Objective: To assess the association between the metabolic score for insulin resistance index (METS-IR) and overactive bladder (OAB) in the US population，so as to explore the potential of METS-IR as a predictive tool for OAB risk and to provide insights for early screening and intervention strategies. Methods: Based on the data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2005-2018，a cross-sectional design was employed，and multivariate logistic regression models were used to analyze the association between METS-IR and OAB. METS-IR was analyzed both as a continuous variable and categorized into quartiles. To further validate the association between METS-IR and OAB across diverse populations，subgroup analyses were conducted in participants stratified by clinical characteristics. Smooth curve fitting was employed to test the linearity of the METS-IR-OAB relationship. Results: Elevated METS-IR was associated with an increased risk of OAB (P<0.001)，and this positive correlation remained stable when METS-IR was categorized into quartiles (P<0.001). Subgroup analyses revealed that the association between METS-IR and OAB was more pronounced in females，participants younger than 55 years，and non-diabetic individuals (P<0.05). Furthermore，smooth curve fitting confirmed a linear positive correlation between METS-IR and OAB，with this linear relationship observed in both diabetic and non-diabetic groups. Conclusion: This study，based on the NHANES 2005-2018 database，found a linear positive correlation between METS-IR and OAB.

Objective: To establish aNBR1-knockout lung cancer mouse model through CRISPR-Cas9 technology by using adeno-associated virus(AAV) as a vector to specifically inhibitNBR1expression and to investigate the impact ofNBR1knockout on tumor growth and immune cell infiltration and regulation. Methods: sgRNAs targeting mouseNBR1(Gene ID: 17966) was designed using the online tool CRISPOR(http://crispor.tefor.net/crispor.py). AAV6 was utilized as the vector for sgRNA delivery, and the efficiency of gene knockout was confirmed using PCR and DNA sequencing methods. To determine the best AAV infection approach in mice, 6 C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into intranasal and endotracheal groups. After 28 days, lung tissue sections were assessed for enhanced green fluorescent protein expression to identify the more efficient infection method for subsequent experiments. Lung tumor growth, as well as immune cell infiltration and activation status in tumor tissues, were detected using methods including HE staining, immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, and flow cytometry. Results: DNA sequencing and immunofluorescence results indicated successful construction of the AAV6-U6-sgNBR1-CAG-Cre-GFP vector with stable knockout efficiency. Fluorescence microscopy showed higher efficiency of lung infection in mice through intratracheal administration(P<0.05). HE staining revealed reduced tumor area in mouse lungs after targetedNBR1knockout compared to the control group(P<0.01). Immunofluorescence and flow cytometry results demonstrated enhanced functional activity of CD8+T lymphocytes in lung cancer tissues of mice with targetedNBR1knockout, characterized by increased effector T lymphocytes and decreased exhausted T lymphocytes(P<0.01). Conclusion Using CRISPR/Cas9 technology, we construct a lung cancer mouse model with targetedNBR1knockout. We verify that targeted inhibition of NBR1 expression significantly enhances the functional activity of CD8+T lymphocytes in lung tissues, resulting in suppressed tumor growth, reduced tumor burden, and extended survival in lung cancer mice. This study lays an experimental foundation for investigations into the mechanisms and functions ofNBR1and other genes in lung adenocarcinoma cells.

Objective To explore the correlation of baseline CCL19+dendritic cell(CCL19+DC)infiltration in lung adenocarcinoma microenvironment with immunotherapy efficacy and CD8+T cell infiltration.Methods We retrospectively analyzed the data of patients with lung adenocarcinoma hospitalized at First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Science and Technology from January,2020 to December,2023,and collected tissue samples from 96 patients undergoing immunotherapy for assessing CCL19+DC and CD8+T cell infiltration using immunofluorescence assay.We evaluated the predictive value of baseline CCL19+DCs for patient responses to immunotherapy using receiver-operating characteristics(ROC)curves and analyzed the correlations of baseline CCL19+DC expression with immunotherapy efficacy and CD8+T cell and cytotoxic T lymphocyte(CTL)infiltrations.In co-culture systems of lung adenocarcinoma PC9 cells,CD8+T cells and DCs(overexpressing CCL19 with or without anti PD-1 antibody treatment),the expressions of granzyme B,perforin,IFN-γ,and Ki-67 in T cells were analyzed using flow cytometry.Results The patients with partial or complete remission following immunotherapy had a significantly higher baseline CCL19+DC infiltration level in lung adenocarcinoma tissues than those with poor responses.CCL19+DC infiltration had an area under ROC curve of 0.785,a sensitivity of 75.6%,and a specificity of 62.8%for predicting immunotherapy efficacy.The expression of CD8+T cell surface molecules Granzyme B(P<0.01),Perforin(P<0.01),IFN-γ(P<0.01)and Ki-67(P<0.001)in patients with high expression of CCL19+DC were higher than those in patients with low expression of CCL19+DC.The baseline CCL19+DC infiltration level was positively correlated with immunotherapy efficacy(P=0.003),CTL infiltration of(r=0.6657,P<0.001)and CD8+T cell infiltration(P=0.007).In the co-cultured cells,CCL19 overexpression combined with anti-PD1 treatment of the DCs more strongly enhanced cytotoxicity and proliferation of CD8+T lymphocytes than either of the single treatments(P<0.01 or 0.001).Conclusion The baseline CCL19+DC infiltration level in lung adenocarcinoma microenvironment is positively correlated with immunotherapy efficacy and CTL infiltration and can thus predict the response to immunotherapy.

Objective To explore the correlation of baseline CCL19+dendritic cell(CCL19+DC)infiltration in lung adenocarcinoma microenvironment with immunotherapy efficacy and CD8+T cell infiltration.Methods We retrospectively analyzed the data of patients with lung adenocarcinoma hospitalized at First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Science and Technology from January,2020 to December,2023,and collected tissue samples from 96 patients undergoing immunotherapy for assessing CCL19+DC and CD8+T cell infiltration using immunofluorescence assay.We evaluated the predictive value of baseline CCL19+DCs for patient responses to immunotherapy using receiver-operating characteristics(ROC)curves and analyzed the correlations of baseline CCL19+DC expression with immunotherapy efficacy and CD8+T cell and cytotoxic T lymphocyte(CTL)infiltrations.In co-culture systems of lung adenocarcinoma PC9 cells,CD8+T cells and DCs(overexpressing CCL19 with or without anti PD-1 antibody treatment),the expressions of granzyme B,perforin,IFN-γ,and Ki-67 in T cells were analyzed using flow cytometry.Results The patients with partial or complete remission following immunotherapy had a significantly higher baseline CCL19+DC infiltration level in lung adenocarcinoma tissues than those with poor responses.CCL19+DC infiltration had an area under ROC curve of 0.785,a sensitivity of 75.6%,and a specificity of 62.8%for predicting immunotherapy efficacy.The expression of CD8+T cell surface molecules Granzyme B(P<0.01),Perforin(P<0.01),IFN-γ(P<0.01)and Ki-67(P<0.001)in patients with high expression of CCL19+DC were higher than those in patients with low expression of CCL19+DC.The baseline CCL19+DC infiltration level was positively correlated with immunotherapy efficacy(P=0.003),CTL infiltration of(r=0.6657,P<0.001)and CD8+T cell infiltration(P=0.007).In the co-cultured cells,CCL19 overexpression combined with anti-PD1 treatment of the DCs more strongly enhanced cytotoxicity and proliferation of CD8+T lymphocytes than either of the single treatments(P<0.01 or 0.001).Conclusion The baseline CCL19+DC infiltration level in lung adenocarcinoma microenvironment is positively correlated with immunotherapy efficacy and CTL infiltration and can thus predict the response to immunotherapy.

Humans ; Asthma/drug therapy* ; Biological Therapy

Metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), which is previously known as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), represents a major health concern worldwide with limited therapy. Here, we provide evidence that ferroptosis, a novel form of regulated cell death characterized by iron-driven lipid peroxidation, was comprehensively activated in liver tissues from MAFLD patients. The canonical-GPX4 (cGPX4), which is the most important negative controller of ferroptosis, is downregulated at protein but not mRNA level. Interestingly, a non-canonical GPX4 transcript-variant is induced (inducible-GPX4, iGPX4) in MAFLD condition. The high fat-fructose/sucrose diet (HFFD) and methionine/choline-deficient diet (MCD)-induced MAFLD pathologies, including hepatocellular ballooning, steatohepatitis and fibrosis, were attenuated and aggravated, respectively, in cGPX4-and iGPX4-knockin mice. cGPX4 and iGPX4 isoforms also displayed opposing effects on oxidative stress and ferroptosis in hepatocytes. Knockdown of iGPX4 by siRNA alleviated lipid stress, ferroptosis and cell injury. Mechanistically, the triggered iGPX4 interacts with cGPX4 to facilitate the transformation of cGPX4 from enzymatic-active monomer to enzymatic-inactive oligomers upon lipid stress, and thus promotes ferroptosis. Co-immunoprecipitation and nano LC-MS/MS analyses confirmed the interaction between iGPX4 and cGPX4. Our results reveal a detrimental role of non-canonical GPX4 isoform in ferroptosis, and indicate selectively targeting iGPX4 may be a promising therapeutic strategy for MAFLD.

Objective:The investigation and research on the application status of Hepatic Venous Pressure Gradient (HVPG) is very important to understand the real situation and future development of this technology in China.Methods:This study comprehensively investigated the basic situation of HVPG technology in China, including hospital distribution, hospital level, annual number of cases, catheters used, average cost, indications and existing problems.Results:According to the survey, there were 70 hospitals in China carrying out HVPG technology in 2021, distributed in 28 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central Government). A total of 4 398 cases of HVPG were performed in all the surveyed hospitals in 2021, of which 2 291 cases (52.1%) were tested by HVPG alone. The average cost of HVPG detection was (5 617.2±2 079.4) yuan. 96.3% of the teams completed HVPG detection with balloon method, and most of the teams used thrombectomy balloon catheter (80.3%).Conclusion:Through this investigation, the status of domestic clinical application of HVPG has been clarified, and it has been confirmed that many domestic medical institutions have mastered this technology, but it still needs to continue to promote and popularize HVPG technology in the future.

Objective:To compare the abilities of different neural networks to generate pseudo-computed tomography (CT) images from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images and to explore the feasibility of pseudo-CT for clinical radiotherapy planning.Methods:A total of 29 brain cancer patients with planning CT and diagnostic MRI were selected. 23 of these patients were used for training neural networks and 6 for testing pseudo-CT images. Cycle-consistent generative adversarial network (cycleGAN), contrastive learning for unpaired image-to-image translation (CUT), and improved network denseCUT proposed in this study were applied to generate pseudo-CT images from MRI images. The pseudo-CT images were imported into a clinical treatment planning system to verify the feasibility of applying this method to radiotherapy planning.Results:The comparison between the generated pseudo-CT images and real CT images showed that the mean absolute errors were (72.0±6.9), (72.5±8.0), and (64.6±7.3) HU for the cycleGAN, CUT, and denseCUT, respectively. Meanwhile, the structure similarity indices were 0.91±0.01, 0.91±0.01, and 0.93±0.01, respectively. The peak signal-to-noise ratios were (28.5±0.7), (28.5±0.7), and (29.5±0.7) dB, respectively. The 2%/2 mm γ passing rates were 98.05%, 97.92%, and 98.31% for the cycleGAN, CUT, and denseCUT, respectively.Conclusions:DenseCUT can generate more accurate pseudo-CT images and the pseudo-CT can meet the demand for the dose calculation of IMRT plan.

Objective:To evaluate the global and segmental myocardial work in patients with cardiac amyloidosis (CA) by left ventricular pressure-strain loop (PSL) noninvasively.Methods:Eighteen patients with CA in Beijing Chao-Yang Hospital from March 2018 to December 2020 were included as CA group, 20 healthy subjects were selected as control group. The global longitudinal strain (GLS) and mechanical dispersion (MD) of left ventricle were analyzed by two-dimensional speckle tracking imaging. The left ventricular PSL was used to assess global work index (GWI), global constructive work (GCW), global waste work (GWW), and global work efficiency (GWE). The mean value of left ventricular basal, mid and apical myocardial work index (MWI), constructive work (CW), waste work (WW) and work efficiency (WE) were calculated and compared between the two groups.Results:①Compared with the control group, GLS was decreased and MD was increased in CA group (all P<0.05). ②GWI, GCW, GWW and GWE were decreased in CA group compared with the control group (all P<0.05). ③In CA group, the MWI, CW and WE of the basal, mid and apical segments were lower than those of control group (all P<0.05), WW of the basal and mid segments were lower than those of apical segment(all P<0.05). The impairment of MWI, WW and WE in basal and mid segment were more significant than those of apical segment (all P<0.05). ④GWI, GCW and GWE were positively correlated with GLS ( r=0.854, 0.816, 0.748; all P<0.001) and LVEF ( r=0.674, 0.634, 0.650; all P<0.01), and negatively correlated with MD ( r=-0.657, -0.672, -0.710, all P<0.01). GWI and GCW were negatively correlated with E/e′ ( r=-0.493, -0.539; all P<0.05). Conclusions:The global, basal, mid and apical left ventricular myocardial work indices are decreased in CA patients. MWI, CW and WE show an apical sparing pattern. Quantitative assessment of myocardial work by PSL may provide more valuable information for CA patients.