To develop a novel polyamino acid-based nanohydrogel drug delivery system for dexamethasone to enhance its delivery efficiency to the inner ear.

Objective:To investigate the expression of anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK), tropomyosin receptor kinase (TRK), and recombinant C-Ros oncogene 1, receptor tyrosine kinase (ROS1) in Spitz tumors, and to analyze their associations with clinical and histopathological features of Spitz tumors.Methods:Clinical and histopathological characteristics, as well as follow-up data, were collected from patients with Spitz tumors at Department of Pathology, Hospital of Dermatology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences from January 2017 to August 2023, and retrospectively analyzed. Immunohistochemical staining for ALK, pan-TRK, and ROS1 was performed on skin tissues, and associations between the expression of these kinase proteins and clinicopathological features were analyzed.Results:A total of 57 patients with Spitz tumors were collected, including 36 females and 21 males. Immunohistochemical staining showed that 30 (52.6%) patients were positive for ALK, 4 (7.0%) were positive for ROS1, only 2 (3.5%) were positive for TRK, and 21 (36.8%) were negative for the three kinase proteins. Among the 30 ALK-positive patients, the median age was 9.5 years, 21 (70.0%) were females, and 15 (50.0%) presented with lesions on the face, which mainly manifested as papules or nodules; histologically, 29 (96.7%) patients had hypopigmented tumors with an exophytic growth pattern, and the tumor cells were mainly large and long spindle cells arranged in long cord-like, plexiform or fascicular patterns. Among the 4 ROS1-positive patients, there were 3 females and 1 male, presenting with exophytic papules or polyps; histologically, tumor cells were mostly arranged in small nests, without obvious clefts around cell nests. Two TRK-positive patients were both males aged 20 and 50 years respectively, and presented with brown and skin-colored flat papules, respectively; histologically, the tumors were located superficially with a flat base, and tumor cells spread in a pagetoid pattern in the epidermis, with some epithelioid cells and small cell nests. Among the 21 patients negative for the 3 kinase proteins, 9 were males and 12 were females, and they clinically presented with macules, papules and polypoid lesions; histologically, most tumors were located superficially, consisting of a mixture of epithelioid cells and spindle cells, with rare cytological atypia and mitotic figures, and 2 cases showed mild tissue structural and cellular atypia. Fifty-seven patients were followed up for 2 - 83.3 months, with a median follow-up of 19.2 months. Only 1 ALK-positive child experienced a recurrence, and no recurrence or lymph node metastasis was observed in the other cases.Conclusions:Among the three kinase proteins, ALK showed the highest positive rate in Spitz tumors in this study, while TRK- and ROS1-positive cases were sporadic. Histopathologically, ALK-positive Spitz tumor cells were mainly long spindle cells arranged in long cord-like or plexiform patterns, while TRK- and ROS1-positive Spitz tumors tended to have small cell nests. Both the kinase protein-positive and -negative Spitz tumors mostly had a good prognosis.

OBJECTIVE To establish the drug-induced liver injury （DILI） surveillance and assessment system （DILI-SAS）， and to improve the diagnostic efficiency of clinical DILI. METHODS The DILI-SAS was constructed by using natural language processing technology to mine and utilize all inpatient medical record data， and combined with Roussel Uclaf causality assessment method （RUCAM）. The medical records of 19 445 hospitalized patients from August 2022 to January 2023 were detected to verify the performance of the system and manually analyze the basic data of patients with DILI and the distribution of the first suspected drugs. RESULTS The overall accuracy rate of the DILI-SAS system was 91.95%， and the recall rate was 93.20%. Seventy-five DILI cases were detected， and the DILI incidence rate was 385.70/100 000 people. The efficiency of DILI monitoring by human- computer coupling was increased by about 60 times of manual monitoring； males （61.33%） and patients over 60 years old （56.00%） were the most common in the 75 cases of DILI. The clinical type of liver injury was hepatocyte injury （69.33%）， the incubation period was mainly 5-90 days after treatment （62.67%）， and the RUCAM score between 3 and 5 was the most common （66.67%）； pharmacological distribution of the first suspected drugs was mainly dihydropyridines， HMG CoA reductase inhibitors， proton pump inhibitors， etc. The specific drugs were atorvastatin， omeprazole， ceftriaxone， metronidazole and other drugs. CONCLUSIONS The establishment of DILI-SAS can improve the evaluation efficiency on the basis of ensuring the accuracy degree， and provide a solution for the early identification， diagnosis and evaluation of clinical DILI.

BACKGROUND: The cancer burden in the United States of America (USA) has decreased gradually. However, China is experiencing a transition in its cancer profiles, with greater incidence of cancers that were previously more common in the USA. This study compared the latest cancer profiles, trends, and determinants between China and USA. METHODS: This was a comparative study using open-source data. Cancer cases and deaths in 2022 were calculated using cancer estimates from GLOBOCAN 2020 and population estimates from the United Nations. Trends in cancer incidence and mortality rates in the USA used data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program and National Center for Health Statistics. Chinese data were obtained from cancer registry reports. Data from the Global Burden of Disease 2019 and a decomposition method were used to express cancer deaths as the product of four determinant factors. RESULTS: In 2022, there will be approximately 4,820,000 and 2,370,000 new cancer cases, and 3,210,000 and 640,000 cancer deaths in China and the USA, respectively. The most common cancers are lung cancer in China and breast cancer in the USA, and lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in both. Age-standardized incidence and mortality rates for lung cancer and colorectal cancer in the USA have decreased significantly recently, but rates of liver cancer have increased slightly. Rates of stomach, liver, and esophageal cancer decreased gradually in China, but rates have increased for colorectal cancer in the whole population, prostate cancer in men, and other seven cancer types in women. Increases in adult population size and population aging were major determinants for incremental cancer deaths, and case-fatality rates contributed to reduced cancer deaths in both countries. CONCLUSIONS The decreasing cancer burden in liver, stomach, and esophagus, and increasing burden in lung, colorectum, breast, and prostate, mean that cancer profiles in China and the USA are converging. Population aging is a growing determinant of incremental cancer burden. Progress in cancer prevention and care in the USA, and measures to actively respond to population aging, may help China to reduce the cancer burden.
Adult ; Breast Neoplasms ; China/epidemiology* ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Liver Neoplasms ; Male ; Neoplasms/epidemiology* ; Registries ; United States/epidemiology*

Objective:To investigate clinicopathological features and prognosis of transformed mycosis fungoides (TMF) .Methods:A retrospective analysis was performed on clinicopathological data collected from 24 patients with TMF, as well as on flow cytometry results of 16 peripheral blood samples obtained from 11 of the 24 patients, who visited Hospital of Dermatology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences between 2014 and 2020.Results:Among the 24 patients, 11 were males and 13 were females. Their average age at diagnosis of TMF was 50.0 years (range: 18 - 77 years), and patients with early-stage TMF (9 cases) and tumor-stage TMF (15 cases) were aged 44.8 and 52.6 years on average, respectively. The average time interval from diagnosis of MF to large cell transformation was 3.7 years, and 8 patients were diagnosed with TMF at the initial visit. Histopathologically, large cells infiltrated in a diffuse pattern in 20 cases, as well as in a multifocal pattern in 4, and the proportion of large cells in 7 cases was greater than 75%. Immunohistochemically, 18 patients showed positive staining for CD30, and the proportion of CD30-positive large cells was greater than 75% in 9; negative staining for CD30 was observed in 6. Flow cytometry of 16 peripheral blood samples showed the presence of cell subsets expressing clonal T cell receptor (TCR) -vβ in 2 of 4 patients with early-stage TMF and 10 of 12 with tumor-stage TMF, and tumor cells with higher forward scatter than normal lymphocytes were detected in 16 samples. During the follow-up, among the patients with early-stage TMF, 3 progressed to tumor-stage TMF 3.3 years on average after large cell transformation, 1 progressed to erythrodermic MF in stage IIIA, and the other 4 still showed an indolent course; among the patients with tumor-stage TMF, 1 progressed to stage-IV TMF, and 5 died 3.3 (1.5 - 6) years after large cell transformation.Conclusion:Large cell transformation may occur in patients with MF in any stage, some patients have poor prognosis, so close follow-up is needed for patients with TMF.

This study aims to explore optimized teaching mode of cancer epidemiology for undergraduates, and provide scientific ideas and basis for improving teaching quality. Non-randomized concurrent control study was used. Undergraduates, enrolled in 2018, from the department of preventive medicine in A and B medical universities were selected as research objects. Traditional teaching mode was used for cancer epidemiology course in A medical university, and innovative teaching mode named "one core, four dimensions" was adopted in B medical university. After the course, questionnaire method was used to investigate self-cognition of students, teaching satisfaction and class preparation time of teachers in B Medical University. The post-class test method was used to compare the students′ grades of cancer epidemiology in the two universities. The results indicated that among the 58 students of B medical university, 94.83% (55/58) students were familiar with common types of epidemiological studies and 86.21% (50/58) mastered the evaluation indicators of screening research. Among the nine teaching faculties from B medical university, seven reported that the new teaching plan helped students to learn frontier knowledge of cancer epidemiology, and eight reported the new teaching model was conducive to the interaction between teachers and students. The text score of students in B medical university was 50.34±4.90, significantly higher than that in A medical university (46.21±4.91, t=5.20, P<0.001). The optimized teaching mode of cancer epidemiology is highly praised by students and teachers, which has the potential to improve students′ grasp of cancer epidemiology, the ability to combine theory with practice, and the teaching effect of cancer epidemiology.

Background::Non-smokers account for a large proportion of lung cancer patients, especially in Asia, but the attention paid to them is limited compared with smokers. In non-smokers, males display a risk for lung cancer incidence distinct from the females—even after excluding the influence of smoking; but the knowledge regarding the factors causing the difference is sparse. Based on a large multicenter prospective cancer screening cohort in China, we aimed to elucidate the interpretable sex differences caused by known factors and provide clues for primary and secondary prevention.Methods::Risk factors including demographic characteristics, lifestyle factors, family history of cancer, and baseline comorbidity were obtained from 796,283 Chinese non-smoking participants by the baseline risk assessment completed in 2013 to 2018. Cox regression analysis was performed to assess the sex difference in the risk of lung cancer, and the hazard ratios (HRs) that were adjusted for different known factors were calculated and compared to determine the proportion of excess risk and to explain the existing risk factors.Results::With a median follow-up of 4.80 years, 3351 subjects who were diagnosed with lung cancer were selected in the analysis. The lung cancer risk of males was significantly higher than that of females; the HRs in all male non-smokers were 1.29 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.20-1.38) after adjusting for the age and 1.38 (95% CI: 1.28-1.50) after adjusting for all factors, which suggested that known factors could not explain the sex difference in the risk of lung cancer in non-smokers. Known factors were 7% (|1.29-1.38|/1.29) more harmful in women than in men. For adenocarcinoma, women showed excess risk higher than men, contrary to squamous cell carcinoma; after adjusting for all factors, 47% ([1.30-1.16]/[1.30-1]) and 4% ([7.02-6.75]/[7.02-1])) of the excess risk was explainable in adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. The main causes of gender differences in lung cancer risk were lifestyle factors, baseline comorbidity, and family history.Conclusions::Significant gender differences in the risk of lung cancer were discovered in China non-smokers. Existing risk factors did not explain the excess lung cancer risk of all non-smoking men, and the internal causes for the excess risk still need to be explored; most known risk factors were more harmful to non-smoking women; further exploring the causes of the sex difference would help to improve the prevention and screening programs and protect the non-smoking males from lung cancers.

This study aims to explore optimized teaching mode of cancer epidemiology for undergraduates, and provide scientific ideas and basis for improving teaching quality. Non-randomized concurrent control study was used. Undergraduates, enrolled in 2018, from the department of preventive medicine in A and B medical universities were selected as research objects. Traditional teaching mode was used for cancer epidemiology course in A medical university, and innovative teaching mode named "one core, four dimensions" was adopted in B medical university. After the course, questionnaire method was used to investigate self-cognition of students, teaching satisfaction and class preparation time of teachers in B Medical University. The post-class test method was used to compare the students′ grades of cancer epidemiology in the two universities. The results indicated that among the 58 students of B medical university, 94.83% (55/58) students were familiar with common types of epidemiological studies and 86.21% (50/58) mastered the evaluation indicators of screening research. Among the nine teaching faculties from B medical university, seven reported that the new teaching plan helped students to learn frontier knowledge of cancer epidemiology, and eight reported the new teaching model was conducive to the interaction between teachers and students. The text score of students in B medical university was 50.34±4.90, significantly higher than that in A medical university (46.21±4.91, t=5.20, P<0.001). The optimized teaching mode of cancer epidemiology is highly praised by students and teachers, which has the potential to improve students′ grasp of cancer epidemiology, the ability to combine theory with practice, and the teaching effect of cancer epidemiology.

Objective: To analyze clinical and pathological features of papular elastorrhexis. Methods: Clinical data were collected from 22 patients with confirmed papular elastorrhexis in Hospital for Skin Diseases, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Pekin Union Medical College from September 2006 to May 2018. Clinical manifestations, pathological findings and follow-up results were retrospectively analyzed. Results: The average age of onset of the 22 patients was 5.7 years (range: 1 - 10 years) , and the male to female ratio was 4.5∶1. The average duration from the occurrence of disease to the confirmation of diagnosis was 1.5 years, and no definite etiology was found. The patients had no itching or pain sensation. Skin lesions were soft, slightly elevated, well-circumscribed, round, oval or polygonal-shaped, white papules with diameters of 1 - 10 mm, and wrinkles appeared on the surface of the papule when the papule was pushed towards its center. Among the 22 patients, 16 (73%) presented with scattered lesions, 13 (59%) had less than 5 papules, and lesions were located in the trunk in 21 (95%) . Histopathological examination of skin lesions in 8 patients showed no obvious increase of collagen fibers in the superficial and middle dermis, which were normally arranged with slightly widened spaces between them. Elastic fiber staining showed that elastic fibers disappeared or were dissociated focally in the superficial and middle dermis. After confirmed diagnosis, the 22 patients received no treatment. In 18 patients, skin lesions did not continue to expand after onset, and no new skin lesions occurred. Skin lesions were slightly enlarged, but remained steady thereafter in 4 patients. Sixteen patients achieved partial remission. Conclusions Papular elastorrhexis is a rare skin disorder of elastic fibers that occurs predominantly during childhood and adolescence, and its diagnosis relies on clinical manifestations combined with histopathological findings. No special treatment is needed and the prognosis is good.

Objective To discuss the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of microcystic adnexal carcinoma (MAC).Methods Totally,10 patients with MAC were enrolled from Hospital for Skin Diseases,Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences from 2003 to 2017.Their clinical manifestations,histopathological and immunohistochemical features,treatment and prognosis were retrospectively analyzed.Results Of the 10 patients,3 were males and 7 were females.Their average age at the onset of MAC was 51.65 years.Skin lesions all occurred on the face,and on the upper lip in 6 cases.The lesions usually presented as solitary plaque or nodule,and ulceration occurred in 4 cases.Histopathologically,skin lesions consisted of epithelial cords with different numbers of keratinous cysts and tubular structures,and neural involvement occurred in 6 cases.However,mitotic figures were rare.Immunohistochemical staining showed epithelial cells and keratinous cysts stained positive for cytokeratin,as well as tubular structures and glandular cavities stained positive for carcinoembryonic antigen and epithelial membrane antigen.All the patients received surgical excision,and one patient experienced in situ recurrence 13 years later.No distant metastasis occurred in these patients.Conclusions MAC mainly presents as red plaques with occasional ulceration on the upper lip.Its definite diagnosis depends on characteristic histopathological changes in bidirectional differentiation into hair follicles and sweat glands,and immunohistochemical features are helpful to distinguish MAC from other adnexal tumors.