Biomolecular condensates are formed through phase separation of biomacromolecules such as proteins and RNAs. These condensates exhibit liquid-like properties that can futher transition into more stable material states. They form complex internal structures via multivalent weak interactions, enabling precise spatiotemporal regulations. However, the use of inconsistent and non-standardized terminology has become increasingly problematic, hindering academic exchange and the dissemination of scientific knowledge. Therefore, it is necessary to discuss the terminology related to biomolecular condensates in order to clarify concepts, promote interdisciplinary cooperation, enhance research efficiency, and support the healthy development of this field.

Objective:To investigate the predictive ability of Glypican-3 (GPC3) positive hepatocellular carcinoma based on the hepatobiliary specific contrast agent gadoxetate disodium enhancement of the liver imaging reporting and data system version 2018 (LI-RADS v2018) imaging features, and to assess the relevant clinical imaging features for postoperative recurrence in GPC3 positive HCC patients.Methods:This study was a cohort study. A total of 122 hepatocellular carcinoma patients who underwent gadoxetate disodium enhanced MRI examination with hepatic tumor resection in Henan Provincial People′s Hospital from January 2017 to December 2021 were retrospectively collected, including 96 GPC3 positive and 26 GPC3 negative patients. The imaging features defined by LI-RADS v2018 of HCC lesions were analyzed. Patients were followed up for 40 months to determine recurrence free survival (RFS). The logistic regression was used to analyze the risk factors of GPC3 positivity. An imaging model, and a clinical-imaging model which combined the patient′s alpha-fetoprotein levels were constructed. The efficacy of the model for predicting GPC3 positivity was assessed using receiver operating characteristic curves. Kaplan-Meier method was used to draw the survival curve, and the log-rank test was used to compare the RFS between GPC3 positive and negative patients. Risk factors affecting the recurrence of GPC3 positive HCC were assessed by Cox regression.Results:The results of logistic multivariate regression analysis confirmed that rim enhancement ( OR=5.685, 95% CI 1.229-26.287, P=0.026) and irregular tumor margin at hepatobiliary phase ( OR=4.431, 95% CI 1.684-11.663, P=0.003) were independent risk factors for GPC3 positive HCC. The area under the curve for predicting GPC3 positivity was 0.745 (95% CI 0.636-0.854) for the imaging model and 0.776 (95% CI 0.677-0.876) for the clinical-imaging model. The mean RFS in the GPC3 positive group was 22 months, and it was 32 months in the negative group. There was a statistically significant difference in RFS between the two groups ( χ2=5.15, P=0.023). The multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that the arterial rim enhancement ( HR=5.460, 95% CI 1.966-15.162, P=0.001), microvascular invasion ( HR=2.402, 95% CI 1.210-4.769, P=0.012), portal vein tumor thrombus ( HR=3.226, 95% CI 1.114-9.344, P=0.031) were independent risk factors for recurrence after hepatic tumor resection for GPC3-positive HCC. Conclusions:A model based on the LI-RADS v2018 imaging features of hepatobiliary specific contrast agent gadoxetate disodium enhancement can effectively predict GPC3 positive HCC. The arterial rim enhancement, microvascular invasion and portal vein tumor thrombus are independent risk factors for postoperative recurrence of GPC3 positive HCC.

Objective To explore the correlation between lung injury and human neutrophil lipocalin(HNL)in rats with sepsis.Methods 45 rats were randomly divided into a control group,a sham group,and a model group.The model group was to construct a rat sepsis lung injury model,the sham group was to free cecum laparotomy and then close abdomen without ligation and puncture,and the control group was with healthy rats.Serum interleukin(IL)-6,IL-1β,tumor necrosis factor-a(TNF-α),and HNL in each group of rats were detected with reagent kit.Oxygenation index was detected by blood gas analysis system.Lung wet/dry(W/D)ratio was calculated.Patho-logical morphology of lung tissue was observed by HE staining,and lung injury score was calculated.Results There were no significant differences in IL-6,IL-1β,TNF-α,HNL levels,oxygenation index,lung tissue wet/dry ratio,and lung injury score between the control group and the sham group at 12,24 and 36 hours(all P＞0.05).Compared with the sham group,IL-6,IL-1β,TNF-α,HNL levels,oxygenation index,lung tissue wet/dry ratio,and lung injury score in the model group increased at 12,24 and 36 hours,with significant differences(all P＜0.05).At 12,24 and 36 hours,lung tissue structure of rats was normal in the control group,with no edema ob-served;there were only a few inflammatory cells in the lung tissue of rats from the sham group;while in the model group,lung tissue structure of rats was severely injured,pulmonary alveoli collapsed,and inflammatory cells were severely infiltrated,but pathology improved with time.In rats with sepsis and lung injury,HNL was positively cor-related with IL-6,IL-1β,TNF-α,lung wet/dry ratio,and lung injury scores(all P＜0.05),while negatively corre-lated with oxygenation index(P＜0.05).Conclusion In rats with sepsis lung injury,HNL increases significantly,with severe inflammation and aggravation in lung tissue wet/dry ratio and lung injury,while oxygenation index de-creases.HNL level is positively correlated with IL-6,IL-1β,TNF-α levels,lung tissue wet/dry ratio and lung inju-ry,but negatively correlates with oxygenation index.

Objective To investigate the clinical efficacy of Xuanfei Yipi Formula,a prescription derived from modified Jianpi Pill recorded in Yi Fang Ji Jie(A Collection of Prescriptions with Expositions),in treating senile sarcopenia with spleen-stomach weakness type,and to observe its effect on chronic low-grade inflammation of the patients.Methods Seventy cases of senile sarcopenia patients of spleen-stomach weakness type were randomly divided into an observation group and a control group,with 35 cases in each group.The control group was given exercise and nutritional guidance,while the observation group was treated with Xuanfei Yipi Formula orally on the basis of the control group,and the intervention time of both groups was eight weeks.The changes of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)syndrome scores,appendicular skeletal muscle mass index(ASMI),grip strength,6-meter walking pace,and the serum levels of C-reactive protein(CRP),interleukin 6(IL-6),tumor necrosis factor α(TNF-α)in the two groups before and after treatment were observed.After treatment,the clinical efficacy and safety of the patients in the two groups were evaluated.Results(1)After eight weeks of treatment,the total effective rate in the observation group was 94.29%(33/35),and that in the control group was 77.14%(27/35),the intergroup comparison(by chi-square test)showed that the efficacy of the observation group was significantly superior to that of the control group(P＜0.05).(2)After treatment,the TCM syndrome scores in the two groups were significantly lower than those before treatment(P＜0.05),and the decrease of TCM syndrome score in the observation group was more obviously than that in the control group(P＜0.01).(3)After eight weeks of treatment,the ASMI,grip strength and 6-meter walking pace in the two groups were significantly higher than those before treatment,and the increase of ASMI and grip strength in the observation group was more obviously than that in the control group(P＜0.05).(4)After eight weeks of treatment,the levels of serum CRP,IL-6,and TNF-α in the two groups were decreased significantly compared with those before treatment(P＜0.05),and the decrease of serum CRP level in the observation group was more obviously than that in the control group(P＜0.05).(5)During the treatment,no obvious adverse reactions occurred in both groups,and the safety indexes of liver and kidney functions of the patients were all within the normal range.Conclusion Xuanfei Yipi Formula can improve the clinical symptoms of senile sarcopenia patients,and its mechanism is probably related with the regulation of chronic low-grade inflammation.

Objective:To prepare mesenchymal stem cells with antioxidant capacity (AO-MSC ) from human umbilical cords and evaluate its cell biological properties.Methods:In control group,mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) were isolated by digesting human umbilical cord Wharton's Jelly tissues with 0.2％ collagenase Ⅱ,and the released cells were collected and cultured in an animal serum-free culture medium.In AO-MSC group,incompletely collagenase Ⅱ-digested tissue debris were allowed to adhere to flusk flat bottoms and the AO-MSC was harvested by adherent culture. The conventional digestion and culture method was used as control.MSC colony forming ability was evaluated by fibroblast colony forming assay (CFU-F).MSC proliferative capacity was evaluated by CCK-8 assay.The MSC surface markers were detected by using flow cytometry and immunofluorescence staining.The adipogenic and osteogenic capacity of MSC was evaluated by multi-differentiation in vitro,and the mRNA expression of genes that control adipogenic and osteogenic differentiation was detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR );Moreover,the mRNA expression of antioxidant substances such as SOD-1,GSH,GAT,and NQO1 in MSC was also evaluated by RT-qPCR.Results:The AO-MSC isolated by this strategy reached a confluence of 80％-90％ at around 18 days and grew in a swirling pattern.Flow cytometry and immunofluorescence staining assays showed that CD73,CD29,CD105,CD90 were highly expressed and CD31,CD45,HLA-DR were scarcely expressed in AO-MSC.AO-MSC exhibited stronger self-renewal and differentiation ability compared to MSC.However,the in vitro adipogenic-osteogenic capacity of MSC in the control group was stronger than that of AO-MSC.RT-qPCR assay showed that AO-MSC expressed higher mRNA levels of antioxidant substances compared to MSC.Conclusion:Human AO-MSC is successfully prepared from human umbilical cord without animal serum.

As one of the key components of clinical trials, blinding, if successfully implemented, can help to mitigate the risks of implementation bias and measurement bias, consequently improving the validity and reliability of the trial results. However, successful blinding in clinical trials of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is hard to achieve, and the evaluation of blinding success through blinding assessment lacks established guidelines. Taking into account the challenges associated with blinding in the TCM field, here we present a framework for assessing blinding. Further, this study proposes a blinding assessment protocol for TCM clinical trials, building upon the framework and the existing methods. An assessment report checklist and an approach for evaluating the assessment results are presented based on the proposed protocol. It is anticipated that these improvements to blinding assessment will generate greater awareness among researchers, facilitate the standardization of blinding, and augment the blinding effectiveness. The use of this blinding assessment may further advance the quality and precision of TCM clinical trials and improve the accuracy of the trial results. The blinding assessment protocol will undergo continued optimization and refinement, drawing upon expert consensus and experience derived from clinical trials. Please cite this article as: Wang XC, Liu XY, Shi KL, Meng QG, Yu YF, Wang SY, Wang J, Qu C, Lei C, Yu XP. Blinding assessment in clinical trials of traditional Chinese medicine: Exploratory principles and protocol. J Integr Med. 2023; 21(6): 528-536.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use* ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional/methods* ; Outcome Assessment, Health Care ; Reference Standards ; Reproducibility of Results ; Research Design ; Clinical Trials as Topic

Uncommon epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations account for 10%-20% of all EGFR mutations in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The uncommon EGFR-mutated NSCLC is associated with poor clinical outcomes and generally achieved unsatisfactory effects to the current therapies using standard EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), including afatinib and osimertinib. Therefore, it is necessary to develop more novel EGFR-TKIs to treat uncommon EGFR-mutated NSCLC. Aumolertinib is a third-generation EGFR-TKI approved in China for treating advanced NSCLC with common EGFR mutations. However, it remains unclear whether aumolertinib is effective in uncommon EGFR-mutated NSCLC. In this work, the in vitro anticancer activity of aumolertinib was investigated in engineered Ba/F3 cells and patient-derived cells bearing diverse uncommon EGFR mutations. Aumolertinib was shown to be more potent in inhibiting the viability of various uncommon EGFR-mutated cell lines than those with wild-type EGFR. And in vivo, aumolertinib could also significantly inhibit tumor growth in two mouse allograft models (V769-D770insASV and L861Q mutations) and a patient-derived xenografts model (H773-V774insNPH mutation). Importantly, aumolertinib exerts responses against tumors in advanced NSCLC patients with uncommon EGFR mutations. These results suggest that aumolertinib has the potential as a promising therapeutic candidate for the treatment of uncommon EGFR-mutated NSCLC.

Autophagic flux refers to a series of dynamic process of autophagic bilayer membrane formation, autophagosome formation, autophagolysosomes formation and degradation. The etiology of cataract is complex, including congenital abnormalities in lens development due to genetic mutations, oxidative damage due to aging, abnormalities in glucose metabolism due to diabetes, and proliferation of lens epithelial cells(LECs)stimulated by postoperative inflammatory factor, all of which are associated with the development of cataracts. A growing number of research in recent years have discovered that altering the status of LECs can contribute to the pathophysiological process of cataract by regulating autophagic flux. This review summarized the impacts of autophagic flux regulation on cataract.

BACKGROUND: Pneumonia-like primary pulmonary lymphoma (PPL) was commonly misdiagnosed as infectious pneumonia, leading to delayed treatment. The purpose of this study was to establish a computed tomography (CT)-based radiomics model to differentiate pneumonia-like PPL from infectious pneumonia. METHODS: In this retrospective study, 79 patients with pneumonia-like PPL and 176 patients with infectious pneumonia from 12 medical centers were enrolled. Patients from center 1 to center 7 were assigned to the training or validation cohort, and the remaining patients from other centers were used as the external test cohort. Radiomics features were extracted from CT images. A three-step procedure was applied for radiomics feature selection and radiomics signature building, including the inter- and intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs), a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO). Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify the significant clinicoradiological variables and construct a clinical factor model. Two radiologists reviewed the CT images for the external test set. Performance of the radiomics model, clinical factor model, and each radiologist were assessed by receiver operating characteristic, and area under the curve (AUC) was compared. RESULTS: A total of 144 patients (44 with pneumonia-like PPL and 100 infectious pneumonia) were in the training cohort, 38 patients (12 with pneumonia-like PPL and 26 infectious pneumonia) were in the validation cohort, and 73 patients (23 with pneumonia-like PPL and 50 infectious pneumonia) were in the external test cohort. Twenty-three radiomics features were selected to build the radiomics model, which yielded AUCs of 0.95 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.94-0.99), 0.93 (95% CI: 0.85-0.98), and 0.94 (95% CI: 0.87-0.99) in the training, validation, and external test cohort, respectively. The AUCs for the two readers and clinical factor model were 0.74 (95% CI: 0.63-0.83), 0.72 (95% CI: 0.62-0.82), and 0.73 (95% CI: 0.62-0.84) in the external test cohort, respectively. The radiomics model outperformed both the readers' interpretation and clinical factor model ( P <0.05). CONCLUSIONS The CT-based radiomics model may provide an effective and non-invasive tool to differentiate pneumonia-like PPL from infectious pneumonia, which might provide assistance for clinicians in tailoring precise therapy.
Humans ; Retrospective Studies ; Pneumonia/diagnostic imaging* ; Analysis of Variance ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Lymphoma/diagnostic imaging*

OBJECTIVE: The mode of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission via injection drug use (IDU) still exists, and the recent shift in IDU-related transmission of HIV infection is largely unknown. The purpose of this study was to analyze the spatiotemporal sources and dynamics of HIV-1 transmission through IDU in Guangxi. METHODS: We performed a molecular epidemiological investigation of infections across Guangxi from 2009 to 2019. Phylogenetic and Bayesian time-geographic analyses of HIV-1 sequences were performed to confirm the characteristics of transmission between IDUs in combination with epidemiological data. RESULTS: Among the 535 subjects, CRF08_BC (57.4%), CRF01_AE (28.4%), and CRF07_BC (10.7%) were the top 3 HIV strains; 72.6% of infections were linked to other provinces in the transmission network; 93.6% of sequence-transmitted strains were locally endemic, with the rest coming from other provinces, predominantly Guangdong and Yunnan; 92.1% of the HIV transmission among people who inject drugs tended to be transmitted between HIV-positive IDUs. CONCLUSION HIV recombinants were high diversity, and circulating local strains were the transmission sources among IDUs in Guangxi. However, there were still cases of IDUs linked to other provinces. Coverage of traditional prevention strategies should be expanded, and inter-provincial collaboration between Guangxi, Yunnan, and Guangdong provinces should be strengthened.
Humans ; HIV-1/genetics* ; HIV Infections ; Drug Users ; Phylogeny ; Bayes Theorem ; China/epidemiology* ; Genotype