OBJECTIVES: The presence of multi-scale skin lesion regions and image noise interference and limited resources of auxiliary diagnostic equipment affect the accuracy of skin disease detection in skin disease detection tasks. To solve these problems, we propose a highly efficient and lightweight skin disease detection model using an improved RT-DETR model. METHODS: A lightweight FasterNet was introduced as the backbone network and the FasterNetBlock module was parametrically refined. A Convolutional and Attention Fusion Module (CAFM) was used to replace the multi-head self-attention mechanism in the neck network to enhance the ability of the AIFI-CAFM module for capturing global dependencies and local detail information. The DRB-HSFPN feature pyramid network was designed to replace the Cross-Scale Feature Fusion Module (CCFM) to allow the integration of contextual information across different scales to improve the semantic feature expression capacity of the neck network. Finally, combining the advantages of Inner-IoU and EIoU, the Inner-EIoU was used to replace the original loss function GIOU to further enhance the model's inference accuracy and convergence speed. RESULTS: The experimental results on the HAM10000 dataset showed that the improved RT-DETR model, as compared with the original model, had increased mAP@50 and mAP@50:95 by 4.5% and 2.8%, respectively, with a detection speed of 59.1 frames per second (FPS). The improved model had a parameter count of 10.9 M and a computational load of 19.3 GFLOPs, which were reduced by 46.0% and 67.2% compared to those of the original model, validating the effectiveness of the improved model. CONCLUSIONS The proposed SD-DETR model significantly improves the performance of skin disease detection tasks by effectively extracting and integrating multi-scale features while reducing both parameter count and computational load.
Humans ; Skin Diseases/diagnosis* ; Skin/pathology* ; Neural Networks, Computer ; Algorithms

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical significance of a hemizygous c.1042-10G>C variant of the SLC9A7 gene NM_001257291.2) previously identified in individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders, and to provide an evidence-based guidance for prenatal genetic counseling. METHODS: Four families presented at the Medical Genetics Center of Henan Provincial People's Hospital between December 2022 and July 2024 were included in this study. Phenotypic information and biological samples were collected from family members. Genomic DNA was extracted and subjected to whole-exome sequencing and copy number variation analysis to identify candidate pathogenic variants. Sanger sequencing was performed for familial co-segregation analysis. Reverse-transcription PCR was used to assess the RNA splicing pattern of the variant in peripheral blood samples. Quantitative PCR was employed to analyze the expression profiles of various SLC9A7 transcripts in fetal brain tissue and peripheral blood samples. Pathogenicity of the variant was classified based on guidelines from the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG). This study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of Henan Provincial People's Hospital (Ethics No.: 2021-171). RESULTS: Six hemizygous males carrying the SLC9A7 c.1042-10G>C variant were identified among the four families, which included three adult males and two male infants with normal phenotypes. Only one affected male from family 3 exhibited global developmental delay, short neck, webbed neck, ocular dysplasia, and congenital corneal leukoma. He also had a history of perinatal asphyxia and carried an additional hemizygous variant HUWE1 c.12283C>G. Reverse-transcription PCR showed no aberrant splicing in heterozygous or hemizygous carriers compared to healthy controls, suggesting that the variant does not affect RNA splicing. Quantitative PCR revealed that NM_001257291.2 is the predominant transcript expressed in fetal brain tissue and peripheral blood. CONCLUSION The SLC9A7 c.1042-10G>C variant does not alter RNA splicing and is present in multiple phenotypically normal males, which supported its classification as a benign variant.
Humans ; Male ; Female ; Genetic Counseling ; Pedigree ; Adult ; DNA Copy Number Variations/genetics* ; Sodium-Hydrogen Exchangers/genetics* ; Exome Sequencing

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical phenotype and genetic characteristics of an infertile woman carrying a novel PADI6 gene variant. METHODS: An infertile woman who visited the Medical Genetics Center of Henan Provincial People's Hospital on April 29, 2024 was selected as the study subject. Clinical data of the proband and her family members were collected. Peripheral blood samples were obtained from the proband and her husband for genomic DNA extraction. Whole-exome sequencing (WES) was performed. Candidate variant was verified among the family members by Sanger sequencing. The pathogenicity of candidate variant was classified according to the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) Standards and Guidelines for the Interpretation of Sequence Variants. Relevant literature on the pathogenic variants of the PADI6 gene was reviewed for genotype-phenotype correlation analysis. This study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of Henan Provincial People's Hospital (Ethics No.: 2021-171). RESULTS: The proband was a 35-year-old woman who underwent two oocyte retrieval cycles, yielding a total of five oocytes, with all embryos arrested at day 3 post-fertilization. WES identified a homozygous PADI6 variant, c.367+4_367+7del. In vitro splicing assay confirmed that this variant can cause skipping of exon 3, leading to a frameshift and alterations in the protein structure or premature termination of translation. Literature review identified 12 relevant publications, and the PADI6 c.367+4_367+7del was determined to be a novel variant. CONCLUSION The homozygous PADI6 c.367+4_367+7del variant probably underlay the pathogenesis of infertility in the proband.
Humans ; Female ; Infertility, Female/genetics* ; Adult ; Protein-Arginine Deiminase Type 6/genetics* ; Pedigree ; Exome Sequencing ; Mutation

Intratumoral bacteria are a group of bacteria that exist within tumors and make up the tumor microenvironment. They play a significant role in tumorigenesis and progression, as well as in influencing the response of tumors to chemotherapy and immunotherapy through various mechanisms. This article primarily discusses the sources and mechanisms of action of intratumoral bacteria, with a specific focus on their composition and functions in the digestive system. Further-more, it explores the potential application of intratumoral bacteria in anti-tumor therapy, aiming to provide valuable references for future clinical use.

Aluminum adjuvants (Alum), approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, have been extensively used in vaccines containing recombinant antigens, subunits of pathogens, or toxins for almost a century. While Alums typically elicit strong humoral immune responses, their ability to induce cellular and mucosal immunity is limited. As an alternative, layered double hydroxide (LDH), a widely used antacid, has emerged as a novel class of potent nano-aluminum adjuvants (NanoAlum), demonstrating advantageous physicochemical properties, biocompatibility and adjuvanticity in both humoral and cellular immune responses. In this review, we summarize and compare the advantages and disadvantages of Alum and NanoAlum in these properties and their performance as adjuvants. Moreover, we propose the key features for ideal adjuvants and demonstrate that LDH NanoAlum is a promising candidate by summarizing its current progress in immunotherapeutic cancer treatments. Finally, we conclude the review by offering our integrated perspectives about the remaining challenges and future directions for NanoAlum's application in preclinical/clinical settings.

Objectives:To evaluate the role of pancreas multidisciplinary team(MDT) clinic in the diagnosis of pancreatic diseases,patient compliance with MDT advice,and the impact of MDT on the postoperative survival of patients with pancreatic cancer.Methods:The study included 927 patients(554 males,373 females,aged (58.1±13.3)years (range: 15 to 89 years)) that had visited the pancreas MDT clinic of Zhongshan Hospital from May 2015 to December 2021,and 677 patients(396 males, 281 females, aged (63.6±8.9)years(range: 32 to 95 years)) who underwent radical surgery and with pathologically confirmed pancreatic adenocarcinoma from January 2012 to December 2020,of whom 79 patients had attended the pancreas MDT. The clinical and pathological data were collected and analyzed retrospectively. Diseases were classified in accordance with 2010 WHO classification of tumors of the digestive system and usual clinical practices. The Kaplan-Meier method was used for drawing the survival curve and calculating the survival rate. The univariate analysis was done by Log-rank test and the multivariate analysis was done by COX proportional hazards model. Survival rates were compared using χ 2 test. Results:Among the 927 patients that had visited the MDT clinic,233 patients(25.1%) were referred due to undetermined diagnosis. A direct diagnosis was made in 109 cases (46.8%,109/233) by the MDT clinic, of which 98 were consistent with the final diagnosis,resulting in an accuracy of 89.9%(98/109). The direct diagnosis rate in the recent years(36.6%(41/112),from June 2019 to December 2021) decreased compared to that in the previous years(56.2%(68/121),from May 2015 to May 2019),yet the accuracy in the recent years(90.2%,37/41) was basically the same as before (89.7%,61/68). The rate of compliance of the entire cohort was 71.5%(663/927), with the compliance rate in the recent two and a half years(81.4%,338/415) remarkably higher than that in the previous four years(63.4%,325/512). Patients with pancreatic cancer that attended the MDT exhibited a trend toward longer median postoperative survival than patients that did not attend the MDT,but the difference was not statistically significant(35.2 months vs.30.2 months, P>0.05). The 1-year and 3-year survival rates of patients that attended the MDT were significanly higher than patients that did not attend the MDT(88.6% vs. 78.4%, P<0.05;32.9% vs. 21.9%, P<0.05,respectively),but the 5-year survival rate was not statistically different(7.6% vs. 4.8%, P>0.05). Conclusions:The pancreas MDT clinic is an accurate and convenient way to diagnose intractable pancreatic diseases,and in the recent years the patients′ compliance rate with MDT advice has increased. Pancreatic cancer patients that have attended the MDT have higher 1-year and 3-year postoperative survival rates,but the long-term survival benefits of MDT still needs to be proved by clinical studies on a larger scale.

Objectives:To evaluate the role of pancreas multidisciplinary team(MDT) clinic in the diagnosis of pancreatic diseases,patient compliance with MDT advice,and the impact of MDT on the postoperative survival of patients with pancreatic cancer.Methods:The study included 927 patients(554 males,373 females,aged (58.1±13.3)years (range: 15 to 89 years)) that had visited the pancreas MDT clinic of Zhongshan Hospital from May 2015 to December 2021,and 677 patients(396 males, 281 females, aged (63.6±8.9)years(range: 32 to 95 years)) who underwent radical surgery and with pathologically confirmed pancreatic adenocarcinoma from January 2012 to December 2020,of whom 79 patients had attended the pancreas MDT. The clinical and pathological data were collected and analyzed retrospectively. Diseases were classified in accordance with 2010 WHO classification of tumors of the digestive system and usual clinical practices. The Kaplan-Meier method was used for drawing the survival curve and calculating the survival rate. The univariate analysis was done by Log-rank test and the multivariate analysis was done by COX proportional hazards model. Survival rates were compared using χ 2 test. Results:Among the 927 patients that had visited the MDT clinic,233 patients(25.1%) were referred due to undetermined diagnosis. A direct diagnosis was made in 109 cases (46.8%,109/233) by the MDT clinic, of which 98 were consistent with the final diagnosis,resulting in an accuracy of 89.9%(98/109). The direct diagnosis rate in the recent years(36.6%(41/112),from June 2019 to December 2021) decreased compared to that in the previous years(56.2%(68/121),from May 2015 to May 2019),yet the accuracy in the recent years(90.2%,37/41) was basically the same as before (89.7%,61/68). The rate of compliance of the entire cohort was 71.5%(663/927), with the compliance rate in the recent two and a half years(81.4%,338/415) remarkably higher than that in the previous four years(63.4%,325/512). Patients with pancreatic cancer that attended the MDT exhibited a trend toward longer median postoperative survival than patients that did not attend the MDT,but the difference was not statistically significant(35.2 months vs.30.2 months, P>0.05). The 1-year and 3-year survival rates of patients that attended the MDT were significanly higher than patients that did not attend the MDT(88.6% vs. 78.4%, P<0.05;32.9% vs. 21.9%, P<0.05,respectively),but the 5-year survival rate was not statistically different(7.6% vs. 4.8%, P>0.05). Conclusions:The pancreas MDT clinic is an accurate and convenient way to diagnose intractable pancreatic diseases,and in the recent years the patients′ compliance rate with MDT advice has increased. Pancreatic cancer patients that have attended the MDT have higher 1-year and 3-year postoperative survival rates,but the long-term survival benefits of MDT still needs to be proved by clinical studies on a larger scale.

Objective:To investigate the mechanism of neurofibromin 1 (NF1) in gallbla-dder cancer.Methods:The experimental study was conducted. Human gallbladder cancer cell lines, including GBC-SD, NOZ, SGC996, EH-GB1, ZJU0428, human embryonic kidneys cell line 293T and human cervical cancer cell line HELA, were cultured. The recombinant plasmids (mRFP-YAP1 FL-FLAG and eGFP-MYC-NF1 2650?2750-HA) were constructed for co-immunoprecipitation experiment. The truncated Yes associated protein 1(YAP1) and NF1 recombinant proteins were purified in vitro. The interaction between NF1 and YAP1 in vitro or in vivo were verified by isothermal titration calori-metry (ITC) assay, GST pull-down experiment, co-immunoprecipitation, immunofluorescence, laser confocal microscopy, and the expression of NF1 protein in different gallbladder cancer cell lines was verified by Western blot experiments. Observation indicators: (1) interaction between NF1 and YAP1 in vitro; (2) interaction between NF1 and YAP1 in cells; (3) expression of NF1 protein in different human gallbladder cancer cell lines. The dissociation constants were exported from ITC 200 software and represented as Mean± SD. Count data were represented as absolute numbers. Results:(1) Interaction between NF1 and YAP1 in vitro. ① Results of ITC assay showed that there was interac-tion between PPQY and YAP1-WW1, between PPQY and YAP1 (Amino acid residues 162?275), and the dissociation constants between PPQY and YAP1-WW1, between PPQY and YAP1(Amino acid residues 162?275) were (0.42±0.06)mmol/L, (0.69±0.14)mmol/L, respectively. ② GST pull-down results indicated that the target protein His-Sumo-YAP1 WW1 was obviouly observed in protein lane of reaction system between GST-PPQY recombinant protein and His-Sumo-YAP1 WW1, relative to the reaction system between GST protein and His-Sumo-YAP1 WW1. The target protein His-Sumo-YAP1 WW2 was obviouly observed in protein lane of reaction system between GST-PPQY recombinant protein and His-Sumo-YAP1 WW2, relative to the reaction system between GST protein and His-Sumo-YAP1 WW2. (2) Interaction between NF1 and YAP1 in cells. ① Co-immunoprecipitation results indica-ted that NF1 protein was observed in cell lysis solution which was incubated by FLAG gel beads and cotransfected with mRFP-YAP1 FL-FLAG and eGFP-MYC-NF1 2650?2750-HA. ② Immuno-fluorescence and laser confocal microscopy results indicated that YAP1 and NF1 with obvious fluorescence were co-localized in the cytoplasm of human gallbladder cancer NOZ cells. However, YAP1 with obvious fluorescence was localized in the nucleus of human gallbladder SGC996 cells and NF1 showed weak fluorescence. (3) Expression of NF1 protein in different human gallbladder cancer cell lines. Western blot results showed that with the expression level of NF1 protein in HELA cell line as the standard, the relative expression levels of NF1 protein in EH-GB1, GBC-SD, NOZ, SGC996, ZJU0428 cell lines were 1.28, 0, 1.01, 0, 0, respectively. Conclusion:NF1 affects the gallbladder cancer by directly acting on YAP1 protein.

Objective:To explore the value of 18F-FDG PET/CT radiomics in predicting the cervical lymph node metastasis in salivary gland cancer. Methods:Sixty-eight patients with salivary gland carcinoma treated in the Peking University School and Hospital of Stomatology were retrospectively studied. They were randomly divided into training group ( n=40), validation group ( n=14), and test group ( n=14). The primary tumor lesions were semi-automatically delineated on PET images as regions of interest (ROIs) and the radiomic features were extracted from ROIs. After feature selection and dimension reduction, an artificial neural network (ANN) prediction model was constructed. The prediction performance of the model was assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, the area under ROC curves (AUC), accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity. Moreover, the performance of various models was compared using the Delong test. Results:The radiomic model yielded an AUC of 0.88 (95% CI: 0.78-0.95), a sensitivity of 75%, specificity of 92.3%, and accuracy of 88.2%. By contrast, the combined model constructed based on the clinical node status (cN) reported by PET/CT and radiomic features yielded an AUC of 0.97 (95% CI: 0.89-0.99), a sensitivity of 87.5%, specificity of 100%, and accuracy of 97.1%. The Delong test showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the combined model and cN ( Z=2.27, P<0.05), but there was no statistically significant difference between the radiomic model and cN ( P>0.05). Conclusions:The ANN model based on 18F-FDG PET/CT radiomics combined with cN reported by PET/CT can more accurately predict cervical lymph node metastasis in patients with salivary gland carcinoma.

Objective: To analyze the epidemiological history, clinical manifestations, treatment and the short-term prognosis of 31 cases of 2019 novel coronavirus(2019-nCoV) infection in children from six provinces (autonomous region) in northern China. Methods: A retrospective analysis of the epidemiological history, clinical symptoms, signs, laboratory examinations, chest imaging, treatment and the short-term prognosis of 31 cases of 2019-nCoV was conducted. The patients were diagnosed between January 25th, 2020 and February 21st, 2020 in 21 hospitals in 17 cities of six provinces(autonomous region) of Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Hebei, Henan and Shandong. Results: The age of the 31 children with 2019-nCoV infection was 7 years and 1 month (6 months -17 years). Nine cases (29%) were imported cases. Other 21 cases (68%) had contact with confirmed infected adults. One case (3%) had contact with asymptomatic returnees from Wuhan. Among the 31 children, 28 patients (90%) were family cluster cases. The clinical types were asymptomatic type in 4 cases (13%), mild type in 13 cases (42%), and common type in 14 cases (45%). No severe or critical type existed. The most common symptom was fever (n=20, 65%), including 1 case of high fever, 9 cases of moderate fever, 10 cases of low fever. Fever lasted from 1 day to 9 days. The fever of fifteen cases lasted for ≤3 d, while in other 5 cases lasted > 3 d. Other symptoms included cough (n=14, 45%), fatigue (n=3, 10%) and diarrhea (n=3, 9%). Pharyngalgia, runny nose, dizziness, headache and vomiting were rare. In the early stage, the total leukocytes count in peripheral blood decreased in 2 cases (6%), the lymphocytes count decreased in 2 cases (6%), and the platelet count increased in 2 cases (6%).Elevation of C-reactive protein (10%, 3/30), erythrocyte sedimentation rate(19%,4/21), procalcitonin(4%,1/28), liver enzyme(22%, 6/27) and muscle enzyme (15%, 4/27) occurred in different proportions. Renal function and blood glucose were normal. There were abnormal chest CT changes in 14 cases, including 9 cases with patchy ground glass opacities and nodules, mostly located in the lower lobe of both lungs near the pleural area. After receiving supportive treatment, the viral nucleic acid turned negative in 25 cases within 7-23 days. Among them, 24 children (77%) recovered and were discharged from hospital. No death occurred. Conclusions In this case series, 2019-nCoV infections in children from six provinces (autonomous region) in northern China are mainly caused by close family contact. Clinical types are asymptomatic, mild and common types. Clinical manifestations and laboratory examination results are nonspecific. Close contact history of epidemiology, nucleic acid detection and chest imaging are important bases for diagnosis. After general treatment, the short-term prognosis is good.