Infiltration and significance of M1 macrophage in breast cancer: an analysis of METABRIC database and clinical validation / 中华肿瘤杂志

Objective: To investigate the differences of immune microenvironment between stage T1N3 and stage T3N0 breast cancer patients and explore the relationship between M1 macrophage infiltration and lymph node metastasis in breast cancer. Methods: Clinical information and RNA-sequencing (RNA-Seq) expression data of stage T1N3 (n=9) and stage T3N0 (n=11) breast cancer patients were extracted from Molecular Taxonomy of Breast Cancer International Consortium (METABRIC) databases. Using CIBERSORT, the proportions of 22 types of immune cells were calculated, and then the differences of immune cell infiltration between stage T1N3 and T3N0 patients were compared. From 2011 to 2022, pathologic specimens were collected from breast cancer patients who underwent curative resection at the Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, including 77 at stage T1N3 and 58 at stage T3N0.The METABRIC database analysis results were verified by examining the density of M1 macrophages in tissues using dual-staining immunohistochemistry. Results: METABRIC data analysis showed M1 macrophage was the highest proportion, 15.85% in stage T1N3 breast cancer; M2 macrophage was the highest proportion, 13.07% in stage T3N0 breast cancer.M1 macrophage proportions were statistically different between patients with stage T1N3 and stage T3N0 (P=0.010). The dual-staining immunohistochemistry analysis of breast cancer tissues showed M1 macrophage density (median) of 62.0 and 38.0 cells/mm(2) for stage T1N3 and T3N0, respectively. The difference was statistically significant (P=0.002). Conclusion: The density of M1 macrophages is notably higher in stage T1N3 patients and is associated with lymph node metastasis.

Research Status on Off-label Use in Appraisal for Medical Malpractice / 法医学杂志

Off-label use is widely happened in medical practice. But for now, there is no clear legalistic demarcation for the behaviour of off-label use. Even in medical and legal fields, the consensus has not been reached. Once the behaviour of off-label use caused medical damage, it is difficult for appraisal profession to provide a clear demarcation. This article reviews the status of clinical domestic and foreign off-label use, the research status in the fields of laws and regulations and the basic consensus of domes-tic off-label use, for peer reference.

Analysis on Serum Trace Element Levels of Echinococciasis Patients in Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan, China, 2011 / 生物医学与环境科学（英文）

In Garze Tibetan autonomous prefecture in Sichuan province, China, 41 echinococciasis patients who had received surgical treatment were recruited in the study, and 82 health persons who had lived in Garze for at least 10 years were selected as controls. The serum levels of Zn, Se and Cu of the cases and controls were detected. The results showed that most echinococciasis cases were distributed in Shiqu county (17.1%, 7/41), and only 1 case was distributed in Yajiang county (2.4%). The male to female ratio of the cases was 1:1.56. The echinococciasis patients were mainly aged 30-39 years (36.59%, 15/41). And, the cases aged 20-49 years accounted for 68.29% (28/41). Compared with health controls, the serum levels of Zn and Se of the cases significantly declined. However, the serum level of Cu of the cases had no significantly change. It was confirmed that the serum levels of Zn and Se were interrelated with the prevalence of echinococciasis.

Propensity score matching in SPSS / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To realize propensity score matching in PS Matching module of SPSS and interpret the analysis results.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The R software and plug-in that could link with the corresponding versions of SPSS and propensity score matching package were installed. A PS matching module was added in the SPSS interface, and its use was demonstrated with test data.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Score estimation and nearest neighbor matching was achieved with the PS matching module, and the results of qualitative and quantitative statistical description and evaluation were presented in the form of a graph matching.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Propensity score matching can be accomplished conveniently using SPSS software.</p>

Survey of knowledge and teaching demand of medical statistics among doctoral students in a medical university / 医学研究生学报

Objective Medical statistics is an important tool in scientific research and practice.The article was to evaluate the current knowledge, learning needs and related influencing factors of medical statistics among medical doctoral students to provide references for the optimization in the teaching mode of medical statistics. Methods A questionnaire was used to investigate Grade 2014 doctoral students who took medical statistics course before and after the teaching in a medical university. Results The knowl-edge of doctoral students were at different levels and they had different learning requirements.More than 81.4% of the respondents have difficulty in the choice of scientific and reasonable design and the scientific design.Over 50%students had insufficient knowledge of advanced statistics and poor software application ability.They had the demands for more practical cases explanation in theory course, more software teaching hours and some short term specialized courses. Conclusion The university and teachers should carry out teaching reform according to the particularity of doctoral students and teach in small sections according to their knowledge levels of sta-tistics and learning requirements.It is suggested that the teaching should be combined with the students'own research projects in order to improve the teaching effect and improve the students'ability in sta-tistical design and solving the practical problem in scientific research statistics.

Xiayuxue Decoction (symbols; see text) attenuates hepatic stellate cell activation and sinusoidal endothelium defenestration in CCl4-induced fibrotic liver of mice / 中国结合医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effects of ancient Chinese medical formula Xiayuxue Decoction ([symbols; see text], XYXD) on activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) and defenestration of sinusoidal endothelial cells (SECs) in CCl4-induced fibrotic liver of mice.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>High performance liquid chromatography was used to identify the main components of XYXD and control the quality of extraction. C57BL/6 mice were induced liver fibrosis by CCl4 exposure and administered with XYXD for 6 weeks simultaneously. Liver tissue was investigated by hematoxylin-eosin and Sirius-red staining. Sinusoidal fenestrations were observed by scanning electronic microscopy and fluorescent immunohistochemistry of PECAM-1 (CD31). Whole liver lysates were detected of α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and type-I collagen by Western blot. Primary rat HSCs-T6 cells were analyzed by detecting α-SMA, F-actin, DNA fragmentation through confocal microscopy, Western blot, terminal-deoxynucleoitidyl transferase mediated nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay and cellomics arrayscan, respectively.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Amygdalin and emodin in XYXD were identified. XYXD (993 mg/kg) inhibited Sirius red positive area up to 70.1% (P<0.01), as well as protein levels of α-SMA and type-I collagen by 42.0% and 18.5% (P<0.05) respectively. In vitro, XYXD (12.5 μg/mL, 50 μg/mL) suppressed the activation of HSCs and reversed the myofibroblastic HSCs into quiescent, demonstrated as inhibition of fluorescent F-actin by 32.3% and 46.6% (P<0.05). Besides, XYXD induced the apoptosis of HSC-T6 cells by 20.0% (P<0.05) and 49.5% (P<0.01), evidenced by enhanced TUNEL positivity. Moreover, ultrastructural observation suggested XYXD inhibited defenestration of SECs, which was confirmed by 31.1% reduction of protein level of CD31 (P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>XYXD inhibited both HSCs activation and SECs defenestration which accompany chronic liver injuries. These data may help to understand the underlying mechanisms of XYXD for prevetion of chronic liver diseases.</p>

Prevalence of self-reported allergy, food hypersensitivity and food intolerance and their influencing factors in 0-36 months old infants in 8 cities in China / 中华儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To measure the prevalence, the possible causes and the influencing factors of allergy, food hypersensitivity and food intolerance in 0-36 month old infants in 8 cities in China.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Totally 2632 infants from the outpatient departments of prevention and health care of two representative hospitals in 8 Chinese cities were randomly selected by applying multistage cluster sampling method from October 2011 to March 2012, and a one-on-one survey to infants' parents was conducted to investigate infants' sensitization status.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Self-reported infant allergy rate was 17.97% (473/2632) ; self-reported food hypersensitivity and food intolerance rates were 6.53% (172/2632) and 4.26% (112/2632) , respectively. The proportion of self-reported food hypersensitivity of 0-12 months old infants was 4.47% (74/1656) and their top five allergens in a descending order were eggs (28.38%) , shrimp (25.68%) , fish (21.62%) , milk (18.92%) and wheat (4.05%) . The proportion of self-reported 13-36 months old infant's food hypersensitivity was 10.05% (98/976) . The top five allergens were shrimp (33.93%) , fish (26.79%) , eggs (23.21%) , milk (12.50%) and soy (3.57%) in 13-24 months group, while fish (38.24%) , shrimp (35.29%) , eggs (20.59%) , milk (20.59%) and peanuts (2.94%) in 25-36 months group. Both 7-12 and 13-24 month old were the highest incidence (both of them were 11.98%, 58/484) of age for developing food hypersensitivity and 7-12-month old was also the highest incidence (8.47%, 41/484) of age for food intolerance. The self-reported food intolerance rate was 3.68% (61/1656) and 5.23% (51/976) in the two age groups, respectively. Age, parental history of allergy and father's educational level (OR was 2.452, 1.482 and 2.598, respectively, P < 0.01) were the risk factors of food hypersensitivity; within two weeks of sickness (OR = 1.267, P < 0.05) was the risk factor of food intolerance.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Infancy was the most vulnerable period of life of getting allergy, therefore, it is necessary for all infants to prevent allergy through a variety of effective strategies.</p>