With the emergence of deep learning techniques based on convolutional neural networks, artificial intelligence (AI) has driven transformative developments in the field of medical image analysis. Recently, large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT have also started to achieve distinction in this domain. Increasing research shows the undeniable role of AI in reshaping various aspects of medical image analysis, including processes such as image enhancement, segmentation, detection in image preprocessing, and postprocessing related to medical diagnosis and prognosis in clinical settings. However, despite the significant progress in AI research, studies investigating the recent advances in AI technology in the aforementioned aspects, the changes in research hotspot trajectories, and the performance of studies in addressing key clinical challenges in this field are limited. This article provides an overview of recent advances in AI for medical image analysis and discusses the methodological profiles, advantages, disadvantages, and future trends of AI technologies.
Artificial Intelligence ; Humans ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted/methods* ; Neural Networks, Computer ; Deep Learning ; Diagnostic Imaging/methods*

Objective:To analyze the clinical characteristics, muscle imaging and pathological features of patients with anti-signal recognition particle positive immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy (SRP-IMNM).Methods:Nine patients with SRP-IMNM were collected in the Neuromuscular Disease Center of Jiaozuo People′s Hospital from May 2018 to May 2023, who were confirmed by skeletal muscle pathology and myositis-specific autoantibodies detection, and their clinical manifestations, muscle imaging and muscle pathology characteristics were systematically summarized.Results:Among the 9 patients with SRP-IMNM, there were 7 females and 2 males. The age of onset ranged from 18 to 59 years. All the patients presented proximal muscle weakness. Seven patients experienced neck weakness, and dysphagia was present in 5 patients. Laboratory examinations showed elevated serum creatine kinase levels in all 9 patients (1 866-6 725 U/L). Eight patients were combined with other antibodies positivity, except for anti-SRP antibody. Among them, 7 patients were combined with anti-Ro-52 antibody positivity, 4 patients combined with anti-Ro-52 antibody positivity alone, and 3 patients combined with 3 or more positive antibodies simultaneously. Those patients who presented with interstitial lung disease and cardiac involvement were all combined with other antibodies positivity. Seven patients completed thigh muscle magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which showed diffuse skeletal muscle oedema, partial muscle atrophy and fatty replacement, primarily affecting the posterior thigh muscle group. Two patients underwent shank muscle MRI. The soleus involvement was evident, while the tibialis anterior muscle and gastrocnemius muscles were involved in 1 patient. All 9 patients showed varying degrees of scattered muscle fiber necrosis and regeneration on muscle biopsies. In 1 patient, a small amount of inflammatory cell infiltration was observed. Pipestem capillaries were observed in 4 patients. Immunohistochemical staining revealed a small number of CD68-positive lymphocytes in 8 patients. Additionally, 5 patients showed upregulation of major histocompatibility complex Ⅰ expression on the muscle fiber membrane, while 6 patients showed deposition of membrane attack complex (C5b-9) on non-necrotic muscle fibers and capillaries. P62 staining showed homogeneous fine-granular in sarcoplasm in 6 patients.Conclusions:In addition to proximal muscle weakness, patients with SRP-IMNM often experience neck weakness and dysphagia. Those with multiple antibodies are more likely to develop interstitial lung disease and cardiac involvement. SRP-IMNM patients have diffuse oedema in the affected muscles, and the posterior thigh muscles are more prone to atrophy and fatty tissue formation. C5b-9 deposition and pipestem capillaries are significant pathological features of SRP-IMNM, which provide additional evidence for clinical diagnosis.

Objective:To explore the value of using the mean gamma index (GI) in targer area receiving 50% prescribed dose as reference in VMAT planned dose verification through model-based dose calculation and measurement-based dose reconstruction.Methods:Based on Compass dose verificantion system, the VMAT plans for 70 patients were validated using two method. The mean GI and passing rate in target area receiving 50% of prescribed dose area for each validation plan were obtained to evaluate its application value in dose validation. First, plan information obtained by TPS calculation was input into the Compass system for performing independent dose calculation based on the accelerator data model, and obtain a three-dimensional dose based on the independent model calculation. The planned fluence measured for each patient′s treatment plan on the accelerator was reconstructed through the Compass system to obtain a three-dimensional dose based on measurement reconstruction. The three-dimensional dose obtained by the two method were compared with the three-dimensional dose calculated by TPS.Results:Combined with the gamma criteria of 3%/3 mm in the error setting condition of GI analysis, the mean GI in the area receiving 50% of prescribed dose was evaluated. GI≤0.4 was classified as PASS, 0.4 < GI ≤ 0.6 as being clinically acceptable, and GI > 0.6 as FAIL. The VMAT planned dose verification for 70 patients showed that the model-based independent calculation was in a better agreement with the TPS calculation. The GI values were all < 0.6: GI≤0.4 for 67 patients and 0.4 90% for 88 patients and < 90% for other 2, all meeting the requirements of clinical dose verification. The model-based independent dose verification is better than the measurement-based reconstructed dose verificantion, and the difference is statistically significant ( t=15.20, 10.71, P < 0.05). Conclusions:The mean GI in target area receiving 50% of prescribed dose can be used as a reference to judge the operatability of clinical plan in clinical dose verification. The mean GI value, in combination with the comprehensive result of gamma passing rate, is more convincing to evaluate dose verification. A combination of model-based dose verification, despite time-saving and labor-saving, and the measurement-based dose verification could become a reliable dose verification method for clinical application.

Objective:To summarize the clinical, imaging, muscle pathological and gene mutational features of patients with late-onset mitochondrial encephalomyopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes (MELAS).Methods:Three patients with late-onset MELAS, admitted to Department of Neurology, Jiaozuo People's Hospital Affiliated of Xinxiang Medical University from January 1997 to December 2021 were chosen; all patients were screened for mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and nuclear DNA (nDNA) mutations by second-generation gene sequencing. The clinical, imaging, muscle pathological and gene mutational features of patients with late-onset MELAS were analyzed retrospectively.Results:The main clinical manifestations of these late-onset MELAS patients included stroke-like attacks, headache, hearing and vision loss, cognitive decline and mental disorder. The muscle tension and muscle strength of both upper extremities in these 3 patients were normal. Increased muscle tension and active tendon reflexes, and positive pathological signs in both lower extremities were noted in 2 patients. Head MRI showed abnormal long T1 and long T2 signals in temporal occipital parietal cortex and subcortex in 3 patients, and CT showed calcification in bilateral globus pallidus in 1 patient. Ragged red fibers (RRF) and ragged blue fibers (RBF) were found in the muscle biopsies of 3 patients, and cytochrome oxidase (COX)-negative muscle fibers were found in 2 patients. MT-TL1 gene m.3243A>G mutation was detected in all 3 patients by genetic testing, among which mutation in the blood of 2 patients was 15% and 17%, respectively, and mutation in the muscle tissues of 1 patient was 73%. Conclusion:Muscle pathology indicates high RRF percentage in patients with late-onset MELAS; and m.3243A>G spot mutation is the most common mutation type in late-onset MELAS, and m.3243A>G mutation ratio in muscle tissues is obviously higher than that in blood.

Objective:To summarize the characteristics of clinical, muscle pathology and gene mutation of late-onset reducing body myopathy caused by FHL1 gene mutation, in order to improve clinicians′ understanding of this disorder. Methods:The clinical, muscle pathology and muscle magnetic resonance imaging data of the proband from a family diagnosed as reducing body myopathy in Jiaozuo People′s Hospital in December 2021 were collected. Genetic tests and pedigree verification were conducted on the proband and her son.Results:The proband was a 59-year-old female with progressive, asymmetrical limb weakness and muscular atrophy. Her mother, sister and brother had similar symptoms. Electromyography showed myogenic and neurogenic damage. Muscle magnetic resonance imaging indicated that the lesion mainly involved the posterior muscles of the thigh and calf, as well as the gluteus maximus. The muscle pathology showed eosinophilic granular inclusion bodies and rimmed vacuoles in the muscle fibers of the lesion. The structure of myofibrils was disordered and abnormal protein deposition was observed. The gene sequencing showed the FHL1 gene p.C150S heterozygous variation. Conclusions:Late-onset reducing body myopathy is characterized by progressive asymmetric proximal limb muscle weakness, partially involving distal limb muscles and gluteus maximus. Muscle pathology shows the characteristic pathological changes of many kinds of myofibrillar myopathies. FHL1 gene mutation is an important basis for diagnosis.

Objective:To investigate the characteristics of clinical, muscle pathology and gene mutation in patients with nemaline myopathy caused by NEB gene mutation.Methods:The clinical and pathological data of patients with nemaline myopathy caused by NEB gene were collected from Neuromuscular Center of Jiaozuo People′s Hospital from January 1997 to January 2020. The next generation sequencing was preformed to detect NEB gene in all patients, and characteristics of gene mutation were analyzed.Results:Among the 11 patients, there were 8 males and 3 females, and 6 of them came from 2 families. The age of seeing a doctor ranged from 11 to 52 years, the age of onset was from 6 to 23 years, and the course of disease ranged from 5 to 35 years. Neurological examination showed that among the 11 patients, 8 patients had high palatal arch and long face. The muscle tone of both upperlimbs was normal, the tendon reflex was depressed, the proximal muscle strength was grade Ⅲ-Ⅴ, and the distal muscle strength was grade Ⅴ. The muscle tone of both lower extremities was reduced and the tendon reflex was absent. The proximal muscle strength was grade Ⅱ-Ⅳ and the distal muscle strength was grade Ⅲ-Ⅴ. No dysphagia or respiratory muscle involvement was found. Muscle biopsies were performed in 7 of the 11 patients, the pathological changes were muscle fibers of different sizes, circular atrophic muscle fibers and compensatory hypertrophic fibers, and occasionally denatured and necrotic muscle fibers were found. Different degrees of rod aggregation could be seen in all the 7 patients. Electron microscopic examination of 5 patients showed that there was rod aggregation between myofibrils, and most of them were located near the Z band, but no intranuclear rod was found. NEB gene was found in all 11 patients, and a total of 9 different mutation sites were detected, including 8 in exon region and 1 in intron region. Among them, c.21522+3A>G was found in 10 cases, c.1623delT was found in 3 cases and c.17611C>T was found in 3 cases. There was 1 case of c.4417C>T, c.2549delA, c.21065dupA, c.3520G>A, c.20943G>A, c.192G>A respectively.Conclusions:The clinical phenotype of nemaline myopathy caused by NEB gene has great heterogeneity. Muscle pathology shows that rod aggregation is an important basis for the diagnosis of this disease. Mutation c.21522+3A>G in intron is the most common mutation in this group of NEB gene. And the novel mutation sites of NEB gene are respectively c.17611C>T, c.2549delA, c.3520G>A, c.21065dupA, c.20943G>A and c.192G>A.

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Objective: To investigate the value of lipid accumulation product (LAP) and visceral fat index (VAI) for prediction of metabolic syndrome (MS). Methods: Based on the 2018 Survey on Chronic Diseases and Risk Factors in Yantai City of Shandong Province, residents at ages of 45 years and older were sampled, and subjects' age, disease history, waist circumstance (WC), body mass index (BMI), blood pressure and blood lipid were collected to calculate LAP and VAI. MS was diagnosed with the a joint interim statement of the International Diabetes Federation Task Force on Epidemiology and Prevention; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; American Heart Association; World Heart Federation; International Atherosclerosis Society; and International Association for the Study of Obesity (JIS definition) and the recommended criteria proposed by the Chinese Diabetes Society (CDS) of Chinese Medical Association (CDS criteria), and the values of LAP and VAI for MS screening were evaluated using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Results: Totally 9 366 subjects were enrolled, including 4 340 men (46.34%) and 5 026 women (53.66%), and had a mean age of (54.49±9.73) years. According to the CDS criteria, the prevalence of MS was 24.58%, and LAP and VAI showed areas under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.837 (95%CI: 0.828-0.846) and 0.751 (95%CI: 0.739-0.762), sensitivities of 78.82% and 63.31% and optimal cut-off values of 44.64 and 1.86 for screening of MS. According to the JIS definition, the prevalence of MS was 35.26%, and LAP and VAI showed AUC values of 0.842 (95%CI: 0.834-0.850) and 0.790 (95%CI: 0.780-0.800), sensitivities of 75.73% and 68.42% and optimal cut-off values of 42.01 and 1.67 for screening of MS. Conclusions Both LAP and VAI are effective for screening MS among middle-aged and elderly residents, and LAP presents a higher accuracy than VAI.

Objective: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of Compound Huangdai Tablets (Realgar-Indigo Naturalis formula, RIF) combined with all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) to treat acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). Methods: This study was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42018108118). The relevant literatures on RIF treatment of APL were systematically searched in the following databases: China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, VIP Medical Information System, Chinese Biomedical Database, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and PubMed. The quality of the included studies was evaluated and Review Manager 5.3 software and Stata 13.0 software were used to perform the Meta-analysis. In addition, this study used the method of network pharmacology to conduct a preliminary exploration of the mechanism of RIF on APL. Results: The study included 12 studies involving 775 APL patients. The Meta-analysis showed that there was no significant difference (P 0.05) between the RIF group and the arsenic trioxide (ATO) group for primary outcomes, secondary outcomes apart from liver dysfunction. The incidence of liver dysfunction (P = 0.006) in the RIF group were significantly lower than those in the ATO group. In addition, the cost of maintenance therapy in the RIF group was significantly lower (P 0.05) than the ATO group. Besides, the active ingredients in RIF mainly act on targets proteins such as ACHE, NCOA2, RXRA, and then play a role in the treatment of APL through regulating multiple molecular mechanisms, such as TP53 regulates transcription of cell cycle genes, nuclear receptor transcription pathway. Conclusion: There was no significant difference in efficacy of oral RIF combined with ATRA compared with intravenous ATO combined with ATRA for the treatment of APL. The oral RIF exposed patients to less risk, offered more convenience and had lower prices. RIF can treat APL by multi-target and multi-pathway interventions that inducing apoptosis of APL cells and inhibiting the proliferation of APL cells, and so on. Therefore, oral RIF in the treatment of APL is worthy of further research and development.

Objective:To investigate the clinical characteristics and electron transfer flavoprotein dehydrogenase ( ETFDH) genetic mutations in patients with riboflavin responsive lipid storage myopathy (RR-LSM). Methods:A retrospective analysis was performed. The clinical data and muscular pathology of 26 patients with RR-LSM, admitted to our hospital from January 2009 to June 2021, were collected. Peripheral venous blood DNA was extracted, and the mutations of ETFDH gene were detected and analyzed by whole exome sequencing. Results:These 26 patients had onset of proximal limb myasthenia, 17 patients had difficulty in raising their head, 12 patients had mastication weakness, 6 had dysphagia, 5 had nausea and vomiting, and one was complicated with rhabdomyolysis and one was with reversible splenic lesion syndrome. Muscle biopsy indicated pathological deposition of lipid droplet, which type I fibers were involved mainly; degenerative necrotic muscle fibers were seen in a few cases. ETFDH gene mutations were detected in 26 patients; 23 patients had compound heterozygous mutation, two had single heterozygous mutation and one had homozygous mutation; 25 different mutation sites were found, mainly missense mutations; the C.770A>G frequency was the highest, accounting for 20% alleles (10/50); two novel mutation sites were found: c.1115A>G and c.1781T>C. Conclusion:RR-LSM is mainly characterized by proximal limb muscle weakness and fatigue intolerance, often accompanied by neck extensor and masticatory weakness; c. 770A>G is the hot site of ETFDH genetic mutations in RR-LSM patients.