OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effectiveness of TiRobot-assisted minimally invasive treatment for fragility fractures of the pelvis (FFP) in elderly patients. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 176 patients with FFP who were admitted between July 2018 and July 2024 and met the selection criteria. Among them, 95 patients underwent TiRobot-assisted closed reduction and minimally invasive cannulated screw fixation (robot group), while 81 patients underwent traditional open reduction and plate screw fixation (control group). There was no significant difference in baseline data such as gender, age, fracture classification, disease duration, and preoperative visual analogue scale (VAS) pain scores between the two groups ( P>0.05). The following parameters were recorded and compared between the two groups, including operation time, intraoperative blood loss, intraoperative transfusion rate, volume of intraoperative blood transfusion, maximum incision length, hospital stay, maximum residual displacement, reduction quality, fracture healing time, incidence of complications, VAS scores, Majeed pelvic function scores, and functional grading. RESULTS: All surgeries in both groups successfully completed. The robot group exhibited significantly shorter operation time, reduced intraoperative blood loss, lower intraoperative transfusion rate, smaller volume of intraoperative blood transfusion, shorter maximum incision length, and shorter hospital stay compared to the control group ( P<0.05). In the robot group, a total of 14 INFIX internal fixation frames and 280 cannulated screws were implanted, among which 250 screws were rated as excellent, 17 as good, and 13 as poor, resulting in a screw placement excellent and good rate of 95.36%. Radiological review revealed that the excellent and good rate of reduction quality was in 91.58% (87/95) in the robot group and 81.48% (66/81) in the control group, with no significant difference in postoperative maximum residual fracture displacement or reduction quality between the two groups (P>0.05). All patients in both groups were followed up 12-66 months, with an average of 28.9 months, and there was no significant difference in follow-up time between the two groups ( P>0.05). The fracture healing time in the robot group was significantly shorter than that in the control group ( P<0.05). At last follow-up, both groups showed significant improvement in VAS scores compared to preoperative values ( P<0.05); the change values of VAS scores, Majeed scores, and the excellent and good rate of Majeed pelvic function were significantly higher in the robot group than in the control group ( P<0.05). Regarding postoperative complications, there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of gait changes, secondary surgeries, heterotopic ossification, incision infections, walking difficulties, internal fixation failure, or mortality rates ( P>0.05); however, the incidence of delayed wound healing was significantly lower in the robot group than in the control group ( P<0.05). CONCLUSION TiRobot-assisted minimally invasive treatment of elderly FFP is superior to traditional open reduction and internal fixation in terms of surgical trauma control, postoperative rehabilitation speed, and functional recovery.
Humans ; Male ; Retrospective Studies ; Female ; Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures/instrumentation* ; Fracture Fixation, Internal/instrumentation* ; Pelvic Bones/surgery* ; Aged ; Bone Screws ; Bone Plates ; Robotic Surgical Procedures/methods* ; Aged, 80 and over ; Treatment Outcome ; Osteoporotic Fractures/surgery* ; Operative Time ; Blood Loss, Surgical ; Fracture Healing ; Fractures, Bone/surgery*

Objective:To discuss the factors related to the prognosis in the alpha fetoprotein(AFP)negative hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)patients,and to construct the nomogram for predicting the survival time of the patients.Methods:The retrospective analysis on data of 2 064 cases of AFP negative HCC patients extracted from the Surveillance,Epidemiology,and End Results(SEER)Database was conducted,and all the patients were divided into training cohort and internal validation cohort at a ratio of 7∶3,and 101 AFP negative HCC patients from the Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Hospital in Hunan Province were regarded as the external validation cohort.The univariate Cox regression analysis results were incorporated into the multivariate analysis,and the independent risk factors for the AFP negative HCC patients were obtained by multivariate Cox analysis to build a cancer specific survival(CSS)prognosis nomogram for the AFP negative HCC patients.The predictive efficacy and clinical utility of the nomogram were evaluated by time-dependent receiver operating characteristic curve(ROC),calibration plots,and decision curve analysis(DCA).The total score obtained from the nomogram was used for the risk stratification to compare the degree of risk discrimination between the nomogram and the American Joint Committee on Cancer(AJCC)staging system.Results:Ten independent risk factors were selected by multivariate Cox regression analysis to construct 3-year,4-year,and 5-year CSS prognostic nomograms for the AFP negative HCC patients,including the patient's age,pathological grade,surgical status,radiotherapy status,chemotherapy status,lung metastasis status,tumor size,tumor T stage,tumor M stage,and marital status.The area under curve(AUC)for the 3-year,4-year,and 5-year time-dependent ROC in the training cohort were 0.807(95%CI:0.786-0.828),0.804(95%CI:0.782-0.826),and 0.813(95%CI:0.790-0.835),respectively.In the internal validation cohort,they were 0.776(95%CI:0.743-0.810),0.772(95%CI:0.737-0.808),and 0.789(95%CI:0.752-0.826),and in the external validation cohort,they were 0.773(95%CI:0.677-0.868),0.746(95%CI:0.620-0.872),and 0.736(95%CI:0.577-0.895).The calibration plots verified that the nomogram fitted well with the perfect line.The DCA curve revealed that the net benefit of the nomogram was significatly higer than that of the AJCC staging system at certain probability thresholds compared with AJCC staging,the nomogram had a better ability to identify high-risk individuals.Conclusion:The serum AFP expression is one of the prognostic markers for the HCC patients.For those patients with AFP negative expression in serum,different considerations should be taken.The nomogram model based on multiple risk factors is a promising clinical tool for assessing the CSS in the AFP negative HCC patients.

Epigenetic pathways play a critical role in the initiation, progression, and metastasis of cancer. Over the past few decades, significant progress has been made in the development of targeted epigenetic modulators (e.g., inhibitors). However, epigenetic inhibitors have faced multiple challenges, including limited clinical efficacy, toxicities, lack of subtype selectivity, and drug resistance. As a result, the design of new epigenetic modulators (e.g., degraders) such as PROTACs, molecular glue, and hydrophobic tagging (HyT) degraders has garnered significant attention from both academia and pharmaceutical industry, and numerous epigenetic degraders have been discovered in the past decade. In this review, we aim to provide an in-depth illustration of new degrading strategies (2017-2023) targeting epigenetic proteins for cancer therapy, focusing on the rational design, pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, clinical status, and crystal structure information of these degraders. Importantly, we also provide deep insights into the potential challenges and corresponding remedies of this approach to drug design and development. Overall, we hope this review will offer a better mechanistic understanding and serve as a useful guide for the development of emerging epigenetic-targeting degraders.

Objective:Proximal femur tumor resection often leads to hip joint instability and functional loss.Various methods have been clinically applied to repair hip joint soft tissue function,but deficiencies remain.This study aims to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the ligament advanced reinforcement system(LARS)tumor tube in assisting soft tissue function reconstruction in patients undergoing tumor type artificial hip replacement surgery. Methods:This study included 85 patients(41 males,44 females)with proximal femoral tumors treated at the Xiangya Bone Tumor Treatment Center from January 2012 to January 2022,aged 10 to 79(38.5±18.2)years.Among them,13 cases had benign aggressive tumors,45 had primary malignant bone tumors,and 27 had bone metastases.Clinical data,imaging data,and intraoperative photos were collected.Patients were followed up and postoperative functional evaluations were conducted using the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society(MSTS)scoring system and Harris hip joint scoring system to assess limb function and hip joint function. Results:Preoperative pathological fractures were present in 37 cases(43.5％),with a lesion length of(9.4±2.9)cm.Among non-metastatic tumor patients,7 experienced postoperative recurrence,including 6 cases of osteosarcoma and 1 case of fibrosarcoma.Pulmonary metastases occurred in 9 osteosarcoma patients.Five patients required reoperation due to postoperative complications,including 3 cases of deep vein thrombosis,1 case of giant cell granuloma,and 1 case of prosthesis infection.Postoperatively,5 patients exhibited Trendelenburg gait,and 6 had leg length discrepancies.The postoperative MSTS score was 26.7±1.4,and the Harris score was 89.6±5.3. Conclusion:The LARS tumor tube can effectively assist in reconstructing the soft tissue function of the hip joint and greatly reduce postoperative complications,making it an effective technical improvement in joint function reconstruction in tumor type artificial hip replacement surgery.

Objective:To summarize the patient profiles and therapeutic efficacies of ABO-incompatible living-related kidney transplantations at 19 domestic transplant centers and provide rationales for clinical application of ABOi-KT.Methods:Clinical cases of ABO-incompatible/compatible kidney transplantation (ABOi-KT/ABOc-KT) from December 2006 to December 2009 were collected. Then, statistical analyses were conducted from the aspects of tissue matching, perioperative managements, complications and survival rates of renal allograft or recipients.Results:Clinical data of 342 ABOi-KT and 779 ABOc-KT indicated that (1) no inter-group differences existed in age, body mass index (BMI), donor-recipient relationship or waiting time of pre-operative dialysis; (2) ABO blood type: blood type O recipients had the longest waiting list and transplantations from blood type A to blood type O accounted for the largest proportion; (3) HLA matching: no statistical significance existed in mismatch rate or positive rate of PRA I/II between two types of surgery; (4) CD20 should be properly used on the basis of different phrases; (5) hemorrhage was a common complication during an early postoperative period and microthrombosis appeared later; (6) no difference existed in postoperative incidence of complications or survival rate of renal allograft and recipients at 1/3/5/10 years between ABOi-KT and ABOc-KT. The acute rejection rate and serum creatinine levels of ABOi-KT recipients were comparable to those of ABOc-KT recipients within 1 year.Conclusions:ABOi-KT is both safe and effective so that it may be applied at all transplant centers as needed.

Objective To investigate the effect of remote medical information platform on efficiency of chest pain diagnosis and treatment and on clinical decision analyses in chest pain center.Methods A total of 537 chest pain patients who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were consecutively enrolled and divided into two groups.The group without the chest pain platform(before setting up the platform)was 251 cases,and the group with chest pain platform(after setting up the platform)was 286 cases.The constituent ratio of acute coronary syndrome (ACS),the numbers of cases of both emergency thrombolysis and emergency percutaneous coronary intervention(PCI),the mean transfer treatment time,the first time medical contact to balloon catheter technique(FMC-to-B) and the door-to-balloon(D-to-B) time were compared between the two groups.The important multivariate factors affecting the D-to-B time were analyzed.Results The group with versus without chest pain platform showed the statistically significant improvements in the parameters as follows:(1)getting long range treatment (249 cases or 87.1％ vs.92 cases or 36.7 ％,x2 =146.56,P ＜0.05),(2) receiving thrombolysis(64 cases or 22.4％ vs.15 cases or 6.0％,x2 =28.61,P＜0.05),(3)average transfer treatment time(TTT) (176.3 ± 86.1 min vs.360.7 ± 107.4 min,t =11.53,P ＜0.05),(4)FMC-to-B(203.8±65.9 min vs.583.4±125.1 min,t =8.41,P＜0.05)and (5)D-to-B time(86.5±30.6 min vs.148.2 ± 41.7 min,t =4.49,P ＜ 0.05).Especially,patients after setting up the chest pain platform reached the standard of D-to-B time less than 90 min.According to whether reaching the standard of D-to-B time or not,clinical decision-making model analysis showed that the average Gini coefficient achieving the millennium development goal(MDG) was highest in the hospital referral,followed by the average transfer treatment time and emergency thrombolysis.Conclusions Reducing average transfer treatment time,improving the efficiency of hospital referral,and refining the remote terminal information platform for chest pain diagnosis and treatment are important for chest pain center by analyzing clinical data of chest pain patients.

Objective To summarize the outcomes and clinical experiences of renal transplantation in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive patients .Methods The clinical data were retrospectively analyzed for one HIV-positive case of renal transplantation .Diagnosed as chronic renal insufficiency 1 year ago ,he received hemodialysis .After a positive screen for HIV ,he received highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and HIV RNA turned negative 3 months later .CD4 + T cell count was 331 cell/μl at pre-operation and there was no HIV-rated opportunistic infection or cancer . Her mother donated her kidney . Basiliximab and steroid pulse therapy were used preoperatively and immunosuppressants were used after transplantation , including tacrolimus , corticosteroids and mycophenolate mofetil .Results The kidney was transplanted successfully and serum creatinine declined to a normal level at day 4 after transplantation .Because of an interaction between efaverenz and tacrolimus ,the blood concentration of tacrolimus was extremely low and the dose of tacrolimus had to be raised to 0 .2 mg/(kg·d) .Antiroviral therapy remained unchanged .No rejection and other complications were observed .And HIV RNA remained negative .Conclusions Renal transplantation is optimal for HIV-positive patients whose HIV status is completely under control .However ,drug interactions needs to be considered during perioperative and postoperative periods .

Objective: To establish a method for in vitro expansion of regulatory T cells (Tregs) for clinical study and immunotherapy. Methods: CD4⁺ T cells were isolated from BALB/c spleens by magnetic activated cell sorting (MACS), then cultured in 24-well plates coated with anti-CD3/CD28 microbeads in the presence of 100 U/ml interleukin-2 (IL-2) and 5 ng/ml recombinant human transforming growth factor-β (rhTGF-β). The purity of the expanded Tregs were tested by flow cytometry. In vitro inhibition of CD4⁺ CD25^-T cells response by expanded Tregs was measured by mixed lymphocyte reaction test. The number and the viability of the expanded Tregs were detemined by trypan blue staining. Results: Tregs were expanded up to 20 folds after 5 days in culture, and the activity was (93±4)%. The purity of expanded Tregs were (79.1±1.5)%, and maintained suppressive ability. Conclusions We can obtain large numbers of Tregs with highly purity and suppressive ability, thereby providing a solution to the availability of sufficient Tregs in clinical study and immunotherapy.

Purpose To perform MRI examination after the death of SD rat model due to cerebral infarction and to investigate the changing characteristics of cerebral infarction during postmortem examination. Materials and Methods Middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) model was established on 21 SD rats by applying modified suture method. 13 to 56 h after modeling, 12 dead SD rats were collected for the experiment. The bodies were stored at an environment with a temperature of 10-15°C and relative humidity of 45%-55%. Head MRI was performed 12 h after modeling and at 8, 24, 48, 72 and 96 h after death respectively, and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values of infarction and contralateral brain tissue were calculated. At each post-mortem time point, ADC values of bilateral cerebral hemispheres, ADC values of infarction and living infarction, and ADC values of non-infarcted brain and living non-infarcted zone were compared. Brain tissue was taken after scan for pathological diagnosis and compared with diagnostic results of postmortem MRI (pmMRI). Results The right cerebral signal of rats was abnormal 12 h after cerebral infarction and after death. Eight rats were found to have shifted cerebral middle-line structure to the left. ADC values of infarction at each time point after death were lower than that of non-infarction, the difference of which was statistically significant (P<0.05); ADC values of infarction were lower than that of living infarction, the difference of which was statistically significant (P<0.05); ADC value of non-infarcted area at each time point was lower than that of living non-infarcted area, the difference of which was statistically significant (P<0.05). Necrosis and disintegration of neurons, disintegration and liquefaction of glial fibers, infiltration of inflammatory cells and leakage of red blood cells were spotted in necrotic areas after receiving cerebral HE staining in rat. HE staining was consistent with the infarction zone indicated by pmMRI. Conclusion pmMRI can be used for the diagnosis of cerebral infarction via virtual necropsy.

Objective To estimate the value of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in early diagnosis of chronic allograft nephropathy (CAN) and monitoring of graft fibrosis in rat models . Methods Thirty CAN rat models were established as experimental group by transplanting Fisher donor kidneys into Lewis recipients. Thirty Lewis rats that received Lewis kidneys served as control group. Serum creatinine (SCr) was monitored regularly every two weeks from 14 days after transplantation. Eight rats were randomly selected by random number table method and underwent DTI examination at 4, 12, 20 weeks after modeling. DTI scans were performed on the renal cortex and medulla to measure apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and fractional anisotropy (FA). From the remaining 22 rats in each group, 6 rats were randomly selected and underwent pathological analysis at 4, 12, 20 weeks after modeling. Histological changes in the kidney were evaluated by chronic allograft damage index (CADI) scores. The expression of alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and Vimentin were quantitatively measured. The differences in creatinine, DTI parameters, CADI score, α-SMA, Vimentin expression level were analyzed by two independent samples t test in two groups, the differences among CADI score, α-SMA, Vimentin expression level of the experimental group were compared using ANOVA. The correlations among DTI parameters and CADI score, α-SMA and Vimentin expression level were analyzed using Pearson analysis. Results The creatinine in the experimental group increased continuously, and the creatinine in the control group showed no significant increase. The difference in creatinine between the two groups was statistically significant from 8th week after operation (P＜0.01). There was no obvious difference in the size and signal intensity of transplanted kidneys in control group at different time points. Compared with the control group, the graft kidney in the experimental group at the 4 weeks demonstrated increased signal intensity with mild increased volume of kidney, and the boundaries between cortex and medulla were not clear. The cortex and medulla showed gradually increased signal intensity, heterogeneous signal distribution and marginal haziness over time. The ADC and FA value of renal cortex and medulla in experimental group were significantly lower than those in control group at 4, 12, 20 weeks (P＜0.05). The ADC and FA values of the cortex and medulla gradually decreased in the experimental group over time, while the values of the parameters in the control group did not show a significant decrease. The ADC and FA values of the cortex and medulla were negatively correlated with the scores of CADI, and the expression level of α-SMA, Vimentin in the experimental group(r=－0.50 to －0.85, P＜0.01).Conclusion DTI can be an effective technique for early diagnosis of CAN and monitoring of graft fibrosis process.