Gastrointestinal stromal tumor with small cell carcinoma infiltration: a case report.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are the most common mesenchymal tumors of the digestive system. They usually occur in the gastrointestinal tract. However, we discovered a rare phenomenon in which small cell carcinoma infiltrated the GIST of a patient. The patient came to the hospital and presented with chest tightness and shortness of breath for 2 months and a dry cough for half a month. As the ancillary tests were refined, it was discovered that he also had a lesion in the pelvic cavity. After pathological examination of the core needle biopsy (CNB) samples from the pelvic cavity lesion, the patient was diagnosed with GIST with small cell carcinoma infiltration. The patient is currently receiving a chemotherapy regimen of etoposide combined with cisplatin.

Competitive Risk Analysis of Prognosis in Older Adults with Sigmoid Colon Adenocarcinoma: A Population-Based Study.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study is to employ a competing risk model based on the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database to identify prognostic factors for elderly individuals with sigmoid colon adenocarcinoma (SCA) and compare them with the classic Cox proportional hazards model. METHODS: We extracted data from elderly patients diagnosed with SCA registered in the SEER database between 2010 and 2015. Univariate analysis was conducted using cumulative incidence functions and Gray's test, while multivariate analysis was performed using both the Fine-Gray and Cox proportional hazards models. RESULTS: Among the 10,712 eligible elderly patients diagnosed with SCA, 5595 individuals passed away: 2987 due to sigmoid colon adenocarcinoma and 2608 from other causes. The results of one-way Gray's test showed that age, race, marital status, AJCC stage, differentiation grade, tumor size, surgical status, liver metastasis status, lung metastasis status, brain metastasis status, radiotherapy status, and chemotherapy status all affected the prognosis of SCA (P < .05). Multivariate analysis showed that sex, age, race, marital status, and surgical status affected the prognosis of SCA (P < .05). Multifactorial Fine-Gray analysis revealed that key factors influencing the prognosis of SCA patients include age, race, marital status, AJCC stage, grade classification, surgical status, tumor size, liver metastasis, lung metastasis, and chemotherapy status (P < .05). CONCLUSION: Data from the SEER database were used to more accurately estimate CIFs for sigmoid colon adenocarcinoma-specific mortality and prognostic factors using competing risk models.

Cyclization Engineering of Electron-Deficient Maleimide Unit for Nonfused Ring Electron Acceptors Enables Efficient Organic Solar Cells.

Nonfused ring electron acceptors (NFREAs) have emerged as promising materials for commercial applications in organic solar cells due to their straightforward synthesis process and cost-effectiveness. The rational design of their structural frameworks is crucial for enhancing device efficiency. In this study, we explore the use of maleimide and thiophene as key building blocks, employing cyclization engineering techniques. Additionally, cyclopentanedithiophene was chosen as the bridging unit, coupled with fluorinated terminals, to fabricate NFREAs, namely, PI-DTS and DPI-DTS. DPI-DTS demonstrated superior molecular planarity and an upshifted lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy level. Moreover, DPI-DTS-based blend films display enhanced π-π interactions and crystallinity, alongside a predominantly face-on orientation. Consequently, DPI-DTS-based devices displayed enhanced and more balanced carrier mobility, reduced bimolecular recombination, and trap-assisted recombination, leading to improved charge transfer efficiency. Ultimately, this led to an excellent efficiency of 10.48%, with an open-circuit voltage as high as 0.914 V. These findings highlight the significant promise of aromatic imides in constructing NFREAs, and the established structure-performance relationship provides a theoretical basis for the design of high performance NFREAs.

Automatic Detection of Feral Pigeons in Urban Environments Using Deep Learning.

The overpopulation of feral pigeons in Hong Kong has significantly disrupted the urban ecosystem, highlighting the urgent need for effective strategies to control their population. In general, control measures should be implemented and re-evaluated periodically following accurate estimations of the feral pigeon population in the concerned regions, which, however, is very difficult in urban environments due to the concealment and mobility of pigeons within complex building structures. With the advances in deep learning, computer vision can be a promising tool for pigeon monitoring and population estimation but has not been well investigated so far. Therefore, we propose an improved deep learning model (Swin-Mask R-CNN with SAHI) for feral pigeon detection. Our model consists of three parts. Firstly, the Swin Transformer network (STN) extracts deep feature information. Secondly, the Feature Pyramid Network (FPN) fuses multi-scale features to learn at different scales. Lastly, the model's three head branches are responsible for classification, best bounding box prediction, and segmentation. During the prediction phase, we utilize a Slicing-Aided Hyper Inference (SAHI) tool to focus on the feature information of small feral pigeon targets. Experiments were conducted on a feral pigeon dataset to evaluate model performance. The results reveal that our model achieves excellent recognition performance for feral pigeons.

Application of unsupervised clustering model based on graph embedding in water environment.

Surface water monitoring data has spatiotemporal characteristics, and water quality will change with time and space in different seasons and climates. Data of this nature brings challenges to clustering, especially in terms of obtaining the temporal and spatial characteristics of the data. Therefore, this paper proposes an improved TADW algorithm and names it RTADW to obtain the spatiotemporal characteristics of surface water monitoring points. We improve the feature matrix in TADW and input the original time series data and spatial information into the improved model to obtain the spatiotemporal feature vector. When the improved TADW model captures watershed information for clustering, it can simultaneously extract the temporal and spatial characteristics of surface water compared with other clustering algorithms such as the DTW algorithm. We applied the proposed method to multiple different monitoring sites in the Liaohe River Basin, analyzed the spatiotemporal regional distribution of surface water monitoring points. The results show that the improved feature extraction method can better capture the spatiotemporal feature information between surface water monitoring points. Therefore, this method can provide more potential information for cluster analysis of water environment monitoring, thereby providing a scientific basis for watershed zoning management.

[Correlation analysis of Cobb angle and linear spinous process angle in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the correlation between Cobb angle and spinous process angle (SPA) on X-ray film and body surface in patients with mild to moderate adolescent idiopathic scoliosis(AIS). To explore the possibility of linear SPA to assess scoliosis. METHODS: Retrospective study for correlation of Cobb angle and linear SPA on X-ray film. AIS patients treated and taken full spine anteroposterior X-ray from January 2019 to December 2021 were analyzed correlation of Cobb angle and linear SPA on X-ray film. Prospective study for correlation of Cobb angle and body linear SPA. AIS patients treated and taken full spine anteroposterior X-ray from December 1 to December 9 this year were analyzed correlation of Cobb angle and body linear SPA. RESULTS: A total of 113 AIS patients with age an average of (14.02±2.16) years old(ranged from 10 to 18 years old) were recruited in retrospective study, involving 26 males and 87 females;there were 71 patients with mild AIS and 42 patients with moderate AIS. Cobb angle in AIS patients was significantly inversely associated with SPA(r=-0.564, P<0.001), the linear regression equation was:Cobb angle=169.444-0.878×SPA. Cobb angles in patients with mild scoliosis were significantly and inversely associated with SPA(r=-0.269, P=0.012), the linear regression equation was:Cobb angle=46.832-0.185×SPA. Cobb angles in patients with moderate scoliosis were also clearly correlated with SPA(r=-0.417, P=0.003), the linear regression equation was:Cobb angle=113.889-0.516×SPA. Thirty-eight patients were recruited in prospective study. The mean Cobb angle and body linear SPA were(18.70±6.98)°, ranged from 11.3° to 36.0° and (170.34±4.57)°, ranged from 162.1° to 177.7° respectively. There was significantly negative correlation(r=-0.651, P<0.001), the linear regression equation is:Cobb angle=187.91-0.99×SPA. CONCLUSION: Linear SPA on X-ray film or on the body was significantly negatively correlated with Cobb angles, but the regression equation fits poorly, so it's not suitable for diagnosis of scoliosis;however, linear SPA is appropriate for self-controlled assessment of scoliotic therapy or for dynamic assessment of spinal flexibility.

Association between resting myocardial work indices and stress myocardial perfusion in patients with angina and non-obstructive coronary artery disease.

Background: Myocardial work (MW) indices and longitudinal strain (LS) are sensitive markers of early left ventricular systolic dysfunction. Stress computed tomography myocardial perfusion imaging (CT-MPI) can assess early myocardial ischemia. The association between resting MW indices and stress myocardial perfusion remains unclear. This study compares resting MW indices with LS to assess stress myocardial perfusion in angina patients with non-obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD). Methods: Eighty-four patients who underwent resting echocardiography, coronary computed tomography angiography, and stress CT-MPI were reviewed. Seventeen myocardial segments were divided into three regions according to the epicardial coronary arteries. Global indices included global longitudinal strain (GLS), global work index (GWI), global constructive work (GCW), global wasted work (GWW), and global work efficiency (GWE). Regional indices included regional longitudinal strain (RLS), regional work index (RWI), and regional work efficiency (RWE). Reduced global perfusion was defined as an average stress myocardial blood flow (MBF) <116 mL/100 mL/min for the whole heart. Reduced regional perfusion was defined as an average stress MBF <116 mL/100 mL/min for the coronary territories. No patients demonstrated obstructions in the epicardial coronary arteries (stenosis diameter <50%). The MW indices and LS were compared. Receiver operating characteristic curves were constructed and logistic regression analyses were used to investigate the predictors of reduced myocardial perfusion. Results: Patients with reduced stress perfusion demonstrated reduced GLS, GWI, GCW, and GWE (P<0.05) and increased GWW (P<0.05). After adjustment for age and sex, GWE was still independently associated with reduced myocardial perfusion (odds ratio =0.386, 95% confidence interval: 0.214-0.697; P<0.05). Receiver operating characteristic curves reflected the good diagnostic ability of GWE and its superiority to GLS (area under the curve: 0.858 vs. 0.741). The optimal cutoff GWE value was 95% (sensitivity, 70%; specificity, 90%). Regions with lower stress perfusion showed lower RLS, RWI, and RWE (P<0.05). The optimal cutoff value of RWE for predicting reduced regional perfusion was 95%, with an area under the curve of 0.780, a sensitivity of 62%, and a specificity of 83%. Conclusions: Resting MW indices perform well in assessing global and regional stress myocardial perfusion in angina patients with non-obstructive CAD, and GWE is superior to GLS in the global evaluations.

Application of hybrid improved temporal convolution network model in time series prediction of river water quality.

Time series prediction of river water quality is an important method to grasp the changes of river water quality and protect the river water environment. However, due to the time series data of river water quality have strong periodicity, seasonality and nonlinearity, which seriously affects the accuracy of river water quality prediction. In this paper, a new hybrid deep neural network model is proposed for river water quality prediction, which is integrated with Savitaky-Golay (SG) filter, STL time series decomposition method, Self-attention mechanism, and Temporal Convolutional Network (TCN). The SG filter can effectively remove the noise in the time series data of river water quality, and the STL technology can decompose the time series data into trend, seasonal and residual series. The decomposed trend series and residual series are input into the model combining the Self-attention mechanism and TCN respectively for training and prediction. In order to verify the proposed model, this study uses opensource water quality data and private water quality data to conduct experiments, and compares with other water quality prediction models. The experimental results show that our method achieves the best prediction results in the water quality data of two different rivers.

[Intervention effect of Tuina pressing and kneading the Huantiao (GB30) acupoint on NF-κB p65 protein at spinal cord dorsal horn in sciatica rats].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the analgesic effect of Tuina by pressing and kneading the Huantiao (GB30) acupoint on rats with chronic constriction injury (CCI) and to explore the analgesic mechanism of Tuina on sciatica rats. METHODS: Thirty-two SPF male SD rats weighing 180 to 220 g were randomly divided into fore groups:blank group (without any treatment), sham group (only exposed without sciatic nerve ligating), model group (sciatic nerve ligating) and Tuina group (manual intervention after lsciatic nerve ligating). The CCI model was prepared by ligating the right sciatic nerve of the rats, on the third day of modeling, the rats in the Tuina group were given pressing and kneading the Huantiao (GB30) point for 14 days, and the changes of paw withdrawal threshold(PWT), paw withdrawal latency(PWL) were measured before and on the 1st, 3rd, 7th, 10th, 14th and 17th days after modeling. The changes of sciatic functional index(SFI) were measured before and on the 1st and 17th day after modeling. The morphological changes of the sciatic nerve were observed by hematoxylin-eosin(HE) staining;and the differences in NF-κB protein expression in the right dorsal horn of the spinal cord of rats were detected. RESULTS: Following modeling, there was no significant difference in PWT, PWL and SFI between the blank group and the sham group (P>0.05), but the PWT, PWL and SFI of the model group and the Tuina group decreased significantly (P<0.01). After manual intervention, the pain threshold of rats in Tuina group increased. On the 8th day of manual intervention (the 10th day after modeling), PWT in Tuina group increased significantly compared with that in model group (P<0.01). On the 5th day of manual intervention (the 7th day after modeling), the PWL of the massage group was significantly higher than that of the model group (P<0.01). The pain threshold of rats in Tuina group continued to rise with the continuous manipulation intervention. After 14 days of manipulative intervention, the sciatic nerve function index of rats in the Tuina group increased significantly(P<0.01). Compared with the blank group and sham group, the myelinated nerve fibers of sciatic nerve in the model group were disordered and the density of axons and myelin sheath was uneven. Compared with the model group, the nerve fibers of rats in the Tuina group were gradually continuous and the axons and myelin sheath were more uniform than those in the model group. Compared with the blank group and sham group, the expression of NF-κB protein in the right spinal dorsal horn of the model group was significantly increased(P<0.01). Compared with the model group, the expression of NF-κB protein in the right spinal dorsal horn of rats in Tuina group decreased significantly(P<0.01). CONCLUSION: Pressing and kneading the Huantiao (GB30) point restores nerve fiber alignment;and improves the PWT、PWL and SFI in the CCI model by decreasing NF-κB p65 protein expression in the spinal dorsal horn. There fore, Tuina demmstrates an analgesic effect and improves the gait of rats with sciatica.

Expanding potential targets of herbal chemicals by node2vec based on herb-drug interactions.

BACKGROUND: The identification of chemical-target interaction is key to pharmaceutical research and development, but the unclear materials basis and complex mechanisms of traditional medicine (TM) make it difficult, especially for low-content chemicals which are hard to test in experiments. In this research, we aim to apply the node2vec algorithm in the context of drug-herb interactions for expanding potential targets and taking advantage of molecular docking and experiments for verification. METHODS: Regarding the widely reported risks between cardiovascular drugs and herbs, Salvia miltiorrhiza (Danshen, DS) and Ligusticum chuanxiong (Chuanxiong, CX), which are widely used in the treatment of cardiovascular disease (CVD), and approved drugs for CVD form the new dataset as an example. Three data groups DS-drug, CX-drug, and DS-CX-drug were applied to serve as the context of drug-herb interactions for link prediction. Three types of datasets were set under three groups, containing information from chemical-target connection (CTC), chemical-chemical connection (CCC) and protein-protein interaction (PPI) in increasing steps. Five algorithms, including node2vec, were applied as comparisons. Molecular docking and pharmacological experiments were used for verification. RESULTS: Node2vec represented the best performance with average AUROC and AP values of 0.91 on the datasets "CTC, CCC, PPI". Targets of 32 herbal chemicals were identified within 43 predicted edges of herbal chemicals and drug targets. Among them, 11 potential chemical-drug target interactions showed better binding affinity by molecular docking. Further pharmacological experiments indicated caffeic acid increased the thermal stability of the protein GGT1 and ligustilide and low-content chemical neocryptotanshinone induced mRNA change of FGF2 and MTNR1A, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The analytical framework and methods established in the study provide an important reference for researchers in discovering herb-drug interactions, alerting clinical risks, and understanding complex mechanisms of TM.

[Mutational Spectrum and Prognosis Analysis of Young Patients with Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Based on Next-Generation Sequencing].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the mutational spectrum in young patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) based on next generation sequencing (NGS), and to provide a basis for in-depth understanding of the molecular biological characteristics and accurate prognosis of young DLBCL. METHODS: From March 2009 to March 2021, 68 young DLBCL patients with complete initial diagnosis data from the Department of Hematology, The People's Hospital Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region were retrospectively analyzed, and their paraffin-embedded tissues were subjected to targeted sequencing analysis by NGS technology (including 475 Target genes), and the differences in gene mutation profiles and signaling pathways between high-risk patients with aaIPI ≥2 and low-intermediate risk patients with aaIPI <2 were compared. RESULTS: A total of 44 high-frequency mutation genes were detected in 68 young DLBCL patients. By comparing the high-frequency mutation genes in aaIPI high-risk group and low-intermediate risk group, it was found that CARD11 mutation in aaIPI high-risk group was significantly higher than that in low-intermediate risk group (P =0.002), while MGA mutation (P =0.037) only appeared in the aaIPI high-risk group, and SPEN mutation (P =0.004) only appeared in the aaIPI low-intermediate risk group. The high-frequency mutation genes and clinical indicators of the aaIPI high-risk group were included in the survival analysis, and the results showed that TP53 (P =0.009, P =0.027), POU2AF1 (P =0.003, P =0.006) and CCND3 (P =0.040, P =0.014) genes mutations were associated with worse PFS and OS, while B2M was associated with better PFS (P =0.014) and OS (P =0.013). Multivariate COX regression analysis showed that the TP53, POU2AF1 and CCND3 were independent risk factors for PFS（P ＝0.021，P =0.005，P =0.020） and OS（P ＝0.042，P =0.010，P =0.013）. CONCLUSION: The aaIPI staging combination with molecular biology markers is more conducive to accurately judging the prognosis of young DLBCL patients. TP53, POU2AF1 and CCND3 mutations predict worse survival in the patients with the aaIPI high-risk group.

Oncogenic role and potential regulatory mechanism of topoisomerase IIα in a pan-cancer analysis.

Topoisomerase IIα (TOP2A) plays an oncogenic role in multiple tumor types. However, no pan-cancer analysis about the function and the upstream molecular mechanism of TOP2A is available. For the first time, we analyzed potential oncogenic roles of TOP2A in 33 cancer types via The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Overexpression of TOP2A was existed in almost all cancer types, and related to poor prognosis and advanced pathological stages in most cases. Besides, the high frequency of TOP2A genetic alterations was observed in several cancer types, and related to prognosis in some cases. Moreover, we conduct upstream miRNAs and lncRNAs of TOP2A to establish ceRNA networks in kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (SNHG3-miR-139-5p), kidney renal papillary cell carcinoma (TMEM147-AS1/N4BP2L2-IT2/THUMPD3-AS1/ERICD/TTN-AS1/SH3BP5-AS1/THRB-IT1/SNHG3/NEAT1-miR-139-5p), liver hepatocellular carcinoma (SNHG3/THUMPD3-AS1/NUTM2B-AS1/NUTM2A-AS1-miR-139-5p and SNHG6/GSEC/SNHG1/SNHG14/LINC00265/MIR3142HG-miR-101-3p) and lung adenocarcinoma (TYMSOS/HELLPAR/SNHG1/GSEC/SNHG6-miR-101-3p). TOP2A expression was generally positively correlated with cancer associated fibroblasts, M0 and M1 macrophages in most cancer types. Furthermore, TOP2A was positively associated with expression of immune checkpoints (CD274, CTLA4, HAVCR2, LAG3, PDCD1 and TIGIT) in most cancer types. Our first TOP2A pan-cancer study contributes to understanding the prognostic roles, immunological roles and potential upstream molecular mechanism of TOP2A in different cancers.

The Predictive Competing Endogenous RNA Regulatory Networks and Potential Prognostic and Immunological Roles of Cyclin A2 in Pan-Cancer Analysis.

Although accumulating evidence has verified the relationship between CCNA2 and cancers, no pan-cancer analysis about the function and the upstream molecular mechanism of CCNA2 is available. For the first time, we analyzed potential oncogenic roles of CCNA2 in 33 cancer types via The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Overexpression of CCNA2 is widespread in almost all cancer types, and it is related to poor prognosis and advanced pathological stages in most cases. Moreover, we conducted upstream miRNAs and lncRNAs of CCNA2 to establish upstream regulatory networks in kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (LINC00997/miR-27b-3p/CCNA2), liver hepatocellular carcinoma (SNHG16, GUSBP11, FGD5-AS1, LINC00630, CD27-AS1, LINC00997/miR-22-3p/CCNA2, miR-29b-3p/CCNA2, miR-29c-3p/CCNA2, and miR-204-5p/CCNA2), and lung adenocarcinoma (miRNA-218-5p/CCNA2 and miR-204-5p/CCNA2) by expression analysis, survival analysis, and correlation analysis. The CCNA2 expression is positively correlated with Th2 cell infiltration and negatively correlated with CD4+ central memory and effector memory T-cell infiltration in different cancer types. Furthermore, CCNA2 is positively associated with expressions of immune checkpoints (CD274, CTLA4, HAVCR2, LAG3, PDCD1, and TIGIT) in most cancer types. Our first CCNA2 pan-cancer study contributes to understanding the prognostic and immunological roles and potential upstream molecular mechanisms of CCNA2 in different cancers.

A mini-flipped, game-based Mediterranean diet learning program on dietary behavior and cognitive function among community-dwelling older adults in Taiwan: A cluster-randomized controlled trial.

The Mediterranean diet has been recommended to delay cognitive decline, but adherence to the diet among older adults remain poor, and research on interventions that effectively promote the diet has been inconclusive. This study examined the effects of a mini-flipped, game-based Mediterranean diet learning program in improving dietary behavior and cognitive function in community-dwelling older adults in Taiwan. A cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted. The experimental group completed an 8-week, mini-flipped, game-based learning program. Data were collected at baseline and 8 weeks after intervention. Outcome measures included dietary behavior, global cognitive function, and subjective cognitive dysfunction. Compared with the control group, the experimental group exhibited significantly improved Mediterranean diet behavior and global cognitive function after the intervention, although there was no significant difference in subjective cognitive function. Future research should be conducted with larger populations and longer-term follow-up to evaluate the effect of this learning program.

A network pharmacology-based study on the quality control markers of antithrombotic herbs: Using Salvia miltiorrhiza - Ligusticum chuanxiong as an example.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Salvia miltiorrhiza (Danshen, DS), the dried root and rhizome of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge and Ligusticum chuanxiong (Chuanxiong, CX), the dried rhizomes of Ligusticum striatum DC are effective in invigorating blood circulation and eliminating stasis which is highly related with cardiovascular disease (CVD). AIM OF STUDY: The identification of activity-based chemical markers is very important, but the complex mechanism of "multi-component, multi-target, and multi-effect" within traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) poses a great challenge to this work. In this study, we combined network pharmacological prediction with experimental validation of the DS and CX to explore an effective method for discovering quality control (QC) of antithrombotic herbs by clarifying the intermediate layer "module/cluster" between the whole complex system and a single component. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Based on structural similarity analysis of compound and the thrombosis network published before, we firstly modularized two layers called chemical cluster (CC) network and functional module (FM) network respectively and linked them into one bilayer modularized compound target (BMCT) network. "Two-step" calculation was applied on identifying the significant compounds as the potential QC markers from CC. The in vitro inhibitory activity of selected QC marker compounds on thrombin was evaluated to partially verify their pharmacological activities. HPLC was used to determine contents. RESULTS: According to the network-based analysis, nine compounds with great importance in the BMCT network were identified as QC markers of DS-CX, including tanshinone I, tanshinone IIA, cryptotanshinone, salvianolic acid B, ferulic acid, salvianolic acid A, rosmarinic acid, chlorogenic acid, and coniferyl ferulate. Enzyme inhibitory test partially verified the activity of tanshinone I and tanshinone IIA. Chemical profiling indicated that the nine marker compounds are the main components in the herbal pair. CONCLUSIONS: This study identified activity-based QC markers of DS-CX herbal pair and provided a new methodology that can be used in the QC of other herbs, herbal pairs, or formulas.

[Correlative analysis of cervical curvature and atlantoaxial instability].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the correlation between the changes of cervical curvature and atlantoaxial instability. METHODS: The correlation between the changes of cervical curvature and atlantoaxial instability was retrospectively studied in 50 outpatients with abnormal cervical curvature (abnormal cervical curvature group) from January 2018 to December 2019. There were 24 males and 26 females in abnormal cervical curvature group, aged from 18 to 42 years old with an average of(30.62±5.83) years. And 53 patients with normal cervical curvature (normal cervical curvature group) during the same period were matched, including 23 males and 30 females, aged from 21 to 44 years with an average of(31.98±6.11) years. Cervical spine X-ray films of 103 patients were taken in lateral position and open mouth position. Cervical curvature and variance of bilateral lateral atlanto-dental space(VBLADS) were measured and recorded, Pearson correlation coefficient analysis was used to study the correlation between the changes of cervical curvature and atlantoaxial instability. RESULTS: Atlantoaxial joint instability accounted for 39.6%(21/53) in normal cervical curvature group and 84.0%(42/50) in abnormal cervical curvature group. There was significant difference between two groups(P<0.01). VBLADS in abnormal cervical curvature group was (1.79±1.01) mm, which was significantly higher than that in normal cervical curvature group(0.55±0.75) mm(P<0.01). Pearson correlation coefficient analysis showed that the size of cervical curvature was negatively correlated with VBLADS. CONCLUSION: Cervical curvature straightening and inverse arch are the cause of atlantoaxial instability, the smaller the cervical curvature, the more serious the atlantoaxial instability.

Analysis of Radial Peripapillary Capillary Density in Patients with Bietti Crystalline Dystrophy by Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography.

OBJECTIVE: We wanted to investigate the radial peripapillary capillary (RPC) network in patients with Bietti crystalline dystrophy (BCD). METHODS: We compared RPC densities in the disk and different peripapillary regions, obtained using optical coherence tomography angiography in 22 patients with BCD (37 eyes) and 22 healthy subjects (37 eyes). The BCD group was then divided into Stage 2 and Stage 3 subgroups based on Yuzawa staging, comparing the RPC densities of the two. RESULTS: The disk area RPC density was 38.8% ± 6.3% in the BCD group and 49.2% ± 6.1% in the control group ( P < 0.001), and peripapillary region RPC density was significantly lower in the BCD group than in the control group (49.1% ± 4.7% and 54.1% ± 3.0%, respectively, P < 0.001). There were no significant RPC density differences between the tempo quadrant and inside disk of Stages 2 and 3 subgroups; the other areas showed a significantly lower RPC density in Stage 3 than in Stage 2 BCD. CONCLUSION: The BCD group RPC density was significantly lower than the control group. The reduction of RPC density in the tempo quadrant occurred mainly in the Stage 1 BCD. In contrast, the reduction of RPC density in superior, inferior, and nasal quadrants occurred mainly in Stage 2.

Hsa_circ_0003945 promotes progression of hepatocellular carcinoma by mediating miR-34c-5p/LGR4/ß-catenin axis activity.

Accumulating evidence suggests that circular RNAs (circRNAs) play essential roles in regulating cancer progression, but many circRNAs in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain unknown. Dysregulated circRNAs in HCC were identified through bioinformatics analysis of Gene Expression Omnibus data sets. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), Sanger sequencing, RNase R digestion and actinomycin D treatment were conducted to confirm the characterization of circRNAs. CCK-8, wound-healing and Transwell assays were performed to assess the functional roles of Hsa_circ_0003945 (Circ_0003945) in HCC cell lines. Subcellular fractionation and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) were performed to locate Circ_0003945 in HCC cells. Dual-luciferase reporter assay was executed to verify the binding of Circ_0003945 to microRNAs (miRNAs) or the miRNAs to their target genes. In this study, we found that Circ_0003945 was upregulated in HCC tissue, and higher Circ_0003945 expression was positively correlated with tumour size and tumour stage. Furthermore, high plasma levels of circulating Circ_0003945 were confirmed in HCC patients compared with those in non-HCC groups. The functional experiments revealed that overexpression or knockdown of Circ_0003945 promoted or attenuated tumour growth and migration, respectively. Mechanistically, Circ_0003945 might exert as a miR-34c-5p sponge to upregulate the expression of leucine-rich repeat-containing G protein-coupled receptor 4 (LGR4), activating the ß-catenin pathway, and finally facilitating HCC progression. Additionally, a ß-catenin activator could reverse the effect of Circ_0003945 knockdown. In conclusion, Circ_0003945 exerts a tumour-promoting role in HCC cells by regulating the miR-34c-5p/LGR4/ß-catenin axis, which may be a potential target for HCC therapy.

Ulnar nerve decompression and transposition with versus without supercharged end-to-side motor nerve transfer for advanced cubital tunnel syndrome: a randomized comparison study.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this prospective randomized study was to compare ulnar nerve decompression and anterior subfascial transposition with versus without supercharged end-to-side anterior interosseous nerve-to-ulnar motor nerve transfer for advanced cubital tunnel syndrome, to describe performing the nerve transfer through a small incision, and to investigate predictive factors for poor recovery following the procedure. METHODS: Between January 2013 and October 2016, 93 patients were randomly allocated to a study group (n = 45) and a control group (n = 48). Patients in the study group were treated with supercharged motor nerve transfer via a 5-cm incision following decompression and anterior subfascial transposition. Patients in the control group were treated with decompression and anterior subfascial transposition alone. Postoperative pinch strength and compound muscle action potential amplitude (CMAPa) were assessed. Function of the limb was assessed based on the Gabel/Amadio scale. Between-group data were compared, and significance was set at p < 0.05. Potential risk factors were collected from demographic data and disease severity indicators. RESULTS: At the final follow-up at 2 years, the results of the study group were superior to those of the control group with regard to postoperative pinch strength (75.13% ± 7.65% vs 62.11% ± 6.97%, p < 0.05); CMAPa of the first dorsal interossei (17.17 ± 5.84 mV vs 12.20 ± 4.09 mV, p < 0.01); CMAPa of abductor digiti minimi (11.57 ± 4.04 mV vs 8.43 ± 6.11 mV, p < 0.01); and excellent to good results (0.67 for the study group vs 0.35 for the control group, p < 0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that the advanced age (OR 2.98, 95% CI 2.25-4.10; p = 0.003) in the study group was related to unsatisfactory outcome in the patients. CONCLUSIONS: In the treatment of advanced cubital tunnel syndrome, additional supercharged end-to-side anterior interosseous nerve-to-ulnar motor nerve transfer may produce a better function of the hand. The authors also found that cases in the elderly were related to unsatisfactory postoperative results for these patients and that they could be informed of the possibility of worsening surgery results.