With the rising incidence of colon cancer, several studies have indicated that aquaporin 1 (AQP1) expression is associated with the development of colon cancer. This study aims to elucidate the potential molecular mechanisms between them. Methods: We screened data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and retrospectively examined AQP1 protein expression in 127 colon cancer patients to analyze the relationship between AQP1 expression and pathological stages, prognosis. We created stable colon cancer cell lines with differential AQP1 expression, the effect of AQP1 expression on the proliferation and migration of colon cancer cells was assessed by in vitro and in vivo studies, and explored potential molecular mechanisms through Western blotting. Results: High AQP1 expression was associated with poorer survival (overall survival [OS], p = .028) in colon cancer patients from the TCGA database. Similarly, retrospective clinical data indicated that high AQP1 expression was associated with reduced disease-free survival and OS (p = .036 and p = .017, respectively). The low-expressing AQP1 colon cancer cells exhibited a decrease in proliferation and migration ability of colon cancer cells compared to the overexpressing AQP1 group (p < .05) in vitro and in vivo. Immunohistochemistry and western blotting experiments validated heightened expression of N-cadherin, vimentin, and claudin- 1 in the tumor tissues of the overexpressing AQP1 group. Conversely, reduced AQP1 expression resulted in decreased expression of claudin- 1. Conclusions: AQP1 correlates with unfavorable prognosis in colon cancer and potentially enhances the proliferation and migration of colon cancer by up-regulating claudin-1 expression.

ObjectiveTo screen and identify the key proteins of Monkeypox Virus （MPXV） that regulate the NOD-like receptor family pyrin domain containing 3 （NLRP3） inflammasome. MethodsUsing the genomic sequence of the domestic epidemic strain of MPXV as a template to construct an expression plasmid library containing 82 viral genes. To screen for viral genes that significantly inhibit the production of interleukin-1β （IL-1β）， the expression plasmids encoding NLRP3， apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a CARD （ASC）， cysteine protease-1（Caspase-1）， and pro-IL-1β-Luc reporter gene were co-transfected into HEK293T cells， along with the viral gene plasmids. The signal of the NLRP3 inflammasome was monitored by measuring luciferase activity in the cell supernatant. The inhibition effects were further confirmed by Western Blot （WB）， and the interactions between the viral proteins and the components of the NLRP3 inflammasome were determined by Co-immunoprecipitation （Co-IP）. Additionally， site-directed mutagenesis was performed to identify the specific interaction motifs. ResultsAn NLRP3 inflammasome signal screening system were successfully established and optimized. Screening the MPXV plasmids using this system revealed that B10R most significantly inhibits IL-1β maturation in a dose-dependent manner （P＜0.000 1）. Further characterization demonstrated that B10R interacts directly with pro-IL-1β. Notably， the C-terminal motif mutant of B10R （B10Rmut-C， T96A， Y97A， I98A） lost its ability to interact with pro-IL-1β. ConclusionsThe MPXV B10R protein interacts with pro-IL-1β， thereby inhibiting the IL-1β maturation. The C-terminal motif （T96， Y97， I98） of the B10R protein is crucial for function. This study provides important clues and a foundation for further elucidating the molecular mechanisms by which MPXV regulates the NLRP3 inflammasome.

The transcriptome sequencing based on Illumina Novaseq 6000 Platform was performed with the untreated seed embryo(DS), stratified seed embryo(SS), and germinated seed embryo(GS) of Zanthoxylum nitidum, aiming to explore the molecular mechanism regulating the seed dormancy and germination of Z. nitidum and uncover key differentially expressed genes(DEGs). A total of 61.41 Gb clean data was obtained, and 86 386 unigenes with an average length of 773.49 bp were assembled. A total of 29 290 DEGs were screened from three comparison groups(SS vs DS, GS vs SS, and GS vs DS), and these genes were annotated on 134 Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG) pathways. KEGG enrichment analysis revealed that the plant hormone signal transduction pathway is the richest pathway, containing 226 DEGs. Among all DEGs, 894 transcription factors were identified, which were distributed across 34 transcription factor families. These transcription factors were also mainly concentrated in plant hormone signal transduction and mitogen-activated protein kinase(MAPK) signaling pathways. Further real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction(RT-qPCR) validation of 12 DEGs showed that the transcriptome data is reliable. During the process of seed dormancy release and germination, a large number of DEGs involved in polysaccharide degradation, protein synthesis, lipid metabolism, and hormone signal transduction were expressed. These genes were involved in multiple metabolic pathways, forming a complex regulatory network for dormancy and germination. This study lays a solid foundation for analyzing the molecular mechanisms of seed dormancy and germination of Z. nitidum.
Zanthoxylum/metabolism* ; Plant Dormancy/genetics* ; Seeds/metabolism* ; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant ; Plant Proteins/metabolism* ; Transcriptome ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Germination ; Transcription Factors/metabolism* ; Plant Growth Regulators/genetics* ; Signal Transduction

Objective To investigate the relationship between serum levels of plasminogen activator inhibi-tor-1(PAI-1)and annexin A2(ANXA2)and the carotid atherosclerosis stability(CAS)plaque in patients with transient ischemic attack(TIA).Methods A total of 131 patients with TIA admitted to the hospital from January 2021 to January 2023 were selected as the TIA group,and 46 healthy people in the same period were selected as the control group.According to the CAS plaque stability of TIA patients,they were divided into unstable plaque group(64 cases)and stable plaque/no plaque group(67 cases).The serum levels of PAI-1 and ANXA2 were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and chemiluminescence immunoassay,respectively.Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the factors of CAS plaque stability in TIA patients.Receiver operating characteristic curve was used to analyze the predictive value of serum PAI-1 and ANXA2 levels for CAS instability in TIA patients.Results Compared with the control group,the levels of PAI-1 and ANXA2 in TIA group were significantly increased(P<0.05).Compared with the stable plaque/no plaque group,the unstable plaque group was significant increaseed in the serum levels of PAI-1 and ANXA2(P<0.05).Smoking,high risk of TIA,elevated PAI-1 and ANXA2 were independent risk factors for CAS plaque stability in patients with TIA(P<0.05).The area under the curve predicted by serum PAI-1 and ANXA2 levels combined was 0.879,which was larger than 0.788 and 0.783 predicted by serum PAI-1 and ANXA2 levels alone(P<0.05).Conclusion The increased levels of serum PAI-1 and ANXA2 are closely re-lated to CAS plaque instability in patients with TIA.The combination of serum PAI-1 and ANXA2 levels has a higher value in predicting CAS plaque instability in patients with TIA.

Objective:To explore the correlation between serum hepcidin antimicrobial peptide (HAMP), secreted phosphoprotein 1 (SPP1), and regulator of G protein signaling 2 (RGS2) levels and the clinical pathological characteristics of gastric cancer patients, and their predictive value for postoperative recurrence or metastasis.Methods:A total of 92 gastric cancer patients treated at Handan First Hospital from March 2021 to March 2023 were selected as the gastric cancer group, and 92 healthy individuals who underwent physical examinations during the same period were selected as the control group. The serum levels of HAMP, SPP1 and RGS2 were compared between the two groups. According to the mean levels of HAMP, SPP1, and RGS2 in the serum of gastric cancer patients, they were divided into HAMP high level group and HAMP low level group, SPP1 high level group and SPP1 low level group, RGS2 high level group and RGS2 low level group. The clinicopathological characteristics of gastric cancer patients with different levels of HAMP, SPP1 and RGS2 were compared respectively. After a median follow-up of 18 months, gastric cancer patients were divided into a non-recurrence or metastasis group ( n=59) and a recurrence and metastasis group ( n=33) based on whether the tumor recurred or metastasized. The serum levels of HAMP, SPP1, and RGS2 were compared between the two groups of patients. The predictive value of HAMP, SPP1 and RGS2 for postoperative recurrence or metastasis in patients with gastric cancer was analyzed by using the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve. Results:Compared with the control group, the gastric cancer group had higher levels of serum HAMP [ (52.28±5.44) ng/ml vs. (31.22±4.18) ng/ml] and SPP1 [ (55.96±6.43) ng/ml vs. (36.99±5.25) ng/ml] ( t=29.44, P<0.001; t=21.92, P<0.001), and lower level of RGS2 [ (3.72±0.66) mg/L vs. (5.11±0.87) mg/L) ] ( t=12.21, P<0.001). There were statistically significant differences in maximum tumor diameter ( χ2=13.07, P<0.001; χ2=6.71, P=0.010; χ2=10.56, P=0.001), TNM staging ( χ2=7.42, P=0.006; χ2=6.36, P=0.012; χ2=5.39, P=0.020), lymph node metastasis ( χ2=23.41, P<0.001; χ2=6.52, P=0.011; χ2=13.11, P<0.001), and differentiation degree ( χ2=9.01, P=0.003; χ2=7.97, P=0.005; χ2=15.29, P<0.001) between the gastric cancer patients in the HAMP high level group ( n=44) and the HAMP low level group ( n=48), the SPP1 high level group ( n=43) and the SPP1 low level group ( n=49), and the RGS2 high level group ( n=50) and the RGS2 low level group ( n=42). Compared with the non-recurrence or metastatic group, the recurrence and metastatic group had higher levels of serum HAMP [ (59.26±5.66) ng/ml vs. (48.37±4.28) ng/ml] and SPP1 [ (62.85±6.36) ng/ml vs. (52.11±5.38) ng/ml] level ( t=10.40, P<0.001; t=8.60, P<0.001), and lower level of RGS2 [ (3.01±0.48) mg/L vs. (4.12±0.69) mg/L] ( t=8.19, P<0.001). ROC curve analysis showed that the area under the curve (AUC) values of serum HAMP, SPP1, and RGS2 levels alone for predicting postoperative recurrence or metastasis in gastric cancer patients were 0.777, 0.813, and 0.778, respectively. The AUC value of the combination of the three indicators for predicting postoperative recurrence or metastasis in gastric cancer patients was 0.871. The predictive efficacy of the combination of the three indicators for predicting postoperative recurrence or metastasis in gastric cancer patients was better than that alone ( Z=2.51, P=0.035; Z=2.61, P=0.032; Z=2.71, P=0.029) . Conclusions:The levels of HAMP and SPP1 in the serum of gastric cancer patients increase, while the level of RGS2 decreases, and the levels of the three are related to the maximum tumor diameter, TNM staging, lymph node metastasis and differentiation degree, and their combined detection has higher predictive value for postoperative recurrence or metastasis in gastric cancer patients.

Aim To verify the therapeutic effect of the Qushi Huoxue decoction(QSHXF)on a mouse model of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD)using network pharmacology and experimental approaches,to examine the changes in the PI3K-AKT-lipid metabo-lism signaling pathway,and to elucidate its molecular mechanisms.Methods The potential active ingredi-ents and targets of the QSHXF were identified using the TCMSP platform.NAFLD-related genes were sourced from the GeneCards,PharmGkb,TTD,and OMIM data-bases.The intersection of drug targets and NAFLD treatment targets was analyzed to identify the key tar-gets of the QSHXF in treating NAFLD.The STRING database and Cytoscape 3.9.1 software were utilized to construct networks linking traditional Chinese medicine active ingredients to disease targets and PPI networks,allowing for the screening of key active ingredients and core targets.GO and KEGG enrichment analyses of the intersecting targets were conducted using R version 4.2.2.The NAFLD model was established by feeding mice a methionine-choline deficient diet for a duration of five weeks.Following successful modeling,low,me-dium,and high doses of the QSHXF were administered for intervention over a period of six weeks.The efficacy was verified and the underlying mechanisms were ex-plored using methods such as HE staining,Oil Red O staining,and Western blot analysis.Results The net-work pharmacology prediction indicated that QSHXF might effectively treat NAFLD through key components such as quercetin and kaempferol,as well as core tar-gets including STAT3,AKT1,and HIF1A.KEGG en-richment analysis further suggested that QSHXF might exert its therapeutic effects on NAFLD via signaling pathways such as AGE-RAGE and PI3K-AKT.Verifi-cation through animal experiments demonstrated that QSHXF could significantly reduce hepatic steatosis and lipid droplet accumulation in NAFLD mice.Specifical-ly,it markedly decreased serum levels of TC,TG,ALT,AST,and LDL,while increasing HDL levels.Addition-ally,the treatment significantly reduced the protein ex-pression levels of p-PI3K,p-AKT,SREBP-1c,FASN,and ACC1 in the liver.Conclusions QSHXF can sig-nificantly enhance liver function,improve blood lipid levels,and alleviate hepatic steatosis in NAFLD mice,with its mechanism potentially linked to the inhibition of the PI3K-AKT-lipid metabolism signaling pathway.

Retrieving keyframes most relevant to text from small intestine videos with given labels can efficiently and accurately locate pathological regions. However, training directly on raw video data is extremely slow, while learning visual representations from image-text datasets leads to computational inconsistency. To tackle this challenge, a small bowel video keyframe retrieval based on multi-modal contrastive learning (KRCL) is proposed. This framework fully utilizes textual information from video category labels to learn video features closely related to text, while modeling temporal information within a pretrained image-text model. It transfers knowledge learned from image-text multimodal models to the video domain, enabling interaction among medical videos, images, and text data. Experimental results on the hyper-spectral and Kvasir dataset for gastrointestinal disease detection (Hyper-Kvasir) and the Microsoft Research video-to-text (MSR-VTT) retrieval dataset demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of KRCL, with the proposed method achieving state-of-the-art performance across nearly all evaluation metrics.
Humans ; Video Recording ; Intestine, Small/diagnostic imaging* ; Machine Learning ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted/methods* ; Algorithms

Insufficient alveolar bone thickness increases the risk of periodontal dehiscence and fenestration, especially in orthodontic tooth movement. Abaloparatide (ABL), a synthetic analog of human PTHrP (1-34) and a clinical medication for treating osteoporosis, has recently demonstrated its potential in enhancing craniofacial bone formation. Herein, we show that intraoral submucosal injection of ABL, when combined with mechanical force, promotes in situ alveolar bone thickening. The newly formed bone is primarily located outside the original compact bone, implying its origin from the periosteum. RNA sequencing of the alveolar bone tissue revealed that the focal adhesion (FA) pathway potentially mediates this bioprocess. Local injection of ABL alone enhances cell proliferation, collagen synthesis, and phosphorylation of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) in the alveolar periosteum; when ABL is combined with mechanical force, the FAK expression is upregulated, in line with the accomplishment of the ossification. In vitro, ABL enhances proliferation, migration, and FAK phosphorylation in periosteal stem cells. Furthermore, the pro-osteogenic effects of ABL on alveolar bone are entirely blocked when FAK activity is inhibited by a specific inhibitor. In summary, abaloparatide combined with mechanical force promotes alveolar bone formation via FAK-mediated periosteal osteogenesis. Thus, we have introduced a promising therapeutic approach for drug-induced in situ alveolar bone augmentation, which may prevent or repair the detrimental periodontal dehiscence, holding significant potential in dentistry.
Osteogenesis/drug effects* ; Periosteum/cytology* ; Parathyroid Hormone-Related Protein/administration & dosage* ; Animals ; Focal Adhesion Protein-Tyrosine Kinases/metabolism* ; Alveolar Process/drug effects* ; Cell Proliferation/drug effects* ; Phosphorylation ; Rats ; Male ; Humans ; Focal Adhesion Kinase 1/metabolism* ; Cell Movement/drug effects*

Objective:To analyze the clinical characteristics and nutritional treatment of malnutrition in infants with botulism.Methods:A retrospective analysis was conducted on 25 infant botulism patients admitted to Beijing Children's Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University，from May 1，2019 to October 31，2024.The nutritional risk and malnutrition incidence were assessed，nutritional therapy methods，formulations，tolerance status, energy intake rate, secondary infections and prognosis were analyzed.Results:A total of 25 pediatric patients were included, 19 males and 6 females, with a median age of 5(4,6) months. Twenty-five cases (100%) showed reduced food intake, with a weight of 7.3 (7.0, 9.0) kg upon admission. Twenty-four cases (96%) were assessed as high-risk for nutrition screening, and one case was diagnosed with malnutrition. Twenty-four cases (96%) received nasogastric tube feeding, with an early enteral nutrition implementation rate of 84% (21 cases) and intermittent infusion in 25 cases (100%). Fourteen cases used whole protein formula milk,eight cases used hydrolyzed protein formula milk and three cases were given 5% sugar solution. Nine cases were treated with intravenous nutrition, with a duration of 9 (5, 12) days. Five cases (20%) developed enteral feeding intolerance, and all five cases had secondary infections and were treated with parenteral nutrition. All 25 patients had good prognosis. At discharge, 17 cases (68%) were fed orally, and eight cases (32%) were fed through nasogastric tubes, with a median weight of 7.5 (7.0, 9.0) kg. Fifteen patients (60%) had weight gain, and the nutritional screening assessment was all low-risk.Conclusion:Infants with botulism are mostly in a state of high nutritional risk when they are admitted to hospital. Early enteral nutrition through a gastric tube has a high implementation rate. Some children may experience feeding intolerance,combined with timely use of parenteral nutrition replacement and symptomatic treatment can improve prognosis.

Objective To investigate the safety and efficacy of zero-ischemia and sutureless laparoscopic partial nephrectomy using thulium laser for the treatment of localized renal cell carcinoma.Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on the clinical data of 28 patients with localized renal cell carcinoma admitted to our hospital from January 2020 to March 2023.Laparoscopic zero-ischemia suturing thulium laser partial nephrectomy was adopted.The surgical data,postoperative changes in renal function,perioperative complications,and prognosis were analyzed.Results Three patients underwent traditional partial nephrectomy immediately by blocking the renal arteries during the operation due to poor hemostasis.The remaining 25 patients successfully completed zero-ischemia and sutureless laparoscopic partial nephrectomy using thulium laser,without intraoperative blood transfusion or open surgery.The surgical time ranged from 85 to 135 min,with an average of(108.4±14.7)min,the estimated blood loss was 50-250 ml,with an average of(117.7±51.7)ml.The drainage tube was removed 4-7 days postoperative,with an average of(5.6±0.9)days.The postoperative hospital day was 6～10 days,with an average of(7.7±0.9)days.There were no severe complications such as urinary fistula or secondary bleeding occurred.Preoperative serum creatinine was 60.4-116.0 μmol/L,with an average of(74.0±20.5)μmol/L.One week after the operation,the creatinine was 58.6-120.8 μmol/L,with an average of(73.5±21.8)μmol/L,which was not significant compared with that before surgery(P＞0.05).Postoperative pathology revealed 23 cases of clear cell renal cell carcinoma,4 cases of papillary renal cell carcinoma,and 1 case of chromophobe cell carcinoma.All cases was shown negative margins and there was no recurrence or metastasis during a follow-up period of 12 to 24 months.Conclusion Zero-ischemia and sutureless laparoscopic partial nephrectomy using thulium laser can better preserve kidney function without ischemia reperfusion injury.It is a safe and feasible surgical option for patients with localized renal cell carcinoma.