ObjectiveBy comparing the composition and content of volatile components in raw products， wine-washed products and wine-fried products of Ligusticum sinense cv. Chaxiong rhizome（LSCR）， to investigate the influence of wine processing on the volatile components of LSCR， in order to provide a basis for the development of quality standards for LSCR and its processed products. MethodsElectronic nose was used to identify the odors of LSCR， wine-washed and wine-fried LSCR， and their volatile components were detected by headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry（HS-GC-MS）， and the relative mass fractions of these components were determined by peak area normalization method. Principal component analysis（PCA） and orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis（OPLS-DA） were performed on the obtained sample data by SIMCA 14.1 software， and the differential components of LSCR， wine-washed and wine-fried LSCR were screened according to the variable importance in the projection（VIP） value>1. Pearson correlation analysis was used to explore the relationship between volatile differential flavor components and electronic nose sensors. ResultsElectronic nose detection results showed that there were significant differences in the odors of LSCR， wine-washed and wine-fried LSCR， mainly reflected in the sensors S2， S4， S5， S6， S11， S12， S13. And a total of 62 compounds were identified from LSCR and its wine-processed products， among which 46， 50 and 51 compounds were identified from LSCR， wine-fried and wine-washed LSCR， respectively. There were 21 differential components between the raw products and wine-fried products， of which 10 components were increased and 11 were decreased after processing. There were 20 differential components between the raw products and wine-washed products， of which 11 constituents increased and 9 decreased after processing. There were 17 differential components between the wine-wash products and wine-fried products. Compared with the wine-washed products， the contents of 13 components in the wine-fried products increased， and the contents of 4 components decreased. The increasing trend of the content of phthalides in the wine-washed products was more obvious than that in the wine-fried products， but the content of total volatile components was higher in the wine-fried products than the wine-washed products. Correlation analysis showed that there were different degrees of correlation between the 7 differential sensors of electronic nose and 24 differential volatile components， mainly phthalides and olefins. ConclusionThe odor and the content of volatile components in LSCR changed obviously after wine processing， and n-butylphthalide， Z-butylidenephthalide and E-ligustilide can be used as the candidate differential markers of volatile components in LSCR before and after wine processing.

Lung cancer is the most common malignant tumor worldwide, ranking first in both incidence and mortality rates. According to the latest statistics from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), approximately 2.5 million new cases and around 1.8 million deaths from lung cancer occurred in 2022, placing a tremendous burden on global healthcare systems. The high mortality rate of lung cancer is closely linked to its subtle early symptoms, which often lead to diagnosis at advanced stages. This not only complicates treatment but also results in substantial economic losses. Current treatment options for lung cancer include surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, targeted drug therapy, and immunotherapy. Among these, immunotherapy has emerged as the most groundbreaking advancement in recent years, owing to its unique antitumor mechanisms and impressive clinical benefits. Unlike traditional therapies such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy, immunotherapy activates or enhances the patient’s immune system to recognize and eliminate tumor cells. It offers advantages such as more durable therapeutic effects and relatively fewer toxic side effects. The main approaches to lung cancer immunotherapy include immune checkpoint inhibitors, tumor-specific antigen-targeted therapies, adoptive cell therapies, cancer vaccines, and oncolytic virus therapies. Among these, immune checkpoint inhibitors and tumor-specific antigen-targeted therapies have received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for clinical use in lung cancer, significantly improving outcomes for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Although other immunotherapy strategies are still in clinical trials, they show great potential in improving treatment precision and efficacy. This article systematically reviews the latest research progress in lung cancer immunotherapy, including the development of novel immune checkpoint molecules, optimization of treatment strategies, identification of predictive biomarkers, and findings from recent clinical trials. It also discusses the current challenges in the field and outlines future directions, such as the development of next-generation immunotherapeutic agents, exploration of more effective combination regimens, and the establishment of precise efficacy prediction systems. The aim is to provide a valuable reference for the continued advancement of lung cancer immunotherapy.

Objective To compare the long-term survival of elderly patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) treated with surgical versus non-surgical treatment. Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of elderly patients aged ≥70 years with ESCC who underwent esophagectomy or radiotherapy/chemotherapy at Sichuan Cancer Hospital from January 2009 to September 2017. Patients were divided into a surgical group (S group) and a non-surgical group (NS group) according to the treatment method. The propensity score matching method was used to match the two groups of patients at a ratio of 1∶1, and the survival of the two groups before and after matching was analyzed. Results A total of 726 elderly patients with ESCC were included, including 552 males and 174 females, with 651 patients aged ≥70-80 years and 75 patients aged ≥80-90 years. There were 515 patients in the S group and 211 patients in the NS group. The median follow-up time was 60.8 months, and the median overall survival of the S group was 41.9 months [95%CI (35.2, 48.5)], while that of the NS group was only 24.0 months [95%CI (19.8, 28.3)]. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year overall survival rates of the S group were 84%, 54%, and 40%, respectively, while those of the NS group were 72%, 40%, and 30%, respectively [HR=0.689, 95%CI (0.559, 0.849), P<0.001]. After matching, 138 patients were included in each group, and there was no statistical difference in the overall survival between the two groups [HR=0.871, 95%CI (0.649, 1.167), P=0.352]. Conclusion Compared with conservative treatment, there is no significant difference in the long-term survival of elderly patients aged ≥70 years who undergo esophagectomy for ESCC. Neoadjuvant therapy combined with surgery is still an important choice to potentially improve the survival of elderly patients with ESCC.

ObjectiveIn nature, objects cast shadows due to illumination, forming the basis for stereoscopic perception. Birds need to adapt to changes in lighting (meaning they can recognize stereoscopic shapes even when shadows look different) to accurately perceive different three-dimensional forms. However, how neurons in the key visual brain area in birds handle these lighting changes remains largely unreported. In this study, pigeons (Columba livia) were used as subjects to investigate how neurons in pigeon’s ventrolateral mesopallium (MVL) represent stereoscopic shapes consistently, regardless of changes in lighting. MethodsVisual cognitive training combined with neuronal recording was employed. Pigeons were first trained to discriminate different stereoscopic shapes (concave/convex). We then tested whether and how light luminance angle and surface appearance of the stereoscopic shapes affect their recognition accuracy, and further verify whether the results rely on specify luminance color. Simultaneously, neuronal firing activity of neurons was recorded with multiple electrode array implanted from the MVL during the presentation of difference shapes. The response was finally analyzed how selectively they responded to different stereoscopic shapes and whether their selectivity was affected by the changes of luminance condition (like lighting angle) or surface look. Support vector machine (SVM) models were trained on neuronal population responses recorded under one condition (light luminance angle of 45°) and used to decode responses under other conditions (light luminance angle of 135°, 225°, 315°) to verify the invariance of responses to different luminance conditions. ResultsBehavioral results from 6 pigeons consistently showed that the pigeons could reliably identify the core 3D shape (over 80% accuracy), and this ability wasn’t affected by changes in light angle or surface appearance. Statistical analysis of 88 recorded neurons from 6 pigeons revealed that 83% (73/88) showed strong selectivity for specific 3D shapes (selectivity index>0.3), and responses to convex shapes were consistently stronger than to concave shapes. These shape-selective responses remained stable across changes in light angle and surface appearance. Neural patterns were consistent under both blue and orange lighting. The decoding accuracy achieves above 70%, suggesting stable responses under different conditions (e.g., different lighting angles or surface appearance). ConclusionNeurons in the pigeon MVL maintain a consistent neural encoding pattern for different stereoscopic shapes, unaffected by illumination or surface appearance. This ensures stable object recognition by pigeons in changing visual environments. Our findings provide new physiological evidence for understanding how birds achieve stable perception (“invariant neural representations”) while coping with variations in the visual field.

Vascular calcification is a highly regulated process of ectopic calcification in cardiovascular system while no effective intervention can be clinically performed up to date.As vascular calcification undergoes a common regulatory mechanism within bone formation,bone morphogenetic protein 7(BMP-7)main-tains contractile phenotype of vascular smooth muscle cells and further inhibits vascular calcification via promoting the process of osteoblast differentiation,reducing ectopic calcification pressure by increasing bone formation and reducing bone resorption.This work systematically reviews the role of BMP-7 in vascular calcifi-cation and the possible mechanism,and their current clinical application as well.The current proceedings may help develope early diagnostic strategy and therapeutic treatment with BMP-7 as a new molecular marker and potential drug target.The expec-tation could achieve early prevention and intervention of vascular calcification and improve poor prognosis on patients.

The interaction between organelles is the focus of re-search in neural development.The contact site of endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria is the focus of Parkinson's disease(PD)in recent years.The research shows that mitochondria,endoplasmic reticulum(ER),lysosome and other organelles play an important role in neurogenesis.Specifically,metabolic turnover,reactive oxygen species production,mitochondrial dy-namics,mitochondrial autophagy,mitochondria-mediated apop-tosis,and interactions between mitochondria and the ER all play a role in neurogenesis.In PD,abnormal ER-mitochondrial inter-action can affect mitochondrial calcium overload,mitochondrial fission and fusion imbalance,and lipid homeostasis disorder.Therefore,here we review the recent progress in the main regu-latory mechanisms of ER-mitochondrial interaction and address the effects of abnormal ER-mitochondrial interactions on PD.

To investigate the existence of tick-borne pathogens infection of rodents at the border of China and the Demo-cratic People's Republic of Korea(DPRK).PCR was used to detect the spotted fever group rickettsiae(SFGR)ompA gene,Ehrlichia chaffeensis(Ec)and Anaplasma phagocytophilum(Ap)16S rRNA,Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis(CNm)groEL gene,Bartonella(Ba)rpoB gene,and Francisella tularensis(Ft)fopA gene in rodents samples collected from Ji'an of Jilin province and Kuandian of Liaoning Province.The positivity rates of 132 wild rats spleen samples,SFGR,Ec,Ap,CNm,Ba,and Ft were 9.85％,12.88％,5.30％,3.79％,51.52％,and 6.06％,respectively,with statistical differences in in-fection rates(x2=149.236,P=0.000).The infection rate of Ba was the highest in wild rats in this area.There was no signifi-cant difference in the infection rate of SFGR,Ec,Ap,CNm,and Ft among different rats species,but there were significant differences in the infection rate of Ba(x2=13.36,P=0.010).The infection rate of Apodemus agrarius was the highest.A-mong 132 wild rats specimens,the coinfection rate of the two pathogens was 15.9％(21/132),with Ba as the main species(15/132),and two cases of coinfection with three pathogens were detected.The infection of six tick-borne pathogens is common in wild rats at the China/DPRK border.Co-infection of two or three pathogens indicates a risk of multiple tick-borne pathogens and mixed natural foci of multiple tick-borne infec-tious diseases.

This study was aimed at comparing performance differences among three metagenomic sequencing platforms,MGISEQ-2000,Illumina NextSeq 2000,and Ion GeneStudio S5 Plus,to optimize the sequencing process for trace samples.The three sequencing platforms were used to perform high-throughput sequencing on DNA standards and simulated samples.Through analysis of the quality of raw data and microbial detection capabilities,systematic differences among platforms were compared.The sequencing results were optimized for trace samples by incorporation of exogenous nucleic acids during the li-brary preparation process.In terms of data output per batch and base quality,MGISEQ-2000 surpassed the other two plat-forms.Illumina NextSeq 2000 had the lowest proportion of duplicate reads,whereas Ion GeneStudio S5 Plus had the highest proportion,and significant differences were observed across platforms(P＜0.001).In sequencing uniformity,MGISEQ-2000 and Illumina NextSeq 2000 were superior to Ion GeneStudio S5 Plus.MGISEQ-2000 provided a substantial advantage in microbial detection capability(P＜0.001),but the advantage diminished with decreasing bacterial fluid concentration.Ion GeneStudio S5 Plus had the shortest duration for single-batch sequencing.Moreo-ver,for trace samples with DNA content ≤0.05 ng,the experi-mental group(with added exogenous nucleic acids)achieved a higher number of reads than the control group(without exogenous nucleic acids),with a 11.09±8.03 fold increase.In conclu-sion,the different sequencing platforms each had advantages and disadvantages,thus allowing researchers to choose the appro-priate platform according to specific needs.Furthermore,the addition of exogenous nucleic acids improved the microorganism detection efficiency,and provided better support for subsequent diagnosis and evaluation of results.

AP2 transcription factors belong to the AP2/ERF superfamily and are involved in the regula-tion of various biological processes in plant growth and development,as well as in response to biotic and abiotic stresses.However,studies on the AP2 transcription factor family of Perilla frutescens have not been reported.In this study,totally 18 AP2 family members were identified from the Perilla frutescens ge-nome and analyzed for gene structure,conserved motifs,and cis-acting elements using bioinformatics.WRINKLED1(WRI1)is a key regulator of lipid biosynthesis in many plant species and plays an impor-tant role in the regulation of lipid synthesis.Sequence comparison revealed that one member of WRI1 is highly homologous to AtWRI1 and contains two conserved AP2 domains,named PfWRI1.The expression levels of PfAP2 family genes were analyzed in different tissues of Perilla frutescens and at different stages of seed development in conjunction with the transcriptome data,and the results showed that PfWRI1 is highly expressed only in the seeds of Perilla frutescens,suggesting that PfWRI1 may be related to the de-velopmental process of the seeds.The overexpression vector of plant pCAMBIA1303-PfWRI1 was con-structed,and wild-type(Col)and mutant(wri1-1)Arabidopsis thaliana were transformed by Agrobacte-rium tumefaciens to obtain overexpression and complementation lines,respectively.The results showed that the expression of P fWRI1 led to an increase in oil content of Arabidopsis seeds by 8.90％-13.57％compared with Col,and promoted the accumulation of oleic acid(C18:1)and linoleic acid(18:2)and reduced the accumulation of palmitic acid(C16:0),arachidonic acid(C20:0),and cis-11-Eicosenoic acid(C20:1)in transgenic Arabidopsis seeds.In addition,PfWRI1 gene expression increased the ex-pression of glycolysis and fatty acid biosynthesis-related genes AtPKP-α,AtPKP-β1,AtBCCP2,AtSUS2,and AtLIP1.Taken together,PfWRI1 may promote lipid accumulation by increasing unsaturated fatty acid content through interaction with the above genes.

Objective To develop a portable,modular and multifunctional surgical instrument kit with intelligent recognition for disaster relief.Methods The surgical instrument kit had three variations for thorax and abdomen,limbs and cranium and brain,which was composed of a lip,partitions and drawers.A traceability code was pasted on each surgical instrument kit,and each instrument in the kit was equipped with a RF chip.Results The surgical instrument kit made the average time for operating table preparation and instrument arrangement and that for instrument counting both shortened effectively,and thus the efficiency of medical staffs were enhanced greatly.Conclusion The surgical instrument kit gains advantages in rational configuration and easy operation,and can be used for surgical operation in disaster conditions.[Chinese Medical Equipment Journal,2024,45(2):113-117]