Self-organized blastoids from extended pluripotent stem (EPS) cells possess enormous potential for investigating postimplantation embryo development and related diseases. However, the limited ability of postimplantation development of EPS-blastoids hinders its further application. In this study, single-cell transcriptomic analysis indicated that the "trophectoderm (TE)-like structure" of EPS-blastoids was primarily composed of primitive endoderm (PrE)-related cells instead of TE-related cells. We further identified PrE-like cells in EPS cell culture that contribute to the blastoid formation with TE-like structure. Inhibition of PrE cell differentiation by inhibiting MEK signaling or knockout of Gata6 in EPS cells markedly suppressed EPS-blastoid formation. Furthermore, we demonstrated that blastocyst-like structures reconstituted by combining the EPS-derived bilineage embryo-like structure (BLES) with either tetraploid embryos or tetraploid TE cells could implant normally and develop into live fetuses. In summary, our study reveals that TE improvement is critical for constructing a functional embryo using stem cells in vitro.
Pregnancy ; Female ; Animals ; Mice ; Tetraploidy ; Blastocyst ; Embryo, Mammalian ; Cell Differentiation ; Embryonic Development

Objective:To investigate the clinical features of diagnosis and treatment of renal parenchymal invasive urothelial carcinoma.Methods:The clinical data of 23 patients with renal parenchymal invasive urothelial carcinoma admitted to Beijing Chaoyang Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University from January 2014 to December 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. There were 12 males and 11 females. The mean age was (67.3±10.1) years old. Among them, 7 cases complained of painless hematuria and 9 cases were asymptomatic. Three cases underwent preoperative MRI examination, 19 patients underwent preoperative enhanced CT examination, and 1 patient underwent both MRI and enhanced CT examination. MRI examination showed renal lobulated and other T1 mixed with T2 signals, the boundary was not clear, and DWI showed obvious restricted diffusion. The tumor was located on the left side in 15 cases and on the right side in 8 cases. Preoperative diagnosis was made by fine needle aspiration biopsy in 1 patient, and specimens were obtained by flexible ureteroscope in 2 patients. No tumor was reported. The preoperative diagnosis of 22 patients was unclear and the nature of the tumor could not be determined. One patient was considered to have urothelial carcinoma by fine needle aspiration. All patients were treated by surgery, including 20 cases of laparoscopic radical nephrectomy and 3 cases of nephroureterectomy with bladder sleeve resection.Results:Postoperative pathological specimens showed yellow-white mass, high-grade invasive urothelial carcinoma invading renal parenchyma. Nine cases were T 3a stage, 14 cases were T 3b stage, and 5 cases were lymph node metastasis. The average postoperative follow-up time was (18.6±6.72)months, 2 patients were lost to follow-up, 8 patients died, and the overall mortality rate was 38.1%. Seven patients died of recurrence or metastasis. There were 3 cases of bladder recurrence and 5 cases of metastasis after operation. Conclusions:Renal parenchymal infiltrating urothelial carcinoma is difficult to diagnose in the early stage, with poor clinical biological behavior and poor overall prognosis. For patients diagnosed with renal parenchymal invasive urothelial carcinoma preoperatively, laparoscopic nephroureterectomy + bladder sleeve resection is recommended.

Liver stiffness measurement (LSM) has been widely used in predicting portal hypertension in clinical practice, and in recent years, spleen stiffness measurement (SSM) has also become a diagnostic tool. Studies have shown that SSM can predict portal hypertension and its complications such as esophagogastric variceal bleeding in patients with chronic liver diseases and assist in the risk stratification management of portal hypertension and esophagogastric variceal bleeding. It can accurately predict clinically significant portal hypertension, high-risk esophageal and gastric varices, decompensation rate, and mortality rate in patients with chronic liver diseases. At present, SSM data in most studies are obtained by detection using the liver equipment FibroScan Ⓡ (SSM@50 Hz). FibroScan Ⓡ 630 is a new scanner dedicated for SSM with a special mode for SSM (SSM@100 Hz). This article elaborates on the significance of SSM in predicting portal hypertension and briefly introduces the advantages and disadvantages of the new equipment for SSM.

Objective To explore the clinical value of transient elastography(TE)combined with serological markers to distinguish early hepatic fibrosis of chronic hepatitis B(CHB).Methods Clinical data of 176 CHB patients admitted to Hangzhou Xixi Hospital Affiliated to Zhejiang Chinese Medical University from January 2020 to November 2022 were retrospectively analyzed,and the included patients were divided into training group(n=123)and test group(n=53).Based on the data of the training group,the clinical features were screened by the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator algorithm,and the early liver fibrosis model was constructed by multivariate Logistic regression.The performance of the model was evaluated using test group data and receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve.Finally,the stability and clinical efficacy of the model were evaluated using calibration curve and decision curve,respectively.Results The prediction model was constructed based on liver stiffness measurement,fat attenuation index,red blood cells and glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase.The area under the curve of the model in training group and test group was 0.824 and 0.819,the sensitivity was 82.1%and 80.6%,and the specificity was 71.8%and 68.8%,respectively.The calibration curve showed good calibration performance in training group and test group,and the decision curve showed good clinical efficacy of the model in training group and test group.Conclusion A hybrid model of TE technology combined with serological markers provides a potential new way to identify early liver fibrosis in patients with CHB,which could aid in clinical monitoring and treatment.

Objective:To explore the method of ultrasonography for detecting the fetal umbilical vein diameter, blood flow volume and normalized volume blood flow and establish normal reference ranges with umbilical vein diameter, blood flow volume and normalized blood flow and Z-scores for umbilical vein diameter and blood volume flow.Methods:This was a prospective study on 907 normal fetuses in the Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University and Women and Children Healthcare Hospital of Zhuzhou from March 2019 to December 2020. The umbilical vein diameter (Duv), umbilical vein blood flow volume (Quv) and normalized volume blood flow (nQ = Quv/estimated fetal weight) of the free loop of umbilical vein (FUV) and fetal intra-abdominal umbilical vein (IUV) were collected. And the mean values and 90% confidence intervals of Duv, Quv and nQ in two segments of umbilical veins at different gestational ages were calculated. Regression analysis of Duv, Quv and nQ were performed with gestational age (GA), and the parameters of umbilical vein in different segments were compared. Finally, with gestational age (GA) as the independent variable, Z-scores of the Duv and Quv were built.Results:The mean values and 90% confidence intervals of Duv, Quv, and nQ in 858 (94.6%) normal fetal umbilical veins were successfully obtained. The Duv, Quv of the FUV and IUV increased as pregnancy progressed. The Quadratic curve of Duv and Linear curve of Quv were of the highest fitnesses, respectively( r=0.951, 0.941, 0.986, 0.982; all P<0.001). While nQ increased with GA followed by a decreased trend, and the Quadratic curve was the highest fitting curve of nQ( r=0.610, 0.611; all P<0.001). Duv-FUV was greater than Duv-IUV( P<0.001), nQ-FUV was bigger than Quv-IUV( P=0.001), and he difference was not statistically significant between Quv-FUV and Quv-IUV( P=0.133). Z-scores models of Duv and Quv were successfully established, and all Z-scores were Gaussian distribution. Conclusions:The normal ranges and Z-scores of umbilical vein parameters are useful to improve the evaluation of placental circulation and provide a strong basis for the monitoring of fetus-related diseases and the evaluation of pregnancy prognosis. The choice of FUV or IUV umbilical vein to evaluate placental circulation may depend on the actual situation in clinical application.

Chemically defined medium is widely used for culturing mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs), in which N2B27 works as a substitution for serum, and GSK3β and MEK inhibitors (2i) help to promote ground-state pluripotency. However, recent studies suggested that MEKi might cause irreversible defects that compromise the developmental potential of mESCs. Here, we demonstrated the deficient bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signal in the chemically defined condition is one of the main causes for the impaired pluripotency. Mechanistically, activating the BMP signal pathway by BMP4 could safeguard the chromosomal integrity and proliferation capacity of mESCs through regulating downstream targets Ube2s and Chmp4b. More importantly, BMP4 promotes a distinct in vivo developmental potential and a long-term pluripotency preservation. Besides, the pluripotent improvements driven by BMP4 are superior to those by attenuating MEK suppression. Taken together, our study shows appropriate activation of BMP signal is essential for regulating functional pluripotency and reveals that BMP4 should be applied in the serum-free culture system.
Animals ; Bone Morphogenetic Protein 4/metabolism* ; Cell Differentiation ; Chromosomal Instability ; Endosomal Sorting Complexes Required for Transport ; Mice ; Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Kinases/metabolism* ; Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells/cytology* ; Pluripotent Stem Cells/cytology* ; Signal Transduction ; Ubiquitin-Conjugating Enzymes

In order to fulfill the new requirement of educational and teaching reform in the new era, the Teaching and Research Section of Parasitology in Guangxi Medical University have constructed online courses of Parasites Invasion— Human Parasitology on the platform of Xueyin Online, providing resources in professional learning and general education. In the construction concept, we recombine teaching content to give consideration to both scientificity and interest. In terms of the curriculum content, the curriculum includes micro lecture, PPT, in-lass quiz, case analysis and other diversified teaching resources. In the curriculum management, teachers interact with students in real time with the help of various functions of the platform to fully play the role of supervision. In the assessment, teachers pay attention to students' learning process and carry out comprehensive evaluation. Since the online course was put into operation, good teaching effects has been achieved.

Objective:To evaluate the efficacy and safety of endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) for early hypopharyngeal carcinoma and precancerous lesions.Methods:Clinical data of 41 patients who received ESD for early hypopharyngeal carcinoma and precancerous lesions from August 2013 to August 2019 in the Department of Endoscopy of Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College were retrospectively analyzed. Main outcome measurements included operation completion rate, operation time, en bloc resection rate, R0 resection rate, complication rate and recurrence.Results:ESD was successfully completed in all 41 cases, with a success rate of 100.0% and a mean time of 49.1 min (ranged 10-110 min). Fifty-four lesions underwent en bloc resection, with an en bloc resection rate of 98.2% (54/55), of which 41 had negative horizontal and vertical margins, and the R0 resection rate was 74.5% (41/55). During the operation of 55 lesions, there was a small amount of blood oozing on the wound surface, and electrocoagulation with thermal biopsy forceps could successfully stop the bleeding. No perforation occurred, and 2 cases (4.3%) had delayed bleeding after ESD, and hemostasis was successful under emergency endoscopy. Postoperative endoscopy showed that 1 case (2.2%) had esophageal entrance stenosis, and the obstruction was relieved after repeated water balloon dilatation. The follow-up period ranged from 3 to 72 months, and the median time was 18 months. One case was found to have mucosal lesions in the same part of the hypopharynx and received ESD treatment again. Follow-up to October 2020, no residual lesions and recurrence were found.Conclusion:ESD is a safe and effective option for the treatment of early hypopharyngeal carcinoma and precancerous lesions, which is worthy of clinical application.

Objective:To investigate the efficacy and safety of DOS regimen in adjuvant chemotherapy after D2 radical resection for advanced gastric adenocarcinoma.Methods:The clinical data of 130 patients who received adjuvant chemotherapy after D2 radical resection for advanced gastric adenocarcinoma in Jincheng People's Hospital from January 2017 to January 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. According to treatment regimens, the patients were divided into DOS regimen chemotherapy group (DOS group, 63 cases) and SOX (oxaliplatin, S-1) regimen chemotherapy group (SOX group, 67 cases). The short-term efficacy and adverse reactions of the two groups were compared.Results:Due to the irregular treatment time, 2 cases in each group were removed. Finally, there were 61 cases in DOS group and 65 cases in SOX group. The 1-, 2- and 3-year disease-free survival (DFS) rates of the DOS group were 80.33%, 73.77% and 62.30%, and the DFS rates of the SOX group were 73.85%, 55.38% and 41.54%. The difference in DFS between the two groups was statistically significant ( χ2 = 5.43, P = 0.022). The 1-, 2- and 3-year overall survival (OS) rates of the DOS group were 93.44%, 80.33% and 70.50%, and the OS rates of the SOX group were 96.92%, 73.85% and 52.31%. The difference in OS between the two groups was statistically significant ( χ2 = 4.38, P = 0.045). There were no statistical differences in the incidence rates of grade Ⅰ-Ⅱ nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, bone marrow suppression and fatigue between the two groups (all P > 0.05). There were no statistical differences in the incidence rates of grade Ⅲ-Ⅳ nausea, vomiting and fatigue (both P > 0.05), but there were statistical significances in the incidence rates of grade Ⅲ-Ⅳ diarrhea and bone marrow suppression (both P < 0.05). Conclusions:Adjuvant DOS regimen in the treatment of advanced gastric adenocarcinoma after D2 radical resection has good curative efficacy and can improve the survival of patients, and the adverse reactions can be tolerated.

Ischemic stroke (IS) is a kind of cerebrovascular disease caused by temporary or permanent decrease in local cerebral blood flow. The research of this disease by revealing its pathophysiological process and exploring new therapeutic targets from the cellular and molecular levels has always been the hot spot. In recent years, the competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) regulatory network mediated by long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) has been proved to play a key role in the pathology and physiology of IS, which can effectively improve the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of IS. This article aims to describe the mechanism of micro RNA (miRNA) and lncRNA in IS and the role of lncRNA as miRNA's ceRNA in the cell apoptosis, cell viability, angiogenesis, inflammatory response, oxidative stress, and neuroprotection of IS patients, in order to broaden the vision of the occurrence and development of IS and provide new ideas for its diagnosis and treatment.