Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a fatal malignancy with steadily increasing incidence and poor prognosis. Since most CCA cases are diagnosed at an advanced stage, systemic therapies, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy, play a crucial role in the management of unresectable CCA. The recent advances in targeted therapies and immunotherapies brought more options in the clinical management of unresectable CCA. This review depicts the advances of targeted therapies and immunotherapies for unresectable CCA, summarizes crucial clinical trials, and describes the efficacy and safety of different drugs, which may help further develop precision and individualization in the clinical treatment of unresectable CCA.
Humans ; Cholangiocarcinoma/drug therapy* ; Immunotherapy/methods* ; Bile Duct Neoplasms/drug therapy* ; Molecular Targeted Therapy/methods*

Homo- or heterodimeric compounds that affect dimeric protein function through interaction between monomeric moieties and protein subunits can serve as valuable sources of potent and selective drug candidates. Here, we screened an in-house dimeric natural product collection, and panepocyclinol A (PecA) emerged as a selective and potent STAT3 inhibitor with profound anti-tumor efficacy. Through cross-linking C712/C718 residues in separate STAT3 monomers with two distinct Michael receptors, PecA inhibits STAT3 DNA binding affinity and transcription activity. Molecular dynamics simulation reveals the key conformation changes of STAT3 dimers upon the di-covalent binding with PecA that abolishes its DNA interactions. Furthermore, PecA exhibits high efficacy against anaplastic large T cell lymphoma in vitro and in vivo, especially those with constitutively activated STAT3 or STAT3^Y640F. In summary, our study describes a distinct and effective di-covalent modification for the dimeric compound PecA to disrupt STAT3 function.

Objective:To investigate the factors related to gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) in children.Methods:Clinical data of 370 children who underwent 24h multi-channel impedance-pH monitoring (24h MII-pH) in Children′s Hospital Affiliated to Capital Institute of Pediatrics from January 2015 to December 2020 were enrolled in the study. The children were divided into GERD group ( n=202)and non-GERD group ( n=168) according to results of 24h MII-pH. The relationship of sex, age, body mass index (BMI), disease course, peripheral blood eosinophils count, IgE, Helicobacter pylori (Hp) infection, hiatus hernia of patients with GERD was analyzed by univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results:In GERD group 124 were males and 78 were females with a mean age of (6.4±4.1) years (2 months to 16.75 years), and in non-GERD group 82 were males and 86 were females with a mean age of (8.0±3.5) years (10 months to 15.17 years). Univariate logistic regression analysis showed that sex( OR=0.600,95% CI:0.396-0.908, P=0.016), age ( OR=0.537,95% CI:0.412-0.699, P<0.001)and hiatus hernia( OR=7.433,95% CI:2.567-21.520, P<0.001)were significantly associated with GERD of the children. Multivariate analysis showed that hiatus hernia ( OR=4.023,95% CI:1.298-12.470, P=0.016) was the independent risk factor, while male gender ( OR=0.567,95% CI:0.367-0.874, P=0.010) and younger age ( OR=0.613, 95%CI:0.459-0.819, P=0.001 ) were related factors of gastroesophageal reflux disease in children. Conclusion:Sex, age, and hiatal hernia are factors related to GERD in children.

Monascus is one of the most essential microbial resources in China, with thousands of years of history. Modern science has proved that Monascus can produce pigment, ergosterol, monacolin K, γ-aminobutyric acid, and other functionally active substances. Currently, Monascus is used to produce a variety of foods, health products, and pharmaceuticals, and its pigments are widely used as food additives. However, Monascus also makes a harmful polyketide component called citrinin in the fermentation process; citrinin has toxic effects on the kidneys such as teratogenicity, carcinogenicity, and mutagenicity (Gong et al., 2019). The presence of citrinin renders Monascus and its products potentially hazardous, which has led many countries to set limits and standards on citrinin content. For example, the citrinin limit is less than 0.04 mg/kg according to the Chinese document National Standard for Food Safety Food Additive Monascus (GB 1886.181-2016) (National Health and Family Planning Commission of the People's Republic of China, 2016), and the maximum level in food supplements based on rice fermented with Monascus purpureus is 100 µg/kg in the European Union (Commission of the European Union, 2019).
Citrinin ; Dietary Supplements ; Fungi ; Monascus

The application of face recognition technology is gradually expanding to the medical field. It has been initially used in the medical diagnosis of endocrine diseases and genetic syndrome. This technology is expected to be used for the screening of genetic syndrome and endocrine diseases, shortening the delay period of disease diagnosis and helping the staging of endocrine diseases. However, this technology also has some moral risks, such as the risk of personal information security disclosure, the challenge to the future of mankind and the division of moral responsibility. This paper reflected on the dilemma of moral responsibility in the application of face recognition and medical diagnosis, and explored the two basic problems of "who is the subject of moral responsibility" and "the specific division of moral responsibility of different moral subjects" in face recognition and medical diagnosis. Finally, some suggestions on the moral responsibility in face recognition and medical diagnosis are put forward. The first is to determine the role of face recognition and medical diagnosis as an auxiliary category, and doctors are still the main medical subject; the second is to build the responsibility ethics mechanism and laws and regulations, the establishment of the responsibility system of face recognition and medical diagnosis is inseparable from the joint action of law and ethics.

Objective:To explore the clinical characteristics of children with pancreatitis, aiming to analyze the clinical differences of acute pancreatitis(AP), recurrent acute pancreatitis(RAP)and chronic pancreatitis(CP)in children.Methods:The clinical characteristics of AP, RAP, CP in children admitted to the Department of Gastroenterology at Children′s Hospital Affiliated to Capital Institute of Pediatrics from January 2015 to December 2020 were analyzed.Results:One hundred and nine cases were included in this study, including 69 cases of AP(63.3%), 22 cases of RAP(20.2%)and 18 cases of CP(16.5%). The proportion of school-age and adolescent children was 48.6% and 29.4%, and there was statistical difference between the composition of children at different ages( P<0.001). Idiopathic was the main cause of AP, RAP and CP.The other causes included biliary, viral infection, structural abnormalities, drug-induced, hypercholesterolemia and heredity.97.2%(106 cases)of the children were accompanied by abdominal pain, mainly in middle and upper abdomen(75 cases, 70.8%)and around umbilical cord(22 cases, 20.8%). The pancreatic enlargement in preschool children was mainly diffuse enlargement(11/12), while the older children with local enlargement and diffuse enlargement accounted for the same proportion, the difference was statistically significant( P=0.037). The height score of CP children was lower than the overall average of the population(0 score), and lower than those of AP and RAP children, with statistically significant difference[-0.65(-1.57, 0.25) vs.0.36(-1.03, 1.05) and -0.09(-0.30, 0.41), H=6.021, P=0.044]. Eight (11.6%) cases with AP progressed to RAP, and six (8.7%) cases with AP progressed to CP. Conclusion:Pancreatitis tends to occur in school-age and adolescent children, and idiopathic is the first cause of all types of pancreatitis.AP, RAP, and CP share common features of pancreatitis in terms of etiology composition and clinical manifestations.Compared with AP and RAP, CP is more likely to affect the growth and development of children.Some children with AP could progress to RAP or CP, so we should pay more attention to the etiological investigation of AP and eliminate the etiological factors in time to avoid the disease progression.

Objective:To develop a questionnaire for compliance with the management standard of nosocomial infection control in hemodialysis rooms (centers), and to evaluate the reliability and validity.Methods:Based on the Knowledge, Attitude/Belief, Practice (KAP) survey model, the initial questionnaire was formed by using literature review, the brainstorming and expert consultation. And the final questionnaire was developed by preliminary investigation and the formal investigation, and the reliability and validity test was carried out.Results:The questionnaire consisted of 3 subscales of knowledge, attitude and practice, totaling 40 items. The S-CVI was 0.953, 0.979, 0.943 respectively and that of each item was above 0.867. In the exploratory factor analysis, 3, 1 and 3 common factors were extracted and the cumulative contribution rate was 47.178%, 68.313% and 62.271% respectively. The Cronbach α coefficient was 0.906 for the total questionnaire and 0.641, 0.958 and 0.864 for 3 subscales. The retest reliability was 0.954 for the total questionnaire and 0.694, 0.893 and 0.708 for 3 subscales.Conclusions:The questionnaire had high reliability and validity, which can be used as an effective evaluation tool for the standard to investigate the compliance of medical staffs in hemodialysis rooms.

Objective:To investigate the effect of miR-425-5p on glucagon-like peptide-1(GLP-1) secretion in intestinal L cells induced by lipopolysaccharide(LPS), and to explore its mechanism.Methods:GLUTag cells of intestinal L cell line were incubated with LPS to determine the levels of miR-425-5p and GLP-1. Cell viability was determined by MTT assay, and cell apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry. Quantitative real time-PCR and western blot were performed to determine the expressions of miR-425-5p, phosphatase and tensin homology(PTEN), proglucagon, and GLP-1. Activity of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway was determined by detecting TOP/FOP ratio. Interaction among miR-425-5p, PTEN, and β-catenin was analyzed using luciferase activity assay and chromatin immunoprecipitation(ChIP)assay.Results:In GLUTag cells, with the elevation of LPS concentration, the expression of miR-425-5p and the apoptosis rate were increased, while the level of active GLP-1 and the cell viability were decreased. MiR-425-5p was involved in the regulation of LPS on GLP-1 secretion and intestinal L cell viability. Inhibition of miR-425-5p reduced the mRNA expression of proglucagon and the TOP/FOP ratio, increased PTEN protein level, and inhibited cell viability. In LPS-treated GLUTag cells, miR-425-5p increased the level of β-catenin by targeting PTEN, and β-catenin acted as a cis-acting element to induce the transcription of proglucagon and promote the secretion of GLP-1.Conclusion:In LPS-induced intestinal L cells, miR-425-5p promotes the expression of GLP-1 by targeting PTEN to modulate β-catenin.

Objective:To examine associations of sex hormone levels with bone turnover markers(BTMs) among men in the Northeast region of Henan Province.Methods:From December 2015 to March 2016, 707 male subjects were selected from a National Epidemiological Survey-2014(Thyroid Disorders, Iodine status and Diabetes, TIDE)research—Henan sub-center survey by using multistage stratified cluster random sampling. Fasting venous blood was collected to determine the levels of luteinizing hormone(LH), follicle stimulating hormone(FSH), estradiol(E 2), testosterone(T), dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEAS), androstenedione(AD), sex hormone binding globulin(SHBG), dihydrotestosterone(DHT), free testosterone(FT), osteocalcin(OC), pro-collagen type 1 N-terminal propeptide(PINP), C-terminal-cross-linking telopeptide of type 1 collagen(β-CTX), 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D], and parathyroid hormone(PTH). Results:A total of 697 men with an average age of(46.6±15.9)years were included in the study. Pearson correlation analysis showed that age was positively associated with LH, FSH, T, and SHBG, while negatively associated with E 2, DHEAS, AD, FT, β-CTX, OC, and PINP, without significant correlation with DHT, 25(OH)D, and PTH. Pearson correlation analysis and linear regression analysis showed that E 2 was negatively associated with β-CTX; T was positively associated with OC, FSH was negatively associated with OC; LH, FSH, and SHBG were negatively associated with PINP; E 2, T, FT, DHT, and AD were positively associated with PINP. After adjusting for age and BMI, linear regression analysis showed that T was still significantly positively associated with OC and PINP, with 0.302 ng/ml and 0.015 ng/ml increasing for OC and PINP every 1 ng/ml increase in T; E 2 and DHT were positively associated with PINP, with 0.250 and 0.047 ng/ml increasing for PINP every 1 pg/ml increase in E 2 and DHT. Conclusions:Age is an important factor influencing sex hormones and BTMs. Serum levels of T, E 2, and DHT are associated with bone formation and bone absorption markers.

To examine associations of 25?hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations with sex hormone levels and cardiovascular risk factors. Methods A total of 697 male subjects were obtained from the thyroid disorders, lodine status and diabetes: a national epidemiological survey?2014 (TIDE) research??Henan sub?center survey through multistage stratified cluster random sampling from December 2015 to March 2016. The associations between 25(OH)D and sex hormones or cardiovascular risk factors were analyzed by linear regression analyses. Results The age of the subjects was (46.6 ± 15.9) years (19?85 years). Proportions of vitamin D deficient, vitamin D intermediate and vitamin D optimal were 9.3%, 13.1% and 77.6%, respectively. More subjects with vitamin D deficient were in urban area than in rural area (13.3% vs. 5.7%, P=0.001). After fully adjusting for age, residence area, economic status, education, body mass index, waist circumference, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA?IR), hypertension, diabetes, triglyceride, high?density lipoproteincholesterol, total cholesterol, low?density lipoprotein cholesterol and uric acid, linear regression analyses showed that every 25 nmol/L increase in 25(OH)D levels increased lg FT(FT=free testosterone) by 0.013ng/L (β=0.013, P=0.036), lg DHT (DHT=dihydrotestosterone) by 0.030 ng/L (β=0.030, P=0.019), and lg AD (AD=androstenedione) by 0.019 μg/L (β=0.019, P=0.008). After fully adjusting for age, residence area, economic status and education, every 25 nmol/L increase in 25(OH)D levels lowered glycosylated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) by 0.051% (β=-0.051, P=0.027). Conclusions Higher 25(OH)D concentrations in men were associated with higher FT, DHT, AD and lower HbA1c levels.