Objective To investigate the effect of Tan Ⅰ on SA-AKI in rats by mediating Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.Methods Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into the following groups(n=8 per group,including 2 reserve animals per group):Sham,SA-AKI,SA-AKI+5 mg/kg Tan I,SA-AKI+10 mg/kg Tan I,SA-AKI+15 mg/kg Tan I(SA-AKI+Tan I),SA-AKI+salinomycin sodium(SS,Wnt signal inhibitor,SA-AKI+SS),SA-AKI+SS+Tan I,SA-AKI+laduviglusib(LG,Wnt signal activator,SA-AKI+LG),and SA-AKI+LG+Tan I.Rat SA-AKI model was induced by cecal ligation and puncture(CLP),with Tan I,SS,and LG administered via intraperitoneal injection.Hematoxylin-eosin and TUNEL staining were used to observe renal tissue pathological damage.Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to detect serum concentrations of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin(NGAL),IL-1β,IL-8,IL-6,and TNF-α.Creatinine(Cre)and blood urea nitrogen(BUN)kit were used to detect serum Cre and BUN concentrations.Western blot and immunofluorescence staining were used to detect the expression and fluorescence intensity of Wnt1,GSK3β,and β-catenin.Results Administration of Tan I at doses of 10 mg/kg and 15 mg/kg significantly attenuated renal injury in rats with SA-AKI(P<0.05),suppressed the levels of SA-AKI biomarkers NGAL,Cre,and BUN and pro-inflammatory cytokines(P<0.05),reduced apoptosis,and downregulated Wnt1 and GSK3β while upregulating β-catenin expression(P<0.05).Although Tan I at 5 mg/kg exhibited a modest protective effect against SA-AKI in rats,no statistically significant difference was observed compared to the sham group(P>0.05).SS weakened CLP-induced kidney injury and the production of inflammatory cytokines in rats(P<0.05),and LG further aggravated CLP-induced kidney injury in rats(P<0.05).Tan Ⅰ reversed the promoting effect of LG on kidney injury in SA-AKI rats(P<0.05).Conclusion Tan Ⅰ provides a protective effect on CLP-induced SA-AKI rat by inhibiting Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.

Background/Aims: Metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is a chronic liver disease characterized by hepatic steatosis. Ubiquitin-specific protease 29 (USP29) plays pivotal roles in hepatic ischemiareperfusion injury and hepatocellular carcinoma, but its role in MASLD remains unexplored. Therefore, the aim of this study was to reveal the effects and underlying mechanisms of USP29 in MASLD progression. Methods: USP29 expression was assessed in liver samples from MASLD patients and mice. The role and molecular mechanism of USP29 in MASLD were assessed in high-fat diet-fed and high-fat/high-cholesterol diet-fed mice and palmitic acid and oleic acid treated hepatocytes. Results: USP29 protein levels were significantly reduced in mice and humans with MASLD. Hepatic steatosis, inflammation and fibrosis were significantly exacerbated by USP29 deletion and relieved by USP29 overexpression. Mechanistically, USP29 significantly activated the expression of genes related to fatty acid β-oxidation (FAO) under metabolic stimulation, directly interacted with long-chain acyl-CoA synthase 5 (ACSL5) and repressed ACSL5 degradation by increasing ACSL5 K48-linked deubiquitination. Moreover, the effect of USP29 on hepatocyte lipid accumulation and MASLD was dependent on ACSL5. Conclusions USP29 functions as a novel negative regulator of MASLD by stabilizing ACSL5 to promote FAO. The activation of the USP29-ACSL5 axis may represent a potential therapeutic strategy for MASLD.

Testicular histology based on testicular biopsy is an important factor for determining appropriate testicular sperm extraction surgery and predicting sperm retrieval outcomes in patients with azoospermia. Therefore, we developed a deep learning (DL) model to establish the associations between testicular grayscale ultrasound images and testicular histology. We retrospectively included two-dimensional testicular grayscale ultrasound from patients with azoospermia (353 men with 4357 images between July 2017 and December 2021 in The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China) to develop a DL model. We obtained testicular histology during conventional testicular sperm extraction. Our DL model was trained based on ultrasound images or fusion data (ultrasound images fused with the corresponding testicular volume) to distinguish spermatozoa presence in pathology (SPP) and spermatozoa absence in pathology (SAP) and to classify maturation arrest (MA) and Sertoli cell-only syndrome (SCOS) in patients with SAP. Areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUCs), accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity were used to analyze model performance. DL based on images achieved an AUC of 0.922 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.908-0.935), a sensitivity of 80.9%, a specificity of 84.6%, and an accuracy of 83.5% in predicting SPP (including normal spermatogenesis and hypospermatogenesis) and SAP (including MA and SCOS). In the identification of SCOS and MA, DL on fusion data yielded better diagnostic performance with an AUC of 0.979 (95% CI: 0.969-0.989), a sensitivity of 89.7%, a specificity of 97.1%, and an accuracy of 92.1%. Our study provides a noninvasive method to predict testicular histology for patients with azoospermia, which would avoid unnecessary testicular biopsy.
Humans ; Male ; Azoospermia/diagnostic imaging* ; Deep Learning ; Testis/pathology* ; Retrospective Studies ; Adult ; Ultrasonography/methods* ; Sperm Retrieval ; Sertoli Cell-Only Syndrome/diagnostic imaging*

Background/Aims: Metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is a chronic liver disease characterized by hepatic steatosis. Ubiquitin-specific protease 29 (USP29) plays pivotal roles in hepatic ischemiareperfusion injury and hepatocellular carcinoma, but its role in MASLD remains unexplored. Therefore, the aim of this study was to reveal the effects and underlying mechanisms of USP29 in MASLD progression. Methods: USP29 expression was assessed in liver samples from MASLD patients and mice. The role and molecular mechanism of USP29 in MASLD were assessed in high-fat diet-fed and high-fat/high-cholesterol diet-fed mice and palmitic acid and oleic acid treated hepatocytes. Results: USP29 protein levels were significantly reduced in mice and humans with MASLD. Hepatic steatosis, inflammation and fibrosis were significantly exacerbated by USP29 deletion and relieved by USP29 overexpression. Mechanistically, USP29 significantly activated the expression of genes related to fatty acid β-oxidation (FAO) under metabolic stimulation, directly interacted with long-chain acyl-CoA synthase 5 (ACSL5) and repressed ACSL5 degradation by increasing ACSL5 K48-linked deubiquitination. Moreover, the effect of USP29 on hepatocyte lipid accumulation and MASLD was dependent on ACSL5. Conclusions USP29 functions as a novel negative regulator of MASLD by stabilizing ACSL5 to promote FAO. The activation of the USP29-ACSL5 axis may represent a potential therapeutic strategy for MASLD.

Objective To investigate the efficacy of alanyl glutamine combined with octreotide in the treatment of acute pancreatitis(AP)associated lung injury.Methods A total of 94 patients with AP associated lung injury admitted to Jinhua Municipal Central Hospital from June 2022 to June 2024 were selected and divided into observation group and control group according to random number table method,with 47 patients in each group.Patients in control group were treated with octreotide,patients in observation group were treated with alanyl glutamine on the basis of control group.The efficacy,Balthazar CT grading,acute physiology and chronic health evaluation Ⅱ(APACHE Ⅱ)score,Murray lung injury score(MLIS),Toll-like receptor 4(TLR4),matrix metalloproteinase-9(MMP-9)and blood gas indexes[arterial partial pressure of oxygen(PaO2),arterial oxygen saturation(SaO2)and oxygenation index]were compared between two groups.Results The curative effect of observation group was significantly better than that of control group(x2=5.817,P=0.016).After treatment,the Balthazar CT grading,APACHE Ⅱ score,MLIS score,TLR4 and MMP-9 of patients in two groups were significantly lower than before treatment,while PaO2,SaO2 and oxygenation index were significantly higher than before treatment(P＜0.05).Balthazar CT grading,APACHE Ⅱ score,MLIS score,TLR4 and MMP-9 in observation group were significantly lower than those in control group,while PaO2,SaO2 and oxygenation index were significantly higher than those in control group(P＜0.05).Conclusion Alanyl glutamine combined with octreotide has a significant effect in the treatment of patients with AP associated lung injury,which can improve the clinical symptoms of patients,reduce lung injury and inflammation.

Objective:To investigate, for multi-sensitized allergic rhinitis (AR) patients allergic to dust mites combined with other allergens (pollen, mold, animal dander, etc.), whether the single dust mite subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) can improve the specific symptoms caused by other allergens in the patients, and to analyze the relationship between the effectiveness of symptom improvement in these patients and the type, quantity and severity of the allergens.Methods:A multicenter retrospective study was conducted to collect mul-sensitized AR patients from allergy or respiratory departments of 5 hospitals who received house dust mite allergen preparation SCIT for 12 to 36 months and met other inclusion and exclusion criteria from February to July 2024. General clinical data were collected and the perennial or seasonal symptoms before and after treatment were evaluated with visual analogue scale (VAS) to assess whether there was an perennial or allergen-specific symptom improvement (VAS score decrease ≥30%), by which the patients were divided into effective group and ineffective. R software was used to analyze the differences between groups by using Fisher′s exact test and Mann-Whitney U test. Results:A total of 62 patients were enrolled, and the treatment were effective in 39 of them, with an effective rate of 62.9%. For allergen-specific symptoms, the median age of the effective group was higher than that of the ineffective group (12 years old vs. 8 years old, P=0.039), and the effective rate in dust mite specific immunoglobin E (sIgE) grade ≤5 group was higher than that in sIgE grade >5 group (81.6% vs. 45.5%, P=0.008), and the effective rate of mold sIgE grade ≤2 group was higher than that of sIgE grade >2 group (83.3% vs. 28.6%, P=0.045), and there was no statistically significant correlation between the other allergen grades and the effective rate ( P>0.05). For perennial symptoms, the effective rate in the mold grade ≤2 group was higher than that in the sIgE grade >2 group (91.3% vs. 28.6%, P=0.010), and there was no statistically significant correlation between the other allergen grades and the effective rate ( P>0.05). There was no significant correlation between the treatment effectiveness of perennial or allergen-specific symptoms and the number of combined allergens, the grade of skin test, and the difference between the grade of combined allergens and that of dust mites ( P>0.05). Conclusion:Among the patients with multi-sensitized AR allergic to dust mites included in this study, single dust mite SCIT is effective in some of them, and for allergen-specific symptoms, the effective group was elder, and dust mite sIgE grade 6 and mold sIgE grade ≥2 was related to the low effective rate of SCIT. The present results are insufficient for selecting single or multiple AIT in any type of multi-sensitized patients.

Background/Aims: Metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is a chronic liver disease characterized by hepatic steatosis. Ubiquitin-specific protease 29 (USP29) plays pivotal roles in hepatic ischemiareperfusion injury and hepatocellular carcinoma, but its role in MASLD remains unexplored. Therefore, the aim of this study was to reveal the effects and underlying mechanisms of USP29 in MASLD progression. Methods: USP29 expression was assessed in liver samples from MASLD patients and mice. The role and molecular mechanism of USP29 in MASLD were assessed in high-fat diet-fed and high-fat/high-cholesterol diet-fed mice and palmitic acid and oleic acid treated hepatocytes. Results: USP29 protein levels were significantly reduced in mice and humans with MASLD. Hepatic steatosis, inflammation and fibrosis were significantly exacerbated by USP29 deletion and relieved by USP29 overexpression. Mechanistically, USP29 significantly activated the expression of genes related to fatty acid β-oxidation (FAO) under metabolic stimulation, directly interacted with long-chain acyl-CoA synthase 5 (ACSL5) and repressed ACSL5 degradation by increasing ACSL5 K48-linked deubiquitination. Moreover, the effect of USP29 on hepatocyte lipid accumulation and MASLD was dependent on ACSL5. Conclusions USP29 functions as a novel negative regulator of MASLD by stabilizing ACSL5 to promote FAO. The activation of the USP29-ACSL5 axis may represent a potential therapeutic strategy for MASLD.