TFIIB-related factor 1 (BRF1) is an important transcription factor. It specifically regulates the transcription of RNA polymerase III-dependent genes (RNA Pol III genes). The products of these genes are some small non-coding RNAs, including transfer RNAs (tRNAs) and 5S ribosomal RNAs (5S rRNA). The transcription levels of tRNAs and 5S rRNA vary with changes in intracellular BRF1 amounts. tRNAs and 5S rRNA play a crucial role in determining protein synthesis. Studies have demonstrated that dysregulation of tRNAs and 5S rRNA is closely related to cell growth, proliferation, transformation, and even tumorigenesis. BRF1 is a key factor determining the generation of tRNAs and 5S rRNA. Increasing BRF1 expression enhances cell proliferation and transformation, promoting tumor development. In contrast, repressing BRF1 activity decreases the rates of cell proliferation and transformation, and inhibits tumor growth. High levels of BRF1 are found in the samples of patients suffering from hepatocellular carcinoma, breast cancer, gastric carcinoma, lung cancer, prostate carcinoma, and other cancers. It indicates that high levels of BRF1 are closely related to the occurrence of human cancer and may be a common landmark of tumors. But there is discrepancy in the regulatory mechanisms and signaling pathways of BRF1 overexpression in different cancers. In general, high levels of BRF1 in patients suffering from cancer show short survival period and poor prognosis. However, there is one exception, namely breast cancer. Approximate 80% of cases of breast cancer are estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) and 20% are ER-. The cases with high levels of BRF1 reveal longer survival period and better prognosis after they accepted the hormone treatment by Tamoxifen (Tam), compared to the cases with low level BRF1. It seems like a contradiction. Most of the cases with high levels of BRF1 belong to ER+ status. Tam has been used to treat ER+ cases of breast cancer after diagnosis and surgery. Thus, hormone therapy, such as Tam, is more effective on these patients. This is because, on one hand, that Tam competes with E2 (17β-estradiol) to bind to estrogen receptor α (ERα), but does not dissociate to occupy the receptors, blocking E2 binding to this receptor and inhibiting its biological effects. On other hand, Tam can inhibit the expression of BRF1, leading to a decline of intracellular BRF1 levels. Therefore, the actual levels of BRF1 are lower in the patients with ER+ breast cancer. It appears the prognosis of the high BRF1 expression cases better than that of the low BRF1 expression cases. Myocardial hypertrophy manifests magnification of cardiomyocyte volume rather than number increasing in the postnatal heart. Myocardial hypertrophy is a critical risk factor underlying cardiovascular diseases. No matter how myocardial hypertrophy occur, it will ultimately lead to myocardial dysfunction and heart failure. Hypertrophic growth of cardiomyocytes requires a large amount of protein synthesis to meet its needs of cardiomyocyte growth. Animal models and cell experiments have shown that myocardial hypertrophy stimulates a significant increase in BRF1 expression and transcription of tRNAs and 5S rRNA. Interestingly, elevated levels of BRF1 are found in the myocardium tissues of patients with myocardial hypertrophy. These studies demonstrate that BRF1 indeed plays a critical role in myocardial hypertrophy. In summary, high levels of BRF1 are found in patients suffering from different cancers and myocardial hypertrophy. It implies that BRF1 is a promising biological target of cancer and cardiomyopathy. BRF1 is expected to become a common biomarker for early diagnosis and prognostic observation of different human cancers. It is also an important biomarker for the diagnosis and treatment of cardiomyopathy. BRF1 not only holds an important position in the field of basic medical research but also has great prospects for translational medicine. In the present article, we summarize the progress on studies of BRF1 expressions in cancer and cardiomyopathy, proposes future research directions. It is a new research area. Here, we emphasize the significancy of BRF overexpression in the two huge diseases of human, cancer and cardiomyopathy to raise people's attention to this field.

Objective To evaluate cardiac involvement in patients with anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis (AAV) using echocardiography combined with electrocardiography. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on the detailed medical records of AAV patients treated in Jining First People’s Hospital between January 2020 and December 2024. Eighty patients were enrolled in the AAV group, and the risk of heart disease was compared between the AAV group and a control group with 80 subjects matched for age, sex, and cardiovascular disease risk factors. Results Electrocardiographic abnormalities were observed in 78.75% of patients in the AAV group, while significant electrocardiographic abnormalities only occurred in symptomatic patients in the control group. There were no differences in left atrial enlargement or interventricular septal thickening between the AAV group and the control group. The overall left ventricular systolic function in the AAV group was lower than that in the control group (8.75% vs. 0). The incidence of reduced diastolic function in the AAV group was significantly higher than that in the control group (37.5% vs. 15%). The incidence rates of tricuspid regurgitation, mitral regurgitation, aortic regurgitation, and pericardial effusion in the AAV group were significantly higher than those in the control group. Pericardial thickening, aortic stenosis, pulmonary hypertension, and rare periaortic granulomas were found in the AAV group, but not in the control group. Conclusion Echocardiography and electrocardiography are important examination methods for evaluating cardiac involvement in AAV. These methods have key roles in disease screening, diagnosis and treatment, follow-up, and prognosis judgment.

INTRODUCTION: Foreign body (FB) ingestion is a common paediatric emergency. While guidelines exist for urgent intervention, less is known of the natural progress of FBs passing through the gastrointestinal tract (GIT). We reviewed these FB transit times in an outpatient cohort. METHODS: A retrospective review was performed on all children (≤18 years) treated for radiopaque FB ingestion at two major tertiary paediatric centres from 2015 to 2016. Demographic data, FB types, outcomes and hospital visits (emergency department [ED] and outpatient) were recorded. All cases discharged from the ED with outpatient follow-up were included. We excluded those who were not given follow-up appointments and those admitted to inpatient wards. We categorised the outcomes into confirmed passage (ascertained via abdominal X-ray or reported direct stool visualisation by patients/caregivers) and assumed passage (if patients did not attend follow-up appointments). RESULTS: Of the 2,122 ED visits for FB ingestion, 350 patients who were given outpatient follow-up appointments were reviewed (median age 4.35 years [range: 0.5-14.7], 196 [56%] male). The largest proportion (16%) was aged 1-2 years. Coins were the most common ingested FB, followed by toys. High-risk FB (magnets or batteries) formed 9% of cases ( n =33). The 50 th centile for FB retention was 8, 4 and 7 days for coins, batteries and other radiopaque FBs, respectively; all confirmed passages occurred at 37, 7 and 23 days, respectively. Overall, 197 (68%) patients defaulted on their last given follow-up. CONCLUSION This study provides insight into the transit times of FB ingested by children, which helps medical professionals to decide on the optimal time for follow-up visits and provide appropriate counsel to caregivers.
Adolescent ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Eating ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Foreign Bodies/diagnostic imaging* ; Gastrointestinal Tract/diagnostic imaging* ; Gastrointestinal Transit ; Retrospective Studies ; Singapore ; Tertiary Care Centers

Objective To investigate the application of flipped classroom combined with teaching film-reading model in the teaching of filamentous fungal morphology for refresher doctors and evaluate its effect.Methods Fifteen refresher doctors taking microbiology from the 2022 batch of Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital were selected as the control group,and fifteen from the 2023 batch were se-lected as the experimental group.The"Morphological identification of Aspergillus and Mucor" was selected as the teaching content.The experimental group adopted flipped classroom combined with teaching film-reading model for teaching and the control group adopted tra-ditional teaching mode.The theoretical scores,operational scores,film-reading scores,and total scores of the two groups before and af-ter the implementation of teaching were compared and the teaching effect of the experimental group was evaluated using the Question-naire Star.Results The median scores of operational,film-reading,and total scores in the experimental group and control group were 40,30,and 95.5 and 36,27,and 85.5,respectively,and all the three scores in the experimental group were significantly higher than those in the control group(P＜0.05).Conclusion The flipped classroom combined with teaching film-reading model helps to improve the teaching effect of filamentous fungal morphology for refresher doctors,with high satisfaction,and can provide reference for subse-quent filamentous fungal morphology teaching.

Objective:To investigate the clinicopathological features, diagnosis, genetic alterations, and biological behaviors of hamartomatous inverted hyperplastic polyp (HIHP) in the gastrointestinal tract.Methods:The clinical, sonographic, endoscopic and pathologic data of 10 HIHP cases diagnosed at the First Affiliated Hospital of Air Force Medical University, Xi′an, China from January 2013 to March 2024 were collected. Their clinicopathological features and histological morphology were analyzed. The cases were further divided into 3 histologic subtypes. Follow-up information was collected to analyze the relationship between histological subtype and prognosis.Results:There were 5 males and 5 females in this cohort. The age of onset was 45-68 years, with a median age of 60.5 years. The polyp-involved sites included 2 cases in gastric fundus, 6 cases in gastric body, 1 case in gastric antrum, and 1 case in duodenum. Digestive endoscopy showed mucosal protrusion lesions in all cases, except 1 case (case 10) of shallow depression on the surface, with the maximum diameter ranging 0.5-2.5 cm. Endoscopic ultrasonography showed multilocular cystic low-density shadows, with septal enhancement (case 4). The preoperative clinical diagnosis was gastric polyp, ectopic pancreas or gastrointestinal stromal tumor. Two cases showed type 1 morphology (i.e., connected with the mucosa, with clear smooth muscle boundaries). One of them (case 10) had a clear opening to form a vase-like morphology, while the other (case 4) had no obvious opening with the surface mucosa. Three cases showed type 2 morphology (i.e., not connected with the mucosa, with clear smooth muscle boundaries). Five cases showed type 3 morphology (i.e., not connected with the mucosa, without clear smooth muscle boundaries or hyperplastic smooth muscle that separated hyperplastic glands showing lobular configuration). Among them, one case of duodenal lesions (case 9) showed gastric type gland hyperplasia and expansion, including gastric fossa, gastric fundic gland and pyloric gland, with various arrangement and combination, accompanied by smooth muscle hyperplasia. In case 10, there was leiomyomatous proliferation in the stroma. The cases 2 and 4 had atypical glandular structures and cell morphology, but immunohistochemistry showed wild-type expression pattern of p53 and a Ki-67 proliferation index of less than 1%, suggesting that it was reactive atypia secondary to inflammation. The results showed that 3 cases had different gene mutations, and no recurrent gene change was identified. All patients survived without disease during the follow-up period of 1-130 months.Conclusions:HIHP is a benign lesion and has no consistently detectable genetic alterations. The histological characteristics of gastrointestinal polyps are complex. Especially, the types 1 and 3 of HIHP have unique gross and microscopic features, which require combination of proper endoscopic sampling and histological examination to correctly classify them.

Objective·To explore the diagnostic and treatment methods for patients with cystic fibrosis(CF)complicated by allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis(ABPA),and to enhance clinicians'understanding of these two diseases.Methods·A retrospectively analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 5 patients with CF complicated by ABPA admitted to the Department of Respiratory Medicine,Shanghai Children's Hospital,Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine,from July 2023 to August 2024.A literature search was performed in PubMed,Web of Science,Cochrane Library,and CNKI for studies published in the past 10 years regarding the co-existence of these diseases.Clinical manifestations,treatment courses,and current epidemiological research were summarized and analyzed.Results·Common symptoms of patients with CF complicated by ABPA included aggravated cough and expectoration,wheezing,fever,and dyspnea.Whole-exome aequencing indicated mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator(CFTR)gene,and an increase in the concentration of chloride ions in sweat.The levels of total serum immunoglobulin E(IgE)and Aspergillus fumigatus-specific IgE increased,and chest computed tomography(CT)showed bronchiectasis and mucus plugging.CF complicated by ABPA is often missed or misdiagnosed for asthma.In China,ABPA is often diagnosed before CF,whereas in Caucasian populations CF is typically diagnosed first.Initial treatment usually involves long-term oral administration of antifungal drugs such as voriconazole combined with glucocorticoids such as prednisone.For patients with frequent relapses or severe side effects,alternative antifungal agents or omalizumab therapy may be considered.Co-infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa is common,often requiring intravenous antibiotics such as cefoperazone-sulbactam.Current epidemiological research focuses mainly on clinical characteristics,treatment regimens,and novel diagnostic methods.Conclusion·ABPA and CF have overlapping symptoms.Accurate diagnosis of CF complicated by ABPA requires genetic testing,sweat chloride measurement,chest CT,and serological tests.The coexistence of these diseases often leads to missed,delayed,or incorrect diagnosis,increasing patient burden.Present epidemiological studies mainly address clinical characteristics with a lack of targeted clinical drug trials for this patient population.

Objective To explore the correlation between the immune status of patients with multiple myeloma(MM)and the dynamic changes in peripheral blood red blood cell distribution width standard deviation(RDW-SD),serum free light-chain κ/λ ratio(sFLCR),and soluble B-cell maturation antigen(sBCMA),as well as their implications for prognosis.This study aims to provide a reference for evaluating disease progression and assessing patient outcomes.Methods 182 MM patients admitted to the hospital between July 2019 and July 2021 were enrolled as the study group.All selected patients were followed up for 3 years,with 6 cases lost to follow-up,resulting in a final cohort of 176 patients.These patients were further divided into two groups based on their progno-sis:the poor-prognosis group(53 cases)and the good-prognosis group(123 cases).Additionally,50 healthy volunteers who underwent health check-ups during the same period were randomly selected as the control group.The immune status of both the study group and the control group was compared.Univariate analysis was conducted to identify factors associated with poor prognosis in MM patients,and Cox regression analysis was performed to determine risk factors for poor prognosis.The good-prognosis group was designated as the negative group,while the poor-prognosis group was designated as the positive group.The predictive value of peripheral blood RDW-SD,serum sFLCR,and sBCMA-both individually and in combination-for poor prognosis in MM patients was evaluated by constructing receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curves.The area under the curve(AUC)was calculated,and the optimal cut-off value was determined using the Youden index.Finally,the predictive value of the combined test was analyzed by fitting an appropriate equation.Results Levels of peripheral blood Th17 cells and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio(PLR)were significantly higher in the study group compared to the control group(P<0.05),while the level of peripheral blood regulatory T cells(Tregs)was significantly lower than that in the control group(P<0.05).Additionally,levels of peripheral blood RDW-SD and serum sBCMA were significantly higher in the poor prognosis group compared to the good prognosis group(P<0.05),whereas the serum level of sFLCR was significantly lower than that in the good prognosis group(P<0.05).Cox regression analysis revealed that elevated peripheral blood RDW-SD(HR=1.091,95%CI:1.027～1.159),reduced serum sFLCR(HR=1.095,95%CI:1.035～1.159),and increased serum sBCMA(HR=1.095,95%CI:1.016～1.165)were independent risk factors for poor prognosis in patients with MM(P<0.05).ROC curve analysis demonstrated that the combination of peripheral blood RDW-SD,serum sFLCR,and sBCMA assays achieved an AUC value of 0.880 for predicting poor prognosis in MM patients,which was significantly higher than those of the three individual assays(AUC values:0.805,0.786,0.780;P<0.05).The sensitivity and specificity of this combined assay were 94.34%and 68.29%,respectively.Conclusions MM patients exhibited abnormal immune status and poor prognosis,which was associ-ated with elevated levels of peripheral blood RDW-SD and serum sBCMA,as well as reduced serum sFLCR.More-over,the combination of peripheral blood RDW-SD,serum sFLCR,and sBCMA demonstrated superior predictive value for poor prognosis in MM patients.

Aim To explore the mechanism of luteolin in alleviating hepatic fibrosis.Methods C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into the control group,CCl4 group,silybin group(100 mg·kg-1)and luteo-lin group(100 mg·kg-1).After 10-week modeling and 2-week treatment,the serum levels of aminotrans-ferase and liver histopathology were examined.Hepatic fibrosis and autophagy-related gene expression were as-sessed using immunohistochemistry and immunofluores-cence.Human hepatic stellate cell line(LX2)was cultured and divided into control,TGF-β1(10 mg·L-1),TGF-β1+silybin(40 μmol·L-1),TGF-β1+luteolin(40 μmol·L-1).Fibrotic and autophagy-re-lated markers were analyzed using quantitative real-time PCR,Western blot,immunofluorescence and MDC staining.Results Compared with the CCl4 group,the treatment groups showed significantly improved liver function and reduced hepatic fibrosis,with markedly downregulated COL1A1 and α-SMA expression,and luteolin demonstrated superior efficacy.Compared with TGF-β1 group,luteolin treatment significantly de-creased mRNA levels of COL1A1,ACTA2 and MAP1LC3B,while increasing the mRNA level of SQSTM1,the protein levels of COL1A1 and α-SMA de-creased,p62 was enhanced,the LC3Ⅱ/Ⅰ ratio was downregulated,and autophagy was reduced.These effects of luteolin were reversed by autophagy inducer rapamycin.Conclusion Luteolin alleviates liver fi-brosis by decreasing the autophagy of hepatic stellate cells.

Objective:To investigate the clinicopathological features, diagnosis, genetic alterations, and biological behaviors of hamartomatous inverted hyperplastic polyp (HIHP) in the gastrointestinal tract.Methods:The clinical, sonographic, endoscopic and pathologic data of 10 HIHP cases diagnosed at the First Affiliated Hospital of Air Force Medical University, Xi′an, China from January 2013 to March 2024 were collected. Their clinicopathological features and histological morphology were analyzed. The cases were further divided into 3 histologic subtypes. Follow-up information was collected to analyze the relationship between histological subtype and prognosis.Results:There were 5 males and 5 females in this cohort. The age of onset was 45-68 years, with a median age of 60.5 years. The polyp-involved sites included 2 cases in gastric fundus, 6 cases in gastric body, 1 case in gastric antrum, and 1 case in duodenum. Digestive endoscopy showed mucosal protrusion lesions in all cases, except 1 case (case 10) of shallow depression on the surface, with the maximum diameter ranging 0.5-2.5 cm. Endoscopic ultrasonography showed multilocular cystic low-density shadows, with septal enhancement (case 4). The preoperative clinical diagnosis was gastric polyp, ectopic pancreas or gastrointestinal stromal tumor. Two cases showed type 1 morphology (i.e., connected with the mucosa, with clear smooth muscle boundaries). One of them (case 10) had a clear opening to form a vase-like morphology, while the other (case 4) had no obvious opening with the surface mucosa. Three cases showed type 2 morphology (i.e., not connected with the mucosa, with clear smooth muscle boundaries). Five cases showed type 3 morphology (i.e., not connected with the mucosa, without clear smooth muscle boundaries or hyperplastic smooth muscle that separated hyperplastic glands showing lobular configuration). Among them, one case of duodenal lesions (case 9) showed gastric type gland hyperplasia and expansion, including gastric fossa, gastric fundic gland and pyloric gland, with various arrangement and combination, accompanied by smooth muscle hyperplasia. In case 10, there was leiomyomatous proliferation in the stroma. The cases 2 and 4 had atypical glandular structures and cell morphology, but immunohistochemistry showed wild-type expression pattern of p53 and a Ki-67 proliferation index of less than 1%, suggesting that it was reactive atypia secondary to inflammation. The results showed that 3 cases had different gene mutations, and no recurrent gene change was identified. All patients survived without disease during the follow-up period of 1-130 months.Conclusions:HIHP is a benign lesion and has no consistently detectable genetic alterations. The histological characteristics of gastrointestinal polyps are complex. Especially, the types 1 and 3 of HIHP have unique gross and microscopic features, which require combination of proper endoscopic sampling and histological examination to correctly classify them.

With the rapid development of generative artificial intelligence(GAI)technologies,their widespread application in academic research and writing is continuously expanding the boundaries of sci-entific inquiry.However,this trend has also raised a series of ethical and regulatory challenges,inclu-ding issues related to authorship,content authenticity,citation accuracy,and accountability.In light of the growing involvement of AI in generating academic content,establishing an open,controllable,and trustworthy ethical governance framework has become a key task for safeguarding research integrity and maintaining trust within the academic community.This expert consensus outlines ethical requirements across key stages of AI-assisted academic writing-including topic selection,data management,citation practices,and authorship attribution.It aims to clarify the boundaries and ethical obligations surrounding AI use in academic writing,ensuring that technological tools enhance efficiency without compromising in-tegrity.The goal is to provide guidance and institutional support for building a responsible and sustainable research ecosystem.