Objective To perform laboratory detection and molecular traceability analysis on a case of imported kala-azar in Shenzhen to determine the infection strain. Methods Bone marrow puncture fluid and blood samples from a case of kala-azar in Shenzhen were collected for laboratory tests. The patient's bone marrow puncture fluid smears were stained with Giemsa and examined under a microscope. Blood samples were examined for antibodies using the rk39 visceral leishmania rapid diagnostic reagent. Whole blood DNA was extracted, and the ITS-1 sequence was amplified by PCR, sequenced and aligned, and a phylogenetic tree was constructed based on the ITS-1 sequence. Results Microscopic examination of the patient's bone marrow smears revealed a large number of Leishmania amastigotes without flagella, confirming the diagnosis of kala-azar. The patient's blood was tested positive with the rk39 rapid diagnostic reagent, and PCR amplification yielded an ITS-1 gene product sequence that matched the expected size. Sequence alignment with the NCBI database showed 100% sequence similarity with the ITS-1 gene sequence of Leishmania infantum, confirming the infecting strain as Leishmania infantum. Phylogenetic tree construction of the amplified ITS-1 sequence revealed clustering into a clade with Leishmania infantum , and close to KC347299, one of the reference sequence selected. Conclusions The case of kala-azar in Shenzhen was caused by Leishmania infantum. Kala-azar still occurs in China, so the diagnostic technology of medical personnel in non-epidemic areas should be strengthened so that they can actively use new diagnostic technologies to assist in diagnosis, thus improving their prevention and control ability of Leishmania parasites.

Objective:To evaluated the safety and feasibility of dissection of lymph nodes posterior to right recurrent laryngeal nerve (ⅥB compartment) in endoscopic thyroidectomy through gasless axillary posterior approach.Methods:A total of 350 cases with right lobe papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) who underwent endoscopic lobectomy, isthmusectomy and central compartment neck dissection via gasless axillary posterior approach based at the Department of General Surgery, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University from June 2020 to December 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. Summarize the clinical, pathological characteristics, and postoperative complications of the patients. SPSS 25.0 was used for statistical analysis of the data.Results:All 350 patients underwent endoscopic surgery successfully, with no conversion to open surgery. There were 303 females and 47 males, with an average age of (36.3±9.2) years. Of those, 287 patients were in pT1a stage, 62 in pT1b stage, and one patient in pT2 stage. There was no T3 or T4 stage patient. The mean numbers of yielded lymph nodes in right central compartment and ⅥB compartment were 8.11±4.65 (range, 1-31) and 2.62±1.86 (range, 1-12), respectively. ⅥB compartment metastasis was detected in 52 (14.86%) of 350 patients. The incidence of transient recurrent laryngeal nerve injury was 0.86%(3/350). Postoperative hematoma occurred in three patients (0.86%).Conclusion:The dissection of ⅥB compartment in endoscopic thyroidectomy through gasless axillary posterior approach is safe and feasible in selected PTC patients

Cystic echinococcosis, a zoonotic disease that poses a significant threat to human health and animal husbandry development, is prevalent across the world and predominantly occurs in agricultural and pastoral regions. However, cystic echinococcosis cases are rare in non-endemic areas, which is likely to cause misdiagnosis or missing diagnosis, resulting in delay in treatment. This report presents an overseas imported cystic echinococcosis case misdiagnosed as pulmonary and hepatic cysts, so as to provide insights into diagnosis and treatment of cystic echinococcosis in non-endemic areas.

Objective:To investigate the risk factors for postoperative stiffness following rotator cuff repair and to develop a predictive risk assessment model.Methods:A retrospective analysis was conducted on 251 patients (111 males and 140 females) who underwent rotator cuff repair at the Department of Orthopedics, Civil Aviation General Hospital, from June 2016 to December 2022. Patients were divided into two groups based on the time of admission: the modeling group, comprising patients treated from June 2016 to June 2021, was used to construct the risk assessment model, while the validation group, including those treated from July 2021 to December 2022, was used to evaluate the model's effectiveness. In the modeling group, the incidence of postoperative stiffness one year after surgery was assessed. The study collected data on age, sex, body mass index, disease duration, smoking history, diabetes history, preoperative fat infiltration of the rotator cuff muscles, tear size, suturing technique, preoperative stiffness, re-tear rate, visual analogue scale (VAS) scores at two and six weeks postoperatively, Constant-Murley scores at six weeks postoperatively, and both preoperative and postoperative critical shoulder angle (CSA), acromial index (AI), and lateral acromion angle (LAA). Univariate analysis was used to identify potential risk factors for postoperative stiffness, followed by multivariate logistic regression to construct the risk assessment model. The validation group was used to reassess the identified risk factors.Results:Postoperative stiffness occurred in 21 out of 176 patients in the modeling group. Logistic regression analysis revealed that diabetes history, higher fat infiltration of the rotator cuff muscles, larger tear size, preoperative stiffness, higher VAS score at six weeks postoperatively, and lower Constant-Murley score at six weeks postoperatively were significant risk factors for postoperative stiffness. Based on the logistic regression model, a nomogram was created using R software. In the validation group, postoperative stiffness was observed in 11 out of 75 patients. The area under the ROC curve (AUC=0.926) indicated good discriminative ability in predicting postoperative stiffness. The goodness-of-fit test (H-L test: χ 2=2.215, P=0.947) demonstrated moderate calibration of the model. Conclusion:A history of diabetes, high fat infiltration of the rotator cuff muscles, large or massive rotator cuff tears, preoperative stiffness, higher VAS scores at six weeks postoperatively, and lower Constant-Murley scores at six weeks postoperatively are significant risk factors for postoperative stiffness after rotator cuff repair. The risk assessment model shows good discriminative power and calibration, making it a useful tool for predicting the risk of postoperative stiffness following rotator cuff repair.

Abstract: Objective　To analyze and understand the mutations of drug resistance genes in imported Plasmodium falciparum in Shenzhen, aiming to assess the efficacy of antimalarial drugs and guide effective drug use. Methods A total of 85 samples from individuals with imported Plasmodium falciparum confirmed by fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in Shenzhen from 2022 to 2023 were collected and genomic DNA was extracted. Nested PCR was used to amplify resistance genes, including Plasmodium falciparum Kelch 13 (PfK13), multidrug resistance gene 1 (Pfmdr1), chloroquine resistance transporter (Pfcrt), dihydrofolate reductase (Pfdhfr), and dihydropteroate synthase (Pfdhps) genes. Bidirectional sequencing was conducted, and mutations in these resistance genes were analyzed using MEGA11.06 software. Results　The study found one missense mutation (S549P) and four synonymous mutations in PfK13. For Pfmdr1, 62.69% of the samples showed Y184F mutation, and no N86Y mutation was detected. No mutations at positions 72 and 73 were detected in the Pfcrt gene, while mutations at M74I, N75E, and K76T accounted for 17.46%, 15.87%, and 15.87%, respectively. The wild-type of Pfcrt gene is dominant (82.54%, 52), followed by the triple mutant I74E75T76 (15.87%, 10). The most common mutation type for Pfdhfr is I51R59N108 (91.78%, 67), followed by the wild type (2.74%, 2). More than half (60.32%, 38) of the Pfdhps samples were wild-type, with single mutation K540E being the most common mutation type. S436A, G437A, K540E, A581G, A613S, I431V, G556K, and G579E site mutations were detected. Among the Pfdhfr-Pfdhps combination mutations, I51R59N108-E540 was the most frequent combination mutation (11.48%), with 59.02% of samples showing solitary Pfdhfr mutations. Conclusions In this study, PfK13 mutation rates were low, with no reported resistance mutations. The Y184F mutation emerged as the dominant Pfmdr1 mutation, with no detection of N86Y. For Pfcrt, the wild-type was dominant, followed by the I74E75T76 triple mutation variant. Triple mutant I51R59N108 of Pfdhfr was very common, and our study did not find Pfdhfr Pfdhps completely resistant and super resistant mutants, but there were other quintuple and septuple mutant types. In the future, it is crucial to continue to strengthen the monitoring of malaria parasite resistance genes and to further integrate in vivo efficacy monitoring to effectively guide clinical drug use.

Objective:To investigate the risk factors of post-stroke depression (PSD) in patients with first acute stroke 6 months after onset.Methods:Three hundred and sixty-seven patients with acute stroke who were treated for the first time in the Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University were selected retrospectively. After onset for 6 months, the patients were followed up and divided into PSD group and non-PSD group. The clinical data, blood index, imaging data, degree of nerve damage and the patient's stigma level were compared between the two groups.Results:Totally 182 and 185 cases were included in the PSD and non-PSD groups, respectively. The incidence of PSD at 6 months post-stroke was 49.6% (182/367). The results of univariate analysis showed that diseased region, drinking history, monthly income, standard of culture, serum cortisol, total cholesterol (TC), high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR), Stigma Scale for Chronic Illness-8 Chronic Disease Stigma Scale-8(SSCI-8) scores, National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores and subtype of stroke were risk factors for PSD ( P<0.05). Binary Logistic regression analysis showed that diseased region at frontal lobe ( OR = 3.245, P = 0.011), basal ganglia region ( OR = 2.820, P = 0.007), cerebellar hemisphere ( OR = 4.594, P = 0.010) and serum cortisol ( OR = 1.174, P<0.001), hs-CRP ( OR = 1.057, P<0.001), SSCI-8 scores ( OR = 1.674, P<0.001), NIHSS scores ( OR = 1.283, P<0.001) were independent risk factors for PSD. Conclusions:PSD is a common complication in patients with stroke. Diseased region (at frontal lobe, basal ganglia region, cerebellar hemispheres), hs-CRP, serum cortisol, level of morbidity stigma and degree of neurological impairment are development risk factors for the PSD at 6 months of acute stroke.

Objective : To investigate the effect of silencing histone deacetylase 9 (HDAC9) expression on the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs). Methods: PDLSCs were isolated, cultured and identified in vitro. An siRNA construct specific for HDAC9 was transfected into PDLSCs (siHDAC9 group), and a nontargeting siRNA was used as a control (siNC group). The interference effect was determined by qRT-PCR. The cell cycle progression of PDLSCs was detected using flow cytometry. The proliferation activity of PDLSCs was detected via CCK-8 assay. Western blotting was used to detect the protein expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA). The mRNA expression of runt-related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) was investigated by qRT-PCR. The protein expression of RUNX2 was detected by western blotting. In addition, the formation of mineralized nodules was assessed by alizarin red staining. Results: Compared with that in the siNC group, the mRNA expression of HDAC9 in the siHDAC9 group was lower (P < 0.01). Moreover, compared with those in the siNC group, the proliferation index (P<0.01), proliferation activity (P<0.05) and protein expression of PCNA (P<0.01) in the siHDAC9 group were all increased. Compared with the siNC group, the siHDAC9 group exhibited higher mRNA expression of RUNX2 and ALP (P < 0.05), and the protein expression of RUNX2 showed the same results (P < 0.01). The results of alizarin red staining showed that compared to the siNC group, the siHDAC9 group formed more mineralized nodules. Conclusion Silencing HDAC9 expression can promote the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of PDLSCs.

Ferroptosis is an iron-dependent novel type of programmed cell death. The main features of ferroptosis include lipid reactive oxygen accumulation, iron accumulation and lipid peroxidation. The main mechanisms and signal pathways of ferroptosis are complex and closely related to cystine/glutamate antiporter system, glutathione peroxidase 4, ferroptosis suppressor protein 1, and dihydroorotate dehydrogenase. This review summarizes the current regulatory mechanisms of ferroptosis and discusses the research progress of ferroptosis in tumors, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, Parkinson's disease, and congestive heart failure.

Objective:To study the patterns of tocilizumab (TCZ) use, its efficacy and safety in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in routine clinical practice.Methods:A total of 407 patients with RA were enrolled from 23 centers and treated with TCZ within 8 weeks prior to the enrollment visit, and were followed for 6-month. The patterns of TCZ treatment at 6 months, the effectiveness and safety outcomes were recorded. Statistical analysis was performed using SAS version 9.4.Results:A total of 396 patients were included for analysis, in which 330 (83.3%) patients received TCZ combined with conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (csDMARDs), and 16.7%(66/396) received TCZ monotherapy. At baseline, TCZ was initiated in 56.6%(224/396) and 9.6%(38/396) of patients after failure of DMARDs and other biological agents (bDMARDs) respectively. During the 6-month follow-up period, the mean frequency of TCZ administration was (3.7±1.6), the mean TCZ dosage was (7.4±1.2) mg/kg, and the mean interval between doses was (40±13) days. 120(25.8%) patients were on TCZ treatment at the end of the study. Improvements in disease activity, systemic symptoms and patient report outcomes were observed at the end of the study. 22.7%(90/396) patients experienced at least one treatment related adverse event, and 8 patients experienced at least one serious adverse event.Conclusion:This study demonstrates that TCZ treatment is effective in patients with RA when being treated for 6 months with an acceptable safety profile. The duration of TCZ treatment needs to be extended.

Anesthesia consciousness monitoring is an important issue in basic neuroscience and clinical applications, which has received extensive attention. In this study, in order to find the indicators for monitoring the state of clinical anesthesia, a total of 14 patients undergoing general anesthesia were collected for 5 minutes resting electroencephalogram data under three states of consciousness (awake, moderate and deep anesthesia). Sparse partial least squares (SPLS) and traditional synchronized likelihood (SL) are used to calculate brain functional connectivity, and the three conscious states before and after anesthesia were distinguished by the connection features. The results show that through the whole brain network analysis, SPLS and traditional SL method have the same trend of network parameters in different states of consciousness, and the results obtained by SPLS method are statistically significant ( <0.05). The connection features obtained by the SPLS method are classified by the support vector machine, and the classification accuracy is 87.93%, which is 7.69% higher than that of the connection feature classification obtained by SL method. The results of this study show that the functional connectivity based on the SPLS method has better performance in distinguishing three kinds of consciousness states, and may provides a new idea for clinical anesthesia monitoring.