Objective:To analyze the correlations between the ultrasound contrast features and the expression of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2(HER-2)of molecular biological indicators of breast cancer,and between ultrasound elastography features and that.Methods:A total of 63 patients with invasive breast cancer who admitted to The Affiliated Suzhou Hospital of Nanjing Medical University and The First Affiliated Hospital of Jiamusi University from February 2019 to June 2022 were selected as the study subjects.The HER-2 positive expression of molecular biological indicator of breast cancer was measured by immunohistochemistry.According to the immunohistochemical results,the patients were divided into positive group(22 cases)and negative group(41 cases).All patients underwent examinations of ultrasound contrast and ultrasound elastography.The differences of the features of ultrasound contrast and ultrasound elastography between the two groups were analyzed and compared.The influencing factors of HER-2 positive expression were analyzed by binary logistic regression,and the receiver operating curve(ROC)was established to assess respectively the values of single ultrasound contrast,single ultrasound elastography and the combination of them in predicting HER-2 positive expression.Results:There was significant differences in the features of ultrasound elastography between the two groups.The ratios of the irregular shape and burr at the edge of the imaging features of the patients with HER-2 positive expression were significantly higher than those of the patients with HER-2 negative expression[(86.4%vs.58.5%)and(77.3%vs.51.2%)],and the differences were statistically significant(x2=5.117,4.060,P<0.05),respectively.The difference of the features of ultrasound contrast between two groups was significant.The ratios of nourishing vessels,and the lesion enlargement≥3 cm after angiography in patients with HER-2 positive expression were significantly higher than those in the patients with HER-2 negative expression[(77.3%vs.41.5%)and(81.8%vs.39.0%)],the differences were statistically significant(x2=7.390,10.554,P<0.05),respectively.The features(shape,edge,nourishing vessels and lesion enlargement after contrast)of ultrasound contrast and ultrasound elastography were used respectively as independent variables,and the HER-2 positive expression was used as dependent variables.The logistic regression analysis showed that regular shape,smooth edge,without nourishing vessels and enlarged lesion<3 cm after angiography were protective factors for HER-2 positive expression of patients with breast cancer(OR=0.185,0.199,0.070,0.186,P<0.05),respectively.The areas under curve(AUC)values of the ROC curve of imaging features(shape,edge,nourishing vessels,and lesion enlargement after angiography)of ultrasound contrast and ultrasound elastography were respectively 0.630,0.639,0.679 and 0.714 in single predicting HER-2 positive expression of patients with breast cancer,and that of the combination of them was 0.874 in prediction.Conclusion:In features of ultrasound contrast and ultrasound elastography,the shape,edge,nourishing vessels and the enlargement lesion after contrast were the influencing factors of HER-2 positive expression in patients with breast cancer.The combined assessment of ultrasound contrast and ultrasound elastography before surgery has certain clinical reference value in predicting HER-2 expression.

Marsdenia tenacissima injection, a standard Marsdenia tenacissima extract (MTE), has been approved as an adjuvant therapeutic agent for various cancers. Our previous study showed that MTE inhibited the proliferation and metastasis of prostate cancer (PCa) cells. However, the underlying mechanisms and active ingredients of MTE against PCa were not completely understood. This study revealed that MTE induced significant decreases in cell viability and clonal growth in PCa cells. In addition, MTE induced the apoptosis of DU145 cells by reducing the mitochondrial membrane potential and increasing the expression of Cleaved Caspase 3/7, Cyt c, and Bax. In vivo, DU145 xenografted NOD-SCID mice treated with MTE showed significantly decreased tumor size. TUNEL staining and Western blot confirmed the pro-apoptotic effects of MTE. Network pharmacology analysis collected 196 ingredients of MTE linked to 655 potential targets, and 709 PCa-associated targets were retrieved, from which 149 overlapped targets were screened out. Pathway enrichment analysis showed that the HIF-1, PI3K-AKT, and ErbB signaling pathways were closely related to tumor apoptosis. Western blot results confirmed that MTE increased the expression of p-AKT^Ser473 and p-GSK3β^Ser9, and decreased the expression of p-STAT3^Tyr705in vitro and in vivo. A total of 13 compounds in MTE were identified by HPLC-CAD-QTOF-MS/MS and UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS. Molecular docking analysis indicated that six compounds may interact with AKT, GSK3β, and STAT3. In conclusion, MTE induces the endogenous mitochondrial apoptosis of PCa by regulating the AKT/GSK3β/STAT3 signaling axis, resulting in inhibition of PCa growth in vitro and in vivo.
Mice ; Animals ; Male ; Humans ; Mice, Inbred NOD ; Mice, SCID ; Marsdenia ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt ; Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 beta ; Molecular Docking Simulation ; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; Apoptosis ; STAT3 Transcription Factor

Objective To investigate the epidemiological characteristics of occupational noise induced deafness (ONID) in Nantong area and analyze the risk factors. Methods A total of 421 workers in hydropower industry who underwent physical examination in the outpatient clinic of Nantong Center for Disease Control and Prevention from January 2017 to December 2021 were selected as the research subjects.168 workers without ONID were divided into control group, and 253 workers diagnosed with ONID were divided into ONID group. The expression levels of serum cortisol, interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in the two groups were compared and analyzed. Results There were more males than females in both groups (P<0.05). With the increase of working age, the detection rate of ONID also increased significantly (P<0.05). The hearing thresholds of left and right ears in workers of different workplaces in the ONID group were higher than those in the control group (P<0.05), and the hearing thresholds of workers in water wheel room and water machine operation duty room were higher (P<0.05). The expression levels of cortisol, IL-6 and TNF-α in the serum of ONID patients were significantly higher than those in the control group. Multivariate analysis showed that workplace, serum cortisol, IL-6 and TNF-α were the main influencing factors for ONID. Conclusion Workplace, serum cortisol, IL-6 and TNF-α are all risk factors for ONID. Appropriate measures should be taken to strengthen the prevention and treatment of noise-induced hearing loss according to the influencing factors.

Abstract Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is a relatively common spinal health problem in the adolescents, whose pathogenesis remains unclear. AIS substantially affects the mind, intellect and body shape in children and adolescents. From a neurophysiological perspective, this article discusses progress in domestic and international research on the anatomical morphology, physiological function and neuromodulation of muscle metabolism in the nervous system in AIS, and analyses the dynamic balance in regulatory mechanisms of the neuromuscular system affecting spinal movement, which argues that an imbalance between the synergistic control of the central nervous system and the spinal neuromuscular system results in a series of kinetic compensatory responses of the spine, thus leading to AIS generation and/or development. This article is aimed at providing theoretical guidance for educational intervention approaches to address adolescent spinal health problems.

OBJECTIVE: To propose a non-contrast CT-based algorithm for automated and accurate detection of pancreatic lesions at a low cost. METHODS: With Faster RCNN as the benchmark model, an advanced Faster RCNN (aFaster RCNN) model for pancreatic lesions detection based on plain CT was constructed. The model uses the residual connection network Resnet50 as the feature extraction module to extract the deep image features of pancreatic lesions. According to the morphology of pancreatic lesions, 9 anchor frame sizes were redesigned to construct the RPN module. A new Bounding Box regression loss function was proposed to constrain the training process of RPN module regression subnetwork by comprehensively considering the constraints of the lesion shape and anatomical structure. Finally, a detection frame was generated using the detector in the second stage. The data from a total of 728 cases of pancreatic diseases from 4 clinical centers in China were used for training (518 cases, 71.15%) and testing (210 cases, 28.85%) of the model. The performance of aFaster RCNN was verified through ablation experiments and comparison experiments with 3 classical target detection models SSD, YOLO and CenterNet. RESULTS: The aFaster RCNN model for pancreatic lesion detection achieved recall rates of 73.64% at the image level and 92.38% at the patient level, with an average precision of 45.29% and 53.80% at the image and patient levels, respectively, which were higher than those of the 3 models for comparison. CONCLUSION The proposed method can effectively extract the imaging features of pancreatic lesions from non-contrast CT images to detect the pancreatic lesions.
Humans ; Pancreas/diagnostic imaging* ; Algorithms ; China ; Pancreatic Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging* ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Objective:To compare the clinical and imaging outcomes of fascia lata autograft bridging repair reinforecd with an artificial ligament as the internal brace with the autograft bridging repair for the treatment of irreparable massive rotator cuff tears (IMRCTs).Methods:The data of 26 patients with IMRCT who underwent fascia lata autograft bridging repair augmented with artificial ligament as the internal brace (internal brace group) and of 24 patients with IMRCT who underwent bridging autograft repair alone (control group) were retrospectively evaluated preoperatively and at 2-year follow-up. Clinical outcomes were assessed using shoulder activity, the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) Score, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Score, and visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain. Imaging outcomes were evaluated using acromiohumeral distance (AHD), Goutallier grade, and status of fascia lata grafts according to radiographs or magnetic resonance imaging results.Results:All 50 cases were followed up for 34.2±7.2 months (range 24-45 months). Compared to the control group, the internal brace group showed better ASES score (93.5±5.3 vs. 89.5±5.7, P<0.05), UCLA score (31.7±3.8 vs. 28.5±5.6, P<0.05), improvement in UCLA score (19.6±4.2 vs. 15.9±5.7, P<0.05), active elevation (167.3°±8.4° vs. 159.4°±13.6°, P<0.05), abduction strength (8.9±1.2 vs. 8.2±1.2, P<0.05), improvement in abduction strength (4.1±1.2 vs. 3.3± 1.0, P<0.05), AHD (7.0±1.4 mm vs. 5.9±1.0 mm, P<0.05), improvement in AHD (3.3±1.5 mm vs. 2.0±0.6 mm, P<0.05), and healing rate of fascia lata autografts (92% vs. 54%, P<0.05) at 2-year follow-up. Conclusion:Fascia lata autograft bridging repair reinforced with an artificial ligament as the internal brace improves healing rate of bridging graft and postoperatively short-term clinical outcomes of patients with IMRCT.

OBJECTIVES: To explore the physicochemical characteristics and biocompatibility of calcium peroxide (CPO)-loaded polycaprolactone (PCL) microparticle. METHODS: The CPO/PCL particles were prepared. The morphology and elemental distribution of CPO, PCL and CPO/PCL particles were observed with scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy, respectively. Rat adipose mesenchymal stem cells were isolated and treated with different concentrations (0.10%, 0.25%, 0.50%, 1.00%) of CPO or CPO/PCL particles. The mesenchymal stem cells were cultured in normal media or osteogenic differentiation media under the hypoxia/normoxia conditions, and the amount of released O₂ and H₂O₂ after CPO/PCL treatment were detected. The gene expressions of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), Runt-associated transcription factor 2 (RUNX2), osteopontin (OPN) and osteocalcin (OCN) were detected by realtime RT-PCR. SD rats were subcutaneously injected with 1.00% CPO/PCL particles and the pathological changes and infiltration of immune cells were observed with HE staining and immunohistochemistry at day 7 and day 14 after injection. RESULTS: Scanning electron microscope showed that CPO particles had a polygonal structure, PCL particles were in a small spherical plastic particle state, and CPO/PCL particles had a block-like crystal structure. Energy dispersive spectroscopy revealed that PCL particles showed no calcium mapping, while CPO/PCL particles showed obvious and uniform calcium mapping. The concentrations of O₂ and H₂O₂ released by CPO/PCL particles were lower than those of CPO group, and the oxygen release time was longer. The expressions of Alp, Runx2, Ocn and Opn increased with the higher content of CPO/PCL particles under hypoxia in osteogenic differentiation culture and normal culture, and the induction was more obvious under osteogenic differentiation conditions (all P<0.05). HE staining results showed that the muscle tissue fibers around the injection site were scattered and disorderly distributed, with varying sizes and thicknesses at day 7 after particle injection. Significant vascular congestion, widened gaps, mild interstitial congestion, local edema, inflammatory cell infiltration, and large area vacuolization were observed in some tissues of rats. At day 14 after microparticle injection, the muscle tissue around the injection site and the tissue fibers at the microparticle implantation site were arranged neatly, and the gap size was not thickened, the vascular congestion, local inflammatory cell infiltration, and vacuolization were significantly improved compared with those at day 7. The immunohistochemical staining results showed that the expressions of CD3 and CD68 positive cells significantly increased in the surrounding muscle tissue, and were densely distributed in a large area at day 7 after particle injection. At day 14 of microparticle injection, the numbers of CD3 and CD68 positive cells in peripheral muscle tissue and tissue at the site of particle implantation were lower than those at day 7 (all P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS CPO/PCL particles have good oxygen release activity, low damage to tissue, and excellent biocompatibility.
Rats ; Animals ; Osteogenesis ; Core Binding Factor Alpha 1 Subunit ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Hydrogen Peroxide/pharmacology* ; Cell Differentiation ; Oxygen ; Hypoxia ; Cells, Cultured

Transdermal drug delivery systems (TDDs) avoid gastrointestinal degradation and hepatic first-pass metabolism, providing good drug bioavailability and patient compliance. One emerging type of TDDs is the wearable patch worn on the skin surface to deliver medication through the skin. They can generally be grouped into passive and active types, depending on the properties of materials, design principles and integrated devices. This review describes the latest advancement in the development of wearable patches, focusing on the integration of stimulus-responsive materials and electronics. This development is deemed to provide a dosage, temporal, and spatial control of therapeutics delivery.

Co-delivery of chemotherapeutics and immunostimulant or chemoimmunotherapy is an emerging strategy in cancer therapy. The precise control of the targeting and release of agents is critical in this methodology. This article proposes the asynchronous release of the chemotherapeutic agents and immunostimulants to realize the synergistic effect between chemotherapy and immunotherapy. To obtain a proof-of-concept, a co-delivery system was prepared

Objective To explore the choice of handling methods for bilateral internal ring during the transumbilical single-site laparoscopic orchiopexy for cryptorchidism with bilateral processus vaginalis unclosed in children,and evaluate the clinical effect.Methods Retrospective analysis was conducted for the clinical data of 102 children with cryptorchidism and bilateral processus vaginalis unclosed who were hospitalized at Children's Hospital Affiliated to Capital Institute of Pediatrics from January 2011 to January 2016.They were divided into the observation group (55 cases) and the control group(47 cases).In the observation group,the internal rings of the affected side were destroyed and stitched with a needle between the edge of arcuate of musculus trasversus abdominis and fascia trans versalis of posterior peritoneum.If the diameter of opposite internal ring was less than 0.5 cm,only a circle was destroyed.Otherwise,a circle was destroyed and sutured with a needle.In the control group,the processing methods for orchiopexy and affected side internal ring were same as the observation group.Purse string suture was done for opposite internal rings of all cases in the control group.The parameters of operative duration,intraoperative blood loss,postoperative hospital stay,postoperative complications were compared between 2 groups.Results All operations were successful in both groups,spermatic cords were reserved and testicles were in scrotum of all cases.Operative duration was significantly shorter in the observation group than that in the control group [(42.02 ± 3.21) min vs.(48.43 ± 4.18) min,t =-8.739,P ＜ 0.01].The differences in intraoperative blood loss,postoperative hospital stay and postoperative complications between 2 groups were not statistically significant[(4.38 ± 1.42) mL vs.(4.80 ± 1.37) mL,t =-1.533,P ＞0.05;(2.87 ±0.64) dvs.(2.98 ±0.61) d,t =-0.853,P ＞0.05;1.8％ (1/55 cases) vs.2.1％(1/47 cases),x2 =0.013,P ＞ 0.05].During a mean follow-up of 30(12-72) months,there was no case of testicular ascent or atrophy,or hernia,or hydrocele.Conclusions The transumbilical single-site 3-port laparoscopic orchiopexy for cryptorchidism has stable efficacy.The improved method for bilateral internal ring is simple and has satisfactory effect,which is worthy of clinical promotion.