The present study employed UPLC-MS/MS to analyze and identify compounds in the raw powder of Tongluo Shenggu capsules. An HPLC method for the determination of vitexin content was established. The analysis of this drug was performed on a 30 ℃ thermostatic Acquity UPLC® BEH C18 (2.1 mm×100 mm,1.7 μm) column, with the mobile phase comprising 0.2% formic acid-methanol flowing at 0.3 mL /min in a gradient elution manner. Mass spectrometry was detected by ESI sources in both positive and negative ion modes for qualitative identification of chemical constituents. 12 flavonoid and 3 stilbenes compounds in the raw powder of Tongluo Shenggu capsules were successfully identified. Additionally, an HPLC method for the determination of vitexin content was established using a XBridge C18 column (4.6 mm × 250 mm, 5 µm) with a mobile phase of 0.05% glacial acetic acid in methanol for gradient elution, at a column temperature of 30 °C, a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min, and an injection volume of 20 μL. The method demonstrated good linearity in the concentration range of 10 µg/mL to 40 µg/mL (R=1.000) with an average recovery rate of 96.7%. The establishment of these methods provides a scientific basis for the quality control and development of the raw powder of Tongluo Shenggu capsules.

Objective To compare the long-term survival of elderly patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) treated with surgical versus non-surgical treatment. Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of elderly patients aged ≥70 years with ESCC who underwent esophagectomy or radiotherapy/chemotherapy at Sichuan Cancer Hospital from January 2009 to September 2017. Patients were divided into a surgical group (S group) and a non-surgical group (NS group) according to the treatment method. The propensity score matching method was used to match the two groups of patients at a ratio of 1∶1, and the survival of the two groups before and after matching was analyzed. Results A total of 726 elderly patients with ESCC were included, including 552 males and 174 females, with 651 patients aged ≥70-80 years and 75 patients aged ≥80-90 years. There were 515 patients in the S group and 211 patients in the NS group. The median follow-up time was 60.8 months, and the median overall survival of the S group was 41.9 months [95%CI (35.2, 48.5)], while that of the NS group was only 24.0 months [95%CI (19.8, 28.3)]. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year overall survival rates of the S group were 84%, 54%, and 40%, respectively, while those of the NS group were 72%, 40%, and 30%, respectively [HR=0.689, 95%CI (0.559, 0.849), P<0.001]. After matching, 138 patients were included in each group, and there was no statistical difference in the overall survival between the two groups [HR=0.871, 95%CI (0.649, 1.167), P=0.352]. Conclusion Compared with conservative treatment, there is no significant difference in the long-term survival of elderly patients aged ≥70 years who undergo esophagectomy for ESCC. Neoadjuvant therapy combined with surgery is still an important choice to potentially improve the survival of elderly patients with ESCC.

INTRODUCTION: In December 2019, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) virus emerged and caused a worldwide pandemic, leading to measures being imposed by many countries to reduce its transmission. Singapore implemented the 'circuit breaker', which restricted all movements except for access to necessities and healthcare services. We aimed to investigate the impact of lockdown measures on the pattern of trauma and its effects. METHODS: An observational, retrospective, single-centre descriptive study was conducted using the trauma registry in Singapore General Hospital. It included patients above 18 years old who presented to the emergency department with trauma and were subsequently admitted. Patients admitted from 1 February 2020 to 31 July 2020 and those admitted during the same timeframe in 2019 were studied. Subgroup analyses were performed for patients aged ≥65 years and those <65 years. RESULTS: A total of 1,037 patients were included for analysis. A 17.6% increase in trauma presentations was seen from 2019 to 2020. Patients aged ≥65 years accounted for the rise in admissions. The predominant mechanism of injury was falls at home for older patients and vehicular accidents in patients <65 years. There were no significant differences in injury severity score, intensive care/high-dependency unit admission rates, length of stay, mortality rate, and subsequent need for inpatient rehabilitation. CONCLUSION Our study provided information on differences in trauma presentations before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Further studies are required to better inform on additional precautionary measures needed to reduce trauma and improve safety during future lockdowns and pandemics.
Humans ; COVID-19/prevention & control* ; Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Singapore/epidemiology* ; Male ; Female ; Wounds and Injuries/epidemiology* ; Aged, 80 and over ; Middle Aged ; SARS-CoV-2 ; Hospitalization/statistics & numerical data* ; Adult ; Emergency Service, Hospital/statistics & numerical data* ; Registries ; Accidental Falls/statistics & numerical data* ; Pandemics ; Patient Admission/statistics & numerical data* ; Length of Stay ; Accidents, Traffic/statistics & numerical data*

Objective:To explore the efficacy of unilateral biportal endoscopic (UBE) decompression combined with percutaneous pedicle screw fixation in the treatment of thoracolumbar burst fracture.Methods:A retrospective series study was conducted on the clinical data of 26 patients with thoracolumbar burst fracture who were admitted to Second Affiliated Hospital, University of South China between January 2023 and June 2024, including 18 males and 8 females, aged 14-58 years [(37.2±12.7)years]. Fractured segments included T 12 in 2 patients, L 1 in 3, L 2 in 9, L 3 in 7, and L 4 in 5. According to the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) scale, 2 patients were classified as grade C and 24 as grade D. All the patients were treated with UBE decompression combined with percutaneous pedicle screw fixation. The anterior vertebral height ratio (AVHR), vertebral wedge angle (VWA), kyphosis Cobb angle (KCA), vertebral compression efficiency ratio (VCER), visual analogue scale (VAS) and ASIA grade were compared preoperatively, at 3 days postoperatively and at the last follow-up. Postoperative complications were observed. Results:All the patients were followed up for 6-12 months [(8.7±1.9)months]. At 3 days postoperatively and at the last follow-up, AVHR [(93.7±2.2)%, (88.8±2.5)%], VWA [(3.9±1.2)°, (4.4±1.3)°] and KCA [(5.4±1.4)°, (6.1±1.4)°] were significantly improved compared with those preoperatively [(76.7±3.1)%, (7.0±2.9)°, (12.3±3.4)°, respectively] ( P<0.05). At the last follow-up, AVHR was decreased but VWA and KCA were increased in comparison with those at 3 days postoperatively ( P<0.05). VCER was (18.5±6.9)% at 3 days postoperatively and (18.1±6.4)% at the last follow-up, which were improved in comparison with that preoperatively [(53.6±7.7)%] ( P<0.05). There was no significant difference in VCER at the last follow-up and at 3 days postoperatively ( P>0.05). The VAS score was decreased from (8.5±0.7)points preoperatively to (3.5±0.7)points at 3 days postoperatively and further to (1.0±0.8)points at the last follow-up ( P<0.05), and there was statistically significant difference between the VAS scores at 3 days postoperatively and at the last follow-up ( P<0.05). At the last follow-up, 2 patients with ASIA grade C recovered to grade D, while 24 patients with ASIA grade D recovered to grade E ( P<0.01). Asymptomatic epidural hematoma was found in 1 patient and drainage tube-related limb pain in 1, but no instances of incision infection, cerebrospinal fluid leakage, decreased muscle strength, loosening or breakage of internal fixation were observed in other patients. Conclusion:The combined application of UBE decompression and percutaneous pedicle screw fixation demonstrates significant clinical advantages in treating thoracolumbar burst fractures, including fracture reduction of the injured vertebra, spinal canal decompression, thoracolumbar back pain relief, neurological function recovery and lower complication rates.

Objective To explore the application values of different detection methods in monitoring the decline pattern of syphilis-spe-cific antibody in the non-congenital syphilis children.Methods A total of 80 non-congenital syphilis children were included in the study.The serum specimens were collected after birth,and the syphilis-specific antibodies were detected using electrochemilumines-cence immunoassay(ECLIA),western blotting(WB),treponema pallidum particle agglutination assay(TPPA),enzyme-linked im-munosorbent assay(ELISA),and toluidine red unheated serum test(TRUST).Follow-up was conducted every three months until the positive results of ELISA and TRUST turned to negative.Results The results of ECLIA showed that the syphilis-specific antibody lev-els in the non-congenital syphilis children declined to 25％of the level at birth within 2 to 3 months,and the rate of decline was inde-pendent of the initial concentration.WB analysis indicated that the specific IgG bands in non-congenital syphilis children at birth were consistent with those of their mother,and the sequence of specific antibodies decline was as follows:TPN47,TPN15,TPN45,and TPN17.Due to methodological limitations,the absorbance values of ELISA showed no significant change during the first three months after birth when high concentrations of antibodies were present in the samples,but it showed high sensitivity in the detection for the samples with low-concentration of syphilis antibodies.The detection rates of ECLIA,TPPA,and WB were compared by using ELISA as the reference method.At birth,the detection rates of syphilis antibodies were 100％,100％,and 90％,respectively.In 3 months after birth,the detection rates were 100％,100％,and 75％.In 6 months after birth,,they were 100％,46％,and 15％.In 9 months after birth,they were 83％,33％,and 0％.The positive rate of TRUST was 17.5％at birth.and turned to negative in 3 month of follow-up.Conclusion Syphilis specific IgG antibodies may fully transferred to the fetus and decline in a predictable pattern after birth.The comprehensive analysis for the results of the four methods suggested that dynamic detection using ECLIA method could be used to pre-dict the risk of non-congenital syphilis or terminate the follow-up at 3 months,while the seroconversion detected by WB was earlier than that by TPPA,while ELISA required the longest follow-up period.

AIM:To construct a network calcula-tor based on machine learning(ML)models to pre-dict the risk of delayed awakening from anaesthesia in breast cancer(BC)patients.METHODS:A total of 435 BC patients surgically treated at our hospital from January 2023 to June 2024 were selected.The Boruta algorithm was used to screen for important characteristic variables for the risk of delayed awak-ening from anaesthesia.All patients were randomly assigned to a training set(n=261)and a test set(n=174)based on a 3:2 ratio and nine ML models were constructed and trained.Nine ML models were evaluated on the basis of receiver operating charac-teristic(ROC)curves for a random sample of 10 sub-jects and the clinical utility of the models was as-sessed using decision curve analysis.Combined with SHapley Additive exPlanations(SHAP)bar graphs,summary graphs and force diagrams additional in-terpretation and visualization of the ML model.Con-struction of a network calculator for predicting the risk of delayed awakening from anesthesia in BC pa-tients using the R package.RESULTS:Of the 435 BC patients,25.1%experienced delayed awakening from anesthesia.Boruta algorithm screened seven feature variables.The ROC curve shows that the XG-Boost model has the highest area under the curve(AUC)for 10 random samples among the 9 ML mod-els,and the decision curve shows that the XGBoost model has a significant clinical net benefit.The SHAP bar graph shows the importance of ASA classi-fication,surgery time,anesthesia time,intraopera-tive blood loss,propofol,preoperative anemia,and intraoperative hypothermia,and the SHAP summa-ry graph reflects the distribution of the ranges of in-fluence of the seven important characteristic vari-ables,which are"separated at the ends."The SHAP force diagram visualization XGBoost model predict-ed the risk of delayed awakening from anesthesia for individual patients with a predictive value of 0.998 for patients with delayed awakening from an-esthesia and 0.008 91 for patients without delayed awakening from anesthesia.A web-based calculator(https://xz-nomogram.shinyapps.io/DE_web/)based on an interpretable XGBoost model effective-ly predicts the risk of delayed awakening from anes-thesia in BC patients.CONCLUSION:ASA classifica-tion,surgery time,propofol,intraoperative blood loss,anaesthesia time,preoperative anaemia and intraoperative hypothermia are important charac-teristic variables for the risk of delayed awakening from anaesthesia in BC patients.The network calcu-lator based on the interpretable XGBoost model can accurately and quickly quantify the risk of de-layed awakening from anaesthesia,which can help clinicians to effectively adjust the treatment strate-gy and better improve the prognosis of patients.

Objective:To explore the efficacy of unilateral biportal endoscopic (UBE) decompression combined with percutaneous pedicle screw fixation in the treatment of thoracolumbar burst fracture.Methods:A retrospective series study was conducted on the clinical data of 26 patients with thoracolumbar burst fracture who were admitted to Second Affiliated Hospital, University of South China between January 2023 and June 2024, including 18 males and 8 females, aged 14-58 years [(37.2±12.7)years]. Fractured segments included T 12 in 2 patients, L 1 in 3, L 2 in 9, L 3 in 7, and L 4 in 5. According to the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) scale, 2 patients were classified as grade C and 24 as grade D. All the patients were treated with UBE decompression combined with percutaneous pedicle screw fixation. The anterior vertebral height ratio (AVHR), vertebral wedge angle (VWA), kyphosis Cobb angle (KCA), vertebral compression efficiency ratio (VCER), visual analogue scale (VAS) and ASIA grade were compared preoperatively, at 3 days postoperatively and at the last follow-up. Postoperative complications were observed. Results:All the patients were followed up for 6-12 months [(8.7±1.9)months]. At 3 days postoperatively and at the last follow-up, AVHR [(93.7±2.2)%, (88.8±2.5)%], VWA [(3.9±1.2)°, (4.4±1.3)°] and KCA [(5.4±1.4)°, (6.1±1.4)°] were significantly improved compared with those preoperatively [(76.7±3.1)%, (7.0±2.9)°, (12.3±3.4)°, respectively] ( P<0.05). At the last follow-up, AVHR was decreased but VWA and KCA were increased in comparison with those at 3 days postoperatively ( P<0.05). VCER was (18.5±6.9)% at 3 days postoperatively and (18.1±6.4)% at the last follow-up, which were improved in comparison with that preoperatively [(53.6±7.7)%] ( P<0.05). There was no significant difference in VCER at the last follow-up and at 3 days postoperatively ( P>0.05). The VAS score was decreased from (8.5±0.7)points preoperatively to (3.5±0.7)points at 3 days postoperatively and further to (1.0±0.8)points at the last follow-up ( P<0.05), and there was statistically significant difference between the VAS scores at 3 days postoperatively and at the last follow-up ( P<0.05). At the last follow-up, 2 patients with ASIA grade C recovered to grade D, while 24 patients with ASIA grade D recovered to grade E ( P<0.01). Asymptomatic epidural hematoma was found in 1 patient and drainage tube-related limb pain in 1, but no instances of incision infection, cerebrospinal fluid leakage, decreased muscle strength, loosening or breakage of internal fixation were observed in other patients. Conclusion:The combined application of UBE decompression and percutaneous pedicle screw fixation demonstrates significant clinical advantages in treating thoracolumbar burst fractures, including fracture reduction of the injured vertebra, spinal canal decompression, thoracolumbar back pain relief, neurological function recovery and lower complication rates.

BACKGROUND: Macrophage polarization anomalies and dysfunction play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). Itaconate is a Krebs cycle-derived immunometabolite synthesized by myeloid cells to modulate cellular metabolism and inflammatory responses. This study aimed to evaluate the immunoregulatory effects of an itaconate derivative on macrophages in patients with ITP. METHODS: Peripheral blood-derived macrophages from patients with ITP and healthy controls were treated with 4-octyl itaconate (4-OI), a derivative of itaconate that can penetrate the cell membrane. Macrophage polarization, antigen-presenting functions, and phagocytic capability were measured via flow cytometry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Macrophage glycolysis in patients with ITP and the metabolic regulatory effect of 4-OI were detected using a Seahorse XFe96 Analyzer. An active murine model of ITP was used to evaluate the therapeutic effects of 4-OI in vivo . RESULTS: 4-OI reduced the levels of CD80 and CD86 in M1 macrophages and suppressed the release of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin (IL)-6 pro-inflammatory cytokines, suggesting that 4-OI could hinder the polarization of macrophages toward an M1 phenotype. We found that 4-OI pretreated M1 macrophages reduced the proliferation of CD4 + T cells and promoted the differentiation of regulatory T cells. In addition, after 4-OI treatment, the phagocytic capacity of M1 macrophages toward antibody-coated platelets decreased significantly in patients with ITP. In addition, the glycolytic function of M1 macrophages was elevated in individuals with ITP compared to those in healthy controls. 4-OI treatment downregulated glycolysis in M1 macrophages. The glycolysis inhibitor 2-deoxy-d-glucose (2-DG) also inhibited the polarization of M1 macrophages and restored their functions. In vivo , 4-OI treatment significantly increased platelet counts in the active ITP murine model. CONCLUSIONS Itaconate derivative 4-OI inhibited M1 macrophage polarization and restored impaired functions through metabolic reprogramming. This study provides a novel therapeutic option for ITP.
Macrophages/metabolism* ; Humans ; Animals ; Succinates/pharmacology* ; Mice ; Male ; Female ; Adult ; Middle Aged ; Flow Cytometry ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha/metabolism* ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Purpura, Thrombocytopenic, Idiopathic/metabolism* ; Glycolysis/drug effects* ; Metabolic Reprogramming

Objective To explore the application values of different detection methods in monitoring the decline pattern of syphilis-spe-cific antibody in the non-congenital syphilis children.Methods A total of 80 non-congenital syphilis children were included in the study.The serum specimens were collected after birth,and the syphilis-specific antibodies were detected using electrochemilumines-cence immunoassay(ECLIA),western blotting(WB),treponema pallidum particle agglutination assay(TPPA),enzyme-linked im-munosorbent assay(ELISA),and toluidine red unheated serum test(TRUST).Follow-up was conducted every three months until the positive results of ELISA and TRUST turned to negative.Results The results of ECLIA showed that the syphilis-specific antibody lev-els in the non-congenital syphilis children declined to 25％of the level at birth within 2 to 3 months,and the rate of decline was inde-pendent of the initial concentration.WB analysis indicated that the specific IgG bands in non-congenital syphilis children at birth were consistent with those of their mother,and the sequence of specific antibodies decline was as follows:TPN47,TPN15,TPN45,and TPN17.Due to methodological limitations,the absorbance values of ELISA showed no significant change during the first three months after birth when high concentrations of antibodies were present in the samples,but it showed high sensitivity in the detection for the samples with low-concentration of syphilis antibodies.The detection rates of ECLIA,TPPA,and WB were compared by using ELISA as the reference method.At birth,the detection rates of syphilis antibodies were 100％,100％,and 90％,respectively.In 3 months after birth,the detection rates were 100％,100％,and 75％.In 6 months after birth,,they were 100％,46％,and 15％.In 9 months after birth,they were 83％,33％,and 0％.The positive rate of TRUST was 17.5％at birth.and turned to negative in 3 month of follow-up.Conclusion Syphilis specific IgG antibodies may fully transferred to the fetus and decline in a predictable pattern after birth.The comprehensive analysis for the results of the four methods suggested that dynamic detection using ECLIA method could be used to pre-dict the risk of non-congenital syphilis or terminate the follow-up at 3 months,while the seroconversion detected by WB was earlier than that by TPPA,while ELISA required the longest follow-up period.

AIM:To construct a network calcula-tor based on machine learning(ML)models to pre-dict the risk of delayed awakening from anaesthesia in breast cancer(BC)patients.METHODS:A total of 435 BC patients surgically treated at our hospital from January 2023 to June 2024 were selected.The Boruta algorithm was used to screen for important characteristic variables for the risk of delayed awak-ening from anaesthesia.All patients were randomly assigned to a training set(n=261)and a test set(n=174)based on a 3:2 ratio and nine ML models were constructed and trained.Nine ML models were evaluated on the basis of receiver operating charac-teristic(ROC)curves for a random sample of 10 sub-jects and the clinical utility of the models was as-sessed using decision curve analysis.Combined with SHapley Additive exPlanations(SHAP)bar graphs,summary graphs and force diagrams additional in-terpretation and visualization of the ML model.Con-struction of a network calculator for predicting the risk of delayed awakening from anesthesia in BC pa-tients using the R package.RESULTS:Of the 435 BC patients,25.1%experienced delayed awakening from anesthesia.Boruta algorithm screened seven feature variables.The ROC curve shows that the XG-Boost model has the highest area under the curve(AUC)for 10 random samples among the 9 ML mod-els,and the decision curve shows that the XGBoost model has a significant clinical net benefit.The SHAP bar graph shows the importance of ASA classi-fication,surgery time,anesthesia time,intraopera-tive blood loss,propofol,preoperative anemia,and intraoperative hypothermia,and the SHAP summa-ry graph reflects the distribution of the ranges of in-fluence of the seven important characteristic vari-ables,which are"separated at the ends."The SHAP force diagram visualization XGBoost model predict-ed the risk of delayed awakening from anesthesia for individual patients with a predictive value of 0.998 for patients with delayed awakening from an-esthesia and 0.008 91 for patients without delayed awakening from anesthesia.A web-based calculator(https://xz-nomogram.shinyapps.io/DE_web/)based on an interpretable XGBoost model effective-ly predicts the risk of delayed awakening from anes-thesia in BC patients.CONCLUSION:ASA classifica-tion,surgery time,propofol,intraoperative blood loss,anaesthesia time,preoperative anaemia and intraoperative hypothermia are important charac-teristic variables for the risk of delayed awakening from anaesthesia in BC patients.The network calcu-lator based on the interpretable XGBoost model can accurately and quickly quantify the risk of de-layed awakening from anaesthesia,which can help clinicians to effectively adjust the treatment strate-gy and better improve the prognosis of patients.