ObjectiveTo investigate microbial contamination status and distribution characteristics in laboratory animal barrier facilities, so as to provide a scientific basis for environmental quality control in barrier facilities. MethodsIn accordance with the national standard "Laboratory Animals—Environment and Housing Facilities" and the "Standard Operating Procedures" of the barrier facility, bacterial monitoring was performed on samples of air-settling bacteria, materials, and personnel gloves in the single-corridor barrier facility of the Animal Core Facility, Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CEMCS). The monitoring data from January 2020 to December 2024 were collected, organized and statistically analyzed, and partial samples were subjected to species identification using PCR and sequencing methods. ResultsA total of 7 898 samples were collected from 2020 to 2024, including 3 175 air-settling bacteria samples, 3 353 material samples, and 1 370 glove samples. The overall compliance rate was 95.7% (7 559/7 898), among which the compliance rate of air-settling bacteria was 97.1% (3 084/3 175), that of materials was 93.2% (3 125/3 353), and that of personnel gloves was 98.5% (1 350/1 370). Over the five years, the compliance rates of all three types of monitored samples were above 90%. There were statistically significant differences in the compliance rates of air-settling bacteria and material samples among different quarters (P<0.05). Further investigation was conducted on samples collected from January to March 2024, and 190 bacterial strains were obtained through isolation and culture, including 126 strains from air-settling bacteria, 52 strains from materials, and 12 strains from personnel gloves. The strains were identified by PCR amplification and sequencing, and the 190 bacterial strains belonged to 9 genera and 20 species. Gram-positive bacteria accounted for the majority, with Staphylococcus as the dominant genus, accounting for 77.9% (148/190). ConclusionMicroorganisms carried by air, materials, and personnel gloves in barrier facilities are mainly Gram-positive bacteria. Regular monitoring of air-settling bacteria, materials, and personnel gloves in barrier facilities enables timely detection and control of potential risks during husbandry management and facility operation, which is of great significance for maintaining the sound operation of the barrier facility system and ensuring the quality of animal experiments.

BACKGROUND:Because of its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities,Apelin-13 plays an effective role in the treatment of common clinical diseases such as neuroinflammation,cardiovascular injury and pneumonia.However,there is no relevant basic research on whether Apelin-13 also has a good effect in the treatment of inflammatory bone loss. OBJECTIVE:To explore the therapeutic effect and mechanism of Apelin-13 on inflammatory bone loss,in order to find potential drugs for the treatment of inflammatory bone loss. METHODS:(1)In vitro experiment:RAW264.7 cells were divided into three groups:control group,lipopolysaccharide group and treatment group.The control group was only added with DMEM complete medium;lipopolysaccharide group was added with lipopolysaccharide(100 ng/mL)induced inflammation DMEM medium;and the treatment group was added with 10 nmol/L Apelin-13+lipopolysaccharide induced inflammation DMEM medium.Then,24 hours after lipopolysaccharide induced inflammation,western blot was used to detect the marker proteins inducible nitric oxide synthase and CD86 of M1 macrophages,and cell immunofluorescence was extracted to detect the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase.Finally,the same amount of receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand(RANKL;50 ng/ml)was added to the control group,lipopolysaccharide group and treatment group to induce osteoclasts.The results of osteoclast induction were evaluated by tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase staining and F-actin staining after 6 days of induction.(2)In vivo experiment:Eighteen male C57bl/6 mice were randomly divided into three groups:sham group,lipopolysaccharide group and treatment group.The sham group received intraperitoneal injection of 0.1 mL of PBS;the lipopolysaccharide group was injected with 0.1 mL of PBS diluent containing lipopolysaccharide(5 mg/kg);and the treatment group was injected with 0.1 mL of PBS diluent containing lipopolysaccharide(5 mg/kg)+Apelin-13(100 μg/kg).After 7 days of continuous intraperitoneal injection,the mice in each group were killed on the 8th day,and two femurs of each mouse were collected.Half of them were scanned by micro-CT and analyzed by bone mineral density,and the other half were stained by hematoxylin-eosin staining RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1)In vitro experiment:Western blot results showed that the expressions of inducible nitric oxide synthase and CD86 in the lipopolysaccharide group were significantly higher than those in the control group,and Apelin-13 could significantly inhibit the M1 polarization of macrophages induced by lipopolysaccharide.Cell immunofluorescence results also showed that the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase in the treatment group was lower than that in the lipopolysaccharide group.Besides,tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase staining and F-actin staining results showed that Apelin-13 inhibited the abnormal activation and bone resorption of lipopolysaccharide induced osteoclasts.(2)In vivo experiment:The results of micro-CT showed that systemic inflammation led to significant bone loss in the distal femur,while Apelin-13 could significantly inhibit bone loss in vivo.Hematoxylin-eosin staining results also showed that Apelin-13 could effectively alleviate inflammation induced bone loss in the distal femur of mice.To conclude,Apelin-13 can alleviate bone loss induced by systemic inflammation by inhibiting M1 polarization of macrophages,inhibiting abnormal activation of osteoclasts and bone resorption.

Objective To evaluate the safety and efficacy of simultaneous resection for initially resectable rectal cancer with synchronous liver metastases. Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on 305 patients with initially resectable rectal cancer with synchronous liver metastases. These patients were diagnosed at Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University from January 2016 to June 2020. Among them, 191 underwent simultaneous rectum and liver resection and 114 underwent staged resection. Propensity score matching (PSM) was performed at a 1∶1 ratio. Clinical data were compared and Kaplan-Meier survival curves were plotted. Results After PSM, 85 patients were included in each group. General data showed no significant differences. Except for liver metastasis resection method, no statistical differences were found in primary tumor surgery approach, intraoperative blood loss, intraoperative complications, time to first flatus and defecation, 30-day mortality, and postoperative hospital stay between the simultaneous resection group and the staged resection group. The overall complication rate was higher in the simultaneous resection group (48.2% vs 29.4%, P＝0.04). Specifically, the grade Ⅱ complications were significantly higher (29.4% vs 14.1%, P＝0.016), but there’s no differences in severe complications (grade Ⅲ-Ⅴ). No statistically differences were observed in median progression-free survival (HR＝0.70, 95%CI 0.50-0.97, P＝0.103) and 5-year overall survival (HR＝0.95, 95%CI 0.63-1.44, P＝0.259). Conclusions Simultaneous resection demonstrates comparable safety and efficacy to staged resection for initially resectable rectal cancer with synchronous liver metastases.

Drug-drug interaction (DDI) refers to the interaction between two or more drugs in the body, altering their efficacy or pharmacokinetics. Fully considering and accurately predicting DDI has become an indispensable part of ensuring safe medication for patients. In recent years, many deep learning-based methods have been proposed to predict DDI. However, most existing computational models tend to oversimplify the fusion of drug structural and topological information, often relying on methods such as splicing or weighted summation, which fail to adequately capture the potential complementarity between structural and topological features. This loss of information may lead to models that do not fully leverage these features, thus limiting their performance in DDI prediction. To address these challenges, we propose a relation-aware cross adversarial network for predicting DDI, named RCAN-DDI, which combines a relationship-aware structure feature learning module and a topological feature learning module based on DDI networks to capture multimodal features of drugs. To explore the correlations and complementarities among different information sources, the cross-adversarial network is introduced to fully integrate features from various modalities, enhancing the predictive performance of the model. The experimental results demonstrate that the RCAN-DDI method outperforms other methods. Even in cases of labelled DDI scarcity, the method exhibits good robustness in the DDI prediction task. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the cross-adversarial module is validated through ablation experiments, demonstrating its superiority in learning multimodal complementary information.

Objective: To investigate the current status and influencing factors of quality of life among HIV/AIDS cases, so as to provide the basis for improving HIV/AIDS cases quality of life. Methods: From March to July 2024, HIV/AIDS cases under follow-up management at various community health service centers in Jinshan District, Shanghai Municipality, were selected as the survey subjects using a convenience sampling method. Demographic information and receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) were collected through questionnaire surveys. Quality of life was assessed using the Chinese version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire for HIV brief version. A multiple linear regression model was employed to analyze the factors affecting quality of life. Results: A total of 179 HIV/AIDS cases were investigated, including 150 males (83.80%) and 29 females (16.20%), with a mean age of (47.00±12.90) years. The subjective self-evaluation score for the quality of life among HIV/AIDS cases was (13.87±2.84) points. The scores in the domains of physical, psychological, independence, social relationship, environment, and spiritual support/religion/personal beliefs were (14.77±2.64) (13.57±2.04) (13.86±2.04) (12.99±2.26) (13.58±1.98) (14.59±3.05) points, respectively. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed statistically significant associations (all P<0.05) between the following factors and quality of life domain scores: educational level (college degree or above, β' =0.162) and receiving ART (β' =-0.197) were associated with the subjective self-evaluation domain score; educational level (college degree or above, β' =0.186) and receiving ART (β' =-0.299) were associated with physical domain score; receiving ART (β' =-0.263) and symptoms related to sexually transmitted diseases (β' =-0.243) were associated with psychological domain score; occupation (retirees, β' =-0.191) and symptoms related to sexually transmitted diseases (β' =-0.220) were correlated with the independence domain score; annual household income per capita (≥30 000 yuan, β' =0.281) and receiving ART (β' =-0.299) were correlated with the social relationship domain score; educational level (college degree or above, β' =0.206) and receiving ART (β' =-0.285) were correlated with the environment domain score; and receiving ART (β' =-0.492) and duration since HIV confirmation (3 to <6 years, β' =0.233; ≥6 years, β' =0.161) were correlated with the spiritual support/religion/personal beliefs domain score. Conclusions The overall quality of life among HIV/AIDS cases in Jinshan District is relatively good, but the domains of psychological, independence, and social relationship were still room for improvement. It is mainly influenced by factors such as occupation, educational level, annual household income per capita, receiving ART, symptoms related to sexually transmitted diseases, and duration since HIV confirmation.

Objective:To investigates the clinical efficacy of the trabecular metal acetabular revision system (TMARS) in one-stage reconstruction of acetabular deficiencies associated with periprosthetic joint infection (PJI).Methods:This is a retrospective case series study,including the data of 59 patients with PJI underwent acetabular defect reconstruction by TMARS during one-stage revisions in the Department of Orthopaedics, the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University from January 2013 to December 2021. There were 32 males and 27 females, aged (59.5±14.6) years (range: 26 to 84 years). Among them, 29 cases used tantalum cups, 13 cases used tantalum cups and tantalum reinforcing blocks, 9 cases used cup-cage, and 8 cases used multi-cup reconstruction techniques. The surgery procedure, Harris Hip score (HHS), recovery of the hip rotation center, implant survival rate, postoperative reinfection rate, and complications were recorded. Data were compared using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test.Results:All of the 59 patients underwent the operations successfully. Operation time was (188.9±48.4) minutes (range: 110 to 340 minutes), and intraoperative bleeding volume was ( M(IQR)) 1 000(400)ml (range: 600 to 1 800 ml). After a postoperative follow-up of 5.1 (2.6) years (range: 2.0 to 10.5 years), the prosthesis survival rate was 94.9% (56/59). Recurrence of infection occurred in 3 cases (5.1%), aseptic loosening in 1case(1.7%), and hip dislocation in 4 cases (6.8%). At the last follow-up, HHS improved significantly(84 (12) vs. 44 (9), Z=-6.671, P<0.01), and the center of rotation of the hips were recovered in all cases. Conclusions:In one-stage revision surgeries aimed at reconstructing acetabular defects, utilizing the TMARS can provide stable initial fixation, restore a more natural center of rotation, significantly enhance early postoperative hip joint function, and reduce the likelihood of infection recurrence. This approach stands as a reliable choice for addressing acetabular defects during revision surgeries for infected hip joints.

Objective Based on HPLC fingerprinting and chemometrics,to evaluate the quality of Schefflera kwangsiensis Merr.from Guangxi.Methods HPLC was used to establish fingerprints of Schefflera kwangsiensis Merr.from ten different origins,and gradient elution was carried out with methanol-0.1％phosphoric acid aqueous solution as mobile phase.Cluster analysis(CA),principal component analysis(PCA)and orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis(OPLS-DA)were applied to evaluate quality.Results The fingerprints of Schefflera kwangsiensis Merr.from ten different origins were established by HPLC,a total of 22 common peaks were calibrated,with a similarity range of 0.922-0.999.Four chromatographic peaks were identified as rhodopsin,4,5-bis-O-caffeoylquinic acid,caffeic acid,and naringin.The samples were classified into four types according to the CA and OPLS-DA.PCA identified four principal components with a cumulative contribution rare of 95.39％.Conclusion The quality of Schefflera kwangsiensis Merr.can be comprehensively evaluated by fingerprinting combined with CA,PCA and OPLS-DA analysis.The Study can provide a reference for improving the quality control and assessment of Schefflera kwangsiensis Merr.

Objective:To investigate the correlation between serum growth differentiation factor 11 (GDF11) level and coronary artery lesions in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), and the predictive efficacy of nomogram risk prediction model based on GDF11 combined with traditional risk factors on the occurrence of STEMI.Methods:This study was a retrospective cross-sectional study. Patients hospitalized in the Department of Cardiology of the 904th Hospital of Joint Logistic Support Force of People′s Liberation Army of China from 2016 to 2018 were selected and divided into control group and STEMI group. The demographic data, blood lipid level, laboratory indicators of blood and GDF11 level were collected. Logistic regression analysis screened out independent correlated factors for the occurrence of STEMI. Spearman correlation analysis clarified the correlation of each indicator with the SYNTAX or Gensini scores. A nomogram risk prediction model for the risk of STEMI occurrence and the receiver operating characteristic curve was used to compare the prediction efficiency of each model.Results:A total of 367 patients were enrolled, divided into control group ( n=172) and STEMI group ( n=195), age (66.5±11.8), male 222 (60.49%). The serum GDF11 level of STEMI group was significantly lower than that of the control group (36.20 (16.60, 70.75) μg/L vs. 85.00 (53.93, 117.10) μg/L, P<0.001). The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis showed serum GDF11( OR=0.98, 95% CI: 0.97-0.99) and traditional independent risk factors such as smoking, diabetes, C-reactive protein, homocysteine, lipoprotein (a) and apolipoprotein A1/B were independent correlate factors for the occurrence of STEMI ( P<0.05). Spearman correlation analysis showed that serum GDF11 was negatively correlated with SYNTAX score and Gensini score ( P<0.05). The nomogram model constructed by serum GDF11 combined with traditional independent risk factors (AUC=0.85, 95% CI: 0.81-0.89) had better predictive value for the occurrence of STEMI than the traditional nomogram model constructed by independent risk factors(AUC=0.80, 95% CI:0.75-0.84) or serum GDF11 (AUC=0.76, 95% CI: 0.72-0.81), all P<0.01. Conclusions:Serum GDF11 is an independent correlate factor in the occurrence of STEMI and is negatively correlated with the severity of coronary artery lesions in patients with STEMI. The nomogram model constructed based on GDF11 combined with traditional risk factors can be a good predictor for the occurrence of STEMI.

The announcement of the 9th edition of TNM staging system for thymic tumors was one of the highlights at the World Conference on Lung Cancer 2023. The revision, based on a larger and more detailed database, provides changes and confirmation from the last system. The 9th edition of TNM staging system aims to balance statistical significance and clinical feasibility. The birth of an improved TNM staging system heralds the changes that will follow in clinical practice and scientific research.

Thymectomy is the main treatment for thymoma and other thymic diseases. But the incidence of non-therapeutic thymectomy is high due to the difficulty in the differential diagnosis of anterior mediastinum lesions. Formerly, it was believed that the thymus gradually degraded and lost function with aging, and the preservation of the thymus was not valued. Recent studies have found that the removal of the thymus at all ages has adverse effects on overall health and leads to a significant increase in the risk of autoimmune diseases, malignancy, and all-cause mortality. Therefore, unnecessary thymectomy should be avoided. This article reviews the influence of thymectomy, including the changes of immunological indexes and clinical prognosis, and further discusses the current situation and avoidance methods of non-therapeutic thymectomy.