Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs), particularly Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD), and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), including heart failure (HF) and coronary artery disease (CAD), are major chronic disorders associated with population aging. Their frequent coexistence in clinical practice suggests that they may not progress independently, but may instead be linked through bidirectional pathological communication within the brain-heart axis. Epidemiological evidence underscores this clinical burden: systematic reviews and meta-analyses have reported pooled relative risks for dementia of approximately 1.27 among individuals with a history of CAD and 1.60 among those with HF, while the pooled prevalence of cognitive impairment and dementia in patients with HF has been estimated at approximately 41.42% and 19.79%, respectively. This review synthesizes current evidence on the mechanistic links, disease-state manifestations, biomarkers, and potential therapeutic strategies involved in the comorbidity between NDs and CVDs from the perspective of the brain-heart axis. The brain and heart communicate through autonomic, neuroendocrine, neuroimmune, vascular, and humoral pathways. Sympathetic activation, parasympathetic withdrawal, vagal dysfunction, cerebral hypoperfusion, endothelial injury, blood-brain barrier (BBB) alterations, peripheral immune activation, and circulating inflammatory mediators may jointly contribute to cross-organ pathological signaling. Oxidative stress and inflammatory response are not specific to the brain-heart axis; rather, they may act as candidate amplifying processes within this network. Mitochondrial dysfunction and NADPH oxidase activation can increase the generation of reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species, which may activate nuclear factor-κB, the NLRP3 inflammasome, and mitogen-activated protein kinase/c-Jun N-terminal kinase signaling. These pathways can promote the release of interleukin-1β, interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor‑α, and other inflammatory mediators, which may in turn aggravate mitochondrial injury, endothelial dysfunction, immune cell activation, and further oxidant generation. Cytokines, chemokines, oxidized lipids, mitochondrial DNA, damage-associated molecular patterns, and extracellular vesicles may transmit these signals between the cardiovascular and central nervous systems, whereas autonomic reflexes provide an additional route for bidirectional amplification. Distinct disease states illustrate different manifestations of this network. The association between AD and CVDs may involve vascular risk factors, impaired amyloid-β clearance, abnormal cholesterol homeostasis, cerebral microvascular injury, neuroinflammation, and endothelial dysfunction. HF-related cognitive impairment may be linked to reduced cardiac output, recurrent cerebral hypoperfusion, hypoxia-related signaling, BBB dysfunction, circulating inflammation, and impaired autonomic feedback. In PD, cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction and abnormalities in heart rate and blood pressure regulation may interact with vascular injury, reduced cerebral perfusion, inflammation, and oxidative stress. However, the relationship between PD and CAD remains heterogeneous and may be modified by age, ethnicity, medication use, metabolic factors, and coexisting diseases. Biomarker evaluation should therefore move beyond isolated indicators. Traditional markers, including malondialdehyde, superoxide dismutase, glutathione, C-reactive protein, and interleukin-6, reflect systemic oxidative or inflammatory burden but lack sufficient specificity to distinguish primary neurodegeneration, cardiovascular injury, or a comorbid state involving both. Greater clinical value may be obtained from cross-system panels that combine oxidative stress and inflammatory markers with cardiac stress or injury biomarkers, such as N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide; glial or neuronal biomarkers, such as glial fibrillary acidic protein and neurofilament light chain; BBB- or endothelial injury-related biomarkers; and omics-derived candidates, including microRNAs, long non-coding RNAs, DNA methylation signatures, metabolites, and proteins. Multi-omics integration and artificial intelligence-assisted analysis may support risk stratification, disease monitoring, and prediction of treatment response. However, these approaches require standardized analytical platforms, validation in independent cohorts, and careful distinction between associative findings and causal mechanisms. Potential interventions include antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, mitochondria-targeted, and multi-target combination strategies, together with emerging approaches such as nanodelivery, CRISPR/Cas9- or CRISPR/dCas9-based regulation, mesenchymal stem cell-mediated mitochondrial transfer, and ergothioneine supplementation. Nevertheless, most available evidence is indirect, preclinical, or derived from other disease indications, and no single drug or technology can currently be regarded as specific to brain-heart axis comorbidity. The clinical relevance of these strategies will depend on whether they can be matched to dominant pathological phenotypes and improve both neurological and cardiovascular outcomes. Overall, comorbidity between NDs and CVDs is more appropriately understood as a heterogeneous cross-organ regulatory network than as a disorder driven by a single pathway. Future research should prioritize multicenter longitudinal cohorts, standardized clinical phenotyping, validation of cross-system biomarker panels, and mechanism-guided interventions in clearly defined patient subgroups, with integrated assessment of cognitive function, cardiovascular events, quality of life, long-term safety, and treatment response.

Tumor drug resistance is an important problem in the failure of chemotherapy and targeted drug therapy, which is a complex process involving chromatin remodeling. SWI/SNF is one of the most studied ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling complexes in tumorigenesis, which plays an important role in the coordination of chromatin structural stability, gene expression, and post-translation modification. However, its mechanism in tumor drug resistance has not been systematically combed. SWI/SNF can be divided into 3 types according to its subunit composition: BAF, PBAF, and ncBAF. These 3 subtypes all contain two mutually exclusive ATPase catalytic subunits (SMARCA2 or SMARCA4), core subunits (SMARCC1 and SMARCD1), and regulatory subunits (ARID1A, PBRM1, and ACTB, etc.), which can control gene expression by regulating chromatin structure. The change of SWI/SNF complex subunits is one of the important factors of tumor drug resistance and progress. SMARCA4 and ARID1A are the most widely studied subunits in tumor drug resistance. Low expression of SMARCA4 can lead to the deletion of the transcription inhibitor of the BCL2L1 gene in mantle cell lymphoma, which will result in transcription up-regulation and significant resistance to the combination therapy of ibrutinib and venetoclax. Low expression of SMARCA4 and high expression of SMARCA2 can activate the FGFR1-pERK1/2 signaling pathway in ovarian high-grade serous carcinoma cells, which induces the overexpression of anti-apoptosis gene BCL2 and results in carboplatin resistance. SMARCA4 deletion can up-regulate epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) by activating YAP1 gene expression in triple-negative breast cancer. It can also reduce the expression of Ca²⁺ channel IP3R3 in ovarian and lung cancer, resulting in the transfer of Ca²⁺ needed to induce apoptosis from endoplasmic reticulum to mitochondria damage. Thus, these two tumors are resistant to cisplatin. It has been found that verteporfin can overcome the drug resistance induced by SMARCA4 deletion. However, this inhibitor has not been applied in clinical practice. Therefore, it is a promising research direction to develop SWI/SNF ATPase targeted drugs with high oral bioavailability to treat patients with tumor resistance induced by low expression or deletion of SMARCA4. ARID1A deletion can activate the expression of ANXA1 protein in HER2+ breast cancer cells or down-regulate the expression of progesterone receptor B protein in endometrial cancer cells. The drug resistance of these two tumor cells to trastuzumab or progesterone is induced by activating AKT pathway. ARID1A deletion in ovarian cancer can increase the expression of MRP2 protein and make it resistant to carboplatin and paclitaxel. ARID1A deletion also can up-regulate the phosphorylation levels of EGFR, ErbB2, and RAF1 oncogene proteins.The ErbB and VEGF pathway are activated and EMT is increased. As a result, lung adenocarcinoma is resistant to epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs). Although great progress has been made in the research on the mechanism of SWI/SNF complex inducing tumor drug resistance, most of the research is still at the protein level. It is necessary to comprehensively and deeply explore the detailed mechanism of drug resistance from gene, transcription, protein, and metabolite levels by using multi-omics techniques, which can provide sufficient theoretical basis for the diagnosis and treatment of poor tumor prognosis caused by mutation or abnormal expression of SWI/SNF subunits in clinical practice.

The 2024 National Education Work Conference pointed out that at the current juncture of the critical period for achieving the goals and tasks of the 14th Five-Year Plan,the implementation of the Education Powerhouse Construction Plan Outline should be taken as the main line of work,and building first-class disciplines is an crucial task for a higher education powerhouse.In 2022,forensic medicine was officially listed as a first-level discipline under the medical category,presenting an un-precedented historical opportunity for the development of forensic medicine.The forensic medicine dis-cipline of Southern Medical University comprehensively improves the quality of talent cultivation and facilitates the construction of first-class disciplines as its main direction.It aims to initiate and imple-ment a high-level faculty team building plan featuring"combining recruitment and cultivation,inter-disciplinary integration";make vigorous efforts to establish a first-level doctoral program,refine advan-tageous second-level disciplines and research directions;and establish an innovative research platform from a high starting point with deep integration.The discipline adheres to moral cultivation and the Five Domains of Education simultaneous development,to build a high-quality talent joint training model.Guided by the construction of the national legal system and industry needs,the discipline will enhance social service capabilities.The forensic medicine construction in our university will continue to contribute to the rule of law in China and educational power.

Objective:To investigate the dynamic characteristics of human papillomavirus (HPV) genomic integration during cervical lesion progression and the clinical value of HPV integration detection in stratify HPV-positive women, and to explore its molecular mechanisms in cervical carcinogenesis.Methods:A prospective cohort study was designed to enroll high-risk HPV (HR-HPV) positive women who underwent cervical cancer screening in Drum Tower Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing University Medical School and Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital from July 2022 to July 2024. Cervical exfoliated cells samples were collected, and HPV whole genome targeted capture and high-throughput sequencing technology were used. The HPV integration patterns, host gene functional region distribution and pathway enrichment characteristics of 157 samples with different cervical lesions grades were analyzed, including 31 cases of normal cervix, 40 cases of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) Ⅰ, 32 cases of CIN Ⅱ, 42 cases of CIN Ⅲ, and 12 cases of cervical cancer.Results:HR-HPV integration was detected in 80.2% (126/157) of the 157 HR-HPV positive samples. The incidence of HR-HPV integration in cervical cancer patients was 12/12, which was higher than that in normal women (77%, 24/31). The incidence of HPV16 integration was significantly higher in high-grade lesions, and the incidence of HPV16 integration was 43% (18/42) in CIN Ⅲ patients and 8/12 in cervical cancer patients ( P<0.001). A total of 14 438 integration events were detected in 126 samples with HPV integration. The integration sites were mainly distributed in the host intergenic region (51.0%, 7 359/14 438) and intronic region (38.1%, 5 494/14 438), and the integration frequency of viral L1 gene was the highest (28.4%, 4 498/16 781). Functional enrichment analysis showed that HPV integration-related host genes were significantly enriched in transport of small molecules,cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP)-protein kinase G (PKG) signaling pathway, and purine ribonucleotide biosynthetic process, which synergistically drove carcinogenesis through multiple mechanisms. Conclusions:HPV integration events are significantly associated with the progression of cervical lesions. HPV integrated detection based on cervical exfoliated cells is expected to optimize the current screening strategy, reduce excessive intervention of HPV positive women and facilitate their accurate triage management.

Depression is a heterogeneous mental disorder in which the interaction between genetic susceptibility and environ-mental factors plays a key role in its pathogenesis.Although the specific mechanisms of the disease still need to be thoroughly studied and elucidated,there is now a broad consensus that epi-genetic markers have a central influence on its mechanism of ac-tion.DNA methylation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor(BD-NF)is not only regarded as a promising epigenetic biomarker of pathology,but may also help predict the efficacy of antidepres-sants.In this paper we reviewed the gene structure of BDNF and its DNA methylation regulation mechanism,and also analyzed the changes of DNA methylation of this factor in depression pa-tients and animal models,aiming to provide new ideas and theo-retical support for clinical research.

Objective To address the challenges of constructing large language models for traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)classics,which are complex and expensive to fine-tune,this study explores a lightweight fine-tuning method for such models,aiming to develop a question-answering model centered on TCM classics,particularly various editions of Shang Han Lun through the ages.Methods Dataset construction involved designing prompts to guide GPT-4 in generating Q&A pairs based on Shang Han Lun and integrating them with the ShenNong_TCM_Dataset and cMedQA2 datasets.Five general-purpose large models were selected for Lora fine-tuning.The best model was chosen through evaluation,and the performance of multiple quantized versions was validated.Results After fine-tuning,the BLEU,ROUGE-1,ROUGE-2,and ROUGE-L metrics for the Qwen-7B-Chat model improved by 17.61,19.63,14.3,and 21.4,respectively,compared to the base model.Conclusion The selected model in this study is capable of effectively understanding and utilizing professional terms and concepts from TCM classics,such as Shang Han Lun,to provide accurate answers to user queries.Compared to similar models,it requires lower fine-tuning costs and computational power,contributing to the dissemination of TCM knowledge and the development of intelligent systems.

Objective:To compare the safety, number of lymph nodes removed, rate of lymph node metastasis, and prognosis between proximal gastrectomy (PG) and total gastrectomy (TG) in patients with Siewert types II and III adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction.Methods:In this retrospective cohort study, clinical data of patients diagnosed with adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction at Changzhi People's Hospital, affiliated with Changzhi Medical College, between December 2019 and November 2022, were collected. Patients who had received neoadjuvant therapy, had multiple malignant lesions in the stomach, had concomitant malignancies in other organs, had incomplete clinical data, or had been lost to follow-up were excluded. The study cohort comprised 308 patients, 99 in the PG group and 209 in the TG group. To reduce confounding bias, propensity score matching was performed, matching patients for age, sex, body mass index, tumor diameter, and pathological stage in a 1:1 ratio, resulting in 73 patients in each group. The primary outcomes assessed were operative details, number of lymph nodes dissected, rate of lymph node metastasis, postoperative complications, duration of hospital stay, and follow-up and survival outcomes.Results:The PG group had a significantly shorter median operative time than did the TG group (250 vs. 280 minutes, Z = -4.970, P<0.001), with fewer cases of intraoperative blood loss >100 mL (30.1%[22/73] vs. 46.6%[34/73], χ2=4.171, P=0.041), and a smaller number of lymph nodes removed (median 33 vs. 46, Z =-4.774, P<0.001); all of these differences are statistically significant (all P<0.05). Differences between the two groups in postoperative hospital stay and postoperative complications were not statistically significant (both P>0.05). Furthermore, no statistically significant differences were found between the PG and TG groups in the number of lymph nodes dissected or the lymph node metastasis rates at stations No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4sa, No. 4sb, and No. 7 (all P> 0.05). Among the 209 patients in the TG group, analysis of risk factors for metastasis to distal perigastric lymph nodes (No.4d, No.5, and No.6) showed that patients with tumor diameters ≤4 cm and T1–T3 stage disease had significantly lower rates of metastasis to these lymph nodes than did patients with tumor diameters >4 cm and/or T4 stage disease (0/78 vs. 12/131 [9.2%]); these differences are statistically significant ( P=0.014). The median duration of follow-up for the entire cohort was 26 months. The 3-year overall survival rates for the PG and TG groups were 62.5% and 63.3%, respectively; this difference is not statistically significant (χ 2=0.330, P = 0.565). Multivariate analysis showed that older age ( P = 0.035) and advanced pathological stage ( P = 0.018) were significant independent risk factors that affected overall survival in patients with Siewert type II and III adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction. Conclusions:PG is safe and feasible for patients with Siewert types II and III adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction. The number of lymph nodes dissected and metastasis status were similar in the TG and PG groups.

Objective:To investigate the dynamic characteristics of human papillomavirus (HPV) genomic integration during cervical lesion progression and the clinical value of HPV integration detection in stratify HPV-positive women, and to explore its molecular mechanisms in cervical carcinogenesis.Methods:A prospective cohort study was designed to enroll high-risk HPV (HR-HPV) positive women who underwent cervical cancer screening in Drum Tower Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing University Medical School and Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital from July 2022 to July 2024. Cervical exfoliated cells samples were collected, and HPV whole genome targeted capture and high-throughput sequencing technology were used. The HPV integration patterns, host gene functional region distribution and pathway enrichment characteristics of 157 samples with different cervical lesions grades were analyzed, including 31 cases of normal cervix, 40 cases of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) Ⅰ, 32 cases of CIN Ⅱ, 42 cases of CIN Ⅲ, and 12 cases of cervical cancer.Results:HR-HPV integration was detected in 80.2% (126/157) of the 157 HR-HPV positive samples. The incidence of HR-HPV integration in cervical cancer patients was 12/12, which was higher than that in normal women (77%, 24/31). The incidence of HPV16 integration was significantly higher in high-grade lesions, and the incidence of HPV16 integration was 43% (18/42) in CIN Ⅲ patients and 8/12 in cervical cancer patients ( P<0.001). A total of 14 438 integration events were detected in 126 samples with HPV integration. The integration sites were mainly distributed in the host intergenic region (51.0%, 7 359/14 438) and intronic region (38.1%, 5 494/14 438), and the integration frequency of viral L1 gene was the highest (28.4%, 4 498/16 781). Functional enrichment analysis showed that HPV integration-related host genes were significantly enriched in transport of small molecules,cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP)-protein kinase G (PKG) signaling pathway, and purine ribonucleotide biosynthetic process, which synergistically drove carcinogenesis through multiple mechanisms. Conclusions:HPV integration events are significantly associated with the progression of cervical lesions. HPV integrated detection based on cervical exfoliated cells is expected to optimize the current screening strategy, reduce excessive intervention of HPV positive women and facilitate their accurate triage management.

Depression is a heterogeneous mental disorder in which the interaction between genetic susceptibility and environ-mental factors plays a key role in its pathogenesis.Although the specific mechanisms of the disease still need to be thoroughly studied and elucidated,there is now a broad consensus that epi-genetic markers have a central influence on its mechanism of ac-tion.DNA methylation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor(BD-NF)is not only regarded as a promising epigenetic biomarker of pathology,but may also help predict the efficacy of antidepres-sants.In this paper we reviewed the gene structure of BDNF and its DNA methylation regulation mechanism,and also analyzed the changes of DNA methylation of this factor in depression pa-tients and animal models,aiming to provide new ideas and theo-retical support for clinical research.

Objective To address the challenges of constructing large language models for traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)classics,which are complex and expensive to fine-tune,this study explores a lightweight fine-tuning method for such models,aiming to develop a question-answering model centered on TCM classics,particularly various editions of Shang Han Lun through the ages.Methods Dataset construction involved designing prompts to guide GPT-4 in generating Q&A pairs based on Shang Han Lun and integrating them with the ShenNong_TCM_Dataset and cMedQA2 datasets.Five general-purpose large models were selected for Lora fine-tuning.The best model was chosen through evaluation,and the performance of multiple quantized versions was validated.Results After fine-tuning,the BLEU,ROUGE-1,ROUGE-2,and ROUGE-L metrics for the Qwen-7B-Chat model improved by 17.61,19.63,14.3,and 21.4,respectively,compared to the base model.Conclusion The selected model in this study is capable of effectively understanding and utilizing professional terms and concepts from TCM classics,such as Shang Han Lun,to provide accurate answers to user queries.Compared to similar models,it requires lower fine-tuning costs and computational power,contributing to the dissemination of TCM knowledge and the development of intelligent systems.