BACKGROUND:Knee osteoarthritis(KOA)is a common chronic inflammatory disease that causes damage to joint cartilage and surrounding tissues.Immune cells play an important role in the immune-inflammatory response in knee osteoarthritis,but the specific mechanisms involved are still not fully understood. OBJECTIVE:To evaluate the potential causal relationship between 731 immune cell phenotypes and the risk of knee osteoarthritis using Mendelian randomization. METHODS:Summary statistics of genome-wide association studies(GWAS)for 731 immune cell phenotypes(from GCST0001391 to GCST0002121)obtained from the GWAS catalog and GWAS data for knee osteoarthritis from the IEUGWAS database(ebi-a-GCST007090)were used.Inverse variance-weighted method,MR-Egger regression,weighted median method,weighted mode method,and simple mode method were employed to investigate the causal relationship between immune cells and knee osteoarthritis.Sensitivity analyses were conducted to assess the reliability of the Mendelian randomization results.Reverse Mendelian randomization analysis was also performed using the same methods. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The forward MR analysis indicated significant causal relationships(FDR<0.20)between knee osteoarthritis and four immune cell phenotypes,namely CD27 on CD24+CD27+in B cells(OR=1.026,P=0.000 26,Pfdr=0.18),CD33 on CD33dim HLA DR-in myeloid cells(OR=1.014,P=0.000 50,Pfdr=0.18),and CD45RA+CD28-CD8br%CD8br in Treg cells(OR=1.001,P=0.000 78,Pfdr=0.18),and PDL-1 on monocytes in mononuclear cells(OR=0.952,P=0.000 98,Pfdr=0.18).These immune cell phenotypes showed direct positive or negative causal associations with the risk of knee osteoarthritis.Reverse Mendelian randomization analysis revealed no significant causal relationships(FDR<0.20)between knee osteoarthritis as exposure and any of the 731 immune cell phenotypes.The results of sensitivity analysis show that the P-values of the Cochran's Q test and the MR-Egger regression method for bidirectional Mendelian randomization were both greater than 0.05,indicating that there is no significant heterogeneity and pleiotropy in the causal effect analysis between immune cell phenotypes and knee osteoarthritis.To conclude,there may be four potential causal relationships between immune cell phenotypes,such as CD27 on CD24+CD27+cells,CD33 on CD33dim HLA DR-cells,CD45RA+CD28-CD8br%CD8br cells,and PDL-1 on monocytes,and knee osteoarthritis.These findings provide valuable clues for studying the biological mechanisms of knee osteoarthritis and exploring early prevention and treatment strategies.They also offer new directions for the development of intervention drugs.

To compare the clinical efficacy of intralesional corticosteroid injection combined with topical corticosteroids versus topical corticosteroids alone in patients with idiopathic granulomatous mastitis (IGM).

Objective:To evaluate the efficacy of lumbar cisterna drainage(LCD) in treating paraplegia after thoracic endovascular aortic repair(TEVAR) for acute aortic dissection.Methods:A retrospective descriptive study was used to analyze 4 patients with aortic dissection who developed paraplegia after transthoracic aortic stent graft repair (TEVAR) admitted to Beijing Friendship Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University from May 2015 to May 2022. There were 3 males and 1 females, aged between 38 and 65 years old. All patients with paraplegia after TEVAR were treated with LCD. Follow-up was carried out by outpatient and telephone for 12 months. The imaging indicators and clinical efficacy were observed.Results:Two patients were fully recovered before discharge, one patient was completely recovered by about 3 months after surgery, and one patient still had reduced sensation and grade 4 muscle strength at 12 months of follow-up. The CT angiography of all 4 patients did not show any evidence of endoleak, and there was no enlargement of the distal dissecting aneurysm.Conclusion:Lumbar cisterna drainage can alleviate or cure paraplegia caused by spinal cord ischemia after TEVAR for acute aortic dissection.

Objective To construct models of viral transfection and hypoxia/reoxygenation induced cellular injury in adult mouse cardiomyocytes(AMCMs)isolated using a non-Langendorff method.Methods AMCMs were isolated,extracted,sedimented,and plated using a non-Langendorff method.The morphology and survival rate of the isolated cells were evaluated 2,24,48 and 72 h after plating,and their integrity was observed by immunofluorescence staining for α-actinin.The isolated AMCMs were infected with adenoviruses carrying an RFP-expressing vector and fluorescence images were obtained at 36 and 48 h post-infection and used to calculate transfection efficiency.The cells were cultured under hypoxic conditions for 45 min,reoxygenated for 24 h,and then stained with propidium iodide(PI)to verify establishment of the hypoxia/reoxygenation injury model.Results The survival rates of AMCMs at 2,24 and 48 h after plating were comparable,but survival was significantly reduced at 72 h.The integrity of the AMCMs was good and＞80%of the cells were transfected with adenovirus at 48 h.After hypoxia/reoxygenation treatment,42%of cells were stained by PI,suggesting successful establishment of the AMCM injury model.Conclusions In this study,we developed a non-Langendorff method for the fast and easy isolation of AMCMs with high cell viability.The isolated cells can be efficiently infected with adenovirus and respond to hypoxia/reoxygenation injury.These findings provide a systematic method for isolating AMCMs and for applying gene modification and hypoxia/reoxygenation injury in these cells.

Objective:To compare the efficacy and safety of azacitidine combined with venetoclax or CAG regimen in the treatment of newly treated elderly patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).Methods:A retrospective cohort study was conducted. The clinical data of 34 newly treated elderly patients with AML treated in the Fifth People's Hospital of Datong from May 2018 to August 2023 were retrospectively analyzed. According to the treatment regimen, all patients were divided into venetoclax group (azacitidine + venetoclax, 17 cases) and CAG group (azacitidine + CAG regimen, 17 cases). The clinicopathological characteristics, efficacy, adverse reactions and survival of the both groups were compared.Results:There were no statistically significant differences in the clinical data of both groups (all P > 0.05). The complete remission (CR) rate and the objective response rate (ORR) in venetoclax group were higher than those in CAG group [CR: 70.6%(12/17) vs. 47.1% (8/17); ORR: 82.4% (14/17) vs. 64.7% (11/17)],while the differences in CR and ORR were not statistically significant (χ 2 = 2.00, P = 0.163; χ 2 = 2.00, P = 0.244). The follow-up time[ M ( Q1, Q3)] was 25.4 months (7.2 months, 60.3 months). At the end of follow-up, 19 of 34 patients survived (13 cases in venetoclax group and 6 cases in CAG group); 15 died (4 cases in venetoclax group and 11 cases in CAG group). The median overall survival (OS) time was 14.22 months (95% CI: 8.2-60.3 months) and 10.56 months (95% CI: 7.2-50.2 months), respectively in venetoclax group and CAG group;the median progression-free survival (PFS) time was 9.97 months (95% CI: 5.4-40.5 months) and 6.82 months (95% CI: 5.0-36.2 months), respectively, and there were no statistically significant differences in OS and PFS between the two groups (all P > 0.05). Grade 3-4 hematological adverse reactions occurred in 16 and 14 patients in venetoclax group and CAG group, respectively. There were no significant differences in granulocyte deficiency time, platelet deficiency time, infection and bleeding incidence between the two groups (all P > 0.05). Conclusions:Azacitidine combined with venetoclax or CAG regimen have better clinical efficacy and safety for newly treated elderly patients with AML.

Objective:To investigate the effect and adverse reactions of radiotherapy combined with targeted drugs for the treatment of multiple brain metastases (MBM) in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and the changes in serum tumor marker levels.Methods:A retrospective cohort study was conducted. Eighty-six patients with NSCLC-MBM who were admitted to the Fifth People's Hospital of Datong from June 2019 to June 2022 were selected, and the patients were divided into the study group and the control group according to different treatment methods, with 43 cases in each group. The study group was given radiotherapy to the tumor primary focus combined with erlotinib or gefitinib targeted therapy, and the control group was given radiotherapy to the tumor primary focus based on conventional chemotherapy with pemetrexed combined with platinum-based drugs. The efficacy, overall survival rate and incidence of adverse reactions were compared between the two groups at 1 month after treatment; the levels of serum tumor markers S100-β, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCCA) were compared between the two groups before and after treatment.Results:The study group was aged (55±5) years old, ranging from 39 to 75 years old, including 15 (34.88%) males and 28 (65.12%) females; the control group was aged (54±5) years old, ranging from 38 to 72 years old, including 17 (39.53%) males and 26 (60.47%) females. The general data such as age and gender of patients were compared between the two groups, and the differences were not statistically significant (all P>0.05). The objective remission rate [53.49% (23/43) vs. 32.56% (14/43)] and disease control rate [93.02% (40/43) vs. 69.77% (30/43)] at 1 month after treatment, and 1-year overall survival rate [58.14% (25/43) vs. 46.51% (20/43)] of the study group were higher than those of the control group, and the differences were statistically significant ( χ2 values were 10.91, 5.76 and 11.02, respectively; P values were 0.001, 0.016 and 0.001, respectively). Before treatment, the differences in serum S100-β, CEA and SCCA levels between the two groups of patients were not statistically significant (all P > 0.05). At 1 month after treatment, the serum S100-β, CEA and SCCA levels of the study group were lower than those of the control group, and the differences were statistically significant (all P < 0.05). The proportion of patients with adverse reactions in the study group was lower than that in the control group [13.95% (6/43) vs. 39.53% (17/43)], and the difference was statistically significant ( χ2 = 8.35, P < 0.05). Conclusions:Radiotherapy combined with targeted drugs therapy may prolong the survival of NSCLC-MBM patients, reduce the occurrence of adverse reactions and decrease the levels of serum tumor markers, which is worthy of clinical promotion.

Ceramide (Cer) is a second messenger produced by the degradation of plasma membrane phospholipids in cells. It is an essential lipid mediator for normal cellular function, composed of sphingosine and different chains of fatty acids. Its receptors are widely present in red blood cells, endothelial cells, glial cells, immune cells, and nerve cells, and participate in various pathophysiological processes such as oxidative stress, inflammatory response, signal pathway transduction, and immune regulation. Many studies have confirmed that the increase of Cer level is related to cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and lipid metabolism. Ceramide score can be used as a tool to evaluate the severity and prognosis of cardiovascular events. However, there is limited research on the impact of Cer on acute ischemic stroke (AIS). This article aims to elucidate the role of Cer and its impact on the occurrence, development, and prognosis of AIS.

BACKGROUND:Rapid developments in the field of bioinformatics have provided new methods for the diagnosis of osteoarthritis.Artificial neural networks have powerful data computing and classification capabilities,which have shown better performance in disease diagnosis. OBJECTIVE:To establish a new diagnostic predictive model of osteoarthritis based on artificial neural network and to verify the diagnostic value of the model in osteoarthritis with an external dataset. METHODS:The eligible osteoarthritis-related data sets were downloaded through GEO database search and divided into Train group and Test group.The gene expression matrix of the Train group was analyzed to screen the differentially expressed genes.GO and KEGG enrichment analyses were performed on the differentially expressed genes.Through Lasso regression model,support vector machine model and random forest tree model,the key genes of osteoarthritis were further identified from the differentially expressed genes.The R software"Neuralnet"package was then used to construct the osteoarthritis diagnosis model based on artificial neural network,and the model performance was evaluated by the five-fold cross-validation.Two independent data sets in the Test group were used to verify their diagnostic results. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:A total of 90 differentially expressed genes related to osteoarthritis were obtained by differential analysis,of which 33 were down-regulated and 57 were up-regulated.GO enrichment analysis showed that the differentially expressed genes were mainly involved in the following biological processes,including leukocyte-mediated immunity,leukocyte migration in bone marrow and chemokine production.KEGG enrichment analysis showed that these genes were mainly enriched in rheumatoid arthritis,interleukin-17 signaling pathway and osteoclast differentiation pathway.Five key genes for the diagnosis of osteoarthritis,HMGB2,GADD45A,SLC19A2,TPPP3 and FOLR2,were identified by three machine learning methods.The artificial neural network model of five key genes in the Train group showed that the accuracy was 96.36%and the area under the curve was 0.997.The five-fold cross validation of the neural network model showed that the average area under the curve was greater than 0.9 and the model was of robustness.Two independent data sets in the Test group showed its area under the curve was 0.814 and 0.788 respectively.Therefore,the establishment of an artificial neural network model for the diagnosis of osteoarthritis has a certain diagnostic value.

BACKGROUND:Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic systemic autoimmune disease.It is important to study the immunological changes involved in it for diagnosis and treatment. OBJECTIVE:To identify immune-related biomarkers associated with rheumatoid arthritis utilizing bioinformatics techniques and examine alterations in immune cell infiltration as well as the relationship between immune cells and biomarkers. METHODS:Differential expression analysis was used to identify the immune-related genes that were up-regulated in rheumatoid arthritis based on the GEO and Immport databases.Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes(KEGG)and gene ontology(GO)enrichment analyses were used to investigate the possible function of these elevated genes.The immunological characteristic genes associated with rheumatoid arthritis were screened using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator(Lasso)and support vector machine recursive feature elimination(SVM-RFE).Independent datasets were used for difference validation,and the diagnostic performance was evaluated by plotting receiver operating characteristic curves for feature genes.Immune cell infiltration was used to analyze the differential profile of immune cells in rheumatoid arthritis and the correlation between the characterized genes and immune cells.In order to ascertain the causal relationship between monocytes and rheumatoid arthritis in immune cells,Mendelian randomization analysis was ultimately employed. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:There were 39 upregulated differentially expressed genes in rheumatoid arthritis.The genes were primarily enriched in chemotaxis,cytokine activity,and immune receptor activity,according to GO enrichment analysis,while kEGG enrichment analysis revealed that the genes were considerably enriched in the tumor necrosis factor signaling pathway and peripheral leukocyte migration.Lasso and SVM-RFE identified five feature genes:CXCL13,SDC1,IGLC1,PLXNC1,and SLC29A3.Independent dataset validation of the feature genes found them to be similarly highly expressed in rheumatoid arthritis samples,with area under the curve values greater than 0.8 for all five feature genes in both datasets.Immune cell infiltration indicated that most immune cells,including natural killer cells and monocytes,exhibited increased levels of infiltration in rheumatoid arthritis samples.The correlation analysis revealed a significant positive correlation between memory B cells and immature B cells and these five feature genes.Correlation analysis showed that the five feature genes were positively correlated with memory B cells and immature B cells.The inverse variance weighting method revealed that monocytes were associated with the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective:To analyze the clinical efficacy of arthroscopic transverse release of the iliotibial band through peritrochanteric space for the treatment of external snapping hip.Methods:A total of 30 patients (12 males and 18 females) with bilateral external snapping hip underwent arthroscopic transverse release of the iliotibial band through peritrochanteric space in Department of Sports Medicine, Senior Department of Orthopaedics, the Fourth Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital were retrospectively analyzed from May 2021 and June 2022. The average age was 32.5±8.2 years (range, 17-51 years). At the same time, 30 patients who underwent arthroscopic external release of the iliotibial band through the external surface of the iliotibial band (external iliotibial band group) were selected as control group, including 13 males and 17 females, aged 29.5±6.8 years (range, 11-45 years). The visual analogue scale (VAS), modified Harris hip score (mHHS), and gluteal muscle contracture disability scale (GDS) were compared between the two groups at preoperative, 6 months postoperative, and final follow-up.Results:All patients successfully completed the operation and were followed up for 17.5±3.3 months (range, 12-25 months). The VAS scores of the two groups at the last follow-up were lower than those before operation ( P<0.05). The mHHS scores before operation, 6 months after operation and at the last follow-up in the peritrochanteric space group were 76.5 (67.0, 85.5), 98.5 (94.8, 100.0) and 100.0 (97.0, 100.0), respectively, and those in the external iliotibial band group were 80.5 (70.0, 86.0), 100.0 (96.0, 100.0) and 100.0 (99.5, 100.0). The differences in mHHS scores between the two groups were statistically significant for intragroup comparisons ( P<0.05); of these, 6 months postoperatively and at the last follow-up were greater than preoperatively, with statistically significant differences ( P<0.05); the differences at 6 months postoperatively and at the last follow-up were not statistically significant ( P>0.05). There was no significant difference in mHHS scores between groups at different time points ( P>0.05). The GDS before operation, at 6 months after operation and at the last follow-up were 47.0 (35.8, 64.5), 90.0 (81.0, 94.0) and 93.5 (89.8, 98.0) in the peritrochanteric space group, and 51.0 (38.0, 64.5), 50.0 (81.0, 94.0) and 93.5 (89.8, 98.0) in the external iliotibial band group, respectively. The differences in GDS between the two groups were statistically significant for intragroup comparisons ( P< 0.05); of these, 6 months postoperatively and at the last follow-up were greater than preoperatively, with statistically significant differences ( P<0.05); the differences at 6 months postoperatively and at the last follow-up were not statistically significant ( P>0.05). There was no significant difference in GDS between groups at different time points ( P>0.05). Conclusion:Arthroscopic transverse release of the iliotibial band through peritrochanteric space for the treatment of external snapping hip can effectively reduce hip pain and improve hip function, with satisfactory clinical results, and can be used as an alternative treatment to transverse release through the external surface of the iliotibial band.