The welfare and ethics of laboratory animals are the ethical principles and behavioral norms that need to be followed in conducting animal-based scientific research, breeding and managing laboratory animals, and supervising and regulating such activities. The level of protection of laboratory animal welfare and ethics is closely related to the development of science and technology, which has become a widely recognized international consensus. At present, Guangdong Province is accelerating the construction of a high-level science and technology innovation province and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area International Science and Technology Innovation Center. Guangdong Province should rely on its advanced governance capacity in the field of laboratory animal science and technology ethics to promote the high-quality development of its laboratory animal science and technology sector. Based on the management laws, regulations, and institutional mechanisms of laboratory animals in China, this paper explores the optimization of the laboratory animal science and technology ethics governance system, which includes the institutional guarantees, responsibility systems, ethical review and supervision mechanisms, and education and outreach. Through methods such as literature research, questionnaire surveys, and interview investigations, an empirical study of the laboratory animal science and technology ethics governance system in Guangdong Province has been conducted. Analysis of literature and research results shows that Guangdong Province has basically established a laboratory animal management system, collaboration mechanism, supervision mechanism, and education and training system that meet the current requirements of the laboratory animal science and technology ethics governance system in China. However, there are still problems such as an incomplete laboratory animal science and technology ethics supervision mechanism, an underdeveloped operation mechanism of review institutions, insufficient attention paid by laboratory animal units to the ethical review of animal experiments, inconsistent ethical review standards, and a lack of professional ethical education and training for ethics review personnel. Therefore, optimization measures such as improving the laboratory animal science and technology ethics review system, strengthening supervision and inspection, further strengthening the accountability of responsible entities, formulating review norms, and enhancing hierarchical and classified education and training are proposed, to provide a theoretical basis for promoting the normalized and long-term governance of laboratory animal science and technology ethics in Guangdong Province.

Globally， the incidence and mortality rates of liver cancer rank among the highest， posing a serious threat to the life and health of people. This article elaborates on the principles and characteristics of multimodal image fusion technology and artificial intelligence technology， analyzes their specific application in liver surgery， and highlights their clinical value and future development prospects， in order to provide a reference for the surgical diagnosis and treatment of liver diseases.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.apsb.2019.01.013.].

Objective To analyze the distribution characteristics and trends of occupational exposure types of medical radiation workers in Gansu Province, China, and to provide a basis for administrative departments to formulate and adjust radiation protection policies. Methods According to the radiation health information platform, the data of occupational exposure types of radiation workers in Gansu Province from 2014 to 2023 were obtained. The proportions of occupational exposure types in each physical examination year was statistically analyzed. Results From 2014 to 2023, the number of medical radiation workers accounted for more than 70% of the total number of radiation workers. The proportion of X-ray imaging diagnostic radiation workers in the total number of medical radiation workers gradually decreased but remained the highest, exceeding 68% annually. The proportion of interventional radiology workers in the total number of medical radiation workers increased from 13.8% to 25.5%. The proportions of radiation therapy and nuclear medicine workers in the total number of medical radiation workers increased slowly. The numbers of interventional radiology and radiotherapy workers in tertiary hospitals both accounted for more than 70% of the total number of such workers in the province. The proportion of interventional radiology workers increased and then decreased. The proportion of radiotherapy workers increased significantly from 70.5% to 93.0%. The number of nuclear medicine workers in tertiary hospitals accounted for more than 80% of such workers in the province. Conclusion Radiation protection policies and measures should be adjusted according to the changes in the types of occupational exposure. The focus of these policies and measures should differ depending on the level of healthcare institutions, the type of radiological diagnostic and therapeutic services, and the characteristics of various occupational exposure types .

Yttrium-90(90Y)selective internal radiation therapy(SIRT)is an emerging modality for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC),leveraging the nuclide 90Y to deliver targeted radiation therapy.90Y has a long half-life and can be used to selectively ablate tumor cells by high-energy beta rays.It has high biological effectiveness and robust local control capabilities.In recent years,with the continuous advancement of basic and clinical research,the application of 90Y-SIRT in the conversion treatment of unresectable HCC(uHCC)has made significant progress.However,challenges remain in the clinical application of 90Y-SIRT,including how to improve the efficacy of conversion therapy and how to optimize therapy regimens.This review aims to summarize the research progress of90Y-SIRT in the conversion therapy of uHCC.

Objective To develop models for predicting response to chemotherapy combined with immunotherapy in patients with esophageal squamous carcinoma with various machine learning algorithms,and then select the optimal model.Methods A retrospective study was performed for 174 patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma undergoing chemotherapy combined with immunotherapy admitted in Department of Thoracic Surgery of the First Affiliated Hospital of Army Medical University from January 2022 to December 2023.The CT scans and clinical information were collected before treatment.They were randomly divided into a training set(n=122)and a testing set(n=52)in a ratio of 7∶3.CT radiomic features were extracted and selected,and then 5 machine-learning algorithms were employed to establish the prediction models,including radiomics model and clinical-radiomics model.Five-fold cross-validation was conducted on the training set,and the performance of the prediction models was evaluated on the testing set using receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve and the F1 score.The best-performing model was further explained using local interpretable model-agnostic explanations(LIME)algorithm.Results Among the 174 patients,115(66.1%)achieved clinical remission.From the clinical information and CT images,1 clinical features and 10 radiomic features were identified.The area under of ROC curve(AUC)for the radiomics and clinical-radiomics models was 0.750(95%CI:0.616～0.883),and 0.766(95%CI:0.637～0.895),respectively.The F1 score of the optimal clinical-radiomics model was 0.829.LIME algorithm indicated that this best model demonstrated reliability in predicting individual samples.Conclusion The clinical-radiomics prediction model based on machine learning algorithm performs well,and can provide a reference for doctors'clinical decision-making by predicting the response to chemotherapy combined with immunotherapy in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Objective To construct an automatic segmentation model to segment female urine control anatomy on MRI images based on deep learning methods in order to improve the segmentation efficiency and accuracy.Methods A dataset comprising 49 female pelvic floor muscle MRI images[30 women with varying degrees of pelvic organ prolapse(POP)and 19 healthy individuals],obtained from Faculty of Biomedical Engineering and Medical Imaging in Army Medical University,was used for model training and testing.The dataset was split into a training set(17 normal cases and 22 POP cases)and a testing set(4 normal cases and 6 POP cases)in a ratio of 8∶2.The training set was used to train UNet,UNet+++,Dense UNet,and UNet++models separately,and then input into each network.The model achieving the highest testing accuracy was selected as the backbone network.Results Under the training of UNet,UNet+++,Dense UNet,and UNet++,the 4 models achieved average Dice similarity coefficients of 61.82%,57.94%,57.63%,and 62.76%,respectively,for the segmentation of 5 anatomical structures(compressor urethrae,urethra sphincter body,bladder wall,bladder cavity and urethra submucosa).The corresponding Intersection over Union(IoU)score was 49.74%,46.59%,46.07%,and 49.44%,while the accuracy rate was 61.74%,55.03%,59.23%,and 61.91%,respectively for the 4 models.Notably,UNet++consistently outperformed UNet,UNet+++,and Dense UNet across the 3 metrics,indicating that UNet++achieved the highest overall segmentation accuracy.Conclusion In UNet,UNet++,Dense UNet and UNet++for automatic segmentation of 5 female urine control anatomical elements,UNet++achieves the best overall segmentation accuracy.

Radiation-induced thrombocytopenia (RIT) faces a perplexing challenge in the clinical treatment of cancer patients, and current therapeutic approaches are inadequate in the clinical settings. In this research, oxymatrine, a new molecule capable of healing RIT was screened out, and the underlying regulatory mechanism associated with magakaryocyte (MK) differentiation and thrombopoiesis was demonstrated. The capacity of oxymatrine to induce MK differentiation was verified in K-562 and Meg-01 cells in vitro. The ability to induce thrombopoiesis was subsequently demonstrated in Tg (cd41:enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP)) zebrafish and RIT model mice. In addition, we carried out network pharmacological prediction, drug affinity responsive target stability assay (DARTS) and cellular thermal shift assay (CETSA) analyses to explore the potential targets of oxymatrine. Moreover, the pathway underlying the effects of oxymatrine was determined by Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses, Western blot (WB), and immunofluorescence. Oxymatrine markedly promoted MK differentiation and maturation in vitro. Moreover, oxymatrine induced thrombopoiesis in Tg (cd41:eGFP) zebrafish and accelerated thrombopoiesis and platelet function recovery in RIT model mice. Mechanistically, oxymatrine directly binds to toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) and further regulates the downstream pathway stimulator of interferon genes (STING)/nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-κB), which can be blocked by C29 and C-176, which are specific inhibitors of TLR2 and STING, respectively. Taken together, we demonstrated that oxymatrine, a novel TLR2 agonist, plays a critical role in accelerating MK differentiation and thrombopoiesis via the STING/NF-κB axis, suggesting that oxymatrine is a promising candidate for RIT therapy.

[Purpose]To analyze the incidence and mortality of gastric cancer in Zhejiang cancer registration areas in 2021,and trends from 2000 to 2021.[Methods]The data of gastric cancer were obtained from Zhejiang cancer registration areas.The crude incidence/mortality rates,age-specific rates,and age-standardized incidence/mortality rates by Chinese standard population(ASRC)and the world standard population(ASRW)were calculated.The temporal trends were ana-lyzed by calculating annual percentage change(APC)and average annual percentage change(AAPC).[Results]A total of 7 602 new cases and 4 178 deaths of gastric cancer were reported in 2021.The incidence and mortality rates of gastric cancer in men were significantly higher than those in women;the incidence rate in urban areas was significantly higher than that in rural areas,while the mortality was slightly lower than that in rural areas.From 2000 to 2021,the ASRC of inci-dence rate decreased from 16.80/105 to 16.08/105(without statistical significance):an upward trend was observed from 2000 to 2009,whereas a downward trend became apparent from 2009 to 2021.From 2000 to 2021 the ASRC of mortality rate decreased from 13.59/105 to 8.02/105 with an AAPC of-2.62％(P＜0.001).The decline rate of female mortality rate(AAPC=-2.68％,95％CI:-3.61％～-1.68％,P＜0.001)was slightly higher than that of male(AAPC=-2.44％,95％CI:-3.06％～-1.61％,P＜0.001).[Conclusion]In 2021,both the incidence and mortality rates of gastric can-cer in Zhejiang Province were lower than the national average in China,which ranked 6th and 4th among all types of cancer.From 2000 to 2021,the overall burden of gastric cancer in Zhejiang Province showed a downward trend.

BACKGROUND:Research has shown that vanillic acid has anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative stress effects,but it is unclear whether it has a protective effect on endplate chondrocytes.OBJECTIVE:To explore the effect and mechanism of vanillic acid on endplate chondrocytes under inflammatory microenvironment.METHODS:(1)Primary endplate chondrocytes were isolated from the intervertebral disc of SD rats and identified by toluidine blue staining and collagenⅡ immunofluorescence.(2)The CCK-8 assay was employed to detect the effects of interleukin-1β and vanillic acid on the proliferation activity of endplate chondrocytes,in order to determine the concentration of vanillic acid for subsequent cell treatment.(3)An inflammatory microenvironment was simulated by adding 10 ng/mL interleukin-1β to the culture medium,and the endplate chondrocytes were treated with low,medium,and high mass concentrations of vanillic acid.The expression levels of inflammatory markers and extracellular matrix proteins were detected by western blot assay and immunofluorescence.(4)The expression of nuclear factor κB signaling pathway-related proteins was detected by western blot assay.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1)The morphology of endplate chondrocytes in adherent culture was pike or triangular in shape,positive for toluidine blue staining and immunofluorescence for collagen Ⅱ,indicating that the experimentally extracted cells were endplate chondrocytes.(2)The CCK-8 assay results showed that treatment with 2.5,5,10,and 20 μg/mL vanillic acid for 24 hours did not significantly inhibit the proliferation of endplate chondrocytes.Compared with the interleukin-1β group,the viability of endplate chondrocytes treated with 5,10,and 20 μg/mL vanillic acid for 24 hours was significantly increased(P＜0.05).Therefore,5,10,and 20 μg/mL vanillic acid was selected as the low,medium,and high dose groups for subsequent treatment of endplate chondrocytes.(3)Compared with the model group(complete medium containing 10 ng/mL interleukin-1β),the expression of NOD-like receptor thermal domain associated protein 3(NLRP3),matrix metalloproteinase 13,matrix metalloproteinase 3,and tumor necrosis factor alpha protein in the endplate chondrocytes of the low,medium,and high doses of vanillic acid groups were significantly reduced(P＜0.05).(4)Compared with the model group,the protein expression of aggrecan and collagen Ⅱ in the endplate chondrocytes of the low,medium,and high dose groups of vanillic acid significantly increased(P＜0.05).(5)Compared with the model group,the protein expression of phospho-nuclear factor κB and phospho-inhibitor of nuclear factor κB in the endplate chondrocytes of the low,medium,and high dose groups of vanillic acid was significantly reduced(P＜0.05).(6)The above results indicate that vanillic acid may alleviate the inflammatory response and extracellular matrix degradation induced by interleukin-1β in rat endplate chondrocytes by inhibiting the activation of the nuclear factor κB signaling pathway.