Urine is produced from the urinary system, and urinary cell-free DNA (cfDNA) carries genomic DNA directly secreted from urinary system.Urine samples are non-invasive, unlimited in quantity and easy to obtain, making urinary cfDNA a promising biomarker for urologic diseases.This article reviews the progress of clinical application of urinary cfDNA in urologic diseases.

Objective:To explore the effects of dual task training assisted by a lower limb rehabilitation robot on lower extremity mobility and the walking ability of stroke survivors.Methods:Sixty-one stroke survivors were randomly divided into a control group and an experimental group with 30 in the control group and 31 in the experimental group. In addition to routine exercise training and physical therapy, both groups were given cognitive-motor dual task training 5 times a week for 3 weeks. But only in the experimental group was the dual task training assisted by a lower limb rehabilitation robot. Both groups′ lower limb motor function, walking ability, cognition, balance and ability in the activities of daily living were evaluated before and after the experiment using the Fugl-Meyer lower extremity assessment (FMA-LE), functional ambulation categories (FAC), the digital span test (DST), the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) and the Modified Barthel Index (MBI). Additionally, 6 survivors of a right hemisphere stroke from the experimental group received cognitive-motor dual task training both with and without the robotic assistance alternately. Near-infrared functional brain imaging was applied before and after the intervention, and the functional network connectivity of the resting brains was analyzed.Results:After the intervention the average FMA-LE, FAC, BBS and MBI scores had improved in both groups, with the improvement in the experimental group significantly better than in the control group on average. In terms of cognition there was no significant difference in the DST forward and backward assessment results between the two groups. The analysis of brain network functional connectivity showed that the intensity of functional connectivity between the left prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the left premotor cortex and supplementary motor cortex (PMC/SMA) increased significantly more, on average, after training assisted by the robot.Conclusion:Dual task training with the assistance of a lower limb rehabilitation robot can effectively improve the lower limb motor function, walking, balance and ability in the activities of daily living of stroke survivors. Enhanced functional connection of the PFC and the PMC/SMA in the healthy hemisphere induced by the robot may be the cause.

Objective:To explore the clinical characteristics and prognoses of severe autoimmune glial fibrillary acidic protein astrocytopathy (GFAP-A).Methods:A retrospective analysis was performed. The clinical data of 12 patients with severe GFAP-A admitted to Department of Neurology, Guangdong 999 Brain Hospital from January 2018 to June 2023 were collected, including demography, clinical manifestations, MRI features, laboratory examination results (such as antibodies), treatments and prognoses.Results:Among the 12 patients, 9 were male and 3 were female, with an average onset age of (46.58±17.53) years. Primary symptoms included headache, limb weakness, limb numbness, mental disorder, epileptic seizure, and urinary and defecation disorder; 9 patients had fever before onset. With aggravated severe GFAP-A, 12 patients had impaired consciousness, 12 had respiratory failure, 6 had unstable blood pressure and heart rate, and 2 had status epilepticus. Cranial MRI indicated abnormal lesions in all 12 patients, including 10 with brainstem involvement (7 had involved medulla oblongata); 10 showed soft meningeal enhancement. In 8 patients received MRI of the whole spinal cord, 7 had abnormal spinal cord lesions; point-like enhancement of the whole spinal meninges was observed in 6 of the 7 patients. All 12 patients had positive cerebrospinal fluid GFAP-IgG, and 3 patients also had positive serum GFAP-IgG. All patients accepted glucocorticoids and immunoglobulin immunotherapy, and 1 patient was supplemented with mycophenolate mofetil; 8 patients had good prognosis, and 4 patients died. Pulmonary infection, hyponatremia, hypoproteinemia, and deep vein thrombosis were the common complications.Conclusion:Patients with severe GFAP-A mainly manifest as meningoencephalitis and meningoencephalomyelitis, and are likely involved medulla oblongata, enjoying rapid clinical progression; even with early immunotherapy, high mortality rate is still noted.

Malnutrition, as an independent predictor of incidence and mortality in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF), has a serious impact on the treatment effect of patients. Conducting nutritional risk assessment and providing nutritional interventions for CHF patients can effectively improve their quality of life. On the basis of elaborating on the risk factors for malnutrition in CHF patients, this paper reviews the assessment tools for malnutrition in CHF patients, aiming to promote the localization of malnutrition assessment tools and the research and clinical application of malnutrition specific assessment tools, making nutrition assessment a routine part of overall health assessment for CHF patients.

Purpose To analyze the correlation between quantitative parameters of spectral CT and the mutation status of epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR)and anaplastic lymphoma kinase(ALK)genes in solid lung adenocarcinoma,in order to predict the expression of gene mutation in solid lung adenocarcinoma by combining spectral parameters with clinical indicators.Materials and Methods The imaging and clinical data of 86 patients in the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical College pathologically confirmed with lung adenocarcinoma who underwent energy spectral CT plain and enhanced scans from May 2020 to May 2022 were retrospectively collected.According to the mutation status of EGFR and ALK genes,all patietns were divided into mutation group(43 cases)and wild group(43 cases).The single-energy CT values(including 40 keV,70 keV and 100 keV),slope of energy spectrum curve,effective atomic number during plain scan,iodine concentration in arterial and venous phases,water concentration and iodine concentration in arteries at the same level were obtained,and standardized iodine base value was also calculated.Statistically significant parameters were used to construct the prediction model,and the receiver operating characteristic curve was performed to evaluate the prediction efficiency of the model.Results There were statistically significant differences in gender and smoking status between the EGFR mutation group and the wild-type group(χ2=5.628,P=0.018;χ2=4.214,P=0.040).There were statistically significant differences in plain scan effective atomic number and energy spectrum slope,arterial phase 40 keV,70 keV and 100 keV single-energy CT values,40 keV single-energy CT values in the venous phase,the slope of the arteriovenous dual-phase energy spectrum and the standardized iodine base value between the two groups(t=2.067-4.394,all P<0.05).Logistic regression analysis showed that normalized iodine base value and energy spectrum slope in venous phase were the independent predictors of EGFR gene mutation status.There were no significant differences in quantitative parameters of plain scan and arterial phase energy spectrum CT between the ALK mutant group and the wild-type group(P>0.05).There was statistically significant difference in water base value of venous phase between the two groups(t=2.058,P=0.043).Conclusion The quantitative features of spectral CT may be correlated with the mutation status of EGFR and ALK genes in solid lung adenocarcinoma,and the Logistic regression model based on the combination of quantitative features of spectral CT and clinical features has certain value in predicting EGFR gene mutation.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the clinical characteristics and spectrum of SPTB gene variants among 16 Chinese children with Hereditary spherocytosis (HS) and explore their genotype-phenotype correlation. METHODS: Sixteen children who were diagnosed with HS at the Affiliated Hospital of Capital Institute of Pediatrics from November 2018 to July 2022 were selected as the research subjects. Genetic testing was carried out by whole exome sequencing. Candidate variants were verified by Sanger sequencing and subjected to bioinformatic analysis and prediction of 3D structure of the protein. Correlation between the SPTB genotypes and clinical phenotypes was analyzed using Chi-squared test. RESULTS: The male-to-female ratio of the HS patients was 6 : 10, with the median age being 7-year-and-10-month. Clinical features of the patients have included anemia, reticulocytosis and gradual onset of splenomegaly. Mild, moderate and severe anemia have respectively occurred in 56.25% (9/16), 31.25% (5/16) and 12.50% (2/16) of the patients. SPTB gene variants were detected in all patients, among which 10 were unreported previously and 7 were de novo in origin. Loss of function (LOF) variants accounted for 93.75% (15/16). Only one missense variant was detected. Eleven, 4 and 1 of the variants had occurred in the repeat domain, CH1 domain, and dimerization domain, respectively. There was no significant correlation between the type or domain of the SPTB gene variants with the clinical features such as severity of anemia (x² = 3.345, P > 0.05). All of the variants were predicted to be pathogenic or likely pathogenic based on the guidelines from the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics. CONCLUSION Mild to moderate anemia are predominant clinical features of the HS children harboring a SPTB gene variant, for which LOF variants are the main mutational type. The clinical feature of HS is unaffected by the type of the variants.
Child ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Computational Biology ; Genetic Testing ; Genomics ; Genotype ; Spherocytosis, Hereditary/genetics* ; East Asian People/genetics* ; Spectrin/genetics*

Astragalosides are the main active constituents of traditional Chinese medicine Huang-Qi, of which cycloastragenol-type glycosides are the most typical and major bioactive compounds. This kind of compounds exhibit various biological functions including cardiovascular protective, neuroprotective, etc. Owing to the limitations of natural sources and the difficulties encountered in chemical synthesis, re-engineering of biosynthetic machinery will offer an alternative and promising approach to producing astragalosides. However, the biosynthetic pathway for astragalosides remains elusive due to their complex structures and numerous reaction types and steps. Herein, guided by transcriptome and phylogenetic analyses, a cycloartenol synthase and four glycosyltransferases catalyzing the committed steps in the biosynthesis of such bioactive astragalosides were functionally characterized from Astragalus membranaceus. AmCAS1, the first reported cycloartenol synthase from Astragalus genus, is capable of catalyzing the formation of cycloartenol; AmUGT15, AmUGT14, AmUGT13, and AmUGT7 are four glycosyltransferases biochemically characterized to catalyze 3-O-xylosylation, 3-O-glucosylation, 25-O-glucosylation/O-xylosylation and 2'-O-glucosylation of cycloastragenol glycosides, respectively. These findings not only clarified the crucial enzymes for the biosynthesis and the molecular basis for the structural diversity of astragalosides in Astragalus plants, also paved the way for further completely deciphering the biosynthetic pathway and constructing an artificial pathway for their efficient production.

Objective : To compare the clinical effect of the tunnel technique (TUN) and vestibular incision subperiosteal tunnel access (VISTA) combining connective tissue grafts (CTGs) on recovering the exposed root surface in a case of gingival recession over the upper anterior teeth and then to provide clinical evidence for gingival recession treatment. Methods: A case of gingival recession (Miller I type) over teeth 13-14 and 22-23 was treated using different techniques bilaterally. 22-23 were treated by a TUN combined CTG transplantation,while teeth 13-14 were treated by a VISTA technique combined with CTG transplantation. The gingival retraction height (GRH), gingival retraction width (GRW), keratinized gingival width (KW), root coverage aesthetic score (RES) and visual analog scale (VAS) were measured after operation. Results : The effect of post-operation were ideal and complete ginglval recovering were achieved, the postoperative effects of the two methods were stable, GRH and GRW decreased, and KW increased. RES was 10. The VAS score of VISTA combined with CTG transplantation was 6, which was higher than that of TUN+CTG. Conclusion Gingival recession can be treated by TUN+CTG or VISTA+CTG with ideal prognosis. VISTA with an additional incision facilitates the operative procedure but leads to less comfort.

Objective:To investigate the relationship between pancreatic fibrotic marker transforming growth factor-β(TGF-β) and platelet derived growth factor-BB(PDGF-BB) and serum glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels in patients with type 3c diabetes mellitus secondary to chronic pancreatitis(CP-T3cDM).Methods:The clinical data of 39 patients with CP-T3cDM admitted to the Department of Gastroenterology of the First Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University between February 2018 and August 2020 were collected, and the patients' age, gender, body mass index, duration of chronic pancreatitis and diabetes mellitus, smoking history, alcohol consumption history, serum HbA1c level at admission, degree of pancreatic atrophy, morphology of the main pancreatic duct, and treatment of diabetes mellitus were recorded. Serum TGF-β and PDGF-BB were detected by ELISA. Patients were divided into high and low level group according to the median TGF-β and PDGF-BB levels, respectively. Clinical characteristics of patients were compared between the TGF-β and PDGF-BB high and low level group. The correlation between TGF-β, PDGF-BB and HbA1c was analyzed by Spearman's correlation analysis.Results:A total of 39 CP-T3cDM patients were included; 35 were male and 4 were female. The age of first onset of chronic pancreatitis was (42±14) years old, and the duration of diabetes mellitus was 24(4, 36) months. The serum HbA1c level was (7.8±1.6)%, and the serum TGF-β and PDGF-BB levels were 20.5(10.5, 43.1) and 647.5(276.9, 1349.2)pg/ml, respectively. The serum HbA1c levels of patients in the high-level group of serum TGF-β and PDGF-BB were significantly higher than those in the corresponding low-level group [8.6%(7.4%, 9.9%) vs 6.7%(6.2%, 7.8%) and 8.6%(7.4%, 9.6%) vs 6.7%(6.1%, 7.8%), respectively] , and the difference was statistically different (both P value <0.01), while none of other indicators showed statistically significant differences between both groups. The correlation analysis showed that the levels of TGF-β and PDGF-BB were significantly positively correlated with HbA1c level ( r=0.45, 0.53, both P value <0.01). Conclusions:Increased pancreatic fibrosis in patients with CP-T3cDM was an important factor contributing to elevated blood glucose level. Patients with higher serum pancreatic fibrotic factors exhibited a significant increase in HbA1c level.

Objective : To explore the characteristics of impaired attention network function in chronic insomnia pa- tients． Methods : Polysomnography ( PSG) ，sleep scale ，attention network test ( ANT) and neuropsychological cognitive scale were used to evaluate the sleep quality，attention network function and cognitive function of 73 pa- tients with chronic insomnia and 65 healthy subjects. Results : Compared with normal control group，the scores of pittsburgh sleep quality index(PSQI) and insomnia severity index (ISI) in the chronic insomnia group increased， total sleep time reduced，sleep latency prolonged，sleep efficiency decreased，wake after sleep onset and arousal index increased，the proportion of non-rapid eye movement sleep stage 1 increased，the proportion of non-rapid eye movement sleep 3 and the proportion of rapid eye movement sleep decreased，and differences were statistically sig- nificant (all P＜0．05) ．In the attention network test，the efficiency of executive control network decreased in the chronic insomnia group，and the difference was statistically significant (all P＜0. 05) ．In neuropsychological tests， patients in the chronic insomnia group had spent more time on the Stroop color word test-word and trail making test- B．Correlation analysis showed that executive control function was associated with decreased non-rapid eye move- ment sleep stage 3 andincreased PSQI scores in chronic insomnia group． Conclusion Chronic insomnia patients have a certain degree of cognitive impairment，mainly executive control network impairment，which is associated with slow-wave sleep reduction.