ObjectiveTo develop an assessment tool for apraxia of speech (AOS) of Chinese Putonghua speakers and test its reliability and validity. MethodsThe Chinese Apraxia of Speech Assessment and Diagnostic Tool (CAADT) was developed based on the Apraxia of Speech Rating Scale 3.5, combined with the linguistic characteristics of Chinese and clinical experience. The tool consistsed of eleven items across three sections: articulation, prosody and alternating motion rates. Six experts evaluated the content validity. From November, 2024 to May, 2025, 51 patients with post-stroke AOS (experimental group) and ten patients with post-stroke aphasia without AOS (control group) were recruited from Anhui Wannan Rehabilitation Hospital (the Fifth People's Hospital of Wuhu), and tested with CAADT. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach's α coefficient, Kendall's coefficient of concordance W and Pearson correlation coefficient. Validity was evaluated using the content validity index (CVI) and Spearman correlation coefficient. Discriminative effect was analyzed using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. ResultsThe Cronbach's α coefficients for the articulation and prosody sections and the total scale were all > 0.9, while it was 0.454 for the alternating motion rates. Inter-rater reliability was good (W ≥ 0.598, P < 0.001). Test-retest reliability showed high positive correlations for the three sections and the total score between the two assessments (r ≥ 0.84, P < 0.001). The scale-level CVI was 0.95, and the item-level CVI ≥ 0.83. The Spearman correlation coefficients among the sections ranged from 0.30 to 0.70. ROC analysis revealed an area under the curve of 0.953, with a cut-off value of 11, yielding a sensitivity of 0.92 and a specificity of 0.90. ConclusionCAADT demonstrates good reliability, validity and discriminative effect, which can be used for clinical assessment and auxiliary diagnosis of Chinese Putonghua speaking patients with post-stroke AOS.

AIM:To investigate the effect of fibroblast growth factor 21(FGF21)on high glucose-induced oxidative stress in retinal pigment epithelial(RPE)cells and to clarify the underlying molecular mechanisms.METHODS:Single-cell sequencing data from the GEO database were analyzed to determine the expression profile of the FGF21 receptor FGFR1 in RPE cells. Human ARPE-19 cells were cultured and randomly assigned to control, high glucose(30 mmol/L), and high glucose+FGF21 analog treatment groups, with additional siFGFR1 and PI3K inhibitor groups. Cell viability in different treatment groups was assessed using CCK-8 assay, intracellular reactive oxygen species(ROS)levels were quantified using DCFH-DA fluorescent probing combined with immunofluorescence staining and flow cytometry. Transcriptome sequencing was performed on cells from the high glucose group and high glucose+FGF21 group to analyze the enrichment level of the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. Western blotting was performed to detect phosphorylation levels of PI3K/Akt pathway components.RESULTS:Single-cell sequencing revealed specific expression of FGFR1 in RPE cells of retinal tissues from diabetic model mice. Under In vitro experiments, high glucose(30 mmol/L)exposure reduced ARPE-19 cell viability by 49.7% and increased ROS levels by approximately 2-fold. Whereas treatment with the FGF21 analog(60 ng/mL)restored cell viability and attenuated high glucose-induced ROS accumulation. Mechanistic studies demonstrated that FGFR1 knockdown inhibited the antioxidative stress of FGF21. Further validation of the molecular mechanism revealed that high glucose significantly suppressed the PI3K/Akt pathway activation(the levels of p-Akt and p-PI3K were decreased by 33.9% and 36.6%, respectively), while FGF21 effectively reversed this inhibitory effect and restored the expression of p-Akt and p-PI3K. Treatment with the PI3K inhibitor LY294002 inhibited the cytoprotective effect of FGF21 and significantly increased the ROS-positive cells, these findings confirm that PI3K/Akt signaling is indispensable downstream mechanism for FGF21 to exert its effects.CONCLUSION:FGF21 alleviates high glucose-induced oxidative stress and cellular injury in RPE cells by activating the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway through its receptor FGFR1.

Liver cancer, one of the most common primary malignancies in humans, is a malignant tumor characterized by multifactorial induction, polygenic involvement, and intricate molecular mechanisms. This disease is characterized by its treatment challenges and poor prognosis, which are closely related to its unique tumor microenvironment composition. The tumor microenvironment of liver cancer is a dynamic ecosystem composed of heterogeneous cellular populations, soluble cytokines, and remodeled extracellular matrix. In recent years, significant progress has been made in the study of the tumor microenvironment of liver cancer, revealed an important role in the occurrence, development, and treatment of liver cancer. The key regulatory elements of the tumor microenvironment in liver cancer were systematically summarized, such as activation of hepatic stellate cells, dysfunction of immune cells, abnormalities of platelet, and remodeling of the extracellular matrix, which provided theoretical foundations for prevention and treatment strategies against liver cancer.

Objective To investigate the effect of active muscle response on mechanical responses and injuries of human neck under high Gx loading.Methods A refined finite element model of the head and neck with active muscle response was established and validated based on the existing post-crash volunteer experiments.The effects of active muscle action on the kinematic and biomechanical responses of the neck were investigated under different G-value loads and at each tilting angle using this model.Results The stress distribution of vertebrae under high Gx load was dispersed from C4-7 to the whole vertebrae,and the active muscle action reduced the stress change,and the effect was significant under 8 G acceleration,which reduced the peak vertebral bone stress by 23.6％and 11.6％,and the peak intervertebral disc stress by 42.3％and 63.4％under 8 G and 10 G conditions,respectively.The maximum stress difference of 34.3 MPa was achieved by the active muscle action at 15° backward tilting.Conclusions The neck showed better stability by the active muscle action under the impact of high Gx loading.At different tilting angles,the active muscle action was more obvious in the backward tilting posture compared with the forward tilting and upright seated postures,and the backward tilting posture was safer to meet the impact when the same active muscle action was applied.The results can provide a reference for the subsequent studies related to the neck injury.

Objective To investigate the effect of active muscle response on mechanical responses and injuries of human neck under high Gx loading.Methods A refined finite element model of the head and neck with active muscle response was established and validated based on the existing post-crash volunteer experiments.The effects of active muscle action on the kinematic and biomechanical responses of the neck were investigated under different G-value loads and at each tilting angle using this model.Results The stress distribution of vertebrae under high Gx load was dispersed from C4-7 to the whole vertebrae,and the active muscle action reduced the stress change,and the effect was significant under 8 G acceleration,which reduced the peak vertebral bone stress by 23.6％and 11.6％,and the peak intervertebral disc stress by 42.3％and 63.4％under 8 G and 10 G conditions,respectively.The maximum stress difference of 34.3 MPa was achieved by the active muscle action at 15° backward tilting.Conclusions The neck showed better stability by the active muscle action under the impact of high Gx loading.At different tilting angles,the active muscle action was more obvious in the backward tilting posture compared with the forward tilting and upright seated postures,and the backward tilting posture was safer to meet the impact when the same active muscle action was applied.The results can provide a reference for the subsequent studies related to the neck injury.

Objective To explore the role and potential mechanisms of plasma-activated solution(PAS)in alleviating dextran sulfate sodium salt(DSS)-induced ulcerative colitis.Methods We constructed a DSS-induced ulcerative colitis mouse model and evaluated the effect of PAS in vivo by observing mouse weight,calculating disease activity indexes,detecting inflammatory factors and oxidative stress indicators through ELISA.We also evaluated the effect of PAS on colon cell proliferation and migration ability through clone formation experiments,scratch experiments,and used Western blotting to determine the expression levels of proliferation-related proteins.Results PAS significantly reversed DSS-induced weight loss and increased disease activity indexes in mice(P＜0.05).The serum inflammatory cytokine levels(TNF-α,IL-6 and IL-1β)in PAS group were significantly reduced compared to those in DSS group(P＜0.05).PAS treatment could improve the imbalance of colonic redox homeostasis including changes of malondialdehyde,catalase and superoxide dismutase caused by DSS(P＜0.05).After the use of endothelial nitric oxide synthase inhibitors,changes in various indicators caused by in vivo PAS disappeared(P＜0.001).The clone formation ability of colon cells was stronger in the group treated with PAS,and the expression of proliferation-related proteins increased.Cell scratch experiments suggested that intervention with PAS could reverse the decrease in cell migration ability caused by lipopolysaccharide(P＜0.001).After the application of endothelial nitric oxide synthase inhibitors,the pro-proliferative and migratory effects of PAS disappeared(P＜0.05).Conclusion PAS alleviate DSS-induced colitis in mice and promote colonic epithelial cell repair through the eNOS pathway.

Objective To explore the application of plasma-activated solution(PAS)in the treatment of peritoneal metastasis in mice.Methods A mice model of peritoneal tumor transplantation was established,and PAS was prepared for intervention in the mice.The growth of the peritoneally transplanted tumor was assessed using in vivo imaging technology,while the apoptosis level was evaluated through flow cytometry,immunofluorescence,and Western blotting.Results At the in vitro level,there was no significant impact on tumor cell apoptosis level under adherent conditions observed when utilizing PAS(P＞0.05).Under non-adherent condition,PAS significantly augmented tumor cell apoptosis level(P＜0.05),substantially increased the proportion of deceased cells(P＜0.05),and markedly elevated intracellular total and mitochondrial reactive oxygen species levels(P＜0.05).In vivo level,using PAS following peritoneal transplanted tumor formation exhibited no noteworthy influence on peritoneal transplanted tumor growth(P＞0.05),while immediate utilization of PAS during model conducting effectively reduced abdominal tumor spread(P＜0.05).Conclusion PAS inhibits tumor peritoneal dissemination in mice by promoting tumor cell anoikis.

Objective To investigate the articulation acoustic characteristics of children with spastic cerebral palsy and their correlation with articulation intelligibility.Methods A total of 17 children with cerebral palsy and 17 ordinary children aged 6-12 years were included in the study,and the articulation acoustics and articulation intelligi-bility performance of the two types of children were compared by using three kinds of corpus:monophthong,single word and sentence,and the correlation between them was studied.Results The articulation intelligibility of the monophthong,single word and sentence corpus of children with spastic cerebral palsy was lower than that of ordina-ry children(P＜0.01),as follows:monophthong＞single word＞sentence.In the monophthong corpus,only mandibular distance and tongue distance were significantly lower than that of ordinary children(P＜0.05),and only mandibular distance and vowel space area(VSA)were significantly correlated with articulation intelligibility(P＜0.05).In the single word corpus,mandibular distance,tongue distance and VSA were significantly lower than that of ordinary children,while vowel ellipse area(VEA)was significantly higher than that of ordinary children(P＜0.05).All other indexes except VSA and formant centralization ratio(FCR)were significantly correlated with artic-ulation intelligibility(P＜0.05).In the sentence corpus,all the other indexes except mandibular distance were sig-nificantly worse than those of ordinary children(P＜0.05),and all the acoustic indexes were significantly correlated with articulation intelligibility(P＜0.05).Conclusion Children with cerebral palsy have poor articulation acoustic cha-racteristics and articulation intelligibility,and the corpus complexity will affect the degree of correlation between the two.

Objective:To analyze the epidemiological information of oral leukoplakia and explore the relationship between clinical characteristics and different degrees of epithelial dysplasia.Methods:A total of 430 patients with oral leukoplakia confirmed by pathology in the Department of Oral Medicine, Shanghai Ninth People′s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from February 2013 to May 2021 were enrolled. Epidemiological information was recorded, and univariate and multivariate Logistic regression analysis were performed on age, gender, smoking, drinking, lesion size, lesion site and lesion type to evaluate the correlation between the risk factors and the degree of epithelial dysplasia in oral leukoplakia.Results:A total of 430 valid samples were included in this study, among which 23 patients were diagnosed with oral leukoplakia with concurrent cancer. The age of all patients was (52.9±12.9) years (22-85 years); 213 were male and 217 were female. One hundred and seventy-six cases (40.9%) had lesions on the lateral and ventral tongue, and 254 cases (59.1%) had lesions in other locations. Three hundred and two cases (70.2%) had homogeneous lesions, and 128 cases (29.8%) had heterogeneous lesions. The degrees of epithelial dysplasia included none [11.9% (51/430)], mild [51.9% (223/430)], moderate [24.4% (105/430)], severe [6.5% (28/430)], and concurrent cancer [5.3% (23/430)]. Smoking, drinking, and gender were correlated with the degree of epithelial dysplasia in some binary classification systems, while tongue (border and ventral) and non-homogeneous damage were significantly correlated with higher degrees of epithelial dysplasia in all binary classification systems ( P<0.05). Conclusions:Lesions on the lateral or ventral tongue and heterogeneous lesions are significantly associated with higher degrees of dysplasia, suggesting that clinicians should pay more attention to these types of oral leukoplakia during the follow-up monitoring process.

Objective To explore the role and potential mechanisms of plasma-activated solution(PAS)in alleviating dextran sulfate sodium salt(DSS)-induced ulcerative colitis.Methods We constructed a DSS-induced ulcerative colitis mouse model and evaluated the effect of PAS in vivo by observing mouse weight,calculating disease activity indexes,detecting inflammatory factors and oxidative stress indicators through ELISA.We also evaluated the effect of PAS on colon cell proliferation and migration ability through clone formation experiments,scratch experiments,and used Western blotting to determine the expression levels of proliferation-related proteins.Results PAS significantly reversed DSS-induced weight loss and increased disease activity indexes in mice(P＜0.05).The serum inflammatory cytokine levels(TNF-α,IL-6 and IL-1β)in PAS group were significantly reduced compared to those in DSS group(P＜0.05).PAS treatment could improve the imbalance of colonic redox homeostasis including changes of malondialdehyde,catalase and superoxide dismutase caused by DSS(P＜0.05).After the use of endothelial nitric oxide synthase inhibitors,changes in various indicators caused by in vivo PAS disappeared(P＜0.001).The clone formation ability of colon cells was stronger in the group treated with PAS,and the expression of proliferation-related proteins increased.Cell scratch experiments suggested that intervention with PAS could reverse the decrease in cell migration ability caused by lipopolysaccharide(P＜0.001).After the application of endothelial nitric oxide synthase inhibitors,the pro-proliferative and migratory effects of PAS disappeared(P＜0.05).Conclusion PAS alleviate DSS-induced colitis in mice and promote colonic epithelial cell repair through the eNOS pathway.