ObjectiveTo investigate the effect of sorafenib and donafenib on the pharmacokinetics of ertugliflozin in rats， and to provide a theoretical basis for drug combination in clinical practice. MethodsA total of 24 male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into groups A， B， C， and D， with 6 rats in each group. The rats in groups A and B were given sorafenib control solvent and sorafenib （100 mg/kg）， respectively， by gavage for 7 consecutive days， followed by ertugliflozin （1.5 mg/kg） by gavage on day 7. Blood samples were collected from the angular vein plexus at different time points， and ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was used to determine the mass concentration of ertugliflozin and plot the plasma concentration-time curves， while the non-compartment model in DAS 2.1.1 software was used to calculate related pharmacokinetic parameters. The independent-samples t test was used for comparison of normally distributed continuous data between two groups， and the Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparison of non-normally distributed continuous data between two groups. ResultsCompared with group A， group B had significant increases in the AUC_0-t and AUC_0-∞ of the plasma concentration-time curve of ertugliflozin （both P<0.05）， significant prolongation of t_1/2， MRT_0-t， and MRT_0-∞ （all P<0.05）， and a significant reduction in CL_Z/F （P<0.05）. Compared with group C， group D had significant increases in the AUC_0-t and AUC_0-∞ of ertugliflozin （both P<0.05）， significant prolongation of T_max， t_1/2， MRT_0-t， and MRT_0-∞ （all P<0.01）， and significant reductions in V_Z/F and CL_Z/F （both P<0.05）. ConclusionBoth sorafenib and donafenib can affect the pharmacokinetics of ertugliflozin in rats and significantly increase the plasma exposure of ertugliflozin. The efficacy and adverse drug reactions of ertugliflozin should be closely monitored during combined use in clinical practice and the dose should be adjusted when necessary to avoid the potential risk of drug interaction.

Electroencephalogram (EEG) is a non-invasive, high temporal-resolution technique for monitoring brain activity. However, affected by the volume conduction effect, EEG has a low spatial resolution and is difficult to locate brain neuronal activity precisely. The surface Laplacian (SL) technique obtains the Laplacian EEG (LEEG) by estimating the second-order spatial derivative of the scalp potential. LEEG can reflect the radial current activity under the scalp, with positive values indicating current flow from the brain to the scalp (“source”) and negative values indicating current flow from the scalp to the brain (“sink”). It attenuates signals from volume conduction, effectively improving the spatial resolution of EEG, and is expected to contribute to breakthroughs in neural engineering. This paper provides a systematic overview of the principles and development of SL technology. Currently, there are two implementation paths for SL technology: current source density algorithms (CSD) and concentric ring electrodes (CRE). CSD performs the Laplace transform of the EEG signals acquired by conventional disc electrodes to indirectly estimate the LEEG. It can be mainly classified into local methods, global methods, and realistic Laplacian methods. The global method is the most commonly used approach in CSD, which can achieve more accurate estimation compared with the local method, and it does not require additional imaging equipment compared with the realistic Laplacian method. CRE employs new concentric ring electrodes instead of the traditional disc electrodes, and measures the LEEG directly by differential acquisition of the multi-ring signals. Depending on the structure, it can be divided into bipolar CRE, quasi-bipolar CRE, tripolar CRE, and multi-pole CRE. The tripolar CRE is widely used due to its optimal detection performance. While ensuring the quality of signal acquisition, the complexity of its preamplifier is relatively acceptable. Here, this paper introduces the study of the SL technique in resting rhythms, visual-related potentials, movement-related potentials, and sensorimotor rhythms. These studies demonstrate that SL technology can improve signal quality and enhance signal characteristics, confirming its potential applications in neuroscientific research, disease diagnosis, visual pathway detection, and brain-computer interfaces. CSD is frequently utilized in applications such as neuroscientific research and disease detection, where high-precision estimation of LEEG is required. And CRE tends to be used in brain-computer interfaces, that have stringent requirements for real-time data processing. Finally, this paper summarizes the strengths and weaknesses of SL technology and envisages its future development. SL technology boasts advantages such as reference independence, high spatial resolution, high temporal resolution, enhanced source connectivity analysis, and noise suppression. However, it also has shortcomings that can be further improved. Theoretically, simulation experiments should be conducted to investigate the theoretical characteristics of SL technology. For CSD methods, the algorithm needs to be optimized to improve the precision of LEEG estimation, reduce dependence on the number of channels, and decrease computational complexity and time consumption. For CRE methods, the electrodes need to be designed with appropriate structures and sizes, and the low-noise, high common-mode rejection ratio preamplifier should be developed. We hope that this paper can promote the in-depth research and wide application of SL technology.

A growing body of research points out that gut microbiota plays a key role in tumor immunotherapy. By optimizing the composition of intestinal microbiota, it is possible to effectively improve immunotherapy resistance and enhance its therapeutic effect. This article comprehensively analyzes the mechanism of intestinal microbiota influencing tumor immunotherapy resistance, expounds the current strategies for targeted regulation of intestinal microbiota, such as traditional Chinese medicine and plant components, fecal microbiota transplantation, probiotics, prebiotics and dietary therapy, and explores the potential mechanisms of these strategies to improve patients' resistance to tumor immunotherapy. At the same time, the article also briefly discusses the prospects and challenges of targeting intestinal microbiota to improve tumor immunotherapy resistance, which provides a reference for related research to help the strategy research of reversing tumor immunotherapy resistance.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of ertugliflozin on pharmacokinetic of sorafenib and donafenib in rats and explore the mechanism. METHODS Twenty-four male SD rats were randomly divided into four groups， with 6 rats in each group. Groups A and B were respectively gavaged with 0.5% sodium carboxymethyl cellulose solution and ertugliflozin （1.5 mg/kg） for 7 consecutive days， and both were given sorafenib （100 mg/kg） on the 7th day. Groups C and D were administered intragastrically in the same way as those in Groups A and B， respectively， for the first 7 days； after the drug administration on the 7th day， all rats in Groups C and D were further gavaged with donafenib （40 mg/kg）. Blood samples were collected at different time points before and after administration of sorafenib or donafenib， the concentrations of sorafenib in plasma of rats in groups A and B and donafenib in groups C and D were determined by UPLC-MS/MS method. The pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated by DAS 2.1.1 software. Six additional rats were randomly divided into blank control group and ertugliflozin group， with three rats in each group. Blank control group was given 0.5% sodium carboxymethyl cellulose intragastrically， while rats in ertugliflozin group were given ertugliflozin （1.5 mg/kg） once a day for 7 consecutive days. After the last administration， the mRNA expression levels of uridine diphosphate glucuronosyl transferase 1A7 （UGT1A7）， breast cancer resistance protein （BCRP）， and P-glycoprotein （P-gp） in the liver and small intestine tissues of the rats were detected. RESULTS Compared with group A， the AUC0-t， AUC0-∞， cmax， tmax， MRT0-t and MRT0-∞ of sorafenib in group B were decreased significantly， while CL and V were increased significantly. Compared with group C， the AUC0-t， AUC0-∞ ， tmax， cmax and MRT0-t of Δ donafenib in group D were decreased significantly， while V and CL were increased significantly （P＜0.05）. mRNA expression of UGT1A7， P-gp and BCRP in the liver tissue and small intestine of rats were not significantly affected after intragastric administration of ertugliflozin for 7 consecutive days. CONCLUSIONS Ertugliflozin can affect the pharmacokinetics of sorafenib and donafenib in rats and decrease the plasma exposure of them significantly. However， its mechanism of action may not be through the regulation of related metabolic enzymes and transporters. When using drugs in combination clinically， one should be vigilant about the potential for disease progression due to poor therapeutic effects.

ObjectiveTo construct a large language model （LLM）-based intelligent pre-consultation system for traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） to improve efficacy of clinical practice. MethodsA TCM large language model was fine-tuned using DeepSpeed ZeRO-3 distributed training strategy based on YAYI 2-30B. A weighted undirected graph network was designed and an agent-based syndrome differentiation model was established based on relationship data extracted from TCM literature and clinical records. An agent collaboration framework was developed to integrate the TCM LLM with the syndrome differentiation model. Model performance was comprehensively evaluated by Loss function， BLEU-4， and ROUGE-L metrics， through which training convergence， text generation quality， and language understanding capability were assessed. Professional knowledge test sets were developed to evaluate system proficiency in TCM physician licensure content， TCM pharmacist licensure content， TCM symptom terminology recognition， and meridian identification. Clinical tests were conducted to compare the system with attending physicians in terms of diagnostic accuracy， consultation rounds， and consultation duration. ResultsAfter 100 000 iterations， the training loss value was gradually stabilized at about 0.7±0.08， indicating that the TCM-LLM has been trained and has good generalization ability. The TCM-LLM scored 0.38 in BLEU-4 and 0.62 in ROUGE-L， suggesting that its natural language processing ability meets the standard. We obtained 2715 symptom terms， 505 relationships between diseases and syndromes， 1011 relationships between diseases and main symptoms， and 1 303 600 relationships among different symptoms， and constructed the Agent of syndrome differentiation model. The accuracy rates in the simulated tests for TCM practitioners， licensed pharmacists of Chinese materia medica， recognition of TCM symptom terminology， and meridian recognition were 94.09%， 78.00%， 87.50%， and 68.80%， respectively. In clinical tests， the syndrome differentiation accuracy of the system reached 88.33%， with fewer consultation rounds and shorter consultation time compared to the attending physicians （P＜0.01）， suggesting that the system has a certain pre- consultation ability. ConclusionThe LLM-based intelligent TCM pre-diagnosis system could simulate diagnostic thinking of TCM physicians to a certain extent. After understanding the patients' natural language， it collects all the patient's symptom through guided questioning， thereby enhancing the diagnostic and treatment efficiency of physicians as well as the consultation experience of the patients.

BACKGROUND:With the development of computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing technology,zirconia abutments with a titanium base are widely used in clinic due to its good application advantages,but there are still some problems and a lack of consensus design standards. OBJECTIVE:To review the fabrication methods of Ti-base zirconia abutment,and the effect of abutment connection,emergence design,abutment angle,and bonding on mechanical properties of Ti-base zirconia abutment. METHODS:Relevant literature published from 2010 to 2023 was searched in CNKI and PubMed databases with the search terms"zirconia abutment,titanium base"in Chinese and English,respectively.The search time limit was extended for some classical literature.The relevant literature was obtained through inclusion and exclusion criteria,and 57 eligible documents were included for review. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:It is recommended that clinicians try to select antirotational titanium bases or rotational titanium bases with a Morse taper connection.Implants should be placed in the correct axial angulation of not more than 15° or with an inclination to the palatal side when using angled zirconia abutments.When a≥30° labial inclination is followed for implant placement,the bite force must be decreased effectively to reduce the risk of mechanical and biological complications of implants,abutments,and prostheses.Ti-base zirconia abutments with a higher gingival height should be selected,and its restorative angle should not exceed 40°.Multilink Hybrid Abutment could be the first choice for extraoral bonding of zirconia abutment to titanium bases.

Purpose: This study assessed the performance of the ultrasound-guided attenuation parameter (UGAP) in diagnosing and grading hepatic steatosis in patients with metabolic dysfunctionassociated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). Magnetic resonance imaging proton density fat fraction (MRI-PDFF) served as the reference standard. Methods: Patients with hepatic steatosis were enrolled in this prospective study and underwent UGAP measurements. MRI-PDFF values of ≥5%, ≥15%, and ≥25% were used as references for the diagnosis of steatosis grades ≥S1, ≥S2, and S3, respectively. Spearman correlation coefficients and area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs) were calculated. Results: Between July 2023 and June 2024, the study included 88 patients (median age, 40 years; interquartile range [IQR], 36 to 46 years), of whom 54.5% (48/88) were men and 45.5% (40/88) were women. Steatosis grades exhibited the following distribution: 22.7% (20/88) had S0, 50.0% (44/88) had S1, 21.6% (19/88) had S2, and 5.7% (5/88) had S3. The success rate for UGAP measurements was 100%. The median UGAP value was 0.74 dB/cm/MHz (IQR, 0.65 to 0.82 dB/ cm/MHz), and UGAP values were positively correlated with MRI-PDFF (r=0.77, P<0.001). The AUCs of UGAP for the diagnoses of ≥S1, ≥S2, and S3 steatosis were 0.91, 0.90, and 0.88, respectively. In the subgroup analysis, 98.4% (60/61) of patients had valid controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) values. UGAP measurements were positively correlated with CAP values (r=0.65, P<0.001). Conclusion Using MRI-PDFF as the reference standard, UGAP demonstrates good diagnostic performance in the detection and grading of hepatic steatosis in patients with MASLD.

Objective: Huntington’s disease (HD) is characterized by motor, cognitive, and neuropsychiatric symptoms. Oculomotor impairments and gait variability have been independently considered as potential markers in HD. However, an integrated analysis of eye movement and gait is lacking. We performed multiple examinations of eye movement and gait variability in HTT mutation carriers, analyzed the consistency between these parameters and clinical severity, and then examined the associations between oculomotor impairments and gait deficits. Methods: We included 7 patients with pre-HD, 30 patients with HD and 30 age-matched controls. We collected demographic data and assessed the Unified Huntington’s Disease Rating Scale (UHDRS) score. Examinations, including saccades, smooth pursuit tests, and optokinetic (OPK) tests, were performed to evaluate eye movement function. The parameters of gait include stride length, walking velocity, step deviation, step length, and gait phase. Results: HD patients have significant impairments in the latency and velocity of saccades, the gain of smooth pursuit, and the gain and slow phase velocities of OPK tests. Only the speed of saccades significantly differed between pre-HD patients and controls. There are significant impairments in stride length, walking velocity, step length, and gait phase in HD patients. The parameters of eye movement and gait variability in HD patients were consistent with the UHDRS scores. There were significant correlations between eye movement and gait parameters. Conclusion Our results show that eye movement and gait are impaired in HD patients and that the speed of saccades is impaired early in pre-HD. Eye movement and gait abnormalities in HD patients are significantly correlated with clinical disease severity.

Background: s/Aims: Non-invasive models stratifying clinically significant portal hypertension (CSPH) are limited. Herein, we developed a new non-invasive model for predicting CSPH in patients with compensated cirrhosis and investigated whether carvedilol can prevent hepatic decompensation in patients with high-risk CSPH stratified using the new model. Methods: Non-invasive risk factors of CSPH were identified via systematic review and meta-analysis of studies involving patients with hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG). A new non-invasive model was validated for various performance aspects in three cohorts, i.e., a multicenter HVPG cohort, a follow-up cohort, and a carvediloltreating cohort. Results: In the meta-analysis with six studies (n=819), liver stiffness measurement and platelet count were identified as independent risk factors for CSPH and were used to develop the new “CSPH risk” model. In the HVPG cohort (n=151), the new model accurately predicted CSPH with cutoff values of 0 and –0.68 for ruling in and out CSPH, respectively. In the follow-up cohort (n=1,102), the cumulative incidences of decompensation events significantly differed using the cutoff values of <–0.68 (low-risk), –0.68 to 0 (medium-risk), and >0 (high-risk). In the carvediloltreated cohort, patients with high-risk CSPH treated with carvedilol (n=81) had lower rates of decompensation events than non-selective beta-blockers untreated patients with high-risk CSPH (n=613 before propensity score matching [PSM], n=162 after PSM). Conclusions Treatment with carvedilol significantly reduces the risk of hepatic decompensation in patients with high-risk CSPH stratified by the new model.

Purpose: This study assessed the performance of the ultrasound-guided attenuation parameter (UGAP) in diagnosing and grading hepatic steatosis in patients with metabolic dysfunctionassociated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). Magnetic resonance imaging proton density fat fraction (MRI-PDFF) served as the reference standard. Methods: Patients with hepatic steatosis were enrolled in this prospective study and underwent UGAP measurements. MRI-PDFF values of ≥5%, ≥15%, and ≥25% were used as references for the diagnosis of steatosis grades ≥S1, ≥S2, and S3, respectively. Spearman correlation coefficients and area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs) were calculated. Results: Between July 2023 and June 2024, the study included 88 patients (median age, 40 years; interquartile range [IQR], 36 to 46 years), of whom 54.5% (48/88) were men and 45.5% (40/88) were women. Steatosis grades exhibited the following distribution: 22.7% (20/88) had S0, 50.0% (44/88) had S1, 21.6% (19/88) had S2, and 5.7% (5/88) had S3. The success rate for UGAP measurements was 100%. The median UGAP value was 0.74 dB/cm/MHz (IQR, 0.65 to 0.82 dB/ cm/MHz), and UGAP values were positively correlated with MRI-PDFF (r=0.77, P<0.001). The AUCs of UGAP for the diagnoses of ≥S1, ≥S2, and S3 steatosis were 0.91, 0.90, and 0.88, respectively. In the subgroup analysis, 98.4% (60/61) of patients had valid controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) values. UGAP measurements were positively correlated with CAP values (r=0.65, P<0.001). Conclusion Using MRI-PDFF as the reference standard, UGAP demonstrates good diagnostic performance in the detection and grading of hepatic steatosis in patients with MASLD.