Intercostal hemangiomas coexisting with multiple hepatic hemangiomas: Clinical and imaging findings in a single case report with a review of the literature.

RATIONALE: Intercostal hemangioma (IH) is an extremely rare disease, with only 18 cases reported in the past 30 years. Herein, we report the first case of IH coexisting with multiple hepatic hemangiomas, which recurred 32 months after surgery with rib erosion. IHs are invasive and difficult to distinguish from other intercostal tumors on imaging. To date, there have been no review articles on the imaging findings of IHs. We hope that this article will help clinicians improve their ability to diagnose and treat IH. PATIENTS CONCERNS: A 58-year-old male came to our hospital with gastrointestinal disease. Chest tumors were accidentally discovered on routine chest computed tomography (CT). The patient had no chest symptoms. The patient also had multiple liver tumors that had been present for 2 years but with no remarkable changes. DIAGNOSIS: Plain chest CT revealed 2 adjacent masses protruding from the left chest wall into the thoracic cavity. Neurogenic tumors or hamartomas were suspected on enhanced CT scans. Abdominal contrast-enhanced computed tomography scan indicated multiple liver tumors as MMHs, which was consistent with the 2 previous Doppler ultrasound findings. INTERVENTIONS: Surgeons removed the chest tumors by video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery. No treatment was provided for the MMHs. OUTCOMES: Two tumors of the chest wall were diagnosed as the IHs. There were no significant changes in the hepatic tumors after 32 months of follow-up. Unfortunately, the IH recurred, and the left 5th rib was slightly eroded. LESSONS: It is necessary to include IHs as a potential differential diagnosis for chest wall tumors because early clinical intervention can prevent tumor growth and damage to adjacent structures. The imaging findings of IH show special characteristics. Preoperative imaging evaluation and diagnosis of IH are helpful for safe and effective surgery. Because of the high recurrence rate, complete surgical resection of IH with a sufficient tumor-free margin is recommended. It should be noted that the ribs should also be removed when the surrounding ribs are suspected to have been violated.

Digenic Inheritance of PROC and SERPINC1 Mutations Contributes to Multiple Sites Venous Thrombosis.

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) represents a worldwide health challenge, impacting millions of people each year. The genesis of venous thrombosis is influenced in part by genetic components. Hereditary thrombosis is described as a genetically determined susceptibility to VTE. In the present study, a male patient was referred to our department presenting with multiple venous thrombosis events in different locations. Given a lack of identifiable risk factors, we aimed to investigate the possible genetic factor underlying venous thrombosis. Whole-exome sequencing was employed to examine genes linked to inherited thrombophilia in the proband. Putative variants were subsequently confirmed through Sanger sequencing within the family. The proband was identified as carrying two genetic mutations. One is the novel c.400G > C (p.E134Q) mutation affecting the final nucleotide of exon 5 in the PROC gene, potentially impacting splicing. The other is a previously reported heterozygous nonsense variant c.1016G > A (p.W339X) in the SERPINC1 gene. The proband inherited the former from her mother and the latter from her father. The presence of digenic inheritance in the patient reflects the complex phenotype of venous thrombosis and demonstrates the significance of an unbiased approach to detect pathogenic variants, especially in patients with a high risk of hereditary thrombosis.

Bioinformatics Approach to Identify the Influences of COVID-19 on Ischemic Stroke.

As severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) is becoming more infectious and less virulent, symptoms beyond the lungs of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients are a growing concern. Studies have found that the severity of COVID-19 patients is associated with an increased risk of ischemic stroke (IS); however, the underlying pathogenic mechanisms remain unknown. In this study, bioinformatics approaches were utilized to explore potential pathogenic mechanisms and predict potential drugs that may be useful in the treatment of COVID-19 and IS. The GSE152418 and GSE122709 datasets were downloaded from the GEO website to obtain the common differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of the two datasets for further functional enrichment, pathway analysis, and drug candidate prediction. A total of 80 common DEGs were identified in COVID-19 and IS datasets for GO and KEGG analysis. Next, the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed and hub genes were identified. Further, transcription factor-gene interactions and DEGs-miRNAs coregulatory network were investigated to explore their regulatory roles in disease. Finally, protein-drug interactions with common DEGs were analyzed to predict potential drugs. We successfully identified the top 10 hub genes that could serve as novel targeted therapies for COVID-19 and screened out some potential drugs for the treatment of COVID-19 and IS.

Case Report: Combined transcatheter arterial embolization and aortic stent-graft have better efficacy for bronchial artery aneurysms.

Bronchial artery aneurysm (BAA) is a rare and fatal condition that requires immediate treatment. However, conventional surgical and transcatheter arterial embolization treatments are less effective. In the present case, a 76-year-old hypertensive woman was admitted with dizziness and diagnosed with an unruptured bronchial artery aneurysm, which was treated by transcatheter arterial embolization and aortic stent-graft. The patient's clinical status was stable during the 4-year follow-up. Simultaneously, we reviewed 79 research papers, analyzing past BAA cases for their etiology, symptoms, and treatment outcomes. We found that catheter arterial embolization and aortic stent-graft implantation, especially for BAA of short-necked and arterial tortuosity, demonstrate superior efficacy compared to other methods. Therefore, we consider this approach to be the preferred choice in clinical BAA treatment.

YKL-40 mediates airway remodeling in asthma via activating FAK and MAPK signaling pathway.

YKL-40 is a chitinase-like protein which was significantly elevated in asthma patients and related closely to asthma severity and airway remodeling. Airway remodeling in asthma involves complicated physical and pathological processes, including increased airway smooth muscle mass due to proliferation, migration of airway smooth muscle cells, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and sub-epithelial fibrosis. However, the precise effect and underlying mechanism of YKL-40 in this pathological alteration remained unelucidated. In this study, we demonstrated that YKL-40 could promote asthma airway remodeling by increasing airway smooth muscle mass, inducing EMT and sub-epithelial fibrosis. Furthermore, we identified that FAK and MAPK signaling pathways are activated in the process. Inhibiting FAK or MAPK pathway could significantly ameliorate airway remodeling induced by excessive secretion of YKL-40 in vitro. and in vivo. In conclusion, this study shed light upon the effects of YKL-40 in asthma airway remodeling and provided potential novel targets in asthma patients with high YKL-40 level.

Magnetic and pH dual-responsive mesoporous silica nanocomposites for effective and low-toxic photodynamic therapy.

Nonspecific targeting, large doses and phototoxicity severely hamper the clinical effect of photodynamic therapy (PDT). In this work, superparamagnetic Fe3O4 mesoporous silica nanoparticles grafted by pH-responsive block polymer polyethylene glycol-b-poly(aspartic acid) (PEG-b-PAsp) were fabricated to load the model photosensitizer rose bengal (RB) in the aim of enhancing the efficiency of PDT. Compared to free RB, the nanocomposites (polyethylene glycol-b-polyaspartate-modified rose bengal-loaded magnetic mesoporous silica [RB-MMSNs]) could greatly enhance the cellular uptake due to their effective endocytosis by mouse melanoma B16 cell and exhibited higher induced apoptosis although with little dark toxicity. RB-MMSNs had little dark toxicity and even much could be facilitated by magnetic field in vitro. RB-MMSNs demonstrated 10 times induced apoptosis efficiency than that of free RB at the same RB concentration, both by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) result and apoptosis detection. Furthermore, RB-MMSNs-mediated PDT in vivo on tumor-bearing mice showed steady physical targeting of RB-MMSNs to the tumor site; tumor volumes were significantly reduced in the magnetic field with green light irradiation. More importantly, the survival time of tumor-bearing mice treated with RB-MMSNs was much prolonged. Henceforth, polyethylene glycol-b-polyaspartate-modified magnetic mesoporous silica (MMSNs) probably have great potential in clinical cancer photodynamic treatment because of their effective and low-toxic performance as photosensitizers' vesicles.

Hydrophilic mesoporous carbon nanospheres with high drug-loading efficiency for doxorubicin delivery and cancer therapy.

In this study, a highly effective transmembrane delivery vehicle based on PEGylated oxidized mesoporous carbon nanosphere (oMCN@PEG) was successfully fabricated in a facile strategy. oMCN@PEG exhibited a narrow size distribution of 90 nm, excellent hydrophilicity, good biocompatibility, and a very high loading efficiency for doxorubicin (DOX). The drug system (oMCN@DOX@PEG) exhibited excellent stability under neutral pH conditions, but with dramatic releases of DOX at reduced pH conditions. Pharmacokinetics study revealed that oMCN@DOX@PEG could prolong the circulation of DOX in the blood stream. The endocytosis, cytotoxicity, and anticancer effect in vitro and in vivo of the drug-loaded nanoparticles were also evaluated. Our results showed that the nanoparticles efficiently penetrated the membrane of tumor cells, subsequently released drugs, and efficiently inhibited the growth of cancer cells both in vitro and in vivo. Especially, oMCN@DOX@PEG also exhibited significant antimetastasis effect in advanced stage of malignant cancer, improving the survival time of tumor-bearing mice. The results suggested that oMCN@PEG might be a promising anticancer drug delivery vehicle for cancer therapy.