Objective To discuss the application of the"rotating guidewire and correcting the filter recovery hook direction technique"("rotation-correction loop technique"for short),a technique invented by the authors in clinical practice,in the retrieval of complex inferior vena cava filter(IVCF),and to discuss its technical skills and advantages.Methods The clinical data of 417 patients carrying an IVCF,who were admitted to the Department of Vascular Surgery of Second Hospital of Shanxi Medical University of China to retrieve IVCF between January 2022 and December 2022,were retrospectively analyzed.Taking the time spent on the retrieval of IVCF and the intraoperative radiation dose as the evaluation indicators,the advantages and disadvantages of the standard filter retrieval technique,the"rotation-correction loop technique"and the other loop-assisted techniques were compared.Results Both the intraoperative radiation dose and the time spent on the retrieval of IVCF using"rotation-correction loop technique"were remarkably lower than those of other loop-assisted techniques(P＜0.000 1).Conclusion For the retrieval of complex IVCF,especially for the IVCF which is heavily tilted and/or its recovered hook is attached to the vascular wall,the use of"rotation-correction loop technique"can shorten the time spent on the the retrieval of IVCF and reduce the intraoperative radiation dose.This technique carries high safety and practicability,the device is simple and it can be manipulated by single physician,which is conducive to clinical application and promotion.(J Intervent Radiol,2024,33:289-294)

Objective:To explore the causal relationship between human immune cells and hypertrophic scar (HS) using two-sample bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) method.Methods:This study was based on two-sample MR method, and the datasets of 731 immune cells and HS were obtained from the genome-wide association study (GWAS) catalog database and Finngen database, respectively. A significance threshold was established to discern single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) significantly correlated with immune cells or HS, thereby eliminating the impact of weak instrumental variable bias. The inverse variance weighted (IVW) method (meanwhile, the Benjamini-Hochberg (BH) procedure of false discovery rate (FDR) to adjust P values) was used for preliminary detection of the causal relationship between immune cells and HS and screen the immune cells that had a significant causal relationship with HS. Further, the causal relationship between the selected immune cells and HS was detected through five two-sample MR methods: IVW method, weighted median method, simple mode method, weighted mode method, and MR-Egger method, and the scatter plot was drawn. SNPs conformed to the hypothesis were subjected to Cochran Q test for heterogeneity assessment, MR-Egger regression coupled with MR-PRESSO to eliminate horizontal pleiotropic effects, and a leave-one-out analysis was also conducted to determine if significant results were driven by individual SNP. Finally, the IVW method contained in the two-sample MR analysis was utilized to inversely examine the causal relationship between HS and immune cells. Results:The number of SNPs in 731 immune cells reaching the significance threshold varied from 7 to 1 786, while in HS, 119 SNPs met the significance threshold, with the F values of all SNPs being greater than 10, suggesting a low likelihood of bias from weak instrumental variables. The IVW method revealed that 60 types of immune cells potentially had a causal relationship with HS (with all P values <0.05), and after adjustment using the BH method, only CD45RA and CD39 positive regulatory T cell (Treg) maintained a potentially strong causal relationship with HS ( PFDR<0.05). The IVW method (with odds ratio of 1.16 and 95% confidence interval of 1.08-1.24, P<0.05, PFDR<0.05), weighted median method (with odds ratio of 1.16 and 95% confidence interval of 1.05-1.28, P<0.05), weighted mode method (with odds ratio of 1.14 and 95% confidence interval of 1.02-1.27, P<0.05), and MR-Egger method (with odds ratio of 1.18 and 95% confidence interval of 1.07-1.30, P<0.05) of scatter plot all suggested a causal relationship between the 14 SNPs of CD45RA and CD39 positive Treg and risk of HS, only simple mode method of scatter plot suggested a not obvious relationship between the 14 SNPs of CD45RA and CD39 positive Treg and risk of HS ( P>0.05). Cochran Q test indicated no heterogeneity in the causal relationship between CD45RA on CD39 positive Treg and HS ( P>0.05). MR-Egger regression and MR-PRESSO analyses showed that there was no horizontal pleiotropy in the significant causal relationship between CD45RA and CD39 positive Treg and HS ( P>0.05). Leave-one-out analysis confirmed that the significant causal relationship between CD45RA and CD39 positive Treg and HS remained stable after sequentially removing individual SNP. Reverse two-sample MR analysis showed that HS had no potential causal relationship with any of the 731 types of immune cells ( P>0.05). Conclusions:From the perspective of genetics, it is revealed that immune cells CD45RA and CD39 positive Treg may increase the risk of HS.

Osteoporosis is a common extrahepatic complication of liver cirrhosis, and it not only increases the economic burden of patients, but also brings adverse effects on their quality of life and prognosis. Recent studies have shown that sarcopenia, adiponectin, leptin, irisin, and inflammatory factors are involved in the development of osteoporosis in patients with liver cirrhosis, and commonly used anti-osteoporosis drugs include calcium supplement, vitamin D, and bisphosphonates. This article reviews the advances in the risk factors, pathogenesis, and treatment of liver cirrhosis with osteoporosis and points out that there are still controversies over the influence of some factors on osteoporosis, and further studies are needed to explore related pathogeneses and safe and effective treatment regimens.

Patients with decompensated cirrhosis often have a reduction in renal function due to severe hepatic insufficiency which results in reduced inactivation of vasodilators, hemodynamic disorders, immune disorders, and infections, and without timely intervention, patients may gradually develop from early prerenal injury to late renal failure. Patients tend to have a low survival rate and great difficulties in treatment. With the gradual clarification of the classification and diagnostic criteria for kidney injury and the discovery of an increasing number of markers for kidney injury, early diagnosis and localization of kidney injury are of great importance for improving the prognosis of patients. This article analyzes the new advances in the pathogenesis, diagnostic criteria, and treatment of renal injury in cirrhotic patients in recent years, so as to provide help for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of cirrhotic patients with renal injury.

As one of the most malignant tumors worldwide, lung cancer, fueled by metastasis, has shown rising mortality rates. However, effective clinical strategies aimed at preventing metastasis are lacking owing to its dynamic multi-step, complicated, and progressive nature. Immunotherapy has shown promise in treating cancer metastasis by reversing the immunosuppressive network of the tumor microenvironment. However, drug resistance inevitably develops due to inadequate delivery of immunostimulants and an uncontrolled immune response. Consequently, adverse effects occur, such as autoimmunity, from the non-specific immune activation and non-specific inflammation in off-target organs. Nanocarriers that improve drug solubility, permeability, stability, bioavailability, as well as sustained, controlled, and targeted delivery can effectively overcome drug resistance and enhance the therapeutic effect while reducing adverse effects. In particular, nanomedicine-based immunotherapy can be utilized to target tumor metastasis, presenting a promising therapeutic strategy for lung cancer. Nanotechnology strategies that boost the immunotherapy effect are classified based on the metastatic cascade related to the tumor immune microenvironment; the breaking away of primary tumors, circulating tumor cell dissemination, and premetastatic niche formation cause distant secondary site colonization. In this review, we focus on the opportunities and challenges of integrating immunotherapy with nanoparticle formulation to establish nanotechnology-based immunotherapy by modulating the tumor microenvironment for preclinical and clinical applications in the management of patients with metastatic lung cancer. We also discuss prospects for the emerging field and the clinical translation potential of these techniques.
Humans ; Lung Neoplasms/therapy* ; Tumor Microenvironment ; Neoplasms/drug therapy* ; Immunotherapy/methods*

ObjectiveTo investigate the influence of sarcopenia on bone mass loss， the risk factors for bone mass loss in liver cirrhosis， and the correlation between body composition and bone mineral density （BMD） by comparing the clinical features of bone mass loss in patients with liver cirrhosis. MethodsA total of 92 patients who were hospitalized and diagnosed with liver cirrhosis in Department of Gastroenterology， The Second Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University， from April to December of 2022 were enrolled， and based on the results of dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry， they were divided into bone mass loss group （osteopenia/osteoporosis） with 57 patients and normal bone mass group with 35 patients. The two groups were compared in terms of general data， laboratory examination， imaging data， and body composition analysis. The independent samples t-test or the Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparison of continuous data between two groups， and the chi-square test or the continuity correction chi-square test was used for comparison of categorical data between two groups； Pearson correlation analysis and Spearman correlation analysis were used to investigate correlation； a binary logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the risk factors for bone mass loss in liver cirrhosis. ResultsCompared with the normal bone mass group， the bone mass loss group had significantly higher age （t=-3.597， P<0.05）， proportion of female patients （χ²=8.393， P<0.05）， N-terminal middle molecular fragment of osteocalcin （N-MID） （Z=-3.068， P<0.05）， β isomer of C-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen （β-CTX） （t=-2.784， P<0.05）， and proportion of patients with sarcopenia （χ²=13.884， P<0.05） and significantly lower calcitonin （CT） （Z=-2.340， P<0.05） and L3 skeletal muscle index （L3-SMI） （t=4.621， P<0.05）. Compared with the normal bone mass group， the bone mass loss group had significantly lower total muscle mass （Z=-2.952， P<0.05）， right upper limb muscle mass （Z=-2.929， P<0.05）， left upper limb muscle mass （Z=-2.680， P<0.05）， right lower limb muscle mass （Z=-3.366， P<0.05）， left lower limb muscle mass （Z=-3.374， P<0.05）， presumed bone mass （t=2.842， P<0.05）， body water mass （Z=-2.779， P<0.05）， basal metabolic rate （BMR） （Z=-3.153， P<0.05）， and BMD of L1— L4 and femoral neck （t=9.789， t=10.280， t=10.832， Z=-7.298， t=8.945， all P<0.05）. Total muscle mass， muscle mass of trunk and limbs， presumed bone mass， BMR， and body water mass in body component analysis were positively correlated with L1 — L4 BMD and femoral neck BMD （all P<0.05）， and fat mass was positively correlated with L1 — L4 BMD （all P<0.05）. Sarcopenia （odds ratio ［OR］=8.737， 95% confidence interval ［CI］： 2.237 — 34.129， P=0.002）， age （OR=1.094， 95%CI： 1.019 — 1.175， P=0.013）， and N-MID （OR=1.095， 95%CI： 1.019 — 1.176， P=0.014） were independent risk factors for bone mass loss in patients with liver cirrhosis. ConclusionOld age， female sex， sarcopenia， elevated N-MID， elevated β-CTX， reduction in CT， low muscle mass， low presumed bone mass， low BMR， and low body water mass are the features of bone mass loss in patients with liver cirrhosis， and sarcopenia， age， and N-MID are independent risk factors for bone mass loss in patients with liver cirrhosis. Detailed assessment of body composition changes can help to identify abnormal BMD in patients with liver cirrhosis.

Objective:To compare the clinical efficacy of unilateral biportal endoscopy (UBE) and uniportal endoscopy (UE) for unilateral laminotomy for bilateral decompression (ULBD) in the treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis.Methods:Data of 82 patients with lumbar spinal stenosis treated by ULBD under UBE or UE from January 2020 to June 2021 in Dalian Central Hospital affiliated to Dalian Medical University and the First Hospital affiliated to Wenzhou Medical University were retrospectively analyzed, including 36 males and 46 females, aged 63.3±7.5 years (range, 47-81 years). According to the surgical procedure, they were divided into UBE group (42 cases), including 20 males and 22 females; aged 63.2±7.6 years (range, 47-81 years) and UE group (40 cases), including 16 males and 24 females; aged 63.5±7.5 years (range, 48-80 years). Operation time, hospital stay and surgical complications were compared between the two groups. Visual analogue scale (VAS) of low back and leg pain before surgery, 1 day, 7 d, 1 month and 6 months after surgery, and Oswestry disability index (ODI) before surgery, 1 month and 6 months after surgery were compared. Dural sac area before and after surgery, resection angle of ipsilateral facet joint, decompression rate of disc space and bone lateral recess were calculated.Results:All patients were operated successfully. In the UBE group, the operation time was 63.1±7.0 min, and the hospital stay was 3.9±0.9 d. The UE group was 61.2±6.2 min and 3.7±0.9 d, respectively ( t=1.31, P=0.195; t=1.24, P=0.217). The VAS of back and legs pain in UBE group decreased from 7.19±0.97 before operation to 3.43±0.63 points at postoperative 1 day, 1.71±0.60 at postoperative 7 d, 1.33±0.48 at postoperative 1 month and 1.36±0.48 points at postoperative 6 months ( F=352.29, P<0.001). The VAS score of the UE group decreased from 6.85±0.89 points before operation to 2.45±0.75 points at postoperative 1 day, 1.75±0.59 points at postoperative 7 d, 1.33±0.47 points at postoperative 1 month and 1.28±0.45 points at postoperative 6 months ( F=291.44, P<0.001). The VAS of low back and leg pain was higher in the UBE group than in the UE group at 1 day postoperatively ( t=6.41, P<0.001), and the difference was not statistically significant at 7 d postoperatively ( t=-0.27, P=0.786). The ODI of UBE group decreased from 66.62%±4.98% before operation to 21.81%±2.61% at postoperative 1 month and 11.62%±2.31% at postoperative 6 months ( F=1991.35, P<0.001). The ODI score of UE group decreased from 64.35%±5.16% before operation to 22.85%±3.26% at postoperative 1 month and 11.15%±2.86% at postoperative 6 months ( F=1931.18, P<0.001). The postoperative dural sac area of the UBE and UE groups was 135.1±10.0 mm 2 and 120.9±10.4 mm 2 ( t=6.30, P<0.001). The resection angle of ipsilateral facet joint was 69.3°±4.9° and 94.3°±4.1° in the two groups, respectively, with a statistically significant difference ( t=-25.00, P<0.001). The decompression rate of ipsilateral disk-flavum space was 39.0%±3.0% and 38.7%±3.3% in the two groups ( t=1.52, P=0.314). On the contralateral side was 41.6%±3.3% and 22.8%±3.2% ( t=26.32, P<0.001), respectively. The ipsilateral osseous side fossa decompression rate in the two groups were 70.0%±4.8% and 59.3%±3.9% ( t=15.64, P<0.001), the contralateral were 73.0%±3.4% and 48.4%±4.3% ( t=28.86, P<0.001). There was no significant difference in the decompression rate of ipsilateral disco-flavum space or bony lateral recess between the UBE group and the contralateral group ( t=-1.40, P=0.174; t=-1.72, P=0.096), while the decompression rate of discoflavum space and bony side recess on the ipsilateral side of UE group were higher than those on the contralateral side ( t=28.51, P<0.001; t=13.95, P<0.001). Conclusion:Both UE-ULBD and UBE-ULBD have good short-term clinical efficacy in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis. UB is better than UBE in early postoperative pain relief. However, UBE shows better imaging performance in decompression effect and better retention of facet joints.

Objective To clarify the effect and mechanism of tumor antigen-loaded dendritic cells (Ag-DCs) combined with cytokine-induced killers (CIKs) on the killing of esophageal cancer tumor cells. Methods Peripheral blood DCs and CIKs were induced and cultured, and the DCs were loaded with tumor antigen to obtain Ag-DCs, and Ag-DCs were co-cultured with CIKs. The experiment was divided into CIK group, DC combined with CIK group, Ag-DC combined with CIK group. Flow cytometry was used to detect the phenotype of cells. MTT assay was employed to determine the killing activity against EC9706 cells. Annexin V-FITC/PI double staining was used to detect the apoptosis rate of cells, immunofluorescence staining to detect the expression of phosphorylated apoptotic signal-regulated kinase 1 (p-ASK1) and Western blot analysis to detect the expression of ASK1 pathway related proteins. A nude mouse model of esophageal cancer transplantation tumor was constructed and divided into control group, DC combined with CIK group and Ag-DC combined with CIK group. The corresponding immune cells were injected into the tail vein for treatment and the tumor volume was measured every 2 days. After 21 days, all nude mice were sacrificed with the tumors taken out. HE staining was used to observe the tumor pathological changes and immunohistochemical staining was performed to detect the expression of ki67 and ASK1 in the tumor tissue. Results Comparedwith the CIK group alone and the DC combined with CIK group, the ratio of CD3⁺ CD8⁺ and CD3⁺ CD56⁺ in the cells significantly increased after Ag-DCs and CIKs co-culture, along with the increased killing rate of EC9706 cells, increased apoptosis rate of EC9706 cells, and the improved activation level of ASK1. Compared with the CIK group and the DC combined with CIK group, the growth of the transplanted tumor in nude mice treated with Ag-DCs combined with CIKs was significantly inhibited, and after 21 days, it was observed that the tumor tissue mass in this group was relatively smaller, with sparsely arranged cells in the tumor tissue and a decline in the positive rate of ki67 in tumor tissue, while the positive rate of ASK1 was significantly increased. Conclusion Co-cultivation of tumor antigen-loaded DCs with CIKs can significantly increase the killing activity of esophageal cancer tumor cells. The mechanism of action may be related to the activation of the ASK1 pathway.
Animals ; Humans ; Mice ; Antigens, Neoplasm ; Cytokine-Induced Killer Cells ; Cytokines/metabolism* ; Cytotoxicity, Immunologic ; Dendritic Cells ; Esophageal Neoplasms/therapy* ; Ki-67 Antigen ; Mice, Nude

Objective To investigate the best scoring systems for predicting the severity and prognosis of hyperlipidemic acute pancreatitis (HLAP) by comparing APACHEII, BISAP, MCTSI, MEWS, POP, SPS, and PANC3 scores. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed for the data of 123 patients with HLAP who were hospitalized and treated in The Second Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University from October 2017 to January 2022. The patients were divided into mild acute pancreatitis (MAP) group with 24 patients, moderate- severe acute pancreatitis (MSAP) group with 56 patients, and severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) group with 43 patients, and the three groups were compared in terms of basic data and scores of the above scoring systems. The Kruskal-Wallis H test was used for comparison of non-normally distributed continuous data between multiple groups; the chi-square test was used for comparison of categorical data between groups. MedCalc software was used to plot the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, and the area under the ROC curve (AUC) was used to compare the value of these scoring systems in predicting disease severity and local and systemic complications in HLAP patients. Results There were significant differences between the three groups in diabetes mellitus ( χ 2 =6.880, P < 0.05), length of hospital stay ( H =26.494, P < 0.001), local complications ( χ 2 =52.211, P < 0.001), acute kidney injury (AKI) ( χ 2 =38.247, P < 0.001), acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) ( χ 2 =79.201, P < 0.001), and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) ( χ 2 =45.032, P < 0.001). As for the scores of the above scoring systems, there were significant differences between the three groups in APACHE Ⅱ, BISAP, MCTSI, MEWS, POP, SPS, and PANC3 ( H =47.525, 42.662, 53.545, 31.664, 49.233, 48.543, and 9.443, all P < 0.05). APACHE Ⅱ score had a significantly higher value than MEWS score in predicting SAP ( Z =2.090, P < 0.05), and the other scores had a similar value, among which POP score had the largest AUC of 0.883. MCTSI score had the highest value in predicting local complications (AUC=0.886), with a sensitivity of 84.7% and a specificity of 74.5% at the cut-off value of 5. APACHE Ⅱ and POP scores had an AUC of 0.911 (95% confidence interval [ CI ]: 0.835-0.986, P < 0.001) and 0.920 (95% CI : 0.866-0.974, P < 0.001), respectively, in predicting AKI; APACHE Ⅱ score had a higher predictive value than MCTSI and MEWS scores, POP score had a higher predictive value than MCTSI, MEWS, and BISAP scores, and SPS score had a higher predictive value than MCTSI score. APACHE Ⅱ score had an AUC of 0.914 (95% CI : 0.854-0.973, P < 0.001) in predicting ARDS and had a higher predictive value than BISAP and MEWS ( Z =2.152 and 3.015, both P < 0.05). APACHE Ⅱ and POP scores had an AUC of 0.969 (95% CI : 0.941-0.996, P < 0.001) and 0.932 (95% CI : 0.880-0.984, P < 0.001), respectively, in predicting MODS, and APACHE Ⅱ score had a higher predictive value than SPS, BISAP, MEWS, and MCTSI. Conclusion POP score has the highest value in predicting SAP, with a comparable predictive ability to all the other scoring systems except MEWS. APACHEII and POP scores have a good value in predicting systemic complications and show a high accuracy in predicting AKI and MODS, and APACHEII score is highly accurate in predicting ARDS.

Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a common acute abdominal disease in gastroenterology. Severe patients tend to have high mortality and poor prognosis, and early evaluation of disease conditions and prediction of clinical outcome is of particular importance to improve the prognosis of patients. In recent years, great progress has been made in related markers for predicting the severity stratification and prognosis of patients with AP. This article reviews the value of immune indices, cytokines, genes, biochemical indices, imaging findings, and other related indicators in predicting the severity, mortality, and complications of AP.