Objective To investigate the changes in eosinophil counts and the activation of microglial cells in the brain tissues of mice at different stages of Angiostrongylus cantonensis infection, and to examine the role of microglia in regulating the progression of angiostrongyliasis and unravel the possible molecular mechanisms. Methods Fifty BALB/c mice were randomly divided into the control group and the 7-d, 14-d, 21-day and 25-d infection groups, of 10 mice in each group. All mice in infection groups were infected with 30 stage III A. cantonensis larvae by gavage, and animals in the control group was given an equal amount of physiological saline. Five mice were collected from each of infection groups on days 7, 14, 21 d and 25 d post-infection, and 5 mice were collected from the control group on the day of oral gavage. The general and focal functional impairment was scored using the Clark scoring method to assess the degree of mouse neurological impairment. Five mice from each of infection groups were sacrificed on days 7, 14, 21 d and 25 d post-infection, and 5 mice from the control group were sacrificed on the day of oral gavage. Mouse brain tissues were sampled, and the pathological changes of brain tissues were dynamically observed using hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining. Immunofluorescence staining with eosinophilic cationic protein (ECP) and ionized calcium binding adaptor molecule 1 (Iba1) was used to assess the degree of eosinophil infiltration and the counts of microglial cells in mouse brain tissues in each group, and the morphological parameters of microglial cells (skeleton analysis and fractal analysis) were quantified by using Image J software to determine the morphological changes of microglial cells. In addition, the expression of M1 microglia markers Fcγ receptor III (Fcgr3), Fcγ receptor IIb (Fcgr2b) and CD86 antigen (Cd86), M2 microglia markers Arginase 1 (Arg1), macrophage mannose receptor C-type 1 (Mrc1), chitinase-like 3 (Chil3), and phagocytosis genes myeloid cell triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (Trem2), CD68 antigen (Cd68), and apolipoprotein E (Apoe) was quantified using real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR) assay in the mouse cerebral cortex of mice post-infection. Results A large number of A. cantonensis larvae were seen on the mouse meninges surface post-infection, and many neuronal nuclei were crumpled and deeply stained, with a large number of bleeding points in the meninges. The median Clark scores of mouse general functional impairment were 0 (interquartile range, 0), 0 (interquartile range, 0.5), 6 (interquartile range, 1.0), 14 (interquartile range, 8.5) points and 20 (interquartile range, 9.0) points in the control group and the 7-d, 14-d, 21-d and 25-d groups, respectively (H = 22.45, P < 0.01), and the median Clark scores of mouse focal functional impairment were 0 (interquartile range, 0), 2 (interquartile range, 2.5), 7 (interquartile range, 3.0), 18 (interquartile range, 5.0) points and 25 (interquartile range, 6.5) points in the control group and the 7-d, 14-d, 21-d and 25-d groups, respectively (H = 22.72, P < 0.01). The mean scores of mice general and focal functional impairment were all higher in the infection groups than in the control group (all P values < 0.05). Immunofluorescence staining showed a significant difference in the eosinophil counts in mouse brain tissues among the five groups (F = 40.05, P < 0.000 1), and the eosinophil counts were significantly higher in mouse brain tissues in the 14-d (3.08 ± 0.78) and 21-d infection groups (5.97 ± 1.37) than in the control group (1.00 ± 0.28) (both P values < 0.05). Semi-quantitative analysis of microglia immunofluorescence showed a significant difference in the counts of microglial cells among the five groups (F = 17.66, P < 0.000 1), and higher Iba1 levels were detected in mouse brain tissues in 14-d (5.75 ± 1.28), 21-d (6.23 ± 1.89) and 25-d infection groups (3.70 ± 1.30) than in the control group (1.00 ± 0.30) (all P values < 0.05). Skeleton and fractal analyses showed that the branch length [(162.04 ± 34.10) μm vs. (395.37 ± 64.11) μm; t = 5.566, P < 0.05] and fractal dimension of microglial cells (1.30 ± 0.01 vs. 1.41 ± 0.03; t = 5.266, P < 0.05) were reduced in mouse brain tissues in the 21-d infection group relative to the control group. In addition, there were significant differences among the 5 groups in terms of M1 and M2 microglia markers Fcgr3 (F = 48.34, P < 0.05), Fcgr2b (F = 55.46, P < 0.05), Cd86 (F = 24.44, P < 0.05), Arg1 (F = 31.18, P < 0.05), Mrc1 (F = 15.42, P < 0.05) and Chil3 (F = 24.41, P < 0.05), as well as phagocytosis markers Trem2 (F = 21.19, P < 0.05), Cd68 (F = 43.95, P < 0.05) and Apoe (F = 7.12, P < 0.05) in mice brain tissues. Conclusions A. cantonensis infections may induce severe pathological injuries in mouse brain tissues that are characterized by massive eosinophil infiltration and persistent activation of microglia cells, thereby resulting in progressive deterioration of neurological functions.

Liver failure is a critical illness with a high fatality rate， and its treatment still faces great challenges. This article systematically reviews the achievements of inheritance and innovation in the field of traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） treatment of liver failure in China for the past 60 years. As for clinical research， it was found in the early exploration stage that Yinchenhao decoction combined with Western medicine treatment had a marked therapeutic effect， and enema therapy had shown a certain therapeutic effect， laying a foundation for subsequent research. In the era of evidence-based medicine， the TCM pathogenesis theories were established based on the understanding of “deficiency in origin and excess in superficiality” in liver failure， such as “jaundice due to spleen deficiency and invasion of pathogenic factors”， “Qi-deficiency and blood-stasis jaundice”， and “jaundice due to spleen-kidney Yang deficiency”. Based on the dynamic evolution of TCM syndromes， it is found that HBV-related acute-on-chronic liver failure presents the characteristics of “early excess and late deficiency”， and a framework of staged syndrome differentiation-based treatment has been established as removing excess in the early stage （detoxicating and resolving stasis） and tonifying deficiency in the late stage （warming Yang and securing collapse）. As for technological innovation， artificial liver combined with TCM， colonic lavage， and acupuncture and moxibustion has highlighted the advantages of the synergistic effect between multiple targets. Basic research has revealed that Yinchenhao Decoction regulates liver function through the intestinal flora-metabolism axis， the drug combination of Radix Paeoniae Rubra-Radix Aconiti Lateralis Preparata reshapes macrophage polarization， Schisandra chinensis lignans and Schisandra polysaccharides target GSH/GPX4 to modulate lipid homeostasis， and electroacupuncture stimulates ST36 （zusanli） to activate liver regeneration signal， thereby clarifying the molecular mechanism of the treatment principles such as “clearing heat and detoxicating” and “warming Yang and securing collapse”. Current challenges include the heterogeneity of clinical evidence， insufficient association between syndromes and biomarkers， and the bottleneck of cutting-edge technology integration. In the future， it is necessary to establish a two-way closed-loop research paradigm for clinical and basic research， focus on the intestinal microecology-immunity-energy metabolism network， and promote the upgrading of precise TCM treatment.

Here, we report a previously unrecognized syndromic neurodevelopmental disorder associated with biallelic loss-of-function variants in the RBM42 gene. The patient is a 2-year-old female with severe central nervous system (CNS) abnormalities, hypotonia, hearing loss, congenital heart defects, and dysmorphic facial features. Familial whole-exome sequencing (WES) reveals that the patient has two compound heterozygous variants, c.304C>T (p.R102*) and c.1312G>A (p.A438T), in the RBM42 gene which encodes an integral component of splicing complex in the RNA-binding motif protein family. The p.A438T variant is in the RRM domain which impairs RBM42 protein stability in vivo. Additionally, p.A438T disrupts the interaction of RBM42 with hnRNP K, which is the causative gene for Au-Kline syndrome with overlapping disease characteristics seen in the index patient. The human R102* or A438T mutant protein failed to fully rescue the growth defects of RBM42 ortholog knockout ΔFgRbp1 in Fusarium while it was rescued by the wild-type (WT) human RBM42. A mouse model carrying Rbm42 compound heterozygous variants, c.280C>T (p.Q94*) and c.1306_1308delinsACA (p.A436T), demonstrated gross fetal developmental defects and most of the double mutant animals died by E13.5. RNA-seq data confirmed that Rbm42 was involved in neurological and myocardial functions with an essential role in alternative splicing (AS). Overall, we present clinical, genetic, and functional data to demonstrate that defects in RBM42 constitute the underlying etiology of a new neurodevelopmental disease which links the dysregulation of global AS to abnormal embryonic development.
Female ; Animals ; Mice ; Humans ; Child, Preschool ; Intellectual Disability/genetics* ; Heart Defects, Congenital/genetics* ; Facies ; Cleft Palate ; Muscle Hypotonia

AIM: To evaluate the performance of three distinct large language models(LLM), including GPT-3.5, GPT-4, and PaLM2, in responding to queries within the field of ophthalmology, and to compare their performance with three different levels of medical professionals: medical undergraduates, master of medicine, and attending physicians.METHODS: A total of 100 ophthalmic multiple-choice tests, which covered ophthalmic basic knowledge, clinical knowledge, ophthalmic examination and diagnostic methods, and treatment for ocular disease, were conducted on three different kinds of LLM and three different levels of medical professionals(9 undergraduates, 6 postgraduates and 3 attending physicians), respectively. The performance of LLM was comprehensively evaluated from the aspects of mean scores, consistency and confidence of response, and it was compared with human.RESULTS: Notably, each LLM surpassed the average performance of undergraduate medical students(GPT-4:56, GPT-3.5:42, PaLM2:47, undergraduate students:40). Specifically, performance of GPT-3.5 and PaLM2 was slightly lower than those of master's students(51), while GPT-4 exhibited a performance comparable to attending physicians(62). Furthermore, GPT-4 showed significantly higher response consistency and self-confidence compared with GPT-3.5 and PaLM2.CONCLUSION: LLM represented by GPT-4 performs well in the field of ophthalmology, and the LLM model can provide clinical decision-making and teaching aids for clinicians and medical education.

BACKGROUND:Studies have shown that long non-coding RNA small nucleolar RNA host gene 4(lncRNA SNHG4)is involved in the progress of many inflammatory diseases,but the effect of lncRNA SNHG4 on the osteogenic differentiation of human periodontal ligament stem cells during the treatment of periodontitis is still unclear. OBJECTIVE:To investigate the effect of lncRNA SNHG4 on the osteogenic differentiation of human periodontal ligament stem cells by regulating miR-152-3p. METHODS:Human periodontal ligament stem cells were isolated from periodontal membranes of premolars extracted for orthodontic purposes.After human periodontal ligament stem cells were induced to differentiate into osteoblasts for 0,7,and 14 days,the expression levels of RUNX family transcription factor 2,osteocalcin mRNA,lncRNA SNHG4 and miR-152-3p in human periodontal ligament stem cells were detected by qRT-PCR.The third-generation human periodontal ligament stem cells were divided into the NC group,pcDNA group,pcDNA-SNHG4 group,inhibitor NC group,miR-152-3p inhibitor group,pcDNA-SNHG4+mimic NC group,and pcDNA-SNHG4+miR-152-3p mimic group.The expression of lncRNA SNHG4 and miR-152-3p in human periodontal ligament stem cells was detected by qRT-PCR.The proliferation of human periodontal ligament stem cells was detected by CCK-8 assay.Alkaline phosphatase activity was detected by colorimetry.The formation of mineralized nodules was detected by alizarin red staining.Western blot assay was used to detect the expression of RUNX family transcription factor 2,osteocalcin and alkaline phosphatase proteins.A double luciferase reporter gene experiment was applied to verify the relationship between lncRNA SNHG4 and miR-152-3p. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1)The expression of RUNX family transcription factor 2,osteocalcin mRNA and lncRNA SNHG4 in human periodontal ligament stem cells after 7 and 14 days of osteogenic induction was higher than that after 0 days of osteogenic induction,while the expression of miR-152-3p was lower(P<0.05).(2)Overexpression of lncRNA SNHG4 or inhibition of miR-152-3p was able to enhance the proliferation of human periodontal ligament stem cells,the alkaline phosphatase activity,mineralized nodule formation,the expression of RUNX family transcription factor 2,osteocalcin,and alkaline phosphatase proteins(P<0.05).miR-152-3p mimic attenuated the promoting effect of overexpression of lncRNA SNHG4 on osteogenic differentiation of human periodontal ligament stem cells.LncRNA SNHG4 had a targeting relationship with miR-152-3p.(3)These findings indicate that overexpression of lncRNA SNHG4 may promote the osteogenic differentiation of human periodontal ligament stem cells by inhibiting miR-152-3p.

Performance appraisal of public hospitals have given a guidance for the development of public hospitals at all levels.A Class A tertiary hospital reviewed the problems in the development of the hospital at the present stage and focused on the following four aspects:①insufficient fine management;②No clear orientation of discipline development;③The bottleneck of the improvement of medical operation efficiency;④New challenges in the reform of payment mode.The tertiary hospital launched a fine management practice in May 2022,in order to solve the problems by taking the Department of Surgery as a pilot area,laying the foundation for fine management through information system construction,improving the efficiency of medical operation through management process optimization,improving the overall competitiveness of disciplines through the construction of sub-specialty and Discipline Alliance and adjusting the performance appraisal index system to play the role of performance incentives.The measures effectively improve the overall capacity and efficiency of hospital medical services and help the hospital to achieve high-quality development.

Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of budesonide combined with pulmonary surfactant(PS)in the treatment of meconium aspiration syndrome(MAS)in neonates.Methods PubMed,Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials(Central),Embase,Web of Science,SinoMed,VIP,WanFang Data and CNKI databases were electronically searched to collect randomized controlled trials(RCTs)of budesonide combined with PS in the treatment of neonatal MAS from inception to September 2,2023.Two researchers independently screened literature,extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of the included studies,meta-analyses were performed by using the RevMan 5.4 software.Results A total of 6 RCTs involving 544 patients were included.The results of meta-analysis showed that compared with PS group,budesonide combined with PS group had higher overall effective rate(RR=1.29,95％CI 1.17 to 1.41,P＜0.001),shorter hospital stay(MD=-6.35,95％CI-9.25 to-3.46,P＜0.001)and shorter time of oxygen inhalation(MD=-1.61,95％CI-2.23 to-0.98,P＜0.001),shorter the duration of ventilator use(MD=-26.46,95％CI-35.98 to-16.95,P＜0.001),improved the blood gas analysis indexes at each time after treatment(P＜0.05);In terms of safety,the incidence of total complications and adverse reactions in budesonide combined with PS group was significantly lower(RR=0.35,95％CI 0.25 to 0.47,P＜0.001).Subgroup analysis showed that the incidence of persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn(PPHN)in the budesonide combined with PS group was decreased(RR=0.38,95％CI 0.19 to 0.74,P=0.004),and the incidence of pneumorrhagia was decreased(RR=0.26,95％CI 0.10 to 0.69,P=0.007),and the difference was statistically significant;the incidence of heart failure and sepsis was not statistically significant compared with the PS group(P＞0.05).Conclusion Current evidence shows that budesonide combined with PS in the treatment of neonatal meconium aspiration syndrome can improve the symptoms and signs of MAS children,improve the blood gas analysis index,accelerate disease rehabilitation,shorten the course of the disease,can help reduce the risk of complications and PPHN,pneumorrhagia,and doesn't increase the incidence of heart failure,sepsis.Due to the limited quantity of the included studies,more high-quality and large-sample RCTs are needed to further validate the above conclusions.

Background and purpose:BRCA1/2 plays an important role in maintaining the genome stability.Whether BRCA1/2 germline mutation could increase the tumor sensitivity to radiotherapy,thereby inducing secondary primary cancer after radiotherapy is unclear.This study aimed to investigate whether postoperative radiotherapy is a risk factor for the development of second primary cancer in triple-negative breast cancer(TNBC)patients with BRCA1/2 germline mutation.Methods:This research was based on a previously reported retrospective cohort,i.e.,the Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center TNBC cohort.Between January 1,2007 and December 31,2014,a total of 292 female TNBC patients with BRCA1/2 mutation were enrolled.We performed logistic regression analysis in patients without BRCA1/2 germline mutation(n=261)and BRCA1/2 germline mutation patients(n=31),respectively,to assess the risk factors affecting the incidence of second primary cancer.We then performed interactive analysis on the above two analyses to evaluate the interactive effect between BRCA1/2 germline mutation and postoperative radiotherapy.P<0.05 indicates a statistically significant difference.The research was approved by Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center TNBC Ethics Committee(050432-4-2108),and each patient provided written informed consent.Results:Logistic regression analysis in patients with BRCA1/2 germline mutations showed that postoperative radiotherapy significantly increased the risk of secondary primary disease compared to non-radiotherapy[odds ratio(OR)=2.475,95%confidence interval(CI):1.933-3.167,P<0.001].In patients without BRCA1/2 germline mutation,the effect of radiotherapy on the incidence of second primary tumor was not significant.There was a significant interaction between BRCA1/2 germline mutation and postoperative radiotherapy for the incidence of secondary primary cancer(OR=9.710,95%CI:0.320-295.250,P=0.193).Conclusion:Although statistical analysis results show that patients with BRCA1/2 germline mutations have an increased risk of developing a second primary tumor after postoperative radiotherapy compared to patients who have not received radiotherapy,there is no significant correlation between BRCA1/2 germline mutations and radiotherapy for the development of a second primary tumor.Therefore,patients with BRCA1/2 germline mutations who receive radiotherapy after surgery may not increase the risk of developing a second primary tumor.

Objective To construct risk prediction models of death or readmission in patients with acute heart failure(AHF)during the vulnerable phase based on machine learning algorithms and screen the optimal model.Methods A total of 651 AHF patients with admitted to Department of Cardiology of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Army Medical University from October 2019 to July 2021 were included.The clinical data consisting of admission vital signs,comorbidities and laboratory results were collected from electronic medical records.The composite endpoint was defined as all-cause death or readmission for worsening heart failure within 3 months after discharge.The patients were divided into a training set(521 patients)and a test set(130 patients)in a ratio of 8:2 through the simple random sampling.Six machine learning models were developed,including logistic regression(LR),random forest(RF),decision tree(DT),light gradient boosting machine(LGBM),extreme gradient boosting(XGBoost)and neural networks(NN).Receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve and decision curve analysis(DCA)were used to evaluate the predictive performance and clinical benefit of the models.Shapley additive explanation(SHAP)was used to explain and evaluate the effect of different clinical characteristics on the models.Results A total of 651 AHF patients were included,of whom 203 patients(31.2%)died or were readmitted during the vulnerable phase.ROC curve analysis showed that the AUC values of the LR,RF,DT,LGBM,XGBoost and NN model were 0.707,0.756,0.616,0.677,0.768 and 0.681,respectively.The XGBoost model had the highest AUC value.DCA showed that the XGBoost model exhibited greater clinical net benefit compared with other models,with the best predictive performance.SHAP algorithm analysis showed that the clinical features that had the greatest impact on the output of the model were serum uric acid,D-dimer,mean arterial pressure,B-type natriuretic peptide,left atrial diameter,body mass index,and New York Heart Association(NYHA)classification.Conclusion The XGBoost model has the best predictive performance in predicting the risk of death or readmission of AHF patients during the vulnerable phase.

Objective To observe the value of intratumoral and peritumoral radiomics features of apparent diffusion coefficient(ADC)for predicting prognosis of children with medulloblastoma(MB).Methods Data of 74 children with MB were retrospectively analyzed.The children were divided into progression group(n=29)or non-progression group(n=45)according to results of 2-year follow-up,also into training set(n=44)or validation set(n=30)at the ratio of 6∶4.The intratumoral and peritumoral radiomics features were extracted and screened based on ADC images.The intratumoral,peritumoralas well as intratumoral+peritumoral radiomics models were established,and 3 combination models were constructed combining with clinical and conventional imaging features.The predictive efficiency were compared between each 2 combination models.Results In training set,the area under the curve(AUC)of clinical-conventional imaging-peritumoral radiomics model and clinical-conventional imaging-intratumoral+peritumoral radiomics model were both larger than that of peritumoral radiomics models(both P＜0.05).In validation set,AUC of clinical-conventional imaging-intratumoral+peritumoral radiomics model was the largest,but no significant difference of AUC was found among 3 combination models(all P＞0.05).Conclusion The intratumoral and peritumoral ADC radiomics features could be used to predict prognosis of MB children.Combining with clinical and conventional imaging features might improve the efficiency of prediction.