Objective:To investigate the differences of the glymphatic system (GS) function between patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis (mTLE-HS) and healthy controls and between different seizure types by using diffusion tensor imaging along perivascular space (DTI-ALPS), and to analyze the correlation between GS function and the course of disease, as well as the efficacy of predicting the surgical outcome.Methods:This study was a cross-sectional study. A total of 171 patients with mTLE-HS (mTLE-HS group) and 75 healthy volunteers (HC group) were retrospectively enrolled from July 2009 to July 2021 at Jinling Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Medical School, Nanjing University. The general information of all subjects, such as seizure type (partial seizure, secondary generalized seizure), surgical outcome, etc., was analyzed. The 3D magnetization prepared rapid gradient echo T 1WI and DTI sequence images were collected. The VBM analysis method was used to segment cerebrospinal fluid and calculate the volume. The ALPS index of the bilateral brain was calculated using the Atlas-based DTI-ALPS method. Independent sample t-test or paired t test were used to compare the ALPS index between the mTLE-HS group and HC group, and between patients with different seizure types. Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between bilateral ALPS index and disease duration in mTLE-HS group. The predictive value of the ALPS index for surgical outcomes was evaluated by receiver operating characteristics curve and area under the curve. Results:Among the 171 mTLE-HS patients, 98 patients were mTLE with left-side HS (mTLE-LHS) and 73 patients were mTLE with right-side HS (mTLE-RHS); 37 patients underwent surgical treatment, including 27 with good prognosis and 10 with poor prognosis. Compared with the HC group, the left-side ALPS index of mTLE-LHS and mTLE-RHS were both decreased ( P<0.05). The right-side ALPS index in mTLE-RHS was lower than that in the HC group ( P<0.001). There was no significant difference in the right-side ALPS index between mTLE-LHS and HC group ( P=0.080). The ALPS index on the affected side of patients with secondary generalized seizures was significantly lower than that of patients with only partial seizures (all P<0.05), but the difference in ALPS index on the healthy side was not statistically significant( P>0.05). The left-side and right-side ALPS index in mTLE-LHS were negatively correlated with disease duration ( r=-0.272, P=0.007; r=-0.307, P=0.002), but no significant correlation was found between the left-side or right-side ALPS index in mTLE-RHS (all P>0.05). The DTI-ALPS index on the affected side in mTLE-HS patients exhibited good diagnostic accuracy for surgical outcome classification, with an area under the curve of 0.778. Conclusions:The patients with mTLE-HS exhibit dysfunction of the GS, and the degree of impairment is related to the type of seizure and the course of epilepsy. The ALPS index, which characterizes the function of GS, demonstrates good diagnostic accuracy for classifying surgical outcomes.

Objective:To evaluate the topological alterations of resting-state brain networks in patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsy with generalized tonic-clonic seizure (IGE-GTCS) using minimum spanning tree (MST) based on graph theoretic analysis, and to further analyze the relationships between topological features, duration, and antiepileptic drug response.Methods:This study was a cross-sectional study. Retrospectively, 75 IGE-GTCS patients and 37 healthy controls (HC) who underwent brain MR imaging at the Affiliated of Nanjing University Medical School Drum Tower Hospital from January 2013 to December 2020 were enrolled. IGE-GTCS patients were grouped into well-controlled subgroup (WC; n=55) and drug-resistant subgroup (DR; n=20) according to their response to antiepileptic drugs. Firstly, the time series correlations between 116 regions of the whole brain of each subject were calculated to construct functional connectivity matrices. For each functional connectivity matrix, the Kruskal algorithm was used to MST, and the topological metrics of each MST were calculated, including leaf fraction, tree hierarchy, and diameter. The comparison of MST topological metrics between the two groups was performed using two-sample t-test. Pearson correlation analysis was used to calculate the correlation between disease duration and MST metrics in the WC subgroup and the DR subgroup. Results:Compared with the HC group, the MST leaf fraction ( t=2.27, P=0.025) increased in the IGE-GTCS patient group, and the diameter decreased ( t=-2.24, P=0.027), there was no statistically significant difference in tree hierarchy between IGE-GTCS patient group and HC group ( t=0.98, P=0.328). The MST leaf fraction ( t=-2.39, P=0.019) and tree hierarchy ( t=-2.24, P=0.027) in the WC subgroup was decreased compared with the DR subgroup, while there was no statistically significant difference in diameter between WC subgroup and DR subgroup ( P=0.093). The correlation analysis showed the MST diameter in WC subgroup was significantly correlated with disease duration ( r=0.452, P<0.001), while the MST diameter in DR subgroup was not significantly correlated with disease duration ( r=-0.062, P=0.847). Conclusions:Patients with IGE-GTCS exhibit specific alterations in the global topology of brain network, characterized by increased centralization and efficiency. The effective antiepileptic drug treatment is associated with a recovery of brain network abnormalities.

Objective:To explore the changes of brain excitation/inhibition balance and gray matter volume (GMV) and their correlations with clinical features in benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS).Methods:A cross-sectional study was performed; 83 BECTS children enrolled from Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Jinling Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Medical School, Nanjing University from January 2015 to January 2024 were selected as BECTS group. During the same period, 101 age- and gender-matched healthy children were recruited as healthy control group through advertisements in local primary schools. Data of conventional MRI and resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) of the two groups were collected. Whole brain GMV was analyzed by voxel-based morphometry (VBM), and Hurst index was calculated based on time series data of blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal of rs-fMRI. Correlations of GMV and Hurst index with disease duration and onset age in children with BECTS were explored by Pearson correlation analysis.Results:Compared with the healthy control group, the BECTS group had significantly increased GMV and decreased Hurst index in the bilateral Rolandic region ( P<0.05). Pearson correlation analysis showed that in the BECTS group, GMV in bilateral Rolandic region was negatively correlated with onset age ( r=-0.267, P=0.015) and positively correlated with disease course ( r=0.267, P=0.015); Hurst index in bilateral Rolandic region was positively correlated with onset age ( r=0.323, P=0.003) and negatively correlated with disease course ( r=-0.240, P=0.029); Hurst index was negatively correlated with GMV in bilateral Rolandic region ( r=-0.328, P=0.003). Conclusion:BECTS children have excitation/inhibition imbalance in epilepsy-related regions and cortical structural delay, and both of them are related to onset age and disease course.

Liver diseases have a high prevalence rate worldwide with relatively poor long-term clinical outcomes and have become one of the leading causes of disease burden and death around the world,which poses significant challenges to public health.Eosinophils(Eos)are a class of highly conserved multifunctional immune cells that play critical effector roles in allergic diseases.In recent years,an increasing amount of evidence has shown that Eos plays an important role in the pathogenesis of liver diseases,exerting a protective or harmful effect in different liver diseases,which has become a research hotspot in this field.This article elaborates on the role and potential mechanism of action of Eos in liver diseases,in order to provide a new perspective for in-depth research on the pathogenesis of liver diseases and lay the foundation for developing therapeutic strategies targeting Eos.

Liver diseases have a high prevalence rate worldwide with relatively poor long-term clinical outcomes and have become one of the leading causes of disease burden and death around the world,which poses significant challenges to public health.Eosinophils(Eos)are a class of highly conserved multifunctional immune cells that play critical effector roles in allergic diseases.In recent years,an increasing amount of evidence has shown that Eos plays an important role in the pathogenesis of liver diseases,exerting a protective or harmful effect in different liver diseases,which has become a research hotspot in this field.This article elaborates on the role and potential mechanism of action of Eos in liver diseases,in order to provide a new perspective for in-depth research on the pathogenesis of liver diseases and lay the foundation for developing therapeutic strategies targeting Eos.

Objective:To explore the changes of brain excitation/inhibition balance and gray matter volume (GMV) and their correlations with clinical features in benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS).Methods:A cross-sectional study was performed; 83 BECTS children enrolled from Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Jinling Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Medical School, Nanjing University from January 2015 to January 2024 were selected as BECTS group. During the same period, 101 age- and gender-matched healthy children were recruited as healthy control group through advertisements in local primary schools. Data of conventional MRI and resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) of the two groups were collected. Whole brain GMV was analyzed by voxel-based morphometry (VBM), and Hurst index was calculated based on time series data of blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal of rs-fMRI. Correlations of GMV and Hurst index with disease duration and onset age in children with BECTS were explored by Pearson correlation analysis.Results:Compared with the healthy control group, the BECTS group had significantly increased GMV and decreased Hurst index in the bilateral Rolandic region ( P<0.05). Pearson correlation analysis showed that in the BECTS group, GMV in bilateral Rolandic region was negatively correlated with onset age ( r=-0.267, P=0.015) and positively correlated with disease course ( r=0.267, P=0.015); Hurst index in bilateral Rolandic region was positively correlated with onset age ( r=0.323, P=0.003) and negatively correlated with disease course ( r=-0.240, P=0.029); Hurst index was negatively correlated with GMV in bilateral Rolandic region ( r=-0.328, P=0.003). Conclusion:BECTS children have excitation/inhibition imbalance in epilepsy-related regions and cortical structural delay, and both of them are related to onset age and disease course.

Objective:To investigate the differences of the glymphatic system (GS) function between patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis (mTLE-HS) and healthy controls and between different seizure types by using diffusion tensor imaging along perivascular space (DTI-ALPS), and to analyze the correlation between GS function and the course of disease, as well as the efficacy of predicting the surgical outcome.Methods:This study was a cross-sectional study. A total of 171 patients with mTLE-HS (mTLE-HS group) and 75 healthy volunteers (HC group) were retrospectively enrolled from July 2009 to July 2021 at Jinling Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Medical School, Nanjing University. The general information of all subjects, such as seizure type (partial seizure, secondary generalized seizure), surgical outcome, etc., was analyzed. The 3D magnetization prepared rapid gradient echo T 1WI and DTI sequence images were collected. The VBM analysis method was used to segment cerebrospinal fluid and calculate the volume. The ALPS index of the bilateral brain was calculated using the Atlas-based DTI-ALPS method. Independent sample t-test or paired t test were used to compare the ALPS index between the mTLE-HS group and HC group, and between patients with different seizure types. Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between bilateral ALPS index and disease duration in mTLE-HS group. The predictive value of the ALPS index for surgical outcomes was evaluated by receiver operating characteristics curve and area under the curve. Results:Among the 171 mTLE-HS patients, 98 patients were mTLE with left-side HS (mTLE-LHS) and 73 patients were mTLE with right-side HS (mTLE-RHS); 37 patients underwent surgical treatment, including 27 with good prognosis and 10 with poor prognosis. Compared with the HC group, the left-side ALPS index of mTLE-LHS and mTLE-RHS were both decreased ( P<0.05). The right-side ALPS index in mTLE-RHS was lower than that in the HC group ( P<0.001). There was no significant difference in the right-side ALPS index between mTLE-LHS and HC group ( P=0.080). The ALPS index on the affected side of patients with secondary generalized seizures was significantly lower than that of patients with only partial seizures (all P<0.05), but the difference in ALPS index on the healthy side was not statistically significant( P>0.05). The left-side and right-side ALPS index in mTLE-LHS were negatively correlated with disease duration ( r=-0.272, P=0.007; r=-0.307, P=0.002), but no significant correlation was found between the left-side or right-side ALPS index in mTLE-RHS (all P>0.05). The DTI-ALPS index on the affected side in mTLE-HS patients exhibited good diagnostic accuracy for surgical outcome classification, with an area under the curve of 0.778. Conclusions:The patients with mTLE-HS exhibit dysfunction of the GS, and the degree of impairment is related to the type of seizure and the course of epilepsy. The ALPS index, which characterizes the function of GS, demonstrates good diagnostic accuracy for classifying surgical outcomes.

Objective:To evaluate the topological alterations of resting-state brain networks in patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsy with generalized tonic-clonic seizure (IGE-GTCS) using minimum spanning tree (MST) based on graph theoretic analysis, and to further analyze the relationships between topological features, duration, and antiepileptic drug response.Methods:This study was a cross-sectional study. Retrospectively, 75 IGE-GTCS patients and 37 healthy controls (HC) who underwent brain MR imaging at the Affiliated of Nanjing University Medical School Drum Tower Hospital from January 2013 to December 2020 were enrolled. IGE-GTCS patients were grouped into well-controlled subgroup (WC; n=55) and drug-resistant subgroup (DR; n=20) according to their response to antiepileptic drugs. Firstly, the time series correlations between 116 regions of the whole brain of each subject were calculated to construct functional connectivity matrices. For each functional connectivity matrix, the Kruskal algorithm was used to MST, and the topological metrics of each MST were calculated, including leaf fraction, tree hierarchy, and diameter. The comparison of MST topological metrics between the two groups was performed using two-sample t-test. Pearson correlation analysis was used to calculate the correlation between disease duration and MST metrics in the WC subgroup and the DR subgroup. Results:Compared with the HC group, the MST leaf fraction ( t=2.27, P=0.025) increased in the IGE-GTCS patient group, and the diameter decreased ( t=-2.24, P=0.027), there was no statistically significant difference in tree hierarchy between IGE-GTCS patient group and HC group ( t=0.98, P=0.328). The MST leaf fraction ( t=-2.39, P=0.019) and tree hierarchy ( t=-2.24, P=0.027) in the WC subgroup was decreased compared with the DR subgroup, while there was no statistically significant difference in diameter between WC subgroup and DR subgroup ( P=0.093). The correlation analysis showed the MST diameter in WC subgroup was significantly correlated with disease duration ( r=0.452, P<0.001), while the MST diameter in DR subgroup was not significantly correlated with disease duration ( r=-0.062, P=0.847). Conclusions:Patients with IGE-GTCS exhibit specific alterations in the global topology of brain network, characterized by increased centralization and efficiency. The effective antiepileptic drug treatment is associated with a recovery of brain network abnormalities.

Objective:To investigate the predictive value of Doppler ultrasonography combined with cytokeratin fragment 19 (Cyfra21-1) and soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R) in cervical lymph node metastasis of thyroid micropapillary carcinoma.Methods:102 patients with minimal papillary carcinoma of thyroid confirmed by surgery and pathology admitted to Ultrasound Department, Shanxi Cancer Hospital from Aug. 2020 to Aug. 2023 were selected and treated with thyroidectomy plus central region and at least one cervical lymph node dissection. Among them, There were 24 cases in the LLNM group and 78 cases in the non-LLNM group.Results:There were significant differences in age, shape, nodular and capsule contact area, tumor shape aspect ratio > 1, blood flow, microcalcification, serum Cyfra21-1 and serum sIL-2R levels between the two groups (Cyfra21-1: P<0.001, sIL-2R: P=0.001). Logistic regression analysis showed that age ≥50 years old ( OR=0.443, 95% CI: 0.217-0.904), microcalcification ( OR=2.787, 95% CI: 1.491-5.208), Cyfra21-1>3.3ng/ml ( OR=3.117, 95% CI: 1.404-6.922) and sIL-2R > 110.45pmol/L ( OR=3.408, 95% CI: 1.473-7.884) were independent risk factors for cervical lymph node metastasis in PTMC patients ( P < 0.05). The ROC curve results showed that the area under the curve of cervical lymph node metastasis predicted by Doppler ultrasound combined with Cyfra21-1 and sIL-2R was 0.82, and the sensitivity and specificity were 83.67% and 70.56%, respectively. Conclusions:The calcification features of Doppler ultrasound and the elevation of serum Cyfra21-1 and sIL-2R are closely related to cervical lymph node metastasis of thyroid micropapillary carcinoma. The combination of Doppler ultrasound with serum Cyfra21-1 and sIL-2R has important reference value in predicting cervical lymph node metastasis.

ObjectiveTo compare the short-term effectiveness of the three different manipulations for atlantoaxial joint disorders and their effects on surface electromyography of sternocleidomastoid muscle. MethodsNinty patients with atlantoaxial joint disorders were randomly divided into the tendon relaxing manipulation group， the tendon relaxing plus rehabilitation manipulation group， and the conventional manipulation group， with 30 cases in each group， and each group of patients received the corresponding manipulation treatment for 2 weeks. The changes of visual analogue score （VAS） of occipital neck pain， evaluation scale for cervical vertigo （ESCV）， and averaged electromyography （AEMG） of surface electromyography of bilateral sternocleidomastoid muscles before and after the treatment were observed， and the clinical effectiveness and safety of the patients were compared among groups. ResultsThe VAS scores of patients in each group decreased， and the ESCV scores increased after treatment （P＜0.01）， and the tendon relaxing manipulation group and the tendon relaxing plus rehabilitation manipulation group were significantly better than the conventional manipulation group （P＜0.01）. The AEMG of the bilateral sternocleidomastoid muscles of the three groups increased after treatment （P＜0.01）； when compared among the three groups， the AEMG of the bilateral sternocleidomastoid muscles of the tendon relaxing plus rehabilitation manipulation group was higher than that of the tendon relaxing manipulation group， and the tendon relaxing manipulation group was higher than that of the conventional manipulation group （P＜0.05 or P＜0.01）. The cure and markedly effective rates of the tendon relaxing manipulation group， the tendon relaxing plus rehabilitation manipulation group， and the conventional manipulation group were 56.67%， 86.67%， and 36.67% respectively， showing statistically difference （K=10.21， P＜0.01）. ConclusionThe tendon relaxing manipulation and tendon relaxing plus rehabilitation manipulation can effectively improve the symptoms of vertigo， headache， and neck pain for patients with atlantoaxial joint disorders， and can improve the contraction function of sternocleidomastoid muscle， whose effectiveness are better than that of conventional manipulation.