ObjectiveTo explore the protective effect and mechanism of Gegen Qianliantang （GQT） on intestinal mucosal barrier function in dextran sulfate sodium （DSS）-induced ulcerative colitis （UC） model mice. MethodsA UC model was established in C57BL/6 mice using a 2.5% DSS solution. Mice were randomly divided into five groups （n=8 per group）： blank group， model group， mesalazine sustained-release granule group （0.52 g·kg^-1）， high-dose GQT group （2.23 g·kg^-1）， and low-dose GQT group （1.12 g·kg^-1）. Fecal characteristics and body weight changes were observed before and after treatment. The body weight loss and disease activity index （DAI） of UC mice were calculated to evaluate symptom severity. Hematoxylin-eosin （HE） staining and Alizarin blue-periodic acid-Schiff （AB-PAS） staining were used to detect histological changes in colon tissue. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of zonula occludens-1 （ZO-1） and mucin 2 （MUC2）. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay （ELISA） was used to detect serum levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines interferon-γ （IFN-γ）， interleukin-6 （IL-6）， tumor necrosis factor-α （TNF-α）， IL-17A， and anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10. Flow cytometry was used to detect the activation of helper T lymphocyte subsets （Th1， Th17）， regulatory T cells （Treg）， and regulatory B cells （Breg） in spleen and colon tissues. Western blot was used to detect the expression levels of T-bet， forkhead box protein P3（FoxP3）， nuclear transcription factor（NF）-κB p65， phosphorylated NF-κB p65 （p-NF-κB p65）， signal transducer and activator of transcription 3（STAT3）， and phosphorylated STAT3 （p-STAT3）. ResultsCompared with the model group， both high- and low-dose GQT groups significantly improved the body weight loss and DAI scores （P<0.05）， alleviated colonic inflammation， and showed optimal efficacy in the high-dose group. AB-PAS staining showed that compared with the model group， both the high- and low-dose GQT groups significantly increased goblet cell proliferation and mucin secretion， indicating improved mucosal barrier function. GQT upregulated the expression of ZO-1 and MUC2 in colon tissue （P<0.05）， suppressed IFN-γ， IL-6， and TNF-α secretion （P<0.05）， elevated IL-10 secretion （P<0.05）， but had no significant effect on IL-17A. At the same time， high- and low-dose GQT intervention increased the activation of CD4⁺ FoxP3⁺ Treg cells （P<0.05） and suppressed activation of CD4⁺ IFN-γ⁺ Th1 cells （P<0.05）. Western blot showed that GQT downregulated T-bet， NF-κB p65， and STAT3 protein expression （P<0.05）， upregulated FoxP3 （P<0.05）， and also reduced phosphorylation levels of p-NF-κB p65 and p-STAT3 （P<0.05）. ConclusionGQT can upregulate the activation of CD4⁺ FoxP3⁺ Treg cells， reduce the activation of CD4⁺ IFN-γ⁺ Th1 cells， inhibit the secretion of IFN-γ， IL-6， and TNF-α， and increase the secretion of IL-10. It enhances the expression of MUC2 and ZO-1 in colon tissue， thereby alleviating inflammatory damage to the intestinal mucosa and restoring mucosal barrier integrity. These effects may be related to its regulation of NF-κB p65 and STAT3 signaling pathways， ultimately regulating the activation of transcription factors T-bet and FoxP3.

Myelodysplastic syndrome(MDS)is a heterogeneous myeloid tumor that originates from hematopoietic stem cells(HSCs)and is associated with a high risk of progression to acute myeloid leukemia(AML).Studies have shown that 90%of patients with MDS have gene mutations,of whom approximately 25%have SF3B1 mutations.In patients with MDS carrying this mutation,the TGF-β pathway is upregu-lated,inducing cell cycle arrest and thereby leading to erythroid ineffective hematopoiesis and pathological hematopoiesis.Luspatercept can be used as a ligand trap to capture TGF-β ligands,inhibit SMAD2/3 pathway activation,downregulate TGF-β pathway,and promote ad-vanced red blood cell maturation.Currently,it has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration(FDA)for the treatment of anemia in patients with low-risk MDS,and studies have shown that the response rate is higher in patients with SF3B1 mutations.This article will re-view the current status of luspatercept in the treatment of SF3B1 mutation-related MDS;it will also analyze its effectiveness and safety and provide therapeutic strategies for clinical use.

Neurons in the primary auditory area (AUDp) innervate multiple brain regions with long-range projections while receiving informative inputs for diverse functions. However, the brain-wide connections of these neurons have not been comprehensively investigated. Here, we simultaneously applied virus-based anterograde and retrograde tracing, labeled the connections of excitatory and inhibitory neurons in the mouse AUDp, and acquired whole-brain information using a dual-channel fluorescence micro-optical sectioning tomography system. Quantified results showed that the two types of neurons received inputs with similar patterns but sent heterogeneous projections to downstream regions. In the isocortex, functionally different areas consistently sent feedback-dominated projections to these neurons, with concomitant laterally-dominated projections from the sensory and limbic cortices to inhibitory neurons. In subcortical regions, the dorsal and medial parts of the non-lemniscal auditory thalamus (AT) were reciprocally connected to the AUDp, while the ventral part contained the most fibers of passage from the excitatory neurons and barely sent projections back, indicating the regional heterogeneity of the AUDp-AT circuit. Our results reveal details of the whole-brain network and provide new insights for further physiological and functional studies of the AUDp.

Many people affected by fragile X syndrome (FXS) and autism spectrum disorders have sensory processing deficits, such as hypersensitivity to auditory, tactile, and visual stimuli. Like FXS in humans, loss of Fmr1 in rodents also cause sensory, behavioral, and cognitive deficits. However, the neural mechanisms underlying sensory impairment, especially vision impairment, remain unclear. It remains elusive whether the visual processing deficits originate from corrupted inputs, impaired perception in the primary sensory cortex, or altered integration in the higher cortex, and there is no effective treatment. In this study, we used a genetic knockout mouse model (Fmr1^KO), in vivo imaging, and behavioral measurements to show that the loss of Fmr1 impaired signal processing in the primary visual cortex (V1). Specifically, Fmr1^KO mice showed enhanced responses to low-intensity stimuli but normal responses to high-intensity stimuli. This abnormality was accompanied by enhancements in local network connectivity in V1 microcircuits and increased dendritic complexity of V1 neurons. These effects were ameliorated by the acute application of GABA_A receptor activators, which enhanced the activity of inhibitory neurons, or by reintroducing Fmr1 gene expression in knockout V1 neurons in both juvenile and young-adult mice. Overall, V1 plays an important role in the visual abnormalities of Fmr1^KO mice and it could be possible to rescue the sensory disturbances in developed FXS and autism patients.
Animals ; Disease Models, Animal ; Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein/metabolism* ; Fragile X Syndrome/metabolism* ; Humans ; Mice ; Mice, Knockout ; Neurons/metabolism*

The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is involved in diverse brain functions via its extensive projections to multiple target regions. There is a growing understanding of the overall outputs of the OFC at the population level, but reports of the projection patterns of individual OFC neurons across different cortical layers remain rare. Here, by combining neuronal sparse and bright labeling with a whole-brain florescence imaging system (fMOST), we obtained an uninterrupted three-dimensional whole-brain dataset and achieved the full morphological reconstruction of 25 OFC pyramidal neurons. We compared the whole-brain projection targets of these individual OFC neurons in different cortical layers as well as in the same cortical layer. We found cortical layer-dependent projections characterized by divergent patterns for information delivery. Our study not only provides a structural basis for understanding the principles of laminar organizations in the OFC, but also provides clues for future functional and behavioral studies on OFC pyramidal neurons.

The olfactory bulb (OB) is the first relay station in the olfactory system. In the OB, mitral/tufted cells (M/Ts), which are the main output neurons, play important roles in the processing and representation of odor information. Recent studies focusing on the function of M/Ts at the single-cell level in awake behaving mice have demonstrated that odor-evoked firing of single M/Ts displays transient/long-term plasticity during learning. Here, we tested whether the neural activity of M/Ts and sniffing patterns are dependent on anticipation and reward in awake behaving mice. We used an odor discrimination task combined with in vivo electrophysiological recordings in awake, head-fixed mice, and found that, while learning induced plasticity of spikes and beta oscillations during odor sampling, we also found plasticity of spikes, beta oscillation, sniffing pattern, and coherence between sniffing and theta oscillations during the periods of anticipation and/or reward. These results indicate that the activity of M/Ts plays important roles not only in odor representation but also in salience-related events such as anticipation and reward.

Objective: To study the feasibility, safety and aesthetics of laparoscopic cholecystectomy using a single-port through the umbilicus in patients with chronic cholecystitis with cholecystolithiasis. Methods: From Jan 2007 to Jun 2017, the clinical data of 4790 patients who underwent single-port, 4 426 patients conventional three-ports, and 3 304 patients two-ports laparoscopic cholecystectomy were retrospectively studied. Results: There were no death in all the three groups. There were no significant differences in the incidences of postoperative bleeding, bile leakage, biliary tract injury and other significant short-term complications (all P>0.05). The operation time of transumbilical single-port laparoscopic cholecystectomy was significantly longer than that of two-ports and three-ports laparoscopic cholecystectomy [(35.3±9.0)min vs. (28.4±7.2)min vs. (23.3±6.4)min, P<0.05]. Looking only in a single year, there was no significant difference in the operation time of the three groups in the year 2017 (P>0.05). There were no significant differences among the three groups in intraoperative blood loss, first postoperative passing of flatus, postoperative pain, and length of hospital stay (all P>0.05). The satisfaction score of surgical scar in the single-port group was higher than that in the two-ports and three-ports groups [(9.6±1.6) vs. (7.6±1.9) vs. (6.7±2.0), P<0.05]. Conclusions Transumbilical single-port laparoscopic cholecystectomy was safe and feasible, with good aesthetics and other advantages. It was more difficult than the traditional laparoscopic technique. After the learning curve, the operation time could be comparable to the three-ports technique.

OBJECTIVETo analyze clinical features, outcomes and correlative prognostic factors of the disease.

METHODTotally 14 newly diagnosed children with pancreatoblastoma at Shanghai Children's Medical Center, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center and Beijing Children's Hospital were enrolled into this study between April 2003 and July 2013. The clinical features, surgery, chemotherapy protocol and prognostic factors of patients were retrospectively analyzed.

RESULTThe median age at diagnosis was 6.5 years (0.6 to 11 years). Four cases had local tumor, 9 cases had local invasion, and in 1 case lung and liver metastasis was found at diagnosis. Increased serum α-fetoprotein were found in 8 cases (66-54,000 μg/L). In 8 patients the tumor was resected at first. The remaining 6 patients had biopsy and in four of them the tumor was completely resected after 4-6 cycles of chemotherapy. Except for 2 patients who gave up treatment, all the other patients fulfilled the comprehensive treatment including surgery and chemotherapy. One patient received radiofrequency ablation. The median follow-up period was 26 months(16-140 months). The estimated 2 year event free survival was (66.7 ± 13.6)%.On univariate analysis, non-resectable tumor(χ(2) = 6.663, P = 0.010), progression and metastases during treatment(χ(2) = 14.927, P = 0.000), poor response to treatment(χ(2) = 12.293, P = 0.000)were independent predictors for poor prognosis.

CONCLUSIONComplete resection and complete remission after treatment were excellent prognostic factors. Some initially unresectable disease seems to be resectable after adjuvant chemotherapy, which may be a key point of treatment strategy.

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Child ; Disease-Free Survival ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ; Pancreatic Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; pathology ; therapy ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate

The PBL teaching and the case teaching have begun to be applied to the course of health economics, which has strong adaptability to the two teaching methods. Two teaching methods not only have the same characteristics, such as diversified teaching, outstanding students as the main body, paying atten-tion to the theory and practice, emphasizing on the comprehensive use of knowledge, but also have different characteristics, such as teaching idea, applied range and points of focus. These similar characteristics and differences are reflected in the development of health economics course. Based on the differences and simi-larities of the two teaching methods and further integration of the characteristics of health economics, this paper puts forward the countermeasures to optimize the application of the two teaching methods in health economics course.

Objective:This paper aims to investigate the awareness and demand for medical liability insurance of doctors, and to provide policy recommendations for the further development of medical liability insurance in China. Method:A stratified random sampling survey is conducted on doctors from a Top3 general hospital in Guangzhou, and the relevant departments and individual doctors were interviewed. Results:The higher the risk in a department, the higher their awareness of medical liability insurance becomes;the longer the length of service for a doctor, the more understanding of medical liability insurance the doctor has. Medical liability insurance is generally supported by doc-tors with a strong willingness of demand, but they opinions on bearing and sharing the insurance premium are quite different. Discussion:Doctors still lack sufficient knowledge of medical liability insurance due to the lack of effective publicity. The structural mode of medical liability insurance is still relatively vague, and the government leadership and market operation ability have a serious shortage. Suggestion:This paper suggest to improve the relevant laws and regulations of medical liability insurance, to strengthen government supervision and publicity, to build a reasonable development model of medical liability insurance in line with the national circumstances, and to strengthen an effec-tive combination of government leadership and market operation.