Objective To assess the value of cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) in evaluating the response of unresectable liver cancer to transarterial chemoembolization (TACE). Methods A total of 55 unresectable liver cancer patients with 90 lesions who received TACE at the First People’s Hospital of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture between July 2021 and July 2023 were enrolled in the study. The response to TACE was evaluated using the modified Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors one month post-treatment. The value of lesion diameter, volume, and density on CBCT images in predicting the response to TACE was assessed using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve. Results Of the 55 patients treated with TACE, 26 achieved complete response, 17 achieved partial response, 9 showed stable disease, and 3 had progressive disease. Of the 90 lesions, 48 achieved complete response, 20 achieved partial response, 17 showed stable disease, and 5 had progressive disease. On CBCT images, the mean diameter, volume, and density of lesions with complete and non-complete responses were (20.9 ± 9.9) mm, (1719.3 ± 777.9) mm³, and (143.7 ± 87.9) HU, versus (10.9 ± 7.7) mm, (890.0 ± 327.4) mm³, and (38.8 ± 33.3) HU, respectively, with significant differences between the two groups (t=10.6, 79.8, and 65.5; all P < 0.01). One month post-treatment, CT scans displayed no enhanced areas in lesions with complete response and visible enhanced areas in lesions with non-complete response, with mean lesion diameter and density of (14.1 ± 6.2) mm and (78.8 ± 30.3) HU, respectively. In addition, the areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves of lesion diameter, volume, and density on CBCT images were 0.935, 0.955, and 0.981, respectively, in distinguishing between complete and non-complete responses following TACE. Using a cut-off value of 82.5 HU for predicting response to TACE, the lesion density had sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of 95.5%, 100.0%, 100.0%, and 95.0%, respectively. Conclusion CBCT is effective in predicting the short-term response of liver cancer to TACE.

Rheumatoid arthritis(RA)is a chronic and progressive autoimmune disease.Current clinical treatments for RA often exhibit inadequate drug responses and severe adverse effects,underscoring the necessity for alternative therapies.Baicalin,a flavonoid derived from Scutellaria baicalensis roots,possesses anti-inflammatory,antioxidant,and immunomodulatory properties.Research suggests that baicalin can inhibit the release of inflamma-tory mediators,thereby reducing inflammation.Moreover,it demonstrates antioxidant effects by decreasing reactive oxygen species production and mitigating synovial damage induced by oxidative stress.Baicalin may impede the activation of inflammatory cytokines through pathways such as NF-κB,MAPKs,and JAK-STAT signaling cascades while inducing apoptosis,regulating immune cell activity,and balancing immune mediators to impact synovitis progression.Clinically,both monotherapy with baicalin or its combination with other formulations have exhibited efficacy and safety profiles.The advancement in targeted drug delivery systems has improved its bioavailability further suggesting promising clinical applications.This review provides an overview of research progress on baicalin's mechanisms in inhibiting RA synovitis along with its clinical applications.

Objective:To investigate the biomechanical properties of cannulated screws fixation in a configuration of "axial compression and lateral buttress" in the treatment of Pauwels type Ⅱ femoral neck fractures.Methods:Ten specimens of Sawbones artificial femur were first made into models of type Ⅱ femoral neck fracture with a Pauwells angle of 50° and then randomized into 2 equal groups ( n=5). The specimens in the experimental group were subjected to fixation with cannulated screws in a configuration of "axial compression and lateral buttress" in which the axial screw was 8.5 mm in diameter and the lateral screw 6.5 mm in diameter. The specimens in the control group were subjected to conventional fixation with cannulated screws in a configuration of "inverted triangle and parallel compression" in which the 3 screws was 7.3 mm in diameter. Finally, the specimens were placed onto a biomechanical testing machine to determine the parameters of static axial stiffness, displacement under 60 to 600 N load for 5,000 cycles, ultimate load and ultimate stiffness in turn. The 2 groups were compared to find out their differences. Results:The static axial stiffness was (1,492.00 ± 87.86) N/mm, significantly higher than that in the control group [(1,200.22 ± 228.06) N/mm] ( P<0.05). There was no significant difference between the 2 groups in the cyclic load displacement [(0.44 ± 0.01) mm versus (0.57 ± 0.17) mm] ( P>0.05), but the experimental group showed a lower trend. The ultimate load and ultimate stiffness were (4,292.61 ± 804.29) N and (1,623.55 ± 180.94) N/mm in the experimental group and (4,383.64 ± 1,423.24) N and (1,433.77 ± 289.93) N/mm in the control group, showing no significant difference between the 2 groups ( P>0.05). Conclusion:In the treatment of Pauwels type Ⅱ femoral neck fractures, fixation with cannulated screws in a configuration of "axial compression and lateral buttress" may exhibit better biomechanical properties than that in a conventional configuration of "inverted triangle" .

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the functional pathways enriched and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of patients with gram-positive and gram-negative sepsis. METHODS: Dataset GSE9960 obtained from NCBI GEO database containing PBMC samples from 16 non-infectious systematic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) patients, 17 gram-positive septic patients and 18 gram-negative septic patients were included in the study. Functional pathway annotations were conducted by gene set enrichment analysis and weighted gene co-expression network analysis. DEGs were filtered and master DEGs were then validated in PBMCs of gram-positive septic, gram-negative septic and non-infectious SIRS patients. RESULTS: The enriched gene sets in gram-positive sepsis and gram-negative sepsis were significantly different. The results indicated the opposite co-expression networks in SIRS and gram-negative sepsis, and the entirely different co-expression networks in gram-positive and gram-negative sepsis. Furthermore, we validated that CONCLUSIONS The results indicate that there are differences in the mechanism and pathogenesis of gram-positive and gram-negative sepsis, which may provide potential markers for sepsis diagnosis and empirical antimicrobial therapy.
Biomarkers/analysis* ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections/physiopathology* ; Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections/physiopathology* ; Humans ; Leukocytes, Mononuclear/pathology* ; Sepsis/physiopathology*

Objective To determine the effectiveness and safety of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT)-CyberKnife for oligometastatic prostate cancer.Methods From May 2012 to February 2017,31 patients treated by CyberKnife were retrospectively reviewed,with a median age of 67 years(range 52 to 83 years),including 50 oligometastatic and 2 primary prostate cancer patients.The median PSA level was 8.4 ng/ml(range 0 to 300.0 ng/ml) and PSA test was performed every month.PSA progression-free survival (PSA-PFS),time to initiation of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) and local control rate (LCR) were measured as the main outcomes.Results SBRT was well tolerated and were performed as planned in all patients.No SBRT related acute or late toxicities were observed.No bone fracture was observed in patients treated by bony targeted radiotherapy.The median follow-up after SBRT was 20.7.months (range 1.2-58.3 months).The median PSA-PFS was 5.3 months (range 0-58.3 months).1-year,2-year,and 4-year PSA-PFS was 52.0％,36.7％ and 36.7％ respe ctively.PSA level decrease was observed in 21 oligometastatic prostate cancer patients after SBRT,with median PSA-PFS of 12.3 months (range 1.2-58.3 months).PSA level increase was observed in 29 oligometastatic prostate cancer patients after SBRT.Six local recurrence were observed resulting in an actuarial 1-year,2-year and 3-year LCR of 90.4％,86.9％ and 82.6％,respectively.Twelve patients treated without ADT after SBRT,with median follow-up of 8.6 months (range 2.9-58.3 months) in this subgroup.Seven patients were added ADT after SBRT,with the median time from SBRT to initiation of ADT of 13.3 months (range 3.0-24.0 months) in this subgroup.Twelve patients were treated with ADT continuously after SBRT.Conclusions CyberKnife seems to be a safe and effective treatment with tolerated adverse events and good local control for patients with oligometastatic prostate cancer.

Objective To analyze the risk factors of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) in very olderly hypertensive patients. Methods According to the electrocardiograph (ECG) and history data, two hundred and six older old-hypertensive patients were divided into PAF group (n=66) and sinus rhythm (SR) group (n=140). Data of age, gender, body mass index (BMI), the use of angiotension-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs), angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) and statin drug history, 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM), echocardiography, pulse wave velocity (PWV), blood lipid profile and renal function were recorded in two groups. Logistic regression analyses of the relevant factors were compared between groups. Results Data of age, the diameter of the left atrium (LAD), the 1eft ventricular mass index (LVMI) and the PWV were significantly higher in PAF group than those of SR group [(88.92±3.42) years old vs. (86.36±4.67) years old, (39.00±6.66) mm vs. (33.54±7.77) mm, (132.49±14.83) g vs. (119.00±11.35) g, (13.45±4.85) m/s vs. (9.89±2.74) m/s, respectively]. Values of three acyl glycerin (TG), blood pressure smoothing index (SI) were lower in PAF group than those of SR group [(1.33±0.91) mmol/L vs. (1.95±1.29) mmol/L, 0.75±0.06 vs. 0.79±0.04, respectively]. Results of two classification Logistic regression analyses showed that the reduced SI, the enlarged LAD and LVMI and the increased PWV were the risk factors of PAF in very olderly hypertensive patients. Conclusion Unstable blood pressure, left atrial enlargement, left ventricular hypertrophy and arterial stiffness are the risk factors of PAF in very olderly hypertensive patients.

Background and objectiveTo evaluate the role of preoperative induction therapy on prognosis of local-ly advanced thymic malignancies.MethodsBetween 1994 and 2012, patients received preoperative induction therapies (IT group) in the Chinese Alliance for Research in Thymomas (ChART) database, were compared with those having surgery di-rectly atfer preoperative evaluation (DS group). All tumors receiving induction therapies were locally advanced (clinically stage III-IV) before treatment and those turned out to be in pathological stage I and II were considered downstaged by induction. Clinical pathological characteristics were retrospectively analyzed. To more accurately study the effect of induction therapies, stage IV patients were then excluded. Only stage I-III tumors in the IT group and stage III cases in the DS group were selected for further comparison in a subgroup analysis.Results Only 68 (4%) out of 1,713 patients had induction therapies, with a R0 resection of 67.6%, 5-year recurrence of 44.9%, and 5- and 10-year overall survivals (OS) of 49.7% and 19.9%. Seventeen pa-tients (25%) were downstaged atfer induction. Signiifcantly more thymomas were downstaged than thymic carcinomas (38.7%vs 13.9%,P=0.02). Tumors downstaged atfer induction had signiifcantly higher 5-year OS than those not downstaged (93.8%vs 35.6%,P=0.013). For the subgroup analysis when stage IV patients were excluded, 5-year OS was 85.2% in the DS group and 68.1% in the IT group (P<0.001), although R0 resection were similar (76.4%vs 73.3%,P=0.63). However, 5-year OS in tumors downstaged atfer induction (93.8%) was similar to those in the DS group (85.2%,P=0.438), both signiifcantly higher than those not downstaged atfer induction (35.6%,P<0.001).ConclusionOnly 68 (4%) out of 1,713 patients had induction therapies, with a R0 resection of 67.6%, 5-year recurrence of 44.9%, and 5- and 10-year overall survivals (OS) of 49.7% and 19.9%. Seventeen patients (25%) were downstaged atfer induction. Signiifcantly more thymomas were downstaged than thy-mic carcinomas (38.7%vs 13.9%,P=0.02). Tumors downstaged atfer induction had signiifcantly higher 5-year OS than those not downstaged (93.8%vs 35.6%,P=0.013). For the subgroup analysis when stage IV patients were excluded, 5-year OS was 85.2% in the DS group and 68.1% in the IT group (P<0.001), although R0 resection were similar (76.4%vs 73.3%,P=0.63). However, 5-year OS in tumors downstaged atfer induction (93.8%) was similar to those in the DS group (85.2%,P=0.438), both signiifcantly higher than those not downstaged atfer induction (35.6%,P<0.001).

Background and objectiveVideo-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) theoretically offers advantages over open thymectomy for clinically early-stage (Masaoka-Koga stage I and II) thymic malignancies. However, longterm outcomes have not been well studied. We compared the postoperative outcomes and survival from a cohort study based on the database of the Chinese Alliance for Research in Thymomas (ChART).MethodsBetween 1994 and 2012, data of 1,117 patients hav-ing surgery for clinically early-stage (Masaoka-Koga stage I and II) tumors were enrolled for the study. Among them, 241 cases underwent VATS thymectomy (VATS group), while 876 cases underwent open thymectomy (Open group). Univariate analyses were used to compare the clinical character and perioperative outcomes between the two groups. And multivariate analysis was performed to determine the independent predictive factors for long-term survival.Results Compared with the Open group, the VATS group had higher percentage of total thymectomy (80.5%vs 73.9%,P=0.028), resection rate (98.8%vs 88.7%,P<0.001) and less recurrence (2.9%vs 16.0%,P<0.001). Five-year overall survival was 92% atfer VATS and 92% atfer open thymectomy, with no signiifcant difference between the two groups (P=0.15). However, 5-year disease free survival were 92% in VATS group and 83% in Open group (P=0.011).Cox proportional hazards model revealed that WHO classiifcation, Masaoka-Koga stage and adjuvant therapy were independent predictive factors for overall survival, while surgical approach had no signiifcant impact on long-term outcome.ConclusionhTis study suggests that VATS thymectomy is an effective approach for clinically early-stage thymic malig-nancies. And it may offer better perioperative outcomes, as well as equal oncological survival.

Background and objectiveTo evaluate the surgical outcomes of tumor resection with or without total thymectomy for thymic epithelial tumors (TETs) using the Chinese Alliance for Research in Thymomas (ChART) retrospec-tive database.Methods Patients without preoperative therapy, who underwent surgery for early-stage (Masaoka-Koga stage I and II) tumors, were enrolled for the study. They were divided into thymectomy and thymomectomy groups according to the resection extent of the thymus. Demographic and surgical outcomes were compared between the two patients groups. Results A total of 1,047 patients were enrolled, with 796 cases in the thymectomy group and 251 cases in the thymomec-tomy group. Improvement rate of myasthenia gravis (MG) was higher atfer thymectomy than atfer thymomectomy (91.6%vs 50.0%,P<0.001). Ten-year overall survival was similar between the two groups (90.9% atfer thymectomy and 89.4% atfer thymomectomy,P=0.732). Overall, recurrence rate was 3.1% atfer thymectomy and 5.4% atfer thymomectomy, with no sig-niifcant difference between the two groups (P=0.149). Stratiifed analysis revealed no signiifcant difference in recurrence rates in Masaoka-Koga stage I tumors (3.2%vs 1.4%,P=0.259). However in patients with Masaoka-Koga stage II tumors, recurrence was signiifcantly less atfer thymectomy group than atfer thymomectomy (2.9%vs 14.5%,P=0.001).Conclusion hTymectomy, instead of tumor resection alone, should still be recommended as the surgical standard for thymic malignancies, especially for stage II tumors and those with concomitant MG.

Background and objectivePostoperative radiotherapy (PORT) for thymic tumor is still controversial. The object of the study is to evaluate the role of PORT for stage I/II/III thymic tumor.MethodsThe database of Chinese Al-liance of Research for Thymomas (ChART) was retrieved for patients with stage I/II/III thymic tumor who underwent surgi-cal therapy without neoajuvant therapy between 1994 and 2012. Univariate and multivariate survival analyses were performed. Cox proportional hazard model was used to determine the hazard ratio for death.Results 1,546 stage I/II/III patients were identiifed from ChART database. Among these patients, 649 (41.98%) underwent PORT. PORT was associated with gender, histologic type (World Health Organization, WHO), surgical extent, complete resection, Masaoka stage and adjuvant che-motherapy. The 5-yr and 10-yr overall survival (OS) rates and disease-free survival (DFS) rate for patients underwent surgery followed by PORT were 90% and 80%, 81% and 63%, comparing with 96% and 95%, 92% and 90% for patients underwent surgery alone (P=0.001,P<0.001) respectively. In univariate analysis, age, histologic type (WHO), Masaoka stage, complete-ness of resection, and PORT were associated with OS. Multivariable analysis showed that histologic type (WHO)(P=0.001), Masaoka stage (P=0.029) and completeness of resection (P=0.003) were independently prognostic factors of OS. In univari-ate analysis, gender, myasthenia gravis, histologic type (WHO), Masaoka stage, surgical approach, PORT and completeness of resection were associated with DFS. Multivariable analysis showed that histologic type (WHO) (P<0.001), Masaoka stage (P=0.005) and completeness of resection (P=0.006) were independently prognostic factors of DFS. Subgroup analysis showed that patients with incomplete resection underwent PORT achieved the better OS and DFS (P=0.010, 0.017, respectively). However, patients with complete resection underwent PORT had the worse OS and DFS (P<0.001,P<0.001, respectively). ConclusionThe current retrospective study indicated that PORT atfer incomplete resection could improve OS and DFS for patients with stage I/II/III thymic tumor. But for those atfer complete resection, PORT may not help improve prognosis on the whole.