Metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD) is an inherited disease caused by a deficiency of the enzyme arylsulfatase A (ARSA). Lentivirus-modified autologous hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy (HSCGT) has recently been approved for clinical use in pre and early symptomatic children with MLD to increase ARSA activity. Unfortunately, this advanced therapy is not available for most patients with MLD who have progressed to more advanced symptomatic stages at diagnosis. Patients with late-onset juvenile MLD typically present with a slower neurological progression of symptoms and represent a significant burden to the economy and healthcare system, whereas those with early onset infantile MLD die within a few years of symptom onset. We conducted a pilot study to determine the safety and benefit of HSCGT in patients with postsymptomatic juvenile MLD and report preliminary results. The safety profile of HSCGT was favorable in this long-term follow-up over 9 years. The most common adverse events (AEs) within 2 months of HSCGT were related to busulfan conditioning, and all AEs resolved. No HSCGT-related AEs and no evidence of distorted hematopoietic differentiation during long-term follow-up for up to 9.6 years. Importantly, to date, patients have maintained remarkably improved ARSA activity with a stable disease state, including increased Functional Independence Measure (FIM) score and decreased magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) lesion score. This long-term follow-up pilot study suggests that HSCGT is safe and provides clinical benefit to patients with postsymptomatic juvenile MLD.
Humans ; Leukodystrophy, Metachromatic/genetics* ; Pilot Projects ; Genetic Therapy/methods* ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation ; Male ; Follow-Up Studies ; Female ; Lentivirus/genetics* ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Hematopoietic Stem Cells/metabolism* ; Cerebroside-Sulfatase/metabolism* ; Adolescent

Objective To investigate the morphological changes in the upper airway after bimaxillary surgery in patients with skeletal Class Ⅲ malocclusion and the relationship between jaw movement and airway changes using CBCT.Methods This study involved 44 individuals(21 males and 23 females)receiving Class Ⅲ bimaxillary surgery.Preoperative and 3-6-month postoperative CBCT data were examined using Dophin3D 11.95 software.The alterations before and after upper airway surgery were analysed using paired t-test and non-parametric Wilcoxon rank sum test.The association between airway alterations and jaw movement was examined using Pearson's correlation coefficient.Results Patients who underwent Class Ⅲ bimaxillary surgery had significantly reduced upper airway volume,sagittal cross-sectional area,and minimum cross-sectional area(P＜0.01).A correlation exists between oropharyngeal volume change and point B change(P＜0.05).When B point recession was＞7 mm,the decrease in upper airway volume increased significantly(P＜0.01),as did the risk of minimum cross-sectional area of the patient's airway(P＜0.01).Conclusion ClassⅢbimaxillary surgery re-duces upper airway capacity.Postoperative reduction in upper airway capacity coincides with mandibular recession.Mandibular reces-sion(＞7 mm)may reduce postoperative upper airway capacity and increase the risk of OSAHS.Patients at risk of upper airway stenosis should have their protocol modified to reduce airway risk.

Objective To understand the respiratory protection competency of staff in hospitals.Methods Staff from six hospitals of different levels and characteristics in Beijing were selected,including doctors,nurses,medical technicians,and servicers,to conduct knowledge assessment on respiratory protection competency.According to exposure risks of respiratory infectious diseases,based on actual cases and daily work scenarios,content of respira-tory protection competency assessment was designed from three aspects:identification of respiratory infectious di-seases,transmission routes and corresponding protection requirements,as well as correct selection and use of masks.The assessment included 6,6,and 8 knowledge points respectively,with 20 knowledge points in total,all of which were choice questions.For multiple-choice questions,full marks,partial marks,and no mark were given respective-ly if all options were correct,partial options were correct and without incorrect options,and partial options were correct but with incorrect options.Difficulty and discrimination analyses on question of each knowledge point was conducted based on classical test theory.Results The respiratory protection competency knowledge assessment for 326 staff members at different risk levels in 6 hospitals showed that concerning the 20 knowledge points,more than 60％participants got full marks for 6 points,while the proportion of full marks for other questions was relatively low.Less than 10％participants got full marks for the following 5 knowledge points:types of airborne diseases,types of droplet-borne diseases,conventional measures for the prevention and control of healthcare-associated infec-tion with respiratory infectious diseases,indications for wearing respirators,and indications for wearing medical protective masks.Among the 20 knowledge questions,5,1,and 14 questions were relatively easy,medium,and difficult,respectively;6,1,4,and 9 questions were with discrimination levels of ≥0.4,0.30-0.39,0.20-0.29,and ≤0.19,respectively.Conclusion There is still much room for hospital staff to improve their respiratory protection competency,especially in the recognition of diseases with different transmission routes and the indications for wearing different types of masks.

Volume electron microscopy (vEM) imaging technology was rapidly developed in recent years. It has been the advanced technology to solve high-resolution three-dimensional structures of biological samples. Much wonderful work has revealed the fine structure and interactions of intracellular organelles, the ultrastructure of tissues, and even the three-dimensional structure of entire small biological organisms. With the continuous improvement of resolution, scale and throughput, vEM is becoming more and more widely used in medicine, life sciences, clinical diagnostics and other fields. As a result, this technology has been rated by Nature as one of the seven most noteworthy frontier technologies to watch in 2023. However, the development and application of vEM-related technologies started late in China and need to be further promoted. We write this review to introduce all related vEM technologies, covering the development history of vEM, technology classification, sample preparation, data collection, image processing, etc., which is convenient for people in various fields to understand, learn, apply and further develop this technology.

In infants with severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia(sBPD),severe pulmonary lobar emphysema may occur as a complication,contributing to significant impairment in ventilation.Clinical management of these infants is extremely challenging and some may require lobectomy to improve ventilation.However,prior to the lobectomy,it is very difficult to assess whether the remaining lung parenchyma would be able to sustain adequate ventilation postoperatively.In addition,preoperative planning and perioperative management are also quite challenging in these patients.This paper reports the utility of selective bronchial occlusion in assessing the safety and efficacy of lobectomy in a case of sBPD complicated by severe right upper lobar emphysema.Since infants with sBPD already have poor lung development and significant lung injury,lobectomy should be viewed as a non-traditional therapy and be carried out with extreme caution.Selective bronchial occlusion test can be an effective tool in assessing the risks and benefits of lobectomy in cases with sBPD and lobar emphysema.However,given the technical difficulty,successful application of this technique requires close collaboration of an experienced interdisciplinary team.

Objective To explore preemptive analgesic effect of preoperative intramural tramadol injection in percutaneous kyphoplasty(PKP)of vertebrae following local anesthesia.Methods From August 2019 to June 2021,118 patients with thora-co lumbar osteoporotic fractures were treated and divided into observation group and control group,with 59 patients in each gruop.In observation group,there were 26 males and 33 females,aged from 57 to 80 years old with an average of(67.69±4.75)years old;14 patients on T11,12 patients on T12,18 patients on L1,15 patients on L2;tramadol with 100 mg was injected intramuscularly half an hour before surgery in observation group.In control group,there were 24 males and 35 females,aged from 55 to 77 years old with an average of(68.00±4.43)years old;19 patients on T11,11 patients on T12,17patients on L1,12 patients on L2;the same amount of normal saline was injected intramuscularly in control group.Observation indicators included operation time,intraoperative bleeding,visual analogue scale(VAS)evaluation and recording of preoperative(T0),intraoper-ative puncture(T1),and working cannula placement(T2)between two groups of patients,at the time of balloon dilation(T3),when the bone cement was injected into the vertebral body(T4),2 hours after the operation(T5),and the pain degree at the time of discharge(T6);adverse reactions such as dizziness,nausea and vomiting were observed and recorded;the record the patient's acceptance of repeat PKP surgery.Results All patients were successfully completed PKP via bilateral pedicle ap-proach,and no intravenous sedative and analgesic drugs were used during the operation.There was no significant difference in preoperative general data and VAS(T0)between two groups(P＞0.05).There was no significant difference in operation time and intraoperative blood loss between the two groups(P＞0.05).VAS of T1,T2,T3,T4 and T5 in observation group were all lower than those in control group(P＜0.05),and there was no significant difference in T6 VAS(P＞0.05).T6 VAS between two groups were significantly lower than those of T0,and the difference was statistically significant(P＜0.05).There was no signifi-cant difference in incidence of total adverse reactions between two groups(P＞0.05).There was a statistically significant differ-ence in the acceptance of repeat PKP surgery(P＜0.05).Conclusion Half an hour before operation,intramuscular injection of tramadol has a clear preemptive analgesic effect for PKP of single-segment thoracolumbar osteoporotic fracture vertebral body under local anesthesia,which could increase the comfort of patients during operation and 2 hours after operation,and improve patients satisfaction with surgery.

Objective To investigate the clinical effect of minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion(Mis-TLIF)technique combined with preoperative position reduction in the treatment of spondylolisthesis and summarize its advan-tages.Methods Between July 2016 and July 2022,60 patients with lumbar isthmic spondylolisthesis were retrospectively ana-lyzed,including 26 males and 34 females,with an average age of(51.32±4.24)years old ranging from 35 to 72 years old.They were divided into observation group and control group according to the operation methods.There were 30 patients in the obser-vation group,including 12 males and 18 females;the age ranged from 35 to 71 years old with an average of(51.80±6.38)years old,the course of disease ranged from 12 to 60 months with an average of(24.17±1.98)months;there were 18 cases of L4 spondylolisthesis and 12 cases of L5 spondylolisthesis;according to Meyerding classification,there were 20 cases of grade Ⅰspondylolisthesis and 10 cases of grade Ⅱ.The observation group was treated with preoperative postural reduction combined with intraoperative reduction assisted minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar fusion via Quadrant channel(Mis-TLIF).There were 30 patients in the control group,including 14 males and 16 females,with an average of(50.00±4.24)years old ranging from 36 to 72 years old;the course of disease ranged from 12 to 60 months with an average of(23.70±1.53)months;there were 16 cases of L4 spondylolisthesis and 14 cases of L5 spondylolisthesis;according to Meyerding classification,there were 19 cases of grade Ⅰ spondylolisthesis and 11 cases of grade Ⅱ.The control group was treated with open transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion(Open-TLIF).The differences of operation time,intraoperative and postoperative blood loss,hospital stay,radiation exposure time and complications between the two groups were analyzed.Visual analogue scale(VAS),Oswestry disability index(ODI)and Japanese Orthopaedic Association(JOA)score were used to evaluate the clinical effect.X-ray and CT were followed up to evaluate the interbody fusion.Results All patients were followed up for 12 months.There was no signifi-cant difference in operation time,VAS of low back pain,slip angle and slip rate between two groups(P＞0.05).The intraoperative and postoperative blood loss in the observation group(165.50±15.56)ml and(59.17±10.59)ml were less than those in the con-trol group(259.33±35.32)ml and(165.33±29.56)ml(P＜0.05).The length of hospital stay in the observation group(3.53±0.68)days was less than that in the control group(5.20±0.41)days(P＜0.05).The intervertebral space height,slip angle,slip rate,ODI,VAS and JOA scores were significantly improved in the two groups at the final follow-up(P＜0.05).There were signifi-cant differences in ODI[(9.93±1.11)％vs(10.93±1.11)％]and JOA[(26.07±1.01)points vs(25.43±1.25)points]between the observation group and the control group at the final follow-up(P＜0.05).Conclusion In the treatment of spondylolisthesis,preoperative position reduction combined with intraoperative reduction assisted Mis-Tlif technique has advantages of less trau-ma,less bleeding and shorter hospitalization period than traditional open surgery.It is a safe and effective technique.

OBJECTIVE To study the tocolysis effects of Angelica sinensis polysaccharides on threatened abortion model rats and their impacts on Th1/Th2 balance by regulating the phosphoinositide 3-kinase （PI3K）/protein kinase B （AKT） signaling pathway. METHODS Pregnant rats were randomly grouped into the control group， model group， A. sinensis polysaccharide group （200 mg/kg）， PI3K/AKT signaling pathway inhibitor LY294002 group （5 mg/kg）， and A. sinensis polysaccharide+LY294002 group （200 mg/kg A. sinensis polysaccharide+5 mg/kg LY294002）， with 10 rats in each group. Except for the control group， rats in all other groups were given mifepristone （8.3 mg/kg） and misoprostol （100 μg/kg） intragastrically to establish a threatened abortion model， and intragastric or intraperitoneal injection of corresponding drugs. The serum levels of estrogen， progesterone， interferon-γ （IFN-γ）， tumor necrosis factor-α （TNF-α）， and interleukin-4 （IL-4） in each group of rats were detected， and the uterine ovarian index and embryonic mortality rate of rats in each group were measured； the morphology of uterine tissue in rats was observed in each group； Th1/Th2 balance in peripheral blood of rats as well as the expression of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway-related proteins in the uterine tissues of rats in each group were detected. RESULTS Compared with the control group， the uterine tissue of rats in the model group showed pathological damage； the serum levels of estrogen， progesterone and IL-4， uterine ovarian index， peripheral blood Th2 cell ratio， and the ratios of phosphorylated PI3K （p-PI3K）/PI3K and phosphorylated AKT （p-AKT）/AKT in uterine tissue were all decreased （P＜0.05）； the embryo mortality rate， Th1 cell ratio， Th1/Th2 ratio， and serum levels of IFN-γ and TNF-α were increased （P＜0.05）. Compared with the model group， the pathological damage of uterine tissue in the A. sinensis polysaccharide group was reduced， and the above indexes were all improved significantly （P＜0.05）； LY294002 could weaken the effect of A. sinensis polysaccharide on model rats （P＜0.05）. CONCLUSIONS A. sinensis polysaccharides can improve Th1/Th2 imbalance in threatened abortion model rats by activating the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway， thereby inhibiting immune inflammation， and promoting embryo survival.

This study was aimed at understanding the genome-wide characterization and variations for three imported novel coronavirus(SARS-CoV-2)strains from different sources in the same period in Jinan at the viral genome level,to provide a sci-entific basis for further improving the prevention and control of COVID-19 outbreaks at Jinan port.We selected nasal and pha-ryngeal swab samples from three cases of imported asymptomatic COVID-19infectionat Jinan port;performed second-genera-tion whole-genome sequencing;and analyzed the variant loci and homology withvarious bioinformatics software.The whole ge-nome sequence of SARS-CoV-2 was successfully obtained from three samples of asymptomatic infected cases,and had full lengths ranging from 29 835 bp to 29 844 bp.Pangolin typing results indicated that the genotypes of the three samples were O-micron BQ.1,BQ.1.1,and BQ.1.12.Compared with the original Wuhan strain,the three samples produced mutations at 77,80,and 78 base sites,respectively,involving 60-63 non-synonymous mutations,mainly in the S and ORF1ab genes.Omicron BQ.1 is an imported variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and was detected for the first time at Jinan port.From a molecular biolo-gy perspective,this study provides a theoretical basis for the source tracing and prevention and control of COVID-19 at theport.

Objective To analyze the nutritional level, obesity status and the prevalence of frypertension in Blang, Deang and Va ethnic groups in Yunnan, to explore the relationship among nutritional physical index, obesity indicators and blood pressure, and use the cutoff value of related indicators to warn frypertension. Methods This paper was based on a statistical analysis of the 7 nutritional pfrysical indexes, 5 types of obesity status and frypertension status of 766 Blang, 570 Deang and 565 Va. Results We found that the nutritional pfrysique index of man)' items (4 items for men and 4 items for women) of Blang was significantly higher than that of Deang and Va (P<0. 05), the Erismann' s index and Pelidisi' s index of Deang female were significantly higher than those of Blang female and Va female (P<0. 05). The differences in the obesity rates determined by the three obesity determination indexes of waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and percent of bod)' fat (PBF) were statistically significant among the three ethnic groups (P < 0. 05), and the obesity rates determined by the three indexes of bod)' mass index (BMI), body adiposity index (BAI) and PBF were all the highest in the Blang, and the central obesity rates determined by the two indexes of WC and WHR were all the highest in Va. The rank of the prevalence of hypertension was Va > Blang > Deang and the difference was statistically significant (P<0. 05). Conclusion Pelidisi' s index, WHR, and PBF all have good early warning effects on frypertension in all three ethnic groups.