OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy and safety of a new conditioning regimen with chidamide and BEAM for autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT) in patients with lymphoma. METHODS: Medical records and further follow-up data from 85 patients with lymphoma from May 2015 to September 2020 in our hospital were retrospectively collected and analyzed. RESULTS: Among 85 patients, 52 cases accepted BEAM regimen and 33 cases accepted CBEAM followed by AHSCT. In CBEAM group, 18 patients (54.5%) received AHSCT as salvage therapy, while only 26.9% (14 cases) for salvage in BEAM group ( P < 0.01). CBEAM conditioning resulted in shorter neutrophil engraftment of 2 days, while no significant difference was found in platelet engraftment. Although the incidence of liver impairment was higher in CBEAM group (12.1%), the grade of impairment was only Ⅰ to Ⅱ. The two conditioning regimens both achieved good complete remission rate of over 90%, and no transplant-related death occurred. The median follow-up time in the CBEAM group was 18(12, 22) months, and 39(20, 59) months in the BEAM group. There were no significantly differences in 2-year progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) rate between the two groups (P >0.05). In patients with refractory or relapsed non-Hodgkin lymphoma, the 2-year PFS rate after transplantation in BEAM group and CBEAM group was 74.1% and 92.9%, respectively (P >0.05), indicating that chidamide may have certain advantages in prolonging PFS. CONCLUSION CBEAM conditioning regimen has a good efficacy and safety in lymphoma patients before AHSCT, especially in refractory and relapsed non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients, suggesting that it could serve as an alternative conditioning regimen prior to AHSCT for lymphoma.
Humans ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation ; Transplantation Conditioning/methods* ; Transplantation, Autologous ; Retrospective Studies ; Aminopyridines/therapeutic use* ; Lymphoma/therapy* ; Benzamides/therapeutic use* ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols/therapeutic use* ; Male ; Female ; Cytarabine/therapeutic use* ; Melphalan/therapeutic use* ; Adult ; Middle Aged ; Podophyllotoxin/therapeutic use* ; Carmustine ; Etoposide

Schizophrenia (SZ) stands as a severe psychiatric disorder. This study applied diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data in conjunction with graph neural networks to distinguish SZ patients from normal controls (NCs) and showcases the superior performance of a graph neural network integrating combined fractional anisotropy and fiber number brain network features, achieving an accuracy of 73.79% in distinguishing SZ patients from NCs. Beyond mere discrimination, our study delved deeper into the advantages of utilizing white matter brain network features for identifying SZ patients through interpretable model analysis and gene expression analysis. These analyses uncovered intricate interrelationships between brain imaging markers and genetic biomarkers, providing novel insights into the neuropathological basis of SZ. In summary, our findings underscore the potential of graph neural networks applied to multimodal DTI data for enhancing SZ detection through an integrated analysis of neuroimaging and genetic features.
Humans ; Schizophrenia/pathology* ; Diffusion Tensor Imaging/methods* ; Male ; Female ; Adult ; Brain/metabolism* ; Young Adult ; Middle Aged ; White Matter/pathology* ; Gene Expression ; Nerve Net/diagnostic imaging* ; Graph Neural Networks

Objective:To investigate the prospective association of sleep duration with the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in adults in Suzhou.Methods:The study used the data of 53 269 participants aged 30-79 years recruited in the baseline survey from 2004 to 2008 and the follow-up until December 31, 2017 of China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB) conducted in Wuzhong District, Suzhou. After excluding participants with airflow limitation, self-reported chronic bronchitis/emphysema/coronary heart disease history at the baseline survey and abnormal or incomplete data, a total of 45 336 participants were included in the final analysis. The association between daily sleep duration and the risk for developing COPD was analyzed by using a Cox proportional hazard regression model, and the hazard ratio ( HR) values and their 95% CI were calculated. The analysis was stratified by age, gender and lifestyle factors, and cross-analysis was conducted according to smoking status and daily sleep duration. Results:The median follow-up time was 11.12 years, with a total of 515 COPD diagnoses in the follow-up. After adjusting for potential confounders, multifactorial Cox proportional hazard regression analysis showed that daily sleep duration ≥10 hours was associated with higher risk for developing COPD ( HR=1.42, 95% CI: 1.03-1.97). The cross analysis showed that excessive daily sleep duration increased the risk for COPD in smokers ( HR=2.49, 95% CI: 1.35-4.59, interaction P<0.001). Conclusion:Longer daily sleep duration (≥10 hours) might increase the risk for COPD in adults in Suzhou, especially in smokers.

Objective: To explore the mechanism by which icariin alleviates viral myocarditis. Methods: CVB3-induced cardiomyocytes were used as an in vitro model of viral myocarditis to assess the effects of icariin treatment on cell viability, inflammation, and apoptosis. Moreover, the effects of icariin on ferroptosis and TLR4 signaling were assessed. After AC16 cells were transfected with TLR4 overexpression plasmids, the role of TLR4 in mediating the regulatory effect of icariin in viral myocarditis was investigated. Results: Icariin significantly elevated cell viability and reduced inflammatory factors TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-18. Flow cytometry revealed that icariin decreased apoptosis rate, and the protein expression of Bax and cleaved caspase 3 and 9 in CVB3-induced cardiomyocytes. Additionally, it suppressed ferroptosis including lipid peroxidation and ferrous ion, as well as the TLR4 signaling. However, TLR4 overexpression abrogated the modulatory effects of icariin. Conclusions: Icariin mitigates CVB3-induced myocardial injury by inhibiting TLR4-mediated ferroptosis. Further animal study is needed to verify its efficacy.

Cerebral organoids are three-dimensional nerve cultures induced by embryonic stem cells(ESCs)or induced pluripotent stem cells(iPSCs)that mimic the structure and function of human brain.With the continuous optimization of cerebral organoid culture technology and the combination with emerging technologies such as organ transplantation,gene editing and organoids-on-chip,complex brain tissue structures such as functional vascular structures and neural circuits have been produced,which provides new methods and ideas for studying human brain development and diseases.This article reviews the latest advances in brain organoid technology,describes its application in neurological diseases and advances in stroke modeling and transplantation treatment.

Post-stroke cognitive impairment(PSCI)is mainly manifested as learning and memory disorders.Highly enriched RNA m6A methylation modification in mammalian brain is involved in glial cell-mediated neuroinflammation.Given that neuroinflammation is the main mechanism for neural damage and spatial and memory impairment of PSCI,it is speculated that RNA m6A methylation modification can regulate the inflammatory response of glial cells after stroke to improve PSCI.This review summarizes and analyzes the role of RNA m6A methylation modification in the development of PSCI and analyzes its detailed mechanism of regulating glial cell-mediated inflammation,which will provide reference for researchers in this field.

BACKGROUND:Long non-coding RNAs(lncRNAs),as important regulators of the inflammatory response,are involved in the immune-inflammation-brain crosstalk mechanism after ischemic stroke and have the potential to become a therapeutic agent for neurological dysfunction after ischemic stroke. OBJECTIVE:To analyze and summarize the molecular mechanism of lncRNA acting on glial cells involved in the neuroimmuno-inflammatory cascade response after ischemic stroke and the associated signaling pathways,pointing out that lncRNAs have the potential to regulate inflammation after ischemic stroke. METHODS:PubMed was searched using the search terms of"ischemic stroke,long non-coding RNA,neuroinflammation,immune function,signal pathway,microglia,astrocytes,oligodendrocyte,mechanism,"and 63 relevant documents were finally included for review. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:In the early stage of ischemic stroke,the death of nerve cells due to ischemia and hypoxia activates the innate immune response of the brain,promoting the secretion of inflammatory factors and inducing blood-brain barrier damage and a series of inflammatory cascades responses.As an important pathogenesis factor in ischemic stroke,the neuroimmuno-inflammatory cascade has been proved to seriously affect the prognosis of patients with ischemic stroke,and it needs to be suppressed promptly in the early stage.Neuroinflammation after ischemic stroke usually induces abnormal expression of a large number of lncRNAs that mediate a series of neuro-immune-inflammatory crosstalk mechanisms through regulating the polarization of microglia,astrocytes and oligodendrocytes to exert post-stroke neuroprotective effects.LncRNAs,as important regulatory factors of the inflammatory response,inhibit the neuroimmuno-inflammatory cascade response after ischemic stroke through regulating nuclear factor-κB,lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA axis,Rho-ROCK,MAPK,AKT,ERK and other signaling pathways to effectively improve neurological impairment after ischemic stroke.Most of experimental studies on the interaction between lncRNAs and ischemic stroke are based on a middle cerebral artery occlusion model or a cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury model,but no clinical trials have been conducted.Therefore,it remains to be further explored about whether lncRNAs can be safely applied in clinical practice.At present,there are many therapeutic drugs for the treatment of ischemic stroke,but there are relatively few studies on the application of lncRNAs,exosomes and other transplantation technologies for the treatment of ischemic stroke using tissue engineering technology,which need to be further explored.lncRNA has become an important target for the treatment of ischemic stroke with its relative stability and high specificity.In future studies,more types of inflammatory lncRNAs that function under ischemic-hypoxia conditions should continue to be explored,in order to provide new research directions for the treatment of neuroinflammation after ischemic stroke.

Objective To investigate the dosimetric effects of different calculation grid size(CGS)in helical tomotherapy(HT)planning system on stereotactic body radiation therapy(SBRT)for non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC).Methods Nine NSCLC patients receiving radiation therapy for the first time at some hospital from March 2019 to December 2022 were selected as the subjects.SBRT planning was carried out through the HT system with three different CGS plans(Fine,Normal,and Coarse)and the same pitch,modulation factor(MF)and optimization conditions,and the target area indexes of the three CGS plans were compared including conformity index(CI),homogeneity index(HI),dosimetric parameters of the organ at risk(OAR),point dose verification pass rate,treatment time,number of monitor units and Sinograms.SPSS 22.0 was used for statistical analysis.Results For target area HI,there weres significant differences between CGS Fine plan and Coarse plan and between CGS Normal plan and Coarse plan(P＜0.05),while no statistical differences were found between CGS Fine plan and Normal plan(P＞0.05).For target area CI,there were significant differences between CGS Fine plan and Coarse plan(P＜0.05),while no statistical differences were found between CGS Fine plan and Normal plan and between CGS Normal plan and Coarse plan(P＞0.05).For OAR dosimetric parameters,CGS Fine plan and Coarse plan had significant differences in heart Dmax and Dmean,esophageal Dmax and Dmean,V5,V20,V30 and Dmean of the whole lung and affected lung,V5 and Dmax of the affected lung and heart V10 and V30(P＜0.05),CGS Normal plan and Coarse plan had obvious differences in esophageal Dmax(P＜0.05),and the remained dosimetric parameters were not statistically significant(P＞0.05).Fine,Normal and Coarse plans had the point dose verifica-tion pass rates being 0.96％,1.50％and 1.77％,respectively.In terms of treatment time and number of monitor units,there were significant differences between Fine plan and Coarse plan(P＜0.05)while no statistical differences were found between Fine and Normal plans and between Normal and Coarse plans(P＞0.05).Sinograms analyses showed Fine plan had evenly distributed segment color gradient,Coarse plan had areas of very dark and very light color gradients and Normal plan was somewhere in between.Conclusion Low CGS has to be used as much as possible to obtain accurate dose distribution during SBRT planning for NSCLC patients,which contributes to the execution of the radiation therapy plan and the prevention of ad-verse effects.[Chinese Medical Equipment Journal,2024,45(2):52-57]

Background::Early detection of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) can considerably improve the prognosis of patients. Aberrant cell-free DNA (cfDNA) methylation signatures are a promising tool for detecting ESCC. However, available markers based on cell-free DNA methylation are still inadequate. This study aimed to identify ESCC-specific cfDNA methylation markers and evaluate the diagnostic performance in the early detection of ESCC.Methods::We performed whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) for 24 ESCC tissues and their normal adjacent tissues. Based on the WGBS data, we identified 21,469,837 eligible CpG sites (CpGs). By integrating several methylation datasets, we identified several promising ESCC-specific cell-free DNA methylation markers. Finally, we developed a dual-marker panel based on methylated KCNA3 and OTOP2, and then, we evaluated its performance in our training and validation cohorts. Results::The ESCC diagnostic model constructed based on KCNA3 and OTOP2 had an AUC of 0.91 [95% CI: 0.85–0.95], and an optimal sensitivity and specificity of 84.91% and 94.32%, respectively, in the training cohort. In the independent validation cohort, the AUC was 0.88 [95% CI: 0.83–0.92], along with an optimal sensitivity of 81.5% and specificity of 92.9%. The model sensitivity for stage I–II ESCC was 78.4%, which was slightly lower than the sensitivity of the model (85.7%) for stage III–IV ESCC. Conclusion::The dual-target panel based on cfDNA showed excellent performance for detecting ESCC and might be an alternative strategy for screening ESCC.