Objective To investigate the efficacy and safety of the Corheart 6 left ventricular assist system in patients with end-stage heart failure. Methods A retrospective study was conducted on patients with end-stage heart failure who were treated with Corheart 6 left ventricular assist system from March 2022 to June 2024 in 4 hospitals in Jiangsu Province. The efficacy of the device was evaluated by comparing changes in clinical indicators at preoperative, discharge, 3-month postoperative, and 6-month postoperative timepoints, including the New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional classification, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), and left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD). The safety of the device was assessed by analyzing the intraoperative position and orientation of the blood pump inlet cannula, as well as the incidence of adverse events. Results In this study, 39 patients were collected, including 34 males and 5 females with a mean age of (56.4±12.5) years, ranging from 20 to 75 years. There was no operative death. There was no death in postoperative 3 months with a survival rate of 100.0%. There were 3 deaths in 6 months postoperatively, with a survival rate of 92.3%. All patients had a preoperative NYHA cardiac function classification of class Ⅳ. The NYHA cardiac function class of the patients improved (P<0.05) at discharge, 3 and 6 months after surgery when compared to the preoperative period. LVEF was significantly higher at 3 months after surgery than that during the preoperative period (P<0.05). LVEDD was significantly smaller at discharge, 3 and 6 months after surgery than that during the preoperative period (P<0.05). The safety evaluation's findings demonstrated that all 39 patients' intraoperative blood pump inlet tubes were oriented correctly, the artificial blood vessel suture sites were appropriate, there were no instances of device malfunction or pump thrombosis, or instances of bleeding or hemolysis, and the rate of the remaining adverse events was low. Conclusion With a low rate of adverse events and an excellent safety profile, the Corheart 6 left ventricular assist system can efficiently enhance cardiac function in patients with end-stage heart failure. It also has considerable clinical uses.

Sophorae Flavescentis Radix is one of the commonly used traditional Chinese medicine in China, and a large amount of pharmaceutical residue generated during its processing and production is discarded as waste, which not only wastes resources but also pollutes the environment. Therefore, elucidating the chemical composition of the residue of Sophorae Flavescentis Radix and the differences between the residue and Sophorae Flavescentis Radix itself is of great significance for the comprehensive utilization of the residue. This study, based on ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry(UPLC-Q-TOF-MS) technology combined with multivariate statistical methods, provides a thorough characterization, identification, and differential analysis of the overall components of Sophorae Flavescentis Radix and its residue. Firstly, 61 compounds in Sophorae Flavescentis Radix were rapidly identified based on their precise molecular weight, fragment ions, and compound abundance, using a self-constructed compound database. Among them, 41 compounds were found in the residue, mainly alkaloids and flavonoids. Secondly, through principal component analysis(PCA) and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis(OPLS-DA), 15 key compounds differentiating Sophorae Flavescentis Radix from its residue were identified. These included highly polar alkaloids, such as oxymatrine and oxysophocarpine, which showed significantly reduced content in the residue, and less polar flavonoids, such as kurarinone and kuraridin, which were more abundant in the residue. In summary, this paper clarifies the overall composition, structure, and content differences between Sophorae Flavescentis Radix and its residue, suggesting that the residue of Sophorae Flavescentis Radix can be used as a raw material for the extraction of its high-activity components, with promising potential for development and application in cosmetics and daily care. This research provides a scientific basis for the future comprehensive utilization of Sophorae Flavescentis Radix and its residue.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal/chemistry* ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid/methods* ; Mass Spectrometry/methods* ; Sophora/chemistry* ; Flavonoids/chemistry* ; Alkaloids/chemistry*

Ginsenoside Rg_2(GRg2) is a triterpenoid compound found in Panax notoginseng. This study explored its effects and mechanisms on diabetic retinopathy and angiogenesis. The study employed endothelial cell models induced by glucose or vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF), the chorioallantoic membrane(CAM) model, the oxygen-induced retinopathy(OIR) mouse model, and the db/db mouse model to evaluate the therapeutic effects of GRg2 on diabetic retinopathy and angiogenesis. Transwell assays and endothelial tube formation experiments were conducted to assess cell migration and tube formation, while vascular area measurements were applied to detect angiogenesis. The impact of GRg2 on the retinal structure and function of db/db mice was evaluated through retinal thickness and electroretinogram(ERG) analyses. The study investigated the mechanisms of GRg2 by analyzing the activation of Yes-associated protein(YAP) and Toll-like receptors(TLRs) pathways. The results indicated that GRg2 significantly reduced cell migration numbers and tube formation lengths in vitro. In the CAM model, GRg2 exhibited a dose-dependent decrease in the vascular area ratio. In the OIR model, GRg2 notably decreased the avascular and neovascular areas, ameliorating retinal structural disarray. In the db/db mouse model, GRg2 increased the total retinal thickness and enhanced the amplitudes of the a-wave, b-wave, and oscillatory potentials(OPs) in the ERG, improving retinal structural disarray. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that the TLR signaling pathway was significantly down-regulated following YAP knockdown, with PCR results consistent with the transcriptome sequencing findings. Concurrently, GRg2 downregulated the expression of Toll-like receptor 4(TLR4), TNF receptor-associated factor 6(TRAF6), and nuclear factor-kappaB(NF-κB) proteins in high-glucose-induced endothelial cells. Collectively, GRg2 inhibits cell migration and tube formation and significantly reduces angiogenesis in CAM and OIR models, improving retinal structure and function in db/db mice, with its pharmacological mechanism likely involving the down-regulation of YAP expression.
Animals ; Ginsenosides/pharmacology* ; Diabetic Retinopathy/physiopathology* ; Mice ; YAP-Signaling Proteins ; Humans ; Male ; Signal Transduction/drug effects* ; Cell Movement/drug effects* ; Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing/genetics* ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Neovascularization, Pathologic/metabolism* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/administration & dosage* ; Panax notoginseng/chemistry* ; Endothelial Cells/metabolism* ; Transcription Factors/genetics* ; Angiogenesis

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinicopathological features and differential diagnosis of male genital system lymphoma (MGSL). METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the clinicopathological and immunophenotypic features and prognosis of 80 cases of MGSL. RESULTS: The onset age of the MGSL patients ranged from 4 to 85 (median 62) years old. All the cases showed non-specificity of the imaging features and clinical manifestations. MGSL was located mainly in the testis (n = 66), followed by the prostate (n = 7), epididymis (n = 3), scrotum (n = 3) and penile glans (n = 1). Diffused large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) was the most common pathological type (n = 62), next came extranodal marginal zone lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) (n = 7) and other rare types (n = 12). During the 1－112-month follow-up of 10 of the 19 patients, 1 died at 1 month after diagnosed with prostatic B-lymphoblastic lymphoma (B-LBL) and another 1 died at 50 months after diagnosed with testicular DLBCL. CONCLUSION MGSL is rare clinically, mainly of the DLBCL type pathologically, lacking specificity in clinical symptoms and imaging manifestation. The definite diagnosis of the malignancy depends on histopathology combined with related molecular examination and immunohistochemical labeling, and R-CHOP chemotherapy is the first choice for its treatment.
Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Adult ; Aged, 80 and over ; Young Adult ; Adolescent ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Genital Neoplasms, Male/diagnosis* ; Prognosis ; Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse/diagnosis* ; Lymphoma/diagnosis*

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of miR-483-5p on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells proliferation and stemness, as well as the attenuating effect of Pien Tze Huang (PZH). METHODS: Differentially expressed miRNA between HepG2 cells and hepatic cancer stem-like cells (HCSCs) were identified by a miRNA microarray assay. miR-483-5p mimics were transfected into HepG2 cells to explore the effects of miR-483-5p on cell proliferation and stemness. HepG2 cells and HCSCs were treated with PZH (0, 0.25, 0.50 and 0.75 mg/mL) to explore the effects of PZH on the proliferation and stemness, both in non-induced state and the state induced by miR-483-5p mimics. RESULTS: miR-483-5p was significantly up-regulated in HCSCs and its overexpression increased cell proliferation and stemness in HepG2 cells (P<0.05). PZH not only significantly inhibited proliferation in HepG2 cells, but also significantly suppressed the cell proliferation and self-renewal of HCSCs (P<0.05). The effects of miR-483-5p mimics on proliferation and stemness of HepG2 cells were partially abolished by PZH. CONCLUSIONS miR-483-5p promotes proliferation and enhances stemness of HepG2 cells, which were attenuated by PZH, demonstrating that miR-483-5p is a potential molecular target for the treatment of HCC and provide experimental evidence to support clinical use of PZH for patients with HCC.
Humans ; MicroRNAs/metabolism* ; Cell Proliferation/drug effects* ; Liver Neoplasms/drug therapy* ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/drug therapy* ; Hep G2 Cells ; Neoplastic Stem Cells/metabolism* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use* ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic/drug effects*

In this study, araucarene diterpenes, characterized by a pimarene skeleton with a variably oxidized side chain at C-13, were investigated. A total of 16 araucarene diterpenoids and their derivatives were isolated from the woods of Agathis dammara, including 11 previously unreported compounds: dammaradione (1), dammarones D-G (2, 5, 14, 15), dammaric acids B-F (8-12), and dammarol (16). The structures of these new compounds were elucidated using high-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectroscopy (HR-ESI-MS) and one-dimensional/two-dimensional (1D/2D) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), while their absolute configurations were determined through the electronic circular dichroism (ECD) exciton chirality method and Snatzke's method. The hypoglycemic activity of all isolated compounds was evaluated using a transgenic zebrafish model, and a structure-activity relationship (SAR) analysis was conducted. Araucarone (3) and dammaric acid C (9), serving as representative compounds, demonstrated significant hypoglycemic effects on zebrafish. The primary mechanism involves the promotion of pancreatic β cell regeneration and glucose uptake. Specifically, these compounds enhance the differentiation of pancreatic endocrine precursor cells (PEP cells) into β cells in zebrafish.
Zebrafish ; Animals ; Diterpenes/isolation & purification* ; Insulin-Secreting Cells/cytology* ; Glucose/metabolism* ; Hypoglycemic Agents/isolation & purification* ; Molecular Structure ; Structure-Activity Relationship ; Plant Extracts/pharmacology* ; Regeneration/drug effects*

OBJECTIVE: Observational studies have found associations between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and the risk of dementia, including Alzheimer's dementia (AD) and vascular dementia (VD); however, these findings are inconsistent. It remains unclear whether these associations are causal. METHODS: We conducted a meta-analysis by systematically searching for observational studies on the association between IBD and dementia. Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis based on summary genome-wide association studies (GWASs) was performed. Genetic correlation and Bayesian co-localization analyses were used to provide robust genetic evidence. RESULTS: Ten observational studies involving 80,565,688 participants were included in this meta-analysis. IBD was significantly associated with dementia (risk ratio [ RR] =1.36, 95% CI = 1.04-1.78; I ² = 84.8%) and VD ( RR = 2.60, 95% CI = 1.18-5.70; only one study), but not with AD ( RR = 2.00, 95% CI = 0.96-4.13; I ² = 99.8%). MR analyses did not supported significant causal associations of IBD with dementia (dementia: odds ratio [ OR] = 1.01, 95% CI = 0.98-1.03; AD: OR = 0.98, 95% CI = 0.95-1.01; VD: OR = 1.02, 95% CI = 0.97-1.07). In addition, genetic correlation and co-localization analyses did not reveal any genetic associations between IBD and dementia. CONCLUSION Our study did not provide genetic evidence for a causal association between IBD and dementia risk. The increased risk of dementia observed in observational studies may be attributed to unobserved confounding factors or detection bias.
Humans ; Mendelian Randomization Analysis ; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases/complications* ; Dementia/etiology* ; Observational Studies as Topic ; Genome-Wide Association Study

Objective:To retrospectively analyze the treatment status of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) in newly diagnosed patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in China.Methods:Data of chronic phase (CP) and accelerated phase (AP) CML patients diagnosed from January 2006 to December 2022 from 77 centers, ≥18 years old, and receiving initial imatinib, nilotinib, dasatinib or flumatinib-therapy within 6 months after diagnosis in China with complete data were retrospectively interrogated. The choice of initial TKI, current TKI medications, treatment switch and reasons, treatment responses and outcomes as well as the variables associated with them were analyzed.Results:6 893 patients in CP ( n=6 453, 93.6%) or AP ( n=440, 6.4%) receiving initial imatinib ( n=4 906, 71.2%), nilotinib ( n=1 157, 16.8%), dasatinib ( n=298, 4.3%) or flumatinib ( n=532, 7.2%) -therapy. With the median follow-up of 43 ( IQR 22-75) months, 1 581 (22.9%) patients switched TKI due to resistance ( n=1 055, 15.3%), intolerance ( n=248, 3.6%), pursuit of better efficacy ( n=168, 2.4%), economic or other reasons ( n=110, 1.6%). The frequency of switching TKI in AP patients was significantly-higher than that in CP patients (44.1% vs 21.5%, P<0.001), and more AP patients switched TKI due to resistance than CP patients (75.3% vs 66.1%, P=0.011). Multi-variable analyses showed that male, lower HGB concentration and ELTS intermediate/high-risk cohort were associated with lower cytogenetic and molecular responses rate and poor outcomes in CP patients; higher WBC count and initial the second-generation TKI treatment, the higher response rates; Ph + ACA at diagnosis, poor PFS. However, Sokal intermediate/high-risk cohort was only significantly-associated with lower CCyR and MMR rates and the poor PFS. Lower HGB concentration and larger spleen size were significantly-associated with the lower cytogenetic and molecular response rates in AP patients; initial the second-generation TKI treatment, the higher treatment response rates; lower PLT count, higher blasts and Ph + ACA, poorer TFS; Ph + ACA, poorer OS. Conclusion:At present, the vast majority of newly-diagnosed CML-CP or AP patients could benefit from TKI treatment in the long term with the good treatment responses and survival outcomes.

Objective:Based on the forgetting curve principle to construct a model for the popularization of cardiopulmonary resuscitation among college students and validate its effectiveness, providing reference for the promotion of cardiopulmonary resuscitation.Methods:A randomized controlled trial was conducted. In October 2021, a multistage random sampling method was used to select 262 freshmen and sophomores from the School of Mathematics and Physics at Leshan Normal University as the control group, and 262 freshmen and sophomores from the School of Electronic Information and Artificial Intelligence as the experimental group.The control group received conventional training, while the experimental group, in addition to conventional training, received cardiopulmonary resuscitation retraining based on the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve at three time intervals: within 1 week, within 1 month, and within 1 to 6 months after training. The retraining included online self-learning, on-site observation reinforcement, and social practice sublimation. The cardiopulmonary resuscitation knowledge awareness rate and cardiopulmonary resuscitation skill assessment of the two groups were compared before training, immediately after training, and 6 months after training.Results:The final number of participants was 256 in the control group (126 males and 130 females) and 224 in the experimental group (110 males and 114 females). There were no statistically significant differences in cardiopulmonary resuscitation knowledge awareness rate and cardiopulmonary resuscitation skill scores between the two groups before and immediately after training (both P>0.05). Immediately after training, the average cardiopulmonary resuscitation knowledge awareness rate in the experimental and control groups were 91% (1 626/1 792) and 88% (1 806/2 048), respectively, which were significantly higher than the pre-training rates of 55% (989/1 792) and 55% (1 129/2 048) ( χ2=8.46, 7.30, both P<0.01). The cardiopulmonary resuscitation skill scores were (42.00 ± 3.55) and (41.68 ± 3.40), respectively, higher than the pre-training scores of (15.41 ± 4.85) and (15.92 ± 4.66) ( t=84.47, 45.56, both P<0.05). Six months after training, the awareness rates of determination of consciousness and cardiac arrest judgment, cardiopulmonary resuscitation steps, chest compression location, frequency, depth, and the ratio of chest compressions to artificial ventilation in the experimental group in college students were 90% (201/224), 93% (208/224), 92% (206/224), 93% (208/224), 89% (200/224), and 94% (210/224), respectively, higher than those in the control group, which were 62% (158/256), 71% (182/256), 77% (198/256), 73% (186/256), 70% (178/256), and 69% (176/256) ( χ2 values were 4.21-7.03, all P<0.01). The cardiopulmonary resuscitation skill score in the experimental group was (49.77 ± 3.68), higher than the control group′s (34.95 ± 4.79) ( t=38.25, P<0.01). The proportion of students confident in using cardiopulmonary resuscitation to save others was 92% (206/224) in the experimental group, higher than 58% (148/256) in the control group ( χ2=7.68, P<0.01). Six months after training, the cardiopulmonary resuscitation skill score in the experimental group was (49.77 ± 3.68), higher than the immediate post-training score of (42.00 ± 3.55), whereas the control group's cardiopulmonary resuscitation skill score was (34.95 ± 4.79), lower than the immediate post-training score of (41.68 ± 3.40) ( t=22.74, 18.33, both P<0.01). Conclusions:The cardiopulmonary resuscitation popularization model for college students based on the forgetting curve is conducive to mastering cardiopulmonary resuscitation knowledge and skills among trained college students, enhancing their confidence in using cardiopulmonary resuscitation techniques to rescue others. Moreover, it helps save the human, financial, and material resources required for cardiopulmonary resuscitation training to a certain extent and is worthy of promotion.

Dental age estimation is a crucial aspect and one of the ways to accomplish forensic age estimation,and imaging technology is an important technique for dental age estimation.In recent years,some studies have preliminarily confirmed the feasibility of magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)in evaluating dental development,providing a new perspective and possibility for the evaluation of den-tal development,suggesting that MRI is expected to be a safer and more accurate tool for dental age estimation.However,further research is essential to verify its accuracy and feasibility.This article re-views the current state,challenges and limitations of MRI in dental development and age estimation,offering reference for the research of dental age assessment based on MRI technology.