BACKGROUND:Polyurethane materials,with their outstanding physicochemical properties,present extensive opportunities in the realm of biomedical engineering.Biomimetic design and functional modification of polyurethane nerve conduits are expected to further address the challenges of nerve regeneration and repair.OBJECTIVE:To review the current status and advancements in the application of polyurethane-based nerve conduits in the field of peripheral nerve repair.METHODS:The Chinese and English search terms consisted of"polyurethane,PU,polyurethane material,polyurethane biomaterials,nerve regeneration,peripheral nerve injury,nerve repair,nerve scaffold,nerve guidance conduit,nerve conduits."The search was conducted in databases such as PubMed,Web of Science,CNKI(China National Knowledge Infrastructure),and WanFang for articles published from 2014 to 2024.Finally,61 articles were included in the review.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Biomimetic composition is an effective strategy for enhancing the biological activity of polyurethane nerve conduits.Through structural biomimicry,polyurethane nerve conduits can be optimized to provide biological guidance cues for neural tissue regeneration.The biomechanically biomimetic polyurethane nerve conduits are likely to play a significant role in immune modulation and the promotion of axonal growth.By optimizing the conductive microenvironment of polyurethane materials,the reconstruction of neural electrical signal pathways can be facilitated.Polyurethane nerve conduits can serve as drug carriers,exerting anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects.Although the combined application of multiple design strategies can improve various aspects of damaged nerve function,the complex structure and dynamically changing pathophysiological microenvironment of nerves mean that nerve conduit design strategies still require refinement.Future advancements and innovations in nerve biomimetic design strategies hold promise for providing new insights and opportunities in the field of neural tissue engineering.

BACKGROUND:Polyurethane materials,with their outstanding physicochemical properties,present extensive opportunities in the realm of biomedical engineering.Biomimetic design and functional modification of polyurethane nerve conduits are expected to further address the challenges of nerve regeneration and repair.OBJECTIVE:To review the current status and advancements in the application of polyurethane-based nerve conduits in the field of peripheral nerve repair.METHODS:The Chinese and English search terms consisted of"polyurethane,PU,polyurethane material,polyurethane biomaterials,nerve regeneration,peripheral nerve injury,nerve repair,nerve scaffold,nerve guidance conduit,nerve conduits."The search was conducted in databases such as PubMed,Web of Science,CNKI(China National Knowledge Infrastructure),and WanFang for articles published from 2014 to 2024.Finally,61 articles were included in the review.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Biomimetic composition is an effective strategy for enhancing the biological activity of polyurethane nerve conduits.Through structural biomimicry,polyurethane nerve conduits can be optimized to provide biological guidance cues for neural tissue regeneration.The biomechanically biomimetic polyurethane nerve conduits are likely to play a significant role in immune modulation and the promotion of axonal growth.By optimizing the conductive microenvironment of polyurethane materials,the reconstruction of neural electrical signal pathways can be facilitated.Polyurethane nerve conduits can serve as drug carriers,exerting anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects.Although the combined application of multiple design strategies can improve various aspects of damaged nerve function,the complex structure and dynamically changing pathophysiological microenvironment of nerves mean that nerve conduit design strategies still require refinement.Future advancements and innovations in nerve biomimetic design strategies hold promise for providing new insights and opportunities in the field of neural tissue engineering.

A method capable of retinal vessel segmentation and three-dimensional(3D)reconstruction is proposed for the early diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy.The 3D reconstruction can avoid the misjudgments of blood vessel length,curvature and branch angle after segmentation,which will affect the early diagnosis.IAAnet algorithm for retinal image segmentation combines traditional Unet with Inception V3,atrous spatial pyramid pooling and AttentionGates to reduce information loss and avoid over-fitting,thereby improving the network's ability to extract features.The projection reconstruction method is used to restore the 3D information of blood vessels,and supports the adjustments of brightness and contrast,so that doctors can better observe the real state of blood vessels.The proposed algorithm has an accuracy,recall rate,F1 score,intersection over union and area under ROC curve of 97.68%,96.07%,97.26%,92.79%and 94.00%,respectively.Compared with other networks,IAAnet algorithm exhibits higher segmentation accuracy,and can obtain more vascular information in 3D image after 3D projection reconstruction to assist in the early diagnosis.

Objective Pertussis cases have increased markedly since 2018 in Guangxi.The aim of this study was to evaluate antibody levels and the infection status of pertussis in the resident population. Method A total of 10,215 serum samples from residents were collected from August-November 2018 and tested for anti-pertussis IgG and toxin IgG using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA). Results Of the collected samples,1,833(17.94%)tested positive for anti-pertussis IgG,with the median concentration of 16.06 IU/mL.Antibody level<10 IU/mL accounted for more than 60%in children under 4 years of age,but declined with age,whereas the percentages of the other three levels(10-40,40-50,and≥50 IU/mL)increased almost with age(P<0.001).Moreover,7,924 samples were selected for anti-pertussis toxin IgG,of which 653(8.24%)tested positive(≥40 IU/mL)with the median concentration of 5.89 IU/mL,and 204 participants(2.56%)had recent pertussis infection(≥100 IU/mL).Among the different age groups,the highest rates of positivity and recent infection were observed at 11-20 years of age,the lowest positivity rate at 5 years of age,and the lowest recent infection rate at 4 years of age(P<0.001,P=0.005,respectively). Conclusion The survey results showed that all age groups in Guangxi lacked immunity against pertussis,which was one of the main factors contributing to the resurgence of pertussis in 2018.In addition,the prevalence of pertussis is relatively high in Guangxi,and its incidence is seriously underestimated,especially in adolescents and adults.

AIM: To observe the effects of rapamycin pregnancy intervention on cognitive function of autism model in rat offspring. METHODS: Fourteen pregnant rats were randomly divided into normal group (n = 3), model group (n = 4), rapamycin (RAPA) control group (n =3) and intervention group (n = 4). The model group and intervention group were i.p. injected with sodium valproate 600 mg/kg at embryonic day (E) 12.5 to establish autism model in rat offspring. RAPA control group and intervention group were i.g. given RAPA 4 mg/kg every day from the 13th day of gestation until the offspring rats were weaned at 23 days. After the birth of the above four groups of pregnant rats, 15, 27, 21 and 26 offspring male rats were selected to conduct behavioral tests to identify the model. Then, paw withdrawal mechanical threshold (PWMT), tail flick latency (TFL) evoked under different light intensity and learning and memory function of offspring rats were further detected. RESULTS: Rat offspring in the model group had lower growth and development indexes and exploratory behavior ability, but stronger repetitive stereotyped behavior compared with the normal group (P < 0.05), while the indexes between the intervention group and model group were reversed (P < 0.05). The model group had higher PWMT than normal group (P < 0.01) and the PWMT of intervention group was lower than that of model group (P < 0.01). The TFLs of rats in 4 groups showed a timed dose-response relationship (TDRR, P < 0.01), that is, TFLs were shortened with the increase of light intensity. The TDRR curve of model group shifted to right compared with normal group (P < 0.01) and intervention group shifted to left compared with model group (P < 0.01). At the light intensity of Focus 34, 51 and 76, the TFLs of model group were longer than those of normal group (P < 0.01) and intervention group had shorter TFLs compared with model group (P<0.01). In spatial probing trial of Morris water maze test, the platform crossover number in model group was less than that in normal group (P<0.01) and that in intervention group was more than model group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: RAPA intervention during pregnancy may alleviate behavior disorder, pain tolerance and memory function of autism model in rat offspring to some extent.

Transcriptional regulators (TRs) participate in essential processes in cancer pathogenesis and are critical therapeutic targets. Identification of drug response-related TRs from cell line-based compound screening data is often challenging due to low mRNA abundance of TRs, protein modifications, and other confounders (CFs). In this study, we developed a regression-based pharmacogenomic and ChIP-seq data integration method (RePhine) to infer the impact of TRs on drug response through integrative analyses of pharmacogenomic and ChIP-seq data. RePhine was evaluated in simulation and pharmacogenomic data and was applied to pan-cancer datasets with the goal of biological discovery. In simulation data with added noises or CFs and in pharmacogenomic data, RePhine demonstrated an improved performance in comparison with three commonly used methods (including Pearson correlation analysis, logistic regression model, and gene set enrichment analysis). Utilizing RePhine and Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia data, we observed that RePhine-derived TR signatures could effectively cluster drugs with different mechanisms of action. RePhine predicted that loss-of-function of EZH2/PRC2 reduces cancer cell sensitivity toward the BRAF inhibitor PLX4720. Experimental validation confirmed that pharmacological EZH2 inhibition increases the resistance of cancer cells to PLX4720 treatment. Our results support that RePhine is a useful tool for inferring drug response-related TRs and for potential therapeutic applications. The source code for RePhine is freely available at https://github.com/coexps/RePhine.

Objective To evaluate the feasibility and safety of endoscopic ultrasound-guided microwave ablation ( EUS-MWA ) for porcine liver and pancreas by assessing physiological state and pathological changes. Methods EUS-MWA was performed on liver and pancreas of 8 healthy pigs after general anesthesia. The needle size was 1. 9 mm in diameter, and the power of ablation was 65 W, 10 min on liver and 60 W, 5 min on pancreas. The levels of blood amylase and hepatic transaminase were examined before and after the operation. All pigs underwent CT scan on the right postoperative day to assess the extent of ablation and complications. Two pigs were killed 6 hours after operation and 2 others were killed 24 hours after operation to assess structural damage around the puncture path. The remaining 4 pigs were raised to 2 weeks after operation to observe diet, activities and mental state. The ablated areas of liver and pancreas underwent pathological analysis after dissection, and non-ablation regions were treated as the control. Results All 8 pigs underwent EUS-MWA and their vital signs were stable during the operation. Except for the difficulty in locating the pancreas in one case, other surgical procedures were smooth and 18 ablations were performed totally ( 10 in liver and 8 in pancreas) . CT scans showed quasi-circular low density lesions in the liver and pancreas, and the maximum diameter of the ablation area in liver and pancreas was 2. 8 ± 0. 3 cm, 1. 8±0. 2 cm respectively. There was no free intraperitoneal gas, ascites or pleural effusion. The level of blood amylase increased at 6 hours after operation and the peak value occurred within 12-24 hours. The level of hepatic transaminase had a mild elevation. The rearing group showed transient food refusal and activity reduction after the operation, but all returned to normal within 1-2 days. No fever, vomiting or other abnormalities occurred. Puncture path burn, adjacent organ damage and bleeding was not observed except for one case of gastric wall burns during pancreas ablation. Pathology showed massive coagulative necrosis and peripheral bleeding area in the liver ablation center, and diffuse focal necrosis in the tissue of the pancreatic ablation area. Conclusion EUS-MWA is safe and feasible for porcine liver and pancreas, which can be used for the treatment of human liver and pancreatic diseases in the future.