OBJECTIVE: To compare the clinical efficacy of electroacupuncture (EA) at neuro-arterial stimulation points with topical western medication in treating post-stroke shoulder-hand syndrome (SHS). METHODS: A total of 72 patients with post-stroke SHS were randomly assigned to an observation group (n=36, 2 cases dropped out) and a control group (n=36, 3 cases dropped out). Both groups received standard neurological treatment, comprehensive rehabilitation, and physical therapy. The observation group received EA at neuro-arterial stimulation points, including the ipsilateral stellate ganglion point, vagus nerve trunk and auricular branch (left side), and stimulation points of the radial and ulnar arteries, radial nerve, ulnar nerve, and median nerve, once daily for 4 weeks. The control group was treated with topical diclofenac diethylamine emulgel, and mucopolysaccharide polysulfate cream was added for patients with pronounced early-stage edema, twice a day for 4 weeks. The VAS pain score and hand edema volume were recorded before treatment, at 2 and 4 weeks during treatment, and 2 weeks after treatment completion (follow-up). Musculoskeletal ultrasound was used to measure the thickness of the dorsal hand and middle finger skin on the affected side before and after 4 weeks of treatment. RESULTS: Compared before treatment, the VAS pain scores and edema volume of the affected hand in both groups were decreased at week 2, week 4, and follow-up (P<0.05). At week 4, both groups showed lower VAS pain scores and edema volume than those at week 2 (P<0.05); during follow-up, both VAS pain scores and edema volume were further reduced compared to those at week 4 (P<0.05). At week 2, week 4, and follow-up, the VAS scores and edema volume of the affected hand in the observation group were lower than those in the control group (P<0.05). Compared before treatment, the dorsal hand skin thickness and middle finger skin thickness on the affected side were decreased in both groups after 4 weeks of treatment (P<0.05). Compared with the control group, the observation group showed thinner dorsal hand and middle finger skin thickness after 4 weeks of treatment (P<0.05). CONCLUSION EA at neuro-arterial stimulation points effectively alleviates pain and edema in patients with post-stroke SHS, and demonstrates superior efficacy compared to topical western medication.
Humans ; Male ; Female ; Middle Aged ; Electroacupuncture ; Aged ; Stroke/complications* ; Acupuncture Points ; Adult ; Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy/physiopathology* ; Treatment Outcome ; Hand

To realize speed regulation and safe distance maintenance of mobile robots based on obstacle detection in dynamic healthcare scenarios,a novel real-time obstacle segmentation and safe operation framework for healthcare robots is proposed.A tightly-coupled approach utilizing wheel encoders and monocular RGB images to calculate the robot's linear velocity is adopted.Concurrently,a healthcare scenario end-to-end obstacle segmentation network(HS-EOSN)model is established for precise obstacle segmentation,supplemented by a noise filtering method to accurately estimate obstacle distance.Finally,an adaptive control strategy is designed to dynamically regulate the robot's speed,thereby ensuring safety.The algorithm is tested on a developed mobile robot platform.Experimental results show that the proposed method achieves a velocity estimation error below 10%.For obstacle segmentation task,the mean average precision and mean intersection over union reach 96.87%and 94.35%,respectively;and the mean depth error is within 0.24 m.

AIM:To investigate the regulatory role and molecular mechanisms of the p62-NIMA(never in mi-tosis gene A)-related kinase 7(NEK7)-gasdermin D(GSDMD)-mediated pyroptosis axis in a mouse model of gouty arthri-tis.METHODS:C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into control group,model group,and colchicine group(n=5 per group).Conditional knockout mouse models of p62,GSDMD,and p62-GSDMD were constructed and assigned to p62-/-group,GSDMD-/-group,and p62-/--GSDMD-/-group,respectively(n=5 per group).The gouty arthritis model was in-duced by monosodium urate crystal injection into the ankle joint in all groups except control.The colchicine group re-ceived oral colchicine pretreatment for 3 days prior to MSU injection,continuing for 5 days total.Ankle joint swelling was measured using a vernier caliper at 0,6,12,24,and 48 hours post-injection.Serum levels of p62,GSDMD,caspase-1,interleukin-1β(IL-1β),and IL-18 were quantified by ELISA.Immunohistochemistry staining was performed to assess nu-cleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor protein 3(NLRP3),apoptosis-associated speck-like protein contain-ing a caspase recruitment domain(ASC),cleaved caspase-1,and IL-1β expression in joint tissues.Western blot was con-ducted to detect protein expression of p62,GSDMD,NLRP3,ASC,cleaved caspase-1,and IL-1β in mouse ankle joints,while RT-qPCR was used to measure mRNA expression of p62,NEK7,GSDMD,NLRP3,caspase-1 and IL-1β.RE-SULTS:Serum p62 levels and p62 protein and mRNA expression in ankle joints were significantly elevated in the model group.Following p62 gene knockout,the protein expression of NLRP3,ASC,caspase-1,and IL-1β in ankle joints showed a marked increase.Both GSDMD-/-and p62-/--GSDMD-/-groups exhibited attenuated ankle joint swelling,reduced serum levels of caspase-1,IL-1β,and IL-18,along with downregulated expression of p62,NLRP3,ASC,caspase-1,and IL-1β at both mRNA and protein levels in ankle joints.The NEK7 mRNA expression was similarly suppressed in these groups.CONCLUSION:Our findings demonstrate that MSU crystals activate macrophages through the coordinated action of p62,NEK7,and GSDMD,triggering NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated pyroptosis and ultimately promoting joint inflammation in gout mice.The p62-NEK7-GSDMD axis represents a critical regulatory mechanism in the canonical pyrop-tosis signaling pathway.

Objective:To evaluate the safety and efficacy of accelerator-based boron neutron capture therapy (AB-BNCT) in the treatment of recurrent and refractory malignant tumors.Methods:The data of 14 patients admitted to Xiamen Humanity Hospital from September 2022 to April 2023 were prospectively collected, including 7 patients with primary brain malignancies and 7 patients with locally recurrent inoperable head and neck malignancies. All patients received intravenous infusion of boron drug (NBB-001, p-dihydroxyborylphe nylalanine, a patented freeze-dried formulation) at a total nominal dosage of 500 mg/kg (11 patients) or 750 mg/kg (3 patients), and were irradiated with neutrons (operating with NeuPex system). Adverse events after treatment were recorded and assessed. The primary efficacy endpoint was the 90 d objective response rate (ORR), while the secondary endpoints included progression-free survival (PFS) and complete response rate (CRR). Data were compiled and analyzed by SAS 9.4 software. The rate and 95% CI were calculated using Clopper-Pearson method. Results:The median dose delivered to 80% of the target volume (D 80%) was 16.80 GyE (range: 8.93-23.79 GyE). The most common adverse reactions were hyperamylasemia, alopecia, and hyperprolactinemia. Five patients experienced 8 cases of grade 3 or above adverse events, including 1 case of grade 4 acute kidney injury and 7 cases of grade 3 adverse events. All adverse events were recovered after observation or treatment. At 90 d after treatment, the ORR of all patients was 9/14 (64%, 95% CI: 35%-87%), disease control rate (DCR) was 10/14 (71%, 95% CI: 42%-92%), CRR was 2/14 (14%, 95% CI: 2%-42%); and the best overall response during the entire course included an ORR of 10/14 (71% ,95% CI: 42%-92%), DCR of 13/14 (93%, 95% CI: 66%-100%), and CRR of 3/14 (21% ,95% CI: 5%-51%). The 1-year survival rate for head and neck malignancies was 71.4%, and the 2-year survival rate was 42.8%. The 1-year survival rate for recurrent brain malignancies was 42.8%. Conclusion:AB-BNCT demonstrates favorable safety and promising efficacy in treating primary brain malignancies and recurrent/refractory head and neck malignancies, representing a potential therapeutic option.

The imaging features of intracranial melanoma are similar to those of other intracranial tumors, and a definite diagnosis often cannot be made solely based on imaging examinations. Although molecular pathology can detect gene mutations and protein markers of intracranial melanoma, its diagnostic specificity is limited due to the cross-expression of markers. Studies have shown that the combined application of imaging and molecular pathology can obviously improve the diagnosis sensitivity and specificity of intracranial melanoma, and by integrating the morphological and molecular characteristics of the melanoma, this combined application can optimize individualized treatment strategies and play important roles in surgical planning, targeted therapy selection, and therapeutic efficacy detection. This article reviews the research progress on the synergistic role of imaging and molecular pathology in the diagnosis and targeted therapy of intracranial melanoma, with the aim of providing a reference for diagnosis and treatment of intracranial melanoma.

Micropapillary urothelial carcinoma (MPUC) represents a rare but aggressive variant of urothelial carcinoma characterized by early lymphovascular invasion, distant metastasis, and poor clinical outcomes. We present a diagnostically challenging case of ureteral MPUC initially misdiagnosed as intestinal neuroendocrine tumor. After the pathological diagnosis was confirmed, the patient received adjuvant chemotherapy with gemcitabine and carboplatin. Despite therapeutic intervention, the patient developed widespread metastases and succumbed to the disease within 11 months of follow-up.

Objective:To explore the in vitro radiation levels and in vivo neutron activation after patients receiving boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT). Methods:Totally 29 BNCT treatments were performed for 21 patients with head and neck and brain cancer using the NeuPex accelerator-based boron neutron capture therapy (AB-BNCT) system in Xiamen Humanity Hospital from October, 2022 to April, 2024. The ambient dose equivalent rate around the patients was measured with an X/gamma dose rate survey meter. The gamma radiation dose rates were measured at 0, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 m from the irradiation position, at 0, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 m from the opposite side of the irradiation position, and at the navel and the affected knee, respectively. Meanwhile, a portable high-purity germanium gamma spectrometer was used to measure the spectrum of activated nuclides in the bodies of patients who had underwent the treatment, and the types of radionuclides generated by neutron activation during each BNCT treatment were analyzed.Results:The radionuclides 24Na, 38Cl, and 49Ca were mainly produced in the bodies of patients treated with BNCT. 20 minutes after BNCT treatment, the ambient dose equivalent rate at a distance of 1.0 m from the irradiation position was lower than 2.5 μSv/h. Conclusions:The dose delivered to the staff and family members by the patients undergoing BNCT is relatively low, and the resulting radiation risk is low. According to the ALARA principle, it is recommended that certain control actions be taken for patients having received BNCT treatment to minimize the exposure doses of both patients and staff as much as possible.

Objective:To explore the value of the vesical imaging-reporting and data system (VI-RADS) score based on multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) combined with quantitative tumor MRI parameters in assessing the muscle invasion of bladder cancer.Methods:The study was a case-control study. The data of 87 bladder cancer patients confirmed by pathology who underwent mpMRI of the bladder were retrospectively collected from the First Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital between January 2019 and April 2023 The pathological findings were used as the gold standard to categorize them into the muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) group (29 cases) and non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) group (58 cases). Quantitative parameters were measured based on preoperative mpMRI images, including the length of tumor bladder wall contact, the perpendicular distance between the bladder tumor and the tangent of the bladder wall, the maximal diameter of the bladder tumor, and the volume of the bladder tumor. Bladder cancer was classified according to the VI-RADS scoring criteria. The Mann-Whitney U test was used for intergroup comparisons. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to obtain the independent risk factors related to muscle invasion of bladder cancer and to establish the model. The receiver operating characteristic curves were analyzed for MRI quantitative parameters and logistic regression models, and area under the curve (AUC) comparisons were performed using the DeLong test. Results:The differences in tumor bladder wall contact length, perpendicular distance from the tumor to the tangent line of the bladder wall, maximum diameter, bladder tumor volume, and the VI-RADS scores were statistically significant between the MIBC group and the NMIBC group ( P<0.05). Multifactorial logistic regression analysis showed that tumor bladder wall contact length ( OR=21.07, 95% CI 3.56-124.89, P=0.001) and VI-RADS score ( OR=11.90, 95% CI 3.53-40.12, P<0.001) were the independent risk factors for evaluating the muscle invasion of bladder cancer. The difference between the VI-RADS score and the tumor bladder wall contact length for assessing muscular infiltration of bladder cancer had AUCs of 0.802 (95% CI 0.704-0.899) and 0.759 (95% CI 0.652-0.865). The combined model of VI-RADS score combined with tumor bladder wall contact length had an AUC of 0.891 (95% CI 0.812-0.970), which was higher than the diagnostic efficacy of applying tumor bladder wall contact length or VI-RADS score alone ( Z=3.05, 2.37, P=0.002, 0.018). Conclusion:Tumor contact length with the bladder wall is an independent risk factor for assessing muscle invasion of bladder cancer and the combination of VI-RADS score may enhances diagnostic accuracy.

Objective:To investigate the value of biparametric-MRI (bpMRI) based peritumoral radiomics for preoperative prediction of extraprostatic extension (EPE) in prostate cancer (PCa).Methods:In this cross-sectional study, consecutive bpMRI of patients undergoing prostatectomy for PCa were retrospectively collected from the First Medical Center (center 1) and the Third Medical Center (center 2) of Chinese PLA General Hospital. A total of 274 patients were finally enrolled. Patients at center 1 from January 2020 to December 2022 were randomly divided into a training set (149 cases) and an internal validation set (63 cases) by stratified random sampling. Patients at center 2 from January 2023 to March 2024 were assigned to the external test set (62 cases). Patients were categorized into EPE-positive group and EPE-negative group according to pathological assessment postoperatively. In the training set, there were 49 cases in EPE-positive group and 100 cases in EPE-negative group. In the internal validation set, there were 26 cases in EPE-positive group and 37 cases in EPE-negative group. In the external test set, there were 22 cases in EPE-positive group and 40 cases in EPE-negative group. Axial T 2WI and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) images were manually annotated to obtain index lesion regions of interest (ROIs), with the peritumoral ROIs subsequently delineated by semi-automatic segmentation technique. Radiomics features were extracted from intra-tumoral, peri-tumoral, and intra-tumoral plus peri-tumoral ROIs. The training set data was employed to select and optimize features to build the radiomics models. The logistic regression analysis was used to develop radiomics, clinical, and integrated models. The predictive performance was assessed by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) in the external test set, and compared by the DeLong test. The sensitivity and specificity were compared by the exact McNemar test. Results:In the external test set, the peri-tumoral radiomics model based on bpMRI showed the highest performance in evaluating EPE, with an AUC of 0.739 (95% CI 0.611-0.842), which was identified as the optimal radiomics model. EPE grade ( OR=6.151, 95% CI 3.371-11.226, P<0.001) was incorporated into the clinical model, with an AUC of 0.780 (95% CI 0.657-0.875) in the external test set. The integrated model had an AUC of 0.817 (95% CI 0.698-0.904) in the external test set. There was no statistically significant difference in comparisons of AUCs among the three models (all P>0.05). The sensitivity of the integrated model (68.2%) showed no significant difference from those of the clinical model and the optimal radiomics model (77.3% and 86.4%, respectively; P=0.500 and P=0.289). However, the specificity of the integrated model (85.0%) was significantly higher than those of the clinical model (67.5%, P=0.016) and the optimal radiomics model (50.0%, P<0.001). Conclusion:A bpMRI-based peritumoral radiomics integrating clinical model demonstrates high performance for preoperative prediction of EPE in PCa.

Objective:To explore the in vitro radiation levels and in vivo neutron activation after patients receiving boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT). Methods:Totally 29 BNCT treatments were performed for 21 patients with head and neck and brain cancer using the NeuPex accelerator-based boron neutron capture therapy (AB-BNCT) system in Xiamen Humanity Hospital from October, 2022 to April, 2024. The ambient dose equivalent rate around the patients was measured with an X/gamma dose rate survey meter. The gamma radiation dose rates were measured at 0, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 m from the irradiation position, at 0, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 m from the opposite side of the irradiation position, and at the navel and the affected knee, respectively. Meanwhile, a portable high-purity germanium gamma spectrometer was used to measure the spectrum of activated nuclides in the bodies of patients who had underwent the treatment, and the types of radionuclides generated by neutron activation during each BNCT treatment were analyzed.Results:The radionuclides 24Na, 38Cl, and 49Ca were mainly produced in the bodies of patients treated with BNCT. 20 minutes after BNCT treatment, the ambient dose equivalent rate at a distance of 1.0 m from the irradiation position was lower than 2.5 μSv/h. Conclusions:The dose delivered to the staff and family members by the patients undergoing BNCT is relatively low, and the resulting radiation risk is low. According to the ALARA principle, it is recommended that certain control actions be taken for patients having received BNCT treatment to minimize the exposure doses of both patients and staff as much as possible.