Background: Adrenocortical hormones, particularly 11-oxygenated androgens, are pivotal in female reproductive health and fertility. Standardized detection kits and population-specific reference intervals are lacking in China, hindering related clinical applications. Methods: A HPLC-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) pipeline was developed, rigorously validated, and applied to simultaneously quantify corticosterone, cortisone, cortisol, 18-OH cortisol, androstenedione (A4), 11β-hydroxyandrostenedione (11-OH A4), dehydroepiandrosterone, and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate in serum samples from 455 reproductive-aged women (18–45 yrs) in Guangxi, China. Age-dependent concentration trends were analyzed, and reference intervals stratified by age (2.5th to 97.5th percentiles) were established. Correlations with body-composition metrics, ethnicity, and the menstrual cycle were investigated. Results: The HPLC-MS/MS method demonstrated high precision (intra- and inter-assay CVs < 15%), accuracy, and sensitivity. All eight hormones exhibited significant age-related declines (P < 0.001 for seven hormones; P = 0.001 for 11-OH A4). Notably, 11-OH A4 levels were significantly lower in the 35–45-yr (3.05 nmol/L) and 25–34-yr (3.09 nmol/L) age groups than in the 18–24-yr (3.57 nmol/L) age group, whereas no significant difference was observed between the 35–45-yr and 25–34-yr age groups. Weak negative correlations were observed between the body mass index and corticosterone and cortisone levels, whereas ethnicity and the menstrual cycle showed no significant associations with hormone levels. Conclusions We developed an HPLC-MS/MS-based method for simultaneously quantifying eight adrenocortical hormones, including 11-OH A4, and defined age-specific reference intervals for reproductive-aged Chinese women. These findings advance the clinical utility of adrenocortical hormones in diagnosing and managing reproductive disorders.

The three-dimensional (3D) printed bone tissue repair guide scaffold is considered a promising method for treating bone defect repair. In this experiment, chitosan (CS), sodium alginate (SA), and mineralized collagen (MC) were combined and 3D printed to form scaffolds. The experimental results showed that the printability of the scaffold was improved with the increase of chitosan concentration. Infrared spectroscopy analysis confirmed that the scaffold formed a cross-linked network through electrostatic interaction between chitosan and sodium alginate under acidic conditions, and X-ray diffraction results showed the presence of characteristic peaks of hydroxyapatite, indicating the incorporation of mineralized collagen into the scaffold system. In the in vitro collagen release experiments, a weakly alkaline environment was found to accelerate the release rate of collagen, and the release amount increased significantly with a lower concentration of chitosan. Cell experiments showed that scaffolds loaded with mineralized collagen could significantly promote cell proliferation activity and alkaline phosphatase expression. The subcutaneous implantation experiment further verified the biocompatibility of the material, and the implantation of printed scaffolds did not cause significant inflammatory reactions. Histological analysis showed no abnormal pathological changes in the surrounding tissues. Therefore, incorporating mineralized collagen into sodium alginate/chitosan scaffolds is believed to be a new tissue engineering and regeneration strategy for achieving enhanced osteogenic differentiation through the slow release of collagen.
Chitosan/chemistry* ; Alginates/chemistry* ; Tissue Scaffolds/chemistry* ; Printing, Three-Dimensional ; Osteogenesis ; Collagen/chemistry* ; Cell Differentiation ; Animals ; Tissue Engineering/methods* ; Cell Proliferation ; Biocompatible Materials ; Glucuronic Acid/chemistry* ; Hexuronic Acids/chemistry*

Objective To investigate the correlation between CT imaging features and histopathology invasive behaviors in isoat-tenuating and rim-enhancing pancreatic cancer.Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on the CT imaging,clinical,and pathological data from 34 patients with atypical pancreatic cancer imaging appearances.All patients underwent surgical resection for diagnostic confirmation.Based on contrast attenuation,all cases were divided into isoattenuating group(13 cases)and rim-enhancing group(21 cases).The CT imaging and pathological characteristics of the two groups of lesions were analyzed.Results Significant differences were observed between the isoattenuating group and the rim-enhancing group in terms of lesion location,CT size,presence of necrosis or cystic changes,and common bile duct amputation/dilation.Pathological parameters,including pathological size,patho-logical grade,and T stage,also showed significant variation between the two groups(P＜0.05).No significant differences were found between the two groups in terms of gender,age,main pancreatic duct amputation/dilation,pancreatic parenchymal atrophy,vascular invasion,fat infiltration,nerve invasion,N stage,metastasis,and CA199 value(P＞0.05).Conclusion Isoattenuating pancreatic cancer and rim-enhancing pancreatic cancer,which display distinct contrast attenuation patterns,may exhibit different clinical and pathological characteristics,with potential implications for diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.

Objective To investigate the correlation between CT imaging features and histopathology invasive behaviors in isoat-tenuating and rim-enhancing pancreatic cancer.Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on the CT imaging,clinical,and pathological data from 34 patients with atypical pancreatic cancer imaging appearances.All patients underwent surgical resection for diagnostic confirmation.Based on contrast attenuation,all cases were divided into isoattenuating group(13 cases)and rim-enhancing group(21 cases).The CT imaging and pathological characteristics of the two groups of lesions were analyzed.Results Significant differences were observed between the isoattenuating group and the rim-enhancing group in terms of lesion location,CT size,presence of necrosis or cystic changes,and common bile duct amputation/dilation.Pathological parameters,including pathological size,patho-logical grade,and T stage,also showed significant variation between the two groups(P＜0.05).No significant differences were found between the two groups in terms of gender,age,main pancreatic duct amputation/dilation,pancreatic parenchymal atrophy,vascular invasion,fat infiltration,nerve invasion,N stage,metastasis,and CA199 value(P＞0.05).Conclusion Isoattenuating pancreatic cancer and rim-enhancing pancreatic cancer,which display distinct contrast attenuation patterns,may exhibit different clinical and pathological characteristics,with potential implications for diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.

Background::Genetic variants of dopaminergic transcription factor-encoding genes are suggested to be Parkinson’s disease (PD) risk factors; however, no comprehensive analyses of these genes in patients with PD have been undertaken. Therefore, we aimed to genetically analyze 16 dopaminergic transcription factor genes in Chinese patients with PD.Methods::Whole-exome sequencing (WES) was performed using a Chinese cohort comprising 1917 unrelated patients with familial or sporadic early-onset PD and 1652 controls. Additionally, whole-genome sequencing (WGS) was performed using another Chinese cohort comprising 1962 unrelated patients with sporadic late-onset PD and 1279 controls.Results::We detected 308 rare and 208 rare protein-altering variants in the WES and WGS cohorts, respectively. Gene-based association analyses of rare variants suggested that MSX1 is enriched in sporadic late-onset PD. However, the significance did not pass the Bonferroni correction. Meanwhile, 72 and 1730 common variants were found in the WES and WGS cohorts, respectively. Unfortunately, single-variant logistic association analyses did not identify significant associations between common variants and PD. Conclusions::Variants of 16 typical dopaminergic transcription factors might not be major genetic risk factors for PD in Chinese patients. However, we highlight the complexity of PD and the need for extensive research elucidating its etiology.

Objective:To understand the cognition and attitude of medical staff towards medical ethics review, analyze possible influencing factors, to put forward relevant suggestions for strengthening ethical management in the future.Methods:From November 2021 to May 2022, a self-designed questionnaire and general data questionnaire on the cognition and attitude of medical staff to ethical issues in clinical research were used to investigate 408 medical staff from two first-class ternary hospitals in Hunan Province, data was analyzed to explore the respondents′ cognition and attitude, as well as related influence factors.Results:The average cognitive score of medical staff was 65.41, and the average attitude score was 91.83. Many possible influence actors regarding the cognition were identified, including degree, technical title, professional field, number of clinical research projects engaged as investigators, number of clinical research projects conducted as principle investigators, whether the hospital has established an ethics committee, and research ethics training experiences. While the influence factors of attitude were experiences of conducting and engaging in clinical research, the construction of hospital ethics committee and research ethics trainings.Conclusions:Medical staffs have the willingness to explore more research ethics knowledge, while their cognition of research ethics should be improved. Root-cause analysis should be conducted to identify influencing factors for improvement. The research management department should strengthen the publicity and training of clinical research ethics of medical staff, to improve their clinical research ethics knowledge literacy, and ensure the well-functioning of clinical research ethics review.

Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics and related factors of diagnosis and treatment of patients with hypertensive cerebral hemorrhage,and provide basis for clinical treatment and prognosis.Methods The clinical diagnosis and treatment data of 96 patients with hypertensive cerebral hemorrhage,admitted to our hospital from February 2010 to February 2013,were analyzed.Results In all the 96 patients,improvement was noted in 76 accounting for 79.17％,limb paralysis in 74 accounting for 77.08％ and death in 17 accounting for 17.71％; death within 24 hours of onset was noted in 11 accounting for 11.46％ and within 24-72 hours in 6 accounting for 6.25％.Automatic discharge was observed in 3,accounting for 3.13％.Conclusion Choosing corresponding treatments according to the hematoma sizes in patients with hypertensive cerebral hemorrhage plays important role in improving the prognosis.

Objective To investigate the correlation between asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and endothelial dysfunction in patients with type 2 diabetic nephropathy.Methods The 81 patients with type 2 diabetic nephropathy were selected.According to the urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER),the patients were divided into micro-albuminuria group (DN1 group,UAER 21-199 mg/24 h,38 cases) and macro-albuminuria group (DN2 group,UAER ≥ 200 mg/24 h,43 cases).The 20 healthy people were defined as control group.Intimal-media thickness and endothelial dysfunction of the radial artery of right forearm were detected by color Doppler ultrasound.The serum level of ADMA was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.Results There was no significant difference in radial artery inner diameter intimal-media thickness among the 3 groups (P ＞ 0.05).The Endothelial dependent diastolic function (EDD) and endothelial independent diastolic function (EID) in DN1 group and DN2 group were significantly lower than those in control group [(10.45 ± 2.58)％ and (7.56 ± 2.17)％ vs.(15.72 ± 3.05)％,(15.42 ± 2.71)％ and (15.37 ± 2.92)％ vs.(19.31 ± 3.76)％,P ＜ 0.05],and the EDD in DN2 group was significantly lower than that in DN1 group (P＜ 0.05).The serum ADMA in DN1 group and DN2 group was significantly higher than that in control group [(0.63 ± 0.08) and (0.92 ± 0.12) μ mol/L vs.(0.39 ± 0.05)μmol/L,P ＜0.05],and in DN2 group it was significantly higher than that in DN1 group (P ＜0.05).In patients with type 2 diabetic nephropathy,the serum ADMA and EDD had negative correlation (r =-0.81,P =0.020),but the serum ADMA and C reactive protein had positive correlation (r =0.75,P =0.034).Conclusions The serum level of ADMA is significantly increased in patients with type 2 diabetic nephropathy.There is a close correlation between ADMA and endothelial dysfunction of artery.

Objective To observe the clinical characteristics and prognosis of primary nephrotic syndrome (PNS) in the elderly. Methods The clinical and pathological features of 52 elderly patients with PNS and 64 non-elderly patients with PNS were retrospectively analyzed and compared.The elderly patients with PNS received routine treatment:oral corticosteroids prednisone 1mg·kg-1 ·d-1.After 8 weeks maintenance treatment,if symptoms were alleviated,the prednisone dose was gradually reduced to a maintenance dose, then was stopped gradually. If symptoms were not alleviated, the cyclophosphamide or cyclosporine, mycophenolate mofetil was added. Results There were significant differences in the numbers of patients complicated with hypertension, infection,chronic renal insufficiency and hematuria between the elderly group and non-elderly group (P＜0. 05＝.But there were no significant differences in the level of blood albumin, quantitative measurement of 24 hours urinary protein and incidence rate of acute renal insufficiency between the two groups (P＞0.05). The major pathological types of PNS in the elderly were membranous nephropathy (46.2 %),IgA nephropathy (23. 1 %) and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis ( 11.5 %), respectively. And the major pathological types of PNS in non-elderly group were mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis (32.8%), IgA nephropathy ( 25.0% ) and minimal change nephropathy ( 20. 3 %), respectively.Complete remission after treatment was found in 31 patients(59.6%), partial remission in 18 cases and inefficacy in 3 cases. Conclusions The major clinicopathological type of PNS in the elderly is membranous nephropathy and should be treated using corticosteroids and immunosuppressive agents,with different effects in different pathological types.