Tumors are the second leading cause of death worldwide. Exosomes are a type of extracellular vesicle secreted from multivesicular bodies, with particle sizes ranging from 40 to 160 nm. They regulate the tumor microenvironment, proliferation, and progression by transporting proteins, nucleic acids, and other biomolecules. Compared with other drug delivery systems, exosomes derived from different cells possess unique cellular tropism, enabling them to selectively target specific tissues and organs. This homing ability allows them to cross biological barriers that are otherwise difficult for conventional drug delivery systems to penetrate. Due to their biocompatibility and unique biological properties, exosomes can serve as drug delivery systems capable of loading various anti-tumor drugs. They can traverse biological barriers, evade immune responses, and specifically target tumor tissues, making them ideal carriers for anti-tumor therapeutics. This article systematically summarizes the methods for exosome isolation, including ultracentrifugation, ultrafiltration, size-exclusion chromatography (SEC), immunoaffinity capture, and microfluidics. However, these methods have certain limitations. A combination of multiple isolation techniques can improve isolation efficiency. For instance, combining ultrafiltration with SEC can achieve both high purity and high yield while reducing processing time. Exosome drug loading methods can be classified into post-loading and pre-loading approaches. Pre-loading is further categorized into active and passive loading. Active loading methods, including electroporation, sonication, extrusion, and freeze-thaw cycles, involve physical or chemical disruption of the exosome membrane to facilitate drug encapsulation. Passive loading relies on drug concentration gradients or hydrophobic interactions between drugs and exosomes for encapsulation. Pre-loading strategies also include genetic engineering and co-incubation methods. Additionally, we review approaches to enhance the targeting, retention, and permeability of exosomes. Genetic engineering and chemical modifications can improve their tumor-targeting capabilities. Magnetic fields can also be employed to promote the accumulation of exosomes at tumor sites. Retention time can be prolonged by inhibiting monocyte-mediated clearance or by combining exosomes with hydrogels. Engineered exosomes can also reshape the tumor microenvironment to enhance permeability. This review further discusses the current applications of exosomes in delivering various anti-tumor drugs. Specifically, exosomes can encapsulate chemotherapeutic agents such as paclitaxel to reduce side effects and increase drug concentration within tumor tissues. For instance, exosomes loaded with doxorubicin can mitigate cardiotoxicity and minimize adverse effects on healthy tissues. Furthermore, exosomes can encapsulate proteins to enhance protein stability and bioavailability or carry immunogenic cell death inducers for tumor vaccines. In addition to these applications, exosomes can deliver nucleic acids such as siRNA and miRNA to regulate gene expression, inhibit tumor proliferation, and suppress invasion. Beyond their therapeutic applications, exosomes also serve as tumor biomarkers for early cancer diagnosis. The detection of exosomal miRNA can improve the sensitivity and specificity of diagnosing prostate and pancreatic cancers. Despite their promising potential as drug delivery systems, challenges remain in the standardization and large-scale production of exosomes. This article explores the future development of engineered exosomes for targeted tumor therapy. Plant-derived exosomes hold potential due to their superior biocompatibility, lower toxicity, and abundant availability. Furthermore, the integration of exosomes with artificial intelligence may offer novel applications in diagnostics, therapeutics, and personalized medicine.

Objective: To understand the moderating effect of cohabitation with parents on the association between peer dating behavior and sexual behaviors among secondary vocational school students, so as to provide a scientific basis for preventing sexual behaviors among secondary vocational school students. Methods: From March to April 2021, an electronic questionnaire survey was conducted among 3 180 students from 6 vocational schools in Shanghai (urban, suburban, exurban) and Shaanxi (Shangluo, Ankang, Baoji) using cluster sampling. Spearman correlation analysis was used to investigate the relationship of cohabitation with parents, peer dating behavior and sexual behaviors among secondary vocational school students. Binary Logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate the role of cohabitation with parents on peer dating behavior and sexual behaviors among secondary vocational students. Results: There was a significant negative between cohabitation with parents and sexual ( r =-0.04); and there was a positive correlation between peer dating behavior and sexual behaviors ( r =0.24), as well as cohabitation with parents and peer dating behavior ( r =0.04)( P <0.05). Multivariable Logistic regression analysis showed an association between peer dating behavior and the occurrence of sexual behaviors ( OR=2.79-12.95, P <0.05). Cohabitation with parents played a moderating role in the association between peer dating behavior and sexual behaviors, and a signification interaction was found between cohabitation with parents and reporting that a small part or about half of their peers had dating behavior ( OR =0.48, P <0.05). Conclusions The more peers dating behavior are associated with a higher risk of sexual behaviors among secondary vocational school students, and cohabitation with parents can partly reduce this risk. School and family sexuality education for secondary vocational students should be strengthened to improve their interpersonal skills and decision-making, and ability to resist peer pressure, so as to reduce their risk of sexual behaviors.

Objective: To evaluate the incidence, treatment, and survival outcomes of Swyer syndrome with gonadal non-dysgerminoma malignant germ cell tumor (MGCT-NDG). Methods: A retrospective study was performed on Swyer syndrome patients with MGCT-NDG between January 2011 and December 2022 in Peking Union Medical College Hospital to investigate their characteristics and outcomes. Results: A total of 15 patients (4.9%, 15/307) with Swyer syndrome were identified in 307 MGCT-NDG patients. The average age at diagnosis of MGCT-NDG and Swyer syndrome were (16.8±6.7) and (16.7±6.6) years, respectively. Six cases were preoperatively diagnosed as Swyer syndrome, of which 4 cases received bilateral gonadectomy with or without hysterectomy, while the other 2 cases underwent removal of gonadal tumor and unilateral gonadectomy with hysterectomy, respectively. Of the 9 patients postoperatively diagnosed as Swyer syndrome, unilateral gonadectomy, removal of gonadal tumor, and unilateral gonadectomy with hysterectomy were performed in 6 patients, 2 patients, and 1 patient, respectively. Mixed malignant germ cell tumor (MGCT;10 cases), yolk sac tumor (4 cases), and immature teratoma (1 case) were the pathological subtypes, in the descending order. There were International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage Ⅰ in 6 cases, stage Ⅱ in 3 cases, stage Ⅲ in 5 cases, and stage Ⅳ in 1 case, respectively. Eleven patients received reoperation for residual gonadectomy after a average delay of (7.9±6.2) months, including 8 MGCT-NDG patients and 1 gonadoblastoma patient, no tumor involved was seen in the remaining gonads in the other 2 cases. Ten patients experienced at least one recurrence, with a median event free survival of 9 months (5, 30 months), of which 2 patients received surgery only at the time of initial treatment. All patients with recurrence received surgery and combined with postoperative chemotherapy. After a median follow-up of 25 months (15, 42 months), 10 patients were disease-free, 3 patients died of the tumor, 1 died of side effects of leukemia chemotherapy, and 1 survived with disease. Conclusion: The incidence rate of Swyer syndrome in patients with MGCT-NDG is about 4.9%; timely diagnosis and bilateral gonadectomy should be emphasized to reduce the risk of reoperation and second carcinogenesis in this population.
Female ; Humans ; Retrospective Studies ; Gonadal Dysgenesis, 46,XY/surgery* ; Gonadoblastoma/surgery* ; Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal/surgery* ; Ovarian Neoplasms/pathology*

Objective: To understand sexual and reproductive health knowledge, access to sexuality education and associated factors among secondary vocational school students in Shanghai Municipality and Shaanxi Province, so as to provide a scientific basis for conducting sexuality educaiton in vocational schools. Methods: A crosssectional survey was conducted among 3 180 students in grades 1-3 selected by cluster sampling during April to June 2021 in six secondary vocational schools from three cities of Shanghai and Shaanxi (Shangluo, Ankang, Baoji). Participants were investigated through online questionnaire survey, inlcuding demographic characteristics, household information, sexual health at home and school, knowledge on sexual and reproductive health. Both t test and Chisquare test were used for group comparisons, and multivariate ordial Logistic regression was used to explore possible risk factors for sexual and reproductive health score in quartiles. Results: Respondents average score was (51.36±21.61), with the highest score on sexual harassment/sexual abuse (66.45±42.27) and the lowest score on reproduction and physiology (47.67±31.94) and contraception (43.85±26.81). Although significant differences were observed between two study sites, the primary source of knowledge in both sites was schools/teachers, followed by the Internet or friends; the main theme of school sexuality education was puberty development and health care (more than 80%); the most frequently reported topic between respondents and their parents in both sites was interpersonal relationships (more than 55%), and there were significant differences in the reporting rates of secondary vocational school students between the two regions(χ2=28.56，32.02，P<0.05). The results of multivariable Logistic regression analysis showed that residential area, gender, grade, registered residence, number of sexual related topics communicated with parents, number of subjects received from school sexuality education, and reported information sources from classmates/friends, books/magazines/newspapers, internet and communities were related to knowledge level of respondents (OR=1.62, 0.72, 1.20, 1.58, 2.09, 1.17, 1.18, 1.66, 1.62, 1.69, 1.22, P<0.05). Conclusions Vocational students of Shanghai and Shaanxi have poor sexual and reproductive health knowledge and limited access to school and family sexuality education. It is necessary to strengthen sexuality education for secondary vocational school students.

Objective As primary Sj?gren's syndrome(pSS)primarily affects the salivary glands,saliva can serve as an indicator of the glands'pathophysiology and the disease's status.This study aims to illustrate the salivary proteomic profiles of pSS patients and identify potential candidate biomarkers for diagnosis. Methods The discovery set contained 49 samples(24 from pSS and 25 from age-and gender-matched healthy controls[HCs])and the validation set included 25 samples(12 from pSS and 13 from HCs).Totally 36 pSS patients and 38 HCs were centrally randomized into the discovery set or to the validation set at a 2:1 ratio.Unstimulated whole saliva samples from pSS patients and HCs were analyzed using a data-independent acquisition(DIA)strategy on a 2D LC-HRMS/MS platform to reveal differential proteins.The crucial proteins were verified using DIA analysis and annotated using gene ontology(GO)and International Pharmaceutical Abstracts(IPA)analysis.A prediction model for SS was established using random forests. Results A total of 1,963 proteins were discovered,and 136 proteins exhibited differential representation in pSS patients.The bioinformatic research indicated that these proteins were primarily linked to immunological functions,metabolism,and inflammation.A panel of 19 protein biomarkers was identified by ranking order based on P-value and random forest algorichm,and was validated as the predictive biomarkers exhibiting good performance with area under the curve(AUC)of 0.817 for discovery set and 0.882 for validation set. Conclusions The candidate protein panel discovered may aid in pSS diagnosis.Salivary proteomic analysis is a promising non-invasive method for prognostic evaluation and early and precise treatments for pSS patients.DIA offers the best time efficiency and data dependability and may be a suitable option for future research on the salivary proteome.

Objective:To investigate the value of implantable cardiac monitor (ICM) in the diagnosis and treatment of patients over 60 years old with unexplained syncope.Methods:This was a multi-center, prospective cohort study. Between June 2018 and April 2021, patients over the age of 60 with unexplained syncope at Beijing Hospital, Fuwai Hospital, Beijing Anzhen Hospital and Puren Hospital were enrolled. Patients were divided into 2 groups based on their decision to receive ICM implantation (implantation group and conventional follow-up group). The endpoint was the recurrence of syncope and cardiogenic syncope as determined by positive cardiac arrhythmia events recorded at the ICM or diagnosed during routine follow-up. Kaplan‐Meier survival analysis was used to compare the differences of cumulative diagnostic rate between the 2 groups. A multivariate Cox regression analysis was performed to determine independent predictors of diagnosis of cardiogenic syncope in patients with unexplained syncope.Results:A total of 198 patients with unexplained syncope, aged (72.9±8.25) years, were followed for 558.0 (296.0,877.0) d, including 98 males (49.5%). There were 100 (50.5%) patients in the implantation group and 98 (49.5%) in the conventional follow-up group. Compared with conventional follow-up group, patients in the implantation group were older, more likely to have comorbidities, had a higher proportion of first degree atrioventricular block indicated by baseline electrocardiogram, and had a lower body mass index (all P<0.05). During the follow-up period, positive cardiac arrhythmia events were recorded in 58 (58.0%) patients in the ICM group. The diagnosis rate (42.0% (42/100) vs. 4.1% (4/98), P<0.001) and the intervention rate (37.0% (37/100) vs. 2.0% (2/98), P<0.001) of cardiogenic syncope in the implantation group were higher than those in the conventional follow-up group (all P<0.001). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the cumulative diagnostic rate of cardiogenic syncope was significantly higher in the implantation group than in the traditional follow-up group ( HR=11.66, 95% CI 6.49-20.98, log-rank P<0.001). Multivariate analysis indicated that ICM implantation, previous atrial fibrillation, diabetes mellitus or first degree atrioventricular block in baseline electrocardiogram were independent predictors for cardiogenic syncope (all P<0.05). Conclusions:ICM implantation improves the diagnosis and intervention rates in patients with unexplained syncope, and increases diagnostic efficiency in patients with unexplained syncope.

CD200 and its receptor CD200R constitute an endogenous inhibitory signal. The binding of CD200 and CD200R can regulate the immune response to pathogenic stimuli, which has received much attention in recent years. It has been found that CD200-CD200R is involved in the regulation of many kinds of pathological inflammation, including autoimmune diseases, cardiac cerebrovascular disease, infection and tumor. This paper reviews the protein structure, distribution, expression, biological function of CD200-CD200R and the correlation with diseases, and analyses the current status and development ideas of CD200-CD200R as drug targets. It aims to provide theoretical support for new drug research and development based on this target.

Three-dimensional ordered porous carbon materials exhibit potential application prospects as excellent drug supports in drug delivery systems due to their high specific surface area, tunable pore structure, and excellent biocompatibility. In this study, three-dimensional ordered porous carbon materials were prepared using Acanthopanax senticosus herbal residues as raw material and KOH as activating agent through a one-step pyrolysis method. The prepared carbon-based material was systematically characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, N₂ adsorption-desorption and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The results show that the three-dimensional ordered porous carbon materials prepared with KOH as the activator via pyrolysis possess abundant functional groups, high porosity, and high specific surface area, with a specific surface area of 1 471.6 m²·g^-1. The three-dimensional ordered porous carbon materials prepared at 800 ℃ exhibits a high drug loading capacity (78.0%) and drug release rate (86.8%) for 5-fluorouracil. Three-dimensional orderly porous carbon materials show significant application advantages in drug construction, and their high specific surface area and adjustable pore size structure significantly improve the drug load rate and drug release rate, providing a solid foundation for the development of efficient and accurate drug delivery system.

italic>Artemisia argyi is a traditional Chinese medicine in China, which is used as medicine with its leaves. The leaves of A. argyi mainly contain flavonoids, phenolic acids, volatile oils and other compounds, and have a variety of pharmacological activities. AP2/ERF transcription factors are abundant in plants and are mainly involved in plant growth and development, abiotic stress response and secondary metabolite biosynthesis regulation. However, there are few reports on the AP2/ERF gene family and its functions in A. argyi. In this study, we systematically identified the AP2/ERF gene family in A. argyi genome, and analyzed its phylogenetic tree, protein physicochemical properties, subcellular localization, conserved motifs, promoter elements, and expression patterns. The results showed that a total of 204 AP2/ERF transcription factors were identified in A. argyi genome, encoding proteins consisting of 88-483 amino acids with a relative molecular mass of 10-52.94 kDa and a theoretical isoelectric point of 4.62-9.88. Subcellular prediction showed that the majority of AP2/ERFs were located in the nucleus, cytoplasm, and the minority of them is located in the membrane and chloroplasts. According to the Arabidopsis AP2/ERF family classification, A. argyi AP2/ERF proteins were divided into four subfamilies: Soloist, AP2, ERF (B3, B4, B5, B6), and DREB (A1, A2, A4, A5, A6), among which DREB family accounted for the largest proportion, and the same subfamily had similar conserved motifs. cis-Acting element analysis showed that AP2/ERF promoters have a large number of elements responding to light and abiotic stress. Expression pattern analysis showed that most of the genes of the AP2/ERF family were dominantly expressed mainly in roots and stems, of which 19 were dominantly expressed in leaves, 77 would be induced to be expressed by methyl jasmonate, of which 16 genes were both dominantly expressed in leaves and induced to be expressed by methyl jasmonate, and these AP2/ERF genes may be the key regulatory genes for the synthesis of active ingredients in A. argyi leaves.This study lays the foundation for the functional study of AP2/ERF family genes and their regulating roles in the active components biosynthesis in A. argyi leaves.

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.