BACKGROUND:The treatment for bacterial biofilms after internal fixation surgery is a very difficult problem in clinic.It is a great significance to establish an animal model of irrigation for treating bacterial biofilms in the early stage after internal fixation surgery. OBJECTIVE:To establish an animal model for treating bacterial biofilms with different drugs through irrigation in early stage after internal fixation surgery. METHODS:Six New Zealand white rabbits were selected.Bilateral femoral surfaces were exposed and drilled holes were made,and bone plates colonized with Pseudomonas aeruginosa(experimental group)and blank bone plates(blank control group)were implanted around the drilled holes on one side,and two drainage tubes were retained and fixed to serve as the"inlet"and"outlet,"respectively.The model was immersed for a certain period of time after simulated perfusion before rinsing.After the simulated irrigation,the plates were soaked for a certain time before washing.At 5 days postoperatively,the rabbits were observed for body temperature,wound condition,bacterial culture of drainage fluid,and crystalline violet staining and scanning electron microscopy of the bone plate. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Six rabbits had difficulty in moving the affected limbs after surgery and showed elevated body temperature at 2-4 days after surgery.Local swelling could be touched at some wounds in the experimental group,and the wounds in the blank control group healed well.The results of bacterial culture of drainage fluid showed that Pseudomonas aeruginosa diffused or spread in the experimental group.At 5 days after surgery,the plate in the experimental group became purple shown by crystalline violet staining,and the absorbance value at 570 nm detected by the microplate reader was 2.621±0.088,indicating the presence of bacteria.Scanning electron microscopy at 5 days after surgery showed that a large number of bacterial microcolonies appeared on the surface of the plate in the experimental group,forming a highly inhomogeneous three-dimensional structure similar to the"mushroom-like"and"tower-like"structures,with filamentous water channels connecting the"mushroom-like"structures,which were typical biofilm structures with high densities,while no obvious colonies were seen in the blank control group.Overall,this animal model simulates the state of infected biofilm formation due to early infection after internal fixation and provides an available method of irrigation with different drugs.

Background Alzheimer's disease(AD)is the most common type of dementia.There has been an increasing trend in incidence rate.The drug therapy has been proven ineffective in improving the cognitive function of AD patients or delaying the disease progression,leading to perceived low adherence with treatment and low efficacy.Previous basic research shows that blue light irradiation is helpful to improve the cognitive function of AD model rats,but there is no corresponding clinical study on the improvement effect of blue light irradiation on cognitive function of AD patients.Objective To explore the efficacy of blue light irradiation in improving the cognitive function of AD patients,so as to provide references for cognitive stabilization or improvement of AD patients.Methods A sample of 155 patients who were hospitalized in Geriatric Department of Shenzhen Kangning Hospital from June 2019 to December 2023 and met the International Classification of Diseases,tenth edition(ICD-10)diagnostic criteria for AD were retrospectively selected.Among them,80 cases who received blue light irradiation combined with memantine therapy and conventional psychotherapy were the study group,and 75 cases who only received memantine therapy and conventional psychotherapy were the control group.Blue light irradiation therapy lasted for 4 weeks,5 times per week,with each session lasting for 30 min.Then Mini-Mental State Examination(MMSE)and Activity of Daily Living Scale(ADL)were administered at the baseline and after treatment.Results After treatment,study group reported an increase in MMSE total score,orientation,immediate recall,attention/calculation,delayed recall and language dimension scores(Z=-6.931,-5.773,-4.123,-3.649,-3.508,-4.733,P<0.05),and a decrease in ADL total score(Z=-7.020,P<0.05)compared to baseline data.Analysis indicated that study group scored higher on MMSE total scale,orientation,immediate recall and language dimensions(Z=-2.784,-4.621,-2.483,-3.463,P<0.05),and lower on ADL total score(Z=-3.704,P<0.05)than those of control group after treatment.Conclusion Blue light irradiation for AD patients may improve their cognitive function and activities of daily living.

Objectives:To analyze the long-term prognosis of patients with locally advanced gastric cancer in the stage of ypT0~2N0M0 after neoadjuvant chemotherapy.Methods:The clinical data of 78 patients with locally advanced gastric cancer who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radical resection at ypT0~2N0M0 stage from January 2012 to December 2019 in the Department of Abdominal Surgery/Pancreatic and Gastric Surgery of the Cancer Hospital of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences were retrospectively analyzed. Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate the overall survival and disease-free survival, and the survival difference between patients with postoperative ypT0N0M0 and ypT1~2N0M0 was compared. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was performed on clinical, pathologic and treatment measures that may affect survival.Results:Among the 78 patients, there were 18 cases (23.1%) with ypT0N0M0, 14 cases (17.9%) with ypT1aN0M0, 17 cases (21.8%) with ypT1bN0M0, and 29 cases (37.2%) with ypT2N0M0. Median follow-up time was 74.1 (19.8~132.5) months. Fourteen patients (17.9%) had tumor recurrence and metastasis, and 9 patients died from tumor recurrence and metastasis. The 5-year disease-free survival and overall survival rates were 84.4% and 87.8%, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in 5-year overall survival (86.9% vs 87.8%) or 5-year disease-free survival (88.9% vs 83.2%) between patients with ypT0N0M0 and ypT1~2N0M0. Analysis of factors that may affect prognosis revealed that signet ring cell carcinoma, nerve invasion, and lymph node dissection of fewer than 16 were significantly associated with prognosis ( P＜0.05). Multivariate Cox analysis including these three factors showed that only lymph node dissection of fewer than 16 was an independent risk factor affecting prognosis (OS: HR=10.44 ,95% CI: 2.15-50.72, P=0.004; DFS: HR=11.47, 95% CI: 2.85-46.20, P=0.001). Conclusions:The long-term prognosis of patients with locally advanced gastric cancer at ypT0~2N0M0 stage after neoadjuvant chemotherapy is relatively good, and the long-term survival time of patients with ypT1~2N0M0 and ypT0N0M0 is similar. Lymph node dissection of less than 16 nodes may be an independent risk factor affecting prognosis. During surgery, efforts should be made to increase the number of lymph node dissections. For patients with less than 16 nodes dissected, postoperative treatment and follow-up should be strengthened.

Polycystic ovary syndrome(PCOS)is characterized by high heterogeneity and heredity,and its exact pathogenesis is still not clear.Some studies have shown that epigenetic disorders,such as hyperandrogen-induced methyla-tion or acetylation of lysine at different sites(K4,K9,and K27)in histone H3,methylation and demethylation modifica-tion of genes related to steroids,hormone receptors and follicular development,and transcriptional control of microRNA or long noncoding RNA,play a central role in the occurrence and development of PCOS.This article reviews the research ad-vances in epigenetic mechanisms(histone modifications,DNA methylation,and noncoding RNA)of PCOS,in order to provide a reference for the prediction and early prevention of PCOS.

Objectives:To analyze the long-term prognosis of patients with locally advanced gastric cancer in the stage of ypT0~2N0M0 after neoadjuvant chemotherapy.Methods:The clinical data of 78 patients with locally advanced gastric cancer who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radical resection at ypT0~2N0M0 stage from January 2012 to December 2019 in the Department of Abdominal Surgery/Pancreatic and Gastric Surgery of the Cancer Hospital of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences were retrospectively analyzed. Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate the overall survival and disease-free survival, and the survival difference between patients with postoperative ypT0N0M0 and ypT1~2N0M0 was compared. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was performed on clinical, pathologic and treatment measures that may affect survival.Results:Among the 78 patients, there were 18 cases (23.1%) with ypT0N0M0, 14 cases (17.9%) with ypT1aN0M0, 17 cases (21.8%) with ypT1bN0M0, and 29 cases (37.2%) with ypT2N0M0. Median follow-up time was 74.1 (19.8~132.5) months. Fourteen patients (17.9%) had tumor recurrence and metastasis, and 9 patients died from tumor recurrence and metastasis. The 5-year disease-free survival and overall survival rates were 84.4% and 87.8%, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in 5-year overall survival (86.9% vs 87.8%) or 5-year disease-free survival (88.9% vs 83.2%) between patients with ypT0N0M0 and ypT1~2N0M0. Analysis of factors that may affect prognosis revealed that signet ring cell carcinoma, nerve invasion, and lymph node dissection of fewer than 16 were significantly associated with prognosis ( P＜0.05). Multivariate Cox analysis including these three factors showed that only lymph node dissection of fewer than 16 was an independent risk factor affecting prognosis (OS: HR=10.44 ,95% CI: 2.15-50.72, P=0.004; DFS: HR=11.47, 95% CI: 2.85-46.20, P=0.001). Conclusions:The long-term prognosis of patients with locally advanced gastric cancer at ypT0~2N0M0 stage after neoadjuvant chemotherapy is relatively good, and the long-term survival time of patients with ypT1~2N0M0 and ypT0N0M0 is similar. Lymph node dissection of less than 16 nodes may be an independent risk factor affecting prognosis. During surgery, efforts should be made to increase the number of lymph node dissections. For patients with less than 16 nodes dissected, postoperative treatment and follow-up should be strengthened.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy has become an important treatment strategy for locally advanced gastric cancer.Targeted therapy and immunotherapy are playing an increasingly important role in the neoadjuvant therapy of gastric cancer.Herein, the development of neoadjuvant chemotherapy for gastric cancer will be reviewed systematically, and the application of targeted drugs on gastric cancer and immune drugs in neoadjuvant drug therapy will be elaborated, intending to provide more references to support the clinical practice.

Humans ; COVID-19/genetics* ; SARS-CoV-2/genetics* ; Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats/genetics* ; CRISPR-Cas Systems/genetics* ; RNA, Viral/genetics*

Humans ; Stomach Neoplasms/pathology* ; Neoadjuvant Therapy ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Gastrectomy ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols/therapeutic use* ; Neoplasm Staging

The record speed at which Chinese scientists identified severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and shared its genomic sequence with the world, has greatly facilitated the development of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) diagnostics, drugs, and vaccines. It is unprecedented in pandemic control history to develop a dozen successful vaccines in the first year and to immunize over half of the global population in the second year, due to the efforts of the scientific community, biopharmaceutical industry, and regulatory agencies worldwide. The challenges are both great and multidimensional due to the rapid emergence of virus variants and waning of vaccine immunity. Vaccination strategies need to adapt to these challenges to keep population immunity above the herd immunity threshold, by increasing vaccine coverage, especially for older adults and young people, and providing timely booster doses with homologous or heterologous vaccine boosts. Further research should be undertaken to develop more effective vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 variants and to understand the best prime-boost vaccine combinations and immunization strategies to provide sufficient and sustainable immune protection against COVID-19.
Adolescent ; Aged ; COVID-19/prevention & control* ; COVID-19 Vaccines ; Humans ; Pandemics/prevention & control* ; SARS-CoV-2 ; Vaccination

Objective:To establish an animal model of chronic systemic inflammation with long-term high expression of circulating IL-6 by introducing exogenous IL-6 gene transfer vector.Methods:Recombinant murine IL-6-encoding adeno-associated virus (AAV-IL-6) was constructed. Twenty-one 24-week-old male C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into three groups with seven in each group: AAV-IL-6 group, vector control (AAV-ctrl) group and blank control group. At 0, 8 and 16 weeks of intervention, the mice in the three groups were injected with AAV-IL-6 (100 μl 0.5×10 10 vp/ml), unloaded AAV (100 μl 0.5×10 10 vp/ml) and the same volume of saline in the tail vein, respectively. IL-6 levels in mouse serum were measured by ELISA. The general condition of mice was observed and blood routine tests were performed. Changes in blood biochemical parameters and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were detected. At the end of 24-week intervention, the mice were sacrificed and the myocardium, liver, spleen, quadriceps femoris, knee joint and middle femur were taken for HE staining. Results:At 4, 8, 16 and 24 weeks after intervention, serum IL-6 levels were (75.41-169.28) pg/ml in the AAV-IL-6 group, while in the two control groups, the levels were below the lower limit of detection (7.8 pg/ml). At 24 weeks after intervention, the body weight of mice in the AAV-IL-6 group was significantly lower than that of mice in the two control groups; the neutrophil counts and CRP level in the AAV-IL-6 group were higher than those in the two control groups, while the levels of albumin, creatinine, triglyceride and cholesterol were lower than those in the two control groups. There were no differences in the aforementioned parameters between the two control groups. Compared with the blank control group, both AAV-IL-6 and AAV-ctrl groups showed increased lymphocyte counts. All mice had normal liver and kidney functions at the end of intervention. Histopathological findings indicated that the mice in the AAV-IL-6 group had focal infiltration of lymphocytes in the central venous area of the liver and around the myocardial and the skeletal muscle fibers, diffuse infiltration of multinucleated giant cells in the spleen, atrophic skeletal muscle, disorganized growth plate, reduced chondrocyte hypertrophic zone, thinner bone cortex and trabecular, and reduced osteoid. There were no histopathological changes in mice of the two control groups.Conclusions:Repeated tail vein injection of AAV-IL-6 could achieve long-term high expression of circulating IL-6 in mice, which manifested the phenotype of chronic systemic inflammation in preliminary detection and provided a safe, effective and simply accessible animal model for related studies.