Methods: Fifty patients who underwent UBE-TLIF and 50 patients who underwent W-TLIF, each with >2 years of follow-up, were retrospectively analyzed. Outcomes included operative parameters, time to postoperative mobilization, paravertebral muscle atrophy and fat infiltration rates, clinical scores (Visual Analog Scale [VAS], Oswestry Disability Index [ODI], Japanese Orthopaedic Association [JOA]), modified Macnab criteria, fusion rates, and complications. Results: Compared with W-TLIF, the UBE-TLIF group had significantly less intraoperative blood loss, shorter operative times, and lower postoperative drainage volumes (p <0.05). The UBE-TLIF group showed faster postoperative recovery and shorter hospital stays. At 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years, W-TLIF patients had higher multifidus and erector spinae atrophy, and greater paravertebral muscle fat infiltration (p <0.05). The UBE-TLIF group also had lower VAS and ODI scores at 1 year and 2 years (p <0.05) and fewer surgical complications (6% vs. 10%). Fusion rates (94% vs. 92%) and modified Macnab outcomes (88% vs. 86%) were comparable (p >0.05). Conclusions UBE-TLIF is associated with reduced intraoperative trauma, quicker recovery, and fewer complications. In the long-term, it better preserves paravertebral muscle integrity and provides superior pain and functional outcomes.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is an increasingly widespread sleep-breathing disordered disease, and is an independent risk factor for many high-risk chronic diseases such as hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, arrhythmias and diabetes, which is potentially fatal. The key to the prevention and treatment of OSA is early diagnosis and treatment, so the assessment and diagnostic technologies of OSA have become a research hotspot. This paper reviews the research progresses of severity assessment parameters and diagnostic technologies of OSA, and discusses their future development trends. In terms of severity assessment parameters of OSA, apnea hypopnea index (AHI), as the gold standard, together with the percentage of duration of apnea hypopnea (AH%), lowest oxygen saturation (LSpO₂), heart rate variability (HRV), oxygen desaturation index (ODI) and the emerging biomarkers, constitute a multi-dimensional evaluation system. Specifically, the AHI, which measures the frequency of sleep respiratory events per hour, does not fully reflect the patients’ overall sleep quality or the extent of their daytime functional impairments. To address this limitation, the AH%, which measures the proportion of the entire sleep cycle affected by apneas and hypopneas, deepens our understanding of the impact on sleep quality. The LSpO₂ plays a critical role in highlighting the potential severe hypoxic episodes during sleep, while the HRV offers a different perspective by analyzing the fluctuations in heart rate thereby revealing the activity of the autonomic nervous system. The ODI provides a direct and objective measure of patients’ nocturnal oxygenation stability by calculating the number of desaturation events per hour, and the biomarkers offers novel insights into the diagnosis and management of OSA, and fosters the development of more precise and tailored OSA therapeutic strategies. In terms of diagnostic techniques of OSA, the standardized questionnaire and Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS) is a simple and effective method for preliminary screening of OSA, and the polysomnography (PSG) which is based on recording multiple physiological signals stands for gold standard, but it has limitations of complex operations, high costs and inconvenience. As a convenient alternative, the home sleep apnea testing (HSAT) allows patients to monitor their sleep with simplified equipment in the comfort of their own homes, and the cardiopulmonary coupling (CPC) offers a minimal version that simply analyzes the electrocardiogram (ECG) signals. As an emerging diagnostic technology of OSA, machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) adeptly pinpoint respiratory incidents and expose delicate physiological changes, thus casting new light on the diagnostic approach to OSA. In addition, imaging examination utilizes detailed visual representations of the airway’s structure and assists in recognizing structural abnormalities that may result in obstructed airways, while sound monitoring technology records and analyzes snoring and breathing sounds to detect the condition subtly, and thus further expands our medical diagnostic toolkit. As for the future development directions, it can be predicted that interdisciplinary integrated researches, the construction of personalized diagnosis and treatment models, and the popularization of high-tech in clinical applications will become the development trends in the field of OSA evaluation and diagnosis.

Cholelithiasis is a common biliary system disease with a high incidence worldwide. Abnormal lipid metabolism has been shown to play a key role in the mechanism of gallstones. Therefore, recent research literature on the genes, proteins, and molecular substances involved in lipid metabolism during the pathogenesis of gallstones has been conducted. This study aimed to determine the role of lipid metabolism in the pathogenesis of gallstones and provide insights for future studies using previous research in genomics, metabolomics, transcriptomics, and other fields.

Aim To investigate the effect of thioredox-in-interacting protein(TXNIP)on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD).Methods Littermate male wild(WT)mice and TXNIP gene whole-body knock-out(KO)mice were randomly divided into two groups:(1)normal diet(ND)group,and(2)The high-fat group,which was fed a high-fat diet(HFD)containing 60％fat for 12 weeks.Serum lipid-related indexes,liver injury indicators and hepatic fat content were detected using commercial kits.The protein lev-els of TXNIP,SLC25A1,SLC13A5,ACLY,CPT1a and PPARα were detected by Western blot.The gene ex-pressions of SLC25A1,SLC13A5 and ACLY were de-tected by RT-PCR.Results High fat diet increased TXNIP protein expression in the liver tissue.Compared with WT-HFD mice,the biochemical indexes in the se-rum and the liver of KO-HFD mice were improved.There was no significant difference in mRNA and pro-tein levels of SLC25A1 between the four groups of mice.For SLC13A5 and ACLY,the mRNA and protein levels of WT-HFD mice were up-regulated compared with WT mice,and these alterations were significantly restored in KO-HFD mice.Besides,compared with WT mice,the protein expressions of the fatty acid oxidation-related protein PPARα and CPT1a proteins in WT-HFD mice decreased,while the protein expressions of PPARα and CPT1 a in KO-HFD mice were significantly enhanced.Conclusion TXNIP gene knockout can improve hepatic steatosis and delay the progression of NAFLD by inhibiting the carbon flux of fatty acid syn-thesis and promoting fatty acid oxidation.

Cholelithiasis is a common biliary system disease with a high incidence worldwide. Abnormal lipid metabolism has been shown to play a key role in the mechanism of gallstones. Therefore, recent research literature on the genes, proteins, and molecular substances involved in lipid metabolism during the pathogenesis of gallstones has been conducted. This study aimed to determine the role of lipid metabolism in the pathogenesis of gallstones and provide insights for future studies using previous research in genomics, metabolomics, transcriptomics, and other fields.

Since the global outbreak in 2022, the mpox epidemic has evolved from an African endemic to a public health emergency of international concern. The 2024 mpox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo caused by the Clade Ⅰb lineage is yet another wake-up call, with markedly higher prevalence and fatality rates observed among children under 15 years of age, thereby presenting new challenges for the children. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen prevention and control, block mother-to-child transmission routes, and establish innovative models with active community participation to reduce the risk of mpox transmission. In the future, it is urgent to analyze molecular mechanisms underlying the mother-to-child transmission of the virus, develop targeted antiviral drugs, establish a pediatric critical disease scoring system, and incorporate mpox vaccines into the World Health Organization′s expanded programme on immunization.

PURPOSE: The rate of complications among patients undergoing surgery has increased due to infection with SARS-CoV-2 and other variants of concern. However, Omicron has shown decreased pathogenicity, raising questions about the risk of postoperative complications among patients who are infected with this variant. This study aimed to investigate complications and related factors among patients with recent Omicron infection prior to undergoing orthopedic surgery. METHODS: A historical control study was conducted. Data were collected from all patients who underwent surgery during 2 distinct periods: (1) between Dec 12, 2022 and Jan 31, 2023 (COVID-19 positive group), (2) between Dec 12, 2021 and Jan 31, 2022 (COVID-19 negative control group). The patients were at least 18 years old. Patients who received conservative treatment after admission or had high-risk diseases or special circumstances (use of anticoagulants before surgery) were excluded from the study. The study outcomes were the total complication rate and related factors. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to identify related factors, and odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated to assess the impact of COVID-19 infection on complications. RESULTS: In the analysis, a total of 847 patients who underwent surgery were included, with 275 of these patients testing positive for COVID-19 and 572 testing negative. The COVID-19-positive group had a significantly higher rate of total complications (11.27%) than the control group (4.90%, p < 0.001). After adjusting for relevant factors, the OR was 3.08 (95% CI: 1.45-6.53). Patients who were diagnosed with COVID-19 at 3-4 weeks (OR = 0.20 (95% CI: 0.06-0.59), p = 0.005), 5-6 weeks (OR = 0.16 (95% CI: 0.04-0.59), p = 0.010), or ≥7 weeks (OR = 0.26 (95% CI: 0.06-1.02), p = 0.069) prior to surgery had a lower risk of complications than those who were diagnosed at 0-2 weeks prior to surgery. Seven factors (age, indications for surgery, time of operation, time of COVID-19 diagnosis prior to surgery, C-reactive protein levels, alanine transaminase levels, and aspartate aminotransferase levels) were found to be associated with complications; thus, these factors were used to create a nomogram. CONCLUSION Omicron continues to be a significant factor in the incidence of postoperative complications among patients undergoing orthopedic surgery. By identifying the factors associated with these complications, we can determine the optimal surgical timing, provide more accurate prognostic information, and offer appropriate consultation for orthopedic surgery patients who have been infected with Omicron.
Humans ; COVID-19/complications* ; Male ; Female ; Middle Aged ; Postoperative Complications/epidemiology* ; SARS-CoV-2 ; Orthopedic Procedures/adverse effects* ; Aged ; Nomograms ; Adult ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors

Since the global outbreak in 2022, the mpox epidemic has evolved from an African endemic to a public health emergency of international concern. The 2024 mpox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo caused by the Clade Ⅰb lineage is yet another wake-up call, with markedly higher prevalence and fatality rates observed among children under 15 years of age, thereby presenting new challenges for the children. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen prevention and control, block mother-to-child transmission routes, and establish innovative models with active community participation to reduce the risk of mpox transmission. In the future, it is urgent to analyze molecular mechanisms underlying the mother-to-child transmission of the virus, develop targeted antiviral drugs, establish a pediatric critical disease scoring system, and incorporate mpox vaccines into the World Health Organization′s expanded programme on immunization.

Cholelithiasis is a common biliary system disease with a high incidence worldwide. Abnormal lipid metabolism has been shown to play a key role in the mechanism of gallstones. Therefore, recent research literature on the genes, proteins, and molecular substances involved in lipid metabolism during the pathogenesis of gallstones has been conducted. This study aimed to determine the role of lipid metabolism in the pathogenesis of gallstones and provide insights for future studies using previous research in genomics, metabolomics, transcriptomics, and other fields.

Cholelithiasis is a common biliary system disease with a high incidence worldwide. Abnormal lipid metabolism has been shown to play a key role in the mechanism of gallstones. Therefore, recent research literature on the genes, proteins, and molecular substances involved in lipid metabolism during the pathogenesis of gallstones has been conducted. This study aimed to determine the role of lipid metabolism in the pathogenesis of gallstones and provide insights for future studies using previous research in genomics, metabolomics, transcriptomics, and other fields.