Revealing the mechanism of central pain hypersensitivity in primary dysmenorrhea: evidence from neuroimaging.

Background: Primary dysmenorrhea (PDM) is the most common problem in menstruating women. A number of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study have revealed that the brain plays a crucial role in the pathophysiology of PDM. However, these results have been inconsistent, and there is a lack of a comprehensive fMRI study to clarify the onset and long-term effects of PDM. The aim of this study was thus to investigate the onset and long-term effects of PDM in a cohort of patients with PDM. Methods: This study employed a cross-sectional design with prospective data collection, in which 25 patients with PDM and 20 healthy controls (HCs) were recruited. The patients with PDM underwent fMRI scans both during the PDM during the pain phase (PDM-P) and nonpain phase (PDM-NP). The long-term effects of PDM on the brain was assessed by comparing PDM-NP findings with those of HCs, and the central mechanism of PDM was assessed by comparing the PDM-P findings with those of PDM-NP. To identify changes in brain function, the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations and the regional homogeneity (ReHo) were measured. To assess changes in brain structure, voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was applied. The periaqueductal gray (PAG) was set as a region of for conducting seed-based whole-brain functional connectivity (FC) analysis. Subsequently, Pearson correlation analyses were employed to evaluate the associations between the abnormal brain region and the clinical information of the patients. Results: There were neither functional nor structural differences between patients in the PDM-NP and HCs. Compared with those in PDM-NP, those in PDM-P showed increased ReHo in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) but decreased FC between PAG and right superior parietal gyrus, bilateral inferior parietal gyrus, right calcarine gyrus, left superior occipital gyrus, left precentral gyrus, right DLPFC, and left crus I of the cerebellar hemisphere. Conclusions: The results from this study suggest that the mechanism of central pain hypersensitivity of PDM may be related to the disorder of the FC between the PAG and descending pain modulation system, default mode network (DMN), and occipital lobe. These findings could help us better understand the pathophysiology of PDM from a neuroimaging perspective.

Based on functional and histopathological correlations: is diffusion kurtosis imaging valuable for noninvasive assessment of renal damage in early-stage of chronic kidney disease?

PURPOSE: To evaluate the potential of 3 T magnetic resonance diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) in assessing the renal damage in early-stage of chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients with normal or slightly changed functional index, using histopathology as reference standard. METHODS: 49 CKD patients and 18 healthy volunteers were recruited in this study. CKD patients were divided into two groups based on estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR): Study group I (eGFR ≥ 90 ml/min/1.73 m2 [n = 20]) and Study group II (eGFR < 90 ml/min/1.73 m2 [n = 29]). DKI was performed in all participants. The DKI parameters (mean kurtosis [MK], mean diffusivity [MD], fractional anisotropy [FA]) of renal cortex and medulla were measured. The differences of parenchymal MD, MK and FA values among the different groups were compared. The correlations between DKI parameters and clinicopathological characteristics were assessed. Diagnostic performance of DKI to assess renal damage in early-stage of CKD was analyzed. RESULTS: The cortex MD and MK showed significant difference among three groups (P < 0.05): trend of cortex MD: Study group II < Study group I < control group; trend of cortex MK: control group < Study group I < Study group II. The cortex MD and MK and medulla FA were correlated with eGFR and Interstitial fibrosis/Tubular atrophy score (0.3 < r < 0.5). Cortex MD and MK yielded an AUC of 0.752 for differentiating healthy volunteers from CKD patients with eGFR ≥ 90 ml/min/1.73 m2. CONCLUSION: DKI shows potential in non-invasive and multi-parameter quantitative assessment of renal damage in early-stage of CKD patients and provide additional information for changes in renal function and histopathology.

Diagnosis of SPECT/CT bone imaging combined with two serum examinations in patients with bone metastases from pulmonary cancer.

PURPOSE: To study the clinical diagnostic value of SPECT/CT bone imaging combined with two serum examinations in patients with bone metastases from pulmonary cancer. METHODS: The clinical data of 120 patients consistent with pulmonary cancer admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Hebei North University from March 2019 to December 2019 were selected for retrospective analysis, and they were divided into the bone metastasis group (n = 58) and non-bone metastasis group (n = 62) according to comprehensive evaluation result of X-ray, CT, MRI and clinical follow-up. The CT values of patients were obtained by SPECT/CT bone imaging to compare serum levels of ALP (alkaline phosphatase belongs to phosphoric monoester hydrolases, as a specific phosphatase, mainly in body tissues and body fluid) and BAP (bone alkaline phosphatase is formed by different modification and processing of alkaline phosphatase, and is mainly released by osteoblasts) and CT values of patients in both groups, using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of single detection and combined detection. RESULTS: SPECT/CT bone imaging in patients with bone metastasis from pulmonary cancer showed abnormal radioactive accumulation in spine, pelvis and bilateral ribs. Serum ALP, BAP and CT values in bone metastasis group were overtly higher than the non-bone metastasis group (P < 0.001). Logistic regression analysis showed that serum ALP, BAP and CT value were independent risk factors for bone metastasis from pulmonary cancer. The AUC value and Youden index of combined diagnosis were higher than those of single diagnosis. CONCLUSION: SPECT/CT bone imaging combined with serum detection of ALP and BAP in patients with pulmonary cancer is helpful for early diagnosis of bone metastasis, which provides more basis for the formulation and selection of clinical treatment options.

Histone N-tails modulate sequence-specific positioning of nucleosomes.

The precise mechanisms governing sequence-dependent positioning of nucleosomes on DNA remain unknown in detail. Existing algorithms, taking into account the sequence-dependent deformability of DNA and its interactions with the histone globular domains, predict rotational setting of only 65% of human nucleosomes mapped in vivo. To uncover novel factors responsible for the nucleosome positioning, we analyzed potential involvement of the histone N-tails in this process. To this aim, we reconstituted the H2A/H4 N-tailless nucleosomes on human BRCA1 DNA (~100 kb) and compared their positions and sequences with those of the wild-type nucleosomes. In the case of H2A tailless nucleosomes, the AT content of DNA sequences is changed locally at superhelical location (SHL) ±4, while maintaining the same rotational setting as their wild-type counterparts. Conversely, the H4 tailless nucleosomes display widespread changes of the AT content near SHL ±1 and SHL ±2, where the H4 N-tails interact with DNA. Furthermore, a substantial number of H4 tailless nucleosomes exhibit rotational setting opposite to that of the wild-type nucleosomes. Thus, our findings strongly suggest that the histone N-tails are operative in selection of nucleosome positions, which may have wide-ranging implications for epigenetic modulation of chromatin states.

A radiomics approach based on MR imaging for classification of deficiency and excess syndrome of traditional Chinese medicine in prostate cancer.

Objective: To explore the potential imaging biomarkers for predicting Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) deficiency and excess syndrome in prostate cancer (PCa) patients by radiomics approach based on MR imaging. Methods: A total of 121 PCa patients from 2 centers were divided into 1 training cohort with 84 PCa patients and 1 validation cohort with 37 PCa patients. The PCa patients were divided into deficiency and excess syndrome group according to TCM syndrome differentiation. Radiomic features were extracted from T2-weighted imaging (T2WI), diffusion-weighted imaging and apparent diffusion coefficient images originated from diffusion-weighted imaging. A radiomic signature was constructed after reduction of dimension in training group by the minimum redundancy maximum relevance and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator. The performance of the model was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and calibration curve. Results: The radiomic scores of PCa with TCM excess syndrome group were statistically higher than those of PCa with TCM deficiency syndrome group among T2WI, diffusion-weighted imaging and apparent diffusion coefficient imaging models. The area under ROC curves for T2WI, diffusion-weighted imaging and apparent diffusion coefficient imaging models were 0.824, 0.824, 0.847 in the training cohort and 0.759, 0.750, 0.809 in the validation cohort, respectively. The apparent diffusion coefficient imaging model had the best discrimination in separating patients with TCM excess syndrome and deficiency syndrome, and its accuracy was 0.788, 0.778 in the training and validation cohort, respectively. The calibration curve demonstrated that there was a high consistency between the prediction of radiomic scores and the actual classification of TCM's deficiency and excess syndrome in PCa. Conclusion: The radiomic signature based on MR imaging can be performed as a non-invasive, potential approach to discriminate TCM deficiency syndrome from excess syndrome in PCa, in which apparent diffusion coefficient imaging model has the best diagnostic efficiency.

Biochemical and structural characterization of a glucan synthase GFGLS2 from edible fungus Grifola frondosa to synthesize ß-1, 3-glucan.

BACKGROUND: Grifola frondosa is a Basidiomycete fungus belonging to the family of Grifolaceae and the order of Polyporales. ß-Glucans are the main polymers in G. frondosa, playing a crucial role in the physiology and representing the healthy benefits for humans. The membrane-integrated ß-1, 3-glucan synthase (GLS) is responsible for glucan synthesis, cell wall assembly, differentiation and growth of the edible fungi. However, the structural/catalytic characteristics and mechanisms of ß-1, 3-glucan synthases in G. frondosa are still unknown due to their extremely complex structures with multi-transmembranes and large molecular masses. RESULTS: Herein, a ß-1, 3-glucan synthase (GFGLS2) was purified and identified from the cultured mycelia with a specific activity of 60.01 pmol min-1 µg-1 for the first time. The GFGLS2 showed a strict specificity to UDP-glucose with a Vmax value of 1.29 ± 0.04 µM min-1 at pH 7.0 and synthesized ß-1, 3-glucan with a maximum degree of polymerization (DP) of 62. Sequence Similarity Network (SSN) analysis revealed that GFGLS2 has a close relationship with others in Ganoderma sinense, Trametes coccinea, Polyporus brumalis, and Trametes pubescens. With the assistance of 3D structure modelling by AlphaFold 2, molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations, the central hydrophilic domain (Class III) in GFGLS2 was the main active sites through binding the substrate UDP-glucose to 11 amino acid residues via hydrogen bonds, π-stacking and salt bridges. CONCLUSIONS: The biochemical, 3D structural characterization and potential catalytic mechanism of a membrane-bound ß-1, 3-glucan synthase GFGLS2 from cultured mycelia of G. frondosa were well investigated and would provide a reasonable full picture of ß-1, 3-glucan synthesis in fungi.

Development of functional, sustainable pullulan-sodium alginate-based films by incorporating essential oil microemulsion for chilled pork preservation.

Developing safe, eco-friendly, and functionally edible packaging materials has attracted global attention. Essential oils, can be incorporated into packaging materials as antioxidant and antibacterial agents. However, their high volatility and discontinuous film matrix issues may cause a rough film surface, limiting the application in food packaging. In this study, thyme essential oil microemulsion (TEO-M) was prepared and incorporated into a pullulan-sodium alginate (PS) film. The TEO-M incorporation endowed the PS film with antioxidant and UV protection properties. The antioxidant activities of the TEO-M-incorporated PS film were significantly better than those of the TEO-C (thyme essential oil coarse emulsion)-incorporated PS film. In comparison to TEO-C, the distribution of TEO-M in the film is more uniform. Lipid oxidation and the growth of microorganisms in chilled pork were inhibited by incorporating TEO-M at a concentration of 50 mg/mL in the PS film (PS-50M). After 10 days of storage at 4 °C, the total viable count (TVC) of chilled pork preserved in the PS-50M material was significantly reduced compared to the control group (P < 0.05). This study shows that incorporating TEO-M in the PS film provides a method for applying essential oils in food packaging, which may have great potential in the food industry.

Molecular basis of methyl-salicylate-mediated plant airborne defence.

Aphids transmit viruses and are destructive crop pests1. Plants that have been attacked by aphids release volatile compounds to elicit airborne defence (AD) in neighbouring plants2-5. However, the mechanism underlying AD is unclear. Here we reveal that methyl-salicylate (MeSA), salicylic acid-binding protein-2 (SABP2), the transcription factor NAC2 and salicylic acid-carboxylmethyltransferase-1 (SAMT1) form a signalling circuit to mediate AD against aphids and viruses. Airborne MeSA is perceived and converted into salicylic acid by SABP2 in neighbouring plants. Salicylic acid then causes a signal transduction cascade to activate the NAC2-SAMT1 module for MeSA biosynthesis to induce plant anti-aphid immunity and reduce virus transmission. To counteract this, some aphid-transmitted viruses encode helicase-containing proteins to suppress AD by interacting with NAC2 to subcellularly relocalize and destabilize NAC2. As a consequence, plants become less repellent to aphids, and more suitable for aphid survival, infestation and viral transmission. Our findings uncover the mechanistic basis of AD and an aphid-virus co-evolutionary mutualism, demonstrating AD as a potential bioinspired strategy to control aphids and viruses.

Deep learning for histopathological segmentation of smooth muscle in the urinary bladder.

BACKGROUND: Histological assessment of smooth muscle is a critical step particularly in staging malignant tumors in various internal organs including  the urinary bladder. Nonetheless, manual segmentation and classification of muscular tissues by pathologists is often challenging. Therefore, a fully automated and reliable smooth muscle image segmentation system is in high demand. METHODS: To characterize muscle fibers in the urinary bladder, including muscularis mucosa (MM) and muscularis propria (MP), we assessed 277 histological images from surgical specimens, using two well-known deep learning (DL) model groups, one including VGG16, ResNet18, SqueezeNet, and MobileNetV2, considered as a patch-based approach, and the other including U-Net, MA-Net, DeepLabv3 + , and FPN, considered as a pixel-based approach. All the trained models in both the groups were evaluated at pixel-level for their performance. RESULTS: For segmenting MP and non-MP (including MM) regions, MobileNetV2, in the patch-based approach and U-Net, in the pixel-based approach outperformed their peers in the groups with mean Jaccard Index equal to 0.74 and 0.79, and mean Dice co-efficient equal to 0.82 and 0.88, respectively. We also demonstrated the strengths and weaknesses of the models in terms of speed and prediction accuracy. CONCLUSIONS: This work not only creates a benchmark for future development of tools for the histological segmentation of smooth muscle but also provides an effective DL-based diagnostic system for accurate pathological staging of bladder cancer.

DMT1 differentially regulates mitochondrial complex activities to reduce glutathione loss and mitigate ferroptosis.

Mitochondria are vital for energy production and redox homeostasis, yet knowledge of relevant mechanisms remains limited. Here, through a genome-wide CRISPR-Cas9 knockout screening, we have identified DMT1 as a major regulator of mitochondria membrane potential. Our findings demonstrate that DMT1 deficiency increases the activity of mitochondrial complex I and reduces that of complex III. Enhanced complex I activity leads to increased NAD+ production, which activates IDH2 by promoting its deacetylation via SIRT3. This results in higher levels of NADPH and GSH, which improve antioxidant capacity during Erastin-induced ferroptosis. Meanwhile, loss of complex III activity impairs mitochondrial biogenesis and promotes mitophagy, contributing to suppression of ferroptosis. Thus, DMT1 differentially regulates activities of mitochondrial complex I and III to cooperatly suppress Erastin-induced ferroptosis. Furthermore, NMN, an alternative method of increasing mitochondrial NAD+, exhibits similar protective effects against ferroptosis by boosting GSH in a manner similar to DMT1 deficiency, shedding a light on potential therapeutic strategy for ferroptosis-related pathologies.

Successful laparoscopic resection of fallopian tube abscess caused by Escherichia coli in a 12-year-old adolescent virgin:a case report and review of the literature.

BACKGROUND: Upstream infection with vaginal flora can develop into tubal endothelial damage and tubal edema, which can lead to tubal obstruction and fallopian tube abscess if left untreated. Fallopian tube abscess in adolescent virgins is very rare, it may lead to long-term or even lifelong complications once it occurred. CASE PRESENTATION: A 12-year-old adolescent virgin with no history of sexual intercourse and previous physical fitness who presented with lower abdominal pain with nausea and vomiting for 22 h, body temperature up to 39.2 °C. Laparoscopic surgery revealed an abscess in the left fallopian tube, the left fallopian tube was surgically removed, successfully treated, and the pus was cultured for escherichia coli. CONCLUSION: It is important to consider possibility of tubal infection in young.

Multimodal AI for prediction of distant metastasis in carcinoma patients.

Metastasis of cancer is directly related to death in almost all cases, however a lot is yet to be understood about this process. Despite advancements in the available radiological investigation techniques, not all cases of Distant Metastasis (DM) are diagnosed at initial clinical presentation. Also, there are currently no standard biomarkers of metastasis. Early, accurate diagnosis of DM is however crucial for clinical decision making, and planning of appropriate management strategies. Previous works have achieved little success in attempts to predict DM from either clinical, genomic, radiology, or histopathology data. In this work we attempt a multimodal approach to predict the presence of DM in cancer patients by combining gene expression data, clinical data and histopathology images. We tested a novel combination of Random Forest (RF) algorithm with an optimization technique for gene selection, and investigated if gene expression pattern in the primary tissues of three cancer types (Bladder Carcinoma, Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma, and Head and Neck Squamous Carcinoma) with DM are similar or different. Gene expression biomarkers of DM identified by our proposed method outperformed Differentially Expressed Genes (DEGs) identified by the DESeq2 software package in the task of predicting presence or absence of DM. Genes involved in DM tend to be more cancer type specific rather than general across all cancers. Our results also indicate that multimodal data is more predictive of metastasis than either of the three unimodal data tested, and genomic data provides the highest contribution by a wide margin. The results re-emphasize the importance for availability of sufficient image data when a weakly supervised training technique is used. Code is made available at: https://github.com/rit-cui-lab/Multimodal-AI-for-Prediction-of-Distant-Metastasis-in-Carcinoma-Patients.

Exploring the role of FBXO5 in gastric cancer.

Gastric cancer is one of the most common lethal malignancies in the world, especially in China. Due to the ineffective screening of early gastric cancer and drug resistance of the advanced, the prognosis of gastric cancer remains dismal. Based on bioinformatics and tissue microarray analyses, FBXO5 was selected for analysis in this study. Here, we report the function of FBXO5 in gastric cancer, showing for the first time that it contributes to tumor cell proliferation, clone formation, invasion and migration. In these preliminary findings, FBXO5 promoted the transition of the cell cycle from the G0/G1 to the G2/M phase, which likely resulted from FBXO5 interacting with CDK1 and NCAPG proteins. The relevant mechanism needs to be explored. In addition, FBXO5 participated in the tumor microenvironment and was negatively related to immune activation. FBXO5, an oncogene, plays a role in tumor initiation and progression, and is expected to be a potential target for gastric cancer treatment.

A bibliometric analysis of ferroptosis, necroptosis, pyroptosis, and cuproptosis in cancer from 2012 to 2022.

This study aims to visualize research hotspots and trends of "ferroptosis in cancer", "necroptosis in cancer", "pyroptosis in cancer", and "cuproptosis in cancer" through a bibliometric analysis to facilitate understanding of future developments in basic and clinical research and to provide a new perspective on cancer treatment. From January 1, 2012 to October 31, 2022, in the field of "ferroptosis in cancer", a total of 2467 organizations from 79 different countries published 3302 articles. 2274 organizations from 72 different countries published 2233 articles in the field of " necroptosis in cancer". 1366 institutions from 58 different countries contributed 1445 publications in the field of "pyroptosis in cancer". In the field of " cuproptosis in cancer", the number of articles published in the last 10 years is relatively low, with a total of 109 articles published by 116 institutions from four different countries. In the field of "ferroptosis in cancer", Tang Daolin had published 66 documents, ranked the first, while Dixon SJ is the most cited author, cited 3148 times; In the fields of "necroptosis in cancer", Vandenabeele peter had published 35 papers and Degterev had been cited 995 times, ranked the first, respectively; Kanneganti thirumala-devi had published 24 papers, is the highest number of publications in the fields of "pyroptosis in cancer", while Shi JJ was the most cited author with being cited 508 times. Both Huang Yan and Wang Tao published three papers and tied for first place and Tsvetkov p ranks first with being cited 107 times in "cuproptosis in cancer". "Cell", "Cell", "Nature", and "Science" was the most frequently co-cited journal on "ferroptosis in cancer", "necroptosis in cancer", "pyroptosis in cancer", and "cuproptosis in cancer", respectively. Further exploration of inhibitors of different Programmed cell death (PCD) and their targeted therapies are potential treatment options for cancer, but more direct clinical evidence as well as higher level clinical trials remain to be explored. Further clarification of the mechanisms of crosstalk between these PCDs may provide effective cancer treatments. And the role of different types of PCDs, especially the novel ones discovered, in cancer can be expected to remain a hot topic of research in the cancer field for quite some time to come.

Prognosis-related metabolic genes in the development of colorectal cancer progress and perspective.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most commonplace malignant tumors in the world. The occurrence and development of CRC are involved in numerous events. Metabolic reprogramming is one of the hallmarks of cancer and is convoluted and associated with carcinogenesis. Lots of metabolic genes are involved in the occurrence and progression of CRC. Study methods combining tumor genomics and metabolomics are more likely to explore this field in depth. In this mini-review, we make the latest progress and future prospects into the different molecular mechanisms of seven prognosis-related metabolic genes, we screened out in previous research, involved in the occurrence and development of CRC.

ZIM3 activation of CCL25 expression in pulmonary metastatic nodules of osteosarcoma recruits M2 macrophages to promote metastatic growth.

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) play an important role in tumor growth and metastasis. However, the involvement of TAMs infiltration in pulmonary osteosarcoma (OS) metastasis remains poorly understood. Therefore, the effect of OS cells on macrophages migration was investigated by in vivo and in vitro experiments to evaluate the infiltration and mechanism of TAMs in pulmonary OS metastases. The results showed that the zinc finger protein ZIM3 was upregulated in OS cells than in osteoblasts and activated the expression of CCL25, which subsequently promoted the migration of M2 macrophages. CCL25 or ZIM3 silencing in OS cells inhibited the infiltration of M2 macrophages and the formation of pulmonary metastatic nodules in a mouse model of pulmonary OS metastasis and prolonged the survival of the mice. Furthermore, bioinformatics analyses revealed that CCL25 and ZIM3 expressions are negatively correlated with the prognosis of OS patients. In conclusion, this study found that a large number of M2 TAMs were recruited into pulmonary metastatic nodules of OS through the activation of the ZIM3-CCL25 axis in OS cells, thereby facilitating OS metastasis. Therefore, the suppression of ZIM3-CCL25-induced recruitment of M2 TAMs to the metastatic sites might be considered as a therapeutic approach to inhibit the growth of pulmonary OS metastases.

Development and external validation of a multiparametric MRI-based radiomics model for preoperative prediction of microsatellite instability status in rectal cancer: a retrospective multicenter study.

OBJECTIVES: To establish and validate a radiomics model based on multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and to predict microsatellite instability (MSI) status in rectal cancer patients. METHODS: A total of 199 patients with pathologically confirmed rectal cancer were included. The MSI status was confirmed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining. Clinical factors and laboratory data associated with MSI status were analyzed. The imaging data of 100 patients from one of the hospitals were used as the training set. The remaining 99 patients from the other two hospitals were used as the external validation set. The regions of interest (ROIs) were delineated from T1-weighted imaging (T1WI), T2-weighted imaging (T2WI), diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), and contrast-enhanced T1WI (CE-T1WI) sequence to extract the radiomics features. The Tree-based approach was used for feature selection. The models were constructed based on the four single sequences and a combination of the four sequences using the random forest (RF) algorithm. The external validation set was used to verify the generalization ability of each model. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and the area under the curve (AUC) were plotted to evaluate and compare the predictive performance of each model. RESULTS: In the four single-series models, the CE-T1WI model performed the best. The AUCs of the T1WI, T2WI, DWI, and CE-T1WI prediction models in the training set were 0.74, 0.71, 0.71, and 0.78, respectively, while in the external validation set, the corresponding AUCs were 0.67, 0.66, 0.70, and 0.77. The prediction and generalization performance of the combined model of multi-sequences was comparable to that of the CE-T1WI model and it was better than that of the remaining three single-series models, with AUC values of 0.78 and 0.78 in the training and validation sets, respectively. CONCLUSION: The established radiomics models based on CE-T1WI or multiparametric MRI have similar predictive performance. They have the potential to predict MSI status in rectal cancer patients. KEY POINTS: • A radiomics model for the prediction of MSI status in patients with rectal cancer was established and validated using external validation. • The models based on CE-T1WI or multiparametric MRI have better predictive performance than those based on single unenhanced sequence images. • The radiomics model has the potential to suggest MSI status in rectal cancer patients; however, it is not yet a substitute for histological confirmation.

Retrospectively analyze and compare the efficacy and safety of thoracoscopic-assisted Nuss repair of pectus excavatum under intubation anesthesia and non-intubation anesthesia.

Background: Thoracoscopic-assisted Nuss repair is a commonly used method for treating pectus excavatum, which has always been performed under tracheal intubation and general anesthesia. However, general anesthesia with endotracheal intubation can produce intubation and anesthetic drug related complications. In non-intubation anesthesia, laryngeal mask is used instead of tracheal intubation without muscle relaxants and small doses of sedative and analgesic drugs. Therefore, non-intubation anesthesia can reduce complications and speed up postoperative recovery. This study retrospectively analyzed the clinical impact of these two anesthesia methods on thoracoscopic-assisted Nuss repair for the treatment of pectus excavatum. Methods: A total of 115 pectus excavatum patients who underwent thoracoscopic-assisted Nuss procedure repair in the Department of Thoracic Surgery of Yunnan First People's Hospital from January 2017 to January 2022 were included. All subjects in this study underwent thoracoscopic assisted Nuss repair in the same thoracic surgical team. According to different anesthesia methods, they were divided into non-intubation anesthesia group (n=62) and intubation anesthesia group (n=53). The intubation time, intraoperative mean heart rate, postoperative complications, postoperative first oral food intake, water intake, ambulation, defecation time, postoperative blood drawing results, postoperative hospital stay and total hospitalization cost were compared between the two groups. Results: There were no significant differences in clinical characteristics and preoperative examination indexes between the two groups, which were comparable. Compared with the intubation anesthesia group, the non-intubation anesthesia group had less anesthesia intubation time, lower intraoperative mean heart rate, less postoperative complications, such as pneumothorax, pleural effusion, and lung infection. In the non-intubation anesthesia group, the first time to eat, drink, get out of bed, and defecate were all earlier. Routine blood results 24 h after surgery indicated that the non-intubation anesthesia group had lower white blood cell, neutrophil and lymphocyte, an earlier postoperative discharge time, and lower total hospitalization expenses. Conclusions: Non-intubation anesthesia in thoracoscopic-assisted Nuss procedure for the repair of pectus excavatum can make the postoperative recovery of patients faster and has better safety and efficacy.

Imaging features of eosinophilic solid and cystic renal cell carcinoma: An additional case report of a novel tumor entity.

Eosinophilic solid and cystic renal cell carcinoma (ESC RCC) is a special classification of indolent kidney tumors newly discovered in recent years. It is extremely uncommon, with only a few clinical and pathological reports, and its imaging description are very rare. Here, we present a case of ESC RCC.

Functional binding dynamics relevant to the evolution of zoonotic spillovers in endemic and emergent Betacoronavirus strains.

Comparative functional analysis of the dynamic interactions between various Betacoronavirus mutant strains and broadly utilized target proteins such as ACE2 and CD26, is crucial for a more complete understanding of zoonotic spillovers of viruses that cause diseases such as COVID-19. Here, we employ machine learning to replicated sets of nanosecond scale GPU accelerated molecular dynamics simulations to statistically compare and classify atom motions of these target proteins in both the presence and absence of different endemic and emergent strains of the viral receptor binding domain (RBD) of the S spike glycoprotein. A multi-agent classifier successfully identified functional binding dynamics that are evolutionarily conserved from bat CoV-HKU4 to human endemic/emergent strains. Conserved dynamics regions of ACE2 involve both the N-terminal helices, as well as a region of more transient dynamics encompassing residues K353, Q325 and a novel motif AAQPFLL 386-92 that appears to coordinate their dynamic interactions with the viral RBD at N501. We also demonstrate that the functional evolution of Betacoronavirus zoonotic spillovers involving ACE2 interaction dynamics are likely pre-adapted from two precise and stable binding sites involving the viral bat progenitor strain's interaction with CD26 at SAMLI 291-5 and SS 333-334. Our analyses further indicate that the human endemic strains hCoV-HKU1 and hCoV-OC43 have evolved more stable N-terminal helix interactions through enhancement of an interfacing loop region on the viral RBD, whereas the highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 variants (B.1.1.7, B.1.351 and P.1) have evolved more stable viral binding via more focused interactions between the viral N501 and ACE2 K353 alone.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.