Objective To cultivate and breed laboratory cats in conventional laboratory animal facilities,collect background data on laboratory cats,and compare them with purchased domestic cats to assess the feasibility of breeding laboratory cats.Methods Indigenous cat breeds were introduced for reproduction and population expansion under conventional laboratory environment,with recording of kitten survival rates and growth curves.Indicators of 20 laboratory cats of F1 generation(half male and half female),including complete blood count,blood biochemistry,organ mass,organ coefficient,heart rate,and blood pressure,were detected and comparisons between sexes were made.Blood pressure values and sensitivity to histamine of these cats were measured using depressor substance detection method in the Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China-Four Parts:2020,and were compared with the data from 173 concurrently purchased domestic cats.Results Laboratory cats adapted well to the environment of conventional laboratory facilities,with a survival rate of 77.08％of kittens at 8 weeks of age.Red blood cell count,hemoglobin content,mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration,and hematocrit in male laboratory cats were significantly higher than those in females(P＜0.01),while the mean corpuscular volume in males was significantly lower than that in females(P＜0.01).The levels of serum alanine aminotransferase,total bilirubin,creatinine,triacylglycerol,high-density lipoprotein cholesterol,and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in male laboratory cats were significantly higher than those in females(P＜0.05 or P＜0.01),while cholesterol,globulin,total protein,and the albumin-globulin ratio were significantly lower in males(P＜0.01).The liver coefficient in male laboratory cats was significantly lower than that in female cats(P＜0.05),while the kidney coefficient was significantly higher(P＜0.05).The spleen-brain and kidney-brain ratios were significantly higher in males compared to females(P＜0.05 or P＜0.01).No significant differences were found in heart rate,systolic pressure,diastolic pressure,mean blood pressure,or sensitivity to histamine between male and female laboratory cats(P＞0.05).Compared to laboratory cats,purchased domestic cats had significantly higher heart rate,systolic pressure,and mean blood pressure(P＜0.01),and the magnitude of blood pressure changes induced by medium and high doses of histamine was significantly reduced(P＜0.05 or P＜0.01).Conclusion It is feasible to breed laboratory cats in conventional laboratory animal facilities.The accuracy of experimental results can be improved by using laboratory cats with clear and standardized background data.

Objective To determine the neurotoxic effects of amyloid beta 42(Aβ42)oligomers and investigate the mechanism of their induction of Alzheimer's disease(AD)-like pathogenesis in neuronal cells.Methods Western blotting and transmission electron microscopy were used to identify the synthesized Aβ42 oligomers.In order to assess the impact of the oligomers,MTT assay was employed to measure cell viability in neuroblastoma cell line SH-SY5Y treated with 10μmol/L Aβ42 oligomers for 12 or 24 h,glutamatergic neurons derived from human embryonic stem cells(hESC)exposed to Aβ42 oligomers for 24,48,or 96 h,and corresponding control cells.TUNEL assay was utilized to assess the apoptosis of glutamatergic neurons.Additionally,immu-nofluorescence assay was applied to detect the changes in Aβ plaques and p-tau pathology.Results Western blotting displayed monomers and small-molecule aggregation(＜30 000)in our synthe-sized Aβ42 oligomers,and transmission electron microscopy showed that the synthesized oligomers were mainly in a shape of spherical particles.Treatment of 10 μmol/L Aβ42 oligomers for 12 and 24 h in SH-SY5Y cells significantly decreased cell viability when compared with the control cells[(70.89±2.54)％vs(100.00±2.02)％,(52.63±3.37)％vs(100.00±2.80)％,P＜0.05].The 10μmol/L oligomers treatment for 24,48 and 96 h also decreased cell viability in glutamatergic neu-rons(P＜0.05).The apoptotic rates was significantly higher in glutamatergic neurons after treat-ment for 48 and 96 h when compared to the control cells[(1.44±0.31)％vs(1.00±0.38)％,(1.75±0.64)％vs(1.00±0.31)％,P＜0.05].Furthermore,circular granular Aβ-positive plaque signals were observed in the glutamatergic neurons after treated with the oligomers for 24,48,and 96 h,but no such plaque signals were seen in the control cells.Additionally,glutamatergic neurons incu-bation with 10 μmol/L oligomers for 24 h resulted in tau hyperphosphorylation at the Thr231 site,with the average fluorescence intensity significantly higher than that in control cells(P＜0.05).Conclusion Aβ42 oligomers show toxic effects to both SH-SY5Y cells and glutamatergic neurons,and they can also induce glutamatergic neurons to produce AD pathology.

Objective To explore the relationship between anxiety sensitivity and psychological stress before parachuting training among parachuting trainees and the mediating role of resilience between them.Methods Anxiety sensitivity index scale(version 3),resilience scale,psychological stress self-evaluation test and self-compiled general information questionnaire were employed for 258 parachuting trainees before training.Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlations among anxiety sensitivity,resilience and psychological stress.A multiple linear regression analysis was conducted with anxiety sensitivity and resilience as independent variables and psychological stress as dependent variable to explore the relationships among these 3 factors.The mediating effect of resilience on the relationship between anxiety sensitivity and psychological stress was examined using the Hayes Process macro program and bias corrected non-parametric percentile Bootstrap method.Results Before parachuting training,the prevalence of psychological stress among parachuting trainees was 5.0%(13/258).The correlations between anxiety sensitivity,resilience and psychological stress were significant(all P＜0.01).Anxiety sensitivity was positively associated with psychological stress among parachuting trainees(b=0.412,t=7.062,P＜0.01),while resilience was negatively associated with psychological stress(b=-0.187,t=-3.722,P＜0.01).Anxiety sensitivity and resilience were found to explain 31.4%of the total variance.Resilience partially mediated the effect of anxiety sensitivity on psychological stress,accounting for 20.48%of the total effect.Conclusion Parachuting trainees are at a relatively low stress level,with good psychological adaptation.Resilience plays a partial mediating role in the association between anxiety sensitivity and psychological stress.More attention should be paid to parachuting trainees with high anxiety sensitivity,enhancing their resilience,and reducing psychological stress before parachuting training.

Background/Aims: Low educational attainment is a well-established risk factor for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in developed areas. However, the association between educational attainment and the risk of NAFLD is less clear in China. Methods: A cross-sectional study including over 200,000 Chinese adults across mainland China was conducted. Information on education level and lifestyle factors were obtained through standard questionnaires, while NAFLD and advanced fibrosis were diagnosed using validated formulas. Outcomes included the risk of NAFLD in the general population and high probability of fibrosis among patients with NAFLD. Logistic regression analysis was employed to estimate the risk of NAFLD and fibrosis across education levels. A causal mediation model was used to explore the potential mediators. Results: Comparing with those receiving primary school education, the multi-adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for NAFLD were 1.28 (1.16 to 1.41) for men and 0.94 (0.89 to 0.99) for women with college education after accounting for body mass index. When considering waist circumference, the odds ratios (95% CIs) were 0.94 (0.86 to 1.04) for men and 0.88 (0.80 to 0.97) for women, respectively. The proportions mediated by general and central obesity were 51.00% and 68.04% for men, while for women the proportions were 48.58% and 32.58%, respectively. Furthermore, NAFLD patients with lower educational attainment showed an incremental increased risk of advanced fibrosis in both genders. Conclusions In China, a low education level was associated with a higher risk of prevalent NAFLD in women, as well as high probability of fibrosis in both genders.

Objective:To evaluate our self-designed pubic symphysis orthotic compression anatomic plate (PSOCAP) in the treatment of fractures and dislocations around the pubic symphysis.Methods:A retrospective study was conducted to analyze the 16 patients with fracture or dislocation around the pubic symphysis who had been treated by our self-designed PSOCAP at Department of Traumatic Surgery, Center for Orthopaedic Surgery, The Third Hospital Affiliated to Southern Medical University from January 2021 to June 2022. There were 8 males and 8 females with an age of (41±19) years. According to the Tile classification for pelvic fractures, there were 3 cases of type B1, 2 cases of type B3, 1 case of type C1.2, 4 cases of type C1.3, 3 cases of type C2, and 3 cases of type C3. There were 8 cases of pubic symphysis separation and 8 fractures of the pubic ramus (2 ones at Nakatani zone Ⅰ and 6 ones at Nakatani zone Ⅱ). Time from injury to surgery was 16 (11, 53) days, ranging from 4 to 348 days. The fractures or dislocations around the pubic symphysis were exposed by the modified Stoppa approach, reduced with the assistance of PSOCAP and fixated with PSOCAP; the posterior pelvic ring was reduced and fixated by corresponding surgical methods. Recorded were the surgical time, intraoperative bleeding, postoperative quality of fracture reduction, surgical complications, and functional recovery at the last follow-up concerning the pelvic anterior ring.Results:Surgery went on successfully in the 16 patients. Their surgical time was (58±15) min, ranging from 40 to 90 min, and their intraoperative bleeding 85 (63, 150) mL, ranging from 50 to 250 mL. According to the Matta scoring, the fracture reduction was evaluated as excellent in 10 cases, as good in 3 cases and as fair in 3 cases. The (10±3)-month follow-up for the 16 patients revealed complete fracture union for all after (12±2) weeks. According to the Majeed scoring at the last follow-up, the pelvic function was evaluated as excellent in 5 cases, as good in 7 cases, and as fair in 4 cases. No such postoperative complications as fracture displacement or internal fixation failure occurred.Conclusion:Owing to the biplane and integrated structure, our self-designed PSOCAP can help reduce the fractures or dislocations around the pubic symphysis to achieve anatomical reduction and strong internal fixation, leading to good clinical efficacy.

Objective:To evaluate the feasibility of a novel liver fiducial marker implantation method for internal fixation and removal of rabbit livers, in order to use in Cyberknife tracking therapy.Methods:Experiments were conducted in vivo and in vitro. In the in vivo experiment, three fiducial markers were implanted percutaneously in each liver of ten rabbits under anesthesia, and the fourth fiducial marker with an external catheter and fixed thin wire was implanted ten days later. After the reference group (the first and the second maker), and the casing group (the first and the fourth marker) were respectively registered and tracked with the Cyberknife, the implantation success rate, registration accuracy, and removal safety of fiducial markers were assessed. The tensile test was performed using liver in vitro by measuring the resistance required to dislodge the spring coil fiducial markers and the fiducial markers without spring coil from liver. Results:The intrahepatic catheter implantation and removal of fiducial marker in rabbit liver had a success rate of 100% and no distant migration. The operation-related and postoperative complications were not occurred. All fiducial markers were successfully traced. Compared to the reference group, the casing group had slightly higher translational errors in supero-inferior and antero-posterior directions ( Z=-11.77, -4.57, P<0.05), and lower translational errors in left-right direction ( Z=-2.52, P<0.05). The dislodgement forces for spring coil fiducial markers was (2.23±0.85) N, significantly different with (0.81±0.13) N for fiducial markers without spring coil ( Z=- 2.31, P < 0.05). Conclusions:The spiral coil structure provides superior fixation in the punctured needle channel, the thin line limits the distant displacement of the fiducial marker outside the liver, and the catheter establishes a channel for the removal. The general operation is simple and easy.

Objective    To establish a machine learning model based on computed tomography (CT) radiomics for preoperatively predicting invasive degree of lung ground-glass nodules (GGNs). Methods    We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of GGNs patients whose solid component less than 3 cm in the Department of Thoracic Surgery of Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital from March 2021 to July 2021 and the First Hospital of Lanzhou University from January 2019 to May 2022. The lesions were divided into pre-invasiveness and invasiveness according to postoperative pathological results, and the patients were randomly divided into a training set and a test set in a ratio of 7∶3. Radiomic features (1 317) were extracted from CT images of each patient, the max-relevance and min-redundancy (mRMR) was used to screen the top 100 features with the most relevant categories, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) was used to select radiomic features, and the support vector machine (SVM) classifier was used to establish the prediction model. We calculated the area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, negative predictive value, positive predictive value to evaluate the performance of the model, drawing calibration and decision curves of the prediction model to evaluate the accuracy and clinical benefit of the model, analyzed the performance in the training set and subgroups with different nodule diameters, and compared the prediction performance of this model with Mayo and Brock models. Two primary thoracic surgeons were required to evaluate the invasiveness of GGNs to investigate the clinical utility of the mode. Results    A total of 400 patients were divided into the training set (n=280) and the test set (n=120) according to the admission criteria. There were 267 females and 133 males with an ……

Accurately predicting the risk of mediastinal lymph node metastasis before surgery is of great significance for tumor staging, treatment plan decision, and prognosis evaluation in patients with non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC). Traditional imaging methods such as CT, MRI and PET/CT are currently the most commonly used clinical methods in clinical evaluation of lymph node status. However, it is subjective to judge lymph node metastasis only by the change of image morphological characteristics, and inflammatory lymphadenopathy will also lead to a high false positive rate. The clinicopathological characteristics obtained by analyzing the clinical data of patients with NSCLC can improve the accuracy of lymph node metastasis prediction to a certain extent. The clinical prediction model based on medical images combined with the clinical characteristics of patients can provide more intuitive and rational information for doctors and patients, but the performance and applicability of the model will inevitably decrease due to changes in disease risk factors and treatment measures. In recent years, with the significant improvement of image analysis technology and computing ability, radiomics models based on medical images can deeply dig into the data in radiological images for quantitative analysis, providing new ideas for predicting mediastinal lymph node metastasis in NSCLC patients, which has attracted extensive attention at home and abroad. This article reviews the progress and makes prospects of the above methods in the prediction of mediastinal lymph node metastasis in NSCLC.

Objective:To explore the effects of microRNA-126 (miR-126) on the proliferation of human myeloid leukemia mononuclear cells (THP-1)-derived macrophages in high glucose environment and the regulatory role of miR-126 in periodontitis with diabetes.Methods:THP-1 cells were cultured in vitro and 5 μg/L phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate was applied to induce THP-1 cells differentiating into macrophages for 48 h in low glucose culture medium (5.5 mmol/L). THP-1-derived macrophages were then cultured with low glucose, medium glucose (15 mmol/L) or high glucose (25 mmol/L) media respectively. The proliferation of THP-1-derived macrophages was detected by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) method and the expressions of miR-126 and proliferation-associated factors were detected by quantitative real time PCR (qRT-PCR). The miR-126 mimic or inhibitor was transfected into THP-1-derived macrophages for 72 h. The proliferation of cells was detected by CCK-8 method and the expressions of miR-126 or proliferation-associated factors were detected by qRT-PCR. Results:Increasing glucose concentration decreased the proliferation of THP-1-derived macrophages (day 7, A values in low, medium and high glucose groups were 0.369±0.014, 0.214±0.009 and 0.200±0.010, respectively, P<0.01) as well as the survival rate ( P<0.05), promoted the expression of miR-126, B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2)-associated X protein (BAX) and caspase-3 ( P<0.05), and suppressed Bcl-2, phosphoinositol-3 kinase regulatory subunit 2 (PIK3R2) expression ( P<0.05). After the miR-126 mimic was transfected in cells in low glucose medium for 72 h, compared with negative control (1.005±0.118), the expression of miR-126 significantly increased (2 980.227±170.431, P<0.05), and the proliferation of THP-1 derived macrophages decreased (negative control: 1.816±0.013, mimic group: 1.310±0.048, P<0.01), the level of BAX and caspase-3 significantly increased ( P<0.01, P<0.05), PIK3R2 and Bcl-2 significantly decreased ( P<0.05, P<0.01). After the miR-126 inhibitor was transfected in cells cultured in high glucose medium for 72 h, compared with negative control (0.723±0.133), the proliferation of inhibitor group increased (0.984±0.049, P<0.05), the level of BAX and caspase-3 significantly decreased ( P<0.01, P<0.05), PIK3R2 and Bcl-2 significantly increased ( P<0.01, P<0.05). Conclusions:High glucose condition can inhibit the proliferation of THP-1-derived macrophages and increase the expression of miR-126. MiR-126 can inhibit the proliferation of THP-1-derived macrophages in high glucose environment through up-regulating the expression of BAX and caspase-3 and down-regulating the expression of PIK3R2 and Bcl-2.