Percutaneous microwave ablation versus sclerotherapy for large hepatic hemangioma: a multi-center cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to compare the effectiveness and safety of ultrasound-guided microwave ablation (MWA) and percutaneous sclerotherapy (PS) for the treatment of large hepatic hemangioma (LHH). METHODS: This retrospective study included 96 patients who underwent MWA (n = 54) and PS (n = 42) as first-line treatment for LHH in three tertiary hospitals from January 2016 to December 2021. Primary outcomes were technique efficacy rate (volume reduction rate [VRR] > 50% at 12 months), symptom relief rate at 12 months and local tumor progression (LTP). Secondary outcomes included procedure time, major complications, treatment sessions, cost and one-, two-, three-year VRR. RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 36 months, the MWA group showed a higher technique efficacy rate (100% vs. 90.4%, p = .018) and symptom relief rate (100% vs. 80%, p = .123) than the PS group. The MWA group had fewer treatment sessions, higher one-, two- and three-year VRR, lower LTP rate (all p < .05), longer procedure time and higher treatment costs than the PS group (both p < .001). MWA shared a comparable major complications rate (1.8% vs. 2.4%, p = .432) with PS. After multivariate analysis, the lesion's heterogeneity and maximum diameter >8.1 cm were independent risk factors for LTP (all p < .05). In the PS group, lesions with a cumulative dose of bleomycin > 0.115 mg/cm3 had a lower risk of LTP (p = .006). CONCLUSIONS: Both MWA and PS treatments for large hepatic hemangioma are safe and effective, with MWA being superior in terms of efficacy.

Combined nutritional status and activities of daily living disability is associated with one-year mortality after hip fracture surgery for geriatric patients: a retrospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to explore the association combined nutritional status and activities of daily living disability with all-cause mortality of older adults with hip fracture in the first year after hospitalization. METHODS: This is a single-center retrospective cohort study in older adults with hip fracture patients. Clinical data and laboratory results were collected from electronic medical record system of our hospital (2014-2021). The endpoint of this study was all-cause mortality in the first year after hospitalization. RESULTS: A total of 303 older adults were enrolled and all-cause mortality was 21.8%. The study population was categorized by CONUT score. Patients in CONUT score 5-12 had a higher age, ASA status, CRP and creatinine level, more patients with history of fracture, pneumonia and delirium, meanwhile, lower BMI and ADL score, lower hemoglobin, lymphocyte, total protein, albumin, triglyceride, total cholesterol and one year survival than those in CONUT score 0-4 (all P < 0.05). Multivariable Cox analysis showed that BMI, ADL score and CONUT score were independent risk factors for all-cause mortality of hip fracture in older adults (HR (95% CI):2.808(1.638, 4.814), P < 0.001; 2.862(1.637, 5.003), P < 0.001; 2.322(1.236, 4.359), P = 0.009, respectively). More importantly, the combined index of CONUT and ADL score had the best predictive performance based on ROC curve (AUC 0.785, 95% CI: 0.734-0.830, P < 0.0001). Kaplan-Meier survival curves for all-cause mortality showed that patients with CONUT score increase and ADL score impairment had a higher mortality rate at 1 year compared to CONUT score decrease and ADL score well (Log Rank χ2 = 45.717, P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Combined CONUT and ADL score is associated with one-year mortality after hip fracture surgery for geriatric patients.

A systematic evaluation of computation methods for cell segmentation.

Cell segmentation is a fundamental task in analyzing biomedical images. Many computational methods have been developed for cell segmentation, but their performances are not well understood in various scenarios. We systematically evaluated the performance of 18 segmentation methods to perform cell nuclei and whole cell segmentation using light microscopy and fluorescence staining images. We found that general-purpose methods incorporating the attention mechanism exhibit the best overall performance. We identified various factors influencing segmentation performances, including training data and cell morphology, and evaluated the generalizability of methods across image modalities. We also provide guidelines for choosing the optimal segmentation methods in various real application scenarios. We developed Seggal, an online resource for downloading segmentation models already pre-trained with various tissue and cell types, which substantially reduces the time and effort for training cell segmentation models.

IRF4 suppresses osteogenic differentiation of BM-MSCs by transcriptionally activating miR-636/DOCK9 axis

Abstract Objectives Osteoblasts are derived from Bone Marrow-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells (BM-MSCs), which play an indispensable role in bone formation. In this study, the authors aim to investigate the role of IRF4 in the osteogenic differentiation of BM-MSCs and its potential molecular mechanism. Methods The authors used lentivirus infection to overexpress IRF4 in BM-MSCs. The expression of IRF4 and osteogenesis-related genes were detected by qRT-PCR and western blot analysis. The osteogenic differentiation of BM-MSCs was evaluated by Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP) activity, Alizarin red staining, and Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP) staining. Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP), Dual-Luciferase reporter assay and RNA Immunoprecipitation Assay were applied to confirm the regulatory mechanism between IRF4, miR-636 and DOCK9. Results The authors found IRF4 was down-regulated during the osteogenic differentiation of BM-MSCs, and IRF4 overexpression could decrease the osteogenic differentiation of BM-MSCs by specifically promoting the reduction of Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP) activity and down-regulating osteogenic indicators, including OCN, OPN, Runx2 and CollA1. Mechanistically, IRF4 activated microRNA-636 (miR-636) expression via binding to its promoter region, and Dedicator of Cytokinesis 9 (DOCK9) was identified as the target of miR-636 in BM-MSCs. Moreover, the damage in the capacity of osteogenic differentiation of BM-MSCs induced by IRF4 overexpression could be rescued by miR-636 inhibition. Conclusions In summary, this paper proposed that IRF4/miR-636/DOCK9 may be considered as targets for the treatment of osteoporosis (OP).