Objective To explore the efficiency improvement in segmenting neural network with the application of Transformer + U-Net artificial intelligence (AI) and modeling with the application of Python scripts in three-dimensional (3D) printing brachytherapy. Methods A Transformer + U-Net AI neural network model was constructed, and Adam optimizer was used to ensure rapid gradient descent. Computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging data of patients were standardized and processed as self-made data sets. The training set was used to train AI and the optimal result weight parameters were saved. The test set was used to evaluate the AI ability. Python programming language was used to write an automated script to obtain the output segmentation image and convert it to the STL file for import. The source applicator and needle could be automatically modeled. The time of automatic segmentation and modeling and the time of manual segmentation and modeling were entered by two people, and the difference was verified by paired t-test. Results Dice similarity coefficient (DSC), mean intersection over union (MIOU), and Hausdorff distance (HD95) were used for evaluation. DSC was 0.9341, MIOU was 0.8762, and mean HD95 was 2.516. The mean time of manual segmentation was 1187 s, and the mean time of AI segmentation was 145 s (P < 0.01). The mean time of manual modeling was 321 s, and the mean time of modeling with Python automated scripts was 18 s (P < 0.01). Conclusion The application of Transformer + U-Net automatic segmentation and Python automated scripts can effectively improve work efficiency in the 3D printing brachytherapy for cervical cancer.

Diabetic retinopathy(DR), a major microvascular complication of diabetes, is driven by hyperglycemia-induced oxidative stress, chronic inflammation, and neurodegeneration. Post-translational modifications(PTM)play pivotal roles in DR progression by dynamically regulating protein functions. Key PTMs, including phosphorylation, acetylation, ubiquitination, and O-glcNAcylation, collectively exacerbate vascular dysfunction, inflammatory responses, metabolic dysregulation, and neuronal damage. The intricate crosstalk among PTM underscores the multifaceted pathology of DR. Future research should focus on elucidating PTM interaction networks, developing targeted modulators, and leveraging advanced technologies to uncover their roles in retinal cellular heterogeneity, thereby advancing precision therapeutic strategies for DR.

Objective: To explore incidence trend of hepatitis C in Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region from 2008 to 2022, so as to provide the basis for formulating prevention and control measures for hepatitis C. Methods: Data of reported hepatitis C cases in Chifeng City from 2008 to 2022 was collected through the Infectious Disease Information Reporting Management System. Trends in incidence of hepatitis C were analyzed using annual percent change (APC) and average annual percent change (AAPC). Impact of age, period and birth cohort on the risk of developing hepatitis C were analyzed by an age-period-cohort model. Results: The annual average reported incidence rate of hepatitis C in Chifeng City was 59.13/105 from 2008 to 2022. The incidence showed an upward trend from 2008 to 2018 (APC=9.405%, P<0.05) and a downward trend from 2018 to 2022 (APC=-17.475%, P<0.05), but the overall trend was not statistically significant (AAPC=0.937%, P>0.05). The age-period-cohort model analysis showed that the incidence risks of hepatitis C in the residents aged 0 to 4 years and 45 to 84 years were higher than those in the residents aged 40 to 44 years (the control group). The incidence risk of hepatitis C increased with age from 40 to 79 years. Compared with 2008-2012, the incidence risk of hepatitis C showed an increasing trend followed by a decline in 2008-2022. The incidence risk was higher in 2013-2017 and lower in 2018-2022 than in 2008-2012. The incidence risk of hepatitis C showed an increasing trend followed by a decreasing trend by using the birth cohort from 1968 to 1972 as the control. The birth cohort from 1953 to 1977 had a higher incidence risk of hepatitis C than other birth cohorts. Conclusions The overall incidence of hepatitis C in Chifeng City from 2008 to 2022 appeared a tendency towards a decline, and the incidence risk increased with age. Screening and health education for the elderly and high-risk birth cohorts should be strengthened.

ObjectiveTo provide scientific support for the compilation of high-quality anti-nuclear， biological， and chemical （NBC） medical textbooks in China by retrieving books in the field of biological weapons defense in China， summarizing the publication time and distribution of publishing institutions， and categorizing content and key points of related books. MethodsRelevant subject terms in the field of biological weapons defense were searched through the official website of China National Digital Library and other websites， up until December 31， 2023， and were limited to books. Topic analysis was conducted on the introductions and contents of the books using the latent Dirichlet allocation （LDA） model. The number of topics was determined based on perplexity， and topics were identified according to the intertopic distance map， followed by a qualitative description of the core content of each topic. ResultsA total of 104 books were included in this study， among which four were identified as higher educational textbooks. The volume of publications increased during the periods 2002‒2004 and 2020‒2023. Research institutions accounted for the highest percentage of publishers （37.78%）， and 56.67% of the publishers were military institutions. The study identified six topics： "distribution， defense， and response to biological weapons"， "category， diagnosis， and treatment of biological warfare agents"， "response to biological public health emergencies"， "status of nuclear， biological， and chemical weapons internationally"， "biosafety risk management and prevention and control"， and "technologies and equipment related to biological hazard identification". ConclusionThere are few books in the field of biological weapons defense in China and the content is relatively outdated. In the future， the preparation of teaching materials should be aimed at practical emergency handling techniques for biological weapons， enhance the emphasis on biological weapons detection and biological warfare early warning， improve the fundamental theories at different training levels， and timely update the current research status in the field.

Climate change has led to an increasing frequency and intensity of extreme climate events such as heat and drought extremes with considerable global public health burden. This systematic review collected 87 domestic and international studies from 2000 to 2023, considering the impacts of heat extremes, drought extremes, and compound hot-dry events on infectious diseases attributable to various transmission pathways such as waterborne, foodborne, insect-borne, airborne, and contact-transmitted diseases. Our results showed that high temperature was associated with increased transmission risks of waterborne and foodborne diseases including infectious diarrheal diseases (cholera, dysentery, typhoid, and paratyphoid) and infectious gastroenteritis; vector-borne diseases including dengue fever, Zika virus (ZIKV) disease, chikungunya fever, malaria, West Nile fever, and Rift Valley fever; airborne diseases including influenza-like diseases, influenza A, measles, and mumps; and contact-transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS, schistosomiasis, and leptospirosis. Additionally, drought conditions also amplified the transmission risks of waterborne and foodborne diseases including cholera, Escherichia coli infection, rotavirus infection, and hepatitis E; vector-borne diseases such as scrub typhus, schistosomiasis, hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, and West Nile fever; airborne diseases including meningococcal meningitis, pertussis, measles, and upper respiratory infections; and contact-transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS. Along with global warming, the frequency of compound high temperature and drought events shows a considerably increasing trend, causing more adverse health effects than heat or drought alone. However, there is limited research quantifying their effects on infectious diseases. These associations may be mediated through temperature and precipitation on infectious disease pathogens, transmission vectors, population susceptibility, public health services, and behaviors. In the context of climate change, the increasing occurrence of compound events of high temperatures and droughts raises health concerns, and further studies are needed to enhance our understanding of the impacts of climate change on infectious diseases and improve human adaption to climate change.

Objective To explore the changes in brain structure after short-term withdrawal therapy in patients with alcohol use disorder(AUD).Methods A total of 28 male patients with AUD were included,and brain MRI scans were performed at the time of enrollment and 2-3 weeks after standardized treatment.The total volume of brain tissue,gray matter,white matter and cerebrospi-nal fluid volume before and after treatment were measured by voxel-based morphometry(VBM)technology,and the gray matter volume of each brain region of the whole brain was measured and statistically analyzed according to the automated anatomical labeling(AAL)template.Results Compared with the baseline data,after 2-3 weeks of standardized treatment,the volume of gray matter in brain tissue increased significantly,and the volume of cerebrospinal fluid decreased significantly.Compared with before treatment,the brain regions with increased gray matter volume in the left hemisphere were distributed in the medial and paracingulate gyrus,central sulcus cover,anterior wedge lobe and insula,and the brain regions with increased gray matter volume in the right hemisphere were distributed in the anterior cingulate gyrus,paracingulate gyrus,central sulcus cover,amygdala,superior temporal gyrus,middle temporal gyrus,transverse temporal gyrus,anterior cuneiformus,posterior central gyrus,superior marginal gyrus,peritaloid cortex and insula.Conclusion Patients with AUD experience some increases in gray matter volume,especially in the prefrontal lobe,after short-term withdrawal therapy.

Objective: To explore the clinical application value of deep convoluti onal neural network for automatic detection and classification of benign and malignant thyroid nodules ultrasound images. Methods: A total of 1 012 ultrasound images of thyroid nodules were retrospectively selected and labeled. The YOLOv5 network model was constructed to accurately locate the location of thyroid nodules and automatically trim the area of the nodules. At the same time , a GoogLeNet network model was constructed to classify benign and malignant nodules after reduction. Results : In the collected data set , the mean accuracy of the target detection network for thyroid nodule location detection was 96. 2% . Meanwhile , the sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and AUC of the classification network for benign and malignant nodules were 0. 885 ,0. 822 ,0. 866 and 0. 92 respectively ,which were significantly higher than those of the AlexNet model (0. 81) , VGG model (0. 86) and MobileNet model (0. 76) . Conclusion The deep convo⁃ lutional neural network model has high localization and recognition ability for benign and malignant thyroid nodules in ultrasound images ,which is helpful to improve the accuracy of automatic image diagnosis.

Objective:To screen highly expressed inflammatory factors in diabetic nephropathy models using protein microarray, analyze differential genes and their regulatory networks, and predict potential therapeutic small molecular compounds.Methods:The inflammatory factor microarray was used to screen the inflammatory factors with the same tendency in the cell model and animal model of diabetic nephropathy. The differential genes screened by R language were enriched and analyzed by Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG). STRING builds a protein interaction network online, Cytoscape software analyzes the core subnetwork, and Connectivity Map searches for and predicts small molecule compounds.Results:Diabetic nephropathy model was established using 16-week-old db/db mice and mesangial cells stimulated with high glucose, and the expression of C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 1(CXCL1) was elevated in both models. Multiple GEO datasets indicated a strong association between the high expression of CXCL1 and diabetic nephropathy. Specifically, GSE30122 showed an upregulation of 30 genes and a downregulation of 23 genes. GO enrichment analysis focused on biological processes such as humoral immunity and lipopolysaccharide response; While KEGG enrichment was mainly in pertussis and coagulation cascade pathways. CytoHubba identified 10 hub genes, such as ALB, LUM, and CXCL1. In addition, 10 small molecule compounds were predicted as potential therapeutic drugs using Connectivity Map.Conclusions:CXCL1 may serve as a key gene in the occurrence and development of diabetic nephropathy. ALB, LUM, CXCL1, MMP7, TGFBI, CCL2, S100A4, SOX9, VCAN, and CLU may participate in the regulatory network centered around CXCL1. There are 10 small molecular compounds demenestrating the potential to be therapeutic agents.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the regulatory mechanism of human hepatocyte apoptosis induced by lysosomal membrane protein Sidt2 knockout. METHODS: The Sidt2 knockout (Sidt2^-/-) cell model was constructed in human hepatocyte HL7702 cells using Crispr-Cas9 technology.The protein levels of Sidt2 and key autophagy proteins LC3-II/I and P62 in the cell model were detected using Western blotting, and the formation of autophagosomes was observed with MDC staining.EdU incorporation assay and flow cytometry were performed to observe the effect of Sidt2 knockout on cell proliferation and apoptosis.The effect of chloroquine at the saturating concentration on autophagic flux, proliferation and apoptosis of Sidt2 knockout cells were observed. RESULTS: Sidt2^-/- HL7702 cells were successfully constructed.Sidt2 knockout significantly inhibited the proliferation and increased apoptosis of the cells, causing also increased protein expressions of LC3-II/I and P62(P < 0.05) and increased number of autophagosomes.Autophagy of the cells reached a saturated state following treatment with 50 μmol/L chloroquine, and at this concentration, chloroquine significantly increased the expressions of LC3B and P62 in Sidt2^-/- HL7702 cells. CONCLUSION Sidt2 gene knockout causes dysregulation of the autophagy pathway and induces apoptosis of HL7702 cells, and the latter effect is not mediated by inhibiting the autophagy-lysosomal pathway.
Humans ; Lysosome-Associated Membrane Glycoproteins/metabolism* ; Autophagy ; Apoptosis ; Hepatocytes ; Lysosomes/metabolism* ; Chloroquine/pharmacology* ; Nucleotide Transport Proteins/metabolism*

Objective:To characterize the histopathological subtypes and their clinicopathological parameters of gender and onset age by common, rare and sparse primary esophageal malignant tumors (PEMT).Methods:A total of 272 437 patients with PEMT were enrolled in this study, and all of the patients were received radical surgery. The clinicopathological information of the patients was obtained from the database established by the State Key Laboratory of Esophageal Cancer Prevention & Treatment from September 1973 to December 2020, which included the clinical treatment, pathological diagnosis and follow-up information of esophagus and gastric cardia cancers. All patients were diagnosed and classified by the criteria of esophageal tumor histopathological diagnosis and classification (2019) of the World Health Organization (WHO). The esophageal tumors, which were not included in the WHO classification, were analyzed separately according to the postoperative pathological diagnosis. The χ 2 test was performed by the SPSS 25.0 software on count data, and the test standard α=0.05. Results:A total of 32 histopathological types were identified in the enrolled PEMT patients, of which 10 subtypes were not included in the WHO classification. According to the frequency, PEMT were divided into common (esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, ESCC, accounting for 97.1%), rare (esophageal adenocarcinoma, EAC, accounting for 2.3%) and sparse (mainly esophageal small cell carcinoma, malignant melanoma, etc., accounting for 0.6%). All the common, rare, and sparse types occurred predominantly in male patients, and the gender difference of rare type was most significant (EAC, male∶ female, 2.67∶1), followed with common type (ESCC, male∶ female, 1.78∶1) and sparse type (male∶ female, 1.71∶1). The common type (ESCC) mainly occurred in the middle thoracic segment (65.2%), while the rare type (EAC) mainly occurred in the lower thoracic segment (56.8%). Among the sparse type, malignant melanoma and malignant fibrous histiocytoma were both predominantly located in the lower thoracic segment (51.7%, 66.7%), and the others were mainly in the middle thoracic segment.Conclusion:ESCC is the most common type among the 32 histopathological types of PEMT, followed by EAC as the rare type, and esophageal small cell carcinoma and malignant melanoma as the major sparse type, and all of which are mainly occur in male patients. The common type of ESCC mainly occur in the middle thoracic segment, while the rare type of EAC mainly in the lower thoracic segment. The mainly sparse type of malignant melanoma and malignant fibrous histiocytoma predominately occur in the lower thoracic segment, and the remaining sparse types mainly occur in the middle thoracic segment.