelihood of achieving an mRS score of 0-2 (93.5% vs . 82.5%, odds ratio [OR] = 2.98, P  = 0.037) at the 6-month follow-up. After adjusting for confounding factors, the result remained consistent. Pulsed steroid therapy did not increase mortality during hospitalization or follow-up, nor did it lead to severe steroid-related complications (all P  >0.05). Patients in the steroid group showed a significant reduction in serum hs-CRP, IL-6, CSF IL-6, and intracranial pressure at discharge compared to at admission, as well as a significant reduction in the fundoscopic Frisén grade at the 6-month follow-up compare to at admission (all P  <0.001). A reduction in serum inflammatory marker levels during hospitalization positively correlated with improvements in functional outcomes ( P  <0.05). CONCLUSION: Short-term steroid use may be an effective and safe adjuvant therapy for acute/subacute severe CVT when used alongside standard anticoagulant treatments, which are likely due to suppression of the inflammatory response. However, these findings require further validation in randomized controlled trials. TRAIL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov , NCT05990894.
Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Anticoagulants/therapeutic use* ; C-Reactive Protein/metabolism* ; Interleukin-6/metabolism* ; Intracranial Thrombosis/drug therapy* ; Prospective Studies ; Steroids/therapeutic use* ; Venous Thrombosis/drug therapy*

OBJECTIVES: In recent years, the role of remnant cholesterol (RC) in the development and progression of cardiovascular diseases has gained increasing attention. However, evidence on the association between RC and subclinical atherosclerosis is limited. This study aims to examine the relationship between RC and atherosclerotic plaques in single and multiple vascular territories. METHODS: This retrospective cross-sectional study used baseline data from participants enrolled between October 2022 and May 2024 in the National Key Research Program "Study on the Prevention and Control System of Risk Factors for Panvascular Diseases". Color Doppler ultrasonography was performed to detect plaques in 4 vascular territories: Bilateral carotid arteries, bilateral subclavian arteries, abdominal aorta, and iliac-femoral arteries. RC was calculated as total cholesterol minus the sum of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). Participants were categorized into quartiles (Q1-Q4) according to RC levels. The proportions of participants with ≥2 plaques in a single vascular territory and with plaques in ≥2 vascular territories were compared across RC quartiles. Multivariate ordinal Logistic regression was used to assess the association between RC and the number of plaques in a single vascular territory, as well as the risk of multiple vascular territory involvement. Additionally, the effects of LDL-C/RC concordance on plaque distribution were analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 3 539 participants were included, of whom 2 169 (61.29%) were male, with a age of (51.94±9.22) years. From Q1 to Q4, the proportion of participants with ≥2 plaques in a single vascular territory (bilateral carotid, subclavian, abdominal aorta, and iliac-femoral arteries), as well as those with plaques in ≥2 vascular territories, increased progressively. Compared with Q1, both Q3 and Q4 were significantly associated with higher plaque numbers in a single vascular territory (both P<0.05). When treated as a continuous variable, higher RC levels were associated with an increased risk of greater plaque numbers within a single vascular territory (all P<0.05). RC levels were also significantly associated with multiple vascular territory involvement: Compared with Q1, Q4 had a 1.015-fold higher risk [odds ratio (OR)=2.015, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.669 to 2.433], and each 1 mmol/L increase in RC corresponded to a 0.160-fold increased risk (OR=1.160, 95% CI 1.073 to 1.271). In LDL-C/RC coordination analysis, compared with the low LDL-C/low RC group, the low LDL-C/high RC group was significantly associated with multiple vascular territory involvement (OR=1.576, 95% CI 1.220 to 2.036). CONCLUSIONS Elevated RC levels are closely associated with atherosclerotic plaques in both single and multiple vascular territories, even among individuals with normal LDL-C, suggesting that RC should be considered in clinical risk assessment and management of atherosclerosis.
Humans ; Plaque, Atherosclerotic/diagnostic imaging* ; Male ; Female ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Cholesterol/blood* ; Cholesterol, LDL/blood* ; Aged ; Cholesterol, HDL/blood* ; Risk Factors ; Atherosclerosis ; Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color ; Femoral Artery/diagnostic imaging*

Iron metabolism is a critical factor in tumorigenesis and development. Although TP53 mutations are prevalent in glioblastoma (GBM), the mechanisms by which TP53 regulates iron metabolism remain elusive. We reveal an imbalance iron homeostasis in GBM via TCGA database analysis. TP53 mutations disrupted iron homeostasis in GBM, characterized by elevated total iron levels and reduced ferritin (FTH). The gain-of-function effect triggered by TP53 mutations upregulates itchy E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase (ITCH) protein expression in astrocytes, leading to FTH degradation and an increase in free iron levels. TP53-mut astrocytes were more tolerant to the high iron environment induced by exogenous ferric ammonium citrate (FAC), but the increase in intracellular free iron made them more sensitive to Erastin-induced ferroptosis. Interestingly, we found that Erastin combined with FAC treatment significantly increased ferroptosis. These findings provide new insights for drug development and therapeutic modalities for GBM patients with TP53 mutations from iron metabolism perspectives.
Ferroptosis/drug effects* ; Humans ; Iron/metabolism* ; Glioblastoma/metabolism* ; Tumor Suppressor Protein p53/metabolism* ; Homeostasis/physiology* ; Ferritins/metabolism* ; Brain Neoplasms/genetics* ; Mutation ; Astrocytes/drug effects* ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Piperazines/pharmacology* ; Quaternary Ammonium Compounds/pharmacology* ; Ferric Compounds

Objective To develop and validate a nomogram model that integrates systemic inflammatory markers to predict the likelihood of pelvic lymph node metastasis(PLNM)in prostate cancer patients prior to surgery.Methods This study retrospectively analyzed the clinical data and preoperative inflammatory markers—including neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio(NLR),platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio(PLR),systemic immune-inflammation index(SII),and monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio(MLR)—of patients diagnosed with prostate cancer.Univariate and multi-variate logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify markers that were significantly associated with PLNM.Based on the results of the multivariate analysis,a nomogram was developed and its predictive accuracy was assessed using receiver operating characteristic curves(ROC)and calibration plots.Results Among the 334 enrolled patients with prostate cancer,107 were identified with PLNM.Univariate analysis revealed statistically significant differences in free prostate-specific antigen(fPSA),Gleason score,NLR,PLR,MLR,and SII between the PLNM and non-pelvic lymph node metastasis(NPLNM)groups(P<0.05).Multivariate analysis confirmed that fPSA,Gleason score,and SII were independent predictors of PLNM(P<0.05).A nomogram incorporating these predic-tors exhibited strong discriminative ability,with an area under the ROC curve(AUC)of 0.79(95%CI:0.73～0.84).Calibration analysis further demonstrated good consistency between the predicted and observed probabilities of PLNM.Conclusions This study successfully developed a nomogram model based on systemic inflammatory markers for preoperative prediction of pelvic lymph node metastasis in prostate cancer.Owing to its user-friendly design and high predictive accuracy,this tool may serve as a valuable complementary method to conventional imaging techniques,thereby supporting personalized treatment decision-making.

Addressing the challenge of traditional physical/semi physical simulation methods being difficult to achieve full process and full element simulation of extravehicular activities,virtual reality technology is utilized to break through the limitations of physical environments and establish a virtual reality simulation system for extravehicular activities.Based on the application characteristics of space station extravehicular activity engineering,with the goal of improving system practicality and usability,integrating the visual immersion of virtual images,the ontology of real operation,and the consistency of virtual and real space perception,a three-dimensional scene simulation,multi-mode joystick interaction paradigm,continuous operation actions simulation of extravehicular operations,and interactive operation virtual/real space consistency method that were proposed and designed for the realistic visual perception and extravehicular operation.The system has been successfully applied to astronaut training,program validation,joint exercise,and flight control support for sixteen extravehicular activities from SZ-12 to SZ-18.The results showed that the complete reproduction of the static/dynamic realistic comprehensive scene was achieved on the ground for the human-machine operation in the entire process of extravehicular activity,and the system is an essential and important means of ground simulation for extravehicular activity.

Objective:To explore the anti-reflux effect of transverse fan-shaped groin formed (TFGF) when the residual stomach is large (the small curvature ≥10 cm).Methods:Twenty-four patients with residual curvature ≥10 cm after PG were treated with TFGF continuously from Nov 2020 to Dec 2023 in this study. The cohort included 20 patients with Siewert type Ⅱ adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction and 4 patients with achalasia of cardia. Reflux disease questionnaire score gastroesophageal reflux disease questionnaire score and gastroscopy Los Angeles score were used to evaluate the anti-reflux effect and postoperative nutritional parameters (hemoglobin, protein and body weight).Results:The reconstructive operation time of adenocarcinoma of the esophago-gastric junction and achalasia of cardia was (20.0±5.1) min and (18.3±4.7) min, respectively. reflux disease questionnaire, gastro-esophageal reflux disease questionnaire and gastroscopy indicated GERD in 3 patients and 8% in 2 patients at 24 months. At follow-up, one patient transitioned from grade B to grade C based on the Los Angeles score at 12 months; 24 months after surgery, one patient's gastroesophageal reflux symptoms resolved and the Los Angeles rating was downgraded from B to A. Nutritional indicators (hemoglobin, protein and body weight levels) all showed a downward trend at 6 months and an upward trend at 24 months.Conclusion:TFGF has the advantages of simple operation, and effective prevention of postoperative gastroesophageal reflux for patients with lesser residual curvature ≥10 cm after PG.

Objective:To develop and evaluate a medical visual question answering (VQA) model for neonatal lung ultrasound (LUS) images to enhance intelligent auxiliary diagnosis of neonatal pulmonary diseases.Methods:Using data from neonates admitted to Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, Capital Medical University (January 2023 to December 2024), an image-question-answer dataset comprising 251 LUS images was constructed [43 pneumonia (17.1%), 42 neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (16.7%), 83 transient tachypnea (33.1%), and 83 normal (33.1%) images] with a four-tier medical question-answer framework. Building upon the Qwen2.5-VL-7B base model and integrating LoRA fine-tuning with chain-of-thought prompting, we developed the NLUS-VQA model to enhance visual-language semantic alignment and enable stepwise clinical reasoning, achieving efficient small-sample adaptation. Model performance was comprehensively assessed through natural language generation metrics (BLEU-4, ROUGE-1/2/L), qualitative evaluation of characteristic recognition, and clinical consistency analysis.Results:(1) Quantitative evaluation demonstrated that NLUS-VQA achieved scores of 22.38 (BLEU-4), 48.26 (ROUGE-1), 22.40 (ROUGE-2), and 37.20 (ROUGE-L), representing significant improvements over baseline models. (2) Qualitatively, the model exhibited strong performance in identifying lung consolidation, coalescent B-lines, and snowflake signs, with its chain-of-thought strategy enhancing clinical interpretability and answer accuracy. (3) Clinically, NLUS-VQA achieved a Cohen's Kappa coefficient of 0.78 and diagnostic accuracy of 80.8% (21/26), indicating substantial agreement with clinical experts.Conclusion:The NLUS-VQA model demonstrates robust interpretability in recognizing key sonographic patterns (e.g. lung consolidation, confluent B-lines, and snowflake signs), providing a scalable framework for small-sample medical image analysis, though diagnostic performance on complex conditions remains limited by dataset scale and minority class representation.

The ribosomal protein S11(RPS11)from Enterococcus faecalis is was heterologously ex-pressed using the Pichia pastoris system.The RPS11 gene sequence was optimized to match the yeast codon preference,and the recombinant expression vector pPIC9K-RPS11 was constructed.Electroporation was used to transform the vector into the Pichia pastoris GS115 strain,and high-copy recombinant strains were selected through G418 resistance screening.Protein expression was induced with methanol,and the expression was verified by SDS-PAGE.The recombinant protein was applied in a mouse melanoma treatment model to evaluate its therapeutic effects.The results showed that the recombinant expression vector pPIC9K-RPS11 successfully expressed the target protein with an approximate molecular weight of 14 kDa in Pichia pastoris.The optimal fermenta-tion conditions were determined to be an induction temperature of 30 ℃,induction time of 72 h,and methanol concentration of 1％.Analysis using a mouse peritoneal macrophage trained immuni-ty model revealed that recombinant RPS11 possessed biological activity capable of inducing trained immunity.Additionally,therapeutic experiments in a mouse melanoma model demonstrated that recombinant RPS11 significantly inhibited tumor growth.These findings suggest that the recombi-nant RPS11 secreted by Pichia pastoris not only possesses biological activity in inducing trained immunity but also inhibits tumor cell growth in a mouse melanoma model,providing theoretical support for the heterologous expression and potential applications of recombinant RPS11.

Objective:To analyze the application effects of case-based learning (CBL) + Seminar teaching method based on Toulmin model in the education and teaching of clinical medicine innovation class.Methods:A total of 60 students from the clinical medicine innovation class at The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University from September 2021 to September 2023 were selected as research objects. These students were divided into control group ( n=30) and research group ( n=30) according to different teaching programs. The traditional teaching method was adopted in the control group, and the CBL + Seminar teaching method based on Toulmin model was adopted in the research group. The two groups were compared in terms of clinical knowledge, clinical skill, and clinical case analysis scores; changes in clinical thinking ability after teaching; and satisfaction with the teaching process. SPSS 22.0 was used for t-test and chi-square test. Results:The research group significantly outperformed the control group in clinical knowledge [(89.59±3.46) points vs. (83.23±3.02) points], clinical skill [(88.87±3.23) points vs. (83.62±3.13) points], and clinical case analysis [(89.73±3.51) points vs. (82.62±3.19) points] ( t=7.58, 6.39, 8.21, P<0.001). The clinical thinking ability after teaching was significantly higher in the research group compared to the control group [(258.49±13.36) points vs. (242.56±13.02) points] ( t=4.67, P<0.001). The overall satisfaction rate of teaching was significantly higher in the research group compared to the control group (100.00% vs. 80.00%, χ2=4.63, P=0.031). Conclusions:The CBL + Seminar teaching method based on Toulmin model can effectively improve student learning performance and clinical thinking ability, demonstrating a promising application value in the education and teaching of clinical medicine innovation class.

The ribosomal protein S11(RPS11)from Enterococcus faecalis is was heterologously ex-pressed using the Pichia pastoris system.The RPS11 gene sequence was optimized to match the yeast codon preference,and the recombinant expression vector pPIC9K-RPS11 was constructed.Electroporation was used to transform the vector into the Pichia pastoris GS115 strain,and high-copy recombinant strains were selected through G418 resistance screening.Protein expression was induced with methanol,and the expression was verified by SDS-PAGE.The recombinant protein was applied in a mouse melanoma treatment model to evaluate its therapeutic effects.The results showed that the recombinant expression vector pPIC9K-RPS11 successfully expressed the target protein with an approximate molecular weight of 14 kDa in Pichia pastoris.The optimal fermenta-tion conditions were determined to be an induction temperature of 30 ℃,induction time of 72 h,and methanol concentration of 1％.Analysis using a mouse peritoneal macrophage trained immuni-ty model revealed that recombinant RPS11 possessed biological activity capable of inducing trained immunity.Additionally,therapeutic experiments in a mouse melanoma model demonstrated that recombinant RPS11 significantly inhibited tumor growth.These findings suggest that the recombi-nant RPS11 secreted by Pichia pastoris not only possesses biological activity in inducing trained immunity but also inhibits tumor cell growth in a mouse melanoma model,providing theoretical support for the heterologous expression and potential applications of recombinant RPS11.