ObjectiveTo classify subtypes among middle-aged and elderly type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients aged between 35‒74 years in Shanghai suburbs, to compare their characteristics and analyze incidence risk for cerebrovascular disease among these subtypes, so as to promote personalized and precise treatment of T2DM. MethodsA total of 7 792 patients with T2DM who completed a baseline survey from 2016 and 2019 were selected as the research subjects, based on the data from a natural population cohort and biobank in Shanghai suburbs. Patients were stratified by gender and clustered into subtypes using k-means method based on baseline parameters including the age at T2DM diagnosis, body mass index (BMI), fasting blood glucose, and triglyceride to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (TG/HDL-C). Patients were followed up until March 31, 2023. Multivariate Cox regression models were used to analyze the association between subtypes and incidence risk for cerebrovascular disease, and those with cerebrovascular disease within 1 year of follow-up survey were excluded from sensitivity analysis. ResultsAmong the 7 792 patients with T2DM, 3 615 were males and 4 177 were females. Stratified by gender, 4 subgroups were identified through k-means clustering analysis, namely poor blood glucose control subgroup, severe insulin-resistant subgroup, younger onset subgroup, and older onset subgroup. The median follow-up time was 4.30 years, during which 1 960 cerebrovascular disease events were observed (844 in males, 1 116 in females). After adjusting for smoking, alcohol consumption, weekly exercise, family history of diabetes mellitus, and duration of diabetes mellitus, among male patients, the incidence risk for cerebrovascular disease was lower in the younger onset subgroup (HR=0.59, 95%CI: 0.48‒0.73, P<0.001), poor blood glucose control subgroup (HR=0.81, 95%CI: 0.65‒1.00, P=0.046), and severe insulin-resistant subgroup (HR=0.61, 95%CI: 0.50‒0.75, P<0.001), compared to the older onset subgroup. While among female patients, the incidence risk for cerebrovascular disease was also lower in the younger onset subgroup (HR=0.68, 95%CI: 0.57‒0.80, P<0.001), poor blood glucose control subgroup (HR=0.73, 95%CI: 0.60‒0.89, P=0.002), and severe insulin-resistant subgroup (HR=0.72, 95%CI: 0.61‒0.85, P<0.001), compared to the older onset subgroup. Results of the sensitivity analysis were consistent with the main findings. ConclusionAmong middle-aged and elderly T2DM patients in suburban Shanghai, both male and female patients have the highest incidence risk for cerebrovascular disease in the older onset subgroup. Subtyping of T2DM patients can help to identify the high-risk populations of cerebrovascular disease.

Objective:To collect data on urinary flow rate in the elderly female population across the country and to analyze the range of reference values.Methods:This study enrolled 333 subjects from July 2020 to June 2022.The study implementation process was divided into two steps.In the first step, subjects completed an electronic questionnaire, which included basic information about the subject, a short form for urinary incontinence, and a scoring form for the symptoms of overactive bladder syndrome.In the second step, the staff introduced the use of a mobile uroflowmetric device and distributed the instrument and materials.Uroflow rate data were automatically uploaded to a cloud database via the mobile phone.Subsequently, two or more physicians specializing in urinary control performed Uroflow rate-qualifying screenings and conducted statistical analyses.Results:A total of 333 subjects were enrolled in the study, and the researchers collected 1375 qualified urine flow rate records using a mobile urine flow rate instrument.The age of the subjects ranged from 60 to 84 years, with a mean age of 69 years.The reference ranges for urinary flow rate were found to be 24.8-26.2 s, with a mean urinary flow rate of 12.2-12.9 ml/s, a maximum urinary flow rate of 22.2-23.4 ml/s, and a time to peak of 8.5-9.7 s. The study observed a tendency for both maximal and mean urinary flow rates to decrease in older women as their age increased(Pearson correlation coefficient: -0.1, P<0.001). Conclusions:The uroflow rate of older women decreases with aging.Specifically, the average uroflow rate of women over 80 years old is lower than that of other age groups.This study aims to establish normal uroflow parameters for uroflowmetry in healthy older women in China.

Digestive system malignant tumor is one of the common malignant tumors in humans,and its high morbidity and low survival rate at advanced stages bring heavy disease burden to patients,families and society.However,current tumor screening technologies are not suitable for screening in large-scale populations and long-term follow-up because of the invasiveness or complexity.Thus,liquid biopsy,which based on biomarkers such as circulating tumor DNA,circulating tumor cells,exosomes and other new biomarkers,has broad prospects for development in tumor screening.Exosome,secreted by living cells,is a type of extracellular vesicle with the lipid bilayer.Compared to other biomarkers,exosome has the advantages of high stability,wide distribution,and high quantity.The various proteins carried by exosome can reflect the characteristics of the origin cells,and exosome has important research value for the early diagnosis of tumors.This article reviews the studies of exosomal proteins as biomarkers for early diagnosis of digestive system malignant tumors in the past five years,and summarizes the characteristics and limitations of the above studies,so as to provide reference for promoting the clinical transformation of exosomal proteins.

Alfalfa(Medicago sativa L.)is the most important legume forage crop worldwide with high nutritional value and yield.For a long time,the breeding of alfalfa was hampered by lacking reliable information on the autotetraploid genome and molecular markers linked to important agro-nomic traits.We herein reported the de novo assembly of the allele-aware chromosome-level genome of Zhongmu-4,a cultivar widely cultivated in China,and a comprehensive database of genomic variations based on resequencing of 220 germplasms.Approximate 2.74 Gb contigs(N50 of 2.06 Mb),accounting for 88.39％of the estimated genome,were assembled,and 2.56 Gb contigs were anchored to 32 pseudo-chromosomes.A total of 34,922 allelic genes were identified from the allele-aware genome.We observed the expansion of gene families,especially those related to the nitrogen metabolism,and the increase of repetitive elements including transposable elements,which probably resulted in the increase of Zhongmu-4 genome compared with Medicago truncatula.Population structure analysis revealed that the accessions from Asia and South America had rela-tively lower genetic diversity than those from Europe,suggesting that geography may influence alfalfa genetic divergence during local adaption.Genome-wide association studies identified 101 sin-gle nucleotide polymorphisms(SNPs)associated with 27 agronomic traits.Two candidate genes were predicted to be correlated with fall dormancy and salt response.We believe that the allele-aware chromosome-level genome sequence of Zhongmu-4 combined with the resequencing data of the diverse alfalfa germplasms will facilitate genetic research and genomics-assisted breeding in variety improvement of alfalfa.

Objective:Diagnostic value assessment of sternal bone marrow cell morphology in patients with acquired hypocellular bone marrow failure syndromes (BMFS) characterized by normal cytogenetics.Methods:A total of 194 eligible patients with an acquired hypocellular BMFS pre-sternum diagnosis in Institute of Hematology and Blood Diseases Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science & Peking Union Medical College from June 2014 to January 2019 were reviewed. Sternal bone marrow evaluation was performed, and a post-sternum diagnosis was made. Clinical characteristics and overall survival (OS) were then compared among patients with different post-sternum diagnosis. Binary logistic regression was used to develop a predictive scoring system.Results:In 152 patients with pre-sternum AA diagnosis, 29 patients with a pre-sternum idiopathic cytopenia of undetermined significance (ICUS) diagnosis, and 13 patients with a pre-sternum clonal cytopenia of undetermined significance (CCUS) diagnosis, sternal bone marrow evaluation resulted in a change of diagnosis to hypocellular myelodysplastic syndrome (hypo-MDS) in 42.8% (65/152) , 24.1% (7/29) , and 30.8% (4/13) , respectively. Patients with a post-sternum hypo-MDS diagnosis showed a significant difference in OS compared with patients with a post-sternum AA diagnosis ( P=0.005) . Patients with ICUS/CCUS showed no difference in OS compared with AA and hypo-MDS ( P=0.095 and P=0.480, respectively) . A 4-item predictive scoring system to identify hypocellular BMFS patients that need sternal bone marrow evaluation was developed, including age > 60 years old ( OR=6.647, 95% CI 1.954-22.611, P=0.002, 2 points) , neutrophil alkaline phosphatase score ≤ 160 ( OR=2.654, 95% CI 1.214-5.804, P=0.014, 1 point) , abnormal erythroid markers evaluated by flow cytometry on iliac bone marrow ( OR=6.200, 95% CI 1.165-32.988, P=0.032, 2 points) , and DAT (DNMT3A, ASXL1, TET2) genes mutation ( OR=4.809, 95% CI 1.587-14.572, P=0.005, 1 point) . The Akaike information criterin (AIC) was 186.1. Conclusion:Patients with a pre-sternum acquired hypocellular BMFS diagnosis characterized by normal cytogenetics may not reach accurate diagnostic categorization without sternal bone marrow cell morphology evaluation, which could be considered a diagnostic tool for this patient population. A predictive scoring system was developed, and when the total score is ≥ 2 points, sternal bone marrow evaluation should be performed for accurate diagnostic categorization that is critical to optimal patient care.

Objective:The clinical efficacy, safety and quality of life in female patients with stress urinary incontinence (SUI)treated by midurethral sling were studied by multicenter retrospective study.Methods:From January 2018 to December 2018, 531 female patients with severe stress urinary incontinence from seven domestic urinary center were included in this study, including 78 cases from General Hospital of Central Theater Command, 122 cases from Shanghai Jiao tong University School of Medicine Affiliated Ren Ji Hospital, 67 cases from Shanghai Jiaotong University Affiliated First People’s Hospital, 68 cases from People’s Hospital of Jiangsu Province, 71 cases from The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, 65 cases from Zhejiang Provincial People’s hospital, 60 cases from Xiamen University First Affiliated Hospital. Among the 531 patients, 214 cases received TVT sling with an average age of (58.14±10.16) years. 181 cases were in postmenopausal(84.6%). The number of births ≥2 times was 89 (41.6%) cases. The score of ICI-Q-SF was 16.00±1.73. There were 166 cases of moderate incontinence (77.6%) and 48 cases of severe incontinence (22.4%). There were 317 patients in the TOT/TVT-O group with an average age of (58.33±10.25) years. 247 cases were in postmenopausal(77.9%). The number of births ≥2 times was 120 (37.8%) cases. The score of ICI-Q-SF was 15.79±1.75. There were 256 cases of moderate incontinence (80.8%) and 61 cases of severe incontinence (19.2%). There was no statistically significant difference in general data parameters between the two groups ( P>0.05). 1, 6, 12 months after the operation, the two groups of patients incontinence questionnaire Summary(ICI-Q-SF), common complications and Patient Global Impression of Improvement(PGI-I), satisfaction evaluation follow-up. ICI-Q-SF score improved > by 50% (cure + significant improvement) and 1-hour pad test <10 g (qualitative index) were used as the evaluation index of surgical success. Result:Both of the two surgical methods have high successive rate. There was no significant difference between 94.9% (203/214) of the TVT group and 93.7% (297/317) of the TOT/ TVT-O group ( P>0.05). Postoperative improvement of urinary incontinence (cure rate) [88.3% (189/214)]in the TVT group was slightly higher than that in the TOT/ TVT-O group [77.0% (244/317)] ( P<0.05). There was no change in the recurrence rate of urinary incontinence in the follow-up 6 and 12 months after the operation. There was no statistically significant difference between 4.4% (9/203) in the TVT group and 5.4% (16/297) in the TOT/TVT-O group ( P>0.05). The subjective cure rate 12 months after the operation was 96.3% (206/214) in the TVT group and 95.9% (304/317) in the TOT/TVT-O group ( P>0.05). 10 patients occurred bladder perforation occurred in the TVT group, and no bladder perforation occurred in the TOT/TVT-O group ( P<0.001). The incidence of pain and discomfort in the TVT group was significantly lower at 1.9% than that in the TOT/TVT-O group at 6.9% ( P<0.01). There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in the incidence of complications such as dysuria/urinary retention, frequent urination/urgency incontinence. Both of them exposed sling ( P>0.05). Conclusion:Both TVT and TOT/TVT-O sling can effectively treat female stress urinary incontinence, and both can improve the sexual satisfaction of patients after the surgery, with fewer complications and other advantages. The selection of specific surgical methods in clinical practice can be individualized according to the patient's physical conditions, clinical needs and the operation methods familiar to doctors.

Objective:To explore the genetic characteristics, clinical features, and prognostic values of RAS mutations in patients with myelofibrosis (MF) .Methods:We analyzed 112-gene targeted sequencing data from 226 patients who had a diagnosis of either primary myelofibrosis (PMF) or post-polycythemia vera/post-essential thrombocythemia (post-PV MF and post-ET MF) from December 2011 to December 2019. A retrospective analysis of the genetic characteristics, clinical features, and prognosis of RAS mutations was performed.Results:Among 266 patients diagnosed PMF or post-PV/ET MF, RAS mutations were found in 14 (6.2%) cases, including 9 (4.0%) cases of NRAS mutations, 8 (3.5%) cases of KRAS mutations, and 3 (1.3%) cases of both NRAS and KRAS mutations. All of the NRAS mutations were located in codons 12 and 13. The median VAFs of RAS mutations were significantly lower than those of the driver mutations, confirming that they represent sub-clonal events that are acquired during the disease course. SETBP1, SRSF2, and MPL tended to be clustered with RAS mutations. Patients with RAS mutations had a higher number of additional oncogenic mutations (median, 3.36 vs 1.17, P<0.001) . RAS mutations had a statistically significant association with elevated monocyte cell counts ( P=0.003) , lower platelet counts ( P=0.026) , higher bone marrow blasts ( P=0.022) , splenomegaly ( P=0.005) , and very high-risk (VHR) karyotype abnormality percentage ( P=0.031) . In univariate analysis, the OS of patients with NRAS mutations were significantly inferior in the entire MF and PMF cohorts ( P=0.001, P=0.008) . In a multivariate model, NRAS retained an independent negative prognostic factor in PMF. Conclusion:RAS gene mutations were constantly related to elevated monocyte cell counts, lower platelet counts, higher bone marrow blasts, and VHR karyotype abnormality percentage that usually defined high-risk disease and often occurred as sub-clonal events. NRAS mutation is an independent poor prognostic factor in PMF.

Objective To explore the MR findings of extra?abdominal desmoid?type fibromatosis and the related features of recurrence. Methods MRI and clinical data of 36 cases of extra?abdominal desmoid?type fibromatosis proved by surgical pathology were retrospectively reviewed between March 2010 and October 2016.The ages of the cases ranged from 10 years to 68 years. 14 males and 22 females were included with sex ratio 1∶1.57.the courses of the disease were varied from 1 day to 8 years. The stage was based on Church′s method. 3 cases were only with plain scan and other 33 cases with contrast enhancement. Sagittal or coronal T1WI, STIR?T2WI, PdWI and contrast enhanced T1WI in horizontal, sagittal and coronal view were examined on MR siganl 1.5T or 3.0T of GE Company. Two groups were divided based on the recurrence or not after surgery. The clinical and MR features were analyzed between the two groups with χ2 test, t test or Spearman rank correlation analysis according to the data characteristics. Results Compared with signal intensity of muscle, 34 cases were isointense and 2 cases isointense with hypointense area on T1WI; 34 cases were hyperintense and 2 cases hyperintense with hypointense area on T2WI. On contrast enhanced imaging, 22 cases were markedly enhanced, 7 cases moderately enhanced and 4 cases mildly enhanced.15 cases was with recurrence and 21 cases without recurrence. Infiltration of surrounding tissue was shown in 14 cases(38.9%), 13 cases with recurrence and 1 cases without recurrence. Band sign was shown in all cases. Tentacle sign was shown in 18 cases (50.0%), 15 cases with recurrence and 3 cases without recurrence. Split fat sign was shown in 12 cases (33.3%) and all without recurrence. Fascial tail sign was shown in 15 cases (41.7%), 13 cases with recurrence and 2 cases without recurrence. Hypointense ring around the tumor was shown in 21 cases (58.3%), 2 cases with recurrence and 19 cases without recurrence. The P value of tentacle sign, split fat sign, hypointense ring around the tumor, fascial tail sign and infiltration of surrounding tissue was less than 0.05. Gender, location and the degree of contrast enhancement was without difference of statistical significance between the two groups. There was significant correlation of the recurrence rate with the courses and the stage of the disease(χ2=7.264 , r=0.994 , P<0.05). Conclusions Tentacle sign, fascial tail sign and infiltration of surrounding tissue were attributed to the estimate of recurrence of extra?abdominal desmoid?type fibromatosis, and Be features contributes to the diagnosis and therapy of extra?abdominal desmoid?type fibromatosis.

Odontogenic keratocysts (OKCs) are common cystic lesions of odontogenic epithelial origin that can occur sporadically or in association with naevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome (NBCCS). OKCs are locally aggressive, cause marked destruction of the jaw bones and have a propensity to recur. PTCH1 mutations (at ∼80%) are frequently detected in the epithelia of both NBCCS-related and sporadic OKCs, suggesting that PTCH1 inactivation might constitutively activate sonic hedgehog (SHH) signalling and play a major role in disease pathogenesis. Thus, small molecule inhibitors of SHH signalling might represent a new treatment strategy for OKCs. However, studies on the molecular mechanisms associated with OKCs have been hampered by limited epithelial cell yields during OKC explant culture. Here, we constructed an isogenic PTCH1 cellular model of PTCH1 inactivation by introducing a heterozygous mutation, namely, c.403C>T (p.R135X), which has been identified in OKC patients, into a human embryonic stem cell line using the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated 9 (Cas9) system. This was followed by the induction of epithelial differentiation. Using this in vitro isogenic cellular model, we verified that the PTCH1 heterozygous mutation causes ligand-independent activation of SHH signalling due to PTCH1 haploinsufficiency. This activation was found to be downregulated in a dose-dependent manner by the SHH pathway inhibitor GDC-0449. In addition, through inhibition of activated SHH signalling, the enhanced proliferation observed in these induced cells was suppressed, suggesting that GDC-0449 might represent an effective inhibitor of the SHH pathway for use during OKC treatment.
Anilides ; pharmacology ; Basal Cell Nevus Syndrome ; Hedgehog Proteins ; genetics ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Molecular Targeted Therapy ; Odontogenic Cysts ; genetics ; physiopathology ; therapy ; Odontogenic Tumors ; genetics ; physiopathology ; therapy ; Pyridines ; pharmacology

Odontogenic keratocysts (OKCs) are common cystic lesions of odontogenic epithelial origin that can occur sporadically or in association with naevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome (NBCCS).OKCs are locally aggressive,cause marked destruction of the jaw bones and have a propensity to recur.PTCH1 mutations (at ～80％) are frequently detected in the epithelia of both NBCCS-related and sporadic OKCs,suggesting that PTCH1 inactivation might constitutively activate sonic hedgehog (SHH) signalling and play a major role in disease pathogenesis.Thus,small molecule inhibitors of SHH signalling might represent a new treatment strategy for OKCs.However,studies on the molecular mechanisms associated with OKCs have been hampered by limited epithelial cell yields during OKC explant culture.Here,we constructed an isogenic PTCH1R135X/+ cellular model of PTCH1 inactivation by introducing a heterozygous mutation,namely,c.403C＞T (p.R135X),which has been identified in OKC patients,into a human embryonic stem cell line using the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated 9 (Casg) system.This was followed by the induction of epithelial differentiation.Using this in vitro isogenic cellular model,we verified that the PTCH1R135X/+ heterozygous mutation causes ligand-independent activation of SHH signalling due to PTCH1 haploinsufficiency.This activation was found to be downregulated in a dose-dependent manner by the SHH pathway inhibitor GDC-0449.In addition,through inhibition of activated SHH signalling,the enhanced proliferation observed in these induced cells was suppressed,suggesting that GDC-0449 might represent an effective inhibitor of the SHH pathway for use during OKC treatment.