Objective To investigate the changes in interleukin-34 (IL-34)levels in serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of patients with severe pneumonia and their prognostic value. Methods A total of 66 patients with severe pneumonia (severe pneumonia group), 35 patients with non-severe pneumonia (non-severe pneumonia group), and 27 healthy adults (control group) were enrolled. The severe pneumonia group was further divided into survival group of 38 patients and non-survival group of 28 patients based on 28-day survival. Clinical data of all subjects were analyzed. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted to assess the predictive power of serum IL-34 and relative IL-34 gene expression in BALF for 28-day mortality in patients with severe pneumonia, as well as the predictive power of serum IL-34 for severe pneumonia. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were plotted, and the Log-rank test was used to compare cumulative survival rates. Cox regression analysis was conducted to explore risk factors for 28-day mortality in patients with severe pneumonia. Pearson correlation analysis was used to assess the correlation between serum IL-34 levels and relative IL-34 gene expression in BALF of patients with severe pneumonia. Results Serum IL-34 levels were higher in the severe pneumonia group than those in the non-severe pneumonia group, and were higher in the non-severe pneumonia group than in the control group (P < 0.05). Serum IL-34 levels and relative IL-34 gene expression in BALF were higher in the non-survival group than in the survival group (P < 0.05). ROC curve analysis showed that the areas under the curve for predicting 28-day mortality in patients with severe pneumonia were 0.908 for serum IL-34 levels and 0.878 for relative IL-34 gene expression in BALF. The optimal cutoff value for serum IL-34 levels in predicting severe pneumonia was 129.9 pg/mL. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that increased serum IL-34 levels and increased relative IL-34 gene expression in BALF were independent risk factors for 28-day mortality in patients with severe pneumonia (P < 0.05). The Kaplan-Meier survival analysis results indicate that, with a cutoff value of 129.9 pg/mL, patients with severe pneumonia who had high serum levels of IL-34 exhibited a lower cumulative survival rate compared to those with low IL-34 level(Log-rank P < 0.001). Conclusion Serum IL-34 levels are significantly increased in patients with severe pneumonia, and relative IL-34 gene expression in BALF is positively correlated with serum IL-34 levels. Both can be used as indicators for predicting the prognosis of 28-day mortality in patients with severe pneumonia.

Objective To explore clinical effect of the fifth metatarsal head excision and non-excision in rheumatoid arthritis(RA)forefoot deformity reconstruction.Methods Retrospective analysis was performed on 50 patients(76 feet)with moderate to severe forefoot deformity caused by RA treated from May 2015 to January 2019.According to degeneration of the fifth metatarsophalangeal joint,the fifth metatarsal head was retained or excised by wind-like forefoot reconstruction,and divid-ed into the fifth metatarsal head preservation group(preservation group)and the fifth metatarsal head resection group(resec-tion group).Twenty-four female patients in preservation group,aged from 47 to 81 years old with an average of(60.37±8.60)years old;the course of disease ranged from 13 to 22 years with an average of(19.00±3.06)years;body mass index(BMI)ranged from 21 to 28 kg·m-2 with an average of(23.53±2.47)kg·m-2;six patients(6 feet)with moderate hallux valgus defor-mity and 18 patients(30 feet)with severe hallux valgus deformity;treated with the first metatarsophalangeal joint fusion com-bined with the second th the fourth metatarsophalangeal joint arthroplasty and the fifth metatarsophalangeal joint cleanup.Twenty-six female patients in resection group were female,aged from 30 to 80 years old with an average of(58.53±13.70)years old;the course of disease ranged from 8 to 25 years with an average of(17.94±3.92)years;BMI raged from 20 to 28 kg·m-2 with an average of(24.60±2.03)kg·m-2;4 patients(4 feet)with moderate bunion valgus deformity and 22 patients(36 feet)with severe bunion valgus deformity;treated by the first metatarsophalangeal joint fusion combined with the second th the fifth metatarsophalangeal joint resection of the metatarsophalangeal head.Operation time and postoperative complications between two groups were observed,hallux valgus angle(HVA),intermetatarsal angles between the first and the second metatarsals(I-MAFS),intermetatarsal angles between the first and fifth metatarsals(IMAFF),Japanese Society for Surgery of Foot(JSSF)score before surgery and at the latest follow-up were compared.Results Fifty patients were followed-up from 14 to 46(25.30± 8.83)months in resection group and 12 to 48 with an average of(24.30±1 1.12)months in preservation group,while no signifi-cant difference between two groups(P＞0.05).There were no significant difference in operation time and postoperative compli-cations between two groups(P＞0.05).JSSF scores,HVA,IMAFS and IMAFF in fesection group were improved from(45.09± 3.35)points,(38.90±13.67)°,(12.88±1.72)°,(32.50±2.99)° before operation to(81.60±3.27)points,(15.40±0.90),(9.06±2.27)°,(22.20±1.98)° at the latest follow-up(P＜0.05);preservation group were improved from(47.09±3.96)points,(43.30±12.65)°,(13.99±3.13)°,(33.20±6.14)° to(83.10±3.66)points,(15.20±1.54)°,(8.99±1.02)°,(24.70±1.88)°,respectively.There were no significant difference in JSSF score,HVA,IMAFS and IMAFF between two groups before opera-tion and the latest follow-up(P＞0.05).At the latest follow-up,there were statistically significant differences in pain and defor-mity in JSSF scores between two groups(P＜0.05).Conclusion Both rheumatoid anterior foot reconstruction and anterior foot reconstruction fifth metatarsophalangeal joint debridement showed significant improvement in clinical efficacy and imaging re-sults.Compared with rheumatoid prefoot reconstruction,the fifth metatarsophalangeal joint reconstruction for the treatment of moderate and severe deformity of rheumatoid prefoot showed better improvement in pain,but worse improvement in deformity.For the moderate to severe deformity of the forefoot caused by rheumatoid disease,patients with mild to moderate degenerative deformity of the articular surface of the fifth metatarsal phalanges may be considered for use.

Objective:To establish a mesenchymal stem cell(MSC)-based in vitro cell model for the evaluation of mouse bone marrow acute graft-versus-host disease(aGVHD).Methods:Female C57BL/6N mice aged 6-8 weeks were used as bone marrow and lymphocyte donors,and female BALB/c mice aged 6-8 weeks were used as aGVHD recipients.The recipient mouse received a lethal dose(8.0 Gy,72.76 cGy/min)of total body γ irradiation,and injected with donor mouse derived bone marrow cells(1× 107/mouse)in 6-8 hours post irradiation to establish a bone marrow transplantation(BMT)mouse model(n=20).In addition,the recipient mice received a lethal dose(8.0 Gy,72.76 cGy/min)of total body γ irradiation,and injected with donor mouse derived bone marrow cells(1 × 107/mouse)and spleen lymphocytes(2 × 106/mouse)in 6-8 hours post irradiation to establish a mouse aGVHD model(n=20).On the day 7 after modeling,the recipient mice were anesthetized and the blood was harvested post eyeball enucleation.The serum was collected by centrifugation.Mouse MSCs were isolated and cultured with the addition of 2％,5％,and 10％recipient serum from BMT group or aGVHD group respectively.The colony-forming unit-fibroblast(CFU-F)experiment was performed to evaluate the potential effects of serums on the self-renewal ability of MSC.The expression of CD29 and CD105 of MSC was evaluated by immunofluorescence staining.In addition,the expression of self-renewal-related genes including Oct-4,Sox-2,and Nanog in MSC was detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR(RT-qPCR).Results:We successfully established an in vitro cell model that could mimic the bone marrow microenvironment damage of the mouse with aGVHD.CFU-F assay showed that,on day 7 after the culture,compared with the BMT group,MSC colony formation ability of aGVHD serum concentrations groups of 2％and 5％was significantly reduced(P＜0.05);after the culture,at day 14,compared with the BMT group,MSC colony formation ability in different aGVHD serum concentration was significantly reduced(P＜0.05).The immunofluorescence staining showed that,compared with the BMT group,the proportion of MSC surface molecules CD29+and CD 105+cells was significantly dereased in the aGVHD serum concentration group(P＜0.05),the most significant difference was at a serum concentration of 10％(P＜0.001,P＜0.01).The results of RT-qPCR detection showed that the expression of the MSC self-renewal-related genes Oct-4,Sox-2,and Nanog was decreased,the most significant difference was observed at an aGVHD serum concentration of 10％(P＜0.01,P＜0.001,P＜0.001).Conclusion:By co-culturing different concentrations of mouse aGVHD serum and mouse MSC,we found that the addition of mouse aGVHD serum at different concentrations impaired the MSC self-renewal ability,which providing a new tool for the field of aGVHD bone marrow microenvironment damage.

Objective To investigate the application effect of external treatment method of Xingqi Huoxue Zhitong Paste in the treatment of phlebitis. Methods Using mannitol as an inflammatory agent, a phlebitis model was established by infusion into the ear marginal vein of rabbits. Successfully modeled rabbits were randomly divided into four subgroups for intervention, while the blank control group was routinely raised without any intervention. After the intervention, the improvement effect of Xingqi Huoxue Zhitong Paste on mannitol-induced transfusion-induced phlebitis in rabbits was explored by observing the manifestations of phlebitis, serum interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) levels. Results The success rate was up to 90.0%. On the first day of treatment, there were 8 ineffective cases and 1 effective case in the saline group; 6 ineffective cases and 3 effective cases in the hirudoid group; 7 ineffective cases and 2 effective cases in the magnesium sulfate group; 7 ineffective cases and 2 effective cases in the Xingqi Huoxue Zhitong Paste group. There was no significant difference in the curative effect among the four groups (P=0.431). On the fourth day of treatment, there were 5 ineffective cases, 2 effective cases, and 2 markedly effective cases in the saline group; 1 effective case, 5 markedly effective cases, and 3 cured cases in the hirudoid group; 2 effective cases, 5 markedly effective cases, and 2 cured cases in the magnesium sulfate group; 2 effective cases, 4 markedly effective cases, and 3 cured cases in the Xingqi Huoxue Zhitong Paste group. On the fourth day of treatment, compared with the saline group, the curative effects of the hirudoid group (P=0.001), the magnesium sulfate group (P=0.020), and the Xingqi Huoxue Zhitong Paste group (P=0.003) were statistically significant. There was no significant difference in curative effect in the magnesium sulfate group and the Xingqi Huoxue Zhitong Paste group when compared with the hirudoid group (P>0.05); there was no significant difference in curative effect in the Hirudoid group and the Xingqi Huoxue Zhitong Paste group when compared with the magnesium sulfate group (P>0.05); there was no significant difference in curative effect in the hirudoid group and the magnesium sulfate group when compared with the Xingqi Huoxue Zhitong Paste group (P>0.05). The effective rate of the saline group was 11.1%, and the cure rate was 0%. The effective rate of the hirudoid group was 100.0%, and the cure rate was 33.3%. The effective rate of the magnesium sulfate group was 77.7%, and the cure rate was 44.4%. The effective rate of the Xingqi Huoxue Zhitong Paste group was 66.7%, and the cure rate was 22.2%. The drug effectiveness of the Xingqi Huoxue Zhitong Paste group, the hirudoid group, and the magnesium sulfate group was higher than that of the saline group (P < 0.05). After the intervention, the levels of serum inflammatory factors IL-6, TNF-α, and VEGF-A in the four model subgroups were statistically significant compared with the blank control group (P < 0.05). The levels of serum inflammatory factors IL-6, TNF-α, and VEGF-A in the saline group showed significant difference from those in the hirudoid group, the magnesium sulfate group, and the Xingqi Huoxue Zhitong Paste group (P < 0.05). Compared with the hirudoid group, the differences in serum inflammatory factors IL-6, TNF-α, and VEGF-A contents in the magnesium sulfate group and the Xingqi Huoxue Zhitong Paste group were statistically significant (P < 0.05). The inflammatory factor levels in the blank control group were the lowest, while those in the normal saline group were the highest. Conclusion Xingqi Huoxue Zhitong Paste group has an improving effect on mannitol-induced infusion phlebitis in rabbits, but its efficacy is inferior to that of the commonly used hirudoid ointment. Therefore, appropriate adjustments and improvements can be made to the drug formula to enhance its effectiveness.

Objective     To analyze the clinicopathological characteristics of thymoma patients and the influencing factors for prognosis. Methods     Thymoma patients who received treatment in Sichuan Cancer Hospital from March 2015 to March 2021 were collected. Clinical data of the patients were analyzed using Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses. Results     A total of 177 patients were included. There were 89 males and 88 females aged 17-88 (52.3±13.0) years, including 160 surgical patients and 17 non-surgical patients. There were 160 patients survived, 17 died of thymoma, and 5 had recurrence and metastasis. Overall, the 1-year, 3-year and 5-year progression-free survival rates were 94.4%, 88.7%, 88.1%, respectively; the 1-year, 3-year and 5-year overall survival rates were 94.9%, 91.5%, 91.0%, respectively. The Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that World Health Organization classification, clinical symptoms, Masaoka-Koga staging, treatment methods and surgery were statistically associated with progression-free survival; clinical symptoms, age, treatment methods and surgery were statistically associated with overall survival (P<0.05). Patients with younger age (P=0.018), without clinical symptoms (P=0.039), and with surgical treatment (P=0.004) had higher overall survival rates; those patients undergoing surgery had a higher progression-free survival rate (P=0.002). Conclusion     Age, clinical symptoms and surgical treatment are independent factors influencing the prognosis of patients with thymoma.

OBJECTIVE: To explore prevalence, risk factors and treatment of ankle sprain of young college student , in order to obtain accurate epidemiological data. METHODS: From March 2019 to May 2019, 552 college students(1 104 sides of anke joints) from Xi'an Physical Education university were enrolled in study according to inclusion and excludion standard, including 309 males and 243 females aged from 16 to 24 years old with an average of (20.9±3.7) years old. Age, gender, and body mass indes(BMI) etc were recorded. Morbidity of acute and chronic ankle sprains of physical students, treatment after the first sprain (cold compress, cast or plaster bracing and medicine), visual analogue scale (VAS) during walking were assessed through ankle sprain questionnaire;Cumberland ankle instability tool (CAIT), Maryland foot score were applied to assess ankle function. Lateral ankle ligament injury was objectively assessed by musculoskeletal ultrasonography. RESULTS: The prevalence of acute ankle sprain(AAS) was 96.20% (531/552), and the incidence of AAS was 59.96% (622/1 104). The prevalence of chronic ankle joint instability(CAI) was 16.85% (93/552), and the incidence of CAI was 8.97% (99/1 104). In the four categories of sports, college student suffered from multiple sprains in performance majors group was 22.20% (14/63), including of aerobicsand dance performance. The incidence of AAS of ball sports was 8.60%(14/163). After the first sprain, most college students(94.4%) were received cold compression, about 60% of them went to hospital;however, only 44.7% students were received standard treatmens(cast or plaster), only 35.3% of them were received hard ankle orthosis. In 552 college students, 44 students were suffered from more than 4 times of ankle sprain, and the total incidence was 7.97% (44/552). Cumberland score was 26.6±2.4, Cumberland score of students sprained ankle joint more than 4 times was (29.2±1.1), suggested it was a risk factor for ankle joint instability. VAS of students sprained ankle joint more than 4 times was higher than that of less than 4 times(P<0.05), Maryland foot score was significantly lower than that of that of <4 times(P<0.05). Musculoskeletal ultrasonography measured the thickness of anterior tibiofibular ligament(ATFL) was (2.41±0.41) mm, and the thickness of calcaneofibular ligament(CFL) was (1.92±0.21) mm, and had no statistical difference(P>0.05). CONCLUSION Ninty-four percent college students had at least once ankle sprain, ankle sprains were more common in erobics and ball sports. After the first sprain, the proportion of cast or plaster treatment was less than 50%. Sprained ankle joint more than 4 times is a risk factor, and musculoskeletal ultrasonography showed thickening of both ATFL and CFL, while no statstical difference.
Female ; Male ; Humans ; Adolescent ; Young Adult ; Adult ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Joint Instability/epidemiology* ; Physical Education and Training ; Universities ; Ankle Injuries/therapy*

BACKGROUND: The optimal apolipoprotein or lipid measures for identifying statin-treated patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) at residual cardiovascular risk remain controversial. This study aimed to compare the predictive powers of apolipoprotein B (apoB), non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), apoB/apolipoprotein A-1 (apoA-1) and non-HDL-C/HDL-C for myocardial infarction (MI) in CAD patients treated with statins in the setting of secondary prevention. METHODS: The study included 9191 statin-treated CAD patients with a five-year median follow-up. All measures were analyzed as continuous variables and concordance/discordance groups by medians. The hazard ratio (HR) with 95% CI was estimated by Cox proportional hazards regression. Patients were classified by the clinical presentation of CAD for further analysis. RESULTS: The high-apoB-low-LDL-C and the high-non-HDL-C-low-LDL-C categories yielded HR of 1.40 (95% CI: 1.04-1.88) and 1.51 (95% CI: 1.07-2.13) for MI, respectively, whereas discordant high LDL-C with low apoB or non-HDL-C was not associated with the risk of MI. No association of MI with discordant apoB versus non-HDL-C, apoB/apoA-1 versus apoB, non-HDL-C/HDL-C versus non-HDL-C, or apoB/apoA-1 versus non-HDL-C/HDL-C was observed. Similar patterns were found in patients with acute coronary syndrome. In contrast, no association was observed between any concordance/discordance category and the risk of MI in patients with chronic coronary syndrome. CONCLUSIONS ApoB and non-HDL-C better predict MI in statin-treated CAD patients than LDL-C, especially in patients with acute coronary syndrome. ApoB/apoA-1 and non-HDL-C/HDL-C show no superiority to apoB and non-HDL-C for predicting MI.

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide and is the most common cancer in males. Immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) that target programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) or programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) have achieved impressive efficacy in the treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (Pardoll, 2012; Champiat et al., 2016; Gao et al., 2022). Although ICIs are usually well tolerated, they are often accompanied by immune-related adverse events (irAEs) (Doroshow et al., 2019). Non-specific activation of the immune system produces off-target immune and inflammatory responses that can affect virtually any organ or system (O'Kane et al., 2017; Puzanov et al., 2017). Compared with adverse events caused by chemotherapy, irAEs are often characterized by delayed onset and prolonged duration and can occur in any organ at any stage of treatment, including after cessation of treatment (Puzanov et al., 2017; von Itzstein et al., 2020). They range from rash, pneumonitis, hypothyroidism, enterocolitis, and autoimmune hepatitis to cardiovascular, hematological, renal, neurological, and ophthalmic irAEs (Nishino et al., 2016; Kumar et al., 2017; Song et al., 2020). Hence, we conducted a retrospective study to identify validated factors that could predict the magnitude of the risk of irAEs in patients receiving PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors; our approach was to analyze the correlation between the clinical characteristics of patients at the start of treatment and relevant indicators such as hematological indices and the risk of developing irAEs. Then, we developed an economical, practical, rapid, and simple model to assess the risk of irAEs in patients receiving ICI treatment, as early as possible.
Male ; Humans ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung/drug therapy* ; Lung Neoplasms/drug therapy* ; Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors/adverse effects* ; Programmed Cell Death 1 Receptor ; Retrospective Studies ; Apoptosis

Nuclear transporter importin-β1 is emerging as an attractive target by virtue of its prevalence in many cancers. However, the lack of druggable inhibitors restricts its therapeutic proof of concept. In the present work, we optimized a natural importin-β1 inhibitor DD1 to afford an improved analog DD1-Br with better tolerability (>25 folds) and oral bioavailability. DD1-Br inhibited the survival of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) cells with sub-nanomolar potency and completely prevented tumor growth in resistant CRPC models both in monotherapy (0.5 mg/kg) and in enzalutamide-combination therapy. Mechanistic study revealed that by targeting importin-β1, DD1-Br markedly inhibited the nuclear accumulation of multiple CRPC drivers, particularly AR-V7, a main contributor to enzalutamide resistance, leading to the integral suppression of downstream oncogenic signaling. This study provides a promising lead for CRPC and demonstrates the potential of overcoming drug resistance in advanced CRPC via targeting importin-β1.

Objective:To explore the clinical effectiveness of hemostatic bandage on wound safety and comfort after transradial coronary angiography and/or interventional therapy.Methods:This was a experimental study. A total of 400 consecutive patients who underwent transradial coronary angiography and/or interventional therapy in the Department of Cardiology, Peking University Third Hospital from July to October 2022 were enrolled and randomly divided into the hemostatic bandage group and the hemostatic balloon compressor group by the envelope method with 200 cases in each group. The hemostatic bandage group and the hemostatic balloon compressor group were treated with hemostatic bandage and hemostatic balloon compressor as transradial artery hemostatic device, respectively, to observe and compare postoperative hemostatic effect, hemostat use time, complication rate, postoperative pain, the degree of numbness in the finger on the operated side and wristband comfort between the two groups.Results:The hemostatic success rate was 98.5% (197/200) and 99.0% (198/200) in the hemostatic bandage and the hemostatic balloon compressor group, respectively, with no statistical difference ( χ2=0.20, P>0.05). The hemostat use time in the hemostatic bandage group and the hemostatic balloon compressor group was (6.23 ± 0.47) h and (17.01 ± 7.74) h, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant ( t=-19.66, P<0.01). The incidence of complications in the hemostatic bandage group and the hemostatic balloon compressor group was 13.5%(27/200) and 29.5%(59/200), respectively, and the difference was statistically significant ( χ2=8.01, P<0.05). Among the complications, swelling occurred in 21 individuals of the hemostatic bandage group and 54 individuals of the hemostatic balloon compressor group with statistically significant differences ( U=16 689.50, P<0.01). Besides, the hemostatic bandage group was significantly better than the hemostatic balloon compressor group with statistically significant differences in wound pain at immediate postoperative ( U=13 669.50, P<0.01), in finger numbness at immediate postoperative and 1-hour postoperative (immediate postoperative: U=17 838.00, P<0.05; 1-hour postoperative: U=13 342.50, P<0.01), in comfort at immediate postoperative, 4-hours, 8-hours and 12-hour postoperative(immediate postoperative: U=9 966.50, P<0.01; 4-hour postoperative: U=12 851, P<0.01; 8-hour postoperative: U=14 900, P<0.01; 12-hour postoperative: U=15 920, P<0.01). Conclusions:The hemostatic bandage shows better hemostatic effect, shorter compression time, lower complication rate, less wound pain, less numbness of the finger on the operation side, and higher comfort of the wrist band compared to hemostatic balloon compressor after transradial coronary angiography and/or interventional therapy, which is worthy of clinical promotion.