Myocardial infarction （MI） refers to an acute clinical syndrome of myocardial necrosis due to persistent ischemia and hypoxia， resulting from the sharp reduction or interruption of coronary blood flow. Nuclear factor κB （NF-κB） is the key factor in inducing inflammatory response， and it is involved in the production of pro-inflammatory factors and myocardial cell apoptosis. This article systematically describes the molecular regulation mechanism of the NF-κB signaling pathway in MI， and reviews the related research on the prevention and treatment of MI through the regulation of this signaling pathway by active ingredients and compound formulas from traditional Chinese medicine （TCM）. It has been found that active ingredients from TCM， such as ginsenoside Rg3， baicalein， curcumin， tanshinone ⅡA， gambogic acid， as well as compound formulas， including Qili qiangxin capsules， Yiqi huoxue decoction， Lingbao huxin dan， Danhong injection， Baoyuan decoction combined with Taohong siwu decoction， can improve myocardial fibrosis， alleviate inflammatory responses， and inhibit cardiomyocyte apoptosis by suppressing the NF-κB signaling pathway. Thereby， they achieve the goal of preventing and treating MI.

ObjectiveTo observe the effect of earthworm protein on the expression of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B/nuclear factor E₂-related factor 2 （PI3K/Akt/Nrf2） pathway in the aorta of spontaneously hypertensive rats （SHR） and explore mechanism of earthworm protein in treating hypertensive vascular endothelial dysfunction （VED）. MethodTen 10-week-old Wistar Kyoto （WKY） rats and fifty SHR rats were selected for a week of adaptive feeding. WKY rats were selected as the normal group， and fifty SHR rats were randomized according to body weight into model， valsartan （8×10^-3 g·kg^-1·d^-1）， and high-， medium-， and low-dose （0.2， 0.1， 0.05 g·kg^-1·d^-1， respectively） earthworm protein groups. The normal and model groups were administrated with equal volume of double distilled water by gavage. During the drug intervention period， the general situations of rats in each group were observed and their blood pressure was monitored at specific time points every other week before and after administration. After 8 weeks of drug intervention， enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was employed to measure the levels of angiotensin-Ⅱ （Ang-Ⅱ） and endothelin-1 （ET-1） in the serum of rats in each group. The corresponding kits were used to determine the levels of nitric oxide （NO）， malondialdehyde （MDA）， glutathione peroxidase （GPX）， superoxide dismutase （SOD）， and ferrous ion （Fe²⁺）. Hematoxylin-eosin （HE） staining was employed to observe the changes in the intima of the aorta. Fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction （Real-time PCR） was employed to measure the mRNA levels of PI3K， Akt， Nrf2， heme oxygenase-1 （HO-1）， and glutathione peroxidase 4 （GPX4） in the aortic tissue. Western blotting was used to determine the protein levels of p-PI3K （Tyr467/199）， PI3K， p-Akt （Ser473）， Akt， Nrf2， HO-1， and GPX4 in the thoracic aorta. ResultCompared with the normal group， the model group had decreased body mass， increased irritability， severe endothelial damage， elevated blood pressure and serum levels of Ang-Ⅱ， ET1， MDA， and Fe²⁺ （P<0.01）， lowered NO level （P<0.01）， and down-regulated mRNA and protein levels of p-PI3K （Tyr467/199）， PI3K， p-Akt （Ser473）， Akt， Nrf2， HO-1， and GPX4 in the aortic tissue （P<0.01）. Compared with the model group， drug intervention caused no significant change in the body mass， calmed the rats， alleviated the endothelial damage， lowered blood pressure and serum levels of Ang-Ⅱ， ET1， MDA， and Fe²⁺ （P<0.01）， elevated the NO level （P<0.05）， and up-regulated the mRNA and protein levels of p-PI3K （Tyr467/199）， PI3K， p-Akt （Ser473）， Akt， Nrf2， HO-1， and GPX4 （P<0.05）. ConclusionThe earthworm protein can exert antihypertensive effects by ameliorating VED in SHR. Specifically， it may regulate the PI3K/Akt/Nrf2 signaling pathway to inhibit oxidative stress and ferroptosis.

Alanyl-transfer RNA synthetase 2 mutation-related leukodystrophy： a case report and literature review Alanyl-transfer RNA synthetase 2（AARS2）mutation-related leukoencephalopathy（AARS2-L）is a rare adult-onset leukodystrophy，with only 32 cases reported in the literature. This article reports a case of a female patient，aged 44 years，who had progressive cognitive impairment，mental and behavioral disorders，and ovarian failure. Cranial magnetic resonance imaging showed extensive white matter demyelination in both hemispheres，and whole-exome sequencing revealed compound heterozygous mutations，c.179 C>A and c.2752 C>T，in the AARS2 gene. Therefore，the patient was diagnosed with AARS2-L with reference to clinical features. Furthermore，this article reviews and analyzes the clinical and gene expression features of the cases reported in previous studies.

Objective:To evaluate the impact of self-crosslinked hyaluronic acid (SCH) gel on endometrium recovery after artificial abortion.Methods:A multicenter, prospective randomized controlled trial was conducted across 18 hospitals from December 2021 to February 2023, involving 382 women who underwent artificial abortion. Participants were randomly allocated to receive either treatment with SCH gel (SCH group) or no treatment (control group) in a 1∶1 ratio. The primary outcome was endometrium thickness in 14 to 18 days after the first postoperative menstruation. Secondary outcomes included changes in menstrual volume during the first postoperative menstruation, menstruation resumption within 6 postoperative weeks, time to menstruation resumption, duration of the first postoperative menstruation, and incidence of dysmenorrhea.Results:Baseline characteristics of participants were comparable between the two groups (all P>0.05), with 95.3% (182/191) in SCH group and 92.7% (177/191) in the control group completed the study. The postoperative endometrial thickness in SCH group was significantly greater than that in the control group [(9.78±3.15) vs (8.95±2.32) mm; P=0.005]. SCH group also had significantly fewer participants with reduced menstrual volume [23 cases (12.6%, 23/182) vs 31 cases (17.5%, 31/177); P=0.038]. Although SCH group experienced less dysmenorrhea during the first postoperative menstrual period, this difference was not statistically significant [28.5% (51/179) vs 37.1% (65/175); P=0.083]. Outcomes were similar between SCH group and the control group regarding the proportion of participants who resumed menstruation within 6 weeks postoperatively, time to menstruation resumption, and duration of the first postoperative menstruation ( P=0.792, 0.485, and 0.254, respectively). No serious adverse events were observed during the study period, and no adverse events were attributed to SCH gel treatment. Conclusion:The application of SCH gel after artificial abortion is safe and might aid in the recovery of the endometrium.

Objective:To select and obtain evidence on oral health management for dementia patients, and summarize the best evidence.Methods:The best clinical practices, guidelines, expert consensus, evidence summary, recommended practices, and systematic reviews on oral health management for patients with dementia and cognitive impairment were electronically retrieved from British Medical Journal Best Practice, Australia Joanna Briggs Institute Evidence-Based Health Care Center Database, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, Cochrane Library, PubMed, Alzheimer's Association, China Biomedical Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, WanFang Data and VIP and so on. The search period was from database establishment to October 31, 2023. Two to four researchers evaluated the quality of the included literature and extracted evidence from the literature that met the quality standards.Results:A total of 11 articles were included, including two guidelines, five evidence summaries, one recommended practice, and three systematic reviews. A total of 31 best pieces of evidence were summarized from eight aspects, including team work, personnel training, oral assessment, oral cleaning procedures, denture management, communication and behavior management, interventions for special oral problems, and health education.Conclusions:The oral health management of dementia patients has its particularity and the incidence of oral complications is high. It is necessary to strengthen the awareness and training of medical and nursing staff, pay attention to oral assessment, oral care, and communication skills, actively prevent and handle special oral problems, so as to improve the oral health of patients. In addition, it is recommended to evaluate patient cultural differences, clinical environment of the medical institution, patient willingness and so on before applying evidence in clinical practice, and then implement targeted evidence measures.

Spastic paraplegia type 4 (SPG4) is the most common type of autosomally inherited spastic paraplegia. Its main clinical features include typical simple hereditary spastic paraplegia, with neurological impairments limited to lower limb spasticity, hypertonic bladder dysfunction, and mild weakening of lower limb vibration sensation, without accompanying features such as nerve atrophy, ataxia, cognitive impairment, seizures, and muscle tone disorders. SPAST is the main pathogenic gene underlying SPG4, and various pathogenic SPAST variants have been discovered. This disease has featured a high degree of clinical heterogeneity, and the same pathogenic variant can have different age of onset and severity among patients and even within the same family. There is a lack of systematic research on the correlation between the genotype and phenotype of SPG4, and the pathogenic mechanism has remained controversial. This article has provided a review for the clinical characteristics, pathogenic gene characteristics, correlation between the genotype and phenotype, and pathogenic mechanism of this disease, with an aim to provide reference for its clinical diagnosis and treatment.

Progressive encephalomyelitis with rigidity and myoclonus (PERM) is a specific subtype of the stiff-person syndrome, which is rare and difficult to diagnose clinically. A case of PERM in a 66-year-old female with a fluctuating progressive course was reported in this article. She had increased facial muscle tone, pruritus and sensory hypersensitivity mainly in the head and neck, medullary involvement syndrome and bilateral lower limb rigidity as the main clinical manifestations, and a previous history of pulmonary malignancy, thymoma, typeⅠ diabetes and Hashimoto′s thyroiditis. The patient′s serum and cerebrospinal fluid were positive for anti-glutamic acid decarboxylase antibody. The electromyogram showed a large number of motor unit potentials in the trunk and proximal extremities in the quiet state, which were significantly enhanced during spastic episodes, consistent with the electromyographic manifestations of stiff-person syndrome. The final diagnosis was PERM, and immunotherapy including gamma globulin and hormone responded well. PERM is a rare neurological autoimmune disease with atypical early symptoms, which can be easily misdiagnosed, and it requires attention to avoid delaying the diagnosis.

Objective:To investigate the effects of Anhydroicaritin (AHI) , an isopentenylated flavo-noid compound, on proliferation, migration and apoptosis of human hepatocarcinoma cell line MHCC-97H.Methods:Human hepatocarcinoma cell line MHCC-97H and human normal liver cell line L02 were cultured in vitro. MHCC-97H cells were treated with 0, 20, 40, 80, 120, 160, 200 μg/ml of AHI respectively and L02 cells were treated with 0, 25, 50, 100, 150, 200, 400, 500 μg/ml of AHI respectively. CCK-8 and clone formation assay were used to detect cell proliferation. Scratch test was used to explore cell migration ability. Hoechst33342 assay and flow cytometer were used to detect cell apoptosis. The expressions of apoptosis-related proteins were detected by Western blotting. Results:The cell viabilities of MHCC-97H cells treated with 0, 20, 40, 80, 120, 160, 200 μg/ml of AHI for 24 h were (100.00±0.00) %, (97.41±2.10) %, (96.58±3.23) %, (87.72±4.85) %, (78.33±3.76) %, (56.97±2.61) % and (15.25±2.51) % respectively, and there was a statistically significant difference ( F=429.20, P<0.001) . There were statistically significant differences between 0 μg/ml and 80, 120, 160, 200 μg/ml of AHI treatment (all P<0.001) . The cell viabilities of L02 cells treated with 0, 25, 50, 100, 150, 200, 400, 500 μg/ml of AHI for 24 h were (100.00±0.00) %, (96.82±3.79) %, (95.36±3.43) %, (90.79±5.75) %, (77.67±5.66) %, (63.98±5.22) %, (34.22±4.01) % and (33.84±4.41) % respectively, and there was a statistically significant difference ( F=233.20, P<0.001) . There were statistically significant differences between 0 μg/ml and 100, 150, 200, 400, 500 μg/ml of AHI treatment (all P<0.05) . The 24 h half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC 50) value of AHI treated L02 cells was (300.20±17.10) μg/ml, which was significantly higher than that of MHCC-97H cells [ (158.60±5.50) μg/ml], and there was a statistically significant difference ( t=13.65, P<0.001) . The cell clone numbers of MHCC-97H cells treated with 0, 120, 160 and 200 μg/ml of AHI for 24 h were 1 993.00±46.29, 1 355.00±54.84, 998.33±21.03 and 218.33±35.95 respectively, and there was a statistically significant difference ( F=954.80, P<0.001) . There were statistically significant differences between 0 μg/ml and 120, 160, 200 μg/ml of AHI treatment (all P<0.001) . The healing rates of MHCC-97H cells treated with 0, 120, 160 and 200 μg/ml of AHI for 24 h were (51.68±1.93) %, (16.04±0.73) %, (8.88±0.31) % and (-6.94±0.46) % respectively, and there was a statistically significant difference ( F=1 616.00, P<0.001) . There were statistically significant differences between 0 μg/ml and 120, 160, 200 μg/ml of AHI treatment (all P<0.001) . Hoechst33342 experiment showed that MHCC-97H cells treated with 0 μg/ml AHI showed uniform dark blue with a complete nuclear state under inverted microscope. Compared with 0 μg/ml AHI treated cells, cells in the 120, 160, 200 μg/ml AHI treatment groups wrinkled and broken, and nuclei were also morphologically abnormal, with some nuclei stained bright blue, and the situation became more obvious with increasing dose. The apoptosis rates of MHCC-97H cells treated with 0, 120, 160 and 200 μg/ml AHI for 24 h were (10.51±0.56) %, (42.23±0.87) %, (61.92±0.52) % and (72.05±0.74) % respectively, and there was a statistically significant difference ( F=4 677.00, P<0.001) . There were statistically significant differences between 0 μg/ml and 120, 160, 200 μg/ml of AHI treatment (all P<0.001) . There were statistically significant differences among the different expression levels of Bax, Cleaved Caspase-3/Caspase-3, Cleaved Caspase-9/Caspase-9, and Bcl-2 proteins in MHCC-97H cells of 0, 120, 160, and 200 μg/ml of AHI treatment ( F=30.43, P<0.001; F=212.80, P<0.001; F=475.30, P<0.001; F=10.75, P=0.004) . The Bax protein expression of 160 and 200 μg/ml was significantly increased than that of 0 μg/ml AHI (both P<0.001) . The Cleaved Caspase-3/Caspase-3, Cleaved Caspase-9/Caspase-9 protein expressions of 120, 160 and 200 μg/ml were significantly increased than those of 0 μg/ml AHI (all P<0.001) . The Bcl-2 protein expression of 120, 160, 200 μg/ml was significantly decreased compared with that of 0 μg/ml AHI (all P<0.05) . Conclusion:AHI can inhibit the proliferation and migration of hepatocellular carcinoma cell line MHCC-97H, and promote its apoptosis.

Objective:To investigate the feasibility of individualized primary clinical target volume (CTV) delineation in intensity-modulated radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).Methods:Clinical data of 87 consecutive patients newly diagnosed with lateralized NPC in Jiangsu Cancer Hospital between October 2016 and February 2018 were retrospectively analyzed. Lateralized NPC is defined as tumor invasion not exceeding the contralateral wall. According to the tumor spread, the primary CTV was optimized as follows: CTV2 only covered the medial part of the contralateral pterygopalatine fossa, whereas the contralateral foramen oval was not included; on the level of parapharyngeal space, the contralateral side of CTV only covered the posterior lateral lymph nodes, whereas the contralateral internal jugular vein was not regularly covered. Failure patterns and 5-year survival [local control rate (LCR), progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS)] were evaluated by Kaplan-Meier method. Paired t-test and rank-sum test were used to analyze the dose variation in the optimized region and adverse reactions. Results:The median follow-up time was 59.5 months. The 5-year LCR, PFS, and OS were 98.9%, 86.5% and 92.1%, respectively. There was no local recurrence in the optimized area of CTV. Dosimetric comparison results showed that the doses of parotid gland, temporal lobe, cochlea and middle ear on the contralateral side were reduced by 13.45%, 9.14%, 38.83%, and 29.36%, respectively. Four cases (4.6%) developed grade 3 hearing loss, all on the ipsilateral side. The optimized scheme significantly alleviated the hearing loss on the contralateral side compared to that on the ipsilateral side ( P<0.001). Other grade 3 late adverse reactions included cranial nerve injury, subcutaneous fibrosis in the neck and visual impairment, with 1 case each. Conclusion:Individualized primary CTV for lateralized NPC is feasible and safe, with obvious dosimetric advantages and reduced adverse reaction rate, which is worthy of clinical promotion.

Objective:To investigate the apoptosis-inducing effect of baohuoside I (BI) on endometrial cancer Ishikawa cells and its related molecular mechanism.Methods:With 0 μ M and 0 h treatment were used as blank control group, and BI treatment was used as experimental group. The inhibitory effect of BI on the proliferation of Ishikawa cells was detected by CCK-8 assay. The apoptosis-inducing effect of BI on Ishikawa cells and the changes of mitochondrial membrane potential were detected by flow cytometry. The expressions of apoptosis-related proteins and signaling pathway-related proteins were detected by Western blot.Results:CCK-8 experiment showed that BI could be expressed in concentration gradient (3, 10, 20, 30, 40 μM). It could effectively inhibit the proliferation of Ishikawa cells (the survival rates were 89.56±0.96, 74.69±1.21, 60.28±1.09 and 43.51±2.17 respectively). Its toxic and side effects on normal cells were lower than that of 5-FU. The results of flow cytometry showed that BI could effectively induce the apoptosis of Ishikawa cells by reducing the level of mitochondrial membrane potential. The proportion of apoptotic cells in each group was (9.92±0.77) %, (14.01±0.83) %, (17.05±1.41) %, (28.21±1.73) % and (44.55±3.11) %. Western blot showed that BI could up-regulate the level of p-p38 and reduce the level of p-STAT3.Conclusions:BI can effectively inhibit the proliferation of Ishikawa cells, and induce apoptosis by reducing the mitochondrial membrane potential and activating the mitochondria-dependent pathway. Its regulatory mechanism is achieved by activating the p38 signaling pathway and inhibiting the STAT3 pathway.