This study was aimed at understanding the prevalence and drug resistance status of Salmonella of waterfowl ori-gin in the Guangdong region in the past decade,to guide prevention and control efforts.The drug-sensitive paper slide method was used to conduct drug susceptibility testing on 314 waterfowl-originating Salmonella strains isolated from 238 waterfowl farms in the Guangdong region from 2013 to 2023.The isolated Salmonella strains were most resistant to penicillin,amoxicil-lin,cefradine,and cefazolin in the β-lactam group;sulphadoxine dimethylpyrimidine in the sulphonamide group;and tetracy-cline in the tetracycline group.The resistance rates ranged from 73.57％to 89.49％.The highest sensitivity was observed to amikacin,gentamicin,and kanamycin in the aminoglycoside group,and norfloxacin in the quinolone group,with susceptibility rates all exceeding 50％.The 280 strains of Salmonella showed multi-drug resistance to six classes of antimicrobial drugs and high resistance(as much as 60.83％)to five drug classes.Correlation analysis revealed the highest correlations for florfenicol with gentamicin,and for amoxicillin with penicillin(r=0.650 for both),followed by gentamicin with kanamycin(r=0.620).Salmonella resistance in waterfowl in Guangdong Province was generally severe and showed a complex pattern of drug resist-ance.Detection of waterfowl pathogens should be strengthened to prevent the spread of drug-resistant bacteria and support ra-tional use of antibiotics.This work provides a reference for Salmonella prevention and control in waterfowl farms.

Objective To compare the efficacy,economic burden,psychological impact,and quality of life between surgical and medical castration following radical prostatectomy(RP)in patients with very high-risk prostate cancer(VHR PCa).Methods Clinical data of 167 patients with VHR PCa who underwent RP in the Department of Urology,the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University during Jul.2019 and Mar.2024 were retrospectively collected.Patients were divided into two groups:the surgical castration group(n=44)and medical castration group(n=123).The effects of different castration methods on the biochemical recurrence(BCR)were analyzed with Cox proportional hazards models.The survival curves of BCR-free and progress to castration-resistant prostate cancer(CRPC)were plotted with the Kaplan-Meier method.The differences in functional assessment of cancer therapy-prostate(FACT-P)and hospital anxiety and depression scale(HADS)between the two groups were evaluated with linear regression model.Results The total costs were significantly lower in the surgical castration group than in the medical castration group[(47 422.0±3 998.3)yuan vs.(59 017.2±8 014.1)yuan,P＜0.001].One month postoperatively,the surgical castration group had significantly lower prostate-specific antigen(PSA)level[0.028(0.010,0.159)ng/mL vs.0.100(0.029,0.895)ng/mL,P=0.002].However,no significant differences were observed in the PSA level between the two groups at 3,6,and 12 months postoperatively,or in PSA nadir and time to nadir(P＞0.05).Cox regression analysis suggested a potentially higher risk of BCR in the medical castration group(HR=2.23),but the difference was not statistically significant(P=0.112).The 1-and 3-year BCR-free survival rates were higher in the surgical castration group(90.9％vs.85.4％;86.4％vs.70.7％,respectively),whereas 1-and 3-year progression-free survival rates were comparable between the two groups(97.7％vs.97.6％;95.5％vs.91.9％),with no significant differences(P＞0.05).No significant differences were found in FACT-P[(57.3±10.2)vs.(57.3±7.6)]or HADS[(12.6±5.1)vs.(11.3±4.8)]scores between the two groups(P＞0.05).Conclusion In VHR PCa patients,surgical castration performed following RP is not inferior to drug castration in terms of PSA control,and potential delay of BCR.It had a lower cost and does not significantly increase the psychological burden.As an underutilized strategy,surgical castration can become an optional option for individualized treatment.

High mobility group box protein 1(HMGB1)is one of the most widely expressed protein member in the HMGs family,which is well known for its involvement in the body inflammatory response.Previous researches have found that it plays a significant role in cell migration,immune identification and neuroprotection.Spinal cord injury is a disease that causes severe damage to the nervous system,and neural circuits are disrupted after a spinal cord injury,which leads to many conditions including ischemia and hypoxia,inflammatory responses,demyelinating lesions,and glial scar formation that are detrimental to nerve regeneration and repair,making it one of the most difficult diseases to treat in the modern spinal surgery field.HMGB1 is upregulated after spinal cord injury,thereby regulating neuroinflam-matory responses,and participating in the neuronal apoptosis,promoting neuronal regeneration,and inducing neural stem cell differentiation and migration,which plays an important role in the process of neural function recovery.This paper summarizes the structure and function of HMGB1,as well as its role in spinal cord injury,in order to provide direction for founding therapeutic target for neurological function recovery after spinal cord injury.

Objective:To explore the expressions and significance of nucleotide binding oligomerization domain-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3), cysteinyl aspartate specific proteinase-1 (Caspase-1) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) in patients with hemorrhagic stroke.Methods:One hundred and three patients with hemorrhagic stroke who visited the Department of Neurosurgery of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from January 2022 to January 2024 were selected as the hemorrhage group.Another 90 healthy individuals who underwent physical examinations were selected as the control group.The differences in the levels of NLRP3, Caspase-1 and IL-1β in peripheral blood between the two groups were compared. The National Institutes of Health neurological deficiency score (NHISS) was used to evaluate the degree of neurological deficits of patients in the hemorrhage group. All patients were followed up for 3 months. The prognosis of patients was evaluated by modified Rankin scale (mRS). The statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 20.0 software. The relationship between peripheral blood indexes and blood loss, severity of neurological impairment was analyzed by Spearman correlation analysis. The predictive value of peripheral blood indexes for prognosis was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves.Results:The expression levels of NLRP3 mRNA (2.67±0.42, 1.04±0.28), Caspase-1 mRNA (1.24±0.26, 0.75±0.14) and IL-1β protein ((24.92±4.97) pg/mL, (13.39±2.35) pg/mL) in the hemorrhage group were higher than those in the control group ( t=31.243, 15.967, 20.126, all P<0.05). When comparing the levels of NLRP3 mRNA, Caspase-1 mRNA and IL-1β in the peripheral blood of patients with different amounts of bleeding, those with massive bleeding were higher than those with moderate bleeding, and those with moderate bleeding were higher than those with mild bleeding (all P<0.05).The Spearman correlation analysis showed that the levels of NLRP3 mRNA, Caspase-1 mRNA and IL-1β in peripheral blood were positively correlated with the amount of bleeding in patients with hemorrhagic stroke ( r=0.646, 0.585, 0.604, all P<0.05). The levels of NLRP3 mRNA, Caspase-1 mRNA and IL-1β in patients with severe neurological deficits were higher than those in patients with moderate and mild neurological deficits, and those in patients with moderate neurological deficits were higher than those in patients with mild neurological deficits (all P<0.05). The results of Spearman correlation analysis showed that the levels of NLRP3 mRNA, Caspase-1 mRNA and IL-1β in peripheral blood were positively correlated with the degree of neurological deficits in patients with hemorrhagic stroke ( r=0.607, 0.522, 0.546, all P<0.05). The expression levels of NLRP3 mRNA, Caspase-1 mRNA and IL-1β in peripheral blood in the poor prognosis group were higher than those in the good prognosis group (all P<0.05). The prediction results indicated that bleeding into the cerebral ventricles, large amount of bleeding, and high expression of NLRP3, Caspase-1 and IL-1β in peripheral blood were independent risk factors for poor prognosis in patients with hemorrhagic stroke (all P<0.05). The area under the ROC curve for the combined assessment of poor prognosis in hemorrhagic stroke by the levels of NLRP3 mRNA, Caspase-1 mRNA and IL-1β was 0.856, which was larger than the areas under the curves of the three indicators detected separately (0.720, 0.703, 0.715, P<0.05). Conclusion:The expressions of peripheral blood NLRP3, Caspase-1 and IL-1β are up-regulated in patients with hemorrhagic stroke, and their high expressions are related to blood loss and the severity of neurological deficit, which also indicate poor prognosis of patients.

High mobility group box protein 1(HMGB1)is one of the most widely expressed protein member in the HMGs family,which is well known for its involvement in the body inflammatory response.Previous researches have found that it plays a significant role in cell migration,immune identification and neuroprotection.Spinal cord injury is a disease that causes severe damage to the nervous system,and neural circuits are disrupted after a spinal cord injury,which leads to many conditions including ischemia and hypoxia,inflammatory responses,demyelinating lesions,and glial scar formation that are detrimental to nerve regeneration and repair,making it one of the most difficult diseases to treat in the modern spinal surgery field.HMGB1 is upregulated after spinal cord injury,thereby regulating neuroinflam-matory responses,and participating in the neuronal apoptosis,promoting neuronal regeneration,and inducing neural stem cell differentiation and migration,which plays an important role in the process of neural function recovery.This paper summarizes the structure and function of HMGB1,as well as its role in spinal cord injury,in order to provide direction for founding therapeutic target for neurological function recovery after spinal cord injury.

Objective To compare the efficacy,economic burden,psychological impact,and quality of life between surgical and medical castration following radical prostatectomy(RP)in patients with very high-risk prostate cancer(VHR PCa).Methods Clinical data of 167 patients with VHR PCa who underwent RP in the Department of Urology,the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University during Jul.2019 and Mar.2024 were retrospectively collected.Patients were divided into two groups:the surgical castration group(n=44)and medical castration group(n=123).The effects of different castration methods on the biochemical recurrence(BCR)were analyzed with Cox proportional hazards models.The survival curves of BCR-free and progress to castration-resistant prostate cancer(CRPC)were plotted with the Kaplan-Meier method.The differences in functional assessment of cancer therapy-prostate(FACT-P)and hospital anxiety and depression scale(HADS)between the two groups were evaluated with linear regression model.Results The total costs were significantly lower in the surgical castration group than in the medical castration group[(47 422.0±3 998.3)yuan vs.(59 017.2±8 014.1)yuan,P＜0.001].One month postoperatively,the surgical castration group had significantly lower prostate-specific antigen(PSA)level[0.028(0.010,0.159)ng/mL vs.0.100(0.029,0.895)ng/mL,P=0.002].However,no significant differences were observed in the PSA level between the two groups at 3,6,and 12 months postoperatively,or in PSA nadir and time to nadir(P＞0.05).Cox regression analysis suggested a potentially higher risk of BCR in the medical castration group(HR=2.23),but the difference was not statistically significant(P=0.112).The 1-and 3-year BCR-free survival rates were higher in the surgical castration group(90.9％vs.85.4％;86.4％vs.70.7％,respectively),whereas 1-and 3-year progression-free survival rates were comparable between the two groups(97.7％vs.97.6％;95.5％vs.91.9％),with no significant differences(P＞0.05).No significant differences were found in FACT-P[(57.3±10.2)vs.(57.3±7.6)]or HADS[(12.6±5.1)vs.(11.3±4.8)]scores between the two groups(P＞0.05).Conclusion In VHR PCa patients,surgical castration performed following RP is not inferior to drug castration in terms of PSA control,and potential delay of BCR.It had a lower cost and does not significantly increase the psychological burden.As an underutilized strategy,surgical castration can become an optional option for individualized treatment.

This study assessed the role and mechanism of the recombinant Bacillus Calmette-Gue?rin vaccine(rBCG)with c-di-AMP adjuvant in regulating metabolism and immunity in epididymal white adipose(eWAT)in mice.Male C57BL/6 mice were intravenously immunized with BCG and rBCG,and their body weights were monitored.eWAT was isolated from the mice,and the stromal vascular fractions(SVFs)cell number was counted with a hemocytometer.Sections of mouse adipose tissue were prepared,and the size,number,and morphology of eWAT adipocytes and crown-like structure(CLS)formation were compared under a microscope after HE staining.The transcription levels of lipid metabolism-associated factors,cytokines and aging-associated genes in each group were determined with qRT-PCR.The body weights of mice gradually increased after immunization with BCG and rBCG.The proportions of eWAT increased,and the SVFs cell number decreased,in rBCG immunized mice.HE staining indicated that BCG immunization promoted hyperplasia,whereas rBCG immunization promoted hypertrophy of eWAT adipocytes;moreover,both BCG and rBCG immunization induced CLS formation in eWAT.The qRT-PCR results indicated that rBCG immunization inhibited the expression of genes associated with lipolysis and energy expenditure in eWAT.BCG immunization had little effect on cytokine transcription,whereas rBCG significantly induced the transcription of IFN-γ and IL-1Ra,and inhibited that of IL-15 and IL-2,but did not induce the expression of aging-associated genes.Thus,rBCG immunization induced eWAT adipocyte hypertrophy,which was associated with the inhibition of eWAT lipolysis and the regulation of cytokine expression.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a prevalent neurodegenerative condition characterized by progressive cognitive decline and memory loss. As the incidence of AD continues to rise annually, researchers have shown keen interest in the active components found in natural plants and their neuroprotective effects against AD. Quercetin, a flavonol widely present in fruits and vegetables, has multiple biological effects including anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant. Oxidative stress plays a central role in the pathogenesis of AD, and the antioxidant properties of quercetin are essential for its neuroprotective function. Quercetin can modulate multiple signaling pathways related to AD, such as Nrf2-ARE, JNK, p38 MAPK, PON2, PI3K/Akt, and PKC, all of which are closely related to oxidative stress. Furthermore, quercetin is capable of inhibiting the aggregation of β‑amyloid protein (Aβ) and the phosphorylation of tau protein, as well as the activity of β‑secretase 1 and acetylcholinesterase, thus slowing down the progression of the disease.The review also provides insights into the pharmacokinetic properties of quercetin, including its absorption, metabolism, and excretion, as well as its bioavailability challenges and clinical applications. To improve the bioavailability and enhance the targeting of quercetin, the potential of quercetin nanomedicine delivery systems in the treatment of AD is also discussed. In summary, the multifaceted mechanisms of quercetin against AD provide a new perspective for drug development. However, translating these findings into clinical practice requires overcoming current limitations and ongoing research. In this way, its therapeutic potential in the treatment of AD can be fully utilized.

Chronic visceral pain is a persistent and debilitating condition arising from dysfunction or sensitization of the visceral organs and their associated nervous pathways. Increasing evidence suggests that imbalances in central nervous system function play an essential role in the progression of visceral pain, but the exact mechanisms underlying the neural circuitry and molecular targets remain largely unexplored. In the present study, the ventral tegmental area (VTA) was shown to mediate visceral pain in mice. Visceral pain stimulation increased c-Fos expression and Ca²⁺ activity of glutamatergic VTA neurons, and optogenetic modulation of glutamatergic VTA neurons altered visceral pain. In particular, the upregulation of NMDA receptor 2A (NR2A) subunits within the VTA resulted in visceral pain in mice. Administration of a selective NR2A inhibitor decreased the number of visceral pain-induced c-Fos positive neurons and attenuated visceral pain. Pharmacology combined with chemogenetics further demonstrated that glutamatergic VTA neurons regulated visceral pain behaviors based on NR2A. In summary, our findings demonstrated that the upregulation of NR2A in glutamatergic VTA neurons plays a critical role in visceral pain. These insights provide a foundation for further comprehension of the neural circuits and molecular targets involved in chronic visceral pain and may pave the way for targeted therapies in chronic visceral pain.
Animals ; Male ; Visceral Pain/metabolism* ; Up-Regulation/physiology* ; Ventral Tegmental Area/metabolism* ; Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate/antagonists & inhibitors* ; Neurons/drug effects* ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Mice ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos/metabolism* ; Chronic Pain/metabolism* ; Glutamic Acid/metabolism*

Background::Hepatitis B poses a heavy burden for children in China, however, the national studies on the distributional characteristics and health care costs of children with severe hepatitis B is still lacking. This study aimed to analyze the disease characteristics, health economic effects, and medical cost for children with severe hepatitis B in China.Methods::Based on patient information in the Hospital Quality Monitoring System, cases with severe hepatitis B were divided into four groups according to age, and the etiology and symptoms of each group were quantified. The cost of hospitalization was calculated for cases with different disease processes, and severity of disease. The spatial aggregation of cases and the relationship with health economic factors were analyzed by Moran’s I analysis. Results::The total number of children discharged with hepatitis B from January 2016 to April 2022 was 1603, with an average age of 10.5 years. Liver failure cases accounted for 43.48% (697/1603) of total cases and cirrhosis cases accounted for 11.23% (180/1603). According to the grouping of disease progression, there were 1292 cases without associated complications, and the median hospitalization cost was $818.12. According to the spatial analysis, the aggregation of cases was statistically significant at the prefectural and provincial levels in 2019, 2020, and 2021 (all P <0.05). The number of severe cases was negatively correlated with gross domestic product (Moran’s I <0) and percentage of urban population (Moran’s I <0), and positively correlated with the number of pediatric beds per million population (Moran’s I >0). Conclusion::The number of severe hepatitis B cases is low in areas with high gross domestic product levels and high urban population ratios, and health care costs have been declining over the years.