Objective To evaluate the radiation dose levels induced by secondary neutrons at different locations inside proton therapy treatment rooms, and analyze the distribution characteristics of neutron energy spectra by combining experimental measurements with simulations, and to provide a theoretical basis and technical support for radiation protection design and management in proton therapy. Methods Multiple representative measurement points were established in the treatment rooms of two hospital-based proton therapy centers. The DIAMON neutron spectrometer was employed to perform in-situ measurements of secondary neutron doses and energy spectra. Three-dimensional simulation models of treatment rooms were constructed using the FLUKA code to simulate the generation and transport of secondary neutrons. Results Measurements showed that the neutron dose was highest near the target region, reaching up to 4293.750 µSv/h. The doses at the maze entrance were the next highest, ranging from 422.091 to 489.268 µSv/h, while the doses in the middle section of the maze ranged from 2.860 to 6.727 µSv/h. The neutron energy spectra exhibited a triple-peak pattern. Conclusion Significant accumulation of secondary neutrons was observed near the target and in the maze regions during proton therapy, with intermediate-energy neutrons being the dominant dose contributor. The consistency between measurements and simulations validated the reliability of the model, which can provide a basis for optimizing treatment room shielding and controlling occupational exposure for staff.

Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy of a novel sleep-aid decoction in treating elderly insomnia patients with different traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) constitutional types, and its effects on neurotransmitter and inflammatory factor levels. Methods A total of 200 patients with four different TCM constitutions-peaceful, Qi-deficient, Yin-deficient, and Yang-deficient-were recruited. Peripheral blood neurotransmitter and inflammatory factor levels were measured for variations among insomnia patients across different constitutions. These patients were treated using the novel sleep-aid decoction, the effects of which were evaluated based on changes in neurotransmitters and inflammatory factors. Results Compared to the peaceful constitution group, insomnia patients with Qi-deficient, Yin-deficient, and Yang-deficient constitutions exhibited significantly elevated baseline levels of neurotransmitters (5-HT, GABA) and inflammatory factors (IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1β, CRP). Following the treatment, the Qi-deficient and Yin-deficient groups showed a marked increase in 5-HT levels, restored balance of Glu, GABA, and melatonin, and significant reductions in IL-6 and TNF-α levels. The overall effective rate was 83.5%, with optimal efficacy observed in the Qi-deficient (97.72%) and Yin-deficient (95.34%) groups. Conclusion The novel sleep-aid decoction is effective in treating insomnia in elderly patients, with the best results observed in the Qi-deficient and Yin-deficient constitution groups.
Humans ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders/blood* ; Aged ; Male ; Female ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use* ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Middle Aged ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha/blood* ; Sleep Aids, Pharmaceutical/therapeutic use* ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents/therapeutic use* ; Interleukin-6/blood* ; Interleukin-1beta/blood* ; Neurotransmitter Agents/blood* ; Aged, 80 and over ; C-Reactive Protein/metabolism*

PURPOSE: To methodically assess the effectiveness of augmentative plating (AP) and exchange nailing (EN) in managing nonunion following intramedullary nailing for long bone fractures of the lower extremity. METHODS: PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library were searched to gather clinical studies regarding the use of AP and EN techniques in the treatment of nonunion following intramedullary nailing of lower extremity long bones. The search was conducted up until May 2023. The original studies underwent an independent assessment of their quality, a process conducted utilizing the Newcastle-Ottawa scale. Data were retrieved from these studies, and meta-analysis was executed utilizing Review Manager 5.3. RESULTS: This meta-analysis included 8 studies involving 661 participants, with 305 in the AP group and 356 in the EN group. The results of the meta-analysis demonstrated that the AP group exhibited a higher rate of union (odds ratio: 8.61, 95% confidence intervals (CI): 4.12 - 17.99, p < 0.001), shorter union time (standardized mean difference (SMD): -1.08, 95% CI: -1.79 - -0.37, p = 0.003), reduced duration of the surgical procedure (SMD: -0.56, 95% CI: -0.93 - -0.19, p = 0.003), less bleeding (SMD: -1.5, 95% CI: -2.81 - -0.18, p = 0.03), and a lower incidence of complications (relative risk: -0.17, 95% CI: -0.27 - -0.06, p = 0.001). In the subgroup analysis, the time for union in the AP group in nonisthmal and isthmal nonunion of lower extremity long bones was shorter compared to the EN group (nonisthmal SMD: -1.94, 95% CI: -3.28 - -0.61, p < 0.001; isthmal SMD: -1.08, 95% CI: -1.64 - -0.52, p = 0.002). CONCLUSION In the treatment of nonunion in diaphyseal fractures of the long bones in the lower extremity, the AP approach is superior to EN, both intraoperatively (with reduced duration of the surgical procedure and diminished blood loss) and postoperatively (with an elevated union rate, shorter union time, and lower incidence of complications). Specifically, in the management of nonunion of lower extremity long bones with non-isthmal and isthmal intramedullary nails, AP demonstrated shorter union time in comparison to EN.
Humans ; Bone Nails/adverse effects* ; Bone Plates/adverse effects* ; Femoral Fractures/surgery* ; Fracture Fixation, Intramedullary/methods* ; Fractures, Ununited/surgery* ; Lower Extremity/injuries*

PURPOSE: To investigate the incidence and influencing factors of bone loss in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). METHODS: A retrospective case-control study was conducted. Patients with SCI in our hospital from January 2019 to March 2023 were collected. According to the correlation between bone mineral density (BMD) at different sites, the patients were divided into the lumbar spine group and the hip joint group. According to the BMD value, the patients were divided into the normal bone mass group (t > -1.0 standard deviation) and the osteopenia group (t ≤ -1.0 standard deviation). The influencing factors accumulated as follows: gender, age, height, weight, cause of injury, injury segment, injury degree, time after injury, start time of rehabilitation, motor score, sensory score, spasticity, serum value of alkaline phosphatase, calcium, and phosphorus. The trend chart was drawn and the influencing factors were analyzed. SPSS 26.0 was used for statistical analysis. Correlation analysis was used to test the correlation between the BMD values of the lumbar spine and bilateral hips. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to explore the influencing factors of osteoporosis after SCI. p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The incidence of bone loss in patients with SCI was 66.3%. There was a low concordance between bone loss in the lumbar spine and the hip, and the hip was particularly susceptible to bone loss after SCI, with an upward trend in incidence (36% - 82%). In this study, patients with SCI were divided into the lumbar spine group (n = 100) and the hip group (n = 185) according to the BMD values of different sites. Then, the lumbar spine group was divided into the normal bone mass group (n = 53) and the osteopenia group (n = 47); the hip joint group was divided into the normal bone mass group (n = 83) and the osteopenia group (n = 102). Of these, lumbar bone loss after SCI is correlated with gender and weight (p = 0.032 and < 0.001, respectively), and hip bone loss is correlated with gender, height, weight, and time since injury (p < 0.001, p = 0.015, 0.009, and 0.012, respectively). CONCLUSIONS The incidence of bone loss after SCI was high, especially in the hip. The incidence and influencing factors of bone loss in the lumbar spine and hip were different. Patients with SCI who are male, low height, lightweight, and long time after injury were more likely to have bone loss.
Humans ; Spinal Cord Injuries/complications* ; Male ; Female ; Retrospective Studies ; Incidence ; Adult ; Bone Density ; Middle Aged ; Case-Control Studies ; Osteoporosis/etiology* ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; Bone Diseases, Metabolic/etiology* ; Aged ; Risk Factors

Testicular histology based on testicular biopsy is an important factor for determining appropriate testicular sperm extraction surgery and predicting sperm retrieval outcomes in patients with azoospermia. Therefore, we developed a deep learning (DL) model to establish the associations between testicular grayscale ultrasound images and testicular histology. We retrospectively included two-dimensional testicular grayscale ultrasound from patients with azoospermia (353 men with 4357 images between July 2017 and December 2021 in The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China) to develop a DL model. We obtained testicular histology during conventional testicular sperm extraction. Our DL model was trained based on ultrasound images or fusion data (ultrasound images fused with the corresponding testicular volume) to distinguish spermatozoa presence in pathology (SPP) and spermatozoa absence in pathology (SAP) and to classify maturation arrest (MA) and Sertoli cell-only syndrome (SCOS) in patients with SAP. Areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUCs), accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity were used to analyze model performance. DL based on images achieved an AUC of 0.922 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.908-0.935), a sensitivity of 80.9%, a specificity of 84.6%, and an accuracy of 83.5% in predicting SPP (including normal spermatogenesis and hypospermatogenesis) and SAP (including MA and SCOS). In the identification of SCOS and MA, DL on fusion data yielded better diagnostic performance with an AUC of 0.979 (95% CI: 0.969-0.989), a sensitivity of 89.7%, a specificity of 97.1%, and an accuracy of 92.1%. Our study provides a noninvasive method to predict testicular histology for patients with azoospermia, which would avoid unnecessary testicular biopsy.
Humans ; Male ; Azoospermia/diagnostic imaging* ; Deep Learning ; Testis/pathology* ; Retrospective Studies ; Adult ; Ultrasonography/methods* ; Sperm Retrieval ; Sertoli Cell-Only Syndrome/diagnostic imaging*

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disorder affecting multiple systems, characterized by the development of harmful autoantibodies and immune complexes that lead to damage in organs and tissues. Chinese medicine (CM) plays a role in mitigating complications, enhancing treatment effectiveness, and reducing toxicity of concurrent medications, and ensuring a safe pregnancy. However, CM mainly solves the disease comprehensively through multi-target and multi-channel regulation process, therefore, its treatment mechanism is often complicated, involving many molecular links. This review introduces the research progress of pathogenesis of SLE from the aspects of genetics, epigenetics, innate immunity and acquired immunity, and then discusses the molecular mechanism and target of single Chinese herbal medicine and prescription that are commonly used and effective in clinic to treat SLE.
Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic/immunology* ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/pharmacology* ; Animals

Recently, photodynamic therapy (PDT) has gained considerable attention as a promising therapeutic approach for the treatment of psoriasis. Unfortunately, the activation of high mobility group box 1 protein (HMGB1) by PDT triggers innate and adaptive immune responses, which exacerbate skin inflammation. Herein, we combined glycyrrhizic acid (GA), a natural anti-inflammatory compound and immunomodulator derived from the herb Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch., with PDT actuated by the photosensitizer chlorin e6 (Ce6) by co-loading them in GA-based lipid nanoparticles coated with a catechol-modified quaternary chitosan salt (GC NPs/QCS-C). GC NPs/QCS-C exhibited high drug loading efficacy, uniform size distribution, an ideal topical adhesive property, enhanced skin retention and penetration in psoriasis-like lesions, and high intracellular uptake in epidermal cells compared with the counterparts. Subsequently, the transdermal administration of GC NPs/QCS-C followed by near-infrared laser radiation in an imiquimod-induced psoriasis-like mouse model significantly ameliorated psoriasis symptoms, promoted the apoptosis of hyperproliferative epidermal cells, and alleviated the inflammatory cascade. The significant therapeutic outcomes of GC NPs/QCS-C were attributed to the synergistic effects of GA and PDT on modulating immune cell recruitment and inhibiting dendritic cell maturation. Our results demonstrated that the topical bio-adhesive nanosystem that combines GA and Ce6 offers a synergistic chemo-phototherapeutic strategy for psoriasis treatment.

This study was aimed at evaluating the characteristics of H9N2 subtype avian influenza viruses(AIVs)origina-ting from wild birds in major wetlands in Fujian.Five H9N2 subtype AIVs isolated from fecal samples from wild birds in wet-lands of the Minjiang River,Jiulong River,Sandu Bay,Xinghua Bay,and Quanzhou Bay in Fujian were sequenced.Sequence a-nalysis of the HA genes of the five H9N2 subtype AIVs indicated that the five isolates shared 89.8％-99.4％nucleotide se-quence identity.All five isolates belonged to the same h9.4.2.5c evolutionary branch.The cleavage site motifs of HA were all PSRSSR ↓ GLF,thus indicating molecular characteristics of AIVs with low pathogenicity.The HA proteins of the viruses orig-inating from wild birds bore eight identical potential glycosylation sites,among which the glycosylation site at position 313 was located near the HA protein cleavage site.The 226th amino acid of HA in the receptor binding site was leucine in each virus,thus indicating that HAs of the five H9N2 subtype AIVs had mammalian sialic acid α-2,6 receptor binding affinity.In conclu-sion,the five H9N2 subtype AIVs originating from wild birds in Fujian had low pathogenicity,and the HAs had mammalian sialic acid α-2,6 receptor binding affinity.

This study was aimed at establishing a method of ultra-fast quantitative PCR for Brucella detection.We used an exogenous recombinant plasmid as the internal reference and targeted the T4SS secretion system,an important Brucella viru-lence factor,to design specific primers and probes.The sensitivity,specificity,and repeatability of this method were evaluated,and a standard curve was constructed.The coincidence rate of detection findings with this method versus quantitative PCR was determined.This method markedly decreased the detection time to only 10 minutes.The standard curve demonstrated a good linear relationship(Y=-3.410 7x+38.357,R2=0.998 5)with a low minimum detection limit of 10 copies/μL.The method exhibited good specificity and did not specifically amplify several common clinical bacteria other than Brucella.The de-tection of three concentrations of positive plasmids yielded coefficients of variation(CVs)of 0.20％to 0.91％,thus demonstra-ting the method's excellent repeatability.Furthermore,140 clinical samples were analyzed concurrently with the fluorescence PCR method,which yielded a 100％compliance rate and consistent results.Our findings indicated that the Brucella ultra-fast quantitative PCR was ultrafast;had high sensitivity,high specificity,and good specificity;and can be used for the clinical de-tection of Brucella and emergency investigation of epidemics.Therefore,this method is valuable for the early diagnosis of Bru-cella.

Objective:To compare the efficacy of robot system-assisted versus freehand screw revision for ankylosing spondylitis (AS) with lower cervical fractures.Methods:A multicenter retrospective cohort study was conducted to analyze the clinical data of 57 patients with AS combined with lower cervical fractures admitted to Honghui Hospital Affiliated to Xi'an Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Henan Provincial People's Hospital, Zhengzhou Orthopedic Hospital, and Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, including 46 males and 11 females, aged 38-77 years [(65.4±9.5)years]. Injury segments involved C 3 in 7 patients, C 4 in 13, C 5 in 25, C 6 in 10, and C 7 in 2. All the patients underwent revision surgery, among whom, 22 patients were treated with robot system-assisted cervical pedicle screw placement (robot nailing group, with 190 screws), and 35 with freehand cervical pedicle screw placement (freehand nailing group, with 300 screws). The operative duration, intraoperative bleeding volume, frequency of intraoperative fluoroscopy, incision length, and length of hospital stay of the two groups were compared; the time of single nscrew insertion, the number of single nail revisions, the distance between screws and the anterior cortex, the accuracy of screw placement of grade 0 and grade 0+1 were recorded in the two groups. The visual analogue scale (VAS), Japanese Orthopedic Society (JOA) score, neck dysfunction index (NDI), American Spine Injury Association (ASIA) classification before operation, at 3 days, 3 months after operation and at the last follow-up were compared between the two groups. The complication rate was also noted. Results:All the patients were followed up for 12-16 months [(14.3±2.1)months]. The operative duration, intraoperative bleeding volume, and frequency of intraoperative fluoroscopy were (186.4±12.9)minutes, (486.1±68.6)ml, and (3.4±1.3)times in the robot nailing group, which were shorter or less than (206.7±14.4)minutes, (660.3±45.2)ml, and (13.5±3.6)times in the freehand nailing group ( P<0.01). The incision length was (9.4±2.4)cm in the robot nailing group, longer than (5.6±1.2)cm in the freehand nailing group ( P<0.01), and the length of hospital stay was (3.7±0.4)days, shorter than (4.4±1.4)days in the freehand nailing group ( P<0.01). The length of single nail insertion, the number of single nail revision, and the distance between the screws and the front cortex were (6.5±0.4)minutes, (1.1±0.1)times, and (3.5±1.3)mm in the robot nailing group, which were shorter or less than (11.6±0.2)minutes, (1.5±0.2)times, and (12.4±4.7)mm in the freehand nailing group ( P<0.01). The accuracy of the screw placement in the robot nailing group was 90.0% (171/190) and 95.8% (182/190) with level 0 and 0+1 screws, better than 80.0% (240/300) and 89.0% (267/300) in the freehand nailing group ( P<0.05). There was no significant difference in VAS, JOA score, NDI, or ASIA grading between the two groups before operation ( P>0.05). The VAS, JOA, and NDI scores at 3 days after operation were (3.1±0.6)points, (12.1±1.2)points, and (15.6±2.9)points, respectively in the robot nailing group, which were better than (5.0±1.4)points, (11.3±1.1)points and (22.5±3.7)points, respectively in the freehand nailing group ( P<0.05). No statistically significant difference was observed in the ASIA grade between the two groups at 3 days after operation ( P>0.05). There were no significant differences in VAS, JOA, NDI scores, or ASIA grading between the two groups at 3 months after operation and at the last follow-up ( P>0.05). Compared with those before operation, the VAS, JOA, NDI scores, and ASIA grading were significantly improved at 3 days, 3 months after operation and at the last follow-up in the two groups, which were further improved with the passage of time. Two patients in the robot nailing group had pneumonia, with a complication rate of 9% (2/22), while 2 patients in the freehand nailing group had dural sac rupture and cerebrospinal fluid leakage and 3 had lung infection after operation, with a complication rate of 14% (5/35) ( P<0.05). Conclusion:Compared with freehand nailing, the robot system-assisted nailing revision for AS with lower cervical fracture has more advantages in terms of the operative duration, length of hospital stay, intraoperative bleeding volume, frequency of intraoperative fluoroscopy nailing speed and accuracy, screw holding force, early pain relief, function restoration, and complication rate, despite longer surgical incision.