The advantages of fluorescence detection of uric acid were introduced compared to the traditional detection methods.The preparation process,detection principle and performance of organic,inorganic and organic-inorganic hybrid fluorescent probes were reviewed.The advantages and disadvantages of kinds of fluorescent probes were analyzed when used for uric acid detection,and the futural directions were pointed out for related research.[Chinese Medical Equipment Journal,2024,45(6):93-104]

Aim To establish a gait analysis system based on DeepLabCut(DLC)algorithm for evaluating motor function in aged mice.Methods Based on DLC algorithm in deep learning technology,treadmill device and fully closed design were used in the system,including software and hardware.This system was applied to evaluate gait characteristics of mice due to aging un-der different movement modes.Correlation analysis was used to explore the effects of body weight and body length on gait indica-tors.Results This system realized the synchronous analysis of three-dimensional gait(lateral and ventral plane)of mice at specific gait speed,and automatically quantified 47 gait indica-tors.Using this system,it was found that during walking(15 cm·s-1),the standard deviation of body turning angle decreased,forelimb sway duration,standard deviation of knee angle,mean outward angles of left and right hind paw increased in 8 and 15 month-old mice,compared with 2-month-old mice.However,15-month-old mice showed decreased walking frequency,and in-creased stride width,total duration of double support,and knee extension and contraction distance.In addition,at trot(20 cm·s-1),15-month-old mice were unable to walk steadily,and 8-month-old mice had increased total duration of double support and mean outward angles of left hind paw,compared with 2-month-old mice.Correlation analysis revealed that indicators like walking frequency,stride width,forelimb sway duration,total duration of double support,standard deviation of knee an-gle,knee extension and contraction distance,were not affected by changes in body weight and body length.Conclusions The gait analysis system based on DLC algorithm can achieve a more sensitive,accurate and comprehensive evaluation of the gait of aged mice,distinguishing the gait characteristics of aged mice to maintain gait stability,and selecting behavioral indicators that better reflect the gait changes of aged mice.It provides a meth-odological basis for more effective assessment of efficacy and side effects of drugs for anti-aging and anti-decline of motor coordina-tion in the future.

For wild natural medicine, unanticipated biodiversity as species or varieties with similar morphological characteristics and sympatric distribution may co-exist in a single batch of medical materials, which affects the efficacy and safety of clinical medication. DNA barcoding as an effective species identification tool is limited by its low sample throughput nature. In this study, combining DNA mini-barcode, DNA metabarcoding and species delimitation method, a novel biological sources consistency evaluation strategy was proposed, and high level of interspecific and intraspecific variations were observed and validated among 5376 Amynthas samples from 19 sampling points regarded as "Guang Dilong" and 25 batches of proprietary Chinese medicines. Besides Amynthas aspergillum as the authentic source, 8 other Molecular Operational Taxonomic Units (MOTUs) were elucidated. Significantly, even the subgroups within A. aspergillum revealed here differ significantly on chemical compositions and biological activity. Fortunately, this biodiversity could be controlled when the collection was limited to designated areas, as proved by 2796 "decoction pieces" samples. This batch biological identification method should be introduced as a novel concept regarding natural medicine quality control, and to offer guidelines for in-situ conservation and breeding bases construction of wild natural medicine.

This study aimed to investigate the prognostic significance of tumor mutation burden (TMB) among patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who received platinum-based adjuvant chemotherapy. Tumor tissue specimens after surgical resection were collected for DNA extraction. Somatic mutation detection and TMB analysis were conducted using next-generation sequencing (NGS). Recurrence status of the patients was assessed in the hospital during the adjuvant chemotherapy period, and long-term survival data of patients were obtained by telephone follow-up. Univariate analysis between TMB status and prognosis was carried out by survival analysis. A retrospective review of 78 patients with non-squamous NSCLC who received platinum-based adjuvant chemotherapy showed a median disease-free survival of 3.6 years and median overall survival (OS) of 5.3 years. NGS analysis exhibited that the most common mutated somatic genes among the 78 patients were tumor suppressor protein p53 (TP53), epidermal growth factor receptor, low-density lipoprotein receptor related protein 1B, DNA methyltransferase 3 alpha and FAT atypical cadherin 3, and their prevalence was 56.4%, 48.7%, 37.2%, 30.7%, and 25.6%, respectively. TMB status was divided into TMB-L (≤ 4.5/Mb) and TMB-H (> 4.5/Mb) based on the median TMB threshold. Relevance of TMB to prognosis suggested that the median OS of patients with TMB-L was significantly longer than that of patients with TMB-H (NR vs. 4.6, P = 0.014). Higher TMB status conferred a worse implication on OS among patients with non-squamous NSCLC who received platinum-based adjuvant chemotherapy.

Long non-coding RNAs (LncRNAs) are abnormally expressed in a variety of tumors and participate in the occurrence and development of tumors. However, the expression and function of many LncRNAs in tumors have not been fully clarified. In this paper, 113 normal breast tissues and 1 109breast cancer tissues were analyzed in TCGT database. LncRNA AL133467. 1 was found to be lowly expressed in breast cancer tissues and negatively correlated with poor prognosis of breast cancer patients. The expression of AL133467. 1 in breast cancer cells was significantly lower than that in normal breast epithelial cells. We overexpressed AL133467. 1 in relatively low-expression breast cancer cells SKBR3and BT474, and cell count and plate colony-formation experiments showed that overexpression ofAL133467. 1 could significantly inhibit the proliferation and colony formation of breast cancer cells (P< 0. 01). Cell scratch and Transwell assays showed that the migration and invasion ability of breast cancer cells overexpressing AL133467. 1 was significantly reduced compared with the control group (P<0. 01). MiRDB database showed that AL133467. 1 had binding sites with miR-661. miR-661 could bind the transducer of ErbB2, 2 (ErbB2, 2, TOB2). qRT-PCR showed that miR-661 was highly expressed inbreast cancer cells and positively correlated with poor prognosis of breast cancer patients (P < 0. 001). Luciferase reporter assays showed that AL133467. 1 had specific binding to miR-661 (P < 0. 01). AL133467. 1 overexpression could inhibit the expression of miR-661 in breast cancer cells (P<0. 0001). Transfection of miR-661 mimics eliminated the inhibitory effect of overexpression of AL133467. 1 on breast cancer cells (P < 0. 001). In addition, qRT-PCR and Western blotting results showed that overexpression of AL133467. 1 up-regulated TOB2 mRNA (P < 0. 0001) and protein levels. But whenmiR-661 mimics were transfected, TOB2 mRNA (P < 0. 0001) and protein levels were significantly inhibited. In conclusion, as a competitive endogenous RNA of miR-661. AL133467. 1 promotes the expression of TOB2, thereby inhibiting the proliferation and invasion of breast cancer cells.

Humans ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive ; Smoke/adverse effects* ; Tobacco ; Tobacco Smoke Pollution

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second-most common cancer among men. Both active surveillance or watchful waiting (AS/WW) and focal laser ablation (FLA) can avoid the complications caused by radical treatment. How to make the choice between these options in clinical practice needs further study. Therefore, this study aims to compare and analyze their effects based on overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) to obtain better long-term benefits. We included patients with low-risk PCa from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results database of 2010-2016. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard analyses were conducted for OS and CSS in the two groups. To eliminate bias, this study applied a series of sensitivity analyses. Moreover, Kaplan-Meier curves were plotted to obtain survival status. A total of 18 841 patients with low-risk PCa were included, with a median of 36-month follow-up. According to the multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression, the FLA group presented inferior survival benefits in OS than the AS/WW group (hazard ratio [HR]: 2.13, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.37-3.33, P < 0.05). After adjusting for confounders, the result persisted (HR: 1.69, 95% CI: 1.02-2.81, P < 0.05). According to the results of the sensitivity analysis, the inverse probability of the treatment weighing model indicated the same result in OS. In conclusion, AS/WW and FLA have the advantage of fewer side effects and the benefit of avoiding overtreatment compared with standard treatment. Our study suggested that AS/WW provides more survival benefits for patients with low-risk PCa. More relevant researches and data will be needed for further clarity.
Humans ; Laser Therapy ; Male ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Prostatectomy ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; Risk ; Watchful Waiting

This study aimed to assess the role of prostate-specific antigen density (PSAD) and negative multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) in predicting prostate cancer for biopsy-naïve men based on a large cohort of the Chinese population. From a prostate biopsy database between March 2017 and July 2021, we retrospectively identified 240 biopsy-naïve patients with negative prebiopsy mpMRI (Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System version 2 [PI-RADS v2] score <3). Logistic regression analysis was performed to select the potential predictors for clinically significant prostate cancer (csPCa). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and area under the ROC curve (AUC) were performed to assess the diagnostic accuracy. The negative predictive values of mpMRI in excluding any cancer and csPCa were 83.8% (201/240) and 90.8% (218/240), respectively. ROC curve analysis indicated that PSAD was the most promising predictor, with an AUC value of 0.786 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.699-0.874), and multiparametric logistic regression analysis confirmed that higher PSAD remained a significant marker for predicting csPCa (odds ratio [OR]: 10.99, 95% CI: 2.75-44.02, P < 0.001). Combining negative mpMRI and PSAD below 0.20 ng ml^-2 obviously increased the predictive value in excluding PCa (91.0%, 101/111) or csPCa (100.0%, 111/111). If a PSAD below 0.20 ng ml^-2 was set as the criterion to omit biopsy, nearly 46.3% of patients (463 per 1000) with negative mpMRI could safely avoid unnecessary biopsy, with approximately 4.2% of patients (42 per 1000) at risk of missed diagnosis of PCa and no patients with csPCa missed. A PI-RADS v2 score <3 and a PSAD <0.20 ng ml^-2 could be potential criteria for the Chinese population to omit prompt biopsy safely.
Male ; Humans ; Prostatic Neoplasms/pathology* ; Prostate-Specific Antigen ; Multiparametric Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods* ; Retrospective Studies ; Biopsy ; Image-Guided Biopsy/methods*

OBJECTIVES: To study the association between infliximab trough level (IFX-TL) prior to maintenance treatment and disease outcome in children with Crohn's disease (CD). METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed on 35 children with CD who received induction therapy with infliximab (IFX) and the measurement of IFX-TL before maintenance treatment from August 2018 to November 2021. Clinical data and laboratory markers at baseline and before maintenance treatment were collected, and the association between outcome and IFX-TL was analyzed. RESULTS: The clinical remission group, endoscopic remission group, and combined remission group had a significantly higher IFX-TL level than the corresponding non-remission groups (P<0.05), and there was no significant difference in the IFX-TL level between the biological remission and non-biological remission groups (P>0.05). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve showed that IFX-TL had an area under the ROC curve of 0.959 (95%CI: 0.894-1) in predicting clinical remission, with a sensitivity of 90% and a specificity of 100% at the optimal cutoff value of 2.3 µg/mL (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS Among children with CD receiving infliximab induction therapy, the children achieving clinical and endoscopic remission before maintenance treatment tend to have a higher level of IFX-TL. IFX-TL has a certain predictive value for clinical remission.
Child ; Humans ; Infliximab/therapeutic use* ; Crohn Disease/drug therapy* ; Gastrointestinal Agents/therapeutic use* ; Retrospective Studies ; C-Reactive Protein/analysis*

Objective: To explore the impact of environmental temperature exposure on eczema visits. Methods: Eczema clinic data from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2019 were collected from the Huizhou Dermatology Hospital, and data on meteorological factors (average daily temperature and relative humidity) for the same period were derived from 86 meteorological stations of the Guangdong Provincial Climate Center. A distributed lag nonlinear model (DLNM) was used to assess the lagged effect of environmental temperature exposure on eczema, and a natural smooth spline function was used to control the nonlinear confounding of humidity. Results: There were 254 053 eczema outpatient visits at the Huizhou Dermatology Hospital within four years, with an average of 173.89 visits per day. The relationship between daily average temperature and the number of visits was non-linear (U shape). The risk of eczema increased by 2.20% (1.19%-3.21%) for every 1 ℃ decrease for the low temperature, and increased by 2.35% (1.24%-3.5%) for every 1 ℃ increase for the high temperature. The effect of high temperature was greater than that of low temperature. In all cases, 1.60% (0.44%-2.68%) of eczema outpatient visits were attributed to low temperature and the attributable number was 4 065 (1 128-6 798), while 6.33% (1.40%-10.87%) of eczema outpatient visits were due to high temperature and the attributable number was 16 082 (3 557-27 616). Conclusion: Both high temperature and low temperature are associated with increased risk of eczema.
Humans ; Air Pollution/adverse effects* ; Temperature ; Outpatients ; Cities ; Eczema/epidemiology* ; China/epidemiology* ; Air Pollutants/analysis*