OBJECTIVES: We propose a Contrastive Regional Attention and Prior Knowledge-Infused U-Transformer model (CRAKUT) to address the challenges of imbalanced text distribution, lack of contextual clinical knowledge, and cross-modal information transformation to enhance the quality of generated radiology reports. METHODS: The CRAKUT model comprises 3 key components, including an image encoder that utilizes common normal images from the dataset for extracting enhanced visual features, an external knowledge infuser that incorporates clinical prior knowledge, and a U-Transformer that facilitates cross-modal information conversion from vision to language. The contrastive regional attention in the image encoder was introduced to enhance the features of abnormal regions by emphasizing the difference between normal and abnormal semantic features. Additionally, the clinical prior knowledge infuser within the text encoder integrates clinical history and knowledge graphs generated by ChatGPT. Finally, the U-Transformer was utilized to connect the multi-modal encoder and the report decoder in a U-connection schema, and multiple types of information were used to fuse and obtain the final report. RESULTS: We evaluated the proposed CRAKUT model on two publicly available CXR datasets (IU-Xray and MIMIC-CXR). The experimental results showed that the CRAKUT model achieved a state-of-the-art performance on report generation with a BLEU-4 score of 0.159, a ROUGE-L score of 0.353, and a CIDEr score of 0.500 in MIMIC-CXR dataset; the model also had a METEOR score of 0.258 in IU-Xray dataset, outperforming all the comparison models. CONCLUSIONS The proposed method has great potential for application in clinical disease diagnoses and report generation.
Humans ; Radiology Information Systems ; Radiology

The management of antibiotic-resistant, bacterial biofilm infections in skin wounds poses an increasingly challenging clinical scenario. Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection is difficult to eradicate because of biofilm formation and antibiotic resistance. In this study, we identified a new benzothiazole derivative compound, SN12 (IC₅₀ = 43.3 nmol/L), demonstrating remarkable biofilm inhibition at nanomolar concentrations in vitro. In further activity assays and mechanistic studies, we formulated an unconventional strategy for combating P. aeruginosa-derived infections by targeting the two-component (Gac/Rsm) system. Furthermore, SN12 slowed the development of ciprofloxacin and tobramycin resistance. By using murine skin wound infection models, we observed that SN12 significantly augmented the antibacterial effects of three widely used antibiotics-tobramycin (100-fold), vancomycin (200-fold), and ciprofloxacin (1000-fold)-compared with single-dose antibiotic treatments for P. aeruginosa infection in vivo. The findings of this study suggest the potential of SN12 as a promising antibacterial synergist, highlighting the effectiveness of targeting the two-component system in treating challenging bacterial biofilm infections in humans.

The effect of vitamin D supplementation on individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is inconclusive. We aimed to conduct a meta-analysis of the available randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to explore whether vitamin D supplementation can improve core symptoms and coexisting conditions in children with ASD. Data were obtained by searching the PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, CINAHL and Cochrane Library databases up to February 2022 following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Using a random-effects model, mean differences with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated through a meta-analysis. There were eight RCTs with 266 children with ASD in the present review, among which six RCTs were included in the meta-analysis.Children who received vitamin D supplementation showed a significant improvement in stereotypical behavior scores (pooled mean difference (MD): −1.39; 95% CI: −2.7, −0.07; p = 0.04) with low heterogeneity (I2 = 34%), and there was a trend toward decreased total scores on the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) and Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS, p = 0.05); however, there were no other significant differences in the core symptoms of ASD and coexisting conditions between groups as measured by the Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC). Vitamin D supplementation appears to improve stereotypical behaviors but does not improve other core symptoms and coexisting conditions. Further randomized controlled trials with large sample sizes and individualized doses are needed.

Vascular dementia (VaD) is the second commonest type of dementia which lacks of efficient treatments currently. Neuroinflammation as a prominent pathological feature of VaD, is highly involved in the development of VaD. In order to verify the therapeutic potential of PDE1 inhibitors against VaD, the anti-neuroinflammation, memory and cognitive improvement were evaluated in vitro and in vivo by a potent and selective PDE1 inhibitor 4a. Also, the mechanism of 4a in ameliorating neuroinflammation and VaD was systematically explored. Furthermore, to optimize the drug-like properties of 4a, especially for metabolic stability, 15 derivatives were designed and synthesized. As a result, candidate 5f, with a potent IC₅₀ value of 4.5 nmol/L against PDE1C, high selectivity over PDEs, and remarkable metabolic stability, efficiently ameliorated neuron degeneration, cognition and memory impairment in VaD mice model by suppressing NF-κB transcription regulation and activating cAMP/CREB axis. These results further identified PDE1 inhibition could serve as a new therapeutic strategy for treatment of VaD.

Objective To evaluate the effect of clemastine fumarate on Toll-like receptor 4/phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase/serine-threonine kinase (TLR4/PI3K/Akt) signaling pathway during hypoxia-reoxygenation (H/R) in rat cardiomyocytes.Methods H9C2 cells of rats cultured in vitro were seeded in culture wells or dishes at a density of 1×105 cells/ml and divided into 3 groups (n=11 each) by using a random number table method:control group (group C),H/R group and clemastine fumarate group (CF group).Cardiomyocytes were exposed to 5％ CO2-95％ N2in a low-glucose DMEM medium at 37℃ for 4 h followed by 4 h reoxygenation.At 4 h of reoxygenation,the cell viability was detected by CCK-8 assay,the ultrastructure was observed with a transmission electron microscope,the expression of TLR4,PI3K,phosphorylated Akt (p-Akt) and caspase-3 was detected by Western blot,and the expression of TLR4,PI3K and caspase-3 was detected by immunofluorescence.Results Compared with group C,the cell viability was significantly decreased,the expression of TLR4 and caspase-3 was up-regulated,and the expression of PI3K and p-Akt was down-regulated in group H/R (P＜0.05).Compared with group H/R,the cell viability was significantly increased,the expression of TLR4 and caspase-3 was down-regulated,the expression of PI3K and p-Akt was up-regulated (P＜0.05),and the mitochondrial damage was significantly attenuated in group CF.Conclusion The mechanism by which clemastine fumarate alleviates H/R injury to rat cardiomyocytes may be related to inhibiting TLR4 expression and activating PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.

Objective: To investigate the management knowledge and attitudes of dysphagia in stroke patients in Nanning neurology nurses, and to provide evidence for clinical knowledge training and improvement of clinical nursing quality. Methods: A total of 360 neurology nurses from 7 different levels of hospitals in Nanning were investigated for knowledge and attitudes about stroke dysphagia management. Results: The average score of management knowledge of neurological nurses was 54.52±15.51, and the average score of attitude was 45.12±3.90. There was significant difference in the knowledge score of nurses from different hospital level, ages and titles (t=-1.007, P=0.035; F=3.994, P=0.009; F=0.347, P=0.002). There was significant difference in the attitudes score of nurses from different ages and titles (t=7.435, P=0.007); 61.1% (220/360) of nurses did not learn stroke management guidelines for dysphagia; 60%(216/360) of nurses administered dysphagia were based on their own experience, 73.9%(266/360) of nurses believe that the reason for hindering their own swallowing management is the lack of relevant knowledge and skills. Conclusions Neurology nurses have a positive attitude towards stroke management of dysphagia, but lack of knowledge. Nurses with low age, low professional title and low working years have poor knowledge of management of stroke dysphagia. Nursing managers should carry out targeted training for nurses, provide more education and training opportunities to improve the knowledge and service quality of nurses with dysphagia.

Liver cancer is a common type of malignant tumor in digestive system. At present, computed tomography (CT) plays an important role in the diagnosis and treatment of liver cancer. Segmentation of tumor lesions based on CT is thus critical in clinical diagnosis and treatment. Due to the limitations of manual segmentation, such as inefficiency and subjectivity, the automatic and accurate segmentation based on advanced computational techniques is becoming more and more popular. In this review, we summarize the research progress of automatic segmentation of liver cancer lesions based on CT scans. By comparing and analyzing the results of experiments, this review evaluate various methods objectively, so that researchers in related fields can better understand the current research progress of liver cancer segmentation based on CT scans.

The association rules in data of traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions were analyzed using SQL Server 2008,which showed that 17 core compatible drug pairs were in line with the association rules.For example,platycodon grandiflorum combined with liquorice,known as Liquorice and Platycodon Decoction,can treat the principal and secondary aspects of a disease by ventilating the lungs and resolving the phlegm,removing the toxic substances and relieving the sore throat.Mining compatible drug pairs by analyzing their association rules can provide evidence for their clinical application.

Objective To investigate the protective effect of continuous intravenous infusion of Isoproterenol (ISO)on myocardial mitochondria of early septic rats and the corresponding mechanism.Methods Thirty Sprague Dawley (SD)rats were randomly divided into 5 groups (6 cases per group):control group,endotoxin group,ISO small-dose group,ISO medium-dose group and ISO large-dose group.Endotoxin group and ISO intervene group received same management apart from drug intervention:receiving intravenous injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)10 mg/kg followed by an continuous intravenous infusion of 9 g/L saline 1 mL/h or ISO 0.06 μg/(kg · min),0.30 μg/(kg · min)and 0.60 μg/(kg · min).Control group received intraperitoneal injection and continuous intravenous infusion with the same amount of 9 g/L saline.The primary endpoint of the study was 24 hours after injection of 9 g/L saline or LPS.Serum creatine kinase (CK) and creatine kinase isoenzyme (CK-MB),oxidative and nitrosative stress levels and swelling of isolated heart mitochondrion were detected.The pathological changes of the myocardium and morphologic changes of the heart mitochondria were observed through light microscope and scanning electron microscope,respectively.Results The levels of CK,CK-MB,nitric oxide (NO) content,inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) activity and malondialdehyde (MDA)content in endotoxin group were increased compared with control group (all P ＜ 0.05),while the superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity decreased [(11.543 ± 1.080) U/mg prot vs (9.892 ±0.815) U/mg prot,P ＜0.05].The morphology of the heart mitochondria significantly changed (such as swelling,disordered arrangement,crest fracture,fusion and cavitations,and so on).ISO intervention significantly decreased the levels of CK,CK-MB and mitochondrial swelling (all P ＜ 0.05) and increased the SOD activity (all P ＜ 0.05).The levels of NO content,iNOS activity and MDA content were significantly decreased in small-dose group [(10.823 ± 2.240) μmol/g prot vs (7.917 ± 2.203) μmol/g prot,(0.045 ± 0.008) U/mg prot vs (0.033 ± 0.003) U/mg prot,(1.663 ± 0.618) mmol/mg prot vs (0.768 ± 0.312) mmol/mg prot,all P ＜ 0.05],while the levels of iNOS activity and MDA content were significantly increased in medium-and large-dose group (all P ＜ 0.05) ; compared with medium-dose group,the degree of mitochondrial swelling in large-dose group increased (1.160 ± 0.186 vs 1.393 ± 0.128,P ＜ 0.05).The pathological changes of the myocardium mitochondria significantly improved.Conclusions The myocardium and myocardial mitochondria of early septic rats were damaged,continuous intravenous infusion of low-dose ISO revealed protective effect on these damages,and the corresponding mechanism may relate to the decrease of the oxidative and nitrosative stress.

Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease type 4B2 with early-onset glaucoma (CMT4B2, OMIM 604563) is a genetically-heterogeneous childhood-onset neuromuscular disorder. Here, we report the case of a 15-year-old male adolescent with lower extremity weakness, gait abnormalities, foot deformities and early-onset glaucoma. Since clinical diagnosis alone was insufficient for providing pathogenetic evidence to indicate that the condition belonged to a consanguineous family, we applied whole-exome sequencing to samples from the patient, his parents and his younger brother, assuming that the patient’s condition is transmitted in an autosomal recessive pattern. A frame-shift mutation, c.4571delG (P.Gly1524Glufs*42), was revealed in the CMT4B2-related gene SBF2 (also known as MTMR13, MIM 607697), and this mutation was found to be homozygous in the proband and heterozygous in his parents and younger brother. Together with the results of clinical diagnosis, this case was diagnosed as CMT4B2. Our finding further demonstrates the use of whole-exome sequencing in the diagnosis and treatment of rare diseases.