OBJECTIVE: To investigate the efficacy and safety of oblique lateral interbody fusion(OLIF) channel technique combined with pedicle screw internal fixation in the treatment of single-segment lumbar intervertebral space/vertebral body infection. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 23 patients who underwent surgical treatment for lumbar infection from January 2021 to December 2022. The patients were divided into the OLIF channel group and the traditional open surgery group according to the surgical methods. There were 16 cases in the OLIF channel group, including 9 males and 7 females, with an average age of (68.5±12.1) years old;there were 7 cases in the traditional open surgery group, including 4 males and 3 females, with an average age of (75.0±3.2) years old. The operation time, intraoperative blood loss, hospital stay, incision length, visual analogue scale(VAS), activities of daily living (ADL) score, Oswestry disability index (ODI), erythrocyte sedimentation rate(ESR), C-reactive protein(CRP) before and 1 week and 3 months after the operation, and the intervertebral fusion status on the last follow-up CT were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: Compared with the open surgery group, the OLIF channel group had shorter operation time (209.87±31.5) min vs. (246.0±42.7) min, less intraoperative blood loss (225.625±91.1) ml vs. (364.2±74.8) ml, and shorter incision length (6.1±1.2) vs. (14.0±1.4) cm, and the differences were statistically significant(P<0.05). Before and 1 week and 3 months after the operation, the lumbar VAS in the OLIF group were (6.3±0.6), (2.8±0.7), (1.1±0.5), and those in the traditional open surgery group were (6.4±0.6), (3.4±0.5), (1.2±0.3);the ADL scores in the OLIF group were (45.0±4.5), (60.3±4.3), (94.1±4.2), and those in the open group were (46.4±5.6), (60.7±4.5), (92.9±4.9); the ODI scores in the OLIF group were (86.3±2.9)%, (69.5±4.1)%, (23.0±3.2)%, and those in the open group were (87.3±3.8)%, (69.8±4.2)%, (23.8±3.6)%, all of which showed significant improvement(P<0.05). Three months after the operation, CRP, PCT, and ESR were significantly lower than those before the operation, and CRP and PCT returned to normal, while ESR was still slightly elevated in some patients. The last follow-up CT showed that continuous trabecular bone formation was observed between the upper and lower endplates of the surgical segments in all patients, and the fusion time was (8.7±4.5) months. CONCLUSION The OLIF channel technique combined with posterior internal fixation is a minimally invasive and effective treatment method, which can effectively control infection, relieve pain, and improve the quality of life of patients. Compared with traditional open surgery, it has the advantages of minimally invasive, shorter operation time, and less intraoperative blood loss.
Humans ; Male ; Female ; Spinal Fusion/methods* ; Lumbar Vertebrae/microbiology* ; Aged ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Aged, 80 and over ; Pedicle Screws ; Infections/surgery*

This study investigated the impact of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components on prostate volume (PV) in the general Chinese population. In total, 43 455 participants in The First Medical Center of the Chinese PLA General Hospital (Beijing, China) from January 1, 2012, to December 31, 2022, undergoing health examinations were included in the study. Participants were categorized into four groups according to PV quartiles: Q1 (PV ≤24.94 ml), Q2 (PV >24.94 ml and ≤28.78 ml), Q3 (PV >28.78 ml and ≤34.07 ml), and Q4 (PV >34.07 ml), with Q1 serving as the reference group. Logistic regression analyses were used to examine the association between MetS and PV, with subgroup analyses conducted by age. Among the participants, 18 787 (43.2%) were diagnosed with MetS. In the multivariate analysis model, a significant correlation between MetS and PV was observed, with odds ratios (ORs) increasing as PV increased (Q2, OR = 1.203, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.139-1.271; Q3, OR = 1.300, 95% CI: 1.230-1.373; and Q4, OR = 1.556, 95% CI: 1.469-1.648). Analysis of MetS components revealed that all components were positively associated with PV, with abdominal obesity showing the most significant effect. The number of MetS components was identified as a dose-dependent risk factor for elevated PV. The impact of MetS, its components, and component count on PV exhibited a decreasing trend with advancing age. Overall, the influence of MetS, its components, and component count on PV was predominantly observed in the age groups of 40-49 years and 50-59 years. Early intervention targeting MetS can significantly alleviate the increase in PV, particularly benefiting individuals aged 40-59 years who have abdominal obesity.
Humans ; Male ; Metabolic Syndrome/complications* ; Middle Aged ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Aged ; Prostate/diagnostic imaging* ; Adult ; Age Factors ; Organ Size ; China/epidemiology* ; Obesity, Abdominal ; Risk Factors

Objective To investigate the age-related changes of the mandibular third molar root pulp visibility in individuals in East China,and to explore the feasibility of applying this method to deter-mine whether an individual is 18 years or older.Methods A total of 1 280 oral panoramic images were collected from the 15-30 years old East China population,and the mandibular third molar root pulp visibility in all oral panoramic images was evaluated using OLZE 0-3 four-stage method,and the age distribution of the samples at each stage was analyzed using descriptive statistics.Results Stages 0,1,2 and 3 first appeared in 16.88,19.18,21.91 and 25.44 years for males and in 17.47,20.91,22.01 and 26.01 years for females.In all samples,individuals at stages 1 to 3 were over 18 years old.Conclusion It is feasible to determine whether an individual in East China is 18 years or older based on the mandibular third molar root pulp visibility on oral panoramic images.

ObjectiveThis study aims to explore and elucidate the possible mechanism of action of Shakuyakukanzoto (SKT) in improving ulcerative colitis (UC) in mice through regulating energy metabolism and polarization of macrophages. MethodsThe mouse UC model was constructed by administering 3% dextran sulfate sodium salt (DSS), and the mice were treated with SKT intragastrically. In addition, single-cell sequencing and enrichment of metabolic pathways against two datasets, GSE21157 and GSE210415, were conducted first. Second, the extraction and metabolomics of peritoneal macrophages from UC mice were verified. Then, the pathway of differentially abundant metabolite enrichment and the correlation of UC risk were analyzed depending on univariate Mendelian randomization of two samples weighted by standard inverse variance. Finally, the results were verified by qRT-PCR, Western blot, and flow cytometry. ResultsAccording to the HE staining results, SKT can significantly alleviate colon damage caused by DSS. Macrophages, NK cells, T cells, and more than 10 different types of cells, based on single-cell sequencing analysis, are detected in the intestinal wall. In the disease group, we can conclude that the activity of 49 macrophage metabolic pathways, mainly involved in energy metabolism, is significantly upregulated through a comparison of the two datasets. In energy metabolomics, 10 and 18 types of metabolites accompanied by significantly upregulated and downregulated differential expression were identified in the treatment group and the model group, as well as the model group and the blank group, respectively. Meanwhile, these differentially expressed metabolites present an obvious correlation with glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation. Moreover, it can be inferred that glycolysis and the oxidative phosphorylation-related gene NDUFS1 (OR: 0.56, 95% CI: 0.48-0.98, P=0.000 068) are associated with a reduced risk of UC based on the univariate Mendelian randomization of two samples weighted based on standard inverse variance. By analyzing the difference in transcription levels between the two datasets, the transcription level of NDUFS1 in UC was decreased compared with that in the normal group. The results of qRT-PCR, Western blot, and flow cytometry indicate that SKT can promote the expression of the oxidative phosphorylation protein NDUFS1 in macrophages and inhibit the M1-type polarization of macrophages. Furthermore, knockdown/overexpression of NDUFS1 can affect the effect of SKT on M1-type polarization of macrophages. ConclusionBased on the results of this study, SKT inhibits macrophage polarization toward the M1 phenotype by regulating the level of the oxidatively phosphorylated protein NDUFS1 in macrophages; hence, UC is also relieved in mice. These conclusions not only reveal the therapeutic mechanism of SKT for UC but also provide a new theoretical basis for clinical application.

Objective Bevacizumab has been clinically used in colorectal cancer,ovarian cancer,cervical cancer,non-small cell lung cancer and other tumor diseases.Common adverse reactions during bevacizumab treatment include albuminuria,thrombosis,bleeding,gastrointestinal perforation and hypertension,among which the incidence of hypertension is as high as 19％-47％.The occurrence of hypertension affects the quality of life of patients,hinds the normal development of tumor treatment,and even induces serious cardiovascular diseases and increases the risk of death,which requires clinical attention.In this paper,the mechanism,influencing factors,prognosis and related treatment of bevacizumab associated hypertension were reviewed,so as to provide reference for clinical rational drug use.

Objective Viral encephalitis is an infectious disease severely affecting human health.It is caused by a wide variety of viral pathogens,including herpes viruses,flaviviruses,enteroviruses,and other viruses.The laboratory diagnosis of viral encephalitis is a worldwide challenge.Recently,high-throughput sequencing technology has provided new tools for diagnosing central nervous system infections.Thus,In this study,we established a multipathogen detection platform for viral encephalitis based on amplicon sequencing. Methods We designed nine pairs of specific polymerase chain reaction(PCR)primers for the 12 viruses by reviewing the relevant literature.The detection ability of the primers was verified by software simulation and the detection of known positive samples.Amplicon sequencing was used to validate the samples,and consistency was compared with Sanger sequencing. Results The results showed that the target sequences of various pathogens were obtained at a coverage depth level greater than 20×,and the sequence lengths were consistent with the sizes of the predicted amplicons.The sequences were verified using the National Center for Biotechnology Information BLAST,and all results were consistent with the results of Sanger sequencing. Conclusion Amplicon-based high-throughput sequencing technology is feasible as a supplementary method for the pathogenic detection of viral encephalitis.It is also a useful tool for the high-volume screening of clinical samples.

As the backbone force of China's social and economic construction, the health status of workers is closely related to the nation's productivity and social development. Currently, cancers have become one of the major diseases threatening the health of workers. However, there are still many shortcomings in the cancer screening services for the workers. To standardize cancer screening services for workers, ensure the quality of screening services, and improve the overall screening effectiveness, 19 institutions, including Peking Union Medical College Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, have jointly formulated the Group Standard "Specification for service of cancer screening for workers (T/CHAA 023-2023)". This standard follows the principles of "legality, scientific rigor, advancement, and feasibility" and combines the frontier scientific advances in cancer screening. It clarifies the relevant requirements for service principles, service design, service delivery, service management, service evaluation, and improving worker cancer screening. Implementing this group standard will help connect the common screening needs of workers, employers, and cancer screening service providers, standardize the screening process, improve screening quality, and ultimately increase the early diagnosis rate and survival rate of cancer patients. Consequently, this group standard will help safeguard workers' health rights and interests, ensure the labor force resources, promote the comprehensive coordinated and sustainable development of society, and contribute to realizing the "Healthy China 2030" strategic policy.

Objective:To assess the value of serum alpha-fetoprotein(AFP),protein induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist-Ⅱ(PIVKA-Ⅱ)and glypican-3(GPC-3)in the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC).Methods:Studies of AFP,PIVKA-Ⅱ,GPC-3 or in combination for the diagnosis of HCC since 2002 were searched in PubMed,Web of Science and Embase databases.The literature was screened according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria,the quality of the included articles was evaluated by QUADAS checklist,and relevant data were extracted by Meta DiSc,Review Manager 5.4 and Stata 15.1.The diagnostic values of AFP,PIVKA-Ⅱ and GPC-3 alone or in combination for HCC were assessed with receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve.Results:A total of 32 articles were included in the study.Meta-analysis showed that when a single marker was used to diagnose HCC,the area under the ROC curve(AUC)of PIVKA-Ⅱ was the highest(0.88,95%CI:0.85-0.91),followed by GPC-3 and AFP.The AUC of combination of serum markers was higher than that of a single marker,and the AUC of PIVKA-Ⅱ combined with GPC-3 was the highest(0.90,95%CI:0.87-0.92).When a single marker was used for diagnosis,the sensitivity of PIVKA-Ⅱ and GPC-3 were relatively high(0.75 and 0.76),while the specificity of PIVKA-Ⅱ(0.88)and AFP(0.87)were higher than that of GPC-3(0.81).The sensitivity of the combination of serum markers was higher than that of a single marker,while the specificity was not significantly improved.When a single marker is used to diagnose HCC,the diagnostic odds ratio(DOR)of PIVKA-Ⅱ was the highest(22,95%CI:13-36),followed by GPC-3 and AFP.The DOR of the combination of two markers in the diagnosis of HCC was higher than that of a single marker,and the DOR of AFP combined with GPC-3 was the highest(25,95%CI:9-67).The DOR of the combination of the three markers was significantly reduced to 10(95%CI:7-45).Conclusions:When a single marker is used,PIVKA-Ⅱhas a higher diagnostic value for HCC.The combination of two markers can significantly improve the diagnostic sensitivity,and AFP combined with PIVKA-Ⅱ is recommended for the diagnosis of HCC.The combination of all three markers failed to further improve the diagnostic value.

This paper investigated the mechanism of Huoxue Dingxuan Capsules(HXDX) on autophagy in vascular endothelial cells based on the "crosstalk" of Bcl-2 and mTOR protein. bEnd.3 cells were divided into a blank control group, a model group, and an HXDX group. CO-IP experiments were conducted, and then Western blot(WB) was used to detect the binding of Bcl-2 and mTOR. Co-localization of Bcl-2 with mTOR protein was observed by laser confocal microscopy after staining. The model of Bcl-2 siRNA in bEnd.3 cells was constructed, and the bEnd.3 cells were divided into five groups, including blank control group, oxygen-glucose deprivation(OGD) group, transfected Bcl-2 siRNA group, negative control(NC) group, and HXDX group. The model of mTOR siRNA in bEnd.3 cells was constructed, and the bEnd.3 cells were divided into five groups, including blank control group, OGD group, transfected mTOR siRNA group, NC group, and HXDX group. The expression of autophagy-related proteins was detected by WB. The results of CO-IP experiments showed that Bcl-2 and mTOR proteins could be co-localized and expressed in bEnd.3 cells, and the expression of Bcl-2 and mTOR proteins increased after the intervention of the HXDX-containing serum. After screening and transfection with Bcl-2-mus-384, autophagy of bEnd.3 cells was induced. The expression of Bcl-2 in the Bcl-2 siRNA group was significantly decreased compared with the blank control group and model group. The expression of mTOR protein was significantly lower than that of the OGD group, and the expression of human microtubule-associated protein light chain 3Ⅱ/Ⅰ was significantly higher than that of the model group. After the intervention of the HXDX-containing serum, the expression of Bcl-2 and mTOR was increased in the HXDX group compared with that in the Bcl-2 siRNA group, and the expression of LC3Ⅱ/LC3Ⅰ and Beclin1 was decreased in the HXDX group compared with that in the Bcl-2 siRNA group. After transfecting mTOR-mus-7061 and inducing autophagy of bEnd.3 cells, in the mTOR siRNA group, mTOR protein expression was decreased compared with the blank control and model groups, and LC3Ⅱ/LC3Ⅰ and Beclin1 protein expression was increased compared with the model group. After the intervention of the HXDX-containing serum, the expression of Bcl-2 and mTOR was increased in the HXDX group compared with that in the mTOR siRNA group, and the expression of LC3Ⅱ/LC3Ⅰ and Beclin1 proteins was decreased compared with the mTOR siRNA group. This study explored the "crosstalk" of Bcl-2 and mTOR during autophagy in bEnd.3 cells at the cellular level and illustrated the modulating effect of the HXDX-containing serum, which provided a basis for the treatment of cervical spondylosis of vertebral artery type.
Autophagy/drug effects* ; TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases/genetics* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/pharmacology* ; Endothelial Cells/metabolism* ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2/metabolism* ; Animals ; Mice ; Capsules ; Humans

Objectives: To construct a nomogram for prediction of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) lymph node metastasis based on inflammation-related markers,and to conduct its clinical verification. Methods: Clinical and pathological data of 858 ICC patients who underwent radical resection were retrospectively collected at 10 domestic tertiary hospitals in China from January 2010 to December 2018. Among the 508 patients who underwent lymph node dissection,207 cases had complete variable clinical data for constructing the nomogram,including 84 males,123 females,109 patients≥60 years old,98 patients<60 years old and 69 patients were pathologically diagnosed with positive lymph nodes after surgery. Receiver operating characteristic curve was drawn to calculate the accuracy of preoperative imaging examinations to determine lymph node status,and the difference in overall survival time was compared by Log-rank test. Partial regression squares and statistically significant preoperative variables were screened by backward stepwise regression analysis. R software was applied to construct a nomogram,clinical decision curve and clinical influence curve,and Bootstrap method was used for internal verification. Moreover,retrospectively collecting clinical information of 107 ICC patients with intraoperative lymph node dissection admitted to 9 tertiary hospitals in China from January 2019 to June 2021 was for external verification to verify the accuracy of the nomogram. 80 patients with complete clinical data but without lymph node dissection were divided into lymph node metastasis high-risk group and low-risk group according to the score of the nomogram among the 858 patients. Log-rank test was used to compare the overall survival of patients with or without lymph node metastasis diagnosed by pathology. Results: The area under the curve of preoperative imaging examinations for lymph node status assessment of 440 patients was 0.615,with a false negative rate of 62.8% (113/180) and a false positive rate of 14.2% (37/260). The median survival time of 207 patients used to construct a nomogram with positive or negative postoperative pathological lymph node metastases was 18.5 months and 27.1 months,respectively (P<0.05). Five variables related to lymph node metastasis were screened out by backward stepwise regression analysis,which were combined calculi,neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio,albumin,liver capsule invasion and systemic immune inflammation index,according to which a nomogram was constructed with concordance index(C-index) of 0.737 (95%CI: 0.667 to 0.806). The C-index of external verification was 0.674 (95%CI:0.569 to 0.779). The calibration prediction curve was in good agreement with the reference curve. The results of the clinical decision curve showed that when the risk threshold of high lymph node metastasis in the nomogram was set to about 0.32,the maximum net benefit could be obtained by 0.11,and the cost/benefit ratio was 1∶2. The results of clinical influence curve showed that when the risk threshold of high lymph node metastasis in the nomogram was set to about 0.6,the probability of correctly predicting lymph node metastasis could reach more than 90%. There was no significant difference in overall survival time between patients with high/low risk of lymph node metastasis assessed by the nomogram and those with pathologically confirmed lymph node metastasis or without lymph node metastasis (Log-rank test:P=0.082 and 0.510,respectively). Conclusion: The prediction accuracy of preoperative nomogram for ICC lymph node metastasis based on inflammation-related markers is satisfactory,which can be used as a supplementary method for preoperative diagnosis of lymph node metastasis and is helpful for clinicians to make personalized decision of lymph node dissection for patients with ICC.