ObjectiveTo investigate the potential machanism of Xiaozhong Zhitong Mixture （消肿止痛合剂， XZM） in the treatment of diabetes foot ulcer （DFU）. MethodsFifty SD rats were randomly divided into blank group， model group， XZM group， inhibitor group， XZM plus inhibitor group （combination group）， with 10 rats in each group. Except for the blank group， rats were fed with high-sugar， high-fat， high-cholesterol diet， intraperitoneally injected with streptozotocin， and subjected to skin defect to establish DFU model. After successful modeling， the XZM group and the combination group were given 1 ml/（100 g·d）of XZM by gavage， while the blank group， model group， and inhibitor group were all given an equal volume of 0.9% sodium chloride injection by gavage. Thirty minutes later， the inhibitor group and the combination group were intraperitoneally injected with 5 mg/（kg·d） of Notch1 inhibitor DAPT. All groups were treated once a day. After 14 days of administration， the skin tissue from the dorsal foot of the blank group rats and wound tissue from the other groups were collected. The pathological changes of granulation tissue in the wound were detected using hematoxylin eosin （HE） staining. The microvascular density （MVD） in wounds was detected through immunohistochemical staining. Real time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction （RT-PCR） and western blotting were used to detect the mRNA and protein levels of Notch1 homolog （Notch1）， Delta-like ligand 4 （Dll4）， Delta-like ligand 4 （VEGF）， and angiopoietin 2 （Ang-2）， respectively. ResultsHistological results showed that the epidermal structure in the dorsal foot skin tissue of the rats in the blank group was intact. In the wound tissue of the model group， the epidermis exhibited excessive keratinization， vacuolar cytoplasm， and a large number of inflammatory cells infiltrating the tissue， while in the XZM group， a large amount of scab formation was observed in the epidermis， with no significant inflammatory cell infiltration and a noticeable increase in fibroblasts. In the combination group and the inhibitor group， partial epidermal scab formation was observed in the wound tissue with a small amount of inflammatory cell infiltration. Compared to those in the blank group， the MVD in the wound tissue increased in the model group， as well as the mRNA expression and protein levels of Notch1 and Dll4， while VEGFA and Ang-2 mRNA expression and protein levels significantly decreased （P＜0.05 or P＜0.01）. Compared to those in the model group， the MVD in the wound tissue of all medication groups significantly increased， and the mRNA and protein levels of Notch1 and Dll4 decreased， while VEGFA and Ang-2 mRNA expression and protein levels increased （P＜0.05 or P＜0.01）. Compared to the XZM group， the inhibitor group and the combination group showed decreased MVD in wound tissue， increased Notch1 and Dll4 mRNA and protein levels， and decreased expression of VEGFA and Ang-2 mRNA and proteins （P＜0.05 or P＜0.01）. ConclusionXZM can effectively promote wound healing in DFU rats， and its mechanism of action may be related to the inhibition of Dll4/Notch1 signaling pathway in the wound tissue， therey promoting angiogenesis.

Objective:To understand the cognition of the family caregivers of terminal cancer patients on digital health intervention, to clarify their actual needs, and to analyze the obstacles to their acceptance of digital health intervention, so as to develop a digital health intervention plan for the family caregivers of terminal cancer patients.Methods:From February 2024 to March 2024, the family caregivers of 16 patients with terminal cancer in Hunan Cancer Hospital Pain Hospice Ward were selected by objective sampling, who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were interviewed in a semi-structured manner about the cognition and needs of digital health intervention, and the interview contents were sorted and analyzed using the Colaizzi7 step method.Results:A total of 16 family caregivers of terminal cancer patients, 4 males and 12 females, aged 26-55 years, were interviewed. Four themes were distilled from the interview results: family caregivers of terminally cancer patients agree on the importance of digital health interventions; lack of awareness of digital health interventions; expectations of digital health interventions; and possible confounders affecting digital health interventions.Conclusions:The family caregivers of terminal cancer patients had insufficient awareness of digital health intervention, but all showed affirmation of the development of digital health intervention services. It is recommended to actively improve the basic conditions of digital health services, strengthen publicity, raise the level of awareness of the family caregivers, and positively overcome the relevant interfering factors, so as to gradually promote the development of digital health services.

Objective:To explore the value of morphometric analysis program (MAP) in detecting focus of pediatric epilepsy related to focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) II.Methods:A retrospective analysis was performed; 42 epilepsy children with FCD II and postoperative Engel grading I in Department of Neurosurgery, He'nan Provincial People's Hospital from June 2020 to January 2023 were enrolled. Preoperative MRI data were analyzed by MAP. Difference in general data and focus detection rate by MRI and MAP were compared between the positive MAP group and negative MAP group, and consistency of MAP positive areas (true positive MAP and false positive MAP by postoperative CT) with interictal PET low metabolism positive areas was analyzed.Results:Of the 42 children, 28 had positive MAP and 14 had negative MAP in the epileptogenic focus. Gender was statistically different between positive MAP group and negative MAP group ( P<0.05). MAP had significantly better performance in focus detection compared with MRI (28/42 vs. 19/42, P<0.05). Significant difference was noted between consistency of true positive MAP area with interictal PET low metabolism positive areas (40/43) and that of false positive MAP area with interictal PET low metabolism positive areas (4/33, P<0.05). Conclusion:MAP can improve the focus detection rate of pediatric epilepsy related to FCD II effectively, and PET contributes to rule out false positive results.

Objective:To investigate the pathogenic role and possible mechanism of NADPH oxidase 4 (Nox4) in type 1 diabetic keratopathy mouse models.Methods:Forty Nox4 knockout ( Nox4-/-) heterozygous male mice were selected and 120 age- and sex-matched wild-type C57BL/6 ( Nox4+ /+ ) mice were selected as controls. Nox4-/- and Nox4+ /+ mice were randomized into diabetic group (DM group) and non-DM group by random number method.Type 1 DM model was established in DM groups by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin.The DM and non-DM groups of Nox4+ /+ mice were randomized into regular feed group and Nox4 inhibitor GKT137831 (GKT) supplementary feed group by random number method.At 16 weeks after modeling, tear secretion of mice in different groups was measured by the phenol red thread test.Corneal epithelial integrity was evaluated by fluorescent staining.Changes in corneal never fiber density were observed by the in vivo laser scanning confocal microscopy.Reactive oxygen species (ROS) products in corneal epithelium were assayed by CellROX staining.The expressions of E-Cadherin and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) proteins were detected by immunofluorescence staining.Central corneal nerve fiber density was examined by flatmount staining with TUBB3 antibody.The use and care of laboratory animals complied with ARVO statement.The study protocol was approved by Laboratory Animal Care Committee of Xi'an Jiaotong University (No.XJTULAC201301). Results:In Nox4+ /+ mice, the tear secretion was (2.40±1.18)mm/minute in DM group, which was significantly less than (5.30±1.02)mm/minute in non-DM group ( P<0.01).The tear secretion was (4.19±0.63)mm/minute in DM group of Nox4-/- mice, which was significantly more than that in DM group of Nox4+ /+ mice ( P<0.05).Significant difference was found between (2.23±0.83)mm/minute of regular feed group and (4.02±0.71)mm/minute of GKT supplementary feed group ( P<0.01).In Nox4+ /+ mice, the DM group showed significantly increased corneal staining score, reduced corneal nerve fiber density, increased fluorescence intensity of ROS in corneal epithelium, weakened fluorescence intensity of E-Cadherin protein expression, and enhanced fluorescence of NF-κB protein expression compared with non-DM group.In Nox4-/- mice and mice fed with GKT supplementary feed, the increased fluorescence of ROS and decreased fluorescence of E-Cadherin protein expression were seen in the corneal epithelium of the DM groups compared with non-DM groups.In Nox4-/- mice and mice fed with GKT supplementary feed, NF-κB protein fluorescence was weak in corneal epithelial cells in DM groups, which was similar to that in non-DM groups.Immunofluorescence staining of corneal flatmount showed that the density of TUBB3-stained nerve fibers in DM group of Nox4+ /+ mice was significantly lower than that in non-DM group of Nox4+ /+ mice, and there was no significant reduction of nerve fibers in the corneal stromal layer in DM group of Nox4-/- mice or mice fed with GKT supplementary feed. Conclusions:Nox4 is involved in the pathogenic process of diabetic keratopathy, and its mechanism may be related to oxidative stress-induced aggregation of ROS products and activation of NF-κB-mediated inflammatory responses.

Objective To evaluate the effect of Internet-based psychosocial intervention for primary caregivers of patients with terminal stage cancer.Methods The relevant randomized controlled trials of Internet-based psychosocial intervention for primary caregivers of patients with terminal stage cancer were systematically searched from 10 databases,such as Chinese Biomedical Literature Database,CNKI,PubMed,Embase and CINAHL and etc.The search period was from the establishment to December 18,2023,and 2 investigators screened the literature according to inclusion and exclusion criteria and extracted data.Cochrane Manual 5.1.0 was used to assess the quality of the literature.Meta-analysis was performed using Revman 5.4 software.Results A total of 9 pieces of the literature including 592 primary caregivers were included.Meta-analysis showed that Internet-based psychosocial intervention reduced the level of anxiety and depression for primary caregivers of patients with terminal stage cancer[MD=-1.64,95％CI(-2.68,-0.59),P=0.002]and the burden of care[SMD=-0.39,95％CI(-0.60,-0.18),P＜0.001],and improved quality of life[SMD=0.25,95％CI(0.01,0.48),P=0.040];further research is needed to explore the effect of reducing the level of distress[MD=-0.88,95％CI(-1.91,0.16),P=0.100].Conclusion The Internet-based psychosocial intervention is effective in improving the anxiety,depression and the burden of care of the primary caregivers of patients with terminal stage cancer,and it can improve the quality of life;further research is needed to explore the level of distress reduction.

As a representative chemotherapeutic drug, docetaxel (DTX) has been used for breast cancer treatment for decades. However, the poor solubility of DTX limits its efficacy, and the DTX based therapy increases the metastasis risk due to the upregulation of C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4) expression during the treatment. Herein, we conjugated CXCR4 antagonist peptide (CTCE) with DTX (termed CTCE-DTX) as an anti-metastasis agent to treat breast cancer. CTCE-DTX could self-assemble to nanoparticles, targeting CXCR4-upregulated metastatic tumor cells and enhancing the DTX efficacy. Thus, the CTCE-DTX NPs achieved promising efficacy on inhibiting both bone-specific metastasis and lung metastasis of triple-negative breast cancer. Our work provided a rational strategy on designing peptide-drug conjugates with synergistic anti-tumor efficacy.

As a novel and promising antitumor target, AXL plays an important role in tumor growth, metastasis, immunosuppression and drug resistance of various malignancies, which has attracted extensive research interest in recent years. In this study, by employing the structure-based drug design and bioisosterism strategies, we designed and synthesized in total 54 novel AXL inhibitors featuring a fused-pyrazolone carboxamide scaffold, of which up to 20 compounds exhibited excellent AXL kinase and BaF3/TEL-AXL cell viability inhibitions. Notably, compound 59 showed a desirable AXL kinase inhibitory activity (IC₅₀: 3.5 nmol/L) as well as good kinase selectivity, and it effectively blocked the cellular AXL signaling. In turn, compound 59 could potently inhibit BaF3/TEL-AXL cell viability (IC₅₀: 1.5 nmol/L) and significantly suppress GAS6/AXL-mediated cancer cell invasion, migration and wound healing at the nanomolar level. More importantly, compound 59 oral administration showed good pharmacokinetic profile and in vivo antitumor efficiency, in which we observed significant AXL phosphorylation suppression, and its antitumor efficacy at 20 mg/kg (qd) was comparable to that of BGB324 at 50 mg/kg (bid), the most advanced AXL inhibitor. Taken together, this work provided a valuable lead compound as a potential AXL inhibitor for the further antitumor drug development.

Objective:To investigate the clinical characteristics of acute ischemic stroke with anterior circulation large vessel occlusion caused by cardioembolism (CE) and large artery atherosclerosis (LAA) and the efficacy of endovascular treatment.Methods:Patients with acute ischemic stroke caused by large vessel occlusion in anterior circulation and received endovascular treatment in the Stroke Center of the 971 st Hospital of the PLA Navy from April 2014 to April 2021 were retrospectively enrolled. The etiological classification of stroke was CE or LAA. According to the modified Rankin Scale score at 90 d after onset, the patients were divided into good outcome group (0-2) and poor outcome group (>2). The demographic and clinical data between the groups were compared. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine the independent influencing factors of clinical outcome. Results:A total of 106 patients were enrollded. Their age was 61.39±13.73 years and 70 (66.0%) were males. Seventy-four patients (69.8%) were in the CE group and 32 (30.2%) were in the LAA group. Sixty-six patients (62.3%) had good outcomes. Univariate analysis showed that there were significant differences in gender, age, smoking, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, baseline National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score, time from onset to femoral artery puncture, time from puncture to vascular recanalization, and the number of retrieval attempts between the CE group and the LAA group (all P<0.05), and there were no significant differences in the incidences of poor outcome, hemorrhagic transformation, and symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage. There were significant differences in systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, baseline NIHSS score, time from onset to femoral artery puncture, and blood perfusion grade after treatment between the good outcome group and the poor outcome group (all P<0.05). Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that higher systolic blood pressure (odds ratio [ OR] 1.046, 95% confidence interval [ CI] 1.014-1.078; P=0.004), higher baseline NIHSS score ( OR 1.117, 95% CI 1.037-1.203; P=0.003), longer time from onset to femoral artery puncture ( OR 1.008, 95% CI 1.001-1.015; P=0.019) and poor blood perfusion after treatment ( OR 8.042, 95% CI 1.532-42.215; P=0.014) were significantly and independently associated with the poor outcomes. Conclusions:Compared with LAA, CE do not increase the risks of hemorrhagic transformation and symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage. The safety and efficacy of the two are similar.

Objective:To explore the mechanism of circular permuted tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (CPT) reversing the resistance to imatinib in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) cells.Methods:Five patients with CML in the Affiliated Hospital of Inner Mongolia Medical University from 2016 to 2020 were selected, and heparinized bone marrow blood samples were collected at the first diagnosis and imatinib resistance phase, and mononuclear cells were isolated. The mononuclear cells collected at the first diagnosis were named A1-E1, and the mononuclear cells collected after imatinib resistance were named A2-E2. Human CML wild-type K562 cell line (K562-W) was given gradually increasing small doses of low-concentration imatinib to obtain imatinib-resistant K562 cells (K562-R). K562-R cells were cultured with 20 μg/L CPT and these cells were set as CPT-K562-R group. The CCK-8 method was used to detect the half inhibitory concentration ( IC50) of cells for imatinib. K562-W and K562-R cells were used to establish CML xenografts nude mice models, then the nude mice were divided into K562-W, K562-R and CPT-K562-R xenograft groups. Imatinib was perfused orally in all three groups, and CPT was injected subcutaneously in the CPT-K562-R group at the same time. The tumor volume of the three groups of nude mice before and 4 weeks after treatment with imatinib, and the survival time of the three groups of nude mice were compared. Western blot was used to detect the changes of tyrosine protein kinase receptor B4 (EphB4) and myeloid cell leukemia protein 1 (Mcl-1) protein levels in bone marrow mononuclear cells, K562 cell line and transplanted tumor tissues of CML patients. Results:The expressions of EphB4 protein in A2-E2 cells of 5 patients with CML were higher than those in A1-E1 cells (all P < 0.01). The IC50 of K562-W, K562-R and CPT-K562-R cells for imatinib were (0.160±0.015) mg/L, (5.450±0.460) mg/L, (0.300±0.035) mg/L, and the difference was statistically significant ( F = 390.65, P < 0.01). In cells of K562-W group, EphB4 and Mcl-1 proteins were expressed at low levels (0.54±0.02 and 0.70±0.08); in cells of K562-R group, the expressions of EphB4 and Mcl-1 proteins were enhanced (3.04±0.11 and 2.88±0.04); in cells of CPT-K562-R group, the expressions of EphB4 and Mcl-1 proteins decreased (0.57±0.03 and 0.38±0.04). Before imatinib treatment, there was no statistically significant difference in the tumor volumes of nude mice among the K562-W, K562-R and CPT-K562-R xenograft groups ( F = 0.39, P = 0.68), suggesting the transplanted tumors formed in nude mice were balanced; after imatinib treatment, the difference in the tumor volumes among the three groups were statistically significant ( F = 26.16, P < 0.01). The survival time of nude mice in the K562-W, K562-R and CPT-K562-R xenograft groups was (18.5±3.3) d, (10.0±2.4) d and (17.5±1.6) d, and the difference was statistically significant ( F = 20.45, P < 0.01). In K562-W xenograft group, both EphB4 and Mcl-1 proteins were expressed at low levels (0.55±0.06 and 0.67±0.06); in K562-R xenograft group, the expressions of EphB4 and Mcl-1 proteins were enhanced (1.95±0.08 and 6.21±0.53); the expressions of EphB4 and Mcl-1 in CPT-K562-R xenograft group decreased (0.59±0.04 and 0.37±0.04) and were close to their expressions in K562-W xenograft group. Conclusion:CPT may enhance the sensitivity of CML to imatinib by inhibiting the expressions of EphB4 and Mcl-1, and this may be a targeted pathway for imatinib therapy.

Objective:To investigate the distribution and drug resistance of pathogens causing blood stream infection in patients with pancreatic neoplasms.Methods:Clinical data of patients with pancreatic neoplasms complicated with bloodstream infection with confirmed pathological evidence admitted in the First Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University from January 2016 to June 2019 were collected. Bacteria were isolated from blood culture, and microbial sensitivity tests were analyzed by minimum inhibitory concentration and Kirby-Bauer methods. The distribution and drug resistance of pathogens causing blood stream infection in patients with pancreatic neoplasms were analyzed.Results:There were 116 cases (8.5%) with bloodstream infection in 1 372 patients with pancreatic neoplasms. A total of 156 bacterial strains were isolated from blood culture, of which 127 strains (81.4%) were gram negative aerobic bacteria, mainly including Escherichia coli (42 strains), Klebsiella pneumoniae (34 strains), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (12 strains), and 25 strains (16.0%) were gram positive aerobic bacteria, mainly including Enterococcus faecium (11 strains), Enterococcus faecalis (3 strains), Streptococcus angina (3 strains). 4 strains (2.6%) were anaerobic bacteria. The results of antibiotic susceptibility showed that the resistance rate of Escherichia coli to ampicillin was 90.5%, and to cefoperazone-sulbactam was 2.4%. The resistance rate of Klebsiella pneumoniae to piperacillin was 20.6%, and to cefoperazone-sulbactam was 5.9%. The resistance rate of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to imipenem was 41.7%, and no resistant strain was found to cefoperazone-sulbactam. The resistance rate of Enterococcus and Streptococcus pharyngitis to erythromycin were 85.7% and 33.3%, and no strains were resistant to vancomycin.Conclusions:The rate of blood stream infection in patients with pancreatic neoplasms was relatively high. In clinical practice, the distribution of pathogenic bacteria should be understood, the drug resistance should be monitored and antibiotics should be reasonably used, in order to maximally prevent and interfere with the occurrence of blood stream infection.