Objective To compare the long-term survival of elderly patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) treated with surgical versus non-surgical treatment. Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of elderly patients aged ≥70 years with ESCC who underwent esophagectomy or radiotherapy/chemotherapy at Sichuan Cancer Hospital from January 2009 to September 2017. Patients were divided into a surgical group (S group) and a non-surgical group (NS group) according to the treatment method. The propensity score matching method was used to match the two groups of patients at a ratio of 1∶1, and the survival of the two groups before and after matching was analyzed. Results A total of 726 elderly patients with ESCC were included, including 552 males and 174 females, with 651 patients aged ≥70-80 years and 75 patients aged ≥80-90 years. There were 515 patients in the S group and 211 patients in the NS group. The median follow-up time was 60.8 months, and the median overall survival of the S group was 41.9 months [95%CI (35.2, 48.5)], while that of the NS group was only 24.0 months [95%CI (19.8, 28.3)]. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year overall survival rates of the S group were 84%, 54%, and 40%, respectively, while those of the NS group were 72%, 40%, and 30%, respectively [HR=0.689, 95%CI (0.559, 0.849), P<0.001]. After matching, 138 patients were included in each group, and there was no statistical difference in the overall survival between the two groups [HR=0.871, 95%CI (0.649, 1.167), P=0.352]. Conclusion Compared with conservative treatment, there is no significant difference in the long-term survival of elderly patients aged ≥70 years who undergo esophagectomy for ESCC. Neoadjuvant therapy combined with surgery is still an important choice to potentially improve the survival of elderly patients with ESCC.

Objective To predict the lymph node metastasis status of patients with invasive pulmonary adenocarcinoma by constructing machine learning models based on primary tumor radiomics, peritumoral radiomics, and habitat radiomics, and to evaluate the predictive performance and generalization ability of different imaging features. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on the clinical data of 1 263 patients with invasive pulmonary adenocarcinoma who underwent surgery at the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Jiangsu Province Hospital, from 2016 to 2019. Habitat regions were delineated by applying K-means clustering (average cluster number of 2) to the grayscale values of CT images. The peritumoral region was defined as a uniformly expanded area of 3 mm around the primary tumor. The primary tumor region was automatically segmented using V-net combined with manual correction and annotation. Subsequently, radiomics features were extracted based on these regions, and stacked machine learning models were constructed. Model performance was evaluated on the training, testing, and internal validation sets using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), F1 score, recall, and precision. Results After excluding patients who did not meet the screening criteria, a total of 651 patients were included. The training set consisted of 468 patients (181 males, 287 females) with an average age of (58.39±11.23) years, ranging from 29 to 78 years, the testing set included 140 patients (56 males, 84 females) with an average age of (58.81±10.70) years, ranging from 34 to 82 years, and the internal validation set comprised 43 patients (14 males, 29 females) with an average age of (60.16±10.68) years, ranging from 29 to 78 years. Although the habitat radiomics model did not show the optimal performance in the training set, it exhibited superior performance in the internal validation set, with an AUC of 0.952 [95%CI (0.87, 1.00)], an F1 score of 84.62%, and a precision-recall AUC of 0.892, outperforming the models based on the primary tumor and peritumoral regions. Conclusion The model constructed based on habitat radiomics demonstrated superior performance in the internal validation set, suggesting its potential for better generalization ability and clinical application in predicting lymph node metastasis status in pulmonary adenocarcinoma.

Objective:To review and analyze clinical data of patients with invasive pulmonary aspergillosis and mucormycosis, and to explore the surgical indication.Methods:Clinical data of 10 patients with invasive pulmonary aspergillosis and mucormycosis were analyzed retrospectively from March 2018 to November 2022 in our hospital, Department of Thoracic Surgery.Results:The age of children varied from 2.58 years old to 16.00 years old and 6 children were males while 4 females. Five patients suffer from invasive pulmonary aspergillosis. Five patients suffer from invasive pulmonary mucormycosis. The operative indication of 7 patients was the risk of massive bleeding in the airway. The surgical indication for two patients is to control infection and continue treating malignant tumors. One patient chose surgical treatment because the infection could not be cured after long-term antifungal treatment but the focus was limited. Two patients died of sudden acute hemoptysis before operation, the prognosis of 8 patients undergoing surgical treatment was good.Conclusion:The lethal rate of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis and mucormycosis is very high. Antifungal drug treatment combined with timely surgical treatment can save patients lives.

Purpose/Significance The scoping review summarizes the application of large language models in clinical practice,and provides references for their promotion.Method/Process PubMed,Embase,Wanfang and CNKI databases are searched to screen the lit-erature related to the application of large language models in clinical practice,and the content of the included literature is extracted,sum-marized and analyzed.Result/Conclusion Large language models have application value in providing treatment suggestions,assisting disease diagnosis,health education,analyzing text image data,etc.However,their performance in answer accuracy and individualization is not satisfactory.In general,large language models show significant potential in clinical practice,but necessary measures must be taken to control the application risks and confirm the scope of application.

Objective This study aimed to investigate the effects of silencing Ras homolog family member C(RhoC)on the proliferation,apoptosis,invasion,migration,and epithelial-mesenchymal transition(EMT)of salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma(SACC)and its molecular mechanisms.Methods A total of 27 SACC lesions and normal salivary gland tissues that were surgically resected at Qingdao Municipal Hospital from January 1,2019 to March 1,2024 were selected,and the expression levels of RhoC were detected by Western blot and immunohistochemistry.Three small interfering RNA(siRNAs)were designed to target the RhoC gene sequence,transfected into SACC-LM and SACC-83 cell lines,and evaluated for transfection efficiency.The protein expression levels of RhoC,Rho-asso-ciated protein kinase-1(ROCK1),p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase(p38MAPK),phosphorylated-p38MAPK(p-p38MAPK),twist family bHLH transcription factor 1(TWIST1),E-cadherin,N-cadherin,and Vimentin were com-pared using Western blot.CCK-8 assay,flow cytometry,transwell invasion assay,and wound healing assay were conducted to assess the differences in cell proliferation,apoptosis,invasion,and migration abilities among the groups.Bioinformatics methods were also used to predict possible upstream micro RNAs(miRNAs)of RhoC and their expression levels in SACC.Moreover,dual-luciferase reporter gene experiments were performed to verify the binding sites of miR-138-5p and RhoC.Results RhoC was highly expressed in SACC(P＜0.05).After silencing RhoC,the test group showed a significant decrease in the expression level of ROCK1,p-p38MAPK,TWIST1,N-cadherin,and Vimentin,as well as a significant increase in the expression level of E-cadherin(P＜0.05).No signifi-cant difference in the expression level of p38MAPK was observed(P＞0.05).The cell proliferation,invasion,and mi-gration ability decreased in the test group,whereas the apoptosis rates significantly increased(P＜0.05).miR-138-5p was lowly expressed in SACC,and miR-138-5p mimic can significantly downregulated the luciferase activity of 293T cells after transfection with a RhoC wild-type plasmid(P＜0.05).Conclusion RhoC is highly expressed in SACC,and RhoC silencing may target the downstream ROCK1/p38MAPK/TWISTl signaling pathway,thereby in-hibiting the proliferation,invasion,migration,and EMT of SACC while promoting its apoptosis.On the contrary,miR-138-5p is lowly expressed in SACC and is a potential upstream gene of RhoC,and there may be binding sites between the two genes.

Background and objective Cystic lung cancer,a special type of lung cancer,has been paid more and more attention.The most common pathological type of cystic lung cancer is adenocarcinoma.The invasiveness of cystic lung adenocarcinoma is vital for the selection of clinical treatment and prognosis.The aim of this study is to analyze the multiple clinical features of cystic lung adenocarcinoma,explore the independent risk factors of its invasiveness,and establish a risk pre-diction model.Methods A total of 129 cases of cystic lung adenocarcinoma admitted to the Department of Thoracic Surgery of the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from January 2021 to July 2022 were retrospectively analyzed and divided into pre-invasive group[atypical adenomatous hyperplasia(AAH),adenocarcinoma in situ(AIS)and minimally invasive adenocarcinoma(MIA)]and invasive group[invasive adenocarcinoma(IAC)]according to pathological findings.There were 47 cases in the pre-invasive group,including 19 males and 28 females,with an average age of(51.23±14.96)years.There were 82 cases in the invasive group,including 60 males and 22 females,with an average age of(61.27±11.74)years.Mul-tiple clinical features of the two groups were collected,including baseline data,imaging data and tumor markers.Univariate analysis,LASSO regression and multivariate Logistic regression analysis were used to screen out the independent risk factors of the invasiveness of cystic lung adenocarcinoma,and the risk prediction model was established.Results In univariate analysis,age,gender,smoking history,history of emphysema,neuron-specific enolase(NSE),number of cystic airspaces,lesion di-ameter,cystic cavity diameter,nodule diameter,solid components diameter,cyst wall nodule,smoothness of cyst wall,shape of cystic airspace,lobulation,short burr sign,pleural retraction,vascular penetration and bronchial penetration were statisti-cally different between the pre-invasive group and invasive groups(P<0.05).The above variables were processed by LASSO regression dimensionality reduction and screened as follows:age,gender,smoking history,NSE,number of cystic airspaces,lesion diameter,cystic cavity diameter,cyst wall nodule,smoothness of cyst wall and lobulation.Then the above variables were included in multivariate Logistic regression analysis.Cyst wall nodule(P=0.035)and lobulation(P=0.001)were found to be independent risk factors for the invasiveness of cystic lung adenocarcinoma(P<0.05).The prediction model was established as follows:P=e^x/(1+e^x),x=-7.927+1.476* cyst wall nodule+2.407* lobulation,and area under the curve(AUC)was 0.950.Conclusion Cyst wall nodule and lobulation are independent risk factors for the invasiveness of cystic lung adenocarcinoma,which have certain guiding significance for the prediction of the invasiveness of cystic lung adenocarcinoma.

Objective:We aimed to develop a novel visualized model based on nomogram to predict postoperative overall survival.Methods:This was a multicenter, retrospective, observational cohort study, including participants with histologically confirmed gastric and colorectal cancer who underwent radical surgery from 11 medical centers in China from August 1, 2015 to June 30, 2018. Baseline characteristics, histopathological data and nutritional status, as assessed using Nutrition Risk Screening 2002 (NRS 2002) score and the scored Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment, were collected. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression and Cox regression were used to identify variables to be included in the predictive model. Internal and external validations were performed.Results:There were 681 and 127 patients in the training and validation cohorts, respectively. A total of 188 deaths were observed over a median follow-up period of 59 (range: 58 to 60) months. Two independent predictors of NRS 2002 and Tumor-Node-Metastasis (TNM) stage were identified and incorporated into the prediction nomogram model together with the factor of age. The model's concordance index for 1-, 3- and 5-year overall survival was 0.696, 0.724, and 0.738 in the training cohort and 0.801, 0.812, and 0.793 in the validation cohort, respectively.Conclusions:In this study, a new nomogram prediction model based on NRS 2002 score was developed and validated for predicting the overall postoperative survival of patients with gastric colorectal cancer. This model has good differentiation, calibration and clinical practicability in predicting the long-term survival rate of patients with gastrointestinal cancer after radical surgery.

Objective:To determine the safety and efficacy of sandwich surgery in minimally invasive orthopedic surgery.Methods:A retrospective analysis was performed on 79 pectus carinatum patients undergoing minimally invasive orthopedic surgery admitted to the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Beijing Children's Hospital from July 2016 to July 2018, including 53 cases in the Abramson surgery group and 26 cases in the sandwich surgery group.Results:79 cases successfully completed the operation, the difference in complication rate between the two groups was not statistically significant. All cases were followed up to two years after bar removal, and no recurrence during the follow-up period. The excellent rate of orthopedic effect in sandwich surgery group was higher than that in Abramson surgery group.Conclusion:Sandwich surgery is safe, feasible and can achieve satisfactory postoperative results. It can be used as a surgical option for the treatment of pectus carinatum with depression or depression after orthosis.

Objective:The thickness of subcutaneous fat of the chest wall treated with vacuum bell can cover up the true depression in patients with pectus excavatum, when measured only from the body surface. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of this thickness of fat on treatment evaluation.Methods:Patients treated with vacuum bell from January to June 2022 in our center were retrospectively analyzed. The Haller index(HI), anterior chest wall fat thickness(A), lateral chest wall fat thickness(L), depth of body surface depression(SD), and depth of bone depression(BD) were measured by CT at the beginning of treatment and 1 year after treatment. The influence rate of vacuum bell was calculated by measuring the change of fat thickness before and after treatment to reflect the influence of vacuum bell on the growth of fat.Results:A total of 41 patients were enrolled, with a median age of 6.4 years old(1-14 years old). The mean HI before and after treatment was 3.6±0.7 and 3.2±0.5, and the Haller index of 10 cases was still aggravated after treatment, and the effective rate of real suction cup treatment was 75.6%. The subcutaneous fat of the anterior chest wall was thickened in 95.1%(39 cases) patients, and A before and after treatment was(4.0±1.9)mm and(7.5±3.2)mm respectively. The average influence rate of vacuum bell was 100%(33%-267%). The mean improvement of BD and SD before and after treatment was(1.7±3.9)mm and(4.0±3.3)mm respectively.Conclusion:The use of vacuum bell will thicken the fat of chest wall, and only evaluating by measuring the body surface will cover up the true depression. Compared to the lift of the sternum and ribs, the increase of the fat in depression area will give an additional improvement in appearance.

Objective:To examine the effect of short-term regular aerobic exercise on physical fitness of children with pulmonary with atresia ventricular septal defect after radical biventricular treatment.Methods:This was a prospective self pre-and post-control observation study. The subjects performed regular aerobic exercise for 10 days according to the exercise prescription. Body composition measurement and cardiopulmonary exercise test[lung ventilation function, maximum oxygen uptake(VO 2max), maximum oxygen pulse(O 2/HR max), ventilation oxygen uptake efficiency(OUES), exercise load time], 6 min walking distance(6MWD), sports psychometric test, motor function screening test and fitness test, were collected. The changes of test parameters and scale scoring before and after exercise were analyzed and compared. Results:A total of 7 children with PA/VSD after biventricular surgery were enrolled. The age ranged 8.2-16.2 years old, and there were 2 males and 5 females. VO 2max[(1 196.71±395.31)ml/min vs.(1 297.43±425.73)ml/min, P=0.031], O 2/HRmax[(82.43±7.53)ml/beat vs.(91.57±6.95)ml/beat, P<0.001]increased after exercise. The exercise load time was significantly increased compared with that before intervention[(476.43±35.73)s vs.(531.43±45.76)s, P=0.002]. Resting heart rate before exercise( P=0.013) and peak respiration exchange ratio(PeakRER, P=0.021) were significantly lower. Body composition tests suggest weight, intracellular water, protein and muscle content of lower limb were higher( P<0.05). The motor function score was higher than before( P=0.015); the score of sports fear was lower than before( P=0.009). There was no significant difference in lung capacity and 6-minute walking distance before and after exercise( P>0.05). There were no cardiovascular events during the study period. Conclusion:Short-term regular aerobic exercise for children with PA/VSD after biventricular surgery can improve exercise tolerance, increase lower limb muscle content, improve exercise fear and exercise function, and has good safety and feasibility.