This paper comprehensively discusses on the potential neurobiological mechanisms of acupuncture in the treatment of tobacco dependence， focusing on three important aspects， including acupuncture's regulation of tobacco dependence behavior， effects of acupuncture on withdrawal syndrome， and the role of acupuncture in preventing relapse. It is found that acupuncture can inhibit drug-seeking behavior by regulating the reward pathway and related neurons， such as dopamine， thus modulating tobacco dependence behavior. It also alleviates withdrawal symptoms by improving the oral environment of smokers and reducing negative emotions after quitting. Furthermore， acupuncture can prevent relapse by decreasing brain network activity related to smoking cravings and improving cognitive brain functions like addiction memory. Currently， research on the specific neurobiological mechanism of acupuncture in treating tobacco dependence and the involved neural circuits is limited. Future research directions are proposed， including the evaluation of clinical effects， exploration of specific therapeutic mechanisms， investigation of brain pathology， and strengthening the exploration of brain functions. Additionally， combining modern technologies to clarify the neural circuits involved in acupuncture intervention will provide a basis for acupuncture treatment of tobacco addiction.

BACKGROUND:Psoralen has a strong anti-osteoporotic activity and may have a restorative effect on chemotherapy-induced osteoporosis. OBJECTIVE:To explore the restorative effect of psoralen on the osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells in mice inhibited by cyclophosphamide and its mechanism. METHODS:C57BL/6 mouse bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells were isolated and cultured.Effect of psoralen on viability of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells was detected by MTT assay.Osteogenic induction combined with alkaline phosphatase staining was used to determine the optimal dose of psoralen to restore the osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells inhibited by cyclophosphamide.The mRNA expression levels of Runx2,alkaline phosphatase,Osteocalcin,osteoprotegerin,and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway-related genes Wnt1,Wnt4,Wnt10b,β-catenin,and c-MYC were measured by RT-qPCR at different time points under the intervention with psoralen.The protein expression of osteogenic specific transcription factor Runx2 and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway related genes Active β-catenin,DKK1,c-MYC,and Cyclin D1 was determined by western blot assay at different time points under the intervention with psoralen. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1)There was no significant effect of different concentrations of psoralen on the viability of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells.The best recovery of the inhibition of osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells caused by cyclophosphamide was under the intervention of psoralen at a concentration of 200 μmol/L.(2)Psoralen reversed the reduction in osteogenic differentiation marker genes Runx2,alkaline phosphatase,Osteocalcin and osteoprotegerin mRNA expression and Runx2 protein expression in bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells caused by cyclophosphamide conditioned medium.(3)Psoralen reversed the decrease in Wnt/β-catenin pathway-related genes Wnt4,β-catenin,c-MYC mRNA and Active β-catenin,c-MYC,and Cyclin D1 protein expression and the increase in DKK1 protein expression in bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells caused by cyclophosphamide conditioned medium.(4)The results showed that cyclophosphamide inhibited osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells in mice,and psoralen had a restorative effect on it.The best intervention effect was achieved at a concentration of 200 μmol/L psoralen,and this protective effect might be related to the activation of Wnt4/β-catenin signaling pathway by psoralen.

Objective To explore the construction of α-1,3-galactosyltransferase (GGTA1) gene-knockout (GTKO) Diannan miniature pigs and the kidney xenotransplantation from pigs to rhesus macaques, and to assess the effectiveness of GTKO pigs. Methods The GTKO Diannan miniature pigs were constructed using the CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing system and somatic cell cloning technology. The phenotype of GTKO pigs was verified through polymerase chain reaction, Sanger sequencing and immunofluorescence staining. Flow cytometry was used to detect antigen-antibody (IgM) binding and complement-dependent cytotoxicity. Kidney xenotransplantation was performed from GTKO pigs to rhesus macaques. The humoral immunity, cellular immunity, coagulation and physiological indicators of the recipient monkeys were monitored. The function and pathological changes of the transplanted kidneys were analyzed using ultrasonography, hematoxylin-eosin staining, immunohistochemical staining and immunofluorescence staining. Results Single-guide RNA (sgRNA) targeting exon 4 of the GGTA1 gene in Diannan miniature pigs was designed. The pGL3-GGTA1-sgRNA1-GFP vector was transfected into fetal fibroblasts of Diannan miniature pigs. After puromycin selection, two cell clones, C59# and C89#, were identified as GGTA1 gene-knockout clones. These clones were expanded to form cell lines, which were used as donor cells for somatic cell nuclear transfer. The reconstructed embryos were transferred into the oviducts of trihybrid surrogate sows, resulting in 13 fetal pigs. Among them, fetuses F04 and F11 exhibited biallelic mutations in the GGTA1 gene, and F04 had a normal karyotype. Using this GTKO fetal pig for recloning and transferring the reconstructed embryos into the oviducts of trihybrid surrogate sows, seven surviving piglets were obtained, all of which did not express α-Gal epitope. The binding of IgM from the serum of rhesus monkey 20# to GTKO pig PBMC was reduced, and the survival rate of GTKO pig PBMC in the complement-dependent cytotoxicity assay was higher than that of wild-type pig. GTKO pig kidneys were harvested and perfused until completely white. After the left kidney of the recipient monkey was removed, the pig kidney was heterotopically transplanted. Following vascular anastomosis and blood flow restoration, the pig kidney rapidly turned pink without hyperacute rejection (HAR). Urine appeared in the ureter 6 minutes later, indicating successful kidney transplantation. The right kidney of the recipient was then removed. Seven days after transplantation, the transplanted kidney had good blood flow, the recipient monkey's serum creatinine level was stable, and serum potassium and cystatin C levels were effectively controlled, although they increased 10 days after transplantation. Seven days after transplantation, the levels of white blood cells, lymphocytes, monocytes and eosinophils in the recipient monkey increased, while platelet count and fibrinogen levels decreased. The activated partial thromboplastin time, thrombin time and prothrombin time remained relatively stable but later showed an upward trend. The recipient monkey survived for 10 days. At autopsy, the transplanted kidney was found to be congested, swollen and necrotic, with a small amount of IgG deposition in the renal tissue, and a large amount of IgM, complement C3c and C4d deposition, as well as CD68⁺ macrophage infiltration. Conclusions The kidneys of GTKO Diannan miniature pigs may maintain normal renal function for a certain period in rhesus macaques and effectively overcome HAR, confirming the effectiveness of GTKO pigs for xenotransplantation.

Objective To investigate the effect of tritiated water on the immune system of zebrafish and its potential molecular mechanism. Methods Zebrafish embryos (2.5 to 3 hours post-fertilization [hpf]) were exposed to 3.7 × 10⁴ Bq/mL tritiated water (tritiated water group), and those exposed to E3 culture medium were used as the control group. The mortality rate, hatching rate, deformity rate, heart rate, body length, yolk sac area, neutrophil count in the tail, immune-related gene expression, and immune-related protein expression of zebrafish in the two groups were determined. Then transcriptome technology was used to further analyze the possible mechanism of tritiated water affecting the immune system of zebrafish. Results Compared with the control group, zebrafish at 72 hpf in the tritiated water group had no significant changes in the mortality rate, hatching rate, deformity rate, body length, and yolk sac area((t = 0.9045, 0.5000, 1.0000, 0.7238, 0.0337, P = 0.4169, 0.6433, 0.3739, 0.4785, 0.9735), but had significantly increased heart rate(t = 4.575，P = 0.002). At 4 days post-fertilization (dpf), the neutrophil count in the tail of zebrafish in the tritiated water group was significantly increased(t = 2.563，P = 0.0196), the mRNA expression of TNF-α was significantly decreased(t = 2.891, P = 0.045), the protein expression of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) was significantly increased(t = 3.848, P = 0.018), and the protein expression of NLRP3 was significantly decreased(t = 14.98, P = 0.001). At 7 dpf, the neutrophil count in the tail and the protein expression levels of NF-κB, NLRP3, and interleukin-1β were significantly decreased(t = 3.772, 7.048, 15.620, 4.423, P = 0.014, 0.002, 0.0001, 0.012). Transcriptome sequencing revealed that differentially expressed genes were mainly enriched in the “neutrophil activation” and “platelet activation pathways” at 4 dpf and in the “neutrophil apoptosis”, “ferroptosis”, and “necroptosis” pathways at 7 dpf. Conclusion Tritiated water exposure induces a temporally dynamic immune response in zebrafish, potentially affecting immune homeostasis by regulating neutrophil activation and apoptosis, as well as the expression of NF-κB and NLRP3.

Compared to traditional suturing, lung stapling using automatic staplers offers advantages such as smaller trauma, faster wound healing, ease of operation, and lower complication rates, making it widely used in clinical practice. However, there are significant differences in bronchial tissue thickness at different anatomical locations, and the market is flooded with various types of staplers. Currently, there is a lack of recommended stapling schemes for bronchial staplers at different anatomical locations. This article reviews the development and application of automatic staplers and summarizes some types of staplers that are currently used in clinical practice, with the aim of promoting the formation of individualized stapler selection protocols for minimally invasive thoracic surgery based on the Chinese population.

Objective To evaluate the predictive value of a dose-surface histogram (DSH) for radiation cystitis (RC) in patients with cervical cancer. Methods We retrospectively included 190 patients with cervical cancer who underwent image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) from the HIS system of The First Affiliated Hospital of Hebei North University from May 2013 to May 2023. The patients were divided into test group (n = 100) and control group (n = 90). The dose distribution in the bladder was evaluated by using a DSH for the test group and using a dose-volume histogram (DVH) for the control group. Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to evaluate the predictive value of DSH for RC in comparison with DVH. Results There were no significant differences in baseline data and RC incidence between the two groups (all P＞0.05). All evaluation indicators were significantly different between DSH and DVH (all P＜0.05). The predictive value of S₄₅ and V₄₅ for the incidence of grade-I, -II, and -III RC was low (all P＜0.05). The predictive value of S₅₀ and V₅₀ for the incidence of grade-I, -II, and -III RC was moderate (all P＜0.05). S₅₅−S₅₇ and V₅₅−V₅₇ showed high value for predicting the incidence of grade-I, -II, and -III RC (all P＜0.05). Conclusion DSH shows basically the same predictive value for the incidence of RC caused by IGRT in cervical cancer as DVH, which is expected to become a new tool for evaluating radiotherapy plans.

Objective To investigate the expression and potential diagnostic value of six-transmembrane epithelial antigen of prostate 1(STEAP1)in bladder transitional cell carcinoma.Methods 52 patients with transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder who underwent surgical treatment at the 940th Hospital of Joint Lo-gistics Support Force of the Chinese People's Liberation Army from June 2021 to December 2022 were select-ed as the observation group.In addition,52 patients with benign tumors of the bladder who matched basic clin-ical data such as age,gender,and disease incidence were selected as the control group.The relative expression levels of STEAP1 and STEAP1 mRNA in bladder tumor tissues of patients in the two groups were deter-mined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR,and the relative expression levels of STEAP1 and STEAP1 mRNA in bladder tumor tissues of patients with different patho-logical parameters were compared.Spearman correlation analysis and binary Logistic regression analysis were used to screen the risk factors for the occurrence and clinical stage of bladder transitional cell carcinoma.Re-ceiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve and area under the curve(AUC)were used to evaluate the diagnos-tic and predictive value of each indicator for bladder transitional cell carcinoma.Results The relative expres-sion levels of STEAP1 and STEAP1 mRNA in bladder tumor tissues in observation group were significantly higher than those in control group,with statistical significance(P＜0.05).The relative expression levels of STEAP1 and STEAP1 mRNA in bladder tumor tissues of patients with middle and advanced bladder transi-tional cell carcinoma were significantly higher than those of patients with early bladder transitional cell carci-noma,with statistical significance(P＜0.05).Binary Logistic regression analysis showed that the relative ex-pression level of STEAP1 and STEAP1 mRNA in bladder tumor tissues of patients were independent risk fac-tors for the development of bladder transitional cell carcinoma and middle and advanced bladder transitional cell carcinoma(P＜0.05).ROC curve analysis showed that the AUC of STEAP1 and STEAP1 mRNA inde-pendently predicting the occurrence of bladder transitional cell carcinoma was 0.841(95％CI:0.760-0.922,P＜0.001)and 0.936(95％CI:0.893-0.980,P＜0.001),respectively,both of which had high predictive ef-ficacy.Conclusion The relative expression levels of STEAP1 and STEAP1 mRNA in bladder tumor tissues of patients are positively correlated with the occurrence of bladder transitional cell carcinoma and the middle and advanced bladder transitional cell carcinoma,suggesting that STEAP1 can be used as a potential marker for di-agnosis and prediction of the occurrence and development of bladder transitional cell carcinoma.

Objective To investigate the appropriate venous access for obese patients undergoing metabolic and bariatric surgery by comparing the clinical outcomes of different lengths of peripheral intravenous catheters.Methods Inpatients who underwent bariatric surgery in a tertiary hospital in Zhejiang from August 2022 to December 2022 were selected as the study population using a fixed-point continuous convenience sampling method.A stratified block randomisation method was used to divide the group into an experimental group 1(mini-midline catheters),an experimental group 2(midline catheters)and a control group(short peripheral intravenous catheters,Short PIVCs).The incidence of catheter-related complications,the rate of extubation due to complications,the duration of catheter retention,the time to first catheter-related complication were compared in the 3 groups.Results A total of 186 patients were included,with 62 patients in each group.The overall incidence of catheter-related complications in experimental group 1,experimental group 2,and control group were 25.81％,8.06％,and 58.06％.The extubation rates due to complications were 19.35％,4.84％,and 41.94％,and the duration of catheter retention was 7.00(6.00,7.00)d,7.00(6.00,7.00)d,6.00(3.00,6.25)d.The differences were statistically different(P＜0.05)when comparing the 3 groups.Among them,the differences in the overall incidence of catheter-related complications and the rate of extubation due to complications were statistically significant when comparing experimental group 1 with the control group,experimental group 2 with the control group,and experimental group 1 with experimental group 2(P＜0.017);the duration of catheter retention in both experimental group 1 and experimental group 2 were higher than it in the control group,and the differences were statistically different(P＜0.017).Conclusion The complication rate of mini-midline catheters and midline catheters is lower than that of short ones,and the indwelling time is consistent with the perioperative period of metabolic and bariatric surgery,which is suitable for use in patients undergoing metabolic and bariatric surgery.

As a new strategy for the application of sacubitril/valsartan (LCZ696) in patients with CKD, much evidence showed that it improved the prognosis of patients with CKD. This review summarizes the efficacy and safety of sacubitril/valsartan in physiology, pathology, pharmacology and clinical application by searching Wanfang, CNKI, PubMed and other databases for related articles on the application of sacubitril/valsartan in CKD patients. Although LBQ657, the active product of sacubitril, has a high drug accumulation in patients with moderate, severe renal injury, and ESRD, it is not cleared in hemodialysis, and has very little eliminated in peritoneal dialysis, which does not affect its safety. Compared with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker drugs, LCZ696 could increase the blood pressure control rate, improve cardiac function, slow down the decline of glomerular filtration rate, and significantly improve cardiovascular outcomes without more adverse events. Sacubitril/valsartan can be used in all levels of CKD patients complicated with hypertension and/or heart failure, with reliable safety and tolerance.

Objective:To investigate the therapeutic effect difference between first-line treatment with epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKI) and chemotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) rare mutation.Methods:A retrospective case-control study was performed. Data of NSCLC patients with rare EGFR mutation who were treated in Shanxi Province Cancer Hospital from January 2013 to October 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. EGFR mutations in living tissues or blood were detected by using amplification refractory mutation system-polymerase chain reaction (ARMS-PCR) before first-line treatment. According to first-line treatment methods,they were divided into EGFR-TKI treatment group and chemotherapy group. Objective remission rate (ORR) and disease control rate (DCR) of both groups were compared. Kaplan-Meier method was used to draw progression-free survival (PFS) and the overall survival (OS) curves. Log-rank test was used for comparison among groups. Single-factor and multi-factor Cox proportional risk models were used to analyze the influencing factors of PFS and OS.Results:A total of 169 patients with EGFR rare mutations were included, and the age [ M (IQR)] was 63 years (12 years); there were 96 cases (56.8%) < 65 years and 73 cases (43.2%) ≥65 years; 70 (41.4%)males and 99 (58.6%) females; 55 cases (32.5%) had EGFR G719X mutation,45 cases (26.6%) had L861Q mutation, 17 cases (10.1%) had S768I mutation, and 52 cases (30.8%) had complex mutation; 55 cases (32.5%) received the first-line chemotherapy and 114 cases (67.5%) received the first-line EGFR-TKI treatment. In the chemotherapy group, ORR was 36.4% (20/55) and DCR was 85.5% (47/55); in EGFR-TKI treatment group, ORR was 72.8% (83/114) and DCR was 90.4% (103/114). The ORR of EGFR-TKI treatment group was higher than that of chemotherapy group ( χ2 = 20.70, P = 0.001), and there was no statistically significant difference in DCR between two groups ( χ2 = 1.76, P = 0.184). Subgroup analysis showed that ORR in EGFR-TKI treatment group with G719X, L861Q and complex mutations was higher than that of the corresponding mutations in chemotherapy group, and the differences were statistically significant (all P < 0.05), while there were no significant differences in DCR among subgroups (all P > 0.05). The median PFS time was 9.7 months (95% CI: 6.0-13.4 months) and 3.8 months (95% CI: 3.1-7.1 months), respectively in EGFR-TKI treatment group and chemotherapy group, and there was a statistically significant difference in PFS between the two groups ( P < 0.001). The median OS time was 25.6 months (95% CI: 18.0-37.9 months) and 31.7 months (95% CI: 18.0-42.8 months), respectively in EGFR-TKI treatment group and chemotherapy group, and there was no statistically significant difference in OS between the two groups ( P = 0.231). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that brain metastasis [with vs. without: HR = 2.306, 95% CI: 1.452-3.661, P < 0.001] and the first-line treatment methods (EGFR-TKI vs. chemotherapy: HR = 0.457, 95% CI:0.317-0.658, P < 0.001) were independent influencing factors for PFS of NSCLC patients with EGFR rare mutation; brain metastasis (with vs. without: HR = 2.087, 95% CI: 1.102-3.953, P = 0.024; unknown vs. without: HR = 2.118,95% CI: 1.274-3.520, P = 0.004) were independent influencing factors for OS of NSCLC patients with EGFR rare mutation. Conclusions:Compared with the first-line chemotherapy, EGFR-TKI first-line treatment could improve objective remission and PFS of NSCLC patients with EGFR rare mutation, while no OS benefit is observed.