Background/Aims: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) is a significant risk factor for gallstone formation, but mechanisms underlying MASH-related gallstone formation remain unclear. Golgi membrane protein 1 (GOLM1) participates in hepatic cholesterol metabolism and is upregulated in MASH. Here, we aimed to explore the role of GOLM1 in MASH-related gallstone formation. Methods: The UK Biobank cohort was used for etiological analysis. GOLM1 knockout (GOLM1-/-) and wild-type (WT) mice were fed with a high-fat diet (HFD). Livers were excised for histology and immunohistochemistry analysis. Gallbladders were collected to calculate incidence of cholesterol gallstones (CGSs). Biles were collected for biliary lipid analysis. HepG2 cells were used to explore underlying mechanisms. Human liver samples were used for clinical validation. Results: MASH patients had a greater risk of cholelithiasis. All HFD-fed mice developed MASH, and the incidence of gallstones was 16.7% and 75.0% in GOLM1-/- and WT mice, respectively. GOLM1-/- decreased biliary cholesterol concentration and output. In vivo and in vitro assays confirmed that GOLM1 facilitated cholesterol efflux through upregulating ATP binding cassette transporter subfamily G member 5 (ABCG5). Mechanistically, GOLM1 translocated into nucleus to promote osteopontin (OPN) transcription, thus stimulating ABCG5-mediated cholesterol efflux. Moreover, GOLM1 was upregulated by interleukin-1β (IL-1β) in a dose-dependent manner. Finally, we confirmed that IL-1β, GOLM1, OPN, and ABCG5 were enhanced in livers of MASH patients with CGSs. Conclusions In MASH livers, upregulation of GOLM1 by IL-1β increases ABCG5-mediated cholesterol efflux in an OPN-dependent manner, promoting CGS formation. GOLM1 has the potential to be a molecular hub interconnecting MASH and CGSs.

Background/Aims: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) is a significant risk factor for gallstone formation, but mechanisms underlying MASH-related gallstone formation remain unclear. Golgi membrane protein 1 (GOLM1) participates in hepatic cholesterol metabolism and is upregulated in MASH. Here, we aimed to explore the role of GOLM1 in MASH-related gallstone formation. Methods: The UK Biobank cohort was used for etiological analysis. GOLM1 knockout (GOLM1-/-) and wild-type (WT) mice were fed with a high-fat diet (HFD). Livers were excised for histology and immunohistochemistry analysis. Gallbladders were collected to calculate incidence of cholesterol gallstones (CGSs). Biles were collected for biliary lipid analysis. HepG2 cells were used to explore underlying mechanisms. Human liver samples were used for clinical validation. Results: MASH patients had a greater risk of cholelithiasis. All HFD-fed mice developed MASH, and the incidence of gallstones was 16.7% and 75.0% in GOLM1-/- and WT mice, respectively. GOLM1-/- decreased biliary cholesterol concentration and output. In vivo and in vitro assays confirmed that GOLM1 facilitated cholesterol efflux through upregulating ATP binding cassette transporter subfamily G member 5 (ABCG5). Mechanistically, GOLM1 translocated into nucleus to promote osteopontin (OPN) transcription, thus stimulating ABCG5-mediated cholesterol efflux. Moreover, GOLM1 was upregulated by interleukin-1β (IL-1β) in a dose-dependent manner. Finally, we confirmed that IL-1β, GOLM1, OPN, and ABCG5 were enhanced in livers of MASH patients with CGSs. Conclusions In MASH livers, upregulation of GOLM1 by IL-1β increases ABCG5-mediated cholesterol efflux in an OPN-dependent manner, promoting CGS formation. GOLM1 has the potential to be a molecular hub interconnecting MASH and CGSs.

Background/Aims: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) is a significant risk factor for gallstone formation, but mechanisms underlying MASH-related gallstone formation remain unclear. Golgi membrane protein 1 (GOLM1) participates in hepatic cholesterol metabolism and is upregulated in MASH. Here, we aimed to explore the role of GOLM1 in MASH-related gallstone formation. Methods: The UK Biobank cohort was used for etiological analysis. GOLM1 knockout (GOLM1-/-) and wild-type (WT) mice were fed with a high-fat diet (HFD). Livers were excised for histology and immunohistochemistry analysis. Gallbladders were collected to calculate incidence of cholesterol gallstones (CGSs). Biles were collected for biliary lipid analysis. HepG2 cells were used to explore underlying mechanisms. Human liver samples were used for clinical validation. Results: MASH patients had a greater risk of cholelithiasis. All HFD-fed mice developed MASH, and the incidence of gallstones was 16.7% and 75.0% in GOLM1-/- and WT mice, respectively. GOLM1-/- decreased biliary cholesterol concentration and output. In vivo and in vitro assays confirmed that GOLM1 facilitated cholesterol efflux through upregulating ATP binding cassette transporter subfamily G member 5 (ABCG5). Mechanistically, GOLM1 translocated into nucleus to promote osteopontin (OPN) transcription, thus stimulating ABCG5-mediated cholesterol efflux. Moreover, GOLM1 was upregulated by interleukin-1β (IL-1β) in a dose-dependent manner. Finally, we confirmed that IL-1β, GOLM1, OPN, and ABCG5 were enhanced in livers of MASH patients with CGSs. Conclusions In MASH livers, upregulation of GOLM1 by IL-1β increases ABCG5-mediated cholesterol efflux in an OPN-dependent manner, promoting CGS formation. GOLM1 has the potential to be a molecular hub interconnecting MASH and CGSs.

Objective:To investigate the association between quantified CT (QCT)-measured body composition and metabolic syndrome (MS) components in obese populations before bariatric surgery.Methods:A cross-sectional study. A retrospective analysis was conducted on a cohort of 97 obese patients scheduled for weight-loss surgery at the First Affiliated Hospital of Wannan Medical College from January 2021 to March 2023. The patients′ body mass index (BMI), biochemical parameters and body composition measurements obtained by QCT were recorded. The patients were stratified into groups based on gender, obesity severity and the number of MS components. Differences in body composition among the groups were compared. Additionally, the correlations between each body composition parameter and metabolic indicators were analyzed. The diagnostic efficacy of each body composition parameter for identifying obese individuals with different MS components was assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis.Results:There were 75 females (77.3%). Male obese patients had higher total abdominal fat area [(693.23±148.90) vs (574.99±114.89) cm 2, t=-3.958, P<0.001], visceral fat area [(289.65±57.67) vs (195.60±57.37) cm 2, t=-6.753, P<0.001], fat content of pancreatic head [27.45%(21.65%, 45.48%) vs 21.60%(17.6%, 26.9%), Z=-2.675, P=0.007], and skeletal muscle index [73.36(68.74, 81.26) vs 61.52(55.74, 66.41) cm 2/m 2, Z=-5.246, P<0.001]. With the increase of obesity, abdominal fat mainly increases in subcutaneous fat. With the increase of MS components (MS2 group, MS3 group, MS4 group, MS5 group), the abdominal fat area, abdominal fat/subcutaneous fat, liver fat content, pancreatic head fat content, and skeletal muscle index of patients all increased accordingly. In diagnosing the presence of two components of MS, area under the curve of visceral fat area was the largest (AUC=0.706, 95% CI=0.577-0.834). For diagnosing the presence of three, four and five components of MS, area under curve of liver fat content were all the largest (MS3=0.712, 95% CI=0.605-0.818; MS4=0.652, 95% CI=0.537-0.766; MS5=0.706, 95% CI=0.576-0.836). Conclusion:There are differences in QCT body composition among obese patients with different MS components, and there is a correlation between each body composition and MS component. Among them, intra-abdominal fat area and liver fat content are of great value in evaluating obese patients with different MS components.

Objective:To analyze the clinical efficacy of electrolysis of depigmented hair using a trichiasis electrolyzer combined with hair follicle transplantation in the treatment of vitiligo-associated leukotrichia.Methods:Clinical data were retrospectively collected from 25 patients with stable vitiligo-associated leukotrichia in the Department of Dermatologic Surgery, Hangzhou Third People′s Hospital from January 2019 to January 2021. All the patients received electrolysis of depigmented hair using a trichiasis electrolyzer combined with hair follicle transplantation. Outpatient follow-up visits were conducted in the first week, as well as the first, third and sixth months after surgery. The texture and growth status of transplanted hair were observed, and the survival rate of transplanted hair follicles and the proportion of newborn white hair in white hair in the original lesions were recorded.Results:Among the 25 patients with stable vitiligo, there were 14 males and 11 females, and their disease duration ranged from 2 to 15 years, with the average duration being 5.8 years. A total of 30 white patches accompanied by leukotrichia were included, including 9 on the scalp, 7 on the eyebrows and 14 on the eyelashes. One week after surgery, the transplanted hair survived well in all patients, without obvious shedding or local infection. Six months after surgery, repigmentation was observed in most hair in the original lesion area, and only a small amount of white hair grew out, without obvious scarring; the survival rate of transplanted hair follicles was 76.5% ± 10.0%, and the proportion of newborn white hair in white hair in the original lesions was 16.7% ± 7.8%.Conclusion:Electrolysis of depigmented hair using a trichiasis electrolyzer combined with hair follicle transplantation was effective in the treatment of vitiligo-associated leukotrichia, with a simple treatment process and few postoperative complications, which provided a reliable choice for the clinical treatment of vitiligo-associated leukotrichia.

Objective To evaluate the short-term outcome of robot-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (RATS) for the treatment of posterior mediastinal neurogenic tumour. Methods The clinical data of consecutive patients with mediastinal neurogenic tumors who received RATS treatment completed by the same operator in the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Gansu Provincial People's Hospital from June 2016 to June 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. The tumors were preoperatively localized and evaluated using magnetic resonance imaging or enhanced CT. Results A total of 35 patients were enrolled, including 19 males and 16 females with a mean age of 34.9±7.1 years. All patients successfully completed the resection of posterior mediastinal neurogenic tumors under RATS, and no conversion to thoracotomy occurred during the operation. The average operative time was 62.3±18.0 min, docking time was 10.3±2.6 min, intraoperative bleeding was 33.9±21.6 mL, postoperative 24-hour chest drainage was 69.0±28.9 mL, postoperative chest drainage time was 2.0 (1.0, 3.0) d and the postoperative hospital stay was 3.0 (2.0, 4.0) d. Postoperative complications occurred in 3 patients, including 2 patients with transient Honor syndrome and 1 patient with transient anhidrosis of the affected upper limb. Conclusion RATS for posterior mediastinal neurogenic tumours is safe, effective and feasible, and allows the full benefit of the robotic surgical system to be exploited.

To establish a method for determining 26 inorganic elements in earthworm polypeptide and determine the elemental content in different batches of earthworm polypeptide, microwave digestion method was used to pre-treat the samples, and ICP-MS method was used to determine the content of 26 elements in different batches of earthworm polypeptide. The linear relationships of 26 elements were good in the range of 0-1 000 μg·L^-1, with R² greater than 0.999, precision RSD 0.21%-2.71%, repeatability RSD 0.19%-4.69%, stability RSD 0.11%-4.24%, and recovery rates of 82.41%-116.16%. The data was plotted using Origin 2022 software to characterize the distribution of elements content. SPSS 27.0 was used for principal component analysis, and SIMCA 14.1 software was used for OPLS-DA analysis. The results showed that among the 26 elements, the higher content of earthworm polypeptide was K, Na, and Ca, followed by Zn, Fe, Al, B and other trace elements, In, Sc, Co, Pb, Bi and other elements had little or no detectable content, and there were differences in the content of polypeptide in different batches. This study provides a theoretical basis for the production quality control, quality evaluation and drug efficacy application of earthworm polypeptide through the determination and analysis of the elements and content of earthworm polypeptide.

AIM To determine the contents of aspartic acid,glutamic acid,serine,glycine,threonine,citrulline,arginine,alanine,γ-amino-butyric acid,tyrosine,valine,phenlalanine,isoleucine,ornithine,leucine,lysine and proline in Gualoupi Injection and its intermediates,and to analyze their change laws.METHODS The OPA-FMOC online derivatization analysis was performed on a 45℃ thermostatic Waters XBridge C18 column(4.6 mm×100 mm,3.5 μm),with the mobile phase comprising of phosphate buffer solution-[methanol-acetonitrile-water(45 : 45 : 10)]flowing at 1 mL/min in a gradient elution manner,and the detection wavelengths were set at 262,338 nm.Principal component analysis and heatmap analysis were adopted in chemical pattern recognition for the corresponding intermediates in ten processes of six batches of samples.RESULTS Seventeen amino acids showed good linear relationships within their own ranges(R2>0.998 0),whose average recoveries were 83.4％-119.5％with the RSDs of 0.91％-7.94％.Different batches of samples in the same process were clustered,and the corresponding intermediates in different processed were clustered into three groups.Alcohol precipitation and cation exchange column demonstrated the biggest influences on amino acid composition.CONCLUSION This experiment can provide important references for the critical factors on quality control of Gualoupi Injection,thus ensure the stability and uniformity of final product.

Objective To investigate the attributable risk(AR)of Acinetobacter baumannii(AB)infection in criti-cally ill patients.Methods A multicenter retrospective cohort study was conducted among adult patients in inten-sive care unit(ICU).Patients with AB isolated from sterile body fluid and confirmed with AB infection in each cen-ter were selected as the infected group.According to the matching criteria that patients should be from the same pe-riod,in the same ICU,as well as with similar APACHE Ⅱ score(±5 points)and primary diagnosis,patients who did not infect with AB were selected as the non-infected group in a 1:2 ratio.The AR was calculated.Results The in-hospital mortality of patients with AB infection in sterile body fluid was 33.3％,and that of non-infected group was 23.1％,with no statistically significant difference between the two groups(P=0.069).The AR was 10.2％(95％CI:-2.3％-22.8％).There is no statistically significant difference in mortality between non-infected pa-tients and infected patients from whose blood,cerebrospinal fluid and other specimen sources AB were isolated(P＞0.05).After infected with AB,critically ill patients with the major diagnosis of pulmonary infection had the high-est AR.There was no statistically significant difference in mortality between patients in the infected and non-infec-ted groups(P＞0.05),or between other diagnostic classifications.Conclusion The prognosis of AB infection in critically ill patients is highly overestimated,but active healthcare-associated infection control for AB in the ICU should still be carried out.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is characterized by chronic relapsing intestinal inflammation and encompasses ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD). IBD has emerged as a global healthcare problem. Clinically efficacious therapeutic agents are deficient. This study concentrates on models of ulcerative colitis with the objective of discovering novel therapeutic strategies. Previous investigations have established that schisandrin A demonstrates anti-inflammatory effects in vitro, concurrently enhancing the transcriptional activity of farnesoid X receptor (FXR). FXR inversely modulates the transcriptional activity of NF-κB, which has an important role in regulating inflammatory responses. Consequently, the current study was to explore the safeguarding influence of schisandrin A on ulcerative colitis and delineate the mechanism by which it regulates this effect through the FXR signaling pathway. The effect of schisandrin A on the mRNA levels of inflammatory factors was evaluated in RAW264.7 cells. The dual luciferase reporter gene assay was used to verify the relationship between schisandrin A and FXR targeting. The animal experiments were performed in accordance with the regulations of the Animal Ethics Committee of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (approval No. PZSHUTCM2304250005). Acute ulcerative colitis was induced in wild-type or FXR knockout C57BL/6 mice by drinking 3% dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) for 7 days, and schisandrin A was administered via gavage for a continuous treatment period of 7 days. The body weight and faecal were monitored daily. The mRNA levels of inflammatory factors in colon tissue and FXR target genes were measured by RT-qPCR. The findings revealed that schisandrin A, in vitro, impeded the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced elevation in mRNA levels of inflammatory factors and schisandrin A could augment transcriptional activity of FXR. In wild-type mice, schisandrin A significantly improved weight loss, colon shortening, loose stools and blood in stools in mice with acute ulcerative colitis, and schisandrin A significantly reduced the expression of pro-inflammatory factors genes and significantly increased the expression of FXR target genes in colon tissues. In FXR knockout mice, the administration of schisandrin A failed to yield ameliorative effect on acute ulcerative colitis in mice. In conclusion, schisandrin A can reduce intestinal inflammation through the FXR signaling pathway to alleviate acute ulcerative colitis in mice. Implications arise that Schisandra lignans could serve as lead compounds for drug development aimed at inflammatory bowel disease.