Esophageal carcinoma is a malignant disease with a high incidence rate and poor prognosis. The mitochondrial apoptosis pathway plays a pivotal role in the regulation of cell death and has become a focal point in current cancer therapeutics research. Various active components from traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） can target the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway to inhibit esophageal carcinoma， presenting as potential therapeutic agents for this disease. This paper summarizes relevant research on the inhibition of esophageal carcinoma by active components in TCM via targeting the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway. It has been found that flavonoids （casticin， icariin， luteolin， kaempferol， hesperetin， deguelin， etc.）， terpenoids （oridonin， Jaridonin， artesunate， ethyl acetate fraction of pleurotus ferulatus triterpenoid， etc.）， alkaloids （matrine， swainsonine， etc.）， polyphenols （curcumin， epigallocatechin-3-gallate， corilagin， etc.）， steroids （α-hederin， polyphyllin Ⅵ， etc.）， phenols （optimized scorpion venom peptide CT-K3K7， gecko active polypeptide， etc.）， volatile oils （cinnamaldehyde， α -asarone， etc.） and other active components from TCM can target the intrinsic mitochondrial apoptosis pathway， induce apoptosis in esophageal carcinoma cells， and inhibit their proliferation， invasion and migration by regulating oxidative stress， blocking the cell cycle， regulating signaling pathways such as PI3K/Akt and MAPK.

Objective To analyze the epidemiological characteristics of visceral leishmaniasis in Gansu Province from 2017 to 2023, so as to provide insights into formulation of the visceral leishmaniasis control strategy in the province. Methods All epidemiological features of confirmed and clinically diagnosed cases of visceral leishmaniasis reported in Gansu Province from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2023 were retrieved from the Chinese Disease Prevention and Control Information System, and the epidemiological characteristics of visceral leishmaniasis cases were analyzed descriptively. Results A total of 280 visceral leishmaniasis cases were reported in 39 counties (cities and districts) of Gansu Province from 2017 to 2023, including 258 local cases reported in 21 endemic counties (districts) and 22 imported cases reported in 18 non-endemic areas. Of the 280 cases, there were 262 cases with mountain type zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis (MT-ZVL), 12 cases with desert-type zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis (DT-ZVL), and 6 cases with unknown type. Re-emerging MT-ZVL occurred in Maiji District, Qinzhou District, Lixian County, Kangxian County, Zhenyuan County, Qin’an County and Yongjing County, and re-emerging DT-ZVL occurred in Dunhuang City, while emerging DT-ZVL occurred in Yumen City. The five counties (districts) reporting the highest number of visceral leishmaniasis cases included Wudu District, Wenxian County, Tanchang County, Zhouqu County and Diebu County, and a total of 220 cases were reported in these five counties, accounting for 78.57% of all visceral leishmaniasis cases in the province. Visceral leishmaniasis cases were reported each month throughout the year, with the peak in July. All reported visceral leishmaniasis cases had ages of 6 months to 81 years, including 50.71% (142/280) under 15 years of age, 49.29% (138/280) at ages of 15 years and older, and of all cases under 15 years of age, children at ages of 0 to 3 years were the most commonly affected (27.14%, 76/280). Among 280 visceral leishmaniasis cases, there were 173 males and 107 females with a male to female ratio of 1.62∶1, and farmer was the most common occupation (40.36%), followed by diaspora children (37.86%). Conclusions The prevalence of visceral leishmaniasis appeared an overall tendency towards a decline in Gansu Province from 2017 to 2023; however, there are still multiple challenges for visceral leishmaniasis control in the province. Reinforced dog monitoring and management, intensified human health education and improved capability building among professionals are recommended to manage the rebounding and spread of visceral leishmaniasis.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.apsb.2022.06.009.].

Objective:To study the main blood parameters of Leishmania-infected dogs with different clinical symptoms in the high incidence area of visceral leishmaniasis in Gansu Province, and to provide scientific basis for early diagnosis and monitoring of canine leishmaniasis. Methods:In May 2019, Wenxian County of Longnan City and Diebu County of Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, the historical endemic areas of visceral leishmaniasis in Gansu Province, were selected as the investigation sites, and 40 dogs with positive Leishmania DNA were investigated. According to their clinical symptoms, they were divided into three groups: asymptomatic ( n = 17), minimally symptomatic ( n = 12) and symptomatic ( n = 11). At the same time, 10 healthy dogs were selected as controls. Major blood indexes were detected by an automatic animal blood five-classification cell analyzer. Results:Compared with the control group, the number of red blood cells, hemoglobin content, hematocrit, and the number of lymphocytes, monocytes and eosinophils in the asymptomatic, minimally symptomatic and symptomatic groups were decreased ( P < 0.05), while the number of white blood cells and neutrophils in minimally symptomatic and symptomatic groups were decreased ( P < 0.05). The above blood indexes were lower in the symptomatic group than those in the asymptomatic group. The number of red blood cells (control group vs symptomatic group) decreased from (6.82 ± 0.05) × 10 12/L to (4.19 ± 0.08) × 10 12/L, hemoglobin content decreased from (15.84 ± 0.74) g/L to (9.65 ± 0.18) g/L, hematocrit decreased from (46.41 ± 0.95)% to (27.86 ± 0.42)%, the number of white blood cells decreased from (14.90 ± 0.22) × 10 9/L to (10.23 ± 0.24) × 10 9/L, the number of neutrophils decreased from (7.25 ± 0.18) × 10 9/L to (6.18 ± 0.11) × 10 9/L, the number of lymphocytes decreased from (2.80 ± 0.07) × 10 9/L to (1.64 ± 0.06) × 10 9/L, the number of monocytes decreased from (1.13 ± 0.01) × 10 9/L to (0.53 ± 0.02) × 10 9/L, and the number of eosinophils decreased from (1.70 ± 0.06) × 10 9/L to (0.71 ± 0.03) × 10 9/L. Conclusion:Different clinical symptoms of Leishmania-infected dogs have different blood test results.

Objective:To investigate the value of gadolinium ethoxybenzyl diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA)-enhanced MRI in predicting the pathological grade and early recurrence rate of hepatocellular carcinoma.Methods:The imaging data, pathological data, and follow-up data of 90 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma who underwent Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI examination and surgical treatment in People's Hospital of Baise from January 2016 to October 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. The correlation between the signal intensity of contrast-enhanced MRI and postoperative pathological grade was analyzed. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was performed to investigate the effects of the signal characteristics of hepatobiliary lesions on the early recurrence rate of hepatocellular carcinoma.Results:A total of 59 (65.56%) patients showed low-intensity signals and 31 (34.44%) patients showed mixed-intensity signals. High-intensity signal was not found in any patients. The signal intensity of the hepatobiliary phase was significantly correlated with the pathological grade of the tumor ( χ2 = 2.26, P = 0.040) and tumor size ( t = 3.10, P = 0.033). The early recurrence rate of hepatocellular carcinoma was significantly higher in patients exhibiting mixed-intensity signals than that in patients exhibiting low-intensity signals ( χ2 = 2.25, P = 0.041). Conclusion:Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI in the hepatobiliary phase with different signal intensities has the potential to predict the pathological grade and early recurrence rate of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Objective:To investigate the species types and phylogenetic relationship of canine Leishmania in Diebu County, Gansu Province, so as to provide a basis for exploring new methods of prevention and control of canine visceral leishmaniasis. Methods:DNA was extracted from blood samples of eight asymptomatic Leishmania-infected dogs in Luoda administrative village in Diebu County, Gansu Province. Ribosomal internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS-1) gene fragments were amplified and isolated by PCR, and then the amplified target fragments were sequenced. The MEGA 7.0 software was used for multiple sequence alignment, and a phylogenetic tree was constructed by neighbor-joining method to analyze the phylogenetic relationship of canine Leishmania in Diebu County, Gansu Province. Results:Fragments of about 320 bp corresponding in size to the target sequence ITS-1 were isolated from all of the eight asymptomatic Leishmania-infected dogs blood samples. ITS-1 sequence alignment showed that the sequence homology between 8 samples and Leishmania infantum MG969403, MN648755 strains was 99.1% - 100.0%; phylogenetic tree showed that all 8 samples were clustered into one branch with Leishmania infantum. Conclusion:Leishmania infantum is identified from all of the eight asymptomatic Leishmania-infected dogs blood samples in Diebu County, Gansu Province.

Objective:To learn about the diagnosis of Kala-azar in Gansu Province, and to provide a basis for formulating corresponding prevention and control measures.Methods:The data (age, gender, onset time, diagnosis time, diagnosis unit, etc.) of Kala-azar cases in Gansu Province from January to December 2018 were collected from the China Disease Prevention and Control Information System. At the same time, a case report questionnaire was designed to collect information such as the initial diagnosis unit and initial diagnosis results; a diagnosis and treatment questionnaire of medical institutions was designed to investigate the knowledge of diagnosis and treatment of Kala-azar (main epidemic areas, main symptoms, common detection methods, main therapeutic drugs and drug use methods) among doctors in county and township hospitals, and the pass rate and awareness rate were calculated.Results:A total of 47 Kala-azar cases were included, with an average age of 17 years. Among them, men accounted for 57.45% (27/47) and women accounted for 42.55% (20/47). Among the initial diagnosis hospitals, the proportions of provincial, municipal, county and township hospitals were 2.13% (1/47), 12.77% (6/47), 42.55% (20/47) and 42.55% (20/47), respectively; among the hospitals with confirmed cases, provincial, municipal, county and township hospitals accounted for 48.94% (23/47), 31.91% (15/47), 19.15% (9/47) and 0 (0/47), respectively. The shortest time from initial diagnosis to diagnosis of the 47 cases was 1 day; the longest was 124 days, with an average of 27 days. A total of 96 valid questionnaires were collected from doctors in county and township hospitals, of which 30 scored 60 points or above, and the pass rate was 31.25% (30/96). Among the five surveys on diagnosis and treatment knowledge of Kala-azar, doctors in county and township hospitals had the highest awareness rate of "main therapeutic drugs", which was 77.08% (74/96), and there was significant difference (χ 2 = 9.86, P = 0.002) between doctors in the two-level hospitals [90.00% (45/50), 63.04% (29/46)]. The awareness rate of "main symptoms" was the lowest, which was 25.00% (24/96), and there was significant difference (χ 2 = 4.51, P = 0.034) between doctors in the two-level hospitals [34.00% (17/50), 15.22% (7/46)]. Conclusions:The awareness rate of diagnosis and treatment knowledge of Kala-azar among doctors in county and township hospitals in Gansu Province is low, and their diagnostic ability is weak. It is recommended to strengthen the training of clinicians, improve the timeliness of diagnosis, and achieve early diagnosis, early report and early treatment of Kala-azar.

BACKGROUND: Patients with pulmonary nodules are treated by minimally invasive surgery, and postoperative symptoms have become the main factors affecting patients' emotion and quality of life. This study aimed to analyze the changes of postoperative symptoms in lung cancer patients with pulmonary nodules. METHODS: The clinical data of eighty-eight lung cancer patients admitted to the same medical group of Department of Thoracic Surgery, West China Hospital of Sichuan University from June 2021 to September 2021 were prospectively collected and analyzed. The types and severity of clinical symptoms before operation, on discharge day, 30-day and 90-day after operation were analyzed. RESULTS: The incidence of postoperative symptoms in lung cancer patients was 79.5%, and most patients suffered from mild (54.3%) and moderate (32.9%) symptoms. The main postoperative symptoms of lung cancer patients were pain (55.7%) and cough (37.2%). The incidence of pain at discharge (55.7%) was significantly higher than that at 30-day (23.7%, P=0.01) and 90-day (12.0%, P=0.01) after discharge. The incidence of cough was significantly higher at 30-day (66.1%) and 90-day (66.0%) than that at discharge (37.2%) (P=0.01, P=0.04). CONCLUSIONS The main postoperative symptoms of lung cancer patients with pulmonary nodules are pain and cough. The incidence and severity of pain decreases with time, and the incidence of cough increases but the severity decreased gradually.
Cough/etiology* ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms/surgery* ; Pain/etiology* ; Pneumonectomy/adverse effects* ; Quality of Life ; Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted/adverse effects*

The poor prognosis of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) results from a lack of approved targeted therapies coupled with aggressive proliferation and metastasis, which is associated with high recurrence and short overall survival. Here we developed a strategy by employing tumor-targeted self-assembled nanoparticles to coordinately regulate BACH1 (BTB domain and CNC homology 1) and mitochondrial metabolism. The BACH1 inhibitor hemin and mitochondria function inhibitor berberine derivative (BD) were used to prepare nanoparticles (BH NPs) followed by the modification of chondroitin sulfate (CS) on the surface of BH NPs to achieve tumor targeting (CS/BH NPs). CS/BH NPs were found to be able to inhibit tumor migration and invasion by significantly decreasing the amounts of tumor cell metabolites, glycolysis and metastasis-associated proteins, which were related to the inhibition of BACH1 function. Meanwhile, decreased mitochondrial membrane potential, activated caspase 3/9 and increased ROS production demonstrated coordinated regulation of BACH1 and mitochondrial metabolism. In a xenograft mice model of breast cancer, CS/BH NPs significantly inhibited tumor growth and metastasis due to the synergetic effect of hemin and BD without showing obvious toxicities for major organs. In sum, the results of efficacy and safety experiments suggest potential clinical significance of the prepared self-assembled CS/BH nanoparticles for the treatment of TNBC.

Objective    To verify the feasibility of a self-designed magnetic anchoring and traction device (MATD) for assisting two-port video-assisted thoracoscopic esophagectomy. Methods    Three Beagle dogs were selected as animal models with age ranging from 1-6 years and weight ranging from 8-12 kg, and they underwent two-port video-assisted thoracoscopic esophagectomy after general anesthesia. We used the MATD to retract the esophagus to different directions, which assisted mobilizing esophagus, detecting the nerves along esophagus and dissecting paraesophagus lymph nodes. The operation time, blood loss and feasibility of the MATD were recorded. Results    With the aid of the MATD, we successfully retracted and mobilized the esophagus, detected the nerves and dissected the lymph nodes in three Beagle dog models. During the operation, the MATD provided sufficient and steady traction of esophagus to achieve a good exposure of the operative field, effectively decreasing the interference between working instruments. The MATD worked well. The mean operation time was 30 min, and the mean intraoperative blood loss was about 10 mL. Conclusion    It is effective to use the MATD to assist retracting esophagus during video-assisted thoracoscopic esophagectomy. The magnetic anchoring and traction technique can assist to expose the surgical field, decrease the interference between the working instruments and have the potential clinical application.